“Oh Shit.” Realizing that the lady before him wasn’t the only Unclaimed Soul that he had left in his wake, Smoke Pac released a fearful holler that permeated the inner portions of the mansion.

Shortly after his outburst, a tight tingle in his chest brought his awareness to the great disturbance kicking up outside.

Thud! Thud!

Myriads of Unclaimed Souls began rushing into the mansion from all available entrances. They became so congested that some of them began creating their own entrance by breaking down the walls. This was easily accomplished with their hyper-physical strength.

“Holy hell! There’s a lot of them.” Observing the interior of the mansion getting swiftly populated by unsavoury monsters, Smoke Pac was bewildered. “Did I really kill this many people since I resurrected?” He found his current situation incredulous.

This wasn’t even the icing on the cake. A few moments later, a tumultuous quaking began taking effect across the estate which caught Smoke Pac’s attention.

“What is that noise?”

Bensen and his henchmen felt the earthquake and wondered if it was a natural disaster or artificially generated. To put things in perspective, let’s shift our attention to the external part of the mansion, specifically where Razi had buried her deceased workers.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A chaotic vibration preceded a great upheaval of dirty corpses. As the moonlight shine upon their bodies, their unclaimed Rubik’s Cubes transformed into gaseous blocks that reconfigured themselves into solids within the chest of their hosts.

These Unclaimed Souls underwent a swift mutation into abysmal qualities. Each and every single one of them had a particular bloodlust in their eyes that were gearing them toward the original Rubik’s Cube.

They didn’t have to travel far to reach their target. Smoke Pac was just a stone's throw away from their proximity. These beastly resurrected corpses utilized the oozing smoke to their advantage to quickly join the others in the main hall of the mansion.

At this point, it was fair to say that the Unclaimed Souls occupied more than just the main hall. Their infestation rate populated 67% of the mansion’s free space.

Due to this high level of congestion, Razi could no longer lead Bensen’s henchmen safely to the rear exit anymore. On their way there, they witnessed the door collapse followed by a dashing inflow of monsters. To avoid falling within their bracket of influence, they had to quickly hide in the kitchen. The counter was large enough to keep them concealed thus far.

“Goddammit, we’re trapped like freaking rats!” Shouted Ken.

Mazzan tapped his shoulder and said, “Ken, lower your voice, otherwise, you risk us being discovered.”

“Sorry, man.” Ken covered his mouth with his hands to prevent his lips from acting on their own accord.

Now that they were certain that they were out of sight, they peeked around the bend at the hellish scenery. Dozens on top of dozens of monsters were aligned around Smoke Pac from multiple angles, depths, widths and heights. He was at the epicentre of their desire and malice.

These creatures were continually giving off a certain type of vapour that was quickly filling the vacant space of the mansion. It eventually reached the kitchen where Razi and the others were hiding.

“Cough! Cough! What the heck is this smoke? It’s burning my lungs.” Bensen felt his lungs burning which forced him to spit on the floor. Even his saliva was charred. Looking at his men experiencing similar symptoms, he quickly warned them not to breathe in the tainted vapours. Thus, they hurriedly used their shirts to cover their nostrils.

“It’s still coming through.” White Buck complained about traces of the smoke invading his lungs.

“Maybe this will help.” Razi sneakily moved about the kitchen, procuring pieces of cloth, moreover, wetting them beneath the faucet for added protection. “Here you go.” She gave the wet cloths to Bensen and his men, leaving none for herself.

“What about you, Razi?” Bensen noticed how relaxed her breathing was and inquired, “Isn’t this smoke affecting you too?”

“Huh?” Listening to her uncle’s question, Razi came to realize that the toxic vapours weren’t affecting her negatively at all. If anything, it was slowly empowering her physical stats. She thought to herself, ‘Could that thing he put into my chest be causing this…?’

Back to the main event, Smoke Pac found himself trapped in the centre of an inescapable horde of Unclaimed Souls, a circumstance which he brought upon himself—though unwillingly.

Growl! Growl!

“Huh!” Shifting his eyes about his environment, Smoke Pac’s mind comprehended mostly grotesque elements that disgusted him. “Damn, they are so many of these ugly, Smokepires.” He pretended as if he wasn’t shaken to his bones. He kept up this facade by taking out a cigarette, placing it between his lips and igniting it.

‘Inhale… exhale…’

Although the mansion was already overflowing with vapour, Smoke Pac didn’t mind adding to it. After releasing warm fumes from his lungs, he spun his head around, quickly gauging the Smokepires’ strength while saying, “So you’ve all risen from the dead to claim my soul?”

He allowed his voice to circulate briefly before continuing, “Let me be frank with you bunch of drooling lickasses. I killed you once and I am going to damn sure kill you again.”

Smoke Pac didn’t entirely finish his cigarette. He spat the unfinished cig at the Smokepire closest to him then hollered hotly, “Come on, you motherfuckers! I’ll take all of you at once.”

Rumble!

Smoke Pac’s vulgar taunt incited widespread antipathy among the large group of Smokepires. No longer did they remain idle or distant. These brutish entities gladly accepted Smoke Pac’s invitation to throw down.

Whoosh!

The permeating vapours within the mansion began behaving chaotically as the Smokepires rushed toward their sole target.

“GRAAAAH!” One female Smokepire in particular bested the others to the punch. She squeezed her way through compact decaying fleshes to grab hold of Smoke Pac’s shoulders.

“It’s you again?” He recognized her physique from earlier. “Such a clingy bitch. I should have ripped your heart out that night instead of drowning you. This time I will be thorough.”

“It’s my turn to do some damage!” Releasing an animalistic cry followed by the increasing bulge of his arms, Smoke Pac broke the beast’s lanky limbs that held him captive. Subsequently, he ignited his Fire Sight skill around him to keep his enemies at bay.

Fwoosh!

The blaze didn’t do much to affect the Smokepires’ health, probably because they had an affinity with the smoke element.

“Tsk! If fire won’t burn your asses to ash then have a load of this!” The cavity in Smoke Pac’s chest widened as he hurriedly manifested a weapon from his inventory.

--Info-- Unleash a stream of cutting terror that absorbs the blood of your victims while their guts are dancing on your chains. Required Rubik’s Blood Cube to operate.

“Now this is what I’m talking about!” The Butcher Chainsaw was quite a handful for Smoke Pac to adroitly manipulate. However, circumstances forced him to get a hang of it quickly.

After loading the appropriate Rubik’s Blood Cube needed to operate the Butcher Chainsaw, he began acting wild by randomly slinging around the dangerous flesh cutter. In only a matter of seconds, he cut apart over a dozen Smokepires.

“Ha-ha-ha! Die you ugly sack of shit! You’ve messed with the wrong lumberjack!”

Vroom! Vroom!

Dark tainted blood spewed all over Smoke Pac’s face as he continued to drill through the beastly crowd like crazy. Some even got into his mouth. “Tsk, disgusting.” While he was busy clearing his mouth, he opened up a narrow avenue to be attacked.

“GRAAH!” A bulky Smokepire possessing the height of 2 men and the strength of 3 bears, crashed directly into Smoke Pac from the rear. It tackled him to the ground where his mobility was drastically impaired.

Others Smokepire joined forces and hurriedly surrounded him. They took away his Butcher Chainsaw to mitigate his options for resisting them.

“You son of a bitches! Get off me!” Smoke Pac found himself highly oppressed by adversaries of his own making. He struggled to find his footing, but he kept getting knocked around the room as if he was a volleyball or a spring.

At this point, the Smokepires were trying assiduously to penetrate his Rigid Body. Due to the skill’s recent upgrade, it was lasting longer than usual. However, it was inching closer to its rest period and Smoke Pac knew it.

“Shit! I have to get these fuckers off my ass before they burst it open.” Thinking in frenetic increments for a solution to his current situation, he used Smoke Dash to escape the crowding of the horde. He retreated to the upper floor where he summoned his Devil’s Cigar and ignited it.

“Let’s get cracking!” A blast of toxic red fumes came pouring forth from Smoke Pac’s chest. The Smokepires closest to him were instantly engulfed.

“Melt into oblivion you bastards!” He celebrated their defeat too early. Seconds after his outburst, he witnessed the Smokepires rushing through the crimson fumes unaffected.

“How can this be?” Smoke Pac gazed at his Devil Cigar, wondering why it wasn’t working against his enemies. Shortly, he received several notifications telling him the same thing.