6 Fight Till I Die (1)

Zaen stood in front of the entrance. The park was just as rundown as the buildings surrounding it. Even after spending an entire day there, he couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. There was no way in hell it was the world he belonged to, that was for sure.

Zaen checked his equipment for the final time. Once he had made sure everything was in order, he kicked open the rusty doors leading into the park.

He expected the doors to make a lot of noise, surprisingly, they didn't. Still, he waited for another couple of minutes to make sure he wouldn't be ambushed as soon as he took a step in.

He was fairly sure he had killed most of the ghouls outside the park, but one could never be certain about such things. Just like in any survival game.

He looked around cautiously, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly, the air around him felt heavier than before. It was absurd to think of it like that but it felt as if the air was begging him to turn away and run. Zaen shook his head and walked inside the park.

"Just one more monster and Aeron would be free... You gotta hold on till then Zaen. Be strong." He reminded himself of his purpose to do what he had to.

All of the rides were out of order. The broken swings were dangling like a pendulum. The slide had been turned over, everything inside was either already broken or on the verge of breaking.

As Zaen walked further into the unknown, he came across a gruesome sight. It almost made him puke. None of the things he had seen so far, came even remotely close to what he was witnessing now.

The ground beneath his feet was soaked up in crimson blood. Bones scattered everywhere, and these were just any bones... they were human skeletons. Far away, he could also see a pile of mangled corpses, most of them wearing the same clothes as he was.

"Hooligan's set. It can mean only one thing. I'm not the first man to be chosen by this godforsaken artifact." Zaen mumbled, slowly walking towards the mountain of rotting corpses, "Wait... if these people were also given the same quest wouldn't it mean that everyone who had disappeared was dead already? No! No! No! The smartphone said it'll bring everyone back if I can get rid of the Charred ghoul. For now, I should just focus on that..."

Zaen didn't want to admit it but for the first time since this weird crap started, he was scared. No, he was petrified. If this many people, who had the same gears and most probably the same skills as him could die such horrifying death, he might not be as strong as he thought was.

For a moment he wanted to turn back, not to run away but to get stronger by finding and killing more ghouls. He now understood why he was given 2 days to clear the quest.

"The doors are still open. I should leave, but first, let's check if there's something useful with the corpses."

Zaen covered his nose to dispel the foul smell of rotting flesh and stood next to the mountain of corpses. His thinking was simple, if these people were wearing the same gear as him, it would mean they'd also have the same weapon. If he could find another Corrosive dagger, it would further boost his damage. And right now, he needed every single thing he could find to take on whatever this abomination of a boss monster was.

He looked and looked, but all he found were broken weapons. Scavenging the dead wasn't a fun thing to do, Zaen almost felt as if he was the reason they were dead. You know, like in games the protagonist would find weapons and stuff from the corpses? Although in his mind he knew it was absurd to think so.

"Focus on the task at hand, you moron!" Zaen cursed himself and proceeded to search the dead more carefully in hopes of finding anything useful.

In Astran, even touching the dead was considered disrespectful as it would 'contaminate' the pure souls of the deceased, making it difficult for them to attain salvation and find peace in heaven.

According to the tradition, the only ones who were allowed to touch the dead were their family members or priests.

It was also said that if someone didn't follow through with the tradition and touched a dead, then after their death, their souls were damned to hell for not allowing the pure spirits to attain peace.

Zaen knew about the traditional stuff too, thanks to military school. And he didn't give two flying ducks about it. He always thought it to be a pile of horsecrap a hippy would come up with. They were citizens of the most advanced country when it came to technology and yet the people believed in such superstitions? The thought of it always made Zaen wonder why did they even believe in such crap?

But even if it was true and if searching the dead could increase his chances of saving Aeron, then he was even willing to go to hell for it. With that thought in mind, he squatted near the pile of corpses and began scavenging for useful stuff once again. There were a lot of corpses to go through, and he didn't have the time to search every single one of them. He started looking for corpses that looked as if they died recently.

But as he did, he felt something wet, drop over his shoulder. He absentmindedly touched whatever the fluid was. The transparent liquid had a gooey texture, almost like one of those stress-reducing thingies they sell online. It had a tinge of yellowness and the stench, ugh, it was bad, really bad.

"Odd, it almost feels like..." Zaen's eyes got wide in horror as the realisation dawned upon him, "Saliva..."

He quickly tried to jump away, but the charred ghoul's leg was faster. With just a kick, Zaen was sent flying across the park, rolling and tumbling until he crashed against a dry tree or snag. But the force was so strong, even the tree got uprooted from its place before arresting Zaen's momentum. The impact had left a big hole in the group.

Somewhere within the trail of dust and gravel, Zaen's painful groans could be heard. He felt as if he was overrun by a truck. Blood dripped down his head, his ears were ringing continuously and everything in front of his eyes was blurry apart from the notifications that just appeared.

[Field Boss: Charred Ghoul has appeared. The park has now been sealed off. Defeat the Boss to secure an escape route.]

[Critical hit! Remaining HP: 1700/2150]

[You've been affected by the Curse of the Charred. From now on, you'll gain one stack of 'Bleed' whenever the Boss deals damage to you.]

[Bleed Effect: Status effect. Makes the target lose 2% of your maximum HP per second for the next 10 seconds. This effect can be stacked 5 times. Has a cool-down period of 5 seconds.]

Zaen used a couple of bandages to regain the lost HP but unlike before, his wounds didn't heal completely. But the pain subsided enough for him to move again. More importantly, he got a reality check. He no longer felt as if he was in a game, still, he remained calm and confident like before. However, Just one kick shattered all of his plans of leaving the park and gaining more levels before confronting the boss as the doors were now sealed.

The attack would've been deadlier had it not been for his armour. But if he kept getting hit, even his armour wouldn't do anything to help him. After all, just one hit from the boss reduced 50 points of durability from his armour pieces. Not to mention the bleed status effect. If he got hit five times, it was all over for him. Maybe even four hits would turn him into a corpse, just like the ones he had been scavenging.

"Fresh... food..." The ghoul snarled as the dust settled down.

'Great! It can speak too. I was feeling a little lonely here since I had no one to talk to.' Zaen thought as he got a clear look of what the creature looked like, 'Although, I'd rather be lonely than talk with someone with such foul breath. Ugh, just being near him makes me wanna puke. To its credit, it looks like a cool boss though. As deadly and bloodthirsty as they get.'

The charred ghoul was unlike any ghoul he had seen so far. Zaen was a tall man, being over six feet, but in front of the Charred ghoul, he looked awfully short. For some reason, it would seem the ghoul had had an abnormal growth as it was at least 8 feet tall, even though its back was hunched.

Its body had completely mutated to a point where it had two razor-sharp blades in place of its arms. Its legs were also quite muscular, no wonder its kick was so strong and fast. But the thing that caught Zaen's attention was its dangling tongue that almost touched the ground.

Not only that, the tongue was covered in razor-sharp teeth and Zaen was sure it wasn't so for decoration purposes. As for its eyes... well it didn't have any. The place where its eyes should've been were covered with red tumours. It was no ghoul, but an abomination.

"Almost feels as if the dead souls are hoping for me to die too." Zaen spat out a mouthful of blood and smiled, "Sorry to disappoint you though, I don't have any plans to die here, in this forsaken place. Not before rescuing Aeron."

He grabbed his dagger and prepared to fight, a fight till he dies.