The Zombeast

"The moment I stepped into the castle, it was almost like I was transported to a different location. The place was much bigger on the inside, and it was much brighter as well. The various fire lamps hanging on the walls bathed the interior in an orange hue and made it possible to see, and the ceiling was so high up, I began to doubt whether this was truly the same dilapidated-looking place I had stepped into.

I was standing on some kind of raised platform by the front entrance of the interior, which had stairs that led down to the rest of the castle floors. These were tiled and painted in a strange black-and-white checkered pattern.

“This is not what I was expecting,” I said to Rachel as I continued scanning the area for any signs of the wizard I had followed into the building. From what I could see, there were very few spots for hiding—either behind any of the three massive stone pillars lined up vertically in the center of the hallway, or in the darkness at the extreme end of the corridor where even the fire lamps couldn’t reach.

The interior of the castle resembled one long hallway, with what looked like a door at the very end, shrouded in darkness.

“Hunter, wait,” Rachel said in my head just as I prepared to descend the stairs of the platform I was standing on. “Take a look.” She brought up my stats in the center of my vision, prompting me to take a moment to read through the list of additional new changes.

I don’t know how I keep forgetting to check my stats after every battle. I really needed to make this a habit going forward.

__________

Basic Info:

Name: Hunter

Age: 22

Height: 7’2”

Weight: 360 pounds

Class: Monster Slayer, Weapon Summoner

Level: 18

Skills:

Combat Level: 30%

Weapon Summoning: Level 17

Cooldown time for summoning: 1 minute

Available Weapons and Items:

Bow

Arrows

Sword

Dagger

Gloves

Book

Spear

Special Abilities:

Weapon Summoning by Voice: Available

AI Companion: Active

AI Capability: 24%

Enhanced Speed and Agility: 18%

Brood Strength: Unlocked (10%)

__________

“Whoa,” I said, amazed by what I was seeing.

“Whoa indeed,” Rachel replied. “You’ve not only gotten stronger and a lot faster, but you’ve gone up a couple of levels and unlocked a new special ability too.” The tone of Rachel’s voice was pure glee and excitement, which also mirrored the way I felt.

I also noticed she had made a few edits to my stats window. My experience points and silver coins were no longer displayed in their usual spots.

“Yeah,” Rachel replied, reading my thoughts. “I took them out to keep things clean. Don’t worry about it, I’m still keeping track of the values in my memory. Whenever you need to see them, just holler.”

“What about the spear though?” I asked, my attention drifting over to the available weapons and items heading. For as long as I could remember, I’d only had the bow, arrows, sword, and dagger as my primary starter weapons since I first woke up in the Slayer’s Forest—since I first woke up in this world. I didn’t have a spear back then, and I couldn't recall ever absorbing one into my inventory.

“Oh, that,” Rachel replied. “Remember your fight in the farmlands with the widowmakers? The moment when you tried reaching for a spear but got thrown aside by one of the creatures at the last minute.”

“I remember,” I said, frowning a little at the slightly embarrassing memory.

“Well, just before you were knocked aside by the beast, you grabbed hold of the spear. And even though you only held onto the weapon for a second, that was enough time for your augmented body to automatically recognize and register the spear as a new item.”

“Cool,” I said, finally understanding how that specific aspect of my power worked.

After Rachel closed out of my stats window, I resumed my search for the elderly wizard in the castle. However, I soon encountered resistance.

The moment I descended the stairs of the raised platform I had been standing on by the entrance, I was immediately flanked by two groups of zombies—one on my left and one on my right. It was almost as if they rose up from the ground, appearing from thin air.

“I guess the curse is still in full effect,” Rachel commented as I began cutting down the zombies with my sword. With my enhanced speed and upgraded combat ability, it took me less than a minute to clear them all. At least, the first wave that is.

“These zombies aren’t being controlled by the wizard,” Rachel said as I stood over the headless remains of the previously animated corpses. Most of them I hadn’t even bothered to decapitate. My sheer momentum from cutting them down the middle had also done the trick. They were dead, and from the looks of it, they weren’t getting back up.

“They’re a result of the castle trying to defend itself against outsiders,” Rachel added. And no sooner had she said those exact words, more of the creatures emerged.

Rising up from the ground and rushing to attack, they came at me with knives, spears, and spades. But none of them could lay a finger on me.

I was like a gust of wind with my sword—dodging, cutting, dodging, cutting, dodging, cutting. I was too fast. Before a zombie could even think of lifting its weapon to launch an attack, their hands were already on the floor, and their heads were flying off their bodies.

There were a total of four waves before the creatures stopped appearing.

“Nice work,” Rachel cheered. “You’re really getting good at this.”

I looked around, waiting to see if another wave might pop out and ambush me at any moment. But there were none. And just when I thought I was done and could catch my breath, something else happened.

First, there was a loud bang, as if a door at the end of the darkened hallway had just been slammed open. Then came the metallic scraping sound of something heavy being dragged along the tiled ground, moving directly toward me.

“What is it now?” I said with a sigh, starting to get frustrated with the easy wins so far. I mean, I was glad I hadn’t taken any injuries since I entered the castle, but the fights were becoming boring with the lack of competition. The zombies were just beginner level threats to me now. I needed a challenge.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Rachel suddenly said in a sing-song voice, taunting me. But before I could ask her what she meant, she continued.

“Warning. Enemy combatant on approach.” Her voice boomed from inside my skull, prompting me to get more serious. I gripped the handle of my sword tighter and narrowed my gaze into the hallway in front of me. But I couldn’t see anything. It was just too dark.

The light from the fire lamps wasn’t bright enough to penetrate into the corners, so I decided to wait for whatever was coming to step out of the shadows. I could hear its footsteps—heavy, thumping against the tiled floor—as it made its way closer, and closer, and closer.

I could hear its breathing as well. Deep, guttural, wheezing. The sound alone caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. What was this thing? What was coming?

For some reason, I looked down at what I was wearing at that moment, and I was utterly disappointed by what I had still not acquired for myself since I left the Slayer’s Forest. I had on my brown coat jacket, a pair of blue jeans, and black boots. I was even wearing the pair of black gloves I had found in a small wooden box out in the cabin. But I still wasn’t wearing any armor. Why the hell hadn’t I gotten any armor?

Just as the unseen monstrosity got closer, I squeezed the hilt of my sword even tighter and prepared myself for the pending battle. Whatever the monster was, one thing was obvious: it was going to be a big one.

I steadied my breathing. Soon, the only things I could hear were the creature’s massive approaching footsteps and its deep, guttural wheezing.

I waited a couple more seconds.

3.

2.

1.

And the moment the creature stepped out of the shadows and into the light, I wasn’t at all ready for what I was seeing.

It was big, just like I had suspected. Very big. Easily ten feet tall, from mere looking at it.

A hulking form of dead flesh and rotten meat, the monster resembled a much larger version of the zombies I had been fighting up until that point. In its right hand was a weapon—a giant mace with a metal head, the source of the scraping noise. As it dragged the weapon behind it, massive spikes jutted from the head and scraped the ground, sending sparks flying. Well, I did say I wanted the challenge, right? Let's just hope I don't regret this.

The moment the beast saw me, it stopped, probably sizing me up like I did to it. That gave Rachel the second she needed to quickly analyze the creature and provide the necessary information about its stats and abilities.

_____

Zombeast:

Class: mutated zombie variant

Level: 35

Hit Damage: 45

Attack modes...

_____

There was more information about the creature’s attack modes and combat patterns, but before I could read any further, the monster suddenly let out a growl and rushed toward me with its weapon. The thump, thump, thump of its heavy footsteps echoed as it closed the distance in just a few seconds and swung its spiked weapon at my head.

"Hunter! Look out!"