Name: Deadly Enemy
Type: Curse
Level: Significant
Description:
Someone very powerful is very angry with you.
The moment you receive this curse, an entity possessing power comparable to an Epic Familiar becomes filled with absolute, irrational hatred toward you.
This enemy will stop at nothing to tear you apart.
Solution: Kill or neutralize your sworn enemy.
“So…
what exactly changed?”
I stared skeptically at the translucent System window that was apparently supposed to make me tremble with primal terror.
“I already have an entire waiting list of powerful enemies.
One more, one less…
at this point, it’s practically a statistical error.”
The power of an Epic Familiar…
I estimated the threat level using my own internal scale.
On my ten-point scale, that was roughly a solid four, maybe five.
In other words, an enemy approximately equal to me in my current state.
Someone potentially capable of wiping a small city off the map, maybe even a couple of them if they had the right build.
A serious threat to ordinary civilians.
But this was the DC Multiverse.
There was an entire army of monsters here who were considerably more terrifying.
“Whatever.
It could be anyone.”
“Starting with someone like Hawkgirl or a crazed Cyborg, and ending with someone like Shazam or Black Adam, assuming their default, baseline versions exist in this world.”
I dismissed the notification.
There was no point worrying about problems that hadn’t come knocking on my door yet.
I pulled off the dark Arkham uniform I’d borrowed from that unfortunate guard, leaving myself completely naked.
To put it mildly, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant sight.
Ash-gray dead skin.
A network of poisonous green veins pulsing with the remnants of Venom.
Countless burns.
Severed fingers.
Burned hair and eyebrows.
And no external ears.
I approached the edge of the stone pool and carefully dipped the tip of my big toe into the thick, toxic-green sludge of the Lazarus Pit, almost like someone testing the water before getting in.
“Fuuuuuck!”
I immediately jerked my foot back, hissing through clenched teeth.
An infernal, searing pain shot instantly from my foot all the way to the back of my skull.
The sensation was comparable to the recent assimilation of Exorcist’s Light, except multiplied by ten.
The reason was painfully obvious.
My fundamental nature as a Higher Undead, the very essence of the Nightmare Knight, was violently clashing with the primordial, concentrated Life energy filling the Pit.
Trying to take a bath in this state would end with me dissolving like a lump of sugar in boiling water.
“Then we’ll do it exactly as planned.”
“I can’t afford a single mistake.”
I pulled a glass bottle of Jagger-Fanta from my inventory.
I tore off the cap and downed the entire half-liter in two enormous gulps.
The carbonated drink tasted like artificial citrus and industrial chemicals.
An unnatural warmth immediately spread through my stomach.
My heart, or rather, the dead organ that replaced it, gave a heavy twitch as it prepared to restart.
I stepped toward the edge.
Then I pushed off the stone and jumped several meters into the air, hovering above the emerald surface.
I tucked my body into a cannonball and mentally accessed the System interface.
Then I forcibly deactivated the Nightmare Knight Trait.
The transformation hit me like a sledgehammer.
My ash-gray skin immediately flushed pink.
My lungs spasmed open, dragging the damp air of the underground cavern inside.
And in my chest, a living human heart suddenly began pounding like a jackhammer.
I was human again.
A vulnerable piece of meat.
And in that exact microsecond, the Joker’s laughing acid, which had been peacefully sloshing around inside my dead stomach all this time, burned straight through my stomach lining.
My insides erupted in agony.
This wasn’t ordinary burning.
It was the literal agony of living tissue dissolving from the inside, spreading rapidly throughout my body and threatening to kill me before I even hit the water.
But…
The buffs activated.
The insane combination of Bane’s Venom Serum and the Jagger-Fanta I’d just consumed took the hit.
Cellular regeneration and my artificially elevated pain threshold fought back against the acid, buying me the critically important fractions of a second I needed.
With a tremendous splash, I crashed into the Lazarus Pit.
“Holy shit…
this feels fucking amazing.”
The moment my living body disappeared beneath the surface, the Pit’s monstrously concentrated Life energy engulfed me.
It entered through my pores.
Flooded my lungs.
Rushed through my bloodstream.
The pain from the Joker’s acid vanished beneath a tsunami of healing energy.
Thanks to the passive effect of my Breathing Technique, I remained fully conscious.
I could physically feel every cell in my broken, burned body evolving before my eyes, pushing violently beyond the limits of standard human biology.
“And it actually makes sense.”
I analyzed the process with detached fascination as the Pit began restructuring my DNA.
“This partially explains why people who regularly bathe here don’t seem to have normal physiological limits.”
Especially Ra’s al Ghul.
Physically, in terms of speed and endurance alone, the old bastard was comfortably in low-level metahuman territory.
At least a Threat Level Three.
The Pit didn’t merely heal.
It preserved and improved.
As my body greedily absorbed the energy and rapidly regenerated, pushing the neutralized acid out of my stomach, another System notification suddenly flashed before my eyes.
Feat Completed:
Immerse yourself in the waters of the mythical Lazarus Pit and survive the purification process.
Reward: 1 Platinum Ticket.
“Platinum!”
My calculation had been correct.
The System had generously rewarded this act of regenerative masochism.
I surfaced, greedily gasping for the stale air of the cavern.
My feet found the shallow, slippery bottom.
I slowly waded through the dense water until I reached the gently sloping edge of the Pit.
Then I leaned my back against the wet stone and sat down, allowing the water to reach my chest.
Judging by the intensely itchy bumps where my severed fingers had been and the burning sensation around my temples where new ears were forming, complete regeneration would still take some time.
I could rest.
As for the legendary madness caused by the Lazarus Pit, the insanity that supposedly drove every resurrected person crazy…
“Madness isn’t going to be a problem for me.”
“That would be like trying to put out a forest fire with aviation fuel.”
I concluded philosophically, feeling nothing more than a pleasant euphoria.
“Overall, life’s turned out pretty damn well.”
I said it aloud to the echoing cavern.
Then I materialized the glowing Platinum Ticket in my hand and immediately tore open the thick cardboard.
Name: Undead Army
Type: Familiar
Rarity: Elite
Description:
Your personal, loyal legion of the dead!
The army scales and grows larger as your personal strength increases.
Whenever a combat unit dies, it can be returned to service at the cost of your magical energy.
Starting Composition:
30 Warrior Skeletons
20 Archer Skeletons
5 Skeleton Mages
The quantity, quality of equipment, and intelligence of the undead increase proportionally to your Threat Level.
“This is fate!”
I snorted.
I wasn’t even remotely surprised that the System was obviously rigging things in my favor.
I’d already confirmed the existence of certain hidden algorithms and scripts within the Gacha across roughly ten previous runs.
The System frequently gave me things that were conceptually compatible with my current build.
And honestly, that was even better than pure randomization.
It allowed me to build a much more effective strategy, especially now that the new fusion mechanics existed.
A warning immediately appeared.
Attention!
Familiar category slot limit reached.
Maximum: 2
You have the following options to resolve the System conflict:
1.
Burn an existing Familiar and free the slot for the new one.
2.
Burn the new Familiar, Undead Army, and receive compensation in the form of a lower-rarity Ticket, Gold.
3.
Fuse it with one of your existing Familiars.
“Oh?”
My eyes immediately locked onto the third option.
“Not Synergy, but actual Fusion.”
If I translated the dry System terminology into practical terms, it meant that the Familiar category didn’t have the same strict conceptual restrictions as Synergies.
Basically, I could potentially fuse this army of undead with a Chocobo…
Or even that useless Spy Rat from my earliest rolls.
“I’m obviously not doing that right now.”
“Undead Army is the perfect foundation.”
“It should become the base for absorbing every weaker Familiar I acquire in the future, allowing me to continuously increase its quality.”
“And that’s not even counting my Nightmare Knight Trait.”
“The moment I switch back into my undead form, one of my passive auras will buff the stats of even the simplest Warrior Skeletons, turning them into elite infantry.”
At that moment, the places where my ears were beginning to grow started itching.
Actually, my entire body had begun itching violently.
That was a sure sign that my burns and scars were closing beneath fresh, pink skin.
I was also suddenly becoming incredibly sleepy.
Which wasn’t surprising.
I’d spent God knows how long on my feet, under constant stress, fighting, getting broken bones, surviving explosions, and burning through enormous amounts of energy.
As an undead, I didn’t actually need to sleep.
The System compensated for fatigue.
But here and now, sitting in warm green water, I was simply an exhausted human being.
“Guard the perimeter.”
“Kill anything that comes within a hundred meters of me.”
My voice was hoarse as I activated the Summoning command.
The space around the Lazarus Pit rippled with black energy.
With the dry clatter of bones, figures began rising from the shadows.
My undead army.
Silent figures with empty eye sockets burning with pale flames immediately spread throughout the ruins of Wonder City with perfect military discipline.
They blocked every approach to the Pit.
“If my newly acquired Deadly Enemy…”
“Or just some random asshole…”
“…decides to test me while I’m asleep, the remaining Venom, kinetic absorption, and my guards should be enough to keep me alive long enough to wake up.”
That was my final thought.
My head slowly dropped onto my folded arms at the edge of the Pit.
I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the peaceful, motionless army of dead puppets silently guarding me and the edge of the glowing pool.
Nobody had tried to twist my head off.
The walls of Wonder City hadn’t collapsed on top of me.
Which meant I could confirm the first and most important fact.
I had survived.
This sleep hadn’t been my last.
The second fact became obvious when I listened to my body.
I’d been in this world for more than twelve hours.
The evidence was simple.
The pulsing network of poisonous green veins had completely disappeared from my body.
Bane’s Venom Serum had finally worn off.
The crash that should, according to every law of physiology, have turned my muscles into jelly and my brain into oatmeal had definitely happened.
But the Lazarus Pit had simply eaten the debuff without even choking.
And that was in addition to its primary healing effect.
At the edge of my vision, the System interface blinked.
Feat Completed:
Completely restore your body in the Lazarus Pit without going insane.
Reward: 1 Silver Ticket.
“Slowly building up the small stuff.”
I nodded to myself with satisfaction.
I slowly climbed out of the green water onto the stone shore.
The sensation was…
Amazing.
An incredible, long-forgotten lightness.
Hot, pulsing life throughout my entire body.
Every breath felt incredible.
I stretched, working my newly healed joints.
Then I mentally reached toward the System settings and reactivated the Nightmare Knight Trait.
All that human euphoria instantly vanished.
It was burned away by the cold of the grave.
My heartbeat stopped.
The warmth disappeared.
It was replaced by icy, calculated calm and the absolute, almost lazy relaxation of a predator.
The undead wandering nearby reacted instantly.
For a brief moment, the skeletons froze, as if an electrical current had passed through them when my aura switched on.
Then they straightened into perfect attention.
The pale flames inside their empty eye sockets burned brighter.
Subjectively, they felt denser, faster, and more aggressive, infused with my passive power.
“Interesting.”
I recalled the skeletal army back into the pocket dimension of my inventory.
I picked up the Arkham guard uniform I’d removed earlier.
It was dusty, slightly torn, and covered in blood, but still functional.
I quickly put it back on.
A short wakizashi I’d taken from one of the dead League assassins served as an excellent, if rather crooked, mirror.
I really had returned to a normal human appearance.
Well…
As normal as a pale, grim-faced man in his thirties with dead eyes could possibly look.
The important thing was that I had ears again.
And enough fingers to make rude gestures at people.
“Okay.”
“Cosmetic repairs are officially finished.”
“What comes next?”
Originally, I’d expected, and even hoped, that surviving League assassins would come after me while I slept.
They’d want revenge for my arrogance and for turning several dozen of their colleagues into minced meat.
Batman could also have shown up.
With his AI, there was physically no way he hadn’t been tracking my movements.
Whether he came personally, armored up and rattling his Kevlar, or used ARGUS’s administrative resources again didn’t matter.
The important thing was that he’d show up.
My business model was perfect.
Do nothing.
Receive problems.
Solve them dramatically.
Loot Tickets. Get faster updates on g.com.
Get stronger.
Unfortunately, the Gacha economy had broken down.
I’d clearly overestimated the operational speed of my opponents.
Or perhaps I’d underestimated their caution.
Nobody had disturbed me.
Therefore, the tactical initiative was once again in my cold hands.
It was time to switch to the offensive.
“First, let’s arrange the pieces on the chessboard.”
I organized the situation in my head while slowly leaving the ruins of Wonder City and heading toward the elevator shaft.
First, and most obviously, there was Batman-Thomas.
The old man was definitely sharpening his little bat fangs and polishing his Batarangs.
Everything had piled up.
I’d challenged his monopoly on violence.
I’d threatened his beloved psychotic son.
I’d torn apart his personal kindergarten for maniacs on Arkham Island.
And I’d broken a couple of his ribs.
Although that was probably the least of his problems.
For me and my future plans, Batman was currently the biggest pain in the ass.
But he was also the most promising source of Feats.
That’s why he was number one on my list.
Second were the idiots from the local League of villains.
Or perhaps I should say the local League of Broke-Ass Villains.
Joker would probably never forgive me for ruining his performance and forcibly transforming him into the first one-eyed, one-handed pirate clown in Gotham’s history.
Scarecrow…
I couldn’t even say anything meaningful about him.
His toxins were so useless against undead creatures that I barely cared about them.
And then there was the Riddler.
Edward Nygma was the wildcard.
There was a very high probability that he was the one who had assembled this little club of anonymous psychos and alcoholics.
A battle of wits with him could potentially become genuinely interesting…
Assuming he actually took it seriously.
And then there was Joker-Bruce.
Assuming there was anything left of Bruce Wayne’s brain beneath all that makeup and acid.
Third was Superman.
The Big Blue Boy Scout should have had enough time to process the public exposure of his secret identity and recover from the shock.
How exactly he would react was difficult to predict.
A Kryptonian’s psychology under enough pressure could produce practically anything.
But I already had a nasty little idea prepared for him.
“Come on, summon.”
I mentally scanned through my undead army sleeping inside my inventory.
Then I selected five Skeleton Mages and pulled them into reality.
With the dry clatter of bones, five figures wearing tattered robes materialized in front of me.
“Attack.”
I pointed mentally toward a solid brick wall belonging to a nearby half-collapsed building.
The air immediately began humming with concentrated mana.
Several colorful projectiles flew toward the wall.
A fireball.
An ice spear.
A blade of wind.
A stone spike.
The wall exploded with a deafening crash, crumbling into rubble.
“Just as I thought.”
I narrowed my eyes at the fifth skeleton.
“Four elementalists and one…”
I recalled the elemental mages, leaving only the robed skeleton holding a staff that radiated the freezing aura of a graveyard.
A Dark Mage.
“Show me what you’ve got.”
The skeleton obediently demonstrated its arsenal.
First came a Necrotic Beam.
Then it surrounded itself with a dense shield of swirling dark energy.
Finally, it formed a pulsating Dark Spear in midair and drove it into the ground.
Three basic spells.
But the beautiful thing about the situation was that Superman had absolutely no innate immunity to magic.
Especially not Death and Dark magic.
His normal resistances wouldn’t save him.
It wasn’t a chunk of Kryptonite, which, incidentally, I absolutely needed to acquire at the first opportunity.
But as an initial countermeasure, it would do.
Satisfied, I returned the Skeleton Mage to my inventory and approached the open elevator shaft leading to the surface.
Back to our little collection of problems.
Number four was Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Assassins.
As a threat to my current self, he was frankly insignificant.
I viewed the immortal old bastard primarily as a potential loot source.
There was an entire island.
Another Lazarus Pit.
Weapons.
Gold.
And if I played my cards correctly, I could potentially take his entire thousand-year-old organization along with it.
Number five was ARGUS, Amanda Waller, and her personal squad of suicidal lunatics.
Thomas probably wouldn’t allow their operatives back into his city after the recent fiasco.
But the moment I left Gotham…
Seriously harming me would probably be beyond their capabilities.
Creating irritating chaos and getting in my way, however?
That was exactly what they specialized in.
And if I remembered correctly, Harley Quinn should currently be wearing one of their collars.
“Fine.”
“For now, I’ll just mark ARGUS as a pencil note in the margins.”
I grabbed the thick, rusty elevator cable.
With one powerful pull, I launched myself upward.
I hung over the abyss and began rhythmically pulling myself up the shaft.
Undead creatures didn’t experience fatigue, so the climb felt more like riding an escalator.
As I climbed, I continued sorting through my potential enemies.
Then I remembered the System condition.
“Right.”
“My unknown Deadly Enemy.”
I thought about the curse.
“The severity of ‘deadly’ in this world could range anywhere from ‘annoying pain in the ass’ to ‘absolute fucking disaster.'”
“Hell of a situation.”
I chuckled aloud as I pulled myself upward.
“It’s basically the classic dead man’s hand in poker.”
I reached the upper level, pulled myself over the edge, and jumped through the opening where I’d previously smashed the elevator doors.
“But…”
I dusted off my uniform.
“It’s more fun this way.”
Back in Gotham’s dark, damp catacombs, I confidently started walking through the tunnel.
Most of the factions opposing me had one thing in common.
A single point where all their interests intersected.
And that point was a gloomy man wearing a bat costume.
“Then it’s settled.”
“Next stop: Wayne Manor and the Batcave.”
“I’ll do some aggressive reconnaissance, steal the Batmobile purely for the hell of it, push Thomas far enough to give himself a nervous tic, and maybe meet Barbara somewhere a little more casual.”
“And, of course, I’ll get a mountain of Tickets for all the vandalism.”
Having even a rough, arrogant plan made existence slightly easier.
My stride became noticeably lighter.
The only thing I needed now was to find some mint gum along the way.
It would be awkward if my breath smelled like a corpse when I met Barbara.
Romance requires sacrifices.
Just…
Not those kinds of sacrifices.