'Would you go to Mars to start a colony?'
Typhus laughed inwardly as he recalled the question given to him by his brother Sylas all those years ago. His surroundings were making themselves in real time, the beauty of it made him feel like he was truly on another planet.
Below Typhus in a 10 meter square of ankle deep water that reflected the sun's glare beautifully rather than blinding. Above the pond, streams of sparkling clear water wove downslope chaotically. Gently trickling into the perfectly square pool producing small ripples into the larger body of water. On the opposite side of the square the pencil width rivers continued downward at the same rate the larger pool filled, making a perfect loop of displaced water.
Cupping his hands he brought the water to his mouth, tasting it before spitting it out. It was clean. Impossibly clean. Forest green colored moss stretched across smooth rocks gently swaying in the current of the pond which should have left a rather unique aftertaste, for some reason it just… didn't. Nature isn't kind to the unnatural, making him wary of the cleanliness.
Surrounding the water, large 20 meter silver colored bark encased trees filled with orange, green, and purple leaves that filled the branches abundantly. Each limb close to 3 meters apart but densely packed enough with foliage to allow no line of sight deeper into the forest past the small clearing outside the pool. Playful breezes would dislodge leaves, sending them whimsically to the forest floor or into the pond still spinning from the twisting wind. Typhus watched a green leaf land directly in front of him disrupting his reflection with the ripples.
Typhus had just cut his own hair and shaved earlier in the day, his styled hair was short, getting nearly bald around the sides of his head and gel styled 'wave' on the top. He had shaved his beard short to show his sharper features, making his green and yellow eyes pop more against his black outfit thanks to the system provided robes; his 'edge lord' look was on full display making him nearly cringe.
An impossibly perfect fitting black robe covered his upper body tightly making a 'y' shape over his chest covering up to his neck, the sleeves of the robe hung from his shoulders to the middle of his forearms. Falling between his shoulder blades he felt a hood, pulling it over his head, shade covered his entire face and a good portion of his chest. His lower body had the same blue denim jeans, warm fur lined high top shoes, he was wearing at the chilly bonfire only an hour before.
Curiously and tentatively Typhus tested the traction of the stone ground knowing how slick they should be when moss covered, feeling little to no slipping he cautiously stepped to get out of the pond. Taking a good 15 steps he made it onto dirt. Having been on his fair share of hikes and adventures he knew from sight this was a mountain, yet the trees blocked his view of anything outside his immediate surroundings.
Is this the tutorial? Considering he was almost set on fire for being indecisive the serenity was… Disturbing? Confusing? Having been distracted by the beauty of nature Typhus climbed quickly onto the thickest branch of the closest tree and sat to think.
If this place was meant to be some kind of test to him, what would that test be? Is the tutorial just a sequence of decisions he must make? What would that determine? How long is the tutorial? Should he view this as a survival scenario? Grunting Typhus let his head fall onto the bark of the tree as he stared out from his vantage point. Rays of light created a hauntingly beautiful array of spotlights through the foliage of the surrounding trees, dust flew freely on the light breeze making the light alternate in pattern with the rustling leaves. Taking a deep breath Typhus counted to ten just like he always had to do when he needed his nerves calm and mind sharp.
The best thing he could do right now, would be to handle this as a worst case survival situation.
Food, Water, and shelter will always be of the utmost importance when dealing with unbridled nature.
Pulling his hood down to avoid a nasty sunburn, Typhus searched around the edges of the pond seeing if this particular water could be boiled to make it drinkable even if it tasted perfectly fine. The risk of infection was just too large a concern forcing him to find a few filtering components. He had used charcoal before but it mattered more that he boiled it. Still wary of the 'perfect' in nature usually meant 'trapped'.
While scouring around the pond a purple leaf danced on the wind as it flew in front of his face catching Typhus's attention. Fluttering, the purple leaf sliced through the air before landing gently right above a metallic glare on the water's surface. Looking closer, a light green glow shone from beneath a few fist sized rocks in the center of the square.
Effortlessly throwing the rocks over his shoulder and out of his way, splashes sounding out behind him. A ruby pommel rose from the ground beneath the rocks. Below the pommel was a dark leather wrapped grip, the ornate chrome looking cross guard reminded Typhus of a fencer's rapier with a covering for his hand with red symbols lining it.
Grasping the handle then ripping upwards a metal blade was born from the ground.
The balance felt a little awkward due to the surprising weight but the weapon would be perfect for Typhus since he had practiced sword play for fun and exercise more than any other martial weapon. Not the kid version either, he had taught combatives in the army for years so he experimented with other forms of combat to expand his knowledge and arsenal.
For the survival situation he was in, certainly there was better utility in other weapons. A hand axe in particular would have been perfect for crafting, but any weapon is better than no weapon. Let alone such an ornate one, Typhus would be bringing this blade back if his life depended on it if nothing else to be a family heirloom. He also knew to tell himself positive things in crisis scenarios…
The sound of stone shaking against stone increased all around the area the sword was pulled from. The vibration spread like a disease until all the stones in the pond shook like an earthquake happening only in the 5 by 5 meter space of water.
Ominous purple light exploded upward from where the sword was hidden, a small black ball the size of a lightbulb shot out of the lowest rocks. Black mist wisps reached into the air around the smaller ball of condensed darkness. Purple bolts of lightning arched menacingly from the center of the ball resembling an evil looking Tesla coil.
The lightning intensified in speed, pushing against its confines until the ball shifted. Instead of retaining its shape the ball expanded with each probe from the lightning. Within moments the ball had become 2 and a half meters in size with the lightning stopping soon after.
As if born from darkness itself a point of the orb started to expand outward, continuing until the surface started to stretch. The shape of a hand became more and more pronounced until the darkness gave way. Rather than a burst or sudden eruption, the orbs 'skin' retreated like it was the consistency of slime.
White bones stretched forward from within the portal grasping outwards, a full 183 cm skeleton pushed itself out from the portal. Noticing Typhus the creature reacted ferally while its lower half was still being pushed out of the orb, scratching the air with its free hand while the portal released it.
Finally, the skeleton shot forward fully free from the orb. Momentum made it land chin first on the rocks with its legs above its head. Clicks and pops sounded as it righted itself in an unnatural manner.
Even the breeze stopped suddenly as the only noise was the skeleton's body dripping water. Typhus stared at the empty eye sockets as the shade of the day moved with the lowering sun illuminating the back of its grey tinted skull. Without warning the monster made its move.
Lurching its hips forward the skeleton's upper body snapped into running posture as it charged for Typhus. Creaks sounded from bones hitting one another by this recreation of life. He felt bad for it, if only it had a different target…
Typhus was no stranger to combat, or to fear.
Rolling his shoulders while grinning, Typhus held the 90 centimeter long sword in his rear hand while holding his other arm out in front of him. He let the sword sing on the breeze with a satisfyingly sharp swoosh, while rolling his relaxed wrists around. Ultimately snapping into start position with the tip of the sword stopping abruptly, gracefully resting on his forearm at eye level. It had been a very long time since he could let go of 'protection over aggression', well… More accurately it had been awhile since Sylas wasn't around.
Inefficiently the creature shook its limbs uncontrollably, flinging pitifully in every direction. Mercy was not something afforded in nature, even if he could have saved it. Made it understand, he couldn't, therefore the monster was on par with a wild aggressive animal in this case.
Instantly moving into range Typhus took two steps forward while lifting his sword arm over his head to maximize the amount of acceleration he could put behind the mass of the blow, to use the sword's heavier weight to add velocity.
Upon impact, the skeleton's entire body exploded into a cloud of dark ash clouds. Expecting resistance from the attack he wasn't ready for the blade to slide straight through the bones sending him sprawling forward into the pond. Typhus stayed motionless after his attack in shock,wondering what just happened.
With the danger passed he had only now realized how truly wrong it was.
Was that thing a machine? Did it have any gears or mechanisms? Why didn't he think to check? If it was… Undead? What are the implications of that? A pulse of power in the air itself interrupted his thoughts, now that he got his mind back on track he kicked himself mentally.
The black ball didn't disappear…
The floodgates had been opened, groups of 2-3 skeletons rushed from out of the portal of darkness. Typhus pushed off the stones underwater and snapped back to his stance. Trying to remember the longest combo he knew, he committed to violence. Slipping the closest skeletons' attempt to grab him he cut into it, popping the 'thing' into body sized clouds of ash.
Continuing the combination, Typhus swiped into the skeletons behind the first attacker without breaking the weapons momentum, taking both monsters with the strike. Clouds of black ash slowly dissipated around him by the time the pond was free of the smoke screen 10 more skeletons filled the square. Typhus pressed forward, reassured at his prowess, still dodging near flawlessly while ending multiple enemies per attack.
If they had any kind of coordination with their attacks or if he couldn't just one shot them this fight would be impossible. However, they charged one at a time, often stepping into the paths of each other forcing a bony pile up making for easier kills. After around 15 destroyed skeletons, ash swirled around Typhus to the point of being the size of a two story house hiding the other skeletons' attacks.
*Ding*
Typhus ducked bony claws that would shoot out from the darkness centimeters away from clutching his short hair. Focused on the attacks towards his vitals, he didn't see a different skeleton hand shoot from the cloud gripping Typhus's sword arm. Purple smoke rose from the hand, with a feeling similar to frost bite trying to expand from his wrist, strongly.
With the pain rising, Typhus slipped his swordarm over the top of the skeleton's wrist, he stepped forward to place his sword under its armpit bending the open air bones that were it's ribcage unnaturally. Severing whatever it had instead of muscle while breaking the elbow joint with a pop and sending the bones into the water underfoot. Riding the motion of his push he spun without hesitation, slicing behind him cutting through two separate skeletons in the ash. Typhus's arm fell limp and pulsed with agonizing 'energy'. A large purple skeletal hand outprint pulsed painfully just past the sleeves of his robe.
The skeletons somehow didn't share his problem of limited visibility from the ash, each attack was too precisely aimed at vital points exclusively. Namely, his jugular. Growing more accustomed to one shot kills Typhus began parrying instead of attacking, only needing to tap them to ash them. Taking a deep breath while fighting he ignored the darkness that entered his nostrils to calm himself while still defending against the grasping undead.
Openings started presenting themselves more and more as the kills racked up. In just a few seconds Typhus wiped almost 20 enemies, the sword killing them in just a touch made it quick work.
The portal hummed with power, the lightning returning even more intense than before as five skeletons crawled from the portal.
This new round of skeletons moved with more quality while having a smaller amount of undead come forth. The closest skeleton squatted like a frog in the water before leaping towards Typhus without any hesitation. Twisting its neck mid air with its arms clacking below it. It opened its jaw wide showing teeth with the same dim purple glow that his sword arm's wound had.
Caught off guard by the speed of the leap Typhus held his sword arm out allowing the monster to take a deep bite of his forearm, directly on top of the handprint. Dropping the sword, the blade flipped once before his free hand grabbed the weapon in the air. stabbing in a reverse grip into the spine of the clamped-on creature, turning it to ash. Yet the rows of glowing teeth remained embedded into his flexed forearm. Adding to both the pain and neon purple glow of the previous handprint.
Grabbing the pained area by instinct made him want to yell a profanity, he had been bitten by venomous animals before and this felt similar yet, strange in comparison. Instead of the venom trying to spread itself, it was as if the injury was pulling healthy skin towards it, like a river flowing in reverse it felt… wrong.
Not given any time to lick his wounds, four skeletons still remained. One having a purple upper body, one having a purple body from the hips down, another had nothing special about it. Lastly, was a skeleton holding a black greatsword easily as if it was a stick of bamboo.
In perfect sync the three skeletons without weapons attacked at once. The skeleton without any purple led the other two in a triangle formation while running forward. Nothing special Skelton landed face first into the water the same as multiple others had done before when getting off balance, while upper body purple planted its foot on the underwater skeletons spine. Adding boost to a jump. Falling as if trying to land on top of Typhus with its arms wide open, Typhus began to step backwards before being jolted back into place with more pain on his ankle. The first skeleton leapt forward underwater like the frog one earlier to hold him in place with its grip, holding him but not hurting him with the purple 'toxin'.
'Performance under pressure and pain would never achieve the optimally desired result.'
He hated his teachers' quotes, but most of all that one. Keeping his grabbed foot planted he brought his other leg around, lifting it high into the air he brought his heel down on the airborne undead's skull breaking a hole into the eye socket and separating the skull from the body. Immediately when the head was removed the monster's glowing upper body exploded into hundreds of finger sized fragments of bone. Purple glowing shards bulleted violently at him causing his robe to get cut and sliced open leaving trails of new purple cuts trickling blood. Each bone felt like bacon grease being cooked on hellish heat splashing over him while liquid nitrogen got injected underneath the burns.
Stomping harder than he intended due to the unexpected pain he crushed the skull of the flying skeleton. Letting the momentum carry him forward Typhus brought his sword down onto the spinal column of the skeleton holding his ankle in one continuous motion sending dark ash on its way down the stream.
Two more monsters guarded their portal, pain accumulated at a rapid pace by all the various purple tinted scars and multiple grabs. Yet it felt more like a stubbed toe pain than a broken bone, when it came to being able to use the injured limbs. It was a question of intense pain tolerance before failure.
'When injured use is more important than comfort.'
Another bothersome mantra, both Typhus and the monsters stood still, taking stock of their situation or perhaps more accurately the ball itself. Why stop now? Waiting to see if Typhus would break morale and run maybe? Using the opportunity he inspected the ambushers still he couldn't see any kind of technology behind the movements of the monster. It was as if the bones hovered more so than they had any real anatomy. Magnetism? No. Without any indicators of electricity flowing throughout the bones, just air. They cast shadows in the shape of their bone bodies, no way to tell where they are really looking since they lacked eyesight to follow.
Taking the moment to answer some questions while only two remained, he noticed one had a glowing lower body, the final had a glowing skull but more importantly held a red sword handle wrapped in cloth, with the familiar purple glow coming from the entire length of the blackened blade.
Breaking the stalemate Typhus yelled while lowering his shoulder planning to trick the orb by doing the most obvious plan, pointing his sword forward and charging through the closer enemy. Stabbing into the unprepared glowing legged skeleton ash filled the air but unlike the other skeletons its lower body bones remained and fell forward into the water like a bisected corpse. With the weight of his entire body and forward velocity his sword pierced halfway its length into the floating orb.
Cracks started to spread from his sword's entry point like breaking glass. Not sure what to expect, a flash of purple invaded his peripheral vision. On instinct Typhus slipped down as the last skeleton swung it's sword with inhuman power behind it, bringing his left shoulder under the skeleton's right arm he wrapped one hand over the left collar bone snaking it to behind its skull, bringing his other arm behind its back Typhus held it in a firm hold. Twisting his hips while lifting the skeleton off the ground it felt almost weightless, as Typhus brought it down for the throw it brought its free hand around and slapped it onto Typhus's side creating yet another glowing wound.
Water splashed aggressively from the two fighters landing on the rocks, cracks and pops sounded out as the monster laid still for a moment. Taking the opportunity Typhus violently ripped the sword arm from the shoulder joint before standing back up.
Looking back he noticed the sword remained with no moving corpse. Clutching his side he laboriously pulled himself back to his feet causing water to splash and drip all around him and limped towards the sword within the orb.
Within arms reach of the orb his vision became fuzzy and his ear rang loudly. Each point of pain that was caused by the purple wounds activated causing small explosions to rip through his body. It felt as if some kind of chain reaction just exploded within him as the purple light wounds peppering his body started shining more brightly.
Shit.
The upper body exploding skeleton was a trap. Searching within his body showed a web of searing 'energy'. Pain lined the path of the 'energy' using the many small wounds as highways to spread. Acting like batteries for the painful energy to continue growing and spreading. He was now officially on a time limit before shock from the pain wore off and he didn't know if he could fight through that amount of stress.
Slowly he brought his hand to the hilt of the silver sword, he had to end this now. Pushing the weapon deeper the cracks continued spreading, almost covering one side fully. His body grew weaker with every passing moment as the 'energy' grew in power and intensity, keeping himself up by leaning all of his weight on the embedded sword he felt his strength being sapped at a quickened pace. Taking a step away from the sword while pulling with all of his remaining strength he intended to stab a different place of the orb to expedite the spread of the cracks.
Having stood up silently in comparison to the painful ringing, the one armed skeleton grabbed the back of Typhus head like a practiced farmer would snatch a snake.
Its thumb pressed one temple and the rest of the bone fingers were clutching the other side of his head. While slow and awkward Typhus confirmed skeletons were quite strong, lifting him off the ground with just one arm while he kicked air and grabbed behind his head, the scorching pain wormed deeper into his skin, headache couldn't come close to the feeling of raw pain that invaded his mind.
Hearing the foot falls of more skeletons being spawned. Snapped him into action, Typhus swung his legs back into the one armed skeleton before using its ribcage as a trampoline pushing his momentum forward to kick the sword as hard as he could. The handle swung violently like a shovel pushing up dirt, the sword broke free at an angle scooping out a chunk from the orb. One final explosion of power shook the air as the skeletons started to break apart and fall to the floor with bones cracking or making a splashing sound into the water, depending on if the rocks rose above the waterline where the skeletons fell.
Unable to even move from the throbbing pain due to the various wounds Typhus fell into the water, half of his face below the waterline. Water and sweat droplets descended as his vision started to waver to darkness.
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
Ringing in his ears, he wished the annoying noise would stop so he could go to sleep. His arm already started to lose its glow considerably in its painful intensity. Hoping he would be left alone long enough to recover, he accepted fate's plans while closing his heavy eyelids.
[Mage has increased to level 2]
[Death magic resistance 0->3]
[swordsman proficiency unlocked- inferior]
[swordsman-inferior] upgraded to [swordsman- common]
[chaos affinity earned]
[Death affinity earned]
[Title earned: Templar- Killed over 20 undead of a higher level with a silver weapon +5% damage buff against undead]