A Gamer's Guide to Zombie-ing!
Chapter 3 - Braiiiins
Patch Notes:
- [Knight's Honor] perk affects STR, AGI, and DEX instead of STR, END, and DEX.
Arthur woke up sore in places he didn't know even existed. He sucked in a breath to groan in pain, but instantly regretted it. The air carried a stench so pungent that it made him choke. He pinched his nose and pressed a hand against the ground, rising with a hiss.
He had slept next to the dead mini-boss, who had now become the source of a smell so bad that it transcended any stench Arthur thought was possible. He felt the urge to kick it into a room and lock it away for eternity, but he ultimately decided not to; that was too much effort for his straining muscles. On the other side of the doctor sat a wooden chest with two locks. It immediately caught his eye because its quality was better than the one he had received on the first floor. The wood was sanded to perfection and the metal trim shone a tasteful silver.
[Common Double Dungeon Chest]
Still holding his nose with one hand, Arthur opened the chest with the other. He grimaced at the sharp pain such an action caused. It seemed that while his wrist wasn't completely healed, it had at least regained partial functionality.
[Treasures Obtained!]
[Leather Gloves: Apparel] (Common)
Look at me! I'm a badass.
4 Defense
[Med Kit: Item] (Common)
A box filled with mundane medical supplies.
Arthur opened the med kit and was satisfied with its contents. There were bandages, braces, tape, and a few bottles of medicine. He took his hand off his nose and opened a bottle of aspirin and ibuprofen and popped two each. Then, he slid on the leather gloves. It was a slight struggle to fit the glove on his right hand because of the swelling but not impossible. Looking down at the state of his scrubs, Arthur could only shake his head and sigh. He was about to pinch nose again because of the foul smell, but stopped when he remembered he didn't need to breathe anymore as a zombie.
'That's going to take forever to get used to.'
Arthur surfed through his [Inventory], pulling out the doctor's coat, tennis shoes, and the new scrubs. He tried taking off his current, blood-stained scrubs, but he essentially had to peel off his own skin. Putting away his new clothes, Arthur mentally commanded, 'Dungeon Exit.'
A blinding light transported him back to exactly where he was when he entered the undead dungeon. Strangely, the sun had moved halfway across the sky during his time in the dungeon.
'Is the time slowed in the dungeon?'
Two hours in the dungeon is equivalent to one hour in the outside world.
Impressed, he asked, 'If I grew a farm in the dungeon, would it then grow twice as fast?'
No. Time is paused when you exit a dungeon.
'Is it possible to leave someone else in the dungeon while I am in the outside world?'
Good try, but also no. Whoever enters the dungeon with you exits when you exit.
'Well, it was worth an ask,' Arthur shrugged and then submerged himself in the lake. A cloud of blood and dust spread from him, tainting the lake. He silently lamented, but continued washing the blood off.
'I would kill for a bar of soap right about now...' There was only so much pond water could do. Even after almost thirty minutes straight of furious scrubbing, his hair was still matted and he smelled of blood.
'Oh well. It's not like the zombies are going to care.'
[Doctor's Coat: Apparel] (Common)
A mad doctor's lab coat. Has many inner pockets.
5 Defense
5 INT
[Nurse Scrubs: Apparel] (Common)
Blue nurse wear.
1 Defense
[Tennis Shoes: Apparel] (Common)
Comfortable, stylish, and fast!
2 Defense
1 Agility
Arthur was embarrassed by his reflection. He looked like an edgelord with the gloves and doctor's coat.
Hey, you should put on the toe r-!
"No," Arthur glared at the sky. Athena sputtered with laughter.
The gloves were pushing it. There was no way in hell he was going to wear a toe ring. Why the hell was that even a drop?!
By now, the aspirin and ibuprofen had kicked in. The soreness had receded by a sizable amount, and Arthur was itching to get back to the dungeon. Once he had a taste of improvement, he had latched onto it like a drug. His body had never felt so well-oiled. Every movement felt like it was done with unparalleled grace, and after his near-death experience at the hands of the zombies, his guilt at killing them had been curbed.
[Kin Killer]
Objective: Kill 100 zombies (57/100)
Reward: Title [Zombie Killer]
Forty-three to go.
'[Status].'
[Arthur, N/A]
Race - Lesser Undead (Zombie)
Level - 6 (520/1000 EXP)
Class - Knight, Lvl. 6 (520/1000 EXP)
HP - 170/170 (17 per minute)
MP - 100/100 (10 per minute)
SP - 200/200 (20 per minute)
STR - 31 (37.2)
END- 20
INT- 5 (10)
WIS- 2
AGI- 17 (34) (35)
DEX- 8
CON- 17
LCK- 5 (2.5)
CHA- -3
Stats - 2
Credit - 0
After seeing what the mini-boss was capable of with its high Dexterity, Arthur was tempted to start funneling some points into it. However, at the same time, he had come dangerously close to running out of health points. Plus, he had the curse to be concerned with, which required a whopping five-hundred Constitution points to cure. After doing the math, he found that with the two unallocated stat points provided by the [Knight] class, by the time he maxed it out, he would have just over two-hundred Constitution. This was without considering outside Constitution increases like he had experienced in his last fight. There was also the professions to account for, which more than likely gave stat points. If he found one that provided stat points in Constitution, he was sure that he would be able to break the [Mark of True Death] by the end of the year.
Arthur sighed. It was truly unfortunate that he had the curse. How strong would he be if he could safely assign his two extra stat points per level to, say, Strength? That was two-hundred more Strength by max level, which was the equivalent to ten times the Strength of the average human.
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. There was no use whining about such a thing that was out of his control. The best he could do was rid himself of the curse and go from there.
Before re-entering the dungeon, Arthur remembered the skill that he had used to draw lines for the scalpels' trajectories. He looked through his notifications until he found what had transpired.
[Skill [Dragon Eyes; Enhanced Perception] awakened!]
[Dragon Eyes; Enhanced Perception: Skill] Lvl. (02/100)
By tuning into the natural powers of the Dragon Eyes, you can change or enhance your perception of reality.
You can see the trajectories of attacks for as long as this skill is active. More effects unlock as the skill's level progresses. 5MP per second for activation.
Current activation:
"So you're what saved me, huh?" The skill was rather good. The only unfortunate thing was that his Intelligence was pitiful, so he could only keep it activated for a grand total of twenty seconds at a time even with his new doctor's coat.
'[Dungeon: Undead].'
When Arthur opened his eyes, he was at the entrance to the second floor of the hospital. He opened the metal doors, and saw a bloody scene. Once a pristine hallway, the corridor had become a bloody mess with four bodies strewn across the floor. Arthur crossed to the other end of the corridor where there was a set of doors that wasn't there previously. Next to the right door was a sign labeled 'stairway'.
For now, Arthur ignored the stairway. He headed to the room where the mini-boss had been based with the intent to ransack it. Inside, he opened various cabinets and drawers, tossing any medicines and bandages he came across into his [Inventory]. In one of the cabinets, there were tens of jars filled with presumably zombie brains. Arthur eyes crinkled with disgust. He ignored the cabinet and continued looting until he was finally halted by the message:
[Inventory Full!]
Arthur took this as his sign to stop hoarding decayed intestines. He created a pile in the corner of the room out of various mutilated body parts. He turned to exit until he suddenly remembered the existence of a particular item. He marched back to his pile of guts crowned it with one final item - a toe ring.
Awww, come on! You should wear it, what'd be the harm?
"The complete degradation of my soul," Arthur stated grimly, leaving Athena chuckling.
Looking over the room one last time for any missed goods, he finally made his way to the stairway.
[Would you like to proceed to the next floor?]
[Y/N]
Arthur pressed [Y] and the doors slung open, banging against the brick wall. He cleared the corners of the new area for any threats and proceeded up the stairs once he was sure it was safe. At the top, the sounds of groaning were prevalent. He took a glance around the corner and cursed mentally. He would have no trouble fulfilling the quest.
The third floor was a zombie-infested cafeteria. There was a whopping 0% chance of getting any one-on-one fights. As Arthur lacked any AOE attacks, this was going to be a struggle.
To enter the room, he had to pull aggro away from him. He fished a skull from his inventory and hurled it across the room. It shattered on impact, drawing the attention of all the zombies. They all began making their way towards the disturbance in a cacophony of growls and groans. Arthur used this opportunity to slip in unnoticed. He hid behind a pillar and watched the situation closely. On the left side of the room was the kitchen, and that was the area he was going to clear out first. The path towards the entrance was relatively safe with only a handful of zombies. The problem was disposing of them without making any noise.
'Damn, maybe I should have chosen [Rogue].' Arthur gulped nervously and launched into action.
He snuck up behind the first zombie and [Thrust]ed his machete straight through the backside of its skull. He caught its collapsing body and laid it gently on the ground, his eyes darting around for any disturbances.
[Lvl. 9 Zombie defeated!]
(200 EXP, [Pelvis Bone] obtained!)
[Thrust] leveled up!]
Nothing.
Arthur continued his path toward the kitchen, sneakily taking out four more zombies.
[Lvl. 8 Zombie defeated!]
...
[Lvl. 8 Zombie defeated!]
[Level Up!]
4 STR, 2 END, 2 END, 2 Stat Points
[Slash] leveled up!]
[Lvl. 9 Zombie defeated!]
...
[Lvl. 7 Zombie defeated!]
Arthur made it to the kitchen door. The zombies were returning to their idle shuffle from their state of excitement just in time. He opened the door and walked in. The kitchen was a well-equipped facility with nearly a dozen ovens, just as many microwaves, pots and pans hanging over metal tables that split the room in two, and quite a few sinks. There were zombies in chef garb crawling on the floor or staring aimlessly at the walls - until Arthur walked in. He shivered as dozens of zombies' eyes locked on him.
Hell ensued.
Zombies fought against each other to reach Arthur first. The zombies crawling on the floor were trampled and crushed; some lost mobility and others their "life." Arthur shoved a serving cart in the way of one horde of zombies, causing the front few to trip and effectively creating a cascade effect of zombies falling atop of each other. He employed the same trap he had laid for the mini-boss, except this time it was more effective because he now employed jars of blood from the doctor's room. He directed his attention to the right side of the kitchen where a group of seven zombies were making their way towards him. He approached them as the silver coat of [Slash] enveloped his machete.
He began separating hands, heads, arms from zombies. A few managed to scrape his coat, but no real damage occurred. With a final swing, Arthur slaughtered the last zombie making up the group. He assessed the situation with the first group and watched as the first zombie managed to free itself from the entanglement of squirming limbs and bodies. Arthur abused his weapon's range advantage and sliced the zombie's head straight in half. With his Strength stat now equivalent to twice the strength of an average human, such a thing was like cutting through butter.
He began a warpath of flying arms, flashing metal, and spilling blood. Every few kills, he grew stronger. His skills developed, he leveled up, his stats increased, he killed. Rinse and repeat. The kitchen's madness turned to silence with the only sounds being the faint growls of zombies in the cafeteria.
...
[Level Up!]x4
16 STR, 8 END, 8 AGI, 8 Stat Points
[Store interface unlocked!]
[Sword Proficiency leveled up!]x7
[Slash] leveled up!]x3
[Thrust leveled up!]
[Dragon Eyes; Enhanced Perception] leveled up!]
[END increased by 2!]
[STR increased by 1!]
[DEX increased by 3!]
[CON increased by 1!]
[AGI increased by 1!]
[New class skills learned!]
Arthur lay with his back against the tiled wall, drained. He had mustered the energy to blockade the door, but that took all that he had left after the battle. The amount of notifications that he had suppressed that he now had to read over was overwhelming, to say the least. The amount of items that had dropped combined with the stat, skill, and level increases led to two pages of text boxes.
[Milestone reached in STR! New perk obtained!]
[Mr. Olympia]
Impressive chest!
Your muscle capacity is doubled. Your muscles are more condensed, allowing for more power for smaller muscles.
Arthur was pleasantly surprised. He flexed his arm, and was surprised to see that he was pretty jacked. He hadn't noticed before, but with every stat increase, his body actually changed. Before, he was an anorexic, pale man, but now he was only pale!
[Skills Learned]
[Lunge] Lvl. (01/100)
A movement technique for fast forward acceleration.
Double AGI in a forward movement for 5 feet(1.5m). 30 SP
[Flashing Blade] (01/100)
A fast strike accompanied by the flash of steel.
1.5*AGI when activated. Deals 1.5*STR*(1.01) Damage. 40 SP
Arthur practically drooled at the description of [Flashing Strike]. This skill was immensely powerful, and it would couple very well with [Dragon Eyes; Enhanced Perception]! [Lunge] was not immediately as useful, but he was sure that would not be the case given time.
After letting his SP and HP regenerate, Arthur started storing the various knives the kitchen had available. He frowned as he looked the blade of the machete. It was getting pretty dinged up, and after this floor, it'd likely be on its last legs.
He curiously accessed the [Store]. It had seven headers: Weapons, Armor, Accessories, Food, Materials, Skills, and Misc. At the top of each section were items going for billions of Credits.
Arthur never felt more poor. Was there any free stuff?
He clicked the 'sell' section at the top left. His [Inventory] was pulled up and at the top was the question:
[What would you like to sell?]
Arthur selected some non-essentials like pelvis bones, rib cages, and a few useless knives. He clicked the sell button at the bottom right of the interface and was asked:
[Will you designate a price for the items or sell them directly to the System?]
He sold them to the System as he had no knowledge of the [Shop] economy, and he felt no urge to research it while in the middle of enemy territory.
[Credits Received: 37]
That was a pitiful amount compared to the top items.
'Rome wasn't built in a day,' Arthur shrugged and walked to the kitchen door, looking out of its vertical window.
The zombies were meandering around the cafeteria tables. There were nearly fifty zombies in the room, but Arthur was pretty confident that he would be able to fight all of them at once. Not only would he receive a 30% buff to his STR, AGI, and DEX from [Knight's Honor], but his [Sword Proficiency] had advanced to a point he would be hard-pressed to be beaten by any number of regular zombies.
He took another ibuprofen and removed the chair from the door. He opened it, and walked out with an air of confidence. A few zombies noticed him and lumbered over, mouths drooling. Arthur brandished his machete and activated [Slash]. He cut the first zombie down swiftly and used the momentum generated to lead into his next movement, resulting in a zombie's head being completely mauled.
[Lvl. 9 Zombie defeated!]
(200 EXP obtained!)
[Lvl. 6 Zombie defeated!]
(100 EXP obtained!)
[Slash] leveled up!]
The horde of zombies had become acutely aware of Arthur. They rushed at him in a desperate attempt to feast and in the process shoved the long tables into each other. This cut off the paths of some zombies, thus making most fall into the same lane. They piled atop each other similar to what had occurred in the kitchen but on a larger scale. The only problem was that the lane they had widened with each push against the long tables. Therefore, the pile spread further out, releasing a few zombies from its hold. There were a few stragglers that didn't go along the main pathway, but they didn't apply much pressure because Arthur took them out with ease.
He winced as he felt a bite on his left arm. He retaliated with a quick slash and pivoted on his hind leg, spinning and throwing the dead zombie to the oncoming wave. The body tripped a few, but most of the zombies were unaffected.
Arthur activated [Dragon Eyes; Enhanced Perception] for a second to find the safe space between the zombies' attacks and slipped into it. He decapitated another zombie and retreated.
[Kin Killer] Quest Completed!]
[Zombie Killer] title received!]
He retreated around a table to hastily read the title. His eyes widened at the description, and he equipped it.
[Zombie Killer: Title]
Your blade has tasted the blood of a hundred zombies.
Deal 1.5x more damage to zombies.
If before was a bloodbath, what ensued after Arthur received the title was complete carnage. He mowed through zombies like he was taking a refreshing walk in the park. His machete cut through bones like they were butter. There was no need for any strategy to be formulated; what was the point when he can unilaterally destroy all that opposed him? While Arthur was still not fond of killing those doomed to a fate as horrible as their's, he couldn't deny that there was a certain excitement to be had when he experienced the fruits of his labor. Just yesterday, he struggled to kill three level 8 zombies. Now, he could easily kill a horde of them! There were even some on the level of the mini-boss!
Arthur stood before a mound of bodies, his heart beating furiously to the point he thought it might rip from his chest.
[Level up!]x3
12 STR, 6 END, 6 AGI, 6 Stat Points
[Sword Proficiency leveled up!]x5
[Slash] leveled up!]x3
[Thrust] leveled up!]
[Dragon Eyes; Enhanced Perception] leveled up!]
[Flashing Strike] leveled up!]
[STR increased by 1!]
[END increased by 2!]
[DEX increased by 2!]
[CON increased by 1!]
[Arthur, Zombie Killer]
Race - Lesser Undead (Zombie)
Level - 14 (1330/2250 EXP)
Class - Knight, Lvl. 14 (1330/2250 EXP)
HP - 172/200 (20 per minute)
MP - 81/100 (10 per minute)
SP - 143/380 (38 per minute)
STR - 64 (76.8)
END- 40
INT- 5 (10)
WIS- 2
AGI- 34 (56)
DEX- 13
CON- 21
LCK- 5 (2.5)
CHA- -3
Stats - 16
Credits - 37
His stats had risen leaps and bounds during this dungeon trip. Despite being the highest floor he's been on, it had oddly been... the easiest? The only point where he struggled was in the kitchen, but that was only because he didn't manage his SP very well and almost ran out near the end. This led to him being more conscious of it during this fight, but it seemed he didn't even need to worry.
He wiped blood from his eyes. 16 Stat Points. After allocating then all to Constitution, his health nearly doubled! Arthur smiled with a hint of pride despite his gory surroundings.
Grumble.
Arthur rose his guard and scanned his surroundings warily. He was positive he had wiped the zombies out - he even had a [Common Triple Dungeon Chest] to show for it!
Athena voiced bubbled with mirth,
Arthur, your stomach.
He looked at his stomach and frowned. Suddenly, it struck him. He was hungry!
"Huh, I guess all this fighting made me build an appetite. Unfortunate, despite this being a cafeteria, there's no food to eat," Arthur pat his abdomen, "I can just buy some food from the [Shop] or hunt in the woods, if need be."
First things first, he had to open the chest. Arthur crossed his fingers and wished for a longer weapon. While his machete did its job, it was rather short for his tastes.
[Treasures Received!]
[Riot Shield](Common)
A militaristic shield used to suppress riots.
20 Defense
[Flashlight] (Common)
A tool used for shining light.
[20 Gauge Shotgun]
A pump action shotgun.
300 Damage
Arthur laughed with glee at the sight of the shotgun. With this, the rest of the dungeon would be easy! He hastily picked it up and looked for bullets but found none in the chest. He slowly opened the barrel and peered in. No bullets.
A vein bulged on his forehead as he struggled to remain calm.
"WHAT KIND OF SCAM IS THIS?!" Arthur kicked a table, sending it flying into the wall. He clenched the hand unoccupied by the shotgun, drawing blood.
Arthur, calm down.
Athena soothed him. He took a deep breath and unclenched his hand. The skin mended itself at a pace visible to the naked eye. Arthur observed this and asked, worried, "Why am I reacting like this? What's wrong with me?"
Athena remained silent as he looked to his notifications, finding a new addition.
[Your sanity diminishes as your hunger grows.]
The world seemed ever so fond of making his life difficult. The implications of this seven word message held the weight of seven mountains. Arthur gulped, and navigated through the shop to buy one of the cheapest food items on there, an apple. He bit into it and immediately gagged. In the back of his mind, he knew his suspicions were correct, but he didn't want to believe it.
Another apple - same result.
Cheese? Outright vomiting.
Chicken Parmesan? More of the same.
"Athena, this doesn't... this doesn't mean what I think it does, right?" Arthur pleaded, his chest heaving. His shaky finger was held over one more item.
[Human Brain]
Healthy and fresh.
5 Credits
When it appeared into his hands, Arthur's eyes widened. He was assaulted by the most pleasing smell he had ever come across in either of his two lives. His mouth watered as he slowly brought it to his mouth.
Gulp.
Tears welled up in his eyes. Not because it tasted bad but because it tasted good. He had hoped against hope that he was wrong. That he would be disgusted by the brain just like he was of the other foods.
Alas, he was a zombie.
His inhaled a shaky breath and closed his eyes. The savory taste of the brain remained on his tongue, and a bit of drool escaped his lips.
This is my life now. Accept it.
He opened his eyes and began ravenously devouring the brain. When he was done, he even licked his fingers.
[Sanity restored]
He was no longer uncertain. Is he going to kill himself just because he has to eat brains? Hell no! Might as well man up and accept his fate. Besides, once he changed his race, maybe his diet won't consist of brains anymore.
He tossed the flashlight into his [Inventory] and wielded the riot shield with his left arm. Now that his appetite was sated, he felt stronger than before. There was no door leading to a stairway in the cafeteria, so Arthur backtracked to the stairwell he entered from. Lo and behold, there was a new flight of stairs.
At the top, the doors were chained. Light spilled from its cracks, and Arthur realized that he was finally at the top of the hospital!
[Would you like to proceed to the last floor?]
[Y/N]
He double checked his equipment, and after making sure everything was in place, he pressed [Y].
Like the second floor's chains, they shattered into motes of light. Arthur gently pushed a door open, and stepped onto the concrete roof.
What he saw made him freeze, his jaw dropping momentarily.
The last floor was on the roof of the hospital. Rusted metal rails barred someone from falling to his death, and at the very center of it all was a helicopter pad. On this pad sat the most vile, abominable creature Arthur had laid his eyes upon.
[Zone Boss Lvl. 20 Graverobber Encountered!]
[Graverobber]
Race- Elite Lesser Undead (Graverobber)
HP - 2000/2000
MP - 110/110
SP - 850/850
STR - 103
END- 85
INT- 11
WIS- 14
AGI- 30
DEX- 24
CON- 200
LCK- 0
CHA- 0
The Graverobber was a grotesque amalgamation of sewn body parts. It was at least ten feet tall (3.05m) while hunched over, and it had two bald, grey heads; on its left head, its right eye was stitched shut, and on its right head, its left eye was stitched shut. Its hands dragged on the ground with arms for fingers and hands for fingertips. Yellow pus leaked from the stitches that ran across its body. It had a wide torso made up of the pectoral muscles of many individuals, and the legs followed the trend.
When Arthur stepped onto the roof, it released an earth-shattering roar with flecks of dead flesh spraying from its mouths. It barreled towards him with small craters formed with every step taken. It jumped high in the air with its arms raised high, and Arthur dodged under it.
Akin to an ape, it slammed its arms on the ground. The impact left a huge crater, and Arthur realized that if he was hit by that attack, he would have undoubtedly been killed. His grip on his machete subconsciously tightened.
This was going to be a hard fight.
Shorter chapter than the others. Sorry not sorry.
Question: Do y'all want to see this much content of the future dungeons? The next chapter is going to be the last chapter for the Undead Dungeon, don't worry.
Also, if anyone has a link to a list of gacha pulls, I'd be very happy if you PM'ed it to me. I swear I remember seeing one linked in someone's gamer fic, but I can't find it for the life of me.
Chapters are probably going to come out slower because break is over, but hopefully not too much slower.
Published: 28 November 2022