"Where am I?"
Dark, this place was so dark.
Zed coughed weakly, the cold, damp air filling his lungs in an instant. The oppressive atmosphere weighed heavily on him, reflecting the depth of his confusion.
He couldn't hear any response. Instead, a mysterious countdown attached before his eyes.
[You dream of a beautiful forest]
[Task: Slay the Monkey]
[01:59:58]
[01:59:57]
[01:59:56]
...
The numbers silently decreased, each tick of the timer echoing like a heartbeat within his racing mind.
"Monkeys? again?" he mumbled with a furrowed brow, utterly perplexed by the day's weird chain of events.
Initially, he had been slain by a spider monkey, only to be resurrected and incessantly hear the words of "monkey". And now, he found himself in a dark, unfamiliar place tasked with the mission of hunting down those stupid animals.
He lifted his head, silently observing the gathering dark clouds overhead.
A looming thunderstorm was brewing, with brilliant flashes of crimson and indigo lightning accompanied by the deep rumbling of muffled drums. Even without stepping into the forest in front of him, he could vividly imagine the lives of its inhabitants trembling like fragile fragments under the relentless pounding of heaven and earth.
He walked in.
The dense canopy above choked out the sky, leaving a suffocating sense of isolation.
In the distance, a brewing storm rumbled ominously, and beyond the veil of darkness stood a solitary tower.
'What the hell is this place? What's this task even mean?' Zed wondered, his thoughts racing.
Fortunately, no stranger occurrences had arisen thus far. In the previous apocalypse, Zed had to remain constantly vigilant against monstrous threats.
As the city underwent a transformation by nature's hand, he often found himself have to venturing into the forest.
The forest ranked as the third most terrifying place.
Even more dreadful were the military bases and the vast, unrelenting ocean.
Driven by instinct, Zed decided to head towards the tower, the only landmark in this unsual place.
Zed carefully took in everything around him, sensing a world that felt entirely different from before.
He could now detect the earthy aroma of soil and actinomycetes wafting through the air, feel the gritty pebbles shifting beneath the soles of his boots, and hear the shrill cries of tiny insects struggling in the clutches of predators.
In the end, overwhelmed by the intensity of these newfound perceptions, he closed his eyes.
"Wow...It's...cool, man...It's like..."
And then, he collided with something soft and big. Losing his balance, his hands instinctively reached out in front of him to brace for the impact.
"Oh!" ᓫ(°⌑°)ǃ
Zed heard a faint, delicate whimper.
After that, the girl's scream continued to echo in his ears.
Upon opening his eyes, Zed caught sight of a girl. Her golden hair cascaded loosely around her shoulders, and she was adorned in a white nun's gown,. The loose garment failed to cover her shape under that.
Not too big, not too small.
She was perfectly well formed.
Her eyes were rimmed with red, and she whimpered in pain, tugging at his heartstrings with her pitiful appearance.
A few seconds later, she struggled to rise from the ground, grasping her wand for support.
The glasses vial at her waist flickered with various hues, emanating an aura of potent magic. Despite the unsettling presence of the vial, Zed couldn't help but think she was a beautiful girl.
A young girl?
Zed instinctively took a step back, allowing a nearby tree to shield him from view.
In his experience, the seemingly vulnerable individuals within dangerous areas were often the most treacherous.
The elder, women, and children - they all appeared in places where they shouldn't.
This was no bustling, peaceful city, nor was it the cozy second-floor home goods section of a Pimark store.
No, it was something far more sinister.
His gaze fell upon a bottle hanging at the girl's waist, and a visceral disgust welled up within him. The mere sight of the object triggered an innate sense of revulsion, hinting at potential danger that couldn't be ignored.
"Flibbertigibbet Shazamaloo?"
The girl took a full minute to stand up, her voice filled with fear.
Zed could see her trembling hand as she raised her staff, the quivering betraying her apprehension.
She spoke in a language unfamiliar to Zed, upon receiving no response, the girl turned on her heel and leave.
"Very well, keep opening your back for me..."
Zed said with a meaningful grin, following behind.
It seemed they shared the same destination—the tower.
The countdown continued to tick down relentlessly. Zed had only 20 minutes left, and yet he still hadn't received any notification of punishment for failing the mission. Most importantly, he hadn't seen a single monkey in this damn forest.
"Could it be...?"
His gaze fixed upon that graceful shape, and for the first time, he considered the connection between humans and monkeys as species.
In the end, he shook his head with a sigh.
"If nothing changes in the next 10 minutes, I'll take the back." he said resolutely in his mind.
The journey to the tower would take approximately 10 minutes anyway.
While Zed was thinking, the forest had become quiet for a second.
Then, it came alive.
The cacophony of monsters and beasts, their howls and roars echoing through the night.
"Zippity-bop badoop?!"
The girl spoke once more, as she again raised her enchanted wand with unwavering resolve.
As she muttered a series of increasingly arcane incantations, the air around her seemed to solidify.
A blue orb materialized before her, exuding a powerful sense of oppression.
Zed's eyes widened gradually.
This was the first time he had been so profoundly shocked since his resurrection, all because he recognized the object in the girl's hand—it was none other than the spore, the most vital resource that accompanied every survivor in his previous life.
The spore itself would drop from the death of a monster, yet the girl before him had seemingly conjured one out of thin air.
There were, indeed, some ways to make spore by hands, but definitely not like this...from air in seconds.
He knew that those dressed as nun ought to be extraordinary, but this seemed too bizarre.
Zed glanced down at his own emaciated hands and focused on the spell that just come out from girl's mouth, thinking whether he could possessed such an ability on his own.
"My hint is some Vampire...thing. What does it mean? Should I go search for blood?" he asked himself.
During the time he spent pondering, the situation took an unexpected turn.
A horde of bizarre creatures charged out from the depths of the forest. There were birds with infant-like faces, quadrupedal beings that moved with the aid of their whiskers, leopards covered in eyes all over their bodies and...
A troop of monkeys.
The moment the monkeys appeared, Zed's eyes involuntarily locked onto them, each one shimmering with a crimson glow. He could feel hunger coursing through his veins as if his very blood was yearning for them.
His nails grew at an alarming rate, visible to the naked eye, while numerous vein-like patterns appeared on his feet.
Under the moon light, It was then that Zed realized his own transformation—the razor-sharp claws, the ashen skin, the blood-red cloak, and the bloody trails left by his every step.
["KILL THAT FKING MONKEY! NOW!"]
["I WILL ONLY SHOW YOU ONCE!"]
"Wait...waht the hell..."
Zed knew that he have to finish the task. Actually he had already start planning in his mind.
Once this initial idea appeared, his legs somehow moved on its own.
The body seemed to guide him, instructing his next move.
To be specific, he could no longer feel them at all. Zed felt as if he had been buried directly into the earth, transformed into a writhing vein, hurtling towards the approaching beasts straight.
A continuous, ancient and terrifying whisper filled his ears, laden with temptation and an irresistible pull that made it nearly impossible to break free.
[Thou shalt not seek blood, for it shall come running to thee...]
[Thou shalt not fear the sunlight, for it shall evade thee...]
[Thou shalt not worry about death, for it shall kneel thee ...]
[Thou should hunt, until the summit of all things!]
At that moment, the girl unleashed a spell from spore, momentarily dazzling a few monsters.
But the faint glimmer of her magic was soon swallowed by the overwhelming darkness of the approaching horde. She had underestimate the sheer number of creatures, and now her cloak was being torn apart by a ferocious monkey as she scrambled to escape.
And more come over.
Zed's senses had never been so sharp, his eyes locked onto the monkey.
*BOOM!*
A deafening explosion echoed like thunder on a sunny day, and the forest fell silent once more.
As the smoke faded, the entire group of beasts had transformed into crimson statues, their bodies wrapped in red threads and mangled flesh. Their eyeballs were lifeless milky, no longer able to move or shine.
Zed stood in front of the girl, very close, allowing them to hear each other's breaths. This moment stirred a memory of a girl from his past——a girl he had failed to protect in last life.
"Damn it all, if only you'd give me another chance..." Zed muttered, despair lacing his words.
Red veins stretched from his feet, connecting him to the statues as energy coursed relentlessly through his body. It felt like consuming 50 power-enhancing spores at once. He struggled to suppress the bloodthirsty urge to tear the girl before him to shreds.
"You owe me. Take me with you to that tower." he demanded, his sharp fingernail pointing towards the looming structure.
Unconcerned with whether the girl could understand, he planted a havey blow on his own face.
"Ohenki-yap! Ohenki-yap!"
As his awareness blurred, he heard the girl's panicked cries and the dreadful notification that followed:
[Forest monsters cleared. Proceed to the next stage]
[You kill the beauty! I kill the monkey!]
[Revenge is everthing! Muahahahahaah!]
[Name: Zed]
[Path: Vampire]
[New perk: "Monkey Slayer"]
[Mentality +30%]
[Constitution +30%]
[Vitality +50%]
[Agility +50%]
[Luck +2%]
[Congratulations! You received blessings from Vampire bloodline. You gained all these buff when you facing next monkey! ]
******
[New Task: Survive & Revenge!]
[Useless Survive Countdown: 100/100 days]
[Imperial Revenge Section: 0]