“It’ll be hard to deal with the spiders while protecting Chris and Kayla,” Kaius thought to himself. He immediately began to formulate different plans in his head.

“You two, follow me. We’re going to set a trap for them.”

Chris and Kayla followed behind Kaius and the trio quickly arrived at the hallway leading into the kitchen.

“The only way to get to us is through this hallway,” said Kaius. “We’ll make our stand here.”

“Hm.”

“Ok.”

Chris and Kayla both materialized a Basic Short Sword in their hands and prepared to fight for their lives.

Soon, Ash Spiders began to pour into the hallway.

Kaius commanded his undead army to charge forward first.

The spiders crawled on every surface they could reach and filled the entire hallway. Thanks to the narrow hallway, the spiders couldn’t effectively use their vast numbers to their advantage.

The two sides finally clashed. Spiders and undead creatures tore into each other without mercy. The spiders tried to use their quick speed to dodge all the attacks, but within the narrow hallway, the undead creatures easily grabbed hold of the spiders and ripped them apart.

However, with their superior numbers, when an undead creature was busy attacking one spider, five more spiders would swarm the undead creature and use their sharp pincers to attack.

The narrow hallway became a meatgrinder, with limps and body fluids flying everywhere. There were so many corpses that they nearly filled half the hallway.

Bam!

The Ash Spider Lord finally came crashing into the hallway. It did not waste any time and immediately sprayed spider silk at all the corpses in the hallway, trying to drag them out so it could fit inside.

Kaius commanded the rest of his zombies to grab hold of the Ash Spider Lord and dismissed all his skeleton warriors. Turning around, Kaius shouted to Chris and Kayla, “we need to run to the kitchen now!”

Kaius bolted for the kitchen, with Chris and Kayla following closely behind. When the trio finally got inside the kitchen, Kaius shut the door tightly and cast his spell.

Corpse Explosion!

Boom!

Hundreds of spider and zombie corpses exploded all around the Ash Spider Lord at the same time.

Skreee!!!!

The Ash Spider Lord was blown out of the hotel by the fiery explosion. The hallway itself was completely blown apart, revealing the outside world. The front of the kitchen also suffered massive damage.

*cough* *cough*

Inside the kitchen, Kaius, Chris, and Kayla laid flat on the ground, trying to recover from the shockwave of the explosion. Kaius recovered quicker due to his high vitality stat.

“I’ll go take care of the Ash Spider Lord. You guys try to hold on until I get back.” Kaius shouted towards Chris and Kayla and ran out to check on the aftermath of the explosion.

Amidst the smoke and debris, the Ash Spider Lord wobbled from side to side, before finally standing up firmly once again. Its underside had been charred black from the explosion. Cracks could be seen everywhere on its sturdy exoskeleton.

The Ash Spider Lord glared angrily at Kaius. It let out a loud shriek and charged at Kaius, intending on tearing him into pieces.

Kaius stared at the raging Ash Spider Lord as mana gathered in his eyes.

Eye of Mana!

Name

Ash Spider Lord

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Cursed Beast

Level

20

Health

Injured

Mana

20/20

Strength

68 (-2)

Vitality

53 (-7)

Dexterity

50 (-5)

Intelligence

14 (-1)

“Corpse Explosion dealt so little damage to it?” Kaius was bewildered at how ineffective his spell was. “Must be due to its thick exoskeleton. Looks like it’s time to test out my trump card.”

“Come forth, Kankas!”

A Skeleton Soldier stepped out from the Netherworld, cloaked in a fiendish aura. Compared to before, his bones seemed a lot sturdier and glossier. His eye sockets were no longer empty. Instead, they emitted an eerie red glow due to the Nether Cores embedded in his skull.

A while back, when everyone was still busy evacuation from Milton, Kaius found an isolated place and used Nether Lord’s Blessing on his highest-level Skeleton Soldier. Since this Skeleton Soldier was a perfectly healthy undead creature undergoing its first evolution, the entire process finished in a relatively short time. Looking at its stats now, Kaius was quite satisfied at the result.

Name

Kankas

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Undead

Level

20

Health

Normal

Mana

20/20

Strength

52

Vitality

34

Dexterity

29

Intelligence

7

Skills (Passive)

Nether Core Evolution: able to grow stronger by consuming bone essence from biological organisms.

Kaius also resummoned his skeleton warriors.

Nether Lord’s Aura!

Strands of dark mana flowed into all of Kaius’ undead creatures in the vicinity, giving them a 6% boost to their attributes.

Corrosive Armor!

Corrosive Nether energy seeped out from the Netherworld and wrapped itself around Kaius, forming a full set of pitch-black armor. His vitality stat immediately received a huge boost.

Kaius materialized Basic Sword in his hand and cast one more spell.

Vital Break!

Dark, corrosive energy coated the blade of the Basic Sword, giving it an evil, sinister look.

Kaius took out a Basic Short Sword and cast Vital Break on it as well, before giving it to Kankas.

“Time for round two!”

Kaius commanded his skeleton warriors to help Chris and Kayla take care of the Ash Spiders, then charged out at the Ash Spider Lord with Kankas.

Skree!

The Ash Spider Lord let out an angry battle cry and sprayed out strands of spider silk at Kaius. With his slightly higher dexterity, Kaius was barely able to dodge in time.

Over to the side, while the Ash Spider Lord was busy aiming at Kaius, Kankas circled around and approached it from behind. Without mercy, Kankas delivered a quick slash on the Ash Spider Lord’s abdomen. By the time the Ash Spider Lord turned around, Kankas had already run away in another direction.

Taking this opportunity, Kaius charged forward and delivered a quick slash as well to the Ash Spider Lord’s side. The Ash Spider Lord retaliated by swiping at Kaius with one of its legs.

Clank!

Kaius defended the leg swipe with his sword and deliberately jumped back a few steps to lure the Ash Spider Lord into going after him.

Once the Ash Spider Lord’s attention was on Kaius again, Kankas came from behind and delivered a quick slash once more.

Using this pincer attack strategy, Kaius and Kankas were able to deliver 31 slashes in a matter of minutes, reaching the maximum stack for Vital Break. The Ash Spider Lord’s vitality stat had now fallen to 22.

While Kankas had the Ash Spider Lord distracted, Kaius activated his Leather Vambrace’s ability.

Focused Strike!

With his strength increased to an impressive 72, Kaius chopped down violently, breaking the sturdy exoskeleton and leaving behind a meter-long wound on Ash Spider Lord’s abdomen. Green body fluids gushed out from the wound.

Skree!

The Ash Spider Lord screeched painfully. Not wanting to get entangled with Kaius and Kankas any longer, the Ash Spider Lord intended to escape. However, Kankas would not give it that chance.

Raising his sword high up, Kankas was about to deliver another devastating blow when he suddenly realized that he couldn’t move his right arm that was holding the sword.

Looking at his right arm, Kankas saw that it had been ensnared by numerous strands of spider silk, preventing it from moving forward. Tracing the source of the spider silk, Kankas saw that it led to the spinneret of another Ash Spider Lord perched on the side of a nearby building.

There was a second Ash Spider Lord!

Kaius was confident at being able to deal with one Ash Spider Lord, but if he had to deal with two at the same time, he estimated that there was a good chance he might die. In a split second, Kaius sent a decisive command to Kankas.

Kankas flicked his right wrist and tossed the Basic Short Sword to his left hand and hacked down at his own right shoulder!

Snap!

Kankas’ right shoulder arm broke off at the shoulder and it became freed from the spider silk. Not wasting any time, Kankas hacked down at the section connecting the sternum and abdomen, cleaving the Ash Spider Lord’s body in half!

On the other side, Kaius jumped up and thrust his sword through the Ash Spider Lord’s head, delivering the final blow.

[Level up!]

[3 attribute points acquired.]

[1 additional attribute point acquired due to Nether Physique.]

[Intelligence increased by 5 due to Nether Physique.]

[2 additional attribute points acquired due to Favor of the Nether God.]

Two orbs of light floated above the Ash Spider Lord’s body. One contained 400 System Coins; the other was a random class skill box.

However, Kaius had no time to check out the skill box. The other Ash Spider Lord had struck at the same time at Kankas. It sprayed out countless strands of spider silk and completely entangled Kankas. It quickly dragged Kankas away and up the building. The Ash Spider Lord lifted up the immobilized Kankas and stared at it with a sinister expression.

The Ash Spider Lord made eye contact with Kaius and moved one of its front legs to press down on the Nether Core in Kankas’ head.

“You dare!” Kaius became furious upon seeing what the Ash Spider Lord was about to do.

The Ash Spider Lord paid no heed to Kaius’ fury. It kept eye contact with Kaius and pressed down on the Nether Core even harder, as though provoking him.

Cracks began to appear on the Nether Core. Kankas tried to struggle free, but he was too tightly bound by the spider silk.

The Ash Spider Lord continued to press down with its leg. The cracks on the Nether Core spread out further and deeper.

Crack!

The Nether Core couldn’t handle the pressure anymore and finally cracked into pieces.

The light in Kankas’ eye sockets disappeared. He stopped all movements and went limb; he now looked no different than a regular set of skeletons.

Snap!

Kaius felt his connection with Kankas completely disappear. The limit counter on Nether Lord’s Blessing skill also decreased from 2/2 to 1/2.

“A mere spider dares to…” Kaius was completely enraged. “You will die, slowly and painfully.”

The Ash Spider Lord waved its front legs around in a gloating manner, as though taunting Kaius. It crawled down the side of the build and made its way towards Kaius.

Seeing the Ash Spider Lord charging forward, Kaius regained his calm and began to back up while distributing all his attribute points from the level up into dexterity. He also used the random class skill box and obtained a new active skill.

Name

Kaius

Class

Nether Lord

Level

23

Health

Normal

Mana

2305/2305

Strength

63 (+3)

Vitality

52 (+4)

Dexterity

65

Intelligence

246 (+3)

Skills (active)

General

Eye of Mana (2MP): allows the caster to view more information on the target.

Dark Magic

Shadow Bolt (10MP): shoot out a bolt made up of nether energy in a straight line.

Corrosive Armor (30MP): wraps the caster in armor made up of corrosive nether energy, increasing Vitality by level *2, plus an additional (50% + level%) of base Vitality stat. When anyone except for the caster comes into contact with Corrosive Armor, deal initial nether damage plus additional damage over time. Consumes 10 mana per minute.

Vital Break (50MP): imbues any System weapon with dark, corrosive energy. Each successful attack will decrease target’s vitality stat by 1. Can stack up to (20 + level / 2) times. Enchantment duration: 30 minutes. Stack duration: 3 minutes.

Necromancy

Summon Skeleton (20MP): summon a skeleton warrior from a nearby corpse. Max limit: 115.

Control Undead (35MP): takes control over any undead creature. If the undead creature is more powerful than the caster, spell may fail and caster will suffer backlash, entering into the Weakened State for 4 hours. Weakened State reduces all attributes by 70%. Max limit: 115.

Corpse Explosion (7MP): causes a nearby corpse to explode. Explosion strength increases proportional to the corpse’s vitality stat.

Lesser Reanimation (50MP): transforms the corpse of a biological organism into an undead. Spell may fail if the biological organism’s vitality and intelligence stats are too high relative to the caster. Max limit: 230.

Netherworld

Bone Confiscation (50MP): forcefully rips out the skeletons from a living being and transforms the skeleton into a skeleton soldier. Attributes of the skeleton soldier is dependent on the attributes of the living being used. If the living being has higher intelligence attribute than the caster, spell may fail and caster will suffer backlash, entering into the Weakened State for 4 hours. Weakened State reduces all attributes by 70%. Max limit: 46.

Nether Lord’s Aura (100MP): decreases the base attributes of all non-controlled undead creatures within a (100 + level*5) meter radius by (5% + level/20%). Increases the base attributes of all controlled undead creatures within a (100 + level*5) meter radius by (5% + level/20%). Duration: 20minutes.

Nether Lord’s Blessing (200MP): able to embed a Nether Core inside a controlled undead creature, allowing them to grow stronger by consuming other living or undead creatures. Limit: level/10.

Skills (passive)

Mastery of Necromancy: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of necromancy, reduce the mana cost of all necromancy spells by 50%.

Mana Mastery: as a being that has formerly reached the peak of at least one type of magic, reduce the mana cost of all spells by 20%.

Nether Physique: as a result of successfully casting Nether Rebirth, Nether Physique has been acquired. Enhances the effects of all dark magic spells by 100%. Enhances the effects of all Necromancy spells by 200%. Possessor of the Nether Physique is immune to zombie virus. Increases resistance against dark magic by 20%. Increases mana pool by level * 100. Increases mana regeneration by 500%. Gain 5 additional Intelligence stat points and 1 additional attribute point per level up.

Favor of the Nether God: gained the favor of the God of the Netherworld due to possession of the Nether Physique. Increase experience gained by 100%. Gain 2 additional attribute points per level up.

Nether Link: a connection has been made to the Netherworld. Caster can dismiss undead creatures under their control to the Netherworld and resummon it anytime at half the mana cost. Increases effects of Netherworld spells by 100%. Increases resistance to all magic damage by 5%.

Resistance

Zombie Virus: 100%; Dark magic: 20%; All magic: 5%; Physical: 1%

The Ash Spider Lord finally arrived in front of Kaius. It swung its front leg at Kaius, wanting to bisect him in two.

Kaius ducked just in time and countered with a quick sword slash against the leg. Springing forward, Kaius went underneath the Ash Spider Lord and slashed multiple times at its legs. Each slash left a strand of corrosive energy on the leg, building up Vital Break stacks.

After seeing its fellow spider lord get weakened by the same attack, the Ash Spider Lord quickly jumped backwards. It pointed its spinneret forward and was about to spray out spider silk at Kaius.

Skree!

The Ash Spider Lord let out a painful cry as it felt an intense pain from its abdomen. Turning around, it saw to its horror the upper body of the deceased Ash Spider Lord had somehow came back to life. The deceased Ash Spider Lord had firmly embedded its pincers into the Ash Spider Lord’s abdomen.

When the Ash Spider Lord jumped back earlier to prevent Kaius from building up any more Vital Break stacks, it had landed beside the corpse of the other Ash Spider Lord. Taking this opportunity, Kaius quietly cast his new spell Lesser Reanimation and brought the dead Ash Spider Lord back to life, allowing it to launch a sneak attack.

The Ash Spider Lord thrashed around violently, trying to shake off the reanimated Ash Spider Lord. Seizing this opening, Kaius rushed forward and slashed at the Ash Spider Lord without reserve.

Slash!

The Ash Spider Lord finally managed to wrap one of its legs around the head of the reanimated Ash Spider Lord and sliced it off, ending its reanimated life.

At the same time, Kaius backed away from the Ash Spider Lord.

Corpse Explosion!

The deceased Ash Spider Lord’s corpse exploded point blank in the Ash Spider Lord’s face.

Skree!

With numerous stacks of Vital Break, the Ash Spider Lord’s vitality had decreased significantly. Thus, when faced with the explosion from a rank 1 cursed beast’s corpse, the Ash Spider Lord suffered massive damage.

Half its face had been blown off. The exoskeleton on one side of its body had been completely destroyed. The Ash Spider Lord laid flat on the ground, struggling to stand up.

Kaius arrived in front of it.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that I need your body intact, I would have given you a much more painful death.”

Puchi!

Kaius stabbed his sword through the Ash Spider Lord’s head.

[Level up!]

[3 attribute points acquired.]

[1 additional attribute point acquired due to Nether Physique.]

[Intelligence increased by 5 due to Nether Physique.]

[2 additional attribute points acquired due to Favor of the Nether God.]

Two orbs of light floated above the Ash Spider Lord’s body. One contained 400 System Coins; the other was a random item box.

Kaius distributed all 6 attribute points into dexterity and collected the System Coins and random item box. He tapped on the random item box and used it.

“Hopefully something useful comes out of this.”

The random item box shattered into pieces, revealing an icon with the picture of a sword in it. Kaius touched the icon and stored it inside this inventory. Examining it, Kaius was pleasantly surprised.

Name

Bloodthirst

Category

Weapon (Sword)

Use Restriction

Minimum stats requirements: Strength: 30; Vitality: 30

Strength

+6

Vitality

+3

Description

A sword that had been drenched in the blood of thousands. Able to absorb the blood of biological organisms and convert it into units of Blood Essence.

Blood Essence: 0/1000

Skills (active)

Blood Absorption: absorbs the blood of a biological organism.

Blood Revitalization: regenerates health. Magnitude of regeneration depends on the number of Blood Essence consumed and user’s vitality stat.

“This sword’s ability seems to have high potential. Let’s test it out.”

Kaius stabbed Bloodthirst into the lower body of the first Ash Spider Lord. Green liquid continuously flowed into the sword. Within seconds, all the blood from the corpse had been drained.

Kaius examined the sword once again.

Name

Bloodthirst

Category

Weapon (Sword)

Use Restriction

Minimum stats requirements: Strength: 30; Vitality: 30

Strength

+6

Vitality

+3

Description

A sword that had been drenched in the blood of thousands. Able to absorb the blood of biological organisms and convert it into units of Blood Essence.

Blood Essence: 1/1000

Skills (active)

Blood Absorption: absorbs the blood of a biological organism.

Blood Revitalization: regenerates health. Magnitude of regeneration depends on the number of Blood Essence consumed and user’s vitality stat.

“Half the corpse of a rank 1 cursed beast only gave one Blood Essence?” Kaius frowned slightly. “Looks like it’ll take a long time to reach the limit.”

Kaius went over to the corpse of the Ash Spider Lord he just killed and drained its blood as well, gaining two additional Blood Essences.

“Now that I’ve made use of your blood, time to offer up your body as well,” Kaius looked at the dead Ash Spider Lord coldly.

Lesser Reanimation!

Dark strands of mana flowed out of Kaius and coiled themselves around the corpse of the Ash Spider Lord. Gradually, all the dark mana seeped into its body. The color of the Ash Spider Lord changed from its previous grey color to pitch black.

After being given a new lease on life, the corpse of the Ash Spider Lord slowly stood up and obediently lowered its head in subservience to Kaius.

“Hm, not bad. But I’m not done with you yet.”

Nether Lord’s Blessing!

Thick strands of dark mana gathered inside the Ash Spider Lord’s sternum, forming a Nether Core.

[Special undead obtained. Would you like to rename it?]

“From today onwards, your name shall be Dio,” Kaius gave the Ash Spider Lord a new name.

Similar to Cenos, strands of spider silk shot out from Dio’s spinneret and wrapped around him until he was completely covered in a cocoon.

Kaius placed his palm on the cocoon and dismissed it back to the Netherworld.

“Recover quickly. I have a feeling I’ll be needing your services real soon.”

Remembering Chris and Kayla, Kaius quickly ran back to the hotel to check on them.

Inside the hotel kitchen, Chris and Kayla were barely able to fend off the Ash Spiders with the help of the skeleton warriors.

Lesser Reanimation!

A dozen Ash Spider corpses suddenly sprung to life and leaped at the nearby Ash Spiders.

The unsuspecting Ash Spiders squealed in pain as the reanimated Ash Spiders ripped off chunks of their heads, killing them instantly. Facing the unexpected attack, a large portion of the Ash Spiders switched their attention and ganged up on the reanimated Ash Spiders, tearing them to shreds.

Just when the Ash Spiders were about to turn their focus back to Chris and Kayla, the Ash Spider corpses lit up.

Corpse Explosion!

The surrounding Ash Spiders were blown to bits by the fiery explosion.

Chris and Kayla shielded their eyes from the explosion. When the dust finally settled, they saw Kaius walking towards them.

“Kaius! You’re alive!”

“If you’re here, that means…”

“Yeah, the Ash Spider Lord is dead,” Kaius nodded. “You guys did a good job holding on. I’ll take care of the remaining Ash Spiders.”

Kaius materialized Bloodthirst and charged towards the remaining Ash Spiders. “Time to test out my new sword.”

Blood Revitalization!

Kaius used up one unit of Blood Essence. He felt a strong lifeforce enter his body, washing away all his accumulated fatigue. The small wounds on his body also healed rapidly.

“Good sword!”

Feeling rejuvenated, Kaius weaved around the battlefield like the grim reaper. Every slash from Bloodthirst easily cleaved an Ash Spider in half.

When most of the Ash Spiders had died, the remaining ones scurried away in fear.

With no more cursed beasts in the vicinity, Kaius returned to Chris and Kayla.

“Are you guys alright?” Kaius asked.

“Yeah, just barely,” Kayla replied with an exhausted voice.

“They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Chris said with a happy expression. “In our case, we both leveled up multiple times while fighting.”

Eye of Mana!

Name

Chris

Level

11

Health

Normal

Mana

0/55

Strength

25

Vitality

11

Dexterity

19

Intelligence

13

Skills (active)

Lesser Vitality Enhance (15MP): temporarily increases Vitality by 3. Duration: 15 minutes.

Name

Kayla

Level

10

Health

Normal

Mana

0/50

Strength

25

Vitality

10

Dexterity

16

Intelligence

12

Skills (active)

Rush (15MP): temporarily increases Dexterity by 10. Duration: 3 seconds.

“Not bad,” Kaius praised with a smile. “The fact that we’ve been attacked by two rank 1 cursed beasts while being on the outskirts of the city tells me that there are a lot more of them lurking deeper within. Seems like our only option now is to head back to Milton.”

“What about all the Dust Spiders hiding within the fields near the highway?” Chris asked.

“Since we became stronger through this battle, we should be able to defend ourselves until we run past their ambush areas,” Kaius replied. “We’ll rest for a while and head out.”

“Hm, ok,” Kayla nodded.