28 The Mold (6)

Chapter 28 – The Mold (6)

I gasped a few times.

My heart skipped a few beats as well before pounding faster than usual.

I was starting to feel the effect of using [Light of the Morning] on my body.

I knew that Skills came with their conditions but I didn't think that Bright had to endure this much strain right from the start.

After I felt every fibre of my muscle seeming like they wanted to yank off from their bone insertions, I understood why Bright couldn't run a certain distance at a stretch.

I felt a sudden generalised ache pulse through my entire body.

I was thrown into instant shock but luckily enough, I held onto my consciousness, enough to know what happened around me and also detect my own actions.

Several blood-red eyes surrounded me in no time.

Hands of rotten flesh tried to reach for my body and grab me as sinister growls accompanied them.

I rolled out of the way of the first set of undead that tried to touch me before managing to stand on my feet.

"If only I had enough mastery of Essence yet. Tch."

I looked around and searched for a way to escape while dodging the undead as they came.

It would take some time before I could use another Skill. Thus, I couldn't effectively put up a reasonable fight against their numbers.

Even if I fought them with my bare hands.

How many could I take care of?

Twenty?

Thirty?

Maybe, forty at best, if I burn my entire stamina at the moment.

I need to escape and rest.

'Live to fight another day,' I thought to myself as I meandered my way through their ranks until I got through a window.

Suffering several scratches on my body and torn parts of my clothes, I successfully abandoned the building.

These creatures had tried to chase after me but it was futile as they were naturally sluggish in the movement.

Outpacing them was not an issue in any way.

I fled and constantly avoided contact with some who were stationed at different points until I came upon another building.

It was a building with cracked windows and a door that was partly blown apart.

I entered and looked around, searching for any signs of these beings but it was just me inside the building.

I sat and rested my back on one of the walls, hidden from eyes outside the house.

I needed to rest for a few minutes so I could regain my lost strength and stamina.

I sighed and glanced at the ceiling of this building that was painted in soot with multiple holes in it.

Then I looked at my hands, folding and unfolding them as I thought through all that had happened since the Level 0 Challenge began.

'I've gotten a good hang of the [Beast Under The Moonlight] Skill. But the rest…"

I grimaced as my back pressed a bit more firmly against the wall, reigniting the pain from the scratches on my back.

'I haven't had the opportunity to try the rest. Even so, I have to do it in a hidden place to avoid eyes seeing me.'

I brought my knees closer to my chest and rested my head on them.

'I wonder what backlashes the other Skills have… but I can't know unless I use them. Well, except for those I already know about.

'That aside, I should rest for a bit and start moving. I need to hasten up and end this quickly before someone else gets the head of the Undead Leader.'

As I thought about this, I experienced an instant light bulb moment.

I remembered something that I had somehow forgotten about despite how vital it was to me in my past.

'Maybe I can do that here,' I thought. 'Even if I don't do it as well as before, I should be able to do so to a reasonable extent.'

Resting the back of my head against the wall behind me, I slowly shut my eyes and tried to get some rest even with the thoughts that disturbed my mental serenity.

Inside my head, I was comparing and contrasting the few Skills that I had acquired.

I mentally placed them side by side and visualised how well they would work out if I could combine them.

A combination of two or more compatible Skills was something I achieved much later in my past life out of sheer desperation to save myself from a deathly Dungeon Raid.

Now that I had that foreknowledge, it wouldn't hurt to try and see how much of it I could do.

Heck, I even need to know if I was possible at this Ore Stage of mine.

—––

Meanwhile, in another section of the virtual dungeon…

The only student who, for now, threatened Luke's aim for the top spot in the Level 0 Challenge was still going at it with these creatures.

A few beads of sweat were now visible on Otis' face as he jumped backwards.

He had just escaped a claw assault from these creatures.

'There's no end to them? What the hell though!'

Otis held his sword tightly with two hands, even further tightening his grip as his eyes squinted with sharp focus.

His eyeballs moved with reasonable precision as he watched how the group of undead creatures moved.

'They have no matter of movement. No formation. No tactics. Nothing. Just an overwhelming number.'

Otis straightened his sword in a vertical position and slowly lifted the weapon until it was above his head like he was about to make a slash.

'That leaves me no choice.'

Otis' fingers quivered a little bit and inhaled and exhaled a few times as sweat ran down from his cheeks to the ground.

The voice of an older man with a bald head and full beard echoed in his thoughts. "No wasteful movements, boy."

"No wasteful movements," Otis repeated in a low, sombre tone of voice.

While he was focusing on what he was about to do, the undead continued to approach him regardless.

Otis was not bothered by this.

In fact, the closer they got to him, the easier it was for him to achieve what he had intended.

After a short while of waiting, the son of the Vernon Family opened his eyes.

His sea-blue eyes had turned black.

"Midnight Slash," he muttered as he waved his sword downwards with great strength.