The Great Crestmaster

Aldrich screamed in pain, he weeped and his limbs flailed around erratically. He clutched his stomach but couldn't find the gash that should have been there.

The was was a very real sword through him and yet there was not even a scratch to prove it. Aldrich found himself completely naked and laying on a dusty wooden floor.

Aldrich looked right above him and saw the seal of Tindalor shining. He stood up after the pain subsided he examined himself carefully. He was not dead and he was not in the real world yet. He was completely naked too.

He was beginning to have a very bad premonition, what if he was stuck here? What if he couldn't go back anymore?

'Was that all in my head? Will I ever return to the real world?'

So funny.

It was so hilarious.

Aldrich laughed for a long time, couldn't stop. A response to fear, to anxiety, to the incredulity of his current situation.

He choked on tears, his lungs burned from lack of air and his stomach ached from the laughter.

When the storm was over, he lay on the dirty floor, gazing aimlessly at the ceiling.

A restlessness settled in his bones. He got up and looked for something to wipe his face with but found things that he rather not touch for now.

Aldrich found the meat hammer he left on one of the tables close to the staircase. It was real. While there was still room for doubt, the sings all point to it.

Aldrich looked to the only thing that made sense, the seal of Tindalor. The banging against the doors upstairs didn't stop instead it got even louder.

If what happened was actually real, then that thing was now out and about. Aldrich debated on running out of the door now and looking for somewhere else to make a base.

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That was clearly the best choice, the most reasonable thing to do. But... Aldrich couldn't bring himself to do it. He could not forgive that thing for killing him.

If he chose to run every time he faced a setback will he even achieve anything in his life? If so he should have listened to his mother and died with her there and then.

He sat down and thought about what happened, Aldrich came to the conclusion that it was not a hopeless fight. In fact it could be easier than expected.

That monster was truly fast, much faster than Aldrich and it wielded a short sword which gave it better reach than his bone cleaver. But it was fragile, very fragile.

Aldrich remembered why he lost the first time it was because he overestimated the force he needed to attack the monster's arm. Another advantage he now had, the monster had only one arm now.

As for where his clothes were, he had a good idea. Aldrich picked up his meat hammer and climbed the stairs as quietly as he could.

When he reached the upper area he crouched and stuck to the staircase. From his angle he had a good look at the monster. It actually had its back to him.

The monster too had crouched on the bloody ground and it had its sword discarded to the side. Aldrich felt silly for being all quiet, the monster wouldn't have noticed him anyway.

It was busy taking hungry bits out of his corps, his old body had become its meal and it looked very delighted as it gorged itself on chuck after chunk.

It was a surreal experience looking on as a monster fed on your dead body. But this was not the first time he saw a monster indulging with his own flesh. Aldrich shook off the disgust instead he thought of it as a good thing.

What better chance to ambush the damned monster? Aldrich walked slowly and carefully his hammer held tightly in his right hand.

When he was right behind the creature he attacked, he aimed his strike to the back of the monster's head. A resounding crack rang out in the hallway.

It fell flat on its ugly face. Before it could react Aldrich used his right knee on it's back to hold it and pressed it down. The monster struggled and flailed its limbs in attempt to throw him off, but Aldrich held on for life.

The second hit struck the monster on its cracked skull sending bone shards in the air. One even grazed Aldrich's cheek.

The monster fell silent but Aldrich wasn't done. Aldrich switched his hammer for his bone cleaver, fallen at the feet of his previous body.

Aldrich worked on a farm for years, he was much more proficient with the bone cleaver than he was with the sword.

Soon enough the head rolled and Aldrich stood triumphant.

Aldrich looked at his previous body, now mutilated and messed up. His face paled and he sent an angry kick to the monster's corps. And he spit on it for good measure.

Rather than dwell on unpleasant matters Aldrich went to check on his loot. The sword was in a better condition than anything else in the house, oddly enough.

Aldrich decided to keep it, but he wasn't going to throw away his bone cleaver.

'I'm going to use the sword primarily but keep the bone cleaver for when things get close and personal.'

But all of these thoughts flew right out of his head in the next moment. His head turned to the monster's corps. He walked to it and knelt beside it.

For some reason the monster's corps looked delicious, he wanted it, he had to have it. He wasn't hungry a moment a go but now he felt like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

Aldrich was almost about to take a bite when two small red orbs floated out of the monster's body and into the hand that held the body.

Aldrich could feel the orbs travel throughout his body before they disappeared mysteriously. It gave Aldrich a feeling of satisfaction. The hungry was gone.

'A moment a go was I really about to dig into a monster's dead body?'

Aldrich had no idea what came over him. Just that it was powerful, he wanted—needed those orbs.

There were still two more rooms to go. Aldrich felt it likely that the rooms must have the same kind of monsters locked in. He was resolved to finish the job today.

But he needed rest before he tackled the next room. And he also needed to think of a strategy. So he picked up the sword and bone cleaver and went downstairs.

After a minute he returned, having rested and made up an interesting idea. Aldrich completed his preparations and then he proceeded to remove the iron rod from the door handle.

The door sprang open and a monster that looked almost identical to the previous one came out running after the escaping Aldrich.

Aldrich suddenly turned around and didn't run anymore. The monster took no notice and suddenly tripped over the two bodies stacked over each other. One was his own and the other was the old husk.

Aldrich aimed for the midsection of the monster and stabbed through it with the sword. Pinning it to the floor. But the monster still had some fight in it.

It wailed loudly and tried to swing its sword at Aldrich's legs. Aldrich simply dodged to the monster's other side away from the sword. Then he took out his trusty meat hammer and bone cleaver.

What happened next was followed by cracking bones and a decapitated head. Aldrich wiped away his sweaty forehead and looked at the new corps expectedly.

That feeling emerged again, Aldrich could not stop himself from salivating. He touched the monster's body with his hand and another two red orbs traveled to his body and disappeared again.

Only this time he was filled with an overwhelming sense of fulfillment as he closed his eyes as if to appreciate a fine meal.

Aldrich opened his eyes to be greeted with another strange scene.

Name: Aldrich

Age: 15.5 years

Strength: 1+

Agility: 1+

Endurance: 1+

Vitality: 1+

Intelligence: 1+

Spirit (black): 2

Essence : 4 (red orbs)

Abilities: eyes of insight Lv:1

Condition: blood of ######

Before him was a strange panel that recorded strange information. It seemed like a chart that evaluated several attributes of his.

It irked him that all of his attributes but spirit were all at one. Hm, the plus sign behind grabbed his interest for a moment. Aldrich thought about increasing all his attributes starting from strength.

When he thought about that he saw the number after strength change to two. And then was assaulted by the mother of all headaches.

Aldrich quickly ran back down to the common room and threw himself on the couch ignoring how dirty it might be. Aldrich was quickly summoned to sleep. However it was more accurate to say that he was in so much pain that he lost consciousness.