Ascenders Rift

Chapter 15: Preparations Complete! The City's Core?

In a region surrounded by a cluster of ruined ancient buildings, two mighty zombies that carried a desolate and grim air were facing off against a young man that was less than half their size. Their bodies emanated a hint of black-colored energy as their eyes shone in sinister red hues, giving them a terrifying atmosphere.

Yet, the person who faced them was in complete contrast, he wore a unique looking dark brown cape with strange symbols, covering a similar-looking dark brown leather armor underneath it. He held a slightly reddish cutlass a few inches longer than the standard in one of his arms, as its edge gleamed in sharp lights.

Carefully looking, one would notice that his body had hints of a semi-transparent power around it. His hair would rustle slightly along with the hems of his cape as he stood before them in a standoff. Not long after, both parties had once more sprang into action.

Swoosh-swoosh!

Following a series of whooshing noises, the zombies had become hazy, leaving blurry shades per their movement. Yet, what was even stranger, was the fact that the young man's actions were almost invisible to the naked eye.

Although his steps were indistinct, the sound of the cutlass in his hand was clearly audible. It made a series of sharp cries as a few faint sword flashes were shown here and there.

Puchi! Puchi! The sound of flesh being easily torn sounded while both giant zombies had lost one arm, forcing them to come to a halt as they saw it drifting into the air. They then shifted their gleaming red eyes towards the young man that now casually stood behind them.

As they were enraged by this, both zombies lifted their heads and roared as the small bits of black energy around their bodies erupted in even more power. They both took in a deep breath as their eyes shone even more sinisterly.

The young man's face which was previously calm now carried a trace of solemnness, but he licked his lips and positioned himself in a battle stance, gripping the cutlass with both arms in an upraised manner at his side.

Quickly, both zombies had already finished their preparations, they opened their mouths and spat out two large black spheres, which grew to a size of four meters as they sailed towards the young man.

As he saw the spheres screeching through the air towards him, the young man's eye narrowed, he instantly dashed forwards vanishing from the zombie's sights as his figure narrowly passed by the spheres, jumping and shifting his body around them to avoid direct contact.

The zombies didn't let up, as though they couldn't clearly see him, they could still smell him, they continued to spit more dark spheres towards his location. While the young man avoided these attacks, the spheroids would collide with the ground and nearby buildings, creating a black explosion that destroyed all things within a dozen meters.

Eventually, the young man had arrived at the blindside of both zombies. He used all of the gathered power, channeling all of the small bits of semi-transparent power into his red-colored cutlass before he jumped and made one big swing.

Shing! With a sharp cry of a blade, the zombie's heads went flying into the air, followed by the collapse of their bodies onto the stone-paved floor.

The young man landed on the opposing side of the zombies with his cutlass placed behind him, he looked at the corpses before he flashed the dried-up blood from the weapon and wiped his sweaty forehead as he pondered.

"Whew! Although it was a lot easier now, it's still as I thought. At these low levels, any form of excessive actions will still take a toll on me," Evan said as he leaned his back against the wall of a nearby building so nothing could sneak upon him. He then stabbed the cutlass into the ground and took a breather.

"If it weren't for these pieces of equipment, it would have been even more of a hassle to challenge those two Level 2 Zombies, they were even stronger than that fellow I fought yesterday," Evan said as he glanced at the corpse of one of the zombies, causing its stats to appear before his eyes.

[Superior Cursed Arelithian Zombie - Level 2]

[Health - 350]

[Strength - 33]

[Agility - 30]

[Skills:]

[Cursed Ball - A ball of condensed death energy that can corrode all things.]

[Cursed Scream - ....]

[Cursed Bite - ....]

[Cursed Claws - ...]

"Tsk! Such troublesome bastards... I even had to use a bit of my Battle Energy to make up the stat differences" Evan said as he looked at the two corpses, he then looked at his Void Blood Pendant.

"Hmm, after I claim an Ascenders Crest I'll be able to gain the right of obtaining a class, only then will I finally be able to use you like I should have from the very beginning," Evan said as his eyes flashed with remembrance, a slight amount of excitement could be seen as if he had recalled an unparallel secret.

"Status!" Evan shouted in his mind, causing his personal details to show up before him.

[Evan Cross - Special Status - ????????]

[Race - Human | State - Awakened]

[Class - None]

[Level - 2]

[Next Level - 3000 EXP]

[Total EXP - 2205]

[Health - 250]

[Battle Energy - 10]

[Strength - 25 (13+6+3+3)]

[Vitality - 16 (12+2+2)]

[Agility - 26 (13+6+7)]

[Defense - 20(6+4+4+4+2)]

[Talent - None]

[Skills - None]

[Weapons:]

[Arelithian Cutlass - Rank 1: Middle Grade]

[Damage - 6]

[Durability - 4]

[Arelithian Cape - Rank 1: Middle Grade]

[Vitality - 2]

[Agility - 6]

[Durability - 4]

[Arelithian Leather Armor- Rank 1: Middle Grade]

[Vitality - 2]

[Defense - 6]

[Durability - 4]

[Arelithian Leather Arm Bracers - Rank 1: Middle Grade]

[Defense - 4]

[Damage - 3]

[Durability - 4]

[Arelithian Leather Gauntlets - Rank 1: Middle Grade]

[Defense - 4]

[Damage - 3]

[Durability - 4]

[Arelithian Leather Leg Armor - Rank 1: Middle Grade]

[Defense - 4]

[Durability - 4]

[Arelithian Leather Boots - Rank 1: Middle Grade]

[Defense - 2]

[Agility - 7]

[Durability - 4]

As Evan saw his stats he nodded in satisfaction, but when he glanced at his experience bar, he couldn't help but frown as he spoke helplessly, "Even with my skills and prior combat knowledge, I was only able to kill about ten of these Level 2 Zombies per hour. I've only rested for a bit about 2 hours since yesterday and yet, this is far as I could get with my EXP in total. Sigh, I guess I'll have to challenge that Fallen, as I am. Heck, the second day is almost over, and I have yet to truly find his location."

After shaking his head and clearing his mind, Evan sat down and recovered by using his Battle Energy. After a few minutes, Evan got to his feet and pulled out his cutlass from the ground, he then jumped to the top of a large building as he continued to leap from building to building, making his way towards the core region of the city.

Upon passing a myriad of wandering zombies, within an hour, Evan had arrived within the vicinity of the city's center. This region of the city had an even more baleful aura as if this area was where the most death had occurred. Looking around, one would see pits filled with corpses, organs, and blood, which had yet to dry up and fully decay for some unknown reason.

The thick iron-like scent of blood permeated the very core of this sector, capable of making even the most hardened man vomit if he were to be exposed to this sight.

Though it was his first time in this Lesser Space, Evan was already used to scenes like these; he merely glanced over it as he spoke, "So this is the city's core, then that guy over there should be the Fallen"As he said this, his eyes fixed into the distance.

There, far into the background, he saw a large platform with a giant standing before a guillotine. It was a terrifying figure with a terrible looking executioner blade in his humongous palms. The blade in his arms was plunged into the ground as the giant stood firmly, like a statue. The blade's edge gleamed in a baleful hue as if it was a peerless weapon of slaughter.

Carefully looking at the being, one would even notice that he wore ancient times executioner clothing. His head was covered by a black cloth with two eye holes showing his glaring red eyes. On his back was a single black wing, one that seemed to have been destroyed as it was filled with holes.

Although his body was restrained by a terrifying set of large chains connected to two massive pillars. His vicious appearance and the threatening aura around his being was enough to send any man in a panic.

Evan's face was grim; he knew what this kind of being was, and even if it was suppressed to a standard allowed for candidates to face. It was certainly not going to be an easy chore. He was about to inspect it, but before he could say anything, the scene before him changed.

Rumble! The earth shook, as the bloody waters in the pits rippled along with the fresh corpses. Soon, they began to spew upwards, creating a geyser of limitless blood that reached towards the sky.

Phew! The execution platform then began to glow in bright scarlet lights, followed by an odd runic diagram that appeared below the giant being. As this happened, his body shook as he opened his large glowing red eyes to glare towards Evan's position while he spoke in a thunderous voice, "So, you've come..."