"FUCK FUCK FUCK"
Looking at his dislocated leg, he screamed in agony
"My legs snapped just in time, GREAT!"
In the middle of a land that's buried in sand. An endless graveyard of dunes.
The ground devastated with each thunderous step of the Geo Beast.
The Beast reared back, raising its titanic upper torso, preparing to stomp on the helpless boy. Scrambling forward, the boy crawled and dragged himself.
His fingertips and nails were covered in blood. Yet, he kept pushing, his fragile heart bouncing in his chest.
An immense shadow swallowed him slowly.
He quickly realized it was one of the legs that the Geo abomination had. His body rooted him to keep going, but his mind had already given up.
Lying down motionless, he turned around and faced the beast. Observing the terror one last time.
"I guess this is it."
The beast, bigger than several hills, had no pity toward the kid.
It stamped on him.
The impact tore through the ground, leaving gaping holes in the process.
His body was pulverized under the unimaginable force, bones shattered like glass, and a torrent of blood splashed everywhere.
After getting mutilated, his body lay there lifeless. Satisfied that the boy was dead, the beast fled rapidly, each massive step sending tremors through the ground.
Dust and sand erupted with every movement, whipped into the air by sharp, howling winds. Its tail, thick and muscular, swung like a battering ram, smashing into the earth and sending waves of sand cascading in every direction.
Each strike of the tail against the ground echoed like drums, its six legs making heavy beats that seemed to shake the world itself.
...
The colossus was long gone, silence hung heavy, broken only by whistling of the wind.
Suddenly, something impossible began to happen.
The boy's mangled body began to heal rapidly.
His crushed flesh starts to reform itself, and blood that had pooled across the ground vanished as if swallowed by some unseen hand. His eyeballs start to bloat up like balloons.
Even his bones that shattered into pieces, was also not an issue for the mysterious healing.
It was almost like gods were reshaping their dead soldier. The process took only a few seconds.
Then slowly but barely, he started to gain consciousness.
His eyes opened, it was teeming with life. Yet, his body didn't move an inch.
His mind was perfectly calm as if he didn't get smashed to death just a moment ago.
He didn't even try to get up, seeming full of thoughts.
"I really thought that was it."
Letting out a disappointed sigh, he said,
"I guess that beast isn't enough to end me either."
Closing his eyes, clear disappointment could be seen on his face.
He gets up after zoning out for a while, looking around and realizing that he had run way too far from the ruined town. Scratching the back of his head,
"I have to hurry"
Unfortunately for him, the sun wasn't on his side.
Boiling heat that seemed to press down on every inch of the world. Even though Zarvian had healed fully, he was still tired. His muscles tensed as if giving up to the heat.
The mad sun scorched the sky, weakening his strength. It looked like he was struggling to stand still through the sluggishness.
He rubbed his eyes and lazily looked up, right at the sun.
The reflection of the blazing sun danced across his pupils.
A soft chuckle escaped him, then turned emotionless and hazy again.
"This one might actually kill me fully"
He faltered as he followed his own footprints. The prints were already beginning to fade, swallowed by the shifting sand and dust, vanishing as if he had never been there at all.
...
It had been several hours since he was last revived, and he was already beginning to yearn for a drink.
The blazing sun loomed mercilessly above Zarvian's head, and fatigue took a bit from him.
The sun seemed intent on killing him today. He started collecting droplets of his own sweat, saving them to drink later, the only source of hydration left to him.
His lips were scorched, and his exposed skin had already burned.
He scanned the landscape.
Fortunately for Zarvian, ruins came into view. But he could not walk anymore.
His stomach was empty, cramps twisting his insides.
It felt as if his organs were sewing themselves together. His eyes flickered wildly.
He let out a groan. It was too much for a mundane human like him. He crumpled to the ground, body overheating, drenched in sweat. His head felt unbearably heavy.
He pulled out his leather bottle and drank the sweat he had saved. Zarvian's mind went blank, unable to process anything in the relentless heat. It felt as if his brain had turned to rubber.
Slowly consumed by numbness, he began to faint.
A normal person would not succumb so easily to mere heat, but Zarvian could not snap out of it because of his self revival ability.
It constantly drained his energy and fractured his mind. That was why he needed time to have his time after each death.
Several days passed there. Zarvian was still there and untouched. He was unable to regain consciousness yet could not die completely.
He had died multiple times again, unable to wake up due to the heat and hunger draining his energy.
...
After a few months, dark clouds finally began forming above the desert.
Then the rain came. Water coursed over his dehydrated body.
Zarvian was slowly refreshed.
His fingertips twitched, and his eyeballs flickered beneath his eyelids.
Eventually, he blinked awake. Sharp pain still throbbed in his head, and cramps assaulted him violently.
He couldn't remember when he had blacked out.
Even gaining focus was a difficult task, well, trying to think straight after a months of coma wasn't easy.
After spacing out for a while, he forced himself up and began trudging toward the ruined town he had spotted in the distance. Even walking was bit of an ordeal now.
The cramps, hunger, needles in his head, the pouring rain with the cold winds made sure that every step was uncomfortable.
Though his body remained unscathed, walking on the wet sand was still unnerving.
The clouds covered the sky entirely, making it impossible to tell the time, though it was certainly not night.
He almost forgot why he had come. He was searching for an ancient scroll.
Zarvian had combed countless towns and cities, and this was the last one. If it yielded nothing, there would be nowhere else to turn.
He could not understand why, but something had been creeping him out the last time he arrived, which had ended with him being chased by a mighty beast that appeared out of nowhere with madness.
The town was deeply unsettling, and it radiated an eerie, unnatural feeling.
The rain grew heavier as he arrived in the town.
It was not just ordinary rain, but a thunderstorm that occurred only once a year.
He began scavenging through corpses that were once a living human, and found a few extra leather bottles among them.
His throat started to burn due to getting baited by the empty bottles.
He kept exploring until his eyes caught something rarer than a treasure in this damn desert.
He couldn't actually believe it.
It was a well!
He quickly ran to the well and looked. Checking if it still contained water.
Instead of water, he saw something far more familiar…
The ugly corpses!
Skulls were split open as if some predator had feasted on them.
They had been thrown into the well. Zarvian didn't want to think about why, but he noticed that their skulls were split open. They were likely killed by the same entity, that, was something he didn't want to know.
A bizarre thought formed in his head, making him shiver a bit.
With the ability of his, he would be a lifetime food supply for such a creature. Hungry beasts were the worst!
Zarvian was craving to flee at any moment now.
It's been around 8 years since the beasts took over the land and massacred everyone. The monster could have died or at least gone somewhere else. Though, it left him with a lot of questions.
'What kind of creature had it been? Why hadn't it fed on the other corpses? Was it already full, or had something interrupted it during its feast? Is it still in the town?'
A faint feeling of sadness flowed through his heart, even the wind seemed to lower its voice for them.
He exhaled slowly.
Walking away slowly with a soft sorrow, he continued to explore the town.
When he thought
He had found why he was feeling so eerie about this place, at least he believed he did.
Until he realized that he was utterly wrong, there was indeed, something else.
The weird corpses weren't the only thing that was mysterious. There was one thing that struck him as more than strange. It was creepy.
At each corner of the town stood a church. Four of them, perfectly placed like silent sentinels.
In villages this small, even one church was rare. Four was simply abnormal.
'...Yeah, the last town turns out to be cursed, no surprise!'
Sadly, the poor boy couldn't even run if he wanted to. He wasn't there without purpose. He was searching for the forbidden scroll, said to contain the power to transfer abilities from one being to another. It gave him a chance to break free from the chains of his immortality. For someone who had outlived every one of his kind, death was no fear. It was the biggest mercy he could have.
Starting with the northeastern church, Zarvian began his exploration. The building was utterly ruined, shattered beyond recognition.
If not for the three other churches mirroring its placement, one wouldn't even realize this wreckage had once been holy ground. Only broken pillars remained, jagged teeth stabbing into the sky.
As he was walking to the next church, another bizarre thought entered his mind
'It can't be the monster… right?'
He really hoped so...
The southeastern church, however, was almost whole.
Its walls still stood, though scattered with cracks and scorched marks. A wooden gate clung stubbornly to its frame, nearly untouched if not for the blackened burns along its surface.
Trying to open the gate, his heart stopped for a moment
The gate was locked from inside
Zarvian's breath caught in his throat. For a moment, he simply stood there, staring at the charred wood.
The thought felt absurd, laughable, yet his chest felt heavy, something he had not felt in so long struck him.
It was hope.
Hope, was tangled with questions.
'How had they survived all this time?' Was the first question.
Had they been living off scraps, hidden away while the rest of the world perished?
'Or perhaps it was no person at all!'
Humanoid monsters were clever, some even cruel enough to imitate human behavior.
A locked door might be nothing more than bait, a trap set for survivors.
And then came the darkest possibility.
Whoever had locked the gate might already be long dead. Maybe they had sealed themselves inside, clinging to the illusion of safety, only to rot away in silence.
If that was the answer, then the church was not a refuge at all. It was a coffin.
Zarvian swallowed hard, his palm still pressed to the scorched wood. The weight of all those possibilities pressed down on him, twisting his hope into something uncertain.
He stretched out his fingers and held it in the air. Suddenly, faint symbols started to form in front of him. The sequence locked into place. A glow traced its outline, and the system responded.
[Name: Zarvian]
[Origin: Human]
Zarvian didn't care enough to look at the usual information on the board, which he checks everyday. Instead, he selected one of the weapons from his inventory.
[Name: Steel sword]
[Weapon: Blade]
[Origin: Wrought]
[Type: None]
[Moniker: None]
[Weapon tale: A simple steel sword, unadorned and functional. Its surface bears the marks of countless battles scratches, and dents]
[Enhancements: None]
[Weapon skills: None]
Zarvian summoned his old steel sword, it was rusty, but still could be used for a battle. The boy was barely decent with swords, but it wasn't his fault.
There wasn't anyone to teach him in the first place!
For a self taught, he was insanely talented. His instinct and mindset carried him farther than most would expect.
Zarvian held the sword low at his side, rain dripping from the point of its rusted edge. He lets out a sigh, his eyes motionless
"…Hope it's not something hungry"
The wooden door was more durable than it was supposed to be, Zarvian bashed his shoulder against it a few times, but the only damage done was to himself.
His muscles throbbed from the impact.
Zarvian narrowed his eyes, shifted his grip, and thrust his sword straight at the handle.
Instead of biting into it, the sword slid sideways as though it was made of polished stone. The jolt ripped through his wrist and nearly tore the weapon from his grip.
"Magic," he muttered, glaring at the gate. "Of course it's magic!"
Now he knows for certain. Whatever was inside of it wasn't supposed to be disturbed, or set free…
He held his palm flat against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment.
Then concentrated on his palm, shifting his flow of mana from his veins to the tip of his fingers.
School hadn't taught him enough about magic but he knew how to channel enhancement at least.
The door didn't give him any signal at first. He concentrated harder, the air around him shimmered quietly.
Then, an echo of sound lingered in his ears. It wasn't the wind of a storm or rain.
It was something colder and deeper.
[Do you wish to start the challenge?]
Zarvian's eyes widened. He could almost hear the faint hum of mana vibrating through the door, waiting for response.
Bright letters took a form in front of him,
[Accept the challenge]
[Decline the challenge]
'…what?'