Chapter 51：Death Returns (I): Eight Months Later

"Screet what do you reckon he's doing now? I'm getting bored of this." Neema muttered in annoyance as she ducked under the wild swing of cheetah like monster and turned, grabbing its hind legs and smashing it on the ground before its momentum would take it past her.

Screet didn't seem to be in the mood to answer as the now much taller 4 feet tall mole man spun a metal staff in his hand and brought it smashing into the ground, creating a tremor that spread across the entire field and throwing the group of horned cheetah monsters heading their way backwards and off balance. What was left of their once large zombie family jumped into the fray as a minotaur with a flanged mace smashed in the head of a cheetah and turned to answer Neema.

"I'd reckon he's running around the edge of the dungeon again, still trying to find an exit." The minotaur answered as its leathery pale skin seemed to stretch taut with every movement he made.

"Seriously, he should just be patient! He only has three hours left before we can leave, is there a reason to be so brash, he could get hurt." A bull the size of a car said, however it only had the body of a bull, sharing the same pale disposition as everyone else currently on the battlefield, his head on the other hand was just a skull with green flames burning from within, and to the eyes of people other than his current companions he would be quite a horrifying sight.

"Our master cannot be killed, so no kind of hurt would faze him. Asking him to cower because he can get hurt is an insult to his esteemed self, watch what you say Brutus." Screet finally said, red flames in his eye sockets blazing with a promise of pain and death. The Skull headed bull didn't have a functioning throat, but everyone else heard him swallow loud and clear.

"Screet you should be nicer to your little brothers, you know he didn't mean anything bad by that, he's just worried about me." Rezar's voice was heard as he showed up in their midst, shadows wafting off the edge of his armor.

He hadn't changed much over the eight months he's been here, his hair was longer and more unkempt and was spread all over his face. His already golden brown skin seemed to have a deeper tan than normal, but that was inconsequential. The only major difference was his height; he was extremely tall for a boy that's almost sixteen. At five-foot-eight he was just as tall as most adults, and he was still growing.

Neema was still just about four-foot-tall, the same with Screet who had grown during their time here, not just in power but also in intelligence, grace and meanness. The now Ghoul mole-man had developed a strict trait that he used in keeping everyone else online, even Neema had to defer to him which was pretty much surprising, considering she was of a species more advanced than Screet. But Screet was the first, he had a special place in Rezar's heart and everyone else also had a soft spot for the strict mole-man who made sure to take care of everybody.

But it was weird, especially for Rezar, it was well known that there were no NPCs in Elysium except for certain beings in power like gods and the others, but this group of four undead creatures had personalities and feelings. Of course it had taken a long time and a lot of battles to nurture them to this stage of intelligence, but still it left Rezar with a lot of questions. Were they NPCs or actual humans reincarnated into this form but without any memories of their past lives. He didn't know and neither did they, but in the end they were his family, taking care of them would be his responsibility.

"Are you going to level up now master?" Neema asked as she placed her massive Axe over her shoulder, being able to move the weapon with a lot more ease than before. Rezar looked at the still incoming wave of Cheetah monsters, spotting a few leopards and further down hundreds of lions joining the fray.

"yeah I'll go level up my classes and skills, though I feel the skills have grown just fine. Please take it easy on the lions, they're my favorite." Rezar said to them, but the still unnamed Minotaur had something to say about that.

"No they're not, you hate cats! You just want us to be gentle so we don't upset Varka, and seeing how he's not here I assume that lazy lion is sleeping by the core again!" Rezar shook his head with amusement turning around as he spoke.

"you shouldn't be so jealous Jason, Varka is still just a child. Have fun with the final wave, I'll try to join you guys as soon as possible."

With that said Rezar made his way to the dungeon core, ignoring the adolescent lion that was sleeping there with his legs pointed up into the sky. It was comical and Rezar had to resist the urge to kick the damn cat, not that it would do anything because Varka was the laziest monster he's ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Rezar faced the dungeon core with a smile, it has been an eventful eight months. From being barely alive to having undead three times as strong as he was when he was fist stuck here, not to mention he had also gotten stronger and significantly so much so that he was sure he could give Lenore a run for her money. But honestly he didn't want to get too cocky, if there's on thing solitude had taught him, it was humility.

He was strong now, but given that he's only been here for about a year, it can't be compare to those who've had the chance to train and live here from childhood. Even his past memories and experience of Elysium did not prepare him for this, but then again he doubted anyone has had to fight wave after wave of monsters six hours apart. He watched many of his undead die and those that survived get stronger, until there was only four and an extremely lazy familiar, but never the less time has come to finally leave this place, but first leveling up will be good.