Against mummies

Mortis was full of eagerness and just wanted to finish the quest. Besides, after the destruction of the seal, everything should be cleared.

So he went straight to the center and redeemed 10 spirits on the way, who immediately went into the light. This made him even more convinced to finish the task.

Outside the crypt, he found only small groups of ghosts, which he easily defeated with his scythe whirl.

In the basement, he was somewhat surprised because this time there were multiple enemies: two mummies instead of just one large skeleton or imp.

One mummy said "Rrggrrg", the other replied with "Mhmggrhm". Mortis thought to himself, "You've got to be kidding me? Oh, whatever."

Mortis ran at the mummies and used scythe whirls, hitting both of them, but they didn't really seem bothered and immediately attacked again. The larger mummy swung at him, while the slightly smaller one kicked. Mortis was able to block the attack, but was thrown backwards two meters.

He felt a tingling sensation in his hands. These undead seemed to be going for strength. As Mortis tried to walk back toward them, a bandage flew at him, hitting him in the torso and pulling him toward the large mummy with such force that he lost his footing and went flying.

One mummy's hands glowed yellow, while the other's feet did. Quickly Mortis activated slash and managed to block both fists, but then he received a strong kick to the ribs from the side that sent him spinning through the air again.

After the hard landing and several spins on the ground, Mortis caught his breath. He quickly took out a healing potion, drank it, and rose, gasping and coughing. Again a bandage flew at him, but this time Mortis dodged it. The bandage followed him, however, and clasped his leg.

He was again pulled toward the two mummies, who were ready to blow the lights out of him. Mortis tried to tear himself away from the bandage, but it was as hard as steel. He pulled against it, but nothing happened. He continued to be pulled toward them as the mummies' hands and feet began to glow again.

As Mortis prepared to counter the blows, his new ability came to mind. He activated Ghostly Retreat and teleported five meters away from the mummies. The bandage had also disappeared. Mortis watched the mummies as he took sideways steps around them, waiting for the glow to disappear.

As soon as the glow disappeared on the first mummy, Mortis jumped at it again with a scythe whirl to avoid being hit by the bandages again. After the hit, he quickly jumped back and blocked the kick of the smaller mummy with his pole.

He stayed close to the opponents and started to fight them without any skills. The mummies were slow and seemed to have only these two abilities. Mortis quickly got used to their rhythm and implemented what he had read in the book.

The two mummies suffered many cuts when suddenly red light surrounded them and the glow in their eyes increased. It was too late as the large mummy leapt toward Mortis and launched a series of increasingly powerful blows at him.

He was able to block most of the blows with his pole and dodge them with backward steps, but he still took two blows to the face and two to the chest. Blood ran from his nose and a laceration on his head caused by the first hit.

As if one opponent wasn't enough, the smaller mummy suddenly appeared behind him and kicked him in the back, pushing him further toward the larger mummy.

Mortis used Scythe Vortex, though he didn't hit anyone, and then Ghostly Retreat to get both mummies in front of him again. He then used Slash, but only hit the smaller mummy as it came up behind him again.

With the second strike of Slash, he hit the large mummy, which again rushed at Mortis. This time he changed tactics and used Ghostly Retreat first, then Scythe Whirl, hitting both mummies - first the big one, then the smaller one.

Both mummies were still standing, but the mana was almost completely depleted. Mortis charged at the small undead with everything he could, and it wasn't going to last much longer. With four blows to the chest, he managed to finish him off.

Just as Mortis was about to pick up the soul, he saw a shadow pass by. He turned quickly and saw the large mummy leaping toward him, its hands clenched, ready to slay him.

Thanks to his reflexes and agility, Mortis managed to narrowly avoid the jump, but was caught in the shockwave as the mummy hit the ground.

Mortis took a few steps back, quickly drank a healing potion, and was considering how to proceed when the mummy jumped on him again. "You've got to be kidding!" he thought.

This time he was prepared and narrowly dodged, making sideways leaps next to the mummy to avoid being hit by the shockwave as well. With slash, he then landed two hard hits on the big mummy's torso.

Undeterred, the mummy charged at Mortis and lashed out wildly, landing several hits that did considerable damage.

Mortis took up the scythe and tried to block with the two blades and slash the opponent. With no skills, the fight turned into a brutal brawl.

Mortis became increasingly weaker and felt everything going numb. His legs were giving out more and more, but he wasn't giving up in this fight, and escape wasn't an option.

He kept swinging the blades until the red in the mummy's eyes disappeared and she fell to her knees. But in a frenzy, he continued his attacks. "He is defeated. Calm down. Stay calm. He's finished," he thought.

Hearing the message, he stopped the attacks, smiled and dropped backwards, landing on his butt. He took a healing potion, swallowed it and closed his eyes.

Sitting up, he fell asleep. After about two hours, he slowly opened his eyes and the mummies were gone. In their place was a box.

"Level-up! Distribute your 6 SP. 'Put it all in Int'," he was told.

"Congratulations! You have reached the intelligence level of a normal human. With that, you better be able to process everything now, and not just act instinctively," he was told.

"Thank you, but for now I'll collect my two rewards," he replied.

He opened the small box that contained black gloves that increased his agility by +5. He put them on immediately.

Mortis smashed the statue and said his prayer before closing his eyes again to avoid being blinded.

"Congratulations! You have completed the first quest of your goddess. You will receive the secret box of death. Do you want to open it right now?" he was told.

"Sure I want to," he replied. "It's a heroic potion of the lower race. This potion increases all stats by +5 and grants 2 additional status points per level. Past levels are also taken into account, and you get these status points to distribute. The downside is that you will suffer for 1 hour and wish for death 1000 times," he was told.

"Oh, how nice that sounds. Who wouldn't want to be tortured? Maybe me. That would be the second time dammit! Oh, never mind. Whoever wants to become not only beautiful, must suffer. Even those who want to become stronger," he thought bravely.

He courageously took the potion, but regretted it after only a second. Everything burned and itched. He tried to scrape the potion out of his body, but his fingernails fell out and his flesh came off the bones. His stomach burst open to remove and replace his organs and intestines, his skull also cracked open and changed his brain over and over.

The Potion of Rebirth arranged organs and created new bones or replaced them, again and again, until everything was perfect. After all, a hero had to stand out from the crowd.

After an hour of suffering and the purest torture, Mortis lay in a pool of blood, surrounded by his own organs and bone fragments and everything else that makes up a body.

"Congratulations! You really are a real Reaper now. You can distribute 9 SP per level and now have a total of 63 SP. Become stronger than everyone else and make a name for yourself in this world," he was told.

Mortis cried even though the torture was over. He was still in hellish pain, so he just lay there and fell asleep again.

After 10 hours, he woke up feeling fit, though very nauseous as he was now covered in his own blood.

"Your space ring is somewhere in the pool of blood. There is also your equipment in the ring, but maybe you should wash first," he was told.

Mortis Level 21

Strength 31, Agility 41, Int 21, Vitality 25, Stamina 35, Mana 41, Charisma 45