"Shit! Why isn't it dead yet!?"
Kael was running away from the Void Hound chasing him. while trying to save his life from being eaten by them, he scanned his surroundings looking for any corpse lying nearby.
A few months ago, he was a renowned life mage. He was what everyone dreamed of becoming. But the disaster that happened to his birth village, where his family resided, changed everything.
A strange disease spread through the village. But his life magic couldn't do anything to fix it. Almost everyone got infected, including his family. So, to prevent the disaster from spreading further, the noble decided to burn the village, including its residents. The event was too painful to watch.
Driven by the desire to change their fate, Kael kept researching, trying to find a way to revive them. One day, he accidentally discovered necromancy magic. So, he revived his family using necromancy. But the result was not satisfying. They did revive, but they didn't have their own will.
Then, he was discovered by the villagers, accused of practicing forbidden arts, and banished from the city.
But he didn't give up. A few days later, the Void broke, and a few cities fell in just one day. At the same time, he received a strange blue box in front of him, known as the Necromancer System.
The system said there was a way to revive them without any side effects, but he needed to absorb Void essence. So, here he was, running for his life from a lowly Void Hound.
"There!" Kael instantly changed direction to his right, where a half-eaten human corpse lay as if waiting for him.
The top of his staff glowed dimly with blue light. Then, an orb of light flew from the staff and infused the corpse.
----------
[Raise Bone Soldier] Lv.1
Summons skeletal warriors to fight for you
Summon limit: 1/1
Cost: 4 Mana
----------
The ugly, rotten corpse, which could make people vomit from the smell alone, vaporized its remaining flesh and raised a skeleton armed with a sickle and a bone shield.
Without wasting any more time, the undead soldier immediately ran toward Kael and raised its shield as it passed him.
Boom.
The Void Hound crashed into the shield raised by the skeleton, staggering back from the powerful collision.
The Void Hound staggered back a step while the skeleton staggered back three. That showed the sheer force of the impact.
After a few seconds of staggering, the skeleton charged toward the creature, its sickle raised and ready to slash the beast in front of it.
Kael, after summoning the warrior, slowed his pace and glanced back to watch the fight between his minion and the monster.
He then swapped his weapon from a black wood staff to an iron dagger.
Kael gripped his dagger tightly and made a wide circle so he could sneak behind the Void Hound, which was focused on the lifeless undead he had just summoned.
The undead warrior bashed his shield into the Void Hound's face, making the beast stumble back with a growl.
Kael took his chance, charging in from behind.
"Roarr!"
The foul beast howled in agony as the blade in Kael's hand pierced its body.
The tip of the blade barely pierced the core, so Kael gritted his teeth and used his body to push the dagger deeper. Then the glowing violet core inside the beast shattered.
Slowly, its glowing eyes and the violet veins throughout its body dimmed, and at last, the beast crashed down as its life force was extinguished.
----------
You have killed Void Hound +1
----------
Kael sat, panting heavily. However, his victory was short-lived, as a chilling howl pierced the air. Two more Void Hounds came charging toward Kael and his undead warrior.
"Damn! Two more? You've got to be kidding me now!" Kael cursed, stood up quickly.
"Alright, as usual, you attract their attention," Kael commanded his minion, his breath ragged from running.
The skeleton didn't hesitate and immediately charged forward toward the Void Hounds, bashing its shield with the sickle to taunt the beasts."
It worked, the beasts shifted their attention solely to the undead. Both of them charged toward the undying warrior.
They crashed into the shield, sending the skeleton warrior, made of nothing but bone, flying backward from the impact.
Well, he expected this to happen since his minion was made of bone, but expecting it and seeing it happen were two very different experiences.
The bone warrior rolled a few feet after landing. Luckily, it was undead, if a human had been in its place, Kael didn't even want to imagine the pain.
Luckily, the skeleton got back up immediately and continued charging towards the monster.
"Yeah! That's my guy! Continue attracting their attention. I've figured something out," Kael praised his undead.
Nothing special would happen. It's not like the undead would gain morale or anything. It was just that the moment he saw the skeleton fly, his hope of getting out of this place alive almost crashed.
Kael didn't have time to hesitate. At this rate, the skeleton would be finished, and next, of course, would be Kael himself.
He reached into his subspace inventory and pulled out a vial of green liquid. Then he coated his dagger with it. The blade hissed softly as a green aura appeared around it.
It was an experimental poison he crafted from Void essence.
This better work," he muttered."
With a burst of determination, he dashed forward, slashing the blade at one of the Void Hound's sides. The creature roared in pain as the poison seeped into its nerves.
Its attention shifted toward Kael. It was growling at him as it leaped forward, trying to bite.
Kael immediately dashed to the side, dodging the attack. But since Kael was not used to fighting alone, his movements were sloppy, and he stumbled over a stone, falling face-first.
The Void Hound immediately made another leap toward the now-lying Kael.
"Arghh!" Kael screamed in pain as the Void Hound bit into his shoulder.
Immediately, his undead warrior charged toward the Void Hound that was pinning Kael down, biting his arm off.
But the first Void Hound that was fighting the undead warrior didn't give it a chance to save its master's life.
The biting kept going, claws tearing into him. Kael screamed in pain as he was being eaten alive.
'Am I going to die like this? Without avenging my family?' His whole life flashed before him.
The warrior knelt before the beast, and with a swipe, all its bones scrambled and disintegrated into ashes.
----------
Conditions met!
New title unlocked!
----------
Kael weakly opened his eyes. Black clouds enveloped the sky, twisted trees surrounded him, and veins of violet energy pulsed through the ground.
"I'm still alive?" Kael touched his body, looking for any wounds. Nothing. Not even a scar on his body.
He scanned his surroundings. The Void Hound that had ambushed them earlier was now dead, its body crushed beyond recognition as if it had been smashed repeatedly by a giant hammer.
He didn't know what had transpired here, why he was still alive, or why the beast's body was smashed like that. But there was something different about his system now.
----------
New Title: Champion of Trag Valith (New)
----------
"What? I just died. Why would I become a champion?" Kael was confused by the reality unfolding before him. He then clicked the title to see more details about it.
"What?! What the hell is this ability? I can even call myself immortal at this point!" Kael laughed maniacally, as if he had already conquered the world itself."
With this, he could defeat The Void and get his revenge more easily.
"Mom, Dad... I will not disappoint you. I will make you proud," Kael resolved with newfound determination.
Kael continued his journey, looking for a way to redeem himself and his family.