AI: Artificial Isekai

We are on a collision course with twenty werewolves. The creatures are covered in matted fur. Each strand on their bodies is a neutral gray color and very thick. Their coats offer unnaturally improved defenses, nearly impossible to shred through unless adequate force is applied. Thick muscles bulge out beneath their fur, each movement of their forms displaying the power they carry. The werewolves have sharp claws and even sharper eyes. Small yellow orbs burning with pure hunger. Large teeth bared out in pure wrath. Panting breaths of pure exertion. There is a single command these undead beasts are following—kill.

One of the wolves and I reach each other. It lunges at me, intent to sink its claws and teeth. I barely dodge the growling mass of muscle, a deftly extended claw brushing against some of the frost armor. It leaves a few small gouges in the white ice, and I barely feel any pressure. When I take a closer look at the undead's claw, I see that the coldness has started to propagate from the tips. The process is fast. I can even see it speeding up with my slowed perception.

The monster tries to whip back around and attack again, but before it can try, I drive my sword through its dead heart and then pull it through its ribcage, cutting bone and taking an arm. The wolf tries to take another step, but it collapses after. No regeneration, and the toughness is quite lacking.

I shrug internally. I guess it's still only a D-grade monster, and there are a lot of werewolves. Too bad the jump from D to C is so great, or I wouldn't be having this much difficulty. How easy it would be if my Guardian drones could just zip through even the stronger monsters. I mean, they can probably handle a C-grade boss. Depending on the type of boss, though. The bigger issue is that the fight won't be stealthy, far from it. And I am sure hundreds of orbs creating a light show to rival even the flashiest of mages is the farthest thing from inconspicuous. Employing something stronger—even worse. I guess I should thank the local deity for no critical C-grade breaks just yet. My plan would be out the window.

I remember that I am still in a fight and focus on the three other wolves that are a meter away from me and already in the air. I use one as cover as I tackle it in turn. Its mass and strength are not enough to hold back my own. My blade digs in as I land on top of the displaced werewolf. It tries to strike back and claws at my face. The result is the same—a few ineffective gouges. I relocate my sword a few times. The other two wolves have already been destroyed by Pemik. More minced meat than monster.

At the same time, Miv is having his own fight, taking on the rest of the pack. I guess even these laughable imitations of what was once only myth posses some sliver of supernatural instinct. They knew who the stronger warrior was. Though... They were wrong. I wonder if higher grade werewolves would be able to see past my shell. What about a matriarch? Poor pooch would probably run away. Now that would be funny.

The imagined scene briefly distracts me from the current situation, giving me some much-needed levity. …And I am back to distraught again. It's even worse now...

Miv meets the rest of the pack and dives right in. None of the attackers can even touch him, but he can do much more to them. As he passes through a flurry of bodies, pink strips of light are left hanging in the air. When he spills out the other side, the whole exchange not taking more than a few seconds, the strips collapse on themselves and the monsters slide down, cut to pieces. He turns to me and gives a wink, flicking the blood on his sword away. I am outwardly awestruck. Inwardly... You are now in real cheesy territory. Thread lightly.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Grinding of stone-on-stone sounds out from the center of the dungeon. It starts slow, speeding up, and then stops. Four booming explosions echo out. The stone doors of the mausoleums have simultaneously crashed to the ground. As the dust around the impacts settles, another four sounds can be heard. Stone breaking. Something is making a way out of each sealed casket. Mist starts spewing out from the dark openings. Then four sets of red eyes shine their way through the haze. Deliberate steps bring out four tall figures.

The Lesser Vampires are a lot less dapper than the boss variant I faced in my Solo License Exam. And a lot less persistent. There won't be more than four heads rolling on the floor after we are done with this enemy.

To demonstrate their inferiority compared to a genuine boss, one of the vampires volunteers. Pemik shoots a barrage of arrows at it. It dodges each one, its body twisting in the air. But the arrows simply fragment into crystalline needles, shredding the undead.

Another of the remaining vampires starts rushing for the archer. The other two lock onto the nearest target—Sini. Though she is not nearest for long, as Miv and I have already started running. We intercept the two vampires before they can even get close to our mage.

It swings its dreadful hand at me. I block part of the strike with my sword and let it impact my chest. The frost shield was in the process of dissipating. It takes a lot to cast and maintain such a strong defensive spell. The vampire's strike still fails to reach my armor. The shield shatters and explodes, pieces of ice embedding themselves in the monster and pushing it back slightly. I take the advantage I have been given, and while the undead is still staggered, strike it down with a precise swipe of my sword.

Miv is equally as efficient, also taking a single strike to end his opponent. The final vampire follows soon after, falling with a sizzling hole through its head.

With this wave dead as well, Sini starts some more preparations. Her ice pillars are still in good shape, but she is not satisfied with just that. Defensive walls of opaque ice and hard stone rise from the ground, creating several perimeters and splitting the battlefield into sections. As she is setting up for the final confrontation, we group up again. And soon, she is done.

Silence finally reigns on the stirred and messy battlefield. The once creepy cemetery is nowhere to be seen. In its place is a field of ice and corpses. The silence stretches out, only softly disturbed by the occasional clump of dirt or piece of ice settling into place. Something settles a little louder than expected. The frequency of this new sound increases, filling in the silence more and more. Something moves beneath the dirt. Then something else. Again and again. The soft sound is now a steady rumble. Louder and louder it gets, until an echoing crack pulls the silence back.

The Rangers position between me and the sound. Miv grips his sword a touch tighter, Pemik disappears from sight, and Sini clenches her fists.

In the very center of the dungeon, and right between all four mausoleums, an off-white substance starts rising from the ground, seeping out of the soil. The substance flows higher and higher, hardening into twisting spikes, entangling with one another. A form begins to take shape from the mess. Two legs, sharpened into a multitude of points, digging into the earth. Two arms, branching into even more keen spikes. A hollow torso that looks like a bloated ribcage, one with too many ribs to count. There is no head adorning the rest of the boss, just more spikes poking toward the sky.

When it finishes forming, the monster is on all fours, resting its long hands on the ground. A shockwave appears to propagate through the boss. It makes its first move—slowly standing tall. Every minute movement and shift of the monstrosity is accompanied by the unsettling snapping and splintering of bone. As it reaches its full height—towering over the stone mausoleums—it freezes up again. Just then, a piercing whine starts to emanate from the grotesque being. The sound starts off high and lowers to inaudible. The disturbances in the soil return with a vengeance as all the bones we laid to rest dig themselves out and start connecting into mismatched horrors.

The dead rise once again.