"Status Check."
[Unnamed
Race: Unique Zombie (Ready to evolve)
Strength: 66
Agility: 24
Dexterity: 34
Defence: 53
Skills: Assimilation (Unique) | Curse Magic (Rare) | Swordsmanship (level 3) (Rare)
Titles: Unique One]
[Swordsmanship (level 3) (Rare)
You have mastered the basics of the sword and seek guidance to reach further down the way of the sword.]
'I expected to get a boost but for it to be this much.'
For now, I ignored what was beside my race and focused on the increase to my stats. From my own analysis, I didn't think this human was much stronger than any common zombie, only that his skill and intelligence were higher. Furthermore, due to the rush of memories I knew that all humans could use 'status check' and clearly remembered the man's status before death. The sum of his status numbers was only about 100, and since this wasn't much better than the zombies there had to be a different reason for why I could take so much of his power.
'Now that I think about it, skeletons also gave more than expected.'
I ruminated a little more before a certain idea came to mind.
'Could it be the race?'
It was just a guess but it was the best one I had. Putting aside how well I was using the skill, part of what decided how much of the dead's abilities I was able to steal likely depended on their race. Since I was still a type of zombie, there was less that I could get from using Assimilation on them than I could with skeletons or humans. I didn't get why humans were such good prey but I settled on this explanation for now. Before thinking about this leisurely I had to finish up the job I started.
'Hmm? There's something else.'
I was somehow already used to the fact that I could use the sword on the ground, but there seemed to be something else that I could do.
I looked back at my status screen and focused on Assimilation.
[Assimilation (Unique)
???
Revive Shadow.]
It was only a vague feeling at first, but even though all I saw was the name of the new ability, a smile came to my face.
'The rest will be easy.'
A couple minutes after leaving, the young swordsman returned to the campsite. His departure and arrival shouldn't have alerted anyone, but when he returned someone got out of their tent despite the fact that it wasn't their turn to keep watch.
It was the young man who played the role of a fighter in this party. He sent a sharp glare at the swordsman since he was always waiting for him to screw up so he could get a reason to kick him out of the party. The moment the swordsman left his station, he awoke from his light slumber and waited for him to return.
"Why did you leave?" asked the fighter.
"I heard something so I went to check it out."
"Did you find anything?"
The swordsman shook his head, "No."
"Hehe, I guess you were just imagining things. What, getting scared now?"
The fighter commented with a smug face. It was around this time that he expected the swordsman to angrily deny his claim, but instead he got a warm smile as the swordsman patted him on the shoulder.
"No, I'm alright. Thanks for worrying."
It was so unexpected that it creeped him out and caused him to raise a eyebrow in confusion. With a disgusted expression he was about to brush the swordsman's hand off, but then he suddenly couldn't move.
Without even being able to ask what happened to him, he watched in terror as the swordsman's smile turned cruel and he covered the fighter's neck with his hand.
"Good night."
Then, with a squeeze, he broke his neck before gently laying him on the ground.
"Whew~, now only the fun part is left."
After laying him down, the swordsman got up and went towards a certain tent. However, right as his hand touched it, a fireball knocked him back. The heat was almost unbearable, but due to his quick reflexes he was able to block the spell itself with the flat side of his sword.
"Don't you think that was a bit too much, Carly?"
With a playful expression, he looked at the well-endowed woman who came out from the tent with just a robe over her blouse and pants, and her cane in hand.
"Ian, what do you think you're-"
Carly started out with a harsh glare at the swordsman who she suspected was going to try something with her, but then she caught sight of something through the corner of her eye. The moment she glimpsed it, her face turned pale as she muttered, "Ron?"
Seeing as her mental state was shattered by the sight of his unmoving body, the swordsman dashed towards her. He probably would have rathered having fun with her body but that couldn't take priority over his master's order. He needed but a single step before his sword was in range, but then her head snapped back towards him as tears ran down from her eyes.
"Ian!!!"
Balls of fire appeared by her side and above her head which then flew at the swordsman. This might have seemed like a reckless move to do in a forest, but there was no reason for worry since flames of this level wouldn't be able to set these trees ablaze. Not that this concern was in her head.
Once this rampage of magic attacked him, the swordsman knew things would be rough. As he deflected the flames that he couldn't dodge, the priest came out from her tent.
"What are you two doing?!" Shia shouted.
Neither gave her an answer but once she spotted Ron's corpse she needed none. Rather than ask who did it, she looked back at the swordsman with widened eyes. She didn't trust it at first, but his oddly pale skin as well as her intuition told her that the one before her wasn't Ian.
"Who, no, what are you?"
Carly was too angry to listen to her, but the swordsman showed a bizarre grin in response. However, he wasn't the one to answer her.
Suddenly, the fireballs stopped flying as Carly dropped to the ground while clutching her chest.
"Tsk tsk, what sort of servent needs his master to help him clean up." from behind the fallen Carly, I spoke.
"My apologies, master."
The swordsman quickly bowed to me but that did nothing to improve my mood. Just by looking at it I was sure that Revive Shadow was an ability that could allow me to revive someone I used Assimilation on. Since the only one I could revive was Ian, it probably needed to be a being with intelligence. The skills were shared but I had to make his stats from mine, even so, I thought he would be able to take care of this without me having to do anything.
'Tch, should I have made him stronger?'
As I looked at my servent with disappointment, the priest girl watched us in fear. Now that the other two were out of the way I thought I could take my time with her, but her next action caught me completely off guard.
"I shall not give this body to the undead!"
After shouting this, she did something in her mouth and dropped to the ground. I rushed towards her but by then it was too late. She had already bitten her tongue.
"Damn it!"
At first I wasn't too bothered but then I realized that I couldn't use Assimilation on her. I could still assimilate with the one killed by the swordsman, but since she killed herself I lost the chance to get her as well.
'But she shouldn't know that tho."
Even though this was truly a loss for me, she shouldn't have known about Assimilation so there should have been another reason why she killed herself.
'Hmm, before she died she realised that I was an undead. Could that have something to do with it?"
I stared at her a bit longer before the idea hit me.
'I can't use the undead curse on her.'
I couldn't really explain curses but I did know that they were things that could only affect the living. I didn't know why she could be so decisive but there was no point to crying over spilt milk.
I was about to get back on my feet, when the scent of blood dripping from her mouth reached me. I shouldn't be able to smell so I wondered how I could experience this, but shortly after there was no chance for me to contemplate. Following the sudden morbid scent, my vision turned red and my mind got hazy. Instead of standing up I felt compelled to kneel down and lean closer towards her corpse. I felt no lust in front of her petite figure, but an even more intense urge overwhelmed me.
'It looks delicious.'
Before I knew it, I was drooling at the sight of her. She was no longer just an enemy or a human, she was but food served on my plate. I didn't have any chance to resist as my mouth opened without my consent and my teeth dug into her neck. After my first gulp, I was completely entranced by the taste of blood and flesh that went down my throat. Like a feast before a starving man, I ripped apart her flesh without care for dignity or pride.
As the tiny bit of reason I had left watched this scene like a spectator, I thought, 'I'm really not a human anymore, am I?'