Across the world, some humans knew about Armageddon a month earlier. They were given the promises of power, fame, information, and a class, as long as they kept killing people.
Many of them are criminals and psychopaths who loved killings, as a result, most of them agreed. Those who didn't, they died in mysterious ways.
Moments before the start of the new year, traitors were given a skill called "Infection". Even before the time of execution, many already used their new tool to stir chaos and bloodbath everywhere.
When the Dreads started gaining numbers, humans started panicking. The primal fear of the unknown embedded in their minds, those traitors exploited the need for the morale of humans and led them to their death swiftly.
The unpredictability of their arrival exceeds even the mages expectations. Many undercover mages were caught lacking awareness and died at the hands of humans whom they were supposed to protect.
"The system's rewards are really sweet!" A hooded man says as he looks at the screen. Licking off the blood in his hands, the man walks in joy through the bloodied subway.
Lights flickered, but the man wasn't afraid of the dark nor the Dreads in his way. He is, after all, a traitor. He has nothing to fear, for fear introduced itself to him.
"Bro, Is it really okay to kill those people? What if I go to hell?" A figure smaller than a man reluctantly said. He even avoided stepping on the blood on the ground.
"Nyari, the world has changed. If you don't kill, you will not advance forward" The man looked at the little guy beside him. Unlike him, who's a murderer, Nyari had no choice but to accept the offer after they heard that anyone who refuses will die.
"When we get the class, the contract will end. At that time, we already had overwhelming advantages over the others and blended in naturally" The man pat Nyari's head. They continued to walk around, waiting for the next batch of victims of his trickery.
***
In another area.
*Boom!* A loud sound of explosion can be heard.
A hooded man's head casually exploded, splattering brain matter, just like his comrades on the ground.
"*Sigh!* Why didn't the summoned creatures disappeared?" A man in a full black suit says as he cleans his 'dirtied' hands.
"These summoned creatures are totally different from dark mages typically uses. They don't have mana cores and have high resistance to piercing attacks" Another suited man adds.
In that area, dozens of these suited men are also circling around a young woman. They're not normal humans by any means. Mages from another dimension, a different race that acts as the guardian of the human world from other supernatural forces.
Contrary to the popular beliefs of the human at this time, Mages are dangerous in range due to the fantasy stories they've been told. In reality, Mages fought in close range. They enhance their physical prowess through mana and let their spells hit their enemies point-blank, leaving no room to dodge or counterattack.
"Mistress, we should leave here quickly and return to Madias. This world will be in ruins in just a couple of days anyway" A guard carefully nudges the woman beside him. It is clear that he was scared of the creatures they were dealing with.
"No! We need to find her first! I don't care whether she's dead or alive, I need to see her well being first" The woman swiftly refused the persuasion.
Even though Mages and Humans are a different race, they share the same emotions and ambitions. They valued the same things just as humans and it includes family.
"Just where are you Sach..."
***
"It's time..." Looking at the moon, I said the inevitable.
Approximately 8 minutes after the New year, the world will change drastically. The light from the sun vanished, leaving the planets in the whole star system without light.
Eternal darkness will fall, forcing the humans to adapt to survive. Measuring time will be almost impossible, technological devices will be unusable, and the creatures from the dark will dominate.
This time is also the birth of the System, a tool to give humans a fighting chance to reclaim what they own before.
[Insects of the New Era you were given an opportunity to prove yourselves to be the masters of this planet. Survive the wrath of God, for the sins of your abominable race. Shall God forgive and reward the resilience.]
[Generating a random skill....]
[Generating a random skill....]
[Skill obtained: Summon Skeleton (★☆☆☆☆)]
[Skill obtained: Death Mark (★☆☆☆☆)]
A familiar screen popped up to my face. The System was the mark of the start of Armageddon, it brought chaos and hope to every human at this time.
The opening quote, which I've seen twice now, gives me the same anger as my first time reading it. Whoever wrote this must've been enjoying toying whoever was below it.
It's a pity the System is only exclusive to humans, if the mages get this message, they would be beyond angry and find out the messenger. Their precious pride will not tolerate even a single humiliation.
Though I'm a bit pissed, the sight of the two familiar skills eased that away. A Necromancer from the future like me is very versed from these types of skills.
Though it's a bit different in the future, where only a single skill can be obtained per class challenge.
And this can speed up the process of me getting a class. To obtain a class, one must have at least six skills related to class. The higher the skills related, the higher is the initial class grading.
---------------------------
[First Challenge: Kill Or Be Killed]
Mission Objective: Kill at least ten Dreads. Any forms of indirect killing will not count. Killing more will increase the reward proportionally.
Mission Progress: 0/10 Dreads killed (0%)
Time Limit: 30:00
Mission Penalty: Death.
---------------------------
"As expected, the penalty is death" I muttered to myself.
The old people in my time always told us that we were lucky, that missions used to use death as a penalty rather than stat reductions. It seems that those old people told the truth.
I make my way down the building, leaving my safe haven. The mission was already started, if I didn't accomplish it at a certain time, my life would be the price.
The moonlight is already gone, the electricity should be the next. Once the technology of this time is lost, humans will lose the will to survive.
At the ground floor, there's a pack of people staying. Anxiety and despair is in their eyes, they were not ready to fight the monsters outside.
Brushing off the look of these people, I made my way to the door.
"Excuse me mister, where are you going? Didn't you know there's monsters outside?" A random woman stopped me from leaving. She held the door tightly and shielded herself to the door.
Other people look at the commotion in front. Thinking I was crazy or something.
"I know, that's why I'm fighting them" I gave her a short response before pushing her away. Just as I'm outside, I heard the sound of door locking and a scream.
"DON'T EVER RUN BACK HERE AGAIN!"
I didn't give a shit to them. Cowardliness is one of the traits I hate. Just like me, they gained the skills to fight back, they just needed weapons and bravery to survive.
Pulling out Phothone, I swing it towards the nearest Dread. Its head explodes due to impact and force. Even without most of the features available, it will still pack a punch.
[Rune of Dread (x1) Acquired]
The people of this time may not know it yet, their fragile human bodies are strengthened the longer the time they were breathing mana.
Compared to the mana in the air before Armageddon, it is 500% thicker now thanks to the traitor's massive mana leakage. They truly didn't know how to manage mana like mages.
Looking at the stone dropped to the ground, I quickly stashed it away. Though the Dreads now are awfully weak, as time goes by, they will be stronger and gain abilities.
Right now, the only ability of Dreads is [Horde]. Once the numbers of Dreads exceed the numbers of enemies they are facing, they will gain a 100% stat boost permanently. This effect can stack endlessly as long as their numbers outnumber the enemy.
"It is better to fight lone Dreads rather than fight a group of them when you're alone" That's what my squad leader always advises.
I continued to mow down the lone Dreads while evading the grouped ones.
'A group of ten... That's a 900% increase...' Along the way, I noticed that my path was blocked. There's nowhere to run aside the path that I took, but I also don't want to escape to these measly Dreads.
"It's time to use you, [Summon Skeleton]" In an instant, a skeleton at the size of a toddler is made.
Summoning skill is totally different from Necromancers used to create armies, that skill is called [Raise Dead] that skill can only be used in corpses and they will last for a lifetime as long as they're not killed. Summoning is an emergency type skill that will summon an undead for a period of time based on the quality of the skill.
I gave a knife to the skeleton, something I brought from the building in case I needed them to fight with me.
"Kill them" I pointed at the direction of the Dreads.
The skeleton didn't waste any time and rushed to the dread fearlessly. The Dreads however, were completely oblivious to the attack. Dreads count as an undead creature and undeads are neutral to each other till provoked.