Zombies, unquestionably the first wave of demonic foes anyone entering Ghouls 'n Ghosts would have to face.
The graveyard where Chris and the others stood served as a spawn point for these reanimated dead. From every low mound, a mindless corpse could crawl out at any moment, driven by the instinct to feast on the living.
With the Guide gone, the players' journey into Ghouls 'n Ghosts had officially begun. As the countdown for the main mission ticked away, the slaughter followed suite.
Across the entire NES library, Ghouls 'n Ghosts was infamous for its relentless enemy spawns. It gave players no room to breathe, a relentless tide of monsters that never ceased.
And just as the blue-skinned man had warned, the danger here was far beyond what a newcomer should have been expected to handle.
It took less than ten seconds for a hand to burst through the soil and a full corpse to haul itself from the grave. The hill, which had previously held only a dozen trembling players, was now swarmed by an equal number of undead horrors.
Their bodies were in a state of advanced decay, their joints held together by nothing more than rotting sinew. Maggots could be seen crawling through their eyes, mouths, and ears. Yet, these corpses, which by all rights shouldn't have been able to move, were granted a second life by a dark, malevolent power, one that filled them with a deep seated hatred for all living things.
In response, some swung their blades, some stood frozen in shock, and others fled in blind panic.
The "one eared" college student, the one the Guide had used as a bloody example, now had a blood soaked strip of cloth wrapped around his head, torn from his own clothing.
To everyone's surprise, instead of distancing himself from the man who had maimed him, he had been the first to step forward when the loans were offered. With a stoic face and a heart full of suppressed emotion, he'd traded his talent information for a simple, rugged axe.
Even the blue-skinned man had been slightly surprised as he handed over the weapon. He'd almost expected the kid to show some spirit and swing the axe at him the moment it touched his hand.
Unfortunately for the Guide's expectations, while the veins on the back of the student's hand bulged as he gripped the handle, he'd simply sucked in a breath and retreated from the crowd, whispering to his roommate.
"Die, you bastard!!!"
The one eared student raised the one handed axe high and brought it down with crushing force on a zombie that was only halfway out of its grave. It was a strike fueled by the rage and hatred he hadn't dared to vent at the Guide.
As he swung, a faint glimmer of light shimmered across the surface of the axe.
[Woodcutting: Grade E Talent / Lv1. Talent Skill (Active). After ten years of experience in this chore, you have developed a remarkable talent for hacking and slashing.
When wielding a wood chopping knife or an axe, you can consume 3 MP to deliver a lethal strike. Increases weapon damage by 10% and has a moderate chance of inflicting 'Bleeding' or 'Amputation.' Deals 100% additional damage to ancient trees, ents, and tree spirit entities. Cooldown: 15 seconds.]
Before the low-HP zombie could even squeeze a raspy groan from its throat, the axe split it from crown to crotch in a perfectly clean bisection.
A sharp enough axe, a weak enough body, and a skilled enough strike, it was a flawless kill.
As a child from the mountains, this student knew exactly how to handle an axe. And this weapon, which was noticeably heavier than the hatchets he was used to, felt far more natural in his hand than he'd expected.
The blue-skinned man had been remarkably honest; the cold weapons he'd loaned out weren't just mass-produced industrial junk. They were genuine equipment from other dungeons.
The axe in the student's hand was a basic weapon from one of the most prolific equipment drops in existence, the PC game Diablo II.
[Hand Axe: Normal (White) / Lv1. One handed Axe. Requirements: None. Weapon Damage: 3 to 6. Durability: 28/28.]
The "Woodcutting" strike hadn't just triggered the maximum possible damage; it had also activated the "Amputation" effect, ending the zombie's second life instantly.
But as he secured the first kill of the session, a skeletal hand missing a finger suddenly clamped onto his left ankle.
In an instant, every hair on the student's body stood on end.
What the one-eared student could manage, however, was far beyond the capabilities of the others.
The large number of rookies meant the zombies' attention was divided. More importantly, not everyone possessed the courage to face a moving, rotting corpse, let alone with the desperate focus of the one-eared student.
The previous calm had been maintained only by the Guide's looming threat. Now, with no external pressure and no leader to unite them, the group fell apart like a heap of loose sand.
The semi drunk man was the first to fall under the zombies' teeth.
As he'd muttered to himself earlier, he'd consumed at least half a liter of white liquor and two dozen beers before being chosen. While the gunshot had jolted him back to a semblance of clarity, the connection between his mind and his body was still lagging.
His tolerance was high, but his alcohol numbed cerebellum didn't care about his pride.
And though the zombies looked frail, they possessed a dark, magical energy powerful enough to shatter even Arthur's magical knight armor in a single blow. What chance did a normal person with no protection have?
Faced with a zombie's claw, the drunk man, who hadn't managed to get a weapon, instinctively raised his arm to defend himself.
He blocked the strike, but beneath his long sleeve, the bone in his arm buckled and snapped in the wrong direction. The limb had been broken instantly!
It was a level of pain that even the most potent alcohol couldn't dull.
And that was the end of it. The zombie's teeth sank into the screaming man's neck.
The man's talent was actually quite decent, "Alcoholism," a Grade D passive skill. It allowed him to reduce pain after drinking, increased his physical crit rate and resistance to mental shock, and provided a small amount of health regeneration. In the early stages of a dungeon where healing was scarce, it was a very useful talent.
In particular, the mental shock resistance was a rare attribute among Grade D talents and skills, making it a promising prospect for the future.
Unfortunately, years of heavy drinking had left his physical condition in tatters. And judging by the way the zombies were swarming him, it wouldn't be long before he looked just like the late Arthur.
Nearby, a girl holding a baseball bat from the Sega Genesis game Streets of Rage III was screaming at the top of her lungs. She swung the bat wildly, hitting everything and nothing as a zombie lunged at her.
Against a zombie, a light blunt weapon was far less effective than a proper bladed one. The result was inevitable.
The moment she was bitten, her scream went up an octave, followed by weakening cries of "Help me, someone help me!" But at that moment, no one could spare a thought for her.
At least these two had tried to defend themselves. A significant portion of the group, however, made a far more fatal mistake in their panic.
Six people, seeing the zombies occupied with the drunk man and the girl, took advantage of the spray of blood to scramble down the five meter slope of the hill. They tried to find safety in the open graveyard below, only to trigger a chain reaction of grave spawns.
And it wasn't just zombies bursting from the soil. Several red-eyed crows perched on tombstones and withered trees let out raspy caws and joined the assault.
Zombies at least had a weakness, their stiff limbs made it difficult for them to turn corners. By using tombstones as cover and constantly shifting paths, one might find a sliver of hope.
But the red eyed crows, with beaks as sharp as knives, were another story entirely.
The raspy caws of the crows, the hollow groans of the zombies, and the piercing screams of the humans began to swirl through the graveyard.
A total wipeout seemed imminent.
But then, a sudden, sharp crack tore through the air.
Crack!
The zombie that had been halfway out of its grave and had managed to pull the one-eared student to the ground suddenly froze. Its decaying mouth had been inches from the student's neck, but now its head snapped away from its body. It rolled across the dirt and landed right in the student's face.
Nearby, Chris had raised a long whip he had acquired from somewhere and snapped it again with incredible precision.
Crack!
This time, the target was a red eyed crow that had been diving toward its prey. The bird exploded in a cloud of black feathers.
In that moment, Chris's eyes were shining with a terrifying intensity.
On his personal status panel, which only he could see, a stream of messages was scrolling by.
[Detected initial entry into a 'Ghouls 'n Ghosts' dungeon:]
[S Grade Talent 'Game Master' active:]
[Successfully loaded 'Vampire Hunter / Simon Belmont' protagonist template from the 'Castlevania' origin.]
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]