The Second day

Sleeping wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. A strange environment with things that one wants to eat, how could one not sleep well? I woke up as my fire began to die, a harsh frost covering the ground. I stretched and began walking again. the forest just kept going and going. every once in a while, I came across things that showed human activity. small, abandoned camps or sometimes a wall made from logs. people tried to live here and failed; it didn't Dawn on me on how bad they failed till I came across a certain little hut. The door was ripped and thrown away from its frame, large claw marks etched into the logs that made up its walls. I slowly approached it, my mind racing at the thought of what could make those kinds of deep scratches. Inside was as if a bloody bomb had gone off. the wrench stench of death wafted out to greet me. I puked almost immediately. I quickly left that spot, my determination to move forward and out of the forest greater than ever now. I moved as fast yet carefully as I could. my body began to feel heavy as I moved. hours went by, the forest began looking more and more decayed. the light started flowing through where the dead trees sat. grey was beginning to be everywhere. burnt houses began appearing sporadically. after dark began to set, I came to a large, charred section of a gate.

The gate had been burnt and fixed then burnt again as if years of battle had taken place here. no noise came from behind the gate. An Erie quiet settled over everything. blood stained the dirt near the gate, broken swords and other weapons littered the ground. my body felt a weird chill straight to my bones. I picked up a rusty jagged sword from a pile of armaments. the handle felt rough in my hands, heavy and unbalanced. I swung it a few times to get adjusted to the weight. I peeked through the gates to see a deserted village. ramshackle cabins lined the main street. several shop fronts with torn banners and broken signs dotted the spaces between cabins. In the middle stood a grand church-like building. I noticed several shambling figures surrounding it, some looking aimlessly into the distance while others pounded on the big wooden doors.

"Please don't be zombies," I muttered knowing my prayer would be unanswered. I quietly began my approach, sword ready. I was midway down the street when the furthest turned toward me. They raised one thing arm and screeched an unholy sound. A few turned and began sprinting at me.

"Are you kidding? why? just why?" I groaned.

the first one reached me within moments, I swung my sword at its neck, lobbing off its head. The next one stopped short of me as if trying to figure out how to avoid having its head removed from its shoulders. its mummified face clattering its teeth at me, flesh falling off with the remains of whatever clothing it had worn in life. long thin arms swung wildly towards me. I rushed it swinging my sword down into its skull, getting it stuck.

"Great, just great. I get reincarnated into a world like this and this is how it's going." I growled putting my fists up. three more rushed me swinging wildly as they tried to grab ahold of me. I launched a left jab into one's throat, making it stumble back a few before it continued its assault. one tried to leap onto my back, I managed to catch its arm and fling it to the ground, followed by a quick stomp to its head. The other two screeched as if enraged and began fighting harder. One slammed its shower into me forcing me to the ground. the moment I was down the other leaped at me, trying to take a chunk out of my face. I grabbed its face with both hands and twisted as hard as I could. A loud pop of bones snapped, and it fell. leaving me buried underneath it. I pushed the corpse aside and jumped up. by now a large group of them had surrounded me.

"Oh, come on, what's with this crap!" I said angrily.

The final one tried to grab me; however, I was faster. I kicked its legs out with a leg sweep and stomped on its face. I noticed the large group had divided and a large fat zombie stumbled into the middle with me. a greenish hue had covered its skin, its face a half skull half meaty mess. The zombie raised a massive arm and pointed to me, growling.

"You want some big guy? let's do this then," I yelled at it.

As if it understood, the zombie grinned a freakish smile and began moving towards me. His movements unlike the others seemed calculated and deliberate. His eyes glowed a dark blood red, looking at me, studying every movement I made as I did with him. The other zombies shuffled as if they were uncomfortable. randomly groaning or snapping at each other. The big guy slammed his fists in the dirt and slowly closed the gap between us. I knew one punch from this thing would end my new life as quickly as it had begun. He began pounding the dirt each time he took a step forward, which gave me an idea. the next time he did it I ran at him, grabbing his arm and using it to springboard to his shoulders. I wrapped my legs around his neck and rained pushed into his skull. the decaying flesh gave way with each punch revealing a reddish-white skull beneath. before I could provide the finishing touch his grasp found my leg and flung me off with massive strength. I hit the ground like a sack of bricks, rolling a few feet. I struggled to stand up and saw my opponent having issues with just standing himself.

"Your strong, I will give you a good death," I said spitting into the dirt before I ran at him again. he blindly swung trying to avoid his fate. I started kicking at his legs trying to force him down. I'll kick retreat and kick again. After a few times of doing this, I managed the result I had hoped for. The big guy fell to one knee after I landed a solid kick, I then kicked his face as hard as I possibly could sending his large frame to the dirt. I took a running start and jump-stomped his skull-crushing it beneath my feet. I walked a few before hunching over to catch my breath.

"Anyone else? Come on don't be shy, if I'm going to die, I'll take as many of you as I can with me." I said between huffs of breath.

The zombies seemed to lose all function or maybe were shocked at the death of their champion. Suddenly one by one they dropped, the glowing red eyes slowly dying out. I let out a sigh of relief. I took a second to collect myself when something weird popped up in my face. A bright blue status screen appeared out of nowhere.

"Conditions met for Level up System. mission passed - kill zombie warlord - rewards granted 1 level up, 5 stat points, and one unique skill brute force.

You are now a level two; with each level, you will receive 5 stat points. you can allocate them on the status page." I read the page and then it disappeared. I scratched my head with a soft chuckle. was this what the voice meant about hard work? I decided to wait and tinker with it when I knew I was safe. I turned towards the church and began walking to it. I noticed people peeking out from the boarded-up windows as I reached the heavy wooden doors.

"Hey, can you let me in?" I yelled.

after a minute or so the large doors slowly opened.