Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth and the party were carefully walking into the silent zone.

~Relax. There are no monsters because this place is protected by magic wards. Someone with a caster class must have put these up. ~

Now that the all-knowing sorceress told them, they spotted wards drawn here and there on the walls and the street. They were less like magic circles or circuits and more like ominous special sigils and formations. The group slightly relaxed as there would be no terrible monsters, but this didn't mean the place was safe.

There could still be people. They didn't know who set up those wards. What if they were hostile? They were now within the quest area. All that was left was finding Evee or someone who could tell them where she was.

Link went ahead to scout. He had shown his prowess in finding people when he went for a walk and brought an amazon back home. Maybe he could come back with the quest goal this time? Considering she was a young woman; the chances were high the gourmet hunter would not miss her.

The buildings around them had been mostly burned down and blown up by modern weaponry. Somebody had gone through the effort to clear the streets of most of the rubble.

Without the constant cries and roars of monsters, they could hear the wind howling in the ruins. After the arduous journey here, this sudden silence was almost more unsettling than the constant danger they had gotten used to.

"I couldn't find anyone. But I found something strange. It's a huge graveyard. I looked around and it seems to be roughly in the center of the warded zone."

"A graveyard?"

Link led the party past a few blocks and soon a big plot of land covered in makeshift graves came into sight. Mounts of earth and rubble with wooden boards and crosses on them. Hundreds of them.

"Do you think Evee made these?" Alison suddenly asked. Evee was the only one they knew that was definitely here. How long did it take to dig so many graves? Had she stayed here all this time? Or were there more people that did this?

They started searching from the graveyard and looked through the intact houses and buildings. In the third house on the third floor, they started hearing a silent whimpering. An eerie weeping and sobbing were echoing through the hallways.

It became louder when they reached the fourth floor.

"Ma-Maybe she's a ghost?" Link said afraid. "Should we, we really keep going?"

"We have fought mind-consuming eldritch horrors in a fog dimension. And you are afraid of ghosts?" Alison mocked him.

"Yes, they are my kryptonite. You got a problem with that?" he barked back.

"Calm down, you guys. Did you forget my class? A ghost would be a great fortune." Seth reprimanded them.

They followed the weeping into one of the few apartments with an intact door. There sat a humanoid figure with dark grey skin. Her back was turned towards them and the crying was heart-rending.

<Ghoul Queen- Evee Edmonts lv. 9

Name: Evee Edmonts

Title: "Precocious"

Level: 9

Age:18

Class: Immortal Witch

Race: Ghoul Queen(temporary)/Ori Huma

Sex: Female

Affiliation: -

Health: 1000/1000

Mana: 60>

The figure threw her head around with tears splashing away and looked at them when she felt <Observation> used on her. Her eyes were completely black and her slightly opened mouth was filled with sharp fangs.

"Errm, Hi! Evee?" Seth said awkwardly.

-----------------------

The class she had chosen was called <Immortal Witch>. The description during the class selection was an undying witch that could revive herself, even if she died. It sounded like a great epic class, perfect to survive, right?

She had struggled a lot with depression after her brother vanished... but looking immediate death straight in the eye made her realize that she could not die yet. There were still answers she needed. She could not die here. That's why she chose this class.

Despite her newfound motivation...when she left the tutorial and heard the notification that she gained new skills, a wave of lethargy came over her. She felt tired, listless, and weak... Right. She had almost forgotten that she had not just lost her hands, but also a huge amount of blood.

Was there not a skill she could use for that? Her tired mind checked her skills.

She had a lot of passive skills like <Immortal Soul>, <Undying>, and <Auto revival> that would make sure she would not die. She lost focus for a moment but found what she was looking for when she concentrated.

<Recovery lv.1>

It was a high-tier healing skill that could deal with even the worst wounds. Even regrow limbs and organs.

Her joy was short-lived as she had 2 problems. She had not even close to enough mana to use such a strong skill. The bigger problem was that she needed hands to cast magic, she could not cast magic to heal her hands without her hands!

This counted for most skills she had. <Brewing>, <Black Magic>, <Witchcraft>. Everything that could help her in her situation was greyed out because she could not activate the skills without her hands.

Tears started to well up again.

She wouldn't die but...she had also no means to get away. Was she supposed to stab that giant beast to death with her bone stumps? Could she really recover from being eaten and digested? Would she live as a pile of poop?

With those chaotic thoughts and broken hopes, she fell asleep.

Her life from here on was empty. She recovered thanks to the passive skill <Health Regeneration>. It healed her stumps and she recovered from the blood loss but her hands did not regrow.

She did not dare to leave her the safe zone. From her window, she saw the monsters roaming the city. Sometimes she saw people leaving the buildings. Had they also stayed in their safe zones and survived?

They fought for their lives with these amphibious monsters using their starter weapons and equipment, but they never survived. It strengthened her fear and resolve to stay.

Her only problems were food and water. Her aunt and uncle had packed up almost all the foot when they fled. Tap water was still working but she had no hopes that it would keep working forever. She filled every bottle she got her hands on. There was nothing else she could do.

She kept vegetating like a corpse in her safe zone, spending her time in fear and depression. She had barely recovered from the loss of her brother, now she had fully relapsed. Still, she wanted to survive. She was waiting. For help, for a chance, anything that could help her get out.

After a week, she saw no one try to leave their zones. Was everyone else dead already? There were fewer people but the monsters became more numerous. She would often hear the scraping of claws and heavy steps in the hallway outside the front door.

She rationed the little food she had. She also started rationing the water once it stopped running several days later. Over the following weeks, she kept growing weaker and weaker as her food supply dwindled.

The scraping outside became more and more often. What if they came in?

She drank more and more water to fight the hunger. Her health bar started to decrease as she slowly started to starve.

In her delirious mind, the idea to leave and scavenge for food started to overpower her existential fear of the monsters outside. Maybe she REALLY could stab those monsters to death? It came to the point where she felt the scraping was annoying and she became angry at those annoying monsters.

It ended quickly when she remembered how easily those things would rip her apart. The cleanly bitten-off bony stumps that were left of her forearms were the best example.

She had starter gear in the inventory, too. But she could not use the staff without hands and the robe was not useful in her case...

Finally, there was a change. Not a favorable one. Her decision of going out was taken away from her as one day the door suddenly burst open with parts and splinter being launched into the room.

< Ding! Welcome, Adventurer! You are the 25 869 348th to leave the safety zone in this region. >

She had been lying down close to the fall; pondering to leave or not leave. The accelerated splinters and wood chips perforated her. She was already dying when the giant amphibious lizard thing worked its way through the door frame.

Her eyes slowly fell shut as the beast worked its way in.

<Ding! Passive Skill Auto Revive has been activated. You lack mana.>

<Ding! Passive Skill Undying has activated.

-Random Undead Race is being chosen.

-Race has been changed to "Walker" >

<Ding! You are close to death. Your endurance has increased.>

<Ding! You are desperate. Your attack is increased by 50%>

Her head cleared and she looked up to the giant monster towering above her. She felt no hunger, fatigue, or pain anymore. Now she could fight!

That was what she thought.

In the end, she died again. She got revived. And died again.