"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
A wave of pain assaulted his mind. This sudden pain in his head confused Bittu.
'Whyyyy?', He didn't know what caused it.
But, as if to answer his question, a notification flashed before his eyes.
[Warning! Warning! Mana is critically low! Unable to activate the skill.]
Bittu had just read the message when he felt goosebumps all over his body. With the still lingering pain, he dodged to his left.
The grey skeleton, seeing the distracted target, didn't waste the opportunity and attacked. With its bony arm, it punched Bittu right on his chest.
Bittu, able to act right on time, because of his first skill; danger intuition dodged. But the skeleton on the offensive didn't stop but continued the attack, connecting each of its attack in a disciplined sequence.
Bittu was getting increasingly surprised by the attacks of this skeleton.
'Martial Arts?', he came to this conclusion, seeing the way the skeleton was fighting. Its attack from its hand and sometimes from his legs looked like they were moves from a martial art manual.
In fact, he was correct. The skeleton, seeing it couldn't kill its target until now, activated its ability called Martial arts Lv.1. The skeleton could use such an ability because of the special nature of the dungeon. It helps some of its monsters preserve some abilities they had when they are alive.
Bittu let out an amused smirk as he thought,' Let's check the notification later.'
He was now confident that in a close combat; he was good, very good, at least better than the skeleton.
With this confidence, he dodged the incoming punch and kicked the skeleton right where its balls should have been.
'Right now, it's time for some payback.'
The skeleton, unable to feel pain, was shocked still probably because of its instinctive reaction as a male. Bittu, taking the chance, thrust his hand right into the skeleton's right eye's socket.
The skeleton was a second late to react. The attack in its eye inflicted a lethal wound to its spirit.
Bittu, not expecting the skeleton to survive after the hit, didn't waste time and used his other hand to thrust it into its only remaining eye socket.
Bittu watched with raised brows as the skeleton's body gradually glowed green. A notification flashed before his eye.
[You killed a Lv. 2 skeleton. ]
'What's going on? This didn't happen before.'
Bittu watched until the skeleton's body unexpectedly changed into a book?!
Bittu raised his hand and slapped to his left without even looking with his gaze fixed on the book.
*crack*
[You killed a Lv. 1 skeleton. ]
'A book?'
The book radiated a soft, otherworldly glow, its pages forged from ethereal parchment, etched with arcane symbols that dance like ethereal fire and water when touched. Its weathered leather cover, adorned with intricate gold filigree, hints at millenniums of wisdom contained within. The binding, embellished with a bright green gemstone that shimmer in an ever-changing spectrum, reflects the cosmic knowledge hidden within its core.
Unable to contain the ever-growing curiosity in his eyes, he bend down to pick up the book.
[You have found an ability book. Do you want to learn the skill?]
He ignored the notification and opened the book.
Its interior revealed a mesmerizing interior where words float in a celestial dance across pages crafted from unknown but ethereal material. Illuminated by an inner light, the script appears to shift and rearrange itself, adapting to the reader's understanding. Whispers of ancient wisdom echo through the air as one delves into its depths, creating an immersive experience where the reader becomes a conduit for the cosmic energies flowing from the book's ethereal essence.
Bittu almost felt his soul sucked into the boundless wisdom contained on the first page. Bittu then flipped to the next page but unfortunately couldn't. He tried all he could but still couldn't even scratch its thin page.
"..."
'Why can't I turn the page?'
'Is this ability book defaulted?'
'....'
*sigh*
'Well, it's still better than nothing, I guess.'
"Yes!"
The book in his hand gradually vanished, just like it appeared, but this time into his body. The instant it did, a new notification flashed before his eyes.
[You have learned a new ability.]
[The tomb (book 1) : Rating: Ancient Description: Gives a hint about your surrounding.]
The moment he learned the ability, suddenly, a white orb appeared out of thin air and shot into Bittu's body. Bittu felt warmth and smoothing sensation spread all over his body.
[You have absorbed a Lv. 2 skeleton.]
'Now, let's check this new ability.' With curiosity filled in his eyes, he opened the ability.
"..."
Bittu was speechless by the description of the ability. As for the others, he didn't know which rating was good and which was not, so he didn't concern himself with it.
'What the hell? Gives hint? The fu*k am I gonna do with a hint!'
Bittu became dissatisfied with this ability book. What was he going to do with a hint? Solve puzzles?
Bittu, with his eyes dimmed in disappointment, closed the panel and looked at his status.
[Bittu sah–Lv.1
[Soul power : 60/75]
Race: Half-Human (Partial zombie)
Class: Jocker
Bloodline: None
Strength-> E
Agility-> F
Stamina-> E
Constitution-> D
Perception-> F
Spirit-> F
Unassigned stat: 0
Abilities: Torment techniques, The tomb]
Bittu's disappointment lowered when he saw his soul power. Soon, he was going to get an undistributed stat.
Bittu then dismissed his status and looked around. He was getting suspicious because he didn't feel anyone entering his perception. He became alert, awaiting an ambush.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen minutes.
Half an hour, but still no one.
Bittu's face was twitching right now. He didn't expect that no one would attack him at this period. He had the urge to shout out to release some of his stress, but he held it in as he shook his head, since he didn't want to invite someone to ambush on him while he had lowered his guard and leaned against the dungeon wall with his eyes closed.
The moment he did, two things made their way towards him.
"Of course, they will come when I wanted to relax."
Bittu cursed fate for making things difficult for him as he stood up with annoyance.
But what he didn't know was that after the fifth wave, the dungeon gives a short time for the intruders in its space to rest, which was half an hour.
But, in the next one, the resting time is half and so on from there until there's no time left.
Not aware of the upcoming calamity, Bittu watched as the two grey skeletons soon appeared in his vision. His body tensed as he got ready to engage.
'Two'
He didn't expect two grey ones to come after him.
'This is gonna take some effort.'
When Bittu appeared in their sight, the skeletons raced towards him and reached near him in a matter of seconds, only to be dealt with. Bittu side stepped to his right and, with a reverse spin, punched right on the skeleton's skull.
*crack*
Not sparing it a glance, Bittu lowered his upper body to dodge the incoming kick from the skeleton. The skeleton missed, but Bittu didn't. Taking the opportunity, he punched the skeleton right on its unguarded spine.
*crack*
[You have killed a Lv. 2 skeleton.]
[You have killed a Lv. 2 skeleton.]
[Soul power : 75/75] -> [Soul power : 35/100]
[You have absorbed soul power till your limit. You gain an undistributed stat.]
Bittu was ecstatic. He immediately thought of putting this stat in his spirit because he wanted that unbreakable defense once again. With an unbreakable defense, what could the skeletons do?
"...", Bittu suddenly felt uncomfortable. He didn't know why, but he felt incredibly uncomfortable. This sudden assault of his emotion baffled Bittu.
"What's wrong? Why am I feeling something like this?"
Bittu thought about many things that could cause something like this, but he couldn't come up with an answer. He appeared pensive. After some thought, Bittu concluded that this had to do something with the skeletons, so without thinking further and ignoring this ever-growing sensation, Bittu did as planned.
[You used an undistributed stat. Spirit : F -> E]
The moment the notification flashed before his eyes, Bittu's body once again slowly glowed in a green hue.
Bittu felt something ethereal, something that he was unaware of until this moment was opening into his own body, almost as if it was always right beside his stomach.
Bittu instinctively sat down in a meditation posture, totally unaware of his surrounding at the moment. In the heat of the moment, Bittu failed to notice that the uncomfortable feeling had vanished, as if it had never been there.
A couple of moments later, Bittu felt an empty in that newly opened space. Suddenly, he felt something touch him, or rather his soul, almost as if he was returning to his mother's embrace. But,
"Cough..... "
Bittu coughed out the saliva in his mouth as he flew from his position and hit straight on the wall of the dungeon.
*slam*
"Argh!"
*crack*
The skeleton, seeing their target distracted, didn't waste the God given opportunity. They did a lethal attack and punched right in his face. They were sure that Bittu will die from this attack since the skull was a vulnerable place to attack and kill, at least to them, but Bittu survived because of his constitution.
"Cough.... Cough.....Ahhhhrrrghhhhhh"
That was all he did: survive!
But only he survived. The newly formed space that was like a baby, needing exceptional care at this moment, didn't. It cracked right in its center, the crack almost making a semicircle.
A wave of unimaginable pain spread all over his body. Even more intense than when his race was changing. He felt as if something had torn open his soul with the cruelest and crudest way possible, by tearing it off with brute force.
"Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggg!"
"Arrhhhhhggggghhhhrtrtrrrrrrrrhhhhhhh!"
"Cough....cough.....cough"
His throat was sore within a couple of seconds because of the screech that came out of him suffering this pain.
Bittu writhed on the cold and damp floor, moving, twisting, and turning his body violently backward and forward, unable to handle the pain.
Usually in this condition, the body will directly become paralyzed or cut its pain receptors, but thanks to his own skill, he was the lowest parts of hell. All he could do was scream to let out the torture his soul was going through.
Meanwhile, the skeletons, seeing their targets conditions, didn't have any reaction at all, like the undead they were, within a couple of moments they arrived before Bittu and without a shed of compassion punched straight on his face.
*snap*