Hideki, a Rank C adventurer, was out on his first big quest after his recent promotion. Adrenaline coarsed through his veins as he cut through one of the many undead that had overrun the small town of Whitegrove. All of his time killing low level monsters near the guild hall and completing the random fetch requests that they had found for him finally was going to pay off. He was going to get to be a hero.

He had been dispatched with two others and they were to discover the source of the undead scourge and eliminate it. The likely culprit was a crypt master or if they were really unlucky maybe a necromancer. He sliced his way through two more undead and pressed forward.

"They seem to be coming from the cemetary, but we need to get these people out of here. It will run out of corpses eventually." Vladimir stepped up beside him holding a scepter in his hand that glowed with a white light.

"I'll cut my way over there. Keep helping with the evacuation. We need to take out the source." Hideki said.

"No. We stick together. Let's go after we get everyone out of the city."

Hideki had no intention of taking this task on in a passive way. He would go for the enemy's throat. Vladimir pointed his scepter towards a group of undead that were chasing a small boy down the street and bolts of holy energy flew from it. Upon impact, the undead collapsed to the ground after being bathed in a holy light.

They have this well in hand. I'm going to go alone. If I can do this singlehandedly, then maybe they'll promote me again and I can leave this area for bigger and better things. Maybe even some good looking ladies will want to reward me for saving their town?

He grinned at the thought and ran off towards the cemetary, ignoring the rest of his party that were yelling for him to stay. They were being idiots. The only way to get rid of an undead horde like this wasn't to kill them one by one. Finding the source of the scourge and eliminating it was the best way to do so. If they wanted to stay back and evacuate individual people, then he would take care of business alone.

The cemetary in this town lie up a hill and he had to fight his way through a horde of the half rotted corpses on his way before he finally reached the base of the hill. At his current level of skill, he felt that he could kill a large number of these things without even tiring. They didn't even have weapons or anything, so he had reach on them as well. So long as he didn't let them swarm him, there wouldn't be a problem.

Ahead he saw a group of ten undead swarming around a screaming woman. He stepped closer and held his sword vertically above his head, activating one of his skills; Shockwave. Energy that was fueled by his mana began to buzz around the blade of his sword and after a moment he slashed at the air, allowing the energy to be released. The Shockwave cut through the air and into the group of undead. He was too late to save the woman, but his attack shredded a half dozen of the enemies.

Undead that were covered in fresh blood turned to him and charged in a frenzy. Hideki grinned and met them, brining a final death to each as his blade cut through enemy after enemy.

Once the group of weaklings was gone, he turned his attention back to the top of the hill where he now saw something different than all the other undead he had seen before. A humanoid figure stood at the top of the hill in black armor with a sword. The eyes of the armored enemy glowed with a green light. He watched as it pointed at varoius gravesites and then undead crawled out of the ground. This was his target, and it appeared to be a necromancer.

Not wanting it to gain more pawns to send at him he charged up the small incline with a roar. Hideki ran his hand over his blade as he went and cast Holy Blade. The sword in his hand emitted a faint white glow and any undead who came to meet him on his way up the hill fell with ease to the enchanted blade. The necromancer drew a large two handed sword from its back and engaged him. Steel met steel in the cool evening air and Hideki had to admit that this fighter was far more deadly than the unarmed enemies that he and his party had fought thus far.

The heavy blade smashed into his and he had to use all of his strength just to not have his weapon knocked out of his hands. It was time to use another of his skills. He stepped back and activated the sword style, Tiger Stance. The aggressive sword stance skill allowed him to fight more fiercly than he had before and he charged back in with a flurry of blows. The necromancer was clearly not a very good swordsman, and in moments he had bashed away the enemy's weapon and had knocked the necromancer onto the ground. In just the few seconds that it had taken to perform his flurry of attacks, he had won the day. The necromancer tried to get back up, but Hideki stepped in closer and slammed his blade down into the eye slit of the enemy's helmet. The necromancer's body went limp almost instantly and he looked around warily.

Did it work?

He looked down the hill and saw a few of the raised undead fall to the ground.

I did it! I'm a fucking hero! Vladimir will have to eat his priest hat after this one!

He stood triumphantly over the dead enemy and grinned. *Ding*

Congratulations! You have reached level 9!

+1 TP

“Sweet! That’s how it’s done! The guild’s going to have to promote me to Rank B for sure after this! I literally saved this town!"

He couldn't wait to get back to the guild hall, get his promotion, and then head off to bigger and better things. No more fetch quests, no more Werehare subjugation. He would finally be able to leave the region and make a name for himself. He did a little dance over the corpse to celebrate.

You have been hit with Eldritch Blast!

Critical Blow

-300 HP

Stunned!

Hideki found himself face down on the ground and his back exploded with pain. His legs were on top of the corpse he had been celebrating over and he could feel his back burning. He was helpless and unable to scream due to his stunned status. As it was, he could only stare at the grass of the graveyard in the moonlit night as he slowly died from the continuous damage of the attack.

You suffer from burns!

-25 HP

Fuck! Is this really how it ends? No ladies, no fortune, not even a chance to make a name for myself as a hero?

You suffer from burns!

-25 HP

The last thing he saw before everything went dark was the sight of some girl’s feet as she stepped up next to him. The frills of her white and black dress hung down to her ankles and he could see her simple white shoes. From what he could tell from his position on the ground, he had just been killed by a fucking child. His eyes closed and he breathed out his final breath.

You suffer from burns!

-25 HP

You have died!

Suddenly, he found himself standing in a tunnel of white light. His pain was gone and he looked around. There was nothing behind him except a deep, neverending darkness. It didn't take a genius to realize that he did not want to go that way. He stepped towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

So this is it, huh? This is how it all ends? I died without ever even accomplishing anything.

He sighed to himself as he continued walking. The tunnel was surprisingly long.

Maybe next time I’m born into the world, I’ll be a better, less selfish person. It’s said the gods give people second chances, that can’t be all made up, right?

As he continued toward the light he saw the figure of a beautiful, blonde haired woman with delicate, white wings appear ahead of him. She was quite literally the girl of his dreams. She had a large chest and a welcoming smile on her face.

Then again, maybe staying dead and not getting reincarnated wouldn't be so bad after all.

He grinned. Once he was a little closer, the angel began to speak to him in a melodic voice, “Welcome to the after—”

She was cut off mid sentence and he suddenly felt a powerful pressure gripping his very soul. He let out a scream and felt as something appeared around the neck of his ethereal form. It was a choker with a glowing red ruby attached at the center. He tried to rip the thing off his neck but when he touched it, it burned.

What the fuck?

Despite the pain, he made himself try to rip the thing off, but it wasn't going to happen. A moment later, he was yanked back down the tunnel by an invisible cord.

“No!” he screamed.

You have been afflicted by Soul Trap!

Your immortal soul has been bound to the living world in service of Megumi the Necromancer!

His spirit smashed back into the lifeless corpse that was once his body. His head ached and he found that he could move again. He sat up and looked around warily. There were two things that he noticed:

Not much time had passed. The undead corpses still littered the ground nearby. A girl, maybe fifteen years old or so, with long silver hair, pale skin, and violet eyes was crouched down next to him with a wicked grin on her face.

“Hello there. I’m Megumi, and you get to be my new toy.”

Fuck my life, he thought as he tried unsuccessfully to make his body reach over to strangle her.