"Guys!" Victor called out to the group of adventurers before him.
The adventurers turned casually, seeing that their group was complete, they thought maybe someone else might have entered the dungeon with them. To their surprise, however, it was a monster.
"Huh? Who is t... Monster!"
"What? Ahh! Monster! Kill it!"
..
'These guys are just too terrible.' Victor thought as he shook his head. The time wasted in talking could have been used to do something better, like attacking or even running away.
Victor had thought about it, and since he could handle them quite easily, and he needed the most sufficient way to extract information from them, he decided to not kill them for now.
Without giving room for the amateur adventurers to show him any more grieving nonsense, he made his move.
"It's..." One of the adventurers was about to say something when Victor appeared before him, the next time his eyes closed, he passed out.
Similarly, he knocked out the other adventurers one after the other, in quick secession. He was too fast for even the level 5 swordsman amongst them to react to his movements on time. The level 5 was the last to get knocked out, but he was also the one with shaky legs that looked like broomsticks on a generator.
Victor was a bit of a cautious type, maybe too cautious. He almost wouldn't attempt something if he knew he wasn't strong enough. Even, he sometimes would make sure that he could totally obliterate an opponent before he faced against them in battle.
Earlier, just to be on the safer side, Victor boosted some of his stats, to make sure that he cleared any room for mistakes.
Level: 10(experience bar)
Name: Zombie#2314
Race: Undead(Zombie)
Evolution Material: 0
Class:
Title: True Undead [...], One Who is Favoured by 'The Process' [...]
Hp: 200/200 > 245/245
Mp: 10/10 > 100/100
[Stat]
Strength: 20
Agility: 18 > 25
Sense: 24
Vitality: 10 > 20
Magic: 1 > 10
Intelligence: 2
remaining stat point: 56 > 30
[Skill tab]
Passive: All Title
Active: Corpse Manipulation LVL-1
..
With Victor's understanding of the system and stats, the effects of the individual stats were;
Strength: Measure of total physical strength. An increase in this stat increased attack damage and physical strength.
Agility: Measure of everything that has to do with speed, and maneuverability. It affects speed, reaction, attack, and time perception.
Sense: Measure of the acuteness of the five senses. Affects reaction time, vigilance, overall awareness, and time perception.
Vitality: Total health and physical condition of the player. Affects physic, health, recovery rate, and overall body condition.
Magic: This stat is straightforward. It affects the total magic capacity.
Intelligence: It affects the player's ability to understand and decipher complex situations and spells. An important stat regardless of the class of the player.
..
After knocking the adventurers out, Victor took them to another part of the dungeon, which the adventurers wouldn't recognize straight away even though they had raided the dungeon before. He couldn't do the job alone, so he used two zombies to bring the remaining three, while he carried two.
Using the Corpse manipulation skill caused him one mana point for every corpse. Though, after the initial cost for activating the skill, there is no extra cost. He checked with the system to see how many stat points were needed to upgrade his level 1 Corpse Manipulation into level two, and to his surprise, he needed just one stat point to increase it to level two, which he did without a second thought.
"This is good enough," Victor said as he looked at the skill's description.
[Corpes Manipulation]
You are able to control 5 corpses of lower levels than yourself.
Level: 2
Mana cost: 1
No. Of Corpses: 2/5
..
"Hmm," Victor said as he thought about something crucial.
Victor had succeeded in kidnapping the adventurers, but he didn't have a way to restrict their movement. He didn't have ropes, or binding spells to hold them in place, he had only one option left. "This is the only way." He said as.
The place he brought the adventurers was a spot that monsters didn't roam in, or bother checking. It was a dead end at the opposite side of the dungeon to the entrance, where he wouldn't be bothered by monsters trying to attack the adventurers while he was siphoning precious information.
He left them there with the two zombies he had under his control and moved out of that area. His goal was to find more. It didn't take any time at all, as zombies were the most common monsters on this particular dungeon floor. He was back in no time with three other zombies following close behind him.
"This should be ok, right? I don't think so. But they wouldn't try anything funny since they know my strength. I'm sure." Victor said as he ordered the five zombies to surround the adventures. He put them against a wall, so he and the zombies formed a semi-circle around that wall.
"Hey. All of you, wake up..." 'Heh...' Seemed like getting them to wake you was even more troublesome that putting them to sleep.
After a while of trying, Victor managed to wake up all five of the adventurers, whose faces remained terrorized as they looked at him from below. Victor had always wondered what it felt like to look down on people, now he knew. And although he always hated the feeling whenever it was done to him, he still felt quite comfortable doing it himself.
'This world. It's a place where we pay back the wrong done to us to other people.' Victor thought as he saw the sorry expressions on the adventurers' faces.
"Alright. Now I'm going to be straightforward. I need information, which means. I need answers, good answers. If I don't get answers, I can't guarantee your lives. If you give me answers, I let you go." Said Victor, as he stared at the five before him, pupils gleaming with a bitter shade of red, as they faintly glowed at them.
They all stared for a while without saying a single word, just faint murmuring sounds escaping the lips of some. The group had four boys and a girl. They all seemed to be in their middle or late twenties at most but were still extremely weak.
"No-No one say anything... We won't give you what you want, you monster. You caught us off guard last time, don't think you'll be lucky twice. One of the level 2s said. Victor applauded his confidence to oppose such odds, in his mind, but...
"Huh?" Victor grumbled. He could not believe his ears.
'Does this guy really think that all of his team members being here is a joke? Well, thank you anyway..'
"Scapegoat number 1." He said passively, as he walked towards him casually.
The young man backed himself against the wall immediately, and drew his daggers, 'An assassin.' Victor noted. The next second, the young man's dagger was driven all the way into his cranium, like some Halloween pumpkin. Blood dripped from his head, and onto his shirt, slowly, as his body slouched down the rocky dungeon wall.
Without wasting much time, and after confirming the message he had just sent to the others, Victor returned to his initial position, in front of them.
"Will you cooperate?" He asked. The remaining adventurers shook their heads franticly, in confirmation.
"Good. Now, this is how it's going to work. I'll ask you four questions, and anybody with the most knowledge concerning that question will speak for the group. If the answer is too shallow and not enough, there will be consequences, so be wise."
"Now, shall we get started?"