Wilhelm raised his dagger in awe and retreated a few steps, scrutinizing the strange skeleton. It was somewhat short, probably around five feet, similar to a small male back on earth. Cracks ran through its body, and dust covered it, like some sort of buried artifact.
Its movements were sluggish and threatening, like its first instinct was to attack, or perhaps, defend. Wilhelm was intrigued by this discovery. What was it hoping to defend? And how did it get here? Why was a human-like body residing inside of a dungeon? Dozens of similar questions assaulted Wilhelms' brain, but his first priority was safety.
He brandished his dagger and observed his opponents' movement patterns. Not only was the creature slow, but it didn't appear to be intelligent either. His abnormal perception of danger just about evaporated, and Wilhelm regained his confidence.
Wilhelm launched off the ground, causing it to concave a few inches in the process. He practically soared through the air as his dagger elegantly danced through the wind. Using his newly acquired skill, his expertise with the shiv reached an all-time high. Whether it was speed, control, or even strength; he was twice as masterful.
The blade seemed to play a requiem as it finally reached the dense pile bones, shattering them in a trivial second. The skeleton flopped onto its side, unable to defend, nor evade. Its bones were rusted, and its strength had deteriorated over time. No resistance was even put forward, and Wilhelm wouldn't let a chance for free experience pass him by.
He took another step forward and crushed the skull with the bottom of his foot, shattering it into hundreds of small pieces. The light in the sockets dissipated, leaving only an eerie silence, along with Wilhelms heavy breathing.
[Critical strike, the non-lethal blow has been appropriated distorted]
[A lesser skeleton warrior has been slain, and you have been rewarded 150 experience]
Wilhelm brushed off his shoulders and smiled. He felt as though his journey was finally reaping some benefits. Not to mention the fact that he somehow got a critical strike, which had never even happened before. He was unsure of how effective it was, but his stomp did feel slightly more powerful.
Thinking to here, he raised his head, looking to where the skeleton body once rested. A small, wooden chest laid there, a hint of gold sparkling from the metal lock. Wilhelm assumed this to be what the heap of bones was defending, so he approached it. His slender hands reached for the lock, tugging on it ever so slightly.
Instantaneously, the entrance behind him closed, ushering the small compartment into complete darkness. The wall in front of him seemed to crumble, and a few dozen flickering lights appeared, abnormally similar to the skeleton he had just fought.
A strange grunt escaped from his lips as he walked backward, attempting to break the wall that had just closed on him. He punched the wall with all of the power he could manage to muster, but to no avail, on the sound of flesh hitting metal rang out.
His fist became swollen and red; a subtle tear fell from his left eye as he cursed his bad luck. The clinking of bones echoed out from behind him, and he felt idiotic for touching the chest. He should've realized it by now. If it was a dungeon, then there would surely be some traps.
He turned his body around, squinting his eyes, observing the mass of flickering lights. It was a number that he probably wouldn't be able to handle. His shoulders slumped as he clenched his dagger tighter than ever.
"Just when a small bout of luck came my way, you piles of condensed calcium just had to ruin it, " he said with a self-deprecating chuckle, preparing for battle.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Wilhelm had long adapted to the darkness, so he could easily maneuver around the small cavern, positioning himself in an appropriate location. The walking corpses moved rather slowly, giving Wilhelm some room to accommodate for his earlier shock.
His fist still stung from striking the sturdy wall, but he ground his teeth and momentarily dealt with the pain. He wasn't one who treasured his life, but he surely wouldn't let all of his efforts go to waste, not after he had just finally obtained a somewhat younger body. He refused to lose, let alone die.
Of course, the walking dead were not aware of his thoughts; they merely strolled toward him without any significant objective. They were grouped up, moving in a relatively standard military formation, as if they had been warriors in their past life. Rusted scimitars dangled in their skeletal hands, scraping against the ground.
The undead groans reverberated throughout the cave, causing Wilhelm to squint his eyes and scan the room. It was small without much space to move around in, but there were sharp rocks threatening to fall from the roof. The only other distinctive feature was the wooden chest, which was clearly a trap.
A scanty, but cunning plan formulated in Wilhelm's mind, causing him to let out a chuckle and take a step forward, toward the horde of skeletons. Since his strength was now incomparable to an average human, it was time he started acting like it. The muscles on his stream-lined legs began to expand, becoming taut.
He lifted his foot high in the air and stomped the ground with all of his might. Since retreating was impossible, he would kill everything. However, contrary to his expectations, as the ball of his foot met the ground, not a single sound erupted. Instead, a stinging pain assaulted his leg, causing him to writhe in agony.
"W-why? The ground was smooth just a few minutes ago?" he wailed helplessly, watching the skeletons approach in droves. Not only was his fist still aching, but now his leg was practically uncommissioned.
Slowly, the loud steps and creaking echoed out loud and louder, and Wilhelm could only smile wryly whilst stroking his mighty beard. His initial plan that consisted of forcing the spikes on the roof to fall didn't work, so now, he simply gave up and decided to just turn his life in. There was no point in struggling to survive, especially since it was impossible.
He stared death straight in the eye as the first skeleton finally reached his figure, heaving its rusty sword downward. Wilhelm closed his eyes at the last second, cursing his worthless secret-class, and his horrible luck.
He waited there for a few moments, but he felt no discomfort, nor pain. Instead, he could feel the ground start to suddenly rumble. He snapped his open, only to see the skeleton in front of him impaled to the ground by a huge spike. Likewise, a few dozen sharp rocks started to fall from every corner of the cave, descending the small room into chaos.
Dust was wafted into the air, and the heaps of bones were rattling. Wilhelm used this chance to scuttle away, dodging the massive spikes that fell from above. Unlike the skeletons, his movements were much more agile and precise. He could use his night-eye skill to perceive the rocks and use his hands and body to dodge them.
The sharp edges quickly scraped his arms and legs, but he avoided the lethal blows for the most part. As he continuously evaded death, the rumbling gradually came to an end, along with the collapsing cave. The opening behind him finally opened, and the hundreds of small bones and debris flooded his sight.
Wilhelm's body was covered in dirt, including his hair and beard. A stark contrast to his appearance when he had first arrived. Deep breaths escaped from his thin lips as he stared at the massive pile of bones, a few droplets of sweat trailing down the sides of his face and dripping onto the ground.
[A lesser skeleton warrior has been slain; you have been awarded 150 experience]
[A lesser skeleton warrior has been slain; you have been awarded 150 experience]
…
[Brave soldiers demise (Trap level: F) has been cleared, congratulations!]
[4000 experience has been acquired, 6200/4000]
[Two unallocated stat points have been obtained]
The dozen or so notifications brought Wilhelm out of his stupor, causing him to fall on his buttocks and heave a deep sigh of relief. He felt as though he had been staring the god of death straight in the eye for a few moments there. Thankfully, the miniature earthquake occurred at the perfect time, which was extraordinarily lucky. He was u
nsure if it was caused by his earlier stomp, or if it was just sheer coincidence.
He shakily stood up from the ground and approached the wooden chest, which was half-open opened, veiled under a thick shadow. It couldn't be considered large, but a faint glimmer could be seen from inside, pulling Wilhelm closer. The small trap and skeletons were already dealt with, so there wasn't much to be worried about, or so Wilhelm mused to himself.
His small strides finally ended when he reached the chest, peering down into it. Inside, a small dagger, alongside a few bronze coins resided. There was nothing else of much importance, but Wilhelm reached for the dagger with an excited smile plastered on his face.
It possessed a very sharp point and two first-class edges. It was perfect for thrusting and cutting, a fitting weapon for survival. The blade itself appeared to be made out of silver, with what looked to be engravings of a coursing river etched onto it. The hilt was pure black, further accentuating the beauty of the silver blade.
It gracefully shimmered within the darkness, causing Wilhelm to take a few moments and appreciate its elegant appearance. It wasn't until the bronze gleam from below caught his eye that he finally decided to stash it inside of his loincloth, redirecting his attention to the bronze coins at the bottom of the chest. There wasn't a need for money, especially since he was trapped inside of a dungeon, but he still decided to inspect them thoroughly.
Once his slender fingers grabbed ahold of the coins, they abruptly disappeared into thin dust. Confused, Wilhelm tried touching the other coins, but to no avail, the same thing occurred over and over again.
'Useless…' he thought to himself.
[Coins: 4]
Suddenly, the robotic voice rang out inside of his head. A feature of the system which he had thought to be relatively pointless appeared out of nowhere. His thinking process momentarily halted as he looked at his status.
---------------
[Character Information]
Name: Wilhelm Siegfried
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Level: 9, [2200/6000 EXP]
Class: Undertaker (1) [32/100]
Strength: 12
Agility: 17
Intelligence: 15
Stamina: 12
Magic Power: 0
HP: 100/100
MP: 5/5
Skills: Krav Maga (level 10), indomitable will (level 1), superior intellect (level 2), Gun proficiency (level 10), Night-eye (class-skill), masterful hands (level 5),
Items: None
Allocatable stat points: 2
Evolution points: 0
Coins: 4
Without waiting for another second, he inspected the "coins" feature.
[Coins are capable of purchasing weapons, armor, consumables, allocatable stat points, and even evolution points. However, they are only usable on the blood moon. They are also tradeable.]
Wilhelm nodded his head at the new information and stroked his beard. He had no clue as to what the "blood moon" was, nor could he trade with anyone at the moment. He momentarily put the coin feature at the back of his head and directed his attention to the two allocatable stat points.
He hadn't been able to distribute two points at once before, so he gleefully added one point to both strength and stamina. Immediately, a cold sensation assaulted his body, reinvigorating it. He stretched his limbs one last time and leaped on to the ground, cracking his neck.
More strength meant more confidence, and with enough confidence, he wouldn't hesitate to hunt more frequently. A small smile formed on his lips as he thought of this. Perhaps, his stay in the dungeon wouldn't actually last too long?
Thinking to here, a loud rumbling in his stomach stopped all potential thoughts of acquiring more experience for the day.
"sigh…"
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Wilhelm stopped dead in his tracks, smiling wryly as he rubbed his empty stomach. His previous excitement had just about disappeared, and he stroked his thick beard whilst contemplating on how to procure more food. Other than the grottenburgs' and ants, there were no other edible species that resided inside of the dungeon. At the very least, no other animals that Wilhelm had yet discovered.
After deliberating for a few minutes, Wilhelm reluctantly decided to go and hunt a few ants. Unlike the grottenburgs' they weren't arduous to kill, nor were they repugnant. The main issue was flavor; Wilhelm couldn't even imagine anything tasting worse than what he had eaten that day—it still haunts him at night.
With this in mind, he used a small piece of string to attach the silver dagger to his loincloth, letting it suspend to the left side of his leg. He stashed his other rugged and cracked dagger to the right of his leg, in case of an emergency. If a dire situation arose, then he wouldn't mind using the rusted knife as a throwing device.
He then ambled toward the place where he had killed the squadron of ants in the past. If they were anything like the insects back on earth, then they surely gave off a signal when they died. On the other hand, it was also possible that they were similar to piss-ants, formulating a trail every time they moved a long distance.
Wilhelm was in no rush, so he amply prepared himself for the battle. He was still tired from fighting the group of skeletons, so he was in no position to fight a hard-won battle. In fact, he was much more inclined to assassinate a deserted ant and drag its body back to the lake before more arrived.
If everything went according to plan, then he would be able to make it back to his encampment before nightfall. If things went south, an innumerable number of bad things could happen—the worst-case scenario being death.
Thinking to here, his brows creased. What was the point of the dungeon? From everything he's done so far, it was almost as if it was tempering him. Not to mention the RPG-like system, what was the goal of the fairy? Such thoughts troubled Wilhelm as he trotted along the cavern.
…
While Wilhelm was still trapped inside of the dungeon. Anna, among other humans, started to rebuild civilization the best that they could. Those who unlocked stronger classes, or even secret classes, reigned at the top, while the others used their bodies or hunted for food as payment for protection. A hierarchy was formed, and many humans banded together to fend off the huge threats in the Holy Land.
In contrast to earth, where money reigned supreme, strength was the sole ruler in the Holy Land. It garnered envy, fear, and even the respect of others, establishing some form of order. Granted, there were also those that abused their power, killing other humans for experience, or forcing the weaker men to be meat shields.
Even so, many of the humans who usually followed laws and regulations were not used to unbridled freedom. These people were referred to as "adventures," they ventured out of the walls and hunted beasts, leveling up and becoming much more powerful than those who hid behind the barricades.
Many of them died in their endeavors, but the ones who came back were stronger than ever. Whether they achieved a secret class, or just leveled up, most of them had gain power incomprehensible to an average man or woman.
Strongholds were being built all over the place, offering protection to the weak, and supplies to the strong. Some monsters were too powerful to take down, and some were friendly—more knowledge about the world was slowly spreading.
They had only arrived for a short amount of time, but humans were adaptable. They slowly adjusted to the new environment and made do with what they had. Unable to defeat the stronger monsters, they lived in the forests and savannahs, filled with oversized rabbits, golden monkeys, and goblins.
Different terrain plagued the vast majority of the inhabitants, causing them to fear the unknown, where things like gryphons, minotaur’s, and broodmothers existed. Not until they gained enough strength would they be comfortable enough to venture out deeper into the Holy Land.
...
In the forest, a beautiful woman with long, black hair cascading down like a coursing river, stood. Wooden stakes surrounded a small encampmen
t, filled with pitched tents and men carrying spears, clubs, and even swords.
Anna was observing the workers who were building cabins and workshops down below, preparing for the inevitable battles. Teams of hunters were out hunting, providing the group of people with food and the necessary tools for advancement.
She was unaware if Wilhelm was still alive, but for some reason, she was extremely intrigued by the man who she had briefly talked to. She was someone who had droves of men lining up before her, kneeling to kiss her toes, yet she was still unsure of how to approach Wilhelm.
With a turn of her shoulder, she walked back into her personal tent. Five men and women stood there at attention, ready to protect her at any moment’s notice. Their personalities seemed to be non-existent, and not a single sound escaped from their lips.
The Holy Land Page 12
