When Rusty's arm was torn from his body and eaten by the spider, he had accepted death before the pain could register.
All sounds and lights turned off a moment later, yet his consciousness lingered. He could feel it by the way his body was carefully wrapped in cloth and placed on the cold ground while warmth gradually surrounded his form.
Time seemed to freeze then.
He was somehow a headless man, bordering between life and death, alone with his thoughts.
Insanity came knocking.
But a familiar monotonic robotic voice saved him.
[Player health refresh invalid.]
[Suspended animation detected.]
[Unknown game mechanic identified. Analyzing...]
[Party leader's Apocryphos: Chains of Oblivion in effect.]
[Soul forcefully maintained in body.]
[Party leader's hidden skill Demonic Contract activating.]
-----------------------------------
[Demon's Servant]
Effect: Unconditional loyalty
Cost: Player's Soul
Benefit: Death is not an end but an extension.
-----------------------------------
[Do you accept?]
[Yes] / [No]
The cold, bloodless heart seemed to beat to life in that instant. Shaken, Rusty's wrapped-up corpse flinched in the empty cafeteria.
'I-I get to live?'
[Invalid answer.]
[Yes] / [No]
'Haha, what an ass.'
In truth, only six hours had passed since he was decapitated. But six hours alone with his thoughts was an eternity, edging him into insanity. He had reached the point where he was praying to the devil.
Though in this case, he was answered by a demon.
'Party leader should be Vincent, right? Yes, accept the contract.'
[Contract accepted.]
[Bond incomplete.]
[Please be within ten meters of your master to complete the soul link.]
[Opening benefits package…]
[Player Level Up +1]
[Player Enchanter Class retained.]
[+ Dark attribute to all skills]
[+ 5% mutation progress]
[System has judged that Undead mutation is 100% compatible. Installing in 0 seconds. Please do not resist.]
'Wait, wha—'
…
On the day Vincent and the party left the care home to retrace their footsteps, it was decided that hunting would be avoided as much as possible.
It was a different kind of torture for the people who were starting to see green-tagged monsters as XP numbers. Their fingers were twitching, and their hearts bled with the loss.
Fortunately, the three people who held the guns were hardcore gamers. Even the trigger-happy Angel knew not to waste their time.
The one-day journey had turned to half, and Vincent figured they would reach the mall before night fell.
But he should have known better by now than to trust their journey was going to be peaceful.
A strong blizzard came all of a sudden, reducing visibility to a mere few meters. That wasn't a problem, but through the layer of snow, a level 3 snow fox was abusing its ability.
Seeing the same chopped-up tail, the party instantly recognized it as the level 2 snow fox they had avoided the other day.
Clerics were down to two heals. Henry only had enough mana for one more block, and Vincent was seeing damages between 10 to 40.
The party was keeping their backs to each other, making it difficult for the snow fox to trigger its stealth damage, but a single swipe with its claws was dealing 8 to 14—dangerous enough for Dave and Beatrice, whose max health was exactly 14.
Vincent clocked its health before it disappeared into the fog of snow again.
[Snow Fox lvl 3], an orange name tag.
[91 / 370 Hp]
He had five bullets left. His new maximum had reached 43. But since he would always split it with the siblings, the amount was never enough.
Bang!
Angel saw the blur and took the shot, but hearing no feedback, it was clear she had missed.
"Tsk, it's too fast! Talia, how much longer?"
"It's ready, but I need to see it. You guys better keep it from disappearing this time, or my spell will lose its effect again." Talia was at the center of the circle, swerving as she searched for the fox.
"No worries, the boys are planning to tackle it!" Daniel grinned, mentioning no one in particular, and yet Jackson, Dave, and Henry tightened their muscles in preparation.
A hoarse, distorted cry split the area. The scream of the fox seemed distant through the howling of the blizzard, but the party could feel chills running down their spines.
It was using its AOE spell again.
Wind rushed at their skin abruptly as snow turned to ice, raining down on them within a diameter of five meters.
Damages between 2 to 5 quickly spammed Vincent's vision, and in a matter of seconds, three people fell unconscious while five of them had health in the single digits.
Henry screamed for his wife (Beatrice).
Talia scrambled to shield the motionless Palya against the rest of the attack.
Meanwhile, Jackson and Theo caught Dave before he fell to the ground.
Vincent's guts wrenched.
The party had clearly gotten stronger, and the snow fox was barely at the level of the Revenant Spider. But with the disadvantages stacked against them, coupled with the cunningness of the snow fox, it had done what the Revenant Spider failed to do.
"We need to move! Head west! We're bound to reach a building in this city!" Vincent pointed in a direction, grateful for the familiarity of his hometown for his confidence.
The party reacted right away, moving tightly under his orders while carrying the unconscious.
Talia, with Palya, was at the edge of the group, and the snow fox took the opportunity, lunging with its mouth open.
Vincent's body moved before his mind caught up. He blocked the way, sacrificing his left arm while he emptied his clip into its stomach in haste, igniting the fox in the process.
Vincent: [30 -> 12 / 43 Hp]
Snow Fox: [91 -> 48 / 370 Hp]
Talia fell back, holding Palya, her vision narrowing from sheer terror. But she pushed herself up, her eyes glowing purple as she struggled to cast her spell.
She succeeded. Yet she now had to keep her trembling eyes on the fox and minimize blinking. "Fucking kill it!"
All at once, Daniel and Jackson jumped in an attempt to capture the fox, but it was smart enough to let go of Vincent's arm and slipped away before their bodies landed on it.
Then Angel shot through the chaos, managing to tear off the last of its tail before it succeeded in escaping.
Curses rang out from everyone. Even Vincent failed to restrain himself.
Talia had 500 mana, but she had used her spell twice during this battle, and it was suicide to wait 26 minutes for her to do it again.
"Dan! Angel! It's almost dead! 37 HP!"
Vincent clutched at his bleeding arm. The digitization numbed the pain, but his body wasn't immune to its effects. His left arm was shaking, and he had no control over it.
Both parties knew each other's state, so about 30 seconds of tense atmosphere loomed over them as they continued to move west.
Nobody let their guard down, and no one was stupid enough to suggest the fox had left the area.
"I see it! I see a house!" Theo called out.
"Don't break formation!" Vincent warned, and the party continued its pace.
Reaching the house, it was unfortunate that the door was locked.
But Angel pushed through the crowd, shot near its doorknob, and kicked it open. "Get in! Hurry!"
They rushed inside, Vincent and Daniel taking the rear.
There would be no fighting them once they were inside. The snow fox knew this, and it was indignant.
In its last attempt to get a meal, it made a loud cry to their left, causing Vincent and Daniel to quickly swerve toward its direction.
But it was a ruse.
Pouncing right behind Vincent, Angel's scream for his safety drowned out in the background as an invisible pressure weighed down on him.
Thud!
Vincent gasped as he regained control of his body. When he turned to check what had saved him, a headless entity was wrestling on the ground with the snow fox pinned tightly within its arms.
Black and purple fire engulfed the headless figure, melting the snow around it, dissipating those that fell on its body into smoke.
Vincent froze. His entirety was shaken. A sharp pain in his head threatened to force his eyes closed.
But he couldn't.
His gaze was glued onto the name tag above the entity.
[Rusty* lvl 3 | Servant]
There were no words to describe his shock.
Then the system took all his attention away.
[Soul Link completed.]
[Congratulations on your first successful contract!]
[You may consume your servant's soul anytime! Should you wish to keep it, please provide the necessary health, or the reborn player will expire in 5 days and 7 hours.]
"What?!"
But the system never repeated itself.
"Cents! What are you doing? Come inside!" Angel stomped the floor.
She and Daniel were being held back from going outside.
Vincent snapped out of it and absentmindedly turned, sprinting toward the door.
But he froze again after hearing the snow fox screaming in pain.
Daniel couldn't take it anymore. He yanked Vincent inside by his collar and closed the first door, which had a glass window on its top half.
Before they could pull Vincent further inside to close the second door, his hand slammed against it.
"Wait! That's Rusty outside!"