Reborn: Apocalypse

"Huff-huff-huff…" Micheal's chest heaved as he breathed heavily, looking at the scene of death around him.

"Well… that… went… well…" His voice was ragged as he mumbled, feeling at his chest.

The injuries he had sustained were incredibly gruesome. He'd broken several ribs, at least one of his lungs had collapsed, his right leg was completely broken as was his right arm, and he was covered in minor fractures and bloody bites.

As it stood now, he was crippled. So many gruesome injuries like this, in the First Layer, would be a death sentence. Even now, Micheal could feel himself growing lightheaded from blood loss.

Despite all of that, his eyes flashed as he maintained a smooth, confident visage. He looked around the valley of death, staring at all the corpses with a satisfied smile. He then turned and brought his broken body forward, ignoring the agony that flashed through him.

Every step he took was one that worsened his injuries further, especially his broken right leg. Micheal forced the pain down as he walked over to the shed that led inside the building, where he had just seen two people take one look at him and flee.

'They are watching…' His sixth sense was tingling, letting him know that many eyes were on him.

People from small powers, from large powers, groups big and small, the loud music he played would draw eyes from everywhere.

Exactly as planned.

In just a few seconds, Micheal proudly reached the shed that led to the depths of the skyscraper. He walked into it without hesitating and instantly walked down several steps. He refused to let himself tremble even the slightest, making sure his movements were steady.

After walking down several flights, Micheal paused. He entered into a random hallway and found one of the empty rooms that were unoccupied. He walked into it and shut the door behind him.

Immediately after, he collapsed onto the ground, storing his sword in his Spatial Ring as he took several deep, wracking breaths.

'God, that hurts.' His vision blurred slightly as the full impact and seriousness of his injuries hit them. The pain was constantly trying to overwhelm him, prying at his mind.

'Some people say you get used to pain after experiencing it several times, that injuries can feel like nothing.' Micheal shut his eyes,

'Those people are all liars.' He mentally grumbled.

'Life Orbs! Get over here!' He gave a mental command.

WHOOSH

Immediately, 3 glowing Orbs appeared floating around his head.

'Time to test you.'

When Micheal had first started fighting the Morenkai, he had been careful. He used his considerable skill to take out the vile zombie-like creatures as they came up, cleaving through them with ease.

By the 10 minutes mark, when the song was repeating for the third time, the situation took a turn.

"…♪ Life Is Old There, Older Than The Trees ♪…"

"…♪ Younger Than The Mountains, Blowing Like A Breeze ♪…"

An Abnormal had shown up. And, unlike the Abnormal he had encountered before, this one was actually a challenge.

A large, hulking Morenkai that had arms that glowed with dark red light. This light seemed to enhance the speed of the Morenkai, making its attacks far quicker and stronger.

To make it even worse, the Abnormal didn't show up alone. Three other Morenkai had appeared at the same time.

Micheal had charged at one of the regular Morenkai first, splitting its head in two with an almost relaxed slash. Black blood had spattered out of it, staining the nearby rooftop.

However, as he was charging toward the second regular Morenkai, the Abnormal had reached him, its freakish running speed at least twice that of Micheal's.

"…♪ Country Roads, Take Me Home ♪…"

"…♪ To The Place, I Belong ♪…"

The red armed Morenkai had led out with a blurringly fast punch. The attack was so quick, Micheal wasn't able to make it out clearly due to his still limited physique. It was merely a blur to him.

Yet, despite that, he managed to dodge it, slipping just a centimeter under it and off to the side. He was able to judge the trajectory of the attack by the movements of the Morenkai, his years of combat experience kicking in and allowing him to predict it in time to move out of the way.

In the same moment, however, one of the other normal Morenkai had also attacked, slamming down with a jarring punch. Micheal's previous movements had overextended his body, putting him in an awkward position.

He managed to dodge that attack as well, flipping up into the air and kicking off the leg of the Abnormal.

It was the third attack from the last normal Morenkai, a brutal punch, that managed to hit him.

It didn't collide directly with his body. When Micheal saw the attack coming out of the corner of his eye, he used his Steelborn blade to shield himself.

THUD

The blow smashed into the sword and then hit Micheal, sending him flying across the roof. He landed down hard on the ground, rolling for several meters till he spun up and around, on guard.

As he stood up, however, he winced. At least one of his ribs were broken.

In the background, the song 'Country Roads, Take Me Home' continued to blare out.

"…♪ West Virginia, Mountain Mama ♪…"

"…♪ Take Me Home, Country Roads ♪…"

The Morenkai were freakishly strong. Taking a blow from one, even a regular one while shielding yourself, was a bad idea.

'My damned body is still too weak. It can't keep up with my commands!' He swore as looked at the shambling Morenkai that were loping towards him in a group. Micheal concentrated, feeling the energy flow through his body from his Ki Cultivator Ability. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to relax.

'Focus. You have trained for this.' His eyes were calm as he crossed gazes, figuratively since it didn't have eyes, with the red armed Abnormal. It was the first to reach him, its arms crackling with energy.

'If you see something you can cut…' He took a step forward, into the attack range of the Morenkai.

SHHKK

'Cut it.'

WHOOSH

thud

The body of the Abnormal Morenkai split in half as Micheal's blade cut it cleanly in two, feeling only a small amount of resistance. Micheal's Grandmaster Sword Mastery made it a cinch to slash the creature.

In the instant that he killed it, however, the Abnormal had lashed out with an attack of its own. Micheal had seen it coming, able to predict it. If he had wanted, he probably would've been able to dodge it as well.

'Dodging it fully isn't an option.' He recognized this fact just a moment before, noting that if he dodged the Morenkai completely and didn't let himself get injured, he would move out of range and be unable to attack back.

'With my physique as weak as it is… I'll need to make tradeoffs if I want to kill something of this level.'

He ducked under the dead Abnormal's fist as much as he could, dodging the brunt of the impact.

Unfortunately, the way he dodged was right into the body of the Abnormal. While he may have killed it, the force of the charging creature and its heavy body was not insignificant.

This combined with the blurringly fast punch that just barely glanced off Micheal's back.

CRACK

Micheal spun around atop the roof, his eyes watering as he felt his shoulder blade fracture slightly. His right leg also suffered a fracture, as did one of his fingers, and he could feel his right lung twinge, as if it had been injured.

"GRRR!" He didn't let the pain overwhelm him as his bloodshot eyes narrowed and he forcibly maintained his balance.

Not a second later, his sword flashed out twice more.

SHHKK

SHHKK

Two regular Morenkai fell to the ground, one with its head removed from its body while the other with half its chest cut through. Black blood littered the rooftop as the two creatures fell, killed instantly.

The creatures had charged right after the Abnormal Morenkai and had been only seconds behind it, forcing a quick reaction from Micheal's tired body.

"Huff…huff…" Micheal's breath was ragged as he ignored the Points notifications that popped up, staring at the dead corpses. He concentrated the strength of his body, conserving it.

For, only a minute later, several more Morenkai appeared.

"…♪ The Radio Reminds Me Of My Home Far Away ♪…"

His eyes flashed as he went to work.

"…"

And now, Micheal was back in the skyscraper, staring at the Life Orbs that were floating around his head. The fight on the rooftop had lasted for at least 30 minutes, a time in which he killed a huge number of Morenkai. After that, he'd turned the record player off and stored it in his Spatial Ring, knowing that if he went any further, he might die out in the open.

Before he checked the total number of Points he gained, Micheal jumped on the most urgent thing he needed to do.

Heal himself.

He stared intently at one of the Life Orbs, feeling the subtle connection he had with it. In his mind's eye, he could see a small white line that connected that orb to him.

He watched it for a single moment, feeling blood drip out of his wounds, the extremely serious injuries he had sustained slowly worsening.

'Break.'

The orb shattered.

Immediately, blue light covered Micheal for a single split second. The light wasn't blindingly bright, but had more of a cool, comforting tone.

WHOOOOSH

The light vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

Revealing a teenager dressed in scraps of once normal clothes, covered in dried blood and grime…

But otherwise completely uninjured.

Micheal looked at his body, casting his senses through it…

And smiled.

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This is the end of the free sample I'm legally allowed to share!

The remainder of Volume 1 can be found here on Amazon here-> https://www.amazon.com/Reborn-Apocalypse-LitRPG-Story-1-ebook/dp/B07RNNJB8K/

If you can't afford to purchase it and support the story, I am aware that some websites pirate and host the rest of Volume 1 online for free. I can't condone that, but I understand.

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