Unwilling Undead Adventurer prologue

— Episode 1: Prologue —

——s.h.i.+t, I’m gonna die…

That’s what I thought as I realized the enormous monster in front of me, its deep crimson mouth gaping wide, was charging straight at me.

There is a small city, Malt, which is situated on the fringes of the Yaalan Kingdom, a nation itself located on the very edge of the continent.
There is a low-level labyrinth nearby, known as the “Mångata Labyrinth”, a place where I, the low level Copper-cla.s.s adventurer Lent Feynar, earned my daily wages by hunting weaker monsters. That day, I was there as usual in one of the upper levels of the labyrinth, just hunting Skeletons and Goblins, collecting materials and small magic crystals.
This was my daily routine, and today, as always, I would return to the city in the evening, then trade the materials to the Adventurer’s Union for enough coin to live on for a few days.
That was my intention.

And yet…
It really came out of nowhere.

As I came here everyday, it wasn’t as though I had gotten lost. Only, for some reason, there had been a side route I’d never seen before, branching off from the main path I always took.
It was just bad luck.
Yeah, bad luck.
Under normal circ.u.mstances, I would have ignored it.
Adventurers were people who adventured, and adventuring was known to be a profession where people did not charge forward recklessly, without a plan.
However, in reality, there were more people who charged onward without thinking than not, and I was one of those fools.

After all, the ‘Mångata Labyrinth’ had been discovered quite a long time ago, and was said to have been explored completely; if a new pa.s.sage or room were found, it would be a huge discovery.
There might also be a possibly there were such things as high-ranking magic tools or magic armor, and even if this wasn’t the case, it would still be quite lucrative to explore and map the area.
With those foolish thoughts running through my mind, I set out down the path.

As a result, after walking for a while I entered into a wide, open area, and came face-to-face with a gigantic monster.

And if I wasn’t mistaken, it was a Wyvern.

Wyverns, they held the highest position among all monsters, and generally speaking, it was said that even if a party of Mithril-cla.s.s (a level above the Platinum-cla.s.s), adventurers attacked, they wouldn’t be able to defeat it.
There were many types, from the standard large-bodied dragon types, to the narrow and thin serpent-like ones; there even seemed to be ma.s.sive, enlarged frog-like types.
Seemed, because unless you were particularly lucky, there was almost no chance of surviving such an encounter. It was also almost unheard of that they appeared before people, so the very encounter itself was extremely rare, resulting in only a handful of times throughout history where there had been confirmed sightings.
Their strength rivaled that of the Demon Overlords, four of which were said to exist in the world. They were a monstrous creature, an existence that was said to be closer to a G.o.d that a living being.
In other words, for a guy like me who has been a copper-cla.s.s adventurer for forever, there wasn’t even a chance to twitch my little finger before losing.

If such a thing appeared all of a sudden, anyone would be in shock.
What’s more, no one could think about fighting at their best.

That’s why my thoughts were of running away as fast as I could. If I didn’t run away I’d die, so I began to move my legs.

——But…

The opponent was a monstrous creature after all.
When I tried to run away, that’s when I realized it.
I couldn’t help realizing it.

——My legs, weren’t moving.

No, my whole body; it didn’t matter what I tried to move, it wouldn’t budge.

I’m sure a normal guy would think, “What’s going on?”
But, I had experienced a similar phenomenon before.
When there is a confrontation between two people who are completely unmatched, a situation similar to this can occur. I had learned this personally.
An enormous magical pressure had caused me to loose the ability to control my limbs.
While such a thing was extremely rare, it was still possible.

This was exactly like that.

Unable to withstand the pressure given off by the Wyvern, I had lost control over my body.

When I came to understand this, I thought, from the depths of my heart, gimme a break! Arriving at this conclusion, I knew all was lost.
At that time, all I was able to do was stare at the monster in front of me, and ask it kindly in my heart, please, don’t eat me.

Reality was not so kind.

When it noticed me, the Wyvern had opened its jaws wide, then charged.

——Ahh man, it’s gonna eat me.

On the verdge of such a dangerous, life-threatening situation, my thoughts were rather calm.
s.h.i.+t, I’m gonna die, were some of my thoughts, but there was nothing I could do about it.
After all, my body wasn’t moving.

Ten years had pa.s.sed since I started out as an adventurer at fifteen.
I had continued adventuring, dreaming of the day when I would surpa.s.s the Platinum-cla.s.s to join the ranks of the few Mithril-cla.s.s adventurers.
Earning only small change from lame requests, I still continued to hold onto my dream, continuing to train everyday after I’d finished my work.

All that work was going to end in a place like this.
It was far too soon.

My feelings were a mix of intense frustration, and a sense of freedom at everything ending here——

And with that, my body was inside the Wyvern’s mouth.

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

A while later, very curiously, I awoke……

Yes, I awoke……

I had been eaten by a Wyvern. In spite of recognizing I had died undeniably, I woke up.

And, I noticed something.

——No no no. This is impossible?

Immediately after waking up, I confirmed my situation, and thought that from the depths of my being.

What was impossible?
It relates to my body.

I looked at my hands.

Doing so, I couldn’t see any flesh.
There was no skin, either.
There was only white, thin bone.
That was all.

And this wasn’t limited to just my hand, no, it was my entire body.
My legs were bone, devoid of flesh or skin.
My thighs were the same.
My upper arms too.
My face……I wasn’t sure about my face, but things being the way they were, I was certain it was the same.

In other words, I, the low level copper-cla.s.s adventurer, Lent Feynar, somehow underwent a cla.s.s change from an ‘Adventurer’ to a bony ‘Skeleton’.

——Impossible, right?

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

Even so, what should be done now?
That was the first thing I needed to decide.

For the time being, accepting that I had been eaten by the Wyvern, it was a stroke of really good luck that I was still alive.
Wait, am I alive?
Speaking of skeletons, I’m sure they’re cla.s.sified as undead, so they’d already be deceased.
They were an extremely weak creature, whose extermination by a church bishop or priest’s purification-type magic was said to be very simple.
The reason they could be so easily exterminated by purification-type magic, was because the skeleton was a creature who’s very existence went against G.o.d’s providence, which stated that “One who has died should no longer exist in the world”.
Because they remained in this world, rebelling against providence. That was the general theory as to why purification-type magic would destroy them.
Whether this were true or not was not something I, who wasn’t a priest or bishop, would know. But following this logic, a skeleton would be cla.s.sified as dead, and that was something I couldn’t change.

I’m…dead.
In a state of death, I still existed in the world.

This is, very, bad.

Because, as I said earlier, existing in the world after death is in direct disregard for the providence of G.o.d.
If I went back to the city like this, no matter how much I argued I was Lent Feynar, I would be ‘purified’ first and foremost.
In that case my existence would truly come to an end.
I wouldn’t accept such a fate, no matter what.
Even being a bunch of bones, I was still alive.
Even if that was as a skeleton, even if it were as an existence cla.s.sified to be dead, my very consciousness declared I was alive.

That’s why, I couldn’t just go back to town to be killed.

But in that case, what could I do?

That was the problem.
Could I continue to live here?

Only, this was a Labyrinth.
Adventurer’s came here to defeat monsters, and though this labyrinth may be off in the hinterlands, there were still plenty of people stronger that myself.
If I just loitered around I’d be eradicated sooner or later.

What could I do……?

Lost in thought, something came to mind.

I was a monster now.
There was a unique characteristic to monsters, to where with age and experience, they could slowly level themselves up to evolve into another form.
Whether or not I was truly a monster I didn’t know, but by all appearances, I was the same as the Skeleton monster-cla.s.s.
In that case, couldn’t I evolve too?
Existence Evolution.

This is what came to my mind.

Being an adventurer and all, I had done my fair share of reading research material pertaining to monsters, and somewhere I had read an article about the Skeleton’s Existence Evolution being a Ghoul.
Of course, a Ghoul was still categorized as an undead monster, just the body more closely resembled that of a human.
They also had flesh, and, well, with a robe and mask to cover myself, I should be able to pa.s.s myself off as human.
If I could do that, I could go to town, and have a chance to explain things to people I know.

I knew it was a pretty absurd thought, but it was the only thing I could come up with, given the circ.u.mstances.

That’s why I steeled myself for it.

For the time being, I’ll aim for Existence Evolution.

In this labyrinth, I’ll become a Ghoul.

Thank you for reading! This is the Prologue Chapter, up next is Episode 2!

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Thanks to Kevin D. for helping support my translations!