"What is this place?" someone asked, confused.
A group consisting of three men and two women was wandering around. They were somewhere deep in the forest. In the middle of a clearing, a large number of corpses of various sizes and shapes lay scattered.
"It's a graveyard!" a terrified girl shouted, turning her face away.
The men made faces as if they had seen something unpleasant but said nothing.
"We should leave. There's nothing to see here," one of them said.
Just then…
[Special Mission — Remains of a Lost Battle: You have come across the remnants of an ancient battlefield. The souls of the dead seek, without reason, the life they once lost. Purify the souls of the dead, granting them true death.]
"A mission!" one of them shouted excitedly.
Immediately, as soon as the mission appeared, the corpses that seemed lifeless began to rise as if suddenly gaining vitality.
"Zombies!" someone shouted fearfully while stepping back.
But another stopped him; he had a slightly crazed look in his eyes.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Of course I'm leaving! Look at those things—they're huge and there are so many of them," he yelled as if it were obvious.
The other shook his head immediately. "Look more carefully," he said.
The person who was stopped looked closer: the bodies that rose with new life were moving slowly toward them, but their movements were so sluggish and uncoordinated that they could barely stand properly.
"Is that…?"
"You see it now, don't you?" he asked.
"Yes," he replied affirmatively, though somewhat doubtfully.
"But even if their movements are unsteady, wouldn't it be better to leave now?" he asked; the situation gave him a bad feeling, as if something would happen if they stayed.
"It's a mission. You've seen until now what we've been given for completing them. We're strong now and can easily kill goblins. Not only that, but since it's a special mission, the reward must be much better," he said excitedly.
But the still-doubtful boy asked, "Is it really worth risking ourselves? Look at how many there are…"
The guy let go of his hand as if tired of arguing. "Look, I'm not going to stop you, but if you want to leave, you'd better go far away," he said, no longer caring.
"Does anyone else want to leave?" he asked the others.
They glanced at each other for a moment before shaking their heads, indicating they would stay.
He smiled somewhat arrogantly, looking at the one who wanted to leave earlier, before turning back to the zombies. "Let's go," he said while raising his sword, which began to glow faintly.
He swung his sword, and a zombie's head fell immediately. He looked at the headless corpse and smiled slightly. "As expected, they're very weak," he said while swinging his sword again.
Heads began to fall one after another, while those behind him also moved quickly to destroy the rising corpses.
He watched this with an uneasy smile. He had a bad feeling, and the more corpses fell, the stronger this feeling grew. Finally, he turned around and began to run with all his might, disappearing completely among the trees.
His former companions paid him no mind.
The corpses continued to fall easily.
"This one is bigger," the leader said as he raised his sword, and a large amount of light began to gather around it. He swung the sword, and a circular beam of energy formed, flying toward the giant corpse and decapitating it in a single strike.
"That used up a lot of energy," he muttered exhaustedly while proudly watching the giant fall.
"That should be all, right?" one asked, looking around. They had killed everyone, and no one was left alive—or rather, no undead were left standing.
"Shouldn't we get the reward?" one asked, confused.
Immediately, a chill ran through each of them.
They all turned their gaze to a single spot.
The sky, lit by the sun, was covered by a thick layer of fog as black as ash.
Within it, within that black sky, countless eyes watched them. A sound without any meaning or sense came from the being before them.
"Aaahh..." one uttered with a primal fear, his eyes beginning to glaze over.
He took his sword and moved it toward his own neck, slicing it wide open as if controlled by something.
Blood began to seep from the wound, and his body fell to the ground.
Another dropped his staff, knelt, and began to smash his head against the ground over and over until his eyes bulged out, and he fell dead to the ground, covered in blood, gashes, and protruding teeth.
The next one raised his mace, imbued with a luminous energy, and slammed it into his own head, shattering it into pieces.
"Aaaaahahh!" the last one screamed as a white and gold energy surged from his body, trying to expel the black energy that permeated the entire place.
"A servant of a god?" A voice so dark and repulsive echoed throughout the area. Anyone who heard that voice would be driven to madness to the point of suicide, which was exactly what had happened to his companions.
The voice, which before had no form or meaning, acquired a shape by devouring the souls of the people before them.
Countless guttural screams could be heard from all sides; the voices of the dead tormented the living.
"Aaaaaaagggghhhgggggggggg!" An ever-louder scream tore from his throat as if trying to shatter it into pieces. The pain he felt, both in his mind and body, was consuming him alive, preventing him from thinking or acting at all.
"Aaaaghhh... Protection... against evil!" In a moment of clarity, he gripped a talisman tightly in his hands, as if he would never let it go.
A golden light burst from the talisman with force, clearing the darkness around him.
His eyes regained their sparkle as the golden energy expanded.
"This was a mistake," he said, looking at the infinitely impure being before him.
He took the mace of his former companion in his hand. "This must be purged," he said as a golden energy struggled against the malevolent energy.