Headless Gravewalker on the ground, his pals waking up. What fun is this? Truly, I was having the best time. Pretty sure I had my brain messed with. I now have foggy memories of a swordsman from some ancient kingdom who got eaten alive atop a castle. Yeah, I am going to need some major therapy after finishing this.
Also, why did I think that trick of switching off my blade would work? Perhaps the feint tactic in those memories influenced me. Or maybe I thought I had a brilliant idea. Regardless, I nearly got my head cut off.
It all worked out in the end, but that tactic was a bad idea. Best not try that again. It seems very situational and probably requires the element of surprise. I thought of all of this while another undead burst out of its coffin. And the moment its dessicate mug made its appearance, I threw an inspect on it.
[Unyielding Gravewalker. Level 13]
It was one level higher than headless over here, which would make it slightly stronger. Hopefully, it wouldn't trap me in that memoryscape like the last one did. I had no clue how I got out of that, but the ever-growing log of notifications would probably explain it.
Instead of a short sword, this one pulled out a giant, freaking mace. Also, I hadn't really registered it before, but this guy was wearing a tattered robe with a faded insignia. Unlike the worn tunic of the other guy.
"You are giving me serious cleric vibes." I commented, not expecting a response.
As expected, the dead man didn't bother replying. Probably didn't even know how or was incapable of speaking. But he could totally charge at me like a madman, mace up high and ready to smash.
"Cleric, smash puny intruder." I gave voice to this poor creature, trying my best to mimic a certain big angry guy.
And the dead cleric did just that. He tried to smash me with a big, freaking mace. The spiked ball on the end came down like the wrath of a god. The wrath of a very slow god, as he probably lost some speed after dying.
The blow would undoubtedly destroy me, given the wind shear as it passed by. Luckily for me, I had decent reflexes and some speed. Sidestepping, my favourite move, I sliced towards his exposed chest.
Creating a large gash from his stomach to his neck, he barely flinched. He didn't even recognise the blow before he turned mid-strike and shifted to a wide swing across my head. I swear he must have been faking being a slow zombie, because that change was super fast. My reactive barrier kicked in just in time as the side of my face met a spiked mace.
The blow was intense and knocked me to the side, rattling my head like a gong. He went to town on my brain, and if it weren't for my skill, I wouldn't even be thinking right now. Fearing another blow, I got a hold of myself as quickly as possible. Jumping to the side, nearly tripping over, I was so dizzy. But achieved what I wanted, getting some distance.
What followed was just a sad attempt to pummel me. The Undead clearly had the strength and infinite stamina, but his speed left a lot to be desired. My reflexes and the reach of my blade were enough to keep my distance and give a few cuts. But with the undead, something more substantial was required. I needed to bisect him or decapitate like I did his friend.
After about five separate swings, the Gravewalker turned to me, and I could swear there was annoyance in his eyes. Before the icy blue flared to life and my world went black.
"Bloody hell, stop with the mind-screwing!" I screamed into the infinite void as a new scene played out.
Yet oddly, this time was different. I could, with effort, distance myself from the memory. It played like an ultra-realistic movie with me trying to hit the pause button.
The tale woven was less intense, unlike the last one that jammed the feelings down my throat. I could feel it trying to do that, but could keep it at bay. The vision revealed a new place, which was clearly a war zone. My vision showed me smashing vampires left and right, flinging holy magic about like a furious Zeus.
Vampires and undead thralls came at me. The filthy creatures were like roaches; with my faith, I couldn't destroy them all. We must exterminate them to fulfill the will of the gods. Nope, screw that, I'm not playing this game. I'm done with this, and the movie is over. With an intense burst of will, the vision ended before our poor cleric got swarmed and likely eaten alive. A theme for these dudes.
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I awoke quickly, blasted him with a kinetic strike, putting the crazed undead off balance and then decapitated him as he fell forward, his weapon flung to the side. Just in time as another of these damn undead woke up, bursting out of its coffin and nocking an arrow.
"Oh, come on, not an archer!" I complained hopefully to a deity who would care.
Thinking as fast as my brain would allow, I came up with a brilliant plan. Close the distance by charging like a madman with my shield up. My genius knows no bounds, and so I enacted my plan.
Charging like an enraged bull, he loosed an arrow after I only took a few steps. I dodged it by a hair's breadth and continued as he nocked another. Damn, that undead bastard was fast. He released the arrow, and my reflexes were not up to snuff, and I took the arrow point blank in the chest.
My skill kicked in, and the arrow broke against my powerful and manly chest. Unfettered, I continued my valiant charge as the undead sent two more arrows my way.
"Why is he so bloody fast?!"
The first arrow bounced off my barrier, and the subsequent drain on my resources suggested one thing in that fragile moment. I braced myself for impact, expecting the next arrow to hit. The pain wasn't very noticeable, but I heard the thud as the arrow pierced through my chest.
Not letting that stop me, I reached the damn undead and stabbed him through the eye just as he nocked his next arrow. Making him deader than he already was. Then the bastard's eyes started glowing.
"Oh, no not again!" I wailed.
The vision it projected was scattered and confusing. But I recognised the poor archer atop a very familiar battlement. He killed a few vampires before he got his head ripped off, so he was a decent archer. Just as the memory faded as I pushed it away to a corner of my mind. The world returned in a flash.
My undead archer was on the ground, with a hole in his head from where I stabbed him. Not dropping my guard for a second, I scanned the room and thankfully found no more coffins. No more waking dead. I turned to the more pressing matter. There was an arrow sticking out of my chest. Thankfully, it didn't pierce too deeply, so I wouldn't die, which was a plus.
Pondering whether I should pull out the offending object. I glanced at my character sheet and hoped my points in resilience would keep me alive. Taking a few quick but deep breaths, I grabbed the arrow by its shaft.
I will admit I hesitated a few times and wussed out a few more before I just yanked the damn thing. That hurt a lot, didn't count on the sudden gush of blood, but thankfully, it started healing pretty quickly.
The skin visibly knitted together, resulting in rapid cellular regeneration. Resilience attribute for the win, going to drop some sweet attribute points onto that dude. First, however, need to figure out where those visions ended up.
"Yo, Jen, you got an idea?" I asked, wondering if she had been monitoring during the entire episode.
Instead of responding, she prompted a new notification as a skill. Something I hadn't expected, but kind of made sense considering the integration we set up.
[New Class Skill Available!]
[Mind Palace (Basic). Your mind is no longer a simple organ; it is a fortress of information and data. You gain the ability to store and recall memories.]
The skill sounded cool and just seemed like a way to quantify what happened to me in a form I could understand. Given it was a skill with no cooldowns or system point costs. It looks more like a utility skill operating on the cognition attribute.
"Thanks, Jen, that makes sense. I've got a computer for a brain now, and those bastards sent me some new files." I correctly surmised before I accepted the new skill.
Perhaps I could make use of these memories later. But for now, I had bodies to loot, levels to gain, and this creepy place to explore. Oh, what a dream of any adventurer to explore creepy places and gain levels.
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