Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Aldrich looked over at his attributes. He figured out how the panel worked it would appear and disappear whenever he thought about it. As he had expected the plus sings appeared after all the attributes that didn't less than two.

Aldrich wanted to increase his spirit attribute so he didn't increase anything else for now. There are still two husks left in that room.

Aldrich took a short break to get back in top form. Now that he tried a few things he got familiar with the speed of the husks.

He took a deep breath and pulled off the iron rod of the door handle. The husk, impatient as ever, lunged towards the opening of the door.

"!"

He estimated the husk was surprised when the door closed on him halfway through. Aldrich grinned, only the upper half of the husk was out the rest was still in.

Aldrich reached out for the iron rod that was used to seal this room and punctured the husks right eye and drove it straight through. It turned out much harder than expected.

Aldrich collected his two red orbs and retreated to the end of the hallway by the staircase.

The last husk emerged. The other husks wore rags and had short swords, this one wore an armor that mixed metal and leather at the joints, above all it wielded a long sword. Its head was covered by a metal helm that obscured all but a T shaped slit.

His overall get-up was in better shape than most everything Aldrich saw here, perhaps even better than the soldiers that laid waste to Wakefield.

Aldrich didn't allow himself to be intimidated. It had some fancy armor so what? It was still a husk. The weight of its armor must slow it down negating the biggest advantage the husks had.

Aldrich had just the plan for a heavy, clumsy husk.

But something went wrong, the husk didn't charge at him like his brethren did. It advanced slowly and firmly. This, Aldrich didn't expect.

Aldrich didn't have much time to think before the armored husk stood, towering above him.

The speed he displayed far outstripped Aldrich could have expected, in one breath it was slow and in the next it was so fast that the air hissed. He barely managed to block the blow in time or his head would have been lopped off in one move.

And yet the force of that one move still hurled him flying to the wall. His left arm took the worst of the impact and an unpleasant cracking sound echoed, Aldrich knew it was broken or maybe even fractured.

His whole body was crushed, he had never experienced such raw power before in his life. His head was spinning and his eyes were out of focus, with every breath he felt an agonizing pain in his chest.

Aldrich turned to look at the monstrous husk in shock. The husk was uncaring for his turbulent emotions, it lunged at Aldrich and slashed horizontally. At least thats what Aldrich assumed happened since he couldn't see the move at all.

The slash cut through the middle of his face right under his nose and separated whatever was above from what was below. Before everything faded to black he heard a slimy noise and creepy thud.

——————————————

Aldrich scrambled to stand but slipped, ending up on his hands and knees, he inhaled the chilly night air with the desperate greed of a drowning man.

His deep breaths were rugged and uneven, as his body adjusted. His innards churned, he grabbed at a nearby flower pot and spewed the contents of his stomach into it.

The small pot, already filled with soil and a mass of dust and filth, wasn't enough to contain everything and vomit sloshed over the edges, splattering over wooden floor and the carpet.

Aldrich recalled his death with grim clarity. He stood no chance against that husk, there was no question about it. This truth was ingrained in his very being, in fact he was sure that even fifty of him would face the same result.

He had overestimated himself because he won a few times and underestimated his opponent and that cost him his life.

Aldrich acknowledged his defeat squarely. The first time he was killed was because he made a small mistake against a husk and that cost him his first life. The second however, was an utter defeat, as of now he had no chance of victory.

Although he came back to life he was naked again and all of his weapons but the short sword were left with his previous body. Upstairs with that thing—

That thing! Aldrich quickly ran to the door that led to the staircase and closed it. Then he proceeded to push the couch onto the door.

That husk was now free and about. Aldrich didn't feel like fighting that thing for now. Besides he could feel that he would soon wake up. He would think on what to do next time.

Aldrich laid on the couch and closed his eyes. Then, darkness.

Aldrich body in the real world stirred but before he could even open and eye he received another smack on the head.

Aldrich sank into darkness again. Aldrich was angry but didn't allow his anger to cloud his judgment this time. The fact that he was knocked unconscious twice told him that he was needed alive.

At least for the time being he wouldn't lose his life.

In the darkness Aldrich thought of the attribute chart. Although he had a vague understanding of the attributes, he wished that he could get a better understanding of them.

In the darkness the panel materialized.

Name: Aldrich

Age: 15.5

Strength: 2

Agility: 1+

Endurance: 1+

Vitality: 1+

Intelligence: 1+

Spirit (black): 2

Essence: 6

Abilities: eyes of insight Lv.1

Condition: blood of ######

'So six isn't enough to increase spirit huh'

Aldrich was a little disappointed. He was unwilling to use the essence to increase other things as he wasn't completely sure what they meant

Increasing spirit would make him a Crestmaster faster and the increase in strength was noticeable when he fought the husks. But the current situation didn't really allow him to do as he pleases.

The one who kidnapped him might've wanted him alive but how long will that last? There was no guarantee that he would be spared.

Suddenly Aldrich watched as the contents of the panel blurred and changed to something new.

Strength: the power of the body

Agility: speed and reaction

Endurance: toughness and resistance

Vitality: life force and recovery

Intelligence: knowledge and perception

Spirit: ?

Essence: the essential essence of all creatures and matter.

Eyes of insight: the reading and comprehension of experienced phenomena.

The blood of #######: ???

Aldrich read everything carefully. Aldrich smiled reluctantly, even though he got an explanation he still didn't understand most of it.

But he had a guess, the panel was the result of the eyes of insight.

In The current situation he needed to boost one of his attributes. The way he thought about it endurance is definitely a good choice.

Aldrich ultimately decided on vitality. Endurance increases toughness and resistance which would be useful now but endurance was better before he got hit.

Vitality correlated to recovery, and he needed to recover from the pummeling he got to his head. After Aldrich decided he didn't hesitate. The number after vitality changed to two.

And Aldrich was assaulted by a multitude of emotions as an alien force traveled through out his body.

Aldrich opened his eyes, then shut them quickly as a headache blinded him.

"Shit," he muttered.

"You, You're finally awake?" said a woman's voice. "Good. The sooner you wake up, the sooner we can figure how to get out of this death trap."

"Death trap?" Aldrich repeated groggily.

"Eh?"

Aldrich pried his eyes open again. His head didn't hurt as badly this time, but it still made his eyes water.

He was lying on what looked to be a rotten wooden floor. The worn boards had been improperly shaped. They bent and bowed, giving him a view of what could only be grass beneath.

Lifting his head up, he looked around. Although the floor was made up of wood the cell bars were made up of iron.

He looked through the bars, grasslands stretched as far as he could see. As far as the eyes could see in the night.

He was in a cage, in a line of cages. They all seemed to have wheels, and when they moved it would be in a caravan-like fashion. That's what Aldrich imagined a caravan would look like.

Apparently the caravan was camping for the night.

Managing to lever himself up to a sitting position, Aldrich felt like he wanted to puke. His head hurt quite a bit. He swallowed down, he puked enough in the nightmare realm.

Reaching up, he felt around his skull. Behind his right ear, he found a rather large lump.

"They gave you quite a thumping, huh?"

Aldrich looked to the speaker.

She was an unassuming woman. Dressed in good clothes with brown hair and blue eyes.

"I guess so." Aldrich responded.

He looked down at himself. He was in better shape than expected, his head hurt like hell and he would see double from time to time. But the pain was starting to fade.

The biggest problems were, his sword and bag were nowhere to be seen.

"Great. That's great. They shoved you in here, told me not to touch you or they'd beat me to death, then ran off."

Aldrich looked at the woman again, she was leaning on the cage bars and twirling the ends of her messy hair.

"What is all this? I didn't see anything when I was hit." Aldrich inquired.

"Well, the general gist of it is we've been ambushed and kidnapped by goblins. Right now we're headed to their hideout, is my guess. The lucky ones will be eaten the unlucky ones will become goblin slaves. Unless we make a run for it."

"Goblins?" Aldrich had never seen goblins before and yet he's been kidnapped by them.