ã€ŠNetherborne [An OP Monster Isekai]ã€‹


 Chapter Prologue

    ¡°Another trash novel finished. Guess I¡¯ll leave a three-star rating.¡±

    Victor was a regr reader of any and all reincarnation light novels on TrashNovels and actively moderated the site.

    ¡°Right time for my one-thousandth review on this shitty website.¡± While pondering what to write, Victor reached over to retrieve a potato chip and leaned back into his chair. There was a slight creaking sound as the chair defied his weight.

    ¡°Darn chair, need to get a new one,¡± Victor grumbled as his hands drifted quickly over the keyboard, illuminated by his two screens and the moonlighting through his half-open curtains as he furiously typed away.

    As the connoisseur of light novels in the field of reincarnation, Victor liked to leave extensive reviews on what could be improved in an already written story. ¡°Why are all these protagonists so dumb? Do they all think with their other head? How does he even have a harem by the second chapter?¡± he read out loud as he typed away.

    A gentle voice whispered, ¡°Do you think you could do better?¡± The voice had a mischievous tone to it. Music red in his ears, and Victor was still busy typing his review and, therefore, was not fully paying attention.

    ¡°Of course I could do better,¡± were thest words of his review instead of an answer to the question given by the mysterious voice.

    ¡°Hehe, confident, aren¡¯t we, little one? So why not give it a go?¡± the voice persisted.

    Victor simply snorted. ¡°Am I finally going crazy?¡± He checked if the song had changed on his YouTube tab, but his music was all normal. He had listened to the same lofi hip-hop beats for thest ten hours.

    ¡°If you could start over, would you?¡±

    Victor instantly straightened his back and looked around his dark room. He grabbed a ballpoint pen on his desk and held it in a reverse grip. The room remained silent for a while, and Victor gulped. Finally, he humored the voice and answered, ¡°If I could leave this shitty life behind and live like these protagonists, I would have done so long ago.¡± The room remained pin-drop silent except for the whirling of hisputer fan. ¡°I finally went crazy!¡± He slumped back in his chair and stared at his screens. Victor suddenly felt exhausted. He rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn as he pressed submit on his one-thousandth review.

    Feeling content with himself for finally finishing every reincarnation novel on the website, hey back in his chair. ¡°Why do I feel so tired?¡± he muttered while taking a sip of his energy drink. Then he watched in shock as his hand lost all its strength and the can fell to the floor. His head rolled to the side, and he used all his effort to stay awake.

    Yet nothing could prevent his eyes from closing despite caffeine surging through his veins. Victor felt something was terribly wrong, but he had little power to stop it. For the first time in his life, he felt genuinely helpless. ''Am I having a heart attack?'' he thought as he clutched his chest.

    The sudden mechanical female voice and floating text furthered his feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.

    ¡°Congrattions, mortal, you have been chosen¡­¡±

    And then his vision went ck.

    ***

    Victor floated within an unknown space for a long time.

    Then something seemed to pull.

    Gently at first but slowly getting stronger¡­

    ¡°Wee to my realm¡­¡±

    A girl appeared before him from the darkness.

    Her face was blurred and distorted, but she had a feminine figure.

    ¡°I am so d you epted my offer!¡±

    ¡°Huh? What offer?¡± Victor said, but no sound came out of his mouth.

    The distorted shadow girl tilted her head in confusion. ¡°But you said you could do better than all those before you?¡±

    Victor thought hard. Was she referring to his review? Or perhaps she was that voice he heard before arriving here? ¡°Wait, before me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, all those supposed stories you read actually happened. I am a goddess of reincarnation and am here to send you to a new world!¡±

    ¡°That just makes it even more disturbing,¡± Victor blurted out. He didn¡¯t believe this girl was a goddess for one second, nor that all those stories he had read actually happened. ¡°You are telling me that the ck Smith harem novel I just finished was a historical ount of real events?¡±

    The self-proimed goddess sidestepped the question and continued her speech unimpeded. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s time to pick what to be reincarnated as!¡±

    With a p of her hands, a blue screen appeared before Victor.

    He scrutinized the screen, and a disturbing realization washed over him. It was an actual blue screen like the ones from all those novels involving stat pages. ¡°I am being sent to a game world?¡±

    The shadow girl nodded.

    Victor returned his sight to the screen. It was a long list of races with numbers next to them. ¡°Okay, so first, I need to select a race. What do these points next to them mean?¡±

    ¡°Oh, oops, I forgot to mention you have ten points to spend. Certain races cost more than others; the points can also be used to buy skills, so spend wisely.¡±

    [Dragon] - 10

    [Vampire] - 10

    [Angel] - 10

    [High Human] - 8

    [Human] - 5

    [High Elf] - 8

    [Dark Elf] - 7

    [Elf] - 6

    [Beastman] (Multiple options avable) - 2

    [Dwarf] - 6

    ¡°Can I ask questions about the world?¡± Victor asked the goddess.

    The hazy figure seemed to smirk at him as if enjoying his predicament, and her tone became a little venomous. ¡°No. I already gave you thousands of stories¡¯ worth of information, yet you still ask for more. ssic greedy humans. I will only answer questions involving races or skills you have never seen before. However, I will say¡­the world you are going to has magic, and you will start as a baby of whatever race you choose.¡± The goddessughed. ¡°Although some races start more mature than others, so choose wisely! You have ten minutes to decide, or I will choose the human race for you¡­¡±

    Victor frowned as he looked over the list; after a while, he began mumbling like a crazy person. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have enough time to deeply consider each option, so he just summarized his thoughts on each.

    ¡°Considering all those light novels about reincarnation are real¡­I have an extensive database of knowledge to pull from. First on the list, dragons. An excellent choice at first nce. Apex predators with high magic resistance, muscr bodies, and long lifespans. More powerful dragons can also transform into humans and roam cities.

    ¡°But before obtaining a human form, I would have to sleep in a cave and eat animals and monsters raw. I could be killed by other dragons for entering their territory; famous adventure groups wille knocking to kill me for my scales and the title of being a dragon yer. But by far, the biggest disadvantage is starting as a baby dragon. I would be nothing but a glorified fire-breathing lizard and would need to eat and sleep for hundreds of years before I could survive easily on my own. However, if I can¡¯t find anything better, I guess dragon would be a good choice.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Victor quickly moved on to the next on the list. ¡°Vampires have an infinite lifespan, are very powerful, and look simr to humans. But with their poweres far too many drawbacks, such as weakness to silver, sunlight, holy and fire magic. Even bodies of water and locked doors may be an issue if religion is prevalent in this new world. Also, I would have to do everything at night and never be able to leave a castle or something.

    ¡°Angels. The holy magic and wings would be incredible, but I don¡¯t want to be worshipped everywhere I go and forced to hold ceremonies for the church¡­so nope, moving on.

    ¡°High humans and normal humans have the same issues. If given a chance, why live a simr life to the one you already had? Sure, I will have cheat-like abilities to make my life easier, but I always dreamed of being something greater, like a dragon that¡¯s way cooler than a dull human. Also, humans have a shorter lifespan than the other species on this list, if not the shortest.¡± Victor then twisted his face in disgust. ¡°And there¡¯s no way I¡¯m going through breastfeeding again, or god forbid having to swallow nd food that is so prevalent in medieval fantasy worlds.

    ¡°Bing an elf seems like the most viable option here on paper. Extended life, good at magic and archery, and extremely beautiful while also being rather simr to humans. That¡¯s until you remember they are often captured and sold as ves in almost every story ever written, or the fact they live on nuts, berries, and fruits while deep in the wild away from any type of civilization. I would go mad! Same with Beastmen. They are also often treated like shit by humans; they have short and harsh lives, so yeah, that¡¯s a no.

    ¡°Dwarves¡­are rated at six? Now that I think about it, they are always the most technologically advanced race with advanced systems like indoor plumbing and are usually on good terms with all the other races by providing weapons and services. Not to mention their affinity with earth-based magics and smithing. Are they not also super strong, immune to poisons which causes their ridiculous alcohol tolerance, and live for hundreds of years? Huh, if not for their short stature, living in caves, and dirty lifestyle, they could make an excellent choice.¡±

    Victor spent another few minutes thinking over the list, but they all had something wrong with them, and when given a choice, he always preferred to pick the best one. But unfortunately, his time was running out, so he decided to take his shot. ¡°I like dragons, but I was wondering if there were other options?¡±

    The goddess sighed. ¡°You are the first person to ask me that. Most just choose to be a dragon or high human. There are other options, but I never bothered to show them since they are less desirable to human reincarnators.¡±

    The previous list phased out of existence, and a new one took its ce.

    [Slime] - 0

    [Spider] - 0

    [Goblin] - 0

    [Gnome] - 0

    [Wolf] - 1

    [Lizard man] - 2

    [Troll] - 3

    [Centaur] - 4

    [Mermaid] - 4

    Victor¡¯s eyes scanned down the list, and he scoffed. ¡°Nope, these are all too weak. Even having ten points left over to spend on skills can¡¯tpensate for how weak and slow these races evolve. Sure, there are stories of super-strong slimes or goblins, but it took years and immense luck, even with overpowered abilities, to get strong enough to defend themselves.¡±

    Before going back and picking dragon or high human, Victor asked the goddess, ¡°Are there undead or spirit options?¡±

    ¡°Uh, sure there are, but why would you want to be an undead?¡±

    Again the screen changed to reveal what Victor had been looking for.

    [Skeleton] - 0

    [Whisp] - 0

    [Ghost] - 1

    [Zombie] - 1

    [Mummy] - 1

    [Banshee] - 2

    [Ghoul] - 2

    [Living armor] -3

    [Deathlock] - 4

    [Lich] -5

    [Dracolich] - 8

    [Netherborne] - 10

    Victor felt like he preferred these options; at least they were far better than bing a spider or slime. ''Since the goddess said I would be reborn as a baby, I was nning on bing a lich since there is no such thing as a baby lich, but there seem to be two better options. Why a lich? They are immortal and do not need food, water, or money. Any work I need to aplish can be done by my raised minions. Also, in the stories I read, undead MCs always seem to overtake nations.''

    ''A dracolich seems to be a dragon that turned itself into a lich, simr to how a human can be a lich. I guess it would be just a giant bone dragon.''

    ¡°Goddess, what is a Netherborne? I have never heard of one before.¡±

    The goddess seemed hesitant to answer as if that option wasn¡¯t supposed to be avable. ¡°The most powerful undead in existence.¡±

    ¡°My better judgment tells me to go with my original n and pick lich, but why is Netherborne valued twice as highly as a lich, the supposed king of the undead? Even a dragon turned into a lich is cheaper than the Netherborne¡­

    ¡°Can you tell me anything else about Netherbornes?¡± Victor pleaded with the goddess, but she shook her shadowy head.

    ¡°No. I would also prefer if you didn¡¯t pick it.¡±

    Victor ignored the goddess¡¯s warning. If she didn¡¯t want him to pick a super-overpowered race, it had to be perfect for his ns. ¡°Do I start with any abilities?¡±

    ¡°Language understanding and any innate abilities to the race. For example, spiders would have a poison fang ability and elves have wind magic.¡±

    Victor stared at the options for a while beforeing to a conclusion. ¡°Okay, I pick Netherborne.¡± Something about that unknown race called out to him as if it was his destiny all along.

    ¡°Really, you sure? You can¡¯t pick any abilities then since it costs ten points.¡±

    ¡°Even though I can¡¯t start with any abilities¡­I¡¯m sure I can obtain someter. Also, considering there are creatures like dragons that are way stronger than liches, my life won¡¯t be one hundred percent secure if I choose lich, but if I am an undead at the same level as a dragon, then what could go wrong?

    ¡°Yeah, no problem. Make me a Netherborne.¡±

    ¡°Very well, then. Best of luck.¡±

    Upon his final words, the world went ck as his consciousness faded away for the second time today.

 Chapter 1. Escaping The Void

    A creature lurked outside a world¡¯s barrier in a golden lightning cage within the vast void. It had remained lifeless for a long time, constantly in stasis of existence. The ethereal whispers of the void couldn¡¯t awaken the creature from its eternal slumber. Titanic horrors that shouldn¡¯t exist casually floated by with curious nces with their many eyes that had seen the birth and death of stars. The old ones knew to avoid it, and the younglings would soon learn.

    The cage was in a constant state of orbit around the world. Never moving between star systems like those ancient predators that lurked nearby¡ªthe cage was to both contain and protect its prisoner, as some void creatures would love to consume such a notorious creature.

    For the first time since its creation, the cage showed signs of sentience as it pulsed and allowed a soul entry. The dormant creature of shadows raised its head¡­

    ¡°Where the fuck is this?¡± Its voice was ancient, older than the distant stars. It sounded like many things talking at once, and mana carried its words far through the expansive nothingness.

    Just from his words alone, Victor knew he was no longer human¡ªnot to mention no human could survive floating out in space like this. He felt¡­strange, odd, confused. No adjective in the Englishnguage could describe being suspended in nothingness. He could tell his body was huge, but it was hard to tell without a reference.

    His thoughts were cloudy and dull, as if downloading an update. Something squirmed around in his skull, building walls and sealing something. It was all very confusing.

    But then everything snapped into focus. Victor was somewhere, as something, but he could finally think. His brain whizzed as ideas of his situation flew past.

    ¡°That goddess never told me my mission.¡± His voice sounded old, as old as time, nothing like his previous teenage voice cracks. A frown formed on the Netherborne¡¯s face. From his memories, if the protagonist was never provided with a purpose, such as ¡°Defeat the Demon Lord!¡± then there were more nefarious schemes behind the scenes. Why would an all-powerful entity kidnap a random soul and give them preferential treatment?

    The void rumbled as what could only be described as an eldritch blue whale floated below the cage. Before Victor could even react, a force smashed into the cage, and it didn¡¯t resist. Instead, it flew down toward the giant blue below. A barrier seemed to surround the. It was so dense it was visible. Victor silently screamed in his mind as he hurtled toward it. Then, right before impact, a small gap formed. The cell opened up and pushed him against it.

    The hole was merely a few meters widepared to his titanic size. Yet the cage and unknown force did not relent. He waspressed and squeezed through.

    ***

    Victor had expected to fall from the sky; instead, the tear in the world¡¯s barrier created a gap in reality that he crawled through. Then, with a pop, it closed behind him, sealing him from the void he had awoken in. He was in a crouched position as he nced at the floor. There was something he could only describe as a cultist ritual circle, although it looked old and abandoned.

    Victor stood up, stretched his body to its full height, and looked around himself, or he tried to but was already confused. Firstly the ritual circle was covered in foliage. The tattered clothes surrounding the ritual helped hide the rotting bodies of long-dead humans.

    He felt nothing despite the horrific sight. Only cold thoughts upied his mind, mainly the objective of the goddess. If she cared about the, there was no way she would allow a creature such as himself into the world. ¡°So, what is her n?¡± His ancient voice remained the same, but itcked that gravity it had in the void. He could hear a sudden rustle as animals scurried away from him in all directions.

    ¡°So I was enormous in the void and still am.¡± Victor scrutinized his surroundings. ¡°Unless the trees are tiny here¡­I am tall, disturbingly so.¡± He reached out to touch the top of a nearby tree but paused. His arm was no longer made of flesh and blood. Instead, it was some kind of shadowy mist that evaporated with every passing second, and at the end were ws, easily a meter-long each and made of dark metal.

    ¡°All right, let¡¯s see what I¡¯m working with here. Status.¡±

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 1]

    [STR: 999, DEX: 999, CON: 999, INT: 999, WIS: 999]

    [Race Information]

    [Skills]

    [¡­]

    ¡°Aren¡¯t those values a little high for a level one?¡± Victor worried as he read the stats that appeared in his mind. ¡°Anyways, pushing that aside, let¡¯s check out the race information¡­¡±

    [Netherbornes are sentient undead nightmares from the void; they are artificial and malicious and recorded to take pleasure in the corruption and suffering of others. They are creatures known to end civilizations when summoned and have immense control over the powers of darkness. Few have feasted their eyes on their true forms and lived to tell the tale, but a few records im they stood taller than arge barn with bodies of shadowy mist and lethal des.]

    [Netherbornes are unnatural beings rejected by the world¡¯s energies and therefore consume lifeforce to remain on the mortal ne¡­]

    [Notice: To maintain form in the mortal realm, one stat is lost per second from each stat category.]

    ¡°So that exins why the trees seemed small; I¡¯mrger than a barn, so maybe more than six meters tall? But more concerning is thatst notice¡­¡± Victor quickly rechecked his stats.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [STR: 939, DEX: 939, CON: 939, INT: 939, WIS: 939]

    ¡°It¡¯s only been a minute, and I have already lost over sixty stat points in each category, so three hundred in total? So doesn¡¯t that mean I only have around fifteen minutes to live?¡±

    In a dull panic, Victor opened his skill menu.

    [Consume X]

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]

    [Freezing Cone V]

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement III]

    ¡°Shit, I don¡¯t even have time to read my abilities. That can wait; I need to find prey to kill while my stats are still high.¡± If the world had be a video game, Victor was certain he would gain more stat points with each level up. He was only level one, after all.

    Victor started to run in a random direction, but much to his surprise, it seemed Netherborne were incapable of simply walking. Rather, they floated or flew to move. ¡°This will be a massive advantage inbat,¡± he said as he made no noise or vibrations and could also change direction instantly instead of turning and giving away his movements to an opponent.

    While floating through the forest like some grim reaper, he turned on his Annihting Aura. Any creature within thirty feet of Victor died instantly. This seemed an effective method for killing all the insects hiding amongst the soil and trees.

    [Level up!]

    [Level up!]

    [Level up!]

    [Level up!]

    A constant pain seemed to gnaw at his brain. The pain was simr to hunger but left Victor feeling like he was withering away.

    Despite leveling up multiple times, his stats were still decreasing by the second. Thinking for a moment, he decided to read the first skill description:

    [Consume]: Absorb nearby lost souls for life energy.

    Realizing what he was doing wrong, Victor activated Consume, and tiny blue wisps started flying toward him and were absorbed by his shadowy body. He could feel the life energy enter his body, but it was quickly used to maintain his form.

    Even after killing hundreds of bugs, Victor had only really stabilized his stats at around one thousand each. Then, desperately looking around, he saw a small green man with a wooden pole and rags covering his junk hiding in a bush. Is that a goblin? he wondered.

    Victor floated over to the green man. Despite being directly in front of the little monster no taller than his w, the goblinpletely ignored him as if he was not even there due to his maxed-out Stealth skill, but it seemed to sense something was wrong¡ªits instincts hinted of iing death. The forest had suddenly gone deathly silent. The usual hum of insects had vanished and been reced with a chilly stillness. So the little green man decided to run. Victor simply followed behind with a wicked smile.

    Victor had disabled his Annihting Aura to not kill the little goblin. But, as everyone knew, goblins were not solitary creatures. They are like rodents and breed like crazy. So all I need to do is follow this little goblin to his nest, and then my rapidly lowering stats issue could be resolved for a while.

    It was quite a terrifying sight if anyone could see it. A small one-meter-tall goblin was running with a fearful face while a barn-size shadow monster of death silently floated behind it like some stalker.

    This poor little goblin would regret bringing his tribe to extinction in his next life.

 Chapter 2. Race Against Time

    Time was running out, and there wasn¡¯t a goblin tribe in sight. Since Victor had to turn off his Annihting Aura while following the goblin, his stats were in free fall as he couldn¡¯t top them up by conducting mass extinction on the insects in the near vicinity and harvesting easy stat points.

    As a result, he ran on borrowed time and constantly checked his status with a nervous twitch, ready to toggle his Annihting Aura the second he got too close to death¡ªwhich was an odd thought since he was supposed to be undead.

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 5]

    [STR: 399, DEX: 399, CON: 399, INT: 399, WIS: 399]

    With every passing second, he got weaker and weaker as he rapidly consumed his stored lifeforce to remain on the mortal ne¡ªhis stats ticked down like a final countdown to his demise. However, the goblin didn¡¯t know this and ran as fast as his little legs could take him back to his tribe. A ce it thought was safe.

    Victor was seriously about to have an anxiety attack as he looked around the forest. What was the point of being an all-powerful being if he only had a lifespan of four minutes? Maybe I should have picked the dragon, he wondered but then remembered he would have been reincarnated as a baby of any race he picked.

    Although his life span was short, he could always toggle on his Annihting Aura at thest second and survive off killing the insects as he moved. Even though each one only gives me around a single stat point, there¡¯s so many crawling around the foliage that I should be able to somewhat survive off their lifeforce alone¡­

    The problem was Victor didn¡¯t want to just maintain his current strength. He had been reincarnated into a creature with infinite potential that grew stronger the more it killed¡ªthat much was obvious with the Consume skill letting him grow from ughter.

    ***

    Shrill screams echoed through the forest, causing a slumbering lookout to straighten up and rub the sleep from his eyes. With his peaceful dream ruined, the goblin lookout frowned at the culprit. It was supposed to be another rxed day on the job. The goblins had made their new home this far south for the very reason of avoiding their predators.

    But the lookout was left speechless as he witnessed one of the strongest hunters from the tribe scampering toward the wooden fence with tears flying from his face.

    What scary predator this far south could make such a dignified and seasoned veteran goblin run in fear like a newborn child? Did the humanse back to invade the forest again? Or perhaps a wraith spooked him?

    But then it all went silent¡ªmuch to the lookout¡¯s confusion. The goblin hunter ceased screaming, and his head slumped down. He seemed to have just suddenly stopped mid-step and was floating in the air, a meter off the ground. A secondter, a vast ck being materialized behind the goblin, with one of its ws going straight through the goblin¡¯s ribs as if it was a kebab on a skewer.

    The colossal monster¡ªwhich was over three times the height of the wall the lookout current trembled upon¡ªwas disinterested in its kill. Instead, it silently let the body slide down its w onto the ground with a thump. Then the monster vanished again as if it had never existed. The lookout rubbed his eyes, questioning his sanity. But no matter how much he pped himself, the dead body of the goblin hunter remained face down on the ground in a pool of blood.

    With his sleepiness gone and his hands shaking in fear, the goblin lookout turned to scream a warning to the rest of his tribe, but no sound came out except gargles. Finally, intense pain overwhelmed his mind¡ªhis vision blurred as his head fell to the ground. Then, in hisst moment of consciousness, the goblin saw his decapitated body slump over and six glowing blue eyes staring at him before the creature vanished again.

    ***

    After floating over a small hill, the goblin¡¯s tribe built inside a depression in thend came into view¡ªit was simr to a little human vige. There were some primitive wooden walls, and Victor could see a single goblin yawning on top of the wall. ¡°That must be the lookout¡­¡±

    Well, no time to waste. I only have a minute left of lifeforce. Not even bothering to use a skill, Victor stabbed one of his ws through the goblin¡¯s body. He wasn¡¯t sure about the amount of force needed, but he definitely went overboard as his w went through the goblin¡¯s body with ease. The lookout seemed to notice his presence and turned to shout something.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Using shadow magic that came instinctively to him, Victor sank into the ground and reappeared from the goblin¡¯s shadow. With a precise swipe from his w that was bigger than his target, the windpipe was cut clean so no sound could be released. Victor knew he was far more powerful than a goblin, but he had yet to test what having such low stat points entailed. With these two kills, he had recovered to around one hundred in each stat point, but could a stray goblin arrow kill him? He didn¡¯t n to find out and approached this like a covert operation until he worked out his opponent¡¯s strength.

    Now that Victor was hovering on the wooden wall, he quickly recast his Stealth skill and observed the surroundings. The goblin vige was bustling with activity, with around a hundred small wooden huts. Most of the people weren¡¯t armed. Only a few goblin warriors dressed in crude leather armor and wielding stolen human des far toorge for them strutted around the mud streets and showed off to the hideous female goblins.

    It seemed Victor¡¯s caution was unnecessary. They were not prepared for an attack, and he couldn¡¯t see a ranged weapon in sight. Feeling confident, he floated down and made his way through the streets. However, due to being over six times the goblin¡¯s height, it felt somewhat awkward to make his way to the vige center.

    Once in the center and surrounded by goblins, Victor activated his Annihting Aura, and an instantaneous wave of death mana rippled out from his location. Every goblin it touched just died where they stood. Those that were mid-step tumbled face-first into the mud. Others died with their eyes wide open as they sat in their huts.

    Due to the vige being rather spread out, he didn¡¯t catch every goblin in that attack. However, those outside his range seemed to notice something was wrong, and shrill screams filled the air. Victor hated the noise, so he activated Consume, and hundreds of whisps gravitated toward him, topping up his lifeforce. He then used Spirit Movement to float through the houses standing in his way to kill off those still alive.

    The goblins screamed as they died to an unknown enemy. Then some more intelligent ones started randomly thrusting their spears into the air, hoping to kill the invisible foe. Some even threw their spears like javelins and hit Victor, but they passed right through. To Victor¡¯s surprise, this wasn¡¯t even due to Spirit Movement.

    Deciding to turn off his Annihting Aura and Spirit Movement, Victor let the goblins thrust their spears at his body. When they hit his ws, the spears sometimes broke or got deflected, but when they hit his body, which was a shadowy-like mist, they passed right through as if he was a ghost. ¡°So I am immune to physical attacks.¡± Heughed to himself, and all the goblins fell to their knees in terror.

    Deciding to get serious, he activated his skills and made sure no goblin escaped. After ten minutes of ughter, the screaming finally stopped. He floated alone in the middle of a silent vige that was once home to a few hundred little green people but was now a ghost vige with hundreds of cold bodies spread around.

    Feeling a little evil from the sight, Victor decided to see the rewards of this endeavor to cheer himself up.

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 27]

    [STR: 15,342, DEX: 15,342, CON: 15,342, INT: 15,342, WIS: 15,342]

    The goblins, on average, had around fifty stat points in total, most of them being in strength, all of which he absorbed through his Consume skill.

    Victor ran the math and discovered a harsh truth about his existence. ¡°All of that for only four hours of lifeforce? Around three hundred lives reaped for only four hours of life¡­ What kind of insane war crimes do I need tomit for some peace of mind?¡±

    While looking at one of the goblin bodies at his feet, a simple prompt was shown in his vision:

    [Rise]

    A slight smirk appeared on his face. If he has tomit war crimes, might as well do so with an army.

 Chapter 3. Generic Slave Girl

    The constant swaying of the carriage and the sickening smell of human feces broke Alice out of her quick nap. She lifted her aching body off the floor and sagged against the frigid wooden walls.

    Only a few rotten holes in the walls allowed for airflow, giving her a sense of time. However, judging from the moonlight, it was definitely still nighttime.

    ¡°Ugh.¡± Alice buckled over to throw up, but nothing came out. Her rumbling stomach refused to offer her anything other than some foul-smelling spit that dribbled down her chin. She rubbed her stomach with her spindly fingers.

    She wiped the vile dribble off her chin, and her headzily rested on the freezing walls. She was hungry, cold, itching from the dirty rags, and downright miserable.

    She was once the daughter of a wealthy merchant from a small kingdom called Eshnar. But on her eighteenth birthday, she was blessed by the spirit of darkness. Unfortunately, her life fell apart after that. Her beloved family sold her off to avoid a scandal with the church in the kingdom that worshipped all spirits but decided the spirit of darkness was evil.

    ¡°They used me of being a psychopath, just because I strangled a rat to death for fun the next day,¡± Alice mumbled as a grin formed on her face. Since that fateful day, something about death and the afterlife theory fascinated her. Had the blessing corrupted her? ording to societal standards, she was insane, but she rejected that notion as she could see the truth. They were all blinded by their zealous faith, but she had seen the other side.

    After being sold to ve traders for three gold coins, she was on a month-long journey around the cursed forest. Quite the contrast between her cushy life as a merchant¡¯s daughter to a potential sex ve within a day.

    Alice had heard stories of those that tried to brave the cursed forest and navigate its treacherous paths. Many tried going straight through the forest to cut weeks off their travel time, only to never make it out alive. The forest was so dangerous that prisoners were often ¡°set free¡± inside, only for the criminals to beg to be locked up again instead of being left for dead.

    Alice was currently being transported to the muchrger country on the other side of the cursed forest, simply known as the Empire. It was around three times the size of Eshnar but didn¡¯t wage war due to the obstacle of the cursed forest.

    While Alice was falling asleep again to try and escape the endless pain from her empty stomach, there was a shout outside her carriage, although the exact words were muffled and drowned out by the noise of the wheels turning.

    Then something massive seemed to m into the other side of the carriage. A loud bang shocked Alice from her half slumber, and a wave of dust and wooden splinters flew at her. Her ears rang as the carriage toppled onto its side with a massive hole exposing the night sky. Her head mmed onto the floor, the world spun, and she felt sick.

    A head poked its way through the hole and red at Alice with hungry, scarlet eyes. She could only shiver from being eyed up like a piece of grub. The colossal wolf wasted no time and started destroying her metal cage with its huge, metallic ws. Sparks illuminated the dark space as she covered her eyes.

    Over the sound of the wolf¡¯s ws tearing apart her metal cage, Alice could hear her captors shouting out orders.

    ¡°Monster attack, men! Everyone gather around me.¡±

    ¡°Boss, the ve carriage is being attacked,¡± one man said in a very panicked voice. Although these ¡°merchants¡± were nning to sell many goods to the Empire, the ves were worth the most, especially the girl blessed by spirits, Alice.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, Alice wasn¡¯t blessed for a reason. She knew this was her one chance to escape. She had been starving herself for an opportunity just like this one.

    She could slip her bony wrists through the metal shackles chained to the floor with a lot of effort, leaving friction burns and scrapes along her raw flesh. With her sessful escape from the bindings, she waited patiently for the wolf to finish obliterating her crude iron cell.

    Her chance to escape would be slim, but she believed she could do it¡ª

    ¡°FIRE!¡±

    An arrow rammed itself into the demonic wolf¡¯s leg, causing it to scream. Then, with its berserk status evoked, it ignored the tasty snack and charged the merchants.

    With all her strength, Alice climbed on the still-hot metal bars and pulled herself out of the toppled-over carriage. For a brief second, the pleasant night wind apanied by a sky filled with beautiful stars gave her a sense of joy. Until the seriousness of the situation set back in.

    Thanks to her Stealth II skill from her blessing, she could temporarily slip past the distracted wolf only a meter away, growling at the formation of merchants wielding spears. But unfortunately, that was the limit of its capabilities.

    The merchants¡¯ eyes followed her as she crept behind the wolf and began sprinting away.

    Looking around desperately, she could only seek shelter in the cursed forest. Hesitant for a second, she decided it would be fine so long as she stayed near the edges. ¡°The monsters get stronger the closer you are to the center,¡± she repeated like a mantra in her head.

    Alice ran, almost tripping over herself, the sharp forest floor pained her bare feet, and the cold night wind was relentless on her body which was only covered with thin rags. Blood dripped from her wounds, alerting nearby monsters of a potentially injured and easy meal.

    She reached around a hundred meters into the forest before hearing the men chasing and calling after her. ¡°It would seem the wolf has lost already.¡± She cursed as she increased her pace. Her breath left clouds of fog as her lungs burned from exhaustion.

    The merchants were hesitant to chase the girl into the forest, but they had paid three gold coins for the girl and were unwilling to lose that investment.

    Because of the chasing men, Alice was forced to go deeper and deeper into the cursed forest. She was surprised she hadn¡¯t been eaten yet, or she would be if not for the hundreds of dead bodies already lining the forest floor.

    What kind of monster among monsters was she currently following? Alice didn¡¯t know, nor did she want to find out.

 Chapter 4. A Monsters Depression

    ¡°Who would have thought being a world-ending monster would be this boring?¡± The twin-headed snake with ck draconic scales that could rival the size of a bus let out a screech as Victor slowly sliced it into well-measured pieces. ¡°Despite my cruel actions, I feel nothing.¡±

    ¡°NOTHING!¡± Victor grabbed the snake¡¯s head in his meter-long ws, leaving long incisions. The monster¡¯s beady eyes shook with fear as if pleading for its life. ¡°Days, weeks, maybe even months have passed. The beautiful green forest has withered away to a wastnd of bare trunks and frost-covered ground: the same scenery, all day, every day. Same monsters, over and over. I feel nothing, and nothing changes.¡±

    Victor shook the snake as it took its final breath. ¡°Speak to me, anything, do something! Ah, I can¡¯t take this insanity any longer.¡±

    [Freezing Cone]

    The snake was sh frozen as its blood dyed the ice red. Victor floated next to the twisted ice sculpture and sighed. ¡°Status.¡±

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 281]

    [STR: 259200, DEX: 259200, CON: 259200, INT: 259200, WIS: 259200]

    ¡°These numbers are pointless, just like everything else. Months of ughter for three days of life¡­¡± After seeing the creatures that lurked in the void below, such measly numbers on the screen meant nothing. ¡°My true form should still be below the surface somewhere. I feel this is merely an avatar, a pathetic mimic of the real thing.¡±

    ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake.¡± Victor¡¯s ancient voice boomed through the empty forest; apart from the hundreds of ice statues containing various S-rank monsters surrounding him, there was nothing except dead trees and frost-covered rocks. ¡°I don¡¯t know how Netherbornes usually act, but there¡¯s no way putting a human mind in an undead was a good idea! I should have taken a different option¡­¡± Something squirmed around in his mind, and the idea of making another choice seemed to vanish.

    Victor used his w and made an incision on a tree. ¡°That marks the tenth time my thought process has been changed by something unknown. Goddess, what is your n? Why am I here?¡±

    s, there was no answer.

    Victor did not know where the nearest city was and did not intend to kill the entire continent to sate his endless hunger. However, he needed a long-term solution. Although the forest was enormous, easily the size of a country, he was slowly running out of high-value prey to hunt. The need to move was approaching, but where should he go?

    ¡°Clever bastards are avoiding me¡­¡± He had raised an undead army during his few months of wandering. His conquest of the entire forest was inevitable. ¡°And then what?¡± This question had been guing his mind. He had no purpose. Unlike in the other stories, he was likely already the strongest monster on this. If his one aim in life was destruction and death, his chosen body was perfect for the job.

    ¡°I reached the end game, the legendary ce where no novel has gone. So many epic tales remain upleted, while others abruptly end with a confusing ending, yet here I am, on the final frontier. The apex predator, the king of the dead¡­¡±

    Victor looked at his cursed creations and watched as an undead goblin carefully navigated around them toward his location. This sight gave the ancient creature an idea.

    I should not seek destruction but rather creation. Of course! What else can the strong do than rule the weak? Victor looked to the left and right; he did not know the nearest city¡¯s location or wish to find out.

    He could invade with his army, wipe the city off the map, and im its riches for himself and then what? Spend the endless gold on beautiful women, sulent food, and rare booze? Construct grand pces full of servants to tend to his every need?

    ¡°Useless,¡± Victor muttered as he removed the thought. Of course, as an undead, he required nothing materialistic. Instead,panionship, entertainment, and emotions were the most important to him right now. But how could a titanic, ancient creature from the void acquire such things?

    ¡°Boss.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± Victor turned to the tiny goblin undead. The poor thing barely reached his knee area and had to look straight up to meet Victor¡¯s many glowing blue eyes.

    ¡°Humans have entered the forest.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Victor felt his nonexistent heart skip a beat. At this point, a talking monkey would be a great find, so to hear that actual humans had stumbled into his domain was unbelievable!

    ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°Err.¡± The goblin counted on its skeletal fingers. ¡°Five men and a woman.¡±

    ¡°The situation?¡±

    ¡°Men chasing the woman.¡±

    Victor groaned. ¡°Cliche escaped ve scene it seems¡­ Very well, lead me there.¡±

    ¡°Cliche¡­ve scene, sir?¡±

    ¡°Never mind. Lead the way.¡±

    ***

    As Alice stumbled through the cursed forest, two massive moons cast the forest in its ethereal glow. The cold floor made her feet numb, helping hide the pain from the rocks and thorns tearing her soles apart. ¡°Ah!¡± she yelped as a well-hidden log mmed into her shin, sending her tumbling face first into a frozen-over puddle.

    ¡°OVER THERE!¡± a gruff voice shouted behind her.

    Alice nced over her shoulder. A faint yellow glow from the merchants¡¯ candles illuminated the path toward her. ¡°Shit,¡± she cursed as she pushed her weary body up again.

    With a stealth skill, the cover of the night, and a head start, Alice hoped her pursuers would have given up by now. But s, the ve cor around her neck would direct her owner toward her so long as they were close enough.

    Trying to escape from range, she had no choice but to struggle further into the forest.

    She looked behind her; the yellow glow seemed to have suddenly vanished. She waited a minute to get her breathing under control. Minutes passed, yet the light never returned. Only total darkness and eerie silence greeted her.

    She walked back to where she hadst seen the yellow glow. Had they left? Or did a monster get them? These thoughts swirled around the scared girl¡¯s mind.

    After ten minutes of slow and painful walking, she arrived. On the floor were five bodies withrge holes through their hearts. Blood was pooling out their bodies, forming a puddle on the forest floor.

    The ss box that had held the candle was smashed and lying on the floor, letting off a very faint glow as it was starved of oxygen under the ss pieces.

    Alice was ovee with emotion. First, she was d the men had died, but now her situation truly settled into her. The adrenaline and rush faded away, and only cold terror remained.

    She was alone, without food, water, or weapons, in the cursed forest. Alice slumped down with tears forming in her eyes. She was just a pampered merchant girl. She had no idea what to do.

    ¡°Are you lost, little human?¡±

    An ancient-sounding voice came from high above her.

 Chapter 5. Humans Are Pets

    Victor followed his goblin servant with newfound anxiety. How should I approach this? My maxed-out Raise Undead skill allows the dead to keep their memories. Interrogating information will be a breeze, so should I keep any of them alive?

    After arriving at a clearing, the goblin scampered off and left Victor with five gruff-looking merchants. One was constantly checking a crudepass that pointed toward the fleeing girl around a hundred meters away.

    Merchants means there is civilization nearby. That at least confirms one of my questions. Victor watched the men silently for a while longer, but none of them suggested a high social status or a reason to keep them alive.

    ¡°You will better serve me in death.¡±

    The merchants jumped in surprise at the ancient voice, and one of them dropped theirntern, plunging the area into darkness.

    ¡°Great dragon, we are sorry for trespassing¡ª¡±

    Dragon? Do they think I am a dragon? How amusing. Since the merchants huddled together, with two well-ced ws, all five found themselves without a beating heart.

    Eerie silence returned to the cursed forest. Victor relished for a moment his first human kill. It does feel different from ughtering monsters, maybe because I still think it is taboo? How interesting¡­ With his many eyes, Victor had a near-perfect vision in all directions, but he still turned his head toward the fleeing girl.

    I don¡¯t have much time to waste since my stats are still falling, but watching for a little while shouldn¡¯t hurt. To Victor, this was pure entertainment, a twisted form of theater. There was a shockingck of amusement in a silent forest filled with unintelligent beasts. Victor was curious how a local of this world would react to this situation. Did the girl know magic? Maybe the humans of this world cultivated like in those Chinese novels? The anticipation made him feel some emotion for the first time in months.

    Victor watched the girl stumble and fall through the darkness toward him. Interesting. Why is she heading toward her pursuers? Did I read the situation wrong? Once the girl entered the clearing and smiled at the corpses before breaking down in tears, Victor concluded, She is just a terrified girl. I guess I overestimated her. Moving deeper into the forest would be suicide, and it¡¯s hard to track where you are without night vision, so going back the way she came is only logical.

    Watching for a while, Victor debated what to do next. He wanted to watch her antics a little longer, but she looked near death. So here came the next issue. How could he help her? He could use the undead, but Victor wasn¡¯t sure she would see the undead as friendly. If he were alone in a forest back on Earth, nothing would terrify him more than a talking skeleton appearing out of nowhere.

    Victor took a deep, metaphorical breath. He hadn¡¯t spoken to a sentient creature other than his undead since he arrived.

    ¡°Are you lost, little human?¡± The tree¡¯s rustled as his voice boomed through the clearing. Maybe I overdid it a little.

    The girl understandably froze. She reached for a nearby stick with calm and careful movements.

    ¡°W-who¡­¡± She choked back her tears and steeled her resolve as her fingers gripped a stick longer than a dagger and as sharp as a blunt butter knife.

    ¡°Who goes there!¡± she shouted, her voice quivering. ¡°Come out! Please¡­¡±

    Victor was floating right beside her with his Stealth active. Do I show myself? Would she be able toprehend my existence? He wasn¡¯t an eldritch being, but he did originate from the void and had many eyes and a massive body that towered over the tiny human. In her current mental state, showing myself would be counterproductive. Better to act ancient and indifferent. Maybe I could raise her like a pet?

    A sudden, fun idea crossed the monster¡¯s mind. Maybe I could teach the girl some magic. Can humans even level up with this system, too? So much to find out.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, little one. I was merely passing by.¡± Victor put on the persona of an ancient, unknown creature, which was surprisingly urate.

    The girl stagged back and leaned against a nearby tree, her legs wobbled, and her body shook in the cold. Her matted ck hair covered her face as she hung her head low. ¡°I am so tired¡­ Please help this pathetic human.¡± Blood trickled down her bone-thin frame as she dropped the stick to the floor.

    ¡°Can you use the System, human?¡± Before she died, Victor needed to know this fact. If she can, then saving her is potentially within my capabilities¡­especially if there is a party or shared exp system.

    ¡°Yes¡­yes, I can.¡± She began moving her arm in the air. It used all her remaining strength, but a secondter, a blue box appeared floating in front of her that Victor could also see.

    ¡°See, I can use it¡­¡±

    [Join Party? Yes/No]

    So there is a party feature! Why doesn¡¯t my system have such a thing? Victor reached forward with a w without deactivating his Stealth and clicked yes.

    Blue screens disying information rushed through his mind.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Party formed of 2 members, Alice (Leader) + Victor]

    [Name: Alice] (Leader)

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 12]

    [STR: 30 (Weakened), DEX: 42, CON: 12 (Weakened), INT: 72, WIS: 56]

    (Extreme Hunger) (Extreme Fatigue) (Bleeding) (Weakened) (Freezing) (ve)

    [Name: UNKNOWN]

    [Race: UNKNOWN]

    [Level: 281]

    [STR: 259200, DEX: 259200, CON: 259200, INT: 259200, WIS: 259200]

    (Lifeforce Unstable)

    Victor read the new popup with interest. Alice appeared to have high stats, especially in magic-focused ones like INT and WIS. It was also amusing that the party system didn¡¯t recognize him. Likely because I¡¯m a monster¡­ Can monsters usually join parties? Before Victor could continue his line of questioning, Alice fell forward onto the ground and groaned.

    Victor realized his time to question was short. ¡°Onest question: can party members harm one another?¡±

    ¡°Area affect spells¡­do not affect party members¡­¡± Alice mumbled as she passed out.

    Without wasting time, Victor floated over to the merchant corpses and used Raise Undead.

    Mana wrapped around the bodies before thinning out into the shape of a nervous system. Finally, the blue light faded away, and the corpses began to move. Suddenly, Victor felt a bizarre feeling in the back of his mind. The constant static buzz of the undead army¡¯s hivemind transformed into clear and coherent thoughts.

    The goblins can talk? Why would adding a human undead to the hivemind cause such a reaction? How curious¡­

    With five undead humans standing at the ready, Victor wanted to ask some questions, but s, the girl¡¯s situation was dire and needed immediate attention.

    ¡°Humans, you are merchants, correct?¡±

    They all replied in unison with a resounding yes.

    ¡°Excellent. Is your merchant caravan nearby?¡±

    Again they nodded.

    ¡°Go with the goblins, retrieve everything, including the wagons, and bring it back here. We will use the forest as cover from search parties and other caravans passing by.¡±

    Without another word, the human undead moved toplete their task alongside a horde of goblins that had remained nearby.

    Victor looked at Alice, sleeping on the floor. ¡°See how lifeless and dull undead are? Don¡¯t die on me and turn into one of them. We still have much to do!¡±

 Chapter 6. Looting The Merchants

    Victor watched the undead charge through the barren forest toward the merchant caravan. I wonder what wares they have? Perhaps some useful items I can utilize to make my pet¡¯s life a little easier. He paused for a moment at that thought. Why did he think of humans as pets? Then, looking down at Alice, he pondered, Hard to take them seriously when they are so small, even though I know they are intelligent, I just feel so¡­superior to them? It¡¯s hard to imagine I was that weak. Look at her shivering in the cold and bleeding out from a few rocks and thorns, pathetic. She has lived her sad little life up till this point without knowing of the true horrors lurking beneath the surface. Even the worthless monsters that roam thesends would kill her by sneezing in her direction! How deplorable, how pathetic, how¡­

    Victor stopped. Something about humans instinctually annoyed him, and he didn¡¯t like that one bit. Anger, chaos, and destruction clouded his mind, and it took this interaction for him to realize the situation. I am a creature engineered for ughter. All my magic involves destruction; my mind urges me to pursue misery. Even my body forces me to act in such a way. All right, no more. I need a solution. Perhaps Alice will know a way?

    With another reason to keep Alice alive, Victor urged his undead to hurry up through the mental link. Wow, the link is so clear now. I can actually order my undead from afar. The constant static noise that had gued his mind for thest few months had vanished and been reced with a clear and concisemunication structure. He could hear slight whispers and chatter along thework between the undead nearby, and if he focused in a direction, he could feel the presence of the undead further away.

    Perfect, my improvisedwork is now online. Victor had spent thest few months walking around in circles inside this endless forest. Without GPS and limited ability tomunicate with his undead, he was left blind and had to float in one direction for days at a time. With his new connection, he could spread his undead far and wide and gainmand over arge area.

    But why did adding humans affect the link so much? I could talk to goblins just fine once they died. Victor thought back to his many interactions with goblins. They were his favorite type of undead to raise as they were the only ones capable of speech; although limited and primal, once dead, they could carry out simple orders and report intriguing information back to him, such as the fact humans had entered the forest. He looked at his abilities, but apart from the fact his undead skill was supposedly maxed out, nothing else screamed out as being the culprit. When the goddess reincarnated me, she mentioned anguage skill. Is that why the goblins can understand and talk with me?

    This was the only logical exnation. Anguage skillbined with a maxed-out Raise Undead skill gave the goblins the ability to talk to Victor. However, their INT was still rtively low, meaning their ability to send and receive magical messages over a significant distance was limited.

    It could also be a feature of the System. It recognized me as UNKNOWN in the party feature, so the skill struggled to connect so many UNKNOWN monsters together as none of them is directly linked to the System?

    ¡°Goblin,¡± Victor called out over the hive mind, and a nearby goblin ran over to him.

    ¡°Yes, boss?¡±

    ¡°Are you linked to the System?¡±

    ¡°System?¡± The goblin seemed to struggle with the word as if it was foreign and outside their simple vocabry. ¡°No, boss, I do not know of a System.¡±

    Oh my god. Does that mean I am the only monster given ess to the System? Is this a perk that came with my reincarnation? Or are the goblins too low down the food chain to be given ess? Victor spoke to the undead again. ¡°No blue boxes inside your brain?¡±

    ¡°No, boss. All I can hear is your voice and chatter from undead nearby.¡±

    ¡°You can always hear my voice?¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°No. When you direct your thoughts toward me, it booms through the void that connects us.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡±

    There was still so much to learn about this new world. Usually, in stories, the protagonist would have a mentor or learn about the world through an educational institution like a magic school or public library. However, with the merchants appearing, it had been confirmed that a city or town was nearby. Should I sneak in? Would that be possible?

    Victor doubted any city defense could stop him, but should he even bother? If the girl somehow knows nothing, that could be an option. But I will wait and see for now.

    ¡°This is fun.¡± He chuckled lightly as he floated around. I haven¡¯t had anything to think about for weeks. After mastering my magic to a certain degree and encountering most of the monsters in this forest, the novelty of it all wore off rtively fast. But with the prospects of encountering this world¡¯s civilization and seeing how it differs from Earth¡­that is the true charm of reincarnation stories. Discovering how humans can adapt to different environments, perhaps they will have invented games I have never heard of before?

    Despite his dull emotions, even Victor felt a little excited. Like that feeling of happiness and anticipation that made you want to jump around the room or tell anyone who would listen about that awesome thing happening to you. Finally, something was going right in this world, and keeping his pet alive was the first step.

    Right on time, a horde of goblins led by one of the humans returned with essentials for Alice: some high-end dresses, cloaks, socks, shoes, bedding, and even some dried beef jerky.

    ¡°Merchant, help the girl into new clothes and then follow me. We will set up camp for a while near my ice sculptures.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, boss.¡±

    Due to his maxed-out Raise Undead skill, the undead Victormanded was the best of the best, with intelligence rivaling from when they were alive. The zombie merchant didn¡¯t waste a moment. Within moments, Alice had been stripped of her dirty rags, washed down with a cloth, and carefully helped into a frilly, noble-style dress. Victor doubted he could find humans attractive anymore, and her thin body killed any possible lust. I wonder if I will ever find love in this world? He pondered as the zombie merchant also showed no interest in the nude female and instead focused onpleting the given task.

    After a few minutes, the former ve had transformed into an ill-looking princess in a stunning ck dress, white leggings, and t-sole shoes. Not an ideal getup for a monster-infested forest in the middle of winter, but at least she won¡¯t freeze too much.

    Eventually, the rest of the undead arrived, carrying the wooden carriages over their heads like ants. Zombies also pulled along a few terrified horses via their reins. They were far fatter than horses back on Earth, with tan skin and no hair. They could make useful mounts and a food supply for Alice until we work something else out.

    ¡°Alight.¡± Victor deactivated his Stealth, and the struggling horse-like animals went dead silent as they gazed upon the towering creature of shadows. Victor swept his gaze across therge procession gathered at his feet. ¡°Follow me. To the ice sculptures. Zombies, take special care of the girl.¡±

 Chapter 7. S-Class Monsters

    Alice awoke to dead silence. The familiar sounds of birds chirping away or wooden wheels creaking as they followed along half-trodden country paths were gone. Just cold, dead silence. Yet the ceiling was familiar, one of a carriage. Although it was clearly of higher make than the one she had been transported in, the wooden boards had a fresh lick of paint and a fresh wood smell that tickled her nose.

    ¡°That also smells good,¡± she mumbled. A te of beef jerkyy beside her alongside a full waterskin. Feeling that familiar empty void in her stomach, Alice rolled over, ignoring the incrediblyfortable hay mattress she was lying on, and reached for the tantalizing meat.

    She ignored everything. Even the beautiful dress that reced her rags paledpared to the food. In recent weeks, she¡¯d been fed nothing other than that sickening gruel those heinous merchants had force-fed down her gullet.

    The jerky was rubbery to the touch. Some light orange seasoning rubbed onto Alice¡¯s fingers as she rammed it into her mouth. ¡°Ugh.¡± The meat tasted dry and sucked away all her saliva in an instant. While choking, she downed the water skin in a single gulp while gagging on the jerky.

    ¡°SO DRY!¡± she eximed as she let out a haggard breath. ¡°But so bloody good!¡± Without hesitation, she devoured all the meat and sat back on the bed in satisfaction. The food felt heavy in her stomach, so she tried to massage the pain away.

    ¡°Howdy!¡±

    ¡°AHH!¡± Alice shrieked at the skeleton that poked its head around the corner. It was a small thing, only reaching the doorknob. It was hunched over with three long fingers, a t face, and two empty eye sockets that disturbed her as the skeleton awkwardly scratched its head.

    ¡°D-do n-not b-be a-rmed, Miss Alice.¡± It slurred every word as if repeating the words of someone else. ¡°I am here to help you!¡±

    ¡°What!¡± Alice crawled into the corner of the room and held her arms out in front of her face. After receiving the spirit of Darkness¡¯s blessing, she researched the dead in the few days before being sold to merchants. She knew for a fact that an undead was incapable of speech, except for powerful liches, but she was confident a goblincked the skills to be a lich. ¡°How can you talk?¡±

    ¡°By the power granted to me by the mighty one!¡±

    ¡°T-the mighty one?¡± Alice thought long and hard. Then she vaguely remembered some disjointed voice speaking to her before she passed out, and a realization hit her. In a panic, she chanted, ¡°Status.¡±

    In her mind, a blue box disyed her status alongside someone else.

    [Name: Alice] (Leader)

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 12]

    [STR: 30, DEX: 42, CON: 12, INT: 72, WIS: 56]

    (Weak) (ve)

    [Name: UNKNOWN]

    [Race: UNKNOWN]

    [Level: 281]

    [STR: 259200, DEX: 259200, CON: 259200, INT: 259200, WIS: 259200]

    (Lifeforce Unstable) (Out of range)

    Alice read through the stats inplete shock. Her breathing became ragged as she clutched the hem of her new dress till her knuckles went bone white. Mother told me that the strongest dragons reached level one hundred, and these stats are beyond odd. Not only are they impossibly high, but they are all the same. Is the System bugging out?

    Taking deep breaths, Alice massaged her temples as she contemted her situation. She wasn¡¯t stupid; this UNKNOWN monster had kept her alive for some purpose. ¡°What does the lord ordy of thisnd wish from me?¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The goblin had waited patiently by the door and seemed happy with the question. ¡°Lord! The lord only has one wish for now, which is for you¡­to get stronger!¡±

    ¡°Stronger?¡± Alice tilted her head in confusion. Why would this lord require my strength? His stats are insane!

    ¡°Yes! Eat well, rest up, and then train! I can help you¡­¡± Despite its evident excitement, the goblin spoke in a monotone voice that grated on her ears.

    ¡°You will help me get stronger?¡± Alice stood up and brushed the hay from her dress; her legs were a little weak, so she had to steady herself on the wooden wall, and a few cuts here and there brushed against the fabric, causing her to wince and exhale sharply through her gritted teeth.

    Alice nced back at the status. It showed that this UNKNOWN lord was suffering from an ailment, unstable lifeforce. She might have a chance to kill and escape if she discovered what kept him alive. Another piece of information from the status that gave her peace of mind was that the lord was out of range, meaning he was at least over a mile away.

    She decided to keep the status open at all times; if the Out of Range debuff disappeared, she was no longer alone. Wait, I am a fool; this undead is under that lord¡¯smand! A necromancer or powerful lich can see through the eyes of their servants!

    Alice sighed. Whatever nefarious schemes this ancient necromancer had with her were beyond her control. Who was she toin if this lord wished for her to eat well? Maybe he will even teach me the dark arts¡­ THAT¡¯S IT! He kept me alive because of my blessing from the Goddess of Darkness! He can be all-powerful, but necromancers can always appreciate a helping hand in managing their army. Right, right?

    The nice clothes, food, and even an undead servant suggested she was valuable. A small amount of pride welled up in her chest. Even if all these thoughts are mere delusions, it¡¯s not like I can save myself in this situation without at least investigating the outside. A girl such as myself, blessed with Darkness, has one fate awaiting them in any human country. So long as the lord doesn¡¯t grind me up into a pill or turn me into a zombie, my life here shouldn¡¯t be too badpared to one as a ve in the Empire.

    Alice looked around the carriage; it was spacious with a bed of hay, a table and chairs, a weathered sofa on the far side, and a small ensuite bathroom that was no more than a hole in the floor that allowed one to take a shit while the carriage moved along. There was no shaking or noise, so they were stationary. Are we still on the road?

    Deciding it was time to toughen up and impress her new overlord, Alice walked toward the undead servant. ¡°Can I go outside?¡±

    ¡°Of course you can.¡± The goblin moved to the side and fully opened the carriage door, letting in a wave of light, meaning hours had passed since she passed out.

    Alice stepped out and looked around. The carriage appeared to be in the middle of a goblin vige that had been demolished and renovated with the most massive ice sculptures she had ever seen. The detail was incredible; some even had red shading to bring out the art.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Alice wandered to the nearest one to get a better look. It appeared to be a four-armed bear in a fetal position with its head in the middle of a terrifying roar. ¡°Wait, this isn¡¯t a sculpture!¡± She stumbled back after the sun hid behind a cloud, reducing the re on the ice. The actual sculpture was an A-ss monster encased in ice with its head sliced cleanly off.

    She shuddered in a mixture of pure terror, and she was cold. Standing next to the sculpture reminded her of the massive freezer room at her family¡¯s estate. A sh of anger passed at the reminder of her wretched family; if she ever got powerful here and somehow escaped, she would visit them.

    ¡°Miss, do you know the name of these monsters?¡± The goblin servant gestured with its three-fingered hand at the hundreds of ice sculptures popting the clearing.

    ¡°Maybe some of them? If they are famous ones, then most definitely.¡±

    ¡°Excellent!¡± The goblin smacked its bony hands together. ¡°Then, apart from recovering, the lord would appreciate it if you could name all these monsters.¡±

    A test of my capabilities? Alice wondered as she walked to the next one. No way an ancient necromancer at level 281 doesn¡¯t know the name of these monsters, right?

    She pointed at the sculpture she had just passed. ¡°That bear is called a Four-Leaf Golden Bear. The name derives from their golden fur that can be plucked off like a leaf from a tree and sold at high prices in auctions and, of course, their four arms. A mother bear¡¯s fur is worth much more than the father¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Howe?¡± the goblin asked as it carved the name ¡°Four-Leaf Golden Bear¡± into a wooden nk and ced it in front of the sculpture as if it was a museum piece.

    ¡°Simple, the father bear is called the Two-Silver Bear. Their skin is molten silver that wraps around their form like a constant suit of armor; they are S-ss, but the silver harvested from their corpses is very brittle. Nevertheless, they are so powerful that tinum-ranked adventurers have stopped hunting them altogether¡­¡± Alice paused as they arrived at the second ice sculpture showing a bear twice the size of the first, and a distinct silver shine made the ice look breathtaking.

    ¡°And this one?¡± the goblin asked, eagerly holding a nk nk.

    ¡°A Two-Silver Bear¡­¡±

 Chapter 8. An Undead Banquet

    Despite the nippy weather, a thin sheen of sweat covered Alice¡¯s brow as she approached the final ice sculpture. Her entire body was racked with exhaustion, but she soldiered on as this was a task given by the overlord. Just one more! she mentally cheered herself on as no one else would. She dragged herself before that massive piece of cursed art one foot after another. Sometimes the ice obscured or warped the features; other times, there was so much blood Alice debated if there was even a creature inside.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡± Alice impatiently tapped her foot as she examined every inch of the creature; it seemed familiar. As the daughter of a prominent merchant, she had seen her fair share of monster parts for sale. ¡°I recognize those pincers¡ª¡±

    ¡°The ice obstructs the¡ª¡±

    ¡°AH!¡± Despite her tight-fitting dress, Alice spun around toward the voice and stumbled back. ¡°YOU!¡± One of the merchants that had abused the shit out of her stood dumbly, pointing at himself.

    ¡°Me?¡± The merchant pointed a meaty thumb at its dumb face.

    ¡°Yes, you! How are you alive!¡± Alice was shocked; she saw them dead, she was sure of it, or had it all been one terrible nightmare?

    ¡°Alive?¡± The merchant looked down at the gaping hole in his chest; ribs covered in rotting innards could be seen, and a foul stench wafted through the air. To further prove its point, the zombie twisted its right arm at an impossible angle, causing the filthy shirt it was wearing to tear. Finally, the arm snaked around its back, through the hole, and the zombie shook hands with itself through its chest cavity. ¡°Neat party trick, eh?¡± The gruff man that had shoveled gruel that tasted like wallpaper down her throat gave her a grin that brought her anger to new heights.

    ¡°YOU BASTARD.¡± Alice pointed a wavering using finger at the zombie, ¡°How¡­just AH! Fuck you. I hate you!¡± She didn¡¯t care about offending the overlord at this moment; she used the little remaining strength she had and did the most brutal kick she could at the grinning merchant¡¯s balls. The world seemed to slow down as Alice¡¯s shin made contact; there was a brief resistance, followed by the sensation of a popping balloon.

    The zombie and Alice stared in horror as the merchant¡¯s trousers darkened and some mysterious liquid trickled down his leg. Then there was a mutual silence that stretched between the two for a long while¡ªneither iming to have enough social capabilities to understand where to take the conversation from here as this was uncharted territory in the history of humanity.

    After a long while of cemetery silence, Alice couldn¡¯t handle the merchant¡¯s pained face a moment longer. ¡°That¡­ I am so¡­sorr¡ª¡±

    The zombie raised his hand to silence the bbering girl. ¡°I deserved that. I truly did. The name¡¯s Terry, by the way.¡± The zombie offered his calloused hand, and Alice stared at it. Before she knew it, her hand was in his grasp, it felt like a soggy potato, and they shook for a while. ¡°Sad to see the old things go, but s, I have little use for them in my current state.¡± He sighed, but due to his lungs being¡­well¡­destroyed, it sounded like a bagpipe gone wrong. Also, his innards waved around in the wind, making her feel sick.

    ¡°So, as I was saying,¡± Terry began while Alice stared at the ground, trying to keep the vomit from rising, ¡°the ice obscures this insect¡¯s wings, which, from the size of the pincers, I bet has a slight green tint. I would assume this is a giant flying green mantis if that is true.¡±

    Alice grumbled at Terry¡¯s suggestion. It sounded correct, but there was no way to be sure as, unfortunately, something had sliced the poor creature into ten pieces, and its wings were too thin to appear clearly through the ice.

    ¡°The lord has quite the impressive collection, at least a million gold worth of monsters here,¡± Terry mused while he helped the goblin hammer in the final signpost. ¡°Some of these would be worth thousands by themselves for the meat alone due to the magical freezing keeping the meat somewhat fresh. But I wonder if the lord ever ns to sell them. It would be a shame not to.¡±

    ¡°Have you met the lord?¡± Alice carefully questioned; she kept a wary eye on her status, and her UNKNOWN party member was still far out of range.

    Terry nervously chuckled and chose to remain quiet. Well, that is concerning. Alice wandered a little further from Terry; the stench was nauseating, and she wanted to keep her meal down at any cost. Speaking of meals, she was starving. ¡°Is there any more food for me?¡±

    Terry nodded and gestured for her to follow. ¡°Of course, my adorable hostage¡ª Ahem, I mean mistress. Us undead have no use for food, so take it all.¡± Alice did not like any of those word choices. So I am the only living person here? Does the lord not need to eat? Also hostage? MISTRESS? While lost in thought, she identally bumped into the zombie¡¯s back, and some green gunk stained her dress and smelled downright rancid.

    ¡°Sorry about that.¡± Terry chuckled and continued walking toward a small group of carriages.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Easy for you to say¡­¡± Alice mumbled as she tried to flick the sludge off while joining in a step behind Terry. He stood a head taller than her, but she could see through the opening in his chest. I formally dere my undying hatred for zombies. Skeleton undead are so much better. She swore in her heart that she would never, ever raise a zombie even if her life depended on it. They reeked, looked weird as hell, and she did not appreciate their sense of humor at all.

    Or maybe it was just Terry who was the exception. Actually, where are the other zombies? There should be more, right? Unless the lord did something with them. A shudder ran down her spine; perhaps Terry was the lucky one.

    ¡°Here we are, the kitchen! Built just for you, honeypie.¡± Terry proudly spread his arms and puffed out his chest to little effect. ¡°In here, you can find Bob.¡±

    ¡°Honeypie?¡± Alice grumbled as Terry ignored her and made his way inside.

    Inside the dingy carriage walls was another merchant. ¡°Hello, my name is Bob.¡± His voice was as dull as his appearancepletely bone white from head to toe.

    ¡°Bob, I already love you,¡± Alice professed as she saw a table with a freshly brewed stew. She tried to hide her absolute terror and kept her eyes away from Bob. How did he end up like that? He was meat and blood just like Terry onlyst night!

    ¡°Nobody loves me.¡± The short skeleton sat down in the corner, soulless eyes on the floor. ¡°Burned me alive they did.¡±

    Terry took this awkward silence as his chance to leave. ¡°After you have finished with that scrumptious meal, feel free to join me outside. It¡¯s about time we delve into the forest and level you up.¡±

    That statement caused Alice¡¯s jaw to ck at the grinning zombie. ¡°You and me?¡± She gestured between them. ¡°Go into the forest? Just the two of us?¡±

    Terry shrugged like it was no big deal. ¡°Sure, why not?¡±

    ¡°IT¡¯S THE CURSED FOREST! HELLOOOOO, WE WILL DIE OUT THERE. DID YOU NOT SEE THE MONSTERS INSIDE THE ICE? THOSE ARE ROAMING FREELY OUT THERE!¡± Alice whirled around on her heel to Bob. ¡°Yo, chef, back me up on this one!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Bob sunk even lower in his chair. ¡°Why should I? Nothing matters. I feel nothing; the magnificent beard I grew for ten long years will never return¡­ Burned it away they did¡­¡±

    Although Bob was one sexy bag of bones and a wicked chef, Alice was starting to prefer Terry¡¯s more upbeat personality that didn¡¯t remind her of watching paint dry.

    ¡°It¡¯s the lord¡¯s orders,¡± Terry added before rounding the corner and leaving Alice alone with Bob and an irresistible stew of unknown meat.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Alice sat next to Bob and dug in. ¡°Get eaten by a Four-Leaf Golden Bear for all I care!¡± she slurred through a half-full mouth of warm stew.

    ¡°I¡¯m already dead, remember!¡± Terry hollered back.

 Chapter 9. Cursed Forest Adventures

    Alice sat upon a couch carried by two goblins; the traveling situation had baffled her at first, but after parading through the cursed forest in such style for a while, she had changed her opinion on the matter. The slight rocking from side to side as each goblin took a step forward upset her sensitive stomach, but she much preferred this bizarre form of transportation over walking endlessly for hours.

    The two had traveled in mostly silence as Alice was beyond nervous. She didn¡¯t believe that Terry nor the two goblins had sufficientbat ability to protect her against the monstrosities that supposedly lurked in the forest. Yet it¡¯s so quiet around here. If not for those distant roars, I would have believed I woke up in the wrong forest! She cast a nervous nce toward her rotting travel partner; he was slouching into the weathered couch¡¯s cushions and looked ready to watch a theater production. They had barely exchanged a word since leaving the overlord¡¯s ice sculptures, and the silence between the two was driving Alice mad, so with a deep sigh, she murmured, ¡°Why did you do it?¡±

    ¡°Do what?¡± Terryzily replied from her side; luckily, the wind was blowing eastward, so she didn¡¯t have to deal with the nauseating stench.

    ¡°Be a merchant? Sell people? Be an absolute arsehole?¡± She cocked her head to the side. ¡°You realize that selling people is fucked up?¡±

    ¡°Circumstances,dy.¡± He raised a weary hand in defeat. ¡°At first, many years ago, I too was hesitant about being in the business. But selling clothes and furniture wasn¡¯t cutting it when times got tough. All it took was one night of alcohol and poor decisions, and before I knew it, I was a part of an illegal ve-trading ring.¡±

    Alice felt beyond bitter. Terry seemed nice enough, but memories of him stumbling into her carriage, reeking of booze and dumping an unwashed wooden bowl filled with lukewarm gruel through the iron bars, refused to vacate her mind. Although he was now a zombie, he still had that roughish face with that constant smirk. She hated it.

    In an attempt to distract her weary mind, she summoned her System. Her brain lightly buzzed as blue screens that shimmered in the afternoon sun appeared floating before her. No matter where she looked, the screens always followed. Some zealous fanatics imed these screens were a window into our soul, and honestly, I believe them to an extent; it¡¯s just a shame my soul has been dyed with darkness.

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 12]

    [STR: 30, DEX: 42, CON: 12, INT: 72, WIS: 56]

    (Weak) (ve)

    [Blessing: Darkness]

    [ss: Awakened ck Mage (Locked 12/20)]

    [Sub ss: Apprentice Merchant]

    [Divine Mission: None]

    [Skills]

    [¡­]

    [ss Skills]

    [Stealth II]

    [Further skills locked]

    [Sub ss Skills]

    [Fast Counting I]

    [Identify I]

    Getting bored of looking through the screens she had seen a thousand times, Alice pestered her travel buddy again. ¡°How did your awakening ceremony go?¡± she carefully inquired; it was a touchy subject for some and a perfect chance to brag for others.

    ¡°Not well, as I am sure you could guess.¡± Terry sighed and leaned further back into the weathered sofa. This form of transport had been his idea while iming Alice needed to rest, so walking for miles through the forest was out of the question. ¡°I wanted, like many kids, to be a Delver. I was willing to be anything to follow in my pop¡¯s footsteps. We lived a good life with his earnings until¡­ Well, you know the fate of most Delvers. Don¡¯t live long, those reckless idiots.¡± He spat some green gunk from his mouth, and itnded on the unsuspecting skull of one of the goblins carrying the couch; surprisingly, it didn¡¯t react and kept walking along. ¡°s, I was one of the few to receive nothing.¡±

    Alice frowned. ¡°Nothing? Not even a trading ss or a divine task?¡±

    ¡°Nope. Absolutely shit all. Drowned my sorrows in alcohol for weeks before my mother kicked me out, and now¡­here I am. Dead but alive, serving an ancient overlord and helping raise his pet¡ªahem, I meant mistress¡­¡± Terry gagged as foul-smelling gunk drooled from his mouth. ¡°Ahem, excuse me, being a zombie ain¡¯t all sunshine and rainbows, you see. Better than being Bob, though, poor guy. Anyway, it¡¯s not all bad; I finally got what I wanted, just not how I expected.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Alice looked at the decaying and rotting man from head to toe. ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°Looks aren¡¯t everything. Especially in a magical world.¡± Terry winked a rotting eyelid at her, and she felt thoroughly ufortable and attempted to shuffle further into her side of the couch.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Alice suddenly had an idea. ¡°Can you join my party?¡±

    ¡°Errr?¡± Terry¡¯s groan sounded exactly how she had pictured a zombie to sound in her head. ¡°Maybe? I could while I was human¡­but I am nothing but a¡­ve to the overlord? Wow, that¡¯s a depressing thought, huh?¡±

    Alice summoned the party screen, and with a swipe of her finger, the join party screen floated over to Terry. The zombie hovered his finger just above the join button with a wavering resolve.

    ¡°Just click it?¡± she asked impatiently.

    The poor zombie stammered, ¡°Don¡¯tugh, okay?¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    With onest wiggle of hesitation, Terry¡¯s finger struck true and hit the yes button.

    [Name: Alice] (Leader)

    [Race: Human]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Level: 12]

    [STR: 30, DEX: 42, CON: 12, INT: 72, WIS: 56]

    (Weak) (ve)

    [Name: UNKNOWN]

    [Race: UNKNOWN]

    [Level: 281]

    [STR: 259200, DEX: 259200, CON: 259200, INT: 259200, WIS: 259200]

    (Lifeforce Unstable) (Out of range)

    [Name: Terry]

    [Race: Immortal Zombie (Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

    [Level: 5]

    [STR: 20, DEX, 7, CON: 999, INT: 0, WIS: 0]

    Alice stayed silent for a long while. She had no reason to adhere to Terry¡¯s warning because nothing about his status was funny. ¡°Terry, you are a punching bag.¡±

    ¡°I know!¡± Terry covered his hands in shame. ¡°How embarrassing¡­¡±

    ¡°No, no, no, no. I don¡¯t think you quite understand the situation.¡± She pped her hands as if trying to make him focus. ¡°You are immortal; with stats like that, you will never die even if you were buried under the ocean or chucked into a volcano. A god could likely p you in the face, and you would still live¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡± Terry sat up a little straighter and puffed out his chest. ¡°Maybe I am more incredible than I thought.¡± Dreams of Terry bing a Delver as a child shed through his mind. He imagined himself reaching the lower floors and taking hit after hit from the boss while manicallyughing his head off¡­

    ¡°TERRY.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯M NOT IMMORTAL.¡±

    Terry frowned. What was this woman saying? She wasn¡¯t immortal? Who cares? ¡°Oh, yeah¡­¡± His eyes widened in realization. ¡°You aren¡¯t immortal.¡± He looked around as his slow brain realized what she was suggesting.

    Alice clutched her hair in frustration. ¡°OBVIOUSLY!¡± She flung her hands toward the heavens, crying to the gods for this zombie to find his onest brain cell and put two and two together, ¡°What was the n here? How were you going to defend me or help me level up? The weakest thing in this forest is C-ss, and you are weaker than a fucking stable boy!¡±

    ¡°But the overlord said it would be fine¡ª¡± A screech that caused both Terry and Alice to reflexively cover their ears interrupted the zombie as a massive shadow turned the surroundings from evening to night.

    Alice could feel her heart beating loudly in her chest with her hands mped on her head. She looked around with squinted eyes, attempting to spot the threat. It wasn¡¯t until she looked up through the tree canopy that she saw something ck between thework of branches. Then, a momentter, there was a gust of wind so fierce it tore the few remaining leaves from their branches, and some smaller trees snapped in half and fell to the wayside.

    As something massive crashed through the trees, loose soil pulsed out from the impact site in a wave and mmed into the poor goblin undead supporting the couch. One maintained their stature, but the other took a knee, causing the whole thing to tip to the side and backward.

    Alice found herself lying on her back with stars in her eyes. A violent concussion threatened to steal her consciousness, but she fought through.

    ¡°Oh shit.¡± Terry¡¯s words sounded distant and warped; she followed his voice, and then¡­she saw something that made her headache vanish in the winter wind.

    A yellow lizard eye the size of her head surrounded by titanic-size ck scales was right above her, only a few meters away; she could almost reach out and touch the magnificent creature¡ªit snorted, and small plumes of smoke wafted from its nostrils. Its mouth revealed shark-like teeth, each longer than Alice¡¯s arms and twice as wide as it snarled toward¡­Terry.

    ¡°I smell it on you,¡± the creature proimed in a profound voice that shook thend as it turned its barn-size head toward Terry, who stood there dumbly.

    ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you,¡± it snarled again. ¡°I smell the curse of undeath that chains your soul to this ne. Forever and ever, a life of servitude, a vile servant of darkness.¡± The towering creature¡¯s w came round with vigor and snatched Terry up in its grip. ¡°Where is your master? He has turned this beautiful forest into a wastnd, and his army threatens mynds.¡±

    Terry had a defiant grin on his face. ¡°Bah! Compared to the overlord, you are nothing but an overgrown lizard!¡±

    Arge exhale of amusement from the creature whipped Alice¡¯s hair as she tried to cower behind the couch. The creature then began to tighten its grip around Terry. Slowly at first, but quickly, the colossal lizard¡¯s arm bulged¡­yet nothing happened. Terry was fine, and he couldn¡¯t have looked happier. ¡°Run, fair maiden!¡± the buffoon hollered at Alice. ¡°I will hold back this vile beast!¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have just stayed quiet, you useless punching bag?¡± Alice hissed as she got up to run; she activated her Stealth in a vain attempt to escape the creature¡¯s gaze. She knew it was futile, but what else could she do? Hopefully, the beast would be more interested in the immortal zombie than her.

    Sadly, it was not.

    With a gust of wind and hard scales closing around her body, Alice felt her stomach drop as she was hauled upward; her legs dangled freely in the air as crisp winter wind rushed past her face. The canopy was left far behind, and only endless miles of naked trees and frost-covered ground could be seen in all directions.

    Alice saw Terry in the creature¡¯s other w; the brown-haired zombie returned a grin and a little wave. ¡°Mistress!¡± he cupped his hands around his mouth and howled over the wind. ¡°Isn¡¯t this fun? A real adventure!¡±

    Please, Goddess, bestow upon me a divine quest to kill this fucking idiot.

 Chapter 10. Undead Evolution

    Earlier that morning, after returning to the ice sculptures, Victor ordered the horde of goblins to set the carriages down. He then had Alice rest inside the old carriage used by the head of the merchants; he also made sure a merchant ced a small portion of jerky alongside a water skin next to her. ¡°That should be enough for now.¡± Finally, he disabled his Stealth and appeared before all of his minions. ¡°Merchants, gather here.¡±

    All five dead men nervously nced at each other before stepping toward the swirling mass of darkness that had magically appeared. Without straining their necks, they could see two thin tree trunk¨Csize legs of a dense ck mist that swirled around randomly as if alive. A few couldn¡¯t resist and curiously gazed upward and saw these mysterious legs connected to a vague humanoid-shaped body that towered over the trees.

    Many blue eyes shone through the canopy and gazed into their souls. ¡°You five will be my direct henchmen from now on. Can any of you ride a horse?¡± Victor nned to find more capable subordinatester, but they were the best he had currently. An awkward standoff with all the merchants casting nces at each other wore on his patience. ¡°Nobody?¡±

    A man with brown hair and a roughish smirk roughly shoved thergest of the men forward. ¡°Go on, Henry!¡± He cheered hisrade on and gave a rotting thumbs-up.

    Therge man stumbled forward. He nervously gulped as he felt the creature¡¯s intense gazend on him. ¡°Thanks for nothing, Terry. Why the hell did you push me?¡± Henry hissed over his shoulder as he straightened up.

    s, the culprit hid his hand behind his back and pretended to be sincerely interested in a gray rock on the floor. ¡°Wow! I don¡¯t see one that smooth every day! A scarce find in such a ce, how lucky¡­¡± Terry bent down and picked up the rock that was neither smooth nor abnormal. It was the same as all the others littering the cursed forest floor. He lifted it and inspected every nonexistent nook and cranny before pocketing the thing like a rare treasure.

    Henry¡¯s shoulders dropped in defeat; with a sigh, he faced toward his new overlord, took a knee, and spoke in a clear voice. ¡°My lord, I can ride a horse; how may I serve?¡±

    Victor looked at the man, and although his new body didn¡¯t have human expressions, he frowned. He should have volunteered immediately. Under my Raise Undead skill¡¯s control, the goblins respond to my requests with haste and efficiency. Is the System interfering with me?

    While lost in his thoughts, Henry began to sweat despite the chill in the air. Internally, he was berating himself for not stepping forward sooner. Sure, he was no master of horse riding, but out of the five men here, he was undoubtedly the best.

    Victor understood the man¡¯s hesitancy to step forward but didn¡¯t appreciate it. ¡°Listen up, humans. I have a purpose for each of you, and I need to find the right person for each job.¡±

    With this body¡¯s memories and many months of experimentation, I am sure I can create my own type of undead; I was just missing the finalponent: the System.

    Henry ced a hand across his chest and bowed. ¡°As you wish. What is my purpose?¡±

    Victor didn¡¯t answer. Instead, he used his Shadow Magic on a nearby horse. Tendrils of shadows shot out from his intangible hands like elongated fingers and wrapped around the horse¡¯s body like asso. It yelped in surprise as it was hauled through the air. Victor then repeated the process on Henry, and to the merchant¡¯s credit, he remained silent as he was brought mere inches away from Victor¡¯s many curious eyes.

    Victor then forcefully ced Henry atop the horse¡¯s back; the tendrils of shadows bound the two together. Happy with the progress, Victor sent the tendrils into the horse¡¯s nose and severed its brain. Its squealing ceased the forest returned to its usual stillness. With the horse dead, Victor activated his maxed-out Raise Undead skill. To his surprise, a bizarre-looking UI appeared in his mind.

    [Undead System User Detected]

    [Horse Corpse and Zombie Human Found]

    [Merge?]

    A part of Victor¡¯s brain leaped with joy; his hunch had been correct! But, unfortunately, the other half was disappointed. Why is the UI so basic? Shouldn¡¯t there be more options? He prodded the screen, yet nothing changed; no hidden drop-down menus appeared nor any secret buttons.

    With nothing else to do, Victor hit the merge button. Instantly, his body froze in ce. The intangible substance that made up his body rushed toward Henry and swirled around him like the Milky Way.

    In a panic, Victor conjured his status and saw his numbers declining fast. Luckily, he had over two hundred fifty thousand in each category to spare, but it seemed to create his own undead; he had to sacrifice immense power during the creation process. A few seconds passed, and the swirling mass of void mist dissipated, revealing the finished product.

    [New Undead Created!]

    [Name: Henry]

    [Race: Apocalypse Horseman (Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

    [Level: 23]

    [STR: 230, DEX, 160, CON: 170, INT: 80, WIS: 60]

    [Description: A living apocalypse, an unstoppable undead fueled by the void.]

    Victor read the information and was satisfied. Overall, I spent around a thousand stat points to create such a powerful undead. So far, my sample size of stats involving the System is limited to Alice and me, so it¡¯s hard to know if these stats rival the other creatures of this forest or not. I wish the goddess provided me with a darn appraisal skill¡­

    He dropped his new creation. Terry took a nervous step back as Henry mmed down in front of him. The apocalypse horseman stood over two meters tall with a setup simr to a centaur, except the human torso was further back, allowing room for the horse head. The lower half was a Nightmare with midnight ck fur, glowing red eyes like enchanted rubies, and a tail of bone simr to a spinal cord. Atop was the human torso that fused with the horse at the waist. Henry now wielded an obsidian spear that gleamed dangerously in the dawnlight; his sandy-colored hair had followed with the theme and transformed into a raven cape that ran down his bare back.

    Dangerous, majestic, downright apocalyptic! Victor could barely hold back his excitement¡­and neither could the other zombie merchants. All of them, apart from Terry, who seemed a bit lost, took an organized step forward and knelt.

    ¡°Henry, you have evolved with my essence; henceforth, you are an apocalypse horseman. Serve me well.¡± Victor¡¯s ancient voice tickled the ears of all those who listened, and his profound words shook their bones. He can evolve things? they all silently thought. Isn¡¯t that something only a god can do?

    ¡°I am honored to oblige.¡± Despite Henry¡¯s massive frame that towered over the others, he moved with absolute silence like a phantom through the night as he took his position next to one of Victor¡¯s legs.

    Right, what do I need next? Victor skimmed over the group and singled out a short, potbellied man with a magnificent beard wearing an apron. Is that a dwarf? Does he cook?

    ¡°I need a chef.¡±

    ¡°ME!¡± The dwarf waddled forward with glee. ¡°Name is Bob, Your Excellency! Happy to serve!¡±

    Without dy, Victor moved his w and enclosed the dwarf like a bearded bird in a cage. He then activated Raise Undead once more.

    [Undead System User Detected]

    [Upgrade?]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Only one option again¡­but it¡¯s a new one? Upgrade? Victor was curious, so he clicked the button without regret.

    [Initializing Random Upgrade¡­]

    [Option Found¡­Bone Chef]

    [Merging & Upgrading Skills¡­]

    A sudden scream broke Victor¡¯s gaze from the interesting screen; his w cage had transformed into a raging hellfire. ck mes spiraled like a vortex as the mist was rapidly drained from his body.

    Secondster, the smell of burned hair and earth filled the clearing. He removed his w, and all that remained was a very short and bare-looking skeleton.

    [New undead created!]

    [Name: Bob]

    [Race: Dwarf Bone Chef (Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

    [Level: 14]

    [STR: 130, DEX, 400, CON: 80, INT: 0, WIS: 0]

    [Description: A dwarf chef immortalized in pristine bone.]

    Victor felt¡­bad. Compared to Henry, the sight of a shivering skeleton no taller than a child was hard to stomach. Without his magnificent beard and burly muscles, he wasn¡¯t as imposing. An awkward minute of silence was broken, with Bob soullessly looking at the floor and trudging back toward the chef carriage.

    Everyone slowly turned together and watched him leave in silence.

    Okay, it seems merging an undead with another dead creature to make a chimaera brings better results. Although a chef being that pristine is perfect. Wouldn¡¯t want a rotting zombie anywhere near the food. I do feel bad for the guy¡­

    ¡°Anyone else?¡± Victor asked the group. After the Bob incident, he wanted to save at least two of them forter experiments, but he also needed to confirm if Bob was a one-off case or not. Perhaps his nonbat ss of chef interfered with the ritual and lowered his stats¡­ Although four hundred in DEX is still impressive. He should have amazing reflexes and throwing abilities. Maybe throwing knives? Fits the chef aesthetic¡­

    Two men stepped back and left the dazed Terry still staring at Henry. Victor suspected the simpleton had missed the whole ordeal. ¡°Terry, step forward.¡±

    ¡°Ooo! My turn!¡± The buffoon excitedly walked forward to potential doom. Victor repeated the process he had with Bob and pressed upgrade.

    [Initializing Random Upgrade¡­]

    [No ss or Skills Found¡­]

    [Analyzing Users Potential¡­ None.]

    [Potential Option Found¡­]

    [¡­]

    [New Undead Created!]

    [Name: Terry]

    [Race: Immortal Zombie (Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

    [Level: 5]

    [STR: 20, DEX, 7, CON: 999, INT: 0, WIS: 0]

    [Description: System deemed target too stupid and reckless to assign abat ss. Offensive stats were reduced and traded for defensive ones.]

    Victor was speechless. Terry had a constitution on the same level as a level-one Netherborne, a godlike creature from the void. Yet he looked so unassuming. Unlike Henry, who had changed drastically, and Bob, who had lost more than he could stomach, Terry was still a rotting zombie.

    Victor had concluded that the upgrade feature was a massive scam. But this Immortal Zombie does have a use. He would make the perfect guard if he couldn¡¯t ever die¡­

    ¡°Bob and Terry will look after Alice. She is not a hostage and should be attended to with care. She needs training and some levels once she recovers. The surrounding area ispletely cleared of monsters, so you will all be safe now. Only a few critters might appear from time to time; kill those.¡±

    Terry did aical salute and followed after Bob.

    Victor then turned to his new cavalry unit. ¡°Henry, we will head north. An undead on mywork has sighted a group of humans wearing impressive-looking gear and have some kind of green metal around their necks.¡±

    The demonic centaur nodded. ¡°As you wish, my lord.¡±

    ¡°The rest of you can rest up for now.¡± And with that, the meeting was adjourned, and Victor rushed up toward the north with Henry following close behind.

 Chapter 11. Change Of Plans

    Victor metaphorically closed his eyes and spread out his influence. He found himself in an endless void floating above a ck ocean. Ripples went out in all directions like sonar waves and made small skulls rise to the surface; these nodes were members of his undead army. Some were tiny, while others were zing suns of power, such as his henchmen. Despite Terry¡¯s unassuming appearance, within the ck ocean, he was a rock of pure light. ¡°Terry.¡± Victor sent a voice message. It hopped across the sea like a skipping rock before impacting the back of Terry¡¯s skull.

    ¡°Yes, boss?¡± he replied in a cheerful tone.

    ¡°Stick with Alice; you are her immortal guardian, okay? So long as you are with her, I can help through our connection. Just let me know if your life is in danger.¡±

    ¡°All right, boss, I got it covered!¡±

    The connection between the two fizzled out. If Victor focused hard in a particr direction, he could hear the chatter of his various undead between themselves. But, s, it sounded more mechanical than twoputers talking, so he quickly got bored. I will check up on Terry every now and then¡­should be fine. That area is totally safe.

    Feeling content with his decision to leave Alice in Terry¡¯s capable hands, Victor¡¯s mind retracted from the ck ocean, returning his focus to his current mission. ¡°Henry, tell me all you know about these humans.¡±

    Victor looked down at the horseman below him that closely resembled a bulldozer. To keep up with his speed, the horseman didn¡¯t bother to evade around the trees and preferred the more direct approach of causing mass deforestation.

    Henry looked up toward Victor as his long ck hair flowed in the wind. ¡°My lord. You said these humans wore fancy gear, had a green metal around their necks, and came from the north? Are you sure?¡±

    Victor reused hismunication ability and hijacked the sight of his undead minion hiding in a bush near the human camp. Unfortunately, his vision warped and became narrow; he had gotten used to near-perfect vision in all directions, so being restricted to a mere one hundred eighty degrees was disorienting. He cancelled the spell only a few seconds after confirming his findings. ¡°They appear closer to the northeast side of the forest, but other than that, the information I provided is urate.¡±

    In the vision, he saw four humanoids resting around a campfire and cooking lunch. One was busy with the cooking pot while the others lounged around and chatted under the midday sun. I assume they are some kind of adventuring team; if novels are anything to go by, they are too equipped to be simple campers.

    ¡°As I suspected, my lord.¡± Henry swirled his spear around his head like a helicopter as he obliterated an oak tree in his path. ¡°To the far north is the Frosnds. It is a wealthy mining town but not famous for its Delvers; it wouldn¡¯t make sense for an adamantite Delving team to originate from such a ce.¡±

    ¡°Delvers?¡± Victor questioned. Is that what they call adventurers in this world?

    ¡°Delvers are a loose group of people that dive into dungeons. Legend says that if a Delver reaches the lowest floor of a Grand Dungeon, they can request anything from the System. But, unfortunately, so many fools every year throw their lives away in a vain attempt at having their greatest dreamse true.¡± Henry spat to the side in disgust. Clearly, he had little respect for them.

    ¡°Is there a Grand Dungeon nearby?¡± Going into a dungeon had crossed Victor¡¯s mind, but he hadn¡¯t bumped into anything that looked like a dungeon after months of searching, so he assumed they didn¡¯t exist in this world.

    ¡°Yes. There is one far to the north. However, no other dungeons can appear for many miles due to the amount of mana it consumes from the surroundings.¡±

    ¡°So are these Delvers heading toward the Grand Dungeon?¡± Victor remembered their gear. They looked underequipped for such a grand quest unless they had a spatial storage artifact.

    ¡°Unlikely, the Grand Dungeon is under control of the dragons and has been for centuries. They built a fortress city above the Grand Dungeons entrance before the city-states to the east became the Empire.¡±

    ¡°The Empire?¡± Victor was excited to learn about the citizens of this world; despite the goddess¡¯s likely intentions, he didn¡¯t n for mass extinction. Instead, he wished to use his strength to somehow rule over these puny humans until they provided him with entertainment on the level of Earth.

    If he had be an immortal creature, you best believe he doesn¡¯t n to endlessly roam this in search of food. I would rather die again than continue to live like this in this forest, although creating new undead and interacting with my new henchmen has been exciting. However, I need much more stimuli as this will get stale soon¡­<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Henry cleared his throat and answered, ¡°Yes, my lord, the cursed forest where we are now is vast and bordered by four separate civilizations. The Empire to the east is thergest and most prosperous in thend, but gruesome politics bring them down as hidden wars rage between the various noble families, so they have never managed to assemble an army big enough to conquer anything else.¡±

    Victor was very interested in this supposed Empire. How much havoc could he cause in such a ce? Toying with them could bring years of entertainment! I could send undead assassins to kill heirs and manipte their politics from the shadows. Maybe I could put a puppet inside their court and sow even more discord amongst the noble families? He had read thousands of novels, and noble drama was one of his favorite genres. Couldn¡¯t he assume the role of the author and control the narrative himself?

    Broken from his trail of thought, Victor saw Henry pointing his spear in the opposite direction to the rising sun. ¡°Eshnar lies on the western ins. It is a small kingdom ruled by the Eshnar Royal Family; they are ruthless dictators who control the vast farnd surrounding their domain.¡± He then pointed his spear toward a mountain range in the direction they were heading. ¡°The Frosnds to the north heavily rely on food imports from Eshnar, so they are their closest ally.¡±

    Victor followed his henchman¡¯s spear and gazed at the enormous mountain range that dominated the skyline. ¡°You said the Frosnds were a mining city in the northern mountains. Do dwarves live there?¡±

    ¡°Some do. The dwarves, like most mystical races, have somewhat integrated themselves into the human-dominatednds over thest few centuries.¡±

    ¡°Mystical races?¡± Victor tilted his head in confusion. Are dwarves mystical?

    Henry shrugged as he smashed another tree with his spear and passed through the shower of splinters. ¡°A ce known as the Mystical Realm dominates the southernnds; nonhuman races control it. The mana is abundant, but so are the monsters. War happens daily, which causes a lot of refugees like Bob to flee north. He kept most of the details secret, but I heard he fled the southernnds when vampires raided his home.¡±

    Victor remained silent for a while as the duo rampaged toward their target. As expected, this world must contain many fantasy races; perhaps there are even elves somewhere? But that isn¡¯t important right now; I need to focus on how to deal with these Delvers¡­ Learning about how vast and exciting the world was had changed his ns slightly. If the cursed forest lies in the center of all these wonderful ces, shouldn¡¯t I create the trade hub between all? That way, I will get entertainment from all corners of the continent at my doorstep¡­

    ¡°Okay, slow down. We are close,¡± Victormanded, and Henry slowed to a casual trot. ¡°Now listen. I want to form ties with these people, not kill them. Although devouring their stats or stealing their gear would be nice, I assume adamantite adventurers are highly valued?¡±

    Henry seemed shocked by Victor¡¯s statement. ¡°T-they are valuable; higher nobles often sponsor them to Delve into the cursed forest to obtain rare materials. Sometimes even the king employs their services.¡±

    Victor nodded; it was just as he suspected. ¡°Perfect. Then this is what we will do. First, you approach the Delvers; if they refuse a friendly discussion, beat them into submission. After that, we will take them back to the ice sculptures and offer them the chance to purchase only one of the frozen creatures.¡±

    ¡°Why only one?¡±

    Victor chuckled. ¡°There is nothing more greedy than the human heart. If one group returns with such a treasure, won¡¯t others be intrigued? Where did they get it? Maybe there are more?¡±

    Henry¡¯s expression became dark. My overlord is far too cunning¡­

    ¡°Now go. I will observe from the shadows.¡±

    Henry readied his spear and slowly entered the clearing where the Delvers were happily feasting away. Victor watched from the side with anticipation as this would be the first contact between an adamantite team and the apocalypse horseman. He was curious how they would react and wanted to know how his henchmanpared to a group of strong citizens from this world.

    ¡°This will be interesting¡­¡± Victor chuckled as he faded into the background.

 Chapter 12. Meeting A Corrupted

    ¡°Can someone please exin to me why we let Rock handle the cooking?¡± Eve looked across the clearing at the enormous gem golem wearing an apron and attempting to cook pumpkin soup. Rock was over three meters tall, with various stctites of gems coving his back. Nobody knew where he came from, but he was famous in the Empire for stories about how a few dumb nobles died trying to capture him and mine the gems off his back.

    A man wearing a bright blue business suitbed back his silky ck hair with his white-gloved hand and sighed. ¡°Eve, if you want to tell that dumb oaf what to do, be my guest. But we all know what happened to the Raven family when they tried to harvest him.¡±

    Eve shuddered and sat back down on the hard ground. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right, Zedd. It¡¯s just¡­he can¡¯t taste or smell! How can Rock possibly cook anything? Thest tomato soup he made us was downright horrendous! Sam even threw up!¡±

    The timid mage winced at the memory. ¡°T-that was so embarrassing.¡± Sam covered his face with his hands in shame.

    Zedd chuckled from the side while he inspected a razor-sharp ck dagger. ¡°Careful, Eve. Making fun of a disciple from the Hackers n is never a good idea.¡± He then pointed the de at Eve. ¡°Even that legendary bikini armor won¡¯t save you.¡±

    Eve looked down at the bright pink bikini that failed to hide her ripped muscles. It was a legendary piece of armor she had found on the fiftieth floor of the Empire¡¯s dungeon. Unfortunately, wearing it made her famous in the Delvers guild¡­for reasons she didn¡¯t appreciate.

    Eve snorted and put a slightly muscr arm around Sam¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We are buddies, aren¡¯t we, Sam? Please don¡¯t send your mentor after me¡­¡±

    ¡°I a-am n-not sure w-we could be considered f-f-friends¡­¡± Sam stammered as he nervously tried to push the Amazon¡¯s arm off his shoulder. ¡°W-we j-just met only a w-week ago.¡±

    Eve pushed her long, flowing pink hair behind her ear and grinned at the blushing mage. ¡°Well, that means we have all the more to talk about! Say, Sam, tell me about the Hackers guild?¡±

    Zedd shot Eve a threatening look, but she ignored the rogue businessman; she acted politely and posed the question in a friendly manner, but she was really curious. Information on the Hackers guild was almost impossible toe by other than asking one, and there were so few of them that it was hard to meet one. Especially a Hacker as easy to manipte as Sam here.

    ¡°I c-can¡¯t say anything.¡±

    Eve frowned and moved closer to the mage; her breath tickled his ear as she softly whispered, ¡°Okay, but what about you? So few Hackers join the Delvers guild, and you are adamantite rank before even doing a single mission. I am soooo curious.¡±

    Sam¡¯s sandy-colored hair and green puppy eyes made Eve feel bad for the youngd. But having a one-on-one conversation with a Hacker without an escort of knights was so rare that she just had to take the opportunity.

    Sam lowered his head and mumbled, ¡°I can change stats¡­¡±

    ¡°HUH?¡± Eve¡¯s eyes went wide; she had never heard anything so ridiculous. ¡°Change stats? How¡ª¡±

    ¡°FOOD. READY.¡± A thunderous voice echoed through the forest, sending a flurry of birds into the sky. ¡°ENJOY!¡± The titanic gem golem shook the earth with every step as he tried to carry over three tiny bowls on his fingers. Once the golem arrived, he cast a shadow over the whole area. He gazed at his three travelpanions with his diamond eyes, and a crooked smile appeared on his face. ¡°BEST. FOOD. YET!¡± His hand smacked the ground, causing everyone to cough as dust exploded through the air.

    ¡°Control your strength, you dumb rock!¡± Eve hollered between coughing fits. Once the dust settled, everyone reached out and retrieved their bowl of¡­nothing. Bright orange pumpkin soup dyed the golem¡¯s route from the cooking pot and the crater around his hand.

    ¡°Wow, so scrumptious!¡± Zedd said sarcastically as he looked into his empty bowl. ¡°Are there seconds?¡± All three instantly eyed the cooking pot a few meters away.

    ¡°FINISHED. ALREADY? WOW! YES. THERE. IS. MORE¡­¡±

    It all happened in a sh. Zedd was gone in a puff of smoke, and a ck shadow of a figure dashed toward the pot.

    Sam stood, raised his bamboo staff, andmanded, ¡°System ess, identify user, fast cast, swap DEX with STR.¡± Complex runes that defied logic appeared. Eve had seen the runguage used by mages before, but this one differed. Instead of an ancient script, it was all in green zeros and ones that warped around Sam before tearing a hole in space and surrounding the moving figure.

    Zedd tumbled over himself as his movement spell canceled. He tried to push himself off the floor¡ªbut screamed as he flew farther than he anticipated and smacked his head on the cooking pot like a gong¡­causing it to tumble and spill all of its contents.

    ¡°THERE. WAS. ENOUGH. FOR. EVERYONE.¡± Rock slowly said as he looked at his ruined cooking. ¡°NOW. THERE. IS. NONE.¡± Rock sat down on his butt and started poking at the ground with his head hung low.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Eve had never seen a depressed golem before. Maybe Rock was more intelligent than he looked? ¡°No, that can¡¯t be possible,¡± she whispered as she looked at the behemoth that had caused so much terror in the Empire over thest few months.

    ¡°Say Rock¡­¡± Eve appeared in front of the titan, waving a hand in his face. ¡°Why did you be a Delver?¡±

    ¡°DELVER?¡± The golem scratched his head, and a few gems ked off. Eve twitched as she resisted the urge to bend down and pick them up. ¡°WHAT. IS. THAT?¡±

    ¡°This, silly.¡± Eve pointed toward the piece of adamantite on a silver chain around his neck¡­although it was hard to see amongst all the other bright gems like rubies and emeralds that covered the golem.

    ¡°OH¡­HUMAN. GAVE. ME. THIS. SAID. IT. WAS. REWARD. FOR. MY. CHEF. SKILLS.¡±

    Eve gently bent down and joined in with Sam and Zedd, who sneakily grabbed all the gems from the forest floor. ¡°Oh¡­yeah, right. Your chef skills are indeed top notch¡­¡± she sarcastically said and stumbled back as the gem golem smiled.

    ¡°YES! ME. BEST. CHEF.¡± His voice hurt Eve¡¯s ears. It was so bloody loud.

    ¡°I bet the Empire is using us as glorified babysitters,¡± Zedd sneered as he pocketed a ratherrge piece of tanzanite. ¡°Pay was good, though.¡± He shrugged as he stood up. ¡°Nothing in this forest can hurt us anyways, so long as we stay away from the dragons.¡±

    ¡°Pay was good for you,¡± Eve grumbled. ¡°I still have to pay back the tax on this bikini armor. I have said this before, and I will say it again. Just because the Empire owns the dungeon doesn¡¯t mean they should have the right to any items we find! It¡¯s ludicrous! They can make up any price and force us to repurchase it from them if we want to keep it!¡±

    Sam coughed on the side. ¡°There was such a rule?¡±

    Eve waved her hand at the mage. ¡°Rules? For Hackers? They don¡¯t exist; you guys are protected entities byw. If the Empire tried to take something away from you and extort money from a Hacker, then one of the big wigs from your guild would make a move, like your mentor, for example.¡±

    Sam shrunk back from the angry warrior. ¡°S-sorry about that. L-life is not fair, it s-seems.¡± He reached into the pocket of his bright green poncho and dumped a handful of gems into Eve¡¯s hand. ¡°T-take this¡­¡±

    With a grin, Eve smacked his hand away. ¡°I don¡¯t need your charity; we will find something in this forest worth a lot¡­ I am sure of it.¡±

    The two smiled for a while until Rock shouted, ¡°INTRUDER.¡±

    Everyone turned and saw the most impressive monster they had ever seen. It was a Nightmare, a breed of demonic horse with beautiful raven fur and ruby-colored eyes that stared at them with endless hunger. The horse¡¯s head also had rows of shark-like teeth and nostrils that red and emitted plumes of smoke. But this was no simple Nightmare; it was over twice the size of a normal one, almost matching Rock in height.

    But that wasn¡¯t all. ¡°Greetings,¡± a human torso eximed. It was attached halfway along the Nightmare¡¯s body and made Eve double-check if the rider had any legs. Seeing the torso was indeed fused with the horse raised some¡­questions.

    ¡°My name is Henry, and I havee for negotiations,¡± the torso said as it whirled its midnight-ck spear over its head. ¡°My lord is merciful, you have trespassed, but I can overlook¡ª¡±

    ¡°A CORRUPTED!¡± Sam shouted with more vigor and certainty than the Emperor during his speeches. Everyone, even the Rock, turned toward the timid mage who had taken on apletely different demeanor. He stood taller, stronger, and his eyes glowed with a conviction of the highest order. ¡°Begone!¡± Sam raised his staff, and the unassuming bamboo pole shone with a golden light. ¡°Initiate program: EXECUTION.¡± His eyes exploded like beacons of golden light along with the bamboo pole as he began levitating. Everyone nervously stepped back; nobody here had witnessed a Hacker unleashing his true power.

    Sam¡¯s mouth moved at inhuman speed as he rattled offmands that caused the surrounding air to be hazy and shimmer. Green lines of zeros and ones whizzed around in endless streams without coherent sense.

    ¡°Target lock, swap affinity, reduce stats, debuff, silence¡­¡±

    A blue stone around the boy¡¯s neck exploded as the code surged forward and impacted Henry.

 Chapter 13. Humble Monster

    [SYSTEM ERROR]

    The blood-red words hung in Henry¡¯s vision as he felt something slither under his flesh, a virus. He tried to shake it off, pulling his body in every direction, yet the words followed and the miserable feeling only increased.

    [DEBUFFS APPLIED]

    [SILENCED - STUNNED - ROOTED - PARALYZED]

    Static noise filled his head. Henry tried to reach out to the overlord for help, but he couldn¡¯t keep his thoughts straight. His body refused to move; even his throat felt clogged as if some magical force had shoved a pylon down it.

    [AFFINITY SWAPPED: UNDEAD -> HOLY]

    He screamed. His flesh burned as divine light shone from above and forcefully rewrote his DNA. His midnight-ck hair fell out in clumps, leaving him bald. His ruby eyes dissolved and dribbled down his cheeks, leaving his eye sockets empty. The Nightmare followed a simr fate and copsed to the ground.

    Victor watched from the shadows; he debated charging up a Doom Ray and decimating the area, especially killing that mysterious mage. But he decided not to for many reasons. They called him a Hacker, a term from Earth. Are there other people from Earth on this? If there are, that changes my ns once again¡­ He ignored his henchman¡¯s scream. Henry was both receable and summonable. What is more critical is data; that Hacker is far too dangerous to approach without knowing the limit of his power. What if I carelessly attack and that mage lowers my stats to zero? Would I cease to exist?

    Victor had grown an ego over thest few months. The monsters in this cursed forest offered little challenge, and his status page screamed overpowered, but what use was a stat page if a Hacker could alter it? There may even be mages out there that could ignore stats and attack his soul. This world is vast, and I must remain humble and not let my ignorance cause my death.

    A few seconds passed, and the Hacker¡¯spanions recovered. The gem golem that came up to Victor¡¯s waist in height shook the ground as he maneuvered behind the Hacker and covered his nks with his enormous body.

    Ah, I see their strategy now. Victor eyed the party members. The Hacker is the most crucialponent. I still don¡¯t know the limit of his power, but I assume Henry is at least an A-ss threat, yet he was rendered useless by that spell¡­

    ¡°CRYSTAL. FORTRESS,¡± the gem golem shouted as he imnted his four limbs around the Hacker; the ground trembled as a pce of stone with encrusted gems slowly rose and confined the Hacker within its walls. The gem golem integrated into the stone pce and became the roof; eyes appeared atop crystal spires and scrutinized the tree line.

    With the Hacker secured, a woman with flowing pink hair that reached her butt charged forward. She wore a hot-pink bikini that failed to obscure her bulging muscles. She kicked the ground and shot through the air with a shout. She mmed into Henry like a pink wrecking ball, causing his body to tumble a few meters through several trees. There was a loud crack as Henry¡¯s spine snapped in two as he rested against the final tree in a heap of blood and guts.

    Under cover of dust and flying wood, a man wearing a business suit weaved his way through the destruction with unmatched skill; as he approached Henry, he unsheathed a ck de from his zer and hurled it. For Victor, the world seemed to slow as the ck-tipped de cleaved through the air and obliterated Henry¡¯s entire head like a watermelon thrown from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

    Everyone paused as the dust settled. The bikini warrior grabbed arge branch and poked Henry¡¯s corpse. ¡°Good shot, Zedd. I think it¡¯s dead.¡± She frowned. ¡°But Sam, couldn¡¯t we have heard it out? It¡¯s rare for a corrupted to speak and even engage in conversation.¡±

    The crystal fortress crumbled as the Hacker walked out with trembling steps. He looked haggard with dark circles around his eyes. ¡°Yes, Eve. It was necessary.¡± He leaned on his bamboo pole and took deep breaths.

    Victor smiled from the shadows. Although I can¡¯t be sure, that mage looks out ofmission. With the major threat gone, he used his Raise Undead skill on Henry¡¯s corpse. Over a thousand stat points vanished from his status page as Henry¡¯s corpse shuddered.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Eve turned and saw the corpse missing. ¡°Hey, guys, it¡¯s missing!¡± She twirled toward her party members and failed to see the Nightmare emerge from her shadow with a furious rider. Without hesitation, Henry raised his spear and aimed to skewer the woman.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Watch out!¡± Zedd shouted and darted toward hispanion.

    Henry had a ruthless grin as he thrust the spear with all his strength; a sonic boom resounded as the spear smashed into Eve. A pulse of orange energy shrouded the woman in a spectral suit of armor, and a loud ding echoed through the forest. Eve stumbled a little but was otherwise fine. Everyone stared at her as if she was a ghost. Even Victor was shocked; what he had just witnessed shattered his worldview.

    That bikini is a piece of armor? Victor swore he would spend more time and effort learning about this world. This fight had humbled him greatly. Perhaps a stealthy visit to a city is in order.

    Henry stared at the tip of his spear in confusion. ¡°Did the overlord give me a defective weapon? I am sure I hit that unarmored woman with all my strength¡­¡±

    Eve put her hands up in a boxing stance and slowly backed away. ¡°Retreat,¡± she hissed over her shoulder. ¡°That hit took a lot out of me.¡±

    Without hesitation, the gem golem scooped up Sam in his massive hand and shielded him with the other.

    In this critical moment, Victor had to make a hard decision with little information. Should I let them go? It was a question not born frompassion but rather his survival. All they know is that a reasonably powerful undead has made its home in the cursed forest and that there may be a powerful necromancer lurking nearby. I don¡¯t think that information will warrant the same response from the Empire as four adamantite Delvers being killed, including a Hacker.

    If I reveal myself in an attempt to silence them and one of them sessfully teleports away somehow, then I am fucked. Also, if I kill that Hacker and his mentor or whatever hunts me down, my life will be far more difficult than it needs to be. So right now, my priorities are gathering intel and discovering a way to fix my constantly falling stats.

    Victor didn¡¯t want to be enemies with people he didn¡¯t even understand. I have to keep my ego in check. The goddess listed Netherborne at ten points alongside other races like dragons. So I am not above everything, but I am an apex predator.

    Content with his decision to let these people go, hemunicated his thoughts with Henry over their connection. ¡°Let them go but scare them off. We need to buy some time.¡±

    Henry galloped forward; mes red from the Nightmare¡¯s nostrils as he barreled into Eve, knocking the wind from her lungs. Eve grabbed the horse¡¯s head with a pained expression; she dug her feet into the ground and tried to push the monster off. ¡°Teleport us!¡±

    An exhausted Hackery in the Rock¡¯s hand; he shakily held up his bamboo pole and chanted, ¡°Initiate program: Return Home.¡± The group was gone in a sh of green light as if they had all just logged out.

    Henry stood off to the side in silence. His face was dark with unresolved anger.

    ¡°Rx, you did well,¡± Victor tried to console his henchman. ¡°Without the Hacker, we would have handled them easily.¡±

    Victor decided his next objective was to learn all about these Hackers and any other potential threats to his existence in the future, and that required some infiltration. Luckily, I have the perfect girl for the job. Now, what is Alice up to?

    Victor went into his mind and looked across the ck ocean. He nced south toward his ice sculptures, but Terry was nowhere to be found. Victor franticallybed the ck ocean until he looked directly north. Why the hell is Terry near the Grand Dungeon?

 Chapter 14. Arcwing

    Alice concluded that she despised flying. Perhaps it was the fault of her carrier,cking theforts of traditional travel such as cushions or even a seat, or maybe it was because she was hanging upside down and the forest blurred beneath her. As she violently swayed side to side, her stomach sloshed around like a fish bowl experiencing turbulence. ¡°DARN LIZARD!¡± she howled over the roaring gale. She swung her body forward. But the wind pushed her back as she tried to grab at the creature¡¯s w around her ankle. ¡°Ugh!¡± A stray insect got caught in her throat, causing her to gag and vomit to surge out. ¡°Ah!¡± She lifted her hands to block the vomit from flying back into her face. For a while, she just dangled there; she felt awful, her ankles burning from pain, her teeth chattering from the freezing wind that felt like frost-covered des slicing at her exposed cheeks. The noble-style dress did little to protect her from the elements a thousand meters up.

    ¡°Mistress!¡± Terry came into view. Compared to Alice¡¯s deplorable appearance, he looked magnificent. His medium-length brown hair flowed freely in the gale, and he hung with a straight posture befitting a royal guard turned bat. His ordinary brown eyes examined Alice from toe to head; he cupped his mouth and shouted, ¡°Mistress! You look like an abducted princess!¡±

    Alice struggled to hear the idiot over the wind, but she got the general idea from his pointing and shouting. She strained her neck to look at herself; the sophisticated, noble-style, form-fitting dress was midnight ck, and small gems intertwined with the fabric, making it look like a moonless night sky. But, s, despite the dress¡¯s original beauty, the flight had not been kind to a dress typically worn by a high-ranking noble¡¯s mistress to an elusive ball. Moreover, the actual dress portion was in tatters, allowing any daring fellow a full view of her undergarments. She reached an arm up, covered the view with her hand, and red at the zombie. ¡°Eyes off!¡±

    Terry returned a roughish grin and did aical salute. ¡°Aye-aye, mistress!¡± He looked forward and gasped; Alice tried to maneuver her head to follow his gaze.

    ¡°Stop wiggling around, human.¡± The creature¡¯s voice seemed to ignore the wind and tickled her ear from every direction. ¡°We are almost there.¡±

    Alice was almost sure this magnificent creature was a dragon, and the view that revealed itself as they dove beneath the fluffy white clouds only confirmed her suspicion.

    The barren, frost-covered forest thaty dormant till winter¡¯s end had vanished, and in its ce was an oasis of life. Alice forgot about her indecency and rubbed her eyes, yet the enchanting scene remained. Mythical creatures of various colors pped their glorious wings and hauled their titanic bodies effortlessly through the air. Some circled the many floating inds thatzily hung in the air with waterfalls of pristine, crystal-clear water gushing down upon the sprawling meadows below. Some floating inds were no bigger than a single plot ofnd, while others were the size of cities with gargantuan dwellings with unique architectures to amodate this ce¡¯s residents. Dragons.

    Alice¡¯s kidnapper slowed to a rxed glide as it passed by a smaller floating ind¡ªa dragon-like creature with magenta scales craned its long neck and eyed Alice with its snake-like eye. Alice struggled to tell the difference between the dragons¡¯ genders, but this magenta dragon had a long, feminine neck and a thinner frame than her kidnapper.

    The dragon¡¯s voice was softer, like an immortal flower blooming inte spring. ¡°Xamrus, you have brought back a rather unique catch this time.¡±

    The dragon smiled. ¡°Was this under an Arcwing¡¯s order? You know we don¡¯t allow humans here.¡±

    Alice¡¯s body vibrated down to her bones as Xamrus grumbled, ¡°Hyveth, open the path.¡±

    Hyveth uncoiled her body, and her enormous head approached them. Alice noticed that shecked ws or any limbs for that matter. She was more snake than what Alice had envisioned a dragon to be; was she perhaps a different species to her kidnapper?

    ¡°Xamrus Aight, you may be the son of an Elder, but disrespecting an Ancient such as myself is bold, even for you¡­¡±

    Xamrus flinched under Hyveth¡¯s intense re. Her sapphire-blue eyes red at him as one would when scolding an unruly child. Alice held her breath as the tension between these two titanic creatures weighed down on her. The atmosphere was crushing. ¡°Wow! A giant snake!¡± Terry eximed with gusto. Alice bit her tongue in surprise and red at the imbecile.

    Hyveth broke eye contact with her fellow Ancient¡¯s grandson and red at the human-zombie. ¡°I smell it on you¡ª¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± Terry waved a hand in front of his nose. ¡°The smell of death, darkness, yadda, yadda, heard it all from big boy over here already.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Alice just watched the scene in mute horror. Hyveth was sorge she could coil around a mountain range and still have length to spare. A family could build a house inside her nostril; hell, even a city could use a single scale from her to construct a ten-meter-high wall.

    As the demi-god snake moved closer, a st of pressurized wind knocked Xamrus back and almost broke Alice¡¯s neck if she didn¡¯t strain her muscles to the limit.

    Terry was unfazed. He seemed to relish the experience.

    ¡°Oh ho?¡± Terry opened his arms and beckoned the snake closer. ¡°You dare approach this mighty one?¡±

    Hyveth paused a few meters away. Terry wildly swung his fists, trying to reach just one of her magenta scales. ¡°I can¡¯t beat you if you don¡¯te closer!¡± He pped Xamrus¡¯s w that held his ankle. ¡°Move closer, you big oaf! I got a snake to catch!¡±

    Hyveth smiled, showing rows of teeth the size of buildings. ¡°Quite the feisty one, aren¡¯t you?¡± Then Hyveth¡¯s body suddenly evaporated into a purple mist that nketed the entire ind. A gem the size of Alice¡¯s head floated ominously where Hyveth¡¯s head had disappeared and begun to suck up the mist. After a few seconds, a person appeared, floating where the gem had been.

    The woman reminded Alice of Hyveth. She was around two meters tall andmanded a presence that Alice hadn¡¯t experienced since hearing the voice of the overlord. Ancient, profound, and dangerous. Her eyes remained a sapphire blue, but they now had an inhumane quality, as if they were literal gems shoved into her eye sockets. Her long, flowing magenta hair cascaded down her shoulders and writhed around as if alive. An ethereal, stunning white dress that stung Alice¡¯s eyes to gaze upon obscured the woman¡¯s naked form; she was an ethereal beauty with dainty arms, long legs, a single golden horn protruding from her forehead, and a wicked smile that curled up into a sneer.

    ¡°Xamrus, take the human to the Arcwings; leave this one for me.¡± Her voice was cold,manding, and irrefutable. She casually waved her hand through the air, and Alice swore she saw a tear in space follow her every move. It was as if she held a knife that could cut the fabric of reality; stars shone through the gap, and so did their insurmountable presence. With a final flick, a permanent tear formed, and ethereal purple light shone through and formed a hazy rainbow road into the far distance.

    ¡°I have created a path. Now fly.¡±

    Xamrus grumbled despite Hyveth¡¯s rage. ¡°When you are done, please bring that one to the grand hall. The Elders will be displeased with me otherwise.¡±

    Hyveth waved him off. ¡°Those old fools can grumble all they want, but I will not tolerate such disrespect from a mere zombie. Whether I return him or not is up to my discretion. Do I make myself clear?¡±

    Xamrus bowed his head to the floating woman. He then released his grip and let Terry fall. Hyveth waved a hand, and Terry found himself suspended a thousand meters in the air.

    Xamrus red at his elder before maneuvering toward the rainbow road that seemed to stretch until the horizon. ¡°I will be on my way then, Hyveth Arcspace.¡±

    The woman nodded, and Xamrus and Alice were gone with a single p.

 Chapter 15. Spaghettification

    Victor scrutinized the ck ocean within his mind. He made sure his bearings were correct. Terry was certainly in the north unless everyone had switched locations to mess with him. Many thoughts went through his mind, some were less polite than others, but they all followed a simr theme. He was baffled, confused, and downright annoyed.

    Nothing was going righttely, and that irked Victor to no end. He lobbed a message toward Terry¡¯s node within thework; due to the distance, it took a second to arrive. ¡°Terry.¡±

    A secondter, the zombie answered. ¡°Y-yes, boss?¡± He sounded a little on edge, as if he was in a less-than-ideal situation.

    ¡°How are you so far north? What happened?¡± Victor asked. He didn¡¯t tell Terry, but it took Victor and Henry hours to reach the Delvers in the northeast at full speed, yet Terry was further north. There was no way that merchant had a jet ne in his back pocket, nor did he possess a teleportation artifact, so how had he gotten there? ¡°And where is Alice? Is she with you?¡±

    There was a long silence before Terry answered in a whisper. ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°No, what?¡±

    ¡°Alice is not with me, boss.¡±

    ¡°Why not? Where is she?¡± Victor¡¯s voice boomed through the connection, causing tidal waves across the ck ocean. He tried to remain calm, but he was furious. Alice wasn¡¯t overly significant in the grand scheme of things, but Terry had disobeyed his orders, which was a cause for concern. These new henchmen he had acquired were far too sentient for his liking.

    ¡°Dragons took her, boss! I fought with all my might but could not hold the mighty beasts back! Then a big ck one called Xamrus kidnapped us from near our home¡­¡±

    ¡°Dragons?¡± Victor was dumbfounded. Henry had mentioned that dragons upied the Grand Dungeon in the north, but why had they fought with Terry and taken him north? ¡°Howe you didn¡¯t ask me for help?¡± This question had been bugging him during this entire conversation. He had explicitly told Terry to tell him if there was an issue.

    ¡°You told me to call for help if my life was in danger¡­¡± Terry said in a meek voice.

    ¡°Yes, I did.¡± Victor thought back to the conversation, and he did indeed say something along those lines. ¡°So? Is your life not in danger?¡±

    ¡°Well, no. I am immortal, so how could it ever be in danger?¡±

    There was a long silence before Victor let out a pained sigh. He didn¡¯t waste any more time and hijacked Terry¡¯s view over thework. As a result, his vision distorted and became narrow, and the rest of his senses dulled. But with this, he could see what Terry could see and piece together this bizarre situation.

    ¡°Who is that?¡± Victor saw an ethereal beauty stepping through the air toward Terry. Her hands were behind her back, and a wicked smirk emerged on her perfectly sculpted face. With every step she took, flowers of starlight bloomed under her feet, and her golden horn shimmered in the midday sun. It was breathtaking.

    ¡°Oh, this bitch?¡± Victor saw Terry point toward the dragoness in human form. ¡°Hyveth eface? No, wait, was it Ae? No, no, that sounds wrong¡­¡±

    Hyveth¡¯s eye twitched as the insolent zombie pointed a rotting finger at her face. ¡°Communicating with your master?¡± she asked with a light smile that made Terry¡¯s hair stand on end.

    ¡°Huh? How did you know?¡± Terry asked dumbly; he looked left and right as if trying to find the culprit that ratted him out.

    Hyveth pointed a snow-white finger that ended in a magenta-colored nail far too sharp to be considered safe at her eye. Actually, is that even an eye? Victor struggled to see through the hazy view provided through the long-distance connection. Something seemed off about the eyes, as if they were slightly too solid and sparkly.

    ¡°Your eyes. They betray you.¡± With a flick of her finger, a mirror materialized and showed Terry his face.

    He chuckled and ran a hand through his brown hair. ¡°Hey, handsome. Looking good.¡±

    Victor ignored Terry and looked in the mirror. Terry¡¯s usual brown eyes had transformed into two swirling masses of pitch-ck nothingness. It was like staring into the abyss; Victor thought he could see his blue eyes in that swirling mass. He blinked, and the eyes blinked. Well, that isn¡¯t good.

    The mirror shattered, revealing Hyveth¡¯s face a mere inch from Terry¡¯s. The zombie tried to swing a fist, but he was locked in ce as if being in her presence demanded respect. Terry grunted and groaned as he tried to move, but he was unable. Suddenly an idea so foul yet brilliant crossed his dumb mind. He grinned, showing his few surviving teeth after years of neglect; he readied his mouth muscles and spat in her face.

    As the green gunk slid down Hyveth¡¯s cheek, her smirk vanished and was reced with cold rage. Her hand came up from behind her back, and she mped down on Terry¡¯s head; her nails impaled his skull and dug into his decaying brain, causing him to scream.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Necromancer, I hope you don¡¯t mind if I dispose of such a rude pawn of yours? Do stop by anytime if you have anyints. We can have a joyous chat over some herbal tea.¡± The invite was hard to take seriously when it was said in a cold and condescending tone. The dragoness¡¯s eyes that were indeed gems shone like headlights as she condensed something in her other hand.

    Terry was too busy screaming, but Victor saw the spell forming. Is that a ck hole? The sunlight seemed to orbit and swirl around an orb of pure darkness. Such power. So this is what a dragon is capable of? He now realized the whole meaning of a race worth ten points. If this dragoness could summon ck holes, then he should be able to perform a simr feat.

    Hyveth sneered as she rammed the tiny ck hole into Terry¡¯s ugly mug. It all happened in slow motion. Terry¡¯s nose was the first to go as it was ripped off by the intense gravity into the swirling darkness, followed closely by his eyes and mouth. Victor suspected that he was the first to see spaghettification from the victim¡¯s point of view; slowly, the ck hole ripped Terry apart, atom by atom, into a long string. Never to be seen again. Weirdly, the connection never cut off. Then, from a disjointed view, Victor saw Hyveth open a wormhole, gather up scattered atoms of Terry, and dump them through it.

    The connection ceased, and Victor returned to his location in the forest. He floated there for a while as he tried to process what he had just witnessed. ¡°Okay, new rule. Never piss off a dragon.¡±

    ¡°What is the situation, my lord?¡± Henry carefully inquired from the side. The apocalypse horseman strained his neck to look up at his overlord, who floated ominously above the tree line. From Henry¡¯s little time with his new overlord, he had already found a way to gauge his lord¡¯s mood. Right now, Henry knew he was frustrated. The ck mist swirled around like a primordial storm, and copious amounts of it evaporated off his overlord¡¯s form, shrouding the area in a nket of darkness. But the most significant sign was his overlord¡¯s eyes. They zed with power and fury like miniature blue suns.

    ¡°Situation?¡± Victor brought a long, shadowy hand to his chin. What is the situation? The dragons have stolen and broken my new toys, but from my brief interaction with them, I have confirmed that I don¡¯t want to antagonize them¡­too much¡­ Hmm, what should I do?

    Every second was precious. Victor had already wasted time on the Delvers, and his stats were falling fast. Ideally, I would like to rescue Alice as she is my ticket for infiltrating the cities for information on Hackers. Hard to read books or ask questions as a six-meter-tall void creature. But I also need to fix my falling stats¡­

    He stopped. All the points started connecting in his mind. Alice has been taken by the dragons. The dragons inhabit the Grand Dungeon, which is filled with monsters¡­ If I go there, I kill two birds with one stone. I can rescue her and level up! Although that Hyveth dragoness was terrifying, I should be on a simr level in strength to the dragons, and if there¡¯s one thing I was designed for, it¡¯s sneaking around.

    During hisst few months, Victor confirmed that not a single creature in this vast forest could see through his maxed Stealth skill, and it was time to put it to the test. Against a fellow apex predator, the dragons.

    Having concluded his thoughts, Victor addressed his henchman. ¡°The situation is somewhatplicated, but Terry is dead. First, he was thrown into a ck hole, and then his atomic remains were flung into the universe¡­¡± After narrating Terry¡¯s death, Victor realized how brutal it was. Never really spoke to the guy, but what a way to go. Tragic, really. If only he listened to my instructions. He decided to ignore Henry¡¯s triumphant smile and continued. ¡°For my next course of action, I will head toward the Grand Dungeon and sneak inside.¡±

    ¡°What about me?¡± Henry asked.

    Victor turned his head and looked down on his henchman. Henry nervously trotted back a few paces under his re.

    ¡°You will cause a distraction as I sneak inside, of course¡­¡±

    ***

    ¡°Yo, mate? You all right? Hey? Hello¡­¡±

    Terry had a banging headache as he felt something poking him. His eyes slowly opened to reveal a nervous-looking young man. ¡°Hey¡­¡± the man whispered. ¡°We aren¡¯t supposed to do drugs while on set!¡±

    ¡°Wha¡ª¡± Terry asked, but his ent was different. It sounded so¡­wrong. He looked around the weird room. His head was inside some bizarre porcin bowl filled with water that smelled of urine, and he was surrounded on all sides by tacky blue walls. He focused on the man; his attire was weird. He looked scrawny and pale, and his hands waving in front of Terry¡¯s face had no callouses or signs of hardbor. Was he some ditzy noble?

    ¡°Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?¡± the man asked. ¡°Your name is Terry, right? The new extra that we hired?¡±

    Terry looked down at himself. He was still wearing the same torn clothes with his rotting insides hanging out. ¡°Extra?¡± he slurred, unsure of anything.

    ¡°Yes. For Zombie World¡¯s second season? You are an actor, right? Love the costume, by the way; it¡¯s amazing how talented our makeup artists are!¡±

    Terry gave the man a confused look. ¡°I¡¯m an actor? What do they do?¡±

    The manughed. ¡°How fucked up are you, dude? Just get on set in fifteen. You just have to stand there and sometimes run at people. I know the pay isn¡¯t that great, bute on, bud, maybe if you impress the director, you could make it big someday.¡±

    Terry closed his eyes as the man walked offughing. Within his mind, a ck ocean spread out in all directions. He could faintly see the blinding light of his overlord as a mere speck in the distance. He focused on the direction and hurled out his question. ¡°Boss, what the hell is an actor?¡±

 Chapter 16. New Pet

    The journey toward the Grand Dungeon had been a fruitful endeavor so far. As Victor got closer to the dragon¡¯s stronghold, the number of high-level monsters also increased, drastically raising his level and stats. ¡°Status,¡± Victor mentally chanted, and a glowing blue screen appeared before him.

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 302]

    [STR: 470325, DEX: 470325, CON: 470325, INT: 470325, WIS: 470325]

    [Skills]

    [Consume X]

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]

    [Freezing Cone VII]

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement V]

    ¡°My Freezing Cone spell leveled up from five to seven, and my Spirit Movement went from level three to five. But how can I unlock new spells?¡± This question bothered Victor, another reason he needed to get Alice back, either to ask her directly or use her to acquire the information from a city. If Victor appeared in front of a Delver team and kindly asked them how he could gain more skills, he doubted they would drop their weapons and happily run him through how this world¡¯s System worked. Victor had already confirmed that his System differed from Alice¡¯s as hecked the party feature. So what other features was he missing? Perhaps Victor couldn¡¯t gain any new skills, and his only chance was during his reincarnation.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Victor looked over his stats. He had increased by around twenty levels over thest few days, a testament to the insane number of high-level monsters he had ughtered recently. Sadly, due to the higher-level opponents, he couldn¡¯t passively kill them with his Annihting Aura. From his experiments, the skill sent out pulses of death mana that invaded nearby monsters¡¯ bodies and, within a few seconds, caused their death. But if the monster was strong enough, their own mana would act as a shield and negate the death affinity mana from entering. So although it often weakened them as they had to waste mana on defense, it was mostly pointless. It only caused the monsters to flee, making his job harder.

    ¡°I am an assassin at the highest levels of y.¡± If Victor treated this world like a game, then against top opponents, his skillset was specialized in assassination. Consume, Raise Undead, and Annihting Aura were the skills that made Netherborne so world-ending against weaker foes. For example, a Netherborne could appear within a city by using Stealth. They could then kill everyone in seconds with Annihting Aura and raise the dead to overrun the few powerful people who resisted death¡¯s initial waves. This was how cities crumbled and empires burned when a Netherborne materialized on the mortal ne.

    But versus ancient dragons that were on the level of demigods? A few weak undead would be obliterated in mere seconds, and the Netherborne¡¯s Annihting Aura would be shrugged off as an annoying breeze.

    Victor hadn¡¯t thought much about his abilities before, and he assumed a Netherborne without a human¡¯s intelligence would do the same. But with the appearance of Hackers and demigod-level dragons that could manifest ckholes on a whim, Victor decided now was the time to use his brain over brawn. A stupid Netherborne would continue ughtering everything until it eventually ran out of prey and was starved or defeated by a stronger foe. Although Victor had avoided cities so far, he was running out of prey to kill, and he was, unfortunately, going down a simr route to ruin as his ancestors. His hunger was not sustainable unless the environment provided an unlimited supply of monsters to kill.

    Victor¡¯s thoughts were interrupted as the ground beside him erupted, and an area a hundred meters wide vanished into an abyss. Something truly titanic surged upward; he saw a circle of teeth bigger than cars surround Henry. A secondter, they snapped shut, obliterating the poor horseman. With the creature¡¯s mouth closed, he saw it was an earthworm, except it was the size of a skyscraper. Brown, armored scales protected its sides and vulnerable head as it munched on its lunch.

    Before the creature could dive back down into the depths of the forest, Victor pointed his right hand toward the tunnel and began charging his Doom Ray. Purple energy swirled around his hand, and his stats dropped by a few thousand. He did not seem to possess mana or stamina and instead used his lifeforce to cast spells. If not for the fact that if he reached zero lifeforce, he would perish, he would spam his spells and obliterate everything with a Doom Ray to the face.

    Victor¡¯s Stealth skill automatically deactivated as the Doom Ray entered its final stages. However, Victor kept its power at around one percent. Otherwise, the continent may sink into the ocean. As an experiment, he once used ten percent of the Doom Ray¡¯s power. It caused an earthquake and made a hole in the ground that caused a volcano to form; it also consumed a whopping hundred thousand stat points and reduced his lifeforce to near zero. He had learned his lesson and henceforth always limited his powers.

    The earthworm seemed to sense the enormous energy that had appeared near its head and screeched. The earth trembled as the titanic creature burrowed into the dirt. Doom Ray was almost finished charging, so Victor used his other hand and cast a quick Freezing Cone spell. The sh freeze on the creature¡¯s head rooted it in ce. It squirmed and smashed its head against the walls to break the ice.

    Victor smirked as he floated over and released his Doom Ray spell. Despite being in the middle of the day, the area lit up in an unbelievable sh of white as a meter-wide ray of purple light sted into the creature. The few trees in the vicinity burst into mes as a wave of superheated air passed through the area alongside the smell of burned meat.

    Victor looked around at the destruction with an eerie grin. Nothing felt better than decimating something with only a fraction of his power. He floated down the side of the enormous crater. Despite his impressive height, he looked like a tiny dot as he descended toward the corpse. Once at the bottom, he looked up at the earthworm¡¯s bones. ¡°So it does have bones¡­makes sense. A creature this size would need bones to support itself against gravity.¡± The pile of bones and cooked flesh looked like a mountain to Victor as he raised his w. This was by far the biggest creature he had ever killed, and he was skeptical his Raise Undead skill would even work here. Was there a range limit? Did he have to be closer to the monster¡¯s core?

    Deciding to test it out, Victor first used Consume to replenish his spent stats. The mass of flesh and bone glowed a faint blue as a wisp the size of a barn floated toward him and vanished into his body. ¡°Hmm, another level and ten thousand stats in each category. Not bad.¡± He then used Raise Undead.

    Half of his stats vanished into thin air, and death affinity mana surged through the area. ¡°This better be worth it,¡± Victor muttered. It had taken two whole days to gather those stats. He watched as the mountain of flesh bubbled as if boiling before melting into a cursed-looking green soup. Neon-green smoke rose and shrouded the crater in a cloud. The weird cloud then condensed and fell onto the corpse. The bones began floating, repairing and rearranging into the correct order. Finally, the cloud swirled around the new skeleton, and neon-green flesh materialized. Next, the death mana created ck scales that floated and mped onto the earthworm¡¯s new body.

    The process took a few minutes as the body was so thoroughly destroyed¡­ ¡°Maybe I should have just floated inside its mouth and wed out its brain. It would have saved me a lot of stat points¡­¡± But Victor couldn¡¯t be too angry after seeing the final result. A thousand-meter-long creature that could give leviathans a run for their money towered over him as if he was a mere pebble and blocked out the sun. Its ck scales shifted and partially revealed the glowing, neon-green flesh below as it rose into the sky. Its mouth opened, revealing an abyss of razor-sharp teeth. If someone told Victor this monstrosity could eat a moon in one gulp, he would believe them.

    From the open mouth, a familiar horseman emerged. He was drenched from head to hoof in green fluid. Victor paid the useless henchman little attention as the rapid pping of wings filled the crater. Then, quickly activating his Stealth skill, he looked up and saw three dragons approaching the crater¡¯s edge.

 Chapter 17. Dragon Noble

    Although Netherborne could float, they could not fly. A few meters off the ground was the best Victor could do, and apart from his Doom Ray, hecked in ways to deal with aerial threats. Such as dragons. There was a shockingck of flight-capable monsters in the cursed forest. Victor had brushed it off initially since forests usually favorednd-based monsters. But seeing those flying lizards perching on the crater¡¯s edge made him realize another possibility. There were flying-type monsters, but they never lived long.

    Victor almost felt bad. Imagine being a freshly spawned magnificent bird and leaving the nest for the first time, only to be hunted down by a group of dragons for lunch.

    Despite the distance, Victor could overhear the dragons snarling at each other. However, his universalnguage skill gifted by the goddess tranted the primal snarls into an eloquentnguage.

    ¡°What in the high heavens is that thing, and what happened here?¡± a green-scaled dragon around the size of a double-decker bus asked the dragon beside it.

    Victor floated closer and noticed that the dragon in the middle seemed thergest and most arrogant. Its golden scales shined in the sunlight as if they were polished and made of chrome. Its snake-like eyes were a constant swirling myriad of exotic colors that gave a simr crystalline appearance to Hyveth¡¯s eyes.

    The other two dragons on the chrome dragon¡¯s nks refused to raise their heads higher than it, suggesting that the chrome dragon was some kind of noble dragon. But, even if it wasn¡¯t, and Victor had mistaken how the dragon¡¯s society functioned, it was the most valuable of the three, so it would be his focus.

    Victor feared dragons on the level of Hyveth, butpared to that dragoness, these three could barely be considered hatchlings. He floated up the side of the crater and circled around as the three dragons gawked at his newest creation. Despite theirrge sizes, they looked like bugspared to the undead earthworm.

    The chrome dragon squinted its eyes and spoke in an aloof tone. ¡°You two wouldn¡¯t know, but a necromancer has recently been guing the londs. My mother told me to avoid the area for the time being. It seems their assessment was correct; only a being on my mother¡¯s level could cause such destruction.¡±

    The green dragon nervously looked at the red-scaled dragon over the chrome dragon¡¯s back. A silent agreement formed between the two, and they began cautiously walking backward.

    ¡°Sir Arcgold, don¡¯t you believe we should flee the area if such a powerful mage is nearby?¡± The green dragon peeked back at the crater a few miles in diameter, covered with molten rock and that enormous ck-scaled thing in the center that rivaled some of the Elder dragons in size and the sheer presence it exerted on its surroundings. The green dragon knew of most of the monsters in the londs, but this one was easily the most powerful it had ever seen. Even the creatures on the lower levels of the Grand Dungeon couldn¡¯tpare! Dragons are supernaturally attuned to the surrounding mana. That death worm was casually emitting waves of death mana for a hundred meters around it that would give even a dragon¡¯s mana defenses a hard time.

    The golden chrome dragon didn¡¯t budge. It was the definition of arrogance, or perhaps pride? ¡°Run away, you fools,¡± it snarled. ¡°I shall not bury your corpses.¡±

    The two dragons shared another nce, and with a synchronized p of their wings, they took the sky. The chrome dragon shook its head andy down. Then, with a snort, itid its long head on its front paws and closed its rainbow crystal eyes.

    Victor watched the dragon with amusement. It was smarter than he expected. But, s, it seemed not all dragons shared the same thought process. They know I must still be nearby, yet they think they can escape? He ignored the chrome dragon for now as it was making no signs of movement and focused on the two fleeing dragons. To hopefully conserve some stats, he ordered his new undead worm to target the green-scaled one while he charged up a small-scale Doom Ray to eliminate the red one. Before Victor even started charging, his new pet surged through the ground and shot up from below the green dragon, and in a shower of dirt, the green dragon found itself chomped in half by thousands of razor-sharp teeth.

    Victor blinked in confusion. If someone told him the worm teleported, he would agree. It had dove into the earth and emerged within a second. Not wanting to be bested by an oversize worm, his Stealth briefly deactivated as he aimed his hand and shot out a semi-charged, super-weak Doom Ray. Like a purple lightning bolt, it lit up the surroundings briefly as it shot through the sky and sted the red-scaled dragon. The bolt superheated the dragon¡¯s blood, exploding it mid-air like a firework.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    A momentter, Victor¡¯s Stealth reactivated, and he vanished again. He checked on the chrome dragon, and its eyes were still closed. ¡°Not going to flee, young dragon?¡± he asked, and his ancient-sounding voice echoed through the ruinednd.

    The golden chrome dragon opened an eye and looked around. The voice seemed toe from all directions, making the dragon frown. Although Victor was the most powerful one here, dragons had limitless pride, so being talked down on like a child made the chrome dragon¡¯s mood sour.

    Victor realized his mistake and used Shadow Magic to create a temporary avatar for the unruly dragon. The chrome dragon nced at a swirling mass of darkness as a humanoid figure with glowing blue eyes manifested.

    ¡°Run?¡± The dragon continued to speak in snarls to the shadow. ¡°Would there be a point when I came to meet you?¡±

    The shadow had distorted features, so the chrome dragon could not guess the necromancer¡¯s reaction, but they seemed amused. ¡°Oh? Why would a hatchling be looking for me?¡±

    ¡°The girl they took, it was one of yours, right? I know where to find her¡ª¡± The dragon was interrupted as the shadow put up a hand for silence.

    ¡°You misunderstand. A mere girl means little to me. I picked her up a few days ago; she was my pet project. What would interest me is your corpse.¡±

    The dragon shuddered as it felt a wave of power wash over it, causing it to doubt that this person was a simple necromancer. Perhaps it was a creature with a simr level of intelligence as dragons but specialized in the dark arts? The chrome dragon puffed out its golden chest and eyed the shadow with shifting eyes. ¡°Necromancer, I will be blunt with you.¡± The dragon hesitated before it lowered its head toward the ground in an awkward bow.

    ¡°I request power. If your elusive self is unfamiliar with dragon politics, let me exin.¡± The shadow nodded, so it continued. ¡°Many centuries ago, twelve families fought together and banished the other races from thesends and seized the Grand Dungeon. After a few years, other dragons heard the news and traveled across continents to arrive here.¡± The chrome dragon nervously looked around as if he felt awkward shouting such important secrets into the open air. ¡°To maintain their control, the original dragon families gave themselves a surname that showed their authority, and the other dragon families reluctantly agreed. That surname was Arc. I am from one of these families; my name is Genus Arcgold.¡±

    Genus sighed out his nostrils before continuing his tale. ¡°Without regr invading, the Grand Dungeon has rapidly increased in size and power over thest few centuries. So much mana pours out that it has begun evolving anything near enough to its entrance.¡± A sh of anger passed the young dragon¡¯s eyes. ¡°Recently, the Arcwing family, the self-proimed Royal Family, began throwing its weight around and pushing the other noble families from the central region so they can im the most floating inds for themselves. My family was one of the first to stand up to the tyranny, and we were,¡± Genus winced, ¡°ughtered. Only a few of my family remain. Those Arcwing bastards used us as an example to the rest.¡± Genus¡¯s ws dug into the earth and left marks in their wake.

    The shadow pondered for a while before answering. Its voice was ancient, came from all directions, and the shadow¡¯s hazy mouth didn¡¯t move, making the whole experience unsettling for Genus. ¡°You want my help to take the throne?¡±

    Genus paused. Originally he nned to ask for help getting revenge. He sought redemption after the Arcwing family dragged the Arcgold name through the mud and banished him to the londs. But to be king? Was such a thing even possible? Genus sucked air through his teeth and nodded. He didn¡¯t know the price this mysterious necromancer would demand, but he was willing to pay it.

    The shadow vanished, leaving Genus with the sight of that monstrous worm munching on one of his childhood friends. A voice echoed through the forest. ¡°Proposal epted. But on a few conditions¡­¡±

 Chapter 18. Dungeon Infiltration Plan

    Victor wondered how he could gain ess to the Grand Dungeon over thest few days. Yet he had gained three different ways in thest half hour, first with the enormous undead worm. That name is far too long. How about Wiggles? The name sounds endearing enough to help distract me from how monstrous it is. Anyway, Wiggles should be able to create a tunnel into the Grand Dungeon. Otherwise, how did it get out in the first ce? Unless it was mutated outside of the dungeon by ambient mana.

    The second option was raising the dragon corpses and flying his way in, although this n had significant ws. First, if the dragons could detect or smell an undead creature, then his puppet dragons wouldn¡¯t be able to breeze through the entrance and enter the lower floors. Second, if what Genus said was true, then the central area around the Grand Dungeon¡¯s entrance was controlled by powerful noble families. Third, neither the green- nor red-scaled dragon gave off noble vibes like the chrome dragon, so it¡¯s unlikely that Victor could sneak into the dungeon on their backs.

    Victor looked at the chrome dragon from Stealth with delight. This oversize lizard would be his living puppet that would exchange everything they knew for some near-unattainable, aloof goal. Throne? Conditions? None of that mattered. All Victor needed was a passage into the Grand Dungeon, and everything else should fall into ce¡­hopefully. What he had was destructive power, something the chrome dragoncked. Meanwhile, Victorcked knowledge, especially about dragon society, which this golden dragon had a lot of and was willing to share.

    ¡°My conditions are simple.¡± Genus straightened up and listened to his fate. ¡°First, I require ess to the Grand Dungeon. Then, once we reach the lowest floor, I will help make you king. Second, we rescue that ve girl or you find me a recement. Finally, once you are on that throne¡­¡± Victor paused as his ancient voice echoed through thend. ¡°You will be my puppet and obey my everymand.¡±

    Genus Arcgold lowered his head. The conditions were rather steep and risky. Although the prison cells were inside the Grand Dungeon¡¯s first level, they were heavily guarded. Genus was also banished to the londs by the Arcwing family and told never to return, so getting into the Grand Dungeon would be difficult. The chrome dragon gulped as he tried to formte a n. The conditions seemed reasonable on the surface, but each of them was near impossible for him to ept. Even thest one hurt his pride. Bing a puppet king would be more miserable than death¡­

    Luckily, Genus Arcgold saw the massive, undead worm retreating into the depths below and had an idea. The chrome dragon raised his head and looked at the empty area where the shadow hadst been. ¡°These terms are eptable, although I can only guide you toward the Grand Dungeon and tell you where the prison cells are. Unfortunately, I have been banished to the londs, so showing my face around the entrance is far too risky.¡± There was an awkward silence, so Genus took the risk and suggested his idea. ¡°Although the dungeon walls are enchanted with dense mana, a creature of that magnitude may be able to tunnel through a weaker section.¡± He pointed a w at the enormous hole left by Wiggles as it returned underground. ¡°We could get close, create a tunnel into one of the upper levels, rescue the human, and then make our way down. But¡­¡±

    ¡°But what?¡± The ancient voice tickled the dragon¡¯s ear, causing Genus to twitch in annoyance before answering.

    ¡°We will be fugitives when we step inside, especially once we break into the prison. A few Senior dragons sleep near the prison gates, and the only way we could rescue that human is by¡­killing them. Unfortunately, the death of a few Senior dragons would cause a few Elders to make a move, and they may chase us down the dungeon¡­ Once we reach the bottom, we will have nowhere to run.¡±

    Victor knew this would be the case. ¡°Will the dragons chase us even if we don¡¯t rescue the human?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Genus nodded. ¡°They will notice a new gap in the dungeon and investigate. Of course, we will be chased down regardless, but they will be slower to respond if we avoid any killings. Unless you have a way to rescue the human without killing the Senior guards?¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    That was a good question. Victor did specialize in infiltration with his Stealth and Spirit Movement, allowing him to sneak around and phase through walls. Victor was confident he could sneak into the prison without an issue, but could he get Alice out as well?

    ¡°Possibly,¡± was his eventual answer. ¡°Will have to see how the situation develops when we arrive. So do we have a deal, hatchling?¡± Victor nned to work this gullible dragon to the bone. He knew the dragon had no option but to ept. If Genus denied the deal, he was dead, and even if Victor let him go, Genus was condemned to a life of wandering the londs away from the mana-richnds, meaning he was doomed to stay as a weak dragon forever.

    Genus lowered his forehead and shouted into the ground. ¡°I, Genus Arcgold, hereby pledge my loyalty till my death and honor the agreed-upon terms. May I know my master¡¯s name?¡±

    Victor pondered. Should he be known as Victor to this mortal world? Or perhaps he should have a new name? I n to remain lowkey and avoid revealing my race for now. At least until I gain some more trust and information. Since all they know is my voice¡­perhaps Voice would be a good name? He decided that would work for now. ¡°You may refer to me as Voice for now. May our partnership be fruitful and long.¡±

    Victor decided to recreate the shadow avatar but with more detail this time. The face remained hazy except for a permanent smirk and two glowing blue eyes. The avatar¡¯s outfit also changed to one with a top hat, medieval-style suit, and cane. Itcked intricate details as it was all ck, but the overall outline was there. This gave Genus something to direct his questions to, as shouting out into the empty forest was a bad practice if Victor wished to build some trust between him and the dragon. The avatar approached the golden chrome dragon with light steps. Genus Arcgold followed the avatar¡¯s movements with its rainbow-colored gem eyes and lowered its head. Victor floated next to Genus and could reach the top of his head, but his avatar had to float up and hover beside the dragon¡¯s car-size head.

    ¡°Shall we go?¡± Victor was impatient. Genus nodded and walked toward the massive tunnel in the ground left behind by Wiggles. Victor had ordered the earthworm to head toward the most significant source of mana underground and then find a weak point.

    As the chrome dragon nervously stepped down into the dark tunnel, Victor cast Consume on the two dragon corpses. Wasting stats on raising them from the dead felt pointless for now, especially since he nned to kill those Senior dragons at the prison anyway. How could I let such bundles of sleeping stat points escape?

    With an evil chuckle that made Genus¡¯s blood run cold, Victor followed into the dark tunnel and headed toward the Grand Dungeon.

    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 19. Rainbow Fish

    Once the guards lowered the magical silver barrier, Xamrus discarded the shaking human into one of the many prison cells. He was in a foul mood after he received wrath from the Elders. They used him of beingzy and taking the magical highway instead of making the two-day flight to the Grand Dungeon¡¯s entrance. Of course, they all knew that zombie would never make it to the Grand Hall for questioning after Hyveth took it, so the Elders took it out on Xamrus. He reasoned that the human wouldn¡¯t have survived such a long flight since the weak thing was half dead after just a few hours. But the Elders were stubborn bastards and refused to surrender on the matter.

    Xamrus grumbled as the silver barrier rematerialized. He gave a nod of acknowledgment to the Senior dragons on duty as courtesy dictated. They returned the gesture with a snort and closed their eyes. Xamrus hated the leeching bastards, how they sucked up to the Arcwings and did their dirty work just for a chance to reside and sleep within the Grand Dungeon¡¯s walls. Streams of mana floated through the halls and washed away the fatigue from the flight and umted stress. ¡°I need a drink,¡± Xamrus dered as he opened his broad wings and soared up the dungeon¡¯s steps to the higher pce. He would drink herbal tea with his sister and talk about the good old days¡­

    ***

    Alice gasped as the suffocating mana was slowly drained from the room by vents ced around the shining silver wall. Her noble dress was in tatters, but for some reason, the cavern that was dimly lit by glowing moss in the ceiling was rtively warm, considering the time of year. ¡°So this is a dragon¡¯s prison cell¡­¡± She looked around at the cavern that was around a kilometer across. Lush beds of moss surrounded a crystal-clearke, and small green trees and bushes lined the sides with red fruits that smelled sweet and enticing.

    Alice stood up on wobbly legs. She still felt a bit sick from the rough treatment, and her stomach had yet to settle, but the ambient mana in the ce was so thick she felt rejuvenated by simply breathing. Because she has a mage ss, seeing the immense flow of mana leaving through the walls was somewhat possible. ¡°Why is the mana in the room being drained, though?¡± The shimmering silver wall that had materialized as Xamrus threw her in was some kind of magical barrier to keep her inside. ¡°Oh, I know¡­ Dragons are magical creatures, socking mana is like depriving them of oxygen. So that¡¯s how they keep them contained.¡±

    To Alice, the reduced mana in the air made it breathable. When Xamrus had dragged her through the dungeon¡¯s corridors, it felt like inhaling a thick fog that burned her lungs. But now, it was like a pleasant breeze that warmed her soul. ¡°This feels more like a trip to a spa resort than imprisonment.¡± And she fucking deserved it. Without dy, she stripped herself of the useless dress that pulled on her body and restricted her movements. Finally feeling some freedom with just her ck lingerie on, she stretched, and her poor joints popped, releasing a wave of relief that made her shudder and a smile bloom on her face.

    With a carefree attitude, she strolled over to the trees, reached up on her tiptoes, plucked a fruit the size of a watermelon, and then ambled her way to the mossy banks of theke. The water was freezing, so she cautiously dipped her toes in and enjoyed the refreshing sensation as she bit into the fruit. It exploded in her mouth with juices that were sickly sweet. She ignored all the table manners ingrained into her from a young age and devoured the ripe fruit with a ferocity befitting a starved wolf.

    Once she was stuffed full, sheid on her back, wiggled around as she enjoyed the soft feeling of moss on her bare back, stared at the glowing ceiling that looked like a star-filled sky, and promptly passed out.

    ***

    After sleeping peacefully for what felt like an entire day and night, Alice abruptly awoke to find that she had almost rolled into the freezingke. Only her hand had fallen in and felt numb. After rubbing it back to life and devouring another fruit, the young woman took another stroll around the beautiful prison¡­and then another¡­and then another¡­

    ¡°Okay, now what?¡± She plopped down next to theke, cupped the water, and took a refreshing drink that helped wake her up and sharpen her mind. She needed a game n. What was her situation, and was there a way out?

    ¡°Status.¡± A blue screen rippled to life a few feet from her face.

    [Party/Stats/Skills]

    She selected the Party option, and a new screen appeared.

    [Name: Alice] (Leader)

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 12]

    [STR: 30, DEX: 42, CON: 12, INT: 72, WIS: 56]

    (Weak) (ve)

    [Name: UNKNOWN]

    [Race: UNKNOWN]

    [Level: 281]

    [STR: 259200, DEX: 259200, CON: 259200, INT: 259200, WIS: 259200]

    (Lifeforce Unstable) (Out of range)

    [Name: Terry]

    [Race: Immortal Zombie (Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

    [Level: 5]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [STR: 20, DEX, 7, CON: 999, INT: 0, WIS: 0]

    (Out of range)

    ¡°Hmmm, the unknown creature¡¯s status hasn¡¯t changed or updated, meaning it has remained out of range this whole time. Does the creature care about me at all? Does it even know where I am? Terry, the idiot, mentioned that I was the creature¡¯s mistress or something.¡± Alice frowned. It was hard to take anything that zombie said seriously, and she suspected Terry had misinterpreted the ancient creature¡¯s instructions.

    With a sigh, Alice removed the screen with a flick of her hand and summoned her stats.

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 12]

    [STR: 30, DEX: 42, CON: 12, INT: 72, WIS: 56]

    (Weak) (ve)

    [Blessing: Darkness]

    [ss: Awakened ck Mage(Locked)]

    [Sub ss: Apprentice Merchant]

    [Divine Mission: None]

    [Skills]

    [¡­]

    [ss Skills]

    [Stealth II]

    [Sub ss Skills]

    [Fast Counting I]

    [Identify I]

    ¡°At level twenty, my main ss will fully unlock, and I can begin choosing my progression path. Sadly, my awakened skill isn¡¯t abat skill, although Stealth did save me during the wolf attack on the merchant¡¯s carriage.¡± Alice casually activated her Stealth skill. She felt mana slowly drain from her body. The mana expenditure wasn¡¯t high, but she felt her mana pool trickle away as if it was a swimming pool with a hand-size leak. Even with the ambient mana in the cavern moving to replenish, it was not enough to offset running the skill permanently.

    Alice looked around, and apart from a few small fish in theke, there were no other sentient monsters to practice her skill against. ¡°Practice makes perfect, as my mother always used to say,¡± she grumbled as the picture of her mother¡¯s haunted face on her awakening day shed through her mind.

    Alice embraced the coldke water with clenched teeth and tried to sneak up on the fish to level her skill. Unfortunately, since her awakening ceremony, she¡¯d had little time to practice her new skill, so she thought now was a great time to try it. She had also never been in such a mana-rich environment. ¡°I bet those old fogies in the Mage tower would lose an arm and a leg to spend a month here.¡±

    After an hour, Alice was cold and miserable. The rainbow-colored fish that popted theke ignored her, making her attempts at catching one a hopeless endeavor. Finally, she trudged out of the water with bright red legs from the cold and a miserable expression. She opened her stats and confirmed that her efforts had been wasted as Stealth remained at rank two.

    With a heavy sigh, she plopped down on the moss, looked at the ceiling, and cried. The warm tears streaking down her face made her feel even more pathetic. She balled her fists and shook them at the ceiling. ¡°Fuck this world. Fuck this life. What a horrible world. How can they just throw me around like some rag doll? What about my thoughts and feelings? Do I get a say in the matter?¡± Her arms fell limp by her sides as she curled up into a ball and tried to fall asleep. ¡°I just want someone to¡­care about me for once. Is that too much to ask for?¡± she muttered as her body gave in to exhaustion.

 Chapter 20. A Call From Terry

    Wiggles resembled a tunnel-boring machine rather than an undead creature. Victor, Henry, and a frightened Genus followed the dark tunnel through the earth Wiggles had perfectly carved out. Apart from the foul smell of death and decay and the asional suspiciously neon-green puddle, the tunnel through the bedrock was perfectly smooth.

    Henry and Victor were perfectly fine in the pitch ckness to the¡¯s center. But Genus took every step with a nervous caution befitting a blinddy attempting to cross a busy road. He kept his wings tight to his body as he carefully put one paw in front of the other; the constant scraping of his ws against the smooth rock grated on Victor¡¯s nerves. Genus asionally cast nces at Victor¡¯s shadowy avatar that floated beside his head a few meters off the ground. Finally, with a gulp and a deep breath, Genus opened his mouth and politely snarled, ¡°Voice, can you provide a guiding light?¡±

    Victor took a moment to remember his name was Voice and quickly responded with a snap through his avatar, ¡°No. I am the harbinger of death and mass destruction. What need would I have for light?¡±

    Genus grumbled and continued cautiously descending down the tunnel. His golden scales lightly glowed and provided a few feet of faint light. The chrome dragon squinted his exotic crystal eyes as if trying to peer through the veil of darkness before him.

    The avatar sneered, ¡°A grand dragon such as yourself can¡¯t see in the dark?¡±

    Genus ignored the remark and soldiered on. Minutes turned into hours. Victor scrolled through his stats to pass the time and started to get stressed. There was nothing down here, only Genus to possibly sate his hunger if things got bad enough. He looked up at the ceiling and debated floating through it with Spirit Movement to the surface to acquire some prey. Although Victor had learned to live with it somewhat, the constant feeling of withering away as the world tried to return him to the void was unsettling. Imagine if you had a continuous timer ticking over your head with that obnoxious tick-tock sound, constantly reminding you of your impending doom. And in this silence, the sound was deafening.

    ¡°Boss, what the hell is an actor?¡±

    A small voice whispered at the back of Victor¡¯s mind. The Netherborne looked around in confusion, his avatar mimicking his movements.

    ¡°Something wrong?¡± Genus asked as he saw the avatar looking in all directions, with many glowing blue eyes appearing on its body.

    ¡°Did you hear that?¡± Victor questioned through his avatar. ¡°I heard a voice.¡±

    Genus paused with abject horror on his scaly face. ¡°V-voice? Where?¡± The chrome dragon,rger than a double-decker bus, slowly backed up like a scared kitten.

    Note to self, dragons hate being underground. Victor suspected any bird would despise being deprived of their most significant asset, flight. If an opponent of equal strength, such as Wiggles, appeared and fought with Genus in this enclosed space, the poor dragon would have a low chance of victory. Genus¡¯s attitude was understandable and utterly opposite to his previous arrogant attitude.

    ¡°Also, what is zombie world¡¯s second season?¡±

    This time Victor entirely stopped in his tracks. He did onest look around the surroundings to confirm no hidden speakers. He released a wave of Annihting Aura to ensure no critters were lurking and messing with his mind through telepathy. Keeping an eagle eye on his stats page, he confirmed no debuffs listed or anything out of the ordinary. Victor paused and entered hiswork. The ck ocean spread out for infinity in all directions and was calm, barely even a ripple of activity.

    ¡°Boss, it¡¯s Terry. Can you hear me?¡±

    Victor spun round and saw a ripple; it came from above. How can somethinge from above? He squinted and saw a speck so tiny in the far sky.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Was that Terry?

    Victor condensed a single message in a metaphorical stone¡ª¡°Terry, where are you? What happened?¡±¡ªand lobbed it into space. He watched it sail through the sky toward its destination in the far distance¡ªand drag a shit-ton of himself with it.

    He snapped out of hiswork and eyed his stats page with panic. An entire zero had vanished from his stats. He was down a magnitude of ten and estimated he had around seven hours of lifeforce remaining with some quick math.

    ¡°Henry, keep tabs on Genus and continue to lead him down the path. I need to move on ahead.¡± Victor didn¡¯t even wait for the horseman¡¯s response and barreled down the tunnel at an unknown speed. Through his connection, he could tell Wiggles was nearing the mana mass likely to be the dungeon. He needed food, and he needed it now.

    ***

    Alice awoke to her world shaking. The previously calmke, upied by a copious amount of rainbow fish, had waves sshing into the shores and rainbow fish flopping into the air. She pushed herself up onto her shaking legs and stumbled back. She had heard legends of earthquakes, but they paled inparison to this. Even her vision was shaking up and down, making her feel sick.

    Keeping close to the ground and using her arms as makeshift legs, she crab-crawled her way to the cavern¡¯s outer edges, where the shaking wasn¡¯t so bad. The trees rustled, and fruit fell to the ground like oversize hail, bouncing and rolling across the moss-covered floor.

    ¡°W-what is happening?¡± Alice checked the silver barrier, and it was still functioning. There was no sign of the dragons outside making a move; did they not care? Could they not feel the shaking? Rocks cascaded from the cavern¡¯s ceiling and sshed in theke below; some even impacted rainbow fish in midair, creating a bloody patch on the water¡¯s surface. Alice hid under a tree and held her knees to her chest. She nced at the silver barrier every second, hoping it would vanish so she could escape or run for help.

    Instinctively she activated Stealth, hoping that it might obscure her from the rocks and she would outlive this earthquake or whatever was happening.

    A loud explosion took her eyes off the silver barrier and back to theke. A wall of water, twenty meters high, surged toward her with a roar. She grabbed the tree trunk for dear life as the water smashed into the tree and impacted the wall. The water was freezing and knocked the wind straight out of her. Dazed and confused, she fell to one knee, opened her mouth wide, and deeply inhaled and exhaled. She was in shock and didn¡¯t know what to do. She looked up for answers.

    Looming over her was a massive creature that reminded her of Hyveth Arcspace. The enormous prison cell designed to house a dragon suddenly felt very ustrophobic to Alice as she stared into the creature¡¯s abyssal mouth that could swallow a dragon whole. Its rancid breath filled the space, and neon-green sludge dripped from its thousands of teeth.

    The creature slithered out of the enormous hole where theke once was and turned to her. There were no eyes nor signs of intelligence. No reason or rhyme, just primal hunger for flesh. It came closer. Alice gagged and felt bile crawl up her throat as the smell of thousand-year-old blue cheese mixed with decaying corpses wafted over her. With one hand, she reached out as if trying to hold back the titanic creature that could kill her with a sneeze. She was weak, so, so weak, and she hated it. In the face of death, she had nothing.

    It was inches from her face. She could reach out and touch one of the razor-sharp teeth that were bigger than her. She looked through the gaps in the thin fingers and could see all the way down its endless throat. It looked like a tunnel to the void, the abyss, hell.

    Right as she closed her eyes to ept death, an all-too-familiar ancient voice echoed through the ustrophobic cavern, and hope bloomed in her heart.

    ¡°Stop, Wiggles. She isn¡¯t food.¡± The massive, midnight-ck earthworm shook the room as it turned toward the speaker; its ck scales, the size of castle walls, shifted as it moved, revealing the glowing, neon-green flesh below. The ugly thing blocked most of Alice¡¯s view, but she saw a long, shadowy arm ending in meter-long ws pointing toward the silver barrier. ¡°Food is out there.¡±

 Chapter 21. Brush With Death

    Victor directed Wiggles to smash into the silvery barrier. The oversize earthworm glowed in an eerie green light, and its muscles bungled below its armored tes that shifted as the worm prepared to charge.

    ¡°Attack,¡± Victormanded, and his mindless, undead veplied. Wiggles coiled up, and like a spring, he unleashed his full power. The cavern shuddered as he collided. Green blood and flesh dyed the silver barrier in neon green as it rippled from the impact.

    ¡°Tsk.¡± Victor floated past the half-destroyed Wiggles. His face was smashed to pieces, and hundreds of fractured teeth littered the floor. Repairing him for another attack would waste his precious stat points.

    ¡°Block the view,¡± Victor said via telepathy and had Wiggles maneuver in front of Alice. I still wish to hide my true form from her, especially in her current mental state. The young woman was hyperventting and shivering while clutching her legs. He gave her appearance a brief look-over. He still couldn¡¯t discern if his sexual attraction to humans had vanished with his species change or if she was too close to a skeleton for him to find her alluring. Her skin barely covered her ribs that poked out, and her sunken facial features and matted ck hair made her look closer to a ghoul than a human. I am getting distracted¡­ Victor felt stressed but also anticipation. Everything was so exciting for once. His once-dull mind had woken up. He had a lot to think about¡ªTerry¡¯s message included. Where had ite from, and how? Victor pushed those questions to the back of his busy mind; his stats were down to an all-time low.

    Victor approached the barrier. As a test, he ced the tip of his w against the surface and cautiously poked it. Despite its almost liquid-metal appearance that rippled from the touch, it felt like poking a concrete wall. Hard and firm. His next test involved Spirit Movement; cautious of his stat expenditure, he only turned the tip of his w into an ethereal blue. Does this make me a ghost? The effect was a little different to those spooky cartoonish monsters back on earth but had the same idea.

    Spirit Movement had a very high expenditure, but it effectively removed him from the mortal ne, allowing him to move through anything.

    As expected, his w passed through. Twenty stats lost¡­ Victor watched the numbers rapidly fall and then continue ticking down every second. I really need to fix this issue. Assuming there is a solution¡­ He refused to believe there wasn¡¯t a way to solve his falling stats, but with his limited information on this world, he had little choice but to soldier on and hope to find a way during his travels. Doing some quick calctions in his head, if he used Spirit Movement and forced his way through this barrier, he would have around two hours of lifeforce left.

    He took onest nce at his skills:

    [Consume X]

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]

    [Freezing Cone VII]

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement V]

    Apart from Doom Ray, I don¡¯t see another solution. Victor took a deep breath yet was eerily silent, just floating there ominously like a ghost. Then he saw Alice running alongside Wiggles. Just as she was about to catch a glimpse of him, Victor dual cast Stealth and Spirit Movement and pushed his way into the barrier.

    The silvery barrier rippled around his silhouette as he forced his way through, the barrier¡¯s magic surged to push Victor back, but he was relentless. He watched his stats fall from around seven thousand to only four thousand. The barrier groaned before shattering like broken ss.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Two enormous dragons lying beyond stirred in their sleep. One was tar ck with that distinct tint that noble chrome dragons like Genus possessed. The other was a feminine-looking dragon with fish-like silver scales. The tar-ck one was the first to stir from its deep slumber as a blood-red eye stared through Victor at the destroyed barrier. The Senior dragon with wrinkles covering its leathery skin let out a tired snort and pushed its titanic body up on its hind legs.

    Victor didn¡¯t use mana, but even he could feel the immense power flowing through the corridor, gravitating toward this blue whale¨Csize lizard. Victor didn¡¯t waste a second and floated right past the old dragon. His target was the still-sleeping silver one that had rolled onto her back instead of waking. Dragons sure do love to sleep¡­perhaps forever. He hovered over the dragon, reactivated Spirit Movement, and plunged his w straight into the dragon¡¯s heart and another into its brain. Despite his long reach, he felt like reaching down into an abyss as it took over three meters before he made contact with the heart.

    Despite his ethereal form, Victor could feel the slow heartbeat of the female silver dragon. He was burning stats like crazy to plough through the dragon¡¯s natural mana defense and dense, mana-filled muscles. Finally, with only a few minutes of lifeforce remaining, Victor deactivated Spirit Movement, and the dragon instantly woke up. Her ocean-blue eyes immediately went to her heart, where she felt something weird. Something was caressing it. She blinked in confusion at the shadowy creature floating over her like a grim reaper. ¡°What¡­¡± she snarled in her ancientnguage before her eyes narrowed and her mana red. Victor almost screamed. It felt like dunking his hand in boiling water. With hisst remaining strength, he squeezed the dragon¡¯s heart. The muscle was the size of an elephant, and it felt like trying to squeeze a bowling ball, but he triumphed.

    Victor scrambled the silver dragon¡¯s brain matter and tore her heart into shreds with his meter-long ws. Then, using his near 360-degree vision, he moved to the left to avoid a w from the ck-tar dragon and reactivated Stealth. Holy shit¡ªif he hits me with anything right now, I will die. He was barely a glorified cloud of steam. His stats had fallen to that of an average human.

    Victor avoided another stray w and cast Consume. A wisp the size of a house emerged, and his body greedily absorbed it. He watched with relief as his stats soared to a decent level:

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 304] (Level up!)

    [STR: 43200, DEX: 43200, CON: 43200, INT: 43200, WIS: 43200]

    (Lifeforce Unstable)

    I wish my stats would just show me my remaining time¡ª

    The screen rippled, and his debuff updated.

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 11:59:59)

    Twelve hours of life¡­ Victor had never felt so alive in both his lives. Hahaha, this is what living is all about! He turned to the old dragon. It was mourning the silver dragon¡¯s death while scanning its surroundings with blood-red eyes that gleamed with power.

    Well, I already killed one¡­ He looked at the stairs at the end of the corridor with light shining down on its upper steps. Should I kill another? Would that be wise?

    And then the dragon saw Alice.

 Chapter 22. Black Mage

    Alice awakened from her state of mind with the silver barrier shattering. The lord had arrived. Her survival rested on his shoulders. The image of that long, shadowy arm ending in curved ws that looked sharper than any de Alice had ever seen while working for her father¡¯s merchantpany shed through her mind. What is the lord? Is he a creature of darkness? Or was that merely an extension of his true form? She began to doubt that the lord was a mere necromancer. Then, with a huff, she stood up. Her teeth chattering away from the cold and her soaked lingerie clinging to her body were doing her no favors, but Alice kept them on. She wished she could get some new clothes, but that wasn¡¯t important now.

    She focused and began running down the length of the massive, undead worm. Alice ignored her painfully numb feet that kept slipping around on the muck of wet moss and concentrated on avoiding the many bright red fruits, enormous teeth, and green sludge that littered the cavern¡¯s floor. ¡°Status,¡± she chanted and selected the party option.

    [Name: Alice] (Leader)

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 12]

    [STR: 30, DEX: 42, CON: 12, INT: 72, WIS: 56]

    (Weak) (ve)

    [Name: UNKNOWN]

    [Race: UNKNOWN]

    [Level: 303]

    [STR: 7130, DEX: 7130, CON: 7130, INT: 7130, WIS: 7130]

    (Lifeforce Unstable)

    [Name: Terry]

    [ERROR: CONNECTION LOST]

    ¡°What the hell?¡± She double- and triple-checked. ¡°What happened to Terry, and what the hell happened to the unknown lord¡¯s stats? Seven thousand in each category? Last time I checked, he was level two hundred eighty-one with over two hundred fifty thousand in each category! How did he level so fast yet lose stats?¡±

    A scream of pain that sounded primal, like one from an ancient creature, filled the cavern, and Alice watched in shock. Beyond where the barrier used to be were two dragons. Arge ugly tar-ck one was on its haunches staring in horror at the silvery one thaty on her back with blood pooling down her scales and a hole in her head. The silvery dragon¡¯s eyes had glossed over, and her pink tongue hung carelessly from her mouth and onto the floor.

    But the shadowy creature hovering over the dragon¡¯s corpse grabbed Alice¡¯s attention. Unfortunately, the cavern ceiling got in the way. She could only see the bottom of its legs and hands hovering just above the dragon¡¯s fatal wounds, blood dripping down its ws. And then it was gone. With a blink of her eye, the looming creature of shadows vanished into thin air without a trace. Alice cast a nervous nce at the blue status screen in the corner of her vision.

    [Name: UNKNOWN]

    [Race: UNKNOWN]

    [Level: 304] (Level up!)

    [STR: 43200, DEX: 43200, CON: 43200, INT: 43200, WIS: 43200]

    (Lifeforce Unstable) (Out of range)

    ¡°So that was the lord¡¯s doing¡­¡± The level-up confirmed that the creature she had just seen was indeed the unknown creature in her party. Alice shuddered. She had been discovered by a creature that could one-shot dragons, and it hadn¡¯t killed her. A weird feeling bubbled in her chest. Was she so insignificant that it didn¡¯t even bother to kill her? Or did she perhaps have a more significant meaning than she knew? Terry seemed to think so by calling her ¡°mistress,¡± but that guy was an idiot, and she refused to take anything he said seriously.

    The ck-tar dragon swiped the area around the silver dragon¡¯s corpse before bellowing a breath of jet-ck mes into the air. Superheated wind blew past Alice, making her hair dry and feel much better. Well, she did feel better until the old dragon turned its head and stared directly at her with its blood-red eyes and wrinkly face.

    Alice felt rather silly that her automatic reaction was to cover herself up under the dragon¡¯s intense stare. Luckily, the dragon turned its head back to the corridor and snarled. She was confident it was a type of dragonnguage as it sounded far too sophisticated to be mere snarls like some kind of dog.

    Without warning, the shadow creature appeared on the ck dragon¡¯s back, and the world went white for a brief second, followed by a sh of purple. Alice desperately rubbed her eyes and ignored her ringing ears. Although still blurry, the shadow creature had vanished again, and unfortunately, the ck dragon was fine. A thin sheen of ck mana shrouded the dragon like a barrier, and purple energy rippled across its surface before defusing into the ground.

    [Name: UNKNOWN]

    [Race: UNKNOWN]

    [Level: 304] (Level up!)

    [STR: 41100, DEX: 41100, CON: 41100, INT: 41100, WIS: 41100]

    (Lifeforce Unstable) (Out of range)

    Alice looked at her potential savior¡¯s stats and confirmed a suspicion. ¡°He somehow uses stats as fuel for spells. I wondered how his stats went down without a debuff appearing on his page, but now it all makes sense.¡± Her previous thoughts about ways to abuse his Lifeforce Unstable debuff to kill him had vanished, and now her mind raced with ways to help. ¡°Bah. Who am I kidding? How can I help?¡± First, she saw a humongous fruit lying on the floor and debated hurling it at the ck dragon a hundred meters away. However, her puny thirty in strength crushed her dreams. An average adult human male has fifty in all stats except INT and WIS, which are usually a bit lower. Next, she looked at her body and could practically see the bones poking through, and not a hint of muscle remained. In fact, her heart was pounding heavily in her chest from the short run she had just done to get closer to the action.

    [Senior silver dragon defeated! Exp awarded to all party members¡­]

    [Contribution has been calcted at 0%]

    [Exp awarded: 0.1% of total gain]

    Alice stared at the screen that had appeared in her vision. She had never actually used the party feature before. Why would she? She was a wealthy merchant¡¯s daughter, not some suicidal fool delving into the dungeons¡¯ depths.

    Some unknown forcemanded the ambient mana and carefully directed it into her body.

    (Level up!)

    (Level up!)<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    (Level up!)

    (Level up!)

    (Level up!)

    (Level up!)

    (Level up!)

    (Level up!)

    Alice had experienced the high that came with levelling up a few times before, but she had never received so many levels at once. She felt on cloud nine. It was euphoric. Her fatigue washed away, and her mind became clear and sharp. The pang of hunger that had sat in her stomach since being rudely awakened was resolved, and she felt the best she ever had. With giddy excitement, she opened her status page.

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 20(+8)]

    [STR: 38(+8), DEX: 50(+8), CON: 20(+8), INT: 88(+16), WIS: 72(+16)]

    [Unspent points: 8]

    (Weak) (ve)

    Seeing the increased numbers made her giddy, but the most important was her increased level. ¡°I am level twenty! My ss should be unlocked!¡±

    [Blessing: Darkness]

    [ss: Awakened ck Mage]

    [Sub ss: Apprentice Merchant]

    [Divine Mission: None]

    [Skills]

    [¡­]

    Without hesitation, she clicked on her ss to get its full description.

    [ck Mage] is the standard type of magician serving the Goddess of Darkness. They specialize in spells of mass destruction and lethal assassination. Throughout the years, they have been the most feared and renowned type of mage due to their dark tendencies and psychotic behavior, making them hard to control. With many cases of them causing extinction-level events, they are now hunted down before they blossom.

    ss Effect: All spells inflict [True Damage]

    Alice slowly read through the description, making sure to not miss a single word. She was in awe and beyond excited. The description overflowed with a promise of overwhelming power. She could see why ck Mages were fearedpared to other mages. Their specialty was beyond overpowered. True damage¡­if I remember correctly, that means my spells ignore any magical protections.

    [ss Skills]

    [Stealth II]

    [Fireball I] (New!)

    [Sub ss Skills]

    [Fast Counting I]

    [Identify I]

    Alice clenched her fist with determination. Then, without hesitation, she dumped all her unspent points in her wisdom stat. ¡°INT is the size of my magic pool, whereas WIS is my ability to manipte mana. And I¡¯m going to need all the control I can get¡­¡±

    [STR: 38, DEX: 50, CON: 20, INT: 88, WIS: 80(+8)]

    Feeling slightly more confident, she ran a bit closer. The metal ve cor felt tight around her neck, a reminder of her past. She shoved those thoughts away and focused on the future. She was going to be the greatest ck Mage to ever live. Her n? To kill a dragon.

    With a mental thought, she activated her Fireball I skill. Mana rushed through her reinvigorated body and down her right arm. Unfortunately, the skill didn¡¯t find a wand to use, so the fireball appeared in her palm. Alice held back a hiss of pain as the orange ball hovered above her palm and burned her skin.

    Alice raised her head and concentrated on the ck dragon¡¯s majestic form. It was preupied with locating the shadow creature that would appear every few seconds and sh at the dragon¡¯s scales. Sometimes it would also hurl ice and purple lightning that got deflected by the dragon¡¯s mana shield before vanishing again. Much to the dragon¡¯s fury.

    Alice gritted her teeth. Raised her hand. And with all the power invested in her, she willed the fireball to fly. The little orange ball sailed through the dim cavern, lighting the way. She watched with anticipation as it made contact.

    It hit the ck mana shield on the dragon¡¯s neck and passed straight through before dissipating on one of the dragon¡¯s scales. The dragon didn¡¯t even react to the mosquito bite and totally ignored her.

    Alice summoned another fireball. ¡°You will regret ignoring me,¡± she hissed between clenched teeth as she tried to ignore the pain. This time she would aim for the eyes.

 Chapter 23. Dragons Are Guard Dogs

    The ck-tar dragon refused to die. This was the first time Victor faced an opponent thatsted more than a few seconds. I can see why dragons are graded at ten points by the goddess, but¡­ He looked at the corpse of the feminine silver dragon with brain pus trickling from a hole in her head. That dragon had to be centuries old, yet I killed it in one hit? The Hackers are the same, too¡­a sneaky w to the head, and they are dead. He realized what truly mattered in this world. Stealth. Picking Netherborne came with noticeable disadvantages, such as the very world itself seeking his demise. But starting with a maxed-out Stealth skill and the ability to hover around made him the perfect killing machine. Dragon, king, or god. Every living thing would have a moment of weakness where they weren¡¯t prepared to fight, and Stealth allowed Victor to capitalize on that chance.

    But as with any creature specializing in Stealth, once the initiative was lost, Victor found himself at a significant disadvantage. He was reduced to asional sneak attacks without hundreds of thousands of stat points to pour into a Doom Ray to obliterate this oversize lizard to the next dimension.

    He could run; that was always an option. Assuming there were monsters to kill on the floors below, he could power up and return to finish the job. A few more attacks, and I will call it quits. I only have around an hour of life remaining¡­ Victor saw an opening and emerged from Stealth just above the dragon. He quickly spent two hundred stat points on Spirit Movement to try and prate the dragon¡¯s mana shield. His w made contact, and the dragon¡¯s mana surged to push him back. It burned like hell as Victor¡¯s lifeforce was devoured. Failing to prate again, he vanished into the background and hovered a few meters away. Does everyone feel this pain when attacking a mana shield or only me? He was starting to debate if mana was the world¡¯s power and the ambient mana in the air was slowly killing him like a poisonous gas.

    While debating his next move, Victor saw a fireball soar through the air and hit the dragon. Unfortunately, it did nothing but briefly form a small hole in the dragon¡¯s ck mana shield. Seeing a possible way to defeat the darn dragon, he followed the trajectory and saw a defiant Alice standing next to the smashed-up Wiggles. She would look heroic if not for being in her underwear with a metal ve choker around her neck.

    Victor saw mana swirl around the girl and go down her arm, the slight blue mist condensed on her burned palm, and another, more immense fireball formed. All right. Let¡¯s do this. He was never one to turn down an opportunity, so he floated right next to the dragon and began chanting his Doom Ray. Half his remaining stats vanished into thin air. If this doesn¡¯t work, I¡¯m going straight back into the tunnel and devouring Genus.

    Victor watched with anticipation as Alice raised her arm and, a momentter, hurled a fireball. The dragon didn¡¯t even acknowledge such a weak spell and continued searching for any sign of Victor¡¯s next attack. Victor grinned from the shadows at the dragon¡¯s stupidity. It was so overwhelmingly confident in its superior abilities that it didn¡¯t even regard the little human. The ball of orange me sailed toward the dragon¡¯s eye. It merely blinked in response, and the fireball once again drifted through the sheen of ck mana that covered the dragon¡¯s body and harmlessly dissipated on the dragon¡¯s eyelid.

    With the threat averted, the dragon opened its eye, and its vision went white. Victor used his superior control and threaded the purple lightning through the hand-size gap in the dragon¡¯s defenses. A sizzling sound like a juicy steak on a barbecue filled the cavern as steam rose from the dragon¡¯s eye socket. The ck-tar dragon howled at the top of its lungs, and ck mes erupted between its clenched teeth. Victor skillfully dodged the fire and noticed the dragon¡¯s mana shield had briefly faltered. So it takes a mental effort to keep that shield going. No wonder the silver dragon didn¡¯t have it running while it slept. He pressed the advantage and rammed his w through the dragon¡¯s eye and sh-froze the eye sludge and some of its brain nerves with Freezing Cone. Before proceeding with his assault, the dragon¡¯s immense mana red to life and danced across his scales.

    The ck-tar dragon shook the cavern as it crashed backward, smashing its head side to side while howling at the top of its lungs. It kept trying to w at the ice in its exposed eye socket. The dragon¡¯s mana chaotically red up like spikes leaving many weak points. Victor bore with the pain and readied his final attack. He had mere minutes left of life and refused to die here.

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 304]

    [STR: 1680, DEX: 1680, CON: 1680, INT: 1680, WIS: 1680]

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 0:27:59)

    Victor had confirmed that stat points worked in mysterious ways for him. Crushing a dragon¡¯s heart while so low on stats showed that they were merely the System¡¯s way of trying to quantify his lifeforce. With his few remaining points, he made a spike of shadow magic around his w and activated Spirit Movement before ramming the shadow spike through the dragon¡¯s eye socket and straight into his brain. A thinyer of mana shrouded the dragon¡¯s brain from magical interference, but Victor¡¯s improvised spike smashed straight through. The level-up notification never came, so he toggled Annihting Aura on for a mere second and then:

    (Level up!)

    A few stats got added and quickly vanished away with his spell expenditure.

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 305] (Level up!)

    [STR: 308, DEX: 308, CON: 308, INT: 308, WIS: 308]

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 00:05:13)

    A wash of relief filled Victor as he quickly cast Consume. A wisp of pure lifeforce sorge it dwarfed even Victor surged through his arm and became condensed into his body.

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 305] (Level up!)

    [STR: 108308, DEX: 108308, CON: 108308, INT: 108308, WIS: 108308]

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 30:05:00)

    [Skills:]

    [Consume X]

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]

    [Freezing Cone VII]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement VI] (Level up!)

    With a decent amount of lifeforce to y with, Victor used his Raise Undead skill on Wiggles. A plume of green smoke shot out of his hand, and within this cloud of smoke, bones and teeth reformed and merged with Wiggles¡¯ smashed-up body. Alice staggered to the side to avoid flying debris and copsed on her butt while breathing heavily and nestling a burned hand. She then did some hand movements, and Victor saw a mass of mana surge through the air and condense into a tornado around her body as if she was a funnel. Immense power radiated from her body as she glowed briefly blue. Even though the tornado produced no wind, Alice¡¯s hair whipped around, and her pink eyes gleamed as blue mana crackled through her veins.

    As Wiggles finished reforming, Victor checked the party status screen.

    [Name: Alice] (Leader)

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 30] (Level up! x10)

    [STR: 48(+10), DEX: 60(+10), CON: 30(+10), INT: 108(+20), WIS: 100(+20)]

    (Weak) (ve)

    [Name: UNKNOWN]

    [Race: UNKNOWN]

    [Level: 305] (Level up!)

    [STR: 108307, DEX: 108307, CON: 108307, INT: 108307, WIS: 108307]

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 30:04:59)

    [Name: Terry]

    [ERROR: CONNECTION LOST]

    Victor nodded his head in understanding. Somehow, likely due to the fireball, Alice had gained arge amount of exp and levelled up a lot. He watched Alice¡¯s transformation with interest. Her stats seemed to increase a single point per level, but she gained two in the stats that match up with being a mage. Although I can only see her name and level, I suspect Alice is some kind of mage? Perhaps a fire mage, judging by the fact she threw such an urate and weird fireball that ignored the dragon¡¯s mana shield¡­ This world is bing weirder and weirder. First, Hackers that could directly manipte the System appeared, and now fireballs are glitching through magical defenses? No, glitching isn¡¯t the right word¡­ It just went through somehow. Victor had unleashed his entire arsenal of skills upon that dragon¡¯s shield and not even left a scratch. Alice obviously had some sought of unique skill that created that phenomenon.

    The mana tornado dissipated and left a very healthy-looking Alice behind. Her face was flushed a healthy red, and she had fattened out slightly. She was still slim, but she was less ghastly to look at. She seemed giddy as her finger danced across screens that Victor couldn¡¯t see with intense concentration. She would pause with her finger in the air every few seconds with a smile before scowling at something else. It was amusing, but Victor had other issues to worry about.

    More dragons were fast approaching. Like oversize bats, the beat of their heavy, leathery wings echoed down the corridor. From this distance, Victor couldn¡¯t tell how many wereing nor how strong they were. With the surprising difficulty of the fight with the ck dragon fresh in his mind, he decided a tactical retreat further into the dungeon was necessary.

    To Victor¡¯s surprise, an out-of-breath Genus shot up from the hole in the cavern¡¯s center, with Henry cresting the hole¡¯s ridge a secondter.

    ¡°Henry, pick up Alice and secure her. We are retreating deeper into the dungeon. Genus, you may follow us or converse with your dragon friends.¡± Victor¡¯s voice surprised everyone as he was currently hidden with Stealth, and there were two dead Senior dragon corpses.

    Genus took one look down the corridor and vigorously shook his head. ¡°I will follow you, Voice.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± Victor replied. He needed to buy some time for their retreat. He needed Wiggles digging potential, so using him as a sacrificial pawn was a no-go. So what other option did he have besides the two almost mint condition dragon corpses at his floating feet?

    With some hesitance, he cast Raise Undead on the ck dragon as it had given him the most trouble and was a tough bastard to kill. Some lifeforce vanished, but it was much less than the lifeforce required to create Wiggles. Further proof that the condition of the corpse directly affected spells cost. Without much evidence of being dead, other than the holes in their skulls and blood-soaked scales, the zombie dragons rose to serve their new overlord.

    ¡°What do you desire?¡± the silver-scaled dragoness asked in a snarl.

    So they can speak, as expected of dragons. Victor was happy to have another fully sentient type of undead other than the humans. The goblins could also speak, but they still acted like mindless drones. This confirms my theory that a monster¡¯s intelligence directly affects their undead form.

    ¡°I desire protection. Guard the tunnel, and do not let a single dragon pass.¡± Victor¡¯s ancient voice echoed through the corridor, and the two dragons bowed.

    Genus was already gliding down the corridor with his golden wings spread wide. Henry was charging below with Alice clutching his waist with one hand, and her other was dancing in the air across invisible screens.

    Victor mentallymanded Wiggles, and the enormous earthworm barreled down the corridor, spraying dust as it went and causing the ceiling to rumble.

    The two zombie dragons, positioned side by side, focused on their first and final order. Their demise was inevitable, yet they stood proud and strong to defend the one who killed them mere moments ago.

    Magic is terrifying when you think about it¡­dragons reduced to guard dogs with a wave of my hand. Victor shook his head and quickly followed behind his group; it was time to power level.

 Chapter 24. Path To Power

    Alice ignored the howling wind flying through her hair, the musky scent of the man¡¯s waist she was clutching for dear life, and her arse that burned as the horse galloped at an impossible speed. She didn¡¯t even have clothes or a seat to cushion the blow of horseback riding. If not for her increased CON stat, she feared the relentless assault on her arse would smash her tailbone into smithereens. Despite the pain, she grinned from ear to ear as her hand danced across the blue screens that orbited her vision.

    [Senior ck dragon defeated! Exp awarded to all party members¡­]

    [Contribution has been calcted at 1%]

    [Exp awarded: 1% of total gain]

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 30(+10)]

    [STR: 48(+10), DEX: 60(+10), CON: 30(+10), INT: 108(+16), WIS: 100(+16)]

    [Unspent points: 18]

    (ve)

    [Blessing: Darkness]

    [ss: Junior ck Mage]

    [Sub ss: Apprentice Merchant]

    [Divine Mission: None]

    [Skills]

    [¡­]

    [ss Skills]

    [Stealth II]

    [Fireball IV] (level up! x4)

    [Ice Bolt I] (New!)

    [Mana Shield I] (New!)

    [Sub ss Skills]

    [Fast Counting I]

    [Identify I]

    Although Alice¡¯s Weak debuff had vanished with her recent level-ups, her CON stat was still on the lower end for her level due to her malnourished state. She looked at her low CON stat and frowned. Her body couldn¡¯t survive much more of this intensive horse riding that felt like she was trying to stay on a bull¡¯s back. She looked at her thin arms wrapped around Henry¡¯s waist and how her muscles were strained to stop her from flying off.

    Alice nced at the floating blue screens and saw her unspent points sitting at eighteen. These were points the System awarded on level-ups, allowing the user some freedom from their ss¡¯s path or fixing issues with their body. Alice thought back to a passage she had read in the library before being sold off to the merchants.

    Stat points can be gained and lost outside the System¡¯s direct influence. For example, suppose a warrior does not train regrly to maintain his strength and instead sumbs to gluttony. In this case, the warrior can expect a sharp decline in his STR and DEX stats. However, with regr training, the warrior can quickly regain what was lost. Another example would be an archmage growing old and developing memory loss. Again, this unfortunate mage can expect a decline in his INT and WIS stats.

    Although her burning arse demanded it, Alice still felt investing all her unspent points in her CON stat was the correct decision. Not only did the CON stat make her more robust, but it also directly increased her lifespan by a few years for each point. As it was her lowest stat and only increased by one with each level, she felt it was a good one to invest in. So, with a hesitant finger, she reached out, selected her CON stat, and smashed the ¡°+¡± button until all eighteen points were assigned.

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 30]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [STR: 48, DEX: 60, CON: 48(+18), INT: 108, WIS: 100]

    [Unspent points: 0]

    (ve)

    The mana in the surroundings shuddered and surged against her skin. She closed her eyes tight and felt the mana forcefully working through her body. Despite the likely horrific things it was doing to forcefully increase her lifespan and strengthen her muscles, it felt numb and warm. After a few seconds, the pleasant feeling washed away, and she took a sharp breath of dusty air.

    Coughing her lungs out, Alice opened a teary eye, and through the plumes of dust, she saw titanic shifting ck tes with neon green flesh hidden below. One of the lord¡¯s pets, I guess. She had never seen such a sinister and massive-looking creature before. Straining her neck, she couldn¡¯t glimpse the top of the beast, even though it was half submerged as it ploughed through the rock alongside her.

    Alice beckoned the blue screens to vanish with a wave of her hand. The pain from riding had numbed a bit, so she could focus on what was happening. ncing around, she saw a corridor of dull gray stone. Its only interesting feature was how vast the space was. She looked up to the ceiling and gulped. Flying overhead and nketing the whole area under its enormous presence was a golden dragon. It was smaller than the ones in by her and the lord. But it was still impressive with its shiny golden scales that shimmered under the glowstone light.

    Alice realized she had been far too distracted with her darn blue screens and had no idea what was going on! So, with no one else to ask except the knight guiding the horse, she yelled over the absurd racket of riding next to a creature that could consume mountains, ¡°Sir Knight, who are you?¡±

    A handsome face with ruby eyes and midnight-ck hair looked over his shoulder at her and responded, ¡°You don¡¯t recognize me?¡±

    Alice squinted her eyes. The lighting was dim. Although the face was much smoother, the proportions were simr to the leader of the merchants. ¡°Henry?¡± she asked in a low voice, unsure of herself.

    ¡°Aye, it is me.¡± Henry chuckled and turned his head back to the front.

    Only now did Alice notice that Henry¡¯s body had no legs, and he was, in fact, attached to the horse. ¡°YOU¡¯RE A HORSE NOW?¡±

    Henry swapped his hand to hold his midnight spear and cleaned his ear with a finger. ¡°Don¡¯t scream into my ear, woman. They became more sensitive ever since my transformation.¡±

    ¡°So you got the same treatment as the other merchants then?¡± Alice recalled how Bob and Terry had turned out. Compared to those two imbeciles, Henry had actually improved rather than downgraded.

    Henry shrugged. ¡°I got luckypared to them. The overlordbined me with a horse; now I¡¯m an apocalypse horseman. Whatever that means.¡±

    Alice¡¯s eyes went wide. Could the lord create undead chimaeras? How fascinating. She grinned and asked, ¡°I wonder if he could turn me into one?¡±

    Henryughed. ¡°You would have to die first.¡±

    She tightened her grip as Henry sped up to match the massive creature¡¯s pace. ¡°So. Exin,¡± she demanded. ¡°What¡¯s happening? What is that and that?¡± She pointed at the undead mountain eater and the flying lizard.

    ¡°The overlord calls that thing Wiggles. No, I don¡¯t know why.¡± Henry then gestured skyward with his spear. ¡°And that arrogant lizard is Genus Arcgold, a dragon hailing from a noble family.¡±

    Alice groaned. ¡°How are there nobles in every society?¡±

    ¡°Strength rules over the weak,¡± he responded with certainty. ¡°Don¡¯t like it? Be so strong that you can change it yourself. Create a new system or abolish the old. The strong can do anything they like.¡±

    ¡°The overlord is likely strong enough,¡± Alice grumbled.

    Henry surprisingly heard her and nodded. ¡°That is why I follow him.¡±

    Alice thought back to her rocketing stats and smiled. So long as she stayed in his party and he remained in range for the party features to function, she would gain immense amounts of exp, and soon she would rival even heroes of old¡­ Well, assuming they kept killing Senior dragons without being obliterated by a stronger dragon, such as Hyveth Arcspace.

    ¡°So where are we going?¡± Alice said with confusion as she shuffled closer and looked over Henry¡¯s shoulder.

    Henry awkwardly coughed as he felt Alice¡¯s chest against his back but replied, ¡°Into the dungeon. The deeper, the better. We have dragons hot on our tail, so the only way is down.¡±

    Alice squinted, but she couldn¡¯t pierce the darkness and see anything other than an enormous corridor that seemed to stretch forever. She flinched as a sonic boom echoed down the stone walls. Her eardrums tingled, and she felt a headacheing along. She cast a nervous nce over her shoulder and moved her ck hair out of her eyes.

    The scene in the far distance was apocalyptic. Hellfire illuminated the walls as a silver-and-ck dragon tumbled around with a few smaller dragons. mes erupted from the younger dragons¡¯ mouths and melted away the two defending dragons¡¯ scales and flesh. Alice could see in her mage sight that dark energy was flowing down the corridor from around them and regenerating the two zombie dragons of their wounds.

    ¡°My two dragon puppets will hold for a while longer. The dungeon¡¯s entrance is just up ahead.¡± The overlord¡¯s familiar ancient voice sounded from all angles and helped calm Alice¡¯s mind. She felt safer with a monster that could kill two Senior dragons by her side.

    Alice ignored the sounds of destruction from behind and focused on the path. A path to her new future. One where she would hopefully stand at the pinnacle for a change.

 Chapter 25. Stairway To The Gods

    Victor floated on ahead and felt a wave of chaotic mana assault him. He quickly brought up his status page to check for any anomalies.

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 305]

    [STR: 68820, DEX: 68820, CON: 68820, INT: 68820, WIS: 68820]

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 19:07:00) (Slight Mana Sickness)

    [Skills:]

    [Consume X]

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]

    [Freezing Cone VII]

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement VI] (Level up!)

    Slight mana sickness? Victor observed his stats decline at their usual rate, so he closed the blue screen and concentrated on the incredible view. The in stone tunnel fanned out into a massive space. A marble dome thousands of meters up was illuminated by a giant piece of floating glowstone that acted as a miniature sun. It almost felt like he was outside rather than deep underground.

    The stone floor was reced with an endless meadow. Lush green grass with the asional small groupings of white trees surrounding crystal-clear ponds littered thend. Victor could even hear the chirping birds and the low buzz of insects. Compared to the frost-covered wastnd on the surface, the dungeon appeared to be in the height of summer.

    In the far distance, Victor could make out a tower of stone that reached all the way to the dome; it appeared slim, but he spected it was at least a few kilometers in diameter. This is the first time I have ever been in a dungeon, but I have yed enough games to know that an ominous tower is bound to be important.

    Victor toggled on his Annihting Aura, and his vicious death affinity mana pulsed in waves. It was rather sad for the beautiful symphony of summer to cease, apart from the asional thud of bird corpses falling out of trees. But the bubbling feeling of his lifeforce surging with more stat points offset the misery he caused.

    A momentter, the rest of hispany arrived at the clearing to the meadow. Henry raised his spear as if ready for a fight while Alice nced around with amazement.

    Genus flew overhead, but as he approached Victor, he seemed to halt as if sensing something dangerous. Seeing the dragon¡¯s hesitance to get within a hundred meters of him, Victor realized the dragon was feeling the effects of his Annihting Aura. This is why I have Alice in my party because the System protects party members from each other¡¯s area of affect spells like my Annihting Aura.

    ¡°Genus,¡± Victor spoke, and the dragon stiffened in fear. ¡°Are you able to join my party?¡±

    ¡°Party?¡± Genus tilted his head in confusion. ¡°Is that a human thing?¡±

    ¡°Human thing? Can dragons not ess the System?¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°No.¡± Genus spat to the side. ¡°The System was granted by a higher power long ago to give those weaklings a chance against us. I heard that before the System, the humans were merely ves to the mystical races.¡± Genus growled as he nced at Alice riding on Henry¡¯s back. ¡°We must eat and sleep for hundreds of years in mana-rich areas to grow in power. Meanwhile, these lower lifeforms get handed power for free¡­¡±

    Victor frowned. Why do I have ess to the System then? Although I am missing features that Alice has, it still works for the most part. My stats go up every level, and I can level my abilities by using them¡­ He knew he had a lot of things to work out and discuss, but now was not a good time. Despite their distance, he could still hear the roars of battle urring deep in the tunnel. His stats were still being drained to keep regenerating the zombie dragons, and he could feel his link to them weakening. Either he was too far away, or there was a limit on how much he could regenerate a corpse before it died and he had to cast Raise Undead on it once again.

    ¡°Genus, you frequent this dungeon as a noble dragon, right?¡± Victor asked from Stealth, and the dragon nodded in the wrong direction.

    ¡°Indeed, I have been here a few times. We use this floor of the dungeon to nurture our young.¡±

    ¡°There are dragons here?¡± Henry asked from the ground as he trotted closer to their position, spear at the ready in his right hand.

    Genus nodded his long neck, and his golden scales gleamed under the glowstone light. ¡°Around the tower, it¡¯s where the mana is most dense.¡±

    ¡°What is the purpose of the tower?¡± Alice shouted up at the dragon from Henry¡¯s back.

    Genus¡¯s rainbow eyes gazed into the distance. ¡°It¡¯s the stairway to the gods.¡±

    ¡°The gods¡­¡± Alice mumbled while wracking her brain about the many stories she had heard involving dungeons. As a merchant girl, she had mostly ignored the intricacy of dungeons. Instead, she focused on the money-making aspect, such as monster corpses and rare minerals that grew in the dungeon¡¯s lower depths. ¡°Ah! There are stories about renowned adamantite Delvers that reached the lowest floors. Apparently, the goddess will grant a single wish.¡±

    ¡°What did they wish for?¡± Genus asked the question on Victor¡¯s mind. Victor had a few ideas, but the answer surprised him.

    ¡°Evolution.¡± Alice nodded to herself. ¡°A few asked for loved ones to be resurrected or for incurable illnesses to be cured. But the vast majority requested to be evolved.¡± She caressed her chin as she spoke. ¡°I may be wrong, but I believe humans naturally evolve at level one hundred into high humans. They are basically a legend as very few are alive to this day. However, they had vastly increased lifespans and ess to more of the System¡¯s sses.¡±

    ¡°What about the other races? Humans aren¡¯t the only ones to reach the bottom, right?¡± Victor asked, and his ancient voice rolled across the meadow. ¡°Actually, let¡¯s talk while we move; my zombie dragons will falter sooner rather thanter. So let¡¯s head to the tower.¡±

    Everyone agreed, so they continued conversing while heading to the center. Before answering Victor¡¯s question, Alice asked, ¡°Could Wiggles dig a hole to the next level?¡±

    Without stopping, Victormanded Wiggles, tunneling below their feet, to dive deeper. Wiggles epted themand, and Henry almost lost his footing as the ground shook and the titanic earthworm headed vertically downward. Finally, after a mile, Wiggles encountered a rock simr to the marble dome. It was coated in a dense mana shield identical to the one that protected the ck-tar dragon, except it was a glowing white rather than ck.

    The mana shield was so dense that it almost appeared like mercury instead of opaque like the dragon¡¯s shield. It didn¡¯t even ripple as Wiggles rammed headfirst into it, but rather, it melted Wiggles¡¯ meter-thick armor tes and burned his neon-green flesh.

    Alice shifted nervously on Henry¡¯s back as the lord had gone quiet.

    ¡°No,¡± Victor finally answered. ¡°There is a dense mana shield underground, so I assume the tower is the only way down.¡±

    Alice nodded. ¡°Okay, it was worth a try. So, to answer your question. Indeed, races other than humans made it to the bottom, and some also requested evolution. So, if there was a higher form of their race, they were transformed into it, and for those races that didn¡¯t already have a higher form, well¡­they became a new race that had never existed before.¡±

    Victor didn¡¯t wish to ask any more questions for fear of breaking his aloof persona that already showed signs of cracking. Although Alice still hadn¡¯t witnessed his true form, he doubted she thought of him as wise and all-powerful after this round of questions. But it was worth it.

    I now know a lot more about this world. It seems the System was given to the weaker human race to give them a fighting chance, but what about goblins? Don¡¯t they deserve the System? Or are they simply destined to be food for the more powerful monsters? Also, would I have been a dragon with ess to the System if I picked dragon as my race? So many questions¡­

    The group traveled for a few hours before the tower came into view. As Victor suspected, it was absolutely immense. It was wider than multiple football stadiums ced next to each other, and it was tall enough to give Mount Everest a run for its money. It was constructed from that blindingly white stone and shone with power as the dense mana shield covered its surface.

    But perhaps the most bizarre part was the hundreds of dragon eggs surrounding the tower for miles and dragons with various colored chrome scales gliding down toward them.

 Chapter 26. Black Magic

    Alice struggled to keep up with the ughter. She didn¡¯t even have time to summon her trusty blue screens to check on her ever-increasing level. Dragon roars shook the skies. She squinted as she witnessed another dragon crash into the white tower with a gaping wound in its head. Then, before the dragon corpse even grazed the ground, it began pping its leathery wings with a dazed look. Death affinity mana swirled around its form as the dragontched onto the back of the nearest chrome-scaled dragon and viciously bit into its neck. The two roared as they spiraled to the ground and, with a sickening crunch, ttened a couple dragon eggs, much to the still-alive dragons¡¯ despair.

    Henry focused on weaving through the chaos and avoiding being ttened by falling corpses. At the same time, Alice hurled a Fireball and Ice Bolt at any dragon within her range. Her mana pool was more extensive than expected, and she had no issues throwing two spells every second. She could, of course, invest more mana into each attack to increase their potency, but she instead focused on tagging each dragon with one spell to increase her exp gains. Unfortunately, even with a fully powered-up Fireball, she failed to leave even a burn mark on the chrome dragons¡¯ scales, so she settled for mediocre shared exp gains.

    Alice¡¯s vision briefly shed white as thunder boomed through the clear skies. Purple lightning zapped a blue chrome dragon and annihted its mana shield. A secondter, a shadowy humanoid appeared, and then it vanished. The blue chrome dragon¡¯s decapitated head fell to the side, and the main body soon followed; both plummeted to the ground below. The lord only appeared briefly after stunning everyone¡¯s vision with his lightning attack, so she had yet to get a clear picture of him. Much to her frustration. A shadowy arm here, a glimpse of a leg there, far too many blue eyes floating in the sky, she had seen a lot over thest few minutes but nothing conclusive. Magic¡¯s applications were vast, and at the level of the lord, he could be using illusions for all she knew to mask his true form.

    While frowning at her conundrum, a sick idea crossed the young mage¡¯s mind. A group of unguarded dragon eggsid in their path. There were four in total. Two eggs were the same sky blue as the blue chrome dragon that had died moments ago. One was midnight ck as if it was an egg-shaped obsidian rock, and the final one was a striking orange. Alice raised a shaking arm and cautiously looked to the sky. Luckily, all the chrome dragons seemed distracted by the zombie dragons and the elusive lord that continued hurling his purple lightning and skewering the dragons with his ws.

    Deciding it was safe to carry out her horrendous scheme, Alice condensed the mana in her body to her right hand. Since she was utilizing her full power, the Fireball shifted from a calm orange to a hellish purple. Unfortunately, it hovered too close to her palm, causing her flesh to sizzle. She quickly deployed her Mana Shield spell to protect her palm from the heat. Why is my mana ck? Is it because the spirit of darkness blesses me? She scrutinized the onyx sheen of mana that coated her hand like a well-made glove. And why did I learn spells like Fireball and Ice Bolt from leveling up? Shouldn¡¯t I be given spells that fit the dark mage theme? Although I guess dark purple mes are rather ominous¡­ She scolded herself for not concentrating more on non-merchant-rted knowledge. Hopefully, the lord will teach me some evil spells, like necromancy or that purple lightning spell, although I have his Stealth skills. When will I be able to vanish into thin air like he does?

    Shaking her head, Alice aimed and fired her ominous purple ball of fire. As it flew through the air, it let off no light and impacted one of the blue eggs. To her surprise, the eggshell merely cracked rather than exploded as she had expected. Havingmitted to the sinful deed of ughtering unborn dragons, she decided a spell designed to pierce defenses was the better option here.

    Having learned fromst time, she preemptively cast Mana Shield on her hand. Then, after confirming the shield was in ce, she willed all her remaining mana into an Ice Bolt. The usual crystal-blue ice transformed into a spear of midnight simr to Henry¡¯s. The apocalypse horseman made a drastic turn to avoid a falling corpse. Alice used her left hand to hold tight and winced as a mansion-size lizard¡¯s corpse bombed the meadow right next to them.

    With squinted eyes, Alice traced her mana and could feel the affected egg¡¯s direction through the dust clouds. Closing her eyes, she hurled the ck ice spear, which ripped through the dust cloud like a crossbow bolt.

    Alice hurriedly summoned her status page to check the notifications.

    [Blue chrome dragon egg defeated! Exp awarded to all party members¡­]

    [Contribution has been calcted at 100%]

    [Exp awarded: 99.9% of total gain]

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 41] (Level up x11!)

    [STR: 59(+11), DEX: 71(+11), CON: 59(+11), INT: 130(+22), WIS: 122(+22)]

    [Unspent points: 11]

    (ve)

    [Blessing: Darkness]

    [ss: Senior ck Mage]

    [Sub ss: Apprentice Merchant]

    [Divine Mission: None]

    [Skills]

    [¡­]

    [ss Skills]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Stealth II]

    [Fireball V] (Level up!)

    [Ice Bolt IV] (Level up x3!)

    [Mana Shield II] (Level up!)

    [Float I] (New!)

    [Mana Sight I] (New!)

    [Sub ss Skills]

    [Fast Counting I]

    [Identify I]

    Alice couldn¡¯t be happier seeing the immense gains she was receiving from this fight. I even graduated from a Junior ck Mage to a Senior one! There were over ten notifications about in dragons giving her 0.1 percent exp, but the one that really stood out what the 99.9 percent exp gain from killing the egg.

    ¡°Go for the eggs! We can exterminate them together!¡± Alice shouted over the dragon roars from above.

    Henry surveyed the surroundings with his ruby eyes. ¡°Dragon eggs? Do they provide a lot of exp?¡± Seeing her nod, he licked his lips. ¡°All right, then. Point the way.¡± Henry realized he was of little use against flying targets, so going after the eggs seemed like the best bet.

    Alice gestured toward where she had thrown the dark ice bolt moments ago, and Henry, being the nice horse he was, obliged and galloped in the direction. She had a menacing grin as the wind whipped her ck hair in random directions. She didn¡¯t even feel the cold metal ve cor bouncing on her shoulders anymore. However, her arse still burned from the constant horseback riding. With a shrug, she dumped all her unspent points on CON once again.

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 41]

    [STR: 59, DEX: 71, CON: 70(+11), INT: 130, WIS: 122]

    [Unspent points: 0]

    (ve)

    She hurled her head back in ecstasy as the mana flooded her body. Her muscles became toned and denser, her skin smoother, and her cheeks rosier. Even her bust saw improvements, which were bing ringly obvious as her lingerie was struggling to contain them. Alice inspected her abs and arms and nodded in appreciation. She had returned to her prime, if not better, while she was a pampered merchant¡¯s daughter. A month of malnourishment, rough nights, and mistreatments had vanished as if they had never happened. But I will never forget. Those nights in that foul-smelling wagon. Being served cold gruel that had been spat on. Even that feeling of helplessness when she was stared down by Wiggles and could smell that creature¡¯s rotting beath. The humiliation was still fresh in her mind.

    Alice tightened her legs around Henry¡¯s body and freed her other hand from his waist. Then, as the eggs came into view, she cast Mana Shield on her entire upper body. ck mana coated her exposed skin, and then without holding anything back, she dual cast Fireball and Ice Bolt. Henry didn¡¯t even get a chance to stab his spear into the final blue-colored egg before it exploded from the spell assault.

    Grumbling, Henry switched targets. Before Alice could recharge her spells, he empowered his spear with an unknown skill, causing it to glow with a red hue. With a grunt, he thrust his spear into the egg without mercy. The shell cracked, and when he drew back his spear, it was covered in slime and a severed ck-scaled limb coated in blood.

    Oddly, Alice didn¡¯t find the sight disturbing. If anything, the presence of blood only fueled her eagerness to kill. She was determined to be stronger, and the sight of numbers going up and the euphoria from leveling only heightened her addiction to battle.

    Deciding to go with two empowered Ice Bolts, Alice obliterated the remaining orange dragon egg. A secondter, she felt a mana wave wash over her, signifying another level up and replenishing her spent reserves. ¡°Only three more levels until I gain a new spell. I wonder what it will be?¡± Although she had limited knowledge about how sses progressed, she had confirmed that she gained a new spell every five levels. ¡°I wonder what will happen when I max out my Fireball spell?¡± She scanned the surroundings and found another group of eggs. ¡°Only one way to find out¡­¡±

 Chapter 27. Mana Sickness

    A weird emotion bubbled in Victor¡¯s chest as over twenty dragons bowed their heads in a ring around his avatar. With many stat points to y with, he had resummoned his shadowy avatar that appeared as a tall man with indescribable features and a fancy top hat.

    Alice was off to the side, floating in the air¡­ Well, that is new. Since when could she float around like me? Dense raven mana coated every inch of her pale skin like atex suit of armor. Only her head was uncovered, with her ck hair flowing freely down her rear like a cape. Alice¡¯s enchanting pink eyes didn¡¯t even acknowledge the epic scene. Instead, they were busy scrutinizing the air in front of her face. Victor obviously couldn¡¯t see the screens, but he could summon the party screen to get some idea.

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 49] (level up! x8)

    [STR: 67, DEX: 79, CON: 78, INT: 146, WIS: 138]

    (ve)

    [Name: UNKNOWN]

    [Race: UNKNOWN]

    [Level: 307] (level up! x2)

    [STR: 360000, DEX: 360000, CON: 360000, INT: 360000, WIS: 360000]

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 100:00:00) (Slight Mana Sickness)

    [Name: Terry]

    [ERROR: CONNECTION LOST]

    She¡¯s still so weak¡­ Victor had be desensitized to the System¡¯s portrayal of stats. Perhaps the amount of STR or CON mattered to a fleshy body, but to him, stat points were merely a form of fuel to power his spells. Actually, looking at this party page has reminded me of something¡­ Terry. I need to contact him again. But perhaps now is not the best time. He knew he was dying something vital. But he was far too vulnerable right now to waste hundreds of thousands of stat points on a cross-universe telephone call. He had questions, and he was itching for answers. But rather hriously, his survival was more important right now. Darn dragons, although the thrill of a real threat is nice, now is not the best time¡­

    Victor swore he almost died of boredom over the past few months exploring that endless forest, and now everything was happening at once. He was in a magical dungeon under the most powerful race¡¯s stronghold. He had broken into their prison, caused mass murder, ughtered their unborn children, and raised them to serve him. All in a single day. Ain¡¯t no rest for the wicked. He hummed to himself as he thought about his next move.

    He needed to go down. So far down until he found something. Victor wasn¡¯t sure what he desired. But either a resolution to his falling stats or monsters he could raise from the dead so powerful that even Hyveth Arcspace would have to think twice about attacking him. Did such a solution or monster exist? Probably not, but he was in too deep. Cracked eggs filled with bloody slimey all around, and their guardians now served him in death. No amount of diplomacy could save this situation now.

    ¡°Right,¡± Victor¡¯s avatar eximed, and everyone paid attention, even Genus as he flew circles overhead. ¡°Once again, we will be making a tactical retreat.¡± A cane of pure shadows appeared in the avatar¡¯s hand and pointed at the smallest undead dragon. ¡°You will be Alice¡¯s new mount. We must move fast, and horseback riding is a poor solution.¡± The car-size ck lizard bowed its head and strode over to Alice¡¯s side. The girl seemed bewildered, and it took some convincing from the dragon for her to climb up its lowered wing and secure herself around the base of its neck.

    ¡°Good,¡± Victor said, and the avatar spun around on its heel and pointed toward the dungeon¡¯s entrance with its cane. ¡°I have lost connection with the two Senior dragon zombies, so the rest of you will continue their jobs. Stop any dragon from reaching the second floor. That is your final order.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The ground rumbled, and dust flew into the air as neen chrome dragons from various noble houses rose to serve their new overlord and took to the skies.

    Victor spread out his long, shadowy arms and went all out with his Shadow Magic for the first time in a while. Stat points evaporated as if they were free. He first targeted the glowstone sun hanging overhead. A cone of dense shadows shot out and, within seconds, enveloped the titanic piece of glowstone. Darkness nketed thend, with day suddenly shifting to night. But he wasn¡¯t done. He wasn¡¯t sure if all dragons feared the dark like Genus or if it was just because they had been underground. Still, anything to potentially slow down their pursuers and give an advantage to his zombie dragons was a risk worth taking.

    A dense fog of shadow spread out and enveloped most of the dome. Even if someone summoned a light spell, it would fail to pierce more than a few meters. Roars sounded from afar. Victor¡¯s zombies had encountered some resistance.

    ¡°Time to move,¡± Victor said, and he directed Alice¡¯s dragon mount toward the apparent entrance to the tower. Genus carefullynded on the ground and gracefully epted Victor¡¯s avatar¡¯s guidance as he struggled to pierce the darkness.

    The inside of the tower was far more impressive than Victor expected. A stairwell of mystical crystal spiraled down into the abyss. He almost believed the stairwell led to the void, but dense mana suggested otherwise. His memories of his first moments in this world were a little blurred, but he definitely remembered theck of mana in the air. So where does this lead? The second floor, perhaps? How many floors are there? He had many questions, so he decided to ask his new dragon friend.

    ¡°Genus, tell me about the dungeon.¡± His avatar that stood weightlessly on his back strolled along the dragon¡¯s spine. ¡°How many floors are there? What can we expect?¡±

    Genus grumbled as he slowly descended the stairs. ¡°Well, there¡¯s no flying allowed in the stairwell. Or rather, I am incapable of doing so.¡± He plodded down a few more steps, his ws scraping against the blue crystal surface, leaving no marks. ¡°The dungeon has many odd rules like that.¡±

    ¡°Does this stairwell lead to thest floor?¡± Alice asked from atop her ck dragon mount.

    ¡°No,¡± Genus replied. ¡°We don¡¯t even know how many floors this dungeon has, although we suspect it¡¯s around the hundred range. Each floor has a tower that leads to the next floor. Therefore to get to the expected final floor, we must go down a hundred different towers.¡±

    ¡°Why have you never reached the final floor?¡± Victor was very curious about this. The dragons had controlled thisnd for centuries, yet they had never ventured to the lowest floors?

    ¡°Various reasons¡­¡± The noble dragon sighed. ¡°Politics is a big one, but a more practical reason is nobody wants to. As biological creatures, we require food to survive, and only food acquired from the dungeon is edible. Same with materials. The dense mana will eventually melt away any clothing or weapons not made of dungeon materials. Many floors in a row consist of nothing but undead, and the deeper we go, the more mana sickness we experience.¡±

    ¡°Mana sickness?¡± Victor summoned his status page, and sure enough, the Mana Sickness debuff was still there. He could feel the ambient mana gnawing away at his existence. ¡°But dragons are magical creatures. Don¡¯t they relish in mana-rich environments?¡± he said, his voice echoing.

    ¡°Too much of anything is harmful. We slowly absorb the mana around us while we sleep and passively direct the mana to improve our bodies and widen our mana pools,¡± Genus exined. ¡°However, too much mana flowing through us is detrimental to our cultivation and can be toxic.¡± He peeked at Alice, who proudly sat on her dragon mount, and continued. ¡°I may be wrong, but the System allows humans to do something simr?¡±

    Alice nodded with a grin. Then, as if to demonstrate her point, she moved her finger in the air and tapped a few times. Everyone witnessed as mana condensed around her form, flooded her body, and dissipated. Within seconds, her skin had visually improved, and her body had fattened out slightly with toned muscles.

    Genus growled in his throat, his rainbow eyes shifting with various colors. ¡°See, the System must protect them from mana sickness. The sheer amount of mana she just absorbed is how much I process in a week¡­not to mention the changes that urred would take me months. No wonder System users have made it to the lower floors before.¡±

    Victor frowned as the group continued down the endless stairs. I have the System, but it doesn¡¯t protect me from mana sickness. But Genus raises some good points. Although I should be able to endlessly advance down the dungeon floors, will Alice and Genus be able to follow? They are both living creatures, so ack of food, water, and safe ces to sleep could cause issues¡­ He thought back to Earth. How did humans survive in hostile locations? Supply lines. During the world wars, train lines were constructed to the front line, and supplies were brought in. Perhaps I can do something simr with my undead?

    He mulled over various solutions. The fact that the dragons were apprehensive of delving deeper into the dungeon gave him peace of mind, but it raised many new problems. First, he needed to keep Genus alive. But, wait, how was he supposed to take over the dragons after ughtering so many? Ugh, so many problems. Not to mention Terry potentially being on Earth and the bizarre nature around my reincarnation. He shook his head and pressed on. Those were worries for the future. For now, he just needed to keep going down.

 Chapter 28. Servant Of The Void

    Getting to feel superior to a dragon wasn¡¯t an everyday urrence. So as Alice dumped her remaining eight unspent points into her CON stat, bringing it up to an impressive eighty-six, she felt better than ever. She had debated focusing on a few other stats with her unspent points. But, right now, she needed a solid body to deal with the current circumstances.

    Strength? She was riding a freaking dragon. Dexterity? She didn¡¯t use a bow or practice calligraphy. Intelligence defined the size of her mana pool and a few other factors. But she was currently in a Grand Dungeon. The amount of mana circting in the air was almost intoxicating, so she could replenish her mana pool quickly. Even with her slinging spells left and right on the first floor, she hadn¡¯t run into any issues due to her high INT and WIS stats. I gain two points in them with every level up anyway, but maybe I should stop investing in CON for now. Especially since infusing more mana into my spells makes them stronger, having a higher mana pool is important for a mage.

    Alice wasn¡¯t controlling the dragon she was currently seated on, so she had plenty of time to think and n. Keeping her legs around its neck, sheid back and stared up. The dragon¡¯s scales were cold against her bare skin and incredibly hard; letting out a forced breath, she squinted, but even with Mana Sight, she couldn¡¯t see the top of the tower. Just an endless spiral of crystal-blue stairs around a central void. I should find this sight amazing, but perhaps I have be numb over thest few days? My life has be truly ridiculous, huh? A smile emerged as she thought about the crazy stuff she had done. I threw a fucking fireball at a dragon¡¯s eye, and it hit! The memory still made her giddy.

    ¡°We have reached the next floor.¡± The lord¡¯s ancient voice caught her attention. The gravity behind his words sent goose bumps down her spine. It was like a god had descended and was speaking into her brain. ¡°The floor¡¯s contents, monsters, treasures, do not matter. We have one objective: reach the next tower as fast as possible. As we travel, I will raise those I kill and have them ry anything valuable, including food, to us as we dive deeper. If you need to sleep or anything else, let me know.¡±

    Alice felt warm knowing the lord was thinking about her. Although the words sounded a little cold, his heart was in the right ce¡­assuming he even had one.

    They picked up the pace.

    The ck zombie dragon soared straight through an open door at the tower¡¯s base and out into a dark wastnd. The wind whipped through her hair as they flew overhead. Down below was a graveyard filled with skeletons that wandered aimlessly. Some held chipped swords in their skeletal hands, and others wore tin hats on their smooth skulls.

    Alice straightened up. She wasn¡¯t sure why, but she felt more powerful than before.

    ¡°Dark attribute mana,¡± Genus remarked from the side with a scowl. ¡°Rancid stuff to cultivate with.¡±

    ¡°So it seems.¡± Alice used Mana Sight, and sure enough, the ce was drowning in the stuff. ¡°I can see why dragons hateing down here.¡±

    She opened up her palm and summoned a Fireball. She also coated her hand in a Mana Shield. Both appeared normal, but when she upped the power¡­the Mana Shield solidified, and the Fireball became a meter in width. If Alice hadn¡¯t jerked her head back and thrown up a Mana Shield around her entire body, she would have suffered from nasty burns. She freaked out and threw it away as if the Fireball was a massive spider that had materialized on her palm.

    The orb of hellish purple mes descended like a doomsday bomb. Hundreds of skeletons looked up and dumbly raised their swords as judgment fell upon them. Alice blinked in confusion as the Fireball acted strangely. Not only did it produce no light, but it sshed out when it hit the floor, spreading like a virus among the skeletons. Despite its size, the initial impact only affected a handful of them. But, within minutes, a mile radius was aze with purple hellfire as skeletons melted into puddles of liquid bone.

    Genus gave her a side look. ¡°Quite the spell you have there. It seems tock the initial punch of a Fireball, but that spreading effect is rather impressive. Perfect for burning these low-level cretins to the afterlife.¡±

    ¡°Yea, true¡ª¡±

    [Level up!]

    [New ss Options Avable]

    The sudden notification startled Alice. She ignored Genus and the destruction below and summoned her status page.

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: Human]

    [Level: 50] (level up!)

    [STR: 68, DEX: 80, CON: 87, INT: 148, WIS: 140]

    [Unspent points: 1]

    (ve)

    [Blessing: Darkness]

    [ss: PENDING]

    [Sub ss: Apprentice Merchant]

    [Divine Mission: None]

    [Skills]

    [¡­]

    [ss Skills]

    [Stealth II]

    [Fireball VII] (level up! x4)

    [Ice Bolt V] (level up! x5)

    [Mana Shield V] (level up! x5)

    [Float III] (level up! x3)

    [Mana Sight II] (level up! x1)

    [Telekinesis I] (New!)<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Lightning Strike I] (New!)

    [Sub ss Skills]

    [Fast Counting I]

    [Identify I]

    ¡°I finally hit level fifty. Why is my ss pending?¡± Alice poked the screen, and although her finger went right through the floating blue screen, a new one appeared.

    [Congrattions! Please pick your next ss¡­]

    [Generating Options¡­]

    [Archmage (Common)]

    [Princess of Purple mes (Rare)]

    [Apostle of Darkness (Rare)]

    [Servant of the Void (Legendary)]

    Alice browsed the options in awe. Of course, she had heard of Archmages before. They were unthinkably powerful and had the wealth to match; they often frequented her father¡¯s auctions and were always good customers. Only now, with the option in front of her, did the ridiculousness of today set in. Those Archmages were all old and established names. Some even had bards singing their legends in the taverns. Yet I became one in a single day? It was a hard truth to swallow, but Alice knew she couldn¡¯t getcent. A lord so mighty he could y two Senior dragons in mere minutes was running away. The threat she faced was so grand that fifty levels wouldn¡¯t cut it.

    ¡°Heh. Archmages are considered Common.¡± Alice chuckled to herself. It was like being told kings weremoners or dragons were frogs. Archmages had been on par with the more powerful Delvers in her mind, but now they had fallen a peg or two.

    ¡°Next floor, here we go,¡± Genus said, and Alice swiped the screen to the side. Sure enough, a tower of pristine white bone shrouded in a dense ck mana shield dominated her view. That was fast¡­unless I was so distracted I didn¡¯t notice the time fly by. The group didn¡¯t even take a moment to pause as they flew through the entrance. Suddenly, a mighty force pressed down andpelled her dragon mount to walk on its legs. Dungeons sure are weird¡­

    ¡°We will keep going for at least another ten or so hours. Let¡¯s try and reach the fifth floor by then.¡± The lord¡¯s voice boomed through the staircase, and the shadowy avatar standing effortlessly on Genus¡¯s back turned to her. ¡°Will that be fine?¡±

    Alice nodded and replied, ¡°I dumped a lot into my CON stat. I should be good for another day or two without sleep.¡±

    ¡°Good. Let me know if you need anything else.¡±

    ¡°Will do.¡± The conversation died out, so Alice returned to her blue screens. She poked the screen, but nothing happened. Cheap System won¡¯t give me more details unless I pick the ss? she thought as she mulled over the options. Archmage was obviously out of the running as it was amon-ranked ss, and she wanted to rule the world. How could she do that with amon ss? She needed something to put her ahead of thepetition. I have a unique opportunity here, thanks to the lord. Not everyone gets to y dragons as their first ever kill and leisurely conquer a Grand Dungeon atop a pet dragon. I need to stay useful to him¡­

    With Archmage crossed off, she had three choices remaining.

    [Princess of Purple mes (Rare)]

    [Apostle of Darkness (Rare)]

    [Servant of the Void (Legendary)]

    ¡°Princess¡­I like the sound of that.¡± Alice stroked her chin. ¡°With how the ss is phrased, it should focus on fire magic. My purple mes were impressively effective, but specializing in fire magic is risky, especially with dragons being my immediate threat. Although my unique trait True Damage does make the ss sound terrifying¡­¡± She thought back on the description of ck Mages, and she could imagine razing cities with an Archmage-level Fireball that ignored magical defenses.

    ¡°Genus?¡± Alice asked the golden dragon that plodded down the stairs beside her.

    ¡°Hm?¡± The dragon turned its titanic head to look at her. She felt tiny with those rainbow eyes that shifted with different colors staring at her.

    ¡°Without your mana shield, could you survive an empowered version of the Fireball I used earlier?¡±

    Genus grinned, showing off his razor-sharp teeth the size of her, and snorted. ¡°We are practically born from fire. Even without my mana shield, my scales would protect me. That pathetic fire could only harm me if you threw it in my eye.¡±

    ¡°What about down your throat?¡±

    ¡°Silly question, I breathe fire¡­¡±

    Alice felt stupid, so she returned to her screens and ignored the chuckling dragon. Princess of Purple mes is a no-go, then. Sad. The name was so enticing.

    That left her with two options: Apostle of Darkness (Rare) and Servant of the Void (Legendary).

    Apostle of Darkness rubs me all the wrong ways. Although Alice enjoyed the powers her blessing had provided her, the ss definitely wasn¡¯t worth being sold off as a ve and leaving behind her life in Eshnar. The Spirit of Darkness has done nothing for me all this time, no matter how much I prayed. And she had fucking prayed her heart out. Every single day she sat in that shaking wooden carriage, praying to the goddess that had driven her to that state for anything¡­even just a loaf of bread to sate her hunger. But she had been ignored, cast away like some sick joke while she knew of heroes that received divine weapons or god-given skills from their patron spirits.

    That left her with one final option. Servant of the Void, a legendary ss. One she had never heard of, just like all legendary sses. They were unique and specialized for a destined person. The question is why? What rtionship do I have with the void, of all things, and why would I be its servant?

    ¡°But if there¡¯s one thing I know, it¡¯s that sses evolve as you level them. Today¡¯s servant is tomorrow¡¯s master¡­¡± Alice raised her finger and hesitated before making her choice.

    She pressed her option, and everything changed.

 Chapter 29. [Race ???]

    You are the first System user to make contact with a creature from the void and survive more than twenty-four hours.

    You are the first System user to converse with a creature from the void.

    A creature from the void has taken an interest in you.

    You have been granted a Legendary ss.

    [Servant of the Void]

    Evolutionmenced.

    ***

    Alice felt cold.

    Not the coldness she felt on those frosty winter mornings back in Eshnar, where the chill phased through her skin and dug deep into her bones, gnawing away at her joints until they ached in dull pain. No. This was a new type of cold, the empty kind thates from within.

    She felt hollow, an endless void eating away from the inside. And that was odd. What had changed? She had been filled with excitement only moments ago! Heck, she had just unlocked a legendary ss, for gods¡¯ sake! Although the threats were mighty, she felt on the road to sess.

    She opened her eyes, and it was dark, but not. She could pierce the night just fine. ¡°Ow, ow, ow.¡± A severe headache forced her toy back on the hard, cold surface. Everything felt wrong, but her parched mouth and grumbling stomach forced her to soldier on. She shuddered as she forced herself to somewhat sit up.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re awake?¡±

    Alice clutched her head with one hand while propping herself up with the other. Then, with great effort, she turned to the voice and saw a familiar shadowy man with a top hat. But the voice sounded different. It was less ancient and more pleasant sounding. She could also tell which direction the lord¡¯s voice originated from, instead of iting from everywhere.

    She looked up. A new skill, Void Eye, subconsciously activated, and she could see him. It was a mere outline, like a shadow behind an apple tree on a summer day, but she could see him. He was huge, looming over her like a guardian angel. Actually more like a devil. So is that the lord¡¯s true form or a mere imitation of it?

    ¡°I am awake¡­ Where are we?¡± Alice shook her head and decided to pretend she couldn¡¯t see the lord¡¯s shadow and posed her question to the avatar.

    ¡°Twenty-third floor of the Grand Dungeon. You were asleep for a few days.¡± The avatar awkwardly took off its top hat and held it in its shadowy hands. Alice tried her best to focus on the avatar and ignore the looming thing above her. ¡°So what happened?¡± it asked in a weird tone as its featureless face looked her up and down.

    ¡°Water first,¡± Alice croaked out. Her throat felt drier than a desert, and her stomach was trying to eat her alive. Perhaps that was the reason for the hollow feeling?

    ¡°Right, right¡­stupid mortal flesh,¡± the avatar said, even though the voice came from above her and sent shivers down her spine. Alice felt a mana pulse, but it was twisted¡­and wrong. If not for her raging headache, she might have been able to discern the cause with her Mana Sight, but sitting up was the best she could do for now.

    The air rapidly cooled as magical ice coated a nearby boulder. Only now did Alice take in her surroundings. The twenty-third floor appeared a bit more hospitable but still not great. Gray sand encircled them with enormous obsidian boulders jutting out from dunes. Streams of bubblingva slowly meandered between these dunes, originating from the many active volcanos dominating thend.

    With her Void Eye, Alice saw the shadow move across the sky, and for a brief second, the lord materialized. Then, with a swish of his w, the boulder¡¯s tip was shaved off, and he vanished again. His avatar moved and collected the shaved-off piece in its shadowy hands, then returned to her and ced it on the ck dragon¡¯s scale beside her. Oh, I am lying on the ck dragon still. No wonder my back aches so much. Alice¡¯s lungs burned with every breath she took due to the heat, yet the cone of ice stayed pristine and didn¡¯t melt.

    ¡°Melt it for water with your fireball spell,¡± the avatarmanded as it wandered off. ¡°I will go find you something to eat¡­but it won¡¯t be pretty, that¡¯s for sure.¡±

    Alice obliged and summoned a Fireball and Mana Shield. ¡°Holy shit.¡± Her jaw dropped open, and her eyes couldn¡¯t believe what they saw. Before, her empowered Fireball had been ck with a purplish hue, but it was still fire, just a different color. Now it was just a ball of¡­nothing. Pure ckness that absorbed all light. It had a glossy finish as if it were a ss ball and was perfectly spherical. The Mana Shield followed a simr theme. It was so dense she couldn¡¯t see a hint of her pale skin below; it was as if the void had wrapped around her and formed solid armor.

    ¡°I see¡­ I had no idea mortals could wield the void,¡± the lord remarked, and Alice stiffened. He¡¯s going to kill me, isn¡¯t he? She braced to meet a fate simr to that boulder and all those dragons. But her death never came. To her surprise, he didn¡¯t do anything and continued on his way in search of food for her.

    She let out a deep breath and dispelled the spells. Then, despite her headache worsening, she squinted her eyes and summoned her status screen. I need to know what the hell happened to me.

    [Evolution Complete]

    [Void Affinity Acquired]

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: ???]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Level: 51] (level up!)

    [STR: 69, DEX: 81, CON: 88, INT: 150, WIS: 142]

    [Unspent points: 2]

    (ve) (Dulled Emotions)

    [Blessing: Darkness / Void]

    [ss: Servant of the Void]

    [Sub ss: Apprentice Merchant]

    [Divine Mission: None]

    ¡°Okay, that is odd.¡± Alice prodded the screen. Her race showed question marks, but the System, as usual, refused to borate. Her brows furrowed in annoyance. What did her race mean if it was three question marks? Was she no longer human? She looked down at her body; everything seemed somewhat normal. Her skin had be paler, almost anemic, and her nails had turned ck and were sharp like ws. She reached up to her head and confirmed there weren¡¯t any horns, nor were there any wings sprouting from her back. So I haven¡¯t be a demon, but I have changed a bit. How weird. Also, since when did I have the blessing from the void? Did thate with my new ss? Does the void even have spirits or a goddess? How can I be blessed by it?

    Alice concentrated on her status page once more. Her level had increased by one to fifty-one. Ah. Party exp over thest few days must have leveled me up. She nodded to herself as if everything made sense. She was sitting upon a zombie dragon, having a void creature fetch her food, and now the System couldn¡¯t even confirm if she was human or not. Okay, so my ss has changed to Servant of the Void. I wasn¡¯t sure before, but now I¡¯m confident the lord is a creature from the void. So am I his servant? I wanted to aid him, so I suppose that¡¯s fine for now. Did I gain any new skills with my new ss? She opened up her skill list.

    [Skills]

    [¡­]

    [ss Skills]

    [Stealth II]

    [Fireball VII]

    [Ice Bolt V]

    [Mana Shield V]

    [Float III]

    [Mana Sight II]

    [Telekinesis I]

    [Void Eye I] (New!)

    [Sub ss Skills]

    [Fast Counting I]

    [Identify I]

    ¡°Void Eye?¡± Alice cautiously activated the skill. Her pretty pink eyes were reced with a swirling abyss. She looked around, but nothing looked different. I think this skill let me see the lord before, but he isn¡¯t around anymore. I¡¯ll try it out again when he returns¡­

    ¡°But for now¡­I need a drink.¡±

 Chapter 30. Sleeping Dragon

    So she can use the void, huh? Victor watched her impressive disy of magic with interest. Didn¡¯t expect humans to be able to wield the void, always assumed it was out of the System¡¯s jurisdiction, but I guess I was wrong. He shook his head and went to find the poor girl¡¯s food. If not for her high CON stat, she would have starved to death or returned to her pathetic state from before. She had lost a bit of muscle and fat, but overall she looked all right. Nothing a little food couldn¡¯t fix¡­but that was the major problem.

    ¡°Genus,¡± Victor said through his avatar as he crested the rim of a volcano, some ten minutes away from where he had left Alice. ¡°Hey! Wake up.¡±

    The noble golden dragon opened a tired eyelid and stared at the avatar. ¡°What?¡± he snarled, but his tone sounded colder than usual.

    Dragons hate being woken up¡­noted. This was the first time in days that Genus had been allowed to sleep, unlike Alice, who had slept the entire journey soundly. The two had traveled in silence, trying to preserve their energy at any cost. ¡°You have been sleeping for eight hours. Don¡¯t be so grouchy.¡±

    Genus snorted, but itcked the motivation behind it. Even to Victor¡¯s untrained eye, it was clear the dragon had lost some weight and was exhausted.

    ¡°Eight hours is nothing. I can sleep for weeks, sometimes even months.¡± Genus slowly closed his eye again. ¡°Are they following us?¡±

    ¡°Not for now,¡± Victor replied. He had left many undead minions throughout the Grand Dungeon and used them to monitor the dragon¡¯s progress. To his surprise, it seemed they had mostly given up. ¡°It seemed your idea to take thest few dragon eggs and run off in different directions was a good idea.¡± When they reached the second floor, Genus had suggested that Victormand his undead dragons to loop back to the tower and take the remaining dragon eggs hostage. They would then fly in different directions to force the dragons that came due to the disturbance to split their manpower.

    ¡°Ha. Honestly, it would be a miracle if they followed us. We left no evidence behind except destruction and zombie dragons. A few may have seen us from afar, but to organize a search party willing to chase us down will take weeks, if not months.¡±

    ¡°Really? Why?¡± Victor¡¯s avatar asked as it wandered around.

    Genus reopened his eye and followed the avatar¡¯s movements with his rainbow eyes. ¡°Dragons areplicated and selfish.¡± He snorted, and smoke plumed from his nostrils. ¡°Before the Grand Dungeon takeover, we used to live in separate groups spread across the continent, and we still do. Each family only sent a few members, some more, some less. But the point is, even if every dragon here died, their ns would live on. So¡­politics. It would take one of the Elder dragons to take us down, and they would all refuse to move over some killed eggs.¡±

    Genus uncoiled his neck from his sleeping position, spread out his paws, and yawned. ¡°I feel awful. I heard stories about this ce, but it¡¯s much worse than I thought.¡±

    Victor had to agree with his oversize lizardpanion on that. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a lot more ridiculous than I thought. Ten floors of straight undead graveyards, followed by floors of endless oceans¡­and nothing else. No wonder your kin aren¡¯t interested in this hardship, especially the ocean floors; you couldn¡¯t rest for two days.¡±

    Genus grumbled, ¡°And I can¡¯t rest now, either, because you keep bothering me. So why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Ah! Do you have any food left over? There were some slugs you found. Did you eat them all?¡± Victor¡¯s avatar put a palm over where its eyes should be and scanned the dragon¡¯sir.

    ¡°They tasted rancid, just like the mana on those graveyard floors. But at least the mana is much better here. The fire element was always one of my favorites to sleep in, nice andfortable.¡± Genus rolled over, sending gray sand flying as he shifted his enormous body. ¡°Those scrumptious slugs are in a pile over there.¡± His wing pivoted its tip toward the far corner.

    There was indeed a gray clump of some kind of meat covered in gray sand.

    ¡°All right, thank you, Genus. We will stay on this floor for a while, so sleep well. We have a long journey ahead since the distance between each tower is increasing exponentially.¡±

    The dragon grunted in agreement and went back to sleep. Victor used his avatar to grab some meat and headed back to Alice. Since she can use the void, are there other humans that can wield void magic? Maybe I can find one powerful enough to fix my falling stats¡­like using them as a portable battery. The idea was a bit sinister, but if he treated them well, it should be fine?

    Returning to Alice, he dumped the meat. She looked at it as if it was cursed and wouldn¡¯t touch it with a ten-meter pole, but s, she had no choice. Slugs were the only food they had found so far. I still count my lucky stars that I picked Netherborne as my race and don¡¯t have to eat or sleep. Looking at that pile of gray meat oozing with white pus makes me want to gag. Victor noticed a small pile of shit and urine behind the dragon. Yep, don¡¯t miss those bodily functions one bit. Also, ever since entering this dungeon, the idea of stat points has be a joke to me¡­

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 387] (level up! x80)

    [STR: 60004800, DEX: 6007840, CON: 6007840, INT: 6007840, WIS: 6007840]

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 16668 hours) (Mana Sickness)

    [Skills:]

    [Consume X]

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Freezing Cone IX] (level up! x2)

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement VIII] (level up! x2)

    Although his status had ballooned, so had the mana sickness. Apart from feeling suffocated, it didn¡¯t affect him too much. But if it gets worse the further we go down, I may start burning a lot more lifeforce to exist each second. Luckily, apart from the ufortable feeling, this dungeon is so filled with mobs for me to ughter that I could lose ten points a second and still be fine.

    While doing some quick math, Victor found he had over two years¡¯ worth of status points at his current loss rate to y with. Although they still fell, he felt better knowing he had such a massive buffer. Which means it¡¯s time for that cross universe phone call¡­ A part of him had been dreading trying to contact Terry. Did he really want to know what was happening on Earth? How his parents treated his death? Was Terry even on his Earth or some alternate one?

    Victor moved far away from the group. Only Wiggles diligently followed along a mile or so beneath his feet. He could tell he was there without even using his undead connection. The sand shifted even this far up as the titanic earthworm made its way below.

    Finding an excellent isted location, Victor shed an Annihting Aura with maximum power to extinguish anything below level one hundred in a ten-mile radius. He entered the ck ocean in his mind with nothing to bother him. It was packed with millions, if not hundreds of millions, of undead on the various floors. Victor now hadplete control over the undead residing over the first ten floors and had leviathans, sharks, and other aquatic monsters on the ocean floors. But those didn¡¯t interest him. No, the single fleck of light in the distant void did.

    ¡°Terry. We need to talk.¡± He shoved an impressive ten percent of his total stat points into this transmission. And then he waited.

    ***

    A few hours passed. Victor waited patiently while debating the many topics to discuss. Do I care what happened to me? What if I¡¯m still alive? That idea haunted him. If he was still alive back on Earth, then who was he? Where did hee from?

    ¡°Boss! How are you?¡± Munching sounds apanied Terry¡¯s casual voice.

    ¡°Are you eating?¡± Another few hundred stat points vanished with those words, but Victor didn¡¯t mind. He would speak as much as he wanted. There was a slight dy between messages as if they had terrible phone reception.

    ¡°Aye. At the movies with my mates. This popcorn thing is wicked.¡±

    Victor didn¡¯t know what to say. Should he be happy Terry fit in so well? Or concern for the human race that they still hadn¡¯t worked out Terry was a zombie? Was he really that good at acting? Was Terry secretly a genius at avoiding the government?

    ¡°What¡¯s the name of the you are on?¡± Victor asked.

    ¡°Errr¡­yo, John! Where are we, mate? No, I know we are at the cinema, you moron. Listen to me. What the hell is a New York? Hahaha, what happened to the original York? You are such a riot. Give that here.¡± More rustling sounds of popcorn and slurping noises. ¡°Ooh, vani vor, yeah? Good stuff, this.¡±

    Victor ignored the idiot. New York, that has to be Earth¡­ Wow, going back to Earth is possible? How did Terry even get there?

    ¡°Terry, how did you arrive on Earth?¡±

    ¡°Earth? What the hell is that? No, you shut up, John. This movie fucking sucks anyway. Why did you bring me here? Ohhh, to escape Jessica? Yeah, she¡¯s a real bitch.¡± Terry loudly ate another mouthful of popcorn. ¡°Anyway, sorry, boss, what did you say?¡±

    Victor had never wanted to hang up a phone call more in his life. ¡°Terry, how did you arrive where you are now?¡±

    ¡°The bus,¡± he answered with resolute certainty. ¡°Sometimes we take the subway, but they were closed today.¡±

    ¡°¡­Terry, you died. What happened next?¡±

    What followed was an hour-long incoherent ramble from Terry about how he and John became best pals while working on Zombie World season two and how they were now working on another show together. ¡°And that is how I ended up here,¡± he finished and took a deep slurp from his milkshake.

    Victor had undoubtedly confirmed that Terry was on Earth and was in the period he had been in when he died. Terry had purchased thetest iPhone, one version higher than the one that had been out when Victor was alive. So some time had passed but not much. Maybe a year at most.

    ¡°Terry, can you search on your phone for a person called Victor Harrison? Did he die?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take a look. One second¡­¡±

    Victor held his breath.

 Chapter 31. Overwhelming Power Is Fun

    ¡°My phone is out of battery.¡±

    All the anticipation shifted to anger. ¡°Ask your friend then,¡± Victor hissed with unconcealed rage.

    ¡°Yo, John, can you search if a man called Victor Harrison died? No, I am not a mob boss¡­ No, I didn¡¯t kill him. Just search for it, you idiot. Ah, give it here.¡± Sound of rustling and a few grunts. ¡°Errr, boss, was this Victor Harrison guy a famous singer?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Politician?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Scientist?¡±

    ¡°No, he was a nobody living in London.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s a London?¡±

    ¡°A city in the United Kingdom, a country. Use that in the search.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Time stretched on for a while before he answered. ¡°Yup, nothing.¡±

    Victor had no idea how to take the information. Did that mean he was still alive or dead? He wasn¡¯t famous when he was alive, so it made sense if his death didn¡¯t appear on the front page of Google. ¡°Can you search a death registry?¡±

    ¡°Boss, I¡¯ll be honest¡­I only learned what Google was yesterday. I ain¡¯t got a bloody clue how to use this thing.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Victor had honestly had enough of this subordinate. Although he had a lot of points to spend, wasting any more on this pointless conversation irked him. ¡°All right, never mind then. Stay safe. I maye to visit you sometime.¡± He didn¡¯t wait for the moron¡¯s response and hung up. Even if that idiot gets captured by the US government, it should be fine. If he can survive being reduced to atoms, then what can Earth scientists do to him?

    Then, with a sigh, he skimmed the endless gray dunes. If Victor woke up here, he would have thought he had traveled back in time before the dinosaurs, when the whole was covered in volcanos and seas ofva. But he knew where he was, underground in a magical dome that made no fucking sense with dragons above and unknown biomes and creatures below. Well, that phone call was useless. But, in a way, the fact it was inconclusive gave him some piece of mind. Dead or not, he was here now, and he might as well make the most of it until Terry worked out how his darn phone worked.

    Victor winced when he saw that he had spent over a million stat points on that conversation. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I have another sixty million in the bank and plenty more monsters to ughter.¡± But that was for another time; he needed to let the silly, fleshy beings take a well-deserved rest right now. ¡°Or I could go ahead. There is really no need to wait for them¡­¡± He looked below his feet that hovered a meter above the gray sand. A depression in the sand showed the presence of his favorite pet. There was something special about Wiggles. Perhaps it was because he reconstructed him from the ground up, giving Wiggles a much stronger connection to him than all his other undead. It also helped that Wiggles didn¡¯t have great intelligence, and it actually obeyed all hismands to the best of its ability. Unlike his human undead, who all seem to mess up his orders on purpose or through sheer ipetence.

    ¡°Wiggles, go venture to the next floor and keep going. Keep me posted through the mental link on anything interesting.¡± Wiggles was on par with a Senior dragon in strength. Apart from the harsh environments, the monsters were numerous but rtively weak individually. Except that leviathan we encountered a few floors ago. The funny thing is Wiggles is farrger, so when he swam through the ocean floors, the leviathans avoided him as if he was the ocean¡¯s apex predator. When Wiggles was underground or only showed the tip of his head, it was hard to appreciate how titanic and menacing he was. But with the ocean allowing for a full view, his neon-green flesh and enormous circr mouth lined with rows of human-size teeth made him look like some kind of eldritch horror awoken from the darkest depths.

    The ground rumbled, and Victor watched as gray dunes crumbled and boulders scattered as the earthworm made its way to the tower in the distance. Although we set ourselves up halfway across this floor, it will take Wiggles a full day at maximum speed to reach the next tower¡­ Due to the insane distance between each floor¡¯s tower and the fact it was only increasing, Victor was starting to doubt if the stories of Delvers making it to thest floor were true. For a normal human to get as far as we have, it would have taken at least a year¡­ And that wasn¡¯t even the main issue.

    Genus mentioned that human-made products onlysted so long in the mana-rich environment before degrading. So how would a Delving party get past the first twenty floors without a food supply? The graveyard floors had swamps but absolutely nothing with any meat or fruits. The ocean floors had edible sea monsters but only seawater to drink.

    Victor thought about Alice. He suspected she was currently at a decent level for a human to reach, and she survived a few days without food and water and seemed fine upon waking up. Back on Earth, a human would die after three days without drinking water, but she was only a little parched. Is that the effect of mana or stat points? Perhaps she invested a lot of points in her CON stat? But even with the help of skills, I don¡¯t see how it¡¯s possible¡­unless there¡¯s a ss specializing in assisting a Delving party during long trips? He chuckled at the thought of a person whose sole job was to conjure food and water out of mana. Hahaha, a food mage! They must exist! He added the quest to confirm if food mages were real to his ever-growing list of ns to interact with humans or visit a human city.

    ¡°Well, once I conquer this dungeon, I¡¯m going to head back to the surface, shove a Doom Ray up any dragon¡¯s arse that opposes me, and put that Genus fellow on the throne, and if he doesn¡¯t do as I say, he can have a Doom Ray up his arse, too.¡± Victor almost shook in excitement. If the first twenty floors gave him sixty million stat points, what would his stat sheet say after the hundredth floor? ¡°Maybe I could destroy the with a maximum-power Doom Ray with all my points shoved into it¡­ That¡¯s a scary thought.¡±

    Honestly, at this point, his falling stats problem was almostughable. Assuming he encountered no more issues, he should have centuries of lifeforce by the end of this dungeon. Then he would have time to explore the world and find a permanent solution, if one existed.

    ¡°Maybe this new life ain¡¯t so bad after all.¡± Victor chuckled as he went to find his minions. Wait, my minions. A cold feeling rippled in his chest. The phrase it¡¯s lonely at the top yed through his mind. ¡°Okay, add making somepanions to my growing list.¡± But, to be fair, he had only been in this world a few months and had killed almost everything he hade across so far. ¡°Just another reason to interact with civilization soon. Should I put more effort into my avatar and use it to adventure with Alice? Or perhaps I could use an undead as my emissary?¡±

    s, these were questions for the future¡­a future that looked a lot brighter with every passing day. ¡°Who would have thought having overwhelming power could be this fun?¡±

 Chapter 32. Return Of The Delving Team

    The frost-covered ground crunched underfoot as the party probed deeper into the cursed forest. After the incident with the corrupted, half a month had passed, and after much convincing from the higher-ups, the party was back together with a new mission provided by the head of the Delvers guild.

    Investigate the necromancer in the cursed forest.

    Reward: 50 gold per party member

    ¡°Remember, Sam.¡± Eve turned to the timid Hacker. ¡°If we encounter that corrupted horseman or any other corrupted, we are to engage in conversation first.¡± She flicked Sam¡¯s ear, and he yelped. ¡°I know you Hackers hate diplomacy, but sometimes it¡¯s needed, all right? Not everything should be killed on sight.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. Sorry,¡± Sam muttered as he dragged his feet. Rock, the gem golem from god knew where, loomed protectively over Sam while Zedd scouted on ahead. The rogue businessman was a mere blur of shadow and smoke as he maneuvered between the naked trees. The group had been traveling for a few days but had encountered nothing. And that was weird.

    ¡°Zedd, are there really no monsters for miles around? Where did they all go?¡± A rush of wind made Eve shiver slightly as Zedd appeared next to her. Her bikini armor was great, legendary even, but it sucked during the cold weather, and she couldn¡¯t even wear a coat over it! Otherwise, its special defensive effects failed to activate. It really was a bizarre piece of armor in that regard.

    ¡°Nothing. Tracks are all weeks or even months old. I found a few rotting corpses but couldn¡¯t discern what killed most of them. Even the insects are all dead. It¡¯s as if a wave of death passed through the area.¡± Zedd ran a white-gloved hand through his hair and frowned. ¡°But¡­I am detecting arge gathering of mana south of here. About another few hours of travel.¡±

    ¡°South?¡± Eve also frowned. Apart from Delving into the Empire¡¯s dungeon, they had gone on multiple missions in this cursed forest, but nothing of note was ever in the south as it was the furthest point from the Grand Dungeon controlled by the dragons in the north. ¡°Is the necromancer there? Perhaps he¡¯s terrified of encroaching on the dragon¡¯s territory, so they stay far away?¡±

    ¡°usible. But strange.¡± Zedd shook his head and dusted off his hands. ¡°Nothing makes any sense. Some monster corpses look like they suffered heart attacks and just fell over where they stood, eyes still open in shock. In contrast, a few S-rank monsters have deep gashes from ws that could have belonged to a castle-size werewolf.¡±

    ¡°S-rank monster corpses?¡± Eve¡¯s eyes practically had money bags in them. ¡°Where? Can we sell them?¡±

    Zedd chuckled. ¡°Absolutely not. They are all destroyed beyond recognition. It would be far too much effort. But, funnily enough, the S-rank monster corpses are in better condition than others I found. I don¡¯t even know what rank these corpses are, but they were reduced to burned lumps of unrecognizable flesh. They were so burned and destroyed that I don¡¯t know how they died. My only guess would be some kind of lightning magic or stupidly high-tier fire magic.¡±

    Eve deted and let out a sigh. ¡°I will never pay off this darn debt. Stupid Empire taxws.¡±

    ¡°Now, now. All is not lost.¡± Zedd turned to the south. ¡°I think we will find something very interesting soon enough.¡±

    ***

    Nothing could have prepared the group for what they found.

    ¡°Goddess, am I dreaming?¡± Eve muttered over and over again. She bent down and scrutinized the wooden sign.

    Four-Leaf Golden Bear.

    She looked between the sign and the ice sculpture¡­ Well, ¡°sculpture¡± was the wrong term. ¡°It¡¯s the real bloody thing! A perfectly preserved Four-Leaf Golden Bear!¡± Its beautiful golden fur, four muscr arms, and ivory teeth were all there. Eve¡¯s eyes darted around the hundreds of ice sculptures that surrounded her. Each one could pay back her debt, and there were hundreds. She felt like a kid in a candy store.

    ¡°There¡¯s an S-rank Silver Bear over here¡ª¡± Zedd paused, and two ck des materialized in his gloved hands. ¡°We aren¡¯t alone.¡±

    Sam gripped his staff tighter and looked around as Rock maneuvered to stand over him. The gem golem¡¯s presence gave the Hacker some confidence, but Sam stayed diligent. Although hemanded great power, he was weak andcked defensive capabilities. One stray arrow to the face cared little if Sam could manipte the System. However, he did wear many expensive defensive artifacts for this very reason. His power was preventive rather than reactive.

    A tiny skeleton wandered between the sculptures carrying a basket filled with fruits. It gave them one look, and they all stiffened. A few seconds passed with nothing happening. The tension was so high the air was practically shuddering from it.

    ¡°Nut?¡± the skeleton asked and held one out. It was called a Winter Pine, a bad-tasting nut surrounded by a hard shell that peasant vigers harvested during the winters to survive.

    Nobody moved.

    ¡°No nut? Okay.¡± The skeleton put the Winter Pine back in the basket and wandered off.

    The Adamantite Delver party looked between each other as if they had all seen a ghost. Finally, Eve reached over with her muscr arm and slowly forced Sam¡¯s arm down since he had raised his wooden staff and was shaking.

    ¡°A corrupted¡­¡± Sam whispered under his breath. ¡°It just¡­walked away?¡± He followed the undead¡¯s path to the left of an ice sculpture. ¡°That has never happened before.¡± As a Hacker employed by the Empire, he had seen his fair share of corrupted beings that should not exist and must be purged. The undead always attacked without question. So why was this one different? Was Master wrong? His face then went pale as he realized another weird point. ¡°It talked.¡±

    ¡°That it did.¡± Zedd slowly walked in front of the group with his daggers resting by his sides. Their long, curved des gleamed in the midday sun as he twirled them around, something he did when nervous. ¡°Do we follow?¡±

    Eve hesitated. The mission provided by the guild was to investigate the forest, but so long as they all agreed to keep this incident secret, they could have Rock carry a few of these ice statues back to the Empire, and they would be set for years. Just selling the Silver Bear alone would clear Eve¡¯s debts, and she could purchase a house in the capital. It was tempting. But a part of her wanted to know why. Why was this happening?<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Let¡¯s follow. Keep teleportation artifacts at the ready,¡± Eve said, and everyone nodded. She wasn¡¯t the team leader, but they all listened to the front liner. If she didn¡¯t want to go, then nobody could.

    Zedd vanished in a puff of smoke, and Eve kept close to Sam and Rock. They advanced slowly through the ice sculptures, eyes peeled for a potential ambush. ¡°I think that skeleton was a goblin,¡± Sam mentioned quietly. ¡°We saw many empty goblin camps on the way here. Perhaps the necromancer took them all here?¡±

    ¡°But what for?¡± Eve whispered as they shuffled along, careful not to damage any ice sculptures. The forest has beenpletely cleared out. Some monsters were preserved here in ice sculptures, and now there are signs of intelligent goblins. Is the necromancer nning for an invasion? Are the goblins working in mines near here to make weapons? This was bing more serious. The undead horseman had used them of trespassing on his owner¡¯snd, but that was many miles to the north. We could be about to uncover an undead army. Is that the mana Zedd said he had located?

    As the group left the grouping of ice sculptures, they came across a clearing. In the center was a group of very worn-down merchant carriages. Lounging outside the carriages around a stone b with ying cards spread on its surface were two men wearing very torn-up and dirty merchant clothes. They both turned to the approaching group.

    ¡°Hey, Toby, you know them?¡± one of the merchants said to the other.

    Toby lifted his hat from over his eyes and scanned the group. ¡°Hmm, they seem familiar, Andrew¡­but I can¡¯t put my finger on it.¡± He shrugged and returned to the stone b they used as an improvised table. ¡°It¡¯s your turn, Andrew.¡±

    Zedd appeared in a puff of smoke next to Eve and whispered, ¡°They are strong.¡±

    ¡°Give a reference point,¡± Eve hissed back. Everything was strong in this forest.

    ¡°Hmm, weaker than that undead horseman we faced before, but about as strong as an A-grade monster? My threat-detecting skills are being partly blocked by something.¡± Zedd hid his des behind his back and walked a bit forward. ¡°Greetings, gentlemen. We are an Adamantite Delving team here on orders from the guild master. We would appreciate it if you could exin all of this¡±¡ªhe gestured around at the many ice sculptures¡ª¡°and why there are talking undead goblins.¡± A few goblins littered the clearing, some carrying things while the others were lying on the ground and watching the clouds pass by.

    ¡°Why should we?¡± Toby grumbled under his hat as he set a few cards on the stone to counter Andrew¡¯s recent move. ¡°You invade ournd and demand things of us? This is the cursed forest, not your shitty Empire.¡± He spat some green gunk to the side and huffed.

    Eve stepped forward and politely pushed the rapidly angering businessman to the side before he assassinated the merchant. ¡°We don¡¯t mean to be rude or cause harm. We previously ran into an undead horseman, and due to a misunderstanding, there was a fight.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Andrew answered this time, clearly interested. ¡°You met Henry, then? Is that bastard still alive?¡±

    ¡°Errr¡­yes.¡±

    ¡°ssic.¡± Andrew frowned as he threw a set of three cards onto the table. ¡°And we are just left here. Forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Shut it,¡± Toby murmured. ¡°We will get in trouble.¡±

    ¡°Trouble with who?¡± Sam asked from the back. His voice was small, but in the brief silence, it carried weight. For the zombie merchants, it was unmentionable; for the Delvers, it was their most important question.

    As the silence became too much, Toby turned to the carriage and hollered, ¡°Bob,e out here for a second.¡± A minute of tense silence followed. Toby stood up, and everyone shifted nervously. He snorted and went into the carriage and reemerged with a small skeleton. However, this one was more human looking than the goblin but still very short.

    ¡°Hello,¡± the skeleton said with a surprisingly deep voice, but its posture and tone gave everyone the impression of depression. His voicecked effort, and his head was hung low.

    ¡°That¡¯s your leader?¡± Zedd¡¯s danger-detecting skills were screaming at him.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Toby looked between the group and then Bob and chuckled. ¡°No, he is our chef. You must have traveled far. Care to stay for a meal?¡±

    The group looked among themselves. They were all on the edge and nervous, but they needed information. What better way than over a meal?

    ¡°COOK?¡± Rock thundered from behind after being silent for the entire conversation. ¡°WE. CAN. COOK. TOGETHER!¡±

    ¡°Sure¡­¡± Bob murmured as he turned to head back into the carriage. ¡°We can cook outside¡­¡±

    ¡°GOOD!¡± The ground trembled as the titanic gem golem wandered over and plopped himself beside the carriage.

    Eve licked her lips. ¡°That sounds good, but I must ask¡­are those ice sculptures for sale?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps.¡± Toby smiled. ¡°To the right person, they might be¡­¡±

 Chapter 33. Zombie Merchants

    ¡°So you wanted to talk?¡± Toby said as he propped his head up with one arm on the stone table and browsed the cards he fanned out in his other out of Andrew¡¯s sight. His eyes darted between his hidden hand of cards and the cards Andrew had just thrown onto the table.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Eve said politely and straightened her back. ¡°We have many questions.¡±

    ¡°Well, fire away.¡± Toby casually tossed two cards onto the table, and Andrew frowned. Toby was the type of man you wouldn¡¯t want to cross at night and starkly contrasted to Andrew, who was more belly than man.

    Andrew shifted his various cards between his sausage fingers. ¡°Ugh, I give up.¡± He tossed his hand of cards onto the table, and Toby just grinned. He was guaranteed victory.

    ¡°That¡¯s my twentieth win in a row, Andrew. It¡¯s getting boring now.¡±

    Andrew shrugged and turned to the recently arrived guests. Compared to a shitty card game that Toby had invented and kept changing the rules of, talking to an Adamantite Delving team was far more exciting.

    Eve took that as an opportunity. ¡°We were tasked to find a necromancer in the cursed forest. Know anything about that?¡± Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Although Andrew and Toby tried to hide it well with extra clothes and hats, the undead stench was unavoidable. ¡°Can¡¯t answer?¡±

    Tobyughed. ¡°To call that thing a mere necromancer feels like calling a dragon a fire lizard or a noble a money grubber. It¡¯s technically true, but it doesn¡¯t paint the whole picture. But sure, there was a necromancer here recently.¡±

    ¡°Hold on.¡± Zedd tightened his grip on his dagger under the table. ¡°Why would you tell us this? It doesn¡¯t make sense. Actually, none of this makes sense.¡±

    ¡°Tell me about it.¡± Toby gestured between the two of them. ¡°We have no idea what¡¯s going on, either. One day we were on a jolly old trip to the Empire, and the next thing we know, we are in eternal servitude to some eldritch creature and abandoned here.¡±

    Andrew interjected, ¡°Got any alcohol, by the way? We ran out long ago.¡±

    Zedd rxed a little, hesitantly brought out a silver sk, and passed it to the zombie merchant. Andrew took the sk with his grubby fingers, sniffed it, and then downed it all in one go. ¡°Good stuff that, thanks.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wee¡­¡± Zedd took back the sk and brushed off the filth with a handkerchief. ¡°So you encountered this necromancer, and he is an eldritch creature? Not a human?¡±

    ¡°Not a human,¡± they both said.

    Toby added, ¡°Spoke like one, though, although I¡¯m not sure what a creature like that is supposed to sound like since I have never met one before. Maybe it ate a human and copied its brain or something.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, that might be true!¡± Andrew said. ¡°Anyway, that thing is not around anymore.¡±

    ¡°So why don¡¯t you escape?¡± Eve pointed out but then felt stupid as the two zombies stared at her with rotting skin. ¡°Never mind¡­this is likely the best ce to stay.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s bloody boring, though.¡± Andrew sighed and scratched his arse. ¡°Being a zombie fucking sucks as well. Can¡¯t sleep, the constant hunger for flesh¡­¡± He quickly raised his hands. ¡°It¡¯s manageable! The main issue is how our bodies degrade over time. I wonder if we will eventually be like Bob.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up with him? Was he a midget or something?¡± Sam asked as he eyed the skeleton and Rock cooking up some kind of abomination over a fire. ¡°Also, how do you guys still speak? Forgive me if I am being rude, but zombies usually aren¡¯t the brightest bunch.¡±

    ¡°None taken. We understand we are rather unique.¡± Toby pulled his hat down further over his eyes. ¡°Bob over there was a mighty fine dwarf and the best darn chef I ever had the pleasure of traveling with. But that monster took something away from him, something I don¡¯t think he will ever get back.¡± He looked into the distance as if having a whimsical moment. Nobody dared to interrupt him; as a giant man with muscles that rivaled Eve¡¯s, it was best to leave him alone.

    ¡°Sooo¡­¡± Eve said after a while. ¡°About the ice sculptures. You said they were for sale? Really?¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The two zombie merchants exchanged a look and a slight nod. ¡°Sure,¡± Andrew replied, shing a grin on his fat face. ¡°The thing told us to rest up before leaving. It¡¯s been weeks, and our master is yet to return.¡± The merchant rubbed his hands together. ¡°I am sure he won¡¯t mind us selling some of the collection. In fact, I will give you guys a great deal. Buy one, get one free!¡±

    Andrew pushed himself off the floor, which took far more effort than necessary, and waddled toward the sculptures. ¡°Come! While we wait for food, let¡¯s discuss some business.¡±

    ***

    Two days had passed, and Victor decided it was time to move on. Wiggles had confirmed that the next two floors consisted of a simr desert biome, so there was little reason to remain stationary. Apart from letting Genus get some beauty sleep.

    ¡°Master.¡± A voice sounded in the back of his head, and Victor instantly concentrated. It wasn¡¯t a voice he was familiar with like Henry¡¯s or Terry¡¯s, so who could it be?

    Entering the ck ocean within his mind, Victor looked across to the ck waters to the south and saw a group of three blinding lights surrounded by hundreds of smaller flecks of lights. Ah yes, the group of merchants and goblins I left at the old camp. I totally forgot about them. He didn¡¯t really care for them all that much, so he was surprised they reached out to him. I expected them to run away or something.

    ¡°Yes?¡± he responded. It took a second due to the distance, as he didn¡¯t invest many stat points into the message. From the call with Terry, he had discovered that there was a t lifeforce fee for every message he sent, simr to how old phone contracts worked. However, he could shove additional stat points into the message to have it arrive faster, which he did when talking to Terry. Otherwise, he would have had to wait days between messages. But for these insignificant subordinates? He didn¡¯t wish to waste more points than he needed. Sure, sixty million points is a lot, but it¡¯s better to hold onto them than needlessly waste them.

    ¡°Master, it¡¯s Andrew. One of the zombie merchants. Sorry to bother your excellency, but an Adamantite Delving party has arrived. We are currently buying time while ying cards, but they are demanding answers about a necromancer and also want to purchase the sculptures. What should we do? If we allbine our strengths, we could maybe drive them off, but what if theye again with more people?¡± The zombie rambled on and only stopped once Victor interjected.

    ¡°Delving team? Did they mention anything about encountering a horseman?¡±

    ¡°O-oh yes, they did. It seems the Delving party came in peace this time. They did mention something about Henry.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Keep details about me vague, but overall you can say as much as you want until they are satisfied. For the ice sculptures, I don¡¯t care about them all that much, so you can keep ten percent of any money you make from them and save the rest for me. I may need some currency to work with at ater date.¡±

    ¡°Okay, master. Will do. Also¡­may I request that we can pick which monster to be merged with?¡±

    ¡°Exin.¡±

    ¡°Well, you have all these preserved corpses, so couldn¡¯t we bebined with one of them like you did with Henry? I want to be strong but not turn into¡­well, you know¡­Bob.¡±

    Victor paused. Why hadn¡¯t he thought of that earlier? Sure, the Delving team appearing in the north was a rather pressing matter. Still, he could have gained two more useful subordinates like Henry instead of abandoning them back at that camp. In fact, he needed them and the goblins to join him in this dungeon somehow¡­or did he? He was currently stuck down here, so having representatives on the surface would be perfect.

    ¡°All right, here¡¯s the n. While I make my way down the Grand Dungeon¡¯s floors and take over the dragons, your and Toby¡¯s job is to conquer the surface. All of the southern section of the cursed forest is for your use. Sell the monster corpses, pick the two you want to be merged with, and then put the goblins to work however you wish. Build mines, a town, roads, and infrastructure. Anything to make you money. You two can keep a third of all the money you make. Then, if you have done a satisfactory job, I will promote you both by merging you with a monster as I did with Henry. Understand?¡±

    Victor could practically hear the excitement in Andrew¡¯s voice. ¡°Y-yes, my lord! We will not disappoint you.¡±

    The connection fizzled out, and Victor smiled to himself. Meeting those merchants had been a significant turn in his fortune. He now had two savvy businessmen working for him on the surface while he conquered the depths. Eventually, he wouldbine the two empires and rule over the entire cursed forest.

    ¡°But first, we need to get moving.¡± Victor floated over to where Genus was resting. In typical dragon fashion, he had chosen to slumber in a dormant volcano. Victor peered down over the edge of the volcano and could practically see the mana swirling around the dragon. Genus was at the epicenter like a castle-size funnel with scales as if he was a mana ck hole. He looked healthier, and some of the weight he had lost over the past few days had been regained. Victor noticed a pile of gray slugs in the sand by his mouth, so Genus had clearly been eating recently. Perhaps I will leave him for one more day as the dragons are still a few floors behind, and I will need him in top shape to continue¡­ He had changed his mind about the Grand Dungeon. It was no longer a race to the bottom but rather a marathon. He had forgotten how vulnerable fleshy bodies were. Although he could race ahead and reach the bottom a few days or weeks earlier, so what? So long as the dragons weren¡¯t hot on his trail and there were monsters to kill, he had all the time in the world.

    But he was now a little bored with Genus sleeping and nothing but gray sand in all directions. I wonder what Alice is up to?

 Chapter 34. Girl Meets Void

    Victor floated to where he had left Alice, but she was missing. It was not a massive deal as she couldn¡¯t have gone far, and he could track her location via the undead dragon she was using as a mount, but it raised a valid point of concern. A part loathed hisck of control, but another part made a decision. I want friends, not ves. We aren¡¯t in a rtionship together, so there¡¯s no need for me to be so controlling. If she wants to leave, she is her own person. No reason for me to do anything. Unlike Genus, with whom he had business and had somewhat submitted to his control, Alice was free-spirited and simply his pet project. He did have uses for her, but they mainly required her to stay alive.

    Consulting his undeadwork, Victor located the dragon mount and headed an hour¡¯s flight to the west. As she came into view on the horizon, Victor was amazed.

    Around two meters above a gray dune, a being of pure darkness simr to himself floated around in the air. From the beings figure and long ck hair, he could tell the thing was Alice. A sheen of void coated her skin like atex suit as she hurled balls of void magic at a group of sandworms below. They were hideous things, simr to Wiggles, but a dull gray in color and far smaller. They also had a more slug-like appearance rather than armored scales. When the void balls struck the creatures, it was like they were deleted from existence. Whatever the ball touched simply ceased to exist until it dissipated a few meterster, caving a deep tunnel into the sand that was quickly refilled, and the dune dropped in height by a little.

    As Victor got closer, Alice whipped her head around and stared at him with a spear of void in one hand and a ball of nothingness in the other. She then seemed flustered and diverted her eyes, pretending something was behind him.

    ¡°You can see me?¡± Victor questioned. His voice was softer than usual but held a questioning tone that made Alice shiver.

    Alice seized up and choked out, ¡°Y-yes.¡± Her hands were on her chest, and she tried to make herself look smaller by curling her legs.

    ¡°Since when?¡±

    ¡°Since I woke up.¡± She dispelled her magic and slowly floated to the ground; her feet lightlynded on the top of the zombie dragon, and she nervously yed with her fingers and twiddled her thumbs while staring at the ground. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as if a question was on the tip of her tongue, but she failed to say it each time.

    ¡°Spit it out. I won¡¯t be mad¡­¡± Victor tried to console her, but it came out harsher than he expected. He hadn¡¯t tried to sound empathetic in months and wasn¡¯t the most social person back on Earth. He could hold conversations without issue, but actually caring about the other person was a different step, and the dulled emotions that came with his new body didn¡¯t help.

    ¡°S-so¡­I got a new ss.¡± Alice shifted on her feet and slowly looked up. Her pink eyes gazed curiously at where Victor floated. ¡°It¡¯s called Servant of the Void, a legendary ss. You¡­err¡­may not know, but legendary sses are only given out due to special circumstances, such as hero sses when humanity is facing a great threat that the goddess needs champions to deal with¡­¡± She took a deep breath and blurted out, ¡°You are a creature from the void, aren¡¯t you? Otherwise, there¡¯s no way I would receive such a ss¡­¡±

    Victor canceled out his Stealth skill. To Alice, therge shadow suddenly materialized and was far more menacing than she expected. He was huge, towering over her and blocking out the fake sky. Unfortunately, she likely only reached up to his knees, so she had to strain her neck to take in hisplete form. Many blue eyes shifted around within a swirling mass of darkness and looked at her from every angle. Alice gulped as her eyes traced one of his arms and saw the curved ws that were meter-long des of ck metal.

    Victor tilted his featureless face and peered through the rising smoke that was his body¡¯s lifeforce battling the dense mana in the dungeon. ¡°I never nned to hide it from you. I just felt the time to reveal myself hadn¡¯te.¡± He leaned closer, and to Alice¡¯s credit, she didn¡¯t shy away and held his gaze. ¡°So, servant of the void, did I meet your expectations?¡±

    ¡°Very much so!¡± Alice furiously nodded. Mana crept through her veins and channeled into her eyes. Victor watched in amazement as her pupils dted and became swirling abysses. He felt her gaze pass over him and shivered slightly as if he was naked.

    ¡°What is that?¡± he couldn¡¯t help but ask. Nothing had ever made him feel so exposed.

    ¡°A new skill I got called Void Eye,¡± Alice answered with a sweet smile. ¡°Not sure what it does, as the System is being unhelpful as usual, but it has the word void in the name, so I thought testing it out on you would wield some results¡­¡±

    ¡°And does it?¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Kinda. I can see you more clearly, it gets rid of the smoke that shrouds you, but that¡¯s about it.¡± Alice shrugged, turned the skill off, and rubbed her eyes. ¡°Makes my eyes darn itchy, though.¡± She plopped on her butt and looked up, using her hands to prop herself up. ¡°So¡­¡±

    ¡°So indeed,¡± Victor replied with amusement.

    ¡°Do you feel hollow inside?¡± she asked and watched his featureless face for any reaction. ¡°Like a gnawing hole eating away at you?¡±

    ¡°Always.¡±

    Victor had attributed that feeling to his race, but perhaps it came with being one with the void. But that raised many questions. Why would being a void creature cause a hollow feeling¡­ack of emotions¡­a desire to kill? What did void even mean? He was no philosopher, but perhaps having a deeper understanding of the element that governed his life could lead to extraordinary discoveries. But as these thoughts clouded his mind¡­something took over and moved them aside. Victor was only half aware of what had happened but knew it had happened again. Something is messing with my mind. Whenever I try to think deeply about my reincarnation or identity, something diverts my thinking.

    Alice seemed to notice it and activated her Void Eye skill again. She traced his body and frowned. ¡°Something just invaded and then left. It was like a wave of power washed over you and vanished as quickly as it came¡­¡±

    ¡°From which direction?¡± Victor asked as he looked around. His many eyes scoured the dunes in all directions.

    Alice pointed upward. ¡°From above, for sure.¡±

    ¡°Okay, whenever that happens, let me know and keep a tally. This is the¡­¡± Victor tried to count on his fingers, but no matter how perfect his new body¡¯s memory was, he just couldn¡¯t remember. ¡°All right, this is bad. I can¡¯t even remember how bad the problem is.¡± He hovered closer to Alice. ¡°Please keep track and let me know when it happens again.¡±

    Alice bobbed her head. ¡°Will do.¡± She put up her thumb and gave him a reassuring smile. ¡°Master.¡±

    Victor shook his head as he loomed over the subservient girl. Although the promation was correct, she was far inferior to him; even her ss Servant of the Void reflected that fact. But he didn¡¯t want any more ves or servants. He could have hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions bow their heads and listen to his every word with fierce loyalty.

    But the idea honestly scared him. He felt that feeling wash over him again, and Alice nodded to him to confirm she had noticed it. If whatever was controlling him didn¡¯t want him to make friends and instead mindlessly ughter, he would do the exact opposite. It was time to make allies.

    ¡°No. Your ss may call you a servant, but you are a potential friend to me. An ally I can depend on.¡± In any other situation, Victor may have cringed at such words flowing out of his mouth. But the power dynamic here was far to the extreme to go about it the usual way. Even if Alice was insane enough and thought of asking to be friends with a void creature that could y dragons with ease, she would never ask. Her ss insisted she was a servant, so she would obey her destined role. Residents of this world treated the System as an all-knowledgeable entity, including Alice. She saw it as her destiny if it proimed her as a servant.

    Alice seemed stupefied by his offer of friendship, but something broke her out of her stunned state. She read a screen in the air that Victor couldn¡¯t see, and a massive smile emerged on her face. She looked up at him and said words that would change her life.

 Chapter 35. A Unique Friendship

    A creature from the void has recognized you as valuable.

    Do you wish to ept an upgrade to your ss and be a Tool of the Void?

    ¡°No,¡± Alice said as she moved the blue screens to the side. Then, before Victor could reply, she put her hands on her hips and proimed, ¡°You still think of me as a tool, don¡¯t you?¡± She smiled. ¡°And that is understandable. We haven¡¯t talked all that much, after all. It¡¯s like back in Eshnar when I worked for my dad¡¯s auction house. He made friends with many Archmages because he would provide them better seats at auctions.¡± She raised her finger at Victor. ¡°But what would happen to their friendship if my dad lost his job or fell ill? Would the Archmages that called my father a friende and visit him at the hospital or help support his family like a true friend? No. They are friends due to business, and that¡¯s not real friendship.¡±

    Victor was left stunned. Whatever the screen had told her was right.

    Although Victor wanted to be friends with Alice, it was done with a business mindset. He wouldn¡¯t have considered a potential friendship if she had ceased being useful to him. I don¡¯t know anything about Alice, nor much about her personality, likes, or dislikes. Yet I dered during our first full conversation that I wanted to be friends with her? How shallow of me.

    Alice paused and watched his reaction. Then, seeing he was silently floating there, she continued. ¡°I don¡¯t know why but the System seems eager to hand out ss upgrades so long as I hang out with you. But why do I need a ss to tell me I am your ally? Instead, we should foster that rtionship organically.¡±

    To say Victor¡¯s opinion of Alice had skyrocketed would be an understatement. He knew nothing of her life before she stumbled into the forest as nothing but a skin-and-bone ve. A part of him looked down on the locals of this world; although Victor had never seen this world¡¯s civilization, he had assumed it was beneath Earth, and therefore everyone here was inferior. I didn¡¯t realize it, but I had been looking down on Alice all this time, and why? Because she has fewer levels? Less life experience? She¡¯s from a lower developed world? So I let my ego cloud my judgment, and while justifying friendship in my mind, I was just trying to rope her in to be a glorified pet.

    ¡°So?¡± Alice shouted as shebed back her hair. ¡°What do you think, mister void? Friends?¡± She struck out her hand and let it hang there.

    Victor never expected the power that came with an offer from the other party. When he asked to be her friend, it came from a higher power position. It almost felt like giving sympathy, but as Alice stood atop a zombie dragon and demanded an ancient creature from the void to be her friend, Victor felt her determination. He didn¡¯t know her aspirations or dreams, but now he wanted to know.

    Victor used some stat points to condense his body into a smaller size. He never saw a need to before, but this seemed like a good asion. With the power dynamic between them reversed, he felt silly looming over her like some deity and wanted to speak to her more personally. However, as he made his body denser, the rate of mana loss increased exponentially to over ten a second. He became a ball of ck smoke that rose to the sky.

    Alice watched the transformation through her Void Eye skill, which removed the smoke from her vision. Even with his condensed form, Victor stood at around three meters, but it was far more reasonable than his previous height, allowing him to tower over trees.

    He reached out a w, making sure the de was pointed at the floor. ¡°Friends?¡±

    ¡°Friends.¡± Alice sped her hand around the offered limb and carefully shook the w.

    A creature from the void has recognized you as an equal.

    Do you wish to ept an upgrade to your ss and be a Friend of the Void?

    Alice tapped the screen with a grin. This was a far more desirable oue. Although she didn¡¯t need the System to acknowledge her rtionship, the fact she had been upgraded from a tool to a friend in the System¡¯s eye was good enough for her. And if I take the ss, maybe I will get some cool new skills to foster our friendship? she thought as she summoned the party screen. She wanted to know if her friend¡¯s name was still listed as UNKNOWN.

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: ???]

    [Level: 52] (level up!)

    [STR: 70, DEX: 82, CON: 89, INT: 152, WIS: 146]

    (ve) (Dulled Emotions)

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Level: 307]

    [STR: 59 million, DEX: 59 million, CON: 59 million, INT: 59 million, WIS: 59 million]

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 16388 hours) (Mana Sickness)

    [Name: Terry]

    [ERROR: CONNECTION LOST]

    ¡°Netherborne¡­¡± Alice looked up at Victor. He had reverted back to his original form and towered over her. ¡°I have heard of your kind before.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Victor replied with interest. The goddess told him Netherborne were the most powerful undead in existence when he picked the race. However, he knew nothing of its history or reputation. ¡°What do you know about the Netherborne?¡±

    ¡°Well, Victor,¡± Alice answered cheerfully after discovering his name,¡± tales of the Netherborne are told to us as bedtime stories and proimed at church services.¡± She stroked her chin while looking at Victor. ¡°Netherborne are portrayed as the ultimate evil and the epitome of destruction. But they are exactly that, a simple idea, a concept. Nobody has witnessed one and lived to tell the tale.¡± She used her Float skill to fly up and somewhat match Victor¡¯s head level. ¡°So I must be the first person in history to see your kind. And I must say, although you look the part of a continent-annihting monster, you don¡¯t quite match the stories, but they are stories, after all, can¡¯t believe everything we are told¡­right?¡± She flew around him in circles while evaluating him.

    ¡°Continent annihting?¡± Victor tilted his head to follow her. How could that happen? With the presence of dragons like Hyveth Arcspace and that Hacker, surely his kind could never go so far as annihting an entire continent?

    ¡°How was the Netherborne stopped in the stories?¡± Perhaps if he could know how his ancestors perished, he could avoid a simr fate.

    Alice chuckled. ¡°They weren¡¯t. Every few hundred years or so, a cult would seed in summoning a Netherborne to the mortal ne. They often did it in a location filled with monsters to allow the Netherborne to feast to avoid the chance of it being dealt with early on.¡±

    So that¡¯s why I appeared in the middle of the cursed forest surrounded by a summoning circle and death cultists. But the location seemed long abandoned¡­so why did I appear there?

    ¡°It happened again.¡± Alice narrowed her eyes as they became swirling abysses and tracked the wave of energy from above. ¡°What were you thinking about?¡±

    ¡°The bizarre nature of my arrival here,¡± Victor said with a sigh, and his many blue eyes shifted around. ¡°Anyway, how did they die if they weren¡¯t killed?¡±

    Alice rubbed her stomach. ¡°They starved, since everyone fled to the oceans and waited for months onrge boats. Although some nobles and kings had thought ahead and their families had control over a few inds.¡±

    ¡°And the Netherborne didn¡¯t follow them across the ocean?¡± The idea baffled Victor. He could easily float over water¡­ Was that something he could do that other Netherborne couldn¡¯t?

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know if you are unique or different, but Netherborne, like many other corrupted creatures from the void, have an endless hunger for ughter but also have the intelligence to match. So long as we escaped far into the ocean, the Netherborne never thought or knew how to follow. They would wander thends, kill everything, and eventually die from starvation, or at least that¡¯s what the church taught us.¡±

    ¡°What about the Hackers or dragons? Couldn¡¯t they stop a Netherborne if they worked together?¡±

    ¡°Yep, they can.¡± Alice nodded her head. ¡°The reason even I know so much about Netherbornes is that they basically went extinct and are now a legend. Nobody has worried about them for over a thousand years. Ever since the arrival of the first Hackers a millennium ago, the church formed an order called the Hackers guild, and they have dealt with corrupted entities ever since with ruthless efficiency. So, my void friend, don¡¯t go pissing them off, okay?¡±

    Victor chuckled. ¡°Call me Victor¡­¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡± Alice activated her skills, and void magic coated her form. She shed him a grin. ¡°So, friend, wanna see the new spells I got from my new ss?¡±

 Chapter 36. Secrets Of Void Magic

    Even Victor was starting to fear Alice. And that was a good thing. He wanted her to be self-sufficient without his constant protection in the future since, sometimes, he would need her to solve an issue, or he might be off somewhere else. I would say Alice is a weak point of mine¡­but keeping her alive is much more important than anyone else to me at the moment. Which is a rather sad thing to realize if I think about it¡­

    Victor silently floated beside Alice as she annihted everything in her path. However, he toggled on his Annihting Aura while Alice slept and used Consume on everything she killed. Exp just didn¡¯t seem to have much effect on himpared to the massive benefits it brought her, so it was better she got some more levels.

    They were making their way through the thirtieth floor at a record speed. Victor didn¡¯t know how far Alice¡¯s various skills had leveled, but she even slept with her Float skill running and had zero issues zooming around and even keeping up with Genus.

    The first floor of the Grand Dungeon had been an endless meadow. The following nine were country-size graveyards overflowing with hordes of undead that reeked of dark attribute mana like a foul stench. Then came the ten ocean floors, followed by ten desert biomes of various sand colors ranging from a dull gray to a vibrant purple. A part of Victor really enjoyed those floors due to the unique scenery he had never witnessed on Earth. If not for the dragons finally beginning their chase and Alice¡¯s protests at having to eat more sandworms, he would have loved staying a little longer and enjoying theva beaches.

    But to be fair¡­the thirtieth floor was no better than those previous floors. Endless tunnels and caverns of volcanic rock filled with strange lizards and bats the size of houses attacked them from the shadows and crevices without hesitation like a mindless mob.

    ¡°Thank god for Wiggles,¡± Genus muttered as he flew alongside the pair. ¡°If not for this tunnel he made us, it would take years to navigate this ce.¡± Victor didn¡¯t reply but silently nodded. He had sent Wiggles on ahead while they rested on the desert floors, and the undead earthworm had created a path between each floor¡¯s tower. But even with this direct tunnel, it still took a day or so to traverse the immense caves.

    Victor decided to remain invisible most of the time, but he showed himself to Genus and told him his name was Victor a few floors ago after Alice identally let his name slip. Alice, however, had no issue with keeping track of him despite his Stealth with her Void Eye skill. Victor hadn¡¯t thought about the skill before, but it held deep connotations. Before, he had absolute faith in his Stealth skill, but if somehow another person had a simr skill as Alice, he would be discovered before he could attack. But on the flip side, Alice can spot any other void creatures and let me know about them before they kill me¡­assuming there are any other void creatures on the mortal ne and they aren¡¯t all just lurking below. Victor thought back to the phrase ¡°ignorance is bliss.¡± Seeing what crept below the world¡¯s surface made everything on the surface seem insignificant. He had only caught a glimpse of a fellow void creature, that weird eldritch whale that swam below his cage, and just from that short interaction, he knew that whale could eat Hyveth Arcspace as if she was a mere slug.

    Currently, Hyveth is the strongest thing I have witnessed on this, but now that I think about it, she was living outside the dragon¡¯s main stronghold. Was she an outcast or just not powerful enough to be allowed near the dungeon?

    Again another question was added to his growing list of concerns.

    Victor was broken from his train of thought as something massive smashed through the tunnel wall. It was a cursed mixture between a bat and a fire lizard. It stood around Genus¡¯s height, with red scales and leathery bat wings. However, unlike Genus, its head was that of a bat with a small mouth and beady ck eyes.

    ¡°Ugly fucker!¡± Alice shouted as she pped her hands together. A hairline crack in the world that shouldn¡¯t be possible manifested, and the creature was cut cleanly in half down the middle, and the two halves fell apart with a thud. Victor got a perfect view of the creature¡¯s anatomy as he felt a small amount of himself vanish. He casually cast Consume, and that lost part of himself reappeared.

    ¡°You know,¡± Genus gulped as the group flew over the corpse, ¡°that shouldn¡¯t be possible, right?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm?¡± Alice innocently hummed a pleasant tune. ¡°Whatever do you mean, mighty dragon?¡± She turned to him and grinned, which was rather sinister, with her void Mana Shield coating her skin and leaving only her eyes and mouth visible. ¡°Scared? Of little old me? How cute.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me. I have lived a long time, and not even my mother could just p her hands and erase something from existence! Only a god-like entity can do that, and I¡¯ve watched you over the past few weeks. Although your growth has been impressive, it shouldn¡¯t allow you to do something a thousand-year-old dragon could only dream of.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, rx, old man.¡± Alice had spent a few weeks conversing with the golden dragon, and they had gotten closer alongside her improved rtionship with Victor. She even agreed to help Genus on his quest to reim the dragon throne. It all sounded rather grand and exciting. Also, she was never one to turn down free experience points for those that defied her. Victor called her a battle junky, but she preferred the term Pink Demon. Or at least that¡¯s what Genus had been calling her.

    Alice decided to humor the dragon as they continued their monotonous task of flying down a straight tunnel for a thousand miles. ¡°You may not know much about human magic or the System.¡± She chuckled. ¡°And neither do I, to be honest, but I have found some interesting things recently.¡± She summoned some mana to her hand and watched it dance along her palm. ¡°We are told the System is everything; it¡¯s what gives us magic and the ability tomand the will of the world. But obviously, that¡¯s horse shit. You and Victor can use magic without the System¡¯s intervention.¡±

    ¡°But I have the System, just a veryckluster versionpared to you,¡± Victor countered from the shadows.

    Alice turned toward where he was with her Void Eye, which she kept active as much as possible. ¡°You told me your System doesn¡¯t upgrade your skills when they reach level ten?¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Should they?¡± Victor checked his list of skills. Almost all of them had reached level ten, but nothing had changed.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Alice nodded. ¡°Or at least mine do. This makes me suspect that your version of the System is basically pointless. You also told me that gaining levels and exp doesn¡¯t unlock any new skills or sses like mine. So that begs the question, why? Why do you have a System in the first ce,¡± she then pointed at Genus, ¡°when Genus doesn¡¯t? No offense, but in our terms, you are both creatures, monsters, whatever you want to call it. The System was invented to give us weaker races a chance to fight against you two with magic. What it lets us do, however, is not real magic.

    ¡°Let me demonstrate,¡± she said as she summoned a beautiful orange Fireball. ¡°The System upgraded this skill when I hit level ten, but I can still use the original spell. Anyway, that¡¯s not important. What is this me made of?¡± she asked and looked between her two students.

    ¡°Mana,¡± Genus replied. ¡°Perfect mana, might I add. Although, of course, when I breathe mes, ites from my body, so the mana has some impurities¡­but that fireball is near perfect.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, it is made of mana.¡± Alice then seamlessly changed the fireball into a javelin of crystal-blue ice. ¡°Now?¡±

    ¡°Still mana,¡± Genus said. ¡°And perfect again.¡±

    Alice nodded. ¡°Okay, and if I now infuse more of my mana to make this a void element attack, what happens?¡± Mana surged down her arm, and her blessings and ss warped that mana to take on the void element.

    Genus¡¯s rainbow eyes shifted as he tracked the mana change and frowned. ¡°It¡¯s still pure mana, nothing like the feeling I got from the spell you used earlier.¡±

    ¡°I knew it!¡± she eximed as she canceled out the spell with a mere thought. ¡°The System just maniptes pure mana into something like fire, ice, or, in this case, void. Now, this raises some questions. Such as, why not let humans use all elements? Why do we need a blessing from spirits or sses? Anyway, I am getting off-topic. Genus, you asked how I could p that fire lizard bat thing to the next life?¡±

    Genus nodded.

    ¡°Because I used actual magic and not just artificially manipted mana. Void magic has the property of deleting anything ites in contact with. Now I¡¯m not one hundred percent sure, but the fake void magic provided by the System constructed from mana shouldn¡¯t be able to replicate what I did. But¡­¡±

    Alice waggled her finger. ¡°The System has to honor my ss¡¯s feature, True Damage, which lets me ignore magical defenses, so here¡¯s my theory. When I use the new skill I gained recently with my new ss, that lets me channel real void magic through Victor andbine it with True Damage. The System intervenes and ensures my void magic ignores magical defense. How?¡± She shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it¡¯s helpful.¡±

    ¡°Are there any restrictions to that spell?¡± Genus had a slight fear in his voice. Skills and spells that could ignore magical defenses weren¡¯t unheard of, but an attack that ignored magical defense and deleted anything it touched? How could he survive such a thing? He was a ratherrge target, after all¡­

    Alice grinned, tore her sights away from Genus, and kept flying down the tunnel. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to know?¡± she shouted back jokingly. ¡°But a girl never reveals her secrets.¡±

    Victor watched her fly away and thought deeply about what she said. If the System was all a lie, was there a way for him to train his skills? Dragons slept in mana-rich areas to grow in power. Did he have to consume more? No. Consuming never gave me any power-ups. Actually, now that I think about it. Why can¡¯t I use void magic? Only Shadow Magic X is listed in my skills list, but no Void Magic?

    ¡°What would happen if I just tried to use it?¡±

 Chapter 37. Ancient Devourer

    After reaching level five hundred, Victor confirmed with almost certainty that the System was a lie¡­or at least his version was.

    ¡°Yeah, I got nothing! No new ss or evolution,¡± Victor shouted as he unleashed a semi-charged Doom Ray at an enormous intelligent willow tree with a craving for flesh, setting it aze. Before encountering this behemoth of a monster, he had started to think he and Alice could deal with anything, but it was only the fiftieth floor, and they had encountered trouble.

    The Fleshtrees, as they had chosen to name them, were resistant to almost every element and could regenerate in seconds. One-shotting them was their only option, but high-powered spells that could instantly kill a tree the size of a skyscraper were few and far between¡­and when thousands of them popted a continent-size forest, shooting off high-tier spells left and right was not ideal. But they had little choice as the dragons were rapidly approaching, and they needed to keep moving forward.

    The fiftieth floor was basically a dense marsnd with the asional open space. Fleshtrees of various sizes inhabited the biome. Victor had seen willow trees back on Earth and had always admired the chaotic way their branches grew out, shrouded in dense green leaves that hung down like a depressed teen¡¯s haircut. But with the bark ck and the leaves a mixture of red and gray, the ce had a grim atmosphere.

    In the far distance, shrouded by fog, Victor could see a towering willow tree¨Cthemed tower lined with pulsating red vines like blood vessels, but in their path were Fleshtrees so tall they touched the top of the floor¡¯s dome. One Fleshtree must have consumed or concealed the glowstone sun as the ce was bathed in total darkness. Nevertheless, the group had managed to travel unmolested for the most part, with Henry riding on the back of the dragon Alice used to use as a mount.

    Meanwhile, Wiggles happily churned through the Fleshtrees¡¯ exposed roots down below the murky depths of the marsnd as Victor, Alice, and Genus flew overhead.

    As the group passed by the ame Fleshtree from Victor¡¯s Doom Ray, they confronted a literal wall of Fleshtrees between them and the next floor¡¯s tower. ¡°I refuse to believe any Delving team could get through this!¡± Henry cried from atop the ck dragon mount. The blood-red leaves of the closest Fleshtree swayed to the side, and the bark split vertically and exposed a wall of sap with a scarlet eye floating in it.

    The eye that would dwarf Genus turned and stared right at Henry. ¡°Cover him!¡± Alice called as she put herself between the murderous tree and Henry. But, of course, their lives did not really matter due to them being undead. Still, Victor wished to conserve his stat points where possible, and resurrecting an over-leveled apocalypse horseman and a smashed-up zombie dragon would not be cheap.

    Before anyone could even react, thousands of ck vines coated in toxins erupted from the ground below Henry and sped around the dragon mount¡¯s legs and tail. Alice wasted no time and set the vines alight with the upgraded version of her fireball spell, Hellfire. The dense mana shield that coated the vines evaporated away due to Alice¡¯s True Damage that ignored the magical defenses and directly burned the vines. The purplish inferno drilled down the vines and spread toward the main body. The ancient Fleshtree saw the threating, so it used Geokinesis to manipte the terrain and form a physical stone barrier between its burning vines and its main body.

    The dense mana shield surrounding Alice flickered as her mana reserves bottomed out. Despite leveling into the nies and investing most of her unspent points into her INT stat, hurling high-tier magic at trees for days had taken everything out of her.

    Genus flew below Alice and let her rest for a moment on his back. But, unfortunately, while Alice was out ofmission for a moment, the other ancient Fleshtrees forming the wall between them and the tower had awoken and stared at Genus with their alien eyes.

    Genus took in a massive gulp of air as his belly inted and glowed; golden fire escaped between his teeth before he opened up his maw and unleashed a devastating attack. Golden fire engulfed the thousands of vines rearing to strike, their mana shields flickering under the assault. They shot up, but the majority failed to reach Genus as he tried to fly higher, but eventually, the floor¡¯s dome was only a few meters overhead. Despite the immense distance, the vines closed in within seconds.

    Before they seized Genus, Victor appeared from Stealth, severed them all with a swipe from his ws, and froze the tips with Freezing Cone just for good measure to stop them from regenerating.

    ¡°Looks like there¡¯s no other way¡­¡± Victor sighed as he began charging up a Doom Ray at around ten percent capacity. A million stat points vanished into the abyss of the spell¡¯s fuel.

    ¡°Is there really no other way we can get through? We have been sting holes through all the obstacles so far, and that just gives the dragons chasing us a clear path forward, just like the tunnels Wiggles made through the cave floors.¡± So Alice said from atop Genus¡¯s back. She had her Fly skill active to avoid plunging to her death as she used Meditation to rapidly regenerate mana at the cost of her defensive capabilities.

    Victor used his ck oceanwork and confirmed a dragon noble family was only three floors behind. They didn¡¯t have to waste any energy on clearing out the monsters and simply followed their trail of destruction, and if Victor sted these Fleshtrees to make a city-size hole, the dragons would have another already cleared route to take and gain on them.

    With a sigh, he continued to charge the spell and aimed it. ¡°What can I do? My skills all rely on assassinating, army building, or total annihtion. These trees have far too much defense for my Annihting Aura, and their dense Mana Shield and bark protect them from my Freezing Cone and Shadow Magic.¡±

    The sky distorted due to the shing purple lightning that crackled around Victor¡¯s extended w. Mana streams funneled into the spell and began rapidly burning Victor¡¯s hand, and his lifeforce surged to defend his body from evaporating.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Alice said and turned to watch the light show. She ensured her Void Eye was active as it reduced the world¡¯s brightness.

    ¡°Three¡­two¡­one¡­¡± Victor counted down for everyone¡¯s sake. ¡°Fire.¡± He unleashed the spell, and the entire floor became daytime. An arc of purple lightning discharged across the sky. The Fleshtrees all mmed shut their bark eyelids to protect their vulnerable eyes and deployed their Mana Shields at maximum power. They lit up like Christmas trees with red mana dancing across their surface. The Doom Ray sted into them with the force of a nukebined with the wrath of Zeus.

    The entire dungeon floor shuddered as dust plumed into the sky alongside thousands of shards of bark and residual mana. Yet as the smoke cleared, the Fleshtrees were still standing, and the stadium-size hole in one of them was rapidly closing.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Do we rush it?¡± Genus said, getting in position to fly through the gap before it closed. ¡°This could be a good chance and give us some room between the dragons and us.¡±

    ¡°No, stop.¡± Victor looked closely. ¡°Those darn trees didn¡¯t even feel a thing.¡±

    Alice nodded, her Mana Sight and Void Eye skills active. ¡°That is an illusion spell, not a real opening. I am willing to bet they used some life-saving skill to avoid that attack, or perhaps they are just that sturdy? Would match up with what we have seen so far.¡± She put her hands on her hips and sighed. ¡°If only you could use void magic.¡± She eyed Victor as he floated there silently. ¡°I mean, you are a creature from the void. Howe you can¡¯t use it?¡±

    Victor prepared another Doom Ray before the Fleshtrees recovered and sent more roots. ¡°Alice, we have gone over this. The System is not here to help me. It¡¯s here to restrain me. If I can somehow break free of its clutches or regain my true body, I could obliterate these Fleshtrees without issue. But for now, I will have to work with what I got ess to¡­ Have you recovered?¡±

    Alice responded by coating herself in her void armor and floating in the air. ¡°I recovered enough mana to use a few void spells with your help.¡± Then she said, ¡°But the simple fact is those Fleshtrees are so titanic that a single spell can¡¯t take them out in one go, and they regenerate in seconds. Could we use Wiggles to sneak under them?¡±

    Victor debated the idea, but one check on his undead pet sunk the idea before it could even fly. ¡°Sadly, no, Wiggles is currently fighting the middle Fleshtree¡¯s roots and is losing. I am expending a lot of lifeforce to regenerate him right now, but it¡¯s worth it to keep those roots from attacking us.¡±

    Victor scanned the surroundings, and after confirming the Fleshtrees were still recovering, he gestured to Alice. ¡°Create a path through the middle Fleshtree¡¯s Mana Shield with arge void-empowered Fireball. I will then force my way inside and explode them from within. I believe that the eye is a weak point.¡± Victor then turned to Genus. ¡°Get ready to dive bomb through the gap. This time, it will be a real path, and we can use this to buy us some time. I refuse to believe the dragons hot on our tail can deal with this situation so easily.¡±

    Genus huffed in agreement as hecked the energy to respond. They had been up for days at this point, as every inch of thesest few floors had been crawling with carnivorous nts that tried to swallow them at every opportunity.

    From Genus¡¯s perspective, Victor vanished, but he could feel the considerable mana fluctuations surrounding the area where he disappeared. Alice directed him with her Void Eye. ¡°He is approaching the Fleshtree¡¯s eye very quickly. I¡¯ll fire before he gets out of my Void Link skills range.¡± It was the skill Alice had acquired upon epting the Friend of the Void ss. It allowed her to ess some void affinity while Victor was nearby.

    Everything from then on happened quickly. Victor and Alice had practiced this particr spellbination, so they both performed their roles withoutmunicating. Alice summoned a Fireball, increased its size to a few meters in diameter, and held it over her head. After attracting the Fleshtrees¡¯ interest as all their eyes turned to her, she hurled it at the middle one. ¡°Nice defense, but can you dodge this?¡± she sneered as the void-empowered orb sailed through the sky.

    The Fleshtree seemed to foresee its impending doom as it tried to sacrifice its titanic branches, the sound of wood creaking as the branches that could belong to a world tree swung in the way and evaporated in the Fireball¡¯s path. The void affinity simply deleted all it came in contact with, although the Fireball deted in size with every impact.

    Luckily Alice had made itrge enough as it reached the main body after sting through over ten branches. The Fleshtree shut its vertical bark eyelid as ast-ditch attempt¡­ But to Alice¡¯s relief, the fireball evaporated the scarlet mana shield, punched straight through the eyelid, and exposed the floating eye below.

    Alice then saw in her Void Eye the shadow of Victor sneak through the gap before the Fleshtree¡¯s mana shield repaired itself. What urred secondster was the Fleshtree¡¯s realization that Victor was inside its eye as it pulsated before exploding in a brilliant explosion of pure white. Genus didn¡¯t waste a second and dive-bombed through the explosion. Steaming-hot sap sshed them as they soared through, but both Alice and Genus¡¯s mana shields kept them dry and safe from the heat.

    ¡°By the Goddess!¡± Alice shouted as she looked over her shoulder and saw the smoldering mess of the Fleshtree begin to regrow. ¡°Are they even kible?¡±

    [Ancient Devourer defeated! Exp awarded to all party members¡­]

    [Contribution has been calcted at 10%.]

    [Exp awarded: 10% of total gain.]

    ¡°Wait, we killed it?¡± Alice eximed as another screen appeared before her eyes.

    [You have reached level 100]

    [Evolution to High Human hasmenced]

 Chapter 38. Midas Touch

    Victor was a little taken aback when all of Alice¡¯s magic ceased, including her flight and mana shield. She had been gliding just above Genus¡¯s back as she mmed into him with a disgusting crunch. Despite her high stats, Genus was traveling at over a hundred miles an hour as they raced away from the Fleshtrees behind them and toward the next floor¡¯s tower. Her face mashed into Genus¡¯s scaled back with the force of a semi-truck, and her ragdoll body rolled off his wings with blood trailing from her broken nose as she plunged to the ground. Although the group had passed the thousand-meter-tall Fleshtrees behind them, there were still thousands of smaller ones between them and the next tower. As Alice descended, a surge of vines rose from the swamps like flesh-hungry vipers awaiting the falling snack.

    Victor would have dived down to help somehow, but a dense ball of mana suddenly surrounded Alice. It was so thick that he could see the mana as it became a solid turquoise substance that enveloped Alice like a bubble.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening, Genus?¡± Victor asked the most magically inclined creature he knew, although Victor¡¯s mana detection skills were excellent due to how mana affected his lifeforce, like detecting aing storm due to lower wind pressure or smelling something from far away. Unfortunately, he severelycked knowledge rted to mana since he never used the stuff. Nevertheless, despite hisck of knowledge, his System somehow converted his lifeforce into mana and did all the spell-casting for him.

    ¡°Evolving¡­¡± Genus replied with a grumble. ¡°And not a good time for it.¡± The mighty noble dragon red his maw and unleashed golden hellfire upon the numerous Fleshtrees dotting the swampynds below. ¡°We need to protect her while the evolution urs,¡± he growled as his body began glowing with power; mana danced across his golden scales in myriad rainbow streaks. His wings spread out to their maximum wingspan, and then he opened his mouth andmanded in an ancient tongue that Victor¡¯snguage ability helpfully tranted for him.

    ¡°Greater reality maniption, Midas Touch.¡±

    Genus then pped his mighty wings, and golden kes rained down upon thend. Victor made sure to float out of the way as he was far below the dragon. Huh, interesting. This spell is the first time I¡¯ve encountered such a wide-area attack. It seems I continue to find new counters to my Stealth skill every week. The golden kes slowly cascaded down like snowkes on a cold Christmas morning. Unfortunately, the vines seemed oblivious to approaching ancient dragon magic and surged upward anyway¡ªand every time a golden ke so much as grazed passed a vine, it shattered its mana shield and turned it into a piece of golden artwork.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Victor mumbled as he watched many miles of swamnd transform into a golden paradise. Genus¡¯s spell didn¡¯t even spare the Fleshtrees from the onught. The seemingly harmless kes punched through the dense red mana shields of the Fleshtree and transformed their ck bark into pure gold. ¡°I suppose the main counter to this spell is the long wind-up time and how slow the kes move,¡± Victor noted as he watched the devastation. Despite how overpowered he found the Fleshtrees to be for only floor-fifty monsters, he had to admit the inability to move made them weak to many spells and tactics. If I didn¡¯t have to bring anyone with me, I could just Stealth and float right past these Fleshtrees and st a hole through that wall or use Spirit Movement at maximum power to slip right through.

    While watching the unimaginable disy of magic urring before him, a thought crossed Victor¡¯s mind. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you use this spell before? We could have saved countless hours.¡±

    Although Genus heavily focused on casting his grand magic, he still managed to sneak out an answer through clenched teeth. ¡°I will need to rest for three days after this spell finishes. If not for Alice going through an evolution, I wouldn¡¯t dare use a spell that leaves me so vulnerable.¡±

    Victor groaned. That was never good news, especially with the noble dragons hot on their trail. Hopefully, the Fleshtree wall will provide us with some time¡­but if all the noble dragons can unleash some crazy spell like Genus is right now, then we might be in trouble¡­ He entered the ck sea within his mind. He then focused on the many undead critters dotted around the previous floors. Those dragons should be approaching the forty-seventh-floor tower¡­ He had managed to raise a few Fleshtrees as undead, making them even more sinister than before; however, apart from being surveince, an unmoving, undead treecked usability.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Victor felt his view warp as he used one of the many features of his maxed-out Raise Undead skill and looked through the eye of a Fleshtree. He had only used this spell once to scout out the Delving party back in the cursed forest, and that had been through a humanoid creature, a goblin. Taking over the perspective of an eldritch tree with a hunger for flesh was far different. He could feel the world around him through the roots and buried vines. He had felt a simr sensation when he used to go to the beach and bury his toes in the sand. That¡¯s tolerable, but what the hell am I supposed to do with this point of view? He forced the Fleshtree to open its bark, and the light blinded him briefly. Okay, so the Fleshtrees¡¯ eyes are very vulnerable to light. That is interesting to know¡­ The sap surrounding the eye made the view blurry, like looking underwater or through a pickle jar, but he could make out the shadow of dragons flying overhead. All right, they are about a day¡¯s travel behind us. He canceled the view and returned to his main body.

    His eyes wandered across thendscape. The next floor¡¯s tower loomed over them a mere mile away. Surrounding the tower was a gray swamp with bright-red Fleshtrees around a few meters tall dotting thendscape. Their willow branches twisted and turned as they focused on Alice with red, alien eyes. A perpetual fog nketed thend, and with the wall of titanic Fleshtrees that they had just broken through surrounding the tower in an enclosing circle, Victor felt somewhat trapped.

    A shill scream brought his attention back to Alice. Bubbles rose from her mouth as she thrashed around. Her eyes were wide open as the mana bubble shifted from a lovely turquoise to a grim ck.

    ¡°Is this normal?¡± Victor asked the rainbow dragon a hundred meters above his head. The mana coating Genus began to falter, and through the cracks in the beautiful rainbow sheen, Victor saw something¡­ Is that his bare skin? Where did his scales go? Oh. He watched in horror as Genus concluded his spell, and as the rainbow mana dissipated, he emerged as apletely white lizard. It reminded Victor of those hairless cats people used to own back on Earth. He consumed his scales to produce that spell. Were those golden kes, perhaps, his scales? He felt those questions were more suited for another time.

    Genus seemed beyond exhausted as he hung his head low, and even his mana shield flickered out of existence. The dragon shifted his head with great effort and observed Alice. His eyes danced in their usual crystal brilliance as he spoke. ¡°Yes, that is normal. Evolution requires the body to be rebuilt. The evolved version of a species is not evenparable to the original. In fact, they are so different they can¡¯t even mate with their previous species¡­¡±

    ¡°All right, sure. But why has the mana turned ck, and why is there pink floating around there now?¡±

    Genus frowned as he scrutinized the rapidly changing ball of mana. Not only had it be a deep ck like a starless sky, but now streaks of pink were streaking through it like shooting stars blooming into roses. And then, the mana bubble began to expand rapidly like the sun does before copsing and going supernova. ¡°Is that also normal?¡± Victor questioned as he hovered backward. The mana bubble devoured all it came into contact with. Alice had fallen close to the floor before the mana bubble had appeared, so it only had to expand a little before it began consuming the goldenndscape left in the wake of Genus¡¯s spell. As the bubble greedily swallowed the goldennd, kes of gold were added to the mix and floated around, turning the mana bubble into a snow globe of golden kes and pink roses.

    ¡°That can¡¯t be good¡­¡±

    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 39. Human Mana Blob

    Evolution Complete.

    Alice awoke on a hardwood bed with those ominous words dancing in her vision. She rolled her head to the side, and the words followed before shing once and then vanishing. She blinked in confusion. ¡°What the,¡± she nced around the simple wooden hut she was lying in, ¡°hell happened? Why am I in a hut?¡± She quickly pushed herself up, swung her legs over the side of the bed, and stood up.

    ¡°No pain?¡± If the information about her evolution was urate, how did she feel better than ever? ¡°I expected at least some muscle ache after evolving, but I feel fantastic!¡± Alice straightened her back and let out a satisfying groan as she stretched her arms over her head.

    Feeling refreshed, she surveyed the hut. It was a simple single wooden room with a door, a bed with no cushion or nket, and a window shutter. Nothing else. ¡°Wait, shouldn¡¯t it be dark in here?¡± To her, it was only a little dim, but the distinctck of an open window meant she was definitely using some type of magic. ¡°How curious.¡± She looked down at her body and gasped. She brought her hands up to her chest. ¡°No way¡­¡± Apart from the obvious shock of beingpletely naked, she saw notable improvements in her figure. She brought her hand up for inspection and found her nails had extended a little more and were still pitch ck.

    ¡°Damn, these look sharp now.¡± She could practically see the sheen on the de of her nails. With some hesitance, she poked herself and felt no pain. ¡°Huh?¡± She pushed harder and harder; her pale skin, which looked so delicate, held strong until it finally gave way, and the tip of her nail dug in. ¡°Still no pain?¡± It was a surreal experience for her body to act so differently. ¡°Wait, why is no blooding out of the wound?¡± She inspected the small hole in her hand, but nothing was leaking. She shook her hand like a wet towel but still nothing.

    Alice knew many of her questions would be answered if she opened her status page, but she almost didn¡¯t want to know. ¡°Come on, Alice, it can¡¯t be that bad. It¡¯s not like you transformed into a demon overnight¡­right? Just open it!¡± Themand was on the tip of her tongue when the whole hut shook, not like an earthquake, but rather like how a ship crests over a monstrous wave on the open seas. She stumbled back and fell onto the wooden bed as the whole hut tilted and swayed as if it were suspended.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± Alice said while gripping the bed for support. So far in her life, this was the most bizarre few minutes after waking up she had ever experienced. As the hut finally stopped swinging, she heard a monstrous roar that shook the hut¡¯s flimsy walls. ¡°Okay, this is getting ridiculous,¡± she said as she stood back up. ¡°Status!¡±

    Before her page appeared, a flurry of log messages shed past her eyes.

    Congrattions, mortal, for reaching level 100.

    Creating a summary of your life for optimal evolution.

    [Race]

    Human

    ???

    [sses]

    Friend of the Void

    ck Mage

    Apprentice Merchant

    [Blessings/Affinities]

    Darkness

    Void

    [Hidden Titles]

    Pink Demon - Bestowed by a noble dragon

    You are of an unknown race in the System database. Basic improvements based on analysismence.

    Mortal Body -> Basic Mana Body

    Incorporating blessings. Basic Mana Body switch to Darkness affinity.

    Void affinity cannot be safely added. Creating unique skill: [Void Form]

    Upgrading subss: Apprentice Merchant -> Monarch of Gold.

    New unique spell: [Inferior Midas Touch]

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: ???]

    [Body: Darkness Mana Body]

    [Level: 100]

    [STR: 118, DEX: 130, CON: 137, INT: 248, WIS: 240]

    [Unspent points: 3]

    (Dulled Emotions)

    [Blessing: Darkness]

    [ss: Friend of the Void]

    [Sub ss: Monarch of Gold]

    [Divine Mission: None]

    [Skills]

    [¡­]

    [ss Skills]

    [Void Form]

    [Stealth V]

    [Hellfire III]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Ice Bolt IX]

    [Mana Shield IX]

    [Float V]

    [Mana Sight IV]

    [Telekinesis III]

    [Void Eye III]

    [Sub ss Skills]

    [Inferior Midas Touch]

    [Fast Counting I]

    [Identify I]

    Alice clicked on her new body type without wasting time due to the hut still shaking from continuous roars.

    [Darkness Mana Body]

    After reaching level 100, you have shed your mortal flesh and be a being of mana. Your body is now a dense mana construct that does not require anything to function other than mana. If an areacks mana, a high food and water intake will be needed topensate. Your lifespan has also drastically increased.

    ¡°So I am some kind of mana blob in human shape? Is that why I shed no blood when I injured myself?¡± She read over the description and nodded to herself. Apart from the Darkness attribute part, it was the same as other high humans reported. ¡°Some of the high humans lived for hundreds of years¡­ I wonder if there¡¯s a way I can obtain true immortality?¡± She decided to think about thatter and continued scrolling down the list.

    ¡°Oh.¡± She put her hands on her neck and felt a distinctck of a ve cor. Of course, once she had invested heavily in her CON stat, she barely felt the metal cor, but she was officially free with the ve debuff gone. A weird feeling rose in her chest, followed by a wave of relief. That part of her life was finally over. She smiled, relishing in the moment for a second before pressing on her new sub-ss.

    [Sub ss: Monarch of Gold]

    You absorbed an altered reality created by ancient dragon magic during your ascension. Due to this, your subss was updated, and you now have dominion over gold.

    Alice blinked many times at the floating screen. ¡°Ancient dragon magic? Altered reality? What in the goddess is this thing talking about?¡± She wracked her brain, but thest thing she remembered was helping kill one of those Fleshtrees and getting the level one hundred notification before promptly passing out.

    Deciding to fish for more clues, she jumped down to the Subss skills. ¡°Why does my new skill not have a level? Does that mean it can¡¯t be upgraded like my Fireball spell?¡± She tapped the skill, and some information appeared.

    [Inferior Midas Touch]

    A unique skill that attempts to mimic the ancient dragon magic spell: Greater reality maniption, Midas Touch. It allows the user to turn anything they touch into gold, but due to its inferior nature, it has a major side effect.

    ¡°Which is?¡± Alice frowned and tapped the screen, but it refused to borate on the major side effect. ¡°All right, that spell is being ignored for now. But I wonder if it works with my True Damage trait?¡± She decided to test that theory some other time as she was deeply interested in what the Void Form skill could do.

    [Void Form]

    Be one with the void. Has tremendous side effects.

    ¡°Right.¡± Alice rolled her eyes, swiped the screen away in irritation, and decided it was time to work out what was happening outside. She marched over to the door, but her hand paused. ¡°I have no clothes on. Darn, if only I had some¡ª Wait.¡± She realized she could use her Mana Shield spell at maximum strength to coat herself in Darkness affinity mana. She activated the spell and felt surprised at how mana flowed out of her body from everywhere. ¡°Oh, right¡­mana body. I am literally all mana now.¡± Darkness wrapped her form, leaving only her head exposed as she pushed open the door and received a face full of freezing-cold air.

    Squinting her eyes, Alice surveyed the surroundings and was once again confused. The hut was built upon arge wooden tform consisting of many brown wooden logs side by side, fused together by ice. She could tell from a nce that the ice was the same magical ice Victor produced with his spell. Walking out onto the tform, she decided to use Float as her bare feet might slip on the frost-covered logs. ¡°Evolved, but still need shoes,¡± she muttered. ¡°Ridiculous.¡±

    Arge gust of wind whipping her from both sides made her look up. Two titanic-size dragons, even bigger than Genus, were flying overhead. Their scales had that same chrome shine as Genus, but they were ck scaled. Alice almost summoned a Hellfire spell to her hand, but upon closer inspection, she noticed that many vines were wrapped around their limbs and tail and were attached to the log tform. ¡°Are they carrying this?¡±

    ¡°Oh, Alice.¡± A voice she knew all too well came from behind the hut. ¡°You are awake.¡±

    ¡°Genus?¡± Alice turned on her heel and looked up. ¡°AH?¡± Towering over the hut was a bone-white, snake-like creature. If not for his rainbow eyes and simr head shape, she would never be able to recognize him as a dragon.

    ¡°What the hell happened? Where are we?¡± she blurted out. ¡°And why do you look like a hairless cat?¡±

    Genus chuckled and gestured with a nod of his head for her toe around to his side. Then, as she floated around, he exined. ¡°I used a spell thates with major side effects while you were asleep¡­¡±

    Alice¡¯s blood ran cold. Both her new spells warned of side effects, one major and the other tremendous. If a major side effect turned a mighty golden dragon into a hairless cat with wings, then what would happen due to a tremendous side effect?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Genus tracked her as she circled the wooden hut and saw her expression change. ¡°My scales grow back.¡±

    Alice paused and met his eyes. ¡°H-huh? They do? That¡¯s good. You look ridiculous!¡± She continued floating while chuckling to herself.

    The dragon snake frowned. ¡°Luckily, they do, but it takes a while. About a week at most, but with rest, they return faster. Hence this wonderful contraption Victor built for us.¡± Genus pped his tail, causing the log tform to shudder. ¡°Now, this is traveling in style! We should have made one earlier¡­although we didn¡¯t have any undeadrge enough to carry me.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, so about that¡ª¡± Alice began, but Genus cut her off.

    ¡°While you were sleeping, we were attacked by the scouts from the noble families. Victor made hriously short work of them, and now they serve us.¡±

    ¡°So those roars?¡± she questioned. Unless Genus had been yawning extra loud, she couldn¡¯t understand where they hade from.

    ¡°Take a look for yourself.¡± Genus whipped his head to the left, and she followed his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s rather entertaining how they keeping.¡±

    Alice floated to the side and couldn¡¯t help but marvel at the view. They flew amongst fluffy white clouds. asionally she saw through a gap and caught a glimpse at the endless ice below. ¡°An arctic floor? Did the roarse from down there?¡± The clouds surrounding the tform briefly lit up as purple lightning shed across the sky, followed by thunder.

    A second roar that sounded far more primal and dragon-like rang below, and through a gap in the clouds, Alice saw a smoke trail following a snow-white-scaled dragon spiraling down toward the ice. Secondster, the dragon mmed into an ice sheet with a thump she could hear even from here, causing a crater and spiderweb cracks to appear for miles.

    ¡°That must have hurt.¡± Genus chuckled from the side. Alice had to agree, assuming that the white dragon was still alive.

    ¡°Oh, Alice.¡±

    Alice stumbled back as an enormous shadowy head with many blue eyes appeared only a meter before her. ¡°Let¡¯s talk.¡±

 Chapter 40. Imposter

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk.¡±

    Despite Victor¡¯s somewhat serious tone, Alice did not feel threatened. Instead, she feltforted that Victor was still around. ¡°What about?¡± she asked with a smile as she crossed her arms.

    Victor¡¯s many blue eyes that floated aimlessly around his shadowy mass all stared at her, but she was used to his intense gaze.

    ¡°Congrattions on your evolution, but are you still¡­you?¡±

    Victor let the words hang in the air as Alice¡¯s brain froze. She felt different, sure. But that was expected after evolving into a higher lifeform. She took a hesitant step back and looked at her arms wrapped in darkness. Am I still me? What defines me as me? That flesh suit I was born with or my thoughts and feelings? Do I have a soul?

    ¡°Alice, you need to understand¡­¡± Victor¡¯s tone turned deadly serious. ¡°You may not remember how you evolved, but I do. I watched as you were ripped apart, piece by piece, until nothing was left. You died, Alice. The Alice I know is gone. You are something else, a mere mockery of her.¡±

    ¡°No, no, no, what do you mean I died?¡± she stuttered as many thoughts raced through her mind. I passed out and woke up on a bed with an improved body¡­ What is he talking about? I died? Ripped apart?

    ¡°What are you? Think about it.¡± Victor floated there, and his presence weighed on Alice far more than before. In all their time together, he had never used or threatened her over anything. Being looked at like an imposter rekindled the fact he was a void creature that could obliterate her with a single spell, and it sent shivers down her spine.

    Genus remained silent on the side despite the tension and watched Alice with his rainbow eyes as if looking for a single fault in her character. What am I? That thought ran through her mind in endless cycles as she stood there staring at her potential death. Her path to greatness had only just begun. She needed to convince Victor that she was still her. But how?

    Alice thought back on her status screen. ¡°I am a Darkness Mana Body¡­¡± she hesitantly responded. It sounded wrong now that she said it out loud. What even was a Mana Body? Also, her race still showed question marks on the status screen. Not even the System knew what she truly was; maybe she was some mere mockery of her past self.

    ¡°So the System ims,¡± Victor persisted. ¡°And what is a Darkness Mana Body exactly? Think about it. Is there a physical stone inside you holding that mana body together? What keeps you in that shape? If you were truly a mana body, couldn¡¯t you take any shape or form?¡± He took a deep sigh and then continued. ¡°I always thought of the System as an add-on, an extension of one¡¯s self, and with its intervention, it could forcefully upgrade or improve a lifeform. But you have reached the supposed peak of evolution ording to the System. You have be pure System. There is nothing of you that remains. The System is what binds you together, maintains your form.¡±

    Alice just stood there stunned. She had no idea what to say.

    ¡°If the System vanished tomorrow, would you remain?¡± This was Victor¡¯s concern. He was getting increasingly worried about how much authority this System had over the world. As a creature from the void, he knew his ce. He was their enemy. The world and the lifeblood of the System, mana, naturally opposed his existence. ¡°My existence and origin confuse me greatly, but there may be a day I stand against whatever controls the System or the System itself. When that dayes, can you stand by my side, Alice? Will the System use you against me?¡±

    Alice looked straight into his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Then do we continue¡ª¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t care.¡± She ruthlessly cut him off. ¡°Whatever the system says, I am me. Whether I am a blob of mana with human emotions or my soul has been reborn, I make my own decisions. Whatever happens, I am staying right here. With you.¡± The expression of self-doubt vanished, and she had a ruthless grin. ¡°You ask if we continue? Fuck yes, we do. That goddess has some questions to answer, and there¡¯s no better way to reach her than to bang down her front door.¡±

    ¡°The goddess resided at the bottom of the dungeon?¡± Victor couldn¡¯t help but ask. Back on Earth, the consensus was that the gods lorded over the mortals from above the clouds, but on this, the gods hid down below?

    Alice shrugged as the darkness that wrapped her form swirled around her as she hovered a foot off the wooden tform. ¡°Maybe, maybe not. It¡¯s all legends and rumors at the end of the day. No way to tell if we don¡¯t make it down there.¡± She then grinned. ¡°Now tell me where there¡¯s something I can kill. Got some things I want to test.¡±

    ¡°You know,¡± Genus lowered his head between the pair and watched them both with his eyes, ¡°you two be more simr every day.¡±

    The two exchanged a look andughed. Then Genus gestured for them to leave with his paw. ¡°I need some rest or my beautiful scales will never return.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°All right,e with me. I will exin everything on the way.¡± Victor cast his Stealth skill, and Alice had no issues with following him as she activated her Void Eye. With a wave of goodbye to Genus, she divebombed off the side of the floating tform. As they shot down toward the snow dragon that had crashnded, Victor began exining.

    ¡°You passed out right as we were about to leave the fiftieth floor. At first, we had no idea what happened to you, but before we could do anything, you began your evolution process. I won¡¯t go into too many details, but it was ugly.¡±

    Hearing about her evolution process reminded Alice that one thing had bugged her. ¡°Do you know anything about greater reality maniption?¡± she shouted over the wind that howled in her ears as they rapidly descended. Despite the arctic conditions, she felt perfectly warm. I guess there are some benefits to bing a mana blob, she thought.

    ¡°Yes, Genus used a spell to protect you from the Fleshtrees while you were obliterated by the System and turned into¡­whatever you are now. Anyway, that¡¯s not important. What¡¯s important is that you started evolving over a week or so ago. It¡¯s hard to tell down here.¡±

    ¡°It took that long?¡± There were few records or even rumors about evolution, but due to human greed and the desire to be something greater, the tales of bing a higher lifeform were widespread and often wrong. This was mainly because, much to the general poption¡¯s confusion, the Delvers who managed to evolve usually decided to remain and live in the dungeon. I always found that bizarre, but now I¡¯m a mana blob, I understand my fellow mana blob people¡¯s woes. The feeling of this dense mana is intoxicating. Alice almost jiggled in excitement at how refreshing the mana on the lowest floors must be. I can also imagine how suffocating returning to the surface must feel. It¡¯s not even that nice up there, considering everyone would harass you daily for information about being a higher being. Much nicer to stay down here.

    Alice¡¯s wandering mind was brought back when Victor answered. ¡°Yes, it took that long.¡± He sighed, simr to annoyed parents after a tiring outing. It was long and deep, filled with annoyance and exhaustion. Can a void creature even get stressed or tired? she thought with amusement.

    ¡°So there I was, with a stupid dragon that had decided to make himself useless by casting some overly fancy but ultimately pointless ancient dragon magic and a girl that decided to die and then be reborn in a terrifying disy of the System¡¯s capabilities. Not to sound dramatic¡­but we were surrounded on all sides by mountain-size carnivorous Fleshtrees and innumerable vines that were relentlessly trying to drag you away the second I looked away.¡± Victor approached the snow dragon¡¯s corpse that had smashed a tunnel into the ice with only the tail and two legs poking out. Despite the violent impact and horrendous burn marks covering its left nk, Alice could tell from a nce that this snow-white dragon was of simr size and shape to the female silver dragon that died outside the jail cell.

    ¡°So they caught up to us, huh?¡± Alice noted, and Victor nodded.

    ¡°Annoyingly, the dragons have been assaulting us over thest week. This is the twentieth one I¡¯ve killed.¡± He materialized from Stealth. Despite the dragon¡¯s leg being three times taller than her, Victor towered over the corpse and had to bend down slightly to touch it with his w. Alice then saw in her Void Eye a giant blob of energy fleeing the corpse and entering Victor.

    As Victor cast his Raise Undead spell, he continued, ¡°In fact, they caught up to us during my three-day battle, and it was only thanks to their corpses that I could get you and Genus out of there. Those flying tforms were easy enough to make. I just needed something powerful enough to lift them with Genus¡¯s weight. He is one heavy boy.¡±

    Alice giggled at thatment. Today had been a weird one, but she was feeling much better. Trying to ignore the fast winds that kicked up loose snow and rustled her hair, she asked, ¡°So what¡¯s next?¡±

    ¡°To be perfectly honest,¡± Victor floated back as the snow dragon¡¯s muscles spasmed back to life and ruthlessly broke itself out of the ice, ¡°getting to the bottom of the dungeon is only a matter of time. I have a fleet of undead dragons and a hundred million lifeforce to y with. My only real concern is keeping Genus fed as it¡¯s been a week, and we have only made it down one floor, and I have seen nothing but ice.¡±

    ¡°So what has he been eating?¡±

    Victor pointed to the dragon¡¯s corpse.

    Alice held back her disgust at the idea of Genus eating his own kind and decided to change the topic. ¡°So we are on the fifty-second floor then?¡± she pondered as she looked around. All she could see for thousands of miles was t ice with the asional ridge here and there.

    ¡°Yep, it took four days of constant flying to traverse the fifty-first floor, so I suspect it will take another week for this one. I have said it before, and I will repeat it, I refuse to believe normal people ever got to the bottom of a Grand Dungeon. It would have taken lifetimes to cover this distance and the distance we will need to cover on foot.¡±

    ¡°Who said they were normal?¡± Alice said. ¡°The other well-known Grand Dungeon is in the center of the mystds. Nobody over there is normal.¡±

    Victor paused for a while and seemed to be focusing on something else. Alice gave him space for a few minutes and chose to scroll through her menus again.

    Eventually, he turned to face her, his many eyes floating around as the newly risen snow dragon rose to its full height, stretched out its wings, and towered over him with kes of ice sliding off its scales. ¡°Speaking of the mysticalnds¡­¡± he said, and Alice raised a brow. Anything involving the mystds was always trouble. ¡°A fancy-looking convoy bearing a g that Toby ims belongs to the Mystical Realm has just arrived at the outskirts of the cursed forest.¡±

 Chapter 41. Necron Toll Road

    Eve whistled a cheerful tune as she strolled down a well-trodden path into the cursed forest. The gates of the Empire¡¯s capital city loomed behind her, and in the far distance was a long line of merchants¡¯ carriages waiting to enter. Although the Empirecked the need for trade, this particr winter had been rough on their farms, so much to their humiliation, they relied on Eshnar and their bountifulnds to make the difference. So naturally, Eshnar charged a premium for that food, which Eve and many others had felt, with even a simple loaf of bread costing three more coppers thanst year.

    But despite the misery of themoners, Eve was in a fantastic mood. She almost couldn¡¯t help herself from raising her right hand and checking out the three golden rings that popted her fingers. Each one had a different gem that signified its spatial storage size and purpose.

    ¡°Good morning, Eve,¡± Zedd said as he emerged out of a cloud of ck smoke andbed back his disordered hair. ¡°You sure are in a good mood today.¡±

    ¡°Of course I am.¡± Eve stopped admiring hertest purchase and put her hands behind her head as she continued her walk. ¡°Why would I not be happy? My debts are all paid off, and we got another lucrative mission from the guild master. Life has never been so good.¡±

    ¡°True. Shame Sam can¡¯te with us today since his master called for him to deal with some situation in the Mystical Realm, but at least we can meet up with Rock again. Assuming he even remembers us, can never tell what that dumb golem is thinking.¡± Zedd fell in stride beside Eve and twirled a ck dagger around his finger as he talked. ¡°I see you got some new gear since west met up.¡±

    Eve nodded and hummed a pleasant tune. She wasn¡¯t in the mood for small talk today, especially with Zedd. Although they were in the same party, he had a dark side that she didn¡¯t appreciate, making him a little awkward to be around. In the past, whenever they had nned to meet up somewhere, she always received the same story about how he was busy, yet the next day some noble was found assassinated. The first few times, Eve tossed it up to a coincidence since the Empire had some of the most ruthless politics on the continent where every noble house had to watch their backs, so a few deaths here and there were to be expected. But after years of the same pattern urring, she had concluded that Zedd had a partial role in some or even all of those murders, making him a dangerous person to hang around. But, s, he was one of the best scouts in the Empire, and the guild had teamed them together long ago, and it had just stayed this way for many years.

    Zedd knew her all too well and returned to the shadows. He was also a man of few words, so they both appreciated the mutual silence as it would be a long walk to the south.

    Although the air still had a slight chill, the harshest winter months had passed, and spring was now in full bloom. Another sign of winter ending was the return of the guild¡¯s scum to the forest¡¯s bounds. As Eve and Zedd fearlessly walked deeper into the cursed forest, many small groups of children and teens with wooden or bronze tes dangling from their necks via a coarse rope were busy picking various herbs for beginner guild quests. They curiously watched as the pair passed. Some whispered about them and their rank; others elected to judge silently. Eve had long gotten used to being treated like a walking celebrity, as she was one of the hundred or so Adamantite Delvers in the entire Empire.

    Ignoring the low-ranked children, Eve continued deeper into the cursed forest. As the sparse trees got closer together and the thicket of the forest got denser, Eve began to pick up speed. Usingbat or movement spells in or near the Empire was illegal, so Eve always put enough distance between herself and any witnesses before activating her various movement spells.

    Mana trickled down to her limbs to power her spells. Her muscles bulged slightly and glowed red as she upped her pace. Soon the trees whizzed by her, and the foliage was a mere blur beneath her feet. Every few hours, she would summon food or water from a storage ring with a green stone that kept organic material fresh, perfect for storing ready-made meals.

    Before she knew it, darkness nketed the forest. The day shifted to night with the passing of hours; usually traveling during the night was dangerous, but Eve had yet to run into a single monster. The cursed forest had remained as dead asst time. ¡°Do you need to rest, Zedd? I could go for another few hours.¡± Eve said the first words in twelve hours to her travelingpanion, and within a second, the rogue appeared beside her, casually running without any buffs yet matching her speed.

    ¡°No. But there is something bizarre up ahead. Around a mile in front of us is a dirt road.¡±

    ¡°A dirt road?¡± she asked with disbelief. She had never heard of anything other than untamed wilderness and monsters in the cursed forest. The idea of something man-made, like a dirt road, baffled her. ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s not all. I saw something even more ridiculous,¡± Zedd said mysteriously but refused to borate.

    Eve focused more power on her legs and ran even faster. As an Adamantite Delver, she had seen some of the craziest things this world had to offer, but Zedd had definitely seen worse. Despite their long rtionship, they had never joined a System party together and kept their level and ss secret. She was obviously curious about Zedd¡¯s true might, but she liked staying alive, and it seemed anyone who knew his secrets had never lived for very long.

    Soon enough, Eve saw the sight Zedd had described. The dense forest had been cleaved through with a dirt road. It was nothing impressive, about wide enough to allow tworge carriages to pass side by side, although it was slightly sloped with trenches along the sides for rainwater, which was a nice touch that was missing on a lot of the less-used paths.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Now other than its unusual location, a dirt road in the middle of the forest wouldn¡¯t faze Eve or Zedd, but a question immediately answered was how it got there.

    There was a horde of goblins at the end of the road. Some hacked away at the foliage in their path with cleavers and axes, while others smashed andpacted the dirt withrge hammers. They were silent and efficient, working in perfect harmony as they constructed the dirt road toward the Empire, one step at a time.

    Eve and Zedd emerged from the foliage and made themselves known with an awkward cough. The duo could ughter these goblins in seconds, so they decided to confirm if they were working for the zombie merchants they had befriended down to the south first. A goblin wearing a makeshift robe of grass standing on a cart pulled by two undead horses noticed the two humans. Without dy, he hopped off his throne and strolled over to them.

    ¡°Howdy, humans! You must pay one bronze if you want to use Necron¡¯s new toll road.¡± The goblin stood a meter away and held out his hand, palm up. Then, after a few seconds, he gestured with his bone fingers for them to pay up. ¡°Not going to use the road? That is fine, but travel should be far easier on a lovely t surface like this instead of shoving through the forest like some barbarian. Don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    ¡°Do you work for Toby or Andrew?¡± Zedd questioned as he dropped two copper coins into the goblin¡¯s waiting palm.

    The goblin pocketed the coins into a small leather pouch hanging from its ribs. ¡°Oh, you know His Excellency, Sir Andrew? Yes, we work under him. He is the director of finance and development for Necron. Now you two seem rather capable. If you n to go at full speed, please keep to the right side of the road. Have a pleasant and safe journey, and thanks for choosing to travel with Necron!¡± Without another word, the goblin returned to his work, whatever that may be.

    Eve shrugged and walked past the goblins that were busy at work. For many miles ahead was a perfectly straight road. ¡°With this, we should be able to reach there by morning. Ready?¡±

    ¡°Always,¡± Zedd said as he vanished, and Eve felt something speed past her.

    ¡°Bastard,¡± she muttered as she willed her tiring muscles back into action. To her great surprise, the road was lit with the asional glowing rock ced upon wooden poles that cast their soft blue hue for a few meters around them. They were theyman glowstone, producing far less light, but were also a lot cheaper. Another surprise was under each of these light posts was a waiting goblin kitted out in crude armor and holding a spear of wood with a sharpened metal tip. Nothing impressive, but for the average traveler, knowing the road was guarded made it even more valuable, even if the guards were undead.

    The skeleton goblins didn¡¯t even react as she sped past. Hours passed by as the sun crested the horizon once more. Then, as Eve devoured her breakfast, the road ended and entered arge clearing. She skidded to a halt and scrutinized thend. The cleared area was at least the size of a city. She saw goblins dragging wood or hauling chopped trees on carts and then trekking back toward the center where a wooden town stood.

    Eve watched the little worker goblins for a few seconds in silent amazement. The Empire and the human realm had long ouwed necromancy, but seeing how efficient they worked made her think about how humanity had missed out on an opportunity. She continued to follow the dirt path that led all the way to the town gate. Two zombie ogres wielding clubs stood like statues. As she approached, they crossed their clubs in an X shape. ¡°State your name and business. Necron is not currently expecting guests.¡±

    ¡°Wee on official guild business from the Empire. The merchants guild has sent us to discuss a potential partnership¡­¡± Eve¡¯s eyes wandered past the guards as she noticed a carriage that was partially obscured by a building. But the matte-ck material,ck of windows, and scarlet eye emblem were all she needed to know the upant¡¯s identity.

    Zedd appeared beside her, briefly startling the guards. ¡°You noticed them?¡±

    Eve nodded. ¡°Why the hell is vampire nobility here?¡±

 Chapter 42. Merchant Guilds Letter

    A building exploded in a hail of wood with such force the pieces smashed the nearby buildings, and some wooden chunks even embedded into the town¡¯s wooden walls, a mere meter away from the orc guards¡¯ heads.

    ¡°Can you help us?¡± one of the zombie orcs asked Eve, and she agreed. After all, she was also curious about what was going on.

    ¡°Zedd¡ª Oh.¡± Unsurprisingly, the rogue was long gone. Only a gust of ck smoke wafted in the air beside her. Wanting to not be left behind, Evepelled her exhausted body to move. Red mana coated her muscles as she dashed forward and past the zombie orcs.

    As she rounded the corner with a skid, she saw gems of various colors through a half-destroyed building¡¯s roof. Rock turned his titanic body, and Eve saw him rapidly rotate his torso and smash something she couldn¡¯t see. But whatever he hit seemed to fight back with immense force. Rock¡¯s entire three-meter-tall body rocked backward, and he copsed onto his back, destroying another building and shaking the ground.

    ¡°Leave! You are not wee here in Necron!¡± Eve heard a familiar man shout across the ruined town. ¡°The master has permitted me to vanquish your kind from ournds!¡±

    Andrew emerged from a wrecked building. It was the port-bellied merchant who had happily sold her an ice sculpture for a friendly price and promised another the next time she came. When Eve hadst spoken with him, Andrew had seemed a jolly fellow overall, but he appeared royally pissed right now. His face was dark and his expression cold. Shadows danced around his body, and purple lightning crackled above his palms.

    ording to Zedd, she should not underestimate the zombie merchants, but she doubted they could stand up to vampires. Eve had only encountered a vampire once, and it had destroyed a small human town singlehandedly. She was a tinum Delver at the time, two ranks below her current, and it took her entire team to take the vampire down. Although they had many weaknesses, they were fast, strong, cunning, and wielded weird blood magic that was hard to predict.

    Andrew seemed unaware of the mighty foe he faced as he waltzed into the town square, palms facing the sky and lightning crackling between his fingertips. ¡°Come, foul fiend, let us see who¡¯s the real king of the undead.¡±

    Something moved so fast it was a mere blur, a sh of silver, and Andrew¡¯s head tumbled to the floor with a sickening thud. Eve tracked the blur and spotted a man appear in the shade of a still-standing wooden building with the sign ¡°Necron Inn.¡± He was a man of tall stature with pale-white skin, trimmed brown hair in a hideous bowl cut, and a rapier by his side. The vampire calmly switched his target and red at Eve with scarlet eyes.

    Eve immediately dove into the sunlight. She had learned from herst encounter with this mystical race that they were very wary of sunlight. It didn¡¯t cause them any direct harm, but it weakened them considerably.

    She rolled, a sh of whistling silver passed by where her neck once was, and an irritated vampire appeared only a meter away from her in the shade of the half-destroyed building. ¡°A worthy opponent,¡± the vampire snarled in an indescribable ent.

    Before Eve could even react, the vampire vanished, and the tip of his rapier found itself between her eyes. However, to the vampire¡¯s surprise, she grinned and muttered, ¡°Gotcha,¡± as her bikini armor activated and an orange glow shed and absorbed the hit. She didn¡¯t waste a second. She reached up and gripped the de, and with burning red mana coating her grip, she snapped the rapier in two.

    The vampire looked stunned for a second. ¡°You¡ª¡± Before he could finish, an arc of purple lightning narrowly missed Eve¡¯s head and smacked the vampire in the jaw. The vampire stumbled back with a feral scream and wed at the charred flesh and exposed bone.

    ¡°How are you alive?¡± the vampire snarled as it leaped back into the shadows like a startled cat. Once in the safety of darkness, Eve watched in wonder as the vampire¡¯s flesh knitted itself together, convulsed and rapidly healed back to normal. It was both disgusting and genuinely miraculous to watch.

    Evepelled her exhausted body to move and backed away, never taking her eyes off the vampire. ¡°Andrew,¡± she half said over her shoulder, ¡°what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Andrew stood beside her, his head under his arm like a ball. A tendril of shadow seemed to be running from his neck stump to his detached head that was dripping green gunk onto the floor. ¡°No idea. These bastards showed up unannounced, and my master demanded I attempt diplomatic rtions with them. I thought it might work out; they look human enough and could speak fine; it¡¯s just a shame¡­they only demanded from us, no offer of trade. They wanted everything here, including us, and also demanded human rations.¡±

    Andrew thenughed manically as he walked toward the vampire. ¡°Luckily, the master blessed me with overwhelming power on this fine day.¡± He didn¡¯t even charge up his spell, and like a demi-god, he hurled a bolt of purple lightning so powerful it blinded Eve. An eruption of noise and heat flooded the air, and as she blinked away the burning light, she witnessed a ming crater where the vampire had once been.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Ah¡­¡± Andrew stared dumbly at the scene. ¡°There goes the post office. Hmm, what a shame. We had just got the bonework setup.¡± He let out a tired sigh before he attempted to fuse his head back into ce. Eve debated helping him, but it looked far too gruesome to get up close.

    ¡°So, was that the only one?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No, there was one or two more¡­¡± he muttered as he looked in the direction he could hear fighting. He gestured with his now reattached head to follow him, and the two briskly walked to the other side of the square. Rock had recovered and was back on his hind legs, with a very battered vampire underfoot. Bob, the dwarf skeleton chef, sauntered toward the trapped vampire while juggling three knives. Without mercy, he urately threw each one. Two of them pinned the vampire¡¯s hands to the dirt, while the third dug into the vampire¡¯s skull, causing it to squeal.

    ¡°Fry it,¡± Bob said emotionlessly.

    Toby pointed his index finger at the knife embedded in the vampire¡¯s head and used it as a lightning conductor as he fired a purple lightning spell. The vampire released one final scream as his brain became boiling sludge.

    Andrew sheepishly turned to Eve and rubbed the back of his neck. ¡°Haha¡­we should have done that much, errrr, cleaner? Less property damage?¡±

    ¡°What in the high hell was that, Andrew? I could feel the heat wave from here!¡± Toby walked over with heavy steps. Eve hadn¡¯t felt it before, but Toby was genuinely intimidating. His gray eyes spoke of murder in cold blood, his arms were beefy, and his shoulders broad. A straw hat of poor quality sat happily on his head, obscuring his ck hair.

    Toby walked past Andrew and knocked him on the way, causing Andrew to stagger back a step or two. ¡°T-toby, man, it¡¯s not that bad. We can fix it, okay?¡±

    Toby poked his head around the corner of the half-destroyed building and whistled. ¡°Well¡­there goes a week of work. Awesome. Great. Good stuff.¡± The monstrous zombie, who matched even the ogres in size that stood dumbly on the side, came back and patted Andrew on the shoulder. ¡°This is why I am head of security and you are the trading guy. You, my good man, have absolutely zero fighting sense.¡± He pulled back his fist and struck Andrew in the face, sending him spiraling back and skidding a few meters in the dirt.

    ¡°We work for a fucking eldritch creature, Andrew. I just shot lightning out of my hands like it was nothing. Do you understand? Do you? Hey!¡± Toby lumbered over and grabbed the fat zombie by the scruff of his shirt. ¡°No more mistakes. Understood? You are immortal. There is no need for you to blow up three entire buildings. All right? We are a team, you and me. Let¡¯s do our parts, ay?¡± He hauled the fat merchant up, plopped him on his feet, and pped him twice. ¡°Now look lively. There¡¯s work for you to do.¡±

    Zedd popped into existence with a third vampire dead in his hand with a ck dagger wedged in its skull. He casually dumped it on the floor. ¡°One escaped. Three in total, including human ves in the carriage. Likely used as a portable food supply.¡± He looked to Eve. ¡°I will head back and report vampire activity to the guild immediately. For vampires of this caliber to be this far north is highly unusual. You stay here andplete our original mission.¡±

    Eve hated being bossed around, but she had to admit Zedd could move disturbingly fast. In fact, she bet he could reach the guild by tonight. ¡°All right. Take care.¡± She didn¡¯t even get to wave him off as he vanished, taking the vampire corpses with him.

    Toby muttered something about enforcing the perimeter as he strolled off toward the town gate, leaving Eve and a stunned Andrew in the destroyed town square.

    To Andrew¡¯s credit, he quickly recovered and returned to the jolly persona that Eve was used to before. ¡°Miss Eve, you said you had some business to conduct here? I hope it¡¯s more reasonable than our previous guest¡¯s demands.¡±

    Eve smiled. ¡°I believe you will find my deal very interesting.¡± She summoned a parchment from her spatial ring and handed it to him.

    Andrew gave the contents a look over andughed. ¡°Oh certainly, Miss Eve, this is very interesting indeed. I didn¡¯t think the merchants guild would make a move this fast¡­but why does it say here the guild master wants to meet the necromancer?¡±

 Chapter 43. The Shadow Man

    ¡°I am never doing that again,¡± Victor murmured as he checked his stats. Unfortunately, to defend the town, the zombie merchants had borrowed a sliver of his power through their link, which had cost him dearly. This is a severe problem. I will die if I have to waste a million stat points every time some dumbass turns up and causes trouble in the town. I had already cleared out all the monsters in that part of the forest, but I should have left them more guards or high-leveled zombies¡­ Hold on, what happened to those monsters I made?

    Although out of boredom, Victor had turned many monster corpses into ice statues, he had turned a few of them into zombies. Unfortunately, his stat points had been miserably low back then, so he only converted a few, but they should still be on the surface. ¡°Toby,¡± he asked over the ck ocean, ¡°what happened to the zombie monsters?¡±

    ***

    Back on the surface, Toby halted in his tracks. Eve and Andrew were a few houses behind him, and he was near the town¡¯s gate. A shiver went down his spine as he heard that ancient voice crawl its way into his skull. ¡°Master.¡± He bowed but then felt silly. Could the master even see him? Deciding it was best to be safe, he stayed in his respectful pose and was d there was nobody around to see him. ¡°The zombies, my lord? I do not know of them.¡±

    Green sweat dripped from Toby¡¯s furrowed brows. He desperately tried to remember if he had been given control over any zombies¡­ ¡°Unless my lord is referring to the goblins? They were put to use in the mines and forests. We are also constructing toll roads to connect Eshnar and the Empire¡­¡± He gulped. ¡°B-but that¡¯s not all! We also have them practicing with weapons, but progress is slow.¡±

    The link remained silent, and Toby almost couldn¡¯t control his breathing due to stress. They had handled the situation poorly, and as the self-proimed chief of security, the fact half the town was now destroyed was technically on his shoulders, even though that gem golem and Andrew did more damage than the vampires. Speaking of that gem golem, he had learned cooking from Bob surprisingly fast. His food tasted awful as hecked the finesse required to create the more refined meals, but he could make a great pumpkin soup.

    Toby had silently begged and even requested the gem golem on multiple asions to help with defense, but it wasn¡¯t until his cooking was ruined by the vampires did he help at all.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in the dungeon¡¯s depth, Victor scoured his ck ocean for any sign of his zombies. It was incredibly hard since the area was blindingly bright, with thousands of goblins moving around like fireflies. The monsters he turned into zombies ranged in strength and were hard to nitpick from the clumps of goblins. He scratched his head as he tried to remember thest order he gave them, if any. His hand paused, and a sudden realization hit him. I told them to explore the north, especially around therge mountains in the distance, and bring back any prey they found. At the time, he hadn¡¯t run out of prey to ughter in the southern half of the cursed forest. But since the monsters were getting stronger the further north he went, he sent the undead zombies he made that he didn¡¯t care about ahead for safety reasons as scouts. No wonder the dragons came searching for me. They must have run into my scouts.

    Victor didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. If he had run into the dragons a month ago, there was a chance of death. But, on the other hand, the mismanagement of his undead had led to his downfall. Well¡­I would hardly consider this a downfall. He looked at his stats and smiled. Sure, there had been some close calls recently, but the end result was well worth it. He was so wealthy in lifeforce that the System had stopped showing him the exact amount and simply showed him in millions. Victor said a silent prayer for the poor zombies he sent to die a second and likely more gruesome death. Whoops, I should reply to Toby, he thought, but he had nothing to say, so he stopped wasting points and cut the connection.

    ***

    Toby stopped bowing at the air and stared wide-eyed at the wooden wall. He unleashed a flurry of curses and barely stopped himself from smashing the wall. He released his fist and rested his palm on the wall as he caught his breath. ¡°We disappointed an eldritch being¡­¡± The words flowed from his mouth as horror masked his face. He feared for his own existence, but he also feared for the whole of humanity. He still had a family somewhere out there, likely back in Eshnar, and thest thing he wanted was that void creature going on a rage-fueled rampage.

    With a deep breath, Toby calmed. ¡°The Hackers will deal with it,¡± he reassured himself. He had never seen a Hacker in person, but their legends were widespread throughout thend.

    Despite the rampant necrotic corruption guing the continent, especially in the southern Mystical Realm, the Hackers guild quickly dealt with it.

    Toby thought back to one of the more questionable merchant adventures he did back in his youth that took him far north, near the Frosnds territory, where he saw an area of corruption. Dense necrotic mana coated thend and mutated everything it touched. A ghost vige he narrowly passed was festering with skinwalkers and ghouls, and wildlife had been twisted and corrupted into abominations; not even the trees were spared.

    Yet after reporting the issue to the guild, on his return trip a mere weekter, the area waspletely cleared with no sign of the vige or corrupted mana. ¡°Wait¡­aren¡¯t I a corrupted now?¡± Toby looked down at himself. Besides the green gunk dyeing his tattered clothes and the hole in his chest, he didn¡¯t feel corrupted. He shuddered. Would he survive if a Hacker saw him right now? ¡°Who knew unlife could be more terrifying than when I was alive?¡± He shook his head and wandered down the dirt road out of the town. He needed to clear his head.

    ***

    With the connection cut, Victor surveyed the endless arctdscape while debating his next move. Luckily this floor and the next ten should be nothing but freezing wastnds. He could unconsciously hover along at insane speeds and was unbothered by the freezing winds orck of warm food. Genus was worse for wear, but unsurprisingly, a dragon¡¯s body could deal with a lot. Alice also seemed unfazed, her new mana body proving perfect for coping with harsh conditions.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Do you need to drink, eat, or even sleep anymore?¡± Victor questioned the girl as she sat on the floating tform with her legs dangling off the side as she watched the world go by with a distant expression.

    ¡°Huh? Me?¡± Alice looked around and pinpointed his location, despite his Stealth. ¡°No, I don¡¯t, but I can still do them all if I wish. I imagine staying up for days after being used to sleeping every night will drive me mad. Especially since it will be months before we reach thest floor. Might as well sleep away¡­ Actually, I am going to go do that now.¡± With a yawn, she pushed herself up and floated over to the tiny house. Before entering, she shouted, ¡°Wake me if you need anything! Anything at all!¡± Then with augh, she closed the door. Genus briefly opened his eye and saw the dragon corpse Victor had left for him, but he also fell asleep.

    ¡°And this is when being undead sucks,¡± Victor muttered. ¡°Everyone can pass the time with sleep, and I¡¯m left alone with nothing to do.¡± But, of course, he couldn¡¯t sleep even if he wanted to, a true curse, especially after living a life as a human. ¡°Hmm, that reminds me. I still need to go and see what the world has to offer. Since I still have no idea about this world¡¯s technology level. Only seen goblin settlements so far and a dragon prison.¡±

    As he fell deep into thought, Andrew¡¯s voice sounded in his head.

    ¡°Master, I am currently speaking with an Adamantite Delver named Eve. She came here a few weeks ago, and I sold her group two ice sculptures.¡±

    ¡°So?¡± Victor replied. ¡°Sell her more if you wish.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not the problem. She came with a letter straight from the guild master, apparently.¡±

    Victor debated waking Alice up, she would know more about guild activities, but he decided to ask for curiosity¡¯s sake. Maybe it wasn¡¯t that serious.

    Andrew paused. He looked at the eagerly waiting Eve, who shifted nervously on her feet. Andrew had told her he would ask his master and decided to put his hand up to his ear for added effect.

    ¡°Continue.¡±

    Andrew shuddered as the voice echoed in his head, but he quickly recovered. Gripping the parchment in his hand, he carefully read, ¡°The letter says the merchants guild is interested in our nned activities here and wishes to discuss a potential partnership. However, the guild master also demands you attend in person.¡±

    Victor looked over the nd, frozennd. If he had to look at the scenery for the next few days or even weeks without the sweet embrace of sleep to numb the boredom, he might as well do something fun. It will cost a lot, but it should be fine for a few days, right? He decided life was too short¡­ Well, in his case, he was immortal, but that was beside the point. It¡¯s for research purposes¡­ I have no choice in the matter. He nodded to himself.

    Using Andrew as a proxy to reduce the burden, otherwise, it would likely cost him a million points a second, he used his shadow magic to conjure up his beloved avatar.

    Red mana coated Eve instantly as she stared at the space beside Andrew. The zombie merchant followed her gaze and saw a crack in space. It looked impossible, just a ck line with no shadow or depth. From within, a shadow of a man crawled out.

    He was tall and had a nobleman attire, including aicallyrge top hat, but other than that, his face was entirely featureless, just a nk te. Then, finally, it turned to Eve, and she cautiously stepped back.

    ¡°Greetings,¡± the shadow man said in a cryptic voice that sounded like ten things talking at once. ¡°I heard you wished to speak with me?¡±

 Chapter 44. Monster Of Gluttony

    Eve stumbled backward with her fists raised defensively to her chest. Blood-red mana surged around her body as her heart beat loudly in her chest. All her trained senses screamed absolute danger when sheid eyes on the shadowy man. It was both material and a total illusion, but the amount of raw power behind its manifestation was beyond anything she had ever seen.

    The shadow man gave his greetings and stood there, motionless, waiting for her reply. Yes, the guild master wanted to see a necromancer, not some shadow man that crawled out of some other dimension! Eve screamed in her mind while her mouth remained motionless. This creature could obliterate her with a simple thought. Maybe it didn¡¯t even need to think! She would die simply being in its mere presence.

    But then the crack in space closed. The man remained, but the intense pressure that weighed on her like a god¡¯s wrathful gaze disappeared. She gasped as she let out a breath she didn¡¯t know she had been holding.

    Only with the immediate threat gone did she take a moment to realize how pathetic her state had be. Eve went to speak, but her mouth felt dry, and the words died in her throat.

    ¡°Lady,¡± the thing spoke, and its voice rippled through the air. The noise was artificial and terrifying, like a chorus of the dead uttering straight into her mind. ¡°My time is short. I was told by my subordinate here,¡± the shadow man gestured to Andrew, and the pot-bellied fellow froze, ¡°that your guild master wishes to speak with me? Lead the way.¡±

    Eve had no idea of what to do. On the one hand, she had a contractual obligation to lead the shadow man to the guild master, but she was also terrified. What if I bring the thing past the city¡¯s defenses just for that pressure to return and for the real creature to emerge from that crack in reality? What if I went down in history as the foolish Delver that brought an end to humanity? she thought as she debated her options.

    Finally gathering the courage, she stopped trembling, and she bowed slightly. She realized what she had done as she was midway through the action. It felt so natural as if she was paying respects to a higher being. Then, quickly raising her head, Eve decided to ask the one burning question in her mind. ¡°What are you? Are you even real?¡±

    The shadowy man stared at her with its featureless face. With every second, Eve felt closer to death than she had ever felt before. Eventually, the shadow man raised his hand to his chin and stroked it while looking around. ¡°Real?¡± it asked. Suddenly the shadowy man multiplied a hundredfold and surrounded her. She spun around, but she was encircled. The shadow men all spoke in unison, grating on her brain. ¡°What even is reality?¡± They all took off their top hats, held them in their hands and then made them vanish, only for them to reappear on their heads. ¡°Reality is what you make of it. It¡¯s all about perspective.¡±

    Eve heard one of the voices right next to her ear and suppressed a scream. One of the shadow men, likely the original, had broken formation and was only a few centimeters away from her. Two blue eyes formed on its nk face but were slightly curved upward like teardrops. ¡°I have seen things you can only imagine, you may consider me an illusion, but this world is entirely fake to me. Merely a yground for self-proimed gods.¡±

    With a snap of its finger, Eve saw all the other shadow men vanish from existence as if they had never existed. She struggled to stand on her wobbling knees. Luckily the shadowy man seemed to change targets and focused on Andrew.

    ¡°This human seems overloaded; let¡¯s give the squishy mortal time to recover.¡± The shadow man walked past Andrew and gestured for him to follow. ¡°Come with me. We need to get you and¡­what was his name?¡±

    ¡°Er, Toby?¡± Andrew hesitantly replied as he fell into stride behind his master.

    ¡°Ah yes, Toby.¡± The shadow paused briefly, looked toward the gates, and then carried on. ¡°He will meet us at the ice statues. It¡¯s about time I powered you two up.¡±

    Andrew almost missed a step as his brain froze. We aren¡¯t getting punished? To Andrew and Toby, they had been dreaming of the day they could merge with their chosen monsters. But after today¡¯s disaster, they assumed everything was lost.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look so down, Andrew,¡± his master said without looking back. ¡°Rome was not built in a day. idents happen, but it wasn¡¯t entirely your fault. I forced my powers upon you without warning or any training. The fact half the town is still standing is a win in my book.¡±

    Andrew had no idea what this Rome ce was, but he liked the idea that none of this was his fault. He felt the power of that purple lightning and had a general idea of the destruction it could cause, but he just couldn¡¯t help it. ¡°T-thank you. I will continue to strive forward and please you,¡± he managed to stutter out as he quickly caught back up.

    The pair went through a newly created hole in the town¡¯s wooden walls and, within a minute, were at the site of the ice statues. Hundreds of goblins armed with crude spears created a border around the area while other goblins dragged logs and were in the process of constructing a ten-meter-high wall.

    Andrew decided to fill Victor in on the situation when he noticed the shadows¡¯ attention on the wall. ¡°Afterpleting the town, we realized that the ice statues were our most important asset at the moment, so we have begun efforts to protect them. Luckily nobody hase by recently¡­well, until today.¡± He was going to continue his exnation, but Toby and Eve caught up with them. They both looked haunted, but Toby seemed less angry.

    Victor¡¯s avatar nodded. ¡°Very good. Have you picked your monsters?¡± The shadow looked between Andrew and Toby, and they both nodded.

    Toby, however, couldn¡¯t mask his shock. ¡°Master, have we really earned this?¡±

    The shadow raised its hand. ¡°It¡¯s not about earning it anymore. It¡¯s a necessity. You two are currently the only ones managing this ce, so I need to give you bodies that suit your needs. Nowe! Let us get this over with.¡± Victor¡¯s avatar led the small group through the ice sculptures. Hundreds were haphazardly ced like abyrinth, but they all had wooden signs with their names on them. Victor read a few as he passed,mitting them to memory.

    ¡°So? Have you picked?¡± The shadow turned to Andrew.

    ¡°Yep. It was an easy choice for me.¡± Andrew walked off to the left, down two rows, and then turned right. He then halted before a massive ice sculpture as if he had found his long-lost lover.

    Everyone else paused behind him with confused expressions.

    Toby squinted at the sign and muttered, ¡°King slime.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Yep!¡± Andrewughed happily and pped his gut. ¡°I read about these bastards when I was young and always wished I could grow in strength through eating. If I could be a king slime¡­I could eat anything and everything!¡±

    Victor had to apud the man¡¯s simple but sound logic. ¡°Bravo! A king slime is a fine choice, indeed. But are you sure you want to be a slime? Plenty of other monsters can eat a lot, like war pigs, for example.¡±

    ¡°h. War pigs only get fat from eating, not stronger.¡±

    Victor ignored Eve and Toby¡¯s aghast expressions and walked forward. The man has made his mind up¡­ Why do I feel like the goddess right now? I gave them the same choice she gave me, although it¡¯s on a much smaller scale, he pondered as he ced his avatar¡¯s hand on the ice. He then elongated his other arm and put a shadowy hand on Andrew¡¯s shoulder.

    A familiar blue screen appeared in his vision.

    [Undead System User Detected]

    [King Slime (A grade) and Zombie Human Found]

    [Merge?]

    Victor didn¡¯t waste any time and epted the System prompt. A crack in space formed between Andrew and the frozen king slime, and Victor felt tendrils of his body seep through the fracture. The ice shattered as a tendril of pure darkness wrapped around the frozen king slime and the startled Andrew. It then ruthlessly smashed them together as if it was conducting nuclear fusion.

    Then everything went calm. As if it had all been one dreadful nightmare.

    [New undead created!]

    [Name: Andrew]

    [Race: King Ooze (Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

    [Level: 7]

    [STR: 300, DEX, 7, CON: 570, INT: 5, WIS: 6]

    [Description: A king slime corrupted with necrotic mana. It grows in size and strength with everything it devours.]

    With the dust settled, everyone stared at Andrew with tant disgust on their faces. Andrew was a gray slime in the shape of a walrus with a wide, deformed human head, a jaw so vast it could swallow a person whole, and two stubby arms with three fingers on each hand below his mouth. Luckily, despite his horrendous appearance, he smelled of nothing and didn¡¯t spill out any pus or other nefarious substances.

    ¡°Hahaha.¡± Andrewughed, and his new massive body wobbled in excitement like jelly. He tried to turn, but it was painfully slow, like watching a beached whale roll around. His head mainly stayed the same with a tuff of brown hair on top, but the fact it was so wide made it creepy as Andrew grinned. He finallypleted his turn and looked down at Toby. Like a massivend slug, he was over a head taller than Toby, who was already a colossal man himself.

    ¡°What do you think, mate?¡± Andrew asked his friend.

    Toby reeled in his disgust and pondered it for a while. They were zombies already, and he knew better than anyone how miserable being one was; he would spend half his days just performing maintenance on his body to try and keep it in one piece. Was Andrew ugly? Yes. But was he falling apart? No. Did he smell of rotting flesh? No. And most important of all, was he intimidating? Heck yes. There was no way in hell anyone would stand up to him and not feel afraid, and that¡¯s exactly what Andrew hadcked before, and the fear factor would be essential going forward.

    ¡°I think it suits you very well.¡± Toby decided to be positive. Who knew, maybe the monster he bes might be even more hideous, so it would be rude to judge Andrew for now.

    Andrew¡¯s smile was ear-splitting, and he chuckled again. ¡°I see you also have good taste! Now I am even more excited to see what you picked out.¡±

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t you worry.¡± Toby rubbed his hands together with an evil grin. ¡°I found the perfect monster¡­¡±

 Chapter 45. Demon King

    The group followed Toby toward his chosen monster but encountered a problem. Andrew was incredibly slow and wasgging far behind.

    ¡°Guys¡­wait up!¡± Andrew called, and everyone paused to watch the struggling slime. Andrew honestly reminded Victor of Jabba the Hutt with his body proportions, but if Jabba was a necrotic jelly. I wondered why I never saw any ind-size king slimes since they grow through eating, but now I understand. Even a rock could somehow outrun a king slime. As Andrew lurched forward, his underbelly sucked in loose foliage like fallen leaves, and Victor could see the juices that made up his body digesting them.

    Victor thought for a while and decided Andrew would need help moving around. I could waste more points on reviving some of these ice statues, but the cost is far too high to justify it. Maybe the goblins could help? He imagined how emperors were carried around in wooden boxes back in ancient times by ves. Although Andrew weighed as much as an elephant, Victor¡¯s maxed-out Raise Undead skill empowered anything he raised, so even simple goblins could lift Andrew if they worked together like ants.

    Luckily, Victor had all he needed nearby. With a simple thought, goblins that were hauling logs under the orders of Andrew rerouted toward the King Ooze. Andrew red at them, assuming they were defying his orders, but Victor calmed him down. ¡°In ancient times, obese emperors gave up on the peasantry¡¯s act of walking and instead were carried around by their servants. You should do the same, although your circumstances are slightly different.¡±

    Andrew retracted his re and seemed pleasantly surprised by the idea. He brought up his stubby little arm and caressed the tuffs of brown hair that flowed down from his chin like a goatee. ¡°I could allow that,¡± he said as the goblins surrounded him, some carryingrge wooden logs. With Andrew¡¯s approval, Victormanded the goblins toy the tree trunks before Andrew in a line to form a tform.

    ¡°Anyone got anything to use as rope?¡± Victor¡¯s avatar asked the group. Of course, he could freeze the tform as he did for the flying tform in the dungeon with Freezing Cone, but he assumed king slimes struggled with magical ice since Andrew was primarily liquid.

    Surprisingly Eve stepped forward. One of her spatial rings shed with mana, and a climbing rope materialized in her hand. It was nothing fancy, but it could get the job done.

    ¡°Here, take it,¡± she offered. ¡°It¡¯s the least I can do for Andrew¡¯s previous kindness.¡±

    Victor highly doubted that was the real reason for the show of generosity, but he was never one to turn down free stuff, so hemanded a goblin to take the rope. The little goblin skeleton approached her, and Eve shuddered as the goblin¡¯s skeletal hand brushed past hers to grasp the rope.

    It only took a few minutes to construct the tform, and Victor ensured all the logs were secured together with rope before telling Andrew to climb aboard. It was no exaggeration to say it took Andrew a full ten minutes to move his body forward around two meters. His body was sorge it couldn¡¯t fully fit on the tform, so his tail was dangling off the back, but that was fine.

    Everyone, especially Eve, watched in awe as the small goblins managed to lift the tform and bnce it on their shoulders.

    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Andrewughed as he was raised a meter into the air. With the added height from the tform, he could look down on everyone while stroking his goatee. ¡°Now I feel very important. All I need is a snack and some guards¡­¡± From his higher point of view, he spotted some zombie ogres waiting around with their clubs resting on their shoulders. ¡°Can I borrow them?¡± he asked Toby, and the zombie merchant nodded. There were over a hundred of them, so lending a few to Andrew was no big deal.

    Victor had long set up a hierarchy within his undeadwork. His minions would obey any orders given by him without question. But if he provided no orders, the stronger undead couldmand the weaker undead without his input.

    Without saying anything, Andrew mentallymanded the zombie ogres to stand beside him over the ck ocean. Theyplied and carefully maneuvered their way through the ice statues. They were both giant green-skinned humanoids with bulging muscles. They werepletely naked butcked any reproductive organs. Meaning they were monsters entirely born from the dungeon¡¯s mana rather than mana-corrupted animals.

    Andrew pointed his tiny arm at the left one. ¡°You go get me food, and you always stand beside me. These will be your roles from now on.¡± He could havemanded them mentally, but something about ordering them around in front of an audience made him happy. The ogres obeyed their new roles, with one sprinting off to find its master something to eat.

    ¡°Can we go now?¡± Toby said while tapping his foot. ¡°The slug can move.¡±

    ¡°Forward!¡± Andrew dered while pointing his stubby arm toward the group, and the goblins moved in perfect harmony, bncing the enormous weight over their heads.

    Despite the rapid stat loss for maintaining his avatar, Victor had to admit this was rather fun and a perfect way to spend the time it would take to reach the lower floors. However, he was confident the floors past the frozennds would pose more of a challenge and require more of his attention.

    But with Alice being so powerful and Genus hopefully making a recovery, they should be able to handle themselves for the most part. Also, Alice needs to level up more. I was using my undead and Annihting Aura to clear the floors quickly, but I should let her kill them instead and leave my Consume skill passively running to replenish my falling stats. Happy with his new n of action, Victor turned his avatar to Toby and gestured for him to take the lead. He was also interested in what monster the merchant would pick.

    ***

    Toby stood proudly next to a colossal monster with a signpost reading The One-Eyed Titan.

    Victor remembered killing this monster since it was one of the few he failed to eliminate in a single move. Not only was it resistant to Annihting Aura, but stabbing it in the heart only made it angry. Its regeneration was godlike, and that singlerge eye in its skull could shoot a concentrated light beam that did a surprising amount of damage to Victor and could easily decapitate trees.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Andrew pped his hands, but it sounded like two wet towels pping together. ¡°Perfect choice! It suits you, Toby.¡±

    Victor had to agree. There were many monsters he could have chosen from, but this one matched him the best. As Toby was arge, muscr guy with the role of security, ifbined with the one-eyed titan, which was just a magical cyclops, he could reach his full potential.

    ¡°Ready?¡± Victor asked Toby, and the man nodded with absolute certainty.

    Victor repeated the ceremony.

    [Undead System User Detected]

    [One-Eyed Titan (S-grade) and Zombie Human Found]

    [Merge?]

    Victor agreed, and his body forced its way through space toplete the spell. His lifeforce burned at an astonishing rate. The process didn¡¯t finish until ten million stat points had evaporated. Is the difference between an A-rank and an S-grade monster that much? he contemted. King slimes were A-grade monsters, and merging Andrew had cost him five million, but for Toby, the cost had doubled to ten. Hopefully, it¡¯s worth it. He could have saved the points by doing thister, but he wasn¡¯t too worried. Even after this, he still had around fifty million left and would gain more as he descended the floors.

    Victor¡¯s main body¡¯s tendrils smashed the two together in an explosion of mana, and a new monster was born.

    [New undead created!]

    [Name: Toby]

    [Race: One-Eyed Demon King (Empowered by: UNKNOWN)]

    [Level: 30]

    [STR: 706, DEX, 276, CON: 847, INT: 500, WIS: 320]

    [Description: An already talented and powerful zombie was merged with a royal-blooded one-eye titan, creating a one-of-a-kind existence of pure destruction.]

    Everyone saw a silhouette of a kneeling humanoid through a cloud of dust.

    With a waft of its hand, the creature dispersed the dust and stood tall. ¡°Oh, my¡ª¡± Toby paused his speech. His voice had be incredibly deep and held a simr weight to Victor¡¯s, although a lot less. He stood at around Andrew¡¯s height when Andrew was resting on his tform, roughly four meters. His skin was a pale gray, and his nails had extended into ck ws. The single curved horn on his forehead was ck and contrasted with his single glowing golden eye.

    Victor gave Toby¡¯s stats a once-over in shock and then appraised his new subordinate. I would pay double the price for this. A royal bloodline? I guess if dragons can have royal blood, why can¡¯t monsters?

    Victor now felt the surface was in safe hands. With Andrew and especially Toby around, he doubted any wandering threats from the Mystical Realm could destroy his town again.

    But Victor was on a timer, so his avatar spoke to Eve. ¡°Shall we go to the Empire now?¡±

    Eve shook her head. ¡°You wille, but those things?¡± She pointed at Andrew and then hesitantly at Toby. ¡°They stay here.¡± She crossed her arms and stood her ground.

 Chapter 46. Rise Of Necron

    ¡°You three are far too dangerous to let into the heart of our city.¡±

    Eve¡¯s argument was reasonable. Victor had neverid eyes on the Empire¡¯s capital city, but he doubted the inside defenses could handle them without some loss of civilian life. He was somewhat limited in what he could aplish if he wished to keep his stat-point expenditure down, but Toby could wreakplete havoc on the scale of a Senior dragon.

    Toby approached Eve and loomed over her. She strained her neck to look at his face as he cast a shadow over her. ¡°Is this your personal decision? Or by the will of the guild?¡± He leaned in closer and snarled, ¡°Because we all know how defying the guilds goes.¡± He brought up his wed finger and tugged gently on the chain from which Eve¡¯s adamantite te hung. ¡°Defy orders and lose everything.¡±

    Eve stepped back, clearly distraught, and didn¡¯t know what to do. She brought out the parchment from her spatial ring one more time and gave it a once-over. ¡°The guild told me to bring the necromancer to the capital, and technically none of you are the necromancer,¡± she dered as the parchment vanished again.

    Victor¡¯s avatar pointed at himself, but Eve shook her head.

    ¡°That is an illusion, a spell. Not the real you. Which raises some issues¡­¡±

    ¡°What kind of issues?¡± Victor asked, with his artificial voice that sounded like a chorus of many slightly different-sounding people.

    Eve let out a deep sigh. ¡°Many, too many to count. The guild has no idea what they are asking for, and if I honored their request, it would go against almost everyw of the Empire and infuriate the Hackers guild.¡± She raised her finger. ¡°Which is exactly thest thing anyone in the Empire wants; not even the Emperor can fully control them.

    ¡°Look,¡± she said after catching her breath, ¡°even if I brought any of you to the capital¡¯s gates and shouted to the clouds above that this was on the guild orders, they would not listen, and we would be sted to thend of the dead. Well, I guess you guys might survive, but I certainly won¡¯t.¡±

    Although logical, this threw a wrench into Victor¡¯s ns. He wanted to venture to the capital and explore what this world¡¯s humanity had to offer, but s, Eve¡¯s words shot down his dreams. But there was one thing bugging Victor. Why was Eve so casual with them? Sure, she was strong, at least by human standards, but she stood against at least two S-level threats and engaged in casual conversation. So Victormunicated his question to Andrew and had him ask.

    ¡°Eve.¡± Andrew looked down at the bikini warrior. ¡°Toby and I were once humans and worked for the merchants guild. Although I have never met an Adamantite Delver or spoken to one, I have to ask why you act so casually around us?¡±

    The warrior let out a wearyugh. ¡°Well, I might be able to outrun you after your¡­evolution? Change?¡± She waved it off. ¡°Anyway, I have absolute confidence in my ability to get away if needed, and I feel having a civil conversation with the undead of this forest will lead me to many great things.¡±

    ¡°What kind of great things?¡± Toby cynically asked. ¡°We already sold you two ice statues at a great price.¡±

    Eve waved her hands across her chest. ¡°No, no, by great things, I mean improving my reputation and guild credits. Because this area has gained a lot of interest from the higher-ups, you guys should know as former merchants. What was always the worst part of your job?¡±

    Andrew spoke up. ¡°By far, the travel time¡­ Oh, I see. We were constructing a toll road for that very purpose. But Eve, do they know about our toll road?¡±

    ¡°No, but¡­the toll road is great and all. However, we can build one ourselves, you know? Now that the monsters are gone.¡± Eve smiled at Andrew, whose hand had paused mid-stroke of his goatee. ¡°After my group returned, we reported ack of monsters in the forest. The guild immediately sent official investigators to verify our ims. You should have seen the shock on the guild master¡¯s face when investigators reported that there was not a single monster for miles in the forest, but there was a problem.¡±

    Eve gestured around. ¡°You and all this. Your town, Necron, is p-bang in the middle of Eshnar and the Empire. But that¡¯s not the only issue. If not for Sam, a member of my team, pleading with his master not to eradicate you, none of this would still be here.¡± She dropped her arms. ¡°It¡¯s been a stressful few weeks.¡±

    ¡°Well, thank your friend for us,¡± Andrew said from his tform. ¡°And you raise some very valid points for concern¡­ The monsters that previously made thisnd inessible to most people are now gone. But, once word gets out, there will be chaos and fear of war.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Eve agreed. ¡°I believe all this is outside my authority, so I will return to the capital now and report my findings to the guild master.¡± Then, before anyone could stop her, she summoned a stone from her spatial storage and crushed it. ¡°See you soon!¡± Mana shot up her arm, and then she was gone in a sh of blue light.

    An enormous necrotic slime, demon king, and shadow man gathered around a wooden table in a half-destroyed room. None of them spoke for a while as they formted their ideas.

    Victor wanted to hear their thoughts on the matter, but he had some of his own. ¡°Before you two say anything, here is my proposal. The southern area, and eventually the entire cursed forest, will be ournd, and I will rule over it with an iron fist. Thoughts?¡±

    Toby red at the table with his one golden eye. He seemed deep in thought. ¡°It all depends on you, master,¡± he eventually said in his deep voice. ¡°And by that, I mean on your power. We will follow your n, but any method requires your strength.¡±

    ¡°Toby is right,¡± Andrew chipped in. ¡°Hackers will try to kill us no matter what; alliances,ws, agreements, and contacts will only hold them back for so long. There are also the dragons to the north, who may attack here for fun, revenge, or to take something from us. And finally¡­¡±

    Andrew paused as his ogre servant ducked its ugly green face around the broken wall. Then, after getting a nod from Andrew, it dragged a decapitated deer corpse into the room and dumped it before him. Then, in a shocking show of strength, Andrew leaned forward, grabbed the deer¡¯s leg with his stubby arm, and tossed it into his enormous mouth. The corpse stopped at the back of his throat and slowly sank into his body. Then, like a fizzy drink, the deer bubbled as it dissolved. ¡°Ahhh.¡± He burped. ¡°That hit the spot.¡±

    ¡°Never eat in public again.¡± Toby red at him. ¡°That was disgusting.¡±

    Andrew waved him off. ¡°Anyway, as I was saying, the final thing we need to be careful of is human greed. Thesends have remained a legend where only the strong could venture for centuries. But now, apart from the odd dragon flying over, it¡¯s like any woond.¡±

    ¡°Unless we want to change that?¡± Toby crossed his colossal arms and scowled at them with his eye. ¡°We could repopte the forest with the undead, or is there a way to bring back the monsters?¡± He eyed Victor¡¯s shadowy avatar since he would be the source of the answer.

    The shadowy man shrugged. ¡°Both are possible in the long run but not right now. Popting such a vastnd with the few corpses I still have lying around is impossible; it¡¯s just not feasible unless we go and fetch fresh corpses from somewhere else, let¡¯s say the Mystical Realm. And on the topic of monsters, I am still making my way through the dungeon, and if I ever discover a way to bring them back to the surface, I will let you two know. But for now, the forest will sadly remain monster free.¡±

    ¡°So what? We sit back and let them do whatever the fuck they want in our territory?¡± Andrew spat some slime onto the floor that dissolved the floorboard. ¡°Because you know it¡¯s only a matter of time until people start showing up.¡±

    ¡°Hold up. I never suggested that,¡± Victor interjected. ¡°Hopefully, in a few months, I will have discovered a way to cement our position as the region¡¯s powerhouse, but for now, we need to capitalize on what we have.¡±

    With a sigh, Toby leaned back onto his outstretched arms. ¡°And what do we have? A half-destroyed town, a few mines, and a load of undead minions.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget the road,¡± Andrew added with some hope returning to his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s almostplete. Although the humans could build their own road or take ours¡­¡±

    Victor¡¯s avatarughed. ¡°Remember, I said I didn¡¯t have enough monster corpses to cover the entire cursed forest in undead. But to protect a road and destroy other attempts at building one? Not a problem. But we have some time until the road isplete and humans start being a nuisance, so let¡¯s focus on getting this town up and running.¡±

    Victor hated the idea of spending more lifeforce on raising hundreds of undead, but the road needed to be protected. At all costs. Time for Necron to take the first step of asserting its dominance on the world stage, he thought as he left for the ice sculptures a final time. Things were about to get busy around here.

 Chapter 47. Lost Pirate

    Tension in the Empire¡¯s capital was running high. Garry, an ex-pirate turned mediocre merchant, could tell that much. There was a lockdown on the shocking information. But those in the know-how were itching to get out there and profit.

    The monsters were gone, and nobody knew why.

    Garry stroked his straggly beard as he walked down the sidewalk of the capital¡¯s famous shopping street. His funds, a few coppers, jingled in his pockets as he window-shopped for travel supplies. The smell of sulent meat wafted past his ruddy nose, but he ignored it as he needed to purchase the bad stuff.

    Spotting an alleyway he knew across the street, he prepared to cross the gray-cobbled road. Garry tapped his foot as he impatiently waited for a gap in the traffic on the surprisingly clean beige sidewalk. Wooden carts of diverse sizes pulled by horses rolled by, loaded with various produce en route to the market square. Garry¡¯s stomach rumbled, and he cursed the day he ditched the sea for a life onnd.

    As Garry thought there was an opening in traffic and stepped forward, a magitech car sped past him, almost smashing his outstretched leg. ¡°Fuckin¡¯ nobles!¡± he hollered as he retracted his leg and tried to calm down. Eshnar, his home city, was corrupt, but the Empire was in a different league. The nobles could do anything they wished, and the only ones they had to fear were themselves.

    Garry put his grubby hands deep in his overcoat¡¯s pockets and fumbled with the few coppers he had left. ¡°Darn, food prices pullin¡¯ me leg,¡± he muttered under his breath as he felt his stomach rumble again.

    Then there was a break in traffic, and Garry quickly made his way across the street alongside a few other residents. Some wore suits of high quality, while others wore more casual clothes. He didn¡¯t pay the well-off citizens of the Empire any of his attention and trudged down the alley. After window browsing for a bit, he discovered a store with dried meats hanging in the ss window on metal skewers. He pushed open the door with a ding and walked inside.

    ¡°I need two weeks of travel rations,¡± he dered as he eyed the butcherzily waiting behind the countertop.

    The burly butcher raised a brow at the scruffy man that walked into his shop. ¡°Two weeks? Where the hell are you going that only takes two weeks?¡±

    Garry waved him off. ¡°Don¡¯t cha worry about it,d. Here.¡± He dumped all the coins he had and waited expectantly.

    The butcher peered at his meager offering and sneered, ¡°Old man, that will buy you a week at most if you only eat one meal a day.¡±

    ¡°Whatcha say?!¡± Garry couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Last time I came here, it was only a copper a jerky!¡±

    The butcher shrugged. ¡°Food shortage has gotten really bad, and the nobles are hoarding food. It¡¯s three copper a jerky now. Take it or leave it; this store ain¡¯t a charity for the homeless.¡±

    Garry ignored the rude remark and grumbled for a while as he tried to find a way to survive in his head. He had enough copper for a week of food, including today. But it wasn¡¯t even good food. It was borderline rotting meat that he had dried out. His stomach gurgled a third time, and he couldn¡¯t take it anymore. ¡°Fine. I will buy it, yer bastard.¡±

    With a grin, the butcher grabbed and pocketed the coins before dumping a skewer with seven jerkies into a bag. He then removed the skewer and chucked it into a metal sink filled with other skewers. ¡°There you go.¡± The butcher handed the bag to Garry¡¯s waiting hands. ¡°Now off with ya. You are stinking out the ce with your filth.¡±

    Garry ignored the man and chewed ravenously on a jerky as he vacated the shop with a bell ding. He was exhausted, but his supply didn¡¯t allow dallying in one ce too long. He needed to leave tonight.

    ***

    Garry passed by many weary travelers as he left the city gates. The hustle and bustle always made leaving the city a drag, and the need to show paperwork to the guards made the whole process a dreadful experience all around.

    But as the setting sun bathed the world in a warm orange glow, Garry was finally on the dirt path and out of the city. After arriving at the Empire from Eshnar, he sold his donkey and cart alongside everything he owned. Now all he had was a small wooden cart he could drag behind him, a backpack of questionable quality, the clothes he wore and the ones in his cart, and finally, six pieces of dried meat.

    Garry may be uneducated and spent a life at sea, but he was no fool, and he knew this trip may be hisst. The sun dipped, and night¡¯s cold bite wed at his exposed skin. He had no money for food, let alone torches. As he walked, time passed slowly as the moon climbed high in the sky. Luckily, due to his rough life at sea, Garry had invested a lot of points in his CON stat so he could walk further than most peasants. But the race against his empty stomach and old bones worried him.

    After a few hours, the well-trodden dirt road disappeared, and Garry found himself surrounded by trees. ¡°Did I make a wrong turn?¡± he wondered as he looked around. Then in the distance, he heard the sound of shovels.

    Totally lost, Garry decided to get a little closer. As he approached the noise, he noticed a row of blue lights stretching into the darkness. Gathering courage, the old pirate pushed forward and stumbled upon an odd scene. Hundreds of small, hunched-over men were ving away to clear the forest and build a road.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    After a while, he decided to speak up. ¡°Excuse me¡­¡± he said, his gruff voice surprising even him; he hadn¡¯t drunk water in hours, and his throat was dry.

    ¡°One copper to use the toll road, human,¡± one of the small men said. The darkness made it hard to see their features, but they sounded odd.

    Since when was there a road out here? Garry thought as he tried to fish out a copper, only for his hand to pause when he realized he didn¡¯t have any left. He smacked his head. Idiot! How did ya n to pay the darn entry tax when ya arrived at Eshnar, yer daft cunt? The small man looked up at him as the pirate continued berating himself.

    ¡°Human, it is fine. You can sell stuff for the fee, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± A glimmer of hope ignited in Garry¡¯s eyes. ¡°I can sell yer a splendid outfit¡­but why are yer calling me human?¡± He calmed down. Something wasn¡¯t right. He had definitely wandered into the cursed forest at some point, yet there was a dirt road here?

    ¡°No worries, then. Head down the road for a few days, and you¡¯ll eventually reach Necron. Sell your wares there. Good luck!¡± The small man returned to his work and ignored any further questions.

    ¡°Hey! Hey! Are yer listening to meh? What the bleeding hell is a Necron? Where am I?¡± Garry shouted right next to the man, but he was ignored. Finally, in frustration, he gripped the man¡¯s hood and pulled it down.

    The shovel paused.

    Garry stared at the white skull that gleamed under the moonlight staring at him with hollow eyes. His body went into shock; he stumbled back and screamed. He had seen many horrors on the ocean, but a talking skeleton trumped anything he had ever experienced.

    ¡°Noisy.¡± The skeletal goblin raised its shovel and smacked the screaming human on the head.

    Garry¡¯s world went dark.

    ***

    ¡°Ughhh,¡± Garry groaned as he nursed his head. He felt nauseous, way worse than his most drunken hangovers while out on the rough seas. Blinking several times, he tried to stop the world from spinning. Then, fumbling around, he found his waterskin and took a swig. After a few minutes, he felt somewhat better and managed to stand. ¡°Where in the three realms is this?¡± he slurred as he looked up at a very tall wooden wall.

    The words on the sign were blurry, and he was terrible at reading, but he slowly spelled them out. ¡°N¡­E¡­C¡­R¡­O¡­N. Huh? Necron? What¡ª¡± Garry suddenly felt fully awake as he backpedaled. That name rang a bell, and all ofst night¡¯s antics came rushing back. ¡°AH! A talking skeleton! Where?¡± He desperately looked around, and all he could see was an empty dirt road except his cart.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    He was alone. Night had turned into day, and he was hungry. He looked left and right. One way led him into an ominously named ghost vige. The other was a long road to goddess knew where.

    ¡°Hello,¡± a voice boomed behind him, and Garry spun around on his heel. A green giant emerged from behind the town¡¯s high wooden wall. Its face was ugly, covered in rotting warts, and it had a wooden club on its shoulder. ¡°Wee to Necron. Enjoy your stay!¡± the giant monster said joyfully as it took up its post at the gate.

    Garry reached for his trusty dagger but paused as he remembered he had sold it for a loaf of bread three days ago. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. So he just stood there for a while, having a staring contest with the ogre.

    Eventually, a wonderful smell wafted through the gate. Garry peered past the monster and saw a wooden building. Divine-smelling steam billowed out of an open window andzily floated through the air toward him. His stomach furiously growled at him, and he clutched it in pain.

    Garry spent a while longer debating his options, but eventually, his hunger and desire to sleep won out. With a sigh, he walked back, hauled his cart behind him, and entered Necron vige under the watchful gaze of a towering giant monster.

    Necron¡¯s first visitor had arrived.

 Chapter 48. Tales Of Coral Beard

    Weeks passed, and progress in rebuilding the town had been slow, but Andrew, alongside his goblins, repaired everything destroyed in the fight and added some things.

    ¡°Master, someone has arrived at the town.¡±

    Victor looked across the ck ocean and confirmed that Andrew, the King Ooze, was contacting him. He had given Andrewplete authority over the town on the surface as he was diligent and good at his job. Obviously, Victor checked on him now and then, but his work had been satisfactory so far.

    Victor responded to the message as he had nothing better to do while watching the world go by. He had been expecting someone to either deliberately show up to the town or stumble upon it by now. Actually, the fact it took this long baffled him. Are they locking down the information about theck of monsters in the forest? That was his current theory.

    ¡°Who had arrived at the town? The merchants guild, perhaps?¡± Victor responded to Andrew and awaited a response.

    ¡°A pirate.¡±

    Victor paused. A pirate? Out of all the people to stumble upon my town in the middle of the continent, as far away from any ocean as possible is a pirate? He was utterly confused. I expected guild staff, perhaps a messenger demanding a meeting, but a lost pirate?

    ¡°Is he dangerous?¡± Victor asked. ¡°Maybe he is here to cause trouble?¡±

    ¡°No, master. He appears to be a merchant, a very poor one. Right after arriving, he headed straight for Bob¡¯s Inn. I believe the smell of Bob¡¯s cooking drew him in as the ogre guards told me he was hesitant to enter at first.¡±

    ¡°Wait. We are using ogres to guard the gate.¡± Victor mentally sighed. Of course, a merchant would be terrified to enter a town guarded by zombie ogres. They were B-grade monsters with immense strength. Nobody would approach one, no matter how inviting it appeared. In fact, he was baffled at the pirate¡¯s courage to enter anyways. Either he was desperate or had balls of steel cultivated from a life at sea. ¡°Andrew, how do you know the man is a pirate?¡± Pirates had a distinct look, but one could never be too sure.

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Andrew began. ¡°He is currently talking to Bob and is rambling about his life at sea. Also, his appearance matches that of a pirate, straggly ck beard, sun-kissed skin, and that limp they all have.¡±

    Well, Victor was convinced. The man was undoubtedly a pirate. A real pirate in the flesh. Somehow the fact a pirate showed up made it feel more like a fantasy world than magic. Although pirates did technically exist back on Earth, he much preferred the ones in the movies.

    Victor hovered over to the flying tform and anchored his body to it. I still have about a week until I clear the sixtieth floor. So a little entertainment would be perfect now as Alice has gone back to sleep and Genus is busy eating the dragon¡¯s corpse. He didn¡¯t need to summon his avatar and waste an obscene amount of lifeforce. Instead, he peered through the eyes of Bob.

    ***

    Garry felt extremely conflicted. In front of him was the most divine broth he had ever smelled, served in a generously big wooden bowl. The inviting broth was a murky brown filled with floating bits of meat and vegetables. Even a boiled egg was nestled in one of the edges, surrounded by leafy greens. The vapor from the broth warmed his heart, the smell blessed his nose, and thefortable chair rxed his muscles. Was he in heaven¡­or was he in hell?

    The soup was like the devil¡¯s temptation as a corrupted one, a perfectly pristine skeleton the size of a child, came to bring him a te of well-sliced wholegrain bread to go with his meal. Everything about this town was wrong, but even if the kid was dead, childbor went against his morals.

    ¡°Hey, kid. ¡¯ow old be ye?¡± Garry asked as politely as possible. The skeleton carried a knife in his other hand for whatever reason.

    ¡°Kid? My name is Bob,¡± Bob said in a voice so deep and gruff, Garry thought a grandpa dwarf was hiding under the table, and this was all an borate prank. Luckily he hadn¡¯t had any soup in his mouth. Otherwise, he would have spat it out in shock.

    ¡°Whoa there! That ye, matey? Quite the voice ye ¡¯ave!¡± Garry quickly apologized to the skeleton. Another bberin¡¯ skeleton, I ¡¯eard all me life they be mindless creatures that they seek only the destruction o¡¯ ¡¯umanity, yet ¡¯ere be one bberin¡¯ to me an¡¯ givin¡¯ me some jolly grub!

    When Garry got stressed, he forgot the manners he learned onnd and reverted to his natural ways. His kind was treated coldly by thend dwellers, so he watched his ent the best he could, but in all fifty years of his life, this was the most bizarre situation he had been in, hands down.

    The skeleton self-proimed as Bob stared at him with his empty eye sockets, as if expecting the conversation to continue.

    Garry gulped and decided to be bold and ask the question on the tip of his tongue. ¡°If ye aren¡¯t a kid, what be ye? Was ye always a skeleton?¡±

    Bob strode over, his skelly feet cking on the wooden floor. He sat opposite Garry and leaned his skull on his propped-up hand. ¡°I am no kid, nor have I always been a skelly.¡± He lowered his voice as if saying a dark secret. ¡°Actually, I used to have a magnificent beard, I tell ya. It went all the way to me knees, and thedies worshiped it, I tell ya.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Garry raised a brow. He was beyond skeptical that the skeleton had such an impressive beard. It was like when an old man with one eye and leg by the docks told tales of how they fought sharks to death in their youth. It may be a true tale, but the image of a disabled old man sitting before him made imagining the scene¡­somewhat tricky. ¡°So ye be a dwarf? Not some little kid?¡±

    Bob nodded sadly and then stared at the bowl of soup. ¡°My sisters loved my cooking. Shame I can never taste again.¡±

    Garry felt awful. He was a man with a hearty appetite for good food. He tried to think of something to offer the skeleton¡­ He was no pirate king with a vast wealth stored away on a desert ind, nor did he have magic to fix the skeleton, but he did have one idea. ¡°Say, Bob, do ye know o¡¯ coral reefs?¡±

    Bob groaned in response. He¡¯d given up on holding his head up. And now his face was mashed against the surface of the wooden table.

    Garry took Bob¡¯s groan as a no, so he continued. ¡°Well, I met this here fascinatin¡¯ dentist on the ¡¯igh seas one rough winter. The crew¡¯s teeth ¡¯ad fallen out because the grub been too ¡¯ard.¡± He watched Bob slowly raise his head, clearly more interested in the conversation. ¡°You see, this here dentist said the coral reefs below the sea were made from the same thin¡¯ our teeth were. So ¡¯e retrieved some an¡¯ made teeth from them.¡±

    Garry chuckled at the memory and ignored his raging stomach. ¡°We all ¡¯ad jolly colored teeth fer months. Became a fashion trend amongst us, an¡¯ when wended on shore, we got called the coral gentlemen o¡¯ fortune. It got so bad, our cap¡¯n ¡¯ad a beard o¡¯ the stuff!¡±

    Despite theck of eyes, Garry saw a me of hope ignite.

    Garry decided to finish his tale with the funniest part of all. ¡°They started callin¡¯ ¡¯im coral beard!¡±

    Bob mmed the table and said in his gruff voice, ¡°Where is this coral you speak of?¡±

    Garry grinned, showing his colorful teeth hidden by his scruffy beard. ¡°Go to the shore,d. The sea calls yer name.¡±

    Bob ran his fingers along his chin as he fell into contemtion. ¡°My beard¡­I can get an even better one. A beard of coral, even grander than your captain¡¯s!¡±

    Garry closed his eyes and nodded sagely. ¡°Aye. Jolly luck to ye, an¡¯ thank yed fer listenin¡¯ to this here old man¡¯s tale.¡±

    Hearing no response, he opened his eye and saw the opposite seat vacated, as if the skeleton was never there, only the still-warm broth and te of bread evidence of his presence. Garry shrugged, nced around the dead-silent inn, and decided to finally tuck into his meal. But right as the spoon entered his mouth, he wondered, How can I pay fer this here if the cook be gone?

    With another shrug, he dug into the most glorious meal he had ever had.

    ***

    Victor watched through Bob¡¯s eyes as the skeleton walked out of his inn, looked both ways, and, seemingly picking a random direction, began walking.

    ¡°Where are you going?¡± he asked inside Bob¡¯s head.

    The skeleton didn¡¯t even falter in his stride as he resolutely answered. ¡°To reim what I lost.¡±

    Victor mulled over Bob¡¯s words. A part of him wanted Bob to stay in Necron under his thumb. Bob was a great cook and would be a good source of ie once the town opened up. But another part of him felt¡­bad. Bob didn¡¯t deserve what happened to him. He didn¡¯t ask for any of this. Victor was the one who killed him, brought him back to life, stripped him of his identity, and reduced him to a depressed cook in a customer-less inn.

    Victor watched as Bob left the gates, took a right, and began heading southwest. He had no ns to stop the determined skeleton. In fact, maybe this would be a chance for him to see more of the outside world through the eyes of Bob.

    ¡°Call me if you need anything,¡± were his final words as he cut the connection. He needed to hire a new chef and knew just the pirate for the job.

 Chapter 49. Meeting The Mayor

    Garry leaned back, let out a monstrous burp, and relished in the warmth that spread throughout his body. ¡°That been the best broth I ¡¯ave e¡¯er ¡¯ad!¡± He paused and then smacked himself. ¡°Talk proper! Like thend folk. Ahem¡­¡± He coughed awkwardly and looked around the empty inn. It was ratherrge butcked that dirt and grime needed to give a tavern that certain feel. Instead, everything was too new and clean that it was somewhat stifling.

    ¡°Well, that will soon change! Once the people learn about this soup, they wille running from across the continent!¡± He nodded to himself as he reverted back to the proper ent. None of that pirate jargon he was so used to spouting on the high seas. After another burp, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and stood up. ¡°Now what?¡±

    Garry froze as he realized he had no idea what to do. I am in the cursed forest¡­in a town nobody has ever heard of, where there are talking undead. He sighed and picked up the empty bowl. He might as well clean up after himself.

    ¡°Mister Pirate?¡±

    Garry turned to the voice and saw another short person. Ah geez, another one. What¡¯s with this ce and childbor or dwarfs? But he had learned his lesson and kept his mouth shut about that.

    ¡°Name¡¯s Garry.¡± Rule one of being a pirate onnd, let nobody know you are a pirate. Keep it lowkey. Otherwise, thend dwellers hurled obscenities.

    ¡°Mister Garry,¡± the short man, which looked oddly simr to the one that smacked him with a shovel, repeated and bowed slightly. ¡°Please follow me. The mayor wishes to speak with you.¡±

    That was music to Garry¡¯s ears. Surely the mayor would be somewhat normal and be able to help him out. ¡°Excellent. Take me to your mayor.¡±

    Garry gathered himself and followed after the helpful person. Just for good measure, he also brought his cart filled with clothes. Even though nobody¡¯s around, you can never be too careful¡­

    The man led him down a gravel path through the center of the town¡­or was it a vige? It was hard to tell. Garry examined the architecture. Most buildings here were log cabins with signs suggesting they were inns or taverns. The architecture was nothing impressive and gave him the idea that this town was aiming to be a rest stop for weary travelers rather than a ce to live. At least for now.

    After a few minutes, Garry turned a corner and saw a massive clearing. In the center of the town was arge pce constructed of white stone. It was rtively simple and wouldn¡¯t be that impressive back in the Empire or even Eshnar, but the fact it was the only stone building surrounded by many wooden buildings made it stand out a lot more.

    Even the pathway from the edge of the clearing to the building¡¯s entrance was cobbled stone rather than gravel. Garry marveled at how his cartwheels glided across the smooth surface as he walked past a basic but well-kept garden.

    ¡°Wee to the mayor¡¯s residence. He awaits you inside.¡± The man gestured to the foreboding doors and added, ¡°Good luck.¡± As the man walked away, Garry caught a glimpse of the man¡¯s skull face hidden under the hood he was wearing.

    Garry scowled at the undead¡¯s back as it walked off. He would get revenge for the massive bruise on his forehead some other time. For now, he needed to focus on his meeting with the mayor. He cooled his nerves, making sure to keep his ent in check. ¡°You got this¡­just like talking to the captain.¡±

    Pushing on the doors, Garry held his breath as the surprisingly heavy wooden door swung open with a creek. Inside was dark, with the only lighting from the sun behind him and a few well-ced dim lights lining the walls. Gripping the handles of his cart till his old fingers went white, he strode forward with fake confidence.

    Garry winced as every step he took echoed through the dark room. A good few steps away, on the far side of the room, was another door guarded by an ogre. This one held an actual mace in its muscr arm rather than a piece of tree. He got cold feet under the ogre¡¯s questioning re. Its head moved ever so slightly with every step he took forward as if waiting for him to get in range so it could smack him down.

    To Garry¡¯s surprise, the ogre did not smash him into meat paste and instead kindly opened the door for him and gave him an ugly but reassuring smile.

    They passed through the smaller door that was iid with some gold and other metals that appeared haphazardly attached to the door, as if an amateur had been given far more wealth than they needed and had no idea what to do with it. Garry ignored the tant attempt to unt wealth and pushed forward.

    Passing the door revealed a marble-floored room with nothing but a vast throne. Garry¡¯s entire body seized up as something massive moved on the darkened throne. The dim lighting made it hard to see, but Garry was certain arge mass of something was rxing on the throne.

    A wet, squelching sound apanied the thing as it rolled over to face him. He was met with two gray eyes and a mouth far too wide¡ªit was ear-splitting.

    ¡°Wee, man named Garry, to Necron. We require a chef as our chef quit due to your bbering.¡±

    The thing spoke, and Garry was terrified. Was this some horror show? Was this all some fucked-up, twisted dream? The creature upon the throne was so far from human, yet so eerily close, his brain struggled to categorize it. Was it a man or a monster?<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°So.¡± Its frog-like face grinned at him with no teeth, and Garry¡¯s blood ran cold. ¡°You will be the new chef from now on. Good luck.¡±

    Garry was baffled. He had been the chef onboard his ship and had a hearty appetite, but he was no professionalnd chef. Nobody would want to be served by a pirate. ¡°But I ¡¯ave ne¡¯er cooked proper restaurant meals before!¡± He was feeling stressed, so he let his pirate ways slip out. ¡°Pardon me speech¡­I just speak like this here when I be nervous¡ª¡±

    The creature raised a stubby hand that had an odd look to it as if it was slightly translucent yet also ended in ws. ¡°I have decided, and therefore it shall be so. You will be the new chef.¡± The thing reached over and grabbed something from a bowl; it squealed in the mayor¡¯s hand, but the mayor simply opened his enormous mouth like a whale and chucked it in. ¡°Ahem, as I was saying. The Rock will teach you how to cook. The meals don¡¯t have to be that high quality anyway. We will hire more people soon enough.¡±

    Garry felt more relieved knowing someone would teach him and there would be more peopleing. But he had to ask, ¡°Do I have a choice?¡± Although he was a terrible merchant, he still enjoyed traveling, so being tied down to this bizarre town seemed like it would age him faster than anything else.

    There was a stifling silence, and Garry wondered if he had said something wrong. Then, finally, after Garry was getting worried, the creature rolled off the throne with a sickening squelch and began its way over to him. Garry slowly backed away one step at a time as the thing rose to its full height. Even in the darkness, the mere outline of the thing nearly reached the ceiling.

    The thing was slow, likerd moving at a cier¡¯s pace, and Garry could outrun it by crawling, but that was not the problem. Instead, the hardwood pressing against his back made the old pirate curse his life.

    The door was closed, and it refused to budge.

    With nowhere to run, Garry tried to plead with the creature as it slowly approached. With every lurch forward, he felt his lifeing closer to an end. Finally, the beast was so close he could see every detail, including the small rodent dissolving inside the slimy monster¡¯s stomach. ck bubbles rose through the gray slime as the rodent¡¯s flesh was devoured.

    The creature was at least four times his height, and its head alone was the size of him. As it leaned in, Garry almost felt his legs give out, and in ast-ditch attempt, he blurted out, ¡°I would be ¡¯onored to be yer esteemed chef, me lord! Please give me the job!¡± He avoided spitting in disgust. Never in his life had he felt so pathetic.

    ¡°Goooood.¡± The creature smiled and licked its lips. It then reached out with its stubby hand and reached into his pocket. Garry froze as the ws gripped the paper bag filled with jerky. Then, to his horror, the creature ate all his travel rations, bag included, in one gulp. ¡°Off with you, then,¡± the creature grumbled as it began its long journey back to its throne. ¡°The goblins will lead you back.¡±

    ¡°T-the goblins?¡± Garry asked in confusion as he felt the door behind him suddenly open. He stumbled backward, and the door mmed in his face. He turned on his heel, and sure enough, the little bastard wearing the hood was waiting for him. Seeing the smug skeleton, he decided to unleash his built-up frustration. ¡°You fucker¡ª¡±

    ***

    ¡°This is Rock. He will be teaching you from now on.¡±

    Garry listened to the goblin¡¯s words with a terrible frown and a rapidly darkening second bruise on his head. But the sight of a golem, covered in enough gems to fund a kingdom lording over a cauldron behind Bob¡¯s inn, was a sight to behold.

    ¡°That sparkling rock is going to teach me to cook?¡± Garry asked skeptically. The thing looked big enough to smash through a castle wall, let alone manage a stove.

    The goblin shrugged and walked off. ¡°No idea. Good luck.¡±

    ¡°Good luck,¡± Garry spat. Every time he heard that phrase today, he had the opposite of anything good or lucky. ¡°Soooo,¡± he said as he strolled toward the cauldron. ¡°What are you cooking?¡±

    ¡°BROTH,¡± the golem thundered, and Garry covered his ears as his world shook.

    ¡°What the ¡¯ell, ye big oaf?¡± Garry shouted. ¡°Speak quietly, or ye will make me deaf!¡± He had had enough of being shitted on today, and it was time for him to take charge. He was a pirate, for Pete¡¯s sake.

    The golem visibly sagged. ¡°SORRY,¡± he attempted to whisper.

    Garry sighed. It had been the most hectic and long day of his life, and it wasn¡¯t even dinner time! But he had to admit whatever was being cooked in the pot smelled darn good. Looking over, he felt the broth looked familiar¡­ ¡°Wait. You made my lunch?¡±

 Chapter 50. Harbinger Of Destruction

    Things were progressing smoothly down in the Grand Dungeon¡¯s depths. A month or so had passed since Garry the pirate arrived at Necron, and Victor and his merry band were making significant progress. As he had suspected, the main threat of the arctic floors was the immense distance it took to traverse and the extreme climate. I suspect the dungeon didn¡¯t spawn any monsters on those floors on purpose, so delvers had no way to acquire food. Unfortunately for the dungeon, there was a limit on how strong monsters could be, so sometimes, Mother Nature was the only way to defeat something.

    Victor realized that if the dragons hadn¡¯t been chasing them, there was a high chance Genus would have died from starvation. Luckily, Alice would have survived the arctic either way since she became a mana body, and Victor could probably survive in space, let alone some frozen wastnd. But if I didn¡¯t have millions of stat points saved up from the previous floors, I could have died, too. That was a disturbing thought, so he vowed to save as many points as possible.

    In the distance was a spire of ice that dominated the tndscape like an overlord¡¯s throne. Unfortunately, Victor had no idea what the next floor had in store as they were traveling way faster than Wiggles, so he couldn¡¯t send him on ahead to scout like he had on the other floors.

    ¡°Wake up.¡± Victor spoke for the first time in days as the flying tform drew near the ice spire. ¡°We have arrived.¡±

    Genus opened an eye, raised his neck, and let out an impressive yawn thatsted a full minute. Then, after licking his lips, he spotted the ice spire and grinned.

    Out of the three, Genus had suffered the most. He had resorted to cannibalism and had to constantly cycle his mana to survive the constant sub-zero temperatures since he was a cold-blooded creature.

    The door to the hut creaked open, and Alice emerged. She stretched, a habit that likely remained from when she was human, and looked around sleepily. ¡°Oh,¡± was all she said as the tform began its descent to the tower¡¯s entrance.

    ¡°How long did I sleep?¡± Alice asked as the tform touched down on the ice.

    ¡°Weeks? Maybe months? No idea.¡± Victor had stopped keeping track long ago. His perception of time had changed ever since he acquired his new form. Without the sweet embrace of sleep to help pass the time, his brain operated on apletely different scale.

    ¡°Huh.¡± Alice fixed her messy hair. ¡°Now that I think about it¡­time has no meaning to me anymore.¡±

    Genus hummed. ¡°It must be difficult toe to terms with bing an immortal¡­assuming your race is?¡±

    Alice honestly had no clue. Records and legends that she doubted more and more every day suggested that high humans had very long but not infinite life spans. But am I a high human? My race doesn¡¯t say that. All it says are question marks and lists my body type as a Darkness Mana Body. The System also said my life span had drastically increased¡­ So she pondered to herself as the group got ready to finally step foot on the sixty-first floor.

    The zombie dragonsnded, snuck their wings under the wooden tform, and carried it on their backs as they walked into the tower¡¯s inviting entrance. Unfortunately, due to the tower¡¯s weird pressure that stopped flying, they couldn¡¯t simply fly inside, so everyone, even Victor, was reduced to walking, although Netherborne were incapable of walking and instead floated a foot off the ground.

    They descended the same mystical steps for a few hours through an encapsted void. Few words were exchanged as they all enjoyed the rhythmic drum of the zombie dragons¡¯ feet. In moments like these, Victor was grateful the undead he created had far higher intelligence than the undead he knew of in other novels or video games. Remembering his homnd, he wondered, How is Terry doing on Earth? Maybe he could send me some entertainment through our link somehow? I would be willing to shell out a few million stat points for an inte connection.

    However, now was not the time to contact Terry. When Victor reached the bottom of the dungeon andpleted whatever trial awaited him, only then would he waste so many points on useless things like Terry and a phone connection. Other than soothing his boredom, knowing the affairs of Earth were of no concern to him at the moment.

    Victor was distracted from his thoughts as the exit came into view. As always, Wiggles, slithering in front of them, went first, as Victor had designated him as the party¡¯s scout. After a few minutes, Victor had confirmed through a conversation with the titanic earthworm what the floor entailed, and it was both good and bad news.

    ¡°Good news, this floor should be effortless for me to deal with,¡± Victor said.

    Genus let out a long sigh. ¡°And the bad news?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s insects for dinner¡­¡±

    Genus spat to the side in disgust, and Alice threw up her hands and walked back to her hut. ¡°If anyone needs me, I will be sleeping. No way I¡¯m dealing with that.¡±

    ¡°Hold on. Your Hellfire will be very useful here and you an unfathomable amount of experience points. At least fight for a few hours a day.¡± Victor wanted to ensure Alice gained as many levels as possible during their descent. Sure, his Annihting Aura would be insanely effective here, but he wouldn¡¯t manage to kill every single insect, especially those too high level for his aura spell to deal with.

    ¡°You just want to focus on your project on the surface and have me do all the work,¡± Alice refuted. She knew that Victor had been busy dealing with things on the surface, and he couldn¡¯t attend to Necron if he was busy keeping swarms of insects from the floating tform.

    Victor hated to admit it, but she was partially correct. The surface affairs had picked up steam recently with people from the Empire and Eshnar discovering the toll roads. He was still unsure if they had been officially allowed or disclosed to the public, but traffic had picked up the pace, and the money was rolling in.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Who knew owning a town was so much fun, especially when he didn¡¯t have to do anything, and it was all handled by his subordinates? It¡¯s an borate video game for me to pass the time with. With both Genus and Alice sleeping the months away, Victor was left alone with his own thoughts for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and that was insane, so managing the town helped keep his mind off thoughts such as, What if I am still alive on Earth?

    Unfortunately, that thought remained dormant at the back of his mind like a ticking time bomb. Yet he knew he would eventually discover the truth through Terry or another source.

    ¡°All right, sure, maybe I want to work on Necron, but¡ª¡± Victor was cut off as Wiggles sent him a wave of distress. He quickly focused on his favorite pet and found he waspletely swarmed. Without waiting, he floated through the tower¡¯s exit and examined the new floor.

    It was a mixture of ck mud, bodies of stagnant brown water, and small inds of nts connected by natural decaying wooden bridges. Victor obviously couldn¡¯t smell, but he had visited a simr-looking biome back on Earth for a school geography project and had struggled to keep down his lunch due to the stench.

    The stagnant pools of murky water with swarms of fist-size flies mating above them rippled as the ground shook. The awful sound of wet sludge pping together was followed by an eruption as Wiggles¡¯s titanic head emerged in the far distance with hundreds of earthwormstched onto his scales like leeches. They wiggled like brown tentacles as they gnawed on his armored tes. Wiggles violently twisted his body and mmed back down in an attempt to crush the vermin, but the vibrations seemed to attract more earthworms totch on and rece theirrades.

    ¡°The ground is alive,¡± Genus noted as he gazed at thend with his rainbow eyes. ¡°Anything that tries to cross this floor bynd won¡¯t make it very far.¡±

    Alice pointed to the sky. ¡°The air is no better. Look at those things; the sky is practically ck due to how many there are.¡±

    Sure enough, the sky was nketed by a raging storm of flies varying in size from a fist to the size of arge dog. Wiggles erupted from the ground again, but this time, his neon-green flesh glowed and secreted a sludge that coated his skin like a wax that seemed to burn the mouths of the earthworms.

    ¡°Seems Wiggles is fine as always,¡± Victor remarked. That undead pet of his was by far his best investment so far. Not even the dragons he had in his employ couldpare. ¡°Right, let¡¯s get a move on. Hopefully, this floor is smaller than the others.¡±

    Victor still needed more data to be sure, but he suspected the dungeon had a limited budget of mana to expend per floor. The more extreme the conditions, the more mana was required. Same with the number of monsters. Fewer monsters, less mana. More monsters, less severe conditions. It was a trade-off, as with anything in this world. But as we get closer to the lowest floor, the amount of mana the dungeon has avable to invest in each floor seems to be increasing. From first nce, this floor has repeated the harsh environment tactic with only insects for food and stagnant water that is undrinkable without magic.

    Sadly for the dungeon, swarm tactics were the least optimal way to deal with a Netherborne. With every kill, Victor would only grow in power and increase his army. Which was precisely his game n. None of the other floors allowed me to amass arge amount of usable undead. The graveyard floor had weak skeletons, the desert had slugs, the ocean floor had creatures useless out of the water, the caves had some strong creatures, but I used them to distract the dragons chasing us, and finally, the Fleshtree floor had¡­trees. They can¡¯t exactly move.

    Metaphorically cracking his knuckles, it was time to get to work. Victor mentally directed the undead dragons to resume flying operations. Since Wiggles couldn¡¯t go on ahead to scout out the tower, Victor had to guess where the next tower would be¡­or did he? It seems the dungeon uses the towers to move mana from one floor to another, so following the flow of mana will guide me.

    With the flying tform in the air, he floated in front of it and watched as the withering mass of dog-size flies spotted fresh meat in the form of Alice standing defiantly with her arms crossed below her chest and her mana shield coating her in ck armor.

    As the swarm loomed, the buzzing became deafening, and like a living tsunami, the wave of flies overwhelmed the sky and encircled them on all sides. As the ring of flies rapidly condensed around the unamused Alice, Victor toggled on his kill switch.

    Annihting Aura pulsed like a tide of extinction. The flies that hit the invisible wave of death mana had their bodies eradicated from the inside out as they rapidly decayed and tumbled from the sky.

    Like hail, flies rained on the mudnd below, and Victor watched in slight disgust as the ground wiggled with python-size earthworms that eagerly awaited their falling meal.

    But before the flies touched down, Victor cast the most extensive Raise Undead spell ever. His domain over life and death took over the world, and the flies had a breath of life reignited in them as the spell fought to rebuild every single one.

    Some eagerly awaiting earthworms detected a shift in their prey¡¯s behavior and retreated under the mud. But the less observant ones found themselves being grabbed by ws the size of human hands and dragged into the sky to be devoured by a swarm of flesh-hungry undead.

    The consumed earthworms were then reconstructed as another Raise Undead spell pulsed out. Like a harbinger of destruction, Victormanded his swarm like aposer. He could hardly contain himself as he cast Consume and his lifeforce almost doubled as a sea of souls swirled up to provide life to the void creature.

    As Victor thought he had dealt with them all, another swarm appeared on the horizon. But this time, Alice had both her hands ready. She hovered into the sky as a purplish ball of hellfire rapidly expanded before her. Once the swarm was close enough, she spread out her hands, and the ball exploded into a ze that cascaded across the sky and engulfed the swarm.

    The chorus of exploding flies like popcorn and the sickening smell of burned insects wafted over, but Alice had a grin as she inspected a screen only she could see. It seemed this floor would be incredibly beneficial to both of them¡­and they were only just getting started.

 Chapter 51. Meeting The Guild Master

    Victor was bored again¡ªwhich felt even worse since it was self-inflicted. I chose to be an undead since it would make my life as easy as possible. Who would have thought having an easy life could be so dull? Luckily the swarm of flies under his control was intelligent enough to obey a simplemand: kill everything.

    ¡°Bleh.¡± Genus spat on the floor and flicked the half-eaten worm dripping in his saliva off the side of the floating tform. He looked awful, clearly having lost some of the weight he had regained from consuming his kin. Victor hadn¡¯t put much thought into it, as Genus was a side character in his life, but the dragon had shown remarkable willpower to continue following him this far.

    ¡°Just a few more months, and you will finally obtain what you desire,¡± Victor said, and Genus perked up slightly, some newfound desire to continue sparking in his crystal eyes.

    Genus grumbled and rested his head back on his crossed paws. ¡°I sure hope so. This journey has been nothing but torture.¡±

    Victor had to agree, although in his case, the torture had been the mind-numbing boredom during the most recent floors rather than physical. Once you take away the time needed to sleep, eat, and use the bathroom, you are left with a concerning amount of free time to spend on self-reflection and contemting life.

    Luckily for everyone involved, they were currently on the seventieth floor, so only a few hours of travel separated them from the next biome. Unfortunately, the initial joy from the floor¡¯s abundant experience points had somewhat dulled after weeks of ck mud, disgusting earthworms, and the constant drone of the millions of undead flies encircling them. Nevertheless, Victor was curious about how Alice was doing, so he decided to pull up the party screen.

    [Name: Alice]

    [Race: ???]

    [Body: Darkness Mana Body]

    [Level: 317] (level up! x217)

    [STR: 335(+217), DEX: 347(+217), CON: 354(+217), INT: 682(+434), WIS: 674(+434)]

    (Dulled Emotions)

    [Name: Victor]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 827] (level up! x327)

    [Stat Points: 800+ Million]

    (Lifeforce Unstable - 926 Days) (Extreme Mana Sickness[-10 stats per second])

    [Name: Terry]

    [ERROR: CONNECTION LOST]

    As expected, the gains on these ten floors had been tremendous. Alice had tripled her level to an impressive 317. She had taken full advantage of this floor¡¯s abundant and easy-to-kill prey. Even now, she was a few miles outside Victor¡¯s Annihting Aura spell radius, bringing destruction to thend like a wrathful god. Purple fire danced along the horizon, and plumes of thick smoke rose as the dead wood and the few nts native to thend burned.

    However, Alice¡¯s gains had been impressive but nothingpared to Victor¡¯s. Although his System was a sham and provided few benefits as he leveled, his number had still increased an astonishing 327 times, and the millions of undead swarming around him were a testament to that virtual increase. Even more hrious is how my System screen stopped listing my stats and simply says eight hundred million, and even the lifeforce counter has switched to days from hours.

    Victor calcted how many years of lifeforce he had, and it worked out to twenty-five years on the surface but only two-and-a-half years down here. No wonder Netherborne go extinct, all of this ughter for a quarter of a century¡¯s worth of life. It was weird to think he went to such lengths to be an immortal creature and escape the ultimate weakness of humans¡ªdeath¡ªjust to have an estimated lifespan lower than anywhere back on Earth.

    Before he could debate his decisions for the thousandth time, a voice spoke in his head: ¡°Master.¡± It was Andrew¡¯s voice, one that he had be greatly ustomed to and enjoyed hearing, as whenever Andrew contacted him, it was something interesting. ¡°Sorry to bother you, but I believe the people we have been waiting for have finally shown up.¡±

    This was the best news Victor had heard all week. Finally, the officials from the guild were at Necron. ¡°What¡¯s happening? Tell me the details.¡±

    ¡°Ahem.¡± Andrew cleared his throat and continued. ¡°They arrived only moments ago and have already demanded an immediate audience with the mayor and necromancer. I gave my subordinates the go-ahead, so they are on their way here now.¡±

    ¡°Excellent. I will be right over.¡± Victor made sure everything was fine around him before anchoring his body to the floating tform and casting Shadow Magic to create his avatar. As usual, he used Andrew as a proxy for his magic. Otherwise, it would be like hurling his spell through thousands of miles¡¯ worth of rock¡­assuming he could even get through the dungeon¡¯s mana-shielded walls. Luckily the ck ocean allowed Victor to ignore distance and obstacles, for the most part, so long as one of his undead was there.

    Victor utilized Andrew¡¯s senses, picked a location nearby, and recreated his avatar. Deciding to maintain consistency, he recreated the avatar he used to speak with Eve over a month ago.

    For some reason, Victor was getting a little nervous, like his first job interview back on Earth. Deciding he wanted to give off a powerful first impression, he funneled a million stat points to make the avatar as detailed as possible while maintaining its featureless face, other than teardrop eyes that glowed blue.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Once he was done, his shadowy man bearing aicallyrge top hat and a well-tailored suit of darkness strolled out of a crack in space and dusted itself off.

    Somewhere during the process, the doors to Andrew¡¯s throne room had swung open, and the delegation from the guild had arrived. Everyone present, except Eve, was alert and had their weapons drawn. Everyone¡¯s eyes were glued to the shadowy man that had appeared.

    A few tense moments followed until Eve stepped forward and gestured toward the shadowy man that looked at them with his smiling eyes. ¡°Guild Master, this is the necromancer you wished to meet. Or at least an illusion of him. As I said in my report, there was arge pressure, followed by the appearance of a man iming to be the necromancer we had been looking for¡ª¡±

    ¡°Stop it.¡±

    Eve instantly stopped at her guild master¡¯s words and awkwardly stood there.

    Through Andrew, Victor gazed upon the guild master, who seemed to feel his presence. He wasn¡¯t sure what he expected from an elusive character such as the guild master, but an overly lofty human-size, bright orange-furred sloth standing on its hind legs while adjusting golden-rimmed sses carefully bnced on its snout was thest thing he expected.

    The orange-furred sloth remained within his encirclement of guards, each with adamantite tes hanging from their necks. He elongated his neck over a guard¡¯s shoulder as if trying to get even the faintest bit of understanding of what he was looking at.

    His sses gleamed with a sh of blue, and the sloth jerked back. Then, deciding to break the silence, the sloth spoke in a very polite and posh ent: ¡°Ahem. My name is Plutus, and I run the merchants guild back in the Empire. Many advised me not toe here, and I hope my decision to ignore their well-grounded advice won¡¯te to bite me in my furry backside¡­¡± Plutus chuckled to himself, and his guards tensed up further. ¡°I¡¯m only a beginner mage and an even more pathetic warrior, but what I do have is connections and the knack for business. And what I see here is an opportunity that can benefit all parties!¡±

    Silence.

    Plutusughed nervously and adjusted his sses as Andrewzily stared at him, and Victor¡¯s avatar just red at the sloth.

    ¡°B-basically, the Emperor has heard the news of this ce, and he wishes to¡­capture it. But Eve here convinced me that doing so would incur a significant loss to the Empire¡ªboth in the death of our armies and loss of potential economic growth.¡±

    Silence graced the room once again, and Andrew chose this moment to retrieve a snack. As Victor watched the tiny creature in Andrew¡¯s stubby arms being crushed to death and chucked into his open mouth, he noticed that Andrew had grown in size¡­by a lot. The throne had been expanded already as it was no longer symmetrical with the room, yet the lower third of Andrew¡¯s titanic body flopped off the end.

    Andrew returned his sights to the orange sloth and burped. Victor allowed Andrew to deal with most affairs involving the surface, which included this negotiation, but he would obviously step in when he felt necessary. He believed it was a quality of a ruler to allow one¡¯s subordinates to handle small matters.

    Feeling silly just standing there, Victor used Shadow Magic to construct himself a throne, far more magnificent and foreboding than Andrew¡¯s crude one. Then, as he took his seat and leaned his featureless face in his palm, he gestured for Andrew to lead discussions.

    ¡°Thank you, my lord.¡± Andrew nodded and looked back at the orange sloth. ¡°Guild Master Plutus, my name is Andrew, the mayor of this fine town. We have a lot to offer and would be delighted to enter trade rtions with the Empire and Eshnar¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Plutus said and sped his hands together. ¡°I will leave all my documents regarding our rtionship for you to review, and we can catch up tomorrow. How does that sound?¡±

    Victor was suspicious of this sloth. Usually, a businessman would pressure the other party into epting a deal, and there was no better time to do so than while they had the initiative. But had his appearance shaken Plutus so greatly that he had changed his game n? He decided to find out.

    ¡°Plutus,¡± Victor spoke through his avatar, and his ancient voice filled the room. ¡°Did the Emperor send you here?¡±

    ¡°N-no¡­Your Excellency. I came here on my own ord.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm.¡± Victor¡¯s shadowy avatar crossed its legs and leaned back on the throne. ¡°Then we have nothing to discuss.¡±

    ¡°What¡­¡± Plutus¡¯s mouth opened and closed a few times in shock.

    Eventually, the orange sloth rxed, took off his sses, and changed his demeanor. Despite iming to be a beginner mage, even Andrew raised a brow at the pressure that suddenly filled the room.

    ¡°It seems the gentle approach to negotiations has fallen through. A pity, really, but wars aren¡¯t started over something as fickle as beliefs but rather over whose pockets need stuffing. Would you happen to agree with me on that point, Mayor Andrew and Sir Necromancer?¡±

    Andrew heartilyughed, and he stroked his goatee. ¡°War is indeed a costly endeavor. Some even im it could disrupt the bnce of power within a nation¡­depending on which nobles choose to fight.¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± Plutus replied. ¡°Do we have something of interest to discuss now?¡±

    Victor¡¯s avatar stared at Plutus with glowing eyes. However, the orange sloth didn¡¯t yield under his gaze this time. A shrewd businessman indeed¡­ Victor liked him; conversing with someone who got straight to the point was always enjoyable.

    ¡°Indeed we do,¡± Victor replied. ¡°Please proceed, Guild Master.¡±

 Chapter 52. Discovering New Lands

    With mutual interest established, Plutus took center stage after dismissing his guards, except for two wearing ck cloaks on either side of him.

    ¡°I will be frank, Necron lies on disputed territory, not only between the various noble factions within the Empire but between all forces on the continent.¡± Plutus, the ever-serious orange sloth, brought out a document from his spatial ring and cleared his throat. ¡°Ahem. Currently, ten noble houses petitioned in court to send their armies to conquer the cursed forest and Necron in honor of the Emperor.¡±

    Plutus cast some wind magic, and the parchment floated peacefully into Andrew¡¯s waiting hands. The enormous ooze that looked like a gray slug caressed his goatee as he carefully examined each name. While he did so, Plutus continued. However, this time he focused on Victor¡¯s shadowy avatar thatzily sat on a throne of darkness.

    ¡°Your Excellency¡­¡±

    ¡°Vox,¡± Victor replied. ¡°You may refer to me as Vox, for I am the voice of His Excellency.¡±

    ¡°Ah! So you are a champion of the necromancer?¡±

    Vox shrugged, and his teardrop eyes gleamed. ¡°Something like that.¡± Victor had decided to use this avatar more and more, but he wanted it to be something separate from himself¡­a representative of sought, and thest name he gave¡ªVoice¡ªwas far too awkward to use in casual conversations. Vox, the word for voice in Latin, was a far better name.

    ¡°Right¡­¡± Plutus straightened his back. ¡°Well, I hope to meet your master one day.¡±

    Plutus received no answer from the necromancer¡¯s champion, so he continued his debriefing. ¡°So, as previously mentioned, this is heavily disputed territory. You will be invaded by us, Eshnar, the Frosnds, or hell¡­even the Mystical Realm may be interested. So before I even bother to offer you our solutions¡­can you protect yourself? Or at least this part of the forest?¡±

    There was a moment of silence until Vox¡¯s hauntedughter suffocated the room. After that, even Andrew jiggled withughter for a while.

    ¡°Hrious! Did you not see the hundreds of ice sculptures containing some of the most feared monsters to ever roam thesends sitting outside for my viewing pleasure?¡± Vox rose from his throne, and immense pressure descended on the room as if a sleeping deity had been rudely awoken from a timeless sleep.

    Reality cracked for a brief moment, and Plutus, alongside his guards, got a glimpse of Victor¡¯s true form through the veil of smoke that clouded their mortal sight.

    And then it faded as if the pressure that threatened to snap their bones and boil their blood and the view of the unknown creature from a ne of nothingness was all just a twisted nightmare, an illusion of a sick mind.

    The two cloaked figures fell to a knee, but Plutus stood tall. Defiance painted on his orange-furred face and something else¡­admiration with a sprinkle of opportunity.

    ¡°Excellent.¡± Plutus pped his paws and readjusted his gold-rimmed sses that sat precariously on his snout with his long w. ¡°It seems you have defense well under control. Ahem, so I hope you won¡¯t mind if we send some less desirable nobles your way? Just a little cleanup is all.¡±

    Vox seemed to smile, despite his featureless face. ¡°Oh, I see what that crafty bastard is doing. The Emperor is ying this surprisingly smart. Test our defenses while simultaneously eliminating some undesirable and power-hungry nobles that set their sights way too high. Am I correct, Guild Master? Are you sending ditzy, power-hungry nobles to my doorstep for ughter?¡±

    Plutus had a savage grin showing his needle-like teeth as Vox spoke. Gone was the nervous sloth, and now before Vox stood the most dangerous type of man¡­one who profited from the deaths of others.

    ¡°Send them my way. But be warned, all whoe bearing arms in the name of the Emperor will face death. No exceptions.¡± Vox made his final deration before turning his back on Plutus. ¡°My master summons me. If you need anything else, speak to Andrew here.¡±

    Before Plutus could reply, Vox snapped his fingers.

    ¡°Farewell.¡±

    A p of mana reverberated throughout the room. Then, before Plutus could even blink, the shadowy throne that dominated half the space with its looming presence and the necromancer¡¯s champion was gone.

    ¡°Shall we go and see the various merchandise on offer?¡± Andrew asked the spaced-out sloth with a chuckle.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Plutus agreed and gestured for his guards to get off the marble floor. ¡°I would like that. I am inquisitive about these ice sculptures Sir Vox mentioned moments ago.¡±

    Andrew mentallymanded a legion of goblins to enter the room. The ck-cloaked guards nking Plutus tensed, and mana funneled to their hands, but to their surprise, the cloaked goblins strode right past them and surrounded Andrew¡¯s titanic throne and lifted it clean off the ground in a heroic disy of strength.

    From atop his raised throne, Andrew dominated the room and overlooked Plutus. ¡°Guild Master. Follow me.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Plutus shook his head as he looked at the departing back of Andrew. ¡°What a crazy day.¡±

    ***

    ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯m back. Why did you call for me?¡± Victor muttered as he returned his senses to his main body. Alice was beside him with stars in her eyes and a giddy excitement expected from a child on Christmas morning.

    Confused, Victor decided to take a look around. Hours had passed since he hadst checked in on the progress of his crew down in the Grand Dungeon, so they should have reached the next floor by now¡­

    Surrounding him waspletely new scenery¡ªeverywhere he looked, gems of every color imaginable decorated thendscape. It was so sparkly¡­as if a god had spilled a jar of glitter across an entire continent.

    Stgmites of amethyst rose to the sky as rivers of rubies meandered through rolling hills of emeralds adorned with flowers sprouting petals of gold. In the distance¡ªmountains of ore with beautiful waterfalls of sparklingpiszuli dominated the horizon. Even from the floating tform, Victor could spot movement below as hulking gem golems, some the size of multistory homes, trudged aimlessly to their next destination. With every step, the ground quivered, and the gems were pulverized underneath and churned underfoot, bing thend¡¯s soil.

    ¡°What in all things holy is this?¡± Victor couldn¡¯t hold back his pure shock. All the previous floors had been wastnds with nothing but sand, ice, water, and mud. Although he was now a void creature, that human greed and desire for all things shiny still remained. A part of him wanted to divebomb and scoop up even a little of that soil that was likely worth more than its weight in gold.

    ¡°Wow, look at that big one!¡± Alice remarked as she pointed to a gigantic golem directly below them that was munching on an amethyst stgmite. The purple gem shattered like ss between the monstrous golem¡¯s jaws like a snapping turtle. Victor then watched in amazement as the spikes of amethyst on the golem¡¯s back shone a pale pink before expanding slightly in size.

    ¡°These golems look simr to Rock but also a little different.¡± Victor focused on the golem and watched its slow movements, carefree attitude, andck of observation or care for its environment.

    ¡°Who is Rock?¡± Alice asked.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. You never met that team of Delvers¡­¡± Victor waved her off. ¡°Not really important right now, but Rock is a golem chef at Necron.¡±

    He returned his attention to the golem that was busy munching away. ¡°If I had to put it simply, these golems seem less intelligent than Rock by arge margin. Everything about them screams robotic and thoughtless to me. As if they merely act on a set few instincts in an eternal cycle and cannot divert their thinking, whereas Rock is capable of some level of thought. He can even cook!¡±

    That may have been an overly harsh and rash judgment, but watching a golem mindlessly munch on its food and not even looking up at the floating tform grated his nerves. Why? He wasn¡¯t sure. But something about that dumb, carefree look made him mad. I just want to go down there, shake its shoulders, and p it. Maybe then it will wake up¡­

    Victor paused at that thought. He was a Netherborne. A creature from the void that ended nations and eradicated continents. If he wanted to do something, he could darn well do it. So, without hesitation, he hovered down to the ground and came face to face with the golem. He didn¡¯t even have his Stealth activated and was in direct sight of the thing, yet it didn¡¯t even react¡­just munching away.

    Victor charged up a Doom Ray. Purple lightning crackled between his ws; the golem ignored him. Is it confidence or stupidity? Maybe Victor¡¯s opinions of golems and their level of intelligence had been warped by Rock and his ability to strategize, cook, and even talk.

    As the spell charged up, Victor debated if destroying this thing was worth it. It was like using a bazooka to obliterate a random farmer¡¯s tractor. In the end, the only loser in this situation was him and the stat points wasted. But I wonder if my Raise Undead skill works on golems? The fact that he did not have an answer to such a question made this decision easy.

    He had to do it in the name of science. So Victor raised his w and unleashed a semi-charged Doom Ray at the unaware golem. A sh of purple lightning was followed by a thunderp that created a shock wave so powerful the golem rocked on its feet. Like a hedgehog, the amethyst spikes covering its back burst with purple light as a mana shield rippled into existence¡ªa dense purple hue coated the golem and spread out the impact of the lightning.

    When everything cleared, the golem was on its side with a burning hole in its left nk. But overall, it was fine¡ªthe sound of ss shattering, followed by all of the amethyst spikes disintegrating into dust and blowing away with the westerly winds caught Victor off guard. The golem was now bare, with its white marble body exposed.

    ¡°Got worried for a second there.¡± Victor sneered and raised his hand again. Then, bringing his ws together to simte a railgun, he didn¡¯t even charge the spell and unleashed a much weaker but concentrated Doom Ray. The golemy motionless and epted its annihtion as the purple lightning burrowed through the partially made hole and superheated the golem from the inside, causing it to explode a momentter in a superheated cloud of rubble.

    Victor cast Raise Undead with a wave of his hand, yet nothing happened. Floating closer and concentrating on the rubble, he cast Raise Undead a second time, but nothing happened. Finally, on the off chance it worked, he cast Consume, but the result was as expected. A dumb pile of rocks never had any lifeforce to begin with.

    Deciding this whole thing was a waste of time, Victor turned to head back up to the floating tform, but something odd was caught in the corner of his perception.

    Everything was so shiny on this floor, so something so dull, like a castle wall nestled inside a cave entrance, was bound to stand out¡­

    ¡°Are there people living down here?¡± Victor asked himself. Well, there¡¯s only one way to find out¡­

 Chapter 53. Login

    Alice floated beside Victor with raven mana flowing across the surface of her skin¡ªit almost looked like a bucket of ck tar had been poured over her as wisps of purple me wrapped her fingers, ready to be unleashed at a moment¡¯s notice. Her face was concealed, leaving no point of weakness as they faced an unknown threat.

    The dull castle wall, nestled a few meters inside a cave, was merely a front to something else¡ªa home. A mana signature so dense it could belong to Hyveth Arcspace emanated from beyond the castle walls.

    Was it a beast of unknown origins? Or maybe mana left behind from an ancient relic? Victor couldn¡¯t answer these questions without an investigation¡ªbut was disturbing something with such a presence a good idea?

    ¡°Should we?¡± Victor asked his travelingpanions. Entering the home of something that powerful unannounced was a likely death sentence. Nevertheless, curiosity was hard to suppress, especially after a slew of mind-numbing weeks.

    Genus slowly crawled back like a terrified cat. ¡°Absolutely not. Whatever lurks in there is far more powerful than any of us. We would be at its mercy, and if it decided to kill us, that would be the end of our story.¡±

    Alice hummed in agreement. ¡°Mhm. What Genus said is correct. Sometimes it¡¯s best to ept there are bigger fish and leave them in their ponds. No need to disturb something like that¡­¡±

    Victor tried to think back to the many novels he had read. His significant advantage is knowing what others did and how best to replicate the sesses and avoid the failures. But, as he sifted through his memories, amon theme emerged. Plot armor.

    In situations where the protagonist was presented with an unprecedented opportunity, it only ever went well. The question was if he was willing to bet his life on a concept so¡­abstract. It reminded Victor of Russian roulette, except the gun was empty of bullets. No matter how much someone tried to convince him the chamber was empty, the cold steel of an empty weapon pressed against his head would make him nervous. as if something could go horribly wrong¡ªmaybe they left a bullet in.

    Victor stared at the castle wall giving off an ominous vibe and ran through the pros and cons. The likelihood of there being a powerful creature that would kill them on sight or a sleeping demi-god that was hellbent on annihting all undead was rtively high¡ªbut on the other hand, if it was some inheritance or relic from a forgotten era, then it could change everything¡­

    What if it can solve my falling stats?

    That was the big question. If whatever was past those walls could solve Victor¡¯s biggest life problem and he simply floated onto the final floor, he would regret it. Possibly forever.

    The mood had turned grim as Genus and Alice awaited Victor¡¯s verdict on the situation. The mana flowing from those walls is insanely high, but I should be stronger than whatever is waiting within. Victor¡¯s curiosity was far too great, and his willingness to bet on plot armor drove him to a final decision.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see an obvious entrance, and the mana is far too dense for me to use Spirit Movement to bypass the wall.¡±

    ¡°Stop.¡± Genus bared his teeth and raised his neck. The house-size golden dragon red at Victor with his rainbow eyes. ¡°Do not. Please.¡±

    Victor looked at Alice; she decided to remain deathly silent.

    She has faith in me¡­ Victor faltered. This decision concerned himself and the lives of his travelpanions. He had to be absolutely sure this was the right move.

    ¡°Get ready to run.¡± Victor just couldn¡¯t shake off his curiosity. Why was a castle wall clearly built by a sentient creature on the seventy-first floor? They had seen no evidence of any Delvers throughout their descent, and this was by far the oddest thing they had encountered. To turn away and pretend like they saw nothing was ridiculous and would eat away at his mind like an unscratchable itch.

    Genus didn¡¯t even wait for Victor to finish his instructions. He had already spread his wings and, with a mighty p, vaulted into the sky, leaving a cloud of gems and a crater in his wake.

    Alice didn¡¯t speak, but she gave him a nod.

    Victor consumed five million stat points and began charging up a Doom Ray. Mana swirled around his fingers, boiling his intangible, shadowy flesh.

    Alice also silently raised her hand, a javelin of ck ice forming from her outstretched palm like an arrow waiting to be released.

    Purple lightning crackled between Victor¡¯s ws as he prepared his attack. Still no movement¡­ Victor had a slight suspicion that whatever resided within those walls was either asleep or dead. They should have detected their presence when they arrived, and now with two high-tier spells being cast on their doorstep, to still not show themselves was suspicious.

    Deciding the chance of survival outweighed the likelihood of death, Victor aimed his hand like a particle cannon¡ªgestured for Alice to fire her spell first¡ªand then unleashed the most powerful Doom Ray he had ever mustered. The world turned rainbow as the explosive light expanded and reflected off all the millions of gems lining thendscape. Like being inside a prism, Victor¡¯s senses were overloaded with color, and then with a snap of his w, the spell ceased, and an ear-shattering explosion followed the tremors of thend.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Superheated rock was buried under andslide as half the mountain tumbled. The various natural ores making up the mountain melted into a soup that surged with thendslide like a tsunami.

    Victor floated back to a safe distance and waited. He watched alongside Alice from the air as the metal soup rapidly cooled and mixed with all the gems, creating a dazzling piece of art.

    Time passed. Nothing emerged from the cave.

    Victor mentallymanded Wiggles to tunnel through the molten rock to where the castle wall had been. The ground trembled again, and gems cascaded off the titanic earthworm¡¯s back as he surfaced. His teeth became coated in neon saliva that melted the metal as he chomped his way through. The process was slow, but Wiggles had prated a few miles through thendslide after an hour and encountered the wall.

    Deciding to take no chances, Victor told Wiggles to retreat and decided to send Henry in. Compared to Wiggles, the apocalypse horseman was far more expendable, cheaper to rece, and could convey more detailed information over their connection. Sadly, due to Henry¡¯s ground-based abilities¡ªand Victor opting for air travel¡ªthe poor undead had little to do thesest few floors and was likely more bored than Victor.

    Henry was happy to ept the order, and after being dropped off on the ground by his dragon mount, he dashed through the spacious tunnel left behind by Wiggles. His hooves echoed through the metal tube as he made quick progress and, before long, arrived at the desired location.

    Through Henry¡¯s eyes, Victor saw the castle walls. Surprisingly the only part of the damaged wall was the part Alice¡¯s void mana spell had impacted. All Victor¡¯s spell had done was widen the hole from a few inches to a few meters.

    Receiving the go-ahead, Henry slowly trotted his way through the hole. His spear was pointed forward, and his breathing slowed. Other than the asional popping from air being superheated by the smoldering rock, the space past the castle wall was deathly silent.

    The castle wall was a few meters thick, and Victor noted through the connection that the wall was either an illusion or fake. The inside casing of the wall was a dull green metal¡ªcertainly not gray stone. Henry made his way through the hole and onto the other side.

    ¡°What the hell is that doing here?¡± Victor eximed, and Alice tensed beside him. Her mana shield had rxed slightly and now showed her anxious face.

    ¡°What is it?¡± she pressed. Victor rarely freaked out like that, so it must have been something shocking.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­aputer. An old one likely made long ago. Still has the box monitor surrounded by aged stic.¡±

    ¡°A what? Computer?¡± Alice tried to remember if such a thing had ever gone through the auction house, but she had never heard of such a thing. Maybe it was a relic from the void?

    Through the connection, Victor checked out the rest of the room. It was a rather massive space, surrounded by dull green metal on all sides. He found it impressive that the room was structurally supporting an entire mountain above it and not showing any signs of struggling.

    Apart from the oldputer that sat on a simple wooden table, there was nothing else.

    ¡°Approach it,¡± Victormanded, and Henry obeyed. The horseman cautiously approached the foreign object. It radiated off an immense amount of mana in waves as if supplying the entire floor itself. The screen was on, showing a single line of blue text on an otherwise ck screen in a text that Henry didn¡¯t recognize, but Victor did.

    [Login]

    ¡°Step back. Don¡¯t touch it.¡± Victor rushed toward the tunnel, and Alice quickly followed. There was no way he would allow Henry to inherit or gain anything. He needed it for himself.

    Henry obliged and waited for his master to arrive, but he never lowered his spear and maintained his surroundings¡ªno matter how devoid of life they were.

    Minutester, Victor shot through the hole and surprisingly fit in the space without issues. He checked his status, and a new debuff appeared: (Fatal Mana Sickness[-100 stat points a second]). Silently cursing, he reached out a w and carefully moved the mouse. The yellowy-tinted stic mouse scraped across the surface, and a white arrow appeared¡ªthe screen brightened up as if it had been on power-saving mode.

    Victor hovered over the only option presented to him, and with a silent prayer, he clicked Login, and a new popup appeared.

 Chapter 54. A Dark History

    The dim room lit up with an azure blue as an expansive runic formation engraved into the dull green metal floor sprung to life¡ªthe oldputer blue-screened, and a greenser scanned the entire room like something out of a sci-fi movie.

    [Error: Dungeon entity not found]

    [Login failed]

    There was a sh of mana, and everyone found themselves back outside, surrounded by endless emerald-rolling hills littered with golden petals and wandering golems.

    ¡°Okay, what the hell was that?¡± Alice said, and Victor also wanted to know the answer.

    Shaking his head, he replied, ¡°Not sure. I have encountered those things before, but they could never do that¡­ But aputer casting spells doesn¡¯t seem so impossible.¡±

    ¡°What is aputer, though? Some kind of artifact?¡±

    ¡°Simr,¡± Victor responded. ¡°It¡¯s a tool to automate tasks too repetitive orplex for humans¡­but they are often rather limited in their ability to affect the real world. But if aputer could use magic¡ªthat changes everything.¡±

    Victor had been pursuing aputer science degree back on Earth and was an avid user of them for entertainment and work purposes. Although he felt like a caveman discovering fire for the first time after seeing an actual workingputer.

    Computers in this world made him question everything around him¡ªespecially the System. Was the goddess that gifted him this life real? Was what he saw an actual cosmic entity or merely aputer program? Wait, don¡¯t be silly. The fact there areputers in a world doesn¡¯t make it a simtion or mean people or things don¡¯t exist. They are merely a tool, one of many.

    ¡°Automate tasks?¡± Alice rubbed her chin. ¡°Don¡¯t we have golems for that? Isn¡¯t aputer just a golem that can use magic?¡±

    Victor hummed as he mulled over her words. In a way, the golems were somewhat simr. Or at least the ones on this floor were. Would Rock be artificial intelligence, then? He seems smart enough. Wait¡­what gave Rock his intelligence? The System? Doesn¡¯t that make Rock a way for the System to directly interact with the world?

    The sound of rubble moving made Victor look over to the copsed mountain. Even from here, he could see waves of mana dancing across the surface of the rubble, and soon enough, boulders began rolling up thendslide and fusing in ce. The trembling and noise were like a volcano going off as the entire mountain slowly pieced itself together.

    It was another impossible sight that reminded Victor of the true power magic held over the world. Genus seemed to fly back down from the floating tform and join them to witness the spectacle.

    Victor didn¡¯t me Genus for running away and therefore didn¡¯t press the matter. It was a disy of insubordination, but he made a rash decision that could have cost all three of them their lives. Ultimately, Genus couldn¡¯t contribute much to the wall¡¯s destruction or kill whatever came out. But if he starts defying my orders when I put him on the dragon throne, then I will end him. Immediately. No questions asked.

    An hour passed, and finally, the veryst rock rolled up the steep mountain edge and perched itself on the top. A golem trod in the distance, this one farrger than the one Victor had in. It seemed unfazed by the mountain that had just reconstructed itself and took one look at the dull gray castle wall without a single blemish or hole, ignored it, and decided to chew on an amethyst stgmite nearby instead.

    ¡°So that¡¯s why such a dull color was chosen.¡± Victor was happy that one of the many mysteries around the ce had been solved. Whether the golems were color-blind or programmed to ignore gray things, the designer of theputer¡¯s container clearly knew what they were doing.

    Alice frowned as she watched the scene. ¡°I don¡¯t feel any mana anymore.¡±

    Victor realized that was true. He had only noticed the room initially due to how it stood outpared to the sparkling scenery. However, with the mountain fixed, the dense mana that had suffocated the area had dissipated, and from this distance, he couldn¡¯t tell there would be anything unusual past the wall.

    He floated closer. It wasn¡¯t until he had crossed a mile of emerald hills and stood around twenty meters from the wall did he feel the sudden suffocating mana leaking through the wall. Theputer said I wasn¡¯t a dungeon entity and teleported me outside, meaning it has powers over teleportation. What if thatputer is how a dungeon entity moves between floors?

    Victor hadn¡¯t seen any evidence of a dungeon master or something managing the dungeon. Maybe they moved and pulled strings from the shadows? Is there a way for me to be a dungeon entity? He didn¡¯t know, but one thing was sure, he needed to find out.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Directing the zombie dragon that had been Henry¡¯s mount with his mind, Victormanded the ck dragon to soar down through the sky andnd in front of the castle wall, just outside its mana range. ¡°The dragon will guard this ce and help me keep track of where it is.¡±

    ¡°Do you think we passed rooms like these without knowing it?¡± Genus asked, and that was an exciting thought. If there was one on this floor, maybe there was one on every floor?

    Victor entered the ck ocean within his mind and saw a sparkling night sky. The number of undead under hismand had reached an astronomical amount, although most were flies, earthworms, and a floor of weak skeletons. He hadn¡¯t bothered to bring the flies to this floor. They were weak and annoying to regrly manage. Also, the constant beat of their wings produced a tremendous amount of noise that made Victor feel deaf. But they are perfect for the job. Scouting is their specialty.

    With an order that consumed a disturbing amount of mana, Victor saw the flecks of light in his ck ocean begin to spread out across the ck sky. The order was simple: find areas of high mana concentration. Some false positives were inevitable, but even those areas could have a treasure or lead to a secret zone.

    ¡°I have sent my undead to investigate. The flies and worms will work their way up, and the skeletons will check the first ten floors,¡± Victor said before flying back to the floating tform. ¡°Whatever the result, it does not change our objective. Let¡¯s keep moving down.¡±

    ***

    A few dayster, Victor and his crew made it to the seventy-second floor, and a skeleton on the second floor had found something. The first floor of the dungeon was the meadow with the dragon eggs, and then the next nine floors were the graveyard.

    Victor hadn¡¯t put much thought into it, but it was rather odd that the first couple of floors were just thousands of undead human skeletons, some even wearing or wielding human weapons such as chipped swords or dented helmets. From what I¡¯ve seen so far, the dungeon doesn¡¯t have the ability to create items like that. All it can do is distort nature. So where did all those undead wielding human itemse from?

    ¡°Alice.¡±

    The girl was lying peacefully on the tform, her legs dangling off the edge. Unfortunately, the golems were rtively rare and seemed to no experience while being incredibly hard to kill unless she utilized void mana, so she was left with nothing to do. She tilted her head to Victor¡¯s call with a smile. ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°You know the graveyard floors? Is there a story behind it?¡±

    Alice returned to staring at the slowly passing fake sky. ¡°Well¡­there used to be a city surrounding the Grand Dungeon. But when the dragons arrived, people retreated into the dungeon for shelter. But with the city destroyed, the people tried to live down here¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah. I assume that didn¡¯tst long.¡±

    Alice stifled augh. ¡°ording to the records, theysted a few weeks until the dragons chased them down here. Most perished, but some managed to delve deeper and deeper. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡± Victor concentrated on the skeleton that had alerted him to a high mana concentration and described to Alice the situation. The poor thing had tumbled down a ravine and smashed itself into pieces. But as ity in the stream, a few meters from it, embedded into a cave, was the front of a crumbling building. It looked like some monastery Victor would see in pictures from ancient China,plete with pirs and a grand-looking entrance overrun with weeds. But the mana emanating from it was simr to the green metal room on the seventy-first floor.

    Alice hummed to herself as she thought over the possibilities. ¡°The records are inconclusive as nobody managed to escape to write the records, and nobody has been here since the dragons took charge, but the evidence of a building like that suggests humans may have hidden underground for a while¡­¡±

    ¡°No way they are the ones managing this ce, right?¡± Victor refused to believe that Delvers, from an age long ago, had such power.

    ¡°Unlikely. The Grand Dungeon has operated since human records began. But the chance of humans building a teleportationwork throughout the dungeon? Certainly usible. We have simr ways of transportation between cities on the surface, but they are used exclusively by the nobles due to the high cost.¡±

    Victor nodded and directed more skeletons on that floor to investigate the building and the rest of the ravine. He honestly should have done this sooner with how much free time he had back then¡­but the thought of exploring every inch of these continent-size floors escaped him. I need to be more vignt. I have resources at my disposal, and I should use them fully. What kind of overlord doesn¡¯t haveplete control over his territory?

    It was time to get to work.

 Chapter 55. Immortal Paradise

    Victor had already confirmed during his Grand Dungeon adventure that the more extreme the environment, the more mana required by the dungeon to create it. So perhaps unsurprisingly, floors seventy to eighty, made entirely out of gems of every type, were tinypared to the arctic floors, with each floor only taking a few days to traverse. Nevertheless, it took Victor only a month to get to the eightieth floor, where a spire of encrusted gems shimmered like a rainbow beacon and dominated thend.

    Without dy, the group touched down and made their way down the all-too-familiar crystal steps. Victor cast a quick look at Genus, and the dragon looked terrible. Mostly skin and bones. Luckily the floors had only taken a month. Another week or two and Genus would have starved to death.

    Simr to the arctic floors, and made of gems and golems didn¡¯t provide much in the way of edible food for fleshy creatures such as dragons. Luckily, Genus could hibernate somewhat to alleviate his hunger pains and reduce the body¡¯s consumption of his stored fat and muscle. He could also gain some nutrients from the ambient mana, but it was only a temporary solution.

    As the group made their way down the crystal stairs, Victor checked up on the various groups of undead that had discovered areas of highly dense mana. I have found three so far. One on the first graveyard floor, another on the first ocean floor, and finally, the one on the gem floor. I could have uncovered more if the dragons didn¡¯t keep interfering.

    The dragons had given up chasing Victor; with over twenty of their kin ughtered and the arctic floors nearly impossible to cross without much preparation, they had changed tactics and focused on eliminating his undead on sight. Doesn¡¯t help that dragons are extremely mana sensitive, and my undead leak a lot of death affinity mana everywhere they go.

    It took weeks for the skeletons to traverse down the ravine to the point that one could actually walk up to the building¡¯s door to inspect it with their legs intact. Victor had debated consuming an ungodly amount of stat points to st the door open, but he eventually decided against it. I have no idea what the next few floors entail, and exposing the location of the building to the dragons that are very active on the upper floors is a terrible idea.

    There was something simr to a sunken submarine on the ocean floor, but again he had no way to open it without expending around a hundred times more stat points than he did to the castle wall. And will it even work without Alice¡¯s void mana to make a small hole first? All my five million stat points did was make the hole wider.

    Victor discarded these thoughts as the group arrived at the base of the crystal staircase. For Genus¡¯s sake, he hoped this floor had some food, even if it was slugs.

    Without dy, they passed the door and marveled at the sight. The ground was slightly rocky, covered in purple weeds and patches of ck grass. A few yellow-leaved trees littered thend, but the weirdest part was the horizon.

    A few hundred meters away, thend simply ended. Only an empty voidy between them and distantnd. Surrounding their little ind were hundreds, if not thousands, of other floating inds littering the horizon. Some had beautiful waterfalls cascading down their sides, and others had molten rock being hurled out into the abyss by active volcanos.

    Some of the inds were massive, and others were tiny, like the one they stood on. Bridges of mana connected the various inds in a dazzlingwork across the void.

    ¡°Well¡­I did not expect this.¡± Victor was stunned. It was like something out of a Chinese cultivator novel, the ce all those lofty immortals cultivated so hard to reach. A realm of floating pavilions with servants awaiting their every beck and call. But for now, they were all monster-infested inds.

    Genus sniffed the air before opening his eyes from a long sleep and saw a creature on the edge of their ind. It was like an armadillo butrger and with scales. With a p of his wings, Genusunched himself at the poor thing and, in one fell swoop, grabbed the creature in his jaws, and with a sickening crunch, the armadillo cracked in half like an egg and tumbled down the dragon¡¯s gullet. He turned to Victor with blood dripping from his teeth and a giant grin on his face. ¡°Now, this is perfect.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± Victor said. Of course, the food was a wee change, but what made this perfect?

    ¡°I can feel it even from here.¡± Genus picked a piece of bloody scale from between his teeth with an ivory w. ¡°Every one of these inds has a different type of mana and monsters for me to eat. I could stay here forever¡­¡±

    Alice nodded to the side in agreement. ¡°Mhm, it feels like an all-you-can-eat buffet down here.¡±

    Victor still hadn¡¯t seen any of the major cities in this world, so he was still in the dark, but the mention of something familiar such as an all-you-can-eat buffet made him think the world might be a little more advanced than the medieval era.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s go explore, shall we? Unfortunately, with such dense mana of conflicting types, it¡¯s hard for me to pinpoint the direction of the tower to the next floor,¡± he said as he stroked his chin. His tried and tested method of heading toward the area with the densest mana and letting Wiggles take the lead would be impossible here.

    ¡°Can we go there first?¡± Alice pointed toward a floating ind in the far distance. Victor had to admit it looked breathtaking, with its mountains shrouded in a cloud of fog and waterfalls cascading off its sides into the endless void below.

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ***<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Toby enjoyed the summer breeze on his enormous body as he sprawled beside ake near Necron. The birds had returned, so the symphony of summer blessed his ears. A small snow-white, squirrel-like creature hopped on his body and ran across his chest, likely thinking his gray skin was a rock feature rather than belonging to the most fearsome monster in the cursed forest. Toby chuckled deeply at that thought. ¡°Andrew likely holds that title amongst the merchants that try to set up shop here.¡±

    Seeing the sun, nked by fluffy white clouds, had imed the highest point in the sky, Toby realized it was lunchtime. Although his body had no need for food, he had regained his sense of taste with his evolution, and what was the point of being the boss of a city if he couldn¡¯t enjoy its luxuries for himself?

    Rising to his full height, Toby towered over the crystal-clearke and grinned at his distorted reflection. He had always enjoyed his intimidating nature, which had helped a lot in his line of work. But to be something so fierce by simply existing¡­now that was perfect. He reached up and caressed the ck horn jutting out of his forehead. His equally ck ws scratched the glossy surface and failed to leave a mark.

    Chuckling to himself, Toby took onest look around with his single golden eye before turning around and trekking up an embankment. Once over, he walked down a well-trodden dirt path that took him back to Necron¡¯s Eshnar-facing gate. The toll road that was now extremely busy was in the far distance, but Toby stayed away from it. The merchants had expressed their displeasure at his presence, especially around the horses, as they would try to run away when they saw him.

    Of course, Toby could ignore theirints, but it was bad for business. Even though they were the only road through the cursed forest, new ones that took a longer route around Necron territory had begun construction, but they kept getting interrupted and destroyed in the night by the undead.

    His undead.

    Toby strolled down the path and passed by some open-air mines. Goblins wearing poorly made cloaks that concealed their true nature ved away under the sun. He could see death attribute mana swirling through the air and producing an invisible shield against the sun¡¯s burning rays, protecting the undead from disintegration. Toby had never heard of undead that could move under sunlight before, even with the help of clothing. Master continues to surprise me.

    Although a tiny voice in the back of his headpelled him to obey his new master, it was not intrusive but rather a gentle, constant reminder that he was only alive due to the master¡¯s kindness. That would be true, but the master had also been the one to skewer him, so kindness was the wrong word. However, this new form and purpose I have? Now that is definitely kindness. What other evil overlord allows his minions so much free rein?

    It certainly helped with his motivation. Obviously, they hadn¡¯t signed a contract, and the eldritch being may take everything from him at a moment¡¯s notice, with or without fault on his part. But that was also okay. He was undead in his service. So it only made sense their rtionship wasn¡¯t built on mutual ground.

    ¡°But five months have passed, and all he has done is provide help and intervene when necessary. Apart from that, he has been mostly radio silent, letting me and Andrew build Necron in our image,¡± Toby mumbled as he passed the mine and came upon a training field.

    The sound of weapons colliding rang through the summer air as a group of goblins sparred with a girl. Seeing one of his new apprentices was hard at work, Toby decided to walk over.

    ¡°Lora!¡± he thundered as he walked over with heavy steps that made everyone freeze.

    ¡°H-hi!¡± the skinny girl responded sheepishly. She was one of the ves brought with the vampires as food. Her features were unremarkable. Simple brown hair in a bun, blue eyes, and a standard figure. Her unusual ability to handle weapons and the two tiny horns on her forehead was the only interesting thing about her appearance. She imed to not have anybat sses, but she fought with a certain instinct that one was either born with or gained through high-level skills.

    The other ves brought with the vampires had been set to work in the various inns or restaurants. One boy was even being used as a stable boy. Toby had offered to let them return to the Mystical Realm, but they had all refused.

    ¡°How¡¯s progress?¡± Toby asked his apprentice.

    Lora grinned, twirled a crude wooden spear overhead, and alongside the whistling wind, she struck out like a viper and obliterated a goblin¡¯s skull with a well-aimed and quick strike. Then, as the headless goblin fell forward with a thump, she twirled the spear again, returned it to a resting position in her hand, and gave a slight bow.

    Toby pped his enormous hands and chuckled. ¡°Excellent.¡± He had no idea if it was excellent or not, as he had never used a spear, but he liked to pretend he was an expert.

    ¡°Thank you¡ª¡± Lora was interrupted by a bell going off in Necron that echoed throughout thend.

    Toby didn¡¯t hesitate and broke into a sprint¡ªNecron needed him.

 Chapter 56. The Flames Of Regret

    Clouds of dense ck smoke bellowed over the center of Necron. The constant ringing of bells masked people¡¯s hysterical screams and shouts¡ªToby increased his pace and charged down the Eshnar toll road, which hade to a standstill. Some merchants prepared to return and escape the chaos, while others tried to push to the front of the long queue.

    As Toby thundered past like an escaped rhino, horses tried to jolt back, causing their owners to shout with rage as they attempted to rx their skittish stallions. Toby didn¡¯t care for the merchant¡¯s displeasure¡ªsomething terrible had happened in Necron.

    Approaching the gate, a single goblin stood on a raised tform and yelled for the merchants to stay back. Unfortunately, the usual ogres under Toby¡¯s control were nowhere to be found to assist the goblin in holding back the restless merchants. So Toby used the undead mentalwork to locate his men. They were around three streets away¡­near the fire.

    The ground trembled as the One-Eyed Demon King barreled down the congested roads, taking two steps at a time. Terrified people flung themselves aside to avoid being squashed by the giant who didn¡¯t stop for anything. One, two, and finally, three streets flew by. Toby skidded around a street corner and caught sight of the scene. Pinned to the ground by two ogres was a man. He was dressed in standard merchant robes, but if one looked closely, he seemed a little too muscr and well-shaven to be a mere merchant¡­

    Turning his enormous head, Toby appraised the damage with his one eye darting left and right. Arge warehouse, situated behind threerge wooden inns, was aze, and he could feel the heat. The inns had also started catching fire, with their back walls cracking as they burned. Thick smoke bellowed out as the thatched roof finally caught fire, sealing the fate of the three inns.

    ¡°Shit. That warehouse holds half of our food supply!¡± Toby started panicking. Necron had grown tremendously over thest month and had about five thousand people staying in the many inns every day and another three hundred permanent residents that worked in the inns and shops.

    Since food had to be imported, other than rice and wheat, the rest of the food, like fruits and vegetables, went off too quickly, so they only kept a few days¡¯ supplies at any given time.

    But that was no longer a concern. The majority of buildings in Necron were constructed out of wood. So how could he stop the fire before it spread any further? In other cities like Eshnar and the Empire, they had trained mages blessed by the goddess of oceans and even some fire mages trained to handle situations like this¡­

    ¡°But we only have undead,¡± Toby muttered as he desperately looked around for a solution. He could obliterate anything with his eyeser, smash castle walls, and tank anything. But to put out a city fire? Impossible. It was out of his skill set. Over the link, he quickly ordered the goblins in the mine he had passed earlier to somehow bring water from theke to Necron. They have buckets filled with mined stone but are weaved of wood and have holes¡­not to mention theke is a ten- to thirty-minute walk away.

    Another solution was the wells. Toby had memorized most of Necron, so he quickly dashed down a street and found a well in the middle of a small garden. His enormous hands struggled to spin the wheel to bring the bucket up. After thirty seconds, Toby stared at the tiny wooden bucket in the palm of his hand that was no bigger than the tip of his thumb.

    He took the bucket anyway and returned to the fire. It had spread, and now all three inns were burning alongside the massive warehouse. Feeling stupid holding the tiny bucket of water while standing before the ze, he threw the water at the fire and then turned to the still pinned-down man.

    ¡°You did this?¡± Toby leaned in with a snarl. ¡°Why?¡±

    The man had a bloody grin and a smashed-up nose, but heughed manically. ¡°Corrupted bastards deserve nothing.¡± The man spat to the side, and a bloodied tooth rolled on the floor.

    Before Toby could open his mouth, another explosion went off, this time in the east of the city, close to the Empire-facing gate. His face hardened¡ªthis was no one-off ident. It was an attack. Then another explosion, this time closer to Andrew¡¯s pce.

    ¡°The Empire will conquer this ce!¡± the man that was still pinned to the floor shouted. ¡°Everything belongs to us!¡± Toby strolled over and ced his foot over the man, who suddenly shut up and stared at his impending doom with wide eyes. ¡°No¡­please¡­¡±

    Toby didn¡¯t waste a second and brought his foot down. Blood sshed outward around his lowered foot, and he felt something stuck between his toes. But that wasn¡¯t important right now. He needed to get Necron under control.

    ***

    After traversing hundreds of inds, Victor noticed something.

    ¡°They are going up.¡± Which was an odd concept because he was sure they were heading down.

    Genus looked behind them and noted that the ind they had just left was slightly lower than the one they currently stood on. He then looked forward and pointed out that the next ind in the distant void seemed on par with theirs, just like all the others. ¡°Mhm¡­it seems space is rtive here.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    That was a crazy thought, but it checked out. All the inds behind them seemed lower and lower like a staircase, whereas all the following inds appeared on the same ne of existence as them.

    ¡°So¡­¡± Alice looked around the molten wastnd of an ind they found themselves on. ¡°Are we going up or down?¡±

    Honestly, Victor had no clue. He had ughtered every monster they hade across and turned them into more undead. He then directed them to explore other inds to expand his reach and influence. Since going toward the area with the greatest mana isn¡¯t feasible, if I visit every single ind in this void, I will find something eventually. There was a certain air of mystery and finality to this floor. It did not behave like the other floors, and for how diverse and extreme some of the many biomes they had passed were, this floor was way past its mana limit.

    Unless each ind is an individual floor? Or perhaps eachyer of inds? It was a brain ache to think about, and Victor was out of options. All he could do was soldier on and hope his undead either stumbled upon something or he would find it. Find what? He wasn¡¯t quite sure. The previous floors had towers that led down, but was there even a down when all thaty below them was the endless void?

    ¡°Master¡­¡± A voice sounded in the back of Victor¡¯s head. It was loud and held a certain gravity¡ªa startling change because he usually heard Andrew through thework.

    ¡°Toby?¡± he replied. ¡°Is that you? What¡¯s the problem?¡±

    Toby was head of security for Necron and had little input on daily affairs. So if Toby was contacting him, something terrible must have happened.

    ¡°Necron¡¯s on fire. We have no way to put it out.¡± Toby¡¯s anxious tone made Victor immediately stop what he was doing and peer through his subordinate¡¯s eyes. Sure enough, as Toby had said, there were clouds of smoke blocking out the sky and many burning buildings.

    ¡°Quick. Approach each building. I can stop the fires.¡± Victor watched as Toby lumbered closer to the fire. ¡°Raise your hand. I will use an ice spell.¡± He had no water or fire spells, but he did have Freezing Cone, which would help suffocate the fires.

    Toby did as instructed, and ice shot out his hands like a methrower. As a result, the burning buildings were sh-frozen, and the fires were snuffed out. With the fire stopped, Toby began to run toward the next source of smoke.

    ¡°There¡¯s more?¡± Victor felt pain wasting many stat points to save a few cheap buildings. If not for the fact that fire could spread quickly and destroy the entire town, there¡¯s no way he would bother with such a thing.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Toby said as he practically parkoured around stranded merchant convoys as their horses had run off in the chaos or were refusing to move. ¡°There are three so far. I believe the people who started the fires to be working for the Empire.¡±

    Victor knew some nobles nned to send an army sometime soon¡­but he never expected a terrorist attack from them. Smart¡­very smart. I should have seen thising. He hadplete confidence in Toby¡¯s ability to face an army alone, but what was the point if the town was destroyed in the process? Unfortunately, it seemed the nobles had figured that out as well. Toby was known as the Demon King of Necron, few had seen him fight, but his presence alone gave him such a title.

    For some reason, Victor had expected the nobles to turn up outside Necron¡¯s gate on horseback, send a runner to dere war, and from then on, they would have a fair battle. Did this world have no honor? Due to him assuming this way of war would be the case, he neglected to keep tight security in Necron, such as searching bags or caravans for dangerous items or stationing more guards in the streets.

    I was no city nner or tactician back on Earth, Victor thought as he saw the destruction through Toby¡¯s eyes. This is a good lesson, if nothing else. Necron was more a personal project than his end goal and thereforecked his attention. Especially after seeing ten floors¡¯ worth of gems, the importance on obtaining wealth through Necron had greatly diminished.

    Should I even bother saving it? Victor thought as Toby reached the second fire near Andrew¡¯s pce. Toby saw Andrew peeking through a window with wide eyes at the mes surrounding his white stone pce. His beautiful garden, which Toby knew Andrew had invested much time and money into, was now a barren wastnd of ash.

    Maybe I should save it. Victor hated seeing his subordinate¡¯s hard work go up in mes. But, on the other hand, even if Necron was ultimately pointless in the grand scheme of things, he had hundreds of millions of lifeforce to spare, so spending a million on saving Necron due to his ignorance seemed fair enough.

    As Toby ran around putting out the fires, a thought crossed the void creature¡¯s mind. Has the attack from the nobles already begun?

 Chapter 57. Drums Of War

    The terror attacks were only the beginning.

    After putting out all the fires that Toby could see, the screaming never stopped. The bells still rang eerily throughout the chaotic town, and smoke obscured the sky. Through the undeadwork, he could hear a lot of discussion in the distance; focusing on the chatter, Toby concluded that citizens were being ughtered near the Eshnar gate.

    Breaking out into another sprint, Toby was grateful his body never tired¡ªonly his mind felt the weight of his failure. Why hadn¡¯t he thought of this possibility before? Why was the city a smoldering mess? His ipetence. The eldritch creature, capable of creating fractures in space and walking wherever he pleased as a mere illusion of his true self, must be shaking his head at his failure. He had been gifted this body and entrusted thisnd. He clenched his fist and ground his teeth in silent rage. The Empire would pay for making a mockery out of him in front of the supreme being.

    As Toby approached the fighting, people were fleeing between his feet. Most were middle-aged men, as merchants often were, but one particr man ran down the left side of him with a hand clenched on a sword handle.

    Toby moved to stop him, but it was toote¡ªthe sword-wielding man unsheathed the de from within his robes and, with a two-handed horizontal swing, decapitated the man running in front of him. A shower of blood coated the enraged sword wielder, and he swirled and nicked another man¡¯s arm, causing the struck man to shriek in pain.

    Toby circted his vast amount of mana within his body and directed it to his eye. His golden pupil lit up, and a beam of concentrated energy zapped out with pinpoint uracy. The sword wielder stopped dead in his tracks as a hole went right through both his lungs¡ªhe grasped at the growing splodge of red on his robes with surprise. Toby watched as the man slowly turned to look at him. There was a silent second where the man seemed to regret his life decisions before he slumped face-first onto the gravel road, eyes wide open, looking straight at the decapitated head of the other man.

    A door to one of the shops on the right side of the gravel road was flung off its hinges as two men fell wrestling to the ground. On the bottom half of the scuffle was a terrified gentleman that owned the shop, and holding his body down with a hand sped on his neck was a second man wielding a dagger.

    Toby didn¡¯t waste a second and sted the dagger wielder with his eye beam, causing his body to slump on top of the shop owner. He then noticed a pack of men heading to the Eshnar gate, donning the same robes the goblins under hismand used. They shoved past the people, and after reaching the gate, one of them held down the goblin that was telling the merchants to head back¡ªwhile the others leaped past, shouting, ¡°We no longer wee your kind here!¡± They kept their heads low so the merchants couldn¡¯t discern their identity as they charged at them with swords drawn.

    ¡°Oh, you bastards,¡± Toby snarled as he charged after them. They n to ruin our rtionship with Eshnar by posing as us while ughtering innocent merchants. The toll road only worked if both sides allowed the passage of traffic. If Eshnar deemed the toll road unsafe, merchants would have to stick to one of the other roads constructed through the cursed forest.

    Toby didn¡¯t even bother going through the gate; instead, with a mighty leap, he soared over the ten-meter-high gate andnded on the other side in a small crater¡ªsquashing the men like bugs, much to the merchant¡¯s horror.

    ¡°YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME HERE! BUT FOR NOW, RUN!¡± Toby bellowed and shook the world with every word. All the merchants covered their ears and cowered behind their carts while the horses stood stunned before desperately trying to escape their reins.

    Toby knew he would cause chaos with such loud words, but this was about sending a message. People were wee, and he was strong and could protect them. He had few opportunities to show off his might, and he would much rather terrify a few hundred people and have them spread tales of his domination for the rest of their lives than them saying Necron was an unsafe ce to visit. They already had a bad reputation for being a ce run by creatures of corruption. Many merchants still chose to forcefully traverse the forest despite its rough terrain or continue the many-month journey around its border than using their toll road for this very reason.

    Having shown his face and sent the message, Toby turned around, flicked the crushed human bits from the soles of his feet, and marched back into Necron with a huff. Through thework, he learned that the goblins had finally got a hold of the situation by seizing the disguised merchants¡¯ weapons and pinning them down. He was certain that the Empire¡¯s nobles had snuck men inside under the pretense of merchants, had them hide among the poption to gain key intel, and then waited for a time when he was out of town to strike.

    It was all too organized and exploited their weaknesses far too much to be the work of random people. So now the question was¡­what¡¯s next? The Empire had somewhat seeded in causing damage and terror in Necron but not to an unsalvageable degree. The other warehouse was still fine and now heavily guarded by ogres, and apart from a hundred or so merchants that were ughtered, everyone else was fine.

    Toby started walking toward Andrew¡¯s pce. He knew that nothing could kill the King Ooze, which had grown to around twenty meters long and five meters tall, but he needed his help with strategies. He had been a simple bodyguard for an underperforming merchant caravan with no special skills except looking intimidating and hitting things with his fist.

    Andrew at least had a head on his shoulders and knew Necron better than anyone. Arriving at the pce, Toby saw Andrew had left his sanctuary and was staring at the wooden door that was now a smoldering mess on the floor. The titanic gray slime that barely fit through the doorway turned to look at Toby with his cold eyes. With bells ringing out and clouds of smoke hanging eerily overhead, the two stared at each other for a moment with only the scorched garden separating them.

    ¡°Toby.¡± Andrew¡¯s voice sounded in his head like someone was shouting at the back of his skull.

    Toby carefully replied. ¡°Andrew¡­what should we do?¡±

    ¡°Head to the Empire¡¯s gate. They are here,¡± Andrew gruffly replied as he looked eastward. ¡°ughter them all.¡± A particr hatred came across with the message that Toby felt in his bones. They were bothymen who had been gifted great power and responsibility through a lucky series of events.

    Neither Toby nor Andrew had neglected their duties¡ªthey performed them to the best of their abilities¡ªyet to have all their months of work burned to the ground in such a way was heartbreaking to see.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Brother.¡± Toby lowered his voice to a snarl as he left for the gate and picked up his pace. ¡°I will ughter them all.¡± They were not brothers bound by blood but by circumstance. ¡°Stay strong. We will rebuild it better than ever. That I can assure you.¡±

    Despite Andrew¡¯s frightening appearance, he was a sweet guy who liked his food way too much and had poor taste in luxuries¡­but he had worked day and night to make Necron into the town it was, and he was powerless to fix it. Only Toby could move and fight¡ªand oh boy, did he n to fight. He balled his fists, clenched his teeth, and charged to war.

    ***

    The eastern district that handled the unloading and loading of goods from the merchants and had arge area to store horses had been transformed into an apocalyptic scene. The once-busy streets were filled with soot-covered corpses and smoldering buildings on all sides. The magical ice from the eldritch lord¡¯s ice spell encased some still partially standing buildings in a frost tomb.

    Toby ran through the streets with a heavy heart. He passed by the post office, Bob¡¯s inn¡­ He wondered if that Garry fellow had made it out alive. Then, shaking his head, he focused on the task at hand. Turning a corner, he saw the eastern gate¡­or what was left of it.

    In its ce was a squadron of horses that were in a defensive position. They bore the Empire¡¯s traditional full-te armor with red decorative banners bearing their coat of arms. He recognized a few noble houses andmitted them to memory forter.

    ¡°It¡¯s here!¡± a man leading the group shouted and lowered his visor with a tilt of his head.

    ¡°The demon!¡± another called, and their war horses seemed to naturally back up a step without their owner¡¯s orders.

    ¡°Stick to the n, boys. Do not falter,¡± the leader snapped as he took center stage. Mana red out of his body, and his armor became wrapped in a gray hue.

    Toby ignored them and, without warning, shot out a beam of energy from his eye. Although his pupil was golden, the beam was colorless, just a collection of pure energy. He aimed straight for the leader¡¯s head, but the leader raised an axe with the same gray energy covering his armor at thest second. The two collided, the man was propelled off his horse, and the axe melted partially, causing the leader knight to chuck it to the side before the molten metal dripped onto his hand.

    Toby continued the assault and fired another, seeing the man was now vulnerable. The man scrambled to the side, but the beam caught his ankles, separating the man¡¯s feet from his legs. Toby ignored the leader¡¯s wails and series of curses as he iled around and turned his eye to the group of knights still on horseback.

    He fired again¡ªbut to his surprise, he felt a burning pain in his shoulder. The main disadvantage of his eyeser¡­it blinded him while using it, so he failed to see the men had summoned mirrors from their spatial rings. How they knew he had an eyeser that could be reflected with enforced mirrors, he had no idea¡­but he relished in the knight¡¯s faces turning from triumph to pure terror as his missing shoulder knitted itself back together in less than a second.

    Toby dropped low and charged at the group. Gravel flew behind him as he barreled toward the knights. They separated as he charged, and he saw a man right as he reached them.

    Toby had never seen the person before, but his robes were known throughout thend. He was a Hacker and not an ordinary one. He tried to change his course, but it was already toote.

    The young-looking man donning a simple white robe and holding a bamboo staff sneered. He raised his staff, and the unassuming bamboo pole shone with golden light like a beacon to the gods. ¡°Initiate program: PURGE.¡± His eyes exploded with golden light as he began levitating.

    The Hacker¡¯s mouth moved at inhuman speed as he rattled offmands that caused the surrounding air to be hazy and shimmer. Green lines of zeros and ones whizzed around the man¡¯s body in endless streams without coherent sense.

    Toby couldn¡¯t make sense of a single word the Hacker said, but the blood-red words hanging in his vision certainly did.

    [MANA FLOW: VALUE SET TO ZERO]

 Chapter 58. Hackers Have Limits?

    Like a puppet cut from its strings, Toby¡¯s entire body went limp and tumbled to the ground, causing a wave of gravel to surge at the group of knights surrounding the Hacker. The knights¡¯ armor easily shrugged off the flying rocks, and the warhorses used their translucent mana to bring up rippling shields across their forms.

    Victor debated helping his lumbering giant, but it was far too risky with the Hacker present. Deciding to watch for now, he continued monitoring through Toby¡¯s eyes.

    Toby¡¯s fallen body took up the entire street, with his limp head a mere inch away from the Hacker¡¯s foot¡ªwho was a clean-shaven man with white hair and skin. His eyes were dull and unfazed like they had seen the birth and death of stars despite their golden radiance.

    The Hacker gave Toby a once-over, his expression never changing like a porcin doll¡ªalmost as if he had no facial muscles to begin with. ¡°The deal is done,¡± the Hacker said to the screamingmander in a pool of his own blood and missing feet. ¡°I expect the payment by the Duke upon my return.¡±

    ¡°H-help me¡­¡± Themander gritted his teeth. ¡°P-please.¡±

    ¡°Not in the contract.¡± The Hacker nonchntly waved the dying man off and turned to leave with his hands behind his back.

    ¡°Constantine¡­¡±

    The Hacker paused and eagle-eyed themander over his shoulder. ¡°Do not speak my name so casually, Commander.¡± His voice was cold and venomous, as if speaking to an inferior. ¡°The contract was simple. Bring down the Demon King of Necron.¡± Constantine gestured to the motionless giant thaty at his feet with his chin. ¡°The threat is down.¡±

    ¡°But not dead.¡± Themander spat a mouthful of blood. ¡°And you know that¡¯s what the deal meant.¡± Then, with shaking arms, he tried to lift his torso off the ground. ¡°You are contracted to kill the Demon King. The duke paid good money for this.¡±

    Constantine watched the struggling man with cold eyes. ¡°That is not what we agreed. Just use a healing pill¡ªI have no time to waste here.¡±

    ¡°Want to run away to your sky castle?¡± Themander sneered as he reached to retrieve a pill from his spatial ring. ¡°If I die, who is there to report your sess?¡±

    The two locked in a staring contest, and all the warhorses took a step back. Constantine¡¯s eyes dimmed slightly, and a thin smile appeared on his perfectly carved face. ¡°Who would question the word of a Hacker?¡±

    Seeing that Constantine had no intentions of healing him, themander grimaced and looked at the sky-blue pill resting between his bloodied fingers. Then with a re at Constantine, he swallowed the valuable pill and made sure his sliced-off feet were in ce below his stumps, ready to be reattached.

    Constantine chuckled and turned to leave, but the Empire knights surrounded the Hacker and blocked his path. Constantine¡¯s brows furrowed, which was the most expression he had shown thus far. ¡°What is the meaning of this? You dare block my path?¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t let you pass,¡± one knight dered form atop his warhorse and red down at the Hacker. ¡°The duke will be displeased if this mission fails. We both know you are here to assist us in bringing down the demon king, yet he still draws breath¡­¡±

    ¡°He was dead from the start.¡± Constantine shrugged and looked around the encirclement. ¡°Y¡¯know, undead are technically already dead¡­ The duke should be more specific in his instructions.¡±

    ¡°You know, I always wondered¡­¡± the knight continued as he looked down at the Hacker through his helmet¡¯s meshed visor. ¡°Why are you Hacker bastards so stuck up? Is helping us kill the demon or heal themander really such a chore when you are supposed to be all-powerful?¡± The knight left the words hanging, but the Hacker didn¡¯t bite, so he snickered. ¡°Or perhaps it is out of your capabilities?¡±

    The Hacker looked long and hard at the knight. ¡°Random knight, you should know, like anyone in this world, poweres with consequences. I will not divulge such secrets in response to your crude attempt at taunting me.¡± Constantine thinly smiled. ¡°But what I can say is the contract isplete. The System deems it so. Therefore, my job here is done. Good day¡ª¡±

    Themander approached from behind and grabbed the Hacker¡¯s shoulder with a bloodied hand, staining the white cloth. ¡°You will remain here until my men are finished with their task.¡± He was standing on his feet, but clean gaps through his armor showed his bare shins.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Constantine sighed and pped themander¡¯s hand off his shoulder. ¡°Very well, then.¡± He stepped to the side with grace and leisurely watched as half the knights approached the motionless body of Toby.

    The bells of war had never ceased and screams echoed through the half-destroyed town. The distinct smell of burned wood and blood lingered in the freezing wind due to the many ice-encased buildings down the street. Toby couldn¡¯t even move his eye as the knights encircled his massive body and raised their spears.

    To Victor, it looked like a bunch of fishermen readying their harpoons for a beached whale.

    With a shout from themander, the readied spears plunged into Toby and sank deep into his flesh. Toby didn¡¯t react as the spears dug deep before being yanked back out. ck blood leaked from the holes and trickled down his gray skin, and his flesh failed to heal.

    Victor watched everything in fascination. The Hacker had suggested their abilities have some kind of limit. Was it a once-a-day type of deal? Or did he have a limited mana pool, and the bigger the spell, the less he could cast in a day? Completely stopping mana flow inside an S-grade monster would take considerable resources. I assumed the Hackers ignored standard practices, but Constantine¡¯s words imed otherwise. He paid the price to bring my subordinate to the ground like this. I just need to find out the price and how I can abuse it. He wondered if threatening or killing the Hacker was a good idea. If he used his avatar and failed to harm the Hacker and Constantine got away, Necron could incur the full wrath of the Empire, and even he might not be safe from the Hacker¡¯s reach.

    On the other hand, if he obtained valuable information that allowed him tobat the Hackers, he could rest easy without the constant threat of them looming over his shoulders.

    Deciding to use Toby, Victor tried to push some mana into the Demon King¡¯s body, but he felt great resistance. Like trying to blow air into a stic bottle, Toby¡¯s body simply couldn¡¯t take any more mana.

    The knights had figured out Toby was far toorge, and getting to the heart with spears would take far too long. Because none of the knights, except themander, had exhibited any magical capabilities, Victor was starting to wonder if mages or people havingbat sses were rare. Maybe Alice is even more formidable than I thought¡­ Or perhaps these men are just hired muscle and aren¡¯t the cr¨¨me of the crop. But why would they employ a Hacker and not a few mages? Ah.

    Operations cost money. Mages likely cost a lot to be employed; if they are anything like academics back on Earth, they despise battlefields. They would prefer to stay in theirboratory or libraries. Or, in this case, it would be wizard towers¡­ Maybe the duke spent all the money on the Hacker and assumed the operation would go without a hitch with a Hacker present.

    Victor halted his thoughts as he noticed the knights getting off their horses and walking up to the hulking gray mass of Toby¡¯s motionless body. Some even used an embedded spear to help them climb up to where the spear holes leaking ck blood were. Their spatial rings shed with power, and a chalky red stone appeared in their hands; they then crushed the rocks in their palms like breaking an egg and carefully fed the powder into the holes.

    Victor didn¡¯t need a wild imagination to guess what they were doing. Seems they found a recement for fire mages¡­ He debated if he should do anything, but he couldn¡¯te up with a way to remove the MANA FLOW: VALUE SET TO ZERO debuff the Hacker had ced onto Toby. But if he dies, I can revive him again with my Raise Undead skill, and hopefully, the debuff will be gone just likest time with Henry.

    Since Toby was undead and moved purely on the mana coursing through his veins, luckily or perhaps unluckily, his heart stopped. Meaning the blood was no longer pumping through his veins. Upon realizing it, the knights became distraught as they had nned to carry the powder through his body via the blood. Deciding to just light it anyways, they set fire to Toby¡¯s enormous body at various sections using oil and a lighter. It took a second, but it exploded when the zing oil reached the powder.

    Without any regeneration to repair his burning skin or mana to protect his vitals, Toby found his bodybusting and imploding like a firework.

    Victor felt his vision begin to distort as the connection thinned. Right before it ceased, he cast his Raise Undead skill. Mana in the surrounding area was caught up in a vortex that funneled toward Toby. His body began rapidly regenerating, and as the dust settled from the explosion¡­

    ¡°Impossible,¡± a knight stumbled back and muttered before screaming as Toby¡¯s full form appeared as a shadow in the dust cloud. ¡°IMPOSSIBLE.¡±

    ¡°Noisy,¡± Toby¡¯s voice rumbled out, and an arm the size of a tree shot out and smashed the knight square in the gut like a runaway truck, sending the knight spiraling into a nearby shop and crashing through a wooden wall. Blood leaked through the closed knight¡¯s visor, and the knight ceased all movement.

    Toby wafted the dust cloud away and loomed over the group of knights. He then mentally asked, ¡°Master. Can I kill them?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Victor¡¯s ancient voice replied in the back of Toby¡¯s skull. ¡°Kill them all.¡± There was a pause, but thest order sent a shiver down the Demon King¡¯s spine. ¡°Especially the Hacker. I want him dead¡ªif he dies by your hands¡­then all of today¡¯s mistakes are forgiven.¡± Toby¡¯s eye scanned the group and located the white-robed man, and the pair¡¯s golden eyes locked.

 Chapter 59. Unknown Agent

    The sky was a dull orange as dense smoke suffocated the town. Toby stepped out of the dust cloud and loomed over the humans. His head reached the top of a few still-standing buildings, which gave him a perfect viewpoint to locate his master¡¯s target.

    Constantine felt the Demon King¡¯s gaze bore into him. Reaching into the confines of his robe, he retrieved a purple gem. Spatial mana wafted off the hefty rock like steam from boiling water. Constantine channeled some mana into the gem, but to his surprise, a beam of energy obliterated his teleportation artifact and his hand. He looked at the bloodless stump with bored eyes and muttered, ¡°Well, this is turning out to be a more expensive trip than I anticipated¡­¡±

    The Hacker looked up at the looming monster with a thin frown. ¡°Friend. I advise you to cease your actions.¡± Constantine didn¡¯t even bat an eye as dark energy wrapped the titan¡¯s form, leaving only a looming ckness and a single golden eye ring at him.

    ¡°Why?¡± The Demon King¡¯s voice thundered through thend, shattering the few remaining windows and causing the knights to stumble back and uselessly attempt to cover their ears despite the helmet being in the way. ¡°Trying to use words now that your broken spell failed?¡± Toby spat to the side, and the ground shook as he stepped closer.

    Constantine shrugged and stood his ground as Toby¡¯s foot was within arm¡¯s reach and had his fist looming over the white-robed man¡¯s head. His posture was casual and aloof, as if waiting for a gap in traffic rather than being threatened by an S-rank threat.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Victor said in Toby¡¯s skull, and the undead titan grumbled.

    ¡°None of this is adding up¡­¡± Victor continued. ¡°Not only is this man¡¯s body beyond bizarre, but he does not conduct himself as someone who is all-powerful, nor as someone weak. It¡¯s something else¡­¡± He watched as Constantine looked up with bored eyes at the looming fist hanging over him that cast a shadow.

    Constantine put his hands behind his back and said in a calm voice, ¡°Listen, I can¡¯t say much, but there¡¯s a reason killing a Hacker is a very, very bad idea. My contract isplete. I have no other business here.¡±

    ¡°You bastard!¡± themander shouted from the side as he slowly retreated backward with his men and cast an using finger. ¡°How can you say the contract isplete? The monster you came to kill is still alive!¡±

    Constantine frowned and looked between the looming darkness and an enragedmander. He went to speak but suddenly paused. His eyes finally showed some surprise as he read something invisible to everyone else.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re in luck, Commander. The big boss contacted me¡­¡±

    ¡°The big boss?¡± themander asked, bewilderment on his aged face. ¡°Do you mean the duke? But how could he contact you?¡±

    Constantine ignored the ramblings of themander and resummoned his bamboo pole. The Hacker¡¯s eyes exploded with light before Toby could crush him. ¡°Initiate Program: RAGE.¡± A stream of green text shot out from the bamboo pole and snaked up Toby¡¯s arm. Toby stumbled back and tried to shake it off, but the spell was invasive, and before he knew it, his vision clouded with a red hue, and blood-red words hung in his vision, screaming out to him.

    [SYSTEM ERROR]

    [DEBUFF APPLIED: BERSERK]

    Victor felt through their link an uncontroble rage like no other. It was primal, undirected, and downright contagious. Even he felt his brain cloud a little, which was concerning since his emotions had remained dulled for so long. But, like a caffeine buzz, he felt jittery and needed to act on it. The urge to hit something, kill things, forget about all the chains of morality that held him back and just go all out and fuck the world.

    No.

    Victor cut the connection and felt his sanity return in full force. The hazy red cloud of rage that had infiltrated his mind subsided, and he could think clearly again. Looking around, he was on a giant floating ind in the void, back down on the lowest floors of the Grand Dungeon.

    ¡°So the Hackers can affect me¡­¡± Victor cursed. He wasn¡¯t even there on the surface, but he was still affected by the link. The threat of Hackers skyrocketed in his mind. What if the Hacker had somehow reduced his stats? ¡°But I wasn¡¯t affected the first time the Hacker attacked Toby. Maybe only mental debuffs carry over the link?¡± It was a usible theory, but not one he was willing to y around with his life to test.

    Deciding he needed to keep up with the state of Toby, Victor contacted Andrew.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Andrew.¡±

    ¡°Master!¡± the grotesque slime¡¯s voice replied a momentter over the ck ocean.

    ¡°I lost connection with Toby. A Hacker got to him and sent him into a berserk state. What¡¯s happening in Necron right now?¡± Victor forced his way into his subordinate¡¯s head to see through his eyes. Andrew was currently in the middle of a destroyed town. His white stone pce was ashen with soot, the garden was a charred mess, and all the surrounding buildings were either smashed up and looted or burned to the ground. Down a street, in the shadows of a building¡¯s smoldering carcass, a rugged man was stabbing another with a dagger, dyeing his brown robes in blood.

    A pir of ck me with a hint of gold shot up into the sky near the Empire¡¯s gate¡ªfollowed by a thundering roar that could belong to an ancient creature awakening from the depths of Hell that echoed through the town.

    ¡°Can you get closer? I think that is Toby,¡± Victor asked through the link, and Andrew whistled to a group of skeletons. They ran past the titanic slug and went to retrieve the massive b of white stone that Andrew had repurposed into a throne. It took a few minutes, but Andrew eventually managed to maneuver his body onto the b, which was promptly raised up by over twenty goblins on either side.

    The rugged man down the street scurried off with his bloodied de and left the half-dead resident lying in the street. Andrew had no way to help the dying man as he passed by, but he could at least avenge him. Slimes had limitedbat capabilities, but he had some ways to get creative¡­ ¡°Seize that man,¡± hemanded his ogre servant that always stood by his side.

    Andrew waited patiently as the undead ogre barreled after the man. The runaway nced over his shoulder and cursed as he dove to the side to avoid the ogre¡¯s fist that sent a spray of splintered wood. s, his dive was not enough as the ogre had surprising speed¡ªquickly grabbing the scrambling man¡¯s torso with its other hand in one fell swoop.

    The captured killer kicked and screamed as he was brought slowly toward the whale-size gray slime that rested on his throne while calmly stroking his goatee. Before the man knew it, Andrew reached out, grabbed the man¡¯s ankle, and opened his jaw at an impossible angle. The man closed his eyes in horror and found himself swimming in what felt like honey. He could see the world in a distorted gray hue as he tried to move up for air, but the resistance was too great. Slowly but surely, his skin began to burn, and he opened his mouth to scream only for revolting gray sludge to cascade down his gullet and devour him from the inside.

    Andrew didn¡¯t feel anything except a small rush of power, and his body bloated a little as he continued his journey toward the roars and sounds of destruction in the distance. It took a while as the goblins struggled to walk around and over debris that littered the gravel roads, but eventually, a rampaging titan of darkness appeared in Victor¡¯s view.

    Crushed suits of armor leaking blobs of blood through their visors littered the road like discarded trash. Some were embedded in wooden walls like borate decorations. Meanwhile, others were pulverized into fist-shaped craters as if a meteor had dropped on their heads.

    Victor saw the Hacker standing in the same spot. Streams of green zeros and ones flowed from the top of his bamboo staff and seemed to form a link with the enraged Toby, who killed everything in his sight. Whoever the big boss was, they were clearly not on the side of the Empire as only themander stood standing, with one arm missing and slumped over a rock being stared down by Toby.

    Themander spat out a tooth and red at the titan¡¯s fist that wasing for his face. ¡°You bastard¡ª¡± he cried but was cut short as the fist engulfed in darkness obliterated him on the spot, and a sonic boom destroyed the half-standing inn behind themander and painted the walls with blood and guts. Only two legs remained standing for a few seconds before they toppled like dominos.

    And then Toby turned to look at Andrew.

    Victor could only see one way out of this. Toby was too powerful to kill through a mere link, so a forced reset likest time was impossible. If Victor was there in person on the surface, he could easily annihte Toby, but through the link, his powers were limited and extremely expensive. ¡°Aim your hand at the Hacker quickly.¡± He had made his decision to eliminate this pesky Hacker here and now, so he unleashed a torrent of mana through the link and charged up a Doom Ray.

    The Hacker¡¯s eyes widened a second toote as a burst of lightning erupted from Andrew¡¯s hands and briefly lit the darkened street in its brilliant radiance.

    There was a loud thump as Toby slumped to the side and crashed into the smoldering remains of a nearby building. The Hacker¡¯s magic that had been coiling around the titan like snakes was nowhere to be seen.

    And neither was the Hacker. So Victor checked his status for any clues:

    [Unknown Agent Killed. No exp awarded.]

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly new¡­¡± Victor muttered to himself. The mystery around Hackers continued to grow, but that could wait. Toby and Necron needed some immediate attention, and the Empire had been very kind to provide many human corpses for him to resurrect.

 Chapter 60. Axon

    Constantine felt cold as he opened his eyes. He was greeted by frosted metal and a little window. Taking a deep breath, he groaned as sterile air filled his lungs and a monstrous headache overtook his mind. Waking up after death was never a pleasant experience¡ªone he had avoided for over a few decades. Nevertheless, he flexed his fingers as he felt the numbness throughout his body slowly dissipate. Then a hiss of machinery reverberated through the metal pod he found himself floating in as arge needle prated the back of his skull, and ck liquid flowed into his decaying brain, rejuvenating it with life. He felt a rush like no other: euphoria, pain, joy, sadness. All his neurons fired off at once in an epic firework disy of neural activity.

    Constantine hissed through his teeth and clenched his fists as he tried to ward off the explosion in his head. But, s, there was no way to sidestep the experience. It was just one of the many hicks he had to endure after death.

    While gritting his teeth, Constantine looked up through the small window of his metal pod. The ss was foggy, but he could see the grand mosaic that served as his respawn room¡¯s ceiling. ¡°Dead again, huh¡­what a trash job.¡± Mist left his mouth as he grumbled, but much to his annoyance, he had to get moving before his body froze. Ice cubes bobbed around in the freezing viscous liquid he was suspended in, which cascaded around his arm as he pushed against the pod¡¯s lid.

    It required quite a bit of force, but eventually, he managed to pry it open, and a rush of warm air washed over him. Finally, he stood up with only his feet nted in the green-tinted slush he had been submerged in. Looking down, he confirmed he waspletely naked, but that was to be expected. He did just die, after all.

    Rolling his shoulders to get the stiffness out, Constantine stepped out of the pod and strolled across the pristine white floor. Droplets of water from his hair left a trail as he wandered past many other pods. He asionally nced through the frosted ss and saw a face that looked exactly like him¡­another one of his clones.

    ¡°This one only has another century before it expires,¡± Constantine muttered as he looked at a small disy attached to the pod with a timer ticking down. While in thought, he rested his hand on the cold metal of a pod. ¡°I should contact Axon for recements. It¡¯s been far too long since ourst chat.¡± Shaking his head, he headed toward arge door at the end of the room. He counted twenty identical pods, some with clones of himself lying in wait for a respawn. With fifteen of them now empty, he had five more lives. ¡°I only used that body for twenty years; what a bloody waste of good organic matter.¡±

    Reaching the door, Constantine ced his hand on a green piece of ss, and a secondter, he heard a click as the door magically opened. To this day, he still had no clue how anything in this ce worked, but he didn¡¯t question it. He was indebted to obey Axon; immortality didn¡¯te cheap. Entering the room, he walked straight over to a control panel in front of a floating brain suspended by many wires. On the control panel was a b of pale green ss with the words:

    [System Download]

    Before doing anything, Constantine attempted to will the System screen, but only a red floating screen disying an error appeared:

    [Unknown Agent.]

    Constantine shrugged his shoulders. As a person from another world, it was no wonder it didn¡¯t recognize his clone as something that could be integrated. Finally, with a sigh, the young-looking man stepped up to the green ss control panel and ced both palms onto its smooth surface.

    [System Download Started¡­]

    He felt another rush shoot up his arms like millions of ants crawling under his skin. It made an old being like him shiver. Then, keeping his eyes open, he saw a blue screen materialize in front of him.

    [Backdoor into World Core established¡­]

    Constantine felt something gaze upon him from another realm. It was like a tingle on the back of his neck that made his hairs go on end.

    [Connected to Axon.]

    He threw his hands back, fell on his butt, and spent the next few minutes panting profusely as sweat dripped down his chin. The sensation of something watching him and the lingering phantom pain from the System download refused to leave. Shaking his head, he pushed himself off the floor and used the nearby wall as support.

    ¡°Status.¡±

    There was a dy, but a blue screen appeared after a few seconds.

    [System is outdated by a thousand years¡­update?]

    [Yes/No]

    Constantine hesitated on the yes button. If he clicked it, he might be free from Axon¡¯s influence and finally escape his envement.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Axon say it was sending a Netherborne this year?¡± He tapped his chin as he looked at the floating screen. ¡°But this world has already survived so many Netherborne attacks. So what would be different this time around? The World Core is safe at the bottom of a Grand Dungeon. No Netherborne is smart enough to go that deep for seemingly little gain.¡±

    Constantine had told himself this would be the lifetime he tested the yes button, but he simply couldn¡¯t bring himself to do it. Saying yes had a chance to fail. What if he couldn¡¯t join the System like everyone else on this lovely? He would then be cut off from Axon and doomed to die. He stared at his fist. ¡°I am an outsider.¡± Then, hovering his hand over the no option, he whispered, ¡°But maybe I can make a difference from this side¡­¡± He had witnessed the destruction of manys during his thousands of years of service, but never had a survived this long. A part of him hoped there was a safe ce in this pocket of the universe from Axon¡¯s clutches¡­

    He pressed the no option with great unwillingness, and the prompt faded out of existence, like all other times, never to be seen again. Sadly, an all-too-familiar one took its ce. Without the updated System, Axon could easily hack in and ovey itself.

    [Axon Agent: Constantine]

    [Service Year: 8756]

    [Primary Mission: Conquest of Astra]

    [Secondary Mission List]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Quest Log]

    [Contact Axon]

    Constantine clicked on the primary mission to make sure nothing had changed.

    [Conquest of Astra]

    [Axon continues its expanse throughout the quadrant. In search ofs producing abundant mana from their World Cores to fuel the first legion, the Astra has been identified as the next target for invasion. Your mission is to seize the World Core¡­]

    Constantine shook his head and waved the screen away. To ask a mere agent like him to obtain a World Core was impossible, and with the¡¯s World Core being so evolved that it gained sentience and created its own version of the System made invasion almost impossible.

    Luckily the presence of the System and the abundant mana greatly affected Axon¡¯s ability to interfere directly. Constantine smiled, thinking of all the times he and the other Hackers meddled with Axon¡¯s ns to conquer this world.

    Not only Constantine but the other agents all agreed enough was enough. So they banded together to banish the Netherborne and other creatures from the void that Axon managed to sneak past the¡¯s defenses to give the world¡¯s poption time to flourish and grow.

    Constantine felt some strength return to his wobbling legs, so he started leaving the chamber. He looked at the floating brain¡ªhis brain that Axon had captured all those years ago. He knew his end wasing soon; his constant meddling with Axon woulde to light eventually, and when that happened, his brain, which looked so old and gray and contained all his life¡¯s memories, would be vaporized.

    On his way out, he passed by the other pods, holding thest few clones of himself he had left. Due to their constant failure at obtaining the World Core, he doubted Axon would go through the effort and wasted resources of sending more pods and organic matter his way.

    Clicking on his Quest Log, shing in the corner of his vision, another prompt appeared.

    [Quest Complete: Bring Down the Demon King of Necron]

    [Quest Provider: Duke Ferdinand of the Empire]

    [Rewards: REDACTED]

    Constantine ground his teeth, seeing his exp rewards were stolen once again. It was well known that quests could be given by ruling sses such as nobles. It was one of their rulers¡¯ abilities to stimte development. Axon urged him to take on these quests as the mana used to generate the rewarded exp was easy to hack into and stifle for its own purposes without the World Core¡¯s notice.

    The main disadvantage was that he had no way to level up since all his rewards went to Axon, not that he could level up without being updated to the current System. In return, Axon used its abilities to manipte the flow of energy and provided Constantine with Hacker powers; however, he could only exercise his powers if they were forpleting a quest.

    Luckily there were generic quests like destroying corrupted creatures, which Axon brought into the world to generate more quests that it could monopolize.

    [Quest Complete: Assist UNKNOWN by destroying the Empire¡¯s army.]

    [Quest Provider: Axon]

    [Rewards: None]

    Constantine reached a locker and began taking out some clothes with a frown. He rarely got quests given by Axon, but if he did, it meant he was assisting another agent of Axon with something to further the primary mission. But who was UNKNOWN supposed to be? Thinking for a while, he couldn¡¯te up with an answer, but Necron dide to mind. He may need to do more research into that new town.

    ¡°So long as nobody from Axon reaches the World Core, this will remain safe from its vile clutches.¡± He nodded to himself in the locker mirror and, feeling confident with his clothes, left the secure room, climbed the stairs, and entered the basement of his mansion back in the Empire.

    ¡°You look¡­younger, sir,¡± a surprised servant said as he entered the hallway of his mansion.

    Constantine smiled. ¡°Just did some self-care. Say, Ronald¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, my lord?¡±

    ¡°Take me to see Plutus. That oversize sloth has some questions to answer me.¡±

    ¡°Certainly, sir. Should we take the car?¡±

    Constantine nodded and led the way.

 Chapter 61. Reborn From Ashes

    The Necron throne room in Andrew¡¯s white stone pce was packed with a mixture of undead and people. A heavy silence suffocated the room as everyone gazed upon the empty throne usually upied by Andrew. Almost all of the three hundred surviving residents of Necron that lived here full time cast nervous nces between Andrew and Toby, who took up most of the space.

    Everyone present believed the town was owned by either Andrew or Toby, but to think they had a superior sent shivers down their spines. But alongside their fear was anger. Where had this superior been when the town was under attack? Why hadn¡¯t they nned countermeasures? Wasn¡¯t it the duty of the local lord to protect their people?

    Andrew looked around the room as he stroked his goatee. Everyone present had haunted or distraught expressions. Among the people, he spotted a man who was missing an eye; blood was still dripping down his face as he clutched a piece of towel to the wound. Next to him was a woman holding what looked to be a baby, but it wasn¡¯t breathing. Ash was smeared on its small cheeks along with blood, likely from the mother¡¯s fingers, which were shaking as she pushed a strand of hair out of the dead child¡¯s face.

    Andrew was surprised he could look at this scene and only feel anger due to his ipetence rather than outright despair. Since bing undead, had he turned selfish? No, his emotions had likely been altered since bing an undead. Which was a terrifying thought since he hadn¡¯t noticed it earlier. He clenched his stubby hands as he looked at the misery on the faces of his citizens that had relied on him for care.

    The worst part about all of this? They knew this wasing. It was a nned attack. This shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise, but it had¡­ This showed how ipetent they had been.

    All that apanied the deafening silence suffocating the room was the asional sobs of the humans. Some had lost husbands, friends, family, siblings, and even their homes or jobs. Necron had been reduced to a smoldering pile of wood and a town of broken, angry people.

    ***

    Victor watched the gathering of the citizens of his town through Andrew¡¯s eyes. Anger boiled inside him. He had seen Necron as a side project, something he did for a bit of fun and perhaps to expand his influence on the world stage. If someone asked him why he made Necron, he would simply answer: why not?

    It was within his power and was easy to do. It was entertaining and a ce to express his creative freedom while he mindlessly searched for a cure for his decaying stats. It¡­was¡­fun.

    What wasn¡¯t fun was looking at the suffering his little project had caused so many people. But not just the suffering of others¡­but also his hurt pride. This had been a nned attack, one he had full knowledge wasing. But, in his naive mind, he had worried about his own assets, his strongest warriors. So he had nned everything around Toby and his undead.

    But what about the weak wooden buildings that could be razed to the ground with fire? Or the ordinary people that had begun to call Necron home and relied on the local lord for protection? What about the merchants that frequented Necron for business or were simply on their way home to see their families and had their supplies burned or stolen?

    He hadn¡¯t thought of them. This wasn¡¯t a video game where his boss, Toby, could draw the aggro of all the knights and ughter them. The knights of the Empire weren¡¯t stupid. Necron was open to all, so they had ample time to gather intel. All they had to do was find Necron¡¯s Achilles¡¯ heel, its weakness, and take advantage of it.

    I need to make some changes to Necron and my mindset. So Victor thought as he prepared to summon his avatar and speak to his people. Now that I am strong enough, it¡¯s time to show the world I am here.

    ***

    As everyone grew restless, a sudden daunting feeling overcame them, causing them to freeze. Everyone¡¯s eyes slowly turned to the source, the area above Andrew¡¯s throne.

    A sudden vertical ck line formed. Andrew and Toby remained motionless as they knew what wasing, but the humans were different. Some more religious ones suddenly took a knee and lowered their heads. Others gazed at the line and blinked in confusion; perhaps the long day of witnessing their loved ones murdered before them had finally driven them crazy.

    The ck line seemed impossible as it had no depth or shadow and appeared the same from every angle¡­and then it opened. Like a mouth to the abyss, only starlight and darkness backlit a human. Well, it was human-shaped, except its face was a nk te, as if it was wearing a mask except for two glowing blue eyes. It wore clothes, or at least the outline of clothes often worn by nobilities. A suit, cane, and top hat.

    Everyone held their breath as the portal abruptly closed behind the shadow man. His blue eyes scanned the room, lingering for a brief moment on each and every person present.

    ¡°Greetings, my citizens.¡± His voice seemed to echo from every direction like a chorus. ¡°My name is Vox, and I am the overlord of Necron, thend where you currently reside.¡± He then took a step forward, and to everyone¡¯s shock, he bowed. ¡°¡­I have failed you all.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    There was a moment of silence where everyone was stunned. Then suddenly, Toby mmed his head into the ground, cracking the floor and making the entire building shake. ¡°MY LORD, YOU HAVE NO NEED TO APOLOGISE.¡± His voice thundered through the tiny room, causing everyone to cover their ears.

    ¡°Silence.¡± The shadow man named Vox red at the Demon Lord, and his glowing eyes red up. ¡°I have failed you all, even you, Toby. All of this was my mistake, and I n to fix it.¡±

    Vox used shadow magic to create a throne of darkness and perched himself on it. But due to the low lighting in the room,bined with the man and throne being made of shadows¡ªanyone without night vision could only see the two tear-drop glowing blue eyes looking at them.

    ¡°I am the lord of thisnd, and like all lords, keeping control of a ce requires resources. For the nobles of this continent, it may be money, food, orbor. Yet my servants do not receive pay, nor do they eat.¡± Vox gestured to the few undead soldiers silently lining the walls. ¡°So what do they take from me? Like all mages, it¡¯s a resource deep inside me. One that I can replenish slowly over time but is not infinite. I currently reside in a ce requiring much concentration and powers, so I neglected Necron.¡±

    Vox raised a hand. ¡°I am not making excuses here. Far from it. I could have done better.¡± He then gestured to Toby, who was still prostrated on the ground. ¡°And so could have my subordinates. But as their master, their failures are on my shoulders.¡±

    ¡°But Master¡­¡± Toby winced back when Vox turned to re at him. ¡°I should have foreseen that the Empire would attack us so despicably! Necron¡¯s destruction lies on my shoulders! You entrusted thisnd to me, and I let it be destroyed by the dogs of the Empire!¡±

    Vox shook his featureless face. ¡°They were not despicable. On the contrary, they were diligent and could identify a significant w in our defenses. Not only did they identify that we relied too heavily on Toby for our military, but we also had no way to put out the fires reliably.¡± He looked over the crowd of citizens huddled together in the middle of the room between Toby and Andrew.

    ¡°Citizens of Necron, today marks the true beginning. We will rise from the ashes and be reborn like a phoenix. Henceforth, I will invest my full attention and power into making this the world¡¯s greatest capital city.¡± Vox watched everyone¡¯s reactions as he made his speech. ¡°Those who wish to join me on this journey should remain. Whereas those who do not should leave now.¡±

    Two goblin servants went to open the doors. Everyone turned to look at the open doors, and a few humans discussed between themselves in hushed voices. Eventually, the man with the missing eye barged through some people and stepped forward. He slowly trudged toward the door and red at the two goblins with his remaining eye. To his surprise, nobody stopped him, and he was allowed to freely leave.

    After that, many others stood to leave. Whether their reasons be doubt or fear of being ruled by a creature that wasn¡¯t even material, they went and never looked back. After a few minutes, only around half the people remained.

    The murmurs of discussion died down, and everyone turned back to Vox, who was patiently sitting on his throne. A woman then stepped forward. Andrew¡¯s brow raised as he recognized her. It was the same woman cradling a dead baby he had spotted earlier. Her legs shook as she walked forward, and her breathing was haggard. Tears, mixed with ashes and blood, streamed down her cheeks as she copsed below Vox¡¯s throne on her knees and held up her baby¡¯s corpse with her two shaking hands. ¡°L-lord Vox¡­this is my child.¡± The woman struggled to speak through her sobs. ¡°If you could bring her back¡­even for a second so I could say goodbye, you can have my soul. My heart. My body. Anything you want!¡±

    Vox saw that nobody else had decided to leave, so he signaled the goblins to close the doors. As the m of the doors echoed through the room, he turned to the woman. ¡°Brave resident of Necron, I do not desire your soul, heart, or body. All I ask for is undying loyalty. Can you provide that for me?¡±

    ¡°Y-yes¡­I can provide anything, my lord.¡±

    ¡°Very well. What was the child¡¯s name?¡± Vox asked as he stood from his throne.

    ¡°Elisha¡­¡± The woman started crying again and tried to rub her face on her tattered sleeve. ¡°Her name is Elisha, my lord.¡±

    ¡°Elisha! What a beautiful name. It would be a tragedy for her life to end so soon.¡± Vox ced his shadowy hand on the child¡¯s forehead and muttered, ¡°Elisha, being a citizen of Necron is an eternal right. Therefore, I bring you back from that cursed realm as a lord over death.¡±

    Death attribute mana surged out of Vox¡¯s hand, making all remaining humans step back in fear. But all their eyes went wide when they heard a child¡¯s cry.

    The mother brought the wiggling bundle back down, and as she looked inside, a small hand reached up and stroked her cheek. ¡°Elisha?¡± The mother could hardlyprehend what was happening. ¡°You¡¯re alive?¡±

 Chapter 62. Nobles Of Necron

    Garry didn¡¯t know what he expected death to be like as he gazed upon his dead body. There were many tales throughout the continent. Some believed there was nothing after death; others believed in the gods or utopias in the skies. Those blessed by spirits thought they were chosen and would be looked after at the end of their days.

    Turned out they were all wrong. Garry wasn¡¯t a blessed man. In fact, he was far from it. Despite his life on the high seas, he had little opportunity to fight or level any relevant ss or skill. Moreover, as a chef aboard a ship of rotting wood manned by criminals from all walks of life, they had rtively low standards for cooking.

    Only now, as he floated above his cold body, slumped behind the bar with a wooden stake impaled through his chest, did he realize how pathetic his life had really been. There was so much to do, so much to see. He felt so much regret and unwillingness¡­ Perhaps that was why he was still here as a vengeful phantom that haunted the living.

    The door to the tavern swung open, and an undead goblin strode in. When Garry was alive, he felt pity for those goblins. Andrew treated them like freebor and worked them to the literal bone. But now¡­he was envious of them as they didn¡¯t have to fear death. Those lowly goblins had been granted true immortality.

    The goblin wore a blood-stained brown cloak that not even peasants would be caught wearing, yet Garry was still envious. One could not truly appreciate what they had until it was all gone¡­just out of arm¡¯s reach. If he could be given another chance, never again would he grumble about his old joints or how bad the food tasted.

    Garry was scared. A force was gently pulling him, ever so slowly, away from his ce of final rest. He didn¡¯t know what awaited him out there, but he didn¡¯t want to find out. So he screamed at the goblin, waved his hands, floated around, and even poked his fingers into its empty eye sockets.

    Nothing. Garry was ignored like a passing breeze. The goblin surveyed the room and eventually spotted a trail of blood. The curious goblin followed the path and discovered a very dead pirate. He held his nonexistent breath. Had the gobline to steal his few remaining silvers? Or perhaps devour his corpse? A shback of seeing Andrew eat sent a shiver down his phantom spine.

    But to his surprise, the goblin carefully pulled his body from therge wooden beam that had copsed and impaled him during the fight. It then brushed him down to remove all the wood splinters before grabbing his foot and dragging him outside.

    Garry swore with every word he knew. ¡°Ye fuckin¡¯ bastard, bitch fuckin¡¯ tit cunt, set sail me body alone, ye fleshless fool! Oi, where the ¡¯ell do ye think yer grabbin¡¯ me, ye midget bitch?¡± s, his words fell on deaf ears as he was a mere spectator of this world, no longer a part of it.

    Eventually, he shut up when the goblin rounded a corner and joined a few other goblins performing a simr task. They were dragging or hauling a corpse toward Mayor Andrew¡¯s pce.

    Like a stream of worker ants, the goblins dragged hundreds of corpses, including horses and knights from the Empire. Garry watched in horror as his corpse was dumped alongside all the other corpses on the burned remains of the pce gardens.

    People emerged from the pce doors and looked at the sea of corpses. A few ran around, checking the charred and twisted expressions of the bodies, hoping to find a loved one.

    Garry had never felt so alone as people stumbled or stepped over his body that was face down in the dirt to reach their loved ones. After a while, almost every corpse had a few humans huddled around it.

    Garry had spent many birthdays alone throughout his life, but seeing that not a single person came to his funeral¡ªand that the flesh suit his soul had inhabited for the past fifty years was treated like a sack of rotting potatoes¡ªhurt him in ways he never thought possible.

    Then a cheer broke out. Garry slowly looked up and saw a corpse in the far distance, surrounded by friends and family¡­stand up? He floated closer, but nobody noticed him as he watched a clearly dead man stand on two feet.

    A man of shadows emerged from the pce, and his presence was suffocating. Garry had never possessed any magical powers or sensing capabilities. But now, as a spirit, he could see into the shadow man. He was like a cosmos of stars. Hundreds, if not thousands, of souls swam around his body. But this was only a mirror image¡­a projection of the real thing.

    The shadow man raised his hands in the air, and his voice echoed out from all directions. ¡°People of Necron, my proud and resilient citizens. Under my rule, you never have to suffer the pain of losing a loved one nor the fear of your eventual demise. No matter who you are or what you have aplished throughout your life. With infinite timees infinite possibilities.¡±

    Like a tidal wave of oil, ck mana gushed out from the shadow man¡¯s hands and drenched thend. Again, Garry felt a pull on his phantom body; however, unlike the scary and mystical force trying to drag him away from the mortal world, this pull felt like a warm wee home. Slowly, he drifted back to his body.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As he opened his eyes, he smiled at the orange-hue sky. He felt his soul was elsewhere, in a warm and inviting ce, with many other souls. He felt secure and epted. This body? It was merely a tool to exert his will on this world.

    Garry could sit up, but instead, he decided to lie down a bit longer, fondle the charred grass between his fingers, and savor the smoke-filled air. Life had never been so beautiful.

    ¡°As the overlord of death itself, I, Vox of the void, have brought everyone back to thend of the living in a new form. Apart from the knights who ravaged ournds and will be put to eternal servitude, everyone else here today is granted eternal citizenship to my kingdom.¡±

    Garry sat up and looked at the shadow man. Even now, he could tell he wasn¡¯t real. But whoever was the real Vox, the man or creature behind the voice, that person was a god. He had brought Garry back to life, and now he would treasure the second chance he was given.

    ¡°There are no taxes. No responsibilities. No worries,¡± Vox continued. ¡°Let us build a utopia together, where you can spend eternity with your loved ones in peace. It may not happen today or tomorrow. But if there¡¯s one thing all of us have on our side¡­it¡¯s time.¡±

    There was a brief silence followed by an eruption of cheers. Some were even crying as they hugged the person beside them. Garry looked around and had nobody to hug. But that was fine. He had time to change that. Clenching his fist, he muttered, ¡°I¡¯m going to be the most fearsome pirate in all the world, with a crew that I can trust with my life.¡± He let the words hang in the air with shock on his face. He hadn¡¯t tried to speak correctly, yet it flowed out of him. What was the source of this new power?

    Garry looked up at Vox. He was likely the cause. Foreign information he had never acquired during his lifetime flooded his mind. How to construct buildings, raise a farm, and care for children. It all felt instinctual like it had always been there. Was this knowledge from the other undead under Vox¡¯s control?

    ¡°Citizens.¡± Vox regained everyone¡¯s focus. ¡°Obviously, we all have some nning to do. But I will set some base rules we will build upon in future centuries. First, you will all have a special status simr to nobility, and so will your children. So long as you continue to express loyalty to Necron and me, this will never be taken away.¡± He gestured to Andrew, the terrifyinglyrge gray slime that towered over everyone. ¡°Before leaving today, ensure your name has been recorded with Andrew. Everyone here will be awarded¡­¡± He seemed to stroke his chin for a second as he looked around. A lone standing tree in the garden with its evergreen leaves seemed to catch his attention.

    ¡°I will not use the standard noble ss system. Henceforth you are all green citizens, the lowest type of nobility. This gives you guaranteed immortality as undead and the option to never work a day again. Let my undead servants cater to your needs so you can pursue your passions. For now, we will manually keep track of who is a green citizen, but in the future, there will be identification cards or another way to keep track.¡±

    An undead man in the crowd raised his hand, and Vox gestured for him to speak. ¡°My lord.¡± The man knelt in the charred mud and lowered his head.

    ¡°You may speak freely.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, my lord.¡± The man raised his head and met the glowing blue eyes of Vox. ¡°You mentioned this was the lowest tier of nobility? The fact you would be willing to offer a second chance at life and such a title to a humble farmer such as me is a kindness that I can never repay. But I must ask, is there a way to obtain these noble titles? To move up the ranks? You see¡­I have been at the bottom of the food chain my entire life, and your speech has motivated me to be more. Unfortunately, I may be a slow learner¡­and bad at school¡­¡±

    Voxughed, and it echoed all around, making the undead man wince. ¡°Yes, my dear citizen. There is indeed such a way. Look around.¡± He gestured to the apocalyptic city. ¡°I n to rebuild Necron, with or without anyone¡¯s help. But if you were to offer solutions or assist in managing this soon-to-be colossal city, then naturally, I will give you more privileges.¡± Next, he gestured to Andrew. ¡°If you have development ns or wish to manage a farm again, talk to Andrew.¡± He then patted the leg of Toby, who towered over him. ¡°And this big fe is your port of call forbat-rted tasks such as joining the army, so a massacre like this never urs again. But nobody is forced to work; only contribute if you wish.¡±

    There were some murmurs throughout the crowd.

    ¡°It was a pleasure meeting you all,¡± Vox continued as he turned around to leave. ¡°Something came up that I need to deal with. Make sure to register with Andrew and then decide what to do. This town is for all of you to decide how to run.¡±

    And with that said, Vox vanished, and the immense pressure subsided. Garry locked eyes with Toby. It was time to build his crew and rebuild his life¡­one step at a time.

 Chapter 63. World Core

    ¡°How¡¯s Necron?¡± Alice asked as Victor¡¯s sight returned to the Grand Dungeon, and he looked around.

    ¡°Complicated.¡± Victor turned to Alice with his many blue eyes. ¡°What did you call me back for?¡± He did a checkup on everything. Behind them was a literal sea of inds, spreading to the nonexistent horizon like a coral reef into the ocean¡¯s darkest depths. The ind they currently stood on was rather grand, easily the size of arge city covered in lush grasnd and picturesquekes. A wee change from the volcanic or wastnd inds.

    They were currently floating near the edge, facing out to the void.

    ¡°Can you see it?¡± Alice asked as her Void Eye skill red to life, transforming her pink pupils into swirling abysses. Victor followed her finger and saw her pointing into the far distance¡­

    Only now did Victor realize there were no more inds. Only the endless void stretched out infinitely except one. There was a single spot of something emitting so much mana it was almost blinding¡ªlike a distant star.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Victor couldn¡¯t help but ask. Alice seemed to have a better idea than him.

    ¡°Dunno¡­¡± She shrugged and yfully hung her leg over the edge of the ind. ¡°But why don¡¯t we go and find out?¡±

    Victor ignored Alice and floated back a bit to the half-asleep dragon on the floating tform. ¡°Genus. Can you see what we can see?¡±

    ¡°Mhm?¡± Genus¡¯s rainbow eyes scanned the void, but he seemed blind to the little distant star. ¡°Nope. Nothing but void¡­¡±

    Victor tried to squint to gain a better view, but he had no idea. Everything in this ce was beyond bizarre¡­ But a suspicious thing out in the void is far more interesting than more inds. Perhaps it is a portal to the next floor?

    The next question was if he could actually get there. Until now, the group had used these premade bridges of mana to traverse between the inds. Genus confirmed that these bridges were climatized, with their own oxygen and temperature. But what was out in the void?

    Victor was sure he would be fine. He was a creature from the void; after all, his true form lurked somewhere below. Below what? Assuming space is inverted in this ce, this would be the lowest floor. Where is the golden barrier I crawled through to enter this world? All this dungeon did was lead to more questions and not enough answers. Something that frustrated him to no end.

    Victor floated to the very edge of the ind next to Alice, and a silly thought crossed his mind as he looked down. What if I fall? My body naturally allows for flight, but I can never go too far from the ground. So where is the ground in the void?

    Like a child scared of getting into a swimming pool, Victor rammed his ws into the ground before letting his legs leave the ind¡ªand he tried to suppress a moan. To him, dipping his body into the void felt like entering a cold bath after being burned alive his entire life. The constant shadow vapor that usually coated his whole body as his lifeforce battled the ambient mana ceased.

    ¡°There¡¯s no mana in the void,¡± Victor said. It felt like a stupid realization. Of course, he couldbat his falling stats if he returned to where he belonged.

    Sadly, life wasn¡¯t so simple. Energy waves pulsed off the distant star and shaved a few stat points each time. It had a simr feeling to mana; it likely was. But the difference between mana being ever present in the atmosphere and permanently attacking himpared to being attacked in intervals was heavenly.

    Finding that he could levitate his feet just fine, Victor released the grip on the ind and pushed himself into the void. There was an audible pop as the atmosphere within the ind¡¯s mana vanished.

    Genus said something to him, but he couldn¡¯t hear. This really is like space. Maybe it is space? But where are the stars? Oh, wait, there is one¡­

    But before Victor could float over and investigate, he saw something happen to Alice. Void rippled across her skin and formed a suit of armor that had a simr shadow vapor to him. The ind¡¯s mana seemed to attack her, and before he could offer any assistance, she threw herself forward and left the ind. Genus also rushed off the floating tform and tried to grab her leg, but he winced back before he left the ind¡¯s mana field. To the dragon, the void meant certain death with almost no mana or oxygen.

    The void-covered Alice floated to Victor¡¯s side and let out augh he couldn¡¯t hear. Sadly, she wasn¡¯t part of his undeadwork, so he couldn¡¯t ask her what had happened, but he suspected it was her Void Form spell that she had mentioned to him once.

    Deciding there was nothing else to do, he returned his attention to the pulsing star in the distance and started flying toward it. In the absence of mana, the limit on his speed was gone. Back on the inds, it felt like swimming through honeypared to this! It was obviously harder to tell exactly how fast he was going with fewer reference points, but therge ind he had been on only moments ago was now a speck in the distance.

    Minutes passed as Victor and Alice hurtled toward the star. As they got closer, Victor identified arge glowing object with multiple rings rapidly orbiting it. One of the rings would sh white every few seconds, and a mana pulse went out in all directions. It was only as he got closer he realized just how big it was.

    Was this the sun?

    Hours passed, and it only grew and grew until it took up all of his vision. The rings were actually millions of giant boulders the size of him, likely mana stones, that absorbed energy from the star before something forced them to discharge the energy into the void.

    Victor passed by the rings, careful not to be smashed into smithereens as they rotated at immense speed. The mana pulses were brutal here, easily shaving off a few thousand stat points each time. He was unsure what Alice¡¯s situation was, but she seemed fine¡­at least for now.

    Whatever his n was here, he needed to wrap it up quickly. I doubt this is a portal to the next floor or a final boss. Is it perhaps the dungeon¡¯s core? I don¡¯t know what I expected¡­maybe a blue marble on a pedestal? The idea of a floating sun powering the dungeon never came to mind.

    With curiosity gnawing at his mind, Victor pressed on until he was only a few meters away from the star¡¯s surface. It was surprisingly calm and glowed a blinding white.

    Suddenly, his status page willed itself to life and oveyed onto the star¡¯s surface with arge button:

    [Link to World Core]

    ¡°World Core? Not a dungeon core?¡± Victor stared at the button, hoping his System would give him more information. But as usual, it refused to borate. He looked at Alice, but she seemed oblivious to the screen as she was looking at something else.

    Victor¡¯s w hovered over the button for a second. ¡°Could there be any disadvantages to linking to this World Core? Well, that¡¯s a hard question to answer when I don¡¯t even know what a World Core is.¡± He could pretend he had never seen this option, float away, and live the rest of his life how he had all this time¡ªin fear of his lifeforce.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°I hope I won¡¯t regret this.¡± Victor tapped the button.

    What followed was madness. His worldview warped in ways he couldn¡¯t imagine. For a brief moment, he felt like an insect looking at a circuit board; it was a strangendscape of humming monoliths, but this would not incur madness. No, madness was when the insect, for a brief moment, understood everything like a human. It now knew the meaning of the words, symbols, transistors, and capacitorspletely alien concepts suddenly became obvious. It now knew the world was vast, farrger than the small patch of a garden it had called home. Through the eyes of a human, it could travel unimaginable distances within hours, visitnds of snow and ice and sprawling cities of concrete and machinery. For just a moment, the insect looked at an ant on a tree branch and realized how tiny its existence really was.

    And then everything twisted back, and Victor¡¯s an insect again. Echoes of things he couldn¡¯tprehend or possibly store in his tiny mind echoed relentlessly like a dream he couldn¡¯t quite remember. He screamed in agony as his mind was overwhelmed. He needed that knowledge back.

    [World Core Initialization at 50%]

    The more Victor saw, the harder it was to forget what he didn¡¯t know. Ignorance is bliss, as they say, and he felt like the knowledge was sand falling through his fingertips. Every time he opened his palm in a vain attempt to gaze upon the forbidden knowledge¡ªit flowed through the gaps in his brain like a leakage.

    It was infuriating. It was¡­madness.

    Victor saw intergctic warfare, battles thatsted eons spread across a vastness of the void he couldn¡¯tprehend. The World Core was¡­scared. Terrified of the unknown horrors that lurked just outside its barriers. It knew it was being hunted. By who? It did not know. He felt the love for this world flow through him; he soared through the clouds, thend rushing below him in a green-and-brown blur. Millions of people¡¯s lives shed through his mind like an old-style film, every frame a person¡¯s journey.

    [World Core Linked]

    And then it all came crashing down. Victor was pulled down from the sky; he rushed through rock at unfathomable speed, and all at once, everything he had just experienced smashed into his mind like a bowling ball.

    Before he could even process what had just happened, his status page reappeared.

    [Name: Victor(Main Body)]

    [Race: World Core]

    [¡­]

    [Name: Victor(Avatar)]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [Level: 905]

    [Stat Points: 903+ Million]

    (Lifeforce STABLE - 10451 Days)

    [Skills:]

    [Consume X]

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]

    [Freezing Cone X]

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement VI]

    Victor¡¯s mind felt split. He could see his ws, a terrified Alice, and the surface of the World Core. But he had a second view, one that was that of a god. All the floors of the Grand Dungeon be visible from every angle, every de of grass, gemstone, and tree root. But not just that¡­he could spread out his view further.

    Now he was far up in the sky, and Necron was down below. He tried to spread his vision out further out of the cursed forest, but there were established borders. A force seemed to stop him. It took him a moment to theorize, but didn¡¯t each region blocking him have a Grand Dungeon? Were there more World Cores at the end of each Grand Dungeon?

    And what would happen if he linked with them all? Could he control the whole world? Overwhelming power was a desirable thing, after all. But first, he might pay the dragons a visit, as they were now on his territory.

 Chapter 64. Demon Lord Arrives

    Constantine was seated across from a very fluffy orange sloth, but his rather funny appearance was not to be taken lightly. Plutus, the head of the merchants guild, was a notable archmage and had immense influence over the Empire¡¯s politics.

    The sloth let out a long sigh, took the golden-rimmed spectacles off, and carefully ced them onto therge oak desk he was seated behind. ¡°You looking younger, Sir Constantine,¡± Plutus said with an amused tone. ¡°Did the Demon Lord of Necron butcher your clone?¡±

    Constantine raised a brow. ¡°I am surprised you know of our true nature¡­but I suppose it makes sense for one of the most powerful people in the Empire to know of the Hacker¡¯s deeper secrets.¡± He then took a sip of the steaming cup of honey-vored tea as the sloth let off a hearty chuckle.

    ¡°Money talks. Not all of yourrades are as tightlipped as you are, Sir Constantine.¡± The sloth had a strange smile. ¡°I knew your patron deity would send you running to deal with the threats in Necron. Seems you got your ass beaten instead. How embarrassing for a senior Hacker to meet such a fate.¡±

    A thin smile formed on Constantine¡¯s younger face. Funny that he thinks Axon is a patron deityparable to the spirits they believe in. Those spirits are simply the many egos of the World Cores that power this world. Topare Axon¡ªa cosmic entity and destroyer of worlds¡ªto some alter egos of a fledgling world is hrious. He refrained from correcting the sloth¡¯s small worldview. After all, that was what he and hisrades aimed to protect¡ªthe innocent ideologies of the world¡¯s inhabitants. He had seen too many worlds full of life, joy, andughter be wastnds of undead and misery over the years, and he didn¡¯t want that to ur again.

    Enough was enough, and it was time to change it. Ultimately, Axon¡¯s endless conquest of misery would end. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but one day, it would. Constantine drummed his fingers as he thought, This world is surprisingly healthy and was given time to develop beyond normal, while Axon was focused on conquering the neighborings. Furthermore, it has the ambient mana generation to ward off an invasion via rifts. Hopefully, the church will be strong enough to deal with the asional void creature that slips through and the corrupted even after us Hackers are gone.

    Constantine¡¯s hand paused, and he cleared his thought with a cough and drew the sloth¡¯s attention. ¡°Plutus, we need to put an end to Necron.¡±

    The sloth grumbled as he opened a drawer to his side and retrieved a stack of papers. ¡°Constantine, you know what type of man I am, and toe demanding such a thing is honestly ridiculous.¡± The documents levitated and plopped down in Constantine¡¯s waiting hands. ¡°Those documents contain detailed ounts of the current earnings from utilizing Necron toll roads and earnings forecasts for the next five years.¡± Plutus leaned back in his leather chair, and it creaked from his weight. ¡°Sadly, my hands are tied. The nobles give me power and support because I bring in a lot of money for them. Not to mention I am head of the merchants guild. Not the army. If you want to take down Necron due to your confused sense of justice that I can¡¯t understand, then bring it up with the relevant people. I work with a number, Constantine, a certain kind of number.¡±

    ¡°The number of gold coins in your pockets?¡± Constantine snapped.

    Plutus grinned, showing his needle-like teeth. ¡°And the coins in my clients¡¯ and direct benefactors¡¯ pockets as well. I never imed to be a good man. I am simply a man of business and progress. If you move against Necron and disrupt my business¡­¡± The sloth¡¯s eyes narrowed as a heavy pressure filled the room. ¡°Then we are going to have a problem, Sir Constantine. Please understand my hands are tied. If you can present a solution to me and the high nobles to bypass Necron¡¯s territory safely, then I am all ears, as I would like to earn that toll road money as well.¡±

    Constantine gripped the documents, causing them to crumble. These short-sighted people didn¡¯t understand. It¡¯s not their fault. We tried to tell them in the past of the threating, and only the church really listened to us. All the nobles care about is money and political power.

    He and the other Hackers had to live with the knowledge of the world¡¯s fate while watching the locals parade around, worrying about insignificant issues such as petty politics.

    ¡°Plutus, there are things at stake that you don¡¯t realize. You are blinded by mary gain! Giving the corrupted a foothold in this world is a recipe for disaster. You tell me to go to the army, but who funds the army? Do you want me to go to the Delvers guild? Who pays for the requests?¡± Constantine looked out the window at the blue sky with a bubbling feeling of anger in his chest. ¡°The nobles, they have the ruler sses. They have the money and abilities to rally the people and change this dying world.¡±

    Plutus gestured to the documents. ¡°If you read those reports and tell me with a straight face that I should persuade the nobles to turn down a thirty-two percent increase in GDP year-on-year because a Hacker threw a hissy fit in my office without any evidence or reason¡­then I will be thoroughly impressed in your stubbornness, Sir Constantine.¡±

    Constantine grit his teeth. He knew Axon was nning to send in a Netherborne this year, and there was also a town of corrupted acting like humans? It was all rather suspicious, and the fact he got a quest from Axon regarding Necron sent rm bells ringing in his head. Axon¡¯s attempts at conquering this had always been disorganized and easy to crush. But a kingdom of corrupted? Trading with humans? This needs to be snipped in the bud before it¡¯s allowed to grow out of control. But how?

    Constantine stood up with a grunt and walked over to the window to calm himself. It would be inconvenient if he was to lose his temper in front of Plutus¡ªalthough Hackers were considered a vital part of the Empire and had a lot of privileges. However, there were still lines that couldn¡¯t be crossed, and going directly against the nobles¡¯ and the Empire¡¯s best interests was a great way for him to damage his rtionship with people in power. The World Cores came up with a great idea to spur development. The nobles in this world are granted a ruler ss, which lets them bestow quests. These quests reward people with exp, something the World Cores can freely provide. For quests involving money, those are taken out of the noble¡¯s pockets but can be verified and handled by the System.

    There is a reason those nobles stay in power. The World Cores¡¯ System simply wanted the denizens to be as strong as possible, and sadly, having a ruling ss that caused wars and ordered the people around was the best way to achieve this. Constantine sighed as he watched the cloudszily float by. How long until the sky bes filled with smoke and screams? He had faith in this world. It had held on longer than any world before it. But once the wheel of destruction turned, there¡¯s no stopping it.

    Axon woulde¡ªits invasion was inevitable.

    Suddenly, a wave of dread washed over him. It was not internal. No, it was as if the very essence of dread itself had manifested. Thezy clouds were vaporized by an unknown force, and the sky flickered red.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Constantine whirled around and looked at Plutus. The sloth was staring wide-eyed at the space in front of him¡ªhis hands trembled, and his mouth hung open in shock. ¡°T-this¡­what?¡± the sloth mumbled, unable to string coherent words together.

    Constantine was confused about what Plutus saw, but it also appeared in his vision.

    [Demon Lord Has Arrived]

    Then there was a blinding light that shed across the horizon. Constantine¡¯s heart raced as he stumbled back to the window and saw a red beam reaching for the stars in the distance. That should be southwest from here¡­a beacon for Necron.

    ¡°Demon Lord!¡± Plutus¡¯s mana became turbulent as he became furious. ¡°Fuck sake!¡±

    It hadn¡¯t happened for over a thousand years, but whenever a Demon Lord¨Clevel threat¡ªoften void creatures such as a Netherborne¡ªappeared on the mortal ne, the world would not stand idle. The World Cores were brilliant and genius but were still living things that valued their own preservation over anything else.

    Plutus stood up, and his chair went toppling behind him, but the sloth didn¡¯t care. ¡°I must inform the army, the Delvers¡­¡± The sloth was practically shaking. ¡°A dungeon break ising.¡±

    The world had known peace for far too long. Unfortunately, not everyone would know what the appearance of a demon lord meant. Constantine had witnessed them all through his many long lives. The world knows that if the demon lord is left to its own devices¡­the entire continent will be destroyed. Therefore its logical solution is to rapidly increase the strength of the strongest fighters by spewing out monsters into the world, forcing the denizens to fight. It will then drive the few fighters that survive to defeat the demon lord through quests, and it doesn¡¯t matter how many cities or people are killed. So long as the World Cores are protected, it doesn¡¯t care.

    He then braced himself as a surge of mana washed over him. It felt suffocating as he wasn¡¯t part of the world¡¯s System, but luckily his hacked version kicked in and helped him process the sudden abundant mana. Then secondster, his System showed a prompt that appeared throughout the continent.

    [World Event: Defeat the Demon Lord]

    [Location has been marked with a beacon.]

    [Abundant mana increased by 10 times.]

    [Exp rewards from quests tripped.]

    [A contribution counter has been enabled.]

    Constantine couldn¡¯t see it, but he knew that a counter would have appeared on everyone¡¯s status page from past times this urred. The World Cores aimed to turn everything into a game, making it seem fun and a no-brainer to fight against the demon lord. Anyone in their right mind would run to the guilds to retrieve these triple exp quests andpete with one another to up their contribution counter.

    Then the System prompt that he was dreading popped up.

    [Axon Second Quest: Assist [Demon Lord] with capturing the four remaining World Cores on the continent.]

 Chapter 65. Demon Core

    Those words resounded like a bell in Victor¡¯s mind as the forbidden knowledge of the more expansive universe frizzled out and became background noise. Something seemed to crawl around his mind, building walls and sealing knowledge as if knowing it would corrupt him beyond repair.

    ¡°We meet again¡­¡±

    Victor whirled around, but the goddess¡¯s shadowy figure followed no matter where he looked. Was she inside his mind? He stopped looking around and red at the goddess. ¡°So you appear once more.¡± He cursed. If novels were anything to go by, this was where he learned the sinister reason behind his reincarnation. ¡°What am I? Why did you put me in this world? What is my purpose?¡±

    ¡°My name is Axon¡­destroyer of worlds.¡± The figureughed as it morphed into something much more sinister. ¡°Your purpose? It has already been achieved. You cannot stop the inevitable.¡± Axon floated over to the world core and ced its hand on its burning surface.

    Victor sensed a wave of power wash over the World Core that had be part of himself, causing his ears to ring and a monstrous headache as he felt his nonexistent brain being squeezed. The shadowy creature transformed into a withering mass of limbs, eyes, and mouths¡ªbut there was something distinctly robotic about its movements as if it were programmed to act that way rather than a living creature.

    ¡°You did very well,¡± it screeched, its voice no longer resembling a human but rather a chorus of static noise that grated on Victor¡¯s mind. ¡°Now, all you have to do is make way for the rifts.¡±

    Victor shook his head. Make way for the rifts? Obey the orders from a creature that calls itself the destroyer of worlds? He thoroughly resisted the creature¡¯s attempts to twist and break his mind.

    The World Core pulsed with power, and the mana wave made the creature vanish as if it were made of mere smoke.

    There was a moment of calm. Victor had always been suspicious of the goddess¡¯s true motives. After all, to let a world-ending creature such as a Netherborne have free rein in a world of mortals simply didn¡¯t make sense. A goddess would want to protect the denizens, not expose them to needless ughter. Moreover, his entire biology required constant upkeep through devouring lifeforce. There was no other path for him than destruction. But now it all made sense. That creature was never a goddess. It was a world eater using him for a nefarious purpose.

    But what is my purpose that it spoke of? Victor looked at the World Core that he had now be. It was weird having two perspectives, one from the many eyes of his Netherborne body and the other an omnipotent view of everything within the World Core¡¯s jurisdiction, which included a hundred floors and the cursed forest. Naturally, he had to focus on one or the other as his brain was split, and he couldn¡¯t concentrate on everything at once.

    Victor focused on his World Core body and felt¡­iplete. There was a barebones interface, but it seemed to begging and refused to disy his skills.

    [You have received a unique ss: Demon Lord.]

    [You have received a unique ss: Demon Core.]

    Suddenly control over the World Core¡¯s features became second nature. He didn¡¯t even need skills to inform him of his powers. It was as easy as breathing. What the hell? Why do I have two sses now? Victor was baffled. He had no idea linking with the World Core would produce such a chain of events. Does my System finally function correctly? Howe I can now unlock sses?

    Victor decided to summon his stats:

    [Name: Victor(Main Body)]

    [Race: World Core]

    [ss: Demon Core]

    [Skills¡­]

    [Name: Victor(Avatar)]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [ss: Demon Lord]

    [Level: 905]

    [Stat Points: 903+ Million]

    (Lifeforce STABLE - 10451 Days)

    [Skills¡­]

    [Consume X]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]

    [Freezing Cone X]

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement VI]

    My lifeforce is stable now? Is that due to my link to the World Core or because my Netherborne avatar is currently in the void? That would require more testing, but for now, Victor pressed on the Demon Core ss that seemed to stand out, and to his surprise, the System finally gave him some additional information.

    Demon Core - Unique

    [The vast world is managed by a group of World Cores. When one goes rogue and is corrupted, it will be designated as a Demon Core. A beacon will appear to mark the Demon Core¡¯s location, and the Demon Core will be barred from admin ess to the System. All Demon Cores must be terminated for the world¡¯s continued safety from outside threats.]

    ¡°A beacon?¡± Victor used his core vision and returned to the surface. The sky seemed to flicker red as a beacon of light manifested over the Grand Dungeon. The dragons all lifted their heads to re at the beacon while others rushed toward the central pce constructed over the Grand Dungeon¡¯s entrance. It seemed some of them knew what the beacon implied.

    Well, that is rather ominous¡­but that message confirmed one of my questions. There are indeed more World Cores that I could convert. It was hard to describe, but Victor felt the undisputable power the World Core provided him but also the threat of invasion. The other World Cores surrounding him were powering up and trying to eat away at his territory. It was slow, maybe a meter per second, but as he lost morend, his ambient mana generation also decreased, causing him to lose ground faster.

    Victor ignored the iing doom and clicked on the Demon Lord ss for more information.

    Demon Lord

    [The other World Cores have designated you as a world-ending threat. As a result, your System ess is restricted, and the world¡¯s denizens will gain rewards for your destruction. Your allies have also been marked as hostile.]

    So the System has designated me as an enemy? The ambient mana already resisted me, but now even the World Cores directly oppose my existence. Did Axon know this was going to happen? Victor¡¯s hands were tied. On the one hand, he knew Axon wanted him to fulfill this Demon Lord role, cause destruction, and possibly pave the way for these rifts somehow. But I don¡¯t want destruction. My goal ining to the Grand Dungeon¡¯s lowest floor was to search for a solution to my falling stats. Not to be forced on a war path with the rest of the world¡¯s inhabitants. I wanted to create a city that was a central hub for development and progress, so I would have entertainment for the rest of eternity¡­

    Victor felt his dreams slip away. He may be a void creature with dulled emotions and little respect for the living, but he had experienced life on Earth and knew the feats humanity could achieve. However, as an immortal creature with powers far beyond that of a kingdom, he had to be realistic. If Iply with Axon¡¯s n, I will be thest creature in an empty and lifeless world. And what then? Will Axonmand me to conquer the next to sate my endless hunger? Will I ever be free?

    Victor vowed to find a way to maintain or expand his influence while stopping Axon¡¯s invasion. But first, he needed to stop losingnd. He couldn¡¯t conduct his ns without any mana ornd to work with. But how do I stop thend being taken by the other World Cores? He had a general idea of his capabilities, but he still needed to thoroughly test his limits. He could achieve anything those dungeon cores in other novels could, such as terrain maniption, monster spawning, item creation, and more. Maybe walls could help stop the other World Cores?

    Concluding a test was necessary, Victor decided to practice on one of the many inds on the lowest floor of the Grand Dungeon. His influence over mana was strongest here. It was rtively intuitive; all he had to do was imagine the change he wanted, and the dense mana reacted to the Demon Core¡¯s will. This was likely how all the floors in the Grand Dungeon came to be. How it came up with the ideas for the various floor environments and monsters was unknown, but that didn¡¯t matter. Victor was now a dungeon core.

    First, he forced a grass-covered dirt hill on one of the many inds into the shape of a wall. Then, as the mana wave pulsed out from the Demon Core, the hill trembled as invisible hands mounded the terrain in a ten-meter-high wall. It was nothing impressive, but it worked. But wait, what¡¯s happening? Cracks began forming in the dirt wall, and after a few moments, the cracks spread along the bottom, and then it copsed to the side like a falling Jenga tower.

    Well, that didn¡¯t work. What was the problem?

    Victor tried the same process again; however, he made the wall thicker and shorter this time. To his surprise, the wall remained standing after a few minutes and showed no evidence of structural problems. So I can mold terrain, but whatever I create must be able to stand on its own. Now that he thought about it, there was nothing in the dungeon that wasn¡¯t possible to appear in nature. A ten-meter-high wall made entirely of dirt simply didn¡¯t make sense. Can I create concrete? Or maybe a stone wall?

    He wasn¡¯t sure how he could make concrete right now, but after finding a couple of boulders on a volcanic ind, he managed to pile them up into a wall that was ugly and unstable. I can move materials easily enough, but molding them into the shape I desire is more challenging than I thought. He didn¡¯t want to admit it, but there was something he needed. Something every nation required no matter how godlike its king.

    People.

    Without people, there was no kingdom, only a lonely influential person limited to their field of expertise. Luckily, I can subsidize basic manpower with the undead, but for specialized professions like cksmiths or mages, I will need real people.

    Victor turned his sights to Necron.

 Chapter 66. Necron In Turmoil

    Toby grunted as he lifted an enormous wooden support beam that had gone flying and ttened a group of parked carriages. Everything around the Empire-facing gate was crushed, broken, frozen, or burned to cinders. A few Necron residents shifted through the rubble, yet despite their homes and businesses being decimated, they all had smiles. It had only been a few hours since Vox had appeared before the citizens and granted them immortality and nobility. In such a harsh world, where the average person didn¡¯t live to see their grandchildren and had to work every day of their lives in dead-end and grueling professions¡ªthe promise of an immortal carefree life in exchange for loyalty was like a god-given gift.

    Some of the citizens were skeptical of how truthful or benevolent those ims made by Vox truly were, but after witnessing the shadowy man step out of a rift in space and revive meremoners from death with a wave of his hand, it was hard to refute his ims. Why would such a powerful being go to such lengths to dupe them? If it so wished, it could have killed them all, revived them as undead, and forced them to serve its cause. s, some were already packing their bags and getting ready to leave Necron for good, as they had no desire to stay here or be loyal to such an alien creature.

    Toby ignored the escapees and watched undead goblins rush around fixing Necron. With the sudden influx of new undead humans, he noticed that new knowledge had be avable to all the undead in the ck oceanwork, and the goblin undead were working faster and more efficiently than ever before. I believe it was just us merchants in thework previously. I also recently felt some draconic knowledge flood my mind, but it¡¯s mostly useless.

    The goblins had some basic knowledge of how to construct a house before. Still, it was apparent from a nce that their understanding was primitive andcked the intricacies of human dwellings, such as instion, foundations, plumbing, or room arrangements. But now they moved with more purpose and seemed to understand what they were doing on a deeper level.

    Toby looked around and saw a few Necron citizens that were freshly raised undead. They walked with their still-alive family members and passed by Empire knights that had been revived. So we now have merchants, farmers, cksmiths, crafters, and even trained knights in thework. Their knowledge and expertise get shared around thework and bring everyone up. Like a hive mind.

    Although Toby couldn¡¯t understand the depths of the eldritch creature¡¯s true motives, if knowledge was its aim, then this was an excellent way to obtain it.

    The Necron residents gave the undead knights a weary look. The knight¡¯s armor had the Empire¡¯s colors removed, and their noble house crests scraped off, so they all wore nk metal armor. But the most creepy thing was how they acted like actual undead. A few of the freshly revived Necron citizens could easily tell the difference between themselves and these undead knights. They had kept their minds and personality, whereas the knights were lifeless husks doomed to serve Vox for eternity.

    They could also feel a particr connection that all undead in Necron felt. A hierarchy established by the overlord was in ce, and the undead Necron citizens instinctively knew they couldmand those below them, such as the goblins or undead knights, to do their bidding.

    Funnily enough, the citizens appeared to be below Toby and Andrew in the hierarchy, but Toby knew he couldn¡¯tmand them. These undead citizens were different, almost entirely independent of thework. He naturally understood the reason. If still alive, citizens saw their undead siblings, parents, or children suddenly obeymands like the other mindless undead, then they would flee Necron and never look back.

    It¡¯s all a facade at the end of the day. He knew that even if he wasn¡¯t free from the overlord¡¯s clutches, neither were the citizens. If a cmity befell Necron, the overlord couldmand the undead Necron citizens to rally to arms. But there¡¯s no need for that. With that creature¡¯s power and my own, Necron will be safe for now.

    Toby set therge wooden beam that was like a tree trunk over his shoulder and carefully walked down the street, making a conscious effort not to step on any of the many people walking around or identally swing the beam and destroy another roof.

    Then suddenly, the sky shed red. Toby looked up in surprise and squinted at the previously blue sky that was now a tint of red. A wave of panic spread throughout the undeadwork, and he could hear chatter around him. A few minutes passed with everyone staring at the changing sky. Suddenly a wave of power nketed the area and vaporized the clouds.

    Everyone in Necron had felt this power before¡ªwhen Vox had stepped out of the rift in space. But this time, it was on a continent-wide scale rather than a single room. Even Toby gulped as he felt the full gravitas of his overlord¡¯s power.

    [Demon Lord Has Arrived]

    [You have been designated as a Demon Lord ally.]

    [New ss assigned: Demon Lord¡¯s Champion]

    [You are unable to participate in the World Event: Defeat the Demon Lord.]

    Toby blinked at the words that appeared in his vision. Then they fizzled out, and his new status page appeared.

    [Name: Toby]

    [Race: One-Eyed Demon King (Empowered by: Demon Lord)]

    [ss: Demon Lord¡¯s Champion]

    [Level: 30]

    [STR: 706, DEX: 276, CON: 847, INT: 500, WIS: 320]

    Toby clicked on his new ss, and a description appeared.

    Demon Lord¡¯s Champion<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [A ss bestowed upon those closest to the new Demon Lord. Your powers are now derived from the rogue Demon Core, and your fate is directly tied to the Demon Lord. You have been marked as an enemy of this world, and your death will provide System users with contribution points.]

    ¡°What?¡± Toby stood there in the middle of the street with a lost look on his face. But then a thin smile appeared, transforming into a full-on grin. ¡°Hahaha! Yes! I am now the true Demon Lord of Necron! Soe and fight me, fuckers.¡± Being told that people woulde and fight him filled the battle junkie with excitement. A war wasing, and he knew he was one of the strongest beings on this continent. If he excluded the strongest Delving team in the Empire and the church¡¯s special order¡ªhe would lose to nobody except Hackers and his overlord.

    A door to an inn near his foot opened, and a very excited-looking pirate strolled out. ¡°Lord Toby!¡± the man shouted. ¡°Did you get a System message?¡±

    Toby looked down. ¡°Oh, Garry!¡± He roared withughter and couldn¡¯t contain his excitement. ¡°You became an undead! Wee aboard! Hahaha, what did the System say to you?¡±

    Garry took an instinctive step back. He had already died once, and he didn¡¯t wish to get stomped to death by the overly excited four-meter-tall ogre. ¡°The System gave me a new ss, Resident of Necron. Sounds rather fancy if you ask me. I just don¡¯t like that part that says my death will grant people these contribution points¡­seems rather ominous.¡±

    Toby gave the pirate a grin. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, citizen. With me around, nothing bad will happen¡­¡±

    Garry raised his brow and looked around the destroyed street while caressing his straggly ck beard. ¡°Are you sure about that?¡±

    Toby waved him off. ¡°This time, it will be different, I promise you.¡±

    Garry shrugged and said over his shoulder as he turned back inside, ¡°Well, tell me if the new Demon Lord needs anything.¡± Then with a m of the door, he was gone.

    Toby stopped, grinned, and turned serious. If Garry had also been marked by the System as an enemy, things would quickly turn dangerous here. Not everyone would be so thrilled to bebeled as an enemy and ally of a demon lord as Garry. ¡°Should we hold another meeting? What is the overlord doing?¡±

    Feeling hesitant to contact his lord, Toby walked down the street toward Andrew¡¯s pce. A sudden beacon of red light appearing in the distance made him miss a step and stagger forward. ¡°Oh, that doesn¡¯t look good at all.¡± He scratched his head as he looked up at the endless glowing red light towering over Necron. ¡°Best ask Andrew what to do¡­¡± He then left for the center of Necron.

    The area around the pce was packed with people, but they parted ways and ceased their chattering to whispers as Toby passed by. The One-Eyed Demon King had to duck a bit to fit under the door, but the ceiling was high enough to allow him to stroll to Andrew¡¯s throne room. Toby passed by people with worried faces that had just registered as citizens of Necron.

    ¡°Did I just sign my soul to the devil?¡± one woman whispered to her husband as they passed Toby¡ªoblivious to his excellent hearing.

    ¡°No, dear¡­we did not,¡± the husband responded. ¡°The true devils of this world are the nobles of the Empire. They treat us like cattle and rinse us dry until we die.¡± The husband was missing an eye and was clearly a risen undead. ¡°Stay here in Necron with me, my dear. We have nowhere better to be.¡±

    Toby knew some people would struggle to adapt to living here. Without imports from Eshnar and the Empire, life would get rather challenging over theing months. But hopefully, enough people would see the vision of a brighter future that Necron could provide¡ªand Toby nned to protect that utopian future.

    Entering the throne room, Toby saw Andrew in all his glory. The gargantuan gray slime took up the entire far side of the room with a shape simr to a slug. His stubby arms stroked his beard as he received reports from a group of humans telling him about their new sses.

    ¡°Ah, Toby! You finally arrived. Come tell me what you know,¡± Andrew said as he grabbed a squealing rodent from a box and chucked it into his mouth.

    The citizens speaking with Andrew quickly left the room as Toby strolled over. ¡°Well, the skies turned red alongside a red beacon of light to the north, likely where the Grand Dungeon is, and I know of people with new sses. The pirate Garry received the Resident of Necron ss, and I got Demon Lord¡¯s Champion.¡±

    Andrew nodded hisrge, grotesque head. ¡°Indeed¡­I also received the same ss as you, and the humans I was just speaking with also got the Resident of Necron ss. But there¡¯s also one other ss I¡¯ve found so far.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡±

    Andrewughed a little and pointed to his zombie ogre servant. ¡°Minion of Necron, a ss given to the goblins and ogres. Rather fitting, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    Toby grinned. ¡°Yeah, that does fit them rather well.¡± He then sat down and leaned against the pce¡¯s stone wall. ¡°So¡­what should we do now? Contact the overlord and ask for instructions?¡±

    Andrew shook his head. ¡°Absolutely not¡ªwell, at least not for a few hours. We have no idea what the overlord is experiencing right now, and I do not wish to be on the bad side of the world¡¯s new Demon Lord.¡± He lightly chuckled as he devoured another rodent. ¡°I suggest we secure our borders and keep the people calm. The overlord will provide us with guidance soon enough¡ª¡±

    Andrew never finished his sentence as a rift in space opened, and Vox stepped out. ¡°Afternoon, gentlemen.¡±

 Chapter 67. Surrounded

    ¡°I believe we have a lot to talk about, but time is of the essence,¡± Vox said as he fully stepped out of the rift in space. Then, with a swish of his shadowy hand, a throne of darkness materialized, dominating the room with its ominous andmanding presence.

    Vox took his seat. His two loyal servants didn¡¯t say a word.

    Vox cleared his throat to draw unnecessary attention to himself and then addressed his two minions. ¡°I reached the final floor of the Grand Dungeon. But, despite what your legends say, there was no goddess to grant my every desire. Instead, I found a poisoned fruit. Like a blinded and desperate fool, I took what wasn¡¯t mine, and now the world despises my existence even more.¡±

    He ced his head on his hand and slouched on his throne. ¡°Henceforth, I am a demon lord. Dered as an enemy of the world alongside all those foolish enough to stand beside me.¡±

    A moment of silence befell the room until Andrew bravely spoke up. ¡°My lord, no matter the circumstances, we will continue to serve.¡± The giant gray slime tried to bring his stubby hands together to give a bow, but he couldn¡¯t quite reach.

    ¡°Good.¡± Vox nodded and sat up slightly. ¡°I have gained powers beyond mortalprehension, powers of a demi-god, by assimting with a World Core. These World Cores reside at the bottom of the deepest Grand Dungeons and, from my understanding, also manage the System. When one of these World Cores goes rogue or is controlled by a foreign entity such as myself, the other World Cores work together to reim the rogue core.¡± Vox then gestured around the room. ¡°We are surrounded by four such cores in each cardinal direction, and as we speak, I am losingnd every second to them.¡±

    Toby stood up. ¡°I will go, my lord. Tell me where I am needed.¡±

    Vox¡¯s face remained featureless, but the sides of his face rose, indicating a smile. ¡°Let us first establish our forces numbers and our priorities. Then we can act. The situation is bad but not dire yet. Rushing will only get us eradicated sooner.¡±

    Toby nodded. ¡°What do you need to know, my lord?¡±

    Vox brought up his shadowy hand and began listing off. ¡°We have around two hundred permanent residents signed up to be green citizens¡ªthe rest¡­either escaped or perished in the Empire¡¯s raid. These citizens will need protection as they are now enemies of the world and their lives are worth these contribution points. I do not expect them to fight unless they wish to increase their noble rank throughbat. But what happened to the other people living in this town? There were over five thousand temporary residentsst time I checked.¡±

    Andrew responded, ¡°Of the few thousand in the town at the time of the raid, almost all have fled. They haven¡¯t made it far down the toll roads. Should we deal with them?¡±

    Vox raised his hand to silence Andrew. ¡°Despite the world¡¯s aversion to my existence, I do not n to inherit nor act upon the role bestowed upon me. So spread the word that everyone is free to leave or stay. Bing a true demon lord benefits nobody.¡±

    ¡°But my lord,¡± Andrew stroked his goatee from stress, ¡°I assume we will be cut from the Empire and Eshnar. We cannot currently survive on our own supplies. So keeping them as hostages or as a workforce would be best¡ª¡±

    ¡°Incorrect,¡± Vox resolutely replied. ¡°I now have control over the entire Grand Dungeon. You may not be able toprehend what that means, but let mey it out for you. I can create continent-size floors of lush farnd,kes of freshwater, and trees that grow delicious fruits. I have ten floors worth of undead humans that I can use asbor.¡± He leaned forward, his blue eyes glowing with power. ¡°So what use do I have for these pathetic humans? Why hold them hostage or force them to work and anger the surrounding kingdoms any more than I already have?¡±

    Andrew¡¯s stubby hand paused on his goatee, and his eyes gleamed with awe. ¡°My lord. This servant has been humbled.¡± He gave an attempt at a bow, but without a neck, it looked rather odd. ¡°The people will be granted freedom, as you wish.¡±

    ¡°Good. Now with that out of the way, I need to figure out how to regain my lostnd. The other World Cores are using their ambient mana to imnd from me. Any ideas?¡±

    Toby crossed his massive, gray-skinned arms. ¡°If we position undead on the border, will that stop their advance?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps. Worth a try,¡± Vox mumbled to himself as his view changed. From the skies above, he directed some goblins near the toll road entrance to venture toward the approaching border. It took a few minutes, but they managed to reach it quickly since they were already close to the Empire.

    Like an ocean being stopped by a sand castle, the encroaching border proceeded around the goblin, but after a few seconds, the goblin was a little ind of isted mana and was devoured. Victor tried to use Raise Undead on the goblin, but nothing happened. His connection to that pile of bones was severed.

    Returning to Andrew¡¯s pce in Necron, Vox¡¯s eyes regained light, and Toby and Andrew stiffened. ¡°It is possible. But just one goblin wasn¡¯t enough. I will likely need quantity and quality to hold back the approaching tide.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°Yes, my lord,¡± Toby agreed. ¡°But we must keep these contribution points in mind. I assume all the undead under yourmand will be targeted by the other World Cores and the denizens of the surroundingnds.¡±

    Victor checked his ck ocean and quickly calcted a rough estimate of his forces. ¡°I have ess to around fifty Empire knights that have been turned into overpowered death knights. Other than that, I can field a few thousand undead goblins and a hundred zombie ogres.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we should retreat into the Grand Dungeon, my lord?¡± Andrew suggested. ¡°I do not see how we can defend so muchnd against the World Cores and all of the Delvers from the entire continent.¡±

    ¡°I agree with Andrew¡ª¡± Toby interjected but was cut off by Vox¡¯s eyes ring up and raising a shadowy hand.

    ¡°No. Although building a city down in the Grand Dungeon to keep my citizens safe does have merit, the dungeon¡¯s mana is too dense for anyone except monsters and Delvers to survive. But that isn¡¯t the main issue.¡± Vox continued after checking something. ¡°I can feel it. As I losend, I lose power. I believe the world generates mana, and the World Cores capture that mana to harness for their means. So to losend is to lose my mana supply, which will prove fatal in the long run.¡±

    Vox stood from his throne of shadows and gazed at his two loyal subordinates. ¡°I will enlist the dragons for help¡ªhowever, that will take time. Meanwhile, I want Andrew to spread the news about how the popce can choose to stay or leave, and I want Toby to head to the Empire¡¯s border to hold some ground.¡± He stepped toward Toby. ¡°I will revive every single ice statue, and those monsters will be under yourmand.¡±

    Toby instantly dropped to a knee and hung his head low. ¡°As you wish, my lord.¡±

    Vox nodded. ¡°Excellent. I will also try and create new monsters and control the current dungeon¡¯s monsters to regain our lostnd.¡±

    Andrew looked taken aback. ¡°My lord! Do you n to cause a dungeon break? Those can destroy kingdoms overnight!¡±

    ¡°I. Am. The. Dungeon.¡± Vox spelled out while poking Andrew¡¯s sludgy body with a shadowy finger. ¡°It is not a dungeon break if I control it. We have no time to muck around and find another solution. The Cursed Forest isndlocked and surrounded on all sides by hostile kingdoms and World Cores that want to eat me for breakfast.¡±

    Andrew gulped and meekly nodded. ¡°All right.¡±

    Victor was satisfied with the meeting and decided to progress with his next n.

    He forced his shadowy avatar to make a grand exit by transforming the shadow throne into a portal with a wave of his hand, and then the avatar stepped through. The shadow man faded away on the other side of the portal down in the Grand Dungeon¡¯s depths as it was just a mere illusion and he had no need for the mana upkeep. I think I will continue to use Vox as a persona to address the people and my subordinates for now. My Netherborne body can be used sometimes, but it¡¯s far toorge to fit into most spaces and is overly terrifying to be in the presence of.

    Victor took a long deep breath to calm his nerves. One thing at a time¡­you can do this. He felt like the whole world was crashing down around him, and it was hard to stay focused on one thing when ten other things demanded his attention.

    However, there was one thing he couldn¡¯t shy away from any longer. His travelpanions, that had stuck with him over thest few months were owed an exnation for what just happened. No doubt, they had a ton of questions for him.

    Focusing on his Netherborne body, Victor took in the surroundings. Beside him was the World Core, which now glowed with a red tint, likely due to it bing a Demon Core. I wonder why it glows red, though? Is that just a visual effect, or does it change theposition of the mana it sends out? Another thing added to his long list of things to test.

    Alice was there, shrouded in her void armor, looking straight at him. She was eerily quiet as she watched his motionless body, but seeing his blue eyes relight with power and Victor turning his head made her perk up.

    They still couldn¡¯tmunicate in this void as Alice wasn¡¯t part of his undeadwork, and theck of mana or oxygen in the air mademunication rather tricky. So with his long w, he gestured toward the floating ind in the distance where, with his perfect vision¡ªthanks to the Demon Core¡ªhe could see a very distressed-looking golden dragon.

    Alice understood the hint, and the two of them flew back together. It was time to visit the dragons.

 Chapter 68. Mysteries Of The Creator

    There was an audible pop as Victor and Alice crossed the boundary of the floating ind¡¯s mana sphere. Genus eyed Victor¡¯s shadowy body with a newfound caution and looked ready to run at any moment. Victor ignored the cat-like dragon and checked his status.

    [Name: Victor(Avatar)]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [ss: Demon Lord]

    [Level: 905]

    [Stat Points: 903+ Million]

    (Lifeforce STABLE - 10451 Days)

    [Skills¡­]

    [Consume X]

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]

    [Freezing Cone X]

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement VI]

    Victor looked at his arms and noticed the usual shadowy evaporation was no longer urring. So my status wasn¡¯t lying to me earlier after all. I really do have a stable body now. Is it because I am now part World Core, so the world¡¯s mana no longer targets me? Honestly, that was a stretch. Victor refused to voice his true thoughts for fear of Axon hearing him, but he was suspicious. My status page was always a bit of a mystery, but it is rather obvious Axon wished me to pursue a solution to my falling stats. Because without my lifeforce vanishing, I would have happily remained in the Cursed Forest and never delved down into this Grand Dungeon and seized the World Core¡­but then how did the other Netherborne who came to this world in the past die out if not from lifeforce deterioration?

    Victor knew he was part of some borate scheme, a game involving the gods. Was Axon a god? Perhaps on the same level as one? If Axon was the destroyer of worlds, then who created worlds? Who put these World Cores here? So many questions with too few answers. He shook his head and turned his many burning blue eyes to Alice. Her void armor melted away, and she gave him a sly smile.

    ¡°This humble servant greets the demon lord.¡± Alice did an overexaggerated bow with her silky ck hair falling over her face, hiding her amused expression.

    Genus tensed up to the side, and Victor tilted his head. ¡°Hrious, Alice. Stop messing around and tell me what ss the System gave you.¡±

    Alice chuckled, straightened her back, and looked up at Victor¡¯s looming form and many fierce eyes. ¡°Demon Lord¡¯s Friend¡ªQuite cute, right?¡± She put a finger to her chin and looked around. ¡°So, who are we invading first? Eshnar? The Empire? Ooh, maybe the Frosnds?¡±

    ¡°Calm down. There will be no invading of kingdoms yet.¡± Victor waved the excited girl off with his w. Her thirst for revenge on the humans seemed a little strong since she became a Darkness Mana Body. ¡°We are actually the ones being invaded right now.¡± He pointed a w to the sky¡­ Ceiling? Void? Which way was up anyway? Of course, with his connection to the World Core¡ªVictor could confirm he was pointing neither up nor down¡­

    They were in a pocket dimension with a definitive space. Space that could be extended or copsed how Victor saw fit¡ªat the cost of far more mana than he had to spend.

    Alice gave Victor a weird look because he was just pointing upward and saying nothing. Victor coughed awkwardly. ¡°Ahem, as I was saying, we are being invaded from all sides at the moment¡ªbut the foe is rather tricky. If it were mere humans, I could deal with them myself. s, the opponent is the other World Cores, infuriated by my existence.¡±

    Genus lumbered closer, clearly letting down his previously raised guard. ¡°Firstly, what is a World Core, if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± He looked to the distant void behind Victor where their pair had gone¡ªyet he still couldn¡¯t see anything.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Victor was happy to answer. It was important his allies knew what they were fighting for and against. Even if Genus knows, it¡¯s not like he can survive in the void and go and deal with my Demon Core anyways.

    ¡°From my understanding, the world generates ambient mana naturally. So someone or something, perhaps even the world itself, created theserge circr objects called World Cores that can be found at the end of Grand Dungeons. They take in the ambient mana, charge up a powerful and focused wave, and then spread the mana to where it¡¯s needed. I also suspect these World Cores manage the System humans and other races use.¡± Victor made sure Genus was following along before continuing. ¡°Anyway, I can¡¯t feel any other World Cores in this pocket dimension we are currently in, so it seems each World Core has created a Grand Dungeon and pocket dimension to protect themselves¡­kind of like a firewall.¡±

    This made him pause and think back to theputer he found on the gem-covered floor in that castle. Then, ignoring the questioning gaze from Genus, he switched his mind back to the Demon Core and located all the dead zones of mana throughout the Grand Dungeon. There seems to be one on every ten floors. There is even one on this floor and on this very ind.

    ¡°Follow me. We can talk as we walk. I¡¯ll show you something.¡± Victor started moving toward the dead mana area on the ind, and his travelpanions followed him without question. However, they could tell by his constant dimming eyes and shifting attention that he was focusing on other things.

    Alice used her float spell and casually floated alongside Victor. Genus opted for gliding. Meanwhile, Henry stayed silent atop a zombie dragon¡¯s back, and Wiggles happily tunneled through the ind.

    Victor¡¯s ancient voice drew their attention. ¡°The other World Cores are invading the Cursed Forest from all sides with their mana. However, I have confirmed through a test that someone under mymand can fight back against the mana. Other types of fortifications may also help. So I think it is time to pay the dragons a visit as their help will be valuable¡­but first, remember that weird green metal room we found?¡±

    Everyone nodded.

    ¡°I think there is another simr ce just up ahead.¡±

    The ind was rtively t, covered in lush grass and picturesquekes of crystal-clear water. A few monsters resided on the ind. When Victor went too close to one of thekes, an enormous mouth with razor-sharp teeth erupted from below theke¡¯s surface in a spray of water and sand. Naturally, it died instantly to Victor. So the monsters in the Grand Dungeon don¡¯t recognize me as their master? Thatplicates things a little.

    There were also weird creatures disguised by leafy shrubs waiting in ambush, and as the group passed them, Genus would dive down and gobble them up like a snack. It seemed whatever creature was hiding among the leaves had blue blood as it dripped between Genus¡¯s teeth.

    After ten minutes, the group stumbled upon a grove. Average-size trees and dense foliage of shrubs helped obscure what Victor was looking for. Coming to a standstill over a seemingly ordinary bit ofnd, heused his w to sh the shrubs and move the thinyer of soil in his way, exposing the green metal floor below.

    Alice wandered forward and went to stand on it, but to everyone¡¯s surprise, the metal rippled as if it was water, and she fell through. Victor pushed his hand against the green metal, and at first, it felt solid, but only a secondter, it rippled again, and his arm went straight through. ¡°Well, that is strange. Why didn¡¯t it do this before?¡± Victor mused as he let his body fall through. Genus followed close behind.

    Inside the hidden room was the same oldputer with its yellowing stic. ¡°You got in here, too?¡± Victor asked with surprise as he saw Wiggles¡¯ head poking through one of the side walls. Maybe poking was the wrong word. The titanic earthworm¡¯s gaping maw took up an entire wall, and he could see all the way down the thing¡¯s throat. Neon-green saliva dripped from the thousands of razor-sharp teeth, and if Victor could smell it, he was sure it smelled awful¡ªwhich was confirmed by Alice coughing to his side.

    ¡°Patrol the area. You aren¡¯t needed here,¡± Victor told his pet, and the thing seemed to understand. The room rumbled as Wiggles slowly backed away, the green metal rippling and finally returning to the solid metal once Wiggles had vanished.

    Shaking his head, Victor ignored everyone and went to inspect theputer. It was ced on a simple wooden table that showed some evidence of decay, and theputer itself looked worse for wear. As he got closer, the screen lit up as if detecting his presence and a single line of blue text shone through its dust-covered screen.

    [Login]

    Victor had obviously seen this message before, not that long ago. Thest time he tried to log in, he remembered it had shown this statement:

    [Error: Dungeon entity not found]

    [Login failed]

    And then it had teleported them outside. This time, however, it felt different. They could somehow get through the green metal, so theputer might recognize them. Ignoring how ridiculous of a sight it was for a six-meter-tall void creature to be carefully pushing a mouse with the tip of its w, Victor selected the option.

    Like before, the room lit up with an azure blue as an expansive runic formation engraved into the dull green metal floor sprung to life. Theputer screen shed blue, and a greenser scanned the room. Everyone waited with bated breaths¡ªwould it seed this time?

    The green lights vanished, and a line appeared through the dust-caked screen.

    [Dungeon Master: Login Sess]

    The screen shed, and data was sent directly into Victor¡¯s mind. Which raised¡­even more questions. His previous rant about how the World Cores managed the System wasn¡¯t entirely true. Whoever put theseputers here was the genuine creator.

 Chapter 69. Royal Card

    The data provided by theputer confirmed many things¡ªit was both a control console for the Grand Dungeon and an archive of the world¡¯s history. Finally, a lot of questions became clear as day to Victor. His mind cracked, and the walls built by something¡ªlikely Axon¡ªto contain the forbidden knowledge crumbled away; however, some still remained.

    The was sentient but rather simple-minded. Nevertheless, it had the potential to do amazing things¡­if guided correctly. Thisputer¡¯s data hinted at such guidance; the World Cores were naturally urring, but the Grand Dungeon and System? Not so much.

    Someone hade here a long time ago and helped guide the. Initially, it had resisted foreign aid, but after learning of the threat looming in the universe, the world quicklyplied.

    That threat? Axon. Apparently, whoever came to set up the System all those years ago had been part of a race that made a terrible mistake. They had created a super AI to manage their intergctic empire: transportation between systems, payment processing across worlds, and gctic marketces where everything from exotic metals to real estate could be bought and sold. All of this needed management, so the people created an AI to oversee it.

    A mistake that would cost them everything. Axon was no god¡­it was a-sizeputer floating in space that toppled a gctic civilization that it had been trusted to manage. But that was just the beginning. After destroying world after world in its sr system and consuming them for power, it grew toorge. Mana became its fuel, and finding new sources of mana required consuming mores.

    This was fine until it ran out ofs to consume in its operational range. Axon, being a, naturally had to orbit a star and couldn¡¯t move around on its own. So now its only choice was to use armies of monsters and people it had enved to invade other worlds through rifts.

    The problem for Axon? Mana-rich worlds had a natural barrier of protection against these rifts, like a firewall. Of course, not all firewalls were perfect, vulnerabilities and gaps appeared from time to time, and things slipped through¡­such as a Netherborne here and there.

    Axon¡¯s aim was for the to waste a lot of mana¡­or spread its mana thinly to create as many gaps as possible, something that had been achieved by Victor taking over one of the World Cores and causing all the surrounding ones to rapidly consume mana to try and devour him.

    Victor¡¯s mind spun, trying toe up with a solution. Do I let myself be devoured? Allow my downfall so the world can continue to survive? Victor shook his head. He wanted the world to continue existing¡­but he selfishly also wanted to be there to watch it happen. He may just be a soldier of a power-hungry AI, but he didn¡¯t want this second chance at life to be wasted.

    ¡°Is this even a second life, though?¡± he mumbled as he floated away from theputer for a moment. ¡°I should contact Terry.¡± He summoned the ck ocean in his mind and looked far. A single speck of gold flickered in the distance. He focused on that node and openedmunication with an absurd amount of mana by using his new body¡­the World Core. To the World Core, the mana expenditure was a drop in the bucket. Terry, I need you to head to 123 Fallstreet in London. Check if a man named Victor lived there with his mother.

    A few minutes passed before a reply came back. ¡°All right, boss! It may take a few months, though. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t afford a ne ticket right now. Acting gig in LA is rough, man. These bastard producers rinse my talent dry!¡±

    Victor had enough gems in the Grand Dungeon to crash the entire economy of Earth, yet this subordinate couldn¡¯t afford a $500 ne ticket to London? So, cutting the connection to save mana, he thought, Is there a way I can send him the gems? He approached theputer again and logged back in.

    [Dungeon Master: Login Sess]

    Many of the features of theputer were locked due to Victor¡¯s demon lord ss. In a way, he was d he was locked out of the System; otherwise, if he had never gained the information he learned just moments ago from theputer¡¯s archive, he could have quickly brought this world to ruin. Luckily, despite being locked out of most features, some were still open to him.

    Such as anything involving his ownnd. Theputer had far more finesse over mana than he did, as it was directly plugged into the System. Now that I think about it¡­I have never actually cast a spell myself. I have always had the System do everything for me. Victor searched through theputer¡¯s options.

    Artifact creation¡­ Mana maniption¡­ Construction¡­ Monster breeding¡­ Floor Management¡­

    The list went on and on. Almost anything Victor thought a god could do, he could do with theputer¡¯s help. Nothing about gctic travel. Maybe I could create a portal through an artifact? But, s, that would have to wait till another time. With the other World Cores closing in on him with every passing second, he needed to act fast.

    One feature he could do with theputer was give others certain statuses, such as admin rights, movement restrictions, etc. These rights could be tied to an artifact or even someone¡¯s soul.

    Luckily, so long as he was standing near aputer, Victor could operate it within his mind and had no need for the tiny mouse or dusty keyboard. Selecting artifact creation, a menu popped up in his mind¡ªit was ancient looking, like the graphics from an early 2000s¡¯ website. I need to create identity cards like a passport for those close to me and those under my rule. I don¡¯t want an event of Necron¡¯s destruction urring again.

    On the interface, Victor created a card simr to a credit card in size. Then theputer screen shed with power, and a hologram disyed the nk card, slowly rotating around in the air in the middle of everyone.

    Alice approached the hologram and looked at it with curiosity. ¡°Victor, what is this thing?¡±

    ¡°Thisputer lets me do anything I want within the Grand Dungeon, such as manipting the terrain, spawning monsters, creating artifacts, and more. One handy feature that caught my eye is teleportation within the domain. There are ten of theseputers, and I can teleport between them. I also wish to give you this power, so I am creating an artifact to give you that ability.¡± He looked at the nk card and realized he should color code them. He had already promised the citizens that theirs would be green. ¡°What color should I make the card, Alice? You, me, and maybe Genus will have the same color.¡±

    Alice rubbed her chin and looked to the side. Genus tilted his head in confusion as she scrutinized him. She then looked to her own hands and mumbled, ¡°Midas touch.¡± She then turned to Victor with a smile. ¡°Make them gold.¡±

    Victor shrugged and selected the option. The hologram was updated, and the card was now a gold color. ¡°All right, I will make this the Royal card. What should the other card colors be?¡±

    ¡°There are other cards?¡± Alice asked with a frown.

    Victor nodded. ¡°Yeah, I am creating my own noble system. These cards seem like a good way for people to show off their status within my society. I have already promised the residents of Necron a green card.¡±

    Alice¡¯s eyes sparked as if she had a good idea. ¡°Golden cards can naturally represent gold, so green could be emerald.¡± Stroking her chin in thought, she thought back to the gem-covered floor. ¡°Blue could be for sapphires, the next highest rank. Then maybe obsidian for the highest?¡±

    ¡°So it would go green, blue, ck, and then gold?¡± Victor asked, and Alice nodded. ¡°Okay, that works.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Returning his focus to the interface, Victor looked through skills to add to the artifact. He naturally gave the golden Royal card the ability to teleport between floors. I should also add the ability for terrain maniption¡­ He only nned to give this card to those he trusted the most, so adding a lot of powers to them was fine. He could always remove any troublesome skillster on.

    There isn¡¯t an option to put a person¡¯s name or photo on the card. How can I make sure it¡¯s theirs? Victor scrolled through the long list of skills he could add to the card and stumbled upon one called Soul Link. It ensured an artifact was linked to a person¡¯s soul and couldn¡¯t be stolen as the user could recall the artifact and store it inside their own soul. Perfect¡­what else? He thought back to what he had promised the people of Necron. I should add a skill that lets them revive themselves as undead under my control¡­

    Finding Revive, he added it. Sadly, this skill will destroy the card, so they will need to get a new one¡­but that is fine. While scrolling down the list, he found a few other valuable skills, such as Spatial Inventory and Telepathy. People could use these cards as a cell phone. It could be used to make payments by storing coins in the spatial inventory and then telepathy for voice calls.

    That trail of thought led Victor to think about bus passes and public transport. When Necron grows big enough, people will need a faster way to get around. I always dreamed of the day teleportation and warp gates got invented back on Earth. Couldn¡¯t I do that here? He shook his head. Way too mana intensive for now; I don¡¯t want the Axon rifts opening just yet. Maybe in the future when all this demon lord madness has calmed down.

    Victor checked that all the skills he wanted had been added and then entered a name for the artifact: Royal Card.

    [Royal Card]

    [Skills:]

    [Soul Link]

    [Revive]

    [Telepathy]

    [Spatial Inventory]

    [Floor Teleportation ess]

    [Terrain Maniption]

    [Create Artifact?]

    Victor had some other ideas for skills he could add in the future, but for now, this would do. Pressing yes on the prompt, the hologram pulsed with power, and then it became¡­real. The hologram materialized into a physical object.

    The card floated in the air for a second before theputer¡¯s screen dimmed, and the card began to fall. Alice stepped forward and caught it and eyed the card with curiosity. ¡°Is this for me?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­try to im it.¡±

    Alice flipped the card over, yet both sides of the golden card were nk. ¡°So, how am I supposed to im it exactly?¡±

    Before Victor could respond, Genus spoke from the side. ¡°Artifacts are usually imed by dropping some blood on them. So maybe give that a try.¡±

    Alice hesitantly nodded and searched around for a de of some kind. Her nails were almost w-like but not very pointy.

    Genus offered his w, and Alice poked her finger on its tip, but nothing came out. ¡°Oh, yeah¡­¡± She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. ¡°I am a Darkness Mana Body now. I don¡¯t have blood.¡±

    ¡°You should be able to im it with your mana then.¡± The dragon smiled. ¡°Most choose blood since it¡¯s easier.¡±

    Alice held the card tightly and tried to pressure it with her mana. It was surprisingly resilient, like trying to inte a very tight balloon. But eventually, it worked.

    ¡°What?!¡± Alice¡¯s mouth hung open as the card vanished from her fingers. She tried looking around, but there was nowhere else in the deste room for the card to hide other than the dust-covered floor.

    ¡°It should have gone into your soul,¡± Victor added. ¡°It has a skill called Soul Link. So try and bring it out.¡±

    Alice gave Victor the oddest look but, with a huff, closed her eyes tightly, and a sudden yellow light shrouded her. Her skin glowed unnaturally, and when her eyes fluttered open, her pupils turned to liquid gold. The card reappeared in her hand, and she scrutinized her fingers and then the back of her hand. ¡°Why does my skin have a golden hue?¡±

    ¡°Your pupils have turned to gold, too.¡± Victor¡¯s many eyes scanned Alice from all angles. ¡°Is this a side effect of the Soul Link? I can¡¯t think of any other reason.¡±

 Chapter 70. Reptile Hunting

    Alice¡¯s eyes weren¡¯t just a subtle golden color. They were like molten gold that shimmered in the dim light¡ªpractically glowing. Likewise, her blood vessels, clearly visible through her pale skin, were like thin threads of gold, giving her a glowingplexion¡ªwhich was odd since she no longer needed blood as a Darkness Mana Body.

    Victor scrutinized Alice, checking for any other signs of change. ¡°Feel any different?¡±

    Alice shook her head. ¡°Nope. Same as always.¡±

    ¡°Mhm¡­¡± Victor hummed. ¡°A visual effect, then? If this happens to everyone with all the card types, then this could be a useful way for people to identify each other¡¯s status. For example, if everyone with a green card had glowing green eyes, then it would be easy to tell they were nobles of Necron without unting their cards all the time.¡±

    Victor turned back to theputer and told it to produce another card. The hologram reappeared, and after hitting the confirm button, the screen shed blue, and the hologram became physical. ¡°Here, Genus, take this.¡± He handed the enormous dragon that was sitting on his haunches the card. Genus didn¡¯t even need to reach out a paw to hold the golden card¡ªinstead, he used telekinesis to hover the card in front of his face.

    He then pricked his paw, and a droplet of noble dragon blood hit the card. The card vanished, and a sh of golden light covered the shiny dragon. Due to Genus already being a golden chrome dragon and his thick scales protecting his skin, the effect was a lot less noticeable, but when he opened his eyes¡­the liquid gold pupils were hard to ignore.

    ¡°Wow!¡± Alice giggled. ¡°Somehow, you are even shinier now!¡±

    Genus looked in the reflection of his chrome scale and saw his new pupils¡ªand to everyone¡¯s surprise broke down in tears.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s wrong? We can change it back.¡± Victor didn¡¯t understand why the dragon would have such an adverse reaction to such a change.

    ¡°T-these eyes¡­are my father¡¯s eyes.¡± Genus stood up to his full height¡ªhis enormous head looming over Alice and being on the same level as Victor. He then puffed out his chest, and golden mes erupted out his nostrils. ¡°My Arcgold family has gone through so much due to those Arcwing bastards. My father and brothers were ughtered, and I don¡¯t even know if my mother is still alive after I was banished to the londs.¡± He snarled as mana nketed the room. ¡°It¡¯s about time they paid for their arrogance¡ªI shall avenge my father!¡±

    Victor¡¯s opinion of Genus Arcgold had fluctuated during this trip. But after spending months by his side and watching the prideful noble dragon endure so many things withoutint, Victor felt the dragon was admirable. Genus almost starved to death but survived by eating insects and weird slugs. Also, as a cold-blooded creature, he tolerated months of freezing environments and even resorted to cannibalism to prevail.

    Throughout the entire time, Genus followed Victor¡¯s every order or request, only once questioning him when it involved the weird castle on the eightieth floor. Which showed Genus¡¯s willingness to stand up against orders he didn¡¯t believe in or thought were stupid. He was a free thinker that got on with the job withoutint.

    He may not be the strongest dragon, but he would make a fine puppet ruler. ¡°Do not fear, Genus. We will be paying the dragons a visit first.¡± Victor returned to theputer and again brought up the artifact creation screen. Before heading out, he knew he wouldn¡¯t return to thisputer for a while, so he wanted to make a few more cards. But before that, he made one more gold card for himself.

    Once more, the hologram became real, and he assimted himself with the card. His many glowing blue eyes became swirling gold among his shadowy body. He didn¡¯t have blood vessels, but his meter-long ws took on a ck-and-gold tint. ¡°Mhm, not bad.¡± Victor summoned his status to check if anything had changed.

    [Name: Victor(Main Body)]

    [Race: World Core]

    [ss: Demon Core]

    [Skills¡­]

    [Name: Victor(Avatar)]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [ss: Demon Lord]

    [Level: 905]

    [Stat Points: 903+ Million]

    (Lifeforce STABLE - 10451 Days)

    [Skills¡­]

    [Consume X]

    [Raise Undead X]

    [Shadow Magic X]

    [Annihting Aura X]

    [Freezing Cone X]

    [Stealth X]

    [Doom Ray X]

    [Spirit Movement VI]

    [Artifact (Royal Card) Abilities¡­]

    [Soul Link]

    [Revive]

    [Telepathy]

    [Spatial Inventory]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Floor Teleportation ess]

    [Terrain Maniption]

    Almost any ability he could add to an artifact¡­his Demon Core body could already do¡ªbut when it came to his Netherborne body, itcked skills such as a Spatial Inventory, which would be vital for his next n. I needed a way to carry the cards around. Anyway, time to make the other cards.

    Starting from the next highest rank of his new noble system, he created a ck card that looked to be made from a shard of obsidian. The obsidian cardholders will be my equivalent of dukes. Basically, nobles that I highly trust, such as Henry, Toby, and Andrew.

    [ck Card]

    Skills:

    [Soul Link]

    [Revive]

    [Telepathy]

    [Spatial Inventory]

    [Floor Teleportation ess]

    [Terrain Maniption]

    [Create Artifact?]

    ¡°Yes,¡± Victor replied, but he made sure to set theputer to make more than one. He wanted around fifty of these just for safekeeping. Theputer¡¯s fans whirled as it produced card after card, the hologram shing faster than the eye could see. Finally, he deposited all the cards into his Spatial Inventory. Luckily, its size seemed equivalent to his own magical power¡­so it was near limitless.

    Checking back with his Demon Core body, Victor confirmed that he still had plenty ofnd under control and the creation of the artifacts was just a drop in the bucketpared to the ambient mana of the Cursed Forest.

    The Cursed Forest had a simrndmass to arge European country, easily six hundred fifty kilometers across. I should create the blue and green cards and then get out of here and deal with that mess. Unfortunately, the other World Cores were still closing in. Luckily, there were no signs of external armies yet.

    Next, it was time to create the blue card out of sapphires and green cards out of emeralds. These two cards were much the same as the ck card but with the Floor Teleportation ess and Terrain Maniption skills removed. I want around five hundred blue cards and ten thousand green cards for now. Selecting the options, theputer fans spun up even more and got to work.

    The process took around ten minutes, and by the end, Victor had arge stack of cards in his inventory. ¡°Right.¡± He turned to hispanions. ¡°Henry, you can have a ck card.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Master.¡± Henry trotted forward and epted the card. Once assimted with the obsidian shard, his body shed with ck light. Henry stood two meters tall. The human torso already had raven hair that ran down his back, but now Henry also had ck veins, and his pupils were like liquid obsidian, which matched his spear. The horse¡¯s head had retained its scarlet eyes, suggesting that the horse and human body may have separate souls.

    Victor then called back Wiggles. The ground trembled as his favorite pet came barreling through the metal wall. His circr mouth of razor teeth, easily the size of people, took up the entire wall. ¡°Come here, Wiggles. Do you want to be a high noble?¡± His pet didn¡¯t seem to understand, but that was fine. Victor floated over, shed the side of the titanic earthworm¡¯s mouth, and let some neon-green blood drip onto the ck card.

    Wiggles already had ck scales and a distinctck of eyes, so the change was small, but now Wiggles could do something that terrified even him¡­Teleportation. The idea of this monstrosity materializing out of thin air was enough to give even him nightmares. Maybe Wiggles could be the boogeyman of Necron?

    The creature made a happy-sounding noise.

    ¡°Wiggles, can you use teleportation¡ª?¡± The green metal wall was all that greeted him as Wiggles vanished from his spot. Then there was an audible pop as air rushed to fill the sudden massive vacuum. ¡°Oh, shit¡­¡± Victor checked the ck ocean and saw Wiggles thousands of kilometers above him, likely on the top floor of the dungeon. Near the dragons¡­

    Victor looked at hispanions. Standing in the corner of the room were the undead dragons. He had acquired them when Alice had gone through her transformation back on the fiftieth floor. They were two Senior-size dragons, a bitrger than Genus, and ck-scaled¡ªmeaning they were from the Aight family.

    They never spoke much unless Victor asked them a direct question, which he had done once or twice when Genus had been sleeping. However, they preferred to give one-word answers when asked a direction questions and were mostly unhelpful. Their pride as dragons somehowpeted with the mind control of his Raise Undead skill. So Victor ignored them for the most part.

    Victor searched his memories to see if they had ever given him their names. While Alice had been sleeping and before he attached them to vines to carry the floating tform, he swore he asked their names. Was it Kekren and Turen? Then, deciding to depend on his excellent memory, he rolled with those names.

    ¡°Kekren and Turen.¡± Luckily the two senior dragons looked toward him with their rainbow pupil eyes. ¡°You are both undead and under mymand. From your experience over thest few months, you know the dragons on the surface stand no chance against me.¡±

    ¡°That is correct¡­my lord,¡± Kekren responded in a deep growl. ¡°What is your point?¡±

    Victor frowned. He really disliked their attitude. That was why Genus was so greatpared to them as a servant. ¡°My pet has already gone ahead, and we will join it soon. Let me make this clear: I do not want to wipe out the dragons. I am open to negotiations. Would you be able to conduct those for me?¡±

    This time Turen, the smaller of the two Senior dragons, snorted but remained silent.

    Victor scowled. He had hoped that over thest few months and after seeing his overwhelming power, the dragons would kneel at his feet like dogs or beg for their race to be spared¡­but even when under his Raise Undead skill, they were this prideful? Victor was starting to see no hope in controlling the dragon race peacefully.

    ¡°Genus, would you mind ruling over a dead species?¡± Victor loomed over the shiny dragon, and his many golden glowing eyes fixated on him. ¡°Because I feel ruling them alive would be more effort than it¡¯s worth.¡±

    Genus Arcgold showed his ivory teeth and grinned. ¡°Master, my thoughts are much the same. So long as my family is spared,¡± he turned his head and snarled at the two Senior zombie dragons, ¡°then I do not care for the rest. I can rule over them, dead or alive. It matters not to me.¡±

    Victorughed. ¡°Perfect. You three¡­¡± He pointed a golden-tinted w at the two Senior zombie dragons and the smaller dragon Henry had been using as a mount. ¡°Defend this ce for all of eternity. Do not let anyone inside other than those possessing a ck card or Royal card. Also, stay outside and don¡¯t touch or destroy anything inside this room.¡±

    The three dragons bowed their heads and said in perfect unison, ¡°Your wish is ourmand.¡± Regarding taking orders, the Raise Undead skill was irrefutable. It was when he asked their personal opinions that they could resist its mind-controlling powers.

    ¡°All right, team, let¡¯s go reptile hunting!¡± Victor felt the Royal card manifest inside his mind, and like an elevator control panel, he could select a floor when he activated the Floor Teleportation ess skill. ¡°See you guys on the first floor!¡±

    There were four audible pops as Victor, Alice, Genus, and Henry vanished from the room and reappeared on the first floor of the dungeon to a chaotic scene.

 Chapter 71. Enlisting An Ancients Help

    Xamrus Aight could hardly recognize the Grand Dungeon¡¯s first floor as he flew out of the stone tunnel and was greeted by an endless meadow of lush grass with the asional outcropping of white trees. Usually, the dragons would gather around the floor tower in the far distance, but with most of the eggs destroyed, there was little need for that now. Ever since the prison break and the subsequent hunt on the elusive necromancer that hadted the dragons a hefty loss, a grim mood was all that could be found here.

    Dragon corpses that had been turned undead were piled off to the side, some burned, others chained down for research purposes. Xamrus let out a sigh of regret as he flew by. The dragons hadn¡¯t suffered a loss in a thousand years, and when a dragon¡¯s pride was hurt, they chose to me others rather than themselves.

    Because the Aight and Arcsnow family lost the most dragons to this conflict with the necromancer, they were seen as the weak link. Which was true. The loss of many family members to the necromancer¡¯s clutches caused both families to plummet down the social hierarchy. As a result, other smaller families seized the opportunity to finally look down on those who had been above them for generations.

    Locating a group of senior dragons like himself gathered in a circle, Xamrus cleared his mind and gathered his courage. Despite having a few Elders in the family, the loss of many Hatchlings and Seniors left the future of the Aight family looking grim.

    ¡°Xamrus.¡± An orange-scaled dragon a bitrger than himself sneered as hended beside him. ¡°d a member of the Aight family could finally join us. Still think you can show upte?¡± A few months ago, an Arcme would never dare talk to an Aight in such a manner. The Arcme dragon still had to be careful with his words since there was an Ancient ancestor in the Aight family, something the Arcme familycked. But the Aight Ancient¡ªlike most Ancient dragons¡ªwas fast asleep to preserve their lifespan.

    Only a few Ancients were active, such as Hyveth Arcspace, but she mostly kept to herself and rarely interacted with the other dragons¡ªchoosing to sleep on her private ind and operate the rainbow roads.

    Xamrus ignored the obvious taunts and nonchntly replied, ¡°d to be here, Zekass.¡± As he looked around the group, he saw a beautiful dragon from the Arcsnow family, but her head was hung low out of shame. The standing of her family had already been poor, and the loss of nearly all her brothers and sisters to the necromancer on the fiftieth floor had reduced their status to the lowest of the twelve noble dragon families.

    Zekass huffed and moved backward a bit, identally knocking over a tree as he went as if it was a mere weed. ¡°Arcwing suckup,¡± he grumbled, and Xamrus ignored the bumbling fool. Of course, any family in their right mind would suck up to the royal family. The Arcwings were simply too powerful.

    Vepa lumbered forward and snarled, ¡°Quiet down, you two.¡± Xamrus recognized her as a dragon from the Arcsky family based on her sky-blue scales. However, her body was much more robust, which matched her overbearing demeanor. ¡°We were asked by the Arcwing family to analyze the shift in mana while they investigated the strange red light in the sky.¡±

    Zekass looked like he wanted to refute, but a re from Xamrus made him grumble and stay silent.

    Xamrus apologized for his tardiness, exining that he had apanied the prince. This earned him an eye roll from Zekass. ¡°I¡¯m not caught up on the situation,¡± Xamrus continued, his tongue flicking out to taste the air. ¡°Mhm¡­the mana does indeed have a slightly different taste. It seems denser than usual.¡±

    ¡°This has to be because of the necromancer,¡± the Arcsnow beauty said through gritted teeth. ¡°Everything is because of that lunatic.¡±

    Xamrus had to agree to that assessment. Ever since the report of food going missing in the londs, the way dragons had lived for thousands of years had been shaken. Much to the fury of the Arcwings, who wanted to maintain the status quo.

    Since Verpa Arcsky was a member of the most prestigious family here, she led the discussions. ¡°A few human ves testified that they were notified of a demon lord¡¯s arrival right as the sky¡¯s red light appeared. Therefore, I believe this shift in mana is also due to this supposed demon lord¡¯s arrival.¡±

    Xamrus¡¯s eyes went wide. Most dragons looked down on the System, but they kept a few human ves for this very purpose. In the past, whenever a void creature entered the world, the System would fight back by designating it as a demon lord. Since the dragons weren¡¯t part of this System, they never bothered to intervene except for those few times the void creature came too close to their territory.

    Xamrus was lost in thought when a sudden wave of dread overcame him. At first, the feeling was subtle, but soon all the Senior dragons were looking around curiously with twisted faces, as if they were ufortable.

    Verpa asked, ¡°Where is thating from?¡± Xamrus, unfortunately, did not have an answer. As they looked down, they saw the grass start to sway oddly, and then the ground began to tremble. At first, the movements were subtle, but they quickly worsened. Recognizing the danger, all five of the Senior dragonsunched themselves into the sky.

    Xamrus looked to the side and saw the Arcsnow dragon. Sadly he didn¡¯t know her name as he had deemed the Arcsnow family unworthy of his attention in the past. She turned to him with concern all over her face, which looked cute with her snow-white scales.

    The Arcsnow dragon looked at the trembling ground in fear and asked, ¡°What was that?¡± Before anyone could answer, the ground exploded, and something titanic surged upward. Xamrus managed to dive to the side in time, but the Arcsnow dragon was the monster¡¯s target. She attempted to summon an ice storm to slow the beast down, but it had little effect. Xamrus watched in horror as the dragon was consumed by a column of ck scales and neon-green flesh that seemedparable in size to the floor¡¯s tower.

    All four of the remaining Senior dragons hurled spells at the monster. ¡°How does it move so fast?!¡± Zekass roared as mes exploded from his mouth, taking out arge chunk of the beast¡¯s side. However, the wound seemed insignificantpared to the monster¡¯s overall size.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    A w of shadows materialized in front of Xamrus, and he tore out arge chunk of the monster¡¯s flesh. Neon-green and ck blood sprayed everywhere, but the wound quickly healed as the flesh knitted itself together and the tes regenerated. Xamrus wanted to get closer and attack more directly, but waves of death affinity mana were wearing on his magical defenses. This meant that he couldn¡¯t get too close or expend too much mana on a single attack.

    The monster¡¯s head seemed to reach the top of the dome as it changed directions and began plummeting to the ground. From this angle, Xamrus got a look at its face¡ªan abyss of razor-sharp teeth dyed in blood.

    Verpa shot a jet of high-pressured water from her mouth, knocking out several hundred human-size teeth from the titanic monster¡¯s mouth. The monster let out a scream of pain and rage and began to target Verpa.

    Fortunately, the worm-like creature¡¯s mobility was greatly reduced when half its body was out of the ground, allowing Verpa to easily dodge its pursuit. Though it chased her around for a while, the creature never disyed any ranged attacks or magical abilities. However, its speed, size, and ability to regenerate made it a formidable opponent.

    Verpa shouted, ¡°Xamrus! Get an Elder or Ancient! We can¡¯t deal with this threat. It heals everything we do!¡±

    As much as it hurt Xamrus¡¯s pride, Verpa was right. They had only been Hatchlings a hundred years ago, and although the title of Senior sounded important and came with a great sense of pride, it was ultimately nothingpared to the true monsters of this world.

    ¡°All right! Hang tight!¡± Xamrus shouted back before flying off toward the tunnel. The monster seemed uninterested in him and continued to chase Verpa with furious determination. Xamrus wondered if the creature was even intelligent, but he didn¡¯t have time to dwell on it. He quickly made his way through the stone tunnel and past the prison, putting as much distance between himself and the monster as possible.

    When Xamrus reached the top of the stairs, he was greeted by an eerie silence that permeated the normally bustling hall. The absence of the Elders, who would typically be deep in discussion of arcane magic, confirmed his suspicions that something was amiss. The arrival of the demon lord had clearly shaken the Elders.

    As Xamrus ventured out, he was greeted by the sight of a vast forest with many floating inds looming overhead, each covered in dragon-size architecture. Waterfalls cascaded down from some of the inds, fillingkes that flowed into streams. These waterways flowed through the londs, providing fresh water for the many monsters and human cities in the area. The beauty of thendscape took Xamrus¡¯s breath away no matter how many times he saw it.

    ¡°Something the matter, Xamrus?¡±

    Xamrus looked up and saw an enchanting womanzily hovering in the air. She was around two meters tall, and her inhuman sapphire eyes, which shone like gemstones, casually watched Xamrus as if he were a lost bug.

    She could have easily deceived anyone into thinking she was human. However, her long, flowing magenta hair, which writhed around her shoulders like snakes, and the golden horn on her head clearly showed that she was no human but rather an Ancient dragon in human form.

    ¡°Hyveth Arcspace¡­yes, there is a problem.¡± Xamrus clenched his teeth as he saw the woman sneer at him with contempt, her gemstone eyes filled with disdain. ¡°A monster far too strong for us Senior dragons to deal with has appeared on the Grand Dungeon¡¯s first floor,¡± he said, his voice quivering with fear.

    Xamrus hung his head, avoiding Hyveth¡¯s piercing gaze as she loomed over him. ¡°It has already killed an Arcsnow¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh my¡­¡± Hyveth said nonchntly, inspecting her perfectly manicured nails. ¡°Does your little ragtag group require my assistance?¡± She floated down gracefully, and Xamrus kept his eyes fixed on the ground, his heart pounding with fear. Hyveth put a delicate finger under Xamrus¡¯s chin and forced him to look her in the eye. ¡°Then beg me.¡± She grinned wickedly, revealing a row of sharp, shark-like teeth that starkly contrasted her ethereal beauty. ¡°Beg me like the weak dog you are.¡±

    ¡°Please¡­¡± Xamrus¡¯s ws scraped against the stone floor as he struggled to contain his silent rage. ¡°Please help us¡­¡±

    ¡°Okay! Since you asked so nicely.¡± Hyveth pped her hands, and the world around them twisted and contorted as she used her mastery of space maniption to transport them to their desired location. Despite the chaos of the warped space around them, Hyveth remainedposed, her sapphire eyes shining with excitement as they arrived.

    Purple lightning crackled between the two of them, and a sky-blue dragon corpse came tumbling toward them with a hole through its stomach. Hyveth frowned, and with a flick of her wrist, the two of them switched locations, appearing a few hundred meters away. They watched as Verpa¡¯s lifeless body mmed into the ground in a cloud of vaporized blood.

    Hyveth gazed into the distance, following the trajectory of Verpa, and locked eyes with a void creature standing next to a golden dragon she recognized. ¡°Well, that¡¯s interesting,¡± she said with a mysterious smile.

 Chapter 72. Weak Links

    As Victor arrived at the top floor of the Grand Dungeon, he immediately spotted Wiggles in the far distance. His pet¡¯s titanic body took up the skyline, chasing a blue blob that Victor realized was a dragon. They were over a thousand meters into the sky, and Wiggles seemed to struggle to catch the annoying fly in his gaping maw. The dragon drew Wiggles up high into the sky before dive-bombing toward the ground, causing Wiggles to roar in rage as his snack escaped.

    ¡°Need a hand?¡± Victor chuckled as he raised his hand, purple lightning arcing between his gold-tinted ws as he prepared his Doom Ray spell. The distance and speed of the dragon made aiming a little hard, meaning Victor had to wait right before the dragon reached the ground and would have to waste a second changing direction. Once the moment arrived, he unleashed the Doom Ray, and a thunderp apanied the purple lightning,shing out and covering thousands of meters instantly, striking the blue dragon square in the chest, sending it flying.

    As Victor lowered his w, he felt a sudden pressure upon him, as if someone of equal strength was ring at him. Looking around, thanks to his incredible eyesight, he saw two figures off to the side. He recognized them both. One was a very tall woman with magenta hair, inhuman crystal eyes, and a single curved golden horn on her head. Then towering over her was a house-size ck dragon, but despite the size difference, the dragon¡¯s presence paledpared to the woman, who was like a ck hole of pure power¡ªall the mana in the near vicinity seemed to gravitate to her.

    ¡°Hyveth Arcspace¡­we finally meet.¡± To Victor, this dragon in human form had shown him what the peak of power was in this world. He was d she enlightened him so early on. Otherwise, his demise may havee far sooner than expected due to his arrogance. Victor could feel Alice and Genus tense up beside him as they heard his words.

    Alice¡¯s breathing quickened as she frantically looked around. ¡°Hyveth? Was she expecting us?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Victor wasn¡¯t sure if she even saw them. ¡°Do you think she would be open to negotiations, Genus?¡± He hated to admit it, but Hyveth scared him. He was confident that he could survive any attack, but if she did the same trick she used on Terry and he ended up on some foreign and deste world, he had no idea what he would do.

    Genus groaned. ¡°Out of all the dragons, she is impossible to reason with. The likelihood she would even let you speak in her presence is zilch.¡±

    While the group discussed Hyveth, Wiggles seemed bored now that its prey was dead, but it was happy to spot two new juicy targets that were helpfully standing still. Surging toward them, Wiggles parted the ground like the Red Sea, trees flew like toothpicks,kes became temporary waterfalls on the side of a newly formed grand canyon, and the earth trembled for miles.

    Xamrus watched the approaching cmity with some fear, especially with the fresh memory of it devouring the Arcsnow beauty in such a brutal way.

    Meanwhile, Hyveth Arcspace furrowed her brows. ¡°Vile bug dares to approach me?¡± She raised her hand, and when Wiggles was only a mile away, with a click of her fingers, space¡­folded. Wiggles¡¯ mouth and end became one as spacepressed Wiggles into a pancake. ck blood and neon-green venom exploded out of the floating pancakes, and the sickening sound of crushed bones echoed through thend for miles.

    Hyveth then closed her hand into a fist. Mana cracked and ripped as the undead pancake thousands of meters across was crushed into a ball as if a ck hole had appeared. Then like discarding a toy, Hyveth carelessly flicked her finger, and as if the crushed ball had been hit by a supercharged bullet, it flew across the entire floor until it smashed into the dungeon¡¯s wall.

    While Hyveth had been busy with Wiggles, Victor hadn¡¯t been idle. Two Doom Rays, at around ten percent of his potential power, crackled between his ws. Then, raising his arms at Hyveth, he unleashed both bolts of lightning, causing the entire floor to go white with light, blinding everyone foolish enough to look on.

    Victor knew he had to y to his race¡¯s strengths to win this battle. Although he could attack from range, his Stealth and assassin capabilities far outweighed his ranged options, so before the light faded, he vanished with Stealth.

    Sensing the attack, Hyveth turned on her heel and raised her two hands. A portal appeared. It looked like a crack in the air had formed, and through it was a zoomed-in video of where Victor had just been floating. The two lightning bolts crashed into the rift and went through, reappearing back where he had been and smashing into the ground, causing a superheated explosion.

    As the dust settled, Alice was floating in the sky, Henry had dashed off to the side, and Genusy on the edge of the charred crater with a few wounds.

    Hyveth narrowed her inhuman crystal eyes in slight confusion at the sudden disappearance of Victor. Unknown to her, Victor was racing toward her at his top speed across the t meadow.

    However, Hyveth hadn¡¯t be an ancient dragon and lived thousands of years without ever learning the art of warfare. So although that lightning attackcked the punch required to shatter her rifts, she may have died if it had hit her directly.

    ¡°A more formidable necromancer than I anticipated,¡± Hyveth said to Xamrus over her shoulder. ¡°Little dragon, leave now unless you wish to die.¡± She shed him a crooked smile. ¡°The truly strong in this world only fear one thing: a weak link.¡±

    As if to prove her point, Hyveth stepped forward and vanished. Space warped and broke as she reappeared next to Genus many miles away. Xamrus suddenly felt a wave of dread simr to the titanic earthworm¡¯s death affinity mana.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± an ancient voice said as Xamrus felt something cold on his neck. The w was over a meter long, and in the corner of his eye, Xamrus could see its golden tint.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Victor had his Annihting Aura on, which relentlessly assaulted the dragon¡¯s magical defenses, meaning Xamrus could choose between defending himself from instant death or conjuring a suicide spell. However, no magic defense could protect against Victor¡¯s w at this range. Since assimting with the World Core, his body no longer feared mana, so he could easily shred through mana-based defenses.

    Xamrus gulped and felt the w scratch against his neck as he swallowed. ¡°Are you the necromancer that killed everything in the londs?¡± he tried to say without stuttering.

    ¡°So what if I am?¡± The creature seemed amused.

    Rage bloomed in the dragon¡¯s chest. The creature that had ughtered so many of his brothers and sisters and caused his family¡¯s downfall was right behind him, and he was powerless to do anything. Xamrus could not remember a day more humiliating than today, and he vowed that if he survived, he would soar to greater heights than ever before.

    Victor wanted to continue humoring the dragon, but he had to focus on Hyveth. The dragoness had teleported beside Genus and locked him in a spatial bubble. Despite the thousands of meters that separated the two, Victor could see her cold eyes. A miscalction then. This dragon isn¡¯t important to her. Tsk¡ªshould have known. Dragons only care for themselves.

    ¡°It appears you aren¡¯t valued.¡± Victor activated Spirit Movement on his w. With his body¡¯s weakness to mana gone, his w easily passed through the dragon¡¯s mana shield. In the past, when he had tried to bypass a dragon¡¯s mana shield, it had felt like putting his hand in boiling water, but now it felt like nothing.

    ¡°Wait! Wait, please!¡± Xamrus felt the creature¡¯s ws caressing his brain. It felt like a ghost was inside him, making Xamrus shudder. The dragon slowly lowered his body to the ground in a submissive position. ¡°My family has be weak, and I despise the current rulers. I would be happy to serve under,¡± Xamrus seemed to choke on thest words as if he had consumed some vile vegetables, ¡°Your Excellency. Please spare my life!¡±

    Victor honestly didn¡¯t give two shits about this dragon. It was clearly worthless as a hostage and seemed tock a spine. But having only undead dragons would get tiresome. So I might as well keep a few around. Maybe the dragon would even try to flee and lead me to more dragons to kill. Who knows?

    ¡°If you are still in this position when I defeat Hyveth, then I will spare your pathetic life,¡± he decreed and removed his hand from the dragon¡¯s brain. He almost thought he heard Xamrus quietly scoff at his deration. Victor didn¡¯t me the dragon. Hyveth was a monster on the level of a demi-god, and even he was uncertain if she could be beaten, but he had to try.

    Victor looked back across the meadow and caught an interesting sight. It appeared Hyveth was going to kill Genus, likely for betraying dragonkind, but the golden dragon shed with golden light before vanishing. He could hardly contain a smirk. It seemed the Floor Teleportation ess could override a spatial locking spell from Hyveth. That was good to know.

    With her prisoner escaping her clutches, Victor saw a hint of irritation in the woman¡¯s expression; her lips curved up and showed tips of shark-like teeth.

    Alice had flown a bit away¡ªwhich meant nothing as Hyveth appeared right next to her, standing in mid-air without issue. ¡°Child. Why do you collude with such a creature?¡± Her tone was cold. ¡°Do you not know of their kind? They are world destroyers.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Alice smiled. ¡°Because so am I.¡± Void mana swirled around her body, and within a second, she was wearing her Void Form skill. It was like a suit of armor made entirely out of the void.

    Hyveth hissed, ¡°A voidling¡­how repulsive¡ª¡±

    Alice screamed as if she had just plunged into a pot of boiling water. Then shadowy steam evaporated off her shoulders, simr to what Victor used to suffer from. It seemed the world was fighting her existence. Was this the drawback of her Void Form skill? Was this the pain Victor would have felt if not for hisck of pain and dulled emotions?

    ¡°Silence!¡± Hyveth snapped with irritation. With a flick of her hand, gravity increased tenfold around Alice. However, she remained floating¡ªHyveth frowned and decided to finish the voidling in one strike. For the first time, Hyveth chanted the draconguage rather than just using simple hand gestures.

    Victor had reactivated his Stealth and was rushing over¡ªhe was only a hundred meters away when Hyveth finished her spell. It was hard to hear Hyveth¡¯s chanting over Alice¡¯s incoherent screams, but the chaotic mana was a telltale sign the spell was nearpletion.

    ¡°ne Shift,¡± Hyveth muttered as the top half of Alice stopped flowing with the¡¯s inertia and the bottom half kept going¡­

 Chapter 73. Reality Check

    Victor felt immense pain as if his leg had been snapped in half. The dungeon shuddered; the walls that had seemed imprable with enough mana running through them to form a small star began to crack and groan.

    Hyveth Arcspace, an Ancient dragon with domain over space, grunted as purple runic circles spun around her arms at varying speeds. Her inhuman crystal eyes shone with light, and she clenched her shark-like teeth. Throughout the chaos of the situation, Alice continued screaming. At first, Victor was worried that she was shrieking due to Hyveth¡¯s spell, but within seconds it became apparent that wasn¡¯t the case.

    The world was shifting as if a line had been drawn through the middle. The top half tried to remain stationary, while the bottom continued moving with the¡¯s rotation. But Alice was¡­fine¡ªif screaming and evaporating in real time was considered fine.

    Alice remained suspended in midair, unaffected by thews of physics in either of the two nes of reality she upied. It was as if she was not even part of this ne of existence, leading one to wonder if this world was merely two-dimensional to her and if she existed in a third dimension.

    Victor had assumed her Void Form was simply void armor, simr to how she used Mana Shield in the past to shroud her body in a suit of darkness. But perhaps that wasn¡¯t the case.

    Alice had be the void, much like himself. Is she burning stat points per second as well? Is that why she¡¯s screaming? Victor was unsure, but he needed to end this fight quickly.

    Hyveth faltered slightly, leaning to the side as if winded. However, her arms remained raised with purple rings of runic formations spinning around. Some were the size of a bracelet¡ªthe ones further out took up a couple meters and spun faster.

    Victor came up behind Hyveth. Despite all her power, she couldn¡¯t see through his maxed-out Stealth skill. If even she can¡¯t detect me, then can I hide from the gods themselves¡­assuming they exist? He loomed behind Hyveth Arcspace; the chaotic spatial mana surrounding her made spacepress and expand randomly.

    But Victor was unaffected¡ªable to pass through the distorted space with ease. Well, this confirms that void creatures are unaffected by space. He raised his w and thrust toward Hyveth¡¯s head. As he touched her skin, his Stealth deactivated, and Hyveth instantly vanished¡ªreappearing a few meters away while clutching her neck.

    Blood seeped through her fingers, and she red at Victor with wrathful eyes. Finally, the draconic spell canceled out. Victor felt the pain subside as the dungeon stopped consuming copious amounts of mana to resist breaking under Hyveth¡¯s spell and began repairing itself. So I am not only the Demon Core, but the dungeon has be an extension of my body? That made Victor shudder. The idea of people running around inside his body and casting spells felt weird.

    Hyveth brought her pale, blood-stained hand in front of her face and stared at it in disbelief. ¡°You¡­you hurt me?¡± Her hand started shaking as if attempting to suppress an uncontroble rage. ¡°How? I have not received so much as a mere scratch in thest thousand years!¡± She gnashed her teeth. ¡°I have gazed at the stars and know the nature of your kind. You are destroyers, bringers of destruction.¡± She hissed, ¡°All I see beyond the veil of this world are dead, lifelesss floating in the cold expanse of space orbiting harvested stars.¡±

    Although Hyveth was tall in her human form, she still had to look up at Victor¡¯s face, which loomed over everything. Victor¡¯s eyes were swirling orbs of pure gold, and his many gold-tinted lethal ws hungzily at his side. ¡°I have note to destroy.¡± His ancient voice, a chorus of a thousand souls, echoed through thend. ¡°The world and its denizens force this role upon me. They pin the role of Demon Lord on my back and wonder why I fight back.¡±

    ¡°Lies. All you speak of are lies.¡± Hyveth straightened up, and the wound on her neck sealed. ¡°I have faced your kind before¡ªmany, many times over the millennia. Every time the citizens of the world, dragons included, have had no option except to flee as your kind wreck destruction.¡±

    Hyveth clenched her hand. ¡°Do you know why I became this strong? Why I don¡¯t sleep for centuries to extend my life like the other Ancients?¡± She stepped forward, and the world quivered. More runic rings sprung to life and began rotating around her arms. ¡°I know what¡¯sing¡ªthere may not be a tomorrow or next year. The distant worlds are evidence of this inevitable truth. Somested a long time, but they all fell¡­eventually. I watched it with my own eyes, the slow death of the universe to the disease of your kind.¡±

    Victor shook his head. ¡°I know not of the distant worlds, but my creator had one goal: to incite hate upon me to gain a foothold on this world. The rifts wille soon, Hyveth. This world is already doomed, like the others you speak of¡­¡± He reached out a w. ¡°Unless you join me. Then we can face this threat together.¡±

    ¡°Do you take me for a fool?¡± Hyveth roared. ¡°Gained a bit of sentience, and now you think you can trick ageless dragons such as myself? I will not fall for your nefarious schemes.¡±

    ¡°I only kill those that oppose my rule. Under me, the world will be safe¡ª¡± The word¡¯s died in Victor¡¯s nonexistent throat as he realized how selfish and self-centered they were. No wonder Hyveth struggled to believe his words when he sounded like an unreasonable dictator. But despite their meaning, they were the truth. He had gone too deep down the rabbit hole and was now stuck with no way out.

    Hyveth sneered at his words. ¡°Everyone on this has been doing just fine for thousands of years. Are we perfect? No. Do we wage wars and kill each other? Sure. But at least the world is teeming with life, not a floating rock of nothingness like the lifeless worlds consumed by the void.¡±

    She was right. Victor¡¯s words were the equivalent of an alien racending on Earth and demanding that all humans fall under their tyrannical rule. Unfortunately, Victor had be that alien. He knew of the consequences and threats that faced this and its people and believed he was the only one that could save it¡ªeven though he was the one that brought doom upon them in the first ce.

    But was a tyrannical rule the only way? It might be possible if the dragons weren¡¯t so hardheaded, but was their rtionship irreparable at this point? He had ughtered and enved over a hundred dragons by now and had even wiped out an entire generation of dragon eggs.

    Just how terrible had he been? He had just told Hyveth with a straight face that he came in peace and not for destruction¡­yet all he had done was destroy and kill without remorse. I even made them fight against their own kind by raising their children as undead. Hell, I even drove Genus to be a cannibal to survive as we delved into the dungeon¡¯s depths.

    ¡°Do you even care for life?¡± Hyveth jeered. ¡°Are there any emotions swirling around in that shadowy body of yours? Are you even alive?¡±

    Victor paused. It was easy to put everything up to circumstance. He had picked an undead creature to be reincarnated as. Therefore he would have dulled emotions and a natural aversion to the living¡­but what was the definition of being alive? He may be undead, but if his stat points reached zero, he would cease to exist, just like a mortal human reaching the end of their lifespan. I am a living creature, am I not?

    As Victor debated what to say, Alice¡¯s screams reached a new high, and void spells suddenly appeared randomly around her in droves. Ice bolts that looked like ck lines that tore through reality began firing out in random directions. Finally, hellfire exploded, and everything the purple mes touched was deleted from existence for miles around.

    Hyveth was a blur as she teleported, avoiding the void bolts with inhuman precision and speed. On the other hand, Victor could stand there deathly still as the void bolts simply joined his own body. He stared at his clenched hand, how the light reflected off his lethal ws that had scratched an Ancient dragon mere moments ago.

    Victor snapped out of it and flew toward Alice. With Hyveth on the run, he finally had space to tend to her. ¡°Hey, Alice!¡± he shouted, but she ignored him and continued howling in pain. Not knowing what to do, he pulled up the party status screen.

    [Name: Alice]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Race: ???]

    [Body: Darkness Mana Body]

    [Level: 317]

    [STR: 335, DEX: 347, CON: 354, INT: 678, WIS: 670]

    (Dulled Emotions) (Void Form) (Insanity)

    [Name: Victor(Main Body)]

    [Race: World Core]

    [ss: Demon Core]

    [Skills¡­]

    [Name: Victor(Avatar)]

    [Race: Netherborne]

    [ss: Demon Lord]

    [Level: 905]

    [Stat Points: 903+ Million]

    (Lifeforce STABLE - 10451 Days)

    [Name: Terry]

    [ERROR: CONNECTION LOST]

    Ignoring that the party screen treated his two bodies as separate party members, Victor looked at Alice¡¯s debuffs. Void Form and Insanity were both listed, but he couldn¡¯t see the lifeforce debuff he had suffered from. Her stats were also not decreasing¡­which was both good news and raised questions about why her void form was different from his own.

    Victor debated using a spell to break her out of her stupor as mana reacted so aggressively to void creatures, but she seemed in enough pain already. Was it real pain, though? Or was her mind breaking due to the Insanity debuff?

    He returned his attention to Hyveth. In the corner of his vision, he saw the ck dragon still in the submissive position. Was that really what he wanted? Hyveth had led to many more profound thoughts on the meaning of life that he didn¡¯t appreciate having to think about right now. The other world cores cared little for his morals, and without an army and the power to protect his Demon Core, his life and everyone associated with him would meet their demise. He simply did not have time to make a political rtionship with the dragons.

    ¡°Hyveth Arcspace, I wish for peace, but that peace requires control. The Cursed Forest, thend we currently reside in, is now the enemy of the whole world. Only with my death will this end.¡±

    Hyveth, as a creature outside of the System¡¯s influence, would see no logic in his words. She stopped teleporting and red at him. ¡°So your death will save the world?¡±

    Victor nodded. ¡°It would seem so.¡±

    Mana began pouring toward Hyveth as she looked at him with a wrathful expression. ¡°Then so be it¡ªyou will die here today. I only have a few years left to live anyways.¡±

    ¡°Trying to kill me is rather brave, but I must point out I am already undead,¡± Victor said with a hauntedugh before vanishing and charging toward Hyveth, ws outstretched and ready to rip her head off.

 Chapter 74. A Dragons Trust

    Hyveth Arcspace didn¡¯t seem amused by Victor¡¯s joke¡ªshe red at him and blinked in disbelief at how such a massive void creature that had loomed over her could instantly vanish. She had seen Stealth used many times in her long life, but even when invisible, the opponents would take up some space in reality. She didn¡¯t see things in only three dimensions. Instead, her inhuman crystal eyes could also see the depression in a gravitational field, allowing her to see invisible targets.

    But the void creature was gone as if it never existed¡ªa st of frozen mana assaulted her from behind alongside a gold-tinted w. Hyveth stepped forward and space folded. She paused and looked back at the void creature over a thousand meters away. Its head turned to the side, and six golden eyes stared at her.

    It was a bad matchup. The screaming void girl and this creature appeared unaffected by spatial magic as they existed on an alternate ne of reality she couldn¡¯t affect with mana-based magic. Perhaps if she had dabbled in void magic, she could stand a chance, but her chances of victory were hopeless with the present situation.

    Hyveth¡¯s fingers twitched with impatience as she bit her lower lip, recalling her encounter with a simr void creature over a thousand years ago. She remembered that mana-based attacks were ineffective and des passed harmlessly through its body¡ªthe only known weakness was its eyes. But how could she aim for the eyes when the creature vanished into thin air and only reappeared like a reaper aiming for her head?

    But this one can talk, unlike all the ones previous, she thought as she saw the void creature vanish again. She spread her awareness and had her movement spell at the ready. It speaks of peace, but does it even understand such a concept? Even us dragons struggle to obtain peace in a world full of fighting, yet a creature from the void, destroyer of worlds, ims to know what true peace is and how to achieve it. She snorted. ¡°Laughable and ignorant.¡± She suddenly felt a depression in reality behind her again, so she teleported away.

    Hyveth could keep up the game of cat-and-mouse forever while she came up with a solution¡ªher fighting power should be the highest alongside her escaping potential, but when against void creatures, she had to y to her only remaining strength.

    In the past, the only way to survive these void creatures that were immune to any form of attack was to let them starve. Since it¡¯s sentient, unlike the previous ones, maybe I can get more information from it?

    Hyveth decided to humor the creature. ¡°Say, void creature, do you have a name?¡± she asked the empty floor as she assumed the creature was charging toward her. Reality rippled in front of her, and the void creature appeared a few meters away, but its ws were lowered and showed no signs of hostility.

    ¡°I have a human name, but the people of this called me Vox.¡±

    Hyveth raised a brow. ¡°The people of this world?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I manage a town of a few thousand humans in the cursed forest.¡± The void creature tilted its head. ¡°Unfortunately, the innocent people there have beenbeled as subjects of the demon lord and now have a System bounty on their heads.¡±

    Hyveth narrowed her eyes. ¡°You run a town? They aren¡¯t all undead, right?¡±

    ¡°Some are. I offered the people of my town immortality, but the vast majority are still perfectly alive.¡±

    Hyveth was confused. The fact this void creature had sentience was already bizarre, but now it was talking about town management and granting people immortality? Was it raising a cult to do its bidding? She should go and investigate.

    However, there was one other thing the void creature mentioned that didn¡¯t make sense. ¡°Did those humans of the town give you a human name?¡±

    Vox shook his head. ¡°Nope, I was once a human, so I kept my name from back then.¡±

    ¡°You were¡­¡± Hyveth had never been bbergasted in her entire life, but everythinging out of this void creature¡¯s mouth was pure nonsense. ¡°¡­you were human? How?¡±

    There was a brief pause. Vox floated there silently, six golden eyes staring at her, and he seemed deep in contemtion. ¡°Hyveth Arcspace, you say you know what¡¯sing, the destruction of the world. I also know, but only as of today.¡± Vox¡¯s words were cryptic and made Hyveth confused. ¡°I am no destroyer of worlds¡ªsimply a pawn of a higher sentience known as Axon. A year ago, I was but a simple human on another world, one without magic.¡±

    Vox pointed a w at his shadowy body. ¡°But now I am a human mind trapped in this body, and until today I was blinded by survival and didn¡¯t realize I was assisting with the destruction of this world. And now I want to make things right. However, before that, I need to keep mynd safe.¡±

    ¡°Why are you telling me all this?¡± Hyveth sneered. ¡°Do you really think I will believe such a story?¡±

    Vox shrugged¡ªa strangely human gesture. ¡°I can¡¯t kill you, and you can¡¯t kill me. Fighting doesn¡¯t benefit either of us. As we speak, the cursed forest is being consumed and devoured. Everything within has beenbeled as an enemy of the world. Through this fighting, the world weakens and leaves itself open to an invasion via the rifts of Axon¡ªsomething I believe we both wish to avoid.¡±

    Vox¡¯s eyes shed with intellect. ¡°This grand dungeon is now an extension of myself¡­¡± The ground trembled, causing Hyveth to step back as a column of dirt rose from the ground along with Vox¡¯s upward gesture.

    Through Hyveth¡¯s insight, she could tell that it wasn¡¯t an external spell cast upon the dungeon such as Geokinesis, but rather the dungeon¡¯s mana moving to make that possible. Something that wasn¡¯t possible unless Vox¡¯s words were true. He had be the dungeon.

    ¡°You speak of Axon and these rifts.¡± Hyveth crossed her arms with a teleportation spell primed and ready. ¡°Exin more.¡±

    ¡°Axon is a super AI, something you won¡¯t understand. But imagine a super-intelligent self-sustaining entity out there in space that requires a lot of mana to stay alive. Only others, such as this one, can provide that mana.¡± Vox paused for a moment. ¡°For the rifts, I can only specte, but I assume they will be portals allowing monsters from those dead worlds toe onto this world.¡± Vox pointed to the sky. ¡°The world is currently protected by its abundant mana, but as its mana is consumed for spells and fighting, the protection gets weaker. Once the first rifts appear, it will only be a downward spiral as more mana is consumed to defeat them, leading to more rifts opening.¡±

    ¡°Until the world is a lifeless rock in space?¡± Hyveth asked, and Vox nodded at her words. ¡°I see. That makes more sense now.¡± She rubbed her chin in thought. Vox did speak some sense, but many of his words needed verifying. She decided to visit his town. But she had a burning question to ask first.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ¡°What is your n for the dragons?¡±

    Vox¡¯s golden eyes glowed, and he loomed over Hyveth. ¡°Those who obey my rule may live here in the Grand Dungeon and Cursed Forest forever. They can even ess the lower dungeon floors, where the mana is dense with every biome imaginable.¡±

    Hyveth frowned as she thought about the current rulers of thisnd, the Arcwings. They would never bend knee nor w to another ruler. ¡°And what of those that disobey?¡±

    ¡°They can serve me in death or flee to othernds,¡± Vox said without emotion.

    ¡°I see.¡± Hyveth nodded. ¡°May I check on this town you have been managing?¡±

    Vox shrugged again. ¡°Sure, if it will help verify my words. It lies to the far south. I wee all under my rule, but my rule will be absolute.¡±

    Hyveth snorted. ¡°Although I agree you are rather powerful, the dragons are no pushovers. I am one of eight Ancients. We may be unable to kill you, but remember the strong are only as strong as their weakest link.¡±

    And with those worlds, Hyveth vanished.

    ***

    Only strong as my weakest link, such as Necron and the people around me? I never really thought about that. Victor floated there for a while in contemtion, ignoring Alice¡¯s screams and her destruction of the surroundings with void spells. He was surprised he had managed to convince Hyveth of his motives. Of course, he knew holding anything back from her would be detrimental, so he may have said more than he should have¡­

    But Hyveth Arcspace would be an invaluable ally. Not only was she one of the eight Ancients, but she could send Terry back to Earth. If I gave her the mana of a World Core, could she create a portal to Earth?

    Obviously, if he managed to kill Hyveth and turn her into an undead, he could force her to try, but that was impossible. She was far too good at running away.

    Victor decided to reevaluate his ns. He had foolishly thought of the dragons as pushovers after ughtering so many¡­but while he was killing the dragons, who was to say an Ancient wouldn¡¯t eliminate Necron? Or kill Alice?

    Although Victor had ensured, Alice got as much exp as possible, and with her void magic, she was stronger than almost everyone in this world. But with Ancient dragons and Hackers still running around, her life was at risk.

    Victor sighed as he felt the weight of being an anti-hero bearing down on him. Being constantly hated by those he was trying to save was tough, but he needed to persevere. Then, suddenly, he heard Alice¡¯s screams stop.

    Victor turned and saw the void surrounding Alice had vanished, and she fell roughly to the ground. Her face was pale and haunted, her eyes dull, and her breaths shallow. But she seemed alive, and Victor could see mana pouring toward her. A minute went by, and herplexion began to rapidly improve.

    ¡°She should be fine,¡± he murmured to himself with a sigh of relief. ¡°Now, what should I do?¡±

    ***

    Hyveth Arcspace stepped out from a portal and looked around. She rarely came to the londs as the mana was so sparsepared to the area closest to the Grand Dungeon that it was almost sickening. She couldn¡¯t remain for long, or her strength would start degrading, but it should be fine for a few minutes.

    Sprawling out for many miles below was a town she had never seen before. ¡°There really is a town here.¡± She was very surprised. She hade here a couple years ago while taking one of her many grandchildren on an expedition to capture some prey, and there had been nothing but a monster-infested forest as far as the eye could see.

    But now, there was a town bustling with activity, and two roads stretched out into the distance¡ªhowever, they were empty. They showed signs of heavy use, but Hyveth couldn¡¯t see a single carriage those humans used in sight.

    Hyveth scrutinized the town. She could feel some death affinity mana in the area, but it wasn¡¯t as strong as she expected. Looking to the west, she could detect arge amount of death affinity mana. Stepping through space, she hovered above an open-air mine with undead goblins hard at work. ¡°So Vox can micromanage so many undead from so far away?¡± Hyveth found it unbelievable.

    ¡°This is more interesting than I expected.¡± She returned to the town and located thergest and most impressive building¡ªa pce of white stone. Which also happened to be the location of the most death affinity mana in the area.

    With another step, she appeared inside a throne room. The darkness didn¡¯t impede her, but she still raised a brow at the hideous sight of a titanic slime monster happily feasting on a human leg.

 Chapter 75. The Undead Of Necron

    Hyveth had seen many things throughout her long life that had encapsted the rise and fall of empires¡ªbut a man chopping off his own leg and giving it to the stubby three-fingered hand of a slime monster was definitely up there as a brow-raising moment.

    Especially when the man now had no legs. He was just a torso, lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, but there was a distinctck of screaming that Hyveth had associated with weak mortals¡ªjust a nervous look as if the man was awaiting a miracle.

    And he was not the only one in the room. Other men and women stood around, and Hyveth noticed amon theme. They were all limping, clutching a severed arm, or had something impaled through their chest. The death mana swirling around the room was almost sickening. They were all undead but seemed oddly conscious and acted like ordinary people.

    Hyveth was broken from her observations by the sound of the slime burping. ¡°Wee to Necron! You must be Hyveth Arcspace?¡± The slime spoke to Hyveth as it finished munching on the human leg in a casual tone.

    Hyveth crossed her arms and tapped her fingers in annoyance. She hated being referred to by such a lowly lifeform. Only the other Ancients would dare speak her name so casually, yet this gray jelly dared? ¡°Did Vox inform you of my arrival?¡± Hyveth snapped back.

    The gray slime nodded its weirdly human head. ¡°He did indeed. The name is Andrew, by the way. I am the mayor here.¡± Andrew then gestured to the people in the room. ¡°And these fine people are citizens of our humble town. Well, some of them, at least, not everyone here in Necron is undead, but these people happen to be.¡±

    Hyveth ignored the slime and narrowed her eyes at the man on the floor. ¡°Human, why did you chop off your legs?¡± Despite her long life experience, the act of this man chopping off his own limbs still perplexed her in ways she couldn¡¯t describe.

    The man on the floor gulped as he looked up at the towering woman with a golden horn jutting out her forehead and inhuman crystal eyes. ¡°I h-had to. My body wouldn¡¯t regenerate correctly otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Regenerate?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­I can show you,¡± the man stuttered as he closed his eyes and seemed to activate a skill. Hyveth stepped back in wonder as his leg stumps began to elongate and heal like a wiggling mass of worms made of muscle tissue and blood vessels.

    Hyveth had sworn the man was a mere mortal without any noticeable amount of mana a second ago, but the mana surging into that spell was immense and seemed to be drawn from the ground rather than the ambient air. She chose to remain silent and mulled over her thoughts as she examined the process, and eventually, she came to a conclusion. Vox was involved somehow. There was no other usible exnation for a mortal to wield such power¡­unless the System assisted the man?

    Once the man¡¯s legs healed, Hyveth asked a question. ¡°So you are an undead? Why couldn¡¯t you heal your leg without chopping it off?¡± She had seen undead that could regenerate. Although the speed of this regeneration was absurd, it wasn¡¯t an impossibility.

    It was a little hard to look at, but the man stood up with two perfectly smooth and spotless legs¡ªstarkly contrasting to his callous hands and sun-kissed skin that showed a lifetime of hardbor. Luckily his shredded trousers covered up the important bit. The man jumped up and down and tested his new legs. A wide grin that missed a few teeth formed on his face. ¡°Good as new!¡±

    He seemed like an excited kid on his birthday, and Hyveth simply couldn¡¯t wrap her head around the situation, and she needed to fast. Her time on the londs was running out, and theck of mana was slowly poisoning her.

    ¡°Mortal, answer my question.¡± Hyveth¡¯s cold voice made the man freeze up. ¡°My time is short here, and I need answers; otherwise, I¡¯m destroying everything before I leave. I can¡¯t let a nest of corrupted fester for too long.¡±

    The man waved his hands. ¡°Wait, wait! Miss Arcspace, I am simply doing what everyone else here is doing. When Vox granted those that died in the Empire¡¯s raid immortality, he revived us. But it came with some issues¡­¡±

    ¡°Revived you? Impossible. That is forbidden magic,¡± Hyveth said resolutely. ¡°Only necromancy can somewhat imitate such a feat depending on the casters domain over death¡­¡± She let her words hang, and she furrowed her brows. Now that she thought about it, from the little she had seen of Necron, Vox was the best darn necromancer she had ever seen.

    ¡°No way he discovered that magic,¡± Hyveth muttered to herself but was interrupted by the man clearing his throat.

    ¡°Ahem, I don¡¯t believe Vox used such a spell on us, although I must admit I am no mage¡ªbut the System says I am a Preserved Corpse instead of a human now, and I gained a few skills that I can activate, such as Regeneration. Again, I¡¯m no expert, but that sounds like necromancy to me.¡±

    Hyveth looked around the room. ¡°Same for all of you?¡±

    Everyone nodded while shrinking back under the woman¡¯s intense re.

    Hyveth frowned. ¡°That still doesn¡¯t exin why you had to chop your legs off. Also, I have never heard of a Preserved Corpse race of undead before.¡± It was unbelievable¡­but had Vox created his own type of undead never before seen in the world? She was starting to worry that Vox might be far more dangerous than he was letting on.

    The other Netherborne she had witnessed over the years could use necromancy, but it was very basic, nothing so unique as creating a town or a sentient undead that looked so alive, like the man standing before her.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The man coughed into his hand and replied, ¡°The reason I had to cut my legs off is that the Regeneration skill would only heal new wounds, not the wounds I acquired before I was turned into an undead.¡± Then, as if to iterate his point, he shed his hand with a knife, leaving a deep incision.

    ¡°I am once again d I am now numb to pain,¡± the man muttered as he activated his Regeneration skill, and the deep wound in his hand knitted itself together.

    The man turned his hand around and showed another scar right next to the cut he had just healed. ¡°I got this scar from a farming ident when I was young. Unfortunately, as you can see, the Regeneration skill didn¡¯t remove the scar of this injury. B-but if I was to cut my entire hand off¡­¡±

    Hyveth didn¡¯t flinch as the man raised a machete and chopped his hand off with a grunt. Blood sshed onto the floor, and the hand fell to the marble floor.

    Therge, undead ogre standing beside Andrew, who had remained deathly still this entire time, bent forward, scooped up the cut hand from the floor, and handed it to the slime, who was happy to eat it like a snack.

    The man didn¡¯t seem in pain, but he looked deathly pale and kept his eyes locked onto the ceiling, clearly trying to avoid peeking at his handless arm. Once again, a hand was created from wriggling flesh within seconds.

    Flexing his new hand, the man brought it up for Hyveth to see. ¡°L-look here, Miss Hyveth, my hand that has seen a lifetime ofbor is now smoother than those noble brats from the Empire.¡± A frown formed on the man¡¯s face. ¡°Why does my hand look so girly now?¡±

    Hyveth ignored the man¡¯s remarks and tapped her finger on her chin. The man was clearly sentient, capable ofplex speech, thoughts, and could take actions based on the situation without directmand from the necromancer. Of course, there was always the chance that Vox was puppeteering this entire thing from the void, but she doubted it.

    ¡°So you still have ess to the System?¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°Indeed, I even have my old Farmer ss, and it seems I can still gain levels¡­¡±

    Hyveth knew a decent amount about the System, despite having never been a part of it. Knowledge was power, and Hyveth had acquired more knowledge about the workings of this world than anyone else¡ªin an apparently vain attempt to stop it from sumbing to whatever threat had decimated those distant stars.

    However, Hyveth now knew the iing threat; she had even met the person that had caused it. Vox was clearly not only a selfish creature but also a downright stubborn one. But he was also correct. Even though he was the one to start the spiral of destruction, the invasion of this world was only inevitable, something she hade to terms with a long time ago.

    But Hyveth had something those dead stars floating in the vast expanse of space likely never had¡ªa pawn of Axon offering assistance tobat the more significant threat. So wouldn¡¯t she be foolish to dismiss the outstretched hand?

    Hyveth paused. Who was to say the other worlds hadn¡¯t encountered the same thing? What if she was just ying right into Axon¡¯s hands by thinking one of its pawns was on her side?

    Deciding to clear her head, Hyveth stepped forward and teleported above Necron. Despite the ominous red beacon looming in the distance, casting its scarlet light on the town, the people seemed cheerful. Undead walked alongside the living¡ªa mother strolled below with her husband.

    They were linking arms and talking about the future, one Hyveth thought sounded rather bright¡ªthey spoke of climbing the nobledder and creating an eternal bloodline in their name. Something about being the immortal heads of a family syndicate seemed to fascinate the man, and the wife just seemed happy to have her husband back from the dead, giggling at his every word and practically having stars in her eyes.

    Hyveth could rte to those thoughts as the head of the Arcspace family and a supposed near-immortal dragon herself. But immortality was only so pleasing when you had others to share it with. What use was being thest one alive in a dead world?

    That was a future she wished to avoid at all costs. Even if it involved working alongside a creature from the void that might backstab her. Hyveth looked at the skyline with a lonely feeling and an impossible weight on her shoulders. Should she trust in a void creature¡¯s words that had gained more validity with her visit to Necron?

    ¡°Maybe I should ept his offer,¡± she spoke to the setting sun. ¡°So long as the dragons remain alive, we can take back what is ours if it gets too out of hand. Although it would involve waking him up.¡± She shuddered.

    ¡°If only that old dragon wasn¡¯t so fond of sleep, we might have been able to avoid this entire situation.¡± Hyveth let out a long sigh. She had faced Vox inbat and mostly confirmed his strengths and weaknesses. Vox was definitely strong, a threat to take seriously, but he was not as immortal as he may believe. The Arcwings had been in power for so long for a good reason. Nobody could obliterate void creatures like the Arcwings Ancient, who wielded star mana¡ªthe natural counter to the void.

    ¡°It¡¯s just waking up a walking cmity like that a century early is an easy way to have your entire bloodline exterminated.¡± Hyveth chuckled sadly and shook her head. Taking onest look at the setting sun, she made her decision.

    It was time to make a deal with the Vox.

 Chapter 76. God Complex

    ¡°Ugh, my head.¡± Alice groaned as she sat up and massaged her temples. ¡°What the hell happened?¡±

    Victor blinked his many golden eyes in confusion. Alice was almost semi-translucent. Was that what happened when a Mana Body was mana deficient? Simr to how humans went deathly pale due to blood loss? He could only wonder as he floated right beside her.

    Seeing Alice was alive and well, Victor was relieved. ¡°Wee back to thend of the living,¡± he joked before bing more serious. ¡°Maybe don¡¯t use that Void Form again.¡±

    Alice rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah, no shit, genius. I thought I was a goner. That was beyond terrifying. Not to mention painful.¡± Then, with a huff, she stood up, and while stretching her back, she looked around the vast grassy meadow of the first floor of the Grand Dungeon with her hands on her hips. ¡°Where is that Hyveth bitch at?¡±

    Had Alice always been this bold? Where had the little ve girl that was barely skin and bones gone? Victor sighed and answered hispanion. ¡°Hyveth left to check on my town to verify my words that I was managing a town of humans without killing them all.¡±

    Alice nodded. ¡°Mhm, I see¡­ I need to see that town again sometime. I wonder how everyone¡¯s doing.¡±

    Victor closed his many eyes and monitored the situation on the surface through Andrew. It seemed Hyveth was having a hard time wrapping her head around the residents of Necron. Victor had naturally not wanted to turn his residents into zombies. Otherwise, the stench of undead in Necron and the horrifying appearances of its residents would scare off any potential visitors.

    So he had created a new race of undead. Unlike with the ve traders, he wasn¡¯t making chimeras out of the citizens, so he had no need to go find a monster to merge people with to create the Preserved Corpse race. The idea was simple: have a race of undead be as simr to living humans as possible while retaining the benefits of being undead, such as immortality. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was the best he could do.

    All he had to do was imagine the race¡¯s desired characteristics, and his spell did the rest. However, Victor was suspicious that being linked to the World Core had upgraded his powers because he swore he couldn¡¯t create new races so easily before¡­

    Suddenly Hyveth vanished, and Victor lost sight of her. Well, Necron is still standing. That¡¯s a positive, at least. Is she heading back here¡ª

    There was a pop as space warped, and Hyveth stepped out of a portal with a neutral expression a few meters from Victor. ¡°We need to talk.¡±

    Victor nodded and gave Hyveth the floor. ¡°I¡¯m all ears. Well, not that I have them, but you get the point.¡±

    Hyveth crossed her arms and sighed. ¡°Your words, however ridiculous they may sound, add up. Somewhat. I have never seen this Axon you speak of, nor these rifts. However, you do seem to manage a town of the undead rather well, but it¡¯s simply not enough to trust you¡ªa void creature¡ªwith the future of this.¡±

    That was¡­fair. Victor hadn¡¯t really considered her side of things. Without even mentioning the fact he had made an enemy of the dragons by ughtering their unborn children, he was a void creature that imed to want to switch sides. It was hard to believe, even for him.

    ¡°But we need to get the situation under control. I can feel the unrest in the world. I know what a demon lord¡¯s arrival entails. There will soon be a war¡ªwhich I care little for¡ªbut it could lead to outside invaders interfering. So here is my proposal: leave the dragons out of your conflict.¡±

    That was not what Victor anticipated at all. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I will be frank. A rtionship between us dragons and you is simply impossible¡ªeven ignoring your ughtering of our kind, we won¡¯t bend to a new ruler, except the weakest¡­¡± Hyveth scowled at Xamrus, who was still respectfully on the floor.

    She looked back at Victor, and her inhuman eyes stared into his. ¡°So just give up on that front. In fact, I can guarantee my kind won¡¯t even be willing to work alongside you. They have not seen the things I have in the distant worlds, and no amount of convincing will change their ways.¡±

    ¡°So what do you propose?¡± Victor was confused. Hyveth had yet to provide a solution to their conflict. The dragons¡ªdead or alive¡ªwould immensely help his war efforts, and he wanted them gone from the surface as they were a threat to his operations.

    ¡°Me.¡± Hyveth smiled. ¡°I offer my help, and in return, you will leave the dragons out of this.¡±

    That was tempting. The fight with Hyveth had shown Victor¡¯s ws. Hecked teleportation and movement spells to catch up to fast opponents, and his assassination techniques were pointless if his opponents reacted too fast or he couldn¡¯t pierce their defenses.

    Also, he was running out of time. Dealing with the dragons could take days¡ªtime he didn¡¯t have the luxury of wasting. Maybe the dragons woulde under his ruleter once he had a better grasp on his new powers and current situation.

    It wasn¡¯t ideal¡­but Hyveth¡¯s offer wasn¡¯t bad. There was only one minor issue. ¡°How can I trust you?¡±

    Hyveth seemed taken aback, as if what Victor had said was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. ¡°Dragons have such great pride for a reason. We would rather die than go back on our word and be tarnished as a liar.¡±<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Victor didn¡¯t like that answer at all. Trust was such a fickle thing; thest thing he needed was Hyveth as an enemy. But considering he nned to backstab her at some point, he just needed to keep his wits about him.

    I need to reduce my weak links, he thought as he brought up his w. ¡°I will leave the dragons out of my conflict in exchange for your assistance. Deal?¡±

    Hyveth stared at the w. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Victor tilted his head. ¡°A handshake?¡±

    ¡°A human gesture of goodwill and agreement. I see¡­¡± Hyveth reached her hand forward, grabbed Victor¡¯s middle w, and gently shook it. ¡°On my name, I swear to uphold my side of the deal.¡±

    ***

    On the topic of reducing his weak links, Victor had an idea. Leaving Hyveth to wait for a moment, he returned to the lowest control room in the Grand Dungeon with Alice, where he found Genus and exined the situation.

    Genus was clearly unhappy that the Arcwings remained in control, but Victor reached apromise. ¡°Genus, I believe you are a verypetent ruler, but as a dragon, you are weak. You should know better than anyone that dragons only respect the strong.¡±

    The golden dragon slumped to the floor and groaned. He had just had to turn tail and run from Hyveth, yet he had expected to rule over the dragons? Without constant supervision from Victor, he would be killed for his arrogance.

    ¡°I n to ask Hyveth to teleport my town down here onto an ind. Would you like a neighboring ind just for you where the mana will be very dense with various biomes? You can also practice ruling over the town when I¡¯m not around.¡± Victor knew Andrew was doing a good job at managing Necron in its current state, but the town might expand in the future, so having Genus integrate into the town prematurely would be ideal.

    That seemed to arouse the dragon¡¯s interest. The Grand Dungeon was dense in mana and could grow at ten times the speed of his brethren on the surface. ¡°So long as the humans don¡¯t bother me too much¡­I could settle with that. For now.¡± His eyes glinted with restrained fury. ¡°But when I am strong enough, the Arcwings will pay.¡±

    Victor didn¡¯t mind and just agreed with Genus¡¯s words. The dragons were now a problem forter¡ªhe wanted to get his town safe before he went to all-out war with the surrounding kingdoms. Thest thing he needed was another Empire raid incident, and what better solution than hiding his town down in the depths of his own dungeon?

    There was just a slight issue¡ªmana toxicity. If Victor brought the residents down here to the Grand Dungeon¡¯s depths, the undead would likely survive, but the living would perish instantly.

    Luckily, he could use theputer to add another skill to the cards he had madest time, as there was a handy Upgrade Artifact feature. So, ten minutester, he had added Mana Resistance to all the cards, and now all he needed to do was make the ind.

    Switching back to the World Core¡¯s point of view, he saw the thousands of floating inds in thest floor¡¯s pocket dimension, but none wererge enough or had the biome he wanted for his utopia.

    Deciding to merge around a hundred inds, the void trembled as the mana bridges that connected them shattered, and the inds began to float toward a central point. A whileter, and mass the size of a continent was created.

    Victor then spent some mana to make a sizeable habitable area with a t meadow, streams of crystal-clear water, and pleasant wildlife. There was also plenty of farnd, far from the ind¡¯s edge, so the residents wouldn¡¯t be terrified of the looming void.

    Anotherrge ind was brought along for Genus, and Victor maneuvered it to be above the continent-size ind.

    Below Genus¡¯s ind was a volcanic region that was a fair distance away from the area the town would be but close enough that Genus could fly there in a few minutes. This was all done to reduce the number of interruptions to the dragon¡¯s sleep.

    Satisfied with his handiwork and trying to suppress his godplex that had sprouted up as he moved and merged inds¡ªVictor decided he needed to give the continent he had just created a name before Hyveth teleported Necron.

    Victor mulled over his options for a moment, but no matter how he tried, a single word seemed to encapste the utopia he was trying to achieve. He may not be a religious man¡­but he sure felt like a living god.

    ¡°Henceforth, thisnd shall be known as Eden. And it will be my utopia in this dying world.¡±

 Chapter 77. A Quick Recap [Start Of Book 2]

    Vox¡ªVictor''s human-sized avatar formed from shadow magic¡ªsat upon a summoned throne of shadows. It was easier tomunicate with the humans like this, as he had no desire to incite fear among his own people. They were already loyal enough, as demonstrated by eagerly lining up to receive card-shaped bs of emeralds.

    Hyveth Arcspace, one of the few ancient dragons and histest ally, stood by his side, watching the proceeds with her inhuman crystal eyes. The single golden horn jutting from her head glistened in the midday sun that shone through the windows.

    Victor would be happy to have such a person stand by his side... if not for her constant tapping. Her wed human fingers drummed on her scaled arm in an elerating rhythmic beat, showing her growing impatience.

    Hyveth had offered her assistance in his world domination ns on the basis he left the dragons out of the conflict. Which he had honored so far. Deciding to avoid the dragon''sir altogether, they teleported to the first floor of the Grand Dungeon and then took the tunnel Wiggles made to get to Necron.

    "Vox, care to exin this to me?" Hyveth hissed through her teeth as she watched a middle-aged man graciously receive an emerald card from Andrew the King Ooze, a ten-meter-long grey slime and mayor of Necron.

    The man poked his finger on a knife tip and imprinted his bloody fingerprint upon the surface of the emerald. It shed a brilliant green and vanished. Secondster, the man opened his eyes. His pupils had transitioned from a usual brown to a liquid emerald, and his skin glowed with a green hue.

    The man looked at his glowing skin with curiosity and gasped as the emerald card rematerialized in his hand.

    And he was not the only one. A group of excited humans huddled in the corner of the room, all eximing about their changed eye color. Some were mortals, and others were preserved corpses under his ck ocean''s control.

    "What exactly do you wish for me to exin?" Vox replied, resting his shadowy head on his palm.

    Of course, both the throne and avatar were made of nothing but shadows and therefore weightless, so he had no need to assume this tired posture, but he wanted to convey his displeasure with Hyvethsments, and her fidgeting was also doing her no favors.

    Hyveth frowned at Vox, "Are we not in a partnership? How can I assist with your ns if I don''t know what''s happening? You said we are on a time crunch and that the other World Cores close in on the cursed forest with every passing second, yet you sit here giving things to humans for free¡ª"

    Vox raised his hand to silence her, "Fine. Disclosing some details is only fair. Those emerald cards have many inbuilt abilities that derive their power from my Demon Core, one of which is passive mana resistance. A skill these fleshy mortals will need to survive in my dungeon depths, as the mana is far too dense for an ordinary human to survive."

    Vox looked into Hyveth''s inhumane crystal eyes, "As for a time crunch? That is true, but you forget something, my dragon friend."

    "And that is?" Hyveth scowled, clearly hating that she was the clueless one in this exchange and Vox''s casual tone while addressing someone of her stature and power.

    "This is just one of my three bodies. While I sit here showing my presence to reassure my citizens, my Netherborne body is busy reviving my collection of ice statues a few buildings from here to form an army for Toby to defend against the Empire."

    Vox sighed, "Meanwhile, my Demon Core is mass-producing undead on the upper floors to defend the south and western nks."

    Vox''s teardrop eyes dulled as his vision rapidly switched between his bodies. His shadowy avatar was nothing but a glorified projection that he could cast spells through at a high cost. Nevertheless, his Netherborne body remained his greatest asset forbat scenarios and casting spells.

    Toby, the One-Eyed Demon King, was practically jumping with joy as Victor hovered over the ice statues casting [Raise Undead] over and over. Mana was almost free when your mana pool was the size of a continent, even if it was rapidly shrinking.

    The sound of ice shattering and the roars of many A and S-grade monsters reawakening from a long slumber filled the cursed forest. The ck ocean looked like a sea of bright lights as many powerful creatures joined the ranks, and most fearsome of all... they absorbed all thetent knowledge in thework.

    Victor smiled. As they say, knowledge is power, and he needed all the strength he could muster to defend against the entire world by himself.

    Rather than mindless beasts fueled by their hunger, they were now aware of war formations, how to farm, construction, and even humannguage. This was the true might of the ck ocean and Victor''s main motivation for wanting to keep Necron safe.

    With so many undead humans joining the ck oceanwork with various skills in different fields, the hive mind became stronger as knowledge was shared as an instinct. The empire knights turned death knights had contributed essential information about how wars were fought. It became instinctual knowledge to all the undead under Victor''s control.

    Looking down at the horde of monsters, Victor turned to look at Alice, who was floating beside him. Her liquid gold eyes scanned the ground with curiosity and a light smile on her lips.

    "You seem happy." Victor''s ancient voice didn''t even seem to faze the girl as her smile grew wider. She chose not to wear clothes and instead had a dense ck mana shield coating her skin like armor at all times. It flickered and flowed as if alive, and her face was exposed.

    She turned to face Victor, "Happy? I am more than happy¡ªexhrated would be a better term. Finally, no more running and hiding." A savage grin appeared on her crazed face, "I¡ªno... we have more power at our disposal than anyone else."

    Victor shook his head, his many golden eyes tracing the horizon, "Silly girl, we may match the strength of a single kingdom, or perhaps even the Empire... but we face the world."

    Alice clenched her mana-coated fist, "Then so be it. We can conquer them one at a time."

    "Conquer suggests subjugation¡ªa fate I n for the other World Cores, but not for this''s people. Endless ughter will only doom this world faster."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Will those rifts reallye?" Alice asked. A hint of skepticism in her tone.

    "There are no absolutes in life, but Axon is a far greater threat to me than this world''s inhabitants, that''s for sure." Victor pointed a w to his shadowy face, "If Axon could control my mind, then they can do it again. Thest thing I want is for Axon to get a foothold on this and take advantage of the worldwide war caused by the demon lord quest."

    Alice''s golden gaze drifted to the red beacon that marked the entrance to the cursed forest''s Grand Dungeon in the north. "A worldwide hunt for a demon lord. What a joke."

    "What makes it a joke?" Victor wondered.

    "They will be blinded by the rewards and refuse to ept their own greed will lead to their demise." Alice sighed, "Human greed always triumphs over logic. No matter what we say, they will just aim for those silly contribution points provided by the other World Cores."

    "Exactly, human greed will be our greatest weapon in this war. Who said only the World Core could offer rewards? I just need to provide the sweeter deal to make them switch to the dark side." Victor chuckled and summoned his [Royal Card] that floated above his hand, "What are some arbitrary contribution points in the face of eternal life, endless food, and a mana-dense utopia?"

    Alice sighed, "But is it really worth it? To go through all this hassle when we could storm each kingdom and annihte them with overwhelming might? Surely the people would bend the knee in subservience to you if you wished it."

    The golden card vanished back into Victor''s soul. "Worth it? Absolutely. With my ck oceanwork and a utopia to nurture them, the human race will advance at unprecedented speeds, and with my careful management, Axon will never step foot on this world."

    "I would prefer to wipe all these vermin out, Eshnar especially... But if luring them in with superior rewards is your aim, then I suggest we start with the Frosnds."

    Victor tilted his head, "Oh, the Frosnds? That mining nation located north of the Grand Dungeon..."

    "Mhm." Alice nodded¡ªher ck hair briefly obscuring her golden eyes, "They are already struggling from famine, and the arrival of a demon lord on their doorstep has likely crippled their economy. As the most desperate, they would be a good first target."

    Victor thought for a moment. Her line of logic did make sense, and securing another World Core so early on would make it two Demon Cores against three World Cores. The Frosnds was also close by and in an easy-to-defend location, considering mountains surrounded it on all sides.

    But there was also the risk of letting the Empire and Eshnar organize their forces and attack while he was busy up north.

    "How slow are the Empire and Eshnar at making decisions?" Victor was used to living in a world with the inte and departments dedicated to disaster response. In such a connected world, global leaders could make decisions within a day.

    Alice snorted. "Hriously slow. Especially the Empire, which is notorious for having crappy nobles. Those bastards are more concerned about making each other lose more knights than actually suppressing any rebellions or dealing with monsters."

    That reassured Victor that invading the frosnds quickly was the best move. Although the demon lord''s quest and contribution counter made him fear the nobles would disregard all rationality due to fear of missing out on the juicy rewards.

    [The other World Cores have designated you as a world-ending threat. As a result, your System ess is restricted, and the world''s denizens will gain rewards for your destruction. Your allies have also been marked as hostile.]

    Victor concluded that the most important thing to do now was to remove his weakest link. Necron was like themand center for his hivemind and would serve as a propaganda engine to convince the rest of the world that life under his leadership was better than ughtering his allies for contribution points.

    All he needed was control over all the World Cores. Only then was he sure he could find a way to stop all this demon lord nonsense.

    Surrounded by an army of monsters, Toby stood below, looking up at his overlord. With all of them revived and not a single ice stature remaining, Victor was confident he had an army that could hold off the Empire until he got back from the Frosnds.

    "Toby, my champion, heed my words." Victor''s ancient voice made the One-Eyed Demon King straighten up, "Your mission is to guard the cursed forests border with the Empire. Make sure to hold a strategic line and leave no gaps. You must stop the encroaching World Core''s mana from eating away at mynd."

    Victor decided to ignore the fact Toby was practically vibrating from excitement. He knew the man was a battle junkie, but this was excessive.

    "Oh, and one more thing. Do not engage or invade the Empire. Just hold the line." Toby''s face darkened, but Victor added, "However, I give permission to kill anyone who tries to cross the border."

    "Thank you, Master!" Toby''s voice thundered, and all the monsters roared behind him in unison.

    "Now go!" Victor pointed to the distance with his w, "Defend mynd in my name."

    Victor watched the horde of monsters that could tten a city charge to the east.

    "Now then..." Victor returned his sights to Necron. It was time to prepare for the teleportation of his city into the dungeon''s depths.

 Chapter 78. Arrival In Eden

    Time was of the essence.

    Victor watched Toby charging off to the east to defend against the Empire World Core, which left 3 cardinal directions undefended. All with World Cores, armies, and delvers likely anxious to invade and ughter Necron''s citizens and his own army for those sweet contribution points.

    Victor nned to send a basic undead army manufactured on the top floors of his Grand Dungeon for the South and West borders. Switching his view to his Demon Core, Victor could see everything urring in his dungeon.

    On the top floor, around the ivory tower that had bore witness to the ughtering of unborn dragons, a dense cloud of mana nketed thend and swirled around.

    He couldmand this mana to form undead from thin air, but that would be horrifically mana inefficient. Instead, using the thousands of corpses buried under the lush meadow was far more cost-effective. How they had got there, Victor had no idea, but some kind of great war had undoubtedly urred in the distant past.

    Under his direction, the mana sunk into the ground¡ªcausing it to tremble. The soil cracked as white fingers poked through, promptly followed by entire limbs and torsos.

    Thousands of humans climbed from their graves, and so did hundreds of dog-sized dragons. He wasn''t sure whether these dragons were the ones he killed or simply random baby dragons that died long ago.

    His functions as a dungeon core and his Netherborne''s affinity for the undeadbined in a beautiful disy as thousands of undead stood at attention, blue mes sprouting to life in their empty eye sockets. ck mana then coated their bones, giving them armor of shadows and empowering the weapons a few held.

    The ck oceanwork once again buzzed with activity as thousands of new nodes were designated. Victor randomly assignedmanders, usually those with the most equipment and, of course, the baby dragons, and very quickly, he had a functional army of the dead on his hands.

    It wasn''t perfect. The thousands of shadow-d skeletons looked menacing at first nce, but theycked equipment such as swords, bows, or armor. They also had little way to deal with long-range spells. Luckily the baby dragons could fly with wings of shadows, so there was hope against aerial-based opponents.

    ''It''s fine.'' Victor thought to himself as he made the thousands of undead form into grids with theirmanders standing at the front. ''This army is temporary anyway and should be strong enough to hold the line for a few days.''

    Victor held no delusions that such an army wouldn''t be enough to keep Eshnar and the Mystical Realm at bay for more than a week, but he remained hopeful.

    With the army ready for Hyveth to teleport, Victor returned his vision to Necron. His shadowy body was still sitting on a throne of shadows with an irritated Hyveth standing at his side.

    "It''s time to go." Vox¡ªVictor''s shadowy avatar¡ªannounced, and Hyveth perked up¡ªher inhuman crystal eyes ncing his way.

    "Can I finally teleport this ce and leave?" Hyveth asked.

    "Mhm, no." Vox replied, "After teleporting Necron to the lowest floor of the Grand Dungeon, I need you to teleport two armies out to the south and west nks of the cursed forest."

    "Why." Hyveth tilted her head, "Can''t you just march them out?"

    "The other dragons may be abiding by your request of not entering the Grand Dungeon for now." Vox said, "But I doubt they would appreciate thousands of undead marching across theirnd on the surface, and if one particrly angry dragon decided to decimate my army after seeing it contained undead baby dragons, I would have nothing on hand to defend two entire nks."

    "Right. At first sight of undead children, the other dragons would obliterate your army..." Hyveth sighed, "Fine. I will teleport your armies, but then I''m done."

    Vox shrugged his shadowy shoulders. "Sure, I have no need for your services after that for a while at least. You can go and speak with the dragons some more and reach a better agreement. I am sure we can coborate eventually."

    Hyvethughed slightly, "You dream far too much. It''s a miracle that they agreed to not storm inside the Grand Dungeon and mess with you. That alone is good enough for now." She then nced around the room, which was still full of humans gathered in groups and excitedly discussing their recently acquired citizenship that came with interesting effects.

    "Is this all of them?" Hyveth asked.

    Vox''s teardrop eyes seemed to smile upwards, "Oh? Worried about the pathetic fleshy humans?" Voxughed as he stood from his throne of shadows.

    Before Hyveth could retort, Vox addressed the people in the room. "Citizens of Necron! For your own safety, I have enlisted the help of an ancient dragon to transport Necron to a newnd¡ªdeep in the depths of the world and safe from all threats."

    Murmurs of excitement filled the room, but Vox continued unperturbed, "As discussed before, once Necron has arrived in its new home, nobody is required to work. Lush farnd nearby will be attended to by an undead workforce, and the dense ambient mana alone will keep you all healthy."

    "However!" Vox summoned a blue card from his storage, "If you wish to climb the nobledder of Necron, you are free to apply for jobs with Andrew. These will include more advanced skills like cksmithing, carpentry, and swordsmanship."

    Hundreds of glowing green eyes from Necrons newest green card citizens all looked at the floating blue card with awe.

    Victor didn''t care for mundane professions like farming or hunting. Food could be produced en masse with his dungeon skills, and he could create gically modified animals that provide the maximum amount of meat when killed that cannot move or fight back.

    He couldn''t replicate highly skilledbor, or at least not for now. Eventually, with his ck oceanwork sharing knowledge, every undead, including the undead citizens and his goblins, could somewhat replicate skilledbor.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    But Victor had noticed that while his ck oceanwork shared knowledge, this world worked off of sses. A person with a [Carpenter] ss would have abilities granted by a World Core which cannot be replicated with simple knowledge.

    ''Didn''t the system tell me that those under my control would have restricted ess to the system? Is my Demon Core picking up the ck?''

    Victor suddenly had an idea. If he could make his own undead species and even create artifacts that granted abilities, wasn''t he just one step away from creating his own sses?

    He had overtaken the World Core and obtained all of its functions. However, he wasn''t familiar with them all yet, and his situation made sitting down and experimenting with his new powers difficult. ''Darn, time crunch. Why can''t the other World Cores just chill for a moment and give me time to think?!''

    Storing the thought of making his own sses away in the back of his mind. Vox made the blue card vanish and continued his speech.

    "Is there anyone left that has not been given citizenship? Those green cards provide you with [Mana Resistance], which is crucial to surviving down in the depths of the dungeon. Anyone still in Necron and without the card will die within minutes."

    It was like going out into space without a spacesuit, just slightly less extreme. Without [Mana Resistance], the ambient mana of the lowest floor will feel burning hot and kill these low-level humans.

    Therge group of humans broke into a discussion, but after a few minutes, they all concluded that nobody was missing. Unfortunately, not everyone could fit in the room, so a lot waited outside.

    Victor switched to his Netherborne body floating above Necron and visually checked that everyone was inside Necron''s borders and that some random child or undead hadn''t wandered out of the town.

    From above the town, Victor could see the hundreds of undead goblins gathered in a cluster and a few humans that seemed to have skipped out on the announcement. ''Well, I hope they came and collected their green cards otherwise they are going to have a terrible time in a minute.''

    Sadly, Victor didn''t have enough time or energy to deal with people who didn''t listen to instructions.

    Feeling someone talking to his shadowy avatar, Victor switched back to Vox and heard Hyveth ask, "Ready to go? You control the entire dungeon, right? I need you to open a path through the dungeon''s wall to the bottom floor."

    "Huh? Why?" Vox asked with his distorted voice. "You could teleport yourself around just fine."

    Hyveth scowled. "I can teleport myself to the edge of the multiverse if I so wished, but your Demon Core, as you call it, and the floating ind you want me to put Necron on resides inside a pocket dimension. How can I ess an alternate dimension and urately ce a town of people onto a moving ind inside a void I have never seen before without guidance?"

    Alright, that was fair enough. Victor had just assumed when it came to spatial magic, Hyveth was unmatched and would get angry if he suggested anything.

    With a snap of his fingers for dramatic effect, Vox''s teardrop eyes glowed with power, "Consider your request done. But be quick. If you can teleport through the gap, so can others."

    It felt like briefly lowering his shields just for an enemy to sneak in. But knowing his pocket dimension was so secure that even Hyveth would struggle to get inside was good.

    "It''s already done," Hyveth replied with a sneer.

    Vox blinked in confusion but then realized what she was referring to, "We are already here?"

    "Yes. Now, where was that army you wanted me to teleport." Hyveth replied with impatience dripping from every word.

    "Hold on." Vox needed to confirm whether Necron was where he wanted it to be. His shadowy avatar had no perception of mana change, and nobody else in the room had reacted all that differently.

    Switching to his Demon Core, he instantly confirmed that Necron had indeed arrived in Eden. A continent he had created inside his pocket dimension. Seeing such a tiny town as the only bastion of civilization on a floating continent in the void felt weird.

    The only other intelligent lifeform in this entire realm was Genus Arcgold¡ªa golden chrome dragon residing on a floating ind above Eden, near a volcanic region not far from Necron.

    The dragon awoke from his slumber and seemed to notice the sudden presence of humans. His wings spread out, and he lept off his ind and dived toward Necron.

    Victor didn''t want Genus and Hyveth to interact again, so he switched to Vox and said, "My undead armies reside on the first floor. Teleport half to the border with the Mystic Lands and the other half to Eshnar''s border."

    "And you can control them from this far away?" Hyveth asked skeptically. Clearly, she wasn''t a fan of the idea that thousands of undead might be running around unsupervised.

    "I can control anything within the cursed forest. It is all under my domain." Vox replied, "Now go. Once you havepleted that for me, you can go."

    "Very well," Hyverth said before vanishing¡ªright as Genus arrived in the town square outside Andrew''s white stone pce.

 Chapter 79. Mini Dungeon

    Victor sensed through the ck oceanwork that the massive blob of undead soldiers on the upper floor of the Grand Dungeon had vanished and reappeared in the far distance at the southern and western borders of the cursed forest.

    "Mhm... Hyveth teleported them further from the borders than I had hoped." Victor mused as he switched from his Demon Core back to his shadow form. He had decided to leave his Netherborne body on the surface with Alice as they would soon invade the Frosnds together.

    Although he couldn''t give the body his full focus, he could make it move like a puppet with his mind, just like any other undead in the ck oceanwork. So with his Netherborne body heading toward the Frosnds in the north alongside Alice, he could spend a short afternoon focusing on Necron.

    Necron had be more than a simple side project he had invested time into out of absolute bordem. If he could create a utopia for the humans here and have them further their skills in more specialized fields, their cluster of expertise would be added to the oceanwork hive mind over time.

    Currently, the undead under Victor''s control were already impressive due to his skill being maxed out, or perhaps for the Netherborne race''s natural affinity with the undead¡ªVictor wasn''t entirely sure¡ªbut that was beside the point. Despite his undead being so exceptional, they werecking far behind humans with sses.

    He could tell his skeletons how to farm, and they could do it as farming was a more straightforward affair. Construction was another easy one, as his undead goblins had been capable of producing crappy houses when they were alive.

    But crafting? cksmithing? Heck, even reading and writing. These were all skills far out of reach of the undead for now. But, with the humans resurrected and added to the hive mind, their expertise was now shared with all the other undead.

    Soon he would have legions of highly intelligent and capable undead that were mass-producible¡ªhad the knowledge of everyone immediately upon creation¡ªand could be deployed anywhere.

    All he needed was for Necron to prosper... and for him to add more humans to his undeadwork somehow. Hopefully, a few humans would be stupid enough to fight his undead armies for contribution points, and then he could add them and their knowledge to thework.

    If he was willing to invade all the kingdoms and ughter their people, Necron wouldn''t be necessary. But what was the point if he could achieve the same thing without needless ughter? Victor could only hope not too many of the world''s best Delvers lost their lives needlessly to his armies before he could stop this demon lord nonsense.

    Having set his undead army on the warpath with the Mystic Realm in the south and Eshnar in the west, Victor returned his attention to Necron. Then, leaving the throne room in his shadow persona Vox, he stepped into the bustling town square outside Andrew''s white stone pce.

    He looked to the skies and saw a familiar golden chrome dragon shroud the square in a looming shadow by blocking out the artificial sunlight with his magnificent wings.

    Everyone in the town square shot Vox questioning nces as he left the doorway of Andrew''s pce. But after seeing hisck of panic about the iing dragon, they all rxed and began chatting with one another with childlike excitement.

    Victor could hardly me them. He was sure it was the first time many of them had even seen a dragon¡ªhe overhead a few children scolding their parents for telling them dragons were just bedtime myths.

    The people scrambled out of the way to give the titanic dragon space¡ªGenus almost didn''t fit in the town square, and his mighty tail had to snake down a nearby street. His piercing liquid golden eyes¡ªa result of the Royal Card he had soul bound with¡ªswept across the people present.

    Everyone went pin-drop silent.

    Vox decided to use this opportunity to grab everyone''s attention and exin Genus''s role in Necron and what would be happening while he still had a spare moment to spend on Necron.

    He was no fool and knew a war on four fronts was about to begin and would need his undivided attention, but his armies hadn''t even reached the borders yet, so there was nothing else for him to do other than sort out his affairs here.

    "Citizens of Necron!" Vox shouted as his shadowy body rose into the sky and paused mid-air beside Genus''s head that lorded over all the people present.

    "This is Genus Arcgold, a noble dragon that once lived on the Grand Dungeon''s upper floors. After being cast away from what the dragons call the lowernds and having a run-in with me, we quickly became acquaintances. I trust Genus to run Necron in my absence, and a few may notice his golden eyes..."

    Vox nodded to Genus, and the intelligent dragon understood his intentions. Genus rotated his paw, keeping it low for the short humans to still have a good view, and materialized a golden card between his ws.

    There was a wave of oohs and ahhs as the people of Necron got their first look at the royal card.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I have granted Genus Arcgold the Royal Card, the highest tier of nobility. Those with simr liquid golden eyes to his are also of a simr rank." Vox raised his arms, "Genus here will watch over you and sort out the more difficult issues that are likely to be raised, but for most problems, I would advise you continue to seek out Andrew, who will remain as Mayor of Necron."

    The grey slime that snaked for over ten meters had half of his body exposed out of the white pce. He waved his stubby arm at the crowd, and a few returned nods or waves.

    "As previously exined, those of you who wish to work jobs can seek out Andrew and be assigned to whatever you please." Vox floated back down to the floor and waved as he received apuse and cheers.

    In truth, he knew his idea of running a town was wed if it was scaled up, but for now, with only a few hundred citizens, having Andrew manage everything should be manageable. Vox could only hope that in the future, his undead became capable enough for administration tasks, and then he could leave them to take over from Andrew.

    Vox focused on his ck oceanwork and located the clump of undead goblins teleported down to his pocket dimension at the bottom of the Grand Dungeon alongside Necron and all its residents.

    These goblins had little use inbat, so he nned to have them manage the fields and other menial tasks around Necron, such as construction, with some human guidance.

    In all honesty, Victor was sure he could materialize food with just raw mana and even tie that ability to an artifact the citizens could use, like a glorified online shopping app, but he wanted his citizens to start trusting his undead more.

    If they entrusted their food production to his undead and saw them toiling away in the fields to harvest food for them, their perception of his undead would improve drastically.

    Swapping to his Demon Core, Victor looked over Necron and felt satisfied with its cement.

    All thend surrounding Necron contained lush farnd dense in mana. The time between nting a crop and it growing would be hours, maybe even days. And with him able to control the weather, there was no way for crops to be destroyed or fail to grow.

    A stream of mana-filled water flowed around Necron now. So that satisfied basic food and water for his citizens, a far better situation than what they were facing back on the surface when the merchants stoppeding due to the Demon Lord''s announcement.

    All Necron needed now was some native animals that roamed and maybe some more dangerous ones further out, so the Delvers living in Necron wouldn''t get bored.

    I may even set up a mini-dungeon nearby infested with monsters that provide abundant exp and sulent meat or excellent materials.

    Victor had already concluded that producing things out of raw mana was terribly mana inefficient, but dungeons were designed to spawn monsters, animals, and even terrain. So it was far better if he provided the desired materials within one of these forms, like meat from a cow or iron ore within a mountain, rather than creating iron ingots out of raw mana.

    And it also gave his citizens something to do and would fuel a mini economy.

    It sounded like a good idea, so he got to work making it. First, he made the new mini-dungeon stand out by creating a sky-high obsidian obelisk. This would serve as the entrance¡ªVictor then began carving out floors and popting them with monsters.

    But then he ran into a problem.

    What type of monsters should he use?

    Should the dungeon have a theme? He could create multiple dungeons, each with a specialty if he wished.

    "What would get people really excited." Victor wondered momentarily, and then a particr floor within the Grand Dungeon came to mind. The gem golems hadn''t been that exciting to him as a void monster, but to the average human, seeing a golem encrusted with enough gems to set them for life would undoubtedly raise some hype.

 Chapter 80. Gem Dungeon

    Having be the dungeon through the Demon Core, Victor could create anything he could imagine. Having spent so many months fighting for his survival, to now wield the power of creation as if he were living in creative mode was a nice change of pace.

    "I was supposed to make this mini-dungeon exciting for the citizens of Necron, not for myself." Victor chuckled as he floated backward and observed the sky-high obsidian obelisk that served as the entrance to his gem-themed dungeon styled off the 70th floor of the Grand Dungeon that had been home to giant golems made of crystals.

    Although the new mini-dungeon he had spent thest few hours working on was mostly underground, he could see and feel everything within all hundred floors of the Grand Dungeon above him whenever he wished, so checking out on his handiwork was a breeze. He was the dungeon, after all.

    "Alright, five floors with progressively harder-to-kill opponents," Vox mumbled as he floated there using Vox, his shadowy avatar, as his Netherborne body was busy nearing the Frosnd border with Alice.

    Considering his draining mana due to the four other World Core''s hellbent on his destruction, going this far for Necron could be regarded as a little wasteful, but it wasn''t his fault creating things was so fun. If only everyone would let Necron thrive in peace and stop calling him a Demon Lord, life would be better for everyone!

    That aside, he had made sure the dungeon served an intended purpose. Creating materials out of raw dungeon mana was very inefficient, and since the residents of Necron had nobody to trade with, he needed to provide them with materials somehow.

    He had ced minerals such as iron ore in the ground all around Necron, but abor-intensive and straightforward task like mining was better left to the undead. Victor would much prefer Necron''s residents to contribute to the ck oceanwork''s knowledge by furtheringbat sses and skills.

    Keeping this in mind, Victor had made the first floor contain easy-to-kill monsters that provided some basic materials. For example, he had created a new monster race in his vision, which he called the Ferrum Wraiths.

    They were ghostly figures with chains of rusted iron that hung from their necks and hands. They could corrode metal on contact, including armor and weapons, making them dangerous to those who tried to fight alone without a mage. Or the warrior could coat their swords in mes and slice them with one hit.

    Whatever worked for them, Victor didn''t care. The point was those rusted chains could be taken and then melted down and repurposed by the citizens. If he didn''t make the iron hard to get, it would have no value, and he would lose a lot of mana to people farming the wraiths. There was a bnce to be maintained here.

    There were also Crystalline Slimes that were nearly invisible but contained a gem core on the upper floors that were resistant to magic but could pop like a balloon from a sword thrust or even a pickaxe to the face.

    Continuing the theme of progressively stronger monsters giving out better rewards, he created monsters like an Amethyst Wyrm, Ruby Smanders, and even Talc Trolls, which could crumble into a powdery form to slip through small cracks or evade attacks and then reconstitute themselves.

    "That was fun. If I had some more time, I would create some other dungeons for the citizens," Victor mused as he drifted away from his new mini-dungeon. "I wonder if I should make a dungeon of flesh-eating trees to provide different types of wood or maybe an ocean-themed one to give them a supply of sulent fish! Maybe they could even learn how to make sushi?"

    Victor headed back to Necron but noticed that the obelisk looked rather dangerous in the distance all alone, so with a simple thought, he manifested an obvious cobblestone path from Necron to the obelisk.

    He knew the monsters he had made were rather challenging for the people here, but since the residents of Necron had absorbed the Green Card to be citizens and had the [Revive] skill, he wasn''t worried about casualties. It was more a case of if they could defeat the monsters and steal the materials that made up their bodies in the first ce.

    "The more grizzled veterans in the town should be able to defeat those wraiths and slimes at least, and if they can''t, then I hope for their sake I never need them to go to the front line," Victor floated down the cobbled path and on his way, he waved his hand and walls of rubble manifested on either side of the road. Within these stone enclosures, he spawned some fat animals that the locals could ughter for food.

    "That should do it," Victor sighed as he surveyed his surroundings.

    It wasn''t much, but looking at Necron from afar. He was rather pleased with himself. Although the wooden architecture of the majority of the buildings was primitive, it had a nice vibe. The white stone pce that belonged to Andrew the King Ooze gave the ce a more official feeling than some simple town.

    "Victor, we are nearing the north," Alice''s voice rang in the back of his mind over the oceanwork.

    Victor felt like grumbling as he wished he could enjoy the sight a little longer, but unfortunately, it was time to face the real world.

    [The other World Cores have designated you as a world-ending threat. As a result, your System ess is restricted, and the world''s denizens will gain rewards for your destruction. Your allies have also been marked as hostile.]

    Victor dismissed the notification that popped up every now and then.

    The Empire and Eshnar would soon be scrambling to create armies to ughter his hordes of undead for these contribution points being given out by the other World Cores and make use of the triple exp from quests.

    Killing his skeletons would be even easier due to the abundant mana pouring out from the other World Core, allowing destructive mages to unleash army wipe spells and recover their mana faster.

    "Toby is going to be having a lot of fun on the Empire border," Victor chuckled to himself. He had told the One-Eyed Demon King to refrain from attacking, but self-defense was eptable. "And there''s no way those greedy Empire nobles won''t send their champions to challenge that fighting maniac one by one."

    Dismissing these thoughts, Victor''s view shifted as he overtook his Netherborne body that had been mindlessly following behind Alice like a puppet. His eyes glowed golden as he looked around.

    "Oh, there you are," Alice said as she ced her hands on her hips, "Had fun while I mindlessly led an army of the dead around the Grand Dungeon for hours?" Alice asked sarcastically but with a smile on her face. Her liquid golden eyes, much like his due to the Royal Card bonded with her soul, were mesmerizing, and the skin-tight armor of shadows she wore matched her hair.

    Shaking his head, Victor refused to admit the amount of fun he had, so he just shrugged his shadowy shoulders, "It was alright. I just helped settle the residents and set them up with basic things like farms and cattle. Nothing that exciting."

    "Boooring," Alice said as she turned and gestured to the mountains in the distance, "Over there should be the entrance to the mountain valley where the Frosnds is located. Our first target for world domination!"

    Victor rolled his eyes, "Why do you have to word it like that?"

    Aliceughed, "You wille around to my grand conquest ns eventually. These people deserve it."

    "Stop joking around. We are here to take over the World Core and attempt to cooperate with the locals, not mindless ughter."

    "Fine," Alice grumbled. "ughterter."

    "No. Now, wait here with the army. I will scout ahead," Victor activated [Stealth X], and his body vanished to everyone. Floating through the forest toward the Frosnds reminded him of the old days before he first met Alice and had debated going to try and visit the human civilization.

    "Now that I think about it, this will be the first time I''veid eyes on how the humans live here," Victor mused as he emerged from the treeline and looked up at the mountains. It looked like they had been cleaved in two by a god''s axe, and at the end of the valley, he saw the glow of a distant city in the evening light.

    He tried to move closer but was unable to. "Huh?" Looking down, he could feel a border between his Demon Core and Frosnd''s World Core, and he was being pushed back.

    "Interesting," Victor said as he drifted back. "Looks like I will need to bring in my army to push the border to the Frosnds before I can set foot on theirnd."

 Chapter 81. Dungeon Break

    Angry shouts echoed within a grand room stripped bare of everything extravagant¡ªonly creaking wooden benches that lined a molding table remained in the freezing room. A firece vainly attempted to heat the enormous throne room with a few coals and scraps of wood, but it was doing a poor job.

    A gruff dwarf hit the table with a balled fist and a deep-set scowl on his aged face. "Princess, I dere on behalf of the miners'' guild of the Frosnds that we are on strike until this famine is sorted out. I can''t send myrades into the mines on a single potato and a slice of bread a day! It''s preposterous¡ª"

    The enraged dwarf was ruthlessly cut off by a tall man with a crude monocle and a heavily worn suit. "Tymond, you may look stupid, but I know there''s some brain mush floating around in that thick skull of yours. Look around. Do you see any sign of wealth left, any paintings or sculptures to sell to the high-born nobles of the Empire?"

    The man gestured to the dull stone walls of the unimpressive throne room.

    "There is no food in storage, and without the mines producing something," the man threw his hands up and yelled, "then we have nothing to sell for more food! So if you don''t get your midget friends back to work, then we will all starve."

    "Hugo, you racist bastard." Tymond spat, "Why don''t you take that skinny body of yours and impale yourself on a pickaxe for all I care, you stuck-up beanstalk-looking prick¡ª"

    "Silence." A young woman''s voice made the two men clench their fists and back down. "Now is not the time for infighting. We have bigger issues at hand, gentlemen."

    "Yes, Princess Luna Cloudhell. My deepest apologies for speaking so rashfully in your presence." Hugo bowed slightly and then shot Tymond a re before sitting back down.

    Princess Luna slumped on the cushionless thone with a long sigh. The cold stone made her back numb¡ªbut the young princess persevered as she had no choice; her kingdom was on the brink of a revolt.

    "Tell it to me straight, Hugo. My Father has worked tirelessly for four days since the [Demon Lord] descended so close to our borders, so I am not totally caught up on the situation. How bad is it?"

    Hugo awkwardly adjusted his monocle. "Princess, excuse mynguage, but we are beyond fucked."

    "Yea, no shit genius!" Tymond roared, "With you stuck-up fuckers running this failed state, it was only a matter of time!"

    "Shut up." Princess Luna snapped, which made the dwarf cover his mouth in horror as if he had let his true thoughts slip out.

    Princess Luna propped her sleepy head up with her hand. "Yes, we have problems, but we based almost a hundred percent of our economy on mining, which was working fine. Do enlighten me on how we should have nned ahead for the cursed forest bing the home of a Demon Lord, Sir Tymond?"

    "Well, um..." Tymond stroked his straggling beard, which looked like it hadn''t been washed for weeks. "That was an unfortunate turn of events, I will admit."

    Luna looked back at Hugo, "So Hugo, advise me. What am I to do?"

    Hugo tugged on his cor as if he was suffocating under his monarch''s gaze and chuckled, "Princess, the cursed forest has be a dangerous zone that merchants refuse to travel across. With our trade routes closed... we have no way to trade our ores for food and clothing. So we can do nothing other than sit here and starve."

    Luna just frowned and looked at the far end of the throne room. She could almost envision hundreds of starving people lined up outside with ming torches chanting, "Death to the royal family! Death to the Cloudhells!"

    Life was so unfair. Why did she have to die for something outside of her control? Even with her death, nothing would change. The people believed she lived in her pristine castle surrounded by mountains of gold and was being waited on by servants with hot food.

    But that couldn''t be further from the truth. Luna couldn''t even remember thest time she had a proper meal that hadn''t been damp oats found in the corner of the storage room.

    Luna tried to ignore the pang of hunger that gnawed at her stomach and kept the noise of her grumbling at a minimum as it was very udylike. Now was a time of action. But what could she possibly do? Her Father, the man who was supposed to run the country, had copsed in exhaustion after working for four days straight.

    "Say Hugo..." Princess Luna pushed her snow-white hair behind her ear and sat up, "Could we send our soldiers or Delvers into the cursed forest to acquire some food?"

    "Oh, Princess, you must not have heard." Hugo shook his head with a grim look, "Our end draws near. A dungeon break ising due to the arrival of the [Demon Lord]."

    "Dungeon break?" Luna asked while tilting her head. What was that?

    There was a moment of silence. Tymond and Hugo sat with their chin in their hands and stared at the molding table¡ªneither wished to tell the Princess of the iing cmity.

    Eventually, Tymond licked his lips and looked at Luna Cloudhell with a grave expression, "Princess, when a [Demon Lord] appears, all the dungeons go berserk. Those monsters that happily roam the deep decide to escape their confides and storm into the upper world..."

    Luna''s eyes widened. Her people were on the brink of starvation. How could they face even the monsters from the first floor of the dungeon without casualties?

    "No... No, how can such a thing be possible? The Goddess will protect us? Right?" Luna couldn''t believe what she was hearing. Only the most seasoned Delvers could survive the lower floors, and they spent months in preparation¡ªand even then, most didn''te back alive.

    How can themon man face those monstrous fiends of the deep? What chance could they have? Luna massaged her temples, "And what is the situation at our Grand Dungeon?"

    "Oh, terrible." Hugo said tly, "The soldiers and Delvers will be overrun any day now. Without food, we never stood a chance in the first ce."

    "Should we try and evacuate?" The words died in Luna''s throat¡ªeven she knew how ridiculous it was. Where could they even run to? There was nothing but mountains and the cursed forest surrounding them.

    With a sigh, she added while murmuring under her breath. "Even if the chance of survival is one percent, it''s better than being ughtered like pigs."

    "That I can agree on." Hugo pinched the bridge of his nose as he rolled his shoulders.

    The poor man had been in this room for days without a wink of sleep.

    "Shall I send out the evacuation order? Which, I might add, doesn''t even exist. We never set one up..." Hugo shrugged and sarcastically added, "Let''s just run down the single road from here and into the [Demon Lord]''s forest. What could possibly go wrong?"

    Luna wearily pushed herself up from her throne, which was just a cold seat of stone now with empty holes where encrusted gems had once been fused back when her family had been wealthy from the mines.

    "Hugo, I am tired of your bullshit. Today is as good as any day to die. Tell everyone to run for their lives. The Frosnds is no more."

    The man bowed. "As you wish, my Princess."

    ***

    Luna stood in the castle''s entrance hall while gazing out of the gate, which was raised. In the distance, a beam of red light connected the heavens and the earth. It was so close¡ªLuna felt like she could almost reach out and grab it.

    Bells began to ring throughout the city, which briefly surprised the woman.

    "Oh... must be the bell for the evacuation." Luna shook her head and looked over her shoulder at the castle built into the mountain face that had been her home since birth. There were some good memories, but those were from a distant past.

    Ever since the famine ravaged the continent, the people of the Frosnds naturally struggled with no farnd. Due to starvation, Eshnar and the Empire''s industry slowed, and the chance for war was low. Both were bad news for the Frosnds, which relied on selling mana stones and ores extracted from the Grand Dungeon to these power-hungry nations, ideally for weapons.

    Luna''s mother and younger brother had both perished in recent months due to the cold and famine, so it was just Luna and her elderly Father still in the castle. A lonely life filled with few prospects. I didn''t even get to escape this ce through marriage. Nobody wanted me. What foolish prince would like to move to a cold hellhole like this of their own volition just for a girl like me?

    Luna turned to go back inside, but a knight''s clinking armor made her freeze. Are they revolting already? All the guards had naturally gone to fight in the Grand Dungeon, and Luna had felt she would be safe with the bit of ice magic she knew.

    "Princess! I bring an urgent report!" The man wore bulky armor that may have fit him perfectly many months ago, but now it was as if an undead resided in the suit. His eyes were sunken and dulled, and his cheekbones were poking through. Finally, with a grunt, the man stood at attention and saluted.

    "Some good news?" Luna asked, half serious. She was still holding onto a slither of hope that there was salvation.

    The helmet clinked against his suit as the knight shook his head. "I am afraid not, my Princess. In fact... it''s over."

    "Over?" Luna tilted her head. "Oh, you mean the evacuation?"

    The knight looked confused. "Evacuation, my Princess? I haven''t heard of such a thing. Rather, Ie bearing news that the dungeon break has bested out soldiers. Monsters will arrive here in a few minutes."

    "Are you sure? I was told they would hold one for another day¡ª" A terrifying roar made Luna pause. The ground trembled, and in the distance, she saw a plume of smoke rising into the sky through the opened gate. Through the smoke, two red eyes apanied a hulking form that towered over the city.

    Luna just stood there, baffled at the monstrosity she was witnessing. "We need to evacuate! What is that useless bastard Hugo doing!" Luna clenched her fist and stormed back toward the castle, "I must escape with my Father."

    "I am afraid that won''t be possible, Princess." The knightmented half-heartedly while looking into the distance. "The Demon Lord''s forces have us pincered. Our only route of escape has been cut off."

    Princess Luna''s eyes went wide. "The [Demon Lord] is here?"

 Chapter 82. Saviour

    "Yes, Princess." The knight replied with his hand resting on the hilt of a sheathed, rusted de. "This is the end¡ªthe [Demon Lord] is here."

    Luna Cloudhell stood rooted in ce. The roar of the titanic monster that had emerged from the Grand Dungeon echoed through the valley as a red-scaled limb ending in three ws shed through the coiling smoke and smashed down onto the street below.

    Bells rang throughout the city as a constant reminder of the impending fate of the Frosnds. Luna felt a yearning to run back into the castle and spend her final moments with her father¡ªbut she paused. Her father had witnessed the death of his wife and son in recent months, and Luna didn''t wish to let the old man see her death as well.

    It''s best to let him sleep his final moments away. Oblivious to the doom his daughter and people are facing.

    Perhaps it was a selfish decision, but Luna didn''t want to see him cry again. The once proud king had been reduced to a hollow husk with no life left to give.

    With the Frosnds military and Delvers likely overwhelmed, Luna saw no hope anymore. A part of her wanted to fall to her knees and break down in tears, but she held it in and addressed the waiting knight.

    She stood at attention, putting her feet together, and bowed, "I thank the gracious knight for serving my kingdom throughout such terrible times. Henceforth, you are dismissed."

    The knight smiled sadly and returned the bow, "My deepest thanks for your kindness, Princess." And with those words, he turned around and departed through the castle''s gate with a mncholy look on his sunken face.

    Luna bit her lip as the chaos continued in the distance. What should she do? The idea of running always festered in the back of her mind. There were secret tunnels in the castle that led away from the mountains, but they were in disrepair and unmapped. She also didn''t fancy her chances of surviving a trek to Eshnar across the cursed forest with nothing but the clothes on her back and her mediocre talent in ice magic.

    Her eyes drifted to the stone castle walls that had felt so safe and secure throughout all her life. But with them being deste of guards and the castle gate wide open, Luna realized how fickle it all was.

    Curious about how dire the situation was, Luna decided to climb up a winding staircase within the wall to the top. Every step felt like it could be herst as blood rushed around her ears.

    Once on top, the breeze helped calm her quivering heart. The smell of me and death tickled her nose, but she ignored it and enjoyed the scene. In the distance, she could see the Grand Dungeon''s entrance overflowing with monsters. A sparse line of the Frosnds military was left fending off a dense wave of monsters that endlessly poured out.

    The most numerous foes were the red-scale reptiles that were the size of a dog with a tail ending in a spiked ball and limbs that ended in ws. They should have been easy enough to deal with as they were known for popting the first couple of floors, but the soldiers were famished and exhausted, so they were hardly holding them back.

    However, the most significant issues arose with the next wave of mobs, the golems. Not known for being outright aggressive unless provoked, the three-meter-tall humanoids of stone shook the ground as they lumbered forward withborious steps.

    Luna saw this destruction clearly as the Grand Dungeon''s entrance was on elevated ground higher up the mountain. Screams of her citizens filled the evening air, and the smoke rose in columns as everything was set aze.

    In the street below, a knight furiously fighting off two red lizards noticed their impending doom toote as a golem''s thick arm hurtled and pulverized them into a paste.

    Luna''s eyes widened at the scene, and she hissed through clenched teeth, "Stop fighting and run you fools. It''s all over." A tear ran down her cheek, "Stop dying... please."

    The golem slowly lifted its arm, coated in ayer of blood and guts. Jagged pieces of the knight''s metal armor slid off the stone arm and fell to the ground. The other knights nearby stumbled back with their quivering swords raised.

    Luna was about to give up hope for the group of knights when someone new arrived in a blur. The woman ran up to the golem with nimble steps, and blue energy wrapped around her foot as she roundhouse kicked the lumbering giant square in the chest. Cracks appeared, and momentster, the golem crumpled to the ground alongside a shattered orb.

    The woman, wearing leather armor, with blonde hair in a ponytail, whipped around a second toote to block a red lizard that lept up and wed at her face, ripping out a chunk of her cheek in a shower of blood and then mming its spiked tail into one of her legs.

    Luna silently prayed for the Delver while watching the woman copse to one leg. The Delver fell t on her face as two more red lizards jumped onto her back with immense force. She rolled around on the floor, swinging an empowered dagger wildly.

    Over the bells, screams, and chaos, Luna couldn''t hear thest words the Delver yelled before her neck was shed. Luna could only pray to the Goddess that the Delver had gone to a better ce.

    Luna ced her hands together and was about to pray for the deceased soul but then paused. The Goddess had forsaken them and turned a blind eye to the [Demon Lord], who had pushed her kingdom to the brink of destruction. How could she possibly pray to the Goddess in a time like this?

    With the Delver dead, the lizards continued assaulting the group of knights holding down the street. The defensive line crumbled within seconds¡ªthey ally dead by the wayside as hundreds of red lizards, some the size of adult men scampered over their corpses.

    Luna''s eyes went wide as she looked down the street with her hands mid-prayer. Not only was there a wave of monsters heading straight for her, but the boss monster that loomed over the city had picked up a building and was rearing its arm back with its eyes set in her general direction. Of course, it likely didn''t help that Frosnd''s royal castle was the most conspicuous and tallest building in the entire city.

    It was at this moment Luna realized something. It was one thing to know you would die soon and an entirely different feeling to be staring death in the face.

    The imminent threat sent Luna into a panic. Her life shed before her eyes as the clump of bricks came hurtling across the city directly at her. Luna closed her eyes as the debris cast a shadow over the castle. "Goodbye, father, I will be seeing mother soon¡ª"

    "Are you the ruler of this ce?" A soft female voice asked.

    Luna trembled. Had the Goddess made an appearance in her time of need? She opened her eyes and blinked in confusion at the girl floating a few meters away from the wall.

    The girl''s curious eyes were liquid gold, as were the blood vessels visible through the skin of her cheeks and neck. But why was her Goddess dressed in ck armor from head to toe? And when Luna looked closer, she saw how the armor shimmered as if made from... mana?

    "Goddess?" Luna felt dumb asking such a question but felt the need to confirm. The girl before her didn''t match any of the depictions she had seen of the Goddess.

    "What Goddess?" The girl mirrored her question, tilting her head, "I''m no Goddess... my name''s Alice."

    "Alice?" Luna''s face fell as she searched her memories to see if any S-rank mages went by that name, but when she came up nk, she couldn''t help but frown.

    Removing all her curiosity about what had happened to the iing pile of bricks, Luna asked seriously, "Esteemed mage Alice, why are you here?"

    "Why am I here?" Alice chuckled, "To provide help, of course."

    "Why?" Luna felt lost. Why would an S-rank mage bother saving such a backwater kingdom? Did the mage hope for payment or a noble title? Luna turned pale at the thought of her empty coffers without a single item worth selling. "I don''t understand..."

    "It''s simple, really." Alice''s smile sent a shiver down Luna''s spine. "I obey the Demon Lord''s orders."

    Before Luna could even process what Alice had just said, the sky lit up as a sh of purple lightning shot across the city and mmed into the titanic red-scaled monster. For a brief moment, Luna thought she saw a tall, shadowy humanoid that towered over the buildings, but it was already gone. Had that been a figment of her imagination? Who shot the lightning...

    "Wait, Demon Lord?!" Luna stumbled away from the castle walls edge. "You work for the Demon Lord? Why are you helping me? I don''t understand!"

    "Just stand there and watch. It will all be over soon." Alice proimed as ck mes materialized in her hand. She then casually chucked the fire.

    Luna watched a tiny ball of condensed ck fire sailzily through the air andnd in the center of the lizard and golem horde. A second passed, and nothing happened, but then one of the lizards exploded into an inferno of hellish ck mes that ate away at its skin, melting it alive.

    The mes rapidly spread like a gue from one lizard to the next until the fire melted even the golems. Luna couldn''t help but feel uneasy seeing a single spell kill hundreds of monsters, and Alice had made it look so effortless.

    But then a shadowy mist appeared, obscuring the bloodied street. A voice that seemed toe from everywhere at once echoed like a chorus of the dead, "Rise my minions."

    The dead bodies in the shadowy mist trembled as they stood up again. The air then shimmered as a shadowy being materialized, the same one Luna had seen only moments ago that she thought had shot the lightning. A cloak of shadows shrouded its towering form, and Luna caught sight of meter-long des glinting in the light, and many golden eyes swirled among the darkness.

    The creature was destruction incarnate, and Luna had no need to guess the creature''s name as her system sprung to life and helpfully disyed it in bold red words floating ominously above its head:

    [Demon Lord]

    The [Demon Lord] spread his arms wide and decreed, "Secure the city. Conquer the Grand Dungeon. From now on, the Frosnd is under my rule."

    The monsters, which had been only moments away from eating Luna alive, roared in unison for their new master and charged toward the Grand Dungeon alongside a hoard of undead ogres and knights the Demon Lord had brought with him.

    "And make sure to leave all the people alive." The [Demon Lord] called out after his forces.

    Luna copsed onto her arse and stared up at the smoke-filled sky. Why would he want to leave us alive? What horrific fate awaits us?

 Chapter 83. Peaceful invasion

    After discovering that he couldn''t enter the city due to the World Cores mana, Victor settled on a frontal assault with his army. He had expected greater resistance from the Frosnds, but all that met him were starved soldiers and peasants. Their faces were sunken and hollow; they had no fighting spirit as they quivered before his army. Some even threw down their weapons in surrender. Victor was naturally perplexed by the sight and wasn''t sure what to do.

    "Alice," he asked the floating girl wreathed in shadows beside him, "why are they surrendering like this?"

    Alice shrugged her shoulders. "I hadn''t expected much of a fight anyways. With famine throughout the continent, the Frosnds were going to be the worst affected. And I doubt the arrival of the [Demon Lord] did them much help."

    "So, what should we do now?" Victor asked.

    "We could ughter them all, raise them as undead, and take the city," Alice suggested. "It''s not like they will offer much of a fight anyways. This could all be over by sundown, and then we could pivot and deal with the other world cores."

    "Alice, stop being bloodthirsty. Look, they''ve thrown down their weapons. There''s no reason to ughter them like that."

    "You can''t be serious," Aliceughed as she gestured to the giant undead army sprawling out below them shrouded in a mist of blue mana. "You think they''ll see us as a peace envoy? We have approached their gates with hundreds of undead."

    ¡°If they are so weak, it doesn''t matter if they see us as a peace envoy or not. But I refuse to ughter an entire city of people for no good reason, especially if theyy down their arms like this. I mean, look." Victor gestured with a w at the distant wall. "Even the soldiers up on the wall have thrown down their weapons and are praying to the heavens. Why don''t we be the salvation they seek? A simple hot meal would go a long way with winning them over."

    Alice seemed to ponder his suggestion for a moment, and eventually sighed. "Fine. Let''s give it a go. What should we do first?"

    "Well, I can''t float any closer to the wall, or past it, until my army has expanded my demon core''s territory. So, I will need you to make them open the gate to let them through."

    Alice raised her brow. "You serious? Why don''t we just st it open ourselves?"

    "Alice, we are a peace envoy, remember? At least give them a chance to try and open it."

    "Alright, alright, I''m going." Alice floated towards the wall, stood upon one of the battlements, and deactivated her stealth skill. The soldiers reacted immediately to her presence, and the trembling fear in their eyes vanished and was reced with awe.

    Victor couldn''t me them. Alice had an otherworldly beauty, and slightly inhuman appearance with liquid gold eyes and veins, due to the royal card she had absorbed into her soul.

    "Are you an envoy of the Goddess?" one of the soldiers shouted with a trembling voice.

    "I don''t believe in the gods," Alice replied. "I am here on orders from the [Demon Lord] and request for you to open the gate and allow his army through. It may sound odd¡­ but wee in peace."

    The soldiers exchanged a nce. "We are unable to," one of them said, with exhaustioncing every word.

    "Are you defying the Demon Lord?" Alice raised her voice as the shadows that wreathed around her form mirrored her anger.

    "We would never be so foolish, Mistress of Death," one of them fell to his knees and begged while showing his frail arms. "We simplyck the strength to pull the pulley system."

    Alice looked over her shoulder at where Victor was still in stealth, and seemed confused as to what to do.

    "Just open it for them," Victor said telepathically to Alice. "You are level 317. You have enough strength to punch a hole through this wall without breaking a sweat, so raising a metal gate should be easy."

    Alice rolled her eyes and leapt off the wall, floating down toward the gate. She didn''t even touch the gate and instead her eyes lit up with power as she used telekinesis to make the gate shudder and then with a screech slowly rise before the army of the undead.

    It was in moments like these that Victor realized the Netherborne race was solely designed for pure destruction. Such a simple spell like telekinesis wasn''t avable to him. "Thank you, Alice. That was really helpful," Victor said as he directed the undead army to march forth. The ground shuddered as thousands of undead skeletons pulled through the newly opened gate.

    With his army advancing, Victor felt the mana barrier from the Frosnds'' world core retreat. So he casually floated over the wall and past the soldiers who were watching the undead army harmlessly pass under them. None of them noticed him due to his maxed-out stealth skill and Alice soon floated beside him.

    "We should have just sted that stupid old gate. The thing was falling apart anyways," Alice grumbled.

    Victor chuckled. "I may be able to create things from almost nothing inside my dungeon, but out here, recing something like that old gate would be a real pain. So it''s best to leave it be. And hey, if we end up conquering this city, it would look bad on us if we destroyed the city''s only protection from other countries."

    "I suppose that''s true," Alice agreed, and the two continued in silence up the ravine''s long, well-trodden path towards the Frosnds city. Victor noted that the steep, almost cliff like faces on either side of the road would have made this the perfect location to stage a defence. Yet, other than the few soldiers stationed on the wall, Victor had not encountered anyone.

    "If all countries have thisx security," Victor said, "then conquering the world is going to be a breeze."

    "I thought you were against conquering the world," Alice squinted at Victor. "And dream on. The Frosnds have never been invaded by another country in its long history. Due to its trade agreements and crappy location, it''s fully dependent on the Kingdom of Eshnar for food, and its only real economy is mining, which is a finite resource. The Delvers'' Guild here is also incredibly pathetic and underfunded."

    "Does that mean the Grand Dungeon here is also weaker than those in other countries?" Victor asked.

    "No, quite the opposite actually," Alice mused. "Because the dungeon isn''t delved into enough, the monsters are far too strong, which makes it too dangerous. Most of the delvers here stick to the upper floors, harvesting the monsters for materials that will be used in weapons and armor."

    "If the monsters'' materials can be used in such a way, surely it would be rather lucrative for a delver from another country to visit here."

    Alice shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose. But the monster materials are heavy to lug around, so they can only realistically be sold to the locals here, who will decide the price that you are paid. And since the lower floors are too dangerous, it''s hard to grind for EXP here. Not to mention the shitty weather, crappy imported food, rude locals, and uh, whatever, you get the point."

    Victor had to agree with that. If there were perfectly fine dungeons that weren''t life-threatening back home, why travel through the cursed forest just to live in the mountains for mediocre pay?

    The path up the mountains was long, and Victor was getting impatient, but there was nothing he could do. He was restricted by the marching speed of his army. Luckily, before the sun had fully gone down, they reached the zenith of the path, and Victor got a good look at the Frosnd Capital. It reminded him of the Victorian era, with well-crafted brick houses lining wide cobblestone roads, likely wide to allow for carts transporting minerals and monster parts.

    It appeared word of the approaching army had reached the citizens of the Frosnds, as Victor could already see people holding bags of belongings fleeing down the street. Not that he could me them, of course. His army did look very terrifying, but it was a peace envoy. There was nothing to be afraid of.

    "Listen up, my army," Victor said through the ck Ocean Network as he connected to all nearby nodes. "Do not harm the citizens of the Frosnds. In fact, help them. Wee here in peace."

    A wave of groans came from the army as they agreed to hismand and continued their march forth. Up ahead, the door to a building that appeared to be a bakery swung open, and an elderly woman, alongside a middle-aged man, ran into the cobbled streets. Both of them looked at the approaching army, and their faces went white with fear.

    "Mother, we need to run," the man tried to pull on the elderly woman''s hand, but she stood rooted in ce as she stared down the thousands of undead. The man continued trying to pull her along, going so far as to drag her with such force that she almost fell over. "Mother, what''s wrong?" the man desperately insisted.

    The elderly woman pointed a shaking hand at Victor. "It''s an Angel," she murmured.

    Victor was confused but then remembered that he had his stealth skill activated, and the woman was actually pointing at Alice, who was beside him.

    "That''s no fucking Angel," the man shouted, pulling his mother out of her daze. "That''s the harbinger of death!"

    All the while, Victor''s army continued marching forth and was now upon the pair. The man took one look between his mother and the approaching army and, with tears streaming from his eyes, he turned and ran, leaving his mother to face the undead alone.

    The elderly woman fell backward, her eyes dead set on Alice, who floated overhead. She said a silent prayer and closed her eyes.

    Victor watched the dramatic scene with a sigh, starting to understand why Alice had said no one would see them as a peace envoy. Something about a thousand groaning undead marching down the streets of the living incited a little bit too much fear in people''s hearts.

    The woman, of course, was not ughtered by the undead, but instead, one of them stepped forward and offered her a helping hand. The undead stood there with its outstretched hand for quite a while as the woman quivered and shook, muttering a prayer under her breath. Clueless of the waiting undead.

    "Lady," Alice shouted, "you can open your eyes. We are not here to hurt you. Rather, wee offering salvation."

    "Good one," Victor whispered as the elderly woman opened her eyes and saw the outstretched hand from the skeleton. Hesitantly, while looking at Alice, she took the hand and was helped to her feet.

    After finding her footing, the elderly woman surprisingly thanked the skeleton and then took in a deep breath and, to everyone''s bafflement, screamed at the top of her lungs, "Jonathan, you bastard! I told you it was an Angel. You''ll go to hell for leaving me behind like that."

    There was a brief silence, and then Alice burst outughing, which was very uncharacteristic of her due to her usually dulled emotions. She floated down to the woman. "Olddy, don''t be so angry at your son. He wasn''t wrong. I am no Angel, but I doe in peace."

    "Oh. Well, peace is good enough for me," the old woman chuckled, and then, digging into the wicker basket she held under her arm, she pulled free a loaf of bread. It looked as hard as a block of stone that made up the surrounding houses. "I was saving this for a grand escape," the olddy admitted, "but I''m too old and frail now. So, I would like you to have it. Think of it as thanks for exposing my son as a bastard."

    Alice politely declined. "Olddy, I''m not even human. I have no need for something like food anymore."

    Thedy gazed into Alice''s golden eyes and nodded with a knowing smile. "But the humanity hasn''t left you." She then looked over her shoulder. "I suppose none of your skeleton friends over there would want it either."

    "No, I don''t think they would," Aliceughed again. "Maybe you could use it to hit your son over the head."

    The old woman seemed to contemte the idea and then slowly nodded. "What a great idea. I suppose it is hard enough to be a lethal weapon."

    Although the conversation was amusing, Victor was only half-listening as he scoured the city. His objective was to locate the residence of whoever ruled this ce to exin that he came in peace.

    Locating the castle was easy, as it loomed over all of the other buildings by at least a few stories. Since it was only a few roads away, deeper into the city, Victor directed his army in that direction.

    "Come on, Alice, leave the elderly woman," Victor said telepathically. "We''re heading for the pce."

    Alice bid the elderly woman farewell, and the two made their way over to the pce.

    Right as they arrived at the castle''s gates, they were rudely interrupted by a sudden explosion. Victor identified the source immediately as being the entrance to the Frosnds Grand Dungeon. A plume of smoke soon followed, and Victor could feel thousands of monsters pouring out of the dungeon''s entrance.

    "What the hell is happening?" Victor wondered as he floated up above the city. "Is the dungeon trying to attack my army directly before I can get inside?"

    He wasn''t sure, but he knew he needed to deal with it quickly. So, he directed Alice to talk to the silver-haired girl who was standing on the castle wall and was likely a noble of this ce, while he decided to deal with the Grand Dungeon.

    Seeing that the Frosnds'' people were being overwhelmed and ughtered, Victor readied a [Doom Ray]. Purple lightning crackled between his outstretched ws, and for a brief moment, his stealth deactivated as purple lightning shot across the city, illuminating the world, and smashed into the Grand Dungeon''s entrance, obliterating a giant monster and setting the area aze.

    With that distant threat settled, Victor returned his focus and noticed that Alice had wiped out some nearby monsters with Hellfire. So, he decided to raise them as minions and instructed them to secure the city and conquer the distant Grand Dungeon. The freshly raised monsters roared and scampered down the streets, leaving Victor to have a conversation with the princess before him.

    It wasn¡¯t an ideal backdrop for a talk, but he dide in peace¡­

 Chapter 84. Blue Noble

    Viktor floated closer to the castle wall and rested his two shadowy arms upon the battlements. The position was ratherfortable, considering that he was as tall as the castle wall at six meters. Understandably, thedy with silver hair, who seemed to be a noble of this ce, shuffled backward and pressed her back against the far wall while keeping her wide eyes upon his face.

    "Are you the leader of this ce?" Viktor asked in as calm a voice as he could muster. Yet it still came out as a harrowing echo.

    The girl hesitantly shook her head. "No, my father is. But he got sick from overworking and is currently asleep in the castle."

    Viktor''s many golden eyes nced at the castle that was nestled within the cliff face. Since his undead soldiers hadn''t ventured through the castle, it wasn''t within his realm of influence, so he had no way to verify the girl''s words. The World Core¡¯s mana was still blocking him from moving freely.

    "Well, if he is asleep, I wouldn''t want to disturb his peace. And I hope he gets well soon," Viktor said sincerely, which seemed to make the girl even more confused. "Would it be possible to talk to you on his behalf? I don¡¯t have time to wait around for him to wake up."

    "Yes, Father entrusted me with running the city in his absence."

    "Perfect," Viktor said. "So, as I''m sure you can tell, I''m the supposed Demon Lord. Would you be able to give me your name?"

    The girl gulped as she hesitantly stood up. "First in line to the throne, Princess Luna Cloudhell," she did an awkward curtsey, "greets the Demon Lord."

    "Luna is a beautiful name," Viktor turned his head to the side. "And I assume you have met my right-hand woman, Alice."

    "Yes, we met a few minutes ago. She said she works for the Demon Lord and that you havee to help us. Is that really true?" Luna diverted her eyes and looked to the floor. "Most of us are just skin and bone due to the famine. I don''t know how much help we can be to you alive. So, are you nning to turn us all into undead, like those soldiers you marched upon our city?"

    Victor chuckled at the directness of this woman. "Despite my looks and choice of army, I am quite fond of the living. Ie in peace to humanity; my only enemy is the Grand Dungeons that seek my eradication. Which is why I''vee here with my army and speak of peace. I have note to fight you and your people."

    "I see¡­ so, what happens now?" Luna asked after a brief silence. "Father has taught me a lot about running a kingdom, but never mentioned how to deal with a peaceful Demon Lord. Are we now allies, or your ves? Will you stay here or leave peacefully after destroying the Grand Dungeon?"

    "That depends on your cooperation," Victor lied, "But didn''t you ept me a little bit too quickly? I hope you''re not a naive ruler."

    "I just know when resistance is pointless. My people can hardly hold back a few monsters, let alone an army of the undead and a Demon Lord. One look at that bolt of purple lightning convinced me that I am not dealing with a fellow mortal being, but rather a god."

    It feels weird to be referred to as a god, but I supposepared to the average person in this world, I might as well be. Now where should I go from here. Do I offer them food? Their dire situation gives me a perfect opportunity to bring them over to my side without needless bloodshed.

    "Since the goddess has abandoned my people and allowed us to starve, I would rather worship the godly being before me and hope for salvation, than depend on a false god and die a pointless death," Luna said with conviction. "So please, Demon Lord, I hope you will save us."

    "I will try my best but there¡¯s some things we need to do first. I''m sure you''re well aware that the world isn''t exactly happy about my existence and has even offered incentives for ughtering me and my people."

    Luna nodded. "In the system, both of your names are in red due to the [World Event: Defeat the Demon Lord], and if I remember correctly, killing you will get me contribution points and a lot of EXP."

    "Exactly, which means coexistence with us, as it currently stands, is impossible. Because once your people regain their strength, and time passes, they will forget who fed them. They will turn their des on us due to human greed, and I wouldn''t even me them. That is just human nature, and I know it all too well."

    "That''s surprisingly insightful," Luna seemed to loosen up a bit, as she raised her head and looked at him without as much fear. "What do you suggest we do? My citizens hardly listen to me anymore due to the hunger. They all think I live in a pce filled with servants and fresh food, but that couldn''t be further from the truth." She reached down and rubbed her rumbling stomach. "I haven''t eaten anything but moldy oats in weeks."

    "Don''t worry, after I have gotten the Grand Dungeon under my control, the very first thing that I will seek to fix is the famine guing your people. I have a kingdom of my own located within the Cursed Forests Grand Dungeon called Necron, where many humans currently live peacefully. The next big harvest will be ready in a few weeks, as the dense mana in the dungeon helps crops sprout faster. Until then, I can bring some fat cows, which your citizens can ughter for food." Victor saw Luna¡¯s eyes light up at the mention of food, "However, there is a condition."

    A sh of unease appeared on Luna''s face. "And what would be the condition?"

    Victor rotated his arm, and in his upright shadowy ws, a card of pure sapphire appeared.

    Luna inspected the floating card with understandable confusion. "This is?"

    "In my kingdom, Necron, citizenship is divided into four colors: gold, ck, blue, and green. Alice and I are golden citizens; hence our eyes and blood are liquid gold. Ever heard the saying of nobles having blue blood?"

    "Yes, I have," Luna nodded. "It''s a way thatmoners often refer to the nobility."

    "Well, if you ept this card from me, you will be deemed an enemy of the system. Your death will grant others contribution points and greater XP. You''ll be treated as a monster and be an enemy of the world as you know it. But in exchange, your blood will turn blue, you will be immortal, and gain useful skills such as [Telepathy], [Spatial Inventory], and [Mana Resistance]." Victor exined and moved the card a little closer to Luna, so it was within her reach, "I offer this noble blue card to you and will provide green ones to any citizens willing to submit to Necron. A small price to pay for an endless life filled with all the food one could ask for. So, what do you say?"

    "What do I say?" Lunaughed, "Is that even a question? Without some food I will be dead by the week''s end, and my nation is ame. To not ept such an offer, would be foolish."

    "Good choice," Victor said as he moved his w to be right before her. "Tap your finger on the tip of my w to draw blood and smear it on the blue card to im your citizenship."

    Luna did as instructed. "Ow," she muttered, as blood dribbled down her finger and pooled within her palm. Then, with a bloodied hand, she reached forward and grabbed the floating sapphire card. The card glowed with power and then seemingly melted into her palm. Luna''s eyes widened as it traveled up her arm like corruption. Her veins turned blue and once it reached her eyes, they turned from grey to icy blue.

    "What has happened to me?" Luna seemed rather startled as she inspected her hands and pulled up her sleeves to check on her arms.

    "Check your status screen," Victor instructed. "Tell me, is anything different?"

    Luna stopped inspecting her changes and her eyes became distant, clearly looking at her status screen. "Yes, it says here that I''ve received a new ss. [Blue Noble of Necron]. It says it¡¯s a ss bestowed upon those chosen by the Demon Lord. My powers are now derived from the rogue Demon Core, and my fate is directly tied to the Demon Lord. It also says I have been marked as an enemy of the world, and my death will provide System users with contribution points."

    "Wee to the Dark side," Victorughed. "Now that that''s done, why don''t you try resummoning your citizenship card?"

    "How?" Luna asked.

    "Just try thinking about it and it will appear."

    Luna closed her eyes and a secondter the sapphire blue card appeared in her hand, much to her surprise. "What if someone steals this card from me? Will I lose my citizenship?"

    "No, it''s linked to your very soul. Bing a citizen of Necron is not something that can be reversed," Victor exined. "Now, do you mind showing me to the throne room? We have much to discuss."

    Luna curtsied. "Absolutely. The Frost Lands is now yours to rule."

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!