Flain vs Mans
Flain opened his eyes and found himself in a very familiar pit.
[Please choose one blessing of darkness:
1. In the forest, you will be 5% faster.
2. Your soul is 6% more resistant to curses.
3. When you hide somewhere, the beings around you perceive you 5% less.]
[Tip: When you die, there is a chance that darkness will grant you a blessing; you can always choose one of the three. Deliberate death does not count.]
[Tip: It is forbidden to die deliberately. If you die deliberately, you will receive a random curse.]
Flain had to choose one of the bonuses. He read the bonuses, and they didn't seem very strong, but Flain of course wouldn't refuse a free bonus. After a moment of consideration, Flain chose the first one, as it seemed the best—even if he wasn't entirely sure.
It occurred to Flain that he could kill all the men, use EXP, and then use the dagger to destroy his skull. He would reappear in a grave and could go kill the men again. This way, he would gain lots of EXP. But the second tip dismissed that idea.
"Yes! I did it!!!" came the familiar voice of Itai.
Flain decided that he would no longer use the well-known phrase "I'm Flain. Give me the dagger you have on you. Some men are coming after you. I know the future," because if it happened that Flain killed those men, Itai would know that Flain knew the future—which is only partly true. Although nothing really bad would probably happen, at most Itai might tell someone else. But Flain was quite paranoid and felt he really shouldn't say it.
"Now Skelly comes out of the grave," said Itai.
Out of the grave? In Flain's world, a grave was a large glass coffin filled with fluid in which a dead body remains forever just as it was when it was alive. Not a hole in the ground with a stone bearing some symbols. But this is Flain's world, so it is understandable.
"I'm Flain, not Skelly, and I can speak," said Flain as he emerged from the grave.
"I summoned some ultra-rare skeleton," said Itai excitedly as he began inspecting Flain and grabbing him in various ways.
"Do you have any weapon?" Flain asked.
Itai handed Flain the last dagger, which Flain knew very well. "Sorry, I have nothing else," said Itai.
Then Itai said they should take a break. They rested for about five minutes until they were interrupted by Bob's very famous shout.
"There's that bastard!" a voice suddenly shouted behind them.
Flain ran after them. He noticed that the archer was already drawing his bow. If he hadn't hit him, Flain might have had a chance.
The archer fired.
Flain dove into a roll to the right—the arrow just barely missed him.
The other four warriors charged him. Flain knew that fighting them all at once was suicide. He needed to split them up.
Flain attacked first. He lunged at one of the men wielding a standard sword. Expecting the attack, the enemy immediately went on the defensive, raising his weapon to block.
However, Flain did not attack directly. He feigned a strike, only to sharply shift his movement to the left at the last moment. The second man with a normal sword, who had intended to strike Flain from the side, got tangled up, and both swordsmen lost focus on Flain.
This was his chance.
Flain quickly lunged at the second swordsman and drove his dagger deep into his stomach.
The swordsman cursed and staggered back—his injury wasn't fatal, but it slowed him down.
The man with the club was already swinging from behind.
Flain jumped to the side— the massive club smashed into the ground exactly where he had been standing.
At that moment, an arrow was flying straight for his skull!
Flain had no time to react—but then…
The club of the man who had just struck the ground randomly hit the arrow mid-air!
Flain would have smirked if he could—the man had unwittingly saved his life and spared him another failed attempt.
Flain took advantage of the momentary confusion and sprinted directly at the archer.
The archer panicked. He was drawing another arrow, but Flain was already too close.
"I don't want to die!" the archer screamed, trying to retreat, but Flain lunged forward and drove his dagger straight into his throat.
[+240 EXP]
The archer collapsed to the ground, gurgling blood.
The club came crashing toward Flain again. This time, he couldn't dodge.
Instead, he brutally leaped directly at the enemy, taking him by surprise.
The club struck the ground so hard that it got stuck. Flain took advantage of this and stabbed his dagger straight into the man's eye.
The man roared in pain and fell to his knees. Flaino hit over both the man's eye and the man's brain, so he died.
[+320 EXP]
Two swordsmen remained. One was injured, the other still fully capable of fighting. Flain jumped back, opened his stats, and quickly leveled up. When Flain opened the system he saw that there was a third option [Blessing of Darkness]. And that's when he felt something new.
[Level 1 -> Level 2]
[Strength increased by 1, agility increased by 1, vitality increased by 1]
[You have gained 1 bonus point]
Flain instantly felt stronger.
He knew he had only a few seconds to take advantage of his buff [Extremely Powerthirsty]—a 50% strength increase for 3 seconds.
The wounded swordsman tried to attack first, but Flain was now stronger.
With one precise strike, he pierced his throat.
[+240 EXP]
The last man panicked. He had just witnessed Flain brutally massacre his comrades.
"NO! YOU'RE NOT A NORMAL SKELETON!!" he screamed, backing away.
Flain would have grinned if he could. His purple lights in his eye sockets glowed intensely.
The man tried to run, but Flain had already learned his movements. He lunged at him.
[+260 EXP]
The man fell to the ground, dead.
Flain stood over the corpse of the last swordsman, his dagger covered in blood. But the battle wasn't over yet. There was still the man with the greatsword.
Flain spun around sharply. The man with the massive sword was already in the air, descending toward him with a devastating strike.