Chapter 3 - Undead Everywhere… Wings Are A Must

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

[System]

||

…

The one last thing I would try to check was my height. If I were actually as small as a goblin, then I would need to redo my whole plan as it is now.

Using my darkness manipulation, I made a line from the ground to the ceiling. On this line, I indented centimeters and inches.

I made sure to evenly space everything out so there would be less room for error in my estimated size.

Stretching myself to my maximum once again, I found out, I wasn't as small as I thought I'd be.

From foot to chest, I was around 1.5 meters tall. From the base of my three necks, fully stretched out, I was also 1.5 meters tall there.

My wing span, however, was bigger than my entire body by another 1.5 meters.

In total, I was around 9 feet tall, and my wings fully stretched around 13.5 feet.

I guess size was relative. Monster Zero, in all, was around 532 feet; there was no reason I should start as a 1-foot hatchling.

With my height, I could estimate my weight to be enough to crush a human if I stood on them. Their ribcage wouldn't withstand my weight being added on.

If anything, instead of trying to fly away, I could run like a cheetah and charge into them. It may not look like it, but if I really wanted to, I would definitely outspeed a human by a great deal.

With nothing left to check, I walked my way over to the entrance of the cave. A frown crossed my face as I saw the entrance.

It had light bleeding into it from the outside. It was different from the way I could see in the dark. While in pitch-blackness, I could see as if everything was a single shade of color.

But as I looked at the exit to the cave, I could see the way the different light shades intertwined. This meant I would have to wait a long time for nighttime...

Walking back to where I was before I decided to try and leave the cave, I decided I would work on Eviscerate for a while.

All of my skills were at novice, but would they become different if I got past the novice rank?

Would they have a lesser minimum cost? A greater maximum cost? Would I just be able to do more with this ability? I didn't know.

From what I can tell, mastering an ability under a certain mastery would boost that mastery's total mastery value.

Because I have two moves related to darkness, my darkness manipulation is already at 24%. While my mastery of both my darkness abilities is lower than that, it did open my eyes to something.

Instead of trying to bend gravity to my will with absolute force, I could create abilities that made minor adjustments to gravity.

This would theoretically boost my gravity mastery quicker while allowing me to make use of my gravitational abilities.

I have maybe 6 to 12 hours before night, and my mana can refill a minimum of six times. I could try to focus on mixing my gravity control with Eviscerate.

If gravity is heavy enough, it can delay time and make anything close to it look distorted.

If I apply heavy enough gravity right on top of my attack, it'll cause a minuscule lag effect to take control and slow the attack down.

This could surprise enemies and even cause their downfall. I could even use my gravity to rotate any physically thrown attacks.

By placing the sphere of gravity in the way of the attack, I can have the object circle so closely that it causes the slingshot effect to happen and shoot it faster in another direction.

This could speed up and change the trajectory so quickly that enemies may not be able to react. A dome of attacks is being flung around me and an opponent so quickly that they can't move if they don't want to be hit.

'Alright, let's do this.' I thought as I began getting ready to use Eviscerate.

…

10 hours have passed since I first started working on eviscerate and gravity.

I have learned a couple of things since then. My mana isn't enough to truly make use of gravity, as it's at 3%, yet I can't make any abilities from it.

However, I have made massive amounts of progress with Eviscerate. It sits at a comfortable 55%, and that may have to do with what I just did a few hours ago.

Instead of using my whole tail to swing, I controlled both of the split parts of it and swiped them at the same time.

One did a horizontal slash, and the other did a vertical slash. The two slashes were almost touching as I unleashed them.

Due to being able to control each tail separately, I was able to not only make the attacks at the same time but also cross them over each other.

In other words, X marks the spot. It would take double the energy value due to sending two slashes out, but I didn't get a new ability out of it.

'I was going to name it Twin Meteors too...' I sarcastically frowned mentally as I began walking to the cave exit.

I had been waiting for my mana to fully regenerate, and now was the time for action. The sun retreated not too long ago, and it doesn't seem to be raining.

While my mana had been regenerating, I had started working on moving all three of my necks.

One of the strengths I saw in this body was that most beings would try to aim for the head the first time they attacked me.

Godzilla would agree that having three serpentine necks that could all dodge was another broken ability.

I worked on moving them in coordinated dodges and multiple individual actions. Having three brains all to myself allowed me to defend my back, sides, and front with all three of my heads.

'I am perfectly prepared and ready.' Right as I finished that thought, I began taking my first steps outside the cave.

The second I stood outside the cave, I noticed one thing. The cave wasn't in some corner, but it was actually on a hill.

The hill was cleared of trees, and there was not a single tree or bit of cover that I could hide behind if I was in daylight.

Below the hill was a forest that seemed to stretch forever. I couldn't tell how dark it was due to my vision, but I could see the difference in shading between the hill and the forest.

Looking around, I ran forward and jumped into the air while spreading my wings.

The first flap took me a couple of feet off the ground, and with that, I flapped my wings harder.

Quickly, my body flew into the air. My wings were straining as I overshot the strength I needed to become airborne. Slowing down the flapping of my wings by a bit, I flew over the forest.

I didn't go too high—just high enough to not be clipped by any trees. I was around 100 feet in the air.

As I interchanged gliding and flying, I could smell something. It wasn't a smell that any normal being would smell, but it smelled like death.

I mean actual dead bodies, but it was tolerable. I knew there weren't any dead bodies nearby, and this smell was different.

'Am I smelling the concept of death?' I thought to myself as I looked down.

My three heads scanned the forest for over a minute before I saw the first one. It was a skeleton.

But it wasn't just one. After the first one, more came into my vision. The undead came out at night; that was good information to know.

Skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and more. I didn't know the names of more than half of the creatures I saw.

A ghoul with its chest and bottom half gone, moving more like one of those skull crawlers.

A zombie with only one massive arm looked as if it was about to ram into anything it saw.

Skeletons with robes on actually looked in my direction when I flew overhead.

There was even what seemed to be a small, skeletal ground dragon. However, the one that looked the most dangerous was the skeleton, which had a different color robe.

Its gaze traced me as I passed by it and its army. My left head turned to keep an eye on him as the skeletal lord raised its right arm.

'He's going to try me, isn't he?' As soon as I finished that thought, a bone came from the ground right next to the overlord.

Ripping the large spear-like bone from the ground and twirling it between his fingers as he brought his hand back, the overlord skeleton threw it hard.

*WHOOSH*

'I fucking knew it!' Before finishing the thought, I tucked my wings in and dove downward while spinning.

The second the bone spear that was supposed to impale me passed, I spread my wings, which stopped my fast downward descent, and flew high up as fast as I could.

My flight path was angled so that no matter what, I would be gaining distance as I flew upward.

Going faster and faster, my body soon shot through the lower clouds in the sky. Compared to my body size, my travel speed was high.

I haven't pushed myself to the brink, but I could say that the distance I crossed was massive.

Previously, I was interchanging gliding with flying to not waste stamina. I didn't know if I sweated the same as a human, and due to my low endurance, I would probably have to rest somewhere if pushed too far.

But as I looked around at the world, looking small around me, I couldn't find any towns or cities. Usually, those are identified by their size. If not in modern times, I should be able to see smoke rising into the sky.

Smoke from burning wood would allow a village to be located. Yet as I hovered in the air using my wings, I saw nothing but forest and a large lake near where the undead were.

The night was uncharacteristically dangerous. I hadn't seen a single living thing as I had passed over the forest.

The natives of this world must have adapted to undead creatures coming out at night, and that must be the reason I had found no signs of animals.

It could always be just this area that is infected with undead, but if that were so, how unlucky could I be to run right into them?

With a single hard flap of my wings, my body flew upward, only to stall in the air as I tucked my wings in.

I began falling backward slowly. My backward fall from the sky turned into a nose dive.

I pierced through the cloud I had previously gone through. The congregation of gas unobstructed my vision as I went past.

Turning in the direction I was going before I started the nose dive, I spread my wings to pull myself into a fast glide.

…

Through my short—around an hour—travel. I found something peculiar. I had begun traveling closer to the ground in order to look out for more beings.

But one thing stood out to me: I had hovered above, looking at the building surrounded by a dense forest. It was a near-dilapidated building that looked like a small castle.

It wasn't a full castle; it seemed more like a home, but it was definitely made to look like a castle.

The undead and whatever more there could be seemed to avoid the place. It was as if someone or something had put a ward on the place.

And as I slowly lowered myself from the air, right above the castle, I realized why. I stood on nothing, meters above the ground, and looked on in confusion.

There seemed to be a barrier. A barrier to warding out the monster from the outside included me.

Whatever was in the castle was either capable of using magic or was given this barrier.

I noticed what seemed to be goblins—small, green, and ugly creatures that looked at me with a mixture of fear and curiosity.

They were wearing armor and seemed to be awoken by my landing on the barrier with a thudding noise.

"Let me in..."

"The longer you deny me access, the more regret shall pile until your shoulders sag and you slouch with pitiful attempts at appeasement."

"If denied, I promise you that your cacophony of screams and untold fears shall be made reality. You will be unable to rest even after death as I torture your pitiful souls for eternity."

All three of my heads held different responses that were unintended by me. My middle head was the only one to follow my true wishes for speech.

The other heads seemed to speak with pride in abundance and kept their responses similar to what I had desired.

If the goblins were scared before, now they were absolutely pissing themselves as a dragon was on the ceiling of the barrier and demanding their lives.

"We both know you need to eat eventually. I can wait as long as needed until you exit the barrier, and once you do, I will be here."

"I have killed beyond your countable comprehension. Your deaths will be guaranteed and have already occurred; time has yet to foresee my subsequent actions."

"As one born before time, I have waited longer than your souls combined have existed. A single pitiful night is unseen compared to the endlessness that is before concepts. Your mortal coil will toil and degrade as I outlast your leftover wisps. The damnable concept that is hunger will make itself known to you and your brethren; I have already foreseen the outcome of your pitiful existence."

Once again, my other two heads spoke the words that were similar to mine yet so condescendingly prideful.

'Maybe I should stop speaking...' I thought to myself in exasperation.

…

(A/N: This chapter was supposed to be released on the Fourth of July but was postponed due to the date and Kendrick dropping a music video of Not Like Us. I may have gotten a bit sidetracked…)