Infinite Undying [Post-Apocalypse LitRPG]

Zeph's hands felt completely crushed. Every muscle screamed in pain, and his fingers had almost gone numb. The undead knight's final strike had landed squarely on him. If not for the blade holding back the massive axe, his body would have already been split clean in two.

Even so, the enormous weapon still forced him deeper into the ground. It felt like every rib in his chest had been ground to dust. His bones barely felt solid anymore. Thankfully, the armor absorbed part of the impact, and the blade had kept the worst of it from reaching him.

Still, imagine taking the full strength of a monster that huge head-on. The sheer force behind that blow was enough to flatten almost anyone.

The undead knight raised its axe into the air once again.

Zeph could only lie there, unable to move, as he watched the towering monster prepare another crushing strike.

Ah, damn...

A monster this enormous was never meant to be fought by only two people. What were the chances that the two of them could actually defeat something like this?

Maybe dying was the only thing left now.

Was that giving up?

What else was he supposed to do? He couldn't even move anymore. The monster was already bringing its axe down for another attack.

Madou… How was Madou doing?

He had fought so hard to break free from that curse, only for everything to end this quickly.

Time seemed to slow as the massive axe descended toward him once more.

...So this is it.

My body's about to be split in half.

Then… Just as the massive axe was about to reach him...

Time seemed to stop.

...What?

Golden threads drifted before Zeph's eyes. A warm golden light slowly appeared.

"Zeph... I'm back." A familiar voice echoed through the stillness.

Instinctively, Zeph shut his eyes just as the axe came crashing down.

A deafening shockwave exploded across the battlefield, throwing dust and debris in every direction.

But… The axe never touched him.

The undead knight let out a furious roar.

Someone had caught the massive axe, stopping its deadly swing in midair.

Floating before him was a familiar figure.

Long golden hair danced behind her, while a beautiful pair of radiant butterfly wings shimmered with golden light.

"Lena...!"

It was Lena.

"Move! I can't hold this axe back for long!"

At that very moment, the undead knight yanked its weapon sideways with overwhelming force.

Lena was thrown away by the impact, but she immediately shot through the air with incredible speed. Her golden butterfly wings carried her effortlessly as they fluttered behind her, leaving a brilliant trail of shimmering golden light that illuminated the battlefield.

Zeph managed to steady himself. Still hunched over with both hands resting on his knees, he struggled to catch his breath. That attack had drained almost everything he had.

But... Lena?

Lena was alive.

The girl shot through the air with a single beat of her golden wings before gently landing beside Zeph on his left.

"Lena... how are you...?"

"We can talk about that later," she said. "We need to finish this. The three of us."

"The three of us? No. Madou's dead."

"Would you shut up, Zephion?"

Zeph blinked in surprise and turned to his right as someone slowly walked toward him.

His eyes widened.

"Madou...?"

The boy approached with his right arm hanging at an unnatural angle, while his neck looked horribly twisted. Yet, as if it were nothing, he grabbed his own neck and gave it a sharp crack.

Crack.

His neck snapped back into place.

Then he grabbed his arm.

Crack.

The shoulder slid back into its socket as though nothing had happened.

"I thought you were dead."

"I thought so too," Madou replied with a shrug. "But I'm not going down that easily, you know. I refuse to die like an idiot while you guys keep living and getting stronger."

"No way... you guys are monsters."

"Shut up, Zeph. You're the real monster," Madou shot back. "You blocked an axe that size and you're still standing."

"No, I'm not. I swear every bone in my body has been crushed to powder."

Even so, Zeph was already back on his feet, resting the blade across his shoulder once more.

"You don't look like it," Madou said with a grin. "Now quit showing off. We're all here. Let's finish this once and for all!"

Zephion nodded before turning toward Lena.

She looked back at him with the same bright smile. The same cheerful expression. The same face Zeph had always known.

"Yeah, I agree. The two of us never stood a chance against it. But with the three of us... we can do this," Zeph said, tightening his grip on his blade.

"Let's go!"

They immediately dashed back into the fight as their undead knight opponent once again flew into a furious rage.

But what about Lena? What kind of change had she gone through?

She had actually stopped that enormous axe with her bare hand.

"Was that her second Sigil?"

It had to be. Her Sigil had already given her those wings.

But... she had stopped the attack with her bare hand?

Did her Sigil only grant her wings, or had it also enhanced her physical strength?

Whatever the answer was, Zeph smiled beneath his dark helmet.

They were all still alive. That alone was enough.

What happened next was Lena drawing the undead knight's attention into the air. Wrapped in her radiant light, she shot across the battlefield again and again, forcing the undead knight to focus entirely on chasing her.

The undead knight swung its massive axe wildly through the air, but Lena's incredible speed made every attack miss.

Meanwhile, Zeph and Madou searched for an opening to strike. They waited patiently, avoiding unnecessary risks while looking for the perfect chance to attack.

This was far from an easy battle.

Little by little, they managed to damage the monster's legs. Each successful hit weakened its footing until the towering undead knight finally lost its balance and crashed onto the ground.

The monster tried to reach for its axe. But Madou had already anticipated that. With a powerful roar, he slammed his weapon into the undead knight before it could recover.

In the final moment, Madou landed a devastating blow across the undead knight's neck.

At the same time, Zeph stepped in with a perfectly timed slash.

His blade sliced cleanly through the creature's neck, sending the undead knight's helmeted skull flying through the air.

Zeph and Madou were both thrown backward as the skull spun several times before smashing into the ground with a thunderous boom.

A heartbeat later, the massive body of the undead knight collapsed with another earth-shaking crash.

[You have successfully killed Lv. 31 Rare - Dreadgrave Executioner]

"Ah, damn it... A Tier 3 monster, and a Rare-grade on top of that? Inside a Tier 1 Rift?”

“A Tier 1 Rift with a Tier 3 boss? That's just ridiculous."

Zeph let out a long sigh before dropping onto the ground.

The sword and the covering his body quickly dissolved into black energy before being absorbed back into his body once more.

[Rift Cleared Successfully.]

[All hostile entities within the Rift have been eliminated.]

[Completion Rank: Calculating...]

[Reward Distribution: Preparing...]

[The exit portal will open in 00:30.]

[Please remain within the Rift until the extraction portal has fully stabilized.]

Oh... the battle was truly over.

Zeph let out a long breath before bursting into laughter. Hahaha. He laughed like a madman.

They actually did it! This had to be some kind of joke. They really won.

But then Zeph quickly sat up as he noticed Madou sitting a short distance to his right, cross-legged on the ground. The boy was wearing nothing but a pair of torn pants, his upper body still bare. Most of his torso remained covered in that dark blackened skin, although the left side of his face had already returned to normal.

"Hey, Zeph, we actually won. I'll treat you to the best noodles in the city later," the boy said with a laugh.

"Aren't you going to deactivate your sigil?"

At the same time, Lena came running toward them from the distance. She had already returned to her original form.

Wait! Zeph froze when he noticed that Lena's right hand had grown back.

"Lena, your hand!"

Damn, it had apparently been back for a while, but he had only just realized it. The girl simply let out a soft laugh before sitting cross-legged between the two of them.

"I think there are much more interesting questions for us to answer first, don't you?"

Zeph turned back toward Madou, whose body was still half-covered in that undead-like darkness.

"Madou, your sigil... that's your sigil's ability, isn't it?"

Madou looked down and placed a hand over the dried black marks covering his chest.

"No. I think I'll be carrying this forever. The sigil I unlocked after ranking up is a Curse-Type. So... I guess this is one souvenir I'll never forget."

"Curse Type?" Zeph repeated as he slowly nodded. "That means you're now a Rank 2 Guardian. I think that's something worth celebrating."

"Yeah, finally." Madou flashed a wide grin. "My dad's going to love hearing this."

Zeph then turned toward Lena. "What about you, Lena?"

The girl smiled brightly before looking toward one side as the sound of several people talking reached them.

Zeph turned toward the entrance of the cave as two figures slowly walked in their direction.

"Undead?" Zeph blurted out, startled by what he saw approaching.

"Shut up, you dumb kid. You'd all be dead without my help. You owe me big time."

It was… Koka and Brann.

Zeph stood up immediately, followed by Madou and Lena.

He was certain it was Koka and Brann, but… The two of them looked several years older. Koka had even lost so much weight that he was barely a third of his previous size.

The pair finally stopped in front of the three of them.

"Well, damn. This little girl actually managed to come back from death. What a ridiculous kid," Brann said.

The two of them then explained how Lena had suddenly become wrapped in countless golden threads that appeared from nowhere, and how her condition had started improving almost immediately afterward.

"Lena's body was recovering, and we thought she had a chance of fully healing. But after we waited for a while, the recovery stalled, and the golden light began to fade," Brann explained.

"That's when I thought about sharing whatever I had with her. I held her hand and wished for it," Koka continued.

What happened next was that Lena recovered after her body absorbed the mana and vitality the two of them had given up.

"I lost my mana core," Brann said. "Well, that's still better than losing my life."

"I lost my mana core and a lot of fat," Koka added. "Not bad. It just means I get to eat a lot more to recover. Next time, I'd be happy to let Lena put me on another crash diet."

The conversation ended with everyone laughing once again.

Lena's core could not only heal other people through her tribute, but it could also draw on another person's core to restore her own body. It had even regrown her severed hand!

Wasn't that… A little too overpowered?

Then again, Zeph probably wasn't the right person to say that when he himself could return from death over and over again, as many times as the core wanted.

And just like that, the rift expedition had finally come to an end. The swirling portal vortex had already appeared not far from them, ready to take them back to the outside world.

But there was something just as important as finishing the expedition.

The rift completion reward.

It had appeared a short distance from the swirling portal vortex. The five of them walked over and soon found themselves standing before an old treasure chest.

This was the reward they had earned after overcoming everything the rift had thrown at them.

"Open it, Zeph," Madou said, giving him a nudge on the shoulder.

Zeph nodded and stepped forward. He placed his hand on the old lid before slowly lifting it open. The moment the chest opened, something inside burst with brilliant light, shining back into his face and revealing the treasure waiting within.