The Rise Of The Undead Emperor

Chapter 2: Two Skeletons

Rein gazes upon a deformed fetus towering both him and Herm. Rein thought to himself, ‘What the f**k is that thing!? That's the creepiest s**t and most disgusting beast I have seen. Its skinless body is made of muscles and tissues, with visible red veins.

‘The slimy texture with its pinkish color is making me want to throw up. Gladly I'm all bones and no stomach so I don't have to worry about such things. But this world is cruel, I can't even enjoy food anymore.’ But as Rein gazes at the creature with contempt the beast swings its right arm toward Rein.

Rein attempted to evade the attack, but his speed was too slow. This made the creature's attack connect. Which caused Rein to fly towards the stone walls of the dark hallway. The creature's attack was so powerful that the wall Rein flew towards had shattered.

Rein lost half of his health points, as projected by the red bar on his upper left corner. Rein starts to panic as the monster rushes in his direction. The beast swings its arm toward Rein again. However, as the attack was about to reach, Rein. Herm the skeleton follower dashed to Rein's rescue. Using his sword the skeleton blocks the creature's attack.

The cobblestone floor below Herm's two feet shattered like brittle glass. For Rein, it's a sign of the monster's strength, and Herm's loyalty and capabilities. Rein had never felt this relieved of a decision he had made early. He immediately composes himself and uses his skill at the monster.

“ Have a taste of this, you ugly-looking bastard. Fireball!"

An orb made of fire formed in his right hand which instantly flew towards the beast. However, upon hitting the deformed fetus the fireball didn't deal any damage. The monster seems to not even notice the attack, Rein fires towards him.

Then a pop-up screen appeared in Rein's line of sight telling him. ‘Monster cannot be Injured since it's a Balancer monster role.'

After reading the pop-up, Rein now gazes at the creature with fear. He immediately dashes away from the opposite side of the fight, leaving Herm to fight against the monster. Rein ran away from the monster like a cowardly dog tucking his tail between his legs.

But suddenly Rein stops in his tracks and gazes at Herm fighting the monster. The power difference between Herm and the creature was clear. As the sword-wielding skeleton struggled as he remained defensive. Using his sword in blocking the attacks of the more powerful creature.

“Why isn't he running away doesn't he know that thing can't be slain?"

Rein watched the skeleton who'd save him struggle. Not only that. But, Rein could see that Herm still lost health points. Even the attacks of the monster were successfully blocked. Then out of nowhere, Rein couldn't stand thinking about the thing that saved him as he ran away. He believes that he owes his life to the skeleton.

Rein fires another one of his fireballs right in the monster's eyes. The monster's right eye got hit, the fireball has an aftereffect of exploding. So after hitting the monster black smoke engulfed the area which caused the monster to lose its visibility.

Rein immediately screamed at Herm, ”Hey! Come with me, we can't beat that thing. ”

Herm understood what Rein was saying, so he used the opportunity given by Rein's skill to run away from the monster. Both of the skeletons dash away from the opposite side of the monster. Both of them continued running for half an hour. Due to them being undead, none of them were exhausted after running for that long.

The two stop running after exiting the hallway. Now they were in a new area. The place they are currently in was quite a strange one. Instead of a pure dark place like the hallway. This one had a source of light coming from the moss sticking on the walls. But what interested Rein was how similar the place was to a mine shaft. With multiple rusted tools scattered on the sideways and unfinished rails. He even saw a wooden minecart with a chest lying on top.

Rein walked toward the Minecart and inspected the chest. He then tried opening it but struggled. He continued fiddling with it, while Herm was looking around his surroundings for any possible dangers. Then he hears a ’thud' coming from the direction of Rein.

Herm stares at Rein to see what had happened. There he saw Rein looking annoyed while laying on the mossy stone floor. However, Herm didn't care much and continued to scout the surroundings. Rein, however, felt disdain at the chest after failing at opening.

So he tried opening the chest once again, this time using one of the rusted pickaxes that were laid out near the cart. Rein swings down the pickaxe towards the chest. But when the tool hit the chest. A powerful burst of light occurred. Rein could not see for a moment. Since the light blinded him for a few seconds.

But after regaining his sight, Rein saw a screen floating above the chest. Rein reads the floating screen in his mind, ‘To open the chest. Please answer the riddle, speak your answer loudly. If you are correct the chest will open. If your answer is wrong, then the chest will turn into a monster. So please think carefully before answering.'

‘The riddle is: What can be touched but can't be seen?'

‘What? That's the easiest riddle. That's one of the first riddles that pop up in Google when you search for example. The designer of this world must be lazy.'

“The answer is someone's heart."

After saying that answer the chest unlocks itself. Rein immediately grabbed what was inside the chest. There he saw a black robe with silver trims and edges. Then just like before a pop-up board obstructed his line of sight, informing him about the robe, which Rein read with his mind.

‘Special Rare Item: Robe of the greedy mage. Equipment for Mage and Healers. This equipment can grow its stats when the wearer also grows its status. In simpler words, it can level up when the wearer also levels up.'

‘This equipment was sewed and worn by a greedy mage who dared challenge the Undead Emperor. After the greedy mage's defeat, the robe became a possession of the undead emperor which led to boost his power.'

“What the hell is the Undead Emperor?" Rein exclaimed in confusion. However, he was able to get his answer as an option to read the undead emperor tale unlocks. Rein being interested in the Undead Emperor to read its tale. Then, after choosing to know the tale his pop-up notification suddenly changed into a book floating on air opening and turning itself. Rein reads the book, without a second thought.

Two thousand years ago, there lived a terrifying monster. This creature is so powerful that he was compared to Gods, however despite being feared. The monster had the exact opposite physical attributes of strength. He was fragile, easily broken, and was said to be weaker than a zombie. This creature was none other than a skeleton but even with that, he was considered to be one of the most feared beings.

The monster's look was very deceiving as the creature looked fragile but his power was not to his enemies, who had witnessed the skeleton's strength? Kingdoms even gathered their armies and even created a coalition to stop the creature. However, all of them failed as the monster can wipe armies with his magic. However, the monster was not alone to defeat the kingdoms that rallied against him.

This undead creature leads an army of the dead. Skeletons, zombies, necromancers, and abominations composed his army. With such a terrifying army they conquered and pillaged kingdoms that tried subjugating their kin. With his command and magic, he became a great conqueror of this world. Thus, the other creatures who lived in this world gave him the nickname the Undead Emperor after turning the kingdoms he conquered into a haven for the undead.

But his story ends when the Kingdoms rallied once again to summon a hero. A hero from another world who was given incredible power by Gods, and was destined to stand on equal footing against the undead Emperor. The summoned hero led the campaign against the Undead Emperor's army. Killing thousands of undead and defeating the Undead Emperor in a final epic battle. However, both the hero and the emperor according to scholars both perished. However, some suggest that the hero survived and was returned to his world.

The undead Empire was broken and its residents scattered all over the world. Some started to take dwelling in the dungeons, and others in the deep forest. The once-powerful empire of the undead shambled into shame. While the other creatures including humans rejoiced in victory after defeating the terrifying emperor. However, a premonition a few hundred years ago said that a powerful being will return to wreak havoc.

“Interesting story but it's too cliche for a demon king story. Enough about that but this is something more important. I have found quite an exquisite item for a low-level skeleton such as myself. I can almost cry now since I don't have to deal with shitty game design." Without hesitation Rein grabs the robe and equipped it instantly. However, after equipping the robe, Rein suddenly emitted a light glow. This was then followed by another pop-up notification.

‘For solving the riddle, the weak special skeleton level one has now leveled up.'

Free to distribute points: 3

Level Two Weak Skeleton:

Physical Attack Points- 5

Magic Attack Points- 8

Defense Points- 4

Magic Defense- 6

Health Points- 11

Mana Points- 15

Strength- 9

Agility- 8

Speed- 8

Intelligence- 16

Dexterity- 10

Stamina- N/A to the Undead

‘All my status was raised by one point. Haah~ I truly don't have any overpowered abilities. I'm starting from level one, but at least I made it to at least level two. Also, I have to distribute my earned points to my status. But where should I focus? The equipment I have found was suitable for mage and healers. Then it's not wrong to assume that I'm a mage. If that's the case I have to focus on intelligence, mana points, and magic damage.'

Rein immediately distributed the free three points he earned.

Free to distribute points: 0

Level Two Weak Skeleton:

Physical Attack Points- 5

Magic Attack Points- 9

Defense Points- 4

Magic Defense- 6

Health Points- 11

Mana Points- 16

Strength- 9

Agility- 8

Speed- 8

Intelligence- 17

Dexterity- 10

Stamina- N/A to the Undead

Skill Points To Distribute: 0

AOE: Fireball Level 1 - Level 2/3

DPS: Curse Level 1 - Level 2/3

Defense: Hardening Level 1- Level 2/3

Unique: Low Command Level 1- Level 2/3

Notification: Skills auto-upgrade currently on, you can turn it off in the system menu. To access Menu, please just say master menu.

Notification: Low Command can now turn two undead simultaneously into followers since it has upgraded to level two.

‘Wait! I have the choice to turn off the auto-skill upgrade. What the heck is with this system. Damn this skill system is somewhat idiotic. I only know about it after I reach level two. Shouldn't this explanation be given to me before I even start the game? The designers of this world have some shitty hints. Wait! If this is my new real-world, that means there's a God who designed this.’

Rein reached both of his fists high to the air and raised his middle fingers. “Gods of this world, I here give my prayer. You are a bunch of Mother F-word bitches. Amen!”

After that, a piece of debris fell straight into Rein's face. He lost two points of his health. Rein, filled with regret, massages his skull and closes the pop-up screen he read. Then an arrow suddenly passed by Rein. Herm immediately turned in the direction where the arrow came. Then another arrow flew towards Rein. However, it was enough time for Herm to rush on Rein's side and block the arrow with his sword.

Then Rein saw his Low Command Skill had already finished its cool down. So he can reuse the skill once again. Another group arrow flew towards Herm and Rein once again. Herm was able to block the arrows and defend Rein.

Rein was annoyed with whoever was sniping them. However, Herm who's focused on blocking the arrows had not noticed a figure charging towards them. The figure was so fast that both the two skeletons were unable to react. Before the two knew it, Herm was bashed by a shield, which pushed him away from Rein.

Rein couldn't believe that he got separated from his ally in an instant. Now he's a free target for the archer sniping him. However, Rein managed to get a glimpse of who bashed Herm with a shield. This made Rein grin even though he's the one at the disadvantage.

“Looks like this was easier than I thought. But damn, even as a dead guy that rock was painful."