JUST A GAME

With renewed vigor surging through him, Rex moved with renewed agility deftly avoiding a slash and even slotting in an attack of his own. 

A punch that sent the skeletal figure off its feet, an action he had not pulled off since he began the fight. His punches had only been able to push the skeletal figures backward, but not sweep them off their feet..

The increase in his strength triggered another serotonin ride as Rex, weaved through attacks and unleashed a barrage of blows on his assailants. Their frames were riddled with weblike cracks, but they still stood.

"Boom!" Rex took several steps backward, as a dull ache spread from his chest outward. The shield-wielding skeleton had once again launched another successful strike. With nothing but grit, Rex resisted the desire to curl up into an infantile position on the floor and try to make sense of the pain spreading all across his being. 

'Vigor' had strengthened him and suppressed the gnawing claws of fear, but it had done nothing about his aching shoulder, his spaghetti knees and his shallow breath. The battle was telling on him.

Thoughts of focusing on his quest, which was to touch the meteorite, had been on and off in his mind. Each time he resolved to retreat to the meteorite and probably end his quest or something by touching the pulsing rock.

Images of what will be of the dozens of unawakened people and children who were struggling against the relentless tide of common skeletons around him surfaced in his mind.

The few dozens of survivors around him were only alive because he was drawing the aggro of the Dark skeletons. Bahlrok the chief, was also occupied in his own brawl with the dark figures, to offer any assistance.

The residents of Alderom were tragically outnumbered by the undead beings and he could still see new common skeletons materializing from the dense fog. Common Skeletons whose demise will only birth the much tougher and menacing Dark ones.

The shield-wielding skeleton took a few heavy deliberate steps backward as it poised itself for another 'Bash'.

"Seriously!"

Rex did his best possible to ready himself for the upcoming attack. The Shield-Wielding wretch shot forward, Rex brought his two hands forward, 'A Block' reinforced by 'RAGEBORNE' as the shield made contact with his block, something was immediately glaringly off.

It lacked the overwhelming force that was its hallmark, the devastating impact he had braved himself for was lacking.

The shield-wielding foe woobled a bit before it fell forward on the floor. A large portion of its skull missing, with an emerald green arrow slowly disintegrating from within the fractured skull.

Rex looked in the direction from which the strike had arrived. 

Lush-Brown hair neatly tied into a pony tail, A dark combat-suit that clung tightly to her frame (Definitely a product of Nala's), adorned with intricate green embroidery used to further accentuate the combat suit's design, emerald eyes and an exquisite emerald bow.

Luna had dealt with his most nefarious foe yet, not completely though as Rex saw its bony femur and tibia twitch. He unleashed a barrage of blows on its skull, ending its existence.

Luna had been surprised not to have found Rex around the meteorite, she had come to the conclusion that the rock must have somehow absorbed him. But her sadness, thankfully, did not last for long.

His onslaught had drawn quite the agro, it did not take long at all to spot the figure in tight shorts, with markings than ran all across his torso, up to his limbs. That was breaking skulls like his existence was based solely on the act of skull crushing.

Luna caught up with Rex, just as the two sword-wielding skeletons engaged him again. 

-

Rex felt a sudden cold touch on his back as he kept his eyes trained on the rapidly approaching skeletons,

A cold relief spread from the touch all through his body. The aches faded, the tired joints loosened and the overwhelming weariness dissipated,

He felt new. . .refreshed.

"Huuuu…". Luna exhaled, 'Heal" had taken a bit of toll on her. She felt like taking a breather, she had not expected the development, she had healed Rex several times before and his heal had not demanded so much from her. She had no idea, that Rex's ability had increased several times over since the Last heal.

His level had upgraded three times, once with the Bear orb and twice in the intense skeletal battlefield.

WIth the absence of the nefarious Shield Wielding Skeleton and his now rejuvenated self. Rex easily handled the two sword-wielding Dark skeleton.

"Hey" Rex turned to Luna with a bright goofy smile.

"How are you?" He asked, a response inappropriate for the setting.

Luna studied him with an undecided slightly perplexed expression.

"You are not taking this serious?" Luna asked disappontment evident in her tone.

Her people were dying, she could not relate to Rex's seemingly chipper and lighthearted mood.

Rex noted his mistake immediately, he turned his gaze away. The attack was gruesome and brutal, he had held the agro of the powerful skeletons but several people had fallen to the attacks of the common monsters and a few Dark skeletons had spawned among the residents while he battled the trio.

He was sad alright, but the sight of Luna had put him in a bit of a chipper mood. He was doing alright, there was no immediate threat that he was failing his 'Overlord Quest', He was doing something about the devastation borne from the undead onslaught and it was a game.

He was sad but definitely not in the same wavelength as the true residents of Alderom, whose loved ones were wounded and falling to the attacks of the undead.

Rex did not give any verbal reply; he simply let the question hang in silence, but it didn't last for long. 

Luna's voice sounded again, softer this time, but still carrying a hint of urgency.

"First-Mother said I should find you." 

'A new development'. . . 'Maybe a side quest or reward. '

37:12

"Alright."

'Let's find her. . ."

Before Rex could finish his statement, a distinct voice sounded in his mind, it felt invasive. Unlike the announcement of the female voice that kept him abreast of the game engines gimmicks on him.

"Follow the flies."

Rex noticed pulsing flies that floated infront of him, he knew they were not real, they only existed in his mind. A part of the instruction Malhric had dropped in his mind.

With Luna assisting him with precise and perfectly timed shots, they weaved through skeletal undead as they made their way towards Malhric.

Dunn!!!...

A deep, resonant vibration pulsed through time and space itself, a tremor that seemed to warp the very air around them. Rex felt it, a strange, unsettling feeling. It felt like the world was momentarily stuttering, as if a fundamental law of nature had been altered. A dark corruption, born from a direct, brutal interference with the natural order, had manifested.

The sensation didn't simply pass; it lingered, a persistent hum in the background. At first, it seemed to be everywhere, surrounding them, suffocating them. Then, gradually, it felt like it was coalescing, centering, as if it had a distinct origin point. It was emanating undeniably, from the same direction First-Mother was leading them. 

"Luna Hurry!!" Rex ordered, his voice laced with urgency as he dashed forward, weaving through skeletal mobs. 

It didn't take long, He spotted Malhric she sat in a deep meditative pose, all her attention focused on whatever it was she was doing. 

Several meters behind her, something unnatural stood.

A fracture in existence itself, it was so eerie, Like torn paper a tear had manifested in the very fabric of the world.

A slowly widening tear, extending from the ground reaching upwards to a height of approximately five meters. It pulsed with a dark, malevolent energy, casting an eerie, sickly glow on the surrounding area.

From the tear a massive hand extended outward, the hand was a decaying mess, formed from an amalgamation of everything dead, and so was the massive body that the hand belonged to. 

The humongous mass of death slowly dragged its filthy self into Alderom. It towered above everything about it, with a height of about 3.5 meters. 

It had a humanoid shape, and that was where any similarity it bore with anything humane ended. Its eyeless sockets turned in the direction of Mahlric as it began its slow deliberate horrifying march.