NOVEL WEB Chapter 2: I Became an Undead
As one strongest monster in the world, the Flame Dragon Emperor had a colossal amount of magic power.
Even after the Flame Dragon Emperor’s met its demise, its dead body continued to emanate almost limitless amount of magic power.
By a twist of fate, the dragon drew its last breath over a dungeon, which then continued to grow by absorbing the corpse’s magic power.
On the other hand, the region that was devastated during the battle of the Two Dragon Emperors was turned into a bizarre wasteland uninhabitable for humans.
Naturally, the dungeon was located right in the center of this uninhabitable wasteland.
In that dungeon, a certain undead was born.
It had no ego, but, it might due to its superior body when he was still alive, the undead went on, defeating one monster after another. And then as it underwent 〝Evolution〟 again and again――
◇ ◇ ◇
「……？」
I suddenly woke up.
Huh?
I… what did I do just now?
When I sobered up, I was standing by myself inside of a gloomy cave.
Where was… this place?
And then, as I looked around to ascertain my position, I realized that a huge, dark thing was right in front of me.
「!?」
I reflexively raised my guard as soon as I noticed that.
I mean, I saw a giant living being lying down right in front of me.
It was a giant serpent monster.
The biggest serpent I ever saw in my life.
Since its diameter was around twenty meters, I thought it was a wall at first.
But upon a closer look, I saw that the thing’s surface was protected by densely packed scales.
The serpent’s length might be able to reach a hundred meters.
Oh cr*ap.
Just what the hell was this monste—-?
Even a Disaster Class monster like the Blood Serpent shouldn't grow as big as this one.
Could it be that this one was a…. Great Disaster Class monster?
Oh cr*ap, like hell anyone could survive once they were targeted by this fella.
Seeing that it wasn't moving at all, I thought that it might be hibernating now.
I guess I had to get out of here as soon as possible.
Thus, I left that place briskly while trying my best to kill the sound of my footsteps.
But when I looked at that gigantic snake again after walking a little distance from it, I realized that I didn't need to escape from it.
The reason was, its head had been smashed to pieces..
Though I had no idea what had happened before I woke up, this giant monster should be dead right now.
「O E A….」
I wanted to say "Thank goodness", but in reality, only that strange sound came out of my lips.
That was strange.
What had happened to my voice?
「A~, I~, E~」
I tried to train my vocal cords for a while after that.
It seemed that there was nothing wrong with my vocal cord.
It just needed a bit of rehabilitation after not being used for a long time.
A long…time?
My intuition told me when I pondered about this matter.
Though it was rather blurry, my memories gradually returned to me.
I understood it now.
I received a mortal wound when exploring this dim cave, nay, this dungeon, and should've been dead.
But, the corpse of the human who died inside of this dungeon should've reanimated as an undead.
Well, it looked like that was what happened to me.
And then, I recalled that I did nothing but dive deeper and deeper into the dungeon in what looked like forever to me.
Moreover, I, who turned into an undead and lost my ego, kept defeating one demon after another as if to follow my instinct as an adventurer.
My memories during that period were faint, but it stayed in the corner of my head.
And then, I remembered.
This giant serpent's corpse was killed by me.
I had a hard time accepting it, but it was really killed by my own hand.
And right after I killed it, I felt that my body was somehow brimming with power…
「What…has… become… of me?」
Though I still had a hard time speaking, I could speak better than before.
But, no matter how you look at it, my speech is still a bit odd.
Why did I become an undead? And how did I regain my ego?
I knew very well that what happened to me was abnormal.
Could it be that, I was…resurrected?
Several questions were jumbled together in my head.
But, the current me only had a single wish…
――I wanted to die as quickly as possible.
I was tired of loitering around in the dungeon since who knows how many years.
And thanks to my undead body, I hardly feel tired.
Nor did I feel pain.
But my soul was exhausted as if it was covered with cuts and bruises.
I had no attachment to living any more.
My only wish was to die as fast as possible.
I mean, becoming an undead didn’t equal to become invincible.
There were so many ways to annihilate us like locking our movement and then destroying our head, or using purification magic on us.
While contemplated about the hopelessness of this second life, I walked listlessly.
And yet, this damned feet of mine was surprisingly lively, ignoring its master’s mental condition.
「If that's the case…」
The thing that I discovered after walking for a while was… A trap.
The ground where the trap was hidden didn’t seem to be any different from its surroundings.
But for some reason, I knew that there was a trap laid there.
I tried to stomp on that area.
The next moment, the ground beneath me vanished.
It was a pitfall trap.
My body fell into a total darkness after I floated for a moment.
A bed of giant needles has been laid in waiting at the bottom of the pitfall.
At this height and falling speed, those needles would surely have pierced through my body and might be able to kill me.
…. I've experienced death once before, so, to say that I wanted to die again despite already dead all along was pretty strange.
I shut my eyes as I waited for my final moment.
BAKIN!
The sound similar to metal breaking apart resounded inside the dark pitfall.
I crashed, hitting the ground headfirst.
But strangely, I didn't feel any pain at all.
When I opened my eyes to look at my surroundings, I saw rows of needles around me.
It seems I broke the ones that I fell on to.
I, on the other hand, was unscathed.
There was no trace of any wound on my head either.
It’s not like my sense of pain was completely numbed, but rather I was completely unscathed after crashing against those huge metal needles. Hell, I even broke some needles I have fallen to.
I heaved a sigh, thinking that this pitfall was useless and proceeded to leave the pitfall.
I started to climb the wall of the pitfall. Strangely, despite it barely had any protrusion, I could easily grip the rough surface of the wall.
I was actually climbing much faster than I expected, by the time I realized it, I was already out of that pitfall.
I didn't even feel tired after such an arduous task.
「GURURURURU….」
At that time.
A demon had been waiting for me right outside of that pitfall.
It was a bear-like demon.
Its length was around four meters.
Its body wasn’t covered by bushy fur like a normal bear was, but a thick skin that resembled a high-quality armor.
I remember the name of this demon from the memory of when I was still alive.
Armored Grizzly.
A Disaster Class demon.
It had an overwhelming defense that couldn't be pierced with a half-hearted attack.
Moreover, its claws held tremendeous sharpness like that of swords crafted by a master blacksmith.
Due to its high attack and defense capability, it really was a powerful demon fit to be put in Disaster Class.
Furthermore, upon a closer look, it actually had another pair of arms aside from the ones it originally has.
It might be a superior kind or a mutated one.
Since I've proven that the trap was useless, I might be able to 「Die」 if I fought this powerful demon.
To be honest, I didn't want to choose this option but, it really can't be helped.
「Guruuu…..」
However, it won't come at me and just stood there without moving an inch.
On the contrary, it was slowly retreating.
That bear was… wary of me?
It was a powerful demon that was often seen rampaging with its power and yet, it was actually raising its vigilance against me.
Maybe it wanted to rush at me when I let my guard down and make me suffer from bitter experience from my negligence.
Surely from the eyes of demons, my appearance should be that of a genuine human. The Armored Grizzly would rush at me like that following its instinct to attack humans.
Or did it want me to get closer and then launched a sudden counter-attack?
I briskly approached the Armored Grizzly while thinking about that.
「GU-GURUOOOOOOOO!」
It suddenly roared as if it was making its resolve to die and then leaped at me.
Its four stout arms, equipped with sharp claws, were swung at me at terrifying speed, aiming to reap my life.
I just stood there, waiting for the moment my body got slashed by those sharp claws.
DON.
The impact I felt was only a hundredth of my expectation.
Even though the four arms that attacked me were at least as thick as a giant tree's trunk, my body that should've been slashed to bits wasn’t damaged at all.
「GURURURUUUUUO!?」
On the contrary, the Armored Grizzly was the one wailing in pain.
Upon a closer look, most of its claws were shattered due to the previous attack.
The Armored Grizzly then retreated and escaped with its tail between its legs.
Its figure soon vanished inside the darkness of the dungeon.
+++
After that, I met a few demons along the way.
All of them were at least a Disaster Class demon.
Speaking of the Disaster Class, it was a demon at the level in which they could devastate a capital city of a country.
That kind of demons was basically swarmed the labyrinth.
If my memories served me right, this dungeon wasn’t as dangerous as this when I was alive.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have even considered to solo it.
And yet, the most astonishing thing of all this was the fact that none of those so-called powerful demons could do as much as scratch my skin.
「What… The hell happened to this body of mine?」