1 Prologue
After the pandemic, the unprepared world was greeted by yet another catastrophic disaster! A disaster, far worse than a deadly virus! Gates that spewed out countless monsters suddenly appeared out of nowhere, sparking a bloodbath that killed hundreds of millions of lives.
However, that was not all, a voice suddenly appeared in everybody's head. It introduced itself as the System! The people who slew monsters that came from the earned some rewards that helped them get stronger. It sparked the beginning of a new era... the era of Hunters!
Unfortunately, before that could even happen, Beneth, a youngster who just turned 19 was coincidentally trying to fend off a couple of Goblins when the [System Notification] popped out of nowhere, startling him enough to lower his guard down and getting struck by the Goblin's knife to his heart!
With an indignant roar, he died!
...
When Beneth came to, he was not dead!
'What a ridiculous dream! I have been reading too much Manhwa!' Naturally, since he was not dead, everything must have been a dream! It did not yet occur to him that usually, he would barely recall ten percent of a dream and forget about it once some time passes.
While he was getting up, he froze.
'Huh? Are those bones? Have I become so skinny that I am barely skin and bone?' Beneth was still registering his shock while fascinatingly moving his boney hand. The gray and spotless bones.
It was only several seconds later that Beneth sprang up from horror! He finally realized that everything was real! He hurriedly checked his body and was again shocked that he was now a skeleton! He looked around to check where he was, and there it was, a skeleton monster, aimlessly wandering around the tunnel like a fool while carrying a sword.
From the looks of it, the skeleton was from a human. And so was he.
'No, no, did I become a skeleton monster after I died?' Just as Beneth was wallowing from self-pity, a blue, semi-transparent screen appeared out of nowhere.
[Notification!]
[System syncing is now complete!]
[You can now access [Status Window]! Work hard to unlock more System Features! Good Luck!]
'The System? I became a skeleton monster but I can still use the System? Is it a bug? It does not matter, it was its fault that I died, maybe it felt sorry and revived me as a skeleton!' With that thought, Beneth called out in his head, [Status Window]!
[Skeleton Soldier]
[Level: 1(0/0)]
[Health: 50/50
Strength: 5
Agility: 5
Speed: 5
Stamina: --
Armor: 0
Magic Resistance: 0]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Skills]
--Vital Strike--
Rank: F (0/100)
Cost: None
Passive: Additional 10% Damage if the target's vital is hit.
Active: Additional 5% Damage in the next attack.
Cooldown: 12 seconds
[A recently spawned Skeleton Soldier by the Dungeon!]
'This is just like a game! Did the world really turn into a game? Gates and monster, a classic genre for creators! Now, there is this system. If I am not wrong, I should not be the only one who has the system. It was even the cause of my death!'
While reading his stats, Beneth's eerie dark eyes stopped at the stamina stat.
'It does not have a value? Don't tell me it is infinite? Makes sense, I am now a skeleton after all. But what energy am I consuming to stay alive as a skeleton? Magic? Mana?'
Beneth thought about it for a while, but he only came up with few other ideas which were quite reasonable from a gamer's perspective. Unfortunately, he had no way to know now that he's in this situation.
'So this skeleton was just recently spawned by the Dungeon. That must mean that I am in a Dungeon! Is it because I am being sustained by the dungeon that I don't need any stamina?' That was how Beneth's brain worked. It was a mentality created by games, anime, thousands of chapters of fictional books, manga, manhwa, manhua, whatever you call it! It was thanks to that accumulation of "weeb common sense" that he was able to even make sense of the situation!
Seeing that he had no other special stats or skills, Beneth closed his [Status Window] with a single thought. Since he was in a dungeon, then it was a must to test his strength and figure out some rules in this place. He picked up his sword ad read the description.
[Normal Sword- Rank F]
--Damage: 8 | Durability: 180--
'8 Damage, I wonder how damage output is calculated. I guess I can only try it out.' He was bothered by the fact that all of his senses were working even though he was just a skeleton but could only register it as something supernatural.
He observed the tunnel-like dungeon which looked like something that was dug up by rats. Each of his steps echoed, traveling along the tunnel. However, after walking for some time, Beneth stopped in front of a large black door. He was sure that he saw the Skeleton come this way.
'Did it open the door? Let's find out..'
Beneth thought that the door would surely be heavy, seeing how large it was, but when he exerted a little bit of force, it easily budged. When he opened it, he was greeted by hundreds of Skeleton Soldiers, carrying swords identical to his own.
The moment he entered, Beneth heard a voice echo in his head, and it was not the system!
{Gathering of 1000 Skeleton Soldier is Complete! Now, the Elimination Trial shall commence! Kill!}
The moment he heard the 'Kill command', Beneth's vision changed! The previously normal-looking Skeleton Soldier now looked red! The only normal thing was the surroundings.
Before he could process what was going on, a Skeleton Soldier that was facing him suddenly charged with reddened eyes! It was like it saw its arch-nemesis.
[Skeleton Soldier]
[Health: 50/50]
Not wanting to die, Beneth easily dodged the attack with a simple sidestep and raised his sword, slashing it towards the mindless skeleton soldier's exposed neck with all his strength.
Crack! Spark! Beneth heard the dull sound of the neck cracking, however, it did not completely break as he had expected! The Skeleton went off balance, collapsing to the ground.
[-13]
[You have hit the target's vital! Additional 10% Damage!]
[-1]
[Skeleton Soldier]
[Health: 36/50]
Not forgetting his skill, Beneth inwardly shouted, 'Vital Strike!' before the Skeleton Soldier could even get up.
[-14]
[You have hit the target's vital! Additional 10% Damage!]
[-1]
Another slash hit the Skeleton Soldier's cracked neck, but it still did not break. Of course, Beneth had already expected it and delivered two more blows. The last strike completely severed the skull from its body.
He saw the damage notification flash before disappearing replaced by a new one.
[You have slain a Level 1 Skeleton Soldier! You have gained 10 XP!]
Beneth already figured that this was a great opportunity to level up. He wasted no time and search for easy targets from the royal battle among thousands of Skeleton Soldiers.
Luckily, he was the last one to enter this area and was quite a distance away from the crowd, otherwise, he would have been mixed up in the middle.
It did not take long for Beneth to see two Skeleton Soldiers battling each other. However, their fight was dull and their action was that of mindless zombies just trying to swing their swords at each other.
Without any hesitation, Beneth carefully avoided getting the aggro off other skeleton soldiers. When he was in range, he saw the two Skeleton Soldier's health status.
[Level 1 Skeleton Soldier]
Health: 12/50
[Level 1 Skeleton Soldier]
Health: 11/50
Overjoyed, Beneth easily cut the two apart.
[You have slain a Level 1 Skeleton Soldier! You have gained 10 XP!]
[You have slain a Level 1 Skeleton Soldier! You have gained 10 XP!]
'Okay!' The adrenaline rush he was experiencing made his blood boil... if he had some.
[You have slain a Level 1 Skeleton Soldier! You have gained 10 XP!]
[You have slain a Level 1 Skeleton Soldier! You have gained 10 XP!]
[You have slain a Level 1 Skeleton Soldier! You have gained 10 XP!]
Just as he was about to hunt his seventh prey, Beneth felt a large force hit his neck before he was pushed off down the ground from the force.
[You have taken 15 damage!]
'Arg!' Beneth instant sprang up and parried the incoming blow with his sword, but his stance was bad leading him to be off-balance and pushed down on the ground yet again. He was about to get up, but the attacking Skeleton Soldier took this opportunity to deliver yet another blow to Benenth's right leg.
[You have taken 15 damage!]
'Shit! Run!' Without hesitation, Beneth rolled to dodge another slash and sprung up, sprinting to an empty spot, not daring to look back at the fearsome Skelton Soldier that attacked him!
It was only when he felt safe that Beneth looked back, only to see the Skeleton Soldier that attacked before attacking another skeleton and easily killing it in 3 slashes!
'Is it like me? Was it also a reincarnated human? Why is it so good at fighting? Could it be that everyone that was killed turned into Skelton Soldier? If that's the case, then it is bad! I might die again. I should be more careful!'
Beneth's thoughts processed everything at a rapid speed while he cautiously observed his surrounding. Before, he thought that all of the Skeleton Soldiers were mindless zombies, but after seeing that and fighting that skillful Skeleton Soldier, Beneth was now more fearful!
