BONE BAZAAR

Under the three moons of Alderom, In a town hidden in purplish fog and overrun with destruction. Rex continued to mow through undead foes. He could not spare any moment to appreciate the efficiency with which his purlish flamed fist was meeting our undead death.

He had to thank the Chaos bear not for just its several components that lay within his inaccessible inventory, but also for allowing him to advance his usage of the cool energy that flowed within him.

The atmosphere was gloom with fear and devastation. So much that Rex felt guilty of his current excitement. The excitement was similar to what he felt when he first rode his hoverboard with AI-Assist completely turned off. 

With each skull he shattered, rib cage he ruptured or humerus he displaced, he could feel a surge of euphoria.

His distance from the meteorite was now almost at the 200 meter mark. The Undead creatures did not seem to bear it as a destination. Their actions were all aimed at destroying whatever life they came across,

Grass withered wherever they stepped, flowers wilted fom their presence. As Rex tore through these creatures, he could see one or two bodies that lay strewn across the floor. Places where the undead creatures had won the brawl..

The ground began to squirm, A development that scared the shi- out of Rex. It looked like the floor was not made of solid dense and fine rocks, but rather by billions of snakes each scale coated in fine, deceptively harmless-looking sand

The horryfying squirming did not last for long, in moments it ceased abruptly just like it began. But something did definitely happen to the ground, because the next moment a bony hand stretched out from the ground and slowly began to drag it's being from the floor.

All around Rex, lay different facets of the human skeletal structure. He stood in a bazaar of bones as he watched a new nefarious foe appear, the skeleton slowly unburied itself/

It did not bear the same grey and decaying structure like the prior undead, its figure was coated in darkness, it's being radiated an aura of something ancient, and in its hand it held a sword with a dark blade, that still looked rusted not minding its dark exterior. 

In all its glory, Rex did not think twice as he dashed towards the new entry. Both of his fist bathed in the flame of 'RAGEBORNE' and his dash like that of a junkie. Which he was. 

A junkie high in the delight of fiery fistful punishment.

"Slash!"

The rusty blade of the dark skeleton, whistled menacingly through the air. Rex easily evaded this slash as he meted out punishment on the skull of the creature.

As his fist connected with a thud, magma like cracks spread across the impact point as the dark skeleton took several steps back. Rex watched in wondrous horror as the crack that had spread across half of the skeleton's skull slowly shrank.

The dark skeleton dashed forward once again towards him, its sword slowly moving into position for a downward slash. By the time the skeleton was within melee range, the crack had diminished from covering half of its skull to only occupying the cheek region of the skull.

"Fwoosh"

Rex avoided the downward slash with ease. The skeleton's attacks were fast but very easy to read. It took a pleasant time for it to move its limbs into position, which allowed for an ample window for analyzing its intended action, before the actual strike came. 

Rex dashed backward, momentarily breaking his combat flow and creating a bit of distance as he tried to analyze the dark skeleton's unique ability.

All around him, humans were engaged in desperate skirmiches with the undead creatures, In moments he had gotten a grasp of the events around. It felt like his mind had gained a huge boost in processing power and memory. With each glance, he could appreciate a lot of information, analyze several occurrences and draw conclusions based on his findings.

In the seven-second leeway he had gotten from his dash, he noticed that the majority of the humans around him were holding back the common skeleton figures barely, using makeshift weapons they had picked up from the ruined structures, desperately trying to survive.

A bit far from where he was standing, a more disciplined group of fighters were taking down the common skeletons with a lot more efficiency than the commoners. Among the group he could spot a few that were doing much better than the others at this task, using more fancy weaponry than the others, 'The Awakened'.

Most distinct and noticeable from this group was Bahlrok who had created a bazaar of bones just like he had.

Speaking of bazaars the bazaar he had created was greatly lacking in its prior impressive volume. Paying very close attention, Rex noticed the bones slowly being assimilated into the ground, as if the earth itself was reclaiming its morbid harvest.

Four more of the dark skeletons were slowly pulling themselves off the floor.

'The dark Skeletons were being borne from the remains of the common skeletons!'

The dark skeleton he was currently engaged with was almost within melee range again. Its sword poised for a horizontal slash.

"Whosshh!" 

With a role, Rex easily brought himself out of harm's way, as he stood he unleashed a barrage of blows on the back of its skull. It recent strike had left it wide open. 

The barrage of blows was a product of his decision after analyzing the Dark Skeletons regenerative ability.

'If it could recover from cracks, then shatter it'

"Crick!!!"

A sharp, sickening crack resounded in the air as the skull of the Dark Skeleton shattered. It fell on the floor unmoving.

"LEVEL UPGRADED"

The feminine voice echoed in his mind, Rex couldn't hold back his laughter. It was the second time he had leveled up, since he began his onslaught on the skeletal monsters.

Once when he was creating his bazaar of bones and the second time was now.

His joy however couldn't have been any more short-lived.

A spear cut across his cheeks, launched by one of the four dark skeletons that had completely unearthed itself. 

49:31

His timer pulsed.

"That's enough time," Rex muttered his voice low and determined and he wiped the blood from his cheek.

Rex dashed madly towards the now unarmed dark skeleton, it punched towards Rex. But its movement still bore the same characteristic flaw. 

Fast strike--Slow Execution. 

Rex did not perform any explicit dodge this time; he adjusted his dashing direction, putting himself out of the strike path. His feet lit up in a purplish glow as he cleanly removed the skull from its anatomical position.

The skull(head) of the monster bounced like a ball as it skidaddled away from its owner. The dark skeleton did not fall after losing its head. It remained standing, but its actions became erratic as it punched aimlessly. 

Rex did not have any time to catch his breath, the other three skeletons had unearthed themselves and in the position he stood, he was right in the middle of them.

It was his most difficult battle yet, two of the dark figures were armed with a sword while the last held nothing but a heavy-looking, dark, battered shield, and turned out to be the most difficult.

He could easily avoid the slashes of the sword-armed skeletons, but the third knew only one move a bash. It was a simple, brutal and ridiculously effective attack.

It brought its shield forward and shot forward in a lightning dash.

His hands, shoulders, chest and back were numb with pain of having received that attack several time.

"Boom!"

Rex was sent flying backward again, another successful bash. As he slowly stood, an attempt not to be caught in a disadvantageous position by the sword-wielding creatures. Blood trickled down his nose, a reality of defeat was slowly coming up his mind. He took an immediate glance around. He could spot the dark skeletons sparsely spread across the battlefield. 

"I expected so," he murmured. Just as he was about to avoid a slash. A pulse hit him, the pulse was unlike the painful boons that were still being emitted from the meteorite intermittently.

This pulse made him feel stronger, it made him more optimistic, it made him taste for battle.

Malhic, the First-Mother had joined the fight, the Pulses Rex were feeling was a result of her Buff-Spell 'Vigor'. A buff that increased her allies' strength and durability.