20 What Just Happened?

A series of gongs from a bell sounded, and Fang Zheng opened his eyes to the low pitch. He looked at the sky before him.

"This is..."

He opened his mouth and was about to say something, only to discover very soon that his voice had turned coarse and low. His body itself felt a bit odd, it didn't have that familiarity anymore, as if he were in a stranger's form instead of his own.

What was going on?

Fang Zheng shook his head and stood up slowly. He was in a graveyard of sorts, and was covered in heavy, thick plate armor. There was still a longsword and shield by his hands, and from the looks of it, "Fang Zheng" was a knight who'd been put into a coffin and buried.

It seemed like only his consciousness entered this world? No wonder he was able to leave anytime he wanted...

Moving his body about a little, he finally understood what the concept of the free world was. Here, it apparently wasn't his own body that he was using, it was a body that belonged to this world in the first place. He would be like a soul that infested someone's body, and it was technically another "rebirth" as far as he was concerned. Though, compared to the rebirth in the main world, this world didn't seem to give him any benefits after bringing him to life. There was no memory of the original owner of this body, and there weren't any objects he could use to identify its identity. The only thing he had to use was his longsword and shield.

Was this a game world as well? Please don't let it be Diablo.

Looking at the raincloud covered sky, the world seemed as dark as Diablo, and Fang Zheng had to frown. Fortunately for him, however, he did inherit some battle skills from the previous owner, despite not getting any memories from him. And to his dismay, he realized... That this was it! They were all literally just battle skills!

Putting aside the cool and flash sword abilities of the main world, this free world didn't even give him any proper ability! Even Diablo did that much, at least! All this body remembered was pure weapon movements, like stab, chop, roll, parry... These were all things he'd learned from Shidon, and if there was anything different at all, it'd be the "repel" skill. It was a move that sent an opponent's attack bouncing back, allowing the user to grip an opening and go for a sure kill.

No flash skills, no unique abilities, only normal moves.

This wasn't Diablo. Where was he?

Fang Zheng curiously looked around before walking out of the coffin. He followed the path before him.

He heard a low sound, and a horrifyingly skinny guy crawled out from the ground, blocking his path.

Enemy? Corpse? Or was this an undead?

Looking at this monster before him, Fang Zheng grew solemn. With his longsword in his right hand, he chopped at him before his opponent could properly stand.

What surprised him, though, was how soft these monsters here were, they weren't as tough and hard-skinned like the Diablo ones at all. One swipe from him and his opponent was on the ground. No matter what this thing was, it was as weak as it looked.

There didn't seem to be much danger at all? What kind of battle skills would he be able to learn here?

Just as he wasn't quite understanding his situation, he heard a gust of wind. Instinctively, he rolled forward without hesitation, only to see a burning arrow brush past his body. By the time he looked up, he could see another very skinny person shooting at him with a bow.

Damn! This guy knew how to use weapons?

Fang Zheng was taken aback by the scene before him. He thought that these monsters were like zombies, having only the most basic of attacks. He didn't expect them to have weapons!

He was in trouble!

Thinking of that, Fang Zheng charged forward and swiped his sword down, sending the bastard back where he came from.

What a weird place...

Looking at the corpse in front of him, Fang Zheng frowned. Not only were the skies dark, the winds were cold and chilly as well. There was darkness enveloping the entire surrounding, and it felt like the entire world itself was a candle on its last fuel. It felt pretty ominous.

Well, he should get some information on this world first.

He walked out of the graveyard using the mountain path, killing a couple more "undead" before reaching a bonfire. Looking at this bonfire before him, he seemed to remember something. Reaching his hand out at the flame, he suddenly felt a mysterious power from within his body disappear, followed by a burst of flame from the bonfire. It burned stronger now.

"..."

Looking at the orange-red flame, Fang Zheng relaxed a little. The monsters in this world didn't seem very tough, but looking at the dark clouds everywhere along with the whole abandoned look of his surroundings, Fang Zheng felt like something bad would happen soon, as if there was more to this world that it seemed.

He moved forward.

After sitting by the bonfire for a couple minutes, Fang Zheng decided to continue exploring. He still hadn't seen any living people like him up until now, and it unsettled him. Was this some post-apocalyptic world or something, and was everyone undead except him? This wasn't going to be as difficult as "I am Legend" or something, was it?

Fang Zheng didn't feel like these slow monsters were any threat at all, though. The ones in Diablo might be slow as well, but their strength and defense were insane. These ones had no defense to speak of, and they were slow as hell. Fang Zheng had struck them down multiple times before they even climbed up. They were so slow and were about as tough as a normal person.

Could he get stronger battle skills in a world like this?

Following the mountain road, he killed a gatekeeper monster of sorts and reached a plaza. It was empty, with only two, three-meter tall knights in full knight's armor. He was kneeling in the center of the plaza, a battleax beside him and a black spiral sword stuck in his heart, going all the way through... He looked as dead as they got.

But Fang Zheng didn't get near, in his experience, this sort of odd, sudden thing that came out of nowhere was rigged. Either it was a trap, or it was a boss. Regardless, he needed to be careful. He decided to walk around the knight, walking to the inner area, and he managed to find a structure behind the corpse. Unfortunately, something seemed to have sealed the door, and he couldn't push it open.

Did he really have to kill this knight?

Helpless, he decided to get closer to the corpse, carefully inching nearer. What surprised him, though, was that nothing happened. No sudden jumps from the knight, no monsters surrounding him, but just the knight kneeling there silently. A dead man, an empty husk.

Did he have to pull this sword out?

After some hesitation, he decided to do it. Despite his instincts telling him that it was probably a trigger for the boss fight. Remembering his fight with those things earlier, he felt that there wouldn't be any threat if it wasn't at least a boss. He had to train his sword skills, after all, and this boss would be good enough not to disappoint him.

With that, he extended his hand and gripped the sword in his chest, pulling it out with all his strength.

There was a rumbling sounded, and the wound on the knight started churning as if the darkness there was alive. It re-entered the knight's body, and to Fang Zheng's surprise, the knight stood up, grabbed the battleax, and chopped at him!

What the hell! The fight began just like that? He was his savior, didn't he know that?!

The sudden attack did take Fang Zheng aback, but he managed to make a roll and dodge the ax. Unexpectedly, the tall man was charging at him already before he could get up. With a thud, it collided with his body and sent Fang Zheng flying away as the knight raised his battleax at him again.

This was bad!

That flashing ax was no laughing matter, and Fang Zheng quickly raised his shield to desperately block this attack.

A large impact and clang, and Fang Zheng's legs went weak. He barely managed to keep himself upright, but the knight didn't seem intent on stopping. Another ax blow came after the block, and Fang Zheng couldn't sustain his defense anymore. He fell to the ground, only to see the knight stand tall, bringing the ax down once more.

A merciless strike pierced his body, and Fang Zheng grunted as his vision blurred. Everything faded into darkness.

After that, he felt himself get absorbed like a floating balloon before falling down slowly. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that burning bonfire once more, along with the old sword stabbed into it.

"..."

Looking at the bonfire before him, Fang Zheng blinked, completely confused. What was he supposed to do?

What just happened?

Where was he?

Why was he dead just like that?!