-----
"Everyone! I’m here!"
"Elayne!"
"Elayne!!!"
Blank and Mark rushed toward her, the most frantic with worry. They had nearly lost their minds when they realized she had vanished from sight.
"A-Are you okay?!" Blank asked, scanning her anxiously for any wounds.
"Are you?!" Mark shoved him aside and channeled his flas to heal her. "Here..."
"Hm, thank you," Elayne sighed in relief. His flas now carried healing power thanks to his new class. "But don’t overuse them."
Unlike when he was alive, when his flas drew limitlessly from his Mana and Spirit Energy, these ca directly from his soul. The more he used them, the more his soul shrank.
It was entirely possible for Mark’s soul to vanish completely if he pushed too far in healing or combat. That was the inherent weakness of his class, which let him shape his devastating Soul Flas into weapons, healing sources, defensive armor, barriers, or anything else he could imagine.
"Here, why don’t you consu these? Burn them with your soul," Elayne said, offering him several corpses.
"Thanks," Mark replied with a small smile. He incinerated the bodies until only the hearts remained. These Cavity Monsters belonged to the Nether Beast family and dropped Nether Beast Hearts.
The giant one had yielded a Tier 2 Heart, while the rest were Tier 1. She stored them in a storage bag she had bought in the city. Its internal space was the size of a small room. It was nothing like her original unlimited Inventory, but still very useful.
Elayne recalled the requirents for her Skill Evolution and checked them against her System Status.
[The [Ghostly Spirit Consciousness – Tier 1: Level 10/10] Skill has reached Max Level and is ready to Rank Up to Tier 2. Once a Skill reaches a new Tier, more Levels are unlocked and it can continue growing stronger.]
[To evolve your Skill, you require necessary and compatible materials]:
[Five Tier 1 Ghostly Beast Hearts]: [5/5]
[One Tier 2 Ghostly Beast Heart]: [1/1]
[Ten Phantom Crystals]: [0/10]
[Five Nether Crystals]: [0/5]
"Nice. I think I have almost everything—just need the rest," Elayne nodded.
Nether Hearts were the crystalline cores inside monsters in the Netherworld, functioning like actual hearts by pumping them with energy.
The sa organ existed in Undead and so of the Noble Races. The more souls and related essences they consud, the stronger they grew.
"Thank the gods you’re alright..." Chalk exhaled in relief, catching her breath after running so hard. "And wow, you sure fought a lot... I’m impressed. You’re stronger than I imagined."
"I am!" Elayne declared proudly. "Those Nails I refined turned out really useful, Mark! Like arrows!"
"Really?" Mark asked, surprised. "That’s good..."
"Please, next ti, don’t wander off from the group," Blank requested with a sigh.
"Yeah, please don’t do that again, Elayne. You scared half to death when you disappeared out of nowhere..." Norman added.
"h, I knew she’d be fine. She’s our leader," Sailor said casually.
"Well, whatever the case, I believe we should continue—but together," Blank stated firmly. "Elayne, please stay in the middle of the group so you don’t get lost."
"Geez, you’re treating like a baby..." Elayne muttered, sighing. "Okay..."
As the party pressed forward, Elayne recounted everything she had encountered. Eventually they reached an open area in the mountains: a spring of crystal-clear Nether surrounded by pure nether crystals.
"Looks like we found a jackpot! Has nobody claid this place before?" Mark asked excitedly.
"It’s packed with the highest-quality nether! It must have ford recently if no one has found it yet—or it would already be mined out," Blank observed.
"Then let’s harvest it before anyone else does!" Elayne said with a bright smile.
"Yeah," Mark agreed.
Chalk dashed forward and snatched the first crystal. "Heh, look at this one! It’s so pretty and shiny—Eh?"
The spring trembled violently. A serpentine Nether beast burst from the water.
"SHAAAAAHHH!"
"Chalk!"
Elayne cried out and sprinted to help, but she couldn’t reach her in ti. She fired dozens of nails at the creature, yet its tough hide resisted most of the damage.
"Tier 3?!"
Her analysis confird it: a fearso Tier 3 Nether Spring Serpent Guardian.
However...
"Hmph. Begone."
Chalk rely swung her hand downward. A massive ghostly claw of white mist erupted from her aura, ripping the enormous beast into dozens of shredded pieces in an instant.
"Oooh?!"
Elayne and the others gasped in stunned awe at the display of raw power.
Chalk smiled faintly at the remains. "What a foolish creature, daring to attack — Hm?"
More serpents rose from the depths of the lake. In the Netherworld, a monster was rarely alone, dozens more almost always lurked nearby.
The black-and-white giants hissed furiously and lunged at Chalk.
She responded without hesitation.
"White Mist Ghostly Soul Weapon – White Void Axe."
A colossal white void axe materialized from her own soul. With a single sweeping horizontal strike, she cleaved through the serpents.
SLAAASH!
Everything in the axe’s path was sliced apart. The cave walls split open behind the blow, and massive boulders tumbled down as the entire cavern shook from her overwhelming might.
"S-She’s so damn strong!" Sailor exclaid, eyes wide.
"I didn’t expect that either, but here we are..." Mark said. "She’s amazing, Blank."
"Hah, thank you," Blank replied with a nod. "But I suppose I should show so of my strength as well."
He stepped forward. The lake quaked once more as the pack’s leader erged: over thirty ters long, five-headed, and hissing with monstrous fury.
Blank summoned his weapon in turn.
"White Mist Ghostly Soul Weapon – White Void Sword."
A long greatsword of white ghostly energy and void ford in his grasp. He wielded it one-handed, leaped into the air, and swung.
SLAAASH! SLAAASH! SLAAASH!
Three slashes. Three heads fell into the lake in an instant.
Elayne and the others stared in speechless admiration, finally grasping the true might of the White Ghost siblings, and how formidable the Noble Races truly were in this world.
.
.
.
Deep within a shadowed cave, thousands of Bone, Nether, and Ghostly Beasts stood motionless, their minds enslaved by a dark curse embedded in their souls.
Compelled by the curse, they arranged their bodies into a vast formation. Ghostly energy surged violently as the array expanded.
A carefully placed barrier outside masked the rising power, preventing the city’s guards from detecting it easily.
FLASH!
As the sacrifices intensified the formation’s strength, a massive magic circle blazed to life. Three silhouettes began to materialize, teleporting across thousands of kiloters.
Behind them, an army of hundreds of disciplined, high-ranked Undead soldiers raised their weapons in perfect unison.
When the smoke cleared and the summoning ceased, half the beasts collapsed dead on the spot. The three larger figures promptly absorbed their remains.
"We’re here..."
"At long last~!"
"It’s ti."
By the command of the Demon King of Death, these three formidable beings had received one clear directive.
Eliminate all traitors—and anyone sheltering them.
-----
User Comments
0 comments from readers