Whose Grave is This?

Amelia was the first to be grabbed by death.

Shortly after the earthquake knocked her to the ground several arms shot out. Disgusting, bony, stinky arms.

And they covered her mouth, eyes, stomach, thighs, everything. Even her boobs hurt from the pressure of their grasp.

'Am I going to... die here?'

The more the dead squeezed her into her home, the more frantic she became. Her light breathing quickly turned into turbulent hyperventilations. This only worsened the situation because with every inhale all she smelled was death.

Even though The Fallen looked like nothing more than skeletons, their smell carried the stench of any kind of death.

Rotten flesh, musky moldy bones, a man who was stabbed by an old business partner and then peed on...

It was all horrible!

The clacking of their freely moving jaws and the grinding of bones moving against their joints...

Soon her hyperventilation moved in rhythm with their gleeful squeals. It had probably been a long time since the dead got to feed.

Boosted by some otherworldly adrenaline, she gave one final shake of desperation. Get off! Get off!

Death closed around her the more she shook but she refused to succumb to its grasp. In a frantic bid for survival, she thrashed her arms and legs against the world.

Every movement was savage yet precise. For a second she freed a hand and promptly put it to good use.

She felt 2 skulls explode before her arm was pulled back. Death was pulling her under again, but her briefly successful retaliation gave her newfound life.

Once again she fought against the pull of the dead. It was a lot stronger this time though, and much more suffocating. The hands covering her body multiplied to the umpteenth degree, digging into her sides and arms and face.

She closed her eyes in hopes that her eyelids would be a good armor. The pressure the dead's fingers exerted was proving otherwise. They were close to gouging her eyes, and then they'd rip apart her skull through that hole.

She screamed in fear for just seconds until bony fingers flew into her mouth, pulling at her lips. Tears would've flowed from her eyes if The Fallen wasn't pressing so hard on her eyes.

Every part of her body was on fire from the pain of fighting against being torn in half. The worst pain was knowing she was fighting a losing battle though.

There was nothing she could do at this point other than succumb to the darkness.

...

[HP discovered]

[D-Rank Fallen Warrior: 100/100 HP]

[D-Rank Archer: 80/80 HP]

[D-Rank Mage: 70/70 HP]

[D-Rank Healer: 70/70 HP]

Nick's grin fell with every notification the system gave. These monsters were far stronger than the simple goblins he was used to slaughtering.

His AoE of [Emperor's Slash] only dealt 20% of the damage of his basic attacks. In a fight like this, that could almost be negligible. Even if he dealt enough damage to halve one of the monsters' health, the others would only be dealt 1/9 of their HP.

In essence, this wasn't a fight he could just blitz through.

His fears only amplified when the dead forced themselves from the earth. Instantly hearing a squeal, he took a single glance and saw 7 of the warriors covering Amelia from head to toe, trying to tear her apart.

'What the-'

Before he could move a muscle, the 8th warrior rose in front of Nick with a gleeful clacking of its jaw.

A fury washed over Nick as he swung his sword while using his free hand to push the warrior. Anything to get to Amelia before she died.

The warrior stood strong, immovable as it raised its sword. Their weapons clashed, scattering the sparks of battle across the earth.

Nick swung again and again to no avail. In the distance, he could hear Amelia's screams as the other warriors threatened to tear her apart.

"What's with these healers? I-I can't penetrate their wards!"

Wards?

The warrior's sword bounced back as Nick swung with an even greater fury. Amelia was dying, and there was nothing her squadmates could do about it. In fact... it seemed like even Juliana was powerless right now.

The Fallen were just that strong.

[The Fallen have a greater resistance to lightning. Juliana's attacks will do 50% less damage.]

'50%?!'

It was even worse than he thought. Far worse. And if he was having this much trouble with one warrior...

How could he hope to face 7 of them at once?

"Amelia!" Yck screamed as Nick saw a fireball fly from the corner of his eye. The next second he heard it hit someone's chest, filling the air with the stench of burnt flesh.

[Party member: Yck lost 57% of his HP]

[Party member: Fynn lost 78% of his HP]

[Warning]

[Amelia is in critical condition]

Critical...

'Snap out of it you useless shit!'

He berated himself as he swung his sword again, refusing to give up or yield. Even if he was the last one standing, he would continue fighting. That was his will–one that far surpassed an Emperor's. He was going to–

Another fireball flew across the battlefield, followed by another, and then yet another. He saw lightning fight against them, but even Juliana was almost no match against The Fallen.

Her scream ripped into Nick's ears as the 3rd fireball hit her. Even though he couldn't see her, he still felt the impact as if she was right next to him.

[Valkyrie: Juliana in critical condition]

[Valkyrie: Juliana lost 95% of her HP]

90... 95?!

Juliana was going to die!

'No... she's not.'

This place wasn't her grave. It wasn't his grave, or Amelia's or Fynn's. This was the grave for The Fallen, for people whose fight was already over. That wasn't true for them–their fight was just beginning.

No one was going to give him this new life, a chance to actually be something more than a loser degenerate, and take it away. Not even death itself.

The [Fang of Finality] glowed with the energy of the will of destruction, a bright and vibrant green. Every mindless dead knew that glow and to cower in its presence–until now.

Since the gods were proven fallible, there was no need to fear them anymore. Especially not when the power was wielded by some weak upstart who couldn't even protect his squadmates.

That's what the dead's ego told them. Their instinct?

It told them to run, that they had forgotten their place.

But not even instinct could save them.

[Zone State Activated: Emperor's Will]

The warrior in front of Nick was cut into 206 pieces–severed bone by bone. Before the bones could even return to their grave, he was onto the mages.

206 slices. 206 slices.

Both of the healers lifted their wards instantly, for some reason thinking that would do anything.

206 slices. 206 slices.

No healer of their category could hope to deal with a killer of his category. It was impossible, like expecting a kid to kill a veteran of a thousand battles.

They weren't even worth any more attention than what was needed for complete dismemberment.

There was something far more important to deal with–7 warriors.