The Super Hero (Rise of the Shield Hero)

Haunted findings

Waking up from his nap, Akio left the inn to wander around the village. When he first arrived, he was so dead set on finding a place to rest that he didn't even look at anything.

The village was relatively small, probably around a couple hundred people. Still, it was nice and quaint. A peaceful village. Walking around the outskirts of the village, there didn't seem to be much monster activity, so Akio decided to ask around.

After talking to some of the villagers, Akio found out that there is a coal mine that used to be a source of income for the town, but is now out of use due to the attack of the first wave. It is said that there are monsters inside and anytime anyone tried to go in, they never came back.

Sparking his interest, Akio stored a days worth of food in his gem and set out towards the mine, craving a battle.

After a long walk, Akio found himself standing in front of the mine entrance.

"Well, now is as good a time as any." Akio said to himself. Pushing himself forward, Akio entered the mine.

The first thing he noticed, which should have come at no surprise, is that it was extremely dark. With no one entering because of the monsters, no one could keep the lamps lit. Akio squinted in the darkness, trying to make out any of his surrounding.

Luckily, Akio had never really been afraid of the dark. Sure, it gave him the heeby-jeeby's sometimes, but it didn't actively keep him scared of it. To Akio, there were things much more frightening than darkness.

Suddenly, a small pinpoint of light made itself known. It quickly grew larger ad larger until it consumed his vision. Akio blinked a couple of times to adjust to the light, but something seemed...wrong with it. Everything was monochrome, like all the colors seemed to be sucked away from the world. It vastly contrasted the orange-yellow light that Akio has seen from the lanterns that populate this world.

Looking in the corner of his vision, a flashing exclamation mark told Akio that he had a new notification.

PASSIVE SKILL "MIDNIGHT EYES" ACQUIRED
MIDNIGHT EYES: Your eyes have become attuned to dark environments. Skill activates when lighting conditions are dark by natural means. Will not be activated for magical darkness.

Well that's...something. Useful, but out of nowhere. Can I really gain skills out of necessity? I'll have to test this out later. I wonder what the conditions or requirements are for me to gain new skills.

Akio continued on his way, enjoying his newfound sight. The mine lead on a slight decline, but Akio couldn't see the end.

As he walked, Akio heard strange sounds. It sounded like people whispering, but he couldn't make anything out. Akio strained his hearing, trying to listen to the words the voices were saying, but no matter how hard he listened, he couldn't tell what they were saying.

According to the towns people, I don't think that any one else should be in here, so that leaves to these voices...
Akio shivered at the though. Ghosts. Of course.

Akio shivered slightly. Monsters and wild animals, he could handle, but when it came to ghosts, wraiths, spirits, and the like, they always weireded him out. Even back in his own world, when reading or watching movies, he generally tried to stay away from the more supernatural side of horror and tried to stick with the tangible monsters he could see.

Shaking his head and trying to dispel his worries, Akio continued walking, trying to lean into his love of his newfound sight skill to try and get his mind off of the monster he'll probably have to face.

Most of his surroundings looked like anyone would expect, an abandoned mine shaft. There were tools lying about, with helmet lamps not too far.

Whoever was here, they didn't get to leave. Akio was about a mile into the mine at this point, and he was just starting to see these remnants. No one got even close to the exit. I wonder how much panic they felt. I hope I can find at least one person alive.

Continuing his descent into the mine, Akio tried to focus his hearing as much as he could, but due to the nature of a mineshaft, it was difficult to say the least. With how open the mineshaft is, it was hard to pinpoint any specific sound. There was a lot of earth movement, but besides that, there wasn't muc--

*Clank*

*Scrape*

*CLANK*

Akio whirled around to see the tools of the miners, and some swords from what Akio guessed were previous adventurers, started to float in the air.

I really need some sort of identify skill. It really helps in games to know what I'm dealing with. Akio waited a second to see if his system would give him the skill he wanted, but no such luck. Was worth a shot, I guess.

Akio's body shimmered as he activated Physical Enhancement and shot forward. He aimed to break the weapons so they would be inoperable. He wasn't exactly sure what he was dealing with, but destroying weapons should put a hamper on any enemy.

Striking out at the closest object, a pickaxe, Akio destroyed the handle in a single blow. He quickly grabbed onto the pickaxe head and flung it towards an oncoming sword on his right, then dropping to the ground to dodge a shovel flying at him. Getting back to his feet, a large spike of pain landed through Akio's head as another shovel smashed itself into his head.

The words:

-15 HEALTH

Flashed across his vision in red text.

Grabbing it by the handle, Akio shoved it deep into the wall, embedding it all the way through. Taking a look around, there seemed to be more and more tools appearing from around different tunnels of the mineshaft.

Okay, there are way too many of these things to deal with one by one. I don't have any more SP saved up, so I can't gain any more spells, so I'll have to take a step back and come back with a better plan.

Akio got low to the ground and dashed past the objects, making his way to the surface far faster than he arrived. Who knew tools would be the thing I ran away from and not wolves?

Taking a breath as he reached the entrance of the mine, he looked back at the haunted location. I'll come back and win next time. Until then, I'll have to gain a few more levels.

Looking towards the nearby forest, Akio made his way to find anything to help him get stronger.