Chapter 12

In the dark cramped room, the howling wind’s chilling cold no longer invaded his body. Light seeped in from the corners of the door and from its chipped cracks. A musty smell lingered in the room from the unused cleaning products. Of course, the place Kazu sat in right now is a broom closet.

The miraculous event with the sword reminded him of the envelope in his pocket. At that thought, he took out the scrunched up envelope in his pocket. Creased lines appeared all over the envelope due to its rough handling. The envelope read “To Tomoe Kazu.”

He took out the paper from the already opened envelope and unfolded the cute stationary paper inside. Each unfolding turn of the paper made his heart beat. To Kazu’s surprise, the sword’s heartbeat also grew faster.

“To Tomoe Kazu,

At the usual spot through the trees.

Please, I’ll be waiting for your answer there during the fireworks.”

A solemn smile escaped his face from reading the short 2 lines. The girl that wrote this never dragged her word around. Instead, she was always straight to the point—blunt even. Yet she took the time to write out this letter and wait for an answer that should have been demanded on the spot. Those actions showed that she cared a lot about the other and didn’t want to rush.

Kazu folded back the stationary, putting it back in the envelope. He tucked it back into his pocket with care as to not create anymore creases. Both Kazu and his sword’s heartbeat calmed down after putting away the sensitive material.

Now, Kazu stood back to his original goal; to survive. Expanding his awareness, loud moans and grunts from zombies resonated behind the door. Their outlines shown through the wall. Counting each one, they numbered a total of 23 zombies near the door.

Since the zombies didn’t see through sight, he couldn’t use stealth. His eyes turned to the stale cleaning products sitting on the shelves. An idea popped into his head. Zombies that relied on their sense of smell usually smell “life.” These are things such as body odour and smell of breath. Since these cleaning products don’t count as having life, the zombies wouldn’t notice him if he the lifeless scent all over him.

Taking one of the bottles filled with oozing liquid, he applied the disgusting liquid all over his clothes. The liquid has long lost its acidic properties long ago and became stale, so it was safe to apply on the skin too.

A few minutes passed by from carefully applying the stenchy liquid. Kazu stood up and prepared to take on the zombies. Then with his left hand, he covered his mouth and opened the door with his right.

On instinct, he activated stealth just in case.

5 zombies appeared in his vision, all of them walked to one direction as if controlled by someone. Even though he still shivered at the sight of zombies, there was nothing he could do but to conquer the fear.

Shaking his head off the fearful thoughts, the zombies didn’t notice him so it was safe to say that his idea worked. Yet another problem arose. Kazu already knew that the zombies wouldn’t die with just beheading so that was out of the question.

In the tattered clothes of one the zombie, Kazu saw a glittering purple light in the middle of its chest. He crept in closer to the nearest zombie to see the object in its chest. Upon closer inspection, it was a diamond shaped gem lodged right on top of where its heart should be. The size of the gem came close to the size of a slender finger.

It emanated a mysterious aura and a slight string of power stuck to it. Is this what’s keeping it alive? Kazu asked.

Brandishing his sword, Kazu prepared to stab the gem hoping to cut it in half. And then, in one lunge, he felt a direct hit on the gem. The sword had cut the gem in half like butter. After a second, the gem shattered into a purple powdered substance. Following its shatter, the zombie fell on the ground.

[[ 400 xp gained ]]

Kazu turned his head at all the zombies. All of them had the same finger sized gem. His eyes narrowed as his course was set—kill all of the zombies using this weakness.

Even in the games that Mako or the sports that he used to play before being diagnosed, he would find every way he can to exploit the glitches or rules of the game. Spamming one move? Why not!

For once, it was perfect for the situation. All he needed right now was to gain xp to be able to defeat whatever comes at him with brute force. Nothing else mattered.

With that said, he slowly crept up behind another zombie. As soon as he got close enough, he stabbed it right in the chest. The gem on its chest turned into purple powder and the zombie collapsed on the ground with no signs of vitality.

One by one, the zombies fell from an invisible being. A shadow slowly swept through the zombies. It killed them in order as to not leave one out.

Dead zombies scattered on the floor of the hallway totalling 23 unmoving bodies.

Level up! (15)

Shockwave now available!

Shockwave (Active)

Description: Causes around self knocking everything away in a (10) meter radius.

Cost: 300 mana

Fool’s Wind now available!

Fool’s Wind (Active Toggle) Lv. 1 (0%)

Description: Summons a pulsing typhoon centering around the user and creating massive AoE damage in a (10) meter radius.

Pulse damage is 2.25x damage of weapon.

Activation costs 75 stamina and pulses every (1) second with each pulse consuming 5 stamina.

Kazu reached level 15 in his status also unlocking the last 2 skills in the beginner set of the skill tree. The effect of Fool’s Wind surprised him. Seeing that his sword had 1800-2100 attack rating, it would mean every pulse would cause over 3600 damage. The skill was also a toggle which meant that it can run forever.

However, it had a high activation cost of 75. Right now, he only had 243 stamina which would mean the activation itself requires a third of his whole stamina pool.

At most, this skill would be used as a last resort, Kazu thought.

Closing all of the dialogues, Kazu wandered forward towards where the zombies headed to. A large amount of corpses laid on the ground as he walked along the corridors. Both large, and small bones scattered everywhere. There were scars on the wall, craters, blood, cleaned bones, and unknown liquids splashed at random. Looking at all of these, they were the signs of large scale combat happening recently.

Kazu strolled further into the unknown, not knowing what’s up ahead. He trusted his instincts instead of his logical intuition to swerve through the hallways and intersections. In simpler terms, he followed the corpse trail.

Following the trail of corpses for an hour, he had killed a total of 26 wandering zombies along the way. It leveled him up to 18.

As he got further, sounds of large clubs clashing against flesh and walls echoed in the direction of the corpse trail. Kazu peeked through the corner of the intersection.

A large clash between zombies and ogres blocked his path. The ogres were getting pushed back by the huge amount of zombies that were much smaller than them. Even though it only took one swing of their big hammer to crush a zombie, the zombies persisted on biting the ogres with no care for their life.

Each time a zombie bit to the flesh of an ogre, the flesh around the bit part would turn purple. The purple tinge on the skin spread slowly across the ogre’s body. When the whole body of the ogre turns purple, the ogre drops dead crushing several zombies with its massive body.

After a few seconds, the ogre’s body twitches. A few seconds more, it got up facing the other ogres. The ogre that stood up had no pupil, showing only the whites of its eyes. It drooled with no control over its mouth as it grunted and moaned in a violent manner against its fellow ogres. That moment, a gem the size of a finger appeared on top of its chest where the heart was placed. Its broken platemail let Kazu see the gem.

In retrospect, the ogre had turned into a zombie from the poison. Now, the zombie ogre brandished its giant club against its former friends.

Kazu saw all of this. That must be the reason why the ogres were getting pushed back. Yet, a glitter appeared on Kazu’s eye. A spark of an idea. All the zombies were pre-occupied meaning that there would be less chance of him being detected by them. In summary, this was a gold mine of xp. 26 zombies earlier got him up to level 18 from 15. How much levels would he gain after killing hundreds of them?

First tactic was to block the flood of reinforcement of the zombies. They were coming from all directions of the intersection. Even in the hallway he crossed from, several zombies already gathered. Kazu had no idea where they came from, but right now, it would be best to just take the xp.

In a swift and silent manner, Kazu stabbed through each zombie’s chest. Everything that met his blade dropped instantly following their gem bursting into powder.

One after another, zombies came like robots being sent to their deaths. The flood of xp gave Kazu an ecstatic satisfaction. Inside, he was laughing at the easy mechanics of the zombies.

For hours, Kazu exploited the zombies, killing everything within his reach. Of course, he let a bit of zombies go through him so the combat line wouldn’t be pushed back or pushed up too close to him. He maintained its perfect balance. Doing this, he had killed over 300 zombies which made his arm somewhat sore from all the stabbing. He was now level 31 with no effort at all. Although since he had passed lvl 18 long ago, the xp zombies gave diminished little by little with every level up.

He shook his head and gazed at the fight. What was the point of the war between the undead and the monsters? In normal dungeons he played in games, monsters from different floors naturally didn’t attack each other. It was because they lived in the same area and unwritten rules were in place.

However, this sight was definitely that of a war. Clueless to the big picture, Kazu shook his head to forget the whole thing.

“KRRAAAAARK!!!!”

A sudden shout from where the ogres fought vibrated the whole hallway. Chandeliers from above shook from the noise and Euopth’s body could be seen through the veil of shadows. A large amount of pressure covered the battlefield.

Several needle like poles shot through the air aimed at each zombie and one at Kazu. He saw this in slow motion so it was easy to dodge. Following this, smaller spider like bees followed Euopth from the ceiling. Hundreds of trolls, ogres, and other unidentified beings marched through the hallway.

It was now time to run. He already got his dues worth so there was no point in staying longer. Going back to where he originally came from, he swerved through the hallway much faster than before. If anyone ever saw him, he would be like a blur in the wind—a shadow.

In under a minute, he entered the broom closet he used for shelter.

*grooowl*

Kazu lowered his stance to get a lower center of gravity and to prepare for a fight. He looked everywhere to figure out where the sudden noise came from in the broom closet.

*grooooowl*

Again, he heard it, yet he couldn’t see where it came from. His palm became sweaty, and even his awareness skill couldn’t find out where the noise came from.

*groooooooowl*

Kazu looked down at his stomach growling in rebellion. Ah… what the hell. I’m hungry Kazu sighed in relief.

Opening up his inventory, he touched one of the sandwich icons. A few days earlier, he had gotten some sandwiches from Sene. Curiosity lit up in his eyes upon getting the idea of perishable foods. What would happen if he stored the sandwich in the inventory? Would it spoil or not? Because of this, he had stored sandwiches in his inventory at different days.

However, he had forgotten about them so he hadn’t had the chance to take them out. This was the perfect time to see whether they spoil or not. Even if they were spoiled, Kazu would still eat them he thought. Right now, food became the most important thing in his inventory.

He reached for the sandwich icon in the inventory menu and the space around his hand rippled. The texture of the sandwich reached the tips of his finger as he gripped on it. Pulling the sandwich out, he saw it in perfect condition. It was even slightly colder than before meaning that the space in the inventory was refrigerated.

Even in the beginning when he unlocked the inventory, he thought that it the whole system itself was a cheat. But now, it definitely is a cheat—a cheat meant to be exploited even further!

Taking out 2 more sandwiches from the inventory, he ate all of them. 16 sandwiches remained in his inventory. The next time he eats, the sandwiches would be rationed, Kazu thought.

As he finished the sandwiches, his eyelids became heavy. Exhaustion took over every part of his body. He had lost track of time ever since he woke up in the dungeon near the teleport platform. With that, he didn’t know how long he’s been up for. But he knew that he had been awake for more than a day.

If doesn’t sleep now, he may fall unconscious at the worst possible moment. Kazu laid his back down on the shelf. Putting his overcoat over his body, he let his eyelids slip down to go to sleep. The position was uncomfortable, but the exhaustion made it tolerable.

At this important time, 3 huge bodied monsters invaded Kazu’s awareness range. Their eyes seemed to be searched for something. Everytime they passed by a door, they kicked it down then searched every inch of the room. Room by room, they inched closer to the broom closet Kazu sat in. Then, by the time they were next door, Kazu used his >.

Baam!

The door slammed open from the force of the kick. What Kazu thought to be normal ogres were now in front of him; except, they weren’t normal. Each one stared at him with their single eye—they were cyclopes. Their eyes stared right into Kazu’s eyes as if they could see him through his stealth.

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StatusNameCyclops Lv. 30TypeOrcHP9000MP2250Attack Rating900-1200AttackSmash, Kick, PunchDescription: Stated in the legends, these beings can see through all illusions. They are hunted for their single eye that provides true sight.

Before he could read the dialogue, his question was answered quicker than he thought as the cyclops in front swung his large bat at him.

With nowhere to go, Kazu slid through the legs of the cyclopes. From both sides of the hallway, more cyclops came from all directions.

Warning: Exhausted. Stats reduced to 15% of original (except HP and MP). Stamina is below threshold; skills disabled.

The dialogue drew the last draw from Kazu. Even though he had just gotten so much levels earlier. Even though he wanted to survive. Such a situation was still thrown at him—an inescapable situation.

Kazu ran in a random direction hoping to get away. However, his speed was low. It felt like he was running like a normal person back in Japan. Compared to his speed, the cyclopes were much faster.

In front of him, there was a blockade of cyclopes and the cyclopes from behind him caught up almost immediately. A hopeless situation, Kazu thought.

Brandishing his sword, he swung its blade behind him. His slice wasn’t fast, so it was blocked by the cyclops that charged at him from behind. The next sequence, Kazu saw the world going round and a massive number appeared as a damage indicator.

The huge bash from the cyclops sent him flying to the air taking away half of his hp. Kazu’s mind went into overload and adrenaline rushed to every vein in his body. It temporarily removed the restraint of exhaustion, but he didn’t know how long it would last.

Dashing forward, he used Rising Wind to blow away one cyclops… then two.. then three… and several more. Even though they looked huge, their skin was easy to cut through with the sharpness of the blade. Their bodies were also light, full of fat and no muscle.

A couple more of cyclops died and the adrenaline in Kazu’s body dimmed down. The exhaustion effect in the corner of his eyes again popped up. The overload was over.

Kazu stood still for a few seconds. After that, his body collapsed on the ground and his breathing became deep. He fell unconscious right after the adrenaline stopped.

The surrounding cyclopes sighed in relief as the black haired monster in front of them stopped its rampage. A fully armoured cyclops signaled his comrades with a hand gesture. Then, steps drew in closer to Kazu as the cyclops closed in on Kazu’s body.

It drew its club preparing for a smash at the being that killed a few of its comrades. In that instant, it put all its strength to its arm while putting all of its weight into the strike.

Bam!

Clouds of dust formed where Kazu’s body laid. The cyclops sighed in relief as the deed finished. However, the cloud of dust dissipated and one of the cyclops from the crowd pointed at where the body was.

There, Kazu’s body laid in perfect condition. A dim yellow light with purplish extracts covered Kazu’s body like a barrier. The sword on his waist also glowed a violent yellow.

The cyclops that smashed the body tripped backwards as it looked up to see the ghost floating on top of the body. It shivered with no control over its body even though it was used to the cold of the dungeon..

The ghost, on the other hand, had a slender body, gold purplish eyes, silk smooth clothing. Her cherry red lips were small and her nose felt like perfectly sculpted. Her very being gave an impression of art, an impression of frailty.

Yet to the cyclopes, they were all afraid. Immense pressure froze all of them in fear. All the cyclopes knew, in that instant, she was a higher being.

A god? No. Such things don’t exist. A higher being meant a being with utmost power. That was the ghost. An existence with absolute power.

The tripped cyclops, being the nearest from the Kazu, tried to crawl away from the scene. Suddenly, a circular ray of light slashed across the cyclops. In that next second, the body of the cyclops was cut in half from its head down to its crotch. Blood sprayed out of the veins to signify the cleanliness of the cut.

Then, every cyclops in a 5 meter radius was beheaded by the same ray of light. The ghost drew a circle. By instinct, the cyclops understood that whoever stepped in that circle will die.

“KRAAAAAARK!!!!”

Euopth’s cry came from the hallway. Dozens of needle poles cried in a sharp tone as they tore through the air. They were aimed at Kazu. Yet, it was futile. The needle poles seemed to disappear as they reached the 5 meter radius. That was when Euopth landed on a nearby chandelier.

“grmbmmm…”

It grumbled and understood the situation. Even Euopth shivered at the sight of the ghost. His eyes seemed to avoid the eyes of the ghost—a fearless animal actually felt fear.

“Kraaarrrak.” Euopth screamed.

In that command, all of the cyclops turned away from the unconscious Kazu and the floating ghost. They marched to the direction opposite of where they came from. After a few meters, all of the cyclops, trolls, ogres, goblins, ogre shamans, faded into the darkness of the dungeons.

Kazu and the ghost was now alone. The ghost showed a sincere smile. It was warm and seemed to relax the tension in Kazu’s face.

“Kazu… in my past life, I promised to protect you and love you. Who knew that the accident that befell on me after your death would lead me to this life. Now that I found you again, in this life too, I will keep my promise.” The ghost whispered. "But for now, only until you wake up... my power grows weaker by the day...."

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Short chapter.

As always, thanks for reading! Comments, feedback, proofreading are welcomed with utmost appreciation!