At midnight, G City, The Human Continent, The Earth Plane.
On the outskirts of the city, there was an old dilapidated gray forest filled with fog. The trees were broken, and branches without leaves were tilted as if about to fall at any moment, bringing an eerie and gloomy atmosphere.
Currently, there were ten people walking deep inside cautiously with electric torches in their hands. They were all wearing modern jeans pants and half-jackets. A tattoo of tiny skeletons could be seen on each of their arms, signifying they belonged to the same gang.
"Boss, why are we here? It's scary." A timid-looking youngster couldn't help but ask fearfully to the middle-aged man in the middle.
The man had short hair, and a burly body with multiple scars on his face, making him look hideous. He snorted, "The same as usual."
"Are we robbing a grave again?" The youngster blurted out in panic.
"Indeed." The boss nodded.
"Damn! Won't there be trouble? We already alerted the city police two months ago."
"Moreover, we have already lost six of our brothers in the previous raid."
"Boss, you even managed to kill their C rank officer, creating a deadly feud with them."
"They might now dispatch a B-grade warrior."
"I heard that the security had been tight in the cemeteries these days."
The other gangsters joined in and put forward their worries.
"Humph! You bunch of pussies. It's a shame for me to lead you guys. If not for me wanting to do the dirty work, I wouldn't have brought you in." He scoffed in disdain and continued.
"Anyways, there is no need to be anxious. I heard that this graveyard was abandoned even before the emergence of spatial storms that changed our world three hundred years ago, meaning that there are no warriors buried here."
"So, there is no need for the police force to keep an eye on this location. You should know that only the radiation emitted by powerful corpses can breed horrible monsters and scavengers. Also, ghosts in some cases, needing immediate attention."
"Despite that, you guys shouldn't let your guard down here. Who knows what we might encounter? This is the age of mana after…"
He hadn't gotten the chance to finish his sentence when a nearby gangster pointed to the right and exclaimed.
"Blood Devouring Bats!"
Gazing in that direction, they saw pairs of venomous red bright eyes, twinkling in the night. Pointing their torches, they finally saw their appearances.
Thrice as bigger as ordinary bats with red hard scales all over their body, they looked immune to bullets. Against mortals, it was definitely a nightmare. Especially, during the beginning of mana recovery where they murdered thousands of humans.
Nevertheless, for warriors, it was as easy as crushing ants. The only thing they had to care about was their number, which was around a hundred, enough for them to warm up.
"Attack!"
When the orders were given, they all made their moves.
Some took out rifles similar to Ak47 from their backpacks and fired them.
Boom!Boom!Boom!
Blue beam of light shot at extremely fast speed, knocking down these bats swiftly.
While others either used blades to chop them off or fists to blast them off, showing their wonderful abilities.
In this way, they continued their journey smoothly and reached an old graveyard after an hour. It was filled with dust, and broken memorials, depicting the passage of time. A rusty and turbid smell permitted in the air, making them frown.
"Boss, it seems what you said was true." The youngster replied while covering his nose.
"You dare doubt me?" The boss slapped him on his head.
"Ouch!" He whimpered and then said, "Can we begin?"
"Wait! I find this strange. How can there be no any type of monsters when he met a lot on the way?" The boss warily glanced around, hoping to find something wrong.
"Boss, are you thinking too much? Let's finish this task and go back already."
"Yeah, yeah. Girls are waiting for us in the Heavens Bar."
Seeing the perverted smiles on their faces, he sighed helplessly.
"Begin!"
Everyone took out tools and started digging. Like professionals, they would take out coffins, break them apart and throw the skeletons inside toward the youngster, who would then use magic to make them disappear from the spot.
"Boss, why are we collecting these skeletons? I heard that our gang leader is a necromancer. Is it true?" He suddenly asked. After all, not anybody can meet with the gang leader.
"Yes, how can it be false? I personally saw him wiping out a stronghold of the Poisonous Viper Gang. He summoned more than a hundred skeletons at the same time and destroyed everything in sight." The boss still had a lingering fear when talking about that incident.
"He should soon be reaching rank A. Maybe the skeletons are for this purpose." He was envious.
"Haha, then we can completely take over the Poisonous Viper Gang."
The gang members laughed as they sped up their work.
However, they soon ran into a problem. Near a dead willow tree, they found a weird old black extraordinary coffin that could neither be opened nor moved. In spite of being underground, there was not a single layer of dust.
This made them break out in cold sweats. How can warriors like them be powerless against a mere coffin?
"Boss, we need your help!"
"Humm! Let me see."
He made his way and scrutinized the coffin but didn't notice anything extraordinary. There wasn't a single trace of mana leaking.
"Kid, what do you think? It's way abnormal."
"I believe it might be a treasure from ancient times." The youngster spoke after some thought.
"Hehe! Kiddo, stop reading fantasy stories." The gangsters mocked him, not believing him one bit.
Nonetheless, he was calm. "Did you forget how our world used to believe in science and considered mana as fantasy many ages ago? Next, spatial storms happened, monsters and different races of creatures appeared, possessing astonishing might. Millions of us were slaughtered."
"We were forced into extinction. Until someone awakened. We then only realized how naive we were. We knew nothing of the world. Thus, there is always a possibility."
Listening to him, everyone's expression became grave. And his next words scared them further, giving them goosebumps.
"Or maybe a body of an immortal is sealed here."
"Holy Fuck!" The gangsters cried out in astonishment.
"Humph! Stop talking nonsense. I only believe in fists. Besides, how can an immortal make such a bad choice of putting down his grave in such a rundown place?" The boss brought them to their senses.
"In addition, there isn't anything stopping us from digging as well." He added.
"Makes sense! Boss is knowledgeable." They praised him wholeheartedly while staring daggers at the youngster. How dare he try to scare them?
"Ok! You guys can back down. I will try to force it open. Maybe there is really something good inside." The boss flexed his muscles and got into a fighting position.
"Burn"
Whoosh!
Hot waves spread out from his body as terrifying flames emerged from his fists.
Afterward, he jumped in the air and slammed them on the coffin with all his strength.
Boom!
The ground caved in by a few meters, shockwaves were released, pushing all the gangsters a couple of steps back.
"Damn! He is too strong."
"I heard that he used to work in the military."
"I am so jealous of his awakening."
But their smiles quickly vanished when they noticed there was not a single dent in the coffin.
"How could it be?"
"I believe the boss didn't use his full power."
"Look! He has taken out his halberd made from a rare grade C alloy."
Clang!
Another strong impact took place and this time something did happen.
First, the blade of the halberd cracked and slipped from the handle. Second, they saw a small crack had indeed been made on the coffin. Nonetheless, there wasn't any reaction coming from the boss.
They guessed that he was shell-shocked by how his expensive weapon broke into pieces. When they wanted to go near and confront him, they saw him turning his head in their direction.
"Run!"
Poof!
He mustered one word and spat out a mouthful of blood immediately, kneeling on the ground with one knee. He couldn't imagine what he saw through the crack.
It was a cold pitch-black eye, devoid of life, representing terror and destruction. He felt that he had fallen into an abyss from which he couldn't escape no matter what he did. He felt all his secrets exposed along with the status panel in his mind which comes with one's awakening.
His brain froze and he had no choice but to forcibly circulate his mana if he desired to escape from his death. And it did work but it came with a huge backlash.
"Ahhh!" The gangsters turned pale with fright. Some of them mustered courage and sprinted away while some fell on the ground with their buttocks. As for the youngster, he teleported and appeared right next to the boss.
Next, when he wanted to leave in the same way, a vicious voice full of loathing, disgust, and resentment sounded from the coffin.
"DIVINITY"