[ Chapter XIII (13): "IN DESPERATION, GO ALL OUT!" ]
Momentarily gasping for air, Alastor was taken off guard by the announcement of the System... No sir, he can't fight 45 more Formica Musco with what little mana, strength, and resources he has at the moment...
The fuck is he gonna do against this monster horde? Dive straight, and pray?!! What the hell is this, System?! Give me something to work with.
When he was fighting those green-wolves he was given a sword, shield, and 3 small potions that could heal everything. They called it a Starter Pack... So where's the Intermediate Pack when you need it?!!
[ "Damn it!" ]
Alastor hurled complaints after one another, careful in his wording so that his insides don't get fried again... Thankfully this type of complaining seems to not affect the punishment detection aspect of it... That, or it merely pities a dying man.
Either way, he is toast.
He watches with his dazed state the greentide slowly approaches him and his Undead Ants, with them being squeezed more on the wall. A few of the ants don't seem to want to wait, and instead jumped at him...
But was swiped away by his Undead... Not enough to kill them, but to still fend them off... A few turns to dozens, before finally... [ "No!" ] Another Undead falls to the ground and disappears to the abyss, or the Undead equivalent to that.
[ UNDEAD SUMMON HAS BEEN KILLED ]
[ 900 SECONDS UNTIL RESPAWN ]
Alastor looked beside him, at his last Undead Ant and noticed it slightly shivering. Noticing his looks, the Undead looked up, tilting its head slightly to the side before then going against the greentide of monsters; 1v45.
It tried to bite away on anything it could, still even able to pin one down even against the overwhelming odds against it... Realizing his dazed state;
Alastor snapped out of it and was ready to help his last remaining friend before it was... [ "Why does everything have to go wrong?!" ] Completely destroyed, as he murmurs to himself.
[ UNDEAD SUMMON HAS BEEN KILLED ]
[ 900 SECONDS UNTIL RESPAWN ]
He watches with wide eyes as the group of Ants didn't even pretend to be slow, and instead rush at him, Alastor who's alone and afraid, holds his shield up and sword as threateningly as he could... Not threatening enough it seems.
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 2 KILLED BY PLAYER! ]
[ +20 EXPERIENCE TO PLAYER ]
Stabbing one monster to death, Alastor was ready to give his all... But being swarmed isn't a good thing, as he immediately noticed his hands being bitten. Poison seeping through the cracks.
[ PLAYER NO. 1 HAVE RESISTED POISON ]
[ POISON RESISTANCE LVL. 1 (TRAIT) SLIGHTLY INCREASE IN PROFICIENCY ! ]
With him immediately drinking all of the remaining potion he has, leaving nothing in the bottle as he tries to fight back as best as he could. His journey now ending as abruptly as it could, which shocked, confused, and scared him...
He doesn't want to die yet, he hasn't prepared his heart for it. If he did, then at least let him know where he'll be dying... For his first death at the very least he knew how he would die, where he died, and what time he died.
But here... He doesn't know where this is, and if it's afternoon or evening especially with the time here foggy as it is... He does know how he'll die, and it didn't reassure him one-bit.
[ "Let's go you a-ant fuc-!" ]
[ CRUNCH ]
Alastor's vision was clouded by a swarm of Ants, as he gets the tip of his metallic sword bitten off. This corrosive green substance melted some parts which slightly stopped when he stabbed his sword back to the monster's forehead.
It did completely no damage at all, and it instead pissed the Ant off more which got poked in the head pretty hard. But to Alastor it was funny, so he did it again subconsciously... Angering the Ant more-and-more.
Guided by nothing except adrenaline, he kept hitting whoever tries to get close to him, using both his shield and sword in that aspect... Before finally getting spit on by one of the closest Ants using their acidic spit.
It melted off some skin in Alastor's hand which caused him to drop his sword, ["I'm gonna die!" ] He with the last remaining strength he has fended off the Greentide.
Seeing this opportunity, one of the smaller Ants bit his leg causing more poison to sip it, with a huge chunk of his flesh disappearing in one go; [ "I-I'm really gonna die!" ] He fall on the ground with a loud thud, a part of his head hitting the rocks behind him, bleeding.
Alastor watches in horror as the terrifying 6-legged monsters overwhelmed him, his screams becoming silent before ultimately... He lost any and what little consciousness he has, staring blankly at the faces of the Ants that feast on him...
...
[ "A-ah!" ] Alastor woke up, like it was a bad dream. Slightly sweating, he screamed and looked around; [ "W-where am I?!" ]
Quickly spotting the 2 purring Undead Ants curling up against him, the ones that died before he did... Confused, he stared at them, their eyes equally staring back in confusion, before continuing to pur against him.
[ "What the hell?" ]
Alastor swallowed a lump of saliva that stuck to his throat, his hands instinctively moving to pat the heads of his Undead, as he then scanned his surroundings for any signs of the Greentide...
Only calming down when he spotted no other Ants other than his Undead, which are friendly, harmless to him, and would eat anything other than their friends...
He looked beside him and noticed his Sword undamaged, Shield not scarred, and Potion of Health still 4/5th's undranken by him... Which is impossible, because he is sure he drank it all; his sword also got melted and bitten by the Ants before he... [ "Died?" ]
Flabbergasted, his hands roamed around his body and realized that it was still there... Which shouldn't be. Then he remembered what happened before the tide of Ants came in, before the Wolves led those monsters into him...
Wasn't it exactly the same as this?
He looked down at the position of the Ants and sure did, he was right. Then besides him at his equipment, and it strengthened his hypothesis even more...
[ "I-I respawned..." ] In games there is this process that they call respawning, once the character dies, he gets resets and continues on to move forward...
In games wherein the characters are binary, codes, without life and are supposed to be controllable by the player... By the player? To this System, Alastor is considered as a player, not a character, but a player in itself... So why did he respawn?
He doesn't know, but he wouldn't beat around the deadbush and question it. He on his journey didn't know many things, and just continued on, hoping to find the answers later...
Some was, most wasn't; time passed and he forgot he even questioned it in the first place. [ "Hah..." ]
[ PLAYER NO.1 YOU HAVE DIED, KILLED BY FORMICA MUSCO ]
[ YOU SURVIVED FOR 26 MINUTES, 13 SECONDS ]
[ -10% EXPERIENCE ]
[ -QUEST "MUST SURVIVE AGAINST THE GREENTIDE" FAILED ]
[ "Fuck..." ] He murmured to himself, he did in fact die, he did in fact respawn, he did in fact lose 10% of his experience and a quest that is borderline impossible with what little capabilities he has at the moment. And also...
[ "H-hey let's go, we need to get out of here...!" ] He nudged the resting Undead on his legs, worried that one might accidentally spill some acidic spit to him. But in knowing their loyalty, that possibility might be little to none, but he still worries.
He noticed them move and get up in confusion, tilting their head as they did so. Not wasting time, Alastor grabbed his Sword, Shield, and Potion of Health ready to get away before even the Green-Wolves, or the Greentide comes around...
He wouldn't be dying a second ti- a third time... That at the very least he could assure, he needs to reciprocate, develop his powers and get revenge against those Ants when fate allows it...
This moment is not the moment, as he turns to his side, going farthest away from where the Wolves would come in. [ "Follow me." ] With a slight grin to his face, Alastor and his Undead ran away from their position, not wanting trouble...
Noticing a weird fat slug on the corner, he pointed at it and commanded his Undead to it, which it did with glee; earning both him and the Ant a little experience while on the run.
[ VERMIS COLORATUS LVL. 0 KILLED BY PLAYER ]
[ +2 EXPERIENCE TO PLAYER ]
[ +2 EXPERIENCE TO UNDEAD SUMMON ]
[ "Great job, fantastic work!" ] He approved this little Ant's eating habits which earned him experience, for the both of them, with it having a little snack on the go...
Noticing many other bugs, creatures, and snacks on the way. He smiled and commanded for his Undead to go all out, but not to stray away from him; he is after all happy that they are back, and not dead...
With everything having been reversed for a few minutes back before his death, enough time for them to run away from the impending danger that he knew, they don't, but he does.
It was... Traumatizing to say the least.
He was about to command his friend to eat another, hoping that his Ant doesn't get a stomach ache. But paused in hearing something far away, something that he has gotten accustomed too... A wolf laughing, or perhaps crying.
Nonetheless he doesn't want to find out as he runs father, zigzagging past the trees and not even daring to look back. Once he did that, and was scared to near death, he wouldn't do that again.
On their way to try to find a clearing, Alastor and his Undead noticed a group of murderous birds abnormally large for a normal bird. For this place, it has to be normal; it is after all distorted.
He locked eyes with one and noticed that each doesn't just have one head, but instead have more than one. Two to some, but to others three, and even the largest one had four... Confused by this, he raised his shield in anticipation of an attack.
[ CORVUS POLYCEPHALUS LVL. 7 ]
[ NEUTRAL ]
But in seeing the System came in clutch, Alastor who's still running read it and his worries disappeared. His shield lowered as he then instead focused on running and avoiding obstacles.
He glanced momentarily to his Undead, seeing that they are ready to squabble up. But to their dismay, that fight wouldn't happen.
Plainly because they'll die, this is worse than the Greentide, this is a Blacktide and they'll die without a chance of fighting... Or even to breathe air at all, these monsters are crows or crow-like in appearance;
Even Alastor who doesn't know much about birds, knows that they are vindictive, to the point of being petty. So as to say he doesn't want to get on their bad side is something, is saying something, definitely.
So to the best of his abilities, Alastor moved past the trees and avoided the group of birds gaze as best as he could. Still away from the Greentide, but also away from the group of plausible crow hybrids; scientists call those such groups a murder...
Not something he'll want to fight. Not now at least, in the future he'll be back with more than a hundred or so Undead and swarm them. Hell, cover the sky even, and eat them... Metaphorically of course, he isn't weird like that...
[ "F-finally!" ] Alastor's panting could be heard as he then jumps in joy, and literally from a weird branch on the floor that almost tripped him. As he then finally sees a clearing away from this forest... Something he had hoped to see for a long time.
Not a clearing where he first woke up, which is pitifully small... No, to his vision this one is a true clearing; amidst the fog he could see hope... Before he even noticed it, he jumped out... [ "Y-yes...?!" ]
Immediately being met by danger as he spots a group of monsters far away... [ "N-no..." ] Immediately despairing in seeing the scenery not so far away. [ "F-fuck this..." ]
[ SMALL SANGUINUM RHINOCEROTIDAE LVL. 10 ]
[ HOSTILE ]
[ CAERULEIS CRUENTIS GIBBONS LVL. 5 ]
[ HOSTILE ]
[ CARNIVORUS CATHARTIDAE LVL. 7 ]
[ HOSTILE ]
[ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ]
[ 05/08/2025 ]
[ 05/09/2025 ]