-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Joy vs Necromancer-

Joy had his fair share of meeting with dead and decaying walking corpses and skeletons. He had even once cleared a level 5 undead dungeon alone in just a day. That’s why he wasn’t freaked when skeletons holding swords and shields appeared from the below the ground. What spooked him rather was that it was actually summoned by a human, a living breathing human.

What does this mean?

This man against who he was fighting was actually an infamous ‘necromancer.’ A profession which was both despised and feared by the common masses and was thoroughly hunted by ‘light forces’ of the world. In reality, the term necromancer wasn’t a profession but rather people with skills that related to death and decay, and everything related to ghosts and the deaths. He had heard about them but had never actually met one until today.

These universally hated fellows were once hunted to extinction by some hidden forces. Nobody knew what skill they would awaken, so during their skill awakening process, everyone had a small dread in their heart that they would awaken a necromancy related skill. Although nowadays, there was no purge, they would still become a social pariah and hated by everyone. No one wants to go through that.

As the skeletons neared Joy, they swung their rusty swords in a clean, precise cut. Very unlike of skeletons that usually found in dungeons who could only wildly swing their sword at the presence of an enemy. Still, he reacted fast enough and dodged the well-coordinated strikes from the skeletons, and raised his fist to counter-attack. Thunder rolled around fist as he twisted and threw a punch at one of the nearest skeleton’s head.

But at that time, the skeleton raised its shield and effortlessly blocked the fist. Even the lightning couldn’t pass through the shield which was actually made out of iron, a good conductor of electricity. After blocking the fist, the skeleton fell back and flanked by two other skeletons around it. The one on the left suddenly flashed it’s sword and performed an exquisite sword swipe, aiming at Joy’s midsection.

The sword gave a bad feeling to Joy so, he stepped back to avoid it. But what awaited him after this successful dodge was a shield bash from the right skeleton that flanked him. The shield slammed against his shoulder and sent him flying a few meters back by the impact before stopping. For a second, his vision swam as his body swayed left to right, he also felt a bit nauseous.

‘What the hell? How can such a weak strike make me disorient? What is happening?’ Joy couldn’t understand at all what happened when he was slammed by the shield. He felt almost no damage from the shield bash, but the after effects were dangerous, its as if he was poisoned by something when the shield touched his body.

‘Wait! Poisoned? Am I poisoned when that shield touched me? I have heard of this, these necromancers are very proficient in the curse and debuff related skills. Is this why I feel like this?’ suddenly Joy remembered a rumor he once heard. He had already awakened once, so his overall physical stats were enhanced by a factor. Remembering something he long heard could be achievable when an appropriate trigger was found. Like now, when he thought about necromancy, his brain started to sort through everything about that topic he had encountered throughout his life till now.

“Haha! Are you feeling no well? Dizzy perhaps? Feel like puking!” the man taunted as he came closer to Joy step by step, with the three skeletons flanking his front. By now, Joy had already kneeled down to support his nauseous body. The effect lasted a few more seconds before Joy could feel better. Once he did, he rolled away from a steadily approaching man flanked by skeletons.

Seeing a lively Joy, the man clicked his tongue and muttered, “As expected of a 1st Awakened hunter. Their recovery powers are out of imagination.” After that, he swung his boney wand once again, summoning another skeleton that was wearing a long black robe and holding a rotting wooden wand, much like the man himself.

As soon as it appeared, the skeleton magician waved its wand as a huge fireball conjured in air and hauled it at Joy who had a wide-eyed look plastered on his face. But acting on instinct, he boosted up his speed once again and ran away from the area of effect within seconds. When the fire landed on the ground, it melted it magma and tar so fast that it was like seeing the ice melting above the fire.

Seeing this, Joy gulped a mouthful of air to calm his rapidly beating heart. If he hadn’t dodged just now, even if he wasn’t melted to goo, he would still have sported some third-degree burns. His life might have been easily taken by this man.

‘Dangerous! He is dangerous!’ Joy acknowledged this man finally as a danger to his life. Till now, he was confident that he couldn’t be harmed by this man, but now he literally punched to change that opinion. Not only that, he felt life-threatening danger from this unassuming man.

“Hoh! Arent you just shouting about coming to face you instead of running away? Here I am, why are you running away then?” the man taunted as he signaled his skeletons to initiate an attack. A skeleton holding sword and shield ran at him faster than a skeleton should run and instantly appeared below Joy with its one-handed sword aiming at his legs. At the same time, another skeleton appeared behind him with its sword aiming at his neck, aiming to stab.

Knowing that he couldn’t avoid this formation if he moves back or forward, he jumped above. At that time, the skeleton magician waved its hand once more, sending another wave of fireball at him. Compared to last time, this fireball was very small, only the size of a baby’s fist but it was so red that it looked like a ball of molten magma.

“Shit!” cursing loudly, Joy’s body suddenly started to give off brown colored light. Soon enough, his muscles buffed up. The shirt he wore started to strain as the muscles threaten to rip 'em off. Pulling his hand, he clenched his fist into a punching motion. Then the lightning emerged from the knuckles and completely covered his right hand.

“Haah!” with a loud warcry, he punched the approaching fireball with everything he got. Thunder covered fist went directly through the ball, which later flickered out of existence. Joy was not unscathed either, his right hands sported 2nd-degree burns, even with the assistance of his thunder knuckles and [Boost] skill.

After regaining his footing, he looked at his charred hand with a frown. Then he used his skill [Boost] into the recovery ability of his hand. Steam came off it as the second-degree burns started to heal at speeds visible to naked eye. But it wasn’t without some cost, Joy’s body thinned a little and was covered with fine sweat from head to toe.

“I really hate to use this ability, you know.” With his eyes glued to his already hand, Joy muttered loud enough for the other man who smirking in joy to hear.

“Yeah! Did you say something? Haha, I am truly lucky today. Not only I get a little girl with the highest amount potential for combat arts, but also you, a hunter with a weird skill that could all that. Haha. After this, I will kill you and make you and turn you into a loyal skeleton, adding you to my collections. You will be fine support to me and my other offensive skeletons.” The man started to laugh weirdly while throwing his head back in a typical megalomaniac way.

His laugh stopped midway, when he felt a stinging pain on his left chick, before sent flying courtesy of Joy’s outstretched fist. Within his laugh, somehow, Joy appeared near him without raising his guard and even punched him hard enough to send him flying.

“Ouch!! Why? Why I am feeling pain. Ouch. It hurts so much.” Not only that, the man was for the first time since their meeting had taken some serious damage, at least enough to shout in pain.