[USER!]
The system yelled a warning at David, as the zombie lurched forward behind him, its claws slicing out at his back.
David threw his body forward, the zombie's claws slicing at the edge of his cloak.
Jumping back to his feet, David found himself face to face with the wildly swinging zombie.
It's arms were swinging from its shoulders like windmills, and it was running forward.
Without hesitating, David dove forward, slicing at its legs, cutting it's legs off at the knees.
Even as it fell off to the die, the arms continued to spin. David sliced the arms off its torso, watching with disgust at the nubs of its legs struggling in the air.
on instinct, David placed his hand on its chest, and the feeling the slippery skin under his hand almost made him vomit.
The purple tentacles buried into the zombie's skin, pouring mana into David's body.
[User, your body has reached capacity, please do no utilize consume any further to avoid mana damage.]
Hearing this, David swore, it was clear that the mana core was what kept the zombie moving after decapitation.
Consume was the only way to take them out permanently, but now the system was telling him he couldn't use it.
'Can't I use it without absorbing the mana, I need to make sure these guys stay dead.'
[User, unfortunately, you have reached 99 mana points. Since the zombies are an entire realm above you, the amount of mana absorbed would only cause damage. ]
'Fine.'
'You better come up with this Core Formation technique soon.'
David sighed, the zombie's body crumbling into dust behind him.
-----
While travelling through the maze, David had encountered a few more zombies, and somewhere behind him, their limbless bodies were still squirming on the ground.
[User, this is the last obelisk]
The system called out. It had gotten him to seek out and look at each side of the tall stones that stood over the rest of the maze.
'The most important one too, it seems.'
The obelisk rose up high in the center of a circular area, which was still packed with other stone blocks and statues, but much more sparse.
There was far more empty space, and the carvings on the sides of the obelisk burned with the same white flame that was in the eyes of the zombies.
Wandering around the obelisk, was the first group of zombies that David had come across. As he watched, they would sometimes walk as a pair, or even run into each other and form a trio.
Ding
[Enemies
2x 1 Star Red Core Zombies
2x 2 Star Red Core Zombies
1x 3 Star Red Core Zombie ]
The system popped up a little window, showing David a breakdown of each zombie's route, and the best way to initiate his attack.
'Mana!'
[Mana: 75/99]
"Should be more than enough."
David said, as he ran towards his first target, jumping from the tops of the statutes, David was aiming for a zombie that had wandered away from the others.
'I need to make this quick.'
He thought to himself, before the zombies he had defeated hadn't been a problem, but now, the noise they made after he disabled them would attract the others.
Without even a whisper, David jumped onto a stature that resembled a man pulling open his own chest, and looked down at the one star that was his target.
"Gruuuuuuuuhhh"
The zombie stumbled into the corner of a stone block, its nails scratching against the side.
David leaped down from the statue, his cloak spreading out behind him like wings, it was like an enormous grey hawk was swooping down.
*Slash*
With a two handed grip, David slashed down on top of the zombie's head, his blade charged with as much mana as it could handle.
With two soft thumps, the two halves of the zombie fell to either side.
As fast as he had attacked, David jumped away, disappearing amongst the stones.
Loud scratching noises as well as the sound of flesh repeatedly smacking against stone were echoing through the maze.
Evidently, David's attack didn't impact the zombie's mana core, it must have been slightly off center.
One half of the zombie was thrashing around, looking for its attacker.
"Perfect."
David whispered, the surviving zombies were all running towards the sound.
He headed for the center, this way, he could get the information that he needed from the obelisk, without needing to take the risk of fighting all of the remaining zombies.
"Oh, come on."
It seemed that as usual, luck was not on David's side. The three star zombie had continued circling around the obelisk.
[User, it seems that this zombie has some intelligence.]
'You're the best at pointing out the obvious, aren't you.'
'Straight b-'
David stopped himself from cursing out the system, there was no point antagonizing it, after all, it could cause him extreme pain whenever it wanted.
Ahead of him was a statue which had a large feather headdress, that had been carved in so much detail that every branch of the feather was visible.
He jumped to its head, hiding behind the large headdress, and peeked out from behind it.
Now that he was closer, he could tell that even though it moved in the same disorganized way as the others, this zombie was different.
The white flames in its eyes burned much brighter, and instead of the ragged close, this zombie wore a set of leather clothing, along with heavy gold jewelery.
"Shit."
On the zombie's neck, was a thick gold necklace, made up of square pieces of gold. It was covered in the same intricate patterns that covered the rest of the ruin.
'That's got to be some sort of artifact.'
[Correct user, from what I have gathered of this civilization's language, the symbols enhance the hardness and durability of the gold.]
[A very basic enchantment, likely only used to ensure the appearance of the jewelry was maintained.]
'You're poking fun at me again. Sure it's basic but -'
[Correct user, with your current abilities, you will not be able to slice through it.]
David's strategy was completely ruined, for a zombie with this much strength, he would have first beheaded it, removing its sigh and hearing.
"Guess you're losing your limbs zombie."
David muttered, he would still go for a sneak attack, it was the best way to fight a zombie, their senses were so terrible that it was like having one free attack.
[User, this is best route for approaching the zombie.]
The system highlighted a route, and David jumbled off the statue.
Carefully, moving from shadow to shadow, David approached the center.
A soft fizzling, that was almost musical came from the flames that burned on the obelisk.
The shadows that David was relying on grew lighter, the flames from the obelisk lighting a ring around itself.
David drew his sword, up ahead, the zombie was lurching around, its head twitching around, almost as though it was scanning the surroundings.
'Surely not.'
David muttered, he was put off by the strange zombie, that he rushed his approach. Usually, he would have waited until the zombie's back was totally turned away.
"Oh shit." David whispered, the zombie's head had twitched just the slightest amount further to the right than before, and now, a pair of burning eyes were locked on to him.