Natasha the Halve

One day later, I was still fighting the zombie horde.

What I had thought were stone walls when I entered the cave were actually ceiling-high piles of corpses, hundreds of meters tall and tens of meters thick.

Chasers weren’t the only ones who had entered the dungeon—there were many animals and monsters from the surface as well.

The dungeon floor was littered with broken bodies, large craters thanks to [Gae Bulg], countless spikes from [Dragon Dive], and many more terrain deformations caused by the zombies’ numerous skills.

I was covered head to toe with the rotten carcasses of the fallen, so I continued holding my breath.

As expected, however, Deathbound Interlopers didn’t actually stop functioning when decapitated or pierced. Only when their bodies were slashed to ribbons, bisected from head to crotch, or sliced into tiny chunks did they die—if I could even call it death for the undead. They stood up shortly after receiving otherwise lethal injuries, unrelenting in their assault.

That detail prolonged the encounter.

With such prolonged exposure, I came to see the curse that caused their undeath. It was incredibly complex, absorbing life force from a large area around them, spreading the curse itself, and keeping their flesh animated.

The reasons or causes for them retaining the skills they had in life unfortunately escaped me, as I wasn’t that familiar with the Laws of Life. Not even removing their heads prevented them from using those abilities.

More importantly, though, I was apparently immune to that particular curse. It stopped encroaching on me the moment it came into contact with my skin, like glass stopping a gentle spray of water. Perhaps, as Alyssa had said numerous times, the Laws of Life governing my body were entirely too different from Mortals for the curse to have any effect on me.

It was upon the twenty-sixth hour of continuous fighting that the tide shifted.

“RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!” A bloodcurdling screech that belonged more to a beast than any once-thinking life form echoed through the cave, followed by loud footsteps.

It carried thick, heavy E'er with the purpose of causing crippling fear.

I, naturally, activated [Dragonclaw].

The zombies around me got sliced apart, falling in heaps of flesh and mediocre equipment.

I turned to the source of the screech and activated [Charge], barreling towards it at supersonic speeds.

Fear? Me? After going through Hell? Bitch, please.

...Only with spiders, though.

I crashed into the horde, slashing and swiping my way through.

“RRYYYAAAGHHHHH!!!” the thing screeched again, much closer this time.

The horde blew up to my right, bodies flying up and away as if struck by something.

It was closing in on me, sending more and more Deathbound Interlopers flying, their bodies shattered, dismembered, and broken.

I jumped to avoid it.

There, in front of me, was a large creature.

Long and tall like a two-story bus, shaped like a malformed and malnourished dog, its body covered in pustules and infected wounds. The head had no skin, only a skull with no eyes.

[Floor Guardian – Rotten Monstrosity, Lvl 1523]

It swiped at me with its left limb, a clawed hand covered in white fur.

I activated [Dragonclaw] midair.

My weapon clashed with the limb, brutalizing it and effectively blocking the attack.

I activated [Pierce] and [Crush], aiming at its head while moving forward in the air.

My weapon struck the head, littering it with volleyball-sized holes.

It screeched, covering its head.

I kept going, unable to stop moving midair, and landed back in the horde.

“RRRUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!” another screech came, this time from my right.

“KKKKKYYYYYEEEEEEEEEGGHHH!” from the left.

“RRRUUUUHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!!!” from the front.

Four? I grumbled in my mind, my eyebrows creasing in annoyance as I activated [Dragonclaw] once more to slaughter the horde around me.

The Floor Guardian turned around and screeched again, then sprinted towards me, its massive frame crashing through the sea of undead like a battleship cutting through waves. Its mangled limb did not impede it in the slightest.

I activated [Charge] to meet its advance.

It leaped towards me with enormous claws outstretched and maw wide open.

I jumped as well, activating my trusty skill [Dragonclaw], but rotating forward instead of sideways.

The clash was tremendous, sending a shockwave that pushed the surrounding horde back.

My spear brutalized the monster, splitting its head and torso in half.

The Rotten Monstrosity proved resilient, however, halting my momentum.

I got stuck in its stomach area, surrounded by rotten flesh and bloated organs. I pried the torso open with a considerable amount of effort, then jumped out.

A massive impact struck me from behind.

“GAH!” the air in me escaped as I got sent flying away, gasping at the slight pain.

The foul stench of death, decay, and rot invaded my nostrils for the first time in a while.

My anger replied, bursting forth.

YOU FUCKED UP! I moved a [Draught of Rejuvenation] from my storage directly into my stomach, then tightened my abdominal muscles to shatter the glass container, just like I did against the Blood Fiends.

A second Floor Guardian caught me in its jaws, its teeth clamping around my waist, trying to split me in half.

The groan of whatever material its fangs were made of scraped against the metal of my armor, but they didn't succeed.

I gripped my spear tighter and, yet again, activated [Dragonclaw].

A shower of rotten flesh, teeth, bones, and blood exploded as a result.

I fell to the ground, got on my feet, and activated [Gae Bulg], launching myself up in the air like a thunderbolt.

The sea of undead and the five Floor Guardians followed, leaping after me.

I took a deep breath, much to my displeasure, and activated [Dragon Roar] for the first time in the dungeon. “ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRR!!!”

E'er coalesced above me like a mantle, taking the shape of a golden Draconic warrior holding a spear, at the cost of three thousand E'er every hour.

I aimed at one of the Rotten Monstrosities and threw my spear down with all my boosted strength.

The weapon pierced it, but instead of going through, the spear dragged it down to the ground.

The shockwave that followed ripped the monster and the surrounding horde apart.

My stand, henceforth named [DragonForce], copied the skill, shooting its weapon down at another Floor Guardian, with similar results.

I activated [Dragon Dive], aiming at the bits of the Floor Guardian I had just annihilated.

The world sped up towards me in an instant.

E'er flowed from my legs into the ground, forming spikes and impaling everything within hundreds of meters.

The moment my feet touched the ground, I activated [Gae Bulg] again.

I crashed through a few Deathbound Interlopers on the way up, bursting their bodies with the sheer force of my ascent. Once I was at the peak, near the ceiling, I took aim again.

The Floor Guardians were still going up, slower than both my ascent and descent, but still as fast, if not faster, than sound.

I repeated the process two more times, using [Gae Bulg] and [Dragon Dive] to one-sidedly annihilate the Floor Guardians that perhaps should have been a bit more of a challenge.

Each usage drained 2000 E'er each, but my skin and hair absorbed it faster than I could possibly spend it.

With my strength stat sitting at [5920 (+935) (+10000)], it wasn't surprising that anything slightly higher leveled than me wouldn't survive for long.

Once the last Floor Guardian was decimated, the entire horde collapsed like puppets whose strings had been cut, becoming undone in heaps of flesh that littered the Dungeon's ground.

A final activation of [Dragon Dive] brought me down, forming spikes that impaled nothing but scattered the filthy remains of the defeated.

The Dungeon was eerily silent, the incessant growling and grunting of the zombie horde now gone.

I looked around, spear in hand just in case.

The Floor Guardians had come out of nowhere, so maybe there were more.

I approached the carcass of a nearby Rotten Monstrosity and poked it with the blade of my spear.

I guess that's it, I thought, then kicked the thing with all my strength.

The remains exploded with the force.

With that out of my system, I looked around once again. Next floor no-

PANG!!!

A feeling of apotheotic euphoria drenched my mind, much stronger than any I felt when leveling up.

My spine tingled comfortably, my crotch tickled, and a tiny moan of satisfaction almost escaped me.

Confused, I checked my status.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. 149 levels in a single day? That's insane! I killed a little less than four hundred thousand zombies, though... were the Floor Guardians enough? I wondered, looking down at the ground. Did the zombie horde's 'deactivation' count? If so, that's pretty neat!

A Lupum Wizard lay in front of me, its face mangled and body broken.

I frowned and gave it a nod. May you reach a better ending in your next life.

Although insolent for entering the dungeon, Mortals didn't deserve such an end. The punishment far exceeded the crime.

I shook my head, deactivated all my skills, and sat down. Come to me, fourth class! I mentally called.

Naturally, nothing happened.

I had to do it on my own, so I closed my eyes and recalled everything Shorvanna taught me during my stay at the temple.

Skill formulation for Auras, Warcries, conjuration, passives, integration of anger, and more.

The deepest recesses of my mind were divided in four segments. The first had my Hoplite skills, the second had my Lancer skills, the third had my Dragoon skills, and the fourth was empty and ready to welcome new knoweldge.

As I was about to begin constructing the first skill, gentle gold and sharp silver approached the edge of my mind.

I eagerly allowed entrance, more than welcome to let my creator witness the process firsthand.

Galeia held my figurative hands, offering guidance.

A big smile bloomed on face, and a joy I haven't felt in a very long time warmed my heart.

The process was of such intimacy that I refuse to share it.

After a long few hours, I opened my eyes.

Then I checked the new class Galeia and I made together.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" I laughed loudly, hugging my stomach.