Blrugh!
The Fallen felt so nauseous after the teleportation that his body reacted instinctively and assumed a vomiting position. Though nothing came out of his bony mouth.
"Damn, I hate this feeling."
Having regained a part of his senses, he tilted his head up to see a double-barred wooden door. Surrounding him was an enclosed room built of grey stones piled up on top of one another in a medieval style. He stumbled backward, still sick from the teleportation, and his talon hit something: the exact same shrine as in Sanctuaire.
He stood for a minute next to it to catch a breath and decided to first explore the basic stats the Guardian had talked about. He sat down in front of it, in a 'lotus' position, pondering how to activate the damn thing.
"So, how did she say I should do it again?"
He barely had the time to talk that a beam of light descended from above, even though there was no hole in the ceiling. As the Fallen was trying to comprehend this bizarre phenomenon, a status window appeared in front of his empty eye sockets.
__________
Name: ???
Titles: Fallen, Interrogator.
Basic Stats:
- Strength: Lv2 [Low-M]
- Endurance: Lv1 [Lowest]
- Mana: Lv0 [Nonexistent] (your mana suck)
- Agility: Lv1 [Lowest]
Skills:
- Alive but dead Lv14 [Divine]
- Reaper of souls Lv10 [Pinnacle-L]
__________
His eyes shifted from left to right, trying to figure out the sparse pieces of information given to him. This stat window wasn't complicated to understand, so comprehension came quickly. But...
"My mana suck?"
Incomprehension and confusion built into an uncontrollable fury. First, he was thrown in this hell hole without warning whatsoever. Second, the pieces of information he had been given were sparse at best. And now, to top it off, this dungeon was mocking his meager abilities.
Incapable of containing his rage, he lifted his skull up and yelled the first obscenities that came to mind. In his anger, he called the entity managing the status window 'system', founding the term simplistic.
It took him quite a few minutes to calm down. Whoever he had been, it seemed he had quite the fiery temper.
"Whatever you are, just watch me. I'll climb up those 10 floors and kick your ass."
Sigh.
Apart from this troll of a system, something else caught his attention: skills. He didn't know what they were and could only make guesses. 'Alive but dead' might be what will resurrect him after each death. 'Reaper of souls' may be what allowed the collection of souls. And those grades... 'Lv10 (Pinnacle-L)?' 'Lv14 (Divine)?'
'To hell with it. I'll find out later.' he thought.
The status window automatically closed when he stood up and headed for the barred door. He lifted the wooden bar fairly easily, probably because of his strength stat, and threw it to the side.
"Well, time to climb."
The Fallen pulled the double doors open and proceeded forward.
It led him to a plaza with stone pavings. The grey clouds blocked the sunlight's path, coloring the surroundings with grey. At the center of this place stood a 4 meters tall tree. The branches and barks were dark and deprived of leaves. On the stone-icy floor laid ten or so skeletons with various pieces of equipment in hands. It looked like they had died a long time ago as the swords, shields, and other stuff were very rusted.
"Never mind what I said, this dungeon is quite generous, giving me weapons to arm myself from the start."
He approached the nearest skeleton and bent forward to grab the rusted swords it had in hand. But then... the skeleton started moving. It reaffirmed its grip on the sword and stood up. Four amongst the dozen skeletons lying on the ground followed the lead.
The Fallen stood disoriented at the sight, stunned by what just occurred.
The nearest skeleton launched itself towards him and landed a vicious downward slash. Caught unprepared, the rusted weapon lacerated his breast cage despite its pitifully awful state. Even as a skeleton, the Fallen felt an immense pain from the strike and evaded backward. It appeared pain still affected him, even though he wasn't human anymore.
Behind him, another skeleton was waiting in ambush and bashed him with its shield. His skull hit the ground violently and cracked in multiple places.
Taking advantage of his loss of balance, the first skeleton who attacked him doddered forward.
"Kakakakaka"
'The damn bastard he's laughing at me?'
Feeling humiliated and mocked the Fallen tried to stand up. However, before he could do anything the skeleton adjusted the tip of its sword downward and sank it into his skull.
He died.
***
Blrugh!
After he returned from the dead, he 'threw up' to his heart's content. Apparently reviving had the same effect on him as teleportation.
"Fuck!"
He sat in front of the altar to catch his breath. Then a beam of light descended from who knows where again, and the status window appeared. The same status as before, apart from one single detail.
__________
Name: ???
Titles: Fallen, Interrogator.
Basic Stats:
- Strength: Lv2 [Low-M]
- Endurance: Lv1 [Lowest]
- Mana: Lv0 [Nonexistent] (your mana suck)
- Agility: Lv1 [Lowest]
Skills:
- Alive but dead Lv14 [Divine]
- Reaper of souls Lv10 [Pinnacle-L]
Cause of previous death:
- Caught unprepared (LOL)
__________
"..."
Turmoil, disarray, and anger formed a cocktail of insanity at the obvious provocation of the system. He felt the need to ease his damaged pride. But his fragile bony hands couldn't do the job and no weapons were at his disposal yet. Therefore, he armed himself with the first thing he found.
Standing in front of the altar with the wooden bar in hands, the Fallen's mind was set upon his unmoving prey. In his state of madness, he gathered every ounce of strength he had, and with a laugh mimicking the other skeletons, launched a powerful blow at the altar.
"Kakakakakaka!"
BAM!
And died.
***
Blurgh!
'Indeed, vomiting in front of the altar is becoming a ritual.' he thought.
Altar? Ritual? He laughed at his own nonsense joke, more out of pity for his situation than fun. After all, it took his mind off the current problems he faced. The only issue is that his laugh imitated the skeletons.
"Kakakaka!"
Attacking the altar wasn't a good idea. Some kind of formless shield had returned the bar to his face before the improvised weapon could hit the structure. What followed was pretty easy to guess.
Nevertheless, this wasn't a fruitless endeavor. Now he knew one thing: the wooden bar could be used as a weapon against those skeletons. Armed with it, he exited the room. Like last time, the enemies rested on the ground.
He walked to the nearest skeleton and lifted the bar to prepare for the inevitable confrontation. His foe moved just as it did last time and an ugly laugh escaped through the Fallens' teeth, manifesting the eagerness he had to pay back his previous humiliation.
"Kakakakaka!"
BAM!
The skeleton's skull exploded into pieces and the Fallen laughed out of madness as he continued to reduce the poor bastard's body to bone pounder. Amidst the frenzied hammering, he felt something entering him: the skeleton's soul. Who would have thought that skeleton had souls?
With this, he felt like he regained a small amount of control. Drunk on his first victory, he felt empowered and invincible. Confidence fueled his motivation, threatening to burst apart. The Fallen couldn't hold it in anymore and shouted a provocation.
"Is there no one else!?"
He regretted this foolish act fairly quickly as 10 skeletons instead of 5 woke up this time. Feeling stupid, he made a mental note for next time: no shouts. He grabbed the dead skeleton's weapon. Ran back to the altar room. Barred the double door. And stood in front of it, sword in hand.
Soon after, banging sounds came from the outside, manifesting the eagerness those skeletons had to kick his bony ass.
"What should I do now?"
His legs shook at the thought of facing 10 opponents. His unexisting heart raced like a mad horse fleeing for its life.
The previous feeling of invincibility? GONE.
His mind? BROKEN.
The situation? HOPELESS.
'I should have stayed asleep.' he despaired.
"Kakakakaka!"
Skeletons laughs, amplified by the confined space, echoed inside the room; harassing the Fallen's sanity. In response, he enclosed himself in a bubble of self depressing thoughts.
'I should have never awakened, I should have never awakened, I should have never awakened...'
He dropped his weapon, bent his knees, and placed his hands on the empty areas ears were supposed to fill. The "Kakakaka" laughs resounded in his mind, times and times again, tormenting him to an unbearable level.
Close to a mental breakdown, he hammered his own head against the ground, trying to stop the skeletons' voices from entering his mind. Amidst this pitiful event, he remembered the voice which called out to him in the void.
"Don't be afraid..."
Slowly, the warmth from those words made its way to his broken mind, putting his lost sanity back together pieces after pieces. The fear progressively disappeared, and he stopped smashing the ground using his head. The shakings subsided as he stood up.
"... and come back to us, my love."
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