Puchi!

Cenos stabbed her claw deep inside Steelclaw Crab’s exposed mouth and up its brain, turning it into mush.

Two orbs of white light slowly floated out of the large crab’s body.

[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.]

Kaius distributed all 6 attribute points into strength and examined the two white orbs of light.

The first white orb of light gave 471 System Coins. The second white orb of light gave a random class skill box.

Kaius used the random class skill box and examined the newly obtained skill book.

Name

Grasp of Enfeeblement

Category

Skill Book

Class Use Restriction

Necromancer

Description

Upon use, allows the Player to learn the active skill: Grasp of Enfeeblement.

Grasp of Enfeeblement (25MP): shoots out a ray of deathly energy at a target. If hit, target will be inflicted with the Enfeeblement status effect. Target with Enfeeblement status effect will receive (10% + level / 10%) of any incoming damage as True Damage. True Damage ignores all resistance against physical and magical damage. Status effect duration: 10 minutes.

Kaius immediately chose to learn this skill and surveyed the battlefield.

Half of his undead army had already fallen. The level 10 Skeleton Soldier was still leading the charge to kill off the Ironclaw Crabs. Judging by the crab corpses, less than 100 Ironclaw Crabs had been killed.

Over by the lake, roughly 300 Rainbow Snails had crawled up the shoreline. Combined with the remaining Ironclaw Crabs, their numbers totaled around 600.

Kaius did a quick glance at his unit counter for the Lesser Reanimation spell. Originally, he had summoned out 180 spiders to support Lieutenant Bennet. But now that number had dropped down to only 70.

“Time to replenish my forces,” Kaius muttered.

Lesser Reanimation!

Almost 100 Ironclaw Crab corpses regained the breath of life once again and turned on their own kind.

“I need to take down that overgrown snail before any other surprises appear,” Kaius turned his attention to the Fallen Rainbow Snail.

Kaius commanded 80 Ironclaw Crabs to go support Lieutenant Bennet, and made the remaining Ironclaw Crabs charge directly at the Fallen Rainbow Snail.

The numerous Rainbow Snails around the Fallen Rainbow Snail began to spit mucus at the incoming reanimated Ironclaw Crabs.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

The reanimated Ironclaw Crabs tried to dodge out of the way, but a few got hit and had their tough shells melted through by the acidic mucus.

With most of the Rainbow Snails distracted, Kaius, Dio, and Cenos charged straight at the Fallen Rainbow Snail.

Dio sprayed out spider silk once again to try to restrict the Fallen Rainbow Snail’s mobility.

Sudden Burst!

Cenos pushed her speed to the extreme and dashed around, slicing up all the Rainbow Snails in the vicinity.

“Let’s test out my new spell,” Kaius aimed at the Fallen Rainbow Snail.

Grasp of Enfeeblement!

A deathly ray of energy in the form of a grasping hand shot forward. With the Fallen Rainbow Snail distracted by Dio, and the surrounding area cleared by Cenos, Kaius was able to hit his spell on the mark.

Getting hit by the spell, the Fallen Rainbow Snail was about to switch its attention to Kaius, but Dio turned up his level of annoyance by spraying even more spider silk on the gigantic snail’s head.

The Fallen Rainbow Snail became extremely annoyed at getting sprayed by Dio’s white stuff and turned its attention back on him. Taking this opportunity, Kaius and Cenos charged at the Fallen Rainbow Snail from behind.

Focused Strike!

Bloodthirst and Cenos’ claw struck the Fallen Rainbow Snail’s fleshy tail at the same time.

Wheeze!

The Fallen Rainbow Snail rasped in pain and instinctively retracted back inside its shell. With its entire body hidden inside, the shell fell sideways onto the ground.

Dio immediately sprayed out countless strands of spider silk to keep the shell tied down on the ground. Kaius and Cenos circled around to the top area of the shell and began to strike at it relentlessly, with Dio joining them shortly after.

Vital Break!

Focused Strike!

Corrosive Armor!

One attack after another hit the top area of the shell. Although the shell still seemed as impenetrable as ever, it was slowly accumulating True Damage thanks to the Enfeeblement status effect. After the trio had attacked the shell over two hundred times, a large crack finally appeared on it.

“Break!”

Kaius gripped Bloodthirst with both of his hands and struck at the large crack with all his strength. Cenos boosted her speed to the max with her innate ability and struck at the same crack with an unstoppable momentum.

Crack!

The top of the shell finally cracked open!

Paralyzing Bite!

Dio sunk his sharp pincers into the exposed body of the Fallen Rainbow Snail and continuously injected paralysis venom.

Wheeze! Wheeze!

The Fallen Rainbow Snail rasped in great pain. It extended its body back out of its shell and tried to escape; however, its shell had been firmly locked in place by Dio’s spider silk.

Blagggghhh!

The Fallen Rainbow Snail puked out a glob of yellow mucus, dissolving a portion of the spider silk. It tried to spit out more mucus, but suddenly realized that it couldn’t move anymore.

“Accept your death!”

Kaius lunged with Bloodthirst, Cenos struck out with her claw, and Dio pierced down with his sharp leg.

Puchi!

The trio’s attacks penetrated the exposed head of the Fallen Rainbow Snail.

Two orbs of white light floated out of the large snail’s body.

[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.]

Kaius distributed all 6 attribute points into strength once again and examined the two white orbs of light.

The first white orb of light gave 521 System Coins. The second white orb of light gave a random class skill box.

Kaius used the random class skill box and examined the newly obtained skill book.

Name

Summon Starpho

Category

Skill Book

Class Use Restriction

Nether Lord

Description

Upon use, allows the Player to learn the active skill: Summon Starpho.

Summon Starpho (20MP): summons a Starpho. Max Limit: level / 10. Duration: 180 minutes.

Kaius chose to learn the skill and immediately used it.

Summon Starpho!

A 50cm-long creature that looked like a chubby purple starfish came out of the Netherworld and floated in the air. It had a giant eye in the middle of its body. Its five stubby legs wiggled slowly in the air.

Name

Starpho

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Netherfiend

Level

20

Health

Normal

Mana

20/20

Strength

5

Vitality

10

Dexterity

60

Intelligence

10

Skills (active)

Shared Vision: able to share its vision with the caster if it’s within 100km of the caster.

Pigment Recoloration (5MP): able to change the pigment colors of its body to reflect light and turn itself invisible. Duration: 60 minutes.

Skills (passive)

Bloated Coelomic Cavities: lightens the body by storing air. Able to move in the air and float up to a height of 3000 meters.

“It seems to be a support type creature used for scouting and intel gathering,” Kaius thought to himself. He commanded Starpho to float further up and out into the lake and activate its Shared Vision and Pigment Recoloration abilities.

A few seconds later, the shared vision that Kaius saw through Starpho made his heart sink.

“This city is done for…”

Countless cursed beasts filled the surface of the lake and were making their way to the shoreline. Three Steelclaw Crabs and four Fallen Rainbow Snails could be seen. Surrounding them were over 800 Ironclaw Crabs and 1000 Rainbow Snails.

Even with the help of the soldiers and the local police force, taking on a beast tide of this size was outside of Kaius’ current capabilities.

Kaius stored the corpses of the Fallen Rainbow Snail and Steelclaw Crab inside Fay’s Ring and ran to find Lieutenant Bennet. Dio and Cenos followed closely behind, while the rest of the undead army continued to clash against the incoming cursed beasts.

A short while later, Kaius found Lieutenant Bennet defending the south section of the shoreline with the help of a few dozen reanimated cursed beasts.

Screams and frightened cries can be heard all around the shoreline. Although Lieutenant Bennet tried his best to attract the attention of the nearby Ironclaw Crabs and Rainbow Snails, there were simply too many of them. Many of these cursed beasts simply ignored him and went straight for the defenseless civilians. Human corpses littered many parts of the shoreline.

“Lieutenant, we need to retreat now!” Kaius shouted. “Almost 2000 cursed beasts are heading our way, including seven evolved ones.”

“But there are still civilians trying to escape!” Lieutenant Bennet shouted back.

“What civilians? Look around you! There’s no hope for these people anymore! And we’re going to be dead too unless we leave right now!” Kaius yelled.

Lieutenant Bennet paused for a second to look around him. There were no more civilians trying to escape. The lucky ones had run away a while ago; the ones that remained were already half dead and were being eaten alive by the cursed beasts.

A few dozen meters away, a civilian whose lower body had been dissolved by a Rainbow Snail’s mucus looked at Lieutenant Bennet in despair. He struggled to raise his arm and reach for help, but the Rainbow Snail crawled on top of his upper body and chomped down on his face, melting it, and slurping up the brain matter inside the skull.

“Damn it!” Lieutenant Bennet cursed in helplessness.

“We can’t save them all even if we sacrificed ourselves. We should meet up with the people that have already evacuated and escort them to a safe place,” Kaius suggested.

“These damned beasts!” Lieutenant Bennet stared hatefully at the incoming cursed beasts. He took in a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

“Let’s go.”

Lieutenant Bennet reluctantly turned around and left with Kaius.

The duo ran back to the location of their vehicle; however, when they got there, they saw that it was no longer there. Most likely someone had drove off with it.

“Damn it, I shouldn’t have left the keys in there,” Lieutenant Bennet regretted.

“Too late for regrets now,” Kaius consoled. “We’ll have to go on foot.”

“Where should we tell people to go? Burlington?” Lieutenant Bennet asked.

“There’s a good chance that Burlington is under attack too since it’s also along the lakeshore,” Kaius shook his head. “Let’s head back to Milton. Even though the defense line got breached, all the zombies there had been eliminated, so it should be safe. Also, didn’t you say that reinforcements from the military were headed there?”

“That’s right. Let’s go then,” Lieutenant Bennet nodded.

Deeper inside the city, large groups of people were trying to escape in different directions. Due to the sudden attack from the lake, there wasn’t enough time for the soldiers and police officers to give proper instructions to the civilians. Hence, the situation turned very chaotic with people escaping to all directions.

Near the intersection of Bronte Road and Dundas Street West, a large group of evacuees from other cities could be seen arguing.

“How could there be cursed beasts coming from the lake?”

“Where should we go now?”

“Burlington is the closest, we should go there.”

“But if the cursed beasts are coming from the lake, wouldn’t Burlington also get attacked?”

“Burlington might still be safe for now though. I’m taking my chances there.”

“All the nearby cities got attacked. We have nowhere else to go now! We’re all gonna die!”

“What’s going on here? Why aren’t you people evacuating?” Lieutenant Bennet’s booming voice sounded from behind this large group of people.

Seeing Lieutenant Bennet standing beside Kaius, everyone suddenly saw a ray of hope.

“It’s a soldier!”

“Sir! Please help us!”

“We don’t know where to go!”

“All of you should head northwest to Milton,” Lieutenant Bennet instructed. “Although the city got attacked, all the zombies there had been neutralized, so it’s still safe. Reinforcements from the military are also on their way to Milton as we speak.”

“Thank you sir!”

“We’ll leave right away!”

Everyone started evacuating according to Lieutenant Bennet’s instructions. However, a few people still lingered behind.

“Kaius!” A female voiced called out.

Turning his head, Kaius saw some familiar faces.

“Kayla! Chris and Adam! You’re all ok!”

“Yeah, all thanks to you,” Chris said in a grateful tone.

“Hey Kaius, glad to see you again,” Adam greeted with a smile.

“Good to see you all as well,” Kaius greeted back. “We need to head for Milton right now. Almost 2000 cursed beasts have appeared from the lake. It’s only a matter of time before Oakville is overrun.”

“Ok, let’s go,” Chris and Kayla nodded and followed Kaius’ instructions. Having been through multiple life and death situations with Kaius and getting saved by him each time, Chris and Kayla had already developed a deep trust for Kaius.

The group of five took up the rearguard and escorted the large group of civilians back to Milton. During the entire two-hour trek, the group did not encounter any cursed beasts. Although everyone was glad that they managed to reach Milton safely, they knew deep down that the only reason they didn’t get attacked was because the cursed beasts were too busy devouring the people that didn’t flee fast enough.

Within the large group, there were only six soldiers apart from Lieutenant Bennet. The lieutenant promptly shouted out orders to rebuild the city’s defenses. Due to the lack of manpower from the soldiers, Lieutenant Bennet enlisted the help of many civilians as well.

A rough count put the number of people at around 90,000. Although this seemed like a lot of people, it must be remembered that the combined population of the surrounding cities used to number in the millions. The fact that only a small fraction of this total population managed to make it back to Milton highlighted the amount of people that had either died or got displaced.

Chris, Kayla, and Adam separated from Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet; they went to Milton District Hospital to prepare to treat the injured.

Kaius was resting nearby while Lieutenant Bennet was busy giving out orders.

Right at this moment, two black SUVs pulled up along the street. The employees from Titan Security got out of one of the SUVs. One employee exited from the other SUV and opened the rear car door.

A man that looked to be in his late 40s stepped out of the car. He had short black hair that was neatly combed, a cleanly shaved chin, and a pair of hazelnut-colored eyes. He was dressed in a dark grey suit, white dress shirt, and a blue tie. His 6-ft tall stature combined with his well-groomed appearance made him exude an aura of charisma.

“Lieutenant, we meet again,” Elroy walked ahead of his group and came up to Lieutenant Bennet to give a friendly greeting.

“You…” Lieutenant Bennet looked at Elroy and his colleagues with annoyance. “If you people had been willing to help back in Oakville, we could have saved a lot more people.”

“Don’t be like that lieutenant,” Elroy showed a wronged expression. “Our only priority was to protect our client, so our hands were tied. Ah yes, speaking of our client, please allow me to introduce him to you. He wanted to have a word with you as well.”

The man wearing the dark grey suit walked up to Lieutenant Bennet. The remaining Titan Security employees all stood respectfully behind him.

“Lieutenant, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Antonio Valentino, from the great Valentino family,” Elroy bowed slightly to the man named Antonio. “Under his great leadership, we will transform Milton into a safe haven for all the people here!”

“What nonsense are you sprouting?” Lieutenant Bennet frowned.

“That’s a secret,” Elroy smiled mysteriously. “You should just focus on rebuilding the city’s defenses for now. You’ll naturally find out tomorrow.”

Lieutenant Bennet couldn’t help but start to get a bit angry. Not only were these people not helping to rebuild the city’s defenses, but they were even planning on causing trouble.

“Now you listen to me carefully –”

“Lieutenant Bennet, was it?” Antonio interrupted. “The world is changing. Those who adapt will get to live like kings, while those who fail to do so can only become lowly peasants. I hope you’ll choose correctly tomorrow, for your own sake.”

Antonio turned around without any further explanation and went back into the black SUV. The Titan Security employees also got back inside the black SUVs and drove off.

“These guys are trouble,” Lieutenant Bennet frowned even deeper.

“More so than you can imagine,” Kaius walked up to the lieutenant.

Earlier, before Antonio went back inside the black SUV, Kaius used Eye of Mana on him. Looking at Antonio’s stats, Kaius couldn’t help but feel shocked.

“Wasn’t this guy supposed to be just some rich person? How’s he so strong?” Kaius thought inwardly.

Name

Antonio Valentino

Class

Warrior

Level

36

Health

Normal

Mana

180/180

Strength

93 (+3)

Vitality

70 (+3)

Dexterity

55 (+6)

Intelligence

15 (+3)

Skills (active)

???

Skills (passive)

Inner Fortitude: increases Strength and Vitality by 0.5 per level.

“Lieutenant, how strong are Majors in the special forces?” Kaius asked.

“I don’t know exactly how strong they are, but their level should be in the mid-30s,” Lieutenant Bennet thought for a moment and replied.

“Reinforcements are arriving tomorrow, right? We’re going to need the Major’s help if these people try to cause trouble tomorrow,” Kaius narrowed his eyes as he recalled Antonio’s stats.

“Yeah,” Lieutenant Bennet nodded. “Don’t worry, these people won’t dare to cause any trouble once the Major and his squad get here.”

The remainder of the day passed by quickly while everyone was busy rebuilding the city’s defenses. Lieutenant Bennet and the six soldiers took turns to keep watch during the night.

The next morning arrived in the blink of an eye.

…

A few hours earlier.

Inside the Durham Conservation Area, a Flicker could be seen guarding a zombie that was twitching violently on the ground. This zombie had a big head and a small body. It was Bob.

After suffering a crushing defeat at Kaius’ hands, Bob managed to escape to Durham with the help of the remaining Flicker under his control.

Back then, before clashing with Kaius, Bob had consumed the corpses of Captain Diaz and Lieutenant Bartello. Their corpses became the catalyst that triggered Bob’s next evolution.

Bob spasmed on the ground like someone that was being electrocuted. Similar to the previous evolutionary transformation, Bob’s head started to expand in size. However, unlike before, his body did not shrink nor grow in length. Instead, his body widened in size in order to support his inflating head.

After a few minutes, Bob finally stopped spasming on the ground. With some difficulty, Bob stood up and examined himself. His head was now three times the size of an adult’s head. His body was still the same height, but became twice as wide as before, making him look kind of chubby.

“Wahaha!”

Bob felt exhilarated at the completion of his evolution. With a thought, he commanded Flicker to carry him to the zombie portal inside the town.

In a few short minutes, Flicker arrived in front of the zombie portal with Bob in tow.

A continuous stream of zombies poured out of the green portal.

“Wame.”

Bob tried to speak with great difficulty. A few zombies in the vicinity started to gather around Bob.

“Wome.”

Bob tried to speak once again. Even more zombies heeded Bob’s call.

“Come!”

Bob yelled at the top of his lung. His voice rang out far and wide in all directions.

Every zombie within a 20km radius obeyed like loyal puppets and marched towards Bob’s direction.

After some time passed, exactly 2000 zombies stood obediently around Bob, including 20 evolved zombies.

There was even a new type of rank 1 evolved zombie. This evolved zombie looked similar to a regular zombie in stature, except it had extremely muscular legs and a large belly. Purple veins spread out across the large belly like a spiderweb. Occasionally, a bright green glow could be seen coming from inside the belly.

Bob stared hatefully at the direction of Milton.

Instead of commanding his entire zombie army to attack Milton right away, Bob stayed put beside the zombie portal, waiting for more rank 1 evolved zombies to emerge.

“Patience…”

“Age of Bob… Comes…”