Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The Skeleton Scare
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“Skeleton Summon.”
[System Message]
▸Skeleton Summon (Mana Cost: 2)
-Summons skeleton soldiers using bones as a medium, equal to the caster's level.
Remaining Mana: 22
The chicken bones flashed, and a skeleton warrior popped out right in front of me.
Right now, at this low summon level, it was only as strong as a child, but it would be threat enough for them.
Wouldn't it?
How scary would it be to see a pile of moving bones walking around right in front of you, especially when you had no idea what was going on?
And in the building where I lived, no less.
[Summon List]
-Zombie (Normal) 2/2: In Combat
-Skeleton Warrior (Normal) 2/2: Executing Orders
“Go up the stairs, scare the people, and chase them up to the upper floors.”
The skeleton soldier acknowledged my command and started moving.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.
The skeleton warrior hurried off, its bones rattling.
‘Is it heading the right way?’
It was inconvenient not sharing vision, but the layout of the hallway was obvious anyway.
A straight-line corridor.
Less than ten seconds later, screams echoed from upstairs.
-Kyaaahhh!
-W-What’s that! What the hell is it!
-It’s a monster!! A monster!! Everyone run!
People shrieked as they bolted down the hallway in the opposite direction. As their footsteps faded away, Jeongwoo said to me.
“Looks like we can go now?”
“Let’s move.”
We dashed up quickly and slipped into the nearest room.
Room 401.
The door was open, making it easy to enter.
Neatly arranged cameras and photos. Women’s cosmetics on the vanity suggested a woman lived here.
Sniff sniff.
Smells nice.
Jeongwoo started opening all the drawers and pulling out anything that looked like gold.
“What are you doing? Stealing?”
“Nah. Investing for later.”
“Gold?”
“Yeah. Crafting items.”
Ah!
As expected from a Barbarian Warrior player—his thinking was different from mine.
Unlike a Necromancer, where items weren’t a big deal, gear was top priority for him, so he needed lots of metal bits.
Gold was the currency for crafting items, after all.
After searching Room 401, we peeked out into the hallway.
No one there.
They must’ve fled to the rooftop to escape the skeleton.
We began checking the rooms on the fourth floor one by one. The three with open doors were done in a flash.
At the end of the hall, Room 404 was empty too.
I’d heard the building owner’s daughter used it occasionally, but it was so spotless it didn’t seem lived-in.
“Kim Cheonjae, find anything good?”
“Nope. Ah… Thirsty, but no water from the faucet.”
“No water?”
“Yeah. None on the second floor, none on the third. Thought it might come out a bit higher up, but nada.”
Jeongwoo came over skeptically and turned the faucet himself.
Creak. Creeeak.
“…This really is the Land of Ruin.”
“Should we drink from the sink? The toilet water was running.”
“Toilet water comes out?”
“Yeah. It’s from the rooftop tank.”
Jeongwoo shook his head, like he hadn’t known.
“Really?”
“Yeah, but not sure if it’s drinkable.”
“If it’s good for washing, it’s probably fine to drink.”
He turned the bathroom faucet, but the water was murky. I hadn’t noticed earlier with the toothpaste foam, but it was rusty.
“Wanna drink?”
“You trying to kill me?”
“Sigh… Should’ve saved some beer from yesterday. How is there no bottled water in any of these apartments?”
“Everyone uses purifiers these days.”
“No purifier here either.”
Right.
The building owner wouldn’t install one, claiming Seoul tap water was pure.
Of course, the real reason was the plumber saying it required drilling a hole in his kitchen.
The old man was obsessed with his building.
“Whatever. Let’s finish this tutorial quick and get out of here.”
“Hang on, checking under the bed. Sometimes there’s hidden supply items…”
Jeongwoo bent down to look under the bed.
A salaryman zombie was squirming, crushed under the mattress.
-Kieeeek!
“…Genius.”
“Yeah?”
“Your friend’s here?”
“What?”
I looked under the bed.
“…Why the hell is that guy down there?”
“How should I know?”
“Kill it. At least get the XP. Ah, toss it outside. Cleanest way.”
“Got it.”
Jeongwoo grabbed the salaryman zombie by the clothes and dragged it out.
Unlike me, with his natural strength and sturdy build, he was strong even without a class change.
The zombie tried to bite as it was pulled out, but its teeth bounced off the chainmail.
-Kieeeek!
“Get lost!”
Thud.
Jeongwoo hurled the salaryman zombie out the window.
Then, a sparkling light circled above his head.
“Leveled up, huh.”
“Yeah. Status says level 2 now.”
“How many levels for Barbarian Warrior?”
“Five.”
“You’ll get there quick.”
Still, for searching the entire fourth floor, the haul was pathetic.
This poor goshiwon building—aside from that first woman’s place, no gold anywhere.
Not even a single usable combat item.
Would’ve been nice to find some high-defense clothes, but everything was too worn out to equip.
Rip-. Rip-.
I gathered all the clothes and started tearing only the ones that triggered system windows.
Shirts, pants, skirts, jackets.
Ripped them all.
Ding!
[Acquired title: ‘Tailor’s Fury!’]
-Armor equipped by the title holder becomes indestructible to prevent further tearing of clothes.
The clothes I was wearing hardened. Like a shirt starched to hell.
[Player ‘Kim Cheonjae’s’ defense slightly increases.]
“Nice.”
“…How do you even think to rip clothes for a title in a situation like this? I’m too busy worrying where the next zombie’s coming from to think of anything.”
“No idea. Moves just pop into my head in order.”
“…Got a weapon for Necromancer yet?”
“Nah. Just grabbed a kitchen knife and baseball bat from home.”
“Nothing useful in the other rooms?”
“Nope. Nothing stood out.”
Jeongwoo wrapped torn cloth around his fist and said.
“Then I’ll stick with this axe till I class change.”
“Best weapon we can find in this building anyway.”
“Memory’s fuzzy from ages ago, but… does the tutorial have virus cures?”
I shook my head side to side.
“Nope. No cures in tutorial—just die.”
“Hmm…”
“If you’re lucky, getting infected might let you class change into an undead. Zombie or ghoul type.”
“…Better to just die than live as undead, no?”
“Who knows. If you wanna live, you might change your mind.”
Having felt death’s agony earlier, I kinda got wanting to live as undead.
It was insane enough I never wanted to feel it again.
“Really?”
“Yep.”
* * * * *
Clink.
I cracked open a can of peaches from the cupboard and split it with Jeongwoo.
Gotta recover stamina if we’re moving nonstop.
[System Message]
[Life force slightly recovers from fruit consumption.]
[Mana slightly recovers from fruit consumption.]
Our red HP bars were at 80%, creeping up to 90%.
The character reaction system matched Land of Ruin: Last Game. So we needed to stock food for emergencies.
I mumbled while chewing peaches.
“Eating food recovers HP—just like the game.”
“Told ya, this is a game.”
“Too damn real for a game.”
“With how advanced our country’s tech is these days, you think they can’t pull this off?”
“…Even if that’s true, I never agreed to play.”
Unlike my serious face, Ma Jeongwoo grinned good-naturedly.
“Agreed or not, gotta survive first.”
“You’re so chill.”
“Am not? I said earlier—heart pounding not knowing when or where zombies’ll jump us.”
“…”
“You’re the chill one. No reaction seeing that zombie.”
“I was shocked.”
“Bull. If you were really shocked, your nostrils would’ve flared or something. Not even an eyebrow twitch.”
Just chatting with Jeongwoo like this eased the tension a bit, even over nothing. Didn’t mean the zombie fear was gone, though.
Just thinking of their grotesque looks gave me goosebumps.
Clank.
I tossed the empty can on the floor and wiped my mouth with my sleeve.
“All done?”
“Yeah. Head up to the next floor?”
“Sure, but hold on!”
I nicked my fingertip with the kitchen knife, drawing blood. Then soaked the torn cloth with it.
Smeared a bit on the baseball bat and knife blade.
[Weapon gains Undead attribute from ‘Necromancer’s’ blood.]
[*Undead Attribute: Deals 30% additional damage to human races.]
The blood, red when fresh from my hand, dried black. The bat and knife looked painted with ink.
“Kim Cheonjae, can you do my axe too?”
“No problem. Gimme your hand quick.”
“My hand?”
“Yeah, need your blood.”
“Why mine?”
“…Just give me a finger.”
I pricked Jeongwoo’s fingertip. Dripped a drop onto the cloth that had absorbed my blood.
Ssshh.
Wiping his spare axe with the cloth mixing Necromancer and human blood…
Flash!
Light sparkled, and a system message appeared.
[Hidden combination activated.]
[Acquired ‘Butcher’s Axe.’]
-A long-bladed axe perfect for butchering meat. (Attack +16)
Jeongwoo gripped the axe, grinning ear to ear.
“Whoa! This thing’s super light?!”
“Sweet, right?”
“How’d you know to make this?”
“Memorized every game detail—piece of cake.”
“Man… You really deserved rank 1.”
* * * * *
Clang!
Suddenly, space ripped open midair, and a transparent bottle with a horn dropped into the hallway.
Filled with black liquid. Suspicious as hell no matter who looked.
[‘Mysterious Vial’ appears in Tutorial Round.]
[Players, please locate the vial quickly.]
New system message.
No explanation what it was—just find it.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Someone walking the hall picked it up. A dull-sounding man muttered to himself.
“…What’s this?”