Battle of The Past Souls (Final)

"ALRIGHT! WE'RE FINISHING THIS!"

As the skeletons before me flashed into their flesh and armor, I saw them all wail out with swords raised into the air, only for it to flashback into them just limply raising their hands.

The only thing that a normal bystander could've heard from the skeletons was the clacking of their feet and jaws, but I heard their battle cries.

Everybody was filled to the brim with adrenaline, and as they let out their final cries, with the minotaur charging through them, getting slightly tangled by the various bones… a small sound, like a droplet of water dripping into a pool, resounded through the room.

A concentrated piece of darkness appeared in front of the minotaur's forehead, causing it to run straight into it and get knocked to the ground.

I expected the ball of darkness to tear straight through its head, skull, and brain, but all it did was leave a large indent that bled profusely.

But, even as I took a knee, nearly collapsing from exhaustion, the brave and confident soldiers around me jumped onto the minotaur, and even as their bones were turned to ash by its deadly aura, they continued to tear at its flesh.

"PUSH!" I shouted as there were only at most one hundred skeletons left, and the numbers were quickly dwindling.

The minotaur was dazed, but it was slowly regaining its grip on reality, tearing away at the ants continuously biting and pinching him.

And then, the aura snapped away as if it had never existed in the first place.

The minotaur's tense muscles all slowly relaxed, and as blood flowed from its head, a panel appeared before me.

[You have slain the Minotaur of Might: Slaughterer of Armies]

[Number of Participants Entered: 1001]

[Number of Participants Left: 31]

[Reward has been granted to all]

.

[You have completed the Main Quest: Awoken]

[Reward has been granted]

.

All of a sudden, the skeletons in front of me were wrapped in flesh, and their armor was clasped around them like it was made and tailored specifically to their size.

A beautiful sword was gripped in the palm of each survivor, and as they looked at me with copious amounts of respect, tears of joy flowed from their eyes.

But, just as I stood up to go hug and celebrate with them, their bodies slowly shifted into a golden light that caused my wrapping arms to pass through them.

"H-Huh? Wasn't your reward to have a second chance at life?" I stuttered, but even now, they couldn't talk.

Small grunts and yells of joy escaped from their mouths, but as they all looked down at me, every single one of them saluted my leadership.

"HUP!" They all shouted before floating into the air and disappearing into the atmosphere, never to be seen again.

And then I was left there, completely limp as I sagged to the floor like a loose water balloon being set down on the ground.

A leather book appeared beside me, but suddenly another one appeared beside it, yet I didn't have the courage to lift them up.

"Ugh… I… I… I can't feel sad… what is this… I want to feel sad and mourn for them… but I just can't," I muttered as my hands gripped my rib cage and felt the blank space underneath them.

Slowly, I sank down further until I was laying against the cold stone floor, picked up one of the books beside me, and just read.

I read and read my soul away until I was finally greeted by the appearance of reality yet again, forcing me to take in that I no longer had a heart… and that the only thing I could do was pray for a safe afterlife.

"I'll visit you all one day, and we can have a drink together," I muttered before slowly standing up and letting both leather books disintegrate into ash.

My eyes shifted up towards my status and roamed it until my pupils locked onto the two new skills I had acquired.

『Status』

[Name: Helu]

[Race: Undead]

[Class: Disciple of Smoke]

[Level: 9/10] (42/50) XP Needed

[HP: 10/10 MP: 10/10 SP: --/--]

[Strength: 1]

[Defense: 1]

[Magic: 1]

[Speed: 1]

[Skills: [Empower] [Haste] [Eagle Eye] [Darkness Manipulation]

[Pentagram: [Hand of The Souls]

[Passive Skills: [Undead Influence]

…

"As expected… that thing gave quite a lot of XP," I muttered before feeling a rumble underneath my bones.

The cave around me shook rapidly, causing some loose rocky debris to fall all over me, but once it had finally stopped, the stone wall at the end of the cave had disappeared.

It sank into the ground and eventually disappeared, leaving a path open for me to exit what was presumably a dungeon.

"Though, it doesn't seem to lead to the surface," I muttered as I noticed the cave expanded further than this tomb.

But, as I walked towards it, something immediately caught my interest, but I had to quickly dive out of the way and lay limp across the ground as footsteps entered the cave.

"Yeah, this does seem like a cleared dungeon, but it isn't reported on the map. I guess an asshole decided to hold the dungeon to themselves before they even reported it…."

"Welp, there is we could do now. Let's just make sure all the loot has been taken, and let's get out of here. The number of bones and corpses is making me nauseous,"

An adventuring party made up of a small trio of humans entered the room through the exit, conversing to each other as they surveyed the empty room.

"Geez… a minotaur boss. Whoever killed this by themselves must've been insanely strong… and… doesn't this seem-"

"Yep, recent. It seems pretty recent to me, judging from this warm blood… maybe we just got here after they cleared the dungeon? If so, I don't want to run into them… so let's get the hell out of here,"

Suddenly, the human who had split off from the trio to survey the walls of the room shouted back at them.

"Yep! Nothing here! Let's get the hell out of here!" He shouted, and the trio swiftly left, but just as I saw them exit the dungeon, I placed my boney hand on my ribcage.

[Hand of The Souls]