Fear

I take shallow breaths trying to stop myself from gagging. The smell down here is terrible! It must be zombies, it smells like something is rotting for sure. We continue walking around, hearing scrapes and shuffles everywhere echoing.

"I can't see a whole lot because of this darn mist!" I whisper to Scarlet.

"Neither can I, we will just have to be on guard," Scarlet responded looking a little green.

We have been down here for a decent amount of time and there has been no sight of zombies or the boss door! Where are even the sounds coming from? I reach for the wall and keep a hand on it as we walk down a corridor. Hearing the sound of my hand go across the stone echoed slightly.

At the end of the hallway, I start to notice something glowing. I try to squint my eyes to see what it is, but I can't tell with all this mist around. We walk closer until finally I can make out it's a door! Looks like we can get this floor done with. I reach for the handle and open the door. A horrible gut-wrenching stench came flooding out of the room. I start dry heaving a little before regaining my composure, and I hear Scarlet doing the same thing although quieter.

After finally regaining composure, we both walked into the room. Like normal, the door closed behind us. Green lights flickered on like stars above. We look around and see a bunch of gravestones around. We start to walk around, examining our surroundings.

"Warning: Unique Boss room started. Challenge: kill 500 Zombies in 15 minutes. Consequence: Become one of them." The System suddenly adds.

In 15 minutes?! I look over to Scarlet, "We need to kill 500 in 15 minutes!"

Scarlet looks over at me confused. "How do you know that?"

"Just trust me on this one!" I yelled as Zombies started coming out of the graves.

I detect a Zombie coming from below me. I quickly jump just barely avoiding an arm from grabbing my leg. I land on a gravestone nearby. I take a deep breath readying myself. As the Zombies all start rising to their feet, I quickly dash and start cutting their heads. Once again, a shard drops onto the floor.

"Shard of [Legend] Swords Acquired!" The system announces to me.

Thanks to the Sword Master skill, I am able to be pretty precise with my strikes! We keep going trying to dodge as many as possible. I don't know what will happen if we get hit. Using Flash Step I can get to a lot of them very quickly. It seems I am getting better at fighting!

I started to get excited as I went from zombie to zombie. After a while, we finally were done with the challenge. Tired I straighten up, trying to catch my breath.

"Warning: Challenge Complete, Boss Zombie King has awakened." The system warns

You can't be serious? I thought we were done! I take a deep sigh and then ready myself. All of a sudden the floor starts to rumble and a throne rises out of the ground. On the throne is a Zombie with a crown on it. Next to the throne is a giant sword, and rubble all around. But the Zombie seemed to be lifeless. Almost as if on cue, a fire lights in the zombie's eye, seeming to give it life. He groans as he lifts himself creepily. After standing still for a moment, he grabs the sword next to him and starts dragging it towards us.

I crouch low and then dash at him with the intent of hitting him from a low point. With insane speed, the Zombie King swings his giant sword making it come from under me. 'I can't dodge it!' I yell in my mind. All of a sudden I feel a kick to my side launching me away. As I am flying away I see Scarlet block Zombie King's attack with her Katana, sending her flying in return. After skidding on the floor, I flip myself over back onto my feet. I then hear a loud crash right in front of me. Where I was lying the Zombie King was standing with his sword crushed into the floor. 'I almost died!' I thought with slight fear.

I prepare myself to strike again, but before I can do anything, I feel a sudden strong kick into my stomach making me cough and lose all air in my lungs. The Zombie King got in front of me in a blink of an eye. I then fly into a wall. I manage to look up to see Scarlet striking at him as he blocks with his sword. 'I gotta help her!' I think as I try to get up, but when I try, I fall right back down. I look at my hand as it shakes. I can't keep up with him. He hits hard enough my healing doesn't matter. At least with the Skeleton Hunter, I could match him, but the Zombie King? I can't even see him move with detection! Am I... afraid? I look back up as Scarlet gets sent flying. She lands on the floor sliding, stopping just before she hits me.

I watch Scarlet as she struggles to get up. I then hear a scraping noise come towards us. I look up to see the Zombie King slowly walk toward us with his sword scraping the floor. I hold my breath. Afraid or not, we can't die here. I only have one other idea. I force myself to stand up, leaning on my katana for support.

"Scarlet..." I start to say almost breathlessly. "I am going to do something risky. When I pass out, I want you to hit the boss in the heart with all you got. Do you understand?"

Scarlet barely manages to sit up and gives me a wary look. "Be careful."

I nod. I then turn my attention back to the Zombie King. After taking a deep breath I put all my strength into flash step and charged at him. Once I am close enough, I start stepping around him. He just stands there waiting for me to attack. 'Slime Tentacles!' I yell in my head. Out of different parts of my body, slime tentacles fly out and latch onto him. I then use flash step and close the distance again. 'Flash Strike!' I think when I start to see sparks fly around me. The next thing I knew I was on the other side of Zombie King, falling to the ground as Scarlet ran in my direction about to pass me.

---------------------------

"Ugh, my head." I groan as I start coming to.

"Ah, good, you're awake finally." A familiar voice speaks.

I slowly open my eyes to see the Kara and the Nurse standing over me. "Where am I?" I ask.

"My office. What got you this time kid? You were in terrible shape when that girl brought you here!" The Nurse chews me out for a bit.

"Girl...?" I then shoot up. "Where is Scarlet?!"

"Don't worry, she was in much better condition than you were. She healed up pretty well and left." Nurse Remi sighs. "She said it was thanks to you, her injuries were minor and that you two are even still alive."

I laugh and then grimace at the pain from soreness in my muscles. It seems healing will heal my damage but not the soreness. I then look over to Kara.

"What landed you here again?" I ask.

"Pretty much the same thing." She shrugs and smiles.

I force myself to sit up. Thinking about it, this is my chance to ask Kara if she would be willing to join my guild. "Hey Kara-"

Before I could finish the door is thrown open.

"Well Adrian, seems you are having a bit of trouble!" Mr. Fang walks in. "Guess you should just give up on the idea of completing my challenge."

Unsure of how to respond, I look down. Maybe he is right? I struggled to take down the boss. I nearly got me and Scarlet killed. I look at my hand and remember the feeling of my hand shaking. I take a deep breath. I hope I don't regret this.

"No, I still have till tomorrow at midnight." I clench my fist, and then look at Mr. Fang. "You will be joining my guild as the Teacher Rep. Mr. Lycaon Fang."

Mr. Fang then smiles at me. "Confident are we? Fine, as promised, you have till tomorrow at midnight. I will wait in my office all night till then." He said as he walked away.

"That's why you are risking your life?!" Nurse Remi exclaims with anger in her voice. "Lycaon..."

Mr. Fang freezes just as he reaches the door. "Yes, Remi?" He smiles with worry on his face.

"Let's have a chat shall we?" Nurse Remi says with menace and malice in her voice.

Before Mr. Fang could protest, Nurse Remi grabs him by the collar and starts to drag him out of the room. He looked panicked... Kara and I look at each other before bursting out in laughter.