Free Web NovelChapter 42: The Forbidden Cemetery
Gabriel couldn’t afford the luxury of mourning.
His friend’s death remained present. Persistent and painful, it would probably never leave him.
But pain didn’t solve problems, and sadness didn’t provide answers.
And rage, by itself, didn’t change anything either.
Kael had taught him that.
There was only one immediate priority.
Two more levels.
Two levels that separated him from his Ascension Ritual.
The ritual that would finally allow him to leave the beginner village and venture into the true world of The Heaven Above All.
A world where perhaps answers existed.
Or at least enough weapons to find them.
He crossed the main square with firm steps.
The village remained as lively as always. Merchants advertised their goods, adventurers discussed strategies, and full groups prepared for new expeditions.
However, something different floated in the air.
Anticipation.
As he advanced, he heard scattered fragments of conversations.
"Did you see it?"
"They say the system will publish the fastest times."
"The rewards will be absurd."
"The leaderboard will appear soon."
"The big guilds are already preparing."
Gabriel didn’t even turn his head.
An important event was about to take place. According to the rumors, the system would publish a global leaderboard with the fastest recorded times in various dungeons, generously rewarding those who occupied the top positions.
Those words were noise, simple noise.
His hand remained gripped around the handle of the black war axe resting beneath his coat.
He had no interest in leaderboards.
He had no interest in prestige.
He only needed to become stronger.
He left the village shortly after.
He had to head toward the Forbidden Cemetery.
He had already read about that dungeon on the forums before. It was known for its endurance and constant wave themes, perfect for unleashing unrestrained emotions.
The path to the Forbidden Cemetery was silent.
The flowers gradually disappeared, the trees began to twist, and the grass turned gray.
A sickly fog started to cover the terrain.
He finally arrived.
The funerary hill appeared before him wrapped in thick gray mist. Ancient tilted tombstones, statues deteriorated by time, and an oppressive silence that seemed to absorb all sounds. The moment he crossed the invisible boundary, the system confirmed the dungeon’s existence.
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[You have entered the Forbidden Cemetery]
[Difficulty: High]
[High risk of death!]
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Even the window notifications had changed.
Gabriel prepared his weapons and advanced without hesitation.
The first wave appeared shortly after.
He didn’t care about rewards or records. He only wanted to fight.
To unload all the pressure that had been building inside him.
The first grave exploded a few seconds later.
Then another, and another.
Armed skeletons emerged from the graves and hidden pits, with yellowish bones and rusted weapons.
Gabriel faced them head-on, using all his recent experience to destroy them with brutal efficiency. The enemies were numerous, but slow.
He immediately used his black war axe, surrendering himself to savage combat.
He advanced like a storm.
Without stopping and without retreating.
Every blow released part of his contained rage.
The axe cut through ribs and skulls with ease. Bone shards struck his coat without slowing him down.
He absorbed small essences with Leviathan Gluttony whenever he could, feeling the hunger only grow.
The second and third waves quickly increased the difficulty.
Putrid-fleshed ghouls and reanimated corpses began to mix among the skeletons.
Gabriel was forced to move constantly, using the tombstones as improvised cover and avoiding being surrounded.
Even so, he fought like a berserker. His daggers cut rotten tendons while the axe shattered skulls.
Wounds began to accumulate on his body, but every defeated enemy slowly fed his experience bar and vented part of his inner fury.
The first level-up came in the middle of the dungeon.
[Level 19 reached!]
Gabriel barely paid attention to the notification. He kept fighting.
The pressure continued to increase. The monsters became faster, more aggressive, and more resistant.
Some retained fragments of ancient armor, others seemed like fused creatures from different corpses.
Several times he came close to receiving serious wounds, but he managed to prevail thanks to his accumulated experience.
His title shone at that moment.
He was a tempest advancing and leaving only disaster in his wake.
Rage kept him completely focused. With a violent and extremely fast style.
Physical pain mixed with emotional pain, creating a combination that made him even more dangerous. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Finally, the waves ceased.
For a few seconds, only silence existed.
Then the ground began to tremble.
The earth slowly opened as a huge figure emerged from the depths of the cemetery.
It was an ancient knight. His armor was fused with bones and petrified roots.
He wielded an enormous sword and emitted a presence far superior to any previous enemy.
Gabriel faced him without retreating.
Every blow from the boss was capable of destroying entire tombstones and creating shockwaves that hurled debris everywhere.
Gabriel had to focus completely on dodging and finding opportunities to counterattack.
At one point, the knight held his giant sword. The blade descended like a collapsing building and the impact destroyed several tombstones.
Stone fragments flew in all directions.
Gabriel rolled across the ground.
He got up and counterattacked.
The battle was brutal.
Every blow from the boss could kill him and every mistake meant defeat.
The sword swept across huge sectors of the battlefield.
The bones embedded in his armor emitted horrible sounds.
But Gabriel continued advancing. Wound after wound, blow after blow.
The minutes passed.
Until he finally found an opening.
Just one.
And it was enough. He jumped.
All his strength exploded in a single movement. The black axe described a perfect arc and the obsidian blade cut through the neck.
A second later the head was sent flying. The body remained motionless, until it finally fell.
The impact shook the entire hill.
Then the notifications came.
____________
[The Forbidden Cemetery has been completed]
[Rewards multiplied ×5!]
Congratulations, player. Your performance has been correctly recorded in the system, with exceptional results.
____________
The same message.
[Level 20 reached!]
When he finally broke past the level twenty threshold, he unlocked another skill tied to his class.
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[Blood Blur]
[Description: For a brief instant, you can create a small burst of blood that will likely blind your opponent. Use it wisely.]
_______________
Beyond a certain point, skills became far more difficult to unlock.
Gabriel remained motionless.
The mist moved slowly around him. The knight’s corpse still rested behind him.
For the first time in a long time, he felt something close to anticipation.
The beginner village was over and the true path was beginning now.
He was about to discover what kind of monster he would become.
His Ascension Ritual.
