Midoriya stood on the roof across from the Shie Hassakai base watching over it. It wasn't the first time he had done so. He did it quite often after clearing the second dungeon. But after his most recent dungeon, he felt he was prepared to save Eri and get revenge.
Those bastards took the one person who actually cared for him away. So now he was going to take everything from them. Starting with saving the girl.
He had his shadows hide in members' shadows to scout out the base for a couple days. He was going to recall them soon so they could relay the information to Igris and himself.
His shadows still unnerved him. Everything about them didn't sit right with him. He had to kill them and take control over their- he had to pause and think about it for a moment. What did he extract from them? Their souls?
He stopped that line of thinking quickly. He hated not knowing how they extracted them, but didn't want to know the truth. It scared him, so he avoided it. Luckily, a new source of movement brought his attention towards the shadow of the alley he was currently above.
His shadow soldiers had just appeared from the shadows of the alley. He jumped down and summoned Igris to translate for them. " Igris, tell me what they learned."
A smooth and gravelly voice answered while a huge shadowy knight grew from his shadow. "Yes my liege." The aforementioned Igris began to converse with the other shadows.
As he watched them, he remembered his battle against them.
As he finished making his way through the knights in the other room, he couldn't help but marvel at the craftsmanship of the throne room he entered. It was beautiful. Perfect columns were lined up around the room, while a pristine carpet was draped from the doorway all the way to the throne.
Then he heard him.
Clunk.
Clunk.
Clunk.
BLOOD RED COMMANDER IGRIS
The red name sent a shiver down his back. It meant the enemy easily out classed him. Every footstep echoed off the empty room. The knight that appeared had a terrifying aura surrounding him. Everything in his body was telling him to run away but he didn't. The knight in front of him was an obstacle in the way of his goals, and he wasn't going to back down anytime soon.
The knight that towered over him had his frame covered head to toe in tight fitting blood red armor. His helmet had a long red hair like ornament sticking out the top, while having a jagged red cape flowing behind him in the chilling wind.
They both sat still, staring each other down, until Izuku charged forward using sprint and every ounce of strength he could muster. Still, the knight easily matched him while praying away his strikes with his massive sword like child's play.
Even when he managed to slip a strike past his guard, it just slid off his armor. Realizing he wouldn't be able to kill it with his dagger. So he stored it away in his inventory. Just as he prepared to charge, the knight held up his hand as he did something that surprised him.
He stabbed his sword into the ground, took off his cape, and discarded his hidden dagger behind his back. Izuku just gaped at this before chuckling. "I guess chivalry isn't dead."
While he was watching Igris discarding his weaponry, he started to formulate a plan. He needed to get in close and angle his hand in a way that when he resummoned his weapon into his hand it would pierce through his armor and damage him.
Just when Izuku tensed to charge, Igris exploded forward and slammed him into the wall behind him. Barely having the time to do so, he raised his hands up, and blocked Igris' blows while being against the wall.
He activated sprint and slipped under his punch and ran back towards the middle of the room. Igris turned around slowly to face him before Izuku flew towards him with sprint. Igirs caught his punch by the wrist when approached his throat.
His face tilted to the side in confusion when he saw Izuku smile until he understood why. It was the last thing he felt.
SHHNNNK!
The knight's body dropped to the floor soon after when the dagger materialized under his chin and was stabbed into his head. The blade curved back towards the visor of the helmet, leaving a little mark where his left eye would be.
Izuku sighed in relief, when he checked his notifications, it showed he had leveled up twice. He sighed and leaned back onto a pillar nearby, taking in the stale air of the dungeon. If he hadn't gotten lucky because the knight let his guard down, he would've never won.
Igris was simply better in every way. He was more skilled with his blades and fists, he was stronger as far as he knew, and definitely faster. Hell, if the fight dragged on any longer, he would've lost.
Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, he decided to check his spoils of war. He picked up a helmet, pouch of coins, and a strange rune. Before he was able to see them, a notification popped up in his field of view.
[ THE JOB CHANGE QUEST WILL NOW BEGIN]
Dozens of portals sprouting dark energy slowly started forming around the room. Just as he jumped on his feet and re-equipped his dagger, knights started flooding out of the portals and storming towards him.
Cursing his luck inwardly, he noticed a timer appear with a message along side the previous notifications. He really hated the system sometimes.
[YOU WILL ACCUMULATE POINTS THE LONGER YOU STAY ALIVE. THESE POINTS ARE NEEDED TO ADVANCE TO A HIGHER CLASS.]
[ GOOD LUCK]
[TIMER 00:01]
" The quest barey started now! I thought Igris was the boss!" He all but yelled this at the system. He quickly ran behind pillars as some archers fired a volley of arrows at him. He could only wonder where they appeared from.
Deciding to take the ranged fighters out first, he bounced between pillars, easily flying over the knight's swings of their blades and praying for any arrows that flew at him. AS he tore through the archers' ranks, he noticed he wasn't gaining any exp, and more monsters were storming through the portal.
" The hell? What's going on?" He didn't have time to finish his thought as a fireball from a mage tore through the air at him. Deciding to get rid of the ranged fighters while planning, he activated sprint and jumped over the knights in his way.
Slicing down the nearest mage, that's when he realized how easy this part of the test was. The mages were necromancers. The second his dagger sliced through the mage, a portion of the knights in the room clattered to the floor and rewarded him with exp.
He grinned as he charged the remaining mages, and easily tore completed the final task. He was grinning until he looked at the timer.
[TIMER 07:48]
He quickly paled at the low count of the timer. Would this ruin his chance of getting a good job? Will it grant him something mediocre or common? Would he just not get one at all? His raging thoughts were quelled when a screen appeared in front of him.
[ YOU HAVE ELIMINATED ALL THE MONSTERS WITHIN THE TESTING ROOM. JOB CHANGE QUEST HAS BEEN COMPLETED.]
" Damn, that was easier than the actual mini boss. Me clearing it was mostly luck though. I didn't know what was happening until I killed a mage. I need to be more observantSoThatICan-". His mumbling was cut off when he saw his points were being added up.
[APPROPRIATE JOB WILL BE ASSIGNED BASED ON PLAYER'S RECORDS.]
"Wait, so I won't be choosing my job? That's strange, most games I've played allow you to choose your own jobs." He continued pondering it till the system sent forward a new notification.
[ WHEREVER THE PLAYER GOES DEATH FOLLOWS.]
He froze when he started seeing a description of sorts appear. ' W-what does that mean?" His question would be left unanswered as the system continued on.
[THE SMELL OF BLOOD FILLS THE AIR, AND THE PLAYER LEAVES A TRAIL OF CORPSES IN HIS WAKE.]
[THE PAYER YEARNS FOR GREAT POWER, AND DOES NOT RELY ON THE HELP OF OTHERS. THE PLAYER MAKES HIS OWN WAY IN THIS WORLD.]
Midoriya could only stare at the screen, beginning to quiver in fear as his mind began to fill the blanks " N-n-no, I can't be one. I-i-i-i want to be a hero. A hero d-d-doesn't ki-kill." Sadly the system didn't care for his wants. It kept pushing forward.
His fears were only confirmed when the next piece of text appeared. Any remaining denial faltered when he read it.
[YOUR DESIRE TO BECOME POWERFUL IS STRONG ENOUGH TO CALL FORTH THE WANDERING SPIRITS WITHIN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. AN ARMY OF THE DEAD WILL FOLLOW YOUR EVERY ORDER, SINGLE-HANDEDLY CLEARING THE PATH UPON YOU WALK.]
Midoriya couldn't bear it and fell to his knees. He didn't want to believe it. Having to kill animals and monsters was bad enough. But he could ignore it's morality with mental gymnastics. But controlling them after their death.
Having to kill to become stronger he didn't want to become a monster. So when it gave him a choice to accept or decline the job assigned to him, he pressed decline. Sadly life wasn't so easy.
[ REQUEST DENIED. MUST SELECT ACCEPT TO CONTINUE. ]
Izuku's eyes widened when this message popped up the first time, but he quickly dismissed it. He kept pressing decline in hopes that it would eventually go through. It never did.
Eventually he caved and accepted. After all, he couldn't spend the rest of his life in the dungeon can he? When he finally accepted it seemed the job was upgraded due to exceptional performance.
[YOU ARE QUALIFIED FOR A JOB PROMOTION DUE TO YOUR EXCEPTION PERFORMANCE AND PROMOTION POINTS.]
Suddenly his vision was being filled with notifications from the system. Each telling him why he earned more promotion points, some for defeating all the enemies, some for not using a teleportations stone, (he had one?), and for completing the dungeon in under 10 minutes.
Those were just some of the ones he caught, others appeared and disappeared just as quickly to make space for new ones.
[YOU HAVE BEEN PROMOTED FROM "NECROMANCER" TO "THE MONARCH OF SHADOWS".]
He was snapped out of his musings when Igris shook him to attention. " My liege, everything is set for action. The traps are set, the base is mapped, and we have a couple shadows set on the girl. What is your command?"
Izuku looked between Igris and the 2 shadow soldiers standing to the side listening to their conversation. " Let's get it done tonight. I don't want her to suffer more than she already is." He was done waiting. He wasn't going to fail her again. This time he was going to win.
" Remember, secure Eri then bring the base down, we'll work from there." He looked over to the soldiers and Igris to make sure they understood, each giving him a nod.
Dismissing the 2 knights, they sunk back into the shadows of the night and left to inform the others. Izuku turned to Igris to make sure he understood the seriousness of the situation. " Igris." The strongest knight stopped and turned to look at his master. The steel in his tone tells him he means business. " We will try our best to complete this without casualties, but if Eri or I am in mortal danger, do whatever is needed."
Igris didn't reply and only nodded. They were just waiting for the centipedes to appear.
On cue, he heard yelling and the sounds of fighting coming from within the compound. His high sense and agility stat. Igris and Izuku locked eyes, before rushing in to join the fight.
Eri was curled up in a ball as usual. She was hiding under her sheets because of the noise outside her room. That only happens when Overhaul gets mad and hurts the guards.
But now she hoped that was what it was. Because it didn't sound like Overhaul. There were sounds of metal and a little yelling before it went quiet. For her it went on for an eternity, but in reality, it was only 30 seconds.
The silence that followed was deafening but the soft shuffling form outside the door and the jiggling of the knob made her heart skip a beat.
Just then she heard the door knob click making her tighten the sheets around herself for protection. But suddenly she felt firm but gentle hands slowly start moving the blanket away from her face as the picked her up.
When she felt the blanket get moved down from her face, she peeked her eyes open. She stared as a shadow person in cloaks and a shadow knight stared back.
He was staring in horror at the screen that appeared in front of him. He just felt empty as he read what was stated.
[AN URGENT QUEST HAS BEEN ISSUED!]
[THERE ARE ENEMIES NEARBY THAT INTEND TO KILL THE PLAYER. DESTROY ALL THREATS TO ENSURE YOUR SAFETY. IF YOU FAIL, YOUR HEART WILL STOP BEATING.]
[NUMBER OF FOES TO DEFEAT : 31
NUMBER OF FOES DEFEATED : 0]
"N-no. N-n-no! I ca-can't kill them! It's not w-what a hero would do!" He yelled it out but the text box simply seemed to make the final sentence more and more eye-catching.
He couldn't die yet. He needed to save Eri. He needed to save his mom. He needed to become a hero.
"I'm sorry. . ." The broken voice seemed to echo throughout the compound as a mass of shadows exploded from his feet as he disappeared in a burst of speed.
They stood no chance.
Hoped you guys liked the chapter. Please leave any suggestions on how to improve my writing or any ideas for future dungeons that I should add. I would like to include some original shadows if possible.
I hope I handled Midoriya and Eri well. I haven't really written anything like this before so it's still new to me. I also suck at dialogue, so leave any tips for that, they're going to be needed in future chapters.