The Legendary Toymaker

A continuous dripping could be heard from the distance, a soft current of water passed beside the dizzy Donovan.  He was supporting himself on a big rock that had almost crushed him to death earlier. If he hadn't had practiced some martial arts a few years ago, he would have probably been dead by now. He was currently buried in a vast dark c***k created by a sudden earthquake that sent him all the way down. In his current conditions, he couldn't possibly climb back to the surface. "That earthquake must have killed thousands," Donovan said in a hoarse voice while looking to a path of rocks that created a kind of like tunnel. In this place, there was a pond, where he rested for sometime before he left. After walking through the tunnel. Donovan could see nothing but a dim light far into the cave. 'I really fell deep.' He went ahead through the darkness, slowly walking while resisting his weight on the wall. As time progress, Donovan had got used to the darkness and could only see two meters ahead. 'Come to think of it, surviving that fall was miraculous, and I'm starting to feel better already…' just as he thought, a rumbling sound was heard from the rocks. "AHHHH!!!" A skeleton suddenly rushed forward, trying to cut him with a swing of its sword. Donovan reacted a bit to slow and was cut in the chest. However, before the skeleton could do anything else, Donovan punched directly at its face sending it 3 meters away. Donovan was surprised, not because of his newfound strength but because he could see information above the head of the skeleton. [Skeleton swordman, LVL 0] (undead) Health: 16/20 "What the…" before he could end the phrase, the skeleton tried attacking once again, this time infuriated by the hit.  Still, Donovan wasn't going to let him do as he pleased. He dodged the sword and placed himself behind the skeleton, and before it could react, he twisted the creature's neck, taking 10 points of life from it.  However, to his surprise, the skeleton glared at him in that weird position and tried to bite him. But with a series of punches, Donovan finished him off. Falling back to the ground, he could feel his heart pounding at an alarming rate. So he started breathing according to the autogenic technique he had learned some years ago to calm his heart. Autogenic¹ are techniques he learned in an old book of super learning. According to the book, many famous athletes had used it to win prestigious competitions. It not only works to control the heart rate and breathing, but it is also used to increased the strength output of the body. Healing was part of the benefits, but Donovan thought that kind of healing was too magical. After five minutes of breathing, Donovan finally stood up and looked at the now inert pile of bones. Luckily Donovan had wanted to be an MMA fighter when he was younger but quit after he got a slight wrist injury. "An undead? What’s going on?" The fear he had been suppressing in the fight started to surge. If there are more of those things and attacked him in a group, he would definitely not leave unscathed. 'I need to leave this place.' with this thought, Donovan took the sword the skeleton had left and kept on walking to the seemingly only exit of the cave. 'After I leave this place, I need to find my family and girlfriend. This disaster is a nightmare. I hope they are okay.' He cautiously walked through the darkness. Some minutes later, he ran into 3 more monsters. [Zombie, LVL 0] (undead) [Zombie, LVL 0] (undead) [Skeleton archer, LVL 1] (undead) Donovan, as fearful as the first time, Went to the nearest zombie and thrust at his throat, killing it on the spot. After that, the skeleton archer took aim at him, but Donovan was not going to let it harm him. He somehow hid behind the other zombie so the archer couldn't shoot.  But contrary to his expectation, the zombie received a shot on the back, throwing it closer to Donovan. The zombie didn't complain and launched an attack with his filthy and seemingly toxic nails. When Donovan was scratched on the shoulder, he panicked. What was he going to do now? What if he became a zombie? Not delaying any further, Donovan finished the zombie. Now, only the skeleton was left. If he got close enough, he wouldn't have any problem dealing with the skeleton. What could it do when he approached? Stared at him to death? Or at least that's what he thought. Donovan charged forward dodging the first arrow. When he got close enough, he thrust his sword into the skeleton's chest. Unfortunately for him, the skeleton blocked it with his bow dealing almost no damage but cutting the bow in two. The skeleton tried to attack him with its bony hands just to be blocked by Donovan's sword. After that, it took Donovan 9 slashes to kill the thing. It would have taken less, but using a sword was harder than one could expect.  ‘Where did those arrows come from? Or did it only have five?’ Donovan thought after looking at the three arrows beside the corpse. "Did I transmigrate? No, I have my body. But if not, what on earth is happening? I just want to go home, spend time with my girlfriend, and sculpt a thing or two." said Donovan dispirited. The monsters became progressively tougher as hours passed by, and now there couldn't be found level 0 monsters. Still, it was getting easier despite the hunger and the thirst. Two hours later, at the end of the cavern, Donovan found a shrine guarded by a 6 meters tall zombie made of more zombies. [Dharma zombie, level 3] Health: 150/150 Donovan had retrieved a bow and around 12 arrows from the monsters he had killed. Considering the size of the monster, It shouldn't be a problem to kill it. ‘This doesn't seem to be the exit. Maybe I should go back and check the pound.’ Regrettably, when he turned around to go back, An earth sliding blocked the path. "…" Well, destiny calls. As Donovan thought so he took his bow and made one shot aiming for the zombies head. The arrow rapidly hit the target's feet. -3 "AHHHH!!!" The disfigured creature shouts at its foe direction as if trying to find and explanation for Donovan's actions. Donovan didn't pay him any heed and shot the remaining 11 arrows while the slow creature approached him. -8 -6 -3 -12! When the zombie reached him, it had 117 life remaining. He could have dealt more damage if he had not missed almost half the shots. "Damn it!"