NOVEL WEB Chapter 1: Alive?
"Merlin! Is it ready yet?" said the burly man holding an enormous sword with a mind-boggling number of runes carved into it, in one hand, as he deflected the earth-shattering attack from Zero's right hand.
"Give me 2 minutes" said Merlin.
"We won't last another 2 minutes! He is really increasing his strength with every blow!" exclaimed the woman wearing light leather armour with two daggers, as she activated the dash skill to flicker in and out of existence, trying to dodge Zero's attacks emanating from his other hand.
Suddenly Zero, the one true Monarch-class zombie, grinned widely. His heavily scarred face contorting into a disgustingly hideous smile.
"Foolish humans… I have wasted enough time toying with you mortals…The time has come to end this…with this, you will all know what despair truly means! Fear in the wake of this Monarch's greatness!" He said slowly with a voice akin to grinding stones.
With these words, the monarch stopped all attacks and lifted both his hands. Mana began collecting in the space between his creepily long and triple-jointed arms, with claws so sharp that one of his slashes completely obliterated the burly man; Charles', shield. The mana kept collecting at an astonishing pace, continuously increasing in both mass and density. This kept continuing until the very mana in the air was almost sucked dry, all the mana on and in the Earth was sucked in by Zero's spell.
The light emanated by the spell kept growing, until it was even more brilliant than the 2 crimson suns, blazing in the sky, and yet somehow exceeding the darkness of the endless void behind the countless special rifts littering the sky.
And then, everything stopped. There was nothing…
Merlin's consciousness lay dormant in the empty nothingness filled with white.
Suddenly, a robotic voice spoke as it reverberated along the entire white void,
[Congratulations player Merlin! You have survived to become the last remaining human survivor!]
[The title 'Last man standing' will be granted for this achievement!]
[All existing skills will be removed]
[All stats will be reset]
[Unknown title: ☐☐rth's ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ will be granted]
[Master Skill: Parallel Thought will be granted]
[Unique Skill: Vampire's Touch will be granted]
[Active Skill: Inspection will be granted]
[Passive Skill: Elemental Body will be granted]
[Passive Skill: Multiplier will be granted]
'Huh? What was that? Wha-' Merlin wasn't even given the time to understand what the voice said, when the whiteness disappeared and was replaced by someone screaming.
"Merlin! Merlin!! Wake up!"
"What happened? Who is it?"
"It me! Who else would it be? Get up! If I'm late for my first day of school, then I'll kill you!"
Looking up, Merlin saw a face he never thought he would be able to see again. It was Alex, his childhood best friend, who stayed with Merlin through thick and thin. However, he had died on the first day of the apocalypse, stalling the wave of zombies in the university hall by sacrificing himself, so that Merlin could run away.
At that time, Merlin was cowardly enough to leave his best friend behind, a friend he considered to be his one and only brother. Remembering the satisfied expression on Alex's face as he protected his brother, Merlin was overwhelmed with emotions, which couldn't help but leak out on Merlin's face.
"Hey Merlin? Why are you crying?" said Alex, confused at why Merlin suddenly broke out into instantaneous tears, right after waking up from his regular nap in the subways. Although Merlin had a bad habit of falling asleep on any vehicle he sat in for more than 5 minutes , he never had a habit of crying right after.
"Huh? Nothing much. It's just good to see you again." Merlin suddenly gave Alex the hug of his life, nearly squeezing the living lights out of him. Merlin always had a better physique than the average person, while Alex was smarter than the average person.
'But wait, if he is alive, then am I too? But we had all dies long ago… How could we still be alive?' Thought Merlin silently as he sat back down, and his black hair began to slowly follow along the path of his descending head, as he rested it on his palm.
'Am I actually alive?'