"Fuck me, god damn it.. maybe I shouldn't be exploring too much."
He cursed his stupid head over what he had led himself into. It was not looking good for him, not good at all.
'Alright, it's okay, I can do this. These motherfuckers are just weaklings, I can one shot them like the previous one. They ain't no competition!' he hyped himself. Maybe a psyop was just what he needed. Feeling confident, he moved to the side, away from the entrance and from the undead indoors, making distance from both of them.
He could beat them. He was confident. He just needed to measure the strength of his opponents, because fighting indoors might not be the best option, especially without a weapon.
["Status"]
He whispered to himself while focusing on the two undeads.
+++
Undead [Level 5]
VIT: 0
STR: 13
AGI: 10
INT: 5
MAG: 0
+++
This was the undead inside the dining room. "Fuck me you gods. Why do you have to give me all of your hardest battles." Mat mumbled in despair.
He now looked at the stats of the undead at the door.
+++
Undead [Level 7]
VIT: 0
STR: 15
AGI: 12
INT: 6
MAG: 0
+++
"Is this some sort of joke?" he looked up at the imaginary gods laughing at his misery, "If you think it is, it's not fucking funny! Stop messing around with me!! Whoever the you are that threw me in here! I'd rather have fucking died than have to go through this fucking shit!! Aaargh!"
Mat was too angry. At himself, at this situation, and at whoever that put him in here. And of course, at two stupid, stupid fucking undeads blocking his way. They were literally stupid, they barely had half the intelligence as him. He was smart, he could totally outmanoeuvre them, it should be easy!
At least that is what he told himself.
Feeling a rush of confidence, a plan started formulating in his head. He was going to tackle the weaker undead inside, and throw an attack at it that'll burn it to ashes in an instant. Then, he'd move around the tables in this room, and make sure the stronger undead moves away from the door, giving him an opportunity to run out and face him in the open, or just run away completely.
Just as he was formulating, it seemed like the undeads were too bored to just let him stand anymore. The one in the room moved towards him, swinging at him a fist made of bones. This one was faster, and definitely stronger the one he had faced before. Not taking any chances, he focused his mana on the flame above his head to keep the world lit, and then, he focused it on his hands.
Another cyan blue flame erupted in his right hand, and he prayed to whatever gods were there, and wished for the Noxfire to appear. He imagined tiny wisps of black flames mangled in-between the blue wisps of his fireball, and threw it at the undead now rushing to hit him again
As the flame of blue and black hit the undead, it flew back with velocity, and landed on a table that crushed into itself as the undead fell on it.
Mat didn't have any time to wait and see it burning, he didn't let it happen. He ran around the tables, and navigated the stronger undead to move out of the way, and rushed to door.
'FREEDOM!' he cheered to himself as he ran to the door from its right, while the undead was on its left. He was on the verge of seeing the relieving light of the crimson moon again.
"I'm going to wi–"
He flew out and crashed into the wall of the lawn outside just as he reached the door. There was no immunity anymore, he felt all of the rising sting of the pain from the back of his head that had just hit the wall, and his face which was definitely splintered in a thousand pieces because of that punch.
He stared back at the blurry hallway raised two feet above the ground of the lawn, and saw something of a humanoid looking structure walking towards him with a slow gait. His vision was darkening by the time he realised what had happened.
'I was too slow..' he morosely thought. As the world started darkening further, he forcefully blinked to see the light again. He was met with what seemed to be a zooming in foot made of bone, and then suddenly everything was black again. He couldn't feel anything anymore.
___
The guard saw the now empty and dark eye sockets of this little living being, and felt accomplished. He had done his job well again, he had defended the castle yet again.
He walked back to where he came from, leaving the now dead— previously alive thing, lying on the ground. It didn't deserve any more of his attention.
___
It was dark.
…
…
…
Blinding red light suddenly lit up his world as Mat woke with a start. The world was all red, like the crimson moon above his head. Even the grass his was buried in was all red.
He breathed in and out, fast and hard, trying to calm himself.
The more he did, the more his vision cleared. The red slowly stared fading, bringing back more colours to his sight.
['Status']
He thought in his mind. He was dead, he was certain of that. That level 7 undead had killed him.
+++
Mordain Noxleigh
[First of the Graveborn]
Age: 10 (154)
Level 1 Undead Undead [Undead Mage]
VIT: -1 (1)
STR: 5
AGI: 8
INT: 9
MAG: 10 → 11
+++
'Wow. What the fuck is that even supposed to mean. Undead Undead? Undead Mage? So I am now double undead? If I die two more times, would I be quadruple undead? This is ridiculous.' Mat thought as he sulked over what had just happened.
"Why is this happening to me, I didn't want this!"
He cried in a low voice, making sure the undead who had just mogged him doesn't come back.
"Ah, no point worrying about what is out of my control. I just need to find that undead and get my revenge now. At least I have two lives now."
Mat slowly got on his knees, and crawled along the sides of the hall way floor from the grass. He made sure to be slow and cautious as he reached the end of the hallway, and saw what was a clearing.
He saw the undead sitting on the ledge of the hallway path. Indeed, it was the same guy.
His blood boiled as he looked the piece of shit who murdered him brutally, and was now just sitting casually like nothing had happened.
Mat slowly closed in on him like a lion, and waited for his chance. He put his hand forward and aimed at the abdomen of the undead.
As the undead stood up, Mat willed his mana to flow through his body. His hand warmed up as he commanded the Noxfire to take home in his palm, and target the undead in front of him. It walked in his direction for some reason, but that too, worked in his favour. Just as it was about 10 feet away from him, Mat imagined the fireball flying off his hand, and it did.
It hit the undead square in its chest, and it screeched in agony as the cyan flames with black wisps spread across its whole body, turning it into nothing more than ash and dust in a period of mere minutes.
Mat made sure the undead was not in the bushes, in case he light them all up on fire. That would be extremely bad for him, they served well as a tactical advantage when hiding.
He checked his status again. This time, something had felt different to him, like something had changed the moment he fired that ball of flames and that undead turned into ash.
+++
Mordain Noxleigh
[First of the Graveborn]
Age: 10 (154)
Level 2 Undead [Mage]
VIT: 2
STR: 5 → 6
AGI: 8 → 9
INT: 9 → 11
MAG: 11 → 13
+++
'Wow.. so I levelled up and now suddenly I have vitality again. This is all so weird.' Mat pondered as he thought about the two different statuses. It didn't make much sense to him, because being undead, or being double undead, he didn't feel much, if any difference at all. He felt the same, he didn't know if he looked the same or not though. He didn't know.
"Well, I'll see it as it comes."
Getting out of the bushes, Mat looked around to see if he could find anything else of note.. and indeed, there was nothing else. It was an empty backyard behind the dining room and the kitchen, and it had some extra rooms that stored more of the utensils used for cooking. There was another room, which he believed once stored raw food… although his senses like hearing and smell were numbed, he didn't dare go in there.
Mat looked around and did one last check to find anything of notice, after which he walked back to the gate that lead him out to the courtyard.
'Oh.. I need to find the key too.' he cried in his mind. He forgot he needed a key.
He had seen all the places, he didn't know if there could be somewhere else he may find that key.
"Aaaah.. this is frustrating." Mat sighed in frustration and went straight into the kitchen from the dining room. That was the only place he didn't check in because he was instinctively afraid of the lying body in there, which he was right to be.
Entering the kitchen, he noticed that there was no more a skeleton lying in there.
"Mental note to self, don't ignore skeletons anymore."
As he brightened up the flame in his hand, he noticed a large, black object reflecting the tiny image of the flame. He went closer to inspect, bent down, and looked carefully at what it was. Lo and behold, it was the key, lying right beneath where the body of the undead had been. He picked it up, with little effort this time.
"I see, so the two extra points in strength helped after all."
Walking out of room, he went to the door again. He stood there for a moment, contemplating if he should go out or not.
"It's possible there might a new wave of undeads out there, or even a stronger undead.. maybe a miniboss of some sort.."
Mat hesitated for a moment, he wasn't sure he wanted to go this way…
'But there really is no other way. Hesitation is defeat. I must do as I must do. No point worrying about what is out of my control.'
He told himself, and pushed the key into the door. He turned it clockwise, and it was the right direction. The gate unlocked with a loud tack, and he pushed it open. The two doors swung past each other, and a faint smell of weeds mixed with some sort of flowering plants hit his nose.
___
A small flight of stairs, just five of them, lead down to the level of the courtyard. He carefully, and swiftly stepped down on each, reaching the grass covered ground.
A coat of purple-green grass covered the entire courtyard, while thick and old trees stood on the sides, from which hung blue and purplish night shade like supple fruits. They gave the aura of death and poison.
Mat didn't know if he could taste in his current state, but he was not even sure that he wanted to. Especially with those things.
He looked around the courtyard, and found it leading back to the base of the tower on the left, and somewhere he didn't know on the right.
Mat walked straight ahead and decided to explore the area he had already seen a bird's eye view of. Turning left, he walked several metres before he reached another single floor building.
He read the barely discernible letters written on the top of it's gate.
"A-R-N-O-U-P-Y", he read, and realised this was an opportunity. All the weapons he had found so far had been useless, rusting pieces of metal, but maybe now he could actually find something useful.
Indeed, it was an armoury.
Mat took a breath, and cautiously entered the open gate that led him inside.