Chapter 2, Folly of the living

The city of Lilith was home to hundreds of adventures and mercenaries, looking to make a living on the edge of the Azhar forest. The place was full of monsters, and more recently, hoards of the undead.

It was extremely profitable work for everyone involved, given the Mandrac empire was footing the bill. Many wannabee adventurers and mercenaries were looking to make some gold after the empire's recent victory over those bloodsuckers to the east.

The Nosferatu may be an enlightened race like humans, but their bodies had the unpleasant habit of infecting the air and soil with miasma when they died.

Even so, them dying was preferable to their habit of drinking human blood. In the wake of the massive victory was an opportunity for newbies and prospective army recruits alike to gain some quick levels.

Over the last week, the city flooded with fresh faces, people coming to the city looking to take this opportunity to become adventurers in relative safety. A few dozen would die, but those deaths were inevitable.

The high death rate was mostly because foolish wannabe adventurers didn't think they needed to pay the fee for guild-level adventurers to escort them into the forest. Whether it was overconfidence, unwillingness to pay, or just being broke, these kinds of people always showed up.

One such group tread several hours into the forest, intent on doing it without paying the fee that bordered on highway robbery.

The stories of the undead had to be exaggerated right? They were just mindless monsters, no smarter than idiotic rabbits.

Confident in their success, they headed out, deep into the forest. The massive oaks swayed in the wind amidst their somewhat smaller brethren, their vast green canopies towering high overhead.

The group consisted of three men intent on getting enough levels and combat experience to draw the attention of the adventure's guild. Should be easy enough right?

Their confidence was mostly due to their healer who was a paladin with holy magic. Paladins were notoriously good at kicking the asses of the undead.

Lanny tugged at his ill-fitting leather breastplate, sweat soaking his thick cotton undershirt. The damned thing chafed, grinding into his shoulders, and under his arms. Not to mention it was hot, nearly unbearable in the high summer heat.

The sun beat down on the small group, the hours of walking in the heat sapping their earlier enthusiasm.

What made it worse was the fact that they had seen a single undead so far, making them move further into the dangerous forest.

"Are you sure we should keep going deeper into the forest?" Asked Ferris, the other warrior of the group.

"We will be fine, just keep watch."Pellic, their Paladin said.

"And what if we get swarmed by the undead?" Lanny asked reasonably.

"Then we will retreat,"Pellic said, taking a long drink from his canteen.

They carried on for another ten minutes, pausing when Ferris raised a hand pointing excitedly.

"Look."He said some trepidation in his voice.

"Yes, I see it. Ready your weapons."Pellic said unshouldering his mace.

A dusk stalker rushed out into the road in front of them, agile and fast. They were a pretty rare variety of undead, known for being fast and strong but their stupidity made them fairly easy prey.

As expected, it simply charged at them head-on, not bothering with stealth at all. Lanny caught its first strike on his shield, grunting at the surprising strength of the blow.

He leaned into the shield holding its jagged fingers from gouging his face. It snarled and screeched, ignoring injury in a desperate attempt to claw them to death.

"What are you doing, kill it!" Lanny said, grunting slamming its face, pushing it away, and giving Ferris the chance to hit it with his mace. When Ferris didn't attack he was confused.

"What are you waiting for, hurry and kill it!" Lanny said gritting his teeth at the effort of holding it back.

Several more shrieks filled the air behind him. "Oh shit! Run!"Feras shouted. Lanny glanced over his shoulder wondering what the fuck was going on? He gaped at the sight behind him, eyes wide, fear lancing through him. The paladin, Pellic was running away, followed closely by Ferris.

And after a moment he could see why. Five more undead, three zombies, and two of the hard-to-kill ghouls rushed out from the tree line.

Terrified, Lanny turned to flee, foolishly turning his back on the momentarily forgotten dusk stalker.

(Proficiency increased, ambush is now level 3)

Pellic ran away with all of his might. His lungs burned, and his legs ached, but his fear pushed him forwards. The haunting screams of Lanny filled his ears, but his terror was overwhelming.

Out of the entire group, he had the best armor, actually having some rusty chainmail over his basic leather breastplate.

That was actually looking to be a huge detriment, as Ferris gained on him, running on the narrow trail. Panicked at being the slowest of the two, Pellic had to make a choice.

He was obviously not the fastest of the group, and surely would be next on the menu. With that dark thought in mind, Pellic made the only reasonable choice.

He slung his hammer from his belt, and with a vicious swing, his mace crunched into Ferris's leg. The man screamed and fell, a distraction to get away.

"You, bastard, get back her Pellic."Ferris shouted, his voice pained and fearful.

Glancing back over his shoulder as he ran, Pellic noted that the two ghouls stopped, leaping onto Ferris. Good, they were the biggest threat, the zombies were too slow to catch him.

He might just get away. The rapid thump of bare feet on the packed road echoed behind him, causing him to glance over his shoulder.

He looked back just in time to see a blood-covered dusk stalker leap. They collided and tumbled. Panicked, Pelling flailed, desperate to keep those teeth away from his soft neck.

The dusk stalker snapped at the air, clawing bloody gouges in his face with its nails. Its face was covered in old and fresh blood alike, its eyes filled with hunger.

In his fear and pain, Pellic completely forgot about his vaunted paladin skills. Who knew, they might even have saved him.

Pellic screamed as a claw gouged his left eye, ripping deep into the soft organ. His hands holding those menacing teeth away slipped when his body was wracked with the blinding pain. Jagged teeth tore into Pellic's soft neck, ripping and tearing.

Busy stuffing his face full of still-hot flesh, the unnamed Dusk stalker was startled once again. That soft voice filled his head.

(Level up, level up. Congratulations, you are now a level-five dusk stalker. Proficiency increased, ambush is now level 3. Proficiency increased, essence drain is now level 3.

Intelligence plus 4. Strength plus 4. Agility, plus 4.

For reaching level five, you have three classes available, choose wisely. The exhausted stalker batted at the air startled as a blue screen filled his vision.

Witch, masters of hex craft, rituals, and the arcane. Select for more information.

Revenant, crush your enemies with overwhelming speed and strength. Select for more information.

Necromancer, create your own army of the undead. Select for more information.

The dusk stalker may have been ten times smarter than the average undead with his eleven intelligence, but still, he was a colossal moron.

"Yeck! Witch?" What the fuck is that? he thought

( Would you like to select Witch as your main class? Yes/ No)

"Yeck!" He said, startled, unsure what the screen wanted from him.

(Congratulations you are now a level one witch. You have learned the spell, ice spike.)

Knowledge flooded his feeble mind, filling him with knowledge of how to cast the spell. The overflow of information made him blackout, his empty head suddenly having too much information crammed inside.

The incredibly dense Dusk stalked awoke from his sudden sleep, glancing around, noting the zombies eating his prey.

For a moment he was enraged. At least until he realized his prey was already gone, having turned to that highly untasty withered husk.

With that out of the way, he focused on the other thing clawing at his attention. The knowledge of a spell, ice spike, whatever that was.

He raised his hand, looking at his palm, and chanted,"Ik spake!" uncertain of what might happen.

A thick shard of ice, shot from his palm, cutting a deep gash along his cheek and gouging a piece of his ear off.

A pained shriek filled the air, as the pissed-off dusk stalker screamed in pain. "Yeck!" Furious, but not willing to take the blame for harming himself, he pointed his palm at the zombie closest to him.

"Ice spike" He chanted.

The foot-long spike of ice shot from his hand slamming into the zombie's leg and pinning him to the ground. The dusk stalker's malicious little heart beat in excitement at his discovery.

The second zombie casually glanced up, tearing a chunk of broken flesh from the body. "Ice spike." He chanted, his words garbled.

A thick shard of ice skewered the zombie through its left eye, killing it instantly. (Level up, your witch job is now level 1. Proficiency increased, ice spike is now level 1. Intelligence plus 2, wisdom, plus 3)

"Yeck!" he said, excited. The two ghouls, still munching on their kill, screeched loudly, drawing his attention. He glanced over, wondering what they were angry about.

The two ghouls abandoned their meal, rushed at him, murder in their eyes. "Yeck!" The dusk stalker may be an idiot but he knew that look.. Without hesitation he turned and ran for his life, his instincts screaming at him to run away.

Well, now this was just not fair. All he did was kill one of the zombies. This was totally unreasonable, all he wanted was more levels. How dare the Ghouls attack him, weren't they supposed to be his allies?

Running full tilt into the forest he lost those slow, clumsy ghouls. Even still, it took him a while. Those bastards were incredibly persistent.

Vengeance burned in his cold unbeating heart. At least they were no longer chasing him, and now he could get back to hunting. The sweet aroma of life wafted in the air, drawing his hateful attention away from getting revenge on the ghouls.