As the rising sun cast a pale glow over the shattered campus, Cynthia, Jenny, and their group of fighters trudged along the path to the school gate, their boots crunching against blood-streaked gravel.
The air was thick with anticipation, but an undercurrent of unease lingered, particularly between Jenny and Cynthia, whose thoughts drifted to Jon's troubling demeanor from the previous day.
"What do you think happened?" Jenny asked, her voice low, her eyes searching Cynthia's face. The question's target was unmistakable, and Cynthia's pensive expression confirmed it.
"I don't know… but I feel like there's more to it," Cynthia mused, her gaze distant as she recalled Jon's cold indifference. "It wasn't just the deaths of Alex and Tunde that made him that way." Her words carried a weight of certainty, as if she sensed a deeper fracture in Jon's psyche.
Jenny frowned, piecing it together. "So, you mean his past?" The idea clicked, and her mind raced, wondering what secrets Jon might carry from before the fall.
"Most likely," Cynthia replied, her tone clipped. She didn't linger on the topic, her sudden reticence hinting at her own guarded history. 'Does she have a past too?' Jenny thought, noting the awkward shift in Cynthia's demeanor. Jenny herself harbored memories she kept locked away, and the unspoken understanding between them silenced further probing.
Their conversation was abruptly cut short.
"Stop!" Cynthia's voice sliced through the group, halting their advance. Her brow furrowed as she scanned the path ahead. They had reached the point where they'd stopped the previous day, but the sky above darkened unnaturally, a heavy shroud creeping over the horizon.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Jenny asked, her eyes darting around, searching for the source of Cynthia's alarm.
"Wait, let me check something," Cynthia said, her voice tense. Without waiting for a response, she sprinted back toward the cafeteria, her figure vanishing into the distance.
Minutes later, she returned, her face grim. "It's only dark in this area. I think there's something here."
Jenny's concern deepened, her hand tightening around her sword's hilt. The group had set out at dawn, the sun's rise a clear memory, yet the sky ahead suggested evening.
The other fighters mirrored her unease, their heads swiveling as they scanned for threats. They hadn't checked the time before leaving, assuming the daylight would hold, but Cynthia's instincts had caught what they'd missed. The unnatural darkness wasn't a trick of time; it meant something else.
"We still have to keep moving," Jenny said after a moment, her nod resolute. Standing still would yield nothing but fear. The group agreed, steeling themselves as they ventured deeper into the shadowed path.
The darkness thickened with each step, swallowing the light until it felt like a physical weight pressing against them.
KRTHH… CREAK…
Strange noises echoed from ahead, halting the group in their tracks.
From the gloom, a skeletal figure emerged, its eye sockets blazing with eerie green light, bones rattling with each step. "Skeleton?" Laura muttered, tilting her head in disbelief, her voice a mix of curiosity and skepticism.
As if responding to her, more skeletal figures materialized, their forms wielding weapons forged from bone swords, spears, and shields that gleamed with an unnatural sheen. Their slow, deliberate advance radiated menace, and the air grew heavy with their presence. The survivors, hardened by the continuous battling zombies and monsters, flinched briefly at the sight but quickly steadied themselves. The strangeness of the skeletons left them momentarily silent, but without a word, they readied for combat, their weapons glinting with purpose.
Jenny darted to the right flank, her sword shimmering with silver flames. Her movements were fluid, a stark improvement from her clumsy swings on the first day of the fall.
It wasn't a matter of learning to swing her swords, no. Ironically or not, she got a skill called 'Basic swordsmanship techniques.'
The "Basic Swordsmanship Techniques" skill provided her with the fundamental movements every swordsman needed. It was similar to Jon's evolved martial expert skill; it was just that his included similar basics for all weapons.
SLASH… SLASH…
Her flaming sword carved through a wave of twenty skeletons, her advance relentless as she plunged deeper into the fray.
Silver flame orbs materialized around her, hovering protectively. When a skeleton lunged from her blind spot, one orb surged forward, engulfing the attacker in flames before returning to its orbit. "Charge!" Jenny muttered, activating her skill:
[CHARGE (FIRST REALM) LEVEL 2: USING 50 MANA, CHARGE THROUGH A 50-METER DISTANCE WITH DOUBLE SPEED]
The skill wasn't necessary against the low-level skeletons, whose remains held little value, but she used it to hone her precision, slicing through them effortlessly. Notifications flickered in her vision:
[YOU HAVE ABSORBED LEVEL 4 'FOOT SKELETON' REMAINS]
[YOU HAVE ABSORBED LEVEL 5 'FOOT SKELETON' REMAINS]
Jenny's lips twitched with a wry smile.
These levels, once precious, were now mere warm-ups. They no longer even raised her level in any way. Then a fleeting thought crossed her mind, 'Wouldn't it have been better if it started with skeletons instead of zombies?' The idea was sensible as skeletons were less visceral and less horrifying.
Perhaps more would have survived the initial chaos. 'But there was probably a reason,' she concluded, dismissing the thought as she glanced at Cynthia.
Cynthia was a whirlwind of elemental fury, her hands weaving through the air like a conductor's, summoning wind blades that shredded skeletons with surgical precision.
Fireballs punctuated her attacks, streaking through the darkness to incinerate her foes. For her, too, this was a warm-up, a chance to experiment.
Stretching out her hand, she conjured flaming fireballs, then merged them with a gust of wind, creating a fiery tornado that illuminated the battlefield. As she compressed the vortex, the surrounding darkness seeped into it, triggering an unexpected notification:
[YOU HAVE OBTAINED SKILL 'DARK FLAMING TORNADO']
[DARK FLAMING TORNADO (FIRST REALM) LEVEL 1: USING 50 MANA, ACTIVATE A TORNADO OF FLAMES WITH DARK PROPERTIES]
"Oh?" Cynthia smirked, her surprise tinged with delight.
She didn't hesitate, stretching her hands to conjure the new skill. A tornado of dark red flames roared to life, tearing through skeletons like brittle leaves.
WHOOOM…
The enhanced power and visual spectacle surpassed her previous attempts, the dark flames amplifying the destruction.
After clearing fifty skeletons, the tornado dissipated, leaving Cynthia grinning but mindful of its high mana cost. She opted not to summon it again, conserving her strength.
Laura was hindered by the darkness that nullified her lightning abilities, but she adapted with cunning. Drawing inspiration from Robin and Trudy's stealth tactics, she melded into the shadows, her movements silent and lethal.
Crafting daggers from hardened earth, she struck with precision, severing skeleton heads in swift, assassin-like strikes. The murky atmosphere became her ally, and with each kill, she deepened her understanding of manipulating the "climate" of this dark realm.
The battle unfolded in a rhythm of controlled chaos, the survivors cutting through the lower-level skeletons with ease.
"This is too easy!" one fighter laughed, his voice ringing out. His boast drew sharp glares as if saying, Don't jinx it.
And as if on cue, the ground trembled, and higher-level skeletons emerged, their bone armor thicker, their weapons sharper. The battle intensified, the new foes proving far more formidable.
Ironically, the boastful fighter was the first to falter, narrowly dodging a skeleton's lethal strike.
As the enemies' levels rose, the group faced fewer but stronger opponents, forcing the weaker fighters to retreat per their pre-established rule: fall back to the entrance if overwhelmed. Among the fighters, the former lords were among those who couldn't accept the rule and fell back, they had lost everything. So, they fought desperately to regain the sense of power and authority they once had.
The Poison Lord, her dagger dripping with toxic venom, slashed at a skeleton, her eyes smoldering with resentment as she glanced at Jenny and Cynthia.
The "Lords" had assumed Jon was their only rival, and his absence from the mission had sparked hope, they could grow stronger while he lagged. But Jenny and Cynthia's prowess shattered that illusion, their skills shining like beacons. Laura, limited by the darkness, posed less of a threat, but the Poison Lord knew that could change. For now, Jenny and Cynthia were the ones to watch.
The Blade Lord, locked in combat with a heavily armored skeleton, muttered,
"It's not on the bear's level yet." Dodging a swift strike, he countered with a skill-enhanced attack. "Blade Slash!" His sword glowed with a golden aura, slicing through the air. The skeleton retreated, but he pressed forward. "Double!" A second, darker energy layer extended his blade's reach, piercing the skeleton's core.
[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 23 'SOLDIER SKELETON' REMAINS]
[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED]
The Blade Lord exhaled, the surge of strength invigorating him.
But his moment of triumph was short-lived.
Ahead, the path opened into a dome-like area, shrouded in oppressive darkness. Twenty skeletons stood within, cloaked in the same dark energy that permeated the space.
All of them, especially the one in the center, radiated a menacing aura that set them apart from the others.
And the blade lord could feel it, each one of them was at the level or even stronger than the bear he had fought and almost lost his life to.