Seven

It was a shame to lose manpower, but also not an issue in the least, the goal of the dead had been accomplished, the goblins, who had been the only monster tribe aware of the existence of the undead, had been silenced.

Now, even if a few monsters managed to escape the miasma, they would have no clue what it was or where it could have come from, Loimos held that certainty that it was best to keep the living oblivious.

It was easily done here, the somewhat intelligent monsters had no clue what an undead was, but it would be idiotic to believe that the miasma could't, and wouldn't be linked to undeath by smarter species.

Loimos spent the next weeks it took the miasma to spread, to do whatever appeared best, the system granted 'skills' that granted visible improvement to whatever they pertained, a single level wouldn't be visible for most but as an undead with a perfect idea of his capabilities at all time, even the slightest of chance was noticeable.

Another proof that death was superior to life.

The death of all life contained within the walls of the underground also brought what the system referred to as 'experience', which went into 'levels' and when the number next to level increased, it wouldn't then be the numbers next to the various 'stats' that would increase.

This also brought some moderate improvements, which was always welcome.

The system wasn't alive after all, so Loimos wouldn't reject its offerings.

The skeleton also went through the notifications the system would sometimes manifest in his sight, Loimos was never bothered by them as they couldn't impair his senses, but he never bothered to analyse what they contained.

You slayed this, you slayed that, you went up a level, you obtained a title, you obtained a skill…

It was quite dutiful in informing him of everything that was going on, he might have been touched, had he been able to feel anything.

The last week soon came, the week during which all of the life remaining would be extinct.

On the first day of the last week, the miasma reached high and surrounded the source of light, the one shining sunlight during the day, and moonlight during the night.

Only darkness was left for the few survivors, the endless dark of death was presented to them in a lesser form, still, they shuddered.

On the second day toward the end, the miasma had absorbed all of the breathable air, leaving only its own toxic self for the remaining to try and sustain their existence, their life was beginning to seep.

They were made to realise how wrong and improper it was, how limiting their need to breath truly was.

On the third day leading to extinction, the disappearance of light and non-toxic air led to the demise of all plant life, the soils turned bare and dry.

Cracking and collapsing at the slightest of touches, even the ground wasn't eternal.

On the fourth day of destruction, something essential was killed, consumed by the miasma, the obstructed sun and moon, source of all light in the underground was broken and torn off its vantage point.

Crashing down, it shattered like glass, now, there would be no more hope for light to return, to overcome its prison, even it had decayed.

Darkness had truly taken hold and taken its rightful position.

On the fifth day of eternal night, all the life squirming and swirling in the lake had surrendered, there was no more water, only blood as dark as true darkness.

The first and strongest cradle of life fell, a grim presage for those walking the falling lands.

On the sixth and last day of life, the animals, monsters and tribes inhabiting dry ground, the last few that had managed to hold on in spite of the very air around them turning hostile, their remains turned to formless rot, fueling the spread of the miasma.

On the seventh day, Loimos turned and headed for the tunnel discovered by the last victims he had slayed with his own hands, ignoring the collapse behind him, he crawled out and away from his own actions.

This work was already done, it was time for him to move on and continue his most noble duty.

The arm that had been blasted off was now completely back, the utter lack of life combined with the thick cloud of death was to be thanked for its swift retrieval.

Loimos squeezed his skeletal body through the narrow passages, twisting his bones covered in blood to get through gaps his skull barely fitted through.

Until he emerged into a pitch black crawl space, thanks to the hefty amount of death he had caused, Loimos had gained access to much of an undead's natural capabilities, he had already demonstrated clicking his bones off and on.

As though, he was an elaborate puppet, but now was time to make full use of an undead sight.

Typically, skeletons and the likes held dark vision, meaning that they required no light to see.

Loimos, hadn't unlocked dark vision.

The truth was that he had gained access to something else, simply called 'Dead Senses'.

It was much better than a simple dark vision since it had everything an undead could have, shoved into a single ability, coupled with his natural capabilities linked to senses that had nothing to do with skills and other system abilities, saying that he could just see in the dark was a vast understatement.

The crawl space he had found himself in was rather wide actually, since he could move around whilst simply crouching down, though Loimos moved faster when crawling on all four like some sort of demented beast nightmares are made of.

He did have the dentition of one already, so it was only natural that he would start moving like one too.

The tunnel had been quite long to traverse, a resilient living would have starved multiple times over trying to get through it, and Loimos had had no need for breaks.

The miasma had trouble expanding there, also due to the fact that there was no life to drain.

Loimos felt the now substantial reinforcement it had been granting him wear off as he crawled around until he found an opening in the ground.

Slowly sticking his head out of the hole, he solely twisted his skull around to look around.

It would seem like the crawl space he had found himself in was right above a long series of dull corridors, filled with nothing but dust and deserted cobwebs, the hallways were all made of the same grey stone bricks as before.

Clacking his jaw loudly, he determined with echolocation that it was beyond huge, and seemingly extending in all directions.

Maybe it linked with the deep hole he had first climbed down to get to the miniature world, he would have to explore some more to see if that was the case, since the hole and original way he had come from had completely collapsed due to the miasma eroding everything.

The miasma leaving nothing untouched was also the reason why Loimos had been unable to keep any weapon or object, they had all decayed away, even the iron axe head, though it had rusted into a useless piece of junk beforehand.