Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3) by John Gold (novel24 TXT) 📕

zombie rubbing up against the wall. Its fingers scratch the stone, the sound of the scraping bone eating its way into my head. The seconds drag by, and sweat breaks out on my hands. The living corpse continues mauling the stone, bleating slowly. I want to run, but the fear holds me in place. I can’t breathe. Frozen, my hand still hasn’t reached the button.

Finally, the scraping stops, and the sounds start to recede into the distance. The timer shows me that I went three minutes without breathing.

The wall slips softly to the side, the path to the city of the dead looming in front of me.

Notice: You are entering the city of the dead.

One of our own, your ability, will be turned off while you are in this location.

Just like I thought, the old buildings are well-preserved. The empty stone chalets stand next to stores, the latter already rotting and collapsing under their own weight. The windows in the buildings are gone, and it’s almost like something is watching me from the darkness, evaluating me and whispering back and forth. Claws scratch against stone as something runs away off into the distance. I feel light vibrations in the air coming from each house, vibrations so light that I would take them for a breeze if there were somewhere a breeze could be coming from. The air above each stone arch shines a ghostly silver color.

My curiosity gets the better of my fear, and I glance into one of the empty windows.

Ghost, Baron the Dog, Level 2477

The dog appears immediately on the other side of the window and stares at me. It’s half-rotted, with just one eye left, but it starts barking in an attempt to attract the attention of its masters. A couple of other ghosts are sitting on the floor at a low table. They’re almost like real people, smiling and chatting noiselessly. Despite how close I am, I can’t sense their emotions. The dog whirls around to bark at its masters, and they look up and see me. They’re brothers, twin ghosts. Off they run toward the door, the dog hot on their heels, and I do my best to make as little noise as possible as I dash off down the street. The door opens with a creak, though I already dove into one of the piles of construction debris. The ghosts fly past slowly enough for me to catch their names.

Ghost, Brook Menira, Level 2511

My back is slick with sweat, I stop breathing, and my heart skips a beat. They’re going to kill me! They’re going to find me and kill me! My perception is working overtime to the point that I sense something moving slowly toward me from around the corner. It’s small, and it’s looking for me.

The dog steps out from the other side of the corner, limping on its front right paw. It’s following my scent straight to the pile of trash I’m hiding in. A second later, and we’re looking each other in the eye, his soundless barking calling the brother ghosts back from where they are down the street. My heart pounds, and soon they’re both kicking away at me.

Damage received: 53750 (ignored: 12500000)

6400/6400

I break into hysterics, laughing as they kick me. Their soundless cries mingle with the dog’s soundless laughing, not to mention the neighbors running out soundlessly to see what’s going on. My crazed laughter resounds atop it all.

“Dead sun! Maximum.”

A round, silver sphere appears above the crowd, flaring and destroying the ghostly bodies with its light. Silence reigns, the mute cries are silences, and the buildings settle still further. Great, my clothes are ruined. The street is empty save for the young man laughing loudly as tears pour from his eyes.

Achievement received: Titanbane. Thirty-third rank.

Kill an opponent 1650 levels higher than you.

Reward: +165 to all attributes

Level 850 unlocked

15 attribute points available for distribution

It’s my mental resistance that saved me. Normal ghosts can only attack mentally, and there aren’t any mages or material opponents here.

My dead sun killed twenty ghosts, all of whom had run out of their houses to help beat me up. I’m not going to be able to use it for at least another hour.

The ghosts are immaterial, so I don’t get anything from them. All I have left on me is the striped shirt and pants they gave me at the clinic. The cat’s indestructible costume has made it through everything.

Getting up and brushing myself off, I strain my senses as far as they’ll go. The incident with the ghosts told me that my hearing is practically useless, and even my imp eye, despite my heightened perception, has a hard time making them out.

But my hearing does pick up the scratch of claws coming from the corner, so I dive into the newly-empty house. The light tapping gets closer. Soon, I can tell that the owner of the claws is walking on four legs. Shutting the door, I grip the knob with one hand and cover my mouth with the other. The claws scratch their way to the doorstep. I can hear it breathing, sniffing, looking for clues. Then, it starts scraping at the door. Scratch…scratch…scratch… My hair stands on end, and I stop thinking, not to mention breathing. It’s sniffing from its spot on the doorstep. A second goes by, two, ten, a minute…and silence. It’s standing there waiting for the tiniest sound, though I still haven’t breathed. The claws make their way to the open window… It’s quiet, like the pause before a leap… Then, the sound starts moving away.

I take my shoes off, go over to the window, and glance out carefully to see who my mysterious guest was.

Undead, Possessed Rat, Level 2397

It’s the hairless corpse of a mummified rat the size of a dog. After running to the intersection, it turns