Re:Monster - Re:Vival

Day One

A skeleton? A damn skeleton!? What the fuck!?

I admit, I panicked for a little while. I mean, who wouldn't? I definitely died, I watched that guy beat me to death after all. So I guess... was I in hell? That was the first thing that came to mind as I started to accept my situation. I'd never been a particularly religious person, agnostic at most, but I was now a skeleton. At the very least that's supernatural.

Anyway, by this point I had managed to calm down enough to attempt to ascertain my situation. I started with my own body. My bones were white and definitely human. No extra appendages or anything. Not sure if I'm glad or disappointed about that. What pushed the supernatural angle a little more was mostly just the fact that I could still move. I had my bones, my ligaments, but without any muscle, blood or, you know, a heart, I shouldn't be moving at all. It was weird, no matter how I looked at it.

The last part of my body to check was my face. No ears, no nose, no eyeballs. At that point, I just kind of gave up on understanding how I could still use my senses or understanding how I could move. I could always come back to that later.

After checking my body, the next thing to do was check my surroundings, the stone corridor went in both directions and I seemed to be right in the middle. The walls, ceiling and floor were flat, meaning this place was most likely man-made. Next, I contemplated which direction I should go. That was a question that solved itself pretty quickly as I heard a rattling, shambling sound coming from the right.

When I peered in that direction, I saw, sauntering around the corner, another me. Or rather, a skeleton. A human skeleton as well, by the look of it. For a while, maybe a minute or two, we just stared at each other, not moving.

It was uncomfortable just standing there in silence so I tried to communicate, only to find out that I couldn't speak. Of course. The one thing I shouldn't be able to do as a skeleton that I actually can't do is speak. That was going to make things difficult in the future, I could tell.

I wracked by brai- did I even have have a brain? Whatever. I wracked my skull for a solution to my dilemma. A way to communicate with the other bag of bones. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to implement any of my brilliant ideas as before I could, the skeleton hunched over before rushing towards me. It was not going to give me a hug.

As it neared me with both arms reaching for me, I ducked below its reach and stepped forward, positioning myself beneath it before lifting, flipping the skeleton over my back. It landed on its own back with a loud crunch. I acted fast. Even I was surprised by how little compassion I had for the creature that looked just like me as I jumped up and stomped it's skull into crushed pieces.

While I was looking at the corpse of the walking bones, I noticed something. Something I had hoped would happen but hadn't dared to put my faith in. From the skeleton's bones, a faint, green glow was emanating. It was a sign I was all too familiar with in life. Without hesitation, I used [Essence Extraction], prompting the glow from the bones to slowly gather and flow into my own body.

{Skills Gained: [Rush] [Reckless Rush]}

What? I was confused, as evidenced by the "What?" That still sat at the back of my hollow head, reverberating. It appeared that my [Essence Extraction] ability had changed a bit since I was killed. After all, the strange voice in my head announcing the new abilities was certainly a new addition. At that time, I wondered...

{Existence [Unnamed Skeleton] possesses the following skills}
{[Acid Damage Resistance] [Anaerobic] [Null Critical Hit] [Equipment Materialisation] [Negative Energy] [Joint Magic] [Pierce Resistance] [Evil Miasma of Life] [Null Abnormal State] [Null Cold Damage] [Null Electric Damage] [Slash Resistance] [Vulnerable to Sunlight] [Vulnerable to Light Damage] [Synostosis] [Vulnerable to Blunt Strikes] [Vulnerable to Holy Damage] [Vulnerable to Fire Damage] [Tireless] [Essence Extraction] [Rush] [Reckless Rush]}

All I had to think about was "Could any other changes have occurred? Maybe this body has different abilities" and lo and behold, it had quite a few, although I was a little concerned about the vulnerabilities. I'd never had those while I was alive. After all, why would I hunt down and extract the essence of someone with a failed ability? That'd be like saying I wanted to be crippled. Actually, now that I think about it, that [Death-Dealing Curse] ability was probably pretty close to fitting that description. Heh, I just remembered that bastard who killed me.

If I could smile, I'm sure my grin would have reached my non-existent ears, thinking about all the ways Tomokui Kanata's life could have ended. Falling flower pot, alcohol poisoning, hell, maybe someone would murder him and keep the curse's streak going a little longer. Wouldn't that be fun. God I hope that's what happened. Better yet, I hope it was someone he cared about. Something like a sibling or a parent even. My thoughts are messed up? I mean, of course they are. You'd have to have a couple hundred screws loose to end up anything like me or that guy.

Anyway, with my new skills checked, I decided to continue in the direction the skeleton came from. I may even be able to find other skeletons with other abilities. It was starting to feel less like hell.

Unfortunately, the three skeletons I found and killed didn't give me any new abilities. Although I could feel the skills I already had getting stronger. Or maybe it was my own proficiency with them that was improving. Regardless, I was starting to get used to this walking corpse of a body and I've always wanted to try going through a maze. I figured it would be fun.