The Dead Live Again

The sky began to turn red as the swirling energies of Chaos were transforming the area into something out of the era of gothic horror. The 30 floor building of the Fenrir Operations Group had been twisted as parts of the building seemed to be enlarged and spread apart. Forming some kind of castle of glass and stone. The sky that was once rising with the early morning sun, now seemed to be draped in the shadows of a blood red moon.

From the forming castle a suit of armor fell from an unknown location within the newly formed building. Crashing into the APC which collapsed under the weight of armor. Soldiers around it dove for cover from the impact and sound. Those that went to investigate had found a suit of black armor that was occupying the location of the concaved vehicle. One soldier got close enough to poke it with the tip of his gun. A message appeared in front of Cyrus.

[Chaos Tear: Castle Galihath]

[You are trapped until the Chaos Leader is defeated. Devour the boss!]

In an instant, the man was being held by a black gauntlet as he struggled to break free. "H-help me..." The man let out a choked scream as he was killed in an instant. Standing from the crushed APC the armor twitched and shook. Righting itself a black spear materialized in its hand, ready to strike the nearest soldier. But as it had killed the man, soldiers began to riddle the tin can with bullets.

*Tink tink tink*

Bullets bounced harmlessly off the armor, the creature looked at the closest soldier and let out a blood curdling scream. Leaping forward with the spear in hand it pierced the man's chest and began swiping soldiers out of its way. Fighters engaged the creature in close range combat, but the spear was quick and powerful. With every swing soldiers would fall to its weapon. It let out that roar again, causing others to run in fear for their lives.

Until a strike of lightning came from above and cause the armor to violently convulse then collapse. Yuri shouted, "We are now in a Chaos Tear, Evokers, Tanks, and Fighters fall in line!" Everyone seemed to regain their composure as they started to form units of seven soldiers. Two Evokers, four Fighters, and one Tank per squad. However, when it came to Cyrus, he was alone. He wouldn't mesh well with a squad commanded by Yuri or anyone that would be familiar with the tactics.

Cici looked at the armor and smiled, "Looks like there will be a good haul if we live through this." She pushed Cyrus forward, "Go get them my brooding knight! Tell them who made your armor, bring me back something good!" That is when she closed the door to the trailer and the sound of machines and metal being slammed together. Cyrus looked up at the tower, the 30 floors looked to be an intense climb. That is when he began to see Yuri and Samantha begin moving up towards the gate.

Samantha pulled out a blade made of blue metal and sliced her hand. A sigil of Chaos magic summoned a knight of her own, the Azure Knight and Royal Sorcerous was her Chaos ability. She was able to cast spells to enhance the knight that she summoned, even magic to protect herself, although limited. The knight was the one who did the majority of the fighting. It stood at 9 feet in height and wielded a sword and shield. Good in defense and offense it was a powerhouse combo.

[Fenrir is getting antsy, the hunt calls you.]

Cyrus looked at his shackle, "If this power can be increased and I can reach the top..." He clenched his fist and looked up to the top. His INT stat had also increased not only his summoning and Evocation magic, but the added side effect was he could tell if something watching him or nearby in the radius of five meters. But what he could feel was as if someone was staring him in the face, the pressure was immense. The world felt like it was closing around his chest ready to crush him.

But instead of fear, he felt a sudden urge to face whatever was ahead of him. "I guess it is time for a hunt," The soldiers all entered the castle gate, which was an old port callous gate from castles of old. As everyone of the soldiers vanished into the dark castle, Cyrus looked ahead. "Time to Dive." He walked towards the gate which closed after the soldiers entered. As he got close a window popped up.

[Would you like to enter Castle Galihath?]

He selected [Yes] and as this happened, the gate opened revealing a portal that would take him to the first floor of the Castle. As he stepped through, another prompted:

[Entered solo: Instance created! Reach the top and Devour the Boss before anyone else. Reward: ???]

When Cyrus entered the first floor he saw the message, "Solo Instance?" he was trying to understand what it meant. Before he could figure it out, the sound of a Chaos Beast was walking towards him. Inside the Castle, he was in a type of long hallway. It was decorated with old styled furnishings. Red carpet from the entrance to the other side, candelabras scattered about, and furniture set up in different locations of the hallway.

On the other side was another door, but in front of him was that of a humanoid creature. Rotten flesh and slow movements, it reminded him of the Husks. However, instead it looked to be that of a Zombie. The sounds it made as it slowly hobbled towards him made it clear.

Drawing the pistol and firing a few rounds into the body of the Zombie seemed to do little. He scowled and decided to aim for the head. Above the head a word appeared as the Zombie slumped over and began to turn to ash.

*CRIT!*

[Pistols: Critical Shot lvl 1: When you shoot the weak spot of a target, they receive double damage.]

[Custom Berretta: 3 (+ DEX) DMG, Chaos Bullet: 5 (+ INT) DMG, Explosive: 3 (Sundering Armor: Weak)]

[Sword of the Withered Dragon: 4 (+ STR) DMG + 2 Fire; Activated: + 4 Fire]

Cyrus grinned, "So it breaks the system down into that similar to a game's stat menu." He drew the sword and his stats went up.

[STR: 9 (4)]

[INT: 7 (3)]

With another Zombie he ran up to it with his sword held low for an attack. The Zombie went for a swing of its arms, but missed as Cyrus dodged and slashed the sword from its hip to shoulder. He spun into the air as the Zombie was set ablaze. Clawing at its face and body as it slowly burned away to ashes. The system seemed to award him only 5 Chaos Meter per Zombie. With more Zombies he decided to keep cutting down the weeds slowly as they were easy to dispatch.

Cutting down another ten Zombies bringing his total Meter to [115/160] bringing him closer to the next level. However, the Zombies seemed to be all ashes and dust in the wind. Continuing forward he came across skeleton wrapped in robes. The thing didn't look incredibly strong, but what he didn't expect it to do was hold a staff and send a fireball his way.

With an explosion next to him he was thrown back several feet, tumbling and rolling to his feet.

[HP: 9/14]

He saw the drop in his health and was shocked on the damage it did. Turning to face the creature it began to chant again and slowly bring another fire ball into existence. Cyrus ran forward and out stretched his hand. "Shackles of Pain!" His hand glowed that purple color and suddenly flaming chains wrapped around the skeletal mage.

[CEP: 15/20]

The size of the fireball shrunk down from a 32 inch beachball to that of a basketball. The Skeleton looked at the chains distracted, but that was all Cyrus needed as he fired two quick bullets to the head of the creature.

But no "Crit" came up from the attack. However, with it unstable and the bullet holes in its head, Cyrus ran forward and landed a kick to its chest.

He watched as just from his kick, the creature was flung back and sent scattering to the ground. The chains vanished as the skeleton began to turn to smoke. This time he got 10 more points to his Chaos Meter. Then the prompt of devouring Gamma Crystals popped up.

[Gamma Beast Devoured: 9/10 left for reward]

Returning his gaze forward he could see two more Skeletal Mages rise on top of a risen section of the hallway. They both sent out a fireball, but Cyrus was ready. Running forward quickly he heard the sound of explosions from where he was previously. This allowed him to get close enough to reach out his hand again.

"Devouring Chain!" As his hand once again turned that purple color, a large spiked chain shot out of his hand and stuck the Skeleton Mage on the risen platform. The chain began to retract, causing the skeleton to fall over the edge and land with a loud thud. This allowed him to gain back 2 more CEP from his last Shackles of Pain.

[+2 CEP]

As he struck the creature, it seemed to only cause half of the physical damage while the fire remained. Having to strike the creature again and again before it finally died made him realize that they could have a resilience against slashing and piercing attacks. That might have explained why the damage from his kick seemed to just completely crack the body. While the bullets and sword attacks did little. Learning this, he dragged the other from its upper area and did the same attacks.

[7/10 Gamma Crystals Devoured]

[Chaos Meter: 145/160]

[CEP: 17/20]

He was so close to a level that it was annoying him. Cyrus managed to clear out the long hallway of enemies. Hoping to level from the next area, but he found it actually continued to a section of an open courtyard. No Zombies or Skeletal Mages in sight, made him a little disappointed.

He looked up and could see the moon, the blood red color reflected off the fountain in front of him. He turned around to see something he didn't expect. After clearing the room, he could see phantoms of people holding modern weapons. Several groups all moving at different paces. While in this room he saw Samantha and Yuri. But their actions seemed to be that of combat. But it wasn't towards the door, but around the fountain.

That's when something howled from above him. A creature had leapt off the side of the castle and landed near the fountain. It's body covered in fur, humanoid in nature, massive claws and a mouth that could bite a man's head off. He was looking at would be known as in fantasy as, a werewolf.