The sound of heavy footsteps, dragging across the floor echoed. thump —thump—thump. Kazuki and Lillan fell silent instantly. They both were standing still, so naturally they couldn't make the noise.
Their eyes turned toward the dark vault. Then, without warning, a grotesque hand burst from the shadows behind the door—charred skin, with chunks of flesh missing as if someone had taken a blowtorch to a raw meat and then hacked at it with kitchen knife.
A violent guttural snarl followed— as if creature was choking on its own hunger, like starving predator with a feral hunger had just caught a whiff off its prey. Kazuki, Lillan both stumbled back, startled.
Then its upper body emerged, partly decayed with eyes sockets hallow. With three more hands clawing their way out. More snarls joined the first— a chorus of broken voices, screeching and wailing like the damned in an asylum.
Lillan reacted, frost spiraling around her fingertips. "Stay Back!", cautioning she hurled spears at the zombie. Slicing through the air, the first of which stuck dead in the center of its head. It staggered back— disappearing in the darkness. While the other spears followed in the dark room.
Silent settled back in the room.
Kazuki sighed. "The damn zombie almost give me a heart attack."
Lillan didn't respond right away, her gaze still locked on the vault shadowy entrance. Squinting to check whether all zombies were dead.
A beat of silence passed.
Then—
Six hands stretched around the door, clawing and tearing apart with inhumane strength. The wood rustled and iron groan in protest, before snapping in a sharp, echoing crack. The door fell outward, slamming against the wooden floor with deafening BANG.
From the shattered door, the abomination staggered forward its movement jerky and unnatural. The figure was grotesque amalgamation of body parts. The head— or what remained of it, was lodged at the awkward angle, spear protruding from its skull. Four twisted arms stretched from its misshapen torso, and then two smaller ones on the side of its hips. On its stomach, a face with mouth gaping and eyes wide in agony, was grotesquely pressed against its skin. While another one formed around its shoulder.
Echoes of three different voices echoed from it. A cacophony of hunger, despair and fury. Each one from a different source, heads on the neck, shoulder and torso all crying in tortured unity.
Both of their eyes bulged out in fear and horror. Kazuki yanked Lillan's hand just as she was getting ready to throw more spears at it. Her startled gaze met his, confusion flickering in those violet eyes.
"Kazuki, what are you—"
The creatures roar echoed, chilling sound of agony mixed with primal hunger to satiate. The entire hut seemed to tremble under its force of its lunge. Kazuki's heart skipped a beat as it drew closer.
Lillan's instinct kicked in. Thrusting her hand forward, ice magic forming with lighting speed. Spear shards shot from the magic circle, each one striking with a sickening thud. The abomination staggered back for a moment, but unlike other zombie's, frost didn't spread outward. Black veins appeared around the wound as if contain it. Recovering abnormally fast.
Lillan felt cold terror creeping up her spine. The thing was beyond any zombie they'd faced until now. Kazuki took a deep breath, his face strained. He didn't know what was happening at the back, but roar was any indicator it was probably something bad.
As they reached the gate without a door. With a deafening screech, it grabbed the legs of chairs and tables and swung its twisted arms forward, hurling the chunks of broken furniture toward them.
Lillan eyes widen with sheer panic. She didn't have any spell to defend against it. "Duck!" she shouted, grabbing Kazuki by the arm and yanking him down just as the chair sored over their heads, slamming down outside the ground.
It threw more of it— wooden table legs sharp and jagged like a spear. Meanwhile also gaining ground on them. They avoided the furniture—scrambling to the side and rushed outward the gate., with a finial burst of strength.
It's all head screamed in unison, a spine-chilling wail that spoke of unquenched hunger and fury. Kazuki's blood ran cold. He pulled his ears down with hands to stop the irritating voice to enter.
In his hands, a shimmer of light flickered— cutting and twisting. Then a white egg materialized in it. Perfectly oval, with pristine white surface glowing softly.
[Skill: Egg Bomb (C) Activated.]
His grip tightened around it, faint glow intensifying in his hands. His heart raced as abomination closed in them. It's arms scarping against the floor in pursuit.
Lillan yanked him forward, urging to move.
Just as it reached few feets away from them.
With a burst of strength, he snapped the fingers. Throwing it under the abomination.
"Suck it up, F**ker."
The white egg hit the ground with soft thud, and for a split second, there was an eerie silence.
Then—
BOOM
A brilliant explosion erupted from the egg, expanding outward in blinding flash of light and heat. The massive shockwave rippled across the room, sending wooden pillar supporting the hut tumbling downwards. Like a puzzle being undone, the beams began to spill downward, groaning as they slipped from their joints. More of the pillars came crashing down with heavy thuds.
The abomination's scream was cut short—snuffed out in a muffled. As the whole hut came crashing downward. The roof caved in, splitting apart.
Kazuki threw his arms over his head and ducked low with Lillan pressing against him.
The abomination was now buried under the wreckage. Choking sound of fading life echoed. Cloud of smoke and dust rolling out from the collapsed hut masking the scene in a ghostly gray fog.
…as if to confirm the kill, a familiar ding echoed in Kazuki's mind.
A translucent blue screen flickered into view in front of his eyes, cutting through the fog like a blade.
[Enemy Defeated!]
Name: Fleshbound Wailer (Mutated)
Type: Abomination-Class Undead
Level: 14
Status: Terminated
Drops:
—> [Core of Malice] (Rare)
(Loot automatically stored in Inventory)
XP Gained: +5,000 XP
Skill Compatibility Detected:
Skill "Egg Bomb" shows signs of evolution with continued use…
[ Congratulations! You have leveled up! ]