《Eldritch Creature&#x27;s Guide》


 Chapter 1 Welcome To The Tower (I)

    It was a cold night as the wind blew, and the moonlight illuminated the darkness of the night. It was a silent night, for someone''s taste, too silent and too quiet.

    [Congrattions, User Samiel Zentaur, for connecting to the Akashic Records on his own.]

    A cold mechanical voice sounded in the man''s head. He was already one month on the run from the Army of the United States and the entire group of Exorcists and Professionals for massacring a small Town and raising some of them as Undead.

    [As the first person who established a connection in your world and the first person to establish a connection on your own in all existence after 19,246 Years without achieving Legendary Status or outside help, your Achievement has been recorded.]

    [Your reward would be calcted slightly after. You can now view your own record.]

    Stated the cold mechanical voice as Samiel opened his record and looked at it.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Age: 21

    Race: Human

    ss: Necromancer (36%)

    ***

    Tier: Steel

    Level: 15

    ...]

    Earth was the name of Samiel''s homeworld. It was a rtively weak world, or rather a very weak world. Mana Density was terrible on the, and there are not many strong people on the Earth nowadays.

    Samiel obtained the legacy and awakened as Necromancer only by a sheer amount of luck, which he advanced mainly because of his God''s help. Few people on Earth awakened as Professionals, and each year that number was getting lower and lower.

    All of this resulted in the general weakness of the Earth. Magic was on the decline, and Mysteries were dying. Slowly but steadily, everything extraordinary was disappearing from the face of the, and soon, only the ordinary would remain.

    [Your Reward has been calcted. For further progress on your path, it is rmended to enter the Tower.

    You could choose between two options.

    1. Nirvana

    2. Divine Spark (Path to the Transcendence)

    Please choose now.]

    ''Now, if my analysis is current, then choosing the Divine Spark, I would be able to be God, thus Transcending... but at the same time at the price that this would almost cut off my future pathpletely. Not to mention, side effects of Godhood are shit.''

    Samiel thought as he pondered the choices provided by the Akashic Records. Akashic Records were neutral regarding rewards from what the records remained on Earth and what his God told him.

    If it were giving out something that could basically create an unrivaled powerhouse, even weakest at that, it woulde with a severe price. And Samiel was not really a fan of bing of God, as that came with a shit ton of side effects and restrictions imposed on God.<sub> </sub>

    ''While the first option...''

    Thought Samiel, even though he was weak, surprisingly, some pieces of knowledge he got his hands on at his homeworld were pretty detailed and contained much information about the wider world.

    Despite the Earth being a weak world, it still has some Legacies. And some of these legacies contained a lot of information about the Cosmos and many other things, and somemon sense, one could say.

    Appearetnly, Earth was once an important world or whatever, probably.

    Of course, because Samiel was a rtively strong person on the Earth, he was able to get his hands on many things and thus obtain a rather broad view of things on some issues.

    Nirvana.

    It was aplete rebirth; of course, if Akashic Records was giving this as a reward, it must be something extraordinary, and it would theoretically mean...

    If he were to enter the Tower, which he never did as the that he was living on was without the entrance. Thus Samiel was incapable of leaving the, and he wanted a new start, a new path.

    "I chose the first option."

    Stated Samiel after a short pause. While the second option seemed tempting and more powerful, it was not worth it if he were to be stuck at one Level for eternity. Not to mention, he had a hunch that the Divine Spark would be from some weak God, and there were many risks tied to that.

    Not to mention the risks of being posses by fusing with foreign Divine Spark were just a tip of an iceberg. Most Gods were corrupted by the very own energy that created them, and it rewrote their entire personality to the shape their worshippers imagined them.

    Samiel believed he could achieve Transcendence given enough time on his own, without external help.

    [Your Choice has been epted.]

    [Nirvana has begun.]

    Stated the voice belonging to the Akashic Records, as he felt as if strength was leaving his body, and he was soon regressing to the start, to the Iron-Tier. It was a weird feeling as the power was leaving his body, as he was bing ordinary once more.

    Naturally, his knowledge remained, and the skills he learned also remained, but he was weak once again.

    He felt exactly the same way when he three years ago awakened as Proffesionist and obtained his ss. He was undergoing a ss awakening once, more bing a Dual-ss Bearer; just thought about this filled him with excitement and a feeling of shock.

    Dual-ss Bearers were exceedingly rare, and not even one was documented to appear on Earth. From the information he had, a person could only awaken one ss normally. This was basically an unbroken Iron rule, with only very few exceptions.

    But under exceptional circumstances, one can awaken either two sses or awaken an additional ss.

    [You are currently undergoing ss Awakening.]

    [Lord ss Knight of the Niflheim has been awakened.]

    [Unique ss Necromancer has been strengthened, the toll of User is lessened, Transcendents with Domain of Death ignore you mainly if you don''t touch their acimed Souls.]

    [Unique ss Necromancer has evolved into Unique ss Grand Necromancer.]

    [You have awakened Ultimate Ability, Winter Ruler.]

    [You have awakened Ultimate Ability, Soul Devour.]

 Chapter 2 Welcome To The Tower (II)

    Samiel almost fainted from shock as he saw that he had gained two Innate Abilities.

    Innate Abilities as a whole were scarce. Usually, they were tied to either Bloodline, Racial Attributes, or to some sses. So basically, having an Ability was a win for you, and not many people had Abilities. Those who had one could be considered geniuses with a great future ahead of them.

    Not every ss would result in obtaining some Ability; usually, sses are just manifestations of a user''s talent and increased proficiency in a specific field. This means that awakening the ss won''t give someone any ability, skills, or anything. Still, instead, it would awaken one''s talent for a particr profession.

    Thus the ss Bearers were also known as Professionals.

    [Your Patron God is intensely interested in your progress.]

    [Outer God is now scrutinizing you.]

    Samiel Zentaur wasn''t even his birth name; his birth name was ordinary and unassuming, and he abandoned it when hemitted the first sacrifice to his God in exchange for knowledge and power.

    He then took up a name that sounded more intimidating and better than Patrick Smith. He always wanted to feel more extraordinary, and how could a person with his destiny be ordinary and seemingly unassuming?

    He was never a believer and considered himself an atheist until he found a book in his endless pursuit of something extraordinary. This book contained a link to an Outer God.

    From that moment, his entire life changed, and he became someone new, something new.

    He created himself from scratch like a master sculptor would sculpt his own sculpture. Samiel Zentaur forged himself the way he envisioned himself.

    From his name to his appearance, he changed everything through the continuous sacrifices to his God, as he strived to achieve the perfect vision of himself.

    Outer Gods were mainly unknown, but they were terrific Eldritch Creatures that were feared even among the other Transcendental Factions.

    Then he met his God, Outer God Azathoth.

    [Outer God Azathoth wants to establish contact with you. Will you ept?]

    He instantly epted the contact with delight, as, during the time, he grew fond of his Patron Deity to a level to be considered a loyal fanatical believer. Rather ironic because he spent most of his life as an atheist, and now here he was.

    Azathoth was a fair God; he didn''t demand anything from Samiel, aside from souls he could devour to advance his strength and spread fear and madness.

    Contrary to other Transcendents, who just required service and often didn''t give their followers anything, Azathoth was much better, and Samiel always got his share. It was the rtionship of equivalent exchange, where he provided sacrifices and got power in return.

    When Samiel epted the contact from his God.

    Afterward, he found himself in apletely dark ce, as suddenly thousands of eyes opened around him and watched him with great intensity.

    If an ordinary person appeared here, he would go immediately mad from just standing in the presence of an Outer God. It was no joke, as everything connected to them could kill someone; for example, even hearing the Eldritch Speech could cause someone to go mad.

    "You have done well, Blessed One; you served me well. And as a fair Outer God, I always fulfill my promises."

    Samiel could hear it was like thousands of people talking simultaneously to him, the creepy, cold voice of nothingness. Even Samiel felt like his own very soul was freezing up slowly but steadily.<sub> </sub>

    "You will be my Apostle and spread the madness and carnage in my name."

    [Outer God Azathoth is offering you the position of his Apostle and drop of his blood. Will you ept?]

    Samiel looked at the message from the Akashic Records several times before; this was just a fulfilling deal with Azathoth. He was, in truth, the first mortal the Outer God, taken interest since immemorial.

    Outer Gods rarely took an interest in anything below Transcendent Level, as they kept to themselves and their nefarious ns. Most of the Outer Gods were typical observers and practically fence sitters that just schemed and waited for a perfect opportunity and subtly manipted everything behind the shadows.

    As the drop of blood entered his body, Samiel felt like his entire body was destroyed and remade from scratch as he screamed from the pain. Soon enough, the process ended, and he felt like he underwent another rebirth, as his entire appearance changed, and even his aura became colder, cold like the void in between the realities.

    [Racial Change has been finished.]

    [Old Deus - Human / Eldritch Creature. User is too weak to ess any of the Eldritch Creature Racial Innate Abilities until the Legendary.]

    It was understandable, as the Eldritch Creatures were Transcendent Species that were born at the Transcendent Level, and even their spawns were powerful legendary lifeforms.

    [You have been appointed as Apostle of the Outer God, the Primordial Demiurge, Blind Idiot God, Daemon Sultan, Azathoth.]

    [Because of your low Level, the Holy ss Apostle of the Outer God Azathoth has been sealed until thepetition of the Quest.]

    [You have been issued the Quest from your Patron God.]

    [Quest: Harbinger of Doom

    Description: After gathering enough strength, return to your birth world and unleash the Apocalypse on your homeworld, destroying and ughtering everything in the name of Blind Idiot God.

    Rewards: 10% of All Souls obtained]

    Samiel looked at the Quest, not saying anything at all; just thinking about the reward made him ecstatic. While 10% of all Souls obtained seemed a little, currently, Earth has around 7 billion people.

    He may return even 100 yearster when the poption will be tripled so that many souls is a vast number.

    And part of those souls would belong to him; just thought about that made him shiver in excitement.

    "I will carry out your order to thest point, my God."

    Samiel said theatrically after giving a bow to either his God.

    [Do you wish to enter the Tower?]

    He then epted the request.

    [You have chosen to enter the Tower.]

 Chapter 3 The Tower At Last (I)

    The Tower, 1st Floor.

    When Samiel opened his eyes, he didn''t see the modern city, high-rise buildings, and smog in the sky, but lush greennds, filled with high grass and trees. Nowhere were the lights of the megacities that illuminated dark sky night, even from kilometers away, or endless armies of cars and other transportation devices.

    The enviroment on the Earth was pretty fucked up, destroyed in other waves of industrialization and the greed of wealthy elites. As technology developed at a faster rate, the one who suffered most was the nature of the.

    Only a few ces on the Earth were untouched by human hands, and those were usually extremely dangerous or reserved for those with power.

    Even then, Samiel managed to visit a few of those ces to escape from the enormous megacities and metropolises. It was likeparing two different worlds that were next to each other.

    [Wee to the Tower.]

    The first thing he saw or heard upon awakening in the new world was the voice of the Akashic Records when he opened his eyes.

    [Scanning the participant.]

    [Scanning in progress.]

    [Mortal Samiel Zentaur has been identified to have established a connection with the Akashic Records.]

    [Tower System is connecting Mortal Samiel Zentaur directly to the System Core.]

    [Mortal Samiel Zentaur has obtained the right to choose the Climbing Method of the Tower.]

    Samiel read several messages from the Akashic Records as he read them. Now that he got into the Tower, as a being connected to the Akashic Records, he was immediately connected to the Tower''s System.

    In the Tower, there were several methods on how to advance to the Higher Floors; each one came with some pros and cons, and benefits or generally bad things.

    The 1st one was toplete Quest directly given by the Tower itself. However, that was possible only when someone had achieved Legendary Tier and entered the Tower as Legendary, thus being connected to the Akashic Records from the start.<sub> </sub>

    This method was the best one, as onepleted the mission directly given by the Akashic Records, and rewards usually obtained were precious for further ss Advancement or Level Advancement. Sometimes for more challenging Quests, one could obtain even Artifacts, Treasures, or any other Valuable Items. Of course, this method had plenty of restrictions, as even this wasn''t just benefits.

    The 2nd one was toplete Quests assigned to Tower Guardians; this method was usually tricky, as Tower Guardians were powerful and reclusive Transcendents who showed only in dire circumstances or when something big happened. This method also bore second-best rewards after Quest has provided directly by the Tower.

    The 3rd one was to obtain Quest from one of the Transcendent Factions andplete it. This method was utilized by mortal factions backed by their Transcendent backers. Like Pantheons gave Quests to their mortal servants in the mortal part of the Tower. Rewards may be some or none, mainly depending on the faction that issued the Quest and many other circumstances. Of course, if the Transcendent is mean and cheap, then you got shit and just advance to another floor.

    The 4th method was the emergency Quest from the Tower or Tower Guardians. This apparently happened only in critical situations, like when some enemy invaded the Tower Floor, or another simr situation urred. These cases were very rare, and have happened only a few times since the existence of the Tower.

    And finally, the 5th method, which was used by the majority of people who climbed the Tower, was the Quest issued by the Floor Ruler; these Quests were shit, didn''t give any rewards aside from opening the path to a higher floor and were very difficult. Though there was a hidden secret to this, and that was the Ruler could also issue an individual Quest with a generous reward.

    This was amon method utilized by the strongest Factions in the Tower under the Transcendent Level. Not surprisingly, strong factions would use this to strengthen themselves even more, especially those with Transcendent backing.

    Also, if the Floor didn''t have a Ruler, then Quest would be automatically generated by the Tower with the same standard as the previous Ruler did. Not all Floors had Rulers, as Legendary Tier experts heavily wanted the position of a Floor Ruler, so they fought for every single one or assassinated one another.

    s, most of the people who entered the Tower didn''t really have the direct backing of Transcendents or didn''t catch the eye of Guardians. Most importantly, Legendaries who entered from the outside were scarce.

    Even if some entered from another world, they were usually too old at the end of their lifespans and would die sooner orter. Obviously, this was not absolute, and certain exceptions existed even to this rule. However, those were applicable only to those people originating from very strong worlds in the Cosmos.

    That was because the enviroment for Professionals was much better in the Towerpared to the rest of the Cosmos. Thus everybody who had that opportunity would enter the Tower without a second thought to pursue higher levels of strength and power.

    And there was thest but also the mostmonly used method in many cases, and that was to find natural pathways between the Floors and use them to ascend the Tower. In the Tower, all floors were interconnected and had so-called natural pathways between them, connecting them each.

    This method was also prettymon, but also not, as finding natural pathways between the floors were exceptionally rare, and most importantly, the paths are constantly changing and usually appear in danger zones on the floors.

    The method of ascending through the natural paths between the floors was usually utilized by strong people who could enter those danger zones and not be killed immediately after they entered the ce. That required power, not something Samiel had at the moment.

 Chapter 4 The Tower At Last (II)

    "I choose the 1st Option."

    [The choice has been acknowledged. Please take notice that, User may choose multiple methods simultaneously.]

    His eyes sparked reading that, as he was aware of what the Tower System was saying. Basically, if he could, he could theplete the Floor by clearing Quest from the Tower, Guardian, Transcendent Faction, and Floor Ruler at the same time if such a situation happened and gain tremendous rewards.

    [1st Floor Trial - Ork Hunt

    Description: Several centuries ago, the 1st Floor became infested with Ork Tribe that lost against another Ork Tribe on higher floors. Bloodtooth Tribe has retreated to the 1st Floor, where they are still wreaking havoc. Slowly but steadily, the Orks are destroying the environment of the 1st Floor, and because of that, Tower has decided to destroy the Bloodtooth Tribe.

    Mission: Kill 100 Orks. The more Orks you will kill, the more generous the reward will be from the Tower. Killing otherpetitors will increase your own score ordingly.

    Reward: Mana Crystals ???

    Unique Mission: Destroy 1 Ork n entirely.

    Reward: Basic Principles of Necrosis

    Hidden Mission: Will reveal itself when the Unique Mission ispleted.]

    Samiel carefully observed the Quest issued by the Tower System before nodding in satisfaction as he read the Missions for the Quest.

    The first one was straightforward, as it required him to kill at least 100 Orks and, at the same time, encouraged him to kill other contestants to obtain their scores. Better the score, the better the reward would be.

    While Mana Crystals looked like an average thing for reward, in fact, they were very important for professionals to increase their Levels by absorbing the mana in the crystals. Not to mention that Akashic Records can''t give rewards like Abilities, Skills or overpowered items that fell from the sky.

    Now the second one was tricky, or at least looked like it.

    Destroying one entire Ork n.

    Orks were one of the great Scourges of the Universe due to their barbarian nature as destroyers and plundered. But nobody couldn''t say they were weak; Orks were individually powerful, physically even more so, and had great numbers. Even small Ork n numbered in thousands upon thousands of greenskins.<sub> </sub>

    Not to mention, aside from Orks, there were countless other greenskin species there that were weaker than Orks, and also other species that often allied themselves with Orks, such as Ogres. Or Goblins, Hobgoblins, and other greenskins were parts of the Ork Hordes and their organizations.

    Bloodtooth Tribe, which was terrorizing the 1st Floor for centuries, was something far beyond the mortals that had just started climbing the Tower could handle. But everything happened for the purpose, and the purpose of the Bloodtooth Tribe on the 1st Floor was to serve as Quest Trial and also weed out weak ones.

    Each Ork Tribe was created from countless Ork n and immeasurable numbers of the greenskins. Each n was headed by Legendary Tier Ork, usually the strongest and meanest of the n. Competition within the Ork ns, Tribes, and especially in the Hordes were incredibly brutal and bloody.

    While the Quest seemed impossible toplete, as it would require him to kill Legendary Tier Ork, the reward was too enticing as Basic Principles of Necrosis were one of the Holy Books for Necromancers.

    In front of such an enticing reward, Samiel wouldn''t back down, as that was something that could increase his strength several folds, and no matter what danger, he was determined to obtain that dammed book andplete that Quest.

    ''The Quest didn''t say I need to destroy the n personally; I just need to destroy it, meaning I could just engineer their downfall. If I think about it, the easiest way would be to create conflict between another stronger n, but that is a big unknown. Another way would be to find some Legendary Tier being on the 1st Floor and negotiate with him. Thest one... yes... that could work.''

    Thought Samiel, as he was thinking about how to clear out the missions to obtain all rewards. With all rewards in his hands, his strength would be increased exponentially, which in turn allow him to clear more quests. Fundamentally an endless circle that would be repeated over and over.

    And finally, the Hidden Mission, he couldn''t stop thinking about that; if the reward for the Unique Mission was that good, he wondered how the reward for the Hidden one would be. And at the same time, he was also thinking about the dangers of the Hidden Mission.

    Hidden Missions were the most challenging and special, so their reward would surely be something special. If the Unique Quest required him to destroy one Ork n by any means possible, then what would the Hidden Mission present to him.

    The Quest issued by the Tower was hard to aplish, but they bore with them great opportunities. If not, he wouldn''t even dream of getting something like Grimoire on Necrosis as a reward.

    "This is going to be fun."

    Samiel grinned as he thought over the new world he had arrived in. Finally, something interesting and exciting has happened in his boring life. While life on Earth was a bit exciting when he entered the supernatural part of it, it was a dying one.

    For the majority of his life, he always thought Earth to be a boring ce and more like hell. Only when he encountered the Supernatural side of the world did he finally feel alive and feel something more, but unfortunately, that part was slowly being extinguished and bing part of passages of time.

    And now he finally entered the mystical Tower, the ce where the impossible bes possible and where the limits of growth were non-existing. Everything was possible, nothing was forbidden, and his future was unfolding itself in an unknown way.

    He stood up, and he looked around, quickly scanning his surroundings. After he found no hostiles, he pondered which way he should walk in his search for some suitable ce to create the base, and in the end, he decided to go west.

 Chapter 5 Start Of The Undead Army (I)

    After Samiel had walked for some time, he adjusted his clothes and fixed his deep dark red hair into a ponytail. After epting the Blood from his Patron God, his hair grew considerably longer, and he was not ustomed to it.

    He sat down on a massive boulder while he began adjusting to a new world, and most importantly, he wanted to rest. While he was not physically tired, he just wanted to sit andze for a bit. Enjoying the the fresh air properly and a whole new world experience.

    Compared to Earth, the density of Mana in the air was at least 15 times higher. This was just a 1st Floor where the Mana density was lowest, as the Mana Density with each floor increased substantially.

    It was no wonder that those living in such an environment would be stronger than those who don''t. From what he noticed from the Akashic Records, the strongest person on the was probably only a Bronze-Tier because Earth was constantly on the decline.

    [Winter Ruler - Ultimate Ability of the Lord ss Knight of the Niflheim. As a Knight of the Niflheim, one of the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil, the world of Eternal Ice, the realm of Cold and Frost, a Winter Ruler can control the concept of Winter itself from freezing his enemies on the battlefield to casting Winter on entire countries or freezing whole worlds.]

    This was really overpowered ability, but that was understandable. Ultimate Abilities were usually very powerful, and their bearers were destined to be great people in the future.

    Knight of the Niflheim not only tremendously boosted up his Mana Capacity, but also his physique became strengthened tremendously with each Level. The reason for that was because his Lord ss focused on two aspects, physical and energy.

    Contrary to his Grand Necromancer ss which focused only on the mana aspect of the growth. Most of the sses focused either on the physical or energy aspects.

    The cases, where one ss focused on both of these aspects, were exceedingly rare. And all of these sses were high-ranked and very powerful.

    His weakness in closebat was half gone with his racial change. Half only because he had greater physical strength and ability, he was still a novice when it came to actualbat.

    ? Not to mention he couldn''t even control his strength correctly. He was like a baby who obtained the power of a giant.

    [Soul Devour - Ultimate Ability created from the Unique ss Grand Necromancer influenced by the powers of the Outer God Azathoth. Allows one to devour collected Souls, absorbing their experiences and increasing your own Level. Proceed with caution.]

    Another overpowered ability, though this one came with a warning. Indeed if Samiel devoured too many souls or too strong a soul, he could die, or the devoured soul could wipe out his consciousness.

    He knew the dangers of devouring souls from his patron god and what could happen if someone weak ate too strong a soul. There were many cases when someone with simr ability overestimated their capabilities and ate too strong a soul, which then possessed him or killed him.

    "Now the most important thing is to hide and increase my Level, and afterward, I can go out and search for something to turn into an Undeads."

    Thought Samiel as he was searching for some cave where he could hide. Right now, finding a shelter was on the top of his imaginary list of what to do currently.

    Contrary to other contestants, he was at a severe disadvantage when it came to Level, as he wasn''t even Iron-Tier proper and was still Level 0. So, for now, increasing his Level was on the top.

    Appearetnly, an average level of climbers was 5, some reached even 7, and those geniuses from the strongest factions were peak Iron-Tier.<sub> </sub>

    After he found a suitable cave, during which he needed to avoid a few magical beasts, he sat down. He started gathering Mana in his body to increase his Level. Even though he had just begun meditation, he could sense how Mana in his body was growing steadily.

    For Mortals, progressing in Tiers was pretty straightforward, as it required only expanding their mana capacity or strengthening their bodies, based on the ss awakened. The path to the Gold-Tier thus was very straightforward, and only some unique things were required after that.

    Thus Samiel started doing this, and soon enough, colorless energy swirled around him like a small tornado as it entered his body at tremendous speed, expanding his mana capacity and at the same time strengthening his body.

    The strength that not long ago left his body was returned and even at a higher capacity than before, as Samiel felt much purer and denser Mana entering his body. This couldn''t bepared to the state he was in the back.

    ''Dual ss and Superior Species... exciting development. Dual progress is probably because of my Dual sses. Though my Mana Capacity is huge for Level 0, it should beparable to at least Level 2 or 3 of species attuned to Mana, such as Dragons. No wonder the Eldritch Creatures are so overpowered.''

    Several hourster, Samiel reached the limit of Level 0, and finally broke through and officially became an Iron-Tier as his Mana Capacity increased to Level 1. When he reached Level 1, he opened his golden eyes, as they had a slight twinkle in them.

    On Earth, there was a superstition that magic users whose eyes could twinkle were pretty powerful, or they were just scammers who used some illusion spell to present themselves as more intimidating.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 1.]

    He even got a notification from Akashic Records that his Level had increased. One could say that all people connected to the Akashic Records will get messages about even the slightest change in their Records or Status.

    This allowed them to make precise observations of their own very being and choose the most optimal path of strength they should take. Of course, the benefits of a mortal being connected to the Akashic Records were even more immense.

    That is because typically, the person was in darkness about his path. Still, Samiel was able to clearly observe his path even right now, as he was meditating and absorbing Mana.

    ''This is far from enough; before I even attempt the mission, I need to reach Level 3. If Iplete the mission at the outskirts where most of the Iron-Tier Orks and Greenskins are moving, I could have it done by noon, but that would affect my rewards.''

    From what he understood, the entire 1st Floor was divided into several zones, from what he got from additional information provided by the Tower System for those connected to the Records, another perk of his own.

    First, there were the Outskirts. It was the weakest area where the weakest Orks and greenskins were living; most of them were Iron-Tier to Steel-Tier. This was the ce where Samiel was currently located and where he was meditating. Outskirts were a rtively safe ce, at least as safe as they could be with greenskins all around.

    After the Outskirts, there was an Outer Area. That was the ce where the majority of Orkoids lived as that was home for those at either strong Steel-Tiers or Bronze-Tiers. So a big no for him to enter unless he had a death wish. While Samiel considered himself crazy, he wished to live... probably?

    And thest was the Core Area, which was located in the continent''s center. That ce was inhabited exclusively by Silver-Tier Orkoids and Gold-Tier Orkoids. Most importantly, it was the ce where Orkish Legendaries were living as it had the highest Mana concentration on the entire floor.

 Chapter 6 Start Of The Undead Army (II)

    10 Days Later

    Time flew rather fast when one was constantly doing something or even if he was not doing anything at all. It all depended on the perception of the time itself. For some, the 10 days worth of time was one big nothing, and for others, it was the significant passage of time.

    Though that was not really important right now, 10 have passed since the day Samiel entered the Tower.

    He was stillfortable in his cave which he found to be likable. Fortunately, during his time on Earth, Samiel wasn''t really picky about his dwellings, as he was constantly pursued by authorities or some "righteous" factions.

    Now, he finally had some rest and some freedom; he could finally have some time to justze around without worrying that somebody would once again try to catch him or kill him.

    After spending several days in seclusion, he managed to increase his Level from 1 to Level 4 by the usage of everything. By some heavenly luck, he found Iron-Tier Mana Crystal in the cave when he was looking for something to eat, which significantly speeded up his progress.

    Today, after reaching Level 4 and with his above-average strength due to his Racial and ss bonuses. Now, after he had some bit of strength in his pocket, he went out of his cave to hunt for some Orks to start creating his Undead Army, as every Necromancer needed a proper Undead Army.

    By obtaining ss, Grand Necromancer, his control over Undead increased, and now he could control 15 Undead per Level, which was a very nice increase. Contrary to the past 5 per Level, a "very nice increase" was an underestimation.

    After leaving the cave and searching carefully for several minutes, he finally found his first target, as he managed to find a lone Ork searching for food in the forests. This was rather rare, as Orks usually moved in groups and hordes, so finding lone Orks was rare, especially when they were weak.

    If one thought about it, Orks generally behaved like social animals that tended to band together to fear the strong and bully the weak.

    Like the rest of his kind, this Ork was tall, taller than the average man, probably two meters at height, with long arms and short legs, building muscles and green skin. From his jaws were lined vicious fangs.

    He wore ragtagged, half-destroyed armor with a meat cleaver as a weapon. Like other Orks, this one probably just found his weapon somewhere, dropped or took it from a killed foe.

    In a split of a second, Samiel used ck Magic to cast several curses at the Ork, at first to weaken him. Samiel wasn''t aware of his strength entirely, so he went through the safe route and used weakening spells at first before confronting the Ork.

    [1st Level Spell: Curse of Weakness]

    [1st Level Spell: Inflict Wounds]<sub> </sub>

    [1st Level Spell: Ray of Sickness]

    He cast two basic curses at the Ork, who unknowingly was being weakened physically and magically from those two curses, and suddenly wounds appeared around his body from the 3rd Spell.

    [Ice Weapon Creation]

    He used Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to create an Ice Spear, as hecked any kind of weapon. Ice formed from the Winter Ruler was durable and stable, more superior to the weapon and armor that the Ork wore.

    Samiel utilized all of his physical strength, which could be considered far above average human, probably a superhuman due to him being Old Deus and obtaining Lord ss Knight of the Niflheim, as he jumped from his hiding spot, gripping his spear and making a piercing notion at the Ork searching for something to kill.

    ''Stab''

    Suddenly, in a moment, he pierced through the Ork''s heart, killing him instantly, as he used Winter Ruler to freeze his insides, as Orks were very hard to kill. Orks were hard to kill, at least for those who were weak and had never fought one before or didn''t know how to fight an Ork.

    As he dispersed his Ice Spear, he looked at the dead Ork with a chuckle as he cracked his fingers and cast his Necromancy. The first time he was raising the Undead in the Tower, and inter Epochs, this would mark the rise of Sorcerer of the Necrosis.

    [ss Spell: Create Lesser Undead]

    Suddenly a weird ck miasma rose from Samiel''s body, as the deceased Ork Warrior started rising from the dead, and bing an Ork Undead, officially, Samiel''s first Undead created in the Tower.

    After Samiel obtained his first Undead, he went further and started exploring the forest, searching for more Orks. This ce was freakin huge, and even thergest forest on Earth cannot bepared to even a fraction of this one.

    Mana Density didn''t benefit only sentient races but also nts, trees, and other lifeforms. They, too, would benefit from the high mana density in the air, and everything would grow bigger, stronger, and more dangerous. Naturally, one couldn''t usemon sense from Earth in the Tower or probably in any other mana-rich worlds.

    Fortunately, it didn''t take long before Samiel and his Undead found another lone Ork of an Iron-Tier searching for some food. Now he was wondering if he was blessed by Lady Luck as he located two lone Orks after another.

    This could be considered a slight achievement because finding something in the Tower''s enormous mini-worlds without proper technique was impressive. Usually, only trackers or those with special methods or techniques could track someone in the Tower with little effort.

 Chapter 7 Ork Hunt

    Normally, as a proper Necromancer, Samiel would stay behind, let his Undead do the job of the fight, and asionally cast some curse or ck Magic. Though, if he was to admit it, Necromancers he met were always cowards that just hid somewhere safe and let their Undead do the dirty job.

    Amon thing among the magic-oriented professions was their fragile physique. This rule didn''t only apply to Necromancers but to almost all magic casters, as this was something akin to "perk" of being a Magic caster.

    Usually, most magic casters had fragile physiques and nobat skills at all, so when somebody closed the distance between them and the caster, then the result was almost inevitable.

    Of course, those truly powerful casters could easily solve such an issue, either with Magic or any other way. For those powerful casters, they could easily create rituals to strengthen their physique or find any other way to achieve wished results.

    Still, it was different this time with his Lord ss, Knight of the Niflheim. After he awoke as Knights of the Niflheim, he obtained a closebat-oriented ss that substantially increased his physique, not to mention his recent racial change. His physique underwent a terrifying change as he obtained tremendous superhuman strength, speed, and vitality in one go.

    He wanted to directly participate in thebat, to experience the thrill of life and death, a feeling he was practically addicted to.

    He used [Winter Ruler] to conjure several Ice Spears around him, as he shot them directly at the Ork Warrior, who was busy engaging the Undead Ork with his cub as the Ice Spears impaled the Ork Warrior, killing him on the spot.

    After Samiel revived him as an Undead, he now had two Undeads. Fortunately, because of his tremendous Mana Pool,parable to even his old one when he was still pure human.

    He wasn''t really feeling any decrease in Mana after conjuring several Ice Spears, casting a few Curses, and reviving the Ork Warrior. It was a really wondrous feeling to use so much Magic but not be exhausted a bit.

    "If it was an old me, I would have long ago been on the verge of Mana Exhaustion after achieving all of this... my Mana is really tremendous after the Racial Change. No wonder the Eldritch Creatures are one; of the strongest species across the Cosmos."

    After Samiel had two Undeads, it quickly became three, then four, then six, and soon enough, after the sun had sent, he had 28 Ork Warrior Undead under his control. He was collecting Undeads like catching pok��mons.

    He even managed to store 4 Souls from additionally killed Ork Warriors, on which he wanted to try his Ultimate Ability [Soul Devour] to see its effect. As a partial Eldritch devouring Souls was in his nature.

    After Samiel returned to his cave hideout, he ordered his Undead to cover the entrance as he sat down and rxed for a bit. He chose to hide the entrance to the cave in case it was found by someone else.

    ''I need to find an effective way to finish all Quest and obtain their rewards...pared to the people from strong factions; I am at a severe disadvantage. So either I will spend a lot of time on each Floor, or I would be forced to find natural pathways and ascend... not that is out of the question.''

    Samiel thought over and over various scenarios and nned what he could make before he took out a soul of an Ork Warrior and stuffed it directly into his mouth like candy.

    [You have absorbed Soul of a Iron-Tier Level 8 Ork Warrior.]

    [You have absorbed Soul of a Iron-Tier Level 9 Ork Warrior.]

    [You have absorbed Soul of a Iron-Tier Level 10 Ork Warrior.]

    [You have absorbed Soul of a Iron-Tier Level 8 Ork Warrior.]

    As he ate all 4 Souls, surprisingly, they tasted better, probably due to him being an Old Deus, part Eldritch who fed on souls. Though, these were the first souls he ever ate, so he didn''t have anything other topare them with.

    For Eldritch Creatures, souls were the tastiest snacks ever. Not only that, but they were food and nutrients for the Eldritch Creatures, and they used them to grow in strength.

    Even though Samiel was only a partial Eldritch, he could feel the effect even right now from the souls he ate.

    As he used his Ultimate Ability [Soul Devour] to digest the Souls, he suddenly felt a burst of Mana out of his body as his Mana Pool was constantly expanding and at the same time purifying itself, which was unheard of.

    Usually, only Legendaries could purify their Mana at the same time when increasing it. Samiel didn''t know the reason behind that, but he thought it was because of his species of Old Deus - partial Eldritch Creature.

    His body was continuously purifying the Mana he was absorbing and making it stronger and denser. The Mana was automatically refined and purified by his body when it entered his body.

    [Profficiency over the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 1%]

    [Your Level has been Increased.]

    [Your Level has been Increased.]

    Samiel read the messages from the Akashic Records, as now being connected to the Records, he could observe each change in his being with exact detail. After reading the notifications from the Akashic Records, he returned to his thoughts once more.

    Now that he reached Level 6 and hisbat prowess increased once more, he was more confident in hunting more Orks tomorrow. Right now, he was tired and wanted to sleep. Even though he technically didn''t really need to sleep, at least biologically, he loved the feeling of sleeping.<sub> </sub>

    Especially dreaming.

    For now, his goal was to hunt at least 30 Orks and convert them to Undead tomorrow; then, he would spend his next weeks repeating the same thing while expanding and cultivating his Undead Army.

    Undead Army was the foundation of every proper Necromancer. It was said that a Necromancer without a proper Undead Army wasn''t even a Necromancer.

    With his tempo of killing Orks, he would be able toplete the Advancement Quest in no time and ascend the to the 2nd Floor, but that would mean abandoning the Unique Quest and secret Hidden Quest.

    Because of that, Samiel would remain on the 1st Floor for some good time. Also, this would allow him to familiarize himself with the Tower better and limatize to its environment.

    Especially to the Mana that was in the air, because Samiel came from the almost Mana-less world, even after 10 days, he wasn''t wholly limatized to the conditions of the Tower.

    After watching the fire burning for a while, he chose to go sleep and wait for another day toe. He then slowlyid down, and drifted to the realms of dreams, just like the great dreamer; even Samiel would dream tonight.

    ***

    Several hundred meters from Samiel''s resting hideout, a fierce fight was going on between tens of armored men pursuing an elven female.

    A heavy and strong wind was blowing through the silent forest. Only the footsteps were heard through it, as the blood dripped from the leaves and trees.

    ''Swung''

    As her twin jade swords shed, another of the knights was decapitated as his head rolled on the ground. Some of the knights screamed seeing theirrade being killed, while the majority of them looked at the elven female with pure hatred.

    "Even if you are Steel-Tier, you still trash humans with no ss at all; the only good thing about you is your number."

    Said in a cold voice the elven female as she killed another of the human knights that were pursuing her. She then swung her jade swords to get rid of the blood, as the severed head of the human knight she killed finally stopped rolling.

    "Probably because of that, you can only be used as dogs."

    She had long, very long blond hair with shining emerald green eyes and could be described only as an ethereal beauty. She was d in purple-silver ranger-like armor that didn''t hinder her movements, as the metal tes were agile but yet sturdy.

    The elven female had a very noble appearance, just like a noble princess.

    ''There are at least 40 of them, all of them are initial Steel-Tier around between Level 11 to 15; even if they are the dropouts who didn''t even manage to Awaken their ss, their numbers are still problematic to deal with in a short time. Dammed humans and dammed Magisterium.''

    She cursed in her head as suddenly the temperature around them dropped, and she saw that the five men who were closest to her were impaled with Ice Spears in their hearts, instantly killed.

    Then suddenly, several malicious spells descended down on the unaware knights that only now were realizing that something was wrong, and they had been attacked. At the same time, the elven female just scoffed at their stupidity.

    "Shshshshshs"

    Wind flowed as the leaves rustled; she saw several tens of Orks surround the human knights. All of the Orks were menacing looking, devoid of any life, and even though they were not rotting corpses, everyone with a functioning brain could easily deduce what they were.

    ''Undead... so Necromancer must be near.''

    She thought because Necromancers were always near when they attacked. Even though Necromancer was hidden, she was sure he was somewhere in the vicinity, as hemanded his Undead to carry out the task.

    She immediately became wary of the Necromancer, as they didn''t have the best reputation... practically everywhere.

    Just as the elven female was lost in her thoughts, the Orks immediately started attacking the human knights, killing them easily, even though they were still Iron-Tier,

    It didn''t matter that the majority of these Knights were of the Steel-Tier. The end of the scenario remained the same. They couldn''t resist the superior strength of the Undead Orks.

    Unfortunately for them, the physical strength of Ork was far superior, as Ork Warriors Undead just tore the limbs, legs, and arms, swung their rusted axes, and carried out the merciless ughter.

 Chapter 8 Yvraine

    "Come out, you fucking coward!"

    The leader of the human knights, who was a pinnacle Steel-Tier, shouted in absolute rage and despair. As proud humans and fighters of human supremacy, not only have they been led around by an elven woman from a species that enved humans.

    The man hated Elves and other arrogant races, who trampled on those weaker and exploited them for their own benefits. He hated the Necromancers and the Undead who killed his entire family.

    Necromancer wanted to use their vige as a sacrificial ground to raise more Undeads. He hated the Undeads, who were just ughtering everything alive, and hated living for just existing.

    But now, his loyalpanions were being ughtered like a chicken by these soulless monsters. Undead didn''t know mercy and just continued killing, no matter how much some o them pleaded for it.

    Only to be met with silence and subsequent three Ice Spears flying at his chest, heart, and head. Nobody answered, nobody said anything, just an attack aimed at him, to kill. Decisive attack, not giving any other options aside from death.

    Leader Knight brought up his shield, blocking the first Ice Spear. Unfortunately, when shattering on his shield, the second one created a small shockwave, which caused him to drop his shield as he broke his hand.

    The third Ice Spear pierced through his stomach, and the knight leader gripped the Ice Spear in an attempt to pull it out, which was a foolish thing to do, as that would cause only more bleeding.

    He copsed on his knees as she could see the Necromancer.

    Contrary to average or most Necromancers, this one didn''t wear a ck hood and robe and also didn''t have a stench of Undead all over his being. She didn''t know if this was just her own prejudice about the appearance of the Necromancers, but a lot of them were a creepy bunch.

    Not.

    He wore a pristine white outfit that was neatly adjusted and looked exactly like a military uniform belonging to some high-ranking Generals, something she had seen in the various armies. The militaristic appearance only made the entire situation weirder, but something about the man felt off.

    He carried himself proudly and high, with his long crimson hair flowing to his waist, as his golden eyes shined in the darkness of the night. He had a very intimidating appearance, and the elven female put her guard on in case he was there to kill her or capture her.

    "Y-you are alls.so.. hu,,amn."

    The leader knight was barely able to talk as Samiel just looked at him with curiosity and shed his thought with Ice Dagger without saying anything. He just apathetically looked at the dying man, thought nothing couldn''t hide the mad glint in his eyes from the observant eye.

    "Even if I was, killing you gives me more benefits."

    The man muttered as the female elf clearly heard him. She could tell; there was immense hatred behind his voice as he spoke to the human knight leader; for a reason she didn''t know why, but he didn''t even bother to hide it.

    Suddenly, all of the forty killed human knights started reforming and rising from the dead as skeleton warriors. The process was rtively fast, as only after twenty seconds, all of them were raised as Undead Skeleton Warriors.

    She watched firsthand as the Necromancer was raising his Undead, and soon, she was feeling slight fear. This was the first time she observed a Necromancer from so close doing his work.

    ''That aura... even though he is clearly Iron-Tier... impossible... Old Deus''

    She thought as Old Deus species were frightening to say. There were too few of them in the Tower or even across the entirety of the Cosmos, but each of them was a terrifying powerhouse on its own.

    Contrary to popr belief, it was not a species per se. Instead, it was a collective term for the fallen transcendent, those with strong transcendent lineage and most terrifying from all of them, those of part Eldritch beings.

    And because the Nesser Dynasty had a somewhat close rtionship with Hall of Kadath, she met several Old Deus and even Apostles of the Outer Gods. All of them were mad, powerful, and frightening individuals.

    Even though they were lesser ones, she could never forget the cold, freezing feeling of void prating through your own very soul. Meeting with their kind and keeping your own sanity was a feat that not many could achieve.

    "So what, are you going just to stand here, woman?"

    Asked Samiel with an irritated voice as he looked at the elven female. While he admitted that she was beautiful enough to be attracted to her, she could be a potential enemy until her allegiance and origin were clear.

    For him, if she proved to be enemy or hostile, he wouldn''t hesitate for a second to slit her throat and raise her as Undead.

    "No, you brute. Didn''t anyone teach you how to talk with ady?"

    She asked with equal irritation, to which Samiel just smirked provocatively at her as he saw how she frowned at him. During the years, Samiel picked up the habit of provoking and riling up people. Ironically it proved to be pretty helpful skills duringbat.

    A few times, it even saved his life when he provoked his enemies and then killed them when they made a mistake, which they wouldn''t normally do. Such was the price for being distracted on the battlefield or not being able to control yourself.

    "So, who are you, and why you, together with these guys, have disrupted my dream?"

    He questioned as he pped one of the skeletal warriors. At the same time, he finished collecting the remaining souls of the human knights, including the one who was their leader.<sub> </sub>

    Samiel wanted to absorb his soul and gain some skills from it, especially when it came to weapon mastery, but the soul-devouring and dinner could do thatter.

    Gaining aplete skill set would be a good start to building up muscle memory. Mastery over the weapon basically consisted of two parts, one was the knowledge and understanding, and another was a more physical aspect,posed oftent talent and muscle or body memory.

    He would obtain knowledge rtively fast through devouring and assimting the souls, but the second part would be another thing. Though the knowledge was very good, as he didn''t need to bother with learning something the hard way, but that didn''t mean he would never learn anything traditional style.

    The fast method is good, but if overused, it would be detrimental for him.

    Not to mention, most importantly, he was dreaming, and he was pretty much pissed up that he was woken from his dreams. From the time he became connected to the Primordial Demiurge, his dreams were the most unique, and every time when he dreamed during his sleep, it would be beneficial for him.

    "You should introduce yourself before the Lady says her name; it ismon etiquette."

    She said with a huff, not believing that his man before hercked even a basic manner of courtesy. Shouting at her like a barbarian, how insufferable.

    Meanwhile, Samiel thought it over for a while, as he could see the logic behind her words. He heard that a proper gentleman should introduce himself at first before thedy.

    Thus he decided to "follow the protocol of being gentleman adequately".

    "Samiel Zentaur, at your service, my fairdy."

    He said with a bow, though she could see he did that to mock her rather than genuinely properly introduce himself.

    "Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon."

    She introduced herself as she watched his expression, probably awaiting some reaction to her name, but as she expected, none came. Normally, when people from the Tower didn''t recognize her by look, then they would know her by her name.

    And that was the moment when most of them were ovee by fear due to her background.

    So she quickly concluded he was an outsider. Those were people who entered the Tower from some other world or part of the Cosmos. And were not from any faction existing in the Tower...

    Probably, as top mortal factions, each controlled several worlds and dimensions outside the Tower, not to mention Transcendent Faction like Pantheons of Gods who dominated entire countless upon countless worlds.

    "Thene, in my cave, I have some food and fire... damm, that sounded like a rapist luring in his prey."

    Finished Samiel with augh, as Yvraine almost cracked at his joke or whatever it was. Samiel realized that his joke was terrible, but at least it would be funny on Earth, or so he thought. He always thought he was funny... maybe his perception deceived him.

    She quickly came to the conclusion that the man was probably a servant of some Outer God as he was an Old Deus, so that quickly exined his partial madness. Or maybe he was like that before even worshipping the Outer Gods. Who sane would choose something like that to serve and worship?

    Worshippers of the Outer Gods were usually not epithets of mental health.

    Most of the worshippers of the Outer Gods were insane and crazy, not something she would normally associate with, but she didn''t really have a choice in this matter, and fortunately for her, the man didn''t seem hostile towards her.

    In the end, she followed after him, as they were surrounded by his Undead, as Samiel didn''t recall them into the storage space. The storage space where he used to store his Undead came with the awakening of his ss. Every awakened Necromancer had such storage so they could transport their Undead.

    This time, Samiel let them roam around. With some luck, they would find more greenskins and killing them, thus obtaining some Souls for him. The more souls he had, the stronger he would be.

    "Just don''t attempt that anymore... it was not funny as you thought."

    Stated Yvraine as she followed after Samiel. Fortunately, the ce where he found Yvfraine fighting those human knights was not far from his cave, only several tens of meters. Thus their journey was rtively short to the hotel cave.

    After they had arrived at the cave, Samiel heated stew he made from Horned ck Boar he hunted yesterday and made it into a stew. He created fire with his magic, as the stew that was in the cauldron that he found in the form of loot from some Orks slowly started bubbling.

    He was a pretty good cook; rather, he was an excellent one, as it was one of his hobbies besides pursuing the supernatural. He learned various cooking styles and cuisine as he traveled around the whole world.

    In truth, it wouldn''t be wrong to call him a world-ss chef, even though he never worked in a kitchen or restaurant.

    After around twenty minutes, the stew heated up, and Samiel signaled Yvraine that she could take from it as he passed her wooden bowl and spoon. At first, she was a bit wary of him and thought that he could poison her, but her intuition told her that the food was safe, so she started eating.

    As he and Yvraine sat around the small fire, they started eating in silence as neither of them initiated the conversation.

    Both of them just ate in silence for the time being as they enjoyed the food.

 Chapter 9 Scheming

    "So, what is your Quest, of course, if it is some kind of top secret?"

    Asked Yvraine amidst dinner while enjoying the food. She ate a lot of it because she was starving as she didn''t eat anything for several days straight. It was not an easy feat to find a portion of food in this dammed forest that was far away from civilization.

    They were eating the Horned Wild Boar stew that Samiel cooked. As they were eating, even Yvraine, who grew up in the Imperial Pce as Princess of the Silvermoon, had to admit that his cooking skills were superb.

    Samiel learned to cook during his time on Earth, and he was very good at it. It was one of his hobbies that didn''t result in anyone being tortured as a sacrifice for Outer Gods or some dying in gruesome death.

    He would probably need some time to adjust to cooking magical beasts and other types of monsters as their meat had a high concentration of Mana, which ordinary animals didn''t really have.

    Preparing magical beasts and ordinary animals was entirely different, as magical beasts required vastly different cooking methods. Thought Samiel was able to grasp it quickly, and it was rather learning all the new things.

    "I need to destroy 1 entire Ork n."

    Answered Samiel nonchntly, not bothering to ask what she figured out. From the moment he decided to save her, he wanted to get some benefits from her. When Samiel first time saw her, aside from her beauty, her appearance screamed "High Born, Very, Very, Very High Born."

    She probably thought he waspleting the Quest from God whom he was serving, as the 1st floor was currently without a Ruler because thest one was killed a month ago by Chieftain of the Bloodtooth Ork Tribe and Ork Boss Gurnish.

    Gurnish was notorious through the first floors of the Tower, as he was one of the strongest Legendaries who were residing on the lower floors, against his will, though.

    But from what Samiel knew, at least from his quest description, while originally the Bloodtooth Tribe had the purpose of being on the 1st floor, now they were doing more bad than good.

    No one powerful as him would remain on the first floor if he had the choice, but s, that was the fate of a defeated Ork Tribe that lost in the contests. And that could be considered a good oue because normally the Orks killed their enemies to thest one.

    Being able to escape was splendid, though not many Orks would choose the escape because it was a shameful and humiliating thing to do for them.

    Also, one could find slumbering Legendary Level Magical Beasts and Monsters on the lower floors. Some of them were already sleeping here and there for many millennia.

    Or some hermits and experts that chose to live in solitude. Some experts often decided to retreat to the Lower Floors, as the environment here was more tranquil and peaceful than that of the Higher Floors.

    Orks had a straightforward hierarchy among their species as a whole that was constantly breaking and patching up, with each month being something different.

    The smallest unit of their organization was a n which was led by n Chief. Above the ns were the Tribe. Contrary to n, which consisted of greenskins connected through ideology, God they were worshipping, or blood ties, Tribes were consisting of multiple Tribes.

    Indeed, due to this, the Tribes were constantly breaking apart, and new Tribes were created. That was because the Tribes were created from the ns, and if the ns had some irreconcble disputes and anything, it usually led to the disbanding of the Tribe. Each Tribe was headed by Tribal Chieftain, who was an Ork Boss, a mighty Legendary Level Ork.

    And above the Tribes were the Hordes, led by War Bosses. Each War Horde had countless Ork Tribes in it, and it could be considered a cmity of nature. To such an extent that even the most bitter enemies among the top mortal factions would put their differences down and fight together against the War Horde.

    "Either you are really mad, or your God wants you to die."

    Scoffed the elven woman in annoyance at the man''s nonsense.

    Even the weakest Ork n had Legendary Chieftain, so Iron-Tier ant wanting to kill a Legendary being was a pipe dream. Aside from that, each n was filled with countless Gold-Tier and Silver-Tier Orks and other greenskins, literal armies, so to destroy it wasn''t that easy.

    Even most Legendaries wouldn''t attack Ork n on their own, of course, if they didn''t have an overwhelming strength capable of wiping them out in seconds.

    Aside from that, provoking Orks was just a death wish. Orks were experts at ganging up on stronger with their sheer numbers and bringing down even stronger beings than them. Even if Orks were inferior in terms of power, they would make it up with their inexhaustible numbers.

    "And yours?"

    Questioned Samiel back in his curiosity. He was wondering what her quest would be. Samiel knew that she was also a worshipper of God, and if he had to guess, it would be Goddess of the Moon from the Elven Pantheon, as it fitted well with her and her race.

    So a part of him was a bit intrigued about the quest her Goddess would assign to her.

    "I need to find something on the 1st Floor, but it is a very difficult thing toe by..."

    Answered Yvraine hesitantly, not really sure how much information she could divulge.

    Even though she was pretty powerful, she came to climb the Tower alone, and she didn''t want to use the power of the Nesser Dynasty, one of the hegemons among the "mortal" part of the Tower. It was a nation, a Dynasty that ruled the 91st floor and controlled the fate of tens of whole worlds outside the Tower in the broader Cosmos.

    Even though she was hesitant to talk with someone whom she had just met, but her initiation told her that nothing bad woulde out of this discussion, and maybe she would reap some benefits.

    Those with a strong connection to powerful Transcendents were often blessed with a powerful sense for situations like these, and it was only stronger if the Transcendent backer cared for you.<sub> </sub>

    "If you help me realize my n for the destruction of the Ork n, in exchange, I will help you find what you need. My quest is to destroy, not that I need to destroy it personally with my own hands, we can just plot something, and I already have a n, at least some version of it... maybe a sketch of the n!"

    Persuaded her Samiel, as he sagely nodded his head, formting the n, not wanting t to embarrass himself before the elven princess. Of course, at the same time, he was proud of his nning ability.

    "Then what is your ''n''?"

    She asked mockingly as Samiel''s golden eyes shined a little.

    "Simple, I will change myself to an Ork belonging to some weak tribe and go to the nearby swamps to sneak in and steal the eggs belonging to the Lizardmen King and Queen. In their rage, the Lizardmen will dere war on the Ork n, and voa!"

    He exined his n triumphantly, thinking about his wless n on how to clear out the quest.

    "That is actually a good n... aside from two things. Firstly, I doubt you have any method to change your appearance to that of Ork, and secondly, you will need to enter the Lizardmen Nest."

    As soon as she said that, his expression half crumbled down when he started realizing his mistakes in the perfect n.

    "Not to mention, Lizardmen that are on the first floor are a reclusivemunity hiding the Phsoporence Swamp, and there are around 15 Legendary Lizardmen. For that reason, it is ssified as one of the Top 20 Danger Zones in the first 50 Floors."

    As she said that with a smirk, his expression crumbled utterly.

    "But... I can help you with that one. I will use illusions spells on you that I have inscribed on the gem. Orks are not the smartest creatures around. Lizardmen neither, so with a bit of luck, you would be able to realize your n, but stealing the Lizardmen Queen''s eggs and ming it on the Ork n would be night impossible, so I will suggest an alternative to this."

    Exined Yvraine as Samiel was attentively listening to everything she had to say. Yvraine had more information about the Tower than Samiel could have, not to mention her prestigious status, which allowed her to be privy to many things. So she would be more knowledgeable about these things and coulde out with a better solution than he.

    "What alternative?"

    Apparently, stealing Lizardmen Queen''s Eggs was probably impossible with his current strength. When he thought about it over, he begrudgingly silently agreed. When he thought it over once again, he realized that the infiltration of the Lizadrmen''s Swamp and stealing the Queen''s Eggs was nothing more than just a fool''s wish with his meager strength.

    In truth, even if he was countless times stronger, he would still have a very high chance of failure, being killed by an angry mob of lizardmen, or being caught and eaten alive. Lizardmen often ate the invaders of their domains, and sometimes they ate them alive.

    "Weakest Ork n on the 1st floor is the Palerock n that has only one Legendary Ork presiding over the n. Several tens of kilometers away from the n, there is a Bugbear Tribe numbering around 30 to 40 thousand Bugbears with five Legendary Bugbears among them."

    Bugbears were distant cousins of the Orks; they resembled hairy, feral Orks. They were just a bit shorter, around only 2 meters tall, and were less muscr. They had sharp ws like bears but not long enough to be used as weapons. However, they were still very dangerous creatures.

    Simr to the Orks, Bugbears were known for being dim-witted and brutish; or in other words, they were stupid, easily provoked, and prone to rages. In truth, most of the Okroid or Goblinoid species were not known for their wits and brain and were inly said, stupid.

    Though on some rare asions, they were known for being cunning, especially during their fights, that was the case only on rare asions or when it came to weaker individuals that desperately wanted to survive.

    The most annoying thing about the Bugbears was usually theirbat style. While their personality traits were pretty simr to those of Orks, Bugbears usually chose to fight in a way reminding that of assassins. They strike from the shadows, searching for the weak points of their enemies and striking when their target is at its weakest.

    "So provoking the Bugbear Tribe to fight with Orks would be a much safer and easier alternative... I would need only to kill a few prominent Bugbears with my appearance as an Ork, or I can take my Undead, who with a bit of Illusion magic won''t look like an Undead at all."

    Samiel weighed the options and, in the end, decided that instigating the conflict between the Palerock n and the local Bugbear Tribe was the safest alternative; maybe it would be a war, and there would be several Orkish n destroyed, with tens of thousands of greenskins dead.

    "That would be the fastest way. After you aplish your quest, you can help me find that thing I need to find for me toplete my own. With your Undeads, the process would be much easier than just me searching for it alone."

    Stated Yvraine was in agreement with his n, even though it was, in truth, her n, but so whatever. The important thing was that he now had something that could be realized in his hands, and that was all that mattered for now.

    After finishing her meal, she stood up and went deeper into the cave to find a suitable ce for sleeping, as she put out the barrier so she could prevent anyone from entering.

    The barrier had enough power to withstand even the attacking force of the peak of Legendary. Samiel wondered how precious such a thing would be and how much money it would fetch if sold on the ck market.

    He wasn''t really surprised, as he would do the same thing, as an only fool would trust somebody he met for a few hours, especially when one was a worshipper of Outer Gods. People who worshipped Outer Gods had a terrible reputation. Not to mention, Samiel was also a Necromancer and not a great booster to his already-established reputation.

    Basically, they are on the same level as various Devil or Daemon cultists or worshippers of the Evil Gods. Worst of the worst, one could say, and nobody would want to associate with them if not absolutely necessary.

    On Earth, he encountered some of them. Especially there were quite Devil and Daemon Cultists, and he had to admit that some of them were even more dangerous and crazy than him.

    Of course, because of them, he had, at some times easier life because if he did something, he could me it on other parties and thus get rid of the pursuit from authorities.

    Especially the exorcists from the Vatican were batshit crazy about anything rted to the Devils or Daemons, so Samiel used these cultists to mislead them and use them as scapegoats.

 Chapter 10 Undercurrents

    After Yvraine went to sleep in her warded space, Samiel retreated to his ce and sat cross-legged as he went to mediate and devour some Souls he managed to capture. It was finally time for a second dinner.

    This was an entirely different type of hunger, not the physical one, but rather weird primal hunger that originated from his very own being.

    He finally had some time to eat some tasty souls, as he was already a bit salivating because this would be the first time he would be consuming human souls. Now his racial traits as partial Eldritch Creature were showing up a bit.

    The first soul he took out belonged to the leader of the human knights who was pursuing the Yvraine. It was the strongest soul he had in his possession, so he decided it would also be the first one he would eat.

    The man in question was Steel-Tier Knight, and even though he didn''t awaken the ss, he still had a lot ofbat skills and experiences in fights. This was something valuable to Samiel, as he never learned anything about weapon mastery andbat at all.

    As a Necromancer, he always depended on his Undead to fight his battles for him, but now with him being Old Deus and having another ss, it would be utter foolishness not to utilize his own potential to its maximum.

    Samiel was the man who believed that man should utilize every advantage to obtain superiority, and this situation was no different. Since he embarked on the path of power and supremacy, he always used any advantage he could to his maximum

    [You ate the soul of the Steel-Tier Human Lionel.]

    [Soul digestionplete.]

    [Your skills proficiency in Swordsmanship has been increased to 10%]

    [Your Level has been Increased.]

    Not only did this soul increase his level by 1, reaching altogether Level 7, he even got Swordsmanship Skill, as he could see countless katas and stances and styles in his memories.

    It was a rather surreal feeling when all those images and information were flooding into his mind. It was simr to watching a movie, speeded up x100 times at that, and repeating over and over and over again.

    While he knew how to execute them, hecked muscle memory, so from tomorrow, he would need to practice the sword every morning for a few hours. To counter it and to put at least a decent fight, he chose this option if he was ever brought into the corner during the fight.

    "That was good... now I am full... better to go sleep, hopefully, she won''t be waking up sooner than me; I want to have a proper sleep this time around."

    Muttered Samiel, after he finished devouring the souls, and he decided to sleep, as he felt a bizarre feeling of tiredness.

    And just like that, he went to his provisionally constructed bed as heid down and closed his eyes. Finally returned to the realm of dreams, bing the demiurge on his own this time.

    ***

    Somewhere on the 98th Floor of the Tower.

    The 98th Floor of the Tower was enormous, far, far bigger than the rest of the Floors of the Tower because it was one of thest "mortal" floors of the Tower. The entire colossalndmass, orndmasses as practically nobody knew how huge it was, was controlled by a single faction.

    Hall of Kadath controlled this ce for countless Eras, and while the other Floors changed their owners after years, be it centuries or millenias or even Eras. The 98th Floor firmly remained in the hands of the Hall of Kadath.

    In the middle of the Floating Ind, high above the ocean, there was an enormous temple-like structure made from white marble stone, decorated with gold and statues of the Eldritch creatures. Ironically though, what would one expect?

    The ce was giving the holy feeling of light and holiness.

    Not something one would expect from the worshippers of the Outer Gods. But as the saying goes, the brightest light was always covering the darkest horrors. And that saying perfectly fitted the headquarters of the Hall of Kadath.

    In the Throne Room of the Temple, an elderly man shoulder long white hair, piercing crimson eyes, and ck horns over his head was sitting on the throne. He wore a ck outfit with a red outline and had a sword to his right.

    In absolute silence, he prayed to his God as if he was waiting for something to happen. He had his eyes closed as he was praying silently for several hours straight, without any pause or even movement.

    ''Menuhyutt, My Apostle is on the 1st Floor of the Tower. Find him and take him to the Kadath... he is someone very, very special with huge potential.''

    Reality warped around the praying old man as thousands of eyes enveloped the entire hall in absolute darkness as only their crimson irises were the only source of illumination in the ck.

    This was the will of the Outer God manifesting itself in the Material ne or rather the mortal world. Even though the old man was Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath for countless millennia already, this was only the third time something like this had happened.

    ''He is the blood of my blood, so it is expected... the Kadath should awake once more.''

    Stated the freezing voice of the Azathoth as he returned back to his dream, as all eyes closed, while the old man Menuhyutt bowed deeply. Suddenly the Throne Room''s atmosphere returned to normal, just as if nothing had happened.

    "I will carry out your order, My God."

    Said the old man, as everything returned back to normal.

    Suddenly several people of various races and shapes, all d in the same red outfit, signifying their rank of Cardinal of the Kadath Hall, appeared in the Throne Room. All of these people radiated strength and power, prestige and might; some were aloof, some were indifferent, and some were outright crazy about the entire situation.<sub> </sub>

    Menuhyutt looked at them solemnly as he slowly said. He carefully observed the expressions of various Cardinals as if awaiting what would happen next, what would happen when they found out about the things that happened in the shadows.

    "I have received orders from the Chaos Sultan, the Holy Son bearing the blood of the Blind Idiot God Azathoth has appeared."

    As soon as he said that, absolute silence took over the Throne Room as nobody said a word. Everybody just took their seat behind the long table as they listened to his words.

    Kadath Hall was one of the strongest mortal factions in the Tower, and outside the Tower, it was very reclusive. They didn''t make public appearances and kept to themselves, rarely intervening with other things.

    And for the past ten thousand years, it remained closed, not doing practically anything and justying low. Now there was information that the Holy Son had appeared, and all the fanatical worshippers of the Azathoth had in mind was one thing.

    The Great Cataclysm wasing.

    The fact that Azathoth had an Apostle and, on top of that, someone who he gave his blood signified one thing. If he was not killed prematurely, whoever the person was would be a mighty Transcendent sooner orter.

    "Who is the Holy Son?"

    Asked one of the Cardinals with huge excitement as something interesting was finally happening. Most of these people were old, like very, very, very old, and even the youngest person who was over 500 years old was like a babypared to others, at least when it came to age.

    It was a huge man, with dragon scales all around his body, reptile eyes, long crimson hair, and a paleplexion. He was giving off the feel of a typical muscle head and battle maniac to anyone who could see him, but other Cardinals just mainly ignored the man.

    "Samiel Zentaur, originally from a primitive world called Earth and a mortal who managed to form a connection to the Akashic Records by himself. Dual ss Bears with powerful sses, and a ton of untapped potential."

    Answered Menuhyutt slowly as all Cardinals held their breath. Forming a connection with the Akashic Records on your own, as Mortal, was exceedingly rare sometimes. Normally the connection is automatically formed upon achieving the Legendary Level.

    Some heaven-defying one-in-era genius attempted to do it, but it never ended well for anyone.

    Not to mention that the man in question was also a Dual ss Bearer. Across the entire Cosmos, Dual ss Bearers were very rare, and in the whole Tower, they could be counted on one hand.

    And the most powerful of all Dual ss Bearers sat exactly before them as he observed them with great curiosity.

    "What are your orders, Your Holiness?"

    Asked the female Cardinal. She was of the Pale Blood species, one of the direct descendants of the Blood Gods and from an ancient lineage of the Kindreds.

    In the Kadath Hall, she was the youngest Cardinal and was one of the most powerful ones. Despite being only around a few centuries old, she was already nearing the Limits of the Legendary Level, and many thought she would sooner orter be Transcendent for sure.

    "Send someone to him. Because he formed the connection with the Records, he will be climbing the Tower through the Quest issued by the Akashic Records through the Tower System, meaning the help from someone of our stature would be detrimental to him. Do we have someone who just started climbing the Tower?"

    Questioned the Hall Master of the Kadath Hall, Menuhyutt Faulhaber.

    "There is Estrid on the 3rd Floor."

    Kadath Hall was the smallest faction in the entire Tower, as altogether it had only a few hundred members, as it focused more on individual quality and strength rather than on quantity.

    "Are you at your senses? That girl is a battle maniac, and there is info that Silvermoon Crown Princess Yvraine started climbing the Tower; there is a high possibility that she would meet the Holy Son, and then... if Estrid meets with the Princess Yvraine, it would be a huge mess."

    Stated one of the Cardinals, who looked like a very old human man, with white hair and a well-groomed white beard. He had two swords strapped behind his back, and his aura was sharp as the sword itself, ready to cut down anything in its path.

    Estrid was the daughter of the Cardinal Zaldidraax; both of them were Red Dragons, and Red Dragons were the most destructive from all Chromatic Dragon Species. Zaldidraax was someone who left the Red Dragon Flock a long time ago to join the Kadath Hall.

    "Come on, you old bastard! I will take you right here and now!"

    Shouted Zaldidraax at the old schrly Cardinal, who just frowned, as suddenly a suffocating aura burst out of the Hall Master Menuhyutt, who was silently observing everything from his throne.

    "Shut up, all of you. Karliana, you will go to the 3rd Floor and wait up there with Estrid, and after the Holy Son arrives, you know what to do."

    Instructed Hall Master Menuhyutt as the meeting was dispersed.

    After everyone had left the meeting Hall, and it was empty, Menuhyutt Faulhaber looked at the ceiling of the Hall as he sighed.

    "Hopefully, this time, I have found my sessor, and I can stop pushing the Transcendence. It has been more than twenty thousand years."

    He was Menuhyutt Faulhaber, Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath, and to find a proper sessor for the position of Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath. He had been pushing his Transcendence for more than 20,000 years already.

    Hopefully, this time, he would finally find someone who could take his position.

 Chapter 11 Moring Breakfast Talk...

    Next day, morning, Hidden Cave, on the 1st Floor of the Tower.

    After waking up, Samiel saw that Yvraine was still sleeping, so he exited the cave, which was guarded all night by his Undead. He ordered his Undead to guard the area in the situation if some hostiles came over and attempted to enter.

    The entire area was crawling with Orks, Magical Beasts, and Monsters, so it was highly probable that they would be attacked during their sleep. For that, he stationed his Undead guards there. Not to mention, there could be other people searching here for treasures or anything.

    It was good to be cautious or paranoid... though that didn''t really matter at all.

    To his surprise, during the night, his Undeads managed to kill another 18 Iron-Tier Ork Warriors and brought back all corpses to him, which he swiftly resurrected as nice Undead. It could be said that during the night, he gained a nice loot in the form of new Undeads.

    After that, he created an Ice Sword out of his Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler and started practicing the swordsmanship skills from the memories he obtained. After he decided to train, this would be the first time he would be carrying out some physical exercises.

    All of the Katas and Stances he saw in his memories must be transferred to the muscle memory so they could be used effectively in a fight. If he had only memories, they were basically only half-usable or half-useless if he didn''t know how to use them properly.

    He started with easy basic things, such as the correct way to sh a sword, then hacking and piercing movements, as suddenly he found out that he had been practicing his sword for three hours straight as the sun was already up high in the sky.

    "Your movements are still terrible, but at least now it is not reminding a hungry ogre waving his club."

    Remarked Yvraine, who woke up some time ago and observed Samiel in his morning sword training.

    She immediately wanted to provoke him or whatever, but Samiel mainly ignored her remarks. It appeared that Yvraine was returned back him, his mocking and provocations from yesterday. Or it was also possible, and his skills were so crappy that she decided toment on it and make fun of him for that.

    [Your proficiency with Swordsmanship has been increased by 1%]

    As he heard that his proficiency with a sword had increased, he stopped his morning exercise as he looked at Yvraine, who was sitting on huge boulders that were located before the cave. The entire cave entrance was deep within the forest, making it a hidden and secluded ce.

    "Why are you sitting there like that?"

    Questioned Samiel as he went up to her after he stopped his exercise.

    "Waiting for you to finish training."

    She answered simply as if stating the obvious, not really understanding why he asked such a stupid question. Naturally, she was waiting here for him to finish his stupid club waving. If not for that, she would have left somewhere else to do something productive, not watch him performing Ogre.

    "?"

    He looked at her confusedly, not really understanding where this conversation was head to.

    "You are going to make me breakfast."

    She said, or more as she ordered him. Though Samiel could swear she was incapable of asking someone nicely for something, but that was probably due to her upbringing or nature, or she was just doing this to spite him.

    As she tasted his cooking yesterday, Yvraine decided that for the time being, Samiel would undertake the role of the cook. That would mean he would be responsible for her meals.

    In truth, Yvraine could do something by herself or just take out something from her Dimensional Ring, but his cooking was better. Not to mention, she could annoy him with that, and she knew that he needed her for the items she had in her possession.

    And she was helping him with his quest, so she wanted something back. Not to mention her help was far more worth than his, as she would be using some of her precious magic artifacts on him, which were not cheap everyday items.

    "If not for you helping me..."

    Muttered Samiel angrily as Yvraine looked at him daringly to try something, but in the end, he hunged down his head in defeat. Even if she annoyed him, he needed her skills and, more importantly, her treasures to help himplete the quest.

    He was at a disadvantage as his information about the Tower was almost non-existent and non-consistent as he knew only some things, but not enough. He knew that this disadvantage would be slowly rendered ineffective with time, as he would gather the necessary information, but for now...<sub> </sub>

    Additionally, what hecked, was the background and someone who would supply him with things and others, like Yvraine had, as she had behind her entire Nesser Dynasty, so she could practically ask anything that would help her to climb Tower and clear even more challenging quests.

    While Samiel could proceed on his own, it would take him much, much longer than with Yvraine''s help. With her help, he could implement the first n he thought over and be done with it.

    If not for her help, he would need to spend a very long time here to properly scheme the downfall of some Ork n, which would take a long time. And he didn''t really want to spend several years on the first floor.

    This ce was dangerous as hell, and even though he was in something that could be termed a beginners area, that could change with each day. Who knows when some powerful Ork appears for whatever reason, and then he could only hope that Lady Luck didn''t forget about him.

    "As my gratitude, I will show you how to wield the de properly."

    She said in a naughty voice as Samiel nodded, rather grateful, as he could see that Yvraine was very, very skilled. Probably she already evolved her Swordsmanship to Sword or, in her care, de Mastery. Samiel saw that she was very skilled with her sword; presumably, she had trained for a very long time already.

    "Can I ask you something?"

    Said Samiel; after half an hour, as he was now skinning down some magical beasts, they found wandering here that Yvraine recognized and said it was pretty tasty, so they hunted it down, and now he was preparing it for breakfast.

    "What do you have on mind?"

    She answered, not really minding, as he would probably ask something about the Tower, seeing that he didn''t have a lot ofmon sense when it came to the Tower and its political or otheryouts.

    "Why are you just Iron-Tier?"

    He asked as she understood what he was talking about. Normally a person with her background wouldn''t really have a problem reaching Bronze-Tier and even Silver-Tier before climbing the Tower. Or that was what he originally thought, but he suspected that there should be some kind of reason behind that.

    "It''s simple, for the rewards and achievements. Basically, the weaker you start climbing the Tower, the greater your chance of obtaining rewards from either Transce Factions or Tower Guardians. In some cases, some lucky people who enter as Level 0 to the Tower and do something incredible have a high chance of attracting the attention of the Tower System. They would get the same treatment as Legendaries, meaning they could receive Quest directly from the Tower."

    She exined while making a pause before she continued with her lengthy monologue.

    "Most if not all top factions would groom their new generations only in Skill and Ability usage department, but strictly restrict their growth in Levels, so they start climbing the Tower maximally as Level 5 to achieve even better achievements. Of course, not everyone will adhere to this rule, but the majority of those from some level of background would, as it has many benefits."

    She exined slowly as Samiel understood the principles behind that behavior. She hoped that the man before he would understand it, hopefully.

    "For example, If I started climbing the Tower as Bronze-Tier or Silver-Tier, then I would have almost no chance of attracting the attention of Tower System or Tower Guardians on lower floors, and even If I did the missions, I would receive from them would be extremely hard. That was because at the Lower Floors, there are only a few danger zones, and those are ces where even Legendaries would watch their back for their lives. In that way, I would probably be lost half of the potential rewards I could obtain either from the Tower System or my Patron God."

    She finished her exnation as Samiel was now in deep thought as to why his Patron God Azathoth didn''t give him any mission, but knowing his patron, it may be a good thing.

    Probably, because his patron would probably give him a mission in the style of collecting Legendary-Tier Soul or something simr, and with his pitiful strength, that would be instadeath. Son, on one part, it was a good thing, and on another side not, but Samiel didn''tment on it for long.

    "Were you ever somewhere outside the Tower?"

    Asked Samiel as he was finished with skinning the animal and putting it on fire so that it could roast slowly. He was curious about the other worlds aside from the Tower and about the Cosmos in its whole picture.

    He knew from Earth, as countless worlds existed in the wider Cosmos. It was no surprise because some of the more supernatural species that once lived on the Earth came from other worlds. But unfortunately, just as fast as they arrived, they even left.

    "Yes. Contrary to what many think, even Legendaries could easily leave the Tower if they knew how, and all top factions in the mortal part of the Tower had their own means to leave the Tower. I left a couple of times,st time to the Dimension that the Nesser Dynasty invaded."

    Nesser Dynasty was always looking for ways to expand their territory and influence, so they often attacked other worlds but mainly kept their interest in the worlds with the elven poption they could absorb to boost up their forces.

    Or they attacked the worlds upied by species that were destroying the environment, as they destroyed those civilizations and let nature thrive.

    This practice reminded him a bit of the eco-terrorists. The Nesser Dynasty wasn''t carrying out terrorist acts but rather a world-sized invasion and destroying entire civilizations.

 Chapter 12 I Wanna Be Hunter

    "What was your homeworld like?"

    Asked Yvraine, Samiel suddenly stopped as he reminisced about his homeworld, from which he departed only a short time ago. Not that he missed the ce, but it felt surreal that he finally managed to leave that ce and arrive at a whole new world.

    "You wouldn''t like it, not even a bit... maybe you would hate it."

    He answered as Yvraine could see it wasn''t something he wanted to talk about based on his facial expression, but to her surprise, he continued his answer after a short silence.

    "It''s called Earth, the really dumb name for the if you ask me; who would name their world by a synonym for dirt? Especially when names in centuries-oldnguage sound way better... why not call it Terra instead? But not; we needed to call our dirt."

    Stated Samiel with a slightugh as Yvraine giggled softly at that. Indeed it was rather a stupid name for a world. Only someone with the creativity of an Ork or Goblin would name their world like that.

    "It''s a scientific and technological world, where nature is slowly dying, and mysteries are non-existent. With each year, the mana in the air was bing thinner and thinner, and from what I heard, it was rare for someone to awaken a ss. Most of the people there were without one. Thus the civilization developed in the pure scientific way, through the wheels of heavy industry and factories, but at the price of nature itself. I once met a druid who rambled about how the was slowly dying from the pollution and other shit we were doing."

    Exined Samiel, while Yvraine frowned hearing all of that.

    "I became what I am only through the sheer amount of luck and faith. Nothing more and nothing less, I could count myself as lucky. So, basically, that ce is a boring shithole."

    Yvraine scowled even more after Samiel finished his talk about his homeworld. It was apparently clear as water that he was right.

    Elves as a whole were species that were very close to nature, to the point of being one with it. For them, races that destroyed their worlds in pursuit of industrialization for short-term gains deserved to be exterminated.

    This was special for Silvermoon Elves, the so-called Pure-Blood Elves, and Royalty among all Elven species. Silvermoon Elves were the most blessed by nature and had a special connection with it; some of them could even achieve some weird state like symbiosis with nature.

    Yvraine knew that Nesser Dynasty had destroyed countless civilizations and races across many worlds, simr to that of Samiel''s homeworld.

    "You were right... surprisingly."

    She said with a smirk as he frowned but continued to eat his breakfast.

    "I am always right."

    Samiel said provocatively.

    "Maybe in your mind."

    Yvraine scoffed at him as they finished their food.

    "So, where now?"

    She asked, as, in the end, she decided to let him be in charge, from the god-whatever reason she had for that.

    "Searching for Orks and other strong Iron-Tier creatures that I can resurrect as Undead. I still could control a few tens of Undead."

    Answered Samiel briefly, as now he was Level 7, he could control totally 105 Undead, which was an astonishing amount for just a Level 7. This was an incredible number because, as Level 7, controlling so many Undeads was unheard of.

    Even Yvraine was deeply shocked as she had never heard of such a weak Necromancer controlling such arge number of Undeads. One had to know that usually, Necromancers could control around 3 Undead per Level.

    If a Necromancer could control 5 to 7 per Level, he would be considered a peerless genius blessed by Death itself. So, seeing someone controlling basically 15 Undeads per Level was really hard to describe.

    Controlling the Undead had three factors in it. The 1st one was the Willpower; the stronger the Willpower was, the more Undead one could theoretically control. Though this was tricky because polishing the Willpower was an almost impossible task.

    The 2nd one was a rank of the Necromancer ss. For example, if one''s ss was of Lord Rank, he would logically be able to control more Undeads than Necromancer with the ss on the Unique Rank.

    And the 3rd one was the Mastery over the ss. This meant those who gradually mastered their ss and increased that power would sooner orter experience a boon in the growth of the number of Undead they could control.

    Surely, other methods existed to increase the number of Undead that a Necromancer could control. Still, those were often through some shady rituals with unsavory side effects.

    He now had 66 Undead, which was a good number, but he wanted to increase his Undeads more and also obtain some souls to advance his Level. Because he once reached Steel-Tier, for him, this was just reiming the strength he once had.

    Additionally, apparently after Steel-Tier, the progress lowered considerably. This was because, from then on, he would be treading on the unknown path, not just the remation of what was lost.

    Thus they departed to search for some Orks; fortunately, the woods were filled with Greenskins. They were in an area that was always swarming with greenskins, apparently.<sub> </sub>

    Though not today as nowadays, there were other participants, and those were human knights who were searching for Yvraine. It was clear that another squad of them had arrived.

    "Should we fear even stronger woulde?"

    Asked Samiel as they were walking under forest pathways, and both of them were enjoying the beauty of the ancient forest. Yvraine, because she, as a Silvermoon Elf, felt at home when she was in a ce like this. Samiel, because for him, the feeling of nature gave something tranquil to his mind.

    "No, if they did, they would be attracting the attention of Orks and other creatures as we are currently in Darkwood Forest, which is one of the danger zones on the 1st Floor and something that climbers usually avoid. Also, they wouldn''t dare, or else Nesser would not the Magisterium get out of it easily."

    As Samiel vaguely understood, she noted. He knew that she had someone presiding over her, or at least tracking her movements and preventing anyone who would try to kill, of course, only when the power disparity was huge.

    He knew that probably a lot of politics and other tropes were going on in the background that he had not the possibility to be aware of.

    "Most probably, what we can await would be a bunch of Steel-Tier, and maximally a few some weak Bronze-Tier trashes."

    Stated Yvraine as they started seeking her pursuers, as Samiel would be turning them to the Undeads.

    Not everyone managed to awake ss, and generally, people without ss were called unawakened. They were in huge numbers on the lower Floors at the Tower or in many, many other worlds and dimensions.

    For example, on Earth, most people were unawakened and without a ss as a result of the decline in the environment over the past millennia. That was the fate of a world with low mana density and where the mysteries were dying.

    Soon enough, they found around ten humans who appeared to be part of the same group that was hunting down the humans who were pursuing Yvraine. Even though they were unawakened, they were outnumbering and outtiering them, as all of them were of Steel-Tier.

    Unfortunately, even though they were Steel-Tier, their individual power was trash. It wouldn''t be the same case on Earth, where people couldn''t awaken due to theck of mana in the air, but in a stronger world and especially in the Tower, it meant only one thing.

    You were trash without talent and aptitude for anything.

    "Why exactly are these idiots pursuing you?"

    Asked Samiel with irritation as he began summoning his Undead.

    "Probably Magisterium provoked some human supremacist groups, and those narrow-minded idiots thought I would be an easy target. These people with their own concepts of justice and other crap are gullible and could be manipted almost effortlessly."

    She scoffed at that.

    Of the current top factions of the Tower, only one or two of them consisted of humans, as humans were one of the weakest species in the Tower. While the human race had some very strong factions that existed in the Cosmos, the Tower was out of their reach.

    In the Tower, they were suppressed not only by other races but most importantly, for some reason, all Transcendent Faction came into a consensus of continuously suppressing the human race.

    "Kill them all."

    Samiel released all of his Undeads on the small group of 10 Steel-Tier unawakened warriors who were searching through the woods.

    "Roooaaarrr."

    Roared Ork Undead Warriors as they charged ferociously at the humans, with their axes and hammer, chopping down limbs and heads, as after only five minutes, it was all done.

    "They are really weak..."

    Muttered Samiel, as he collected 10 souls, not really interested in raising such weak people into Undead. He initially thought they would be more powerful; he remembered on Earth, even unawakened Iron-Tiers were far stronger and more experienced than these ones.

    "What were you awaiting? All unawakened usually don''t really bother to polish their skills and just remain on the first five floors of the Tower. The only advantage they have, are their numbers, which may be, in some cases, thousands. Large organizations or Legendaries often use these fools as sacrificial pawns, just like now the Magisterium is using the Human Brotherhood for whatever purpose they have."

    Summarized Yvraine as she looked at the Undead killing of thest survivor. With that, the fight was over; as Samiel collected souls and let the corpses rot, at least they could nurture the soil and be fertilizer for trees and nts.

    "Come, there are moreing, and moreing means more Souls."

    Spoke Samiel as they went to search for another group, as they were going to kill more members of the Human Brotherhood. Samiel knew about the organization from the Soul of a knight leader he devoured.

    It was a small organization operating on the Lower Floors, with its Headquarters being located on the 8th Floor. It was a small-scale organization of human supremacists living in disillusionment and ancient myths of the past forgotten glory of humanity, which would never return.

 Chapter 13 Traps And Deception 101

    As they had some time of peace, Samiel finally had time to devour the souls he had. He had some nice number of souls, collected from the members of the Human Brotherhood. Samiel liked the human souls betterpared to that of Orks.

    While these were weaker than those of Orks, they had better taste. Souls of Orks tasted terrible, like eating dog shit.

    [Soul of Level 18 Steel-Tier Devoured.]

    [Soul of Level 15 Steel-Tier Devoured.]

    [Soul of Level 19 Steel-Tier Devoured.]

    [Soul of Level 12 Steel-Tier Devoured.]

    [Soul of Level 14 Steel-Tier Devoured.]

    [Soul of Level 17 Steel-Tier Devoured.]

    [Soul of Level 16 Steel-Tier Devoured.]

    [Proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 1%.]

    [All Soul absorbed are of Unawakened.]

    [Qaulity of Soul is low. Unable to obtain any additional information.]

    [Mana has been slightly increased.]

    ''Damm... after Devouring the Soul of the Human Knight Leader, I can''t gain benefits from these Unawakened trashes; only my Mana has been slightly increased, but the progress is abysmal.''

    Samiel cursed in his head; he was a bit frustrated about t the result, but there was nothing he could do about it.

    He devoured around 50 Souls with his [Soul Devour] Ultimate Ability. Still, because not of these were ss bearers, the effects were null.

    ''If I think about it, ss Awakening is basically some form of connection with Akashic Records, so I can''t technically gain anything from unawakened Souls after devouring the first one...''

    Samiel thought as he soon enough found the reason behind this. An unawakened soul would mean the soul was weak, and if he devoured the weak soul, the effect on him would be minimal, as there was basically nothing to gain from it.

    Just like it has shown itself right now after he ate several tens of unawakened souls, and he soon developed some kind of resistance to it, or rather he soon gained nothing from the unawakened souls. He theorized that if the unawakened soul should have at least minimal effect on him, it should be much high tiered than just Steel-Tier.

    "Stop thinking so hard; it is not good for your small brain."

    Said Yvraine cheekily as they finished hunting down another squad of the Human Brotherhood. Several squads of the Human Brotherhood were moving on the 1st Floor, as they had a lot of people here, but just like those they killed, all of them were weak.

    "Orks areing."

    As Samiel wanted to say something back, he suddenly straightened up as he received the vision of one of his Undead that arge group of Orks wasing in their way. As a rtively skilled Necromancer, Samiel could see what his Undeads could see.

    "How much?"

    Even Yvraine became much more serious; if there was arge number of Orksing, it would beplicated to deal with all of them, even if they had Samiel''s Undeads at their disposal.

    "Around 100, and at least thirty from there are Steel-Tier Orks, they are pursuing, and that is a surprise to several humans, who don''t appear to be members of the Human Brotherhood."

    He said with augh, even though the situation was bad, as Orks hadrge numbers and even their individual power was high. 100 Orks from which at least 30 were Steel-Tier was indeed above their capabilities, though only in a situation if they fought them head-on.

    And that was something that Samiel didn''t n to do. He learned one thing from his time as a fugitive on Earth and his fights there. And that was that the honor on the battlefield is non-existent, and those who have it are usually killed as the first.

    Thus he preferred to use deception, traps, and schemes to win his fights. If you can''t win with brute force, then you need to fight through the other means to achieve victory, as in the end, only victory matters. Means to achieve that are secondary.

    "We will fight them. With a bit of trap and schemes, we can deal with them... With my Necromancy and ck Magic, we can deal with their numbers, and our individual prowess is enough to dispose of their strongest. Additionally, Necromancers are best at therge-scaled battles, not? I dealt with bigger odds."

    Yvraine nodded as this way they could dispose of arge group of Orks, and also Samiel could obtain a big number of Undead Creatures, which would further boost up his strength.

    As he said that, he felt some sense of nostalgia. He still remembered the time when he was firstly pursued by several thousand soldiers of Russia. It was two years after he awoke as Necroaer and rampaged through eastern Europe due to ack of supernatural factions there.

    At one time, he was pursued by more than 5,000 elite soldiers and a mechanized brigade together with tens of Professionals that the authorities hired to deal with him because he was massacring tens of small viges, either for his Undead or as a sacrifice to his god. And Samiel, once encircled, used his Undead, strapped a ton of explosives on them, and detonated them as they encountered the pursuers.<sub> </sub>

    From the entire mechanized bridge, thousands of soldiers, and tens of professionals, only a few people survived after the bombs exploded and took everybody to hell.

    "We need to find a suitable ce where we would lure and entrap them. Bast thing would be a narrow valley, where we can attack them from both sides, so they won''t be able to escape, and I could keep attacking them with long-ranged Ice attacks from above and keep casting ck Magic on them."

    Samiel knew that around five kilometers from their current position, there was a narrow valley where they could lure the Orks in and fight them to death there.

    "Would you able to lure there the Orks?"

    He questioned Yvraine.

    "Leave that to me; you go and prepare the traps."

    As we agreed on what to do, both of us went to carry out our task.

    After half an hour, Samiel arrived at his destination, which was the narrow valley located in the nearby mountain range. This valley was the entrance to the Leambreonn Mountains, which were inhabited by Troll Tribes, something Samiel wanted to avoid, as these were Rock Troll.

    Rock Trolls were a pretty nasty species where even the weakest Trolls were Bronze-Tiers, and all of them had absolutely terrifying defensive abilities. Meaning they were pretty hard to kill; fortunately for him, Rock Trolls lived deep within Leambronn Mountains, so he won''t be encountering one of them here.

    He started preparing the cursed zone.

    This was an advanced method of using ck Magic he actually created by himself by reading fantasy novels. He was inspired by the creation of domains and other stuff. Surprisingly, Legendaries could achieve that, but he was too weak for that.

    Thus Samiel created his own though weaker variation.

    Cursed Zone.

    It consisted in distributing cursed items with an astronomical amount of ck Magic and Curses into specifical shapes, which upon activation created a cursed zone and amplified the power of the ck Magic and Cruses on anyone who entered the Cursed Zone.

    With this method, he managed to kill hundreds of people who were constantly pursuing him on Earth, be it police forces who were chasing him down as one of the most wanted serial mass-murderer of the 21st Century to thest remains of the supernatural factions that remained on Earth that wanted to capture him for breaking the status quo.

    All who entered the Cursed Zone died with agonizingly slow death.

    Fortunately, there was no shortage of finding suitable materials to create a Cursed Zone at the Tower, as even ordinary sticks and stones were saturated in mana, which was only beneficial for him.

    After working on it for one hour, Samiel managed to create very good cursed items and started cing them into the shape of a pentagram through the entire valley.

    [Your understanding of ck Magic and Curses has been deepened due to creating a new type of Cursed Zone.]

    [Your proficiency with ck Magic has been increased by 4%.]

    [Your proficiency with Necromancy Arts has been increased by 2%.]

    Samiel saw the notifications from the Akashic Records before he dispersed them quickly as he summoned all of his Undeads and ordered them to hide around the valley, in ces where they could make best ambushes at Orks and entrap them in the valley.

    Meanwhile, as Samiel was preparing the trap, the battle was going on not far from his location.

    Yvraine was running through the forest with her Jade des in her hands as she decapitated thest of the humans that the Orks were pursuing. It didn''t take her a long time to find her target, as she soon found the humans that were pursued by the band of Ork Warriors and other greenskins that were with them, more specifically goblins.

    <o>,m Goblins were a race of small and numerous greenskins. They were one of the mostmon species across the entire cosmos, and theirmon mark was that they were very weak. Usually, the average goblin was 1 meter in height; they had t faces, sloped back foreheads, broad noses, pointed ears, and small, sharp fangs. And their eyes varied in color from red to yellow.</o>

    In the greenskins hierarchy, goblins were at the bottom of thedder and were usually treated as ves by theirrger and stronger cousins. Because of their weakness, Goblins were more intelligent and used cunnings to fight instead of strength which theycked.

    Yvraine looked around and saw only a few Goblins; that was good because even though the goblins were weak, they were even more numerous than Orks, as they multiplied faster than cockroaches.

    She could see that the humans were ones who just started iming the Tower, based on their clothing as it seemed pretty foreign, or more like very ordinary, without magic enchantments and a bit too scientific, so they were from some more technologically oriented world.

    Though their technology was not that advanced, no the space-faring age, as they stillcked energy-based weaponry and so. Thus she concluded their technological level wouldn''t be that high. Some civilizations like that were a pain in the ass to deal with.

    As the Orks saw that an elven woman killed their prey before them, they all roared in absolute rage as they started pursuing Yvraine without a second thought, as she became their new prey.

    Orks didn''t think hard about anything and just wanted to kill someone who stole their kills, so they started pursuing her, unaware that they were heading into a trap. Even though some of the Goblins looked suspiciously at her, it remained only the suspicion, and even if not, it wouldn''t really matter, as she had already pissed off Orks royally.

 Chapter 14 Magic Paths And Trapped Orks

    Yvraine then started running away from them as Orks immediately gave the pursuit without a second thought. She even cast a few 1st Level Spells and threw them at the Orks just to rile them up, but her hidden aim was to kill goblins.

    As the fireballs fell onto the Orks, they behaved just exactly like Yvraine predicted, as the biggest Ork Warrior, who was faced with two 1st Level Fireballs, lifted up several goblins and used them as meat shields.

    Instantly they were turned to ash as other Orks repeated the action after the biggest one did it.

    Yvraine smirked as she led them to the ce where Samiel had already prepared a trap for them in the form of curses and death. She disposed of goblins because they were a pain in the ass to deal with, and she didn''t want to risk the situation where some of them would sneak out to call more greenskins for help or something simr.

    And she also knew that the primary role of goblins among the Orks and stronger greenskins was meat shield, like how they did it right now.

    She then spammed some more spells to kill or injure some of them, as slowly, during the entire time pursuing, all goblins were dead, and she even managed to kill five weaker and unlucky Iron-Tier Orks.

    ***

    ''I would be arriving within three minutes.''

    Samiel heard Yvraine''s voice in his head through the telepathic connection she established with a spell. Yvraine was not a spell caster, but her spell casting techniques and method were even more refined than his, despite her being a de Master.

    Even though he knew that she had some ss leaning more towards the closebat, all Silvermoon Elves had an unnatural affinity for the Arcane and were natural-born Sorcerers due to their Bloodline of the Silvermoon.

    Not even the High Elves were that much attuned to Mana and Magic.

    There were three main paths for the Magic Users, and all magic users always fell under one of these categories. Though usually, the titles were only used for people who actively pursued and used magic, not for those for whom it was a supportive tool.

    Sorcerers drew their power from their Bloodline, natural talent, gift, or simr source. It was an Inherent Magic, and Sorcerers usually grew in power the older their lineage was and the older the Sorcerer himself was.

    For that, many families with long and deep heritage were able to produce extremely powerful Sorcerers, as they had the magic in their blood. Like any ancient breeder, even these families or species carefully arranged their marriages to create even stronger progeny with a more potent Bloodline.

    Then there were Warlocks. These pursuers of magic obtained their power from Trasncetal Powerhouse or Entity through some form of bargain. Usually, their power came with an even greater price, depending on whom they derived their power from.

    Some could derive their power from Daemons or Devils, at the price of their own very souls, some from Gods or other Transcendentals for the price of eternal servitude. While some obtained the power from mysterious entities dwelling in the Void or Outer Gods, Samiel could affirm that that was the worst choice one could make in his lie.

    Samiel knew that if someone was specifically chosen by the Outer God as Apostle or something like that, then you would be scammed and usually die in very gruesome death, as Outer God was just ying with you.

    Andstly, there were Wizards, schrs with an aptitude for mana, capable of manipting the structures of reality through their understanding of the world and magic itself. This path was one of filled with thorns, filled with years upon years of magical studies and research to grasp the magic and its usage.

    Wizards are supreme magic users, defined and united as a ss by the spells they cast. Drawing on the subtle weave of magic that permeates the cosmos, wizards cast spells of explosive fire, arcing lightning, subtle deception, and brute-force mind control.

    And there was one-fourth path, termed as an Arcanist. It was abination of the former three paths. For example, Yvraine could count as Arcanist, as she was both Sorcerer through her Bloodline and Witch through her own understanding of magic.

    The same could be said about Samiel, who was abination of all three. Sorcerer from his Eldritch Race, Wizard from his own understanding of Necromancy, and Warlock from his ss and also, having a direct pact with his Patron God Azathoth, from whom he could draw power if he wanted.

    Arcanists were very rare across the Cosmos, as it was a rarebination to see someone who was abination of at least three Magic Paths, not all three of them. Usually, Sorcerers would never study magic as Wizards do, as it was not worth it for them, while Warlocks couldn''t use Inherent Magic like Sorcerers, or like Wizards would never dabble into Warlock business.

    Additionally, the Spells were divided into several Levels. Iron-Tier could cast 1st Level Spells, Steel-Tier could cast 2nd to 3rd Level Spells, Bronze-Tier could cast 4th to 5th Level Spells, Silver-Tier could cast 6th to 7th Level Spells, Gold-Tier could cast 8th Level Spells.

    Legendaries could cast 9th Level Spells, and peak Legendaries could cast the frightening Forbidden Spells the 10th Level Spells.

    The power of each level was dramatically increased, from the 1st Level Spells, which could destroy walls maximally, to the Forbidden Spells of the 10th Level, which could wipe out entires like Earth with ease.

    Soon enough, Samiel could see Yvrraine arrived, and behind her were more than 100 Orks, but 150 Orks, as many Orks they encountered, joined the mini horde that was creating and started pursuing Yvraine as well.

    He could see that Orks were pissed off, he didn''t know what she did to them, but they were enraged, as they were pursuing Yvraine with great ferocity.

    Samiel didn''t say anything but just readied his Cursed Zone as he waited for the Orks to enter the Cursed Zonepletely so he could activate it. He was proficient in this kind of this; it wasn''t the first time he was luring unaware enemies into being ughtered one by one.

    Soon as thest greenskin passed through the outer perimeter of the Cursed Zone, Samiel activated the Cursed Zone as the wave of the negative energy burst out and leached on all Okrs that entered the Cursed Zone.

    Because all of these Orks were rtively weak to fight the curses because they were under the Bronze-Tier andcked any Shaman with them, they couldn''t disperse the curses that weretching on them.<sub> </sub>

    The mostmon ones were Curse of Weakness, Curse of Slowness, and Curse of Bleeding, as suddenly Undead Ork Warriors and Skeletons burst out from the hiding spots and started ferociously attacking the weakened Orks.

    Even the peak Steel-Tier Ork Warrior who acted as the leader of the group, found himself weekend and in danger as Yvraine hacked at him with her twin Jade des, as she danced around the engaged Ork Warrior, cutting him all around his body.

    Suddenly one of her Jade des pierced through his neck as she dodged his axe sh and used the opening created to counter-attack. Blood spurted from the neck of the killed Ork as his body lifelessly copsed onto the ground.

    First kill, the first blood was drawn.

    After the Ork "Miniboss" was killed, Samiel instantly resurrected him as an Undead, obtaining his first Steel-Tier Undead Ork Warrior, as other Orks found themselves without leadership and their lines started to falter.

    Like simple species they were, all Orks had a simple but straightforward rule. The stronger one would lead them. Because Yvraine killed the strongest Ork in this mini horde.

    Immediately after their self-proimed temporary leader was killed, other peak Steel-Tier Ork Warriors all wanted to take up the leadership, as they refused to listen to each other, causing their unity to crumble.

    Samiel kept spawning Ice Spears through his Ability [Winter Ruler] as he kept resurrecting every Undead that the Orks managed to kill. Even though he was using an enormous amount of mana each second, he didn''t feel a bit tired, as his regeneration was staggeringly higher.

    Thanks to that, the number of his Undead was constantly increasing instead of decreasing. This was an ideal battlefield for a Necromancer, as he could instantly replenish the Undeads he lost.

    Yvraine was also killing one Ork after another, as she was jumping from enemy to enemy, looking like a dancer with her twin des spinning and slitting the throats of the Ork Warriors.

    [Your proficiency with the skill Undead Creation has been increased by 4%]

    [Your proficiency with the skill ck Magic has been increased by 2%]

    [Your proficiency with the skill Necromancy Arts has been increased by 3%]

    [Your proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 6%]

    Samiel saw the notification from the Akashic Records as the proficiency in his Abilities and Magic was steadily increasing before he dispersed them all to focus on thebat.

    He continued to spawn Ice Weaponry and shoot it at the weak points of the Ork Warriors he saw. At the same time, he was casting Create Lesser Undead Spell on the deceased Orks killed by his Undead.

    He was standing on a high cliff, so he was basically safe from the possible attacks from Orks down there and acted as a support.

    Soon enough, he would need to strengthen the quality of his Undead Army, which meant three things. Evolution of the Undead, then arming them with better weapons and armor and increasing their Tier and Level.

    Suddenly, as he was about to cast another Ice Spear to kill one of the Steel-Tier Orks, he felt an immense danger as he dodged to the side, barely missing the huge axe of an enormous Ork that appeared behind him.

    "Fuck my E-rank luck!"

    Samiel cursed as he looked at the Ork before him. The Ork was vastly different from the others whom he killed. This one was bigger, more fierce, and stinkier... thatst was made up, but probably if he smelled him, it would be the truth.

    This Ork was around 4 meters tall with bulging muscles and deep green skin color. Contrary to other Orks, he had armor and weapon in a much better state than others, whose weapons were rusty and armors half-destroyed.

    The most notable feature about him was his huge teeth, like a sabertooth cat or any cat-type magical beast.

    Samiel knew his enemy; it was an Ork Champion. He cursed his luck as the Bronze-Tier Ork Champion somehow found his way to the Darkwood Forest, and probably the disturbance of the battle down there lured him here.

    He didn''t really understand how it got here because this area should be devoid of Bronze-Tier greenskins, but s, fate had other ns for him, as the Ork Champion roared, issuing the challenge towards his opponent.

    "Let''s dance."

    He said as he conjured two Ice Swords in his hands and got into the battle stance that Yvraine taught him during the short time she managed.

    This would be the first time he would be fighting someone that strong, and he was filled with excitement for such a fight. He had a grin over his face as his eyes scanned the Ork Champion for any slightest changes and waited for him to make the first move.

 Chapter 15 Dance Of Life And Death

    Ork Champion was a rare mutation that urred to their kind; basically, these Orks were stronger, faster, more durable, and just better than average Ork of the same Tier. Their specialty was their ability to make other Orks subservient to them.

    Orks had several evolutionary stages, basically states that the normal Orks could evolve to under specific circumstances, and one of them was the Ork Champion. Usually, in the Ork n, Ork Champion was the strongest person in the n, straight after the Boss.

    All of the Ork Champions had a great possibility of bing an Ork Boss or even Warboss. Though even if they didn''t, they could still achieve simr strength as Ork Bosses; that was why normally, the Ork Champions were the strongestbatants and right-hands in the n.

    It was not easy to evolve for Orks, as it required a lot of training, luck, or to have a good lineage. Some Orks evolved due to the blessing of their Orkish Gods.

    Samiel could see that this Ork Champion only recently became one, so Samiel weighed his options and, in the end, decided to fight and not to run; maybe it was part of his madness, but he couldn''t wait to be once again to be close to death.

    In a split of a second, he cast a whole bunch of 1st Level Curses at the Ork Champion, as he rushed at the huge greenskin with his twin Ice Swords, barely able to dodge his attacks, as he appeared behind his back, stabbing both of his Ice Swords into Ork Champion''s back.

    The Ork Champion roared in pain as he turned around and punched Samiel in his stomach, causing him to be sent flying several meters away as he crashed into a nearby tree, which he broke apart with his impact.

    Samiel coughed blood as he was somewhat injured, but way less than he anticipated. He never really had an opportunity to test his physique''s limits and strength after the transition to the Old Deus and awakening the Knigth of the Niflheim.

    "Hahahahaahaha!"

    Then out of nowhere, he startedughing madly as now he understood the reason.

    How can the Old Deus be inferior to some dumb greenskin creatures? Even though he was hit by the Ork Champion''s full strength, which even if was decreased through his curses, it was strong enough to kill even weaker Steel-Tier in one hit.

    To his surprise, while he was injured, hisbat capabilities were still the same as they were, and his injuries were nothing severe, just a few superficial scrapes and bruises.

    "So this is the difference between the Supreme Species and lower ones..."

    Samielughed as he once again rushed at the injured Ork Champion, this time easily avoiding all of his iing attacks as he kept attacking the veins and joints of the Ork Champion that were not protected by armor.

    Orks didn''t usually wear proper armor, or even if they wore one, it was just scrapped together from armors found on the battlefield, collected from their defeated foes. Even their weapons were the same, either crudely made or something they picked up after they killed the original owner.

    Ork Champion roared in absolute rage that some weak human, from his view, was not only constantly dodging like a coward but was continuously causing him more and more injuries over all of his body.

    [Your proficiency with Lord ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%.]

    [Your proficiency with Unique ss Grand Necromancer has been increased by 2%.]

    [Your proficiency with Swordsmanship has been increased by 4%.]

    His proficiency in the Lord ss Knight of Nifleheim was increased a bit together with that of Grand Necromancer. Indeedbat was the best way to quickly increase proficiency in ss.

    "!%!?"

    The greenskin said something in his nativenguage that Samiel couldn''t really understand, as he learned only a fewnguages that were the mostmon. Unfortunately for him, orkishnguages were not among them, but if he were to guess, it would be some curse at him. For him, it sounded just like incoherent gibberish, like everything the greenskins said.

    Theirnguages were not the easiest ones to learn, and on top of that, they were not even that useful. Only greenskins would speak these bunch ofnguages, and everybody knew that greenskins were not speakers, so things like negotiations or trading would fall on deaf ears.

    Samiel used [Winter Ruler] to freeze down the Ork Champion''s legs and the entire area around them. As the Knight of Niflheim, he was basically immune to the cold and frost up to some level, and basically, right now, everything under what can hurt legendary was okey for him.

    Suddenly as Samiel was using [Winter Ruler] suddenly, it started snowing down, as everything in several tens of meters diameter was already frozen; even trees and nts were not spared and looked like if someone touched them, they would crumble down to dust.

    As Samiel was increasing the [Winter Ruler] to its limits, he felt that his Mana was depleting at an astronomical rate as he was trying to freeze the Ork Champion. He came to the conclusion that this was the best and optimal way to kill the Ork Champion without any dy.

    During the previous confrontation, he realized that he could not kill him, as the Ork Champion at the Bronze-Tier was too powerful, and his attacks were too weak. If this continued, this would be a stalemate until one side passed out or something even more unexpected happened.

    In the end, sooner orter, Ork Champion would get close to him and would kill him in a battle of attrition. So Samiel chose to another option, and that was to freeze the Ork up and turn him into a huge icicle through his [Winter Ruler] Ultimate Ability.<sub> </sub>

    The Ork Champion realized what his opponent was doing. Still, unfortunately for him, he realized it toote, as all curses that Samiel cast on him were already in full effect.

    Samiel was able to cast faster than Ork thought, and even if someone might think of this as an achievement, it wasn''t... really, it wasn''t.

    His lower body was half-frozen already, hindering his movement greatly. The Ork Champion roared in the mix of pain, rage, and whatever as he attempted to sh with his axe at Samiel, but to no vail, as he was at a safe distance from the engaged Ork.

    Thus with each passing second, the Ork Champion was frozen more and more until only his head remained unfrozen, but it was covered by frostbite.

    "Damm..."

    Samiel cursed as he copsed on the ground, as he almost got Mana Exhaustion, as he froze the Ork Champion to death. This method had the disadvantage that he won''t be able to resurrect the Ork Champion as Undead... probably, he never tried it on frozen enemies.

    [Mission: Ork Hunt has beenpleted. Currently Ork Kill Count: 204. Do you wish to ept the Rewards?]

    [Warning, if you ept the Rewards now for the Advancement Quest, the Quest will bepleted, and other Orks you kill won''t be counted to the overall score.]

    [Do you wish to ept the Rewards?]

    Samiel just declined as he continued toy on the ground as he was exhausted like hell. He wanted to finish the Advancement Quest as thest one, so every Ork he killed would be counted to the overall score.

    Especially after he finished the Unique Mission, which required him to destroy a whole Ork n, that would be thousands upon thousands of killed Orks that would be counted for the mission.

    ***

    Sometime before, at the valley with Yvraine.

    Meanwhile, Samiel was fighting against the Ork Champion; Yvraine was dancing in between the Orks that pursued her with her twin jade des as she killed one greenskin after another. Heads flew high into the air as blood spurted from their severed body parts.

    Yvraine was merciless on the battlefield, as she struck at the weakest points of the Ork, exploited them, and killed them one after another. For her, who trained several decades in the way of the sword and was exceptionally talented for the dual wielding, these Orks posed no challenge at all.

    Not to mention after she used her Ultimate Abilities, she was basically unstoppable among these Orks. Especially when they were under the effects of the Cursed Zone and at the same time were battling the Undeads.

    Though Orks were not known for mastering weapons orprehending their meaning and using their strength in a more refined way. Orks depended on the brute power and sharp axe, nothing more and nothing less.

    For them, learning proper usage of the weapon mastery was considered a waste of time, if not an outright inferior thing, maybe a bit humiliating. Mainly because it would be admitting that the Ork wascking strength.

    As she kept killing one Ork after another, she suddenly had a bad feeling as she rushed to the teau where Samile should be casting spells on the Orks below. She noticed that he stopped, so that could mean only one thing, that he was fighting someone.

    With his strength, it should be something very strong because he didn''t cast any spell for five minutes and because the situation on the down battlefield was stable and soon enough, the Undeads woulde out victorious, Yvraine decided to go and check on her "teammate".

    She soon arrived at her destination, and she was shocked to see Samiel passed out on the ground, together with the frozen Ork Champion in an enormous ice sculpture. She could see that Samiel''t uniform he was so proud of was tattered and destroyed, and he had some injuries of various degrees all around his body, but fortunately, nothing serious.

    "Damm, you dunderhead, you are barely alive."

    Sounded a soft female voice, like it was scolding him, as Samiel recognized Yvraine''s voice, as he passed out entirely.

    She scanned his contention as she found out that he suffered severe Mana Exhaustion.

    That is noughing matter as countless ss Bearers died from the Mana Exhaustion. She took out Azure Blue Crystal Bottle from his Dimensional Storage, as she opened its lit and stuffed the blue liquid into his mouth.

    It was one of the Moon Potions, which were the highest grade of the Mana Potions avable, usually reserved only for those of the Silvermoon Imperial Family. Even Yvraine had only a few tens of them, and they wouldn''t be replenished any soon, so each one was a priceless treasure.

 Chapter 16 After The Battle

    Sometimeter, Samiel''s Rest.

    Several hours have passed since Samiel passed out. Still, fortunately, due to Yvraine''s timely interference, he was without any longsting side effects. If she didn''t feed him with the Moon Mana Elixir, he would suffer some severe side effects from the Mana Exhaustion.

    "You are finally awake?"

    Questioned Yvraine as she finished changing his bandages, as he was still injured from fighting the Bronze-Tier Ork Champion. He suffered a good number of physical injuries from his fight against the Ork Champion.

    After Samiel finished fighting with the Ork Champion, he lost consciousness due to overusing his Mana, and Yvraine needed to bring him back to the cave after she found him on the cliff. Fortunately, she was strong enough to carry him, even though she didn''t look like it, but Silvermoon Elves were pretty strong physically.

    "God, that hurt like hell..."

    Muttered Samiel, as he could barely sit up and his lower half was bandaged. Even though he was injured all around his body from the fight, his injuries were not that severe, and he had already started healing back to normal.

    Eldritch Creatures were known for their terrifying healing factor, as they could recuperate from injuries that would have killed the majority of the lifeforms. But most of the Eldritchs could just shrug it off like nothing happened and heal from it.

    "I threw out your clothes as your uniform was unsalvageable... what did you think wearing white clothes and not enchanted at all?"

    Yvraine scolded him, but he could see that she was genuinely worried about his safety, as even she wouldn''t dare to fight head-on Bronze-Tier Ork Champion, even if it was a newly evolved one.

    Fighting Bronze-Tier Ork Champion as a Iron-Tier was equivalent to suicide, and most if not all people would choose to escape from it, but Samiel chose to fight and even managed to kill it.

    "Thank you."

    He said to her, as he knew that she practically saved his life, or not... Mana Exhaustion could end in many ways; even if she didn''t directly save his life, she saved him from longsting side effects from the Mana Exhaustion.

    Yvraine didn''t say anything and just fed him with another Mana Potion that sped up the regeneration of his Mana and lessened the toll on his body. This time it was just a normal Mana Potion to speed recovery... though normal as normal it could for an Imperial Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty be.

    "How long have I been out?"

    He asked as he finished drinking the Mana Potion; for sure, it was one of the top grades and refined by excellent Grandmaster Alchemist, or else it would have tasted like shit. Usually, potions tasted pretty bad unless they were brewed by someone who knew how to eliminate this side effect.

    "10 Hours plus minus some minutes, I don''t know exactly.... I am going to heat up some of the stew you made."

    After Yvraine left, Samiel looked at the notifications from the Akashic Records about the number of souls he had obtained by ughtering all of the Orks.

    [You have collected 33 Souls, 21 Iron-Tier Souls, 11 Steel-Tier Souls and 1 Bronze-Tier Soul.]

    After he read the notification about the souls he obtained, altogether more than 60, he took out the Bronze-Tier souls and directly are it. Using the [Soul Devour] to absorb the soul of the Bronze-Tier Ork Champion.

    In a second, he felt like a powerful Mana enveloped his soul, as the quality of and quantity of the soul of Bronze-Tier Ork Champion was superb, at least far superior to any souls he had, and soon enough, his Mana started increasing.

    After several minutes he reached another level, finally atst.

    [Your Level has been Increased.]

    [Proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 3%.]

    Because Samiel was an Old Deus, he required a lot more to increase his Level. Even the soul of a powerful Bronze-Tier Ork Champion was able to increase his Level by one and some bits, as he felt that he was close to reaching Level 9.

    Of course, his power wasparable to average Steel-Tier or even stronger Steel-Tier, as his Mana was unusually dense and potent, not like other Iron-Tier creatures.

    ''I don''t have enough Souls to strengthen all my Undeads... so for now, I will focus on increasing my own power.''

    He thought, as he ate all of the Steel-Tier Souls he had in his disposition, as his Mana was increasing. Still, unfortunately for him, his Level didn''t improve. He felt he was still a tiny step away from it and would need more Steel-Tier souls or Iron-Tier souls of superior races to gain any benefit from it.

    "But this is good enough; maybe after meditating for a few weeks, I would be able o increase my Level through natural absorption of ambient Mana in the air. For now, I would best focus on honing my skills and practicing my spells, especially those rted to closebat. There is no hurry in climbing the Tower at all..."

    Muttered Samiel as he stood up from the bed and went to find Yvraine, who was currently outside of the cave, sparring against some of his Undeads; more precisely, she was fighting five of them at the same time.<sub> </sub>

    The food was being heated up, so she used this time to fight against Samiel''s Undead, even though they just got from one battle... Samiel even suspected that Yvraine was a battle maniac.

    "I see that you have recuperated enough to walk and even increased your Level..."

    Stated Yvraine as she looked at him before she returned her attention to her current fight.

    "Are there any ces where I can get new clothes? These ones were myst ones."

    He questioned while looking around him. He liked his past outfit very much, as it was something he had stolen from the Vatican during his life when he attempted to rob their library. Unfortunately for him, he was soon enough chased out, but he managed to steal some relics, and among them was this white outfit that the General of Inquisition once wore.

    "Yes, on the outskirts of the continent are some small city-states. But... that is on the other side of the Darkwood Forest, and we would need to pass through several Ork ns, some danger zone, and by foot, the journey would take there at least 3 months at best, even if would be at haste."

    Samiel grumbled hearing that, as the nearest cities were that far, but that was somewhat understandable as the entire 1st Floor was basically under the control of Orks.

    And what was not under their control was ruled by other simrly minded species who often waged war on the Orks. Lizardmen, Bugbears, Goblins, Trolls or Ogres were not the most advanced species in existence, and their most preferred activity was killing each other for territory or other disputes.

    Some cities that existed on the 1st Floor were located far, far from their current position, so going there was not a realistic option right now. They wouldn''t really be able to cross such a vast distance without being killed.

    "Here, take this."

    She said in the end, as she took out some armor from her Dimensional Ring, which was used to store things like items and equipment. Yvraine had one of the highest-grade Dimensional Ring, and surprisingly even Samiel had one. As it showed itself, it was the ring that he robbed from a grave.

    It was slim ck armor with a rather ominous design and several runes inscribed around it. It had small spikes around the shoulders, giving a feeling of malice and death.

    "It is old armor that I found in the treasury of the Nesser Dynasty a few years ago and borrowed for research."

    She exined to him as Samiel started putting it on him. Yvraine helped him to wear the armor, as Samiel was half-naked, as he had only his underwear. While Yvraine attempted to hide her eyes as they trailed around his toned body and muscles, she soon started putting the armor on him.

    "Who would have thought that uptight Princess knew how to steal?"

    Samielughed at his own imagination as Yvraine blushed from embarrassment as her hands holding her twin jade des were twitching from anger. She didn''t like the word "steal", "borrow" sounded much better. Especially when she was borrowing something about which she knew nobody would miss it.

    [Ego of the Holy-Grade Armour Rao''s Vengence is waking up.]

    [Ego of the Holy-Grade Armour Rao''s Vengence is attempting to take over its bearer.]

    [Ego of the Holy-Grade Armour Rao''s Vengence is trying to pull you into the madness.]

    Samiel suddenly felt a weird sensationing over him, but in a moment when the Ego of the Rao''s Vengence was about to touch him, suddenly a deep freezing cold of void burst out of his soul and prated the entire Holy-Grade Armour Rao''s Vengence through and through.

    [You have sessfully resisted attempts of the Ego of the Holy-Grade Armour Rao''s Vengence.]

    [Your Patron God Blind Idiot God is enraged that mere Ego of the piece of rust attempted to corrupt his Apostle and Blood.]

    [Blind Idiot God sent a whisp of wind at the Ego of the Holy-Grade Armour Rao''s Vengence.]

    [Ego of the Holy-Grade Armour Rao''s Vengence has been entirely obliterated by the tiny whips of Azathoth''s power.]

    ? Yvraine was looking at him with worry as it was evident that something had happened with the old creepy armor she gave him, but soon Samiel returned to normal, as all of the coldness returned back to his body.

    "That armor you gave me had an Ego... a pretty nasty one at that."

    Huffed Samiel as he adjusted the Armor Rao''s Vengence as the Ego was finally killed by his Patron God. It didn''t even take a split of a second as the Ego of the Holy-Grade Armor was obliterated by the Azathoth.

    Azathoth represented madness and ughter, so he probably felt pretty offended that some piece of equipment tried to pull his Apostle into the madness. Sometimes even Outer Gods were petty, especially when someone touched what was theirs.

 Chapter 17 Raos Vengence

    After hearing that, Yvraine was frozen in shock because Artifacts with Ego are exceedingly rare nowadays. Not many could create it, and depending on the natural conditions was just a pipe dream.

    Typically, it required either special conditions to create one or someone very skillful artisan or Transcendent. Not even Gods of cksmithing couldn''t create Ego Artifacts each time or other Transcendents skilled in these fields.

    Even Nesser Dynasty and other top mortal factions had only a few Ego Artifacts at their disposal, as those were something that even Transcendents greatly coveted. Even from top mortal factions, only a few of them officially possessed some Ego Artifacts, and generally, if they did, they were weapons.

    If a powerful Ego Artifact appeared on the lower floors, it wasn''t umon to see Gods, Daemons, Devils, Dragons, and other powerful beings descending down to fight for it. Not even Transcendents were spared from the greed of the Ego Weapon.

    Last time, even a few Tower Guardians and one Gatekeeper joined the fray; as they were fighting for the powerful Ego Sword appeared on the 46th Floor, where it was dug up by some lucky mortal. During their fight, the entire 46th Floors was destroyed, and even Legendaries were used just as cannon fodder during that war.

    Yvraine didn''t know that the armor had an Ego already; she took it because it was a Holy-Grade Artifact that nobody in her family used for countless millenias, so she came to the conclusion that no one would probably notice if it was gone.

    "It attempted to corrupt me and cast me into the madness... what a load of hippogriff shit."

    Samiel cursed as he admired himself, how badass he looked in the new armor. He finally had some suitable armor for himself, and he had to admit, while he liked the military style of his former outfit more, right now, he looked more menacing, just like a worshipper of Outer Gods should be.

    Though he made a mental note that he should procure himself some simr outfit for casual wear. After that, he opened the record of Rao''s Vengence.

    [Name: Rao''s Vengence

    Grade: Holy (seriously damaged)

    Description: Armor made from the corpse of an Ancient Primordial God of Sun Rao and various rare metals collected across the entire Cosmos, containing all of his resentment and hatred for the world of the living, it was named Rao''s Vengence, and after thousands of years of absorbing negative energy and souls of its bearers, it developed an Ego, bing an Ego Artifact.

    After it was almost destroyed, the armor of Rao''s Vengence fell to the Holy-Grade and is currently deteriorating. To repair itpletely, multiple precious ores and metals are needed, additionally as other things.

    Abilities:

    1st Corruption - Has corrupting effect on its bearer and usually leads to madness.

    2nd Berserker - Upon Awakening the Armor, ignored all physical or physical pain for the host to continue to fight on.

    3rd Mana Absorption - Can absorb Mana and Spells, making the User nemesis of magic casters.

    4th Growth - Can grow and restore itself by assimting material, metals, ores, crystals, and even souls of powerful beings.

    Note: Currently, all abilities aside from Growth are sealed until the armor is restored to optimal condition. Be aware that the armor is currently in a state of constant deterioration; if it deteriorates below the limit, it couldpletely crumble apart.

    Restoration Process: 0%]

    Samiel read the description; he didn''t know whether tough or cry. On the one hand, he basically obtained a golden finger from the start, as the Armour was overpowered, and just the fact that even in a half-destroyed deteriorating state, it was still Holy-Grade Artifact was astounding.

    On the other hand, it was in a half-destroyed deteriorating state, meaning the state of the Armour was constantly being worsened, and if he didn''t do anything, it would fall even further and further until it would fall apart.

    After pondering over it, he exined the situation to Yvraine as, in the end, it was her''s or rather, it belonged to her family, the Nesser Dynasty of the Silvermoon Elves. It was a bit awkward situation, as technically speaking, it was a stolen piece of equipment he had.

    But fortunately, nobody will probably recognize it. As it was located in the vaults of the Imperial Family of the Nesser Dynasty of the Silvermoon Elves, only a very few people could enter that ce, and most of them were Yvraine''s family.

    "Hmm... this is problematic; even though I tried to wear it once, it never reacted so violently towards me as to you. Additionally, wearing it tobat might be a bad idea, as it could speed up the destruction process if you get hit many, many times. Or at least try to not be hit many times."

    After Samiel exined the situation to Yvraine, she stated her opinion about the thing before she thought about the possible solutions to the deterioration problem.

    "For now, it would be best to initiate the restoration process of the armor, but for that, we would need to find some ores or metals, and based on that, this thing was originally Transcendent-Grade Artifact; we need to find precious ones..."

    Said Yvraine as she started searching through her memories where on the first floor, they could obtain something that could at least stop the deterioration process of the Armour temporarily.

    "There are some ore deposits in the Lambrean Mountains."

    Eximed Yvraine after pondering over it for some time. Indeed the Lambrean Mountains were filled with rich deposits of rare ores, metals, and other minerals. Though from what Samiel heard, most of them were dangerous as hell, some with even Legendary Level Magical Beasts overseeing some of those deposits.

    "And could it be really done? Speaking like realistically done."

    Asked Samiel as he knew that Lambrean Mountains were filled with Rock Trolls, something that was out of their capabilities. And the Rock Trolls were just the least of his concerns.<sub> </sub>

    "Rock Troll tribes are inhabiting only inner parts of the Mountains, and I know that some Nobles of the Nesser Dynasty were overseeing mines in the Lambrean Mountains."

    She said, and he knew where she was going with this.

    "So we can just walk there and ask them to give us what we need. Fortunately, now you look more non-human, or we would get into problems, or rather I would get into problems."

    Silvermoon Elves had a great hatred for humans, as humanity, together with Greenskins, Beastmen, and a few other races, were most destructive towards nature; additionally, in many worlds, humans tended to enve Elfs, so entire elvenkind despised humans.

    While Samiel was a former human, he didn''t care, as even as a human, he didn''t like his own race.

    Humans were weak, greedy, corruptible, and narrow-minded. He always believed in survival of the fittest and in weak dies and strong lives.

    "When do you want to depart?"

    He asked as he knew that Yvraine wasn''t really hurrying in climbing the Tower, and for her, it was more like an adventurous journey and sightseeing in one, rather than a life-changing event, like for countless other people who entered from the outside.

    Pursuing the path of power, reaching Legendary or even higher, achieving their dreams, and many others.

    And Samiel wanted to experience everything that the Tower had to offer. He knew that many ces he would be able to explore only as a Legendary, but there were still countless ces to see as a Mortal.

    "We will wait a week or two."

    She answered shortly, as it was best to wait and prepare before making such an arduous journey like that to the Lambrean Mountains because they would need to cross the considerable distance.

    Both of them sat down and observed nature as they talked about various things. From the time they spent together, Samiel noticed that Yvraine was more approachable than she was before.

    "Won''t your family miss the Armor?"

    Samiel put down the question which had been bothering him for some time already, since the moment Yvraine gave him the Rao''s Vengence.

    "No, there is a high possibility that nobody would even notice it is missing from the Vaults. It was in the Vaults for several thousands of years, and nobody ever bothered with it, so it is okey... I think."

    Even though she sounded unsure, neither of them proceeded to dabble in this matter for more.

    "Do you see those iing clouds?"

    She pointed at the dark clouds gathering in the west. After two hours, they sat down and started talking about things; suddenly, dark clouds began gathering in the entire western area.

    He nodded; not only that Samiel noticed those clouds, but he felt something dangerous from them.

    "It is called Extermination Thunder Storm, and it ising this way; it would be bad to move under that. The appearance of the Extermination Thunder Storm means that arge number of people entered to the 1st Floor from the outside, probably thousands."

    She exined before making a slight pause, probably for better dramatical effect, as her beautiful long blonde hair fluttered in his air, which was getting stronger by each minute passed.

    "And in situations like these, Tower has decided to cut down the number... they must be in the western part of the continent, where we are located."

    rified Yvraine, as she now remembered the small group of humans she encountered on the first floor, who were pursued by the Orks; it appears even more of those humans entered the Tower.

    "Does this happen often?"

    Asked Samiel as she shook her head in denial.

    "No, on the contrary, it is a rarity. Especially on the lower floors."

    It appeared that he would experience some, one in a lifetime experience, or rather it would be one in a lifetime for short-lived species.

    "Probably the Tower got connected to a new world... this would be a mess. It appears we would witness something really unique."

    Sighed Yvraine as they both sat down and observed iing dark clouds as thunder sounded through the entire area. Unaware or aware of the terrible fate of those on whom the storm was aimed.

 Chapter 18 Under The Clouds

    "Why do you think?"

    Asked Samiel as another thunder sounded somewhere in the background. The weather changed drastically during the past few hours, and from nice and sunny, it evolved to this shitstorm above their heads.

    "It''s all about the resources; everybody strives to get as much as possible to be stronger than theirpetitors."

    Samiel tilted his head to the side as his brain wheels started working.

    "Resources?"

    To his question, Yvraine nodded and proceeded to exin the thing further.

    "Each new world connected to the Tower is practically a treasure trove full of most valuable resources for either Mortal Factions or Transcendent Faction. Practically everyone could find there something they would need. For Mortal Factions, like Nesser Dysntasy or Magisterium, could obtain territory, resources, and other stuff that could be used in their growth. On the other hand, the most valuable resource for Transcendent Factions is the poption itself."

    She made a short pause before she continued in the exnation of the politicalndscape of the Tower and the entirety of the Cosmos. As expected, nothing was simple in this world, and even the slightest changes could create a colossal tsunami.

    "Among Transcendent Factions, Pantheons of Gods are itching to spread their religions to gather more Faith, 72 Daemon Pirs of Abyss and 7 Archdevils from the Nine Hells of the Baator are looking for souls they could consume. Other species with Transcendental backing would also be looking for some advantages they could gain from the new world."

    She made a small pause before continuing her exnation.

    "Practically every new world that got connected to the Tower and was without strong protection meant war, but that also depended on the type of the world and civilization living in there."

    Samiel could agree with that; all it was about was power and greed.

    From what he knew about the Transcendents, they were always on the look to increase their power. Transcendent Level Beings had a very hard time in improving their raw power, and when some defenseless world appeared, it was always considered a treasure trove.

    Especially for those like Gods whose Godhood solely depended on the existence of Believers, so for them spreading their religions and gathering more Faith was essential. Not to mention that Gods could easily fall from the Transcendent States if they are forgotten and do not receive the Faith for a prolonged period of time.

    Though many Eldritch Creatures were termed as Outer Gods, their Godhood worked differently, as they gained strength not only through the Faith, but they could grow their Godhood permanently without risk of falling through devouring Souls and Negative Energy. Pretty simr to what Daemons and Devils are doing through the countless worlds and dimensions.

    Same about the powerful mortal factions that wanted to obtain more territories, resources like ores or rare nts, natural treasures, and many other things that could be gained when one was controlling the entire world.

    "So, who do you think would be the first one to cross over there?"

    Asked Samiel about her professional opinion, as she knew much more about the politicalndscape of the Tower and the Cosmos. Yvraine was well educated about these things; surprisingly, she would always answer his questions, no matter how stupid or basic they were, if he had any.

    "Orks. The entire 1st Floor is under the rule of Orks, and it is only a miracle that Ork Boss Gurnish didn''t be Floor Ruler. Not to mention, they should have already encountered some of these neers, and even though the Orks are musclebrains, they have a keen sense of searching the war."

    Samiuel could agree with this statement, as Orks would never pass out the opportunity to participate in a war.

    "So, in my opinion, Orkoid Pantheon would be first, then probably some other Pantheons, depending on the world."

    She then slightly paused, remembering the humans she had encountered. For sure, they were originating from the newly connected world to the Tower. From a certain point of view, they were really unlucky to be connected to the Tower, as they would be destroyed, enved, or annihted for sure.

    Their chances for survival would be better if they got connected to some weaker world, but s, fate had other ns as it seemed.

    "From what I saw, it was more like a purely scientific world, meaning not many Gods would be interested in that, as it is hard to spread religion in worlds like that. So probably Daemons or Devils would want to catch some Souls, and would send their forces and cultists, andstly probably the Hall of Kadath."

    It was true that spreading the Faith in the pure scientific worlds was horror for any Church, so that would be reasonable that most Pantheons would back down, and only warmongers like Orks would be interested.

    Pantheons and Churches preferred rtively backward worlds where they could spread their Faith, and worlds defined by logic and reason were on the bottom of the list where they would attempt to obtain some sheep. Worlds like these required a lot of effort and resources to develop and transform into pure religious and pious worlds, so for the majority of Pantheons, it was not worth the hassle.

    Ironically they would rather ignore these worlds, and even if they found some world like this, only those of the strongest Pantheon could really transform pure scientific worlds into their faithful sheep through various machinations and, most importantly, Apocalypse.

    Orkoids loved to destroy things, so for them, the worlds they were invading didn''t really matter, and only what mattered was the Waaagh, or in normalnguage, war. Samiel already had a hunch; they were searching for these humans and a way to invade their world to unleash the war.

    Daemons and Devils were also understandable as both species vied for souls and also for a proxy battlefield. Daemons and Devils were two species that warred against each other since immemorial, and where one of them appeared, the second one arrived soon after to fight against the first one.

    But Samiel never really heard about the Hall of Kadath; even though it sounded familiar, it sounded like a home to him; it was a very bizarre and indescribable feeling.

    "Hall of Kadath... that sounds familiar."

    Said Samiel quietly. He heard that name several times from Yvraine already, always when she mentioned that, he could feel a kind of respect but also a great deal of fear in her voice, just by saying the name of the faction.

    "Hall of Kadath is one of the strongest, if not the strongest mortal faction in the Tower and through the entire Universe. They are the smallest faction when ites to numbers. Still, their individual power is frightening, as they have a higher number of powerhouses. Each one of their core members is a very mighty Legendary. Worshippers of Outer Gods, and all of them are inside in their own way. Currently, the strongest person in the Tower under the Transcendent Level is their Hall Master, Menuhyutt Faulhaber."

    Samiel listened attentively, as there was probably a high possibility that in the future, he would join the Hall of Kadath due to him being the Apostle of the Blind Idiot God Azathoth.<sub> </sub>

    Also, it would be nice to have the might of an entire faction behind him and ess to the best resources in the Tower and Universe, as the Hall of Kadath for sure controlled many worlds and Dimensions, and the Outer Gods they served were among most powerful Transcendentals.

    "How are the rtionships between Hall of Kadath and Nesser Dynasty?"

    Questioned Samiel suddenly, as Yvraine could see his hidden intentions asking this.

    "Not bad... Hall of Kadath is a very reclusive faction. They didn''t show themselves for ten thousand years, as they usually keep to themselves. Thestmotion was when the new Cardinal was inaugurated into the Hall, where they fought with some Vampire ns, and even one of the Vampire Ancestors was killed. Actually, my Uncle is one of the Cardinals of the Hall, so our rtionships with Hall are very good."

    He didn''t want to join a faction that was on bad terms with the Nesser Dynasty, as in past days, he grew fond of Yvraine, and he considered her as a friend, which was something he didn''t really have.

    During his time as a Patrick Smith, he didn''t have a lot of friends, or probably any? Aside from his cat, though... He was not the most socially able person, not that he cared about that; he was never shy from the loneliness. On the contrary, he loved it just as much as it terrified him.

    Even though Yvraine was a somewhat arrogant and posh princess, she was an actually decentpany, as he could easily filter and ignore her provocations or other things she said, as he really didn''t care much about it.

    Not to mention during the past days, especially since the moment she dragged him after he copsed from fighting the Bronze-Tier Ork Champion, she became more moderate in her provocations and even kind... at least at some times.

    "We should go inside the cave; the storm is approaching rather fast."

    Said Yvraine as both of them stood up and went to the cave; Samiel recalled his Undeads and ordered them to seal the entrance to the cave, as they went to deeper parts of the cave, where there were some primitive lodgings built by his Undead.

    "What are you cooking?"

    She asked as she created fire by casting a spell on a pile of wood she put together. He liked cooking over the fire, it gave food a whole new level of vor, especially when one was making meat on the fire.

    "Steaks from Two-Headed Cow."

    He replied as his Undead brought the Two-Headed Cow that they caught several hours ago.

    "How did you learn all of that?"

    Asked Yvraine curiously as he got to the work.

    "My homeworld has surprisingly very developed gastronomy, and I learned from the best. While I didn''t seem for it, I became very rich, like, very, very rich, and from vanity, I kept hiring the best chefs around the world to teach me how to cook. Surprisingly, I was natural at it, and after a few years, I learned practically everything aside from some things that I didn''t have a strong interest."

    Answered Samiel as he started shaping nice juicy steaks from the Two-Headed Cow.

    "You know, the secret is not the recipes but techniques. Once you master proper cooking techniques and skills, you can apply them to almost all sorts of food and eats in some way."

    He stated as he started seasoning the several huge steaks. He ate a lot, and even Yvreaine, despite her slim figure, was quite an eater if she waned.

    He took out some species on the meat, as they were one of the few things he had in his Dimensional Ring, and started seasoning them just with a pinch of salt and four types of pepper for extra vor.

    "And now the fire would do the rest of the wondrous vor of these steaks."

    He said as he took them on the fire and started to sear them up.

    "Remember, my young apprentice, the only way to cook a steak is a medium rare, and everything else is heresy!"

    Samiel imitated the voice of a sage as he instructed Yvraine, and to his surprise, she took it seriously and nodded, which almost made himugh.

    And after several minutes, the steaks were done, nicely medium rare in the middle, while seared from the outside. Just a perfection.

    "And now we need to rest the meat, approximately the same amount of time we cooked it, to let it rest."

    He said as he put the steaks aside and prepared tes.

    And after several minutes, they started eating; from what he could see, Yvraine enjoyed the steaks very much.

    "This is delicious."

    She said while stuffing herself with more pieces of meat.

    "I am d that you like it."

 Chapter 19 Happenings Here And There...

    The next day, Samiel woke up early in the morning as he heard massive thunder fall somewhere near their cave. The entire cave shook up, but fortunately for them, not that lot, as nothing fell onto their heads.

    This was a good thing as he looked at the spikes on the top of the ceiling.

    He could see that Yvraine was still heavily asleep, as probably the barrier protected her from all those annoying sounds from the outside. Samiel just cursed at her, as she could sleep without any disturbances, but he couldn''t due to the thunderstorm.

    He went to the cave''s entrance, and he instructed two Ork Undeads to move the boulder blocking it, so he could see what was happening outside the cave. Outside was heavily raining, as the lightning bolts and thunderbolts were falling here and there, all around the entire area of the ce.

    He focused his hearing and could hear some screams in an unknownnguage, probably screaming for help, and also Orks roaring for the war; hundreds upon hundreds of Orks were gathering in every corner of the area, as thousands more of them were going.

    "So they finally realized that my Undead made a new entrance... Yvraine was right; we better be closed in the cave until this initial mess is finished."

    She proposed hiding in the cave until Orks were finished with finding the entrance to the new world that was connected to the Tower. There were too many greenskins right now in the entire area that even though most of them were just Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier, they wouldn''t dare to exit the cave.

    After the Orks finished ughtering all humans that came from the unknown dimension, they would bring the captured one to their Boss for interrogation and then depart to locate the dimensional entrance to that world so that the Orks would start their invasion.

    He sighed, hoping this turbulent time would pass as soon as possible so he couldplete the Unique Quest. He knew that not all ns would be participating in the invasion, as only Warboss decided who would be participating and who not.

    Samiel knew that Chieftain would choose only the strongest ns for this task and the most loyal to him. This was some sort of reward for those who were loyal to the Chieftain, so they could go and rampage. Just like ancient Romans had bread and games, Orks had war.

    After inhaling the air, which was wet from the rain, he returned back to the cave and started preparing breakfast, as he was a bit hungry. Even though he would love to spend more time outside and enjoy the fresh air, he had the training to do.

    Today, he would be spending most of his time practicing the 1st Level Spells all over; maybe he would spar with Yvraine as she took time teaching him swordsmanship, as she was very good with her des.

    Samiel was also thinking about learning some Magic rted to the Ice or something simr, as he would greatly benefit from that, as each Ice Spell cast by him would be strengthened severalfold due to his Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler.

    That was another boon about the Abilities that Yvraine told him; if some had the elemental ability or conceptual ability, if they learned magic rted to that said ability, their magic cast by them would be several times stronger due to the effect from their ability.

    Unfortunately, under current circumstances learning any other kind of magic was impossible, as he would need Magic Tome or Grimoire for that if he wanted to learn by himself. Or someone to teach him, but again, he didn''t know anybody who could cast such magic, as he had just now arrived at the Tower.

    ***

    Meanwhile, as Samiel was pondering about what to do next and which spell to practice, enormous distance from him, in the center of the continent, an important meeting was taking ce.

    The entire 1st Floor wasrger than Euroasia Continent from Samiel''s homeworld Earth, and this was just a 1st Floor which was considered tiny by many. Each Floor was bigger than the previous one, so the higher floors were enormous that could fit even entire Sr Systems in them without the slightest problems.

    In the center of the continent was a ce where the Warboss of the Bloodtooth Tribe was residing with his entourage of Orks; most of them were Bosses and n Heads of their own ns, or powerful Ork Champions at the Legendary-Tier.

    Average Ork Tribe had more than 100 Legendary-Tier Orks, and more powerful ones had even more. Unfortunately, the Bloodtooth Tribe, under the leadership of the previous Chieftain, lost the waagh against another Ork Tribe on the 79th Floor and were forced to run with their tails between their legs to the lowest Floor of the Tower, and only had 38 Legendary-Tier Orks.

    After they arrived on the 1st Floor, the old Chieftain was challenged to the Trial by Combat by a newly evolved Ork Boss called Gurnish, who killed the old Chieftain, and by traditions of the Orkoid species, he became the new Chieftain.

    "Is it truth, Head Shaman?"

    Roared Gurnish as he squashed the goblin to his death. The fate of the goblins was miserable under the rule of their bigger and stronger Ork cousins, as they were used as the lowest cannon fodder among the greenskins, or to clean the battlefield, or just to go their anger or something.

    It wasn''tmon to see an angry Ork just beating some goblins to death to go their anger, or sometimes just for fun.

    "Yes, Boss."

    Replied the Head Shaman, who was a very old-looking Ork, and despite his frail stature, nobody could underestimate the Old Ork as not only was he one of the most knowledgable Orks in the entire Tribe, but also the most powerful immediately after the Chieftain.

    Be it, Tribe or n, the second most important person was always, Shaman or if there were more of them, then Head Shaman.

    In Ork Kulture, shamans had an important role as they not only acted as their variation of magic users but also because they were able to call on the power of their ancestors to help themmunicate with Spirits and with Ork Gods.

    They acted as advisors and counsel to the Bosses, and usually, the Shamans were the smarter ones of the Orkoid Species... maybe because of that, they were so rare.

    "We can obtain favor of the Ork Gods by destroying the world. Immediately summon all Ork Warriors, and we will march at the Eastern Mountain Pass where the gate is, and in Waaaghh!"<sub> </sub>

    Shouted Ork Chieftain and Warboss Gurnish as he brandished his huge war axe and stuck it in the ground, while all Orks around him roared the same word, "Waaghh" as the war was finallying for the Bloodtooth Tribe.

    Their Tribe managed to capture several humans who originated from the backward world without Mana and somehow got connected to the Tower. The usual reaction of the newly connected worlds is to rush into the Tower without caring about the consequences.

    When Gurnish heard that, he immediately sensed an opportunity to make a great sacrifice to the Ork Gods, who would then, in turn, reward him and his Tribe with more power so he could wash the humiliation suffered at the hands of the ck Axe Tribe at the 78th Floor.

    He hoped if he sacrificed this world to the Ork Gods, he would receive power from them, and he could return back to the 78th Floor to ughter the ck Axe Tribe and take over its ce as one of the Heads of the Orkish War Horde.

    Of course, he waspletely unaware of all gazes that were looking on the first Floor from the lofty pces and dark ces and with, most importantly, not caring even a bit about his existence or his "threat".

    ***

    And just the news about the gate to a new world spread to the Bloodtooth Tribe; all other factions got the same news. Not every day, the new defenseless world connected to the Tower, and many eyes were looking in the direction of the 1st Floor.

    Some of them just looked indifferent, while some factions created by humans looked at them with pity and sadness. For some, they were just unfortunate civilization that would be soon annihted or enved, just like for some, it was a juicy piece of meat.

    Magisterium was intrigued and decided to send a few Legendaries to harvest the fruits of their civilization. While the Magisterium was the primary magic-oriented faction, they practically often absorbed everything others created and searched for knowledge. So even though the new ones were scientific civilization, it didn''t stop Magisterium from coveting it.

    Magical Technology was a big hit in the past several thousand years, as many people started integrating technology with magic, creating something called Magetech, giving rise to a new generation of Magetech Engineers and Artificers.

    Meanwhile, a meeting was taking ce at the Hall of Kadath. Various Cardinals were once more gathered in thevish meeting hall as they awaited the decision of the Hall Master on the current course of action.

    Even the Hall of Kadath was not spared from the fate of wanting its share of the souls and suffering from the ordeal. Simr to Cultists of Devils and Daemons or mad priests of the Evil Gods, they too wanted their share, and indeed a world without any protector was too tempting for anyone to resist it.

    "Hey, old man, send me there; I can collect more souls and cause more destruction than any of these prudes."

    Shouted Cardinal Zaldidraax among them, not caring about the looks he received from his fellow Cardinals. Several stared looked like they wanted to skewer him and turn him into lizard barbecue, but he ignored them.

    Many of them view Zaldidraax as a brainless battle maniac who would create more trouble than he would gain on the trip.

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber looked at the Zaldidraax for a moment before he nodded in agreement. Menuhyutt Faulhaber knew that soon enough, truly powerful Legendaries would head over to the 1st Floor from all over the Tower.

    If the Hall of Kadath wanted to have their shares of souls, they would need to send someone very mighty. Now that they got information that Magisterium was sniffling around, nobody knew who else would join the fray and how many powerful experts would gather.

    Even though Zaldidraax was a brash brute and behaved like an idiot even for the standards of Red Dragon and was beyond stupid, his strength was frightening as he was almost peak of the Legendary-Tier. In his true form, he would need several people to fight him at once to have a chance at defeating him.

    "Zaldidraax will go onto the first Floor and collect the souls for the Kadaths. Rember, don''t fight anyone from the Gates unless necessary... it is still not time for us toe out on the light and fight once more. Though if someone dares to steal souls from us... turn them all to the ash."

    Words of the Hall Master were absolute as Zaldidraax grinned from ear to ear, that he was chosen for the mission. In fact, this would be for the first time; he would be going alone for the soul-collecting mission.

    Normally, he would be going partnered with someone else, or at all, because this job required delicacy of magic skills and patience. While Zaldidraax had the skills, he severelycked the patience.

    "Excellent choice... hopefully, that stupid red lizard will bring back the Soul Crystals instead of forgetting them somewhere."

    Snorted the Cardinal, who looked like an ancient cultivator with two huge swords behind his back, as he rubbed his long beard.

    "Shen Long, you cheap bastard!"

    Screamed Zaldidraax at him, only to be silenced by the re of the Hall Master Menuhyutt while he remembered what happened thest time.

    Thest time he went onto the soul-collecting mission was together with Shen Long, the Sacred Sword. They went into some remote part of the Cosmos, which was ravaged by the Mind Flyers, as they went to collect the souls of people Mind Flyers killed.

    They spent there several deceased, collecting an immeasurable number of souls. After they were done with their assignment, they collected the Soul Crystals, where the souls were trapped and departed back.

    Or at least one of them, while Zaldidraax forgot to collect the Soul Crystals and instead went to fight with some random Mind Flyers he found pretty strong, and not that surprisingly, during the fight, another Legendary Mind Flyer sneaked into the cave where the Soul-Collection Spell Formation was located and stole all Soul Crystals.

 Chapter 20 Encounter With Gnolls

    Days passed quietly as Samiel, together with Yvraine, remained at the cave, either training in closebat or he was practicing spells. Contrary to the past, practicing spells right now was a rtively easy thing for him due to his ridiculouslyrge mana reserves upon racial change to the Old Deus and bing partial Eldritch.

    Even Yvraine envied him a bit for his high Mana, and that was from the point of view of a Silvermoon Elf, one of the species that were considered blessed by Mana. Silvermoon Elves were on the same level as Dragons with their affinity for mana handling and magic.

    He was already beginning to grasp some basics ofbat and weapon usage, and his proficiency in spells significantly increased. At least now, he wouldn''t have a problem actively casting during a battle.

    Casting spells during the battle required a lot of practice, as even the slightest mistake could lead to an explosion or another unsavory ending. That was why most of the magic casters preferred to be protected during the casting process, and only those skilled enough would do something like he was doing.

    In truth, he didn''t have skills like other casters that could cast actively during the battle, but Samiel had a pretty unique condition; abination of Superior Species together with special sses allowed him to achieve this feat without that much mastery over the skill itself.

    Soon enough, more than ten days passed as they were in the cave, and the Extermination Thunder Storm had passed. At the same time, both of them could observe the march of the enormous Ork Warhorde that marched through the entire continent to somewhere in the Eastern Area.

    "We can now depart towards the Lambrean Mountains."

    Said Yvraine as she looked at the sky, as the rain stopped, and it was good weather, at least currently. They didn''t want to go when it was still raining as that would make their journey more dangerous than it already was.

    They were going to cross around three hundred kilometers to reach the mining outpost of the Nesser Dynasty, which was their target. There they could hopefully obtain some rare metals to stop the deteriorating process of the Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence.

    Partially Samiel cursed at the piece of metal because if it the Ego didn''t wake up and attempted to possess Samiel, his patron wouldn''t have destroyed it, and which in turn would not start the deteriorating process once more.

    A journey to the Lambrean Mountains would require them to pass through arge part of the Darkwood Forest, meaning passing through all hostile species, countless magical beasts, and god knows where. For sure, there were even more terrifying creatures than just Rock Trolls there.

    Lambrean Mountains were a hell dangerous ce, where Samiel would, under normal circumstances, never set his foot. Unfortunately for him, he didn''t really have a choice in this. However, he wanted to return here after he reached Gold-Tier, to search through the ce and obtain some treasures.

    Fortunately, Yvraine chose the pathway through the Outskirts, where the strongest lifeforms were just of a Steel-Tier. Maybe some lost Bronze-Tier would appear from time to time, but nothing they, together with his Undead Army, could not deal with.

    And thus, their journey to the Lambrean Mountains has begun.

    ***

    After they had been walking for some time already, both of them heard some weird sounds in the woods and bushes.

    "Did you hear that?"

    Asked Yvraine as they suddenly stopped after walking for more than ten hours, as her ears perked up. Elves as species had very sensitive hearing abilities, and in the forest, they were basically unbeatable, as it was their natural environment.

    Simrly, like dwarves were strongest underground because it was their natural environment, or Blood Raced under the shadows of night. And Elves were stronger in the forest, while for the ordinary Elves, it was not that notable. Still, for the Silvermoon Elves, being in their natural enviroment, it made a significant difference.

    "Gnoll Pack."

    She said shortly after, as Samiel quickly summoned his Undead and readied himself for thebat.

    Contrary to Orks, Gnolls were species that lived in the forests, or more specifically, they lived in the cave systems underneath the forests. As expected, it was no surprise that some type of monsters ambushed them, and this time it were Gnolls.

    Gnolls were feral humanoids that looked like a hybrid of hyena and human, often ferocious, brutal and bloodthirsty monsters that attacked smaller settlements, ughtering and eating their victims.

    They also cleaned battlefields, as they were essentially scavengers, picking up weapons, armor, or even corpses for them to eat. Gnolls often appeared after huge battles and collected weapons, armors, corpses to eat, and shiny things.

    The origin of Gnolls wasrgely unknown, but many theorized that they were failed experiments of Daemons to create another species like the Beasmen, but failing ultimately. In truth, many Monster races were failed experiments of Transcendents or very mighty Legendaries.

    Still, Gnolls were pretty dangerous, as they attacked in huge numbers and coordinated manner. They were a wolf-like monsters, so they utilized the same tactics as the wolf-type magical beast.<sub> </sub>

    Though if you kill the Gnoll Pack Lord, the entire pack will break apart, as nobody willmand the other Gnolls. In this aspect, Gnolls were very simr to wolf-type magical beasts who, if they lost their Alpha, would instantly fall back and regroup.

    Same with Gnolls, though they would retreat because if their strongest got killed, they would escape, as Gnolls were cowards at their core. This was the nature of an entire Gnoll species, bully the weak, fear the strong, and try to kill anyone with numbers, and if it fails, then just run.

    "Roar, roar."

    Both of them heard the roaring of the Gnoll Pack that was surrounding them, as suddenly all Gnolls started attacking them. There were around 250 of them, but all of them, aside from a few, were Iron-Tier, while only the Gnoll Pack Leader was a Steel-Tier Gnoll, with few others. Other Steel-Tier Gnolls were likely some sub-leaders or mutated individuals who reached higher tiers.

    Unfortunately for the Gnolls, Samiel''s Ork Undeads rushed ferociously at the Gnoll Pack as they cleaved the Gnolls apart with their huge axes and sword. Undead Orks were bigger and stronger than the Gnolls.

    Meanwhile, Samiel was using [Winter Ruler] to freeze any Gnolls that managed to get close to me, as there were already six or seven frozen gnolls around him. In truth, he wouldn''t resurrect them as Undead even if he could, as gnolls were just so inferior species to the Undead.

    When creating Undeads, the simple rule was in effect.

    Stronger base, stronger the Undead. Because of that, Necromancers searched for powerful creatures that could be resurrected by them as Undead. Many Necromancers had basically no bottom line when it came to their purse of material, as grave robbing and stealing corpses were on the daily schedule. Even Samiel was no different from this.

    Meanwhile, Yvraine was jumping from one gnoll to another, as she plunger her jade des to their necks, killing one after another, as she soon enough arrived at the position where the Gnoll Pack Leader was barkingmands in theirnguage if it could be even callednguage and not just senseless roaring.

    Just as, Samiel was freezing more gnolls to their death, as none of them were capable of withstanding just a bit of the frost from the [Winter Ruler], Yvrained brandished her jade twin des as she rushed at the Gnoll Pack Leader, appearing next to him, and with a cross sh, she separated his pathetic head from even more pathetic body.

    After the other Gnolls felt that their Pack Leader was killed, they howled as they decided to retreat. Unfortunately for them, his Undeads were not that keen on that intention and surrounded the surviving gnolls and started killing them one by one, as he began to quickly collecting their souls while asionally shooting some Ice Weapon or freezing some stupid gnoll to death.

    After short twenty minutes, everything was over, as Samiel had 276 souls in his possession altogether. He was pondering about what to do with them because he was pretty tempted to increase the strength of his Undeads by feeding them with Souls.

    Hopefully, at least half of them will advance to the Steel-Tier. Having more than 100 Steel-Tier Undeads at hismand sounded appearing.

    Before anything, he salvaged the gnolls'' usable weapons, as they had some excellent weapons in good shape. They probably found them abandoned after the original owner was killed, or they went through some battlefieldtely.

    As they collected everything that was usable by his Undead, Samiel told Yvrainme he was going to advance his Undeads as he started distributing them the souls of deceased he had in his possession, as Soul Fire of his Undead glowed in shining light, as their strength increased.

    In an entire process, 57 Ork Undeads advanced into the Steel-Tier, while the rest remained at the Iron-Tier.

    He looked at the Iron-Tier Undeads, thinking about what to do with them before he gave them themand to start fighting and assimte each other''s Soul Fires to advance into the Steel-Tier.

    Meanwhile, as everything was happening, Yvraine was observing with great curiosity as to Samiel''s ignorance, his method of handling souls was something that even Lengedaries would envy him, and this method of advancing the strength of Undead was done only by mighties Necromancers and simr upations.

    In truth, the mostmon method was the second one, and that was to obtain arge number of Undead and let them fight each other, assimting the Soul Fires and advancing their collective strength.

    When the entire process, as a whole, Samiel had 72 Steel-Tier Undeads, all of them being Undead Ork Warriors, which was a very good thing. He always preferred to have quality at first and then cultivate the quantity with quality as the base.

    "We can now continue our journey."

    He said as he recalled all of his Undeads.

    With 72 Steel-Tier Undeads, their journey would be much safer, and fate would present more opportunities to them. More Undead the Necromancer had, and stronger they were, made a powerful Necromancer.

    And Samiel had way more Undead than average Necromancer of the same Level, which made him even more dangerous.

 Chapter 21 Grandmaster Kholic

    Their journey through the Darkwood Forest proceeded smoothly after disposing of the Gnoll Pack; Samiel and Yvraine proceeded to enter the Lambrean Mountains soon after. While not many thought about it, Lambrean Mountains were a gloomy and depressive ce, not entirely majestic, and the environment was shit.

    Lambrean Mountains were like destends, without much vegetation or magical beasts. Everywhere where the eye could see just grey rocks, boulders, stones, and all over again. Basically, luck of flora and fauna, one would expect to be in some mountain range. Probably because of this, Rock Trolls chose this as their home and came here from whatever they came.

    After they entered the Lambrean Mountains, Yvraine already knew where to go, as she had already memorized the road to the mining outpost of the Nesser Dynasty. Apparently, it wasn''t that far from their current location where they entered the Mountains.

    Yvraine learned about all outposts, territories, and ces under the control of the Nesser Dynasty and its vassals before she started climbing Tower. Her reason was so she could take some resources or things needed.

    Fortunately for them, during their journey through the narrow valley and cliffs of the Lambrean Mountains, they didn''t encounter any monsters, magical beasts, or any other hostile species or people. This was because they were at a very remote location, and a few people knew about its existence.

    Within 5 hours, they managed to arrive at the secret area of the Lambrean Mountains, which was controlled by the Nesser Dynasty, where they mined rare and precious resources. Even though it was just a 1st Floor, Lambrean Mountains had some precious loges of ores, which were considered valuable even on the higher floors.

    As they were entering the area of the Nesser Dynasty''s mining post, suddenly, an overwhelming aura descended upon them as a handsome middle-aged man descended from the sky. The fact that he could fly indicated rtively clearly the man''s Tier by itself.

    He was d in a Wizards gown and holding staff. He belonged to the High Elf species, so his appearance was pretty simr to that of the Silvermoon Elves. However, unlike Silvermoon Elves, his hair was golden instead of tinum silver.

    "Oh... it is you, Crown Princess."

    Stated the High Elven Man as he dusted off his robes altogether; he was giving off a sharp and powerful feeling. Even though the man was clearly a Legendary, Samiel wasn''t intimidated a bit, as he just curiously looked at the first Legendary being he encountered.

    "Crown Princess greets the Tree Guardian Bemarthein."

    Yvraine greeted him politely, and Samiel followed her immediately. He knew from her what the Title of the Tree Guardian symbolized to the entire Elvenkind. Also, it was proper etiquette to be polite to those more powerful. Especially when it came to experts who could wipe out entire contents with their magic.

    For Elves as a whole, there were two most important things. One of them was the Well, and another one was the World Tree and Trees of Life. The same was for the Elven Gods, though they had their own in their Divine Kingdoms, not all Elven Gods. Still, if an Elven God had World Tree in his Divine Kingdom, it was said to boost up his power several times over.

    Tree of Life was a special kind of Tree that produced countless precious resources, and the Tree of Life, when matured, hadbat prowess of the Transcendent Level; it was one of the few Transcendental Lifeforms that could freely exist in the mortal part of the Tower.

    The title of the Tree Guardian was bestowed on the strong Legendary Elves who dedicated their lives to the live in seclusion from everything and just solely dedicated their focus to protecting the Tree of Life when it was sleeping.

    In the Elven Society, the Tree Guardians were one of the most worshipped people as they directly served the Tree of Life. It was one of the highest social-standing rted upations one could achieve.

    ''So what do we have here...Old Deus? Let me look a closer look.''

    Thought the Tree Guardian Bemarthen as he looked at Samiel with scrutinizing eye, as he was able to disclose Old Deus species with a single nce.

    ''Not hiding his Eldritch Aura? Probably a young one and didn''t know how to do it. Though the question is, how can such a monster appear on the 1st Floor without anyone noticing it? Damm... Times are getting more and more interesting and at the same time dangerous.''

    The reason for that was that they always had that weird stench of cold, freezing void around them and touch madness in their eyes that is impossible to hide from the outer world.

    As Elves were naturally long species, and he was Legendary on top of that, Bemarthein met many Eldritch-rted things, not to mention he even once met an Outer God more than fifteen thousand years ago.

    He knew very well the terror of what Outer Gods represented. And just like many before him, and countless after him, he also preferred to avoid anything rted to the Outer Gods. Just the existence of the Hall of Kadath, the mad worshippers of the Outer Gods, was enough to send shivers through one''s spine all over again.

    Not to mention meeting living and breathing Eldritch Creature.

    "What is bringing you to the Lambrean Mountain, Princess?"

    Questioned Bemarthein, as he warily looked at the young man beside her, as he knew that worshippers of the Outer Gods were unpredictable and mad personas. Even though he could see that Samiel was holding himself up very well, at least for now.

    And most importantly, even though he was a Legendary Level expert, he didn''t want to have anything to do with anything rted to the Outer Ones that just smelled like trouble.

    "Searching for some rare metals and ores, possible or the Dimeritium."

    Answered Yvraine smoothly, as Bemarthein looked at her before he nodded his head, not really caring for what she needed it. Nesser Dynasty was rich enough in resources to prove their Crown Princess with few kilograms of some ore and or metal.<sub> </sub>

    "You should ask the person in charge, but there should be some of the newly mined. I must depart now to take a look at the new world that got connected to the Tower."

    Stated Bemarthein as he waved his staff and dispersed into the shadows.

    Meanwhile, Yvraine and Samiel preceded to enter the ce as they soon arrived at the small mining vige. Even though it was a mining vige, it was well fortified with several guarding Towers, and several tens of powerful Elven Knights were patrolling the vige.

    Even though it was just a mining outpost, many soldiers were present, like they were preparing for some battle.

    After they arrived at the mining vige, Samiel could see a lot of o Elves going here and there, but also a lot of Dwarves. Actually, the Dwarves were doing most of the mining work in the mine. At the same time, Elves were responsible for other things.

    Dwarves were short, below 150cm, sturdy and muscr. All of them had a natural affinity for metallurgy, cksmithing, invention, mining, or stoneworking. Not to mention that Dwarves were fierce warriors.

    Their natural lifespan was around 500 years in even mana-less environments. Thus, they were often termed as an Elder Race, and all of them were born with unnatural strength and a strong aptitude for being Warrior.

    Additionally, many Dwarves were adept at the Runic Magic and Runes in general. Runes were a rare branch of magic that only those gifted with special aptitude and talent could learn.

    Still, most of the dwarves had some level of affinity to their dwarvish runes.

    They used these runes as inscriptions on their weapons and armor, creating far superior equipment than anyone other could. Because of this, dwarven weapons and armor were highly sought after, as they were of superb quality.

    Yvraine took Samiel to the house of the Chief Miner, who was an elderly dwarf with sturdy, muscr arms and runic tattoos around his entire body. By just looking at him, one could say that this dwarf was a very powerful Legendary Level expert.

    "What ye doing here, little girl?"

    Shouted at her the Chief Miner as he continued to hammer the weapon on which he was working, as they probably disturbed him in the forging process. Dwarves hated when someone disturbed them in their smithies; as for them, their smithy was a holy ce for a dwarf.

    "You are still alive, Grandmaster Kholic? I thought that you would have long ago gotten a heart attack from all of those anger problems you have."

    Stated Yvraine back to Grandmaster Kholic Kragchin. He was one of the Grandmaster cksmiths and was even a Runesmith, which was a very prestigious upation among the Dwarven Race.

    "Dammed Elfling! What problems do I have? I am a perfectly healthy dwarf!"

    He shouted back in anger as he struck the sword he was hammering so much that it almost broke apart. Usually, Dwarves had a fiery temper and were prone to anger issues.

    "Of course, can I get some Dimeritium?"

    She asked as he suddenly stopped hammering the sword and looked at Yvraine. Now, he was genuinely intrigued by his request.

    Asking for Dimeritium was not an everyday request as the metal was a pretty precious one. So the dwarven Grandmaster was pretty interested in why she wanted it.

    "What for?"

    Dimeritium was one of the most precious metals across not only Tower but countless worlds and dimensions due to its anti-magic properties. Such things were very valuable toe by, even for strong factions.

    One of the few anti-magic metals in the Cosmos and was very rare.

    Yvraine just pointed at Samiel''s armor, and Grandmaster Kholic''s eyes almost popped out as he rushed at Samiel and started observing his armor. It was a dream of every cksmith to one day forge an Ego Artifact.

    Of course, Grandmaster Kholic was no different from this goal, so having a chance to inspect a genius Ego Artifact was precious, even though he could see that the Ego of this one was extinguished.

    Even still, it was precious artifact and he could learn much from studying it even if the Ego was extinguished.

    "It was in the vaults of the Nesser Dynasty, and it never reacted to anyone until I let him wear it... after it woke up, we found out that the Armor is severely damaged and is falling apart."

 Chapter 22 Fate Of A Weak World

    "And you want to use the Growth aspect of this armor so it can regenerate itself from an assimtion of specifically selected metals and ores... it would work, but the amount you would need is astronomical..."

    He finished her thoughts as he inspected the Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence that Samiel was wearing, looking for anything useful. As a Grandmaster cksmith, he could see many things about Armor or weapon just by looking at them.

    "I can see that this thing your friend is wearing is almost destroyed, and the materials the Armor is forged from are ssified as Transcendental, so good luck with your endeavors. But at least Dimiterium should be able to stop the deterioration process for some time; wait here for a while."

    Stated Grandmaster Kholic as he put down his hammer and everything and went to the back room to search for something. As a Legendary expert and Grandmaster cksmith and Runesmith, he had his personal stash of various precious ores and metals.

    He then turned to hold an ingot of weird bluish metal, which both of them identified as Dimeritium. Interestingly, Samiel could sense how magic was disrupted just by taking out the Dimeritium, as it was jamming the magic particles in the air.

    "Hey yer try this. When the Ego inside this Armor was destroyed, this thing''s state instantly worsened. Probably, the Ego was suppressing the deterioration. Usually, the Egos of powerful artifacts are very strong and could do many wondrous things, or dangerous things."

    He passed the Dimeritium Ingot to Samiel, who now felt that his Armor Rao''s Vengence came to live, as shadows creeped out from his Armor and enveloped the entire Dimeritium Ingot, essentially assimting it in a few seconds.

    [Holy-Grade Artifact, Rao''s Vengence has assimted 1 whole Dimeritium Ingot.]

    [Detoriation process of the Holy-Grade Artifact Rao''s Vengence has been stopped.]

    p Samiel saw the notifications from the Records as his Armor Rao''s Vengee looked less tattered and less like a beaten dog right now. It has recovered a bit; at least visually, it didn''t look so bad.</anda>

    Grandmaster Kholic was observing everything with great interest, as it was not every day you get to observe such precious artifacts. He was even taking some notes on the behavior of the Armor, how it was recovering and how it was changing.

    "Thank you very much, Grandmaster."

    Said Samiel as he gave the old dwarf a short bow as a sign of gratitude for his help. He knew very well that he could easily refuse them. Even though Yvraine was the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty, it didn''t mean she could order around Legendary Level experts as she wished.

    "Grandmaster, why did we see so many Lengedaries in the vige? Not to mention an entire detachment of soldiers, be it Elven or Dwarven."

    Asked Yvraine as they were preparing to leave, as their business was done here and they had quests toplete.

    "That new world which got connected to the first floor... it''s ya mess that I tell you. Just my fucking luck yer. I came down to the lower floors after more than 200 years, and immediately those fucken greenskins create that mess."

    He then returned back to forging his weapon. Grandmaster Kholic was a very old dwarf and someone of very prestigious status, so he wasn''t at the lower floors for a very, very long time already.

    Even Samiel noticed that there was a heavy military presence from the Nesser Dynasty, and now he remembered that they even saw iing Darwen Soldiers iing; all of them were either Silver-Tier or Gold-Tier.

    Based on their armors, they were from the Khazad-Tarum, one of theirrgest and strongest cities. Each Fortress City or Forge City had a unique armor design and crests, so it was very effortless to distinguish their origin from where they came from.

    Dwarven Race was divided into countless sub-faction, which were various Forge Cities or Fortress Cities, located deep under the ground, under the mountains and mountain ranges. Only a few rare dwarven cities were built above the ground and not within the mountains or underneath them.

    All of the cities had practically nothing together and were existing in some kind of loose alliance, allying with each other only under external threats, such as invasion of Underdark Species, Ratmen, Gnolls, Beastmen or Orks.

    Aside from that, these cities, which were ruled by one or more Dwarvish ns, usuallypeted against each other or outright held deep hatred against one another.

    Not many races were unified entirely and acted as one. Most species didn''t depend on this system but rather went through the Strength-Based Social Hierarchy. Cases like Elves which were ruled by strict racial hierarchy were rare ones.

    This was the case in species that were heavily dependent on their bloodlines or rather where their bloodlines were the dominant aspect of their society.

    The best example would be Blood Races. Social Hierarchy between Blood Races was extremely strict, and one''s bloodline was everything. It decided one''s fate, either as a ruler or ve.

    While they banded together as Dwarven City States Coalition, it was only on a rare asion as, for example, when an Ork Horde of enormous size was heading at some Forge City or something simr.

    Dwarves were interesting species, that despite their stubbornness and sometimes even hatred of one ruling n against another, they were still able to fight side by side against themon enemy of the dwarven race if the situation called for it.<sub> </sub>

    "What has happened, Grandmaster?"

    Asked Samiel, as because he and Yvraine were spending all of their time in the Darkwood Forest, far from the civilization, they didn''t get a lot of knew what was happening around the Tower.

    "The Midnight World, which was connected to the Tower, finally got invaded by the Bloodtooth Tribe in enormous Waagh, but soon after, other factions descended down. Apparently, the Midnight World is a mana-less world with some pretty advanced technology. Hence, they managed to hold down Orks for one week, but after that, their defenses were broken, and now Orks are wreaking havoc there. As if those dumb green skulls are capable of anything else."

    Mana-less worlds were worlds where mana wasn''t present or was diminished for whatever reason. These words then developed in pure scientific ways, and mysteries were a dead end for them.

    Though it didn''t mean that scientific civilizations were weak, they could develop to frightening heights. Those who were on the stage of a space-faring civilization and had avable energy-based weaponry could threaten even Legendaries, but those were rare.

    Unfortunately for them, other more powerful factions or Transcendentals usually destroyed them along the way. That was, even if the civilization developed to very high heights, unfortunately for them, they rarely umted enough foundation to repel hundreds of Legendaries sieging them at the same time.

    Earth was also on the verge of bing a pure Mana-Less world, as it wasn''t long from that state. It was something that Samiel noticed, that mana density on the Earth was constantly lowering with each passing year.

    "The poption is more than 10 billion in that world, so many other factions are going nuts from the possibility of harvesting the souls of such arge world; some Daemon Cults, Cmity Church, and Devil Cults are already there fighting against each other. Yesterday, even those psychopaths from the Hall of Kadath arrived, and the person here was that bastard Zaldidraax."

    Cursed he, as all dwarves had one greatmon enemy.

    Dragons.

    It didn''t matter if it were Chromatic Dragon Flocks or Metallic Dragon Flocks; all dragons were enemies of dwarves, together with their cults and spawns. There was a lot of bad blood between Dragons and Dwarves, just like those clisch��s in the fantasy novels Samiel read.

    Hearing that many Daemon Cultists and Devil Cultists were lurking here together with the people from the Cmity Church could scare someone shitless. Deamon Cults and Devil Cults were devoted to some particr Daemon or Devil whom they worshipped.

    Meanwhile, Cmity Church worshipped Evil Gods, which were the worst kind of Gods ever could be, and some said even Outer Gods were more benevolent than the Evil Gods.

    "I heard when that mad lizard descended onto the world, he almost sunk an entire continent, and he even killed one of the High Priests of the Cmity Church and ate a few Legendary Demons that were summoned from the Abyss by mad cultists..."

    He cursed while he hammered the sword.

    "I will advise you two to finish your Quests as soon as possible to leave because this mess would only spread through the entire 1st Floor sooner orter. Now scram, I need to finish this sword."

    Advised them Grandmaster Kholic before kicking them out. This was going to shake the entire Tower, and probably even part of the Cosmos, as all High Priests of the Cmity Church were peerless Legendary experts that terrorized the Tower and countless worlds for an untold number of years.

    "This is worse than you thought..."

    Remarked Samiel with a tired voice as he looked at Yvraine.

    "It appears that I have miscalcted... I didn''t know it would be far fetched... the poption of that world is too appealing to countless people in the Tower, as even Transcendents could benefit greatly from obtaining that many souls even if they are from mortals... not to mention Legendaries who have been stuck at their Level, could use countless forbidden rituals to advance their Level."

    Sighed Yvraine, as Samiel was too distressed about the situation.

    Not about the fate of the world and its inhabitants, that was not his problem, as simr scenes happened all around the Cosmos, all the time. It was just a natural circle of all things, so nothing that should trouble him.

    When the world is weak or without a strong protector, then the only fate it awaits is despair and destruction in the hands of more powerful factions.

    Though, these humans were a bit unlucky.

    As a pure scientific civilization, Gods didn''t want to spread their faith there, meaning only one who came to their world would be those who wanted to y harvesters or carry out some bloody mass-ughtering rituals and sacrifice the mortals for power.

    Gods would at least give them a way out if they chose to worship them, even if it meant being enved for all eternity.

 Chapter 23 Bugbears

    Three Day Later.

    After they got what was needed to stop the deterioration of Samiel''s armor, Rao''s Vengence, both Yvraine and Samiel agreed it would be most appropriate for them to ascend to the 2nd Floor as soon as possible so that they won''t be wasting time on the 1st Floor.

    It was apparent that more and more Legendaries came to the 1st Floor, especially those of more destructive character, and it was only a matter of time before the fighting would spread from the Midnight World to the 1st Floor of the Tower.

    If more battle maniacs such as Cardinal Zaldidraax from the Hall of Kadath came, it would happen even sooner than anticipated. Samiel heard about Zaldidraax from Yvraier on and knew that he was a madman who would fight anywhere and anyone, causing destruction everywhere he walked.

    Apparently, even by the standards of the Red Dragon, he was destructive and crazy. He was very famous for that, and if someone was considered destructive and crazy even among the Red Dragons, then it must be something to behold.

    Seeing how the situation on the 1st Floor was worsening day by day, with more and more powerhousesing to the Midnight World and some wreaking havoc even in the Core Area of the 1st Floor, it was dangerous for them to stay here any longer than necessary.

    The entire Midnight World has been turned into an enormous battlefield where Orks rampaged all around, and other Legendaries fought against each other, and even apparently, some survivors of the native civilization that developed there were ying on rebels and freedom fighters.

    Currently, Yvraine was preparing thest steps to cast special illusion magic of 9th Level on Samiel, as this was a spell that could be cast only by Legendaries. Fortunately, due to her background, she got a few interesting things and gadgets before she started iming the Tower, and many of them were such things that no other person would be able to get their hands on them.

    This little project of theirs required this specific spell, which was very powerful and thus needed a lot of preparations, as Yvraine had some of the special methods to unleash such powerful spells prepared by her family if she ever found herself in trouble.

    Suddenly the Magic Circle around Samiel lit, as a huge amount of Mana burst out of the gem, as Samiel''s appearance started changing in front of Yvraine''s eyes.

    No longer was he a handsome man with long red hair and golden eyes; his appearance changed to that of an Ork Warrior, as he grew more muscr and had an appearance of that of an Ork from the Palerock Tribe.

    Thus was the appearance that he was going to use during his mission to frame for murdering young Bugbears and raiding one of their settlements. This n was carefully forged by Yvraine, as she thought about most small details in it, as she was the mastermind in the shadows.

    Yvraine even cast smaller Illusion spells on his Undeads, so they looked like living Orks from the Palerock Tribe, as Samiel was going to raid a smaller Bugbear Settlement, inhabited by several hundreds of Bugbears, most of them were Iron-Tier, with a few of them being Steel-Tier Bugbears.

    After everything was finished, he took his "Ork Entourage" and went in the direction of the Bugbear Settlement. His aim wasn''t actually to kill everyone but cause as much carnage on the Bugbearts as possible.

    By doing this, he would leave witnesses and Bugbears that would point to the Palerock n and also create a better psychological effect on the Bugbears if he left some survivors. Not to mention, having some witnesses of the event would be better, and it would create a more realistic story.

    Meanwhile, Yvraine remained in the cave where they were living as she went to scout the surroundings, as she started looking for clues toplete her quest of searching for some enemy of her Goddess that was hiding on the 1st Floor.

    He chose this vige for a specific purpose, as it was filled only with women, children, and old Bugbears not capable ofbat; basically, this vige had the purpose of cultivating a new generation of Bugbears.

    So it was only logical he would carry out his massacre there, as that would enrage the Bugbear Tribe even further, probably that much, they would dere war on their neighbors, the Palerock n in a moment they got the news.

    Because of this, this vige was located deep in their territory. Even though it was located a bit deeper in the Bugbear territory, it only took Samiel two hours to arrive at the location of the Bugbear Vige.

    The first thing he did after he finally arrived at the Bugbear Vige he scouted a bit the area of the vige. He seriously doubted that these tents and falling apart wooden huts and shacks could even be called a vige.

    ''It is apparently a collective trait of all Greenskins.''

    He sneered while thinking about the primitiveness of the Goblinoid and Orkoid species and greenskins as a whole before hemanded his Undreads to charge at the vige of the Bugbears.

    Greenskins as a whole were destroyed, not builders. All Orkoids and Goblinoids or their rted species were capable of building were wooden huts and tens, some shacks, and that was all. However, if some strong Tribe wanted to show their power, they would attack and capture some fortified city.

    They often did this and attacked cities of dwarves and waged war with dwarves for the dwarven cities. For Orks as a whole, it was a sign of status and power to be able to capture, conquer and upy some strongly fortified city.<sub> </sub>

    Suddenly 72 Steel-Tier Undeads Orks, under his leadership, rushed out of the woods at the Bugbears, as Samiel shed with the huge war axe he was holding at escaping elder Bugbear, cleaving him in half.

    The blood spluttered at Samiel, who found it a bit disgusting as he licked some of the Bugbear blood, thinking he wouldn''t drink this next time.

    "Dammed weapon, it is so unpractical."

    To be authentically and foolproof, he was forced to fight with Ork War Axe, which was an enormous weapon and was heavy as hell, but fortunately, with his overwhelming strength, it was no problem lifting it up.

    After killing another two Bugbears, Samiel went deeper into the vige, as his Undead Orks quickly overcame the defenses of the vige as this vige was located in territory firmly secured in the hands of the local Bugbear Tribe, so they didn''t station any strong warriors here.

    After the Steel-Tier Bugbears were killed, there was practically no resistance from them, as they started destroying the vige, tearing down the buildings, and setting everything on fire, thus killing the Bugbears who were hiding in the tens or huts.

    Countless Bugbears escaped the vige, not daring to look back, as Samiel was using some Illusion Magic from Yvraine to spread the Ork corpses all around the ce.

    After they destroyed the entire vige, he purposely took out several Ork corpses belonging to the Palerock n, which had been stored in a Dimensional Storage Ring that Yvraine gave him, as he helped to make a crime scene more believable.

    This was because it would be hardly believable if only Bugbears would be killed here. In the end, there were still some Steel-Tier Bugbears here, so it was understandable that they would put up the resistance.

    Thus he took around seventy Ork Corpses, most of them being Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier, and left them around the entire vige, so it looked like a real fight was going on here.

    After everything was set, Samiel recalled his Undeads and collected several hundreds of Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier souls before he quickly ran away, as he could predict that Bugbears would soon arrive here.

    This ce was under the surveince of the Bugbears, and Samiel knew that he had only a short time period when the vacancy window urred to carry out his massacre. Afterward, the Bugbear Tribe would be notified and arrive here in full power.

    The entire operation was blitzkrieg and took only fifteen minutes before it was finished, and Samiel vanished into thin air.

    And just like he predicted, not even half an hourter, after his departure, therge stride of Gold-Tier Bugbears arrived at the destroyed burning vige, littered with corpses of murdered Bugbears and some Orkish invaders.

    "Descplicalbe Orks! This is war!"

    Shouted leading old Bugbear, who excluded powerful Legendary-Tier pressure all around him as he howled in rage. This was a despicable attack carried out by Orks when the Bugbears were not looking, targeting their weakest.

    Not many knew even among the tribe, but this vige was a ce where his direct descendant lived, who was born only a few weeks ago and was still a baby, but now was murdered by the Orks.

    As the Bugbears searched through the vige and checked on the killed Orks, they quickly found out they belonged to the Palerock n, which was an unassuming n of Orks with one Legendary-Tier Ork.

    After they recovered the survivors of the massacre, the Elder who arrived here became even more enraged than before as he heard about the atrocities carried out by the Orks of the Palerock n.

    "Call other Elders and Chieftain; we need to discuss how we annihte these bastards."

    And it was; the war between the Bugbear Tribe and Palerock n was ensured to happen, as Samiel basicallypleted the Unique Quest, as it would only be a matter of time before the Bugbears marched at their neighbors.

    Bugbears were simple creatures, not really questioning why the Palerock n attacked the vige or how the massacre was carried out. No, these were too hard questions for their peanut-sized brains, and immediately they chose the war.

 Chapter 24 Bears March!

    Several hourster, Samiel finally returned back to the cave after he had finished the job of framing the Palerock Ork n. It was clear that he seeded, just from the outburst of rage, he felt from the Bugbear Legendary who arrived at the vige.

    "I take it everything went well?"

    After Samiel returned, he found that Yvraine was slightly injured as she was scouting the area and encountered a pack of Steel-Tier Direwovles, who gave her some trouble fighting them.

    Direwolves were basically wolves, but bigger, faster, more agile, more durable, and most importantly, stronger. Just like other wolf likes, Direwolves only acted in packs, and it was dangerous to fight them alone.

    "Those idiots totally fell for it, even several kilometers away; I could hear the rageful roar of one of the Bugbear Legendaries..."

    Chuckled Samiel as he sat down to rest. After walking non-stop for several hours straight, he was feeling pretty tired already. Even if he was physically several times stronger, and his stamina was monstrous, he still liked the feeling of just sitting down andzying around.

    ''I obtained almost 700 souls from the massacre of that Bugbear Vige; with this amount, I can greatly increase the strength of my Undeads.''

    He thought as he started feeding the souls of Bugbears to his Undeads. Even though most of these Souls were only Iron-Tier, it was still good, as the strength of his Undeads was increased to alter stages of the Steel-Tier.

    So, right now, he had in his disposition 72 extremely strong Steel-Tier Undeads, while some of them were already nearing the peak of the Steel-Tier. Of course, crossing into a new Tier would require for him to feed them with Bronze-Tier souls because breaking through to the new Tier was harder the higher one progressed.

    Now, after that, he was left with 514 souls, which was still a lot, but he was saving them for his future Undeads, as he would need to increase their strength too.

    For a moment, he was tempted to go to the Palerock n, hide somewhere there and just wait and collect souls there, as it would be for sure thousands of them, but in the end, he decided against it, albeit begrudgingly, as it was too dangerous.

    There would be a minimum of three Legendary-Tier Magic Users from the Bugbears, and if someone found him, he would probably die if Azathoth didn''t send some bits of his power to rescue him, so in the end, he decided not to be overly greedy.

    In the end, he didn''t want to end up a dead rotting corpse in the godforsaken ce, so he decided to just grit his teeth and quell his greed.

    ***

    Several hourster, near the borders of Bugbear Tribe and Palerock n of Orks.

    One could see almost a sea made of Bugbears as they were descending down from the hills and marching in disorganized formation towards the location of the Palerock n of Orks.

    There were thousands upon thousands of Bugbears, all ranging from the weak Iron-Tier to mighty Gold-Tier Bugbears, headed by three Legendary-Tier Bugbears. Together they were creating a fearsome image of a monster army descending down to unleash blood and fire on their enemies.

    All were armed to the teeth, holding crude axes, spears, hammers, des or morning stars, or even cubs, all of those were popr weapons among the Bugbears, pretty simr to that of Orks.

    However, Bugbears preferred not to wear a lot of armor, as they had only a few armor pieces on them, as that would hinder their agility, which was the greatest strength of the Bugbear species.

    Even if they wore armor, they would be wearing only light armor made from light metals or mostly leather armor from the leather of magical beasts living in nearby forests.

    As the Bugbears were descending down in rage, Orks of the Palerock n were a bit panicking, as their entire n was surrounded by more than twenty thousand Bugbears, which was half of the Bugbear Tribe.

    This was an unprecedented situation, as the Bloodtooth Tribe had some kind of peace with the Bugbears; basically, no Ork would trespass the Bugbear hills, while Bugbears won''t be bothering Orks.

    It was a form of a weird symbiosis the Orks of the Bloodtooth Tribe had with native species of the 1st Floor, and this symbiosissted for several centuries. This was the first time in history when some of the native species of the 1st Floorunched a full attack on some Ork n in past centuries.

    Even though the skirmishes were amon urrence through the years, as each day one could see people fighting here and there, it never went to the huge war across the entire Floor.

    While the Bloodtooth Tribe was many times bigger and stronger than the Bugbear Tribe and acted as an undisputed overlord of the 1st Floor, especially after the Chieftain Gurnish killed the Floor Ruler several months ago, there were still several species with Legendaries, who if allied could be a threat to the Bloodtooth Tribe.<sub> </sub>

    Especially now, when most of the Tribal''s fighting power departed to conquer and destroy Midnight World, even if the Tribe wanted, they could not effectively defend against the iing crusade of the Bugbears in a short time.

    Not to mention that the Palerock n is the smallest and weakest n, so other Ork ns would be reluctant to fight and die for them without an explicit order from the Chieftain. Greenskins were not the mostpassionate species, and they didn''t really have a problem letting their allies and their kind die a gruesome death.

    So, in the end, the Palerock n was left to their fate, which was high, possiblyplete extermination. That was nothing that Samiel and Yvraine didn''t expect, as it was standard behavior of the Orkoids.

    Boss of the Palerock n was just an Initial Legendary-Tier Ork, who was pretty young and also rather weakpared to other Ork Bosses of other Orkish ns in the Bloodtooth Tribe. Unfortunately, he was all alone, and on top of that, he was way weaker than the Legendaries of the Bugbear Tribe.

    "Waaaghhh!"

    Roared the Ork Boss of the Palerock n as he rallied his Orks behind him; even though they were severely outnumbered as the Palerock n numbered only something around 4,000 Orks, they were still fearless as they cried for the war and prayed to their Ork Gods for the victory or good death on the battlefield.

    Orks rarely, if not, never retreated, even if the fight would result in their death for sure. Retreating from the battlefield was the greatest disgrace for an Ork that could ever happen, and most, if not all Orks, would prefer death rather than retreating.

    Of course, there were some exceptions, some more cunning and scheming Orks, that didn''t follow the traditions to the point and preferred to use anything to survive and be the final winner, but those were rare cases.

    "Rooaarr!"

    Roared on the other side of the battlefield, the Bugbear Chieftain as he swung his club, signaling to other Bugbears that the battle had started, as two species of greenskins charged at each other with equal ferocity and brutality.

    As the two species shed in the endless circle of carnage and brutality, they shed, hacked, kicked, cleaved, and tore through each other. Both of these species were specifically bred for war and fight, so the battle between them was especially bloody.

    While the Orks had an individual advantage of being stronger, taller and sturdier over the medium-sized Bugbears who belonged to the Goblinoid category of Greenskins, they soon found themselves overwhelmed by vast numbers of Bugbears who just kepting anding.

    Additionally, what made the situation even worse was the presence of two Lengedary-Tier Bugbears on the battlefield who were wreaking havoc among ordinary soldiers and were ughtering Gold-Tier Orks one after another.

    This was the expected oue if the Legendary Level Powerhouse started wreaking havoc among those of a Mortal Levels, as even the weakest Legendary could ughter tens of Gold-Tier on his own, effortlessly in a short amount of time. Just like it was now happening with two Bugbear Legendaries on the battlefield.

    Even the n Boss was right now being beaten by the Bugbear Chieftain, as he was many times weaker than the Bugbear Chieftain, who was Intermediate Legendary Powerhouse. n Leader of the Palerock n was only Initial Legendary, and the fact he was able to withstand the Bugbear Chieftain for so long was a miracle by itself.

    Just as the Ork Boss was about to counterattack the Bugbear Chieftain, suddenly Bugbear Chieftain''s weaponnded on his head, shattering his head, in one swift hit, as the Legendary-Tier Ork died on the spot, while Bugbears roared in delight.

    This death was decisive because the death of their n Leader shook all Orks, but s, there was nothing they could do aside from fighting to the death. All Bugbears that attacked their tribe were determined to annihte them o thest one.

    That was exactly happening as their lines were breached, Ork Warriors were overwhelmed, and soon enough, the entire Palerock n found itself being slowly exterminated.

    Instantly after, he cast some kind of a weird Warlock Spell that burned up the corpse of the Ork Boss, as nothing remained. Orks were problematic species to kill, especially when they reached Legendary-Tier, as sometimes, even if they lost their head, they could continue to fight.

    This death cemented the fate of the Palerock Tribe as Bugbears carried out their revenge.

    Neither Yvraine nor Samiel were aware that extermination of small and insignificant Orkish n would soon enough, in uing years, result in Bugbears annihting a whole bunch of weaker Ork n with one or two Legendaries. At the same time, Bugbear Tribe would get only stronger and stronger.

    Only then did the situation change when the main forces of the Bloodtooth Tribe returned from the Midnight World when Ork Boss Gurnish would learn of everything and would personally annihte the entire Bugbear Tribe.

    Though nobody would even change the fact that Orks suffered tremendously during this, and due to their partially unsessful crusade to the Midnight World, the position of Orks on the 1st Floor would be slowly declining.

    And in the end, after several decades, the entire Tribe would be annihted, and a new overlord of the 1st Floor would rise from the ashes of the old one.

 Chapter 25 Basic Principles Of The Void Necrosis

    After some time, Samiel was sleeping and possibly having another dream; a notification from the Akashic Records suddenly woke him up.

    When he heard the sounds of notifications, he immediately woke up from his sleep with rather a sense of excitement as he opened them up and read them. Normally, he would continue sleeping, but this was one rather important, as it was about thepetition of two of his Quests.

    [You have sessfullypleted the Unique Mission: Destroy 1 Ork n entirely.]

    [You have been awarded the Basic Principles of the ??? Necrosis.]

    [Your progress on the Advancement Ques: Ork Hunt is currently: 4,897 Killed Orcs. Do you wish to im your rewards now?]

    Samiel read over, as he declined im over the rewards for now, as he wanted to cross 5,000 killed Orks. That was a staggeringly high number, considering he was just a Iron-Tier, and having killed over 5,000 Orks was unbelievable.

    Initially, he killed around 500 Orks, and now the Akashic Records added there all Orks of the Palerock Tribe, which the Bugbears had killed through my machinations. But the method didn''t really matter in the end, as the results were the most important.

    Samiel then held the Holy Text for All Necromancers and practitioners of the foul Magic. Not only for Necromancers but other not-so-scrupulous magic Users and often for those who dabbled into unpredictable and most dangerous types of Magic.

    Necrosis Series.

    This was the first high-ranking Grimoire he was holding in his hands and what he had obtained. Things like Magic Tomes and Grimoires were very rare, exceedingly rare, as they were fundamentally magical objects that contained an enormous amount of knowledge. And thus, they were usually guarded by their owners or factions as precious heritage and legacy.

    The book was pretty thick, dered with golden skulls and a grim reaper in a priest gown holding a sword. On the book''s cover was a massive skull with a crown upon its head. Samiel could sense weird cold, freezing power escaping from the book, but it didn''t affect him in the slightest.

    Basic Principles of Necrosis introduced not only the Arts of the Necromancy but also the Necrosis, which consisted of whole different bunches of Magics.

    Samiel anticipated that if he mastered the book, he would be a mighty caster, and this was just an introduction part, basically just basics. This wasn''t umon, as more powerful and mysterious types of Magic were able to give tremendous power to its under even at the lower levels.

    Especially those which were considered Taboo or Forbidden ones.

    There were other parts to the Necrosis Series, all way to the Transcendent Level. The Basic Principles of Necrosis he obtained were for the Void Magic, which was one of the most dangerous Magic, anathema to existence itself, making itplex to master and dangerous even to study.

    Generally, all Grimoires and Magic Tomes on Magic were divided into various Tier based on the Spells they contained. The usual division was into Basic Level were spells from 1st Level up to 5th Level, Intermediate Level 6th Level to 8th Level, Advanced Level for the 9th Level Spells, and Master Level for the 10th Level Spells.

    Though, Necrosis had one significant downside.

    When he opened the Basic Principles of Necrosis, he found out that Necrosis consisted of 4 Main Magics. One of them was Necromancy Arts; then there was Void Magic, Mythos Magic, and Apocalypse Magic.

    [You have found the true face of the ck Magic. The ck Magic skill has disappeared, and the path''s true purpose has been revealed.]

    [Necrosis Magic has been created.]

    He eagerly opened the Basic Principles of Necrosis as he started reading the first page.

    Void Magic was considered dangerous as it was the domain of the Outer Gods and various Innate Void Lifeforms, simr to Mythos Magic. At the same time, the Mythos Magic was spellcasting based on borrowing or summoning the power of the Outer Gods.

    God knows what is more dangerous.

    They were the rulers of the Void, and practically nobody could escape their sight, who wanted to use the power of the Void for themselves.

    The most significant difference was that the Void Magic was using the power of the Void. Nobody willingly messed up with concepts of Void; it was dangerous and corrupting; many casters have died in their foolish pursuit of mastering the power of the Void and obtaining the Void Magic.

    Aside from the Outer Gods, countless Innate Void Lifeforms dwelled in the depths of the Void and preyed on those who attempted to get in contact with the Void. The term "Void" was the name for the "space" between the worlds in the Cosmos.

    It was a ce of endless emptiness and nothingness, where even the most powerful Legendaries would be pulverized to ash without protective measures, and its corrosive powers would corrupt those who were not. Only species like Mind Flyers that had plenty of protective measures and other things were able to survive in it and even thrive.

    If someone wanted to cross from one world to another, he would be basically going through the Void in some form or another. Be it through a portal or going with your own body, it didn''t matter, but in the end, you would be going through the Void.<sub> </sub>

    Samiel was very well versed in this topic because, as a "beloved" Apostle of Azathoth, he knew very well what terrors and horrors dwelled in the Void, aside from the Outer Gods that somehow managed to enter the Cosmos from Azathoth''s dream.

    A prerequisite for learning the Void Magic is understanding the Void Language. Mythos Magic had the same requirement, which was understanding the Eldritch Language, which will cause the weak-minded to go mad from just hearing ordinary words.

    So for Samiel, who was Old Deus, a Half-Eldritch, for him, Void Language was basically the native one, so he started learning the first spell from the Basic Principles of Void Necrosis, as the book was called. He was fully fluent in the Eldritch and Void Languages like he was born with them.

    1st Level Spell, Crushing Curse.

    Crushing Curse was a spell targeting the mind of one who hears it. Basically, the sheer coldness and power contained in the Void Language will crush the minds of the weaker beings who can hear the caster speaking in the Void Language.

    It was a very powerful spell because if someone was on the same Level as a caster or even Tier higher and didn''t have a powerful mind or protective treasures for the mind, then he could either be killed by the spell and those who would be able miraculously to survive, they would be crippled, being vegetative for the rest of their lives.

    [You have sessfully embarked on the path of the Void Magic.]

    [Void Magic has been categorized as part of the User''s soul.]

    ? [Record in the Akashic Records belonging to User Samiel Zentaur has been updated.]

    After he had practiced the 1st Level Spell Crushing Curse for several times, he heard the notification from the Akashic Records that he had sessfully started treading the path of the Void Magic, which was a thorny and dangerous one.

    [Void Magic - One of the most dangerous branches of Magic across all existence, an anathema to reality itself. Extremely difficult to master and dangerous to even study. Contains great power, but with continuous usage of the Void Magic, the caster will bring the attention of the beings living in the Void and Outer Gods.]

    Samiel read the description of the Void Magic before dispersing it and returning back to the cave. He didn''t really care about the attention of those beings for a simple reason. His backing was too freaking huge for them to do anything to him. He knew that all beings that dwelled there and called the Void their home were all Transcendent Level entities, and his Patron God, would never allow someone with such huge strength disparity to attack him openly.

    He would be forced to watch for his back maximally if any of these beings would be bored enough to scheme against him, which was highly probable. From what he knew, Transcendents were bored rather quickly due to their long lives, and finding entertainment was one of the top priorities for them.

    After he returned, he got the notification that the Hidden Mission had been revealed.

    [Because the Unique Quest has beenpleted, the Hidden Mission has been revealed.]

    [Hidden Mission of the 1st Floor has been issued.]

    [Hidden Mission: Legacy of the Long Lost History

    Mission: Enter the Tomb of the ??? King of ??? and uncover the outer history of the Tomb.

    Reward: Fragment of ???]

    [The location has been sent to User Samiel Zentaur.]

    Suddenly, as he read the mission, he found an approximate location of the Tomb, as the Akashic Records sent the information directly into his brain. It was a weird feeling to undergo such intense information transference, as countless images appeared in his mind in a split of several seconds.

    Most of the rewards from the Akashic Records were information about various things, locations of buried treasures, Inheritance Sites, Tombs, and other things that werergely forgotten by the passage of time.

    The entrance to the Tomb was in a certain part of the Lambrean Mountains, not far from their location. It was located in a rtively unknown part of the Lambrean Mountains, but the information Samiel got from the Akashic Records contained safe passage towards the entrance of the Tomb, which was safe and without any powerful Magical Beasts or Monsters.

    He quickly took out a scratch of paper and wrote a message for Yvraine that he had gone somewhere and that he would return shortly after. He immediately then departed toplete the Hidden Mission, and Samiel could see that this was probably some kind of chain quest.

    While Yvraine was an ally, it didn''t really mean that he would trust her so easily, especially in his shoes where he didn''t trust even his own shadow, which was literarily part of him.

    People betrayed others and killed each one for less, and information about the Hidden Mission was a very precious thing. While he trusted Yvraine with some moremon things and he remained cordial with her, Hidden Mission like this, he would rather keep for himself.

 Chapter 26 Hidden Mission

    From what he understood, the Hidden Mission was a rare thing and was guaranteed. This means that not every floor had a Hidden Mission; there were plenty of Floors that didn''t have one, as the Hidden Mission was explicitly tied to one thing.

    Short, long story, Hidden Mission was tied to ancient inheritances and secrets that were left by powerful people who died or factions that were destroyed on some said floor. Sometimes, it was due to natural phenomena or some other cases that the Hidden Mission got created by the Tower''s System and Akashic Records.

    Thus for their legacies to not be lost in the passage of time, Tower System created the concept of Hidden Mission as a means to preserve their legacy and, at the same time to increase the strength of the Tower''s inhabitants.

    Some Floor thus may even have several Hidden Missions in them that could be assigned to someone by the Tower System, though one could technically find those things that were objects of the Hidden Mission, even without receiving the Hidden Mission. But that required a heavenly amount of luck, as those things were really well hidden most of the time.

    After Samiel walked through the forest, aside from taking time in admiration of tranquil nature, even though there were several Ork ns near with their tendency to destroy anything, the ce was naturally preserved.

    This area was probably inhabited by a lot of powerful Magical Beasts that called this ce their home, though as Samiel was using the path that the Akashic Records provided him, he was safe from their danger or wrath.

    At the same time searching for some nice Steel-Tier Orks to kill and create Undead from them.

    He currently had 72 Steel-Tier Undead, and due to him being Level 8, he could control 120 Undeads altogether. Usually, the average Necromancer could control around 3 Undeads per Level when he was mortal, so Samiel being able to control basically 5 times of that number was unheard of.

    Even during his time on Earth, he could control around 10 Undeads per Level, which was unheard of.

    After one hour, his effort finally paid off, as he felt a small group of Steel-Tier Orks belonging to some n was lumbering wood here. Samiel quickly came up to the Orks and cast on them 1st Level Spell Crushing Curse, as he wanted to test the spell''s effect in actualbat.

    While in normal circumstances, the effects of the 1st Level Spell Crushing Curse of strong Steel-Tiers would not be that great to push them to the madness instantly, these were Orks.

    A species that was obsessed with war, fighting each other, and killing. So in a split of a second, the several 1st Level Spell Crushing Curses fell onto designed Orks, they started hearing countless whispers as their minds couldn''t bear it, and they started attacking other Orks, as suddenly all 42 Orks started fighting each other, in a life and death battle.

    After only 14 Orks remained alive and standing, Samiel used [Winter Ruler] to directly freeze them to death, as he collected their Sous and resurrected other Orks as Undeads, increasing his number of Undeads from 72 to 100 Steel-Tier Undeads.

    After that, he used some souls in his disposition to bnce the level of his Undeads, as for now, he focused more on the quality of all of his Undeads due to their rtively small number, as the entire Tower was filled with countless powerhouse and experts.

    The average level of strength was way higher in the Towerpared to other Worlds and Dimensions. This was because the enviroment in the Tower was way better, with extremely high mana density and umtion of legacies that were left here by the powerhouses, thus creating stronger generations one after another.

    After he dealt with the Orks and increased his Undead Army, he soon arrived at the location that was transferred directly to his memories by the Akashic Records. Samiel figured that this must be the preferential treatment that he got from the Records, as he managed to establish the connection as a mortal.

    When he stood before the Gate of the Tomb, he realized it was huge; just the gate was more than twenty meters high, probably made so other species could enter or just to flex majesty of the person who was buried here.

    [Warning, you have entered the Domain.]

    [Warning, you are under heavy suppression from the owner of the Domain.]

    When Samiel heard that he entered the Domain, he was washed over by a sense of dread because he knew exactly what the concept of Domains represented.

    Transcendence.

    The pinnacle of all Paths.

    [Your Species Old Deus is resistant to the effects of the Domain.]

    [You have resisted the effects of the Domain.]

    Now he was pretty lucky because he guessed this Domain was just a reminder of a deceased Transcendent buried here, but it was still powerful to affect even Legendaries to arge degree.<sub> </sub>

    Samiel wasrgely unaffected only due to him being Old Deus and partial Eldritch, meaning this Transcendent must be from some lesser race. Not to mention his resistant abilities were very strong, and the owner of this Domain must be long dead, thus weakening the power of the Domain as a whole.

    His racial heritage let him resist things like this rtively effortlessly, as this was the concept of racial superiority between those inferior and superior.

    Even so, he still felt pretty confrontable as he entered the Tomb. The entrance was filled with spider webs, dust, and terrible air; probably nobody has entered this ce since its creation or for the past few millennia.

    Samiel knew that he was practically allowed to enter only the 1st Layer of the Tomb, and even if he could enter moreyers, he felt his instincts warning him against making such a move, as it would cost him his life very fast.

    [You have entered the Tomb of the Last King of Humanity.]

    [Hidden Mission has been updated.]

    [Mission: Clear out the 1st Trial set by The Last King of Humanity.

    Reward: Steel Gate Token, ???]

    Samiel figured out that the entire Tomb was divided into 7 Layers.

    1st for the Iron-Tier, 2nd for Steel-Tier, 3rd for Bronze-Tier, 4th for Silver-Tier, 5th for Gold-Tier, 6th for Legendary, 7th for Transcendent Level where the final Inheritance was located.

    [1st Trial = Trial of the Heart

    Details: Prove that you are a proud human by undergoing the Trail of Heart and that you are worthy of leading the human race to rise once against their oppressors and break their status as ves.]

    When Samiel read the details of the Trail, he immediately frowned as the wheels in his head started spinning very fast. He knew that he had zero chance of passing this Trail, as he was not even human in the first ce, and secondly, he never cared about his humanity and abandoned it for power in a split of a second.

    On the contrary, he hated his own human part because it reminded him of his own insignificance and his worst fear, of being an ordinary person on Earth, without any ability or power, and that was something that frightened persona of Samiel Zentaur, just like it scared and killed Patrick Smith.

    But there was something that caught his attention.

    The situation of the human race.

    After they entered the Tower, he was surprised that Yvraine told him that there didn''t exist any really top-ranking human factions in the Tower, while some of them existed outside of it but did not have a foothold in the Tower was something that was suspicious by itself.

    And while the Magisterium could be technically considered a human-dominated faction, it was hardly a faction as those magic users only cared about their research and power and nothing else. If it benefitted them, they wouldn''t have a problem doing the same atrocities as Cultists or worshippers of the Outer Gods.

    Humanity was one of the most spread andmon species in the Tower and across all reality. One could see them practically everywhere in the Tower and almost in every world in the Cosmos.

    But in the Tower, the closest thing to all human factions was the Magisterium. But s, Magisterium could be, in many cases, hardly be considered a functioning faction.

    From what Yvraine told him, Magisterium was functioning like some kind of an Association for the Magic Casters and was headed by three representatives, the strongest from their Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks.

    Because of this, there was a lot of squabble and internal problems between tens of sub-factions of the Magisterium, and they often didn''t act as one. So, even though they were one of the biggest and strongest factions, their disunity was their greatest weakness, and only on rare asions did Magisterium act as a united front.

    Most factions in the Tower and Cosmos were usually built on racial or ideological aspects. However, the racial one was moremon, and the ideology was more typical for the religions and equivalent.

 Chapter 27 [Bonus Chapter] Cheating The Trial

    Samiel decided to search through some area of the 1st Layer of the Tomb, and now he was here before he came up with the solution to his predicament.

    Unfortunately, no matter how hard or long he searched, he found nothing. Samiel knew that it was not within his power to enter and clear out the Trial because the will of the deceased Transcendental would see it through.

    Thus he sat down on the ground and started contemting his strategy for clearing the Trial. He knew that legacy left here contained some great secret, probably known only to those of Transcendent Level and their most powerful and loyal servants.

    Thus Samiel could easily deduce that things here would be priceless. Though only probably in theter trials there would be priceless items, but even then, Samiel liked collecting treasures and other things that would make him rich.

    He quickly organized what he knew as he created a mental list to better focus his thoughts.

    1st was that this Tomb Belonged to a powerful Transcendent Level being, but not overly powerful, or he wouldn''t be dead and buried in a shitty ce like this. Or... he was buried here because it wouldn''t attract attention from his enemies... even if that could be the case.

    2nd was that, while the Domain from this being remained, it was not that strong, as Samiel could resist it due to his lineage, meaning the remnant power of the owner was significantly weakened. He predicted that if he was Legendary, he could forcefully break it after several years. While he could resist, that was mainly for racial benefit, not due to his strength.

    3rd was that the Trial consisted of basically scanning through his entire existence by the remnant power of the Transcendent buried here to see if his aspirations and talents were enough to lead the human race from their pitiful state.

    "And if one Transcendent can judge me, then another can create what should be judged."

    He muttered as he found out the solution. He almost wanted to give himself an imaginary p on the shoulder for well-done work.

    Samiel formted an easy but very effective n. If the remnant will of the Transcendental would judge his entire existence, then he needed to create something which would fool, even such a powerful Will. And in the end, his backer was not called Primordial Demiurge for nothing.

    Samiel nned to summon Azathoth''s projection to create an "illusion" of an ideal human sessor, which would pass with flying colors the Trial and fool the Transcenal''s Will and voa, the entire process is done.

    He quickly exited the Tomb, summoned all of his Undead, and ordered them to find some people, preferable humans or other simr species; most suitable were those who were innocent, as they were best to use as sacrificial material.

    After three hours, the Undeads returned and brought with them 4 people, all of them were humans, three females and one male; all of them looked pretty young, probably barely reaching their teens, as they were shaking from fear, while the girls were crying.

    If he were to guess, they were from some random weak world connected to the Tower and probably from a good background. There was inexperience and plenty of innocence in their eyes. Samiel predicted that they were some children of nobles or so, ying on adventurers. Normally, if a Necromancer or someone to him simr wanted to capture someone alive, then even death would be a blessing.

    Samiel viciously grinned as he ordered the Undeads to bring all 4 of them into the middle of the magic ritual circle he drew in the ground; as he then swung his hand and slit the throat of the youngest girl while herpanions were either crying, screaming, cursing or begging him to stop, though he didn''t understand theirnguage.

    "I make this sacrifice to you, my God."

    He chanted as one of the Undeads slit throats of another of the girls. At the same time, other Undeads started torturing the other two, who were barely alive and were descending into the madness from seeing theirrades being brutally murdered in front of their eyes and tortured by Undeads.

    "I summon the Will of the Blind Idiot God, the Primordial Demiurge, the Daemon Sultan to witness the madness and carnage I spread in his name."

    Usually, all rituals that involved summoning Outer Gods required ritual sacrifices by torturing people to death and showing them into madness. Because Samiel wasn''t officially an Apostle and couldn''tmunicate with his God through a telepathic channel, he needed to carry out the ritual.

    [You have sessfully summoned the will projection of the Outer God Azathoth from his Dream.]

    [What do you wish, my Apostle.]

    Asked Azathoth, as the life left thest sacrifices due to immense torture they experienced as all of the negative energy was absorbed by the Will Projection of the Azathoth. At the same time, Samiel immediately knelt on his right knee as his God appeared from his Dream.

    "I need this..."

    Samiel quickly exined the situation to his God, while Azathoth went silent for a moment.<sub> </sub>

    [Don''t let anyone know about the Tomb of The Last Human King, not until you have obtained everything.]

    Said millions of voices at the same time as the Will Projection of Azathoth dispersed.

    Not even secondster, from a ce where he sacrificed those four adventurers, their bloodied and tortured corpses started shaking as their bodies were dissolving and condensing into some weird gem-like shapen thing. After several more minutes, a ne was created from their corpses, as Samiel knew that this was his ticket.

    He took the ne and wore it around his neck as he felt cold void energy enter his body and his own very soul and envelop him from toe to head. He remained still for several minutes as he adjusted to that feeling before he opened his eyes again.

    After that was done, his mind drifted back to the words from his Patron God and a warning he told him about the legacy inside. Just the warning from Azathoth about this thing meant that the content and secrets between this Tomb would be precious for even Transcendental Level Beings.

    Samiel knew that he was some kind of protection against the owner of the Tomb, or rather fabricated Samiel Zentaur, who was envisioned to have all traits the Trial required, and this illusion was impossible to see through.

    Wrong, this was not an illusion.

    This was part of the Azathoth''s Dream envisioned in Samiel''s existence. This should be enough to fool even the most powerful Transcendents, not to mention the remnant will of long killed one.

    What Azthoth did was project part of his Dream into reality directly at Samiel and, at the same time, change the entirety of the Samiel Zentaur to an image or vision that the remnant will want to see. Because this was part of the Azathoth''s Dream, something directly projected from the real world by the Primordial Demiurge, only mighty Transcendets would be able to see through the Dream.

    Immediately after that, he summoned back his Undeads, and entered the Tomb of The Last Human King once more, and initiated the Iron-Tier Trial.

    Suddenly, as the Trial started, he heard a notification from the Akashic Records before he was overwhelmed by the pressure of the Transcendent Level, as it scrutinized everything about his entire being.

    [Transcendent Level Being''s Remnant Will scans you.]

    [Your memory is looked through.]

    [Your soul is being searched.]

    [Transcen Level Being is delighted to see such an outstanding sessor.]

    [You have cleared the 1st Trial perfectly.]

    [You obtained Steel Gate Token for the 2nd Trial.]

    [You obtained Key to the Mortal Treasury.]

    ''I would do a good scammer or maybe even a con artist.''

    Samiel took two items he got as a reward from the Trail, as he knew that no matter how strong this person was during his peak, even then, he wouldn''t be able to see anything that Azathoth personally created from his Dream.

    He stored the Steel Gate Token in his Dimensional Ring while he kept the Mortal Treasury Key with him as he went to open up the sealed door at the end of the corridor.

    The 1st Layer of the Tomb had practically one huge corridor with tree rooms. One of them was the Treasury Room which was currently locked, then there was a Trail room, and behind the Trial Room was the Staircase Room, where was the Steel Gate and staircase to the 2nd Layer.

    When he opened the Mortal Treasury, he saw plenty of rusted weapons, some ores, and metals. He was now d that Yvraine gave him one more of the Dimensional Rings so he could have space to store items, or else he wouldn''t be able to carry out such an amount of equipment.

    Suddenly, his Armor Rao''s Vengence trembled in anticipation as it sensed some mana-rich metals, and it appeared to be hungry.

 Chapter 28 Conclusion Of The 1st Floor

    Even though Azathoth has wiped out the original Ego of the armor, there still remained some bits that Samiel was able to reign in and control, as they didn''t really have any kind of sentience and acted more on their instincts than anything.

    Suddenly, a familiar creeping miasma burst out from the armor as it shot towards all things made from the metal in the room, especially a few tens of weapons, pieces of armor, or any other equipment, even before Samiel could do anything and absorbed everything in one gulp.

    [Holy-Grade Artifact Armour, Rao''s Vengence has absorbed and assimted arge amount of metal, which was rich in mana.]

    [The restoration progress of the Holy-Grade Artifact Armour, Rao''s Vengence has been increased by 1%]

    ''All of these things just 1%? Though I should be d for that, things here were old, ancient, and probably usable only till the Steel-Tier or maybe Bronze-Tier. Fucking armor assimted even the gold ingots which were left here.''

    Samiel cursed his armor as he started looking around the Treasury, as now approximately half of the items disappeared as they were absorbed by the miasma released from the Holy-Grade Artifact Armour, Rao''s Vengence.

    He was beyond angry that the shining gold bars disappeared as he almost cried imaginary anime tears... so much gold and all of it was eaten by his armor. That was just depressing... really. No, Samiel wasn''t a dragon who was enthralled by gold, but he liked collecting treasures and being rich.

    At least now, the deterioration process haspletely stopped, and restoration has begun, at least better than nothing, he couldment. What else remained for him to do? He could only hope that one day, the armor wouldpletely restore itself, and he would have another overpowered piece of equipment on his person.

    If not for that, he would probably have another rage moment, destroying everything around him or rather freeing. Samiel noticed from the time he awoke his Lord ss Knight of Niflheim and obtained Ultimate Ability [Winter Ruler], it reacted on a subconscious level to his mood, and if he was angry or something, it would be automatically active, freezing everything in his sight.

    He was pretty angry because, right before he entered the Tower, he spent all of his riches and precious things to buy himself a few Magic Tomes, so literally speaking, he was poor as fuck right now.

    In the Treasury Room, he found some Magic Tome on various branches of Magic, mainly the Elemental Magics, like Fire Magic and so on, then there were a few Mana Crystals, some random things, some jewels, and others.

    The most notable thing he found was a weird pale rock that radiated something reminiscing a moonlight; it was probably some kind of peculiarity or maybe rare treasure. It gave a very calming feeling, and he had a hunch that this would be something very precious.

    After hepletely cleared it out, not leaving a single thing here, as he could always sell what he didn''t need, and as he was a money grubber and treasure hoarder, he decided to make the best out of it.

    [Hidden Mission: Clear out the 1st Trial set by The Last King of Humanity has beenpleted.]

    [Chain Quest: Inheritance of the Humanity has been initiated.]

    [Chain Mission: Inheritance of The Last Human King has been initiated.

    Description: After reaching Steel-Tier, clear out the Steel Gatekeepers.

    Reward: ???]

    [You have obtained 1,000 Record Points.]

    [Due to being a mortal connected to Akashic Records, you obtained additional Record Points.]

    [Additional 500 Record Points have been obtained.]

    Samiel smiled in delight as all people connected to the Akashic Records could exchange knowledge with the Akashic Records, as it was basically not only the "manager of the reality" but also an information dimension.

    Record Points were a method of how Akashic Records evaluated the value of knowledge and then put a price on them inyman''s terms.

    The myth of Akashic Records containing every piece of information was false, but not that far. As long as someone is connected to the Akashic Records, he could use his own knowledge to exchange it for the Record Points and then use the Record Points to exchange for the knowledge from the Records.

    Another method to obtain Record Points was to make remarkable and unique achievements that are notable enough to be recorded in the Archives of the Akashic Records, just like Samiel cleared out the Hidden Mission and initiated Chain Quest rted to this.

    Though he knew that his Achievement didn''t stem from this alone, but rather, he managed to Achieve to clear this Trial as Old Deus by basically tricking the Will of the Last King by depending on his Patron God.

    Akashic Records didn''t really care about what he did, as long as it was something remarkable. So in the end, the result was the same, and he got his Record Points, which was good. Though, there were some restrictions on their usage.

    For first, only knowledge avable or known to the Akashic Records could be exchanged and nothing else. One cannot obtain Abilities or Skills, but instead, one could ask for knowledge on how to awaken ability or master some already owned skills or learn skills.

    Also, one cannot obtain anything "material" like Items, Bloodlines, or anything like that. Of course, obtaining direct power like increasement in Level or Tier was also absolutely out of the question. However, one could obtain locations of Inheritance Tombs, Legacies, buried treasures, and so on, as long as their location is recorded within the Akashic Records.

    Because of these limitations, those who carried out transactions with the Akashic Records were mainly Magic Casters, Schrs, Invetors, or other simrly minded people. Obtaining the Record Points was not an easy feat, and most prices of the knowledge in the Akashic Records were high; like some were astronomical.

    Samiel started calling it a systemless system because it reminded him of the system novels he read a long, long time ago, but this one didn''t give you anything out of thin air. Normally Systems like that would give people abilities, bloodlines, skills, and practically everything, but that left them that unsavory feeling of unease.

    What if the system disappeared? Would all of my power disappear too? Especially when someone got even "cultivation" or whatever from the system. Those were probably the most important question in the game.

    But at least he didn''t fear the fact that if he lost the "system", he would be powerless as an ant.

    Here there was no such danger, fortunately.

    So, even if the Akashic Records provided the rewards in Quest only in a very restrictive way, it was still better than not having your own power, or living in fear, that if you lost the system, then you would lose everything.

    ***

    After Samiel cleared out the Trial, he returned to Yvraine, as he promised her to help with her own Quest from the Moon Goddess. Without her help, he wouldn''t have cleared his own Quest so fast and effectively because she provided him with essential information and items required and even formted a n for that.<sub> </sub>

    On his way back, Lady Luck smiled at him once more as he encountered another group of Orks; his kill count on Orks had crossed 5,000, and now he had 120 Steel-Tier Ork Undeads, all of which wereter stages, around Level 20 to 22.

    "You are back?"

    Yvraine asked nonchntly as she continued practicing with her des, as he had been out for five or six hours. When it came to her mastery over the des, she was very diligent about her practice and practiced every day for several hours.

    "Yeh, Ipleted myst Quest on this Floor; we can proceed onto yours... what is it?"

    She stopped, annoyed that the man never properly listened to her every word as he should.

    "Moonstone. I need to find a Moonstone, which is a scarce treasure across a myriad of dimensions; it is priceless to Moon Gods or anyone who wants to be Transcendent in that way. Additionally, for example, Gods with Domains over Moon could use the Moonstone to strengthen their power, or their worshippers built altars to channel power from their God better."

    Exined Yvraine as she frowned at Samiel''s absentminded expression as she shouted at him.

    "Are you even listening?!"

    Samiel woke up as he looked annoyed.

    "I am thinking, woman."

    He answered as he took out the weird rock he obtained from the Iron-Tier Treasury and threw it to Yvraine; as he enjoyed her looks of shock.

    "This is..."

    She had hard words for this.

    "Probably the Moonstone... I found it by chance, so now, it is yours."

    Samiel said as he repaid her for her help. It was rather an irony that a piece of rock he randomly found in the vault after he cleared the Trial was, in fact, the thing that Yvraine kept looking for the entire time she was on the 1st Floor.

    "..."

    She didn''t say anything but closed her eyes, probablymunicating with her Goddess as she most probablypleted her Quest and could advance into the 2nd Floor at any time.

    [Advancement Quest Ork Hunt has beenpleted.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has killed 5,031 Orks during the Advancement Quest Ork Hunt.]

    [Calcting Rewards.]

    [Rewards calcted.]

    [You have obtained x100 Steel-Tier Mana Crystals, x10 Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals.]

    Samiel heard as hepleted the Advancement Quest and obtained a ton of Mana Crystals. All of these would greatly ease up his advancement to the Steel-Tier, but he would be able to quickly rise in Level, at least up until Level 18 or Level 19, probably.

    Just wishful thinking.

    "Now what?"

    Asked Samiel, as basically now both of them could ascend to the 2nd Floor any time.

    "Either you go to a higher floor or remain here."

    Answered him, Yvraine, as she finishedmunicating with her Goddess. At the same time, Samiel was pondering over something and looked at Yvraine, weighting his opinions.

    "Here, take this if you want to go in that direction."

    She threw him some object with weird inscriptions and runes all over it.

    "This is a special seal that allows people who hold this special seal to appear at the same location when climbing the floors. Usually, the teleportation to the higher Floor, if you are climbing the Tower, is done at random, meaning you can appear basically anywhere on the higher Floor, so with this seal, we can appear at the same ce if you want to team up with me... not that I mind as you have proved to be useful during our time here."

    Yvraine exined to him the usage of the seal, and he just kept it as it didn''t seem to be bad to have someone during the tasks, as he could use some help.

    Especially if someone wasn''t afraid of worshippers of the Outer Gods, and additionally, his God Azathoth told him that Yvraine didn''t present danger to his path.

    "Then let us meet on the Second Floor."

    He said, and she agreed, as the Tower teleported both to the 2nd Floor.

 Chapter 29 The 2nd Floor

    2nd Floor of the Tower.

    The 2nd Floor of the Tower was vastly different from the 1st Floor of the Tower. Gone were the verdant nes, vibrant forests and lush caves, the blue sky, and vast oceans of the 1st Floor. The average continent has the enviroment of forests, rivers, mountain ranges, and everything else.

    Then the 2nd Floor was literal hell.

    Though much bigger than the 1st Floor, the entire Floor was an enormous wastnd that served as an eternal battlefield for the Ruler''s Quest. For countless years, tens of thousands of people would battle to death in the endless cycle of ughter.

    One this continued over and over, and over and over, till the eternity, as it was the decision of the Asura Tribe, which decided the location of their ughter Trial to be on the 2nd Floor. It continued for countless Eras and would continue for countless Eras toe.

    On some remote part of the supercontinent battlefield, both Samiel and Yvraine appeared as they were teleported here by the Tower System. Due to the seal that both of them had, they appeared together at the same location. He had to admit that it was a nifty thing to have with them.

    The ce where they were teleported to were some ruins, and both of them could recognize those ruins, or rather they could recognize the origin of those ruins. The skyscrapers, destroyed buildings, or remains of something that looked like a car meant it was a city''s ruins from a rtively developed technological civilization.

    Instantly, after they were teleported to the 2nd Floor, both of them received the Quest from the Floor Ruler. Regarding the Quest from the Floor Rulers, they could decide who can take the Quest, such as in this case, where everyone who entered the 2nd Floor, whether it be from the 1st Floor or entered from higher Floors, would receive the Quest.

    Meanwhile, Samiel also received the Advancement Quest from Akashic Records. At the same time, Yvraine didn''t get Quest from her Goddess this time. Gods were apparently like this; if they don''t want, then they won''t give out Quest to their followers.

    Then the said follower had to search for any other way to climb to higher Floors, but Yvraine told him that there is always a way to climb to the higher floors. However, some are more challenging than others.

    Fortunately, the Ruler''s Quest wasn''t exactly that hard.

    [Ruler Quest: Battle Royale

    Description: Collect 100 Tokens by killing other participants.

    Rewards: Advancement to the 3rd Floor.]

    [Advancement Quest: Battle Royale

    Description: Collect 10,000 Tokens by killing other participants.

    Rewards: Hidden Mission Reveal, Advancement to the 3rd Floor, x1 Fragment of Trish.]

    Samiel looked over the Quests, and when he saw that for Quest from the Tower System, he needed to kill 10,000 other participants, his heart nearly stopped. 10,000 was a huge number of people, not that he got any remorse about killing such a high number of people; for him, be it one, ten, hundred, thousand, or million didn''t really matter.

    In the great scheme of things, even if trillions were killed by someone, it was inconsequential. In the great game, the only thing that mattered was a single thing, one single thing.

    Power.

    Either you have it or don''t.

    Those who have power can do anything they wish, and those who don''t will just shout about morality to heal their own worthless and powerless egos, about how those with power are heartless monsters.

    Really an amusing circle.

    Samiel saw it many times on Earth, where the civilization was developed rtively well, though that depended on the point of view. And powerful countries or corporations could do anything they wished, and social justice warriors could just scream... probably from the jealousy that they don''t have that kind of power.

    When he thought about the rewards from the Quests, they were equally appealing, not to mention this Floor had another Hidden Mission, and he got a fragment of Trish.

    From what he remembered from Earth, Trish was a divine weapon belonging to Shiva, God of Destruction, so thepletion of this Quest was too appealing to him at this moment. In the myths he knew of, Shiva was one of the strongest Gods of the Hindu Pantheon, if not strongest and was God of Destruction.

    If he obtained a fragment of such a weapon from a Quest, it meant that he could get more Quest with such rewards in the future.

    And most importantly, it meant that Akashic Records had stored them, so the original owner must engineer it for them to be set as a reward for the Quests. Though, that left Samiel with a disturbing question, how did Trish get fragmented, and how did it end in the custody of the Akashic Records.<sub> </sub>

    ? Too many questions to which he didn''t have an answer, but at the same time, he was too weak to even contemte about it.

    In the end, he returned to reality and started formting his next steps.

    Additionally, with his Undead Army, it shouldn''t be that much of a problem. Given some time and some scheming, collecting such a number could be done realistically speaking. Especially if they were both of them working on it. As it proved on the 1st Floor, they worked together very well.

    After he exined the situation to Yvraine, she frowned as 10,000 was a huge number indeed, but after some nning, it should be doable; she knew of people who killed even more on this Trial, far more.

    "Why is this floor so bloody?"

    Questioned Samiel as they found a safe ce to hide in the underground space of one of the ruined buildings. Because the entire 2nd Floor was basically a ughter Trial, there were fights and battles everywhere on every step, so the entire ce was very dangerous. Especially for those who just entered from the 1st Floor or other ces, because these people are often preyed on.

    "The 2nd Floor is under the Rule of Asura Tribe, a very mighty species. Asuras are bloodthirsty species and battle race from birth; since they came to rule this Floor, Asura King created Trials where other participants ughtered each other. This continued for a very long time, and even the entirety of the Second Floor has the reputation of being a ughter Trial."

    She exined before making a slight pause.

    "Many schrs are specting that they have some hidden purpose from doing so, as practically untold millions were killed here and all of their blood, corpses, Energy, and Souls have been collected by Asuras..."

    The first thought Samiel had when he heard that was that they were trying to resurrect someone or something. Samiel as an active worshipper of the Outer Gods, despite his low level, was aware of a few methods of resurrection through something simr, as this was one of the favorite methods of Devils, Daemons, and other unscrupulous individuals.

    If not, they wouldn''t be harvesting all of this for countless Eras, and by amount and length, they were probably trying to resurrect some very powerful Transcendent, or they are doing some forbidden things to increase their strength.

    But because the Asura Tribe was very powerful on the mortal ne, not to mention they had powerful Transcendental Backing, nobody really cared about what they were doing. So s, as the ancient wise saying goes, those with power could do as they pleased.

    "For now, we should remain here and reach Steel-Tier. You should have enough Mana Crystals or whatever for that, right?"

    Asked Samiel, as Yvraine nodded. In truth, she had countless of them because she took them from her home. Some people would find their staches empty because, unaware to anyone, Yvraine stole a lot of things from her father about thements about how tomboyish she was.

    For now, reaching the Steel-Tier was most important, as he could obtain more power and, more importantly, increase his Undead Army by leaps and bounds.

    In truth, he has already started thinking about other methods how to increase his Mental Strength.

    Usually, when Necromancer hit the limit of Undeads, he could control with his Mental Strength, which was increased only by Leveling Up naturally; there was a method of creating Liches and controlling the Liches who would be controlling Lesser Undead. This was a prettymon method, though sometimes dangerous because there were some cases when even Lich broke from the Necromancer''s control and killed the Necromancer.

    After that, both of them went to absorb Mana from the Mana Crystals, which was one of the basic methods of Leveling Up. Yvraine was already Level 10 of the Iron-Tier, so for her, the next step would be Mana Steelification, where she would purify her Mana and increase its quality and density, so it would resemble liquid Steel when used.

    Samiel also took out several Steel-Tier Mana Crystals and started draining Mana from them at an rming rate, so much that soon he used more than half of his Mana Crystals to reach Level 10 of the Iron-Tier, as he heard the notification from the Akashic Records.

    [Your Level has been Increased.]

    [Your Level has been Increased.]

    [You have reached Level 10 of Iron-Tier.]

    [To reach Steel-Tier, you need to purify your Mana.]

    Now that he reached this point, Samiel continued to drain Mana from the Mana Crystals, as he took all of them out, including the Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals, and started the process where he would purify his Mana to reach the standard of the Steel Mana, as his Mana gained enough color of the Steel soon and was denser than before.

    [Your Level has been Increased.]

    [You have reached Steel-Tier.]

 Chapter 30 Steel-Tier

    Now that he reached the Steel-Tier, he basically reached the same Level he reached in the past, even though now he was countless times stronger than before. Strictly speaking, in the past, he reached Level 15, but right now, he was way stronger; his Mana was several times denser and purer.

    Not to mention, his physical strength and other physical aspects were tremendously enhanced, so right now, he could defeat himself from the past several times over with closed eyes.

    The only unfortunate thing in all of this was that he was left with only 3 Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals as he used all of them during his breakthrough to the Steel-Tier. The reason behind his was his race, as it required much more Mana than the average species.

    Even Yvraine, who now reached Steel-Tier, used way fewer Mana Crystals, only used only two Bronze-Tier ones, while Samiel used 7 Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals and around 45 Steel-Tier ones to reach the Steel-Tier.

    This could be attributed to some kind of bnce of the Cosmos. The stronger the species were and the stronger racial attributes they had, and not to mention, if they had some special and unique abilities, their progress would be slower and more costlypared to others.

    After he looked at the remaining three Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals, he decided to use all of them to increase his Level; as he started draining them until nothing remained from them, Samiel''s Mana increased and reached Level 12.

    [Your Level has been Increased.]

    Now that he reached Level 12, he could control 180 Undead altogether. Hisbat prowess increased tremendously with his Steel-Tier Mana, as he could use more spells and his Ultimate Ability [Winter Ruler] for a prolonged amount of time.

    Meaning he could now easily take on Bronze-Tiers probably up to Level 35 or so; also, it hugely depended on their sses and Races, but even that was great. Aside from Level and experiences were great factors, aside from skills and abilities. Inbat, the Level was not everything, as other factors could decide the end o the fight.

    As he was thinking about the amount of resources he would need to sustain this tempo of cultivation, and this was not counting all things he would need for magic experiments, creating strong and unique Undead, and other things, he got a headache from just thinking about it.

    That was another advantage that the huge factions had because they could easily eliminate all side-effects that the Superior Races had. In the end, with their enormous amount of resources and other things at hand, they could provide those members of the Superior Species like Samiel with enough resources to have the same training speed as even ordinary talented humans, who had the fastest training speed.

    "Are you finished?"

    Yvraine stretched her body as she reached the Steel-Tier, as he knew that look on her face.

    They technically lived together for several weeks, and Samiel was good at observing people, and he learned some of Yvraine''s habits and studied her personality. He knew that Yvraine was rather battle maniac, though she was very good at hiding it. Still, she cannot hide her battle lust every time perfectly. It always manifested itself subconsciously when she encountered someone very powerful and special.

    "We can fight after ten minutes; just give me some time to adjust."

    Samiel said as he was still adjusting to the Steel-Tier Mana, which was countless times stronger, denser, and more potent. The density and potency of the Mana were essential to every ss Bearer because the more dense and potent the Mana was, the more powerful their spells and Abilities would be. Not to mention, for Caster, this had another effect, which was basically a cheaper casting.

    After he adequately adjusted to the Steel-Tier Mana, Samiel went to Yvraine so they could spar together because both of them wanted to test their power against each other after reaching the Steel-Tier.

    In a split of seconds, Yvraine appeared before him, shing at his throat with her twin jade des as she ferociously attacked Samiel, as her des just bounced from his throat while he used [Winter Ruler] to create ayer of Ice around his throat to protect himself.

    Yvraine was very fast, like, very, very fast as she left after her just afterimage as she rushed at Samiel.

    It was risky; even Yvraine widened her eyes in shock as she watched Samiel to defend in this way when she noticed that frost had crept up to her twin des, and they started feeling colder, to the point that her hands started freezing.

    [Your proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has increased by 2%.]<sub> </sub>

    Samiel heard the notification from the Akashic Records because he found a new way of the usage of the [Winter Ruler].

    ''That man is absolutely crazy.''

    She thought when she watched Samiel block her strikes in this bizarre way, where most people would die; thus it was a rarity to see someone using Ice in this way. Because if the attack was just a bit stronger, then you would die with a severed head. Only people who attempted to do this were those without a bit of self-perseverance or those who were absolutely confident in their abilities.

    Yvraine then ignited her twin des with some kind of me that Samiel didn''t recognize, but he could see that she expunged the frost that he cast onto her twin jade des as Yvraine attacked him once more.

    During their spars, he never used his Undead or more dangerous spells from Necromancy Arts or, nowadays, the Void Magic, and fought solely with his martial arts or the [Winter Ruler].

    Undeads were forbidden due to the first time they fought, Samiel beat her badly by overwhelming her through pure numbers, and Samiel didn''t really want to use Necromancy Arts or Void Magic because it was dangerous, and if by some ident, Yvraine didn''t dodge or blocked properly, she could be severely injured in a pretty nasty way.

    Samiel materialized an ice sword in his right hand as he blocked Yvraine''s attack. At the same time, he started decreasing the temperature in their surroundings, as frost prated through the entire building as it started freezing. Yvraine could see her breath in the frost.

    He did it because he knew that in this way, he could greatly hinder her movements and decrease her agility, which seeded as Yvraine''s speed has receded to about one-fourth, which was a very good result, as now Samiel could clearly see her movements without any problems.

    With each passing spar, Samiel''s control over the [Winter Ruler] and its proficiency increased tremendously, as he started to use it more and more in actualbat aside from Necromancy.

    He even asked Yvraine what would be the best Magic to go with his "ice-like ability", to which he got the answer Winter Magic.

    Unfortunately, the Winter Magic war was rare, only known by Gods of Winter or one reclusive faction, known as Frozen Court, which was located on the 67th Floor of the Tower and had dominion over several worlds and dimensions across the Cosmos.

    Frozen Court consisted exclusively of Ice Users or anything rted to Ice banded together, as they were not limited to single species or upation and were considered a very powerful faction.

    The entire Frozen Court acted as some kind of elective monarchy, where they basically chose their leader based on the power of Ice Ability or Magic. The Monarch who was elected then was named Monarch of Frost and ruled till the day he died or was defeated by a more powerful Ice User.

    Naturally, this didn''t mean only Ice, Frost, or Winter users were members of the Frozen Court, as the Frozen court has countless other professions and experts, but only those with the abilities mentioned above have sway or voice in the faction''s matters.

    Unfortunately, Frozen Court was an extremely reclusive faction that didn''t want any visitors; even the Floor Advancement Quest that the Ruler was issuing was to withstand Froststorm for 1 minute so everyone could leave as soon as they arrived.

    67th Floor is home to countless species and races that live in cold areas, like Snow Trolls, Yetis, Yuki-Onnas, and other species that prefer ces like these. For example, one of the significant species of the Frozen Court was Frost Demon Tribe and Ice Dragon Flock. This alone made the Frozen Court one of the more powerful factions in the Cosmos.

    Suddenly five 1st Level Spells Thunderps were shooting at him, as Yvraine cast them in a split of a second due to her extensive knowledge. Samiel knew that even though she was Steel-Tier, her knowledge of the Arcane and Magic would probably eclipse even some Legendaries due to her background.

    She told him she had studied Magic extensively since she was young. After all, Silvermoon Elves were all inborn Arcanists, as Magic was deeply rooted in their entire existence. And because all Silvermoon Elves were naturally-born Arcanists, and especially those of the Imperial House and monstrous aptitude for the Magic.

    Thus all of them were forced to learn as much Magic as possible, especially the Magic Theory in their younger years, and Yvraine was not an exception. She studied moremon types of Magic, but unfortunately, her knowledge of the School of Necromancy was non-existent.

    Though on the other hand, she was very skilled in the Elemental Types of Magic or, for example, rare Ward Magic, and could create Magic Wards and Magic Barriers.

 Chapter 31 [Bonus Chapter] First Token

    In reaction, he instantly erected a wall of ice, as he blocked her spells and shot several crudely made Ice weapons at her, each oneparable to 1st Level Spell, albeit a weak one, but still... They were too many of them, and they were very fast for an average warrior to dodge them all without any problem.

    Yvraine swiftly dodged every one of them as shended on the ground, which Samiel instantly froze as she fell onto her butt. While this situation reminded him of some unsessfuledy or anime, he still tried a lot not tough out loud.

    With this, the battle concluded as Samiel went to her and helped her to stand up, and to his surprise, she just took his hand and stood up. While Yvraine was very acrobatic and fast, Samiel used the moment when her bnce was a bit off to freeze the grounds, which resulted in her slipping down.

    Though as a part of the aftermath of their spar, they were forced to change their hideout, as this one was entirely frozen. Not to mention, it suffered various degrees of damage during their fight, so it was no longer a suitable living ce... if it could be called that way even before.

    Unfortunately, the entire 2nd Floor was like this, apparently not only because of the constant fights and battles, but some members of the Asura Tribe, like the Elders and Patriarch, liked the appearance of the 2nd Floor to have the apocalyptic vibe.

    During the way, as they searched for a suitable ruin resembling an ordinary building that won''t fall apart, they started strategizing for the Trial and Quests. Here was the ce where everything was falling apart, as they were in the deste wastnds of the 2nd Floor.

    "Yvraine, aside from collecting these Tokens to pass the Quest and climb the Floor, do they have any other function?"

    Samiel then asked the question that had been bugging him for a longer time, especially when Yvraine told him that some people spent even centuries on this Floor, and even some descended from the higher Floors to participate in this Trial once more to gather more Tokens.

    So it wasn''t umon to see powerhousesing here and there. Apparently, on the higher floors, the Tokens from the ughter Trial could fetch a nice sum of Mana Crystals if sold to a suitable buyer.

    "Yes, there is."

    She answered while ying with her Token.

    "To motivate people to kill each other, you can exchange these Tokens for something from the Asura Tribe. Of course, the good items on the list all have outrageous prices on them, numbering in tens of thousands of Token. Though some of those things in there would be tempting even to Transcendents, not to mention to mortals."

    She then paused in midway.

    "One person spent more than a thousand years in this Trial; with his special clone ability, he was able to have clones in all areas and kept killing contestants for 1,788 Years until he gathered more than 20 million Tokens and exchanged them for Drop of an Immortalis Iniquus Sanguis. After disappearing, he appeared several centuriester and became a Transcendent by descending into some amalgamation of Godhood rted to Blood and Daemonhood."

    She made a pause as Samiel wondered about the power of such a thing.

    ''So the things that Akashic Records offered me as a reward for establishing the connection on my own do exist even in the Tower... I wonder if I can get my hands on something simr to research it and possibly exploit it in some way.''

    His brain wheels were working as his memory drifted to that fateful day when he entered the Tower by establishing the connection with the Akashic Records on his own, though he still didn''t really understand how exactly it happened.

    While he didn''t want items like Transcendence Seed or Immortalis Iniquus Sanguis for him, but rather for his future "underlings" so he could cultivate Transcendent Level servants for himself, in the future far away.

    "On top of that, his Transcendence was extremely powerful and attracted the attention of many beings. On the day he Transcendened, he killed several Transcendent Level Devils and Daemons, and a few Gods, and that day ismemorated as the birth of the Sanctus Immortalis Daemon."

    Asura Tribe, while a mortal faction, had produced plenty of Transcendents, so it was no wonder they had some unique and precious things in their possession. Some of these items were really peculiar and powerful, while some were unassuming at first nce but contained a tremendous amount of power.

    Though Samiel was shocked that someone was able to gather such a staggering amount of Tokens, he knew that if someone kept on killing for almost 2 millennia in all three areas, it should be possible. However, it was probably worth it several times over for such results.

    The entire 2nd Floor was divided into three areas.

    1st Area was for Iron-Tier to Bronze-Tierbatants.<sub> </sub>

    2nd Area was for Silver-Tier and Gold-Tierbatants

    3rd Area was for Legendaries.

    It was impossible to go from one Area to another, as Asura Tribe separated the continent with mighty and powerful barriers, and the borders were patrolled by the Legendary warriors of the Asura Tribe. Not to mention, they were even using some sort of Tower''s Suppression to ensure their measures were perfect.

    Of course, Samiel and Yvraine were located in the 1st Area, which was thergest one and with the highest number of participants. That was because most of the participants in the ughter Trial came from the 1st Floor or from some random worlds that were connected to the 2nd Floor and had low Tiers.

    "Even the cheapest thing on the list costs 1,000 Tokens, but if possible, even I want to gather several thousand Tokens to exchange for some precious things. Asuras are adamant about this, as they don''t trade them, and you cannot buy anything from them; you need to exchange it with Tokens. There are even times when they connect the Second Floor to some world or dimension, where they force everyone to participate. Unfortunately for us, we missed such an opportunity, as that happened only once in a while, and thest time it was around 300 years ago."

    Comined Yvraine, as Samiel agreed with her because if an entire world was forced to participate in this death game, it would be much easier for them to gather a few thousand tokens, maybe even a few tens of thousands, under the nose of mighty Legendaries and other strong Professionals who would rush here to participate.

    As they talked about the strategy at first and then various other things, suddenly Yvraine''s ears perked up as she heard someone was nearing their position. It was rather cute as they twitched whenever she heard something in the distance, he thought.

    "Three people are headed this way."

    Said Yvraine, as Samiel immediately woke up from his one personality and switched to battle mode.

    "We need to hide and ambush them in a case they are more powerful."

    He stated as Yvraine agreed with him, as they quickly hid in near ruined building that appeared to remain from some kind of Tower, probably destroyed Mage Tower. Rather be better safe than sorry was what Samiel thought.

    After they hid, Samiel and Yvraine saw three people approaching. It was apparently an adventurer party, as all of them were just Steel-Tiers. One of the more standard lineups for adventurers, one Swordsman, Wizard, and Archer.

    Either that or some unlucky climbers that entered from another world, because nobody sane who knew about the purpose of the 2nd Floor and its conditions, would never walk so leisurely through it. Even Legendaries watched their back every second they spent on the 2nd Floor in case of unforeseen circumstances.

    When Samiel saw them, he released his Undead to make short work of those three before resurrecting them as Undead. The fight didn''t take even 2 minutes before his Undead smashed the head of a crawling wizard whose legs were turned to meat paste by Warhammer of one Undead.

    [You have obtained Trial Token x5.]

    Samiel heard the message from the Tower System, as the Tower System automatically transferred the Tokens. Because he was the one who killed the three human adventurers, he got their Tokens.

    "We got the first 5."

    He grinned as he said that to Yvraine, who just nodded, as they just started and already got the 5 Tokens, but that was not enough. Though, it was a good start and better than nothing at all... in the end, everybody must start somewhere.

    Even though the 1st Area was collective for the Iron-Tier, Steel-Tier, and Bronze-Tier, in fact, only thetter two were present. At the same time, most of the Iron-Tiers never made it past the 1st Floor and usually were killed by Orks after the Orks took control over the 1st Floor.

    The entire 1st Area was bigger than the 1st Floor, so even though there were probably hundreds of thousands of people in this Area, it was still hard toe by more than a bunch of people per day, due to therge size of the Area.

    Fortunately, they had Samiel''s Undead, who could do the scouting work, as he could send a few of them in a different direction and then just let them scout the Area, looking for any participants to kill.

 Chapter 32 Six Months Later

    It has been six months since Samiel and Yvraine entered the 2nd Floor. Both of them lived together, not like "together together", but only together. It was rather fun as Yvraine was that cold and arrogant to him, as she was when they met, though she still was partial.

    During these 6 months, they managed to collect something around 500 Tokens each, meaning together, they killed over one thousand participants. Unfortunately, it was not only not enough, but the progress was rtively slow.

    Still, the good news was that Samiel managed to reach Level 14 after six months of killing and searching through the participants'' belongings and assimting their souls; unfortunately for him, most of them were only Steel-Tier, so because of that, only two levels.

    Though now, he had under his control 210 Steel-Tier Undead, meaning he already had a mini-army in forming. It was a wonderful sight to see his new Undead army in the formation as they were increasing with each passing day, be it in quantity or quality.

    He had to admit that this ce was like a paradise to him, or at least partially or not... it didn''t really matter, but it was fun, especially for a person like Samiel who could keep killing to his fill.

    "This is going to take a whole eternity."

    Comined he, as he noticed that number of participants was significantly lower than he anticipated from Yvraine''s exnation. She originally predicted that 6 months should be enough for them to gather all the Tokens they would need, but apparently, it was a mistake.

    In the end, the 2nd Floor was rtively empty, and there were not enough participants to kill 10,000 people or more during just 6 months. Probably they came at the wrong time as it was a bit empty this time. Samiel could only curse his bad luck, as it always was.

    "You need to obtain 10,000 Token; for me, only 1,000 is enough to exchange for what I want."

    Retorted Yvraine back as he grumbled.

    "What about we create a trap?"

    Samiel pondered about it.

    "?"

    Yvraine looked at him immediately after he said that.

    "We just need to spread that some Ancient Tomb has appeared somewhere on the battlefield and is filled with some traps, but more importantly with thousands of Tokens. Among the dropouts, it would create waves, as hundreds of them would rush here from all cities, maybe even thousands."

    During their half a year on the 2nd Floor, they visited several cities in the 1st Area.

    All of these cities were backed up by some strong factions, and usually, people who lived there were dropouts from trials who didn''t want to kill others or were weak to do so.

    Then there were some scavengers who just collected treasures and things from the battlefield. While some may look down on them, scavengers were essential to ces like the 2nd Floor because, together with the various Magical Beasts and Monsters, they were cleaning the 2nd Floor.

    If not, everywhere where a person would go would be rotting corpses, decaying equipment that was crumbling down due to the passage of time, and everything in nice and simple mountains.

    Strong factions, like Magisterium or Hall of Kadath, each had a city in each Area, and the reason was simple for that. Or, when they didn''t directly have a city, they were supporting some from the shadows.

    When Asura Tribe connected entire worlds or transported entire civilizations here to be ughtered, all of these strong factions wanted to profit from this. Connecting the entire world or transporting the civilization to the 2nd Floor also meant they would be bringing with them a considerable amount of resources.

    Samiel knew that even those cowards who didn''t dare to leave the safe cities wouldn''t hesitate too much when it came to the Ancient Tomb, as when they appeared, they continued countless other treasures aside from Tokens.

    "Hmm... that could work well. We can prepare some Killing Magic Formation to instantly kill the majority of them when they enter the targeted ce and then just deal with those who were lucky to survive. I have tried this method several times, and it has never failed me yet."

    Stated Yvraine, almost praisingly, that Samiel managed to devise such a good n. Doing strategical nning was not his forte, as he left that to Yvraine as she had a more keen mind on that, but this time he was pretty pleased with himself over this matter.

    "Only the Killing Magic Formation would be a problem..."

    She said as Samiel was thinking about it.<sub> </sub>

    Devising Killing Magic Formation is not an easy thing, as it requires a lot of knowledge over the Magic, and usually, only 5th Level or 6th Level Casters are able to do that. That was because it needed a significant level of skills, experience, and knowledge of the Magic and Spells one would use to create a Killing Spell Formation.

    Fortunately, Samiel wasn''t an average magic user but a genius, and he could quickly find the solution to their predicament. And this was not some of his thoughts but geniue truth, because the fact, he could create such formation with his current Level and knowledge of Magic, would probably cause many of the old coots who devoted centuries if not entire millennia to the pursuit of Magic a heart attack.

    "We only need a few Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals and a bunch of Wardstones where I can inscribe spells, and I should easily do it."

    What Samiel nned to do, was not, technically speaking, a Killing Magic Formation, but rather a variant of it, as hecked specific spells that were typical for the Killing Magic Formation. Spells typical for Killing Magic Formation were more destructive in nature, something that Samielcked in his arsenal for now.

    He nned to inscribe Void Magic Spells, like Crushing Curse, Word of Misfortune, Destructive Resonance, and Maddening Whispers onto the Wardstones to cast all those who enter the Formation into the madness.

    Additionally, there would be Wardstones inscribed with Necromancy Arts like Curse of Weakness, Inflict Wounds, Ray of Sickness, Blindness, Bestow Curse, Vampiric Touch, and a few others to weaken and injure them.

    Basically, this would create a state where everyone who entered the tomb would attack everybody, and they would kill each other. After that is finished, Samiel would then unleash his Undead and, together with Yvraine, kill what has been left from the "visitors".

    "I think we have some Wardstones from the killed participants, but I don''t know if the number would be enough."

    Said Yvraine as she took out fifteen Wardstones, as in one of their hunts, they killed a group of Wizards and Sorcerers from Magisterium, and these people had rather nice magic loot with them. Even though they were rtively weak, the content of their spatial storage equipment made a nice loot.

    "This will be enough, I think. These Wardstoens are of superb quality, so I can inscribe more spells onto them, and their effect would be much more devastating."

    He answered as he immediately started to work and began inscribing the Spells on the Wardstone. Inscription of the Spells onto the Wardstones was an arduous process that required supreme knowledge about the Spell Runic Matrix, and even the slightest mistake during the engraving into the Wardstone could result in failure, which was usually an explosion.

    And while Samiel agreed that explosion was an art, he didn''t want to be the art but preferred to be an artist.

    When it came to Magic as a whole, Samiel could be considered a prodigy, and even Yvraine was amazed by his learning ability as she taught him various branches of Magic and basic Arcane knowledge.

    After half an hour, he was done with Wardstone, where he inscribed more than 10 Spells ranging from the 1st Level to the 3rd Level. Normally this would be impossible, but these Wardstones were of top-notch quality that was very hard toe by. Even Yvraine thought they must have killed some important people from Magisterium''s new generation.

    This thought made Yvraine even happier.

    Three dayster, Samiel finished all preparations as all Wardstones were inscribed and interconnected, meaning they couldy down the Spell Formation.

    Samiel called it Necro-Madness Spell Formation, as it was based on the Void Magic and its mind effects coupled with Curses and other nasty spells from the Necromancy Arts. Not even a Silver-Tier person could ultimately walk into it and be unaffected by the Formation.

    He noticed that when he interconnected it, all Spells became even more powerful, and the final effect was pretty terrifying. This was the result of a superb Warstones, the perfect skills and technique he was using.

    During his time on Earth, he learned how to engrave spells on the Wardstones; because of the low mana in nature, this was the more efficient way to cast spells.

    "Now we need only find a suitable ce, which could serve as Ancient Tomb andy down there a Necro-Madness Spell Formation."

    In truth, what they were searching for was somerge underground space, which could serve as some kind of entrance to the Ancient Tomb, and there they wouldy down the Necro-Madness Spell Formation.

    "Several tens of kilometers from us, there was that huge underground cave and remains from some civilization; maybe that could serve well."

    Stated Yvraine as Samiel nodded in agreement.

    Fortunately, this part was rather easy for them, as they managed to find a suitable ce within just a few hours of searching because the entire 2nd Floor was filled with caves, underground spaces, and other simr things.

    Some of them were naturally made, while others were man-made, especially those which were remains after some unfortunate civilization was transported to the 2nd Floor by the Asura Tribe.

 Chapter 33 Of Traps, Ceremonies And Fun!

    Ironhelm City, 1st Area of the 2nd Floor.

    After several days, Samiel and Yvraineid down the Necro-Madness Spell Formation in the underground cave and prepared their tap there before they departed to the nearest City.

    The nearest City took them several days to arrive, and that was the moment when Samiel''s expectations from the City were squashed to nothingness. It was located on the outskirts of the 1st Area, not that far from the ce, where they first arrived.

    Ironhelm City, even though it was a "city" appeared to be more like a ruined town, as it was built upon the ruins of some random civilization that was unfortunate enough to be entirely transported by the Asiura Tribe to be part of the Trial.

    Sometimes when Asura Tribe transported entire continents to the Second Floor, thus expanding the 2nd Floor; for that reason, it was even bigger than some higher Floors. Because of how long the ughter Trial was taking ce, this Floor was enormous by any standart.

    Almost all cities or viges on the 2nd Floor, it didn''t really matter in which Area they were in, were built on the ruins of already deceased civilizations. However, not all civilizations were exterminated in the ughter Trial. Some luckier and more powerful managed to not only survive but also thrive.

    "Who is behind the Ironhelm City?"

    Questioned Samiel as they entered the City without any checks, and it was rare to see even guards patrolling here. Probably nobody knew the meaning of the term "security" here, as the entire City was mainly not guarded, aside from the mansion of the City Lord. They probably didn''t want to waste the precious manpower on something as "useless" as guarding the City.

    "Iron Legion, a mercenary organization that is mainly spread on the lower floors, though even despite this, they have several Lendaries among them, who couldn''t make it to higher floors, so here they are little tyrants. They usually take any jobs as long as they are paid well. But their individual strength is rtively pitiful, so they depend on numbers."

    Exined Yvraine; now that rified a lot of things. Because a mercenary organization practically backed up the Ironhelm City, they didn''t really care about the city''s public security, and only when someone created a mess inside the city would they intervene.

    "Additionally, they mainly depend on recruiting weaklings to join them, and 2nd Floor serves as one of thergest recruitment points for the Iron Legion."

    p Ironhelm City, even though it was in a terrible state, was a bustling city, with countless races walking the streets of the City, merchants selling their goods, and Inns full of people eating and drinking. It was one of therger cities across the 2nd Floor, and because of that, it attracted countless people here.</anda>

    "We need to split out and spread the rumors about the Ancient Tomb."

    Stated Yvraine as both of them then went in different directions. Aside from spreading the rumor about the appearance of the Ancient Tomb, Samiel needed to get to the marker and sell the things he wanted to sell, and finally, start umting riches.

    Samiel walked through the busy streets as he could see many races, ranging from Humans, Elves, Dwarves to Werewolves, Blood Kins, Githyanki, Githzerai, and even some Orks could be seen here. One could make an entirependium of species and racesmonly seen across the Cosmos, just on the 2nd Floor.

    Samiel went from Inn to Inn, from Tavern to Tavern, and even to a few information brokers in the Ironhelm City to spread the rumors of the Ancient Tomb, of course, all of this under the illusion spell that Yvraine cast on him, in the same way when she changed his appearance to that of an Ork.

    After Samiel finished seeding the sows of discord, he went to the merchant district to sell the things he didn''t need and wanted to gather some money. Usually, mortals used Gold, Silver a Copper Coins as their currency, while Legendaries used Mana Crystals solely as their currency.

    After haggling with the merchant for almost half an hour, he managed to sell all the useless things he got from the Iron-Tier Treasury for 15,000 Gold Coins, which was a very high amount. While in the Tower, the value of the Gold Coins was lower, they still had some uses.

    Yvraine told Samiel to save Gold Coins for when he would go to some world or dimension, as there he could buy a lot more things with Gold Coins at a lower price. For example, if some Magic Grimoire or Magic Tome cost around 50,000 Gold Coins for Basic Level, the outside the Tower, the same thing could be bought for 15,000 Gold Coins or even less.

    The reason for this was simple.

    Most merchants in the Tower preferred to use Mana Crystals as currency, so when someone paid with Gold Coins, the prices were many times higher, as Gold Coins were the primary currency for worlds and dimensions outside the Tower. Not to mention Gold wasn''t that rare thing in the Tower as it was outside of it; this its buying power was lower than the rest of the Cosmos.

    So thus, the buying power of Gold Coin in the Tower was less than it was outside of the Tower.

    After Samiel sold all the things, he met with Yvraine at some random Inn that she chose, in a VIP Room which she bought for them to eat and rx.

    "The food is worse than yours..."<sub> </sub>

    She said rather sadly, as it indeed helped my ego, as I was rather prideful about my cooking skills.

    "Now, aside from food, did you finish everything?"

    He asked as he sat down opposite her and started eating the food. It was the first time when he had tasted the food from the Tower, and even though it was made in some crappy Inn on the 2nd Floor, it was alreadyparable to the top restaurants on Earth.

    "Have you set the timer properly?"

    Yvraine asked as Samiel nodded.

    To prevent anyone from entering ahead of time and to lure thergest number of people there and kill them, he, together with Yvraine, designed a Timer Seal, where the entrance to the underground cave system would open itself and allow people to enter the trap.

    "One month. That should be enough to lure enough people."

    He answered while continuing to eat.

    The entrance was protected by the Spell Formation powered up by Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals and some spells that Samiel learned from the Basic Principles of Void Necrosis so that nobody would breach the entrance.

    "How many people do you think woulde there?"

    He asked in curiosity.

    "If we are lucky, probably more than 20,000 or even more. From what I saw in this City, the poption here was significantly higher several centuries ago when thest person from my family climbed the Tower. However, the Ancient Tomb will still ignite countless people''s greed across many cities. Unfortunately, the 1st Area is toorge; if we waited for an additional two or three months, there would be far more people."

    It was clear that the poption of participants in past decades got a huge hit, and with the size of a 2nd Floor, it was no wonder they had problems of finding people to kill even when Samiel was sending some of his Undead to scout various directions.

    Even 20,000 would probably be the limit they could handle as the Necro-Madness Spell Formation should reduce the number by at least 90% to 95% of them. Samiel even designed the entire Necro-Madness Spell Formation to target the strongest people hardest.

    Bronze-Tier powerhouses would die for sure, as neither Samiel nor Yvraine wanted to fight several Bronze-Tiers Professionals. At the same time, even with his Undeads and Yvraine''s weird magic and de skills, it would be futile because the difference in raw power was too huge.

    Not for the average Bronze-Tiers, but that was applicable only for those very powerful ones capable of fighting above their levels. Both of them knew that some of those were already on the 2nd Floor.

    Thus the Necro-Madness Spell Formation would target the Bronze-Tiers with enormous power, and additionally, because each Wardstone was inscribed with 3rd Level Spell Vampiric Touch. This would mean that each person killed would have his Mana absorbed by the Necro-Madness Spell Formation to boost itself and replenish its power.

    With this upgrade, the Necro-Madness Spell Formation could technically function indefinitely. Probably until it was destroyed because it will always be powered up by the Mana from the people who were killed in its vicinity.

    He designed it this way, so he didn''t need to deal with it every minute or supply the Necro-Madness Formation Spell Formation his own Mana in case the ambient Mana in the air was not enough.

    Not to mention that with each passing person who was killed in the Necro-Madness Spell Formation, it would grow stronger and stronger. All of this creates a nice little cycle of constant regeneration and killing.

    On top of that, for ritualistic purposes, Samiel inscribed on each Wardstone symbols of the Crawling Chaos, Outer God Nyathotep, as a form of honor to one of the strongest Chaos Gods and bringer of Chaos to the mortal ce.

    So the same time, the entire carnage trap would be something akin to a ritual ceremony honoring the Outer Gods.

 Chapter 34 Actors Gather

    After both of them had taken care of all matters in Ironhelm City, they returned back to the ce where Samiel set up the Necro-Madness Spell Formation. Not far away from it, they found a suitable ce that could act as an observatory ce; thus, Yvraine took out another of her neat gadgets to cast some illusion barrier around the ce, so nobody would really notice anything.

    And as expected seeds, they spread around the various cities, and settlements spread like fire. Now many ces in their outer area knew about the emergence of some Ancient Tomb at the location, which Samiel and Yvraine released.

    And soon first, people started heading towards the Ancient Tomb. Greed was the greatest motivator in existence, as just mentions of something like Ancient Tomb ignited it in the minds of thousands.

    "It is nicelying together."

    Said Samiel while he was hiding with Yvraine under the concealment spell that Yvraine prepared for them.

    Currently, after one month, the results were good, as they managed to lure around 16,000 people into their trap. A bit less than initially anticipated, but that was for better, as the Necro-Madness Spell Formation could deal with them more effortlessly.

    Now, almost all races gathered here, as Samiel could see countless species and people waiting in front of the entrance to the Trap Tomb, ranging from Humans to Elves and Orks. There were even a few rare ones, such as a few members of the Asura Tribe, all of whom were pinnacle Bronze-Tier or someone who appeared to be Chromatic Dragons.

    There were even some Vampires, Kindreds, and one Pale Blood. He could see even one person with Divine Aura, so either that person was an Apostle or descendent of some God, though probably some weaker ones.

    And even a few Demons were present.

    Demons or Demon Tribes were descendants of the Daemons who were transcendent. Each Demon Tribe was descended from some Daemon who either created them naturally or artificially. All Demons were very powerful, with a great affinity for Mana and physical department, as they were physically very strong.

    Even though some people might be scared that killing them would anger the Transcendents behind them, Samiel knew that it was far from the truth. Yvraine told him that most if not all of them are indifferent to their mortal servants, and Azathoth told him basically the same.

    Especially for Gods and Daemons, this was true because neither of them truly cared for their pawns, as they could always easily find new ones. So, in the end, they were just high-ss expendable pawns.

    Though some Daemons may care about their Demon Progenies but those cases were rare, and they only cared to a certain extent, like annihtion of an entire Tribe on the mortal ne was sometimes a big no-no because that would negatively affect said Daemon, as he would lose some influence on the mortal ne.

    "This would be fun... it appears a lot more people got interested in the Ancient Tomb, really, greed is the ultimate emotion across myriads of species."

    Samiel said as Yvraine observed everyone who came. Practically people from all corners of the 2nd Floor were present, from those of Noble standing or Superior Races to peasants or those from so-called inferior races.

    Surprisingly, even though countless people were gathered in front of the Trap Tomb, no fights broke out, probably due to the fact that there were around 15 pinnacle Bronze-Tier people from various factions and organizations who reached some kind of silent agreement among each other to not make a mess.

    After we had waited enough, the entrance opened, and everyone rushed inside. At first, they were cautious, but after finding hundreds of Tokens, they immediately rushed inside to search for more treasures.

    Tokens inside were those obtained by Samiel and Yvraine as bait for them to enter without thinking. After the majority of people entered, Samiel activated the Necro-Madness Spell Formation to its full power, as all of a sudden, hell was unleashed onto the participants.

    Because the Necro-Madness Spell Formation was properly prepared and Samiel and Yvraine used all of their Mana several times over emptying their reserves to charge the Necro-Madness Spell Formation beforehand, its effects were immediate.

    p Necro-Madness Spell Formation attacked with the full power on those 15 pinnacle Bronze-Tier Professionals together with all Bronze-Tiers, as they almost all of them went instantly mad, aside from the man who appeared to have some Divine Blood in him.</anda>

    But even he was heavily affected by the power of the Necro-Madness Spell Formation as he barely resisted all those madness spells that were being cast each second, as just during one minute, several hundreds of people were massacred by those at the Bronze-Tier, as they were like unstoppable machines.

    Some of the more lucky ones, who weren''t strongly affected, mainly because of their low strength, attempted to escape the cave when they realized they had entered a trap, as situations like this urred from time to time on the 2nd Floor.<sub> </sub>

    Some people who wanted to gather arge number of Tokens, and didn''t have the power to do it directly, usually prepared traps like these, often done by powerful and talented magic users. So even though some of them feared this could be a trap, their greed got ahead of them.

    Especially when they saw hundreds of Tokens on the ground when the entrance opened, it was already set in stone that Samiel''s and Yvraine''s n was a sess. Apparently, there was a shortage of peopleing to the 2nd Floor these past decades because many of them didn''t pass the 1st Floor due to being killed by Orks who arrived there.

    Through the decades, because the Orks killed many people on the 1st Floor, especially those who entered from the outside of the Tower, which was around 60% of all Climbers, drastically lowered the number of people on the 2nd Floor.

    "That man with Divine Blood is pretty powerful."

    Commented Samiel as Yvraine nodded in agreement. Both of them could agree that the Divine Blood Descendant was probably the most powerful person in this trap; just not gettingpletely lost in the effects of the Necro-Madness Spell Formation was somethingmendable.

    They watched as the Divine Blood Descendant, d in battle armor that reminded Samiel that of ancient greek spartans, tore through the battlefield, and with each swing of his spear, he extinguished the life of one participant as he alone killed more than a hundred Steel-Tier professionals and 3 Bronze-Tier ones.

    "He should be someone of the Marsias Family."

    Muttered Yvraine, a bit surprised to see someone from them; they were one of the more reclusive types, so seeing someone from them is a rarity.

    "?"

    Samiel just looked at her questioningly.

    "Marsias Family are Divine Descendants from the Olympian God, precisely God of War Ares."

    Exined Yvraine as Samiel remembered all of those myths about Gods on Earth. On Earth, there were myths and legends about several Pantheons, and even right now, in the Tower, Samiel has alreadye into contact with some hints from one way or another.

    "It is rare to see someone with a connection to Olympian, as even though the Olympus is a powerful Pantheon, they have descended into internal strife and divided themselves into three factions, namely Gods, Titans, and finally Monsters and Giants. They are currently waging war against each other for several Eras already, so rarely does someone with a connection to them enter the Tower, as they are confined to their Principal World waging war against each other."

    Samiel listened attentively, not wanting to miss even a single detail from Yvraine''s exnation. Apparently, a lot of Transcendent Faction existed outside of the Tower, and Olympus was one of them.

    Titans were the previous rulers of Olympus who were defeated by Zeus after he usurped the throne from his father Kronos. While Giants and Monsters were created in the archaic era, mainly by Primordial Goddess Gaia, and then after that, by the duo of Monsters, Echidna, and Typhoon.

    The Worlds outside were divided into Lower World where the limit cap was basically Gold-Tier, and World can''t hold anyone higher. So these Worlds were basically for Mortals. They were rtively ordinary; many of them were weak and unassuming, so basically nothing special most of the time.

    Then there was the Middle World capable of holding Legendaries; these worlds were stronger, had more dense and potent Mana in the air, not to mention there were more "fantasy" races living in them, how Samiel would say it,pared to a Lower Worlds.

    And then there were High Worlds capable of holding few Transcendents but only weaker ones. One could say that the High Worlds were ces where the most of the fun happened, where the powerful Legendaries roamed free and where one could even meet some Trasncedents, where Gods developed their religions and Daemons and Devil scheme in the dark.

    And finally, at the top of the pyramid were the Principal Worlds which were capable of holding nobody knows how many. Principal Worlds in the Cosmos were few, but each of them was enormous and was under the control of a very powerful faction. They often served as headquarters for many powerful factions, and even the factions whose primary territory was in the Tower would have at least one Principal World under their belt as the secondary HQ.

    In truth, even the 1st Floor of the Tower had a better environment than Middle World, so a lot of powerful species and factions, if they could, would migrate to the Tower as the ce was better for them to increase their strength due to better environment there.

 Chapter 35 [Bonus Chapter] Movements In The Big Shadows

    From what Samiel knew and heard, Tower was created in the Null Era, with the purpose of the best environment one who earns for, thus surpassing even the Mana Density and conditions of countless Principal Worlds put together.

    The reason for its creation wasrgely unknown, and despite all the propaganda or brainwashing bullshit that various Transcendental Faction were spouting, Samiel always thought that something nefarious was going on behind the shadows.

    About the Mana Density...

    For example, ording to Yvraine''s Words, Floors from 75th and higher had countless times better Mana Density than that of the Principal World outside of the Tower, and that was not talking about the Transcendental Worlds or Floors, which were above the 100th Floor, where the most powerful Transcendental Factions lived.

    "Olympus once had their Principal World, as Transcendental Floor... but after the civil war started there, during one fight, they somehow managed to separate Olympus from the Tower, and thus the Olympus degraded strongly and fell only to the quality of the Principal World. If someone from the Marsias Family has entered, then it is probably for two reasons."

    She exined that every Transcendental Floor was precious and Transcendental factions often waged brutal wars against each other for even petty squabbles and insults... especially Pantheons, because Gods were rather an arrogant bunch.

    Especially Gods were often like children with an enormous amount of power with them... sometimes too much power for their own good or for the good of everybody around them.

    Samiel could guess why they separated the Olympus from the Tower. While at first nce, it sounded a stupid thing to do, but in the end, it may be the act, thanks to which the Olympus is still standing today.

    Despite being locked in the civil war for countless millennia.

    If they were connected to the Tower, other Transcendental Factions would have an easier time in attacking them during the weakened state, sweeping through them and basically annihting the entire Pantheon.

    Alliances and friendships will crumble not even in seconds in front of benefits and power. Such scenarios happened pretty often, from time to time. Be it Transcendental Factions or Mortal Factions; they were just preying on each other, waiting for the right moment to strike.

    "One is that the Descendant is someone kicked out of the Family, or second, their God Ares or other Olympian Gods are in a dire situation and in need of gaining new people to ascend."

    In Tower, ascending as Transcendent was easier than the outside of it; the entire 100th Floor was just for the sake of indirectly helping pinnacle Legendaries to transcend as Transcendent Level Beings.

    Not to mention, Yvraine told him, that people who Transcendened in the Tower were stronger than those who did so on the outside.

    Even she didn''t know why that was, but it had something to do with the uniqueness of the 100th Floor of the Tower and some other things that neither of them really understood. And apparently, the Laws were far stronger and sturdier in the Towerpared to the outside of it.

    If the man was just kicked out from the Family, then his arrival at the Tower didn''t really mean anything. But if it was another option... then great changes would being, as Olympians were one of the strongest factions across the Cosmos.<sub> </sub>

    Though that only applied if they were unified and not divided into three. When they were acting as one, in the ancient times of myths, Olympus easily qualified as one of the top Transcendental Faction out there. Just as they were under the rule of the Primordial God Ouranos in Eras far, far, long ago.

    But then they started rebellions, civil wars, and other schisms, dividing their power each time until it crystalized itself into the current form, where "Olympus" was just an empty term for three factions that created this faction.

    Be it that way or another, in the vastness and coldness of the Cosmos, many Transceal Factions were slumbering or ruling their Principal Worlds in absolute seclusion, not bothering what was going on with the wider world.

    "Still... our strength is insignificant for this, so for now, we can just watch how it would unfold."

    Stated Samiel as Yvraine partially agreed with him, but she also feared what would be in the future. She knew that once some Transcendent Faction was on the verge of copse, other factions were like vultures, circling around them and waiting for the right moment to strike to reap benefits.

    Elves Gods Pantheon, whom the Nesser Dynasty served, was no different, and it would meanplete mobilization of the Nesser Dystnasy if their Gods decided to attack a dying dog, so as their mortal servants, they would need to follow the orders.

    This was because Olympus, too, had Mortal Factions serving under them so that it would be a battlefield, Mortal vs. Mortal, Legendary vs. Legendary, and God vs. God.

    Suddenly, the Divine Blood Descendant from the Marsias Family ignited his blood, as he wentpletely insane due to the Necro-Madness Spell Formation, as it finally broke even hisst defenses.

    Mainly because he was very tired out, and most importantly, because Olympus wasn''t connected to the Tower any longer, his connection with Ares was weak, and the Blessings applied to him by his God or Gods were not as effective as before entering the Tower.

    They watched how his pressure increased; from the pinnacle of the Bronze-Tier, it jumped directly toter stages of the Silver-Tier, as right now he was probably using some kind of forbidden technique to burn his Divine Blood or Lifespan or whatever, to obtain a tremendous increase inbat prowess, as he shot through the battlefield, and became an unstoppable killing machine.

    "He is experienced... and very powerful one... must be some prodigy from their family."

    Stated Yvraine as they observed the fight.

    Indeed, considering how old the Divine Blood Descendant from the Marsias Family was and how experienced he was, coupled with his power, signified that he was some kind of prodigy or possibly even Heir to the entire Marsias Family.

    "It doesn''t matter... for Chaos and Void takes it all because nobody can turn around its will."

    Stated Samiel indifferently because no matter how strong the Divine Blood Descendant was, and no matter how many participants he killed, in the end, he would sumb to the Necro-Madness Spell Formation, and if not, then in his weakened state, it would take little work for Samiel to kill him.

 Chapter 36 Do It Smart, Not Hard

    This continued for more than ten minutes, as he managed to kill more than a thousand Steel-Tier beings, fifty Bronze-Tier ones, and even the member of the Asura Tribe who was on the peak of the Bronze-Tier.

    Of course, due to all injuries suffered and the technique he used to obtain that explosive power, he dropped dead at the same time as he killed the Asura Tribesman. The duel against the Asura Tribesman was something to behold because both of thebatants were spectacr despite their injuries and achieved a terrifying level ofbat prowess despite their rtively low levels.

    Average Iron-Tiers were just basically stronger beings; if using the human race as the most widespread as a control temte, then the Iron-Tier were just basic superhumans. Meanwhile, the reals hits were starting from the Steel-Tier, which could destroy entire buildings, followed by the Bronze-Tier, which could obliterate entire smaller Towns, Silver-Tiers with raw power to destroy entire Cities and Mountains, and Gold-Tiers with abilities to reshape thendscape of entire continents with their fights.

    And finally, the Legendary-Tiers who were big unknown to Samiel, but as he met some of them, then he felt that those like Karlina Kircheisen wouldn''t have a problem with blowing up the entire Earth, considering it was not even Lower World but on the verge of Mana Less.

    Usually, there was one big distinction between them, and that, the Lower Worlds had some kind of protective barrier around them, all worlds had, which basically repaired all damage done to the world. For that reason, it was much easier to destroy Mana Less World rather than even the weakest and most inferior Lower World.

    Samiel observed with Yvraine the ongoing onught as a form of entertainment, and at the same time, he was carrying out the ceremonial sacrifice of all of this Chaos to the Crawling Chaos, Nyathotep... even though it was not a god whom he was worshipping, it was still good to have the favor of one of the greatest ones, on his side.

    This was really spectacle and something to behold, suchbat efficiency, such skills, and for sure that the man was Ability Bearer, and probably even had some powerful ss, for sure.

    As Samiel watched it, he was a bit regretful about how the situation was developing.

    Not for the power shown by Ares''s Divine Blood Descendant, he knew he would be far stronger when his Eldritch Blood awakened. How could some measly Godpare to the Blind Idiot God the Dreamer Azathoth?

    No.

    He was regretful about the fact he couldn''t resurrect the man into Undead. With his pitiful strength, he didn''t want to resurrect anyone with some connection with Gods into Undead for the time being, as it would be too dangerous for him to do.

    Resurrecting Undead too strong or those with a strong connection with Transcendental backing could end poorly for him. Not to mention, this was the territory of the Asura Tribe, and they, in their endless schemes, would probably be pissed off, that he got their Souls and even resurrected them as Undeads.

    This was also because he guessed that the Asura Tribe was currently watching and monitoring this "fight", they were able to monitor the entire Floor rtively effortlessly, and this was a big event, where more than 16,000 participants were being killed, so right now, it was highly possible, that every one of his moves is watched by tens of Legendaries, and possibly even a few Transcendents.

    Not to mention, if the Undead was much stronger than Necromancer, sometimes, not every time, but Samiel heard about it, they could evolve and gain sentience. If the Necromancer is not strong enough to control them, then only death would await it.

    On the other side of the cave, the Pale Blood Man turned into a mist of thousands of bats as they strode through the battlefield. He killed everyone in his sigh while draining their blood to heal his injuries and replenish his strength.

    For ones like Divine Blood Descendant or the Pale Blood man, this ce was like a yground, as they were ughtering their way through countless enemies with minimal effort due to their overwhelming strength.

    Due to this, he managed to fight several troublesome curses which were injuring him or weakening him all the time.<sub> </sub>

    Fortunately, Samiel was prepared for something like this, as he controlled the Necro-Madness Spell Formation to increase the amount of power put on the Pale Blood Man, as he was right now surrounded by the other three Bronze-Tiers. One of them was a massive Ork who hacked at him with his two-sided axe as their battle started.

    In a moment, the Pale Blood Man was about to dodge the attack, but suddenly he found himself paralyzed by the Necro-Madness Spell Formation, as he couldn''t move an inch as the Ork''s axe cleaved his entire being into two.

    After that, those three Bronze-Tier professionals started fighting each other to death, just like countless hundreds of others who managed to survive the onught brought upon them by the Bronze-Tier experts.

    Samiel could see that some few lucky Steel-Tier managed to hide themselves deeper in the cave systems as they escaped immediately after the Necro-Madness Spell Formation was turned on, but they still were suffering under countless curses and spells.

    Two hours had passed since they started their trap.

    Currently, only a few hundred of Steel-Tier managed to survive, as the Necro-Madness Spell Formation was still going on. Still, Samiel decided to turn it off, so they could finish them personally.

    Most of these people who survived were either hiding somewhere or were lucky to be not strongly affected by the Necro-Madness Spell Formation when it was turned on and managed to get into safety.

    Not to mention, depending on the Necro-Madness Spell Formation to finish them off would be either impossible because the Spell Formationcked the power to kill people quickly directly or would take a very long time to achieve this feat.

    "Yvraine,e on, we are going to join the fun too!"

    Samiel shouted excitedly, while Yvfraine didn''t really share his enthusiasm fully, but she still followed after him.

    After watching all of the ughter for two hours, he was hungry for some blood and desperately wanted to kill something. He turned around and saw that she was following after him, which surprised him as he gave her a cheeky grin before sprinting towards the battlefield.

    She decided to join him in the clean-up, as only one who survived didn''t really pose a threat to the two of them, especially when they counted in Samiel''s Undead.

    Samiel stormed through the battlefield while releasing his Undeads, who rushed through it, searching for anything that still lived, sniffing around and killing those who were wounded, injured, and stood on theirst legs already.

    He conjured several weapons with the Winter Ruler and started either shooting them at the people who were running from him or his Undeads or just directly freezing them to death, as nobody could escape of being killed in the Necro-Madness Spell Formation.

    Quite a few people managed to survive, either by hiding somewhere or just sustaining the injuries or just being lucky and not encountering anyone strong. Fortunately for Samiel and Yvraine, all of the heavy hitters were already dead because the Necro-Madness Spell Formation was primarily aimed at them.

 Chapter 37 Loot Time!

    "How many are remaining?"

    Asked Yvraine as they were searching for survivors of the onught brought on them by the Necro-Madness Spell Formation. After they finished killing the survivors or those injured or practically everyone else, now came the hard part, but the part which Samiel very much anticipated, and to such extent that gold coins almost appeared in his eyes.

    "This was thest one; now we need to start cleaning the corpses and their possession."

    Stated Samiel with an excited voice, as even Yvraine was a bit excited. This would be the first time in her life she would be gathering proper loot or obtaining her own resources and riches from killed foes, so a new experience.

    For Samiel, this was just an old thing, but every time he was getting loot, it was the best feeling in the world, especially when he got good loot from someone he had killed.

    "You are a really simple person, right?"

    Yvraine said mockingly as he nodded to her provocation because, indeed, this made him happy. He didn''t know why, but since he remembered, he was obsessed with searching through every nook and cranny of any ce that may have something valuable.

    Samiel ordered his Undead to search through every corpse and obtain their Dimensional Rings or any other types of equipment. This was the advantage of having Undead because they did most of the dirty work for him. He couldn''t really imagine the situation where he would need to do this manually and search through every corpse with his own hands.

    While Undead was usually "stupid", they could easily carry out some simple menial task, like puck up that weapon or pick up something valuable. And how did they know what was valuable? It was simple; through their natural connection to Necromancer, they could sense it through the connection.

    Mostmonly, Dimensional Pouches as Rings were rather expensive.

    After several hours of going through the countless Dimensional Equipment, searching through corpses, their loot consisted of this for each:

    x1,000,000 Gold Coins

    x15,129 Iron-Tier Mana Crystal

    x7,541 Steel-Tier Mana Crystal

    x541 Bronze-Tier Mana Crystal

    x1,740 Normal-Grade Dimensional Equipment

    x125 Rare-Grade Dimensional Equipment

    And aside from that, there were countless other items, such as weapons, armors, other equipment, books, and many, many others that it would make a smaller mountain.

    While Samiel obtained an enormous amount of Iron-Tier Mana Crystals, they were virtually useless to him, as they could not help him increase his strength.

    This amount was not low, as he could use a lot of it to increase his strength and also to leave some money to buy some things he would need.

    Even though he got around 1 million gold coins, which is a nice amount, but in the Tower, Gold Coins were not that useful. Still, Samiel decided to keep them on Yvraine''s advice.

    Now he would need to sell all things obtained from all these people, though this time, he would want Mana Crystals as payment; a lot of these things were of high quality, and most importantly, there were thousands of weapons, armor pieces, side equipment, and other misceneous things.

    And finally, the number of Tokens they obtained was 34,000, which was three times of that what Samiel initially needed. Most of it came from the Bronze-Tier professionals, especially the Divine Blood Descendant, Asura Tribesman, and Pale Blood nsman; each had over 3,000 of these Token, from which the Asura Tribesman had over 5,000.

    "We will go 50/50 with Tokens, but I am taking 70% of other loot."

    This act greatly surprised Yvraine as she thought he would want to have the majority of Tokens, but in truth, he didn''t really care about them that much.

    As long as hepleted the mission, it was enough.

    Additionally, he was various of the Asura Tribe and Transcendent Faction behind them enough to exchange something from the list to increase his strength.

    Usually, things the Asura Tribe provided there were various weapons and Bloodline Samples of various creatures. His bloodline was already top-notch across the Cosmos, and about the weapons, he had a bad premonition that all of them were cursed or came with some price.

    Not to mention, Samiel had a very bad premotion about getting anything from the Asura Tribe, very bad promotion, and his senses never betrayed him, so he didn''t really want anything from them.<sub> </sub>

    So, he didn''t really want to have anything with Tokens or to be tied in any kind to the Asura Tribe. For him, the Mana Crystals and other things were far more useful.

    [Ruler Quest: Battle Royale has beenpleted. You can now advance to the 3rd Floor. Do you wish to advance?]

    Samiel got the message from the Tower System. He declined, choosing to remain on the 2nd Floor for the Hidden Mission.

    Surprisingly, Yvraine did the same thing as he did.

    Momentster, other messages arrived.

    [Advancement Quest: Battle Royale has beenpleted.]

    [Hidden Mission has been revealed and issued.]

    [Fragment of Trish has been obtained. Collect all the fragments toplete the weapon.]

    [Hidden Mission: ??? in the Desert

    Description: Use Tokens in the ceremony on the 2nd Floor to awaken the sleeping beast on the 2nd Floor.

    Rewards: Opportunity to contract the ???.]

    Samiel carefully looked at the Hidden Mission, not really knowing what to think about it. This Hidden Mission didn''t provide any rewards to itspetition, just a chance of contracting the thing that was sleeping on the 2nd Floor.

    But s, there was not possible that with a ton of restrictions on the things that Akashic Records could give as rewards, he couldn''t await some good things for every time.

    Now, whatever it was, it must be either an extremely powerful or a very unique creature. In the end, it doesn''t matter, as Samiel didn''t have any other purpose for the Tokens, so he would try his luck and maybe obtain an overpowered Familiar.

    [Fragment of Trish

    Rank: Holy

    Description: Fragment of the Ultra-Order Grade Divine Weapon of Shiva, which was broken upon his death during the ???. Collect all Fragments of Trish to revive the great weapon once more.]

    After he stored the fragment of Trish, he didn''t have the mood or time to observe and think about a fragment of a broken weapon, so he stored it away and decided to take a look at it at ater date when he arrived at the 3rd Floor.

    He contemted about where to conduct the ceremony because, from the description of the quest, it was hinted that there should be a specific ce for it.

    In the end, he asked Yvraine as they had formed some level of trust in each other after the time they spent together. After spending together around 1 year, it was evident that their rtionship became something weird?

    "Hmm... there is one ce that corresponds to the description... Altar of the Ubaste, located in the desert mountains. It is a dangerous region, where not many people venture due to enormous heat and scorching sun."

    While Samiel knew that this would be a dangerous endeavor, he knew he would be fine. Mainly because of his Armor, Rao''s Vengence. Contrary to Yvraine, who needed to do something about the troublesome heat and sun of the 2nd Foor, Samiel did not. And he was a person who hated hot environments and blinding the sun with a burning passion.

    The answer to that was his armor, Rao''s Vengence, which was forged from the corpse of Ancient Sun God Rao, thus automatically protecting him from the heat and sun. That was the main reason why he was so confident in his journey.

    "Yvraine, you should go to the 3rd Floor ahead of me, and when Iplete the Hidden Mission, I will use that thing so the Tower System will teleport me next to you."

    He said as Yvraine agreed with him; she knew that he had missions from the Tower System; it didn''t take her a long to realize it, not that Samiel bothered to hide it. She told him that anybody with more than two brain cells would be able to find it out after some observation; she found out during their time on the 1st Floor because it was clearly evident that he was not using any other method to climb the Tower.

    She didn''t really want to go with him to that desert, as even Bronze-Tiers could perish there from the enormous temperatures and sunlight that scorched you to ash. Samiel was okey because they had protection, but she didn''t have anything.

    So when they reached a silent mutual agreement to climb together, she knew that it would be better if she ascended to the 3rd Floor and found them somewhere to stay. He didn''t really ask about the 3rd Floor and what was there, but Yvraine told him that their stay there would be very pleasant... he really wondered what she meant by that.

 Chapter 38 Altar Of The Elder Cat

    Several days have passed since Samiel entered the desert in search of the Altar of Ubaste, which was located in the center of the desert. Samiel was forced to cross the merciless hot desert, and in truth, he hated the hot; he hated this desert and everything about it.

    He preferred winter, coldness, forests, and mountains covered in snow and ice, not this scorching hell. And he wasn''t thinking this because of his ss Knight of Niflheim and his Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler, but because he had preferred winter to summer since he was a kid.

    Fortunately for Samiel, the heat and the scorching sun didn''t really bother him at all, mainly due to the protections of the Rao''s Vengence. Because Rao''s Vengeance was forged from the corpse of the Ancient Sun God, it provided him natural resistance against a certain level of heat.

    Thus he was not that bothered by it, not to mention that he could also use the Winter Ruler to cool himself down a bit if it was needed.

    Though it still didn''t forbid Samiel from cursing the enviroment here and the desert as a whole. Fortunately, this desert wasrgely abandoned; there were not many Monster or Magical Beasts living here, and not any Sand Worms, which were usually inhabiting deserts of the Mana Rich worlds or deserts in the Tower.

    As he was going through the desert, Samiel soon arrived at the ce he was looking for, the Altar of Ubaste, or as he called, Altar of the Elder Cat, as the entire Alter resembled the head of a giant cat.

    He came in front of the Alter, dropped on all of his Tokens he had, and waited. He didn''t really know what else to do, and he also didn''t get any more information from the Akashic Records.

    As the sun was exactly above the Altar of the Elder Cat, a sunbeam struck down at a small horde of Tokens and melted them down, fusing them with the Altar as an earthquake started, shaking through the entire desert.

    Suddenly, Samiel felt an enormous amount of Mana stir in the desert as something descended down onto the 2nd Floor. And not only mana, because Samiel also senses a high amount of a Divine Power used by Gods in the y.

    [Hidden Mission: ??? in the Desert has beenpleted.]

    [You gained the attention of Elder Goddess Bast.]

    [Elder Goddess Bast is descending into the 2nd Floor.]

    As Samiel read that message, he was washed by dread, as suddenly sand started rising and creating a silhouette of a cat from it, as the Elder Goddess has descended down in the form of Avatar, though it was not Avatar, but rather some kind of an Incarnation.

    Elder Gods were one of the strongest types of Gods; not only were they one of the strongest types of Gods, but they were also one of the oldest, who had seen many Epochs pass, and many civilizations rise and fall.

    And Bast was one of the oldest Elder Goddesses in existence. Her sand cat avatar looked at him with scrutiny before it flinched.

    "You are one of his..."

    Said the Sand Cat Incarnation of Elder Goddess Bast.

    The Sand Cat Incarnation of the Elder Goddess Bast looked like the enormous head of a panther cat made from the sand, with glowing blue eyes, giving it rather an intimidating appearance.

    "Hmm... indeed, you are suitable for that."

    ? Muttered she, as suddenly a small portal opened and this time a cat exited it.

    It would be more suitable to call it a kitten; it was pitch ck like the deepest parts of the abyss, with orange-goldish eyes, and most peculiarly, it had a small part of wings. Though what he noticed immediately, the small kitten exuded the Divine Aura of Gods.

    Samiel nodded at the Elder Goddess Bast as he went to the kitten, which was looking at him with a mixture of wariness and curiosity, as Samiel knelt down and stretched his right hand towards the kitten.

    "Hello, little one, my name is Samiel; I hope I can contract you as a familiar."

    He said sincerely as the kitten scrutinized him.

    In truth, cats were his favorite animals, and he loved them very dearly; his cats were his best friends and family when he lived on earth. When he was young, his cat was probably his only friend for a very long time during his life on earth.

    Because of that, he often took the hobby of donatingrge amounts of money to animal shelters, especially cat shelters, and torturing to insanity animal abusers, which was also one of his favorite hobbies.<sub> </sub>

    The small kitten pped its wings crudely as it flew a few times around Samiel, sniffling him, beforending before his hand and biting him on the finger as it licked up his blood. The kitten could see the truth in his words, and the man would be the perfect servant for the almighty cat and fulfill each of its wishes.

    ''Hooman, I am hungry; bring me something to eat.''

    Samiel heard the voice of the kitten in his head as he knew that the Familiar Contract had been sessfully established.

    [You have established a Familiar Contract with Elder Wampus Cat Nefertari.]

    [You can now view the record of your Familiar Elder Wampus Cat Nefertari.]

    Samiel read the notifications from the Akashic Records, and soon after finishing that, he opened the records of his familiar. He was very curious what her Record would look like, considering her origin as Elder Wampus Cat and direct descendant of the Elder Goddess Bast.

    [Name: Nefertari

    Race: Elder Wampus Cat

    ss: Shadow Monarch (Eternal)

    ***

    Tier: Steel

    Level: 25

    ***

    Abilities:

    Shadow Rule - Ultimate Ability

    ??? - blocked by the Elder Goddess Bast]

    Samiel looked at her record, or rather at what was shown as part of it was blocked by the Divine Power of the Elder Goddess Bast. Apparently, it was either some kind of sealed ability or something that the Elder Goddess Bast didn''t want him to see yet.

    Samiel knew that he obtained a powerful Familiar with unique abilities and great potential for growth, and on top of that, it was a cat. Not to mention, Nefertari had an Eternal ss, which was the highest grade of ss possible.

    "You will get your food after we arrive on the 3rd Floor."

    Nefertari jumped on his shoulder; Samiel looked at Elder Goddess Bast; as he gave her a slight bow and watched the sand avatar of Bast disperse back into the desert.

    After the Sand Incarnation of the Elder Goddess Bast dispersed, Samiel stared a bit at the sand and then at the Altar as he was thinking about his Familiar. The fact that she had an Eternal ss, something which was rare even among Transcendents, filled him with happiness and dread at the same time.

    He guessed that Nefertari must be very special even among the children and descendants of the Elder Goddess Bast. Perhaps that was why she sent her to the Mortal ne from her own domain.

    "I think I should go onto the 3rd Floor."

    Said Samiel, as he was teleported to the 3rd Floor by the Tower''s System.

 Chapter 39 Asuras View World 101

    Somewhere on the 2nd Floor around the same time when Samiel activated the Necro-Madness Spell Formation.

    In the grand celestial-looking Pce, filled with crimson light and the stench of blood. This Pce was located at the center of the Core Area, where some of the members of the Asura Tribe lived, it was not their home Headquarters per se, but they had stationed here at this enormous Pce to observe the happenings on the 2nd Floor.

    In the depths of the Pce, in the majestic throne room filled with crimson light, a muscr tattooed man was sitting on the huge stone throne while he was looking at something.

    "Interesting, Arishok was killed by the Spell Formation inducting madness by Steel-Tier newbie..."

    Muttered a muscr man with tattoos over his body and two pairs of arms. He didn''t wear any clothes aside from a piece of clothing as trousers with some armored parts over them and gauntlets over his four hands.

    He was the current King of the Asura Tribe, the Asura King Arisan, and the Arishok who was killed on the 2nd Floor was one of his sons and royal princes of the Asura Tribe. Not that he cared a bit, Asuras never cared about such trivial things. Being killed meant only one thing for the Asura Tribe.

    That you were weak, it didn''t matter if his son was killed in a trap. If he was killed in singlebat, then it meant he was weak and not worthy of the title of Royal Prince of the Asura Tribe. If he was killed due to a trap, then it meant he was not smart enough and, once again, not suitable to be a member of the Royal Family.

    Asuras only cared for the best of the best; failure was not an opinion; there was no ce for the weakness of any kind. It was a cruel ce filled with only death, killings, and coldness; betrayal was on the daily order, so things like this were nothing special.

    "Let''s see who killed him..."

    Said the Asura King Arisan as he used a mirror artifact to see the people who came up with the Spell Formation that killed more than 15,000 people, including some heaven-defying geniuses.

    In truth, he was curious about who coulde up with such a devious n and be smart and knowledgable enough to employ such a n. Despite not being a magician of any kind, Arisen knew enough that madness-inducing spell formations were even harder to make than ordinary killing spell formations.

    The reason for that was rather simple. Spells that inducted madness would often incur madness on its creator, and that was also under conditions that the creator did everything correctly. Usually, backshes from them were very serious, and not many Spell Casters would dare to use them freely.

    With this mirror artifact, Arisan could watch happenings across the 2nd Floor in real-time but also watch what has already happened. Suddenly the mirror showed two people. One of them was a beautiful elven young woman.

    Arisian instantly knew that she was the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty and Holy Apostle of God Queen of the Elven Gods Pantheon.

    And then he looked at the man next to her, d in pitch ck armor with the pulsating red line, with flowing long red hair and golden eyes. Suddenly as it was showing the picture of the man, the mirror started cracking as Arisen immediately threw it down and sted it with pure destruction energy, obliterating it from existence.

    One was more problematic to deal with than the other one.<sub> </sub>

    "Outer God..."

    Arisen was Limit Legendary Lifeform, a peerless expert and warrior who didn''t fear even Gods. However, when he sensed the cold creeping void prating from time and space to him, he felt fear for the first time in his life.

    "I will rather mind my own matters... anything connected to the Outer Ones cannot end well."

    Sighed sadly Arisen.

    In truth, he didn''t really care that his son died, he had hundreds of children during his life, and the majority of them he never even saw in person, and the other ones he saw only once in their lives. This was something verymon in the Asura Tribe; they only cared about personal power, nothing more and nothing less.

    Familial ties were something foreign to them, and rarely were members of the Asura Tribe would give them some weight.

    Not to mention, thepetition between the Royal Princes and Princesses of the Asura Tribe was fierce and brutal, and even during his youth, Arisen was the one who wasn''t even a contender for the position of the Patriarch.

    He, a bastard child, rose to the position by killing every single sibling and half-sibling he had, and in the end, he even killed his own father, taking the crown from his severed head.

    "Still, that bastard Tyniardan would be exhrated that his tomboy daughter found herself a suitor and one such as this. Not only is it enough that that fucking shit Noraetheril joined Hall of Kadath, but now they must even forge this connection."

    Arisen, among many, didn''t want to see a closer connection between the Nesser Dynasty and the Hall of Kadath.

    While the Hall of Kadath was basically undisputed hegemon over the Tower as they were the strongest faction that could effortlessly suppress the rest of the 13 Gates, as the strongest mortal factions across the Tower and Cosmos were titled, Kadaths were reclusive and very detached faction.

    13 Gates were the 13 strongest mortal factions under the Transcendent Level, and the Hall of Kadath was the 1st Gate, the strongest since immemorial when it was first established.

    They were a very quiet faction that never "bullied" anybody, just exterminated if some offended their gods, and focused on their own development and finding suitable worlds for the Apocalypse.

    "But the appearance of the Marsias Family... nobody got any information from the Olympus for several Epochs already, could their Civil War ended? Still... this is getting chaotic... at first Olympus, now what... if all Divine Species would be making a move, it would be fun."

    Said the Asura King as he cracked his fingers in anticipation, awaiting enormous bloodshed and carnage already.

 Chapter 40 Zephystrand

    3rd Floor of the Tower.

    Contrary to the 1st and 2nd Floors, the 3rd one was vastly different. For the first, unlike the first two floors, people with higher strength than Bronze-Tier were rare here. One could say that the 3rd Floor was calm one, without any "problems" like the 1st Floor or 2nd Floor, even though it was certainly unique in its own way.

    Basically, only the 1st and 2nd Floors had people from all Tiers in them, while the rest of the Floors didn''t. Even among the whole Tower, one could say these two were unique in their nature.

    The previous ones were special due to their nature, especially the 2nd Floor. Usually, the higher the Floor was, the higher was the average Tier on that Floor, mainly because of the better conditions and mana density and other things.

    Around the 8th to 15th Floors is average Tier the Steel-Tier and some Bronze-Tiers, of course, this didn''t mean that other ones wouldn''t present.

    3rd Floor was covered mainly by forest, with a few mountain ranges and swamps. It was a ce mainly inhabited by various Magical Beasts for whom the entire ce was paradise as they hundred for the participants.

    Contrary to the 1st Floor, on the 3rd Floor, there were a whole bunch of city-states that existed here and functioned like a working society. Most of these city-states were supported by some strong faction, but some of them were some kind of neutral ground created by the people living on the 3rd Floor.

    This was a simr setup like that on the 1st and 2nd Floor, with the exception, of those Floors mentioned above; one wouldn''t really find anything aside from warriors or climbers.

    No natives were present; most of them left the 1st Floor with the arrival of the Ork Boss Gurnish and the Bloodtooth Tribe. On the 2nd Floor, Asura Tribe ruled its for so long already that everybody forgot about the people who were there before them.

    If Samiel had to guess, Asura Tribesmen killed them.

    The ce where Samiel was teleported was the City of Zephystrand, located in the middle of the continent.

    It was a city created by Elves in some Ancient Era, in a forgotten world, where the Nesser Dynasty found it and then taken to the 3rd Floor. The origins of the city were probably long forgotten in the passage of time. However, it was still majestic no matter how many centuries or millennia passed.

    Because the 3rd Floor had special and unique nature and was basically one colossal tree paradise, the Elven species had a very strong presence on the 3rd Floor. Samiel could see that there were many Trees of Life in Zephystrand City, especially the oldest and biggest trees, which were actually the Trees of Life.

    [Advancement Quest: City Defense of Zephystrand

    Description: Entire 3rd Floor, due to its suitable habitable conditions, is a paradise for various Magical Beasts and Monsters living on the 3rd Floor. Many species of the Magical Beasts which are living on the 3rd Floor are overpopting from time to time, thus creating Magical Beast Waves on the settlements across the 3rd Floor.

    Quest: Join the defense of the Zephystrand and help to defend the city for 10 years. However, the times can be shortened by achieving a higher kill count of Magical Beasts and other creatures that are attacking the city in periodical monster waves.

    Reward: Based on contribution.]

    When Samiel entered the Floor, he immediately received the Advancement Quest through the Tower System. As he read that, he wasn''t angry or anything because he understood that the Ruler''s Quest was probably the same as this one.

    Just the Tower System pushed the Ruler''s Quest to its absolute limits as it seemed.

    While the Mission basically required him to stay on the Floor for 10 Years defending the city, he wasn''t that discouraged, as he saw that by killing more Magical Beasts and Monsters, he could greatly lower the time needed to spend here.

    Though in truth, as he looked over the architecture of the Elven City Zephystrand and its tranquil atmosphere with calming feeling, he decided to spend some time here, at least one year.

    He didn''t know why, but he sensed that the entire ce was just giving him a very indescribable feeling that made him feel warm and at home. Maybe it was due to the city being filled with the Trees of Life, which were releasing the calming aura on all of its citizens, or god knows what.

    [Unique Quest Chieftain Hunt has been issued.]

    [Mission: Kill a Ruling Type Magical Beast or Monster

    Description: Ruling Type Magical Beasts or Monsters are special kinds of their species that are able tomand others; thus, they are acting as the main cause for the Magical Beast Waves or Monster Waves being more destructive and dangerous.

    Mission: Kill one of such Ruling Type Magical Beasts or Monsters.

    Reward: Location of Inheritance on the 3rd Floor

    Status: In Progress]

    This instantly piqued his interest as he thought about what Inheritance could be on the 3rd Floor, hopefully at least some weak Legendary, if not anything stronger. Across the Tower, there were many such Inheritance Sites because many Legendaries were killed in the Tower due to their enormous number here.

    Not to mention, even those who were not killed would often leave such things here and there, mainly to groom future generations or some for more nefarious ns they had in their minds.

    Even if it was not suitable for him, he could always sell it for arge amount of money to Nesser Dynasty, as he knew that Yvraine wouldn''t scam him or kill him for something insignificant.

    Though Samiel doubted it would be that case, if not, it wouldn''t appear as a reward for the Unique Mission''spetition. He thought that the Inheritance would be something useful to him, so he was already full of anticipation about what he could get from the Inheritance Site if he cleared the Unique Quest.

    And there was one thing he was forgetting about, which was killing the Ruler Type Magical Beast or Monster was not an easy feat. Not only because such individuals were extremely powerful among their kin, but they had literal armies of Magical Beasts and Monsters at theirmand, making them extra dangerous.

    ''Hmm... I am practically meeting my own match here... If the Ruler Types are very intelligent, then this Unique Mission will be very problematic toplete. So, the correct strategy would be to choose the right target for me to kill. Fortunately, the Quest didn''t really specify which one I should kill, so it would be more prudent to search for one which doesn''t have a lot of subordinates.''

    Samiel, though, as he just now realized that the situation wasn''t as good as it seemed at first nce. Unfortunately for him, killing a Ruler Type Magical Beast was really not an easy feat that everybody could achieve.

    For example, even killing one at the Steel-Tier would require at least a smaller team of Bronze-Tier Professionals because the Rulers could just overwhelm their enemies in numbers.<sub> </sub>

    Fortunately, Samiel, as Necromancer, would be able to counter this... probably, he hoped for that, or rather he believed in that.

    There was probably no Hidden Mission on the Floor, but that was not a problem because right now, Samiel wanted some leisure time so that he could polish his skills in closebat and martial arts.

    And most importantly, finally focus appropriately on the study of the Basic Principles of Void Necrosis, as he still hadn''t mastered the basics yet.

    Void Magic was very challenging; even the Basic Principles of the Void Necrosis were far above what even genius-level magic-user could learn in a short time. Samiel was currently studying the 1st Level Spells till the 3rd Level Spells.

    As he was contemting about the quests and spells, he woke up from his daydreaming and decided to find the closest Inn or Restaurant, which was close to the ce where he was teleported to.

    Fortunately for him, this was some kind of za, and there were plenty of them, so he chose the most expensive-looking one, as he was a bit thirsty and hungry. Due to his fastened metabolism, he could practically eat as much as he wanted without fear of getting fat.

    Weight... he was always obese during his life, and always fought against that... and how he hated exercising.

    The moment he sat down behind the empty table, a pretty female elf with long brown hair, wearing some costume of a maid or whatever, came to him with a smile over his face and slight blush?

    "Wee, dear customer, to the Moon Tree Restaurant; here is our menu. Do you wish to order now, or should I return after five minutes?"

    She asked in a polite tone while sneaking peaks at him.

    ''Hmm... so only those sufficiently powerful are able to sense the Eldritch Aura I am subconsciously releasing?''

    He asked this question in his mind, seeing that the young elven waitress didn''t really seem to be affected a bit by his partial Eldritch Aura; thus, Samiel concluded that only those who were very powerful were able to sense it.

    ''While this solves part of the problem, it is still not enough.''

    Certainly, if the normal people couldn''t sense his Eldritch Aura, it was good, but on the other hand, the powerful ones could, and it would attract them to him. So, he figured out that sooner orter, he would need to find a method of concealing it properly.

    "I will have one cup of the Moonbean Coffee, and bring me at least four sses of your best mineral water, thank you."

    He stated as she wrote down his offer before sprinting out. He didn''t want to eat anything because the moment he realized he was in an Elven City, he knew that this was under the control of the Nesser Dynasty.

    Thus he only wanted something to drink while he waited for the people Yvraine would send to pick him up.

    After the waitress returned with the coffee, he was instantly enchanted by its smell. He chose it from the menu only because the name sounded cool, like from those cultivation novels, where everything had some miraculous effect on your strength.

    "How much?"

    He asked as the waitress gave him the bill. Surprisingly or not, rather not, while the Tower had that kind of medieval atmosphere, countless modern concepts, even from those known in his past world, were widely known here.

    "It will be 5 gold coins altogether."

    He didn''t know if it was a lot for one cup of coffee and four sses of mineral water, but probably yes, and probably it was pretty overpriced. And probably that exined why this ce was half empty, and only people who were here seemed to be nobles or rich merchants.

    But for Samiel, 5 gold coins were like a drop in the ocean. Thus he paid and also gave her a tip of another 5 because she brought it to him very fast.

    After the waitress left, he took one of the sses of mineral water and gave it to Nefertari, so she could drink a bit. At the same time, he gulped down the remaining three of them in one ago, as he was very thirsty from traveling through the desert.

    After several minutes, when his coffee cooled a bit, he sipped a bit from it, as he was overwhelmed by the heavenly taste of the coffee here in the Tower.

    "God damm, this is good."

    He said while making a mental note that he should return hereter and possibly bring Yvraine with him.

    Suddenly he heard the sound of soldiers marching, as he turned around and could see around twenty to thirty Elf d in pristine yellowish-green armor marching in neat formation towards him as all of them were at the peak of the Steel-Tier.

    Suddenly, one of the armored Elves from them came forward, Samiel couldn''t properly see his face, but he knew that it was a man, probably older than Yvraine, and most importantly, he was already Bronze-Tier.

    On the 3rd Floor, Bronze-Tiers were one of the strongest powerhouses, as High-Tier people such as even Bronze-Tiers wouldn''t stay on this Floor if they didn''t need to.

    "Lord Zentaur?"

    Asked the Elf him, as Samiel nodded, quickly connecting the dots and realizing that they must be sent here by Yvraine to take him to her.

    "Yes."

    Samiel said.

    "Greeting my Lord, I am one of the City Guard Captains of the Zephystrand City, Sarun Daragan. Crown Princess ordered me to look for your appearance and bring you to her."

 Chapter 41 Beauty Of The Elven City

    Several Hours Later, at the moment of Samiel''s teleportation to the 3rd Floor, Citadel of the Zephystrand City.

    Yvraine was currently training with her swords in the training yard, as suddenly her Seal, which she always wore, started pulsating, notifying her that Samiel had been teleported to the 3rd Floor.

    After seeing this, she immediately stopped in her training and ordered one of the maids that were tending to her to immediately call some Captain of the City Guards, who was avable.

    Soon enough, a handsome young-looking elven man d in yellow-green full body armor entered the training yard with great haste. His long blond hair was flowing through his back as it glittered due to the sun''s rays.

    "You have called for me, Your Highness?"

    He asked very politely, not wanting to irritate the infamous Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty. Even Yvraine was a bit unaware of the extent of negative rumors about her character, and many people took her as a manhater... especially after she castrated one of her suitors for his inappropriate behavior.

    "Yes, Captain Daragan. Immediately take one entire Squad of the Silvermoon Knight recruits and go to the za of the Zephystrand. Find there a man called Samiel Zentaur and escort him to me. You will easily recognize him; he has long red hair and shining golden eyes and wears creepy ck armor."

    She ordered, while Captain Daragan was shocked by her request, but he quickly collected himself, as it was not his ce to question the order of the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty.

    "Is there anything else you wish, Your Highness?"

    He questioned, preparing to leave to carry out his orders.

    "No, just treat him with the utmost respect as me... or I will kill you all, understood?"

    She finished the sentence with a menacing sweet smile, which was a weirdbination in itself, but it greatly scared Captain Daragan, especially since the threat of being killed didn''t sound very well.

    Even though he was from the prominent Noble House of the Nesser Dynasty, their entire House could be reced within the second, either by the Imperial Family, or the Emperor will just support one of their rivals, and it is done.

    ***

    Present Time, 3rd Floor of the Tower, Zephystrand City.

    "Greetings Captain Daragan. Samiel Zentaur to your services."

    He returned the greeting as Samiel introduced himself. Judging by the title which the man held and more importantly, the amount of respect his subordinates were giving him, it didn''t take him long to realize that he was someone very important, aside from your average Captain of City Guards.

    "Shall we?"

    Asked Captain Daragan, as Samiel found himself surrounded by the Elven Knights, he could see that most of them, if not all, were High Elves, meaning they were the Nobles of the Nesser Dynasty, the strongest Elves, who could fight even some weaker Bronze-Tiers.

    Entire Elvenkind had several subspecies, each of them having their own specialties and advantages, and practically it was one very strict social hierarchy for the Elfs. Especially the racial advantages their races brought them.

    High Elves were the Greater Race, ording to the Cosmos Racial ssification, which was one step below the Superior Species. While they were inferior to the Silvermoon Elves, they had a tremendous affinity for Magic, Mana in general, andbat as a whole.

    In the Nesser Dynasty, aside from some scattered Silvermoon Elves, most nobles of the Nesser Dynasty were in the truth of the High Elves. High Elves, since immemorial, have served as the closest followers and servants of the Pure-Blood Silvermoon Elves.

    Together with the Silvermoon Elves, they were the backbone of the Nesser Dynasty because almost all Legendaries of the Dynasty were from the Silvermoon Elven Race, or High Elven Race, or some other specific breeds of Elves, which were also ssified as Greater Species.

    Only a few of them were ordinary Woond Elves or Common Elves.

    "You have a beautiful city here."

    Stated Samiel as they were crossing the city.

    "Indeed, it was built by ancient elves civilization in some High World the Nesser Dynasty found. The Elven Civilization perished due to some kind of gue, leaving the city uninhabited for countless years, and because of the gue, nobody from that world dared to set foot inside the city. Several centuries ago, one of the Legendaries of the Nesser Dynasty, Landramir Daragan, found the High World and entered the city. After he cleansed the city, it was then transported to the Tower and stationed on the 3rd Floor."

    Exined Sarun Daragan, as Samiel was a bit surprised by his amiable approach because he knew that most of the Greater and Superior Species were arrogant and stuck-up pricks.

    Not that he was any better in this regard, but Samiel defended himself by thinking he was arrogant even before bing a member of the Superior Species.

    "So, your Family is the steward of the Zephystrand?"

    Samiel looked at the young captain as he nodded in agreement. So, in the end, his guess that the Elven Knight Captain was someone very important. His posture, behavior, and speech pattern literally screamed "I am an important noble heir!".

    "Yes, our Family is one of the highest-ranking Noble Houses of the Nesser Dynasty."

    Answered Sarun while he looked at Samiel curiously but somehow ufortable, as Samiel was constantly releasing the weird aura of Eldritch Creatures.

    Elves were naturally sensitive species, and thus they were able to see and sense many things, other species were not able, and one of them was that they were very good at sensing the auras of people.

    Contrary to ordinary people, and even the majority of the Knights here, Sarun was able to sense that malevolent and cold aura very clearly, as it sent shudders through his spine, not wanting to irritate Samiel too much.<sub> </sub>

    Entire Zepyhstrand City was built on, around, and through several tens of enormous trees, several hundreds of meters tall, that was in the middle of the continent of the 3rd Floor.

    "Are the Trees of Life naturally growing on the 3rd Floor, or were they brought by you from the High World to the 3rd Floor together with the Zephystrand?"

    He asked; naturally, he could recognize these trees as the Tree of Life, which was basically a lesser version of the World Tree. Elven Cities were usually built in this way, as they achieved the state one with nature.

    "No. They are not native to this ce, but many people think so because of how well they limated to this environment. In truth, they were already growing inrge numbers in the High World, and the Ancient Elven Civilization of that High World built their cities on these Trees. Thus we brought all Trees that could be brought out of the world without damaging their natural cycle to the Tower and rented them on the 3rd Floor."

    Sarun was mildly surprised that Samiel was able to recognize the Trees of Life at one nce, despite not being either an Elf or anyone who seemed to be knowledgable? Usually, normal people passing through the Zephystrand or climbers would always think that these trees were just overgrown huge trees and nothing special.

    Of course, Samiel knew how to differentiate ordinary huge trees from the Tree of Life, thanks to Yvraine. One needed to know that Trees of Life were releasing a special kind of aura, and thus they were rather easy to tell apart once one could sense that aura.

    "And that biggest one, right at the center of the City, has potential to evolve into the World Tree, probably, it will take several centuries at best under the conditions of feeding and other things, but that would be remarkable."

    Stated Saraun Daragan, pointing at the biggest tree in the Zephystrand, as he exined to Samiel. To which he nodded because the birth of the new World Tree was something to be celebrated by all elvenkind, not to mention that it would significantly strengthen the Nesser Dynasty as a whole.

    In the middle of the city, on the biggest tree, was the City Lord''s Fortress Mansion, the Citadel of the Zephystrand was located. It was the most secure ce in the entire Zephystrand City, with countless guards, spells, wards and experts protecting it, aside from the natural protections from the Tree of Life.

    And that was the ce where they were heading under the lead of Sarun Daragon and his guards, as Yvraine was already waiting for him there.

    Samiel admired the elven architecture and, at the same time, the untouched and tranquil city is built across the countless Trees of Life that were sprouting here. House Daragan must have positioned and rebuilt the Ancient Elven City to the environment of the 3rd Floor and especially the Trees of Life.

    ? ''Hooman, where is my food?''

    Asked Nefertari, who was sleeping till now, and now just woken up, probably remembering that she was still hungry and that they had already arrived at the 3rd Floor.

    She didn''t get any food aside from the mineral water in the restaurant, so she was a bit grumpy already.

    ''Soon, just wait for a few more minutes until we arrive at the Citadel, and then you can have your fill.''

    Samiel answered through their telepathic link, as he could see his Familiar yawning at him.

    ''I will listen to you, hooman, but in return for waiting and prolonged time, I want several pieces of meat from at least Silver-Tier Magical Beast and milk from one of the same Tier.''

    She said as she returned back to sleep, and Samiel got a headache, probably from the fact that his familiar was extremely picky about food and would bankrupt him sooner orter.

    Soon enough, they arrived at the first gate that led to the Fortress Manion. Because the Zephystrand''s Citadel was the most important ce in the entire city and was built on thergest Tree of Life, the only way how to reach it was through several bridges that were connected to it to the Trees of Life.

    After they passed the gate and walked through the bridge, Samiel could see the entire panorama of the whole Zephystrand City. He stayed here for a few minutes, just admiring the beauty of the elven city, before he moved again and followed Captain Sarun Daragan to the Zephystrand''s Citadel.

    After they arrived at the City Lord''s Fortress Mansion, Samiel could see that Yvraine was waiting there for him, together with a middle-aged High Elf with long blonde hair, wearing simr armor to what Sarun Daragan was wearing.

    "It took you longer than anticipated... you arete. Do you know how rude it is to let ady wait for such a long time?"

    Eximed Yvraine as Samiel''s brow twitched in anger. ''What a long time, my ass. It wasn''t even one week, max three days or whatever.'' He thought in his head as he was getting ready to strike back.

    "At least you had enough time to find us proper amodation... at least you are useful for something."

    He bit back as Yvraine huffed while others around them just observed the situation, not saying anything, but to two people, this situation was surreal.

    First was Sarun Daragan, and second was the middle-aged High Elven man who was standing next to the Yvraine, Laris Daragon, a Patriarch of the Daragan Family, Duke of the Nesser Dynasty, and officially City Lord of the Zephystrand City.

    Crown Princess Yvraine had, one could say terrible reputation among many young noblemen of the Nesser Dynasty who tried to suit her, as most of them were beaten half dead by her, as she refused any kinds of engagements or anything.

    Due to her sadistic tendencies during fights, most of the men were scared of her, especially after she once castrated one young heir to some noble family who inappropriately touched her.

    ''So he is the reason why that madwoman was seen on the 3rd Floor... the Hall of Kadath is on the move, and probably not even the Emperor knows whom his daughter has chosen.''

    Thought Laris Daragan as he observed Samiel and Yvraine bickering with each other like three-year-old children over stolen toys. Immediately after he arrived, she started rebuking him for howte he was and how it was rude and improper for a gentleman to leave ady waiting for him.

    ''This will be an interesting vacation.''

    He then looked in the direction of another city on the 3rd Floor, where Cardinal Karliana Kircheisen was seen together with Red Dragon Estrid, daughter of Cardinal Zaldidraax.

    He just hoped that Karliana Kircheisen won''t be arriving too soon or would arrive only after he left the Floor because he really, really didn''t want to deal with anyone rted to the Hall of Kadath.

 Chapter 42 Introduction To The 3rd Floor

    "Lord Daragan, it is a pleasure to meet you."

    Samiel greeted the High Elven Lord first, seeing the awkward expression on his face. It appears his bickering the Yvraine didn''t create the best atmosphere and practically ruined any kind of serious feeling this meeting had.

    "Please to meet you, young man."

    Greeted him High Elven Lord, as he soon motioned for him to follow him inside the Citadel of the Zephystrand City. The Citadel of the Zephystrand City was a majestic monstrosity of a building; it was far bigger than anything Samiel had ever seen before.

    "I see that cat sleeping on your shoulders, is it your Familiar?"

    Lord Daragan was curious about the cat, as it gave off Divine Aura, like that of Gods, so there was a high chance that the cat was some Divine Species descended directly from some God. Divine Species were different from the so-called Divine Descendants.

    The main reason was that in their innate power. While Divine Descendants carried a portion of the God''s Bloodline Usually or were descendent from other Transcendent who was not God, Divine Species were race, with an innate predisposition for achieving Transcendence, and thus were very powerful.

    They often had very powerful Innate Racial Abilities, and not many of them existed; usually, they preferred to live in seclusion or were taken care of by their Transcendent brethren until they didn''t at least be peak Legendaries or Transcendents themselves.

    "Indeed, newly contracted... name''s Nefertari."

    Introduced her Samiel, as the Divine Elder Cat curiously looked at the High Elven Lord before she hissed in annoyance at the Elf and returned to sleep. Like most cats, Nefertari didn''t like when somebody woke her up from hernd of dreams.

    ''Interesting, some kind of Divine Species willingly contracted mortal... even though Old Deus cannot be considered as a mortal.''

    High Elven Lord Daragan was in deep thought as he looked at Samiel chatting with Yvranine and a bit of nervosity. He knew that soon enough, the people from the Hall of Kadath would arrive as they for sure had information that someone like Samiel had entered the Tower.

    In truth, Laris didn''t want to deal with Karliana Kircheisen and practically nobody from the Hall of Kadath, as they were a mad bunch.

    While Laris Daragan was a Legendary Level powerhouse, in front of peak Legendaries like Cardinals of the Hall of Kadath, he was no different from ant, especially when people from the Hall of Kadath often killed even if they don''t like someone just by looking at them.

    ''But this one... seems more like a split personality, not like constant madness. That''s why Princess said he is manageable most of the time.''

    They went through the corridors as Samiel looked around and admired the Elven Citadel of the Zephystrand City.

    "Aside from the Zephystrand City, there are five more cities on the 3rd Floor, but their foundation is much weaker and their overall strength too. Contrary to the Zephystrand, which the Nesser Dynasty supports, the other five cities are supported by much weaker factions in the Tower. Though in the past there were more cities, but some of them were destroyed in infighting among the city wars, and the hordes of Magical Beasts overran some."

    Samiel was listening to the High Lord Daragan as he was introducing the 3rd Floor.

    "Of course, the 3rd Floor is special in the lower floors, mainly due to its value as a breeding ce for the weaker Magical Beasts under the Silver-Tier. That is why Silver-Tiers and Gold-Tiers lifeforms are rare on this Floor, as the 3rd Floor was exclusively made for this purpose. Basically, anyone who controls some city or fortress here and withstands the hordes of the Magical Beasts can obtain an enormous amount of resources from them."

    Samiel nodded in agreement, as corpses of Magical Beasts had a variety of uses, be it as Alchemy Ingredients, cksmithing, Magic Rituals to something as simple as being food for powerful professionals.

    Basically, the resources one could get from the Magical Beasts were practically endless; when someone was a skillful harvester, he could use the entire corpse of the Magical Beast, creating countless resources.

    "Now, please, I have ordered to prepare weing feats, and after that, I must apologize, but I would need to return back to the Dynasty... this Floor Suppression is annoying."

    Something caught Samiel''s interest, so he asked, something that Yvraine didn''t exin to him.

    "Floor Suppression?"

    High Elven Lord Daragan looked at him, and even Yvraine wasn''t that well versed in the methods of how the Tower was suppressing those with higher strength on the lower floors.

    "To not destroy the environment and cycle of each Floor, the Tower has something like appropriate average Tier for each Floor. If someone with a higher Tier enters that said Floor, he will face suppression from the Tower in order to not cause too much damage to the Floor and its inhabitants. Of course, this is not absolute because it could be circumvented."

    Exined High Lord Daragan, as right now even Yvraine was paying attention, as they all seated around the round table and servants started to bring them food.

    "One way is just like Orks on the 1st Floor; they entered some kind of contract with the Tower itself that allowed them to relocate to the 1st Floor, in return for being partially used as a Trial for some special individuals or those with Transcendent backing. Then another way is to be a Floor Ruler, and you can flex your power freely."

    Samiel always wondered if the Tower''s purpose was to cultivate professionals faster, then wouldn''t such order of things as on the 1st Floor detrimental?

    The answer would be yes, at least partially.<sub> </sub>

    Yvraine once mentioned to him that even though there could be many strong people on the 1st Floor, they couldn''t use their full power wherever they wished, but only under special circumstances, and then stopped her exnation.

    As the servants brought the food to the table, Hathor woke up, as she jumped on the table and swiftly located a te with meat that had a heavenly smell and instantly started devouring everything on that te.

    In truth, everybody looked at the small cat in wonder, aside from Laris Daragan, as he knew that because of the Divine Aura, the cat was special, so he wasn''t that surprised seeing its small mountain of meat from peak Bronze-Tier Magical Beast like nothing despite being on at the Steel-Tier.

    After eating the te of meat, Samiel heard Nefertari''s voice in his head.

    ''Hooman, I am thirsty; bring me some milk from Bronze-Tier creature and be quick.''

    After hearing how his familiar ordered him, he frowned, and brief thought went through his mind how would baked Divine Elder Cat taste? Simrly, Nefertari shuddered a bit before quickly correcting itself and saying in a cute voice.

    ''Hooman, is a good hooman, who takes care of his kitty? Thank you, hooman!''

    She said as she licked his face, and Samiel just thought how cute she was before he scratched her behind her ear.

    Yvraine looked at them, amused, before proceeding to ask Samiel something.

    "Can I hold her?"

    She asked Samiel as he tilted his head, not really knowing what to do. She was his Familiar, and it was apparent that she didn''t want to part with him. However, he just looked at Nefertari as she licked his finger before she gently nodded her cute little head.

    pping her wings, flying over to Yvraine, who was gushing over how cute the little creature was, showering her with affection and scratches being her ear and belly rubs, just like Nefertari liked it. She then started feeding her pieces of meat, which the little Cat cutely ate because she was pretty hungry.

    "She is very cute, aren''t you?"

    Asked Yvraine rhetorically, as Nefertari started licking her face and hands, attempting to look cute, though Samiel knew it was just a scheme to get out of Yvraine more food and belly rubs... not to mention, his Familiar wanted to obtain an ally against him, if she would ever feel wronger so someone who would help her carry out vengeance would be nice.

    Cats were pretty vengeful creatures if they felt they were wronger... like not getting enough milk or their least favorite cat food, it was a great heresy, and no cat would ever forget such transgression against their meowjestic dignity.

    "Yeh, yeh, she is an absolute darling..."

    <o>,m Samiel continued to eat while he answered her nonsensical questions.</o>

    "What do you think about Zephystrand City? Even though it is located on the 3rd Floor, it is one of the most beautiful cities across all Nesser Dynasty''s Territories in the Cosmos and the Tower."

    Questioned Lord Laris Daragan, as they continued eating, while Yvraine was entertaining Nefertari in the way she wished, really his familiar was very cunning because it didn''t take her even several seconds to gain another follower.

    Long live the religion of Supreme Almighty Cat.

    "It is spectacr. Especially with the concentration of Nature''s aura is unusually high in the city... that must be the work of  the Trees of Life, right?"

    Samiel looked at Laris Daragan, who squinted his eyes while agreeing with his statement with a nod of his head.

    "Indeed, the Trees of Life on the 3rd Floor are the treasures of the Nesser Dynasty and blessings for all Elves who were living on the 3rd Floor. That is why all of the Elves who are climbing the Tower would for sure stay in the Zephystrand for several years, even decades. The benefits of staying in proximity to such a high number of Trees of Life is not somethingmon Elves, mainly those from the outside of the Tower or our Principal World, can enjoy."

    Indeed, such was the truth.

    While it seemed that Trees of Life weremon by looking at the Zephystrand or 91st Floor under the control of the Nesser Dynasty or their Principal World, one would soon realize that it was a huge mistake.

    Trees of Life were very, very rare across the Cosmos, and many Elfs would never see one, especially thoseing from the Lower Worlds, where the Trees of Life weremonly considered as myths and legends.

    In Middle Worlds and High Worlds, they were moremon but still very rare and considered national treasures.

    So for Elvesing from the outside of the Tower and from a world that had never seen Tree of Life, or the Tree of Life long ago withered and became part of the annals of history, staying in their proximity, they could harvest great benefits.

    Increased Mana purity and density, or increased physical aspects, were one of the many benefits that the Trees of Life provided to Elves who were living near them.

 Chapter 43 The Black Emporium

    After the feast had ended, Samiel took up Nefertari, who was like a small ball, as she had eaten everything she could, drank more than two liters of milk from Bronze-Tier Twin-Horned Cow, and immediately fell asleep.

    Yvraine kept feeding her until she literally couldn''t eat anything more and was barely able to move. However, Samiel knew that she would be okey. Right now, Nefertari was in her growth phase and was just a young kitten, so she needed to eat a lot to get stronger, bigger, and evolve into a proper Divine Elder Cat.

    She would, by a few hours, be okey and probably be hungry one more because her metabolism was very fast for this.

    Then Samiel was led by an elven maid to his quarters which had been assigned to him. Yvraine was meanwhile staring at the maid who came to lead Samiel to his chambers with emotionless looks that were colder than the void itself; the maid shuddered when she saw the looks Princess was giving her before quickly collecting herself and signaling Samiel, who was holding Nefertari to follow after her.

    After Samiel left, Laris looked at the Crown Princess, who was fuming with anger. For the first time, the stoic and cold Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty and Silvermoon Elven species revealed such intense wrath and anger, and jealousy about something.

    "That was scary... on second thought, I was in that you will kill the poor maid."

    Said Lord Daragan jokingly, but he quickly regretted his joke very soon.

    "I swear that bitch was flirting with him; he is mine and mine only."

    Said Yvraine darkly, as if something dark had woken up inside her the moment she saw that pce maid flirting with Samiel.

    In Yvraine''s mind, there was no man worthy of her; for her, all of her suitors were weaklings and trash, and she would not marry anybody from inferior races, which was for the Silvermoon Elves, practically the majority of them.

    But when she met him, it was different. An Old Deus, a person with the potential to easily be Transcendent, and on top of that, his outer madness was only in the form of split personality, which was like winning a jackpot when it came to the worshippers of the Outer Gods.

    Not to mention, she could see that Samiel was untrained, and yet he was very strong. She wanted to see what he would imagine if the Hall of Kadath properly trained him and what heights he could achieve.

    And on top of that, he was able to tolerate her, so Yvraine, in her self-reflection, was able to tell that she wasn''t the best person to be around, so this was a big plus for her. She also didn''t know how to behave around someone who didn''t really care about her status or practically didn''t care about anything.

    After spending some time with him, Yvraine decided that he was a perfect specimen, and she unknowingly imed him. And during her observations, she noticed that he was pretty undeveloped or traumatized when it came to human rtions, which could be a two-sided axe. At least most of the annoying flies and thots won''t have sess, but on the other hand, her own advances would be the same.

    Hearing those words, it sent shivers through High Elves Lord''s spine, as he saw something different and terrifying in the Crown Princess of Nesser Dynasty today, but in the end, it was not his matter to stick his nose in, so he chose to leave and return back to his chambers before he would be returning to the 91st Floor of the Tower.

    Of course, he knew this would greatly interest the Emperor of the Nesser Dynasty; not only that but also other factions would be greatly interested in this development. Because this simple and yetplicated act of unusualpanionship could totally break the bnce between the most powerful mortal factions and even affect the Transcendental Factions.

    ***

    The next day, Yvraine took Samiel to give him a tour of Zephystrand City.

    They were currently strolling through the lower part of the City, where most of the shops, restaurants, inns, and merchants were located. The entire City was divided into several parts. The first was the outermost Lower City, then it was the inner Upper City, and in the middle on the biggest Tree of Life was the Zephystrand''s Citadel.

    The Lower City was a ce where ordinary people lived; it was divided into Residental Area, Merchant District, and Industrial District.

    The Upper City was a ce where those of Noble Standing were living, together with high-ranking Military Officers and other important people, and also houses spaces for the Armed Forces of the Zephystrand City were built there.

    Of course, they weren''t just touring the City, but most importantly, Samiel was going to sell everything he obtained as loot from the 2nd Floor, from the participants of the ughter Trial, which he killed.

    He obtained a lot of things there because he took the majority of the Spatial Equipment and other things, while Yvraine got the majority of the Tokens of the Asura Tribe.

    And now, he needed to get rid of them, and thus their first destination was the Merchant District of the Lower City. Yvraine was looking for some high-ss shop that would take care of all trouble for a good price and wee exclusively those of higher social standing only.

    And as they were strolling the alley and chatting suddenly, Samiel stopped in his tracks and looked directly at the seemingly empty back-alley shrouded in the darkness.

    From it, only a single sign was shining, written in a weird alphabet that was seemingly familiar to him; in a gold letter, it read "ck Emporium".

    "Come here, do you see that?"

    He asked Yvraine, who looked in the direction he was pointing in, only to see nothing, just probably some bunch of bricks and trash.

    "No?"<sub> </sub>

    She answered uncertainly, not knowing what to say, as Samiel grabbed her hand and dragged her together with him. Instantly as they entered the vicinity of the small shop located on some backward street, Yvraine could see it clearly, and at the same time, she was washed by a sense of dread.

    But what Samiel found interesting, countless people passed it without even noticing its existence.

    "So you have noticed?"

    Samiel asked her, awakening her from her stupor as she unexpectedly strongly gripped his hand. At the same time, she pressed her body against his in an attempt to hide from the malicious aura of the Void she was sensing.

    Only Samiel was totally unaware because, for him, this aura seemed like home; it wasn''t soul-freezing cold or filled with malice and dread like Yvraine was feeling, but for him, it was a warm feeling, that he was exactly there where he belonged.

    "So it shows itself only for those it considers worthy based on some kind of criteria."

    Samiel stated quietly as he opened the shabby-looking, ck wooden doors of the ck Emporium''s shop as they entered inside. It was a rtively small antique shop filled with countless books, ancient-looking weapons, body parts of various monsters stuffed in jars, and arcane runes inscribed around the walls.

    "Customer?"

    Sounded a ghastly voice from the back part of the shop; it was the cold voice, like from the coldest depths of the Void itself, prating their very own existences through and through, seeing all the secrets; nothing could escape the coldness it brought with it.

    "Silvermoon, you not the one we await... but you, you are the one."

    Said the voice once more, as Samiel turned around to see a weird creature, it had a mummified appearance, only a mouth and without a face, with single pair of pitch ck wings with eyes on the wings, and its head looked like a split mushroom in half?, at least that was what Samiel thought.

    ''Dum.''

    Samiel immediately knew what that creature was or what it should be, as he heard his hearts beating several times faster.

    This creature before him was an Eldritch Creature of the Void, walking leisurely through the Material ne. It was Eldritch Creature at the Transcendent Level. He felt it innately, and not even Yvraine was aware that they were talking to the Transcendent Level Being.

    Even though the conditions of the Tower were better than most of the worlds across the Cosmos, and even the High World could hold a few Transcendents, in the Tower, there was a rule. Transcendents were strictly forbidden to descend onto the Mortal Floors, and if they did, they would pay a terrible price for that.

    But this Trasncedent before him didn''t seem like paying any price considering his attitude here and there. He seemed like he could spend here time till the end of all things, not bothered by anything; perhaps he was one of those who found some bug in the "system".

    ''Hooman... don''t antagonize this one... he is far more terrifying than Elder Goddess Bast.''

    Samiel heard the voice of his familiar in his head as he subconsciously nodded in agreement.

    The Eldritch Creature scrutinized him from tips to toe before it revealed a very creepy and disturbing smile that sent chills through their entire beings, but Samiel was way less affected than Yvraine was because he could see she was shaking from the vicious and cold aura of the void that the Eldritch Creature released at them.

    Samiel took her hand to calm her down, as his aura negated the pressure on her as well.

    "Indeed, you are the One! What services do you require from this old one? Of course, everythinges with the appropriate price."

    Said the creature creepily at him; while he felt a grip on his hand tighten, he could clearly see that Yvraine was feeling very ufortable just by being here and under the pressure of the Void Aura and Eldritch Aura of the Transcendental Level Eldritch Creature... even some weaker Legendaries would probably be either killed or pass out.

    "I have a lot of items I need to dispose of and exchange them for something useful. What can you give me for all of this?"

    Samiel said while he threw a Dimensional Ring with thousands of items to the Eldritch Creature as it scanned the content of the ring, and soon enough, it weirdly smiled before it waved its hand and summoned three items.

    From the moment he entered the ck Emporium, Samiel instinctively knew that he wouldn''t get here Gold Coins or Mana Crysltas or anything like "standard" merchants would give him in exchange for these items.

    He somehow innately felt that here, here he would obtain something that would help him muchter in his Path to the Transcendence... how would one say it?

    A fortunate encounter.

 Chapter 44 Crystal And Tour

    One of them was a dagger that radiated overwhelming power and had exquisite craftsmanship that no ordinary mortal weapon could have. Or rather, it should have, but its weird craftsmanship didn''t take anything from the power that the dagger was releasing, especially to Samiel, whose senses were warning him of immediate danger.

    The second item was a book; Darkness covered it, so Samiel couldn''t see anything extraordinary about the book aside from the evil and malicious aura it constantly gave off. On the cover of the book, made from human skin, was a pentagram engraved, as evilness could be felt miles away.

    And the third item was a ruby crystal. From all three items, the Ruby Crystals looked very unassuming and rather ordinary, just like every second gem would look like. The only thing that was special about the Ruby Crystal was the levitating golden parts which were probably functioning as some sort of shield, which would put itself together, creating a ball-like shape as a form of protection for the Ruby Crystal.

    "You can choose one of these items in exchange for the content of the Ring; because of first-time trade, I chose peculiar items and a great discount, but beware... once you make your choice, you can''t go back."

    Exined the Eldritch Creature with augh as it looked at Samiel, who was staring at the Ruby Crystal intensely.

    While Samiel didn''t really care about the antics of the Eldritch Creature, it was clearly evident that Yvraine was getting more and more nervous with each passing second they were spending in the ck Emporium.

    When looking at the Ruby Crystal, Samiel felt something that was drawing him to the Crystal, like telling him to choose the Crystal. He felt indescribably attracted to the Crystal the first moment he saw it. Never had he felt something simr in his entire life, but he knew he needed to have this Ruby Crystal at any cost.

    He knew that for Eldritch Creature at the Transcendent Level to consider something extraordinary, then the items must be really special. Certainly, beings of that Level won''t be going around like home sellers and scamming people out of their money.

    He knew that the value of these items couldn''tpare to a bunch of low-grade Spatial Equipment and weapons, even if he had tons of them. Of course, what was disturbing Samiel were the motives of this one, and why he was doing this, but to that question, it was almost impossible to get any answer.

    In the end, he decided to go along with his intuition. Since bing a partial Eldritch Creature, his intuition never let him down even once till now.

    "I chose the weird ruby crystal."

    He answered as the Eldritch Creature revealed a surprised and yet satisfied smile as the other two items vanished into the shadows, and only the Crystal remained as it levitated directly to Samiel''s hands.

    "Interesting... choosing the Bloodline Crystal of Transcendent Level Fallen Angel."

    Muttered the Eldritch Creature as Samiel almost dropped the thing on the ground from the shock, and Yvraine didn''t fare better. Hearing that this was in fact a Bloodline Crystal was too shocking, just to easily digest.

    Bloodline Crystals were precious things even for Transcendents, though it depended on the creator who condensed his entire bloodline into the Crystal. Some Bloodline Crystals could be absolute trash if the creator was just some random weak Legendary.

    Of course, then there were some that were priceless, and the Transcendent Level Bloodline Crystals were absolutely priceless among them all. Especially when the Bloodline Crystal was made by a Transcendent Level entity.

    "I don''t know who the creator of the Crystal was, but it was a very powerful Angel. Though, it would be good for you to use it only after you reach the Legendary..."

    Samiel understood the sentiment because he nearly died when he epted the blood of Azathoth, who used his own power to do everything basically. But the usage of the Bloodline Crystal was vastly differentpared to what he underwent previously.

    He just stored the Bloodline Crystal, as he still made an excellent trade, even though for now, and for a rtively long time, this thing would be absolutely useless to him, but when he reached Legendary, he would have another method to increase his power.

    After that, both Samiel and Yvraine exited the ck Emporium, and when Samiel turned around, he saw how the entire shop was dissipating into the countless ck particles that were blown away by the wind.

    "You are aware that the creature we talked to was a Transcendent Level Being? And very powerful at that..."

    Stated Samiel as he looked at Yvraine, who seemed genuinely shocked about the thought that Transcendent Level Being was wandering through the first floors of the Tower. She initially thought that the weird mummy monster was just some powerful legendary.

    "And it was an Eldritch Creature or Void Lifeforms... one of those two."

    He stated afterward that he was still in a weird state of shock or surprise or something in between, from the weird experience in the ck Emporium, trying toprehend exactly what had just happened.

    Samiel knew that Yvraine knew he was partial Eldritch, but they didn''t talk about it. He had to admit that Yvraine was very smart. During her life, she met many people with that familiar Eldritch stench because of her status as the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty, so it was no wonder she would technically be able to recognize him.

    Eldritch Creatures and Void Lifeforms could be considered some weird cousins of the sort... probably. Fundamentally they all lived in the Void and shared the same living space, but there were some main differences between them.

    The main one was that all Eldritch Creatures were in some way or another connected to Azathoth, the Primordial Demiurge. At the same time, the Void Lifeforms were just collective terms for countless races that called the "Void" their home.

    Afterward, Yvraine took Samiel on the rest of the tour of the City, which she meticulously nned and chose all spots to visit with great importance and care.

    They went to the various tourist spots and sightseeing the marvels of the elven architecture and other things, and at the end of the day, they went to a high-ss restaurant which was located on the top of one of the Trees of Life.<sub> </sub>

    It has a gorgeous view of the entire Zephystrand City as Samiel and Yvraine sat down, and Nefertari jumped down from his shoulder andid down on the fence of the terrasse where they were sitting, as she continued sleeping in another ce.

    "So, did you get any quest from your Patron Goddess?"

    Asked Samiel as he observed the sun setting down. They were alone on this restaurant floor because this one was specifically used only by high-ranking nobles of the Nesser Dynasty or other notable individuals who would visit Zephystrand City.

    "Yes, but I canplete it any time, as it is an easy one."

    She answered, and after a second, she observed Samiel''s weird cat with wings, as it pped its wings and flew from the fence back to Samiel''s shoulder, as Nefertari couldn''t sleep there properly. Interestingly, she could sleep mostly well if he was nearby, probably because of their intimate connection.

    After they started eating, Nefertari woke up and started stealing some pieces of meat from his te if she felt like it, but he ignored his familiar and let it be. Nefertari was still basically a kitten and was only in the early stages of her development.

    Still, she was already a Steel-Tier despite being so young.

    Also, he had an extraordinary and powerful ss, together with at least two abilities, which made her very valuable and strong familiar, not to mention her potential to grow.

    "Can we spar tomorrow a bit? I think I need toplete at least basic aspects of my training."

    Even though Yvraine taught Samiel in the past nine months or so what they were together, but she wasn''t that good teacher, and she taught him only how to wield the sword, nothing more and nothing less.

    Samiel wasn''t a goodbatant even now, but at least he wasn''t terrible if that helped a bit. Even though he was at core Caster, due to the addition of his Lord ss, Knight of the Niflheim, he felt a need to learn more fighting styles and achieve at least some level of weapon mastery.

    That way, he wouldpletely eliminate the weakness of Necromancer upation, and he could directly fight alongside his undead, side by side, thus increasing theirbat prowess by several levels straight.

    "If you want, I can arrange for you to train with the Elven Knights, for basics, it would be good. Elven Knights of the Nesser Dynasty have one of the best and strictest training regimes ever created, and you could obtain a good grasp on the basics of footwork, swordsmanship, and basic martial arts."

    Stated Yvraine; she proposed this because Samiel told her he would need to stay on the 3rd Floor for several years, and during that time, undergoing some sort of formal training seemed good.

    Samiel wasn''t opposed to the Quest and staying here for some time; in the end, he didn''t really have any purpose of iming the Tower aside from getting stronger, and the 3rd Floor was a nice ce to spend some years.

    Not to mention that his Lifespan would probably eclipse even countless Legendaries due to his racial heritage. So, it would be productive for him to learn how to deal with the passage of time and get rid of the human-like perception of time partially, or he wouldn''t be able to bear it... literally.

    Contrary to his magic studies, which he was perfectly learning on his own, just him and Magic Tomes and Grimoires, physical aspects of the power, were rtively unknown areas for him.

    "That would be great; I was never good at anything physical since I was a kid, and I hated even the word sport, but right now, circumstances have changed..."

    Samiel said, briefly reminiscing about his past, to which Yvraine giggled a bit.

    "What else were you, fatso when you were little?"

    She asked with a mocking voice, to which Samiel grinned a bit.

    "Believe it or not, but yeh... you wouldn''t really recognize me from the past, not even a bit."

    Samiel started remembering his appearance before he became supernatural, before he became the way he envisioned of himself.

    "Even though many say that appearance is not important, the mostmon perception of beauty is important."

    Yvraine stated mildly, as Samiel agreed with her.

    "Not everyone is born the way they wish to be..."

    Samiel stated, as he remembered, that he always felt inferior due to his average-looking appearance, though in his case, it would be prudent to say under average.

 Chapter 45 Meanwhile At...

    Aerathain City, on the other side of the continent, 3rd Floor.

    3rd Floor of the Tower was enormous, and thus as the logic should dictate, it should contain a lot of different biomes and environments. However, unexpectedly or expectedly, it didn''t really happen because of the Nesser Dynasty, who terraformed the entire 3rd Floor to be one single biome.

    Aerathain City was a one-time peculiarity on the 3rd Floor; it was initially the capital of some nation located in the Lower World. That Lower World was on the verge of bing a Mana-Less World in a few millennia as Mana was dissipating from the World at an rming rate.

    Once, when some powerful Transcendent was bored, he transported the entire Aerathain City to the Tower and ced it on the 3rd Floor. Indeed, boredom could be dangerous for people who live a very long life.

    Not like things like this happened often... not absolutely like this.

    But that was not a real problem.

    While the civilization of the people of Aerathain City was technologically pretty advanced, and for example, ifpared to that of Earth, could be considered as futuristic, not many thought they would survive endless waves of Magical Beasts, Monster and other fearsome creatures, not to mention thepetition on the 3rd Floor.

    Still, to the surprise of everyone, the citizens of the Aerathain City paid a great price, but they survived, and rebuilt their city, and limatized themselves to the Tower and for centuries stood the walls of the Aerathain City unbreached by any Magical Beast or Monster.

    Currently, in one of the still-standing skyscrapers, most of the skyscrapers were destroyed after the Aerathain City was transported into the 3rd Floor by flying Magical Beasts and Monsters or just couldn''t handle the fights. Afterward, the leadership of the Aerathain City decided not to rebuild them because it was not that worth of it.

    Thus only a few of them remained, which were reinforced to withstand evenbat of a Gold-Tiers for some time, only for some time, but even that was good. From then on, just entering one of those builds counted as a sign of prestige and status.

    Currently, on the top floor, which was a high-end restaurant and ces visited only by the most powerful or richest of the Aerathain City. Two women were eating their lunch in rtive silence in this high-ss or rather highest-ss restaurant.

    Aside from them, the entire floor was empty, and just waiters were preset, as they nervously waited for orders while they were lined in a straight line. It was a dreadful time for all of the waiters, as they didn''t dare even to breathe, not to create noise, not wanting to irritate their guests.

    Because then death would be the only salvation.

    The elder one from the pair was wearing silver ted armor and, together with her long white hair tailed into a braid with red eyes, was giving the feel of a vampire knight. Indeed she was a Vampire, and not an ordinary one, but from her stature and manners, it was easy to tell that she belonged to the highest caste of the Blood Races.

    The young one had golden eyes and long tinum hair, reaching her waist, but the most notable feature about her was a pair of substantial red horns sprouting from her head, signifying her heritage as a Red Dragon.

    "Finish the food already, Estrid; we need to depart to the Zephystrand."

    Stated the Vampire Knight Woman, who was, of course, Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath, Karliana Kircheisen. She had already long ago finished her te long ago; she wasn''t that eater because, like the rest of the Blood Races, she preferred her food to be in a liquid form and directly from the source.

    "Why must I go with you? Wasn''t it your mission to go and find that person? I just want to stay here and sleep and eat good food..."

    Comined Estrid, daughter of the Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath, Zaldridraax. She was right now eating already her thirties or fortieth te of food. Because of her dragon species, she was quite an eater; she was able to spend the entire day sitting and eating, naturally without worrying about getting any weight.

    "Shut up, little girl; you are just spending most of your time sleeping, and no. You won''t be staying at the Aerathain City because if you could, then you would never leave from here."

    With one stern look, Karliana silenced her swiftly. Even though Estrid was pretty brazen and arrogant when ounting for Red Dragon standards, she still had a healthy amount of fear of Karliana.

    That was also a reason why Hall Master entrusted Estrid to her, though Karliana didn''t really understand why the Hall Master decided to send Estrid with her; though, on the other side, she understood but predicted that his intentions would fail.

    "And after we arrived at the Elven City, don''t you dare go and make trouble... I will be watching your entire time."

    Said Karliana sternly, as Estrid begrudgingly nodded as they finished their food and, soon enough, left the building. Seeing this, practically every person who was here sighed in relief as they finally got rid of those two monsters.<sub> </sub>

    Aerathain City was rtively weak, and they depended on their superior technology, which was adjusted to work on mana instead. Due to this, they had only a few experts, and the strongest person to ever walk through the Aerathain City reached only the initial Legendary Level.

    That was because of theck of mana for centuries in their bodies; it took a very long time to increase general talents and limit the Aerathain City''s poption. Exactly it took more than 300 years to produce one Initial Level Legendary expert who was presiding over the Aerathain City till this day.

    Having only a single Initial Level Legendary was barely enough to have any foothold in the Tower. While in even High World, they would be considered as some sort of big shots, not to mention in the Middle World, where they could rule over the majority of the world.

    And now, here in the Tower, it was barely enough for the small amount of territory. Such was the disparity between the Worlds and various divisions of the Cosmos.

    After Karliana and Estrid left the skyscraper, they went to City Gates and existed the city, entering the wilderness of the 3rd Floor and walking in the direction of Zephystrand City. Karliana didn''t like this city a bit, mainly due to her disdain for its technological background, just as most of the powerful people had.

    Due to Karliana being already almost at the limits of the Legendary Level, the suppressions ced on her by the Tower when she entered the Floor were quite severe, and passively she can only exhibit powerparable to the Gold-Tier expert.

    Fortunately, she still had her terrifying physical strength, which should be enough to deal with the sleeping Legendary Level Magical Beasts and Monster Emperors who were slumbering on the 3rd Floor.

    It didn''t take even ten minutes after they left the Aerathain City to be ambushed by several Magical Beast, as they encountered a group of Snow Wind Apes. The entire surroundings of the Aerathain City were swarming with the Magical Beasts and Monsters, lurking in the dark and preying on the defenseless people who left the city.

    The Snow Wind Apes were around two and a half meters high, with bulging muscles, white fur, and ferocious appearance; they seeded fear inside their enemies, not to mention that all of these Snow Wind Apes were peak Steel-Tier Magical Beasts.

    "Kill them fast so that we can move on."

    Sounded the voice of Cardinal Karliana as she was annoyed with this situation. The moment they stepped out of the Aerathain City, they were immediately ambushed by a group of Snow Wind Apes.

    Moment Estrid heard those words; her eyes lit up as she rushed at thergest Snow Wind Ape, which was probably the leader of the group, and punched the Snow Wind Ape leader in the stomach, creating a huge bloody hole in it, killing it instantly.

    The rest of the Snow Wind Apes looked confusedly around, notprehending what just happened before they roared and attacked Estrid all at the same time. Suddenly a burst of mes shot out from her as it incinerated the nearest three Snow Wind Apes.

    "That stupid girl... she is constantly creatingmotion."

    Said Karliana silently, as she could see the iing Magical Beast horde from a distance because of Estrid''s action in provoking the Snow Wind Apes and especially creating a mess by fighting them with rtively shy attacks that created a ruckus.

    Karliana took her sword out of her sheath and disappeared in a blur, as instantly hundreds of Snow Wind Apes were instantly decapitated, heads rolling on the ground and blood spilled.

    "Estrid,e here!"

    Karliana shouted, annoyed at the entire situation. The moment they left the city, the first thing that Estrid did, was to attract a small colony of the Snow Wind Apes to them, even though it was just a bunch of Steel-Tier and Bronze-Tier Snow Wind Apes; soon enough, there would be too much of them.

    Not like Karliana feared them, but she didn''t want useless battles which would take time.

    ? "What did I tell you about not fighting anything during our journey? With this tempo, we will take several years to even arrive at the Zephystrand if you will be fighting everything you see."

    Questioned Karliana, while Estrid looked confused about why the Cardinal was angry when she had just fought and killed a few apes.

    "Oh, my dream, you are even worse than your father... now I can see that Old Shen is annoyed every time with him."

    Cardinal Karliana just muttered while touching her temtes; in the end, they continued their journey, with Karliana controlling everything Estrid was doing, not wanting to bring another Magical Beast Horde at them and thus waste even more time.

 Chapter 46 Training With The Silvermoon Knights

    Zephystrand City, Citadel, Silvermoon Knight Training Ground.

    Citadel of the Zephystrand City had rather extensive training grounds, capable of holding hundreds of knights who were training daily here. Not only was it huge, but it was also equipped with advanced Magetech gadgets made for training, such as automatic puppets for sparring, various monitoring devices, and other things.

    Of course, entire training grounds were protected by powerful wards and protective runes, so the people could fight there to their fullest without worrying about causing coteral damage.

    Samiel stood on the balcony of the Zephystrand Citadel, together with Yvraine, as they were watching the Silvermoon Knights practicing. All of these Elven Knights were only the new recruits because, as Samiel found out, the standard strength of the full-fledged Silvermoon Knights was Gold-Tier, while Senior Knights were Legendaries.

    Because of that, Silvermoon Knights were the best and strongest Knight Order in the Tower and could be rivaled or surpassed by Holy Knights of Churches, especially the Temrs of the Hall of Kadath or Arcane Knights of the Magisterium.

    Yvraine told him this was a tremendous feat because Holy Knights from Churches were the strongest card of any religious organization; additionally, Churches had an easier time training them because they were training a smaller number of people, contrary to the Nesser Dynasty.

    Not to mention for organizations like the Hall of Kadath, which cultivated the Temrs or Magisterium that created Arcane Knights. Both Temrs and Arcane Knights were all strong Legendary Level Knights, with a special set of ss, Abilities and undergone various forbidden rites and other unspeakable things to be the best of the best.

    "On the 3rd Floor, we train Knights to handle hordes of enemies, and also, we carry out the initiation process. Additionally, here the squires and new recruits gather experiences fighting Magical Beasts, bandits and carry out menial tasks like gearing the city, and simr things."

    Exined Sarun Daragan, who arrived at the balcony nked by two Knights.

    Each full-fledged Knight achieved mastery over some weapon, meaning in skill terms, they won''t have Swordsmanship Skill but Sword Mastery Skill instead. Additionally, they all learnedpulsory, specifically designed Martial Arts for the close quarterbat in case they were disarmed, and all Knights were required to learn enchanting body spells, through which they could temporarily boost up their explosive power.

    "Now... am I feeling fired up."

    Muttered Samiel as he looked at the sparring knights, while he followed after Sarun to the training arena, as he wanted to fight against some of them.

    In truth, Samiel enjoyed fighting, especially two things. Fighting strong opponents and life and death battles. For him, fighting strong opponents, bringing them down and killing them, and oveing his own limitations was something that he greatly enjoyed.

    For long, he remembered, only the fights to death where he danced on the imaginary line between two worlds gave him the feeling he really lived, that he existed; it often gave his life proper meaning, aside from just repeating the routine of everything and nothing.

    As they descended to the Arena, Samiel took down sleeping Hathor from his shoulders and passed his Familiar to Yvraine because it was found out that she was the only person in an entire Citadel whom Hathor allowed to touch her.

    Because Yvraine ordered Sarun to take care of Samiel, he didn''t really have any choice in this and was forced to allow him to participate in the training of the Silvermoon Knight Order.

    Yvraine was Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty; if any other person gave simr "order" aside from those of the Imperial Family or some mighty Legendaries, it would be considered treason to allow an outsider to learn secret techniques of the Silvermoon Knight Order.

    "We will start with basicbat... no Undead or Curses. Just a pure skill."

    Said Sarun Daragan as his aim was to see what he was dealing with, as Crown Princess asked him to help train Samiel in a closebat department where he was severelycking. He never learned some and preferred to use his magic mostly.

    Unfortunately, contrary to Yvraine''s wishes, Sarun couldn''t teach him martial arts or other simr things because training methods were adjusted specifically for Elves, not Old Deus races.

    Old Deus Species was very peculiar because each person who could be subsumed under the category of the Old Deus was unique.

    For example, if Samiel even were to master some elven martial arts, he wouldn''t be able to exhibit its power to 100% because the said martial art was created to be perfectly performed by Elf, not an Eldritch.

    Both Samiel and Sarun held a sword, of course of an elven design, as they looked at each other before Samiel savagely smiled as he appeared before Sarun, and without any warning, he attacked, shing at Sarun''s neck.

    ''He is fast!''

    Sarun shook as he knew that his opponent was barely a Steel-Tier, but his speed and physical ability could already match a Level 50 Bronze-Tier High Elf, which was astounding but befitting the reputation of the Old Deus.

    Sarun blocked Samiel''s de, though it was clear he was pushed backward several centimeters from the impact of the de.

    ''His attacks are inexperienced, it looks like he has some image about the swordsmanship, but he cannot properly execute it and... it is like he is having trouble controlling his own strength.''

    Thought Sarun, as he quickly dodged attacks that Samiel was throwing at him. As an experienced fighter, he quickly identified the most severe ws in his opponent''sbat style.

    It was rtively easy... Samiel had brute and raw power, but he absolutely couldn''t control his strength. When he was executing his sword katas, they were unbnced; some were absolutely overpowered, and some were weak.<sub> </sub>

    That was because all swordsmanship information Samiel had was from the human Knight, whose soul he devoured, and the swordsmanship the Knight learned was tailored for the humans, not for the Old Deus.

    For that reason, hisbat style was clumsy, and even though he could overpower enemies like Orks, Gnolls, or something simr, as theyckedprehensive training and had low cunning, contrary to enemies who could easily find weaknesses in their opponents, this was nothing.

    "You have the power behind your strikes, but youck finesse and control, but that can be taught after some time. Unfortunately, for you, due to specific reasons, you would need abat style specifically tailored for you, and that is something that you can either obtain from someone or from yourself."

    Said Sarun Daragan amidst their spar, as Samiel dodged his opponent''s attack, now that Sarun started attacking back.

    As now Sarun started counterattacking, Samiel had a tough time defending against his attacks because this was entirely different from what he was used to.

    When he lived on Earth, things were simple, as the only things he would need to dodge were bullets from soldiers or policemen chasing him. For that, he would always have some Undead to make a living or rather unloving cover, but what he was experiencing now was vastly different, very much.

    It was clear to him that Sarun Daragan had decades of experience in swordsmanship and footwork, as he was dancing around Samiel like a most agile theatre dancer, dodging his ferocious attacks with ease and counterattacking when needed.

    "He is talented... adapting so fast to someone so experienced and prodigious like Sarun."

    Sounded voice behind Yvraine on the balcony as she observed how Samiel was sparring with Sarun, as she subconsciously agreed with the statement said by Laris Daragan.

    Not that Laris was praising his son, but it was indeed the truth.

    Sarun Daragan was not only one of the fastest High Elves to reach the Bronze-Tier and soon would be reaching Silver-Tier, but he was a prodigy in the path of the sword. He was considered as the best young swordsman in the Nesser Dynasty for the past several thousands of years.

    From the young generation among the Nesser Dynasty, there were not many who couldpete against the Sarun Daragan in terms of potential or might or anything. Of course, with the exception of Crown Princess Yvraine.

    "Indeed, but if they fought with their all, Sarun would have lost a long time ago."

    Said Yvraine indifferently and a bit defensively, as the older man just chuckled but didn''t refute her in that statement. He knew that the young Old Deus was a Necromancer who could control arge amount of Undead despite his rtively low level; additionally, his Undead was strong, and he controlled various taboo magic in his disposition.

    Even Laris could see that this spar would have ended sooner if Samiel had started casting his spells. But Samiel''s Magic was to kill, not to have a friendly spar, as even the most basic spell that he could cast had the potential to tear through someone''s mind like paper and put him down into eternal torment of madness.

    That was the reason why he didn''t really use Void Magic during his spar because it could severely injure his opponents.

    "Then it is perhaps for best they are not fighting life and death duel, but rather just sparring."

    Stated Laris as he observed the duel between his son and Yvraine''s "friend."

    Laris, despite his rtively young age, as he was only 2,000 years old, which was for Elf, just like initial adulthood, met with several members of the Old Deus race.

    All of them were absolute freaks of nature, each member of the Old Deus was someone descended from two Transcendental Species, bearing the abilities and racial predispositions of their parents.

    Especially the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath.

    The God yer, the only person in the entire Cosmos who was able to kill Transcendental as Legendary Level powerhouse in several past Epochs, an untouchable "mortal".

    "If he reaches that level... it would be truly fascinating."

    Muttered Laris Daragan, as his political side was thinking about how to establish closer ties with the young man that Crown Princess brought here.

    Every Old Deus would sooner orter Transcend, and if that happened, Daragan Family could profit from close ties to the newly ascended Transcendent.

    Contrary to the Silvermoon Elven Race and, most importantly, the Nesser Silvermoon Family, which created several Transcendents since the establishment of the Empire, others were... not so sessful with their endeavors because approximately 80% of all people who transcendent in the Nesser Dynasty, be it through Godhood or other methods, originated from the Nesser Silvermoon Family.

    Having transcendental backing in such a huge faction as a Nesser Dynasty would greatly increase the standing of the Daragan Family, not really aware if the person they are betting on would probably tell them to fuck off.

    If Samiel saw the face of Laris Daragan, he would immediately be able to tell what the Legendary Elf was thinking about.

 Chapter 47 PP - Power Up And Pestering "Yv"

    Samiel trained with the recruits of the Silvermoon Knight Order for several weeks, and though it was slow, it yielded some results for him already. For the first time in his life, he was undergoing any sort of formal training, and he finally got some improvement.

    In the past weeks, Samiel entirely focused on the basics ofbat, which was for him the footwork, learning how to dodge iing attacks and counterattack properly. He also learned at least partially to use the sword.

    Even though he could see that his proficiency rate in swordsmanship was decreasing continuously, he knew he was getting stronger throughpressing his knowledge and evolving it to something higher. Right now, at least, it couldn''t be said about him that he was swinging his sword like hungry Ogre, his cub.

    He also daily fought with Sarun, as he could use another sparring partner aside from Yvraine.

    Aside from all the training, he also was consuming the Mana Crystals like crazy and reached Level 15 at the expense of several hundred absorbed Steel-Tier Mana Crystals, and today, he would be reaching Level 16 as he was finishing draining another two hundred Steel-Tier Mana Crystals, as his Level finally increased.

    "Damm, this consumption... crazy."

    Samiel murmured to himself as he counted his remaining Mana Crystals because, initially, he had something more than 7,500 Steel-Tier Mana Crystals.

    Still, now only around 6,200 were remaining, and all of that was just for the growth of 2 Levels. Contrary to others, for Samiel, even an increase of 1 Level was significant, as he felt that his strength increased considerably just by gaining two levels.

    Right now, as he was sitting in his room, he was contemting about what to do next. In the end, he opened "status" from the Akashic Records, as he decided to put use on some of the Record Points he obtained.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Azathoth

    Age: 21

    Race: Old Deus - Human / Eldritch Creature

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (9%), Grand Necromancer (13%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Records Points: 1,500

    ***

    Tier: Steel

    Level: 16

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (14%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (8%) - Ultimate Ability

    ***

    Necrosis Magic:

    Necromancy Arts (23%)

    Void Magic (5%)

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (40%)

    Swordsmanship (8%)]

    He was slowly but steadily progressing in all his abilities, and especially the greatest progress was made in the closebat department, as he finally got some proper fighting skills. Samiel knew that, contrary to Earth, where people didn''t know properly how to deal with Necromancer orcked the power to do so, here, the situation was vastly different.

    When his opponents saw his Undead, they would immediately know what to do and how to deal with him. This was amon urrence in the stronger and more advanced worlds, where people know how to deal with Necromancers rtively effortlessly.

    Fortunately for him, he learned to defend himself properly after these few weeks, and even though, Samiel wasn''t confident to actively fight just one on one with his fighting skills without the support of his magic, now a least he could fight without being easily suppressed.

    Of course, only Bronze-Tiers possessed some kind of threat to him due to his overwhelming physical strength, speed, and vitality, which he had as an Old Deus. Or those, who possessed tremendous destructive abilities, for example, Yvraine, too, were very deadly in singlebat.

    His proficiency in Ultimate Abilities he owned was also rising at a slow tempo, but that was understandable, as mortals rarely had some kind of Ultimate Abilities. Normally, Ultimate Abilities were very important for even Legendaries.

    Now that he had 1,500 Record Points, he wanted to exchange a few of them for the advanced knowledge of the Necromancy Spells. Each Record Point was basically a priceless treasure, so he needed to choose carefully, what he wanted to spend them on, so as not to waste them.

    While he had some Inheritance from Earth, they were iplete. Unfortunately for him, he didn''t manage to find a Necromancy Grimoire in any shop or merchant in the Zephystrand. And he has gone through all shops and people who were selling these things in the Merchant District.

    Apparently, Necromancy Arts and Grimoires and Magic Tomes on it were something rare, or rather, it was something that wasn''t sold so openly, so one needed to find the specific source. Usually, Necromancy Arts were something frowned on, so not many people sold Grimoires, Magic Tomes, or Books rted to them.

    Just as he was about to make an inquiry, he suddenly stopped, as he got some weird feeling of making a wrong choice.

    "Maybe I will wait a bit... not that I will need it right now, and from what I know, Record Points are very hard toe by; I would better save them for other important things."

    He said to himself as he dispersed the idea of using the Record Points for the time being.

    "What to do now? Meh... I will go and pester Yvraine about something better than just staring at the books."<sub> </sub>

    He decided as he wasn''t in the mood to continue to study the Basic Principles of Void Necrosis, so he went to entertain himself by pestering Yvraine about something.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Samiel was searching for Yvraine; she was currently meditating in the Moon Pond. She was meditating here every day because it was beneficial to her, not to mention that she could passively harvest some of the benefits from the Moon Pond.

    <o>,m Moon Ponds were Holy ces for all elves, and for the Silvermoon Elves, they had the wondrous effect of increasing and purifying their Mana through the power of the Moon Goddess of the Elven Pantheon.</o>

    Additionally, Silvermoon Elves had the ability to use the force of the Moon Ponds to increase their own powers, cast blessings on themselves, and thus increase theirprehensive and learning capabilities.

    The area where the Moon Pond was located in the citadel of the Zephystrand City was a small, tranquil ce, with trees and various flora, countless exotic nts, and even the Mana Density was several times higher around the Moon Pondpared to the rest of the Floor.

    Just being here would have a calming effect on someone''s mind and psyche.

    From time to time, birds were singing, and a cat was yawning.

    Cat?

    Yvraine opened her eyes from her meditation as she saw Samiel''s familiar Nefertari, which was some weird cat species, but strangely radiated Divine Aura. She looked at the sleeping cat on the top of a sakura tree as itzily slept on one of the tree''s branches.

    She couldn''t really understand how Nefertari got here, but Yvraine could see that the cat was absorbing Mana from this ce at tremendous speed and increasing its own strength.

    ''But she is some kind of Divine Species, so such behavior is expectable...''

    Yvraine thought while she looked at Samiel''s familiar, who was happily sleeping in the Moon Pond Area, not caring about anything else in the world.

    Obviously, it was very beneficial for her to sleep in the Moon Pond Area.

    Moon Ponds were basically forbidden for anyone to enter and only allowed for the Silvermoon Elves to practice meditation there or for some special individuals with a permit from Emperor; aside from that, they were forbidden for anyone to enter.

    "Are youing or staying here?"

    Asked Yvraine Samiel''s cat pet familiar, as the cat just meowed back, probably saying she wanted to sleep here, as she continued to sleep.

    Yvraine didn''t really care that Samiel''s cat was sleeping here; she knew that the familiar her unknowingly future husband contracted was something very special, as she felt that Divine Aura, very familiar, like the cat, was descended of some God.

    "So this is the Moon Pond?"

    Sounded a voice, and when she turned around, Yvraine saw Samiel walking here leisurely, not really sure how he found his way here. Then she just looked at the sleeping cat, which was happily slumbering here, and the answer presented itself rtively easily.

    Familiar and Master connection, they could approximately sense their location; with this, Samiel always knew where Nefertari actually was, and vice versa.

    "And for just being here, you could be executed."

    Stated Yvraine tly, as Samiel just smiled widely at her provocation.

    "Please, where would you find someone who would tolerate you?"

    Just as he finished the sentence, he could feel whilst of wind passing around his head as Yvraine threw one of her jade swords at him.

    While a normal person would probably shit himself, Samiel just took the Jade Sword and threw it back at Yvraine; as she caught the Jade Sword in mid-air, she could even control those swords telekically through some kind of rune.

    "So, what have you been doing here all the time?"

    He walked around; he stopped before near a tree and scratched Nefertari behind her ear, just like she loved it before he looked at the Moon Pond and thought something.

    "Meditating and training, this ce is Holy ground for all Silve..."

    She didn''t get to finish her words as she suddenly screamed at Samiel at the top of her lungs.

    "You idiot!!! That is the holy water of the Moon Goddess, not something plebian like you could touch!!!"

    She was instantly enraged as she saw Samiel drinking from the Moon Pond. This act could be considered a heresy of the highest level, which was probably never done in the history of the Nesser Dynasty.

    "Oh,e on, don''t be such a prude Yv."

    He said with a grin, as he could see Yvraine getting angrier with each word he spoke, but surprisingly when he called her with the nickname Yv, it appeared as if she froze in one ce.

    Suddenly as she once again grabbed her des to kill the unbearable man before her, abruptly, a weird sound rang through the entire city.

    "Magical Beast Horde ising."

    Said Yvraine grimly, as the Magical Beast Horde was never a good thing, and it was time to fight. Fortunately, Zephystrand City was used to the Magical Beast Hordes. From time to time, one of them would form in the depths of the overpopted forest and attack cities.

    These Magical Beasts did it for a very simple reason. Too high poption and too low food for them to feed on. Thus when the poption reached critical numbers, they would form a horde and attack the others, in their case, cities of more sentient species.

    This way, they would lower their own poption, solve their problem with food and also, hone themselves, and increase their power, as they would undergo more life and death battles.

    It was a never-ending cycle, and technically both sides would benefit. While the Magical Beasts will get cut in their poption, defenders of the Cities, like in this case, would harvest the corpses of the Magical Beasts and all precious materials from them.

 Chapter 48 Magical Beast Horde (1)

    Samiel and Yvraine rushed at the city walls that were enveloping the entirety of Zephystrand City, as runes inscribed around the walls lit up, creating a translucent runic dome around the entire city. This was one of the defensive measures of Zephystrand City, if not the best one.

    "You have this ce really well defended..."

    Samiel said absent-mindedly as he looked at the runic barrier enveloping the entire Zephystrand City and all of the other defensive measures which were showing themselves at this time.

    Yvraine once exined to him that all cities on most floors had some sort of defensive barriers and wards around them in case of situations like this or other attacks. Of course, as a member of the 13 Gates, the cities of the Nesser Dynasty had one of the best protections and fortifications in the entirety of the Cosmos.

    But those protections too could be breached because they mainly aimed at the high-tier enemies, not the low-tier ones, because that would be detrimental to the growth of the poption.

    It was the first time Samiel experienced Monster Invasion or Magical Beast invasion of some city, and even Yvraine looked no different from it. He could see that she was nervous, probably because this would be the first time on the front lines, not behind the safety lines, protected by peak Legendaries.

    City Guards and Silvermoon Knights were running to the walls to fend off the invasion of the Magical Beasts, as Magical Towers were active by their Magicians, and even weird steampunk-looking mana cannons were being loaded by up bunch of dwarves that were living in the Zephystrand City.

    Ordinary citizens were ordered to either stay in their homes if they were well warded and if not, then there were various evacuation shelters across the city for those who couldn''t fight.

    That was mainly for the ill, children, or weak, which meant those at the Iron-Tier or unawakened, though there were very low numbers of unawakened, meaning those who didn''t practice because, in the Tower, it was rare due to high Mana density.

    "What ising that everyone is so nervous?"

    Asked Samiel absentmindedly, as he could sense everyone on the walls was pretty stressed. Even Yvraine looked stressed up about what was toe, as she felt some malevolent aura in the air, something that was not present here on the 3rd Floor for a long time already.

    "Spiders!"

    Shouted some soldiers on the top walls as thousands upon thousands of giant spiders appeared from the forest. It was evident that nobody awaited them as the main attacks in the Magical Beast Horde, and Samiel could see that something was not ying ording to the rules.

    They started crawling from the ground, and soon enough, one could see thousands upon thousands of them. The majority of those spiders were only Iron-Tier, and approximately a third were Steel-Tier, so their immediate presence was not threatening the existence of the Zephystrand City.

    And together with the spiders were other creatures, something weird and abomination that Samiel didn''t recognize, but they were dangerous and powerful just by a single look, and one could tell they would be the problematic enemy.

    "Those are Ettercaps. They are more dangerous than your usual Monster Spiders, not only through their individual power but, most importantly, due to their ability tomand various types of spiders. Basically, humanoid spiders tend, feed, and watch over the spiders and could control entire spider hordes. If such arge spider horde appeared on the third floor, then it must be a work of Drider, fucking Drows..."

    Cursed Yvraine as the situation instantly became more ugly.

    As an Eldritch, or rather a partial one, Samiel could easily sense emotions from people when he was standing close to them. He sensed so much hatred and anger right now in Yvraine, so much that he refrained from mocking her for hernguage as he usually would.

    Samiel knew that the eternal enemy of the Silvermoon Elves were Drowes, basically the same equivalent of what were the Silvermoon Elves to ordinary elves; only that the Drowes were royalty among the Dark Elves, aside from Svart??lfar.

    Driders were formerly drows that had been transformed from the waist down, so they had the spider''s body; they were the monstrosities and abomination of nature itself, created by the Spider Goddess.

    This transformation was typically a punishment from their Goddess, Lolth.

    Still, some mad Drowes took this on themselves voluntarily just to increase their power, even if it meant bing an abomination. While it was punishment, it still substantially increased someone''s power and gave him some cool abilities in Samiel''s view of point.

    Drow Gods were a very cruel bunch that loved to torment even their own followers into insanity. Because of that, their Pantheon was often called Dark God Pantheon because many of their gods represented darkness that put to shame even many sadistic Devils and bloodthirsty Daemons.

    Drows had their own faction or were part of a faction among the 13 Gates, called Underdark, and it was the bitter enemy of the Nesser Dynasty. Simr to the Nesser Dynasty, it was backed up by the Drow God Pantheon and was a powerful faction on its own.

    <o>,m "I don''t sense the drider... meaning this is just a test wave or god knows what."</o>

    Stated Yvraine as the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were ferociously charging at the walls of the Zephystrand City. The tricky thing about spider-type enemies was that they could climb the walls, so they would be forced to fight them on the walls.

    But before that.

    "Send them back to the Abyss! Fire!"<sub> </sub>

    Shouted muscr heavy armored dwarf with a long brown beard, as tens of mana cannons started firing spells as magic circles appeared in front of them, and the barrage of 1st Leve, 2nd Level, 3rd Level, and 4th Level spells rained at the iing spider horde.

    Thousands of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were torn into shreds, burned, sted, or killed from the rain of hundreds of spells. The barrage from the walls was ughtering hundreds of them with each second, as they couldn''t defend against the iing spells.

    Though in the greater picture, it seemed like no matter how many Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were killed, more new ones always took the ce of the killed ones, but the same could be said about the preservance of the defenders and other measures that the Zephystrand has prepared for those who would dare to attack it.

    "Recharge!"

    Shouted the dwarf in charge of the mana cannons. Dwarven Technology was really wondrous, as they were able to take any tech from scientifically-oriented civilizations and rework it, so it functioned on mana instead.

    The problem with technology in the Tower was that standard technology didn''t work here. Apparently, the reason for that was that in environments with extremely high Mana Density, electrical devices often malfunction due to dense mana disrupting the electromaic waves.

    Meanwhile, all elven archers readied their bows and cast their enchanting spells on the arrows. Elves were species known for their skills in archery, and practically every elf, from the lowest and weakest Wood Elf to the noblest Silvermoon Elf were natural-born archers and sharpshooters.

    "Archers fire!"

    Ordered Elven City Guard Commander, as thousands of Elves, released their bowstrings and fired their arrows at the iing spider horde, which despite losing thousands of spiders, looked still the same as they steadily advanced towards the city.

    After the archers killed a whole bunch of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, the mana cannon were recharged once more and fired instantly, killing more than 6,000 enemies altogether in one go, from what Samiel could see.

    But the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were pretty fast and had already arrived near the walls and started climbing the walls. Because the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were what they were, aka, spiders, they could easily climb the walls and fortifications.

    Even though these walls were inscribed with protective Runes and Spells, it was not enough to dispose of all the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps that started climbing the City Walls. It was to be expected some percentage of the Monstrous Spiders would climb the walls, and they would be forced tobat them head-on.

    "They have reached the walls! Squat 1 immediately annihte them all!"

    Shouted Sarun Daragan, as he was in charge of the Silvermoon Knigth Squires on the 3rd Floor. Samiel turned around and could see enormous Ettercap pricing through Elven Archer with his ws. Ettercaps had two shart ck chitinous ws instead of hands and feets.

    Samiel immediately summoned all of his undead and unleashed them at the Ettercaps and Monstrous Spiders as he conjured several Ice Weapons and shot them towards the nearest Monstrous Spider, piercing their skulls and killing them instantly.

    [3rd Level Spell, Void Strike]

    He cast several of these spells, all aimed at the iing Ettercaps that were about to engage his undead, as suddenly space twisted and their heads burst, killing 5 Bronze-Tier Ettercaps in one go.

    The Void Magic was weak at the start, as its spells oftencked high destructive power, but that changed the higher level the spells were. Like just now, the 3rd Level Spell was enough to kill powerful Bronze-Tier Ettercaps instantly.

    Other Ettercaps and Monstrous Spiders turned their attention to this, but soon, Samiel acted before they could.

    Immediately after, he flipped backward as he dodged an iing w from Monstrous Spider, who managed to sneak up on him. Samiel stretched his hand forward as a small wave of frosty energy burst out, turning enormous more than three meters tall Monstrous Spiders into a huge icicle; with one punch, it was shattered into countless pieces.

    "Damm, these things are troublesome."

    Samiel cursed as he watched how the Elven City Guards and Silvermoon Knights slowly regained their ground and were killing one Monstrous Spider and Ettercap after another, and his undead were unstoppable machines on the battlefield.

    They didn''t feel pain, were d in the best armor that he had, and were armed with the best weapons. Thebat efficiency the Undeads were exhibiting when they were properly armed with good armor and weapons was tremendous,pared to the state when they were armed with just scraps from the battlefield.

    No matter how injured the undeads were, they still continued to fight and were ughtering the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps with rtive ease. Due to the strength and quality of armor, they were wearing, the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were having a hard time destroying even a single one of them.

    When one of them fell, he just created new undead, and due to this battlefield, he had 240 Undead under his control. Samiel kept resurrecting deceased Bronze-Tier Ettercaps and recing the killed undead through the process of attrition.

    Basically, heaven for Necromancer, as no matter how many of his undead were destroyed by Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, he could always create new almost instantly.

 Chapter 49 Magical Beast Horde (2)

    [Your proficiency in the Lord ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 3%]

    [Your proficiency in the Unique ss Grand Necromancer has been increased by 2%]

    [Your proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 4%]

    [Your proficiency with the Void Magic has been increased by 2%]

    [Your proficiency with the Swordsmanship Skill has been increased by 3%]

    [Your proficiency with the Necromancy Arts has been increased by 2%]

    [You have experienced a glimpse of the usage of Metamagic.]

    Samiel got one message from the Akashic Records as he fought, shed, resurrected, froze to death, or otherwise killed Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps in tens without any pause or stop. He really enjoyed this; he had countless things to kill as he bathed in their blood, surrounded by corpses of his enemies; his ice weapons werepleted crimson red from the blood of countless Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps.

    He waspletely drenched in the blood of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, as he often licked his lips, tasting the blood from killed foes. The blood of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps tasted weird... at best.

    His proficiency in everything was increasing with tremendous speed as he fought like a demon on the battlefield. Of course, the best way for someone to grow was on the battlefield, through the baptism of steel and blood.

    "This has no end..."

    Samie cursed as he froze to death two huge Monstrous Spiders that crawled from under the walls and attacked him with their ws, probably wanting to eat him. He only frowned at their stupidity, but that was to be expected; neither Monstrous Spiders nor Ettercaps were smart.

    "Stupid creatures... don''t you know you can''t eat anything Outer without paying an ultimate price."

    He then stopped as he looked at thest message from the Akashic Records about Metamagic usage. Essential aspects of the Metamagic were Spell Control, Combat Casting, Empower Spell, Maximize Spell, Spell Pration, Silent Spell, and Spontaneous Casting or Multi-Cast.

    Mastering just one of these skills would put the Spell Caster on a whole new levelpared to those who didn''t, as hisbat prowess would be drastically increased. With Spell Control, one could achieve unheard control over the spell, or with Combat Casting, one can cast spells duringbat without any problem.

    What Samiel was performing was basically a primitive form of Combat Casting, as nobody cast spells like him during thebat because it was pretty dangerous. One small mistake in the spell model calctions and the spell model would explode and probably kill the caster.

    Mastering some Metamagic Skills was something that created a division line between average magic users and those of the elite. Of course, those geniuses could master even several aspects of the Metamagic, and those in myths and legends could achieve even greater things andpletelyprehend Metamagic with all of its aspects.

    "Samiel, the west gate!"

    Shouted Sarun at him, as Samiel immediately recalled back his undeads and ran towards the western gate. The western gate was located rtively far from his current position as he jumped above a few Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, which were all beheaded by the ice sword he was holding.

    At the same time, during the path there, he killed a few Ettercaps and Monstrous Spiders that managed to find their way to the walls.

    Even though the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps had an overwhelming numerical advantage on their side, they didn''t manage to breach the walls or any gates; just a few hundreds of them that were lucky to survive the onught of the defenses managed to climb the walls and fight their defenders, but those were swiftly disposed of.

    Thus the horde changed the tactics, which was a surprise and just confirmed Yvraine''s suspicion that Drider was present here and was controlling the spider magical beast horde to test the waters of the Zephystrand City.

    After he arrived at the western gate, he could see a ferocious attack on the western gate by the hordes of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps. What was notable, though, was most of these spiders were even five meters tall, and countless of them were at the Bronze-Tier.

    Samiel instantly released his undeads, 240 of them. All of them reached Bronze-Tier, as he was constantly catching the souls of the killed Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps and feeding those souls to his Undead to increase their Level, which finally paid off as a small army of 240 Bronze-Tier undead attacked the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps.

    At the same time, Samiel ran to the gate and searched for something. His eyes quickly screen through the entire battlefield, as countless magical beasts were being sted to bits or shot down with an arrow; he searched for his target.

    "I have you."<sub> </sub>

    He said mainly to himself as he located a slightly bigger Ettercap, which was at the peak of the Bronze-Tier and had different skin colorpared to the other Ettercaps. Samiel knew that he had found the right one based on its different looks.

    Samiel came to the conclusion that this must be some mutated one, which allowed it to better coordinate other Ettercaps, who in turn were controlling the Monstrous Spiders.

    When he noticed several runes and magic symbols on the skin of the big Ettercap, he knew that it was not natural evolution that created this big guy, but rather some sort of blessing from the Spider Goddess Lolth.

    When the battle started, and Yvraine mentioned Driders, he noticed one thing. Even despite the Ettercaps were pretty intelligent, as far as a dumb monster like them could be intelligent, they were too organized.

    This magical beast horde employed tactics that were not something even Ettercaps could pull out. With such tactics, strategy and timings, and targets they chose, it was like someone with a superior intellect was controlling them from the shadows.

    Suddenly, he jumped down from the walls andnded in mids of hundreds of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps that looked at him with hungry gazes, and not even a secondter, they all rushed at him.

    "I can finally lose it..."

    He creepyughed before enormous frost burst out with his body, tangled with the bits of the Eldritch Aura of Outer Gods, as he rushed at the iing monsters and magical beasts, as he used [Winter Ruler] to its full power, freezing everything in his sight.

    In several seconds several hundred Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps in his vicinity were turned into ice sculptures as they were frozen to the bone. Samiel looked around him, as he could see even more Monstrous Spiders and Ettercapsing his way; he grinned before he spread his arms as tens of Ice Spears materialized around him.

    Ironically, because he froze a huge number of magical beasts and a considerable part of thend, he created a mini frost zone, which basically made his usage of [Winter Ruler] several times easier as he shot tens of Ice Spear towards the iing Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, killing everyone whom the spears pierced.

    As they fell down, Samiel smiled as all ice spears exploded into thousands of ice shards, as they destroyed at least 25% of the Magical Beasts in the vicinity. Without his own realization, he became pretty destructive, and this power unleashed by him was something that even peak Bronze-Tiers would be proud of.

    He then looked at the Big Ettercap, who was observing the battlefield and especially the battle at the western gate, with a great amount of fear that someone managed to ughter so many of his kin as Samiel kicked into the ground and shot towards the Big Ettercap.

    He dodged iing Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps as he jumped on their heads and soon, within five minutes, arrived in front of Big Ettercap as he shed with materialized ice sword at the Big Ettercap.

    To Samiel''s surprise, the Big Ettercap was able to swiftly react and block the iing attack as he counterattacked with his right w at Samiel. He dropped the ice sword as he dodged the iing attack and stabbed the Big Ettercap in his stomach with an ice dagger.

    Immediately after that, he used [Winter Rule] to start freezing the Big Ettercap from the inside, as it slowly but steadily froze him to death. Killing this big mutated Ettercap was his priority which would greatly affect the entire siege and end the fight much sooner with much better results for the defenders.

    The effects were immediate, as the moment when Samiel killed the Big Ettercap, all other Ettercaps suddenly became confused and didn''t know what to do, and soon enough, the rtively orderly attacks of the spider Magical Horde became disorganized and chaotical as hell.

    As Samiel thought of killing this mutated Ettercap, the entire chain ofmand these guys had was destroyed, as other Ettecaps didn''t have the power to control such a massive number of Monstrous Spiders, not even the strategic mind.

    ''Or maybe this one had some mental connection with Drider or was possessed by him.''

    Samiel, though, as he stored the corpse of the killed Ettercap in his dimensional storage, as it could still be put to some use. Especially when dealing with Drows, one could never be cautious enough, as they were a cunning and treacherous bunch.

    Drows were not usually problematic to deal with because of their strength, but mostly because they were cunning cowards who would have several backup ns and were shameless to the top as long as they achieved their goals.

    He then looked at the Ettercaps and Monstrous Spiders that were all around him, revealing a toothy grin as he griped his ice sword and rushed at the nearest Ettercap, rushing past it and shing through the neck of peak Steel-Tier Ettercap.

    Instantly after that, he summoned all of his Undeads to his location, and they started tearing through the battlefield. The sight of more than 200 Bronze-Tier Undeads was extremely fearsome, especially considering that the entire Magical Beast Horde had no more than 300 Bronze-Tiers in it, and many of them were already killed and resurrected as Samiel''s Undead.

    Meanwhile, Samiel continued shing, hacking, casting some curses of Void Magic Spells, ughtering the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps by hundreds; even though he was Steel-Tier and not eventer ends, hisbat prowess was far higher than average Bronze-Tier Monstrous Spider and Ettercaps.

    So these poor Magical Beasts and Monsters didn''t have any means to defend or fight back and were justmbs waiting to be ughtered. From the far walls, the City Guards could see with frightened expressions how one man was holding down an entire area of thousands of Magical Beasts on his own.

    Even Samiel''s Undeads were killing machines, killing hundreds of Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier Monstrous Spiders with each passing minute; due to that, not a single one of them managed to pass into the western gate of the Zephystrand City.

 Chapter 50 Aftermath

    Samiel killed tons of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps during the siege of the Zephystrand. After two more hours of intense fighting and killing Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, the battle was finally done, and the Magical Beast Horde was over.

    "Ahh... that was a good one; it was a long time since I could let loose of myself."

    Samiel mumbled under his breath, looking at his bloody armor, which was dripping with the blood of Ettercaps and Monstrous Spiders. Thest time he could lose himself like this was on Earth, but that was not entirely as entertaining as this one because there he was ughtering only ordinary Mortals, who didn''te into contact with Mana.

    "I should probably return back to the City... Yvraine should be worried about me... probably."

    He said to himself as he noticed that he was rtively far away from the Zephystrand, as he pursued some enemies that wanted to escape.

    "Let the Void be your resting grave, and bring the peace to my soul, and damnation of the Outsidness to my enemies."

    He then recited the short prayer he heard in his dream as he went back to the City.

    After he returned to the City, he went directly to Yvraine to pass her the corpse of mutated Ettercap. He knew that the Ettercap was a weird one, just by the presence of Lolth''s Divine Runes over his body, so something nefarious was happening in the shadows.

    When he returned to the Zephystrand, he could see that everybody was but gloomy, especially the City Guards and Silvermoon Knights, as they were aware that neither Monstrous Spiders nor Ettercaps were native species to the 3rd Floor and that this story had not ended yet.

    "When you said you have a gift for me, I thought it would some more... or not this."

    Yvraine pointed at the corpse of big mutated Ettercap, as she was annoyed for some reason, and Samiel just grinned at her provocatively. He had just arrived at the Citadel, and the moment he found Yvraine, he dropped the corpse of the Ettercap in front of her, giving her a small bow, like presenting a gift to her.

    "End this charade and look at the Ettercap; something was weird about this one."

    Said Samiel, irritated, as he pointed at the corpse of mutated Ettercap. Yvraine just frowned but still inspected the killed Ettercap as she cast several detection spells on him before her frown deepened, and now it was reced with a grim look.

    "You were right... surprisingly."

    She stated as she cast some fire spell that burned down the corpse of the Ettercap. This was one of the Divine Spells she was bestowed by her Goddess, called Moon me, which was specifically targeted at anything rted to the Drow Gods as their eternal enemy.

    "So, what did you find out?"

    Questioned Samiel, knowing that nothing good came out of it. Even before Yvraine cast detection spells on it, he could sense this would be pretty fucked up, and fortunately, he wouldn''t be disappointed.

    "Surely created by Lolth''s foul powers and... it was possessed by the Drider through some kind of possession magic. While crude work, it impresses to see on such low levels."

    As expected, Yvraine was easily able to identify what had happened to the big mutated Ettercap.

    "And that means?"

    Asked Samiel as he sat down at the nearest chair that was there. The entire meeting room in the Citadel was empty, and aside from him and Yvraine, nobody was present.

    "That this was just a start, they were probably testing waters, and whatever that Drider is doing here is nothing good for us. Drows are always scheming something bad and nefarious."

    She answered, as their troubles on the 3rd Floor were just starting.

    "Meow."

    Samiel turned around as he saw Nefertari arrive from somewhere. He didn''t really know what his familiar was doing, as she was sleeping at the Moon Pond when the Magical Beast Horde attacked, so he thought she remained there sleeping.

    ''Hooman, I am tired; scratch me on my head and behind my ears and under my chin.''

    He heard Nefertari''s voice in his head as she jumped on hisp, and he just scratched her as she wished. Indeed, as he predicted, she slept through the entire Magical Beast invasion and now has just woken up for some rubs and scratches and, certainly, food.

    ''You were too fighting?''

    He asked out of curiosity as she noticed some drops of blood on her pitch ck fur and on her tiny wings.

    ''Those foul creatures disrupted my nap time, so I went out and killed a few of them... but none were match for a might of the almighty Elder Wampus Cat.''

    She stated haughtily as she purred due to Samiel''s scratching her behind her ears. Nefertari was very powerful and could effortlessly kill even Bronze-Tier professionals when she attacked from shadows or used her innate abilities.

    Thus it was not really surprising to hear her able to kill a whole bunch of Bronze-Tier Ettercaps and Monstrous Spiders and an untold number of lower-tiered ones.

    "Are we going to search for that Drider? He must be hiding somewhere on the 3rd Floor... probably in the vicinity of the Zephystrand, and highly possible nning another attack."

    Asked Samiel, as he would need sooner orter, to leave the Zephystrnad City to find and kill Ruler-type Magical Beast toplete a Unique Mission. So searching for one Drider during that didn''t really mean any problem, but on the contrary, it seemed thrilling.

    From what Samiel knew, the Drider was peak Bronze-Tier, meaning he was Level 50 and belonged to Elder Race such as Drows, so he wanted to fight with that Drow. Not to mention that all Drows were so-called Battle Race; all of them were natural born higher and warriors; they even developed severalbat-rted sses which incorporated various forms of Magic.

    This was the manifestation of his thirst to fight stronger opponents.

    ***

    Several dayster, Samiel was devouring one soul after another as he harvested several thousands of them during the siege of Magical Beast Horde. Damages done to Zephystrand City were already repaired, as there weren''t many in the first ce.<sub> </sub>

    Unfortunately, all these souls were of low quality and didn''t really increase his power too much.

    But after he devoured more than two thousand of them, he finally felt his level to increase to Level 17. This time he attempted to use souls to increase his level, but the effect was even worse than suing Steel-Tier Mana Crystals, as it was lower.

    [Your proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 3%]

    After he reached Level 17, he opened the small notebook, and he scribed something on it. After writing there for two or three minutes, he closed it and put it down next to him.

    He was currently sitting on the balcony of the Citadel of the Zephystrand as he was enjoying the beautiful morning.

    "You know how to write... really, every day you learn something new."

    Said Yvraine as she entered the balcony.

    Samiel grimaced, and as he stretched his hand to throw something at her, he realized that the only thing in his vicinity was his notebook. So, in the end, he refrained from it.

    "So, what are you writing?"

    Asked Yvraine as Samiel nodded, signaling her she could read it. Even though she appeared to be in her more arrogant mood, Samiel knew that Yvraine was just grumpy after the morning.

    "Rule number 1: Souls are best from sentient species. Tortured ones give more power and are tastier. A small note on the side: Emotional torture is best, especially on the innocent ones are most preferable.

    Rule number 2: Still don''t know..."

    Did she look confused? Or whatever as she read it out loud. It seemed like a diary of a psychotic murderer, but then she realized whom it belonged, and it fitted.

    "What? Can''t I write a book?"

    He pretended to be offended as he looked at Yvraine while she just smiled at him.

    "You know, if you are not scowling or frowning, you have a beautiful smile."

    This genuinely caught her off guard, but she didn''t let it pass and returned the book to Samiel, who then stored it in his Dimensional Storage.

    "As an Eldritch, I grow by feeding on souls, but that was something that you noticed when you met me, right?"

    He asked as she nodded and sat down next to him. He knew that many people could discern that what he was due to the special aura he was giving off. Still, unfortunately, he didn''t know a method of how to conceal it.

    They never properly spoke about these kinds of things, as they just came to some sort of silent conclusion to ignore it. Samiel never really talked about what he was, and Yvraine was the same, and like one would say, ignorance is bliss.

    "You know, most people would be scared out of their wits to even hear of the existence of Eldritch Beings."

    He stated as he watched the sun rising on the horizon.

    "But I am not most of the people."

    She answered tly.

    "No, you are not. You are arrogant, posh, and insufferable on top of that."

    Samiel stated cheekily, in an attempt to rile her up, but Yvraine just frowned, hearing him to say that.

    "And you are a madman who sacrifices innocent to his Gods and tortures others whom he finds lesser for fun."

    She bit back as he was lost in thoughts for a bit. Not that she cared if it would offend him, but she was concerned about something else entirely.

    "If that is a problem for you, then we can part our way and never meet again... maybe on the battlefield, be it as enemies or allies then."

    He said as now Yvraine froze a bit and thought she might sound like some self-righteous bitch who wanted him to stop or whatever the tropes of these people were.

    "I don''t care what you did or what are you are doing... might makes right as they say, and in the end, all morality, talk about what is right and what is wrong is worthless in my opinion. In the great scheme of things, everything is insignificant, and only power matters."

    She stated after several minutes of ufortable silence they experienced after her previous statement.

    "Hhahahahaha."

    Suddenly Samielughed as he heard that; he stood up and looked at the rising sun. The wind was blowing; his long red hair fluttered and created a very handsome image of him, at least to Yvraine, who would never say something like that out loud.

    "eptance... what a weird feeling."

    He said silently, but she heard it clearly, as she revealed a small gentle smile.

 Chapter 51 Arrival Of The Cardinal

    3 Months Later, Zephystrand City.

    Three months have passed since the attack of the Magical Beast Horde consisting of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps. Of course, no signs of the Drider were found, even when Yvraine ordered to search for the creature, and City Guards and Silvermoon Knights were searching everywhere.

    But, of course, as expected, they found nothing. Neither Yvraine nor Samiel expected the Drider to be found. That creature was cunning and smart, so of course, it would hide somewhere where it was safe.

    If Samiel had a guess, that Drider probably used some kind of Divine Magic or Blessing from some Dark God to keep hidden. So unless Yvraine or someone like her went to search for the Drider, the results would be futile.

    Though what has changed at the Zephystrand was defense. Ever since the attack, Nesser Dynasty sends some more soldiers to bolster up the defenses. There were whole squads of the Silvermoon Knights arrived, all of which were at the peak of the Bronze-Tier, and even some Magicians arrived.

    Samiel saw even a whole bunch of Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier arrive a week ago, though they would not be fighting unless there were enemies of the same Tier not to disrupt the original purpose of the Zephystrand and the cycle already established here.

    And if he were to guess, Laris Daragan should have remained at the Zephystrand, and probably, even more, Legendaries arrived in secret.

    This only confirmed his assumptions that the Zephystrand was more important to the Nesser Dynasty than it seemed, especially when the Nesser Dynasty started bolstering the defenses of the city to the absolute extreme.

    Usually, the strength of the Division of the Tower was as follows.

    The average Tier for the 1st to 15th Floor was Iron-Tier, but that changed with the arrival of the Asura Tribe and the creation of their ughter Trial on the 2nd Floor, and thus this changed to the Steel-Tier. This technically, while causing a grand ughter, also, at the same time, increased the collective strength of the Tower''s inhabitants by one whole Tierpared to other worlds in the Cosmos.

    From the 16th Floor to around the 30th Floor, the average Level of strength was Bronze-Tier, though on higher Floors, closer to the 30th Floor, one could asionally see some Silver-Tiers as they would be moremon.

    From the 31st Floor to the 40th Floor, it was mainly a living area for the Silver-Tier beings, together with even weaker beings there were Bronze-Tiers. On these Floors, one would often meet Silver-Tier Professionals, as they were the strongest people on the Floor, at least in the open.

    Above the 40th Floor, the enviroment was varied because the Mana Density was high enough, so the Gold-Tiers were more and more prominent.

    Legendaries usually lived on the 60th Floor and above.

    Of course, this was just an orientational, and one could encounter plenty of Legendaries even on the lower Floor, just like Samiel knew how pretty messed up the 1st Floor was. This didn''t really mean that, for example, from the 40th Floor, only Gold-Tiers would be living on them.

    No, this division meant that in this floor range, using the previous example, starting from the 40th Floor to approximately 60th Floor or so, the strongest beings one could meet without any hardship or searching for them would be the Gold-Tier.

    But even on the 3rd Floor, there were plenty of high-tiered Magical Beasts and Monsters; most of them were just keeping hidden or were in hibernation. If one searched enough, then in various ces across the 3rd Floor. In that case, one could encounter even Gold-Tier Magical Monsters, which were hegemons on entire regions.

    Past three months, Samiel mainly spent repeating the same training process with Sarun, as he proved to be a good sparring partner or studying magic. He was focusing on the Necromancy Arts and basics of the Void Magic, from the Basic Principles of the Void Necrosis.

    He even attempted to find the ck Emporium once more, but unfortunately, to no avail. Even Yvraine couldn''t help him with this because nobody could find the ck Emporium shops when they didn''t appear by themselves.

    During these months, he didn''t really increase his Level, as he preferred to save the Mana Crystals and use them as currency rather than just wasting thousands of them to increase one more Level. As a partial Eldritch, requirements on his Level Up were drastic, and he often cursed at how much mana was needed for him.

    On the good side, he managed to find an antique shop in the some back-alley of Zephystrand and bought there a Necromancy Grimoire. Even now, he felt he was overpriced after he threatened the shopkeeper to y him alive, and he lowered the price only to 2,000 Steel-Tier Mana Crystals.

    With Necromancy Grimoire, he got his hands on some rudimentary spells, which he quickly mastered. Now his arsenal was enriched by a whole bunch of 2nd Level and 3rd Level Spells, which vastly increased hisbat prowess and efficiency.

    Yvraine was even teaching him the basics of the Metamagic, but that was going rtively slow. But even some progress was better than none. Samiel focused on Combat Casting so that he could learn this Metamagic Skill, and he believed that after some months of practice, he would be able to seed.

    Metamagic requires a lifetime to master or to be a monstrous genius when ites to magic and grasps it quickly. Some were born even with it, which made the process much more effortless in unraveling its secrets.

    Unfortunately, Samiel wasn''t born with it, so he was left with no choice aside from learning it from scratch.

    ***

    Outside of the Zephystrand City, several miles afar.

    "Come on, Estrid! You are cking once again."

    Shouted a female voice belonging to an enchanting female vampire as she looked annoyed at the young dragoness. The duo was, of course, Karliana Kircheisen and Estrid the Red Dragoness, daughter of the Red Dragon Zaldidraax.<sub> </sub>

    Only a few dragons have practiced the usage of a surname, as they usually had only their first name. Usually, only a few of them had a surname, and those were rare cases of long dragon lineages who chose to go with this tradition to distinguish themselves from others.

    Or in other words, they were even more arrogant than other dragons.

    Though it was mostly among the Chromatic Dragons, they were the most chaotic and liked to flex around their power, while the Metal Dragons were more aligned with the concept of Order rather than of Chaos.

    "But I saw something shiny there! It looked like a gem..."

    Retorted Estrid as Karliana frowned at her. Currently, her annoyance was just increasing with each passing second.

    ''Dammed lizards and their fucking obsession with treasures and shiny things.''

    Karliana cursed as she dragged Estrid with her. They were already close to Zephystrand City, and because Estrid wanted to walk through the path and Karliana was a bit suppressed by the Tower, as she was on the low Floor.

    The journey was long.

    Long and arduous, and right now, Karliana wanted a hot bath and finally some luxury instead of this dammed forest and magical beasts everywhere.

    After one more hour, they arrived at the gates of the Zephystrand, where a handsome middle-aged High Elf was already waiting for their arrival. If one observed more closely, he could see that he was a bit nervous about what was toe or better said, who was toe.

    "Oh? Do we have royal processing waiting for us? A stuck-up High Elf has lowered himself to wee us unworthy."

    Karliana provocatively bowed to Laris Daragan as his brows twitched at blunt provocations in anger, but he chose to remain silent on this matter. He knew that she was just trying to rile him up, as she was doing it to everyone else.

    "Your Excellency Kircheisen, what has brought you to our humble city?"

    He asked politely; despite both of them being Legendaries, Karliana could squash him like an ant if she wanted, as she was far, far above him in terms of strength. Not to mention if he treaded dangerously around her and her switched turn on, she would kill him for real.

    Madmen from the Hall of Kadath were absolutely unpredictable in their actions, and nobody knew what they would do next.

    "You know very well why am I here, pretty boy, so stop with this charade and let us not the city. I am tired as hell and want to take a bath. And call out your honorable guest. I wanna have a talk with him."

    She said or ordered, depending on the point of view, as Laris Daragan just nodded. He knew that messing with someone like her would resort to death, so he went with her antics.

    Lanalris Daragan was aware of that the woman before him dared to kill one of the Pale Ancestors who was personally blessed by the Blood Gods, not to mention one that was her own Primogenitor.

    Even though the Nesser Dynasty was strong and was one of the 13 Gates, in front of the Hall of Kadath, such petty titles didn''t really matter, as those lunatics did what they wanted and killed whom they wished.

    The word "consequences" is not in their dictionary; it never was and never would be.

    Thus he led them into the city, straight into the Citadel of the Zephystrand. For Karliana, it was not the first time she had visited the Zephystrand; instead, she was here many times, as she liked elven cities; they were always so tranquil and calming.

    Meanwhile, Estrid looked bored. There were no Arenas, street fights, or any possibilities to destroy something, so this ce was horrendous for a Red Dragon like her.

    If she were to choose, she would stay on the 2nd Foor and participate in the ughter Trial... it was more fun for someone like her; at least there, she could fight and destroy things. Even if the Asura were not to be trusted, as a Red Dragon, she wasn''t thinking much about it.

    Karliana looked at terrified Estrid; she chuckled at her behavior as they followed Laris to the Citadel of the Zephystrand.

    "Nowadays, you have here far more soldiers than thest time I was here."

    Commented Karliana as she looked around the streets of the Zephystrand. Thest time she was in the city, it had nowhere close to the number of soldiers and experts protecting the city right now.

    "Indeed, we have a slight security problem with the dark ones."

    He answered, and Karliana knew that he was talking about the Drowes, as she quickly connected the dots and was able to realize that Drows were targeting the Zephystrand City through some schemes of their once again.

 Chapter 52 Talk With The Cardinal

    "Sir, Lord Laris is calling for you; you have a guest waiting for you in the meeting Hall."

    Samiel heard a servant''s voice while he was meditating during his study of the Basic Principles of the Void Necrosis. He then opened his eyes as he stopped his meditation, he was curious who came to visit him, but he had a premotion who it could be.

    The only people who could have such a strong interest in his persona, toe down and visit him would be those from the Hall of Kadath, to which, Samiel expectedly waited for their arrival one day.

    ''Hooman, I am sensing very, very powerful Legendary in the Citadel.''

    Samiel heard Nefertari''s voice in his head as he stretched his body after meditating on the revtions from the Basic Principles of the Void Necrosis for several hours straight already. He was still very far from mastering even the spells he could cast with his meager strength, but he was improving at a visible rate.

    Due to his love for Magic and its study, and most importantly in his endless pursuit of power, he didn''t really have a problem sitting in one ce and reading andprehending the Magic Grimoire for even several days straight.

    "How powerful?"

    He asked in curiosity.

    ''Close to the peak, Bloodkin, and it is a woman. Don''t antagonize her, or you will suffer plenty; even if she cannot kill you or cripple you, that doesn''t mean you cannot get a beating as hell... and then nobody would be able to feed me anytime I want.''

    Answered Nefertari, caring about him in her own cat way as he nodded and departed to meet with the female Legendary from the Hall of Kadath that came to visit him. Nefertari would always reply something in this way because, for her, herfort and food were more important than her hooman, as the Almighty Cat could find a new servant who would dance to her whims.

    He thought she should be someone of very high rank in the Hall of Kadath if she was sent here; that came from his conclusion as he was the bearer of the Blood of the Primordial Demiurge, they would need to send someone of corresponding social status.

    Samiel knew that there was a very high possibility that the Hall of Kadath knew about him since the moment he entered the Tower, maybe they had their own means to find out, or Azathoth notified them.

    Though, in the end, the result was the same.

    He stood up as Nefertari jumped on his shoulders, probably wanting to apany him. However, Samiel was unaware of her true intentions. Samiel was unaware that Nefertari, as an Elder Wampus Cat and direct descendant of the powerful Goddess Bast, could for a short time summon a Transcendental Level of power without suffering any consequences.

    This was something akin to her racial power. So, she wanted to go with her master in case he got attacked, so she could protect him if he was attacked by the powerful Legendary Level powerhouse there with the intent to kill him.

    Samiel went through the halls of the Citadel of the Zephystrand City as he arrived at the meeting hall, where the Laris Daragan, together with his guests, were already waiting for him.

    And that was the moment, recorded in the history books for theter generations, as the first meeting and act of joining.

    Samiel immediately found the Legendary woman; as he scrutinized her, from tips to toe, she was very beautiful, indeed, as most of the Bloodkin women were. She had rather pale skin, with pointy ears, not that pointy like Elves, a bit shorter.

    She had piercing red eyes and long white hair in a braid for better mobility duringbat. She was wearing shining ted armor that fit her body very well, enhancing her enchanting figure and her curves to a whole new level.

    Just as he was observing the vampiric woman, she was doing the same thing to him, as her piercing gaze prated through his entire being, like he was being judged by her. He never stood before people who could see through him like this, not counting the Transcendents, who had that ability, but not even they could sometimes.

    So the meeting with the woman was very different, and he was starting to feel ufortable.

    "So you are the Holy Son of the Daemon Sultan."

    She said indifferently, without any emotion, just stating the obvious; there was not even a hint of an emotion in her voice as she looked at him as if she was testing him in some way.

    "Yes, and you should be someone from the Hall of Kadath to recruit me, if am I right?"

    He cocked his head as the woman nodded before she looked at Laris Daragan, who motioned for everyone to leave the meeting hall before he left. Only two of them were left in the ce, three if Nefertari is counted, who was watching the female vampire attentively.

    "Karliana Kircheisen, Cardianal of the Hall of Kadath."

    She said as Samiel gave her a slight bow; in their free time, Yvraine kept teaching him the manners of the Imperial Family, and she was very good at that, not to mention she was enjoyed it, very much. For him, it was just pure torture, learning all those aristocratic mannerisms and other things so annoying, but if he could pass Yvraine''s etiquette ss, then there was nothing to fear.

    Especially considering how it was at the start.

    At the start, Samiel couldn''t give even a proper bow without embarrassing himself.

    "Samiel Zentaur, my fairdy... but that is something you already knew if I am not wrong?"<sub> </sub>

    She nodded as she motioned for him to sit down next to her, to which he did.

    "So, how will it proceed? Will you give me some speech like salesmen selling their products?"

    He asked jokingly, to which she giggled a bit but shook her head in denial.

    "No... it doesn''t work that way. The first thing to know is the recruitment of the Hall of Kadath is one-sided; basically, we choose those who we consider worthy, and our only choice is to join; other ones don''t exist."

    She answered as Samiel got the message hidden between the lines; he was very good at reading things like this, especially when they contained some kind of threat or message.

    "There is another choice, but that should be death."

    He said as she nodded.

    "You could at least give me an overview of the thing I would obtain by joining you if we already know the oue of this discussion."

    He said, as it was obvious he would be joining the Hall of Kadath, Samiel knew that in his case, they wouldn''t kill him if he refused, but that would be inly stupid from his viewpoint. By joining the Hall of Kadath, he would officially be a Holy Son of one, if not the strongest, Gate of the Tower and the entirety of the Cosmos.

    "Basically unlimited resources, backing of the entire Hall of Kadath, and armies on yourmand as you wish... of course, all of that is based on the contribution. While the position of the Holy Sones with tremendous benefits, the Hall of Kadath is still based on a strict meritocratic structure, so you would need to contribute to obtaining some more rare things. This rule is applied to those at the bottom, as it is to those on the top."

    She exined while Samiel nodded. He didn''t really have a problem with contributing something such as carrying out missions for the Hall or things like that. Not to mention, the system of pure meritocracy ensured that only the best of the best would survive in the enviroment of the Hall.

    "Also, you will get your Personal Knight, who would act as your protector, sharpest sword, strongest shield, and closest confidant. We already have a suitable candidate for that role, best recruit in the Holy Temr Order for several past Eras."

    She noted as Samiel listened to her "selling" the position of the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

    "And the obligations?"

    He asked after a while; he always had a keen mind for that, probably due to the fact he studied Law on Earth and always searched for the hidden uses and other unsavory things that were not said outright.

    "Just one... when you reach the sufficient level and qualification, you will need to be Hall Master and cannot retire unless you find somebody to take your ce, just like former Hall Master did with the current one, and that before, and before, and before and so on."

    She answered as this was a rather reasonable condition.

    ''Nefertari?''

    Samiel asked his familiar through the telepathic connection they had other for her opinion; because he was aware of that, his familiar was able to sense someone''s emotion and malice.

    ''She is clear... on the contrary, I can sense goodwill towards you from her.''

    When he heard that from Nefertari, he nodded.

    "I agree."

    Samiel agreed to her proposal in the end, as sooner orter he would ept; he just wanted to have some fun and hear some exnations from her if possible.

    After he agreed, she took some kind of Seal and threw it at him. The moment he touched the Seal, it dissolved into countless particles and entered his body, as a tattoo appeared on his right hand, bearing the shape of the Hall of Kadath''s symbol.

    "With this, you have officially joined the Hall of Kadath. That symbol act as Transportation and Communication Device. You can connect the Hall from any ce in the Cosmos and the Tower, aside from some special locations. Additionally, if it has in-built special Transcendental Teleportation Power, so if you are close to death, like very, very close, it will activate and teleport you to a safe ce. Also, it has detection abilities and could detect Transcendentals and powerful Legendaries and other functions that you can find out on your own."

    Karliana exined the usage of the wondrous tattoo.

    Just the fact that this little thing could save him from a death-like situation if he was not in some kind of specifically sealed ce was really something to behold. And the detection abilities to detect Legendaries and Trasncednentals was too something useful.

    Though at this, my familiar Nefertari scoffed as she could do it too, but to not let her be grumpy, Samiel scratched her behind her ear and told he she was far superior to the tattoo. Nefertari was a very prideful cat, so she didn''t take lightly Samiel obtaining something she could do... probably maybe better or worse, but that didn''t matter to her.

 Chapter 53 You Have Booklets?!

    "Now, there are a few more things to take care of."

    Karliana said to him while he was scratching Nefertari behind her ears.

    "Now that you are an official member of the Hall of Kadath, and even though you have not been announced formally as a Holy Son, you need to be wary of potential attacks from ourpetitors."

    She sounded serious, and Samiel could guess whom she was talking about.

    "So basically anyone affiliated with or member of Cmity Church, Devil Cults, Daemon Cults, Demon Tribes, Devil Houses and other unscrupulous individuals, that are basically apetition of the Hall of Kadath in the strife for the souls."

    He answered, to which Karliana nodded in satisfaction, seeing that he was educated and smart enough to guess the things she wanted to say to him.

    "Indeed. In regard to Devil Cults and Daemon Cults, they are on the top of the lists together with Demon Tribes and Devil Houses. In regard to Cmity Church, while they don''t fight too much for souls, they are spreading their Faith in a way that shes with our interests. Also, from all of these, the Cmity Church is the strongest of them and often fights with the Hall of Kadath... especially now when that stupid big red lizard killed one of their High Priests in the Midnight World... what trouble... so while not problem for us, it will be one for you, so sooner or alter, you will have to deal with people from the Cmity Church that will want to kill you on a sigh."

    <o>,m Samiel swore he almost got a headache from hearing her monologue and how much trouble was going on. He was aware that the protection he would enjoy from the Hall of Kadath would be applied only to repel Legandries and maybe Gold-Tiers who were close to the Legendary Level.</o>

    Rest is a so-called free game.

    He didn''t really fear Devil Cults and Daemon Cults; those were just a bunch of worshippers of peculiar Daemon or Devil; they were not unified and often fought among each other, which was prettymon.

    Basically, if their targets of worship were enemies to death, then logically, their worshippers would do the same. And same, he didn''t really fear Devil Houses who were living in the Baator, as they were direct descendants of the Devils.

    Though Demon Tribes were more problematic as they were descendent of Daemons and lived in the Tower or all around the Cosmos, some of the Demon Tribes long ago even forgot that they were descended from the Daemon.

    So basically, all four factions were either too caught in infighting or couldn''t even be called factions in the true sense because every Cult or Tribe was a separate entity that created alliances between each other or fought to the death against each other.

    Yvraine told Samiel about the Cmity Chruch, which worshipped the Evil Gods.

    The Evil Gods were Gods who had a particr path of Godhood that depended on thebination of Faith with Negative Emotions that were created by their worshippers by spreading carnage, pain, and despair among the mortals.

    Cmity Church was a very strong faction; they often lurked in the shadows and were a pain in the ass to deal with, not to mention they had plenty of Legendaries too. Not to mention they were enemies of the Hall of Kadath.

    "But don''t worry, nobody at the Legendary Level would are toe after you from these factions... unless you walk straight to their territory and do something stupid... but even then, it is hard to say what Hall Master would do."

    She stated that Samiel was tempted to try if he would be killed or captured or whatever; testing the waves and boundaries of how much others feared the Hall of Kadath sounded pretty amusing.

    "Now onto the next thing... if you will have a chance, go and register yourself within the Guild. You would find there plenty of unique Mission with generous rewards... not to mention some of them are really peculiar, especially those for the Legendary Level Professionals."

    She exined, and Samiel could swear that this really seemed like a paid propagation. Still, it caught his interest at the same time because he heard about the Guild and knew it was one of the strongest Gates.

    "The Guild? Care to exin further."

    He asked as he was intrigued hearing about it.

    "It is basically a high-end mercenary organization, where you can find missions from anywhere in the Cosmos or Tower. Many of them are very rewarding, but at the same time, missions in the Guild are one of a special kind; all of them have themon thing, and that is their impossible seemingpetition possibility. The Guild has branches all around the Cosmos and Tower, but finding the Branch is a hard thing to do, for at least those who don''t know how to search."

    So basically, suicide missions that normal mercenary organizations or adventure guilds or other organizations on the Cosmos level won''t ept or weren''t able toplete for a long time, are gathered here.

    "Where is the closest branch?"<sub> </sub>

    He asked because he knew that she wouldn''t mention the Guild if she was not aware of a branch of it very close to their current location.

    "On the 8th Floor."

    That was not that far from the 3rd Floor, as he climbed the Floors a bit faster and soon registered at the Guild, of course, under the conditions he fulfilled their requirements for the registration. Contrary to other simr organizations, The Guild had a very strict eptance policy, where they epted only the best of the best and most unique individuals across the entirety of the Cosmos.

    "I will go and look for it when I arrive there."

    Samiel stated; that after a short while when Nefertari jumped down from his knees where she had been lying till now and went to search for something to eat. She was a small glutton that could keep eating most of the day, but she never got fat.

    "Anything else you want to ask about before we end this meeting so I can give you the introduction booklet and finally go home?"

    She asked as Samiel looked at her incredulously.

    "You have an introduction booklet?"

    Now, this sounded weird, a religious organization worshipping Outer Gods and carrying out atrocities here and there had an introduction booklet for the new members?

    "Yes, one of the Bishops created it after thinking it was funny, so here were are... but I must admit that they are pretty useful and contain the basic information about the Hall and various things, such as rights and duties of average members, things about the mission and practically everything... that is why I am not bothering to exin the things to you in detail as all of them are already in the booklet."

    She said while she took out a small booklet from her Dimensional Storage and passed it to him. It was a rtively thin book, with only something around 100 pages in it, and surprisingly contained a lot of images.

    "Chapter 17: How to torture your sacrifices, so they withstand a lot of torture and not die! + images."

    He read out of loud... and though this was nice, at least someone bothered to write aprehensive manual on how to be a proper worshipper of the Outer Gods, simr to what Samiel was doing.

    Writing the Guide on how to be an Upstanding Eldritch Creature.

    "You can read that bookter; now we still have something to go through. When you reach the 5th Floor, there is a high possibility that Hall Master Menuyhutt will personally visit you, and also, this is a weing gift from the Hall."

    She said two crucial pieces of information as she passed him a Dimensional Ring filled with countless Mana Crystals, all of them were of Steel-Tier to Bronze-Tier and ranged from tens of thousands. Samiel didn''t really count all of the Mana Crystals, but something told him that they would not reallyst him long, but it should be enough to reachter stages of the Bronze-Tier.

    He just secretlymented at the outrageous amount of resources he needed to advance just by one level. Naturally, this didn''t escape Karliana''s attention, as she could approximately guess what he was thinking.

    And about the first information, he was thrilled in a certain sense, as he wondered what Hall Master Menuhyutt wanted from him this soon. In the end, despite his glorious heritage and bloodline in the eyes of the Hall of Kadath, he was still a Steel-Tier ant, nothing more and nothing else.

    At the same time prospect of meeting the strongest entity under the Transcendent Level terrified and excited him at the same time. Maybe he could learn something from him to enhance his strength or anything.

    "Don''t worry... in the higher Floors; it would be easier to obtain resources for you to advance. And this is a problem that all specimens of the Superior Species have; for me, I need an extraordinary amount of peak Legendary Level blood to advance even by a single level."

    Said Karliana, as Samiel just sighed in eptance.

    "What is that noise?"

    His ears perked up as he heard some notice as if somebody was fighting in the halls, and he recognized one of two voices that were shouting at each other, as one of them belonged to Yvraine. Inparison, another one was a female one that Samiel didn''t recognize.

    And at the same time, Cardinal Karliana had a hideous expression on her face.

 Chapter 54 Every Recruitment Must Have Fight!

    Around the same time, Samiel was meeting the Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath, Karliana Kircheisen, in private; Yvraine was searching for him across the Citadel of the Zephystrand City, she kept walking through several hours already, and at the same time, cursing at the insufferable man that she couldn''t find him.

    "He couldn''t be hiding from me, right?"

    Yvraine muttered as she kept searching for Samiel, not wanting to admit that she was bing distressed about the entire situation.

    Suddenly she stopped in the hall, as she was thinking about this possibility before she quickly dispersed these negative thoughts. After that, she went to search for him, but then she saw the Lord of the Zephystrand City, Laris Daragan walking through the corridors of the Citadel with a sour face.

    "You shouldn''t be going inside... Cardinal Kircheisen from the Hall of Kadath is inside talking with your ''friend''"

    Yvraine ignored his emphasis on the word friend when Laris referred to Samiel, and on the other hand, she was pretty terrified about the fact that he was there with the strongest female Cardinal who was a bloody reputation in the Tower and across the whole Cosmos.

    But she was wise enough to just remained here and wait to see. She was in no position to do anything, not to mention, she guessed why she was here, as Samiel predicted that sooner orter, someone very important from the Hall of Kadath woulde down here to meet him.

    He always joked about it and said he hoped they would bear a lot of expensive gifts on the red carpet, not hiding his greedy nature even a bit, just exactly the money grubber he was.

    As she was lost in her thoughts, suddenly she heard some noise and saw some she didn''t want to see. Or rather, correction, someone she wanted to see as a rotting corpse somewhere in a ditch.

    "I think that the standard of the Zephystrand really fell since they are allowing various vagabond lizards to enter these days? They are allowing them to wander through the hall and break expensive pieces of art instead of being in the kitchen to be butchered."

    Stated Yvraine with faux sadness as she looked at a broken vase, while the young woman to whom she said these words was fuming with a fit of anger, ready to attack anytime, as Yvraine smirked at her.

    "Shut up, you frigid elven bitch!"

    Shouted Estrid, the Red Dragon and daughter of the Cardinal Zaldidraax of the Hall of Kadath. Not to own anything to her reputation, Estrid immediately shot several fireballs toward Yvraine, who just agilely dodged every one of them.

    Estrid didn''t waste any time, as she immediately attacked Yvraine at the slightest provocation and first chance that was presented to her. Red Dragons were famous for their short tempers, not really thinking about the situation too much, and the fight was the only solution to the problem for them.

    Especially Estrid, who inherited the "best" traits from her father. Cardinal Zaldidraax was even more short-tempered and had a nasty personalitypared to the rest of the Red Dragon Species.

    "Oh, my poor little lizard musclehead... even your insults are more intelligent than your small puny brain."

    Yvraine said with a light giggle as hended down and slightly provocatively covered her mouth. Estrid was always so easily provoked just by a few words; something Yvraine effortlessly exploited each time they fought.

    It was like they were following some already pre-written script of things.

    Laris Daragan didn''t really know what to do in this situation, so he chose the tactical retreat. On the one hand, he didn''t really want to poke his nose into matters of Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty, where he was only a vassal.

    And on the other hand, he didn''t want to really offend the backing of Estrid, namely her crazy father, who was said to have overprotective nature, and Red Dragons, like all Dragons, were known for their ability to hold grudges indefinitely.

    Laris was sure that Cardinal Zaldidraax wouldn''t have any problem with walking straight to the capital of the Nesser Dynasty on the 91st Floor and killing him on the public street, not to mention that there wouldn''t be many people who would stand in his way, as Zaldidraax was known for his fearsome strength and apparently he grew even stronger.

    He read the reports from the happenings in the Midnight Worlds, and apparently, Cardinal Zaldidraax reached Level 97 Legendary and was very close to reaching Level 98, and that meant, soon, in a few centuries, the Hall of Kadath would wee another Limit Legendary or known by their titles among the mortals, Holy Legendaries.

    The title or name Holy was derived from the fact that they were the closest thing to the Transcendence.

    Even for the Nesser Dynasty, the number of Limit Legendaries could be counted on one hand, as they were the fundamental backbone of all 13 Gates in the mortal ne, the indisputable rulers of the mortal worlds, the Level 100 Legendaries.

    Each Holy was Apocalypse manifested under the Transcendental Level; some of them were frightening, reaching even thebat prowess of newly ascended Transcendentals who were notbat-oriented.

    Yvraine counterattacked her rival with her twin swords as she shed at Estrid, appearing before her with her lightning speed, to which Estrid used her bare body to block the attacks.

    Dragons, even in their humanoid form, were physically far superior to countless species, not to mention Estrid was one with a superior bloodline even amongst the Red Dragon Flock.<sub> </sub>

    Her entire limbs were covered in sturdy and powerful Dragon Scales as they withstood the fierce barrage of shes and hacks from Yvraine, who looked grim that her ns failed spectacrly. On the other hand, Estrid wore a provocative smirk as she looked at her rival.

    Both Yvraine and Estrid knew each other for a long time, and they hated each other for an equal amount of time. And in most of the times they met, it would end in both of them fighting each other, typically with the aim of killing.

    Fortunately, somebody stopped them all the time, but it was all for nothing because all the times they fought, both Yvraine and Estrid were equally matched. While Yvraine was more skillful and more agile, faster and smarter, in the end, she could never injure Estrid.

    Estrid, as Red Dragon, was physically far more powerful, and her defenses were something that Yvraine could never prate; at max, she would leave only scratches and bruises on her scales.

    So their battles were more of battles of attrition, but this time Laris could see the difference. He didn''t know how, but he could see that this time, contrary to usual, Yvraine wasn''t doing the same things.

    Now, she was aiming at points and ces of Estrid''s body where she would cause her the most pain. That was something she learned from Samiel, as he once told her, if you fight a foe, you cannot kill, then you need to do anything other to win and employ some unconventional methods.

    One of them was just basically torturing the enemy during your fight with him. Basically, forcing your own body to defeat itself by continuous torture and pain, not many had such high tolerance that they could ignore it without any problems or side effects.

    But Laris, with his skillful eyes, could notice that Crown Princess Yvraine was bing more and more tired as the fight was progressing, and while Estrid was wounded all around her entire body and bleeding, she had a maniac grin over her face as she looked at her rival provocatively.

    ''This is not going to do anything... in the end, Estrid would win once more. In the end, that crazy amount of vitality and brute power will overpower her sooner orter. Princess has a problem with injuring her and had put a lot of effort into causing the Red Dragoness even slightest amount of injuries...''

    Thought Laris Daragan as he observed the situation. While it may seem that Yvraine had the upper hand in this fight, but in reality, she was severely disadvantaged. While she was injuring Estrid all over, Estrid had tremendous defense and vitality, and her healing factor was already kicking on, and her injuries were already being healed.

    And it was going in the way as Laris predicted because Estrid started healing, and Yvraine was bing more and more tired as they shed over and over. This was to be expected because not even the Silvermoon Elvevs couldpete with Dragons in terms of stamina and vitality; that was their exclusive power.

    "Estrid, what are you doing!"

    Shouted a hard female voice belonging to Cardinal Karliana Kircheisen as she finished her negotiation with Samiel. When she exited the room, she was engaged by what she saw, especially when she saw the half-destroyed hallway of the Citadel.

    "But she started it!"

    Estrid immediately stopped in her tracks and shouted back to Cardinal Karliana Kircheisen, who immediately went to reprimand Estrid for her behavior. But one harsh re from Karliana silenced herpletely, not to mention that Karliana knew how to deal with this problematic dragon girl.

    She was taking care of a lot after Estrid, and even right now, she was tasked by the Hall Master to watch over her, so she didn''t cause too much trouble.

    "And I am ending it!"

    Said Karliana as Estrid stomped onto the ground, like a petnt child whose toy was taken, being angry over the fact that her fight with Yvraine was halted.

    After Karliana, Samiel followed shortly and looked both at Yvraine and Estrid, as he noticed that Yvraine was slightly injured, but nothing too serious, fortunately. And even if she was seriously injured by some miracle, they were in the Citadel of Zephystrand, so finding a healer or anything to heal would be no problem.

    When Yvraine was looking at Samiel, who was looking at her, she was ashamed? Or maybe she felt humiliated or something else, which Samiel''t wasn''t able to see.

    Probably, she had never experienced anything like this, so it was a rtively new feeling.

    Probably, because she looked weak in front of the man she was interested in, not to mention, at the same time, her rival was looking stronger than her. Also, the entire situation seemed like she was defeated in the fight.

    Though it wasn''t that far from the truth because even though Cardinal Karliana stopped the fight between the two of them, it didn''t really mean anything because anyone experienced enough could see where the fight was heading and who would take the role of winner and loser.

    Yvraine feared that he wouldn''t be interested in her seeing her be defeated by Estrid, or even worse, he would grow interested in that lizard.

    Instead, she already had nightmares about that.

 Chapter 55 Making A "Kauf"

    "Yvraine, are you alright?"

    Samiel went to check up on her as he scrutinized her from tip to toe, not finding any severe injuries, so he concluded that she was okey, with a sagely nod. For a few seconds, when he saw her bleeding, he was very concerned about her safety and health.

    Even though he knew zero healing magic, he was surprisingly good at first aid, mainly due to years of practice himself; during the times he was injured or anything, he only had himself to depend on and heal. However, Samiel nned to learn some healing magic, which could be a tremendous boost for hisbat prowess.

    "Of course, I am okey as if that undeveloped reptile could injure me."

    She scoffed, trying to sound confident, but even Samiel could see that she was very tired, and on the other hand, her opponent was pretty okey. He guessed that she didn''t want to lose face in front of the servants, and her pride wouldn''t really allow her to admit she was tired or that she had lost.

    Meanwhile, inside, some kind of "mini Yvraine" was jumping from the imaginary victory that she had achieved, or it was from the happiness, but it didn''t matter as she enjoyed the attention that Samiel was giving her.

    "Estrid, this is the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, Samiel Zentuar."

    Introduced him Karliana, as both Laris Daragan and Yvraine almost fainted from shock. While both of them long ago guessed that he had some connection to the Outer Gods and would probably be a member of the Hall of Kadath, they never predicted it would end in this fashion.

    Especially Laris Daragan, because he knew what exactly the title of the Holy Son entailed. Not only a person bearing the title of the Holy Son would be Hall Master with 95% probability, but these chosen ones also had great control over the military powers of the Hall of Kadath.

    Especially they could mobilize arge part of the Holy Temr Order with their words alone, not to mention that they had authority second only to the Cardinals and could order around even Bishops, from which all of them were Legendary Level Professionals.

    Basically, Samiel''s position in the Hall of Kadath was far, way higher than that of Yvraine''s in the Nesser Dynasty. While Yvraine was Crown Princess and her position was very strong, especially because their parents had only her, making her sole heir of the Empire, she could at max mobilize a few Imperial Legions or some experts.

    The power of the Holy Son of Hall of Kadath was unique across all 13 Gates, as nobody gave so much power to their leader''s sessor. Because of this, even though he was theoretically a member of the younger generation, his political power didn''t lose to those higher-ups from the other 13 Gates.

    ''If that kid is Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, then it would mean that old monster would for sure personally teach him... not to mention, his origin must be pretty frightening together with his potential if those old coots made him Holy Son out of nowhere.''

    Thought Laris Daragab, while he was looking at Samiel, this time in a new light, slightly feeling the right amount of fear and respectbined together.

    Initially, he thought that Samiel was connected maybe to some minor Outer God or some prominent member of the Hall of Kadath; even though he was ignoring it, it could all be just not to attract attention.

    But now he was here with Cardinal Karliana, named as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, and even Laris was forced to look very differently, at the young man, especially with warines, because technically, Samiel could just swarm of Legendaries if he felt threatened.

    And even those not of the Hall of Kadath would dly kill Samiel''s enemies to get into the good graces of the Hall of Kadath, so they could profit from getting favors from the Hall. Being owned a favor by a faction like a Hall of Kadath was extraordinary on its own.

    "Now that we are all calmed down, hopefully, this conversation can go in a more peaceful way."

    Stated Karliana; as Estrid looked crestfallen because her fight was interrupted, Yvraine looked depressed, and Samiel looked amused about the entire situation. For a Red Dragon adjective "peacefully" was not in their dictionary, and they would instead prefer more fights.

    He looked at Estrid with great interest. He could see from her appearance that she was probably some kind of dragon or demon, but probably dragon because her draconic features were very dominant ones.

    He knew that some dragons, when taking human form, were indistinguishable from ordinary humans or other races they were transforming into. And there were some cases where due to some either mistake, mutation, or even free will, they retained some of their draconic features even during the transformation.

    This was mostmon for the dragons with very strong bloodlines, and or some did it just for fun, but he could see that Estrid''s case was the first one. She had a very unique presence around her, not like amon person, and even though she was the first dragon, Samiel met, he sensed something extraordinary about her.

    Meanwhile, Samiel was observing Estrid; she was doing the same thing to him but in a more peculiar way as she to him, leaving Karliana shouting into thin air as she smelled him.

    ''Probably some dragon thing?''

    He thought, because dragons had superior senses, especially the sense of smell.

    "You smell strong... fight with me!"

    She immediately shouted at him after opening her eyes, which shone in excitement about finding a strong opponent. Naturally, she could sense that Samiel was strong, especially since he had that weird aura that the Void Lifeforms, Outer Gods or Eldritch Creatures had, so that alone made him her primary target.

    Suddenly, a flying sword passed next to Estrid''s hair as they fluttered in the gush of wind created by the impact of the de.<sub> </sub>

    "Missed."

    Replied Estrid as she stuck out her tongue, provoking Yvraine to throw one of her swords towards Estrid, clearly aimed at her head. Samiel didn''t know why she was now pissed even more than before, but he just shrugged it off.

    "No... we will not fight today... 1st you are injured and 2nd, I don''t fight with other people for free, so pay up for the fight."

    Samiel said with a grin; as Estrid was dumbstruck, Yvraine giggled at the misfortune of the stupid Lizard, while two Legendary Level powerhouses just observed the situation with amusement. It was clear that a master scammer was scamming Estrid, and the master scammer himself knew that the Red Dragoness was the perfect type to scam.

    "What do you want?"

    She asked without hesitation, not even bothering to negotiate or y hard to get. Most of the Red Dragons were not exactly thinkers, so when Samiel was going to negotiate about the payment with her, he would profit greatly.

    Especially, Estrid may not seem like it, but she was very rich due to her father, who was a very rich old dragon. All Dragons had amon trait of hoarding treasures in theirirs, be it gold, gems, precious ores or metals, or anything else which had some value or was shiny.

    Yvraine looked at this with delight because she had known Samiel for almost one year, and she noticed one thing about him. He was an enormous money grubber and greedy bastard who didn''t have a problem stripping bandits for a few worthless gold coins.

    This was a trait that he developed mainly on Earth, as resources were scarce there, and he was poor as fuck for his whole life, so the first thing he did when he got his powers was to get rich. And it prevailed and got even worse with time; he always searched for treasures and never missed anything from killed opponents and cleaning corpses clean.

    Nothing valuable missed his skillful eye.

    Yvraine often joked that if she didn''t know him, she would say he was some dragon because, for sure, he was greedy as one.

    Back in reality, Samiel''s eyes shone, and if it was anime, they would have gold coins in them when he heard Estrid''s answer, but he quickly collected himself as he started thinking about what he could exploit her for.

    "Soul Force Crystals at least hundred pieces, they look like big white crystals... and also, some Grimoires and Magic Tomes on Elemental Magic."

    Samiel stated as Cardinal Karliana facepalmed while even Lalnaris Daragan looked shocked, and Yvraine was happy for some reason. That was because it was just an outrageous price to ask someone for just a spar.

    "Ok."

    She answered as she started searching through her Dimensional Ring, and soon after, several thick old books were dropped on the ground, together with tens of weird-shaped white crystals.

    Not far from her, even Samiel was gobsmacked at the sudden development because the things he asked for were very precious, especially the Soul Force Crystals; he didn''t even expect that she would have something like that. As it seemed, Estrid didn''t see a problem with paying with all of these items for one spar.

    Soul Force Crystals were a very rare thing that Samiel got his hands on only a few times in his life on Earth. They were basically a crystallization of an enormous amount of Soul Force; these crystals were created from dissipated souls. Thus it was a pretty rare and precious thing.

    He could use the Soul Force Crystals to evolve his Undeads, to create some sentient ones or some unique Undead with such a high number of Undead.

    Samiel didn''t expect that the dragon girl would just give him what he wanted, he at least expected some level of resistance or negotiation, but this was good. On the other side, Cardinal Karliana didn''t know whether tough or cry.

    In the first ce, Soul Force Crystals were tempting even to Legendaries, not to such strong ones like her, but she could see a slight amount of greed in Laris''s eyes as he eyed the Soul Force Crystals. Though for his own good, that disappeared as fast as it appeared.

    She didn''t know where she got these Soul Force Crystals, but if she were to guess, she probably got them from her father or found them. Estrid had a good nose for sniffing out treasures and precious things.

    And she was giving away even some very precious Magic Tomes and Grimoires.

    Samiel inspected the things before he stored them in his Dimensional Ring with a satisfied smile on his face as he made a good deal.

    "Excellent, we will fight three dayster, my Lady. It was a pleasure to deal with you."

    He said as he gave Estrid a slight bow and kissed her right hand.

 Chapter 56 Samiel Vs. Estrid (1)

    Seeing this development, Cardinal Karliana dragged Estrid away before Samiel could scam her even more. Just scamming her for more than he already did. Obtaining more than one hundred Soul Force Crystals and a whole bunch of Magic Tome and Grimoires was an outrageous payment for one spar.

    Meanwhile, Samiel was very satisfied with the "loot" he obtained by scamming poor dragon girl as he studied the Elemental Magic Tome, which appeared to be pretty old, already so old that it was beginning to fall apart.

    "Elementia Magicae... how in the Nine Hells of Baator, she got her hands on that book?"

    Samiel just turned around to see Laris Daragan almost faint from the shock as he observed the Magic Tome that Samiel held. For Samiel, it was just an old book with a weird cover, falling apart and having a weird stench.

    Most importantly, he couldn''t even open the dammed thing, as it was rejecting him. Most of the Magic Grimoires were choosing their owners and users and not otherwise. For example, even if someone tried to force his way to open it, he wouldn''t be, or the Grimoire would rather choose self-destruction than to let be used by someone whom it didn''t approve&

    ''So this Grimoire is sentient... probably it is sensing that I am not a suitable person to use the Elemental Magic that is recorded within, so this thing is basically rejecting me an acess.''

    He thought, as now even Yvraine arrived and looked at the Grimoire that Samiel was holding in his hands because Elementia Magicae was supposed to be a very powerful and old Grimoire that was said to be lost in the annals of history.

    Suddenly, when Yvraine approached the Elementia Magicae, it started shaking, and Samiel noticed it was behaving like a dog when he found his owner, who was an entire day away. Not really knowing what to do with the book, he passed it to Yvraine so she could deal with it.

    Not to mention, he knew that her pride wouldn''t allow her to get something for free, so she would for surepensate him. For her, it was a matter of personal pride, aside from the fact that she was taught that she should never create debts towards anyone.

    Yvraine, despite being privileged birth, didn''t like getting things for free, and usually even when Samiel gave her something during their journey and time spent together, she would always try to repay him in one way or another. More often, she volunteered that she would teach him hand-to-handbat or something valuable things.

    "It appears that this little guy has found a new master."

    Muttered Laris Daragan, as he observed the Grimoire Elementia Magicae released weird light, as the cover, which was previously half disintegrated, now was getting a second breath. Soon enough, the process was finished, ad the Grimoire Elementia Magicae looked entirely different; long gone was the appearance of an old tattered book, but now it had a majestic feeling.

    Even Samiel was somehow envious that Yvraine obtained such a thing from him, but s, there was nothing he could do about it. He knew the same thing would happen if, by some ident, Yvraine came across Basic Principles of the Void Necrosis; the book would judge them unworthy and just remain closed.

    In some more extreme cases, the old and powerful Grimoires could even kill those who want to open them forcefully with powerful magic that is recorded within them. Of course, there were only a very few of such powerful Grimoires, and those were the ones which were very, very old and contained Magic tempting to even strongest Legenderaies and even to Transcendents.

    "I really can''t wait to rub this to Estrid''s face."

    She said with delight because the things that Samiel scammed from Estrid, one of them ended in the hands of her mortal enemy. Not that Estrid was aware of what she was giving away as it seemed, or she didn''t care, but in the end, the result was the same. Of course, right now, she was probably getting a scolding from Cardinal Karliana as she got scammed pretty bad and paid very precious things.

    If her father heard this, he would probably throw a temper tantrum... not that Cardinal Zaldidraax was any better. The old dragon would be angry only because she lost the previous treasures to someone whom he couldn''t kill and take them back. Because they were members of the same faction, and he was the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, these things were irreversibly lost to him.

    "How strong is she?"

    Asked Samiel just now. In truth, he didn''t really care if he won or lost; he had already achieved his aim, which was to get some treasures and resources out of Estrid. Other things were practically inconsequential because his aim was different from the start.

    "Pretty much, as any Red Dragon, her physical strength, despite being only at the Steel-Tier, could outss many Bronze-Tier warriors, putting them to shame. Not to mention, that is when she is fighting in her humanoid form because Dragons are way stronger in their true forms. Additionally, like many other Red Dragons, she is proficient in the Dragon Chant Magic. She has a very strong affinity for the Fire Attribute."

    Surprisingly it was Laris Daragan who provided the answer, as he exined Estrid''s strength, making Yvraine scowl in a very, very dangerous way. Mainly because it sounded like he was praising her, which in truth, he was; despite her young age, Estrid was a powerful Red Dragon that didn''t even reach its adulthood.

    Even if he was considering the entire Red Dragon Flock or other Dragon Flocks from the younger generation, she would be ced in the top 5 for sure. This alone spoke about her personal strength and the potential she held.

    "Though, young Estrid is stronger than the average Red Dragon of the same Level mainly due to her lineage and bloodline from her father, Cardinal Zaldidraax, one of the strongest Red Dragons who ever lived. Rumors say he is even stronger than Red Dragon Patriarch, the leader of Red Dragon Flock."

    Now, Samiel was bing a bit intrigued and wanted to fight with her, hearing about her strength. Before, he never fought anyone from the 13 Gates who was from a more prestigious background in 13 Gates and belonged to the younger generation.

    He only fought with Yvraine almost on daily bases, almost, but he knew that he could defeat her. Not only did he know that, but he also defeated her already several times, primarily when he used his Undead.

    Contrary to average Necromancers without a brain cell, Samiel was implementing military strategies when controlling his Undead. That was because, in his younger years, he wanted to be a Military Officer, so he studied a lot of strategies, battles, and other things.<sub> </sub>

    After he became supernatural and Necromancer, he thought this would be an excellent way to enhance the power of his Undead andpensate for a low number against his enemies, who were always more and more numerous.

    This was about increasing thebat efficiency of his small Undead Army.

    "Hmm... his will be fun, maybe."

    Muttered Samiel as he returned to his chambers, leaving Yvraine to her devices; now that the Grimoirepletely enthralled her, she got from him, technically got, realistically, she got it by herself, but that is not really important right now.

    "Do you think he will defeat Estrid?"

    Asked Yvraine as she watched Samiel leave the room, wishing nothing more than to see her rival being beaten up properly.

    "Hard to say... but Old Deuses are always full of surprise, and you little friend is not an exception to this rule... we will see in the three days. For certain, it would be a spectacr match."

    Stated Laris as he left the ce to tend to his own things. Yvraine was thinking wherever Samiel would win, lose, or the match would end in a tie. Certainly, Estrid didn''t have much racial advantage over him because his own heritage was even superior to Estrid''s.

    Of course, nobody would be able to tell the final winner if Estrid used her true form from the start, in which she was stronger, not talking about the fact that Samiel was primarily Magic Caster.

    At the same time, Estrid, as a Red Dragon, had a certain level of Magic Resistance, which would be a certain level of inconvenient for Samiel and would put him at a disadvantage in the direct confrontation in the fight.

    ***

    3 Days Later, Zephystrand''s Citated, Training Area

    Three days passed in a split moment.

    During these three days, Samiel mostly avoided their new guest because she was constantly pestering him to fight sooner, something which he started really loathing and probably developed a slight aversion to her.

    Also, he was under the tutge of Cardinal Karliana about manymon things that he was expected to know as a high-ranking member of the Hall of Kadath. And there were many, like too many of them, which he needed to learn, and probably not even several months would be enough to memorize all of those things.

    Fortunately, he had enough time, and during his stay on the 3rd Floor, Samiel nned to slowly memorize all of the materials he got from the Cardinal Karliana.

    Samiel was already waiting for Estrid in the training yard of the Zephystrand''s Citadel, while his opponent was nowhere to be seen. So, after ten minutes, Cardinal Karliana went to find her and realized that Estrid was sleeping under the pile of gold coins.

    Really, something very... dragon-like?

    Probably yes.

    Soon after Cardinal Karliana departed to find the lost dragon, she returned, and the fight could finally start.

    Samiel didn''t do anything and just kept standing on the training yard, waiting for Estrid to make the first move. He had never before fought a dragon, so he was observing his opponent and awaited her first move as he was preparing the Winter Ruler in case Estrid attacked.

    He contemted if he should use his Void Magic and other more dangerous stuff. However, in the end, he decided to use it because she, as a Dragon with enormous vitality and high defense, was just a high-ss punching bag in his eyes.

    And this continued for more than ten minutes, and even Karliana, who had known Estrid for her whole life, was deeply surprised that the battle maniac girl was just standing there and doing nothing as they were checking themselves out.

    In a second, Estrid disappeared from her ce, where she was standing, and appeared next to Samiel, who just flipped backward, digging her strike, as he waved his hands, and the gush of frost burst out, freezing her entire right hand.

    Estrid looked at her partially frozen hand as she ignited her bloodline power, and the ice started slowly melting. This made her frown because it reduced herbat abilities to some level.

 Chapter 57 Samiel Vs. Estrid (2)

    Laris and Karliana observed the fight together with Yvraine and a few invited guests. Especially Karliana, whose eyes perked up because this was the first time she saw Samiel fight, and she immediately recognized the thing that happened.

    ''Ultimate Ability... rted to the ss for sure, and at least Lord ss. Such powerful Ice ability is rarely seen, especially among the weaker-tiered individuals. Him, being Old Deus and bore of the Daemon''s Sultans Blood, is going very well with it...''

    Cardinal Karliana thought, and partially she was a bit shocked, seeing how slow the frozen arm of Estrid was melting. Being able to melt ice created from the Ultimate Ability was really something very impressive that not many people could achieve, especially being still a mortal.

    Not many people knew this, but Karliana was privy to this information, not only due to her status as the Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath but mainly because she knew Estrid from her childhood and she was a friend of the Cardinal Zaldidraax, so she knew the certain extent of her abilities.

    She knew that Estrid inherited a particr type of dragon mes from her father, Zaldidraax, which were far hotter and far more destructive than average dragon mes.

    And even ordinary dragon mes were very destructive. Dragons were species that had one of the best, if not the best destructive mes in the entirety of the Cosmos.

    Laris was not surprised because he saw Samiel fighting for several months, and he was a bit knowledgeable about his abilities and knew that he possessed Ultimate Ability. But what Karliana saw, she saw very powerful Ultimate Ability, even among other Ultimate Abilities.

    Some of them were on the verge of evolution, and from what she saw, she thought that Samiel''s Ultimate Ability had the potential to evolve to be stronger and more powerful. This was something very rare because usually, when someone awakened Leveled Ability, then more than 95% would never manage to evolve their abilities to a higher Level.

    That was because, typically, the Ability Evolution required too many resources, luck, and other things, so finding the rightbination in one person was like finding a feather of a phoenix.

    Down below the stands, the fight was going on as Estrid was spawning one fireball after another, trying to push Samiel out of the perimeters, so she could safely melt her frozen right hand before she would engage him in closebat.

    While Estrid seemed like muscle headed dragon, which she was, there was no doubt about it. But, during thebat, she showed cunningness and a keen mind forbat strategy, just like now, when she created distance between them.

    Samiel, meanwhile, smiled about this as he summoned five of his Undead andmanded them to surround him and Estrid, creating a pentagram shape, as suddenly, their bodies lit up.

    Seeing Samiel''s cheeky grin, Estrid knew that he had yed her.

    Suddenly without warning, some kind of magic formation lit around them, creating a pentagram-shaped magic circle above the two of them as she felt her body being heavier and fatigued.

    "You know that telling your opponents about your abilities during the fight is stupid, so don''t expect me to do it."

    He said, sticking his tongue out while casting several 3rd Level Spells of Void Magic, Void Strike. This spell was peculiar, as it was not seen; suddenly, near Estrid, space folded and struck her, which she blocked with her left hand, causing several of her scales to be torn off.

    Void Strike was one of few destructive low-leveled spells of the Void Magic. The proof was right here, as Estrid''s left hand was seriously bleeding and had some deep cuts into her flesh.

    She quickly rted that iing spells that were aimed at her were dangerous, so she started dodging them, but unfortunately for her, she was not agile as she thought herself to be; thus, she was getting hit over and over.

    "AAAHHHH!"

    She screamed in pain as one of the Void Strikes hit her directly at her chest, which was not protected by dragon scales, causing her grievous injury, together with severe bleeding. This was the reason why he was never using Void Magic during sparring, but for the spar with Estrid, he decided to make an exception.

    Samiel seeing this, immediately got to work and started literally spamming 1st Level, weakening spells, aiming at the injured spots on her body, hoping to hit at least something. Even though he cast countless spells, he barely felt his Mana decrease.

    Dragons were known for their magic resistance and resistance to curses, so if he started using 1st Level Curses from the start, it would be just a waste of precious Mana because she, as Red Dragon, one of a very strong and noble bloodline, could just shrug them off like nothing.

    Thus Samiel had a different aim.

    It was to prate her defenses to a certain degree and use his curses to target the most injured ces on her body, thus indirectly lowering her magic resistance and curse resistance. This was one of the methods of getting past the Magic Resistance by creating a physical injury, though this method didn''t really work every time.

    So theoretically, Samiel was right now testing his own luck.<sub> </sub>

    Suddenly, Estrid felt like the whole world was spinning around her, but there was nothing she could do about it aside from trying to transform into her dragon form. But when she wanted to do so, she suddenly looked at the pentagram-shaped magic circle in the sky above them as she cursed something in the dragonnguage.

    That spell formation was something that Yvraine gave him, and it had a miraculous effect of disrupting something within the dragon''s body, which prevented them from turning to their true forms.

    During their "agreement", if it could be even termed such, there was not a word about not getting outside help during the preparation. And in truth, Samiel didn''t really want to fight Estrid in her dragon form because he knew that the result of such a fight would be uncertain.

    He knew, or rather he sensed, that the victory would be guaranteed if he fought her in her human form. But dragons were way stronger in their true form because every aspect of their very own beings was enhanced tremendously.

    Fight smart, not hard.

    That was Samiel''s motto during his whole life.

    Also, during these three days, Yvraine told him practically everything she knew about Estrid''s weakness, strong sides, and everything. And that was even when he didn''t ask for it. Though even a blind person could see that, Yvraine wanted her rival to be beaten up and, if possible, humiliated.

    He had to admit that Yvraine was a very vengeful person; if she felt she was wronged. Then she turned into a petty and vindictive banshee that would stop at nothing to get her revenge.

    As Samiel weakened Estrid considerably, he basically forced her to attack him right now. That was because the longer she took, the more effect the curses he cast on her would have, and thus she had only choice right now, and that was to end the fight before they would be unleashed with their full power.

    Unfortunately, the moment she engaged him in closebat, she lost because, Samiel swiftly counterattacked as he covered his hands in the ice created by the Winter Ruler, dodging her iing kick and punching her with full power to her stomach.

    This sent her filing several meters away when she stopped and puked a huge mouthful of blood, not realizing that several ice weapons were flying towards her. When she noticed them, she used her hands to protect herself from them.

    Fortunately for Estrid, these Ice Weapons were not that strong in direct confrontation, but their side effect was even more terrifying; soon enough, some parts of her body started freezing after being touched by them when they shattered upon the impact.

    With continuous weakening and luring Estrid into several traps, he started counterattacking more viciously, using mainly his hands and legs, going into closebat with her.

    He didn''t really want to use his Undead in this fight because they would be pulverized to dust by her strength, and that would be a waste of his hardly cultivated Undeads; thus, he chose the tactics of continuous weakening and traps.

    Not to mention, he purposely withheld much of his power, only using the Void Magic at its lowest and in a way, which would not be life-threatening, and even during his closebat attack, he withheld from using weapons and just used martial arts or what he learned from Yvraine and during his stay at the Zephystrand.

    Training with the recruits of the Silvermoon Knight Order really paid off. Because Estrid couldn''t transform into her dragon form, and the pentagram spell formation, which was weakening her, aside from the first thing, was still active, she was having a hard time.

    When she tried to attack one of the Undead that was acting as pirs of the spell, Samiel would always appear to protect it. Still, in the end, that was futile because he never stopped attacking her.

    After more than twenty minutes of continuous attacks, Estrid was heavily panting, as she was tired, and the curses on her body that Samiel cast, even when weakened due to her magic resistance and curse resistance, still took their toll on her body.

    They stood opposite each other, as suddenly Samiel stopped in his attacks and let her rest for a while before he looked at Cardinal Karlina, who subtly nodded at him. Samiel knew that she wanted him to stop the match because, be it he wanted or not, the Void Magic and other things he cast on Estrid were bing more and more dangerous to her as time passed.

    If not removed in time, there could be some nasty side effects, especially from the Void Magic, that even Hall of Kadath would have a hard time removing.

    That was because Samiel never used it during spars with Yvraine or Sarun, because it was made to kill, not to spar for shits and giggles...

    He looked at Estrid; Estrid looked at him; nobody said a word; he just nodded, forcing the prideful dragon girl to admit defeat. While Estrid was arrogant, she knew when she was in pitch, and now she certainly was.

    Her opponent was stronger than her even when she was not weakened; it was just Samiel who preferred to fight in a way; he expended the least amount of power. He always did this, even when he was confident when he was more powerful than somebody, as it was easier, and also counted on that every one of his opponents had some hidden cards.

 Chapter 58 The Drama After The Fight

    "It appears that the duel has been concluded."

    Stated Laris Daragan, nonchntly, as he partially expected such an oue, while Cardinal Karliana Kircheisen looked surprised and delighted at the same time because the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath was someone with tremendous potential to be a powerful individual.

    The only person with a sour mood, or rather, rtively sour mood, was Yvraine because she was hoping g that Samiel would kill Estrid during the fight, especially when she saw him using the Void Magic Spells and other more dangerous methods.

    In the end, even this result was good.

    After Estrid essentially admitted her defeat, Samiel came to her and started dispersing his curses and using the Void Magic to heal the wounds from the Void Magic. This was something he learned a rather hard way when he was severely injured by the Void Magic Spell, which he cast in the wrong way, and it backfired.

    The best method to heal the injuries cast by the Void is to use the Void itself. Though this method was peculiar, only a few who had an unnatural affinity to the Void could use it. Such as someone who was a partially Eldritch Creature.

    For Samiel, it wasn''t a very hard thing to do, as he soon figured out the method of healing the injuries left by the Void with the Void itself. After he dispersed all the Curses, he cast on Estrid, and he healed the wounds left by the Void Magic.

    Usually, the Curse users were also the best Cruse Breakers because they knew better curses than those who were suing them on a daily basis.

    Estrid was still bleeding all over her body because the wounds were still there; what Samiel did, was just the removal of the residual Void Energy thattched to her during their fights. Technically speaking, he wasn''t healing her but rather removing the obstacle, which was obstructing her natural healing factor or any healing magic or another method, in healing the injuries she suffered under the effects of the Void Magic.

    Void Energy was fundamentally corrosive and dangerous as hell, to such an extent, it was usually avoided at all costs, and rarely, even the bravest and smartest Magic Users would dare to manipte the Void in its most primal form, aside from a chosen few.

    The most troublesome thing about using Void Attributed attacks, be it in the form of spells or incorporating it any other way, was its ability to leaven almost unheble injuries that would only spread over and over.

    Estrid was in luck because, thanks to her strong bloodline, she managed to resist the corrosive power of the Void, long enough for Samiel to remove it and not leave any side effects. And this was just the lower and most inferior Void Energy he was using.

    Even then, its power was frightening.

    "Now, can you walk, dragon girl?"

    He asked while stretching his right hand, helping her to stand on her own legs because, during the process, she wasying, as it made things easier. Now when he finished the process, the Void was gone from her wounds, and they had already started healing at supernatural speed.

    This was the main reason why he dared to use the Void Magic in the spar, because he was aware of this fact and that Estrid could handle it. For example, he would never use it in a spar with Yvraine or Sarun because they didn''t have the vitality or defenses of the dragons, who could handle it way better.

    Estrid took his hand, standing up, as her tail wagged behind her excitedly, something which Samiel totally missed. In contrast, people in the watching stands were curious. However, only Karliana knew what was going to happen as she stole a nce at Yvraine, who was already gripping her swords.

    "It is decided; you are going to be my mate!"

    Shouted Estrid excitedly, and silence took over the training yard, and nobody said anything. Samiel looked dumbstruck, but he could reason her behavior logically. Dragons were one of the species that sought the strongest possible partners.

    For dragons who wished to have a mate, strength and lineage were in the first ce, and Samiel fitted both of them, so it was only logical from Estrid''s point of view, as a Red Dragon, that she would proim him as her mate.

    Their union would give birth to new strong hatchlings with unique lineage, which was all dragons cared about. In dragon "rtionships", this was a verymon urrence to see, as they mated out of convenience.

    Naturally, even among dragons, there existed those who had genuine feelings for their mates, but those cases were not asmon as those mentioned above. This was just a general process of a dragon choosing its mate; it didn''t matter if it came to a female dragon or a male dragon, the process would almost always remain the same and unchanged.

    After a short time of absolute silence, where the only sound was that of Estrid''s waggling tail, out of the audience stands, two jade swords suddenly shot out with tremendous speed, aiming directly at Estrid''s head.

    The dragon girl just dodged immediately, thanks to her superior dragon eyesight, allowing her to see them clear as day.

    Not even seconds after, Yvraine appeared and looked absolutely enraged while summoning her swords back and attacking Estrid with them at the same time.

    "I sense a disturbance in the force."

    Samiel muttered quietly, as he watched them sh, not really knowing on what to do, before he waved his hand as he froze their legs, not allowing them to move an inch. Instantly from a pretty weird situation, it became a pretty weird situation, and on top of that, a dangerous atmosphere of death match was now lingering in the air.<sub> </sub>

    It wouldn''t do any good for them to fight against each other right now, especially since Estrid was tired after fighting him for more than an hour, and even if Yvraine won, it would be a shame, not a victory.

    "Stop this farce; if you want to fight, then fight until the dragon girl is recuperated. And... thank you for your offer, I am certainly ttered, but I must refuse it with great sadness."

    Samiel stated as he then gave Estrid a tactful rejection of her "offer".

    Estrid looked at him weirdly as she tilted her head to the side, not understanding the proper meaning of rejection before she started thinking about it. She was aware that she was very attractive, be it in her dragon form or in her humanoid form, to many races and to countless perceptions of beauty, so she failed to see the problem.

    "As long as you impregnate me, and I cany my eggs safely, other things didn''t matter."

    She answered with a straight face, and he felt that this conversation was really going in a very, very weird direction. And on top of this, Yvraine looked, even more, enraged her Estrid continued with the nonsense.

    Though he had to admit, this was not even one of the Top 5 weirdest conversations he ever led. He remembered that once on Earth, he led a debate with his fellow Necromancer. The guy was monologuing about why having sex with the undead was better than with living people.

    "Shut up, you stupid lizard; he is mine, not yours!"

    And then Yvraine shouted, almost subconsciously, not really realizing that Samiel was listening or that other people were listening too, including some servants and members of the Silvermoon Knight Order. However, she probably forgot about that little detail.

    Samiel, on the other hand, dumbly watched the entire scenario that was unfolding in front of him, he wanted to say something or ask something, but he didn''t have the right words for it.

    Part of him wanted to refute Yvraine''s words, but when he noticed her words, he deiced not... in the end, as the saying goes, "woman happy, entire life happy", or whatever it was.

    Though he didn''t really know if this counted to him, as they weren''t even a couple, he nned to use Yvraine as his shield to get rid of Estrid because when he saw her determined expression, he realized that this dragon girl was just trouble.

    He really didn''t want to deal with Estrid and her pestering because he knew that the dragon girl wouldn''t give up, it was in her personality, evidently, and when dragons decided they wanted something, they would stop at nothing to get it.

    "Now, if you excuse me, I will be taking my leave."

    He said, and as a proper coward, Samiel left and walked away, moving to the stands, where Laris Daragan and Cardinal Karliana were sitting and chatting with each other.

    "You are aware that she will be bugging you practically every day until you leave the 3rd Floor? Possibly even beyond that, if she could track you somehow."

    Teased him Cardinal Karliana, while he looked horrified at the thought of having to deal with Estrid on a daily basis. Even now, it was above his paygrade, and he already had a headache, not to mention that during these past three days, he couldn''t even properly study magic.

    Not to mention, dealing with Yvraine, especially after this, felt weird. He didn''t really understand what she meant by those words, but truthfully he predicted she said it just to rile her up, or god knows what she wanted to achieve.

    Not really knowing that she meant them. For Yvraine, she didn''t honestly know what her feelings were, but she knew that no man was worthy of her, and because of that, she consistently rejected all of her potential suitors.

    Samiel Zentaur was the only person who was worthy of the hand of Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon, be it through the bloodline, power, talent, and now even background; everything was higher than her.

    And that was something she appreciated. Not to mention, he was the first person who could "bear" spending time with her.

    She was aware, deep inside that she was not the most enjoyablepany and person to be around.

    So Yvraine''s thought process was straightforward. Until the time she sorted out her feelings, she needed to keep all potential petitors" or, in her words, bitches, away from him.

    Despite noticing how dense the man in question was, she wasn''t risking that some skank woulde and seduce the man she put her eyes on. In this situation, she wasn''t taking any bets, especially when one of such skanks appeared now, and it was her rival.

    ''Stupid cow bitch! Why can''t you go and mate with Ogre or Ork, something closer to your brain capacity.''

    Yvraine thought in her head, in truth, she was jealous of Estrid, especially in certain areas of development, where she was losing on the entire ground. She knew that her "assets" were much smaller than Estrid''s, not to mention that shecked the womanly charm the dragon girl had.

 Chapter 59 Your Problem For Now

    "Nah, hopefully, Yvraine will beat it out of her, and if not, I can still use her as my shield... so I am okey... probably... I think?"

    Samiel stated, somewhat unsure of what to say, as they watched the staring contest Yvraine and Estrid were having. It was really bing ufortable just standing there and watching two of them having a staring contest.

    "I must say, you are a coward."

    Cardinal Karliana provoked him with a smirk, but he didn''t fall for her trap and instead ignored her. During the short time he spent with Cardinal Karliana von Kircheisen, he noticed her mischievous nature and that she liked teasing and provoking people; evidently, it was some sort of her hobby.

    "I am not interested in being just a living tool for their animosity between each other, not to mention dealing with the hormonal dragon is not the right teacup of coffee for me. So, no thanks, I would prefer to be a coward."

    Samiel answered, not really feeling dealing with Estrid or even participating in this mess they were constantly creating. Decisively pulling himself out of this mess between the two of them, as he felt that nothing just trouble woulde out of this.

    "Good, at least you have some self-preservation. Just remember this feeling throughout your entire life; not every time is it best to rush through the battle and participate in everything, being blinded by greed. Sometimes, it is better to back down and just see how the things will develop."

    Karliana said with a weird, sagely voice that didn''t really fit her, but he could see the wisdom in her words. She was basically saying to him to use his head and trust his instincts; there is no honor on the battlefield or fight; there are only survivors and victors.

    Nothing else matters because, in the end, they are the people who are writing history.

    "I challenge you to a duel lizard!"

    Suddenly, Samiel heard Yvraine shouting as he was talking with Estrid.

    "Then we can solve it right here and now!"

    And as expected, Estrid, as a proud Red Dragon, wouldn''t back down from the challenge, and she almost instantly epted her challenge. While Estrid was used to hearing insults from Yvrine, just like Yvraine was used to it from Estrid''s side, there was calling a dragon a lizard. It was one of the biggest insults.

    "Excellent, then the duel will take ce one year from now on!"

    Yvraine eximed as the dragon girl''s expression fell apart, that she had to wait one year for the fight, but in the end, she agreed to the condition, as she used her mes to melt away her frozen legs slowly.

    Meanwhile, Samiel dispersed the one on Yvrain''s legs, allowing her to move once more. Now that both of them were moving once again, surprisingly, the fight thing they did, wasn''t rush at each other, but they went in the opposite direction.

    "That escted quickly... and weirdly... wait a bit..."

    Samiel then stopped for a second and looked at Karliana.

    "Does this mean this annoyance will be staying here for one whole year?"

    He asked with a horrified voice, and not far away from him, Yvraine looked the same when she realized the greatest mistake in her brilliant n on how to get rid of Estrid.

    Not knowing what to do, after that, only Estrid was provocatively grinning at her because she could annoy her rival for one whole year, which was a nice bonus to free amodation.

    She didn''t n to ascend to the higher floors for the time being, and getting nice free amodation from the Elves sounded nice... not to her tastes. However, it was free, which was an important factor.

    Estrid, as Red Dragon, would often go on something which was termed a zy mood" for dragons. During that time, they would actually only sleep ory around, rolling on their piles of gold and doing nothing.

    That was what the dragons usually did, especially the stronger ones; for example, it was verymon for the Legendary Level dragons to go and sleep even for entire centuries without waking up, while some of the peak Legendary Level dragons could sleep for entire millennia without any problem.

    "Now it is decided, Laris; I will be leaving this problematic girl in your care. Just don''t forget to feed her, and when you are tired of her, just kick her out, and she will find her way to the higher floors or give her some stupid Quest to get rid of her."

    Stated Karliana nonchntly to High Elven Lord Daragan, who smiled awkwardly at the thought of hosting someone like Estriud for one whole year, while the person who was the subject of their discussion frowned in the back before she shouted at her "caretaker" Karliana.

    "Hey! I am a dragon, not a dog!"

    She was pretty angry that her caretaker basically described her like one would describe their dog.

    "Indeed, you are not... with a dog, there wouldn''t be so many problems like with you."<sub> </sub>

    Even Samiel had to agree with this statement.

    "Now that everything is solved for now... it would be time to end this so everyone can return to their own devices."

    Cardinal Karliana said as she left, and Samiel went to Yvraine, who was looking murderously at Estrid like she wanted to skewer her on huge poles in her dragon form and roast her medium rare.

    "So, how confident you are to defeat her?"

    He asked while both of them left the training yard; Samiel was helping her to walk because due to him freezing her legs, they still hurt, so he volunteered to help walk her to her room.

    "Don''t know... maybe yes in one year. Suppose I master some of the spells in the Elemntia Magicae and incorporate them into mybat style. In that case, I will have decent chances of achieving the victory."

    Yvraine answered reluctantly because, in the end, she knew that her own power wasckingpared to that of Estrid, especially in her dragon form. She wasn''t a monster inbat like Samiel, who could practically go fighting indefinitely due to his special heritage.

    That was something he realized only very, very slowly, and most importantly, during his spars with the recruits of the Silvermoon Knight Order, that he was absolutely overpowered. And, of course, after Yvraine had beaten somemon sense into him.

    In the end, being able to fight in closebat with 10 Level 25 Steel-Tier Knights of the Silvermoon Knight Order for more than 5 hours without a pause was not an everyday urrence. It was not even an urrence of the century, but maybe that of millennia.

    He never realized the proper extent of his newly found power, but he then found out he was extremely strong.

    Him being a partial Eldritch gave him overwhelming speed, strength, and vitality, and coupled with his Lord ss Knight of Niflheim, it was even higher than that. Especially his healing factor, which stemmed from his lineage, made him a killing machine on the battlefield.

    One of the main problems for all warriors was their stamina and dealing with injuries. But that was not a problem for Samiel. Due to his lineage and him being a Necromancer, he was developing abat style specifically suited to him, which would allow him theoretically to fight indefinitely as long as he had enough Undead.

    "In the end, you have one year for that... and maybe we can see if you can learn some more simple curses; if you can copy what I did to her, then your fight would progress much smoother."

    Samiel said as he offered to teach her some simple curses. While normally, those would be ineffective against someone like Estrid with her Magic and Curse Resistances, but if she followed his example, then she could make them effective.

    "That would be good... I will ask someone to find you some Grimoire on Magic rted to the concept of Winter, Frost, or Ice aspensation for the Elementia Magicae."

    Yvraine said as he nodded, expecting such an oue. She would always repay him because she didn''t like the feeling of owing somebody something.

    This was something he didn''t really understand because, in his words, "So what if I owe them something? If they are weak, then they could fuck off or die."

    As a person who believed in the survival of the fittest, even if he owned somebody something, but that somebody wasn''t strong enough to force him to repay the favor, then bey-bey favor forever.

    "Sorry for freezing your legs... though it was funny seeing you both so close to each other, attempting to strike, but cannot move an inch."

    He said with a smallugh because, for him, it was indeed hrious. When both Estrid and Yvraine were frozen there, they wanted to attack each other, as they were in rtive proximity, but they were out of their reach.

    So they tried and tried only to fail; it was amusing to watch... at least for him, in any case.

    "It wasn''t you, dolt!"

    Yvraine smacked him at the back of his head.

    ''Stupid dense man, stupid, stupid, stupid.''

    She cursed at Samiel in her head.

    After he dropped her at her room, he just left, which unknowingly to him made Yvraine even angrier, as she sat on her king-sized bed and just sadly looked at the ground without any aim.

    "Mother was right... men are idiots."

    She muttered in an exhausted voice as heid down on the bed.

 Chapter 60 The Prayer

    One Hour Later, Citadel of the Zephystrand City.

    "That fight with Estrid was good... I cannot wait to see how strong you will beter..."

    Karliana said to Samiel as she was preparing to teleport out from the 2nd Floor. She was already itching to leave the Floor due to the Tower''s suppression of her was getting more powerful with each passing day.

    "How exactly is the Tower Suppression working? My High Elven host wasn''t really best at exining all things."

    Stated Samiel, to which Karliana snorted slightly.

    "Of course, he wouldn''t with that stick in his ass."

    Evidently, Karliana didn''t very much like Lord Daragan, though he sometimes thought she didn''t like anyone. Samiel would often mistake her for a feminist, but in the end, Karliana just didn''t like people weaker than her? Or those more arrogant than her? Or those who were both more arrogant than her and were even weaker than her.

    "Tower Suppression isn''t really an absolute thing; the works behind it are rtively simple. As that pretty body told you, indeed, the Tower System has divided the Tower into several zones, with appropriate average Tiers for such Floors. Now, the Tower Suppression only applies to the Legendaries who enter the lower Floors, meaning under the 50th Floor. Above the 50th Floor, and mainly above the 60th Floor, the Legendaries roam freely, so there is not any kind of suppression."

    She said while making a pause, letting Samiel absorb all information before she continued her exnation.

    "One of the primary functions of the Tower is the cultivation of ss Bearers and Professionals for the Transcendental Factions, be it through cultivating strong and powerful Legendaries or even Transcendents. Now, the reason why the suppression isn''t really about the damage to the Tower, but rather, it is a preventive measure, due to some Legendaries wreaking havoc and ughtering arge number of mortals in the Tower for their own goals, which in turn, is spoiling one of the primary purposes of the Tower."

    Indeed, suppose many Legendaries, especially those like Cmity Church or various Cultists or even those from the Hall of Kadath, went to the lower Floors. In that case, they could carry out various obscure sacrificial rituals without any problem.

    That was due to theck of opposition here. On the lower Floors, it was rare toe across someone on the Legendary Level, and aside from the first two Floors, one could count himself just unlucky to encounter the Legendary Level being.

    "Then what about unsuppressed ones?"

    He asked because, for example, Ork Boss Gurnish or all Ork Legendaries from the 1st Floor or others didn''t seem suppressed by the Tower''s System too much, or rather it seemed like there was no suppression on them at all.

    "Indeed. Now aside from the Floor Ruler, there are many Legendaries on the lower Floors. Some of them are natives of these floors, born here, raised, and achieving Legendary status on the Floor. If they follow this path, they won''t be suppressed because, in a certain sense, they are ''part'' of the Floor. Now, those who came to the lower Floors, from the higher ones, could either use some very unique treasures to avoid the suppression or can make a deal with the Tower System, in which they would agree to some conditions, and they will avoid the suppression for a certain price."

    Karliana exined to him, as Samiel understood the mechanisms behind the Tower''s suppression of some Legendaries. Mortals mainly inhabited the lower Floors, so having the presence of Legendaries doing as they pleased would be detrimental to the growth of the poption, sometimes even their fundamental survival.

    "But in the end, there always ways to avoid it; all 13 Gates have their own methods on how the avoid the Tower''s suppression in one way or another, be it indefinitely or for a limited time."

    That was understandable; probably the only reason why Karliana wasn''t using anything the avoid the Tower''s suppression right here and now was because it was not necessary to do and would be just wasting the resources.

    "So, I am leaving. Don''t forget to take care of Estrid; as Holy Son, you are basically her superior, so she is your responsibility as long as you are on the same Floor. Also, properly study the booklet I gave you, and that is... Hall Master would exin the rest when hees to meet you, and I am toozy to do so."

    Before Samiel could refute, she teleported out from the 3rd Floor. All Legendaries could freely travel the Tower, especially once someone climbed the Tower; he won''t have barred entrance to any Floor that he previously visited, of course, under the premise he had means to travel there.

    "Dammed woman."

    He could just curse as he returned to his room to carry out his monthly prayer to Azathoth. Now he was left taking care of Estrid for the whole time; she and he were on the 3rd Floor, and he swore that he would repay it back, together with interest.

    While Samiel didn''t dislike the dragon girl, for his tastes, she was over-enthusiastic and smelled like problems, and he didn''t want to be a babysitter, watching over her every step and taking care of her.

    He could already see that all problems she would cause during their stay on the 3rd Floor, all people woulde to him, and there was a high probability of her destroying things. And that would mean that he would need to pay remunerations.

    If he was on another Floor, he wouldn''t really care and just throw the name of Hall of Kadath, so everyone could piss off. However, unfortunately, he was on the Floor of the Nesser Dynasty, which was not really possible, or rather he didn''t want to do so.

    That was really not for him.

    He then started preparing things he needed to carry out his monthly prayer to his God.

    In truth, Samiel wasn''t praying very often, and he constantly varied about his Patron God. He was always pretty paranoid and would never trust even his own shadows, which stemmed from his own trust issues.

    But in the end, there was a simple answer to all of his questions. He was just an insignificant mortal, while Azathoth was one of the most powerful Transcendents in the Cosmos, and entities like him didn''t really need to scheme against him.

    Thus, Samiel prayed only once a month... it was enough for him; he was toozy and not that his Patron God cared. He never even considered himself as a believer, geniue one though, he was like Divine Mercenary, a person who did what he did for benefits, not from the conviction.

    Outer Gods were fundamentally different from the standard Gods because they didn''t really need the Faith of their worshippers to exist; they were a bit simr to Daemons and Devils because they preferred souls.

    Samiel drew a ritual circle on the ground with his own blood as he knelt on the ground to carry out the monthly prayer to his God. He didn''t know if he really believed in God or not, and in truth, it didn''t even matter.

    "The Great Dreamer, the Primordial Demiurge,

    He who represents the Chaos of the All Things,

    He who gives the Creation the meaning of All Things,

    He who brings the Dream to every living being,

    And sows the seeds of the Chaos and Madness from the Deep,

    The messages we see from the Dreams,

    The voices we hear from the Darkness,

    The visions we see from the Abyss,<sub> </sub>

    All of them lead only to the Nuclear Chaos.

    In the Chaos and Dust we turn,

    As the Madness and ughter we bring,

    And all of them will burn,

    Under theughter and joys of the Elder Ones,

    From the coldness of the Void,

    And outsideness of the Dream,

    Hees,

    And we, as his servants,

    Are weing him,

    As we always should.

    And in his name,

    We spread Madness,

    We spread ughter,

    We spread Pain,

    We spread Chaos,

    And all of this,

    to the Dream we returns."

    When he finished the prayer, he felt the gaze of his God on his person as it slowly lifted and disappeared somewhere else. Every time he prayed, Azathoth manifested a bit of his Will from his Dream in reality, and it always sent shivers through his spine.

    Every single time.

    But there was something which was new, something really rxing, which was after prayer; it was an indescribable feeling of satisfaction that he received after reach prayer.

    "The goal of life... this is the only time when I don''t feel lost."

    He muttered as he finished his prayer. Samiel Zentaur didn''t really have any goal in his life; aside from getting stronger; he didn''t have anything in his life; it was like an emptiness that was devouring him with every second.

    There was one question in his life, which remained no matter how hard he thought about it... "and what will be then?".

    Something he didn''t have an answer for.

    [You have received the blessings of the Outer God.]

    The reason why Samiel kept praying each month was to mainly receive the Blessings from the Outer God Azathoth, which gave him a significant boost to his strength. All of these blessings were limited on time, and he needed to carry out ceremonies to prolong their duration.

    This Blessing from Azathoth usually allowed him to Dream and increased his affinity for Void, protected him better when he was studying the Void Magic, and basically functioned like a mark for other Transcendents to fuck off.

    Samiel often jokingly called it a "high-ss ve mark", but not that he cared if it made him a servant or even ve to his God. In this world, those without Transcendent backing will die one way or another, and at least Samiel didn''t have any restrictions ced on him like Gods usually did with their followers.

    Azathoth didn''t talk to him very often when he prayed, and even during the prayer, he was chanting something that he patched up together; usually, followers of the Outer Gods didn''t really pray per se.

    Worshipping of the Outer Gods normally consisted of living sacrifices and various obscure rituals filled with the torture of innocent people and simr things. He couldn''t always carry out the ritual, or sometimes he waszy to do so, and thus it was time to pray.

    "Now that we have received the strengthened Blessing, it is time to delve deeper into the study of the Void Magic."

    He had one year before the duel between Yvraine and Estrid would take ce, and before that, he wanted toplete the Unique Mission from the Tower''s System, meaning hunting and killing the Ruler-type Magical Beast.

    On the other hand, he was also tempted to increase his Level because he got tons of Mana Crystals, but he decided against such an act. Samiel was bing aware that due to his certain advantages, with each Level, his power increased significantly.

    But the problem was that his skills and mastery over them were starting tog. If he continued such practice, he would soon be one of those video game bosses with enormous Mana, HP, and raw power, but the skill of a total newbie.

    Thus he decided it would be more prudent for him to use the time to catch up to his masteries. He was aware that he had neglected his Magic studies a lottely in favor of closebat training, so he decided to use that one year for that.

    In truth, if he could, he would have stayed here for at least a few decades because he really liked the enviroment on the 3rd Floor, it was very tranquil, and even though Samiel liked to destroy things, he liked it here.

    Certainly, the fact that he had everything free in the Citadel yed a major role in his decision-making. Living on someone else ount was the best thing because he had everything he wished for and didn''t really need to pay a single coin for that.

 Chapter 61 1 Year Later

    Tower, the 3rd Floor, Zephystrand City, training yard in the Citadel.

    It was a nice and sunny day, with an average temperature, which made it not too high, or not too low, just exactly in the middle. Not hot but not cold, though with the way the wind blew, it seemed like it would be getting colder and colder.

    Usually, not even the Floors of the Tower were spared from the yearly seasons. However, contrary to the Worlds across the Cosmos where the cycle was natural, in the Tower, it was artificially created and administrated by the Tower System.

    Of course, if one was Floor Ruler, they could use the Tower System to set their preferred weather for their Floor. That was why some Floors had permanently only one type of weather which didn''t change like forever already.

    As always during this time of day, the entire training yard of the Zephystrand''s Citadel was closed off, while it was upied by two people who were sparring against each other. A woman, wearing an armored body suit of ck and red, with long silverish-tinum hair wielding dual jade swords as she hacked at her opponent.

    The man had long red hair reaching his waist as it shined in the sun''s rays. At the same time, his golden eyes twinkled slightly, signifying that the man was holding an enormous amount of Mana in his body. His Mana reserves were superior to anything seen before.

    Of course, they were Samiel and Yvraine training with each other practically every day. This was Yvraine''s idea, not his. Still, he didn''t really dare to refuse her, especially after seeing her stern expression every time she was pestering him about not being barricaded in his chambers like some hikikomori.

    Not like, Yvraine was aware of the word itself and its meaning, but it really suited Samiel. If it was left to him, he would spend an entire year cooped in his room, studying the Void Magic, various Grimoires, and Magic Tomes he obtained and creating better Undead, as he still didn''t use his Soul Force Crystals.

    If he needed anything, he could just say something to maids that were always before his room, standing and ready to carry out his orders. Thus, he didn''t really need to leave the room for any foreseeable future.

    Though he admitted that his daily spars with Yv were fun, and at least he was constantly in a fight, which greatly enhanced hisbat experiences as they were severelycking. Of course, he spared from time to time, with Sarun Daragan, as the High Elf, bing something like a friend, if he could name it like that.

    As Yvraine hacked her twin swords at him, Samiel just dodged effortlessly as he used Winter Ruler to create Ice Trident, which he grasped in his hands, and counterattacked Yvraine, forcing her to go on the defensive.

    During the year, he started learning how to handle polearms, especially the Trident. Now that he got a fragment of Trish, he predicted that one day in the future, he would reconstruct the entire weapon, meaning he would need to learn how to wield a trident.

    Samiel knew that Yvraine had one great w when she was fighting, and that was predictability. While herbat style was deadly and powerful for someone of her Tier and even above, if she encountered a Master, they could effortlessly predict all her moves.

    Once someone learned the pattern, which wasn''t as well hidden as Yvraine thought it to be, they would be able to counter her with little to no effort in the end. Such as Samiel learned the pattern of herbat style, not exactly due to him being more experienced, but because he was very observant and spent a lot of time by fighting with her; thus, he was able to notice it easily.

    "You are once again doing it."

    Samiel stated as he hit her with his Ice Trident on the blunt side of her back, causing Yvraine to fall onto the ground; she coughed a bit of blood from the impact. Even though he wasn''t using a lot of power, it was still enough to injure her.

    Not that Yvraine cared; actually, it was her own request for him to stop holding back his whole strength because he often feared he would injure her too severely, as that had happened a few times already during their spars.

    Suddenly, several tens of fireballs materialized around Yvraine in a split second and, at the same time, shot towards Samiel with tremendous speed. He instantly noticed that these were not ordinary "fireballs" as they counted Lightning and Light elements too on top of that.

    And this was exactly the moment when she could turn the table into luring people into her trap. Elementia Magicae proved to be really worthwhile for Yvraine because she learned plenty of special Elemental Spells and not only that.

    She learned a special technique called Elemental Fusion, which could only be learned by Grimoire imprinting it to someone''s very own soul. As the name suggested, the Elemental Fusion technique allowed the caster to infuse other Elements into the Elemental Spell.

    Of course, Elemental Compatibility was the easiest thing to do, but when the technique was mastered to its limits, it could not even infuse ipatible elements with each other, achieving a new whole level of destructiveness.

    Samiel swiftly reacted, jumping backward as he stuck the Ice Trident onto the ground, creating a thick Ice Wall in a matter of second through the Winter Ruler, as it blocked all iing Fireballs with their added elements.

    Using the window of opportunity, Yvraine appeared near him, shing at him with his swords, forcing Samiel to let go of the Ice Trind, conjuring an Ice Dagger in his left hand, deflecting Yvraines''s strikes.

    Unfortunately, notpletely, as one of the swords strikes and hits him nearly, leaving a bleeding scar on his cheek.

    Samiel licked the blood from the wound as he revealed an excited grin; while the wound had already started healing itself, with his healing factor, it would be done within seconds. With his healing factor, even if he had severed limbs, they could heal within a few hours.

    The moment Yvraine started learning the magic contained in the Elementia Magicae, herbat prowess skyrocketed to new heights. Unfortunately for her, just as she was progressing, Samiel was too, and now that he started properly devoting time to the Void Magic, he was even stronger than before.<sub> </sub>

    Now he was confident of beating Estrid in her dragon form for 100%, which vastly increased from the previous 50%.

    The Ice Wall he was so proud of crumbled within a few seconds as Samiel was forced to create a distance between the two of them while conjuring Ice Weapons and shooting them at the iing Fireballs, creating countless explosions across the entire training yard.

    Usually, Samiel didn''t use his Undead during the spars in fear of them getting destroyed, but now he decided to go back off his words and summoned several tens of them, all of which were peak Steel-Tier, and some of them were on the Bronze-Tier, as they surrounded Yvraine.

    At the same time, before she could do anything, he used Winter Ruler to start freezing her legs and arms with the aim of lowering her mobility. At the same time, he aimed all remaining Ice Weaponry that he conjured through the WInter Ruler at her.

    "So, this counts as my win once more?"

    He said with a provocative smirk while Yvraine released just an annoyed huff at the entire situation. In truth, most of their spars end in his victory. Sometimes it was due to him overwhelming Yvraine, or sometimes it was due to him ying dirty.

    Something she was hardly learning to use, mainly because she still adhered to some forms of honorablebat, which was pretty stupid in his opinion. Fortunately, he was working on beating out these "bad habits" out of her.

    Samiel considered things like having honor inbat as something beyond stupid because that only led to death.

    "Next time, I will be prepared."

    She begrudgingly epted her defeat as he summoned back his Undead and dispersed all of the Ice Weapons, and cast a few spells to remove the Void Taint from Yvraine because he used a few Void Magic Spells during their spar.

    "Bring us something to drink and eat! And make it extra good!"

    Shouted irritated Yvraine to several maids and butles that were in the training yard aside from two of them. While nobody would be present during each spar, Yvraine was hell-bent on having some servants around here and there in case she wanted something.

    Especially, she developed a habit of having some snacks after their spars, and Samiel never said no to good food after a good fight. And as all of them started running here and there in a hurry and with a good amount of fear from Yvraine, Samiel sat down and motioned her to sit opposite him.

    Their table underneath the small wooden shelter was already prepared for them to rest.

    "So, how are my chances?"

    Asked Yvraine, with a dejected voice a bit, wondering if she would be able to beat Estrid as the date of their duel was approaching already. One year passed like water, really fast when a person was constantly doing something.

    And now, she was under a lot of stress if she would be able to defeat her self-proimed rival. It wasn''t even known if they were rivals, but they hated each other for sure; that one was clear.

    "In her humanoid form, your chances are between 76% to 89%, depending on thebat style she would opt for and how fast you can disable her. In her dragon form, your chances are below 35%."

    Samiel analyzed the situation from the avable data from him. During this one year, he even fought with Estrid several times, so he had some grasp on her capabilities, and he had to admit that she was strong.

    Not only was she a Level wise higher than Yvraine because apparently the dragon girl had already reached Level 25 and would be soon reaching the Bronze-Tier, but she was also naturally gifted inbat. Yes, she was muscle head, and didn''t think a lot, and destroyed a lot of things... that was the story for another time, though.

    But during thebat, it was like her entire personality underwent a nirvana, and a whole new person was there. She was calcting, her senses were top-notch, and she could fight on a subconscious level. Not to mention her ability to adapt herself to thebat style of her enemy just after a few minutes of the fight.

    "And if you take into ount your Curses?"

    A vicious smile appeared on her face because Samiel taught her a good amount of simple curses of the Necromancy Arts that she could cast. While not so effective as him, it would still do good for a fight.

    "Humanoid form, 82% to 91% and dragon form around 45% to 53%."

    He answered while Yvraine grinned with anticipation, as these numbers were good. She didn''t really know how Samiel was doing it, and neither did he know it, but he almost always tells the approximate probability of how the fight would end in exact percentage.

 Chapter 62 How To ??? Your Dragon?

    After the servants returned together with their refreshments, meaning some drinks and some snacks to eat, both of them started to eat.

    "Did you find some suitable Ruler-type Magical Beast or Monster for me toplete my Unique Quest?"

    Samiel questioned Yvraine; now she knew that he was receiving the Quest from the Tower System; he could drop more responsibilities on her if he wished to do so, which certainly had its advantages. Of course, Yvrainemanded an enormous number of people on the 3rd Floor; thus, it would be more productive and easier to drop this responsibility on her.

    Not only because he waszy to do so by himself, but most importantly, it was not necessary, and it was useless. That was because the members of the Zephystrand''s Military Branches knew the 3rd Floor way better than him and thus could find suitable Ruler-type Magical Beast for him to kill more easily.

    "Yes, in fact, there are already several candidates for this thing. I ordered the City Guards and Silvermoon Knights to look for the ones who aremanding lesser hordes, maximally to 2,000 Magical Beasts, and whose strength is not crossing into the Silver-Tier."

    Answered Yvraine, and even though it sounded grim, in truth, this was exactly the result he wanted to hear from her. While the 2,000 Magical Beast horde sounded terrifying in truth, it was not. Samiel currently held control over x255 Bronze-Tier Undead, and even he was a one-man army due to his abilities alone.

    If those two were counted together, then it was to be expected he could deal with even 2,000 Magical Beasts on his own without any problem, probably he could deal with even more if he used his Undeads more smartly due to their very high strengthpared to the average of the Floor.

    Not to mention, in the Magical Beast Horde, which was small and its ruler was only Bronze-Tier, there would be only a few tens of Bronze-Tier Magical Beasts, so he would destroy such a horde in a matter of hours if he took his time in it.

    "Excellent... which one is the closest?"

    Samiel already wanted toplete the Unique Mission, so he could go and take the Inheritance or whatever the Akashic Records prepared as the rewards for this mission, so he could return to the Zephystrand City, andplete the Advancement Quest, and finally go to the 4th Floor.

    "Actually, three. 1st one is a pack of about several hundred Wind Wolves, led by Level 50 Bronze-Tier mutated Alpha Wind Direwolf. 2nd one is a small colony of Gremlins in the nearby cave system to the Zephystrand, we don''t know how many of them are there, but apparently, not many of them are Bronze-Tiers. And finally, thest one is amunity of Trolls living in the ruins of some settlement which was overwhelmed by them several centuries ago."

    She exined to him the fastest options, and truth to be told, neither one of them looked very appealing to Samiel. Not from the point of being strong or something simr, but they were all problematic to deal with; they were troublesome.

    Wolves were a pain in the ass to fight; they were smart, their coordination was top-notch, and especially the magical, rich ones were very troublesome to deal with. On top of that, their Alpha was mutated Wind Direwolf and, on top of that, reached Level 50, so hisbat prowess would beparable to the average Silver-Tier Professional. Not to mention, finding them in the forest and not falling into their ambush would take too much effort, an effort he was unwilling to spare.

    Gremlins... if the Magical Beasts such as Wind Wolves were a pain in the ass to fight, then Gremlins were a nightmare. Not because they were strong, Gremlins were typically rtively weak monsters. Still, they were very, like very intelligent, and extremely cunning. Even finding one Gremlin was troublesome because they never dared to fight head-on, and an entire colony of them... not that was certainly not the way to go.

    And that left only Trolls.

    Trolls belonged to the category of Greenskins. Simrly, like Ogres, they were driven by endless hunger to devour and eat anything that could be eaten... sometimes even that what can not be eaten, but that is not that important.

    Trolls were like a weird mix of Ogres and Orks, a mish-mash of both of them, with extremely strong regeneration and less brain than Orks, though smarter than Ogres. Usually, Trolls ranged from Steel-Tier to Silver-Tier, sometimes reaching Gold-Tier, and only a few of their species managed to reach Legendary Level. Still, due to their fearsome regenerative abilities, they were used by Orks as cannon fodder inrge-scale wars when it epassed all Greenskins because Trolls were very hard to kill.

    Coupled with their rtively strong defensive capabilities, then Trolls were a very problematic enemy, especially; Trolls had Magic Resistance Skin, meaning many spells were ineffective on them, depending on the Tier of the Troll and the Spell''s caster.

    "So, I take it that you are going for the Trolls?"

    Yvraine asked, or rather stated, to which he just nodded in agreement, as it was indeed the truth. Trolls were most suitable for him and would require the least effort for him to deal with them.

    "How many of them are still inhabiting the ruins of the settlement, and how strong is their Chieftain?"

    Trolls preferred to live in ruins of buildings, under bridges or caves, in the sewer systems, or in other weird ces. They functioned on a simr system of a tribal society, though it was less strict and less functioningpared to that of Orks.

    "Probably several tens, maximally hundred... a lot of them are slowly being killed, and especially after their previous chieftain was killed, the new one is a cowardly idiot who is not leaving his castle or whatever you call it, no matter what. Even strength wise, maximally that Troll is at higher ends of the Bronze-Tier."

    She scoffed at the cowardly Trolls because, contrary to Orks, Trolls were cowards. They were not cunning or fought dishonorably; they were just cowards. Usually, the only time they were fighting was when they were ambushing people crossing marches and bridges, usually killing them in said ambush and cooking them to eat.

    "Then it is decided, we will go for the Trolls. They should be the easiest target to fight, especially if we use some baits to lure them out from the holes."

    He grinned, to which Yvraine nodded.

    "We can use that stupid lizard as bait."<sub> </sub>

    She stated, not aware that her joke would bear fruits.

    "Hmm... I don''t know about that, but I suppose we can use Estrid as bait if we mask her dragon aura and her appearance."

    He answered her, nning to use his "subordinate" as bait to lure the Trolls out of their holes. During this one year, she cost him over 650,000 gold coins in damages due to the coteral damage she caused.

    Once, she fought with some members of the Yukimura n of the Oni Species, destroying several shops and causing entire damage in the height of almost half a million coins. Unfortunately for Samiel, as it appeared, Estrid didn''t want to pay anything, and thus she escaped, leaving the debt problem to him.

    Ultimately, he solved it by beating Oni and taking over 60% of his debt from him.

    Sadly for Samiel, this was just one asion, and he didn''t have such luck next assions.

    Simr things happened additionally 3 times, be it either street fight, fight in the restaurant, and once, she beat a shop vendor. And because the Nesser Dynasty could be considered as some sort of ally of the Hall of Kadath, he was forced to pay for everything because Estrid wouldn''t.

    Now he cursed Cardinal Karliana several times over each day because she just wanted to get rid of Estrid and because of that, she ran away from the 3rd Floor as soon as it became possible. And he cursed at the problematic dragon girl with temper problems, who can''t control herself, and why she can''t go to other cities to cause trouble.

    If she was destroying properties in other ces that were not controlled or backed up by the Nesser Dynasty, then everything would be okey, but no, she chose to remain here and make his life hell.

    "What, are you still angry over your wallet?"

    Yvraine asked him jokingly; long ago, she noticed that Samiel loved gold and treasures even more than the majority of dragons, and now the politics were basically forcing him to part with it. It was hrious for her to observe this, as he was forced to part with his beloved gold coins.

    "Yes, I am. Why can''t that dammed dragon go and y thug in any other ce other than Zephystrand? There are more than 10 cities on this Floor and countless smaller ones and other settlements!"

    He was getting frustrated from this, especially because Estrid, a week ago, demolished his favorite coffee shop, which was the ce where he first visited when he was teleported to the Tower.

    Right now, Estrid was healing from the brutal beating he gave her in a fit of rage, as he broke most of her limbs and ribs, leaving her in a near-death state. Though it would be severe for anyone else, but he knew that with her healing factor, she would be okey within several days.

    p "Mainly, because she knows she can piss you off, probably hopes that if she annoys you as much as possible, forcing you to impregnate her and thus she would achieve her goal."</anda>

    Stated Yvraine with an icy tone, wanting nothing more than tearing the dragon girl apart, even though she had to admit that Estrid''s strategy was excellent from a certain point of view.

    Her thought process was simple: if she became unbearable to Samiel, he would agree to her request to impregnate her to father her hatchlings in his hope of getting rid of her. Probably it would have worked for a more weak-willed individual who would have relented to her advancement, but Samiel was getting just more and more pissed off.

    Unfortunately for her, she was not as sneaky as she thought to be, and Samiel immediately saw through her ns, and because of that, he still held himself. If not, and if not for her being rather important in the Hall of Kadath, he would have long ago killed her in the most brutal way and resurrected her as an Undead.

    He killed people for way less, and demolishing his favorite coffee shop was sphemous.

    "I told you that if you used the Ruler''s Quest, we could be long ago gone from this ce and, most importantly, from Estrid."

    She scolded him lightly, as Samiel just frowned at her.

    "And abandoning the rewards from the Tower System? Are you nuts? And aside from this, wasn''t it you, who wanted toplete the Quest together with me, to be recorded in them and have a higher possibility to obtain your own or same as mine?"

    He fired back, as she could just ept his statements. Indeed, the reason why Yvraine was constantly helping Samiel toplete his Quest from the Tower System was mainly that doing so would slowly increase her chances of getting the same treatment as Samiel got.

    Meanwhile, Samiel, at first, was using Yvraine as means toplete the Quest and fill theck of his background and knowledge; he was so used to her presence around him that he didn''t wish to part with her.

    Yeh, that sounded pretty idiotic, especially for someone like him... but deep inside, the idea of loneliness like on Earth was killing him from the inside. And as a bonus, she didn''t really have any moralpass, though she had, it was pretty twisted like him, so they went well together.

 Chapter 63 Drows And Drider

    Somewhere on the 3rd Floor, deep within the forests, in one unassuming cave.

    The forests of the 3rd Floor were enormous, filled with huge trees, reaching even several tens of meters, filled with various flora and fauna, as many species of the Magical Beasts were roaming around, hunting for the food or the pleasures of it.

    From the outside appearance, the entire cave looked rather ordinary, just like tens or hundreds of them were across the entire 3rd Floor. It was even well hidden, to the point, that one would have the problem of noticing it naturally without the help of any magic or ability.

    Though, when one entered inside, he would be shocked to see how the vast difference was inside.

    Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Monstrous Spiders and their various subspecies, were running here and there through the vast corridors of the cave system, all leading to the small underground area.

    The underground space was a small one, but it would be considered the size of the smaller nation in the Lower World. There were spider webs all around the cave, as Monstrous Spiders were preserving their prey inrge cocoons created from their webs while they were hanging from the ceiling of the cave system.

    Ettercaps weremanding the endless hordes of the Monstrous Spiders here and there on what to do, while some other Ettercaps were focusing on breeding more Monstrous Spiders. Because the Ettercaps were Monsters with the innate ability to control the Monstrous Spiders, they could effortlessly create huge numbers of them.

    In the center of the underground space, there was a small castle fortified with huge thick walls and engraved with weird runes. On the top of the walls, there were dark-skinned elves wearing leather armor patrolling and carefully watching every move and everything that happened in the underground space.

    The entire ce was giving out a really menacing feeling of death, despair, and misery.

    Floors, and in truth, they were the followers of the Drider, which was responsible for several Monster Waves of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps on the Zephystrand Cities.

    Naturally, these dark-skinned elves were Drows that somehow appeared on the 3rdIn the middle of the castle, in the throne room, there was an enormous Drider listening to the reports of his frightened Drow subordinates, from some of which were shaking in fear.

    While some of them were already Bronze-Tiers, the Drider was already Level 50 Bronze-Tier and on the verge of reaching Silver-Tier, because his mana had already started the sublimation process towards the Silver-Tier.

    The Drider itself was more than 5 meters high, with the lower body o spider, which was enormous, standing on its 8 legs menacingly, with his silver hair flowing down to his waist. On his face, his crazed expression was hardly concealed, as it was eating some meat, apparently someone who delivered some bad news to him.

    "Drider Lord Ilztrar, I bring you the news about thetest orders from the Underdark."

    Said one of the Drows, who was clothed more luxurious and even the Drider looked at the man warily because he was one of the Priests of the Lolth, the Spider Queen Goddes, and a very powerful God in the Drow God Pantheon.

    Not to mention, he was already Silver-Tier, and currently, he acted as a messenger from the High Priesthood from the Underdark City, who was basically bringing him the orders on what to do and acted as some kind of brain behind the operation.

    Ilztrar was one of the Drows who got turned into a Drider of his own volition because he wished for greater power by turning into this amalgamation of monstrosity between Drow and Monstrous Spider.

    He was rather famous even in the Underdark City because he was currently one of the few Drows who still lived to this day and who became Drider through his own choice. He was mad and insane even before he became a Drider.

    Such people were pretty rare, considering the fact that turning into a Drider was a severe punishment, so when someone decided to be one of his own volition was exceedingly rare.

    "Laris Daragan has left the Zephystrand City, and by our scouts, the defenses around the city are getting a bitxer due to not being attacked for the past half a year. The Clergy of the Underdark is, however, disturbed by the news of Cardinal from the Hall of Kadath visiting the Zephystrand."

    Reported the messenger from the Underdark, while the Drider Ilztrar frowned hearing this because this couldplicate his own ns and mission to capture Silvermoon Princess.

    "Are you aware of the reason why?"

    He asked carefully while taking a bite from the leg of unfortunate Drow, which angered him this morning. Cannibalism among Drows wasn''t something unusual, and to Driders, their formerrades were nothing more than just high-ss food.

    "Not really, but there are rumors that her visit has something to do with an unknown man, who is constantly spending time with Crown Princess of the Silvermoon."

    Stated the messenger indifferently to the Drider Ilztrar.

    "But that is not important for now... your orders are still the same, to capture the Silvermoon Crown Princess and bring her to the Underdark City. The sacrifice for the Spider Queen Goddess ising, and we cannot afford to cause her displeasure."

    Frowned the messenger, as he, in the end, decided to proceed with the current course of action.

    "I have everything prepared, and with our current power, we should be able to breach the walls of the Zephystrand and, amidst the chaos, capture the Crown Princess and deliver her to the teleportation formation. All to the Glory of the Spider Queen Goddess."<sub> </sub>

    Answered the Drider Ilztrar fanatically.

    Usually, Driders were the most loyal and fanatical followers of the Spider Goddess Lolth. This made them extremely dangerous foes because the enemy who has nothing to lose is the most dangerous one.

    And Driders often had nothing to lose. Many of them were just tortured and cursed creatures, punished by their Goddess for failing her because Lolth never tolerated any kind of failure.

    ''I should leave this ce as soon as possible before this gets messy... only madman like Ilztrar would undertake a suicide mission like this.''

    These were the thoughts of the messenger from the Underdark City, which was one of the stronger 13 Gates, and the main rival and mortal enemy of the Nesser Dynasty. This enmity stemmed from the entity between the Seldarine Pantheon, the so-called Elven Gods, and Dark Seldarine Pantheon, the so-called Drow Gods.

    In truth, there was one hidden reason why Spider Goddess Lolth kept creating Driders from her followers and turning Drows into these monstrosities between Spider and Drow.

    The reason was... drows or driders like Ilztrar.

    Driders were fanatically loyal to the Spider Goddess because, during their transformation, their whole minds were transformed to be loyal to the Spider Goddess. It was essentially like stripping them of their free will.

    And due to this, they would undertake missions like this one.

    Even the messenger from the Underdark City thought that this mission was a failure from the start, and even he, who was already at the Silver-Tier, wouldn''t dare to carry it out.

    There was only a sliver chance for sess, and failing would mean death or fate far worse than that. Especially now when he noticed the presence of the Hall of Kadath. Normally the Hall of Kadath had rather a neutral rtionship with the Underdark, which was for the best because if they turned out to be their enemies, then the situation would be pretty problematic.

    But for the Drider Ilztrar, it didn''t matter because the only thing that mattered was the mission from his Goddess.

    For the Underdark City as a whole, while it would be a boon if they managed to seed, it was also inconsequential in the long run because their goal, in truth, was to grasp the development of new magic weapons which were deployed around the Zephystrand and develop counter-measures against them en masse.

    While capturing the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty and making her living sacrifice for the Spider Goddess sounded good, not even the High Priests of the Lolth thought one single Drider could achieve it.

    The coboration of the Nesser Dynasty and a few of the Forge Cities was greatly troubling for the Underdark City because, from this coboration, a whole new generation of Mana Weapons was being born right now.

    Weapons that would be sooner orter being deployed against the forces of the Underdark, and right now, Nesser Dynasty was testing a few of such weapons on the 3rd Floor.

    Thus the High Priests of the Underdark decided to send a few tens of thousands of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps to test out the waters, to see how powerful these weapons were and see their limits.

    Of course, all of this was left to themand of Drider while the High Priests just fed him with the vision of a grand mission. And, of course, the Drider jumped on it without any hesitation, prepared to carry out this suicide task without any second thoughts.

    After that, the Drider Lord Ilztrar dispersed the meeting, and the messenger from the Underdark returned to his own little chapel in the castle as he contacted his superiors in the Underdark City.

    "How is the situation there?"

    Asked a cold female voice as the call was connected to the Underdark City, which was located on the 89th Floor of the Tower.

    "That idiot is still going to attack the Zephystrand and trying to capture the Crown Princess... impossible to achieve, but our mission in gathering the date on all weaponry will be sessful. Though..."

    He stopped in his tracks as the Drow Matriarch was getting impatient; thus, he quickly continued his report.

    "We have noticed someone from the Hall of Kadath near the Crown Princess, and there is also the daughter of the Cardinal Zaldidraax right now in the Zephystrand. From what our scouts noticed about the man, he seems to be her superior, and outside of sparring with Silvermoon Princess and praying on his balcony, he is not leaving the Citadel."

    Reported the Drow Messenger nervously, fearing the angry Drow Matriarch. In the Drow Society, women had a much higher social standing than men, and thus it became a Matriarchal-oriented society.

    After giving some further instruction to the Drow Messenger, the Drow Matriarch ended the call as she had more important things to attend to, aside from instructing a bunch of mortals on something as meaningless for them as this.

    While from the point of view of many Matriarch, obtaining the information about the new generation of the Magetech Weaponry was rather useless, some other leaders in the Underdark thought that this information could be very well sold to some enemies of the Dwarven Coalition.

 Chapter 64 Unknown

    Meanwhile, back in the Zephystrand City.

    "Now that we have finished, I am going to carry out my prayer."

    He stated as he stood up, preparing to leave the training yard for his chambers to pray, as right now, he was praying on a daily basis.

    "You are bing boring like those priests... just a few years, and you can start preaching on the city''s za."

    She provoked him but failed to get any reaction out of him. Even though Yvrain was the Apostle of the Moon Goddess of the Seldarine, the Elven Pantheon, she wasn''t really a believer; she got that position only due to her lineage.

    It was rather ironic, but for most people of strong factions that led Churches and Cults and other religious organizations, they, in truth, weren''t as religious as they seemed at first nce. For many of them, the Gods weren''t an object of worship or faith but rather just their helpers in getting stronger or bing one themselves.

    Most Gods functioned with their Apostles or other high clergies, in the same way as Samiel was once with his own God Azathoth. Basically, they were just carrying out their assigned missions, nothing more and nothing less.

    Certainly, not all of them were like that, but from what he noticed that even Yvraine told him that 4 out of 10 High Priests or other simrly positioned people in religious organizations were fanatical believers. The remaining 6 were either faux ones or some who were just doing the mission that their God assigned them by spreading their faith among ignorant people and cultivating them as loyal worshippers.

    "You know, for my whole life, I didn''t know what to await from life. I always believed that the only purpose of life was death itself because that was absolute, at least for me as a mortal. Only death was something that woulde for sure... aside from taxes."

    He exined and ended it with a slight joke, as Yvraine giggled a bit at that, so it was a good joke, but then he returned to his serious exnation.

    "And I still don''t know it till this day, but maybe I found my faith? Believing that my God saw something in me?"

    He asked, not really looking at Yvraine as he looked more or less at the artificial sky of the Tower''s 3rd Floor.

    "So, if you will, I will take my leave."

    During this one year, Samiel started going through an existential crisis, mainly because he came to the conclusion of the emptiness of his life. He never had a goal in his life, something he wished to achieve or something that he wanted to leave after himself.

    It was a simple moment when his own Familiar asked him what goal in his life he wanted to achieve. Hathor was an annoying creature because all the time she just spent sleeping, and when she didn''t sleep, she would annoy him to hell.

    Lately, she has developed a quirk for having philosophical debates. She would be searching for topics that would either annoy him or piss him off.

    He still remembered the feeling of... ignorance and not really knowing what to say. When he wanted to say that power, to which goal? Where would it end? Will he achieve Legendary? Will he achieve the fabled Transcendence?

    What he awaited from life, what he awaited from the existence of reality itself?

    He then started praying more often because, in faith, people found their purpose, right?

    Samiel Zentaur, or rather Patrick Smith, was an atheist; he didn''t believe in God or Deity or anything. Even when he embraced his new persona, he never believed, truly believed, because he was aware that Godhood was just one Path to Transcendence.

    Even when he decided the Hall of Kadath and was proimed as the Holy Son, it was mainly due to his lineage and potential power he could achieve, not because he was faithful to Azathoth like any other believer would.

    One day, he opened the Gospel of Kadath, which contained spiritual faith in the Outer Gods.

    "The 1st Holy Creed of the Gospel: There is no Dream without the Real, and there is no Real without the Dream, because for all, we are just the Dreamers bing Creators of our own Reality."

    He recited the Gospel of the Kadath.

    The first time he opened the religious book in his life and even read from it was one year ago, when he started seriously studying the Gospel of Kadath. He became a "worshipper" of Azathoth by chance, never really intending to believe in God, especially when he knew that even he had the potential to be one.

    Samiel started asking himself what it was faith?

    What was faith in God?

    What was believing in God?

    In the end, he came to a simple conclusion.

    Faith was a trust. Samiel learned to trust his God, learned to trust with the intentions his God has with him, and that his God saw something in him that would be made all of this worthwhile.

    Faith was amitment to God. He decided tomit himself to his God, not only within the extent of carrying out missions or Quests or his duties.

    Thus after several months of undergoing a partial existential crisis, on what exactly Samiel wanted to achieve in his life, what he wanted to achieve by climbing the Tower, what he wanted to achieve by reaching Legendary, what he wanted to achieve by reaching Trasncendce, he came to a conclusion.

    He didn''t know.

    Even after thinking about it for several months and returning to every moment of his life, analyzing every decision he made, he didn''t find an answer to this predicament.<sub> </sub>

    Though he found something else.

    Or decided to do something else.

    He decided to trust his God, whom he knew, and that was enough for him.

    He decided to embrace himself as the believer and decided tomit himself to the new life, to find a purpose, a purpose that Azathoth saw in him, and maybe, one day, he will see it in himself too.

    After one hour, which he spent praying and reciting the Gospel of Kadath, this became his daily routine, studying the Gospel, the way of life like the Gospel of Kadath dictated to all of its faithful followers.

    Of course, he would soon need to carry out some human sacrifice in the worshipping ritual. Worshipping the Outer Gods wasrgely based on obscure rituals and living sacrifices of innocent ones dying gruesome deaths.

    "The 3rd Holy Creed of the Gospel: There is no Good or Evil, only the Power which exists, and those of Power, decide everything."

    He recited thest Holy Creed of the Gospel as he closed it, preparing to study the Void Magic before he would sleep. Even though he didn''t really need to sleep most of the time, he still preferred it.

    From the time he started actively praying and decided to embrace what he should be, his Dreams were morefortable for his soul, as he felt refreshed and entirely reborn after experiencing even a single Dream.

    ***

    Several Days Later

    Samiel finished preparations for the expedition to the Trolls settlement. He deiced that he would be going alone toplete the ughter of the Troll settlement. Thetest information which arrived about the numbers of the Trolls was that there were a maximum of five hundred Trolls.

    They ranged from Steel-Tier, while they had some Silver-Tier Trolls, from which only the Chieftain was mutated one, so his power would be a bit higher than average Silver-Tier Troll. However, in the end, it didn''t change anything.

    Right now, Samiel had 255 Bronze-Tier Undead, so he didn''t even n to fight personally; instead, he would be sending his Undead to do the job for him because, for the first time since he entered the Tower, he could use his ss as it should be.

    Unfortunately for Samiel, most ces where he was, or what he visited, were the ones where even his Undead would be inconsequential because of their lower strength, and even if he had some higher numbers, in front of overwhelming strength disparity, it didn''t mean anything.

    Not to mention, coupled with his newfound mastery over the Void Magic and Winter Ruler, he wouldn''t really fear even if the settlement was thrice the number of Trolls as it was reported. In the worst case, he would then join in the fight.

    As he proceeded to leave the Zephystrand, suddenly, he caught sight of Estrid, wandering through the city''s streets with a bored expression. Seemingly, she had finally finished healing from the beating Samiel gave her for destroying his favorite coffee shop.

    "Estrid, what are you nning to do?"

    He asked her because it didn''t take him being a genius to notice that she was following him the moment she saw him.

    "It is obvious... I am following you into the wilderness."

    She answered by stating the obvious, while Samiel was already getting a headache. While previously he nned to use Estrid as bait to lure out Trolls, in the end, it remained as a joke because he wanted to try new strategies with his Undead.

    More precisely, he wanted to simte a siege battle.

    "Not, you are not... and I am ordering this to you as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath."

    He stated sternly, not really wanting to take care of Estrid, not to mention he could handle Trolls effortlessly on his own, without her being there and causing him trouble.

    Meanwhile, Estrid, who heard his stern voice, pouted in disappointment because she knew that when he became this formal, there was no chance for her. Not to mention, he really did have authority over her and could order her to remain here.

    And as a member of the Hall and his "subordinate", technically, she had to obey.

    ''Thest thing I need to do in my life is listen to Yvraine about why Estrid was there when she wasn''t. And that was during the time when she finally stopped being such pain in the ass.''

    He thought as he left the gates of the Zephystrand, entering the forests of the 3rd Floor, walking in the direction of the abandoned settlement, which was long ago overrun by the Magical Beast Horde and now was inhabited by a small colony of Forest Trolls.

    Originally Yvraine was supposed to apany him, but she was preparing for her duel with Estrid to have another catfight, and maybe this was for the best because he could go alone on a trip and clear his head finally.

    Not listening to her ramblings about Estrid was freeing.

    But during the year and months, Samiel noticed that she acted more naturally and more rxed around him, practically less the princess way and more humanly? Yes, probably more humanly or whatever.

    He often thought it was no wonder that almost nobody could stand her.

 Chapter 65 Troll Colony (1)

    Even he admitted that dealing with Yvraine from the start was problematic at best and humiliating at average. Not that he cared for her pretty insults or attending to her whims, he had experienced worse; at least their rtionship was purely business at the start, and he knew what to expect from her.

    Now it was very hard to tell what their rtionship was exactly; it would probably be a weird one. It long ago stopped being a purely business rtionship based on the exchange of mutual benefits. Even someone dense as him noticed that this was going in a weird way, something he didn''t wish to continue.

    He took out one cigarette because he finally found a brand that suited his taste before he conjured a spark of fire on top of his finger, litting it up. He had been smoking for years already, and thankfully after bing an Old Deus, he didn''t need to feel about the side effects.

    In truth, one was partially immune to most mortal illnesses after bing supernatural and didn''t have any kind of effect on him; he was just smoking because, for him, it was a heavily ritualized activity that he was so used to it that he couldn''t really stop.

    After he inhaled a deep breath of smoke, he looked at the sky on the 3rd Floor as he reminisced about the past. Suddenly he was getting a bad feeling when he was thinking about it, as his mind was subconscious to hisst experience in being romantic rtionship... if it could even be called such.

    Abruptly, when he was thinking about the temperature dropping down at exponential speed, and soon enough, even his breath was visible. Everything in his vicinity started slowly freezing, and life was leaving the realm of the living from his environment as the kingdom of frost and ice was descending.

    He hated these memories, he wished to get rid of them, but they always resurfaced, even if he used magical means to seal part of his memories through Magic Seals.

    At least, whatever it was, it was still better than that.

    When he was still Patrick Smith, it happened when he was 17, only several months before he became supernatural; he somehow managed to get into a rtionship with a girl, her name was Violet.

    Make no mistake, before bing Samiel Zentaur, and when he was mostly sane, he was a below-average nerd or otaku, with weight problems and social awkwardness on level 100. But his persona as Patrick Smith wasn''t bad; he was a kind person, polite, attentive, one could say.

    Basically a perfect friendzone stereotype material. He already didn''t know what exactly led him to that, but once during his more depressive periods about, he asked her for a date, and to his shock, she said yes.

    He still remembered the day, the feeling of how it filled with endless confidence and happiness. When he was already mentally preparing for the swift rejection, suddenly, something that turned his worldview upside down came.

    He was so ted that he, for one second, didn''t doubt it, which was one of the greatest mistakes he hadmitted in his whole life. After several months of "happiness", something of his ever paranoid nature finally resurfaced when he once asked a question to himself.

    Why him?

    They were like two worlds apart.

    He was a fat, below-average-looking, socially awkward otaku who had problems not stuttering and even talking when they first met. He was neither handsome, fit, or anything women like her preferred or that he thought.

    She was a beautiful woman, a very social person, who was his total opposite. Usually, types of men, of those like her, were some handsome "Alpha Males" with six packs and nice faces who didn''t talk about 20 differences between real concepts o dragons and wyverns used in modern fantasy shows and movies.

    Then one day, by an "ident", he was able to overhear the conversation she had with some of her friends. So yeah, gettingorared was one of a hell experience. Specifically when the entire rtionship between them was just part of a bet on who could lead around the fool for a longer time.

    "One more reason for the destruction of that dammed world... only bad memories... only the bad memories... only the bad memories... only the bad memories... only the bad memories..."

    He started repeating it several times after, like a broken machine.

    "AAAHHHHHH!"

    He then roared in rage as a burst of frost exploded from his body, freezing everything in diameter of several tens of meters to ice sculptures. Everything ranging from the smaller microorganism to humongous trees and birds flying in the air were frozen to icicles.

    Every speck of life that was in the area was killed due to being frozen in a split of seconds.

    "..."

    After several seconds he calmed down considerably to regain a clear mind while looking around the frozen area which was created by his outburst.

    "Hmm... at least it is beautiful."

    He muttered as he left the ce, which was frozen, and entered deeper into the forest.

    ***<sub> </sub>

    Somewhere on the 3rd Floor.

    After walking for several hours, Samiel finally arrived at the area, which was under the control of the Troll Colony. After walking straight for several hours through the illustrious and iming forests of the 3rd Floor, Samiel calmed down enough to be capable of rational thoughts once more, not losing himself in his rage and depression.

    The Troll Colony was located in the ruins of a smaller settlement, severely thousand kilometers from Zephystrand City. It was a colony of the Forest Trolls; this subspecies of Trolls was one of the weaker ones among all Troll Species.

    Samiel was able to cross this distance just within one day, as he didn''t really hurry and was taking his time strolling the ancient forests of the 3rd Floor.

    The settlement was a very small one, and when it was still standing, it was just some random vige or whatever. Then it was overrun by the periodical Magical Beast Horde, and it was destroyed.

    Several decadester, these ruins were found by a small colony of Forest Trolls, who decided to make their home there. Samiel stood on the top of one bigger tree in the vicinity of the Troll Vige, as he called it while observing the ce.

    Forest Trolls managed to repair it considerably, but not at the same time. From the point of view of your average Troll, then yes, they created and construction marvel by erecting a wooden fence and wooden gate.

    Though Samiel had to admit, they did a good work of filling the gaps and ces around the walls of the vige, which were destroyed a long time ago by the Magical Beast Horde. Thus for their standard, it was a good fortification.

    Samiel writes it off as an achievement of the mutated Troll, who was probably smarter than the rest of his kind. He counted around fifty Steel-Tier Forest Trolls who were on guard duty together under the leadership of 7 Bronze-Tier ones.

    Samiel summoned all of his 270 Bronze-Tier Undead. All of his Undead were very strong, mainly because they were resurrected from strong Ork Warriors or other strong material Samiel came across.

    He also invested a lot of resources into cultivating these Undeads; a lot of Mana Crystals were used to buy some suitable Equipment to rece the destroyed one because he wanted his Undead to be properly armored.

    It was not out of fear of injury that would be ridiculous, not.

    Samiel realized that if he tanked them and gave them strong armor inscribed with defensive Runes, which he could do himself, as he dabbled a bit into a Rune Magic, thebat efficiency of his Undead would increase by 125% to 160%, depending on the situation.

    While Samiel was only a Level because he purposely advanced just by one Level during this year, he still packed enormous firepower, and this was still without using the Soul Force Crystals to create some Unique Undeads.

    After he returned to Zephystrand, he nned to create some Death Knights or some other mutated special Undead with the Soul Force Crystals he obtained from Estrid. The rest of the Crystals would probably be eaten by him when he reached Level 25 because that would ease up his breakthrough to the Bronze-Tier.

    "Dun, dun, dun, dun."

    He said some nonsensical words that didn''t even exist while he prepared to give amand for his Undead to attack.

    "Let the Void be our Protectors in this bright hour, and Chaos we unleash upon enemies of ours."

    He muttered silently the chant that the Gospel recorded to be a protection prayer to the Nyathotep, the Crawling Chaos, the ck Pharaon, and the one who dwelled in darkness and spread chaos and carnage on the enemies of the Kadath.

    Not all Outer Gods were "mortal friendly", said for idiots. There was an entire plethora of the Outer Gods who were hostile towards the mortals and those who wanted nothing else than just destruction and carnage, not really different from Evil Gods or some other unsavory entities.

    The ones who were were the ones mostly worshipped by the Hall of Kadath, and they were mainly the Azathoth and his direct descendants. These Outer Gods were the most powerful and were also the most intelligent because, rtively often, many Outer Gods were acting just on their instincts alone, nothing more and nothing less.

    Immediately after finishing the short prayer, he ordered the Undead attack as the small horde of armored 270 Undeads moved at the same time, and under cover of darkness and forest, they approached the Troll Vige.

    As the Undeads approached the vige with high speed, Trolls were perfectly unaware of anything as they "watched" and carried out "guard duty" on the top of the wooden palisades and self-made fences.

    After several minutes, Samiel saw how a mini horde of almost 300 Undeads tore through the gate or rather the blockade the Forest Trolls made in the vige. It was a spectacle to watch, as the Undeads breached the fortification that the Forest Trolls patched up somehow and were already killing one Troll after another.

    Some of the more agile and faster Undead managed to jump over the palisades and started clearing them out.

    Unfortunately for the Forest Trolls, they were weaker and worse equippedpared to the Undead. All of Samiel''s Undead were equipped with rather cheap armors, but those were all Dwarven-made, so even if it was manufactured en masse, still dwarven quality was superb even if it was just mass produced.

    Not to mention that every piece of armor was engraved with some basic defensive runes, which even further increased.

 Chapter 66 Troll Colony (2)

    But even so, the Trolls surprised him because they soon started counterattacking their Undead invaders. While their resistance was useless in front of the Undead Horde, which was advancing and taking the life of one Forest Troll after another, Samiel couldn''t help but grin at the situation.

    His Undeads breached the first defensive walls after nearly 10 minutes of fighting and killed all Forest Trolls which were patrolling up there. Unfortunately, right now, the entire Troll Colony was rmed, and now the strongest fighters of the colony started crawling out of their holes.

    Suddenly, it was Samiel''s turn to be surprised by what he saw because he saw several Bronze-Tier Frost Troll Shamans existing in ruins. They looked more scrawny and weaker than the rest of their kin; they were d in fur clothing and holding weird-looking wooden staves.

    "One, two, three, four, five... dammed... those idiotic scouts said only two shamans were present in the Colony."

    He cursed because while this wouldn''t really change the oue of the siege, he would lose some of his Undead, but on the other side, he could resurrect these Shamans as one, and he could finally get Undead Mages.

    Right now, all Undead Samiel were only Warriors, if he went through some basic ssification. Undead Mages were rare because they required specific conditions to be created naturally, or someone needed to resurrect a magic user as an Undead.

    Shamans were a sub-category of Warlock Magic Path. This Profession depended on borrowing the powers of Spirits and Ancestors or whatever to cast their Magic. Even though, Samiel knew that in many cases, the Shamans were borrowing power not from the Spirits they were worshipping but from Evil Gods, Daemons or other simr entities.

    Reason for that?

    Shamanism was spread only in more primitive cultures, and here and there, it happened pretty often; some Daemon or Evil God who wanted to cause mischief or just wanted to cause chaos and ughter would impersonate Spirit from some Tribe.

    It even happened to Orks, mainly because the Orkish God didn''t care about that; for them, every killing and war was good, not to mention they were busy waging war against each other rather than tending to their believers.

    So, Samiel observed the Shamans attentively, not wanting to miss any detail.

    All of them were Bronze-Tiers and were protected by several tens of Steel-Tiers Forest Troll warriors who were probably some kind of their personal guards. Fortunately for the Troll Shamans, they were some distance from the Undeads, who were slowly killing their way to their position.

    What was weird was the Forest Troll Chief didn''t show itself even now when the entire Troll Vige was basically burning, and approximately one-third of the vige was killed by his Undeads.

    After several seconds, all Troll Shamans started chanting something in their nativenguage, which Samiel didn''t understand, as he didn''t speak Orkoid Languages. He could speak some of thenguages of his old home, but those were useless.

    Then he was fluent in his native tongue, the Eldritch Speech and Void Speech; Yvraine was teaching him the various types of Elvish Languages, starting from Common Elvish, High Elvish, and Silvermoon Language, which was used only by Silvermoon Elves. Then, of course, he spoke fluently with Cosmos Common, which was like universalnguage for the entire Cosmos, and could understand some Dwarvish.

    Despite not understanding theirnguage, with his keen eyes of Old Deus, he could see the huge amount of Magical Particles gathering around the five Shamans of the Colony.

    "Hmm... casting some collective spell which requires all of them to cast it... should I allow that?"

    He muttered as he observed the five Bronze-Tier Troll Shamans casting some kind of collective spell, so its power would be pretty high, possibly a Level 7 Spell... that one should be enough destructive power to obliterate the entire mountains...

    "That would mean loss of many of my Undeads... especially when those greenskins are now using their Lifeforce to power up the Spell... ah damm."

    Samiel cursed at the decisiveness of the Troll Shamans. It appeared that they indeed chose to sacrifice themselves just to cast a spell that would destroy the majority of his Undeads... not like that would solve their situation because he was still here and waiting in the shadows to strike.

    Still, it would be foolish to lose all his Undead basically for nothing; thus, he decided to entertain these Forest Troll Shamans a bit.

    Casting a spell was a process that consisted of several steps. Basically, when a Magic User, or rather most of the Magic Users, were casting their spells, they were constructing a Spell Matrix based on the Spell Model.

    If a Casters makes even a single mistake during the creation of the Spell Matrix, it usually results in the spell failing; in the majority of cases, also violent backsh in the form of an explosion would take ce as a reward by heavens for those who are smart.

    Samiel instantaneously cast 2nd Level Spell of the Void Magic Destructive Resonance, which was basically attacking the minds of the people in the vicinity. Samiel knew that with this, he would basically kill all five Bronze-Tier Shamans and all of their guards at the same time, as they would suffer the backsh.

    He cast the 2nd Level Spell Void Magic Spell Destructive Resonance, attacking the minds of the five Bronze-Tier Spells.<sub> </sub>

    Not even secondster, all of the Bronze-Tier Shamans instantly stopped casting their spell, causing the Spell Matrix to copse, as all the Magical Particles that were gathered in the Spell Matrix started colliding with each other and thus creating the explosions, which engulfed all Bronze-Tier Shamans and all of their Steel-Tier guards.

    "Art is an explosion."

    Samiel muttered as he observed an enormous explosion of something that appeared to be a 6th or 7th Level Spell, an endless cycle of self-destruction because all that enormous number of Magical Particles were copsing down and colliding with each other, all over again and again.

    After all the Shamans and their guards were killed, the Forest Troll colony''s power fell considerably because, as it seemed, they were one of the heavy hitters of the colony. Now the Undeads had basically unhindered progress through the vige, killing any Forest Troll in the vicinity.

    During the whole time the siege was going on, Samiel was steadily collecting souls for him, as he couldn''t wait to eat some of them, especially the souls of the Bronze-Tier Shamans, which looked really appetizing to him. He almost salivated when he collected those souls; they were bigger and purerpared to the rest of the souls, mainly because Magic Users had stronger Souls than Warriors.

    He then observed how his Undead were closing the distance and were already near the vige center, where arge "building" was located, or rather what has remained from it, because Trolls did a horrendous job repairing it.

    He guessed that it was probably the lodging of the higher caste of the colony, meaning the leader and some of his chosen ones and personal guards were living in that ce. This was the first time since the start of the attack that the Troll Chief showed himself.

    He looked very simr in terms of appearance to other Forest Trolls with green skin. However, his clothing choice was more "luxurious", as he wore some jewelry, and contrary to other Forest Trolls, this one had red eyes, which was probably the sign of his mutation.

    "Silver-Tier... at least Level 60... hmm... this one is pretty strong."

    Thought Samiel as he observed the mutated Forest Troll in action. He was holding some crude two-handed axe as his weapon of choice, but despite its rusty and terrible appearance, Samiel could feel the power from the axe.

    "Why have you attacked my territory, Outsider?"

    Shouted the Forest Troll as Samiel squinted his eyes at two things. The first one was that the mutated Forest Troll was speaking Cosmos Common Language, which was rtively unusual among the Greeenskins as a whole.

    And the second one, he called him Outsider. This was term used to target to Outer Gods and those created from the Azathoth''s Dream, basically the enemies of the most Pantheons and Transcendental Factions across the Cosmos.

    Still... it was bugging Samiel that from where this stupid Forest Troll could have obtained such knowledge... unless he wasn''t speaking to the Troll.

    "So... which one are you? One of the Lesser Ones or some Big Shot? I think the first one... if not, you wouldn''t choose something as pitiful as Forest Troll as your Apostle?"

    Samiel taunted his opponent because it didn''t really take him long to figure out to whom exactly he was talking. When he first looked at the Forest Troll Chief and the mutation he had undergone, he noticed something weird.

    Very weird, and something normally shouldn''t exist in the Material ne and something that usually existed only in Worlds capable of holding Transcendents. Samiel, as an Old Deus, would never mistake this weirdness for anything in the Cosmos.

    This Forest Troll Shaman was basically possessed by a deceased Transcendent who managed to survive despite the fact that his physical body was destroyed and now existed only as in Spiritual Body.

    Themon practice among some Transcendents who want to revive themselves is usually used by those who lost everything aside from their soul. Still, Samiel was extra careful because he knew that this Forest Troll, while being possessed by the unknown Soul of Transcendental, could exert frighteningbat prowess for a short amount of time before the body of the Host would crumble apart.

    ''Inquire to the Akashic Records... what will happen if I devour the Soul of the Transcendental dwelling in that Forest Troll?''

    He asked in his mind as he asked this question to the Akashic Records, fully knowing that it would cost him some Record Points. But he wanted to know because finding the soul of an almost defenseless Transcendental Being who was on the verge of death was too tempting for him to pass on.

    [10 Record Points deduced as payment.]

    [ording to the calctions of the Akashic Records, the most probable oue is the birth of the Level 4 Transcendental Ability if the User Samiel Zentaur is able to bear with that. Predictions are telling; with the current physique and lineage of the Old Deus possibility of birthing to Level 4, Transcendental Ability, is 87,21469782%pared to that of dying. The Level 4 Transcendental Ability would be based on the fundamental nature and existence of the Transcendent before his death.]

    Hearing that answered, now that spark of greed inside his mind was ignited, and barrels of the gunpowder exploded, and the decision was made in a split of a second.

 Chapter 67 Samiel Vs. ???

    From the moment Samiel got confirmation from the Akashic Records that he could obtain a Level Ability from assimting the soul of the Transcendental inhabiting the body of the Forest Troll Chief, he couldn''t really control his own greed.

    He weighed his option before deciding on this one. Samiel, as a partial Eldritch Creature, was very sensitive to souls, and he sensed that the soul of the deceased Transcendental inhabiting the body of the Forest Troll Chief was on the verge of dissipation.

    It was so weak that he could basically devour it without suffering any side effects, and this was a heavenly opportunity, as others of this kind might note in the future once again.

    He knew that the Transcendental inside the body of the Forest Troll Chief used most of his remaining power to force several evolutions in the body of the Forest Troll Chief so he could use him as a means to resurrect himself or rather to find a better and more powerful vessel.

    But due to that, he hastened the process of whatever was destroying his soul, and because he was pretty unfortunate, by ending on a low Floor such as the 3rd Floor, he couldn''t find anything that would strengthen his soul force or at least stop the dissipation process.

    "Insignificant mortal!"

    Boomed the voice of the Transcendental in the body of the Forest Troll Chief while Samiel was carrying out his analysis, trying to find out which type of Transcendent was it, how powerful he was, and theoretically some hints of his identity.

    Thest one was just a pipe dream because he doubted that the Transcendental Entity would be so stupid to give away his identity, considering the state he was in.

    Samiel was currently Level 18 Steel-Tier going against Level 60 Silver-Tier Forest Troll Chief, who boosted the remnant powers of the Transcendental Entity to at least peak of the Silver-Tier, if not even reaching Gold-Tier.

    Still... Samiel was confident in this, not only because he believed himself to be pretty strong, and if he yed his cards correctly and sacrificed his Undeds in his ce to take critical hits, he would be able to kill the Forest Troll Chief.

    Also, Samiel obtained a huge trump card.

    He could call on the power of his God to give himbat prowessparable to a Gold-Tier for a limited amount of time. This was an ability he obtained only after he started his transition from the faux believer to a true one.

    Samiel ordered his Undead to create a distance between him and Forest Troll Chief while he conjured an Ice Trident and shot several Ice Spears at the Forest Troll Chief, who just swung his double-sided axe and shattered all iing Ice Spears at him.

    ''Despite his clumsy physique, he is rather fast... even though he is just Lesser Race; he could probably contend against Elder Races.''

    Thought Samiel, while his Undeads divided themselves into three parts. The 1st one had the task of killing everything that still lived in the vige, the 2nd one got into a specific formation, and soon enough, Samiel would be active in the suppression formation, simr to the one he used against Esstrid in their duel.

    And finally, the third group remained on stand-by as Samiel would use them to serve as a shield in case the Forest Troll Chief, or rather the Transcendental inside him would use such a strong attack that Samiel could not block or dodge.

    After shattering his iing attacks that were meant to test out the waters, Forest Troll Chief struck the ground with his legs several times before sprinting at Samiel so fast that he disappeared from his position and appeared next to him Samiel in a matter of not even one second.

    shing at him with his double-sided axe, which Samiel recognized as some kind of Cursed Weapon, probably originally belonging to his Transcendental tenant, Samiel barely managed to react as he flipped backward, missing the iing hit only by a few millimeters.

    ''Cursed Weapon would mean one of simrly minded alignment... so that is reducing our choices to Evil Gods, Daemons, or Devils... Devils are too arrogant to possess the body of mortal creature even in the face of death, and Daemons would choose their own progeny to that... so that leaves only Evil Gods... that matches perfectly.''

    Samiel thought as he gave the signal to his Undeads to activate the spell, and not even a momentter, a pentagram-shaped magic circle appeared above them while simrly suppressing the Forest Troll Chief as he did with Estrid.

    Suddenly the Forest Troll Chief looked at the pentagram-shaped magic circle weirdly before an enormous beam of energy burst out of his body, shattering the Suppressive Magic Circle in a split of a second, as the Trasncedent''s Soul inside the Forest Troll Chief''s body directly destroyed it.

    Though it didn''t escape Samiel the sight how much weaker the soul became because from the umted energy, approximately 35% were used to cast that beam of energy which had powerparable to at least Level 90 Gold-Tier.

    While this could be considered an utter failure, Samiel awaited something in this sense because, for sure, the Transcendent within wouldn''t let the Suppression Magic Circle that was suppressing the Forest Troll Chief exist because that would be dangerous for the oue of this fight.

    The backsh from the destruction of the Suppression Magic Circle destroyed all of his Undeads who were the center of the formation, so he lost approximately around 50 Undead, but that was respectable, and Samiel would dly sacrifice them if it meant lowering the final capabilities of his enemy by 35%.

    Forest Troll Chief rushed at Samiel without a second thought, though right now, it was apparent that the Transcendental inside his body was supplying him with energy because the body of the Forest Troll Chief was already crumbling apart.

    That was probably because of overusing arge amount of high-tiered Mana. Even though that Transcendental was only in Soul Form and on the verge ofplete dissipation, his Mana still had Legendary Level quality, and that was not something that could body of Silver-Tier Lesser Specimen handle.

    Only those of Superior Species like wouldn''t have those problems, but even Samiel would be cautious about not overusing it too much, in fear of getting some hidden injuries or whatever... anything could happen if the person was using the power which didn''t belong to him in the first ce.

    Samiel was dodging the iing attacks from the Forest Troll Chief as he shed his Double-Sided Cursed Axe at him ferociously,bining it with punches and kicks, not giving Samiel any time to counterattack, aside from using the Winter Ruler to stealthily lowering down the temperature of the surroundings.

    What Samiel aimed for was to create frozennd and make use of his natural environment to turn to battle in his favor. Unfortunately for him, this caught the attention of the Forest Troll Chief, or rather the entity within him, as the energy levels of the Forest Troll Chief started rapidly rising.<sub> </sub>

    Soon enough, in a matter of several seconds, he rose from Level 60 Silver-Tier to Level 95 Gold-Tier, so the growth in hisbat prowess would be drastic. Before Samiel could react, he found himself flying several tens of meters away, crashing through countless buildings; as he finally stopped when one enormous boulder stopped him.

    ''Crack.''

    Only sounded as if the enormous boulder cracked in several parts on the impact.

    Surprisingly Samiel wasrgely okey, mainly due to the fact that he had Holy-Grade Amor Rao''s Vengeance, so by Yvraine''s words and based on what Cardinal Karliana stated, only Gold-Tier with Mastery would be able to injure him among the Iron-Tier instantly.

    Of course, this didn''t really mean he was undefeatable, he could be easily killed, not to mention, his head wasn''t even protected, and for example, if he was tired down, then the job was easy. Just with Rao''s Vengeance, he couldn''t be one-shot killed by some random assassin or his armor cannon by pierced through by your average mortals.

    He had just a good start ahead of others, but not that much, because Heirs of 13 Gates would have simr artifacts, and those of prominent standing would get their hands at least on Legendary-Grade Armors for their own protection.

    Even Yvraine had Holy-Grade Armor; just she had it was very well hidden andbined with her battle dress outfit.

    Though Samiel noticed vague cracks that were on the armor from the attack done by the Transcendental, who took control over the Forest Troll Chief''s body personally to deal with him.

    "Let the Void out, Let the Madness Spread, Let the Chaos Descent, and Let the Order Perish.

    For I am the vessel of the Dreams, and warrior of Chaos, priest of the Void and champion of the Outsidness."

    As Samiel stood up, he chanted the possession prayer, which let the Outer God possess his mortal body, and more to be precise, this one was letting Crawling Chaos, ck Pharaon, Nyathotep to possess his body, as he was the one who indulged in the carnage and chaos the most.

    In a split of a second, the entire aura around Samiel changed as his power skyrocketed, even eclipsing out the Forest Troll Chief possessed by the Unknown Transcendental Entity. Samiel''s own would already match up the power of half-step Legendaries or newly advanced ones.

    "Real World... finally atst after so many years..."

    Stated a distorted voice, not reallying out from Samiel as the Forest Troll Chief, who was controlled by the Transcendental Entity, suddenly stopped in his tracks and was frozen in fear because he recognized that voice.

    "Hmm... what do we have here... You one of his, aren''t you? Servant of the Lord of the Great Abyss?"

    Said the voice of Nyathotep menacingly while he looked at the Forest Troll Chief, instantly able to recognize who or what was exactly hiding in its body.

    Servant of one of his "enemies" if it could be even called such.

    "Begone from this Reality Crawling Chaos, this is not your Realm! By the Covenant, the Outer Gods will not set a foot outside of the Primordial Demiurge''s Dream. All of them, including your Father, agreed to the Covenant."

    Boomed voice out of the Forest Troll Chief, though Nyathotep, who was controlling the body of Samiel Zentaur, only grinned.

    "The Covenant is dead with the birth of the Holy Son of the Nuclear Chaos, as it was stipted, now we can attempt to invade once more as the Great Cataclysm ising, and the Order and Chaos will change once more until the new world order is established."

    Nyathotepughed madly at the ignorance or despair of the Transcendental inside the body of Forest Troll Chief, or perhaps at both of them.

    Out of nowhere, several thick tentacles appeared as they pierced through the body of the Forest Troll Chief, instantly killing him, if not for the Nyathotep avoiding vital parts, purposely leaving him alive so the Holy Son could assimte the soul of the Daemon Transcendental.

    "Hmm... still struggling."

    He then cast several seals, which put the soul of the Daemon Transcendental to sleep.

    "Hopefully, this Great Cataclysm will end better for uspared to thest one... being forced back to the Dream sucks, not to mention nobody knows when the Father fully awakes, and we will all go boom, escaping to reality is our only choice."

    Muttered Nyathotep as he left the body of Samiel Zentaur and returned back to where he came from while leaving the unconscious body of the Forest Troll Chief together with the sealed soul of Daemon for the Holy Son.

    "Just wait, Nodens...st time you won, but this time it will be different."

    Echoed theughter that nobody seemed to hear, but every living being not only on the 3rd Floor but across the entire Tower shuddered in fear.

 Chapter 68 Seed

    Abyss - Unknown Layer

    In the pitch darkness of the Abyss, in a ce where light doesn''t reach and hope was just wishful thinking, an old man was sitting on the ground cross-legged. While it was clear that he was old, with the sight of his white hair and well-groomed and trimmed white beard, his facecked any wrinkles or any other sights of old age.

    Not only that, his entire being radiated power and might. Even though he was wearing simple clothes and a cloak, the majesty and power of his entire being cannot be denied by anything.

    "Nyathotep..."

    Muttered the old man as he opened his eyes slowly while looking somewhere in the dark emptiness.

    "So, the Great Cataclysm ising one more... how fast the times go, and several Epochs have already passed."

    He stated to the emptiness of the darkness before he took his stave, before he gently tapped on the ground, and waited several seconds while he closed his eyes once again.

    Suddenly, not even five secondster, several creatures appeared from the pitch ckness around him, and they all prostrated themselves between the old man.

    They had smooth whale-like skin, long slender humanoid bodies, curving horns, leather bat-like wings, and a nk expanse of flesh where one would expect a face to be. They were the Night Gaunts, a race of creatures created by him as his messengers, servants, ves, and basically everything one could think of.

    "Send a message to 72 Daemon Pirs about this... tell him that the Lord of the Great Abyss wants to have the Holy Son of Chaos Sultan dead; let the mortal servants deal with him."

    Stated the old man indifferently, not even bothering to look at the Night Gaunts, before he waved his hand and returned to his meditation.

    "The chessboard is set; all yers are ready. And the first yer made the first move."

    As he said those words, the entire world returned to its previous eternal darkness.

    ***

    After the will of the Crawling Chaos, the ck Pharaon Nyathotep left the body of Samiel Zentuar, and Samie''s consciousness returned back.

    "What a weird feeling of getting possessed."

    Samiel noted while he sat on the ground and looked at the unmoving body of the Forest Troll Chief. He was not aware of what happened during the time when Crawling Chaos possessed his body, but the results were unmistakable.

    Now the Forest Troll Chief was unconscious on the ground, together with the souls of the Transcendental sealed by the Nyathotep.

    Samiel didn''t waste time, as he killed the Forest Troll Chief

    [Mission: Kill a Ruling Type Magical Beast or Monster

    Description: Kill one of the Leaders.

    Reward: Location of Inheritance on the 3rd Floor

    Status: Completed]

    [Inheritance Site of ??? is located at the Legendary Level Wizard that perished on the 3rd Floor 1,521 Years ago after being severely injured by one of the hibernating Legendary Level Magical Beasts. Before his death, he created the Inheritance Site in a hidden location, where he is buried together with all of the possession he had with him.]

    After he killed Forest Troll Chief, hepleted the Unique Mission; he got the location of the Unknown Legendary Level Wizard, so that was a good one. If the Akashic Records were giving him this as a form of reward, then for sure, the Inheritance would have something he needed or would greatly enhance his strength.

    At the same time, Samiel used [Soul Devour] ability to absorb the remnant souls of the deceased Transcendental who was still alive. Still, after whatever Crawling Chaos did with him, he was good as dissipated.

    [Absorbed Soul of Transcendental Daemon Xangroth.]

    [Enormous Amount of Soul Force is being absorbed by the User Samiel Zentaur.]

    [Ability Seed has been created out of the Soul Force of Transcendental Level Daemon Xangroth.]

    [Germination time of the Level 4 Transcendental Ability unknown.]

    [Profficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 1%.]

    [Profficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 2%.]

    [Profficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 1%.]

    [Profficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 3%.]

    [Profficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 2%.]<sub> </sub>

    [Profficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 4%.]

    Exactly just as the Akashic Records stated, now that he got the Ability Seed for the Level 4 Transcendental Ability, the only thing Samiel could do was to wait until the germination time for the ability was finished.

    Afterward, Samiel would get the Level 4 Transcendental Ability, which was solely used by the Transcendental Level Beings. Having such abilities as Mortal was probably even rarer than being a Dual ss Bearer.

    Because this was power solely belonging to the Higher Forms of Life, not a mortal, so Samiel was very excited at the thought.

    Not only that, but also his Proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has skyrocketed from the easily 8% to 21% in one ago, which was an astonishing growth rate for just one single usage, but somewhat respectable because he devoured Transcenden Level Soul, which only by some miracle didn''t kill him.

    Though Samiel knew it was not a miracle, the intervention of Nyathotep and Azathoth, which allowed him to pass through it safely, probably they were taken into calction even before he did the deed and during the time when he just put the question for the Akashic Records.

    Now that everything was basically done, only he needed to check out the Inheritance Site that he got as a reward from the Akashic Records, and he could start cleaning up the Troll Colony. Of course, the first thing he is going to do is to search for treasures and money.

    No matter what sub-species, trolls were big money grubbers and were known for being greedy. They often ambushed merchants and people crossing their territories, and a rtively good way to avoid being killed and eaten was to bribe them.

    Not like that would work every time, but it had at least some percentage of sess.

    He then stood up, and started collecting the souls, before they would dissipate into nothingness; soon enough, Samiel had collected altogether over 600 Souls, which was good loot. Even though the majority of them were only Steel-Tier, they could still be used for something, probably for morning snacks, but even that is something.

    Of course, the biggest gain were the souls of the Bronze-Tier Forest Trolls, which were basically valuable "cultivation resource", because they could be used by him to increase his Level or to strengthen his Undead in some way.

    Now on the bad side of things, he started with 270 Bronze-Tier Undead. Now only something around half remained because some were destroyed during the siege. However, the majority of his losses were done during the duel with the Forest Troll Chief.

    That moment, when the Suppression Magic Circle was destroyed, it took more than 50 Undeads, and some of them were destroyed in the sh and aftershocks. Now he was left with around 197 Undeads.

    Fortunately, all around him was a suitable material.

    He eagerly went to the ce where the six deceased Forest Troll Shamans were, and he immediately started using the [Create Lesser Undead] Spell, six times at that, as he created his first Mage-type Undeads of the Bronze-Tier.

    He looked at the six Bronze-Tier Mage Undeads; their Soul Fire burned brightly as their entire beings were pulsating with Mana. Unfortunately for Samiel, he needed to manually impart their knowledge of the Magic because they knew only a "limited" number of spells, which sucked.

    To his luck, it took him several seconds to have this thing out of him. One thing he noticed was that these Undeads were more intelligent and smarterpared to your average Undead. Probably the fact they were Mage-type somehow increased their intelligence.

    They could move more independently and carry out even moreplex orderspared to that of the Undead Warriors.

    After Samiel resurrected these Shamans as Undead, he started replenishing his Undead reserves, and soon enough, he had lost during this siege and his fight against the "boss".

    After twenty minutes or so, he managed to return, back to the 270 Undeads.

    Among the killed Forest Trolls, to his surprise and delight, were ten more Shamans. However, they ranged from the Iron-Tier to Steel-Tier, so Samiel would need to invest quite a few Souls and Mana Crystals to raise their Tier to the Bronze-Tier.

    Right now, he had 17 Mage-type Undeads, while the rest of the Undeads he had were of the Warrior-type. Naturally, all of them were normal Undfeads, though Samiel now nned to use the Soul Force Crystals to evolve one or two of the Mage-types to the Liches and maybe a few Warrior-types to Death Knights.

    He needed to have some Heavy Hitters among his Undeads, and also some Commanders and more intelligent ones. For example, one Bronze-Tier Death Knight could also handle more than ten of his ordinary Bronze-Tier simultaneously and emerge victorious.

    Meanwhile, Liches were intelligent forms of Undead, which could normallymunicate, control other Undeads, cast advanced spells, and think independently.

    Both Death Knights and Liches belonged to Commanders of the Undead Army. Average Lich could control around 10 Undead per Level, which was far more than average Necromancer could achieve.

    This was because, in their nature, they were Undead, so it was understandable.

    After he was finished with this, he ordered his Undeads to search through the vige and bring out the valuables.

    And as expected, this was disappointment and happiness at the same time. While Samiel was disappointed at theck of things like Mana Crystals or some more precious things, he was delighted at the sheer amount of more than 1,5 million gold coins, some jewelry, jewels, some equipment, and other misceneous things.

    He thought that Forest Trolls would be richer than some gold coins, even if the number of gold coins was enormous for an ordinary person. In regard to Mana Crystals, they probably used them for their own usage, and even if they found something useful like Grimoires or Magic Tomes, there was a pretty high possibility it was destroyed by them during their tender care of it, or they just threw it out.

    Still... the loot was rtively good; he obtained even Ability Seed, which would sooner orter germinate into a geniue Transcendental Ability, though Samiel had a hunch that he would need to fulfill some more conditions aside from just leaving it alone.

    "It is time to return back..."

    Samiel muttered as he felt a bit tired. Fortunately, he wasn''t injured like one would be because being possessed by Transcendental Level Entity was not something anyone could withstand.

    Before he left, he used the Winter Ruler to freeze the entire vige, as everything turned to an icicle, before he kicked the ground with full force, sending a slight tremor through the ground, as everything cracked down, until nothing than just frozen rubbles remained from the former Forest Troll Colony.

 Chapter 69 Return To The Zephystrand

    After Samiel left the destroyed Forest Troll colony, he decided to return to the Zephystrand City as fast as possible and, most importantly, to go to sleep. He was away for a long time already, missed his bed, missed his Magic Tomes and Grimoires and good food.

    While Samiel was okey from the physical aspect, he still felt exhausted.

    It wasn''t physical tiredness but rather a mental one, stemming primarily from the fact that his body got possessed by the Outer God, and it was Crawling Chaos on top of that. Due to that, Samiel felt mentally very tired and wanted to sleep.

    And thus, as he left himself to be carried on a wooden nk by his Undeads because he wanted toy down, he suddenly felt an iing Magical Beasts.

    When he stood up, his eyes immediately found the threat and recognized them as the Monstrous Spiders, which attacked Zephystrand City about one year ago. He immediately became altered at this one because Yvraine told him something about Drider and Drows, who were probably orchestrating everything in the darkness.

    Samiel immediately stopped the Undeads and recalled all of them to their storage space before he started stealthily following the Monstrous Spiders. It appeared that they were dragging some unconscious people with them.

    He could see that there were some Humans, probably from one of the other cities.

    ''So they purposely avoided the patrols of the Zephystrand when they went hunting... it is clear that somebody is nning something nefarious... damm, that sounded clisch??.''

    Samiel, though, with this, it was clear that there were Drows in y with 101% probability. Previously theycked direct evidence because the attacks of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps could be just Drows releasing them onto the Zephystrand.

    But this behavior was clear that they were hiding and nning something.

    As Samiel followed after them, the Monstrous Spiders soon arrived at the small cave entrance, where Samiel saw a Drow already waiting for them; as he started using some spells on the Ettercaps behind him, which in turn were controlling tens if not hundreds of the Monstrous Spiders.

    ''Hmm... attacking them would be no wise; that would just alert the entire group.''

    Samiel thought and decided to wait until all of the Monstrous Spiders entered the cave before he decided to make some slight noise to attract the attention of the Drow Warrior who was guarding the entrance of the cave; before he toom entered the cave after the Monstrous Spiders.

    As he expected, the Drow Warrior decided to check out what was going out in the bushes and if there was somebody. While he came closer to Samiel''s hiding spot, suddenly, an Ice Dagger pierced through his throat, and his mouth was frozen in a split of second.

    Immediately afterward, Samiel used [Soul Devour] to assimte the soul of the Drow. Right now, because he crossed the proficiency with the Ultimate Ability of 20%, he instinctively knew how to pull out some memories from the soul.

    Though he couldn''t get all of the memories, he could still get some of the important ones as he feasted on the soul of the Drow Warrior. Unfortunately for Samiel, it was male, weak male, which was a terriblebination in the Drow Society.

    Drows were naturally matriarchal, where females ruled, and males were subservient to them. Typically the strong Drow males would either be married to some prominent Matriach if they were not part of her harem.

    If they were Legendary Level Professionals, they would either leave the Underdark or remain there. Even though they had an unusual social hierarchy, most of the Legendary Level Drows would remain as part of it, be it because some of them were indoctrinated, or some of them were very powerful and still had superior status even to some Matriarchs due to their power.

    From the memories of the Drow Warrior, he managed to find out that there were several tens of them under the leadership of Silver-Tier Drider. They were preparing to unleash a horde of more several hundred thousand Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps once more at the Zephystrand City.

    This Drow didn''t know what they aimed to achieve with this, but he only carried out the order. Obviously, there were two people with the highest authority over the entire operation. One of them was the Drider itself, while another one was the messenger from the Underdark City who was right now on the 3rd Floor.

    "Hmm... this is a bit predicament... it would be better to warn the Zephystrand... from the memories of the Drow, they won''t be attacking for the next few months until they have at least 200,000 Monstrous Spiders and several thousands of Ettercaps to control all of those Spiders. And those madmen are even trying to bring some Frostbite Spiders from the 67th Floor."

    Muttered Samiel as he resurrected the corpse of the Drow Warrior as an Undead and dropped him into his storage space. While he could control only 270 Undeads at the same time, he already started resurrecting everything for the future Undead Armies of his Liches and subordinates of his Death Knights.

    Of course, he was resurrecting only those at or above the Steel-Tier, minimum of Level 20 standard.

    After being done at this ce, he marked the location of the cave in his mind before he sprinted towards the direction of Zephystrand City, because the situation was not good, and soon enough, the city would wee the biggest Magical Beast Horde it had ever faced.

    ***

    Zephystrand City, sometimeter.

    Walls of the Zephystrand City stood proudly and strongly in the distance as Samiel was nearing them. Tens of Mana Cannons were stationed across Wall, together with the Mage Towers, which were built all around the city, to create an excellent defense against the invaders.

    Of course, after the past Magical Beast Horde, the security level of the Zephystrand City went up several times already, and now there were several times more soldiers than it was in the past.

    After Samiel appeared before the gates of the Zephystrand City, he could see that there were some squired of the Silvermoon Knight Order already waiting for him, probably Yvraine ordered them to await his return from his hunt.<sub> </sub>

    "My Lord."

    All five of them greeted him respectfully. Even though all five of them were nearing the Bronze-Tier, Samiel could wipe the floor with them without even opening his eyes at the same time.

    "Immediately bring me to Yvraine... and call Sarun."

    He ordered as four of the squires were escorting him to meet Yvraine. At the same time, one of them sprinted quickly to inform Sarun Daragan about his return. Now that Sarun''s father, Laris Daragan, has returned back to the 91st Floor, Sarun was de-facto City Lord in the name of his father.

    Soon enough, in great haste, they crossed the majority of the Zephystrand as they went directly to the Citadel through the fastest routes, as the squired of the Silvermoon Knight Order saw that Samiel seemed stressed and in a hurry.

    It took them not less than fifteen minutes to arrive at the Citadel of the Zephystrand. At the same time, Samiel went directly to find Yvraine, who was spending time reading her Grimoire Elementia Magicae in the garden where the Moon Pond was located.

    Or, as Samiel called, that thing with tasty water.

    "You were right; Drows of the Underdark City are preparing enormous Magical Beast invasionpromising of more than 300,000 Monstrous Spiders, Ettercaps, and they are attempting to bring down even a few hundreds of Frostbite Spiders from the 67th Floor."

    Samiel immediately said that when he saw Yvraine, to which she had just closed the Grimoire, it looked very grim hearing the situation.

    First, hearing the number of Monstrous Spiders sent a shudder through her spine; even if most of them were just Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier, with a small part of them would be Bronze-Tier, it was still an overwhelming number.

    The same could be said about Ettercaps.

    But the Frostbite Spiderrs were different. They were native species of the 67th Floor and also lived in some worlds, which were innately "cold". Not only were they far bigger than the Monstrous Spiders, which said something about their size, but they were like their boosted version x10.

    Not to mention, they were most Bronze-Tiers, so having a few hundred Bronze-Tier Frostbite Spiders, from which there should be even some tens Silver-Tiers, sounded catastrophic, even if Zephystrand''s boosted up defenses.

    "But on the good side, they have a very hard time with capturing some Frostbite Spiders, so there would be only a few tens of them."

    Samiel stated that because from what he saw in the memories of the Drow Warrior, he knew that the Drows had an extra hard time finding the Frostbite Spiders, and they could probably bring down onto the 3rd Floor only a few tens of them.

    "I will order someone to notify the Frozen Court that they have Drows from the Underdark operating on their Floor. This would solve some of our issues with this, but even then... the situation is not good."

    Yvraine said, and Samiel had no choice but to agree with her. But on the other side, they had an advantage of defenses, and he knew that if they were careful, they could easily defend the City against even bigger odds.

    Still, for Elves, they didn''t like fighting battles which could result in high casual?��ities as that would be then hard to replenish.

    "Indeed, if the Frostbite Spiders are out of the question, then the Drows would have only a few Silver-Tiers at their disposal, probably only one, and that would be the Drider. Though, the question is, why are they attempting to bring the Silver-Tier Magical Beasts into the 3rd Floor? Are they not fearing the breathing of the Tier Equilibrium ords?"

    Samiel questioned her, to which she just sighed.

    "Those cowards of the Underdark will say that the Drow acted on his own, so until we can directly bring some hard proof evidence, it could not be counted as a breach of the ords."

    Yvraine scoffed as she exined this.

    Tier Equilibrium ords was an agreement sighed by the majority of the Transcendental Factions, and the most vital point was basically enforcing some sense of Order in the Tower.

    Basically, the Tier Equilibrium ords aimed to prevent situations like this. Though it only applied only to the Tower, outside it, it was null and void. Only some chapters would be applied in specific situations.

    It was making use of statistics aboutmon Tier across the Floors of the Tower. It forbade anyone, for example, from the 90th Floors, to lead armies of the Gold-Tiers and Legendaries to obliterate some faction on the 10th Floor.

    Technically what the Drider and his coons were doing, attempting to bring a swarm of the Silver-Tier Frostbite Spiders to the 3rd Floor, where the average Tier, ording to the Epochal Tiering Statistic done by The Guild, was the Steel-Tier, was a breach of the Tier Equilibrium ords.

    At least, technically.

 Chapter 70 Preparations For The Invasion

    "And for that purpose, they send in the Drider... do you have any things in mind, what their reason could be?"

    Samiel questioned Yvraine, who started thinking, and before she could answer the question, the City Lord "in probation", Sarun Daragan arrived with great haste and answered for her.

    "Their true purpose, probably the one that even the Drider and his servants aren''t aware it to test the Mana Canons that the Nesser Dynasty developed in cooperation with Khazad-Turum."

    Meanwhile, this time, it was Yvraine''s time to be surprised as she realized that this was their true aim, or rather, this was the aim of the Underdark, while the personal aim of the Drider was unknown and probably not even that important.

    "Indeed, Magetech is still rare, and it is often very hard to incorporate the purely scientific knowledge into the Magical ones, creating a perfect fusion. Even after the countless Epochs, only a few have mastered the power of the Magetech, and not many of those prevailed to see this day."

    Yvraine stated.

    The new generations of the Mana Canons that were being right now tested in the Zephystrand City had firepowerparable to a 4th Level Spell on average. However, the bigger Cannons could reach the destruction level of a 5th Level Spell.

    "So, they are doing everything just to scout the development of some Magical Technology?"

    Samiel asked with an unbelieving voice. From his point of view, as someone who was still having some difficulties adjusting to thinking of those Mortal Hegemons and Transcendental Beings, it was still an enormous amount of resources.

    "Yeh... for the Underdark, they are just getting rid of some of their spider poption, which is always overpopted in their Worlds and their Floor. Not to mention, this generation of Mana Canon and other types of Mana Weaponry is bing semi-automatic to fully automatic. For various Dwarven holds, this is great progress because, with this, they could push some of their foes to extinction."

    Typically even if some civilization managed to fuse scientific and magical aspects together, and give birth to magical technology, themon end scenario of the weapons developed was theck of efficiency.

    For example, most of the Mana Cannons that were developed till this day were not that efficient and needed some time to recharge themselves after shooting out one salvo, meaning in real-time battles, their usability was rtively lowerpared to purely technological weaponry, which could achieve rapid fire.

    Naturally, this didn''t apply to all, but only to most. In the endless Cosmos, there existed several civilizations which perfected the usage of the Magetech. However, they guarded their discoveries with extreme jealousy and never let them known to outsiders.

    And contrary to popr belief, not many people or factions wanted to invest resources, money, and manpower into researching the Magetech because of one single reason.

    Samiel could see that most of the factions were stuck in their ways, and investing a tremendous amount of resources into something which may not even yield sufficient results sounded terrible. So, they would instead invest them in cultivating some Legendary Level powerhouses or in training other Professionals.

    "Aside from species like Mind Flyers which had perfected Psionical Technology or a few other factions that managed to fuse Supernatural Energy with Science, not many factions are willing to invest resources into that... several factions did it, and for most, the results were not so satisfactorypared to getting several Legendaries or cultivating countless Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier Professionals."

    Yvraine exined, and in truth, Samiel understood the thought process.

    "And yet the Dwarves are still continuing with those efforts."

    He then said as both of them nodded.

    "Yeh, Dwarves, and Gnome are two species which are continuously pursuing these paths, and here and there they manage to get some neat things and develop interesting Magetech. Some Dwarven Fortress Cities and Forge Cities have very advanced levels of Magical Technology..."

    Yvraine then halted in her words.

    "But they are greedy and won''t share their discoveries with the other City States. And because the Dwarven Coalition isn''t really a faction where one person could decide or others, the rest of them either could pay a tremendous price for the advances or get nothing."

    Indeed dealing with Dwarves was problematic, and Gnomes were even more greedy and troublesome than Dwarves. Gnomes were species that were simr in appearance to Dwarves, just like they also were simr to goblins a little.

    They were thinkers and built a majestic civilization that depended on Magetech. Unfortunately for others, Gnomes were the greediest bastards ever, and their Kingdoms and Empires never really left the Principal World they were upying. Not to mention, sneaking up there is almost impossible due to constant surveince of some sort of Magetech System that was able to detect even Transcendent Level beings.

    "Okey, back to the topic; I think we are getting lost from our initial aim. How to deal with the uing Magical Beast Invasion?"

    Interrupted them Sarun Daragan, as they were indeed started getting lost on the way o life.

    "Our best chances would be the ssic. Using our superior defense position with abination of traps to deal with them. We should specifically target the Ettercaps, which are controlling the Monstrous Spiders; unfortunately, we don''t have any means to prevent them from scouting the capabilities of the Mana Cannons, as they already obtained probably enough information from the year ago."

    Samiel proposed his idea, and while Saran nodded, Yvraine looked pretty pissed at this because, de facto, they were used by the cunning Drows.

    "As I already said to Samiel, I will notify the Frozen Court about the nefarious plots the Underdark is carrying out on the 67th Floor with their Frostbite Spiders... that will entertain them a bit."

    Stated Yvriane with a bloodthirsty grin; even Sarun looked intimidated.

    Even though the Frozen Court was not a member of the 13 Gates, they were still very powerful factions that didn''t lose in terms of power evenpared to some of the 13 Gates. They just remained on their rocks of ice, not really bothering with anything or anyone.

    Certainly, they would be beyond pissed that Drows and races from the Underdark were nning to "kidnap" some o their Frostbite Spiders from the 67th Floor.

    "And then, there is the problem of the Drider and some people who descended directly from the Underdark City; all o them are Silver-Tier."<sub> </sub>

    Samiel continued after a while; based on the memories he got from that Drow Warrior, there were about six or seven Silver-Tier individuals from the Underdark City with an unknown purpose.

    And, of course, the Drider himself was a Silver-Tier Professional.

    "People from the Underdark are not the problem; they won''t be participating in this at all."

    Yvraine was pretty confident in this, and even Sarun seemed inclined to agree with her on this statement.

    "Are you sure?"

    Samiel put out the question he had on his mind, just to be sure.

    "Yes, whatever they told the Drider they were here for, is probably a tant lie, to trick the Drider into carrying out this suicidal mission, where he would die for sure. Their true purpose is to monitor the situation, collect the date and watch over the Drider and possibly kill him if he stepped over the line."

    She enlightened Samiel as now he understood the reason behind their presence on the 3rd Floor.

    Driders were uncontroble abominations of Spider Goddess Lolth, so there still existed the possibility that the Drider would do something against the order from the Underdark, and for that reason, there were several Silver-Tier Drows here.

    If something went the wrong way, they would kill the Drider and finish the mission themselves.

    "And that leaves only the Drider... how strong it is?"

    There were, right now, no Silver-Tier Professionals in Zephystrand City. However, that didn''t mean that there were no people with thebat prowess of the Silver-Tier.

    "Newly advanced one... I believe that I can kill him."

    Samiel knew that if he achieved Level 19 or Level 20, then he could kill the Level 51 or Level 52 Drider with rtive ease without an outside him.

    "I was not aware that your Cross Tier Battle Prowess reached that high level."

    There were some hints of respect mixed with a healthy amount of fear and admiration in his voice. Cross Tier Fighting was, in reality, rare because not many people could fight those who were one Tier higher.

    Yeh, those of the Superior species could, but mostly if they were fighting someone of the lesser species than themselves, but fighting two Tiers higher was unheard of.

    While Samiel was partially proud of his power, he knew that this gap would soon enough disappear when he entered the higher Tiers. That was because, while he could indeed fight higher Tiers than himself right now, none of them required special conditions to achieve that Tier.

    Like in the Gold-Tier, people had something called Mastery, which would considerably enhance theirbat prowess. That gap between even the weakest Legendary and strongest Gold-Tier was immense, like that of Heaven and Earth.

    "With that, the problem of the Drider should be cared off, but to be sure, I will ask for more reinforcements to arrive... we can use this as a good training exercise for more recruits of the Silvermoon Knight Order."

    Sarun stated to both of them while he went to carry out several things that needed to be done. The first was to give orders to start bolstering the defenses of the Zephystrand once more and also to call the Headquarters of the Silvermoon Order to send in more recruits.

    Right now, there was a rtive calmness in the Tower, and truth to be told, even in the entire Cosmos. Yeh, there were some skirmishes and small-scale wars, but it was not like a whole Cosmos was enveloped in war.

    It was like a calmness before the storm.

    "Now this done, when is your duel with Estridmencing?"

    Asked Samiel while both of them sat down next to the Moon Pond; just this time, Samiel wasn''t drinking from it, not wanting to irritate the female Silvermoon Elf even more than she was after he asked her this dreaded question.

    "Tomorrow."

    She answered swiftly, a hint of nervousness evident.

    "And how sure are you?"

    He remembered how theirst encounter ended, probably in her imminent defeat, as Estrid was a league above her, though now her chances may have changed with new strategies, Spells that Samiel taught her, and Grimoire Elementia Magicae.

    "Much higher than thest one... we will see, but if nothing unexpected happens tomorrow, then the victory is about 60% mine."

    Yvraine sounded confident, and Samiel didn''t want to say anything more, just deciding to stay silent.

    In truth, he wondered what made her so confident, even considering the fact that Estrid would most likely use her dragon form in the fight.

 Chapter 71 Ashimer

    "Hmm... should be probably enough; now, if you excuse me, I need to rest and do some modifications on my Undeads."

    Samiel said to Yvraine, while with one yes, he looked at Nefertari, who was napping on a nearby branch of a huge tree in the garden, as this was one of her favorite spots. She was already very close to reaching a Bronze-Tier, meaning his Familiar was getting stronger and stronger.

    The only thing she needed was time.

    ''Sleep hooman, good sleep here.''

    She mumbled a few iprehensible words from her sleep. Thus Samiel let her be and continued sleeping on the Moon Ponds premises.

    Like most of the cats or cat-like species, even Nefertari spent the majority of her day sleeping, though when she woke up, she was an annoying little hellion that demanded attention right here and now, and he was often forced toply with Her Majesty''s demands.

    After Samiel left, Yvraine sighed deeply while looking at his familiar, who had just now opened his eyes.

    "Your Master is a dense idiot; are you aware of that fact?"

    She asked Samiel''s familiar Nefertari seriously, as the little kitten just licked its paw and then started grooming itself to be nice and pretty.

    ''Indeed...''

    Stated the little Elder Wampus kitten as she continued to clean herself while asionally ncing at frustrated Yvraine.

    ''While I am not that familiar with mating traditions of other species aside from us, I can tell that the indirect approach you are trying with my master would take you probably centuries if not millennia, of course, if it will even seed... I will advise you to be more direct.''

    Nefertari then pped her little wings as she flew from one branch to another, where she found a better spot toy down. At the same time, she curiously observed all the things that were happening around her.

    Nefertari, as her master familiar, knew that the man was dense as rock and also saw numerous sneaky attempts from Yvraine''s side, to which all of them he was obvious. All of her subtle hints and other womanly signals were like throwing peas against the wall.

    So it was clear that she would need to change her strategy because, with the current one, her chances for sess are close to, if not zero.

    Maybe it was time; she decided to be bolder, even though the approach of her bitch rival Estrid seemed terrible, but probably could have some advantages when it came to dense people like Samiel Zentaur.

    ***

    While Yvraine was scheming in her mind, Samiel went to create his first Advanced Undeads.

    The first one Samiel decided to create was a Death Knight because he needed some heavy hitters in his Undead Army, which was steadily forming already. Not to mention that Death Knights were a special type of Undead, with an Evolutionary and Growth attribute, meaning they could evolve to a higher form of the Undeads and even reach Legendary Level with enough time and resources.

    To create a Death Knight, Samiel needed a base, so he decided to use actually three things as a base for the Death Knight. The first one was the corpse of the Forest Troll Chief, which the Transcendental Entity possessed.

    The second one was his strongest Ork, a peak Bronze-Tier Ork during the time when he was alive and now his strongest Undead. And the third one, was Undead, created from the Drow Warrior, which would also be perfect.

    <o>,m Now, he needed tobine all of this, and that would be achieved through the art of Flesh Crafting. Flesh Crafting was a sub-type of Necromancy which focused on using the Flesh of deceased beings to make Zombies and other simr things.</o>

    Often it was used to create various Chimeras and Abominations of nature. Samiel wasn''t the best Flesh Crafter, but he knew something about the art, and it should be enough to create some sort of abomination for his needs.

    Not to mention, he was going tobine some of the Void Magic into the mix because he nned to create a really special Death Knight, one that would have enough potential to reach the peak of the Legendary Level and lead his Undead armies in his name.

    The first thing Samiel did, was to draw out some of his blood, which he used to draw a ritualistic circle with the shape of a pentagram, while in each triangle space, was number was a symbol, each corresponding to Azathoth, and one of his aspects.

    Mainly, Dream, Chaos, Madness, ughter, and Void. Each of them had a corresponding runic symbol, which Samiel carefully drew onto the pentagram ritual magic circle. After the circle was finished, he took out the corpse of the Forest Troll Chief, which was pretty much damaged seriously, and also summoned two of his strongest Undeads.

    Heid down the corpse of the Forest Troll Chief in the middle of the Pentagram Magic Circle while the two Undeads stood next to it, on its left and right sides. As the next thing, he took out one set of armor, which he found on the 2nd Floor.

    He got it from the Dimensional Ring of the Asura Tribesman. He decided to keep it because it was Unique-Grade Runic Armor Set, together with two runic weapons. Hence, its worth was more than even the average Legendary-Grade set.

    And now he finally found a use for the Runic Armor Set, and its added two swords. And on top of all that, the armor looked pretty menacing, and together with the twin swords, it would create the perfect image of a viin, or at least Samiel thought that.

    As the next things, he took out more than 500 Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals and 30 Soul Force Crystals to support the entire ritual and to create at least a peak Bronze-Tier Death Knight; hopefully it would be Silver-Tier with all of the material he was investing in it.<sub> </sub>

    He even took out his only Silver-Tier Mana Crystals, numbered in tens and also several thousands of Steel-Tier Mana Crystals.

    And as thest thing, he took out one Gold-Tier Mana Crystal that he found by chance. He held the Gold-Tier Mana Crystal between his hands as he started using the [Winter Ruler] until he waspletely exhausted, and he consumed all of his Mana Reserves entirely.

    One could observe that the color of the Gold-Tier Mana Crystal changed entirely, from the original goldish one to light blue, like the color of the Ice created by the [Winter Ruler].

    Samiel panted a little as the process of creation of a miniature Heart of Winter, or rather fake Heart of Winter took a great toll on him. After he waited for one hour until all of his Mana Reserves were regenerated, he repeated this process.

    Altogether he repeated this 7 times until the fake Heart of Winter was created from the Gold-Tier Mana Crystal. Originally the Heart of Winter was Ultra-Order Grade Artifact used by the most powerful Transcendents and is currently in the custody of the Asgardians.

    Just one usage of that thing could turn even the High World into an enormous chunk of Ice floating in the Cosmos. What Samiel was doing, he wanted to imitate its functions, to give his future Death Knight General the ability to use Ice-rted abilities as he could and thus have some sort of Ice attribute in his very own being.

    Thus he used a method of conversion of Mana Crystal to an Elemental Crystal. Normally, only Gold-Tier individuals with precise Mana Control abilities could barely seed, and this was the domain of Legendaries due to the amount and density of Mana and the appropriate ability required for such a feat.

    After everything was in ce, Samiel also got into a ce and started chanting the spell for the ritual.

    "The lw''nafh ng n''gha, ah ahehyee ya nyth''drnn."

    As he said the first chant, the Magic Circle lit up in a blue light, which, even though it looked warm and harmless, was dangerous for those who were near it. Suddenly, a prating cold aura burst out from the circle as the Void itself descended into this room, and all objects on the Pentagram started levitating and melting down into a weird glob of flesh, metal, energy, and just everything.

    "Ah''n''gha''drn ot mgfmtghnah ng n''gha, hup nafl''fhtagn soth, hup nafl''fhtagn n''gha, hup nafl''fhtagn mgepogg, hup nafl''fhtagn l'' syha''h ot n''ghaa ng ya ahuaaah."

    Samiel continued chanting in the Eldritchnguage or also known as R''Lyehian, as the weird, disgusting mass of flesh, metal, Mana Crystals, and other things he put there started taking shape.

    Around the fake mini Heart of Winter, a body started forming, resembling a Drow Warrior, just much more bulky and muscr, in physique simr to a weirdbination of Ork and Forest Troll. It was tall, around 5 meters, far above the average Ork Boys and approaching that of Ork Boss.

    "Nafl''fhtagn ya mghlirgh ah''n''gha''drn, l'' ahnyth ya llll syha''h Iiahe ya ah''n''ghaor ng nnn''drn l'' ya mghrii."

    He finished the chant as the melted metal, fused with the flesh of the abomination of Death Knight, still preserving the same menacing design as it was before; just now, it was radiating enchanting pale blue color, resembling that of Ice and Coldness.

    "Damm, that was tiring as hell."

    Samiel muttered as he sat on the ground, trying to regenerate some of the lost Mana.

    What he was doing was actually the mostplicated and hardest process to create a Death Knight. Most Necromancers would use a spell for that, but the results were not that good.

    The difference was in quality. Essentially, Death Knights created through direct usage of a spellcked the full sentience, and while they were pretty powerful, they couldn''t advance or evolve that easily, not to mention they didn''t have any added attributes.

    Contrary to that, his Death Knight was far more majestic and powerful, and Samiel could sense it was Silver-Tier one out of nowhere. Not to mention, it was pretty packed up; it should have some Level Abilities and some SKills already.

    "Name... you need a name because only then is the ritual done..."

    He muttered because he was not good with names... even his own, which he was using, was taken from some anime or visual novel because it sounded cool and intimidating.

    "Ashimer... your name will be Ashimer."

    Samiel named him as he felt an enormous amount of Mana leave his body. At the same time, it all went towards the Death Knight, as his eyes opened and shined with menacing dark blue light through his horned helmet.

    [You have bestowed Higher Undead (Frost Death Knight) with the name Ashimer.]

    [Your achievement of creating Higher Undead has been recorded within the Records of the Akashic Records.]

    [You have been awarded with 1,000 Records Points for your remarkable achievement.]

    Samiel read the notifications from the Akashic Records with a pleased smile because not only did he create spectacr Undead, but he also got Record Points for this achievement.

 Chapter 72 Vs. Ashimer

    While reading the Akashic Records notifications, particrly since he was gaining about 1,000 Records Points from the Akashic Records, he took a close look at Ashimer, the first Death Knight in the series of Death Knights he had created. His name Ashimer, an intimidating name that will instill fear and despair in his enemies, it was an extremely intimidating name.

    At least Samiel hoped for that.

    Samiel then proceeded to open the Record or the Status of the Ahsimer; as the Necromancer and the creator of the Undead, he could freely view the record of his Undeads. Normally, he didn''t do that because, typically, there was nothing to see there.

    There was nothing really worth mentioning about undeads, aside from a few average Skills in the category of Weapon Mastery, and aside from a few average Skills in the category of weapons; there was nothing really worthwhile about them, other than a few average Skills in the category of weapons.

    [Name: Ashimer

    Race: Higher Undead (Frost Death Knight)

    ss: Death Knight (0%)

    Sub-ss: N/A

    Magician Level: Basic (Necromancy Arts)

    ***

    Tier: Silver

    Level: 51

    ***

    Abilities:

    Frost Aura (50%) - Rare Ability

    ***

    Skills:

    Swordsmanship (24%)

    Dual Swords (15%)]

    There was one very striking feature that immediately came to Samiel''s attention as soon as he saw them: The Undead was of the higher species.

    Like everything, Undead Species were divided into several categories based on how advanced forms of Undead "Life" they were, just like everything in the world.

    It was at the bottom of thedder where the Lesser Undead were located; they were nothing special; they were your average and friendly Undeads that could be found in a ce where there was a great concentration of Death Energy or those raised by novice necromancers. Basically, ordinary Skeleton, Zombies and so on...

    Immediately after the Lesser Undeads, we came to the Advanced Undeads, which had already acquired some skills, but were also more dangerous and powerful; they were usuallyrger and stronger than the Lesser Undeads, and they were usually made from corpses of stronger races. Besides this, the Advanced Undead started to show some evolutionary potential for intellectual growth and rudimentary intelligence, aspared to the Lesser Undead.

    The Unholy Trinity of the mostmonly seen Undead closed out the Higher Undeads, which were some of the most spectacr examples of the Undead Life, and which one might consider to be the best of those who were born out of the Cosmos'' abominations or those who mad Necromancers formed.

    Exactly in the same case right now, when Samiel created his first Higher Undead Species, the Frost Death Knight, Ashimer. In general, Higher Undeads were something that could be created by only the most experienced and skilled Necromancers, but Samiel seemed to be one of the rare exceptions to that rule.

    It should be mentioned that Ashimer was created with Level Ability, with the creation of a Level 1 Ability - Frost Aura. And not to mention, Samiel''s first Death Knight was the Frost Death Knight, with the added element of Frost provided by the addition of the mini fake Heart of Winter.

    In spite of him trying it for the very first time, the results were even better than anyone had ever imagined, and he was all the more delighted about it.

    In spite of the fact that to someone, the Level 1 Ability may seem weak, in fact, it was a very valuable thing, as only one in 1,000 ss Bears will have the Level 1 Ability. In addition, Ashimer had been proficient with the Frost Aura for a very long time, as he had been proficient with it from the moment he was created. Not talking about the fact that Ashimer already had around 50% proficiency with the Frost Aura from the moment he was created.

    [Frost Aura - The User is the bearer of the Frost Aura, which deals continuous ice damage to everyone in the vicinity. With enough high proficiency, the User can use the Frost Aura actively to freeze his opponents.]

    As Samiel read the description of the Level 1 Rare Ability Ability Frost Aura, he had to admit he was mildly surprised by what he had read, and at the same time, he was delighted to know that the first special Undead he created had already obtained a Leveled Ability.

    While it may seem like a very ordinary ability, it still had very powerful potential, and when used by something like the Higher Undead Frost Death Knight, it would be able to unleash its full potential.

    Additionally, Ashimer possessed two skills that were rtively high in proficiency, namely Swordsmanship and Dual Wield, both of which were at a much higher level than Samiel''s own. Especially with The Swordsmanship Skill, Ashimer''s proficiency far exceeds his own, but Samiel was not a swordsman or even closebatant at the core of his very own being, while the Death Knights were.

    "My Lord."

    It was a ghastly voice that was emanating from Frost Death Knight Ashimer, and it was an audible tremor that would send shudders up and down even the spine of the strongest warrior. That ghastly voice filled with cold and dread was something that was created to broke mentality even from the elite soldiers, as fear was one of the greatest weapons on the battlefield.

    "So, you can talk."

    Samiel stated, not really answering the polite greeting of Ahsimer, just stating the obvious fact.

    "Yes, My Lord."

    As Ashimer stated indifferently during the one-on-one conversation that Samiel was having with his first Death Knight, aside from wanting to fight with him, Samiel was considering what he could discuss with him, aside from wanting to see how great of a fighter the first Death Knight was.

    In addition to this, one must take into consideration the fact that this particr Frost Death Knight was to one day be General of his Undead Armies in the future and that it was the first Higher Undead that Samiel Zentaur was ever able to create.

    "Come with me to the training yard; we will spar."<sub> </sub>

    Then Samiel announced to Ashimer, who nodded silently and followed after him until they reached the training yard within the Citadel of Zephystrand City very soon. In the hallways of the Citadel, as they walked through the corridors, many people looked at him with a strange, fearful look, especially when looking at the menacing Ashimer, who looked like a monster.

    ''He really looks like a viin from anime... this is best; I can now say that I am proud of myself.''

    As Samiel and Ahsimer arrived at the training yard, which was immediately emptied of its contents so that Samiel and Ahsimer could be left alone in the ce, a thought struck Samiel. In the end, this made Samiel even happier.

    "I am ready, my lord."

    Upon hearing Ashimer''s polite reply, Samiel nodded his head and summoned an Ice Trident with the help of the [Winter Ruler] as he got into hisbat stance. It was going to be a sparring match with martial arts and weapons only, with the use of spells being limited to the minimum.

    It is worth noting that Ashimer had some knowledge of the Necromancy Arts; Samiel imparted the Basic Level of theoretical knowledge of the Necromancy Arts. Although the Death Knights were not magicians and did not cast spells very often, they used some magic during theirbat from time to time.

    Ashimer readied his two des which shined with blue freezing light, as he rushed at Samiel with lightning speed. Samiel was surprised at the speed Ashimer used, but soon enough, he calmed himself while he dodged into the side.

    In response to Ashimer''s iing cross-sh, he counterattacked by shing his trident at him, having avoided Ashimer''s iing cross-sh. Even though the Ashimer appears to be very bulky and not so agile, he managed to dodge the iing attack by the Ice Trident in an effortless manner despite the fact that he looked very bulky and uninhibited.

    "Is this your maximum?"

    As Samiel questioned Ashimer, he found it evident that hisbat prowess had skyrocketed, and the attacks that came from Ashimer were bing more ferocious and stronger as time progressed, even though he could not see any change in the expression of the Frost Death Knight.

    When Samiel kept on dodging the iing attacks while the Ashimer began tobine his swordsmanship with various kicks, he started to overwhelm Samiel by slowlybining his swordsmanship with various kicks; since they were not using Magic, Samiel''sbat prowess was approximately 70% lower without the use of it, since they were not using it.

    Not only that, but also as a consequence of the extensive use of the [Winter Ruler] during the formation of Frost Death Knight Ashimer, his [Winter Ruler] Ultimate Ability wasn''t that effective against him.

    Death Knights were masters in closebat and often were even weapon masters. Mostmonly, Death Knights were created from corpses of famous warriors, master swordsmen, or honorable knights, so the final Death Knights would have their Abilities because most of the Necromancers would impart the soul of the original body as a form of material during the creation process.

    ''Elite Silver-Tier Level, at least.''

    Samiel thought to himself as he flipped backward andnded several meters away from Ashimer; while as soon as hended, he threw the Ice Trident he had in his hand, as it was flying with tremendous speed toward the Frost Death Knight as he flipped backward.

    Ashimer barely managed to dodge to the side as the Ice Trident crashed into the wall behind him, creating a huge hole in it; Samiel started conjuring countless icicles with the usage of the [Winter Ruler] while Ashimer raised his dual swords, spinning them in a wheel like a pattern, and braking every icicle flying at him.

    ''The level of intellect that he possesses should be above the normal average IQ of countless of species, probably approaching the level of the genius. In addition, the level of decision making, awareness, and other aspects of his intelligence are all quite remarkable.''

    Samiel thought as he watched how his Frost Death Knight Ashimer changed from one battle strategy to another one, employed countless tactics, and adjusted himself to the battlefield. Samiel knew that if he was not using Magic, and if this was just a pure thing of martial arts and weapon mastery, he would lose against Ashimer.

    "Okey... that will be enough for today, Ashimer."

    As Samiel ordered, Ashimer halted in an instant and gave a low bow to his master in response.

    "How many Undeads can you control, Ashimer?"

    Although it''s true that Samiel was surprised by this, it is safe to say that he was not surprised by it, since he was expecting it to happen. Though Ashimer would have some restrictions when he created the Undeads, just as there were restrictions on all aspects of his work, the results were phenomenal.

    Asked him Samiel because, in the end, this was the question of the day and something that divided ordinary Undeads from the unordinary ones. Mostly, the majority of the Higher Undeads and even some Advanced ones had an ability to control Lesser Undead.

    That was the reason why Samiel wanted to manufacture some of them because this would greatly increase his Undead Army. For example, suppose he created a few Elder Liches. In that case, he could technically control the Undead Army of thousands despite being only at the Steel-Tier.

    "10 per Level, but there is the restriction of on their ss; all must be created by me and be Undead Knights, and their Tier must be maximally Steel-Tier."

    Although it''s true that Samiel was surprised by this, it is safe to say that he was not surprised by it, since he was expecting it to happen. Though Ashimer would have some restrictions when he created the Undeads, just as there were restrictions on all aspects of his work, the results were phenomenal.

    In many aspects, Samiel did not expect his proxy controllers to be able to reach the same standards that he had reached with Undead; that was the main reason behind the difference between them and him.

    Now, if he counted the Undeads he could control, with the 510 of those Ashimer could control, that would mean an Undead Army of approximately 800 Undeads.

    Now the only thing that remained was to create it.

    But that would not be that much of a problem, fortunately.

    "Skeleton Knights should not be a problem, right?"

    Samiel asked to which the Frost Death Knight nodded. Skeleton Knights were one of the stronger types of the Lesser Undeads and were one of the mostmonly seen Undeads among the Necromancers, be it novice or master ones.

    "Okey, I will prepare for you 510 corpses of Orks that I managed to keep in my Dimensional Ring for you to create Skeleton Knights, and also, I will bring you some armors and weapons for them so that they could be armed properly."

    Samiel instructed as he prepared to increase his power by a great leap this time. While to some it may be a waste of money, arming the Skeleton Knights with new armor and weapons, for Samiel, a few hundred thousand gold coins were nothing in the face of the great increasement ofbat prowess of this Undead.

    Normally Necromancers can''t do what he was doing, having all of his Undead at the Bronze-Tier. Samiel didn''t know if it was due to his Unique ss or his Eldritch Heritage, which allowed him to forcibly increase the Levels of his Undeads and still control them with little to no effort.

    Now he needed to visit the Merchant District here in the Zephystrand and buy over 500 sets of armor and weapons from Dwarves. Fortunately for him, there existed something called automated factories, which spew out weapons and armor by hundreds each hour in some Forge Cities of Dwarves.

    With some advancements in the Magetech, it was not a problem for Dwarves to build factories that could mass-produce some standardized armors and weapons en masse, and of course, even though these weapons were mass-produced, they were still of very good quality.

    "Come, from now on, you will act as my bodyguard outside of the fight."

    Samiel said to Ashimer, as now he would have intimidating guard following him everywhere. Also, he didn''t want to send him into storage space because he could probably be bored there as a sentient being... probably?

 Chapter 73 Like In Fast Food...

    A few moments before, Samiel was about to exit the Citadel of the Zephystrand; suddenly, he heard the meowing of his Familiar, which was running toward him at lightning speed as he exited the Citadel.

    ''Hooman, hooman, wait for me; I want to go on a trip.''

    She ran toward him energetically; she probably now woke up and was looking for someone to y with. Nefertari always liked to do this; she would sleep most of the day and then wake up and demand his immediate and undivided attention.

    ''Thene.''

    Samiel stated as she pped her little wings, flying a bit around Samiel, before shended on his right shoulder, putting her head on it while closing her eyes a bit, pretending to sleep.

    After exiting the Citadel, they went through a few bridges leading to the main paths that connected the Citadel with the rest of Zephystrand City. In fact, these were the only paths that connected the Citadel with the rest of Zephystrand City, which is located in the middle of Zephystrand City on the biggest Tree of Life.

    They arrived at the Zephystrand''s Merchant District about half an hourter. Samiel looked around, a little surprised by the number of people running here and there, buying or selling merchandise, as they could see that it was a very busy day at Zephystrand''s Merchant District.

    Samiel went to part of the district where Dwarves had their forges, shops, and other things. Although Zephystrand is an Elven city, it is surprising to see dwarves'' forges, stores, and other things in the Zephystrand district. It is also surprising to see that despite the fact that Zephystrand is an Elven city, there is still a rtively high dwarven presence there.

    In addition to maintaining the Mana Cannons and other Magetech Weaponry, they also ran their own business and were in charge of their own maintenance department. Zephystrnad was technically one of the first cities that the Climbers would pass these days, with others being on the 3rd Floor, which meant there was a huge amount of money that could be made here from the Forge Cities or Fortress Cities selling weapons and armors.

    Dwarves and their Forge Cities and Fortress Cities loved to make money off the people who started climbing the Tower, so they sold weapons, armors, and gadgets to them as they started climbing the Tower.

    The first thing Samiel did was search through a plethora of smithies in the city''s Merchant District. The majority of Dwarven shops were actually smithies that were making personalized weapons and armors for their clients; most of the Dwarves operated in this way.

    "So, it would be best to search for some Chamber of Commerce."

    Taking out the booklet that Cardinal Karliana had given him when he officially entered the Hall of Kadath, Samiel looked through a few pages and finally found one that wrote about the affiliated factions or allies that the Hall of Kadath had. He grumbled as he continued reading because there were many affiliated organizations, and it was a hard thing to find the one he was looking for.

    "And here it is... GMA, Goldstone Manufacturing Armory."

    It is important to note that Goldstone Manufacturing Armory (GMA), a dwarvenpany that specializes in mass-producing weapons, armors, and other types of equipment, was among the most reliablepanies avable on the market today. The quality of their mass-production equipment is one of the best in the Cosmos, and their prices are also very reasonable.

    A lot of money had been invested in the GMA by the Hall of Kadath, and many stocks were owned by the Hall of Kadath, so it was obvious that the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory was the best ce for any member of the Hall. The Hall of Kadath was one of the major shareholders of the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory, and they owned more than 40% of all stocks.

    Even though Samiel knew he would have to pay for everything, he could at least get a nice discount on the goods he ordered since he had official status in the Hall of Kadath, not to mention the way the Holy Son so that the price would be even better.

    It didn''t take him more than ten minutes to find the local Branch of the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory, which fortunately had branches on almost every Floor of the Tower, as well as in a good number of Higher Worlds and Principal Worlds.

    People who were watching Samiel walk through the streets made way for him as many looked warily at him, especially as he was apanied by the enormous Death Knight that was walking behind him and watching everyone menacingly, as the blue fire in his eyes, which shone through the openings in his helmet, ignited a spark of fear in the hearts of all those around him.

    Shopkeepers in the Zephystrand''s Merchant District mostly ignored him because they were used to him; he frequently came to the Merchant District to purchase some magic supplies, so the people selling things here were pretty used to him.

    Or he went with Yvraine to some restaurants and cafes. Samiel was a big fan of good food and coffee, so he was regr in those ces, and after the initial fear, many of the people learned not to overly fear him, despite the Undead Death Knight following him.

    In terms of design, the Branch building of the GMA was of typical Dwarven design. Like the bulk of the buildings the Dwarves built, it had the simplicity of ordinary stone but with some golden linings to indicate the status of the owners of the building.

    Basically, they were subtly letting everyone know that they were better than any of theirpetitors. Of course, their results also spoke for themselves because, among the simrpanies, the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory had one of the biggest revenues.

    Several heavy-armored Steel-Tier Dwarves guarded the entrance to the GMA at the time of Samiel''s observation. They were keeping watch over the entrance to the Branch of the GMA, and there were even some Magetech gadgets and weapons at their disposal, from what Samiel could see.

    The moment he stepped into the Branch of the GMA, Samiel was greeted immediately by the Branch Manager, who was at present in the main lobby of the branch, taking care of some things right now.

    There was a rtively average-looking dwarf who ran the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory in Zephystrand City. He had long brown hair, and a long beard, and he was dressed in a luxuriously looking outfit that, even though it was modest, still boasted of his high social position while still being rtively unassuming.

    "Greetings, Manager Ironbeard."

    Samiel greeted the Manager of the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory Branch, Arden Ironbeard. The Branch Manager, Arden Iron Beard, was a peak Bronze-Tier Professional and also a member of the Ironbeard n, one of the more prominent Dwarven ns. So his standing in the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory was very high, whether through his position or his origin.

    "OH, Mr. Zentaur, it is a pleasure to have you back."

    Samiel had been here before he was drafted into the Hall of Kadath to order Armor and Weapons for his Undeads in order for them to be appropriately armed, so he was not visiting for the first time. During those days, he became acquainted with the Branch Manager Ardem Ironbeard and came to realize that arming his Undead was not as unusual as he initially thought.

    In addition to being helpful and making a good deal with him, Branch Manager Ardem Ironbeard also rmended which weapon and armor would be the best for the Undead when it came to weapons and armor for the Undeads.

    Immediately after greeting Samiel, there was one thing that froze Branch Manager Arden Ironbeard in his tracks when he saw the symbol on Samiel''s left earring immediately after greeting him. He started at the earing in shock, and it took several seconds topletely recover, as he remembered that thest time Samiel visited, he didn''t have it.<sub> </sub>

    Because it was a symbol of the Hall of Kadath, Branch Manager Arden understood that high-ranking people within the Hall of Kadath were only permitted to wear these symbols in public as someone who was well informed about these matters.

    It looked like an ordinary cross earring, just with pointy ends and a small transparent white gem in the middle of the earring that had an engraved small symbol on it, with the words "Kadath" and "Holy". It was so small that the average person wouldn''t even be able to see it with his eyes.

    Thisbination of words, together with this earring, would seem like a coincidence to an average person. Just a random bunch of words and coincidences. Still, to someone with a prestigious background such as Arden Ironbeard, it is something much more significant.

    "I see that you had a pleasantst year, My Lord."

    In response, the Branch Manager immediately changed even the title by which he was calling Samiel, as well as the tone of his voice, which went from being jovial to a more polite and formal tone of voice.

    As soon as Arden Ironbeard realized that the young man before him had gained a great deal of influence in the Hall of Kadath, he dropped all sense of familiarity and instantly switched to the most polite tone and appearance that he could muster.

    "Please, follow me to the VIP Logue."

    Stated Branch Manager Arden Irobeard; he then mentioned Samiel to follow after him as they went to Private VIP Logue.

    This was a rtively small, cozy room, filled with a few unique artifacts, some leather chairs made of the finest dragon leather, and of course, the best liquor that could be found throughout the Cosmos. Dwarves were known to be heavy drinkers, and they liked good liquor.

    The stronger, the better.

    "Now, I will need 510 sets of Normal-Grade Armors and the same amount of weapons, the standard set of Shield and One-Handed Sword."

    When Samiel was deciding how much he would like to spend, he gave out his order, and it reminded him of ordering food from McDonald''s or other fast foods on Earth. While Arden was calcting the price, he wrote something down on some type of Magetech tablet device that looked like a tablet.

    "Altogether, it should be 500 gold coins per set of Armor and 300 gold coins perbo of Sword and Shield. So, for the Armor, it would be together 255,000 gold coins, and for weapons and shields, it would be 153,000 gold coins. In total, 408,000 Gold Coins, with the discount, we can lower it to 380,000 Gold Coins."

    A summary of Arden, Samiel''s opinion on the price was that it was fairly good; a discount of 28,000 gold coins was a decent deal. Even so, he knew that, if he were in the Middle World or the High World, for example, the same armor could be purchased for 250 gold coins, or perhaps even less, depending on the world itself.

    The buying power of gold coins was way lower in the Tower; therefore, he was technically overpaying for the gold coins due to their lower purchasing power. Though in the end, there was nothing he could do about it unless he preferred to pay with Mana Crystals.

    "Good. When will it be ready?"

    Samiel then asked as he sensed Nefertari wake up from the nap time she had on his shoulder.

    ''Hooman, I am thirsty.''

    Nefertari sounded really cute when she asked for a portion of food or something to drink.

    "Branch Manager Arden, can I ask you if you could get a drink for my familiar to drink? My familiar just woke up and now she is getting grumpy because she is thirsty."

    Samiel said immediately; while he scratched her behind her ear, just the way she liked, then the Branch Manager Arden said something to a servant that was present to bring Nefertari some milk from Silver-Tier or Gold-Tier Magical Beast.

    If the VIP required something extra, the dwarf servant who was there for these kinds of situations immediately hurried to get a sk of milk that the Branch Manager ordered him to get, together with the bowl for the Nefertari to drink some milk.

    After three minutes, exactly the three minutes servant came back as he put down the bowl and poured the milk from a Silver-Tier Magical Beast into it; Nefertari pped her wings, flew onto the table, and started drinking the milk.

    "Now, back to the topic, your order would be prepared within three days; we don''t have the concrete design you wish for."

    As Samiel nodded in agreement as he agreed that the agreement was satisfactory, he just nodded in agreement. Samiel continued his conversation with the Branch Manager about possible future endeavors after Nefertari finished drinking all the milk, or during that time, because he had ns to equip entire armies with armor and weapons from Goldstone Manufacturing Armory, so having a good rtionship with the corporation was a huge advantage.

    "I will return after the three days to get my things."

    In response, Samiel took out a small bank card from his wallet. The card was pitch ck in color, and on it were simple words inscribed in the form of Vaultbank, together with his name, Samiel Zentaur.

    The Vaultbank was the only bank in the entire Cosmos that had branches in every part of it and was backed up practically by all the Transcendental Factions and 13 Gates; however, there were other banks as well; while many of them existed, the Vaultbank was the only one with branches everywhere. It was the only bank with such strong backing.

    All those people who mattered in the Cosmos used the Vaultbank as their means of payment because it was the most secure bank in the Cosmos and offered great benefits to their clients. As the Holy Son of Kadath, Samiel was immediately provided with a ck-Grade VIP ount in the Vaultbank in recognition of his position as the Holy Son of Kadath.

    In the end, Samiel paid for the goods with his credit card, took Nefertari into his arms, and then exited the store while he was petting her, followed by his loyal bodyguard Frost Death Knight Ashimer, who had been apanying him.

 Chapter 74 Yvraine Contra Estrid

    The next day, Zephystrand''s Citadel.

    The next morning, Samiel awoke in his room with Nefertari asleep next to him in his bed; as she was purring happily due to the satisfactory sleep, she had had with her master and, most importantly, being able to sleepfortably in his bed. It was a lovely rainy day as Samiel listened to the rain falls down on the ground.

    It ismon for people to associate a nice day with when the sun is shining, but Samiel was always looking forward to dark rainy days, often reflecting the depressive mood he was in at the time. As far as he could remember, he always preferred rainy days... they were more real to him.

    ''Hooman, hooman, hooman.''

    When Samiel woke up, he was surprised to hear something tucking him and licking him on the face; as he opened his eyes, he was annoyed because he would have preferred to sleep, at least for a few hours minimally.

    ''What it is, Nefertari?''

    The young man was quite annoyed with himself since he had been forced to wake up a few hours earlier than he normally would have in the morning. Basically, his usual schedule and morning routine were broken today.

    ''There will be a duel between Yvraine and Estrid that will be taking ce several hourster.''

    The voice of Nefertari sounded in his head, and he was forced to wake up immediately, as it was indeed time for the duel between the two of them tomence. When he heard Nefertari''s voice, he groggily got up from the bed and started doing his morning hygiene.

    When he brushed his teeth in the mornings, he didn''t even know why he was doing it. Such an act of self-care had be obsolete for the people with Mana because such an act for taking care of oneself had be obsolete for them. However, s, the morning habits die hard.

    After he put on his armor, he exited his room, with Nefertari standing on his head as she was licking her left paw cutely. He went straight to the dining room, where he would have breakfast together with Yvraine, just like most of the mornings.

    "So, how are you feeling before the big day?"

    Smaiel asked while he sat down, and during the time as he waited for the servants to bring him breakfast, Samiel thought about what would be on the menu for today as he sat down and waited for them to bring it to him.

    "Good, I am going to win."

    Yvraine confidently stated, because, during the one year prior to the duel, she had prepared properly for it, studied enough magic from the Grimoire Elementa Magicae to be able to win this duel for the first time in her life, and she was confident that this time, she would finally be able to defeat Estrid.

    Samiel saw some variation of the typical English breakfast that was one of his favorites, as the service staff there brought their meals, and this one was of higher quality than the typical English breakfast. A minimum requirement for the meat or products is to be from Steel-Tier Magical Beast at least.

    All the food in the Zephystrand City''s Citadel for the VIP, was prepared by the best chefs in the city, who were working in the Citadel to make food for the important guests or even the soldiers in the Citadel.

    "Then it is good... though I am doubting the benefits you have from this entire charade."

    Samiel stated amid the eating as he looked at Yvraine, who was just thinking over her answer before replying to him. For him, this entire thingcked any sort of inner logic, and it was just a useless "event" or whatever it was.

    "That is for me to know and for you to find out."

    She said with a smirk, while he shrugged his shoulders, not really knowing what to say. So, he just continued eating, and when they finished eating, they moved to the training yard of the Citadel because there the duel between the two of them would be taking ce.

    Samiel sat down in the VIP zone, where he sat on the couch watching Yvraine doing exercises with her twin swords as a form of stretching. This continued for more than thirty minutes until Estrid arrived, clearly annoyed by the sight of Yvraine exercising with her twin swords.

    However, then her annoyance was ovee with battle lust as she wanted to fight with Yvraine.

    "Can we start already, Elven bitch?"

    Estrid looked at Yvriane and immediately cursed at her as Yvraine''s brow twitched in anger.

    "When you are ready, little lizard."

    It was only natural that Yvraine''s response didn''t take long toe as soon as she smelled an opportunity to make a move, as she bit back immediately.

    ''That bickering between two of them is bing increasingly annoying as the time goes.''

    Samiel, though, as both of them went, entered the biggest training yard because Samiel predicted that Estrid would be using her dragon form in this singlebat, which would be the first he would see it.

    In spite of the fact that he had fought her several times, as he got stronger, the fight ended faster than she was able to enter her true form, and Samiel knew that it was prudent not to let her enter her dragon form, since dragons are the most powerful when they are in their true forms.

    There was no time for anyone to react; without warning, Yvraine appeared next to Estrid and shed at her with a cross-like pattern, aiming directly at her neck before anyone could say a word. Both of her twin swords were zing with crimson me at her, with a clear intention to kill.

    ''Hmm... her usage of the Elementia Magicae Spells has got way better than before.''

    Samiel analyzed thebat that was going on during the observation of their duel, while the fight was going on the full go already.

    Estrid just dodged to the side while sending a kick at Yvraine with her left leg, to which she bent low enough for Estrid to miss her, while at the same time, Yvraine used [Metamagic] Ultimate Ability to cast several tens of Spell simultaneously, all of them firing at Estrid.

    There was only one thing the red dragon girl could do as she saw the iing barrage of spells, and as there was no chance to dodge, she used both of her hands to shield herself as she stood up to the barrage of 2nd Level and 3rd Level Spells, with only some slight bruises and scrapes on her scales as a result.<sub> </sub>

    This did not deter Yvraine from attacking once more, as shebined her sword mastery over the dual wield with various elemental spells, which she was casting one after the other, to create a devastating attack.

    This was mainly due to her [Metamagic] Ultimate Ability. Nheless, Samiel had to admit that Yvraine''sbination of her swordsmanship abilities together with magical ones was putting up a spectacr show for anyone who was watching them.

    As he was somehow close to her, he knew that she had three Ultimate Abilities, one of which was already mentioned [Metamagic], which was something that a heavy majority, if not all magicians, would kill.

    Then aside from that, she had two more, one of them was a sword-rted one called [Dance of des], and another one was [Silvermoon], a Bloodline Ability only avable to the Imperial Line of the Nesser Dynasty of the Silvermoon Elves.

    He already had experienced the might of the [Dance of des], and despite finding it a frustrating Domain Ability, he did not want to have the honor of having to face it again. It was only when Yvraine was close to defeating him that she caught himpletely off guard.

    At the same time, [Silvermoon] was something that she could not use until she reached Legendary level, or rather, she could not use it actively until she reached Legendary level. In her own words, it was hazardous to use when being still a Mortal and not a Legendary Being.

    The primary reason why Yvraine used the Water and Ice Spells was that Estrid, being a Red Dragon, was highly adept at using Fire and Heat spells, so anything that contradicted these elements was technically her weakness, and she was exploiting it at the moment.

    Something that she learned from Smaiel and that was to exploit any possible weakness that your enemy has; no matter how small it was, it could lead to a change of the battle and possibly reverse even an unsalvagable situation.

    ''Contrary to thest time, right now the situation is developing in to entirely different way... and fortunately there is a minimal level of cursing and provocations, something I really appreciate... hearing them provoke each other is like being on a children''s yground.''

    During the exchange between Yvraine and Estrid, Sammiel observed something that was technically a miraculous urrence as Yvraine started pushing Estrid back, resulting in Yvraine getting the upper hand. Throughout the fight, Estrid was slowly but steadily sustaining more and more injuries as a result of thebination of the Elementia Magicaei and swordsmanship abilities.

    After forty-three minutes and fifty-five seconds, Samiel saw Estrid''s eyes glowing menacing yellow color, knowing that she was going to transform into her true form. Suddenly, as Yvraine flipped backward to create space between them, Estrid started morning to her dragon form.

    The red dragon that she was in the form of was a magnificent red dragon with her red-crimson scales covering her entire body; standing on her four legs, she was around 4 meters high and in terms of length, her entire body together with her tail was around 15 meters long.

    On the top of her head, she had one pair of majestic dragon horns; from her nostrils, hot steam was released as her huge dragon head looked at Yvraine while firing an enormous wave of dragon breath directly at the Silvermoon Princess.

    "And the real fun starts from now..."

    Samiel stated quietly to himself while observing the start of the second stage of the duel between two women. He himself fought Estrid in her dragon form, several times actually, when she pestered him long enough to fight him in her true form.

    In the end, he relented to her request, and he realized that their power was rtively matched when she turned to her dragon form. Or better said, she could withstand more of his Spells in that form because when he started using Void Magic on her in her dragon form, he realized that with enough power, he could break through her dragon scales due to the power of Void itself.

    In the course of the dissipation of the dragon breath, Samiel had a glimpse of Yvraine there, unharmed, encased within some blueish magical barriers, as he felt the power of the Moon in it and was able to sense hints of the Divine.

    Yvraine then canceled the barrier as she used Lightning Spell from the Elementia Magicae to boost up her speed and offensive prowess. At the same time, the lightning itself cracked all around her body as she disappeared in a sh.

    Appeared right above Estrid''s huge dragon body; she shed two times, with her dual swords, which were enveloped by the lightning, towards her wings, creating two deep cuts into her meat as she managed to break through her dragon scales.

    "Roooaaarrrr!!!"

    Estrid roared in pain because right now, her mobility was cut down by at least half, as she couldn''t properly use her wings due to Yvraine cutting directly to the joints which connected her wings with the rest of her body.

    Not only did it hurt like hell, but it also took the ability from Estrid to use her wings. For any dragon, the ability to use its wings to their full potential was one of its strongest weapons. Not only did the dragons use them to fight obviously, but they also acted often for offensive, defensive and even supportive usages.

    Dragons tended to use their wings to attack enemies if it was possible, but most importantly, their wings could be used as a defensive measure against somerge-scale attacks.

    Immediately after Estrid tried to get Yvraine down from her body, she jumped down. She once again started shooting spells at Estrid in her dragon form, and suddenly, Estrid found herself being weaker and weaker.

    This was because, before the duel even started, Yvraine used a few tweaking curses on her swords, so even though it won''t have a permanent effect, the temporary one would be okey.

    And so, when Yvraine created those severely injured on Estrid''s body by cutting into her flesh, she inflicted Estrid with a bunch of weakening curses from the Necromancy Arts that she learned from Samiel.

    For the next ten minutes, Yvraine kept dodging Estrid''s attacks, and because Yvraine was especially agile and fast, she didn''t have any problem dodging Estrid''s rtively clumsy attacks that were more focused on pure brute power.

    ''Interesting... she created semi-cursed temporary weapons to get Estrid cursed and bypass her Magic and Curse resistance...''

    Samiel thought, while observing the fight, as now it was mostly just Yvraine keeping her distance, preserving her stamina and Mana, while waiting for the Necromancy Art weakening curses to take their effects and even beyond that.

    She knew that in terms of raw power, she was way behind Estrid, so she needed to y this smart, not hard. And certainly, after more than half an hour, Samiel could see that the Necromancy Art curses were in their full effect, as Estrid''s movements were slower, her strength was slowly leaving her body, and her Mana Regeneration was several times slower than it was before.

    And this was the best strategy to defeat an enemy who was toppling you in terms of raw power by continuously weakening him and then ying it on the battle of attrition.

    "And the battle has been ended."

    Samiel stated after several secondster, when he saw Estrid copsing onto the ground still in her dragon form. This was the result of Yvriane attacking her non-stop, especially her weapon spots with Ice and Water Elemental Spells, and under the effects of the curses, it was clear that Estrid couldn''t continue fighting any longer.

 Chapter 75 The Most Suitable Gift (1)

    It is important to remember, however, that the greatest difference between the two of them was that, although Yvraine was extremely powerful, she was not a heavy hitter, nor did she have any special destructive abilities that could cause arge area to be destroyed with little to no effort.

    Due to the fact that Estrid was a Red Dragon, she was a natural heavy hitter and could unleash highly destructive attacks with her Racial Abilities, in addition to the Dragon Chant Magic that she had at her disposal, which was just as destructive.

    Dragon Chant Magic was an extremely destructive and powerful branch of Magic. As the racial Magic of the Dragonkind, only dragons could use the Dragon Chant Magic, or in some cases, their rted

    As far as Samiel was concerned, he was virtually the same as Estrid since he was able to do great damage with his Void Magic and [Winter Ruler] abilities, something that Yvraine did not possess because her abilities were more oriented towards singlebat.

    "Do you give up, lizard?"

    Yvraine mocked Estrid as she bonked her head with her sword, and Estrid was so weakened that she was barely able to respond to the opponent. It was clear that Yvraine was clearly enjoying this humiliation moment for the Red Dragon Girl, as Samiel just shook his head at this.

    In the end, surprisingly or not, the duel ended in Yvraine''s victory, and that was all that mattered for now.

    As a matter of fact, Samiel was somewhat surprised when the duel ended in Yvraine being victorious, something that even he had doubted would happen but that came to pass. Seeing that Yvraine won against Estrid was a good thing for Samiel, as she would be in a much better mood right now.

    Yvraine hummed something happily as she walked away from Estrid, lying down in her dragon form in the training yard, happy with herself that she managed to sessfully win the duel against her for the first time in her life and satisfied with her achievements.

    "I take you that you are happy?"

    A very happy smile appeared on the face of Yvraine as Samiel asked a question to her. Hopefully, her mood wouldst as much as possible; at least, that was what Samiel prayed for to happen, as he believed a silent prayer to the Primordial Demiurge.

    "In fact, I am quite pleased with myself as well... I managed to beat that annoying lizard to a pulp for the first time. Today is indeed a good day, I must admit; hopefully, this will continue for all eternity."

    As she sat down in the VIP booth next to Samiel, Yvraine smiled happily, and Samiel was happy too because he didn''t need to listen to her ramblings andints due to her good mood from the results of the spar.

    "At least you would be satisfied for now and won''t be such a pain in the ass."

    She huffed in annoyance as Samiel spoke to her, as her ears twitched with irritation, as she had not as yet responded to his provocation, as this was almost a daily urrence between the two of them. Even though she was tempted to berate him for being a brute, she knew that it was a blind street, and nothing would be achieved.

    "At least right now, when this rivalry between you and Estrid is at least partially solved, we could focus on the more pressing matters on hand. The schemes and machinations from the Drows and the iing invasion on the City is just behind the corner."

    Samiel noted as they had more urgent matters on their schedule, which needed to be addressed as soon as possible because the consequences of not doing so could be catastrophic.

    A looming threat of the Magical Beast invasion was hanging over Zephystrand City. There was the fact that the Drider was operating with entire squads of Drows and hundreds of thousands of monstrous spiders in the shadows of the 3rd Floor. And the clock was ticking and everyone was waiting for when the war would start and the scheme unfold.

    "We still have approximately six months till the Drows and Drider will unleash the Magical Beast Horde upon the Zephystrand City. That should give us enough time to prepare for all eventualities."

    Yvraine stated as the process of preparations against the iing horde of the Magical Beasts were in full go. All weak spots in the defenses of the Zephystrand City were being strengthened and patched up. Anything that could use any works was addressed, and defenses were bolstered several times over not to allow the enemies to have any kind of advantage.

    "I am going to the wilds searching for the Inheritance somewhere here..."

    Samiel stated to Yvraine as he got the location of some Inheritance on the 3rd Floor, and because the Akashic Records gave it, it must be something beneficial for his growth. That was beucae, just the fundamental nature of the reward; it was something given directly by the Akashic Records.

    "Would you like for me to apany you on the journey?"

    Yvraine asked, trying to go along with Samiel as she stole a few nces at him as she tried to go along with him on the trip. Not that he didn''t this time notice those few nces she stole at him subtly or not so subtly as she thought.

    "Why not? At least I won''t be bored when searching for that thing."

    He answered, not really bothered if she went with him; even if he had the approximate location of the ce where apparently the Inhertie was located, it would be prudent to have someone on whom he could delegate part of the work.

    At least he wouldn''t be bored if he eventually had to search for it for several hours or possibly days. Not that his Familiar was any conversationalist because Nefertari spent most of her time sleeping, and if she was not sleeping, then she would be eating and vice versa.

    Really a heavenly life of a privileged almighty cat.

    A little over an hourter, Estrid finally awoke after she had fallen unconscious and morphed back into her human form, and the first thing she saw was Samiel and Yvraine talking to each other in the watching zone in the training yard; as soon as she awoke, she was in her human form.

    As expected from a dragon with absolutely terrifying regenerative abilities, even after getting such a beating and sustaining pretty severe injured, she needed just one hour to be functioning again, albeit partially, but it was still an rming rate of regeneration.

    The only thing she did was adjust her dress, which was somehow damaged from the fight against Yvraine, as she went to them, seeing them being chummy with each other.

    "Next time... you will lose."

    Estrid said straightforwardly as she then marched away, probably pretty pissed up at the fact of how easily she lost to her most hated person. Estrid was taking her loss very hardly because, for the dragons, losing to someone inbat was one of the most disgraceful things that could happen, not to mention she lost to an elf, which only multiplied her shame by several times over.

    "Oh, Estrid?"

    Sounded Yvraine''s voice as Estrid stopped in her tracks and turned to her.

    "I defeated you thanks to Magic Grimoire that you gave Samiel as payment for fighting with him."

    Hearing this, Estrid abruptly turned around, only to notice Yvraine provocatively smirking at her, aggravating her even further, beyond the limit she already was, something Yvraine greatly enjoyed doing so.

    She stomped a few times on the ground in her anger before she left the training yard, probably going to the wilds of the 3rd Floor to destroy things to go out her anger. That was a very dragon-like way of dealing with suppressed anger and rage, just rampaging around and destroying things... though at least she wasn''t doing it in the City... thanks to all Eldritch abominations for that, Samiel thought in his mind.

    "Really?"

    There is no doubt that Samiel had asked a rtively stupid question, given who he was speaking to, but in the end, he just wanted to hear why Yvraine needed to rile up the dragon girl so much. He would be liable if Estrid destroyed something in Zephystrand City again and he would have to pay the expenses.

    "Just to remind her of her stupidity and make her feel even worse about the loss when she finally realizes that the major reason she lost was because of the Magic I learned from the Grimoire Elementia Magicae that I got from you, who got it from herself as payment for you little spar, so technically speaking the major reason why she lost was she herself being stupid."

    This statement was made with a great deal of pride by Yvraine, as indeed, this was a great way to rile someone up, and this could make Estrid''s feelings regarding the loss several times worse than what they were already.<sub> </sub>

    Samiel could say that this would serve as an unforgettable experience for the Red Dragon girl, and hopefully, she would start using her head more... at least, that was something he sincerely hoped for.

    "Whatever...e, I want to be done with this thing to be finished in one week maximally."

    Samiel then said, decided to already go past the topic of Yvraine contra Estrid, as it was already bing dull because of the same content all over again.

    As soon as Yvraine said that, Nefertari, who had been sleeping for the most part of the fight, not really interested in the duels between the two of them, suddenly awoke and flew towards her, letting herself be showered by pats and scratches, just like many other cats do, as she let herself be pampered by her.

    Of course, only in the situation when the Almighty Cat allowed this, only then was it possible to give it a head pat or scratch it behind the ear.

    And thus, with Yvraine holding Nefertari in her arms, Samiel went with Yvraine to the wilds of the 3rd Floor, searching for the Inheritance of the unknown powerhouse, which location Samiel had in his mind.

    In his case, the location was rtively far from Zephystrand City, as they would have to cross a considerable distance before they could reach the marked spot, and when they did reach the marked spot, it would once again be a bother to find it, since the ce was would be probably hidden, possibly even warded against people who came to search for it.

    Meaning it could be some kind of hidden Inheritance or treasure trove. In truth, whatever it was, Samiel hoped it would be something worth his journey and something that would increase his power, not just Mana Crystals or Gold Coins, or he would have another fit of rage.

    Not to mention, Samiel didn''t even know what they were supposed to search. He only knew that there, in the location he was informed by the Akashic Records, there was an inheritance of some expert professionals, which could greatly increase his strength.

    He didn''t even know if it was some kind of tomb, corpse, cave, or anything.

    ***

    Four dayster, several thousand kilometers away from Zephystrand City, the northern part of the 3rd Floor, Frostridge Mountains.

    As one of the most famous mountains ranges on the 3rd Floor, the Frostridge Mountains were renowned for the extreme conditions of frost and ice that covered most of the mountain range and the high poption of Magical Beasts that lived within the mountain range.

    The entire Frostridge Mountain Rnage was mainly inhabited by the Snow Wind Apes, Ice Wraiths, Sabercats, and other simr Magical Beasts or Monsters, which preferred to live in cold environments. Just their presence here made the entire ce approximately several times more dangerous and deadly, aside from the extreme weather conditions, which were also pretty problematic to deal with.

    A total of four days passed before they reached the Frostridge Mountains, not only because it was so far from Zephystrand City, but also because, on their journey to the Frostridge Mountains, they encountered a lot of Magical Beasts, some members, and even for the first time, bandits.

    Thatst one was actually the most memorable and pleasant experience, however weird it may sound.

    In truth, Samiel was very eager to experience his first bandit encounter. However, unfortunately for him, they were only the initial Steel-Tier of Level 11. At the same time, their strongest was only Level 15, so they were killed before they could do anything.

    Not like he should have expected anything else from the inhabitants of the 3rd Floor. They were able to encounter them only because they were rtively near some human city that was built near the Frostridge Mountains, and here some bandits often preyed on the merchants and simr individuals.

    But Samiel was still thrilled because it was like in those Japanese Isekai novels, the legendary bandit encounter...

    When they reached the Frostridge Mountains, Samiel knew that they must go to the highest peak, which was called Snowrose Peak, which was the highest mountain in the entire Frostridge Mountain Range.

    "Yv, are you okay?"

    Samiel called out to Yvraine with her nickname in his poor attempt to make her mood better because since they entered the Frostridge Mountains, she was constantlyining about the weather and how cold she was.

    At least he was pretty much enjoying the ce where they were right now; for him, the coldness of this ce was natural habitat and he felt like a fish in the water.

    "Why did I go with you... if you told me you were heading to this dammed ce, I would have stayed back at Zephystrand!"

    <o>,m She shouted to him while using another spell to heat herself up because the temperatures were heavily negative, and everything was freezing. Only Samiel was okey, because of his own Lord ss Knight of Niflheim, while Nefertari was also pretty much unbothered by the freezing cold.</o>

    Even though it didn''t look like it, Nefertari had a very thick fur coat, so this kind of cold wasn''t diforting for her.

    "Do you know why this ce is called Snowrose Peak?"

    Samiel asked as they had now finished climbing another part of the highest mountain in the entire Frostridge Mountain Range, and right now, they had some time to rest before they would continue once again.

    They were aiming almost at the top of the mountain, where supposedly some cave existed, and that was Samiel''s target.

    "Because on the top of the mountain, there is a very rare flowing growing called Snow Roses, their beauty is spoken through the entire Tower, but it is very hard to climb directly to the top even for Legenderaries, due to extreme cold, which is on the top of the mountain. Not talking about finding them there is almost impossible."

    Yvraine exined to him while she looked a bit at the tip of Snowrose Peak.

    ''Maybe after obtaining the inheritance, I will go and take a look for them.''

    Samiel thought because he was basically immune to the frost and cold which was surrounding the entire Frostridge Mountains, thanks to his Lord ss. So, theoretically, he should be able to reach the top of Swonrose Peak and search for a few Snow Roses.

    As he was in deep thought, he suddenly felt Nefertari was moving on his neck, like she woke up or something.

    ''Hooman, hooman, hooman.''

    She screamed at him, apanied by one sharp scratch with her paw, as he finally woke up from his mini trance.

    ''What it is?''

    He asked, seeing the distressed state of his familiar.

    ''Several tens of Snow Wind Apes are heading this way; all of them are at the Bronze-Tier.''

    She stated as he wanted to curse. They were right now in a very narrow space, so they would be basically trapped here if they fought with a whole bunch of Bronze-Tiered Snow Wind Apes.

 Chapter 76 The Most Suitable Gift (2)

    [Bone Spear]

    At the same time as Samiel was casting several 1st Level Spells from the Necromancy Arts, he at the same time was also using the [Winter Ruler] Ultimate Ability in order to boost up the attack potency of the Bone Spears, which he fired at the iing Snow Wind Apes in a small barrage.

    In response to the iing attacks on the Bronze-Tier Snow Wind Apes, they used their thick arms to cover themselves and defend themselves against the iing barrage of Bone Spears by defending themselves. It was only a pipe dream that a 1st Level Spell would be able to hurt Bronze-Tier Snow Wind Apes, though that was only under normal circumstances and there were no such ones.

    However, Samiel''s variants were much more deadly than the average 1st level spell; they were highly effective. As a result of his extensive knowledge of the Basic Necromancy Arts, as well as the fact that he incorporated the use of the Winter Ruler into the Bone Spear, their destructive power was alreadyparable to spells at the third level, resulting in the Snow Wind Apes suffering a variety of injuries.

    Some of the weaker Snow Wind Apes or, the more unlucky ones, which were hit in their weak spots, even died due to the barrage of the Spells that were unleashed by him on the Magical Beasts.

    "Yvraine, are you ready for the dance?"

    Samiel asked Yvraine, who was now standing next to him like an entirely changed person, as she eyed the Snow Wind Apes dangerously while taking out their dual swords. He wondered if she had some kind of switch where she could choose to turn between her bloodthirsty persona and cold persona instantaneously.

    Silvermoon Crown Princess grinned as she nodded and disappeared in a sh. At the same time, she rushed at the Snow Wind Apes, appearing behind the nearest Snow Wind Ape, and beheaded it in one swift sh.

    The blood sttered high in the air, as one severed head rolled on the ground while the headless corpse of the Bronze-Tier Snow Wind Ape fell onto the ground, as the ground shook slightly when the heavy corpse fell. Snow Wind Apes were heavyweights; one adult Snow Wind Ape could easily weigh over one tonne.

    At the same time, Samiel began spamming Void Magic spells from the 3rd level, Void Strike, one after another, aiming at the nearest Snow Wind Apes; upon contact with the weakest Snow Wind Apes in the branch, their heads exploded in a mass gore of blood and flesh, and they were killed instantly.

    His methods of killing were extremely bloody and brutal, as they left pieces of flesh everywhere, and he himself was drenched a bit in the blood of the killed Snow Wind Apes, but the efficiency of the killing was something else, even way higherpared to that of Yvraine.

    Unexpectedly, the numbers of the Snow Wind Apes started falling down, one after another, as they were killed either by Yvraine''s swordsmanship while the heads of the Snow Wind Apes were flying high in the air.

    And on the other side of the battlefield, Samiel was using thebination of the Void Magic Spells together with some Necromancy Arts as he was killing Snow Wind Apes en masses, not really wanting to use his Undeads in this type of enviroment. They were fighting in a rtively narrow ce; there were was not a lot of space for maneuvers or tactical moves, which would be required if he used his Undeads to fight.

    It took them only twenty minutes to exterminate around 50 Bronze-Tier Snow Wind Apes, while Samiel stored their corpses in his Dimensional Ring, as he intended to resurrect them as Undead in the future. The corpses of the Snow Wind Apes served as a good base material for the Undead Creation, not only because of their strength when they were alive but also their size.

    They would be perfect to create some tanks that could rampage through the battlefield unhindered and kill as many of enemies as possible.

    "And that should be thest one."

    Samiel heard Yvraine say as she pierced the skull of thest Snow Wind Ape that was crawling on the ground, severely injured from fighting her. With the death of thest Snow Wind Ape, the entire band of the magical beasts was killed off, and they could continue their journey to search for the treasure.

    "We can probably continue to our destination."

    He then looked at the higher part of the Snowrose Peak, and Nefertari, who was god knows where, flew back to him as shended on his shoulder, carefully avoiding the spikes on his armor, to continue her favorite activity, sleep.

    Yvraine just nodded in agreement as they continued their small journey towards the top cave in Snowrose Peak; when they exited the cave where they were right now, suddenly, a very strong snowstorm descended down.

    Snowstorms were a prettymon urrence here, and they took the lives of countless people who were brave enough or foolish enough to enter the Frostridge Mountain Range.

    "Dammed storm."

    Right now, even Samiel cursed at the snowstorm, but in the end, there was nothing they could do because the snowstorm wasn''t that strong, truth to be told. And even if it was, it was impossible for them to do anything about the snowstorm, as the weather maniption was out of their reach.

    After more than one hour, after Samiel listened to Yvraine''sints and other things, they finally managed to reach the ce where the inheritance was supposedly located. For that, he was d because, right now, he was regretting a bit that he had taken the Silvermoon Princess with him on the trip.

    "Now we have finally reached our destination atst; you can stopining already."

    Samiel said to Yvraine, who just huffed at him, while they entered the small cave, which was located near the top of Snowrose Peak. This cave was rtively different from the previous ones they entered when they were crossing through the entire Frostridge Mountains or the Snowrose Peak.

    This one had an extreme concentration of Mana, just as if something was here, which was artificially increasing the Mana Density in this cave. Also, it was very well hidden because it was very hard to find it; it seemed like someone purposely recreated this so that he could hide something here.

    "Wards."

    A few momentster, Samiel remarked as he detected the presence of some powerful Wards. He was not a Ward Master, despite the fact that he was always very interested in the directions of Wards, and even more advanced Wards known as Bounded Fields.

    Still, his basic knowledge of the Warding was pretty good, and he could recognize one when he saw it. When it came to good Wards made by experts, not talking about the Bounded Fields, which were a category on their own, one wouldn''t notice their existence until it was toote.

    "There is a very powerful Ward here almost approaching the level of the Bounded Fields, but... it is greatly weakened over the passage of time, so right now, as long as we find even one Wardstone and destroy it, then the entire Ward will fall down."

    Samiel stated as he examined his surroundings, doing the analysis of the Ward which was protecting this ce.

    A powerful Ward was protecting this cave, but unfortunately for the Wards and fortunately for him, they were extremely old, and nobody had recharged or repaired them for countless centuries possibly. While the Wards got more powerful as they got older, they still needed a certain level of maintenance because there could be some malfunctions or outside effects that were damaging the entire integrity of the Ward.

    So, they have been in a state of decay for a very long time already, and thanks to that, they could be broken with little to no effort if somebody knew how to do it. And even if not, then the brute force was always an option for breaking through the old, decayed Wards.

    "I think I have found something..."<sub> </sub>

    Suddenly Yvraine said to him, as he went to the ce where she was searching and saw that she was looking straight at one stone, which was pulsating with Mana like it was alive. Samiel recognized this little stone as one of the Wardstones.

    With his keen senses, which were especially sensitive towards the Mana, he was able easily to confirm what it was and instantly cast one Void Strike, which shattered the Wardstone into the pile of dust and smaller parts, as the entire Ward around the cave started falling apart.

    "Come on."

    Samiel said as Yvraine followed him deeper into the cave; after the protective Ward was destroyed, they entered the inner parts of the cave, which the Ward previously hid. Everything here looked rtively clean, aside from dust and other things that fell from the ceiling, but that wasmon.

    Soon enough, they arrived before huge doors made entirely from the Ice; Samiel felt something familiar when he looked at the Ice, and he could tell, just by looking at the Ice Doors, that this Ice had been here for a very, very, very long time already.

    In the middle of the double doors made from Ice, there was a symbol of a Snowke engraved in it, which Samiel didn''t recognize, but he could guess that it was the Crest of either some Family or faction; only several secondster, it came to him back, and he had it.

    "Frozen Court."

    Even Yvraine could not help but be intrigued by this since this was indeed the Crest of the Frozen Court, which meant the person who died here or was buried here must have been some high-ranking member of this very reclusive faction of the ice users.

    The supposed strength of the person who created this ce is, at the very least, an average Legendary, so it would be logical to conclude that it should be someone very important in the Frozen Court, most likely one of the Winter Mages or even the Lord of Frost, but that was highly unlikely.

    "Try touching that Symbol and use your ability on it... it should open."

    Yvraine proposed as Samiel nodded, did exactly what she said, and put his palm directly in the middle of the Snowke Crest of the Frozen Court and used Winter Ruler, as suddenly the Ice Doors started shaking and opening.

    When it opened, both of them could see a small room; it was entirely empty, aside from the skeleton of someone who presumably created this entire ce, holding a Grimoire in his hands; the skeleton didn''t have anything, not even the Dimensional Rings or anything.

    The entire room was frozen, gloomy and cold, but it was surprisingly very clean, without a spect of dust, as only snow and ice were filling it. Even the skeleton who was holding the Grimoire was in a top-notch state, just like he was frozen only yesterday.

    Just the Grimoire was present.

    The skeleton was entirely frozen, and by its structure and appearance, it belonged to some human subspecies or some evolved human, but that wasn''t really important to him, as his eyes were sticked to the Grimoire which the skeleton was holding.

    "Lux Brumalis."

    The moment Samiel read out the title of the Grimoire, Yvraine grabbed his shoulders and her face was filled with disbelief as he read the title of the Grimoire aloud. It was clear that this Grimoire was not so ordinary as it seemed.

    "What did you say?"

    She questioned him, pretty distressed.

    "Lux Brumalis... the title of the Grimoire... can''t you see that?"

    He repeated the title of the Grimoire once more, as he didn''t understand why Yvraine couldn''t see the title of the Grimoire, only to realize that the Grimoires were sentient to some extent, so if the Grimoire didn''t want to be known to someone, then it won''t.

    "So he ended here... oh my god... this could be bad, though fortunately we have nothing to fear, or more specifically, you have nothing to fear."

    She muttered several times again, not believing what they found right now. He looked at Yvraine, whose expression was changing between disbelief, shock and happiness at the same time when she was looking at the book he was holding in his hands.

    "What is going on?"

    Samiel asked, not really understanding the happenings and the course of things. While he was pretty much studying everything about the Tower and Cosmos since he became a member of the Hall of Kadath, there were many things he needed to learn, and he didn''t really touch the topic of history yet too much.

    In truth, right now, Samiel had other things to focus on rather than learning about long-forgotten things or evesting grudges between various species and factions of the Cosmos.

    "Frozen Court actually could have been one of the 13 Gates, but several thousand years ago, they lost their most precious artifact, which would have allowed them to cultivate even more Perfect and probably even Holy Legendaries, but then, one day, it vanished."

    She then paused as wheels in Samiel''s head were spinning at the top speed. Perfect Legendaries were practically the limit of the Legendary Level; it was the pinnacle of the Mortal Life, while the Holies were those, who were almost stepping into the Transcendence, or failed their Transcendence and managed to survive or they used other means to achieve the "status" of the Holiness.

    They were something in between Mortal Level and Transcendental Level; they were neither. Of course, this didn''t really mean that they were automatically stronger than Perfect Stage Legendary, but it was not that far from the truth.

    "And it was due to one man, named Thefgror de Labrair, who somehow managed to steal the artifact, the Grimoire Lux Brumalis. After he stole the Grimoire Lux Brumalis, the Frozen Court searched everywhere in the Tower and searched through thousands of worlds across the Cosmos; they even put a tremendous bounty appealing to even some Transcendents as a reward for the de Labrair''s head, but it was all to no vail."

    Now Samiel understood the meaning behind her words, but as she said, he was okey. Even if the Frozen Court somehow found out about the existence of Lux Brumalis and that it was in his hands, due to his status as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, they couldn''t do anything about it.

    At least openly.

    "So, still, it would be for the best not to show this little thing openly because even though they wouldn''t dare to do anything against me openly, in shadows, I could probably await countless assassins or other unsavory individuals that would be tasked by the Frozen Court to bring this back to them."

    Samiel said while petting the Grimoire Lux Brumalis, as Yvraine nodded with his evaluation of the situation.

 Chapter 77 Fear Is The Mind Killer

    "Now, putting aside the topic of the Grimoire, there is nothing more precious in this room... probably... search through it; I am going to take a look at something on the outside."

    Samiel stated as he stored the Grimoire Lux Brumalis in his Dimensional Ring while he went to the exit of the cave and looked at the peak of Snowrose Peak. When he was holding it, he knew that the Grimoire was not rejecting him, but such intelligent books would want to talk with him.

    That was not the case with the Basic Principles of the Void Necrosis because Samiel, as Eldritch Creature, was practically the most excellent candidate, so the Grimoire automatically judged him as the most suitable host.

    That was because of the natural affinity he had with it, which was the deciding factor when the Grimoire judged someone as suitable or worthy.

    In regard to the Grimore Lux Brumalis, he knew that the Grimoire would judge him if he was worthy of being its user; that was how the sentient Grimoires did things. He nned tomunicate with the Grimoire Lux Brumalis when he returned back to the Zephystrand, in the safe enviroment of the Citadel.

    As Samiel continued ascending Snowrose Peak, he was searching for the Snow Roses that were growing on the top of the peak, primarily because he wanted to give one of them to Yvraine and to sell a few of them, since they were so rare in the Cosmos.

    From what Yvraine told him, the Snow Roses were not only used as extravagant decoration in the gardens of powerful experts or aristocrats, but it was an evidently precious alchemical ingredient. It was used in a variety of potions and pills. So even a single Snow Rose could fetch its owner a nice sum of Mana Crystals or an extravagant number of Gold Coins.

    After forty minutes, Samiel managed to climb to the top of Snowrose Peak; he discovered a small area that was heavily covered by snow, and he began using his Mana to search for the Snow Roses within this area. Samiel was able to find his first Snow Rose only after more than twenty minutes, and he had to admit that they were pretty.

    They were simr in appearance to normal roses, but their leaves were pure white as the whitest snow. Samiel took one of the Snow Roses and plucked it out while storing it in the Dimensional Ring; he started searching for the next, but unfortunately for him, even after half an hour, he didn''t manage to find a second Snow Rose.

    "Ahh... fuck it."

    He cursed at it because he wanted to find a few more Snow Roses to sell; they would fetch an overwhelming amount of money. Like an interference of some kind of higher power, there was no Snow Rose in the entire area, aside from the one that Samiel had already picked up.

    Thus, ending his search for the Snow Roses, he returned back to the cave, where Yvraine was finished searching through the cave, not finding anything useful. It would be futile to spend more time here because it would yield no results anymore.

    "Did you find what you wanted?"

    She asked him when she saw him enter the cave.

    "Partially, at least. Here, for you."

    He said as he presented her with the Snow Rose, to which Yvraine held her breath as her eyes trailed to the Snow Rose. Yvraine looked mesmerized at the Snow Rose because it was one of the most precious flowers in the Tower; she never thought that he had gone away to search for the Snow Rose, because it was a pretty dangerous thing to do.

    Especially in the snowstorm which was outside right now, even many powerful Legendaries would be careful when climbing these mountains when there were storms and other things, risking one''s life when one was not even Gold-Tier, for just a single flower was... really something unpredictable that only someone like Samiel Zentaur would do.

    Several secondster, after he gifted Yvraine the Snow Rose, he suddenly felt something touching his lips.

    When he realized what was happening, he saw that Yvraine was kissing him; he was frozen on the spot, not absolutely knowing on what to do. Of course, this was his first kiss, so he didn''t know how to react, but soon he wrapped his hands around her waist and started returning her kiss.

    It was like an instinctive thing; he didn''t do it consciously but rather on the subconscious level, as everything happened too quickly and fast for him toprehend what had just happened.

    After they separated, Samiel was standing there, like a statue, while Yvraine was looking at him, not really saying anything as she held the Snow Rose in her hand before she left the cave and aimed directly at the Zephystrand City.

    After standing there for ten more minutes, he finally returned back from his unfrozen state and decided to return back to Zephystrand City. When he exited the cave, he realized that Yvraine was long gone; Samiel looked around and went back while he was constantly thinking about what had just happened.

    ''The fuck.''

    He just cursed as he descended down onto the snowstorm.

    ***

    Meanwhile, with Yvraine as she was returning back to Zephystrand City.

    After she kissed Samiel, she instantly ran away. Fortunately for her, she managed to keep herself a frozen facade as she then sprinted away. Thankfully for her, Samiel didn''t really know how to react because Yvraine was acting pretty much spontaneously when she was gifted with the Snow Rose.

    What Samiel didn''t really know was that, among the Silvermoon Elves, when a male elf was gifting a female elf a rare flower, it was a signal that he was ready to initiate the process of the courtship. Certainly, this was something that Samiel didn''t know because even among the Silvermoon Elves, this was rarely practiced and only the nobility followed the ancient ways, so the ritual with flower gifting was rare nowadays.

    She didn''t know why she decided to kiss that insufferable man. However, she followed her mother''s advice as her mind drifted toward the conversation she had with her mother some time ago. Normally she wouldn''t be this bold in the rtionship, but she had to admit that when it came to romantic rtionships, she was pretty much clueless.

    shback

    Some time ago, in Zephystrand City, Yvraine''s chambers in the Citadel.

    When Yvraine had a conversation with Samiel''s Familiar Nefertari, she decided the best thing to do would be to call her mother and ask for her opinion. She promptly took out a Magetech Device from her Dimensional Ring and began typing out a number, and soon a holographic image appeared soon after.

    It was an elven woman belonging to the Silvermoon Species, with an appearance very simr to that of Yvraine. She had long silverish hair tied into a braid, was wearing a royal-looking dress, and had a sharp look on her face.

    "Yve!"

    She greeted her daughter jovially, not really befitting to her strict look from before, as she looked at Yvraine with a smile, happy that her daughter had called her for the first time since she started climbing the Tower.

    "Mother."

    Yvraine said indifferently, while her mother just smiled at her.

    Ilroraniel was Empress of the Nesser Dynasty and one of the top powerhouses of the Silvermoon Species. She was not only an extremely powerful Legendary but also one of the most knowledgeable Arcanists in the Cosmos under the Transcendental Level.

    Contrary to Yvraine, she never cared about any kind of social standings or protocols; Yvraine was always very uptight and attempted to look and behave perfectly.

    "So, what is happening, my little darling?"<sub> </sub>

    She questioned her daughter, knowing that she wouldn''t be calling her just out of nowhere and for nothing. She took heavily after her father, so she was not wasting any time; she was always so serious and so strict.

    "..."

    And that was that moment when Yvraine found that she couldn''t say anything. Certainly, this didn''t escape her mother''s attention because she knew her daughter very well, as she knew that Yvraine always knew what to say at any moment and in every situation.

    "So, my little girl is finally having love problems?"

    She asked teasingly, as Yvraine went red with embarrassment due to being very ufortable in this situation. In the end, Yvraine took all the courage she had and started exining her problem to her mother, believing she would have the solution to her concerns for sure.

    "Oya?"

    Ilroraniel immediately sharpened, as she said jovially, looking at her daughter happily. From the time Yvraine was a little girl, she, as her mother, knew that Yvraine would probably not give her any grandchildren, which was somehow saddening to think about.

    "The solution to your problem is indeed easy. Basically, men are as dense as rocks; you only need to be as much bold and straightforward as you can and im your man before any other harlot can sink their ws into him."

    Her mother said as Yvraine was in deep thought about the entire situation, and she agreed with her mother''s words, as they had some sort of inner logic in them.

    "Then I will take your advice."

    Yvraine stated, as she then chatted with her mother about some minor things before ending the call and started scheming about how to im what was rightfully hers.

    End of the shback

    After Yvraine returned to Zephystrand City, she directly went to the Citadel and locked herself in her chambers, not allowing anyone to enter the premises.

    ***

    After Samiel returned back to the Zephystrand, he realized that Yvraine was locked up in her chambers, and truth to be told, he even didn''t know how to talk to her after what happened several days ago.

    Even after thinking about that kiss for three days, he didn''t know what to do, though right now, he started thinking about a certain chain of events, the conversation Yvriane had with Estrid a year or something ago, and now it all came back to him.

    ''Maybe...''

    He started thinking that maybe those words she said to Estrid before she challenged her to the duel weren''t just empty words, he presumed them to be, and it was possible they were true or at least partially true.

    He returned back to his room, where Nefertari was sleeping on the bed, as she woke up when sensing Samiel, who just now sat on the bed, which probably awoke her.

    ''What it is, hooman? Hooman seems distressed?''

    She asked telepathically while jumping on him, as she started purring in her attempts to calm down her hooman.

    ''Yvraine kissed me.''

    He answered without thinking about it too much and started petting his familiar, which she greatly enjoyed.

    ''Finally?''

    Nefertari sounded weirdly pleased at the development of this situation. At the same time, Samiel sharpened hearing this because this question/answer didn''t escape his attention; this was hard proof that his familiar knew what the hell was going on.

    ''What exactly do you know about this Nefertari? And speak the truth, or you will be for one month eating only cat food.''

    Samiel stated coldly, as he could see an absolutely terrified expression of his familiar, who had just heard that she would get only cat food for one whole month, which sounded indescribably bad to her.

    ''The elf is harboring some kind of romantic feelings for master, but the poor elf is dealing with a master who is denser and stupider than rock.''

    Nefertari spoke as she started grooming her fur and then went to clean out her wings. Hearing this made Samiel to stop in his tracks, as he almost copsed on the ground or whatever, but he was not that far from the mental copse.

    Nefertari was very good at sensing emotions and people''s intentions towards each other, so there was no possibility of her making any kind of mistake in this.

    ''Don''t ever tell Yvraine that you told me something. Do we understand each other?''

    Samiel asked dangerously because he knew that Nefertari was very mischievous like an Imps and liked to cause trouble to people, and in truth, he didn''t want her to meddle in this; it was enough that he was now interrogating her about certain circumstances.

    After seeing his familiar nod in agreement, heid on the bed while closing his eyes, entering into the realms of the dream, wishing to find an answer on what to do next. In truth, if it was an old him, he would feel ecstasy, but right now the only thing he was currently experiencing was torturous fear.

    "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer."

    Samiel repeated this sentence over and over, and over and over and over, as he spoke from his sleep because right now, he was experiencing a very pleasant dream, which his God rewarded him with.

    It was from one of the books he read on Earth until he gradually calmed down to an eptable level of calmness until he opened his eyes once again and looked straight at the ceiling of his room while thinking about the future.

    "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer."

    He repeated it to himself once more as he sat down cross-legged, already finding the decision he wanted to find.

 Chapter 78 The Winter Magic

    The next day, after Samiel woke up from his dream, he decided it was time to check out the Grimoire Lux Brumalis he obtained from the skeleton of the Frozen Court''s traitor. Obtaining the Grimoire Lux Brumalis was pretty much a hassle, especially considering the crossing of the Snowridge Mountains.

    So, he took out an enormous book and put it on his knees as he sat down cross-legged. It was finally time to take a good look at his spoils of war atst.

    He put his hand on the Grimoire as he used the [Winter Ruler] onto the Grimoire, and instantly the temperature in the room dropped so drastically to negative that everything started freezing up, and Samiel suddenly found himself in an entirely different enviroment.

    The ce where he appeared was covered by ice where the eye could see, and it was constantly snowing. Everything around him was frozen; there was practically nothing that wasn''t a piece of ice or snow. This was the empire of the frost and cold, one could safely say.

    At the same time, Samiel felt immense cold prating through his very own soul. This feeling like he waspletely seen through was not unfamiliar to him, and he felt like this several times over, especially when he met with his God. It didn''t take him a long time to realize he was in something like a mindscape of the Grimoire.

    Judging from this, he could instinctively see that the consciousness of the Grimoire Lux Brumalis should be an extremely powerful one, already reaching the Level where no mortal could peak, the reams of the higher beings and entities.

    "Is anyone here?"

    He shouted to the emptiness of the illusionary space, or was it really space just located in the Grimoire? Who knew? Samiel never studied these things, so he had only some sort of rudimentary knowledge of them.

    He was still only learning the Arcane theories and the mysteries of the Cosmos; it was not something that could be learned quickly, not to mention some things like the Mysteries of the Cosmos, one needed strong enough mental fortitude.

    Because the true insight of what is dwelling there, and how insignificant everything is, crushed not only one Transcendent. The true secrets of the existence were not something that was destined for everyone, but only a small group of chosen.

    "Probably not... or should I take a look around this ce?"

    As Samiel did not receive any response from the Grimoire, he decided to take a look around the mindscape of the Grimoire and see if he could find the dammed consciousness that had let him wait or if there was still a possibility that it was watching him quietly.

    He thought that this was probably some kind of test, but whatever. And technically speaking, there was nothing better he could do in this situation than just wait and look around.

    He stood up and started walking in a random direction; it didn''t really matter because everything looked exactly the same here, just huge icicles sprouting from the ground, which in truth was just a mix of ice and snow, and everywhere where one could see was either ice or snow.

    As he was walking through the Grimoire''s mindscape, suddenly, an enormous snowstorm descended down on him, but fortunately for Samiel, he wasn''t that bothered by the iing snowstorm as he went further and further.

    "Very good, very good."

    Suddenly, Samiel heard a voice; it was a neutral voice, neither female nor male, nor beast or monster, but rather simr to Artificial Intelligence he talked to in Zephystrand City. Albeit it contained a hint of emotions and feelings, not something like thepletely emotionless Artificial Intelligence or Spirit Genies of the Magic Towers.

    "Wee to my domain, Samiel Zentuar."

    Stated the voice, as suddenly the entire snowstorm dissipated, while the snow that was falling down condensed into a figure of a weird wolf-like creature, which was entirely created from the snowkes. This was probably the form that the consciousness of the Grimoire took to converse with him.

    "You know my name, but I don''t know yet yours, Grimoire."

    Samiel stated the obvious as the wolf avatar nodded his head, warily eyeing the consciousness of the Grimoire Lux Brumalis, but it was clear that the Grimoire didn''t wish him any harm. What reason for this?

    Judging by its strength and capabilities of it, if it wished for Samiel to die, then he would be dead by the second he took the Grimoire Lux Brumalis into his hands.

    "I don''t have one, and things like names are insignificant to us, consciousnesses of the Grimoires. Now, you are here because I judged you to be worthy of being tested as my new user, regardless of your background or origin."

    The Avatar of Lux Brumalis said as Samiel nodded, anticipating such a thing, but there was a slight formtion that caught his interest.

    "So you don''t hold any loyalty towards the Frozen Court?"

    He questioned, as the wolf Avatar of Lux Brumalis agreed with his statement.

    "I was personally created by the Ymir, one of the Primordial Gods in the ancient Epochs. How can I hold a loyalty towards some measly mortal faction? I contain knowledge that even many of the Gods of Winter would covet with everything they have."

    The Avatar proimed rather arrogantly, as Samiel was somehow impressed by that. He knew that Ymir was a very strong Transcendent and belonged to the category of the Primordial Gods, which was almost as old as the Tower itself.

    The Primordial Gods, from what Samiel heard, were the strongest Gods, very mighty and powerful, but most of them were either killed or sealed and those who remained alive were very few. Most of those who were still alive decided to just slumber and wait for their time to rise once more.

    One of the strongest Ultra-Order Transcendental Artifacts, Heart of Winter, was made from Ymir''s corpse, so it tells a lot about his power and knowledge over conceptual Magic such as Winter Magic.

    "Then how did you end in the hands of a mortal instead of someone at the Transcendental Level?"

    Samiel questioned the consciousness of the Grimoire Lux Brumalis with great curiosity. It was bugging him how such a mighty artifact ended in the hands of something like

    "Many of us are scattered through the mortal levels, and due to the Covenant, Transcendnts can''t set foot on most areas in the Cosmos to not destroy all of them; of course, many would do in secret, but still, the chances that they will find some of us, is scare, ironically, most mortals are that lucky, and rarely the mortals would give us to Transcendents."

    Exined the consciousness through the wolf avatar, as Samiel had many other questions he wanted to ask after hearing this.

    "When you are talking about Us, you are meaning other Ultra-Order Transcendental Artifacts and sentient Magic Grimoire such as yourself, right?"

    He asked to assure his concerns, to which the wolf avatar nodded his huge head.

    "Indeed, there are several of them, many of them are hidden in depths and most unassuming ces scattered across Lower Worlds, purposely hidden there by their original owners who either perished and are dead or perished and are scheming their revival."<sub> </sub>

    Samiel listened attentively to what the Grimoire''s consciousness was talking about, as that all were valuable information.

    And information, if used correctly, is the most powerful weapon of all. And this kind of information was very precious; theoretically, if he could find about the locations of other Grimoires or Ultra-Orders Artifacts such as this one, his power would soar.

    Of course, Samiel nned to search for those only after he reached Legendary Level and became a powerhouse on his own, mainly to have the power to protect his own treasures.

    "I think we have already trailed down from the initial topic, so..."

    Samiel stated, as the consciousness of the Lux Brumalis realized it and returned back to the business because that was the reason why it called Samiel here in the first ce.

    "See that you have Ultimate Ice Ability; I will allow you to use me and learn from me."

    The consciousness of the Grimoire told him shortly after the reminder, as Samiel looked directly at it, thinking that this was easy, and his consciousness was ejected out of the Grimoire''s mindscape and returned back to his body in the Citadel of the Zephystrand City.

    "What a weird experience... now let us take a look at you."

    He muttered to himself while he petted the Grimoire, and finally, he could open it and learn the basics of the Winter Magic.

    Winter Magic belonged to the category of Conceptual Magic. In fact, all types of Magic could be divided into two, technically, three Categories.

    The first one was called Elemental Magic; here, one could find Magic strictly based on elements, such asmon elements such as Fire, Water, Earth, and so on, or more advanced elements such as Light, Darkness, or Ice.

    The second type was Conceptual Magic, which was not tied to any element per se, and was more about some concept, like Winter Magic, which was about the concept of the Winter itself that included elements like Ice, Water or Wind.

    And thirdly, there was a third category, which was called Edictual Magic, which was somehow a mix of the previous two, for example, his own Void Magic or Necromcany Arts; they didn''t fit Elemental Magic and weren''t pure conceptual Magic, so it fits more into the category of Edictual Magic.

    Winter Magic was dangerous, even though, at first nce, one may find it more ceremonial and beautiful than a properbat tool. But, as thebination of several elements used together, it was a very dangerous thing, especially for someone who had any kind of Ice or Frost rted ability.

    Samiel was even better on that because he had an Ultimate Ability rted to the concept of Winter itself, so hispatibility with the Winter Magic was automatically maxed; maybe even thanks to that, he got the recognition of the Grimoire''s consciousness so fast.

    He then started studying the Grimoire and learned the Basic Level Magic, mainly those of the 1st Level up to the 3rd Level Spells, and naturally, alsoprehending all theory behind the Spells.

    With the Winter Ruler, Samiel knew that the destructiveness and power of these Spells would be way higher than their normal estimated power. After several hours of studying the Winter Magic from the Grimoire Lux Brumalis, he wanted to test out his newly found knowledge over and decided to cast his 1st Spell from the Winter Magic.

    The one he chose was the 1st Level Spell called Bitting Arrow.

    Soon enough, an artistically made arrow made from ice, looking like a grandmaster sculptor, made it right here and now, as he then dispersed the ice arrow.

    "The Mana consumption is lowerpared to pure use of the Winter Ruler by 30%, which is rtively good, but the power of this spell is higher than 50% of average Bitting Arrow Spell due to the presence of the Winter Ruler Ultimate Ability."

    Samiel summarized his progress over the Winter Magic.

    "The only downside is the time needed to cast; with the Winter Ruler purely, I can achieve essentially instantaneous results, while when using the Winter Magic, I cast the spell around 3 seconds, which is disturbing to a certain degree."

    Indeed, this was because the Winter Magic Spell required some time to conjure. At the same time, the things he could create with the Ultimate Ability, it didn''t, so basically everything had its own pros and cons.

    ''Hooman, it is getting too cold here.''

    Nefertari said to Samiel, who was still in a trance because he was studying Winter Magic, not even noticing that his entire room was frozen, including the balcony and even the hallway, as some servants had already noticed this phenomenon.

    ''Hooman! Hooman! Hooman!''

    She was flying around Samiel and shouting at him through their telepathic connection as she soonnded on Samiel''s head, took out her sharpest weapon, and caught his attention in one swift sh over the cheek.

    ''Dammm, that actually hurt? What the hell are you doing, Nefe?''

    Samiel screamed as he woke up from his trance of fascination over the Winter Magic; looking around, he noticed that everything was frozen, and the temperature in the room was in heavy minuses.

    "Hmm... this could be problematic."

    He said, putting aside the Grimoire Lux Brumalis while exiting his chambers, only to find out that even the hallways and corridors were partially frozen.

    "Ok... I will need to change the rooms as it seems."

    Samiel then just quietly said, while Nefertari, who was still standing on his head, nodded in agreement because even though if the ice is removed, which would very hardly be done, everything would be wet and basically inhabitable.

    Not to mention, they would first need to find someone with powerful fire abilities or Magic, to carry out this task, but Samiel nned to delegate this to Estrid, who waszying somewhere around in the Zephystrand City.

    After that, Samiel exited his room and told about the situation to the nearest butler; fortunately, there were already a few people here, so he just gave them orders on what to do, whom to contact, and to prepare him a new chambers.

 Chapter 79 Growth In Levels And Tiers

    [Winter Magic has been added to the Record of User Samiel Zentaur.]

    [Profficiency with the Winter Magic has been increased by 1%]

    [Profficiency with the Lord ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%]

    [Profficiency with the Lord ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 2%]

    [Profficiency with the Lord ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%]

    [Profficiency with the Lord ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 3%]

    [Profficiency with the Lord ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 2%]

    Samiel then read the notification from the Akashic Records when he got into his new chambers, as the Winter Magic finally got recorded within his Records when he learned some of the basics from it, so right now, he had knowledge of over three types of Magic in his arsenal.

    But the most shocking event was that the proficiency with his Lord ss Knight of Niflheim had been tremendously increased, altogether by 9%, skyrocketing from the original 12% to the 21%, which was a great increasement just for learning the Winter Magic.

    "I could now increase my Level... if I could reach Level 19 or 20, it would be for best for the uing Magical Beast Horde."

    Samiel said to himself because soon it would be the time of the next Magical Beast invasion, or rather an attempt of that, on the Zephystrand, even though it had practically 0% of seeded with all the defenses of the Zephystrand City, especially if the Drider was using only Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier spiders mostly.

    Even if they were overwhelming in numbers, it couldn''t change the final oue, so it only solidified that something fishy was going on, and just like Yvraine predicted that the true aim of the Underdark is to grasp the development of the new generation of Magetech weapons that are deployed in the Zephystrand City.

    "I should get to the work already."

    He then stated, as he took out countless Steel-Tier and several tens of Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals and started draining Mana inside them with tremendous speed, taking only several minutes for them to crumble into dust.

    "Just a bit more."

    For Samiel reaching higher Levels was always a hassle because of the quantity of resources needed due to his race. Certainly, the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages of it, but it was still annoying to hell; fortunately, right here and now, he didn''t have to feel for resources as much.

    And thus, he continued draining the Mana Crystals one after another, to the point where he just felt that weird and yet satisfactory feeling when he reached the higher level, as right now he reached Level 19.

    "Indeed, I feel much stronger than before... still with this tempo; it will take me an eternity to reach even Gold-Tier, not to mention Legendary Level..."

    Samielmented because even though he was the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, even they wouldn''t give him enough resources tofortably reach Legendary Level or resources for the Legendaries for nothing.

    Contribution points were needed, or he would need to gather his own resources because it would be a stupid thing to exchange his contribution points on things that could be easily obtained. Thus, he nned to ask the Hall to send him to some rtively weak Lower World when he reached Silver-Tier, so he could rampage there and harvest an entire world''s worth of resources.

    Such a method was even easier than obtaining themon ones in the Tower. However, only very strong factions could do something like that, mostly because pending between worlds here and there required powerful Legendaries or unique tools that would allow such a thing, and those were rare.

    He knew that the Hall of Kadath''s way of the harvest was unleashing the Apocalypse on the world through many means, and when the entire world was "pacified", one only needed to harvest the gains.

    Now that he reached Level 19, Samiel didn''t really stop and continued to drain the Mana Crystals,bining them with the souls he harvested as he soon enough, within one hour, managed to reach Level 20.

    Upon reaching Level 20, he decided to stop because while for normal people, such progress wouldn''t create a significant increase in power, Samiel was the total opposite, and he felt that his wholebat prowess had been creased by approximately 20%, which was enormous growth.

    With the increasement of his Level, he could now safely control 300 Undeads, and theoretically maybe even 500, but he never used more Undeads he could absolutely control. Among the Necromancers, there were those who used more Undeads than they could control, which would usually result in chaos because the Undeads that the Necromancer could not control would attack everything in their sight.

    "Just five Levels away from the Peak of the Steel-Tier."

    He murmured as he reorganized his 300, from which he had 16 Mage-type Undeads, which were very rare. Samiel thought he could make some Liches because he still had around 100 Soul Force Crystals.

    However, hecked some other precious materials to make Higher Undeads because they would require many resources that he right nowcked, and even though the original base of the Forest Troll Shaman was good, he wanted something more powerful, or rather something with more potential than average Forest Troll, as the base for his Liches.

    If not, he would probably get only an Elder Lich, which was an Advanced Undead; though not bad, it always could be better. Though Samiel aimed at the Overlord if possible, the highest ranked Lich and one of the strongest Undead aside from very special Undeads.

    He always preferred quality over quantity, but right now, he was aiming to achieve a perfect bnce between two of these aspects. Meanwhile, Samiel was harvesting Mana from the Mana Crystals and then contemting about what to do next; Nefertari was right now in the process of breaking through to the Bronze-Tier.

    She was long ago stuck at the Level 25 of the Steel-Tier, and now she was finally reaching the Bronze-Tier. Obviously, she was also very close to her breakthrough, and now, after Samiel was getting strong through Leveling Up, she was also harvesting some benefits through their connection.<sub> </sub>

    [Elder Wampus Cat Nefertari has reached the Level 26 Bronze-Tier.]

    [Elder Wampus Cat Nefertari has awakened Level 2 Unique Ability Mirage.]

    Samiel, too got the notifications from the Akashic Records, or rather, it would be more precise to say that Nefertari got them because, contrary to Samiel, she hasn''t established the connection with the Akashic Records and only got the connection due to being Samiel''s familiar.

    [Level 2 Unique Ability Mirage - Innate Racial Ability of the Elder Wampus Cats, that allows them to induct their victims into extreme realistic illusions, or the so-called Mirage Worlds, essentially trapping them in illusionary worlds. The ability itself had powerful potential to crush someone''s mind if used correctly.]

    Samiel read the description of the Ability that Nefertari awakened, as she now could use her racial gifts, for which the Wampus Cats were famous. Though normal Wampus Cats only had Illusion or Hypnotism rted abilities or both, Elder Wampus Cats such as Nefertari had Ability of Mirage, which was basically boosted version of abination between Hypnotism and Illusion.

    ''Hooman, Hooman, Hooman, look, I reached the Bronze-Tier.''

    Nefertari pped her wings while she flew to Samiel andnded next to him, sticking out her cute little head and basically saying: "Praise me, praise me!".

    Samiel just relented to her, scratched her behind her ear as she purred, satisfied that her master was petting her, and scratching her behind her ear. Though, Samiel had to admit that this was very good that she reached Bronze-Tier, especially just a few months before the Magical Beast Horde would attack the Zepjhystrnad.

    The Mirage Ability Nefertari awakened had tremendous potential, particrly effective on those who didn''t have strong wills or didn''t protect their minds from outside interference.

    ''Okey, okey, you are the greatest and most majestic, beautiful, and powerful almighty supreme cat in existence.''

    Samiel just spouted a few random words to tickle Nefertari''s ego as she happilyid on his legs, going to sleep.

    ***

    At the same time, in the other part of the Zephystrand''s Citadel, Yvraine''s chambers.

    When Yvraine returned to the Zephystrand, she immediately locked herself in her chambers, not allowing anyone to enter, as she started at the Snow Rose for more than two hours straight while thinking over what had happened.

    "Maybe it was a mistake? Or not?"

    She said quietly to herself while she nted the Snow Rose in a small jar, which was specifically enchanted just for the Snow Roses. Suddenly as she was nning it, she felt that somebody was standing before the doors of her chambers, and she was able o tell that it was Samiel.

    He stood there for several minutes as he talked to one of the maids who was on duty, before he left.

    "Fuuu..."

    She sighed with a bit of relief while returning to renting the Snow Rose to an enchanted jar; she sat on the bed, taking out the Communication Magetech Device she used thest time to call her mother.

    "Mother."

    Yvraine said stoically; while her mother was happy that her daughter called her twice a month, this was a rare asion.

    "My little darling daughter is calling me again... so I take that you are calling me because you decided to grow bolder, am I right?"

    Ilroraniel stated, as Yvraine, while being embarrassed, just nodded in agreement to this statement sh teasing from her mother.

    Yvraine described what had happened, how they went on the trip to the Snowridge Mountains, how Samiel climbed to the peak of the Mountain Range, and on the top of Snowrose Peak, he brought her one of the Snow Roses.

    She then proceeded to describe the situation that happened after he gifted her the Snow Rose, how she gathered all of the courage she had and probably even some of that she didn''t and kissed Samiel passionately, and how he returned her kiss almost instinctively.

    She could feel the emotions he had, and she was certain that he held some sort of feelings toward her.

    Ilroraniel observed her daughter with a happy expression while she was delighted at the sudden development. As an overprotective parent, she was, immediately after the first conversation, she contacted High Lord Laris Daragan to tell her everything he knew or his head would roll.

    To say that her daughter was getting together with the current Holy Son of Hall of Kadath was shocking was an underestimation of the situation. With such a suitor, even her husband won''t have anything to say, and even the entire Nesser Dynasty would benefit greatly from the such union.

    "Then I can say you have seeded."

    Ilroraniel pped happily at her daughter.

 Chapter 80 The Decisions We Made

    4 Months Later, Zephystrand City

    Just like every day, Samiel woke up today after having experienced a deep dream and he started the day with a prayer to the Azathoth as he did every day. Afterpleting the morning prayer, the next thing on the schedule was to take care of his hygiene and then dress himself.

    The majority of the day today would be spent in the Citadel''s library, where he would be learning about the politics of the Cosmos once and for all as well as some bits of the history from time to time. Although it was intriguing to see that already four months had passed since the fateful event on Snowrose Peak, it seemed to him that it was just like it happened yesterday.

    Probably his perception of time was already being adjusted to that of long-lived species, which he certainly was. But right now, what was happening to him, was basically a transition from the short-lived species to the long-lived species. The perception of time itself was changing at drastically tempo.

    During these four months, Samiel and Yvraine went on a few dates, as both of them agreed on some sort of courtship.

    It was really weird from the start, but fortunately, Yvriane was more experienced, or rather, she had more theoretical knowledge of these things than he. In spite of this, Samiel was unaware that she was equally clueless as he was about courtship procedures. It was only through her mother that she was familiar with courtship procedures.

    A lot of the time, they went to some caf??, then, of course, Yvriane liked strolling through the cities, particrly through the district for Nobles, because the environment up there was most beautiful, and there were fewer people to be seen.

    There was also plenty of entertainment in the Noble District, which was perhaps the best thing about it, and its privacy was probably the best thing about it, and Yvraine had told him that there was a more professional touch to the services there than in other parts of the city.

    They spent a great deal of time just lying around in the Moon Pond Area, which Yvraine reluctantly permitted Samiel to enter since he started drinking the Holy Water from the Moon Pond thest time he was there. He, or they, at this moment, were very fond of that spot because of its tranquil environment, which... made it the perfect spot for their "dates".

    The two of them had many things inmon, but the one thing they all liked was tranquil ces where one could justy down and rx. Samiel was able to convert Yvraine to the coffee religion, but for the past month, they have been mainly visiting ces that served a special kind of tea that they had not encountered before.

    Aside from coffee, Samiel also developed a strong love for tea since he entered the Tower because he encountered many precious types of teas, from which countless of which had beneficial effects on the Professional''s soul and Mana.

    After Samiel carried out his morning routine, he checked up on his familiar and saw that Nefertari was happily sleeping on her cat tree, which he ordered to be installed across the entire room, so she could have several ces for her to climb, jump or y.

    Even though she had wings, she still liked to jump or climb things, and thus he gave her several very high cat trees across the entirety of his chambers. They were all custom-made, and surprisingly Nefertari enjoyed climbing them, thanks to the Great Dreamer for that... usually cats are not using the things their hoomans want them to use.

    It appeared that she was sleeping, so he exited the room and went directly to the Library of the Citadel. Yvraine should still be asleep or in the training yard, depending on her mood at the moment.

    After the four months of the courtship, he still didn''t know how exactly to term their rtionship, but one thing he knew and what Yvraine agreed on was that he needed time to adjust to it. Samiel had to admit that if Yvraine didn''t kiss him on Snowrose Peak, he would probably never notice his own feelings toward her.

    Probably because he was as dense as rock, and from the subconscious level, he still held a fear from the traumatic experience from the past. But as one the saying goes, "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer", Samiel repeated to himself every second to not be ovee by his own fears before he decided on anything.

    And thus, he agreed to the courtship with Yvriane, and he had to admit, it was one of the best decisions he ever made. They didn''t do anything sexual and only kissed twice since then, but for him, the most important thing was herpanionship, that they spent time together and could just talk and escape the feeling of loneliness he was constantly feeling.

    ***

    Among countless bookshelves in the library, where the eye could see, Samiel was sitting on the leather sofa. The Library of the Zephystrand''s City was enormous, not for the standards of the Cosmos, but for Samiel, who came from the Earth, it certainly was.

    Next to him, there was a small mountain of books, some of them were really ancient looking, as he was reading one after another. He loved reading, which was pretty ironic because when he was a little kid, he hated reading anything and read-only titles in the newspapers.

    Samiel had been sitting in this spot for the past four months, and this part of the library is one that not many peoplee to, as it is a restricted section, where one can only enter it with the permission of the City Lord, so he always just piled up the books he was reading until a small pile was formed from the books he started reading.

    After spending several hours in the Library, Samiel decided that it was enough for the day and went to stretch his muscles a bit with some training. The library in the Citadel of the Zephystrand City was enormous, far bigger than anything seen on the Earth, and ironically, this was not even considered as big but rather an average in the Tower and Cosmos.

    For the past months, he was mainly studying the politicalndscape of the Tower, various factions more in-depth, their important personas, people, Transcendents, important Principal Worlds, and some of the High Worlds in the Cosmos.

    Fundamentally, everything could be consideredmon knowledge for someone of his stature as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath. Certainly, he couldn''t be running around without propermon knowledge; fortunately he got lit of things that he needed to learn from Cardinal Karliana, so he was right now doing so.

    After he exited the library, he realized that it was already past lunch, so he went directly to the training yard; he noticed that Yvraine was already there training with her dual swords, so he just sat down at the small stand for the audience, and ordered the butler to bring him something to eat and drink, while he watched his... didn''t know what, that would be solvedter, to train.

    Her movements were so graceful, so elegant, and yet so deadly, especially when he watched in the fight how efficient she was, decapitating her enemies one after another, as with each sh of her des, blood would flow, and a head would roll.

    It was so erotic.

    After ten more minutes, the butler returned, and Samiel felt the fragrance of the food and began salivating.

    "That is..."

    He said as he looked at the ce.

    "Thesagna made from the meat of Gold-Tier Twin-Horned Cow, several types of cheeses each made from milk of Silver-Tier Goat, Sheep, and Cow, with other precious ingredients."

    The butler introduced him to the food, while Samiel pondered why this one was becausesagna was one of his favorite foods. At that moment, he saw Yvraine smirking at him as he revealed a rare smile.

    ''Hmm... so she remembered.''<sub> </sub>

    He thought, knowing why he was brought this, probably Yvraine told the butlers to bring him his favorite food when he went here and asked for something to eat. And that was all to going to exercise, as he immediately started eating the moment thesagna cooled off to an eptable temperature for him to eat.

    After Samiel finished eating, he gulped it down with a ss of mineral water because he didn''t like very much sugary drinks and so on, not to mention to kill an aftertaste of such a delicious meal with something as cheap as that; it would be pure heresy.

    "I take it that the lunch was exactly to your tastes..."

    Yvraine stated while sitting next to him, as Samiel nodded very enthusiastically.

    "It was perfect... I didn''t think that you would remember it among all my ramblings."

    He said quietly; as Yvraine smiled at him, she had entire notes where she wrote everything she learned about him, things like his favorite food or ways to kill someone, or bits about his past on the world called Earth.

    "How are things with the iing problem going?"

    He asked as they sat next to each other, while Yvrfaine gently leaned over him, as they felt the warmth of each other, rxing in their mutual presence.

    "Good... the moment Frozen Court learned that they had some members of the Underdark on their Floor, they immediately carried out a purge and killed 2 Legendary Drows, 1 Legendary Duergar, and Matriarch Xelis was several injured on the 67th Floor by the one of the Lords of Ice."

    Yvraine answered happily, while Samiel grimaced, as these losses were rather extreme. Not to mention, even one of the Matriarchs was severely injured, and the Underdark lost 3 Legendaruiwes; while it was not a lot to hegemon like Underdark, the problem is, they lost them without achieving anything technically.

    "Excellent... and the fortifications of the City and preparations for the Magical Beast Horde?"

    This also meant that the Magical Beast Horde would be within their power to deal with, as they won''t have Silver-Tier Frostbite Spiders and thus won''t be forced to activate the main defensive measures of the Zephystrand to deal with them.

    "Everything ispleted."

    Even though some Gold-Tiers and Silver-Tier were present at the Zephystrand, they won''t be moving because the entire cycle here was designed to tempter the people ion the lesser Tiers, so they could fight against rtively weak Magical Beasts and Monsters in a once again rtively safe enviroment.

    Normally, these powerhouses would move, but only when their enemies were of the same Tier, which fortunately wasn''t, as the Frozen Court unknowingly helped them a lot. Samiel also wanted to test his powers against the Silver-Tier Drider; now, coupled with his Undeads, he believed he could bring the abomination of Lolth down.

    As they were sitting there, soon enough, one hour passed, as Yvraine was leaving over his chest, while Samiel was holding her close to him, just enjoying each other''s presence.

    "Did you know that the courtship among the Elves could take even more than ten years?"

    Yvraine then said out of nowhere, and Samiel suddenly opened his eyes.

    "No?"

    He stated uncertainly about what to say.

    "Though for my family, there are some strict requirements needed to be done... though my mother already has epted you."

    She then continued, making Samiel sigh because he had already excepted something like this. Yvraine was the Crown Princess of the entire Nesser Dynasty and also of the entire Silvermoon Elves Species, so of course, there would be many of the formal "things" said politely that needed to be addressed.

    "That is good, I think?"

    Probably it was, but he didn''t really want to deal with this so soon, he never had to in the past because his "fake rtionship" never went to this phase, but he was aware that this situation was entirely different.

    Even their courtship was not an official thing but rather something informal between the two of them. To be in the formal courtship would require agreement from Yvraine''s family and, in ordance, even some sort of contract to patch it up.

    Still, he was contemting that if he wanted a serious rtionship with Yvriane, he would need to act ordingly to the social protocol and ask for formal agreement from her father to allow the courtship, and also, it needed to be formalized.

    Not to mention, even though Yvrain wasn''t saying anything, it would mean a lot to her because it would be the clear symbol that he was ready to move forward, beyond his past, and that they would be considered as a couple.

    ''Indeed, the fear is the mind-killer...''

    Samiel thought as he had already made the decision while kissing Yvraine on her forehead as he hugged her closer. She didn''t say anything, just revealed a very satisfied smile, knowing that he had made a choice.

    While Samiel rarely talked about his past on Earth, Yvraine was good at reading people, and she knew that he was suffering from some sort of mental trauma, probably caused by some romantic rtionship that went wrong... like very wrong.

    She never asked him about that, and because of that, she let things flow naturally, even though sometimes they needed a slight push for the flow even to be created.

 Chapter 81 So It Begins...

    Somewhere on the 3rd Floor, unknown time.

    Several hundreds of kilometers away from Zephystrand City, one could see tens of thousands of Monstrous Spiders of various subspecies marching in the direction of the grand elven City. There was an immeasurable number of the Monstrous Spiders, ranging from Iron-Tier to Steel-Tier, and even a good few thousands of Bronze-Tiers.

    Among them all, there were thousands of weird, humanoid spider-like creatures which were controlling this enormous horde of Magical Beasts, as most of the Ettercaps were Steel-Tiers, while the rest of them was at the Bronze-Tier. And contrary to the majority of Monstrous SPiders, there were even a few Ettercaps on the peak of the Bronze-Tiers, as they were bigger and more menacing than other Ettercaps.

    On the top of the cliff, one could see the spider-drow abomination of Drider as he was standing on the cliff and watching the marching army of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, together with his Drow subordinates. Altogether, there were a few tens, not more than hundreds of Drows, but all of them were very powerful; even weakest was peak Steel-Tier.

    "How many have we managed to breed?"

    Asked the Drider menacingly while looking at the marching Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps as one of his Drow subordinates stepped forward to report. All of the Drows who were participating in this glorious mission was, in fact, criminals of the Underdark City, banished or sentenced to death, so this was for them the only way to redeem themselves.

    "More than 400,000 Monstrous Spiders, and we have around 20,000 Ettercaps."

    Reported the Drow Warrior, deep inside wondering if it was truly enough to achieve their mission, as these numbers were for sure not enough even to breach the walls of the City, not to kidnap the Silvermoon Princess as their mission distracted.

    The smarter ones from the group have long noticed that something was fishy here and decided to desert amid the chaos that would soon erupt and go to some other Floors or perhaps even Cosmos.

    This ce was huge, so they could hide somewhere until they werepletely forgotten; unfortunately, right now, it was not possible, as the Drider, who was Silver-Tier Professional, was watching their every step.

    "Excellent! Then we march at that elven filth!"

    Roared the Drider madly, while the Drows showed various levels of enthusiasm over the matter, as some of them felt that this was already a lost cast, while some were thinking when it would be the best opportunity to escape.

    In the end, all of them marched on the way to Zephystrand City.

    ***

    In the Zephystrand City, at the present time.

    As Samiel and Yvraine were rxing in the Moon Pond, suddenly rms sounded through the entire City, just like thest time when the Magical Beast Invasion urred in Zephystrand City. Both of them immediately woke up from their half-sleep as the time of the attack finally came.

    When Samiel opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was kneeling Ashimer, who was guarding the entrance to the Moon Pond, as he was technically one of the strongest entities in the Zephystrand due to him being Level 51 Frost Death Knight, not talking about hisbat prowess which was higher than his actual Level.

    "My Lord, the horde of Magical Beasts, is heading towards the Zephystrand City; they are attempting to surround the City and attack from all sides."

    Sounded the cold voice of Ashimer, as it seemed, that this time they were even implementing a more sophisticated approach than just rushing at two ces across the defenses. However, this also meant they divided their forces too much. The defenses of the Zephystrand have been bolstered tremendously since thest attempt.

    "Prepare your Knight Brigade; we are going to the battle."

    Samiel ordered as Ashimer went to organize his own Undead Knight Brigade made from the Skeleton Knights, which were all armed with the dwarven armor and weapons, which Samiel ordered from the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory.

    Even though they were mass-produced, Samiel marveled a bit at their quality because it was superb, evenpared to custom-made by the majority of human cksmiths. Indeed, when it came to smithing and manufacturing weapons and armor, then dwarves were the best in the business.

    "But their number is still huge... after this is done, we need to find their breedingirs, or sooner orter, the entire 3rd Floor would be infested with the Monstrous Spiders."

    Yvraine stated as she stood up, and together with Samiel, they went towards the main strategic room, where the meeting about the current strategy over the defense of the City was taking ce.

    "Indeed, they are multiplying as pests."

    Monstrous Spiders bred with tremendous speed, especially if they had enough resources. Though on the 3rd Floor, there wasn''t enough prey for them to infest it in the short time, they were patient, and as any good hunter, they could prey in the shadows, slowly gathering their number and power until there was enough of them to cause real trouble.

    "If not for the Underdark bringing them food, they wouldn''t have reached such a high number just in a year and a few months or whatever."

    Yvraine said to Samiel''s agreement as they entered the meeting room, where already a few people were discussing their next strategy.

    "They still didn''t attack?"

    She asked the people in charge of the defenses, as everyone gave her a low bow as a form of greeting, immediately afterward returning to the discussion.

    "No, they are just surrounding the City. Evidently, the Drider and Drows are trying to implement some sort of strategy this time, though they have some number of heavy hitters, a lot more Bronze-Tier than we have initially anticipated."

    Answered Sarun Daragan, summarizing the current situation they were in.

    "I take it that the Magetech Artillery should be enough to deal with them?"<sub> </sub>

    Yvraine asked, looking at the short, bulky dwarf wearing heavy runic armor.

    "Yer, we gave here a few more Mana Cannons and a new type of Batteries... ther would be shed to shit!"

    Laughed the dwarf, whom, Samiel recognized as Canon Master Brigric Goldengrog, who was Bronze-Tier Warrior and, most importantly, Magetech Engineer, and one of the people who was helping with the development of a new generation of Magetech Weaponry.

    "Fortunately, they didn''t have any Silver-Tier Spiders or Ettercaps, or any other kind of monstrosities, or we would be forced to use our own, not to mention, fights between Silver-Tier individuals are very destructive, and the entire enviroment of the Zephystrand City would be destroyed."

    Commented Sarun Daragan as others agreed with him.

    The only Silver-Tier that the enemies had was the Drider himself, which would be taken care by the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, so everyone presumed the Drider to be dead, even despite Samiel was only  Steel-Tier.

    Silver-Tier Professionals could destroy even entire Cities or blow up entire Mountains with their strongest attacks or Magic, though that is only in terms of destructive prowess. This didn''t mean that every Silver-Tier ss Bearer had thisbat prowess. However, even if hecked it, then, for example, Silver-Tier Warriors could withstand such attacks.

    Of course, this was rtive because the destructive prowess of Silver-Tier individuals in the Lower World would be absolutely frightening, while in the High World or first Floors of the Tower, it would be average. That was the result of the difference between the Power of the World, Mana Density, which strengthened everything from materials like wood and stone to structures built from them.

    And there was something about the Laws of the World being stronger in more powerful worlds, meaning people of the same Tier, then a person from a stronger world would be several times stronger than his opponent from a weaker world, even if they had exactly the same set of Abilities, Skills and Levels.

    Said easily, for example, right now, Samiel could destroy with his most powerful attacks entirerge buildings like skyscrapers, but if he did the same thing in the Lower World or even probably Middle World, he could freeze entire smaller towns to icicles.

    "After the battle starts, I will go and kill the Drider and possibly create a mess in their lines."

    Stated Samiel with a bloodthirsty grin, as he was in expectation of a good fight. Now that he had the Ashimer, he could implement a new formation where all of his Undeads would be fitting as a sole entity, interconnecting them with each other.

    For such a thing to work, he needed someone with the same Mana Level as him or higher, and this would practically increase thebat prowess of Ashimer''s Knight Brigade to Bronze-Tier, so they could tear through the lines of Monstrous Spiders or Ettercaps like hot knight through the cube of butter.

    "Unfortunately, we would not be able to prevent Drows gathering the information about the new generation of Magetech Artillery that the Forge Cities have developed and is tested here. Though, in the end, it doesn''t really matter, sooner orter, they would obtain this kind of information one way or another."

    Voiced Canon Master Brigric Goldengrog as he hit the ground with his huge double-sided battle axe, as others reluctantly agreed with his statement.

    After some time of discussing the strategies, then everyone dispersed and make their way to their positions on the walls. Right now, the atmosphere of Zephystrand City wasn''t gloomy or anything, but it was prepared for what was toe.

    Se that year or so ago, it was evident that the Drows were plotting something, and now their scheme was finally cooked and was here; everybody was prepared for the oue and for the uing fight.

    "Have I ever told you how much I hate the spiders?"

    Samiel lit up a cigarette as he inhaled the smoke and looked from the walls at the hordes of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, also seeing the Drows way back there.

    "No?"

    Yvraine also hated spiders, so they could show their disgust together, especially when they were Drows in y.

    "Hahhaa!"

    Abruptly, both of them heard the femaleughter as Samiel almost cracked his cigarette in half, and Yvraine wanted to kill the owner of that voice.

    "Have youe here just to cause mischief Estrid?"

    Samiel asked dangerously, as he narrowed at the dragon girl in question, who pretended not to hear anything.

    "Anyway, good thing that you are here; you are going to join the defense, directly under me... and before you find some ridiculous excuse for rejecting mymand, I am ordering this as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath."

    He ordered, not leaving any room for discussion.

    He knew that Estrid would join the fight anyways because she liked to destroy things and kill, but her efficiency would be increased several times over under hismand. The dragon girl looked conflicted but, in the end, relented, thinking that at least he didn''t put her under Yvriane''smand; that would be humiliating.

    And as the hordes of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps moved, Samiel once again inhaled smoke from his cigarette as he ran his left hand through his hair, sliding it backward.

    "So it begins."

    ''Boom, boom, boom.''

 82 Chapter 82

    As the Mana Cannons and other Artillery sounded in the background, instantly, the projectiles fell onto the hordes of the Monstrous Spiders advancing at the walls of the Zephystrnad City, tearing the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps into the shreds with each explosion.

    Basically, the scenario was very simr to thest invasion attempt when the Drows let out several tens of thousands of Monstrous Spiders at the Zephystrand City, though right now, Samiel was really wondering what their strategy was.

    This time, even though they were advancing at the City, it was in much lower numbers than before, like they were just testing the ground. After a few minutes of bombardment from the Magetech Artillery, Samiel looked more carefully and suddenly saw something weird about one Monstrous Spider that was running much slower than the rest of his kin.

    "Yvraine looked at that one."

    Samiel motioned for Yvraine as he used his Mana to mark the Spider he was talking about, as suddenly Yvraine noticed that something was strapped under the belly of the Monstrous Spider.

    "Did you notice something?"

    Samiel asked when he saw her distressed expression, as she immediately ran away towards the position of the Mana Canon.

    "I need the show it to Master Goldengrog."

    She said before she ran away, as suddenly Samiel had a very bad feeling about the entire thing.

    Yvraine ran through the walls, arriving at the location where the Canon Master Brigric Goldengrog was coordinating the artillery efforts in a small field center, which was built in of the Mage Towers.

    "Master Goldengrog, please look at the marked Monstrous Spider."

    She stated as she gave him the magetech telescope, and not even several secondster, all color drained from his face because he recognized the thing, which was under the belly of the Monstrous Spider, confirming Yvraine''s worries about the uing battle.

    "It''s the Gnome Explosives!"

    Shouted the Brigric Goldengrog because the small box strapped under the belly of the Monstrous Spider was a piece of explosives made by Gnomes. Simr to dwarves, who were experts in cksmithing, Magetech, and runesmithing, the Gnomes were tinkers who built various "crazy" weapons, and most importantly, they were famous manufacturers of explosives.

    "So their n was..."

    Before Yvraine could finish the sentence, an enormous "boom" was heard from the outside as something exploded bying into contact with the walls of Zephystrand City. Fortunately, the walls still stood, but some slight cracks started showing already, as the explosion wasparable to the 7th Level Spell, which by itself was pretty frightening.

    "Fortunately, all the walls are made with pout best materials and are engraved with runes, but they won''t be held indefinitely if more and more of such explosions ur. In the end, this City wasn''t built to defend against such destructive power."

    Stated Canon Master Goldengrog, as it was indeed the truth. While the Zephystrand City had defensive formations that could protect it against the power of the Legendaries, it didn''t mean that the City Walls and others were the same.

    If more explosions like these urred, then it would probably be possible to breach the walls, which could be problematic, but at the same time, if they turned on some of the Spell Formations, then they could iste the ces where the civilians live, so the Magical Beasts won''t be able to attack there.

    Unfortunately, that would also mean that all soldiers and personnel would be cut out from resources and other things needed by erecting the defensive spell formation.

    "Then start firing at the Spiders with the explosives! If we hit them, then the explosives would take down everything around them, right?"

    Yvraine proposed as the Canon Master Goldengrog shook his head in denial.

    "It''s not that simple... goblins made them probably in a very specific way, that even if they are destroyed, they won''t explode to cause the coteral damage in case the enemies found about them during the battle. Probably a coborative work between Goblins and Druagar, the Grey Dwarves of the Underdark..."

    While Yvraine was angry hearing that, there was nothing she could do about it.

    "Then immediately order all Cannonneers to search for weirdly walking Monstrous Spiders who have some machinery strapped onto them and kill them with the highest priority; we can''t that will be breached; that would create too much inconvenience."

    She ordered before she left the mage tower as Canon Master Brigric Goldengrog went to carry out the order to thwart the scheme of the Drows to breach the Walls. If the walls were to be breached, then the situation would turn downside because they would be forced to activate the defensive formations.

    Or to mobilize the Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier Professionals in the Zephystrand City to deal with the threat, but both of these solutions would inevitably be detrimental to the true purpose of the Zephystrand City, which was to train the new generations of the Silvermoon Knight Order and Military Officers of the Imperial Army.

    Meanwhile, Yvraine was gone; Samiel kept observing the hordes of the Magical Beasts, searching for the Drows or any worthy opponent, before he chose to participate himself, as he started casting one spell after another.

    Soon enough, not even one minuteter, he became a machine that was literarily spamming 1st to 3rd Level Spells, all offensive spells from the Necromancy Arts, Void Magic, and now, even from the newly learned Winter Magic.

    Hundreds of the Monstrous Spiders fell to his exploding Void Strikes, which alone were able to bring down entire buildings with their crushing power of the Void, or were pierced by conjured Bone Spears and Ice Weapons through the Winter Magic Spells.

    Coupled with the passive appliance of the [Winter Ruler], each one of the Ice Weapons was extremely devastating, sometimes skewering even several Monstrous Spiders at the same time. After several minutes of repeating the same thing, Samiel turned his attention to the Ettercaps, which were hiding behind the Monstrous Spiders.

    Contrary to thest time, now, they were behaving very smartly, which meant that there were Drows directly on the battlefield controlling them actively; that was why the Ettercaps, especially the Bronze-Tier ones, were basically hiding when they were controlling the Monstrous Spiders.<sub> </sub>

    "How is it going?"

    Suddenly Samiel just heard Yvraine''s voice, as she had just returned back, and saw him casting one spell after another. However, that was to be expected because his Mana was really frightening; in terms of purity and density, it didn''t lose to even Gold-Tier Professionals. He had a tremendous amount of it on top of everything.

    "Good, I already killed several hundreds of them, not like that would make any difference though... or yes... dunno."

    Samiel answered with a bored voice as he kept spamming spells, while Yvraine''s brows twitched because he killed several hundred Magical Beast alone within just several minutes; basically, his killing efficiency was higher than even several of the Mana Cannons put together.

    Yvraine didn''t say anything and just stood behind Samiel, together with Estrid, who looked bored as hell, because he ordered her to stand by and do nothing, as she would be their "secret weapon", due to her destructive abilities.

    If it came to the area of destruction abilities, then Estrid would be superior to Samiel, just because of her species as a Red Dragon. Especially if she unleashed her Dragon Breath to the maximum, she could scorch everything in her path.

    Suddenly, Samiel aimed one of his Bone Spear at the Bronze-Tier Ettercaps, who made the grave mistake of showing himself and immediately shot the Bone Spear at the enemy. To his shock and surprise, the Ettercap deflected the Bone Spear with his bone, suffering only some superficial injuries.

    Nothing weird, considering that the Boen Spear was just a 1st Level Spell of the Necromancy Arts, so it shouldn''t be able to even hurt the Bronze-Tier Monster, even with Samiel''s overwhelming raw power and understanding of the Necromancy Arts.

    "Hmm..."

    He observed the Ettercap as he conjured another Bone Spear, but this time he attempted one of the forms of Metamagic, which was called Spell Fusion, which allowed the caster to fusepatible spells to increase the power of the final spell or just to incorporate needed elements and attributes of two spells.

    As he conjured the Bone Spear, a thinyer of frost started appearing around the Bone Spear, and it grew to a thickyer of Ice, fusing the 1st Level Spell Bone Spear with the 1st Level Spell of the Winter Magic Ice Spear.

    When the spell was done, he shot the Frost-Bone Spear at the Ettercap, whom he previously attacked, who arrogantly thought it head it, thinking that it was the same attack which he once defended against, so in the end, he ended with his head pierced like a kebab.

    Insta-kill.

    A satisfied smile appeared over Samiel''s face when he finished off the Bronze-Tier Ettercap, as he suddenly heard the notification of the Akashic Records.

    [Metamagic Skill - Spell Fusion has been recorded to the Record of the User Samiel Zentaur.]

    He read the notification as he hurriedly opened the record and looked at the description of the Metamagic Skill. It was rare for the Casters to learn one, and Samiel learned it practically by chance, as she almost innately used the Spell Fusion Technique.

    [1st Level Spell Fusion - User, can Fuse Spells of the 1st Level if they arepatible enough.]

    "Hmm... I should get the Proficiency in this up really fast..."

    He then muttered as he started casting several Frost-Bone Spears simultaneously and shooting them towards the Bronze-Tier Ettercaps. Each Frost-Bone Spear that hit the Bronze-Tier Ettercap achieved the wished result of the death of the target. At the same time, the Monstrous Spiders, under themand of the killed Ettercaps, started getting violent and uncontroble.

    Unfortunately, not enough to affect the entire battlefield, but even this was enough, as the part of the battlefield was getting disrupted slowly yet steadily.

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 1%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 3%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 5%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 9%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 10%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 4%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 8%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 7%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 9%.]

    Samiel got a ton of notifications from the Akashic Records while feeling that his Proficiency with the Spell Fusion was going up and up, as his casting speed had lowered tremendously, and now he was shooting one Frost-Bone Spear after another.

    Just within five minutes, he managed to increase his Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion from 1% to 56%, and he predicted that today, he would be able to fuse at least 2nd Level Spells together with this tempo.

 Chapter 83 Siege Of The Zephystrand (1)

    Half an hourter...

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 9%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 10%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 6%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 1%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has been increased by 8%.]

    [Profficiency with the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion has reached 100%.]

    [Spell Fusion between two 2nd Level Spells should be possible.]

    After using the Spell Fusion on the 1st Level Spells continuously for more than a half hour, Samiel achieved his goal of attaining the 100% in the Metamagic Skill - 1st Level Spell Fusion, as he wished. Spell Fusion was one of the harder parts of the Metamagic because one wrong move and one could easily kill himself if fusing ipatible spells.

    For now, he refrained from using the Spell Fusion on the 2nd Level Spells, not only because hecked suitablypatible Spells to fuse together, but most importantly, some major change was happening on the battlefield, as the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps suddenly changed the pattern.

    The continuous bombardment from the Mana Cannons reduced their numbers significantly, judging by the number of carcasses that were lying around the battlefield. Still, somehow, new Monstrous Spiders were constantly appearing.

    "Maybe they had more than I was aware of?"

    Samiel pondered, as probably the number of the Monstrous Spiders that the Drows managed to breed, was actually much higher than he anticipated; based on the memories from the Drows Warrior whose soul he ate, it should be around 400,000.

    Though it would probably be false, and during past months, they managed to increase the number tremendously, probably... Fortunately, the strength of all Monstrous Spiders was either Iron-Tier or Steel-Tier, with some rare exceptions being the Bronze-Tier.

    There was a high probability that either the Drow Warrior was unaware of the actual numbers, which could be highly possible because he was just an ordinary Warrior, and thus his status should be pretty low, especially taking into fact that Samiel killed him on the guard duty.

    Or that somehow they increased the number of the Monstrous Spiders and bred more of them. Samiel read in the bestiary he got from Karliana that breeding Monstrous Spiders was easy as pping a kid... one needed just some food for them, and it is done. Drop a few hundred of corpses for the Spider Colony, and they could multiply even several thousand times.

    ***

    On the other side of the battlefield, a group of Drows were gathered like obedient soldiers around their Drider leader as they awaited their next orders. Neither of them dared to breathe too loudly, not wanting to irritate the Drider, who already looked pissed beyond reason.

    "How many of them managed to get to the Walls?"

    Questioned the Drider angrily as he saw that tens of thousands of his precious Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were already turned to the meat paste without any significant result ye to be seen.

    "Only something around 10, My Lord. The defenses of the City are too strong, and they found that we have strapped the Spiders with some Gnome Explosives, so they are focusing on the Spiders with the explosives on them."

    Answered one of the braver Drow Warriors; while hearing the report, the Drider got an amok of rage, as he, in a split of a second, went to the Drow Warrior and pierced his chest with one of his spiderish legs, dropping his dead body like a piece of meat.

    Indeed, such was the rookie mistake, and the price was only death.

    Other Drow Warriors didn''t say anything, just looked around and pretended that nothing had happened, like usual they did on a simr asion.

    "Start focusing the explosives on one part of the Walls; I don''t believe that we can''t create at least one hole to breach them."

    Shouted the Drider angrily; instantly afterward, the other Drows dispersed almost immediately as they went to carry out the orders of their Lord, mainly because they feared that they would be killed.

    Soon enough, the Monstrous Spiders started changing their attack patterns as they chose one of the points in the walls of the Zephystrand City, attempting to create a breach in the walls. Among the hordes of the Monstrous Spiders, there were also some Drows mixed up, either nning to attack or defect.

    ***

    Somewhere on the 3rd Floor, a few tens of kilometers away from Zephystrand City, in a hidden location.

    "We have enough data, My Lord."

    Said one of the drows to the drow who was acting as a Messenger from the Underdark City. He was standing together with a few others who were his guards during his observation mission on the 3rd Floor.

    "Indeed we have."

    Stated the Messenger absent-mindedly as he looked at the Mana Cannons massacring the thousands of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps with each fired salvo. The new generation of the Mana Weaponry was already half-automated and was achieving frighteningbat and destructive prowess.

    "The marvels of the Magetech... this new generation of the Mana Canons is really something elsepared to the previous one."

    While the Magetech was notmon across the Cosmos, it also couldn''t be said to be very rare. Certainly, there existed one exception, and that was more powerful Magetech weapons; those were rare, especially the automated ones, just like those which were now stationed in the Zephystrand City.

    For the Underdark, this amount of resources was practically nothing, just a few tens of thousands of Monstrous Spiders and some corpses for them to feed on, which was not really a problem to transport here.

    Compared to the data they managed to gather on the new generation of Mana Cannons, it was nothing. They now had confirmation that Dwarven Coalition was on the verge of achieving automatization of Mana Weaponry, which was devastating, especially for the races who oftenpeted with the Dwarven Coalition, like an Underdark City.

    Underdark City did not consist of only Drows, but there were other species, one of the major ones which were the Duergar, the Gray Dwarves, or the Underdwarves, whopeted with the Dwarves for the hegemony over the mountains and caves.<sub> </sub>

    Of course, for the Underdark, this information was precious because they nned to sell it to other factions that often fought against the Dwarven Forge Cities and Fortress Cities.

    "Let''s leave... that madman from the Hall of Kadath would probably soon join the fight; we can''t be seen here, even if I am Silver-Tier; I don''t really think I can fight him, especially together with his Undeads."

    Stated the Messenger from the Underdark, as he looked with binocrs at the walls of the Zephystrand City, seeing there a red-haired man wearing menacing ck armor, as he kept spamming one spell after another.

    One of the people the Messenger from the Underdark City noticed and observed the most, from the distance and safety, of course, was the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, whom he noticed by chance, and only recognized the Holy Son by the earing he was wearing.

    Even though the man was only a Steel-Tier, his power was frightening for his Level, especially now, just his Mana was several times bigger than his own, and even though he was Steel-Tier, the purity and density were not losing to even some weak Gold-Tiers.

    After observing the situation for a while, the Messenger from the Underdark City activated some sort of teleportation device that teleported him out of the 3rd Floor back to the Underdark City; not even several secondster, one Legendary Level Magician together with a few Gold-Tier ones, all of them bearing the sigils of the Nesser Dynasty appeared on the spot.

    "They got away."

    Stated one of the Gold-Tier Magicians.

    "Indeed they got... it was to be expected that they had some means to hide from our sight, but those old coots must be very nervous about this when they entrusted bunch of Silver-Tier juniors, a Legendary-Grade concealment artifact."

    The Legendary Level High Elven Magician summarized the situation; his voice didn''t contain any emotion or anything, just coldly stating the facts.

    This group of Magicians was called here by the Crown Princess Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon to catch the people from the Underdark City who were gathering the data on the Mana Canons that were applied in the Zephystrand City.

    Even Yvraine didn''t await that they would seed because since the Underdark had already organized all of this, then for sure, they would ensure the safe passage for their rats on the 3rd Floor.

    ***

    On the Walls of the Zephystrand City

    While Samiel was casting spells once again at the Monstrous Spiders, who started attacking the sole spot on the walls, and every few minutes, some explosion could be heard. Yvraine got the call through some spell from some High Elf wearing Wizarding clothes and a long white beard.

    "Hmm... so they failed."

    She muttered as he ended the call.

    "?"

    Samiel tilted his head towards her, hearing Yvraine mutter something.

    "The people I requested to descend down to catch the agents from the Underdark who were monitoring the progress of the Magetech Weaponry failed in their task."

    While being irritated at this, it wasn''t something that could be prevented; even with the Legendary Level Magician, they failed the task, so it meant that the people of the Underdark who were tasked with this mission must havee very well prepared.

    "Don''t be discouraged by this, Yv."

    Samiel said as Yvraine smiled gently at him before suddenly an enormous explosion was heard several tens of meters away from them, as several huge cracks started appearing across the walls in that area.

    ''Booom!''

    ''Booom!, Booom!''

    ''Booom!, Booom!, Booom!''

    "Breach!"

    Yvrains shouted as the enemies managed to create a breach in the walls, as suddenly all Mana Cannons aimed at this area and intensified the bombardment several times over.

    "Howrge is the breach?"

    Samiel asked Yvriane, who was now thinking about the solution to this problem.

    "Enough for three or so Monstrous Spiders to pass at the same time."

    She said back as Samiel dispersed his spells and went down the stairs.

    "Where are you going?"

    Yvraine asked Samiel as she took up a bow, going to join the defenses of the City.

    "I will hold the Spiders out until you can patch up the hole."

    Samiel stated because that together with his Undeads, when they were in formation, with him as their support, they could probably hold the ground long enough until the hole was patched up. Samiel had very powerful Undeads, so it should not be a problem.

 Chapter 84 Siege Of The Zephystrand (2)

    Down the Walls, where the breach was located, tens of Monstrous Spiders and some Ettercaps had already managed to get past the defensive walls and enter the City. Unfortunately for them, they were met with fierce resistance from the Silvermoon Knight recruited, who were already stationed there in defensive formation.

    Each time a Monstrous Spiders approached them, they would be cut down by the sharp elven des almost immediately, not even taking several seconds, unfortunately for them, they were Steel-Tier Knights, and their stamina was finite.

    So after some time, they would start showing the first signs of fatigue and would be overwhelmed by almost inexhaustible seeming hordes of Monstrous Spiders and other stuff, which was now justing through the breach in the walls.

    Samiel soon arrived at the ce of the breach, seeing tens if not hundreds of carcasses of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercapsying all around the ce; as he summoned his Undeads, and Ashimer did the same, and instantly the ce was filled with hundreds of Undeads.

    When the Silvermoon Knights saw him, they slowly started retreating, while Samiel took their ce and slowly started pushing the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps from the inside of the City and surrounding the breach in the walls.

    Samiel stood behind his Undeads this time, together with his Mage-type Undeads, as they were all casting spells, the Mage-type Undeads were all Bronze-Tiers, and after Samiel transferred enough knowledge of the Necromancy Arts, they could cast some rtively powerful Spells on the battlefield.

    One of the most useful abilities that the Bronze-Tier Necromancers could cast was the 5th Level Spell Raise Dead, as now several tens of Undeads, Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were already running here and there, attacking their own living kin.

    Samiel''s Undeads were on the front together with Ashimer, as they were the stronger, while behind them, Ashimer''s Skeleton Knight Brigade of more than 500 Skeleton Knights was creating a tight half-moon formation; if somebody managed to pass through the Samiel''s Undeads, they are practically the second line of defense.

    While the Mage-type Undeads kept spamming some Necormancy Arts, Samiel was using some more destructive spells, mainly aiming at stronger Ettercaps in the crows of the Monstrous Spiders who were approaching his location.

    With each Void Strike Spell Samiel cast, one of the Peak Steel-Tier or Bronze-Tier Ettercaps lost his head, as it was crushed in the mess of blood, flesh, and gore. Right now, the Void Magic was showing its might, as the Void Strikes were killing the powerful Bronze-Tier Ettercaps by crushing their heads like nothing.

    And other spells that inducted madness were creating chaos and disorganization through the entirety of the battlefield, as Samiel was spamming one spell after another.

    ''Nefertari, are you somewhere there?''

    Samiel asked telepathically because he saw that the number of enemies was continuously increasing, and even though his Undeads were holding it perfectly, not losing even a single one of them, mainly due to huge disparity in Levels and also thanks to the superior equipment his Undeads were armed with.

    The numbers gap was toorge, and Samiel needed to rearrange his bit formation. Thus, he called for his Familiar, who had already reached the Bronze-Tier. Samiel already had in mind the formation he wanted to deploy, but rearranging was almost night impossible when they were constantly attacked by the Monstrous Spiders, who were ferociously pouring in hundreds each minute.

    ''I know that you can hear my, youzy ass cat, so if you don''t want all of your snacks to be taken by me, then immediatelye here; you have five minutes.''

    And not even five minutester, just three minutester, Nefertari was already here, saluting Samiel with her right paw, looking incredibly cute, especially with her serious expression, as he scratched her, but soon stopped, as now was not the time to be guffing around his cat.

    ''Fly around the breach and give them a taste of shadows a bit.''

    Samiel telepathically stated as Nefertari saluted again and departed to carry out her task. She pped her cute little wings, flying off, as not even several secondster, Samiel could see tens if not hundreds of shadow spikes sprouting from the earth, piercing the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps from the ground.

    This indeed certainly helped, as she was incredibly effective, especially now after she reached the Bronze-Tier; not only that, but at the same time, she was using her illusion abilities to hypnotize some of the stronger Etttercaps to cause more chaos in this part of the battlefield.

    And just as Samiel expected, the pressure on the breach in the wall was lowered enough for him to start rearranging the battle formation of his Undeads into something more effective. When the breach would be patched up, as that would take some time for the Engineers with the right Magetech gadgets to arrive to create a temporary blockade there, he would make use of Estrid.

    He purposely called for Nefertari because she was not so eye-catching as the humongous Red Dragon, which would be wreaking havoc on the entire battlefield, which could be detrimental in this battle stage.

    Samiel nned to use his wild card only when he was engaging the Drider and basically those who weremanding the Magical Beast Invasion; that was due to the fact that then, they wouldn''t be able to react to the battle effectively.

    After several minutes, Samiel managed to effectively rearrange the entire battle formation of his Undeads, as Nefertari still kept ughtering hundreds of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, and because she was hiding under the illusion and on top of that, she was flying high in the air, there was no way for them to attack her.

    Though Samiel could already see a few Drows with bows, who were searching for her with some kind of magic, but it was futile as they were too weak to see through her Mirage. Meanwhile, Nefertari was messing with everyone and everything; Samiel, once against, started pushing against the iing hordes of Monstrous Spiders as his Undeads took one step after another in perfectly synchronized marching formation.

    Ashimer, who was standing in the front of the spearhead formation, acting as the vanguard, was like a God of War manifested among the mortals, ughtering with his twin des everything in sight as the heads of deceased Ettercaps and Monstrous Spiders rolled on the ground.

    And just like that, step by step, Samiel and his entourage of Undeads closed the gap between them and the hole in the wall. Soon enough, after hundreds of killed enemies, Samiel''s Undeads were already standing on the other side of the walls and defending against the iing Spiders.<sub> </sub>

    "Engineers are at the ce; they are starting the patching up process."

    Shouted Yvrine from the top of the walls, as Samiel nodded, taking it into consideration, while several dwarven engineers came up to the breach with some devices, which started unfurling themselves into pitch-ck shields that were blocking the hole in the walls.

    The entire thing took no more than ten minutes, and exactly like in that, Samiel started losing his first Unde??ds; fortunately, he had already ordered Ashimer to recall his Skeleton Knight Brigade, or they would be crushed here.

    They were already fighting on the open field, and defining a small area outside the walls, was exceptionally hard because they were attacked from all sides.

    ''Hooman! Hooman!''

    Nefertari was flying around Samiel, who now entered the battle trance, as he personally engaged the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps personally; with his Trident, he was piercing one skull after another, as they already started imaginarily piling up.

    ''What it is?''

    He then asked as he stopped after stomping on the head of the Steel-Tier Ettercap, whom he killed, squashing his head like a watermelon.

    ''The breach in the walls has been closed up; your elven woman wants you to return.''

    She stated; Samiel decided to ignore her remark, nodding his head in agreement, as he recalled his Undeads, aside from Ashhimer, who could do it on his own while aiming to climb the walls. He kicked to the ground several times as he jumped several meters in the air, repeating this fear several times as he bounced off from the walls.

    Ashimer kept repeating the same thing as his master as they both soon enough reached the walls. Normally, it would be impossible to climb the walls in this manner, as the walls themselves were engraved with various runes and wards that were protecting against a such thing, but Yvraine deactivated them to they could climb back.

    "The breach was patched up, and from what our screeners are saying, there are no more Monstrous Spiders who were strapped with the gnome explosives."

    Yvraine stated as they had made their move.

    It was like a game of Go; everyone had their roles and was making a move; now, the Drider and the Drows were on the turn because their scheme had failed due to Samiel blocking the breach on his own, something unexpected.

    ***

    Meanwhile with the Drider

    "Damm... order all Ettercaps to concentrate all of the attacks on the Northern Gate; we are joining the fight. Release all Draegloths we managed to create."

    Ordered the Drider viciously, as several Drow Warriors gulped visibly as they went to carry out his orders. Abruptly only howls and growls were heard from the background as huge monsters were restrained by magic chains as they attempted to break free.

    Draegloths were even bigger abominations of Arcane and Divine than Driders themselves. A draegloth is a demon created by a Priest of Lolth in an unholy, of course, dangerous and suicidal ritual, in which the target of the ritual is infused with the essence of the Creator and the fiendish essence of brezu.

    brezus were species of Abyssal Fiends, who were born at the Gold-Tier and by adulthood reached Legendary Level, and were used as cannon fodder by their Transcendental Masters, mighty Daemons of the Abyss.

    Due to this, Draegloths inherited some of the characteristics of the brezus, especially their brutality, ferocity, vitality, andbat efficiency. Of course, due to this, each Draegloth was Bronze-Tier Monsters, which would sometimes require even one Tier higher than itself for it to be killed.

    The Draegloths were ogre-sized, four-armed bipeds with purple skin and pale hair. Two of their arms were muscr, tipped with sharp ws, while the other two were of the size of a human or elf and capable of more delicate movements.

    Altogether it gave off a fiendish and bestial appearance; they were like a rabid dogs, waiting to be unleashed on their enemies, especially these ones, as they were drugged with some kinds of magic drugs to enhance their brutality and bloodthirstiness.

    "Let the final fight begin."

    Ordered the Drider Ilztrar, as he sprinted towards the walls of the Zephystrand City, when all Draogloths were released from their bindings and too rushed at the walls, sensing the elves, their sworn enemies.

 Chapter 85 Draegloths Vs. Red Dragon

    On the top of the Walls of Zephystrand City

    "Are those things what I mean they are?"

    Samiel muttered as he watched something approach the walls, only for Yvriane to look in the same direction as she held her breath, watching how, from the far distance, several tens of Draegloths under the leadership of the Drider were approaching the city.

    This was certainly not good news, especially considering the individual power of each of the abominations that were approaching the Zepyhstrand.

    "Draegloths, more than fifty of them, and all of them are the peak of the Bronze-Tiers at the Level 50... damm... so they couldn''t get their hands on the Frostbite Spiders, so they created these things."

    Yvraine cursed under her breath as she smashed the binocrs on the ground. It was apparent that she held a great deal of hatred against the Draegloths, something understandable because even though, Samiel was no expert, he could see that they were some things from the depths of the Underdark.

    "What are those neat monsters you are cursing at?"

    Samiel asked from the side, not really understanding what was going on.

    "Draegloths are one of the abominations of Lolth, just like the other things created by the fanatical priests of Lolth... they are usually created by carrying out the ritual on the Elves, especially on the stronger ones or those from powerful lineages, where they are infused with the Fey Essence and Essence of brezuses from the Abyss, creating these abominations of nature."

    Yvraine stated with unnatural hatred contained within her voice.

    "And these are?"

    Samiel continued unsurely to where; it was clear that this delved into some really deep shit of the Underdark and their twisted priests of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon, especially the Spider Queen Lolth.

    "Just ordinary Elves; if they were from the High Elves, then the Draegloths would be at least Gold-Tiers, while those created from the Silvermoon Elves could reach even Advanced Stage of Legendary upon their creation, as Spider Goddess Lolth truly hates our kind."

    He just nodded his head, partially happy that the sacrifices were only ordinary Elves, or they would be in deeper shit, not to mention, apparently, Yveraine was touchy on this subject, though he could understand.

    Or he thought he could understand, at least partially.

    Basically, each Draegloth was once an Elves, practically a member of her own species, and they were turned into this kind of abomination by their mortal enemies. Even though these ones were created just from ordinary Elves, it was still painful for her, for her own kind to be turned into this kind of monstrosity.

    "We can''t let them get close to the wall... Draegloths have some sort of innate magic resistance, so theoretically, the Bronze-Tiers ones should be able to resist the runes and wards of the walls to arge degree and could technically easily climb to the walls."

    Yvraine exined as Samiel nodded and looked behind his shoulder at bored Estrid, who was ying with Nefertari.

    "Estrid, turn into your dragon form and turn them all to ash."

    Samiel ordered the dragon girl, who immediately perked up, hearing that she could finally join the fight. She was already sitting here since the start of the siege on the city when the Magical Beast horde of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps started the attack.

    And she was bored as hell, not having something to do, anyone to attack and kill; it was like most brutal torture for her because Samiel forbade her from joining the defenses until he gave her the order for the attack.

    She was the trump card.

    Immediately Estrid revealed a bloodthirsty grin; when her torture finally ended, she put away Nefertari, who, surprisingly to all, decided to fly around the battlefield and keep on killing the enemies, probably still fearing for her snacks being taken away.

    The Red Dragon girl stood on the walls as she jumped down, and during the fall, she started morphing into a huge Red Dragon, breathing the first wave of the dragon breath at the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps beneath her, turning them to ash.

    She flew around the battlefield, burning to ash hundreds if not thousands of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps with each second, unleashing inferno on the battlefield.

    The very second when the Drider Ilztrar instantly cursed her, but despite his crazy state, he was aware of the fact that he couldn''t bring her down from the sky. Thus his eyes squinted at the walls of the Zephystrnad City as he sped up.

    Naturally, after venting off her frustration on poor Spiders and Ettercaps, from whom just ash remained, Estrid aimed her attention at tens of the Draegloths who were sprinting through the entire battlefield towards the walls of the Zephystrand City.

    Skillfully evading the bombardment from the Mana Cannons or the arrows and other ranged weapons that the defenders of the City were throwing at the iing hordes of Spiders and Monsters and approaching their target.

    Estrid flew around them andnded before the iing Draegloths, as she spewed enormous wae of the dragon''s breath, burning everything in front of her to ash; just to her surprise and shock, seeing all Draegloths in the way, jump as high in the air, they could, thus effectively evading the dragons'' breath.

    And just like any dragon would, Estrid became instantly ten times angrier than she was and roared, with such a powerful dragon roar that the earth trembled a bit, and all Monstrous Spiders on the entire battlefield started panicking, not knowing what to do next.

    One thing that must be known about the weaker and less intelligent Magical Beasts and Monsters, and that they relied most on their instincts. Now, their instincts were telling them to scram as the top predator appeared on the field, and they would be food.<sub> </sub>

    Unfortunately for them, they were conflicted due to the Ettercaps controlling them to continue in the attack on the City, while the Ettercaps themselves were acting like a doll on the strings of Drows Weavers who were hiding somewhere in the forests,manding them to do their biddings.

    Seeing the situation bing more and more chaotic, the majority of the Drow Warriors, who were spread through the battlefield, used this time to escape the 3rd Floor and use some of the hidden passageways to enter some godforsaken Lower Worlds to hide there for a few centuries, until the Underdark Completely forgets about them.

    Samiel watched the show unfolding itself together with Yvraine, as he was enjoying it a lot. Yvraine, instead of looking at Estrid, wreaked havoc, and she was practically unstoppable due to her heritage.

    Even though she was only a Level 26 Bronze-Tier Red Dragon, in terms of mass destruction, she was top-notch. Dragons were often walking bombs; due to the overwhelming power they contained, even at the lower Tiers, they were capable of unprecedented destruction.

    Yvraine looked at the several Drows who were apanying the Drider Ilztrar as they were escaping; before she used some magic spell to contact the people, she requested the catch the people from the Underdark to capture at least these escaping Drow Warriors.

    Even though they were males and should have very low status in the Underdark''s hierarchy, they may have some useful information. Still, Yvriane wanted them captured, tortured, and dead, so they would be because these ones were just disposable pawns, nothing more and nothing more.

    Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Estrid swept her tail at the several Draegloths who were still in the air, hitting them in one powerful hit, sending them crashing on the grounds, creating a meat paste as five of them were killed in an instant.

    Other Draegloths howled or roared at Estrid as they started attacking her all at once, something which was not good for the Drider Ilztrar because he wanted them to ignore the dragon and instead attack the walls.

    After she squashed several of the Draegloths to a meat paste, she breathed another breath of the Dragon''s Breath at three Draegloths who had justnded down to her side; not having any time to escape,e they met the Dragon''s Breath head-on.

    To the bystander''s surprise, they managed to survive, but their state was beyond pitiful, as they had burns all around their body and could barely move; such was the might of the Dragon''s Breath from a Red Dragon with a superior draconic bloodline.

    Seeing this situation and that the Red Dragoness before them was beyond their strength, the Draegloths gave up and attempted to escape from Estrid, who immediately gave into pursuit as she pped her giant dragon wings, as the aftershocks from the wind blew out all Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, far away.

    Immediately afterward, she flew directly at them, opening her jaws while revealing toots bigger and sharper than any weapon wielded by humanoid races, a bit of the head of one unfortunate Draegloth who appeared to be in her strike zone.

    "And this practically solves all the problem with the Draegloths and them getting past our defenses."

    Said Samiel lightly, as Yvriane nodded to his statement because, with this, the battle was practically done. Draegloths, who appeared to be the final trump card of the Drows, were being chased around by angry Red Dragoness; the majority of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were either ughtered or were in the process of being killed.

    Drows who were participating in this operation, either escaped, which in fact was the majority of them, and only a few of them remained on the battlefield; as they weremanding the Spiders and Ettercaps, those were the fanatical ones.

    Drider Ilztrar seeing this recent development, realized that his final attempts were futile and decided to escape, and like any other viin, he decided to gather powers and try once more. One could say that he had already nned for hiseback, not even aware that his fate was already being sealed from all sides.

    "I am going to pursue the Drider... personally, I very much want to kill him."

    On the walls, Samiel said to Yvraine, who, while not really wanting to allow it because she new that thebat prowess of the Silver-Tier Drider was really frightening. Ultimately, she decided to trust him and merely nodded her head.

    "Be careful, and try to return in one piece."

    She said while giving him a quick kiss on the lips before Samiel jumped down from the walls, falling from the high of several tens of meters, creating a mini earthquake when hended. Right now, it was his turn to hunt down the Drider and end this thing once and for all.

    "Damm... that hurt a bit."

    Heined while cracking his neck from one side to another.

    Samiel looked around, searching for the tracks of the Drider, before he continued the pursuit, while on the walls, Yvraine was giving orders to intensify the artillery bombardment on the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps as their numbers started to dwindle.

    "My Lady."

    Stated Ashimer, whom Samiel left on here in the Zephystrand together with his Skeleton Knight Brigade. Ashimer was charged with the protection of Yvraine and cleaning up the surviving enemies, such as some lucky Drows that managed somehow to survive.

    "Prepare for the fight; when the number of enemies is lower than 30,000 around the entire city, we will engage them in the close-quarters."

    Yvraine ordered, returning to the observation of the battlefield, while Frost Death Knight Ashimer took his ce behind her, silently and just observing, not forgetting his order from his master, which was to protect Yvraine with his entire existence.

    Samiel knew that Yvriane would join the battlefield when the soldiers and knights of the Zephystrand City would go for closebat; he left Ashimer as the insurance of her safety. She wouldn''t say no, because Ashimer was Silver-Tier Higher Undead, Frost Death Knight and knew that Samiel would be at peace of mind.

    Yvraine was perfectly aware of that, and even though she would wish for Samiel to take Ashimer with him, especially considering his strength, she was aware of his paranoid nature of Samiel.

    If he didn''t have a feeling that Yvriane would be okey, and that was the reason why he left his most powerful Undead with her, he would constantly be thinking about it, and his mind won''t be focusing on the fight 100%.

 Chapter 86 Samiel Vs. Ilztrar

    Somewhere in the forests in the vicinity of Zephystrand City, Samiel was sprinting at full speed through the dense forests of the 3rd Floor in pursuit of Drider, who decided to escape. He already knew the forests of the 3rd Floor very well, especially the ones around the surroundings of the 3rd Floor.

    "He is fast."

    Samiel muttered as he stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath while tracking the Drider, who once again changed the direction he was escaping. It was clear that the Drider knew the ce way better than him and could even move much more easily.

    Of course, the Drider was still an elf, and they were best in the forest. In contrast, the Drows the Dark Elves were not "home" in the forest as were, for example, ordinary Wood Elves, High Elves, or Silvermoon Elves; they still had some racial advantage in this enviroment.

    Due to this, Samiel needed to expand a lot of power in tracking the Drider, who was fastly escaping from him. Fortunately, Samiel was very sensitive towards the Mana, so hetched on to the residual Mana that the Drider was constantly releasing, probably using some form of Enhacm Magic on his body so that he could keep track with him.

    After giving in the pursuit for more than half an hour, Samiel arrived rtive far from the Zephystrnad, at the ce which he didn''t really recognize, as it appeared to be some kind of abandoned mine or something in that sense; they were already near the mountains.

    "There should be dimensional pathways somewhere here, so he is nning to escape."

    He almost cursed out of loud when he realized where the Drider was going. In the entire Tower, countless such dimensional pathways were connecting various Floors of the Tower together, or they were connecting Tower with the other worlds in the Cosmos.

    In this way, it was possible to navigate through the entire Cosmos and reach practically any important world in the Cosmos through the Tower. Technically speaking, it was entirely possible to reach almost every World from the Tower.

    Either way, once the Drider entered the dimensional pathway, it would be impossible to track him down. If he disappeared right now, there would be no way they would find him once more, so he needed to hurry.

    Even Legendaries would have problems tracking someone down who entered some random dimensional pathway that was leading out of the Tower, and even they would need some proficiency with the Space Attributed Spells or Leveled Ability.

    After he started running at the top of his physical capabilities, Samiel finally saw the Drider in its full might as he was standing at the teau of something which looked like an abandoned quarry in nearby mountains, where the stones were probably mined some time ago.

    "Let the Void be our Protectors in this bright hour, and Chaos we unleash upon enemies of ours."

    Samiel then started conjuring several Frost-Bone Spears boosted by the [Winter Ruler] for higher destructive capabilities before shooting them off at the Drider, who was right now entering on the cave entrances in the abandoned quarry.

    Befitting his Silver-Tier power andbat experiences, the Drider swiftly turned around, and with his enormous spider legs, he quickly climbed on the walls of the stone quarry, dodging all iing Frost-Bone Spears.

    "Outer filth!"

    Screamed the Drider Ilztrar at Samiel in the Cosmos Commonnguage, while Samiel just smiled, hearing very uncreative insults. However, he would ignore them even if they were creative because he himself was an expert in mind warfare, because that was an essential part of the battle.

    At first, Samiel pondered on the battle strategy he should employ, as he could always do what most, if not all, Necromancers would do, and that was to flood the Drider with his Undeads, but that would mean losing some of them, and that was not that appealing.

    Because he would need to rece them, and recing the hardly cultivated Undeads was a pain in the ass, as he was focusing on the quality. He has invested a lot of resources of into his Undeads, and it would pain him to lose them without any reason.

    Not to mention, he was itching to fight with the Drider, not depending on the Undeads, wanting to see his powerpared to geniue Silver-Tier individuals, especially ones strong like the Drider. He wanted to test hisbat prowess against the such enemy.

    After entering the Tower, Samiel started viewing his Necromantic abilities more like supplementary skills to deal with weaker enemies orrge numbers of them, so he didn''t need to.

    While he could fight those stronger ones.

    "Really creative."

    He then conjured ten more Frost-Bone Spears, using the Metamagic Skill - Spell Fusion and boosted all of them with the Winter Ruler before shooting them with tremendous speed at the Drider, who had a very hard time dodging them all.

    Thest Frost-Bone Spear managed to pierce him through on the edge of his belly, as that was protected only by a thinyer of Armor, which couldn''t really stop the Frost-Bone Spear. Samiel was wary of the Drider''s next move, while not really fearing his strength, because he knew he could just tire him down, but what was big unknown was the poison of the Drider.

    Sometimes, Driders had very potent poison, mainly as the gift from the Spider Queen Lolth during their transformation into these monstrosities and abominations of nature. So, because Samiel was wary of the poison and wasn''t in a mood to test his poison resistance, he decided it would be for the best to keep his distance.

    "Come out, you coward!!!"<sub> </sub>

    Shouted the Drider in pain as he pulled out the Frost-Bone Spear, which was stuck on the edge of his belly, but such provocations were futile on someone like Samiel, who didn''t care about thinking like martial honor and being called a coward.

    Honor on the battlefield usually leads to a very fast death, as honorable people are killed as the first ones. Seeing that Samiel wasn''t giving in to the provocations, and only answered with a few more Frost-Bone Spears, the Drider Ilztrar grew only more and more engaged.

    After Samiel sends thest wave of the Frost-Bone Spears, he decides to change the hiding spot, as he stealthily leaves the old one before the Drider arrives at him. Right now, Samiel was technically doing the same thing which he did on Estrid when he firstly fought her.

    Driders were known for having a certain level of Magic Resistance, mainly due to the residual Divine Power of the Spider Queen Lolth in their bodies, though this level of Divine Power may differ, and due to that, even their individual Magic Resistance would be different.

    For example, if Spider Queen Lolth created a Legendary Level Drider, then the Drider would have Magic Resistance up to the Legendary Level Spells, and any Spell under the Legendary Level won''t be able to hurt the Drider. Of course, the conjuration of physical objects or materialized Mana, like Smaiel was materializing Frost-Bone Spears, was the rtive exception, as even with Magic Resistance, one could be hurt by it.

    So Samiel was now focusing on causing some superficial injuries to the Drider so he could use some curses on the Drider, and one he was specifically preparing for him, seeing the Drider healing rtively fast from his injuries.

    After the Drider was in Samiel''s vicinity, he cast the 3rd Level Spell from the Necromancy Arts, Vampiric Touch. This spell was created based on the innate abilities of the Bloodkins, Life Drain, which allowed the caster to siphon Life Force from the target to heal his wounds, or if not that, then just siphon it to nowhere to weaken the target.

    This spell wasmonly used by Necromancers when they wanted either to heal themselves or were fighting someone or something with a tremendous amount of vitality. Casting other Curses on the Drider would be useless because most of them were either 1st Level or 2nd Level, and the effect would be minimal due to Drider being Silver-Tier coupled with his Magic Resistance.

    Instead, seeing that the wounds on the Drider''s body started healing at a much slower tempo, Samiel cast several Void Strikes from the Void Magic as the space itself started exploding, one of such explosions tearing off one of the legs of the Drider.

    ''Despite being only 3rd Level Spell, it could drastically injure the Silver-Tier Drider, but the same could be said about the Frost-Bone Spears, which the Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler boosted. If not for my overwhelmingly powerful and dense Mana, such feats would not be possible.''

    Samiel thought as he heard the Drider screaming in pain, as one of his stingers was torn off. Samiel readied his magic one more and started conjuring Frost-Bone Spear while at the same time casting the Vampiric Touch at the Drider, knowing of his unnatural healing factor.

    Normally, the Driders didn''t have any regenerative abilities or such, so this one should be something given by the Spider Queen Lolth. It was clear that Spider Queen Lolth left her touch on this concrete Drider pretty deeply, contrary to others.

    Soon enough, the Drider recovered from the pain that his torn leg was causing him as he attempted to dodge iing Frost-Bone Spears. Dodging them was a hard task, as their speed was extremely fast, like thunder from the sky; Samiel knew that the Driders were not the fastest things in the Cosmos, so he was making use of this fact to his advantage.

    This time Samiel was mainly aiming at the Drider''s legs; unfortunately, this time, Samiel wasn''t that sessful with his endeavors of severing another leg of the Driders because Ilztrar managed to dodge them. When Ilztrar realized what was going on, he focused a lot on the iing Frost Bone Spears, to the point he was ignoring what was happening around him.

    Just as the Drider was dodging one Frost-Bone Spear after another, Samiel started using the Winter Ruler to freeze the entire area where they were founding, as suddenly huge walls made of ice started rising around the entire area.

    Samiel nned to create a trap around them, so the Drider won''t be able to escape. He needed to be captured alive, mainly because he knew where the Monstrous Spiders'' breedingirs were hidden. If they didn''t destroy them, then the entire 3rd Floor would be constantly terrorized by the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, who would be breeding here.

    Even though Samiel was aware of one, it didn''t mean it was a single one, and the best method would be to get it directly from Drider''s memories.

    After Samiel erected the walls made from the strongest ice he could create through the Winter Ruler, he jumped down from the top of the walls, looking at the Drider, who just now realized that he was trapped here.

    Instantly after he jumped down, he used the Winter Ruler, aiming at the poison nds at the sting that the Drider had so that he couldn''t use his most potent weapon, the poison he had at his disposal.

    "And now we can have a nice little chat."

    Samiel stated with a smile while conjuring an Ice Trident through the Winter Ruler and waiting for the Drider to make a move; he made the "arena" a bit more spacious in a case he decided to use his Undeads in the fight.

    "Fucking filth, let be smitten to death by the darkness of the Spider Queen!"

    Shouted the Drider fanatically as he charged at Samiel, who just cocked his head, and with a wave of his trident, several stgmites of ice sprouted from the frozen ground, which was covered by ice, attacking the Drider.

    Despitecking one leg, which was bleeding profusely, he managed to dodge the iing attacks of the ice stgmites, but that didn''t deter Samiel, who kept using the same methods, attacking the Drider with tens of ice constructs.

    They were currently on his yground, and with the Winter Ruel, the moment this whole ce was frozen, the fight''s conclusion was long decided. In the ce where the frost and ice were, Samiel''sbat prowess skyrocketted.

 Chapter 87 Spider Queen Lolth

    After several minutes of fighting, it was apparent that the Drider Ilztrar was outssed, especially considering the terrain disadvantage he was facing, because the entire area where they were fighting was frozen to an icicle.

    Samiel was controlling basically every aspect of the battlefield. What he wanted to achieve was a creation of a pseudo-domain like some Legendaries could use to boost up his overall capabilities inbat.

    And freezing the entire area was a way to go, even if it was creating just an imitation, even that could give him a significant boost to his own power and some disadvantages to his enemies. Certainly, this was far long from the geniue Domains, but it was a good step, and Samiel was sure to achieve one when he became a Legendary.

    "Come... you are going to use it, right?"

    Questioned Samiel out of nowhere while looking at the severely injured Drider, who had wounds around his whole body, while his spider legs had a thickyer of frost around them, showing signs of freezing already to the extreme cold temperatures.

    Normally, it would be night impossible for a Steel-Tier to win a fight against a Silver-Tier individual, not talking about killing the said individual, but Samiel was not the average Steel-Tier individual, as hisbat prowess outshined all of them.

    Even without his Undeads, he became the force to be reckoned with on his own, a danger. He was unlike other Necromancers who were useless without their Undeads; for him, they were just his supportive means or things to deal with annoying pests.

    Instantly, four sharp ice stgmites sprouted from the frozen earth, all aiming at the Drider, pricing him through and through, as he wasn''t able to react properly, mainly due to anotheryer of curses that Samiel managed to cast on him, and especially due to the effect of the Vampiric Touch, which was sucking away his vitality.

    Samiel knew exactly how to kill a Drider because Yvraine told him everything he needed to know about the resistance of the Underdark, how tobat them, where they had their weak spots, and how to kill them most efficiently.

    Like the Drider.

    There was no doubt that the Drider was a powerhouse on his own; if he was ced on any Lower World, for sure, even in this state he was in, just initial Silver-Tier, he would be considered as National Level Cmity.

    However, he met his nemesis, as Samiel just weakened the Drider through long-ranged attacks enough before trapping him in the frozen area, where he practically controlled everything through his Winter Ruler Ultimate Ability, and that was the moment where the Drider lost.

    Certainly, this strategy seemed too easy and straightforward and wouldn''t be effective on more clear-headed enemies, but fortunately, the Driders were not known for their brains, and most of them were insane and didn''t think straight.

    "Seldarine''s bitch!"

    Samiel just heard the Drider curse at him as blood flowed from his mouth. Clearly, the Drider was dying, but seeing this, Samiel just increased his vignce while flipping backward, when suddenly an overwhelming wave of dark miasma burst out of the Drider''s body.

    Samiel''s ice walls, which he was so proud of, were instantly destroyed and cracked like the ss that was broken down into thousands of shards; as the body of the Drider started morphing, his injuries were being healed at an astronomical rate, while his body was erging, changing.

    His missing spider leg regrew almost instantly, while all of his legs got thicker, and the Drowish part of the Drider''s body, changed entirely, more appearing like a Fiend of the Abyss than that of a Drown.

    Samiel knew that the Drider''s body was right now being reshaped by the Divine Power of the Spider Queen Lolth to act as the vessel. Of course, such a vessel won''tst long, and in truth, Samiel wondered if she would fight him, especially considering that he could feel the fluctuations of the Gold-Tier Mana from the vessel.

    ''Why can''t I have a few moments of peace and just avoid getting into a mess way above my paygrade?''

    Samiel pondered as he looked at the vessel of the Spider Queen Lolth because he was constantly getting into situations where he encountered enemies way above his level, way above; it was already getting annoying.

    "Hmm... Mortal ne? And this is Drider''s body? Why the fuck have I been summoned here?"

    Muttered the voice belonging to a female, a bit distorted, probably due to not properly limatizing to the body she was possessing, but Samiel could clearly hear all of it.

    Immediately he realized who had descended down onto the material ne. Head of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon, Main Goddess of the Drow Pantheon, Ruler of the Spiders, Queen of Demonweb Pits, Spider Queen Lolth.

    She was one of the more powerful Transcendents, mainly due to being Pantheon''s Head and God-Queen of the entire Pantheon. And from what he could tell, she was pretty annoyed and angry at the fact she was summoned into the body of the Drider.

    Probably it was not her preferred Avatar or Vessel, and considering how ugly it was no wonder, though from the records, he knew that Lolth''s true body was no better, but she was a vain and jealous Goddess, obsessed with her beauty.

    "So the fool wanted to kidnap the Silvermoon Crown Princess? Damm... hmm... that smell Eldritch?"

    Suddenly Samiel felt a shiver run through his spine when he saw the Spider Queen looking in this direction, directly at him. That gaze of hers, was very ufortable, not like the general gaze of Transcendent Level entities was something enjoyable, but Lolth''s was especially wrong.

    "Come here, my darling..."

    She said somewhat seductively, which only increased Samiel''s vignce because she was trying to use some kind of charm on him; fortunately, due to his heritage, he proved to be pretty resistant to it, as Lolth''s face distorted, in a split of a second see that her charm had no effect on him.

    "Wretched Eldrich Creatures, always so annoying."

    Her personality took a 180-degree change as she viciously cursed while looking at Samiel threateningly. Probably someone here had some problem with Eldritch Creatures and Outer Gods as a whole; not a weed problem for him indeed.

    "What do you want with me? Perhaps avenging your little servant?"

    Samiel asked mockingly, not really fearing Lolth because he had bigger backing than her, and when it came to the worse, he could always call the manifestation of Azathoth, Nyathotep, or other of the main Outer Gods to just expunge her out of the mortal ne.

    "Don''t be ridiculous; why should I care about this piece of garbage."<sub> </sub>

    She answered with no little amount of disdain for her own servant, but that was understandable.

    This wasmon standing among the Transcendents, especially Gods, they didn''t care about their followers, servants, or whatever a bit, only for those who were on the Legendary Level, but that was all.

    From a certain point of view, it was understandable because each Transcendent, if wanted, can create a whole bunch of Legendaries on their own, with little to no resources. Mainly for Gods, not all, but for the majority of them, their followers were just disposable pawns, nothing more and nothing less.

    "I sense from you the stench of the Seldari... Silvermoon Seldarine... disgusting. Don''t you want rather be together with nice beautiful Drow Matriarch instead?"

    She whispered like Devil seducing his target to sell his soul for basically nothing; Samiel swore that under normal circumstances, he would, for the sure, mistake the Spider Queen for the Devil instead of Goddess.

    "And became like a castrated dog in a cage... no thank you."

    He answered stoically, not even entertaining such a train of thoughts.

    Drow society was strictly matriarchal one, where men had inferior standing, and he knew how the Drow Matriarch treated their toys, especially considering that most, if not all, Drow Matriarchs are pretty twisted in their heads, not that far from him, but he would never want to have anything with them.

    "Let us return to the right track; why are you here, Spider Queen?"

    Samiel asked bluntly,cking the respect for the Goddess such as the Lolth, instantly enraging her with just one sentence because normally, people would be as courteous with her as possible, fearing for their own very life, but Samiel was neither of that.

    He didn''t fear Lolth; he knew that right now, in her current form, she couldn''t do anything to him because for the second he sensed something from her side, he would immaterially call up the powers of the Outer Gods.

    "Insolent mortal!"

    Lolth screamed while sending a wave of the dark miasma towards him.

    "I call upon the powers of the Void and Outsidness to protect me from the enemy across time and space, as my unbreakable shield."

    Samiel instantly chanted the prayer; as freezing cold energy appeared out of nowhere, space cracked and created a shield around him, protecting him from the dark miasma unleashed by the Spider Queen Lolth.

    Meanwhile, Lolth looked at Samiel; her facial expression kept changing from anger to fear, then jealousy and once again anger and rage, reced by fear. She knew that the people calling up the power of the Void itself, and especially mortals, were "Children" of the strongest Outer Gods.

    Even though Lolth was a very powerful Transcendent and among the Gods, she could rank in the higher-end effortlessly, in front of Outer Gods, especially those like Primordial Demiurge and his Children, whose aura she sensed from the Void, she was just a bigger ant.

    "So you have some tricks in your sleeve."

    Lolth muttered angrily, being overtaken by her rage; never in her life gave her some mortal so much disrespect as right now. Instantly the pressure from her vessel started rising tremendously, as it reached the Limit of the Gold-Tier Level 100 before sending another wave of the dark miasmatic energy at the Samiel, who was being protected by the Void itself.

    Seeing the shield standing strong and high at one side, Samiel was relieved, but at the same time, he was worried because it didn''t really seem that Lolth in her vessel would stop her attacks, and their power was just increasing.

    Decisively, Samiel conjured one sharp ice dagger before he cut his wrist deeply, as blood started flowing, while Samiel was using the Winter Ruler to freeze the blood amidst that, and controlling his frozen blood, to create a specific symbol in the air behind the void shield.

    "With my Blood as the sacrifice, I call upon the descend of the Primordial Demiurge, the Nuclear Chaos, the Daemon Sultan, let him enter the world of mortals and dreams rewrite the reality, by his wishes. I call upon the name of the Greatest Dreamer, Azathoth!"

    Samiel finished the words with a shout as his frozen blood in ruby crystals melted down and created together a magic circle, which shone in ominous and malicious crimson light. At the same time, suddenly, several huge tentacles starteding out from the magic circle, which was the portal.

    "Leave here, Lolth."

    From the magic circle sounded, these distorted words, like they were spoken by thousands of people at the same time, while Lolth, who was right now controlling her vessel, looked grim at the situation because she would never expect to meet Azathoth''s will here.

    ''He called one of them... meaning he is one of the... damm...''

    She just wanted to curse in her head, but she was not daring to do so; even a whisp of Azathoth''s will was enough to injure her so severely that it would require thousands of years to recuperate.

    "We will meet again, Eldritch Fledgling."

    She said as her will left the body of the Drider, which copsed onto the ground, while simultaneously the magic circle which was used to summon Azathoth from the Void dispersed into nothingness.

    "Damm... that was something, though it was evident that neither she wanted to be summoned here, so technically I was just unlucky that I now gained her as nea w mortal enemy."

    Samiel sat on the ground, because he was very tired from sustaining such a huge ritual and expanded almost all of his Mana.

    "Curse my E-Ranked Luck."

 Chapter 88 Aftermath And Gains

    After Samiel cursed enough, he went to the corpse of the Drider before using the [Soul Devour] Ultimate Ability as he threw the small whisp of light which was, in fact, the soul of the Drider Ilztrar, into his mouth.

    This was the first time he was eating the Silver-Tier Soul, so he nned to enjoy it, for him appropriately, a partial Eldritch Creature; the more powerful the soul was, the tastier it would be.

    [Profficiency with the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 3%]

    [Mana has been increased.]

    [You have devoured the soul of Level 51 Silver-Tier Drider Ilztrar.]

    [Your Level has been increased to 21.]

    Samiel suddenly felt a warm feeling inside him as he felt that Mana in his body increased significantly from devouring the soul of the Level 51 Silver-Tier Drider Ilztrar, feeling that his strength had greatly improved.

    For him, every single increasement in his Level was a great increase in his power, mainly because of the tremendous purity and density of his Mana.

    "Hmm... this is good; increasement of one Level in my current state is a feat on its own."

    He muttered while looking at the corpse of the Drider Ilztrar before strong his corpse, knowing that this would be the perfect material for the next special Undead. A Silver-Tier base would for sure create a Silver-Tier Higher Undead.

    After he ate the soul of Drider Ilztrar, he started searching for the memories which were avable to him; because Samiel still didn''t have high proficiency with the [Soul Devour], he couldn''t ess all memories of the target, and only some of them.

    The rest of the memories were very chaotic, though, unfortunately for Samiel, most of the Drider''s memories were absolutely useless. Aside from all the hiding spots, they had on the 3rd Floor and where the breedingirs for the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were located, there was nothing.

    Ilztrar was not allowed to know any sensitive information about the Underdark''s dealings and other things; originally, he was just a small-scale fish in the Underdark City on the 89th Floor, where he lived as a standard Drow Warrior.

    Until one day, he offended one of the Lolth''s Priests because of some internal shit and politics, and he was turned by Drider. Then one day, he was approached by the Priests of the Dark Selderine Church, and they gave him a divine mission of kidnapping the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty.

    Samiel knew that it was a load of dragon dung, but evidently, the Drider Ilztrar was stupid enough to believe that he was chosen for the divine mission by the Spider Queen Lolth. And thus that way, he ended on the 3rd Floor with this mission, though the true one was always to get information on a new generation of Mana Cannons.

    "Ah, whatever... at least I have locations of the breedingirs of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps that the Drows brought to the 3rd Floor, and we can destroy themter on."

    Samiel muttered as he started walking away, returning back to Zephystrand City in a very good mood. He managed to kill the Drider on its own and even managed to banish the Avatar of Lolth back to the Abyss.

    Highly probable that this woulde back him back into ass because it wasmon knowledge that Lolths was a spiteful and vengeful Goddess that never forgot and never forgave any kind of transgression against her godly majesty.

    ***

    The Abyss, Unknown Layer, Territory of the Spider Queen Lolth.

    Abyss was a dark ce, filled with death, dread, despair and destruction, where there was only one thing, a war. Mainly war for pure survival, as every single minute, countless Demons, Fiends, Monsters, Demonic Beasts and other countless lifeforms fought for their survival and supremacy.

    It ranged from the lowliest mortals of the Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier to the Legendaries who weremon as clouds in the Higher Dimensional World like The Abyss, and even up to the Transcendents who either schemed against each other or fought and waged war on their neighbors for the resources and better social standing.

    After Lolth returned to her Territory in the Abyss, all of her servants shivered in fear. All of the servants in the Lolth''s Pce were minimally at the Legendary Level, while some of them were even at the Transcendent Level.

    There were hundreds of them just at her pce, signifying the overall strength of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon and even the Abyss as a whole. Her servants were not only drows but also some Demons, Monsters, Fiends and even some Daemons who were her lovers.

    "Insolent mortal!"

    She screamed while she crushed the head of the peak Legendary Level Drow Male, who was, in fact, one of her concubines, as it exploded like a watermelon, while her rage just seated from her. Other servants and attendants, especially the weaker ones, instantly hid where they could, not like that would help them, but they felt tremendous fear when they saw in what state their Goddess was.

    "Please calm down, Your Majesty."

    Stated one of Lolth''s attendants, who was one of the Transcendent Level Drows, not Goddes but from the other Path of the Transcendence, probably from the Immortal Path, which was, in fact, one of the weakest Transcendence Paths out there in terms ofbat prowess and destructive abilities.

    Lolth looked at the attendant dangerously before she punched her in her stomach, sending her crashing into the walls. At the same time, her Transcendent Level attendant coughed a mouthful of blood and was barely alive as Lolth took her anger on her.

    "Dammed Outer Gods! Dammed Eluria! I curse them for burning in the deepest parts of the Baator and Abyssbined."

    Screamed Lolth as she sat on her throne in her pce. It was a bad day today; at first, she was summoned to the body of the Drider, and then she encountered the Holy Son of the Outer God, not any Outer God, but instead the strongest one.

    Of course, she was immediately banished from the material ne, and on top of that, she could sense that her Soul and Divinity sustained considerable injuries from the attack from the Nuclear Chaos, who was one of the ''them''.

    ***

    Tower, 3rd Floor, Zephystrand City

    Samiel walked back to Zephystrand City rtively slowly; his injuries were already being slowly healed as he took his time to arrive back at Zephystrad City. When he returned close to the City, he saw that the City Guards and Silvermoon Knights were slowly killing thest Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps.

    There were also scorched ces here and there, mainly due to Estrid, who, when turned into her dragon, transformed into an unstoppable killing machine, burning down every enemy she could see. Samiel could see that Estrid wreaked havoc on the battlefield, especially when she fought against the Draegloths, who were all killed by her or turned to ash, some of whom were probably even eaten.<sub> </sub>

    Obviously, Dragons liked to eat their more powerful enemies. In this way, they gained strength, because consuming the flesh of the high Leveled lifeforms was always beneficial for those of the lower Level. Though this applied universally to countless species,

    Though for the elves, this won''t be much problem, as one Druid would be able to restore nature to its former glory within a few months of treatment.

    He could also see some clearer already taking away the corpses of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps for the dissection because the corpse of any Magical Beast or Monster was a priceless alchemical ingredient.

    After each major battle, there were also cleanering up, who would clean the battlefield, so this menial task didn''t fall onto the average soldiers or city guards. These people were typically very proficient in things like dissections of the Magical Beast and Monsters and would take care of all of them.

    Samiel then saw Ashimer, who came up to him and knelt before him as a form of greeting. Ashimer, as the Frost Death Knight, was the epitome of the all knightly attributes, as they were engraved into him during the process of his creation, when Samiel was "uploading" some memories onto his newly formed consciousness.

    "My Lord, you are back."

    He stated emotionlessly, as Samiel nodded; while Ashimer stood up, Samiel saw some stains of blood on Ashimer''s armor, belonging to the Monstrous Spiders or Ettercaps. Clearly, he was fighting as hell when the defenders of the Zephystrand went to finish the Magical Beast horde.

    "How are your loses?"

    I asked him, seeing that his Skeleton Knight Brigade was rtively iplete, probably suffering various degrees of losses when fighting the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps; that for sure was understandable, as most of them were just Steel-Tiers.

    Even if they were d in excellent armor and armed with the best weapons he could procure for them, they would suffer some significant losses in a fight such as this. Indeed, it was nothing irreversible, as Samiel could just provide Ashimer with new suitable corpses to create Skeleton Knights from them.

    "Approximately half of the brigade is lost."

    Ashimer answered indifferently, not bothered by the losses or anything, though I would be surprised if he would; he was Undead. Not even Necromancers would be bothered by it, though; it is different if you lose strong Undeads and if you lose weak ones.

    "Better than my initial expectations."

    Samiel noted as he went to find Yvraine to inform her of my feats, while Ashimer was following me two steps behind me, as my most loyal bodyguard, while Nefertari was flying high in the air, which he just now noticed.

    ''Are you still killing?''

    He asked her through the telepathic connection that they had between them.

    ''Yes, hooman. I await more treats.''

    She stated as she went back to the hunt; while Samiel just smiled at this, apparently, she was still fearing that her treats would be taken away.

    Samiel found Yvraine on the battlefield as she was organizing the squads of the Silvermoon Knight recruits who were in charge of hunting down all of the remaining Magical Beasts and Monsters.

    "I take it that you were sessful in your endeavors of putting down the Drider?"

    Yvraine came in front of him and said the question or just stated the obvious, seeing that he was rtively healthy, with only a few superficial injuries on his body, which were already being healed as they were speaking.

    "Indeed I was... the Drider Ilztrar proved to be a tricky enemy, but in the end, the result was the same as always."

    He stated while Yvriane smiled at him.

    Normally, she would immediately run to hug him because deep inside, she was worried about this, thinking that the disparity in the power was too huge between Samiel and the Drider; she chose to believe that he would be okey.

    And Yvraine had a rule that is no showing affection while they were in public, so no kisses or hugs in public ces where people could see them doing so.

    "I also obtained the ces where the breedingirs of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps are located on the 3rd Floor."

    Samiel then said while walking with Yvraine side by side, as they went back to the City, meet with the Sarun Daragan so that they could organize the clean-up operations for the breedingirs. If they were left as they were, these spiders would soon infest the entirety of the 3rd Floor, and then it would be practically impossible to get rid of them.

    All spider-like species of Magical Beasts were resilient, good at hiding, and could live off even with minimal prey and food. Due to that, they need to be done as soon as possible before they create new breedingirs on their own, and those would really be a pain in the ass finding.

    Especially considering the fact that the forest on the 3rd Floor was one of the best natural environments for these species. Fortunately, it was not so for the Ettercaps, who preferred to live underground in wet and gloomy ces without too much light.

    "I can see that the Daragan Family will once again strike a goldmine with the Magical Beast horde when they sell all of these carcasses and other ingredients obtained from them... especially the poison nds of the Monstrous Spiders would fetch a nice sum of Gold Coins or Mana Crystals."

    Hemented as he saw the cleaners already dissecting some of the carcasses.

    "Of course, you would get your share of 10% at ater date, and we will also forget the Estrid''s reparations towards the Zephystrnad''s facilities that she destroyed or damaged during her stay here."

    Yvraine said, knowing exactly where her ???, really it was tricky, boyfriend?, maybe, wanted to say. Samiel was money grubber as hell, and he knew that Estrid, who was under hismand, killed a lot of enemies, she disposed of Draegloths, and he himself killed the Drider and ughtered thousands of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps.

    "Excellent, and, please don''t say anything to that dunderhead... at least something good came out of my duty to take care of her."

    Samielughed a bit as they continued their walk towards the Citadel of the Zephystrand City.

 Chapter 89 The Last Day On The 3rd Floor

    Citadel of the Zephystrand City, sometimeter.

    The Citadel of the Zephystrand City was looking as it always was, not touched by thebat or battle, and people living there, though mostly the servants were carrying out their duties like nothing was happening outside of the city.

    The cleaning up of the battlefield was going smoothly, as the corpses of the Monstrous Spiders and other foul creatures were dragged away by a squad of the city''s cleaners, who would be processing them and selling the materials to the Alchemists and other upations who would make use of them.

    After Samiel returned to the Citadel with Yvraine, he went to a meeting room where several people were already discussing some of the city''s domestic affairs and how to deal with the aftermath of the Magical Beast invasion done by the Underdark''s forces.

    "Your Higness, Lord Zentaur."

    Several people greeted them when they noticed them entering the room. After a short while, everyone returned back to what they were doing, as Samiel and Yvraine went to the Sarun Daragan so they could organize the teams to destroy the breedingirs of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps.

    "Samiel here has found out the locations of allirs where the Drows were breeding the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps; we need to destroy them as soon as possible."

    Yvraine stated while Sarun''s eyes immediately drafted towards her because this was the most crucial information they were after. Sarun knew that the moment the Monstrous Spider overpopted theirirs or something else happened; they would leave and create newirs.

    And then, it would be extremely hard to find them all together, and it could be possible that they would be permanent inhabitants of the 3rd Floor, which would be annoying as hell, not to mention, some of the smaller and weaker settlements on the 3rd Floor would be overrun by the spiders for sure.

    "Of course, we will instantly organize the hunting teams and destroy all of theirs as soon as possible."

    Answered Sarun Daragan immediately afterward because this was a critical matter that needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. The Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps were not natural species to the 3rd Floors, but they were brought here down by the Drows directly from the Underdark.

    If they overpopted once more, then the situation would repeat itself several decades or centuriester, not to talk about the damage to the ecosystem they could cause. Mainly because theycked any natural predators on the 3rd Floor, who would be hunting them down and maintaining the bnce.

    "How are the damages in the city?"

    Yvraine questioned, curious about the state of the city right now after the Magical Beast invasion had ended. It was clear that while the city was in a good state, it still had sustained some kinds of damage, as the walls were breached on certain parts and some buildings were destroyed.

    "Nothing much; we managed to keep them outside of the city for most of the part of the invasion, only a few houses and ces were destroyed during when the breach happened, and that was all. On top of that, even our losses of lives were kept at a minimum."

    Summarized the administrative officer as he looked through the stack of papers. Right now, there was a lot of work to do; considering that the invasion had ended, there were some slight damages to the city itself, not to mention theplicated and long process of disposal of everything from the battlefield.

    "Ladies and Gentlement, if you now excuse me, I have some matters to attend to, so I will take up my leave."

    Samiel then excused himself because he wanted to do some things, and he felt that his presence wasn''t that necessary right now here, especially after he passed the Yvraine all information about the breedingirs of the Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps.

    When he exited the meeting room, the first ce where he went was to the outside of the Citadel, as he needed to find Estrid, who should have returned from the battlefield back to the city. Not even aware of how much money Samiel now made off her.

    He had searched for her for about ten minutes already; in truth, Samiel hated waiting for someone like this, as he instructed Estrid to return to the Citadel when she finished killing all of the Draegloths, which were released onto the battlefield.

    But clearly, she then joined the battlefield instead, but whatever.

    In his mind, he was still thinking about the massive amount of money he would soon receive from the Daragan Family, as he made significant contributions to the defenses, not to mention he would also get a great cut from the cleaning up operation of the breedingirs, as he provided all the locations.

    "What the hell was taking you so long?"

    Instantly seeing Estriding here, he adapted the usual strict facade he kept with her, not wanting her to realize something out of order. While Estrid seemed and behaved like an average muscle-headed thug, which was indeed partially the truth, she had a very keen mind.

    There was a very small and slight possibility that she could sniff out that he would be making a tremendous amount of money on all of this and ask for her share, which Samiel wasn''t nning to give her.

    He was taking it aspensation for taking care of her and all the mental damage he suffered when he was dealing with an annoying dragon girl who constantly wanted either to fight him or mate with him.

    "I was pursuing some of the enemies that managed to escape, mainly the drows... I wanted to eat more of them; they tasted good."

    Samiel''s brow twitched in anger, though he soon calmed down, hearing her reasons? They were very Estrid-like, something only she woulde up with.

    "Okey, you did the good works with the Draegloths, and I will make a note to report it further so that you can get some contribution points from the Hall. Dismissed."

    Samiel stated, as he then left in rtive haste.

    Because Estrid was fulfilling his order at the defenses of the Zephystrand City against the Magical Beast Horde, she would get some contribution points from the Hall of Kadath due to it being seen aspleting the mission issued by the Hall of Kadath itself.

    Such was the perk of being the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath that he could issue missions in times of need, which indeed came in handy in situations like this.

    ***

    After the meeting with the high-ups of the Zephystrand City had ended and he dismissed Estrid of her duties, Samiel returned to his quarters to read the final notifications from the Akashic Records he got when thest Monstrous Spiders and Ettercap were killed.

    [Advancement Quest: City Defense of Zephystrand

    Description: Join the defense of the Zephystrand and help to defend the city for 10 years. However, the times can be shortened by achieving a higher kill count of Magical Beasts and other creatures that are attacking the city in periodical monster waves.

    Status: Completed

    Reward: Based on contribution]

    [The Akashic Records are calcting rewards.]

    [Samiel Zentaur has contributed to the defenses of the Zephystrand City by killing x23,587 Monstrous Spiders and x1,312 Ettercaps, x1 Drider.]

    [Rewards have been calcted by the Akashic Records.]

    [Samiel Zentaur has been awarded the Basic Principles of Necromancy Necrosis.]

    [Samiel Zentaur has been awarded the Intermediate Principles of Necromancy Necrosis.]<sub> </sub>

    [Samiel Zentaur can advance to the 4th Floor.]

    Samiel read the notifications from the Akashic Records with a smile on his face, seeing that he got exactly what he wanted. Getting a Magic Grimoires as a form of reward from the Akashic Records is way beyond good, especially considering the fact he got something as rare as Basic and Intermediate Principles of Necromancy Necrosis.

    With this, Samiel could learn Necromancy Arts up to the 5th Level Spells, which shouldst him through the entire Bronze-Tier, and get hands-on Grimoires filled with Advanced Magic, basically the 6th Level and 7th Level Spells.

    "With this, I can basically conclude that Akashic Records should have copies of all Magic Grimoires and Magic Tomes within it if it could give it out as a form of reward."

    Samiel muttered to himself as he held both Principles of the Necromancy Necrosis. Now, he could finally master higher levels of Magic, that he was approaching the Bronze-Tier, and on the Zephystrand, he wasn''t able to buy anything above the Basic Level of Magic, truthfully.

    Of course, that wasn''t that surprising because the Grimoires and Magic Tomes were rtively rare and preciousmodities and even though the Tower was rich in these kinds of things on the lower Floors, it was still a raremodity.

    And on top of that, he didn''t really want to ask the Hall of Kadath to provide him with those, as that would be practically a waste of the contribution points for something like that, even though he was the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, he didn''t have unlimited ess to all resources.

    After he inspected the Intermediate Principles of Necromancy Necrosis, he stored the grimoires in the Dimensional Ring before he went to the kitchens to make some of the food for the Nefertari to make her some good snacks.

    Nefertari performed very well during the siege of the Zephystrand this time, so certainly, she deserved some of her favorite snacks. He decided to make her some dry meat sticks made from the meat of Silver-Tier Magical Beasts; she liked those ones very much because she could munch on them for several hours.

    Like a meat lollipop.

    He always rewarded her when she did a piece of a good job, like now, so he needed to prepare her some nice snacks.

    ***

    After Samiel finished making the snacks for his familiar, he took all of the dried meat sticks and went to find Nefertari, whom he sensed sleeping on the roof garden of the Citadel, which was a ce where almost nobody had ess aside from the City Lord.

    Naturally, Yvraine was an exception to this rule, and thus Samiel became one, and now Nefertari decided to take a nap there. Samiel soon arrived at the roofs of the Citadel, in the part where this concrete garden was located.

    Because the entire Citadel was built on the enormous Tree of Life, even the garden which was built on the roofs of the Citadel or the part of the Citadel, the entire feeling of the garden was beautiful, like out of a fairy tale.

    ''I brought you your favorite snacks.''

    Samiel said to Nefertari, who instantly woke up and appeared next to him so fast that he didn''t even have time to react, as she started pushing her head against his own, trying to look cute. This was her strategy when she wanted to get some snacks or more food from him, and it seeded with the most tried.

    Her sess rate was over 98% because Samiel couldn''t resist the cute animals, especially cats, so Nefertari was getting a little bit chubby. Sometimes Samiel though that it would be prudent to put her on a diet.

    ''Thank you, hooman.''

    Nefertari said as she got her hands on the several dried meat sticks and started munching on them, while Samiel sat next to her and started petting her, enjoying some time of peace for a moment.

    When he sat like this, he realized that it was time to move to the higher floors because he already got everything he could on this Floor, and staying here for a prolonged amount of time; his progress would be hindered.

    "So, here you were."

    Samiel opened his eyes as he saw Yvraine standing before him. Yvraine was searching for him, the past half an hour, thinking that he once again cooped himself in some shady ce with his Grimoires and Magic Tomes. Though this time, he was rxing in the garden on the roofs of the Citadel, which was rtively unusual for him.

    "Little one deserved the rewards for her feats on the battlefield."

    He answered while she sat next to him.

    "So, I take it that you decided to move higher?"

    Yvraine asked as she leaned her head over his chest, and Samiel enjoyed her warmth and presence.

    "Yes, it is time... while the time I spent here was wonderful, staying here for a prolonged time, it would be detrimental to my growth. Are youing as well?"

    He asked her.

    "As always."

    She answered, taking her head from his chest and looking straight into his eyes.

    "I never liked when someone was looking into my eyes... it always made me ufortable."

    Samiel stated after several seconds, not taking away his sight from Yvraine.

    "Even now?"

    She asked quietly.

    "No."

    Surprisingly, this time it felt differently; it felt nice?

    "This time, I feel like everything is just as it should be."

    No more words were needed between the two of them as Samiel leaned over and slowly kissed Yvraine on her lips; their kiss turned passionate as their tongues battled for supremacy, which in the end, resulted in Samiel''s victory.

    "Together."

    Yvraine said, after they separated and their fingers interviewed, as they enjoyed the view.

    "Together."

 Chapter 90 Midnight Saga: Zaldidraax

    Some time ago, on the 1st Floor of the Tower, shortly after opening the dimensional pathway to the Midnight World.

    When the Midnight World was first connected to the Tower, the Orks from the Bloodtooth Tribe noticed the humans who came from a technological civilization, which was rtively advanced, captured them first and attempted to get from them as much information as possible.

    After a series of brutal interrogations and torture, they managed to find the dimensional pathway which was connecting to the Midnight World; they immediately started the invasion of the new world.

    For the Orks of the Bloodtooth Tribe, it was a glorious time, as they could finally unleash a Waaaggghhh on the unknowing enemy. ughter and pige to their heart''s content, kill anything that moves and wages war on their enemy in the glory of the Green Gods.

    Such was the way of the greenskins.

    What was shocking itself was even though the Midnight World was Mana-Less Worlds, in terms of size, it could bepared to the Lower Worlds which was shocking. Meaning either this was just a coincidence or the world was degrading, which then wouldn''t be that surprising.

    Degrading Worlds were worlds that fell in the grade due to one reason or another. Those were the worlds where anything supernatural was slowly dying, sometimes together with the world itself, and soon nothing would remain. Sometimes it was part of the natural cycle, and sometimes it was artificially created.

    The Hall of Kadath was one of the first factions among the Tower''s hegemons, who noticed this urrence, and the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath immediately sent one of the strongest Cardinals to go to the Midnight World and harvest souls.

    Cardinal Zaldidraax came to the Midnight World on the orders of the Hall Master because the orders of the Hall Master were absolute, and one could only carry them out to the utmost perfect when one of those was given to him. There was no room for refusal nor negotiation, as the order from the Hall Master must be carried out at any cost.

    Currently, he was in his dragon form, which was that of a humongous red dragon who descended onto the 1st Floor, causing all of the inhabitants of the 1st Floor to scream in panic and fear because many of them thought that the dragon hade to kill all of them.

    This was a pretty natural reaction because Zaldidraax, as mighty Legendary Level Red Dragon, was subconsciously releasing bits of his Dragon Aura mixed with the passive racial ability Dragon Fear, which was very effective on the more weak-willed individuals.

    Straightly, Zaldidraax went to the ce where the Dimensional Pathway to the Midnight World was located. The Dimensional Pathway, which was connecting the Tower with the Midnight World, was already turned into some kind of semi-fortress, as the greenskins of the Bloodtooth Tribe built there entire industrial war machine and fortresses to support their endeavor in the war.

    The entire area was currently swarming with Orks, as the Bloodtooth Tribe was nowmencing their invasion of that world. Not only Orks but also other subspecies of the greenskins, such as Trolls, some Ogres and of course, shitton of goblins.

    ''Ants.''

    Zaldidraax thought when he looked at the Orks running here and there, as they were pouring into the dimensional pathway in tens of thousands, even the weakest greenskin who was entering the ce was at least Peak Iron-Tier, but those were mainly the goblins.

    Orks who were participating in this quest for power were stronger. Even the weakest ones were of the Steel-Tier, while there were other species of the Greenskins, like some Trolls, Hobgoblins, and there were Ogres.

    On top of that, Zaldidraax saw even a few Legendary Level Orks, but they were weak; from his point of view, he could kill them in one swipe of his tail, and they would be turned into meat paste. They were no different for himpared to the weak Iron-Tier Orks, as any of them would be killed by one swipe of his tail.

    The ongoing fight and war in the Midnight World were going on for about one week or so; it was surprising as the denizens of the Midnight World managed to hold back the Orkoids for several days straight in the first days of the invasion.

    An immeasurable number of the greenskins were torn to shreds by the advanced weaponry made by the nations of the Midnight World, but soon enough, they were slowly overwhelmed by the Orks.

    That was due to the strategy employed by the Orks, as the first ones to enter the Midnight World were the weakest ones, only up to the Bronze-Tier included. And there were only a very few of the Bronze-Tier individuals they sent because they wanted to grasp the exact strength of the Midnight World.

    Even the fact that they have managed to stall the green tides for so long was an achievement on its own and proved the terrifying advancement of the technology in the Midnight World. Holding back the hordes of Greenskins, even if the strongest was only Bronze-Tier was not something that anyone could state.

    After the Orks had gauged theplete level of technology in the Midnight World, they started sending the heavy hitters there, as countless Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier Greenskins poured into the dimensional pathway numbering in thousands, with several Legendary Level Orks, who were like unstoppable machines on the battlefield.

    In front of their destructive might and abilities, the advanced weaponry of people from the Midnight World suddenly lost its momentum, and soon enough, the immeasurable numbers of the greenskins started flowing out, taking out the territories for themselves and causing carnage and destruction as they knew it.

    Looking at the Orks marching beneath him, Zaldidraax opened his huge jaws, and an enormous tsunami of the dragon fire spewed out as it burned down everything in its path, turning all Orks into the ash, no matter if it was just Iron-Tier grunt or even Legendary Level Orks.

    Indiscriminately, all of them were turned into ash, as they were killed in not even one second. Releasing a huge dragon roar, Zaldidraax entered the dimensional pathway, going to the Midnight World.

    ***

    Midnight World, on the other side of the Dimensional Pathway.

    Where the eye could see, one could notice thousands of greenskins everywhere; Orks from all ns of the Bloodtooth Tribe were already firmly in control of the entrance to the Tower as they built some crude fortifications over the Dimensional Pathway to the Tower and Midnight World.

    On the other hand, the Goblins were working hard in building the fortifications or were heading towards the other locations to act as scouts to obtain more information on the area where they were located in.

    While the defenders of the Midnight World, called Midnight Defense Initiative, fought well against the Orks, they were not a match for them; when the Orks brought up their stronger ones, soon enough, countless territories already fell into the hands of the Bloodtooth Tribe.

    But in the end, their technology was not that advanced to the point of killing Silver-Tier Orkoids, not to mention even stronger and more powerful Gold-Tier ones. While this was the Mana-Less World, for the Orks, it wasn''t that much of a problem because of their natural predispositions were aimed in the different direction.

    If it were any other race, especially the ones who were close to the Mana, they would need to carry out various preparations for the subsequent invasion and bring with them tons of Mana Crystals, but for the Orks, this thing didn''t really matter.

    Orks were a race that was focused on their physical strength; they were not casters or magicians, and their usage of Mana was more in lines of physical enhancements and so on, not casting spells; because of that, they could technically fight even in the Mana-Less World with only slightly lowered output, but that was all.

    So even in this enviroment, the Orks and other greenskins could exhibit theirbat capabilities to their fullest potential without any kind of restraint, as the presence of being in the Mana-Less World could be a maximally minor hindrance for the Orks and the green tide.<sub> </sub>

    Another terrifying aspect of the Orks was their adaptability because they could adapt to any situation given enough time. It was noted that Orks were present in countless worlds across the Cosmos and living in a myriad of environments. Starting from the ordinary ones to volcanic worlds or worlds filled with poisonous swamps that would kill ordinary Legendary powerhouses within a few hours, but Okrs prevailed anywhere they were.

    The entire Midnight World consisted of several supercontinents, exactly five of them, which were divided between the five superpowers of the entire world. The five hegemons of the Midnight World were the Nofrena Empire, Sarid Republic, United Nations of Prayn Terish, Cadias Federation, and Aufin Commonwealth.

    Aside from these enormousndmasses, there existed small subcontinents or inds, but those were, in some way, always connected to one of the big 5. Of the five Nofrena Empire was the strongest due to its highly militaristic nature, while the United Nations of Pray Terish had thergest territory, and the Sarid Republic was technologically more advancedpared to the rest of the big five.

    When Zaldidraax exited the Dimensional Pathway, the Orks panicked, but he ignored them and flew away; he was not interested in the Orks anymore when he found out that they were pathetically weak, so rather chose to find some nice spot for a nap, and wait until the big names arrived.

    It would be only a matter of time before others with simr aims like him would arrive, especially those Cultists or people from the Cmity Church, but before that, he needed to put down the Soul Gathering Spell Formation somewhere so that he could aplish his mission.

    For the Hall of Kadath, souls were crucial resources, as they were used as sacrifices to the Outer Gods, and in return, the person sacrificing them could obtain a lot of benefits from the Outer Gods. That was why the souls were crucial, and for example, Devil and Daemons Cultists worked on the same principle as their patrons grew by consuming souls, and because of that, they always fought with each other for the souls.

    Meanwhile, the people from the Cmity Church just wanted to harvest negative energy that was created in events like wars, conquests, or genocides. Still, even they wouldn''t say no to the free souls that were lingering between realms of living and dead. The Red Dragon Cardinal already eagerly anticipated their arrival at the Midnight World because he could finally have some worthy opponent to fight against after a long time.

    Zaldidraax flew around the Midnight World for some time until he located a perfect ce for him toy down the Soul Gathering Spell Formation, and at the same time, he could alsoy down here and take a short nap.

    It was the highest peak on one of the supercontinents, located in the Sarid Republic territory, one of the five superpowers of the Midnight World. Zaldidraax, still in his dragon form,nded down at the mountain; looking around, he found a cave, and he started shrinking down, turning back to his humanoid form.

    As he turned down back to his humanoid form, he started cing down the Soul Gathering Spell Formation in the deepest parts of the cave so that it could be very well hidden; of course, he was taking other precautions in case it was found by someone, like stretching very powerful wards to keep the intruders out of it.

    After the wards were erected, Zaldidraax turned back to his dragon form and went to sleep, nning to wake up only after something interesting happened in the Midnight World, as right now, the things happening were pretty boring to him.

    Only Orkish Legendaries were present, and those were not worthy of mentioning. If it were the Ork Warbosses from the top Floors or from their Principal World, then Zaldidraax would jump at the opportunity to fight them, but these ones were just a bunch of weak Legendaries; some of them were barely newly advanced.

    Even the self-proimed tyrant of the 1st Floor, Ork Boss Gurnish, was just an Advanced Stage Legendary, so nothing special in his eyes. Probably he could withstand one of his weakest attacks before he would be crushed to meat paste, but such was the oue of the fight between Legendaries where the Level disparity was too great.

    Contrary to the Mortal Tier, in the Legendary Level, even the difference of one Level could be game-changing, as the power-up, brought by the Leveling Up even once, was too great, likeparing heaven and earth together.

    ***

    Somewhere in the Midnight World, undisclosed location, HQ of the Midnight Defense Initiative.

    The Midnight Defense Initiative was an alliance created by all of the superpowers of the Midnight World, the Nofrena Empire, Sarid Republic, United Nations of Prayn Terish, Cadias Federation, and Aufin Commonwealth.

    The purpose of the Midnight Defense Initiative was to fight against the invading species, whom they managed to identify as the Orks. It was never a threat never seen before, and thus, an unlikely alliance between the members of the Big 5 of the Midnight World was created.

    Right now, at the undisclosed location, the five heads of their respective states were having a discussion about the recent developments on the battlefield. Nothing looked very good for them, but there were still hopes and they still had some trump cards in their sleeves to y.

    Only five people were present in the room: the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire, the President of the Sarid Republic, the President of the United Nations of Prayn Terish, the High Chancellor of the Cadias Federation, and the Prime Minister of the Aufin Commonwealth.

    "We are losing more and more territories to this green menace, and soon, the entire Sharrena Subcontinent will fall to them."

    Stated a middle-aged man wearing a neat military uniform, which seemed to be very utilitarian with a sharp and straightforward style, together with the hat; he gave the feeling of an Officer, though he was the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire.

    The Emperor of the Nofrena Empire was a soldier for his entire life before bing an Emperor; he went through countless battlefields and wars, fights and battles. And due to that, he was the only person who recognized the situation from the start as a fight that seemed almost impossible to win.

    "We should deploy the Anti-Magic Bombs onto the Sharrena Subcontinent; with a huge enough explosion, it is highly possible that this Dimensional Pathway leading to this so-called Tower will be destabilized and will crumble apart."

    Proposed the elderly man, with long white air, wearing a white suit, bearing the insignia of the Sarid Republic, the most advanced nation in terms of technology in the entire Midnight World.

    "And then what? Anti-Matter is extremely destructive; it could easily affect other ces, not to mention we would be dooming the entire Subcontinent to its doom with all of its inhabitants."

    Shouted the Prime Minister of the Aufin Commonwealth, who was a middle-aged woman with long brown hair wearing a business suit. Aufin Commonwealth was always more pacifistic, not prone to solving things with brute force, such as the Nofrena Empire or even the Sarid Republic.

    "I agree with President Halir; this is our best chance."

    The Emperor of the Nofrena Empire supported the President of the Sarid Republic in his proposal because he realized that this was their best chance to solve this conflict; if the Dimensional Pathways crumbled, they would have won... or at least that was what they thought.

    In the end, the remaining three relented to the proposal of the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire and the President Sarid Republic to use their most advanced and destructive weaponry on the phenomenon they identified as the Dimensional Pathway because in their current situation, it was their best bet for the survival.

    Even though the Anti-Matter Bombs were extremely destructive, all of them could see that their current situation was grave, and they were running out of options they could take against the creatures from the realms of fantasy stories.

    Even though they proved that their advanced weaponry was effective against the weaker enemies, from the information they gathered, even their strongest weapons were effective against only Bronze-Tier individuals, and even then, it would require a lot of effort to dispose of such enemies.

    Unfortunately for them, after the Greenskins have tested the waters, they started sending in powerful Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier Orks, Trolls and Orgres, where their weaponry showed little to no effect, as the supernatural creatures were way stronger than their gauss rifles and experimentalser weapons.

 Chapter 91 Midnight Saga: Waaagghh!

    Several dayster, the location: Sharrena Subcontinent, Midnight World, Dimensional Pathway connecting the Midnight World to the Tower.

    As always, the entire area of the Dimensional Pathway, which was connecting the Tower with the Midnight World, was swarming with immeasurable numbers of the greenskins, running from the goblins that were used mainly as cannon fodder and vebor to the Trolls and several Ogres.

    Mainly Orks, as the Boss Gurnish had arrived at the Midnight World together with other Orkish Legendaries. This was the time when the big hitters arrived at the Midnight World, as till this moment, the real fun for the Orks would be starting.

    Currently, there were only a few Orkish Legendaries on the Midnight World, but right now, after breaching the initial defenses of the Midnights''s Defense Initiative, the rest of the Orkoid Forces have arrived toplete the conquest and Waaagghh.

    "Report da situation ya!"

    Shouted the Ork Boss Gurnish, who just came from the Dimensional Pathway, as he was surrounded by the Legendary Level Orks of the Bloodtooth Tribe, mainly the n Chiefs and a few shamans who were participating in this Waaaggghhh!

    The Shamans were usually the smartest of the bunch and they were the only ones who could use theplex max when most of the Orks preferred to use brute strength to solve their fights. That made them stand out and their input was often valuable, not only because but also their experiences, as they weremonly the oldest Orks in the Tribe or n.

    "4 Days earlier, we saw a humongous Red Dragon exiting the dimensional pathway, and on the Tower''s side of the pathway, he destroyed arge part of the supply lines and killed countless Orks. The Dragon waster on identified as the Cardinal Zaldidraax of the Hall of Kadath."

    Reported one of the Shamans of the Bloodtooth Tribe who was assigned to the vanguard forces of the Bloodtooth Tribe from the start. Usually, Shamans were the smartest of the Orks in every n, Tribe, or Horde, so they served as military advisors or strategists.

    "Where is he now?"

    Questioned Ork Boss Gurnish.

    When he heard that somebody of the stature of Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath appeared, he knew that this was a pretty much fucked up situation for the Bloodtooth Tribe. He was only an Advanced Stage Legendary of Level 45, so while he wasn''t weak, he wasn''t exactly strong either.

    Somewhere in between, he was neither someone weak because as an Advanced Stage Legendary, he was undoubtedly rtively powerful among the Legendary Level, but it couldn''t be said that he was some kind of high-end expert either.

    Butpared to the Cardinal Zaldidraax, who was already nearing the Limit of the Legendary Level and would soon be Holy, he was no different from an ant, especially since Zaldidraax could handle several people of his level at the same time due to his racial superiority.

    ''If one of them came, then other big shots from these factions would soone too... but why...''

    Thought the Ork Boss Gurnish, and only then did the realizatione to him; they were here for the souls of people who the Orks would kill. They didn''t really care about the Orks wreaking havoc here and there or for the people and the world itself; they only cared about the resources of the world.

    Mainly the souls, negative energy and possibly some precious things that may be located in this world; probably some ves for some of them woulde in handy, but that was all. For them, the Orks were the perfect tool, as they essentially carried out the dirty job for them, and they would just harvest their precious resources handed to them on the golden tter.

    "We don''t know, he flew around for a bit, and then he went off somewhere; we tracked himnding somewhere in the territory of the Sarid Republic on the nearest continent to the Sharrena Subcontinent."

    Reported the Shaman, while the Ork Boss Gurnish nodded in agreement, while they started their strategic meeting about the next steps they would be taking against the Midnight Defense Initiative.

    "How are we progressing with the Waaaggghhh?"

    Questioned the Ork Boss Gurnish as they started discussing the strategy, though this was an overestimation of their intelligence and degradation of the term strategy. Ork "strategy" usually consisted only of two steps, where step 1 was pointing at the target, and step 2 was rushing at the target until the target was defeated or killed.

    Ironically enough, however primitive it sounded, it worked in many cases, which was shocking, but considering the terrifying numbers of the greenskins, to the point of being called Green Tide, it was not that surprising.

    "We should have control over the entire Sharrena Subcontinent, and afterward, we can start attacking the other main continents."

    Said one of the Orkish Legendaries.

    "What about the natives? Are they still problem?"

    There were about fifteen Orkish Legendaries in the tens, discussing their next moves and advancing over the war and the conquest of the Midnight World, not aware of the fact that the greater powers of the Tower were already approaching and this small conquest would soon turn into something huge.

    "No, after we breached their initial defensive lines, the resistance on the rest of the subcontinent is abysmal."

    Replied the first Shaman.

    "But their gadgets are strong and could kill even Bronze-Tier Orks."

    Said another Orkish Legendary.

    "Fuck them, gits! We fight like da we are Orks!"

    Shouted the Ork Boss Gurnish as other Orks started hitting their chest as they cheered for another war. For Orks, any retreat is considered the biggest shame of being a coward, and such behavior waspletely uneptable for the proper Orks, as they lived and died in war.

    The losses were nothing more and nothing less than just empty numbers, as the only thing that mattered for their whole species was participation in the war, not victory nor defeat matter. Because as long as they fought hard and brutally and unleashed the waaaggghhh, their purpose was fulfilled.

    ***

    Secret Location at the ind in between the Sarid Continent and Nofrena Continent.

    It was an unnamed ind that did not have anything special about it, and if there was something unique about it, then it would have to be its size, since it was extremely small and unassuming, apart from several military facilities strategically ced throughout the ind.

    It is on this ind that the Sarid Republic and Nofrena Empire conducted their secret research into the Anti-Matter Bombs. Adjacent to the ind, several missile silos were containing the ballistic missiles that carried the Anti-Matter Bombs across the entire ind.

    Among the big five hegemons before the arrival of the Orks, there were two main factions, one could say. Not even the nations of the Midnight World were united, and if not for the Orks, then they would be fighting against each other even now.

    One of them was created by the United Nations of Prayn Terish, Cadias Federation, and Aufin Commonwealth, who shared the same ideals of democracy and freedom. These three were not even that strong because while the remaining two nations focused on the Military and so, they invested their resources into other aspects. Unfortunately for them, right now, due to theck of a strong presence of armed forces, they were prime targets for the Orks.

    The second one was an alliance between the Sarid Republic and Nofrena Empire, which were both simrly militaristic and had very strong expansionist tendencies. While the Sarid Republic was a "republic" it was, in fact dictatorship led by the President, who was chosen from themittee of several most prominent scientists, as the republic was built on the principles of meritocracy.

    "When can weunch the missiles?"

    Questioned the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire, Alexander IV. Nofreanis probably the most powerful man in the Midnight World.

    "All twenty of them should be ready; we canunch them on your order, Your Majesty, Mr. President."

    Answered one of the scientists of the facility; as Emperor of the Nofrena Empire and President of the Sadir Republic were sitting down at themanding center of the secret facility, which was the main one, with the only purpose ofunching the weaponry.

    "Then fire."

    Ordered Emperor Alexander IV. Nofreanis, while the President of the Sarid Republic was mixing his coffee, they watched the entire scene ofunching the rockets on the giant screen that was before them.

    Aside from them, there were countless Generals, Military Officers, Scientists, and Air Marshalls who were attentively watching the situation as they started theunch of all twenty Anti-Matter Bombs that were carried out by intercontinental ballistic missiles.

    "10"

    "9"

    "8"<sub> </sub>

    "7"

    "6"

    "5"

    "4"

    "3"

    "2"

    "1"

    "0"

    "Commencing the Launch!"

    Shouted the artificial intelligence while all twenty Anti-Matter Bombs were fired out from the missile silos, directly aimed at the Dimensional Pathway. And with people who fired them praying to whatever Gods they believed, so they were sessful in this endeavor.

    ***

    Saharrena Subcontinent

    After the next course of action was decided by the Ork Boss Gurnish and his council, all Orks and other greenskins started disorganized marching towards their targets in the Saharrena Subcontinent.

    Greenskins, as a whole, had a straightforward mindset. As long as they had someone weaker to beat, somebody stronger to be told what to do, they were happy. Just like now, they were happily marching towards their next target, as they were told to go there and kill everybody.

    Easy as it can get.

    "Head Shaman, what is that?"

    Asked the Ork Boss Gurnish as he looked at something in the distance; some objects were approaching their location with tremendous speed.

    "Hmm... yer those tek bombs... we need to protect ourselves."

    Stated the Head Shaman.

    The Head Shaman Uduzak was a very old Ork, and he was also very smart and powerful not to mention during his centuries-long life, he saw many things, and he knew what those things that were approaching them were.

    "Shamans,e here!"

    The old Head Shaman Uduzak shouted as other Legendary Level Shamas shouted as they gathered around him.

    "Summon the barrier!"

    He thenmanded, hitting the ground with his staff, as other Shamans mirrored his actions and did exactly the same thing the Head Shaman did.

    Not even several secondster, a translucent green dome of energy was being erected around the entire Dimensional Pathway, as the Ork Shamans were summoning the power of the Orkish Gods to the material ne, borrowing their might to create protection against the weaponry of the humans.

    As the rockets were approaching the ce, the translucent dome of green energy was done, and after several seconds the rockets were already near the dome, as the first one of the missiles carrying the Anti-Matter Bombs came into contact with the dome.

    ''Boom''

    Just an enormous explosion was heard, one explosion followed another, and everything was turned to dust and ashes, which created tremendous mushrooms in the sky, as the entire sky was covered in ash and dust.

    The protective dome erected by the Ork Shamans stood strongly, without a single crack or scratch, but that was to be expected. The barrier the Shamans created was conjured by the Transcendental Might of the power of Ork Gods, which would be able to withstand even the might of a weak Transcendental for a short amount of time.

    While these Anti-Matter Bombs were powerful for sure, their destructive prowess was maximallyparable to the 9th Level Spell, meaning the Continental of destruction, and in this number, as they exploded, they could beparable to a 10th Level Spell on the World Level.

    While that was impressive by mortal standards, it was insignificant in front of something created by the Divine Power of Gods. Evebn though the 10th Level Spells could be normally cast only by peak Legendaries and had the power to destroyrge astral objects and Mana-Less Worlds and even in some cases Lower Worlds, they didn''t even scratch the shield that Orkish Shamans conjured.

    "It has ended?"

    Ork Boss Gurnish of the Bloodtooth Tribe asked with a bored voice as he looked at the explosions, and in truth, he was a bit terrified of them because technically, if such weapons were mass-produced, they could absolutely decimate everything under the Legendary Level, and even pose a grave threat to countless Legendaries if they were correctly used.

    Even across the Cosmos, Magetech Weapons capable of having firepowerparable to that of 8th Level Spell and higher were very rare, and only a few civilizations that mastered their way of the Magical Technology could produce such weaponry.

    "Yes, da everything outside is turned to ash."

    Answered the Head Shaman, Uduzak.

    While everything inside the dome was okey, the enviroment outside of it was not so okey; it was absolutely destroyed. The collective explosion of the twenty Anti-Matter Bombs created destruction on the level of the strongest 9th Level Spell, which basically destroyed the entirety of the Sharrena Subcontinent and got turned into one enormous wastnd in a split of several seconds.

    Fortunately, the shield absorbed approximately 99% of the damage; if not, this explosion wouldrgely damage even the entire Midnight World. Still, every person, animal, building, tree, nt, flora and fauna, everything... got turned to scorched ckness of pure destruction.

    Nothing has remained.

    One good thing or rather advantage of the Anti-Matter Bombs was that they were created the pure destruction, not leaving any radiation or simr mess that would be then very much more destructive and leave thend unusable for generations toe.

    Outside of the Sharrena Subcontinent, the wave of uncontained destruction reached even the other inds andndmasses that were in the vicinity of the Sharrena Subcontinent, as they, too, were turned into the post-apocalyptic wastnd in a matter of minutes.

    Only after several tens of kilometers into the enormous oceans the wave of destruction created by the Anti-Matter Bombs stopped, and everything calmed down considerably.

    "How many of the boys we ha''e lost?"

    Questioned Ork Boss Gurnish.

    "Only around 80,000 goblins and more than 35,000 Orks."

    Reported one of the Orkish Legendaries, as the Ork Boss just nodded, it was understandable that the dome won''t be able to cover everything, and some of their boys remained outside of it, but what were a few tens of thousands of greenskins?

    This was the biggest advantage of the greenskins; they bred faster than rats, they were numerous, and they could quickly repopte themselves, even if they were on the verge of extinction. Especially the weaker greenskins species, like goblins, were reproducing tremendously quickly, so while the loss of 80,000 may seem a lot, this loss would be mended within four months at max.

    "Then wait until the dust has settled and march!"

    Shouted the Boss, and everything soon returned to normal; the only thingunching the missiles achieved was a few days'' worth of time, nothing more and nothing less.

 Chapter 92 Midnight Saga: The Start

    Secret Location at the ind in between the Sarid Continent and Nofrena Continent, Military Facility of the Sarid Republic and Nofrena Empire.

    All of the military personnel and scientists from both the Sarid Republic and the Nofrena Empire were holding their breath as they watched the missiles carrying the Anti-Matter Bombs fired from this military facility at the Dimensional Pathway.

    Everybody was hoping that the Anti-Matter Bombs would be enough to cause the copse of the Dimensional Pathway, and probably the subsequent explosion would be strong enough to annihte all of the Orks. Some of the more pessimistic ones already awaited the end of the world due to the sheer number of Anti-Matter Bombs that were fired as they would be strong enough to destroy a smaller world entirely.

    On the huge screen, everybody held their breath when they saw a weird green dome of energy created from some unknown energy which many people recognized as the fabled Mana, which was now protecting the entire area around the Dimensional Pathways.

    While this created distress in many people, but still, the majority of them believed that their advanced weapons would be enough the destroy the translucent green dome, but then it happened, as the missiles were already near the dome.

    Everybody could see tremendous explosions happening around the green dome; everything was enveloped in dust and ashes, and huge mushrooms of ash and dust were in the sky, as it seemed like the sky itself had darkened.

    It took more than twenty minutes before the dust finally started settling down, revealing the translucent green dome of energy without cracks or damage; everything was perfect, as countless people in the secret military facility held their breath in shock.

    "It seems that we have failed."

    Noted the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire, Alexander IV. Nofreanis after more than ten minutes of very ufortable silence. While at first, nobody wanted to admit it, slowly but surely, everyone with confronted with the cruel reality head-on.

    Nobody could believe what they saw; in the end, even despite being proved that the Magic existed, and somewhere in the broader Cosmos, people who could tten entire cities weremon as clouds, they still believed in the superiority of their technology.

    Especially considering the Anti-Matter Bombs were the peak of the weapons of mass destruction that were ever created in their Midnight World, capable of destroying smaller continents with rtive ease, as they were the pinnacle of their technology, crystallization of the knowledge of the entire civilization.

    Seeing their prided weapons having no effect at all, aside from the absolutely devastated Sharrena Subcontinent, which was turned into a post-apocalyptic wastnd in a matter of seconds, seeing this development, everyone had a gloomy expression on their faces.

    "What now?"

    Questioned the President of the Sarid Republic Halir in a fearful voice, not known to many, but he was also one of the leading scientists on the project of Anti-Matter Bomb development and was very well aware of their destructive prowess.

    What was even more frightening was the fact that he knew for the best that now that this had failed, then the entire Midnight World was doomed to extinction because they didn''t have more powerful weapons than the Anti-Matter Bombs.

    So right now, they were at the dead end, thest attempt, theirst hope had failed spectacrly and right now, the entire Midnight Defense Initiative was without any other ns or means tobat the green tide of countless Orks, Goblins, Trolls and Ogres.

    "Nothing... there is now only one thing we can do... fight."

    Stated the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire with a severe voice, realizing the grimness of the situation; theirst resort had practically ended, as it had been diminished in nothingness in a matter of minutes.

    Nobody could have thought that their most powerful and prized weapons were rendered ineffective by the weird green dome. Not even the greatest skeptics thought that this would be the result of their prided technology, which was blocked by the Divine Power of the Ork Gods.

    In truth, if the Orks had powerful Legendaries, they wouldn''t need to depend on their Gods at all, but since they did not and they were also unaware of the extent of the destructive capabilities of their weapons, they proceeded to call the Divine Might of the Green Gods.

    "Such is the fate of the weak world as it seems."

    Sounded the voice of Alexander IV. Nofreanis as he exited the room, returning back to the Nofrena Empire, preparing for the final fight against the invaders. His voice was cold, emotionless and filled with despair and weirdly an eptance towards such fate.

    Because in the cruel world, the strong eat weak, and the weak could only sumb, as the strength reigned supreme. Some of them realized that some of them not, and some outright lived in delusions that something would be done and they would win.

    Not realizing that the Orks would soon be the smallest issue of the Midnight World.

    Other powers from the wider Cosmos were now looking at the 1st Floor of the Tower with great curiosity, and especially those with nefarious intentions for the world, those of the darkest depths of evil, were already preparing their sharpest des and strongest spells.

    ***

    Suddenly, space started cracking at the unknown location in the Midnight World''s Ihor Continent until a stable space crack appeared on a seemingly unknown part of the Ihor Continent, which was home to the United Nations of Prayn Terish.

    "Damm... how I hateing to these kinds of worlds... even Lower World would be a winpared to this shit."

    Said a humanoid with purple skin, having two horns over his head, as he exited the space crack; after the purple-skinned humanoid exited the space crack, the space crack stabilized itself, and more and more people started exiting it, all of them wearing the garb of a priest.

    "Lord Khardroth, we need to move and start our work before the Red Dragon makes a move."

    <o>,m Stated the voice of another person, who was entirely human-like in terms of appearance. He came several secondster out of the Dimensional Crack, after the first figure, as he immediately hurried to the figure.</o>

    Both of them were from the Cmity Church, and while technically still not members of the 13 Gates, the Cmity Church was still a mighty and strong organization that spread terror across countless worlds in the Cosmos and Floors of the Tower.

    Though it was clear that sooner they would be members of the 13 Gates as they were at war with one of the Gates and managed almost to annihte itpletely, it was clear that they would soon enough ascend to that position.<sub> </sub>

    "Shut up, and let me enjoy my time of freedom for at least a brief amount of time."

    Answered Lord Khardroth as he flew to the nearest city, nning to feast on some soul. Khardroth was one of the High Priests of the Cmity Church, originally a human who was transformed by the might of the Evil Gods whom he served into a new species.

    What the people of the Nofrena Empire and the Sarid Republic didn''t include in their equations was the fact that the overwhelming amount of energy released by the collective detonation of the twenty Anti-Matter Bombs would be partially absorbed by the dimensional pathway and created more space cracks around the entire Midnight World.

    It took only several seconds for a peak Legendary Level expert such as Khardroth to appear high above the nearest city, looking down at the huge metropolis, which numbered millions, as a huge Magic Circle appeared high above the city.

    It shone in menacing purple color, while not even several secondster, purple miasma burst out of the Magic Circle and, in a matter of no more than ten seconds, devoured the entire city, as all inhabitants were melted into a glob of flesh, killing more than five million people in twenty seconds exactly.

    "All of this lifeforce... though what would one expect from the lifeforms not in contact with Mana."

    Stated the High Priest Khardroth, as he devoured the lifeforce of more than five million humans who were killed by him, as he felt a bit rejuvenated. Unfortunately for him, the lifeforce of creatures who didn''t have Mana in their bodies was considerably lowerpared to those who had.

    Of course, there existed some species that had some racial advantages and were unique, but those were exceedingly rare, even in the entirety of the Cosmos.

    After the entire city was cleansed of life, and from the humans living, there remained only pieces of melted flesh; the Magic Circle high in the sky didn''t dissipate but shone even more brightly than before as it started collecting all of the souls from the killed inhabitants.

    "Five million souls, good."

    Five million souls were a nice number and would make a nice sacrifice to some Evil God for a small blessing; of course, this was just a start. Apparently, the Midnight World had a tremendously high poption.

    Meaning there were a lot of things to harvest and exploit. For example, like the various cultists would being here to harvest souls or negative energy, Orks would sell ves, as ves were always in high need in many ces in the Cosmos.

    Be it for various Interdimensional Empire for thebor, crazy Arcanists to conduct research, or for Warlocks to carry out sacrifices. Many used ves as soldiers, with a few Magetech enhancements and Magic Seals to ensure their loyalty and increase their power; they were perfect cannon fodder inrge-scale wars.

    Especially the Empires like Nesser Dynasty, Mind Flyers Fleets, or other slightly weaker factions controlling entire Worlds would very often use ves as cannon fodder when they were conquering a new world by pouring the ve armies to break into initial fortifications.

    Basically, the ve armies would break the hardest defense or at least weaken it considerably, and then the armies of the nations who were the standard soldiers would just finish the job. This method wasmonly used to lower the losses of soldiers'' lives during the war, especially when conquering other worlds.

    Of course, then there were species that used ves as source food, like the Demon Tribes, or even the Mind Flyers Fleets, who when are finished with the ves they were using as abor force or for experiments, would eat their brains. They served them as food and also, as a method of continuously getting stronger by devouring the brains and increasing their psionic potential.

    "What shall we do with these souls, Lord Khardroth?"

    Asked one of the priests from the Cmity Chruch that came to this world with High Priest Khardroth. Whenever one of the High Priests of the Cmity Church went, there would be an entire retinue of the Priests and other people following him.

    "Use the ritual to summon some of the Legendary Level creatures of the Set."

    Ordered the High Priest Khardroth as the rest of the priests instantly went to carry out his orders. For them, it was important to create some Legendary Level creatures by sacrificing the souls to one of the Evil Gods, so they could increase their capabilities in spreading dread and carnage.

    ***

    Somewhere in the Sarid Republic, in the depths of some cave, where the Cardinal Zaldidraax was right now sleeping.

    Deep within the depths of the cave, a humongous red dragon was sleeping soundly as he immediately opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the Ihor Continent, at the certain city in the territory of the United Nations of Prayn Terish.

    "That bastard Khardroth is here?"

    When Zaldidraax awoke, the entire cave shook from his anger when he realized that Khardroth had arrived at the Midnight World; Zaldidraax instantly sensed that when Khardroth ughtered the entire city somewhere in the Ihor Continent.

    "The old man told me just to collect souls..."

    Right now, Zaldidraax was weighing his opinions on what to do. On the one side, he got the right and clear order from the old man to just drop dead somewhere in the Midnight World, stretch the soul-gathering spell formation and do nothing besides guarding it.

    On the other side, right now, one of his most bitter enemies, whom he had wanted to kill for a very long time, finally crawled out from the hole where he was hiding and came here. Khardroth was slippery as a snake, and he rarely showed himself.

    "Ah, fuck it."

    He had already decided on the next court of action; as he stood up and went to exit the cave, he stretched out his huge wings as he started flying towards the Ihor Continent, more precisely for the north of the United Nations of Prayn Terish.

    In the end, the temptation to finally kill Khardroth was too big for Zaldidraax just to pass it on, so he decided to take his chances and kill that bastard when he could. Khardroth was slippery as a snake, and would always escape during their fights when the situation was looking grim for him, and right now, in the Mana-Less World, it was an perfect opportunity to kill him.

    At worst, the Hall Master would just scold him as usual, nothing serious. Usually, when the Cardinals or lower-ranked Clergy disobeyed the orders, then the punishment is severe unless, by disobeying the order, they obtained something of far greater value.

 Chapter 93 Midnight Saga: Situation In The World

    Somewhere in the Ihor Continent, deep within the territory of the United Nations of Prayn Terish.

    High Priest Khardroth from the Cmity Church, after massacring one of therger cities of the United Nations of Pray Terish, carried the same thing with a few other cities across their territory, mainly to gather at least 10 million souls from the ordinary humans.

    Cmity Church was one of the more unscrupulous factions that didn''t really care about their public image or anything, and theymitted one atrocity after another. Just like in this case, which of course, immediately sent a message to other powerhouses who came from the outside that the Church was operating on the Midnight World.

    Because these souls were very weak, people from they were, were just ordinary creatures without even a single Level as the consequence ofck of Mana, so if the priests from the Cmity Church wanted to summon some Legendary Level Fiends from the Abyss, they needed high number of the souls.

    Aftermitting a few more massacred and amassing enough souls, all priests started the summoning ritual to summon a few Legendary Level Fiends from the Abyss as all priests, including the High Priest Khardroth, started chanting the summoning spell.

    This was a fundamentally standard procedure of the Cmity Church, as they would always travel in small groups, then use the local poption as the sacrifice for the Evil Gods to summon Legendary Level Fiends from the Abyss to strengthen their numbers and help them carry the deed.

    Abyss was one of the Higher Dimensional Worlds that were capable of holding countless Transcendental Level entities, and even bugs and ants in those worlds would be at least Silver-Tier, meaning it was an extremely powerful world. The Higher Dimensional Worlds were, even far more superior to the Principal Worlds or Top Floors of the Tower.

    One could say if the first hundred Floors of the Tower were like a trunk of the Tree, then the Higher Dimensional Worlds were the crown. They were all connected to the trunk, especially to the 100th Floor, directly or indirectly, together creating one humongous entity.

    And the Abyss was one of the stronger Higher Dimensional Worlds. It was called the Infinite Abyss formally, because nobody could actually know the size of the Abyss, as it was told that the Abyss had an infinite number ofyers. Some of those Layers were more famous than others, some were full and vibrant of life, and some were just wastnds filled with nothing more than crumbling buildings and decaying life.

    Contrary to other Higher Dimensional Worlds which were upied by the Transcendental Factions or the Principal Worlds like Olympus, who once was the Higher Dimensional World before it fell, Abyss wasn''t controlled by a single Transcendental Faction, but rather there was a whole bunch of them.

    Nobody could tell exactly how many Transcendental Factions were living in the Abyss, not to mention independent or rogue Transcendental Begins who had their territories there. It was an immeasurable number, one could say. Certainly, the most notable being the 72 Daemon Pirs and their direct lineages, an immeasurable number of Evil Gods who were spread across the entire Abyss, and then there were some smaller yet very powerful factions like the Dark Seldarine Pantheon, which also had their headquarters in the Abyss.

    Instantly all, more than ten million souls were sacrificed for the Evil God Set, who answered the call, and three figures existed in the teleportation circle that brought them here. When the sacrifice was sessful, the Evil God sent three of his Legendary Level Fiends to the Material ne as the contract stated.

    Even though the souls were of poor quality, their number was significant, and it signified that the person carrying out the sacrifice was in a world that had a very high poption that could be harvested. So even though the quality was not up to the standard, the potential of the quantity quickly patched it up.

    The summoned things from the Abyss were the Pit Fiends.

    They were both majestic and horrifying, with a hulking 3.7a���meter red-skinned humanoid. Their bodies were armored with scales and were quickly inmed in response to their rage or excitement. A pair of massive, bat-like wings gave pit fiends a gargoylish appearance, and they often wrapped their wings around their fearsome, red figures. Their huge fangs dripped with hissing, green venom, and their prehensile tails could be cracked like whips.

    Each of these Pit Fiends was Supreme Stage Legendatrties, close to the peak of the Supreme Stage, each above Level 85, meaning they were extremely powerful. In truth, contrary to the Devils and Devilkin of the Nine Hells of the Baator, Fiends and Demons of the Abyss were not the sharpest pencils in the bracket.

    While the Devils and Devilkin were cunning and treacherous, inhabitants of the Abyss preferred to use their fists and power to solve the problems. Of course, due to their nature as muscle-heads, the Fiends could be easily tricked by someone more experienced than them and also lured towards certain situations like this one.

    The sole reason why Khardroth was summoning these Fiends was to use them as another means to increase his strength in case the Zaldidraax attacked him, and if not, then they could be used to unleash more carnage on the Midnight World, creating more negative energy which they could harvest and that was win-win.

    These three Supreme Stage, Legendary Level Fiends, were under the services of one of the Evil Gods, Evil God Set, so when they sensed the auraing from the High Priest Khardroth, they slightly lowered their heads; Khardroth said something to them in the Abyssal Language, as they left to carry out the mission he had assigned them.

    Meanwhile, Khardroth went to have some of his fun by torturing the natives of the Midnight World or perhapsmitting some massacres once more before the rest of the bigshots fromrge factions arrived, and the entire world would be turned into a battlefield for the Legendaries.

    ***

    Capital City Prayn Terish of the United Nations of the Prayn Terish, the Presidential Pce.

    Certainly, it was to be expected that the news about the massacres that happened en masse in the north of their nations would very fast reach the ears of the leaders of these nations, though unfortunately for them, aside from creating mass panic, there was nothing they could do about it.

    Especially when the news that their n to destabilize the Dimensional Pathway, which was connecting the Tower and Midnight World with the Anti-Matter Bombs, failed spectacrly, there was practically nothing they could do.

    "Mr. President, the escape n is ready; we canunch the spaceship within the next three days."

    And while some people of the Midnight World decided to fight to the death, such as the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire, due to their militaristic nature and upholding their traditions, some of them decided to escape as fast as possible to the wider Cosmos.

    Midnight World was technologically pretty advanced, not that advanced to be considered a fully and powerful interdimensional civilization or just a spacefaring one; they constructed a few spaceships capable of traversing the Cosmos. They still believed that they wouldn''t have a problem escaping towards the start with their advanced technology.

    Fortunately or unfortunately for them, they are greatly unaware of the dangers of the Void.

    That was the reason why only a few such civilizations or factions existed, and those who did rather focused on creating direct connections between the worlds, like Dimensional Pathways, Portals, or Gates, and rarely traversed the cold and deep Void.<sub> </sub>

    Why?

    Because of the inhabitants of the Void and those who dwelled deep within that wretched ce.

    Void Lifeforms such as Void Behemoths, who were mighty Legendary Level entities, traversed the Void between the worlds like it belonged to them; Mind Flyer Fleets under the leadership of Transcendental Level Psionics were hopping from one world to another. Their mighty fleet roamed through the Void since immemorial, unhindered and unrivaled, only by a few exceptions that proved to be danger even to the Mind Flyer Fleets.

    And that was just a tip of the iceberg.

    Short, long story, traversing the Void without overwhelming power was a pipe dream, and one would need a tremendous amount of luck to reach one world from another without being attacked by something, at least on the Initial Stage Legendary Level. Or they would need a special type of cloaking technology or magic that wouldpletely hide their ships even from the sight of Holies or some Transcendental Artifact that could do the same and even more.

    And the civilization of the Midnight World didn''t really belong there. The only thing that they could do was to hope that near the Midnight World was another World that was not far, and that during their journey there, they are not attacked by anything that lives in the Void and that they didn''t be food for some hungry Void Behemoth.

    "Then start the evacuation of the VIP towards the spaceships; we need to get out of here as fast as possible."

    Ordered the president of the United Nations of the Prayn Terish, after seeing the carnage brought by the abominations that appeared in the north of their nation, he abandoned any thoughts ad diplomacy, negotiation, or fight and decided tounch thest n for survival.

    Entire cities were decimated, with people literarily melted down into a puddle of weird fleshy substance, nothing remained from them, and the causalities were above ten million just within the one hour after the abominations from the outside appeared in the north.

    ***

    Somewhere near the Ihor Continent, the territory of the Bukhar Kingdom.

    Zaldidraax flew only for several hours to reach the Ihor Continent from the Sarid Continent. Compared to the two continents of Nofrena and Sarid, which were entirely controlled by their respective nations who were sole existences at them, other continents had various nations.

    He pped his pair of dragon wings as he continued flying towards his target, which was the north of the Ihor Continent, where he felt the presence of the High Priest Khardroth. While Zaldidraax was nearing the limit of the Legendary and bing Holy, and Khardroth was "only" a Level 95 Legendary, he was still a pain in the ass to deal with.

    Khardroth has plenty of tricks in his sleeves and several troublesome abilities in his repertoire, not to mention that while he was a trickster, he was a very skilledbatant and wasn''t some paper tiger.

    Especially his escaping abilities were top-notch because he could almost always escape from every situation or fight, no matter whom he was fighting. Though this time, it would be different as the yground was to Zaldidraax''s advantage because all of Khardroth''s escaping methods heavily depended on the Mana-rich environment of Tower or powerful Worlds.

    And there was none of it in the Mana-less World.

    Perfect.

    ''And by killing one of the High Priests of the Cmity Church would at least slower their ascension to bing one of the 13 Gates, even if by a few years, but the most important thing is that Khardroth has potential to be Holy after a few millennia, which would not be good for us. Cmity Church is still one of our main directpetitors for souls, so having them destroyed would be optimal if those bastards weren''t that slippery.''

    Zaldidraax thought as he flew high in the air, asionally flipping and doing some air stunts. Cmity Church was a faction that kept very low key, and they were experts at hiding; if not for their abilities of theirs to hide, they would be long ago destroyed by either the Hall of Kadath or the coalition of several Devil or Daemon Cults who had a grudge with them.

    During one of his flips in the air, he noticed several tens of fighter jets nearing him with tremendous speed. Immediately they saw him, or better said, he was in their range; they fired tens if not hundreds of missiles at him.

    Zaldidraax didn''t do anything and just took those missiles with his body because he was very well aware that those weapons won''t be able to injure even his scales. And as he predicted, those missiles were weak, in his opinion, and aside from some tickling on his scales, he didn''t feel anything.

    "But that dust is annoying!"

    He cursed in draconguage while opening his huge jaws as he breathed a huge wave of scarlet dragon breath, which engulfed the majority of the fighter jets, melting them down in a matter of seconds, as the steel started falling from the sky in the form of steel drops in liquid form like water.

    After Zaldidraax disposed of the pests that were attacking him with toothpicks, he continued his flight towards the north of the United Nations of the Prayn Terish, though, during his way there, he destroyed a few military bases of the Bukhar Kingdom from whose the fighter jets originated.

    In the end, dragons were petty creatures of nature and were especially vengeful. That was where the saying originated, never tickle a sleeping dragon because the dragon''s rage was something that only a few could take on.

    "Let me hurry before that bastard once again manages to escape."

    Zaldidraax muttered under his breath as he started flying faster than before, the battle between the two of them was near and only one would remain.

 Chapter 94 Midnight Saga: Khordrath Vs. Zaldidraax (1)

    Ihor Continent, North of the United Nations of Prayn Terish

    When Zaldidraax finally arrived north of the United Nations of Prayn Terish, he started instantly searching for the mana signatures of the people of the Cmity Church. Because the people of the Cmity Church didn''t really bother to guide their aura, not to mention their mana signatures contained unmistakable Negative Aura.

    And soon located their position, as that was a rtively effortless thing for him to do. For Zaldidraax, it was not a problem locating Khordrath, as instantly, the Red Dragon localized his enemies and went to them.

    Zaldidraax pped his wings as he flew more to the northern direction, where he sensed the people from the Cmity Church carrying out some obscure rituals in worship of their Evil Gods.

    Just as he was flying towards that ce, he smelled the familiar creatures of the Abyss. The smell of the creatures of the Abyss was something that the Zaldidraax would never mistake for something else, as the Abyss left a particr touch on anything that came into contact with the Abyssal miasma.

    "So he summoned some Fiends from the Abyss..."

    Zaldidraax muttered as he continued in his flight, noticing humans running here and there as they were running and transporting some equipment and weapons, probably nning to attack something or someone.

    Fiends from the Abyss was never a good sign. In truth, one could say that anything that originated from the Abyss was always a problem; only madmen would summon creatures from the Abyss en masse, like Cmity Church or Demon Tribes would summon them.

    Though the Red Dragon would probably eat them as his snack, the real problem was that they were extremely numerous, and they would also lower the entire number of souls he could obtain during his mission because the Fiends were feeding on them.

    ***

    On the top of a skyscraper in some random city in the United Nations of Prayn Terish, High Priest Khordrats was sitting as he enjoyed cries of agony and pain that were heard across the entire city, as the Legendary Level Fiends of the Abyss were ughtering and torturing people together with the priests of the Cmity Church.

    The entire city was doomed to suffer the cruel fate of anything that the people of the Cmity Church brought to them because only dread and despair awaited those who were met with the tender care of the Cmity Church.

    "He is already here... damm, that crazy lizard."

    In truth, Khordrath didn''t really anticipate that Zaldidraax would arrive here and wreak havoc on the Ihor Continent. High Priest Khordrath anticipated that Zaldidraax would spend most of his time at the Midnight World collecting souls, as that was the standard procedure for how the members of the Hall of Kadath operated in simr situations.

    But what would one expect from the madman as Zaldidraax, who was widely known for disregarding everything and caring only about what he wanted to do? So, it was understandable to a certain extent that he woulde here and fight Khordrath to death.

    Now, Khondrath was happy that he managed to summon the three Supreme Stage Legendary Level Pit Fiends, as they would fit very well into his n to fight against the Cardinal Zaldidraax. Not that they could fight directly with the Red Dragon because they would be killed in several minutes in front of his overwhelming might, but they had another purpose.

    "Rooaaarrr."

    And thus, amidst the torturous cries of the natives of the Midnight World for mercy and their pleas for quicky death, only this tremendous dragon roar sounded through the entire region of the United Nations of Prayn Terish, as every living being shuddered in fear.

    In that second, every living being recognized that something far more powerful and someone who would be bringing end and doom to those who would be defying him. That dragon roar froze everything in fear, as nobody could move, from the ordinary mortals of the Prayn Terish to the priests of the Cmity Church.

    The real boss was right here.

    "He is here faster than I thought... nor really taking any chances as it seems."

    Said the High Priest Khordrath quickly, looking a the humongous figure of the red dragon that descended down from the skies; his body was so huge that it threw a literal shadow on the entire city, but that was normal.

    Dragons were growing for their whole lives, and thergest of them were at least of this size. Especially the dragons who achieved Transcendence, no matter the method, would even be far bigger, essentially reaching the size of averages. While Zaldidraax was a big dragon, he was far from thergest dragon that ever lived; of course, that didn''t count the Void Dragons that lived within the Void.

    Suddenly, without any warning, a wave of hellish dragon breath was released from his enormous jaws, directly at the city, and in a split of a second, everything burned to ash, buildings were obliterated, and everything that was living was turned to ashes, and nothing remaining.

    With just one single dragon breath, the entire metropolis of the United Nations of Prayn Terish was razed to the ground. This unprecedented level of destruction didn''t show only the power of the Red Dragon Cardinal but also the fragile builds of the ordinary mortal world without any supernatural aspects or very advanced technological civilization.

    Of course, with the exceptions of the Legendary Level powerhouses from the Cmity Church and three Supreme Stage Legendary Level Pit Fiends, who were now flying high in the air. The three Legendary Level Pit Fiends were rtively okey, as they could withstand the attack of the dragon mes, but that one was weak in terms of intensity and power.

    "Come out, you fucking rat!"

    Zaldidraax roared, enraged that there were some pests that managed to survive his dragon breath, but not overly because he knew that this wasn''t his strongest dragon breath. Still, he wanted just to destroy that metropolis beneath them, in case the Priests from the Cmity Church nned to carry out some ritual to weaken him during the fight.

    And unknowingly, he seeded because the Priest of the Cmity Church indeed nned to use the inhabitants of the city in some obscure ritual where they would sacrifice all of their souls and life force in an attempt to obtain blessings from the Evil Gods for Khondrath so he could fight against the Red Dragon Cardinal as an equal.

    "Always so vulgar and uncultured, Zaldidraax."<sub> </sub>

    Sounded the carefree voice of the High Priest Khordrath of the Cmity Church as he flew high in the air, looking directly into the dragon''s enormous eyes, which were dangerously looking at him. His dragon slits eyed the High Priest Khordrath dangerously as the Red Dragon Cardinal waited for the moment to ponce on the High Priest.

    "Stop that posh facade, you abomination of nature, and start fighting already."

    Shouted Red Dragon Zaldidraax while, with a single swipe of his tail, he hit the nearest Priest of the Cmity Church, sending him crashing down; as a small shockwave appeared from the impact, the man was killed on the spot.

    There was no time to react for the Legendary Level Priest of the Cmity Church as the attack by the Zaldidraax''s tail was strong enough to kill him several times over, especially since the Red Dragon Cardinal strengthened his tail through his Dragon Chant Magic. Not only his tail but Zaldidraax was strengthening his entire body with the Dragon Chant Magic.

    Instantly afterward, purple-ck spears materialized around the Khordrath as they shot towards the Zaldidraax with tremendous speed; each of those spears contained enough power to raze to ground entire mountain ranges and even whole inds.

    Zaldidraax looked at the iing miasmatic purple-ck spears as he used his dragon wings to block the iing attacks, withstanding them with rtive ease, though he could sense that some of the scales on his wings were torn off by the tremendous power of that spear.

    While their destructive powers were not that high in Zaldidraax''s eyes, their pration power was enough to destroy even many of the Legendary-Grade armors. Other priests of the Cmity Church who were apanying the High Priest Khordrath looked at the ongoing fight with fright before they decided it would be in their best interest to escape.

    In the Cmity Church, there was not much loyalty or such things, only treachery, and deception, so when they realized that the duel between the Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath and their High Priest was getting more and more destructive, they decided to escape.

    All of these Priests were only around Intermediate and Advanced Stage Legendary, so if one of their attacks got out of hand, they would be killed as side casualties, not to mention that the three Supreme Stage Legendary Pit Fiends were still observing the battle with great interest.

    Zaldidraax instantly turned into his humanoid form, of a handsome young-looking man in his thirties with long flowing crimson hair, tribal tattoos donning his arms and torso, golden eyes with dragon slits, and pointed eyes.

    The second he finished morphing, he pped his pair of draconic wings and appeared in front of the High Priest Khordrath, enveloping his fist in the shining crimson me, as he punched the Khondrath into his stomach, only to be hastily blocked by the purple spear that the Khordrath was holding.

    Still, the impact was strong enough to send Khordrath flying several hundreds of meters, crashing into the piles of the destroyed and copsed ruins of the city that stood here several tens of minutes ago.

    Zaldidraax was the bearer of two Sub-sses that fundamentally defined hisbat style as one of the most fearsome in the entirety of the Tower. One of them was Rare ss Brawler, and another was Unique ss me Master; together, they created an extremely destructivebat style, especially when considering his Main ss, the Lord ss World Disaster.

    Everything about him was making him a walking disaster, the destroyer of everything that lives or existed, and that was the thing that made the Red Dragon Zaldidraax an extremely dangerous foe.

    With both of his hands on mes, Zaldidraax didn''t waste a second and instantly flew towards the ce where the Khordrath crashed, only to be met with several energy spears from the same miasma on him, which he all blocked with his swift blows of dragon mes enveloping his hands.

    Khordrath being an experienced and powerful Legendary started fighting with the Zaldidraax in closebat, which proved to be a mistake, a grave one because he couldn''t match the brutal raw power of the Red Dragon, who was pushing him back with each move.

    Still, Khordrath was very slippery the way he attacked, and while he was technically on the defensive, it was very hard for the Zaldidraax to inflict the High Priest of the Cmity Church with any kind of serious injury.

    After the Khordrath dodged another powerful blow from the Red Dragon, which would be strong enough to tten a huge mountain, he looked around, scanning the area for magical signatures, realizing that all of his Priests had already escaped somewhere to safety.

    Fortunately for the High Priest, the ones who remained here were the Pit Fiends of the Abyss that he summoned and all three of them were of the Supreme Stage Legendary Level, giving them one psychicmand telepathically to join the fight, as the three of them rushed at the Zaldidraax.

    Seeing those three iing at him, the red dragon scoffed because those three Pit Fiends won''t be able to make any difference in this find. To Zaldidraax''s shock, instantly, when they were in his vicinity, three Legendary Level Pit Fiends suddenly lost the control over their bodies as High Priest Khordrath grinned viciously.

    Instantly the three Pit Fiends started melting into a weird glob of melted flesh and reforming around the High Priest Khordrath as he started getting bulkier and more muscr, his horns grew bigger, pair of leather wings like that of a Pit Fiends grew from his back, and his aura turned more chaotic and vicious.

    "Hmm... so some kind of chimera fusion technique?"

    Zaldidraax muttered as he observed how the strength of the High Priest increased exponentially after he had fused together with material that was left from three melted Supreme Stage Legendary Pit Fiends, while it also caused some sort of mutations to the High Priest.

    Usually, these kinds of Chimera Fusion Techniques were notmonly used because of their severe side effect, random mutations that could ur during the fusion, and simr things, which resulted in the shady reputation of these techniques.

    They were used only as ast resort when one was cornered and needed a very quick increase in the raw power; for that, they proved to be pretty useful, even if the final result was pretty much unstable.

    So most people who used them already epted their fate that they would probably die, thus it became thest mean resort.

    "Thene!"

    Crimson mes burst out of the Zaldidraax''s body as they formed a pir of scorching hot mes, while the Red Dragon Cardinal revealed a bloodthirsty grin, seeing how much the power of the High Priest Khordrath was increased.

 Chapter 95 Midnight Saga: Khordrath Vs. Zaldidraax (2)

    Instantly a wave of Abyssal Aura shot out from the Khordrath''s body towards Zaldidraax as the Red Dragon Cardinal dodged to the side but watched with a curious expression looking at the High Priest Khordrath.

    While this wasn''t the first time Zaldidraax saw somebody using the Abyssal Aura to boost up his power, it was one of the few asions that he was able to witness someone powerful like Khordrath use it to change his very own being.

    ''So he obtained the ability to use the Abyssal Aura of the Fiends from the Abyss... but he is already showing the signs of the corruption.''

    Zaldidraax analyzed in his mind as he looked at the High Priest Khordrath because ying with the Abyssal Aura was rather a dangerous thing to do. That was because the Abyssal Aura is very corruptive energy, simr to Void, which was, even though more destructive with its corroding powers.

    Yet the Abyssal Aura had the ability to corrupt anything. It was very simr to the Void in this aspect because the Void had the ability to corrupt anything. Still, in contrary to the corruption of the Void, the things corrupted by the Abyssal Aura remained in existence. In contrast, what was corrupted by the Void would be part of it, lingering between the state of existence and part of the Void.

    If one was using it, then his very own soul would be soon corrupted to such an extent that he won''t be able to survive outside of the Abyss, essentially tying the person to the Abyss itself. This was one of the ways how the Transcendents of the Abyss were able to turn entire worlds into their own image.

    Clearly, not even the High Priest of the Cmity Church was resistant to the corrosive effects of the Abyssal Aura, as that was something that only Transcendents themselves, or Legendaries of a Transcendental lineage could resist fully.

    Originally Zaldidraax was Level 97 Legendary and Khordrath was Level 95 Legendary, so the disparity between the two of them seemed abysmal, in truth, tremendous. In the Legendary Level, even a single Level could decide the oue of the fight, and every single Level signified a tremendous increase of raw power.

    Not only that, but each Level Up represented further crystallization and cumtion of Mana, which was bing denser, purer and stronger, thus creating a disparity between each Level in the Legendary Level.

    But with the addition of the Abyssal Aura, now Khordrath couldpete against Zaldidraaax on the same ground, which now turned the table around, especially since he had one advantage, which was putting Red Dragon Cardinal on mostly defensive, and that was the existence of the Abyssal Aura.

    That was because he was wary not to be touched by the Abyssal Aura, which was just flowing out from the High Priest Khordrath or what amalgamation he had be. While Zaldidraax was someone who bore the blood of the Fire Dragon Monarch, even then, he didn''t want to risk anything by depending on the lineage of Transcendental.

    Instantly Khordrath appeared before the Red Dragon Cardinal, hacking at him with his purple-ck spear made from the miasmatic energy that seethed in the Abyssal Aura; Zaldidraax barely managed to dodge, not wanting to be injured.

    Not even a secondter, with his me-enveloped fist, he punched the High Priest Khordrath into his stomach, sending the creature flying several tens of meters, as he stopped before coughing a mouthful of ck-colored blood.

    High Priest Khordrath looked at the Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath as he prepared to activate the abilities that always allowed him to escape, only to find that it didn''t work. He wanted to teleport somewhere away from the Zaldidraax so he could recuperate a bit and summon more power from the Abyss, but nothing had happened.

    "Have you finally noticed?"

    Question Zaldidraax who sent a huge wave of scorching mes towards him, burning everything in its path, as the High Priest Khordrath conjured a wall of purplish energy, which created a small dome around him, protecting him from the dragon''s fire.

    "During our few confrontations, I noticed how your teleportation ability works. Especially if it is Ultimate Ability, the restrictions should be quite severe, and probably the most notable should be the usage of the Mana in the enviroment, especially if you want to teleport out of the world. So, right now and right here, you are stuck here."

    Zaldidraax stated calmly, as he sent several me attacks in the form of fireballs towards the High Priest Khordrath, who grew more enraged hearing this because now he felt tricked by the lizard, and he cursed himself, that he forgot about that where they were.

    While the Red Dragon Cardinal Zaldidraax looked like a simpletonish abomination of barbarian and brute, he was, in fact an incredibly cunning old dragon. In my culture and ces across the Cosmos, dragons were revered not only for their overwhelming power but also for their intelligence and wisdom.

    Khordrath had an Ultimate Ability that allowed him instantaneous teleportation, which was something very rare across the Cosmos, not the act of teleportation, but rather the instantaneous aspect which allowed Khordrath to instantly teleport wherever he wished.

    But the huge restriction on that Ability was the fact that the Ability utilized its environment and Mana in the surroundings instead of the Mana one had in itself primarily, meaning if the user was in the Mana-Less World, then the Ability would be essentially useless, and one cannot use it to teleport out of the world.

    That restriction existed for a reason because if the person didn''t understand the Space and was not Space oriented Magician, he could still teleport and use the Ability. Yet, in that case, the person would need a tremendous amount of Mana, and in certain cases, such an amount of Mana was a great deal even for peak Legendaries, especially considering the world''s Laws.

    Seeing that there was not an opportunity to run away and due to being in the Mana-Less World, the fight was heavy to Khordrath''s disadvantage because he was burning his Mana far faster than the Red Dragon.

    Dragons were species with the densest and purest Mana, not to mention the fact that Dragons always had a tremendous amount of Mana, far eclipsing those at the same Level. So in any fight, it was best to end the fight as fast as possible because there was a high possibility that Dragons would preserve far longer.

    Not to mention, their Mana Regeneration was tremendously fast, though right now, Zaldidraax''s Mana was regenerating at the tempo of a snail due to being in the Mana-Less World; even that was something.

    Contrary to that, Zaldidraax could see that Khordrath''s Mana Regeneration was close to zero. Such was the problem for the people in the Mana-Less Word, unless they came prepared and had some countermeasure against this, like converting any other energy to Mana or bringing with them "Mana Batteries".

    After several exchanges between the two peak Legendaries, more and more injuries started to appear on their bodies, be it the Khordrath or Zalidraax, but it was clear that the High Priest of the Cmity Church was way worse on it.

    He had burns around the entire body, which were not healing and was causing him enormous pain and several deep cuts from the dragon ws that Red Dragon Cardinal managed to inflict on him, not talking about the side of corruption from the Abyssal Aura, which started spreading even faster due to the continuous injuries that the High Priest was suffering.

    Zaldidraax could see how the Abyssal Aura was corrupting the High Priest Khordrath at tremendous speed, especially due to various injuries that the High Priest suffered from him; the corruption from the Abyssal Aura was spreading fast, and it was highly possible that the High Priest Khordrath would never revert back.

    "Or maybe that was the intention of whoever gave him the chimera fusion method."

    Zaldidraax stated, seeing how the High Priest''s appearance started turning more hideous and monstrous under the effect of the Abyssal Aura. The speed of the Abyssal corruption skyrocketed and reached totally new heights, finishing the process in a split of several seconds.

    "Whatever... it would be best to kill him as fast as possible..."<sub> </sub>

    Zaldidraax muttered, not wanting for the Abyss to gain a new Transcendental in a few millennia because he could see that Khordrat fell into that category. Yet, it was indisputable that some Daemons were once again scheming against the Evil Gods right now.

    Common urrences in the Abyss.

    Daemons could be pretty cunning at times, and Zaldidraax predicted that some very powerful Daemon was pretending to be one of the Evil Gods in an attempt to obtain another peak Legendary Level ve, which could achieve Transcendence, then the forces of the said Daemon would be strengthened significantly, and he would have an advantage against his enemies.

    And while most of the Daemons were not cunning, there were still some, especially the founders of the Pirs, who were no less cunning and treacherous as the Devils of the Nine Hells of the Baator. The heavy majority of other Daemons and the rest of their kind were inly stupid, but the founders of the Pirs were atop of their frightening strength, also very calcting and intelligent.

    Zaldidraax didn''t hesitate another second as he transformed his humanoid hands into a pair of dragon ws, rushing at the High Priest Khordrath, who finished another wave of the transformation by the corruption of the Abyssal Aura.

    Khordrath, entirely enveloped by the Abyssal Aura, saw that Zaldidraax was already before he raised his energy spear to block the iing blows, only to find himself being pushed back, and back, and back, due to each subsequent blow containing more and more power behind it.

    Zaldidraax was not only using his overwhelming physical might coupled with boosts from his Mana for the attacks, but he also used his mes to boost up the explosiveness and power behind each blow, especially after achieving severalbos; his explosive prowess reached a tremendous degree.

    It was clear that the High Priest Khordrath was the loser in the exchange because even though he managed to block the iing attacks rtively sessfully, he still suffered a great degree of various injuries from the aftershocks or he was just burned by the dragon mes that were all around him.

    While normally, he would be fighting such a strong enemy in his dragon form, but that was impractical for him in this situation because Khordrath was rather an agile enemy, good at dodging iing attacks, which made him a major pain in the ass.

    ''I need to end this fast, or the person who has been ying with this idiot will teleport him back to the Abyss.''

    Zaldidraax thought in his head because the Abyssal Aura was corrupting the more his opponent, the stronger connection between him and The Abyss was, meaning the Daemon who was fiddling with him would be able to effortlessly teleport him to his domain if the things went too bad.

    Because of that, he needed to end this fight as soon as possible. The more time passed, the more power Khordrath would obtain from the Abyss and probably from the Daemon that was plotting here. The Daemon wanted to obtain a new ve, not dead corpse; thus he would be using a lot to keep Khordrath alive so he could collect him.

    The Red Dragon Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath stretched his wings before he flew above the air, as suddenly the space itself started cracking, and the freezing cold energy of the Void itself started prating the air and the world itself.

    The entire continent started shaking as a tremendous earthquake erupted in the Ihor Continent. Each second, some of the older or unstable buildings copsed due to increasing pressure from Cardinal Zaldidraax, who called upon the powers of the Outer Gods to the Midnight World.

    ''Boom, boom, boom.''

    A series of explosions enveloped the figure of the High Priest from the Cmity Church. In its more primal form, the Void destroyed everything in its path, and when it was wielded by the master, such as almost Holy Level Professional, its effect was tremendous.

    In a split of a second, several hundreds of kilometers were turned into living hell, and not that of the Baator, but rather an apocalyptic scene, as thunder roared, lightning bolts hit the ground with untold ferocity, and hurricanes appeared one after another, causing the citizens of the United Nations of Prayn Terish to call for the help of their Gods.

    It seemed like the judgment day had descended down.

    When Zaldidraax looked at the Khordrath, he noticed that half of his body was missing; his left part was absolutely obliterated by the power of the Void that the Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath in the name of the Crawling Chaos himself.

    Appearing in front of the Khordrath, he tore through his stomach with his right w, which was falling with the Void me, destroying the bodies of the High Priest Khordrath from this inside, as the Void instantly overwhelmed the Abyssal Aura in a split of a second.

    With one swift movement of his hand back, he tore out the beating heart of the High Priest Khordrath; looking at it, he crushed it in his hand and let the Void turn it into absolute nothingness.

    "Let you in the Void turn."

    Zaldidraax chanted silently as the corpse of the High Priest of the Cmity Church dropped death, as the Void itself was devouring not only the body of the Khordrath, but even his soul, which was frozen by the Void, and slowly being devoured by it. And what the Void one took, it would never return back.

    "Shame that not even his corpse remained... could be made useful material for something."

    Zaldidraax muttered while looking at the former remains of the High Priest Khordrath of the Cmity Church, whose body was slowly being devoured by the Void, and right now, approximately half of his corpse was already turned into nothingness.

    "I should probably return back... our fight has caused a lot of damage to the Continent."

    The Red Dragon Cardinal looked around and sensed the tremendous damage to the continent of the Ihor, which resulted in the deaths of billions of its citizens, especially in the northern area of the United Nations of Prayn Terish, which was turned into a wastnd.

    The earthquakes, thunderstorms and hurricanes, and even the tsunamis that were created by the earthquakes made hell on the world, and right now, Zaldidraax could sense about 7 billion souls lingering in the world of the living.

    After looking at the sky, which started showing signs of calming down, Zaldidraax outstretched his hand as an enormous magic circle appeared high in the sky, shining with the ominous red color that of a red dragon''s scales, started sucking all the souls lingering in the world of living towards it.

    This was his first harvest since he arrived at the Midnight World, and it was a pretty good one. Not to mention, he was gleaming with happiness because he managed to kill his foe, who had already escaped from him several times. So, for the Red Dragon Cardinal, this was a good day as he observed the entire Ihor continent.

    The one thing which Zaldidraax noticed was the continuous spread of the Void in the area of their part as that part of the Midnight World started crumbling away to the Void. Hopefully, this won''t lure here something like Void Behemoth, or that would be catastrophic.

 Chapter 96 Midnight Saga: Secret Of The World

    Nofrena Continent, Nofrena Empire, Western Area of the Midnight World, shores of the Nofrena Continent.

    Right now, the entire military of the Nofrena Empire was on the highest alert after the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire, Alexander IV. Nofreanis decided to fight the Orkish invaders to death at full force.

    Every able man or woman, elder or child, were armed with weapons and given orders to join either Imperial Army or local militia, deciding to honor their culture and Empire by giving the enemy hell they deserve. The culture of the Nofrena Empire was intertwined with martial honor and prowess for centuries, if not millennia.

    With their advanced weaponry, for sure, they would be able to take a lot of Greenskins with them, even if they would be inevitably defeated and die. For many of them, it was enough that they could inflict damage and losses to their enemies; thus they won''t be dying in vain.

    Right now, in the military fortress near the shores of the ocean, which was separating the Sharrena Subcontinent and Nofrena Continent, the Emperor personally joined the defensive battles as a form of moral support.

    He was no mean the greatest strategist or tactician, but just his presence here was enough to boost up the confidence of the soldiers of the Imperial Army and the citizens of their proud Empire. The moral aspect of his action was far more and greater than any number of weaponry or artillery could provide for the citizens and soldiers.

    For him, it was better than waiting in the capital for the inevitable death that woulde in the form of some greenskin. Ironically though, it was not only the Emperor, but most, if not all, of the nobility of the Nofrena Empire that mimicked this single action and joined the defense and thest stand of their proud Empire and culture.

    "They areing, Your Imperial Majesty."

    Stated one of the Generals of the Nofrena Empire, who was already nearing his eighties, judging by his white hair and wrinkles all over his face. He had several old scars over his face, signifying that he was a veteran of many fights because all of them were from the battlefield and the remainder of the foes he killed.

    "Men and Women of the Nofrena Empire, today we are fighting an enemy unlike any other. They are savage, barbaric, and powerful, far eclipsing the power that any ordinary man can achieve. But we are not bending to them, not bing their ves or food, their entertainment for them to torture and kill. No, we are proud warriors of the Nofrena Empire, and we will fight them to hell, and even if we die here, let it be remembered for thousands of yearster that this was out finest hour! All Hail the Empire!"

    The Emperor finished his speech with the traditional Imperial salute, as his words resounded not only through the entire base but through the entire Empire, through every military facility, every outpost, a fortress to civilian homes and public ces.

    "All Hail the Empire!"

    "All Hail the Empire!"

    "All Hail the Empire."

    Other officers returned the salute, and many of the high-ranking generals and other military personnel were deeply aware of the fact that the President of the United Nations of Prayn Terish, with a few oligarchs, were already preparing the escape to the stars, and other nations were also, preparing for simr eventualities.

    "Then start firing the artillery... we are not going down without taking as many of those dammed greenskins as possible."

    Ordered the Emperor, and all other officers saluted him as they went to carry out his orders. Not even several secondster, sounds of the artillery started sounding from the back, as the cannon and other artilleries of the Nofrena Empire started bombarding the iing Orks who were other going here in their crude airships or ships.

    Springing for the Nofreans and shockingly for the Orks, the moment the artilleries of the Nofrena Empire started bombarding the iing fleets and air fleets of the Orks, they shot down several airships and sunk down several ships, just in the first salvo.

    As it seemed, the ships and airships, crudely made from wood and metal mashed up together, with only a few defensive magic, weren''t enough topletely block up all the attacks from the cannons of the Nofrena Empire.

    Orks were species with the most primitive technology, and while every major species across the Cosmos had its own level of the Magetech, the one of the Orks was terrible; it was typically just mashed up together, and its only purpose was to bring Orks from ce A to ce B so they could wage war.

    Basically, the only reason for them to construct anything was for them to wage war faster. There was no ce for sophisticated machines of war or anything because most of the Orks either disdained them, seeing them as a weakness because, in their simplistic view of the world, the only strength came from crushing enemies with your sword or axe.

    Ironically though, that didn''t mean that some of the Orks ns and Tribes didn''t have some more advanced pieces of technology in their disposal, especially when it came to starships that were captured from the more advanced civilization that fell to the green tide. Those, the greenkins would dly use because even they admitted that it could speed up the progress of their waaaggghhh.

    But unfortunately for the defenders of the Nofrena Empire, soon enough, powerful Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier Shamans started casting some defensive spells over their vessels, protecting them from the iing artillery barrage, and soon enough, they reached the shores of the Nofrena COntinent, which silently signified the start of the end.

    ***

    Sarid Continent, Captial of the Sarid Republic, deep under the ground, top-secret facility of the Sarid Republic''s Supernatural Research Division.

    In the depths of the unknown facility of the Sarid Republic, which was known only to a few people across the entire Republic, in the deepest parts of the facility, in the locked vault, two people were standing there, looking at the object before them.

    One of those two people was the President of the Sarid Republic, President Halir. He wasn''t showing any emotions outside, but deep inside his very own being, he was deeply disturbed on how the situation in the world was developing and he long realized that it was beyond any salvation.

    ? Especially with the arrival of those terrifying entities, whom their new patrons called Legendaries, who could, with their might, destroy continents or reshape them to their own will as they pleased because their might was truly above everything that individual mortal could achieve.

    But the more interesting and important one was the man who was standing next to him.

    He looked like a human, not a single feature different from the average human, aside from the futuristic suit he was wearing and pulsating wave of the psionic energy he was constantly radiating; not only that, but there was also something weird about his entire presence, something unnerving and powerful.

    "I havepleted my part of the deal; now get me out of here."

    Said President Halir as he was looking at the man standing next to him.

    "Indeed."

    The man said, and with a wave of his right hand, a whisp of psionic energy appeared in front of him, attacking the elderly President of the Sarid Republic, disintegrating him to dust. Nothing has remained from the President of the Sarid Republic as even that dust soon dispersed across the entire room.

    "Annoying trash."

    After disposing of the mortal, the man looked in wonder at the object before him.

    "Who would have thought that Mana-Less World would be hiding the Psion Core of an Annulled."

    The man muttered in awe.

    Annulled were the Transcendental of the Psion Path, those who were practically Espers or any other way of the psionics; upon reaching the Transcendence, then they would be Annulled. An average Annulled Esper was even more dangerous than an average God because they had more destructive abilities overall.

    "With this, the Germinal Order will rise through the ranks of the 13 Gates with the speed of lightning."

    Stated the man as he carefully moved the Psion Core into a special case; just one touch would be enough to kill him instantly, overwhelming him with tremendous levels of the Psionic Power, something that he, even as a peak Legendary, cannot handle.

    Germinal Order was a faction among the 13 Gates that pursued the path of psionics and consisted mainly of Psionically gifted species like Githyanki, Githzerai, or even humans, and due to the first two species being dominant ones, the main enemy of the Germinal Order was the Mind Flyers.

    Unfortunately for them, they cannot measure up to the Mind Flyers because each one of their Fleet was backed by the Annulled Entities, not to talk about their Elder Brains, which were absolutely frightening among the Transcendentals entities.<sub> </sub>

    "I need to get out before the others will find out about this... those bastards from the Magisterium are already on their way for sure."

    The man from the Germinal Order cursed while activating the teleportation device, which brought him out from the Midnight World, and true to his words, indeed, as he told, soon enough, several people bearing the sigils of the Magisterium arrived.

    "It is gone."

    Stated the man with the long white bear as he gripped his staff with anger.

    "Who could have known about it aside from us?"

    Questioned another, who seemed more demonic-like in appearance, signifying his ss as Warlock, formerly a human or something like that; it was very hard to tell because his facial features and racial ones were already twisted beyond recognition.

    "Probably someone from the Avalon or Germinal... maybe Mind Flyers?"

    Asked the thirst of one of the trio of Wizard, Sorcerer, and Warlock. Each one represents one of the major branches of the Magisterium aside from the Arcansits, who often acted as unofficial leaders of their faction, as they were mostly the strongest out of them.

    "Mind Flyers are out of the question... if they were the ones, then this entire world would be long ago infested by them and turned into their ves. Only one possible are the Avalon Kingdom and Germinal Order."

    Spoke the Wizard-looking elder man, who acted as the leader of the trio, as he analyzed each of the possibilities.

    The other two agreed with his conclusion as the Mind Flyer Fleet would turn this world upside down; they would release their abominations into the Midnight World, enving the local poption and turning it into their ves.

    Especially when the Annulled Mind Flyer led the Mind Flyer Fleet or not talking about the Elder Brain, then even their presence would be impossible, as they would be caught and infested the second they approached the Midnight World.

    "And this is certainlycking the pattern of behavior of the Avalon Kingdom... those self-righteous bastards."

    The Avalon Kingdom was human supremacy like factions in of the 13 Gates, and probably the sole faction created only by humans in the entirety of Cosmos on such scale. Of course, they had no foothold in the Tower, and they often shed with the other factions.

    Still, they worshipped a very powerful God, who liked humans too much and often gave them a helping hand, something not appreciated by the rest of the Transcendental Factions. If the faction that came here were the Avalonians, they would immediately start fighting Orks and absorbing the location''s human poption to bolster their ranks.

    "Only the Germinal Order moves so sneakily around, always hidden in shadows..."

    Muttered the aged Wizard as he and hispatriots looked around, quickly hacking into the Sarid Republic systems and downloading every piece of the technology that the Sarid Republic had ever developed.

    While the Magisterium was primarily organized for the Magic Users, that didn''t mean that they were shunned from using technology; in fact, Magisteriuzm currently had the most advanced Magetech in the entirety of the Cosmos.

    Mainly due to their practice of continuous research and development, and of course, by assimting other technologies into their own, like they are doing right now, by downloading the entire technological tree of the Midnight World''s civilization.

    ***

    Nofrena Continent, Several Days Later

    After killing the Khordrath, Cardinal Zaldidraax was flying around the Nofrena Continent as he finished erecting another Spell to gather souls for the Hall of Kadath, and afterward, he decided to stretch out his wings.

    For him, it was pretty boring to just stay in one ce, so he went to take a look at the Orks advancing through the Nofrena Empire as they burned city after city, already massacring millions of the citizens of the Nofrena Empire.

    While Zaldidraax was flying through the skies of the Nofrena Continent, he saw that the Orks were apparently assaulting the Imperial Captial of the Nofrena Empire. Of course, as mean they were, the weakest of them were attacking the capital first, so the first waves of the greenskins consisted of those of Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier.

    Of course, this was also one of the Orkish tactics because disposing of the weak greenskins would give the enemies of Orks some morale boost and confidence against the greenskins, and that was what they wanted.

    For the war to continue as much as possible.

    Because that was for what the Orks lived.

    Zaldidraax saw that the main gates of the Imperial Captial of the Nofrena Empire were being breached as he was watching the situation, and in truth, he was a bit impressed by how the soldiers of the human Empire, who were practically average mortals, albeit trained, were fighting against the Orks.

    "Fascinating."

    While Zaldidraax was one hell arrogant bastard, above all else, he was a warrior, and his entire life, he followed the warrior''s path and lived as a warrior. So, even if those humans were just ordinary average mortals without any real power, the fact that they were fighting to thest one.

    Something he personally didn''t await.

    During his very long life of millennia, Zaldidraax saw countless soldiers ruining the savage Orks, fighting them not caring about their own lives, as they fought to the death, honoring their pride as a martial culture of the Nofrena Empire.

    "They would good for a good material for the battle legions."

    Zaldidraax released his draconic aura on the whole battlefield, as instantly, not even a secondter, everyone froze in their ce, be it humans, on the side of the Nofrena Empire or countless greenskins, nobody dared to make a move.

    "Return where you came from, green filth."

    Through the entire battlefield sounded the voice of the engaged red dragon, as more weak-willed greenskins started escaping from the battlefield, together with the Orks who decided to run away, as their instincts screamed at them to get away from here.

    Only a few Legendary Level Orks were watching this scene with dread before they decided to retreat, as some of them recognized the owner of that voice and the draconic aura as that of the Zaldidraax.

    "Now to you, who is your leader?"

    Questioned the Red Dragon Cardinal as he observed the humans beneath him, who were not moving an inch and just watched in wonder, fear, and dread how the enormous dragon stopped the fighting across the entire battlefield with a singlemand and forced the Orks to fall back.

    "That would be me."

    Siad a voice belonging to a middle-aged man, who was holding a sword and rifle in his hands; Zaldidraax could see some level of finesse and nobleness in him, despite his bloodied appearance and tattered uniforms he was wearing.

 Chapter 97 Hall Master And Cardinals

    98th Floor of the Tower, present time.

    Currently, in the glories halls and corridors of the Hall of Kadath, a lone man was kneeling in front of the statute of the Eldritch abomination, as he was unmovingly praying for several hours straight, without moving or speaking; he just kept praying towards the statute.

    Menuhyutt Faulhaber was praying in this position already for several hours straight, not caring about anything else. Even initial Legendaries could live without any rest or food for several months without any problem at all, and with some training, they could go even for years without a problem.

    In the absolute silence and sce that the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath was having the past week, the only thing that was heard through the enormous hall filled with the statutes of the Outer Gods worshipped by the Hall of Kadath was the sound of doors that were right now opened.

    The sound of footsteps filled the silent hall as the neer came to the ce where the Menuhyutt was praying, passing by several Temrs from the Holy Temr Order, which was the military branch of the Hall of Kadath, or rather one of its many military branches, they had in open or in shadows.

    They were d in their golden armors, carved with runes and holding their weapons, mostmonlynces, without moving an inch, showing incredible discipline and willpower as they continued to watch over the inner sanctum of the Hall of Kadath.

    "I heard that you made quite a mess on that Mana-Less World."

    Menuhyutt stated, not opening his eyes as he kept praying and not even turning to the neer, who was the Cardinal Zaldidraax of the Hall of Kadath, who had just now returned from the Midnight World, which was right now just a husk of its former self.

    "That depends on the point of view."

    Zaldidraax stated back as the Hall Master chuckled at the behavior of one of their strongest, but in the end, such was the truth. All depended on the point of view, but for the old man Menuhyutt, it didn''t really matter, as long the mission he assigned to the Red Dragon Cardinal waspleted.

    Everything aside from that was inconsequential.

    "Have you aplished the mission?"

    Questioned the Hall Master as the Zaldidraax nodded his head and threw off the ring towards the Hall Master who was praying, outstretching his right hand as he caught the ring, and inspected it with his senses.

    "More than fifty billion souls... good."

    Muttering Menuhyutt quietly, putting away the dimensional ring filled with the Soul Stones, which contained the souls from the Midnight World. The entire Midnight World had a poption of below 100 billion, somewhere between 98 billion to 99 billion, so getting around fifty billion souls was considered an excellent result.

    Especially after the other yers entered the fray; so in the end, the Hall of Kadath obtained a nice amount of souls, even though they were the souls of mortals, who weren''t even the Iron-Tier, but the number of them was so huge, that it was still very valuable.

    This was an irony and true nature of the Cosmos as a cruel and unforgiving ce, where only the strong had the right to decide what was wrong and what was good, where the concepts like morality were only propagational nonsense, as those who had strength decided the oue of the entire worlds, like in this case.

    "Anything else you want to report to the Holy See?"

    Seeing that the Zaldidraax had not left the hall yet, Menuhyutt asked the Red Dragon Cardinal, who remained in the room; if the Zaldidraax had not left yet, it meant that he still had something to discuss. And from his expression, it seems that it is something serious.

    "I had sensed somebody taken something on the Transcendental Level from the Midnight World shortly before the people from the Magisterium arrived at that ce."

    When Menuhyutt opened his eyes, they shone in bright, dangerous light, and he realized that if something of that level was located on the Mana-Less World, it would bring them a lot more trouble than they could imagine. Of course, it all depended on the nature of the thing that was located there.

    "What was taken?"

    He asked, turning his head slightly towards Zaldidraax, who now realized that something was happening right now on the political board of the Cosmos, something that he didn''t really understand but was clearly very important.

    "Did you recognize the aura of the one who did it?"

    Zaldidraax nodded.

    "Someone from the Germinal Order."

    Of course, Zaldidraax sensed the one who was taking that thing from the Sarid Republic, and he recognized the Psionic fluctuation on the peak of the Legendary Level rather effortlessly due to its specific nature.

    And most importantly, in the Mana-Less World, it was extremely easy to spread senses through the entire World and sense aura. That was due to theck of Mana in the World, and theck of other special or unique energies, people in that world, don''t have any aura, meaning it was extremely easy to find someone who had in such a world.

    Especially the Psionic Energy was unmistakable for him because across the Cosmos, the Psionic Energy was one of the rarer ones and most notable. And contrary to Mana, the Psionic Energy was characteristical for its traces because it was very easy to identify if the Psionic Energy was used somewhere.

    "If the Germinal Order is interested in something, then it means that it must be an item crucial for the Psionics; in the worst case, they would have obtained the Psionic Core of the deceased Annulled."

    Stated Menuhyutt in a grim voice. It wasmon knowledge that things like this were extremely rare in the Material ne because rarer the Transcendents were killed in the Material ne, and in many cases, if they were, then their remains would be immediately retrieved by some Faction that would send someone to fetch it.

    For example, if God fell and his Godhead fell onto the Material ne and was found by someone, then the person could almost instantaneously ascend to Godhood with little to no effort. The same could be said about the other Paths to the Transcendents, as the remains of any were invaluable in the hands of the mortal factions.

    And certainly, these weren''t the only usage of the remains of the Transcendental Entities. With the Psionic Core, which was left after some Annuled was killed in the Void, the Germinal Order could tremendously boost up their power by creating new Legendaries or boosting already existing ones to a frightening degree.

    "As it appears, the new Game is starting sooner than anticipated."

    He then muttered under his breath before standing up and looking at Zaldidraax sternly. While the Germinal Order was not a direct threat to the Hall of Kadath, as their main aim were the Mind Flyers, who once enved the founding species of the Germinal Order.

    "We need to start preparing for another cataclysm. Also, I heard that you transported one entire city to one of our Middle Worlds?"

    Zaldidraax nodded, remembering the conversation he had with the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire back in the Midnight World.

    ***

    shback

    After everyone was frozen on the battlefield, Zaldidraax turned his attention to the humans who were standing there in a mix of ave and fear. Yet, they didn''t retreat or attempt to run away but still continued looking at the Red Dragon.

    "Now to you, who is your leader?"

    Questioned the Red Dragon Cardinal as he observed the humans beneath him, who were not moving an inch and just watched in wonder, fear, and dread how the enormous dragon stopped the fighting across the entire battlefield with a singlemand and forced the Orks to fall back.

    "That would be me."

    Stated a voice belonging to a middle-aged man, who was holding a sword and rifle in his hands; Zaldidraax could see some level of finesse and nobleness in him, despite his bloodied appearance and the tattered uniform he was wearing.<sub> </sub>

    "I am the current Emperor of the Nofrena Empire, Alexander IV. Nofreanis, or at least, what has remained from our once glorious nation."

    The man introduced himself to a humongous dragon without any shred of fear because, for him, it was clear that death was near with how many invaders wereing to their world. Their Empire was totally overrun by the greenskins, who waged war; everything had been destroyed and fallen, aside from the Imperial Captial, which was still standing.

    "I have a proposal for you, human ruler."

    Stated the red dragon, as he was watching them attentively, not letting anything out of his sight.

    "I have been impressed by your bravery on the battlefield and your martial culture that you decided to fight against the Greenskins despite knowing the fact that you will die. So, I have a proposal for you. Worship the Outer Gods under the Hall of Kadath, and survival of what has remained from your people and your family would be guaranteed."

    Proposed the Red Dragon Cardinal as the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire; while looking shocked, he still tried to keep his calm facade. While Emperor Alexander IV. Nofreanis didn''t know what the Outer Deities were; they for sure would be mighty, based on the fact that the mighty dragon before him was serving them.

    Also, while he was prepared to die fighting, what he didn''t wish, was for thest remains of his country to perish too, or for his wife and children to perish in the hands of Orks, and truth to be told, death was the best oue of this situation.

    For the moment, Emperor Alexander was contemting this situation, which in the end, while looking at the breached walls of the City, injured defenders and people looking towards the humongous red dragon with a sliver of hope, made very fast.

    Especially considering the waves of the greenskins who, while retreating from the Imperial Capital, they still remained in the vicinity, and were preparing to bounce back, when the Zaldidraax left the ce.

    "I agree to your request."

    In the end, the answer was clear as a sunny day, while the red dragon revealed a cunning grin over his huge draconic mouth, then turned his head towards the greenskins who were watching the Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath, and waited till he left.

    He spewed a huge wave of dragon''s breath towards the positions of Orks, burning them to crisps, before he pped his enormous dragon wings, and flew towards the greenskins, deciding to annihte all the greenskins.

    ***

    End of the shback

    "Indeed, they fought against the Ork Waaaghhh despite knowing that they would fail, and their martial disciple and pride was something unseen in most of the mortal civilizations, especially those advanced growing in the Mana-Less Worlds. In a few centuries, they could develop significantly to the point of bing useful to the Hall of Kadath, not to mention their martial culture is suitable for the Military Branches of the Hall."

    Answered Zaldidraax why he offered the conditions to the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire and then subsequently transported the entire capital city of the already non-existent Nofrena Empire to one of the Middle Worlds.

    While normally, this would be out of reach for the Legendary achieve, with a single prayer towards the Outer Gods, the entire thing was finished within several seconds. And thus, the whole capital city of the former Nofrena Empire was transported into one of the Middle Worlds, which was under the control of the Hall of Kadath.

    "Send in Karliana; I have a few words that I want to exchange with her."

    Stated the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber after a short time before he dismissed Zaldidraax, who excused himself. After the Red Dragon Cardinal left the hall, Menuhyutt remained alone in the hall as he returned to the prayer.

    He continued to pray for half an hour before he heard the footsteps from the back of the hall once again as he sensed Cardinal Karliana von Kircheisen entering the ce.

    "Karlianae here..."

    Stated the Hall Master as the Cardinal Karliana von Kircheisen, who had returned from the 3rd Floor, where she waspleting the mission assigned to her by the Hall Master.

    "So, what do you say about him?"

    Questioned the elderly man.

    "Like an unpolished diamond, he needs some more training and control over his strength, especially in closebat; he had a big problem with controlling his physical strength correctly and is wasting a lot of it unnecessarily. Same with his Mana, ridiculous purity and density considering that he is still only a Steel-Tier, but he is wasting approximately 40% with each move, but that isck of the suitable Mana Control Technique."

    Commented Kindred Cardinal; Hall Master nodded, expecting something like this, because such was not unexpected.

    "Where is he right now?"

    Hall Master Menuhyutt stood up from his praying position as he finished the prayer for this day.

    "Right now, he has arrived at the 5th Floor, passing through the 4th one."

    The old man had a weird gentle smile on his face when he contemted about the 5th Floor of the Tower, as it was one of the more unique ces across the entire Tower and even the whole Cosmos.

    "I will be going down there. Is he still tight, he Silvermoon Princess?"

    He decided on making this visit, because for what he wanted to do the conditions of the 5th Floor were the most suitable for that. It was termed as the Floor of the Enlightenment due to the unique conditions of the 5th Floor, as the same enviroment was observed only in certain areas in the Higher Dimensional Worlds and some few ces across the Cosmos.

    "No, they were separated... the 5th Floor is one of the few Floors across the whole Tower where those fancy gadgets don''t work."

    Hall Master nodded in agreement as he prepared to leave the 98th Floor and descend towards the lower floors, first time in a few centuries, he visited those ces, while the feeling of nostalgia erupted from within him.

    "Indeed, the 5th Floor is special in that you can now go Karlinana; I will go down personally to meet the Holy Son."

    He ordered as Cardinal Karliana bowed her head before she left the hall, leaving there Menuhyut Faulhaber alone with his thoughts.

    "This Epoch''s Great Game is starting far sooner than initially anticipated, as the chessboard is being prepared about one thousand years in advance. The Great Nines are already moving and soon the entire Material ne and even the Higher Dimensional Worlds would be enveloped in the war..."

    Muttered the old man as he was thinking about the next step for the Hall of Kadath.

    "And it appears that many of the Outer Gods have their own thoughts and ns aside from the Main Pantheon. Really troublesome, I should ascend really soon..."

    He sat down on his throne for a while, looking at the ceiling of the hall, not saying anything else, just thinking about the next step.

    When the Great Game has started between the ''Them'', then everyone else is just the pawn, and the entire Cosmos is the chessboard as they were ying for meaningless victories and losses that, in the end, didn''t even matter for them.

    Those who lost didn''t really lose anything, and those who won didn''t really win anything. Because, what was lost, would be gained through time, and what was won could have been achieved with time.

    Because for ''Them'', time and space were just mere words, nothing less and nothing more.

 Chapter 98 The 5th Floor

    5th Floor of the Tower, somewhere on the unknown floating ind.

    The 5th Floor was one of the most spectacr and breathtaking ces across the entire Cosmos, due to consisting of hundreds if not thousands of floating inds, which were floating above the ocean. ces like this were exceedingly rare because the Floating Inds or generally floatingndmasses were extremely rare and naturally one could find them only in ces with very special environmental conditions.

    Underneath the hundreds, if not thousands of Floating Inds in the enormous ocean, there was a plethora of countless species of marine-type lifeforms, ranging from ordinary fishes and lifeforms to frightening magical beasts, that were dwelling in the depths of the ocean.

    Each floating ind had its own biome, each unique flora, and fauna native to them, and all of themmonly had a tranquil aura seen in them, due to the special kind of trees and nts that were growing around the entire Floor.

    Because of the mind-calming effects of the native flora, countless people wereing to the 5th Floor, because clearly, the mind-calming effect was helping various martial arts to achieve enlightenment and helped countless warriors to break past their limits.

    Due to that, some of these floating inds were controlled by powerful Legendary martial artists or wise sages, who became hermits on the 5th Floor of the Tower for untold years. Many mighty factions across the entirety of the Cosmos controlled at least several of these floating inds for their members to train on.

    Controlling a Floating Ind on the 5th Floor of the Tower already became a thing of social status, and only those who were very powerful had the capability to control their Floating Ind. Of course, this was not counting several specifically designed Floating Inds, were generally people are transported to the from the 4th Floor of the Tower, and then subsequently, after a short while, are transported to the 6th Floor of the Tower.

    Samiel arrived at the 5th Floor after he crossed through the 4th with rtive ease, as the 4th Floor didn''t have anything significant that would catch his attention, so he quicklypleted the assigned Advancement Quest from the Tower System, got some insignificant rewards, as the Quest itself was rtively easy, and went further.

    Originally, he advanced together with Yvraine as they went together, but right now, a slight miscalction happened on his, her or their part, and they were separated because he felt that he was alone in the vast distance.

    Even the artifact they were using to get teleported to approximately the same location didn''t really work, and he was now alone in the forest of some kind. Everywhere around him were the pine trees, and contrary to that of the 3rd Floor, they were of the average size like that on Earth.

    As Samiel looked around, he suddenly got the notification from the Tower System as the new Advancement Quest was issued.

    [Advancement Quest: Make a Martial Achievement

    Description: The 5th Floor has the natural enviroment for enlightenment and achieving martial breakthroughs. Make the martial achievement during your stay on the 5th Floor; the reward would be appropriate for the achievement aplished.

    Reward: Frost Crystal]

    In the course of reading the Advancement Quest, Samiel discovered that even though the Quest appeared to be rather simple and straightforward, making a Martial Achievement that is deemed worthy by the Tower System may not be as easy as one might think.

    No Quest issued by the Tower''s System was as easy and simple as it could be at first nce, but the rewards were always corresponding to the Quest''s difficulty. Still, Samiel had alreadypleted four of them, so this would be just another Quest that would bepleted by him in the near future.

    Samiel had only a vague idea of what the Frost Crystal was, but he knew that it could enhance and strengthen his Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to a certain degree. Many of the things across the Cosmos and the Tower could be used as the evolutionary materials to evolve the Level Abilities.

    Unfortunately for Samiel, he didn''t even have any idea how to start and where to start, so he decided to just walk around the ind he was on and map his surroundings, possibly finding some magical beast that could serve as food.

    ''Go and fly over and gather some basic info.''

    He said to his familiar Nefertari, who waszily sleeping over his shoulder, not moving an inch, enjoying her nap, like usual. It was clear that they were separated and probably Yvraiennded on an entirely different Floating Ind from him, or at least, this was something that his intuition was telling him.

    ''Okey hooman, but I await a fair share of threats afterward.''

    She answered through their telepathic connection, pping her wings as she bolted through the air with tremendous speed. She was scouting the entire area, flying high in the air, seeing the entire floating ind.

    ''We are located on the floating ind hooman. Inhabited entirely, aside from the magical beasts.''

    Nefertari said to Samiel as shended down on his shoulder.

    "Excellent, then I am alone in this ce and need to make a martial achievement."

    Samiel cursed under his breath; after contemting about the next course of action, Samiel opened his records to take a look at them. He didn''t look at the Record for a very long time, but now it was more suitable to decide on which aspect of his strength he would be focusing onpleting the Advancement Quest.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Azathoth

    Age: 21

    Race: Old Deus - Human / Eldritch Creature

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (22%), Grand Necromancer (17%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level: Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter)

    Records Points: 2,490

    ***

    Tier: Steel

    Level: 22

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (19%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (25%) - Ultimate Ability

    ***

    Necrosis Magic:

    Necromancy Arts (27%)

    Void Magic (16%)

    Winter Magic (2%)

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (40%)

    Swordsmanship (14%)<sub> </sub>

    Polearm Mastery (5%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 2nd Level Spells (34%)]

    Polearm Mastery was new addition he learned, as he started learning to handle the Trident on the 3rd Floor, due to having collected the shards of the Trish, which he decided would probably be his main weapon of choice.

    While on the 4th Floor, the increase in his Level was minimal, but that was to be expected because Samiel''s advancement was already being slowed down considerably, though Samiel was already sensing that he was nearing the Bronze-Tier. In fact, if he wanted, he could have already reached it some time ago, but he chose to be patient.

    Aside from that, the proficiency with his Skills, Abilities, and sses was increased slightly in each category, especially in his Magic, mainly the Winter Magic, where it was most observable. The Winter Magic specifically, because it was something that Smaiel took great enjoyment in, probably because of his Lord ss Knight of Niflheim and his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler.

    Samiel observed his records before deciding on what path he should take, before deciding on the path of the Polearm Mastery, as that was the one where he had the greatest potential to make a martial achievement.

    "Whatever... we should look around... I am getting hungry."

    Samiel stated mainly to himself, as Nefertari was already napping on a nearby tree branch, because the moment she returned to him, she decided it would be prudent of her to take a nap after working so hard.

    ***

    5th Floor of the Tower, somewhere on another unknown floating ind.

    Far away from Samiel''s location, on another part of the 5th Floor of the Tower, on an even more oversized floating ind, the space cracked a figure was teleported in. A beautiful female elf, with long silverish blonde hair, and pointy ears, wearing abat outfit, was looking around while gripping a weird item.

    "Wee to the 5th Floor, Your Highness."

    Of course, this elven woman was Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon, who, simrly to Samiel, was teleported to the 5th Floor, absolutely to somewhere elsepared to Samiel''s location as they were separated.

    Contrary to Yvraine, Samiel never asked about the Floors beforehand, mainly because the unknown filled him with a sense of thrill and adventure, so he chose not to read anything about the higher Floors where he would be ascending.

    In her opinion, this was inly stupid, but she didn''t take the "happiness" from him by "spoiling" him the future events. For him, this sense of adventure was giving him something akin to reason to live and it was one of the very few things in his life that brought him any joy and interest.

    "Can we start already?"

    Yvraine asked, irritated as she looked at the Legendary Level professional from the Nesser Dynasty, one of the hermits who were meditating for the enlightenment from the Nesser Dynasty on the 5th Floor.

    Yvraine actually received the same Quest as Samiel because, unknown to him, the Quests of the 5th Floor were the same because this Floor didn''t have a Floor Ruler, and the Tower System was testing everyone who wished to use the Quest Method to ascend to the 6th Floor. This was one of the very asions across the entire Tower where everyone got the same Quest issued by the Tower''s System.

    Of course, the requirements, or basically the grading system if someone passed or not, are vastly different for every participant. For example, Samiel, who was regrly getting the Advancement Quests from the Tower''s System, would be evaluated countless times stricter than, for example, Yvraine.

    "What do you wish to focus on, Your Highness?"

    Asked the Elven Legendary from the Nesser Dynasty, the elf who was leading the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty. He was one of the hermit martial artists who dedicated their whole lives to pursuing martial arts. Due to the natural conditions of the 5th Floor, countless of them have been living here for whole centuries, if not millennia.

    "Silvermoon Swordsmanship, I still cannot harvest the Essence of the Moon into my sword."

    Yvraine answered instantly because the Silvermoon Swordsmanship was something that had been bothering them for some time already. In theter stages of her sword style, she needed to harvest the Essence of the Moon, subsequently incorporating the Essence of the Moon into her swordsmanship, further increasing its already fearsome destructive capabilities.

    "Then I will bring you to Lord Moon Sword''s floating ind."

    Stated the man with a high amount of respect when he mentioned the title of Lord Moon Sword. Even Yvraine couldn''t contain her surprise hearing that someone of that Level was actually on the 5th Floor all the time.

    Lord Moon Sword was one of the strongest powerhouses of the Nesser Dynasty and Silvermoon Species and could be counted as one of the most powerful Holies in the Tower. On the top of that, he was also one of Yvraine''s Ancestors from her mother''s side.

    Of course, powerful experts like him or even Limit Legendaries would just take over the entire floating ind to themselves. At the same time, the weaker Legendaries must fight for the one or either learn how to share.

    This certainly depends on the floating ind itself, as some had better conditions than others. They differed in terms of Mana Density, as some had more Dense Mana and some less Dense Mana, and then there was the matter of the "enlightenment flora" which fell under the same principle as the Mana.

    Yvraine thus followed after the Legendary Level Elven Martial Artists until they arrived at the shores or the outskirts of the floating ind.

    "Be careful, Your Highness... in that ocean, many fearsome marine-type magical beasts are living, and even if a powerful Legendary fell there, he would be ripped apart by the fearsome creatures of the depths from the seas."

    When he saw that Yvraine was looking at the ocean beneath them, above which the floating inds were floating, he proceeded to exin the dangers of the oceans. Inparison, the floating inds themselves were not that dangerous when it came to magical beasts, as, on average, they were still only around Steel-Tier or some Bronze-Tier.

    The depths of the oceans were something where the real danger was.

    And till now, nobody explored it entirely and lived to tell the tale, so even the strongest of the 13 Gates were left in the dark about what the fearsome oceans of the 5th Floor were hiding. Some spected that it was inhabited by powerful Transcendent Level magical beasts that lived on the bottom of the seas, but those were only spections.

    Nothing was proved... yet.

    As both of them were standing on the cliffs of the floating ind, suddenly, from a nearby ind, a beam of light was seen, which split the sky and created stairs with moon-like color, connecting the two inds.

    "Lord Moon Sword has opened the path for you, but don''t dwell on the start too long... some of those monsters deep there could jump to even floating inds."

    The Legendary Level Elven Martial Artists bowed to her after giving out his warning and returned back to the forest. At the same time, Yvraine heeded the warning and swiftly crossed the moon stairs to another ind.

    Just as she was about to step onto the ind, the oceans shook, and not even a secondter, an enormous sea monstrosity jumped from the depths of the sea, attacking the moon stairs connecting the two inds.

    "5th Stance: Crushing Moon!"

    Just as the sea monstrosity was about to reach the moon stairs with its enormous jaws, with the entire body even bigger than the dragon form of the Cardinal Zalidraax of the Hall of Kadath, the giant sea creature measures several hundreds of meters in length, a soft male voice was heard across the entire area.

    And instantly, sword-shaped moon energy fell into the sea monstrosity, cutting deep into its flesh as it effortlessly tore one of its fins and even part of its tail, as the creature roared in agony and pain.

    Amidst all of this, Yvraine swiftly stepped onto the ind, while the moon starts crumbled swiftly afterward.

    "That was one of the Charybaxos... really nasty creatures that are inhabiting the oceans here... due to them, crossing from one floating ind to another, is almost an impossible task because they are typically preying on people attempting such so they could eat them."

    Yvraine woke up from her stupor seeing the battle scene, which nearly cost her her life, by hearing the voice of the same man who drow away the sea monstrosity. She could feel that the creature was already nearing the Limits of the Legendary Level, and based on what Lord Moon Sword said, they appeared to be thriving here.

    "So you came here for the training in the Silvermoon Swordsmanship?"

    Lord Moon Sword appeared near Yvraine and just asked the question, probably not even awaiting the answer itself as he was scanning the Silvermoon Crown Princess entirely with his senses before he nodded and turned around.

    He motioned with his sword to follow after him to his hut. On the 5th Floor, the majority of its inhabitants, if not all, were basically those who wished to undergo enlightenment. While there were a few cities and towns, they were excitingly rare and usually were on thergest of the inds, which were very far away from here.

    Thus, most of the people, be it weak mortals of various Tiers, to mighty Legendaries and even Holies, lived the simple life of the resources they found on the floating ind they were living, as their utmost priority was to get stronger and not to live in opulence and luxury.

 Chapter 99 Meeting On The Fifth Floor

    The floating ind Samiel was on the 5th Floor of the Tower.

    After Samiel found himself some nice ce to spend his time in, during his stay on the 5th Floor, he decided to get something to eat because he was already getting hungry and he was in the mood for some meat.

    When he thought about it, it was a very long time since he had some good burgers, but those would be impossible to make here, as hecked any other cooking kit, and with the current tools he had in his possession, he could maximally roast meat above the fire.

    Not to mention he waszy to do anything else, so he decided on the roasted meat above the fire in the end, as that was the easiest and fastest solution with little to no effort.

    But even that sounded very good.

    A nice piece of beef seared slowly over the fire to medium rare, nicely roasted form the outside, while pink and juicy in the inside; such was the perfection of cooking meat over the fire.

    Nefertari remained sleeping at their dwelling, not really bothering with her hooman now that he had gone out and searched for the food as she was enjoying her nap. Samiel wondered how she could basically sleep over the majority of her life and... just nothing.

    Cats were creatures that slept for most of the time and often were veryzy; aside from grooming themselves and eating or asionally hunting, they spent their time napping or sleeping. Of course, Nefertari was no exception to this general almighty rule. Fortunately, Samiel didn''t really spend a long time hunting because it took him just a few minutes to find the nearest eatable magical beast.

    It was Steel-Tier Great Boar; he killed it with one swift hit and then dragged the huge corpse of the Great Boar, back to his dwelling, which was a dead-end tunnel in some huge rock. The entrance was filled with wood, and Samiel created there a provisionary wooden wall from the trees he chopped down.

    He dropped the corpse of the Steel-Tier Great Boar onto the ground before getting it directed. The first thing he did was to get rid of its fur, while normally, it would serve as a good nket or something soft toy on, but it was only a Steel-Tier.

    The one Samiel was using was from some Gold-Tier wolf-type magical beast whose pellets and furs were far better than the one from some Steel-Tier Great Boar. After skinning the animal''s corpse, he proceeded with the dissection by cleaving the meat altogether and portioning it into portions, depending on which part they were.

    As soon as Samiel finished the messy work, he lit a fire which served not only as a means of cooking the meat but also as a means of warming up the entire ce where he was staying because even though it didn''t actually look like it even a bit, the whole ind was pretty cold. And Nefertari liked to be in warm, and while Samiel was technically immune to cold, he took, wouldn''t say no to some nice warm fire.

    Samiel, due to his Lord ss Knight of Niflheim, wasn''t bothered a bit by the coldness of this ce, but he already saw that Nefertari didn''t like it very much, as she liked thefort of being in some nice and warm ce, which was something that Samiel also appreciated.

    For this time, he decided to go with roast venison, as he took a huge part of the venison meat, one of the best cuts, and hunger it above the pyre so that it could be slowly roasted. He added nothing to the mean, as he was going for the more simplistic approach, for the taste of the venison to be strongest.

    ''Hooman, when would the food be ready?''

    Nefertari was already getting impatient because, for the past ten minutes, she had been sitting nicely before the pyre and looking at the roasting piece of venison without blinking even once, awaiting the food already. Not to mention, she was constantly bugging him, and it was already bing very annoying, especially repeating the same sentence for the 10th time in the past five minutes.

    ''Be a patient, yes?''

    Samiel already said that sentence more than ten times today. She was like a small child constantly asking for something, repeating the question constantly until the thing was already done, and could be incredibly annoying.

    Suddenly as Samiel was about to start eating, he sensed someone near the ce where he was resting. His ears perked up when he heard the footsteps; they were heavy and radiated power itself; he immediately became very wary of the situation because clearly, ording to the preliminary scouting of the area done by the scout cat, it was evident that this ce was devoid of anyone aside from him.

    And traversing from one floating ind to another floating ind would require at least Supreme Stage Legendary Level because of the things that lived in the depths of the ocean, as Nefertari senses some extremely powerful magical beasts circling in underneath the Floating Inds. Probably waiting for some unfortunate specimens that would get careless and make a mistake during the crossing so that they could eat him.

    ''Knock, knock, knock.''

    Three times, someone had knocked on the door, and Samiel was unsure what to do and how to act in this situation. In the end, he opened the door, as the doors were not even a bit secured, so if the person who was knocking on the door wanted, he could easily get in, so he decided to open it and let the person inside.

    When Samiel went there and opened the wooden doors, he saw a man standing before the entrance. He was old, looking in his seventies, wearing a very nice aristocratic-looking outfit with a sword strapped to his side.

    His clothes were decorated were several medals and symbols, and his ck boots shined in the moon''s light, while his long cape fluttered in the strong winds, which were lifting up for this time; from his entire being, Samiel got a very intimidating feeling of majesty and power.

    "Dou you need something good, sir?"

    Samiel questioned, imitating the British ent from Earth. The man just looked at him curiously before he gave him a soft nod. The elderly man had some sort of charm around it, which Samile would swear was some kind of Racial Ability or Magic that other people would subconsciously lower their guard around the elderly gentleman.

    "Good evening, young man. May I enter?"

    The man asked while Samiel was right now unsure what to say as he motioned the man to enter. He followed Samiel and then sat down around the fire as Samiel started portioning the roasted venison meat. It was already cooked up to the perfection state, exactly like Samiel liked it and preferred his roasted meat to be.

    "Here you go, Hall Master."

    He said, passing the pieces of the roasted venison from the Great Boar to the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber. In truth, Samiel knew who the man was because he clearly saw the photos and portraits of him. Not to mention that he suspected that he<sub> </sub>

    "So you do indeed recognize me."

    The elderly man, taking from Samiel the roasted venison from the Great Boar.

    "Of course, I would... your photo is in the booklet that Cardinal Karliana gave me, together with all of the Cardinals and some other High-Ranking public figures of the Hall of Kadath."

    Samiel stated as he took a bite from the roasted Great Boar while Nefertari was already eating her full. She was eating with the speed of thunder, like a gluttonous cat she was, already having her second portion of food.

    "Good, then you could probably guess why I havee to meet you."

    Said the Menuhyutt as he kept eating while Samiel eyed him from time to time. He had some hunch about why he came here, but even then, it was a big thing for someone so illustrious across the entire Tower and even the whole Cosmos toe here just to teach him.

    "Partially, at least."

    The fire cracked; that was the sight of wood being very dry and burning nicely, as Samiel was enjoying the meat he cooked for dinner, Nefertari right now looked like a small ball already, and even the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath seemed to be enjoying the food.

    "I havee to teach you, not from the title of your position as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, but because of your own abilities and potential. You would be inheritorspletely and obtain everything that I know."

    The old man said after a while, to which, Samiel almost dropped everything he held, as this was something big. In a certain sense, this was even better than getting into the position of Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

    Being epted as inheritor of such a powerhouse as Menuhyutt Faulhaber, who was hailed the strongest expert under the Transcendent Level, and was rumored to havebat prowess in breaking the Dimensional Boundary of Mortals and Transcendents, was something that was exceedingly valuable.

    Certainly, that was not officially confirmed by anyone credible enough for it to be deemed as truth, but even having such rumors around him was enough for most to shit their pants.

    "I am very close to achieving the Transcendence, but due to some reasons, I have been pushing it back for millennia already, and not even once has there been a suitable person who could inherit my legacy and then face the greatest obstacle... finding a sessor for the position of Hall Master."

    Menuhyutt noted as Samiel''s eyes sharpened, looking at the old man who returned back to eating.

    "Don''t look at me like a gawking fish... the rules for the session for the position of the Hall Master are too strict, and rarely someone with the bearings of the Holy Son appears. The previous Hall Master waited for the entire Epoch before I joined the Hall and became the Hall Master."

    He stated, and at the same time, the wheels in Samiel''s head started working at the maximum speed before he came to the next question he wanted to ask.

    "What happened to him?"

    The Hall of Kadath was one of the oldest factions of all factions in the Cosmos; only a very few factions had such a long history as the Hall itself, while most of the factions typically perished with time or crumbled with their Transcendent backer was killed.

    "He ascended to Transcendence a few deceased after I took over. Right now, he should be somewhere in the Void or probably in some Higher Dimensional World or in the Immortal Realm; he always wished to return back home."

    Samiel could sense some sort of mncholy when he heard Menuhyutt talking about the previous Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath, especially when he was mentioning the Immortal Realm. The Immortal Realm, while not the strongest of the Higher Dimensional Worlds, was one of thergest, as the Immortal Path to the Transcendence was one of the easiest to achieve from what Samiel knew.

    "Now for the important things, and the reason why I came here... as the bearer of the blood of the Primordial Demiurge and Dual ss Bearer, I came here to teach you how to control your strength from the first properly... Karliana told me that you have a very hard time controlling your own power appropriately; that is something that needed to be fixed in order to achieve perfection."

    Samiel just nodded because this was indeed the truth. While he subsumed it after training for a few years, he still had problems some time adjusting his own power, or rather his control over his power wasn''t the best one.

    Because of the overwhelmingly powerful Mana he had, as part of his racial heritage, Samiel also needed to put a lot of effort into casting spells not to overload them with too much Mana.

    Using the number, for example, if for a normal caster the cost of 1st Level Spell is 1 Unit, then if Samiel used the same, he would overload the spell matrix ten times over. He needed to use just around 1/25th of the Unit to cast the 1st Level Spell due to the purity and density of his Mana for the same 1st Level Spell.

    "When I was young, I had exactly the same problem you are right now facing."

    The Hall Master said shortly after, as Samuel looked at him, surprised.

    "I, too, am an Old Deus with a very powerful lineage, so in my younger years, I was very terrible at the aspect of controlling my own power, and when it came to Magic, I needed to put ten times more effort than others to cast the spells and not overload them correctly. And mybat efficiency was crap; I was wasting too much power during my fights."

    The Hall Master Menuhyutt exined as Samiel listened attentively to every word he spoke.

 Chapter 100 Lord Moon Sword

    5th Floor of the Tower, somewhere on another unknown floating ind.

    For the past few days, Yvraine spent them training with Lord Moon Sword as someone who has mastered the ways of the Silvermoon Swordsmanship; hisbat prowess and skills with the Silvermoon Swordsmanship were out of anything she had seen before, and it was no wonder that he was hailed as one of the strongest swordsmen in the Cosmos.

    The training regiment was rigorous and strict; never in her decades-long life, had she undergone such a strict and brutal training regiment, as Lord Moon Sword was an absolute ve driver with no mercy when it came to the training and walking on the path of the sword.

    Not to mention that Lord Moon Swordpletely reworked the entire training and she was forced to learn the basics of the Silvermoon Swordsmanship once again, because when it came to this, everything started with the basics.

    "Again."

    Said Lord Moon Sword, who was sitting cross-legged on the nearby boulder and looking at the Silvermoon Crown Princess, who was shing and hacking with her sword. It was just a simple stance that she was repeating until she reached perfection itself with the stance itself.

    While Yvraine was very proficient in the Silvermoon Swordsmanship, by the words of Lord Moon Sword, what shecked was the essence of the Silvermoon Sword. Told in other words, she was pursuing the higher perfection so much that she neglected the basics themselves entirely, and the entire sword style suffered.

    And this continued for several more hours until Lord Moon Sword was satisfied enough to let her have some slight pause. When she was that Lord Moon Sword gave her a nod for her to rest, she sat down in the same meditative position as he, and she started meditating to recover faster.

    This ce was also very rich in Mana due to the presence of the same trees, which were rting the tranquil aura, which was created as the best ce to reach enlightenment. One of the side effects of this act was that the Mana density on the 5th Floor, especially on certain Inds, was unusually high.

    Especially in the inds that were upied by the strong Legendaries, and of course, the Holies took the best inds for themselves. These Floating Inds were like second homes to many of them, and there were even some Holies who were technically here for such a long time that they were already living there.

    "How long will we be taking this, Lord Elraroth?"

    Elraroth Daeric Yaennernamis was the whole name of Lord Moon Sword, one of the pirs of not only the entirety of the Silvermoon Species but also the whole Nesser Dynasty as a faction because he was one of their strongest Holies.

    "For as long as it would be necessary for you to master the basic essence of the Moon, without it, the Silvermoon cannot achieve its true might, never in your entire life. So, don''tin and try to rest... we will be continuing very soon."

    Answered the Lord Moon Sword Elraroth, who slightly opened his eyes and looked at Yvraine with his strict, piercing gaze, which made her lower her head as she continued in her meditation; any attempts to resist were futile, as the training was without an exceptions.

    Both of them were in a meditative position for the next hour in absolute silence. Sometimes Yvraine thought that she was turning to a monk as they were sitting in sce and silence, contemting the meaning of life.

    Especially the practitioners of certain long far Worlds, where the Path of Immortals was invented, as people in Mana Rich environments typically they meditated on rocks and absorbed the ambient Mana from the environment. It was pretty stupid and boring, in her opinion, sitting on some piece of rock for decades and doing nothing else than just absorbing the ambient Mana so you could safely increase your Levels...

    Nobody said a word until Lord Moon Sword Elraroth suddenly opened his eyes as a small blue magic circle appeared on his hand, some an image of a male Silvermoon Elf was disyed on it.

    "Ancestor."

    Said the Silvermoon Elf''s voice as he bowed to Lord Elraroth. Among the elves, there was a strict sense of social hierarchy, not as extreme as when it came to the Blood Races, but still, it was strong enough.

    And even though both of them were members of the same race, there was still a greater disparity in their status. Of course, then aside from that, there was a great disparity in seniority, as Lord Moon Sword was a very old Silvermoon Elf despite his rtively youthful appearance.

    "What is it, Kaeros?"

    Questioned Elraroth why he received the call from the Head of the Imperial Intelligence, usually the people like him are not bothering with the mortal matter anymore, especially after reaching theter stages of the Legendary; most of the experts of their respective factions would let go of the positions of power to focuspletely on their progress.

    So, as long as it was not a matter of something which was threatening the existence of the Nesser Dynasty, the old men like Elraroth won''t be bothered by their juniors. So seeing that the Head of the Imperial Intelligence was personally calling him, it must be something significant.

    "A new Holy Legendary has emerged in the Tower."

    Stated the Head of the Imperial Intelligence Kaeros.

    "Who is it?"

    When some Legendary reaches the state of the Holiness, it is every time a significant ground-shaking matter because it will drastically change the politicalndscape among the many factions of the Tower and the Cosmos.

    Right now, in the worst case, it could be someone from the Underdark. For the past thousands of years, the Underdark has been steadily growing in its strength, producing many powerful Legendaries and even producing a new Holy Legendary one thousands of years ago.

    Of course, Holies often go here and there, some of them subsequently achieve Transcendence and ascend to the Higher Dimensional Worlds, but some of them remain in that stage until the end of their lifespans.

    "It is Cardinal Shen Long of the Hall of Kadath. He achieved the state four hours ago in some random High World that the Mind Flyer Fleet invaded. Cardinal Shen Long achieved his breakthrough in his duel against Holy Legendary Mind Flyer whom he killed and forced the entire Fleet on the retreat."

    Reported the Head of the Imperial Intelligence as the Lord Moon Sword Elraroth was in deep thought right now. Currently, across the mortal parts of the Tower and Cosmos, the Hall of Kadath, The Guild and Vaultbank are the most powerful factions among the 13 Gates.<sub> </sub>

    There was not even known how many Legendaries or how many worlds these factions controlled, especially, The Guild was the most mysterious of all of them. At the same time, Vaultbank was basically a banking organization, albeit an extremely strong one.

    They, too, had their own military forces and many strong Legendaries because they had plenty of resources to create new Legendaries and cultivated their fearsome Punishment Divison, which was in charge of protecting their banks.

    "The Hall of Kadath gaining another Holy... Shen Long has already been stuck at his Level for more than five thousand years."

    Reaching the Holy State of the Legendary could be done in two ways. The easier one was basically failing the Transcendence when someone who was Limit Legendary attempted to Transcend, but ultimately failed, but managed to survive. In this way, one could achieve the state of Holiness, though their state is unstable, and there are many hidden dangers or consequences to that.

    The second method is if someone who was Limit Legendary to advance to the state of Holiness. This was an extremely arduous thing to do, as it required a high amount of talent, and usually, only a very few people are able to do this. The greatest perk of this method is that the people who became Holies on their won then would have high chances for Transcendence.

    And of course, there was a third method, and that was when someone was elevated to this position by the Transcendent Level powerhouse, but such thing was rarely done because for Transcendent, it would require a lot of effort, and it was not worth them due to certain reasons.

    "Mind Flyers are attacking en masse one more?"

    This was certainly the most troubling news. Usually, the Mind Flyer Fleets operated only when they were under the leadership of the Transce Level Mind Flyer or perhaps even some of the stronger Fleets under the leadership of the Elder Brain.

    Otherwise, the weaker Fleets without the Transcendent backing followed the instruction of those stronger. The hierarchy between the fleets was clear as the sun, as nobody dared to move without the orders of those at the top, and everything returned back to the Elder Brains. In a certain sense, the racial hierarchy of the Mind Flyers resembled a pyramid.

    And aside from that, they were just cooped up in some random worlds, trying to cultivate one of their own to reach the Annulled State.

    "Are there other worlds attacked by the Mind Flyers?"

    Asked Lord Moon Sword as the Kaeroth, the Head of the Imperial Intelligence, nodded his head in agreement because such was the case. Mind Flyers were considered as one of the scourges of the Cosmos, together with Swarm, Orks and Daemons, albeit for different reasons.

    Orks were destroying everything in their path and even not in their path due to their endless pursuits of Waaaggghhhs, while Daemons were turning everything into the extension of the Abyss, turning once vibrant worlds into ashes and dust of the Abyssal mes. Swarm is the name for races of Void Insects that devoured everything in their path, worlds or stars; everything became food for them.

    And Mind Flyers were envers of the Cosmos, who preyed on the weak worlds and those with weak protectors, so they could enve their poption and crudely say, eat their brains to boost up their own psionic potential.

    In this way, the Mind Flyers were able to produce many Transcendents and countless upon countless Legendaries. This made them an equal if not greater threat than even hordes of Fiends because they could match the denizens of the Abyss with their advanced psionic technology and great armies of ves.

    "Hmm... this is indeed a grave situation... it appears that the wheels have started working already."

    Stated Lord Elrorath as he cut a call with the Head of Imperial Intelligence.

    "Girl, I heard that you have been fraternizing with one of the Hall of Kadath?"

    The elderly elf questioned Yvraine as he raised his brow, looking at her carefully and observing any changes in her expression. Yvraine, now unsure how to react when one of her elders was interrogating her, just slowly nodded her head in agreement with his statement.

    "Good... I now got the news that another of their Cardinals, Cardinal Shen Long, achieved Holiness, and the Hall of Kadath is stronger once more, and most importantly, he achieved that during the fight with the Mind Flyers that attacked one of their worlds under their protection."

    He stated while Yvraine remained deeply surprised or outright shocked. Attacking any worlds under the protection or which directly belonged to the Hall of Kadath was suicide itself. And the fact that the Mind Flyers did it was a very bad sign.

    It was a signal that something big wasing, and the Mind Flyer Fleets were bing active once again, after countless years of just roaming through the Void of the Cosmos, asionally piging some worlds or two.

    No, this was begging for something bigger.

    "But the Mind Flyer Fleets have not attacked any worlds under one of the 13 Gates or those factions with strong Transcendental backing for countless millennia."

    Yvraine stated as just this fact made the situation countless times worse.

    Contrary to Orks and Fiends, Mind Flyers were crafty bastards. They purposely avoided all worlds that were under the control of the powerful factions not to suffer any heavy losses. Orks didn''t care, and the same of the Fiends, and not talking about the Swarm, which purposely chose those worlds as they were most rich on strong biomass.

    They chose their targets very carefully, always targeting those weak factions with little to no Transcendental backing or those whose Transcendents were weak, where even Mind Flyer Transcendetns directly participated in the battle.

    "Yes, they broke their usual pattern, meaning something big would soon be happening across the entirety of the Cosmos, and for that, we need to be prepared as much as possible. It is highly possible that they would be attacking our worlds next... as the apostle of the Mood Goddess, you have the greatest chance to be Holy within one thousand years with your unique situation if we y our cards well. For that, we need to adjust the training regiment."

    Stated Lord Moon Sword, as Yvraine, grimaced, but in the end, there was nothing she could do about it, as it was needed the right thing to do currently. Even though the current training regiment was outright torturous, it was beneficial for her to increase her strength andbat prowess tremendously in a short span of time.

 Chapter 101 Mana Control Method

    The floating ind Samiel was on the 5th Floor of the Tower.

    While Yvraine was training with the Lord Moon Sword Elraroth Daeric Yaennernamis, Samiel was doing his own training, which was vastly different from her. While Yvriane was focusing on mastering her sword style, Samiel was learning Mana Control Method.

    Mana Control Method was basically a technique to control Mana. Not everyone was using the Mana Control Method, typically for people in the Lower Worlds didn''t really have a Mana Control Method or only Nobles had it. Also, based on the strength of the World, then also the Mana Control Methods would differ and in the end, the Mana Control Method and its grade was something akin to a separation line between users of Mana.

    It didn''t really matter if they were Casters, Combatants, Warriors, Priests or Mages; everyone used the Mana in one way or another, and without a proper Mana Control Method, one''sbat prowess would be countless times lesserpared to those who had it.

    Not to mention, Mana Control Methods also had various grades, and the one Samiel was learning was one of the highest grades; it was an outright Transcendental Level Mana Control Method called the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, specifically tailed for those who had an affinity for Void.

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method was something that boosted the efficiency of Samiel''s Mana Use countless times over. Having Mana Control Method was essential for anyone who wanted to be a powerful Professional. Without it, the person would be wasting too much Mana for nothing. In the longer run, it was harder to advance in Level without practicing the right Mana Control Method, as the Mana in the bodies of Legendaries was extremely powerful. Without a suitable Mana Control Method, it would be almost impossible for countless to control properly.

    The reason for that was rtively simple; just the most outright benefit was saving Mana and wasting much less of it. Having the right Mana Control Method was essential for everything, and unfortunately, Samiel wascking one for a very long time.

    The reason for that, typically, most of the Mana Control Methods were based on either ss Type or Racial Type. Samiel technically had no way to gain Mana Control Method based on his Ice User ss, but with the presence of the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber, he obtained one suitable for his species.

    Especially due to the Void aspect of the Mana Control Method, it was rtivelypatible with the Ice User ss. It was like a heaven-sent gift, because it was suitable for both of the attributes that he had.

    "After you attain at least 10% Mastery of your Mana Control Method, your Mana will obtain elemental properties of Void."

    As Samiel was meditating over the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, he heard the Hall Master''s voice. When ites to the more powerful Mana Control Methods, especially those with Elemental Properties in them, after mastering them more and more, the Mana of the user will obtain the properties of the Mana Control Method.

    "Of course, Hall Master."

    Samiel replied before returning back to his meditation, as he was practicing the basics of the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method. Soon enough, he felt that his precision over the control of his Mana was getting better and better.

    [Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been created.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased.]

    Instantly with the creation of the Skill itself, Samiel also tremendously increased his proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method from 0% to 6%. Gaining proficiency with such aplex Mana Control Method as this one was even harder than increasing the proficiency with the Ultimate Abilities.

    The Nuclear Void Mana Control Method in terms of Grade, was on the Level of Transcendents. Now he got the skills of the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, and his control over the Mana was way better than before.

    Samiel always had problems with controlling his enormous Mana, which was very hard to control. Of course, now that he learned the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, it didn''t mean that he instantly got rid of the problem, but he could feel that his control increased several times over.

    ''He is getting on it very fast... that is good; not even I was getting the proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method so fast.''

    Thought the Hall Master Menuhyutt, while contemting over some matter, before he a bluish magic circle appeared on his hand.

    "Hall Master, the Azurian World has been attacked by the Mind Flyer Fleet led by Mind Flyer Holy Legendary. Cardinal Shen Long intercepted them; he achieved the Holiness and killed the Holy Mind Flyer leader."

    Reported one of the Bishops of the Hall of Kadath who was in charge of delivering information. When the Hall Master heard about it, he didn''t really dwell on the information that Shen Long reached the Holiness but rather on the disturbing news that Mind Flyers attacked their World.

    Even if it was a rtively unimportant Middle World, it was still a world under the rule of the Hall of Kadath, and the Mind Flyers had never attacked one of them before, or rather, this was a sign for the Menuhyutt that the new Great Game was approaching.

    "Fucking parasites."

    Menuhyutt Faulhaber cursed at them, showing no love for the Mind Flyers, despite their seemingly or suspected connections to the Outer Gods. Among the higher-ups of the Hall of Kadath, it was no secret that not all Gods, were "allies", because a heavy majority was basically a grave threat to the Cosmos if they were left to wander off from the Azathoth''s dream; it would spell wave of the endless trouble for the every living being.

    The Primordial Dreamer let everyone do what they wanted to do, because he was more like a neutral observer, and due to that single fact, most of the Outer Gods were divided into three groups. The first one was the one whom the Hall of Kadath served, the Azathoth''s Courts, which consisted of the progeny of the Nuclear Chaos.

    Then there were the others, which wanted to escape from the Azathoth''s Dream and enter the reality of the Cosmos, and for that reason, they were using various means, and because Azathoth didn''t seem really care, some of them were indeed sessful in their endeavors.

    And thest group were called the Rogues. They were the ones who were mainly natural, wandering through the Cosmos, or were not rted to Azathoth at all, and were Edlrtich entities from the long-forgotten times when the Cosmos and Tower were just forming or didn''t properly exist at all.

    Hall Master Menuhyutt knew that the primogenitor of the Mind Flyer Race and the one who created them, the Greater Brain, belonged to the third group. An Eldritch Entity or rather an abomination from a long-forgotten past, almost as old as Azathoth himself.

    "I will send a word to Lord Inquisitor to destroy a few of their Fleets that don''t have any Transcendent Level Mind Flyer in them."

    Stated Hall Master severely.

    If the lesiarchy was the official face of the Hall of Kadath, and the Holy Temr Order was its military branch of the Hall, then the Inquisition was the strongest branch, filled with countless experts that acted as brutal executioners of all enemies of the Hall of Kadath.

    The Inquisition had only a few members, not even a hundred, but they were extremely powerful and ruthless, often tasked with carrying out missions that involved exterminating entire worlds and the local poption when they did something which offended the dignity of the Hall of Kadath.

    Subsequently, he cut the call with the Bishop before calling the Lord Inquisitor Ardyn Tiberrius, a mighty Holy Legendary, who was very close yet far from achieving the Transcendence, but contrary to the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber, Lord Inquisitor preferred to y in the Material ne, as by his words, it was fun here.

    Ardyn Tiberrius was tall, a young-looking man with dark red hair, wearing pitch-ck clothes, and on them, he was wearing a long leather trenchcoat. He smoked a cigarette while he was talking to the Hall Master with a bored expression on his face.

    "What is the mission, old man?"<sub> </sub>

    Menuhyutt''s brow twitched a little at the tant disrespect of the younger generations towards the older one, as this was already the second person of one of the highest positions in the Hall of Kadath who was not bothering with protocols a bit.

    "Take a few of your squads, and destroy several Mind Flyer Fleets that are not led by Transcendent Level Mind Flyers, afterward find one of their breeding worlds and destroy it... entirely."

    Ordered Hall Master Menuhyutt, as Lord Inquisitor Ardyn Tiberrius puffed out some smoke as he put a hat on his head, the mission was issued, and it was indeed a pretty interesting one and challenging at the same time, as the Mind Flyers are not easy opponents.

    Especially targeting their breeding world, which would be for sure protected by more than two Holies, made the blood boil in Lord Inquisitor''s veins, as that was something he weed.

    "Consider it done."

    Lord Inquisitor stated as the call ended.

    "At least this will give those fucking parasites some payback for the attack on one of our World."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt cursed among the Mind Flyer Fleets as a collective, the majority of them without the Transcendent Level Mind Flyer, but contrary to others; Mind Flyers were one of the most populous species across the Cosmos.

    They were very simr to Orks, a gue that spread across the Cosmos, infecting world after world, and it was almost night impossible to get rid of them. The only good thing about the Mind Flyers is the fact that their inner politics and their fundamental nature prevented them from working together and creating something like a unified Mind Flyer Fleet, or else, the entire Material ne would be long ago lost to them.

    Or not, depending on what the stance of the Higher Dimensional Worlds would be, but even if they interfered, then the war would ravage the Material ne to an extent where even Great Cataclypsms would seem like child''s y to that.

    After dealing with this matter, he returned his attention back to Samiel, who finished all rounds of the Mana Controlling exercise that he imparted to him so that he could increase his control over his Mana.

    While this wasn''t the first time when the elderly Hall Master was teaching somebody, it was the first time he had a disciple because before, nobody came close to fulfilling his criteria for bing one.

    "I have finished everything, Master. I can right now feel that my Mana is more controble than before, and I am also wasting way less than before."

    Samiel stated, to which the Hall Master nodded, fulfilling his expectations.

    "Master, may I ask you a question?"

    Samiel wanted to ask him about the Ability Seed that he obtained by killing and devouring the crumbling soul of the Transcendent Daemon that he fought on the 3rd Floor, who was possessing the body of the Forest Troll Chief.

    "Go ahead."

    The elderly man said.

    "How can I fast germination of the Ability Seed?"

    Samiel asked because he didn''t really have a clue about how to fasten the germination of the Ability Seed that he obtained from devouring the soul of the Transcendent. It was obtained by a fluke of luck, especially due to the state of the soul itself and a little bit of recklessness.

    "Ohh? Did you manage to obtain an Ability Seed? Those things are pretty rare; I guess the one you obtained should be from devouring the soul of Transcendent."

    Samiel just nodded, not really surprised by the fact that the Hall Master already knew. With his experiences and, most importantly, superior senses, it was highly possible that he had already sensed the Ability Seed inside Samiel''s body.

    "Germinating the Ability Seed is a bit tricky; it usually depends on the type of the Ability Seed itself, which I presume you had no idea about. So the best thing would be the identity of the Transcendent; it could give you more clues on what to do... but generally, even if you know his identity even after devouring his soul, then you have only two possibilities."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt exined as Samiel was listening attentively.

    "The first choice is to wait until the seed has matured naturally or then there is also a choice of feeding the Ability Seed with the Soul Force Crystals, and thus with nurturing greatly reducing the time needed for the germination of the Seed."

    This opened a new possibility for Samiel, though he didn''t really want to part with his Soul Force Crystals because he had only around one hundred of them, and he nned to use them to create another Higher Undead.

    So he wasn''t really thrilled at the idea of using the Soul Force Crystals to germinate the Ability Seed, but clearly, there was no other possibility if he wanted to obtain the Trasncenden Level Ability as soon as possible.

    "By leaving it naturally germinate, how long could it take?"

    Samiel asked curiously.

    "For Transcendent Level 4 Ability? If you are lucky, then only a few centuries."

    When he heard that, he decided to use the Soul Force Crystals because there was no way he was waiting a few centuries or possibly even several thousands of years for the Ability Seed to germinate on its own.

    Of course, from Menuyhutt''s point of view, the timespan of a few centuries was no different, like a few years or perhaps months, to ordinary humans at the Mana-Less Worlds. Yet for Samiel, who was still adjusting to the bing long-lived creature, it was still too much.

    "I think I will be using the Soul Force Crystals to hasten the process... perhaps by some chance, won''t you have some in your possession to part apart with?"

    Samiel asked, trying to get some free Soul Force Crystals, as the Hall Master frowned at his shamelessness, but in the end, he took out a few of the Soul Force Crystals and threw it at Samiel.

    "These ones are made from the souls of mortals of Mana-Less Wolds; each Crystal is made from 1 billion souls."

    The Hall Master exined as Samiel stared at the Soul Force Crystals in absolute wonder. Of course, the people from the worlds that were not touched by Mana or any of the supernatural energies, such as Psionic were not awakened as ss Bearers, and thus their souls were way weaker.

    An enormous number of souls was needed to create Soul Force Crystals out of their souls, especially the high-graded crystals; fortunately, typically, the Mana-Less Worlds had a very high poption, sometimes even higher than that of the High Worlds.

    "Don''t absorb it right now... save it for ater time; right now, we need to focus more on the controlling exercises; our first goal is to achieve wless Mana Control through the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method."

    The Hall Master said; Samiel then put away the Soul Force Crystals into his Dimensional Ring, as they focused on controlling Mana to achieve the wless Mana Control, meaning when he was suing Mana, he won''t be wasting anything.

 Chapter 102 Evolution

    Several weekster

    For several weeks, Samiel had been training in the usage of the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, as his proficiency was increasing at tremendous speed; because Samiel had a strong affinity to the basic attributes of the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, the training went fast from the start.

    And as he expected, soon enough, it reached the long-awaited 10%, which was fundamentally the first milestone in practicing any Mana Control Method.

    After he learned the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method and obtained his initial proficiency, any other progress he made was extremely small and took a very long time already. Unfortunately, Menuhyutt told him that it was a normal urrence and that only through hard work he could progress in proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method.

    Not to mention that the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method was Mana Control Method on the Level of Transcendents, meaning it was extremely hard even toprehend, not to talk about its usage.

    Of course, the most gained benefit was a continuous decrease of wasted Mana when he was casting some spells or using any other Abilities. This was notable the second he learned the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, as he could instantly feel it. Also, it made Samiel realize how much Mana he was wasting before.

    On the 3rd Floor, he tried to learn Yvrain''s Mana Control Method, which was titled Silvermoon Mana Control Method. Nevertheless, it proved to be futile because this peculiar Mana Control Method was suited only for the Silvermoon Elves; for Samiel, he couldn''tprehend and use even the most basic form.

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased.]

    Suddenly, when Samiel was meditating, he heard the notification from the Akashic Records, the moment when he felt his Mana was changing. It wasn''t like his Mana was getting denser or purer than before, but rather this was a different type of transformation.

    His Mana was getting slight properties of the Void, which was rather an indescribable feeling. Before, in its fundamental essence, his Mana felt neutral, without any aspect of something unusual. Right now, when he sensed his Mana, it felt freezingly cold and somehow corrupting?

    It was very hard to describe, but Samiel could clearly tell that it was way better than before; it felt closer to him than before. That was because Samiel, as a partial Eldritch Creature, felt much closer to the Void.

    After the feeling on his Mana subsumed, Samiel suddenly felt something different from his body; he focused his senses on the changes happening in his body when he felt his cells undergoing tremendous changes.

    Samiel was Old Deus, a hybrid of the Eldritch Creature and Human, so the proportion of the two was like 50/50. His bloodline was not awakened properly, but right now, he sensed the cells of the Eldritch part of him being strengthened, and at the same time, they were devouring the human cells in him.

    [Racial Evolution has been initiated due to the influence of Mana getting properties of the Void.]

    [Samiel Zentaur has evolved from Old Deus - Human/Eldritch Hybrid (50/50) to Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (75%) / Human (25%) Hybrid.]

    When the process was concluded, Samiel felt that he was once again several times stronger than before. Especially with the change in his race, being once again closer to evolving into the pure Eldritch Creature.

    What Samiel was unaware of, was that this transformation also changed his psyche, albeit not that strongly and not that openly, but Samiel was bing closer and closer to the mentality of the Eldritch Creature.

    Samiel innately felt that his connection to the Void increased tremendously, and he could cast the Void Magic more freely than before, and more importantly, he didn''t have to fear the grave side effects of using Void Magic. On the physical level, Samiel also felt morefortable and more like he was heading towards something where he belonged.

    "I see that you underwent the racial evolution."

    The voice of the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber woke Samiel up, as the old man was sitting opposite to him, also in a meditative position, because he was too practicing the same exercises as him.

    It was something that fascinated Samiel because the man was proimed by many as the strongest person under the Transcendent Level, but he never stopped his training and continued to train every day, even repeating the same basic exercises that only mortals would do.

    "The Nuclear Void Mana Control Method is fundamentally a prerequisite for you to one day control the Void itself, like the Outer Gods or Void Lifeforms. If you achieve the proficiency of 100% andpletely master the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, how to control the Void at your whim, but the secret in this lies, you need to master the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method when you are still mortal."

    Menuhyutt exined while Samiel''s ears perked up. He knew that this technically didn''t apply to him fully because once he evolved to a pure-blooded Eldritch Creature and then subsequently ascended as Transcendent, then he could achieve the same.

    But there was a very significant difference between something you learn on your own and something you obtain as an already done thing. Each one has its own perks and advantages, but at the same time, ites with its own disadvantages.

    With this method, Samiel could obtain andbine the best of the two worlds into one, greatly enhancing his own power that he would obtain in the future. The only people who ever practiced the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method were him, Menuhyutt Faulhaber and a few other people in history, who either already perished or achieved the Transcendence.

    [Due to your recent evolution of being closer to the Eldritch origin, the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been strongly influenced by the evolution, and the proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 10%]

    Suddenly, Samiel got a notification from Akashic Records, and he immediately went to try the strengthened Soul Devour while taking out some random souls before stuffing them into his mouthing and munching on them like they were snacks.

    Previously the proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour was 25%, but now it skyrocketed to a staggering 35% in one go. Not only that, but he felt that he could obtain more power from the souls he ate, which was another good perk, before he threw some more souls into his mouth, as he was a bit hungry.

    "Now that you obtained rudimentary mastery over the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method and your control has already got to the eptable level, we will be focusing on the Magic and especially on the aspects of the Metamagic."

    Metamagic had several important aspects: Spell Control, Combat Casting, Spell Fusion, Empower Spell, Maximize Spell, Spell Pration, Silent Spell, and Spontaneous Casting or Multi-Cast. These were the basic aspects of the Metamagic Techniques, something that essentially separated normal Magicians from Elites and Elites from Masters.

    Even a single Metamagic Technique, when used correctly at the right time, could decide the oue of the fight between two Professionals because every single one of the Metamagic Techniques provided a tremendous boost to the spells cast in a certain way.<sub> </sub>

    Samiel had already started learning the Spell Fusion, as right now he could fuse 2nd Level Spells and his proficiency was only increased at a steady pace. Mainly because he was fusion verypatible spells of the Void Magic, Winter Magic and Necromancy Arts, basically finding a way how to "grind it".

    With his newfound method on how to essentially grind the Metamagic Skill: Spell Fusion, he was achieving rtively quick progress in increasing his proficiency with this concrete Metamagic Skill.

    "I already had some progress with the Spell Fusion to a certain degree."

    Samiel stated, holding no pride in his words, though, because he still knew nothing in the great scheme of things. Albeit he was talented in the aspect of Magic, which he admitted, he knew that there were those who achieved much more, as there were still a lot of things that he needed to learn.

    "Demonstrate."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt instructed; Samiel then nodded his head before Samiel went to the casting process. He chose two 2nd Level Spells, one from the Necromancy Arts called the Ray of Enfeeblement and one from the Void Magic the Maddening Whispers.

    2nd Level Spells Ray of Enfeeblement basically weakened the target and the 2nd Level Spell Maddening Whispers attacked one''s sanity, typically driving the weak-minded individuals to the madness outright.

    Instantly, Samiel performed wless Spell Fusion for the 2nd Level Spells, to which Hall Master nodded in eptance, not surprised a bit, just like everything was in his expectations. The higher level of spells one wanted to fuse, the harder the Spell Fusion became, and the caster needed to calcte practically everything because if there was one slight mistake... it could have severe consequences.

    "For now, I can see that your Spell Control is within my expectations, so we will be focusing on the Combat Casting technique."

    He stated something which Samiel wanted to learn, though he struggled with it on his own. Combat Casting was a hard thing to achieve and was typically used by Magic Casters who preferred to fight from a close distance or by those who hadbinedbat style, like Yvraine.

    While Samiel could cast spells duringbat when he was fighting someone, it was nowhere near the level to be called Combat Casting. This was also a technique that could greatly enhance hisbat capabilities in a very short time, even if he learned the basics of the Combat Casting technique.

    "The basic essence of the Combat Casting is not just casting spells during thebat, but casting them like a flowing water, without any disturbance and losing the focusing,bining a focus on the ongoingbat with the focus on casting the spell."

    Samiel nodded because this was something that hecked. When he was casting spells during thebat, he was always creating distance between himself and his enemy or using his Uneads as a distraction or any other means of buying a few seconds to cast the spell.

    This was not the Combat Casting, but rather casting spells during thebat. Two entirely different things altogether, albeit people very often mistook them, including countless Casters, who had them for one and the same thing altogether.

    "The easiest way to learn for that will be through the fight. We will fight, and I will show you what the perfectly executed Combat Casting looks like."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber stated; Samiel nodded because this was to be expected. Fortunately for Samiel, the old man suppressed his strength to match his Level. To Samiel''s surprise, even though Menuhyutt copied Samiel''s Level and even suppressed his Mana to the same state as him, he was still outssing him a bit in terms of raw power.

    This was the difference between controlling your own power and other things that typically came with experiences and needed to be learned. Hall Master was ancientpared to Samiel''s perception of time; he would be Ancient even from the viewpoint of many long lives races.

    So it was understandable that he mastered everything about his own power, so even if technically on terms of Level and Mana there was zero difference between them, he was still able to suppress Samiel in their fight when they unleashed their auras on each other without any problem.

    "Now that the warm-up is finished, we will start the Combat Casting lessons. Use any Spell which is mostfortable for you to use, while we will be shing in the close-quarters."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt stated while brandishing his sword, as Samiel looked at the sword in his hand. Contrary to what many would expect from him, the sword he was holding was just an average dwarven-manufactured one. However, it still contained enormous sharpness and all Samiel''s senses warned him to be careful.

    And then, in split of a second, the man teleported before him, shing at Samiel with his sword, befitting his reputation as the Sword Sage, which was also the name of one of his ss, as the old man was Dual ss Bearer like Samiel himself.

    Samiel immediately dodged and conjured several 1st Level Spells of the Necromancy Arts, Bone Spear, shooting them towards the old man, who, with a single swing of his sword, broke them in two as they fell on the ground.

    Immediately after, he attacked Samiel once more, forcing him to take several steps back as he was being pushed around like a ragdoll. Nheless, even Hall Master was somewhat surprised that he managed to dodge all of his iing attacks.

    At the same time, Samiel asionally cast some spells; usually the ones he knew the best, and without losing his concentration on the fight and casting, achieving some sort of symbiosis between the two of them.

    "That was a good start."

    Hall Master said with a nod, stopping the fight midway.

    "Thank you, master."

    Samiel stated as he caught his breath.

    "For the rest of the day, you are free to train whatever you wish... we will be continuing with the Combat Casting Training starting tomorrow morning."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt stated.

 Chapter 103 Metamagic Training

    Several dayster, the 5th Floor.

    Among the lush green grass fields, a young man with long red hair was fighting with the old man with long white hair and a pair of horns sprouting from his head, as countless spells were being cast and shot each passing second.

    "You are doing good; now we will increase the intensity."

    Remarked the elderly man as he continued with the attacks, this time with increased speed contrary to the past time. Every move executed by the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was not only profound and elegantly done but also contained unspoken majesty and grace.

    Samiel then nodded and started adjusting himself to the new pace of the fight. During the past few days, from the teachings of Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber, Samiel had a very good grasp of the Metamagic Technique Combat Casting.

    As Samiel cast another few spells simultaneously attacking Menuhyutt with his Ice Trident, suddenly Samiel heard the notification from the Akashic Records, which sounded in his ears as translucent windows appeared in front of his eyes.

    [Metamagic Skill Combat Casting has been created by Samiel Zentaur.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill Combat Casting has been increased.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill Combat Casting has been increased.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill Combat Casting has been increased.]

    Finally, after several days of brutal training and spars, in which he was beaten to death several times over, especially after undergoing his evolution from obtaining the Void properties for his Mana by getting high proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, one thing about him which was boosted tremendously was his regeneration.

    Yeh, Samiel''s regeneration got boosted several times over, together with his Stamina and Vitality, which basically allowed the Hall Master to increase the pace of their fight and also the ferocity they were fighting.

    Instantly after obtaining the Metamagic Skill Combat Casting, Samiel could sense that his ability to use the Combat Casting was more wless and more seamless. It was a very nice feeling, as he was casting one spell after another, while at the same time, he was fighting with the elderly Hall Master in closebat.

    Right now, Samiel has already grasped the basics of Combat Casting, allowing him to divide his focus on thebat itself and casting the spells. Most importantly, Samiel achieved it through pure training and not through some Ability or racial ability, which would allow him, for example, to divide his consciousness into several parts.

    "I see that you have already obtained d the Metamagic Skills... impressive... several days faster than I initially anticipated."

    Menuhyutt Faulhabermented, stopping his subsequent attacks as he stared at Samiel with a weird smile on his face, but it was clear that he was satisfied with his current progress. The old man rarely let out any emotions appear and typically kept his poker face throughout the day, not showing his thoughts on the outside.

    "Will we be going through the other aspects of the Metamagic?"

    Samiel questioned, sitting down on the grass cross-legged. Learning the other aspects of the Metamagic would be greatly advantageous for him because they would elevate him further as a Caster and tremendously boost up hisbat prowess andbat efficiency.

    "For now, not... learning everything at once could be rtively dangerous. Not one by one, but if you learn many Metamagic Techniques, and use them at the same time without properly mastering them, then it is highly possible to be overwhelmed by the Spell itself."

    The Hall Master exined, to which Samiel nodded.

    "I noticed that you have been using trident most of the time in our spars. I take it that it would be your weapon of choice, I presume?"

    Samiel nodded because, indeed the trident was going to be his weapon of choice. He was collecting the shard of the Trish, which was an Ultra-Order Grade weapon, which was the highest grade for the artifacts in the whole Cosmos.

    Of course, even though he currently had only one shard, that would be soon changing in the future; thus, he was investing in learning how to handle polearms. Interestingly, he found out that he was rtively good with it, and the trident felt good in his body like it was supposed to be in that way.

    "Even though I am not a master in handling the polearms, due to Eternal Arms Mastership, I could still teach you how to master the polearms to a certain degree."

    Eternals Arms Mastership was one of the rarest Level Abilities across the whole Cosmos; it was Level 4 Transcendent Ability, which allowed someone to use any weapon at the level of experienced Master.

    Of course, it was not the samepared to a person who developed his mastery over one weapon to a frightening level, but it was something to allow a person to have terrifyingbat adaptability and a high degree of unpredictability.

    Not to mention that thebat prowess was very high with the Eternal Arms Mastership. Samiel had only some proficiency with Swordsmanship, which was stuck at the 14%; on the contrary, Yvraine had already evolved it to Sword Mastery because she was very talented in that aspect.

    From this moment, Samiel started learning Polearm Arts as the Skill was called from the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber, and surprisingly, just several hourster, Samiel had already heard the notifications Akashic Records.

    [Skill Polearms Arts has been created.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    As Samiel was exchanging one blow after another with the Hall Master, both of them were holding ice tridents that Samiel conjured, training a bit with his Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler; he heard one notification from the Akashic Records after another.

    This continued for several more hours before Hall Master Menuhyutt motioned him to stop, and in an instant, their spar came to an end. After ending the fight, it was time for dinner, and that meant that Samiel needed to cook dinner.

    Bigger than usual.

    Not only for Hall master Menuhyutt Faulhaber who also came to enjoy his food but mainly because of himself. After his evolution and approaching closer to the Eldritch Creature, Samiel found out that he ate at least two times more than before.

    Fortunately, on the ind, there were enough magical beasts for him to hunt and then eat, and many of them were incredibly delicious. Also, for the past few days, his Familiar Nefertari was surprisingly also training with her abilities, which was very shocking on its own.

    Usually, she would spend either day sleeping and wake up only after his training was finished and he started preparing dinner. Even the Menuhyutt didn''t really have a need for any food because, after the transition to the Legendary Level, one doesn''t need such "mortal" things to sustain themselves.<sub> </sub>

    They were good off just on the Mana and nothing else.

    After one and half hours, the food was done; this time, it was chili, made from three types of meat from Steel-Tier Magical Beasts and the 6 kinds of hot peppers that were from several worlds across the Cosmos.

    Samiel bought them on the 3rd Floor from one of the traveling merchants, who was trading spices across the entirety of the Cosmos. Not to mention the topping was sour cream from the milk of Bronze-Tier Two-Headed Cow and sharp cheddar from Silver-Tier Red-Horned Goat.

    Even Nefertari was eating the chili, even though it was very spicy, due to various types of rare hot peppers that Samiel incorporated into it and other spices that were collected across the whole Cosmos.

    Even Samiel felt that it was a bit spicy; maybe he really went overboard, but then he saw old Master Menuhyutt eating it like there was no other way; clearly, the old man had a thing for spicy things.

    "I take that the chili is to your tastes."

    Samiel noted the obvious; even Nefertari enjoyed the spicy food.

    "Indeed, I always liked spicy foods."

    Elderly Hall Master answered.

    ***

    5th Floor of the Tower, somewhere on the floating ind where Yvraine was located.

    Just as Samiel was undergoing the training, Yvrianw was the same, as she was learning under the Lord of the Moon Sword, Elraroth Daeric Yaennernamis, who was instructing her on the secrets of the Silvermoon Swordsmanship and its subsequent Mastery over it.

    At the present time, Yvraine has already adapted herself to his torturous training and has not had a problem with exercising and noints have been raised, which is a good sign at this point. Considering that this was the first time in her life since she was undergoing proper strict, rigorous training, not like the one at the Imperial Pce, where everyone would shit their pants if she got injured.

    From the start, Yvriane was learning rtively fast. Yvraine was a natural talent with swords, and she learned very fast from the Lord of the Moon Sword and started grasping the essence of the Silvermoon.

    "Very well, you are progressing steadily..."

    Lord Elraroth stated indifferently while observing Yvraine repeating the sword stances, as the swords she was holding were glittering with the silverish light, which was a sign of the slight essence of the Silvermoon that was contained within her sword strikes.

    "Thank you, Lord Moon Sword."

    Yvraine then continued repeating the sword stances topletely master the basic essence of the Silvermoon Swordsmanship, which would allow her to freely use the aura of the Silvermoon, something exceedingly rare and very destructive if used correctly.

    In truth, she already felt that she was nearpetition of her Quest she got from the Tower''s System, as everyone who entered this Floor for the first time would get the same Quest from the Tower''s System, not depending on the fact if they were previously connected to it or not.

    "After you have finished the basic training, I will be taking you to another ind which is inhabited by some stronger Magical Beasts to test your prowess."

    Lord of the Moon Sword Elraroth Daeric Yaennernamis stated as Yvraine''s eyes glittered in anticipation, wanting to see how much has she progressed under the rigorous training. This was not to increase her Levels or raw power but rather to train some essential skills that needed some fitness and training to master and achieve their fullest potential.

    "After you have finished your training with Sword, I noticed that your use of the Metamagic is lousy and akin like of a novice; why is that?"

    Asked the Lord of the Moon Sword as if his gaze was piercing through Yvraine''s very own soul. With one gaze Lord Elraroth was able to see that Yvriane didn''t properly utilize one of the greatest advantages that she was born with it and was essentially wasting it away for paltry tricks and weak spells that were not worth of it.

    Contrary to the skills and techniques that many needed to learn and master, they often dedicated their whole lives to even peek at the pinnacle of the magic techniques and studying every single aspect of the Metamagic to the utmost extreme in hopes of utilizing it one day.

    Yvraine didn''t need any of that; for her, she was already born with everything she needed to perfectly utilized the Metamagic as a whole. In truth, she would hate to learn it because, from her point of view, it was boring as hell.

    In the form of a Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic, culmination and crystallization of all Metamagic''s Spell Control, Spell Fusion, Combat Casting, Empower Spell, Maximize Spell, Spell Pration, Silent Spell, and Spontaneous Casting or Multi-Cast.

    But even then, she wasn''t using the Ability to its utmost potential, and contrary to what many would expect, Yvraine rarely used the Magic in herbat style with the usage of the Metamagic. Basically, from Elrorath''s viewpoint, she was wasting a ton of potential.

    "I have no excuses for this failure Lord Elrorath."

    Yvraine answered stoically, not sure what to say. She was aware that the Metamagic was precious; even a single technique, if learned, would give the caster unprecedented advantage in a fight, not to mention she was born with an Ultimate Ability epassing all of them.

    Still, she barely used the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic to the maximum of her potential because, for a very long time, she didn''t really deem it necessary to use it, as most of her fights ended with just the might of her swords. Even if she used it, it was only for something superficial and a rtively easy spell, mainly ignoring therge potential of the Metamagic itself.

    Aside from the fights with Samiel, where she was forced to sue the Magic more extensively, she still lost. Now when looking at it retrospectively, she realized that she was very bad at utilizing the Metamagic at all, making all of her moves easily predictable and ineffective.

    That stemmed from her overall inexperience with the Metamagic, as she only used her swords for the majority of her life. Something which was a waste of potential because even if she was not born with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic, she was still a Silvermoon Elf.

    And all Silvermoon Elves were natural-born Arcanists, as the Magic came from their Bloodline like in the case of Sorcerers and they were naturally gifted with frighteningprehensive capabilities towards the Magic like those who embarked on the path of Wizardry.

    Take the Lord Moon Sword Elraroth Daeric Yaennernamis, for example. Even though he dedicated his whole life to the path of the sword and was a swordsman at heart, in truth, he could cast Spell up to the 9th Level included. While he had no chance at casting 10th Level Spells because that would require a more extensive study of Magic, he could cast effortlessly spells up to the 8th Level, and even some 9th Level ones.

    Not to mention, she was very well aware of how Samiel had struggled to learn concepts behind the Metamagic Techniques while she was just served it on a silver tter but wasted the majority, if not all of it.

    Samiel spent a long timeprehending even the basics of a single aspect of the Metamagic and learning one Metamagic Technique, as even that required tremendous effort and talent, usually abination of both of them.

    "Then we will need to work on that too... with the Elementia Magicae Magic and Metamagic you could probably fight more equally even against such abominations as your chosen one."

 Chapter 104 Traing The Polearms Arts

    Even if the terminology that the Lord Moon Sword Elraroth Daeric Yaennernamis titled Samiel indeed fitted for him. Samiel Zentaur was indeed an amalgamation of nature and an abomination of the highest grade.

    Not only was the man absolutely frightening in the department of individualbat, where he could effortlessly fight those Tiers above him and kill them. And the most frightening member aspect was that he could also go as one man army, where his Undead Army could ughter even ten times or even more numbers.

    Especially when he used the Void Magic, hisbat prowess was extremely terrifying. With the Void Magic at his disposal and his racial heritage, Samiel Zentaur was a nightmare on the battlefield,pletely unstoppable, like some God of ughter incarnate.

    She was sure that some of the Trasncednental entities, be it Gods of ughter or Massacred or Killing, Daemons who enjoyed casing carnage or other unscrupulous individuals were enjoying the show that Samiel was unfolding for them to watch. She knew that what was happening on the 3rd Floor; many of the Transcendentals watched attentively, meanly because her Goddess watched personally, which attracted the attention of others.

    And for Transcendentals, mortals were nothing more than entertainment, and only a few of them had the privilege of being taken seriously. Such was the cruel nature of the Cosmos, where even the weakest Trasncendetals could blow apart the entire Lower World to smiterness like nothing; mortals in the Material ne were rather insignificant in the greater scheme of all things.

    "Of course, Lord Elraroth."

    Yvraine just nodded her head. If she managed to incorporate the usage of the Metamagic more into herbat style, aside from her physical strengthening magic or some offensive magic that she asionally used, it would tremendously increase herbat prowess.

    As the Silvermoon Elf, she had an extreme affinity for the arcane, and she had to admit that her usage of the Magic was subpar at best till now. She used Magic only asionally, mainly in the form of some physical enhancement spells with temporary effects, and from time to time, she used some offensive magic.

    But it was just a waste of potential she had; it didn''t take a genius to realize that if she incorporated perfect usage of Magic into herbat style, then herbat prowess would be increased several times over.

    The aim of Lord Elraroth was for Yvraine to achieve the realm of elites, who could easily fight across their Levels and some even Tier, as they perfectlybined together every aspect of their very own beings. In perfect synchronization, thus achieving frighteningbat prowess, far above the limits that should be possible for their Level.

    "Right now, return to practicing the sword stances."

    Yvraine, hearing this resumed her training while Lord Elraroth observed everything. He was like a hawk observing his prey, not missing an inch, what she was doing and how she was moving, carefully guiding his proteg�� on everything.

    Lord Moon Sword, during his life, taught many people and even had several disciples, and Yvraine had to admit that even though his brutal and inhuman teaching methods, with no care about her health or well-being, was a brilliant teacher.

    Just based on the results they achieved in this short time, Yvraine could see that she already made a tremendous progress from the moment she have arrived at the 5th Floor of the Tower.

    ***

    5th Floor of the Tower, somewhere on the floating ind where Samiel was located.

    Several dayster, Samiel was still training with the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber in the Polearms Arts in the hope of increasing as much proficiency as possible. He hoped to attain the Skill Polearms Mastery by the end of the season on the 5th Floor.

    Depending on what the old man was willing him to teach or rather how long he was willing to teach him here, Smaiel knew that he could attain the Polearms Mastery Skill bec,ause as Master Faulhaber had the Ability Eternal Arms Mastership, he could handle any weapon on mastery Level with the proficiency of 100%.

    That was the might of the Level 4 Transcendent Ability Eternal Arms Mastership. Menuhyutt Faulhaber was one of the few people across the Cosmos who managed to attain such an Ability as Mortal, which was almost unheard of, as the only person with the only recorded person who had achieved the Eternal Arms Mastership as a mortal was Sc��thach, the Warrior Queen of the Land of Shadows.

    Land of Shadows was a weird ce in the Cosmos; it wasn''t a world or Floor, but rather some sort of pocket dimension that existed on its own, and was considered as a haunted ground filled with the various forms of the Undeads and other unspeakable creatures that were technically imprisoned there. In the Cosmos, the Land of Shadows was considered more like a myth, as many people didn''t even believe that it existed and considered it a legend.

    And Sc��thach was the Gatekeeper of the forsaken ce, responsible for nothing entering the ce and nothing leaving, forever imprisoned there. Menuhyutt told Samiel that he visited that ce several times during his life, and after that, he never spoke about it, and neither did he spoke about the Warrior Queen that lived there, technically imprisoned as well because she couldn''t leave the ce as well.

    And just like that, Samiel was training with the Menuhyutt Faulhaber, though this time, he was repeating thebat stances for the Polearms, which was rtively easy with Samiel''s superior memory.

    Due to that, he was able to easily learn them, memorizing them and subsequently executing them with rtive ease. The old man was a believer that experiences were the best teacher; thus Samiel was thrown to the fight instantly as he started learning the Polearms Arts.

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 4%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 3%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 2%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 5%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 2%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 4%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 3%.]

    With just a few days worth of training, Samiel managed to increase his proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts from the measly 3% to a staggering 30%, which was a 10 times increase, meaning that he was no longer any amateur and could put up a very decent fight with the trident already.

    "You are getting better and better."

    The elderly Hall Master stated, with a weird affectionate smile, that Samiel didn''t really expect to see. For the past weeks he spent with the old man, they developed a very non-standard rtionship. While Samiel was technically his disciple, the rtionship between the two of them was somewhat closer.<sub> </sub>

    Menuhyutt Faulhaber was a very old man without any descendants; there was nobody who would inherit his legacy, aside from Samiel, who was his sole, first, and thest disciple, because he knew that he wouldn''t be taking anyone else.

    "Thank your master."

    Samiel answered as the Hall Master dispersed Samiel from his training because it was time for the pause that wouldst two or three hours, enough for Samiel to regeneratepletely, and Samiel decided to use this time to absorb some more Soul Force Crystals for the Ability Seed.

    For the past weeks, he was devouring some Soul Force Crystals from time to time, slowly increasing the speed of termination of the Ability Seed, but he was using the Soul Force Crystals he obtained from Estrid because they were of lesser quality.

    This time he was going to use the ones he got from the Menuhyutt; those were of much higher quality, and were created from much more souls, while those Estrid gave him, were not so much.

    Samiel sat down cross-legged and took out one of the Soul Force Crystals that he had gotten from the Hall Master Menuhyutt and started slowly devouring the Soul Force from it. It was a tremendous amount of the Soul Force he was obtaining and directed it all towards the Ability Seed in his body.

    The Ability Seed itself was greedily absorbing all of the Soul Force, as it glowed a bit and shook before it started growing slightly. After several seconds, Samiel finished devouring all of the Soul FOrce from the Soul Force Crystal; afterward, he spent time minutes just meditating.

    After ten minutes, Samiel took out another Soul Force Crystals and started repeating the process.

    [The Ability Seed has entered the state of germination.]

    Samiel read the notification from the Akashic Records before he decided to stop entirely. He already felt he had absorbed enough souls for today, and absorbing more would be contra productive; thus he right now focused just on silent meditation and nothing else.

    After meditating for several hours, Samiel heard the voice of the Menuhyutt Faulhaber, who came to tell him that his meditation was over.

    "Pause is over... we are starting again, this time you will be fighting against you Undeads, solely with your Polerarm Arts. We will see how you will go far against multiple enemies at the same time. So, summon Ashimer and twenty of your strangest warrior-type Undeads and start already."

    Hall Master instructed; Samiel then carried out the order immediately, summoning the Ashimer and twenty of his strongest Bronze-Tier Undeads. Ashimer took control of the Undeads as they instantly surrounded Samiel with their weapons pointed at him.

    Of course, Samiel relinquished the control over his Undeads to Ashimer, who brandished his sword and appeared instantly near Samiel, shing at him with one of his swords, to which Samiel blocked it with his trident.

    Not having any to react because, from behind, he was simultaneously attacked by five of his Bronze-Tier Undeads in perfect coordination under Ashimer''s leadership skills, which increased their threat several times over.

    Samiel flipped backward,nding behind the five Undeads, immediately attacking them with his trident by hacking at them, only for his attacks to be blocked by Ashimer, who instantly appeared in front of Samiel.

    Contrary to Samiel, Ashimer was far more experienced in the aspect of closebat and weapon mastery. Under Ashimer leadership andmanding skills, Samiel was not getting any kind of rest.

    He was constantly being attacked by the Bronze-Tier Undeads from all sides, often forcing him to go on the pure defensive. Though after several minutes, Samiel was able to adjust himself to the tempo of the battle and started counter-attacking.

    Seeing this, Ashimer adjusted his strategy once more while the rest of the Undeads reorganized themselves into a newbat formation. Dodging to the right side, Samiel dodged the iing attack by one of the Undeads, who was formerly an Ork, holding an enormous two-headed axe, as he sent him crashing into other Undeads with one swift and powerful kick.

    Instantly afterward, he rushed at Ashimer, who readied his twin des in abat stance, to which Samiel jumped forward, jumping above several Undeads who wanted to attack him, but because he was high in the air, they all missed him.

    Ashimer used his sword in a cross-like pattern to block the iing trident, creating a small shockwave, which threw away all the surrounding Undeads around them; this turned into an exchange just between Samiel and Ashimer, who continued to exchange the blows one after another.

    After half an hour, the exchanges were bing more and more powerful; both of them were using more and more power, but in exchange for that, it was taking a toll on their stamina, though only Samiel''s was more visible.

    Ashimer, as an Undead, was basically impervious to this, and couldn''t be tired, but it, though what Ashimer was losing at a faster rate than regaining, was the Mana, which he was expending to keep up with Samiel.

    "That should be enough for this time."

    Menuhyutt''s voice stopped the fight, while Samiel just got the notifications from Akashic Records.

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 2%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 4%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 3%.]

    Right now, his proficiency with the Polearms Arts was already at a startling 40%, which was very nice. Of course, there was then the fact that it would be now harder and harder to increase the proficiency with the Skills.

    Samiel then dispersed and unsummoned his Undeads before he dispersed his ice trident and sat down on the ground. He himself was surprised by his development; he always thought that his talent for the weapons and marital arts was close to zero. Still, clearly, he severely underestimated his own talents.

    Of course, with the additional increasement of the Eldritch part of his being, everything about him was enhanced, including his learning capabilities and his senses.

    "Rest for a bit, and we will work on your magic this time."

    Menuhyutt stated.

    Right now, Samiel was undergoing extremely rigorous and brutal training, which was focused on learning how to use his power to its full potential.

 Chapter 105 New Ability

    Several dayster, 5th Floor of the Tower, somewhere on the floating ind where Samiel was located.

    Right now, Samiel was absorbing the Soul Force Crystals he got from the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber. The amount of Soul Force was enormous because the Soul Force Crystals that the Hall Master gave him were of the top grade.

    He slowly watched as his Ability Seed was getting bigger and bigger, and it was very close to germinating itself. Even the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was watching the entire process attentively because this was a rare asion where he could observe how the Ability Seed germinated into full-fledged Leveled Ability.

    The process was rtively slow, but Samiel wasn''t in a hurry and just focused on slowly devouring the tremendous amount of Soul Force inside the Soul Force Crystals and directing it all towards the Ability Seed, which was growing with each passing second after it devoured everything that Samiel fed to it.

    After several seconds, Samiel devoured all of the Soul Force from the Soul Force Crystals, which then turned to dust as the Ability Seed inside Samiel''s body started violently shaking and growing at the same time, as he heard a familiar voice in his ears.

    [The Transcendental Level Ability Seed started the process of germination.]

    Instantly, not even secondster, after Samiel saw that notification from the Akashic Records, something started changing. A very warm, if not outright hot, the feeling started rising from his very own distorted Eldritch soul.

    The burning feeling was getting stronger and stronger, soon to the point that he felt like his soul was being burned by the mes from the Nine Hells of the Baator itself. The feeling was outright torturous, but Samiel gritted his teeth and withstood the pain, as it was exponentially increasing.

    This was the final step in the germination process of the Ability Seed because it was finally awakening, and due to it being a Level 4 Transcendental Ability, it hurt like hell. Instantly, Samiel was overwhelmed by pain as he fell onto the ground from his meditative posture; the second the Ability Seed itself in his soul exploded and dispersed into countless particles, all apanied by the cold mechanical voice of the Akashic Records.

    [The Transcendental Level Ability Seed has finished the germination process and has undergone the awakening.]

    [The Transcendental Level Ability Architect has been awakened.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur haspleted the Hidden Quest: Create a Level Ability.]

    [Hidden Quest: Create a Level Ability

    Description: Create a Leveled Ability during the participation Advancement Quest on the 5th Floor.

    Rewards: Star Mind Protection Technique]

    [Due to creating Level 4 Transcendental Level Ability, you have been rewarded 2,000 Record Points for such achievement.]

    [Due to being a mortal connected to Akashic Records, you obtained additional Record Points.]

    [Additional 1,000 Record Points have been obtained.]

    Instantly after the Transcendental Ability Architect Awakened, Samiel heard and saw tons of notifications from the Akashic Records. Before looking at the notifications, he felt way different, like he was able to notice even the smallest details around him, not talking about all the memories that were clear as the sky to him.

    Samiel noticed that he remembered everything that he ever saw, experienced, or heard. Instantly, all the things about the martial arts or his studies with Magic or learning the Metamagic Techniques became much cleaner to him.

    ''Something like an eidetic memory...''

    Samiel, though, before looking through the notifications from the Akashic Records. He noticed that he got 3,000 Record Points, which his master warned him not to waste on anything, as they are a priceless treasure for the Transcendental Level entities mainly.

    Typically those under that level would just waste them on meaningless power-ups, but their real value was for the Transces for many things. Mostmonly, the Record Points could be exchanged for ways how to advance on the Path of Transcendence, or other things, where only the Record Points could be used as the method of payment.

    So, Samiel as an obedient disciple, listened to his master and decided to y a hoarding dragon. In truth, he didn''t really have a problem with that, he only needed to have diamond hands, and hold, hold, and hold.

    Aside from the Record Points, there was one notable thing before the Transcendental Ability Architect, and that was the reward for thepletion of the Hidden Quest of this Floor, and that was the Star Mind Protection Technique.

    [Star Mind Protection Technique - An Mind Technique created by ??? and recorded within the Akashic Records by ???. The entire technique is divided into the creation of the 8 Stars Octagram, protecting the Mind of the practitioner against Mind Attacks and other simr methods.

    Iron-Tier = 1st Mind Star Creation

    Steel-Tier = 2nd Mind Star Creation

    Bronze-Tier = 3rd Mind Star Creation

    Silver-Tier = 4th Mind Star Creation

    Gold-Tier = 5th Mind Star Creation

    Legendary Level Initial Stage = 6th Mind Star Creation

    Legendary Level Advanced Stage = 7th Mind Star Creation

    Legendary Level Perfect Stage = 8th Mind Star Creation

    Transcendental Level = Perfect Star Octagram Awakening]

    Samiel read the description of the technique in amazement because it basically allowed him to defend against various forms of mind attacks, depending on which Mind Star he condensed to defend his mind.

    As it followed, if he created the 1st Mind Star, then he would be able to defend against the mind attacks performed by Iron-Tier individuals. This technique woulde especially handy against psionic species like Mind Flyers, Githyanki, Githzerai or even psionic Humans.

    As he was already Steel-Tier, he could create two stars already, and he was nearing the Bronze-Tier, so then he could create the 3rd Star. This meant that he would be safe against the Steel-Tier mind attacks, and soon even the Bronze-Tier mind attacks.

    Mind Protection Techniques or Leveled Abilities, were essential and exceedingly rare at the same time. One''s psyche was typically one of the most vulnerable aspects of the being, together with one''s soul, and because of that, every single Mind Protection Technique was a priceless treasure.<sub> </sub>

    And as thest one, there was the Level 4 Transcendental Ability, the Architect.

    [Level 4 Transcendental Ability obtained by germinating Transcendental Level Ability Seed from the soul of Daemon Xargroth.

    1st Memory Partition �C Able to divide the partition thoughts to form multiple independent thought processes.

    2nd Thought eleration �C Can speed up the user''s thought process exponentially.

    4th Analysis - Analyzes and assesses the target.

    4th Equation Prediction �C Allows calcting the future viaplex calctions and predicting the next movements of enemies in a fight.

    5th Parallel Processing - Operates on any matter the user wishes to analyze, separating it from the regr thought process.

    6th �C Eidetic Memory �C The user has a perfect memory and is able to memorize everything he sees, not forgetting anything.

    7th Mindscape - ??? Requires proficiency of 50% to be unlocked]

    Samiel looked at the description of the Trasncedental Ability with wonder because while the Ability was notbat-oriented, it was something far more, and the Ability''s potential was fascinating. Abilities simr to Architect were rare; from what Samiel read, the mostmon type of Leveled Abilities were mainly those which were oriented for offensive or defensive purposes.

    Leveled Abilities with a supportive purpose were rather rare. Especially one like the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, which was extremely versatile, and could be used for myriads of purposes.

    For example, with just the passive effects of the Architect, he could master countless martial arts or weapon styles with rtive ease, not to mention its potential when it came to the learning and usage of Magic.

    Even right now, the process continued and everything that he once saw, heard and experienced was bing clearer and clearer, to the point that he was experiencing everything several times over. The good things and the bad things, as he had to put a lot of effort into stopping that process because some memories and some things that he was suppressing for a very long time started resurfacing and that would be highly detrimental to him.

    And while the Ability didn''t have outrightbat purpose, the effects of its aspects like Memory Partition, Thought eleration, Parallel Processing, Analysis, or Equation Prediction were like trump cards in any fight on its own.

    Just the effects of the Equation Prediction was frightening because as long as he gathered enough information about his opponent that was analyzed, he could then predict the future movements of his enemy to a great degree, making most of the close-quarter fights sure to win for him.

    "I see that you have obtained something great from the germination of the Ability Seed."

    Samiel was woken up from his trance by the words of Menuhyutt, who was observing the entire process carefully. It was evident to him that his disciple got something miraculous and powerful from the Ability Seed when it germinated.

    "Yes, Master."

    Samiel answered while giving a brief overall of the Ability to Menuhyutt. In front of the old man, it was rather useless to keep it secret because he would be able to see the changes in him within several seconds after they started the fight.

    Not only that, but now, Menuhyutt Faulhaber could adjust the training regime for Samiel, optimizing it for greater efficiency. Of course, his new training regime would be far more brutal and strict than it was before, so it could maximize the effects of the Ability Architect and so Samiel could get more power at a faster rate.

    "I will need to re-adjust your training regime with this new addition. If we are taking into ount your Ability, Architect, then your learning capabilities right now are of unprecedented speed and power; it would not be entirely wrong to say that you canprehend basically everything which isn''t containing deeper secrets of the Cosmos within a concise time."

    This means basic stances, spells and everything which was not containing the so-called higher power could beprehended, understood and mastered almost instantly, and not only that but even those things, which were meant for higher entities, would be countless times easier for Samiel to understand.

    "Master, I would like to try this ability inbat."

    Samiel stated as he couldn''t wait to test his new Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect in real action, preferably not against his Undead or Hall Master himself. Against the Hall Master, who was Holy, it would be virtually useless to use against his Undeads; it won''t be as effective as against real enemies.

    "Hmm... then I will take you deeper into the ind, where some powerful magical beasts are living, where you can test your prowess."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber stated indifferently as he started flying high in the air, and soon enough, even Samiel started levitating, being put to a flight by the powers of the peak Holy Legendary as they both shot towards the center of the floating ind.

    It took them several seconds, not even minutes, to arrive at the center of the ind, which was dominated by the peak Bronze-Tier magical beasts, though these ones were way stronger than those which Samiel met on the 3rd Floor.

    "You have two hours; afterward, I will be taking you back so that we can return back to the training."

    Hall Master remarked as Samielnded down onto the ground and started searching for his opponent. While during those time, the Hall Master himself remained floating high in the air because he was observing Samiel''s uing fight.

    Samiel walked through the trees, carefully choosing every step because he got warned that this area was fairly dangerous even to him. And as the Hall Master told him that, he decided it would be most prudent to take heed of the warning and thus decided to be careful.

    As he took the next step forward, he suddenly heard something running around him in circles, hiding in the bushes. He immediately realized that he had be prey for some kind of magical beast, and it was pretty intelligent and cunning at that.

    When he heard the creature approaching him, he instantly dodged to the side; as he dodged a huge stinger attack, as the creature that was preying on him showed itself in its full glory. He carefully looked at the creature, awaiting its next moves and deciding on his own next moves as the fight started.

    ''Arrat... damm my E-ranked luck.''

    Samiel, though, while immediately used several aspects of the Architect on the Arrat, namely Analysis, Memory Partition and Thought eleration, to grasp the capabilities and power of the Arrat.

    Arrats were a nightmarishbination of features of various territorial predatory beasts. It was clear that the ce where hended was Arrat''s territory, and because of that, he was immediately attacked by this hellish creature.

    They walked on four scorpion-like two-jointed legs ending in sharp ws, with two pairs of frontal wed appendages resembling a scorpion''s chelicera. Their bodies had thick leathery hides and patches of fur that grew like a lion''s mane and in stripes on the creature''s back, akin to those of a tiger. Their boar-like faces had tusks and six spider-like eyes. The bodies ended in a long scorpion-like tail with a dangerous stinger.

    Indeed the Arrat was a very suitable opponent for Samiel to test his new Ability, especially considering the almost unpredictable fighting style of the Arrats, he would be able to use the Architect to its full potential, or so he thought.

 Chapter 106 Quests And Rewards

    The Arrat was peak Level 50 Bronze-Tier one, and because of that, it was pretty powerful. The Arrat was very fast, and if not for his superior senses, and probably without the addition of the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, Samiel would be in trouble with keeping with it.

    The speed of the magical beasts was indeed out of this world, because Samiel knew that it was faster than even the average Silver-Tier Professional, far, far, far faster and he needed everything in his arsenal to keep up with its movements. Of course, the Arrats depended on their superior speed and agility to subjugate their foes, which made them very hard to fight against because they always chose the enemies who would be vulnerable against their speed.

    At the same time, he was using the Analysis on the Arrat and recording its capabilities and skills. The most significant advantages of the Arrat were basically two aspects of itsbat style. One was the poison, and the second was its speed.

    While regarding its poison, right now, Samiel was sure that it would bergely ineffective on him, mainly due to the fact that he was once again closer to his Eldritch origin, meaning that he was slowly bing immune to things like this. Still, maximally he would be a little disoriented from it.

    Thought the speed of the Arrat was the real pain in the ass. Arrats were very agile and fast, and with their speed, they typically utilized it in a series of unpredictable attacks on their target. Either needed to have a ton ofbat experiences that would allow someone to predict its movements or have simr Ability to Samiel, who was rtively seeding in calcting the next movements of the Arrat.

    Fortunately, Samiel could keep up with the Arrat''s movements, and soon enough, he knew that he had adequately analyzed of itsbat style after dodging another attack before using another aspect of the Architect, and that was Equation Prediction.

    Instantly, the entire worldview changed around him because, together with the Memory Partition and Thoughts eelleration, several tens of scenarios appeared in his head and before his eyes on how the Arrat could attack.

    Immediately when the Arrat outstretched its stinger to attack him, Samiel saw it through the Equation Prediction, even before the Arrat did the action itself, as he dodged to the side, conjured an ice trident, and with a  single swift sh, he severed the stinger from its body.

    Of course, using such a powerful ability didn''te without any price, as Samiel felt that his Mana Reserves were being depleted at a tremendous speed. Nevertheless, fortunately, his regeneration was able to cover it to a certain degree.

    Arrat shrieked in pain as its stinger was severed by its opponent; not only that but from the part where it was severed, it started being frozen by the residual essence of ice and front, which was left by any wound inflicted by the weapon created through the Winter Ruler.

    From the severed parts of its stinger, the entire part of Arrat''s body started freezing through the residual energy of the Winter Ruler as Samiel appeared in front of the Arrat, stabbing his trident to its eyes several times with lightning speed,pletely blinding the creature, as it roared in pain.

    Afterward, he conjured an ice sword midway and pierced the skull of the Arrat, effectively killing it on the spot. Right now, Samiel practically achieved what he wished, which was seeing the basic extent of his abilities inbat.

    Of course, right now, he knew that there were restrictions, especially on the Equation Prediction, and he could sense that it wouldn''t work on someone who was overwhelmingly powerfulpared to him; basically it won''t work on the Legendaries as he was right now, or even on the Mortal Levels if they had some sort of protection.

    In the end, after fighting with the Arrat, Samiel wasn''t too interested in fighting with more enemies because he had already experienced the Architect in the fight and could somehow innately sense the limitations and restrictions on the basic level.

    Right now, what he wanted the most was to make use of his remaining time on the 5th Floor, to learn as much as possible from the Hall Master with his frightening learning capabilities, which were enhanced tremendously.

    Thank god that many of the Architect''s abilities were also on the passive scale.

    [Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect has been increased by 1%.]

    Subsequently, after he finished the fight, he also got a notification from Akashic Records that his proficiency with the Architect has been increased by 1%. While it may seem like abysmal progress in truth, it was huge, considering the fact that it was a Transcendental Ability.

    "I take it that you already want to return back... though I had to admit that your Ability to predict the future is impressive, don''t be overdependent on it. I have seen several Abilities like this throughout my lifetime, and many of their users got themselves killed due to their predictions being wrong. If someone has something that can affect the reality itself, then your Ability''s prediction is for nothing."

    The first thing that the elderly Hall Master said to Samiel was a small rebuke because while indeed the Abilities that could predict the future were absolutely frightening, there were always ways and paths how to avoid them or even fool them. It was a reminder to him that nothing in this world was absolute, and countermeasures existed against anything, and if it didn''t exist, then it wouldn''t be long before it would be invented.

    It was dangerous to be so heavily dependent on it in the fight, especially against enemies that may have some means how tobat those. It is in the best interest to be careful when using these abilities, and sometimes the future is not set in stone.

    From what Samiel innately understood, the limitations of the Equation Predictiony in several things: firstly, it was basically ineffective on someone whose power was vastly superior to him, secondly, if someone was covered by the power of Transcendental, then it would also be ineffective, and thirdly it was useless against those who bore artifacts that had the ability to affect reality.

    So basically, many of these restrictions were tied to his personal strength, and because it was a Level 4 Transcendental Ability, Samiel couldn''t unfold its full power when he was still mortal, and only by achieving the Transcendence could he show the full power of the Equation Prediction.

    Still, even right now as he was, the power of the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect was extremely powerful, and Samiel needed to be careful when using it. When he was fighting against the Arrat, he noticed one thing and that, when he was using Architect continuously, it was taking a great toll on his very own being, especially on his mind.

    From there, he realized that he needed to be careful with the Architect''s calction not to overload his brain, or that he could even outright kill himself on the spot. One of the ways how to avoid it was to use the Ability itself on some small insignificant matters and calction to basically train and adjust your brain to the moreplex things.

    So the key to sess was not doing anything big andplicated from the start but rather working there from the smaller things. Through that method, Samiel knew that his mind and his brain would get used to the usage of the Architect over some time, and he would be able to perform some easy and small calctions and things effortlessly without any side effects.

    Not talking about the moreplex ones, whom he could then handle better. This was something that even the Hall Master Menuhyutt Fahber agreed on, as it was indeed the truth.

    ***

    Two weekster, on the original floating ind.

    For the past two weeks, Samiel has been undergoing nonstop training. After he got the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, and his learning capabilities andprehension abilities became out of the mortal realm, even the mighty Menuhyutt Faulhaber wanted to see how far he could go.

    For the old man, it was an unprecedented situation because people who managed to obtain a Level 4 Transcendental were very, very, very, very, very rare across the Cosmos, and they could be counted on one hand. Practically every few thousand years, one of those would appear; at least, statistics said so.

    And thus, Samiel, aside from his disciple, also became a testing subject, as the knowledge and information were just flowing into him like a ferocious water stream. The Hall Master was curious what was the extent of the learning capabilities of his disciple and the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath after he awakened Level 4 Transcendental Ability like Architect, and truth to say, there were frightening.

    Two weeks non stop training in the Polearm Arts, as the old man wanted Samiel to achieve the Mastery Skill as fast as possible. For Samiel, the only thing that he needed was a small two-hour-long pause between each training season and eating a few souls, and he would be good as new and could continue with the training without any problems.

    It grew to the point that even the meals were forsaken, not like somebody suffered for it, aside from Nefertari who became very grumpy, that she needed to hunt her own food and soil her holy catiness for that, but what could be done. She was Elder Wampus Cat, so hunting was in her blood, but she was justzy as fuck, and preferred to sleep all day and let herself to be spoiled and fed.<sub> </sub>

    And of course, the results were tremendous. With the addition of Architect and its capabilities, Samiel basically mastered the entire Polearm Arts in two weeks, skyrocketing from 40% to 100%, which was tremendous growth.

    Mainly because after getting a proficiency of 50%, then the growth of anything got remarkably slower and slower, but due to Samiel''s special situation, it didn''t seem to be any problem at all here as he still progressed at a steady pace. Aside from this fact, typically, people would spend their whole lifetimes getting a single skill like the Polearm Arts to the 100%, but that was mainly for those with average talent and lifespan.

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 2%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 3%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 6%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has been increased by 4%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Polearms Arts has reached the 100%]

    And then, it came when the Polearms Arts reached 100%, signifying that he had learned everything about the Polearms and their actual usage. From the point of your average warrior, Samiel could be considered a veteran in handling any kind of polearm. Yet, in reality, from the point of view of the whole Cosmos, he mastered just the entrance level, and now he could choose the specialization.

    [Due to the Skill Polearms Arts having reached 100% Proficiency, it is suitable for the Evolution.]

    [Evolution of the Skill Polearms Arts has been initiated.]

    [Browsting through the records of the Samiel Zentaur.]

    [Becuase the User Samiel Zentaur has been recorded to have an affinity for the Trident, the Skill Polearms Arts have evolved into the Skill Trident Mastery.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Trident Mastery has been increased by 2%.]

    Samiel heard the voice of the Akashic Records as he finally achieved one of his goals what he wanted to achieve, gripping the ice trident in his hand. Previously, he didn''t have any feeling when wielding the trident, but it felt natural to him right now.

    As if obtaining the Skill Trident Mastery gave it a whole new dimension.

    [Advancement Quest: Make a Martial Achievement has beenpleted.

    Description: The 5th Floor has the natural enviroment for enlightenment and achieving martial breakthroughs. Make the martial achievement during your stay on the 5th Floor; the reward would be appropriate for the achievement aplished.

    Reward: Frost Crystal]

    And not even a few secondster, after he obtained the Skill Trident Mastery, he also finished the Advancement Quest from the Tower''s System, which was to make a Martial Achievement, which would be judged by the Tower''s System to be glorious enough. Technically the germination of the Level 4 Transcendental Ability doesn''t count as making a Martial Achievement.

    The germination of the Ability Seed didn''t really fall onto this, for first, because it wasn''t rted to the martial arts or the weapon mastery, and secondly, to germinate the Ability Seed, one didn''t really need to do anything, aside from waiting or consuming some treasures to hasten up the germination of the Ability Seed.

    Soon after, he was holding in his hands a small ice blue crystal and the second the crystal appeared in his hands, the temperature dropped drastically in the entire area, so much that even the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber opened his eyes to check up on the things, what was happening.

    "Frost Crystal... I haven''t seen one of those things for a long time already."

    He stated when seeing the Frost Crystal shining in the sun''s rays in a shining azure blue color. The moment the Frost Crystal appeared in his hands as the reward for thepletion of the Advancement Quest on the 5th Floor, the temperature dropped drastically in the entire area, to the point that Samiel was able to see his breath clearly.

    Certainly, Samiel didn''t really feel coldness or anything, and the only thing that he felt from the Frost Crystal was a weird attraction toward the shining azure gem like it should be part of his very own being.

    "Master, what would be the best use of the Frost Crystal for me?"

    Samiel asked because, for sure, the old man would be able to find the most suitable and effective usage of the Frost Crystal. In truth, he didn''t know what to do with a thing like the Frost Crystal, Samiel knew that it was something very precious and useful, but even such things could effortlessly go waste when someone didn''t know how to utilize them properly.

    "Absorb it into your Mana Core to obtain another Mana Quality."

    After a few moments of consideration, he answered back. The Hall Master decided that this would be the most suitable usage of the Frost Crystal, which would bring Samiel tremendous benefits upon absorption.

    The Mana Quality was basically a special property of Mana. Normally, the Mana was neutral and without any additional properties. One could obtain a Mana Quality non-naturally by practicing some kind of Mana Control Method, but those which contained some kind of element or so were exceedingly rare.

    Mostly, one was already born with a certain predisposition for Mana Quality. Right now, Samiel had the one Mana Quality, which was the Void, due to his racial heritage and also learning the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method.

    With some time and increasement in the proficiency of the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, he could obtain another Mana Quality, the Nuclear Mana Quality, but that was very far in the future. For now, obtaining another Mana Quality that waspatible with his already existing was hard, and one the most suited it would be Ice or Frost Mana Quality.

    The Void itself had a freezing presence; thus it would be very muchpatible with the n that Menuhyutt proposed.

 Chapter 107 Mana, Meta, Magic

    Samiel held the Frost Crystal in his hands before he started absorbing the Frost Crystal into his Mana Core. Every being that had Mana or any other supernatural energy had the Core like people with Mana had the Mana Core or people with the Psionic Energy had the Psionic Core.

    The so-called energy core was formed the moment a person Awakened and became a Professional, and it was in the Core where all of the Mana was stored. Samiel was able to sense his Mana Core within his heart somewhere, as it was glowing and absorbing the Frost Element from the Frost Crystal.

    Absorption of the Frost Crystal was a rtively simple thing, as Samiel was just drawing out all the energy inside the Frost Crystal into his Mana Core, which was greedily absorbing the freezing and cold ice energy from the Frost Crystal.

    During this time, he also sensed that change happening to his Mana because while he was absorbing the energies from the Frost Crystal, he was getting the new Mana Quality. The process was rtively slow and only a tad bit painful, but not something that he couldn''t bear, as he wanted for the process to finish.

    Samiel could feel in real-time how his Mana was getting colder and freezing like Ice. It was a rtively slow process, but Samiel observed it with glee because while a bit painful, at the same time, it was extremely pleasurable in some weird way.

    It was vastly different and yet somewhat simr to the freezing effect of the Void itself, just without that feeling of dread and madness, but he was getting there. It was a very different feeling of frost and ice from that which was brought by the Void itself.

    [Your Proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%]

    [Your Proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 4%]

    [Your Proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 2%]

    As Samiel was absorbing the essences of the frost from the Frost Crystal, he suddenly heard the notifications from the Akashic Records that his proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim had been increased. This was probably due to the fact that he gained the Ice and Frost Mana Quality, which in turn strengthened his proficiency with the ss that was specialized for it.

    [Your Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%]

    [Your Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 3%]

    [Your Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 2%]

    [Your Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 4%]

    [Your Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 2%]

    And as expected, the second this which greatly benefited from obtaining the Ice and Frost Mana Quality innately was his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler, which skyrocketed in terms of proficiency from the old 19% to a new and shocking 31%.

    At the same time, the proficiency with the Knight of Niflheim increased from the previous 22% to 29%, which was an increase of 7%. Both of this growth were shocking to Samiel, and he was delighted at them because he had already reached the cap he could grow them without directly increasing his Tier.

    Right now, he was still technically only a weak Steel-Tier in terms of Tier alone, but his foundation was extremely robust, and his proficiency with his ss, despite their Rank and his Tier, was very high.

    Of course, the easiest time to increase the proficiency with the sses was technically at the Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier, especially the Gold-Tier was most suitable because there one needed to achieve 100% proficiency so they could undergo the Legendary ss Advancement to be a Legendary Level Professional.

    After Samiel reached the next Floors, he could increase his Level once more; though he did not reach the Bronze-Tier before reaching the 8th Floor, till then, he could reach maximally only Level 25, because he nned to reach the Bronze-Tier on the 8th Floor.

    Meanwhile, as Samiel was undergoing another kind of transformation from gaining the Ice and Frost Mana Qualities, Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was observing his student with a slight smile. Over the past few weeks, under his training regime, Samiel finally appeared to be someone worthy of the title Holy Son of Hall of Kadath, albeit barely.

    Though, he would stille out superior whenpared to members of the younger generation from the rest of the 13 Gates or other powerful hidden mortal factions across the Cosmos. It wouldn''t be even wrong to say that he couldpete even against some of those who were growing in the Higher Dimensional Worlds.

    In regard to the Higher Dimensional Worlds, practically due to conditions there, almost nobody was born mortal there. All lifeforms born in the Higher Dimensional Worlds were typy born either at the Silver-Tier or Gold-Tithe er, at worse peak Bronze-Tier.

    After finishing the entire process which took around additional 15 minutes, Samiel opened his eyes as he read the final notification from the Akashic Records that sounded in his ears the moment he finished the entire procedure.

    [User Samiel Zentuar has obtained Mana Quality of Ice and Frost.]

    [User Samiel Zentaus has achieved the achievement of owning 3 Mana Qualities at the Mortal Level.]

    [Due to owing 3 rare Mana Qualities as Mortal, you have been rewarded 100 Record Points for such achievement.]

    [Due to being a mortal connected to Akashic Records, you obtained additional Record Points.]

    [Additional 50 Record Points have been obtained.]

    And on top of that, he also got the rewards of 150 Record Points, making his current Records Points 5,640 Record Points that could be used to exchange something from the Akashic Records. Even having a single Mana Quality was good; having two was excellent and three was akin to a miracle because having three, it was almost impossible to achieve it the natural way.

    Though Samiel was tempted to exchange for something advanced magical knowledge, in the end, he refrained from it because he heeded the words of Hall Master to save his Record Points until he was Transcendent.

    At max, until he was Holy Legendary, only then was it worthwhile to exchange for something from the Akashic Records. For the Holies, Hall Master Faulhaber told him that he could exchange for something that would make his Ascendance easier or increase the chances of seeding.<sub> </sub>

    Aside from that, using the Record Points as a mortal was just wasting thempletely.

    ***

    Meanwhile, on the other side of the 5th Floor of the Tower, on another floating ind, Yvraine was undergoing another torturous training, at least for her.

    The entire time she set foot onto the 5th Floor she was learning under the Lord Moon Sword and she had to admit that it was worth of it, because herbat prowess had increased several times over, and she could use her swords countless times better than before.

    As Lord Moon Sword promised, he brought her to another floating ind, where another old coot was living a life of a hermit while pursuing the deepest secrets of the Arcane. The one who was teaching her the usage of the Metamagic more extensively was in fact ancestor of Lord Moon Sword, Baharhidon Elvyn Yaennernamis.

    He was so ancient, probably from the same generation as the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath, Menuhyutt Faulhaber, both of them were equally old and were still making a ruckus in the mortal ne, even if normally should they long ago ascended.

    Baharhidon Elvyn Yaennernamis was actually one of the Grand Elders of the Tree Guardians; he was also a peak Holy Legendary, but he didn''t pursue the ascension to the Transcendence, but he rather decided to devote his life to the protection of the Nesser Dynasty.

    There were many people like this who chose to remain in the Material ne instead of transcending, and some of those people would have achieved Transcendence for sure, like Lord Baharhidon. For various reasons, they rather chose to stay; some feared death because they would be weakest after ascending and some didn''t want to part with their status and heading onto the unknown.

    "I have finished reading through the grimoire."

    Yvraine stated,pletely exhausted. For her, this was way worse than the physical training with Lord Moon Sword. Right now, for several days straight, she was reading one book after another, and some of them she read already for the second or third time.

    "Can the Spell Fusion be used simultaneously with the Empower Spell and Maximize Spell for any Tier of spells?"

    The old elf asked her the question as he ran his hand through his long white beard while looking at Yvriane who looked unsure of what to answer before the old man just shook his head.

    "Re-read all tomes on the usage of the Empower Spell, Maximize Spell and Spell Fusion Techniques properly this time."

    He ordered while Yvriane grumbled because the old elf was extremely strict when it came to learning mysteries of the Arcane. And she wasn''t Samiel who actually enjoyed reading old books that stuck with that weird air of something which wasn''t opened in millennia.

    "Whilepared to plebians or even some self-proimed experts, your knowledge over your magic is indeed superior, but when it came to the true depths, then without proper knowledge over the theory, you cannot execute the Metamagic Techniques to its fullest potential."

    After rebuking his student, he opened a huge magic tome, which he then started enthusiastically reading, while Yvraine was suffering because she needed to go through the boring books once more.

    She was never a fan of these things because she didn''t have the patience for the proper Magic research and understanding of the Arcane. But to be fair to the old elven master, she had to begrudgingly admit that her knowledge of the many aspects of the Arcane was iparable to what they were before.

    Especially she learned to use her Metamagic more extensively, not just asionally coasting some spells amidst the battle. Of course, for the Arcanist of Baharhidon Elvyn Yaennernamis''s caliber, this was nothing, and he was in no way satisfied with her progress; thus he just gave her more and more work to do.

    Through the many days she would be listening to his lectures about various aspects of the Metamagic, or Arcane theory, he also went talking about various attributes of the Elemental Magic of the Elemntia Magicae for days, during which she wanted to sleep.

    And to make it even worse, he was giving her tests like they were in school at the end of each lecture and the start of the next one. Not talking about the fact that the old coot was clearly enjoying it too much for his own good.

    After several days of additional reading through the various books on the magic theory and Metamagic Techniques, she finally got the pass from the Arcanist Baharhidon Elvyn Yaennernamis, and they finally moved on to something more interesting than just being buried in the ancient books.

    And that was testing the Metamagic against the living enemies that were living on the floating ind where they were located. This was the best method how the learn and apply the Metamagic after some time, and to see if the direction where one was heading was right or not.

    The floating ind, where the Baharhidon Elvyn Yaennernamis chose his ce of temporary living, was special in one thing. There were many powerful creatures with various levels of the magic resistance living here.

    Such as the Hill Trolls or various types of trolls and other creatures with high resistance towards the Magic. The reason why they were here was actually pretty simple; they were here because the old magician brought them here by himself.

    Often due to their racial predispositions, they served their purpose as targets to test new spells. Countless magicians would just use the trolls as their living targets to test the efficiency of the spells that they either learned or invented; because of this, troll ves were rather popr on the ve markets.

    "Come on, girl, I will find you a very nice and big Stone Troll, and you will be fighting the monster with the purely magical abilities and spells, nothing more and nothing less. You are absolutely forbidden to use any martial arts or sword arts, and most importantly, you need to make use of the Metamagic as much as possible during the fight."

    The old man said jovially, as Yvriane frowned hearing that.

    Stone Trolls were one of the rarer and stronger subspecies of the Trolls, and the most important thing about the Stone Trolls were two things. The first was why they were called the Stone Trolls, mainly because they would turn into stone when the light touched their skin.

    And secondly, among all Troll subspecies, the Stone Trolls were magically most resistant, making most of the Spells basically ineffective. Not to mention, their skin was extremely tough for even the majority of ordinary weapons even to cut through.

    And on top of that, their resistance was not only towards Magic but also the Psionic Energy.

 Chapter 108 Yvraine Vs. Troll

    Thus, the Old Man Bahar dragged Yvreaine to somewhere on the floating ind, where an extensive cave system was located. Some of the floating inds had very big underground spaces, but that only applied only to the biggest floating inds. Fortunately for them, the one where the Old Bahar chose his ce to live as a hermit, was one of the biggest floating inds and thus had even very big underground space attached.

    Soon they entered the cave''s darkness, searching for some Stone Trolls for her to fight. The trolls as a whole preferred this type of environment, and aside from them, many other magical beasts could be found in underground cave systems like this.

    Sadly for them this time , aside from the mushrooms and some swarm of Iron-Tier bats that were living in the cave, they found nothing even after twenty minutes of walking around.

    At that point, even Yvraine was to return already because she didn''t like the enviroment here, it was all wet, and the stench was terrible here, like something was rotting. When the rotten smell was getting stronger and more powerful, both of them realized that they were nearing the troll nest.

    Like others from the Greenskin menace, Trolls also had the habit of storing the corpses of their killed prey for ater time, often eating the rotten flesh of humans, something considered as a delicacy among the trolls. From the point of view of other species the "gastronomy" of Trolls was considered as disgusting to put it mildly.

    Not like they were the most intelligent beings ever, especially when even goblins could be considered smarter than trolls. Unfortunately for the goblins, among the greenskins, intelligence rarely mattered something.

    "It is really terrible here and the smell is just getting worse and worse."

    Yvraine justined when they were nearing the ce where the trolls were cooking or doing something, and Baharhidon just chuckled at that. He himself didn''t like this ce very much, but he was much better at itpared to Yvraine because he was already very old and had spent a long time already on the floating inds.

    "Indeed it is... they are probably cooking something... maybe one of their famous soups."

    He teased her, while Yvraine wanted to throw up as her imagination already ran wild. Troll soups were typically made from the rotting flesh of their prey, together with various disgusting things that were the source of the smell, so the Trolls were probably cooking something good this time.

    These "delicacies" were the most famous about trolls, as they most often made the soups from everything they could find, threw it to the point, and let it boil, until it melted together, bing some weird substance. It certainly was countless times worse than it sounded.

    When they came near, they saw one huge troll sitting around the bonfire with an enormous cauldron while the content of the cauldron was bubbling. The troll was around 4 meters tall, with grey skin, and even had some rocks stuck on his shoulders and back.

    Yvraine held her nose as she cast some spell to block up the terrible smell of the cauldron, especially when she saw the stone troll dropping some rotten flesh, judging by the decaying human torso which the troll threw there. Nobody knew why the trolls preferred eating flesh that already started to rot; some spected that it tasted better for them in that way and some that rotting flesh was producing some kind of substance that caused it to have hallucinogenic effects.

    Or they were just twisted in their heads; who knew where the truthy.

    "You can now start."

    After saying his piece, Baharhidon Elvyn Yaennernamis sat down on the ground and returned to reading the magic tome he was reading previously, while Yvraine''s brow twitched a little, but in the end, she relented and went to fight against the Stone Troll with just her magical abilities and nothing else.

    The first thing she did, was to cast a stealth spell on her; it was 3rd Level Elemental Spell from the Elemntia Magicae, which allowed her to blend with darkness temporarily, sneaking up on the Stone Troll, who was endorsed in the cooking proceed.

    Right now adding some squirrel shit into the soup.

    Yeh, this was the sophisticated troll cooking methods; really something to behold and learn from it.

    And because the stone troll was busy with the cooking, it allowed Yvraine toe rtively close to the creature, as she stood at the perfect position before she looked at the huge bonfire and had a mischievous grin on her face.

    With a wave of her hands, she instantly used two Metamagic Techniques at the same time, namely Maximize Spell and Empower Spell on the 1st Level Spell, Fire Infusion. This spell basically added the fire elements to the designated target and Yvraine''s designated target was, of course, the bonfire.

    Instantly the entire bonfire zed on fire, hitting the stone troll directly, as the mes zed on the creature, which in turn roared in pain because it was continuously burned by the hot scorching mes, which the Arcane drastically strengthened.

    The effects of the Maximize Spell and Empower Spell were not something that could be ignored outright. In theirbination, these two Metamagic Techniques were especially deadly, as it took several minutes for the mes topletely disperse, while the entire ce smelled like burned meat.

    Burned troll meat, to be exact.

    When the mes subsumed, therge parts of the stone troll''s body were charred like charcoal, but fortunately for the troll, his extremely potent regeneration capabilities were already working on regenerating the injury though it would take some time.

    The stone troll itself dumbly looked around, then at the bonfire, then once again around and again at the bonfire. He tried to understand what had happened, but in the end, trolls weren''t the smartest fellows around, so he sat down and returned back to cooking.

    Yvraine looked shocked at this because even though she was aware of the mental athletics of the trolls, she thought that at least it would search around the cave for the potential enemy, but not, it returned back to the cooking as if nothing happened at all.

    Now, she was a bit lost because she had prepared a nice trap for the stone troll several meters away, but clearly, the troll''s low intelligence saved his life or maybe it was part of the troll''s n, but seeing the troll taking something out of his nose and eating it, probably not.

    Thus, she decided to lure the troll there, and that was rtively easily done by projecting the illusion of a giant rat running here and there around the ce where the trap was set. The trap itself was actually a Ward that would bind the stone troll in one ce.

    After binding the troll, Yvraine could test more Metamagic Techniques on the stone troll, exactly like the Lord Baharhidon instructed her to do. If not for that, she would have long used some sort of Light-attributed spells to conjure sun rays to kill the troll by turning him into a pile of stone.

    Right now, because that insufferable old man ordered her to fight purely with her magical abilities, she needed to find a way how to bypass the troll''s natural magical resistance. One way how to do it, was actually not using the Magic itself on the troll but rather creating something in the enviroment, which would, in turn, hurt the troll.<sub> </sub>

    Like Yvraine did with the bonfire.

    If she did use the same procedure but cast some offensive fire-attributed spell like a Fireball, then the FIre would be just an Arcane Energy; thus Mana, transformed into a form of fire, which would be negatedrgely by the troll''s natural magic resistance.

    But... if she used already existing fire that was ming somewhere and just overloaded it tremendously till it reached the power of the 4th Level Spell, injuring even the Bronze-Tier Stone Troll was not out of the option.

    After the Stone Troll saw the huge rat, which of course, was just an illusion Yvriane created, the creature salivated, as various rat-type magical beasts were often favorite snacks of the trolls. It instantly stood up from its ce and started rushing at the rat.

    Not even secondster, the spell ward activated itself when it sensed that the Stone Troll had entered its perimeters, and in a split of a second, the Stone Troll found himself being bound in one ce.

    Right now, because this was the Bronze-Tier Stone Troll, it meant it hadplete resistance towards the 3rd Spells and lower, meaning if Yvraine wanted to hurt and subsequently kill the monster, she needed to create a spell with the offensive prowessparable to that of the 4th and 5th Level Spells.

    Though, even though it would have lowered effect on the creature unless she yed her cards smartly, which of course she did, by spamming one curse after another at the poor Stone Troll, who just looked around and started shaking with as much force as possible.

    It was evident that he was trying to escape his bindings, but there was little chance of that. Yvraine noticed that the troll was only a newly advanced one because the Level of the Troll was 30, judging by the Mana around him. If not for that, if it was some older stone troll, then this fight would be much higher because the older the trolls were, the stronger their passive innate abilities became, like their hide resistant against Magic or their regeneration.

    So, when she was creating the Ward, she made sure it would be able to withstand even peak Bronze-Tiers of Level 50 outright, so one weak Stone Troll was not a problem for her Ward.

    Surprisingly, the Stone Troll was taking all those curses rtively well, but they already started showing their effect slowly yet steadily. The Magic Resistance was something different from the Curse Resistance.

    One could say that the Magic Resistance included in itself even the Curse Resistance, but the problem was that only to a lesser degree,pared to a situation when somebody had a separate Curse Resistance.

    That was because the Curses, aside from Magic, used anotherponent which was Negative Energy, and while the Magic Resistance could deal with the magical aspects of the Curse, it couldn''t really handle the Curse part where the Negative Energies came in the y.

    Thus the Stone Troll was getting constantly weaker bit by bit. After Yvraine judged it was enough, she used Spell Pration Metamagic Technique to conjure a wind de spell, which shot towards the ceiling where tens of shart stctites were, as the ceiling then started shaking upon the impact.

    Second,ter, the first stone stctite cracked and fell down onto the defenseless Stone Troll. The creature couldn''t even raise its hands to defend itself from the falling stctite as it directly fell down onto his right hand, crushing it to mush.

    Secondster, or not even that, other stctites followed, and soon enough, the Stone Troll was killed under the pile of falling blocks of stone from the ceiling, a rather ironical ending for the monster that spends here its whole life.

    But in the end, the Stone Troll was done, and technically speaking, Yvrainepleted the orders exactly within the Baharhidon specifications; she used only Magic to achieve her kill and even incorporated several Metamagic Techniques from her Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic.

    After she killed the Stone Troll, the old elf finally showed himself; probably, he finished reading whatever he was reading in his grimoire or magic tome and looked around, inspecting the results of Yvraine''s achievements.

    "Hmm... good."

    The elderly elf stated rtively indifferently while observing the results, it was almost impossible to tell what he was thinking if he was satisfied or unhappy with the results.

    "Next time, it would be more logical to fight something where you can take advantage of the natural enviroment."

    Afterward, he again ran his hand through his long beard while looking at the Stone Troll, which was lying on the floor, crushed into a meaty mess from the falling stctites. When he was done looking at the Stone Troll, he noticed the grievous effect of the Necrotic Curses that were still in the corpse of the Stone Troll.

    "I take it those ones aren''t originating from the Elementia Magicae?"

    He asked to which Yvraine shook her head in denial.

    "They are very powerful for just being a bunch of Low-Level Spells in the hands of mortal... try to be careful with casting those, or the Negative Energy will bring you more severe backsh than just a fatigue and unease feeling."

    Baharhidon Elvyn Yaennernamis was a very powerful and experienced Arcanist, and with a single nce, he could tell the hidden dangers of those Necrotic Arts, which was something that wasn''t widespread knowledge.

    Normally the Necrotric Arts themselves were not widespread too much, and only a few people used them. And from those who used the Necrotic Arts, used was the Necronamancy, and even that came with countless hidden dangers. Not speaking about the fact that Gods of Dead hated Necromancers with passion because they disrupted the natural order, there were other dangers to it.

    Especially manipting the Negative Energy by someone who was not used to it or learned how to use it ordingly, it was very dangerous even to attempt, as the backsh could be very severe if someone used the Necrotic Arts without proper training.

    But what was interesting was that Yvraine managed to cast them wlessly without any mistake, meaning somebody taught her very well. Contrary to his descendant, Lord Moon Sword Elraroth Daeric Yaennernamis, he was unaware of the rtionship between her and the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

    Yet he was able to recognize the fact that Yvraine masterfully used some low-level curses of the Necromantic Arts with such precious and skill that somebody must have taught it to her, step by step. At the same time, he was not experienced with the Necromancy, and the Necrotic Arts as a whole, because, for many elves, it was dark and unsavory Magic that should not be touched at any cost.

    Of course, Yvriane didn''t really care about such prejudice against that type of Magic because, for her, it was power, and only power mattered; other things were inconsequential.

 Chapter 109 Final Steps

    5th Floor, a floating ind where Samiel was located.

    With the addition of the Ice and Frost Mana Qualities, Samiel''s usage of the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler got even more power. The moment he obtained the Ice and Frost Mana Qualities, the efficiency of his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler increased several times, because his Mana contained the attributes of Ice and Frost.

    On top of that, Winter Magic got much smoother, and the spells got even more potent and stronger. Essentially the same thing which happened with the Winter Ruler happened, and right now he could cast the spells of the Winter Magic more easily than before.

    Samiel was practicing some of the Winter Magic Spells, as he managed to learn every Winter Magic Spell up to the 3rd Level included already, especially with his new Mana Qualities; the sheer power of his Winter Magic Spells got boosted up several times over.

    The Winter Magic was not one to cause torge-scale destructive effects right from the start, especially in the lower-level spells of the Winter Magic are not particrly strong. Though in theter Levels, it was possible to freeze entire worlds, but Samiel wanted to obtain such power as soon as possible.

    Certainly, this showed itself in its proficiency when it already reached 10%, standing proudly at 8%. Of course, in the aspect of Magic Theory, Samiel was far ahead in the Winter Magic and knew the theory even behind the Advanced Magic.

    With his brain functioning like an organic supeputer, there was practically nothing that couldn''t be learned or memorized for him; everything was just a matter of time. Of course, this didn''t really stop Samiel as he was absorbing the knowledge at an rming rate.

    Not only Magical and Arcane Knowledge, but everything. Be it the information about the politicalndscape of the Cosmos and the Tower, the history of the most significant Higher Dimensional Worlds, Tower and Principal Worlds, together with the history of various factions.

    He learned about the cultures of the Cosmos, various species, and notable individuals and even mastered several types of widespreadnguages across the Cosmos; he even learned how to speak Orkish if he ever needed to lead a conversation with the greenskins.

    Samiel, though seriously, doubted that he would ever need to converse with the Orks, as those brutes knew only power and nothing else, though it maye in handy. Orks barely conversed among each other, as they solved everything with their fists and weapons alone; for them it was enough.

    Specifically when it was regarding their Shamans because those were more inclined even to lead conversation than just attacking somebody outright. Shamans were usually the most intelligent Orks from the entire n or Tribe, and often in Orkish ns or Tribes, Shamans were the ones who handled the foreign affairs andmunicated with the other factions if there was a need for that.

    Contrary to their warrior caste.

    One of thest things, Samiel nned to do on the 5th Floor before he would go to the 6th Floor of the Tower was to practice the Star Mind Protection Technique. The basic premise of the Star Mind Protection Technique was to create imaginary fortifications around the user''s mind to protect against mind attacks or mind control abilities.

    This woulde in especially handy against Psionic Species like Mind Flyers, Githyanki, Githzerai, Swarm, or other abominations that were living in the depths of the Cosmos. Or even various types of spells or curses that specifically targeted one''s mind.

    Thus Samiel wanted to learn it, and create at least the first two stars, which he could before he left for the 6th Floor. Due to these being thest days he was spending on the 5th Floor, even his Master told him that it was time to go.

    Furthermore, he decided to do it right now.

    Currently, he was sitting cross-legged on the huge boulder in the in, surrounded by lush green grass that was high several meters, as he was following the instructions from the Star Mind Protection Technique to conjure the 1st Mind Star.

    Unfortunately for Samiel, he had already failed the third time in a row, and that was the moment he realized that he was missing something in the great scheme of things because he followed the instruction written in the Star Mind Protection Technique to the utmost detial.

    Only when he read the entire Star Mind Protection Technique several times over he realized that to conjure the Mind Stars properly, there were two things needed for that. One of them was pure and strong Mana, and another was the Psionic Energy.

    Psionic Energy was something that Samielcked.

    But as he read further, he realized that the uniquebination of those two, when fused together in the Mind Star, would create a peculiar and powerful method that was able to stop Magical and Psionical types of Mind Attacks altogether. This was something that made the Star Mind Protection Technique unique and powerful at the same time.

    In the end, he decided to ask his Master for help because he hoped that an ancient fossil like Menuhyutt Faulhaber would have a solution to his predicament. Samiel found his master petting his Familiar, who was enjoying the undivided attention.

    "Master, I have encountered a slight predicament."

    Samiel stated while Menuhyutt''s eyes looked directly at Samiel as he started exining his problems with the cultivation of the Star Mind Protection Technique because hecked the Psionic Energy.

    "Hmm... you are still pretty lucky and yet unlucky."

    The old man stated as he took a small green crystal from his Dimensional Ring and threw it to Smaiel, who caught the little crystal with great interest, especially sensed the tremendous power in that crystal.

    "That is Primordial Psionic Energy Crystal, which is just a more primal and uncontroble form of the Psionic Energy, but it should be able to weigh out your Eldritch Mana to create the Mind Star. This one should be enough for you to create three Mind Stars, for Iron-Tier, Steel-Tier and Bronze-Tier, respectively."

    Hall Master summarized while Samiel was inspecting the Primordial Psionic Energy Crystal and after several seconds of inspecting the crystal, he gave out a bow of gratitude to his master before he left to his previous ce to conjure the 1st Mind Star of the Star Mind Protection Technique.

    Now that he had bothponents, he started once more following the instructions in the Star Mind Protection Technique and, at the same time, drawing out the energy from the Primordial Psionic Energy Crystals, which proved itself extremely hard to control.

    Even though Samiel spent a lot of time polishing his Mana Control skills, if not for the immediate activation of the Architect''s capabilities, he would have long ago injured himself several times over. Instantly, over several seconds worth of time, Smaiel felt a tremendous pain in his head because while the Mind Star was primarily conceptual things, he could sense that a miniature star-like object was growing in his brain, and it hurt like hell.

    Samiel had to do a lot not to scream out of the torturous pain he was undergoing. Soon enough, around twenty minutester, the entire process was finished as Samiel conjured the 1st Mind Star, and one simr star-like crystal of pure condensed energy grew in his brain.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has created 1st Mind Star of the Star Mind Protection.]

    He then heard the notification from the Akashic Records as he caught his breath before he decided to continue with the process and create the 2nd Mind Star that corresponded to the Steel-Tier. The Primordial Psionic Energy Crystal was stillrgely okey, rtively untouched because Samiel used only 10% of its content for the creation of the 1st Mind Star.

    [Proficiency with the Star Mind Protection Technique has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Star Mind Protection Technique has been increased by 3%.]

    [Proficiency with the Star Mind Protection Technique has been increased by 2%.]

    After practicing the Star Mind Protection Technique for a while, Samiel got a notification from Akashic Records about the increasement in his proficiency with the technique. After meditating for a few tens of minutes, he started the process of creating of 2nd Mind Star.

    Secondster, Smaiel started the process of the creation of Mind Stars once more, just this time, it was slightly different, as he read the instructions of the Star Mind Protection Technique, though the only thing that changed was the pain, which was even more intense.

    And, of course, the time required for him to condense the 2nd Star was longer than the 1st one, approximately twice, but in the end, he relented, and after one hour and something, it was done.

    Another star-like object appeared in his brain, not to mention that he felt his mind was getting stronger; it usually would not be so noticeable, but the addition of Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect was strengthening the effects of it. Or one could state that the addition of the Star Mind Protection Technique was strengthening the effects of the Architect.

    [Proficiency with the Star Mind Protection Technique has been increased by 2%.]

    [Proficiency with the Star Mind Protection Technique has been increased by 2%.]

    After the process was done, Samiel again got some increasement in the proficiency of the Star Mind Protection Technique with the condensation of the 2nd Star.

    "With this, I havepleted all of my goals on the 5th Floor; even if it could have been better, the longer I spent time here would be rather contra-productive."

    Samiel muttered to himself while he could just hole himself up here, but that would be bad for him because this was essentially a ce for the old hermits. Meaning he would have grown to the peaceful lifestyle and lost his sharpness, something that couldn''t be allowed at any costs.<sub> </sub>

    Afterward, he opened his status screen in the Akashic Records because it was a long since he had seen it personally.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Azathoth

    Age: 26

    Race: Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (75%) / Human (25%)

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (29%), Grand Necromancer (17%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level: Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter)

    Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost

    Records Points: 5,640

    ***

    Tier: Steel

    Level: 22

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (31%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (35%) - Ultimate Ability

    Architect (1%) - Transcendental Ability

    ***

    Techniques:

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (10%)

    Star Mind Protection Technique (9%) - 2 Stars

    ***

    Necrosis Magic:

    Necromancy Arts (27%)

    Void Magic (16%)

    Winter Magic (8%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (40%)

    Swordsmanship (14%)

    Trident Mastery (2%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 2nd Level Spells (34%)

    Metamagic - Spell Control (3%)]

    While it had already been long since he saw his record, many things had changed there. Not in terms of the raw power he possessed, not that one still remained the same. His Level remained the same as it was since he arrived on the 5th Floor, and in truth, the growth in his Level wasn''t even that important to him right now.

    What he obtained was something more precious.

    He obtained several essential skills and capabilities during his stay on the 5th Floor, from which the most prominent ones being the Mana Control Method, the Metamagic, and of course, the Trident Mastery.

    "Be careful on the higher floors... there are many mysteries in the Tower unspoken."

    Menuhyutt appeared behind Samiel and stated with a grave voice, not saying anything else to his proteg??.

    "Before you leave, let me show you the power of the peak Holy Legendary."

    The Hall Master said as he brandished a crimson sword with a menacing around, which had a dragon-like pattern through it, and looked at the ocean down below them. It was evident to Samiel that he nned on fighting one of those sea monsters that were living in the depths of the ocean.

    Suddenly, out of the coldest depths of the ocean, something started nearing upwards. All the birds that were flying around the ocean instantly panicked and started running far away while the surface of the ocean began shaking.

    One of the sovereigns of the seas on the 5th Floor, Charybat has arrived.

 Chapter 110 Fight Of Two Holies

    "What is that thing?"

    Samiel asked as he took several steps back together with Nefertari when he sensed the overwhelming power of the Charybat and especially the Menuhyutt Faulhaber. This was the first time Samiel felt the old man''s full power; truth to be told, he was terrified of it.

    In this moment, he understood why the old man was hailed as the strongest mortal in the entire Material ne of the Cosmos, but his power was kind of restrained because he was handling himself in such a controlled manner.

    Nevertheless, the same couldn''t be said about the Charybat creature, whose bloodthirsty aura was running through Samiel''s every fiber. Most of the Magical Beasts weren''t the most intelligent beings, or rather most of them, albeit they had advanced intelligence, still were controlled by their primal emotions.

    "That is Charybat. They are sea monstrosities, who are typically living in a very Mana-rich enviroment, typically exclusively only in the Tower and Higher Dimensional Worlds; sometimes, you will find them in the Principal Worlds too. Normally Charybats are already born at the Initial Stage of the Legendary Level, and they reach the Advanced Stage by adulthood. The older ones could reach the Supreme Stage of the Legendary Level and some of the oldest can reach even Perfect Stage of the Legendary."

    Menuhyutt exined to Samiel, who took all the information like a sponge. He had to admit that the Charybats are majestic creatures, especially the older ones, which are extremely strong and dangerous creatures.

    "And sometimes when they have luck or no anypetition in their living space, they could reach the Holy Legendary, but those are exceptionally rare. And after today, they would get even more rare after I kill this one."

    The old man stated when crimson me burst out of the sword, shing at the Charybat, which now appeared above the surface. Just the upper part of its body was tall, several tens of meters; not talking about the enormous teeth was fearsome enough to scare away even some of the more powerful Legendaries.

    Shockingly to Samiel, the Charybat took the iing energy sh from Menuhyutt''s sword with its though skin like it was nothing. Surprisingly the creature just roared back, with its roar alone, creating an enormous shockwave that threw Samiel away as he crashed into a pile of trees and rocks that were too thrown away by the shockwave.

    The old man looked at Samiel, seeing that his disciple just got wasted with a few superficial bruises; he returned his full attention to the enormous Charybat, which was right now fully above the surface of the ocean, as it menacingly looked at him, challenging him to the fight to the death.

    The Holy Legendary Charybat shot towards the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath, at full speed, as the elderly Hall Master skillfully dodged the attempt of the Charybat to literarily eat him, only to be attacked once more by the creature''s tail.

    The tail of the Charybat was one of their greatest weapons because the tails were the hardest and toughest part of their bodies, additionally with countless sharp spikes on it around the tailde, which was on the tip of the tail.

    Meaning it was extremely dangerous, and most of these creatures would use it as their means of attack because in the majority of cases, getting attacked by the Charybat''s tail was sure death if one didn''t block it or dodge it.

    Instantly after the Charybat attacked the Hall Master with its tail, several magic circles appeared around the Hall Master; it was practically instantaneous cast, as the tail struck at the magic circles and bounced back.

    At the same time, several lightning bolts shot out from the Magic Circles that the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber conjured and fell onto the huge body of the Charybat, causing the creature to shriek in pain.

    Menuyhutt Faulhaber was a Dual ss Bearer of two main sses, one of them was the Sword Sage which was Lord-ss. Yet, the second one was extremely frightening, the highest type of ss, the Eternal-ss, something exceedingly rare even among the Transcendents, the Arcanist of the Apocalypse.

    ? The fearsomebination of these sses practically allowed Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber to be an unparalleled powerhouse under the Transcendent Level and be undefeated for countless unspoken millennia. Not to mention he was born as an Old Deus, the pinnacle of superior species across the entirety of the Cosmos; when everything was added together, it created a freak of nature.

    His caster capabilities were even more frightening than those with the sword; instantly, another tens of purple-colored Magic Circles appeared all around the Charybat and started bombarding the sea monster with countless Spells.

    Menuhyut Faulhaber has managed to perfectly fuse the best of the two of the best worlds,bining the close-quarter capabilities of swordsmanship with the extremely destructive Magic that stemmed from the Eternal-ss Arcanist of Apocalypse.

    Samiel held his breath at the destructive power of each spell because even a fool could tell that each one of them had the destructive prowessparable to that of the 9th or 10th Level Spells. And certainly, even after shooting tens of them already from the Magic Circles, there were no signs of fatigue on the Hall Master''s face or anything.

    His Mana Regeneration capabilities were so high that they were able to effortlessly cover the spamming rate of so many high leveled spells. Samiel watched how the Charybat was bombarded by his Master to smitterness, pieces of flesh started falling from the body of the Charybat, and the water where the creature was attacking or defending was colored red.

    The Chabyrat struggled fiercely against the onught that was brought by it by the Hall Master, only to realize that when it tried to escape from the bombardment of the spells that were raining on it, it was futile.

    That was because, at the same time, during the time Menuhyutt was fighting against the Charbyt, he used his Magic to seal up the entirety of the space around them so that the Charybat couldn''t escape from him.

    Thus to only and the sole chance that remained for the poor creature was to fight for its own very life in a fight that it couldn''t really win. Every move which the Hall Master executed was made beautifully, with absolute control over his power; nothing was wasted and always dealt maximum damage to the Charybat.

    Second,ter the Charybat opened its enormous jaws, and it started gathering energy particles, immediately when the Menuhyutt saw that, he instantly teleported as far as possible from the Charybat and created several tens of Magic Circles, this time, they were all ck in color as the red beam of concentrated energy hit the Magic Circles.

    One after one, they started breaking into countless pieces; soon enough, the red beam of energy that the Charybat shot a the Hall master was getting weaker and weaker until it reached around the 6th Magic Circle, where itpletely dispersed.

    Charybats were capable of unleashing devastating energy-based attacks by condensing beam heats from their natural energy and Mana, which were really hard to defend against. Even someone as strong as the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath had to invest a lot into a defense against those heat beams.

    Appearing high above the Charybat, the Hall Master swung his sword at the creature, prating deep into the monster''s flesh. At the same time, the Charybat screamed in pain, and blood flowed out from the mighty Holy Lengedary Magical Beast.<sub> </sub>

    Not letting the beast go any further, several chains made purely from the Mana appeared around the entire body of the Charybat, enveloping it at all parts, not leaving anything free, as he continued to sh with his sword.

    Each blow containing more power and force behind it,pared to the previous one, instantly just huge roar was heard, when the sword med and with one swing of his sword, he severed one of the Charybat''s fins, and then not even secondster, the second one was severed.

    ''Sushi is in the making.''

    Samiel thought when he saw that his Master was literarily portioning the creature as sushi master would his fish. He was not even aware that his jokes were true, because the Hall Master nned to eat the Charybat.

    Food was very important to bing a powerful expert. Even though when onecked some Ability that would contain something like Devouring, eating food made by powerful beings contained far more nutrients and was far more beneficial for the person who was eating it. Not to mention that even for him, eating a Holy Legendary Magical Beast would be something memorable because they were exceedingly rare.

    Samiel could clearly see that the Charybat was in a severe disadvantage from the start. Even before he got the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, Samiel had an extremely analytical mind and could very reliably analyze the situation at hand.

    Now with the addition of the Architect, his analytical capabilities were out of this world. The first great disadvantage of the Charybat was the enormous size of the creature and its very low mobility. Secondly, his Master managed to lure out the magical beast out of its natural habitat, which was the sea, and the fight was taking ce on the ocean''s surface, meaning thebat capabilities of the Charybat were considerably lowered.

    Thirdly, in terms of raw power, Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was still leagues above. Still, the one thing that the creature had, which basically bnced out the things, was the tremendous amount of vitality and absolutely frightening defensive abilities of the Charybat.

    Not to mention that the experiences and things that the Hall Master has lived through were something that not many people could dream of, including countless Transcendental, because not many of them had such a backstory as the old man.

    Samiel knew some things from what the old man told him when they were just talking about various things.

    Menuhyutt Faulhaber was born countless, countless years ago as a child of two powerful Transcendental figures. Progenies of such mighty figures are always born at the mortal level because it had something to do with the future path; basically it was then easier to reach the absolute peak.

    He was also born as Old Deus, an Arch Daeil, a union between Daemon and Devil, a pariah between both of the races. He was born in the Higher Dimensional World, the Nine Hells of the Baator, and when he was very young, he was sent to the mortal worlds, into some insignificant Middle World across the Cosmos.

    That was the time when he was found by the previous Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath, who was a hermit cultivator, cultivating during that time in that Middle Word. From then on, he fought and ughtered his way to the top of the Material ne, ughtered billions and destroyed entire worlds.

    As Samiel was in high thoughts, he heard another shriek of the Charybat when the Hall Master pierced its huge skulls with his sword, essentially killing the Holy Legendary Level Magical Beast in this singlebat.

    When the Charybat was finally killed by the Hall Master, he stored the corpse of the humongous sea monster in one of his Dimensional Rings because this would be a lot of food for theter time. Especially for races such as dragons or even blood races, it was invaluable.

    There was a high chance that people like Karliana Kircheisen would reach the next Level after drinking some of its blood essences, meaning there would be another powerhouse close to the Limit Legendary in the Hall of Kadath.

    Bloodkin used the blood of the High-Tier being to increase their Levels quickly; thus they were one of the species with the fast "cultivation speed" across the entirety of the Cosmos. It wouldn''t be weird to see bloodkins, particrly those of high social standing achieving the Gold-Tier within a few decades.

    It all depended on the blood, as the blood was the key for them.

    "That was a splendid fight, Master."

    Samiel stated when his Masternded back on the floating ind.

    "Indeed it was... there are only a few people across the entire Cosmos who could fight such creatures on their own at the same level, though there could be more, but many of those are just sleeping or hibernating."

    Menuhyutt stated back, as this was the time for them to part.

    "We will be meeting once again... very soon."

    The old man stated as he teleported out from the Floor, without saying anything else, as the light particles enveloped Samiel and teleported him too out of the 5th Floor. After both of them left the Floor, soon enough, a huge tremor ran through the entirety of the 5th Floor, as the ocean shook across the entire 5th Floor, and anyone who was still there realized one thing.

    "ROOOAAARRR!"

    Countless floating inds fell down from the sky as the ocean took them as its own when the roar of the Transcendental Level Sea Monster that was dwelling in the deepest and coldest parts of the ocean woke up and roared in rage at its killed descendant.

 Chapter 111 The Nesser Dynasty Reacts

    91st Floor of the Tower, the Floor controlled by the Nesser Dynasty, several months after the siege of the Zephystrand City.

    On the 91st Floor, the environment was very simr to that of the third Floor, especially since there was a lot of vegetation. The Floor was filled with incredibly tall trees, and there were countless Trees of Life found at every corner of the Floor. Basically, it was a boosted-up version of the 3rd Floor; thought the enviroment was countless times better.

    It was the World Tree that represented all the Elven species that lived not only on the Tower but throughout the entire Cosmos, and it was the greatest treasure of the Nesser Dynasty. All Seldarine, whether they were ordinary elves or those of the highest and noblest standing, Mortals or Legendaries or even Transcendental, felt a connection to the World Tree, whether they were Mortals, Legends, or even Transcendental.

    Around the World Tree, a city was built, a city of shining white walls, a city with countless towers, a city that was one with nature itself and surrounded by the World Tree itself. Known as Silvermoon City, it is the home of the Silvermoon Elves as well as the heart of the Nesser Dynasty, as well as the Imperial Capital of the Nesser Dynasty, the Heart of the Silvermoon.

    Seldarine people are not always the most creative people around, but this city was named after the Silvermoon Elves, mainly because they were the first inhabitants of the area, and even today, about 70% of the total poption consists of Silvermoon Elves, who are still one of the most prolific races of people in the area.

    Even though it was the Nesser Dynasty''s capital, it was quite a small city. Its poption was only around 2 million, despite being the capital of the Nesser Dynasty. This was due to the fact that only those of a particr status were permitted to enter the city, let alone to live there.

    It was impossible for an ordinary Seldarine to even dream of living within the city if they did not reach a certain level of power, so even the weakestmoners were of Silver-Tier power on the average, and these were people who were never properly trained to begin with.

    Additionally, the Imperial Capital of the Nesser Dynasty was home to countless High Elves or Seldarine subspecies that were rarer and strongerpared to ordinary Seldarine elves aside from the Silvermoon Elves. It was divided into several districts, simr to the rest of the cities of the Nesser Dynasty, namely the Residental District, Military District, Business District, Noble District, and Imperial District.

    Among the several prominent and important areas, the most prominent and important was the Imperial District, where the Imperial Pce was located. It was the closest area to the World Tree, which meant that the training conditions and environment were excellent.

    Despite the Mana Density of the World Tree being so high and such suitable conditions in the area around it, even a fool would be able to be a Gold-Tier just by standing next to it because for it, the Nesser Dysntasy was able to produce countless experts due to these factors.

    A great deal of charm and majesty could be found in the Imperial Pce of the Nesser Dynasty. The Imperial Pce of the Nesser Dynasty was majestic and breathtaking on its own. The traditional Silvermoon architecture,bined with some bits of utilitarian design, for a betterbination with nature itself. It was one of the most impressive and beautiful buildings of the entire Dynasty and the history of the Seldarine species.

    It was noted that the entire Imperial ce in the city was the most highly secured ce in the entire city, and that was due to the fact that the Imperial Pce, apart from its official role as the seat of power, also yed a secondary role, which was to serve as thest barrier between the World Tree and the outside world.

    The World Tree could not be approached directly without having first gone through the Imperial Pce of the Nesser Dynasty, which was the closest ce to approach it.

    The entire Imperial Pce of the Nesser Dynasty was protected non-stop by the Silvermoon Knight Order and Imperial Magician Corps, which were one of the most powerful military organizations in the entire Nesser Dynasty, together with various Elders of the Silvermoon Species and Nesser Dynasty who were always a top-ranked Legendary Professionals.

    It should also be noted that there were also Tree Guardians that guarded the World Tree stationed inside the Imperial Pce, as defending the Imperial ce was considered part of the protection of the World Tree, though in an indirect manner.

    In the throne room of the Nesser Dynasty at the moment, one of the most important meetings of the Dynasty was taking ce. In the throne room of the Dynasty, Tynardanis Nesser Silvermoon, the Emperor of the Dynasty, was listening to the reports from his Ministers and the heads of the various Imperial Departments and Army Branches regarding thetest developments regarding the plot being orchestrated by the Drows in Underdark City.

    It is worth noting that the Throne Hall was a rtively simple building, not modest per se, but it elevated the elven architecture and a sense of nature to another level, even though it was a simple building. As the arched ceiling of this grand hall shimmers with the flickering light, the stained ss windows dance in the flickering light as statues stand on the teak floor.

    A golden rug runner down from the throne itself, which was an impressive marble throne of pure white stone with a very simple design, was a very simple design. There was the throne of the Empress next to the Emperor''s, where Ilroraniel, the wife of the Emperor, was sitting.

    Truth be told, the Empress was actually pretty bored at the meeting because she would have rather spent her time studying the secrets of the Arcane instead of listening to the ramblings of the warhawks and other boring things that were said at the meeting.

    "So, the conclusion?"

    As the Emperor of the Nesser Dynasty inquired with an irritated voice, a few people were taken by surprise when his Perfect Legendary threatened tosh out, causing them to take a few steps back in fear. Though the Emperor seemed more of a model than a warrior, everyone in the room was aware that the man had a great deal of power and no good temper at all.

    "Nothing, Your Imperial Majesty. It is clear that the purpose of the Drows was to get information on the new generation of the Mana Weapons because they were tested on the 3rd Floor. Fortunately, because we decided to test the weaponry on the 3rd Floor, we managed toplete the majority of the tests before they found out about it, so the moment of surprise is still partially on our side."

    In response, one of the ministers, a very old-looking elf man, with an oversized beard and long white hair, stood up from his seat and used his cane to support himself, as he stood up from his seat. He was the head of the Research and Development Ministry, which was focused on studying and researching Magetech.

    "That is good, but this provocation cannot go unanswered."

    When Emperor Tynardanis Nesser Silvermoon said those words, light shone in the eyes of several people, mainly those d in Military Uniforms, who were Generals and Marshalls of the various branches of the Imperial Military, and a few other experts, including the Grandmaster of the Silvermoon Knight Order.

    Those people were members of the so-called Warhawk Faction in the Nesser Dynasty as they pushed for more militaristic solutions for the situation with the Underdark. While the Warhawk Faction was never too powerful in the past, after the brother of the current Emperor became one of the Cardinals of the Hall of Kadath, things have changed to their advantage.

    Even though the Hall of Kadath wasrgely neutral and did not participate in conflicts, this wasn''t going to prevent some of them from pushing for a joint attack on the Underdark with the Hall of Kadath. Even though the Hall of Kadath wasrgely neutral, there were still a few warmongers that would easily be persuaded to join the attack.

    "Have wepleted the list of the people coborating with the Underdark?"

    Getting rid of the traitors, who were either cooperating with the Underdark City or selling them information, was the first task on the list since they were working together with them, and the such thing was absolutely uneptable, and there was no mercy for the traitors.

    Afterward, the Head of the Imperial Intelligence stepped out from the crowd and presented a stack of papers to Emperor Tynardanis, who was reading through the documents with a frown on his face as he scanned the papers, especially after he saw a couple of names that had be quite famous.

    They included a significant number of people who were of high social standing; some of them were high-ranking officials in the Imperial Military or any other Imperial Organization, and on top of that, there were entire Noble Houses that were coborating with the Underdark on a regr basis.<sub> </sub>

    "Execute them all. As a result of the highest treason, all those listed on the list must be executed, their families included. Noble Houses will lose all of their properties to the state, which includes all those listed. In the uing turbulent times, there is no ce for the inner enemies in the state."

    In order to carry out the orders of his Emperor, Kaeros, the Head of Imperial Intelligence, bowed lightly to his Emperor and melted into the shadows. As he looked at the list, he was able to tell that the blood night was taking ce for the entire Nesser Dynasty, as thousands of people were listed.

    "Now, to the next thing. Grandmaster, you will take a portion of the Silvermoon Knight Order and, together with the Imperial Military, coordinate the attacks on several Middle Worlds controlled by the Underdark. Also??, initiate the purge of the Worlds where we have significant influence and get rid of all Underdark goons from there."

    As soon as the Grandmaster of the Silvermoon Knight Order left the room, along with several other Generals and Marshalls of the Imperial Military, a deep bow was given as they also immediately left the room, because finally there was some action taking ce.

    "As far as I am aware, even the current Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath has been involved in this mess, if I am not mistaken?"

    In response to the Emperor''s question, the Minister of Foreign Affairs nodded her head in agreement.

    "Indeed, but the Hall announced that they won''t be doing anything because, in their opinion, the situation was nothing that their Holy Son couldn''t handle by himself. Though Cardinal Zaldidraax wasn''t very happy that his daughter was caught in that mess as it seems, and he already wrecked up one of their hideouts on the 50th Floor."

    This was reported by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was a stunningly beautiful young-looking High Elf woman wearing a green dress with long flowing blond hair on her right side tailed in a braid.

    It was almost impossible to get a better reaction out of the Hall of Kadath. If the enemies wreaking havoc on the 3rd Floor were of the Gold-Tier, then the situation may be slightly different. It would then be possible to convince the Hall of Kadath to join in on the fight against the Underdark City on the side of the Nesser Dynasty.

    "As you can see, this is the end of our meeting; it is time for everyone to get back to their work."

    When Emperor Tynardanis made his authoritative order, all of the people who remained in the Throne Room bowed to him and the Empress as they left the Throne Room. Tynardanis and Ilroraniell were the only two people left in the Throne Room, sitting there in silence, not saying anything for several minutes.

    "There seems to be something on your mind, dear husband; what are you thinking about, my love?"

    Questioned Empress Ilroraniell, her beloved husband, in a soft voice, not really fitting her stern and expressionless facade during the meeting. It contrasted like day and night, but Empress Ilroraniell was always like that; she never let her emotions and thoughts be visible on her face, always retaining her mask.

    "Did you know that Yvraine has apparently chosen suitor for herself? She has chosen the one who is the current Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath. This will really drive me crazy...".

    There is no doubt that Emperor Tynardanis was not very happy with Yvraine''s choice of a romantic partner, mainly because the people from the Hall of Kadath were not the most mentally stable individuals, not to mention the questionable reputation they enjoyed.

    Aside from that, as the Emperor of the nation, he did not need another way for the influence of the Hall of Kadath to be able to prate even deeper into the Nesser Dynasty as he was the Emperor of the nation. From his point of view, the current situation was bad enough because the Hall of Kadath had a tremendous influence over the inner politics of the Nesser Dynasty, especially after his brother became a Cardinal.

    "Haha..."

    As a father, Tynardanis was pretty overprotective as a husband, so when his wife heard himin, she just giggled because she knew that Tynardanis was somewhat overprotective of his family.

    "Contrary to your belief, I am quite happy with the man my daughter chose. Even though I haven''t met the young man myself, I could tell from what Yvraine told me about him that he is pretty decent, and in the end, if Yvraine is happy, that is all that matters."

    As Yvriane called Ilroraniell for advice regarding romantic rtionships, she had several conversations with her daughter, so she kept track of the conversation. The Silvermoon Empress was delighted because she had thought that with Yvraine''s temperament and preferences, she would never be able to see her grandchildren.

    "Our daughter would not have any interest in approval or anything like that... I can foresee that because of her stubbornness, she will do as she sees fit, and I can see that if Yvraine decides that the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath Samiel Zentaur is the one she loves, she will give up even her right to the Throne of the Nesser Dynasty if she is so inclined."

    As Tynardanis frowned, he knew very well that the words of his wife were in fact, words of truth, and he knew it very well.

    "So for just once, be happy at something positive, and right now, if you excuse me, I had some experiments to attend."

    Empress stood from her throne, heading toward the exit for the Mage Tower.

    "Though at night... maybe we can practice conceiving another of the one of the imperial blood."

    A teasing smirk spread across Empress Ilroraniell''s face as she slowly closed the doors behind her, looking at her husband, who had an irritated expression from his wive''s teasing.

    Stated Empress Ilroraniell with a teasing smirk as she closed the doors behind her while looking at her husband.

    "Troubled times are ahead, and as seems to be the case, the war between the Nesser Dynasty and the Underdark City might be inevitable in the near future before the next Great Cataclysm."

    In his white marble throne, Emperor Tynardanis Nesser Sivlermoon sat fairly, silently muttering to himself as he sat, evidently tired from everything that had happened this day.

 Chapter 112 The Underdarks Schemes

    89th Floor of the Tower, the Floor controlled by the Underdark City, several months after the siege of the Zephystrand City.

    The 89th Floor of the Tower was one of the most unique floors in the entire Tower because the entire Floor looked like an enormous subterranean environment, with a vastwork of underground caverns and tunnels beneath the surface of Abeir-Toril, evoking the impression of an immense underground domain.

    It has been told that many Epochs ago, there existed a Principal World called Abeir-Toril that was dominated by a mighty civilization that roamed the Cosmos in search of new worlds and soon enough could not avoiding into contact with the terrifying creatures that lived within the coldness of the Void.

    It didn''t take a long time for the civilization that lived in the Abeir-Toril to be extinguished; countless Transcendentals fell into the prey of the Outer Gods, Eldritch monstrosities or Void Lifeforms that called the vastness and coldness of the Cosmos their home. Of course, this was the most possible oue when someone started digging into the Void because meddling into it never resulted in anything good.

    In the end, the whole Abeir-Toril World, once a vibrant and powerful world, has been transformed into a post-apocalyptic wastnd inhabited by abominations that have found their way there. Until the Dark Seldarine Pantheon conquered the world and fused it with one of the floors of the Tower, this cycle continued.

    In this way, it became part of the Tower and was known as the Underdark because the surface of the Floor was absolutely uninhabitable and was dangerous even for Legendaries to move freely. Even those would be hard-pressed to defend against the various diseases, toxic waste, and other things that existed on the surface of the Abeir-Toril.

    The entire Underdark was divided into basically four parts: World Above, Upperdark, Middledark and Lowerdark.

    As far as the World Above was concerned, it was a ce that could not be inhabited and aside from some monstrous creatures and abominations, virtually nothing was living there. It was a deste wastnd, filled with an absolutely unhospitable and unhabitable enviroment, filled with toxic and poisonous marches, contaminated ces, and with only a few abominations living at the World Above.

    There was a Upperdark beneath the surface, and it was basically the first five kilometers below the surface, where the creatures that lived under the ground would often attack the creatures that lived above the surface and where, in essence, only the weakest of all the creatures living in the Underdark lived.

    As the name implies, Middledark is an area that stretches from five kilometers underground to about twenty kilometers underground. Thisyer was practically the one where most of the Underdark cities were located, as well as countless settlements. In thisyer, most of the Underdark cities were located, there was a plethora of settlements, and many of the more minor factions who were leaning towards the Dark Seldarine had their headquarters located.

    And finally, thestyer was the Lowedark, which was area 20 kilometers and more below the surface level. This area was a forbidden zone to anyone who wasn''t a fanatical worshipper of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon and was considered as some sort of the Holy Grounds by the Drows and the other species of the Underdark.

    It was in the Lowedark, where the Holy Underdark City was located, which was enforcing the rule above all factions and organizations that existed in the entire Underdark Realm. While many organizations and factions existed across the Underdark Realm, there was nobody who could challenge the undisputed rule of the Underdark City and its High Council.

    The Holy Underdark City was another spectacr piece of architectonic work, with its gloomy and creepy design, where the light didn''t reach, its huge and tall blue walls that were stretched almost up to the ceiling of the subterranean domain in certain parts, filled with spikes and various weapons, which only strengthened the dread that the city represented.

    In the center of the City was an enormous gothic cathedral, which was easily thergest building in the megacity, which the Holy Underdark City certainly was. Because the entire Underdark was technically a theocracy mixed with some magocracy, while the society itself wasrgely autocratic matriarchal monarchy... really a weirdbination.

    And due to that, the Cathedral acted like an Imperial Pce in the Empire. In the depths of the humongous structure, there was a meeting room of the Underdark''s Council, where basically the leaders of the most powerful factions and organizations across the entire Underdark were meeting on periodical bases and making a decision about the Underdark as a whole.

    It is clear that the ones with the greatest power in the Underdark were the Drow Matriarchs of the various Dark Elven Houses as well as the Clergy of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon, who were the most powerful amongst the citizens. These were the real people in power within the Underdark.

    As far as the Underdark''s Council was concerned, these two were the major decision-makers not only because of their tremendous powerpared to the rest of the factions but also because a number of Transcendents backed them, something that the other factionscked in the Underdark.

    Although the Underdark''s High Council was not technically speaking a government for the entire Realm, it had the appearance of being a unified government at the same time. Underdark works on a federation-like principle in a sense, where each city-state and faction has a great deal of autonomy and is ruled by its owner, fundamentally by the respective factions and organizations.

    Despite this, it was still essential for them all to adhere to the decisions that were being made by the Underdark''s High Council, which were affecting not only the existence of certain parts of the various Layers or locations but also the Underdark as the whole Realm.

    There are currently seven seats in the High Council, of which three belong to the major Dark Elven Houses of Nasadar, Mvrn, and Auryndar. In addition to this, there were three seats upied by the High Priests of the most prominent religions in the Underdark, namely the Spider Queen Lolth, but they were also representatives of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon as a whole as well.

    The remaining seats of the Underdark were divided amongst the other major races living there, such as the Druegar, the Grey Dwarves, and even a significant poption of the Mind Flyers that made up the majority of the Underdark''s poption.

    Though these Mind Flyers were not members of any fleet or didn''t belong under any of the Transcendental Elder Brains or something like this, typically, the Mind Flyers in the Underdark were the ones exiled from the Fleets or criminals by their own standards; thus the only ce they could safelye to was the Underdark.

    "Now, let us already start so everyone can go their way."

    It was a muscr gray-skinned dwarf who served on the High Council as a representative of the Duergar tribe. With a long white beard and red eyes, he looked a bit reminiscent of the Bloodkins, although he was in no way one. Clearly he was pretty irritated that he was being called here out of nowhere rather than spending time in the forge.

    "I agree with the brutish dwarf; time is precious, many new technological advancements are waiting for us, and we need to procure new ves for the experiments."

    Suddenly, a robotic voice came from the machine that the representative of the Mind Flyers was holding. Since Mind Flyersck mouths, they cannotmunicate vocally like most of the species residing in the Cosmos.

    They typicallymunicate with each other through telepathy, but right now, that option was out of the question because many of us would take that as a sign of an attack if they did so. So they resulted inmunicating through the various mechanical devices which they constructed for this specific purpose.

    The Underdark was a cruel and unforgiving ce, filled with betrayal, backstabbing, and treachery, where even the people with whom you had the greatest trust could stab you in the back at any time for a small advantage. Even the most insignificant thing could be a reason for someone whom someone considers family to turn on him in cold blood.

    Such was the life and culture of the people living here.

    The Duergar representative looked at the Mind Flyer with a great deal of hatred, wanting nothing more than just to take his warhammer and smash up the skull of the octopus sitting across from him. The Duergars had a very bad history with the Mind Flyers because they were enved by the Transcendental Level Elder Brain for countless generations in the distant past.<sub> </sub>

    And no matter what subspecies of dwarf, they knew how to carry the grudge.

    "Now, now please try to remain civil with each other, at least until the meeting of the High Council ends... the reason why I have called you here is simple. For the past weeks, we have been suffering losses of all our spies and pawn nted within the territories of the Nesser Dynasty and even those of the Noble Houses who have been coborating with us have been purged by the Silvermoon Knight Order and Imperial Magician Corps to thest person."

    Reported the leading Drow Matriarch, who was the current Matriarch of the House Nasadar, one of the oldest and most powerful Dark Elven Houses in the Underdark. The nobility of the Drows or the Dark Seldarine were split into several Noble Houses; some were more powerful, while some were less powerful.

    The Drow Matriarch herself was a beautiful woman with dark skin, around 2 meters tall, with mature charmparable to that of the subus from the Nine Hells of the Baator. She had pale yellow hair, shining purple eyes and a prettyrge bust that caught the attention of several males in the room, though all of them knew what kind of preferences the Matriarch had.

    She was wearing a leather battle outfit made from the leather of the Perfect Legendary Dragon of unknown origin, and excluding a bit of her Holy Legendary might made several people in the room rtively uneasy.

    Amond the Holies of the Underdark, she was one of the rare ones who still kept actively meddling in the politics of the Underdark. Most of the people like her, especially with her strength, would long ago just be Hermits and try to reach Transcendence or live their years in peace.

    "We already know that, Aunzira."

    Answered a Drow man wearing the garbs of the priest, who had even more powerful aura than one of the strongest Drow Matriarchs in the Cosmos, the current Pope of the Seldarine Church, Wehlirahc Auvryghym.

    While the Drow society was matriarchal, in the end, it still falls onto the good old saying, "Might makes right." As the current Pope and the strongest Priest of the Spider Queen Lolth, his standing was technically higher than even that of the Drow Matriarchs because he was the manifestation of the Will of the Spider Queen.

    "The real question is, what will happen afterward? It is clearly evident that the purge of the spies and inner enemies is the prelude to something bigger, and I can safely say that the war with the Nesser Dynasty is just behind the door."

    Stated Pope Wehlirahc Auvryghym grimly, while the others were experiencing myriads of emotions. None of them were in delusions that the war with their enemy wouldn''t being, but in the opinions of the many present, it was too soon.

    "Do we know what made that fence sitters decide on that?"

    This time it was another of the Drow Matriarch to question; she was from the House Mvrn, another of the prominent Drow Houses in the Underdark. It was House of the same standing as the House Nasar; actually, all the three Drow Houses that had a seat on the High Council were of equal standing in the terms of the military power and potential they possessed.

    "The politicalndscape in the Nesser Dynasty has been changing drastically for past centuries, and when the brother of the current Emperor became one of the Cardinals of the Hall of Kadath, he started massively supporting the growth of the Warhawk Faction within the Dynasty."

    Reported the Matriarch of the Nasadar House grimly, thinking about the previous situation from a thousand years or so ago. That was basically the heaven for the Underdark because the Nesser Dynasty was way more tamer than now.

    During the past century and a half, the entire nation had undergone massive militarization, and with the rise of the Warhawk Faction, it was basically unstoppable. It used to be that the Nesser Dynasty would never initiate new wars on their own, but now the times were changing at an rming rate. And it must be noted that this change was not to their advantage at all.

    Especially considering the tremendous growth of the military potential of the Dynasty. Before the militarization, one could state that the Underdark had a higher number of powerhouses and were overall stronger, albeit they werecking in terms of organization and inner unity.

    "And what are the chances that the people from the Hall of Kadath won''t intervene on behalf of the Nesser Dynasty and join the fray?"

    There was a question on everyone''s mind which was nagging them for quite some time until the representative of the Druegar asked it out loud because the possibility of it could not be ignored.

    "Hall as a whole? Almost close to zero. Individuals who cannot be controlled and that old man just let them be? Highly possible, at least madman like Zaldidraax or Rose Thorn wille for sure join because they just want to destroy and ughter."

    Hearing this made all people grimace at the idea that two people who were close to bing Holies would surely be joining the war, but nobody could refute the words of Pope Wehlirahc Auvryghym.

    "We need to do our own preparation for the uing war with the Nesser Dynasty and send those uptight elves to the deepestyers of the Abyss... we still can summon Fiends, even those at the Holy Legendary Level, with enough sacrifices."

    For the Underdark''s denizens, no method was forbidden because they were willing to use any method at their disposal in order to win the fight. Entire civilization and society were shaped in a way like this, as only victory mattered; other things were inconsequential.

    "That could be done... at the same time, I believe it is time to create apletely unified government for the Underdark; right now, the current state is still not enough andpared to the Nesser Dynasty centralized rule, we are severelycking in this aspect."

    The words of Pope Wehlirahc Auvryghym were indeed the truth. While the Underdark''s High Council was something the other factions needed to abide by, it was notparable to the state of other factions.

    In the real battle, there would be problems if the various factions and organizations that were living in the Underdark decided just to abandon their position and mission because it was not favorable to them.

    If you consider that in Underdark, people betrayed each other even for the most simple of reasons, then this might be a very usible scenario. And thus, it became a priority number one to get rid of this weakness as much as possible.

    "I believe that everything important was already said, so we can now go to attend to our own matter."

 Chapter 113 8th Floor

    8th Floor of the Tower, one yearter.

    "As a result of your stupid stunt, an entire continent on the 7th Floor waspletely sunk down, and my entire Undead Army was almost wiped out in that area as a consequence."

    A red-haired man was asking a question while making a clear indication of his irritation as he looked at his femalepanion, who was pouting at him with a frowning face. From his voice alone, it was evident that he loved his Undeads more than anything in existence.

    "And I obtained the Recognition."

    His femalepanion was a beautiful elven female with long tinum blonde hair and emerald green eyes; she sharply looked at the golden-eyed man with a huff as she proudly proimed to him about her achievement.

    Once again, Samiel Zentaur, right at this present moment, just frowned and adjusted his armor once again. Indeed attaining Recognition from the Tower''s System was something that many who had aspired to achieve were envious of, but few were able to achieve it. Only a very handful number of people could say the Tower''s System recognized them.

    The Tower''s System recognized the Mortals in the same way that Legendaries who entered the Tower were treated. This was basically the same treatment that the Legendaries were given.

    Recognition from the Tower''s System was basically bestowing the same treatment for the Mortals that the Legendaries who entered the Tower enjoyed.

    Despite the fact that Samiel was mortal, he acquired his connection to the Akashic Records in a different way due to the fact that he was directly connected to the Akashic Records, which were one level higher than the Tower''s System. That was because the Tower''s System was technically a part of the Akashic Records.

    Right now, Yvriane obtained the qualifications to be issued the Mission from the Tower''s System directly as a method of climbing the Tower, just exactly like any Legendary who wasn''t born in the Tower and entered it or people like Samiel.

    "Ts."

    A few momentster, Samiel clicked his tongue and looked at smirking Yvriane, not bothering to bother with it anymore. In the end, he was content that his Undeads were all safe and ready forbat, and nothing else was important.

    In spite of the fact that Yvriane almost destroyed them all indirectly through her actions, fortunately, nothing happened to Samiel''s babies. As any proper Necromancers, Samiel considered his Undeads an extension of his very own being and loved them very much, so he didn''t like the thought that they could be destroyed for nothing.

    After Samiel ascended to the 6th Floor, the thing that he got from Yvraine when they were on the 1st Floor, and they easily found each other once again. The first thing that Yvraine did after their encounter and reunion was to challenge him to fight because she wanted to defeat him with her newfound power, which she obtained after training with the Holies.

    While she was unaware of Samiel''s progress on his own strength as well, she was surprised to find out that he made tremendous progress on his own strength as well. And as expected, she lost very easily and very fast. After Samiel learned how to control his own power and, more importantly, the Man Control Method, he became even more terrifying than he already was.

    Contrary to his situation, where he didn''t know practically anything nor even the fundamental aspects of how to control his own Mana properly, she was a different case. Yvraine already knew all of these things long before she started climbing the Tower itself.

    Before she even began climbing the Tower, she had already mastered every possible advantage she could gain, and the fact that he was able to win every single sparring match against her even before he had even begun to master his own power is something that speaks volumes about his strength inparison to her.

    ? There was not much excitement on the 6th Floor of the Tower because it was one of the more typical floors of the Tower. It was filled with cities all over the Floor, and they were built in a variety of different biomes as well. The entire Floor, since it had the designation of Residential, was one of the few throughout the whole Tower that could be considered a safe haven without much fighting and so on.

    Hence, there was nothing interesting going on.

    In spite of enjoying the calmness and tranquillity of the area, he had to admit that his stay was outright torturous. The only thing good about Samiel''s stay on the 6th Floor was that he had the opportunity to go on a few dates with Yvraine throughout a couple of cities.

    As a part of the tour, they had the opportunity to visit three cities. Two of them were mainly human cities, but thest one was the Dwarven Fortress City, which was built deep underneath the local mountain range, and it was a beautiful sight to see and it was a breathtaking view.

    Though his awe was broken into countless pieces when Yvraine told him that this couldn''t beparable to the Fortress Cities and Forge Cities that were built on the higher Floors of the Tower or various High Worlds and Principal Worlds, where dwarves had strong presence.

    Even then, it was a nice trip. Samiel greatly enjoyed sightseeing through the Dwarven Fortress City; he always had a thing for the ces built deep under the ground, especially the Dwarven Fortress City was like a wet dree came true.

    After they passed through the 6th Floor, the fabled 7th Floor came into view and Yvraine attempted to get Recognition from the Tower''s System through thepetition of Samiel''s own Advancement Quest. Of course, for that, she needed toplete the Advancement Quest alone, which in the end result ended in chaos absolute.

    The Advancement Quest on the 7th Floor was to go into one of the dammed vulcanic continents that were located on the 7th Floor and kill one of the volcano-dwelling beasts. The problem with that was the fire beast which was apparently at the Silver-Tier, and in its natural enviroment, it would be several times stronger.

    And that was where the fun began.

    At first, Samiel wasn''t really pleased with the idea of Yvrfaine doing this Advancement Quest initially, but after thinking about it, he conceded to her reasoning, and besides, this was a good opportunity for Yvraine to get recognized by the Tower''s system, which was a plus.

    Our roles were divided so that he would take care of the fire creatures and other things that were lurking around the volcano, while Yvraine would go straight at the quest objective and finish it off as soon as possible.

    After the n was set into motion, everything went well until the moment when the quest objective, the leading fire beasts, decided to erupt the entire volcano after Yvriane hit it with some kind of Metamatigic.

    Consequently, this caused a chain reaction in which all volcanoes across this volcanic continent started erupting one after another, causing the tectonic tes to crack down and the continent to begin sinking at an rming speed. As a result, the whole continent was falling apart at an rming rate.

    And together with it, his Undeads there were spread around the entire area of the volcano where Yvraine was fighting against fire beats of some kind, and Samiel didn''t have the ability to recall them from the far distance.

    Though on the good side of things, Yvraine managed to get Recognition from the Tower''s System, and everything was fine. In truth, even if the prize of her getting the Recognition from the Tower''s System was the destruction of his Undeads, he was sure that she would help him to create new ones at her expense.

    At least partially.

    "After we have calmed down, can we start deciding the next course of action?"<sub> </sub>

    Yvraine asked Samiel, who was still angry with her reckless usage of the Metamagic in such a dangerous ce where the leyline was clearly located, but whatever. Using Metamagic in volcano where a leyline was on top of all was extremely dangerous and partially even a stupid thing to do because it could backfire.

    Usually, the ces where leylines are located have extremely high Mana density and are vtile to explosions and big mess if something goes wrong. Due to that, most of the sane people won''t be casting destructive spells next to the leyline because it doesn''t really end well.

    "Based on the forest and the position of the sun, we are at the Demon Continent."

    Yvraine answered shortly after.

    The entire 8th Floor consisted of two continents, one of them was continents, and both of them were controlled by different races. The Human Continent was under the Human Brotherhood''s control, which was, in turn, supported by a few factions of the 13 Gates.

    And there was the Demon Continent, which was controlled by the Demon Tribes, which was descended from the countless Transcendental Daemons, not talking about the great number of Fiends on the Steel-Tier to Bronze-Tie that were running here and there on the Demon Continent.

    One could say that the entire 8th Floor was a proxy war between various factions of the Cosmos. Not like this was rare across the Cosmos, but in the Tower it was maximally unusual because most of the FLoor already had their Rulers and Owners. Thus, it was rtively rare to seerge-scale battles for ownership of the Floor of the Tower.

    "Then we should probably move towards the nearest city... from what Cardinal Karliana told me that the Branch of  The Guild, we can registrate within The Guild there adplete some quests and obtain some additional resources."

    Samiel stated while Yvraine agreed with his proposal as they started searching their way out of the forest. The forest was a bit creepy; it was not even a bitparable to the lush green forests on the 3rd Floor and especially around the ce where the Zephystrand Cit was located.

    For the past year and so, during which Samiel was climbing the Tower, he consumed a tremendous amount of Mana Crystals just to raise his Level from the initial 22, in which he was on the 5th Floor, to the current peak of Level 25.

    Just one step away from reaching Level 26 and thus bing the Bronze-Tier Professional officially. Of course,e another resource eater was Nefertari and his Undeads, which required constant investments, and that was not cheap.

    Despite the fact that Samiel was the Holy Son of Kadath, if he didn''tplete the missions, he would not be able to get the resources needed for continued advancement and growth within the Hall of Kadath. That was because the Hall of Kadath was built on very strict meritocratic principles and survival of the fittest.

    And the same rules applied to everybody, be it squires of the Holy Temr Order or the Pdins, be it junior priests or the Cardinals; in the end, everyone was technically equal and everything that mattered were the abilities of the individual.

    As a result, bing one of The Guild''s mercenaries was a pretty good way of gathering resources. As a faction, The Guild was a strange one, whose main purpose was to issue missions across the vast expanse of universes as a third party or middleman.

    They had a very high session rate because even the requirements to be one of The Guild''s hired guns were absolutely outrageous and not something that familiar experts could ever hope to achieve.

    It was an elite mercenary organization, the elite of the elites.

    [Advancement Quest: Fate of the 8th Floor

    Description: The 8th Floor has been locked in strife and fighting factions for countless centuries and millennia. Join one of the warring sides between the Human Brotherhood or the Demon Tribes and help decide the oue of the war.

    Reward: ??? - based on the contribution made to end the conflict.]

    After they walked a bit around the forest, Samiel had already got the Advancement Quest from the Tower''s System through the Akashic Records, and seeing Yvraine staring into nothingness; he predicted that she got the same thing.

    "I think that you already got the Advancement Quest?"

    Samiel questioned Yvraine because, as of right now, she was too receiving the Quest from the Tower''s System as one of the first climbers to gain Recognition in the past one thousand years, which was pretty rare.

    "There is no doubt in my mind that should be a very easy decision to make when deciding the side of the conflict, right?"

    She had a toothy grin as Samiel nodded.

    In the end, between the Humans and Demons, the choice was a very fast one and it was evident that they would be joining the side of the Demon Tribes. Even though countless Transcendent Level Daemons would probably stop at nothing to kill him, he was strictly instructed by the Hall Master to destroy any human faction, no matter how insignificant he found them.

    "You know that I am not really thrilled at the thought of working with those morons?"

    Samiel didn''t really want to help the Demon Tribes because sooner or altar, they would be his enemies, probably even right now, so not killing those who were on the 8th Floor was like leaving enemies growing stronger.

    "If it makes you feel a bit better, we can scheme something out and kill a few members of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe."

    Yvraine stated gently, which immediately lifted up Samiel''s mood. Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was one of the strongest Demon Tribes, if not the strongest in existence. Due to their overwhelming strength, they often acted as unofficial leaders around the other Demon Tribes.

    Also, as their racial advantages were outright outrageous, their poption was extremely small, and literarily tiny whenpared to that of the other Demon Tribes.

    "That would be good."

    As they continued their journey through the creepy forest of the Demon Continent of the 8th Floor, located in the known parts, it was certainly weird that they didn''t encounter a single magical beast or any living thing.

    And they had been walking through this dammed ce for several hours already, yet only the deadly silence followed them everywhere. There were no magical beasts or even ordinary animals present, which started getting increasingly suspicious with each passing second they spent in this ce.

 Chapter 114 Cursed Forest Trip

    In the end, the reason why they had not heard anything or encountered anything was very simple. They had been teleported directly into the heart of the Cursed Forest, the worst possible oue of teleporting to the next Floor in the first ce.

    He wanted to curse the Tower''s System for teleporting them into this literal shithole, and if it hadn''t been for Nefertari, who had warned him that they were in the Cursed Forest, he didn''t think he would have noticed this fact for so long.

    ''Dammed E-Ranked Luck.''

    Samiel cursed in his mind, he dammed luck, but at least for the better side of things, Yvraine was here too, so now he questioned if she was already unlucky or if his "luck" affected her.

    In the Cosmos, the Cursed Forests were unique ces that were considered to be rare since it took special conditions for the Cursed Forest to be born in the first ce in order to from them to be created. Cursed Forests usually can only be found in areas where there is a high concentration of Negative Energy, and this Negative Energy is normally the thing that creates these ces.

    There was no doubt, though, that the Cursed Forests were rather dangerous ces because they were, technically speaking, semi-sentient beings. At the same time, some of the Cursed Forests had developed a fully conscious state of being with their long history and other things.

    This ce with its effects would be dangerous as hell, even if it didn''t have any intelligence at all and was just an average forest that was filled with poisonous nts and cursed by some Sorcerer, but the aspect of intelligence made this literal hellhole.

    There were basically two things that made the Cursed Forests so dangerous. One of them was the fact that the entire ce was filled with numerous curses, poisons, and other things that drastically weakened anyone who entered it. There was even the possibility that some people who were not strong enough in the beginning might even die from the weakening effects of the curses and poisons that filled the Cursed Forest.

    Furthermore, as a semi-sentient entity, the Cursed Forest was preying on the people who entered its premises. Like any other predator out there, the Cursed Forest was no different from them, as it always hunted for the creatures to eat.

    The trees that made up the Cursed Forest were alive, as well as all the nts within it. They were all carnivorous, which makes them extremely dangerous during singlebat. Not only that, but they could also move and use their thorns or branches to bind and attack their targets.

    There was onemon reason for the Cursed Forests to be devoid of any life also aside from the flora, and that was because they fed on the blood and flesh of the creatures. It devoured anything that entered it, be it a Magical Beast, Monster, Sent Race, or even in some cases, Abominations and being from the depths of the Void.

    There was even a case where the entire Supreme Stage Legendary Level Void Behemoth fell injured to an unknown High World, where it fell directly onto the Cursed Forest. And shockingly, before the hunting party could find the creature and hunt it down for resources, it was already being imed by the Cursed Forest that subjugated the Void Behemoth.

    This was an asion that got itself recorded in the history books.

    "We are in the Cursed Forest."

    He stated this to Yvarine, though she wasn''t responding to him, which made him disturbed a little bit. He turned around to see Yvarine''s nk expression on her face, which made him panic even more because it was evident that she fell onto the effect of the curses and poisons in the ce.

    "So even she couldn''t get hold herself up in the ce."

    Because they were close to the very heart of the Cursed Forest, the effects of the Curses and other things that were prating this dammed ce were clearly strongest here, and even Yvriane Nesser Silvermoon was not free from its effects. Even though she was a Silvermoon Elf, she too fell onto the effects, proving that the Cursed Forests are very dangerous things even to entertain the thought of entering.

    Samiel, of course, was, but he was lucky in this aspect because he bore the Holy Blood of Azathoth, the Nuclear Chaos, one of the strongest Transcendetns in existence; thus, he wouldn''t fall into the traps of this ce.

    Still, Samiel didn''t know how to break the effect of the curses and poisons that were affecting Yvraine pretty seriously. He predicted that she would need to be at least Silver-Tier to resist the effects of the Cursed Forest fully, to resist them on her own without outside help.

    What was interesting was the fact that the Cursed Forest itself waited until they gotfortable before it attacked them, and neither of them felt anything. Samiel didn''t feel anything at all, probably, his immune system and resistances took the subtle attacks for him, but on the Yvraine, the effect was immediate.

    Right now, she was around Level 30 Bronze-Tier, which was good progress she made, but it was not enough topletely resist the effects of the Cursed Forest. On top of all this, Samiel knew that this Cursed Forest was pretty weak, based on the knowledge he had of them.

    Pondering on what to do, Samiel conjured a dagger through the Winter Ruler and cut his wrist, drawing out some blood, which he instantly froze into a blood-ice crystal. After he created the blood ice crystal out of his blood, he held it in his right hand as a small purple Magic Circle appeared below him.

    During the time spent with the Menuhyutt Faulhaber, Samiel learned how to use the Magic Circles when casting spells, and he had to admit that they were convenient, even though they required a bit more time to prepare, but the effect of the spells was higher.

    As the Magic Circle lit up, the ice blood crystal dispersed into countless crimson-red particles, which then circled around Yvraine several times all over and over until they started falling onto her whole body, until she regained her clear expression.

    Evidently, the effect of the Curses was dispersed, and even the poisons were purged.

    What Samiel did was use his own blood inbination with the Curse Displession Spell and Poison Purge because he knew that the ordinary variants of the Spells would be of no use, so he needed to use something as a catalyzator.

    He knew that his blood would have an effect strong enough to disperse the effects of the Cursed Forest.

    "rity already returned?"

    Samiel questioned as Yvraine''s pale face returned to its previous healthy color, and at the same time, she grew a bit embarrassed because, due to her recklessness and overconfidence, she got under the effects of the Cursed Forest.

    Normally this wouldn''t be the case because she had special measures against situations like this. Yet, for some unknown reasons to her, she didn''t use it, nor did she realize that they were in the Cursed Forest, which only added only on the humiliation.

    An elf not recognizing that she was in Cursed Forest, Silvermoon Elf at that... this would haunt her in her worst dream.

    "Yes... and hopefully, you won''t be talking about this to anyone alive."

    Yvraine then stated silently, but with enough threat in her voice, that gave Samiel enough impression that she was really in this and was indeed pretty embarrassed about this.

    "Right now, the thing we need to do is to get out of this dammed ce as soon as possible."<sub> </sub>

    Samiel said as he tugged on Nefertari''s head, who was sleeping peacefully on his shoulder, not caring what was happening around her, having a lovely nap, and not paying attention to any of the things that were going on.

    Unsurprisingly Nefertari was not even a bit affected by being in the Cursed Forest; due to her Divine Origin, she was alsopletely immune like Samiel.

    "Nefertari, be a good flying cat and go to scout the area ahead of us."

    Samiel ordered his Familiar, as much as one could order a cat to do something, but it worked because she knew that if she didn''t behave herself, then she would lose all of the precious snacks that he had been preparing for her.

    Nefertari was a gluttonous cat; she liked eating, not liked, but outright loved and she ate a ton of food. It was already a little miracle that she wasn''t already rolling on the ground like a ball; probably her digestion system was pretty strong.

    Or she was gaining power from the food she ate, as everything that Samiel prepared was from strong Magical Beasts, which was especially beneficial for someone like Nefertari. Magical Beasts and simr creatures often ate other Magical Creatures not just to quell their hunger but also to increase their Level.

    It was then that Nefertari pped her wings and shot into the air. Immediately, she felt several tens of thorny vines attack her as she flew out of the forest itself as if trying to bring her down, while at the same time, several tree branches were attacking her from the higher trees as she was flying out.

    Evidently the Cursed Forest was trying a lot to keep her down or turn her into food.

    She skillfully and effortlessly dodged all iing thorny vines that attempted to attack in her hopes of bing food for the Cursed Forest. Nheless, even the Cursed Forest itself was short on the might of the Elder Wampus Cat, the almighty cat heavenly celestial divine...

    Long short story, everyone must bow before the might of the Almighty Cat.

    She circled a few times above the Cursed Forest once she had flown out of it before returning to Samiel and sending him images of what she saw using the telepathic connection they had between them as she flew back into the Cursed Forest.

    Seeing those images, Samiel frowned a little bit, because they confirmed his suspicion that they were deep within the Cursed Forest, that they had to struggle to escape this damned ce, and that they would have to put in some effort to do so.

    Unfortunately, Samiel couldn''t even rank up into the Bronze-Tier even though he was essentially very close to reaching Level 26. It would be a pretty hazardous thing to do in the enviroment such as the Cursed Forest, where anything could attack them out of nowhere.

    "Sadly, I can only bring you bad news, and that is that we are pretty deep inside the Cursed Forest, and we will probably need to fight our way to the out of here if we wish to escape."

    It was immediately after that that Simeel summoned Ashimer because the Undead itself had already attained Level 55, which made it very powerful on its own. A Silver-Tier Higher Undead, particrly abat-oriented Frost Death Knight, was certainly noughing matter.

    He would be of great use in escaping from the Cursed Forest because, soon enough, the semi-consciousness of the Cursed Forest would start attacking them with its full force. And he had some very weird feeling that it would be soon.

    Fortunately for them, it wasn''t full consciousness because he noticed that this forest was rtively young, only a few thousand years old. At least they were lucky in this aspect because if not, then he would be forced to use some more drastic means of getting out.

    In spite of this, the whole thing was still a pain in the ass.

    A few secondster, Yvraine''s eyes perked up. Due to her carelessness, she had already fallen into the traps of the Cursed Forest once, and hell would freeze sooner than she would be able to do it again. Then, she began to use everything that she had at her disposal, and as a result, she began to notice that the semi-consciousness of the Cursed Forest had already noticed them and was attempting to attack.

    "It is attacking."

    It was as soon as she said that as tens of thorny vines attacked three of them and one familiar, as everyone dodged to the side, but due to the fact that they were in the middle of a forest, it was actually quite difficult to do so. Instead, it was different from being on the defensive, as attacks coulde out from everywhere.

    There was a danger in ces like this; even survival here was a challenge; this was the nature of the Cursed Forests. Samiel and Ashimer both were using their ice abilities to freeze the iing tens of thorny vines that wereshing at them while Yvraine was shooting them down with some spells from the Elementia Magicae from behind.

    Nefertari was rtively useless here because she couldn''t use her Mirage Ability on the Cursed Forest. Yet, not wanting to be left out of the fray, she started using her Level 3 Ultimate Ability Shadow Rule to create various shadow-based attacks, which shed through the thorny vines like a hot knight through butter.

    "We should start moving towards the western direction!"

    Samiel shouted at Yvraine as he and Ashimer nked the Silvermoon Princess, creating a battle formation and marching through the Cursed Forest in the direction of the west. Samiel chose the western side because it was the ce where the forest was not as extensive, and they could exit it way soonerpared to other ways.

    Ironically the best way to deal with the Cursed Forest is to burn it down, but unfortunately for them, nobody here has any kind of fire abilities or knows some Magic and Spells rted to that. They would just burn down the dammed ce and it was done.

    Regrettably, Samiel was basically an ice user when it came to elements, Ashimer who was fighting here too was in his very own nature ipatible with fire and Yvraine; while knew some me and fire-rted spells, it was not enough to burn down entire Cursed Forest.

    For a few seconds, Samiel wanted Estrid to be here, but on the other side, she would certainly create more problems than she was worth. From what he heard, the dragon girl had already passed the 20th Floor, where she was stuck, after creating a conflict with worshippers of the Evil Gods, and now they were hunting her down.

    After ten more minutes, they finally made great progress on their walk and were nearing the outskirts of the Cursed Forest until all of them heard weird roaring and soundsing from the depths of the forest.

    Samiel was obvious to it, but Yvraine''s face went pale before she quickly shouted at him.

    "It''s treants! We need to run!"

    That immediately woke him up as they broke their battle formation and started running the hell out of here.

 Chapter 115 Magic Moment

    ''Damm it! Damm it! Damm it! Damm it! Damm it! Damm it! Damm it! Damm it! Damm it! Damm it!''

    As Samiel cursed in his mind the situation over and over again, it was apparent that the Treant''s appearance was basically the beginning of the whole shitshow. As he sensed the level of the Treants, the majority were at the Bronze-Tier Level 50, and some of them were even at the Silver-Tier, which made the situation even moreplicated.

    The first one to take off was Nefertari, who pped the ship and abandoned the three of them, but what would one expect from the Cat such as Nefertari? She was scared for her own life because there were at least fifteen Treants iing at their position, from which three were Silver-Tier, so she took her chances to fly away.

    In truth, seeing his Familiar escaping as the first one, he didn''t know whether tough or cry at this, because he hoped that Nefertari would remain here for a bit longer, not just escape as the first from this mess. But what should he have awaited from the Elder Wampus Cat? He knew that she would return after everything was safe and probably tell him that she went scout the situation ahead.

    Samiel was able to see the first Treant after they had started running, but it was a lot different from what he had seen before because he had already seen a lot of them before he saw this one. In Zephystrand City, there were hundreds of Treants, so Samiel was very well familiar with them.

    Normally, the Treants had face-like features on their bark, a division between their trunk that formed legs, and long branches that served as arms. Their wood appeared to be solid like stone, but it was actually filled with tubes that carried water from its roots to the areas where it was needed.

    As opposed to the healthy green-brown color of the Treant, the ones that were created in the Cursed Forest were characterized by a grayish-ck color, which clearly indicates the corruption caused by the environment in which they were birthed and the effects of the cursed forest.

    Due to the fact that these corrupted Treants were often prone to various types of diseases and technically gic instability, they could spontaneously start dposing and falling apart at any given moment, thus greatly increasing their aggressiveness andbat at the expense of their stability.

    But that didn''t make them any less dangerous; on the contrary, it made them even more fearsome than average Treants. And Samiel had to admit that even the ordinary Treants he saw were very dangerous, and he didn''t really want to fight the Silver-Tier ones.

    When Samiel saw the first Bronze-Tier Treant, he immediately sent at it several 3rd Level Spells from the Void Magic, the Void Strikes, as they hit the Treant all around its surface, causing pieces of wood to fly away in countless chips high in the air.

    Interestingly to Samiel''s deep surprise, it didn''t kill the Treant, but that could be expected considering where they were fighting. One thing about fighting Treants in forests where they were created was the fact they were night impossible to kill.

    That was especially the truth with the things like semi-sentient forests or those fully sentient ones, just like this one, the Cursed Forest, where they were located. The Cursed Forest itself was directly connected to the Treants, and it was constantly regenerating and repairing them, so unless Samiel could destroy the whole Treant entirely in one hit, then his efforts would be futile.

    But on the good side of things, the purpose was not to destroy them but rather to slow them down because he already felt that they were closing to the exit of the Cursed Forest. When Nefertari flew away, she was constantly sending him images through their telepathic connection, which way he should go.

    Due to this, Samiel, as their group leader, was deciding on the direction, and thanks to cat air support, they were approaching the exit rtively fast. The coordination between the three of them was almost perfect, with Samiel leading the way and Ashimer with Yvraine disposing of the thorny vines or other attempts of the Cursed Forest to slow them down or kill them.

    ? They ran through the forest, with Samiel asionally spamming some Void Strikes that proved to be destructive enough against the Treants to buy them enough time when they approached them closely. Fortunately, the Void Magic never let him down, as its power and destructive capabilities proved themselves to be useful even at this moment.

    After ten minutes or so, they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel when Samiel saw the light prating through the crowns of the trees, signifying that they were on the outskirts of the Cursed Forest.

    "We are already safe."

    Samiel stated as he stepped outside of the Cursed Forest with his foot. The one thing he learned about the Treants was the fact, was that the farther they were from their forest, the weaker they got, in some cases, it would easily result in death.

    Now that they were on some kind of teau, with high brown grass sprouting from the ground, pretty muchplementing the entire looks of the Cursed Forest, with that weird and gloomy appearance.

    "Okey, Yv?"

    Samiel looked at Yvraine, who panted for breath; clearly the entire stay in the Cursed Forest took some heavy toll on her, but that was not surprising for him to see. She at first into the effects of the Cursed in that dammed ce and was even poisoned.

    Fortunately, he was able to purge it outpletely; if not for that, then the consequences would be direr than just some fatigue and headache. Normally the people who were Apostles of Gods should be immune to the curses like this, but shockingly the curse of the Cursed Forest was able to bypass it.

    This only affirmed Samiel''s assumptions that the Cursed Forest that they had the honor to enter was a very powerful one, to the point where even someone like Yvraine felt a heavy toll on her as the Curses had a certain degree on her.

    "I am okay... just need some time to regain my strength... I feel very tired."

    Samiel could see that she was very close to falling asleep. Considering that they would need to walk for several days straight because this was apparently one of the more inhabited areas of the Demon Continent... how surprising, the ce where the Cursed Forest was located wouldn''t be a top destination for living.

    Not even Demons would be living there, and of course, they didn''t care that either somebody created a Cursed Forest or it grew naturally on its own through some twists of fate. Normally, any sane ruler would at least send some powerful Magician to check that ce out and destroy it if possible.

    Only Demons were negligent enough of not to care about the consequences of leaving the Cursed Forest to thrive here. Samiel read that some of the Cursed Forests could develop to the point of devouring the entire world; though such asions were rtively rare and happened mostly in the Lower Worlds, there were several such cases that were recorded.

    Nevertheless, Samiel then contemted on what to do before he took sleepy Yvraine on his back as she held her arms around his neck, with him carrying her piggyback. He could see that she was dead tired because she didn''t even protest against him doing this; normally, she would have a lecture that it was not befitting and it would be disgraceful to her reputation begin carried like a sack of potatoes.

    Samiel then ordered Ashimer to guard him; in any case, if there were trouble, he could just summon his Undeads and let them take care of everything. Not talking about the cat air support that was flying high above their heads, surveying the area for potential threats.

    Samiel went together with Ashimer for more than twelve hours with Yvraine on his back without any stop; they finally found some abandoned house that looked like it had been in that state for several decades already, but that should be enough for now.

    When they arrived at the abandoned house, he realized that it looked better inside than it looked from the outside. It was a typical farmer''s house, so basically a very crappy home, but Samiel immediately summoned his Undeads and divided them into three groups.<sub> </sub>

    The first one was tasked with guard duty and would secure the perimeter in case they were attacked by Magical Beasts, bandits, or some other unscrupulous individuals, not to mention the possibility of the humans attacking them, because this was one of the more turbulent areas of the Demon Continent.

    The second group of Undeads was tasked with repairing the farmer''s house, so it could be suitable to spend a night because they would be spending several days here. From the symptoms Yvraine had, she would require several days of rest, before she could return back to her full power.

    And finally, the third group was tasked with hunting and bringing back some magical beasts that he would turn into some good food, preferably steaks, as he was in the mood for some good and thick piece of meat.

    Especially thick... like papa loves.

    Samiel was then very satisfied with his clever usage of Undeads because they proved to be very helpful aside frombat and dealing with annoying enemies. Ever since he was on Earth, he was constantly using them to do things he didn''t wish or others activities that would take a lot of time for him to do.

    After three hours of working on the farmer''s shack, it was finally repaired to an eptable degree. The roof was fixed so nothing would leak in when it started raining, for example, and the walls were too fixed and insted to prevent warmth leakage.

    Groups of Undeads he released onto the wilds soon returned with some freshly hunted magical beasts, and even piles of wood, that he ordered them to chop down. Meanwhile, Samiel was coordinating the Undeads andmanding them on what to do and what not to do; Yvraine was sleeping on the bed that had been constructed for the purpose.

    Though not only good news but also the bad ones, and the biggest one was that all the magical beasts that his Undeaqds managed to procure were only some species of rabbits. Even though they Iron-Tier around Level 10, they didn''t have a lot of meat on them and evidently, there were not any other kinds of magical beasts in their vicinity.

    So Samiel was forced to cook the stew out of them. Personally, he didn''t like the rabbits and cooking them. The taste was weird, not like it was bad, but it was very lean meat and was not for everybody. Also, rabbits didn''t have much meat on them, mainly because their bigger size was attributed to their thick fur, and the entire meat was filled with tendons, which made the meat hard to process.

    Still, he made some good stew out of the rabbit meat avable, together with some potatoes, root vegetables such as carrots, celery and root parsley, which added to it some earthly vor, and he finished it with some chilly and peppercorn.

    Even though it was not something he would typically cook and eat, it was way better than anything. As he was going to let the thing cook, he looked outside the window and noticed that the sun was already setting and it was getting rtively cold outside.

    Fortunately, because he was cooking all this time inside the farmer''s house, it was all nice warm here. Though Samiel didn''t have any problem with coldness, he still enjoyed these cozy moments; it stemmed from his time on Earth; this was his favorite weather.

    Around the entire house, around 200 Undeads were patrolling under Ashimer''s leadership, so there was no way they would be ambushed or anything. Of course, this area was rather dangerous because there were a lot of Magical Beasts lurking here and there.

    As he looked outside the window, he took another wood log and threw it to embers. The fire cracked nicely, as the ce was getting warmer, and Samiel enjoyed looking at the ming fire and burning wood.

    He could see that Yvraine was getting better, the rabbit stew was simmering and would require around one hour to cook properly, or an hour and a half, depending on how it would taste and how the meat and vegetables would be done.

    Thus he took one of the Grimoires at his disposal, sat on the wooden armchair, and started reading the book; that was all he was doing in his free time. After thirty minutes he spent studying the Necromancy Arts, right now he was reading about various aspects of the basic curses and their alternative usage, he noticed that Yvraine was slowly waking up.

    When she opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that she was not already in the forest, but in some kind of house, if it could be called such, because it was in a terrible state, though it probably served the purpose.

    When she turned her around, she noticed Samiel, who was sitting on a chair, engrossed in some magic tome, as always, but she felt very weak. It was clear that even though Samiel managed to disperse the curses and purge the poison out of her body, her organism still felt very weak due to that.

    She was covered in several furs from high-tiered Magical Beasts, so she was warm, while the fire was providing further warmth to the ce. Interestingly, the windows were already having some freeze burns over them, as the Demon Continent was apparently extremely cold during the nights, something which Samiel didn''t really expect.

    When Yvraine attempted to sit on her bed, she noticed that something heavy was on her chest, only to see Samiel''s familiar Nefertari curled up in the ball was sleeping on Yvraine, as if it was protecting the mate of her hooman.

    It was pretty cute, though.

    "Slowly, slowly... the side effects of the curses and poison of the Cursed Forest was more severe than I predicted. Initially, I thought that my spell would be enough to deal with that, but clearly, some medical approach was required to do so, and I am in no way any healer or doctor."

    Samiel stated in rather an apologetic way with a smile.

    "Don''t worry about that... I feel just tired, but thank you for carrying and taking care of me."

    Yvraine said gently as she leaned over to her man, initiating a kiss, which he returned with equal passion. Ironically, she knew that Samiel was someone who had no prior romantical experiences aside from some kind of traumas that he didn''t talk about, so she never pressed him into anything.

    But after some time, he started being more natural with her and not so close to himself. Samiel Zentaur was pretty much a person who kept much to himself; he wasn''t a very social person and preferred sce and silencepared to other things.

    "Better now?"

    He asked with a grin as their lips separated and he sat down on the bed next to Yvraine while hugging her close to him. It was indescribable what he was feeling, but one could say he wished for this moment never to end.

    Like he finally found the peace he so much wished for but it never came.

 Chapter 116 Time Together

    Three Days Later, 8th Floor of the Tower, Demon Continent, Farmer''s House,ter evening hours.

    Samiel and Yvraine spent several days at the farming house he found on his journey, as Yvraine was getting continuously better and better. Surprisingly, Samiel took a liking to this rustic ce and enviroment, yes, it was not any kind of luxury, but after he ordered his Undeads to renovate it a bit, he realized that the entire former farmer''s house was pretty cozy and nice.

    The only problem she had, were the after-effects of the curses. Because the curses were inflicted by the very strong Cured Forest, they were rtively potent, so even someone like Yvraine, who was a Silvermoon Elf and Holy Apostle of Eluria, the main Goddess of the Seldari Pantheon, needed some time to recuperate from the after-effects fully.

    Fortunately, it was just fatigue and tiredness, which she got rid of it, by resting properly. Samiel spent most of his time cooking and taking care of Yvraine, who already, on the second day, wanted to train in her swordsmanship, which Samiel strictly forbade her.

    Even though Samiel was in no way a healer or doctor, as a Necromancer, he was pretty knowledgeable about dealing with the after-effects of various curses. This was something that came with the upation, and on top of being knowledgeable about dealing with the aftermath of curses, he could also deal with many poisons.

    Typically, after the curse was dispersed from the cursed person, the mostmon procedure was to just rest and properly ate. Yeh, it sounded pretty stupid and easy, but sometimes the simplest way was the most effective one.

    Also, drink every day some Mana Potions and potions with healing effects and simr things to speed up the recovery rate. Clearly, it pretty much paid off when Yvraine started getting better, and on the third day they were on this, Yvraine already got rid of all side effects of the curses and poisons from the Cursed Forest.

    "Tomorrow, we would be continuing our journey to the nearest city... it should be the one controlled by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe?"

    Samiel stated as he returned to the cooking.

    "What do we have for dinner today?"

    Yvraine asked eagerly while Nefertari opened her eyes slightly, looking at her hooman. In fact, Yvraine was already bet fed up by eating the rabbit stew; she quickly found out that she didn''t like the rabbit, and even Nefertari wanted to eat something else.

    "Today, we have a goat, peak Bronze-Tier that Ashimer hunted."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine''s eyes shone in anticipation, and Nefertari was technically the same because she liked to eat goat meat. Or rather, Nefertari liked any kind of meat if it was from the higher-tiered magical beast, or even if not, she just liked eating.

    "When do you think that the final war between the two of those will begin?"

    Yvraine asked Samiel, while she was watching him butcher up peak Level 50 Bronze-Tier goat-type magical beasts. This was because for the past days, more precisely, yesterday, his Undeads confronted several hundred members of the Human Brotherhood who somehow found their way to the Demon Continent.

    Though truth to be told, it was not that surprising because they were located in one of the areas where the fighting between humans and demons was prettymon, but even then, in suchrge numbers and especially the way they were armed.

    Samiel noticed that all of them were rtively strong... for an unawakened. And this was bing very, very suspicious as he sensed some foul y here.

    After Samiel became the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, he delved a bit deeper into the topic of sses and Awakening. It was pretty simple; a person would undergo awakening the moment he was born because, technically speaking, from that moment the life was created, he would have been already awakened as a ss Bearer and obtain some kind of ss.

    Naturally, the majority of the Professionals had trash sses, prettymon ones, more often being nothing more than just Archer, Warrior, Caster or something in that way, based on their predisposition and the judgment of the Akashic Records, on their souls and attributes of it.

    And then there was a problem if someone failed to Awaken. The basic requirement for the sessful awakening and bing a ss Bearer, thus a full-fledged Professional, was a mana-rich enviroment.

    Because of that, the ss Bearer were pretty much rare in the Mana-Less WOrlds such as Earth, and they were considered a raremodity. Of course, that didn''t mean that Unawakened couldn''t be Professionals and, for example, a person without a Necromancer ss bes a Necromancer.

    Not, it did not.

    But the problem came with that, they would be several times weakerpared to those people who awakened such ss. That was the main reason why the Unawakened were looked down upon, but this time, there was something interesting about the members of the Human Brotherhood that his Undeads ughtered.

    Even though they were Unawakeend, they were still very stronger, probably equal to the ss Bearers. When Samiel, together with Yvraine, examined their bodies and dissected a few of them, he noticed that they were strengthened on the gic level with some kind of serum that made them several times stronger, essentially pushing them to the level of Awakened ss Bearer and full-fledged Professionals.

    "Don''t know... it is clear that the Germinal Order, Avalon Kingdom and very possibly Magisterium are ying something, something very dangerous and are nning to use the Human Brotherhood as their test subjects for their unstable serum."

    The reason why Samiel stated that their "Super Soldier Serum" as he liked to call it was unstable was that, after Yvraine did a few detections spells on the captured Human Brotherhood goons, Samiel was directing alive, mainly for fun and but also to see an extent of the regenerative capabilities of the serum, noticed one thing.

    Aside from the fact that the serum gave them the ability to heal many wounds in real-time, which wasn''t very good news because the regeneration rate was approaching that of Trolls, which was bad, but their DNA was dposing.

    Each person who was injected with that Super Soldier Serum would have their lifespan shortened to around only a few years. From what they saw the lifespan of the Bronze-Tier was around five years, Steel-Tier 2 years and Iron-Tier should have around half a month.

    Apparently, those with bigger Mana Reserves and stronger Mana were able to prolong their life by some insignificant years, but this was clearly not a problem for the puppeteers in the shadows. Mainly because humans were one of the mostmon species across the entire Cosmos, and there would be countless people whom they could use as their cannon fodder and foot soldiers in the wars.

    "If it is true, then the coboration between 3 Gates would be dangerous... especially because of the human supremacists of the Avalon and some elements in the Magisterium."

    Even though the Avalon Kingdom is basically a human supremacy faction, they didn''t have much problem working with Germinal Order which waspromised mainly from the Githyanki and Githzerai races and other psionically talented species.

    Not talking about Magisterium, where even humans have turned themselves into abominations and amalgamations of various horrors through countless experiments in order to raise their strength to a new level.<sub> </sub>

    What an irony.

    "If they manage to create a stable concoction, they should be able to bolster their cannon fodders to a certain level when it is trouble for our forces to deal with en masse..."

    Yvraine muttered as she watched Samiel preparing the goat meat in some exotic way.

    "Will it be able to affect and politicalndscape of the Cosmos on arger scale, though?"

    Samiel was curious about this, to see the potential of this technology because even though if they would seed in mass-producing the cannon fodder soldiers, it would still be useless in the face of Legendaries and true experts.

    "Maybe... depend on the numbers, though I seriously doubt they would be able to push it to create a Legendaries, because that should not be possible. Though there were some civilizations, some of them still have absolutely frightening gic technology."

    Yvraine stopped in her tracks as she then thought about it. Gic technology across the Cosmos was not something umon, though; some of it was pretty terrifying, depending on the origin.

    The ones originating from purely technological civilizations had certain limits, but the ones that were birthed in civilizations or factions with advanced Magetech were truly terrifying ones that reached frightening heights.

    "Hmm... we can inform our factions about this development and obtain probably some rewards for bringing back some samples of the Synergy of the Super Soldier Serum they have created... in my case, would get some nice number of contribution points."

    Samiel stated because he was already running out of the resources he had in his disposition, so harvesting some contribution points was good; also, there was a good possibility that some missions would be posted through the Guild, and that would be another way of getting resources.

    After that, Samiel continued cooking the goat biryani, which was a traditional Indian dish that he came to enjoy, as the fragrance of the dish prated the air in the farmer''s house, with Yvraine already sneaking peaks at the pot in anticipation of good dinner.

    Even Nefertari was already awake and wanting to eat something. Not like it was any surprising considering how much a glutton she was. After one hour or so, the food was finally done, and Samiel opened the lit of the cast iron pot and they could start to eat.

    "Delicious."

    Yvraine almost moaned in pleasure when she tasted the first serving of the fresh goat biryani. The rice was cooked perfectly, with the caramelization happening on the bottom of the pot, together with various spices and aromatics that were used in the dish.

    "It is biryani; it is a traditional dish from Earth from a country called India."

    Samiel stated as he gave himself another serving of the goat biryani. After they finished eating, Nefertari curled herself into a ball near the firece and went to sleep while Samiel with Yvraine sat in front of the ming firece and watched the wood burn as they held hands.

    "It was a nice ce to stay here... it reminded me of some stories I read when I was younger... though this ce could be nice and cozy if it wasn''t in the such a deste state and falling apart."

    Samiel said after a short time of silence, to which Yvraine only scoffed.

    "It is dirty and filthy here and the fact that this ce didn''t fall onto our heads should be considered a miracle from the Moon Goddess herself."

    Yvraine was pretty irritated that we were spending more than three days here because this was not an Imperial Pce or some luxurious vi, but just a wooden hut that was continuously falling apart piece by piece.

    And certainly, it was not a ce where a respectable princess of the noblest Silvermoon Elves and Nesser Dynasty should be spending her time.

    "Yes, yes, Your Imperial Highness and your spoiled ass."

    Samiel teased her back; he was, in truth used to even worse housing conditions, so he was pretty much okay with this because at least he had some roof above his head, and that was better than none.

    When he was still on Earth, the typical night was countless times worse, especially during the Winter. During that time, Samiel didn''t have Lord ss Knight of Niflheim or the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler, which gave him technically immunity towards the cold.

    No, during that time, he was just an ordinary Professional who was freezing to death because he was sleeping under the stars. And no matter how romantic it sounded, the reality was often very far from the imagination.

    More often, it was wet and cold, pretty ufortable and basically worth of a load of dragon dung, and because Samiel spent several years living that lifestyle, he was rtively modest when it came to amodation.

    Yvraine looked at him, not saying anything, probably contemting about his words. She could see that even though he worked up his way where he was, he, contrary to her, came from the bottom of the Cosmos because there could be nothing worse than originating in the Mana-Less Worlds.

    Even being a ve in Lower World was better because you would have Mana, but in a world that was practically on the verge of bing Mana-Less, one bing a Professional was considered heavenly luck.

    "Now, let''s just enjoy our time together."

    Samiel said shortly after as he hugged Yvriane; both of them enjoyed the presence of each other. It was nice here; if only the house was in a better state, but it served the purpose. On the other hand, Samiel enjoyed his time with her.

    Even Yvraine was happy, judging based on her smile, as she snuggled to his chest. In the end they spend like this several hours, asionally talking about some minor topics, nothing heavy, not to ruin the atmosphere.

 Chapter 117 Demon City And The Guild

    Several Day Later, the 8th Floor of the Tower, Demon Continent, Outskirts, Unknown Road.

    A couple of people were walking beside each other along the road that led to a certain city on the Demon Continent. This time, after Samiel had left the farmer''s house with Yvraine, he decided to put on different clothes since they would now be entering the territory of the Demon Tribes.

    It was doubtful that the Demon Tribes, especially the Golden Horned Demon Tribe, would not be aware of who he was, so he decided to change his outfit and used some artifacts which were required to conceal his identity from them.

    Fortunately, his close rtionship with the Yvriane was known only to the Nesser Dynasty and the Hall of Kadath, and nobody else, even though the Underdark was already suspicious of something, based on the information they gathered about him on the 3rd Floor of the Tower.

    Though he seriously doubted that Underdark would agree to sell this information to other factions easily. Mainly because he was the current Holy Son of Hall of Kadath, and on top of that, there were already rumors spreading across the Cosmos that he also became an inheritor of the current Hall Master, Menuhyutt Faulhaber.

    So, even if the Underdark would be selling some information about him, they would be asking an outrageous price that nobody would be willing to pay at the start. inly speaking, Underdark would be trying to rip everyone off, while others would be trying to wait and see.

    Besides his armor, Samiel also wore a ck leather tricorn made from the leather of a ck dragon, a gray duster coat that was also made from the leather of a ck dragon, leather boots of the same color, and a reddish bandana covering his face as part of his ensemble. As a result of the cor of his coat covering arge part of his face, he used it in conjunction with his hat to hide his vibrant red-colored long hair that was striking to sight.

    After all, he must admit that he looked even more badass, and whenbined with Rao''s Vengeance''s intimidating armor, his intimidation level had risen to another level. This time, even Yvraine had to admit that he looked more handsome than ever. Fortunately, she had weird tastes as well; if not, then Samiel''s creepy appearance, which came out of one of the Lovecraftian Novels, would surely deter most of the women.

    In spite of the fact that he was wearing armor, the Rao''s Vengence was very flexible because of its nature. It didn''t interfere with his movements at all, not even in the slightest. What''s more, it was almost as light as a feather in weight.

    "How far are we from Goldtooth?"

    Samiel questioned hispanion as they were on their way to the Goldtooth, which was one of thergest Fortress Cities on the Demon Continent. Also, that was the ce where the branch of The Guild was located.

    Samiel nned to register within the Guild together with Yvraine. She, too, wanted to register within The Guild because it was a good way to gather money and at the same time she would get to fight strong enemies, which would be considered as part of the training.

    Goldtooth, aside from being one of thergest and strongest Fortress Cities on the entire Demon Continent, was also directly controlled and built by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and served as the bastion against the forces of the Human Brotherhood on the 8th Floor for countless centuries.

    Because of that, the Goldtooth was thergest city and served as the headquarters for the entire Demon Continent. Initially, they nned to go to the nearest city, which in truth wasn''t the Goldtooth, but Samiel wanted to go there because of the branch of The Guild.

    "At least we could have encountered some more bandits or anything during our journey... it has been two days and I have not killed anything."

    Samielined considerably loudly, only for Yvraine to frown at this. She thought that only he would be sad, that they weren''t ambushed by bandits, rogues or deserters or maybe hopefully some detachments of the Human Brotherhood.

    Yvraine didn''t really understand that this stemmed from the Earth''s culture of Isekai, and for him to be ambushed by bandits or rogues was practically a wish-fulfillment because it reminded him of the countless Isekai novels he read when he was still living in his homeworld.

    As they walked for about ten hours, they finally reached a point where they could see the walls of the Goldtooth Fortress City after spending several days on the road. Many Demon guards and soldiers were patrolling the perimeter of the Fortress City, which reminded him of the architecture of the Underdark, as they were encircled by high pitch-ck walls that would send shivers down through the spines of more weak-willed people.

    On the average level, the Tier of the guards was around peak Steel-Tier to early Bronze-Tier. Samiel could see that the average Tier of the 8th Floor was way higher than it should be, and was on the same level as, for example the 2nd Floor, and that was due to the ongoing conflict between the Human Brotherhood and Demon Tribes.

    Unfortunately for them, even when they were walking for more than ten hours or so, they weren''t ambushed and Samiel was already thirsting for some blood because he was in some battle mood, which was not fulfilled. So for Samiel, this was certainly an unfortunate result of their long journey.

    Then, they made their way to the nearest gate, which led to the city, where there were several giant demons guarding the gate d in ted armor. Samiel didn''t know to which Demon Tribe or subspecies they belonged, but he could sense their Silver-Tier power and bloodthirsty aura, as they were very powerful.

    Evidently, they were responsible for collecting the entrance fees from people who weren''t residents of the city or didn''t have any other documents that would allow them ess to the Goldtooth for free. And obviously, the gatekeepers were powerful for a reason, which was the security which was taken not lightly, as it seemed.

    ? Samiel paid the toll, which was only a few Mana Crystals, basically a not big deal. From the amount of fee, Samiel knew that it was more like a formality, not to mention he was still rich for paying a few Steel-Tier Mana Crystals.

    The entire city was filled with countless Demonkin, and the overall poption should be around several hundreds of thousands. From the point of view of the Demonkin as whole species, this city wasn''t particrlyrge, but it was no less important than bigger cities across the Demon Continent.

    Most of the people inhabiting the Goldtooth City were actually soldiers, warriors, adventurers, and mercenaries who were participating in the struggle against the Human Brotherhood. For the past decades, as the tensions were increasing and everyone realized that an inevitable sh in the final war woulde, the poption was skyrocketing.

    When it came to the city itself, the entire area gave Samiel a feeling of a typical European ambiance fantasy setting; with the architecture of the city itself, just the irregrity of some house''s size was something that was eye-striking.

    Probably due to Demons of various sizes, because the Demons were in various shapes and sizes, it all depended on the original primogenitor of their lineage, the first Daemon of their kind, and his appearance.

    Though those with strong lineages could take a morepact humanoid form and sometimes be indistinguishable from average humans, minus some features such as horns and so on. Yet, Samiel didn''t see a single of such Demons, but that was because, right now, he was only in some kind of residential district, though he was sure that he would soon see one of those.

    Especially in the Guild''s branch because many powerful and mighty Demonkin would spend their time there. Right now, Samiel was releasing his bloodlust to keep everyone away from him and Yvraine because even though there were guards everywhere, Samiel could see at least 4 street brawls ongoing.

    "We should be going to the Guild''s branch to register ourselves."

    Samiel stated as Yvriane nodded as they went through the busy streets of the Goldtooth Fortress City directly to the Branch of The Guild. Across the city, they saw several more street brawls, some of which ended in the death of one or both participators.

    Clearly, fighting on the streets over some petty manner was prettymon, but that was just the culture of the Demons. They were a very bloodthirsty race where fights were the mostmonly used methods how to decide anything.

    Even the banalest things were decided by life and death matches, and the Demons, despite this, Demon Tribes in the material ne thrived and were stronger than ever. Really a mystery of the Cosmos, but Samiel didn''t really dwell on it for long, as he proceeded to walk forward.

    After half an hour, they arrived in front of the building, which acted as the branch of The Guild. Interestingly, it was a rather modest stone wooden building without any significant decorations anything, and if Samiel should use some word to describe its outer appearance, it would be the word "in".<sub> </sub>

    When they entered the building, the only thing they saw was a small empty room with a single counter where the receptionist was waiting for any iing guests. She was, by all appearance member of the Blood Races, though from some more inferior lineage just judging on her eye and hair color.

    Also, the fact she was a receptionist and not a Manager or some sort of Senior Staff spoke volumes about itself already.

    "How may The Guild help you today?"

    The receptionist greeted both of them with a fake smile. When she looked at Samiel and his tattered clothing, there was clear disdain in her eyes because he looked like some vagabond and Yvraine who was using concealment artifact, didn''t look any better to the other people.

    It would be rtively bad if Demon Tribes saw a member of the Nesser Imperial Family running here and there, many would have some nefarious thoughts and that could lead to troubles and problems.

    Problems they didn''t really want.

    "We wish to speak with the Manager."

    Samiel stated neutrally, while Yvriane remained silent, just observant, as the receptionist behind the counter frowned at him, looking at Samiel like he was an idiot.

    "The Manager isn''t avable for the vagabonds and alike..."

    She said arrogantly when she noticed that the woman was only the initial Bronze-Tier, and even though she couldn''t sense the man, she didn''t think a lot about it because she herself was a peak Silver-Tier Vampire.

    And being stationed on one of the lowest Floors of the Tower was already pretty humiliating for someone of her strength, not to mention most of the people here were pretty weak, not worth her attention.

    "H'' ephaingnah fahf agl ephaiturn ph''nglui soth."

    Samiel then answered in R''Lyehian or the so-called Eldritch Speech, as the Vampire receptionist behind the counter immediately felt crushing cold pressure on her very own soul as she fell onto the ground gasping for air.

    After spending some time on the 5th Floor and under the effect of the enlightenment, he realized that the R''Lyehian could be used on people with weak souls to directly killed them in agonizing and torturous pain by targeting their very own souls. It was a specific way of torturing someone with just speaking a few words, but it was very effective because R''Lyehian was called a Power Language.

    Power Languages werenguages where every single word has power, spoken they are not lightly, and there were not many of them.

    Not even several secondster, Samiel could see a handsome middle ages man appearing from the shadows. With a single look, he could tell that he was very close to reaching Legendary Level, as right now, the man was at peak Gold-Tier.

    He had red eyes and long pale white hair and was wearing a traditional aristocratic outfit typical for the Kindreds, so he was someone with certain status within the Blood Species. With a closer look, Samiel was able to distinguish the man as Kindreds.

    Blood Races had several sub-species; practically, they were ranked from strongest to weakest such as follows. On the top of the pyramid were the Pale Blood; they had the strongest and most powerful bloodlines and tremendous evolutionary potential; for example, Cardinal Karliana was Pale Blood.

    Below the Pale Bloods, were the Kindreds, the so-called Lords of Blood and extremely powerful Bloodkins, with tremendous abilities in magical and physical aspects. They were very rare and practically were elite of the Bloodkins.

    Below the Kindreds were the Noble Vampire and then there were Vampires.

    In terms of racial categorization, the Pale Bloods were ranked as Superior Species, Kindreds as Greater Species, Noble Vampires belonged to Elder Races and Vampires were ranked among the normal Races.

    That was because Vampires were prone to many weaknesses like that to the sun and they had plenty of restrictions on them, which the higher-ranked sub-species of the Bloodkin didn''t have. Even ordinary Vampire was very strong and had many racial advantages over other species that were categorized as the Normal Races.

    When the Kindred man appeared, he didn''t even bother to look at the Vampire receptionist, who was still technically dying from the extensive torture of her soul. Instead, he looked at the Samiel, who spoke R''Lyehian.

    After several seconds, Samiel took down his reddish bandana and showed the Manager his earring with the two engraved words "Kadath" and "Holy" as the Manager widened his eyes in surprise before he slightly bowed his head and signaled both of them to follow after him.

    As they were passing around the grasping Vampire receptionist, who pleaded for help from the Manager, he lifted her up by her neck as he tore apart her body in two parts, leaving the once beautiful woman in a puddle of gore and flesh.

    Samiel didn''t even bat an eye at that, as that was an internal matter of the Guild, how they dealt with their discipline. In truth, he didn''t want to kill her, only torture her a bit, but he couldn''t say that he was dissatisfied with the result.

    As they walked through the stairs, they arrived at the Branch Manager''s office, which looked like an exact copy of some high-ranking noble aristocrat''s study, just more gloomier because this was the dwelling of the Bloodkin.

    "Allow me to introduce myself; I am the Branch Manager of this Branch of The Guild, Krasimir Holdermann. It is an utmost honor to host the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath."

    The Kindred man, Branch Manager Krasimir Holdermann introduced himself formally, as Samiel decided to do the same. As a Kindred, it was clear that he was from some prestigious lineage of the Blood Races and Samiel remembered that the Holdermann was one of the Aristocratic Houses of the Blood Races among their Congregation.

    "Samiel Zentuar, Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath."

    "Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon, the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty and the Silvermoon Race."

    Even Yvriane dispelled the device and introduced herself. The Guild was absolutely neutral and rarely took any stance on any matter; actually, that was the official position of not only The Guild but also the Vaultbank andtely, even the Hall of Kadath was detaching itself more and more from every day strives.

 Chapter 118 The Guild Ranks And...

    While Krasimir Holdermann, the Branch Manager of the Guild, wasn''t terribly surprised by their identity because, from time to time, many people with prestigious backgrounds would register with the Guild here and there. Even though it was certainly something new for him to see the current Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath here.

    This was the first time he encountered someone of this status enter, especially on the lower Floors of the Tower. Usually, people from very high social status would register within the Guild only on the higher Floors.

    The two of them introduced themselves to each other with their real names, and because The Guild was known for its discrete approach to everything, it didn''t pose a problem for them to do this, and so they went on to take care of another matter.

    "As the first thing, both of you will undergo aprehensive test about your capabilities so that we can assign you an adequate Rank within the Guild''s Ranking System."

    The Branch Manager Holdermann stated to them, as both of them awaited something like this. The members of the Guild were divided into several Ranks based on their capabilities, Tier, destructive prowess, and other aspects.

    It should also be noted that when someone was ranking up, some things, such as thepleted mission count and other things, were taken into ount. This was very different from the other Mercenary and Adventurer organizations, where these things would not be taken into ount.

    From the lowest to highest, The Guild''s Ranks were:

    F-Rank, were the lowest members of The Guild and were considered as cannon fodder, taking the easiest missions and quests within the Guild. Mostly they were at the Bronze-Tier or had Bronze-Tierbat prowess. Though, if there was one distinction between them and simr organizations, then even if they were Bronze-Tier at the F-Rank within The Guild, they were elites of elites.

    The second one came to the E-Rank; these were usually full-fledged members of The Guild, with a few tens missionspleted under their belt. While most of them, if not all, were already Silver-Tier, just showcasing the elite forces of The Guild. A ce where even the weakest Mercenary was Bronze-Tier.

    D-Rank Mercenaries of The Guild were Senior ones, those who were members for decades, if not centuries, and hadpleted plenty of missions. The minimal Tier requirement was the Gold-Tier.

    C-Rank Mercenaries of The Guild were already Veterans and were the Peak Gold-Tiers, mostly those who were at the limits of the Tier and attained Masteries, often ready to reach the Legendary Level or those who were stuck at the Tier till the end of their lifespans.

    B-Rank Mercenaries of The Guild were basically Legendaries, A-Rank was reserved for the powerful Legendaries, S-Rank was Perfect Legendaries, and EX-Rank was for the Holies. Basically, from the B-Rank and above, they were the true elites of The Guild, and especially the S-Ranks and EX-Ranks, who were nicknamed the Elders of the Guild.

    "Now, we will start the basic evaluation; of course, everything that has been said or done here befalls under the strictest confidentiality within The Guild''s Founding Charter."

    The Branch Manager Holdermann took them to an empty room, where there were only several magetech devices that were used to measure the capabilities and abilities of the new members. Of course, as The Guild was an elitist organization, so even the devices present were top-notch in terms of quality.

    ? Samiel and Yvraine looked at each other before Yvraine motioned him to go first, and he shrugged his shoulders and did so. Evidently, she didn''t want to go first in the tests, so she let Samiel to had the honors.

    "The first is the Mana Test... please put your hand on the Crystal Ball and pour into it as much Mana as you can to determine your Tier."

    The Branch Manager Holdermann motioned Samiel on what to do, to which he did exactly what he was instructed. This one test was rtively simple because the thing would just evaluate his Mana and determine its potency and other aspects.

    Samiel continued injecting the crystal ball with his Mana as Branch Manager Holdermann squinted his eyes in a mixture of surprise and shock when he saw the results.

    "Level 25 Steel-Tier, Mana Density: Limit Silver-Tier, Mana Quality: Limit Silver-Tier."

    Samiel did not say anything, but Yvraine was mildly surprised at the results since she knew it was going to be something like this, but Krasimir Holdermann was equally stunned by the results since it was just so overwhelming.

    Not even the Pale Bloods living in the Holy City of Blood would achieve something like this; basically, attaining the Mana Density and Quality two Tiers above their actual Tier was considered impossible. This was something absolutely unheard of, but for some unique heaven-defying individuals, it was reality.

    But as an experienced Branch Managed, he quickly collected himself because slight misconduct could be considered offensive, and in truth, in the hierarchy of The Guild, he wasn''t that high or important.

    High-ranking people or those important ones, wouldn''t be sent to be Branch Manager on the lower Floors; that was the same if someone was sent to Lower World or Middle World, meaning his position was somewhere in the middle at best.

    If the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath had a suspicion about him, that he had some backside intentions like, for example, selling the information about him, he would not leave past the next ten minutes. That was because The Guild was taking their reputation extremely seriously, and there had been no leaks of information about its member since its founding.

    Not like there weren''t people who attempted such, but typically, their end was beyond terrible in all cases. Such was the price for attempting to betray The Guild.

    After Samiel, it was Yvraine''s turn as she just repeated what Samiel did on the Crystal Ball by touching the Crystal Ball and ingesting some Mana into the ball. Soon enough, she stopped as the process waspleted when The Branch Manager, Krasimir Holdermann read out the results.

    "Level 26 Bronze-Tier, Mana Density: Limit Bronze-Tier, Mana Quality: Limit Bronze-Tier."

    Even though the results seemed way worsepared to that of Samiel, in fact, they were very good; one could say excellent because Yvraine, as a newly advanced Bronze-Tier, had Mana on levels people who were already nearing the Silver-Tier.

    For a Silvermoon Elf, this could be considered as a very good result, though, not talking about the fact that if she was given some time, she would naturally obtain Silver-Tier Mana qualities around Level 30.

    "The next test would be of physical capabilities; the realbat test would not be necessary, mainly because the person who was tasked with carrying it out is already dead."<sub> </sub>

    Krasimir Holdermann stated as he looked at Samiel; so apparently, the Vampire receptionist was the one who was in charge of thebat examination, but she was dead. And in truth, even if she wasn''t killed by Krasimir, then with the damage on her soul done by Samiel, she would need a long time to recuperate.

    The physical test was basically a bunch of random examinations focusing on physical attributes like strength, agility and vitality. Of course, this was nothing to Samiel, as he achieved and excellent results in the strength department and vitality one, and while his speed was highly above average, it wasn''t that eye-catching.

    Contrary to him, Yvraine also had excellent results, as she improved drastically in the strength department, and her speed eclipsed out Samiel several times all over.

    "With all of this, Lord Zentaur, you will be awarded the E-Rank, because of yourbat prowess, and everything isparable to an average Silver-Tier Professional. Lady Silvermoon, you will start with the F-Rank, unfortunately, even though some of the examined aspects befell onto the E-Rank, but not as much to be considered a full-fledged E-Rank."

    The Branch Manager Holdermann stated to both of them, as he passed them their Mercenary Cards, Samiel''s silver colored with the big letter of "E-Rank" while Yvraine''s was bronze colored with "F-Rank".

    "What about promoting to the next Ranks and Mission? How do those things work?"

    Samiel then asked because he hoped to increase his Rank in the future as much as possible to get better ess to missions and so on.

    "When ites to promoting from F-Rank to E-Rank requires onlypetition of some mission and reaching the star power of the Silver-Tier. From there on, we have another requirement aside from ascending in Tiers andpleting the ordinary mission, but there is a requirement ofpetition of special mission."

    The Branch Manager Krasimir started exining all about the missions issued through The Guild; basically they were the same as the Ranks in the Guild. Meaning, for example, A-Rank Mission would require corresponding power toplete.

    And then there were the special missions, which started at the Pseudo-Hazard up to the Apocalypse. They were special because of their threat, which could create unprecedented cmity across countless Worlds or even the Cosmos.

    "To be promoted to the D-Rank, one needed toplete at least one Pseudo-Hazard Grade Mission. For the C-Rank one needplete several Pseudo-Hazard Grade Mission and one Hazard-Grade Mission. For the B-Rank it is the same just with the Cmity-Grade Mission; for the A-Rank it is Disaster-Grade Mission; for the S-Rank it is Catastrophe-Grade Mission and for the EX-Rank it is an Apocalypse-Grade Mission."

    Samiel understood the concept, basically, to be promoted one needed toplete several suicidal night impossible-toplete missions. In this way, The Guild cultivated its powerful and elite Mercenaries.

    Hazard-Grade Mission were the threats that could destroy the entire Lower World or be considered as a grave threat in the Middle World. Cmity-Grade Mission represented the threat that could endangerrge parts of the Middle Worlds; Disaster-grade could endanger the existence of the entire Middle World.

    Catastrophe-Grade Mission represented a threat in the High Worldrge enough to destabilizerge parts of the High World, and finally, the Apocalypse-Grade Mission represented a world-ending threat to High World.

    "What about the Missions we could take?"

    Samiel was curious if they could take a Quest above their actual Rank or if they needed to adhere to the Ranks they were given. Meaning that he, as an E-Ranked Mercenary of The Guild, could take D-Ranked Quest.

    Not like he nned to do right now because the Quest would be out of his capabilities, but in the future, that may not be the same.

    "Technically, it is possible, but that would need a special permit. In many other simr organizations, such an option is a possibility, but that one typically results in a high death rate and unfinished missions. For that, we have special revtion if the Mercenary is capable of handling the Quest."

    Samiel nodded, thinking that such an oue was eptable if not outright logical. Many people tended to overestimate their own capabilities, which in turn led to their demise.

    "Then thest one thing is to set out the Code Name in case you wish for your identities to remain hidden."

    Branch Manager Krasimir Holdermann stated as Samiel wished to take up the Code Name, he didn''t need to add more oil to the mes of his newfound fame.

    "Then, for me, set the Code Name: The Eversor."

    After a short thought, Samiel stated that to Branch Manager Krasimir as he wrote it down onto his card through some Magetech Device; simrly, Yvraine was thinking about her Code Name because, simiarly to Samiel, she chose this method of hiding her identity.

    "Write down her as Vindicare."

    If there was one thing that Samiel was excellent at aside from killing and cooking, it wasing up with intimidating and powerful-sounding names, even though they may seem a bit silly, like something only someone with chuunibyou syndrome woulde up with.

    "That sounds... good, I think?"

    Yvraine sounded a bit unsure if she liked it or now, but nevertheless, it was way better than anything she managed toe up with.

    After the Branch Manager Krasimir recorded the Code Name onto Yvraine''s membership card, the entire process of registration wasplete and they could go and choose some Mission toplete.

 Chapter 119 Taking The Missions

    It was finally time to choose some of the avable missions after they had chosen their Code Names,pleted registration procedures, and everything else had been done. All the missions were selected through the Holo-Brain, a small Magetech device widely used by advanced civilizations and factions.

    This terminal was used not only to choose the missions but also to carry out allmunication and other stuff with The Guild. Not only The Guild was making use of the Holo-Brains, but also the rest of the factions across the Tower and major ces of the Cosmos.

    In the Tower, there was practically no ce that did not use the Holo-Brain, while it was spreading throughout countless Principal Worlds and High Worlds, to the point where even some of the stronger Middle Worlds could be found with individuals who did use the Holo-Brains.

    And Samiel had to admit that it was a very convenient thing because you could do anything through it; of course, if the Device crashed or malfunctioned, then it would be a slight problem because anything could happen. One of the most useful functions was probably the function for automatic trantion for the most widespreadnguages, or you can use it instead of the card and pay; naturally, that was avable only for people who had their money with the Vaultbank or some other big banks.

    When Samiel joined the Hall of Kadath, he received one of the most exclusive and newest models avable because it was a custom-made version, one of the rarest models avable. Another perk for those who came from powerful and noble backgrounds, such as him right now.

    Due to hisck of interest in this version of the inte and other things, he did not really use it, aside from somemunication with the higher-ups at the Hall of Kadath to report some things or something along those lines.

    [Wee E-Ranked Mercenary Code Name: Eversor to The Guild''s Terminal.

    Please choose one of the following:

    1. Missions

    2. Information

    3. Market]

    Samiel looked at the holographic projection from the Holo-Brain, as he chose the icon of "Missions", as he was then presented with new projections of countless F-Ranked and E-Ranked Mission to which he had ess.

    There were countless of them, as they numbered in thousands upon thousand, mainly because they were from all around the Cosmos. And because The Guild operated on all Principal Worlds, High Worlds, a good portion of the Middle Worlds and even some more special or developed Lower Worlds, and shockingly even some Mana-Less Worlds, there was an almost inexhaustible number of these kinds of missions.

    [Missions Avable on the 8th Floor:

    F-Rank Mission: Annihitioon of the Rogue Demon Squad at the outskirts of the Southern part of the Demon Continent

    F-Rank Mission: Capture Bronze-Tier Magical Beast, min requirement: Level 40

    E-Rank Mission: Raid on the Fortress of the Human Brotherhood on the outskirts of the Western part of the Demon Continent

    Pseudo-Hazardous Grade Mission: Final War against the Human Brotherhood.]

    It was evident to Samiel that there were dozens of missions that could bepleted on the 8th Floor, in fact, there were quite a few of them here, but only a couple of them caught his attention for now, as he and Yvraine were browsing through them together.

    They would bepleting the Missions together as a team, though she would be choosing a few F-Ranked Missions that could bepleted during their journey, so they could get some Mana Crystals at least for some good meal...

    [E-Rank Mission: Raid on the Fortress of the Human Brotherhood on the outskirts of the Western part of the Demon Continent

    Sender: Golden-Horned Demon Tribe

    Requirements: E-Rank Mercenary

    Description: On the coordinates that would be provided upon the mission''s eptance, the Human Brotherhood''s forces managed to infiltrate and gain a foothold in the Demon Continent and even build a provisional fortress. The strongest person in the fortress is presumably a Silver-Tier Level 65 Knight, together with several Level 50 Bronze-Tier individuals.

    It has been noted that arge number of humans are Unawakened, who exhibitedbat prowessparable to proper Professionals.

    Objective: Destroy the entire fortress and kill any people present; for ves, we are willing to pay an extra. Also, the secondary objective is to obtain any intel about the future ns of the Human Brotherhood and their activities on the Demon Continent, for the valuable information would be a separate reward.

    Rewards: 5,000 Credits]

    This was the first mission that Samiel nned to take, and even the rewards were pretty generous, minimal payment was 5,000 Credits. For a mission of this extent, the payment was rtively good, not great but not terrible, probably somewhere in the middle of all that.

    The Credits were basically the closest thing that existed to Cosmos-wide currency that could be practically used across the entire material ne of the Cosmos. Because Gold Coins were worthless in certain parts of the material ne, while Mana Crystals were in some parts too precious, due to that, the establishment of Credit-based currency was supported by all major factions across the material ne of the Cosmos.

    Mostmonly, the Credits could be exchanged for various things, Mana Crystals or Gold Coins. Of course, Samiel nned to get as much money as possible from it. Themon exchange ratio of Credits to Mana Crystals was:

    Iron-Tier Mana Crystal was worth 1 Credit

    Steel-Tier Mana Crystal was worth 10 Credits

    Bronze-Tier Mana Crystal was worth 100 Credits

    Silver-Tier Mana Crystal was worth 1,000 Credits

    Gold-Tier Mana Crystal was worth 10,000 Credits

    So even the 5,000 Credits could be exchanged for 5 Silver-Tier Mana Crystals which was pretty good payment. For Samiel, the Silver-Tier Mana Crystals are essential for reaching the higher Tiers; for him, even the Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals were not really effective due to the qualities and density of his Mana.

    Of course, normally, people wouldn''t really exchange the Gold Coins for the Credits because the Gold Coins were not that valuablepared to the Credits. Technically the Credits were in a simr situation as Mana Crystals when it came to the exchange for the Gold Coins; different people would pay different numbers.

    [Pseudo-Hazardous Grade Mission: Final War against the Human Brotherhood.

    Sender: Council of the Demon Tribes<sub> </sub>

    Requirements: F-Rank, E-Rank and D-Rank Mercenaries

    Description: On the 8th Floor, the continuous conflict between the Demon Tribes and the Human Brotherhood has been increasing to a level where the final confrontation between the two sides is inevitable and soon, the final war will begin.

    Objective: Participate in the final war and help contribute to the destruction of the Human Brotherhood

    Rewards: Based on the contribution, killed people or destroyed facilities and so on...]

    "The one E-Ranked is the one we will bepleting right now, and the Pseudo-Hazardous Mission should be the long termed one which would require direct participation in the actions on the Human Continent against the Human Brotherhood."

    Samiel then stated that he epted two missions, while Yvraine epted a whole bunch of missions, mainly the F-Ranked ones that focused on capturing some Magical Beasts or disposal of bandits on the road, which could be fun.

    As thest thing that Samiel did was to exchange all of his Mana Crystals he had for the Credits and then use those Credits to exchange them back to the Silver-Tier Mana Crystals. For that act, he called the Branch Manager Krasimir, so that the exchange could be carried out immediately without any waiting.

    It was possible for him to do this through his Holo-Brain, since it had a teleportation function built in for some markets. Nevertheless, such a huge number of Mana Crystals that he was nning to exchange would take some time because the teleportation function was better suited for single items or less things.

    "So that we have 65,129 Iron-Tier Mana Crystals, 21,120 Steel-Tier Mana Crystals and 5,648 Bronze-Tier Mana Crystals. With the current exchange rate of 1 Credit per Iron-Tier Mana Crystal, 10 Credits per Steel-Tier Mana Crystal and 100 Credits per Bronze-Tier Mana Crystal, it would be altogether 841,129 Credits."

    After that, he swiped my card, and everything was done and the Credits were in a matter of seconds deposited into his Vaultbank ount, where Samiel currently have something like 5 million Gold Coins, as well as these Credits right now.

    "I wish to use the 841,000 Credits to buy Silver-Tier Mana Crystals."

    Then Samiel said to the Branch Manager Krasimi, paid with his credit card and he passed him a small Dimensional Ring, as Samiel took from it 841 Silver-Tier Mana Crystals and stored it within his Dimensional Ring.

    Right now, together with his previous Silver-Tier Mana Crystals, Samiel had 996 Silver-Tier Mana Crystals, which should be enough for reaching higher Levels for some time, as the Mana in the Silver-Tier Mana Crystals was countless times more potent and dense then that of the lower Tiers.

    "Thank you for all of your services, Branch Manager Krasimir, if you excuse us."

    Samiel then stated as he put back on his hat and bandana, while Yvraine turned on the illusion device while both of them exited the Branch of The Guild, while heading towards the nearest hotel to procure a ce to sleep. It was important to find suitable lodgings; fortunately, the Branch Manager Krasimir navigated them to one.

    In a few minutes time, they arrived at the modest-sized building, which, in truth, was not a hotel in the true sense of the word but rather a very high-ss inn that provided services to the Guild members at a considerable discount in exchange for their membership.

    Basically, the higher your Rank within the Guild you are, the less you pay, and B-Ranks and above typically don''t have to pay even a cent in these kinds of establishments. When both of them entered the ce, Samiel just presented his Guildcard to the innkeeper, who was a middle-aged Demon from the more humanoid race, because he had only a pair of horns as a demonic feature on his head.

    "Do you wish for joined lodging or a separate one?"

    He asked after verifying their cards when Yvraine did the same. There were not many people in the Inn due to begin an exclusive ce for the Mercenaries from The Guild. Due to that, it may seem like a deste ce, but even if it wasn''t, Samiel really doubted that many people would be able to afford to pay lodging like that.

    ? "Joined one, but with two beds."

    Yvraine beat Samiel as she answered for him, while the innkeeper didn''t say anything and just passed them the keys.

    "Have a nice stay; the bill will be provided when you would be checking out, and happy hunt."

    He said with a typical demonic grin. For the past months, there were countless Mercenaries and Adventurers who wereing here from various parts of the Tower and many Lower and Middle Worlds, as they were lured here by the premise of riches.

    And most importantly, forst week, even some members of The Guild were going here; of course, everyone who was going to the 8th Floor was typically ranging from the Iron-Tier to Silver-Tier, with only a few asional Gold-Tiers.

    The Floor Suppression on the Floor wasn''t really working due to the interference of the Tower''s System. Or rather the Tower''s System adjusted the Suppression to stop suppressing the Gold-Tier and only remained on the Legendaries, who were forbidden to unleash their power here.

    From what Samiel learned, during special times, mostly when it came to deciding who would be the Floor Ruler or the war was going on for the position of the ruler, the Tower''s System would sometimes adjust the Suppression on the Floor.

    Like in this case.

    "On the Human side, are there many peopleing to join the efforts of the Human Brotherhood?"

    Samiel questioned, looking around the bar, where he saw some members of the Guild, but maximally ten of them were present. Still, some of them were already a peak Silver-Tier as he sensed their aura, and especially there were two who would be impossible for him to defeat unless he reached the peak of Bronze-Tier.

    ording to the strange presence that this man was exuding around him, one of them was clearly a member of the Old Deus. There was another one who was surprisingly an Ork, and even though Orks did not belong to a group of Superior Species or Greater Races, some of the mutated ones were capable of possessing terrifying powers and potential that could even be surpassed the Old Deus.

    On top of that, this Ork also had a very strong presence of the Orkish Gods on him, so Samiel immediately sensed that he would be some sort of their Apostle or something simr. That faint feeling of the Divine Power made Samiel wary around the Orkish man.

    "Some... not many and not though The Guild... clearly they don''t have money for that."

    Answered the innkeeper. Posting the request through The Guild costs a tremendous amount of money and several securities must be given. For example, Samiel''s E-Rank Mission came with a reward of 5,000 Credits.

    Meaning for a mission of this size, the payment for the Guild would be at least another 5,000. This was not only for the posting, but it was also some sort of security that the mission would be 100%pleted.

    Because of the reputation of the Guild, there was no mission that could not bepleted. Every Mission that was posted through The Guild, everything was alwayspleted and perfectly at that; because of these services, The Guild has a perfect reputation as a most elite mercenary organization.

    Right now, Samiel nned to break through and reach the Bronze-Tier and increase his Level as much as possible before they would be taking off on the journey. That was because he felt that right now was the most suitable time for that, and he also got the required resources as he exchanged for the 841 Silver-Tier Mana Crystals.

    After he looked around, he followed after Yvraine and they arrived at their room, which was technicallyparable to a presidential suite on Earth''s best hotel. However, such treatment was to be expected because this establishment was solely for the members of The Guild.

    Yvraine seemed to be pretty satisfied with it, as she nodded her head when she carefully examined the room before giving it the Imperial mark of approval.

 Chapter 120 Bronze-Tier

    Once they had settled in, Samiel decided to start practicing immediately by rotating the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, which he had learned from his master, Hall Master of Hall of Kadath Menuhyutt Faulhaber. When he began to sense the Mana in his body circling, he took out several Silver-Tier Mana Crystals and began draining them at incredible speed within seconds.

    As he continued to drain one Mana Crystal after another, he soon crossed the line of the fifty Silver-Tier Mana Crystals consumed, as he felt that the effect of increasing the absorption rate was constantly increasing as he used the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to grow the effect of the absorption rate.

    The Mana Crystal consumption rate was astronomical and would probably send anyone else bankrupt from the sheer number of the Mana Crystals he consumed. For example, just the amount he used for start, the fifty Silver-Tier Mana Crystals, could technically allow about 35 to 40 Level 25 Steel-Tier individuals to break through to the Bronze-Tier.

    Samiel continued in this way for several minutes until he reached a certain moment when he sensed that his Mana was automatically converting itself and that he had crossed the border, officially reaching the Level 26 Bronze-Tier.

    He was stuck at the peak of the Steel-Tier Level 25 for a very long time, and right now, he finally reached the Bronze-Tier and entered a whole new level of his existence. With his newfound power, he was far more confident in the uing mess that was starting on the 8th Floor.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 26.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has be a Bronze-Tier Professional.]

    After Samiel reached Level 26, he didn''t stop there, but he continued absorbing one Mana Crystal after another; in the end he still had over 700 Silver-Tier Mana Crystal. One tremendous advantage of being an Eldritch Creature, he could technically right now reach even a Silver-Tier if he had enough resources.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 27.]

    He was like a ck hole that kept devouring all Mana Crystals that were avable to him; after consuming another hundred of them, he Leveled Up once more and reached Level 27 as he continued in the process.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 28.]

    When he reached Level 28, he was left only with something around 500 Silver-Tier Mana Crystals. Deciding that he could still Level Up, mainly because he got a good grasp on his own power, and even if his Level increased several times over, it wouldn''t cause him any trouble in the future.

    Thus he continued operating the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method as he drained the Silver-Tier Mana Crystals in tens at lightning speed and soon enough, he heard and saw the remaining two notifications from the Akashic Records as he reached Level 30.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 29.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 30.]

    [Proficiency with the skill Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the skill Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the skill Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the skill Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the skill Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    On top of everything, he also got an increasement in proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method by 5%, which was a tremendous increase. Nuclear Void Mana Control Method was one of the highest-graded Mana Control Methods and even a growth of 1% of its proficiency was something to celebrate.

    Of course, after he reached the Bronze-Tier, Samiel now found himself more powerful than ever. Reaching a new higher Tier meant an overall increasement in all abilities and attributes, and right now, as a Level 30 Necromancer with a Unique ss Grand Necromancer, he could control 450 Undeads overall at the same time.

    Of course, now that he reached the Bronze-Tier, it meant he could officially cast the Intermediate Magic, meaning the 4th Level Spells and 5th Level Spells, something that he had waited for, for a very long time already.

    The Intermediate Magic was far more destructive and powerfulpared to the Basic Magic, and with Samiel having practically a ton of theoretical knowledge over the Intermediate Magic, he could probably cast the 4th Level Spells within only a few hours after he broke through. With the Intermediate Magic under his belt, hisbat prowess would soar to new heights once more.

    After Samiel finished the process of absorption, he was left with something under the 100 Silver-Tier Mana Crystals, but that was okey because the effect of the consumption was totally worth it. Now, when he used the Architect Ability, he realized that he had approximately a 20% chance to win against the Ork Warrior he noticed in the pub part of the Inn.

    From the previous 3,49% it was a great improvement, really. That weren''t that positive numbers, but Samiel saw them in a positive way. Because this was the first time he encountered someone in a simr Tier, and from what he saw, even of simr age, who could pose a rtive threat to him, Samiel was effortlessly able to discern the age of the Ork to be something around 40.

    Though that only made him wonder because usually, Orks never really left theirfort zone or rather, they remained with their Tribe or n for the rest of their lives; they would never left to wander the Cosmos alone. In spite of everything, one could state that they were social creatures, living and dying with their Tribes and ns.

    Only in very rare cases such things happened because even the rogues who were exiled would typically gang together, so they had a better sess rate at their continuous survival. Still, this was for the first time since Samiel encountered someone who could pose a threat to him.

    ording to the Architect''s calctions, the chances of Samiel being around the same Level as the Ork Warrior would be around 52% to 64%. However, more data are needed for better calctions and precision.

    Of course, Samiel knew that he would get a tremendous advantage when he reached Legendary, where he could unlock the majority of the potential of the Azathoth''s blood and undergo first racial awakened as Eldritch Creature and get rid of his human part, which was right now his biggest weakness.

    "Have you finished?"

    Samiel then heard Yvraine''s voice as it woke him up from his trance of training. He then cracked his neck, as he was in the same position for more than one hour, without moving even a millimeter, and the meditation position wasn''t exactly the mostfortable one for him to sit unmoving for a long period of time.

    "Yes... finally, I have reached the Bronze-Tier, which would mean that in terms of raw power, I would probably be able to level up some towns without any problems."

    In response to Yvraine''s question, Samiel stood up and sat down on one of the beds, one that was clearly his, since Yvraine already had the second bed upied by herself. As he sat down on the bed, Samiel noticed that it was very soft and fluffy, overall veryfortable to lie on.

    Thest time he had viewed his Record was on the 5th Floor or so; therefore, he still felt some sense of curiosity regarding what the changes were that had been made to the Record since he was Tiering-up, but was unaware that thest time he viewed his Record was already rtively long ago.

    Therefore, he felt a sense of curiosity about the changes made to the Record by Tiering-up and overall his growth since the 5th Floor, because that was already around one year and something ago.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Azathoth

    Age: 28

    Race: Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (75%) / Human (25%)

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (31%), Grand Necromancer (20%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level: Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter)

    Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost

    Records Points: 5,640

    ***

    Tier: Bronze

    Level: 30

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (33%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (27%) - Ultimate Ability

    Architect (3%) - Transcendental Ability

    ***

    Techniques:

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (15%)

    Star Mind Protection Technique (11%) - 2 Stars

    ***

    Necrosis Magic:

    Necromancy Arts (28%)

    Void Magic (18%)

    Winter Magic (10%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (43%)

    Swordsmanship (14%)

    Trident Mastery (6%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 2nd Level Spells (34%)

    Metamagic - Spell Control (8%)]

    Samiel then observed his Record to see the changes after he reached the Bronze-Tier, of course aside from the most notable change in his Level, which was now already Level 30 and bing the Bronze-Tier, he also goes increasement in countless of his masteries and even in his sses.

    Right now, he would need to focus a bit on his Magic and other aspects of his arsenal, and only then would they be heading out toplete the mission from The Guild. After he reached the Bronze-Tier, the sess rate of the uing rate was already 110%, not talking about the fact even if the Silver-Tier Professional took the "Super Soldier Serum", he would be able to kill him with ease.

    Another thing on his schedule would be to create more Undeads, as right now he had around 370 of them, but with his current Level and mental capabilities, he could simultaneously control 450 Undeads at the same time.

    This number was already bordering on the level of a smaller army, technically speaking. Though if he coupled it with the Undeads that Ashimer controlled, then it was already something little above one thousand. Considering that he had just right now reached the Bronze, it was a staggering number.

    Though for the past time, the one problematic thing he noticed was the fact that the mass-creation of Silver-Tier Undeads was night impossible for him. As it seemed, it required too many resources and especially too many Silver-Tier Mana Crystals and base material, meaning corpses, so Samiel had to settle with the Bronze-Tier standard for his Undeads.

    Though right now, if Necromancers around the Cosmos heard him, they would get a heart attack because controlling 450 Bronze-Tier was a very hard task even for an average Gold-Tier Necromancer, typically only Peak Gold-Tier Necromancers would control such arge number of rtively high-tiered Undeads.

    "We would be waiting for one week before departing for the Raid Mission from The Guild. I need to properly adjust myself towards the Bronze-Tier and elevate some of my capabilities to that, not to mention, there are many Undeads that need to be crafted."

    In response, Samiel decided that one week should be more than enough time for him toplete all the things that he needed toplete in that time period. After that period of time, he would, together with Yvraine, undertake some mission from The Guild and would be going to the Raid Mission.

    "I still don''t get why you bother personally crafting every one of your Undeads."

    Yvriaineined to Samiel because the procedure of crafting of several tens of Undeads would take several days with Samiel''szy tempo, as he had other things to do aside from crafting Undeads.

    If not, then he would need maximally two or three hours to finish that, but s, he had some time to spar, and working too fast would be detrimental because he could make some mistakes, which would result in the creation of lousy Undeads.

    Samiel took great pride in the quality of his Undeads, as any other proper Necromancer would, but he took it on an entirely different level. As he was handcrafting most of his Undeads personally through the Undead Creation, all of them were pinnacle among their grade.

    "Because of the quality. The Undeads I am controlling are always the strongest, so I am focusing on the quality, and to do that, I need to create each one individually. If I was going through the route of average spells, then the Undeads would maximally peak Steel-Tier, with little to no potential to reach even the Bronze-Tier."

    Samiel exined the situation to Yvraine, contrary to Ashimer, who was using basically standard Undeads who were Steel-Tier ranging from various lower Levels of the Steel-Tier to the peak of the Steel-Tier. They didn''t have much potential and would probably remain in the same Tier for their whole existence until they were destroyed or used for any other purpose.

    Samiel nned to have his Undeads, respectively, those which he directly personally controlled as the core of his Undead Army, basically the most elite ones, which would be acting as the heavy hitters.

    Then the Undeads controlled by Ashimer and his future Generals would be the standard soldiers, be it through their average Tiers and even their species because most of them are just Lesser Undeads. For that, he needed to create more special Undeads, and he also nned on the 8th Floor, as she still had some Soul Force Crystals.

    This time Samiel wanted to create a Lich, and not an ordinary but preferably an Elder Lich, which was Advanced Undead, but for that, he needed additional resources, which hecked. More specifically, he needed the corpse of a very powerful Magic Caster to act as the base, preferably at least two of such corpses.

    "Whatever, at least we have some more opportunity to explore the city."

    Yvraine then pped her hands happily when she thought about exploring the Goldtooth, which was one of the, if not thergest, fortress city on the 8th Floor that was built by demons. Even though this was a city built by demons, it was somewhat romantic.

    That medieval atmosphere, a bit different from what Samiel saw at the Zephystrand City, was indeed creating a spectacle, and at the same time, he was a bit surprised that the demons were capable of building such cities.

    "We can... they should have some good restaurants. I am curious about the local cuisine."

    Samiel then stated as he started to do his own things, while Yvriane remained bored and seeing that herpanion was working so hard on increasing his power, she decided to follow his example and started training.

    She still had some weaknesses, especially when it came to Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic. Even though she had learned how to incorporate it into herbat style, it still had many shorings; there were many things to work on and many things to master.

 Chapter 121 The Journey

    2 Days Later, Goldtooth Fortress City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    The past two days have gone by at an extremely fast pace, and Samiel has spent most of both of them practicing his spellcasting, focusing mainly on his Void Magic, pushing it all the way up to the Intermediate Level so that he should be able to cast the spells of the 4th Level Spells and 5th Level Spells with no difficulty.

    In spite of the fact that Samiel had some theoretical foundation, which was technically wless since he got the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, he still needed some time to practice the spells, apart from just memorizing all of their theoretical basis.

    Knowing the theory and practical aspects were two entirely different things altogether. During the time he was resting, he also asionally practiced the Metamagic Skill, the Spell Fusion, as he was continuously pushing the proficiency in that one higher and higher.

    He wanted to achieve the capability of using the Spell Fusion on the 3rd Level Spells as soon as possible, preferably on the 4th Level ones as well, because that would be one of his trump cards if he could do that.

    Spell Fusion was one delicate matter, and Samiel was carefully using the Spell Fusion Metamagic Techniques because one single mistake, and he could easily maim himself or injure himself severely in other ways. Of course, with Architect this was greatly lowered, but still, rather be safe than sorry; unfortunately for him, his regeneration was not at the level where he could easily regenerate limbs and body parts.

    Though Samiel now learned one of his favorite Spells, which was the 5th Level Spell, Conjure Minor Voidborn, which allowed him to summon an abomination from the Void. These Abominations have various strengths, but it typically depends on the amount of Mana used by the Caster.

    In spite of the fact that Samiel was able to summon Silver-Tier Void Abominations mostmonly, they usually could only stay within a radius of 100 meters from the summoner, if they traveled further, the summoner would lose control, and they would run berserk, attacking everything in sight, and soon they would return back to the Void.

    Nevertheless, it was still very powerful, and when Samiel used it as an Eldritch Creature, he could conjure several Minor Voidborns at the same time; his record was around ten at the same time. This was a stunning result because just this sole spell boosted up Samiel''sbat prowess to a whole new level.

    Samiel decided to head to the bar that was located in the inn, so he could eat something. Since Yvraine was also in the city at that moment, probably participating in some sightseeing or trying to gather information about Goldtooth Fortress City, Samiel decided to go to the bar to have a drink.

    As Samiel went to the bar in the inn, someone blocked his path; as he was descending from the stairs, he noticed that it was the Silver-Tier Orkish warrior, who he sensed to be the most dangerous person in the inn.

    For Samiel, this was not surprising because Orks were battle-lust species that wanted to fight anyone whom they deemed to be strong enough to pose a challenge for them. When Samiel looked at the Orkish warrior, he noticed that the Ork didn''t have outright malicious intent, but he had strong battle intent as he looked at Samiel.

    "Outsider, I wanna fight you."

    The Ork stated with very good Cosmos Common Language, something which was very rare for the Greenskins because they typically didn''t bother learning othernguages. They were not smart for that, but mostmonly, they viewed the concept of learning and knowledge as something inferior to the concept of strength.

    "Ork knowing to speak Cosmos Common... very intriguing indeed... you are not here for just a fight, are you?"

    Samiel asked as he scanned the Orkish warrior from toe to tip; at the same time, he was subconsciously using the Level 4 Transcendental Ability to calcte the most suitable course of action if the situation delved into the fight and he was not that pleased with the results to truth to be told.

    "Name is Dharzug, the Champion and Holy Apostle of almighty God Gork. I hav''er proposal for you, Holy Son of the Primordial Demiurge."

    When the Ork said those words, Samiel was immediately rmed, mostly due to several reasons, but he quickly calmed down considerably as he motioned the Dharzug to sit down on the near by table.

    Dharzug was huge even by the Ork standards, around five meters tall, bulging with muscles everywhere. Contrary to average Orks, which had the skin of green or brown color, Dharzug''s skin was gray in color. Around his whole body he had countless tribal crimson-colored tattoos, with a ne made from the teeth of various creatures, which was probably some sort of trophy from the defeated foes.

    "Are you here of your own volition, or is this some sort of scheme cooked up in cooperation with your God?"

    Samiel squinted his eyes, awaiting the answer because that would be exined how this Ork knew about his identity. Being a Champion of God and Holy Apostle in one person meant that he was practically the will of the Gork on the material ne.

    "I am the Will of the Green God."

    Stated the Dharzug neutrally, to which Samiel nodded his head and awaited the proposal. While Ork society was rather primitive and simplistic from the point of view of countless factions and civilizations across the Cosmos and were even categorized as one of the Scourges of the Cosmos, they still had something that countlesscked.

    A very strong sense of martial honor for some twisted reason. Ork Warriors, those who dedicated their lives to the martial way, adhered to a strict martial code of honor; they abhorred the schemes and lies as they viewed them as utter weakness.

    So in a certain way, Samiel wasn''t really fearing that the Ork Dharzug was scheming against him because, as the Ork Champion, that would be the most dishonorable thing he could do against his entire way of life.

    "Then what does the Will of the Green God propose for the Will of the Void?"

    If the Dharzug was the Will of the Green God Grok, who was the strongest God in the Orkoid Pantheon, then Samiel Zentaul was the literal Will of the Void, as he was the Holy Son and Holy Apostle of the Azathoth, the strongest Outer God in existence.

    "To join the Journey."

    When he said those words, Samiel felt like his entire world had stopped, as his mind tracked back to one of thest conversations he had with the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath on the 5th Floor of the Tower before he left.

    ***

    After Samiel finished another wave of training, exhausted, he sat down in front of the meditating Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber. He caught his breath after some time, because the Hall Master didn''t know mercy during the training.

    "Master, what is the real purpose of climbing the Tower floor by floor?"

    Samiel asked the Hall Master one question that had been bugging him since the moment he stepped foot on the broader Cosmos, as the Hall Master looked at him intensively.

    "The Journey, the real goal is toplete the Journey."

    The Hall Master waved his hand and created a Bounded Field around them before he answered to prevent anyone from listening and so nothing could leave this ce, as the information that was being told here was considered one of the greatest secrets of the Tower since immemorial.

    "The Journey?"

    Samiel wasn''t really catching up, as the answer was pretty vague before the Hall Master proceeded to rify. Fortunately, this wasn''t the discussion where he would end it with nothing and leave Samiel only some clues and hints, with nothing else.

    "The Journey is a term for the process of ascending the Tower from the 1st Floor straight to the 100th one and achieving Transcendence. Of course, toplete the Journey, one needs to climb the Tower through the Quests from the Tower''s System or Transcendents; even taking them from the Floor ruler is rarely ounted for and only in rare cases. Of course, the people who started the Journey must start it at the Iron-Tier maximally. Upon thepletion of the Journey, the greatest benefit is almost guaranteed sess at the Transcendence because the Tower itself will help the person whopleted the Journey in his Ascension process."

    Each sentence was more overwhelming than the other.

    "Information about The Journey is a closely guarded secret of a few powerful Transcendents, only the most powerful or knowledgeable of them are aware of it, and they typically give it to their Champions, Apostles or chosen ones, whom they wish to Ascend. While the rest of the powerful factions across the Cosmos are aware of the fact that climbing the Tower brings immense benefits to one''s power, they are not aware of the full truth, at best only the first half."

    The elderly man exined to Samiel, as he nodded his head while slowly digesting everything that the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath stated to him. So that was the reason why someone like Yvraine was climbing the Tower with the Iron-Tier, when they first met, even if she herself didn''t know why exactly she must do it.

    ***

    "And the reason?"

    Samiel questioned Dharzug carefully.

    There were not many people who knew about the full extent of the Journey; from what Samiel observed, neither Yvraine was aware of it, at least to the full extent, even though she was already walking on that path.

    Though she was set on it by her parents and other Holies of the Nesser Dynasty, from which some of them should probably be aware of it, as there were, apparently, some people with a very close connection with the Gods of the Seldarine Pantheon.

    "Worthy ally of the great Dharzug the mighty God Gork said, together a lot of waaaggghhh we can unleash and a lot of carnage too."

    Samiel listened to the more simplistic reasons of the Dharzug, not that it was anyhow surprising. Still, Samiel was rtively careful because of his nature to not trust anyone or anything too much, but in the end, he could still see some benefits of having such a strong ally as the Dharzug when climbing the Tower.

    Not talking about the possibility of Dharzug once ascending as the Warboss, which was more than likely, considering his background and strength. Having an entire Ork Waaaggghhh on his side and using it as his sword to strike down his enemies without moving a finger sounded very appealing to him.

    "I have no problem signing a Soul Geass Contract under the Akashic Records themselves."

    When the Dharzug said those words, it calmed down Samiel considerably because this was technically insurance that this was not a ploy. Breaking the Soul Geass, signed directly under the Akashic Records, would require tremendous effort even for leaders of the Transcendental Factions.

    And he knew that this was not something even the strongest Orkoid God Gork, could achieve on his own. From what Samiel knew, even his Patron God would need to invest a considerable effort to break the Soul Geass directly sanctioned by the Akashic Records.

    "If you are willing that, then I suppose we could have some sort of cooperation."

    Samiel then stated while he took out the Soul Geass as the Dharzug signed the Soul Geass and then Samiel prepared the thing and did exactly the same.

    "Then allow me to ask one question, what is doing an Ork here on the 8th Floor, especially the one who doesn''t belong to n?"

    Samiel questioned his newfound ally carefully after noticing that the Ork Warrior Dharzugcked any signs of n or Tribe, meaning he was indeed a rogue Ork who didn''t belong to any n.

    Such a thing was very rare.

    "That is none of your concern Outsider; leave it at that I n to create my own n."

    Samiel nodded, not really awaiting that the Dharzug would even answer him; he could judge that it was the touchy subject or something to remain the secret. From what Samiel could tell, he was from the outside of the Tower, probablying from one of the High Worlds that fell to the Orks and their Waaaggghhhs.

    Tides of the greenskins were mostmonly almost impossible to defend against. Not to mention that every Ork is a perfect killing machine incarnated; they live for nothing else than justbat, killing, ughter and war.

    "Now to the real topic, why are we here? You are also herepleting the Mission from the Guild, right?"

    Samiel asked as the Dharzug agreed with him.

    "Then, when the final war starts, we will cooperate in the efforts against the Human Brotherhood."

    To this, the Ork Warrior grinned, as humans were one of the Okr''s favorite targets. They were weak, squishy and soft, basically, perfect things to ughter en masse. Not to mention, some more savage ones would also eat them because their flesh was soft and surprisingly tasty for the Ork tastes.

 Chapter 122 Raid (1)

    Several Days, Outside of the Goldtooth Fortress City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    As soon as Samiel had aplished everything he set out to do, he started forming the climbing party that would be used for the Journey. This was rtively umon on the lower floors, as most climbers started grouping together on the higher floors, where the Advancement Quests are much more difficult.

    It was hence more efficient to group together and climb as a party rather than as an individual, although this also increased the intensity of the Quests. Yet, on the other hand, the rewards were too increased as a form ofpensation for the harder and more challenging quest. Basically speaking, everything was increased from the rewards to the intensity of the Quests.

    While Yvraine was not happy to even be in the presence of the Ork, there was nothing she could do about that because, despite her protests and hatred for the Greenskins, she could see the benefits that it could bring to them. This time her personal feelings had to go to the side and let logic prevail.

    Even the Nesser Dynasty, from time to time, would ally with some of the more powerful Orks to sow the seeds of discord among the Orkish ns and Tribes. From a certain point of view, the Orks were a really neutral faction in their twisted sense because they didn''t really care whom they were fighting against as long as they were waging war.

    Due to this simplemindedness, there were many factions that, from time to time, worked with Orks against somemon enemy, or in the case of Orks, for the promise of glorious and brutal Waaaggghhh. Orkscked any kind of ideology or united identity, which the majority of the species or factions in the Cosmos had; the sole thing Orks had were their belief in Waaaggghhh and some things rted to Honor, which was prevalent in their culture.

    "Still... working with the Greenskins... we could outright start cooperating with Drows at this point; it would be no different from that."

    Samiel heard anotherint from Yvraine as they crossed the ins at Goldtooth''s outskirts. It was several hours since they had left the Fortress City ruled by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, and this was probably the tenth time or eleventh time sheined about that.

    Samiel already started being annoying at a certain point, but he mostly chose to ignore it because she was just trying to rile him up, not to mention there was nothing he could do about it. As Samiel learned at ater date when his God graced him with his visit during Samiel''s dream, the cooperation with the Dharzug became a Divine Will of the Primordial Demiurge.

    He knew that this was probably some scheme that was cooked up by two extremely powerful Transcendents for purposes unknown to him, and in truth, he didn''t even care about that. As the representative of Azathoth''s will on the material ne, he is just a divine instrument in executing his will; it was not his ce to question the intentions of his God.

    So he just carried orders without question. And Yvraine was very well aware of this fact but didn''t forbade her of showing clearly her displeasure or provoking him. Mainly because she was doing it for fun and out of boredom.

    "Should I remind you of the times of the ckwood Tribe?"

    After some time, Samiel decided to jab back at her, which caused Yvraine to quickly became silent. Considering the background of the ckwood Tribe, it was understandable. The ckwood Tribe was, in this day, one of the strongest Ork Tribes in the Cosmos, ranking easily in the Top 10, and the most notable thing about it was the fact that its rise was tightly tied to the existence and support of the Nesser Dynasty.

    Several millennia ago, it were the Yvraine''s ancestors themselves, more precisely, her grandfather, who was the previous Emperor of the Nesser Dynasty, who allied himself with the rising Ork Boss Ghaz.

    Supplying the Ork Boss with steady supplies of weapons, armors and other resources needed to the quick growth in strength, especially the tremendous amount of Mana Crystals, in the hope of creating a new strong Ork Tribe. Of course, this was all happening after singing the Soul Geass under the direction of the Akashic Records themselves.

    At that time, the Nesser Dynasty was fighting against the coalition of the Ork Tribes under leadership of Ork Warboss Ghizkal who initiated an entire Waaaggghhh that was invading their Principal World and for the whole centuries, the conflict was in stalemate.

    The Nesser Dynasty had control over only one Principal World capable of holding the Transcendents, and this world became the target of several Orkish Gods, who wanted to take the world for themselves from the Seldarine Pantheon, leading to extremely bloody strife.

    While the Nesser Dynasty was very powerful and mighty, against the collective might of several Ork Tribes and inexhaustible hordes of the greenskins, there was little they could do through conventional means. While the Nesser Dynasty had the quality, the Orks had quantity and they were not called Scourge of the Cosmos for nothing.

    After Yvraine''s grandfather did his stunt, several decadester, a great schism urred among the Ork Tribes, and they immediately started fighting a war against each other for the supremacy and title of the strongest Tribe. The entire Waaaggghhh crumbled apart like a house of cards and everything returned to normal.

    After the offensive on the Principal World of the Nesser Dynasty copsed, the Orkish Gods were undecided on what to do, but after a ferocious counterattack done by the Seldarine Pantheon and the fall of several weaker Green Gods, they fell back and the war ended.

    Till this day, the Nesser Dynasty had some sort of cordial rtionship. The ckwood Tribe avoided raiding and attacking the territories under the rule of the Nesser Dynasty and their vassals, and the two factions asionally traded with each other. Their cooperation sometimes included even joined attacks on certain Ork Tribes that were troubling the Nesser Dynasty.

    Samiel had a simr situation in mind, and because of that, he wanted to cultivate a rtionship with the Dharzug, who could someday be an extremely powerful Ork, though he had a hunch, that bing Holy was far from the Dharzug''s true goal. Samiel could see the burning ambition in the Ork''s eyes that he won''t say out loud, but he knew that his true goal was to achieve Transcendence.

    "Now that you have been quieted down, can we continue our journey to that dammed ce?"

    Samiel then questioned hispanion, and seeing Yvraine nodding her head and adjusting her long tinum blond hair, they continued their journey, as they soon left the territory that was under the watch of the Goldtooth Fortress City.

    After two hours, they officially entered the disputednds, where the skirmishes and fights among the two factions on the 8th Floor weremon as clouds. This was the time to be on guard all the time; thus Samiel summoned Nefertari, who appeared from his shadow and ordered her to fly through the sky.

    It was time for the scouting cat to return to her duty, as Samiel gave her orders and she was alreadyzying around for long enough.

    While the Nefertari, the scouting cat, was searching for the flying enemies, Samiel with Yvraine were slowly but steadily approaching the ce that was marked as their target, which was the forward fortress of the Human Brotherhood on the Demon Continent.

    ''Hooman, hooman, I found it... heavily guarded and at least three to four thousand hostiles.''

    Samiel heard Nefertari''s voice in his head, as possibly the worst expected oue came true. If the fortress was hosting so many soldiers, it meant only one thing. This would be one of their essential points for the future attack on the Demon Continent, and they were right now preparing for the invasion.

    Meaning the final war between the two factions was just behind the doors.

    "Nefertari already saw the forward fortress of the Human Brotherhood. Something in between 3 to 4 thousand hostiles, mainly the Iron-Tier to Steel-Tier ones, though with a good number of the Bronze-Tier."

    Samiel stated gravely as Yvraine visibly gulped because the numbers were too much. Especially considering that these ones were all injected with that thing Samiel called "Super Soldier Serum", meaning they would havebat prowess befitting to their Tier, despite having no ss. Of course, the such power-up will alwayse with an appropriate price because there was nothing free in the Cosmos.

    "Fortunately, I have something around 1,000 Undeads, from which almost half are various levels of the Bronze-Tier, meaning we have a very good chance to carry this out. Together with my new spells, we will achieve an easy victory."

    He stated confidently because this was the time for him to shine and show why Necromancers, especially oddities like him, were strongest on the battlefield and were called one-man-armies. With the high numbers of Undeads, Samiel instantly turned the tables and negated their numerical disadvantage.

    Also, he had one Silver-Tier Undead and also, with the 5th Level Spell of the Void Magic, Conjure Minor Voidborn, he could conjure a whole bunch of Silver-Tier monstrosities from the Void itself to aid them in the battle. This would prove itself extremely useful if the enemy had more than one Silver-Tier Professional, which Samiel was sure they had.

    If not, then they would be utter fools for wanting to gain a foothold on the Demon Continent without such support. Samiel already suspected that there should be at least three to five Silver-Tier Professionals on the side of the Human Brotherhood stationed here to oversee the fortress.

    "So, what will be our strategy?"

    Yvraine asked as they created a small camp far outside of the forward fortress of the Human Brotherhood on the 8th Floor. Samiel then summoned Ashimer because he would be crucial in this conquest due to his personal strength and also acting as themander of more than 500 Steel-Tier Undeads.

    "We will make use of the forest around the fortress to our advantage. The first thing is to get rid of all the traps that the humans nted down in the forest, and then we will lure out some of the forces that the Human Brotherhood stationed in the fortress and fight them in the forest."

    Samiel then started presenting his n for how to raze down the fortress down. While he was not some kind of brilliant military strategist, he also wasn''t any newbie and amateur in this topic. When he was on Earth, he studied this topic rtively extensively, and if there was one thing that humans were pretty good at, it was waging war against each other.

    "While the fight in the forest will be going on, hopefully, we will manage to lure out at least one-half of the troops stationed there; I will lead another offensive at the fortress from two sides. One of them would attack directly at the gate, done by my Undeads which I would be controlling, while the second attack would happen from the inside of the fortress, where I would conjure Minor Voidborns."

    Samiel''s n was to unleash the Minor Voidborns in the middle of the fortress; hopefully they would start going berserk and attacking everything in sight. Then he would have approximately ten minutes to start attacking the main gate, using the Minor Voidborn as a distraction and also means to take out some of their powerhouses.

    After ten minutes, they would probably disperse and return back to the Void, and Samiel, together with his Undeads, would have long ago breached the main gate and entered the fortress. Then the only thing that remained was to pacify any resistance encountered there.

    "This seems doable... but how can we be sure that they would send at least one-half of their forces to the forests chasing after the Ashimer and his Undeads."

    Indeed, Yvraine had a good point in all of this because this could be a major hole in their n if the enemy decided just to ignore the threat of all Undeads that were lurking around their fortress.

    "Then lure them out... I don''t doubt that many of them would be interested in capturing Silvermoon Elf."

    Samiel proposed as Yvraine instantly grimaced at the thought of being used as living bait to lure out the soldiers of the Human Brotherhood. After several seconds, Yvraine relented to this, as she could see that this was the best chance at luring their enemies from the fortress.

    "I hate you... do you know that?"

    Yvraine asked as she begrudgingly epted her role as bait for today''s effort. There was still the possibility of them ignoring the Undeads if they acted as bait, and they needed to lure a significant part of the soldiers stationed there.

    "I know... to be sure, try to use that illusion artifact, so it seems that there are more Silvermoon Elves than just you. We need to be sure they sent high enough numbers."

    She nodded as that was indeed the most suitable course of action.

 Chapter 123 Raid (2)

    After spending an hour nning the raid and preparing the n, it was finally time to carry out the raid. Yvraine used her illusion artifact in conjunction with Nefertari''s Mirage Ability in order to transform several of Samiel''s Undead into the appearance of the Silvermoon Elf.

    Abination of Yvraine''s illusion artifact together with Nefertari''s Mirage Ability resulted in a basically wless illusion of the Silvermoon Elves, which was perfect. They were extremely realistic due to the Mirage, so it couldn''t be dispersed easily in case the Human Brotherhood had something in that regard, which Samiel doubted.

    Artifacts or Magetech devices that were used to discern illusions, especially the high-quality ones, were extremely pricy and not something that even the 13 Gates would hand over to some of their goons because the loss of one was deep cut into the budget.

    ? Not only because of their rarity but also because every single one was very hard to make because it required very extensive knowledge over the Magic and also Magetech. Of course, that depended if someone was making an Artifact or Magetech Device with such a purpose, but either way, it was very hard.

    Of course, even if the Human Brotherhood had something like that in their disposition, he knew that they would leave such devices for their Headquearts or other ces of strategic importance in the Human Continent. That would be most prudent, so their most important ces of strategic purpose are well-protected.

    It was only after the above had been done that Yvraine and Samiel''s Undeads, which he controlled, left the area, as they began to lurk about the forest, especially around the Human Brotherhood''s forward fortress, so as to be seen by the soldiers stationed there they could easily lure them out.

    Samiel sent out 20 of his Undeads, all of whom were transformed into Silvermoon Elves, whose auras reached the peak of Steel-Tier. It was extremely likely that the humans would not move an inch if they were releasing their true auras of the Bronze-Tier, but this was a more eptable situation than releasing their true auras.

    ***

    Forward Fortress of the Human Brotherhood, half an hourter.

    There is no doubt that the forward fortress that was built by the Human Brotherhood wasrge, not especiallyrge, but it was still a substantial fortress and one that would stand strong during future battles and iing war. Clearly it was well-built with a defensive purpose first in mind, and even Samiel had to admit that the Human Brotherhood did a good job during building the fortress.

    Also, there was still a lot of room for expansion and additions to the fortress. Even the location was purposely chosen so that after the entire fortress was constructed, they would have a very strong foothold in the Demon Continent, with allyers of the fortress finished, while presently, only the base skeleton was finished.

    As of the moment, the current situation within the fortress can only be described as pure chaos absolute, as hundreds of soldiers wearing the sigils of the Human Brotherhood were running around, leaving the fortress in mass numbers when they received orders to capture the scouts of the Nesser Dystnasy they saw lurking in the forests around their fortress.

    Most, if not all of these people, were previously pseudo-professionals without ss, meaning they were not ss Bearers, that were subjected to the "power up" by the Super Soldier Serum, not fully aware of the fact they had a very short time to live, due to iplete and faulty serum.

    Most of them were recruited across a variety of Mana-Less Worlds that were invaded by someone from the outside or from the Lower Worlds, where humans were enved by other species, so these people were effortlessly manipted to serve the cause of the Human Brotherhood.

    There was no such as free power in the Cosmos and everything came with an appropriate price in the end. Be it Magic, Skills or Leveled Abilities, neither were an expectation, and neither were various Divine Abilities and Blessing bestowed by Gods or various Abilities that were given by Transcendental Powerhouses.

    When themander of the entire fortress Arnold Weidemann saw that there were more than twenty low Tier Silvermoon Elves lurking around the fortress, he was immediately overwhelmed by greed and decided to capture them. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the point of view, Commander Arnold Weidemann didn''t think even a second about anything else, just about money.

    Such an oue was anticipated because the Silvermoon Elves were rare species, and they rarely left the territories of the Nesser Dynasty; even if they left, they were typically protected by their Elders or were in the entourage of many stronger Elves to protect them from their enemies, especially from the Underdark.

    So, at that moment, Commander Weidemannpletely forgot any reason, as he saw this as a perfect opportunity to capture some of them, even if they were of the lower Tiers, because, from his point of view, they could fetch a nice price on many ve markets.

    Especially the Underdark would pay an outrageous price for even single Silvermoon Elves. In spite of this, even though he was aware of the slight possibility of such a trap, he chose to ignore it in the face of greater profits.

    It was from the height of the fortress'' stone walls that Commander Weidenmann first noticed that approximately one-half of the soldiers, who were sent here by the Human Brotherhood, had entered the forests and were searching for the Silvermoon Elves. And thus, he waited for good results that his soldiers would bring him in a short time.

    The Commander Albert Weidenmann, was a middle-aged man in his fifties who was wearing a heavy-ted steel armor and had short blonde hair. Contrary to many of the Human Brotherhood, he was someone from the already destroyed High World, which was brought down by the tides of the greenskins.

    Thus he was a proper Professional who was ss Bearer and rtively powerful in his own right. He was not like most of the Human Brotherhood, who were just pseudo-professionals, brought up by weird obscure rituals or various experiments through magetech and gical augmentations.

    "How many have already left the fortress?"

    He asked his adjutant, who was standing behind him and writing something on a Magetech device, which looked like a tablet. He was writing down some administrative stuff and calcting the people who were sent after the Silvermoon Elves.

    "We have deployed approximately 1,500 Soldiers to search and capture the Silvermoon Elves, from which we send one of the Silver-Tier Captains to be sure the mission is a sess."

    Answered the adjutant Commander Albert Weidenmann of the Human Brotherhood. After they finished the conversation, the only thing left was to wait for the good news toe, with the capture of several Silvermoon Elves and getting rich very quickly and without any effort.

    ***

    Samiel, who was watching everything with gleeful eyes, enjoyed the show that was unfolding in front of him as the soldiers from the Human Brotherhood started searching for the non-existent Silvermoon Elves in the surrounding forest.

    Yvraine did a good job at luring them away, and in truth, Samiel was betting a lot on the greed of themander of the fortress. Of course, she did; the illusions were nearly perfect and Samiel new that greed would overrule them very soon, not to mention he better a bit on the fact that themander of the fortress won''t be the sharpest pencil in the bracket.

    One needs to know that greed is one of the greatest sins of countless if not all species across the Cosmos. Be it the lowliest mortal peasant in some random Mana-Less World or the mighty Emperor of Interdimensional Empires that spanned through countless worlds across the Cosmos; greed was in all of them.

    It was also well known to him that even a single Iron-Tier Silvermoon Elf would fetch a lot of money on the ve market, especially when factions like the Underdark were willing to pay astronomical amounts of money, even rivaling the wealth of powerful Legendaries or ordinary Kingdoms and Nations in the Middle Worlds.

    Of course, nobody would be stupid enough to sell them as ves as retaliation from the Nesser Dynasty was extremely fierce and brutal. Samiel remembered the case when even one of the biggest ve trading organization obtained a Silvermoon Elven woman whom some random mercenaries managed to capture in some unknown Middle World.

    This resulted in the organization itself capturing the mercenaries and giving them, along with the woman they had captured to the Nesser Dynasty. This was the only way they were able to evade the purge. So, this only proved the might of the Nesser Dynasty and the Silvermoon Species as a whole.

    If even despite all of this, the Commander wanted to capture more than "20 Silvermoon Elves", it meant only a single thing, that he had some sort of direct connection to some of the 13 Gates, who would buy them if he had to guess probably the Germinal Organization or Magisterium for some experiments and research.

    The soldiers of the Human Brotherhood were deep enough within the forest, in fact several kilometers away from the fortress, when Samiel gave Ashimer amand to kill them as fast as possible once they were deep enough within the forest.

    A huge number of Undeads appeared all over the forest as if they hade out of nowhere. In the chaos of the trees, they began to assassinate all of the soldiers of the Human Brotherhood. Meanwhile, Ashimer himself went straight after the Silver-Tier human, who appeared to be the leader of the Silver-Tier.

    Even Yvraine turned around and started dancing around, killing one soldier after another; with her swift acrobatic movements and swordsmanship, every minute, several people died who came across her.

    Everything that was happening was in perfect synchronization; everything moved like a precisely well-working machine. Even Samiel''s Familiar Nefertari was jumping from tree to tree across the forest and ughtering one soldier after another. In the forest, the little Elder Wampus Cat was in her natural habitat, and she instantly turned from a cute fluffy cat to cuddle to a fearsome bloodthirsty top predator.

    Samiel waited exactly five minutes before he made his move. In these five minutes, the fight turned a bit around as the soldiers of the Human Brotherhood recovered from the initial shock and started fighting back against the Undeads.

    Though he could see it was futile because they were not prepared to fight in the forest, nor they had any kind ofbat experience to fight in this kind of terrain. From the way they fought, he could judge that these troops were specifically trained to be purely defensive soldiers used to defend objects like castles, fortresses or outposts.

    On the open field, and especially in terrain like dense forest, theirbat prowess and potential were lowered several times over. After several minutes, the people at the Fortress should have already received the message that the fierce fights should be happening in the forest.

    And exactly like Samiel predicted, this caused themander of the fortress to send even more of his soldiers toward the forest to lessen the burden on the troops that were fighting against the ambush.

    In a spit of a second, when the gates of the fortress opened, and the troops started marching out of the fortress, Samiel used the 5th Level Spell of the Void Magic, Conjure Minor Voidborn, as seven Silver-Tier Minor Voidborns appeared in the middle of the fortress.

    Instantly, after the tentacle Eldritch abominations appeared in the middle of the fortress, they immediately went berserk, as Samiel purposely cut the connection and let them wreak havoc there. He knew that if he wasn''t controlling them, they would be far more aggressive and would attack everything in their sight.

    With their huge tentacles, they started attacking the human soldiers, stomping them down to the ground, smashing and crushing their rtively fragile bodies in front of the might of Silver-Tier abominations from the Void.

    From a distance, Samiel could see that even themander of the fortress personally joined the fight as he, together with four other Silver-Tier captains that were assigned to the fortress, together with a whole bunch of the Bronze-Tier individuals as they managed somehow restrain 6 of 7 Void abominations.

    Still, even though they were restrained, they managed to do tremendous coteral damage, as tens of soldiers were dying with every passing minute they were fighting, as the Silver-Tier Minor Voidborns were absolutely frightening enemies. They were not something that even average or elite Silver-Tier Professionals could fight on its own.

    After several minutes, approximately 30% of the troops inside the fortress were killed during the fights of the Silver-Tier human Professionals against the Silver-Tier Minor Voidborns. Unsurprisingly, all Minor Voidborns were absolute okey, with no injuries on their person aside from some cuts and bruises.

    Though fortunately for the members of the Human Brotherhood, the Minor Voidborns started disintegrating soon because if they were not tied to the conjurer, they could exist only for a limited time span. Of course, everything was within Samiel''s calction as he did it for a specific purpose.

    Even five minutes was a pretty lot for their current situation because they would still achieve a lot of what he wanted from them.

    Samiel purposely let them disintegrate for a sole reason, and that was to prevent the destruction of the whole fortress and everything that was in it. If he let them be, then sooner orter, they would destroy absolutely everything, including the information he wanted to obtain about the movements of the humans on the Demon Continent.

    Even now, they destroyed a considerable part of the fortress, and they managed to do so in just five minutes; considering the fact that the fortress was constructed from solid material and should withstand even the power of the Silver-Tier fighting here, it was something akin to achievement.

    But Samiel couldn''t let them have it so easy, and thus almost immediately after the Minor Voidborns dispersed into nothing, Samiel attacked with his Bronze-Tier Undead at the full force. Because the soldiers were still in the aftershock of the previous ambush, they let the gates open, which resulted in easy entrance of the Undead into the fortress.

 Chapter 124 Raid (3)

    After Samiel''s Undeads had carried out their merciless ughter in the forward fortress of the Human Brotherhood, which had already suffered considerable damage from the attack of Minor Voidborns, which had caused arge part of the fortress to be destroyed, they had a very easy time when it came to that aspect of the battle.

    Many of the soldiers present at that time were either killed or injured and were unable to resist the hundreds of Bronze-Tier Undead d in dwarven-made armors that had been ced around them.

    Every step they took resulted in the humans suffering terrible losses. The Undead were moving in perfectly coordinated manner, just as he expected from them, as they employed tactical formation to boost their attack.

    Despite the fact that the fortress still had considerable numbers of Bronze-Tier individuals, they were not up to the quality and quantity of the Undeads. Samiel''s Undeads were on a whole new level as they were cutting and tearing through their enemies like there was no tomorrow.

    As soon as Samiel saw that his Undeads were stopped or were fighting against one of the Bronze-Tiers of the Human Brotherhood, he didn''t do anything whatsoever other than casting some curses or spells, so the Undeads were always flowing throughout the entire fortress of the Human Brotherhood.

    It was then that he saw the fortress''mander Albert Weidenmann, who was organizing the resistance against the Undead tide that had attacked it, but the resistance was futile because there were too many Undeads in the fortress, and they were too powerful to resist against.

    In the end, he was aware that the troops of the Human Brotherhood couldn''t contend against the "professional" Undead Army, and even his Silver-Tier Captains were isted from the other soldiers, as Samiel ordered his Undeads to attack them as the first ones and contain them.

    In other words, it was separating them from the rest. Samiel knew that if the Silver-Tier Captians were allowed to move freely across the fortress and to coordinate with the other soldiers that still remained in the fortress, the threat would increase, and he would lose some Undeads as a result.

    He then conjured several Spells through the Spell Fusion, mainlybining some very offensive from the Necromancy Arts and Winter Magic for the higher effect and destructive prowess as he shot them at the Silver-Tier Captains of the Human Brotherhood.

    While some of them were only injured by them, he still managed to catch one of them by surprise, killing him on the spot. In contrast, to others who were only injured by his attacks greatly increased the situation with the five to six Bronze-Tier Undeads, who used that chance to finish them off quickly.

    After that, he continued his way towards the man whom he identified as themander of the entire forward fortress while asionally freezing some humans to death through the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler as he climbed to the walls.

    On the Walls, Commander Albert Weidenmann was fighting against ten Bronze-Tier Undeads, from whose three already looked on the verge of destruction because the man himself was indeed pretty powerful.

    While Samiel could sense that he was in no way near the Drider whom he fought on the 3rd Floor, he was still pretty powerful, considering he was around the same Level as Ashimer. Samiel could see that the man was experienced and probably came from either some stronger World, most possibly a very strong Middle World or even High World.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in the forests around the forward fortress of the Human Brotherhood.

    As the fortress was under the siege of the hordes of Undeads that Samiel released, the forest was a battlefield between Ashimer''s Undeads and soldiers of the Human Brotherhood. The fight here was not direct, like in the fortress, but was more subtle as Ashimer coordinated his Undeads to act mainly as ambushers and assassins.

    Even though Level-wise, Ashimer''s Undeads and humans were almost equal, it was clear that the Undeads had one significant disadvantage, which were the numbers, as they were outnumbered 1:3 due to a massive number of humans.

    Even though the Undeads had superior equipment because Samiel d them in standardized dwarven armor, he wasn''t stingy in this aspect, but even then, Ashimer decided to use this approach to lower the losses.

    This was because, Ashimer was influenced by Samiel''s approach of things, which was to use any advantage avable to him because not using one was inly stupid. This was Samiel''s mentality from the times he was on Earth, where he learned to be very creative in his fights and attacks.

    And while the numbers of the cannon fodder from the Human Brotherhood were constantly dwindling, Yvraine was running through the forest with her twin jade swords, jumping from tree to tree and searching for her next target.

    She was Bronze-Tier Silvermoon Elf, so taking care of tens of Steel-Tier humans was no problem for her, as shended down on the ground behind the squadron of fifteen heavy armored knights, as her swords lit up on me, and with one swing, one head rolled down.

    Using the moment of surprise on her side, she proceeded to the next two, who turned around as they saw theirrade being decapitated in front of their eyes; immediately, their throats were cut in swift attacks.

    In a split of a second, she used her Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic to cast several fire-attributed elemental Spells of various Tiers as explosions sounded through the entire part of the forest, sending several of the heavy-armored knights crashing into the nearby trees while killing some of the more unlucky ones.

    Yvraine then walked through the remains of the forest because the elemental explosion destroyed arge part of their location, looking at the burned trees and ming fire that was still greedily devouring what remained from the trees and bushes.

    She looked down at her feet at the crawling human knight as she pierced his back with her sword, finishing him off, as she moved towards the other, killing them like helpless cattle that was just waiting for the butcher toe.

    "That is done... time to move to another squadron."

    Yvraine muttered silently as she moved towards the next target. After the start of the ambushes at them, the soldiers of the Human Brotherhood started moving in squadrons because clearly, they were using their number to their advantage instead of being spread through the entire forest.

    After finishing the squadron, Yvraine jumped on the tree and rushed to the next one; because she was an elf, she could move countless times faster in the forest, and contrary to others, there was no way she would be lost in the forest.

    ***

    As Samiel''s first fully sentient Undead, the Higher Undead Frost Death Knigth Ashimer and future general of his Undead Armies, he was currently engaged inbat against one of the Silver-Tier Captains of the Human Brotherhood and the one whom they send into the forest to oversee the operation.

    After a few exchanges with the Silver-Tier Captain, who was wielding arge warhammer, he quickly realized that the man was way weaker than he initially looked and was extremely slow, at leastpared to Ashimer''s speed.

    Especially when the Frost Death Knight used his Level 1 Ability Frost Aura, the speed of the Silver-Tier Captain was slowed down several times over, meaning that he posed no threat to the experienced Frost Death Knight, who was a killing machine incarnated.

    Thus he made use of his superior speed, rushing at the Silver-Tier Captain as he dodged the strike of his warhammer, and shed several times at the Silver-Tier Captain, aiming at the weak spots in his armor, essentially cutting through his throat and other veins, as blood spurted in the air like a geyser.

    Dead.

    This was the only oue as the man fell onto the ground, and blood dyed the ground from the previous brown to crimson red.

    After he finished with this enemy, Ashimer returned to his previous activity, and that was the coordination of the Undeads under hismand because they were not that evolved to be capable of acting on their own and needed him tomand them personally.

    Something which was not the case with Samiel''s own Undeads, those had some rudimentary form of intelligence and were capable of acting at least partially on their own volition, if not following even some lessplex orders.

    This was because, Samiel was also using some souls to purposely increase the intelligence and wisdom of his Undeads in different forms than just evolving them, even though he also nned to evolve them into a higher form of Undead Life.

    ***

    While Samiel was at the forward fortress, he was engaged in singlebat with Commander Albert Weidenmann. The fight broke out between Samiel and themander in the tiniest moment when he got close enough to themander of the Human Brotherhood.

    Still, it was clear that themanding officer of the Human Brotherhood before him was not his match, and that reality was evident to both of them, as the man himself was constantly taking steps back, and Samiel was taking steps forward.

    Unfortunately, Commander Albert Weidenmann was not a match for Samiel; be it in terms of speed, defense or offense, he was forced to constantly retreat; sadly for him, he was soon put into a corner, as there was no ce to retreat.

    Yet, Commander Albert Weidenmann was experienced enough to tell that this fight was the lost cause, and in the face of death, he didn''t retreat, and instead he took out something from his Dimensional Ring, which looked like some sort of concoction straight from theboratory of a mad scientist.

    With one look at Samiel, full of hatred and rage, he injected the synergy into his neck as his veins started turning pitch ck, and his skin from the previous white color turned gray. Right now, he appeared like some weird kind of zombie from some movies Samiel watched on Earth.

    Samiel could sense that the power of the Commander had been increased several times, though now his Level or mana, but whatever the synergy was, it aimed at the gic augmentation of the physical state of the user.

    Nevertheless, with his yes, he could see that by doing this, the Commander had several days maximally to live because the substance he injected into his body caused his DNA to fall apart, so in two or three days, his body would just crumble apart like a sand castle.

    This end result was not that umon among these kinds of things, and just like that, when Samiel was engrossed in his train of thought, the Commander appeared in front of him and punched at his face with a full power he could muster, creating a small shockwave around them.

    In regard to this, Samiel didn''t even bother to dodge; he just outstretched his right hand, strengthened with a special technique that Menuhyutt Faulhaber taught him, where one used the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to temporarily strengthen his physique and caught his fist midway.

    "Is that all?"

    Samiel''s voice didn''t hide the boredom and disappointment when he caught his fist because the enemy was clearly weaker than he anticipated. From the looks of the Commander after injecting the weird substance into his body, Samiel thought that his physical attributes would at least improve enough to put up some decent fight.

    Unfortunately, he was deeply mistaken.

    When Samiel used his full power and decided to stop ying around with his prey, a weird habit that he got when he noticed that somebody was way weaker, the Commander, even under his present state, was no different from ant from him.

    As he held his fist in his right hand, he crushed his hand apart, causing the humanoid or whatever he was to shriek in pain, instantly after which he conjured an ice sword with the Winter Ruler and pierced the man through his hearth.

    Essentially killing him within seconds.

    "That was a disappointment, for sure. He could have put up some more resistance though... but what would one await from an ordinary human with average ss, even though he was a bit better than rest, trash is still trash."

    Samiel muttered to himself as he took down the Dimensional Ring from the Commander''s hand, after which he stored the corpse away. He would send it back to the Hall, so they could find out what exactly happened to his body, as the explosive power from the synergy was pretty high.

    ording to calctions done through the Architect, with that set of power, it would be enough to close up the distance between those with special lineages and innate abilities, which was pretty frightening, even though it was effective only for the mortals.

    But still...

    If many humans got their hands on that, then many worlds would have a chance to rise against those like the Nesser Dynasty or even the Hall of Kadath, which was no good. As his Patron God once said to him, the collective strength of the human species has fallen and should remain such at any price.

    Samiel knew that it had something to the with the Last Human King and things that happened in the long-forgotten past, where Humans were indeed one of the strongest and dominant species in the material ne and that part of Cosmos, where no Trasncedents were present.

    And after their fall, it was clear that the collective will of many Transcendent Factions was for that status to prevail.

 Chapter 125 Raid (End)

    Samiel looked around when he killed themander of the fortress, and he saw that most of the resistanceing from the side of the Human Brotherhood''s troops had already been quelled, so that only a few were left to fight.

    The Undeads were especially effective in sniffing out anything that lived and killing it, and this time it was no different from the typical routine. After the yards and the outer parts of the fortress were cleaned out, the Undeads started pouring inside the fortress itself, meaning the buildings and searching for the survivors.

    Of course, there was a whole bunch of people that, instead of fighting against the enemy, decided to hide and hope for the best... just this time, it didn''t really work. Outside of the fortress, in the forest around the fortress, the fights were also quieting down as the remaining resistance was slowly being killed out.

    After that, Samiel entered the inner parts of the fortress after he had examined the main building of the fortress. He felt that it was now time to seek out some documents and information that had been left there by the Human Brotherhood. This was one of the priorities why he chose this mission in the first ce, as he knew that there would be for sure somepromising material that could be used against the Human Brotherhood.

    From the Dimensional Ring of the fortress''smander, Samiel already got some samples of the synergy and some other things, which he recognized as gic concoctions. Interestingly, themander had around ten samples and three different kinds in his Dimensional Ring.

    The insides of the fortress were indeed pretty poorly done, without much decoration or anything; it was clear that this ce was finished only a short time ago. Of course, as Samiel was strolling through the fortress, he saw several armories and ces where they stored other critical resources.

    Of course, when it came to resources like Potions, Samiel took them all; actually he was taking everything he could see because everything here could be sold at a certain price when he returned back to the Goldtooth. Money was money no matter of what resources it came from, and the loot was always one of the best resources when it came to making money.

    After he "robbed" several armories and other ces where the critical resources were stored, Samiel continued to the top of the tower, where he got information from his Undeads; that they found some strategic room filled with ns and maps.

    When he arrived at the top of one of the towers in the fortress, Samiel looked around with his scrutinizing gaze; he immediately recognized the ce as some sort of strategic room and started going through the maps and ns that were all around the room.

    Meanwhile, he sent his Undeads to search through the dungeons and underground spaces below the fortress to see if there was something useful or interesting. Every fortress should have something like that, and Samiel predicted that exactly where some of the most essential resources would be hidden.

    For ten minutes, he had been going through the documents that were in the strategic room, and soon after, he found what he had searched for. Aside from this fortress, he found the locations of another four simr forward fortresses of the Human Brotherhood that they managed to build in remote parts of the Demon Continent.

    Of course, these were probably not all, but considering the poor nning skills of the leadership of the Human Brotherhood, they made be. Normally, they wouldn''t leave such crucial information in one ce, meaning that if one fortress was conquered, then the safety and existence of all others would be instantlypromised.

    "Have you found something useful, aside from the garbage that is all around?"

    Samiel heard Yvraine''s voice as she returned from the forests, meaning the fight in there had ended, and the resistance had been put down. With this, the entire raid has ended, and when the Undeads have searched through the underground of the fortress, then we can conclude this entire thing.

    "Yes, from the documents these morons have left here unsecured, we can conclude that there are at least another four fortresses that the Human Brotherhood has managed to build around the most remote parts of the Demon Continent. Aside from that... I got the list of people who are coborating with them on the 8th Floor, and there are some big names."

    Samiel then said as he presented Yvraine with the list of around twenty-five people who were coborating with the Human Brotherhood. Usually, they were some trich merchants that were procuring information and some resources for them at outrageous prices, but there were also some high-ranked Demons of high social status that seemed to be plotting something.

    One of them was even one of the children of the current Patriarch of the ck-Winged Demon Tribe. For the Demon Tribes, this situation was no different than just ying around, and they were using it as a training ground for their younger generation.

    Considering that the Human Brotherhood didn''t even have any Legendaries, it was pretty understandable. Demon Tribes were individually pretty powerful, as each one had a whole bunch of Legendaries, the stronger Tribes even had Holy Legendary, but those could be counted on one hand.

    If they were actually allied together, then they would, for sure, probably be collectively stronger than even the Hall of Kadath, but the such oue was night impossible. The Demon Tribes were descended from the Trasncedental Daemons, and they constantly waged war against each other, meaning their descendants would do the same thing.

    "So he is secretly supplying them with information so he can take out hispetitors..."

    Yvraine muttered as this was indeed crucial information; who would have thought that someone from the Demon Tribal Council would be colluding with the Human Brotherhood, considering how much the Demon despite the Human Race as a whole.

    Among the Demon Tribes, the innerpetition within the tribes was extremely brutal, and practically nothing was forbidden, but if this was known to the Patriarch, then Prince Bariux would lose his head for sure.

    Coborating with humans in any way was a very big no-no for demons, especially because they viewed humans as their food, not as something whom they should coborate with. Especially against their own species, the punishment would typically be way worse than death.

    "Indeed, and it seems he leaked some good amount of confidential information to the enemies... who knows what else they know."

    Samiel said while he was storing everything in the strategic room in his Dimensional Ring because all of this would be submitted to The Guild, along with the proof of the destruction of the fortress. Subsequently, The Guild will take of the aftermath and contact all relevant parties, especially the Golden-Horned Tribe how to deal with the situation.

    And also the ck-Winged Tribe because the traitor with the highest social status was one of its Princes, meaning the information that the Human Brotherhood may have in their hands be something of utmost secret and importance.

    "Is there anything of importance aside from these documents?"

    Yvraine questioned, to which he shook his head in denial, as there was nothing because he took everything. Even his Undeads were collecting anything that could be sold on the market, as it never hurt to have more money.

    "Maybe in the dungeons; I ordered my Undeads to search it through and obviously, they already found something of interest. I think that the humans were storing some of those weird gic cocktails hidden somewhere there."

    Samiel stated as they descended down onto the dungeons, where his Undeads found a sealed room, protected with at least Silver-Tier Magic Seal, which was something they couldn''t get through themselves.

    Seeing this only strengthened Samiel''s thoughts that they were storing something precious here, possibly those synergies and gic concoctions. Samiel went to the sealed doors as he scrutinized the magic seal that was sealing the doors before he put his right hand on the middle of the magic seal.

    As he put his hand there, he channeled from his hand a weakened and controlled 3rd Level Spell Void Strike as he sted apart both the stone doors and the magic seal which was protecting them. The magical defenses of the doors and whatever it was protecting were subpar, if they could be sted apart by single 3rd Level Spell.

    When the dust settled down, he entered the room with Yvraine; they saw hundreds of liquids stored in metal-ss containers in a simr design that themander of the fortress used on himself. They were orderly stacked up in their containers, which in turn were put on countless shelved that were in the room.

    Both of them could see that these serums were separated based on the Tier of the user, rating from the Iron-Tier up to the Silver-Tier, though those for the Silver-Tier individuals were only a few of them.

    "Take half of them; I will take the second half."

    Samiel stated as they started emptying the room from the serum, storing them in their Dimensional Rings so that they could pass them to their factions for study. If Samiel was right, then these ones came straight out ofboratories of the Germinal Order, because there were only so few factions with capabilities like this.

    He came to that conclusion just based on the sheer quantity of the serums, as there were thousands of them, even though the majority of them were meant for the Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier individuals, with a few hundred being for the Bronze-Tiers. Not to mention that the Germinal Order had even a partial motive by supplying these things to the Human Brotherhood.

    After they emptied everything, Samiel started recalling back his Undeads, when thest person of the Human Brotherhood was killed deep in the dungeons, and nothing of significant value was found.

    Clearly, these underground premises were used solely for gic concoctions and nothing else. Indeed if they nned to carry out an attack on the Demon Continent, then it would be prudent for their troops to be injected with the serum only a very short time before the attack, as their lifespan would be shortened to mere months.

    "We are finished here."

    After everything was done, they exited the inner parts of the fortress altogether and regrouped with Ashimer in front of the fortress or what remained of it. Aside from that, Samiel ordered his Undeads to collect corpses of the Bronze-Tier and Silver-Tier individuals as those would make suitable material for his Undeads.

    Then he turned around and started conjuring a new spell that he had learned to destroy this ce entirely so that it couldn''t be used by the Human Brotherhood once more. It was the 5th Level Spell from the Void Magic called the Void Bomb and it was as destructive as one would expect from the 5th Level Spell of the Void Magic.

    Basically, a boosted version of the Void Strike, when the caster conjures the Void itself in a small ball and drops it on the desired target. It was far more destructive than the average Void Strike, and its destructive capabilities would be ranked top-notch among the 5th Level Spells.

    Even an ordinary 5th Level Spell could obliterate an entire vige, and this Spell was even more potent. Yvraine observed how Samiel carefully handled the Void into a small ball, which he threw directly in the middle of the fortress, like throwing a ball.

    Immediately upon contact with the ground, the Void Ball exploded, creating a tremendous explosion that engulfed an entire diameter of hundreds of meters and a shockwave so strong that it ripped out the surrounding trees with their roots from the ground and sent them flying.

    It was a spectacr explosion.

    "That was really something."

    Samiel stated, satisfied with his work, as he looked like the once tall fortress had been turned into ruins and a pile of dust and stones, with nothing remaining in ce. Even though the Human Brotherhood used some special materials in its construction so it could withstand shes of full power from the Silver-Tier Professionals, it was nothing in front of the Void.

    Even now, he could still observe how the remains of the Void were greedily corrupting everything they could, spreading through the area like a virus through the body, leaving nothing intact, turning everything to its cold and destructive image.

    Such was the true nature of the Void.

    Cold, corrupting and extremely destructive, that wasn''t itself.

    That was the reason why the Void was considered as one of the Taboos to pursue and study because it would very easily bring death to the person who was too arrogant.

    But Samiel knew that these bits would soon enough disperse because they were not powerful enough to survive on its own, even though the surrounding environment would be inhabitable for uing centuries due to the aftereffects of the Void''s corruption.

    Of course, many ces like this existed across the Cosmos and greater catastrophes have been unleashed by experimenting with the Void Magic that has gone wrong, sometimes annihting even entire Worlds in a matter of seconds.

 Chapter 126 Mission Accomplished

    In the course of their journey to the Goldtooth Fortress City, Samiel and Yvriane were having an enjoyable conversation as they discussed the previous mission for The Guild. Unfortunately, they didn''t seed in procuring the ves since Samiel''s Undeads had destroyed and killed everything in their way.

    It is not likely that anything else could have been done because, from what he knew, they would be practically worthless as ves because their lifespan was limited to only a few months, and no legitimate ve trader would buy a ve whose lifespan was only four to seven months.

    If you were to invest in ves like that, you''d probably end up with a bad investment, considering that ves were mostly purchased to providebor. Still, there were also some species that bought ves for the purpose of food, experiments and ritual material, as well as for the purpose of performing experiments on them.

    Due to the synergy, whose side-effects were dposing their bodies, they would be practically worthless even in that aspect, so Samiel wasn''t that sad about the loss of potential money. If the situation was different and the humans present at the fortress were healthy, then he would probably be pretty pissed because he would have missed arge sum of money.

    very was one of the biggest and most lucrative businesses in the Cosmos, and there were astronomical amounts of money flowing into the ve market each year. Numerous factions were either directly or indirectly involved in the ve trade because it was such a lucrative industry and one could obtain astronomical riches through ve trading.

    It was fortunate for him that he had been able to get a great deal of those "Super Soldier Serums" in the Hall of Kadath, which would bring him a nice amount of Contribution Points. He took the mission from the Hall of Kadath to obtain samples of those things after reporting the phenomenon that had urred to them when they teleported to the 8th Floor and were attacked by a squad of soldiers of the Human Brotherhood who had taken these synergies.

    Especially since they were created within theboratories of the Germinal Order, with support o??f either Magisterium or the Avalon Kingdom with the possibility of being higher than 90%, the situation was grave. Rarely would one see a coboration of more than 2 Gates of the 13 Gates, and even if only two of them coborated on something, the cooperation itself would be pretty shallow.

    "Whatever... we will be soon reaching the Goldtooth within two hours, and then we can go somewhere for dinner."

    Samiel stated as he adjusted his bandana over his face when he suddenly heard some Magical Beasts approaching their location. This was pretty ironic because Yvraine took one of the F-Ranked Mission from The Guild, which was about capturing a Bronze-Tier Magical Beast, minimally at Level 40 alive and delivering it to the local restaurant.

    Pretty funny thing because they were going to the said restaurant for dinner, as it was the exclusive one for the richest and most powerful in the Goldtooth Fortress City. Of course, capturing a Level 40 Bronze-Tier Magical Beast alive was way harder than killing it. This was because capturing an enemy, and restraining it without causing severe injuries or killing, required way more power.

    Following Samiel, Yvraine, too, perked up as she got into a battle stance and readied her twin sword when she saw Samiel getting wary. His senses were even keener than hers, especially after his evolution closer to pure Eldritch Creature.

    "It is an Earth Drake."

    Samiel stated when he saw the creature approaching them.

    The Earth Drakes were subspecies of Dragons, vastly inferior though as they belonged to the category of Drakes and were on the same level as Wyrms and Wyverns. This precise Earth Drake was around 4 meters long and two meters tall.

    It looked like an overgrown lizard, though, but its sharp draconic features, especially on its face and one pair of horns, were unmistakable proof of its draconic ancestry. Unfrutnaly for the drakes, their species were not the most intelligent ones, and even at the Legendary Level, they had intelligence mostly on the level of an average Ork.

    So, they were stupid, inly said. But even though drakes as a whole were not the most intelligent species in existence, that didn''t make them any less dangerous. They were still top predators, terrifying when provoked.

    The Earth Drakes could burrow through the ground and attack from unpredicted ces, not to mention they had near-perfect sensory abilities, as they could sense their foes that were standing on the earth; with this, they could practically observe the entire battlefield with rtive ease. Not to mention, this ability was making it very hard to ambush an Earth Drake.

    "It is probably underground. The possibility of that is very high, so we need to jump."

    Samiel said as the two of them jumped on top of the branch of a tree that was near to them, and as the ground shook violently, the jaws of an Earth Drake emerged from the ground when the creature crawled out of the ground.

    It was at this point that Yvraine took a careful look at the Earth Drake, as the creature, though not particrly intelligent or strong, was cunning enough to return under the ground as soon as it realized that it had not managed to catch anything of significance.

    Samiel was running the calctions with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect as he analyzed the entire area before he looked at the spot five meters from him, near the tree where Yvraine had jumped on, as he conjured several ice weapons through the Winter Ruler almost instantaneously and immediately shot them toward it.

    In a split of a second the Earth Drake appeared once more, with its huge jaws attempting to attack the tree where Yvraine was sitting on its branch while immediately after it crawled out, it was hit by several ice weapons.

    All of them were blunt weapons, mainly hammers, as Samiel didn''t aim even to injure the Earth Drake but rather just to knock it out, which was half-done because the impact was so strong that the Earth Drake crawled entirely out of the ground.

    From the outside looks, one could observe that the poor Magical Beast was disoriented and was looking around it, searching for the potential enemies or for whatever was going on, as instantly, something hit it on its head when Yvrainended on the head of the Earth Drake, knocking it out effectively.

    "That we have... but right now, the question is, how are we going to transport the Earth Drake back to The Guild?"

    They were still around two hours away from the Goldtooth Fortress City or so, and the Magical Beast that weighed severe tonnes was knocked out and sleeping. While Samiel could carry it around, in truth, he didn''t wish to and his Familiar surprisingly disappeared.

    "I will order some of the Undeads to carry it, and when we are close to the city, we will wake it up and drag it in chains."

    Samiel proposed, as he didn''t wish to use his Undeads in front of the Demons of the Goldtooth City because that would get into the ears of the Golden-Horden Demon Tribe really fast. Some smarter individuals may get clues about his true identity, which he wanted to hide so that he could have some leisure time during his stay.

    ***

    8th Floor, Demon Continent, Goldtooth Fortress City, two hourster.

    After both of them presented their proof of identity, which The Guild specifically issued in the form of their Guild''s Card, Samiel entered the city with Yvraine; as they were dragging with it Level 40 Bronze-Tier Magical Beast, Earth Drake.

    The Magical Beast itself was chained in strong chains that were preventing it from attacking or running away, as Samiel was pulling it over with his superior strength over the beast. Soon enough, we have arrived at the local branch of The Guild, where I went just ave the Earth Drake to the person responsible for it and went to the Branch Manager.

    When Samiel arrived at the office of the Branch Manager Krasimir Holdermann, he was currently drinking some blood; from the smell, Samiel could judge it was dragon blood. Considering that the man before him was Kindred and Branch Manager, he should have enough money to buy himself dragon blood.

    Sometimes dragons themselves would be selling their own blood to the Pale Bloods or Kindreds for outrageous sums of money and other treasures, and of course, they would buy it. Mainly because for them, it was not only the best way to increase their Levels very fast but also because the blood of evolutionary superior species tasted the best.

    And while Samiel was no bloodsucker, he could attest to the same thing when it came to Souls. Souls from the stronger species taste better than those of the weaker species.

    "Holy Son Zentaur and Crown Princess Silvermoon, it is my pleasure to host you once again. What has brought you to my humble abode?"

    He questioned with a toothy grin as Samiel presented him with a bunch of things that we had obtained from the fortress. There was no shortage of ns, information, and things that we had obtained from the fortress of the Human Brotherhood.

    He started briefly reading through them, and as his expression remained neutral, it was very hard to find out what he was thinking.

    "For that, you will get an additional 5,000 Credits... is there anything?"

    Branch Manager Krasimir Holdermann stated as Samiel registered that he got deposited 10,000 Credits in his ount at the Vaultbank. After smiling in satisfaction, he and Yvraine took several vials of the Super Soldier Serums and other gic concoctions they found in the underground dungeons under the fortress of the Human Brotherhood.

    "You should be already aware of what that thing is... how much will the Golden-Horned Tribe pay for those vials?"

    Samiel asked as he saw that the Branch Manager Krasimir Holdermann was typing out something on his Holo-Brain before he returned back to the two of them.

    "100,000 Credits for each of you."

    Samiel grimaced before he switched to his business mode. Even though the 100,000 Credits may sound like a lot, and it was a lot, he knew the current situation of the Demons and what they were facing at the hands of the bunch of mad and gically strengthened humans.

    One needed to know that the Demons were one of the races that constantly waged war on the humans in countless upon countless Lower Worlds and in many of them, the situation was varied, but mainly stalemate between the two of them.

    Because these Serums were specifically targeted for the mortals, it could greatly affect the bnce in those battlefields and then, subsequently, the number of the top powerhouses of the Demon Tribes.

    Who would ascend to the Legendary status if all mortals were killed? This was a rtively clever n by the Avalon Kingdom on how to weaken the Demon Tribes drastically and, at the same time, increase the collective strength of the humans, whom then the Avalon Kingdom would absorb into its ranks.

    "Million for each of us... I know that the Demon Tribes are currently having problems in countless Lower Worlds, and if these little things get mass-produced by the Germinal Order and the Avalon Kingdom, then the Demon Tribes would suffer the most."

    Branch Manager Krasimir Holdermann once again wrote something through the Holo-Brain and soon enough, not even a secondter, he received the answer.

    "They have agreed and will pay triple if you can provide one more sample for each Tier."

    Probably the Demon Tribes wanted to experiment with these things to unfold their potential and possibly, create some countermeasures, like, for example, some specific curse, that would target the substance and destroy it in the host''s body or whatever.

    Samiel knew how desperate they were for the perfect samples, probably because, from the raids on other fortresses, they didn''t manage to obtain anything aside from decaying corpses and garbage. And all of this only increased the despair they were living through, as they couldn''t manage to get their hands on a perfect undamaged and unopened sample.

    Samples that all now belonged to Samiel and Yvraine.

    If he was right in his assumptions, the one he raided with Yvraine should act as a supply depot with the Super Soldier Serums for the remaining ones. Samiel knew that three million Credits was just a drop in the sea to a faction like the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, but he would obtain far more if he submitted the rest of the serums to the Hall of Kadath.

    That was because the Hall would then sell the synergies in bulk to the Demon Tribal Conve for some outrageous price, and he would benefit greatly from the business deal.

    Both of them then handed over vials of the Serums for each Tier they managed to obtain and got paid 3 million Credits on their ounts on the Vaultbank. Three million Credits was a tremendous sum of money, which was equivalent to 3,000 Silver-Tier Mana Crystals or 300 of Gold-Tier Mana Crystals.

    Either way, Samiel was pretty satisfied with this because he got the resources he needed to increase his Level, as his progress was getting slower and slower. Even in the Bronze-Tier, he already required Silver-Tier Mana Crystals to have unhindered progress. In the Silver-Tier, he would probably require either an astronomical amount of the Silver-Tier Mana Crystals or Gold-Tier ones.

    This was a huge disadvantage for him due to his racial heritage. Of course, there existed at least a partial solution to his pseudo-problem, which was to increase proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method.

    With the increased proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method would allow him to utilize the Mana Crystals more efficiently and even increase his Level more affordably with requiring fewer resources.

    Of course, nothing was for free in this reality, and the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method was extremely difficult to practice. Samiel was very happy for even a single percentage that he got in proficiency for the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method.

    "Thank you for your services, Branch Manager."

    Samiel stated as he, together with Yvraine, then returned to their inn to have some rest and basically wait and see until the war erupted on the 8th Floor because right now, there was a weird and uneasy calmness before the storm.

 Chapter 127 War On The 8th Floor (1)

    Several Hours Later, an Unknown Location on the 8th Floor, Demon Continent.

    When the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe obtained the crucial intelligence through the Mercenaries of The Guild, they immediately started going through the countless ns, maps, documents, and other things that were delivered to them through The Guild. All of them were from the Fortress that belonged to the Human Brotherhood, which they built on the Demon Continent.

    A ton of materials came out; some of them were good news, some of them were more likely to be neutral, some were bad, and some were outright catastrophic. Especially the information along with proof that one of the Princes of the ck-Wing Demon Tribe had coborated with the Human Brotherhood.

    That one was particrly grave because, as the Prince of the ck-Wing Demon  Tribe, the man had cess to some very sensitive and valuable information, which he probably sold to the Human Brotherhood. And what made this situation even worse was the conclusion that the Human Brotherhood was supported by the collective efforts of the Magisterium, Germinal Order and the Avalon Kingdom.

    One was better than the previous one.

    For the Demon Tribes, the only real threat was the Avalon Kingdom because that one was for sure scheming something against their race, while the Germinal Order was just testing some of their new inventions, and they cared about results, not of the user. They gave shit about what was happening to the Human race as a whole or anything because they only cared about the progress of their technology and other things.

    The Magisterium was probably the most problematic of the 13 Gates because of the multitude of sub-factions it had and the state it was in. Certainly, the state of Magisterium was rather understandable because it mainly consisted of self-serving Magic Users of various Paths, who cared only for their advancements and power, and one of the ways to obtain more power was destruction and absorption of other factions.

    Of the rest 13 Gates, Magisterium was the one that had the least sense of inner unity and could fall apart at any given moment. There were many people who waited for the moment when something of high enough importance happened, which would crash the "unity" of the Magisterium and it would fall apart like a house of cards blown by a weak whisper of wind.

    Even though the people who were creating the Magisterium were only concerned with material gains, they knew that together they would be of greater power and could obtain more if they worked together; thus they reluctantly coborated in order to achieve their goals.

    Right now, in the secret location, the meeting between representatives of all Demon Tribes on the 8th Floor were having a meeting together as well as a strategic conference on how to proceed against the Human Brotherhood.

    Particrly on how to deal with the traitors, as the representative of the ck-Winged Demon Tribe looked very uneasy in this situation because from his Tribe, a very, very high-ranked traitor appeared, which shamed the reputation of the entire ck-Winged Demon Tribe and by an extension, not only them but also whole Demon Council, because coborating with Humans was one of the greatest taboos among the Demon Tribes.

    It was no secret that immediately after this information reached the ears of the Patriarch of the ck-Winged Demon Tribe, he personally killed Prince Bariux was killed by him, together with the entire group of his supports, which resulted in the ck-Winged Demon Tribe losing 4 Legendary Level Demons who were deeply engaged with the Prince Bariux.

    So, not only they got a great deal of shame, but they, on the tip of all that, lost several of their Legendaires, which lowered the collective strength of the ck-Winged Demon Tribe, and now, their enemies would have better opportunities to make a move on them.

    This stunt cost the ck-Winged Demon Tribe too much, and it was very probably, that sooner orter, they may be assimted by another much stronger Demon Tribe because the ck-Winged Demon Tribe had only one Holy Legendary who was overseeing the whole Tribe, which wasn''t good for them, especially in their present position.

    "To summarize the situation, we know right now. We can safely conclude that the Avalon Kingdom is using the Human Brotherhood as testing subjects for some sort of Gical Enhancement Serums for humans. From the preliminary information, we came to the deduction that the Serum was developed by the Germinal Order in cooperation with the Magisterium and the Avalon Kingdom, albeit the touch of the Germinal Order is the strongest. From what we can say, is that the Avalon Kingdom is nning to use them en-masse on the Lower Worlds to break the stalemate between Humans and Demonkins, thus weakening us and strengthening them."

    The speaker who was giving his speech was a member of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. In terms of his appearance, he looked very youthful, around thirty years in the human age with tanned skinn, and he would be almost indistinguishable from the ordinary human, aside from his two pairs of golden horns atop of his head.

    The Demons with strong lineages, especially those of the Transcendental Lineages, could effortlessly shit forms, between their humanoid forms and demon forms, in a very simr way to dragons, could switch between theirs.

    The presence of the Demonkin in the Lower Worlds was crucial because it was like a breeding ground for them. Not to mention that many of the Tribes depended on the Lower Worlds and even on the Middle Worlds as some kind of artificially sustained battlefields where they could train their troops and get powerhouses from.

    Approximately 40% of the Legendaries in various Demon Tribes were originally from the Lower Worlds that managed to rise through carnage and ughter, which was something prettymon. Many of them were even the Demon Lords, meaning those whomand vast armies of the Demons in the material ne.

    Basically, the poption of the Demons in the Lower Worlds was very important to them, as humans were also a source of food for the Demons and other resources. If all of this were lost, then the consequences would be extremely dire, to the point that after several centuries the Demon Tribes would be essentially crippled, and the only thing that would remain for them would be either to retreat to the Abyss or live as rogues.

    Certainly, while retreating to the Abyss provided an option, it was a very bad one because their Transcedenal Ancestors needed them in the material ne to fulfill their tasks and spread influence, gather souls and sacrifices, and other things that wouldn''t really be possible in the Abyss.

    So the summary was the Demonkins in the Lower Worlds were of the utmost importance to the continual survival of the Demon species and their domination in the material ne. So they needed to do everything to thwart the efforts of the Humans and whatever they were nning.

    "Now, onto the more positive news. We have managed to procure samples of the Gic Enhancement Serums for the Iron-Tier, Steel-Tier, Bronze-Tier and Silver-Tier individuals. We still haven''t done any research on them, but from the avable information and report from the Mercenaries from The Guild, who obtained them did a scan on the humans who injected themselves with the Serums. Clearly, these Gic Enhancement Serums are drastically lowering the lifespan of their users so that they could live only a few months at most. Of course, those of the higher Tier could leave longer, but not that long, maximally one year even for the Gically Enhanced Gold-Tier."

    Even though the people who injected themselves with the Gic Enhancement Serums had drastically lowered lifespans, it still didn''t make the situation any less catastrophic to the Demon Tribes, as they were determined to solve this threat at any cost.

    "Now that you have been briefed on the situation, the Conve has decided that it is time to start the war against the Human Broterhhood officially, annihte them and with the secondary goal, to secure the research of the Germinal Order and other Gates they may have left in the headquarters of the Brotherhood at the Human Continent."

    Stated the representative of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, as the other representatives started gossiping with each other. Some were disturbed by the news that such a thing was once again was spreading among the humans, while some of them were wondering how much trouble it would bring them in the long term.

    "Any progress on the development of some curse or anything that could target the people who were injected with the Gic Enhancement Serum?"

    Questioned the representative of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe at the man next to him. All Demon Tribes were descendants of the Trasncedent Daemon, and the Golden-Horned Tribe carried faint lineage of the 1st Pir of the 72 Pirs of Ars Goetia, the Grand Emperor Bael.

    The man to his right was a member of the Moon Demon Tribe, descendants of the Grand Duke Agares. The bearers of the lineage of the Grand Duke Agares had a very strong affinity for the Arcane, and all of them were in-born Arcanists who often disyed a terrifying talent for the Magic Arts.

    So they were tasked to develop a special curse that would target the people who took the Gic Enhancement Serum. Things like this had already happened in the past and based on the quality of the serum itself, it wasn''t thatplex or immune to curse, as they couldn''t detect any anti-magic and anti-curse properties in it.

    "We are conducting the preliminary tests, but the final results would still take at least one or two years to fullyplete. While the synergy itself iscking any anti-magic or anti-curse elements, the creators still inserted something there, which would make its research and reverse-engineering much harder."

    Reported the representative of the Moon Demon Tribe. Creation of the custom-made curse that targeted specific elements, especially one rtivelyplex like this, needed to put a lot of effort, even considering the fact that Legendary Level Magicians who specialized in curses.

    Ironically this could be considered a short time to achieve such a feat, but in the end, all of the present knew that it was too long, considering the fact that the Germinal Order was for sure developing an even more advanced version of the serum.

    The creation of an advanced version would render their current research worthless, and they would need to start from the start. Though different situations would emerge if they managed to obtain a coreponent of the serum, a primogenitor of some sort, on which all versions were built.

    "We could haggle some deal with the Mind Flyer Fleets... they are constantly on the war with the Germinal Order and Transcendent Level Mind Flyers and their Elder Brains are on the search for the backers of the Germinal Order. They should have the best chance to procure us the primogenitor virus of the concoction."

    Stated the representative of the Golden-Horned Tribe, as this was a matter which would be handled either by the Patriarchs of their Ancestors themselves, depending on which Fleet they would negotiate with and which Fleet would be interested in negotiating with them.

    Mind Flyers were not known for their aptitude to do negotiation about something with anyone, as they were too arrogant for that. They believed themselves to be the most superior species in the Cosmo.

    However, when it came to the Germinal Order and their masters, they would for sure change their aptitude very quickly, as the existence of the Germinal Order was an indirect threat to the existence of the Mind Flyer Race as a whole.

    That was because the majority of the Germinal Orders consisted of the Githyanki and Githzerai, who were psionically talented and powerful races that were long ago enved by the Mind Flyers and their Elder Brains.

    Since then, they constantly fought against the Mind Flyers and searched for ways how topletely eradicate their race. Of course, those who became Annulled among the former ves and enemies of the Mind Flyers knew very well their enemies and knew how to hide and how to not be seen by their enemies.

    There were even some asions when they managed to destroy entire Fleets where Transcendent Level Elder Brains were present, which was a big hit to the Mind Flyer Race as while, and that made them rather dangerous for the psionic squids.

    "Then we willunch the offensive on the remaining forts of the Human Brotherhood on the Demon Continent and at the same time, start the offensive on neutral grounds. Shadow Demon Tribe will take care of the traitors on the 8th Floor, as we managed to obtain their entirework and operations."

    Decided the representative from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, the bearers of the lineage of Emperor Bael, as he looked around and others followed with his statement. Particrly the representative of the Shadow Demon Tribe had a glint in his eyes as he heard about the uing war.

    Shadow Demon Tribe were bearers of the lineage of Duke Valefor, a mighty Transcendental Daemon known for his dominion over the Shadows in the Abyss, so the Shadow Demon Tribe and anyone who bore his blood were perfect assassins.

 Chapter 128 War On The 8th Floor (2)

    Several hourster, after the conference between the representatives of the Demon Tribes present on the 8th Floor, the outskirts of the Demon Continent, Bronian Wastnd.

    The higher-ups of the Demon Tribes immediately ordered the attack on the forward fortresses of the Human Brotherhood on the Demon Continent, which they had managed to construct on the Demon Continent, after the meeting ended between the representatives of the Demon Tribes.

    There were four of such fortresses around the outskirts and various abandoned ces across the shores of the Demon Continent, as the Human Brotherhood managed to build these things stealthily. Not like they were the only ones, as the Demon Tribes were doing the same thing on the Human Continent, as they too had their own outposts somewhere out there.

    Moreover, things were moving extremely fast, and just within an hour, four separate attacks were nned on the four forward fortresses at the same time as well as the fight on the inds between the two continents was going to start again.

    On the 8th Floor, there were not just two supercontinents, Demon Continent and Human Continent, as there were countless smaller inds between the two Continents, which served as battlefields for both Demonkins and Humans during the war between the two factions that alreadysted for countless centuries.

    A stalemate usually prevailed between the two sides on the ind; aside from some minor skirmishes from time to time, neither side pushed too hard for the control of the ind, since the control of the ind was essential for the next step, the invasion of the continent on a full-scale.

    That was because, till now, neither side was ready for the full-scaled conflict to begin; thus they were just preparing and asionally testing the waters. Or maybe better said that the Demons, who would be the main initiators of any conflict were taking their time ying with their prey.

    In the absence of the absolute control over these inds, which would serve as the base from which the invasion would beunched, there could not be a conquest or war, and because of that, both sides were perfectly secured in their position on the inds they controlled.

    In the course of centuries, they have built lines and fortifications around the ind, along with countless castles and fortresses, since they were determined to protect every square meter of their territory and not give it to their enemies for free.

    Right now, the Bronian Wastnd, which was forsaken part of the Demon Continent due to its hazardous enviroment, and thus it bes uninhabitable for living. Countless millennia ago, there lived one mad Arcanist who was dabbling in the Necromancy Arts; having reached the peak of the Silver-Tier, he wanted to reach the Gold-Tier and enhance his strength as much as possible because he wanted to defeat his rival.

    Thus he started ying with very dangerous spells in the area of the Life Drain category, and unfortunately for the Arcanist, on one such fateful day, he developed a new variant of the Life Drain Spell, which was 8th Level Spell.

    The moment he wanted to cast the Spell on the captured ves, he couldn''t handle the tremendous power of the Spell, and it backfired not only on him but on the entire area where he built his Magic Tower. And thus, as the Spell fell down, it drained the life from everything, be it the smallest insects or powerful Gold-Tier Magical Beasts that were slumbering somewhere, or the nts and trees, everything withered within seconds.

    As such, the Arcanist Bronian met a sad end, after which the Bronian Wastnd was formed, which was once an enormous area that he ruled, once a vibrant ce teeming with flora and fauna of countless species and types, and once a vibrant ce full of life and vitality.

    Now it was a dead ce, where everyone who entered would find himself weakened to a certain degree, as only those with some innate Magic Resistance would find themselves unaffected by the terrible curse on the forsaken ce.

    It was also a reminder that the area of the Life Drain Spells was very dangerous and if not handled properly with enough care and preparations, it could easily got wrong and brought with itself catastrophic aftermath, just like in the case of Arcanist Bronian, who created the Bronian Wastnd.

    Right now, a contingent of Demons of various shapes, sizes and appearances were crossing through the Bronian Wastnd, all of them were of the Bronze-Tier and higher, and their leader was from a Gold-Tier Golden-Horned Demon from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    Their task in this ce was simple, to find and eradicate the fortress as the final war for the supremacy of the 8th Floor has finally started after countless millennia of preparation. The Golden-Horned Tribe must know that the Human Brotherhood is internally panicking because of the moment when their backers started pulling out, leaving them to their fate.

    This was because, from the perspective of the factions pulling the strings, their objectives were achieved, and right now, all the advantages that the Human Brotherhood had once again dissipated into the air.

    The leaders of the Human Brotherhood probably still thought that they were supported by them, not fully aware of the great game behind them in the shadows. The contingent of around three hundred demons was already near the forward fortress of the Human Brotherhood.

    Their leader, who was a member of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, stopped the entire contingent of demon soldiers from the various demon tribes as they scouted the area and discussed the strategy for the fortress.

    After several minutes, from the shadows, several Shadow Demons emerged as they finished scouting the forward fortress. Members of the Valefor Lineage were always used for scouting, assassinations and information gathering because all of them were born with the innate ability of Shadow Control.

    "Report."

    Commanded theirmander as he impatiently awaited the crucial information that the shadow demons brought to him so that they could decide on the next course of action.

    "3 Silver-Tiers, including themander of the fortress. The entire number of soldiers is 7,000. Most of them don''t appear to be in alert, as many of them are sleeping in the quarts or doing just nothing."

    Reported one of the Shadow Demons because for them, it was an effortless task to infiltrate the fortress and get all important information within a few minutes. While the fortresses were decently protected, theycked any high-end magical protection and wards against some times of innate abilities, like in the case of the Shadow Demons.

    "Is that so?... In that case, we are going for the frontal assault on the fortress. All Shadow Demons will return back, infiltrate the fortress and assassinate themander and secure the crucial information before they can destroy it. Everyone clear?"<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    The Golden-Horned Demon decided the next steps for every; seeing that nobody was objecting, they started moving out of the fortress. The Golden-Horned Demon was leading the charge, showing anyone why their tribe was the strongest of all Demon Tribes.

    As the bearer of the lineage of the Grand Emperor Bael, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, were sometimes born with Innate Magic, called Destruction Magic, which allowed them to destroy practically anything with the Edictual Magic.

    The Destruction Magic was one of the most destructive in existence and it was said that only a few other types of Magic were superior to it when it came to its destructive capabilities as it dealt with the Edict of Destruction itself.

    Just this alone made the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe the strongest of all Demon Tribes that existed at the material ne. Indeed, not many were born with it, and even then, not many could master it to a very high degree. Yet, even then, the numbers of those few who had achieved the such feat, was terrifying, as each one of them was an extremely mighty Lengedary Level Powerhouse.

    Especially on the Mortal Level, it gave its user a tremendous edge over other enemies because such power was never meant for the mortals in the first ce. Thus very few people at the Mortal Level could effectively defend against it.

    Even on the Legendary Level, it was troublesome to defend against the Destruction Magic efficiently. Only those who were very proficient in some branches of Magic could defend against something so destructive such as Destruction Magic or people who were born with Level Abilities that could be used for such a purpose.

    The Gold-Tier Golden-Horned Demon Tribe looked at the gates of the fortress of the Human Brotherhood, as the humans in there activated some sort of defensive ward when a translucent shield-dome appeared around the entire fortress within several seconds after they spotted the demon marching towards them.

    Suddenly, a crimson-like star appeared above the head of Gold-Tier Golden-Horned Demon, conjuring an 8th Level Spell of the Destruction Magic, called Ruin Star. Such a powerful Spell, was strong enough to destroy already some medium-sized ind without much trouble, as the  Gold-Tier Golden-Horned Demon contained andpressed its power and shot the Spell towards the translucent shield-dome and fortress it was protecting.

    And as expected, while the translucent shield-dome stopped the 8th Level Spell for several seconds and weakened it to a certain degree, it soon crumbled apart into thousands of shards, as the Ruin Star fell onto the gates of the fortress, unleashing an unprecedented level of destruction.

    All demons observed how literarily half of the fortress was turned to dust, as nothing remained aside huge crater, where once the fortress stood, together with the remaining half which wasn''t destroyed was falling apart.

    "Maybe I went a bit overboard."

    Muttered the Gold-Tier Golden-Horned Demon as he contemted if he shouldn''t use rather a 7th Level Spell, but whatever. What was done was done, as he gave the order for his squad to attack when the hundreds of demons rushed at the defenseless humans, who were either injured or in a state of shock at what had happened.

    Instantly the demons flooded into the fortress, killing anything that still lived and robbing everything of any value. Fortunately, the Shadow Demons managed to obtain intelligence from the fortress before the Gold-Tier Golden-Horned Demon sted half of the fortress from the face of the earth.

    Not like the things that were in the fortress were of any significant value to the Demons in the first ce, aside from some sensitive documents about the Human Brotherhood, but that was all. There were not even storages of the Gic Strengthening Synergies or weapons at all in this concrete fortress.

    ***

    And during the time of the attacks on the hidden fortresses and outpost of the Human Brotherhood on the Demon Continent, simr urrences were taking ce on the countless inds between the Demon Continent and Human Continent.

    The moment when the first such attack started, the Demons on the countless inds started marching and advancing towards the defenses of the humans, who were caught by surprise by this attack, as they were not prepared for suchrge numbers of demons flowing into their territory.

    Even worse, the situation became the moment whenrge quantities of Silver-Tier Demons started joining the fight, spearheaded by some elite mercenaries from The Guild, among which there were several Gold-Tier ones.

    They breached several of the initial fortifications of the humans and soon enough took control over significant parts of the inds. Only several hourster, the humans recognized what was going on, that the war for the supremacy of the 8th Floor had erupted and started pushing back.

    Unfortunately for them, it was toote, as they lost significant parts of their territory in the inds, and the only thing that remained for them were a few isted ces where they decided to concentrate their forces.

    This was, in truth smart move from the strategical point of view because they didn''t have the manpower to retake even an inch of their former territory that they lost, so the General of the human armies in charge of the defenses of the ind decided to sue a few remaining castles and fortresses, to dig out the trenches and fortify them as much as possible to slow the advancement of the demons as much as possible.

    They were basically buying time for theirpatriots on the Human Continent to mobilizepletely. This certainlyplicated the advances of the demons who were marching through various ces like storms, as the first heavily fortified positions lost significant numbers, and even several Gold-Tier Professionals, as the ces were heavily warded and protected.

    Not talking about several Gold-Tier Professionals on the side of the Human Brotherhood, who were holding their ground there and with support from the wards and spell formation, they were able to give demons trouble.

    Surprisingly the humans were prepared for the attacks, and as most fanatical soldiers of the Human Brotherhood, they stood their ground and fought to thest man and to thest breath, not surrendering before bring down with them several of their enemies.

    Thus the blitzkrieg turned into abination of siege and trench war which was terribly exhausting for both sides. Still, the higher-ups of the Demon Tribes were rtively satisfied because even though they didn''t achieve all of their goals, their gains were still within their expectations.

 Chapter 129 New Mission

    Goldtooth Fortress City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower, One Week Later.

    One weekter, after the final war between the Human Brotherhood and the Demon Tribes on the 8th Floor started, the situation was still basically the same as it was when the final conflict erupted at first, as it seemed that everything proceeded at slower pace contrary to what would one initially expect.

    The Demon Tribes were still fighting a trench war in many of those inds, as the human troops were putting on ferocious resistance towards the advances of the demon armies. Especially after the Demon Tribes had lost two Gold-Tiers at the siege of two fortresses due to their negligence, they stopped being reckless in their advance and went for the slower approach.

    Due to this, they were right now carefully approaching the topic of the conquest of the ind, but to anyone, it was clear that they were slowly advancing, and soon enough, probably within one month, they would achieve absolute control over all inds.

    Unsurprisingly, the Human Brotherhood and its main forces decided to abandon theirpatriots on the inds, who were fighting hell for them. That was because, from their point of view, their sacrifice for the greater good was natural and needed. Thus they were left to die while those on the continent were mobilizing for therge-scale war.

    It was through the Guild that Samiel obtained information that advisors from the Germinal Order, the Avalon Kingdom, as well as the Magisterium, had disappeared on the same day when the Demon Tribesunched their first offensive, which left the leaders of the Human Brotherhood fuming in anger, rage, and despair as they watched the Demon Tribes advancing through their territories and ughtering their people.

    Still, apparently, the Avalon Kingdom has left them with an entire Death Battalion of Bronze-Tier death ves. Having one thousand peak Bronze-Tier Death ves greatly enhanced the threat of the Human Brotherhood because if they used them at the right time in the conventional time, they would be able to create tremendous damage to the Demon Tribes.

    Death ves were basically ves, who were subjected to countless rituals that enhanced their powers to the extreme, alongside ensuring their loyalty. Aside from that, they have some kind of death magic seal, which made them just lifeless husks that could only obey the orders of their masters.

    During the one week, Samiel took another two F-Ranked Mission from The Guild, which were basically just capturing some peak Bronze-Tier Magical Beasts and one of them, was putting down a bandit group that was hiding in the mountains.

    They were pretty sneaky, as they were very good at hiding, not leaving many traces after them and if not for Samiel''s Undeads, he would have had a very hard time in finding them. After he arrived at the approximate location, respectively the mountains where the bandits were supposedly hiding, he immediately released all of his Undeads, together with Ashimer''s and also Nefertari in the mix.

    With thisbination of searching forces, he managed to find their hideout within one hour. The strongest bandit, their leader, was surprisingly a renegade from the Imp Tribe, who reached the Silver-Tier by killing and devouring the essences of his fellow tribesman.

    Thus after killing him, Samiel also cashed a reward of 10 million Gold Coins, and even though the Gold Coins were not that valuable in the Tower, it was still okey, as Samiel was sizzling them away, waiting for the time, when he would be going to some World outside of the Tower, where he could use them.

    As of right now, both Samiel and Yvriane were awaiting for the right moment to join the war, together with the Dharzug, who also stayed at The Guild''s inn. Neither one of them joined the war at this moment, as that would be detrimental because they needed the Mission through The Guild to be issued.

    Only Yvraine asionally came into a verbal confrontation with the Dharzug when they encountered each other, but their exchanges were not anything serious. Yvraine was still not fond of cooperating with the Orkish Divine Champion, but she had to admit that Dharzug was extremely powerful, especially after she saw him fighting Samiel.

    Of course, the fight ended in Dharzug''s overwhelming victory, but even the Ork said that it was only a matter of Level. Dharzug was Level 64 Silver-Tier, and he noted that if Samiel reached the Silver-Tier, the fight between them could have a very uncertain end.

    Samiel Zentuar was right now at Level 32 Bronze-Tier, basically 32 Levels below the Dharzug, which was a great disparity between the two of them. Of course, the Dharzug wasn''t an ordinary Ork but an evolved subspecies with terrifying evolutionary potential, personally blessed by the Chief God of the Orkish Pantheon, Gork.

    He was also the Holy Apostle and Champion of the Gork, so he was extremely powerful for his Tier and could fight and kill some weaker Gold-Tier, meaning that hisbat prowess was extremely frightening. The fact that Samiel could withstand around half an hour against him was an exceptional feat.

    Samiel also managed to reach Level 32 during this one week, as he obtained a good number of Mana Crystals from the forward fortress of the Human Brotherhood he raided, and especially from the bandit hideout. Surprisingly the bandits were hiding there a considerable amount of Mana Crystals, and their leader had a stash of more than two hundred Silver-Tier ones.

    "Is there finally something... I am getting bored up here."

    Samiel whined as he asked that question mainly for himself, as he was browsing through the Mission that The Guild was issuing, especially the one connected to the ongoing war between the Human Brotherhood and the Demon Tribes.

    He was sure that sooner orter, the Demon Tribes would make use of the contractors to hasten up the conquests of the inds, as the situation was terrible there. Unbeknown to the wider public, from the internal information, some of the Demon Tribes suffered severe losses as they fell into countless traps that the humans prepared for them.

    "The Demon Tribes won''t be issuing one that soon because most if not all,manders on the frontlines want the honor and glory for conquering the inds. Their social status within the Tribe and the amount of resources they receive from the Tribe are directly tied to their achievement on the battlefield."

    Yvraine stated, already getting annoyed with his whining, as she just now realized how much battle maniac her partner could be when he was bored and there was nothing to fight or kill for him. Even though he asionally sparred with the Dharzug, it was not the same as feeling the hot blood of your enemies and killing your foes with a sharp de and precise spell.

    "And due to that, they don''t want to take contractors, as they would be taking away their chances to improve their social standing. Apparently, even the situation with the forward fortress on the Demon Continent that we raided was enough for them when they realized what exactly they had missed."

    Samiel finished as he understood the thought process of themanders from the Demon Tribes on the frontlines. The thing they lost the opportunity to prove themselves by obtaining the crucial information and resources of the Human Brotherhood from the fortress that he raided, which they handed over for The Guild to take care of, was something that enraged many of them.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    On the 8th Floor, many demons from the younger generation who were still in the Mortal Level werepeting against each other for honor, glory and achievements, so, logically, they wanted to hog all opportunities for themselves.

    Of course, thepetency of those people was an entirely different matter, as many of them were just privileged idiots who never participated in the war, so Samiel knew that sooner orter, some of the fronts would copse because even though the Demon Tribes had strength and power, the humans had the strategical advantage on their side.

    To the surprise of many people, the General who was in charge of all the human troops on those inds proved his brilliant strategic and tactical mind when he started using any advantage avable to him and especially the terrain and even some internal disputes between the Tribes themselves to stall them as much as possible.

    ''Bip, bip, bip.''

    Suddenly as Samiel was lying on Yvraine''sp, he heard a beeping sound from his Holo-Brain. Finally, the thing he had waited for finally happened. He enjoyed a nice nap at this time of day, but when he heard that sound, he knew that this was the end of the leisure time.

    Upon hearing that beeping sound, Samiel immediately got up and opened the Holo-Brain, which was the hub of The Guild where all missions were issued aside from other essential things, as he realized that The Guild had issued out a new mission regarding the war.

    [E-Rank Mission: Ind at coordination X154-987-3642

    Sender: Imp Demon Tribe

    Requirements: E-Rank Mercenary or higher

    Description: Ind at the coordination X154-987-3642 is heavily forested and the fortifications of the humans have proved problematic for the Imp Demon Tribe to breach and after initial losses of the Tribe, themander has decided to pull out his forces. Among all Inds, this one, is the hardest to conquer due to the natural flora being extremely hostile to living organisms. Aside from that, it has been noted that the ind is home to dangerous monkey demon-type magical beats that are hunting the demons as their primary source of food.

    Note: The strongest Two-Faced Monkey is at the peak of Silver-Tier; they typically hunt inrge groups of between 50 to 200 Two-Faced Monkeys at the same time, using the natural enviroment of dense forest as their most significant advantage, making anybat against them very unpredictable.

    Objective: Break the defenses of the human troops and clean out the trenches and the defensive line on the northern parts of the ind for the Imp Army to advance further and conquer the ind.

    Rewards: 10,000 Credits]

    Samiel immediately epted this mission and started discussing the strategy over itspletion with Yvraine. The Imp Demon Tribe was one of the weakest Demon Tribes because they were not descendants of a particr Daemon but rather a mish-mash of bloodlines thatbined together.

    Due to that, they didn''t have anything special about their race; they didn''t have any special abilities or innate ones, which would give them an advantage over their foes, not they didn''t have anything and they were weak. The only significant thing about their species was the fact that they were numerous.

    They were extremely numerous, but their individual strength was more likeparable to a cannon fodder, and as such, they were treated by the strongest tribes. They were just disposable pieces on the chessboard and nobody would care if a few thousand of Imps were sent to death because they would be able to repopte very soon. That was the reason why they were sent to the ind that no other Demon Tribe wanted.

    Ironically though, after their initial failure, they didn''t expect theirmander to immediately contact the Tribe Elders, who in turn posted a mission through The Guild. This should indeede as a shock, not only because it became a mission, but because themander was smart enough to realize that something fishy was going on there.

    "What is the natural flora and fauna of that ce? While the Imps are not the strongest tribe around, their number is perfectly made of that weakness..."

    After that, Samiel started searching for the information avable and soon found the ind and, of course, the Two-Faced Monkey that lived on the ind inrge numbers, as they were practically a dominant species there.

    Because there was no natural predator, they reproduced at stagerrign speed and very fastly became an dominant species on the ind.

    "Here it is... the main reason should be the presence of the Two-Faced Monkey. They are carnivorous magical beasts whose preferred food is the meat of demons, especially the Imps. Because the entire ind is filled with very high trees and dense forests, the monkeys are almost impossible tobat in this enviroment effectively, and they are specialists in hunting flying targets. Also, they are always hunting inrge groups and are extremely coordinated with each other, making them a top predator on the ind."

    As Samiel read the description together with Yvraine, there was amon thought that rang a bell for them. Someone from another tribe probably wanted to get rid of the Imps and sent them to a ce where they would be for sure either annihted or take enormous damage.

    "Okey... now I see why the payment is 10,000 Credits for this one. Ok... Yv find a mission for the annihtion of the Two-Faced Monkey or at least eradicating some part of their poption... such thing should fall for the F-Ranked Mission."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine did what he instructed and started browsing through the F-Ranked Mission, and indeed she found 3 new missions that were rted to that Ind, and all of them were about annihting the Two-Faced Monkey.

 Chapter 130 Two-Faced Monkey Gangs

    After they discussed the missions together, they decided to pack their things and head to The Guild, which would be preparing the transportation for them. Fortunately, The Guild would provide transportation, or else they would be stuck at the Demon Continent as their target destination was very far from the Demon Continent.

    Neither Samiel nor Yvraine had any means of getting to that Monkey Ind, as Samiel started calling it. Ironically though, the unofficial name of the ind, whichcked an official name aside from the formal coordinates, was nicknamed Two-Faced Monkey Realm Ind because the Two-Faced Monkeys have been living there since immemorial.

    Samiel would be using his Undeads to the maximum in this mission and because the Imp Tribe haspletely retreated from the ind for the times being until the path was cleared for them, he could use his abilities to their fullest potential.

    Normally, he wouldn''t be, because he was wanted that the Demon Tribes as the servants of Daemons, were one of the mortal enemies of the Hall of Kadath, and even though he was powerful and had even Undead Army on his side, the number of Demonkins was immeasurable.

    Because of that, Samiel was extra careful in the presence of Demons, especially those of a higher social status. The Demon Tribes were often shing with the Hall of Kadath, and the odds were... in many cases equal.

    Even though the Hall of Kadath had overwhelming quality, if there is by any miracle a consensus between the Demon Tribes on something, then they could match that quality through the sheer numbers of quantity, as by prediction of many of the 13 Gates, overall the Demon Tribes had the most number of Legendaries on the Material ne.

    Certainly, this is under the exclusion of anomalies such as the Mind Flyers, Insects and Orks, as the three scourges of the Cosmos were categories on their own and, in many aspects, outssed even the Demons. Fortunately, they were never united on anything because if they were, then the Material ne would have been long devoured or destroyed by one of those three.

    Mind Flyer Fleets were antagonistic against each other, and while they rarely fought wars on one another, they never, never worked as one. Mostly because they were too arrogant to consider even such a thing, and most of them thought working together was a weakness.

    Insects wereplicated, but they were very simr to the Mind Flyers and Orks were savage brutes that spent all of their existence waging war on each other. Though they did it for entirely different reasons altogetherpared to the first two cases.

    "Everything ready?"

    I asked Yvraine as she packed her things, and we locked our joint room within the Inn and went towards the Branch of The Guild that was in the Goldtooth Fortress City. Today, the entire city seemed busier than ever because the war had erupted and everyone was in a cheerful mood.

    I could even see that some merchants were promoting their stuff by giving nice discounts on their merchandise, especially the ones rted to war, such as supplies, weapons, and other useful things. I made a mental note to check up on the merchant district when I returned back and make use of the Demonic bloodthirsty nature.

    We soon arrived at the Branch of The Guild, where a new receptionist was already waiting for us, this time, it was no member of the Blood Races, but surprisingly it was an Ork. The Ork spoke very well in the Cosmos Common Language as he navigated them to the small room, which was inscribed with countless runes and symbols.

    Samiel recognized this as the teleportation room with pre-arranged teleportation circle. Through this, The Guild could instantaneously send them anywhere on the territory of the Demon Tribes. That was because, technically speaking, The Guild was neutral in conflicts, so even though they epted the mission from factions that were participating in the conflict, there were certain rules to be upheld.

    The first one was the fact that they couldn''t take missions from both sides, but only from one, that was to prevent unnecessary conflict between the Mercenaries of The Guild if there was a situation where they would be fighting against each other.

    And due to that rule, they could use the teleportation method only on the territories that were under the control of the faction from whom they were taking the mission. Basically, The Guild could teleport them only to the Demon-held territory.

    As they entered the teleportation room, all of the runes and inscriptions lit up and started activating as; within several seconds, only a sh sound was heard, and they were teleported out of the teleportation room straight to Monkey Ind.

    ***

    Outskirts of the Two-Faced Monkey Ind, in between the Human Continent and Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    In the sh of light, two figures appeared on the lone Ind somewhere in the archipgo of the countless inds that were in between two Continents. None of those ces were calm, as war raged on many of them, where the human defenders fought valiantly against their demon attackers.

    One of them was a tall man who was wearing a long leather coat with ck armor underneath the leather coat. His face was covered by a red bandana, and he was wearing a triangr hat on the top of his head. Overall he was giving out creepy vibes, coupled with his aura, that made anyone near him ufortable it was no wonder.

    As soon as Samiel was teleported, he was spotted by a small group of Two-Faced Monkeys, who immediately escaped when they sensed his Eldritch aura, which was getting stronger and stronger, especially since his racial evolution.

    The Two-Faced Monkey looked rather ordinary, but it had two faces, one in the front and one on the back of the head. This gave them very high sensory capabilities, as they had 360 point of view of their surroundings.

    Each Two-Faced Monkey was around 1 meter tall; they were not particrly big orrge, but rather an average size. Not to mention, they were somehow cute when one observed these creatures from a distance interacting with each other, but in reality, they were ruthless and brutal predators, especially since they were carnivorous.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    After Samiel looked around, he woke up his Familiar, who, when seeing the little Monkey started salivating because they looked especially tasty for the Nefertari, as she immediately flew out from Samiel''s shoulders and went hunting the smallest of the Two-Faced Monkey.

    Meanwhile, Yvraine regained her bnce, as being forcefully teleported was not the best experienced, or being teleported when one was not in the control of the teleportation always was weird and sometimes came with unsavory side effects.

    "So, where to go now?"

    Yvraine asked when they had already scouted their surroundings, judging that they were in some sort of safe zone, as there was no presence of the Two-Faced Monkeys after the small group escaped when they sensed Samiel''s Eldritch Aura.

    "We need to go to the northern parts of the ind. Right now, ording to the information, we are on the southernmost part of the ind, which is controlled somehow controlled by the Imp Tribe. Even though those annoying little flying bastards have retreated, they left here some wards which marked the teleportation area. The mission I took dictates basically two objectives. One of them is to secure the clear line towards the trenches that are separating the fortress of the Human Brotherhood from the rest of the ind, and the second objective is to clear those trenches."

    Samiel exined the objectives of the mission he took from The Guild. That was also the reason why he ordered Yvraine to look for some extermination mission rted to this ind and the Two-Faced Monkey species, as that was two kills in one hit.

    He knew that the Two-Faced Monkeys were extremely territorial and they never left their territories, so the only ones he needed to exterminate were those who had their territories on the path marked by the Imp Tribe as important for them.

    Still, he predicted that it would be thousands of Two-Faced Monkeys because they were breeding faster than rats and were extremely numerous. Aside from that, in each monkey gang, he needed to kill their boss, or else they would be able to reorganize somehow.

    If he killed the boss of the gang together with the gang, then the boss won''t be able to create a fight with the new gang in hopes of taking over as the boss. Even if those territories remained empty and without a "ruler", it would be a rtively long time before the other monkey gangs realized that their neighbors had perished.

    "Okey, we need to start working on eradicating the gangs."

    Samiel stated happily as he looked in the direction of the forest, while Yvraine tilted her head in confusion, mainly because of why he was calling the colonies of the Two-Faced Monkeys gangs.

    "Why are you calling them gangs? It sounds like criminal organizations."

    In response to that, Samielughed a little bit, as it reminded him of a television documentary series he had watched on Earth about a group of monkeys. It was about some ape species that worked on a simr mindset like the Two-Faced Monkeys.

    "When I was still living in my homeworlds, I watched a documentary about one particr species of monkeys that behaved like gangs. They usually grouped together and then, they preyed on the weak and feared the strong, exactly like the Two-Faced Monkey here."

    Samiel answered as they entered the forest, his familiar nowhere to be seen, probably still engaged in hunting, as Samiel let her have her fun. If something serious came, he could always contact her through their bond, which they shared together.

    They were crossing the dense forests of the ind, and he had to admit that it was bing increasingly annoying to him. The first thing to be noted was that this ce was a tropical ind and that it was rtively hot here, something he didn''t appreciate.

    Still, he was able to use the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to cool himself down; if not for the Winter Ruler, he would have already gone mad from the enviroment, as he really hated hot ces like this. Yet, the hot weather was not the biggest problem he was facing at the moment; far from it, the biggest problem was something countless times smaller and infinitely more times annoying.

    But the most annoying things were the mosquitoes and bugs that were all around the ce. They were everywhere, and even though some of them were just Level 1 Iron-Tier, it didn''t make it any less irritating as they were swarming around them and constantly trying to suck their blood.

    Along the way, there were thousands of frozen mosquitoes, insets and other bugs that were near them, as Samiel was automatically freezing them to death the moment they approached a certain distance.

    "Be ready; we should be near the first territory of the nearest colony of the Two-Faced Monkey group."

    Samiel warned Yvraine because they were approaching the first territory of the Two-Faced Monkeys. The Monkeys were divided into groups, and each group controlled some piece ofnd; of course, their territories had something akin to neutralnd between each other.

    That was the ce where they fought against each other, actually, so they didn''t destroy their own territories, which was pretty smart if Samiel had topliment them. Normally the magical beasts weren''t this smart, but the Two-Faced Monkey were, so that only increased their danger rate in his eyes.

    He didn''t summon his Undeads yet, because that could potentially scare away the Two-Faced Monkeys and they would run away because in their core, their entire species were cowards. They dared only fight those who were weaker than them, and immediately once they encountered a stronger enemy, whom they couldn''t bring down with sheer numbers, they would escape faster than you can spell word escape.

 Chapter 131 Crossing The Island

    Soon enough, they entered the territory of the first Two-Faced Monkey gang, as Samiel termed these littlemunities, and were advancing slowly because the enviroment was really against them. The dense forest, filled with countless types of vegetation and trees everywhere, made it very hard to move in any direction, and they needed to be extra careful when taking each step forward.

    The two of them walked like this for more than half an hour before they finally arrived at a certain ce, as both of them heard the sounds of Two-Faced Monkeysmunicating with each other, so they knew that a battle was about to break out soon.

    The Two-Faced Monkeys were pretty careful, as they were scanning both Samiel and Yvriane from tip to toe, before deciding to use their numbers to overwhelm them and kill them. As Samiel looked around, he sensed around 120 Two-Faced Monkeys, which was certainly a lot, but not that lot. Most of them were only around the Peak of the Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier, with only fifteen were at the Bronze-Tier.

    Because Samiel started hiding his Eldritch''s aura, the Two-Faced Monkeys didn''t sense any kind of danger from him; thus, they roared in the air, jumping across the trees and rushing directly at both of them. Most of the Magical Beasts at this stage were not exactly the epitome of smartness, and they depended solely on their instincts and nothing else.

    Completely unaware that they were rushing directly at their death because this was something that Samiel wanted. His mostmon strategy of using these kinds of feelings and emotions against them, and as expected, it worked perfectly every time.

    Ignorance is bliss and arrogance is the best thing that could happen to your enemy because it leads to carelessness, and carelessness leads to death, usually to a quick death, but sometimes even to a painful death; it really depends on the circumstances.

    Samiel outstretched both of his hands, and two blue magic circles appeared on both of them, and in with thebination of Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler and the Winter Magic, he started spamming icicles faster than a machine gun, at the iing swarm of the Two-Faced Monkeys.

    Literarily, hundreds of them were spammed in a matter of one minute as the Two-Faced Monkeys, who looked at the iing barrage of icicles in wonder, not realizing how much in danger they were until the first icicle pierced the head of the leading peak Level 25 Steel-Tier Two Faced Monkey.

    And soon enough, the rest followed suit, as with each icicle that hit its target, another Two-Faced Monkey was killed, and within just several minutes, all 120+ Two-Faced Monkeys were ughtered like cattle. No one survived, as all of them were killed, while Yvraine recorded this so she could progress with the Extermination Missions she took from The Guild.

    At the same time, as Samiel was spamming the icicles at the iing mini-horde of the Two-Faced Monkeys, he heard the notification from the Akashic Records when the familiar translucent message window appeared before his eyes.

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Lord ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Winter Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Winter Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    Right now, his proficiency with the Winter Ruler was 35% which was an astounding rate, considering that he was still only at the Mortal Level. However, Samiel already realized that any further progress was bing harder and harder. Though such an oue was understandable, he was still very lucky because he had a tremendous affinity for the concept of Winter, Frost and Ice, and due to that, he was able to quickly increase his proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability despite being only mortal.

    Especially the progress rted to his Lord ss Knight of Niflheim, which right now reached 32%, in truth Samiel didn''t even know what to do to properly increase his proficiency with the Lord ss Knight of Niflheim he had; hopefully, it would be solved with time because reaching the Legendary Level required mastery of the ss to the 100%.

    That seemed to be almost mission impossible for current Samiel, and that was the problem of the people who, when awakened and became ss Bearers, got some very high-ranked and powerful ss. Their progress would be tremendously slow, and many would have a problem reaching the Legendary Level... as one said, there was nothing free in the Cosmos, as everything came with an appropriate price in the end.

    After he ughtered the group of the Two-Faced Monkeys, he collected their departing souls, which would serve as snacks forter and checked that he also killed the Alpha of the colony, which meant that that entire colony was probably here lying dead beneath his feet.

    "Come on; we need to move... there are still a lot of the colonies we need to clear before arriving at the northernmost parts of the ind, where the fortress of the Human Brotherhood is located."

    Yvraine stated as she woke Samiel from his trance of observing countless killed Two-Faced Monkeys whom he killed in one hit before he turned to her, and they departed towards the depths of the forest and, more importantly, the northern parts of the ind, where the mission of cleaning the trenches awaited.

    ***

    Several hourster, both of them had already crossed through a good part of the ind and annihted another six colonies of the Two-Faced Monkeys that were on the map. Right now, they have already created a somehow safe passage towards the Imp Demon troops that would beunching the siege on the fortress of the Human Brotherhood after they are done with cleaning the trenches and disposing of the Two-Faced Monkeys.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "We are nearing the next one... ording to the Nefertari, this would be the biggest we have encountered with over 2,000 Two-Faced Monkeys, with the Alpha Two-Faced Monkey being at the Silver-Tier, meaning this should be one of the strongest colonies on the entire ind if I am not wrong."

    Samiel said the information he got from the Nefertari, who was flying above them, scouting and providing Samiel with some crucial information. The heroic scouting cat once again proved her species'' superiority as she was scouting the area, securing the information that Samiel crucially needed.

    In truth, that was because they were advancing that fast; as Nefertari was able to scout the area, Samiel was effectively able to ambush the Two-Faced Monkeys. Samiel then started summoning his Undeads, together with Ashimer, who tookmand of half of Samiel''s Undeads and started encircling the resting space of these precise Two-Faced Monkeys.

    ''Star advancing towards them... target the bigger monkey and those with the highest Tier as first. We need to take care of the leaders of the group, who havemanding capabilities on their own kind.''

    Samiel said to Ashimer through their connection. In each colony of the Two-Faced Monkeys, aside from the Alpha, which was essentially the leader of the entire colony, there were also some other strong monkeys, which were basically the Betas. These ones were some sort of caste among the Two-Faced Monkeys and were something akin to the guard of the Alpha and his retinue.

    After Samiel gave an order to Ashimer, he too started advancing towards the ce where the colony of the Two-Faced Monkeys was located. It was pretty interesting that this precise colony had even managed to build some sort of housing atop of the huge trees that were across the ce.

    Samiel looked at the housing as he started sting them with the 3rd Level Spells Void Strikes, one after another, as not even secondster, all of the Two-Faced Monkeys started escaping their primitive wooden houses in hundreds.

    Each Void Strike that Samiel released took down one of the wooden houses that the Two-Faced Monkeys built atop of the highest trees, as the Two-Faced Monkeys were running out of the houses in panic. Jumping from the tree to tree before they startednding down on the ground, where Ashimer, together with hordes of Undeads, were already waiting for them.

    The moment the poor creaturesnded down, they were met with sharp des and axes, as the Undeads knew no mercy and were killing the still disoriented Two-Faced Monkeys, who only now realized that they were being attacked, as their attackers were ughtering them in hundreds with each passing minute.

    Unfortunately for the poor magical creatures, Samiel nned the entire n in this way. Through the ambush on their houses, because Samiel chose the time period where the Two-Faced Monkeys were resting after lunch, he attacked them with the Void Strikes, which was an extremely destructive spell.

    After they were attacked in this way, if they survived, then the first reaction would be to escape, where they wouldnd on the ground. During the entire moment, aside from a few injuries that they would suffer, is the disorientation brought by them from the impact of the Void Strike.

    Of course, this brief period of time was exploited by the Undeads, who worked like machines and killed anything thatnded down from the trees. Yvraine was helping out the Undeads as she danced in between the Two-Faced Monkeys, chopping off the heads like rollercoasters, be it from Iron-Tier, Steel-Tier or Bronze-Tier ones.

    After half an hour, the Undeads under Ashimer''s leadership and Yvraine, finished off thest Two-Faced Monkey, as the entire colony was properly exterminated. With this, they were once again closer topleting the Mission from The Guild.

    Part one, which was essentially the creation of the path for the Imps, was almost done, and only a few gangs of the Two-Faced Monkeys remained on the list. Fortunately, because this was one of the biggest colonies, the others were significantly smallerpared to this, even though, with Samiel''s current firepower, at worst, he could just drop somewhere the 5th Level Spell Void Bomb and them entirely to oblivion.

    After passing through three more colonies like this, albeit much smaller ones, Samiel and Yvraine finally arrived at the northernmost area of the Two-Faced Monkey Ind, where the fortress of the Human Brotherhood was located, and that, where Samiel''s mission from The Guildid.

    Hidden atop of the tree, both of them were having one of the already pre-prepared lunches that Samiel ordered and let packed, stored in his Dimensional Ring, forter usage, just like this one. It came pretty much handy to have something good to eat, and from this ce where they were eating, not only could they enjoy a beautiful view of the ind, but they also were observing the trench lines of the Human Brotherhood.

    The humans built there three lines of trenches that were not interconnected together, meaning if one fell, the other would be safe because there was no route toward the remaining ones. What made the situation worse was clearly they received some help from the Magisterium or the Avalon Kingdom because he sensed some powerful Wards in that ce.

    Clearly, the entire area of trenches was warded as hell against the aerial enemies, and also probably some other types of defensive wards. The magical defenses were far more problematic than the physical ones because Samiel was not an expert in the warding and didn''t really know what those wards were doing and their purpose.

    Thus the sole solution to that problem was just to st them out with the 5th Level Spell Void Bomb and destroy everything. From the power of those wards, they were set by the Silver-Tier Caster, so they should be able to resist even 7th Level Spells. Fortunately for him, the Void Magic was far more powerful and destructive in nature than average Magic, so one or two Void Bombs would take care of the problem for them.

    "They devised entire defenses in a way that you need to progress methodically, starting from the outermost trench to the innermost. Of course, the moment the outermost one is attacked, the remaining two would be notified and increase their defenses up to 120%."

    Samiel stated as the hundreds of corpses belonging to the Imps that were decaying all around the ce were proof of his statement. That was the first thing both of them noticed when they climbed the tree, as there were hundreds of them, if not thousands.

    It seemed that thest attempt of the Imps at this ce ended in pretty much absolute disaster. Though if not, then they wouldn''t be here; that was logical.

 Chapter 132 Cleaning The Trenches

    "The Imps arecking the firepower to breach this, or they were unlucky to be attacked by the Gold-Tier Two-Faced Monkey that killed some of its stronger members... whatever, it doesn''t really matter right now; we need to make our move already."

    The lunch was excellent, which was food that Samiel cooked for the asion, made from the best Magical Beast meat avable on the markets of the Goldtooth Fortress City, which he then packed into small packages and stored in his dimensional rings. In this way, he could enjoy the best food even though he was at a forsaken ce on some ind at sea, swarming with magical beasts and other hostile species.

    After they finished the lunch, they started discussing the strategy, which in the end was reduced to the part where Samiel would st the Wards around the trenches with his Void Magic, and then, he would flood the ce with his Undeads, as that was the most rational oue of it.

    Of course, what they needed, aside from breaking the resistance in the trenches, was also destroying them entirely, so the humans did not retake their former positions when the trenches area cleaned out.

    "Do you see how those lines are cleanly cut and always in perfect symmetrical shapes?"

    Suddenly Yvriane asked this weird question the moment they were prepared to leave tounch the attack, but he agreed with her because, indeed, those trenches were too clean and too nice, which could mean only one thing.

    "Golems."

    There were countless types of Golems out there, some were weak and some were strong, but overall even the weakest Golem that was created was at leastparable to the Steel-Tier. Certainly, the strength of the Golem depended on several factors, which would be deciding the overall strength of the Golem.

    1st was the material from which the Golem was created, 2nd was the Energy Core the Golem had and the 3rd was the overall structure such as runes and inscriptions carved onto the Golem or theplexity of the schematics.

    "These should be just some worker Golems... there is no way that Magisterium would give them some of thebat-oriented, not to mention some of the AMA''s. And the Avalon Kingdom is too poor to be giving such things away like there was no tomorrow."

    Still, even the worker Golems were problematic because the majority of the Golems had some sort of Magic Resistance, meaning to destroy one, Casters would need to use their most destructive and strongest Spells. Of course, this all depended on the grade of a Golem and the materials from which the Golem was made from because that was the deciding factor in how strong Magic Resistance the final product would have.

    The AMA was an amalgamation for Arcane Mechanical Automaton, which was basically an extremely advanced form of Golem, though not created purely through magical means, but through the Magetech. Thebination of the pinnacle of Magic and the pinnacle of Technology gave birth to the Arcane Mechanical Automatons.

    The Arcane Mechanical Automatons were developed by the Magisterium and other factions and have long tried imitating them, with the Hall of Kadath to which Samiel belonged being no exception to this rule. Designing theplex Arcane Mechanical Automatons of all Tiers was something that required tremendous resources, research and of course, Arcanists and Engineers that would create it.

    The Arcane Mechanical Automatons were the pinnacle of Golemancy, or rather just short away from it, and the Mechanical Legions of the Magisterium were famed across the entire Cosmos, as they had proven to bring entire High Worlds to heel when the Magisterium deployed them en masse.

    "Hopefully, they have only a few of them; in that case, I can st them apart or freeze them entirely."

    Even though the Golems had a certain degree of Magic Resistance, Samiel could still make use of his Level 3 Ultimate Ability to freeze the entire Golem. Of course, if, in some cases, there were a lot of Golems, especially the high-tiered ones, that would create a problem and they would need to invest a lot more power to deal with them.

    "How many humans are in the 3rd trench?"

    Samiel looked at the outermost trench as he asked this while Yvriane used some spells and started scouting the area, quickly counting the enemies one after another. Screening spells were very useful to know, and both of them knew a whole variety of them, with Yvraine knowing even more screening spells of Divine-type from the Magic of her Goddess, while Samiel knew of those of Arcane origin, as he was a proper Arcanist foremost, even though he was a worshipper of the Outer Gods.

    Unfortunately, in this case, the Outer Gods didn''t have some sort of Divine Magic and Divine Spells like the majority of Gods across the Cosmos because their own power was too dangerous in the hands of mortals that it would crush those of weaker will into the madness.

    "950 to 1,200, there are some outposts, to where I can not properly see; the warding on those ces is rtively strong."

    When Samiel heard those numbers, it was lower than he expected, but whatever, as he stated, using the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect to calcte the weak spots in the ward. Instantaneously, he analyzed the entire trench lines, together with the wards that were protecting the entire trenches.

    Even though his knowledge about the wards was low, he still had something which he was able to use as the basis for his calctions; several secondster, he analyzed everything about the wards, and calcted the location of the wardstones based on the flow of Mana through the trenches. As the Eldritch Creature, Samiel was extremely sensitive towards Mana, and he could clearly see it flowing through the trenches from several locations.

    Those were the ces where the Wardstones were located, and those were the ces that were, at the same time strongest and weakest chain in the entire ward. Strongest because the barrier itself was strongest around the Wardstone, but yet at the same time weakest, because once the Wardstone is destroyed, then the entire part of the ward will crumble down. Not only that, but it will also cause coteral damage to the other Wardstones.

    That was the reason why typically experienced Wardmasters or Casters in generals would create another defensive spell formation around the Wardstone, mostmonly several of them, and even use some physical means of protection, like cing the Wardstone in something extremely durable and resistant against devastating attacks.

    Something that clearly didn''t happen in this case, so either the caster was just some inexperienced newbie, or he didn''t want to waste resources in creating a proper ward. After Samiel located several Wardstones across the entire trenches, he started conjuring several 5th Level Spell Void Bombs simultaneously.

    It took him only several seconds for him to conjure them and drop them on their designated location as the earth shook, and from the high spot atop the tallest tree, both of them could see tremendous explosions happening another after other as the Void Bombs were falling like the rain from the sky.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "We can go down... the wards are down."

    After hearing thest explosion, Samiel stated as he jumped down with Yvraine following closely after him, as he summoned Ashimer and soon enough, over a thousand Undeads ranging from the Steel-Tier to Bronze-Tier appeared and started flooding the trenches, with Samiel, Ashimer and Yvraine bing the speartip of the Undead horde.

    Fortunately for the human troops, they were mainly okey, because they managed to evacuate from the ces where the Wardstoens were located, and even Samiel had to admit that these wards were still very powerful. Though he knew that if he was Silver-Tier, then with the Void Bomb Spell, he would be able not only to bring down the wards but also destroy the trenches with all enemies at the same time.

    Holding an ice trident in his hands, he pierced the head of another human soldier that he came across, as none of them were a match for him. If the explosions didn''t kill them, then they would die under the steel and Magic of the Undead army and his own because thedy luck won''t be sending them protection this time.

    He jumped from enemy to enemy, like a death god incarnated, while he wasmanding his Undead, who were advancing like a tsunami, taking everything with them. Through the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, Samiel was able to focus on several things simultaneously, while not losing any efficiency or focus during the process because of the Architect''s ability, Memory Partition, which allowed Samiel to divide partition thoughts to form multiple independent thought processes.

    With the Bronze-Tier Undeads leading the charge, the tide was almost unstoppable; they shed and hacked, killing everything which moved. Samiel''s Undeads were apletely unstoppable wave; they cleaned off thoroughly the entirety of the area before they moved forward in the trenches, advancing without stopping a bit.

    It took them half an hour to clean out approximately 50% of the entire outermost trench because it was extremely long, built across and through the entire area of the northern part of the ind in a shield pattern. That was because nobody could avoid it, and every intruder would be forced to cross through all three trenches before they could ever reach the fortress.

    Samiel''s Undeads were in a good state, as there were no losses among them, as the soldiers of the Human Brotherhood didn''t really have the power to destroy his heavy-armored and armed Bronze-Tier Undeads; on top of that, he was also boosting them with some Necromancy Arts.

    Meanwhile, Ashimer already noticed some losses in his Undeads; fortunately, there were only about twenty to thirty destroyed so far, and that could be easily replenished. Ashimer''s Undeads were only around the Steel-Tier, so despite their superior equipment, the soldiers of the Human Brotherhood could overwhelm them with numbers in some cases.

    Of course, this terrain was highly advantageous for the troops of the Human Brotherhood, as they had built it and knew it best; thus, they were using every nook and cranny of the trenches as ces to make ambushes on the Undeads and even on Samiel.

    While he was here, there were already several madmen that attempted to ambush him from some hiding spot, as they mostmonly ended up frozen to an icicle or sted apart by the Void Magic. For some more unfortunate ones, Samiel cursed, or he used some spell to induct madness into their minds, causing them to attack theirrades and eat them alive as mad beasts.

    Such was the terror of the spells that targetted the mind of the person; they could be used in many ways, not only to kill somebody to drive him to madness but also as means of breaking the morale of the enemies. There was nothing better to use as morale breaking method than seeing your fellow soldiers going mad, killing and attacking theirrades, or even eating them when they were alive, instantly turning them into bloodthirsty cannibals.

    Finally, after another forty minutes, Samiek''s Undeads managed to overrun the entire outermost trench, cleaning it from all troops of the Human Brotherhood. After the deed was done, Ashimer started replenishing his Undeads that he lost to the humans, while Samiel sat down and just rested because he was a bit tired from the expenditure of his Mana.

    Despite the fact that it had not appeared that way, the fact that he was casting several 5th Level Spells at the same time to hit different Wardstones to cause the Wards to copse, took a toll on him.

    Even though he had frightening Mana Regeneration, that did not mean he wasn''t tired at all. His stamina while hue was finite, but his racial heritage was overwhelmingpared to those at the same Tier, and he could fight without any rest for entire days.

    "Can we proceed to the next one?"

    Yvraine asked as Samiel nodded his head, and soon enough, after looting everything of some value that were in the trenches, both of them proceeded deeper into the territory of the Human Brotherhood, heading towards the second trench.

    Unlike the third trench line, the second trench line was much smaller, and unfortunately, in this trench line, the human forces were already fully mobilized and ready when the invaders arrived. Samiel frowned a little when he saw how strong the wards had be and how many soldiers patrolled the entire area. It was a littleplicated, but not a lot, so he knew that this wouldn''t be the easy peasy as the previous one.

    Samiel observed the lines before he repeated the process that he did on the third trench line and started conjuring the 5th Level Spell Void Bomb several times over as he bombarded the Wardstones with it. Then he repeated the same process as he released his Undeads into the trench lines, as the fight broke out as hell, this time Samiel started casting more spells and supporting the Undeads.

    ***

    Several hourster, the mission was alreadyplete, as they managed to clean out all three trench lines. Thest one, the first trench line, which was the innermost, was hardest to breach because the human troops up were armed far better and even had some forms of firearms that were able to prate the armors of Undeads.

    Due to that, Ashimer''s Undeads suffered a lot, and after devouring a few souls from themanding officers in the trench lines, Samiel found out that those weapons were directly shipped there from the Avalon Kingdom, which was arming the Human Brotherhood from the very start.

    With this new information, it was no wonder that the Imps suffered terrible losses from all of this. The greatest advantage of the Imps was the fact that they could fly; while not particrly fast or agile, the flight on the Mortal Level was still a great advantage.

    Of course, the human troops were armed with some sort of primitive firearms, which Samiel recognized as gauss rifles, that were able to kill even Steel-Tier Creatures, and in case of the racially inferior, with enough luck and firepower, even the Bronze-Tier Imps.

    They were all Magetech Guns, created and manufactured somewhere in the territory of the Avalon Kingdom probably, because taking down the Steel-Tier Creatures with a single good-aimed shot meant that they were of superb quality, meaning only some very powerful faction could design and produce weapons such as these.

 Chapter 133 Assassins

    8th Floor of the Tower, Demon Continent, Western Area of the Demon Continent, Several dayster.

    After Samiel finished the mission from The Guild, he opened his Holo-Brain and searched for The Guild''s terminal. Allmunication between mercenaries of The Guild and The Guild was carried via the Holo-Brain because it was the most efficient device for such a purpose.

    After dialing some numbers and reporting the situation, he got an answer that they would be transported through a teleportation spell to a specific location in the western area of the Demon Continent, not that far from the Goldtooth City.

    Long-distance teleportations may seemplicated, but for some factions like The Guild, it wasn''t that really because they all aspects needed to carry such things out, be it in the form of resources, people or knowledge.

    After that, they were indeed soon teleported to the ce; they needed to walk their part of the journey back to the Goldtooth City on foot, though that wasn''t much of a problem for neither of them, as they could enjoy some time to rest and also, the beautiful nature.

    Despite the Demon Continent being called the Demon Continent, which could evoke the feeling of dread and darkness, and that the ce would be a deste wastnd without any flora or fauna, with only nts and trees, some twisted ones corrupted by the negative energy or whatever.

    It couldn''t get more wrong in that case. Even for Samiel, this ce was weird and he was just getting sued to it, slowly but surely. Yvraine was much worse on it because the Demon Continent was absolutely disgusting piece ofnd for her, which she hated and abhorred with great passion. Elves generally preferred to live among nature and even their cities were one with the natural, as their entire architecture was based on such a perfect fusion.

    The area where the demons generally lived was the exact opposite of what Elves preferred; for her, it was very hard to get used to it. The only positive thing was the fact that in cities, it was way better because at least they didn''t look like a ruin. However, that would probably be attributed to the fact that most cities on the Demon Continent were built and overseen by powerful Demon Tribe who cared about their image.

    "That mission was rtively easy if we don''t count the annoying wards that were slowing down our progress... Still, those dammed monkeys were a pain in the ass to deal with..."

    Samielined about that one because if not for the wards that were protecting the trenches, then the mission would have beenpleted several times faster. This was one thing that greatly slowed down their progress because he needed to spend some time destroying those wards. If not for those, he could just dump his Undead there,y on a branch of some random tree and take a nap while his Undead would do the job for him.

    Not to mention that Samiel wasn''t feeling the best right now, as he emptied the majority of his Mana Reserves in a short timespan before regenerating them once more. Doing that was not the most healthy thing because it left a strain on the body if done repeatedly, which, unfortunately, Samiel did during thepletion of the Mission from The Guild.

    All of this happened in a rtively short time span, which resulted in mild fatigue that also resulted in his bad mood at the reminder of the journey. Nefertari was currently resting in Yvraine''s arms, enjoying the pets and scratches that the Silvermoon Princess was giving her, while the Elder Wampus Cat was showing her satisfaction by purring loudly. She loved being spoiled when she was in the mood for spoiling because one could spoil a cat only if the cat wished to and gave you her blessing and approval.

    "At least we are finally done with it, and after the Imp Tribe conquers the Two-Faced Monkey Ind, the final invasion of the Human Continent could start and we could head towards the main battlefield. It would be much bigger fun there, not to mention all the enemies I can cut down and the ughter that awaits us..."

    It was evident that Samiel was already in his own world while Yvraine rolled her eyes as she continued hugging Nefertari and petting the cute little creature, which immensely enjoyed the affection and attention, as do most cats when they are in the right mood for it.

    On a certain long empty road across the field across the ins of the Demon Continent, as they passed through the forests and grasnds of the Demon Continent, suddenly Samiel stopped and looked into the distance as he squinted his eyes at something that he saw, when he got suddenly a very bad feeling.

    It was like a promotion that something would be happening right here and now, that he was getting from time to time; it was very subtle at first but gradually became stronger and stronger, and the disturbing feeling was right now, after several seconds crossing the limits of bearability.

    And as they were going through the ins and forests of the Demon Continent, on a certain long empty road, across the field, suddenly Samiel stopped and looked at the distance as he squinted his eyes.

    He looked in the distance for several seconds as if looking for something, or something looked at him, and instantly, he outstretched his right hand and created a huge and thick wall of ice when an energy projectile crushed into the ice wall.

    "Ambush!"

    Samiel shouted to Yvriane as he sensed several people approaching their location, all of them were at the Silver-Tier and rtively powerful for that. Instead of doing anything, he let them approach them as much as possible before he summoned his Undead.

    It was clear that they were probably unaware of his status as Necromancer, or else they would bet everything on the long-distance attacks to take him out. However, it didn''t matter because, clearly, these people were at different Levels.

    Just from their Mana, Samiel could tell that they were elites among the Silver-Tier Professionals. Those who were sensitive towards Mana could grasp not only Levels from a bit Mana of Professionals but also his strength if the person was only an average, weak or was a heaven-defying genius or whatever... everything was hidden in Mana.

    Just from a single look, he was able to conclude that these people were certainly not from the Human Brotherhood but probably from the Avalon Kingdom. He knew for sure that Magisterium wouldn''t be stupid enough to send assassins after members of The Guild, especially if they knew their identities. And the Germinal Order couldn''t care less about the happenings on the 8th Floor and the conflict between the Human Brotherhood and the Demon Tribes.

    So, logically, the only ones would be the Avalon Kingdom because even though they withdraw most if not all of their support for the Human Brotherhood, Samiel still predicted that they would use some of their assassins and ck Units, meaning those which officially didn''t exist to assassinate some key yers on the 8th Floor.

    After all, they wanted to cause as much damage to the Demons as possible. Secondster, several more energy projectiles hit the ice walls, and while Samiel''s ice wall that he created stood strong, it already started showing cracks, while the first of the assassins already confronted Yvrine and Ashimer, whom he summoned.

    The fierce fight erupted as Yvraine was getting pushed back; even though she was pretty powerful and could confront peak Bronze-Tiers, against the elite Silver-Tier Professionals above Level 55 and higher, she could only defend while she left the offensive to Ashimer.

    After the person who was attacking them from a distance with some kind of energy-based sniper rifle that kicked quite a punch because each shot could instantly kill even peak Bronze-Tier, meaning the weaponry belonged to the higher-end of the Magetech and only a few factions across the Cosmos have developed the magical technology to such extent.

    Due to these factors, it wasn''t that hard to deduce who sent these people to operate on the 8th Floor of the Tower because after all factors were taken into ount, there were only so few people who would have the capability to carry out such actions against Mercenaries from The Guild or any high profile targets.

    When the shots stopped, Samiel immediately conjured an ice trident and lunged at the nearest Silver-Tier assassin who dodged his attack, something which left Samiel surprised, but when he noticed the suit of armor that the assant was wearing his surprise quickly died down, as he gets more serious in the fight.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    All of them were wearing some sort of Power Armors, those things were pretty pricy and it was not easy to manufacture even one of them. Not only would one need specific equipment to manufacture them, but also very skilled people who were Magetech Engineer, cksmith, Runesmith and Spellcaster in one person to create a perfect Power Armor that would not fall apart after one battle.

    In each grade, the most significant difference between ordinary armor and Power Armor were basically the functions.

    The Power Armors were the peak of Magetech engineeringbined with a peak of cksmithing methods and runecrafting, creating a really marvelous piece of equipment. They were invented by the Magetech Civilizations that wanted to create their own version of the Artifact Armor, and thus bybining many disciplines, they created the concept of Power Armors andter even Power Weaponry.

    Normally when someone was creating standard armors, they were using single metal, while in the Power Armors, the alloys of various metals and ores that had very highpatibility andplemented each other were used.

    Aside from that, the Power Armors were created with not only countless defensive measures, but they also had several offensive ones, as they could increase the power of the wearer because they were called "Power Armor" and also, they contained several supportive systems.

    Like the advanced life support system or artificial intelligence, which predicted thebat oue and helped thebatant to achieve maximalbat efficiency. A Normal-Grade Power Armor was approximately x50 times more expensive than the average armor of the same Grade. This rule applied to all Grades which were created through the magetech.

    Of all factions of the Cosmos, there were not many who could afford to arm their units with the Power Armors. For example, among all of them, only the Magisterium and Hall of Kadath were so rich that they could arm their entire Knight Orders with the Power Armors as their standardized equipment. And also, the Vaulbank had a whole Division of Protectors on the same standard as the Knight Orders of two hegemons.

    Not even the Nesser Dynasty could afford to arm the entire Silvermoon Knight Order in this fashion, though they were working really hard on that, as that required a tremendous amount of resources to forge hundreds of them that could be worn by the Legendary Level experts, and even those for the Gold-Tiers were very deep cut into the budget.

    The prices were absolutely outrageous for even single Power Armor that could be used by a Legendary Level Knight, aside from the fact that there were not many people who could create it in the first ce and those who were already in service of some faction, which would be guarding these people with jealousy.

    Of course, other Gates or some powerful factions could arm smaller units with the Power Armors too. So when Samiel saw the equipment that the assassins were wearing, he realized that the Avalon Kingdom really like really wanted to kill as many of the higher-ups and younger generation of the Demon Tribes on the 8th Floor, as this was a perfect opportunity for them.

    They would be taking out thepetition before they could have time to grow. And Samiel could wholeheartedly understand this sentiment because if he had an enemy who was at war against a third party or his own proxy, then he would do exactly the same thing which the Avalon Kingdom was doing. This was a master move because the Avalonians would get at least part of the younger generations who had the potential to reach the Legendary Level killed, and at the same time, they won''t be breaching the Covenant because their assassins were only at the Silver-Tier...

    Seeing the situation before them, Yvraine started using her Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic and started casting really terrifying and powerful elemental spells, mainly from the Thunder Elements, as she was fusing 5th Level Spells from the Thunder Magic like nothing, boosting them to a ridiculous degree, as she released them at the heavily armored attacker.

    Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for them, the second the attacker was hit by that Thunderbolt Spell, he was sted apart, as his remains fell all around them, with his flesh melted and stuck up to the pieces of his armor.

    However, this came with a price, as Yvriane almost fell knelt from overusing her Ability and Mana Exhaustion. It was clear that the toll was too heavy on her because she was notpletely used to casting such a huge number of spells subsequently in a short span of time. Something that every proper Magician needed to learn and handle so that they won''t be in a state of Mana Exhaustion after every fight, or worse in the middle of the fight.

    Seeing this, Samiel summoned his Bronze-Tier Undeads and ordered them to surround Yvraine immediately; as his Undeads organized themselves into a defensive formation, they activated a spell array, where they shared their power with each other and acted as turtles. He knew that she was barely in the state to protect herself if there were more Silver-Tier Assassins from the Avalon Kingdom, about which Samiel was unsure of as they were sneaky as foxes.

    Meanwhile, he activated his Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect. Within several seconds he calcted several possibilities on how the battle could go and analyzed the capabilities of the attackers, all within seconds as countless calctions happened within his mind with the Architect. The moment it finished, Samiel grinned as he gripped his ice trident and shed at the nearest attacker at full force.

    Seeing the iing attack from Samiel, the Silver-Tier assassin immediately dodged, only to find out that he was flying backward from the 3rd Level Spell, Void Strike, as Samiel used that spell together with the Metamagic Techniques Spell Pration and Empower Spell, boosting the attacking potency of the 3rd Level Spell up to the standards of average 6th Level Spell.

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill - Spell Pration has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill - Spell Pration has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill - Empower Spell has been increased by 1%]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill - Empower Spell has been increased by 1%]

    During his stay with Yvraine on the 8th Floor, he learned several new Metamagic Techniques from her, with the Spell Pration and Empower Spell being the ones he mastered to a certain degree, that he could use them in the real-timebat.

    Another perk of having a Level 4 Transcendental Ability like Architect, which was greatly enhancing his learning capabilities.

    Not wasting the rare window of opportunity, he instantly rushed at the Silver-Tier Professional whom he hit with the extremely powerful Void Strike, which cracked apart his Power Armor, piercing the Silver-Tier assassin with his ice trident; in a split of a second, he used the Winter Ruler to freeze insides of his enemy, that was handing on his ice trident.

    Shattering the frozen corpse, he looked at the remaining four Silver-Tier assants that were wearing the Power Armors, rushing at the nearest one with a powerful kick, strengthened by his Mana as much as possible, with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, he sent one of them flying, while he attacked another one with his ice trident.

    At the same time, Ashimer burst out with the power, as he ferociously attacked the Silver-Tier Professional Aassasin he was fighting, while Samiel controlled his Undeads to pin down the one whom he kicked away who just now was realizing what had right now happened.

    While all of this was happening, Yvraine released the Thunderbolt Spell on thest of the assassin that they were fighting after recovering some of her Mana after she drank several Mana Potions to speed up the regeneration of her Mana.

    The Silver-Tier Assassin from the Avalon Kingdom was killed in the same fashion as the one from before without any resistance or means to fight back, meaning that this ambush came to an end.

 Chapter 134 Bishop Antigonus

    After they killed several of the Assassins, they captured one alive and one ran away, as the sniper managed to sneak away, but Samiel knew that he wouldn''t get that far because he sent Nefertari to finish him off.

    Even though the sniper was Silver-Tier and Nefertari only a Bronze-Tier, she had her Level 3 Ultimate Ability Shadow Monarch, which was perfect for sneak assassinations. Of course, not only for assassinations but also for singlebat, if used in the correct way, it was an Ultimate Ability for a certain reason.

    Thus he left that one runner to Yvraine while he caught the souls of the deceased assassins and immediately stuffed them into his mouth, munching on them, as they were pretty tasty. That was not surprising as they were the souls of elite Silver-Tier Professionals, meaning their souls were rtively powerful and thus, their taste was much tastier.

    [You have devoured the soul of Level 64 Silver-Tier Professional, ss: Assassin.]

    [You have devoured the soul of Level 68 Silver-Tier Professional, ss: Shadow Assassin.]

    [You have devoured the soul of Level 65 Silver-Tier Professional, ss: de Master.]

    [You have devoured the soul of Level 61 Silver-Tier Professional, ss: Assassin.]

    As he ate the souls of the 4 killed assassins, he was getting bits and bits of their memories; unfortunately, his proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour was not high enough to get everything, but he still got enough to have someplete image over the situation.

    Soul Devour was a peculiar ability in this aspect because to unlock the memories of the person whose soul he devoured; he needed to have rtively high proficiency in the said ability. Of course, the higher proficiency didn''t give him only the benefit of extracting the memories from the souls devoured, but also getting their experiences in Skills or greater power from the souls themselves.

    This unit of five assassins were one of the elite ck units of the Avalon Kingdom that operated in the Lower to Middle Worlds, and lower Floors of the Tower. Of course, they were not the only ones that were presently on the 8th Floor of the Tower, but rather one of several such units.

    Their mission on the 8th Floor was the assassination of several high-profile targets, especially those from the stronger Demon Tribes. If one looked from the point of view of the Avalon Kingdom, this was indeed the best chance to carry out several assassinations like this amidst the chaos that was currently taking ce on the 8th Floor of the Tower.

    Samiel got onto the list together with Yvraine because they raided one of the forward fortresses of the Human Brotherhood and got the synergies or how Samiel called them, the Super Soldier Serums.

    Their mission was to kill them both and take their Dimensional Equipment to see if they still had those serums. Just the fact alone that they were able to figure out where they were able to find them so easily, meant that the Avalon Kingdom probably sent Seer to the 8th Floor.

    Seers were peculiar types of Magicians because all of them were natural-born Arcanists whose Magic came foremost from their bloodlines as they were all Sorcerers due to their Seer Bloodline, which allowed them to divine the future. Of course, this needed a lot of training to make some calctions and other things, especially for the people who were blessed by the Transcendents like Primordial Demiurge.

    Samiel was sure that the Legendary Level Seer who divined their position for the Assassination Unit of the Human Brotherhood to ambush them sessfully was already out ofmission because such toll would be heavy even for Supreme Stage Legendary Seer, as the Blessings of Transcendents was nothing to scoff at.

    For the assassinations, they sent their best team that operated among the mortals under the Gold-Tier. Even from the sses that they had, both de Master and Shadow Assassins were Rare sses, aside from the remaining two, which had a Normal ss of Assassins. Still, they were very powerful for their Tier, so Samiel concluded that the Avalon Kingdom must have invested a lot of resources into them.

    Especially he looked at their Power Armors with sparkles in his eyes. While he was not that knowledgeable about Magetech and cksmithing, he recognized one thing about these Power Armors. While they were only Normal-Grade Power Armors, they were equally powerful and strongpared to even some Rare-Grade Armors.

    It was some kind of new design that he had never seen before in the catalogs provided by the Goldstone Manufacturing Armory, and that meant only a single one... a new developed one, and if he had to bet if he could get at least partially reverse-engineering that, he would make a lot of money.

    Each faction was keeping some close pieces of technology to itself and right now Samiel managed to find something new. He was aware that the demons would be too stupid to exploit that opportunity financially, as they would rather destroy the armors or whatever.

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 1%.]

    On top of all, Smaiel also got increasement of his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour by 1%, which was a very nice surprise. He looked around to see that Yvriane was lying on the ground, resting from the repeated overuse of Metamagic, and she was not that far from the Mana Exhaustion.

    One of the hidden dangers of the species closer to Mana, like Dragons or Silvermopon Elves, the Mana Exhaustion, while extremely hard to achieve, was also deadly to them, as most of them wouldn''t be able to survive it or could have very severe aftereffects of the Mana Exhaustion.

    Fortunately, Yvraine already took several very potent Mana Potions or else her circumstances would be far more severe than just fatigue. Not to mention, she was also forced to drink a mouthful of the Holy Water from the Moon Pond because he recklessly used her Metamagic in an attempt to kill those assassins quickly.

    They were pretty problematic to fight because even Samiel noticed that his Undead were useless because they were far more faster than the Undead and ignored all attacks and injuries they suffered. Only focusing on their mission which was to kill two of them, and it was clear that they were ready to sacrifice their very own lives for that.

    He went there and checked on Yvraine, to see that she was mainly okey. Aside from her Mana being a little bit chaotic, but that was already in the process of calming down, there was nothing wrong with her. She was recovering from the signs of the Mana Exhaustion very well and quickly; that was the achievement of the Holy Water from the Moon Pond and several very high-graded Mana Potions reined by the Imperial Alchemists of the Nesser Dynasty.

    After checking on her, he turned his sight to the captured Assassin from the Avalon Kingdom, whom the Undeads were holding down. Surprisingly, the man didn''t struggle or anything, and Samiel knew that interrogating him was an absolute waste of time because, for sure, he was forced to sign some contracts that would prevent him from spilling everything he knew.

    While such things were very powerful, Samiel could bypass them by devouring the souls with his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour and especially his racial heritage as the three-quarter Eldritch Creature. If not for that, he would too be helpless in front of this situation, but he wanted to keep this one alive, because there was way better to get out what he wanted from him then devouring his soul.

    Instead of killing him and feasting on his soul, he started typing something on the terminal of his Holo-Brain, and soon a holographic image of a middle-aged man appeared before him. The man in question was wearing the garbs of a priest, albeit much more luxurious than the ordinary clergy of the Hall of Kadath, signifying his position as the Bishop of the Hall of Kadath.

    He had silver hair and wolf-like ears, signifying his heritage as a wolf-type beastmen, a weird hybrid between Human and beast. Beastmen were an artificial race in the Cosmos, created by ancient mighty Transcendent, on a simr level as the Crawling Chaos, that perished in a long-forgotten era.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Most, if not of the beastmen, had a hideous appearance that of the beast, and their intelligence was often no different from the wild beast, as they acted solely on their instincts and nothing else, making them extremely dangerous foes.

    Those of the beastmen, with powerful lineages, had more humanoid appearances, whereas their beast-like features were not that significant. In the case of Abraham Antigonus, he had pair of wolf-like ears atop of his head and a wolf tail; also he could turn into various wolfoid forms like the werewolves could.

    "To what should I thank for this call, Holy Son?"

    Abraham Antigonus was twisted even among the standards of the Hall of Kadath, not like it was something that was bad for Samiel, as surprisingly, hemunicated a few times already with the man, and they hit off very well together.

    "I have procured a subject that would need your tender care, Bishop."

    Samiel said with a smile as Bishop Antinugus grinned, showing his fangs. He was one of the people, who were candidates of bing the next Cardinal of the Hall of Kadath, because not only he was already nearing Level 90, even though the official requirement Level-wise to be named as Cardinal was Level 95.

    Samiel learned that there were other requirements for the candidate to be a Cardinal, and ones that were more prevalent, aside from personal strength, were capabilities and skill. Each of the present Cardinals were masters of their own craft, like for example, the Cardinal Zaldidraax was unparalleled in martial arts and other disciplines, able to teach others of the Hall of Kadath collective, increasing the strength of the neers and veterans alike.

    Cardinal Shen Long was one of the most knowledgeable people in the so-called Daoist Magic, which was a very rare and obscure type of Magic developed by the Transcendents of the Immortal Path.

    Cardinal Karliana Kricheisen was, aside from fearsome warrior and master on the battlefield, was a famous Alchemist who specialized in Potioneering, Artificing and even started dabbling into Magetech Engineering, so the Hall of Kadath would lower the gap between them and the Magisterium in this aspect.

    Most importantly, he was an expert in interrogation, information gathering, and espionage and a master in Sealing Magic and Warding, so Samiel was sure that he could break the contracts and seals that were protecting the memories of the captured assassin.

    Not to mention that after they are broken, Bishop Abraham Antigonus would be able to make him speak within several seconds. He was sure that the assassin had some juicy information that would be extracted from and, probably, the Avalonian thought that they would have an unhindered yground here or that nobody at the Legendary Level would be looking at them.

    "Of course, it would be my pleasure to serve the Hall, I will immediately create and spatial crack and you just throw him there."

    Stated Bishop Antigonus, as Samiel nodded, secretly marveling that the man could create a portal between two Floors of the Tower, presuming he was in the Tower, which was unknown. That was also due to his mastery over the element of Space and the spatial spells were his forte, as that went well with the Sealing and Warding he learned.

    Soon enough, a spatial crack appeared near Samiel as he picked up the Assassin from the Avalon Kingdom and threw him to the spatial crack like a sack of potatoes, after which the spatial crack automatically closed itself like nothing had happened.

    "Hmm... this one indeed has some pretty neat seal engraved directly in his soul, aside from the type of magical contract which is more likely acting as some superficial defensive line. The only way to break it is either to dissolve it one rune by another or the have some powerful Leveled Ability that would be able to bypass it."

    Samiel was listening to Bishop Antigonus, who immediately started scanning the captured assassin, as he would for sure be the golden well of information. Unfortunately, my Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour was low and to see aplete memory, I would need to have Proficiency above 90%, and if there were the seals and runes on the soul, then 100% was needed for sure.

    "I would need at least one week to have it properly removed... I could see a few failsafe that the caster installed there, in case somebody attempted to remove those restrictions manually. The magical contract which is protecting the soul is not a that big problem; that could be taken care of within two days, but those runes which have been fused with the soul would be a hard nut to crack."

    Halfmented and half praised Bishop Antigonus the problem, as Samiel was right now thinking about something else. It was apparent that the protections on the souls of those assassins were even far stricter and better than Samiel initially thought, and that could mean only one thing.

    The Avalon Kingdom wanted something to hide so desperately that they even went to such extreme measures like fusing the entire runic matrix into the souls of the Assassins, which was an extremely hazardous process because if there was even a slight mistake or miscalction, then they would be instantly killed.

    "Then I will be leaving this one in your tender care."

    Samiel stated as he ended the call with Bishop Abraham Antigonus, not missing his grin as the Bishop looked at the captured assassin from the Avalon Kingdom. Afterward, he focused more on the pressing matters because they needed to return back to the Goldtooth City.

    He then ordered the Undeads to clean out the battlefield, and with stored Power Armors that were safely stored within his Dimensional Ring, he, together with Yvraine, returned to the City, as the ns were already being created how to mize the Power Armors.

    Samiel always dreamed that he would one day found his own corporation, and apparently, this time, he had some sort of opportunity, as he could start manufacturing weapons, as that was amodity that was selling the fastest in the Cosmos.

    He also nned to cheat and use his position as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath to procure needed things for his vision of the weapon manufacturing corporation, which he nned to germinate even far bigger than the biggest corporations in the Cosmos.

    The first thing he would need to do is to obtain someone knowledgeable enough about the Magetech who would help him reverse-engineering the Power Armors, and then Samiel nned to implement more automatization into the process of their creation.

    From what he saw, automatization was not that spread across many of the equipment manufacturers, as from what he saw, even a heavy majority of the GMA, Goldstone Manufacturing Army worked mainly on manufactures and not the concept of factories that werepletely automatized and spawning equipment after another.

    Sometimes he cursed how huge the technological disparities between various factions and ces across the Cosmos were because each faction had a different level of technology; some of them, like Magisterium or Germinal Order, were extremely technologically advanced, while other factions were still in "middle-ages" as they didn''t use any magetech or anything.

 Chapter 135 Founding Of The IMC

    Goldtooth Fortress City, Outskirts of the Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower, several hourster.

    As soon as Samiel and Yvraine returned to the Goldtooth Fortress City they first went to their inn room, where Samiel put Yvraine to sleep since she had clearly been significantly weakened by the overuse of the Metamagic that she was using when they were ambushed by the assassins from the Avalon Kingdom.

    While the Mana Exhaustion was already not a threat to her, she was still very tired and needed rest. Even though her Mana Reserves have long ago recovered thanks to her own regeneration speed and extensive usage of Mana Potions, she was still fatigued and used a lot of stamina during the fight.

    After putting up Yvraine to rest, he opened up his Holo-Brain and directly went to the terminal of the Hall of Kadath, as he saw that he got 100 Contribution Points for capturing the assassin from the Avalon Kingdom.

    As a matter of fact, he would for sure get more Contribution Points following the Bishop Antigonus'' extraction of the information from the captured assassin. ording to the value of the information he might even receive additional Contribution Points, all that depend on the value of the information the assassins had, and his intuition was telling him that it would be something very crucial.

    Afterward, he started writing a few messages, while one of them was for the Cosmos Trading Association. Cosmos Trading Association as the name implies it was an association of all corporations, guilds,panies, merchants, chambers ofmerce and other trading organizations that operated on the Dimensional scale. Meaning all of those who were registered within the Cosmos Trading Association were doing their business across the Tower or many other Worlds of the Cosmos.

    At the same time, this seemed like apletely unnecessary step for the started because registration within the Cosmos Trading Association was mainly required for the Corporations, Companies and other merchants who wished to trade across the Cosmos, between myriads of Dimensions.

    Another thing was that, Samiel nned to register there instantly from the start, as that would give him some advantages over those who were not registered, as the registration within the Cosmos Trading Association made it easier to transport goods across the Cosmos and there were some other advantages like the exclusive usage of private Dimensional Pathways that were under the direct control of the Cosmos Trading Association.

    Not to mention that Samiel came up with pretty cool name and wanted to have it registered as soon as possible.

    The IMC, or by the full name, Inter-Cosmos Manufacturing Corporation, whose main focus would be mass-producing of weapons, armor and the development of new engines of war. That was something that Samiel was very passionate about because across the Cosmos, that were actually only very fewpanies or factions that pushed for the development in the weapon department.

    The Forge Cities of Dwarves and Gnomes usually guarded their discoveries with jealousy and didn''t want to share a shit. Same about some advanced civilizations in the Cosmos. While he could understand it from the point where somebody didn''t want to spread their knowledge because it could be used against them, but many ces in the Cosmos were stuck in their time.

    After finishing that thing, he started writing a message to the Canon Master Brigric Goldengroc whom he became affiliated during his stay on the 3rd Floor, as he learned that the dwarven cannon master wished to explore the Cosmos, aside from the Forge City, where he was born.

    The majority of the dwarves never left the Forge Cities / Fortress Cities where they were born, preferring to stay there for their whole lives. Nobody knew the exact reason behind their mentality, but many wrote it off as dwarven stubbornness. That was the reason why it was rtively rare to see a dwarf outside of their territory; mostmonly, they left only when they were in search of some precious minerals and ores for their smithing projects; aside from that, they were cooped in whatever forge or smithy they were in.

    Still, he needed someone to start with and he had a certain idea about the character of the Brigric Goldengroc, and knew that he was the trustworthy person to start with. He could get rmendations on the other people through the Hall of Kadath, or he knew that he could ask the Hall of Kadath to provide him with anything, but that would require him to hand over stock of the Corporation, something that he was reluctant, as he wanted to have it all for himself.

    Rationally speaking, Samiel predicted that he would be handing over some shares of the IMC, but the maximum he wanted and was able to hand over was approximately around 20%, while he nned to leave the rest for him.

    Either way, after he ascended to the Transcendence, it would either be divided between his descendants if there would be any, and they would be strongly tied to the Hall of Kadath, so in the end, it didn''t really matter, but it still sounded good.

    When thinking about the ce, where he could start his business, the first one toe to his mind was the 3rd Floor of the Tower in Zephystrand City. From what he knew, there was already a significant dwarven poption, especially in the merchant district of the city, so that could be used as the recruiting ground for the employees.

    Additionally, with the 3rd Floor being a rtively safe ce, it was a suitable ce, where to ce factories and other things that would be mass-producing military hardware before they would grow big enough to find some suitable Lower World for that thing, which could be entirely industrialized and terraformed into one huge magetech factory.

    Not to mention, he would need to visit the 3rd Floor personally, but moving across the Floors was not as easy at it seemed. The reason for that was simple, the Tower had a certain purpose, and not everyone could be allowed to move to the Lower Floors from the Higher Floors, and to do so, one needed either some Artifact, find a natural pathway or make use of some Faction that had a method of moving to the Lower Floors from the Higher Floors.

    Of course, that didn''t include the people who climbed the entire Tower or Legendaries who had some benefits from the Tower, and from what Samiel heard, upon reaching the Gold-Tier, one could move freely unrestricted under the 50th Floor, meaning that once he reached the 50th Floor, he could make use of the Tower''s System as a transportation method, though that was restricted only to those who were directly connected to the Tower''s System.

    Fortunately, because he was a member of the Hall of Kadath, it was no problem, as he could just use the Dimensional Network of the Hall. Practically every faction in the Tower had its own Dimensional Network, which was how they moved arge number of Troops across various Floors of the Tower while bypassing the individual restrictions.

    If they didn''t have something like that it would be impossible for factions like Nesser Dynasty, Underdark, Pale Council and others to hold their vast territories and countless worlds they ruled over the Cosmos.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    ***

    Meanwhile, while Samiel was enjoying his time at the inn and tending to his matters, the Imp Demon Tribeunched a massive assault on the fortress of the Human Brotherhood that was located on the Two-Faced Monkey Ind.

    In truth, it was thest human forward fortress across the entire archipgo of inds that were in between the Human Continent and Demon Continent, as the other Demon Tribes long ago secured the rest of the inds while suffering various degrees of losses due to fierce human resistance and traps.

    Not to mention, right now, many of the Demon Tribes have started suffering from assassination attempts, and some of the more promising of their younger generation were already killed by human assassins. Nevertheless, they still managed topletely assume control over the entire archipgo of inds and started focusing the next war efforts on the huge invasion of the Human Continent.

    In the meantime, the Humans on the Human Continent started growing very, like very restless, because all of the support that the Human Broterhhood was receiving from the Magisterium and the Avalon Kingdom and some of the Germinal Order evaporated into thin air.

    The moment that the war started, all advisors and people who descended here escaped or just outright left, which left the Human Brotherhood basically helpless because they were depending on the support of them to help them win the war against the Demon Tribes. The Human Brotherhood higher-ups were very well aware that their chances of winning against the Demon Tribes on the 8th Floors without the support of at least one of the 13 Gates was 0,00%.

    But unfortunately for them, there was no ce to retreat and no means of escape, so the only thing that remained for them was to fight till the bitter end, which would for sure be extermination or envement. Naturally, demons would prefer envement because that would bring them more benefits in the long term, than just ughtering all of the humans because ves were still pricedmodities.

    The Demon Tribes were already en masse moving troops from the Demon Continent to the archipgo and budling various means of transportation, ranging from the wide fleet of airships and ships to even an artificial bridge that was connecting several of the inds with the Human Continent.

    It was evident that the final invasion of the Human Continent was just around the corner. The Demon Tribes were bringing everything they had in their disposition for the fight, while the inhabitants of the Human Continent were preparing for theirst stand, either death or envement for countless generations toe.

    Right now, on an unnamed ind, hundreds upon hundreds of ships were stationed and an equal amount of airships were floating above the ind, all of them made with the magetech, as the Golden Demon Tribe bought them from some dwarven forge cities or they were just plundered from the enemies of the Demon Tribes.

    In the meeting room, the representative of the Golden-Horned Tribe, who was at the Gold-Tier, was having a strategic meeting with the Generals from several more powerful Demon Tribes who would be participating in the first wave of the invasion, where they would be breaking the initial resistance of the Human Brotherhood.

    The name of the Demon from the Golden-Horned Tribe was Kishrith, who was one of the prestigious lineages of the Golden-Horned Tribe, which already was supplemented by his power as the Level 85 Gold-Tier, giving him themand over the invasion of the Human Continent.

    He was in charge of the Invasion of the Human Continent; aside from here, there were people from other powerful Demon Tribes who were taking this ce and entire act as a means of getting merits. Most notable being the people from the me Demon Tribe, Shadow Demon Tribe, or others, not that famous, albeit none bit less powerful.

    For several hours Kishrith discussed the ns with the other people in charge; many of them had significant military experiences. If there was one thing that demons knew, it was waging war and they were very good at it. Albeit many still preferred to use their pure numbers and brute force, there were many of those who understood the concept of strategy and tactics, more than just rushing straight at the target.

    "How many troops can we transport in the first wave?"

    Asked Kishrith the person in charge of logistics, who was coordinating efforts with the other branches, as they were preparing the invasion in a more supportive way, especially in preparing the transportation means, because that was right now the most important thing.

    "With all avable ships and airships, approximately something between 250,000 to 300,000 warriors."

    That number was neither good but was it not also overly bad, as it was still something within the range of eptable and anticipated results. Of course, these warriors are all minimally a peak Iron-Tier, as the resistance would be extremely fierce at the fortification lines across the shores of the Human Continent.

    The majority of the vanguard were of the Steel-Tier and thousands of the Bronze-Tier Demons, and there were also a few tens of Silver-Tier Commanders, more than a hundred and fifty of the Silver-Tier Demons.

    ording to the unspoken rules, the Gold-Tiers won''t be participating directly in the wide battles because that would cause far greater damage to both sides, though Kishrith knew that in this battle, the few Gold-Tiers of the Human Brotherhood would be going for the greatest damages to the Demons as possible, so they would need to watch out for potential Gold-Tier attacking the lower tiered troops.

    The Human Brotherhood was on its lower ends, so they would do everything to gain any kind of advantage. And sometimes, even the slightest one could lead to significant changes. Naturally, their Gold-Tier Professionals were not worthy of mentioning in front of the ones of the Demon Tribes.

 Chapter 136 Training

    Goldtooth City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower, sometimeter.

    Several days had passed from the day when Samiel finished the mission from the Guild and also survived the assassination attempt on him and Yvraine orchestrated by the Avalon Kingdom, as he spent the majority of his time in the Inn in the Goldtooth City.

    The only notable event that happened in the past week was theunched invasion on the Human Continent from the archipgo of inds that the Demon Tribes managed to conquer, and right now, after all preparations were done, they finallyunched their final invasion.

    The Demon Army was extremely brutal in their invasion as the vanguard force ughtered their way through the forces of the Human Brotherhood like nothing. Demons didn''t really care about the losses to a certain extent and if they kept it within limits, then everything was okey. So their advance was rtively fast; despite the defenses of the Human Brotherhood being strong and well done, it was not enough to stop the forces of the Demon Tribes who were advancing at them with what seemed as never-ending hordes of bloodthirsty demons for battle and blood.

    Because of that, the Goldtooth City was unusually quiet and silent, as the majority of the citizens were soldiers and families of soldiers who were too warriors of their Tribes. With the war finally starting, all of them joined the invasion, meaning that the poption of the city dropped by approximately 95%. This resulted in Goldtooth City bing something akin to a ghost town, as only a very small part of the poption remained in the city right now.

    That was understandable because the initial purpose of the Goldtooth City was to serve as a chain in the logistics that would connect the entire line with the archipgo and the Human Continent so that the soldiers could be easily and quickly transported to the Human Continent and join the fight.

    From the initial report obtained through The Guild, the Demon Tribes were putting everything they had on the 8th Floor into the fray, and while they broke through the initial defenses of the Human Continent rather easily, they did indeed suffer some great losses due to Magetech weapons that were supplied to the Human Brotherhood by the Avalon Kingdom.

    Unfortunately for the Human Brotherhood, for the Demon Tribes, numbers were just numbers, nothing significant, as they could easily and quickly repopte their losses; they were breeding like rabbits. Some tribes or species of the demonkin were repopting so fast to the point of several cases when some species of demonkin were almost exterminated to the point where only a few tens of thousands remained. Shockingly or not, within several decades, they repopted their numbers to millions and after two centuries, they were back to several tens of billions; of course, the most notable of such thing was the Imp Demon Tribe because they were the ones who bred faster than rabbits.

    So right now, the vanguard forces were focusing on establishing fortifications on the shores and securing safe lines. Naturally, Samiel agreed with this because, right now, that was the best course of action that they could take... it appeared that the Demons had some skilled militarymanders with them, which was most unusual.

    In any war, logistics were the fundamental aspect of war, so they needed to secure safe lines for supplies and reinforcements, which was something with which they were struggling because the troops of the Human Brotherhood implemented a rather well-executed gueri warfare against the forces of the Demon Tribes.

    Sabotage, subterfuge and assassinations were on the daily schedule, as the desperate and fanatical members of the Human Brotherhood were doing everything in their path to cause as much damage to the Demon Tribes as possible while at the same time slowing down their advance considerably, in which they were seeding splendidly. To the point that the Demons were forced to move a significant portion of their forces just to protect the workers who were building several fortresses across the shores of the Human Continent and the supply lines.

    Nevertheless, the Demons were still advancing at their conquest because in the open field they were far stronger than anything that the Human Brotherhood could throw at them. Demons, while not having the overwhelming numerical advantage, because the Human Brotherhood was right now keeping up with their number by tremendously increasing their military forces by forcing conscription of anyone who could carry a gun or hold a weapon.

    What the demonkin had, was their individual strength, which was several levels above that of humans. Such was the truth that the heavy majority of the soldiers of the Human Brotherhood were vastly inferior to that of the Demon Tribes; many of them were just peasants who were conscripted, and some were professional soldiery with zero to no experience with fighting wars or other simr cases.

    Still, whatever Magetech Laser Weaponry that the Avalon Kingdom has supplied the Human Brotherhood has proved to be pretty devastating towards the lower Tiered Demons, as those under the Steel-Tier, needed to depend on the armors, while even the Steel-Tier could be killed with the Lasguns if they were not careful enough. This the might of advanced Magetech Guns which were produced by the Avalon Kingdom.

    Samiel already saw some missions being posted through The Guild, but he didn''t take them because they were nothing special and more importantly, the situation was still rtively dangerous because the foothold of the Demon Tribes on the Human Continent was not entirely secure at the 100%.

    For that, he nned to wait a few more weeks at the Goldtooth City before the Demons managed to finish construction of their fortresses and outposts at the shores of the Human Continents and secure the logistics lines connecting the Human Continent and archipgo.

    Afterward, it would be safe to enter the Human Continent and startpleting the mission or just ughtering people for fun and souls. The Human Continent was populous, and nobody would bat an eye if several cities were ughtered to thest person by him in some ritual to increase his strength. Of course, it would need to be done in moderation and with a bit of secrecy because the Legendaries were still watching and Samiel didn''t need unwanted attention on him if he could prevent it.

    While the Demons may be annoyed because in truth, contrary to the expectation, they didn''t practice senseless massacre of the local poption, but instead, they preferred to enve them so that they could be used as abor force, food source, or just selling them across the Cosmos and making out money of them.

    Samiel had some obscure situation that he wanted to carry out, mainly focused on the purification of his Bloodline and forcing out the next racial evolution to evolve further to the Pure-Blooded Eldritch Creature. Unfortunately, those rituals required a sacrifice numbering of tens of thousands of innocents, and it was rare to find a suitable target that nobody would mind.

    And finally, Lady Luck smiled at him and presented him with a perfect opportunity to try the ritualistic magic that he obtained from the Hall of Kadath. He had tons of rituals, most of which typically required enormous sacrifices to the Outer Gods, mainly those of innocent blood or other unspeakable things.

    Not to mention that he had several Necromantic Rituals from the Intermediate Principles of the Necromancy Necrosis. One of the ones he nned to carry out for sure required using a group of people as the base, preferably those with pure souls in rituals where they would be slowly eaten alive among each other, while the person who remains as thest one, would be killed and resurrected as Undead.

    This should create a very powerful Higher Undead, and Higher Undeads was something that Samiel weed with open arms, as they would greatly enhance thebat capabilities of his Undead Army, which was already nicely big.

    The Ork Dharzug still remained at the Inn, essentially for the same reason as Samiel, because the situation was still not stable at the frontlines. And the members of the Guild were Mercenaries, albeit extremely professional and elitists, but nevertheless Mercenaries. And that means that nobody would go to a situation where there was a very high probability of being cut out from everything and then killed.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Samiel was currently sitting at the Inn, eating his lunch, and having a conversation with the Dharzug. Surprisingly the Ork was pretty intelligent, which couldn''t be said about the rest of his kin, as he was cunning and wise, coupled with this fearsome strength; it was no wonder why Samiel''s calctions always came out negative when he calcted his sess in fighting him.

    Additionally, Samiel had noticed that the Dharzug was some special breed of Ork, probably some rare mutation in their kind, not only because of his strength but also his appearance, as he had greyish skin, contrary to the average Green or Brown of the normal Orks.

    "Still nothing?"

    Samiel asked him, as both of them were the same rank in The Guild, as they were E-Rank Mercenaries. Even though Dharzug was extremely powerful for the normal Silver-Tiers, he was still not able to kill an average Gold-Tier Professional, which was the corresponding rank to the D-Rank Mercenary.

    "Na... yer gits still posting shit and scouting missions. Da waiting her''e I need to kill something with my choppa."

    He answered as Smaiel had some slight problems with understanding him, as even though the Dharzug was speaking very well the Cosmos Common, after their first meeting, he didn''t bother to suppress his Orkish ent.

    For now, the Demon Tribes were posting some annoying missions through The Guild, mainly special kinds of suicidal missions that only those who were desperate for money would undertake, something that Samiel abstained from. And surprisingly, even the Ork Dharzug saw that those missions were absolutely not worth of their rewards, as Samiel was once again surprised by the cunning of the Ork.

    "It will take another ten days before they finish that line of outposts and secure the safe lines that would be connecting the Human Continent, Archipgo of Inds and Demon Continent, which would also provide the safe retreat path in case if the situation went to shit there."

    Samiel summarized the approximate time based on the various calctions and analysis of the situation performed through his Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect. He predicted that with the current progress, forces and resources that the Demon Tribes were pouring into the project, they would be finished in something between 230 to 240 hours, which was around those ten days or slightly under the ten days.

    Still, that was under eptable time; after the ten days, Samiel knew that the Demon Tribes would have already gained some sort of foothold. There was the reason for that behavior of Samiel, and even to a certain extent Dharzug, and that was the fundamental nature of the Demon Tribe as backstabbing bastards.

    Samiel was sure that if something went wrong in his mission, or he would be surrounded by the Humans, and there were hundreds of thousands of troops from the Human Brotherhood, he wouldn''t have any ce to escape.

    ***

    After finishing the food, Samiel returned to the room in the Inn, as he saw Yvraine practicing the Metmagic, something that she was doing very often after she got a lecture on the topic by one of the Ancestors of the Nesser Dynasty and Silvermoon Species, Old Bahar or by his full name Baharhidon Elvyn Yaennernamis.

    Not to mention, Samiel was learning from Yvraine by observing her performing the Metamagic Techniques through her Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic, as he was pushing Architect to analyze and replicate the results that Yvraine achieved with her own Ability. And surprisingly, he managed to get satisfactory results and a steady increasement in proficiency in his own Metamagic Techniques.

    Seeing that Yvriane was practicing the Metamagic once more, he started doing his usual thing, which of course was observing her, and copying every single thing that she was doing. Together with the capabilities of his Transcendental Ability, it was an easy task.

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill Spell Pration has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill Spell Pration has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill Spell Pration has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill Spell Pration has been increased by 1%.]

    Soon enough, Samiel got the notifications from the Akashic Records that his proficiency with the Spell Pration had been increased, directly shooting from the previous 7% to the current 11%, and that was just from copying Yvraine and nothing else.

    The Spell Pration Metamagic Technique was a very important one, especially in fight between to Mages, because usage of this technique allowed the caster to bypass or at least partially ignore the magical defenses.

    After that, Samiel continued practicing the Metamagic Techniques while Yvriane was doing the same, as he was essentially waiting for her to finish her training. He didn''t want to disrupt her in training, as that was impolite and sometimes could have severe consequences.

 Chapter 137 Slice Of Life I. - Picnic Date

    It took one hour for Yvraine to finish all of the exercises that the Old Bahar imparted her, and she dutifully carried them every single day. It was clear that she worked very hard in mastering her Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic and sessfully incorporating it into herbat style andbining it with the Silvermoon Swordsmanship and her sword mastery as a whole.

    While Yvriaine was training, Samiel started reading his Grimoires, as that was something he was doing when he was bored or had some time to pass. Even though he already went through the Grimoire he was reading, as that one was on the Basic Principles of the Void, it never hurt off to constantly repeat the basics.

    Every time he read it once more, he noticed some details or things that he had missed before, and that was understandable because he was aware of the fact that the Grimoire was an umtion of knowledge about the Basic Void Magic collected through the several Eras, and it was impossible toprehend just by reading a two or three times.

    Often here and there, he came across some tips and cheats on how to cast the Void Spells more effectively and easily; sometimes, there were also secret meanings hidden in the lines of the Grimoire, containing the great wisdom and secrets of the Void.

    When Yvraine finished her practice of the Metamagic Techniques, Samiel put away the Grimoire he was reading because it was time for their date. Right now, the rtionship between the two of them was... don''t know, because nobody had any knowledge of what was happening and if there were even some stages in the romantic rtionship.

    Ironically though, both of them were pretty clueless, but that also suited them because they let it flow freely, and they just enjoyed thepany of each other. They often went on dates or just spent some time together, mostmonly shared their interest in eating, as Samiel often cooked for their dates.

    There was even a time when Yvriane attempted to cook, but it didn''t end very well, as she burned everything and wasted a lot of rtively precious ingredients. Since that day, she didn''t even attempt to approach the kitchen, as she was pretty much embarrassed by what had happened.

    "Finished already?"

    Samiel asked, looking at Yvraine, who was sitting cross-legged on one of the beds that were in their room.

    "Yes... did you check out the state of the war?"

    Even Yvraine was bing a bit restless because she wanted to participate in the war already, as the humans were something of an ire for the Nesser Dynasty, but right now, she was forced to remain in the Goldtooth City until the situation on the frontlines stabilized.

    "I did, and there are still not any notable changes; everything is going ording to my calctions, and we need to wait the next ten days until everything has calmed down up there."

    Samiel answered; it was already the third time or fourth time she had bugged him about this. Even though he had already exined the situation and even gone into details, why it was better to remain here, because their individual strength was rtively insignificant in such arge-scale war.

    While Samiel was on that way betterpared to Yvraine as he had his Undead Army, which he could use, additionally with his highly destructive Void Magic, he would be able to make a difference even in big battles, but he preferred not.

    Let the Demons and Humans kill each other. Samiel knew that while the missions that the Demon Tribes were issued right now to participate in the initial fights and serve as the vanguard were paid very well, he was also aware of the fact that this was the most dangerous part of the entire war because the shores of the Human Continent were properly fortified and defended.

    On top of that, Samiel considered the Demon Tribes his enemies, as much as he considered the Human Brotherhood as one. The Demons were descendants and bearers of the Daemon Lineages from the Abyss, and based on what the Menuhyutt told him, because of that, they were hostile towards the Hall of Kadath.

    So he wasn''t that thrilled about helping the Demon Tribes above a certain level of tolerance. While the Human Brotherhood was the bigger of these two evils, he knew that he wouldn''t be helping the Demon Tribes above a certain level, as that shed with his self-interest as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

    In truth, if they were fighting against anyone else, then Samiel would have joined another side, but here, on the 8th Floor, the game of shadows, between cat and mouse, had started, as the yers of the game were moving their pawn across the chessboard.

    And in this game, one of the yers was an even greater threat to the current order of things than the Demon Tribes to the Hall of Kaddath, so Samiel had to grit his teeth and let it go, something which irritated Yvraine to frightening levels. She was greatly impatient and wanted to kill some humans because the Nesser Dynasty didn''t really care about the Demon Tribes, as they had a rtively neutral rtionship with them.

    On the contrary, the entire Seldarine Pantheon was sometimes cooperating with some Daemons and their Houses against the Dark Seldarine Pantheon. So the result of this lesson was that the Cosmospolitcs wereplicated as hell, and nothing was as simple as it could seem at first nce.

    "Once and for thest, I won''t be going there now because, in truth seeing the Demons being killed in mass numbers makes me happy as the Demon Tribes are my enemies... such is the politics of the Hall. Not to mention that right now, the situation is unstable; without the path of the retreat, we could end there without any route to escape, and the Human Brotherhood has a number, tremendous numbers, as there have probably something around 1,5 millionbat-ready soldiers. Even though the heavy majority of it is only at the Iron-Tier, the remaining 10% is distributed between Steel-Tier and Bronze-Tier, which is still something about 100,000 Steel-Tiers, and 45,000 Bronze-Tiers, not talking about the almost 5,000 Silver-Tiers... that is enough to overwhelm us even ten times over."

    Samiel exined it once more because he feared what would happen if they were cut out from any escape route. He knew very well that sooner orter, they would be surrounded and captured; of course, the Human Brotherhood wouldn''t dare to kill them and probably ship them to the Magisterium or the Avalon Kingdom, which would negotiate with the Nesser Dynasty and Hall of Kadath about our release.

    In truth ending in the hands of the Magisterium was a fate worse than death because the Hall Master had already warned Samiel that the Magisterium was gathering forces for the past tens of thousands of years to challenge the Hall of Kadath as the most powerful mortal faction in the Material ne.

    "Ts... whatever... what do you have nned for today''s date?"

    She then turned the list and asked him the most important question of the day. When they initiated their courting process, they decided that they would divide the nning of their dates, as both of them would be nning one, so it won''t be all on him.

    Something that Samiel greatly appreciated because he had to admit that he was not the most creative person about that, and Yvraine wouldn''t probably appreciate it if he decided their date to take ce at the Library or the graveyard, practicing the art of grave robbing.

    Grave robbing was an important art that must be learned by any Necromancer because the graves were a source of nice and good corpses for the materials to create powerful Undeads. Especially the corpses of the mighty Professionals could take even tens of thousands of years to dpose naturally because their powerful Mana will keep them in their perfect state. Thus, even Samiel was no exception to this and often went to rob graves, especially the graves of demons on the 8th Floor, containing some nice corpses, which served very well as his Undeads after they were resurrected.

    Due to that, the average Level of his Undead Army was Level 45 Bronze-Tier. The overall increasement was about 6 Levels, which was very good, and that was just from replenishing the Undeads and recing them with the Undeads resurrected from the corpses of Demons.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Yes, hopefully, it won''t be the disaster like thest time."

    He stated as she scoffed at him, because thest time, he indeed to her to the graveyard, thinking that doing something together would be great. And contrary to his idyllic expectations, it ended as a disaster, as he got cold shouter aside from scolding how stupid he was...

    So he learned from his past mistakes and now properly prepared for their date, as they would be having a pic on the top of a nearby mountain range, where there was a beautiful view of the sunset.

    He had already prepared food for the pic, taking notes to prepare Yvraine''s favorite dishes, and even toured the entire Goldtooth City to find a restaurant where they had the best desserts. As shameful as it sounded, Samiel was never good with pastries and sweet things in general, so he preferred to buy something instead.

    After that, they left the Inn and the Goldtooth City entirely, heading towards the ce which Samiel marked on the map. It was at the nearby mountain range where he found that one of the mountains had an excellent spot for a pic and, of course, a beautiful view of the sunset. They left Samiel''s familiar Nefertari in the Inn''s room because she was happily sleeping after eating her fill and overeating herself.

    Lately, Yvraine has been telling him that he has been feeding her too much and that Nefertari was getting a bit fat, but she always looked so cute, and he couldn''t just say no to her. Especially when she was looking at him in those sad eyes of hers, looking crestfallen, he always had to give her something good to munch on.

    Still, there was something in her words, as even he had noticed Nefertari''s growing belly and that she was getting into a ball-like shape from the food. In the end, he internally decided that she would be getting lesser meat and more movement, preferably some activities that would not be harmful.

    Like hunting for some Magical Beasts or enemies in the forests.

    After one hour, both Samiel and Yvriane arrived at their destination, as Samiel took summoned several of his Undeads and ordered them to prepare the ce, setting here small table where they would be sitting on the ground and also some nkets and other things to make afortable ce here.

    Aside from that, he then summoned more of his Undeads and ordered them to scout the area and take positions so that they could have undisturbed time together. He knew that this ce was swarming with the Magical Beasts and, asionally, some adventurers that would being here to dispose of them or hunters that hunt for food.

    "I had to admit that this is countless times better than thest time..."

    Yvrainemented as she sat down at the table cross-legged and Samiel followed suit. It was still pretty warm, but not too warm, so the weather was rather ideal for the outdoor pic at this time of the year on the 8th Floor.

    Fortunately, the 8th Floor wasn''t a cold ce, or else, Samiel would need to choose another ce to have their date, and even in this situation, he came up with using all of his brain capacities. After they sat down around the small tea table, Samiel started bringing out the dishes he had prepared specifically for her that he had stored in the Dimensional Ring previously.

    So they were nicely hot and ready to eat. The thing he was preparing today was... grilled chicken sandwich. In truth, it was pretty hard to prepare because he couldn''t find meat that would have a simr taste and properties to chicken on the 8th Floor, and only by chance he managed found cocktatrice, which was some weird Magical Beast with a simr appearance to chicken.

    Of course, the Cocktatrices were generally Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier Magical Beasts, so the meat of one was rtively pricy, especially since the express delivery to the 8th Floor cost him more than 500 Credits.

    But in the end, he was pretty proud of himself because he managed to aplish everything, and after the debacle of thest time, he knew that he needed it. Especially considering the fact that Yvraine always put a lot of thought into her nning because, for example, when she was nning their date, they went on a tour of the Magic and Weapon Shops of the Goldtooth City and then went to some good restaurant.

    "So, how is the food?"

    Samiel asked as he saw that Yvraine devoured another sandwich, already fourth in the row, so even though the question may seem obvious, it was more like a starter of the conversation. Both of them decided that socialization was not the best aspect of their capabilities, and sometimes they used these conversation starters to avoid that weird and ufortable silence.

    "Delicious... that is the meat of the Cocktatrice, right?"

    Yvraineplimented Samiel''s cooking, which brought his usually stoic face smile. He nodded to her question, not really surprising that she had already tasted the Cocktatrice, as that was food only a very rich could afford, as the Cocktatrices were hard to catch. They lived in remote ces, mainly in danger zones, which were ces that were swarming with powerful Magical Beasts and they were masters of hiding from the more powerful.

    So catching one was hard. That was the reason why one kilogram of the meat cost approximately 2,000 Credits, which was an absolutely outrageous price, and of course, for example, in terms of Gold Coins, he wouldn''t even be able to buy it because nobody would be stupid to sell it for the Gold Coins in the Tower.

    Fortunately, he was rich, and soon after his pet project of IMC came to fruition, he would be even richer. He already consulted the thing with the Hall Master, to which he received green and some praises, as Menuhyutt told him that as the Holy Son, one of the tests for the position of the Hall Master, he needed to have skills in gathering money.

    After they finished eating the main course, Samiel took out the desserts, which were the chocte mousse, one of his favorite deserts, something which Yvraine took a great liking to, as the sun started setting down and they were just enjoying the beauty of the nature.

    Sitting next to each other, looking as the sun was setting down, neither of them said another, just Yvriane leaning over his shoulder, as they enjoyed each other''s presence and warmth in this magical moment that both of them wished never to end.

    As they were sitting there in silence, and after oveing his indecisiveness, Samiel leaned over as he kissed her on the lips; instantly afterward, Yvraine started returning his kiss as their tongues interviewed.

    Their kiss continued for two minutes until they separated, as Yvraine buried her head in his chest with a blush covering her cheeks.

 Chapter 138 Finally The Frontlines

    11 Days Later, 8th Floor of the Tower, Demon Continent, Goldtooth City.

    For the past eleven days, Samiel spent most of them by training, practicing Magic and absorbing the remaining Mana Crystals to increase his Level, which, unfortunately for him, didn''t really yield any results for him. Still, the training yielded results in the form of increased proficiency in his Magic and various skills, at least.

    His progress has slowed down considerably, and he sensed that any more increasement in Levels would be counterproductive because the Mana in his body still hasn''t properly assimted from thest Level Ups.

    He still remained stuck at Level 32, but at least the proficiencies in his Magic and Abilities were slowly and steadily increasing over time. Still, it was clear that hisbat prowess was soaring with the continuous training and increasement of proficiency in his various skills and Leveled Abilities, and more importantly, in his Magic.

    Samiel just quickly scanned over his Record within the Akashic Records as he observed the changes in utmost detail.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Azathoth

    Age: 28

    Race: Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (75%) / Human (25%)

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (32%), Grand Necromancer (20%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level:

    Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter)

    Intermediate (Void, Necromancy)

    Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost

    Records Points: 5,640

    ***

    Tier: Bronze

    Level: 32

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (35%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (38%) - Ultimate Ability

    Architect (3%) - Transcendental Ability

    ***

    Techniques:

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (15%)

    Star Mind Protection Technique (11%) - 2 Stars

    ***

    Necrosis Magic:

    Necromancy Arts (29%)

    Void Magic (19%)

    Winter Magic (14%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (46%)

    Swordsmanship (14%)

    Trident Mastery (10%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 2nd Level Spells (48%)

    Metamagic - Spell Control (9%)

    Metamagic - Spell Pration (13%)

    Metamagic - Empower Spell (7%)]

    He quickly ran his eyes through the Record, seeing that everything was growing pretty nicely, before he closed the Record and went to the Inn, as the time to depart to the frontlines on the Human Continent finally came.

    Yesterday, when exactly ten days have passed as Samiel has calcted with the usage of Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, the Demon Tribes finally managed to secure a safe foothold on the Human Continent by breaking through the fortification lines on the shores and connecting the archipgo inds together with the Demon Continent.

    With that motion, they created several paths which were serving as means of transportation of resources and people, and with several outposts that the Demons built in a short span of time, coupled with three fortresses in the strategic ces, one could say that they have won the first round of the war.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    With this, they have sessfully established safe routes and supply routes, so they could now draw the full force of the Demon Continent through the archipgo of Inds without any problem for the near future if the humans don''t push them out of the archipgo, which was highly unlikely because demons were defending those positions very well.

    Of course, the losses were tremendous for Demons as well, but not for all Tribes, only for certain ones, as the politics were in the y. In the society of the Demons, there were continuous struggles for power. The Human Brotherhood was going all out, and after using every single Super Soldier Serum they had in their disposition, they managed to match the quality of the Demon Tribes.

    This, of course, was exploited by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, which sent some of the rivaling Tribes to the most problematic area, where they suffered heavy losses, greatly weakening their forces and even some of their most promising members were killed.

    Some spected that the Golden-Horned Demons sent some assassins after the younger generation of the Moon Demon Tribe. Certainly, it wouldn''t be the first time such a thing would happen because various Demon Tribes were always ready to kill each other or sabotage each other''s efforts like there was no tomorrow.

    And another stunt was performed by the Frost Demon Tribe, who managed to trick their rivals, the me Demon Tribe, into attacking Baywalley City, which was, in fact thergest human settlement in the entire eastern area of the Human Continent. Unexpectedly or expectedly for some, the me Demon Tribe suffered losses of 80% of all of their troops, to such an extent that their Gold-Tiers were forced to intervene before the situation got even worse and they would be annihted.

    In the end, some Gold-Tier Humans fought with those of the me Demon Tribe, and even though they were killed, me Demon Gold-Tier Professionals were injured severely and, in the end, were forced to withdraw from the campaign entirely. This greatly lowered the influence of the me Demon Tribe in overall because while the things that were happening on the 8th Floor were insignificant from the view of mighty Legendaries, it was, more importantly, a matter of prestige for the Demon Tribes.

    Such urrences were rtivelymon among the Demons, because a lot of them hated each other, something inherited from their Ancestors and Primogenitors at the Trasncedental Level, and for that moment, Samiel was d that he didn''t go there and even Yvriane saw that going there in the first weeks of the invasion would be a fatal mistake. Many infighting and schemes were going on in the shadows, especially at the start of the invasion, because it was a perfect moment to dispose of some political opponents.

    After Samiel came to the Inn''s hall, he noticed that Dharzug was already waiting there for him while Yvraine was scoffing at the Ork, and Ork was from time to time challenging looks at Yvraine, daring her to make a move on him.

    Clearly showing that he did not fear the fight; instead, he weed it entirely. That was the fundamental nature of the entire Orkish species because they lived and died for war, as that was the sole purpose in their entire existence, from the day they were born till theirst dying breath, was to wage wars and smash skulls.

    He then sat down, as both of them looked at him because he technically became the leader of their group three. Dharzug, even though intelligent for an Ork, was not the sharpest sword in sheath, something that he himself acknowledged. Not to mention in terms of social status and prestige, Samiel was the highest, and he was second strongest in their group.

    "So, in order to establish some form of cooperation, it would be most productive to register the party within The Guild."

    By registering the Mercenary Party within The Guild, they would be able to take missions as the party, meaning they would have a stronger negotiation position, and of course, it would also mean that they would have ess to Missions that solely existed for the parties.

    In the Guild, there was also a special category of missions that were solely issued for the bigger parties, not because they were necessarily harder, but mainly because, from their nature they requested several people to do something at once; thus only Mercenary parties were eligible to undertake them.

    "Now, we only need a suitable name."

    Samiel stated that while Yvraien remained silenced and thinking about the name, the Ork Dharzug thought about something before speaking. Samiel dreaded the result of the thought process because every time when the orks started thinking about something; it was certainly worth the time... ironically speaking of course.

    "Shootas and Choppas."

    Samiel grimaced at the Orkish name, not to mention he didn''t want their party to be named after a meat cleaver and a rusted gun that Orks used. Choppas were the mostmon type of weaponry that Orks used as a whole; it was a term of mostly ded weapons that were enormously huge and impractical, typically in the shape of meat cleaver or axe. Meanwhile, Shootas were guns that channeled Mana in the form of energy projectiles which the orks were using as a long-distance weapons.

    Samiel thought before typing something into the terminal of his Holo-Brain, as the name of their party had been finally registered. It was clear that Dharzug was absolutely unusable in this aspect because all he coulde up with were really crude names and he didn''t wish to name their party in the style of Ork n or Tribe. Meanwhile, Yvraine waspletely indifferent to this, letting him decide the thing for her as well.

    [Khaos Chapter has been registered as the Mercenary Party within The Guild.]

    [E-Rank Mercenary Eversor, E-Rank Mercenary Dharzug and F-Rank Mercenary Vindicare have been registered within the Khaos Chapter Mercenary Party.]

    [Khaos Chapter has been assigned as the E-Ranked Mercanry Party within The Guild ssification.]

    After Samiel registered their party within The Guild, he proceeded to check out the Missions that were exclusively assigned only for the Mercenary Parties that were avable on the 8th Floor, as the Demon Tribes were right now pushing one Mission to The Guild after another.

    [E-Rank Mission: Breaking the Industrial City of Torlen

    Sender: Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, 7th Prince Kisrith

    Requirements: E-Rank Mercenary Party or higher

    Description: The City of Torlen is one of the Industrial Cities on the Human Continent, supporting the war machine of the Human Brotherhood. The defenses of the City of Torlen are not that great and the poption of the City consists mainly of artisans, cksmiths and other simr upations.

    Note: The City of Torlen is located in the Burrow Hills, around 1,540 kilometers from the Goldhorn Fortress on the shores of the Human Continent. Due to this, the City of Torlen has only a small garrison of troops for now, but it has been noted that there are five Silver-Tier Professionals serving as the security in the City of Torlen. Additional sources are saying that the High Command of the Human Brotherhood is nning to reinforce the City because it is the only Industrial City in the vicinity near the frontlines, capable of immediately supporting the war efforts.

    Objective: Sneak into the Industrial City of Torlen and destroy the Industrial District and Armories located in the City of Tolen.

    Secondary Objective: Kill the City Lord, warning it is believed that the City Lord is a descendant of Baron Guymart de''Charetier of the Avalon Kingdom, who has been sent to the 8th Floor as punishment.

    Tertiary Objective: Kill the localmunity of the craftsmen who are working in Torlen''s Industrial District.

    Rewards: 1,000,000 Credits for the Primary Objective,- 150,000 Credits for the Secondary Objective,- 500,000 Credits Tertiary Objective.]

    Samiel read the mission he decided to ept as a party with the Dharzug and Yvraine, as it was a rather extensive mission that had three objectives. The primary one was the destruction of the Industrial Complex of the Torlen, which seemed the easiest of the objective because Samiel could achieve that with a few Void Bombs.

    The second objective was a harder one, especially if it was the truth that the City Lord was a descendant of the current Cout de''Charatier from the Avalon Kingdom. The Nobility in the Avalon Kingdom was simr to the Nesser Dynasty and was directly tied to personal strength, so even the Barons were already on the Legendary Level, albeit most probably only weak ones.

    Though Samiel knew that if the person were a descendant of the de''Charetier it wouldn''t be a fuss even if he killed him, he had something different in mind. In truth, Samiel nned to capture him alive, and instead of killing him, he would turn him to the Hall of Kadath for interrogation.

    "de''Charetiers are rather an insignificant Noble Family in the Avalon Kingdom, who had risen to the Nobility mainly by a fluke of luck. What is weird is why someone of their descent is here on the 8th Floor; I heard that they are crafty as foxes, and they are basically a bunch of spineless cowards who only knew how to plot and scheme against others. So, there is a high possibility that they are pushing for some hidden agenda."

    Yvrainemented on the situation, as she was knowledgeable in the Nobility matters and knew every major and minor Noble Houses and Aristocrats across the Cosmos who had some power on arger scale.

    "Matter not, I''ll chop him down with my choppa."

    Said Dharzug, not caring about anything else, and even Samiel had to admit that de''Chartiers were insignificant, but at the same time, he was still curious why they were on the 8th Floor if the assumptions were right.

    He suspected that they were probably either testing some weapons here or conducting research on the "Super Soldier Serum" or simr synergies that were found by Samiel and Yvraine on the Demon Continent. Indeed if they were that kind that depended on the borrowed power, then it would only be logical that they would be conducting their research here.

    Especially here, there where there was no shortage of test subjects and testing opportunities. There were thousands of people who would serve as their testing subjects, and they could immediately see the results of their experiments on the battlefield.

    The third objective was to kill the craftsmen who worked in the Industrial District was a rtively easy thing to do; it was all about setting the time correctly because Samiel nned to use the Void Bombs to destroy the Industrial District during the day when everyone would be at work. That way, he would be disposing of two targets in one hit and saving time.

    The only problems were the Silver-Tier Professionals, who were stationed in the City of Torlen, their exact strength was unknown, and there was still a matter of fact that the reinforcements were on the way, not to mention the local garrison of the Torlen. Fortunately, thest one was only numbering in thousands, mainly the Iron-Tiers and some Steel-Tier.

    When Samiel was contemting about this fact, he suddenly had enlightenment as he formted the n of attack. By the information provided by The Guild, the local garrison of soldiers was small and weak... so Samiel nned to use all of his Undeads to sack the city. Maybe he would even manage toy waste to it entirely and loot it; it was highly possible that as one of the Industrial Cities on the Human Continent, there should berge warehouses of resources, mainly ores and metals, and other things.

    They would do well in Samiel''s hands.

 Chapter 139 City Of Torlen And Looting

    Human Continent, Eastern Area of the Human Continent, Fortress of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, 3 Days Later.

    After journeying to the archipgo, they soon arrived at the Human Continent''s frontlines, as Samiel observed the fortifications of the Demon Tribes. He had to admit that they were quite spectacr for the species that knew nothing other than destroying things.

    Naturally, suppose there was one thing that the demons were good at. In that case, it was waging war and many of them dedicated themselves to learning all aspects of war, which of course, also included building fortifications like this. While Samiel had some knowledge about the art itself, he had to admit that the thing that the demons had built there was spectacr.

    It was an easily defendable fortress with little to no weak spots in the entire construction, meaning it would be effortlessly defensible. Demons were very well prepared for the eventuality of a possible attack on their fortress; thus, they built it in a way that would be easily defendable.

    He was wearing his hat and bandana as he took a great liking to the hunter-like outfit. Mainly because he looked pretty cool in it... some of his vanity from the times he was still on Earth was speaking in full force with this.

    Together with him, Yvraine and Dharzug were looking wary of the Demons because they were species that could not be trusted; while the Demonkin were not the crafty bastards on the level of the Devils, they were still dangerous and one needed to watch their back around them. Yet, after they arrived at one of the ports, they were quickly escorted to the Commander of the fortress for the briefing because this ce was closest to their destination, which was the City of Torlen.

    Samiel saw that the ce was well-guarded as the entire garrison could be more than fifteen thousand Demons from the various Demon Tribes and Lineages, which was undoubtedly a lot. This signified that this precise fortress was one of the most important ones and, in the future, would serve as a ce from which they would continue the invasion of the rest of the Human Continent''s territories.

    After they arrived at the office of the Commander, Samiel was surprised to see there the Golden-Horned Demon, and of course, he recognized the demon as the Kisrith, who acted as the representative of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe on the 8th Floor and was 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    Even though Kisrith was only a Gold-Tier, not even the peak, but most likely someone who advanced not that far ago, he was already entrusted with such tasks, meaning that he was one of the favorites of the Patriarch and a strong contender for the position. If not for that, he would never be sent here to y amander of the demon army.

    Samiel knew that for the Demon Tribes, what was happening on the 8th Floor was just a means of getting merits in the eyes of the Elders of the Tribes, as the various members of the younger generation werepeting against each other for merits and glory.

    It was somehow ironic, the cold cruelty of the Cosmos, while one side was fighting for its very own existence and preservance, for another one, everything for the game that could be ended anytime they got bored out of it.

    He then scanned the 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Tribe from tips to toes, before he took the seat already prepared for him, with Yvraine and Dharzug following after him. 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe Kisrith looked very much like other members of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe with tanned brown skin, one pair of golden horns upon his head and golden eyes.

    From the outer perspective, one could say that he was very handsome by the standards of beauty of humanoid races. Of course, the 7th Prince Kisrith had that air of arrogance around him that was undeniable for someone of his position as he was looking down at everything.

    Nobody said anything, not even the 7th Prince bothered, as he only passed some documents to Samiel, which he read through quickly together with Yvraine, because Dharzug didn''t bother to read anything. Though Samiel wondered if the ork even knew how to read, because most of their kind was illiterate.

    "Is everything clear, mercenary?"

    7th Prince Kisrith, as he saw that Samiel finished reading the document about the mission, to which Samiel nodded his head in agreement before standing up as they left the room.

    ***

    After Samiel departed with Yvraine and Dharzug from the fortress, he finally rxed a little because for the entire period of time, they had been staying in the fortress of the Demon Tribes was making him feel very, very ufortable.

    The Demon Tribes were essentially his enemies, so he wasn''t that thrilled staying in the middle of their fortress, not to mention, he was a bit tempted to dispose of the 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Tribe, but unfortunately, hecked the strength to do that... but if hecked the personal strength for that, he could use the borrowed one.

    Because it would be very unfortunate if somehow, during the attack on the City of Torlen, the information about the location of the 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Tribe was leaked to the members of the Human Brotherhood and, thus, possibly to the Assassins of the Avalon Kingdom.

    In the desperate state that the Human Brotherhood was, he was sure that they would send some suicide squad to kill the 7th Prince Kisrith, which would achieve nothing about the state of war, but for Samiel, it would be a grand achievement. All of those who bore the Lineage of the Emperor Bael was guaranteed to reach the Legendary Level if they trained a bit and had some resources at their disposal.

    And those who were the descendants of the main line of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe always became powerful Legendaries, so Samiel would be killing one before he could reach that level with a borrowed knife.

    "Okey... so right now, we are heading towards the City of Torlen. The documents that the Demon Prince gave me basically confirmed the suspicion of The Guild, and the Human Brotherhood is sending an army of 50,000 to be stationed in the Torlen because only now did they realize that one of their most important cities is extremely close to the territory controlled by the Demon Tribes."

    Samiel summarized the content of the documents that the 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe passed him, as the situation was rtively bad and good; all depended on how fast they would reach the City of Torlen and carry out the Mission.

    "How much time do we have before the reinforcements reach the City of Torlen?"

    Yvraine asked him because if the reinforcements from the Human Brotherhood reached the City of Torlen, then their direct assault would be thrown out of the window, and they would need to go for some more stealthy option.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "8 hours, they are marching slowly, but still, we need to move with haste."

    Samiel answered, but the 8 hours that they had right now, it should be enough. If they went to the Torlen at their top speed, then they would arrive at the city within two hours, so they would have approximately six hours or so until the army of the Human Brotherhood arrived. Of course, afterward, they would find only a destroyed city with everyone either killed who was of some importance and the fabled important industrial district destroyed.

    After everything was decided and said, all three of them decided to make haste towards their destination as time was unforgiving and every second wasted here was in their disadvantage. Fortunately for them, their speed was good, and they would be able to arrive at the city within two hours; of course, that was only under the assumption that they didn''t encounter anything that would hinder them down.

    ***

    Two and half hourster, Outskirts of the City of Torlen, Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    The trio arrived at their destination half an hourter because they encountered some Magical Beasts who ambushed them on their journey, which hindered them on their journey. After they killed the Magical Beasts, they continued their journey and finally arrived at the outskirts of the City of Torlen.

    It was still day, the sun shined, as the sounds from the manufactories and smithies of the Torlen could be heard even several kilometers away. The smoke was filling the air, as it was escaping from the countless manufactories that were mass-producing the equipment for the war efforts of the Human Brotherhood before directly sending them to the front lines.

    In the cities such as Torlen, countless weapons and armors, and other types of equipment were being made every day. It was not a big city, at least from the point of view of the inhabitants, as the people who primarily lived in the City of Torlen were the craftsmen, cksmiths, workers in the manufactories, and their families.

    Aside from them, there were some other citizens and soldiers, but that was all. The entire city''s primary purpose was to manufacture the weapons and armors for the war effort, not to provide living space, and due to that, the entire city was built in that way to maximize the industry''s potential effectively.

    "So, wer start attack?"

    Asked Dharzug as he readied an enormous two-sided battle axe, which he called affectionately "da big choppa", while looking in the direction of the City of Torlen. I sent Nefertari to scout the area, and she reported that the stationed garrison of soldiers didn''t cross the border of 3,000, which was delightful news and astounding as well because the Human Brotherhood was virtually so stupid that they left one of their most important cities rtively unprotected.

    "Be patient a little... at first, I will sneak into the city and bomb the Industrial District of the City with the Void Bombs; the might of the 5th Level Spells should be enough toy waste to the entire district of the city. After the chaos has been brought onto the table, you will start the attack together with Undead Army on the main gate as breaching it should be rtively easy because most of the garrison would be in the Industrial District dealing with the aftermath of the attack."

    Samiel stated the first two parts of the n. At first, he nned to destroy the Industrial District of the Torlen, thus technically fulfilling the Primary Objective of the Mission as well as the Tertiary one, and after the entire district is destroyed, the soldiers across the entire city would hurry there to help with the dealing with the aftermath.

    During that time, after everyone would be focused on the aftermath of the bombing, Samiel would give orders to his Undeads, who would, under the leadership of Ashimer and Dharzug, breach the main gate of the Torlen and enter the city. He calcted that they would need at least ten minutes to breach the gate, and the distance between the main gate and the industrial district was at least twenty-five minutes, so enough time for that.

    "And amid everything that is happening, Yvriane will sneak into the city and search for whatever the House de''Charetier has been experimenting with on the 8th Floor. Meanwhile, I will head straight to the City Lord''s Mansion to capture the man in question so we can extract some useful information on the Avalon Kingdom."

    And after Samiel issued the instruction to Yvraine as well, the n was set in stone and right now, thest thing that remained was the wless execution of the n. They spent twenty minutes tweaking the n''s details and preparing for the various scenarios.

    Fortunately, Samiel, with his Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, was able to calcte countless scenarios in a matter of seconds, as they then subsequently discussed the most probable ones, that had the highest probability of happening.

    "Okey... now good luck to everybody."

    Samiel stated after they finished discussing the ns, as he departed towards the City of Torlen. He had to admit that he wasn''t the best at sneaking around, but at the same time, he wanted to challenge himself to get better at these things, as they coulde in handy sometimes.

    Technically speaking, entering the city wasn''t that hard, as the security was rtivelyx and after finding some weak spot in the defenses, which fortunately wasn''t that hard to find, he cast simple concealment spell that Yvraine taught him, and jumped across the walls, and entered the city.

    After crossing the walls, Samiel immediately jumped down from the walls and headed directly towards the Industrial District of the City of Torlen, as he wanted to check it out at first. Or rather, he wanted to loot their warehouses at first because, for sure, they would have a ton of resources stocked up there.

    And it would be a waste of resources if he just sted the Industrial District apart with his VBopid Magic without at first obtaining everything useful from the district. The Void Bombs were extremely destructive even for the standards of the 5th Level Spells, so he knew that if he cast a few of them at the same time at the Industrial District, within several seconds, it would be a wastnd.

    Fortunately, it didn''t take him long to find the warehouses, and surprisingly or not, they were not even properly guarded, with only a few Iron-Tier Soldiers standing the guard. Though that was not that surprising, considering that this city was half a military base.

    After Samiel bypassed them and sneaked up into the warehouse, he started storing everything he saw in the Dimensional Rings that he specifically prepared for this purpose. He didn''t really even bother to check out what he was taking, as he was just taking the loot at the fastest speed possible.

    He would check it outter, but even now, he saw that there were hundreds of tonnes of various metals that were used in making Normal-Grade and even Rare-Grade Equipment, be it armors or weapons. He even saw some ingots of the Magisteel, a special alloy used in creating Unique-Grade Equipment, so this one could be considered a jackpot because Magisteel was precious and wouldn''t be found on such a low Floor of the Tower like this.

 Chapter 140 Breaking The Torlen

    After Samiel looted the warehouses from the City of Torlen and obtained tonnes upon tonnes of resources, and stored them within the Dimensional Rings, he proceeded with the rest of his ns. Samiel quickly scouted the entire Industrial District of the Torlen, looking for anything that would sabotage his ns, like magical defenses around the district.

    Yet fortunately for the attacker and unfortunately for the defenders, there were none, and the entire ce was rtively unprotected. It was mind blogging that considering the purpose of the Torlen and all around that, one of the biggest industrial cities on the Human Continent, and the defenses around the city were on the level of a border vige somewhere in a godforsaken desert.

    After making sure that there were no magical defenses or any other types of countermeasures again attacks on the industrial district, which baffled Samiel to no end, he decided to look for a suitable spot where he could start casting.

    He needed some nice spot from which he would have a view of the entire Industrial District of the Torlen so that he could cast the Void Bombs on all ces ordingly to his n in his mind, so he destroyed the whole district thoroughly. Fortunately, there were a good number of towers across the entire Torlen, and even in the district itself, there were some, so Samiel only needed to choose the best one, which had the best view.

    Soon enough, he chose one of the towers in the industrial district, which he deemed to be the best fit for the task, as he swiftly climbed atop of the tower. When he was climbing the tower, he encountered only one man, who was probably some keeper of the ce, but he was killed in one hit, as he was not even Level 5, clearly an ordinary civilian.

    After Samiel took the position, he started conjuring the Void Bombs, and at the same time, he was using the Metamagaic Technique, Empower Spell on each Void Bomb, to make the spells even more devastating than they already were. He knew that if he boosted the Void Bomb through the Metamagic Technique Empower Spell, its destructive prowess would reach standards of a slightly weaker 6th Level Spell.

    Instantaneously, a space twisted in many ways in several ces high above the Industrial District of the City of Torlen, as the Void Energy condensed itself into several small balls and freely fell onto the Industrial District. Everything took only several seconds as Samiel heard and saw enormous series of explosions that enveloped the entirety of the district and even beyond.

    Smoke clouded the sky to such an extent that the sun rays barely fell onto the city in distress, and one could hear the screams of people either from despair or pain, as it was like music for his ears, like the one from the best musicians in the Cosmos were ying their instruments solely for him on a nice dark evening.

    Then he outstretched his hands and chanted something in the Eldritch Language the R''Lyehian, when a small purple magic circle appeared in the air before him and started catching all souls of the deceased.

    Samiel was using this opportunity to collect himself some souls, because this was an ideal ce to do it. Usually, he couldn''t do anything like this because he feared that somebody would notice, and that would bring him just endless troubles. Still, right now, they were in ce far behind the frontlines, and it was quite a deste ce where nobody was watching and thus, it was safe to collect souls en masse.

    Soon enough, he noticed that the number of souls he collected had already crossed thousands, as the people were dying extremely fast under the destructive might of the Void Bombs. 5th Level Spell of the Void Magic, the Void Bomb was extremely destructive in nature; if Samiel had topare it to something, it would be like using some kind of small tactical nuclear weapon in terms of firepower.

    Of course, it would be wrong to forget that the Void Corruption was right now spreading across the entire district because Samiel overused the Void Magic here a bit, and due to that, the entire ce was seethed in the Void. The Void was taking everything, and everything that came into contact with the Void was getting destroyed, dposed or drained out of life.

    Samiel knew that this area of the former City of Torlen would be uninhabitable for uing centuries due to the corrosion done by the Void, which had steeped in the ground, the earth, the water and even in the air. Nobody and nothing would be able o survive here, as it would take a lot of time for the area to recuperate unless some powerful Magician or someone else came here and cleansed it... though about this, Samiel seriously doubted because he knew that such powerful Legendaries who could banish remnants of the Void from the world had better things to do than to wander to the lower Floors of the Tower.

    He already saw how the entire city was in a panic because nobody knew what was happening, and soldiers were heading towards the Industrial City from all parts of the city,pletely abandoning their posts and defenses to help with the rescue works and other necessary things. It appeared that the City Watch reacted faster than he initially expected.

    Of course, this was done mainly because themanders of the garrison thought that, due to their safe location, the possibility of the attack was extremely low, so they didn''t have a problem to sent 80% of their forces to help with the tragedy that urred in the Industrial District.

    ''Everything ording to the n.''

    Samiel thought and waited for half an hour; such time was chosen by him purposely because nothing was left to ident and he calcted every possible oue through the Level 4 Transcenden Ability Architect; thus he came to the conclusion that exactly thirty minutes would be all that he needed before he could continue with his ns.

    During the thirty minutes, all troops and people would arrive at the destroyed Industrial District and would already start helping and doing some tasks, even further distracting them from what was going to happen.

    After thest second from the half an hour passed, Smaiel sent a mentalmand to all of his Undeads and Ashimer, who were already waiting for the right time to strike, as the Undead Army of more than one thousand Undeads moved under the leadership of the Higher Undead, Frost Death Knight and mighty Ork Champion Dharzug.

    The Undead Army was rushing at the City as an unstoppable force of nature, as it soon arrived at the gates o the City of Torlen, and startedying the siege on the gate, with Ashimer and Dharzug were releasing their most powerful attacks directly at the gate in the hopes of breaching through the defenses.

    And as expected, the half-assed defenses of the Torlen, soon enough, crumbled under the might of the two elite Silver-Tier individuals as the gate was breached and the Undeads poured into the city in hundreds as they dispersed and started ughtering everything that lived.

    In the end, the Torlen wasn''t built with the defenses in mind and even the walls and gates were built with rather ordinary materials that couldn''t really stop anything beyond Steel-Tier or probably some half-assed Bronze-Tier that was extremely weak, but that was that.

    All Undeads were fascinating creatures because all of them were instinctively sense every living being; thus they were effectively able to hunt them down. In a moment, after the gates of the Torlen were breached, Ashimer and Dharzug were intercepted by the human Silver-Tier Professionals, who appeared to have ss rted to the Knighthood, as they wore heavy armors, and were armed with longswords and shields.

    Still, that didn''t stop the other Undeads, as they spread across the streets of the City and started carrying out a merciless ughter of everything that lives, as they hunted down anyone with Life Force. The Undeads typically had a great deal of hatred for everything that was alive and would stop at nothing to kill it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel watched all of this happening from his high ce at the top of one of the Torlen''s towers while the human troops finally realized what was going on and that they were under attack. The towers of the Torlen were high enough to provide Samiel nice view of the happenings in the entire city as he was enjoying the show that was unfolding down there.

    Thus themander in charge of the troops that were dispatched to the former industrial district of the Torlen once again changed their direction stopped whatever they were doing, and headed towards the main gate of the Torlen, where there was the greatest concentration of the Undeads.

    Samiel even saw two Silver-Tier Professionals moving with them, as he noticed that the remaining three were already near the gates and should be right now fighting against the Ashimer and Dhurzag.

    Shaking his head, he looked at one of the duo, one who seemed to be a bit weaker, wearing mainly a leather light armor, made from some time of magical beast, before he started condensing the might of Winter Ruler in the shape of several icicles and releasing all of them at the weaker Silver-Tier human Professional.

    In a split of seconds, the person in question was bombarded with tens if not hundreds of icicles, all of them containing the full power of Samiel Zentaur because he used everything he had, and from his nice spot atop of the tower, he watched as the Silver-Tier human Professional was torn to shreds by the icicles conjured by the Winter Ruler.

    Afterward, he disappeared from the tower where he was hiding and went to find his next target was the City Lord. He instructed Yvraine to go through the personal holdings of the de''Charetier House that were on the 8th Floor of the Tower in hopes of finding something useful.

    It was clear that the Avalon Kingdom started showing its fangs and wanted to stretch its wing, and Samiel thought that it was appropriate time to clip their wings and pull out their fangs before they became a real problem, aside from just being a nuisance.

    ***

    Back at the main gates of the Torlen, blows were exchanged between the Ashimer and one of the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Human Brotherhood as they fought for over five minutes without a decisive victor, but it was clear that the Frost Death Knight had the upper hand.

    Ashimer was slowly using the Level 1 Ability Frost Aura to freeze body parts and equipment of his opponent, thus causing him injuries, draining his stamina and, at the same time, lowering hisbat prowess by getting rid of his equipment.

    Level 1 Ability Frost Aura was very useful in this aspect because while its offensive potential wasn''t that high, it had more of supportive potential than brute force and destructive capabilities. Freezing someone''s limbs during the fight would be basically like a death sentence, so even an unassuming ability like Frost Aura could be quite deadly when used at the right time and the right way.

    As the Frost Death Knight, he was very powerful, considering the fact that he had just reached Level 56 and was able to overpower a human Professional who was above Level 65 and clearly had injured himself through that weird synergy that the humans were using to increase hisbat prowess tremendously.

    Even with that, it was clearly the future, as the Higher Undead was pushing him further and further. Ashimer''s skills with a sword far eclipsed out that of his opponent, as the human Professional was on the lower end, be it in the skill or the raw power, and soon enough, he found himself to be on the edge of the Frost Death Knight''s de, which swiftly took his life.

    Simrly, the duel between Dharzug and his Silver-Tier opponent from the Human Brotherhood came to an end after Dharzug cleaved the man in two vertical halves with his war axe, "da big choppa".

    After the Silver-Tier Professionals from the Human Brotherhood were killed by them, they joined their troops, with Ashimer takingmand of the Undeads and Dharzug searching for any opponent to kill. Ork being asbative as the rest of his species was, probably even more, wanted to have some more fun before they left because the fight with the Silver-*Tier Professionals of the Human Brotherhood wasn''t satisfying at all.

    There were not many strong opponents reaming in the City of Tolren, as with each swing of his war axe "da big choppa" Dharzug took the lives of several human troops that were fighting against the Undead tide as he was cleaving his way through the city, and heading towards the City Lord''s Mansion, in the hope of finding anyone strong.

    After he severed the head of another human soldier, he noticed another of the Silver-Tier Professionals from the Human Brotherhood. It took some time to find new opponents, but fortunately for the Will of the Green Gods, it yielded the expected results.

    He grinned happily because he finally found an enemy that won''t be killed within several seconds, or at least, so he hoped, but that hope would be soon crushed into oblivion.

    Dharzug gripped his war axe "da big choppa" and rushed at the human Silver-Tier Professional and with full force, he swung his war axe "da big choppa" at the human, who raised his enormous shield, with the intention of blocking it, only for him to be shot away, crashing through several buildings, as the strike from Dharzug sent him flying.

    "Weaker than anticipated."

    The Ork muttered under his breath as he tried to sense if the opponent whom he sent flying was dead or alive,ing to the conclusion that he died from the attack after he didn''t sense any life from the direction where he crashed.

    That could be considered as insta-kill.

    He didn''t dwell long on the thing, as he decided to continue with his target and chopped one head after another, as he soon arrived at the City Lord''s Mansion, where he saw Samiel Zentuar, who right now arrived at the fortress.

 Chapter 141 Ransacking The City

    And as the Undeads were going through the city, killing everything in which they sensed life, while setting the buildings on fire, destroying things, as they got orders from their master to destroy as much of the City of Torlen as possible. Because the human troops that the Human Brotherhood were neither numerous nor strong enough, they fell before the might of the Undead Army, as approximately 1,000 Undeads were enough to overrun the entirety of the city.

    After the Silver-Tier Professionals were killed, there was practically nothing that would stop the ferocious Undead Tide, which had descended upon the City. Those Silver-Tier Professionals together with couple Bronze-Tier ones were the sole protection that the City of Torlen had, which was... sad because the city should be very important to the Human Brotherhood and yet it was technically speaking defenseless.

    Especially in front of more than 400 Bronze-Tier Undeads; they broke all of the resistance by themselves and continued their bloody march through the Torlen. The Undead didn''t need to rest, they didn''t feel fear or pain, aside from their unending and infinite hatred for everything living, they didn''t feel anything and because of that, they were like an unstoppable force.

    From a distance, one could see smoke rising to the sky from the location of the City of Torlen, be it from the already destroyed Industrial District with all people and craftsmen buried under the rubbles, or the rest of the city, which was set on fire by the Undead Mages, who were destroying everything in their path.

    Samiel watched this with delight because he ordered his Undeads to destroy the city until nothing remained. While he wasn''t that keen on helping the Demon Tribes too much, cities like Torlen, which were producing weapons for the Human Brotherhood''s war machine, they needed to be razed to the ground.

    From theyout of the industries and productions across the entire Human Continent, he knew that there were only a very few cities like the Torlen, which were entirely dedicated to the production of equipment, weapons, armors and other supplies that were crucial for the war efforts. Together they created approximately 80% of the overall production of war supplies for the troops of the Human Brotherhood.

    Meaning that even a single destroyed city would be a great loss for the Human Brotherhood because they would be without a chance topensate for the losses.

    For that reason, Samiel was determined to raze the city to the ground so nothing remained, and there was zero chance to salvage anything. Not like this would be the first city that he razed to the ground, though when he was on Earth, heunched some tactical weapons on one of the cities which were holding the entire army that was pursuing him.

    When the Torlen is destroyed, the Human Brotherhood would be forced to transport war supplies from the other Industrial Cities to the frontlines, which would be extremely troublesome. Other Industrial Cities were very far from the present frontlines, meaning the pressure on their logistics would skyrocket, and their transports would be the target of the attacks and ambushes from the Demon Tribes attacking the Human Continent.

    And as this all was happening at the other end of the City, Yvraine was walking through the streets while asionally beheading some soldiers that attacked until she arrived at her destination, which was the ce where apparently theboratory was located.

    It was clear to anyone that the Avalon Kingdom was conducting here some research on something, probably those fancy gic concoctions that Samiel termed as the Super Soldier Serum because they proved to be frighteningly effective, though at the expense of the lifespan of user. Not like the troglodytes from the Human Brotherhood or the fanatics of the Avalon Kingdom cared about that.

    Though, it was understandable from a certain point of view because, indeed, the humans were rather an average species in the Cosmos, without any innate strengths or advantages like other races, even though they were surprisingly versatile and adaptable. So, many of them searched for ways how to break the natural order of all things by various methods.

    Some worked better than others; it was indeed the truth. Some were sessful, especially those of the more magical character, where one scientist from one civilization in the Cosmosbined the peak of the Magtech their civilization developed together with some obscure ritualistic magic to enhance the base human up to the standards of some Elder Races, creating something that wouldter be known as the High Human Project.

    Unfortunately for the others who wanted the same thing, the resources required to carry out an ambitious operation like that one were absolutely astronomical, and only a very few powerhouses across the Cosmos could afford that. Thus ones who would be able to undergo that procedure were typically only very rich Professionals, Noble Lineages and some factions who bought that from the Scientia Hierarchy.

    After arriving at the abandoned warehouse, Yvraine noticed that there were not even guards as she shed with her sword, carving a hole in the thick metal walls of the warehouse for her to enter the ce.

    When she entered the warehouse to see various equipment filling the warehouse, as it was retrofitted for some kind ofboratory. She saw there countless synergies as the ce seemed to be abandoned because there was not even a single scientist or person working on whatever they were working on here.

    "So they have been experimenting with more stable concoction on the 8th Floor... and they have been investing a lot of resources into that research."

    Yvraine scanned the notes and things that were around theb, as it was clear that de''Charetier was attempting toe with a concoction that would not have such severe side-effects. In the long run, they would need it because while the power-up of the synergies was nice and could be said that it was excellent, the side effects were terrible.

    All people would not live for more than a few months at best. Afterward, Yvraine started taking everything and storing it in the specially prepared Dimensional Ring, as all of this could be used by the Nesser Dynasty for something, if not for anything, then at least they could develop means of neutralizing the final product of the Avalon Kingdom.

    As she was storing everything, she suddenly heard slow footsteps being her, as her reflexes kicked up, taking one of her swords and shooting it towards the person who entered theb. The sword struck the person into the walls.

    Yvraine looked at the person who entered and noticed that it was an elderly bald man wearing a pristine whiteboratory cloak. She immediately concluded that the elderly man was for sure one of the scientists working under de''Charetiers in the creation of a new Super Soldier Serum.

    She was looking at the man curiously, deciding on what to do with the older scientists, before she decided to capture him and ship him to the Nesser Dynasty together with all the things that she obtained in theboratory.

    Then she knocked an old man out, dragged him with her, and left theboratory. After taking everything of some value, she looked at theboratory, which was in the warehouse, as she conjured and several 4th Level Fire Elemental Spells as she sted the ce apart, letting it burn in mes. Soon enough, everything would turn to ashes, until nothing remained.

    ***<novelnext></novelnext>

    Meanwhile, all of this was taking ce in the City Lord''s Mansion, the City Lord of Torlen, Jaspar de''Charetier was cowering in fear as he watched the entity city being overrun by the Undeads and all of the Silver-Tier Professionals from the Human Brotherhood were killed.

    Jaspar de''Charetier was from one of the branches of the de''Charetier House; in the Avalon Kingdom, his social status was no better than some wealthymoner, but here, he was like a king amongst men.

    That was the reason why he enjoyed his stay here and quickly adjusted to living in absolute luxury that the Human Brotherhood provided for him, so he could oversee the experiments on the Gene Enhancement Serums that the de''Charetiers were developing.

    For the several years he stayed here, he became pretty fat from the opulent lifestyle he led, which also led him to stagnate in his training, as he was stuck at the Level 48, not being able to go further. Partially because he entirely stopped his training, as he was constantly indulging in the life of luxury and partially because his peak Bronze-Tier strength was enough for the standards of the 8th Floor.

    On the 8th Floor, before the tension with the Demon Tribes began, even the Bronze-Tier Professionals very rare, so with his present strength, he was previously a big shot, as the Silver-Tiers were non-existent on the 8th Floor and even the Bronze-Tiers were exceedingly rare.

    Right now, as the forces of the enemy were swiftly killing their way, he was running around the mansion, taking with him all of the valuables to the Dimensional Ring he had, as he was lucky to obtain one. Especially on the lower Floors of the Tower, any kind of spatial equipment was very, very rare.

    As he was storing another vault filled with the gold ingots, suddenly, he heard an explosion, as the huge steel doors leading to his mansion exploded into bits, as he saw a huge Ork entering the mansion, gripping a war axe with both of his muscr hands.

    Sadly for Jaspar, the huge Ork immediately noticed the short porky man as he jumped to the second floor of the mansion, and with a single sh of his war axe, he destroyed the doors and entered the room.

    The second he entered the room, Dharzug looked at the human who was storing the gold ingots into his Dimensional Equipment, as he snorted at the man, who almost shit his pants when he saw the ferocious Ork towering over him.

    Dharzug just swiftly delivered a hit with the blunt end of his war axe at the man''s head, effectively knocking him out cold, because Samiel stated that the one who arrived at the City Lord''s Mansion was just to knock him unconscious.

    After knocking him unconscious, there was practically nothing to do here, because initially, Dharzug thought that the City Lord would be the strongest person in the city; thus, he wanted to have a few rounds with him. Preferably split his skull with his choppa, but unfortunately, it was a whimpering weakling.

    With this finished, the City of Torlen has fallen to the hands of the Undead Tide and soon, it would be utterly destroyed, as right now, the fire was burning across various districts across the entire city, and it would until nothing remained. The Undead Mages, under Samie''s instructions, were casting one destructive spell after another onto the city, to cause as much as destruction as possible.

    "I see that you have already captured the final prize Dharzug."

    Samiel stated, as he looked at the Ork immediately after he arrived at the City Lord''s Mansion. He scanned the ce, looking at thevish decoration and the sheer luxury in which the Jaspar de''Charetier has lived, as he sted a few Void Strikes into the area, destroying some statues which appeared to be some important people from the Avalon Kingdom.

    "Da coward yours."

    Dharzug stated as he lifted up still unconscious Jaspar de''Charetier and threw it at Samiel Zentaur, as he caught the man, and typed something in the Holo-Brain, sending a message to Bishop Antigonus. He wasn''t in the mood to interrogate the man; in truth, he knew that it would be better just to fetch him to the Antigonus.

    Not to mention that interrogation and so wasn''t Samiel''s forte and this was already for the second time; he managed to capture someone of rtive importance, even though he seriously doubted who was far more precious, information-wise, of course.

    While it was clear that the man before him was from the de''Charetier Hosue rather small Baron Household of the Avalon Kingdom, he was someone expandable from some Branch Line; if not or that he wouldn''t be sent to such a ce like this.

    The assassin he captured, on the other hand, was someone sent directly by someone in power in the Avalon Kingdom, so the information the assassin could potentially know would be far more valuable.

    After several seconds he sent the message to Bishop Abraham Antigonus; like thest time, a spatial portal appeared next to Samiel as he threw the unconscious Jaspar de''Charetier through the portal, which closed itself afterward.

    Of course, before he dropped the man through the portal, he stripped any spatial equipment he saw, as the man in question had altogether more than five Dimensional Rings, several spatial pouches and other types of Dimensional Storage Equipment where he was storing his valuables.

    For sure, the man would have stashed a lot of treasures; even if they were just some gold coins and gold ingots, they were still valuable outside of the Tower, and particrly inrge quantities, such as they were here.

 Chapter 142 The Fall Of Torlen...

    One hourter, after the breach of the main gates, the City of Torlen, Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    Approximately one hour after the Undead Tide, under the leadership of Ashimer and Dharzug, breached the main gates of the City of Torlen, the majority of the city was already burning in mes, as the Undead Mages were setting everything on fire on Samiel''s orders. The city is already quieted down, as most of the inhabitants were either killed by Undeads or were killed as coteral damage during the spells and fire.

    Samiel made himself home at the City Lord''s Mansion as he waited for the Undeads to screen the city, destroy it entirely and kill all of the citizens before they departed from the ce. The reason for that was he wanted to make sure that nobody survived his onught because the citizens of the City of Torlen were mainly craftsmen, workers and cksmiths.

    Meaning the more people survived, the less damage was caused to the human troops. cksmiths, craftsmen and other upations were not something to which a person could be training within a few months. Those would require years and years of expertise, training, apprenticeships and knowledge.

    With the destruction of the City of Torlen, not only one of the major Industrial Hubs of the Human Brotherhood is lost, but Samiel particrly targeted the people because, in the worse scenario could, the Human Brotherhood just send the artisans to work somewhere else. With the current ending, they won''t have anyone to send somewhere.

    Just as he was contemting the next moves and thinking about the loot, he had obtained from the Torlen, as his Undeads and Ashimer also brought up some spatial equipment, either from the killed soldiers or some wealthy merchants who were in the city.

    It was surprising to discover that they had some sort of spatial equipment; even if it was small, it should have been possible for them to have a decent amount of money. And Samiel liked any amount of money, as he loved looting, in this aspect, he was like the embodiment of a bandit god or pirate god, if such god existed in the first ce, though it was highly possible that there was some God with domain over banditry and piracy.

    Dharzug was bored as hell because there was practically nothing to kill. All of the remaining soldiers of the Human Brotherhood were already killed, the Silver-Tier Professionals were killed first, and the City Lord of the Torlen proved himself to be a huge disappointment.

    So there was nothing to do for the big Ork, so the only thing he could do was to sharpen up his war axe "da big choppa". Naturally, Dharzug was doing it in hopes of participating in the next fight because due to the situation on the 8th Floor of the Tower, there was no shortage of potential fights and battles.

    While sitting on the stairs that led to the enormous mansion that was filled with luxury, he sharpened his war axe using a whetstone, already preparing it for the next big battle that was soon toe.

    After the supply chains copsed, then the entire frontline would be technically drastically endangered because there were only so little of spatial equipment that were in possession of the Human Brotherhood, and they wouldn''t be using them to transport supplies to the frontlines for sure.

    As a result, within a few months at the very worst, the entire frontline would copse, and the Demon Tribes would push once again deeply into the human territory, which would mean a whole new set of fights and battles. Of course, this would mean an entirely new set of missions and battles in which they could participate.

    "Try to bear with it, my Ork friend; sooner orter, we will be going to another battle with stronger enemies."

    Samiel stated as he saw Dharzug striking another of the status that remained in the gardens with his war axe, as he finished polishing its edges, as it was nice and sharp already. He then grunted a bit as he walked away, probably going to destroy some more things in frustration because it was hard for the Ork to stay calm.

    Samiel meanwhile was thinking about participating in the war because right now, the battlefield started shifting a bit, and Samiel wanted to have his go at it. He knew that with his present strength, and especially if he increased his Level a few times, he would be practically at the higher end of all Professionals on the 8th Floor.

    Aside from a few Gold-Tier Professionals and maybe some elite Silver-Tier Professionals and those who were already nearing the Gold-Tier, there were only very few people who could pose a threat to Samiel Zentaur. Till now he had never encountered someone of the same Level as he was, who could pose a threat to him, though he was sure that there existed people on the same Level as him who would be able to give him a fight.

    Of course, without his Undeads, Samiel''sbat prowess was lowered, as he preferred not to use them in the vicinity of some Demon Tribesmen, especially those who were from the main lines and had ess to some sensitive information. That could give some bad hints to some people, which would attract unwanted attention. As someone from the Hall of Kadath, the Demon Tribes were his enemies.

    And as he was contemting about some things, he noticed that Yvraine was approaching the City Lord''s Mansion while she was dragging some unconscious old man with one of her hands, who was wearing clothes reminding him of scientists. He was rather curious why she chose to drag the man through the entire city, but there was one thing about which he was pretty sure, which was that he must be someone pretty important or valuable if she personally dragged him here.

    "I take it that you have found something interesting as well..."

    Samiel stated as he eyed the unconscious elderly scientist, as he started typing the number of Bishop Abraham Antigonus to open the portal so Yvraine could drop the scientist there, adding another person to the interrogation process.

    Yvraine dragged the old man here, so Samiel could call someone to transport him to a ce, where they would extract everything he knew. Because he had already sent two people to Bishop Antigonus, one more would make no difference, especially considering the fact, this time, they managed to capture one of the scientists.

    As Samiel looked at the man, he realized that he had seen that face of the old man somewhere before, and only after several seconds his eidetic memory kicked in because it was really an insignificant memory, hidden somewhere, in which he just skimmed it with his eyes. If it wasn''t for the perfect memory aspect of the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, then he wouldn''t even recognize the man before him.

    "That man is Johan von Meckerstein, a rogue scientist from the Scientia Hierarchy who was exiled several centuries ago."

    Samiel exined when the memory became clear to him. When he was training with the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber, the old man once showed him the catalog of the inter-cosmos criminals, basically the people who were wanted by some of the most powerful factions in the Cosmos.

    Ironically though, the members of the Hall of Kadath were not present, even though they would certainly fulfill all conditions to be superviins of the Cosmos. But as he was reading through the catalog, he just memorized the files together with the pictures, names and their crimes and bounties.

    "Johan von Merckerstein, Age: 705, formerly Gold-Tier Professional, rogue scientist of the Scientia Hierarchy who is wanted for illegal experiments, several murders, kidnappings, bribery, sabotage and stealing from the Genebank of the Scientia Hierarchy and for initiating another version of High Human Project."

    Even Yvraine was surprised by the summarization as the man had a long list of crimes, not to mention that he was previously Gold-Tier Professional and now he was barely a Level 10, as both of them sensed that there was something wrong with his body. It seemed artificial and unnatural, like it was manufactured, probably some sort of clone.

    "What kind of bounty did the Scientia Hierarchy put for him?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Yvraien asked curiously because she could sense that this man was someone very important in the Scientia Hierarchy when he was still with them. He probably escaped death by transferring his soul to a clone, which then wandered the Cosmos and somehow went to the Avalon Kingdom. Scientia Hierarchy was a member of the 13 Gates and ranked as 12th, but they were rtively neutral, only interested in their research and they often just remained on their Floor within the Tower or their Principal World.

    Because of that, it was rtively rare to meet someone from the Scientia Hierarchy, but that didn''t mean that they were weaklings; in fact, among the 13 Gates, despite their low ranking, they were one of the most powerful factions in the Cosmos.

    Their Magetech and Technology research reached an absolutely frightening degree, they developed a few really, really scary technologies, and they were one of few factions in the Cosmos that had ability to reproduce the Voidshisps.

    Voidships were special spacecraft that were able to traverse through the Void itself; so far, only a few factions had the capabilities to produce such things, the most notable ones being the Mind Flyers, Swarm, and Scientia Hierarchy. These three were able to mass-produce them inrge quantities; aside from them, some smaller factions were able to produce them, but not on such arge scale.

    "15,000,000 Credits, 1 Legendary Level Core and personalized vessel from the Scientia Hierarchy."

    When Samiel said those words, they struct in his throat because those numbers were... absolutely out of this world. Such bounty was high enough to order the death of even Advanced Legendary Level Powerhouse; 15 million Credits was absolutely outrageous for a single Gold-Tier Professional, but the Legendary Core and personalized vessel directly made by the Scientia Hierarchy... Samiel predicted that the worth of his life would be more than 70 million Credits.

    Though on the other side of all things considered, when Samiel thought about what crimes von Merckersteinmitted in the Hierarchy, he wasn''t that surprised. Aside from that, Scientia Hierarchy was one of the richest factions in the Cosmos, probably even richer than Hall of Kadath in terms of finances like Credits and Gold, because the entire Material ne was buying Magetech Weapons, Siege Equipment, Gadgets and other things from them.

    Most of the bounty came from the pockets of the Scientia Society, which was the strongest sub-factions within the Hierarchy, after which the Hierarchy is named. Apparently, mister Johan von Merckerstein managed to kidnap the daughter of one of the Hierarchs and carried some... disgusting things on her, which really wanted Samiel to torture him for a bit.

    A really hypocriticaling from him, but Samiel interestingly had a bottom line, which was not to act against your allies. It was one of his weird rules regarding loyal; as long as someone was loyal to him and was his ally, then Samiel would not make a move, but towards others or once this was changed, he wouldn''t really hesitate even with most unspeakable rituals or torture on the person.

    "Yvraine, you have captured him, so the final decision is up to you... though I if had to advise, hand him over to Scientias. That man is wanted there for some unspeakable things that would make even some worshippers of the Outer Gods like amateurs. Still, most importantly, if the Scientia Hierarchy learns that you have captured him, they would want to extradite him. From what I know, the Hierarchs may even result in some military action towards the Nesser Dynasty."

    Samiel stated because he knew that the knowledge that Johan von Merckerstein possessed, especially on the High Human Project, was invaluable, but at the same time, it was a double-sided axe.

    He himself would hand him over, technically speaking, for the Hall of Kadath; something like the High Human Procedure had little to no value, while the friendship of the Scientia Hierarchy was way more precious. Even though the Hall of Kadath was powerful at the moment, it didn''t mean they could act as tyrants.

    Contrary opposite, as Hall Master Faulhaber stated, it was better to act low and not to create an unnecessary conflict. Creating unnecessary conflicts always proved detrimental to factions, as they would be slowly but steadily overwhelmed by countless wars, battles and fights and would perish with the passage of time.

    Even the Hall of Kadath was not an exception to this rule, and neither were the Transcendental Factions. Passage of time was merciless and even the strongest hegemons could fall to the preys of time, bing destroyed in the process and fading into non-existence of oblivion.

    Because of their rtively mild approach, the Hall of Kadath didn''t have many enemies among the 13 Gates and had only a few; they were not like the Underdark, which was the enemy of practically everyone, or the Avalon Kingdom, which the majority of the factions across the Cosmos wanted to destroy.

    Though most of it was attributed to the istionist nature of the Hall, as they never interfered too much with the affairs of the Cosmos and mostmonly only kept to themselves. Sometimes fighting with the Cmity Church or some Demon Tribes, but that was it.

    "You are probably right."

    Yvraine, too weighted her opinions, and whilethe knowledge tempted here that von Merckerstein possessed, she was also aware of another side of the coin. The world was not all about the benefits, and even for the Nesser Dynasty, the only usage of the High Human Procedure was the development of the countermeasures to it, or rather, perfecting already existing ones.

    Meanwhile, she could potentially create a war between the Nesser Dynasty and the Scientia Hierarchy, something which would cost her dearly, as the Nesser Dynasty was right now preparing for the war against the Underdark, which could erupt any century right now.

    "I will send him to Nesser Dynasty so they can turn him over to the Scientia Hierarchy... at least I will get the bounty."

    In the end, she decided to hand him over to the Scientia Hierarchy, and then there was another purpose that Samiel wanted to achieve with this. By turning Johan von Merckerstein over, they would subtlyment on the side that the Avalon Kingdom has been sheltering the man, which would create a dispute between the Scientia Hierarchy and the Avalon Kingdom.

    While the Avalon Kingdom wasrgely independent in terms of resources, they still depended on some resources of strategic character and their import from the Scientia Hierarchy, especially in the area of the Magetech, and Samiel nned to sabotage that rtionship.

    This would be a grave hit because while the Scientia Hierarchy was making an enormous amount of money, for Scientias, it was not that great deal because they would quickly find someone else to fill the gap created by fall out with the Avalon Kingdom.

    "Excellent, we should be slowly getting out... after a few hours, the reinforcements from the Human Brotherhood will arrive here."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine took hold of Johan von Merckerstein and as she sent a message through her Holo-Brain to someone from the Nesser Dynasty so that they could open a spatial portal, and she could drop the captive to them.

    Several secondster, the portal appeared near them, and Yvraine threw Johan von Merckerstein through it, and this act concluded their stay in the City of Torlen, or at least what remained from it.

 Chapter 143 Interesting Developement For...

    After the mercenary party of Khaos Chapter from The Guild, consisting of Samiel Zentaur, Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon and Dharzug, departed from the rubble of the City of Torlen, in the course of the next five hours, the mes enveloped the entirety of the city and burned it to the ground.

    Before they left, Yvraine cast countless me spells together with Samiel''s Undeads onto the ming city to cause as much destruction, while Samiel used several Void Bombs across the city to destroy some more sturdy buildings, including the City Lord''s Mansion.

    Six hours after their departure, from the horizon, one could see an army marching towards the direction of the City of Torlen. There were tens of thousands of them; mostmonly, they were infantry d in heavy armors, with some of that were cavalry and no small number of various Magic-rted ss Bearers could be seen in the huge army.

    The reinforcements from the Human Brotherhood have finally arrived at their destination, though, unfortunately for them; they camete... toote at that. From the nearby hills, the Commander of the Army, Commander Strd, saw thick some rising to the sky, and at that moment, he knew that the city was either under siege or had already fallen.

    Though his thoughts were proven false because when they arrived close enough to see the state of the City of Torlen, it was razed to the ground, the walls were destroyed, all high buildings were torn down and the entire ce was turned into a huge inferno of mes and fire. The fire, which was burning everything to the ground, as the Casters he brought with them reported it was fire with magical properties, meaning somebody conjured it, and that meant that somebody was faster than them.

    "Immediately send the cavalry to scout the area; maybe we can track those who destroyed the city. Army march! Hurry!"

    Commander Strd barked a few orders as they all hurried towards the remains of the City of Torlen. He hoped to save at least survivors who were still alive, because they were invaluable to the Human Brotherhood''s war efforts. Citizens of Torlen were all artisans or workers, basically, people whom they needed the most right now after thebative force.

    After ten minutes, Commander Strd arrived at the ruins of Torlen with his entourage while the rest of the infantry was still a bitgging behind them, but they also soon arrived at the ming ruins of the industrial city of Torlen.

    Commander Strd looked at the burning city with rage because right now, just before he could arrive the reinforce the city, it was razed to the ground, with the majority of the poption being ughtered. His mission of securing the foothold here and creating another fortress city here was considered a failure.

    Destruction of the City of Torlen would have catastrophic consequences for the Human Brotherhood as a whole, not only for the city''s industrial purpose but also to create a fortress here and defensive points against the invasion of the Demon Tribes.

    With the fall of Torlen, the Demons would be able to push once again deeper into their territory within the span of a few weeks, significantly turning the tables towards their favor, something which he and other higher-ups of the Human Brotherhood didn''t wish to see.

    "Start casting Water Elemental Spells to put out the fire. We need to search through the city."

    Commander Strd ordered as the casters he brought with them started conjuring various Water Elemental Spells to counter the magical fire that was burning down the Torlen or what had remained from it.

    "Commander, we didn''t find anyone... only some footsteps towards to the Demon territories."

    Reported one of the cavalrymen that he sent to scout the area, and as expected, it was futile, as the culprits were already long gone. That was not that surprising because he suspected that the culprits behind the attack knew that some reinforcements wereing to the Torlen and after carrying out the attack, they immediately escaped.

    It took several hours for the casters that Commander Strd brought with him to quell down the fire that was destroying the Torlen, and when it was done, only a few things remained from the once great city.

    After the fire was quelled and they let the ruins of the city cool down because the heat was so high and intense that it was impossible for even Steel-Tier Professionals or those who were strengthened by the Gical Strengthening Synergies to enter the ce. Due to that, they were forced to wait for another several hours before the city ruins called enough so they could enter.

    Unfortunately, when they entered the ruins of the city, it confirmed Commander Strd''s worse fears because they didn''t find any survivors from the city; not even bones remained. Everything was turned to ash by the mes that burned the city to the ground.

    "Immediately head towards the Industrial District of the City and City Lord''s Mansion. Look for the warehouses and ces where the manufactories were located. Search if somebody survived or hid in some underground shelter."

    Commander Strd ordered, as those were the most important parts of the city before he personally departed to the ce near the City Lord''s Mansion, where theboratory was located.

    He was aware that the City Lord was someone from the Avalon Kingdom who was sent here to carry out some experiments of the Gic Enhancement Synergies, and the Human Brotherhood had cooperated with the Jaspar de''Charetier for decades already as he had lived on the 8th Floor for a very long time.

    After he arrived at his destination, he noticed that the ce where theboratory should be standing was turned into a pile of ash, simr to the other parts of the city. It was clear that the attackers were throughout in their attack and destroyed everything of importance in the Torlen.

    "Damm, damm, damm."

    He cursed seeing this because this was a clear sign that the attackers were aware of the experiments of the Jaspar de''Charetier and the fact that the Human Brotherhood was experimenting here with gically strengthening under the orders of the Avalon Kingdom.

    It was highly possible that Torlen was attacked partially because of its strategic location and fundamental nature of the city but also because of the nature of experiments and clearly, after the Demon Tribes have noticed the existence of the Synergie, they became far more aggressive in their attacks.

    While it was not the first time since something like that was invested, but it was one of the rare attempts to mass-produce them and create some variant that could be used on the wider poption.

    "My Lord, the City Lord''s Mansion ispletely destroyed, with all valuables are missing; practically nothing remained as we searched through the rubbles and ruins of the estate."

    Stated one of the adjutants of Commander Strd, who frowned hearing this, because he knew that how much wealth had the Jaspar de''Charetier amassed, it was an astronomical amount for someone like him, thus he wanted to get his hands on some part of the treasure.

    Possibly use it to bribe one of the smugglers to smuggle him out from the 8th Floor or bribe some merchants that traded across the Tower. He was one of the smarter ones, and saw that the Demon Tribes were not taking them seriously but rather living training targets for their younger generation and nothing more, nothing less.

    "And what of the industrial district?"

    He asked, irritated by the fact that nothing seemed good.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We managed to save a few workers in the factory who were lucky enough to close themselves in the underground warehouse, which was at that time empty. They were pretty lucky to survive; if we came a few hourster, then they would die too."

    The adjutant answered swiftly; at least something good came from it, as they managed to save a few workers and interrogate them about what had happened. They were very fortunate because the manufactory where they were working was located on the outskirts of the industrial district, so when that extremely destructive magic hit it, the building was only partially destroyed.

    Afterward, they closed themselves in the empty warehouse under the manufactory, where they waited and essentially safely lived through the siege and destruction. Of course, due to the fire, if they remained longer in that ce, they would get suffocated.

    "And?"

    Commander Strd asked impatiently as the adjutant started exining the situation.

    "Apparently, the entire industrial district was attacked by some kind of extremely destructive magic and in a split of several seconds, the entire district was destroyed. Afterward, probably half an hour and fierce fights erupted in the city as the Undead Tide attacked the entire city."

    Undead Tide... meant that a very powerful necromancer was fighting on behalf of the Demon Tribes, which was very bad for the Human Brotherhood. If the Necromancer was moving across the human territory unhindered, then they had one man army threat that could attack at their most vulnerable spots.

    This was very bad, and he didn''t like it, but there was nothing else he could do about that, aside from sending some people to search for the Necromancer but that was all. The Demon Tribes had money to employ some powerful Professionals to do dirty work for them, which would greatly speed up the conquest of the human territory, aside from lowering their losses, not like they cared about it.

    "Shithe... report back to the HQ and request for the next orders... Torlen is lost, and this means that we would need to slowly withdraw our forces from the entire eastern area of the continent and regroup at other defensive lines."

    Commander Strd stated, as things really weren''t going ording to what he wanted. After he dealt with that, he went to personally take a look at the City Lord''s Mansion as he inspected the rubbles and ruins of the glorious estate, which it was during its peak.

    "Nothing..."

    He muttered as he searched through the ruins until he arrived at the part of the ruins which was in way better state than other parts of the ruined estate, as he noticed something metallic in the construction of the floor.

    "Vault."

    He stated in surprise as he took out his sword and, with several shes and hacks at the Vault, he managed to open it, to see tens of Gold Ingots, one Dimensional Ring, and even a Credit Card from the Vaultbank, an unmarked one. This meant that this was one of the emergency hideouts for the City Lord that either the City Lord didn''t manage to empty or the attacker didn''t find.

    Either way, Commander Strd emptied the content of the Vault before he took out his Holo-Brain, which he was very lucky to acquire because he managed to kill one of the interdimensional smugglers once and took the Holo-Brain from him.

    Even though it was several decades ago, and this model was old more than 200 years, it was still working as he called specific numbers through his Holo-Brain. After several seconds, a hologram of a person appeared clearly signifying his race as Mind Flyer.

    "Wee to the Salbidam''s Smuggling Company, oh... it''s a human. What do you wish?"

    Stated the Mind Flyer with his arrogance open, not even bothering to hide his clear distaste for humankind, but nevertheless, he put on some polite front. Of course, in his ce, the thing which was speaking was some mechanical device because the Mind Flyerscked vocal cords and couldn''tmunicate normally.

    Salbidam was a weird Mind Flyer, as he flew his ship through the Void and basically smuggled goods and engaged in criminal activity, but because he didn''t belong to any Mind Flyer Fleet and die to that, most ignored him and wouldn''t actively pursue him.

    "I need transport from the 8th Floor of the Tower to some random Middle World, preferably one with a high human poption, lower over strength if possible advanced Technological Level or Magetech Level."

    Commander Strd hurriedly reported as the Mind Flyer Salbidam searched for something and calcted the price.

    "Hmm... that would be pricier than a normal trip... the 8th Floor is watched by several Legendary Level Demons and some of them are monitoring space and exits... the overall price would be 400,000 Credits or equivalent to that."

    Stated the Mind Flyer Salbidam as Commander Strd frowned hearing this because he personally amassed wealthparable to around 20,000 Credits, which in truth, was a lot for his situation.

    Right now, he obtained 200 kilograms of Gold, together with 10,000,000 Gold Coins; with the standard exchange rate of 1:100, those Gold Coins would be worth another 100,000 Credits, and on the Credits Card from the Vaultbant, there were 250,000 Credits.

    With some other Valuables and he was barely able to scrape the 400,000 Credits that the Mind Flyer wanted for the service, but in the end, he was forced to agree because there would not be many smugglers who would right now dare to smuggle someone from the 8th Floor.

    As Salbidam stated, the ce was closely monitored by a whole bunch of Legendaries, so the risk was extremely high, and he didn''t really want to die here, and he knew that using Dimensional Pathway was impossible because those were all monitored since the start of the war.

    "Half before and a half after you have delivered me to the destination."

    Strd stated to the Mind Flyer Salbidam, as the Mind Flyer smuggled typed something on the Holo-Brain and sent him coordination of location, where he would pick him up. It was a very remote ce in the human continent, which was of absolutely insignificant and even the forces of the Human Brotherhood didn''t bother themselves to go there.

    After the call ended, Commander Harry Strd, or just rather former Commander Harry Strd, ran away and disappeared from the ruins of the Torlen. Only several hourster, the other officers in the army realized that theirmander had gone rogue after they found an emptied vault in the floor, which was opened only now and thus they came to the conclusion that he had deserted.

    Not like urrences like these were rare because many of the Human Brotherhood, those who were not as fanatical and were rich, attempted to run away because they realized that they never stood a chance to win this helpless battle.

 Chapter 144 Level Progress And Wealth

    Human Continent, Eastern Area of the Human Continent, Fortress of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, several hourster after the attack on the City of Torlen.

    After the trio have returned from the City of Torlen, Samiel decided to stay a bit in the Fortress of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. He noticed that the poption was much lower here; probably the Demons had already moved after they noticed the destruction of the Torlen, making use of this opportunity to make a move on the defense positions of the Human Brotherhood.

    Samiel observed the behavior of the Demon Tribesmen in the fortress. They were running around from ce to ce, probably preparing for an offensive or something like that, but judging by the festive mood in the ce, it was clear that they were going to fight someone.

    For the next few weeks, maybe two months or three months, there would be rtively quiet for them because the Demons would be pushing the offensive, and there would be only some missions that they would issue to The Guild, mostmonly the most challenging things. Certainly, there were missions that even the Demons wouldn''t want to undertake; thus they would pass them to the middleman.

    Of course, that kind of Missions would Samiel never take because he knew that if there were things that even Demons didn''t want to do, then it was in suicide. That was because he noticed that the Demon Tribes right now issued the mission to The Guild, only in two cases and not even in one situation more.

    The first one was if there was a thing that they needed to carry out, but from some objective things, they just couldn''t. Such was the attack on the Torlen because the Demon Tribes were under close watch from the forces of the Human Brotherhood, and their own forces were needed at the other parts of the frontlines. For the same reason, they couldn''t afford to send a small group of their experts, and for that, they used the services of The Guild.

    The second one was the situation when they attempted to achieve something, but they failed spectacrly, but at the same time, there was no other choice, and they needed to achieve the same thing. Just like the Imp Tribe and the clearance of the human troops at the Two-Faced Monkey Ind, these missions were basically out of necessity.

    "We will be returning back to Goldtooth City afterward; for some time, the Demons would be pushing forward, and once again, the offensive is halted; only then we would be undertaking another mission."

    Samiel said, while Yvriane didn''t say anything and Dharzug just snorted but didn''t refute it. Even he was aware that the Demons would be now dropping only some suicidal missions that they either failed to aplish or didn''t wish to aplish, and those were, of course, mission impossible.

    Commanders of the forces of the demons were the younger generations from various tribes, who were here topete and harvest contribution points within their own tribe and they, of course, wanted to prove themselves. So they were not that keen on handling the possibilities of obtaining contribution and glory to a middleman.

    After that, Dharzug went to the tavern that was constructed here by some adventurous merchants because this was an opportunity for the greedy merchants. They were aware that the soldiers who were stationed in the safe zones would want to drink, and thus, many of them departed from the Demon Continent to the Human Continent, where they were constructing various taverns, brothels and ces of entertainment, where the Demon invaders would spend their money.

    Samiel only hoped that the Ork wouldn''t create a mess by brawling and fighting with the Demons, Orks were temperamental, Demons were no better, especially when alcohol was in y. Fortunately, we won''t be staying here for more than just a few hours, so hopefully, there won''t be any troubleing from that.

    Meanwhile, Dharzug went to drink in the inn, Samiel with Yvraine took a stroll around the fortress, as the Demon soldiers mainly ignored them because they were affiliated with The Guild, which in turn was taking the Missions from the High Council of the Demon Tribes. So they were some kind of allies, one could say, not knowing that Samiel was taking notes about the defenses of the fortress, how many soldiers were stationed there, their strengths and equipment etc...

    And then, he nned to send all of those informations to the Human Brotherhood through anonymous means because he wanted to have the 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, Prince Kisrith, killed.

    ***

    After touring around the fortress for some time, Samiel decided that he had gathered enough information about the forward fortress of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and took out the Holo-Brain that he brought on the ck market of the Zephystrand City. It was specifically tweaked somonly, criminals used these kinds of Holo-Brains because they were untraceable and specifically adjusted for anonymousmunication.

    When he sent the message he wanted to send, he stored the Holo-Brain back to the Dimensional Ring and decided to return back to the Goldtooth City because he wanted to enjoy thefort of the Goldtooth.

    Fortunately, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was rich enough to construct here teleportation terminals, and as a member of The Guild, he could sue them for free and would instantaneously arrive at the Demon Continent.

    Surprisingly Dharzug didn''t really create any conflict with the Demons drinking at the tavern, but judging based on the atmosphere there, it was not that far from it, as the situation was pretty tense there. Samiel took Dharzug with him, even despite the protest from the huge Ork; in the end, he went together with Samiel and Yvraine as they departed from the Human Continent back to the Demon Continent.

    With the teleportation terminal, they would be teleported to the destination, which was another fortress of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe on the Demon Continent, which acted as a hub for their logistic efforts.

    After collecting Dharzug, they went to the teleportation terminal, which teleported all three of them away as they appeared on the Demon Continent, and everything took just several seconds altogether.

    ***

    Goldtooth City, Demon Continent, Several Days Later.

    After several days have passed since the fall of the Torlen, which Samiel managed to bring down with Yvraine and Dharzug. Exactly like he predicted, after the fall of the City of Torlen, the Demon Tribeunched another huge offensive on the defensive lines of the Human Brotherhood and managed to push the humans from the entire Eastern Area of the Human Continent.

    One of the most notable defeats of the Human Brotherhood was the newly termed battle at the ruined city. Apparently, the Commander of the Reinforcement Forces of the Human Brotherhood who was sent there to establish a new foothold, Commander Harry Strd, managed to find one of the hidden stashes of the previous City Lord of Torlen, Jaspar de''Charetier and disappeared.

    His officers realized this only several hourster when they started searching for theirmander, but he was nowhere to find. This created a huge mess in the chain ofmand because for two days, the army of 50,000 human troops that were sent to the Torlen didn''t know what to do, and only after more than two days, the orders were sent down from the higher-ups of the Human Brotherhood.

    Unfortunately for the army that was stuck there, they were ambushed by the army of the Demon Tribes and ughtered to thest man. Because the human army was basically camping outside of the ruins of the City of Torlen, they were essentially defenseless against the ambush of the Demon Army.

    Afterward, the Demons progressed deeper and deeper into the Human Territory until they stopped and established defensive lines. It was clear that the Demons were taking their time, but they were also cautious and learned that the Humans were putting off the resistance.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A piece of news has reached Samiel that on many battlefields, Humans were using some very advanced weaponry that was somehow imported from the Avalon Kingdom because it was no way that the Human Brotherhood would be able to manufacture advanced rifles with the firepower that was strong enough to kill even Bronze-Tier individuals under the concentrated firepower.

    This caused Demons to suffer significant losses, and even though the Demons didn''t really care about their losses, it was only until it hit some cap. After that, they needed to lower the casualties, so it didn''t look too bad on them. With thebination of advanced magetech and gic strengthening, shockingly, on some battlefields, the Humans managed to turn the tables on the Demons.

    Certainly, this was all without the interference of the Gold-Tier Demons. However, still, it alerted many, as it was clear that the Demons were cautious not about the Human Brotherhood but about the Avalon Kingdom who was supporting them from the shadows.

    Right after they returned to the Goldtooth City, the first thing that Samiel went to do, was to absorb some of the Mana Crystals, as he still had about 150 Silver-Tier Mana Crystals and countless Credits and Gold Coins, for which he could buy other Mana Crystals. After he reached higher levels, he nned to check on the content of the spatial equipment he looked from the Jaspar de''Charetier, as he was sure that the man was rich.

    Not to mention, he looked at several warehouses of across the City of Torlen, all of which were stacked up with materials and resources. All of those were of strategic purpose, some of which were very rare, and would make Smaiel a nice amount of money after heunched the IMC Project.

    He was delighted at this because indirectly, the Human Brotherhood had helped Samiel a bit because it once again lowered the initial investments into the IMC he nned to make. Of course, one of the most significant items on the list were the materials, as he was essentiallyunching apany that would be trading weapons and war supplies.

    He estimated that the initial investment to the IMC would be between 1,5 to 2,0 million Credits because he nned a lot of things and wanted to start fast. Also, fortunately, thanks to his loot, he would need to invest only around 500,000 Credits, mainly for the premises, employees and other things.

    The priciest things were, of course, the materials, but the Human Brotherhood had approximately several million Credits worth of materials.

    Samiel took out another Silver-Tier Mana Crystal as he was absorbing Mana from them at tremendous speed, as he felt that his Level would be slowly increasing. After ten minutes and draining a whole bunch of Silver-Tier Mana Crystals, Samiel felt his Level increasing once more, reaching this time already Level 34.

    When he returned back from the Human Continent afterpleting the mission, he was at Level 32, and he immediately started practicing the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method and draining one Mana Crystal after another. Soon enough, he reached Level 33, and after several days he spent by training and stabilizing his powerbase, he continued with Leveling Up once more.

    Of course, Samiel continued practicing the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method and drained one Silver-Tier Mana Crystal after another until he used all of his reserves. Not to mention, he was also using all of the Mana Crystals from the spatial equipment which belonged to the Jaspar de''Charetier as the aristocrat from the Avalon Kingdom had a high number of the Mana Crystals, surprisingly even more than two hundred Silver-Tier ones.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 35.]

    After some time, Samiel heard the mechanical voice of the Akashic Records in his ears as he saw the translucent window which bore the same message. Samiel then stretched his body a bit because he was sore from all of that sitting and doing nothing, as he essentially was just meditating for countless hours straight without any stop.

    "I should probably check the rest of the content of the spatial equipment of de''Charetier."

    Samiel muttered as he took out five Dimensional Rings, three spatial pouches and one ne, which was also acting as a dimensional storage ce. Slowly he started putting out everything from the spatial equipment until, after forty minutes, he managed to empty everything.

    Afterward, he was spending the next hour adjusting everything, categorizing and putting everything into order until everything was done. Before him was a small horde of gold ingots, gold coins, Credit Cards from the Vaultbank, pieces of jewelry and other things.

    Altogether he obtained from de''Charetier the following loot:

    x8,756,800 Gold Coins

    x100 tonnes of Gold Ingots (One Gold Coins weights approximately 10 grams, so 100 tonnes is 100,000,000 grams, which would be converted to 10,000,000 Gold Coins)

    x550,000 Credits

    Samiel didn''t really bother to count an uncounted number of jewelry, gems and other things, as he would probably sell them through the IMC in the future. Though he had to admit that the overall loot from Jaspar de''Charetier''s belongings was way better than he initially expected.

    Still, it was rather understandable because Jaspar de''Charetier was ruling an important and prosperous city like Torlen, and he squeezed as much as possible from that position. And as the decades passed, it was understandable that the City Lord amassed tremendous wealth, especially considering that he was on the 8th Floor.

    Of course, those Credits were not made from any activity on the 8th Floor because more than half a million Credits was an outrageous amount for the 8th Floor of the Tower. With the standard exchange rate, it would be around half a billion of Gold Coins.

    So Samiel quickly deduced that it had something to do with financing the research into the Gic Enhancement Synergies, which he was overseeing on the 8th Floor. Those were funds provided by the House of de''Charetier to buy resources and ensure that everything proceeded smoothly and without any problems.

    "Still... this was good loot; who would be thinking that I would be so lucky... probably the Demon Tribes would be banging their heads on the wall."

    Samiel muttered as he smiled at the thought of the riches he obtained before he noticed that he got a message through his Holo-Brain. When he opened it, he realized that it was from Yvraine, who was calling him to the inn''s bar.

 Chapter 145 Happennings Here And There...

    After Samiel arrived at the dining part of the Inn where they were staying, which was acting as a tavern, Yvraine was already waiting there for him as she was eating, while Samiel''s familiar Nefertari was sitting next to her.

    Nefertari was looking curiously at everything that was around her while asionally asking for some treats and food because she too wanted to have something to eat. Then after she got some treats, she needed some scratches behind her ear and chin, after which she would be sleeping for most of the time, waking up if only something of importance happened.

    "So, what is so important that you disrupted my training?"

    Samiel asked rather irritated because he didn''t like very much when someone was disrupting him during the time he was increasing his Level or training, not to mention the greatest sacrilege was disrupting his time when he was reading Grimoire.

    That was the greatest heresy punishable by death, so if Yvraine disrupted him during the time he was practicing the Mana Control Method and was raising his Levels, something important must have happened. Otherwise, as she knew his quirks and problems, not to mention the importance of someone being undisturbed during his training, she would have never woken up from practicing his Mana Control Method.

    Even during his time on Earth, he had big problems with concentration or rather being concentrated on something. If he managed to get concentrated on something, then he would always enter some trance-like state in which he spent countless hours, sometimes even days, always repeating the one same activity.

    Of course, something important must have happened because as he looked around the tavern, he noticed only Yvraine and Nefertari were present. Dharzug was probably training somewhere because the Ork spent all of his free time training with his war axe "da big choppa" and getting stronger... essentially a training maniac.

    Aside from two of them, there was not a single soul in the tavern, meaning all Mercenaries of The Guild must have to go somewhere, and this was possible only when an emergency mission was issued. Some kind of emergency mission that neither Yvraine nor Dharzug took, though, so he was bing a bit intrigued by what was happening right now.

    "7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, Prince Kisrith, was killed approximately one hour ago by the group of assassins from the Avalon Kingdom and two leaders of the Human Brotherhood. They managed to sneak up into the fortress that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe constructed on the Human Continent and ambushed the 7th Prince when he was having fun with one of his concubines. To bring even more salt to the injury, they managed to escape afterward, as only a few Silver-Tier assassins were killed, but the Gold-Tier assassins of the Avalon Kingdom and leaders of the Human Brotherhood escaped unscathed."

    Summarized Yvraine the actual situation as Samiel grinned from ear to ear. Indeed, this couldn''t be the best as it is now because, from the start, he nned to get back at the Demon Tribes or kill some of their members. He knew that the Legendaries that were overseeing this wouldn''t be preventing this from happening because Demons were too prideful to help one of their youngsters when they were attacked by someone of the same Tier.

    Of course, if they intervened, it would be technically a breach of the Covenant, but not like anyone would say anything about this. Cases like this happened pretty often, but the Demon Tribes viewed it as a sign of weakness, so from their own vanity and pride, they let their price be assassinated, which would mean one less mighty Legendary in the future.

    "I take it that the rest of the Mercenaries are searching or the traces of the assassins on the Human Continent?"

    Yvraine nodded in agreement to his question because the moment the assassination was carried out and the Demon Council found out about that, they instantly issued several missions to find and capture the assassins who killed the 7th Prince of the Golden-HOrned Demon Tribe.

    Naturally, Samiel and his Mercenary Party Khaos Chapter won''t be participating in them because it was a waste of time. Of course, something else that Samiel nned to achieve with this assassination was to hasten up the reckless attacks of the Demon Tribes.

    Right now they were in a state of shame, especially the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, which not only lost one of their Princes with a pure bloodline and potential to be at least Supreme Legendary, they were shamed that one of their strongest members was assassinated and among the Demon Tribes it was a sign of great shame and weakness.

    To wash that shame, they needed to prove to everybody that they are still strong. And, of course, how else they would be proving that than sending another of the Royalty of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe to the 8th Floor to take themand andunch an immense offensive against the Human Brotherhood.

    "Stupid tribal idiots."

    Samiel cursed at their stupidity while Yvraine wholeheartedly agreed with his statement. Not even Orks were this fussy about their pride because Greenskins, the moment they saw that one of theirs was getting "bullied" then they would all gang on the enemy, not caring about the consequences. Because of that, it was not that umon to see Legendary Level Greenskins causing after mortals or Gold-Tier Orks attacking those at the Steel-Tier or lower...

    They just didn''t cared, because their inner unity within their Tribe or n was more important than anything. Meanwhile, the Demon Tribes were all about their bloodlines and pride, and they only cared about the strength of their Tribemsna, nothing else, so they rarely helped each other in fights or so...

    "With the current trend, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe will push for extreme offensive, where they will bring practically everything to bring down the Central Area of the Human Continent, which is the best-defended area of all of the Human Continent''s area. Not to mention, they have there some gadgets from the Avalon Kingdom."

    Of course, Samiel was aware that the Central Region of the Human Continent was a bastion of the Human Brotherhood and due to that, the defenses of that area were frightening. Naturally, they were nothing that the Demon Tribes couldn''t breach through with their power and numbers, but they would certainly pay the price for that.

    Now, the correct steps on how to conquer the Human Continent was to leave the Central Area as thest one and focus first on the other Areas, clipping the wings of the Human Brotherhood and lowering their capabilities to wage war.

    With this, they would be continuously weakening the Human Brotherhood because the whole Central Area was the strongest one and was defended the best, it countless aspects of existence, the Central Area depended on the other ones for its own preservation.

    And right now, this strategy was instantaneously thrown out of the window and a new one was implemented where the Demons would beunching an enormous offensive at the Central Area of the Human Continent, spearheaded by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    "We shall wait and see... there is nowhere to hurry and I have some prediction that the offensive is not going to end well for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe."

    Samiel stated as he ordered something to eat because he was hungry, while at the same time, he ordered some milk and meat for Nefertari. Through the telepathic connection that he had with his familiar, Nefertari stated to him that she was hungry and thirsty, and as her hooman, he was responsible for tending to her needs and whims.

    Thus as heplied with requests of her majesty, he also gave her a few scratches behind her ears, exactly like she liked it, before he returned his attention to Yvraine once more, as they were in talks of searching for the next suitable missions form The Guild.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After some time, he managed to get her on his side, in the aspect of secretly sabotaging the efforts of the Demon Tribe and causing them as much as damage as possible, which in truth wasn''t that hard because from the start of the war, the Demons were pretty arrogant, and arrogance usually leads to hard fall and terrible consequences.

    "How so?"

    Yvraine asked as she tilted her head in confusion; indeed, she didn''t see theplications that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe would suffer in the long term as well in the short term with this move because in front of their overwhelming strength, the Human Brotherhood didn''t stand a chance.

    "There is a hidden danger in the form of descendants of Agares and Vassago... other Demon Tribes also won''t be staying silent because even they could see that the defenses of the humans could cut their numbers steadily, especially when they were supplied by the Avalon Kingdom. Because of that, they are for sure bound to suffer some internal problems."

    While the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was the most powerful among other Demon Tribes and descendants of the 72 Pirs, they were not that powerful to the point of suppressing all of their opposition on the material ne of the Cosmos.

    Because of that, they were often forced topromise, especially with the other Pir Lineages, mainly those who were strongest after them. Unfortunately for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, they were not in a state where they could assume control over everyone else.

    Samiel knew that those of the Vassago and Agares Lineage wouldn''t be thrilled to throw their troops in vain, so it was possible that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, as the lineage of Emperor Bael, would try to pressure them so they wouldply with their n.

    "Depending on how the situation evolves, there is a high chance that there will be a conflict between the Demon Tribes. Among the leading Tribes, the 72 Pirs, the descendants of Emperor Bael, have inted egos of the size of the Tower so that they wouldn''t take ''no'' as an answer to their orders, especially in a situation like this one."

    Samiel exined the situation because he could clearly see the situation going down from the hill.

    "Whatever... let them kill each other."

    Yvraine shrugged at that, clearly not caring about the fact that the Demon Tribes started killing each other; for the Nesser Dynasty as a whole this was a positive oue because nobody wanted to see unified Demon Tribes. Even the present situation, where they functioned on the principle of the council and some democratic mechanisms, was very, very, very bad.

    The Demon Council was technically the biggest faction in the material ne, but fortunately, they never worked together and only on some very rare asions they worked together on some things, like the war on the 8th Floor, but even here, the disputes between the tribes continued.

    And there was the tickling bomb in the form of unaffiliated Tribes, which didn''t stem from the 72 Pirs of the Transcendent Daemons, who started bing more and more numerous and soon enough would be a big problem for the Demon Council to solve.

    "How is your training with the Winter Magic is going?"

    Yvraine asked; after a short time, they started eating as the three huge sizzling steaks arrived that Samiel ordered, as he immediately started eating the delicious meat. It was one of his favorite foods, and these three beautiful steaks were from peak Silver-Tier cow-type Magical Beasts, with each of them costing around 25 Credits.

    25 Credits was equivalent to 2,500 Gold Coins, so for one steak, more than two thousand Gold Coins was an absolutely outrageous price, but in the Tower it was not that umon. Especially the ce like this Inn which served exclusively people from The Guild, so the food here cost really something.

    "Not great, not terrible... Intermediate Winter Magic is proving to be much more challenging than I have initially anticipated, but fortunately, it is not something that couldn''t be solved with enough time. The more I advance on the path of Magic and uncover the mysteries of the Arcane the harder it bes in turn."

    Samiel answered, not really happy with the progress he was making with theprehension of the Intermediate Winter Magic. This could be considered good news because he was studying the Intermediate Winter Magic for only a few weeks and he could already cast a few spells, but Smaiel was not that satisfied with the results.

    Of course, another thing that he nned to do, was to create another Higher Undead, this time to finally created an Elder Lich if possible, because he needed to get proper cannon fodder incorporated into his Undead Army, and only Liches had such control capacity.

    Even an average Lich could control 50 Undeads per Level, while the Elder Liches could control 150 Undeads per Level, and Overlords, who were the final evolutionary stages of the Lichdom, could control minimally 400 Undeads per Level.

    If a single Overlord was birthed, it would be typically considered the start of the Undead Scourge that would ravish countless worlds in the Cosmos. Overlords were extremely dangerous and at the same time, they were fortunately very rare types of Undead Lifeforms, rarely even a single one was created or birthed under very special circumstances.

    If he managed to create an Elder Lich with all materials he gathered, then at the Silver-Tier in which the Elder Lich would be "born" technically speaking, could control somewhere in between 7,500 Undeads to 9,300 Undeads, if the Elder Lich is created somewhere with Level 50 to Level 55.

    Of course, the Silver-Tier Elder Lich of the Undeads he controls more than 80% needed to be at least two Tier lower than the Elder Lich. Meaning if the Elder Lich is at the Silver-Tier than 80% of its Undeads need to be at the Steel-Tier.

    "Not to mention, I am going to start creating an Elder Lich through the ritual method... with this my Undead Army would basically triple overnight, even if it would be just a cannon fodders, but even that is something."

    Samiel stated while Yvraine looked at him curiously... If he created an Elder Lich which would be another Higher Undead, but because Liches were known to have an extreme affinity for the Necromancy Arts and were able to resurrect and control countless Undeads at the same time, which would be a great boon for Samiel''sbat prowess.

 Chapter 146 Results Of...

    Three dayster, Goldtooth City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    Time went undoubtedly fast when someone was having fun, and as Samiel was engrossed in studying the Intermediate Winter Magic, he didn''t even realize that three days had already passed since the 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, Prince Kisrith was assassinated by the assassins of the Avalon Kingdom and some of the remaining Gold-Tier experts of the Human Brotherhood.

    So the leak of information proved to be useful in the end and the Humans of the Avalon Kingdom and those of the Human Brotherhood organized an assassination mission to dispose of him. Samiel couldn''t really say that it was a smart move because this would only cause demons to be more and more vengeful, burning and killing everything in their path.

    Especially the onesing from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, which would right now have some sort of honor obligation to carry out the vengeance for their killed Prince. If not, then the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, the fabled and illustrious lineage of Grand Emperor Bael of the 72 Pirs would be seen as weak and such an oue was uneptable.

    Of course, during those three days outside, the only significant thing that happened was a conflict between the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe, which were the lineages of Grand Duke Vassago and Grand Duke Agares respective with the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, the lineage of Emperor Bael.

    As Samiel predicted, the hot heated Golden-Horned Demon Tribe immediately sent down another of its Princes, this time they sent the 5th Prince, who was already at the peak of the Gold-Tier, only a step away from achieving Mastery. So this was great advancement from the 7th Prince because the 5th Prince was many times stronger... but at the same time there were some rumors about his... character; one could say it was not the best one around.

    Just exactly like Samiel stated, the 5th Prince immediately after arriving at the 8th Floor ordered to prepare for a massive attack on the Central Area of the Human Continent, to wash out the shame suffered by the assassination of the 7th Prince Kisrith. This immediately resulted in conflict with the representatives of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe, as both of them allied and told the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe to fuck off.

    They were aware that if they carried out the offensive like the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe ordered, then they would suffer immense losses, but the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe didn''t care about the losses of his own Tribe, not talking about the other Lineageical Tribes or other Tribes.

    Of course, the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe didn''t take that kindly and a fight erupted between the three tribes, while others just stood and watched the show and how it would end.

    The results were:

    Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe withdrew all forces from themand of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe as they refused to participate in the assault on the Central Area of the Human Continent. They will adhere to the original n, which was decided by their respective Elders and will start attacking the other Area of the Human Continent as it was decided before the 5th Prince took over themand of the forces of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    Golden-Horned Tribe will proceed with the conquest of the Central Area on their own, together with their vassals, as some of the other Pir Lineages of Demonkin followed suit and simrly to Star Demons and Moon Demons, they left the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe to their own.

    From the other Pir Lineages, only a few warmongers or close allies and vassals of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe would participate in the operation. Still, even now, the dispute that was achieved by a single assassination was something staggering.

    Another thing that Samiel was aware of was the fact that with this motion, it was highly possible that the Avalon Kingdom would start supplying the Human Brotherhood with more and more weapons, and maybe even Magisterium would join the fray. That was because the internal unity, that feeble little thing that was among the Demon Tribes before the assassination of the 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, now didn''t exist.

    Now the Demon Tribes were acting separately due to the conflict between the three most powerful Demon Tribes or, rather, the conflict between the three most powerful Daemon Pir Lineages. So, that would create an empty space for the third parties to intervene in the conflict.

    And one had to say that the Demon Tribes were not really the most popr factions and species at the material ne of the Cosmos. In fact, many outright despised them, but they were strong, and especially if they rarely acted as one in the form of their Demon Council, then they would pose a threat to even factions like Hall of Kadath, Vaultbank or The Guild.

    As Samiel was meditating in the room andprehending the secrets of the Intermediate Winter Magic, suddenly, his Holo-Brain lit up because he was getting an iing call. When he looked over, he realized that it was from the Bishop Abraham Antigonus of the Hall of Kadath, as he immediately picked up the call.

    "Greetings Bishop."

    Samiel greeted Bishop Abraham Antingonus as the familiar visage of the handsome young-looking Bishop of the Hall of Kadath with short ck hair and ck wolf ears appeared in the hologram through the Holo-Brain call.

    "Greetings Holy Son."

    Bishop Abraham Antigonus greeted Samiel back; then the man immediately went to the thing that he wanted to tell him. The casual talk and other formalities and pleasantries were often viewed and unnecessary by the Hall of Kadath as they preferred a more direct approach which saved time.

    "The reason I am calling you is that the interrogation has beenpleted. Surprisingly or not, when you sent me Jaspar de''Charetier, from his mind, I was able o easily extract some of the ritualistic magic which was used to cast the seals on the souls of the assassins and the interrogation was finished in a short time. Of course, the information obtained from the assassin that was captured."

    Summarized Bishop Abraham Antigonus as this piqued Samiel''s interest because, finally, the results of the interrogation were out. Bishop Abraham Antigonus had in his disposition, of course, both of the captured ones were treasure troves of information.

    Jaspar de''Charetier was a descendant of the Noble House of the Avalon Kingdom and contained some juicy information, but it didn''t hold a candle to the amount of information that the assassin of the Back Units contained. Samiel, of course, knew that this would mean that he would be getting arge number of the Contribution Points.

    "From the memories of both Jaspar de''Charetier and the member of the Assassination ck Unit of the Avalon Kingdom, we found out that they have been mainly scheming against the Demon Tribes by developing the Gic Strengthening Synergie. de''Charetiers are the House in charge of one of the research groups, but their progress is slow, but nevertheless, the Hall Master has decided to order a raid on their facilities across the Cosmos that we are aware of because it has been proved that they are a significant threat to the bnce of the Cosmos. It is enough that Scientia Hierarchy and Solheim have simr technology, and we don''t need other factions to achieve the same, especially considering the nature and ideology of the Avalon Kingdom. Due to this reason, the Hall Master has sent copies of this information to the Nesser Dynasty, Underdark, Asura Tribe, Pale Council and Cmity Church."

    After hearing the long exnation of the situation, Samiel visibly gulped. It was clear that the Hall of Kadath was heavily tempted to let the Avalon Kingdom to continue their research as they wished because the ones who would be suffering the most would be the Demons, as the Demons had the greatest conflicts and deepest grudges against the Humans.

    Of course, this course of action was considered as immensely shortsighted and irrational, because sooner orter, if the Avalonians grew strong enough and obtained the technological level of the Scientia Hierarchy and Solheim, they would be a threat even to the other factions with their human supremacy ideology.

    Samiel knew that in the Cosmos, there was an unspoken consensus, especially between the Supreme Races to keep humans inferior and as ves, not letting them rise. He certainly knew that there was something behind it, aside from just material benefits, but not even his master; Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber, refused to say anything on that matter.

    "So overall, the things that you provided to the Hall of Kadath are worth approximately 4,500 Contribution Points. We obtained many locations where the de''Charetiers are experimenting with the Gic Strengthening Synergies. Also, there is some interesting development between the Avalon Kingdom and Scientia Hierarchy happening as we speak."

    Stated Bishop Abraham Antigonus as Samiel''s ears perked up hearing that. 4,500 Contribution Points of the Hall of Kadath was a lot, it was very, very lot, because, for each missionpleted, one could get around a few hundred Contribution Points at max; even getting over a thousand was only for missions for the Legendary Level Powerhouses mainly.

    They turned over the Johan von Merckerstein to the Nesser Dynasty, which subsequently handed the captured criminal to the Scientia Hierarchy with the information that he was hiding under the protection of the Avalon Kingdom.

    "I don''t know if that was your aim, but probably yes, seeing your grin. Several days after the Scientia Hierarchy got their hands on the von Merckerstein, they immediately interrogated the man, and coupled with the information from the Nesser Dynasty, the Hierarchs immediately contacted the Avalon Kingdom, and right now, they are basically arguing. However, it has been noted that three hours ago, Scientias mobilized one of their Mechanical Legions and several Fleets of their Voidships and sent them to an unknown location in the Cosmos. It is predicted that some more warhawkish Hierarchs are using this as a pretext to attack the Avalon Kingdom and take from them some Worlds of strategic importance."

    Indeed this was Samiel''s goal, he could have obtained some interesting things from the mind of Johan von Merckerstein, but he knew that this was an irreceable opportunity to give a major blow to the Avalon Kingdom by turning them into an irreconcble enemy with the Scientia Hierarchy.

    "In the end, this ended even better than initially anticipated."

    Samiel stated shortly afterward as Bishop Antigonus nodded. Even Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was in fact very satisfied with such an oue because undermining one of the 13 Gates was no easy feat and was hugely attributed to heavenly luck.

    If not for Johan von Merckerstein hiding on the 8th Floor and working for the Avalon Kingdom, then nothing would have happened, but s, Lady Luck was on their side at this moment. If not for that, then this would be impossible to achieve because it was indeed a miracle.

    "Aside from these, is there anything of notable importance?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel asked as he already wanted to return back to his study of Lux Brumalis and the Intermediate Winter Magic. The discussion between him and Bishop Antigonus had already prolonged itself for a long time already, and he wanted to return back to his favorite thing, which was the study of magic.

    "Yes, one thing, yes. The Hall Master has decided to entrust you the mission with the destruction of one of the warehouses of the Avalon Kingdom, where they are storing the weaponry and other things that they are supplying to the Human Brotherhood. It should be one of the biggest ones on the Human Continent. The orders from the Hall Master is to destroy it, preferably to steal it if possible, of course, before the Demon Tribes could intervene in that matter."

    Bishop Antigonus summarized the mission he received from the Hall of Kadath as he nodded because this would be rtively easy to achieve; at least he didn''t need to prepare for any kind ofrge-scale battles.

    "You can consider the mission as alreadypleted one."

    Samiel stated, as he then cut the call with Bishop Antigonus, soon receiving the detailed information about the mission issued to him by the Hall of Kadath, as he skimmed everything with his eyes.

    There was nothing notable about the mission, aside from a few Silver-Tier Professionals from the Avalon Kingdom who were guarding the warehouse, and the ce where the warehouse was located, because it was well hidden underground underneath the mountain range at the Northernmost part of the Human Continent.

    This would mean that he was going to the snowy and frost mountains of the north of the Human Continent, which was greatly weed because, due to the cold enviroment, Samiel was strongest in that kind of ce.

    He also thought if it would be prudent to take Yvriane or Dharzug with him, but in the end, he decided to take the Ork with him primarily. During thest time, Yvraine didn''t really appreciate sleeping in the frozen ces where everything was freezing.

    Meanwhile, the Ork Dharzug wouldn''t probably care orin as long as he was promised to fight against some strong opponent. Orks had a rtively simple mind in this because they just wanted to fight against someone powerful and wage waaaggghhh.

    After the call ended, Samiel looked at the time on the Holo-Brain and realited that it was the hour for his prayer to the Primordial Demiurge.

    "The Great Dreamer, the Primordial Demiurge,

    He who represents the Chaos of the All Things,

    He who gives the Creation the meaning of All Things,

    He who brings the Dream to every living being,

    And sows the seeds of the Chaos and Madness from the Deep,

    The messages we see from the Dreams,

    The voices we hear from the Darkness,

    The visions we see from the Abyss,

    All of them lead only to the Nuclear Chaos.

    In the Chaos and Dust we turn,

    As the Madness and ughter we bring,

    And all of them will burn,

    Under theughter and joys of the Elder Ones,

    From the coldness of the Void,

    And outsideness of the Dream,

    Hees,

    And we, as his servants,

    Are weing him,

    As we always should.

    And in his name,

    We spread Madness,

    We spread ughter,

    We spread Pain,

    We spread Chaos,

    And all of this,

    to the Dream we returns."

 Chapter 147 Ironan Mountains

    Ironan Mountains, Mountain Pass, Northern Area of the Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower, Several Days Later.

    When Samiel undertook the Mission assigned to him by the Hall Master himself, through Bishop Abraham Antigonus, in the end, he decided to take with himself the Ork Dharzug. As he predicted, Yvraine was not that interested in going to freeze to some godforsaken mountains when she didn''t really have to and still was under the depression from ourst simr trip.

    Probably psychological trauma from almost freezing to death because someone forgot to cast some warming spells on herself to prevent such a situation could really run deep. At least, deeper than Samiel initially, though.

    Whatever, Dharzhug wasn''t even a bit concerned about the frost or ice-cold weather because mostly the Orks were extremely adaptive species. In fact, aside from them, only single species could boast of the same adaptability and simr capabilities, if not even surpassing the Orks, and those were the Bugs.

    It wasn''t surprising to find orks even in some most uninhabitable worlds in the Cosmos, as they were known to adapt to almost every environment. Naturally, this was one of the main capabilities that made them so fearsome because an enemy that could adapt to everything was extremely fearsome. Not to mention, they were shown even to develop resistance towards the various types of energies and environments.

    Due to that, it took Dharzug only several hours to adjust himself to the cold enviroment, and he did it during our journey through the Northern Area when the temperature started drastically dropping and at the same time, the Ork started automatically adapting to the enviroment. Samiel observed this process with a great deal of scientific curiosity because he never saw anything simr.

    It was not even conscious motion, but something that happened automatically the second they entered the cold enviroment. It was truly a wonderous racial ability to be capable of adapting to almost any kind of enviroment because it has been noted that there didn''t exist an environment yet, where the Orks couldn''t really survive.

    The Void was no exception because Legendary Level Orks could easily survive in the Void itself without many problems, which made them one of the most dangerous species to deal with. Their adaptability also showed in thebat because Orks would easily be resistant against various kinds of elemental damage and so on, due to that one needed to have superior firepower to deal with them or he would perish.

    Of course, Eldritch Creatures such as Samiel Zentaur, while not having such frightening adaptability, they were too troublesome to deal with because each one at the Legendary Level has tremendous vitality, and they are a nightmare to kill due to their regenerative capabilities. As long as some parts of their bodies remain, they can still regenerate themselves to the full state as if nothing had happened.

    They had been walking through the Northern Area of the Human Continent for several days already, and there were rarely any people on the roads or anything. Due to the environmental conditions that the Northern Area of the Human Continent being very cold, there were very few settlements outside a few big cities that were in the north. Aside from that, this ce was rtively deste, minus some mining outposts in the mountains.

    Apparently, the entire Northern Area was very rich in a variety of ores; even some precious ones were found already in the mines of this ce. That would exin why Smaiel had a feeling that the Human Brotherhood didn''t have a problem with raw materials, despite their situation and almost zero financial capabilities.

    Finally, after several days, we have arrived at the Ironan Mountains, where one of the warehouses of the Avalon Kingdom was located. Evidently, it was thergest one that the Avalonians built on the 8th Floor''s Human Continent, so they could supply their pawns with some advanced magetech weapons, to wage the proxy war against the Demon Tribal Council.

    It paid off, but as everything is good in life, even this would not be an exception to the universal rule and would soon end. Samiel took Dharzug with him, mainly because he got information that there were several Silver-Tier Professionals present at the warehouse, probably more than ten; they were the guards assigned to the ce.

    Because Samiel wanted to take everything that they had stored within the warehouse, as it would sell for a nice sum of Credits, he needed to attack swiftly and brutally, pacifying any kind of resistance as soon as possible without any side damages, especially to the weaponry which was stored there.

    Due to that, the only fighters would be him, Dharzug and Ashimer. Three of them should be enough to handle all resistance of the Human Brotherhood and even more than that. If there were only around ten Silver-Tier Professionals, then it was okey, because Samiel himself could take several average Silver-Tier Professionals at the same time, especially right now, as his Level was increased once again several times, reaching Level 35 and mastering the Intermediate Winter Magic to a certain degree.

    Coupled with the Intermediate Void Magic and Intermediate Necromancy Arts, Samiel was already a powerhouse on his own, and if he was put on any Lower World, then despite being technically a Bronze-Tier Professional, he would already be and world-threatening cmity and scourge that gued the world.

    "Come on, my Orkish friend; we are only several tens of kilometers from a fine ughter."

    Samiel stated as the Ork huffed, already in anticipation of fine ughter. He went with Samiel because he was promised of a fine fight. He didn''t care about the cold; he was an Ork; as any other Ork, he adapted, and due to his special lineage and mutation and blessings from the Green Gods, he adapted even faster than any other Ork.

    Because Samiel knew the exact location of the hidden warehouse of the Avalon Kingdom from the report of the Hall of Kadath, he left his Familiar with the Yvraine. On top of that, Nefertari also wasn''t much fond of the cold freezing environments, so she chose to remain with Yvriane, as she considered that much better.

    Nefertari, as an Elder Wampus Cat, in truth, wasn''t bothered about coldness, but it wasn''t in her preferences. In truth, she preferred warm environments, such as basking on the sun, some tropical environments, and so on, like the sand one on which he found the Altar of Bast.

    After three hours, they were caught in a strong snowstorm; when they started crossing the Ironan Mountains, and it was clear that the snowstorm wanted to kill them because the temperature was dropping at a fast speed and the snow was already reaching their knees, which was making it very hard to move.

    To this, Samiel was forced to start using the Winter Ruler to manipte all of that snow to carve a path for them to pass. It proved to be especially effective, as Samiel was able to control all of the snow that was falling, creating a nice path for them to cross over.

    Soon enough, they entered the valley, in which, ording to the information Samiel received from the Hall of Kadath, the entrance to the underground cave system, where the warehouse of the Avalon Kingdom was located. Samiel carefully observed the valley, but there was hardly anything to see because everything was covered by a heavy nket of snow.

    "Wait a moment Dharzug... something is moving up there."

    Samiel stated as he stopped the Ork from rushing to the valley, as he suddenly noticed several figures far away. There were two of them; clearly at the Silver-Tier and even more evidently, they were the guards from the Avalon Kingdom, who were stationed there.

    "These two are either patrolling the area or went out to breath some fresh air... probably the stench of the caves doesn''t suit them well."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel stated while observing the two Silver-Tier Professionals from the Avalon Kingdom as they were just standing in front of the entrance to the underground cave system. After several seconds, seeing that they remained at their positions and didn''t really go anywhere else, he concluded that these ones just get out on some fresh air.

    "What da now with those gits?"

    Dharzug looked at the squishy humans impatiently because Samiel was doing his best to contain the Ork from rampaging. It was already bad enough that they were not participating in any mission from The Guild right now because Samiel didn''t really wish to help the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe in any way.

    "Give me a second... we don''t need them alerting theirpanions and setting up whatever traps and defenses they have prepared for us..."

    Samiel stated as the big Ork frowned a little but agreed because he saw how the crafty humans were inflicting losses on the Demon Tribes despite their lower individual strength but were depending on their cunning and schemes.

    Afterward, he started subtly using the Winter Ruler to manipte the icicles that were hanging from the bottom of the cliff, which was covering the entrance to the cave. Several secondster to one minute, suddenly several huge icicles, all long more than five to seven meters, started falling down, straight at the guards from the Avalon Kingdom.

    Surprisingly and unfortunately at the same time, one of the guards noticed the falling icicles, though at least only when they were five minters above them, as they hastily activated some of their protective measures and defended against falling ice.

    "Attack!"

    Samiel said to Dharzug as he disappeared in a sh, with the Ork following the suit as he grinned and gripped his waraxe "da big choppa" as both of them rushed at the two Silver-TIer Human Professionals who were still busy defending themselves, not noticing the danger that wasing for them.

    Half a minuteter, as the two human Professionals were gaping for breath while sustaining various degrees of injuries from the falling icicles, when enormous war axe appeared out of nowhere, shing at one of the two, following the roar of "Waaaggghhh!".

    With one powerful chop, one of the Silver-Tier Professionals was chopped in half; the snow was painted red as the organs flowed out from the corpse. With a single attack, one of them was dead, and before the remaining Silver-Tier Professional realized what was going on, he found his heart being pierced through with Ice Trident.

    "Excellent... we can proceed further."

    Of course, Samiel stored the corpses in his Dimensional Ring because these were corpses of high quality, which meant that they would be very suitable material for the Undead creation at ater date.

    After they entered the underground, they went through a rtively narrow tunnel, which was illuminated only by somemps, in which the fire was burning. Despite that, the tunnel was still very dark, but that wasn''t a problem for either Samiel or Dharzug.

    Some Orks could see in the darkness as they had night vision, and Dharzug was one of such Orks because he obtained that ability due to his racial mutation. And Samiel, as a partial Eldritch Creature, though he was closer to the Eldritch Creature after hisst evolution, could naturally see in the darkness as well.

    So, both of them walked through the narrow pathway for more than half an hour as they descended deep under the ground. The warehouse was located deep within the cave systems under the Ironan Mountains because the Avalon Kingdom not only wanted to hide their activities from the Demon Tribes but also from the Human Brotherhood.

    Indeed another form of insurance to ensure the continuouspliance and servitude of the Human Brotherhood towards the Avalon Kingdom, not like it was even a bit surprising. Samiel would do exactly the same thing because rather be safe than sorry.

    Fortunately for them, the pathway to the warehouse area, was straight and without anyplications; probably the Avalonians, when digging this ce and reworking it for their purposes, take into ount their own people so that they won''t get lost in the endlessbyrinth of paths.

    "Stop; several meters away is a trap wardid down."

    Samiel stopped Dharzug as he sensed traps that were in front of them. There were several of them, from which only a few were very activated, but once a single one is activated, then the spell nexus, will activate all of the remaining traps, as all of the wards were interconnected with each other.

    After some time, Samiel started digging into the topic of Warding because it was another branch of Magic that was very interesting to him; it was very powerful and versatile and had immense potential. Most people associated the Warding Magic only with the defensive purposes, or some static defensive Wards, and perhaps some supporting ways.

    But in truth, Master in the Warding Magic could create an all-purpose Ward that he could actively manipte during thebat. Not to mention, even with the basic knowledge of the Warding Magic, Samiel could discern any traps and other things that could cause a lot of damage to them, just like right now in the narrow path under the mountains.

    Then focused on the Trap Ward, that wasid before them as he carefully navigated his Mana to create a Mana String and started disrupting the runes that were creating the Runic Matrix of the Ward, until the ward sizzled a little and several sparks appeared in the air, signifying to them that the Trap Ward was deactivated.

    With that notion, he repeated the same process on the other Wards that were all around the ce; after five more minutes, Samiel deactivated all of them, as they now obtained a free passage to the underground cave, where their final target was located.

 Chapter 148 Thwarting The Avalons Effort

    After they arrived at the end of the tunnel, Samiel realized that they were already near the targetted location, judging by the sheer number of protective Wards that were all around them. From the look of an amateur, one could say that the people setting up the defenses here were pretty paranoid... but...

    Fortunately, though, all of the defensive and even offensive wards were deactivated because they would be activated only during times of danger and that meant an imminent attack. This was, in fact, a foolish decision because if the wards were already ced, then not activating them at all times was a pretty idiotic thing to do, as they would be useless.

    Normally speaking, when the wards were deactivated, then their subsequent activation would require at least several seconds, sometimes even half a minute, which was a too big window of opportunity for the potential attackers. If someone was experienced enough, he could have destroyed the wards countless times over.

    Samiel noticed that these weren''t any kinds of "intelligent" Wards, so that was only logical. Probably they were stylized in that way, so the traps didn''t attack them, instead, when they were returning to the warehouse from the outside. Still, even if they were the most simple kind of Wards, that didn''t make them any less dangerous and powerful.

    "How many of ya gits da see?"

    Dharzug questioned me as we were hiding behind a huge boulder which was a nice spot to hide, as Samiel was using some screening spells to confirm the exact strengths and numbers of our opposition. Right now, it is very simr to what the report from the Hall has stated, and on the inside, there were 7 Silver-Tier Professionals.

    All of the Silver-Tier Professionals from the Avalon Kingdom were above Level 60, which meant that neither single one of them was weak, and judging by their equipment and Mana Wavelength, he could sense that they were pretty powerful. Mana Wavelength was something like a fingertip or DNA, something that was unique to every persona and could be used as indentificator, not to mention if someone was proficient enough; they could also be used to find out about the exact strength of the person.

    Especially there were two people among the 7 Silver-Tier Professionals, that were Level 68 and Level 70, respectively, and based on the Mana they both were radiating, Samiel noticed that they had strong and powerful sses, at least way superior to the rest of the people from the Avalon Kingdom he met.

    After scouting the area and counting the enemies, Samiel summoned his Frost Death Knight Ashimer, as the Higher Undead had already reached Level 60 because Samiel had him digest the majority of the souls that he collected when he destroyed and razed to the ground the City of Torlen, week or so ago.

    The influx of around thirty thousand souls was something that increased Ahsimer''s Level tremendously, and aside from that, Samiel could sense that he started showing slight signs of Evolution. Naturally, it was nothing serious, but Ashimer was on the right wave to evolve to an even higher form of the Undead lifeform.

    The warehouse where they were storing the weapons was a simple building, nothing special and it was not even properly protected, which was surprising on one side, but not at the same time. With the magical defenses, a contingent of the Silver-Tier Professionals and the natural enviroment, it was indeed sufficient.

    Even finding this ce would be almost impossible because when the snow was getting heavier, then the entrance to the underground cave systems underneath the Ironan Mountains, where they were currently located, would be very hard and challenging to find. Samiel had to admit that the Avalonian indeed chose the suitable ce to be their hiding spot for the weapons and other things they were supplying to the Human Brotherhood.

    If not for the captured assassin of the ck Units of the Avalon Kingdom and Jaspar de''Charetier, then even they would be totally unaware of that from where the Human Brotherhood is getting so many military supplies for their fight against the Demon Tribes.

    "So, I have managed to locate the teleportation array, which they are using to deliver the supplies from whatever safe ce to here. This one from the outer structure and the arrangement of the runes on the outer circle should be one way, meaning it is directly connected in the form of permanent connection to some ce."

    Samiel exined, not even registering that his Orkishpanion didn''t understand not even one-third of what he was speaking. Still, Samiel didn''t pay heed to that as he continued his exnation because he was too engrossed in that aspect.

    "Through this way, I would be able to deduce in which World they are producing their military equipment for the Human Brotherhood if Bishop Antigonus didn''t get it from the assassin I captured and Jaspar... whatever. Dharzhug, you will go in and create a mess and attract as much attention on yourself as possible. Because you are an Ork, they will not suspect anything and probably will attack; after you kill the first attacker, they will gang up."

    Samiel then started exining his n to the Ork, who grinned in anticipation of a good fight and ughter. Finally, it was the time to shine and he would be going to the fight, something that he was very good in.

    The thing for which Samiel was aiming for was the distraction of the opponent, and he knew that Dharzug would splendidly achieve that for him. Orks were the best experts at creating mess and chaos; they were second to none, and due to their nature, even if Dharzug right now appeared in front of the people from the Avalon Kingdom won''t be really questioning how he got there.

    They would assume that the Ork was simply searching for someone to fight and something to kill, and through unknown means and blessings of the Green Gods, he found his way here. Thus, they won''t be dwelling on that for long before they would decide to fight him and kill the Ork.

    Of course, this opportunity when everyone would be distracted would be used by Samiel who would sneak up on them and destroy the runic formations around the entire warehouse, thus essentially destroying the Wards that were here. In that way, when they learn that it was a ploy, they the Wards won''t be there to support them in the fight.

    "So everybody right and clear?"

    Samiel asked as his Frost Death Knight didn''t say anything, and Dharzug grinned happily as he gripped his waraxe "da big choppa" and started descending down from the boulder where they were all hiding, going to create the distraction, chaos and destruction in fashion only the Orks were masters of the craft.

    "YA GITS COMA OUT AND FIGHT ME!"

    Dharzug shouted from the full lungs at the warehouse in the Cosmos Common Language with heavy Orkish ascent, as his shouts were heard over and over in the closed cave. It didn''t take even three seconds as all seven Silver-Tier Professionals from the Avalon Kingdom appeared and immediately surrounded the Ork.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel could see that the seven Silver-Tier Professionals from the Avalon Kingdom were wearing heavy armor; all of them should have some Knight rted sses, especially one of them, the strongest one, who was at Level 70; Samiel sensed a Divine Aura from him.

    ''What luck... a Pdin of some of the Gods of Light.''

    Gods of Light were predominantly worshipped by the citizens and vassals of the Avalon Kingdom; they were a weird bunch. Most of the Gods of Light, if not outright all of them, were worshipped only by the human race, and mostmonly, their teachings were of human supremacy over the other species.

    Thus the Gods of Light were a bunch of hypocrites and also leeches, from Samiel''s point of view. Most of them were even worse than Evil Gods, not shaming from therge-scale ughters and massacres of those whom they didn''t like and saying that it was for the greater good. Yeh, the selling strategy was good, it sounded somehow nice, but it was rotten inside.

    Naturally, some of the Gods of Light were strong, like very strong Gods, and Samiel was warned by the Hall Master Menuhyutt to be wary of some, and on the top of the list was the God of Light, who was told to be the strongest, rivaling to those like Azathoth as he stood on the same footing.

    His name was not to be spoken lightly as he was one of ''Them'', the God of Light, Creation, Holiness and other trillion things over which he had Divine Authority. One of the strongest Transcendental entities in the entire existence and even saying their name was very dangerous and could bring cmity.

    What Samiel sensed was, the Silver-Tier Pdin in front of him was probably a Pdin of the Silver Crusade or the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light, which were the Pdins who swore to the protection of Yahweh''s religion.

    Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light was not under the rule or anything of the Avalon Kingdom, though their main headquarters was located in one of the Worlds under the Avalon Kingdom, probably in the Avalon itself, which was a Principal World. Due to their strength, which was rumored to be on the same level as the Holy Temr Order of the Hall of Kadath, they were one of the biggest and strongest sub-factions within the Avalon Kingdom.

    Among the Gods of Light who were worshipped across the Cosmos and in myriads of Worlds, Menuhyutt told him that approximately 35% of all of them were, in fact, Divine Avatars of the Yahweh, so the God was extremely strong, and because of that, all of his followers were monsters on the battlefield.

    ''He should be Pdin Squire... full-fledged ones are at least Initial Legendary Level as the Silver Crusade, still fighting him won''t be easy... he is close to the Gold-Tier, not to mention as the Squire of the Silver Crusade he should be very powerful for his Tier... hmm... I think this would be a suitable time for the Scourge to take ce.''

    Samiel''s n regarding the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade was rtively simple. He nned for Dharzug to fight against the human Professionals and probably kill some of them. Not to mention, this would allow Samiel to see the extent of Dharzug''s power because never before had he seen the Ork going all out.

    Certainly, depending on the progress of the battle, Samiel nned to release all of his and Ashimer''s Undeads on the weakened human Professionals in the battle-formation and tear them to shreds. In regard to the Pdin Squire, he was prepared to lose a significant part of his Undead Army because the Undeads were especially vulnerable to the Holy and Light Eleklements that the Pdin Squire was proficient in.

    This was a serious miscalction of his, and a seriousck of information from the Hall of Kadath because nobody would think that the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light would send one of its Pdins-in-training to such an insignificant ce such as the 8th Floor of the Tower.

    Though on the other hand, this proved how much the Avalon Kingdom cared about the situation here and caused the Demons as high losses on their side as possible. To the point where even the ever-arrogant Silver Crusade joined the fray. Normally tasks like these are far under the standards of the Knight Orders as Silver Crusade or Holy Temr Order, but yet, here we are.

    Samiel observed from a safe distance how one of the heavily ted knights rushed at the Ork, who gripped his waraxe and, too ran at the iing heavy-armored Silver-Tier Knight. The human Silver-Tier Knight Professional shed at the Ork with his sword, to which Dharzug dodged rather effortlessly, despite his huge bodybuild, and with one sh of his waraxe, he severed the right hand of the Silver-Tier Knight Professional, causing the blood to spurt all around as the man screamed in pain.

    "Weak trash ye git!"

    Dharzug angrily screamed as he hacked his waraxe at the man and split his skill apart, leaving the corpse falling onto the ground as his brain flowed out together with liters of blood. Other Silver-Tier Professionals from the Avalon Kingdom watched this in disgust because the Orkish fighting style was extremely brutal, bloody and full of gore.

    This even further agitated the rest of the Silver-Tier Knight Professionals as soon as another two of them rushed at the Ork, to which Dharzug became more vignt and started using more of his power. When the first Silver-Tier Avalonian attacked him, it was a clear underestimation of Dharzug''s power.

    Apparently, the death of theirpanion triggered something in them, and right now, they started taking him seriously, even though only two of them attacked Dharzug simultaneously, hoping to catch him off guard, as suddenly wave of green energy burst out of his body, covering him like a shield.

    In a split of second, he blocked one of the iing attacks, the sword that was heading towards his head from the right side; at the same time, he moved his body towards the Silver-Tier Professional attacking him with a  sword, grabbed his left hand, and threw him at the another Silver-Tier Professional who was to his left.

    Instantly he hacked with his waraxe "da big choppa" at the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Avalon Kingdom, who were defenseless, only for his iing axe attack to be intercepted by another Silver-Tier Professional, who appeared in front of Dharzug as he blocked the strike with his shield.

    This immediately enraged the Ork because in their culture, the duels between people were considered sacred, and intervening was one of the most despicable things that one could do. For the Orks, as simple species they were, they solved all of their problems or disputes during thebat and through duels.

    Because of that, they viewed outside interference in the duel that was already going on as dishonorable, non-Orkish behavior and hated it. And Dharzug, who was the Holy Apostle of one of the Green Gods, was probably even worse than that because he had to uphold the teaching of the Green Gods.

 Chapter 149 Ork, Eldrtich And Undeads Vs. Avalonians

    Seeing that the duel between him and two Silver-Tier Avalonian was interrupted by the third Avalonian Silver-Tier Professional in a sessful attempt to save the life of one or two of hispanions, Dharzug released an enraged roar, which set everyone even warier of the Ork, as the aura of the Ork Champion started rising tremendously.

    This alerted everyone who was already participating in the battle, after which everyone abandoned any decorum and ganged on the raging Ork, with the exception of the Pdin Squire, who was observing everything carefully.

    Initially, the Pdin Squire had some sort of uneasy feeling about this entire matter, but he quickly dismissed it as just nothing. This was because people who were blessed by Transcendental Entities in any way had keener senses towards the danger.

    Still, the Pdin Squire dismissed that possibility because Orks were not known to scheme against others. Underestimation of the enemies was the gravest sin that one couldmit and Orks were easy to underestimate because everyone thought of them to be pretty stupid. This was practically the death sentence that the Pdin Squire gave himself and this whole ce was doomed to destruction.

    Of course, that uneasy feeling about something nefarious that was happening was not wrong and, in truth, was indeed true because as the Dharzug was fighting against the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Avalon Kingdom, Samiel was meanwhile doing the nefarious activities.

    And by nefarious activities, it meant that he was right now, sneaking into the warehouseplex, navigating between the corridors as he searched for his target, which was the Wardstone. Even though the Wards that were stretched around the underground cave system were not the most advanced ones or strong, they were stillplex enough to have a Wardstone as a nexus of them.

    Fortunately, the Pdin Squire was arrogant enough to write it off as nothing important. This was amon trait among those who were often from very prestigious backgrounds.

    The entire warehouse was filled with tens of thousands of magetech weapons. Most of them were advanced forms of energy-based weaponry, mainly standardized rifles or even some pieces of artillery that were capable of unleashing destruction on a levelparable to 7th Level Spells.

    So this clearly showed how much the Avalon Kingdom was determined to support the Human Brotherhood. Of course, in the great scheme of things, Samiel knew that for a faction like the Avalon Kingdom, this wasn''t that big amount of resources and weapons, though the motion of continuously supporting and prolonging the war between the Demon Tribes and Human Brotherhood is going to cut deep into the Avalon''s coffers.

    Samiel knew that even someone of such status as the Avalon Kingdom, which was one of the 13 Gates, would feel the financial burden of such action deeply because it would consume a lot, a lot of Credits.

    Of course, in the long run, the Avalon Kingdom would profit from the losses of their enemy, but that would be only in the future, and sometimes even the mary situation was important. Not always, but sometimes yes and Samiel was betting on the oue that if this went royally wrong, then the Avalon Kingdom, which already has enough enemies and needs to invest its resources elsewhere, would withdraw its support from the Human Brotherhood.

    Thus ignoring these thoughts for now, and decided that he would need to return here at ater date after everyone was properly killed; he would loot this ce clean. These magetech weapons that were stored here were worth hundreds of thousands of Credits, and if sold to the right buyer, then they would fetch even more riches.

    Some people who had no ess to advanced magetech weapons would pay way more than their real value was to get their hands on. Especially some civilizations that were rich and were researching the magetech or were at war against someone, then the weapons would be like a heaven-sent gift, no matter their price.

    Entering something which looked like a central room, or more like some administrative room, because there were countless books, papers, maps and even some magetech devices all round the ce, it didn''t take a long time for Samiel to locate the Wardstone.

    "Idiots, they actually left it unbound... whatever... I couldn''t be luckier than this."

    Samiel stated as he conjured an ice dagger through the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler; he cut his finger, forcing a drop of blood toe out, as he dropped that said drop of blood onto the Wardstone, which shone brightly.

    What he did right now was that he bound himself to the Wardstone.

    When creating a Wards, the Wardstone was a key to everything. Of course, for a person to be able to control the Wards to their wishes, they need to bind themselves to the Wardstone, which would allow one to control the Wardspletely.

    Leaving the Wardstone, which was acting as a nexus of the Wards, unbounded was an extremely foolish thing to do. Not only because anyone could literarilye in and bound himself to the Wards, but also, it was effortless and easy and without any risks. If someone from the Avalon Kingdom bound himself to the Wardsstone, then Samiel would have an extremely hard time cracking it, to the point where he would be forced to destroy the Wardstone instead because his knowledge of the Warding Magic was not to the point of overdriving already bound Wardstone to his will.

    After he tied the Wardstone to his person, Samiel obtained absolute control over all of the Wards that were around the entire caves where the Avalon Kingdom goons established their warehouse and stored their weapons and supplies for the Human Brotherhood.

    Now, he could activate all of the Wards with a  singlemand and use them to his wishes. Easy peasy, as he revealed a grin and observed a bit the fight that was going on between the Silver-Tier Professionals from the Avalon Kingdom against Dharzug.

    He noticed that Dharzug was, right now, fighting against five remaining Silver-Tier Professionals of the Avalon Kingdom, and they were slowly pushing him back. Not like they were individually more powerful than the Orkish Champion of the Green Gods, but their coordination was indeed superb.

    And certainly, the most dangerous element in all of that, the Pdin Squire of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light, who was just observing everything, not moving an inch. This could be either a good sign as the Pdin Squire was just underestimating the orkish warrior or a bad sight as he was observing the ork and analyzing him, deciding on the next course of action.

    After Samiel gets control over the Wards in the cave, he knows that he would have a much easier time attacking them because he could technically use the Wards to protect his Undeads from the effects of the Holy and Light Elements that would be brought onto them by the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade.

    For the next ten minutes, Samiel observed the fight between Dharzug as he was contemting what to do and waiting for the best moment to attack and release all of his Undeads together with his Magic and other things to finish them.

    As the fight progressed, and Dharzug was being pushed back more and more, he suddenly exploded with the greenish energy once more, as he used the Divine Blessings of the Green Gods and with a ferocious attack, he severed the head of one of the attackers.

    That was one kill; instantly afterward, with a powerful kick, he kicked another away, sending him flying and crashing into hispanions, as this was the exact moment when Samiel activated all of the Wards.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The activation of the Wards took the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Avalon Kingdom were shocked to their cores because the moment the Wards activated, all of them attacked all of the Silver-Tier Professionals from the Avalon Kingdom.

    Instantly countless elemental attacks were shot toward the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Avalon Kingdom, bombarding them to smitterness as all of them employed their own methods to defend against the Wards.

    As this came out of nowhere, like thunder from the clear sky, nobody from them was prepared for the attack on them by their own wards; because of that, they were not capable of properly reacting, and before they could employ their defenses, all of them sustain certain degrees of injuries from the Wards.

    Even the Pdin Squire of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light was not an exception to that, and before that dome of light which was radiating Holiness and Divine Power of his God protected him, he suffered countless superficial injuries.

    Instantly during the chaos which was caused by the Wards turning on the humans, Samiel unleashed all of his Undeads and Ashimer, who was waiting for his opportunity, did the exact same thing as his master, and summoned his Undeads. At the same time, with his twin swords, he appeared in front of one of the Silver-Tier human Professionals and slit his throat in seconds.

    Samiel''s Bronze-Tier Undead flooded in the battle-formation as they started marching and closing the area around the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Avalon Kingdom, while at the same time, the Undeads were protected by the bluish shield that were cast on them through the Wards that Samiel controlled.

    Seeing this situation, the Pdin Squire from the Silver Crusade readied his hammer, which shone with the Holy Light and Divine Power of his Patron God, because each Pdin, even Squires to him, could use the Light of their Lord to various degrees. Usage of the Light of their Lord signified their strength and position within the Silver Crusade.

    Ashimer led the Undeads into the fight, as Samiel controlled the battle-formation of his own Bronze-Tier Undeads, as they executed themand wlessly, as each one of them was calcted through the usage of the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect.

    ? Dharzug continued to fight against the remaining Silver-Tier Professionals, but gradually within several seconds long window of opportunity, he switched his ce with Samiel''s Higher Undead, Frost Death Knight Ashimer, as he directly charged at the Pdin Squire of Silver Crusade.

    With this setup, the tables have technically turned on the Avalonians, as four Silver-Tier Professionals of the Avalon fought against Ashiumer, as the Frost Death Knight fought like a devil on the battlefield, a God of War incarnated, not allowing them to gain any kind of advantage.

    Meanwhile, he, at the same time, coordinated his fight against the four Silver-Tier Professionals of Avalon with his Undeads, and after several minutes, the people from the Avalon Kingdom sustained another loss of theirrades.

    As Ashimer was attacked by all four of them simultaneously, he blocked their attacks while, at the same time, concentrating his Level 1 Rare Frost Aura to freeze the legs of one of the Silver-Tier opponents, who realized it toote, and soon enough, he was swarmed by tens of Bronze-Tier and Steel-Tier Undeads.

    One down, only three were remaining; this was something that once again tensed the situation even more, as the remaining three Silver-Tier Professionals charged at the Ashimer, who was skillfully dodging or blocking their attacks, when out of nowhere, several thunderbolts appeared and struck the Silver-Tier Professional who was to his left, as Samiel calcted this move.

    Meanwhile, Dharzug was exchanging blows with the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade, and the man proved to be extremely difficult to do something against. Not only the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade was powerful Level-wise, but also skilled, experienced and how wore a Unique-Grade Runic Armor.

    Not to mention his hammer was also a Unique-Grade Weapon, which gave the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade great defensive and also offensive capabilities. Pdin Squire released a blinding wave of the Holy Light as he acted the powers of his God and shed at the Ork Champion, to which Dharzug was forced to defend with everything he had.

    Dharzug and even Samiel, who was hiding and supporting the battle efforts from the side, had to admit that the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade was indeed a very powerful opponent. Fortunately, he was not powerful to the extent of overpowering the Orkish Champion immediately, which put a smile on Samiel''s face. Even though the Pdin Squire of ''Him'' appeared to be strongly favored, the Ork Champion of the Green Gods was still able to put on fierce resistance against him.

    And as Dharzug was entertaining the Pdin Squire, the man in question didn''t even notice the fact that he was surrounded by the hundreds of Bronze-Tier Undeads who were orderly standing in the Battle-Formation, as they were acting as a conduit for Samiel''s Necromantic Magic.

    Samiel was using the collective power of the hundreds of the Bronze-Tier Undeads as amplifiers for the Necromantic Curses and even some curses from the Void Magic because if not, the curses would be inefficient on the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade.

    Certainly, there was nothing that the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade could do about the thing because after the amplifications by the hundreds of Bronze-Tier Undeads and the sole fact that he was already tired and injured, he was able to negate the curses, only a partially and still was forced to bear the side effects of several Necromantic Curses and even several ones from the Void Magic.

    Be it some form of arrogance or whatever; the effect wasn''t immediate. Still, as the fight was progressing between the Dharzug and Pdin Squire, all of the parties noticed that the effect was stronger than the Pdin Squire anticipated. He was getting weaker and weaker with each passing second.

    Not to mention, with Dharzug effectively blocked all attempts of the Pdin Squire to strike at the Undead Battle-Formation. With that, the Battle-Formation of Samiel''s Bronze-Tier Undeads were constantly casting Curses, spells and even some Void Magic spells at the Pdin Squire, slowly bringing him down to the point in which Dharzug gained the upper hand in the duel.

    With that advantage, Dharzug started pushing forward, as the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade was sustaining more and more injuries with each passing moment. At the same time, on another part of the battlefield, the number of three Silver-Tier Professionals was reduced to the single one, as the remaining ones were all killed.

    Ashimer proved to be far more powerful than what they could handle, especially when he was able to coordinate himself with his Undeads. Even though Ashimer lost some of his Undeads, that loss numbered itself only in tens, but at the same time, the price for that was the kill off the three Silver-Tier Professionals of the Avalon Kingdom.

    After Ashimer dealt with them, he went to support the Orkish Champion Dharzug, who finally got the upper hand in the fight after all of the most of powerful attacks that the Pdin Squire of Silver Crusade executed, as Samiel was using his Undeads to block those attack.

    With such wless coordination, Dharzug shed with the sword of the Pdin Squire, instantly using the second of his carelessness as he kicked the main with full force, as he broke parts of his armor, which was already riddled with countless cracks and damages.

    In a split of a second, several Void Strikes started bombarding the Pdin Squire as Samiel was casting one spell after another, using this moment when the man was vulnerable, while at the same time, he ordered one of his Undeads Squadrons to pin the Pdin Squire down.

 Chapter 150 Closer To Origin

    When the danger of being brought down by the hordes of Bronze-Tier Undeads presented itself, the Pdin Squire in hisst attempt to save his life, erupted in a wave of Silverish Holy me, which started burning apart all Samiel''s Undeads in the vicinity.

    Samiel observed how the Silverish Holy me burned his Undeads, and those who were closest in the vicinity to him, they were already burned to ash, as nothing remained from the once strong Bronze-Tier Undeads.

    The only thing positive about the entire thing was the fact that their equipment, armors and weapons were rtively okey. Clearly, the dwarvish quality of the equipment proved itself to withstand even the Holy me that the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade cast.

    Though Samiel knew that the me which was cast by the Pdin Squire was not the hottest or most destructive one, it was mainly aimed at the destruction of the Undeads, meaning its primary purpose was purification. Of course, this also took a heavy toll on the Pdin Squire because the more of the Holy mes he generated, the more tired he became, to the point where his defenses started to falter and both Samiel and Dharzug instantly exploited this.

    Samiel immediately cast one overpowered 3rd Level Spell of the Void Magic Tree, Void Strike, which directly hit the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade at his back, causing him to lose control over his Holy mes as they dispersed and he coughed a huge mouthful of blood.

    While at the same time, Dharzug shed with his waraxe, which cleaved deep inside the Pdin''s shoulder, cracking his armor, as another Void Strikended on the man''s head, which caused it to explode like a watermelon.

    Dharzug just kicked the headless corpse away as the fight was concluded and everything was done; everyone was killed and properly dead, as Samiel went down from his hiding space, as he deactivated the wards for now, as looked at the corpses around him. Subsequently, he stored all of them in his Dimensional Ring, all for one, which was the corpse of the Pdin Squire from the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light, contemting about the corpse.

    While, indeed, the corpse wasced with the Divine Power of the God, who was very powerful, but Samiel sensed that this could be an interesting opportunity, as he caught the soul of the Pdin Squire while he studied it for a short time.

    In the end, he stuffed the soul of the Pdin Squire of the Silver Crusade into his mouth as he chewed on the soul, as he felt that his very own being was greedily digesting the remaining Divine Power of the God of Light that was in the body of the Pdin Squire.

    Even though the amount of it was absolutely abysmal, like nothing at all, Samiel was still able to tell that he was getting stronger and stronger; soon enough, he heard the notification from the Akashic Records as a translucent window appeared before his eyes.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 36.]

    Soon enough, Samiel reached Level 36 from Level 35, as he felt that his power once again increased tremendously; he was again feeling stronger than before. But suddenly, he felt something weird in his body, as his blood started boiling and reacting with God of Light''s Divine Power.

    Samiel realized that something was happening, something which he didn''t really understand, and something that could end either way, but he silently started praying to the Azathoth as he recited the chants from the Gospel of the Kadaht, all over again, as the blood boiled in his body, and Samiel''s Eldritch Bloodline which contained the Holy Blood of the Primordial Demiurge itself violentlyshed out at the Divine Power of God of Light.

    He felt the fiercebat taking ce in his body as the Divine Power of God of Light resisted fiercely, but soon enough, his Eldritch Blooldine stopped ying around and unleashed itself fully on the Divine Power of God of Light, as it started devouring it at tremendous speed like a hungry Ogre.

    Several minutester, the fight inside Samiel''s body subsided, as the entire Divine Power of God of Light waspletely devoured until nothing remained, as Samiel now felt very weird. He knew few things for certain; for one, he was aware that he had evolved once again closer to the Eldritch Origin.

    While his Level increased only once, Samiel could sense that he got stronger, way stronger, and realized that if he reached Level 51 and officially became Silver-Tier Professional, then he would be able to defeat Dharzug easily.

    For third, he noticed one his Mana changed a little or a lot, depending on the point of view. Samiel recognized what had changed in his Mana and it was that he obtained a new Mana Attribute because right now, his Mana seemed a little bit "Holy".

    [User Samiel Zentaur has evolved.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has gained a new Mana Attribute, Outer Holiness.]

    Samiel read the notification from the Akashic Records with wide eyes, still in the process ofprehending the fact that he obtained additional Mana Attribute from just devouring the Divine Power of God of Light, which was done by his Eldritch Bloodline.

    Outer Holiness was not like the average Holy Element, which as giving out that weird calming feeling, yet it was immensely majestic and stood above everything and everyone else. No, the Outer Holiness, while having the aspect of being immensely majestic and all of that stuff, it would cause most people with weak willpower to go mad when they were just being exposed to it for mere seconds.

    That was the reason why normal people, or even mighty Professionals, couldn''t look at the face of Outer Gods or any Eldritch Entities in general, because mostmonly, they would be exposed to the Outer Holiness, which didn''t end well for them in all cases. So if the entities who possessed the Outer Holiness didn''t really control it, all people with weak willpower would go mad in a very, like, very short time.

    Fortunately, Samiel was not that strong enough to cause such a wide effect, though if he went to some Mana-Less World right now, then his mere presence would cause people to go insane. The unawakened people or those with no contact with Mana would have solely depended on their willpower alone, while those who came into contact with Mana could at least passively depend on their power to protect them.

    "Interesting."

    Samiel muttered because aside from that, he noticed that the tips of his hair reverted to being white, giving him a unique visage and together with that, his golden eyes started shining. Like literarily shining, urrences like that were rare and often signified that the person had extremely powerful, dense and potent Mana.

    After that, he stored the corpse of the Pdin Squire into his Dimensional Ring because he nned to use this corpse to strengthen Ashimer. He nned to incorporate some parts of it into his first Higher Undead, mainly because he hoped that Ashimer would obtain some sort of resistance against Holy Element and Light Element; if nothing, the Light Element would suffice on its own.

    Even that would be a tremendous advantage for his Undead General because he could fight those like Priests, Clerics, Pdins, Holy Knights and others who dabbled into the ways of the Holy, worshipped Gods or Magicians using Light Attributed Spells, which were the bane of Undeads.

    Meanwhile, Samiel was contemting about his gains from this endeavor and how to gain even more from it; the Orkish Champion of the Green Gods was sitting on the ground as he gulped several potions to speed up his regeneration.

    While the Orks were famous for their regenerative capabilities, from the current fight, he would need at least a few hours to bebat-ready once more, but with this motion, he would be ready in no time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Are you okay big guy?"

    Samiel asked the big Ork, as Dharzug nodded in agreement because he only needed some time to rest and he would be good as new. Really, Orks were freaks of nature; Samiel saw that he was riddled with injuries, he was bleeding at many ces and his stamina waspletely depleted, but he was already regenerating on his own.

    Now, a coupled whole bunch of potions, the process was sped up several times over, it was clear that Dharzug would be very soon fine.

    "I am going to loot this ce... interested in sharing?"

    Samiel questioned, more like from just an politeness, but as he expected, the Orkish Champion of the Green Gods was not interested in any loot; he just asked Samiel to take him on good fighting and ughter. Nothing more and nothing less, but what would one expect from the Ork?

    They lived for war, breathed for war and existed for war. So for him, the best reward from this was once again, further participation in fights and war because there was no greater honor for the Ork, and there was no greater purpose in their life than to fight and die in battle.

    Afterward, Samiel went around and started collecting weapons from the warehouse. Samiel had to admit that there was a tremendous amount of equipment, munitions, weapons, guns, there were even some supplies. Aside from that, there were even armors and other things, probably reserved for the topbatants of the Human Brotherhood.

    When he was storing that in the spatial equipment, he already had signs of dors in his eyes because he could tell that this would fetch an astronomical amount of Credits. For example, he found that the Avalon Kingdom was supplying the Human Brotherhood with Cider Gauss Mana Rifles X.II.0, which were not the most advanced ones, but they were reliable and powerful guns.

    Most importantly, a single one cost around 4,000 Credits. Samiel right now counted approximately more than a hundred crates, from which every crate contained around twenty of the Cider Gauss Mana Rifles model X.II.0, meaning there were minimally 2,000 pieces of the guns.

    2,000 of Cider Gauss Mana Rifles model X.II.0 were worth at least around 8,000,000 Credits. Of course, there were more than just a hundred crates, and afterward, Samiel would need to make an inventure, but he decided that he would leave this task to his future employees at the Inter-Cosmos Manufacturing Corporation.

    It took Samiel more than three hours topletely clean out the ce because there was tons and tons of military equipment, probably worth tens of millions of Credits, but even though it seemed a lot, for the big yers, it was not that much. Especially for the Gates, to whose this was just a drop in the sea, but then again, Samiel started calcting the numbers.

    He was aware that this was probably the biggest warehouse, but from all information obtained through the intelligence of The Guild and Hall of Kadath, he was aware that the Avalon Kingdom supplied practically everything that the HUman Brotherhood was fighting with.

    Especially thetest deliveries of weapons and magetech guns, coupled with the previous things, Samiel came into a result that the Avalon Kingdom probably invested billions of Credits into the Human Brotherhood, which was a big sum of money even for one of the Gates, especially one with a very limited amount of business like the Avalon Kingdom.

    "They really want to have their little pet projects seed and turn the tables with the Demon Tribes... unfortunately for them, with me getting the Synergies to the hands of the Demon Tribes, it is only a matter of time before someone from the Star Demon Tribe or Moon Demon Tribe created the counter curse or methods to render the effect of the Gic Strengthening Synergies useless... of course, if they cannot do that, then someone else from the Demon Species will do that."

    Samiel stated mainly to himself as he was thinking over the situation at hand. Sometimes he contemted that if, during the raid on the Fortress of the Human Brotherhood on the Demon Continent, the "Super Soldier Serums" that he obtained were trap or whatever.

    One part of him wanted to believe that they were not the final product that the Avalon Kingdom was developing, but from the mind of the Jaspar de''Charetier, they confirmed that they indeed were. The forces of the Human Brotherhood did the stupidest thing they could do and let it fall into the hands of the Demon Tribes.

    Not to mention, the synergies that were researched by the Avalon Kingdom were partially based on those produced by the Solheim Civilization from the Sol Principal World and Scientia Hierarchy. So technically speaking, if the Demon Tribes were unable toe out with the solution themselves, they could still pay a hefty sum or offer their services for the two factions mentioned above to make it for them.

    They probably thought that the Human Brotherhood wouldn''t be so stupid as they brought the samples, a lot of them, to the forward fortress on the Demon Continent, so they were really asking for it... if the Avalonians found out about that, they would surely get a heart attack from rage.

    When Samiel cleaned everything from the warehouse of the Avalon Kingdom, he went to the teleportation array, which he deactivated when he took control of the Wards in this ce. He recorded the runes that were in the array, as the people in the Hall of Kadath would be able to use it to locate the world in the Cosmos, to which it was connected.

    Then, they would attack the world by themselves or let the Demon Tribes do it if the person in charge from the Hall of Kadath decides to pass the information to the Demon Tribes. Of course, that was not Samiel''s problem because he carried out his duty perfectly, and now the only thing which remained was the destruction of this ce so that it couldn''t be used as an outpost or anything by the Humans or Demons alike.

    Samiel had to admit that if not for his means, then if this ce was properly fortified and defended, then any attacker would need a lot of, very lot of firepower and manpower to take this ce. Due to its geographical location and unique natural conditions of this ce, it was very easily defendable, even with a small contingent of soldiers.

    "Come on, big guy; we are returning back to the Goldtooth City... the task ispleted."

    Samiel stated that he took some more vtile substances from his spatial equipment that he found during his journey through the Tower and ced them in various ces across the cave system, as his calctions told him.

    He nned to destroy this ce by the detonation of the Wards and the Wardstone, which would be supplied by further firepower from some explosives, which in turn would cause the copse of the parts of the Ironan Mountains and this entire caveplex would cease to exist.

    Dharzug didn''t say anything, just nodded as he followed Samiel; together, they exited the underground cave system. When they exited it, Samiel turned back, and as he was still connected to the Wardstone, he ordered the Wardstone to activate the self-destruction, which applied to all wards that were in the ce.

    Several secondster, both of them could hear a series of enormous explosions across the area as the parts of the Ironan Mountains, which stood above the cave system, started falling down, burying the caves forever or until someone dug them up.

    "Nice explosion."

    Samiel muttered as the ork nodded.

 Chapter 151 Year Of Progress

    The journey to the Goldtooth City and overall back to the Demon Continent, from the cold and frozen north of the Human Continent, was without any major obstructions and problems. They were traversing through the frozen wastes of the Northern Area of the Human Continent when they were hit by a very strong snowstorm; they were forced to spend time at a small vige where they took over one of the houses and waited until the snowstorm had abated.

    Samiel and Dharzug encountered only a few bandit groups that had the unfortunate honor of meeting them as they were swiftly dealt with. Naturally, there was no way that the bandits would be able to threaten them because thergest band that attacked them was consisting of several hundreds of bandits, mainly from the deserters or criminals, but it was swiftly annihted when Sameil summoned his Undead Army.

    It was apparent that banditry was bing moremon in the Human Continent, as more and more people took the opportunity of the soldiers, guards or overall military forces of the Human Brotherhood and its vassals being indisposed to wreak havoc in this ce. Not to mention there was a considerable presence of former soldiers of the Human Brotherhood that turned to banditry because they saw no reason to fight against the demon forces, as many took it as a lost fight before it even properly began.

    During the journey to the demon-controlled territories, they even saw a few human viges that were being ransacked and piged by the brigadier groups, some of which were led even by Bronze-Tier human Professionals.

    Samiel knew that these ones must have been deserters from the army of the Human Brotherhood, who escaped from the frontlines and were making use of it. He wasn''t that surprised because if it was otherwise, and it were the demons who were on the losing end, they would be doing the same thing. Escaping from the battlefield as fast as they could be done because most of the demons didn''t hold a strong sense of loyalty ormitment to anything aside from themselves.

    It seemed that the rule of the Human Brotherhood over its own territory was getting weaker and weaker with each passing month of the war. Though that was understandable because the humans were putting some quite fierce resistance against the demon advances, but for that, they needed to mobilize the majority of their forces at their disposal.

    Still, not of that was Samiel''s problem, as he continued the journey back to the Goldtooth City together with Dharzug, as they soon enough, within two days, arrived at the demon-controlled territory in the Human Continent.

    In the end, it was a very simple thing, as they returned to Goldtooth City, where they would spend next following year up there, even though nobody would realize that they would be spending so long time there before the time to go to battle once more as a team.

    ***

    One Year Later, Goldtooth City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    And indeed, time flew like a flowing river, and one year had passed since the moment when Samiel attacked the warehouse of the Avalon Kingdom in the northern mountains in the northern area of the Human Continent.

    During the one year, many things have happened from which, the most significant and important one being the siege of the Central Area by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their followers as it was ordered by the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    This alone showed the impatience and inexperience of the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe who recklessly attacked the most well-defended Area of the Human Brotherhood without any further preparations... it was foolish if someone was to be asked about it.

    And then the miracle happened; nobody totally expected that, but the Human Brotherhood managed to "repel" the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. Of course, they were absolutely exhausted and there were talks about the forces of the Human Brotherhood abandoning the Central Area they fought so hard to defend, but still.

    Certainly, Samiel knew the reason why this happened because it was abination of several at that. The first and most notable is the fact that of the powerful Tribe and Lineages, almost none of them supported the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe in their endeavor because most of them thought that it was a trap set up by the Avalon Kingdom to kill some of their younger generations.

    Most of the demon army that followed the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe at this point was consisting of their vassals from the Lower Words or Middle Worlds, together with some weaker Demon Species that basically couldn''t just say no to the hegemon like the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe; thus they were forced to participate. However, the most negative aspect of all this was the fact that the quality of the soldiers that were under themand of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe right now was subpar, aside from some random demons from some major tribes and races that joined the army on their own.

    Yet the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe ignored the advice and warnings as he took charge at the Central Area, where his invasion force was repelled and suffered heavy casualties. Of course, in the end, the Central Area was breached because the Gold-Tier Demons took the floor, but still, the causalities that the Demons suffered at that were tremendous.

    Of course, in the shadows, there was not only the hand of the Avalon Kingdom but also other Demon Tribes, especially the Star Demons and Moon Demons, who were lineages of the Vassago and Agares, because they were undermining the authority of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe in the Demon Council.

    Demons were not species that had any racial unity, they didn''t have belonged to the same species as a whole, but they rather identified themselves based on the Bloodline they were born in their veins and on theirmon Primogenitors, who could be traced to the Transcendent Level Daemons. So, due to this distinction, there were countless strives between various species of the demonkins and wars among them that were collectively weakening them as a whole.

    Samiel was pretty amused that even the ever-stupid demons were capable of scheming and plotting against each other and stabbing each other''s backs. Really interesting; one might even mistake them for the Devilkin, who were as cunning as they were powerful. Though if he thought about it for longer, it wasn''t something new because, depending on their Daemon Primogenitor, some of the demons were smarter than others and could use even their brain, contrary to many of the demons who only used their muscles.

    But that was the nature of the game, where everyone was looking for their own gains and in truth, the Hall of Kadath was no different. It applied to everything and everyone; probably aside from ''Them'', everyone was always scheming and plotting against each other.

    For Samiel, though, the most notable thing was that he finally managed to get the IMC working because after they returned from the Human Continent, he talked with Dharzug and Yvriane and in the end, all three of them decided to wait and see how the situation would develop.

    Because the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe led the mad offensive at the well-fortified position of the Humans, which were continuously strengthened by the Avalon Kingdom, and unfortunately, the Demon Tribes didn''t allow anyone at the Peak of the Gold-Tier to participate, Limit Gold-Tiers with Mastery were also absolutely out of the question.

    They would cause too much destruction because the might of Peak Gold-Tier Professional, not to mention the Limit Gold-Tier Professional, would cause extreme levels of destruction, considering that this was just one of the Lower Floors of the Tower. Usage of the Gold-Tier Professionals in the conflicts taking ce in the Lower Floors of the Tower were strictly monitored by the Tower''s System not to disrupt the ecosystem of the Tower and only on rare asions were the Gold-Tier Professionals allowed to unleash their full power in the Lower Floors of the Tower.

    Nobody wanted to participate in something which really much seemed like a suicide mission, so staying in Goldtooth City so far, would be for best. Of course, Dharzug went for a few missions that were assigned by the Star Demon Tribe or Moon Demon Tribe, who were focusing on the conquest of other areas of the Human Continent.

    Samiel managed to convince some dwarves, including Brigric Goldengrog, whom he was acquainted with on the 3rd Floor of the Tower. The dwarves were a trustworthy bunch because once being acknowledged by a dwarf as a friend; then one could always depend on their help and trust them because the dwarves took their promises and honor very seriously.

    The first business venture of the newly established and registered Inter-Cosmos Manufacturing Corporation was selling the weapons and military equipment that Samiel robbed from the Avalon Kingdom.

    It took several months, but through some people in the Hall of Kadath, Master Dwarf Brigric Goldengroc managed to find a buyer in the form of some Empire in the Middle World named Nond. It was a powerful and old High World, and currently, it was only Middle World as it has been degraded with time and war took a heavy toll on the ce.

    Their buyer was the Sacred Alliance Empire was at war against some of their foes in an attempt to unify the world under their banner. The Emperor of the Sacred Alliance Empire was a very ambitious man who not only seemed to unify the entire world but also to repair the damages done to the world and elevate it to the Higher World once more.

    The Nond was rtively without many connections to the rest of the Cosmos, being located on the outskirts of the known parts of the Cosmos, so there were not many merchants and people who would go and trade with them since the world was rtively isted from the rest of the Cosmos.

    In the end, Master Dwarf Brigric Goldengroc managed to strike a deal with the Sacred Alliance Emperor and sold them all of the military equipment from the IMC for an astounding 27 Billion Credits. That was 27 Million Silver-Tier Mana Crystals or 2,7 Million Gold-Tier Mana Crystals... in the end it was a tremendous amount of money.

    Of course, almost half of the amount, namely 13,5 Billion would be reinvested in the growth of the IMC or used for any other purposes for thepany so it could grow. Business like this was rare because he sold a tremendous amount of military equipment, magetech guns, artilleries and other things.

    So, it would be most prudent not to use them for useless things but reinvest them among the things that would be needed to develop the IMC, so it could start continuously generating money because Samiel felt that he would need a lot of it, especially in theter stages.

    He also got a message of congrattion from his Master, Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber, for carrying out this deal because the Hall of Kadath owned 20% of the IMC, meaning they got 2,7 Billion Credits from the part which was being paid out on hand immediately. At the same time, Samiel was left with the reaming 10,8 Billion Credits to his name.

    This amount of money would be enough for him for a very long time, which would allow him to buy the magical knowledge, namely the Grimoires and Magic Tomes, as much as he wanted. Not to mention, with this, he could continue to indulge in a life of utmost luxury, and at the same time, he had that great feeling, as all of that came from his hard work.

    He had already ordered one of the Bishops of the Hall of Kadath to depart to the Magisterium and negotiate with them the price of some Magical Books and pieces of knowledge that he needed. Of course, there was still an opinion of using the Contribution Points from the Hall of Kadath, but Samiel didn''t really wish to do so, as he nned to use them to obtain some precious resources and things that he would be used during the creation of his Higher Undeads.

    In the present day, Samiel was viewing his Record and observing the growth during this one year; he spent mostly training and perfecting his Masteries in various skills and, most importantly, his Magic. Unfortunately, the progress was slow, but there was still some, or maybe Samiel was just hasty and wanted to get something done as soon as possible.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Azathoth

    Age: 28

    Race: Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (80%) / Human (20%)<novelnext></novelnext>

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (34%), Grand Necromancer (22%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level:

    Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter)

    Intermediate (Void, Necromancy, Winter)

    Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost, Outer Holiness

    Records Points: 5,640

    ***

    Tier: Bronze

    Level: 37

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (36%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (39%) - Ultimate Ability

    Architect (4%) - Transcendental Ability

    ***

    Techniques:

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (15%)

    Star Mind Protection Technique (25%) - 3 Stars

    ***

    Necrosis Magic:

    Necromancy Arts (31%)

    Void Magic (21%)

    Winter Magic (16%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (46%)

    Swordsmanship (14%)

    Trident Mastery (14%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 3rd Level Spells (33%)

    Metamagic - Spell Control (15%)

    Metamagic - Spell Pration (15%)

    Metamagic - Empower Spell (10%)]

    The progress in his Skills was steady; even his Trident Mastery reached 14% of Proficiency which was something very good because it was already a specialized Master-ranked Skill that Samiel developed and evolved from the Polearms Mastery.

    Even with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, Samiel wasn''t able to get the Proficiency higher for a very simple reason. While with Architect, he was able to memorize all stances and things like that instantly, learning any martial style with zero effort, but at the same time, hecked the inner meaning.

    Or better said, the intent and the profoundness in the moves. That was something that couldn''t be obtained just by memorization of moves and learning styles ofbat. Still, even so, Samiel had an easier time very muchpared to other people as he was increasing his Proficiency in the Trident Mastery.

    His Proficiency in his Magics increased steadily a bit, more than in the martial skills, showing that his talents indeedy more in the Magic than in the Martial Arts and Weapon Masteries. Of course, currently, Samiel was Intermediate Magician in the Necromancy Arts, Void Magic and Winter Magic.

    The one thing which started bothering Samiel to a certain degree was the fact that progress in the mastering of his sses was still very slow, but in the end, there was nothing he could do about it, so he started praying for sess and decided to ask his God for the advice. Mastering the ss was a very individual thing; no people would have the same experiences, so even his Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was little help in this aspect, aside from the general guideline and some minor details.

    Samiel stretched out his body as he closed the Record before he departed from the room in the inn as he went to find Yvraine. He contemted about what to do next with his free time, as he decided that he would take her on some date or tour across the city.

    Fortunately, Yvraine was also bored around this time of year, but at least it was clear that the situation in the frontlines was once again calming down so they could and have some fun. For Samiel, the missions through The Guild on the 8th Floor were mainly about rxing and killing some humans, or something at least.

 Chapter 152 Slice Of Life

    Today it was a silent day in Goldtooth City as the atmosphere was bleak... mainly because the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe suffered high losses upon their unsessful invasion of the Central Area of the Human Continent. Of course, while they technically won the fight because they sent in the Gold-Tier experts with a whole bunch of peak Silver-Tiers, they were able to turn the tables, and the losses among the demonkin were high.

    Surprisingly, it was something that was noticed by a few Legendary Level Demons who were observing the entire 8th Floor, and Samiel got information from some little birds that some Elders in the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe are deeply dissatisfied with the 5th Prince.

    Not only because he cost them manpower for nothing, but he also indirectly created a dispute with the Star Demons and Moon Demons, which was not good. The lineages of the Grand Duke Vassago and Grand Duke Agares were not something to be trifled with, even to the lineage of the Grand Emperor Bael. Samiel knew that both Transcendental Daemons were extremely powerful and from what he knew through his Patron God, they were only a tad weaker than Bael, though if they joined hands, they had a solid chance at defeating the 1st Pir.

    While the Demon Tribes and Demon Species who were creating the Demon Council didn''t like each other too much, but they had certain rules that all of them adhered to, and the first and most sacred of all of them was the one that the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe breached.

    It was thew of unity against the foreign enemy.

    Fundemantely speaking in front of themon enemy, which for the demons as collective species were the humans, the 5th Prince should have ording to the traditions and orders, adhere to the order and work together with the other demon species against themon enemy of humans, not creating fights between each other.

    "So, what else did you hear?"

    Yvraine asked as they were sitting on the higher floor in some luxurious restaurant with a beautiful view of the entire Goldtooth City that Samiel reserved exclusively for them. He wanted to have the entire floor just for them, as they were on their date.

    Of course, this small feat cost Samiel tens of thousands of Credits, but seeing that Yvraien really enjoyed the dinner, it was worth of it. Normally, she wouldn''t be this rxed because she didn''t really like it when they had a date and if there were other people around.

    The ce wasvishly decorated, and just for this dinner, the Manager of the restaurant reworked the entire higher floor, so there was only one table, some furniture, including sofas and seats, and aside from that, nothing else. It wasvishly decorated with various objects of historical value, but it still retained its elegance and charm, creating a really unique and romantic atmosphere.

    She liked to keep things private, and in truth, Samiel too, and because of that, especially right now, when he was already loaded and soon the IMC would start generating tons of Credits, Gold and other precious things, it was just a drop in the sea.

    "Bishop Antigonus sent me a message that the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Tribe would probably be sent to exile... it is highly possible that they would send him to the outskirts of the Demon Realm... and ironically though, in next few centuries, there would be the conjunction with the Angel Realm. So yeah... basically an unofficial death sentence, though what one would await? He practically almost created armed conflict between the three strongest Deamon Lineages and right now, the Star Demons and Moon Demons entered an alliance through marriage. Probably the entire Demon Council will be fractured into two blocks."

    Fracturement of the Demon Council even further was something good because right now, even if they were not united, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribed, in certain situations, acted as their unofficial leader. And right now, that changed, and those leaders would rise from on to two or three, depending on the point of view.

    So, yes, this was not an ideal situation for the Demonkin, and Samiel seriously doubted that majority of the Demonkin higher-ups would realize the threat and the gravity of the situation they were in... Probably not, but that was for the better.

    "Demon Realm is a shitce... not even the Tribes and Legendaries are willing to stay there for a prolonged amount of time and aside from some of the central continents of the World, the rest of it is a barren wastnd, with mighty Demonic Beasts roaming around."

    Yvraine stated grimly, remembering her lessons about the important and powerful Worlds in the Cosmos. Demon Realm was a Principal World, which was a very long time ago an Ancestral Home of many of the Transcendental Daemon Lineages before they migrated to the Higher Dimensional World Abyss. While many of the demons and even Daemons considered the Demon World as a sacred ce for their species, it wasrgely abandoned and nobody wanted to have anything to do with that ce.

    The reason for that?

    The conditions of the Demon Realm were terrible and it was an extremely dangerous world, barren without many resources, filled with strife and war, nothing else and nothing more. The soil in the Demon Realm was mainly infertile and almost no nts or trees could grow there; there were no animals or magical beasts that could be easily killed and used as a source of food, while everything else was corrupted by demonic miasma.

    Even right now, though most of the Demon Tribes and Species had some territories there, it was more like a formality. To just uphold some of their traditions that they were still controlling the Demon Realm; if not for that one aspect where they needed to stroke their egos, everyone would have abandoned that world long ago already.

    The true rulers of the Demon Realms were various herds and groups of the Demonic Beasts, including those at the Transcendental Level. Aside from them, there was some significant Demon poption that lived there, though they were at the level of barbarian tribes, but not much different from the Demon Tribes en masse. Though the demons living in the Demon Realm were living in really, like really poor conditions that put even some Ork Tribe to shame in the sheer scale of barbarism and uncivilizedness.

    Currently, the Demon Realms served only one purpose, which was the war against the Angel Realms, which was a Principal World under the rule of the Higher Dimensional World Heaven, which was ruled by the mighty Transcendental God whose name was best left unspoken.

    Demon Realms and Angels Realms were close in proximity to each other and sometimes, two or three times during one Epoch, the conjunction would happen, as the barriers of the Worlds would sh, and it was would possible to traverse between two worlds without any trouble, which typically meant enormous war between two species.

    "There is a very high possibility that he will die there... but that is not my concern... overall, I am pretty satisfied with this domino effect."

    A little bit of pride appeared in Samiel''s eyes as he mused quietly, boasting a bit about his aplishments. He was not the type of person who would be bragging about things, but this was something really worthy of achievement because with a single assassination, much was achieved, and he didn''t need to lift a littlefinger.

    "Indeed... I would never have thought that with so little, so much would be changed... I must say that my man is very capable."

    Yvraine smirked at him while giving him a peck on his lips, as Samiel was happy that the woman that he loved, albeit not really sure of the feeling or what he felt, but he knew that he felt something more than just physical attraction and likeness,plimented him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Of course, I would."

    Samiel answered jokingly, and Yvraine just nodded her head in agreement because she was happy that her chosen man was capable and powerful. Not really aware of the fact, but one of the reasons why Yvraine rejected all of her potential suitors was mainly because they were only after her beauty or status.

    Neither of them was powerful enough to match her inbat or defeat her; most of them looked at her with clear and unhidden lust in their eyes, not to mention many of them wanted her only for her social status as the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty and the Silvermoon Elven Race.

    Meaning whoever married her would have ess to the resources and power of one of the biggest and strongest factions in the material ne of the Cosmos, especially in the Tower. The Nesser Dynasty was very powerful, and many people wanted to take advantage of that.

    Of course, Yvraine inherited an Inner Sight from her mother, and she was able to clearly and easily discern the intentions of people whom had some thought about her with a single look. That was one of the reasons why she never had a conflict with Samiel Zentaur because the man never had some nefarious thoughts or intentions about her.

    As they were sitting on the sofa side by side, suddenly Yvriane was thinking about the times when they met on the 1st Floor. She clearly remembered how different the version of the Samiel were, not in terms of appearance or anything, despite that one had changed a bit too, but in terms of bodynguage and psychical state.

    From the moment they met, she knew that she was not the best travelingpanion and in truth, she was very well aware that she was a cold, arrogant bitch. As she was thinking about her behavior in the past, she didn''t even realize that slowly, tears started falling from her eyes because, in the end, she regretted it, and regretted it very deeply.

    Samiel noticed that she was crying as he hugged her close to him, leaving her head over his chest, not saying anything. While he was not an expert in human behavior and rtionships in general, he suspected why she was crying because in moments like these, he was too thinking about the moments when they met.

    He knew that Yvraine was too, and she probably was sad that she didn''t treat him well from the start, but that was not something he cared about. He just hugged her close to him, patting her head, as her long blonde hair flowed down.

    "You know, I am really happy... for a very long time in my life, the only thing that I left was emptiness and right now, the only thing I feel is warmness in the endless cold Void of my heart."

    He chuckled as he stated that, attempting to end it with a joke, but as an Eldritch Creature, it wouldn''t be wrong to say that instead of his heart, there was an endless coldness of the Void as the Void filled his very own being.

    Or, in Samiel''s case, it would fill his very own being in the near future. With the tempo at which his being was changing, coupled with the continuous evolution and getting rid of his human parts, it won''t be very long before he would turn into a Pure-Blooded Eldritch Creature.

    It would probablye sooner than he initially thought because he was already an Eldritch Creature from 80%. Naturally, he predicted that a final evolution would happen the moment he reached the Legendary Level as that was the perfect moment for that.

    "And also don''t cry... you are way more beautiful when you smile, even if it sounds clich??, though I personally find your piercing cold gaze very erotic."

    Samiel said as Yvraine giggled a little and wiped her tears. Of course, Samiel knew what to say because, indeed, Yvraine''s cold and emotionless facade was always weirdly erotic for him if he thought about it. When he thought about it, he realized that he had weird preferences, but he couldn''t really deny that Yvriane''s cold gaze was indeed something very erotic and...

    "Oh, all Gods of the Selndarine, I swear that if you wasn''t the man I love, I would have long ago..."

    As she was saying that, suddenly, she stopped amind the sentence as she realized what she had just said and it seemed like both of them froze on the spot. For Yvraine, this was a great mistake to say because for many reasons.

    While they were in the "courting rtionship" for a rtively long time, at least from the human point of view, but they have never thought and talked about their feelings for each other. They just enjoyed each other''spany and so, but they never had these kinds of talks together.

    Yvraine never initiated the talk because she was aware that Samiel would need some time toe up to realization on his own, not because he was forced. She didn''t want to make a situation like... this because there was no way out right now, as it wasn''t entirely possible to behave as if nothing had happened.

    She looked at him, searching for clues and waiting for his reaction, while Samiel looked like he was struck by thunder. Thest time he felt like this was when he first met his God, The Nuclear Chaos, the Primordial Demiurge Azathoth.

    It was an indescribable feeling, a mix of fear and happiness at the same time, and yet he wasn''t able to move an inch as his brain stopped. In truth, he didn''t know what to say; he didn''t know what exactly he felt; he knew nothing, and yet he felt like he knew everything he needed to know.

    He didn''t say anything as he leaned over and passionately kissed Yvraine as their tongues interviewed and they only separated after several minutes.

    "I love you too if the previous act didn''t answer it."

    He said as Yvraine hopped on him and started kissing him in passion never seen before in her eyes, as one could see burning mes in her eyes. The moment she heard those words, she was overwhelmed by happiness and at the same time, her possessive side resurfaced once more, as she had a very strong need to "mark" her man before some thieving whores would approach him.

    She was a very possessive woman, bordering crazily possessive, and Yvraine knew that Samiel was dense, so she needed to protect him from the other women who would attempt to steal him from her.

 Chapter 153 Unassuming Kadath

    Several Days Later, Goldtooth City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    Samiel was sleeping in their room in the Inn, while Yvraine was snuggling up to him as they enjoyed each other''s body warms and treasured this moment. During theirst date, one of the major inner blockades was breached in Samiel''s psych??.

    Soon enough, they would be going to the Human Continent once more, because the Star Demon Tribe issued some interesting mission, which the Khaos Chapter Mercenary group decided to undertake, as the payment was good and the mission took ce in the southern area of the Human Continent.

    And as they were sleeping there, enjoying a morningfort, suddenly Samiel''s Holo-Brain started beeping, signifying that somebody was calling him, and there were not many people who would be calling him. Thus he stood from the bed and went to another room, as he picked up the call and saw it was his master that was calling him.

    "Master, to what I owe this pleasure at this morning?"

    Samiel asked politely, but in truth, he was annoyed that his master was calling him this soon in the morning because he wanted toze in bed for longer. Especially right now, when he was cuddling together with Yvraine, so because of that, he wasn''t really happy to leave.

    "I have a mission to assign you... because of your past achievements and especially due to the information that Bishop Antigonus obtained from the assassin of the Avalon Kingdom and aristocracy from that same Kingdom, Jaspar de''Charetier. The collegium of Cardinals was very pleased with you as well, so because of that, I have decided to entrust you more important mission."

    Samiel listened to every word that the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was speaking with great interest. It was clear that this would be a very important mission because the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath was personally assigning him the mission.

    "I will carry the mission best to my capabilities."

    Samiel stated already pre-learned phrases like a machine, as he was curious about the mission that would be given to him directly from the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath.

    "You will go to one of the human cities south of the Human Continent and carry out the Spawn Creation Ritual."

    The moment he heard the words, Samiel was washed by cold sweat because he was given really an important task by the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath. Spawns were essential to the might and power of the Hall of Kadath. Eldritch Spawns were one of the abominations of nature that were created through some obscure rituals during an enormous sacrifice.

    Samiel never carried out the Sacrifice because such a thing waspletely out of his Level, as typically, the Eldritch Spawns were created at the Initial Stage Legendary Level or at least peak Gold-Tier at best, so Samiel didn''t really understand what was going on right now.

    "We are experimenting with cultivating the Eldritch Spawns from the lower Tiers... to see if it is possible to give birth to the Holy Legendary Eldritch Spawn, something which has been out of our reach for a very long time already."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber stated as Samiel looked at him surprised but didn''t say anything. Of course, this mission would not only be about finding a suitable ce to carry out the ritual and carrying it out to create Eldritch Spawns; he would also need to bring them to a ce, where they would be transported out from the 8th Floor of the Tower to another ce.

    "Can I depend on Bishop Antigonus to create a spatial portal for the Eldritch Spanws to leave the 8th Floor?"

    Samiel questioned, already formting ns about how to deal with the Eldritch Spawns after they were born. He knew that they were very problematic creatures, and mainly they were without any higher intelligence.

    They were like primal beasts, acting only on their instincts and their raw and unrestrained desire to destroy everything they see. Because of that, during the rituals, their wills are shackled through a special branch of Soul Magic so that they could be controlled as proper weapons of war.

    If not, it would be highly possible that they would turn on their creators and kill them as well. Certainly, this didn''t include the creators who were themselves bearers of the Eldritch Blood or were Eldritch Creatures, but this was mostly the case with those others who were creating Eldritch Spawns.

    "Yes, but it would be prudent for you to find a safe ce and activate some wards through the device which was given to you. Right now, the 8th Floor is very much scrutinized through by the Legendaries of the Avalon Kingdom and Demon Tribes; we don''t want them to notice what is happening too fast..."

    Menuyhutt Faulhaber stated in a stern voice as Samiel remembered the order. While it was risky, Samiel knew what, at least partially knew, why he was given this mission. It was another kind of test by the Hall of Kadath because, due to the fact that the 8th Floor was overseen by many Legendaries, it would be harder for Samiel to carry out the task.

    It was a fine challenge for him, as he would dly undertake a mission like this. Not only could he prove that he was capable because he knew for sure that even in the Hall of Kadath, but there would also be a lot of people who would be unconvinced of his power and skills.

    The Hall of Kadath was a faction where a meritocracy was above everything else, as everything was decided based on someone''s skills, abilities, capabilities, merits and achievements. So, even though he was the bearer of the Holy Blood of the Primordial Demiurge, there were many people who were still dissatisfied with this fact.

    So, because of that, Samiel needed to prove hispetency, something that the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber greatly approved off. Due to that, Samiel wasn''t shy from any mission from the Hall of Kadath, and this time it won''t be any different.

    "How is your training going?"

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber asked after some time when they were finished with the official business of the Hall of Kadath, as he wanted to check up on his disciple personally. Samiel was not only the Holy Son and his inheritor, but interestingly, he was something akin to a family, or the closest thing to family, what the elderly Holy Legendary had in his life.

    "It''s going well... I have already reached Level 37 Bronze-Tier, and became an Intermediate Magician in the Void Magic, Winter Magic and Necromancy Arts."

    Samiel stated swiftly, as his master just nodded in eptance of the fact, not awaiting less from someone whom he personally thought and someone of such inheritance as Samiel Zentaur. One could say that no less than perfection was eptable, but Samiel didn''t like the concept of perfection itself.

    If something was perfect, it meant that it couldn''t improve, and if something couldn''t improve, it meant it was wed and that meant it wasn''t perfect. Ergo, the concept of perfection is fundamentally wed in its very own nature.

    "And the Metamagic Studies?"

    The Metamagic Skills was something that he started working on together with him on the 5th Floor, where he made some decent progress learning and mastering at least the basics of the Metamagic Techniques. Of course, Samiel''s aim was to get a Leveled Ability in the aspect of Metamagic like Yvraine had.

    "I have been using Architect to copy Yvraine''s usage of the Metamagic from time to time, and while I am able to memorize and learn the techniques easily, their execution is an entirely different matter altogether. I am still having some minor problems, but that is merely the luck of time and practice and deeperprehension of the meaning behind the technique."

    While Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect was very powerful there was no doubt about it. However, the one thing that he couldn''t do with his current Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, not to mention increasing the Proficiency with the Architect, was an absolute nightmare. Though in that aspect, what would one await, as the Ability was meant solely for the Transcendental Entities, not something that shouldnd in the hands of the mortal.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That is only understandable, and I hope that you are not over-relying on the Architect''s calction during the fights."

    The Hall Master stated sternly, as Samiel could only maintain a neutral expression because while he took the advice of his master to heart, but at the same time, he took liking very much to the Architect''s calction during the fight because they were too convenient.

    "I have lessened the usage by 54,68% and I am trying not to bepletely dependent on the calctions during the fights."

    Samiel answered truthfully when he was asked the question for all money by his master. He knew that his master wouldn''t be too pleased by this, but at least he achieved some significant progress in this aspect, if not anything else.

    "At least that you understand the hidden danger in this."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber stated with a slight frown as he looked at his disciple through the Holo-Brain. Then they talked about some more insignificant things, mainly about Samiel''s progress while the Hall Master was giving him some pointers on what he should do and what he should not do.

    After Samiel ended the call with the Hall Master Hall of Kadath, he returned back to the room, where Yvraine was no longer sleeping as she was waking up the moment Samiel left the room to have a talk with the Hall Master.

    "So, what forced you to leave the bed this soon in the morning?"

    Yvraine asked curiously because Samiel was a heavy sleeper, he loved to sleep and he never woke up very soon.

    "I had a call with the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath; he assigned me another mission that I will need to carry out on the 8th Floor."

    Samiel stated as Yvriane was now hooked up on whatever Samiel was going to do while he was contemting if he should take her with him. Not like there was any safety danger to it, but the process of creating Eldritch Spawns was not very nice... appearance-wise, it was disgusting, truth to be told.

    "Based on your expression, you are going to do something unsavory, morally disgusting and probably something that would make even Demons look like saints inparison."

    Yvraine stated, as Samiel could wholeheartedly agree with her, because such was the truth, not like he cared about the opinions of how people perceived that. Though in the end, he knew that Yvraine didn''t really care, especially when he was going to carry it out on the humans, a race that she deeply hated just for existing.

    Really different reasons why Samiel hated humans and humankind as well, despite being a former human and having a human part till this way. Though at least something for him, he was already in the process of shedding off hisst human parts.

    "Yes, indeed."

    Samiel stated while Yvraine revealed a cruel grin hearing that he was going to carry out some obscure ritual on the entire human city. Not like she cared, and in truth, she wanted to witness it because she found it greatly fascinating.

    "Do you know about the Eldritch Spawns?"

    He then proceeded to ask a question, as Yvraine''s face morphed into mild disgust as she imagined the image of the Eldritch Spawns because their appearance was really, really, really gross and disgusting.

    "Yes, they are the tanks and the fighting force of the Hall of Kadath."

    Yvraine answered, as her Uncle, her father''s elder brother, was one of the Cardinals of the Hall of Kadath, and he once told her about the Eldritch Spawns. They were absolute abominations of nature that were created by some madmen and the Hall of Kadath used them for various purposes.

    "Basically... though their mostmon purpose is just to let them destroy everything in their path, they are pretty useful in that aspect. Whatever, right now, I am heading to the Human Continent, preferably to the southern area, to carry out the Spawn Creation Ritual on some human city to create a whole bunch of Eldritch Spawns."

    Samiel stated to which Yvraine nodded as she understood that this was probably a very big thing for Samiel to be assigned this mission. She was aware that this was a way for him to get the achievements that he desperately needed as a member of the Hall of Kadath, especially because he was named the Holy Son out of nowhere.

    While Yvraine didn''t really have a fear of undergoing something simr, she underwent several tests to be fit as Heiress Apparent to the Silvermoon Throne of the Nesser Dynasty, and she would undergo several more, but they were mainly tied to things like governance of some area or things like that.

    "At least that would be more interesting than just sitting here and doing nothing... Ork already went to take out some missions from the Demon Tribes about some rogue human elements that were hiding on the inds, but the Demons arezy to deal with them."

    ? As Yvraine was saying that, Samiel remembered that many of the humans managed to escape back to the demon-controlled territory, which were the inds in between the Demon Continent and Human Continent.

    While this may seem stupid and in fact it was stupid in the long run, from the short term, the refugees managed to buy themselves some time to live because the Demon Tribes won''t be sending anyone after them.

    Though they didn''t probably count on the fact that some of the smarter tribes would notice this and send someone to clean up, as apparently, the Star Demon Tribe was sending people to clean out these rogue elements before they could properly take roots there and be problems for the demons.

    "We should depart several hourster; I want to have thispleted as soon as possible... also in a few days, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe will be taking over the remains of the Central Region, so that would be the best opportunity to carry out the ritual, because most if not all Legendaries who are right now observing the Floor from afar, would be looking at the Central Area, on the top of that, I had some device that would be able to congeal the ritual for a few hours."

    Samiel got a few insurances from the Hall of Kadath if he was going to carry out the Eldritch Spawn Creation Ritual, so bepletely sure that everything would go ording to the n and without a single mistake.

    Because of that, he also chose the time that was the most ideal for conducting the Ritual, during which almost all of the Legendaries would be preupied with something else. Even though the Legendary Level Professional, not even them, could observe the entire Floor of the Tower all the time, it was night impossible... even though this was just one of the Lower Floors of the Tower, it was still tremendous in size.

    So he didn''t fear that the Legendary Level Professionals would intervene in his business and maybe even kill him... not, though he didn''t want to risk it all together, because he was well aware that even if he activated the Magetech Device that he had prepared for this purpose and even chose the most appropriate time, some of the more powerful Legendaries would notice that something was wrong on the Human Continent and would probably send someone to check on it.

 Chapter 154 Ritual And Sacrifice

    Evening, same day, demon-controlled territory at the Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    It didn''t take long for Samiel and Yvriane to arrive at the demon-controlled territory of the  Human Continent. From then, they headed towards the Southern Area of the Human Continent because, in the south, the biggest cities of the Human Brotherhood were located.

    And thus, they were chosen by Samiel to be his target in carrying out the ritual to create Eldritch Spawns. The journey would take several hours at best, and Samiel took with him the scouting cat Nefertari because she could prove herself t be very useful this time.

    During the time he was carrying out the ritual, she would be scouting the area, in case the city he chose was to be approached by another part and disrupt the ritual. While presently, his cat familiar was enjoying being carried in his arms because she was toozy to fly and not to mention about walking.

    She was pretty much a spoiled cat, but Samiel liked to hold her, especially when she was cuddly and all licky. During that time, they were walking by foot through the territories controlled by the Demon territories and, subsequently, the Human controlled ones; they were talking about some things, mainly just casually chatting about some things.

    From time to time, Samiel talked about his time on Earth; for some reason, Yvraine was pretty interested in his time on Earth, something which Samiel didn''t really much understand because he never had many good memories about that world.

    "How far are we from the targetted destination?"

    Yvraine asked after both of them were already walking for several hours; clearly, she was already bing bored as hell from the journey because they were just endlessly walking or running, depending on the terrain and conditions.

    "Qririth should be around three hours away if we are running at our top speed."

    Samiel stated that both of them were at the Bronze-Tier, though Yvraine was higher Level-wise, Samiel was stronger overall. Still, if both of them were going at their top speed, they could reach their destination, which was Qririth, within three and a half hours, probably.

    Samiel chose the city for specific purposes. Mainly because it wasn''t that deep in the Human controlled territory, and yet at the same time, it was a huge city, with a poption numbering of several million because it was a city designated for living.

    And most importantly, there were not any significant protections around the city. From the information he bought from The Guild, there were only some basic wards, and of course, because he was conducting a ritual, the garrison troops were not of his concern because theycked any skilled Magic Caster.

    "This city is one of the best ces to carry out the Spawn Creation ritual because there are not any significant magical defenses around the city itself. The Human Brotherhood didn''t have enough resources to create protective wards around all of their holds, so they prioritized their Fortresses, Regional Capitals, Industrial and Military Cities. In contrast, residential cities got only some superficial wards that could be deactivated by me with little to no effort."

    Samiel exined why he had chosen the Qririth as his preferred destination to take the vacation and create a few Eldritch Spawns. The wards that were around the Qririth were so simple that even Samiel, who had just started grasping the Basics of the Warding Magic, and in truth, wasn''t even Basic Magician in the Warding Magic, could deactivate, as they were really only some superficial ones and at the same time were of really poor quality.

    "And with theck of Caster-oriented Professions or people adept in Magic, they won''t spend those they have to protect some city where, technically speaking, nothing of eye-catching significant isn''t yet their most important resource is, though that itself is for discussion."

    Yvraine finished as he caught up on where he was going with his train of thoughts. With the current state of the Human Brotherhood, they stood in front of choice, and they chose to protect the things that were crucial for the war effort.

    And while the poption was the backbone of any nation; it was very questionable if they managed to survive at all, so their choices on what to defend and how were totally understandable. Soon enough, after several hours of walking, they finally saw the panorama of Qririth City, which was an enormous city on its own.

    Its poption was around several million, and it was considered one of the biggest residential cities across the Human Continent. Right now, Samiel had much work to do because the city was much bigger than he initially thought, and he needed to at first deactivate the wards and theny the ritual.

    "Nowe on,zy cat... go and scout the city for me."

    Samiel stated theatrically as he literarily threw out Nefertari like a bird, as she pped her wings in anger and screeched at Samiel for ruining her nap. Unfortunately for her, there was nothing she could do about this, as her mastermanded, and she wanted a lot of food from him.

    And thus, Nefertari flew high above the Qririth and scouted the area just as her master instructed. While she was grumpy about being thrown out from thefortable embrace, she knew that afterpleting the task, she would get a lot of snacks from her master, so she was eager to finish the task.

    She saw that there were not many guards aside from the standardized City Guard that was present in each city, and she of course, focused on searching Wizards, Sorcerers or Warlocks, basically the Casters who could prove to be difficult, but as per her master''s predictions, there were none.

    So after the next ten minutes, after her scouting role was properly finished, and she collected all the valuable information perfectly. Then she returned back to her master, as shended on his shoulder and started speaking with him through their telepathic connection.

    ''Hooman, there are only a few hundred of Guards, with the strongest being Bronze-Tier Captains. None of the Casters or any people whom I would sense to be a threat to the ritual itself. There are only some very inferior Basic Wards in the ce, with Wardstones being ced in three Guardian Towards together, creating a triangr shape.''

    Nefertari reported while Samiel scratched her behind her ears, as she purred loudly, enjoying her master''s attention, while Samiel then looked at the Qririth while squinting his eyes.

    "We need to disable the Wards at first... there are only Basic Wards in the ce, ording to Nefertari, and three Wardstones located in the three Guardian Towers across the city."

    It was a pretty smart move to ce the Wardstone at the Guardian Towers of the City Guard because they would be ces that are hardly reachable for most people, but fortunately for Samiel, it wasn''t that much of a problem.

    "Or we could probably use them to our advantage in the end."

    Smaiel then contemted, as he instantly remembered the one passage that he read in the book about the Basics of the Warding Magic that he got his hands on through Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Do you mean reprogramming the Wards?"

    Yvraine immediately caught on, as she was knowledgeable about many things, and she knew that Wards could be reprogrammed. It wasn''t that hard if someone knew the exact procedure on how the reprogram Wards.

    "Yes, from what Nefertari reported to me, the Wards are only some very basic ones, mainly the screening Wards and that''s all. But, the Wardstones itself could be used as means to amplify the ritual effects. Also, their location in the Guardian Towers, which are rtively high, would right now only y to our advantage."

    Samiel exined and Yvraine agreed with his reasoning and n because this would greatly help the ritual. Not only would it strengthen the ritual itself because the Wardstones are powerful magical conducts, which are known to amplify any spells and mana, but Samiel also calcted the strengthening effect to be exactly 37,89% through the Architect''s calctions.

    Of course, another great benefit was that it would help to ensure that the ritual was safely carried out, and naturally, safely for Samiel, Yvraine and Nefertari, because if the ritual is disrupted, then the magical reaction would be extremely destructive and dangerous.

    "Then, should we start?"

    Samiel asked, as they then proceeded to sneak into the city. Fortunately, the screening wards that wereid through the city were trash and wouldn''t be able to see through the Samiel''s and Yvraien''s means of concealing themselves, as they did it through Nefertari''s Level 2 Ability Mirage.

    They arrive at the first Guardian Tower within ten minutes, and due to ack of people guarding the Towers or any kinds of defenses that would be able to stop them, be it magical or physical ones, they were able easily to enter the top of the first Guardian Tower where the Wardstone was ced.

    "Now, let''s check it up."

    Samiel stated as he cast some spells on the Warstone; they were mainly the analyzing spells that soon enough transmitted all information to Samiel''s mind as he frowned a little, thinking about the next course of action.

    "The Wardstones are already tied to someone, probably to the City Lord... but the good news is that the person who was doing the binding, this is sloppily, and the connection is highly unstable, so I can probably break it, without damaging the Wards, while at the same time, the City Lord would suffer the backsh and it will take them some time, they realize it is due to the connection with the Wards was broken."

    Samiel stated rather uncertainly because the probability of him breaking the Wards was 79,98%, so that was rtively high, but Samiel saw there was more than 20% chance of the procedure failing, so he was rtively cautious about this.

    Yet, he conjured the Mana Strings and put his right hand directly at the Wardstone, and started breaking up the connection with the subtle usage of the Man Strings that were destroying the Runic Matrix, which was establishing the connection between the City Lord of Qririth and the Wardstone.

    Samiel was carefully destroying the runic matrix all around until the Runic Matrix all around the Wardstone was destroyed, but of course, this was only one of three, and only after all three of them are destroyed would Samiel be able to sever the binding of the Wards to the City Lord of Qririth and use the Wardstone for his own purpose.

    "Now we have one, two more to go."

    He stated as Nefertari yawned, signaling everybody that she was sleepy and wanted to eat something before she went to sleep. Thus Samiel took out some snacks from his Dimensional Ring that he already had prepared for her and passed it to the Elder Wampus Cat, who took her rightful ce on his shoulder.

    Then they departed from the Guardian Tower and went to another one. The second one has located a good distance across the entire city, but fortunately, Samielpensated for it with speed; he dissolved the Runic Matrix that was binding the Wardstones to the City Lord of Qririth.

    And the third one was done even faster than the second one, as within one hour, all three of the Guardian Towers were done, and the Wardstones were now free for Samiel to use as he saw fit. When he was done with the thing, he activated the Rune, which he left engraved on all of the three Wardstones as he brought them under his control, and he started preparing the things he needed for the ritual around the third Wardstone.

    Around each Wardstone, Samiel drew out on the ground and all around the room, a veryplex Magic Circle, all writing in the R''Lyehian to build a foundation for the ritual to create Eldritch Spawns.

    After the Magic Circle was done, he bit his finger and dropped a sole drop of his blood onto the Wardstone, as the Wardstone rapidly changed color from its previous average-looking stone color to crimson red, simr to that of the deepest shade of blood.

    "Okey, it is ready; we need to leave the Qririth and activate the ritual from a safe distance, as this ce will be a mess within the next half an hour or so."

    Samiel stated that when the ritual was activated, then it would sweep everything that had Lifeforce in the diameter of the entire Qririth, and for sure, they wouldn''t wish to be caught up there. If such an oue happened, Samiel may be okey... probably because his heritage would protect him from the effects, but Yvraine and Nefertari would for sure die because this ritual was designated to reap all life, aside from that, which has Eldritch origin.

    They left the Qririth unseen, as after several minutes when they left, the City Lord''s Mansion was in a panic, because apparently, the City Lord had died from a heart attack. Samiel knew that if they called experienced Caster, he would be able to tell that he died from the magical backsh, but to the untrained eye, the symptoms of the Magical Backsh sometimes may not differ from that of the heart attack.

    And Samiel doubted that the brutish Battle Mages that they had in the Qririth''s City Guard would be able o recognize it at first nce and would probably need a lot more time in finding the real cause of death.

    If one was dividing the Mages, be it Sorcerers, Wizards, Warlocks or Arcansits based on their usage and approach of the Magic, they could be easily differentiated through the terms of "Battle Mage" and "Schr Mage".

    Battle Mages were people of the Sorcerer, Wizard, Warlock or Arcanist Professions who used Magic mainly to fight, not like they understood it properly. Many looked at them like Warriors who had canes, wands, staff, staves or other precious artifacts instead of swords and spears.

    Schr Mages, while the name may be confusing, were not only people who had a very deep understanding of Magic but also innovated and invented new spells and so on. Due to this, they were incredibly powerful because they understood the fundamental principles of Magic itself, something that the Battle Mages never grasped.

 Chapter 155 Eldritch Spawns

    After Samiel left the Qririth with Yvriane and Nefertari, they went to a safe distance, from which he nned to carry out the ritual to create Eldritch Spawns. When they were in the safe distance, Samiel singled Yvraine to stop, as he was going to activate the ritual.

    This concrete ritual, fortunately, didn''t require any kind of chant because the chant itself was already engraved in R''Lyehian on each of the Wardstones, so the only thing which was left to Samiel was to activate the enormous city-sized Magic Circle.

    Samiel looked around as he took out a small box-shaped magetech device, which was specifically designed by the Hall of Kadath to cast something which was called "Shroud" on the entire area to prevent anyone from seeing what was happening in there.

    He threw the box-shaped magetech device high in the air, stopping approximately several kilometers above the Qririth City and breaking into hundreds of small parts, subsequently creating something akin to a dome around the entire Qririth.

    "I am going to start the ritual... this may take some time... also, be on alert in case someone tries to approach the area. If such a thing happens, immediately kill. If it is arge group, inform me and I will summon my Undead Army to do the job."

    Samiel instructed Yvraine, who was holding Nefertari in her arms and petting the Elder Wampus Cat, who in turn was greatly enjoying the attention she was receiving as she was napping after eating her fill of snacks.

    Then, he looked at the Qririth while he conjured an Ice Trident, just for the sake of more effectively guiding his enormous magical powers into the ritual, as he muttered "Uaaah" which was a word for "start" or "begin" in the Eldritch Speech of R''Lyehian.

    Not even a secondter, after Samiel activated the ritual, an enormous purplish-ck magic circle appeared high above the Qririth, as it was covering the entirety of the city. The Ritualistic Magic Circle was created through countless words written in the Eldritch Speech of R''Lyehian as it shone in an ominous light.

    Not only that, but it also gave off a very disturbing feeling to anyone who was exposed to the light from The Ritualistic Magic Circle, even Yvraine, who was standing behind Samiel together with Nefertari, looked very ufortable while looking at what was happening in the Qririth. Ironically though, this was only a start because nothing had happened, as only now was the ritual adequately beginning.

    Samiel as the "ritual master" was controlling the flow of the ritual, with a wave downwards of his Ice Trident, which he was using as means to control the ritual, suddenly a burst of purplish-ck light erupted from the enormous Ritualistic Magic Circle and enveloped entire city through and through.

    "We will see what wille from it... the poption of the Qririth is very high, but at the same time, we are aiming for the Eldritch Spawns with the highesttent talent, not the personal strength during their creation."

    He muttered as he observed the ritual, which had fully started. The second the purplish-ck light from the Ritualistic Magic Circle fell onto the Qririth, all lifeforms that were living in the city started mutating and literarily dissolving into weird puddles of flesh substance that looked very much disgusting and gross.

    It didn''t matter if the living things in the city were humans, non-humans if there were any, magical beasts or ordinarily animals, everything without exception was instantly melted into a weird abominational way and started concentrating into several huge balls of pure flesh, blood and gore.

    Contrary to what one would expect in situations like these, there was no screaming or attempts to escape because the first wave of the purplish-ck energy immobilized anyone who would dare so. Thus, due to that act, everyone was basically imprisoned in their own bodies, as they could only helplessly watch as their families, friends, loved ones and even themselves, in the end, were turned into puddles of meat and blood.

    It should really be torturous to watch, but that was another purpose of this, and that was to create as much of negative energy, despair and hatred as possible, as all of that would aid the creation of the Eldritch Spawns.

    All of this would just aid the creation of the better, stronger and more potent Eldritch Spawns that would be soon birthed to the world. What Samiel aimed for was the creation of the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath, which were the offspring of one of the main Gods of the Eldritch Pantheon, who stood as a member of the Azathoth''s Court.

    Shub-Niggurath, called The ck Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, is an Outer God and offspring of Darkness, which was the direct offspring of Azathoth. Dark Youngs, which were basically the spawns of the Shub-Niggurath and they were one of the most talented because they could easily reach the Supreme Stage Legendary Level with rtively easy and enough souls, flesh and blood.

    ? Not to mention, they had great potential to reach Holiness, and Samiel was instructed to cultivate them if possible. Mainly because he got direct orders from the Hall Master, Menuhyutt Faulhaber to do so.

    The Hall of Kadath needed more Holy Legendaries for the future because there were disturbing news; based on what the Hall Master told him, some Elders of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe were attempting to unify all Demon Tribes within the material ne of Cosmos under the sole banner.

    This was a very dangerous motion because unified, the Demons would be stronger than the Hall of Kadath, especially in quantity, because aside from some anomalies, vis: Orks, Swarm and Mind Flyers, they were most numerous. However, the Swarm and Mind Flyers were hardly considered mortal factions because they mainly inhabited the Void, which was not considered a material ne because Transcendents could easily exist there.

    Samiel didn''t know how many Holy Legendaries the Hall of Kadath had, but he was sure it was something above ten. Though from the public information, just the five strongest Demon Tribes and Lineages had more than 20 Holy Legendaries if they banded together.

    Of course, now, with thetest schisms between the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and Star Demon Tribe / Moon Demon Tribeplicated this, but one never knew.

    The process was being carried out without much problem; as the magetech device which cast the shroud area and as predicted, the city was without anyone who could disrupt the ritual. Fortunately, nobody would see the reason toe to the Qririth because, in the end, the city wasn''t much of importance to the Human Brotherhood for now.

    So after one hour, all of the flesh, gore and blood condensed itself into several huge cocoons, as Samiel counted seven of them. Each of these meat cocoons was high more than twenty meters, and they looked disgusting, pretty simr to Xenomorph Eggs from the Alien Movies that Samiel watched on Earth.

    He needed to wait approximately another 45 minutes until the "eggs" started hatching and the Dark Youngs were being born to the world. Samiel observed how the enormous eggs started shaking and the Eldritch Spanws were finally being born to the world.

    Dark Youngs were horrifying, pitch-ck monstrosities, seemingly made of ropy tentacles. They stand as tall as a tree on stumpy, hoofed legs. A mass of tentacles protrudes from their trunks where a head would normally be, and puckered maws, dripping green goo, cover their nks. The monsters roughly resemble trees in silhouette, the trunks being the short legs and the tops of the trees represented by the ropy, branching bodies. The whole mass of these things smells like an open grave.

    There were seven of these abominations, and despite their huge size, they were only at the Bronze-Tier Level 35 to Bronze-Tier Level 40, but this was something that Samiel had already expected. The ritual was tweaked in a way where the power of the newly birthed creations would be sacrificed in favor of highertent talent.

    "Interesting... and beautiful..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel marveled at the Dark Youngs as they were indeed magnificent creatures, especially when they grew up. They were now weak because all of the power with which they would be normally created was all sacrificed for the sake of increasement of their talent as much as possible.

    "They are disgusting."

    Yvraine sounded her opinion about the Dark Youngs, as Samiel couldn''t really find any words to refute her, because, in a certain sense, she was indeed right. To the outsiders, the Dark Youngs would look disgusting and gross because they indeed were... they were the spawns of the Outer God, Shub-Niggurath.

    "Of course they are... they are the spawns of the Outer Gods, not some sculpture carved in the ateliers of the Silvermoon Capital, my dear."

    Samiel bit back sarcastically; as he admired the Dark Youngs, he couldn''t really await for the moment when they would reach adulthood and how strong they would grow when they reached it.

    "We need to move them to a safe location, where they would be transported back to some safe world under the control of the Hall where they could grow."

    Samiel stated as he started controlling the Dark Youngs through the magic control seal. Fortunately, because he was essentially an Eldritch Creature and due to the fact that the Dark Youngs were rtively weak and their will wasn''t that developed, they were easy to control.

    "Why can''t it be just here?"

    Yvraine questioned, not really thrilled at the idea that they would be crossing otherrge distances through the Human Continent. She didn''t like the concept of walking by herself; she preferred to travel through teleportation or some other means of transportation that she had the privilege of using when she was still in the territories of the Nesser Dynasty.

    "Because the ritual disrupted space... creating a Dimensional Portals here would not really be possible within the next hour or so, not to mention, the space around the Qririth will stabilize only in six to eight hours."

    Samiel answered why they needed to walk some time to a suitable location to which Bishop Antigonus could open the Dimensional Portal to transport the Dark Youngs away from the 8th Floor of the Tower. Not to mention that soon enough, the Legendaries would notice what is happening right here because the magetech device won''t be able to hold longer than two more hours.

    Afterward, Samiel led the seven Bronze-Tier Dark Youngs that he controlled far away from the ruins of the Qririth or what has remained from the ce to a safe destination, which was deep within the mountain range, which had some sort of natural phenomenon around it, so it was impossible to see what was going there even for the Legendary Level Professionals.

    When he arrived a the unnamed mountain range, he had a very weird and, at the same time, very ufortable feeling from the entire ce, a feeling that was telling him to get out of this ce as soon as possible, which he certainly would adhere to when he was done with the business.

    Controlling the Dark Youngs proved to be very easy for most of the part, because they were nice and obedient. Of course the older they grow, the more resistance they would put up when someone whom they don''t wish attempts to control them.

    Even in the Hall of Kadath, there were only so few people who could safely control the Eldritch Spanws of the Outer Gods. Samiel was aware of only three people who could do it, aside from himself and the Hall Master, from which one of them was one of the Cardinals and two were members of the Inquisition.

    When they were deep enough in the mountain range, Samiel opened his Holo-Brain and sent the message to the Bishop Abraham Antigonus, who woulde personally to fetch them. Because the shroud was present, he could use the natural Dimensional Pathway that was apparently located somewhere in this ce to sneak into the 8th Floor unseen and take the Dark Youngs with him.

    After the message was sent, Samiel sat down on the huge rock, which he foundfortable and thus he waited. Together with Yvraine, they started converting on the topic of Magic, because since she started training her Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic, she was more open to discussions about the Magic Theory.

    Normally conversations like these would be avoided at all costs, but presently, she was more open to this because she needed to understand the Magic Theory to achieve a perfect usage of all of her Spells and Magic, thus increasing herbat capabilities.

    And Samiel was the perfect person to talk with about the Magic Theory; due to having a Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, he was able to effortlessly memorize all of the Magic Theory books without missing a single detail.

    After half an hour, Samiel felt some slight disturbance in the space around them, as his keen magic senses alerted him that somebody hade here from the Dimensional Pathway, which was not that far from them.

    Soon enough, Samiel saw the familiar visage of the Bishop of the Hall of Kadath, Abraham Antigonus, who was wearing the traditional garb of the Bishops of the Hall of Kadath as his wolf ears twitched in the air. Contrary to Sameil''s joy that he would be finally able to get out of here, Nefertari''s fur went up together with her tail as she screeched at the wolfman Bishop of the Hall of Kadath.

    "Nilgh''ri ephaisoth ah."

    Bishop Abraham Antigonus greeted Samiel in the traditional way in the Eldritch Speech of R''Lyehian, which meant "Everything will be Void". This was sort of greeting that the members of the Hall of Kadath used to greet each other, and at the same time, it served as means of identifying the allies.

    "Ng riuh''eor l'' soth nogephaii."

    To which Samiel greeted in the same fashion, meaning "And everyone will to the Void return". After the greeting, they both returned to using the Cosmos Common because using the Eldritch Speech of R''Lyehian could be dangerous to the outsiders, as he saw that Yvraine was already getting some headaches.

    "Where are they?"

    Bishop Antigonus looked at Samiel, who just pointed at the sleeping Dark Youngs who wereying on the ground, for whatever reason, but mostly because Dark Youngs were typically hibernating if they were not moving or causing havoc.

 Chapter 156 Demon Breaking Plan (1)

    Bishop Abraham Antigonus was starting at the Dark Youngs with wonder because he was checking their talent, essentially their limitations on how far they could Level Up and which Tier they could reach. It was a great shock for him to realize that all of these 7 Dark Youngs had the potential to reach the Limit Legendary and a solid chance at achieving the Holiness.

    "This is splendid... all 7 of them have reached the utmost of their potential... it appears that the new version of the ritual from the RD Department has been indeed fruitful. Who would have thought that in the end, they would be able to tweak it to loosen up the evolutionary constraints on the Dark Youngs... most curious... the blessing of The ck Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young is strong in them."

    Stated Bishop Abraham Antigonus with happy glee in his eyes because this was indeed the biggest surprise to him. One could say that the universal curse of all-powerful factions was their stagnancy and contentment with what they achieved.

    This typically packed up one on another, mostly resulting in the fall of countless factions across the entirety of the Cosmos. Some of the powerful factions realized that if they became satisfied with what they had already achieved would sooner orter lead to their fall, and due to that, the Hall of Kadath was one of the factions that was doing everything to get better and constantly evolve.

    Like the Swarm... evolution was the path to go. Interestingly enough, some seemed also immune to it, like the Orks; as species that never had any progress and devoted their entire existence into waging wars, they couldn''t be stagnant because of the continuous wars and fights that their species was constantly embroiled in was forcing them to adapt and be better and better for the next war that they would wage.

    That was the reason why the Research and Development Department of the Hall of Kadath was constantly striving for the betterment of the Hall of Kadath, and due to that, some of the researchers came up with the tweaked version of the Eldritch Spawn Creation Ritual.

    Eldritch Spawns were the essential part of the strength of the Hall of Kadath, especially when they were cultivated to their potential; they were extremely powerful, be it as offensive power or just as a meat shield or any other purpose the Hall found for them.

    "So it worked well..."

    Samiel muttered, waiting for confirmation from Bishop Abraham Antigonus, who nodded his agreement. Seeing that, Samiel sighed in satisfaction, became maybe several centuriester, at the fastest, the Hall of Kadath would obtain another 7 Holies to do their bidding.

    Of course, if these Dark Youngs reached the Holy Legendary Level, they would remain hidden and serve as a trump card of the Hall of Kadath in case they were attacked enemy too strong for them to handle. Dark Young at the Holy Legendary Level were the world-destroying threat, which could destroy the entire Mana-Less World and exterminate entire civilizations, even in the most powerful of the Middle Worlds.

    While the Hall was strongest out of the mortal factions on the material ne, there may be many unforeseen circumstances that could create even stronger factions, far, far stronger or some like Swarms or Mind Flyers, were too threat that was even on the higher level than the Hall of Kadath, though not at the individual level.

    "I will be taking these with me and send them to the Inquisition so they can groom them to the higher Tiers as soon as possible, while some would be sent to the Cardinal Sauron to be groomed."

    Cardinal Sauron was one of the Cardinals of the Hall of Kadath and the sole one among them who could easily control the Eldritch Spawns of all types and sub-species and strengths. Samiel heard from the Hall Master that Cardinal Sauron was an old coot who refused to ascend and had long ago reached the Holiness but was still in the material ne.

    Apparently, he enjoyed his time here, and his expertise was grooming things... he was a master in Genecrafting and his hobby was generating monsters, abominations and other things that would be considered as unspeakable horrors across the entirety of the Cosmos.

    Samiel observed how Bishop Abraham Antiognus opened a huge portal and navigated the Dark Youngs to the portal, sessfully transporting them out of the Tower to some random world, which was under the control of the Hall of Kadath.

    After thest Dark Young passed through the portal, Bishop Antigonus followed suit; as it closed entirely, the thing was done. Samiel had sessfullypleted the mission from the Hall as he turned over to take a loot at Yvraine, who was petting Nefertari, waiting for the moment when they would be returning to the Goldtooth City.

    "We can now go back..."

    Samiel stated after a short while, to which Yvraine nodded. This trip was rather fruitful for her; she saw how the Dark Youngs were being created, which was something spectacr even though she found the process extremely disgusting.

    Though no matter what, she knew why Samiel took her on this trip because, from his side, it was a show of trust, not to mention another symbolism was the pending alliance between the Hall of Kadath and the Nesser Dynasty.

    Since the times when her father''s elder brother had joined the Hall of Kadath, the Hall and the Dynasty were bing closer and closer, politically speaking. And if the joined union of the Holy Son and Crown Princess came to fruition, then it would mean that the Hall of Kadath and Nesser Dynasty officially became longsting allies.

    Of course, her father was haunted by the idea of the Hall of Kadath gradually absorbing the Nesser Dynasty to the point where it would be its detached faction or something in that way. Because even right now, the Hall of Kadath was obtaining many supporters among the upper echelons of the Nesser Dynasty, not worshippers of the Outer Gods because the majority of the High Elves and Silvermoon Elves were devoted to the Seldarine Pantheon, but the ideals were spreading.

    Elves were never a warlike race, but for past centuries, the military presence of the Nesser Dynasty have been increased exponentially and various generals, marshalls, admirals and other military-rted upations were getting much political powerpared to the past time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And in truth, it wasn''t entirely impossible, mainly because of the disparity of strength between the two factions, but that was a concern for the future. Right now, it didn''t really matter, and Yvraine didn''t really care about those concerns.

    Though for her, it would be good to wage war on the enemies because, during the time she spent with Samiel, Yvraine discovered one thing about her... she started liking war... it was a very intoxicating feeling, leading the charge, conquering the civilization, killing the weaker and getting stronger.

    After that, both of them, together with one flying Elder Wampus Cat departed to the Goldtooth City on the Demon Continent.

    ***

    Some timeter, ruins of the Qririth.

    Not even one hour had passed since the moment the magetech device, which was casting the shroud onto the entirety of the Qririth City, copsed; some members of the Demon Tribes of the Legendary Level who were observing the happenings on the 8th Floor immediately noticed what had happened.

    Of course, two of such Legendaries went to check up on the situation, with both of them having a very humanoid appearance, aside from their horns sprouting from their heads, tails and wings that were very simr to that of the wings of a dragon.

    One of them was a member of the Star Demon Lineage and another of the Moon Demon Lineage, as these two Lineages were best in the Arcane Arts and Magic overall; due to this fact, they were sent by a discussion with the other Demon Legendaries to check up on the situation on hand which rose up in the human continent.

    "What do you see?"

    Asked one of the Demon Legendaries, one from the Moon Demon Tribe, as he watched his colleague from the Star Demon Tribe casting some scrying spells on the area of the Qririth City while he stood guard. The Star Demon Lineage were the descendants of the Vassago of the 72 Pirs, the Bloodline best suited for various kinds of divination-rted spells.

    Aside from them, both of the demons were sure that somewhere the Legendaries from the Avalon Kingdom were lurking because of theplete massacre of the residential city like Qririth, which had more than several tens of million ording to the official numbers.

    Of course, the Avalonian won''t be doing anything aside from watching because thest thing they needed was an open confrontation with the Legendary Level Demonkins, who were swarming the entire 8th Floor.

    The Demons never carried out such massacres of the residential cities because they preferred to enve the captives and sell them. That way, they would obtain riches and resources because the ve trade was one of the most profitable businesses across the Cosmos.

    While humans were not a very goodmodity for the ve because they sold for not much, but they always came with a number, very high numbers, and tens of millions of them, like in the Qririth would fetch tremendous sums of money that would move even Advanced Stage Legendaries like them.

    "Someone cast the Shroud over the ce when he was carrying out some sort of Ritual rted to ''Them''. Probably some sort of sacrifice or some sort of that; my best bet would be in hopes of creating the Spawns. The aura of the Outsidness is very strong here and there are even remains of the Void all around the ce, like one of their Avatars descended here."

    Stated the Star Demon man, as the other one grimaced because very soon they found out that someone from the Hall of Kadath was lurking in the darkness and even managed to carry out the ritual that sacrificed one of the biggest residential cities of the Human Brotherhood to the Outer Gods, in attempt to create an Eldritch Spawns.

    "Are you sure for 100%?"

    The Moon Demon man asked for confirmation as the Star Demon just nodded solemnly, not saying anything else, because this instantly became a headache for both of them. Just the fact that the perpetrator of this act was able to cast a Shroud over therge are of Qririth City stood for the fact that the person must be either from a very, very powerful faction or be very powerful by himself.

    Of course, through the scrying spells that the Star Demon man did, he found the residual Void touches all around the city, not to mention the Qririth still had some bits of flesh, blood and gore all around it, and the entire aftermath looked very simr like one of those obscure Eldritch ceremonies in honor of their Gods.

    "Results of the spell are clear. I have detected not only some residual traces of the Void, but also some special Energy, very close to the Divine Origin, yet bearing the typical coldness and destructiveness of the Void... you should know what does mean. This is not something to take lightly; somebody carried here a sacrificial ritual to the Outer Gods and summoned who knows what to the Material ne."

    Star Demon man stated sternly, as hispanion grimaced, hoping that he was wrong, only his hopes being crushed into smitternes as the Star Demon man finished the sentence when he stated the results of the scrying spells.

 Chapter 157 Demon Breaking Plan (2)

    "What should we do now? This is not something that we can decide on our own. We need to report this back to the Patriarch and let him decide... though at the same time, it isn''t our problem because this could be purely coincidental. The only one who has the capability to do something like this are the madmen from the Hall..."

    Stated the Moon Demon man, as suddenly, out of nowhere, the space started crumbling around them, and they appeared in some sort of kind mirror dimension, which was a trick that only extremely powerful Magic Casters who mastered the Space Magic to a frightening degree could use.

    "This is better."

    Sounded a cheerful male voice as both of Demons turned their sight to the man, bearing the garbs of a priest, with the symbolism of the Hall of Kadath, as his robes wereminated with the R''Lyehian Runes as his wolf ears ttered in the imaginary wind.

    Both of demons were extremely wary because they recognized the robes the wolfman wore as one that was worn by the Bishops of the Hall of Kadath, meaning the man was at least Supreme Legendary, but judging on his aura, it was clear that he was already nearing the Perfect Legendary as he should be around Level 88 or Level 89.

    "No need to be so tense... I came in peace... at least I think, maybe..."

    The wolfman Bishop of the Hall of Kadath stated with a grin as he looked at two very nervous-looking demons. While both of them were at the Advanced Stage Legendary and were rtively powerful at the same Level, they were very well aware of the disparity in strength between the two parties.

    Not something that they could fight, people from the Hall of Kadath were even able to fight above their Level, which, considering the fact that they were Legendaries, was a feat on its own. In the Legendary Level, even a single Level difference was like that between heaven and earth, like the Immortals like to say.

    "What do you want, Bishop?"

    Questioned the Moon Demon as he looked at the Wolfman Bishop, who smiled in return. While they were wary of the Bishop and ready to fight any given second, they also rxed, showing that they were going to listen, not giving the Bishop any reason to attack them on a whim... as the worshippers of the Outer Gods were pretty entric.

    "I bring you an interesting proposition to the Star Demon Lineage and Moon Demon Lineage."

    Wolfman Bishop stated casually as both of the demons sharpened, thinking about what the Hall of Kadath wanted with them. Indeed, contrary to the Devils and Devilkin, with whom they shared verymon traits, the Demons and Daemons were not much schemers and plotters, and they didn''t really see that they were falling into the rabbit hole.

    "My little birds have told me that the Patriarchs of your two respective Tribes are not very satisfied with how the Golden-Horned Demons run things... it appears that the Lineage of the Great Emperor of Destruction is arrogant and ignorant as ever. So, the two old men are very keen on... creating something new, or so I heard in the songs of the birds."

    While the schism between the Demon Tribal Council was not secret among certain circles of people, the fact that the Patriarch of Moon Demon Tribe and Star Demon Tribe were nning to leave the Council, was and it was known only to some Legendaries within their respective tribes.

    "Then your little birds are right."

    Stated the Moon Demon because sooner orter, this would bemon knowledge and this mirror dimension was a safe ce to discuss these things. Also, the Moon Demon had a hunch that the Bishop of the Hall of Kadath wanted to support them against the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    "The Hall would be d to support your endeavors... consider this thing a gift for the Moon Demon Tribe and Star Demon Tribe."

    Said the Wolfman Bishop as he threw them a small thing, which seemed like a portable storage device, which was used to store information in digital form and load them through the Holo-Brains, basically, it contained data.

    The Moon Demon caught it and immediately interested the sh drive to the Holo-Brain and loaded the files that were in it.

    On the sh drive was a location of several important Worlds of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, not all but only some that the Hall of Kadath was knowledgeable of, where they were training their armies in secret or hiding their powerhouses.

    "I am sure that our Patriarch would be delighted by this."

    Stated the Moon Demon as he closed the Holo-Brain, with the Star Demon following suit shortly after. The Wolfman Bishop of the Hall of Kadath just grinned as he dispersed the mirror dimension and immediately afterward, he teleported away to the safe location and then departed to the 98th Floor of the Tower.

    "We need to report to our Tribes... this is big... if the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe don''t allow our factions within the Council officially leave, it means that they want to usurp all of the power to themselves... what the outer bastards gave us, is proof that they have been preparing for this for a very long time."

    The Star Demon nodded his head, wholly agreeing with hispanion as both of them left the area before they stealthily left the 8th Floor of the Tower, unseen by the other Demon Legendaries that were observing the 8th Floor.

    ***

    98th Floor of the Tower, a short time after the departure of Bishop Antignous from the 8th Floor of the Tower.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After Bishop Abraham Antigonus returned to the 98th Floor of the Tower, he immediately went to the Holy City, more precisely to the main hall of the Citadel, where the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was already waiting for him to deliver him the news.

    "I bring you a report, Your Holiness."

    Bishop Antigonus knelt on his right knee as he stated to the Hall Master who was sitting on his throne, alone in the hall, though he was technically not alone as some members of the Holy Temr Order were on guard duty, as they had always been and probably somewhere in the dark corners of the Citadel, some members of the Inquisition were hiding and guarding from the shadows.

    But they were hardly counted as any kind ofpanions because they just stood there, not saying anything and observing everything like hawks, like unmoving statues they were.

    "I have brought 7 Dark Youngs that the Holy Son has created with the upgraded ritual... but the most important thing, Phase 1 of the ne Broken Gold, has been sessfully initiated; it gone splendidly, I must say. When Holy Son released the info on the 7th Prince Kisrith and got him indirectly assassinated, it eased our ns and sped them up by entire centuries."

    Reported the Wolfman Bishop of the Hall of Kadath, as Hall Master grinned happily hearing that. Fortunately, it was easy to trick the Demon Tribes because they were not the sharpest pencils in the packet, not to talk about the fact that none of them could see the bigger picture of things.

    Indeed if the ns of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe were sessful, then the other Demon Tribes would be essentially vassals to the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, and if the re-structuralization of the Demon Council was done, then they would be stronger than the Hall of Kadath... at least in terms of number because they would much, much more Legendaries and everything else.

    "They are idiots, but they have the number and firepower to be a direct threat to the Hall of Kadath; for that sole reason, the unification of the Demon Tribes is something that is to be prevented at all costs. At least with Orks, we don''t have to fear it; squids and bugs can''t be a threat as long as our Transcendents exist."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt stated sternly as he looked at Bishop Antigonus. With orks, the situation was much easier because they would be an even bigger threat than the Demons, but... orks were impossible to unite, as they were too embroiled in the waaaggghhs and they would never unite into a single coherent body, though Armaggedons proved different, but after the threat ended they once again dispersed.

    "When will the second phase begin, Your Holiness?"

    The Bishop asked as the Hall Master looked at the distance before closing his eyes, thinking about it too.

    "I am 100% certain that the Golden-Horned Tribe will not allow any secession. Factionalism was one thing, which they swallowed very bitterly, but topletely break up the entire Council? Not... such a thing will never happen. And aside from these factors, Angol is an arrogant prick, who took the situation too personally, and he will want vengeance against the Star Demons and Moon Demons because for him, it became personal."

    Hall Master muttered to himself as he contemted about the situation.

    "When the rtionships break up, arrange few cmities to befall on their War Worlds, especially on the Klorath World... I want that one to be destroyed immediately. Together with preemptive attacks from their opponents, there is a very high possibility that the forces in this conflict would be equal and it will reach a stalemate."

    The long-term n was not only to prevent someone from unifying the Demon Tribes and all sub-species into something akin to a unified faction but also to ensure such a thing would never happen again.

    If their n was sessful, then the Demon Council would fall apart, and two sub-factions would take its ce, one led by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and another by the coalition of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe.

    Also, both of these factions would be so hostile to each other that they would constantly be at each other''s throats. So unless someone on the Transcendent Level doesn''t intervene to calm the situation down, it would be safe.

    Of course, the Hall of Kadath was prepared even for this eventuality, but that would not happen. Daemons wouldn''t care even if all demons were exterminated, as they were just disposable pawns that could be reced at any time by sending some of the fiends from the Abyss into the Material ne and adjusting their bloodlines.

    Sometimes the demons themselves were forgetting that in the eyes of their primogenitors, they were just entertainment and only those at the Legendary Level could be considered as pawns... because, Abyss was full of Legendary Level Fiends that were creating the inexhaustible Legion of the Daemons.

    "What about the Cults, Your Holiness?"

    Questioned the Bishop before he prepared to leave.

    "Arrange a few faux attacks on each other, they will mostly follow the Demon Tribes like lost puppies, but in the long run, the cultists are not that big a problem. Not to mention, they are much weaker than the species themselves and far less numerous."

    Hall Master answered because, from his point of view, the Daemon Cults were not very strong; many of them didn''t even have Holy Legendary to back them up, and mostly they depended on the protection from the Demon Tribe who Daemon primogenitor they worshipped.

    "You can go Antigonus."

    After that, the Hall Master dismissed the Bishop, as he sat on his throne with a feeling that a great achievement was done, but still, a lot of work awaited them.

 Chapter 158 The Demon Conquest (1)

    Some time earlier, shortly before the start of the attack on the Central Area of the Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    The forces of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and its allies under themand of the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, Kairon, were concentrating on the borders of the Central Area and the Eastern Area of the Human Continent, as the attack was imminent and it was only matter of days before the hordes of demons would depart to conquer the Central Area of the Human Continent.

    5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, Kairon was a young-looking man with tanned skin, golden eyes and typical golden horns sprouting over his head. He had shoulder-length jet-ck hair and wore and ornamental armor in the ssical fashion of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    Like the other members of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, his appearance was humanoid and he was considered very handsome by the standards of many species, as this was something akin to the gic trait of transcendental beauty among some of the demon species.

    "Your Highness, everything is ready and we can start the march on the Central Area within five or six hour."

    Stated the much older-looking demons to his side, who was a personal butler of the 5th Prince and one of many servants whom the 5th Prince took with him to the 8th Floor of the Tower. He was currently in the tent of the 5th Prince as he was reporting the situation in the army.

    After he said his piece, 5th Prince Kairon just nodded before dismissing the old demon, as he continued to do what he was doing, which was fucking one of his concubines that he brought with him to the 8th Floor of the Tower.

    Of course, it was clear that Prince Kairon was not interested in anything else aside from the merits that he could obtain by achieving victory by defeating the Human Brotherhood and securing the Floor for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, and the death of his half-brother, 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe Kisrith gave him the perfect opportunity.

    Meanwhile, Prince Kairon was having his fun, and some of the Generals who were in charge of their armies, were not having the best time. Many of them realized that this was essentially a suicide mission for the average soldiers because the scouts confirmed that the entire defensive line around the Central Area was heavily fortified.

    Not only fortified but countless magetech weaponry instations were sighed, including heavy artilleries, some Towers or other engines of magetech warmachine that were eye-striking even from a distance of several kilometers. This signified that the Avalon Kingdom supplied the Human Brotherhood with these things.

    And another thing that this signified was that the human were very well prepared for any possible intrusion into the Central Continent and the defenders would fight every lost meter with their very own lives.

    Of course, all of the generals knew that they would be able to breach the defenses of humans, but at the same time, they would need to sacrificerge parts of their armies to do so. Of course, the Prince wanted to hear nothing for that, and why would he?

    He didn''t care for the state of the army and cared only for the results and making the achievements that he could present to his father, the Patriarch Angol and that he avenged the assassination of his brother.

    Of course, some of the smarter people knew that this would probably result in Prince Karion getting exiled at best because the Patriarch won''t be too thrilled at sending such a high number of soldiers to their death for nothing because this would do more damage than achievements.

    When the old demon, who was the personal butler of the 5th Prince, left the tent, he was stopped by several of the high-ranking military officials of the Tribes and factions that were direct vassals of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, so their position was even worse than other because they didn''t have the power to say not to the Prince of their league.

    "So?"

    Questioned one of the demons, who looked like an enormous humanoid bear, standing at the height of more than 4 meters and d in ted armor. He was a member of one of the minor demon species that didn''t even have tribe, but he was a renowned general from the Demon Realm, so he was chosen tomand one of the wings in the formation that would be attacking the Central Area.

    "Nothing... the Prince wants to have the assault done as soon as possible. As expected, he sees only easy merit in conquering the 8th Floor for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe as soon as possible whilepletely ignoring everything else."

    Answered the butler with tired sight because after this assault failed or seeded, it would not matter, and most probably, his master would be executed or exiled. Either way, he was done because the damage would be tremendous to the army based on the defenses that the Human Brotherhood prepared through the support of the Avalon Kingdom.

    But s, thepetition between the children of the Patriarch for the position of the Heir Apparent was brutal, and after the exploits of the 3rd Princess who managed to bring down the entire Middle World to the fold, or the 1st Prince who led the army and annihted entire demon tribe that refused to bent a knee to them, thepetition got even worse.

    Prince Karion wanted to obtain achievement for annihting the Human Brotherhood, not matter how pitiful it would be, but since the Human Brotherhood was faction supported by the Avalonians, he could get some significant merits from that. So it was still something and for someone like him, who didn''t have anything of significant importance to his name, this could be the great start on how topete against his siblings.

    Because of that, he ignored the protocols and ns that the military advisors prepared, and everything was happening under the sight of the Legendary Level powerhouses that were observing the happenings on the 8th Floor.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Naturally outside of the Floor, there were countless Legendary Level Professionals not only from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe but also from the entire Demon Council who were attentively watching everything that their forces were doing on the 8th Floor, judging and most importantly, remembering everything and everyone.

    "So be it... in the end there was nothing else to expect."

    The Generals sighed, but they didn''t care too much. They didn''t care about the soldiers'' lives, but they cared about what would happen to them when they returned home with such high losses. Many of them feared for their own lives that they would be executed because some of the smaller tribes were sending the majority of their fighting force to the 8th Floor and its loss would be catastrophic for not just one tribe or species.

    After all of them dispersed, the old butler looked high in the sky, as he was sure that some Legendaries of the Demon Tribes were observing this, but they couldn''t intervene because it was not their ce to do so. Still, he was aware that the 5th Prince would not meet a good end if he ever returned home because Patriarch Angol would be enraged hearing what his son was doing on the 8th Floor.

    Meanwhile, the ones from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe were indeed watching this as they grith their teeth in anger because the thing that the 5th Prince Kairon was doing the whole time he was on the 8th Floor of the Tower was going against all orders of the Patriarch gave him when he was sent to the 8th Floor to lead the troops at this ce.

    On top of that, he also created a huge mess with the Star Demon Tribe the Lineage of Grand Duke Vassago and the Moon Demon Tribe the Lineage of Grand Duke Agares, who were the two strongest Demon Tribes after the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe the Lineage of Grand Emperor Bael.

    Among the demon races descended from the 72 Daemon Pirs, one of the primary factions within the Abyss, which was one of the strongest and most powerful Higher Dimensional Worlds, these three were the strongest of the Demon Tribes.

    Theirbined might was only a tad lower than that of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, not to mention that Prince Kairon was forcing a lot of people into this suicide victory mission because the victory woulde with a high price.

    Ad as the Legendaries of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe were angry at the development and already reported every step of the 5th Prince Kairon to the Patriarch, the Legendaries of other Tribes and Races, especially Star Demon and Moon Demon Legendaries were gleaming with happiness at the development of the situation.

    The political situation within the Demon Council was very fragile and even though they were a faction in truth they were not. Demons acted as faction only when they faced a foreign enemy that seeked to destroy them all; aside from that, they only cared about themselves and their own benefits.

    The forces of the other Tribes and Races were advancing on the other regions, exactly ording to the ns which were devised by the military experts of the Demon Tribes, something that even the 5th Prince Kairon was supposed to adhere to, until he decided otherwise.

    Right now, they were preparing to attack the Southern Area of the Human Continent, as that one was the least defended and fortified because it served the sole purpose of housing the majority of the poption of the Human Continent.

    ***

    When the morning sun''s first rays shone the next day, the machinery of the demon army under the leaders of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe started moving with the thunderous roar of the war. Every demon greeted the new day with the thirst for blood and human flesh as the war wasing and they would destroy their hated enemy.

    The next day, the troops of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and other demon tribes under the orders of the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, Kairon, attacked the positions of the Human Brotherhood that were defending that Central Area of the Human Continent.

    They were attacking the fortifications along the borders between the Eastern and Western Areas of the Human Continent. It was a heavily fortified and militarized line of several kilometers, which was armed to tooth, filled with countless fortresses, watchtowers, entire armies of soldiers were stationed there and countless traps prepared for the invaders.

    When they were close to the position of the Humans, suddenly everyone heard the explosions as the magetech artilleries of the Human Brotherhood started shooting their rounds at them, with each blow being especially devastating,parable to at least 6th Level Spells.

    Having such firepower on their side only boosted up the morale of the human army and some of the more experienced and knowledgeable demons became nervous at the entire situation because they were aware of the fact that this would be far more problematic than they initially have thought.

    The good thing for the demon army was the fact, that they were able to react very fast to the situation at hand and deploy some defensive measures against the ongoing bombardment. The bad thing was that, even though they had deployed some defensive measures, it was clearly not enough because they couldn''t cover the entire area of their army and there were still a lot of ces for the humans to shoot at.

    Still, the demons continued further and further, despite suffering tremendous losses with each passing meter. For the demons, the losses of their soldiers were nothing more and nothing less than just numbers that could be replenished at any moment, so they didn''t really care about the losses that their forces were sustained from the human defenders as they pressed for further attack and advanced more and more into the human territory.

 Chapter 159 The Demon Conquest (2)

    Not only that, but many of them saw the human Gold-Tier Professionals who were waiting to restrain the Gold-Tier Professionals of the Demonkins. Surprisingly, the Human Brotherhood was able to muster some good numbers of the Gold-Tier Professionals on their own, which was something most unusual, but considering the amount of Gic Strengthening Serum that they had at their disposal and they were in a situation where their destruction was all but imminent it wasn''t that shocking.

    Naturally, the bombardment from the human position was getting only more and more fierce as the humans were activating more and more of the artillery batteries that they got from the Avalon Kingdom, and they indeed proved their worth on the battlefield as they reaped the lives of the more unfortunate demonkin soldiers.

    Still, the more battle progressed, the more and more defenses demons came up with against the artillery bombardment by the Human Brotherhood, from magical barriers that were being deployed all around to the change of tactics and using the low reloading speed of the artillery to use the safe window of opportunity to attack.

    After some time, it appeared that the 5th Prince Kairon gave the orders for part of the Gold-Tier Professionals of the Demonkin to march onto the position and break the fortifications or at least destroy as much of the artillery batteries as possible.

    The artillery batteries of the Human Brotherhood was something that was keeping the demon forces on edge and was giving the humans an unnatural advantage in this fight, so if they were taken out of the equation, the tides of battle would turn once more, though this time, to the favor of the demon forces under the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    The secondter, around 20 Gold-Tier Professionals from the Demonkin race, departed and shot towards the defensive positions of the Human Brotherhood; in a split of a second, eight of them were shot down by some sort of weapon and crashed on the ground, their life and death absolutely unknown.

    Of course, this didn''t deter the other demon Gold-Tier Professionals from charging at the formation of the Human Brotherhood, of course, without any kind of cover or anything, because themand of the armies was left up to the 5th Prince Kairon, who knew nothing of military strategies, aside from mindlessly throwing waves of soldiers a the enemy until it broke through and victory was achieved.

    From the remaining twelve Gold-Tier Professionals of the Demonkins, eight of them were intercepted by the Gold-Tier Professionals of the Human Brotherhood, and a ferocious fight started between the two parties.

    Of course, this proceeded ording to everyone''s predictions because even though the Gold-Tiers of the Human Brotherhood were powerful, and some of them were even injected with the very same Gic Strengthenening Synergie, they were still no match for the Gold-Tiers of the Demonkins, who were superior in every sense.

    Gic Strengthening Synergies that were manufactured by the Avalon Kingdom were in the end fault project; they were not like the ones of the Scientia Hierarchy or Solheim, who perfected the technology on their own. Most of Avalon''s research stemmed from Meckenstein, who didn''t have the best research in the first ce and failed to replicate the perfect serum because the form and, most importantly, resources were only in the hands of very few people in the Cosmos.

    So the power of these ones, as faulty as was, couldn''t measure against the geniue Gold-Tier Professional no matter what, but the humans didn''t even want it that way because for them, stalling for a time was more than enough.

    Of course, during the time when the Gold-Tiers were fighting against each other, the remaining 4 Gold-Tier Professionals from the Demonkins departed and attacked the fortifications which were holding the magetech artillery batteries, and were destroying them one by one, to prevent the higher losses of their army, which was already reaching very high numbers, as some weaker tribes and species, could only cry in despair.

    ----

    As more and more magetech artillery batteries were destroyed, the armies of the Demon Tribes under the leadership of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe were advancing closer and closer to the positions of the Humans, until suddenly a wave of energy projectiles started hitting the advancing demon soldiers.

    While the heavy majority of the Demon Soldiers that consisted of these armies were of the at leastter stages of the Steel-Tier, or at least pinnacle of the Iron-Tier, with good numbers being at the Bronze-Tiers, who mainly acted asmanders of smaller units, fell into pray of the magetech guns that were supplied by the Avalon Kingdom.

    While these guns were not up to the standards of those which the Scientia Hierarchy or Solheim produced, or even Magisterium. However, they were still strong enough to kill Iron-Tier in one shot and severely injure Steel-Tier Professionals, and several tens of them concentrated on the weak spot for some time; they were able to bring down even the Bronze-Tier Professionals.

    Of course, the troops of the Human Brotherhood focused mainly on the Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier Demons because they were easy targets. That was because killing the Bronze-Tier Professionals was too troublesome with the current weaponry, and thus, the strategy of the Human Brotherhood was to inflict on as high losses as possible on the Demon Army.

    Commanders of the Human Brotherhood army knew very well that this was a fight that they couldn''t ever win because, for all of their sacrifices and support from the Avalonians, theycked the superior power which the Demon Tribes indeed had.

    So if the Demons had, they could bring up their Gold-Tier Professionals andy waste to everything. Thus the strategy changed from defending the territory to inflicting as high causalities to the demons as possible. For that, they prepared several traps and even changed theyout of their defensive formation and trenches.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Also, they make use of the information they gathered because they were very well aware that the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe had some sort of fight with the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, which resulted in a lot of Demon Tribes and Races not attacking the Central Area together with the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    Because of this motion, it wouldn''t take a genius to figure out that the majority of the Demon Army was now consisting of vassals or some sort of allies of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, from which many were taken from some random Lower Worlds and they have never had the honor to experiences the magetech weapons.

    How could they... the ones who came from the Lower Worlds had absolutely no idea how the fight or defend against the magetech weaponry, and because of that the losses inflicted on the Demon Army led by 5th Prince Kairon was high. In the majority, if not all Lower Worlds, magetech was almost non-existent and teaching all those soldiers new kinds of strategies seemed like a pain in the ass... so nobody did it.

    Only the soldiers of those from the Tower or some more powerful Worlds knew how to defend and deal with weapons like these; others didn''t have much luck and instead were used as meat shields by the demons who knew what was awaiting them.

    Of course, nobody would be able to tell that this would result in the copse of several demon factions in a whole bunch of Lower Worlds because the majority of their fighting force would perish on the 8th Floor of the Tower for vanity and pride of one of the more privileged.

    That was another thing that didn''t escape the attention of more knowledgeable Demon Legendaries, who were deeply distressed by this fact, but because everyone was in some sort of standoff because some of the Golden-Horned Demon Legenadries wanted to intervene, but they couldn''t as they were watched by those of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe, not to mention the Legendaries of the Avalon Kingdom in the shadows.

    Meanwhile, on the battlefield, hundreds of Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier Demon Professionals were being killed with each salvo fired by the Human Brotherhood''s human defenders, as the magetech guns that were imported from the Avalon Kingdom were showing their worth and might on the battlefield.

    Of course, the numbers of demons were being killed at a fast pace, but at the same time, their numbers were tremendous, so they were using the bodies of their fallenpatriots as meat shields while they were taking steps closer and closer to the trenches where the humans were shooting at them from.

    The Demons, they didn''t care about theirpanions'' life and death; the only thing they cared about were themselves, and for that, they did everything they could to save their hides. Thus, they were slowly advancing while the corpses of the unlucky and weaker ones were piling up.

    When they were close enough to the trenches, which were somehow fortified, the Bronze-Tier demons started rushing off from the formation, entering the trenches, as they started massacring one human soldier after another. Instantly in a moment, when the closebat began, the humans started losing rapidly because they were not a match for the demons.

    More and more demons were flooding the trenches, while the soldiers of the Human Brotherhood fought valiantly against the demons, but to no vail, because in the individual power, the demons proved to be far superior.

    Only ones, who could fight against the demons one on one, were the ones who were injected with the Gic Strengthening Synergies, but there were not enough of such people to turn the tables, and thus after a short time, one line after another, were being lost to the demon soldiers who were literarily flooding into the trenches.

    While some of the generals of their respective Tribes and races were shaking their heads at pointless losses, some from the weaker species, especially those who were brought here from the Lower Worlds, were having a very hard time, to the point of considering deserting, to preserve their very own lives.

    While the situation was not their fault because the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe Kairon, was in absolute control of everything that happened on the battlefield, some more malicious Demon Lords would still hold their generals ountable because there was no person on whom they could take their anger on.

    One hourter, the entire trench line was under the control of the demon soldiers, as the corpses of both humans and demons were being cleaned, thrown at huge pits that were being dug out by some demons proficient in the Earth Magic and so.

    When the battle was over, it was time to clean out the battlefield and the remains of what had remained. For the demons, while they won the battle, the losses they suffered at the conquest of the eastern defensive line of the Central Area were so high that they would need to wait several weeks or months for reinforcements and resupply before they could proceed deeper into the human territory.

    Such was the reason why the original n was to attack the Central Area of the Human Continent as thest one, and at first to attack the remaining Southernm Northern and Western Area, essentially locking the Centlra Area downpletely while surrounding them and slowly advancing.

    Because Humans would be then forced to defend on all fronts, their defensive positions wouldn''t be so strong in every ce, like here, because they were supplied from the other area and ces of the human territories; thus the demons encountered such fierce resistance.

 Chapter 160 The Demon Conquest (3)

    Some timeter, at themander tent of the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe Kairon.

    "My Prince, I bring you the report of the situation."

    Currently, the elderly butler of Prince Kairon was presenting him the report as Prince Kairon was indulging in alcohol and his concubines in his tent. Because he was already a Limit Gold-Tier who had attained Mastery and soon would be Legendary, he couldn''t participate in the battle if not someone of the same level as him appeared on the battlefield.

    Thus he was spending time in his luxurious tens while he gave orders to be carried out, and afterward, he turned his attention to more material pleasures; clearly, in his head, they had already won without any resistance, as the humans were for sure too weak to resist the might of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and the demons as a whole.

    After giving him a nod, the elderly butler proceeded to speak because he was the only person whom the Princemunicated with, at least on some level. When it came to the generals who were leading the armies, he only barked orders at them, while he executed a few who dared to say that his n was not the most suitable for the current situation.

    "Approximately 60% of the army have been destroyed, and 10 Gold-Tier Professionals have been killed together with more than 312 Silver-Tier Professionals are dead as well. The number of deceased Bronze-Tier Professionals is still being calcted, but the initial estimates are above at least 3,000 at best."

    Reported the elderly butler, as the 5th Prince Kairon dropped the ss of some alcohol he was drinking because the numbers were too high, as he face changed between pale as a ghost and a mixture of rage and despair. Right now, he was undergoing pretty strong shock because this wasn''t going ording to the scenario he was being told...

    "How could those barbarians inflict such high losses on us?"

    Screamed the 5th Prince Kairon in rage because he wouldn''t ever dream that his army would be partially destroyed because the losses were too high. The worst he thought it could get would be maximally 10%, and even that was overstretched.

    "As reported, Your Highness, the humans got support from the Avalon Kingdom and Avalonian imported tons of military equipment and countless artillery batteries and other types of magetech guns. If you have read through the report that were delivered to you, Your Highness, you would have known."

    Reported the elderly butler with a sigh because Prince Kairon chose to ignore all of the warnings and reports and ordered the attack to be carried out anyways. It didn''t really matter that they won, but in the process, Prince Kairon crippled several of the sub-factions that came from the Lower Worlds.

    That was very problematic.

    "Come on, Kairon... you will be taken back to home, where Patriarch will give his judgment... you have caused us the loss of more than 5 Lower Worlds with this stunt."

    Stated the voice elderly demon who teleported to the ce. He was a member of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, but it was clear, just based on his aura, which was already on at least Level 80, that he was one of the Elders of the Tribe.

    The appearance of the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was very bad because it meant only one thing... that not only his status as Prince was forfeited but possibly even his very own life.

    "But Eld..."

    Prince Kairon didn''t get to finish his words as an immeasurable force mmed into him and pushed him to his knees. The power that erupted from the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was absolutely overwhelming and terrifying, as it showed the might of the Supreme Stage Legendary Professionals of their Tribe.

    "Shut up; the situation is far more grave than your pathetic hedonistic mind you evenprehend. Especially the situation with the Moon Demons and Star Demons, you fool! Stupid trash, you didn''t even realize that you were used like a pawn!"

    It was clear that the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was enraged and if it was up to him, he would have already killed him and be done with it. Unfortunately, it was not possible, and some formal judgment needed to be passed.

    The tension between the three tribes began technically after Kairon ordered the representatives of the Moon Demon Tribe and Star Demon Tribe on the 8th Floor to participate in the attack on the Central Area. At the same time, they rejected and it quickly led to a fight between them, which resulted in worsening the situation even more than it already was.

    Just by the fact that the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe descended down was a breach of the Covenant, something that would bring trouble to the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe because the Covenant was adhered to even by all Transcendents for a very simple and selfish reason.

    If Legendaries are allowed to meddle in affairs solely between mortals, than, sooner orter, nothing would remain from the material ne of the Cosmos. And the material ne was of critical importance for the majority of the Transcendental Factions.

    Be it mighty Pantheons who were worshipped as Gods by the mortals, or the Daemons and Devils, who were using the mortals as their pawns and obtaining their souls, the Evil Gods who fed on the negative emotions or the Immortals from whom the mortals were, talent pool to increase their own numbers.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Because if the Covenant was of the utmost importance, the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe couldn''t leave themand to Prince Kairon here any second longer because he would cause even more damage, and at least he could partially justify his interference in this matter.

    After that, the Elder took the 5th Prince Kairon and teleported out of the 8th Floor of the Tower as the damage was done, and now it was time to repair at least what could be repaired.

    ***

    Unknown Floor of the Tower, Headquarters of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, Pce of the Golden Demons.

    After the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe took the 5th Prince Kairon out of the 8th Floor of the Tower, he appeared on the floor, which was under the control of the Demon Council, where each of the strongest Demon Tribes had some territory.

    They were currently in the territory of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, as the Elder dragged the 5th Prince behind him, who was kicking, screaming, shouting and sometimes begging for mercy because he was very well aware of what kind of fate awaited him if he were to face the judgment of his father.

    The Elder dragged the screaming 5th Prince Kairon to the Pce of the Golden Demons, which was an enormous pce that served as the headquarters of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, as he strode the long empty corridors until he reached something akin to a Throne Room where the Patriarch together with several Elders were already waiting for him.

    He dropped the 5th Prince Kairon in the middle of the room as he then took a seat among the other Elders of the Tribe. Meanwhile, all of this was happening; the Patriarch of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, Angol looked at one of his sons as he was deciding the punishment he would give him until he came to a conclusion.

    "For failing to carry out the orders of the Patriarch of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, causing the indirect loss of several Lower Worlds, partial decimation of the Expeditionary Army for nothing, and instigating the conflict between the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe against the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, the 5th Prince Kairon is to be stripped of all of his titles and privileges and is exiled to the Demon Realm till the end of his days, as he shall be a station at one of the forts of the Demon Realm."

    When Patriarch Angol passed his judgment, most of the Elders were surprised while the Prince or former Prince Kairon grew pale as paper. The Elders were anticipating that the 5th Prince would be executed, by this punishment was far worse than the execution because it was for sure that the former Prince Kairon would be caught in the war of Angels and Demons.

    And for sure, he would be captured by the Angels, and death at their hands was far worse and cruel than anything that the Demons could give him. Before the former Prince could say anything, a portal appeared below him, as he fell into the Dimensional Portal and disappeared from the Tower entirely and was teleported to the Demon Realm.

    "What is the state in the Lower Worlds that right nowpletely lost their armies due to that idiot?"

    Asked Patriarch Angol one of the Elders responsible for managing the Lower Worlds under the influence of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    "2 of the Lower Worlds are better on that because there the Demons are dominant species and we could supply them with something within a short time, but the remaining three are not so. The situation in them is rather precarious because the Demon Lords are waging war on humans, and the second the humans realize that the Demon Lords have lost their armies, they will strike. Unfortunately, Patriarch, it is very possible that the war would erupt any second in those five worlds because the Avalonians have for sure already passed this information to them as we speak right now."

    Reported the Elder, as all of the present knew that the 5 Lower Worlds, which were greatly weakened by this, were essentially lost. Mainly because the Avalonians would pass the information about this as fast as possible, and they wouldn''t have enough time to put together proper armies and send them to the 5 Lower Worlds within a few hours.

    While unaware of the true state, it was exactly like they were predicted, and as the Elders of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe were having a meeting with their Patriarch, the human armies and other species started marching on the demons as soon as the Avalonians spread the news about the demise of the forces of Demon Lords of their respective worlds.

    Meaning that the 5 Lower Worlds were essentially lost, even before the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe could do something. This was another hit to their pride, not to mention they were all very well aware that the coalition of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe would use this against them to gather more powerbase.

    While the 5 Lower Worlds may seem like nothing, for the demon poption, it was a significant number of demons, and many new Legendaries could be born out of these worlds together with countless warriors and battle demons, so the loss was very high.

    "Immediately send someone to extract the Demon Lords; at least save something, so the loss isn''t that big."

    Ordered the Patriarch of the Tribe because the Demon Lords were crucial for the Demonkin on the battlefield, as they were Demons who had undergone specific mutation which allowed them to control andmand other Demons.

    All of the Patriarchs and even the majority of the Elders of all Demon Tribes were Demon Lords. If they lost the Demon Lords together with the Lower Worlds, it would be even worse because it meant that they lost five people who were guaranteed to reach the Legendary Level, as each Demon Lord could reach at least the Intermediate Stage Legendary Level.

 Chapter 161 Juulius Crawford

    98th Floor of the Tower.

    The 98th Floor of the Tower was enormous, but only approximately 1% of it was inhabited, while the rest was left. Only a few cities were built across the entire 98th Floor, which were all controlled by the Hall of Kadath, while the rest of the Floor was basically ruled by the Magical Beasts who were inhabiting the 98th Floor.

    Right now at the moment, a young man wearing pristine white armor with long purple hair and striking emerald green eyes was training in the older man, that was looking very much like him, just several generations older than him.

    "Good, you are getting better."

    Stated the older-looking man as the younger one blocked the iing strike with his shield. Both of them had been sparring like this already for several hours without any stops as the older man was instructing the younger one on thebat techniques.

    Often pointing out the mistakes or things that could be worked upon and so on, this continued for several more hours until the younger of the duo started getting increasingly tired, as the older one stopped the sparring match.

    "For now, it is enough, son."

    Stated the older man, whose name was Reinhard Crawford, Grandmaster of the Holy Temr Order of the Hall of Kadath. House of Crawford was a long lineage that had found the Holy Temr Order when it was still not part of the Hall of Kadath, and one of their ancestors, came into agreement with the Hall Master at that time as the Holy Temr Order became the military branch of the Hall of Kadath.

    The House of Crawford produced more Transcendents than some of the Higher Worlds in their entire existence. They were hereditary Pdins, and many of them had very strong affinity for the Ascendance through the Path of Immortals, though it was noted that the Immortals of the House of Crawford were stronger than average ones because of the energy all of them possessed.

    Reinhard Crawford was the current Head of the House of Crawford as well as the Grandmaster of the Holy Temr Order and he was also a peak Level 100 Legendary Professional with the Holy-Ranked ss.

    "You have been assigned as the Personal Knight to the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath. Soon you will be sent to the 8th Floor of the Tower to carry out your duty."

    Stated Head of the House of Crawford Reinhard Crawford as his son nodded in agreement, as this was the duty of each generation of the House of Crawford as they were the sharpest sword and strongest shield of the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath.

    Juulius Crawford was rather young because he was only in his forties; despite his very youthful appearance, much was credited to the bloodline of the House of Crawford, who was said to inherit the Bloodline of the Astral Titans, despite being humans.

    Over time, they evolved from average humans to High Humans, as the effects of the Astral Titan Bloodline was very strong on their bodies. Juulius had inherited the Bloodline of the Lighting Destroyer, one of the most destructive of the Astral Titans, which gave him Level 3 Ultimate Ability Lightning Judgement as an innate ability.

    "Certainly, father."

    Despite being around forty years old, he was still at the Bronze-Tier, albeit he was at the peak of the Bronze-Tier. House of the Crawford didn''t practice The Journey because they followed the Path of Immortality as the form of Ascendance, and they could ascend either way because, for them, it was only a matter of energy and some luck.

    "Appearetnly the Holy Son''spany is getting most interesting... at first the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty whom he started courting and they are now in courtship. Also, we  have confirmed that he joined hands with one of the Prophets of the Green Gods named Dharzug."

    Mused Reinhard Crawford because it was indeed bing more and more interesting as some big names wereing up together and joining hands. While the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty could be understood to a certain extent but one of the Prophets of the Green Gods, most probably the Holy Apostle and Divine Champion, on the top of that of the Gork.

    That was certainly an interesting development, truth to be told. Orks almost never cooperated with anyone who wasn''t Ork, not to mention they were not prone to any cooperation at all because they liked just to kill and smash things.

    "Seeing that some Ork chose to work with outsiders is an unusual father."

    Commented on the situation, his son Juulius as he could just agree with him because it was certainly the most unusual situation. There was some scheme probably behind all of this, or if the Ork Dharzug was indeed the Prophet, Holy Apostle and Divine Champion, then it was highly probable that he was just carrying out the Divine Will of the Green Gods.

    In that case, it would mean that everything was some scheme between the Transcendentals, meaning it was not their ce to contemte about it, but as the loyal and devout servants they were, they just needed to carry out the orders.

    "Indeed it is... but this is nothing that we need to be concerned with."

    Answered the Head of the House of Crawford as he left the training yard of the mansion of the Crawford House on the 98th Floor of the Tower. He went to prepare the Dimensional Pathway to the 8th Floor so his son could descend somewhere on the 8th Floor of the Tower and start attending to his duty, like the other generations of the House of Crawford had done before him.

    The mansion of the House of Crawford was an enormous structure, an architectonic marvel, built by the best dwarven builders and engineered by the most famous Silvermoon architects which were designing parts of the Silvermoon Imperial Capital.

    Grandmaster of the Holy Temr Order arrived at the spacious room, which was inscribed by countless runes, as it served as the teleportation room to anywhere he wished. While Reinhard Crawford wasn''t master or even proficient in the space element, he knew enough to at least activate the entire thing.

    After he set the location to the 8th Floor of the Tower, he received a call on the Holo-Brain from the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber; as he immediately picked up the call.

    "Your Holiness."

    Greeted him Grandmaster of the Temrs.

    "Grandmaster, mobilize part of your Temrs and depart to the Roan World; coordinate with the Lord Inquisitor Tiberrius in pulling out the Mind Flyers that have taken root in that world."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Hearing the order, Grandmaster bowed as he ended the call, as it seemed that the years of leisure he spent on the 98th Floor of the Tower training or spending it with his family, havee to an end.

    It was long since the Holy Temr Order was mobilized because, for therge part, they were being activated only when the... as that thought stuck in the Grandmaster Crawford''s mind, he realized that it was slowly starting once again.

    "But Roan... that would be expedition for decades..."

    Of course, as both the Grandmaster of the Holy Temr Order and Head of the House of Crawford, he was very well aware of the majority of the Higher Worlds and their specific characteristics, even though it was impossible to know them all because each century new came to existence as some were extinguished.

    Roan was one of the bastions of the Mind Flyers; even though it was a High World, there were no Transcendents there because Mind Flyer Transcendents hated staying out of the Void for a prolonged time.

    This would be a very long siege, but if they entirely conquered Roan, it would be a great blow to the Mind Flyer Fleets because in truth, they didn''t have sovereignty over many worlds, and for them, the worlds didn''t really have value aside from plundering their natural resources.

    So, each world that they decided to rule was special in some way, and Roan was no different. The thing that made this High World so special and important to the Mind Flyers that one of the Fleets decided to hold it was the natural ore that was being located there.

    Something about the ore made the world extremely suitable to cultivate the psionic potential of species and because of that, the Mind Flyers put there not only their hatcheries but also other facilities that were typically stationed on the Capital Ships of their Fleets.

    "Maybe I could reach Holiness there... for sure; there would be some Holies on the side of space octopuses."

    Reinhard Crawford mused under his breath as he went to another part of the enormous mansion to inform his family that he would be departing for several decades at best, maybe even a century or two at worse, depending on how the conquest would be going.

    ***

    8th Floor of the Tower, Southern Area of the Human Continent, somewhere around the Ironan Mountains.

    Ironan Mountains were calm since the time when Samiel Zantaur came here together with the Dark Youngs, who were taken out of the 8th Floor by the Bishop of the Hall of Kadath, Abraham Antigonus.

    The shroud was still in the ce, and nobody really came here because the ce was mainly ignored by everyone, as every Legendary was focusing only on the Qririth, which was destroyed in some kind of abominational ritual.

    From the space crack, a figure of a man with purple hair and shining emerald green eyes appeared as the man exited the Dimensional Pathway. He wore heavy-ted armor that of the Holy Temr Order of the Hall of Kadath, as several runes in the Eldritch Speech of R''Lyehian decorated the entire armor.

    "I should be somewhere on the 8th Floor... Tytos,e on."

    Juulius Crawford arrived at the 8th Floor of the Tower; as he called for his familiar, an enormous white tiger exited the space crack, which then closed swiftly afterward that. The white tiger Tytos was clearly displeased that he was forced toe from afortable home here; it was like a nightmare for the overgrown cat.

    "I know, I know... I will find you some fat magical beasts or humans to feed on."

    Juulius quickly calmed down the overgrown cat, who nodded his big head in agreement. Tytos was rtively young for the white tiger, and from the point of the rest of his species he was still a youngling.

    Juulius Crawford continued walking through the Ironona Mountains for another half an hour together with his White Tiger familiar Tytos, as he soon arrived at the exit from the Ironan Mountains, which was in the direction of the demon-controlled territory.

    He knew in what way he should go because he had received the map of the 8th Floor to his Holo-Brain beforehand and headed towards the demon-controlled territory, as his final destination was the Goldtooth City in the Demon Continent so that he could assume his duty as the Personal Knight and Protector of the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

    Suddenly as he was leaving the Ironan Mountains, his familiar Tytos lifted up his head as he smelled something in the air before roaring several times over, signaling that there were enemies ahead of them. The White Tiger was already at the peak of the Bronze-Tier Level 50, so his power was not to be underestimated.

    He then brandished his sword as he went ahead, seeing that the people against whom Tytos wanted him were from the Demon Tribe, a mixture of the Tribes, but mainly from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, based on their brown tanned skin and golden horns.

    "It appears that the food has arrived."

    Juulius muttered to his familiar as yellow lightning cracked around him and his sword, when in a split of a second he disappeared in a sh, and appeared in front of the small group of 7 demons, all of them were Bronze-Tier Professionals. He aimed his sword at the biggest and strongest demon who appeared in charge of the squad, and using the element of surprise; one head rolled on the ground.

    Not even a secondter, Tytos appeared from the shadows as he lunged at the biggest demon in the group, who was standing around 4 meters tall, probably with a very strong heritage of blood because he looked like a mutated humanoid bear.

    Immediately after the first two were brought down, Juulius activated his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Lighting Judgment once more while aiming at the other two of the demons, who had already recovered from the shock that happened, and attempted to defend as the two lighting bolts struck them, and send them crashing into nearby rocks.

    Stepping backward, he dodged an iing strike from one of the remaining two demon soldiers who were still for the game, as he shed his sword at the demon''s hand, severing it entirely in sole exchange as the demon screamed in pain that his hand was severed and blood splurted out, though not for long because his neck was torn apart by the White Tiger Tytos, who was already done with the bear demon.

    The only remaining demon seeing that all of hisrades were being killed like pigs in a ughterhouse or were knocked out, started running for his very own life. A very predictable oue, but not for much longer because thunderstruck as the demon looked at his chest and saw the Pdin''s sword sticking out of his heart, as he fell down onto the ground dead.

 Chapter 162 Templar Knight (1)

    Goldtooth City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower, around the same time as the descent of Juulius Crawford onto the 8th Floor of the Tower.

    Presently, Samiel Zentaur, contrary to his typical routine, which would consist of either sparring with Dharzug to get a better grasp on the closebat skills or hand-to-handbat, as it showed that the ork was master when it came to the unarmedbat.

    It was natural because orks were a race that lived forbat and their skills in the closebat department was out of the world. The most interesting thing about all of this was the fact, that orks rarely practiced any kind of martial arts or anything, but they for most solely depended on their senses to fight.

    Naturally, some of them evenbined various types of martial arts with their instincts which made them even more deadly; coupled with their physical capabilities, it was considered too stupid to fight against ork in the closebat department without significant preparation or beingparable to the ork in the physical aspect.

    Of course, if he wasn''t training, then he was studying Magic and Spells, improving the grasp he had over the various types of Magic he learned. He had many Grimoires and Magic Tomes that he needed to go through, especially after one of the Bishops of the Hall of Kadath delivered Samiel the tomes and books on the Warding Magic; he was absorbing everything rted to the Warding like a sponge.

    Andstly, his third and final activity that he repeated every day was praying and reading the Gospel of the Kadath. Each day at specific hours, Samiel would always go and pray for some time until he was finished.

    Yvraine often said that he was behaving more and more like a priest, though he was missing the garb and some herd of sheep that were listening to his words. Though he often thought that it wouldn''t be a bad idea to start preaching somewhere, he would need to make time for that and see how the people would react to it; at least he would test his skills as a real priest.

    Right now, he was spending time with Yvraine, who was adamant that they would be spending some time together, because Samaiel wanted to lock in the study room once again, probably for several weeks, as he literarily salivated when he looked at all of the books that were procured for him by the Bishop of the Hall of Kadath.

    Due to the prolonged amount of time they spent together, Samiel wasn''t acting so awkwardly around Yvraine, be it as he made peace with his inner demons or for Yvraine not forcing him to do anything, as she was giving the man the time he needed to be naturally rxed around her.

    Now they had begun growing more and more intimate with each other, as Yvraine told him, their pace would be considered too fast among the Elvenkind. Normally, the courtship between elves took up to several decades at the shortest and could prolong to even a century when it came to the Aristocrats or some more conservative elves.

    Usually, the courtship between the elves consisted of writing poems andplimenting each other''s beauty, singing songs, walking through the forests and so on... Because the Elves were generally long-lived species, their courtship procedure took a whole eternity, so Yvraine wasn''t reallyining about it because she was more impatient than most of her elven brethren.

    She didn''t really like that they were taking their time too much in these things, because she saw the danger it could pose and it already posed to it, as their poption was not that big in the first ce. Especially the Silvermoon Elves, which have a very low birth rate, way lower than average elves, but their courtship was twice long, and this was subtly killing their race.

    This was something that had been noticed by not one powerful elven Legendary powerhouse, and it was her father who was working on changing these things, but s, that would take decades and centuries because the mindset of the entire species was a very challenging thing to change.

    Especially in the span of a few years and in regard to races like elves.

    "What are you thinking about, my dear?"

    Yvraine asked Samiel teasingly as sheid down on his chest and listened to his heartbeat while he gently caressed her hair. These were rare kinds of moments that he greatly enjoyed as they cuddled together while asionally exchanging a few kisses with each another.

    "If you want to hear the truth, then abination of aspectual properties in the Basic Warding and Winter Magic to create a more powerful type of Elemental Wards."

    Samiel answered truthfully, as he saw that Yvraine scowled mildly hearing this, probably she awaited a different kind of answer or something for what she could tease him, but no. She took enjoyment in teasing him because it was fun for her to observe his reaction, though her own were even better, as Yvraine got rather easily flustered.

    "This is not ording to the script! You were supposed to say that you were thinking about the most beautiful and powerful Silvermoon Princess that is currently next to you, not some stupid old books..."

    Yvraine huffed and pouted as Samiel found her behavior indeed, somehow cute, as he hugged her closer and gave her a small kiss on her lips; at least that calmed her down. He was indeed pondering over the possibilities of the Wards and how to incorporate them into hisbat style or with other types of Magic he learned in the most suitable way.

    "Hm... whatever."

    Samiel heard her say as she closed her eyes and continued napping on his chest while listening to his heartbeat, while he was enjoying her warmth as she was enjoying his own. From a distance on the huge cat tree, Nefertari wasying and looking at two hoomans, as she called them, because, for her, everyone was hooman, despite neither of them being human.

    His Elder Wampus Familiar never understood the courtship rituals and other things that preceded the mating because, for the Wampuses, the thing was very simple. Though not only for them but overall for all magical beasts as a whole it was many times easier and more straightforward.<novelnext></novelnext>

    For Wampus Cats, it all depended on strength and Illusion abilities; there was nothing else and nothing more, as they were magical beasts in the end.

    If there was a female who was without a mate, then the male Elder Wampus Cat would need to impress the female with hisbat prowess by hunting powerful magical beasts as an offering and showing the female the power of his illusion abilities. If he seeded, then they would mate and everyone was happy.

    Naturally, sometimes it were females that werepeting for the mate; then the procedure was even simpler because the first step, which was hunting a powerful magical beast, was abandoned altogether, and multiple female Wapius Catspeted in the illusion abilities and essentially, the one with the most powerful and potent illusion ability won.

    Everything was about progeny and having the strongest next generation possible.

    Samiel exined to her that the societies of most species across the Cosmos didn''t really worked that way because the empire of magical beasts was really more straightforward than anything else.

    There weren''tplicated procedures, courting the other individual or other things, mostly among the magical beasts; in almost all species, the deciding key factor to obtaining a mate was personal power and innate racial abilities. That was all, simple as that, sometimes that simple that even Samiel had to admit that it had its advantages.

    "Shouldn''t we go to eat something? I am getting hungry already."

    Samiel asked because he needed to eat a lot every day, far more than he used when he was in the past. I was typically tied to the higher the Level one was, the more energy one needed to properly function, meaning their food consumption was usually higher and some races naturally had bigger appetites.

    "Again? Just one more hour."

    Yvraine muttered as she smirked at him, because she wanted to remain bad and just sleep the whole day. When there was nothing else to do, she was an especiallyzy person, who would be doing nothing for most of the day.

    ***

    Several hourster on the same day, Goldtooth City, Inn under The Guild.

    After Samiel and Yvraine got up after spending the entire morning cuddling together in bed, enjoying the morningfort, it was already noon; thus it was time to have lunch. They were having lunch at the Inn as usual while Samiel was reading the news about what was happening on the 8th Floor, mainly the advances of the Demon Armies.

    After the fiasco at the start of the attack on the Central Area, the situation became practically stagnant there because while the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe technically won the battle for the Central Area, they took their time and were advancing very slowly to the rest of the Central Area of the Human Continent.

    And while this happened, the other Demon Tribes were slowly advancing at the Southern Area, as they nned, while suffering minimal losses. Of course, Samiel observed all of this happening while also getting some news from Dharzug because the ork went a few times to participate in some assaults through missions issued by the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    Something that Samiel never undertook because he didn''t wish to help the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe without any reason. Even if they paid well in the form of Credits for the mission, right now, Samiel wasn''tcking Credits, as they were the thing that he had enough of.

    When he sold the things obtained from the Avalon Kingdom he was already a billionaire and even with his current spending habits, the amount of money he had would be enough for him for entire decades... probably. This was only considering the fact, that he wouldn''t have some big things to spend money on.

    "I give Human Brotherhood a year... maximally two."

    Samiel stated abruptly as he closed the Holo-Brain from which he was reading the news about the current state of the war, and also, waiting for the sole event why he was still on the 8th Floor of the Tower, if not for that single thing, he would have gone to the higher floors long ago.

    The battle for the capital of the Human Brotherhood was something that in which he needed to participate in so he could raid the things which the Humans were hiding here. Something from the Avalonians or whatever there were the things there, some of which he was ordered to find and deliver to the Hall of Kadath.

    "How so?"

    Yvraine asked from the side as both of them waited for the lunch to arrive.

 Chapter 163 Templar Knight (2)

    "It is rtively simple if you know how to read the situation. For first, while the demon army under the leadership of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe suffered terrible losses, in the end, they won and managed to destroy arge part of the manpower of the Human Brotherhood in the Central Area. For the second, the Star-Moon Demon Coalition, as they have begun calling themselves, has already conquered significant parts of the Southern Area and are marching. For third, in the Central Area, even though the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and its forces are marching slowly, the opposition they would face around the entire Central Area, minus the capital, is low because the defensive forces of the Human Brotherhood against the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe on the borders were drawn from all around the Central Area, so theirplete annihtion weakened the entire Area greatly."

    Samiel exined everything about the situation patiently, as he considered himself to be something akin to an expert on military strategy. When he was on Earth, he studied military strategy and tactics extensively because there were not many ways on how to improve hisbat prowess.

    Fundamentally speaking, Earth was almost Mana-Less World where Mana and Magic were dying out, so increasing his brute force was technically speaking night impossible due tock of resources and time. So, he did everything else in his power to boost up hisbat capabilities, one of which was to implement military tacts and strategies into hisbat style, instead of just throwing Undead onto the enemy.

    So he knew very well how to read the situation and was aware that the end of the war here was just a matter of time. Actually it wasn''t even that hard because even a fool would be able to foretell the end of this conflict, though for Samiel, the victory and defeat weren''t interesting in the first ce, as he was more curious about the process itself than the result.

    He knew that from the start, the Demons were treading this as a game, and only some were taking this entire thing seriously, though even they were too arrogant for their own good. Still, the end result will be the same, as Samiel awaited the right moment when the demons would attack the capital city of the Human Brotherhood.

    Samiel was ordered by the Hall of Kadath to sneak up into certain facilities, or rather find them, sneak into and take everything that the Avalon Kingdom has left there, for sure there would be some notes on experiments and other things, judging how careless the humans were, especially considering the situation with de''Charetier descendant who was so stupid that he left theboratory unsecured, without guards and full of material.

    Hall Master and the Collegium of Cardinals were of the opinion that it would be contra-productive if the information about the experiments on the Gic Strengthening Synergy fell onto the hands of the Demons. If it were the Star-Moon Coalition, they wouldn''t really care; on the contrary, that would be most wee because that would mess the situation even further.

    And that was what Samiel proposed, that instead of destroying the things or keeping them, he would pass them to the members of the Star-Moon Coalition that were on the 8th Floor. There were some Princes of both Tribes on the 8th Floor of the Tower as well, and with this motion, they would gain far more benefits.

    With this, they would be able to weaken the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe through the Star-Moon Coalition once more and even further because the Star-Moon Coalition will obtain the achievement of obtaining information about the Gic Strengthening Synergies and make counter-curse against it.

    This would be crucial for obtaining the allegiance of the Demon Lords from the Lower Worlds and Middle Worlds, where these Gic Strengthening Synergies would be used en mass by the humans against the Demon Race.

    "Lord Zentaur, may I have a moment of your time, please?"

    Samiel was disrupted by the voice of the receptionist of the Inn, who came to their table; he looked at her, wondering what had happened as he motioned her to continue with a nod of his head. She belonged to some unknown demon race, though he had to admit that in terms of appearance alone she was very beautiful wing long brown hair and herrge curved horns.

    "There is a gentleman who is waiting for you in the lobby."

    She stated as he cocked his head before he excused himself to Yvraine as he left the hall and went to the reception lobby, where the guest was apparently waiting for Samiel. When he entered the lobby, he saw there a young man and an enormous white tiger waiting there.

    The young man looked very young, no matter how ironically it sounded, though Samiel was sure that the man was older than he looked. He had long purple hair and pale green eyes, really striking emerald green eyes. The most notable thing about him was the armor he was wearing because aside from it being of the best quality, it was adorned with countless runes in the Eldritch Speech of R''Lyehian and two sigils that he instantly recognized.

    The symbol of the Holy Temr Order of the Hall of Kadath which was adorning the armor on the right side, and the sigil of the House of Crawford was decorating the armor on the left side.

    "Nilgh''ri ephaisoth ah."

    The young man greeted Samiel the moment he saw him, as this added the final confirmation that the young man was someone of the Hall of Kadath and was at the same time from a very high standing within the Hall of Kadath.

    "Ng riuh''eor l'' soth nogephaii."

    Samiel greeted him back.

    "My name is Juulius Crawford, Lord Holy Son. I am here per the order of the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath and my Lord Father, Grandmaster of the Holy Temr Order and Head of the House of Crawford, to assume my duty as your Personal Knight and Protector, as the tradition of the House of Crawford and Holy Temr Order dictates."<novelnext></novelnext>

    The young man introduced himself as Juulius Crawford, to which Samiel didn''t look surprised or anything as he long expected this because every Holy Son had a Personal Knight from the Holy Temr Order.

    ? Though what he didn''t really expect was that the son of the current Grandmaster of the Holy Temr Order and Heir Apparent to the House of Crawford would be assigned to him as his personal knight.

    "I, Juulius Raynor Crawford, hereby swear by the witness of Court of Void and the Primordial Demiurge, the pledge of eternal service to the Samiel Zentaur, the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, to serve him as his sharpest sword and strongest shield, the protector andpanion, till the end of times."

    He then knelt on the right knee as he put his in front of him standing, and bowed his head towards Samiel while touching the hilt of his head with his forehead as he gave out his Pdin Oath to the Samiel Zentaur, the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

    "And I ept your serviced, Heir Crawford."

    Samiel stated neutrally, as he knew that in this decision, there wasn''t even what else to do. Even if he theoretically rejected, it would be highly possible that the man in question would follow him regardless of the situation.

    After Samiel epted the Oath of Eternal Service from Juulius Crawford, he motioned the man to follow after him to themunity room, where he was previously eating with Yvraine. Of course, now Samiel was rtively in a good mood because he obtained his first subordinate, as he led the Pdin Juulius Crawford and his overly enormous familiar which was the White Tiger Tytos.

    When they arrived at the table, Yvraine noticed that Samiel was leading over there someone else, probably the guest who was waiting there for him. As knowledgeable as she was about the most important people from the various factions around the Cosmos, especially the major Aristocrats, she immediately recognized the heraldry of the House of Crawford.

    Not to mention the features of the Crawfords, which were the pale striking emerald green eyes and purple hair, were extremely strong in the Juulius, even stronger than on the average member of the House of Crawford.

    "Yvraine, as it seems, this is my personal knight, Juulius Ryanor Crawford of the House of Crawford and member of the Holy Temr Order from the Hall of Kadath."

    Samiel introduced the Pdin to Yvraine as he gave her a low bow with his head, and she returned it back while they sat around the table. While Juulius was hesitant at first because, ording to the Code, he was to protect his liege at all times, so sitting behind one table was uneptable, as the Code demanded that he stood behind him and guarded him at all times.

    "Now that we have this thing finished, we can return to the previously discussed matters."

    Samiel stated, as they now returned back to the discussion about the closure of the war between the Demons and Human Brotherhood on the 8th Floor of the Tower. He already wanted to go to the higher floors, or the other way, he needed to go to the 1st Floor once again to partake in the Trial of the Last Human King, to which he cheated his way in.

    The reward for that chain mission which were the shard of the Trish, the Ultra-Order Grade Artifact, were too tempting just to resist itpletely. Of course, Samiel needed to partake in the next trails of the Trial for the Inheritance of the Last Human King because he only undertook the Trial for the Iron-Tier, and now he was already a Bronze-Tier Professional.

    This meant that he had two more trials to undertake when he returned there.

    Samiel then started eating, as the food was delivered to the table during the time he was out, while he also ordered something to be brought for his personal knight Juulius who, despite his protests, epted in the end, and his familiar White Tiger Tytos, who didn''t protest at all and eagerly anticipated food.

    During the journey to the Goldtooth City, Juulius''s familiar Tytos ate only a few people along the way, none of them were strong enough to be even a bit appetizing or the enormous magical beasts, who could eat several tens of kilograms of meat daily, and that was considered as weak appetite for the White Tiger.

    As they were eating, Samiel was enjoying his steaks, while Yvraine was eating some type of venison-type Magical Beasts that was freshly hunted, while Nefertari and Tytos were having their fill of meat as well.

    Initially, two felines were looking at each other with suspicion, probably trying to assert the dominant feline species in the room, before the food was brought to them, then they forgo everything and started focusing on eating.

 Chapter 164 Templar Knight (3)

    "We have one member of our merry little bad to wait for, who is Ork Champion and Holy Apostle of the Green Gods, Dharzug; I am certain that you are aware of his existence, Julius."

    Samiel stated to his personal knight, to which the man in question slowly nodded his head, not bothering to hide his distaste for the Orks. The House of Crawford hated Orks and everything rted to even a bit to the greenskins with passion, ad this hatred was passed through generations from Crawfords, leading to the first Crawford, the founder of their House.

    The first Crawford, the founder of the House of Crawford, was initially a soldier ve in some long destroyed Middle World in the ve legion of some Empire that existed in the said Middle World, even though all of that happened countless Epochs ago, the House of Crawford still bore the grudge like it happened today.

    The greatest enemies that were in thosends were, of course, the Greenskins, as the Green Tide was taking everything by storm.

    When the Empire copsed, the Crawford fought his way through the mountains of corpses of Greenskins, as he ughtered Orks, Ogres, Goblins, Hobgoblins and other abominations that were bred by the Greenskins.

    Later, he led a small group of survivors to the safends, which he came to rule. From then on, the survivors created their own society, which was hell-bent on fighting and killing Greenskisn and they hated them with passion.

    From that small society, the entire nation grew through the conquest of the Holy Temr Order when the founder of the House of Crawford created the Knight Order better to coordinate their forces against the immeasurable hordes of Greenskins.

    "Certainly, Holy Son. While I am not thrilled at working with savage beasts like Orks, I cannot deny their power and usability."

    Stated Juulius Crawford stoically, not letting his emotions cloud his judgment. Even though he personally hated the Greenskins, he knew that due to circumstances, sometimes it was better to ally with them rather than to fight them.

    And from the loos at the ork who was sitting there, Juulius could sense that without using the secret techniques of the Hosue Crawford and the Holy Temr Order, he wouldn''t have any chance to win against the humongous greenskin.

    Not to mention he knew when to admit that even the Greenskins had their uses, especially in the situations when the decision was made by the Gods they served, then there was no room for defiance, and the only thing they could was to carry out the orders faithfully as always the proper servant should.

    Meanwhile, Yvraine wasn''t thrilled at the idea at first, but in the end, she relented to it and saw some positives. She had to admit that Dharzug was an extremely powerful Silver-Tier Ork as well as Champion and Holy Apostle of the Green Gods, so his social status within the ork society was naturally very high.

    ***

    Several next days proceeded as usual, with Samiel training or learning Magic while he was getting better acquainted with his personal knight, Pdin and member of the Holy Temr Order of the Hall of Kadath, the Heir Apparent of House of Crawford, Juulius Raynold Crawford.

    Juulius Crawford was stoical and ever present with the sense of the Chivalry Code of the Holy Temr Order; he always attended to his duty and never rxed even for a second he was carrying out the duty as the personal knight of the Holy Son of Hall of Kadath.

    Samiel learned Juulius Crawford was a Professional with a Unique-ss Pdin of Outer Gods, like the other members of the House of Crawford, because it was a hereditary ss among the members of the direct lineage of the House of Crawford. It wasmon knowledge that every member of the Holy Temr Order had some Pdin-rted ss, some were strong and some were weaker, though just the basic ss of Pdin on its own was Rare-ss.

    Because of that, the Holy Temr Order members were mostly from the various Knight Houses and Aristocratic Lineages that were vassals or direct members of the Hall of Kadath, living in various Low, Middle and High Worlds, who were always sending their descendants to the Holy Temr Order with each generation.

    There were even entire worlds dedicated to training the Knights for the Holy Temr Order in a simr fashion in which the powerful Demon Tribe trained their armies because only the best of the best was worthy of joining the Holy Temr Order and serve the Outer Gods as their mortal instrument on the Material ne.

    He was prodigious with a de, probably on the same level as Yvraine, though his style was vastly different because he followed what one would term almost stereotype for Pdins or Holy Knights as a whole.

    Set up of sword and shield.

    Of course, he was very good at the closebat area, far better than Samiel could through his talent or capabilities, and Samiel was often able to beat him only through abination of Architect''s calctions and some luck on his side. If not for that, in the pure contest of martial prowess without his magical capabilities or Undead at y, then Samiel would lose, as the weapon masteries weren''t really his forte.

    Though it mostly depended on Architect''s calctions because it didn''t take long to analyze Juulius''sbat stylepletely. One of the greatest weaknesses that the Pdin had, was predictability; hisbat style was very predictable because it didn''t take Architect even a few minutes after theplete analysis to adjust to itpletely.

    Only a few times managed Juulius to surprise Samiel during the spar when he did something which wasn''t ounted into the calctions. And Juulius was clearly aware of the fact; that was why he was always fighting with his familiar by his side; that way, he would get some sort of unpredictability to the battle.

    Meanwhile, on the other hand, Yvraine''s sword style waspletely based on unpredictability to the point where even Architect''s calction provided hundreds of possibilities with each strike, so Samiel had a way harder time sparring with her than with Juulius.

    "Can we stop already? I want to return to reading my Grimoires... this is not any fun at all..."

    Samiel asked as he was in the middle of a spar against Juulius. From the day the Pdin of the Holy Temr Order became his personal knight, he was sparring with him almost daily, something which greatly annoyed Samiel. He didn''t like exercises or simr things; it was taking his time from properly studying Magic.

    "I know, my Lord. But I have noticed that you have been severely neglecting your physical exercises, especially the training in weapon mastery and the close-quarterbat."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Answered the Pdin of the Holy Temr Order because such was the truth. Since he got new grimoires and magic tomes, he was spending way more time learning and practicing the Magic than he should, to the point where he started neglecting the physical training like he was doing before.

    Of course, for Samiel, the core of his power was lying in the Magic and secrets of the Arcane; he wasn''t a warrior or anything. Of course, heplied with his requests of Juulius because if he didn''t practice enough, his Master would certainly notice and scold him for not upholding his standards.

    At least, if nothing else, these training seasons were giving him a steady increasement in his proficiency the because he was often receiving many notifications from the Akashic Records about the increment and growth in this area, exactly just like now.

    [Proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the skill Trident Mastery has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the skill Trident Mastery has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the skill Trident Mastery has been increased by 1%.]

    After Samiel dismissed five translucent windows that were appearing before his eyes one after another, he returned his attention to the ongoing fight, as they were still in the middle of sparring, though he was most delighted by the growth in his Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim, as that one proved to be very hard to grow at ater date.

    If he had to say one thing that came from these spars on a regr basis was, of course, the growth of proficiency in his Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim because that one was something that was stagnating greatly, and right now, it started growing once more after a longer period of stagnation.

    [Proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the skill Trident Mastery has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    After another half an hour of intense sparring, Samiel received another five notifications from the Akashic Records, which he dispersed as he noticed the growth of the proficiency in his abilities and skills. The proficiency with his Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has already reached 37%, which was not bad considering the fact that he was only a Bronze-Tier, technically speaking of course.

    Aside from that, his proficiency Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has reached 39%, only 1% from reaching the 40%, as that one was progressing very smoothly. Mainly because Samiel was using the Winter Ruler every day and at every possibility he had; thus, the growth in that area was rtively fast than in other things.

    Other effects of the Winter Ruler were also strengthened capacity to use the Winter Magic at a much higher and easier level; thus, he trained the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler as much as possible because it was an overall enhancement in strength.

    After the spar was finally over, Samiel departed to study his Magic tomes on the Warding Magic, which was doing for the past time, since he got his hands on them. He was already working his way to master Intermediate Warding Magic and could now cast and do even moreplex Wards than before.

    Warding was an interesting subject for Magic because it was a very versatile branch of Magic. It could be used in many ways, be it offensive, defensive or supportive means; the Warding Magic covered them all.

    Of course, the knowledge on the creation of Wards and, at theter stages of the Warding Magic, the Bounded Fields, which were highlyplex Wards, that only Legendaries could create due to not only theirplexity but also requirements for erecting such things. Ironically though, based on Architect''s calctions, Samiel should be able to create the Bounded Fields on his own if he became Peak Gold-Tier Professional.

    Creating Wards was essentially based on three main aspects. The first one was the knowledge over the Warding Magic and Magical Theory, the second was the Runic Array of the War and the third was calction capabilities to calcte the exact location of every rune that one was engraving when creating the Wards.

    Because Samiel had Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, he was able o handle probably the hardest part when creating Wards and Bounded Fields, which were the calctions; he was able to handle them within several seconds due to basically being a living and walking supeputer-like a Living AI.

    And such in this manner, weeks went by one by one, as soon enough, several months passed since the moment Samiel epted his knight and Pdin, Juulius Crawford.

    Time flew really fast when one was having fun or constantly doing something.

 Chapter 165 The Conclusion Starts

    7 Months have passed during the passage of time, which Samiel spent through thebination of training and studying magic. Of course, this wasn''t the only thing he was doing, as he managed to increase his Level from the previous Level 37 to Level 38, as he realized that he needed to have some longer period of time between each Level Up to have a better adjustment period.

    That was because, Samiel''s raw power was getting bigger and bigger with each increasement in his Level, far more than anyone should obtain with the same Level Up. For example, if Samiel''s raw power increased by one Level by a certain amount, it would be equivalent to ten to fifteen Level Ups for normal Professionals of the same Tier.

    Because of that, he was taking his time when he increased his Level once, as he noticed that during thest times he increased his Level several times at that, he had slight problems when it came to controlling his power. Certainly, when Samiel meant that he had slight problems, it meant that his control was not 100% but rather 98% or 97% of his overall power.

    Yet for perfectionists like him, such an oue was absolutely uneptable, not to mention that even that lost 1% could do wonders in Life and Death Batte. Thus he was investing more time in perfecting what he already had, and it was paying him off.

    His Unique-ss Grand Necromancer was increasing in proficiency once more as he kept on strengthening his Undead from time to time, mainly because he managed to collect all resources necessary to create an Elder Lich, which would be another Higher Undead another hismand, straight after Ashimer.

    If he got his hands on the Elder Lich, Samiel would practically obtain an entire army because Liches had unnatural control over the Undeads and even ordinary Lich could control fifty or more Undead per single Level, which was absolutely terrifying, though. That was the reason why they were so feared, and the moment someone was found gathering an army, everyone would spend no effort disposing of them by sending the best Magicians, Pdins, or Priests after the Lich.

    Naturally, he invested a no small amount of money to buy the necessary resources from the various Necromantic cults and factions that existed in the Cosmos because, unfortunately for him, the resources needed for the creation of Elder Lich were something very scarce and on the top of that, those who had them, didn''t really want to part with them.

    Even now, he had around one thousand Undead in his disposition, and if he got his hands on the Elder Lich, then the number would skyrocket several times over. Even though the Undeads would be cannon fodder weak, if they were armed properly, they would still be a force to be reckoned with and as a bonus, Samiel was rich, so he was able to afford that.

    [Proficiency with the Mana Technique: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Mana Technique: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Mana Technique: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Mana Technique: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Mana Technique: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    Currently, Samiel was sitting cross-legged in a meditative posture while he was practicing the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, as he was getting a better grasp on the wonderous Mana Control Method that his master taught him.

    Naturally, getting the increasement in proficiency in something which was basically a Transcendental Mana Control Method was night impossible under normal conditions. Yet, right now, it appeared that Samiel was undergoing something akin to enlightenment, as he heard the notifications from the Akashic Records sound in his ears five times after each other.

    Suddenly in a split of a second, he opened his eyes as he stopped his meditation and ended his training with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method. Immediately afterward, he opened his Record through the Akashic Records, as he scanned the changes very fast with his eyes sharp like a hawk.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Azathoth

    Age: 29

    Race: Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (80%) / Human (20%)

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (37%), Grand Necromancer (24%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level:

    Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter, Warding)

    Intermediate (Void, Necromancy, Winter, Warding)

    Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost, Outer Holiness

    Records Points: 5,640

    ***

    Tier: Bronze

    Level: 38

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (38%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (39%) - Ultimate Ability

    Architect (4%) - Transcendental Ability

    ***

    Techniques:

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (18%)

    Star Mind Protection Technique (25%) - 3 Stars

    ***

    Necrosis Magic:<novelnext></novelnext>

    Necromancy Arts (34%)

    Void Magic (23%)

    Winter Magic (18%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (46%)

    Swordsmanship (14%)

    Trident Mastery (20%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 3rd Level Spells (98%)

    Metamagic - Spell Control (19%)

    Metamagic - Spell Pration (18%)

    Metamagic - Empower Spell (13%)]

    The growth in his Metamagic Skills was probably the most noticeable thing here, and he was also nearingplete mastery over the Spell Fusion Metamagic Technique, 3rd Level Spell Fusion, meaning he would be soon able to fuse two or more 3rd Level Spells together wlessly. Spell Fusion, as dangerous as Metamagic Technqieu certainly was, was also Samiel''s most favorite one, because the firepower generated through the Spell Fusion was simply overwhelming.

    "Only one remaining Evolution and I will be Pure-Blooded Eldritch Creature... though based on what my master stated about this, I could predict that the final Evolution will happen during my transition to the Legendary Level. That moment is most suitable because the overall metamorphosis would be carried out either way, so this will increase my power and sess rate."

    Samiel muttered under his breath as he observed the Record Sheet within the Akashic Records before he closed it down and went to meet with the rest of the band. Fortunately, Juulius was already registered within The Guild, so he joined the Khaos Chapter immediately.

    Of course, the second his personal Knight and Pdin met with Dharzug, it resulted in a fight, but before it could dwell into real Life and Death duel, Samiel summoned his Undead and basically forced both of them to calm down, especially Dharzhug, who was brought down by more than hundred Bronze-Tier Undead throwing themselves at him.

    This led to aplicated chain line of events, and animosities between the two of them, as they would be fighting at every other possibility. Interestingly enough, during the months, one would say that they developed a very weird frenemyship together.

    During the past 7 months or so which had passed, Samiel noticed that the war on the 8th Floor of the Tower was already nearing the end as the armies of the Demon Tribes, either the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe or Star-Moon Demon Coalition, broke through the resistances of the Human Brotherhood, and now the Human Brotherhood was standing on thest legs.

    Which were weak and shaking as hell and would be falling probably every second. Of course, Samiel nned to make use of it, as he would at first create an Elder Lich and rampage through the Western Area of the Human Continent by creating a Scourge, at least a weak imitation of it. However, nevertheless, it would still be an Undead Army that would be marching its way through thends, burning, ughtering and killing everything that lived.

    The Western Area of the Human Continent was now the most defenseless because the Human Brotherhood forces were contracted at their capital city in the Central Area, which still stood firm, surprisingly and despite all of the attacks of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    Most of the soldiers and forces from the Western Area were withdrawn to the capital, while some were sent to reinforce the Southern Area, which the Star-Moon Coalition ravaged. Right now, as he was sitting here, the entire Southern Area already long ago fell to the Star-Moon Coalition as the demon armies long ago, approximately two months or three months ago, took over the whole Southern Area and now were just ying around with their prey, that was still alive, but dying kicking.

    Northern Area, as barren as it was, was not the primary concern of the demons, but despite that fact, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe sent some of their weaker vassals and ve soldiers to wreck it, as they were sessful in absolutely cutting out the humans apart, not leaving them able to support each other in the defense.

    Samiel could read the lines as the demons started ying around, because they could have ended this entire charade several months ago, but not. They were taking their time because they were either arrogant or it was their racial predisposition to torture those who were way weaker than themselves, but s such was the reality; not like he cared about that because the chaos that followed was suitable for his next development.

    There were also several more Missions posted through The Guild''s System of various characters, mainly the sabotage of the Human Brotherhood defenses and Samiel saw there even a mission that was about sneaking into the human capital at the Central Area and assassinating the Leaders of the Human Brotherhood that were still covering there behind their tall walls.

    Based on the information avable, the demons had a problem when it came to the siege of the capital because the city was built for the Human Brotherhood by the Avalon Kingdom, and thus the defenses were pretty formidable, to the point of repelling even some weaker Legendaries.

    Especially the walls of the city were made of the best materials that could be used in this Floor of the Tower. Samiel knew that demons would have a hard time breaking through the capital of the Human Brotherhood if the Avalon Kingdom built the city because the city was built with that in mind, that it should be able to resist and attack Legendaries for a certain amount of time.

    Unfortunately for the humans, in the long run, the demons would win because they had time on their side, which was something that the Human Brotherhood didn''t have. Samiel stood from the meditative cross-legged posture as he went out of the training yard that was adjected to the Inn which was under the ownership of The Guild.

    Tomorrow he would be creating an Elder Lich and after that, he would take some mission through The Guild that would take them to the Western Area of the Human Continent. He would be getting money, killing, repeating souls and wreaking havoc, all four in one to much of his delight.

    When Samiel arrived at themon room of the Inn, he saw that Yvriane was ying some sort of card game with Dharzug while the Ork was looking frustrated that he was losing the game, and Samiel''s knight Juulius was enjoying that the work was losing.

    "And with this, I win... again."

    Yvraine put another card on the table with a smirk, to which the huge ork grumbled angrily because he had lost once again. Indeed this proved, once again, that Orks were not that good at thinking generally, but it was nothing new in the greater scheme of all things.

    This was already the fifth or sixth game of the card game, which the Ork Dharzug had lost against Yvraine fair and square during the time they were ying. As it seemed, the Silvermoon Crown Princess was very skilled at card games and was using her cunning to win.

    "Now it is clear that the situation on the 8th Floor ising to an end, and thus, I see it that we all move to the Human Continent... the Western Area is unguarded and many of the cities and forts not even properly defenses, as I n to unleash my Undead Army to harvest souls there."

    Samiel stated as everyone had different reactions, ranging from absolute indifference in the case of his personal knight Juulius Crawford to joy which went well with Dharzug because they would be going to fights many fights and ending with hatred aimed at humans from Yvriane''s side, as much as the delight that many of them would be killed.w

    "Now, at the end of the endeavor, we would be participating in the siege of the capital of the Human Continent, as there would be many treasures to reap and many battles to fight."

    Samiel stated because such was the n for now. At first, the entire Khaos Chapter would depart to the Western Area of the Human Continent, where Samiel would wreak havoc and harvest some souls, so he could start evolving some of his Undead. For that one, many souls were needed, like, a very high number of souls was needed.

    Then when he had had enough, they would all head to participate in the siege of the capital of the Human Brotherhood at ater date when the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe bore enough of the situation they were artificially creating and prolonging.

    "Yar good, a long smash some sks."

    Dharzug stated with a heavy orkish ascent in the Cosmos Common; from the sentence, Samiel deduced that the ork was certainly not against such ordeal of things.

 Chapter 166 Elder Lich (1)

    Three Days Later, 8th Floor of the Tower, Demon Continental, Goldtooth City.

    Today was a very special day that would be forever engraved into the annals of history, even though right nobody knew it, but after some time, this day what happened on the 8th Floor of the Tower in Goldtooth City would be remembered across the entire Eras as the rise of one of the terrifying Undead Creatures that have ever walked through the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    After Samiel gathered all materials to create an Elder Lich, he could finally start working on the thing he wished to bring to the world. Collecting the resources and materials for the creation of the Elder Lich took him much longer than he initially anticipated... sometimes even money couldn''t speed everything as it seemed.

    For such purpose, he rented the Ritual Room from The Guild, which cost him fifty thousand Credits, which was an overwhelming amount for single use, but it was better than not having one. Fortunately for him, money was not the problem right now, as he had plenty of them and when the IMC starts producing equipment, money won''t be a problem ever again.

    Still, a Ritual Room was imperative when attempting such a thing due to the protections and securities that the Ritual Room provided to him. Especially if something went wrong during the Ritual, Samiel would be in no danger of his life.

    Sometimes when the rituals were incorrectly done, the aftermath of such a thing would be quite disastrous. So every proper Magician, despite the Path they were following, probably minus the Warlocks, would always prepare a safe ce to carry out the Ritual, to be safe in case something unforeseen happened.

    Warlocks were typically crazy, not in the way like he was. While Samiel didn''t consider himself to be the mentally most stable person around, mainly because of his somehow twisted personality and worldview, he still had some amount of logic and reason in his person, though the logic and reason were truly unique and fitted only to him.

    For the things that Samiel would be using as the materials to make an Elder Lich were the followings:

    Naturally, he had prepared around one hundred or so Soul Force Crystals, then the corpse of Drow Sorcerer, the corpse of the Pdin Squire of ''Him'', which Samiel was storing in his Dimensional Ring till this day after it was devoid of all ''His'' influence. Fortunately, all of ''His'' influence was gone from the corpse of the Pdin Squire or it would be absolutely unusable... though the thought of creating sentient Undead from someone like a devout fanatic to ''Him'' where the fanatic would keep his sentience and be forever imprisoned in the Undead body was funny though, but at the same time, dangerous and almost suicidal.

    Another thing that he had prepared was the corpse of the High Elven Arcanist, which he obtained through Yvriane''s help. He chose it because the High Elves were species with an almost extreme affinity for Magic; there were not many races in the Cosmos that could boast of the same thing and obtaining the corpse of a High Elf would prove a pain in the ass if not for Yvraine''s help in this matter.

    Among the other things, there was a Death Pearl and shards of the Dragon Vein; these two were the most costly things. Death Pearls was the core of a certain type of Magical Beast, which was attuned to Death Energy. After reaching the Gold-Tier, the Death Pearl condensates in the body of the Magical Beast as the extreme concentration of the Death Energy.

    The Death Pearl was considered as one of the priceless things for the Undead under the Legendary Level. Countless Advanced Undead or Higher Undead would do anything in their power to get their hands on the Death Pearl because they could obtain great power from incorporating the Death Pearl into themselves; not talking about the tremendous rise in potential after absorbing the Death Pearl they would obtain.

    Meanwhile, the shards of the Dragon Vein were something that cost Samiel a lot because he actually used a few hundred Contribution Points of the Hall of Kadath, aside from a million Credits. The Dragon Vein was another name for the Mana Leylines that were spreading through the Worlds and were basically sources of Mana in Worlds.

    Dragon Vein was usually terms reserved for the biggest and main Leyline, which was strongest out of them, so Samiel paid a hefty price to obtain three shards of one. They could be obtained only when a World was destroyed and during the short period of time, during which the shattering of the World was taking ce, one needed to harvest the shards of the Leylines.

    It was an extremely dangerous task because even powerful Legendaries could be killed in a split of a second when careless by an explosion during the destruction of even Lower World. That was the reason why it cost Samiel around a million Credits aside from a few hundred Contribution Points of the Hall of Kadath.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And these were only shards from the Dragon Vein of the Lower World that was already on itsst legs; if not for that, the price would be much, much higher. For example, a single Dragon Vein Shard from a Middle World in prime conditions would cost tens of millions of Credits and the one from the High World would be in billions.

    Samiel was using these resources for a very special reason. Typically speaking, the Undead were races with very limited potential because they were not actual races in the tactical sense but dead that rose to a ''unique state'' through some special methods. So, to break this, a lot of special materials was needed when someone was creating Undead artificially or they needed to be born in some very unique environment... such was the bnce of the Cosmos.

    Right now, Samiel was in the Ritual Room located within The Guild''s Branch, which was paid for to use, and surprisingly or not, he was not alone, as Yvraine was together with him there.

    She asked to observe how he was crafting his Undead; she raised her condition when he asked her to procure him the corpse of a High Elf. Naturally, she was silent during the entire thing, not saying a word, because she didn''t wish to disrupt Samiel during the ritual as that could lead to grave consequences and thus, they just silently were doing their things.

    Fortunately, the prison didn''t care if some Magician sentenced to death died in the cell; coincidentally, his corpse was nowhere to find. The Ritual Room wasrge; it was very spacious, engraved with countless runes and inscriptions all around it, as Samiel was repeating the procedure like thest time, though this was a bit tweaked to suit the needs.

    In the end, he wasn''t creating a Death Knight, but rather an Elder Lich, so the magical requirements for it would be far higher, not to mention he wanted to create an Elder Lich of the highest quality, only short of an Overlord which was already on par with Superior Species ording to the Racial Ranking of Species across the Cosmos.

    Samiel started drawing the Magic Circle on the ground and as material to draw it; he was using his very own blood because it was the best magical conduit, probably on the same level as dragon blood of high-ranking dragon with prestigious lineage, as those were the beings closest to Mana.

    Of course, it was not only his blood but rather a concoction of his own blood, which wasposed of the majority of the concoction, with some bits of the High Elven Blood and Dragon Blood and some Lyrium and Red Lyrium gathered together.

    After he finished drawing the Magic Circle, which took less time as he asked Yvriane to help because she was knowledgeable enough about the Magic Circles and Runes to draw the Runic Circle ording to his instructions, which were concrete enough so she wouldn''t make any mistake.

    When that was done, he took out three corpses that would be used as the material base for the Elder Lich, and this time he had truly outdone himself in gathering the bodies. Probably it was due to money, as he invested a lot more into it. Though thest time, he had the corpse of a Forest Troll, which was inhabited by the lingering spirit of Transcendental Daemons, so in that aspect, it was minus because procuring something like that was night impossible.

    He put down the corpse of the Pdin Squire of ''Him'', which was in pristine condition, or rather the best condition it could be, but it looked exactly the same as it looked when Samiel killed the Pdin Squire of the God of Light or whatever he was God of.

    The second corpse, which he put on the left side, was the corpse of Dark Seldarine or Drow, if someone preferred, Drow Sorcerer. When it came to Magic, Drows were excellent Sorcerers because their Aristocratic Houses bred with each other in hopes of enhancing their magical bloodlines to the next generations; thus they were able to produce many powerful Sorcerers.

    This precise corpse was obtained from the storages of the Hall of Kadath, and ironically though, it was a great-grandson of the Pope of the Church of Lolth, who disappeared a long time ago. He somehow found his way to one of the Lower Worlds, where he enved the local poption and he coordinated his ves and servants to find him a Dimensional Pathway to the Tower.

    Unfortunately for him, they found the Dimensional Pathway, but not one leading to the Tower, but leading to High World under the control of the Hall of Kadath, where he was killed not long after he set foot on that world.

 Chapter 167 Elder Lich (2)

    And thest corpse was ced on the right side and it belonged to the High Elven Arcanist, who was sentenced to death for carrying out illegal experiments on fellow Elves in some god-forsaken world. The man thought that nobody from the Nesser Dynasty would notice or bother with him, as he was on the outskirts of the known Cosmos.

    This certainly led to an arrogant conclusion of the High Elf that he was above everyone else, but sadly one of his servants was a member of the secret police of the Nesser Dynasty and not long after that Imperial Army was knocking on his door.

    "What is next?"

    Yvraine asked curiously as she was watching Samiel while his personal knight Juulius was standing before the Ritual Room and guarding the entrance. Juulius was not a Magician and while he had some rudimentary knowledge of Magic and knew some Spells, mainly of boosting type or healing type, with a limited amount of offensive Magic, the rituals were an entirely different thing.

    Ritualistic Magic was something that was considered the pinnacle of Magic in a sense, only true pursuers of the Path of Magic and Arcane would be carrying them out, and it was something that distinguished the average Magicians from those of the Elite and with profound knowledge of the topic.

    "Now, we need to prepare other resources that I have for this ritual. Namely, Soul Force Crystals, Death Pearl and Dragon Vein Shards need to be ced at a specific location across the Magic Circle to maximize their effect on the newly created Higher Undead. Aside from that, we have here some other minor resources that need to be reworked into their final form. You can start by grounding together Bonemeal of Elder Lich, Red Lyrium Crystals, Lyrium Crystals and Negative Energy Crystal Essense together to create a powder form."

    Samiel exined as he pointed at the cauldron. Yvraine then went to the cauldron and started mashing up the things that Samiel named her, carefully not to cause any kind of explosions because one wrong move and tragedy was here.

    Naturally, she was aware how much Samiel was trusting with her being here because normally he wouldn''t let anyone to be present when he was doing something like this, but Samiel knew that his trust issues towards other people would once bite him in the ass if he doesn''t do something about that.

    While she was preparing the powder out of the items, Samiel was cing the Soul Force Crystals across the Magic Circle at certain ces while asionally adjusting their ces by moving them by a few millimeters.

    Soon enough, he was done with it, and every Soul Force Crystal was already at its ce where it should be. He then took the Death Pearl and ced it at the heart of the Pdin Squire of God of Light and Holiness and around it in a triangr shape; he ced the Shards of Dragon Veins.

    Then Yvraine came to him and told him that the powder mix was finished. Samiel went to it and took out a vial of some sort of liquid, as he poured it into the powder mix and started mixing it, until the powder had dissolved into the liquid.

    "What was in that vial? I felt an overwhelming mana from that?"

    She asked curiously while watching the powder, which was made from the Bonemeal of an Elder Lich, Red Lyrium Crystals, Lyrium Crystals and Negative Energy Crystals Essence into a new substance.

    "Liquidyfied Mana mixed with the water from the Extreme Mana Area from Principal World."

    Samiel answered as this thing was another pricy thing to obtain normally, but fortunately, Hall of Kadath had tons of it and they were literarily drinking it like normal water to quench thirst. Extreme Mana Area was an area rarely appearing in the Principal World and mostmonly in the Higher Dimensional World, where Mana was extremely dense even for the standards of the said world.

    Because the Hall of Kadath owned the entire Principal World, they had their source of it, and for them, it was not that precious. Due to the special properties of the environment when the war was appearing naturally, it was extremely rich in Mana and would kill even Silver-Tier Professional by overloading his body with pure Mana.

    Because of that, it was very suitable for Samiel''s purpose as he used it like a binder and base for the new substance when it was used, Samiel took the cauldron and poured it out at the Magic Circle and the second he poured it out, he started chanting something in the Eldritch Speech of R''Lyehian.

    The second he started chanting, the entire Magic Circle lit up in ominous purple light and suddenly, the liquid substance that Samiel poured out at the Magic Circle started swirling around the three corpses as he proceeded to take control of the Magic Circle on the ground and started the Ritual of creation of the Elder Lich.

    "lw''nafh ng n''gha, ah ahehyee ya nyth''drnn."

    Suddenly, a prating cold aura burst out from the circle as the Void itself descended into this room, and all objects on the Pentagram started levitating and melting down into a weird glob of flesh, metal, energy, and just everything.

    "R''luhhnyth ot n''ghftnah n''gha, arse hup soth, arise hup n''gha, arise hup mgepogg, arise hup l'' syha''h ot n''ghaa ng llll ya ahuaaah."

    Samiel continued chanting in the Eldritchnguage or also known as R''Lyehian, as the weird, disgusting mass of flesh, metal, Mana Crystals, and other things he put there started taking shape.

    He was basically repeating the same thing he did when he was creating his first Higher Undead, Frost Death Knight Ashimer. It wasn''t that much different from the first time, as the three corpses melted down and were fusing with the other materials that Samiel prepared for the creation of the Elder Lich.

    "Nafl''fhtagn ya r''luhhnyth, uh''eog ot ya n''ghaauh''ee ng uh''ee, ahf'' ephaitharanak n''gha ng llll ah''lloigshogg ya mghrii."

    Yvraine observed, in wonder, how Samiel was crafting the Undead, especially as she was witnessing the creation of the Higher Undead. The Higher Undead were dangerous, not only because of their power but also their potential, as all of them could reach the Legendary Level given enough time and resources.

    Soon enough, the form took ce as she saw the silhouette of the Elder Lich; it looked weird humanoid, but considering the base of the Elder Lich was the Pdin Squire because, from all corpses, he was undoubtedly the strongest one.

    That was due to the influence of the Divine Power of ''Him'' that was inhabiting his body for such a long time; the passive effects on it were tremendous; for that reason, Samiel chose it to be the main building block of the Higher Undead.

    "Your name shall be Negash, the greatest Lich that ever walked through the Cosmos."

    Thest thing that was required was for Samiel to name the Elder Lich when he was created to finalize the Ritual, as he chose a perfect name for his creation. Certainly, this one was even slightly better than Ashimer.

    Of course, he invested a lot more resources into the creation of Negash, because he wanted to achieve the best results for the Higher Undead and the Elder Lich he wished to have. With the creation of Negash, Samiel automatically obtained a whole Undead Army numbering thousands with ease.

    After he named the Elder Lich, he opened his Record to observe the exact strengths and powers the Elder Lich Negash was born with, and certainly, he wasn''t disappointed even a bit.<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Name: Negash

    Race: Higher Undead (Elder Lich)

    ss: Lord of Death (0%)

    Sub-ss: N/A

    Magician Level:

    Basic (Necromancy Arts, Shadow Magic)

    Intermediate (Necromancy Arts, Shadow Magic)

    ***

    Tier: Silver

    Level: 62

    ***

    Abilities:

    Undead Crafter (0%) - Rare Ability

    Dark Wisdom (0%) - Rare Ability

    ***

    Necromancy Arts (20%)

    Shadow Magic (10%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (24%)]

    When the creation of Higher Undead Elder Lich, now named Negash, was finished, Samiel opened his Record to see that the Elder Lich was created with two Level 2 Rare Abilities, probably each of them had the potential to evolve into Level 3 Ultimate Ability, as he then proceeded to check on the Abilities themselves.

    [Undead Crafter - Level 2 Rare Ability, Bearer of this Rare Ability, is able to craft Undead like any other, greatly lowering the speed needed to create a single Undead and could even craft several Undead at the same time. Additionally, at the same time, it makes it much easier to create higher forms of the Undead life.]

    This was indeed a pretty powerful ability; in its fundamental nature, it was very simr to Samiel''s Skill, Undead Creation when he was manually creating every Undead, basically making them stronger, just Negash had it as a Leveled Ability. In the future, this ability would allow him to create a really powerful Undead Army.

    After he checked the first ability; he opened the Record of the second one.

    [Dark Wisdom - Level 2 Rare Ability, Bearer is not limited by any branch of the Magic aligned with the Dark, Negative, Evil. Usage of any kind of alignment Magic bes easier and Bearer can master Magic in a much shorter time. The higher proficiency of this ability is, the more Magic the Bearer could master.]

    Now, this was more like a passive ability, but Samiel felt a bit envious because it was giving his Elder Lich a tremendous headstart. Abilities like Dark Wisdom are essentially a wet dream of any Magic User because they would allow them to learn Magic more easily.

    In fact, if Samiel didn''t have a Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect that could partially do the same thing, he would have considered using the Level 3 Soul Devour on Negash to devour him in hopes of obtaining Dark Wisdom for himself.

    Meanwhile, Yvraine observed the newly created Higher Undead from the sides in wonder because this was the first time she had seen something like this. Additionally, she could sense the power of Elder Lich, whom Samiel named Negash.

    "I take that you are satisfied with your creation."

    She said, seeing that Samiel was adoring his new Higher Undead and she was right. He was absolutely delighted with the results, even considering how much money he invested in it, but he knew that those results would show themselves in theter stages, especially at the Legendary Level, as he was ying a long-term game.

 Chapter 168 Undead Scourge (1)

    8th Floor of the Tower, Demon Continent, Goldtooth City, one dayter after the creation of Elder Lich Negash.

    All members of the Khaos Chapter, plus the official mascots Nefertari the Elder Wampus Cat and Tytos the White Tiger, were in attendance at the meeting. Two felines were minding their own business because they were focusing more on eating than anything else, as they had a huge tter full of meat from the best types of magical beasts, especially the kind that both felines loved.

    While Nefertari was not much eater in terms of quantity, the same couldn''t be said about Tytos, as the enormous White Tiger could continue eating for several hours without stopping. Naturally, Juulius''s spending on food for his familiar during the time they were in the Goldtooth City was out of the norm, because there was nothing to hunt for the White Tiger, so Juulius was forced to buy his familiar food, which was pretty costly.

    "So, in this meeting, we will be drafting ns on how to advance through the Western Area and naturally unleashing my Undead Army to act as the Undead Scourge to collect souls."

    Samiel said as Juulius, Yvraine and Dharzug surrounded him, as they were all looking at the map of the Human Continent, while next to the map was another map, this time only that of the Western Area of the Human Continent.

    The maps that Samiel was using were extremely detailed and could be considered art because they were printed on canvas, as Samiel wasn''t using just the projection from his Holo-Brain, but rather opted for the physical version of the map. The map was pretty detailed, with rivers,ndscapes, mountain ranges, cities, viges, forts, other ces of interest and even territories of the magical beast hordes were highlighted on the map.

    Of course, both of these maps were updated with thetest information about the state of things at the Human Continent, especially marking the forces of the Human Brotherhood, Demon Armies, the territories both sides already controlled and territories for which both sides fought. Samiel had these maps custom-made by the Guild, as he was still surprised what everything they were selling.

    "We will head to the borders between the Western Area and Northern Area; there is one E-Ranked Mission from The Guild to create a mess by destroying several outposts and supply lines of the Human Brotherhood. You can act as you wish while I will unleash the Scourge on the Western Area and start taking city after city and harvesting souls."

    With the addition of Negash, who controlled more than 9,000 Undead, while most of them were either pinnacle of the Iron-Tier or Steel-Tier, it was still a lot and a very high number of Undead to be just ignored. More importantly, with thebination of Ashimer''s and Samiel''s Undead, his Undead Army was numbering more than 10,000 Undead.

    This was already a proper start for the Army and would probably even be considered as Army in some weaker or less populous world, as the ten thousand was a rtively high number. For example, if his Undead Army was taken to some random Lower World, then it would be automatically considered probably a world-ending threat.

    Yes, itcked any Gold-Tiers, but some of the weaker Lower Worlds, alsocked the Gold-Tier Professionals, with only the Silver-Tier ones being the strongest existing in those worlds. Not talking about Mana-Less World like his former homeworld of Earth, with such a strong Undead Army like he had today, he would be able to overrun the entire Earth several times over without any obstruction.

    "That seems usible... we can expect zero to no resistance in that area, and it would be a good ce to harvest souls."

    Commented Juulius, as he was more proficient in military strategies than any other person in this room, as he had studied them his whole life. Being a member of the Holy Temr Order of the Hall of Kadath, everyone was expected to have reached a certain standard in all martial disciplines, be it mastery over weapons,bat magic or war strategy and tactics.

    As part of his studies, he had an extensive part of it dedicated to the strategies and tactics of battles and war overall because Juulius was to be one day named as the Grandmaster of the Holy Temr Order in a simr fashion as Samiel was predestined in a certain way to be a next Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath.

    For the Hall of Kadath, soul harvesting was the primary source of strength because, for them, many had a symbiotic rtionship with the Azathoth''s Court, souls for power, as easy as that could get. Nothing else mattered and not everyone was a fanatical believer in the Outer Gods, though it had been noted that the longer people stayed with the Hall of Kadath more devout to the religion they became.

    For Samiel he needed souls to continue evolving his Undead, who all depended on the Souls to evolve into higher forms of the Undead Life; without it they would remain forever at the stage they were in, not advancing even a bit towards something greater.

    "Indeed, there are a lot of cities that arepletely defenseless after the humans pulled the majority of their forces towards the capital..."

    Samiel stated while suddenly Yvraine was pondering over something deeply, ignoring what he was saying at all. She was in deep thought before she said the thing she was thinking about.

    "There is a very high probability that they are building a Dimensional Gate to escape from the 8th Floor..."

    Yvraine muttered because it sounded logical and it was the only conclusion she could to after thinking about the situation for a bit.

    All signs were there and the possibility of the Leaders of the Human Brotherhood building something like a Dimensional Gate was not technically that low. While the construction of the Deimsnional Gate required a lot of resources, it was possible for the leaders of the Human Brotherhood to gather them after several decades.

    For several reasons, it was known that the Leaders of the Human Brotherhood were actually three men from the Avalon Kingdom and another one from the Magisterium and one from the unknown civilization of the High World.

    All five of them were rogues, those who were discarded by their betters and somehow found their way together and settled on the 8th Floor of the Tower, where they started building their forces. Some of them were banished from their factions for various reasons and thus they became pariahs and rogues.

    Through their connections to the Avalon Kingdom and some to the Magisterium, it wasmon knowledge that certain sorts of people, mainly those of prestigious background and social status, were aware of the fact that the five of them were hoarding some precious magic knowledge and even some rescues they managed to obtain during the centuries their organization existed.

    "And because the entire 8th Floor is essentially locked down, there are only two ways how to get out from here. Either to find a natural Dimensional Pathway and use that, but that is not really possible because they are static locations and all of them are watched by the Legendaries who were observing the happenings on the 8th Floor."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel exined because he quickly caught one of what they were probably after as he made a small pause before proceeding with the exnation.

    "And the second possibility would be to build a Dimensional Gate, connect it to the outeryer of the Dimensional Pathway and use it as means of leaving. Naturally, the construction of the Deimsniaonl Gate would be harder but more manageable than finding a natural Dimensional Pathway between the Tower and outside Cosmos."

    Of course, it would be logical because they should be long aware that any kind of siege of their capital would end in theplete ughter of every living human in the capital... so the question there stood, why did they remain there and didn''t escape to prolong their lives longer?

    Or to just hide?

    Certainly, the resources to construct something like Dimensional Gate was out of the reach of a small-time faction like the Human Brotherhood, but if they were robbing some resources from the Avalon Kingdom together with stolen knowledge of the Magisterium?

    Then it was certainly very possible to build something like that. It became clear to everyone who was even a bit observant of the situation would see that the people who created the Human Brotherhood were just making use of the situation to obtain as many resources out of the Avalon Kingdom and others who wanted to profit on this proxy war as possible.

    And, of course, everything would be for naught if they died here, so they put everything on theirst card, which was the Dimensional Gate. If that was not working, they would be killed and their effort would not seed; they lost... if they seeded...

    Human Brotherhood existed for entire centuries and for entire centuries, the Avalon Kingdom, Magisterium and Germinal Order have supported them. Aside from these three hegemons, it was very possible that they were supported by a whole deal of other factions across the Cosmos, who had some interest in the fight of the Human Brotherhood and Demons, aside from attaining control over the lower Floors.

    The control of the Lower Floors of the Tower was essential for the human factions because humans were one of the species with the least talent and power and because of that, countless humans who entered the Tower won''t ever get past the first ten Floors. The aim of the Human Brotherhood was to obtain control of these Floors through the Human Brotherhood so they could increase the numbers of humans who would be able to pass through the Floors and, at the same time, they would increase their own power.

    "It would be very unfortunate if their ns didn''t seed... I wonder if the demons realized the possibility of them escaping?"

    Samiel questioned mainly to himself, really wondering if the demons were aware of the probability of demons being aware that the Leaders of the Human Brotherhood could escape or they were not aware or they were aware of the possibility but, as always, were ignoring the fact that something like this could happen.

    Not like it would be any different from theirmon sense and typical thinking process. Demons were a pretty arrogant and equally stupid species; using a head was sometimes among some species considered as a weakness.

    "Indeed... they have resources to create at least several Legendaries... it was highly possible..."

    Yvraine muttered dangerously; of course, in the greater scheme of all things, the fact that the five of them escaped with the resources they managed to hoard was inconsequential, but Samiel would prefer if those things fell into his hands.

    Though in the end, he really doubted that he would be able to able to get his hands on the resources belonging to the Leaders of the Human Brotherhood. There were many factors in y, the chances that he would be the one who could get hands on it, was very low, though he predicted that the resources would fall into the hands of demons... that also wasn''t a win.

    "For now, that is not of importance... we should depart to our targetted destination."

    Samiels stated soon afterward, so they could focus on the important thing that were right now the goals of the Khaos Chapter, which was right now the Soul Gathering for Samiel to hoard some Souls, and now was the perfect opportunity.

    "Gonna smash some skus!"

    Dharzug cheered as he smashed his fist on the table, probably holding himself very much from the eagerness to go and kill something. Samiel could share his sentiment because he, too had some itching to go and kill something or someone as soon as possible... not to mention he was once again feeling the hunger... the hunger for souls.

    The more he became closer to the Eldritch Creature in the fundamental nature of his race, the more aspects he was taking from them. One of them, which was bing increasingly intense with each passing month, was the unquenchable thirst for the souls of living beings.

    That was one of the major reasons why he was so eager to go and started unleashing his Undead Army on the defenseless humans so he could massacre them all and harvest their souls. Because that thirst for souls was stronger and stronger, it was painful and outright torturous and was bing absolutely unbearable the longer itsted.

    It was then Samiel realized that the souls were not only a means of obtaining power for the Outer Gods, but it was partially a means of survival or maintaining some sort of sanity or ability to have clean thoughts.

    "We should be going..."

    He muttered when they finished discussing everything, as it was time to depart to carry out the mission finally. Dharzug grinned in anticipation as he was finally getting to smash some skulls, while Juulius just nodded because he was only going to carry out his duty to his Lord.

 Chapter 169 Undead Scourge (2)

    Western Area of the Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower, 5 Dayster.

    The borders between the Western Area and Northern Area was barred ce, filled with cold and emptiness, nothing else and nothing more. Most of the outposts were empty because, during the five days that the Khaos Chapter was on a journey to the ce, the Human Brotherhood withdrew even most of the remaining soldiers that were still in the ce.

    When that happened, it only confirmed Yvraine''s thoughts that the people who founded the Human Brotherhood wanted to escape. The logical conclusion, considering the situation they were in because there was no salvation for the Human Brotherhood as it was right now.

    Their capital of the Sngrad was right now being supported by everything that the Human Brotherhood had in their disposition, which left them even more vulnerable than before.

    And as Samiel thought, the Demon mainly ignored them... or rather, it would be appropriate to say that they were ignored by the forces of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe who were operating in the Central Area, though the Star-Moon Coalition Army was periodically sending forces to disrupt their supply chains to the Sngrad or ambush the reinforcing soldiers that were heading towards the Sngrad, while personally not intervening in the battle, bur rather letting theirpetitors in it alone.

    Through long discussions and decision-making, it was decided that they would be advancing as one. When Samiel would beying siege to the cities, Dharzug and Yvraine would remain with him, practically helping.

    Juulius was of no importance in this because, as his sworn knight, it was his duty to never leave his liege alone even for a second unless it was dire circumstances or they were in a safe ce, which right now they certainly weren''t.

    Dharzug was a perfect heavy hitter and tank; he could tear his way across the entire battlefield and would do a splendid job during sieges of cities. As he was extremely strong even for the Silver-Tier standards, he could tear through the city gates like nothing, especially here where everything was practically built with ordinary materials or materials with minimal magic in them, so they were not that sturdy or resistant against attacks.

    "How far are we from the nearest pinpoint?"

    Yvraine asked because they had been walking already for several hours and searching for the right spot to release my Undead Army. This, while seemed absolutely useless, had some merits in one thing, which was, if the Undead Army was released in a location where Samiel wanted, he could instantly start harvesting souls and lower the probability that the news of the Undead Scourge would spread fast.

    Of course, even a few days here was something worth it because each day, the Undead Scourge would spread carnage and death, which would mean thousands, if not tens of thousands of souls, for Samiel, so that was certainly an optimistic prediction.

    "We are going to the Grand West Mountain... it is the regional capital with a poption numbering hundreds of thousands; that would be the ce where we would start the Scourge."

    Samiel answered with an equal portion of cheerfulness and malice as he was thinking about the number of souls that he would obtain with this. Hundreds of thousands? Perhaps several million if he was lucky?

    Who knew, but one thing was certain, that this was going to be a good time for him. Certainly, arge part of the souls would be used as an offering to his God and the Outer Court as a form of sacrifice, so he could obtain their divine favor.

    What would remain from the souls he obtained would be then what remained would be divided between the needs of his Higher Undead and him. Ashimer and Negash would use some part of the souls that he would obtain either to strengthen themselves or to strengthen the Undead under theirmand.

    Both of them had arge number of Undead under them, especially Negash, so his need for souls was much higher. He had many Undead that needed to evolve because most of his Undead were either at the Steel-Tier or the peak of the Iron-Tier.

    "Dharzug, you will rush and break the gate... we are not sneaking around or anything... this will be a brutal frontal attack, easy and straight, hitting them fast and hard."

    Samiel stated, to which the huge ork grinned, unleashing his fangs in their full glory, while two felines, Tytos and Nefertari, were walking side by side with them; only Tytos looked a bit interested in the fight because it stemmed from his nature as White Tiger.

    He was abative magical beast who loved tobat and fight, tearing through his enemies and eating their corpses; that was the way of life of the White Tiger species. Meanwhile, Nefertari looked pretty much disinterested in this, though she certainly would be fighting because if not, she won''t be getting snacks from her hooman, and that was a big no-no.

    After traveling for some time, they finally arrived at the Grand West Mountain City which was their targetted destination where the Undead Scourge would start.

    Grand West Mountain City was located directly below the Grand West Mountain; the person who was giving names out here was not that creative. Still, the Grand West Mountain had every reason to be called Grand because it was an enormous mountain located among smaller ones, as it was clearly empathizing its big size among the small mountains and hills around it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Beneath the huge mountain was like a beacon in this entire teau, Samiel saw the city, which was ironically named Grand West Mountain City. From what Samiel could see the that the city was huge, with a poption numbering more than one hundred thousand at least. Though it was clear that the majority of the inhabitants were ordinary humans and Samiel didn''t feel anyone of significant power was present in the city.

    "This is indeed perfect..."

    Samiel muttered as he summoned both of his Higher Undead, Ashimer and Negash, who appeared behind him. Ashimer was like usually d in his armor, while Negash looked like every other Lich or Necromancer, with a very long hooded pitch-ck cloak but wearing some gauntlets on his arms, legs and spiked armored shoulder.

    "Formation is standard head-on, Dharzug; you will be leading the army and smash the gate, with Ashimer and me immediately after him with Negash and his Undead Army at the tail, leading the Undead to the city."

    Samiel put the strategy on the table; everyone followed his orders, Juulius and Yvraine would be taking his side and act as swords during the attack, as they would be participating in the vanguard together with Samiel''s Undeads, as he was controlling several hundred Bronze-Tier Undead whom he hardly cultivated with all of his resources and effort.

    Soon enough, thousands of Undead were lined up behind Samiel and thepany; everyone got into a formation. When they were in the vicinity of the Grand West Mountain City, the city guards finally noticed the iing Undead Army. Even from a distance, Samiel could see that everyone up there was absolutely panicking because they didn''t know what to do.

    With a heavy majority of their military forces sent to the capital of the Human Brotherhood, only a small contingent of the City Guard remained here. Those who remained here were the expandables, meaning either old, weak or absolutely unusable City Guards that were of no use in realbat.

    If not for that, they would certainly be sent to a realbat situation, not left here... that made sense. So amidst all of the panic that was right now taking ce atop of the walls, because there was no clear chain ofmand and nobody knew what to do, the Scourge reached the gates as a big ork with a savage expression erupted with a greenish wave of Mana as he gripped his waraxe and shed at the gate.

    The moment Dharzug''s waraxe "da big choppa"nded on the gates of the Grand West Mountain City, the entire city gate shook violently, and soon enough, countless cracks appeared around the entire construction. At first look, Samiel was surprised that the gate still stood in one piece, but secondster, Dharzug hit the gate once again, this time with even greater strength, as parts of the gates flew apart.

    On the third hit, the entire gate was smashed apart, as Samiel''s Bronze-Tier Undead started poring inside like a flood, attacking terrified guards that looked at the iing Undead Scourge with dread and fear in their attacks, many of the more weak-willed ones already started escaping, but there was no escape from the ferociousness and hatred of the Undead.

    Especially the vanguard, which consisted of the strongest ones who were Samiel''s own; after them were the Undead which were under the control of his first Higher Undead, Frost Death Knight Ashimer and only in the thirdyer were the Undeads under the control of Elder Lich Negash.

    The skirmish between the city guard and the Undead was a short one, because most of the City Guards were only at the Steel-Tier with some of the newer recruits, as they appeared to be, were at the Iron-Tier. So the Undead Vanguard made short work of them and soon enough started advancing further into the city while killing everything that moved.

    Yvraine and Juulius were protecting Samiel while he was using Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to freeze everything that he saw and at the same time, he was also harvesting souls, as his soul count that he obtained was increasing by tens every minute and it was only getting faster and faster.

    Because nobody was in the vicinity of the Grand West Mountian City, Samiel could harvest the souls as he wished without any hindrance. Normally when he waspleting missions on the Human Continent, he couldn''t do it because there was a very high possibility of being spotted by someone and the skill of harvesting souls was too unique just to miss.

    Right now, all the powerful people who were watching the y were looking straight at the capital of the Human Continent, Sngrad and thus, the other areas of the entire continent were without privy eyes, giving him more freedom to do what he wanted.

    Samiel advanced through the city, with Yvriane and Juulius by his side while coordinating his Undead that were directly under his control. At the same time, he was unleashing an enormous frost wave on the entire Grand West Mountain City as the temperature started dropping tremendously.

    Most of the citizens here were only at the Iron-Tier. There were countless who were only Level 1s, so if he started freezing the entire city for some time, he would be able to kill all of them with little to no effort. At the same time, his Undead would secure the city, trapping everyone inside it so nobody would be able to escape.

    Juulius and Yvriane were basically only standing guard in case someone powerful enough to threaten them was hiding in the Grand West City and their sole task was to protect Samiel and Negash, because the two of them were controlling the Undead Scourge that was wreaking havoc through the entire city.

    Meanwhile, Dharzug already parted and headed directly to the City Lord''s mansion, probably in hopes of finding some worthy opponent whose skull won''t be smashed in one hit, though everybody doubted that he would find here someone that strong.

 Chapter 170 Undead Scourge (3)

    If not for Samiel''s continuous usage of the Winter Ruler to create and frost waves across the entire city, which caused the city to start freezing up, then at least one-third of the buildings would be already set on fire by the Undead Scourge that tore its way from the main gate to the za.

    This was another advantage of Samiel slowly freezing the entire city to one huge chunk of ice was that, once the city caught on fire, it would be like giving a signal to everyone in the surrounding cities that something was happening, which would cause them all to be on alert, meaning it would be moreplicated for the Undead Scourge just to ughter their way through.

    Samiel wanted to kill as many people as possible and if the news spread too fast that something was happening here, he won''t be able to harvest so many souls. And amidst all of that chaos, Samiel was just observing and observing everything, slightly thinking about the greater insignificance of life.

    It was interesting enough that he came from a society that was built on the concepts of morals and human rights; the right to life and killing was considered the greatest taboo. And yet, Samiel considered all of that as meaningless... what was the reason? What was the reason?

    The reason was that, in the end, only the power mattered as that was the answer to everything. Samiel didn''t have any abhorrence to killing because in the first ce, he always thought that everything was meaningless in the great scheme of all things...

    A simple question was presented on the table... if he right now killed several tens of thousands of humans or hundreds of thousands, what would happen or change? The most straightforward one was... nothing.

    Nothing would change and nothing would happen because it was not important from the point of view of the Cosmos. Even if an entire Principal World and its poption were ughtered to thest person, it was absolutely meaningless because, in the end, it didn''t matter.

    Sooner orter, everything will perish and only ''They'' will remain because only ''They'' are truly eternal in every sense of existence. The Worlds, Lower, Middle, High and Principal will undergo cataclysms and apocalypses; they will be destroyed, re-created or just remain dead.

    The Floors of the Tower were subjected to the same cycle and underwent cycles of destruction and nirvana every Epoch. That was the sole reason why Samiel considered everything meaningless and only his personal goal had the reasons; for everything else, nothing had meaning.

    Samiel felt that during these fifteen minutes or so since the invasion of the Grand West Mountain City started; he managed to collect several hundreds of souls who were all from the killed inhabitants of the Grand West Mountain City.

    Samiel marched through the city, soon enough arriving at the central za of the Grand West Mountain City, where he started increasing the output of Mana that he was injecting into Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler, as suddenly it started snowing and everything started freezing at a visibly faster rate.

    Fortunately, nobody from Samiel''s party wasn''t bothered by the cold that he was inflicting onto the ce, while he could hear some explosions from the City Lord''s mansion. It appeared that thest bastion where the armed forces o the city guards were hiding had fallen. As usual, the City Lord''s mansion was the most defended building in the entire city; such was themon situation with countless cities across Cosmos.

    With Dharzug who was leading the attack, it was clear that it would end as soon as it has begun because there was no way there was someone who had the power to defend against the orkish champion and someone as powerful as him.

    The Undead under the control of Negash were killing everything that moved, while at first, they tended to ignore the ordinary humans if they ran because they focused on hunting down and killing soldiers, city guards and anyone who was bearing weapons.

    Others were of no importance for the time being... and after the military forces o the city were put down, it was time for the ordinary people to be killed, as the Undead all dispersed across the entire Grand West Mountain City and started rampaging all around, killing everything which had lifeforce in them.

    When that happened, Samiel''s soul count started skyrocketing, increasing by hundreds every minute, as the Undead Scourge was really efficient at killing humans and practically every living being that was in the vicinity, as they were like hunting dogs, who were sniffling life force and going after it.

    Not to mention, the effects of the continuous usage of Winter Ruler started taking ce because right now, after twenty minutes or so, it was a life-threatening cold in the Grand West Mountain City. Certainly, the life-threatening was only for the Iron-Tier humans, which was the maximal Tier of approximately 99% of inhabitants of the city.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "So many souls..."

    After another twenty minutes, Samiel''s soul count was numbering more than 70,000. The coldness that was freezing the entire Grand West Mountain City right now was already deadly because Samiel had long ago reached the point of usage of Winter Ruler where he could easily kill Iron-Tier Professionals indirectly, just by decreasing the temperature.

    It took some time for the freezing cold to start killing people who were hiding in their homes, by freezing them to death, and only after some time, Samiel sensed the effect of Winter Ruler; while he was continuously freezing the city, Yvraine was looking bored and cast a few fire elemental spells on her to remain warm, because the coldness in the city reached the point where it was ufortable.

    Juulius, meanwhile wasn''t a bit bothered by the coldness because, as someone who grew up in the environment of Hall of Kadath, he knew how the Void felt because he was several times exposed to it or met people who were dabbling into the Void, not to mention, as a worshipper of the Outer Gods, he was graced by their presence and the coldness of the Void was on an entirely different level.

    As time passed, the soul count kept only growing, going from the present 70 thousand to 80 thousand, hundreds of thousands and even more and more. It took another half an hour, for Smaiel topletely strip the entire city clean of life, with nobody remaining. After that was done, the only thing which remained was piging the city.

    There was no way; Samiel was going to leave all precious valuables here for nothing; at least he would plunder the City Lord''s mansion, manors of the rich people and merchants and other things. Even though he was aware that he would maximally get some things and valuables worth of tens of thousands of Credits, but old habits die hard.

    Certainly, it would be most foolish to just leave it here for nothing. If such was the case, then it would most probably be found by demons who would obtain it, not to mention the fact that Samiel hated being wasteful and he loved looting, piging and taking everything that was of some value to be sold.

    Undead were good at this activity because they were controlled by Ashimer and Negash, who were extremely intelligent, on the same level to be considered as a genius in terms of intelligence and were even wise. Through their connections with their Undead, they knew exactly what to search for and where to search for it.

    And as expected, the City Lord''s mansion had the biggest surprise as they found there 1 million Gold Coins, together with some gold, jewelry, gems and other things. There was even a Card link to Vaultbank, but unfortunately, there were only a few thousand Credits there, which was quite insignificant.

    Still, it was nice loot and coupled with the other locations across the city which were being looted right now; Samiel was confident that he obtain a substantial sum of money and riches from the sole city. Of course, for average mortals or even by the standards of the Middle World, 1 million Gold Coins was an enormous sum of money.

    In the end, Samiel managed to get around 3 million Gold Coins as loot from the Grand West Mountain City, which was a nice amount, considering that this was just a godforsaken city somewhere on the borders between the Western Area and the Northern Area of the Human Continent. For the standards of the Tower, such an amount of Gold Coins is considered moderate when piging the city on the Lower Floors of the Tower.

    Indeed, only the Lower FLoors of the Tower were using the Gold Coins as some sort of currency because, from the 50th Floor or so, the Gold Coins were almost non-existent and were reced entirely by Credits or Mana Crystals.

    If ced in some random Middle World, then 3 Milion Gold Coins would probably be the wealth of arger kingdom that was stretched across significant parts of the Middle World. So, it was still a lot of coins; for example, the average mortal family would in Middle World make a maximum of five Gold Coins a year or so... of course, that also depended heavily on the Middle World itself.

    And the biggest gain of the entire massacre of the city was the number of captured souls he managed to collect, which was a staggering 256,458. This filled Samiel with absolute delight because it was an enormous number of souls, something that would greatly increase his power in the near future.

    Samiel calcted that by the end of his tour in the region with the Undead Scourge, he would have amassed approximately around one million souls, which should be enough for him to start evolving his Undead to a higher form of Undead lifeforms, as well as sacrificing some of those souls to the Outer Gods and leaving some to him so he could eat his fill and quell the thirst for the souls.

    For someone like him who was still at the Mortal Level, such an enormous amount of souls would be enough to sustain his hunger for a prolonged period, hopefully.

 Chapter 171 Undead Scourge (4)

    "Can we go to the next one?"

    Yvraine asked in a bored tone because there was nothing to do after the initial resistance was broken; there was just boredom as she was guarding Samiel together with his personal knight Juulius Crawford.

    And while the social purple-haired pdin loved boredom because, for him, it was best if nothing was happening, Yvraine felt it like absolute torture because she expected some fight and action. Even Dharzug got to fight, at least something, because he had the honor of smashing through the city''s gates and raiding the manors and other important ces.

    "Now, we will be going in two groups... one will be going to raid the forts around the borders, which was also posted as Mission from The Guild. On that, Yvraine will go together with Dharzug and Ashimer. I will be taking Negash and Juulis and we will be going to give the gift of death to the surrounding viges and towns around the Grand West Mountain City."

    Samiel instructed as neither Yvraine or Dharzug were too thrilled that they would be going together, but at least they were going something more thrilling than just killing defenseless people, as neither one of them took enjoyment from that... but to be not confused, both of them thought that it was too boring to do.

    Samiel would be going after the viges and towns that were in the vicinity of the Grand West Mountain City and started harvesting them because they were a prime target. Of course, he chose to go alone on that, only with Juulius, because he knew that there wouldn''t even be guards in the viges, so there would be zero action, truth to be told.

    That was rathermon because only cities would afford to have City Guards and maybe some bigger and richer towns would have some kind of town militia, but that was all when it came to armed forces of them. Because they were rtively small, viges wouldn''t have either and their best bet to protection were its inhabitants.

    After all, was said, all of them parted towards their respective destinations. Yvraine, Dharzug and Ashimer departed to the north, where the forts were waiting for them to be destroyed. Meanwhile, Samiel, Juulius and Negash, who was controlling the Undead Scourge, were heading towards the towns and viges to increase the soul count as much as possible.

    ***

    4 Days Later

    Samiel spent four whole days going with the Undead Scourge with Negash and Juulius, from town to town, from vige to vige, as they left them all cleaned of any life and sometimes not even the corpses of its inhabitants remained in one ce.

    During the four days, Samiel was in much hurry as he tied to destroy as much as ces as possible, which resulted in obtaining approximately 950,000 souls. While he wanted to have at least one million, that seemed to be impossible, as the Demon Tribes found about the Undead Scourge rampaging in the Western Area and the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe sent one of its smaller armies, numbering more than 40,000 demons to destroy the Scourge.

    And that was that moment when he started thing how best to exploit the situation because, truthfully, he wanted to kill that Demon Army as he knew that it should be one of the weaker ones, but since it belonged to the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, destroying it will not cause anything, but at the same time, it will be another stain and will serve as ammunition for the Star-Moon Demon Coalition.

    Samiel also knew that the army they were sent here was not that strong because the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was too arrogant to take the threat of Undead Scourge seriously, and while the forces of the Scourge numbered only around 10,000, it should not be a problem.

    If they had some traps and prepared well, Samiel was confident that he could cut their numbers by ten thousand just from traps. Then it would be outnumbering 1:3, but most of them were weak, probably on the same level as were Negash''s ordinary Undead, meaning that under the battle conditions, even if all Negash''s Undead were destroyed, he could effortlessly resurrect new Undead.

    ording to Samiel''s calctions, they would need at least fifty thousand to destroy the Undead Scourge in one go by brute force or to take out the control of the Scourge, meaning Negash out of the picture, then even if they had 15,000 it would be enough to destroy 10,000 Undead.

    Samiel was right now discussing the strategy together with Juulius and Yvraine, who had returned from the mission of destroying several smaller forts at the borders. Both of them were deducted in the military strategy, so their counsel was valuable, while Dharzug could more or like provide some practical insight because Orks didn''t exactly know the meaning of the word "strategy".

    "We would need to select the ce to ambush the demons and prepare the traps well, to take as much as possible with them... I would personally suggest the Teleryan Pass... it is a ce that is rtively narrow, which would greatly lower the power of numbers when they are forced to pass through it. We can install traps all around the length of the pass and take approximately more than 20,000 of the demon army if we do it in the right way. Afterward, the Undead will do the rest."

    Exined Juulius, to which Samiel wholeheartedly agreed with his prediction. Teleryan Pass was located several hundred of kilometers away from the Grand West Mountain City and that region. The importance of the Teleryan Pass was that it was a fast shortcut connecting the Northern and Western Areas. If someone wanted to reach the Western Area from the Northen Area very fast, then going through the Teleryan Pass is the sole option.

    "The forces Golden-Horned Demon Tribe have just not taken from the encampment of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. To carry out this n, we need to depart for the Teleryan Pass right now, and even then, we would need to work as fast as possible to set it in one ce."

    Yvraine stated as it was indeed the truth. If they did not hurry, the forces of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe would reach the Teleryan Pass before them, which would result in the inevitable failure of annihting their army.

    Samiel was aware that in the open field, the Undead Scourge was no match for the army that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe sent here.

    The main reason was that their numbers were too high and while not strongest under the heaven of the 8th Floor, they were bound to have a good number of Bronze-Tier Professionals, while Samiel''s Undead Scourge had barely 500 of Bronze-Tier Undead.

    ***<novelnext></novelnext>

    At their top speed, it took them several hours to reach the Telerayan Pass, which was located among an enormous mountain range. Samiel observed it while hearing the reports from Nefertari, who was telling him that there was no demon army in sight, so that was a good one.

    "So, how ya do it?"

    Dharzug asked as he started ying with stones, throwing them in the distance.

    "Yvraine and Juulius, I believe that you know how to inscribe Spell Holding Ward?"

    Samiel asked, seeing both of them nod in agreement; he could proceed to the next stage of the n. Spell Holding Ward was a very basic Ward that was typically used when someone was preparing traps; like the name suggested, it was a Ward whose sole purpose was to hold spells that were inserted into the Ward.

    Subsequently, when the time was right, the spells would be released from the Spell Holding Ward. Of course, Yvraine and Juulius new only some basics of the Warding Magic, enough to follow exactly what Samiel was doing because if they were to do it alone without a "tutorial" then they wouldn''t be able to create anything.

    Samiel quickly created one Spell Holding Ward capable of holding Intermediate Magic Spells while Yvriane and Juulius observed carefully. After the third Spell Holding Ward was inscribed, they started doing their wons; of course, theirs were capable of holding only Basic Magic Spells.

    Even though they were only capable of holding the Basic Magic Spells, it was still enough because if they could cover significant parts of the Teleryan Pass with that kind of Spell Holding Wards, it would have enough firepower to st apart a lot of demons.

    This took a good two hours to finish because creating one Spell Holding Ward after another, especially the ones capable of holding the Intermediate Magic Spells, was not an easy feat and required a lot of effort and precision. If not for Samiel''s Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, which was doing the majority of the job for him, he would have long ago copsed from exhaustion.

    Of course, Juulius and Yvraine, who were doing Spell Holding Wards which were capable of holding only Basic Magic Spells, were a bit better on it, but not that much. There was a great difference between the Spell Holding Ward capable of holding Basic Magic Spell and Intermediate Magic Spell, as the one for the Intermediate Magic Spell required a lot ofplexity andplicated runic matrixpared to the one for the Basic Magic Spell.

    So, due to that, Yvraine and Juulius were capable of creating several of them with the moderate effort invested in the creation of a single Spell Holding Ward. Slowly but surely, three of them were covering the entire Teleryan Pass with the Spell Holding Wards, as it took them several hours to cover the most suitable ces and part of the Teleryan Pass with the Spell Holding Wards.

    ''Hooman, hooman.''

    Suddenly as Samiel finished the creation of thest Spell Holding Ward, he heard the voice of his familiar Nefertari, whom he sent to scout of the area to see if the demon army was not approaching the Teleryan Pass... that fact that she returned meant only a single thing, and that the demons were not that far from their position.

    ''Yes?''

    Samiel asked, preparing for the worst eventuality; in truth, he feared that the number of the demons would be way higher or there would be much stronger than the initial estimations or reports. Everything could happen and even despite the most meticulous preparations, nobody could always prepare for everything.

    ''Demons are numbering somewhere between 43,000 to 45,000 and are two hours away from the Teleryan Pass. The number of Bronze-Tier Professionals within their army is 654, but they have only 20 Silver-Tier Professionals.''

    When he heard that, he knew that this was way better than he initially thought because the number of Bronze-Tier Professionals was way lower than he expected. So, that was a good thing and the number of the Silver-Tier ones was also lower than he thought.

    Dharzug alone could take at least five or six of them, Juulius could take several together with his familiar Tytos. Yvraine too, was pretty strong and could take some Silver-Tier Demons, as well as himself, so they were not that threat.

    For now, the most important thing was to finish the preparation of all traps when the Demon Army entered the Teleryan Pass so they could inflict them with high damage as possible. Then, he would march down with the Undead Scourge and finish what had remained from the Demon Army; of course, it would be for the best if they managed to take as many of the Bronze-Tier ones and possibly even some Silver-Tier Demon Professionals out of the equation during the ambush.

    "The demon army is around two hours away from the Teleryan Pass... I need to start injecting spells into the Spell Holding Wards."

    Samiel stated what he was told by his familiar who was scouting the area. For the spells he would be stored in the Spell Holding Wards; naturally, Samiel chose the Void Magic Spells because they were the most destructive from his spell repertoire and would do the most damage out of all.

    Of course, he didn''t choose only the spells which were destructive in nature, like Void Bombs or Void Strike, but several of the Spell Holding Wards were also stored with Maddening Whispers Spell, Crushing Curse Spell and a whole bunch of curses of the Necromancy Arts.

 Chapter 172 Festival Of Demon Stupidity (1)

    Teleryan Pass, Human Continent, borders of the Western and Northern Area.

    Samiel was waiting in the ambush with the rest of the Khaos Chapter Mercenary Party. While waiting for the demons to walk into their death, everyone was doing their own things; as the ns were discussed, everyone knew what their roles were in the ambush, so the only thing which remained was to wait.

    Dharzug looked bored as hell because there was nothing to kill, so the only thing which he could do to pass the time was to sharpen the waraxe, having it nice and sharp for the iing ughter.

    When it came to orks, they didn''t have many hobbies aside from various fighting games, drinking and eating... one could say that they were pretty one-dimensional creatures without much depth... but that was the reason why Samiel liked them. They were easy to understand and easy to deal with.

    Juulius observed everything like a hawk, carrying out his duty as the personal knight of his liege and as the Codex of the Holy Temr Order dictated him to do. There was no time for letting his guard down and one needed to be in constant vignce in case an enemy came.

    Yvraine was talking with Samiel as they were enjoying some cuddling time together because this was one of the rare asions of peace, not to mention this ce had a nice environment that would be soon tainted by the smell of blood and rotting corpses so it was prudent to enjoy it in its most pure state.

    And their felines of, Nefertari and Tytos, were hunting for food mainly to pass the time, but they were also hungry, or rather they were always hungry. Even Nefertari never had a moment when she would reject the food, not talking about the White Tiger Tytos, who had an enormously gluttonous appetite.

    Two felines hunted down deer-type magical beasts on which they were right now feasting on. It was clear that both felines were greatly enjoying their feast because they hunted down one of the rare Bronze-Tier Magical Beasts, so for them, it was good food.

    "How long till they arrive here?"

    Yvraine asked as she was leaning over Samiel''s chest and Samiel was holding her close to him. She was enjoying the time with the man she loved because such times of tranquility were rtively rare, even though they were before battle, which made it even weirder, but at the same time, it was veryforting.

    "Soon... I could hear them approaching at a fast pace."

    Samiel stated because, with his superior Eldritch senses, he could sense the demon armying to the Teleryan Pass. It was not that hard because he could sense their mana from kilometers away right now and even their approximate number. They didn''t even bother to at least hide...

    ''You are leading an attack or ambush on somebody and you are essentially telling him beforehand that you are going attack... how more stupid you can be''. Samiel thought about the iing demon army, which he could sense from the kilometers-long distance.

    "It would be a glorious fight and would be another failure for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe."

    He then said with venom because he really hated the demons. They were crude, barbaric, stupid and spread chaos and destruction without a purpose. Contrary to the Hall of Kadath, which was also doing the same thing, they had at least a purpose, but the demonkin didn''t; they were doing it just for the sake of spreading destruction.

    Not to mention during one prayer he carried out, he got the vision from his God that Demons would be one of his greatest enemies that he would encounter during his Journey. Out of ''Them'', there was one who was the greatest enemy of Azathoth''s Court.

    ''He'' would do everything in his power to destroy everything that was under the rule of the Outer Gods, as they were the biggest enemies. Because of that, Samiel despised the demonkins; he hated them with passion and would stop at nothing to destroy their race, as that was his Divine Mission from his God.

    The Holy Quest would start to go and break the demon species beyond reparation, to the point that they would remain broken for several Epochs. This was something on which the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath Menuhyutt Faulhaber wholeheartedly agreed because the Demons were an "unfactionate" faction that needed to be broken up and kept that way.

    They were too dangerous to be left alone and letting them unify into one singr body would be the gravest mistake one could make because that would create a threat on the same level, if not a bit weaker level as Insect Swarms or Mind Flyers.

    Golden-Horned Demon Tribe wished to unify them under one singr and centralized banner, but fortunately, that was foiled for now, but that only meant a single thing. That the unification won''t be a peaceful one but full of blood and iron, but it could still happen and he knew that some key yers in the demon races would go for that no matter the price.

    ***

    Not that long distance from the Teleryan Pass, one could see an army of demons marching towards the mountain pass. They were numbering in tens of thousands as they marched in disorganized formations because the such thing would be too much to expect from them.

    There were demons of various shapes and sizes, of countless species and it was clear that this was one mish-mash army that was hastily put together or the greater probability was that it was one of the not-that-important armies of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    Yet, they were armed rtively well and would do the job when they were sent somewhere.

    This army was under themand of Silver-Tier Professional demon from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. It was not the dream job, but the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was too paranoid to give themand over even one of their armies, even if it were the lowest of the lowest, to someone who wasn''t a member of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    It was a good strategy, but unfortunately, there was one big weakness of this, which was many of themanders were absolutely inexperienced spoiled brats that knew nothing about leading troops andmanding an army.

    "My Lord, we are nearing the Teleryan Pass."

    Reported the adjutant to the golden-horned humanoid man with tanned skin, who was the leader of this army. Contrary to many of his fellow Golden-Horned Demons who got the position only due to their species and loyalty towards the Tribe, he was also experienced in leading the troops and even fought in some minor wars.

    By no means he was not a decorated general who survived a hundred battles, but he was no newbie who knew nothing ofmanding an army. Having a basic understand of themanding, military strategy and battle tactics was pretty much enough for themander of the demon army to have.

    "Have the scouts reported something?"

    The Golden-Hornned Demon Man asked as he ordered for several scouts to be sent and see if the Teleryan Pass was safe to be crossed. He knew that this ce was best for ambush and if the reports of the Undead Scourge be right about the Necromancer who was controlling the Undead Scourge that was rampaging through this area were true; then there was a slight possibility that the Necromancer would notice the iing demon army and prepare an ambush for them.

    "No... the path is clear and there is nothing in the surroundings off the Teleryan Pass."

    Reported the adjutant to themander of the army. The grave mistake, yet the unseen, was of not sending any Magicians with the scouts because even the stupidest and most corrupted Warlock would be able to notice countless Spell Holding Wards that were all around the Teleryan Pass.

    Naturally, ordinary scouts that were untrained in the mysteries of Magic and depths of the Arcane would never spot them because theycked the affinity for it; thus the entire demon army was unknowingly walking into a trap that would take the lives of countless of them.

    ***

    Meanwhile, on the other end of the Teleryan Pass, Samiel was observing everything with glee in his eyes because he knew that the moment when the scouts arrived, the n was already a sess. The fact that themander of the army didn''t send any Magicians with them wasn''t exactly that surprising, but it still showed themander''sck of experience.

    On another note, just the fact that themander bothered to send somebody to check out the area around the Teleryan Pass and the Teleryan Pass itself showed that this was not some privileged nobling and absolutely and utterly inexperienced person in charge of the demon army.

    "Fortunately, they didn''t send anyone proficient in magic with the scouts or this trap wouldn''t have worked... we have the honor with someone who is either pretty naive or not experienced enough when dealing with necromancers. To think they are hunting for necromancers and are not even care enough to check for traps..."

    Samiel muttered as he observed how the demon army numbering more than 40,000 demons was getting closer and closer to the Teleryan Pass. It didn''t take a long time as the troops of the demon army started entering the Teleryan Pass, one by one, hundred after hundred, thousand by thousand.

    Samiel knew that the Spell Holding Wards would activate and release the spell they were holding only when the demon army was approximately in the middle of the Teleryan Pass because, from that point, they would have a harder time returning back or rushing to the exit. Of course, to force them to the exit where the Undead Scourge was waiting for them, Samiel prepared a few fail safes in case themander ordered them to retreat.

    And as the demon army was approaching the targetted destination, they soon arrived at the middle parts of the Teleryan Pass where it all started, when Samiel and thepany heard and saw several tremendous explosions happen in the Teleryan Pass.

    With each passed second, more and more of these explosions were happening and even some parts of the Teleryan Pass started falling down onto the demon army, burying them alive under the rocks and stones that fell from the mountains.

    This also effectively cut the exit for the demon army, so right now their sole possibility was to leave through the other end, which led to the Western Area, where the Undead Scourge would be already waiting for them.

    "Start."

    Samiel then gave themand to Negash and Ashimer to summon their Undead as he did the same thing and all three of them started positioning them into the ''U'' formation around the entrance to the Teleryan Pass, where they would meet the demon soldiers if they manage to get out from the Teleryyan Pass alive.

 Chapter 173 Festival Of Demon Stupidity (2)

    Several minutes earlier, the Teleryan Pass.

    When the demon army entered the Teleryan Pass, they didn''t see anything suspicious at first and only when they were in the middle of the road, suddenly themander of the army from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe started looking around when he noticed something was wrong and when he realized it... it was toote.

    "We fell..."

    He didn''t get to finish his words because he was thrown away from the lion-type magical beast he was riding.

    Only then he realized that this ce was full of Spell Holding Wards; there were tens of them and all of them were activated at the same time. A whole bunch of explosions happened at the same time, as several of the Magic Spells, which themander of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe didn''t recognize, were released from the Spell Holding Wards as the explosions killed hundreds upon hundreds of demons.

    Simr scenes were happening all around the entire area of the Teleryan Pass as several trends of Spell Holding Wards were releasing Void Bombs and Void Strikes which were absolutely decimating the forces of the demon army. With each explosion, the lives of several tens, if not hundreds of demonkins were forfeit.

    Not only that, but soon enough, only several secondster after the explosions had ended, another wave of the spells started raining down onto the survivors of the demon army, as thousands upon thousands of demon soldiers wereying on the ground and even more were wounded in various degrees.

    Some were less injured and some were injured pretty severely. And as they were just recovering from what had happened, suddenly they were hit by a wave of curses of the Necromancy Arts and several more of the Void Magic, as countless demons started going mad and like rabid dogs attacking everything in their sight.

    Soon enough, chaos spread through the entire battlefield because everyone was fighting everyone. Most of the surviving demon soldiers managed to get away from the effects of the vicious curses that were released on them from the Spell-Holding Wards, but it was not enough, as they still hit a lot of demons who were attacking theirrades.

    "Order to retreat back!"

    Shouted themander of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe after he woke up, but unfortunately, when he turned back, he noticed that the way where they came from, was blocked by several huge boulders that fell down from the mountains. This was probably the worst possible scenario because he knew that the only path was that forward... and that was the ce where a trap was probably waiting for them once more, so he wasn''t that thrilled to walk into his possible death, but there was nothing else he could do about that.

    Sighing deeply, seeing there was nothing else to do, themander from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe gave the order to advance towards the exit because they couldn''t return to where they came from.

    Unfortunately, there was no possibility of such a thing; thus they marched towards another exit from the Teleryan Pass while leaving behind several thousands of the demonkin soldiers who fell to the madness from the curses and everything that was thrown at them from the Spell Holding Wards, which once again greatly lowered the number of the demon army.

    Right now, themander of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe estimated that from the initial 44,000 Demonkin soldiers, only around 25,000 were remaining, which was... certainly troubling because it was almost  50% that were either killed in the Teleryan Pass from the magic traps or were left behind because they went mad from the curses and everything else.

    And even from the ones that survived the magic traps in the Teleryan Pass, there were many who were grievously wounded, while some had only some minor injuries or so, but all of that mattered was the fact that it greatly lowered thebat prowess of the entire army as a whole.

    As he was closing to the exit from the Teleryan Pass, like he expected, it was blocked by hundreds of Bronze-Tier Undead. Not only that but all of the Bronze-Tier Undead were d in the best armors of the dwarven quality and had simr weapons as well. It was clear that this was not some ragtag Undead Scourge but an elite Undead Army that was cultivated by a very rich and powerful Necromancer, the kind one could see within the Graveyard of Bones or other powerful factions that dabbled into Necromancy.

    Aside from the Bronze-Tier Undead, who were blocking the narrow path, which was the exit from the Teleryan Pass, there were thousands of Steel-Tier Undead and Iron-Tier Undead behind them. All of them were neatly organized in formation as if they were controlled by some invisible force and their formation was very well done, or rather professionally done.

    "This is not an ordinary Necromancer or Lich..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Golden-Horned Demonmander muttered silently as he issued several orders, as their only chance was to break through the barricade of the Undead, but that one was rtively low because many of their top fighters were killed during the ambush or some were inflicted with the curses of madness. Not talking about the fact that the Necromancy Curses were inflicted on all of them, so theirbat prowess would be lower than usual.

    It was clear that the person who was behind this had nned to oue to detail and would not leave anything to the ident. Even he realized that this was a ce where he would probably die because he saw two Higher Undead among the blocking Undead formation. One of them was even some variation of Death Knight, which was already pretty problematic as it was.

    Even though this was not a situation from which one could retreat, the only thing that remained was to fight to the death and honor the race and Tribe.

    Instantly as the army of the demonkin were nearing the "U" shape formation created by the Bronze-Tier Undead, suddenly tens of spells of various Tiers started raining onto the iing demon soldiers.

    Since Yvraine was casting many of the spells, it was obvious that they were elemental in nature, and all of them were powerful because a majority of these spells were either 3rd Level Spells or 4th Level Spells, while some of them were reaching even the 5th Level Spells.

    Yvraine was a powerful Arcanist in her own right, though she went more in the path of a Battle-Mage, because despite all of the studies and everything, she didn''t really understand the depths of the Arcane and deep mysteries of Magic, neither she was intrigued in that aspect as she focused only on thebat aspect of her Magic.

    In a simr fashion, Samiel was doing the same thing, as he was casting Spells from the Winter Magic as he was using the Metamagic Technique Spell Fusion as he was fusing some spells to increase their potency and attacking power.

    "Cover!"

    Shouted the Golden-Horned Demonmander of the demon army, but unfortunately, only a slight part of the demon army had the capability to defense. During the chaos in the Teleryan Pass, arge number of soldiers sadly lost their equipment, mainly shields which were thrown away for better mobility.

    Hundreds of icicles fell on the demon soldiers; of course, only those who were injured had bigger problems defending or dodging the hundreds of icicles that Samiel conjured through the Winter Ruler. Many of the Demons were already inured from the traps in the Teleryan Pass and whose effects were showing right now in full force.

    Hundreds of demons who were rtively unlucky were instantaneously killed by the icicles, which once again greatly lowered the numbers of the demonkins. The icicles conjured through the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler were extremely sturdy and powerful; they pierced through the bodies of the demons like a hot knife through butter, not any resistance from the side of demonkin soldiers would stop the iing waves of icicles.

    Simultaneously to this, Yvraine was shooting several elemental spells, this time opting to go for the Lightning Elemental Spells and Water Elemental Spells, as these elements went well together with the Ice-attributed Spells of the Winter Magic, which was freezing everything that it touched.

    Normally she would be using Fire Elemental Magic Spells, but that would not be wise, considering that Samiel was using Winter Magic, which was basically Ice and Frost. So, she opted for a different take on the situation, and this time, she showed another part of the might of Elementia Magicae.

    Yet, it took only several minutes for the demonkin soldiers to reach the formation of the Bronze-Tier Undead who were holding their ground. And when the confrontation began, a brutal ughter was taking ce on the battlefield, as the Bronze-Tier, Undead that were d in dwarven armor and armed with dwarven-made swords, made short work of demon soldiers.

    Tens of demons were killed with each passing minute and after several minutes as the fight progressed, suddenly remaining Silver-Tier Professionals of the demon species made their appearance as they attacked the "U" formation of the Undead Scourge, only at thest moment, Dharzug and Juulius made their appearance as the confronted the remaining 9 Silver-Tier Professionals of the demon army.

    It was way less than they expected because there were initially 20 Silver-Tier Professionals reported by Nefertari to be in the arm, but as it appeared, the traps in the Teleryan Pass took down more of them than anybody could expect.

    Right now, even Juulius was radiating powerparable toter stages of the Silver-Tier, at least around Level 65, because he was using the Blessings o the Outer Gods to boost up hisbat prowess temporarily. Even then, if two of them joined forces, it was still two against nine, but to bnce the numbers, even more, Samiel personally joined the fright while leaving themanding of Undead to Ashimer.

 Chapter 174 Festival Of Demon Stupidity (3)

    Samiel conjured one Ice Trident through the Level 3 Ultimate Abitiy Winter Ruler; instantly seconds after, he used the Spell Fusion Metamagic Technique and infused the 5th Level Spell of the Void Magic onto the tip of Ice Trident and with his full force; he threw it at one of the Sivler-Tier Professionals of the Demon Army.

    Just a secondter, the Ice Trident with the Void Bomb Spell on it hit the target, as one of the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Demon Army, a member of the Green Winged Demon Tribe, was sted into countless parts.

    "Now the numbers seem much better."

    Samiel stated as he arrived at the ce where Dharzug and Juulius were surrounded by eight Silver-Tier Professionals of the Demon Army, while the demonkin were looking wary of the neer because all of them could sense, while the man was only Bronze-Tier in terms of raw power, he was far above them.

    Simr to Dharzug, who in his strongest state couldpete against even weaker, newly advanced Gold-Tier Professionals. Still, the Silver-Tier Demon Professionals were by no means pushover, especially the leading one, who appeared like a huge demonic bear standing on two legs. Even Samiel had to admit that this one was very strong even whenpared to other Silver-Tier Professionals.

    After one was down, the fight started when Dharzug attacked the leading Silver-Tier Professional who looked like a bear and with a single punch, he sent the demon flying several tens of meters away, crashing into other demon troops.

    Secondster, he attacked another of the Silver-Tier demon Professionals with his waraxe "da big choppa" forcing the huge demon to raise his arms in defense as the aftershock spread through the battlefield, sending several of the weaker demons that were near flying.

    While Dharzug was entertaining some of the Silver-Tier demon Professionals, Juulius took two of the Demons, who were d like assassins or rogues in identical outfits; even from the way they moved, it was clear that they were twins or had perfect coordination with each other, which made the fight one level harder.

    And Samiel took head on the remaining three Silver-Tier demon Professionals; one of them was Imp while the remaining two were Incubi, basically a male version of Subus. So neither of them were ofbat-oriented species. Incubi, like Subi, were proficient in Illusion Magic and they were not much of fighters, while Imps were more like cannon fodder than anything.

    Samiel looked at three of his opponents, while he could see that the Imp wanted to escape from him because Imps at heart were cowards, they were not fighters or warriors, and they typically followed a very simple strategy: bully the weak, fear the strong and run from powerful.

    Simple as that, and now when he saw that Samiel was powerful, he wanted to escape, unfortunately before the Imp could decide on anything, Samiel appeared in front of the Silver-Tier Imp, shing at the demon with Ice Trident and using the Winter Ruler as he started freezing the Imp''s body.

    The Ice Trident pierced through the stomach of the Silver-Tier Imp and immediately started freezing the Imp''s inside, effectively killing the creature within several seconds because the Winter Ruler froze the Imp''s organs extremely fast without any problems.

    Not wasting any second, Samiel turned around, seeing that another of the Silver-Tier demons, more precisely the Incubus who was closest to him, started shooting some kind of spells after him; only secondster, he realized that they were trying to charm him through their racial Magic.

    Unfortunately for the Incubi, there would be no result from them because their weak Charm Magic or whatever it was, would never be able to affect someone as strong-willed as Samiel. Not to mention that the Charm Magic of Incubi had one big downside, as it aimed at one''s urges, something which Samiel was able to control perfectly.

    People like Samiel who were essentially immune to their Charm Magic were their worst enemy because the strongest side of the Incubi and Subi instantly became their death.

    As a form of gratitude, Samiel almost instantaneously conjured one 5th Level Void Bomb Spell and sent the Incubus flying away while he rushed at the remaining one Incubus, who decided to meet Samiel in singlebat.

    This was an incredibly foolish motion because just from the way how the Silver-Tier Incubus moved, Samiel knew that he was way more experienced when it came tobat. In the end, as it was known, Incubi were not fighters or warriors and many of them, if not a heavy majority, didn''t really have a talent for the aspects of war.

    Samiel effortlessly dodged the iing sword sh by Incubus''s sword; gripping his Ice Triden, he jumped above the Silver-Tier Incubus, and with one precise sh, he severed Incubus''s sword hand as the demon roared in pain while blood spurted all around them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Instantly afterward the moment Samielnded down on the ground, he stabbed through the Silver-Tier Incubus''s heart without any hesitation, killing the demon on the spot. Among the racial Hierarchy of the Demonkin, in truth, sexual demons like Subi and Incubi were pretty low in that pyramid because they were not really that powerful and their racial abilities were oriented mainly on the aspect of illusions and charm, which wasn''t effective against everyone and could be easily defended against if someone knew how.

    Samiel was even aware of some cases when there were Professionals who were born with innate immunity towards Charm Magic or Illusion Magic. Certainly, such cases were rare but not as rare as one would think, especially when it came to the Charm Magic, where it wasn''t that hard for powerful factions that had tentacles spread all around the Cosmos to find a few of such people every few thousand years.

    When Samiel turned to look in the direction where he sent flying the remaining Silver-Tier Subus, he found out that the demon was nowhere to be found. It was clear as sky that the demon preferred to escape and that was what he did... Samiel didn''t think too much of it because in the end, most of the demons were cowards at heart; approximately 80% of them would escape when faced fight they couldn''t fight.

    Soon enough, Samiel decided that he would be having some fun ughtering the weaker demons because Dharzug was clearly enjoying his fight with the three Silver-Tier Demons, based on the fact that they were still alive, albeit gravely injured and struggled to survive against the huge Ork who was doing short work out of them with his waraxe.

    Even his personal knight Juulius was having a good time with the twin-like demons, as they could really get past his defenses, but neither could he kill them in one hit because of their almost perfect coordination in defense and offense at the same time.

    All the time the fights were going on, Samiel was always collecting the souls from the entire area of the Teleryan Pass because for him it wasn''t a hard thing to do. After dealing with the Silver-Tier Demons, he turned his sight on the weaker demons who were fighting against the Bronze-Tier Undead while beingmanded by Ashimer and supported by Negash who was casting one boosting spell on them after another.

    Samiel smoothly captured the souls of the killed demon soldiers and the count was increasing by hundreds every minute. Naturally, there were also losses on the side of the Undead Scourge, especially in the forces of Negash, because a certain part of the demon army managed to break through the formation of Bronze-Tier Undead and get past them, numbering several thousand demons altogether.

    This caused significant losses on the Undead, as several tens of Samiel''s Bronze-Tier Undead which he controlled directly, were destroyed before they could seal the formation once again, and at the same time, Negash lost approximately 60% of his Undead in that fight, but he quickly resurrected killed demons as new Undead so no problem.

    Of course, only Samiel''s Undead were a problem because they were bitterly hardly cultivated and created by him one by one, as he wanted to have the best of the best, so losing even a single one of them was cut into his budget.

    He then raised his Ice Trident as he conjured several 5th Level Spells of the Winter Magic called sh of ciers, as enormous icy boulders appeared in the air above the demon soldiers and instantly fell on the demon soldiers who attempted to get away from the falling icy boulder but it was no to vail, as all of them who were in the vicinity of the fall were killed instantly.

    Samiel then felt an influx of souls he collected as the soul count he was collecting increased by several hundred in one moment, which was certainly good for him. Not only that but the moment the icy boulders fell onto the ground and exploded, hundreds of ice shrapnels and pieces shot across the battlefield, killing everything in sight; some of the Undead were too destroyed by high-speed ice pieces.

    Soon enough, the number of demon soldiers started dropping drastically with each passing minute and with each spell that fell onto the fighting demon soldiers, as Samiel and Yvraine were still casting one spell after another.

    Yvraine was drinking some Mana Potions asionally to sustain the requirement for Mana, while Samiel, thanks to his tremendous Mana Reserves, was rtively okey, and even then, his Mana Regeneration Speed was extremely fast, so he didn''t really need to fear of Mana Exhaustion or anything.

    Meanwhile, the fight was going on; nobody noticed that themander of this army who was Golden-Horned Demon, silently disappeared amidst all the chaos that was on the battlefield. Themander was smart enough to notice that this was a lost cause and he used the time when all people who weremanding the Undead were not paying attention and he slipped away, escaping back to the Teleryan Pass, from which he would wander through the mountains before returned back to the camp of the Demon Army.

    Samiel noticed this thing toote, but there was nothing he could do about it. It will still take a long time for themander to return back barefoot because his mount was killed during the trap explosions in the Teleryan Pass and it would take even longer before the Demons decide to send another army.

    But, before that, the Undead Scourge would long ago cease to exist because Samiel nned to leave this ce and head towards the capital of the Human Brotherhood because the demons were already sieging the city as it seemed, though the city was still resisting very well, but that wouldn''tst forever as their supplies were running thin as days go by.

 Chapter 175 Gains Expected And Unexpected

    And when the sword pierced through the skull of thest demon soldier that was crawling on the ground in an attempt to get away, it signified the end of the battle. His Undead utterly destroyed the demon army that was fighting against his Undead Scourge.

    This was a great victory and a great feeling that Samiel had from the victory over the Demon Army. While indeed, he used a great deal of subterfuge to achieve victory and not just pure military might, for Samiel, nothing was forbidden as long as it led to victory.

    In contrast, in the Teleryan Pass, most of the demons that were fighting against each other in their maddened state killed each other, and if not, then in their weakened state, the curses that were inflicted upon them were enough to finish the job.

    Most of the curses that Samiel used on them could even kill the cursed person if he was in a very weakened state, like with the demons that were right now either severely injured from fighting each other but somehow managed to survive or were inflicted with the whole bunch of curses at the same time.

    Samiel finished collecting the souls from the area of the battle and Teleryan Pass, having reached the staggering number of one million and something souls that he collected during the time that the Undead Scourge was active, which was a very high number considering the fact that he was still only a Bronze-Tier Professional.

    Of course, from the initial 400 or something Bronze-Tier Undead, approximately one hundred were killed during the battle. This was a great loss o Samiel''s part, but considering the bigger image of the fight, it was an excellent result because only approximately one-fourth of his elite troops were destroyed and Samiel could always rebuild them with enough Mana Crystals and some Souls.

    From Negash''s Undead, they were of no concern because they were at full force, as Negash was resurrecting the Undead that got destroyed during the fight between the demon army and the Undead Scourge.

    Because Negash''s Undead were just average Undead and were weak at that, they were no loss even if all of them got destroyed in a fight because they were not that valuable in the first ce. They were just standard Undead, maybe a bit more stronger than other Undead used by different Liches, so they weren''t special and preciouspared to the ones that Samiel had.

    Naturally, during the battle, Negash kept resurrecting the Undead one by one in hundreds, so the final result was the same; his present Undead Army was even stronger than before because he obtained better base material for the Undead in the form of corpses of the demon soldiers.

    Of course, then there were corpses of the Silver-Tier and Bronze-Tier Demon Professionals, which Samiel had stored within his dimensional ring because those would be used to create his Undead; because they were strong when they were alive, they would make for a splendid base material for the Undead.

    Dharzug has killed the three Silver-Tier Demon Professionals whom he has been ying with and clearly looked very satisfied with the battle because there wasn''t his typical grumpy expression present... though in regard to orks, it was challenging to tell their facial expression just by looking at them because they always looked like they were angry or something.

    With the souls he obtained and many of them were from rtively powerful Professionals, Samiel needed to decide on what to do with them. Certainly, he would eat some of them, mainly the ones who were originating from the Silver-Tier and Bronze-Tier Professionals, because the stronger the soul, the better taste and it would also quench the hunger better, not talking about the fact it could increase his Level if he was lucky.

    He already prepared one-half of the obtained souls to be sacrificed to the Outer Gods, more specifically to the Azathoth''s Court, in some sort of ceremonial sacrifice, while the remaining souls would be used to increase the Levels of Ashimer and Negash. For the Undead, Leveling Up was a rtively precarious situation because, as they are not technically alive, they can''t follow the same procedure as anyone who was alive.

    This led the Undead to depend on external factors to increase their Levels and of course, one of the most dependable methods was through Soul Fires of other Undead or through absorbing Souls of other beings. Naturally, the Undead couldn''t absorb the full potential of the Soul of a living being, something which Samiel could technically achieve due to his racial heritage and Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour at theter stages, but the Undead could absorb only the Soul Energy.

    Because the Soul Energy or its more official name, the Soul Force, was only part of the Soul, the benefits that the Undead obtained from the Souls they absorbed were rtively small. Due to that fact, they needed to absorb a lot of them if they wished to continuously Level Up and get stronger; of course, the more Soul Force they got, the better for them because Soul Force was also a fundamental requirement for the Evolution to a higher form of Undead Lifeforms.

    Without it, they will remain stagnant until something or someone destroys them. Such was the cruel fate of the Undead, who didn''t have the luck to absorb a lot of Soul Force and elevate into something greater or to Level Up and be powerful Undead on their own.

    "Start looting..."

    Samiel stated as this was his favorite part after the battle... which was, of course, to loot the corpses of the killed and defeated so he could obtain some treasures and money from them. They won''t be needing it anymore because...well, they are dead.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Unfortunately for Samiel, these demons were poor as fuck; nobody had anything of notable importance or even something that could be considered valuable; neither the most powerful members of the demon army, which were the Silver-Tier demon Professionals, had something on their bodies.

    So with this, Samiel was rtively disappointed because the only things he recovered were armor, weapons and some equipment from the corpses of killed demons that could be reforged into new equipment and then sold through the IMC when he reallyunched it, as while formally established a rtively long time ago, it stillcked the people to operate at the full force.

    After it was found out that the corpses didn''t hold anything valuable, Samiel decided that it was time to go to the capital of the Human Brotherhood to join the fray as the conclusion of this entire mess on the 8th Floor of the Tower was finally near.

    Perhaps he would be able to find something good in the capital of Humans. His aim was to get into the city and loot their vaults and obtain as many resources if possible... naturally, it was also very highly possible that there won''t be anything to loot because if someone from the Avalon Kingdom had enough brains, they would send some of their people to take it back.

    In the first ce, they created the Human Brotherhood, so it wouldn''t be that surprising if they decided to just take everything back in the first ce. A faction like Avalon Kingdom won''t be that stupid and Samiel knew that it was just a pipe dream to steal the hidden stashes of resources that the leaders of the Human Brotherhood amassed.

    So for sure, there were some hidden agents who would have the sole mission of stealing the dimensional equipment or whatever ce where they were hiding all the loot. About this, Samiel was sure of it because if not, he would be certainly questioning the capabilities and leadership of one of the 13 Gates that ruled the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    "Did you find anything useful from the corpses of demons?"

    Yvraine asked him when she noticed that he finished counting the things that were salvaged from the corpses of the demon army and seeing that his expression was not that good and his mood was rtively gloomy, she knew that the loot was not up to his standards.

    "Those poor bastards barely had anything worth more than a few tens of thousand Credits... while good, but considering the size of their army, the quality of their equipment is shit."

    Samiel cursed because he got some scraps that could be hardly called valuable, probably the demons were once against saving money on the equipment for the lower-tier Professionals...monly seen thing in the bigger factions or those who didn''t care about their members.

    "And what would you expect from them... demons are famous across the Cosmos for being cheap stakes with their subordinates and especially with the lower-tiered ones. They are typically armed with either metal scraps or some cheap mass-produced equipment in the forges of the third order..."

    Yvrainemented from the side, as she teased Samiel about this, though he wasn''t actually that angry in the first ce, more like disappointed than angry.

    "I know, I know... but, can''t I at least hope?"

    He asked rhetorically, not awaiting any answer as the battlefield was slowly entirely cleaned, all corpses that would be used for the Necromancy were already stored in the Dimensional Equipment, something that Samiel was greatly thankful for because only after he entered the Tower''s 3rd Floor and higher, he realized that how lucky he was that he never had to worry about the transportation of things.

    Even in this army of tens of thousands, he only got a few pieces of Spatial Equipment because they were so rare formon people. Not that to big factions, for example, Bishop Antigonus who had a high affinity for Space and Dimensional Attributes, could produce countless of them in one day without putting serious effort into it.

    "You can, but for the future not at least try it with something far more useful than these ones."

    She said with a smirk as he grumbled that she was partially right.

 Chapter 176 Blessed By Outer Court

    Several dayster, the Central Area of the Human Continent.

    After Samiel and thepany left the Teleryan Pass, they went straight to the Captial of the Human Brotherhood, which was located exactly in the middle of the Central Area, meaning they had a very long journey ahead of them, despite the fact that they spent several days crossing from one area to another one.

    Fortunately, there wasn''t a reason to hurry because the siege of the capital would probably take several weeks at best and technically speaking, the most realistic oue would be several months worth of time that demons would need to breach the walls of their capital.

    During the journey to the capital city of the Human Brotherhood, Samiel contemted a lot about the usage of the souls he managed to collect while he was asionally rebuilding his Undead, with him personally creating every single one, as he got the final notifications from the Akashic Records, just as he finished creating thest Bronze-Tier Undead.

    [Proficiency with the Skill Undead Creation has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Undead Creation has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Undead Creation has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Skill Undead Creation has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Necromancy Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Necromancy Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Necromancy Arts has been increased by 1%.]

    His proficiency with the Skill Undead Creation rose from the previous 46% to the present 50%, meaning that he could create a new Undead more easily because attaining the 50% was halfway to achieving mastery over the Skill and from then, he could try to evolve it into a higher form of the Undead Creation.

    Meanwhile, his proficiency with the Necromancy Arts was right now at 37%, which was rtively good for now because any increment in the Necromancy Arts was bing harder and harder. Samiel knew that in regard to Magic, typically, proficiency above 60% or so was only attainable by Legendaries because only those could study the Magic of that level.

    "That should be done."

    Samiel muttered while he stored away thest Bronze-Tier he crafted from the corpse of the killed demon soldier at the Teleryan Pass. He was pleased with the oue of the process because he obtained some fine Undead that were a bit stronger than the previous ones because these were crafted from the Bronze-Tier Demons, so that was some kind of advancement forward.

    "Are you finally done ying with corpses?"

    Yvraine, who was observing the whole process, teased him about this, as he snorted at her because he knew that she didn''t understand the wonders of the arts of necromancy. For Samiel, personally crafting Undead was also something rxing activity, during which he could always rest a bit and rx his mind.

    "Not that you understand the true beauty of the Necromcany... not talking about the fact that my Undead won us the fight against the Demon Army... not to mention the number of Souls they brought me."

    Samiel vehemently defended his Undead. They were his little darlings that killed people for him, as he patted the imaginary Undead before him, while Yvriane giggled lightly about his antics before she stood up and gave him a small peck on his lips.

    "That was a sneak attack..."

    He muttered as he returned her kiss, while they soon started going into their own world, where Samiel and Yvraine would ignore everyone and everything around them as they had eyes only for each other.

    "Yar stop that maggots wer ned to move!"

    Suddenly both of them were woken up from their own world by screaming huge ork, who was getting annoyed with the sight before him, as they were hindering their journey to a great waaaggghhh. In the ork kulture, the courtships between female and male orks were extremely simple, as the rest of their society.

    The only thing which mattered in the search for a mate was personal power, where male or female would fight against the opponent which they wished to take for a mate. The loser would submit to a winner and the winner would be the dominant side within the rtionship.

    If there were multiple male orks who wanted to take the same female for apanion, then at first, the male orks would fight among themselves and the strongest of them, who remained the sole winner of the fight, would challenge the female to singlebat.

    So, yeah, everything was solved throughbat for the Orks; there were no things like romance orplicated courtship procedures. There were only two steps, fight and fuck... as simple as that could get.

    Not to mention, for orks it also made a lot of sense because they wished for their progeny to be stronger than the previous generation; because of that, the primary criterion for a mate was the personal power of the individual.

    "What can stupid greenskins as you know about the finesse of being at least something close to the term ''civilized'' person?"

    Yvraine huffed in annoyance as she proceeded to walk away. The Central Area of the Human Continent was covered in lush green grasnds; it was like a paradise on earth, there were some small forests consisting of huge trees, and then after them, there were other grasnds.

    Through all of this, a series of rivers were spreading like veins in the body and delivering water to every corner of the Central Area. These rivers were enormous and even higher-tiered Professionals could drown in them if they are not careful during their crossing as their waters were deep and currents strong.

    Of course, asionally, one would see some vige or town, but right now, most of the human settlements were long ago destroyed by the demon invaders who came and destroyed everything in sight while enving the local poption and preparing to sell the captured humans to vers for some good money.

    Due to this, their journey to the capital city of the Human Brotherhood was a very smooth one, as they asionally stopped for some rest before continuing once more in their arduously long journey through the entire Central Area of the Human Continent.

    During thest stop, they made at some kind of ruined watchtower that was slowly falling apart but was still in some sort of state to be used as lodging for a single night; Samiel decided to carry out the prayer to the Outer Gods, as well as sacrificing approximately one-half of the souls he collected during the time he had unleashed the Undead Scourge.

    "The Great Dreamer, the Primordial Demiurge,

    He who represents the Origin of the All Things,

    He who gives the Creation the meaning of All Things,

    He who brings the Dream to every living being,

    The Crawling Chaos, the ck Pharaon,

    He who represents the Chaos of the All Things,

    He who gives Destruction and Despair to the All Things,<novelnext></novelnext>

    And reverts everything to the most primordial form,

    The Nameless Mist, the Milk of the Void,

    He who rules the endless Void,

    In its infinite coldness and circles of incorporeality,

    Descent the Void into the Material nes once for all,

    The Unnamed Darkness, the Unknown,

    Who rules the Darkness in the Cosmos,

    Bringing the unspeakable horrors,

    And of the Unknown Kadath he sacrifices them for the Quest.

    In the name of Great Outer Gods, of unspeakable names,

    In the infinite glory of the Dream,

    In the infinite circle of the Chaos,

    In the infinite wave of the Darkness,

    In the infinite embrace of the Void,

    I sacrifice thus thee souls."

    When Samiel finished the sacrificial prayer to the four great Outer Gods, suddenly he felt a cold creeping presence epassing his very own souls, as approximately half a million souls were taken from him and sacrificed to the Outer Gods.

    [Samiel Zentaur has received the Blessings of the Outer Gods.]

    [Samiel Zentaur has received Blessing of the Outer God ?#!*#?!, the Crawling Chaos.]

    [Samiel Zentaur has received Blessing of the Outer God ?#!*#?!, the Great Dreamer.]

    [Samiel Zentaur has received Blessing of the Outer God ?#!*#?!, Nameless Mist.]

    [Samiel Zentaur has received Blessing of the Outer God ?#!*#?!, Unnamed Darkness.]

    [Proficiency with the Mana Control Method: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1% due to the Blessings of the Outer Gods.]

    [Proficiency with the Mana Control Method: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1% due to the Blessings of the Outer Gods.]

    [Proficiency with the Mana Control Method: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1% due to the Blessings of the Outer Gods.]

    [Proficiency with the Mana Control Method: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1% due to the Blessings of the Outer Gods.]

    [Mana Quality of Void is being strengthened due to the received Blessings of the Outer Gods.]

    [Mana Quality of Frost is being strengthened due to the received Blessings of the Outer Gods.]

    [Mana Quality of Ice is being strengthened due to the received Blessings of the Outer Gods.]

    [Mana Quality of Outer Holiness is being strengthened due to the received Blessings of the Outer Gods.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has obtained a new Title.]

    [Title Blessed by Azathoth has been evolved to Title: Blessed by Outer Court.]

    Samiel received several more notifications from the Akashic Records, especially the ones about the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been extremely delightful because he has been stuck at the 18% for a long time already and now it has reached 22% in one go.

    Naturally, he knew that this was only because of one thing... this was the first sacrificial prayer and offering he did sinceing to the Tower. When he was still on Earth, he carried a few of the sacrificial prayers. Still, he only sacrificed a few hundred souls at best because he couldn''t kill more people as a sacrifice... that would alert the authorities. Unfortunately, in the past, he wasn''t that strong to ignore Earth''s technology like nothing. Right now, he was confident to take even Tactical Nuclear Weapon with ease and get out unscathed.

    The next ones won''t be as generous as this one, where he would receive so strong Blessings from the Outer Court. This was like the starting bonus when someone started ying a New Game Plus or a simr thing.

    Naturally, the Outer Court of the Outer Gods that were loyal to Azathoth were looking at Samiel with great interest and fondness. Outer Gods were far from something that was unified as countless sub-factions existed within their species as they dwelled either in the Void when they managed to escape from the Azathoth''s dream or were released into the reality by Azathoth himself for if Samiel had to guess no reason at all...

    Still obtaining the Title Blessed by the Outer Court was rather a big thing, because this meant that Samiel obtained indirect blessings from all the core members of the Outer Court of the Primordial Demiurge, though at the same time, this would make him a target of the various hostile Outer Gods, primordial monstrosities that were existing from the time of Azathoth''s birth and other things that will hunt him down because it was one thing to be rted to Azathoth and one thing to be blessed by the entire Outer Court.

    Technically speaking, if Samiel was only rted to Azathoth in some way, he would be still considered neutral, but with this? He was part of some political division among the Outer Gods.

    Yet Samiel was pretty much satisfied with the gains because he obtained great power from the Blessing of the Outer Court. Aside from this, all of his Mana Qualities were considerably strengthened when he received the Blessings of the Outer Gods, especially the one for the Void and Outer Holiness, both of them were at least two times stronger than before.

    This would prove very useful in the long run because the more powerful the Mana Qualities were, the easier he could use Magic that was attributed to them; not only that, but the Magic would be able to be many times easier to use.

 Chapter 177 Capital Of The Human Brotherhood: Selangrad

    Several tens kilometers away from the Capital City of the Human Brotherhood Sngrad, Central Areal of the Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    From the far distance, Samiel could see the fabled capital of the Human Brotherhood on the 8th Floor of the Tower and at first nce, he could tell that this was something that was built by one of the 13 Gates of the Tower.

    Even from a distance of several tens of kilometers, Sngrad looked magnificent as it reminded Samiel of the imagination about the fantasy cities when he was still an average person on Earth, unaware of the supernatural or anything.

    Sngrad had enormously tall ck walls, probably weighing more than 50 meters, while being at least 10 meters wide at a minimum. Across the entirety of the ck Walls, there were countless guard towers built on them.

    The material from which the walls were made was an interesting thing because several things came into Samiel''s mind when he looked at the ck walls until he was woken up from his thought process by Yvraine.

    "The ck Walls are typically special concrete made from abination of Obsidian Power, Molten Rock, Volcano Ash, Magically Enhanced Water and various types of very dense stones."

    Yvraine said as the ck Walls made from the Volcanic Concrete were rtivelymon across the Tower and in many High Worlds and Principal Worlds, though some may be found in the Middle World if it was under the control of some powerful faction that decided to invest a lot of resources into the World with the intention of holding it indefinitely.

    Volcanic Concrete was one of the strongest and most durably types of concrete and was made from resources primarily obtained from active volcanoes; the permanent resources that were the same with every type of concrete were naturally Obsidian Powder, Volcanic Ashes and Obsidian Powder which could be sometimes reced with real crystalized obsidian when someone wanted to have stronger Volcanic Concrete.

    On the other side, the ck Walls were basically the Walls made from Volcanic Concrete and etched together through some magic runes and spells, together creating really sturdy and strong walls, which would require a Legendary Level Professional to break it in a short time. Even the lowest grade of the ck Walls could resist the power of some weaker Legendary Level Professionals.

    "It looks like the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe has brought some nifty siege equipment together with them... they are indeed hoping to break through the Walls sooner than the Star-Moon Coalition could arrive... really a short-sighted idiot."

    Everyone who heard Juulius''smentary about the situation could agree with him. Even from a distance, the siege of the Capital of the Human Brotherhood Sngrad could be seen, as hundreds of Artillery Batteries were shooting salvo after salvo at the ck Walls, while other types of siege equipment were focusing on the various gates that were leading to the city.

    "The only thing that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe could do to save their face and not be shamed by the spectacr failure of something that could be as easy as a walk through the pink garden is if they take the Sngrad and obtain the resources that the Avalon Kingdom left there, naturally, killing the Leaders of the Human Brotherhood."

    Samielmented because he could see the situation from the angle of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. Initially, the entire "theatre y" on the 8th Floor should handle easily without any effort by the Demon Army. Unfortunately, due to a rather badbination of luck, greed and arrogance of the 7th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe Kisrith, it ended badly for the Demons, and what originally should be an easy and just means of easily obtaining merit has been turned into a debacle of century.

    Depending on the end of the siege of the Sngrad, it may or may not be a debacle of millennia for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. Samiel really wondered how the siege would end because if the Golden-Horned Demons failed to capture the city with few casualties, kill the higher-ups of the Human Brotherhood and obtain at least half or so of the resources from the Vaults of the Human Brotherhood, then it would be automatically considered as failure.

    "My Lord, to which gate should we be going?"

    Juulius asked about the precise location where they should be going because Sngrad had several gates that led to the city, with each of them under heavy attacks from the Demons and was bombarded by the siege equipment.

    Naturally, right now, no soldiers were attacking the city because that would be outright suicidal and apparently, even though the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe wasn''t the sharpest sword in sheath, even he wasn''t that idiotic tounch a full-scale invasion of the Sngrad.

    The only choice that the Demon Army currently had was to starve the defenders of the city while also slowly breaking through the defenses one by one, damaging the city and doing other various activities which would weaken the defenses and defenders of the Sngrad to the point, in which the full-scale invasion became possible.

    "To the White-Blue Gate... that one is strongest and most defended from all gates, meaning it should have most members of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. It could be an opportunity to kill some of those bastards when they are not looking at their backs."

    Samiel grinned viciously as he thought over the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe... maybe he would be lucky toe across severely injured Gold-Tier Professionals from the said Tribe and then he would need to finish him... or during thebat, rightly used Spell could change the oue of almost every battle.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Out of all gates that were leading to the Sngrad, the White-Blue Gate was the so-called "primary gate" and thus, it was best defended as it could, there were most soldiers stationed at the White-Blue Gate, aside from several more defensive measures and even a few Gold-Tier Professionals.

    That was also because it was the biggest Gate that was leading to the city; if that one was breached, then the entire outeryer of the Sngrad was practically speaking lost, and one would need to retreat fully to the inneryer of the city to defend against the invaders.

    Juulius nodded hearing this, knowing that his liege wished to kill some of the prominent members of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe in secrecy, while Yvraine and Dharzug didn''t really care where they were going; on the contrary, the orkish warrior looked delighted that their "leader" chose the White-Blue Gate because they were going to ce where biggest fights would be taking ce.

    The closer they were nearing to the Sngrad, they were encountering more and more demon soldiers on their journey. Not only them but there were also a lot of high-end mercenaries, including those of The Guild, whom the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe hired because there were rtively lot of high-tiered Professionals.

    For several hours they walked through the deserts of the outskirts of Sngrad. The previous lush green grasnds around the Sngrad were turned into desert, scorched by ammunition of the magetek weaponry or spells that were released by Magic Users on both sides,pletely devastating the previously beautiful enviroment.

    It would take decades at best to turn this ce into its previous state. Soon enough, they arrived at the siege lines of the demon army under the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. They were in front of the White-Blue Gate, the main gate leading to the Sngrad.

    All of them could see there thousands upon thousands of demon soldiers running here and there, with hundreds of Magicians, mostmonly Sorcerers and Warlocks, who were either maintaining some types of Wards or were casting some spells directed at the defenders of the Sngrad.

    All around the city, one could see tens of Artillery Batteries that were firing at gates or bombarding the city, while there were also some more primitive weaponry, mainly trebuchets and so, which were throwing explosives on the city and at the barrier, which was protecting the city.

    Naturally, from the side of the Sngrad, countless spells were being thrown at the attack together with their own Artillery Batteries were shooting at the position of invaders. Naturally, the firepower of the Sngrad was nothingpared to that of the demon army under the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, so their targets were carefully chosen, as they were shooting mainly at the siege equipment of the demon army or simr targets or the unprotected ones, which were the most suitable targets.

    It was understandable that the Human Brotherhood won''t have the same technological capabilities as the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, which was one of the richest demon tribes and species in the existence of the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    Due to their wealth, they were able to buy all of their equipment directly from the Solheim, which was extremely pricy because the tech that was directly from the Solheim was even more expensive than the one which was sold by the Scientia Hierarchy.

    Naturally, the weapons from the Solheim were a bit more sophisticated and packed more punchpared to those of the Scientia Hierarchy. Also, the biggest difference between the two of them, from what Samiel knew, was that each of the Artillery Batteries or any kind of Magetek Weapon that was built by the Solheim came with in-built Genie A.I., so it was ideal for the demons who often didn''t even know how to read and write.

    For the demons, this was ideal because normally, when someone was using something like Mana Batteries or other types of Artillery, they would need some people who would be using the weapon, meaning loading ammo, aiming, firing and so on... naturally no educated demons won''t be doing anything like that, because it was far beneath them. Themon demons were more stupid and unsuitable for such tasks.

    "They have brought with them shitton of equipment these days... it seems that the coffers of the Goldne-Horned Demon Tribe are running deeper than we initially predicted."

    Yvrainemented on this because, contrary to Samiel, she spent her whole life in the Tower and was better acquainted with the situation here. She knew that even Nesser Dynasty had paid a considerable amount of money for simr kinds of equipment from both Solheim Civilization and Scientia Hierarchy, as those things were extremely, but extremely costly.

    Single Mana Battery that had the firepower of a 6th-Tier Spell would cost about hundreds of thousands of Credits, depending on the modifications that were installed into the weapon itself. That was not counting the operating costs, like ammunition or other things, which would too be very costly.

    "Golden-Horned Demon Tribe has been thriving for the past several hundreds of thousands of years. Especially in the area of very, they have been one of the great procurers of ves, only after Orks and Mind Flyers, not to mention they have conquered thousands of Worlds all around the Cosmos and plundered their resources while essentially destroying the majority of those worlds.

    So in the cube, they are very, very rich, probably richer than some of the 13 Gates because of all that lucrative business they are engaging in, so a few tens of billions of Credits for military equipment is hardly an investment for them."

    Juulius stated as Samiel had to agree with his summarization of the situation. The only reason why the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was not included among the 13 Gates was the fact that they were fighting too many people at the same time, and this, technically speaking, greatly lowered their capability to act as one, not to mention this would aggravate the other Demon Tribes, who would not take it as something good and it would probably lead to another kind of armed conflict.

 Chapter 178 Breaching The Selangrad

    Because all of the Demon Tribes were warring with each other in some way, even when their Council functioned at 100%, neither single of them had the capacity to fight one of the Gates because they needed to leave a considerable part of their own forces, to watch for other Demon Tribe or Species that would try to profit on their situations and attack them while they were off.

    "Indeed, though if the rumors are to be believed, then the Star-Moon Coalition has been doing what it could to usurp part of the market on their side. Especially, they have been investing a lot of effort into a ve business, probably aiming to cut the ie of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe considerably, so their wealthy status may shrink in the near future."

    Samiel knew that if the ie of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe got lessened by the amount the Star-Moon Coalition wished, which was approximately one-half or so, and on top of that, the Star-Moon Coalition had the capability to achieve that feat, then in a century or two, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe would be in serious trouble.

    Unsurprisingly, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe too much money each year on various things, though one of the most considerable items on the budget were the wages for the various branches of their extremely extensive military and upkeep of their outposts across the Cosmos and other things which were literally essential to the functioning of their tribe.

    Now, as simple-minded as the demons really were, not many of them bothered about a simple thing called diversification and thus, approximately 80% of their ie stems from the ve trade so... if someone were to cut that one into half, it would be absolutely severe hit to their finances, that would slowly reveal itself as a hidden crippling blow.

    This was not a problem only for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe but also for many others because they were not the most creative people around and they often stuck to something that worked for them and never bothered to try new things. Many demon tribes were depending on very as their source of ie; because it was indeed very profitable, also there was not just very, but also for example selling body parts and so on from the killed people on the battlefield.

    "Juulius, go and find some suitable ce where we can build tents..."

    Samiel ordered as his personal knight bowed his head slightly as he went to carry out the orders from his Lord. Meanwhile, Samiel and co were preparing for a rtively long time of doing nothing and just waiting for the breach of the defenses.

    Not like he would want to participate in breaching the defenses or anything because, for him, that would be a total waste of time, and he would rather spend it otherwise. Letting the demons do the work was the best course of action.

    ***

    On one of morning, Samiel was woken up by artillery shooting at the defenses of Sngrad City. Every single morning he was woken up by artillery firing at the Sngrad. It was like this every single morning, and in truth, it was bing more and more annoying.

    Tytos and Nefertari also weren''t really thrilled by this and, right now, were pretty grumpy, to the point of eating a few demons that were trying to annoy two felines. Ironically though, nobody from the demon army cared about the fact that his and Juulius''s familiar ate demon soldiers.

    In fact, during those few days he spent here, he saw several tens of demon soldiers being killed in brawls or some sort of conflict. Juulius hated being in this enviroment because for him; they were an embodiment of everything he hated so far. They were undisciplined, doing what they wanted and fighting among themselves and even killing each other in some cases.

    Even Samiel developed an even stronger distaste for staying here because even though they were an army, there was no semnce of acting as one coherent unit or even acting as all. They were just fighting, screaming, eating and drinking, making a mess or asionally attempting to attack the gates without any proper reason.

    "Those dammed barbarians should all perish and be left rotten somewhere in the desert."

    Juulius cursed as he exited his tent and the first thing he saw was several demons fighting against each other over some insignificant things. It was like this for every morning, lunch, afternoon, evening and sometimes even night.

    Samiel looked at his personal knight because Juulius, who spent his entire as a member of the Holy Temr Order, where discipline was always top-notch and even slight insubordination towards the superiormanding officer, was punished with extreme prejudice.

    "Unscrupulous things."

    And if there was one person who hated it here more than him and Juulius, it was Yvraine, who finally first hand experienced dealing with Demons and they were even worse than Orks. Really, there wasn''t even a single hour passing without Yvraine cursing at the demons; she also killed three of those, which were too annoying for her tastes.

    "Yeh, yeh... this is already the tenth time during this hour."

    Samiel parroted at her because she was bing increasingly annoying like the demons. At least Juulius was holding himself when he was looking at the demons because his Temr Codex told him to keep his opinions to himself only and continue his duty of serving his lord.

    And fortunately for Yvraine, she was not restrained to something like this, and thus she was able to curse at the demons however she wished. Fortunately, Samiel learned how to ignore things like this, even though it was a pain in the ass.

    Rather he continued reading one of the Magic Tomes on the Intermediate Warding and continued learning new types of Wards as they were waiting for something to change in the siege of the Sngrad.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The ck Walls that surrounded the Sngrad stood strong, without any damage or anything. Naturally, this wouldn''t reallyst forever because, during the past few days, Samiel noticed one thing... demons were getting restless, very restless, as they were bing more and more nervous, especially themanding ones.

    This could mean only one thing, that the Star-Moon Coalition was nearing the Central Area of the Human Continent after they were done with the Southern Area and the Western Area was no problem because it was empty and without any significant military presence, while the Northern Area long ago fell to the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their pawns.

    To obtain the city before the armies of the Star-Moon Coalition could reach the Sngrad, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe needed to take the capital as soon as possible. So, right now, it was understandable why the demons here were nervous.

    Suddenly, as he was reading one of the Warding Magic Tomes, he suddenly heard shouts and screams from the outside, meaning that something significant had happened because of the volume of sound was way higher than some fight or anything like that.

    "Something had happened."

    Samiel muttered as he exited the magically enchanted tent as he saw thousands of demons were now all looking at the White-Blue Gate and at the same time, they were looking at the thing that they were brought here...

    When he looked at another ce where most of the demons were looking, he saw there an enormous cannon. Literarily speaking, it was Mana Artillery Cannon capable of unleashing firepowerparable to some very weak Legendary, but it was Legendary, nevertheless.

    "Fuck..."

    Samiel muttered as he suddenly saw Yvriane and Juuliusing up to him; all of them saw there hundreds of demons dragging that enormous Mana Artillery Cannon and positioning in front of the White-Blue Gate directly at it.

    "They have brought out the big guns right now."

    Hemented as he looked at the Mana Artillery Cannon, which was now in a state of loading and preparing to shoot. Suddenly several hundreds of magical particles started gathering in front of the Mana Artillery Cannon and the mana density in the entire area of the Mana Artillery Cannon started decreasing drastically.

    In a split of a second, suddenly a blue beam of energy shot out from the Mana Artillery Cannon and directly hit the White-Blue Gate of the Sngrad, as it was blocked by the magical barrier that was enveloping the entirety of the city.

    While the magical shield withstood everything, it started shaking and shaking a lot at that. Instantly after that, all siege weapons and everything that the demons brought here started firing at the magical barrier and at the same time, all Sorcerers or Warlocks were casting their spells.

    During the time when the huge Mana Artillery Cannon cannon was reloading, hundreds of shells, shots and spells fell onto the magical barrier that was protecting the Sngrad; while the enormous Mana Artillery Cannon was finished reloading and once again, it fired another shot of Legendary Level might that hit the magical barrier with a full force, as countless cracks started showing on the barrier.

    "Dammit... that barrier is stronger than expected... this is already approaching the standard of cities where Legendaries are living."

    Yvrainemented from the side as she watched the show when the Mana Artillery Cannon shot the second shot at the protective Magical Barrier around the Sngrad.

    "Indeed... who would have thought that the Avalon Kingdom would invest so much into the creation of the Sngrad, but it won''t be able to withstand the third shot; even right now, it is already on itsst legs. After the barrier is done, the White-Blue Gate would be destroyed in one or two shots."

    Samiel stated when he analyzed the situation because soon, the White-Blue Gate would be breached as this came like lighting out of the clear sky. Nobody could have ever predicted that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe would send a magetek weapon with the firepower on the Legendary Level.

    Sending this level of technology on the 8th Floor seemed to be really a bit of extravagance, but considering the strategy of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was employing this time. Though considering the state of the defenses of the Sngrad, it would take them weeks at best to get into the city in the normal way, so the only thing that remained were some unconventional methods to breach the defenses very fast.

    Soon enough the Mana Artillery Cannon once again was reloaded and shot its final shot which shattered the magical barrier like a projectile shattering a ss window, as thousands of shards of barrier dispersed into the air, as the barrier that was protecting the entire capital of the Human Brotherhood was done.

    Immediately, a ferocious bombardment of the city started by the forces of the demon army, who started throwing everything they had onto the city because this time, their "packages" would reach the city. Not even two minutester, one could observe countless explosions happening in the city, as the trebuchets were throwing there explosives, cannons, mortars and other types of artillery were sending there salvo after salvo, together with Sorcerers and Warlocks sending their spells.

    Naturally, the defenders of the city had some means to protect themselves, but unfortunately, contrary to a city-enveloping magical barrier, these methods couldn''t protect everything and there were a lot of blind spots where the damage could be done as this was being explored by the demons at 100%.

 Chapter 179 Star And Moon Threat

    During this time, tens of thousands of demons were already preparing the marching onto the city, as they started gathering in something that could be some sort of formation if it wasn''t that disorganized. However, it was still pretty good for a demon standard.

    Demons were very thrilled at the thought of battle as they were brandishing their weapons and preparing for brutalbat. Already hundreds, if not thousands of them, were ready tobat and kill their sworn enemies, the humans, clearly not really thinking that rushing to the defenses right now would surely result in their death.

    "Wait a bit... let the idiots get killed themselves. We will be entering with the first wave; the vanguard would probably be killed to thest person because humans are prepared."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine and Juulius agreed with him, while Dharzug grumbled but epted it in the end because he could see the logic behind his words. Joining the vanguard in a situation like this would be like a death sentence because while the vanguard would be attacking first and was consisting of the most powerful demon soldiers, it would also be met with the fiercest resistance from the side of humans.

    Samiel even predicted that the losses of the vanguard would be around 98% or more. Going there was not the best idea around, so Samiel wanted to join the first wave of the invaders because they would be going with much higher numbers to the city, not to mention the defenders would be weakened by a significant degree from dealing with the vanguard of the demon army.

    Meanwhile, on the other part of the battlefield, the Mana Artillery Cannon shot at the White-Blue Gate, which shook as the walls started cracking bit by bit. While the ck Walls were durable and could defend against some Legendary Level might, unfortunately, the Mana Artillery Cannon packed the punch of a proper Legendary Level Professional.

    Themander of the invading army was actually someone experienced enough who was deployed here directly from the headquarters of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe to ensure that the rest of the conquest was carried out without any fails because after the debacle with the 5th Prince of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe the situation was already bad.

    "Prepare the soldiers and order the vanguard to march at the city when the White-Blue Gate is breached."

    Themander issued orders as he observed the Mana Artillery Cannon being reloaded and preparing to shoot once more at the designed target. It didn''t take long for the demons topletely mobilize as soon as the orders were given out because the demons wanted some fight already.

    It didn''t take long for the Mana Artillery Cannon to shoot once again as it hit the White-Blue Gate of the Sngrad''s ck Walls, shattering the entire gate into countless pieces as the defenses were breached.

    "Attack!"

    Themander from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe shouted the moment he saw the While-Blue Gate being destroyed into several pieces as the forces of demon armies started advancing, rushing towards the side in their greed for good fight and blood while the humans were doing everything they could to protect the ce where the gate stood.

    "Support the vanguard force and prepare the invasion force; send in fifty thousand as the first wave and two hundred thousand as the second wave. Also, send a word to other positions to increase their salvos and to start dropping everything they have at the Sngrad to prevent them from moving the majority of their forces towards the White-Blue Gate."

    Themander gave out a few orders before he turned his sight back to the siege of Sngrad; as the forces of the demon army started advancing towards the White-Blue Gate as thousands of heavy-armored knights started making a defensive formation over the destroyed gate.

    Immediately after he gave themand for the army to advance, thousands upon thousands of demons hungrily lunged forward as they started running towards the Whiule-Blue Gate or at least, towards its remains. Most of the demons were armed only with simple weapons and were wearing rtively light armor, while they mostly depended on their racial capabilities to defend.

    Due to this, not many demons were wearing things like armor, and only those who could be considered as Nobles and Aristocrats would be wearing one, while themon demons were always fighting with whatever they had in their hands. Another reason for that was the fact that the armors and weapons of a certain quality were pricy and the majority ofmon demons were poor as fuck.

    "Commander, humans areunching the counter-offensive at our position!"

    Shouted one of the demon officers, who brought him the news as themander from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe grimaced because while the magical barrier was down, it meant that the demons were able freely to attack the Sngrad with whatever they wished, the same rules applied to the Human Brotherhood, which now too started throwing everything they had at the demon army.

    "Activate the provisionary Mage Towers and Wards in Area 1 to Area 10. Order all Magic Users to support the Wards and Barrier, and if there are weak spots that are ironically just over the siege equipment, tell them to cast the barrier themselves and maintain it as long as possible."

    The officer saluted and immediately ran away to pass the orders from themander of the army, as everyone watched the iing salvo from the magetech artillery and some mortars of the Sngrad, which now started returning the fire at the demon positions.

    Series of explosions happened all over the battlefield, as the shells and shots fired by the human defenders hit their predestined targets, killings hundreds if not thousands of demons and even some of the siege equipment was destroyed in the process.

    Fortunately for the demon side, the moment when humansunched the second salvo at the defenses that the demons prepared to cover their forces wereunched as several Mage Towers activated and created a crystal barrier around all fortifications in the vicinity of the Sngrad''s artillery.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ---

    Southern Area of the Human Continent, some distance from the Central Area of the Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

    Where the eye could see thousands upon thousands of demons were walking in orderly formations, all bearing the g of the Moon with several Stars around it, indicating their affiliation to the Star-Moon Coalition, which became one of the major yers after the fallout with the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    "How are we on it with time?"

    Questioned one of the demons who was riding an enormous feline-type magical beast that appeared to be some kind of warg or something. He was wearing full-ted armor, from some rare type of steel, based on the fact that it had some shades of blue. He had pitch-ck hair tied in a ponytail with streaks of red amidst them.

    "We must hurry as much as possible or the golden ones will be first and take control of the Sngrad and fortify themselves there."

    Reported another demon who was wearing simr armor, but his one was pale white in color and he was a bit more handsome with his long white hair and green eyes.

    "It was very unfortunate that they sent Karios away... idiot would have ruined the situation even more and made our mission practically served to us on a silver tter... instead, we have to deal with General Qais."

    Comined the first demon who was riding the warg-like magical beast, as they were advancing together with their army, consisting of the soldiers of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe together with their allies and vassals that were operating on the 8th Floor of the Tower.

    "Karios and Kisrith were both idiots. One was overlyzy and didn''t bother with anything aside from issuing a few orders and letting everyone do his job, while another was an ipetent fool who ruined everything he touched. I don''t even understand what was going in the head of whoever proposed to send Karios down here."

    Both of them were aware that among the current generation of children of the current Patriarch of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, most of them were ipetent and were just disappointments. Maybe that was the reason why the Patriarch didn''t even bat an eye when the 7th Prince Kisrith was killed on the 8th Floor by some assassins from the Human Brotherhood.

    "You are right, Thadon but there are still some who could cause some serious trouble if they dide here."

    Thadon was the ck-haired demon, a Crown Prince of the Moon Demon Tribe and the only son of the Patriarch of the Moon Demon Tribe. He was born only a few decades ago and he already assumed the role of the Crown Prince after he took the title from his elder sister, whom he defeated in singlebat and took as his wife.

    "Nobody else would being here, Zormot. Golden ones are busy dealing with the aftermath which that idiot Karios created with his actions. It seems that the full-out war with the golden ones is inevitable... but it should happen on our terms and conditions and if we take them out at the Sngrad... it would basically cripple many of their vassals. While the loss on the collective demon race would be rtively high, it is still a low pricepared to the gains we could obtain from this ordeal."

    Stated the Crown Prince of the Moon Demon Tribe, Thadon as they continued advancing further towards the Central Area of the Human Continent. During the past months, the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition have been secretly fighting a shadow war with the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their faction.

    The tensions were already pretty high and it was possible that soon enough, it would escte into a full-blown conflict and war between two demon factions; thus the Patriarchs of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe decided to take the initiative from the hands of the Golden-Gorned Demon Tribe.

    "That is under the premise that we manage to reach Sngrad in time before they took the entire city. If we arete by even a few hours and they have cooped up in the city, then the only chance is to withdraw and do nothing, as it would be risky."

    Replied Zormot, who was one of the princes of the Star Demon Tribe, though he was more interested in pursuing the path of Magic than the seat of the Patriarch, as he didn''t really care about the politics of the tribe or anything aside from studying spells and uncovering the secrets of the Arcane.

    "We will be... the Golden-Horned Tribe has brought to the 8th Floor forces from countless Lower Worlds, destroying them would be leaving those worlds to death and we can just walk there and obtain their allegiance with a few words and at the same time, use that to discredit the Golden-Horned Tribe for their ipetence at protecting Lower Worlds where demons are in peril."

    Replied Crown Prince Thadon as he thought about the aftermath of the situation when they sessfully took Sngrad and annihted sieging forces of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and its vassals.

 Chapter 180 Entering The Selangrad

    "Idiots..."

    Samiel cursed, seeing the demon army advancing on the Sngrad, mainly their stupid or it was their hastiness to conquer the city as soon as possible, in case they were attacked by the Star-Moon Coalition.

    He, together with Yvraine, Juulius and Dharzug, were staying in the back of the first wave of the soldiers that were stationed directly after the vanguard forces. Participating in the vanguard was useless for them and at the same time, it would be too dangerous.

    "Let it be... the vanguard should be strong enough to break through the defenses that the Human Brotherhood mashed up and put in the ce where the White-Blue Gate once stood. Though, considering all things... this is going to be a meat grinder."

    He heard from Yvraine and there wasn''t anything he could say to refute her words because this was indeed the truth.

    While the White-Blue Gate was destroyed by that monstrosity of Mana Artillery Cannon, the Human Brotherhood deployed there a huge number of knights and set out something that looked like a very efficient defensive formation, so they would be able to defend very well from the iing attacks.

    "When we arrive at the city... We need to reach these areas as soon as possible, preferably within half an hour. It is highly possible that, as we are now speaking, the Leaders of the Human Brotherhood orderedplete clean out the moment the shield around the Sngrad started cracking and we need to move fast, ideally faster than light."

    Samiel chuckled as he attempted to end that with a joke; he didn''t know if it was a good one, but Yvriane giggled a little and that was enough because he loved when she was smiling orughing. It was entirely differentpared to the typical stoic and emotionless facade she was putting up.

    "My Lord, demons are sending out their Gold-Tier Professionals already."

    Samiel then turned at the Sngrad as he saw several Gold-Tier Professionals rushing at the city of Sngrad several secondster after the White-Blue Gate was breached, signifying that they wanted to have this done as soon as possible...

    But after they arrived at the ce where the White-Blue Gate once stood, theypletely ignored the soldiers stationed there who were shing with the demon vanguard and instead proceeded directly to the Sngrad while some of them were intercepted by the Human Brotherhood''s Gold-Tier Professionals who still remained within the Sngrad.

    But unfortunately for the forces of the Human Brotherhood, they were outnumbered when it came to the Gold-Tier Professionals because they had only so few of them, so the demon ones took some of the human ones head-on while the rest of the demon Gold-Tier Professionals proceeded deeper into the city, while asionally destroying some iing soldiers of the Human Brotherhood who were foolish enough to try and block their path.

    It was clear that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was aware of the efforts from the side of leaders of the Human Brotherhood to construct a Dimensional Gate to escape from the 8th FLoor and thus, they sent some of their own people to intercept them, which was something highly logical.

    Though on the other side of things, Samiel wasn''t overly happy with this development because it meant that he would not be able to get his hands on the riches of those men who were milking the Avalon Kingdom and Magisterium for centuries for their resources.

    s, there was nothing he could do about that fact, as he continued to advance with the other demon soldiers while the Vanguard of the demon army was violently shing with the human knights that were defending the breach in the defenses where the White-Blue Gate once stood.

    Every single minute there were several demons and humans who died from the fight because the human defenders were indeed protecting every millimeter of their territory with blood and iron, not relenting to the ferocious onught brought by the demon vanguard.

    The Vanguard forces were consisting of mainly the most aggressive demons collected across several species, such as the me Demons, Golden-Horned Demons, J?gerbars and others, who were wreaking absolute havoc on the battlefield. One could see one enormous J?gerbar who was holding a warhammer made from some ck metals, smashing apart the head of one of the defending knights as he advanced further.

    While the demon vanguard was taking some serious losses, they were inflicting even worse ones on their enemy. me Demons were burning everything around them, sometimes even their own allies in fact, but nobody would be able to deny their usefulness, as they even willingly throw themselves into the horde of humans as they self-destructed taking down with them as much as enemies as possible.

    Or the Golden-Horned Demons were fighting as hell, shing and stabbing with their ded weapons, asionally using headbutts as their golden horns that adorned their heads, priced through the armors of the human knights like a hot knife through butter, offering no resistance at all.

    Samiel watched how much ughter the demon Vanbguard was inflicting on the human fi��rst line defenders and in truth, he was surprised to see that they were very sessful at that. Mainly because the vanguard was much stronger than he initially anticipated and it was put under themand of the old J?gerbar demon, who wasmanding the soldiers of the vanguard.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Fortunately, the demons were also entertaining the soldiers atop the ck Walls of Sngrad with continuous bombardment from their magitek artilleries, scorpions, ballistaes or Sorcerers and Warlocks casting their spells on the ck Walls to prevent gunmen, archers or crossbowmen of the Human Brotherhood from actively attacking the Vanguard forces fighting down there.

    "They are doing much better than I would have thought... it appears that they havepletely reced the oldmanding structure after they sent Kairos to unofficial execution."

    Samiel remarked as the first wave of the invading soldiers was already nearing the Sngrad and would arrive within the next three minutes, as the demons who were at the foremost position within the marching formation had already begun rushing towards the remains of the White-Blue Gate to support the Vanguard forces.

    "Indeed... but it changes nothing if they cannot take the city as fast as possible."

    Juulius stated because not just twenty minutes ago, they got information from the Hall of Kadath that the Star-Moon Coalition was hastily advancing on the Sngrad with their army numbering more than 350,000 which was almost as much as the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe had stationed around the Sngrad.

    Naturally, the soldiers of the Star-Moon Coalition were fresh and rested and most importantly, under thepetentmand of the Crown Prince of the Moon Demon Tribe and one of the Princes of the Star Demon Tribe.

    After the Hall of Kadath began paying attention to the happenings on the 8th Floor of the Tower, they sent one of their Legendaries to observe the situation, and thus through the Legendary attached here; he was able stealthily to pass the information to them.

    Normally such a thing wouldn''t be possible because the Legendary Professionals that were here watching the show on the 8th Floor of the Tower were all eyeing each other, essentially ensuring that nobody would help anybody as they maintained that state.

    Unfortunately, the person from the Hall of Kadath was a member of the Inquisition so stealth was his main area of expertise; sending them one message was not that big deal actually speaking.

    "So the Star-Moon Coalition cannot hold it any longer..."

    Samiel muttered because he actually wanted to meet with the Crown Prince of the Moon Demon Tribe, as he heard that he was someone who was extremely ambitious and didn''t really follow the traditions that most of the demons have been following for countless Eras. If the rumors are to be believed, he didn''t even care about his Transcendental Primogenitor Vassago, so this would be one of a few demons that could be roped in on some things that Daemons would never sanction.

    ''But now is not the time... I am still too weak... maybe in the few years and for now I will need to just observe from the sides.''

    He then thought before turning his sight to the defensive lines of humans at the remains of the White-Blue Gate slowly copsing as more and more explosions urred through the city, while even some parts of the ck Walls at other ces around the Sngrad started crumbling, which meant that the demon army managed to create more breaches.

    This was bad for the defenders of the Human Brotherhood and in the long run, exceptionally bad for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe because the Star-Moon Coalition and its forces would have a much easier time entering the Sngrad.

    With more and more demons joining the fight, themander of the defending forces of the human brotherhood was forced to give an order to retreat, as the forces of the Human Brotherhood started retreating towards the next checkpoint. Seeing this, Samiel summoned one of the Tridents he had been keeping in his Dimensional Ring and shed apart one of the humans that desperately attempted to escape him, but to no vail as he was killed within a second.

    "Start detaching... we need to get hurry."

    Samiel ordered as he soon entered one of the back alleys, with Yvraine and Juulius soon following the suit together with two felines of Nefertari and Tytos as the overgrown White Tiger was munching on a human torso.

    Soon enough, even Dharzug arrived, even though he wanted to remain there in the ce where the biggest battles were taking ce. Still, right now, all of them decided that Samiel was the leader of the Khaos Chapter and in fact, despite the superstitions, Orks were very good at following orders.

 Chapter 181 Battle Of Selangrad (1)

    In another part of Sngrad, not that far from the Inner Layer of the Sngrad.

    Around ten Gold-Tier demon Professionals were tearing through the defenses of the Human Brotherhood, killing every foolish soldier that was idiotic enough to step in their path. Initially, there were more of them, but some of them needed to stay behind to entertain the Gold-Tier Professionals of the Human Brotherhood who were attempting to stop them from entering the inneryer of the Sngrad.

    In the same way that most of the more sophisticated cities were built with vision in mind, they did not expand mindlessly in all directions without any thought to the future.

    It was built by the architects and engineers of the Avalon Kingdom and was designed with both defenses and practicability in mind. Overall, it was very well-designed and divided into fouryers for the purposes of defense and utility.

    The first one was the Outer Layer which was now essentially breached when the demons destroyed the White-Blue Gate and entered the city. The Outer Layer was basically a ce wheremoners were living and some not-that-important ces and buildings were stationed in the Outer Layer of the city.

    After the Outer Layer, there was... unsurprisingly and not creatively, the Inner Layer which was divided from the Outer Layer by another set of ck Walls. In the Inner Layer, there were mainly those who were richer and more powerful; it was a ce where all barracks for the soldiers or City Watch were stationed, together with the warehouses and another part of the industry, where some crucial things were being produced; thus it was put under the additional protection of one more set of ck Walls.

    After the Inner Layer, the ck Walls separated it from the Core Layer, which was a ce where most of the administrative buildings of the Human Brotherhood were located, together with the homes of the most prominent members of the Human Brotherhood. Basically, the entire Core Layer was inhabited by Nobles of the Human Brotherhood and their families, together with the strongest of the soldiers and so on...

    Aside from the Core Layer, there was thest part of the Sngrad, which was protected by two sets of ck Walls that were interconnected through a series of strategically ced bridges that connected one line of ck Walls with another line of ck Walls, making breaching it far more challenging. It was the so-called Heart Area; there were only a few buildings located, mainly the Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Human Brotherhood, some Cathedrals dedicated to certain gods and most importantly, the Pce where the leadership of the Human Brotherhood and its five founders resided.

    Right now, the target of the small group of demons was to breach the gates as soon as possible, which would allow the demon soldiers that were currently flooding the city to have a much easier time. Not to mention, their primary objective was the sabotage theunch of the Dimensional Gate, which the Human Brotherhood was apparently building in the Heart of the City.

    The Commander of the demon army under the Golden-Horned Tribe realized that the possibility of the founders of the Human Brotherhood escaping was very high because if he was in their situation, he would opted for escape as well, as remaining here was the most useless thing that could be done.

    Thus they were even given some kinds of magitek explosives that had firepowerparable to the Initial Legendary Level Professional''s full power. Meaning the ck Walls that were constructed in the Sngrad didn''t have the power and durability to resist that kind of explosion.

    Since their explosives were reserved for the ck Walls that were separating the Core Layer from the Heart of the City, where double lines of the ck Walls were constructed for extra protection, they could not use them right now.

    The leading demon of the squad of Gold-Tier demon Professionals belonged to the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and was one of the new additions who was sent here by the Elders of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe to make sure any operation that the Gold-Tiers undertook was carried out sessfully.

    Due to the recklessness of the 5th Prince Kairos cost them to lose several Gold-Tiers. While the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe wouldn''t care about the loss of several Gold-Tier Professionals because their poption wasrge enough, there were still some "buts".

    At the same time, the problem with that was each Gold-Tier Professional was a potential Legendary Level expert, meaning the ones who were killed on the 8th Floor of the Tower in traps prepared by humans, probably one-third of them could have reached the Legendary Level given enough time and resources.

    As they were nearing one of the watchtowers among the ck Walls, this one being chosen specifically because it was one of the weaker points in the ck Walls that were separating the Outer Layer and Inner Layer of the Sngrad City, while one of the demons who had wings, started flying and flew high above the watchtower, as he dropped down two Gold-Tier Professionals.

    With a loud crash, both of themnded down and both of the Gold-Tier Professionals started killing all of the soldiers that were in the watchtower while heading towards the top of the watchtower. They didn''t have any sort of opposition from the local garrison of soldiers as they were mercilessly killed to thest one.

    Surprisingly or not, one of themanders who led the charge against one of the cities in the Central Area of the Human Continent managed to capture one of the high-ranking nobles of the Human Brotherhood.

    While the fact that he was a high-ranking noble was not that importantpared to his former upation of Lord Captain of Sngrad''s City Watch.

    With a bit of torture, they managed to get out all important information about the weak spots in the defenses of the city, together with the fact that among the ck Walls that were protecting the city and separating individual Layers of the city, there were hidden passages.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And one of such hidden passages was actually located at the very own watchtower, which the demons were right now assaulting with the help of one ck Winged Demon who transported atop the walls another two Gold-Tier Demon Professionals. Fortunately, they were in a part of the walls where there were minimal defenses from the side of the Human Brotherhood, which gave them more space to maneuver.

    Soon enough, the Gold-Tier demon Professionals killed every guard that was in the watchtower and by climbing to the top of the watchtower, they reached the sr, where a mechanism was activated as the hidden passage down at the watchtower revealed itself as the rest of the Gold-Tier demon Professionals entered and crossed the first of the ck Walls.

    The entire journey towards the final lines of the ck Walls, which were separating the Core Layer from the Heart of the City, took several more minutes and several thousand dead, mainly the strongest of the soldiers. In contrast, even several tens of Silver-Tier Professionals and two Gold-Tier Professionals were killed during their journey.

    ? When they arrived at the targetted destination, the leader of the squad took out the small magitek device, which in fact, was the explosives that were given to him by the Commander of the Demon Army that was attacking the Sngrad.

    He types a few things on the magitek device, activating the device before he threw it at the ck Walls.

    The magitek device fell just on one of the bridges that were connecting two lines of the ck Walls. At the same time, all of the Gold-Tier Demon Professionals started running as fast as possible from here, hiding in the city, as an enormous explosion shook the entirety of the Sngrad as everything was covered in dust and the explosion mushroom could be seen even from a distance of a few hundred kilometers.

    Even before the dust was settled, the Gold-Tier Professionals immediately rushed all out and entered the Heart of the City through the rubbles of the ck Walls that werepletely obliterated to nothing more than just a bunch of rocks, rubble and dust.

    All of them enter the Heart of the City, directly heading towards the small teau where the Dimensional Gate was being constructed. Soon enough ferocious battle for control of the Heart of the City erupted as thest Gold-Tier Professionals of the Human Brotherhood, including its founders, started fighting with the ones of the demon army.

    ***

    Some time earlier, several minutes before the explosions took the ce.

    "Where are the warehouses with the supplies and other things?"

    Yvraine proceeded to ask as Samiel motioned to the west. The warehouses were located in the Inner Layer of the Sngrad, beyond the inner gates of the city. There was not a very strong military presence in the warehouses, apparently, as they started withdrawing everything towards the positions that were more easily defendable.

    Naturally, they were ced in the Inner Layer of the Sngrad because they were too precious to ce the warehouses in the Outer Layer. Samiel was heading there together with the Yvraine, Juulius, Dharzug and two felines, while at the same time, he was contemting about the method of how they would get through the gate.

    "Still... they would probably leave there some Silver-Tier Professionals that would be acting there as guards for the people cleaning out the warehouses."

    Samiel answered her as he formted several methods of crossing the ck Walls, one of the most probable ones being using Nefertari, who would sneak into one of the smaller gates and use her Magic in which she would put some of the guards into illusion and use them to open the gate.

    Soon enough, they arrived at one of the smaller gates that led to the Inner Layer of the Sngrad as they were hiding under the Mirage that Nefertari cast on them to prevent them from being seen. That was because they were in the parts of the city where there were countless soldiers of the Human Brotherhood and unfortunately, as they were right now, Samiel couldn''t take out his Undead Army.

    If he released his Undead here, it would make him a target for the demons as well and considering the number of them that were currently wreaking havoc in the Sngrad, that would be a very bad, very bad idea to do. Thus, the only choice was to be as stealthy as possible for now and stick to traditional fighting.

    Not to mention, he was also pretty irritated that he couldn''t start collecting souls here because this battle was under the watch of tens of Legendary Level Professionals, and if he started collecting souls here en masse, then the disappearance of tens of thousands of souls would surely bring their attention here.

 Chapter 182 Battle Of Selangrad (2)

    All of those souls that would be lost here... and nothing would be caught by him; how that hurt because so many of them were being killed each second. Samiel predicted that by the end of the fight, especially after the Star-Moon Coalition forces arrive, there would be million dead in terms of coteral damage from the inhabitants of the Sngrad because the entire city would be turned into one huge ruin.

    ''Go on it girl.''

    Samiel said to Nefertari, who spread her wings and flew atop the ck Walls. Atop each gate that separated various Layers of the Sngrad, there was a small building where the mechanism to open the gate was located, together with the small living space for the guards that were guarding the said gate.

    From the observation, there were only a few Steel-Tier City Guards of the City Watch who were presiding over this gate as it was a bit farther from the other parts of the Outer Layer and one could say it was well hidden in the streets and corridors of the city.

    Though Samiel knew that the moment the Outer Layer was breached, soon enough, all of these gates would be receiving reinforcements and because of that, he was in such a hurry to get past it. Apparently, they already realized that the situation was turning bad for them and were reacting as fast as possible.

    As she glided effortlessly atop the walls and uponnding, Nefertari counted around twenty guardsmen standing guard over the gate that were observing the events as she flew effortlessly above the ck Walls and the gate unseen as shended.

    Because she was already a very powerful Bronze-Tier Elder Wampus Cat who could charm several powerful Professionals at the same time, so she immediately used her racial abilities and charmed all of the guards that were presiding over the gate and ordered them to open the gate.

    Secondster, after she ordered them to open the gate, she then gave them amand tomit suicide as all of them took out the weapons they were bearing as they stabbed through their hearts, killing themselves with a single of Nefertari''smands.

    Such was the terrifying power of illusion and hypnosis of the Elder Wampus Catsbined together. For Nefertari, any person who was weak-willed or didn''t have anything to protect his mind was basically just waiting to be killed because even powerful Professionals would have a problem resisting her illusions.

    Even Samiel marveled at this because she had just walked there and with a singlemand, within several seconds, she disposed of an entire squad of guards. Naturally, the guards there were not the most powerful around or the ones with some special abilities, but it was still a nice performance.

    After the gate opened for them, Samiel conjured there a Spell Holding Ward and inserted a Void Bomb Spell into the Spell Holding Ward, as he repeated this process several times over as he filled the entire gatehouse and even the surrounding area with the Spell Holding Wards.

    As he was right now an Intermediate Magician in the Warding Magic, it wasn''t that much of a problem for him to do such a thing in a very short span of time. While constructing more advanced Spell Holding Wards out of nowhere would be problematic for most, but as Samiel had the help of Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, it was an easy feat for him.

    He nned to let here some surprise for demons or humans or both, basically who came here as the first one. Thebined power of approximately thirteen 5th Level Spells of the Void Magic, the Void Bombs, would be enough to send to hell even several Silver-Tier Professionals with ease if they were not actively defending against them.

    When that was done, they moved forward, heading towards the warehouse area of the Sngrad until all of them saw, heard and even felt enormous explosions from the depths of the city. Those explosions were so huge and loud that even from several kilometers away, one could see and hear them.

    All of them recognized the center of the explosion as the Heart of the City, meaning the demon Gold-Tier Professionals were already there as they knew about the efforts of the human leaders to escape from the 8th Floor of the Tower.

    "It appears I have underestimated our demonpatriots'' wits."

    Samiel stated sarcastically because maybe he did a bit underestimate the demons; who would have thought that they would have reached the Heart of the City that fast, just several minutes after the White-Blue Gate was breached by their monstrosity of artillery cannon.

    "They must have nned this to thest detail and everything was executed wlessly... it seems that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe employed one of their best generals who is still in the Mortal Level."

    Everyone couldn''t otherwise just agree with the words of the Heir Apparent Crawford.

    There was no doubt in either Samiel''s or Yvraine''s mind that the demons were investing everything they could into the siege of the Sngrad and hoped to win by capturing the city in a fashion in which they would show everyone their superiority.

    This was all only a game of faces, everyone wanted to prove themselves and for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, the sole opportunity was the siege of the Sngrad, as it was the capital of the Human Brotherhood.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We should be going to the warehouses... with themotion ongoing in the Heart of the City, they would be withdrawing every possible force to that Layer to help with the subjugation of the Gold-Tier demon Professionals who managed to slip there."

    Samiel stated as others agreed with him; thus they all hurried to the warehouse area of the Inner Layer. From the looks, they were now probably in a residential area of the Inner Layer, judging by all of the houses and civilians running here and there if some were still on the streets because most of the people were already hiding in their houses and praying for the miracle to happen.

    Though no miracle woulde because Gods didn''t really bother creating miracles that much and even if they did, there are better ces and locations and even events to do such, not here on the 8th Floor of the Tower.

    "There is also the possibility that they would speed out the cleanout of the warehouses with resources because of this sneak attack."

    Remarked Juulius, as this idea indeed had some merits, depending if the people from the warehouse area that the Human Brotherhood sent there would have any means to reach the Heart of the City Layer within a very short time; if not, then it would be useless.

    Though to be prepared for every possible eventuality, Samiel would take it for granted, at least they wouldn''t be surprised if they saw the entire warehouse area swarming with the soldiers of the Human Brotherhood.

    "We will proceed under the permission that the warehouse has been reinforced heavily in attempts to transport as much of resources as possible. At least we will be prepared in case we indeed encounter resistance there."

    Samiel decided, while Juulius naturally agreed with this because vignce was above everything else; thus the entire Khaos Chapter plus its "mascots" proceeded further towards the warehouse area of the Inner Layer.

    Interestingly enough, they didn''t encounter almost any soldiers during the journey through the empty streets of the Sngrad''s Inner Layer, only some civilians that were fleeing or attempting to hide from the iing demon army, not like that would help them in any way when the demons start bombarding the Inner Layer.

    From what Samiel saw, they had some explosives prepared and he knew that it was like some magical napalm... so when they dropped that thing here, it would turn entire areas of the Sngrad into a zing inferno. They would be using it probably to smoke out all the rats that were right now hiding across the city.

    As they advanced further through the city, after five minutes, they finally encountered some guard regiment of soldiers, to which Samiel was extremely happy, no matter how weird it sounded. He was delighted because they were going through the countless streets and corridors of the city without encountering anyone to fight and it was bing a bit boring, truthfully.

    Not only he but also Dharzug grinned widely when he saw an iing regiment of hundreds of human soldiers. They were marching with great speed, as they were obviously in a hurry to assume their position and to defend the city from the invaders.

    From their clothing, though, these were not the average soldiers of the Human Brotherhood, but based on their standardized chainmail armor, they were the City Watch of the Sngrad and they were heading towards the nearest gate as reinforcements.

    Or they were going to barricade one of the main streets in hopes of slowing down the inevitable demon advance when they fully breached the Inner Gates that were leading to the Inner Layer from the Outer Layer of the city.

    All of them were of the Steel-Tier, showing how the quality of soldiers on the 8th Floor of the Tower was higher than the rest of the Lower Floors. However, there were also a few Bronze-Tier ones and two Silver-Tier Professionals in the mix, probably the heavy hitters of the group.

    Though, with the addition of the Orks rampaging on the 1st Floor and the Asura Tribe creating their ughter Trial on the 2nd Floor, the average Tier on the Lower Levels has been increased from the previous Iron-Tier to the peak Iron-Tier or Steel-Tier.

    Thus affecting also the rest of the Tower, albeit a bit indirectly.

    "Dharzug go for the Silver-Tier ones; I will be disposing of the trash. Yvraine, make sure that no one of them tries to escape once, then the fun begins, Juulius order you familiar to do help Yvriane. Nefertari you too."

    Samiel gave out swift orders as everyone knew what to do, as Yvriane disappeared and jumped on the roof of one of the nearby houses, with Nefertari flying into the sky and Tytos lurking around and observe the enemy and waiting for the right opportunity to pounce on the defenseless humans when they would start escaping.

 Chapter 183 Battle Of Selangrad (3)

    Meanwhile, Dharzug brandished his waraxe, "da big choppa" and jumped across several houses,ndfilling directly in front of the iing regiment of the Sngrad''s City Watch, with a shockwave generated from hisnding that was so strong that it caused several of the human City Guards to be thrown backward, crashing into theirpatriots or surrounding houses.

    "Waaaggghhh!"

    Huge green ork screamed as he rushed at the two Silver-Tier human Professionals, as he sensed that both of them were above Level 60, meaning that they should be able to entertain him for some time.

    In a split of a second, when everything happened, suddenly the temperature around them started dropping drastically, and out of nowhere, severe icicles shot toward the City Guards with tremendous speed.

    Only a few of the Bronze-Tier Guards were able to dodge the icicles because they were able to register them in the first ce.

    At the same time, the Steel-Tier Guards of the Sngrad''s City Watch weren''t that lucky, as tens upon tens of icicles pierced through their formation like nothing, hitting the guards in the chest, head or any other ces; their armors were broken through like they did not exist in the first ce.

    In a few first seconds of the assault, tens were killed effortlessly and the humans didn''t even see their attacker because they were sure that this was not originating from the huge green ork who was fighting their two captains and savagely waving his waraxe in an attempt to chop off their heads, while their two Silver-Tier captains were just attempting to stay alive, through abination of dodging and blocking.

    Though blocking Dharzug''s blows was not the best idea around because the physical strength of the Okr Champion was enough to cripple even peak Bronze-Tier Professional in a single blow if Dharzug attacked in full force.

    So, unless someone didn''t have a superior defense or tremendous vitality and regenerative capabilities, being able to either defend against anything or heal from everything, then dodging was the sole option that remained in the game.

    And as the majority of the City Guards of the City Watch were being ughtered by Samiel, who was using his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to conjure countless icicles and shoot them at the enemies like projectiles.

    Few of the Bronze-Tier City Guards that survived and were rtively okey and without any injuries decided that it would be the most appropriate time to escape, as some of them didn''t really wish to die here.

    And for that, there were already two predators and one Silvermoon Elf waiting in the ambush for a situation when someone would have attempted to escape from the battle. Three of the Bronze-Tier City Guards attempted to escape while theirpanions were dying all around them, to which Yvraine branched her twin jade swords while Tytos jumped from the roof as he was next to her and started hunting for the prey.

    Tytos was a White Tiger, one of the strongest and most powerful tiger-type magical beast species in existence. They were on the top of thedder for the tiger-type magical beasts, as they were also considered one of the Divine Beasts by Immortals.

    The tiger species as a whole were powerful hunters and liked to hunt and y with their prey; not only that, they also loved the thrill of battle and fights against other strong opponents. Naturally,  Tytos was no exception to this universal rule because he also loved to hunt for prey.

    And there was another universal rule, which was the more powerful the prey was, the more enjoyable the hunt itself became and the more thrilling the battle was.

    Yvraine sprinted directly after the White Tiger Tytos, who was running as fast as lighting, not literarily. Still, it wasn''t that far from the truth, as he was already in hot pursuit of the three Bronze-Tier human Professionals that were doing everything they could to escape the enemies, but that was futile and foolish motion.

    Not even one minuteter, one of the Bronze-Tier Professionals of the City Guard was hunted down by Tytos, who snapped his neck like nothing and threw the bleeding corpse to the side as he continued running after the next ones.

    Meanwhile, Tytos hunted one of the Bronze-Tier Professionals; Yvraine tracked down another one as she threw one of the jade swords at the escaping man''s back, killing him from the back as he dropped dead. Running after thest one, she quickly took the jade sword from the man''s back that was stuck there as she ran after the remaining Bronze-Tier Professional.

    Running after the remaining Bronte-Tier Professional of the Human Brotherhood, who started throwing some spells after them and screaming hysterically, seeing both of hisrades that were killed by them.

    Naturally, some of the party tricks were of no effect against Yvriane and Tytos as the White Tiger jumped across the air and with his jaws, he gripped the right leg of the Bronze-Tier Professional, as he twisted with his head and threw the Bronze-Tier Professional at Yvraine, who raised her swords and severed the man''s head.<novelnext></novelnext>

    On another part of the battlefield, Dharzug severed the head of thest Silver-Tier human Professional of the Sngrad''s City Watch. Both of them could hold their own against the champion of the Green Gods for more than three minutes, which was considered as an exceptional performance considering all circumstances of the fight.

    Meanwhile, Samiel finished killing all of the lower Tiered members of the City Watch. The entire battle didn''t take even four minutes before it was concluded, as everyone was properly killed as they should be. Not like Samiel would leave anyone alive, considering that he never showed mercy on the battlefield, as that was the great idiocy one could do.

    "Splendid... we can now proceed to the warehouse... ording to the Nefertari''s scouting, we are already close to the warehouse area."

    Samiel stated as he looked around, seeing that Yvraine arrived together with White Tiger Tytos and even Nefertarinded down on his shoulder and started licking her paws cutely. He immediately gave her a few scratches behind her ears, just like she liked it, as the entire Khaos Chapter proceeded to the warehouse area of the Inner Layer.

    As the glorious scouting cat predicted, they were indeed not far from the warehouses and arrived at the targetted destination within several more minutes as more and more explosions shook the entire Sngrad. When Samiel looked at their source, surprisingly it wasn''t the Heart of the City like thest time, but rather it was the Inner Layer of Sngrad.

    "We need to hurry... they are already bombarding the Inner Layer of Sngrad... it won''t be a long before they started flooding here in thousands."

    Samiel stated as all of them hurried to the warehouse area, passing through of street after another, soon enough arriving. What was most shocking was the fact that the entire warehouse area was totally empty, with only a few soldiers guarding it.

    This could either mean two things. The first eventuality, which was the better one, was that the Human Brotherhood ignored the warehouse area in favor of the more important ces across Sngrad. Thus, the military presence in this ce was low.

    The second eventuality, which was the worse one, was that the Human Brotherhood had already long ago cleared out everything that was supposed to be here as nothing remained. Only a few guards remained here to uphold some appearance and probably to lure as many demons here just to waste their time or to fall into the trap.

    If it was up to him, then he would make this entire ce an enormous trap hole with the single purpose of killing as many enemies as possible. And something in his instincts was telling him to get away from here as soon as possible.

    When he looked at Yvraine and Dharzug, he noticed that their expression was the same, which was not surprising. All people who are Holy Apostles or have a very strong connection to the Transcendental entities are gifted with some sort of danger prediction, which allows them to sense dangerous situations.

    Naturally, this ability sorta thing is not bulletproof, but... considering everything, he immediately looked at Yvraine and Dharzug and with a single nod, all of them started leaving.

    "Let''s leave and join the demon side."

    Samiel stated as all of them departed, heading to join the rest of the demon offensive. During the journey, however, Samiel found something very peculiar as they entered one of the back alleys where one lone watchtower was standing in the Back Walls that were separating the Core Layer and Inner Layer.

    "Is that what I think it is?"

    Yvraine questioned, still not believing that they had this amount of luck. Finding a hidden passage to the Core Layer without any effort was... shocking, to say at very least. Samiel suspected that this concrete hidden passage was found and opened by the Gold-Tiers of the demon army and they left it opened.

    "Indeed, it is one of the in-build hidden passages. Interestingly enough, the Avalonian built them in the ck Walls. Still, contrary to the ones on the higher floors of the Tower, they left out the protections and defenses around the hidden passages."

    Samiel answered her because they were indeed in luck. Through the hidden passage, they could enter the Core Layer because it seemed that the ns had changed. An entirely new n formed in Samiel''s head as he nned to sneak into the Heart of the City and steal what could be stolen from the Humans.

 Chapter 184 Battle Of Selangrad (4)

    Heart of the City, Sngrad, Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower, around the same time when Samiel entered the Core Layer of the Sngrad.

    In the Layer Heart of the City, a fierce battle between the various Gold-Tier Professionals was taking ce as the demons were tearing their way to the small teau where the Dimensional Gate stood and several humans desperately tried to activate it to no vail.

    Several of the Gold-Tier humans were holding the tide against the Gold-Tier demons while some of the remaining human Gold-Tiers were attempting to activate the Dimensional Gate. Everyone had exactly divided roles and was under great pressure because the time was tickling.

    The Dimensional Gate, which the Human Brotherhood had constructed in the Heart of the City, was constructed like crap; that was apparent just from the outer appearance of the Dimensional Gate; it was evident and most obvious that it was trash one.

    ? To construct a proper Dimensional Gate, one needed a lot of knowledge on that aspect, aside from countless rare resources for the Dimension Gate. Someone couldn''t construct something precious and that advanced luke the Dimensional Gate just with scraps of metal and some random magically conductive stones.

    From the outer appearance, it was clear that the Diimensioanl Gate was constructed under great duress and with enormous haste. Countless of its parts were just mashed up together and in some ces, there was even ack of the primary runic inscriptions that were engraved on the Dimensional Gate.

    This was a signal of that the Human Brotherhoodcked anyone apart from things like constructing Dimensional Gates and even someone who had some rudimentary knowledge of Space. Usually, Dimensional Gates require people with deep knowledge of Space and Dimensional Elements very easily.

    Knowledge of the Space Element was most important in constructing things like the Dimensional Gate because even a single mistake could lead to either destruction or something else happening with the Dimensional Gate.

    Suddenly, as several of the Gold-Tier human Professionals ended activating the Dimensional Gate, it shone in bright light as the process of activation began. For a few seconds, everything looked good as five of the human Gold-Tier Professionals were looking at the Dimensional Gate with worry and anticipation as they wanted to escape from here as soon as possible.

    Only for the Dimensional Gate to start going rampant as the energy that was being released by the Dimensional Gate was out of the charts, and only after several seconds did the founders of the Human Brotherhood notice that this was going very, very, very wrong and they were right on that.

    Out of nowhere, the Dimensional Gate exploded into countless parts as the shockwave threw all the people surrounding the Dimensional Gate away while also killing several of the weaker ones. When this happened, it seemed like the entire world had crashed down on the leaders of the Human Brotherhood.

    Seeing this chance, the Gold-Tiers of the demon army erupted with power as they started advancing towards the humans, who right now were in a state of realization that all of their efforts werepletely futile.

    The Dimensional Gate, which was set to lead into some random Lower World, was theirst option for escape, but as expected, it didn''t work; considering how it was built, it wasn''t even that kind of surprise.

    ***

    Siege lines of the demon army, Sngrad.

    "Lord General, the advance squad has breached the Heart of the City and the Dimensional Gate has been destroyed. Together with it, the explosion has destabilized space around the Heart of the City, so..."

    The adjutant, who was also a Golden-Horned Demon, reported to Lord General Qais of the invading demon army, who nodded his head in satisfaction about this.

    He suspected that the founders of the Human Brotherhood would escape together with the resources they managed to sizzle from the Avalon Kingdom and whoever was supporting them.

    It would be the only logical move in this situation because they would be aware that they would die here if they remained on the 8th Floor and chose to fight to the death.

    Thus he crafted the n in a way where he would send a group of their Gold-Tiers that would go straight for the Heart of the City and thwart their attempts to escape. Obtaining the resources that they sizzled away from the Avalonians was not that important, but they were just the cherry on top.

    "Yes... lower the usage of the Spells on the Sngrad for now and employ more of the artillery bombardment. And also, send in the rest of the army, the Outer Layer is already technically ours and the human forces are withdrawing to the Inner Layer of the city."

    The Lord General Qais ordered as the adjutant whom he was talking to ran to carry out his orders unconditionally, as the conquest of the Sngrad was going well... truth be told it was going too well, and that was not a good sign.

    Typically when something was going too well and smoothly without any problems, it would be then royally fucked up. Not that he was aware that his intuition that was giving him an uneasy feeling all this time was actually right because Star-Moon Coalition was already in the Central Area and only several hours from the Sngrad.

    "How are our losses so far?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Lord General Qais questioned, after some time of consideration, he asked how high the losses of their army had been.

    "Lesser than initially anticipated, the initial estimation were losses of at least 30% + entire vanguard, but we are currently with 15% and at least a third of the vanguard survived the initial sh."

    Answered the adjutant of the Lord Commander of the demon army, as the Lord Commander nodded in satisfaction hearing the coefficient of losses. He would have too anticipated much higher losses, but this was beyond good. Naturally, this was mainly because of the superiormand of the operation and also due to the preparations that the demon army carried out for the Human Brotherhood, as the Lord Commander expected very stiff resistance.

    Though it was absolutely unmistakable and something that didn''t escape his attention, that the morale of the defenders and all soldiers of the Human Brotherhood that were currently fighting in the Sngrad was absolute shit and many of them didn''t even have the will to fight against the iing demon horde.

    "Be vignt... for my tastes, this is too easy. I have a very bad feeling that something bad will happen... hopefully, it will be only my paranoia."

    Lord General Qais muttered as he observed how the siege equipment and artillery of the demon army bombarded the Sngrad to oblivion. Every second, countless magetech canons and mortars fired one salvo after another.

    The entirety of the Outer Layer was already in rumbles from the intense bombardment that the magetech artillery was giving them, not to mention parts of the Outer Layer were already on fire from the "magical napalm" that the trebuchets were throwing at them.

    ***

    Several tens of kilometers from the Sngrad, with the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition.

    "How far are we from the Sngrad?"

    Crown Prince of the Moon Demon Tribe, Thadon rode his magical beasts as he was on the spear tip of the demon army of the Star-Moon Coalition. The Star-Moon Coalition demon army was going non-stop for some time until they finally reached the outskirts of the Sngrad; they were right now only a short distance from the Sngrad.

    "Several hours, my lord. It appears that the forces of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe have breached the city and the attempt of the Human Brotherhood''s leaders to escape is already a failure as their mashed-up Dimensional Gate exploded into their faces. Within the next hour or so, they would have secured the entire Sngrad."

    Reported the leader of the scouting regiment that was in charge of collecting all information about the Star-Moon Coalition demon army that was now advancing directly at the Snrad. Right now, Thadon was alone here, as Zormot of the Star Demon Tribe was currently in his carriage, carrying out some divination from the stars.

    He said that right now, the Stars were in his favor, so it was the best time to carry out the divination as they would be strongest during this time and they would also be more precise. This was the reason why not many believed the divination and prophecies most of the time because they were typically so cloudy and general.

    Divinations were basically just small peaks into the future or, rather into one of the possible futures. They were unreliable and were not to be trusted blindly because none of them were actually true; there was only a small percentage of them happening.

    And then, some people had special bloodlines and due to their unique bloodlines, their divination was highly urate and most of the time, they came out as true. The Star Demon Tribe had such a bloodline and their divination capabilities were always top-notch, especially those of the direct lineage of the Star Demon Tribe.

    "Excellent; alert allmanders to bebat ready all times. Golden ones are walking straight to their death the moment they took over the Sngrad."

    Thadenmented on the situation as the Star-Moon Coalition demon army was continuously closer and closer to the Sngrad. Everything was going ording to n, as their forces were advancing towards the city without any hindrance.

    Naturally, the forces of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe didn''t bother to leave any scouts or guards here to be notified in case they were attacked, which was another plus for the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition.

    "My Lord, is the war between the two factions truly the only solution?"

    Asked one of themanders of the Star-Moon Coalition''s demon army, who was coincidentally also from the Moon Demon Tribe and was someone of the direct lineage, as his great-grandfather was an Elder of the Moon Demon Tribe.

    "The Golden-Horned Demon Tribe will never ept the friction and the fact that we have created the Star-Moon Coalition as another faction in the High Council of the Demon Tribes and Species. Golden ones are too arrogant and would never allow anyone to exist outside of their influence. Even if we want to settle this peacefully, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe will never let that slide and they will sooner orter dere war on us... it is only a matter of time."

    Thadon stated grimly because he was very well aware of the situation and of the fact, there was no escape. He was also aware that in thebat, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was above thebined forces of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe, and even with the addition of the Hall of Kadath that was stealthily helping the Star-Moon Coalition would change that out of nothing.

 Chapter 185 Battle Of Selangrad (5)

    Not to mention that the leaders of the Star-Moon Coalition were very well aware that they had fallen into the trap prepared for them by the Hall of Kadath the moment they took the helping hand of the Kadaths.

    Thought unfortunately for them, there was no possibility of getting out right now, as they had gone too far on that path. They were well aware of the fact that the Hall of Kadath was scheming against the demon races as a whole, but there was nothing they could do about that.

    The silent help from the Hall of Kadath as they attacked a few crucial worlds under the control of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe proved itself to be very helpful. The Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was too powerful, but with several forces working together, they were being weakened enough for the Star-Moon Coalition to be their real contender.

    And on the top was the fact the rtionships between their Daemon Primogenitors did not always mirror the rtionships between the mortal progenies. Not like they cared that their progenies warred against each other; in the end, it was the same thing that they were doing, just on an entirely different scale.

    In the Abyss, the structure of the Higher Dimensional World was changing each decade because some territories under the control of some Daemons fell. At the same time, some rose to prominence after defeating and assimting their foes. And this endless cycle kept repeating itself for countless eons, going on for countless Epochs since the creation of the Cosmos.

    The only one to whom the Abyss was loyal and who couldmand them all, without a question as his orders were absolute, was ''Him'', but ''He'' would never care about the lives and state of something so iparable and distant like the existence of a few billions of demons in the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    "As you say, My Lord... but still... this war only serves the purpose of our race being forever divided and not bing a yer on the Cosmos scale."

    Answered the previous Moon Demon, as Crown Prince Thadon nodded in agreement because such was the sad truth.

    "Yes, if all of the major Demon Tribes were united into one coherent faction, then we would be able to fight even hegemons like the Hall of Kadath or The Guild and be victorious in all faction wars. But under the leadership of the Goldne-Horned Demons, we would have been going from one war to another, and in the end, that would consume us to the point where we would all perish. We don''t need to continue waging wars one after another; look around... our society is on the level of orks... dammit orks!"

    Shouted Crown Prince Thadon angrily because he was enraged at this. Most of the demon societies were primitive and backward, on the level of orks in pure sageness... it was catastrophic, though.

    With all of the advancements of the Cosmos, and their civilization was still like it hadn''t moved point few past Epochs. The majority of them lived as barbarians in terrible conditions, yeh, they had a good number of powerhouses, but the same could be said about Silvermoon Elves or, better, the Asuras, which had a simr culture and yet were technologically advanced in terms of Magitek.

    Naturally, there were some demons that wanted to be more "civilized" and to adjust the Old Ways of the demonkind into something new and something that could survive the passage of time.

    During a few thousand of years, more and more factions were getting technologically more and more advanced, countless of them developing high levels of magical technology.

    This was causing one thing... that countless factions started bing stronger and stronger and the main lifeline of approximately 90% and soon enough, it would cause the demons would have a much harder time procuring ves and resources as they were piging worlds.

    Some even nicknamed this Epoch as Tek Revolution Epoch, because countless worlds and factionspletely focused on the industrialization and modernization of their repertoire, making them many times stronger.

    Some said it was because the Era was nearing to its end; thus the big and powerful factions were selling scraps to less fortunate, arming them with advanced weaponry... just what the Human Breotherhood managed to inflcut on the demons on the 8th Floor was proof of it.

    If this didn''t stop, then because the demons couldn''t live otherwise, they would copse and probably destroy themselves in a series of neverending wars. Their culture was all about waging war on each other which resulted in a great deal of hatred between various races and tribes, making any attempts at cooperation almost non-existent.

    Even right now, some of the High Worlds, which were serving as breeding worlds for ves by the Demon Tribes as they were attacking these High Worlds for countless millennia started giving resistance to invasions of the Demon Races.

    And some of them were even repelling the invasion of the Demon Tribes.

    ***

    "You should have escaped far sooner, human!"

    In the Heart of the City Layer of the Sngrad, the battle between various Gold-Tier Professionals of the Human Brotherhood and Demon Army under the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe was getting to its conclusion, as the Gold-Tier demon Professionals were gaining the upper hand.

    The entire area where the Gold-Tier Professionals of both sides fought was destroyed by the fight, as everything was in rubble, with several buildings all around the Dimensional Gate or rather the remains of the Dimensional Gate was destroyed.

    It all came to an inevitable end when the number of Human Gold-Tier Professionals started to dwindle; it was that moment when the humans started losing ground below them and soon enough, one after one were being killed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Individually, the Gold-Tiers of the Human Brotherhood were no match for the ones of the Demon Army, even remotely not. Despite being often at the same Tier, they could not match the stronger demons who were superior in experience, weapons and their power was often more stable.

    It didn''t take a genius to figure out that they were gically strengthened by some of their Gic Enhancement Serums, so their power was rtively unstable.

    Soon enough, all of the Gold-Tier human Professionals were killed and only one of them remained, who was one of the leaders of the Human Brotherhood.

    Surprisingly, one of the Gold-Tier Professionals of the Human Brotherhood managed to escape from the Heart of the City Layer of the Sngrad when he realized that the battle was going bad for them.

    With one motion of his sword, he severed the head of the kneeling founder of the Huzamn Brotherhood, as with this, the battle has essentially ended. The Sngrad has fallen to the Demon Army under the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, even though right now, the demon armies were only in the Outer Layer of the city while marching at the Inner Layer.

    Though, in the end, that didn''t matter at all because they lost their Gold-Tier Professionals; it meant that if the Golden-Tier demons moved, then the humans won''t be able to block their advance and they would be soon enough overpowered.

    "All dead?"

    Themander of the Gold-Tier Professionals of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe asked as one of the Gold-Tier demons came up to him when he finished killing his Gold-Tier opponent of the Human Brotherhood.

    "Not... one of them escaped, severely injured, probably has no more time to live than half an hour due to injuries that Xos inflicted on him."

    Reported the Gold-Tier Professional who came up to themander of the Gold-Tier squad. As someone from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and sent here directly by the Elders of the Tribe to clean out this mess.

    "Leave it be... focus on securing the Heart of the City, gather the spatial equipment and search through all the buildings in the Heart of the City."

    The Golden-Horned Demonmanded the squad of the Gold-Tier demon Professionals under him as the priorities under their belt were different than pursuing one gravely injured Gold-Tier human Professional who would die anyway... that was not important and neither it required his direct interference.

    Right now, their top priority was securing the Heart of the City because this was the center of the Human Brotherhood''s power and there were still a lot of people in the buildings here.

    Especially the enormous pce, which was serving as the headquarters of the entire Human Brotherhood, needed to be secured as soon as possible before the people there destroyed any sensitive information; they may have some leads to the Avalon Kingdom and other supporters of the Human Brotherhood.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in the Core Layer of the Sngrad, one bloodied Gold-Tier human was escaping from the Heart of the City and even the Sngrad as fast as possible because he wished to live. While some of the Human Brotherhood''s members were fanatics and believed in the cause, some were just opportunists who wanted to make a name for themselves.

    And Arion was one of them. He was from a family ofmoners in some Lower World, whose name was not important in the great game and it was a typical world where humans were at war against demons. The world''s power bnce was like that for thousands upon thousands of years; only after he entered the broader Cosmos and joined the Human Brotherhood did he learn that his homeworld was artificially sustained to be like that.

    It was one of the countless worlds that were in that way, where demons were breeding and cultivating their armies. When Arion was fifteen years old, he was pretty lucky to find the corpse of the killed demon Gold-Tier Professional and obtained the demon''s dimensional ring, which was full of Mana Crystals, supplies, weapons, Combat Manuals and other things that were perfectly suited for the ss that he awakened.

    From then on, he rose from the pitiful Level 3 Iron-Tier to the peak of the Bronze-Tier Level 50 in ten years, which was for a human with almost no talent rtively staggering rise. When he became peak Bronze-Tier during one of his adventures, he found a Dimensional Pathway that connected the Lower World to the Tower and found himself on the Tower''s 3rd Floor.

    After some time in the Tower, he managed to reach Silver-Tier rather easily and was recruited to the Human Brotherhood under the premise of great wealth and resources for the continuous advancements to the Gold-Tier.

    He spent countless decades as a mercenary of the Human Brotherhood and even reached the Gold-Tier due to their resources.

    Though Arion was never one who believed in their cause like most of the fanatics that were consisting the core of the Human Brotherhood.

    He believed only in money and power; the ideological aspects were totally useless for him, but he had one thing, which was loyalty to the contract that he signed with the leaders of the Human Brotherhood.

 Chapter 186 Battle Of Selangrad (6)

    Now that the demons had killed the leaders of the Human Brotherhood, the contract had officially ended and he could escape as fast as possible. He had prepared an escape ne, as he had already paid a Mind Flyer smuggler to smuggle him out from the 8th Floor of the Tower for an appropriate price.

    Right now, he was heading towards the outskirts of the Sngrad, where his Mind Flyer smuggler contract should be already waiting for him, considering the situation on the 8th Floor of the Tower was right now. He was not stupid to let himself be killed for nothing, as he took what he could and ran as fast as possible towards the ce where the Mind Flyer Smuggler was waiting for him.

    Amidst the running, Arion puts his hand on the injury that was on his stomach, realizing that he had not had much time to live. He needed to get to the location as fast as possible to start the healing process as he had right now only something between twenty-five to thirty minutes to live.

    As he was running through the streets of the Sngrad''s Core Layer, Arion didn''t even realize that the temperature around him was getting colder and colder, as suddenly, out of nowhere, hundreds of icicles shot toward severely injured Arion as they hit him at their fullest force.

    Instantly not even several secondster, Arion saw a bolt of greenish energy as an enormous waraxe appeared next to his head, as Arion managed to dodge the sh by the waraxe on thest second, while at the same time he dodged the attack of the waraxe, several more Spell Holding Wards have activated and tens of curses were released simultaneously at the Arion, as he felt his power weakening.

    ''This is not going to end well.''

    Arion thought as he felt his power leaving him while barely recognizing the Necromantic Curses that were being thrown at him from the Spell Holding Wards.

    ***

    Several minutes earlier, with Samiel and the Khaos Chapter

    After entering the Core Layer of the Sngrad, Samiel was leading the merry band of the Khaos Chapter deeper into the Core Layer as they searched for something valuable. Samiel, as greedy as he was, refused to leave Sngrad without obtaining some riches of the city. It was no secret in the Tower that Sngrad was one of the richest cities on the Lower Floors of the Tower.

    ''What it is Nefertari?''

    Samiel asked his familiar who was scouting the area before them to get information as that was a crucial aspect of any fight... information. Sometimes information may be even more important than brute power if the person holding the information knew how to use it. Samiel always used Nefertari to scout for information, and once again, she proved her prowess and usefulness in this aspect.

    ''There is an enemy ahead of us... several hundred meters. Gold-Tier human Professional, severely injured with his lifeforce weakening every second.''

    When Samiel heard Nefertari''s voice in his head, he was ted and scared at the same time. The Gold-Tier human Professional that was heading towards their way was not a good signal at the very least, yet at the same time, it could be an opportunity for them to kill some big fish and obtain a good amount of treasures.

    For sure, the surviving Gold-Tier Professional of the Human Brotherhood would have some things of significant value on them. Even though the human was severely injured, ording to the Nefertari, he was still a geniue Gold-Tier Professional, which made him extremely dangerous even in his current state.

    So they would need to prepare an ambush and preferably use Dharzug as a heavy hitter because when he used his peak transformation, he could showbat prowessparable to a weak Gold-Tier Professional for a short span of time.

    "Severely injured Gold-Tier Professional is heading towards us. Nefertari told me that his injuries are critical and that he is barely half an hour to live. Judging by the speed he is heading out, he should be heading somewhere outside of the Sngrad and for some reason, he didn''t do anything to heal his wounds. We need to set up the trap on him, if we kill him there is a very high possibility of getting some nice loot."

    Samiel exined because this was an opportunity too good opportunity just to let it pass by, as he decided to kill the Gold-Tier Professional and obtain his wealth. He immediately started working by creating several of the Spell Holding Wards and at the same time, he was engraving into the curses of the Necromancy Arts.

    While typically 1st Level Curses won''t be able to affect Gold-Tier Professionals, but right now, the Gold-Tier Professional was already on the verge of death, and his entire system was doing everything to keep him alive as soon as possible. So, he wouldn''t have enough energy to fight against the Curses that were cast by the powerful Necromancer.

    When it came to Magic, even 1st Level Spell could be extremely destructive and powerful, especially the Curses in case if they were cast by the master Necromancer. If a master Necromance cast 1st Level Curse they could have such a strong effect to affect even high-tiered individuals.

    Samiel managed to prepare everything within several minutes, as the Gold-Tier Professional was already near their position, as he ordered everyone to hide, while Dharzig was summoning the power of the Green Gods to enter his strongest state so he could be the front fighter against the Gold-Tier Professional of the Human Brotherhood, while the others would be acting as supports.

    When everything was prepared, Samiel was using his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler as he was conjuring hundreds of icicles and shooting them all at the iing Gold-Tier human Professional.<novelnext></novelnext>

    When the icicles started falling onto the Gold-Tier Professional, Samiel observed how the human attempted to dodge the iing icicles, but unfortunately, due to the injuries that he sustained during the fight against the demon Gold-Tiers. Naturally, the icicles were not doing much against the Gold-Tier Professional, considering the fact that Samiel was still only a Bronze-Tier Professional, but his aim was not even to cause and considerable damage.

    No... the real aim was to slow down the human Professional as the Spell Holding Wards activated themselves and released all of the curses that he stored in them, while simultaneously, Dharzug who was standing next to him, shed in a green wave of energy and attacked the human Gold-Tier Professional with his waraxe.

    Just in thest moment, the human Gold-Tier Professional managed to dodge the ork''s waraxe that barely missed his head, and severed only a few strands of his hair. Not wasting any more time, Dharzug attacked once more, as he kicked the human Gold-Tier Professional with a powerful kick as he used the power of the Green Gods to enhance his strength.

    Sending the human Gold-Tier flying, Dharzug didn''t waste any second as he rushed directly after him, shing at the defenseless human with his waraxe, this time, hitting him directly in his chest, as his waraxe cut deeper into his chest, but not causing him any severe injury.

    It was still a serious injury that was caused by the ork, as the human Gold-Tier Professional coughed some blood from the axe attack, while Samiel used that opportunity when his guard was lowered, as he sent several 5th Level Spells of the Void Magic, Void Bombs, the second Dharzug jumped away from the human as series of explosions enveloped around him.

    In a split of perfect coordination between them, Dharzug once again summoned the power of the Green Gods, as Samiel started chanting something in the R''Lyehian Language as he was calling down the Great Powers of the Void to give him the strength needed to best his foe in the fight, as out of nowhere space cracked around them and the Void itself started creeping out.

    "And let it be known to all sheep of the O''Lord that the only salvation is in the Void, as in the Void we turn and everything there shall return! So I call the great powers of the Void, destroy this enemy of the great powers before me and let the world be cleansed of his filth!"

    Samiel shouted as several tentacles shot out of the Void as they pierced through the body of the Gold-Tier Professional in a split of a second while corroding his body at the same time. Unfortunately for the human, before he could do anything else, only a ''clink'' sound was heard as his head fell onto the ground, severed in one clean swipe of Dharzug''s waraxe.

    ***

    In the Core Layer of the Sngrad, in one of the destroyed streets of the city, a headless corpse of the Gold-Tier Professional wasying on the ground, while the entire street was half-destroyed

    "That was a good one..."

    Samiel stated as he watched how the head of the Gold-Tier human Professional rolled down and blood spluttered from his neck. This was indeed spectacr as they managed to bring down Gold-Tier Professional, albeit a severely injured one that was already on the verge of death but still it was geniue Gold-Tier Professional.

    "It was the result of good nning and good work. Through careful nning and cooperation, we managed to bring down the Gold-Tier Professional of the Human Brotherhood..."

    Samiel stated as he went to the corpse of the Gold-Tier Professional of the Human Brotherhood and took his Dimensional Ring. He didn''t bother checking it out right now, as he nned to leave that for ater date when he would be in a much safer enviroment to check it out.

    "We need to leave the city... logically speaking, this is already a better result than I could ever hope for."

    Samiel muttered as it was already time to leave. Soon enough, this would be swarming with demon soldiers, not to mention, Smaiel was aware of the forces of Star-Moon Coalition that were heading towards the Sngrad and would soon arrive, meaning the real fight would just start.

    And that was something that Samiel didn''t want to be caught in because when the Star-Moon Coalition forces arrived, the real mess would start. When he checked the Holo-Brain several minutes ago, before the fight, he saw that the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition were already near the Sngrad.

    "We need to leave the city... soon enough, the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition will arrive at the Sngrad and it will be absolute chaos here."

    Samiel stated as Juulius and Yvraine agreed with him because neither of them wanted to be caught in the crossfire between two sides of demons that hated each other to death and would stop at nothing to kill each other.

    Yvraine wasn''t a fan of pointless fights because, ording to her logic, it was a waste of time and strength. She was never fond of Samiel throwing himself into one fight after another because she found it stupid and pretty dangerous as hell.

    Meanwhile, Juulius saw no point in staying in the Sngrad longer than was necessary because, in truth, he didn''t even see the point of Samiel attempting to get resources from the Human Brotherhood. Still, he understood that this was probably one of the quirks of the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

 Chapter 187 Battle Of Selangrad (7)

    Still, it was a better quirk than just throwing away money and resources frivolously. Only Dharrzug was disappointed with how this situation developed because he hoped to remain in the Sngrad and fight in the next fight.

    He was also aware of the fact that the Star-Moon Coalition forces wereing this way and because of that reason, he wanted to say here even more and fight in the glorious war between two hostile factions of demons, as that would be something for the ork.

    All orks literarily lived for moments like that, where there existed only pure and unrestrained war and nothing else existed or was relevant. Though Dharzug didn''t want to leave here, he had no option because even muscleheads like him realized that the moment when the Star-Moon Coalition arrived here this would be an absolute bloodbath and he would have a high risk of dying here.

    "We should be going to some near hills that are somewhere around Sngrad to enjoy the show... I want to enjoy the moment when the Golden ones are attacked and massacred by the Star-Moon Coalition to thest person."

    Samiel stated as he wanted to go to some quiet ce where he would enjoy some good food apanied by the screams of the demons of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and its allies, as they would be ughtered and killed to thest one, that would be musicparable to Vivaldi or Mozart to his ears.

    The Star-Moon Coalition wasing here with a much higher number of soldiers, more experiencedmanders and surprisingly or not, even better equipment than what the Golden-Horned demon army and its vassals were armed with. Everything was only for the sole purpose ofpletely annihting the forces of the Golden ones on the 8th Floor of the Tower once for all.

    After that was said, the entire Khaos Mercenary Party plus the mascots turned around and left the Core Layer of the Sngrad after Samiel stored the corpse of the Gold-Tier Professional of the Human Brotherhood, as his corpse would find its usefulness in the creation of some nice Undead.

    A fresh corpse of a Gold-Tier Professional was always weed for Samiel right now because with his current strength and capabilities, it was already very hard to obtain and he could make another Higher Undead out of such a corpse with some precious resources. Naturally, there was always a possibility of buying such corpses with money.

    Naturally, he wasn''t really fond of that opinion because a preserved corpse of a Gold-Tier Professional that could be sued for Necromantic purposes was pricy, that would cost at least several tens of thousands of Credits, far more than was the cost of an average Gold-Tier Mana Crystal.

    That wasn''t really the most profitable way to obtain corpses, as obtaining them throughbat was more interesting. At least it was more fulfilling than just buying them with some Credits. Not to mention finding the right seller who was dealing with the fresh corpses of high-tiered Professionals was hard.

    Normally people who were selling corpses were not the best bunch to be around as they were not to be trusted and typically, necromancers were not the pleasant people to be around and were weird... not that Samiel was different from stereotypes.

    ***

    Meanwhile, in the other Layers of the Sngrad fierce fights were happening all around the city, with all sights of the human resistance were being fiercely suppressed and put down, with each of the Professionals of the Human Brotherhood were killed in brutal fashion as the demons advanced and showed no mercy.

    Naturally, this caused practically enormous coteral damage to the Sngrad as the heavy majority of the Outer Layer was now set on mes from some kind of magical napalm that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe brought from some alchemists and thus the Outer Layer of the Sngrad was already technically destroyed.

    Not like the demons cared about that; for them, the only importantyer was the Heart of the City because that was the ce where all the essential buildings and other things were located, together with the Headquarters of the Human Brotherhood. While the loss of lives on the human side was sad because all of them could be potential ves that could be sold for a nice amount of money, s, there was nothing they could do about that.

    "Lord General, I bring you the news that the city has fallen... we could move in the support personnel in the city and start securing it. Resistance has beenpletely suppressed in the Outer Layar, Inner Layer and Heart of the City. The Core Layer of Sngrad still has some resistance, but not for long as the vanguard forces have already breached some of their defenses and within ten minutes, it should be cleared out."

    Reported the scout who had just returned from the Sngrad, as Lord General Qais started barking one order after another because right now, the most essential thing was to secure the city, which would soon be done and afterward, the entire war on the 8th Floor would be finished.

    "Secure the city and all exits. Send in the supportive corps to search through the city, start securing the local poption and transport them to the concentration camps and contact the vers so that they could start picking the products. Also, notify the people in the Heart of the City to erect the guarantee that nobody will enter the Heart of the City and start searching through thatyer carefully so as not to miss anything. Also, send in the Arcanists to carry out the analysis on the Dimensional Paths that were used in the Heart of the City to see if we could trace some of the worlds where Avalonians are hiding up."

    Afterward, Lord General Qais personally went to enter the Sngrad as he would personally oversee the search through the Heart of the City, as this looked like a significant victory for the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe as they took down the Sngrad and won the war on the 8th Floor, with the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe bing a Floor Ruler of this particr Floor.

    While to many, the position of the Floor Ruler on Lower Floors would be useless because they were the Lower Floors, but there was one important factor in all of this... demons have a significant popce that was living outside of the Tower and countless demons entered the Tower and started from the LOwer Floors every day, so control over the Lower Floors would secure them steadier flow of demons.<novelnext></novelnext>

    If, for example, Human Brotherhood won the position of the Floor Ruler, they would haveplicated things for the demon species as a whole. And while they wouldn''t be able to kill every demon who entered the Tower, they would be able to make sure that only 20% of those who entered their Floor would also leave it in one piece.

    The Tower''s Sysmte wouldn''t allow them to annihte all demons who were climbing through the Tower because such action was against the purpose of the Tower, and thus was against the will of ''Them'', but it would put some restrictions and other things, so the other oues cames into the fruition.

    When Lord General Qais gave out the orders for the demon army, all of the demons started running here and there, many of them advancing toward the Sngrad. Most of the ones who were right now entering the city were so-called supportive troops, they were notbatants in the meaning of soldiers, but they were rather here for the securement of the city.

    Their tasks often ranged from repairing the gates and cleaning the city to catching the humans and branding them as ves, transporting them to the concentration camps, where they would wait for their buyers to arrive and overall refitting the city to the needs of the demon species.

    Lord General Qais waspletely unaware of the situation that wasing at them from all sides, as some of the familiars of the members of the Star-Moon Coalition were already circling high in the air, while scouting the area around the Sngrad as they passed the information to their masters who were with the main army.

    After the city basically fell to the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their vassals, they grewx, not like they weren''t like that even before, because they had almost zero protections and defenses against potential attacks form the outside.

    They probably didn''t think that somebody would be bold enough to attack them and had severely underestimated the confidence and resolve of the Star-Moon Coalition. From the distant hills of the Sngrad''s outskirts, several riders of something that looked like wargs were already watching the situation and after talking between themselves a bit, all of them started descending towards the siege positions of the Golden-Horned Army with the intention of sabotage.

    Contrary to the Golden-Horned Demons, that were always too arrogant for their own good, Star Demons and Moon Demons had totally different tempers. The Moon Demons were the most logical out of all demon species because almost all of them were inborn Arcanists and the study of Magic and mysteries of the Arcane was prevalent among them; they also took most of the habits of Arcanists.

    Meanwhile, the Star Demons were a rather tranquil race for demons. They were always calm, wise and intelligent; many people and schrs who studied the Star Demon Race extensively often attributed that to their innate divination abilities. Probably something in that ability and the entire Lineage of 3rd Pir Vassago was making them this way. Thanks to their demeanor, they were one of the very few demon races that had very good foreign rtionships with other factions, something that was very umon among the demon species.

    ***

    On the other side of the Sngrad, some timeter

    "I have told you that sneaking from the city would be a pain in the ass...especially now when it is swarming with demons. If we waited for a little bit longer, then we would already be under the lockdown because they would for sure block all entrances and everything that is leading to the Core Layer of the city."

    Samiel stated as they finally left the outer perimeters of the Sngrad and also the one of the demon army, and right now, the entire Khaos Chapter was located on the nearby hills that were in the outskirts of the Sngrad, as Samiel and co started building their viewing ce there.

    Surprisingly or not, Samiel had an entire set for outdoor tea party inside his Dimensional Ring in case there was a need for it... and right now, it had finally shown its purpose and usefulness. He took out everything, including a tea seat and even some snacks, while Yvraine immediately sat down and started munching on some tasty treats that Samiel had made, while Juulius stood behind Samiel like always.

    Even Dharzug sat down and was going to watch the show... if he couldn''t fight, then at least he would watch the ughter unfold, if nothing else. Samiel, too sat down at one of the chairs and poured himself a cup of tea after he poured one Yvraine.

    "Ohhh... it is already starting."

    Samiel stated when he saw the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition iing at the Sngrad. Just from the sheer presence of them, there were several hundred thousand of them. Samiel was able to sense them very clearly as day; on top of their overwhelming numbers, they also had a whole bunch of Gold-Tier Professionalsing with them.

    Samiel even sensed some of the Gold-Tier Professionals that came with the Star-Moon Coalition were pretty powerful, more powerful than the ones he sensed at the army of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

 Chapter 188 Clash Of Two Sides (1)

    Area of the Human Capital of Sngrad, Human Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower, several minutes earlier.

    "My Prince, we are already near the city; we are waiting for your order."

    Stated one of the Moon Demons, who was wearing the garb of the magician as he was in charge of the Magician Squad, which was maintainingrge-scale stealth spells over the entire Star-Moon Coalition Army to prevent them from being seen by the forces of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their vassals.

    Crown Prince Thadon ordered this formation to be employed to carry out a sessful ambush as he wanted to attack the army of the Golden-Hornned Demon Tribe and their vassals when they were already in the city. Due to the half-destroyed ck Walls, breached gate and city in ruins, they basically entrapped themselves in a ce that was impossible to defend.

    "Splendid... the news from the scout teams?"

    Some time ago, Crown Prince Thadon sent down several teams of scouts with two specific orders that must be carried out at any price. The first one was a typical job for the scouts, which was getting information on the enemy.

    But it was the second one which was the most important, that was to sneak into as many positions of the enemy as possible and blow up their siege equipment, namely their magetech artillery and the ammunition warehouses they constructed there.

    "Everything ready, the scouts didn''t manage to sneak everywhere, but they were able to over two-thirds of the siege positions of the Golden-Horned Demon army, which should be enough for the initial assault."

    Reported the demon whom the Crown Prince Thadon was walking to as he nodded his head before proceeding to give out the orders to start the attack. Many of them were aware that this would be the historic moment for the existence of the demon species, as the battle on the 8th Floor of the Tower would be forever engraved into history itself.

    "Blow them apart and instantly, after starting the bombardment, target themanding center and ces where they are storing ammunition and explosives, additionally concentrate firepower on the artillery canon that they used to breach the Gates of the Sngrad... it has firepowerparable to weaker Legendary Level Professional, if they use it against us even once, our losses would be extremely high."

    The Star-Moon Coalition had an element of surprise on their side and it would soon be shown that the bad and uneasy feeling that the Lord General Qais of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe felt was right, as Crown Prince Thadon did everything in his power to ensure that the first wave of the attacks would hit their enemies as hard as possible, everything was coordinated with surgical precision.

    Not even several seconds after he gave out the orders, a series of explosions could be seen from everything around the Sngrad as countless siege positions, especially those where the majority of the magetech artillery or ammunition was stored, were destroyed.

    Not even one secondter, after all, explosives had destroyed their target, highly intense bombardment started on the position of the enemy demon army under the banners of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, as the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition showed themselves while they surrounded the entire perimeter of the Sngrad, thus cutting any kind of escape route from the Golden-Horned Demons and their army.

    Every passing second, sounds of hundreds of cannon firing sounded across the entire area, as that sound was devastating to ears; one could easily be deaf if not careful enough. Just being in the proximity of the magetech artillery that was firing non-stop was rtively dangerous if one was not careful enough.

    "Advance!"

    The moment when the legions of the forces of Star-Moon Coalition heard the order, tens of thousands of soldiers all started advancing towards the positions of the enemy, or at least what had remained from them, because the losses on their end were really terrifying.

    With the element of surprise on the side of the Star-Moon Coalition, they managed to inflict terrible losses on their enemies as they immediately started marching on the army of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, which was now in a state o absolute chaos and disarray.

    When they were attacked by the Star-Moon Coalition, it was at the worst time possible because they were already in the process of relocating to the Sngrad and most of theirmander center was already in the process of moving towards the Sngrad. This causes chaos among the soldiers because, in the initial bombardment, many of the officers from the army were killed.

    When the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition shed with those of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their vassals, ughtering everything in their way. Soldiers of the Golden ones were already exhausted from marching for several weeks non-stop and fighting towards the Sngrad as Lord General Qais wanted to reach the Sngrad as fast as possible and catch the city.

    Meanwhile, the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition were fresh and even though they marched for approximately one week or so, they were well-rested and could fight from the start. This proved immediately when they entered the battlefield as they advanced to the White-Blue Gate or rather, its remains.

    Naturally, when other demons from the Golden-Horned forces noticed that they were being attacked by the Star-Moon Coalition after oveing initial shock from being openly attacked as, the deration of war was sent with this. The forces of the Golden ones close the gates that could be closed, whole hastily barricading the ces that were already too damaged or the gates that couldn''t be closed.

    Still, the battle in the outskirts was an overwhelming victory for the Star-Moon Coalition as they managed to secure the outskirts of the Sngrad entirely. Their losses were almost zero due to the spectacrly carried-out ambush and superior firepower that destroyed much of the golden ones'' resistance in the outskirts.

    Then the only thing that remained was the battle for the city and that would be a bloody one, because anyone could see that the golden ones would fight to thest one, as they had no way out and death was the only choice.

    ***

    On the nearby hills on the outskirts of the Sngrad, Samiel was having a nice snack time together with Yvraine, while Juulius was guarding his Lord and Dharzug was just eating food and watching the Waaaggghhh.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That was a nice maneuver."

    Samielmented as he watched together with the rest of the Khaos Chapter how the Star-Moon Coalition carried out a sessful ambush and massacred the majority of the forces that the army of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and right now were already advancing on the Sngrad.

    "Naturally... they were in the best position to carry out such an ambush and if they failed in that, then I would have seriously doubted thepetence of whoever was leading the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition."

    Juuliusmented from the side with his typical cold, logical approach. Star-Moon Coalition did a very good job with the ambush, and right now, they have already startedying down the siege on the Sngrad, which in truth, was a pretty easy job. Due to the already done damage by the forces of the Golden-Horned forces, the city itself was extremely hard to defend with all of those holes in the ck Walls and several gates that were destroyed.

    Not talking about the devastating Outer Layer of the city, which was right now just a pile of rubbles. It would be very hard to defend the Outer Layer of the city; even fighting there would be a pain in the ass because much of the Outer Layer was still in mes.

    "Look it is already starting."

    Samiel remarked as they all turned their sight to the gate in the western part of the Sngrad, which was also breached like the rest of the gates, as that was the gate where the Star-Moon Coalition armies attacked at first and brutal fight started immediately after.

    The charge against the forces of the Golden ones was led by demon ogres who tore through the defenses of the Golden-Horned Demon Army and their vassals like nothing. Demon Ogres were a peculiar type of demon. They were tall around 5 meters tall, very muscr and boasted of enormous physical strength and extremely high pain tolerance. They were noted to be able to shrug off even some grievous injuries like nothing and it was very high to take them down.

    They were d in some Rare-Grade armor from tips to toes as they were like moving fortresses in their armor. Typically they were employed in the demon armies as a vanguard that would be breaking up the stiffest kinds of resistance, like now and it proved to be extremely useful, as there was nothing that the demon army of Golden ones could do to stop their advances, as theycked the heavy hitters for such action.

    Just within ten minutes, the group of demon ogres was able to breach through the western gate like nothing and the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition started pouring into the city in tens of thousands.

    "And that is one down... several more to go."

    Samiel remarked from the side as he observed the battle, while suddenly, he heard the voice of his personal knight.

    "Mistake... two down."

    Then he turned his sight to another one of the gates, which was also breached by the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition and one by one, the streets started falling into the hands of the Star-Mooon while the ones of the Golden-Horned and their vassals were continuously retreating closer and closer to the Inner Layer.

    If he had to guess, Samiel would say that they had already received the order to withdraw their forces to the Inner Layer as that one was in a much better state and thus was much more manageable to defend.

    "Indeed... they are working rather fast... who would have said that?"

    Samiel asked to nowhere; as he continued watching the battle for the Sngrad, suddenly his Holo-Brain received several messages from the Bishop who was observing the 8th Floor of the Tower together with the other Legendary Level Professionals from various demon races and tribes, and some of the hiding ones of the Avalon Kingdom and probably some other factions that were observing from the shadows.

    "Oya?"

    He questioned, surprised at the sight of what he was reading, the news from his Holo-Brain. This was indeed the most interesting development that surprised even him a bit; not like he awaited something like this to happen.

    "What has happened?"

    Yvraine asked curiously because she saw that Samiel was delighted when he started reading through the message on his Holo-Brain.

    "Apparently, the second Star-Moon Coalition ambushed the Golden-Horned demons and their forces; the Legendary Level Professionals of the Star-Moon Coalition did the same thing and killed 8 Legendaries of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and other 20 Legendaries of their vassals and allies at the cost of only 3 of their owns as they too ambushed them."

    Samiel said with a happy voice as he summarized the content of the message. Surprisingly or not, the Legendaries of the Star-Moon Coalition managed to sneak attack the ones of Golden ones together with some schemes from the Hall of Kadath because it was a coborative effort.

    Some members of the Inquisition masked themselves as Star Demons and Moon Demons and joined in the attack to ensure a safe ambush and the results of killing as many of them as possible.

 Chapter 189 189 - Clash Of Two Sides (2)

    "I would assume that this was something that the Hall had their fingers in, right?"

    Yvraine asked as Samiel just nodded because he was aware that in terms of brute power and numbers of Legendaries alone, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe had more than Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribebined, not to mention that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe had many vassals and cultivated countless of them.

    "Naturally... it is in our best interests for the demons to be in a state of constant war and when they created their High Council... it was a sign of the thing which we all feared would happen. Their unification... but with the situation right now, that is a no longer viable option."

    Samiel stated as he looked at the Sngrad for a moment before he lifted his head and looked at the sky. Soon enough, the entire Tower and then even the entire Material ne would be talking about this because this would be the first grand war in the Epoch.

    The war between the Golden-Horned Tribe and their forces and Star-Moon Coalition would shake the entire Material ne to the core as countless Worlds would be burned to the ground. Naturally, such a thing as this war won''t end just between the demons themselves, but rather, soon enough, countless third parties would join in, either on the side of one or another.

    Both of the factions had countless enemies, someone would take the opportunity, especially when the tides of war would be turning into a disadvantage for one of the sides. Naturally, there was a high probability that some of the Gates or one of the major factions that are controlling the High Worlds.

    "This is escting really, really quickly... probably far more than it should."

    Yvraine muttered because once it started, the peaceful era of the Material ne of the Cosmos had ended. Now the turbulent times of endless wars and strives would be starting, and that was not something she was eager for. Contrary to Samiel, who would naturally wee something like the time of endless strives, as that would mean more ughter and killing for him.

    "Yes, and this is good because the war would mean far more opportunities for fast growth."

    Samiel stated as they then continued watching the battle for the Sngrad; as the forces of Star-Moon Coalition had already advanced enough to the Outer Layer and were near the Inner Layer, where the Golden ones had already fortified their position enough to put on some strong resistance against the iing forces of the Star-Moon Coalition.

    Meanwhile, both sides were also preparing to use their Gold-Tier Professionals, as none of them had used their strongest troops yet. The Golden ones were fortifying themselves in the Heart of the City while they were going through all documents that the Human Brotherhood left there, sending them back to their superiors and then subsequently destroying everything that could bring some advantage to the Star-Moon Coalition.

    ***

    Outside of the 8th Floor of the Tower, around the same time during which the Star-Moon Coalition started an attack on Sngrad City.

    Outside of the 8th Floor of the Tower, countless Legendaries were observing the happenings on the 8th Floor of the Tower and the fact that the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition had disappeared from the sight of the Legendaries; this was something that had been bugging many of them, especially the ones of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their forces, as they sensed that something nefarious was happening in the shadows.

    Among the 72 Pirs, the Lineages of Bael, Vassago and Agares were those who inherited the most cunning and were rtively close to the devils in that aspect, as most of the demons didn''t really use their brains as much as they used their muscles.

    Right now, among many of the Legendaries that were impatiently watching the things that were happening on the 8th Floor of the Tower, while the Legendaries of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their vassals were cheering that the Lord General Qais of the demon army under their tribe took the Sngrad and ended the war on the 8th Floor a man wearing a long ck leather coat was observing all from the shadows.

    He had pitch-ck hair and a short ck beard, with several scars running through his face. Just from a distance, he looked like a handsome middle-aged human man, though with his outfit, he was giving out weird and yet dangerous feelings from his persona.

    "Inquisitor Jaeng, everything is ready... the attack on the 8th Floor will start in exactly 1 minute and at the same time, the Legendaries of the Coalition will make a move on the Golden ones and their goons, your orders?"

    Reported the masked person who appeared behind Inquisitor Jaeng, who didn''t bat an eye and just nodded his head while looking directly at the Legendaries of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe. He was a member of the Inquisition of the Hall of Kadath and was a Level 94 Legendary Level Professional and someone who was one of the top experts of the Hall of Kadath.

    Among the Legendaries that were gathered around the 8th Floor of the Tower, he was one of the strongest, if not outright the strongest, one because nobody of his own stature would have bothered toe here and watch squabbles of mortals.

    Most Legendaries that were here were only Adanvec Stage Legendaries; at most, there were a few Supreme Legendaries, but that was it. In truth, this was a too low-key thing to attract the attention of the truly mighty Legendaries who were high-end experts in the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    Aside from a member of the Inquisition.

    The Inquisition was one of the three branches of the Hall of Kadath, aside from the lesiarchy and the Holy Temr Order. Each of the branches had its specific purpose and order and the domain where they operated.

    The lesiarchy was responsible for the administrative things rted to the Hall of Kadath, spreading the religion, creating Apocalypses in countless worlds, gathering souls, preaching and other things.

    The Holy Temr Order was the military arm of the Hall of Kadath, responsible for wars against other factions or the natives of the world that proved to be powerful. They were basically the soldiers of the Hall of Kadath and were following quality over quantity. Led by their Grandmaster, they were the sharpest sword of the Hall of Kadath that cut its enemies and the strongest shield that protected it from threats.

    And then, there was a third branch that wasn''t even known to the broader Cosmos. They were the ones who operated in the shadows of the darkness; they were not know; they were the ones who remained forgotten and unseen. Yet, their deeds were known by everyone, as they often changed the politicalndscape of the entire Material ne.

    On the Material ne, only a very few people knew about their existence and their purpose and those who did could only hope that they would never be their enemies. For them, if they chose someone as their target, then death was the only possible oue; there was nothing else that could happen after they choose someone to be their enemy.

    They were the Inquisition.

    The Inquisition was the strongest branch of the Hall of Kadath that was tasked with fighting the strongest and most powerful enemies of the Hall. They were the dagger in the shadows that was removing threats before they became threats or those who were too powerful to be removed in a conventional way, or those who needed to be removed as silently as possible.

    All Inquisitors of the Inquisition were best of the best, strongest of the strongest and were fanatically loyal to the Hall of Kadath, even far more than the average Cardinal of the lesiarchy. They would stop at nothing to carry out their mission which was assigned to them, as nothing was more important to the Inquisitor of the Inquisition than the mission he was assigned and the glory of the Kadath.

    "Star the operation the moment the attack starts. I will be taking care of Arioth personally."

    Inquisitor Jaeng stated neutrally as he looked at the elderly Golden-Horned Demon who was surrounded by other Legendaries of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and other Legendary Level Professionals. Ariaoth was, in fact, one of the Elders of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and was Level 95 Legendary, one whole Level above him.

    While in the Mortal Level, this would be considered an insignificant difference, in the Legendary Level, this was considered a distance like between heaven and earth. Naturally, Inquisitor Jaeng was not deterred by this, and instead, he looked at this like a challenge, a challenge that he would dly ovee and prove victorious in the battle as he would kill the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe Ariaoth for the glory of Kadath.

    His mission on the 8th Floor from the Lord Inquisitor Ardyn Tiberrius was simple as a day. To assist the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition in killing as much Legendaries belonging to the enemy camp as possible, preferably kill Elder Ariaoth and if he couldn''t kill Elder Ariaoth, then at least stall him long enough before most of the Legendaries belonged to the Golden-Horned camp are dead.

    Naturally, Inquisitor Jaeng would kill the Elder Ariaoth because he had been preparing for this meticulously and had everything that he needed. Also, killing one of their Elders would be a great hit to the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    Inquisitor Jaeng prepared his twin daggers, which were specifically crafted for him and not only were they powerful artifacts on their own, they were tempered in several types of poisons, some of which were deadly even to the Holy Legendaries, depending on their race.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The most dangerous poisons in which the twin daggers were tempered were the poison from the hatchling of the Nine-Headed Nightmare Hydra, which was a Holy Legendary Magical Beast from its birth and reached Transcendence at Adulthood, typically living only in extremely poisonous areas in the Higher Dimensional Worlds and also poison from adult Holy Legendary Basilisk that was not far from the Transcendence.

    These poisons which were infused into the pair of daggers, allowed them to reach the standard of the Holy-Grade Equipment, making them one of the most powerful weapons in the Material ne of the Cosmos and only by the sheer amount of luck was Inquisitor Jaeng able to find something like this.

    And then he started counting the seconds.

    ''60''

    ''59''

    ''58''

    .

    .

    .

    ''45''

    ''44''

    .

    .

    .

    ''32''

    .

    .

    .

    ''17''

    .

    .

    .

    ''10''

    ''9''

    ''8''

    ''7''

    ''6''

    ''5''

    ''4''

    ''3''

    ''2''

    ''1''

    ''Now.''

    Instantly after sixty seconds had passed, Inquisitor Jaeng unleashed his full power and appeared in front of the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe Ariaoth and shed at his neck with his twin daggers, forcing him to conjure a shield of golden-like energy, which blocked his daggers.

    Instantly after the sixty seconds have passed and the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition have started their ambush on the army of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their vassals, the Legendary Level Professionals of the Star-Moon Coalition did the exact same thing and ambushed the enemy Legendaries.

 Chapter 190 Clash Of Two Sides (3)

    Legendary Level Professionals of the Star-Moon Coalition, mainly of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe, immediately sneak attacked the ones of the Golden-Horned Tribe and their vassals. Countless Spells were beingunched every second as the space itself started shaking and many Abilities were being used non-stop one after another, as all Legendaries that were fighting here were going all out.

    When Inquisitor Jaeng saw that Elder Ariaoth blocked his first strike, he wasn''t that surprised because that would be expected from someone of his stature. It would be truly shameful if he let himself be ambushed and killed in such a fashion.

    To fall into the assassination, despite being an extremely powerful Legendary and one of the Elders of the Golden-Horned Tribe. In a second, Inquisitor Jaeng twisted his leg as he kicked at the golden shield that was protecting the Elder Ariaoth, as small cracks started appearing all around the shield, while its morous golden color was being corroded by the bits of the Void, which Inquisitor Jaeng put there when he kicked the golden shield.

    "Void!"

    Shouted Elder Ariaoth when he realized that the Void itself was right now corroding the shield he conjured to block the attacks of his attacker and it didn''t take him long to figure out against whom he was fighting.

    "What does the Hall win from this?"

    Truth to be told, as an Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, he wasn''t surprised by the interference of the Hall of Kadath at this point. From the very start, it was clear that somebody was acting against the demons as a whole, someone was instigating the conflicts between the Demon Tribe in the Demon Council and when the Demon Council divided itself into two factions and was on the verge of falling apart, then someone pushed the Star-Moon Coalition forward by showing them weak spots of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe.

    "Everything."

    Answered Inquisitor Jaeng, as he wasn''t overly fond of leading conversation with an enemy, as he struck once more with his twin daggers, breaking the golden shield that was protecting the Elder Ariaoth into countless pieces, appearing in front of the elderly Golden-Horned Demon and striking at his vitals with his twin daggers.

    Elder Ariaoth quickly dodged the iing daggers as he took out his sword and quickly countered the attacks of Inquisitor Jaeng. Instantly the sword he took out, burst out with intense blue mes that seemed to burn everything in its path.

    "You know, aside from being of Lineage of the Grand Emperor Bael, I also bear the blood of the Marquiss Phenex and inherited variation of their me Ability."

    Stated Elder Ariaoth as he started releasing the reddish-ck energy of Destruction andbining it with his mes, creating an even more versatile and destructive ability. When Inquisitor Jaeng noticed this deadlybination, he immediately jumped away from the Elder Ariaoth and his wariness about the old Golden-Horned Demon skyrocketed.

    Being a descendant of two Daemon Lineages and inheriting both of their Abilities was like a nightmare to fight against. Now, even Inquisitor Jaeng was rather suspicious about this man because, with his strength, he should have a very high position even amongst other Elders of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe, not to mention that due to his lineage, his road to Holiness was guaranteed.

    So if he killed him here... he would be depriving the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe of another Holy Level Legendary. This was a chance that couldn''t be passed one because there was a high probability that a second one like this would nevere as Inquisitor Jaeng stopped in his tracks and started summoning the power of the Void while chanting something in the Eldritch Speech of R''Lyehian.

    Seeing this taking ce, Elder Ariaoth of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe panicked a bit because he knew what was going on; thus he instantly sent an enormous wave of the Destruction mes at Inquisitor Jaeng as a ckish shield appeared in front of them, protecting the Inquisitor of the Inquisition from the Destruction mes that would have probably killed him, as the Elder Ariaoth used the majority of his power in that attack.

    "Let the Void out, Let the Madness Spread, Led the Chaos Descent and Let the Order Perish."

    Instantly after he finished that sentence, enormous power erupted from the Inquisitor Jaeng, as the Void istles started creeping into the space, prating everything around them, distorting time and space, making seconds seem like years and years seem like seconds, cracks appeared all around them, while most of the people who were still fighting looked in shock and terror at the Inquisitor Jaeng.

    "In the name of the Crawling Chaos, I sentence you to death... demon filth."

    Then he cracked his twin daggers together and, in a sh, appeared behind Elder Ariaoth, piercing his shoulder with his twin daggers, letting them to descend deep into the demon''s flesh, tearing it apart and poison infestation took ce, very own second Elder Ariaoth was injured by them.

    The moment Elder Ariaoth attempted to counter-attack and send a wave of Destruction mes after the Inquisitor Jaeng, he melded down into nothingness and appeared several tens of meters away, near one of the Legendaries who were affiliated with the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and, with one swift sh, he severed the demon''s head as the headless corpse floating in the emptiness of the space.

    In mere seconds the Void itself leeched out of the body of Inquisitor Jaeng and devoured the corpse of the Legendary that the Inquisitor Jaeng right now killed and transferred all that power into the Inquisitor Jaeng, who held his hands in some sort of pattern, creating unknown symbol out of his finger as an enormous beam of Void shot out of it directly at the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe Ariaoth.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Elderly Golden-Horned Demon swiftly used his Legendary might to summon two of his subordinates and sued them as living shields to stop the Void beam from hitting him because he got a hunch that if he used any conventional means of defense, he would be already long ago died.

    Indeed this act saved his life... for now, such ruthlessness wasn''t something new among the demons, as using the lives of their ownrades or subordinates to save their own hdie was nothing new to their kind.

    Several minutester, Elder Ariaoth of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe coughed out mouthfuls of blood because this fight was already taking a heavy toll on his person. Even though he was very powerful in his own right, he was pretty much careless when he let his enemy attack him, during which his shoulder got injured by Inquisitor Jaeng.

    While the injury itself was not that much of a problem because, under normal circumstances, his regeneration would deal with it. His regenerative capabilities had already saved him from much bigger and more severe wounds than just a shoulder pierced by one dagger.

    His Lineage from the Phenex gave him tremendous regenerative capabilities, almost if not on the same level as the Voidspawns, which were the creature with the most powerful regenerative capabilities in existence, minus Transcendents.

    With what Elder Ariaoth didn''t count was the fact that his enemy had the daggers based and tempered in the blood of some of the most poisonous creatures in the Material ne of the Cosmos and the fact that the daggers contained poison of the Nine-Headed Nightmare Hydra, even though it was still a hatchling and poison of Basilisk.

    Right now, long gone was his handsome appearance; even though he was old, his handsomeness was undeniable as that was something like amon trait of the entire Godlen-Horned Demon Tribe, but right now, half of his face was being corroded by pulsating ck veins that were dposing his flesh and he was already losing his eyesight from his left eye.

    This was a severe miscalction that he paid dearly for and he was aware that he wouldn''t be living long. Right now, his regeneration was doing everything it could do to heal him from the poison mixture that the Inquisitor Jaeng managed to get into his body and deep into his blood cirction, but it was not that effective.

    The real problem was that the poison of the hatchling Nine-Headed Nightmare Hydra was enough to kill him if not for the Phenex Lineage, but coupled with the venom of Basilisk that was noted to be able to dpose even some of the toughest ores found on the Material ne and some other poisons that he didn''t recognize, the sole thing that his regeneration could do was to keep him alive for some additional time.

    "Underesteminated member of the Inquisition... they should write me that on the grave."

    The Elder managed to say before he gripped his sword and did thest thing that he could, which was the burn his Life Fire.

    Life Fire was something unique to any demon that was of the lineage of Transcendental Daemon, Marquis Phenex. Naturally, those with stronger blood would have stronger Life Fire which would give them more powerful abilities and power.

    The Life Fire was located in the soul of a demon and it was basically the source of their power or at least a partial source of their power. In critical moments, they could use the Life Fire to draw power out of it to enhance their own power; naturally, this came with some rather severe dangers that could prove rtively fatal to them.

    Normally the usage of the Life Fire tobat was thest resort among thest resorts for a very simple reason. If there was a case or situation that something happened to the Life Fire or, god-forbade, the Life Fire was extinguished, then the demons of the Lineage of Phenex would lose their inherent ability of Nirvanic Rebirth, which was, basically, resurrection after their death as long as the Life Fire was intact.

    Due to that, almost none would use the Life Fire in normal situations because if something went wrong... then permanent death was sure for them because the Nirvanic Rebirth was their sole opportunity for resurrection; this also made the demons of the Lineage of Phenex pain in the ass to fight against, as they could always resurrect after being killed.

    Naturally, there existed some means of preventing such an oue, like targeting the Life Fire and extinguishing it during the fight or corrupting it. And that was something that couldn''t be easier for Inquisitor Jaeng because, as a worshipper of the Outer Gods, it was an effortless task for him to use a bit of a Void to corrode Elder Ariaoth''s Life Fire.

    The first thing Inquisitor Jaeng did when he saw that Elder Ariaoth was using his Life Fire was create as much distance between them as possible; considering the fact that most of the Legendaries around here were already dead, left or fled, it wasn''t much of a problem.

    ? Not even secondster, an enormous wave of mes burst out of Elder Ariaoth''s very own soul as Elder Jaeng used the Void itself to create a cocoon-like shield around him to defend agast the fire that was extremely destructive because it started burning everything in the vicinity.

    Even some of the Legendary-Grade equipment that was floating in the emptiness of the Tower''s Space was melting at tremendous speed.

 Chapter 191 Clash Of Two Sides (4)

    The power of the Life Fire originating from such a powerful Legendary Level Professional like Elder Ariaoth was not something to be trifled with, especially when the Life Fire contained some bits of the Destruction of the Lineage of Bael, making it even more dangerous than average Life Fire.

    Fortunately for the Inquisitor Jaeng, his cocoon shield out of the Void was strong enough to block the intense heat that had already melted down a whole bunch of Legendary-Grade Artifacts like they were made out of snow.

    "You are indeed too dangerous to be left alive... how many of those like you are born through one Epoch? Ten? Twenty? Every single one of heritage like yours is destined to be Holy Legendary and even have a solid chance at achieving Transcendence."

    Suddenly Inquisitor Jaeng said to Elder Ariaoth, but it seemed like just stating some facts. Normally the demons who were descendants of the Daemon Lineages, like direct descendants, meaning that they inherited some of the Abilities from their Primogenitros through the Bloodline, never married those who didn''t share their blood.

    Such cases like Elder Ariaoth, being the progeny of two Daemon Lineages, was extremely rare and only a very few such cases happened during each Epoch, to the point where the ones that happened could be counted on one hand. Normally it was because the existence of such a descendant who inherited the Bloodline of two Primogenitors could seriously disrupt the fragile bnce between specific demon tribes and species, something that the ones on the top of the said species and tribe didn''t like to see.

    Everyone from them was obsessed with maintaining the equilibrium, even though it was that equilibrium that made them stagnate as the cross-breeding of various Lineages made them many times stronger, like the case with the Elder Ariaoth. Even though the Elder''s progress was slower than many others Golden-Horned Demons, he was many times stronger than any other Golden-Horned Demon tribesmen at the same Level.

    "Not many... yes... it is a shame... descendants between various Lineages are proving to be more powerful, especially when they inherit both Bloodlines and manage to awaken the Innate Abilities of both Lineages; unfortunately, most of the Holies and the rest of the old coots that are still kicking in the Material ne are more interested in maintaining the status quo between various demon species and not changing anything... if there is one thing that is race as collective desperately needs it is the change."

    Answered him, the Elder of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe Ariaoth, with a solemn voice, because he was one of the few who realized how backward the demons truly werepared to the rest of the Material ne and sooner orter, the time woulde when they wouldn''t be able to depend on their overwhelming numbers to win their fights.

    It was not today; it won''t be tomorrow or the day after, or a centuryter... maybe it won''t be even this Epoch; who knows? But there was one thing that was for sure, and that was... the times were changing, and only those who adapt will survive and those who do not perish.

    "Yes... your species is on the same level as orks... maybe a bit better in cases of more advanced tribes and races... but in the end, you will soon be broken beyond repair in a state where you won''t be a threat to the glorious Kadath for a very, very, very long time."

    Stated Inquisitor Jaeng as he brandished his twin daggers, swirling the power of the Void around them, while he melted into nothingness and appeared behind the Elder Ariaoth, shing at his neck with his twin dagger.

    In a split of a second, amidst the trajectory, he changed the course, as he dodged the iing ming sword as the Elder Ariaoth predicted that his foe would try to attack him once more from behind. Dodging to the right side, he agilely leaned backward while he threw one of the daggers at the Elder Ariaoth, who barely managed to dodge the iing dagger, not noticing that Inquisitor Jaeng jumped away while stabbing the second one in his right leg.

    He twisted the stabbed dagger as the elderly Golden-Horend demon screamed in pain, as his flesh was being twisted and corroded by countless poisons that the Inquisitor of the Hall of Kadath''s Inquisition was using.

    Then before the Elder Ariaoth could counterattack, he pulled out the dagger, jumped backward and while he was still in the air, he caught the second dagger, which he threw after the Elder Ariaoth; as hended onto his legs, several tens of meter away from the enraged Golden-Horned Demon.

    "That was the second dose... by this, your body should be crumbling away... and not only your body."

    When the Elder Ariaoth heard Inquisitor''s words, he suddenly noticed that his burning me of Life Fire inside his soul, which was previously pure crimson red, now had countless strains of grey in it, as it seemed like it was struggling against something.

    "Void."

    Not only during the time when Inquisitor Jaeng stabbed the Elder Ariaoth, he managed to inject some more of the poisons into the Golden-Horned demon''s body, but he also manipted the Void as he directly attacked and infected the man''s Life Fire.

    Because the Elder Ariaoth was using the Life Fire to fight, it was not protected as he took it out from his very own soul, meaning any soul protection treasure that the Golden-Horned Demon was using to protect his soul from attacks was virtually useless to protect the Life Fire.

    And now the Life Fire had the honor of being turned into food for the Void. Suddenly he felt like all the mes dancing around him started being extinguished as his control over the fire decreased at a visible speed. At the same time, the contamination of the Void inside his Life Fire continuously increased until it didn''t devour the entire Life Fire.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Shame that your Life Fire would be extinguished... for once, I would want to bring back Legendary of Phenex Lineage with intact Life Fire. It would be indeed interesting research material; the ones of Solheim and Scientia would pay a tremendous amount of money for even part of the intact Life Fire."

    Muttered Inquisitor Jaeng with faux sadness as he wanted to bring back the corpse of the Ariaoth with his Life Fire intact. That would not only give the Hall of Kadath the opportunity to study Limit Legendary Professional Demon of the Phenex Lineage, but also they could sell some of it to the Solheim Civilization or Scientia Hierarchy which would pay almost anything to obtain a sample of the Life Fire.

    Normally when someone was fighting the demons of the Phenex who were from the Fenixian Tribe or the Fenixian Demon Species as they were called, it was night impossible to obtain the intact Life Fire of the Fenixian Demon. The main reason for it was that, in their death, the Life Fire was almost always destroyed.

    Naturally, when it came to the Legendaries of the Fenixian Species, it was even far more challenging to obtain the intact Life Fire from them. The highest recorded obtained Life Fire of the Fenixian demon was from one who reached Advanced Stage Legendary Level, and it was only through the cooperation of an entire team of the elite Magic Users from the Magisterium who managed to obtain it through some obscure ritual.

    If not for that, they wouldn''t be able to obtain the Life Fire out of the Advanced Stage Legendary Level Professional. Naturally, the Life Fire was an extremely precious resource that could be used by those with fire-rted anything, abilities, bloodlines or anything else to advance their strength and uniqueness with the Life Fire of the Fenixians.

    Slowly but surely, Elder Ariaoth was dying at visible speed and right now, he could hardly even move as his Life Fire was being consumed by the Void. As the Life FIre was being consumed by the Void, it meant that his regenerative capabilities were being weakened at the same time, which also meant that the poisons inside his body were more and more effective, as they essentially killed him, when he dropped dead down... lifeless.

    "Hmm... that was a good one... one mistake would cost me my life."

    Inquisitor Jaeng muttered as he took out a small vial from his Dimensional Ring and poured it over the corpse of the Golden-Horned / Fenixian demon hybrid as the poisons that were corroded the corpse were being dispersed and neutralized.

    Inquisitor Jaeng wanted the corpse of the demon hybrid to be in the as best state possible... if that was even possible, but whatever. Letting the poisons in the corpse would only deteriorate and dpose it even further, practically destroying it for anything meaningful and useful.

    As the poison master, he knew exactly how to mix a mixture that would almost instantaneously neutralize them to preserve the corpse. After that, he stored the corpse of the Elder Ariaoth into his Dimensional Ring while he looked at the iing Star Demons and Moon Demons who finished killing off the ones from the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their vassals.

    "The deal isplete."

    Inquisitor Jaeng stated to the leaders of the Star-Moon Coalition before his body melted into nothingness and he left the 8th Floor entirely, while the two demons, namely of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe, looked at each other and sighed in relief.

    The time when they realized that someone from the Kadathian Inquisition was present, it made them extremely nervous because members of the Inquisition were not people to be reasoned with. It wouldn''t be weird for the Inquisitor to turn his de at them when he was done with the Elder of the Golden-Horned Tribe. Even worse, they were weaker than him by whole margins, so they wouldn''t be able to put even some resistance against the Inquisitor.

    "Fortunately, he is done and we are alive... not to mention, the whole bunch of enemy Legendaries are dead, including one of the ELders of the Golden-Horend Tribe and we even won the conflict on the 8th Floor. So this entire operation could be considered a massive sess."

    Said one of the Moon Demon Tribe after some time, while the other from the Star Demon Tribe just nodded his head that they had indeed achieved a great victory in their conflict against the Golden-Horned Tribe.

    With this, the demon unity was broken and the Demon Council fell.

    In its ce, the Star-Moon Coalition and Atraksan Demon Empire rose into the province, though they were not the only ones, as some of the demon species descended from the various Transcendental Daemons, be it Pirs or others, either decided to pursue independence or created their own factions.

    So in a certain sense, the Demon Breaking n of the Hall of Kadath was sessful before it fully began.

 Chapter 192 End Of The 8th Floor Crisis

    8th Floor of the Tower, Human Continent, Central Area, Outskirts of the Sngrad.

    Samiel observed how the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition were pouring into the former capital of the Human Brotherhood, conquering street by street, district by district and soon enough, even Layer after Layer.

    Forces of the Star-Moon Coalition were far more efficient in this casepared to the Army of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe; that was indeed the fact; just considering the speed and proficiency at which they were fighting signified that they were under a skilledmander and were actually using some tactics aside from just blindly rushing in with overwhelming power.

    In the end, it didn''t take a long time for the army of the Star-Moon Coalition to arrive andy siege to the Heart of the City Layer, where the toughest resistance of the army under the Golde-Horned Demon Tribe was stationed, as the Golden Ones stationed there the majority of their forces, that were withdrawing from the other parts of the Sngrad.

    Additionally to that, the Heart of the City was the least damaged Layer of Sngrad; thus it was suitable for siege warfare... unfortunately for the forces of the Golden Ones, it didn''t go their way, as the forces of Star-Moon Coalition sent there more than twenty Gold-Tier Professionals, who breached the defenses through the sheer brute force and forced their entrance to the Heart of the City.

    Both Samiel and Juulius, as people who were rtively well-versed in the military strategies, had to admit that the tactics that the leader of the demon army under the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their vassals, Lord General Qais were good, very goodmander, probably open of the best that the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe could send.

    He practically went for not the best defense, but he opted for steps in which he would inflict as big damage on the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition as possible, which in truth was going very well for him.

    Due to countless suicidal attacks, some demon soldiers were blowing themselves up through the usage of the magitek explosives or those who could, could initiate self-destruction. This was actually a pretty good strategy considering the situation that they were in, as their aim was just to cause as big damage as possible.

    "It seems that the Heart of the City will be decorated with the body parts and blood of the demons under the Star-Moon Coalition. The Golden Ones are going essentially take them down with them... most interesting situation, I wouldn''t think that those self-centered cowards would do something like this."

    Samiel muttered as he watched an enormous explosion take ce; as one of the injured Gold-Tier Professionals of the Golden-Horned race blew himself, taking with him to the grave, another one of the Gold-Tier Professionals of the Star-Moon Coalition and an entire regiment of soldiers of the Star-Moon Coalition that was unlucky to be in the vicinity of the explosion.

    "They don''t have many options, truth to be told. If they didn''t die here, they would be executed by the higher-ups of their respective tribes, as the Golden-Horned Tribe would need to punish them in one way or another. Through sacrificing their lives to kill as many of the Star-Moon Coalition, at least their families would be safe... probably."

    Samiel heard Juulius say and the end of the exnation indeed sounded pretty ominous, but it sounded logical. He understood the thought process of those who chose to fight to the death; while it was not applicable to themoners of the demon races and tribes, the ones, who had some social status in their respective, whatever organization name it was, had only one choice.

    Death.

    Though depending on where and how they died, they could at least save their own dignity and probably the lives of their families. Maybe they would be lucky and kill someone important through their ferocious suicidal attacks.

    "Someone like General Qais, whoes from the Noble Family within the Golden-Horned species, has a lot to lose if he decided to desert... not only would he be then hunted down with extreme prejudice and killed in the most brutal way, but his entire family would be sentenced to the same fate and entire Noble House would be extinguished, stripped of status and dered as eternal traitors, destroying the heritage of countless millennia..."

    Samiel wasn''t that surprised hearing this because Golden-Horned Tribe was known for its ruthlessness even towards their own subjects... while 5th Prince Kairos was an ipetent idiot who created trouble everywhere he went and was a great help to the sess of Demon Breaking n, even Samiel was shocked that his father would sentence him to the Demon Realm... known that it would be soon Conjunction of Spheres between Demon Realm and Heaven Realm.

    And there was no worse way of death than being killed by Angels... hypocritical feathered pigeons. Initially, Samiel thought that his father, Patriarch Angol, would just execute him publicly and be done with it... he would have never thought that his own father would technically send him to die in the hands of Angels... that was rather cruel even for the demon standards... something that even some people in the Hall of Kadath whom he talked about it were surprised about.

    Soon enough, one by one, the Gold-Tier Professionals of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe and their army were being killed off, as the forces of the Star-Moon Coalition were too many and were severely outnumbering them.

    However, it was still important to say that the demon army of the Star-Moon Coalition was sustaining severe losses when the ones of their enemies stopped caring about their very own life and were doing everything they could in order to cause their enemies as high losses as possible.

    "We should be going to the higher floor."

    Samiel stated as he looked at the translucent window from the Akashic Records that appeared in front of his eyes not long after the Golden-Horned demon army conquered the Sngrad.

    It was a sign that he had seeded inpleting the Advancement Mission of the Tower''s System and even though there was no Unique Mission or Hidden one, he wasn''t overly sad about that fact because he had already obtained a lot on the 8th Floor of the Tower.

    [Advancement Quest: Fate of the 8th Floor has beenpleted!]

    [Advancement Quest: Fate of the 8th Floor

    Description: The 8th Floor has been locked in strife and fighting factions for countless centuries and millennia. Join one of the warring sides between the Human Brotherhood or the Demon Tribes and help decide the oue of the war.

    Status: Completed - Joined on the side of the Demon Tribes.]

    [Calcting the Contribution for the Advancement Quest: Fate of the 8th Floor.]

    [Contribution for the Advancement Quest: Fate of the 8th Floor has been calcted.]

    [Calcting the Rewards for thepletion of the Advancement Quest: Fate of the 8th Floor based on the achieved Contribution. User Samiel Zentaur has achieved significant contributions for the task; please wait until the rewards for the Advancement Quest are calcted.]

    [Rewards have been calcted.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has been rewarded with the Item stored within the Akashic Records.]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Akashci Records has rewarded user Samiel Zentaur with the ingot of the NthMetal due to its suitability to repair the Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence.]

    Samiel read the notifications from the Akashic Records as he was partially stunned at this because he knew that the Nth Metal was one of the hardest metals in the Material ne of the Cosmos and would do very well with the repair of the Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence as rtively small shining silverfish metal ingot appeared in his hands.

    [Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence has activated its 4th Ability Growth and is currently absorbing the Nth Metal Ingot.]

    Suddenly out of his armor that was hidden beneath his leather trenchcoat wave of miasma burst out as it enveloped the Nth Metal Ingot and started greedily devouring it, or more like, absorbing it to repair itself.

    [Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence has been repaired by 1%.]

    [Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence has been repaired by 1%.]

    [Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence has been repaired by 1%.]

    [Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence has been repaired by 1%.]

    [Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence has been repaired by 1%.]

    ...

    [Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence has been repaired by 1%.]

    [Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence has finished the repair process. The Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence is repaired at 15%.]

    [Name: Rao''s Vengence

    Grade: Holy (seriously damaged)

    Description: Armor made from the corpse of an Ancient Primordial God of Sun Rao and various rare metals collected across the entire Cosmos, containing all of his resentment and hatred for the world of the living, it was named Rao''s Vengence, and after thousands of years of absorbing negative energy and souls of its bearers, it developed an Ego, bing an Ego Artifact.

    After it was almost destroyed, the armor of Rao''s Vengence fell to the Holy-Grade and is currently deteriorating. To repair itpletely, multiple precious ores and metals are needed, additionally as other things.

    After it found its new owner, Rao''s Vengence started preparing itself and the deterioration process has been temporarily stopped.

    Abilities:

    1st Corruption - Has corrupting effect on its bearer and usually leads to madness.

    2nd Berserker - Upon Awakening the Armor, ignored all physical or physical pain for the host to continue to fight on. (Sealed)

    3rd Mana Absorption - Can absorb Mana and Spells, making the User nemesis of magic casters. (Sealed)

    4th Growth - Can grow and restore itself by assimting material, metals, ores, crystals, and even souls of powerful beings.

    Note: Currently, all abilities aside from Growth are sealed until the armor is restored to optimal condition.

    Restoration Process: 15%]

    After that, the process was done; Samiel opened the record of the Holy-Grade Armor Rao''s Vengence to check on the differences and while it didn''t seem that much had changed, in truth, the armor had gone through enormous revitalization.

    He knew that one single ingot was not enough to repair itpletely, but he achieved something great today with it. He managed to repair a Holy-Grade Artifact to 15% from an original 1% and most importantly, he managed to stop the deterioration for a very long time, and right now, he could use the armor in a fight and tank some heavy hits... probably.

    "We should be going out of this Floor... now that this mess has ended, it is highly probable that the Legendaries of demons would descend down."

    Samiel said as others agreed with him because there was nothing that would be for them on the 8h Floor of the Tower. Dharzug, probably out of all of them, had the easiest Advancement Quest; from what he said, the Green Gods always assumed the same Quest, which was to participate in the Waaaggghhh and smash skulls.

    Naturally, the rewards were nothing much, but the Green Gods were not known for their generosity either, but at least, the ork had a rtively easy time climbing the Tower in most of the instances.

 Chapter 193 Aftermath Of The 8th Floor Crisis

    Not even several hourster, shocking news started circting across the entirety of the Material ne of the Cosmos, the NEX or the Neural Extradimensional Xenowork or even across some of the Transcendental Factions, because even some of the Transcendental Entities were right now paying to the developments on the Material ne due to this event.

    One of the strongest factions in the Cosmos, the one which would have stood on the same level as the Hall of Kadath, The Guild or Vaultbank if it was truly unified, the Demon Council was officially disbanded as a conflict between two of its major sub-factions, Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe against the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe erupted into full out war.

    Some who knew how to read the subtle waves of the Cosmopolitics knew that the Demon Council was a tickling bomb, a tickling bomb that some of the factions were igniting far sooner than it originally should.

    Soon enough entire Cosmos and all major and even minor yers on the Cosmos politics knew about the ambush of the Golden-Horned demon army by the forces of the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe, where they not only managed to massacre the entire mortal army under the Golden ones but also killed several tens of Legendaries of the Golden-Horned Tribe and their vassals.

    Instantly afterward came the promation of the foundation of the Star-Moon Coalition that was founded by the Star Demon Tribe and Moon Demon Tribe, together with some of their vassals and closest allies, creating a new faction.

    At the same time, not even an hourter, the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe sent out several of their Holies as they assimted all of their vassals and even some of their allies into Atraksan Demon Empire as the Patriarch Angol crowned himself the first Imperial Emperor of the Atraksan.

    Not only these two but apparently even some minor factions were being created right here and there out of some stronger members of the former Demon Council.

    The former Demon Council epassed practically every Demon Race, Tribe or any other faction that was consisting of demons. They were colossal hegemon that, technically speaking, was stronger than any of the 13 Gates by a wide margin as they had tremendous numbers.

    Unfortunately, there didn''t exist any sense of inner unity among the members of the Demon Council and calling them a faction would be a severe underestimation of its fundamental nature and a grave offense to true factions.

    So, in a certain sense, it wasn''t even that surprising that it would fall apart. Now, though it was disbanded, it created a huge political mess because countless new-old yers were appearing on the politicalndscape of the Material ne.

    Several of the Demon Tribes were already fracturing because the loyalty of their members were either towards the Atraksan Empire or Star-Moon Coalition, one of such notable cases being the Shadow Demon Tribe, where was even conflict between the Valeforias Family that seemed to lean towards the Atraksan Demon Empire and several other Demon Families that leaned towards either Star-Moon Coalition or...

    The newest yer who revealed itself to the Material ne after killing four Holies and fifty Legendaries of the Atraksan Demon Empire...

    Hellsalem, under the leadership of Apollyon Abaddon, son of the Primordial Daemon Abaddon, who was living in the Demon Realm, unknown to anyone else. This was a shock to anyone who heard it because it was unheard of that somebody of such prominent lineage and power would be living in the Material ne, in a ce like a Demon Realm as a martial hermit, training and training... and then came the day of the reveal.

    A Limit Holy Legendary who unified the entire Demon Realm under his rule and extended the offer for the Demon Races, Tribes and anyone who didn''t want to be caught in the middle of a fight between the Atraksan Empire and Star-Moon Coalition.

    With the establishment of the Hellsalem, basically, three factions grew on the ashes of the former Demon Council, while at least two of them were antagonistic toward each other. Naturally, for the Atraksan Demon Empire, the fact that they lost control or rather never assumed control over the Demon Realm was a great hit to their pride because the Demon Realm was the ancestral home of the demons.

    Even before the Higher Dimensional World Abyss was created, it contained countless secrets even till this day and if someone Reset the World... then he would obtain a very powerful Principal World filled with countless resources.

    Naturally, the establishment of the Hellsalem attracted many of the demons, especially the older ones, the traditionalists and those of that mindset because it appeared like Apollyon Abaddon was attempting to revive the Demon Realm and bring it on the same level as other Principal Worlds...

    If such a thing seeded, then it would be a great boon for the Transcendental Daemon Faction in their war against their enemies, as they would obtain another powerful world capable of giving birth and holding Transcendents.

    Even in the Tower, a brutal war on the 95th Floor of the Tower started because that was the Floor that was formerly under the control of the former Demon Council. Now with the disbandment of the Council, the Atraksan Empire and Star-Moon Coalition started waging war on each other for control of the 95th Floor of the Tower.

    All Floors above the 89th Floor were special in a certain way and their condition were absolutely heavenly for practicing. Just being born on such a Floor was a great boon to the future path that the person would walk and reaching Bronze-Tier on the 90th Floor and higher was as easy as breathing... naturally it was notparable to the Higher Dimensional World where people were born even at the Silver-Tier and reached Gold-Tier after a few years just by standing and doing nothing.

    Presently the Top Floors were controlled by the following factions:<novelnext></novelnext>

    90th Floor was ruled by The Nexus, which was the 9th Gate of the 13 Gates, a faction consisting of Living A.I. that developed their own technological tree working on the Primordial Psionic Energy and had the highest level of technology; they were also one of the ones that absolutely abhorred Sorcerers, Arcanists, Wizards and practically any other Magic User.

    91st Floor was ruled by the Nesser Dynasty, the 5th Gate of the 13 Gates. It would be already a few Epochs since the Nesser Dynasty took control of the 91st Floor of the Tower. 91st Floor was the territory of the elves on the Tower, though aside from the Nesser Dynasty, some other elven factions too had some bits of territories on the 91st Floor, mainly gifted by the Nesser Dynasty itself.

    92nd Floor was ruled by the Pale Congregation, the 8th Gate of the 13 Gates. It was a faction created by the Bloodkins and ruled by the Pale Bloods of their Holy City, it was ruled by the Pale Blood, the purest and strongest of the Bloodkins; they were the central faction of the Vampires, Kindreds, Dead Apostles and Pale Bloods. Ironically though the Pale Congregation was very simr in the Demon Council in nature, because the Bloodkins were essentially ruled by their bloodlines, they had a low possibility of division

    93rd Floor was ruled by the Cmity Church, ranked as the 11th Gate of the 13 Gates. Cmity Church was a religious organization that worshipped Evil Gods, though their primary target of worship and loyalty was the God of Cmity and his followers. They were one of the younger factions, not that oldpared to the others of the 13 Gates.

    94th Floor was ruled by the Asura Tribe, the 7th Gate of the 13 Gates. Asura Tribe were a very peculiar species because they were all direct blood descendants of the Blood Sea Ming He, who was an extremely mighty Transcendent of the Immortal Realm, which was a Higher Dimensional Realm for the Immortals.

    95th Floor was ruled by the Magisterium, the 4th Gate of the 13 Gates. An alliance of the Magicians of various paths, where everyone did what they wanted essentially because they were pretty divided into countless sub-factions that eitherpeted against each other or had some sort of enmity between each other.

    96th Floor wasn''t ruled by anyone, but as said, it was in a state of conflict between the Atraksan Demon Empire and Star-Moon Coalition. It was previously under the Demon Council; now, it was turned into a huge battlefield between the factions existing there.

    97th Floor also wasn''t ruled by anyone, but rather it was a battlefield between the Chromatic Dragons and Metal Dragons and their Cults for countless Epochs already after the previous owner of the 97th Floor, which was the Great Xia Dynasty fell to their interior schemes and decline. 97th Floor was very suitable for the dragons; thus both of the major dragon species, namely the Chromatic Dragons and Metal Dragons, imed the Floor as their own... naturally, as they were too prideful, nobody would back down and thus they waged war at each other for the Floor, for hundreds of thousand years already.

    98th Floor was ruled by the Hall of Kadath for several Eras already.

    ? Naturally, factions like the Avalon Kingdom didn''t have any Floor in the Tower, while Germinal Order was striving to control one of the Floors above the 80th Floor, and the Scientia Hierarchy was controlling the 82nd Floor of the Tower.

    Scientia Hierarchy was one of the oldest factions in the Material nes of the Cosmos; with the powerful backing of the Techno God, they essentially worshipped knowledge and technology and were more or like focused on the improvement of their technological level, not the territorial expansion.

    The Underdark was controlling the 89th Floor of the Tower because it had a very suitable environment for various of the dark races to live there, something that the other Floor didn''t provide for them and terraforming one of the Floors above 90th... would require an effort of several Transcendents and the Gods of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon are not most helpful of the bunch.

    ***

    "So, what do you say about the results?"

    Two people were talking as they were standing on the familiar balcony of the Imperial Pce of the Nesser Dynasty.

    "I would have never thought that it would work... brother."

    Answered the Emperor of the Nesser Dynasty, Tynardanis Nesser Silvermoon, to another man who looked very simr to him, albeit a bit older. It was his elder brother, Tyrlion Nesser Silvermoon, who joined the Hall of Kadath and became one of its Cardinals.

    "Indeed... it was aption of luck, coincidence and meticulous nning."

    Stated Cardinal Tyrlion Nesser Silvermoon, because their n was indeed splendidly carried out, ahead of schedule by several thousand years. Ironically enough, everything started with the assassination of one person by information leakage by the Holy Son and slowly but steadily it grew to such an extent.

 Chapter 194 Deserts Of Sikarra

    Everywhere where an eye could see was nothing more than just a desert. Everything on the surface of the continent or continents consisted almost exclusively of dry dune deserts, though some may find some mountain ranges stretched across thendscapes, breaking up the deserts and sheltering limited native lifeforms that could survive in this harsh enviroment.

    Vicious winds whipped the rocks as the sandstorms here were strong enough to tear even Gold-Tier Professionals to shreds of nothingness if they were caught by some of the stronger sandstorms. Traversing through the desert was dangerous; there was no water as that was the scarcest resource in the dunes of the deserts.

    This was the 10th Floor of the Tower... alternatively called dune, though its official name was Sikarra. It was one of the most inhospitable ces across the Tower and there were not even many people who lived in this ce, aside from some natives who were mainly species that preferred the environment of deserts... and naturally, the Magical Beasts were plenty in here.

    Some of the most dangerous were the enormous sandworms and some mutated creatures that were wandering the wastnds of the 10th Floor and crossing its oceans of sand. Only the sandworms seemed to thrive in the environment as they swam through the oceans of the sands, like fish in water and countless weird magical beasts that adapted to the life in the dunes traversed through the desert.

    ording to the legends of the once long-forgotten past, the 10th Floor of the Tower was once in the primordial past very vibrant Floor and full of flora and fauna.

    It was a ce where countless species lived and the environment would be able to satisfy even most of the vain Silvermoon Elves with its lush green forest and countless species of fauna that lived in those forests. It was something akin to paradise on earth, a tranquil ce full of life and peace, where countless people lived together in harmony.

    ording to ancient records, the achievement of what the 10th Floor of the Tower looks like is thanks to the invasive species of Sandworms living on the 10th Floor, the Arrakian Sandworm. By the ims of some schrs, one day, some of the Nobles that ruled a considerable region of the 10th Floor under the Empire that controlled the 10th Floor found a bunch of weird cocoon-like eggs in the depths of caves under the mountain range.

    Naturally, they though that it would be a good idea to hath the eggs, but unfortunately for the Nobles that found them, no matter what they did, the eggs didn''t want to hatch until one of the schrs proposed letting them to hatch freely while dropping them in some forest or any ce that was full of life.

    When they did this, to their surprise and shock, within the one-week entire forest with a size of more than five million square kilometers was turned into a huge desert as several mysterious eggs drained every bit of life to hatch themselves. When the nobles saw the creatures that hatched from the eggs, they were some kind of worm-type Magical Beast that was never seen before.

    Their skin was thick, rough, and orange-colored. It served the simple function of armor and wasprised of many scales, each a few feet in size. These scales ovepped and interlocked to form the armor that protected it against internal sand invasion. Even though they were newly hatched, they already had a length of around ten meters, and after one month of eating and evolving, they grew to a staggering fifty meters.

    Naturally, the gravest side effect that nobody seemed to notice because everyone was blinded by the gains and greed. When the Arrakian Worm was killed, as they named them, their body was practically a treasure trove... not to mention the most precious part of their body was the Arrakian Nucleus that grew naturally in their brain as they reached adulthood and the older they were, the stronger the Arrakian Nucleus was.

    The Arrakian Nucleus was an extremely precious and powerful Psionic conduit and those who had Psionic Energy could use the Arrakian Nuclei to greatly advance their strength, as the Arrakina Nuclei contained pure and untainted Primordial Psionic Energy. Because of this, the Korias Empire that at that time ruled the 10th Floor of the Tower didn''t care about anything else, just the wellbeing and reproduction of the Arrakian Worms because even Nuclei from Bronze-Tier Arrakian Worm was worth around 10,000 Credits and even more if a right buyer was found.

    That was because the Arrakian Nucleus was indeed one kind of treasure that was capable of holding perfectly stable, untainted and powerful Primordial Psionic Energy. Soon enough, the Korias Empire became obscenely rich due to harvesting the Arrakian Nuclei and breeding the worms, to the point where they managed to cultivate tens of Legendaries from the Arrakian Nuclei they harvested and theypletely transitioned to the usage of the Psionics.

    After several decades though, something small that nobody paid attention to was the continuous spread of the dunes across the 10th Floor of the Tower, as its once vibrant forest and lush green ins were dying out and were turned into deserts and wastnds, where nothing else remained than just sand.

    One hundred years after the hatching of the first Arrakian Worms, approximately 85% of the 10th Floor was turned to deserts and the entire Korias Empire was enveloped in open rebellions because peoplemon, noble and soldiers alike were rising in the uprisings because they were dying out due to lesser living space due to ever-expanding dunes and deserts.

    And not to be enough of it, they were being attacked by several other factions that wanted their piece of the pie, especially the ones which focused on the Psionic Energy; the Arrakian Worms proved to be extremely valuable; thus they made use of the opportunity presented to them and with all of this going on, the Korias Empire soon enough copsed.

    From then on, only sandworms remained on the 10th Floor because many of them reached Legendary Level and shockingly, there were even three Holy Legendary Level Arrakian Sandworms noted to live deep within the center of the 10th Floor. However, they were always in hibernation and they would wake only once every few thousand years to eat.

    And by eating it meant that they would feed on other Legendary Level sandworms, as each Holy Level Arrakian Sandworm was approximately several thousand kilometers in length and they could eat smallers like a snack.

    From the moment Samiel arrived at the 10th Floor of the Tower, he hated it... not the hatred was a weak word for the feelings he was feeling... hepletely abhorred the environment here. It was hot like shit here, stuffy and the sun was outright burning his skin, as it was dangerous to be on it for a prolonged amount of time.

    He experienced a simr environment on the 2nd Floor of the Tower and the trauma of the desert was still haunting him till this day. And what was worse, the 10th Floor was many times hotter and the environment was even worse... and the best thing on it were countless Arrakian sandworms that were swarming in the vicinity, underneath the deepyers of the sand desert.

    Arrakian Sandworms lived deep under the ground and they went above the surface only to hunt for food. They were able to sense anyone who was walking through the surface, through the vibrations that one was created during walking and thanks to their sensitivity towards the vibrations, nothing could escape their senses.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has arrived on the 10th Floor of the Tower.]

    [Distributing the Advancement Quest.]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Unique Quest has been assigned by the Tower''s System.]

    [Advancement Quest of the 10th Floor of the Tower

    Description: 10th Floor of the Tower is suitable for building Altars dedicated to various Gods, Daemons, Devils and other Transcendental that are worshipped in the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    For countless millennia, various species have been building tens of not hundreds of Altars dedicated to the veneration of their Gods and carried out worshipping ceremonies on the 10th Floor of the Tower by sacrificing local Magical Beast to their Gods.

    Mission: Build an Altar dedicated to the Outer Gods.

    Reward: Divine Shard of ???]

    Samiel read through the Advancement Quest that was assigned to him and he had to admit that at first nce, it seemed simple and easy enough... that was pretty unnerving for him and sowed seeds of fear in his person because whatever from the Akashic Records seemed easy, was, in fact, dangerous as fuck.

    Building an Altar to worship God was not an easy matter, especially because Samiel never build a proper Altar as hecked the resources to do so. The general rule was the stronger the worshipped God was, the harder it was to craft a proper Altar for the said God because more precious resources would be needed for the construction, something that he couldn''t get his hands on Earth.

    Now, the reward of the Advancement Quest was something that caught his interest because it was Divine Shard. Typically, the rewards of the Quest issued by the Akashic Records through the Tower''s System were usually tied to the Quest themselves in some way and the Divine Shard as the reward was clear evidence of that.

    Samiel was a bit baffled about what to do with the Divine Shard because, technically speaking, it was useless to him... unfortunately. Typically saying, any other person would be jumping several tens of meters from ecstasy and happiness upon seeing Divine Shard because that would allow one to start walking the Path of Godhood and upon reaching Holy Legendary one would have an easy transition to Godhood.

    And that was the problem because Samiel never nned and never wished to be God. Samiel was very well aware that the Gods were ves to their own power; their personalities were reshaped by the Faith of their Followers, as that was the most corruptive way of power.

    It was no wonder why Magic Users mainly abhorred any worship of traditional Gods in a sense because the Power of Faith or just the Faith was unique energy that was generated by the worshippers of God. Then the said God would absorb the Faith and grow in strength... and that was the problem because The Faith was tainted energy with emotions of worshippers, their imaginations about the Gods, their prejudice, thoughts, feelings... their everything.

    And this was basically overwriting the personalities of the Gods and people who were using the Faith. Now, the Outer Gods were extraordinary in this aspect because they didn''t even actively absorb the Faith, but instead, they were using the Faith to strengthen the Souls they obtained and then devoured the Souls to grow in power.

    Because of that, the Outer Godhood was remarkable in that aspect. Now, the Divine Shard was practically a part of the Divine Spark of a God, it was a very, very, very small shard of the Divine Spark, but for a mortal, it was an incredibly potent source of the Divine Power.

    ''Still... it is a very rare treasure and I better keep it forter usage... who knows, maybe in future I would have a perfect usage for it, and if not, I could always sell it to someone or just drop it in the Hall and redeem some resources in its ce.''

    Samiel thought as he turned his sight at another translucent window from the Tower''s System that contained a Unique Quest that was issued by the Tower''s System simultaneously with the Advancement Quest.

    [Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars

    Description: 10th Floor of the Tower is suitable for building Altars dedicated to various Gods, Daemons, Devils and other Transcendental that are worshipped in the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    As the Apostle of the Outer Gods, you have many enemies among the other Transcendents, especially in the ranks of Evil Gods, Daemons and other Transcendentals, who have worshippers on the 10th Floor of the Tower.

    Mission: Destroy the Altars dedicated to the enemies of the Azathoth''s Court.

    Reward: Depending on the result, Unlocking the Hidden Quest.]

 Chapter 195 Acclimatizing To Dune

    Now, this was a Quest befitting of the Hall of Kadath, though it was far more dangerous than just building the new Divine Altar. Destruction was more aligned to the stereotypical image of the worshipper of the Outer Gods than building things; that would be weird even for them.

    Each Divine Altar would be for surely properly guarded by the worshippers of the said God or of whatever the Divine Altar was meant to venerate. Some may even be riddled with traps and other countermeasures against the people who would want to destroy them, or they may be hidden in almost unreachable ces.

    Though, Samiel was confident that four of them, plus Familiars and his Undead Army that had around ten thousand Undead, would be strong enough to breach through the defenses of almost any foe that they encountered on the 10th Floor of the Tower.

    Fortunately, the strongest person on the 10th Floor, ording to the publicly known knowledge, were a few Silver-Tier Professionals, but those were very scarce; thus the top powerhouses of the Floor were the Bronze-Tiers as the average Level of the 10th of the Tower was considerably lower than the 8th Floor and was moreparable to the 9th Floor or the 3rd Floor of the Tower.

    Naturally, Samiel nned to target the Divine Altars belonging to the Gods worshipped by the Human and then those which were devoted to the Daemons as they were the prime enemies and he would enjoy killing the demons and cultists.

    That already became his hobby... not to mention, here on the 10th Floor, he could once again unleash the full might of his Undead Army, which had increased its numbers to almost 12,000, which was a frightening number. Now when Samiel summoned his Undead Army, it looked like a sea of skeletons, zombies, dhans and other types of Undead.

    Not to mention, this would be his first encounter with the Daemon Cultists. And he was also pretty curious about the rewards from the Unique Quest and thepletion of the Unique Quest would unlock the Hidden Mission of the 10th Floor... and the Hidden Missions were always something specially designated by the Akashic Records.

    That was the reason why he didn''t encounter the Hidden Mission on every Floor, because some of those were not destined to him and only the Akashic Records could trigger the Hidden Mission... and the rewards for thepletion of the Hidden Mission would be something that would greatly enhance his strength.

    Till now, Samiel encountered only three Hidden Missions, the one from the 1st Floor of the Tower, where he obtained a fragment of the Ultra-Order Divine Weapon, Trish and initiated the Chain Quest Series, the Last Inheritance of the Last Human King.

    The one from the 2nd Floor, where he didn''t get anything but obtain Familiar. Andstly, the Hidden Mission on the 5th Floor of the Tower, where he created a Leveled Ability and obtained the Star Mind Protection Technique.

    ***

    After the Khaos Chapter Mercenary Party consisting of Samiel, Yvraine, Dharzug, Juulius and two felines left the 8th Floor of the Tower, they arrived at the 9th Floor, which was by one word, extremely dull and average?

    Yes, that would probably be the most appropriate term... boring.

    The 9th Floor of the Tower was one of the peaceful ones, which was ruled by an old hermit powerful; it was a Holy Legendary human martial artist, who long ago retired and chose to preside over the 9th FLoor of the Tower where he was born because he couldn''t probably ascend to the Transcendence, he was spending all of his time in the 9th Floor meditating.

    And naturally, due to the presence of the Holy Legendary, the entire Floor was quiet... though that would be a misconception, but rather no Floor-threatening events were happening, like the ones on the 8th Floor and maximally some wars between nations that existed on the 9th Floor took ce.

    When they were on the 9th Floor, they spend there approximately one year because there was no Advancement Quest in the traditional sense, as Samiel and Yvraine got the Advancement Quest to make a significant impact on the 9th Floor, which they did as they participated in the war between human nations of the 9th Floor, where one Empire was attempting to bring entire smaller continent under its heel.

    Naturally, they joined the forces of the Empire because they were paying a lot of Gold Coins and with the addition of several top Professionals, the forces of the said Empire swept through the coalition of free nations and defeated all enemies and enved the losers.

    Thus the Advancement Quest waspleted and the reward Samiel got was just a bunch of Silver-Tier Mana Crystals, as the difficulty of the Quest was pretty low. That was because the average TIer on the 9th Floor was Steel-Tier and Bronze-Tiers were already being considered as top powerhouses... so... that was it.

    "So what Advancement Quest did you get?"

    Samiel asked when he saw that Yvriane was scowling. From just a single look, he was able to tell that she wasn''t happy with the Quest she got. During the time they spent together, as it were already several years, Samiel learned to read her facial expressions very well, as it wasn''t even that hard when they got to know each other better.

    "Find and destroy Divine Altar of Spider Queen, Eilistraee and Kiaransalee."

    Eilistraee was one of the Lesser Gods of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon and the Goddess of beauty, song, dance, freedom, moonlight, swordwork, and hunting. She was often referred to as the The Dark Maiden, the Lady of the Dance, or Lady Silverhair, and sometimes The Dark Dancer. She was the patroness and protector of the few dark elves who longed to return to the surface and live there, at peace with other races, and to abandon the endless conflicts and intrigues that dominated the lives of most drow.

    Kiaransalee was another Lesser God of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon, was a Goddess of revenge and undeath, a former necromancer queen consumed by thoughts of retribution. The Lady of the Dead was driven insane ages ago yet retained her twisted cunning, recalling clearly every slight towards her, whether real or imagined. The Vengeful Banshee was said to have repeatedly died beforeing back with a vengeance, and the Revenancer gifted her favored drow with existence as undead driven by hate and spite.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Both of these Goddesses were not the strongest one of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon, but they were one of the most cunning and especially Kiaransalee was considered one of the greatest enemies of the Seldarine. And Eilistraee was the one whom every elf should be wary of because she was the seducer who was seducing elves to worship the Dark Seldarine Pantheon.

    Eilistraee was known for her habit of luring away the elves who were worshipping Seldarine Pantheon, corrupting them and turning them into drows, especially targeting the Legendaries of the Evels species across the Cosmos.

    There were many cases in history where countless powerful and mighty elven Legendaries were seduced by the promises and silver tongue of the Goddess of Beauty, some of them were even from the Silvermoon Elven Race and there was even a case of one Holy Elven Legendary in some Middle Word.

    "Hmm... that is good; I got Unique Quest that is about destroying the Divine Altars... though my Advancement Quest is to construct the Divine Altar dedicated to the Outer Gods, which could prove a bit troublesome considering some of the materials needed on the construction of the Divine Altar are rtively hard to obtain... especially the sacrifice would be needed toplete the Divine Altar fully."

    While it was the truth that Samiel never built a Divine Altar dedicated to the Outer Gods, it didn''t mean that he didn''t know how the building one. It was just arduous as one needed plenty of precious resources, depending on the grade of the Divine Altar he wished to build, but even the one for the Mors was very hard to build.

    And naturally, the most troublesome part of building the Divine Altar was the activation of the Divine Altar. The majority, if not most, of the Divine Altars needed to be activated through something, like some sacrificial ceremony or ritual, perhaps a spell or anything like that.

    To activate the Divine Altar to the Outer Gods, one needed to perform a ceremony with powerful sacrifice when one would prove the dedication to the Outer Gods and prove his martial might by sacrificing a lifeform that was at least one Tier higher than the person carrying out the sacrifice.

    "That could be troublesome... also, where are Juulius and ork?"

    Yvraine asked, seeing that neither of the two were near their location, meaning during the teleportation by the Tower''s System, they must have been separated into two pairs of two. Depending on the calctions of the Tower''s System, they may be separated by either short or long distances, but overall... this is not a good situation.

    Samiel didn''t even have his Familiar with him, but he could sense Nefertari''s approximate location due to their bond and she was pretty far away from him, though apparently, she was not alone, as she was transported together with Juulius''s familiar Tytos.

    Typically beastmasters had a special type of spatial equipment that contained small worlds where they had their familiars and tamed beasts rest, but Samiel never bought it because Nefertari didn''t like being stuck in some pocket dimension and preferred to roam free. Now he was considering that opinion, though only before teleportation by the Tower''s System to a higher Floor.

    In an environment like the dunes of the Sikarra, it would be best if they were together... especially when they encountered some Arrakian sandworms; Samiel wanted to avoid the creatures as long as possible because fighting even one of the monstrosities was a nightmare.

    He was very well aware that the Arrakain sandworms were useless to fight against with great numbers because even Steel-Tier sandworm was big enough to eat hundreds of soldiers at one go, so that was practically a no-go zone.

    The only possibility was to use overwhelming firepower to and kill them in one hit the moment they left the safety of the sand oceans or... to use counter elements. As nature bnced itself in a wonderful equilibrium thatpleted the cycle, the Arrakian sandworms had one fatal weakness that was extremely deadly to them...

    Water.

    To each one of them, water was like the most dangerous poison personally concocted by the Gods of Poison, Nothing was more dangerous to the Arrakian sandworm than water, and depending on the size of the worm, it would be possible to kill them with a few water-attributed spells if they were precisely cast.

    Not to mention, Samiel could always use his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to freeze the sandworm or freeze surroundings around the sandworm, which would then subsequently melt within a few minutes, thus drowning the sandworm in water and ultimately killing the creature.

    "Nothing we could do about it... we will do it like previously on the 9th Floor. Now can you please create some ice? It is getting too hot here."

    Yvraine said that they had a method on how to find each other if they were in each other''s vicinity. Instantly afterward, Samiel used Winter Ruler as he started freezing some parts of Yvraine''s and his armor, which created a nice cooling effect that wouldst at least five to six hours until it was gone and their armors would get heated up by the scorching sun.

    Luckily, this time, he was wearing a hat that was blocking the sun, as he decided to keep his hunter outfit because he looked intimidating and cool in the clothing... and most importantly, Yvraine thought too that he looked badass in it.

    "So... where should we go?"

    Sometimes Samiel even cursed that he was undergoing the Journey... sometimes it was a total pain in the ass, where there was nothing than hardships and problems and sometimes, he envied those who didn''t need to undergo this arduous and problematic process of climbing the entire Tower.

 Chapter 196 Sandworm...

    People who didn''t need toplete the Journey could basically skip any Floor of the Tower they wished, that was one of the reasons why some of the Floors werepletely deste... aside from those which were inhospitable, but that was another category on its own.

    Though he had to admit that the benefits ofpleting the Journey were equally immense because one would have almost guaranteed the chance at the Ascension to Transcendence. Though, due to the unique nature of some of the Floors of the Tower, it made it almost night impossible toplete the Journey and typically, only those with the backings of some of the 13 Gates or equally powerful and ancient factions couldplete the Journey.

    And during the Ascension process to the Transcendence, even 1% could be a game changer that would decide if the Ascension would be a sessful one or a failure. Something that he couldn''t really risk, as his end game was always to reach the top of the power hierarchy... no, not only that.

    Samiel Zentaur wanted to reach even high and be one of ''Them''.

    "Hmm... right now, we should be on one of the outer reaches of the Sikarra; that means we are rtively safe because most powerful sandworms and creatures live in the center of the continent, but the real problem would be finding a ce where we could set a provisionary camp or something. Most of them are already taken by the locals..."

    Yvraine muttered as this seemed indeed problematic.

    Because the outskirts of the Sikarra, most of the intelligent species that still lived on the 10th Floor of the Tower, relocated to the outskirts because they were safe from the enormous Arrakian sandworms at the Legendary Level that traversed through the wastnds and oceans of sand in the center of the continent.

    "We can still take some by force... from what I heard, there are not many big settlements on the 10th Floor and there are only a few cities or towns, so we should aim for one of the smaller settlements in the mountains."

    Samiel proposed to which Yvraine agreed, though it would leave them to the potential danger of Gold-Tier Arrakian sandworm, but hopefully, they would be then able to escape in time. The division of the settlements on the 10th Floor was rtively simple. Thergest settlements were always built in the valley in the vast mountain ranges, depending on the natural protection of the mountains against the sandworms.

    Simrly, smaller settlements were built in smaller mountains, but here was one problem with them and that, if the mountain was too small and was attacked by too powerful Arrakain sandworm, then the sandworm could breach through the stone. Such asions were documented already on several cases when some of the smaller settlements were attacked by either Legendary Level sandworm that lost his way to the outskirts of the Sikarra.

    Or there were even cases when several Gold-Tier sandworms ganged up to breach some of the small mountains, though that happened only in extraordinary circumstances that one must be very unlucky to encounter.

    "We should be going; it appears that right now it is not even morning... I can''t imagine what it will be here at noon."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine followed after him, as they went in the random direction that the talisman was telling them to go. Right now, both of them had two priorities; one was to find Juulius and Dharzug, while another one was to find some suitable ce where to either conquer a camp or to construct a base.

    And as Samiel said several hours ago, when they departed to the depths of the dune, when they were transported to the 10th Floor, it was not even proper morning because five hours of walking and right now, the sun was already almost up and it was... almost unbearable.

    The lifespan of the cooling method through the Winter Ruler was decreased from five hours to one, as now, he needed to use the method every hour or so, and soon, it would be every half an hour for them to remain cooled down.

    He also took out his reserve hat and gave it to Yvraine because the moment when the sun started rising, even she was feeling awful and he didn''t want her to get heat stroke, which would be almost effortless to get in this kind of environment.

    "We have been walking here for hours but not even a single living being... not even some of the natives to this dammed shit ce."

    Samiel cursed as they were walking through the scorching heat of the dunes while he was wrapping his right hand around Yvraine''s waist, helping her to walk because her stamina wasn''t that good in the first ce and she was not taking this ce very well.

    In fact, she was already very tired to the point she needed a ce to rest, but unfortunately, there was none. While Yvraine was a Silvermoon Elf, their species was not known for things like enormous stamina or endless vitality, that was Samiel''s domain and even though he wasining more than Yvriaine, in fact, he was coping up with the situation on hand much better than she, because as an Eldritch Creature, he had adaptability almost on the level of orks.

    "Come on Yv... several tens of kilometers, there should be a small mountain range ording to the map."

    Samiel stated as he nudged Yvraine and cast on her some more spells, this time, it was one of the rare healing ones that he managed to learn; it was to speed up the body regeneration and to help with fatigue of the body.

    As they we walking through the desert, suddenly Samiel noticed that the sand was vibrating slightly; as the vibrations were getting stronger and stronger, to the point where everything started moving visibly to, even the untrained human eye and it was at that moment he realized what was happening.

    "Fuck..."

    He instantly cursed his E-Ranked luck because this came at the worst possible situation that could only be happening to him.

    "What is happening?"

    Yvraine asked him because she was unfortunately probably suffering from heat stroke, despite the precautions Samiel took, but apparently, the deserts and sun of Sikarra took the toll on her either way.

    "Sandworm."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel answered grimly because he could sense the Arrakian sandworm iing to their positions. It was rtively easy to tell when the sandworm was approaching them because as the sandworms were traversing through the oceans of sand when they were close, everything would be shaking; naturally, this was applicable mainly for the bigger sandworms, so right now, Smaiel was pretty stressed.

    He feared that some strong sandworm was approaching them; the worst oue would be Gold-Tier sandworm or Silver-Tier sandworm. If that was the case, then, they would be in some serious problems because he didn''t think that he could fend off Gold-Tier Arrakian sandworm, because that humongous beast would eat him in one gulp, together with a radius of several kilometers...

    ''When ites to worst... I still have something around half a million souls with me, enough to use the Blessings of the Outer Court to summon the power of the Outer Gods to banish the creature, though that would attract the attention of the Legendary Level sandworms.''

    Samiel thought about the possible solutions to their problem. One thing which was extra annoying about the Arrakian sandworm was their sensitivity towards the energy as a whole. For example, adult Arrakian sandworms could sense spikes of energy even from hundreds of kilometers away; thus, they were able to easily and precisely pinpoint who was where and how strong their potential prey was.

    If Samiel used the Blessings of the Outer Gods, such a powerful spike of Mana that would the summoning of such Transcendental Power create, would probably be enough to wake even the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms from their slumber... which would be an absolute shitstorm, if they ever decided to crawl into the outskirts of the Sikarra.

    "Hop on my back, and hold me tightest as possible."

    Samiel stated as he simultaneously activated Level 4 Transcandetal Ability Architect to calcte the shortest path to somewhere safe and started using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to boost up his legs and body with Mana.

    After Yvraine hopped on his back, hugging him with her arms and legs, Samiel kicked the ground, creating a powerful vibration through the sand, not as he cared at this moment, as he started running at lightning speed towards the ce that he calcted through the usage of Level 4 Transcandetal Ability Architect.

    ording to the maps, it should be an abandoned underground shelter from the time of the Korias Empire that wasn''t found till this day. He bought several tens of maps of the outskirts of the Sikarra dunes and used the Level 4 Transcandetal Ability Architect topared all of them, while searching for safe locations and within three seconds, he found one.

    Though at the same it cost him several tens of thousands of Credits because he brought all of those maps above their market price as he was in a hurry. At the same time, his head hurt like hell because, this time, he pushed the usage of Level 4 Transcandetal Ability Architect to the limits. Even with the Star Mind Protection Technique and condensation of 3 Stars, it still hurt because the strain was too much.

    Samiel ran at a speed that would be invisible to the normal eye of mortals without Mana and even to Iron-Tier; his movements would be nothing more than a blur. As he was running through the deserts of the dune, he was also using the Winter Ruler, continuously freezing everything around them, to lessen the strains from the scoring sun that was essentially burning everything here.

    And as he was running, the oceans of sand were shaking more and more. This was signifying that the sandworm was nearing close to them, as Samiel kept running faster and father, using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method as the boosting method even to greater heights.

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    Samiel ignored the notifications of the Akashic Records about the increasement in proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, as he kept to the ce, which he calcted through the usage of Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, as right now the most important ce was to hide from the Arrakian sandworm that decided to make a lunch out of them.

    This crazy run continued for more than two hours actually, before Samiel started showing the first signs of fatigue, but it was not as much fatigue as it was a physical strain on his body, which was created due to over usage of the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to boost up his physique, mainly his speed to ridiculous degrees.

    [Proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Lord-ss Knight of Niflheim has reached 40%.]

    When Samiel got notifications from the Akashic Records that the proficiency with his Lord-ss Knigth of Niflheim not only increased by 2%, but also reached the 40%, reaching one of the milestones in mastering the ss.

    He then sensed that the grip that Yvraine got on him was getting weaker and weaker because she started losing her consciousness; fortunately, at least one good news was that they were already near their targetted destination, which Samiel calcted for them.

    "Hold on for a moment... we should be soon there."

    Samiel said as he held her and continued running to the small hills that were already in front of him. When he arrived in front of the sand hills, which were of some unknown rock, but entirely covered in the sand, he started spreading his senses and searching for the entrance to the shelter, now really questioning if something was even there.

    ''It should be somewhere here...''

 Chapter 197 Vault-76 (1)

    He then looked before he started casting 3rd Level Spells, Void Strikes all around because it was the best thing that he coulde up with. As the Void Strikes fell onto the hills and were crushing the rocks and sting the sand in the air, creating a literal cloud of dust, he soon enough saw something which appeared to be the entrance to the underground, as he jumped in without a second thought after he took down Yvraine from his back and held her in a princess carry.

    As they were falling through several tens meters deep tunnel, Samiel started using his Mana to slow down the fall, as they effortlesslynded down in something which appeared to be some kind of entrance to the shelter. The roof was breached by something, but it didn''t appear to be done by Arrakian sandworm as the damage was rtively moderate.

    It was done by a Professional and judging by the state of the environment here; it has been tens of thousands of years since thest person entered here, probably even entire Epochs. Samiel, still holding Yvraine in a princess carry, walked through the tunnel as he came in front of an enormous vault door made from unknown metal.

    "Vault-76, constructed by the Ministry of Internal Security of Korias Empire and Doom-Tex Corporation, Imperial Date of Year 7,974 of Korias Kalendar, 90th Epoch of New Era."

    Samiel read the inscriptions that were engraved on the enormous metal vault door as he finally learned how old they were... more than 200,000 years. Time in the Cosmos was counted universally, be it for the Material ne or the Higher Dimensional Worlds.

    Basically, there were two groups, the bigger one was called Era and the smaller one was called Epoch. Each Epoch had 100,000 years while each Era had an unknown number of Epochs. Basically, one Epoch ended when one of ''Them'' was born; thus each Era was named in that way.

    Chaos Era, basically nobody knows how longsted; the Primitive Erasted 81 Epochs, the Akashic Era,sted 64 Epochs; the Outer Erasted 197 Epochs; the Faith God Erasted 145 Epochs; the Abyssal Erasted for 98 Epochs; Baatorian Era whichsted for 103 Epochs; Immortal Era thatsted for 33 Epochs; Green Erasted for 75 Epochs; Psion Era for 46 Epoch and right now it was New Era thatsted till now for 92 Epochs.

    Samiel then looked at the control panel, which seemed dead as he punched the metal interference, forcing it toe alive. He knew that everything that was here was powered up by the Arrakian Nuclei and thus was running on the Primordial Psionic Energy, one of the things that were essentially immune to the passage of time.

    He then put Yvraine down as he looked at the interference that was connected to the metal vault while he used the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect to calcte the password... fortunately the person who set the password was not the most creative around because it was 74970679; basically it was a culmination of all numbers engraved on the vault door.

    After he instead the code, the humongous metal doors started shaking and opening, while the entire tunnel was shaking a bit because the first time after more than two hundred thousand years, the doors into the Vault-76 were opened by someone.

    Samiel then picked up Yvraine and walked in, after which the enormous metal door closed itself. When he entered the vault, he noticed that everything lit up as the ce was mostly empty and from the looks, it didn''t look like a residential shelter at all, but it rather looked like some kind of shelter directly engineered and built for some high-ranking nobles of the Korias Empire that lived near, judging by the luxurious furniture and the rtively small size of the shelter.

    Samiel went through the shelter with Yvraine in his arms; it had one bigmon room, several other rooms, exactly seven, which all of them were residential and were enormous in size for a single person, luxuriously decorated. He chose the biggest one as he put Yvraine on the king-sized bed because the only thing she needed right now was time to recuperate.

    Now he understood why almost nobody came and stayed in the desert of the Sikarra... for those who couldn''t bear the heat and scorching sun; it was no different from the death sentence on their person. Practically anyone below Silver-Tier or, better, Gold-Tier couldn''t withstand the sun without special protections and sometimes, even with them, it would be no different.

    Samiel stayed by her side as he was just browsing through his records on the Akashic Records.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Outer Court

    Age: 31

    Race: Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (80%) / Human (20%)

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (40%), Grand Necromancer (24%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level:

    Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter, Warding)

    Intermediate (Void, Necromancy, Winter, Warding)

    Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost, Outer Holiness

    Records Points: 5,640

    ***

    Tier: Bronze

    Level: 39

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (40%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (40%) - Ultimate Ability

    Architect (4%) - Transcendental Ability

    ***

    Techniques:

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (21%)

    Star Mind Protection Technique (25%) - 3 Stars

    ***

    Magic:<novelnext></novelnext>

    Necromancy Arts (38%)

    Void Magic (23%)

    Winter Magic (19%)

    Warding (14%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (50%)

    Swordsmanship (14%)

    Trident Mastery (20%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 4th Level Spells (43%)

    Metamagic - Spell Control (21%)

    Metamagic - Spell Pration (20%)

    Metamagic - Empower Spell (17%)]

    During the one year he only increased his Level only once, as he decided to focus more on refining his techniques and skills, not to mention he was also focusing a lot on his Warding Magic, where he was spending a lot of Coins to buy anything avable to the Warding Magic. Fortunately, he still had an enormous horde of Credits from selling the equipment that he plundered from the Avalon Kingdom through the IMC.

    Right now, both of his Ultimate Abilities, Winter Ruler and Soul Devour reached a proficiency of 40%; additionally to that, during the past year that he spent on the 9th Floor of the Tower, he managed to raise proficiency in his Metamagic Techniques by some percentage, even though it wasn''t a lot, it was still something and better than nothing.

    He finally managed to reach the Spell Fusion of the 4th Level Spells of the Metamagic Techniques, which were all growing. Samiel was constantly observing Yvraine during the time she was practicing Level 3 Ultimate Ability Metamagic and through the usage of Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, he was able to copy exactly what she was doing.

    As he was looking at the Record and contemting about some things, especially what to practice next, when he heard that Yvraine was waking up as she sat on the bed. She held her head with her right hand because it hurt.

    "How are you feeling?"

    Samiel asked as he looked at her, only now he noticed that this wasn''t just from average fatigue, but something else was in the y... a curse probably, though then he wondered why he wasn''t affected... if only it was racially targetted or had effect only specific races.

    "Not good... only after we walked for about one hour through the desert I realized that this ce is a no-go zone for us elves; I should have known it sooner."

    She said angrily as he waited for her to rify the situation, though he already had some idea of what was going on.

    "Elves are a race that is very close to nature and basically higher the evolutionary stage, the closer to nature we are, to the point that the Silvermoon Elven Race could be considered as partial nature spirits. ces like Sikarra are essentially a death sentence to us because it is a  ce that was long ago like an ideal paradise even to Silvermoon Elf.

    However, now, it was transformed into a deathless desert and the anguish of nature is still lingering on the 10th Floor. We canmunicate it; I felt its pain, its terror and its hatred towards the worms and towards the humans who released it..."

    She didn''t even realize it as she started crying as Samiel went to bed and hugged her as she cried on his chest. It wasn''t a curse or anything, Yvraine just got connected to the anguished spirit of nature that once ago existed on the 10th Floor, before it became known as Sikarra and felt its hatred and terror and because she was a Silvermoon Elf, the backsh on her was many times worse.

    Normal elves would be able to ignore it because while their connection with nature was close, it was not that kind like the Silvermoon Elves had because they were partial nature spirits; for them, just being in this ce must be a torturous experience and Yvraine underestimated the situation.

    After several minutes that Samiel spentforting her, or rather he just sat there was there for her because he didn''t really know what to do in situations like this. Mainly theck of experience and also some of themon sense that people usually have, probably... maybe?

    "Will you be able to handle it or do you need some help?"

    Samiel asked her while Yvraine was right, deeply contemting about the situation she was in. It was indeed the truth that she severely underestimated the situation, as she predicted that the nature spirit of this ce would have already died by now... or was devoured by the Arrakian sandworms, but that was very far from the truth.

    "I should have something in my dimensional ring to block up the connection with the nature spirit and if that wouldn''t work, I can still ask for the blessing of Goddess Eluria."

    She answered after she calmed down a bit, as there were still several ways of how to deal with the situation. What she needed right now was to block the connection that the Silvermoon Elves had with nature, basically making her deaf to the attempts of the Nature Spirit to connect to her so that she wouldn''t feel its anguish and pain.

    "To turn out the list... where are we? This doesn''t appear like the dwelling of some natives."

    She said quietly while looking around the luxuriously decorated room where she wasying on a king-sized bed. This didn''t seem like the typical dwelling on the 10th Floor of the Tower, which was mostmonly just some hut patched up together in a cave.

    "We are in one of the doomsday shelters of the Korias Empire that started this shitstorm. I was able to calcte the approximate location of the shelter through abination of several tens of maps, charts and other information about the Korias Empire before its fall."

    Samiel said as her eyes squinted in mild shock that he managed to find something this ancient. While the Korias Empire was never truly a hegemon on the Cosmos scale, but it was still a very powerful Empire that had produced several Holies directly through their breeding of the Arrakian Sandworms.

    "You are aware that this is a piece of history... probably a very important one considering that this should be a ce exclusively for a high nobility? Did you already go through the ce... who knows what is hidden in ce?"

    Samiel shook his head because he literarily arrived only a short time ago and he only briefly checked the rooms to ensure nothing hostile was there before he put Yvraine in bed and started dabbling in his Record.

    "No, I only arrived about an hour ago or so... after you are rested, we can go through the shelter... I noticed that there should be some levels beneath this one, but they are currently sealed."

    He noticed that there was at least one underground level beneath the one where they currently were. He deiced that he will take a look only when Yvraine was awake, in case there were some hostile lifeforms... in the Cosmos, there were many things that could easily resist the passage of time and god knows on what the Korias Empire was experimenting and what they locked away.

 Chapter 198 Vault-76 (2) 18+

    "It seems that I need to thank you, oh my hero."

    She giggled a bit, snuggling close to Samiel; she started kissing him on his lips as he returned her kiss, while it slowly started turning more and more passionate. Soon enough, his hands were going down to her butt as he squeezed it lightly, earning him a small moan in his mouth.

    "You are somehow more proactive than usual..."

    Yvraine muttered in a small voice as he really thought about it being the truth. Normally, he wouldn''t be that proactive.

    "Maybe I just realize how much I love you..."

    He just said without much thinking as Yvraine separated from him and looked directly into his eyes before she replied. And her reply wasn''t in the form of words, but she instead passionately lunged as Samiel as she french kissed him this time with even more passion and lust than previously, as she started undressing her armor bit by bit.

    "Yv, are you sure?"

    After they separated, Samiel asked because he knew that in terms of the rtionship development among the Elves, they were really, really, really fast, but in terms of humans, they had been together for several years already, technically speaking.

    Even their courtship took at least three years or so. Still, it was nothing contrary to the whole centuries that the Elves typically spend. Yvraine just nodded because she didn''t want to wait anymore; she wasn''t like the majority of the elvenkind as shecked the patience for things and she wanted to have them right now.

    Not to mention, they had been in the courtship for several years already and every time she watched Samiel doing some physical exercises she was wet in between her legs like a fountain from watching his perfect physique. Not only that, but he was kind, attentive to her needs; he didn''t have problems listening to her ramblings and was always there to support her.

    And they were now in a sealed doomsday shelter where nobody would find them or bother them. As she nodded, she started stripping her armor, which was falling down piece by piece, as she sensually made a little show for her man.

    Every movement that she did was graceful, elegant, distinctively that of the Silvermoon perfection, yet carrying out immense erotic feeling as they were looking straight at each other eyes, not breaking the eye contact they had between each other.

    Samiel watched as she revealed her perfectly shaped figure, a little muscr as she had a perfectly tones stomach like a trained warrior she was, with a pair of heavenly gravity-defying breasts that shined there like white peaks with dark pink nipples already erect from the french kissing season they had before.

    Within several minutes, she was down to her underwear as she looked at him with hungry eyes, and started undressing him from theyers of his clothing. Soon enough, Samiel was down to nothing, like the day he was born.

    With his perfectly sculpted physique, his strong muscles and abs, she pushed herself to him, feeling his heat as Samiel hugged Yvraine closely and slowly kissed her neck while his fingers traced down from her breasts to her lower body while he was getting harder and harder until he was almost fully erect when Yvraine felt something hitting her around her crotch.

    ''It''s almost as big as a dragon.''

    She looked at his giant, throbbing cock, which was already getting wet with precum as she was nervous about seeing it in its full glory, and yet it made the female Silvermoon Elf, even hornier as she licked her lips in anticipation about what was toe.

    "You know, I have always imagined that you will take me, defenseless elven maiden being defiled by the cultists of the Outer Gods, who would force on her, ripping her clothes and having his way with her..."

    Yvraine said in between the kisses when they separated as only a trace of saliva was connecting them. With her tiny hands that seemed to be inparison with the huge 25-centimeter cock, as she was stroking it slowly, teasing her man or perhaps she was provoking him, while she bit his ear.

    "Do you want it?"

    She asked seductively, jerking off his shaft while pressing her breasts on his chest and licking his ear.

    "Want what?"

    He asked uncertainly with a moan, as she suddenly stopped everything, perfectly edging him as his dick throbbed in anticipation and desire.

    "I am not some porcin vase... I can take them all... your desires and... your inner side."

    She said thest part with a whisper as she knelt down and started gently and slowly sucking his cock. Samiel like instinctively put his right hand on her head, as he patted her glossy blonde hair before he grabbed her ponytail and forced his dick deeper and deeper into her mouth, basically deepthroating her from the start.

    Meanwhile, Yvraine didn''t feel pain, but instead pleasure because this rough treatment was something that she always imagined, being taken, defenseless as she was forced to suck on the fat cock like her life depended on, alive mixed with his thick precum falling on her breast or on the bed.

    Seeing that she was actually enjoying the treatment, something inside him clicked on as she grinned and started pressing her face even more and more to his root until she started choking on his cock, before he let her breathe some air and the process repeated all over.

    "Prepare for it... your first dose of eldritch cum, exclusively for the pointy-eared slut."

    Hearing verbally abusing her made Yvraine shudder in anticipation as he fastened the speed as she was bobbing her head on his cock, while with his left hand, he held her hands behind her back, forbidding her to pleasure herself because she was already dripping wet on the bedsheets from the arousal.

    Suddenly his crotch was pressed right against her nose as his thick shaft throbbed violently and started spawning out waves upon waves of hot cum directly down her throat.

    "Don''t you dare split a drop."

    Samiel ordered as he continued holding her head on his throbbing cock that was still cumming, shooting a flood of thick goo down to her stomach as Yvraine greedily drank everything that he was giving her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    After half a minute and forcing her to swallow his entire load, he let go of her head as she fell onto the bed.

    Samiel went up to her, spread her legs and looked at her perfectly pink pussy with some of the golden public hair that was around it. She was already pretty wet, enough for the main course, as he revealed a sadistic grin and conjured a few mana chains, binding Yvraine on the bed, so she couldn''t move, as he gave her pussy a lick, making her shudder in pleasure.

    "Start of round two..."

    After saying that, Samiel started slowly licking her pussy, while asionally inserting one or two fingers, as he was fingering and licking her at the same time. Every time she was nearing climax, he stopped and let her shudder in pleasure, not allowing her release.

    Then he started once more with, with slow, sensual licks directed at her clitoris as she was nearing the release once more. This time, seeing how much she was shuddering, he knew that she was already climaxing as he spent the licking and started sucking on her pussy.

    "Am... am...ing!"

    Yvraine screamed from her full lungs as Samiel knew that she was a squirter, as he returned the favor and felt hot sweet liquid entering his mouth, finding out that he pretty much liked it as he continued drinking everything that she squirted down.

    When her orgasm ended and Samiel looked at Yvraine, he saw that she had the famous ahegao expression as he crawled up to her and kissed her passionately. Because both of them were high-tiered professionals, they had immense stamina and while Yvraine may look tired, she was actually not at all, as she right now experienced the best orgasm even though it was her first one.

    "That was heavenly."

    She breathed after they separated and Samiel positioned his throbbing shaft, which was well lubricated from thebination of her saliva and precum from the previous blowjob, as he started teasing her pussy by pressing his cock.

    "And now it is time for the main course."

    He stated as her eyes widened and she licked her lips, holding on to the bed sheets; when he dispersed the mana chains, he sued to edge her. Both of them realized that their sexual preferences were out of the norm, for Yvraine she was a masochist that wanted to be dominated and Samiel he was a weirdbination because while he wasn''t against the motion of being dominated, he was rather enjoying the dominating position and took great enjoyment in the rough treatment that he was giving his beloved, to which Yvraine was taking it all with happiness and love.

    ***

    Six Hour Later

    In the bed chamber of the doomsday shelter of the Korias Empire, only pping sounds of flesh were heard as for the past six hours, Samiel and Yvraine were lost in the passion as they were too engrossed in exploring the pleasure of flesh together.

    At one point, they even reversed their roles, as Yvraine wanted to experience how it felt to be in control and be the dominatrix, and right now, their fun was already nearing the end because she was feeling tired.

    Even though her stamina wasrge, it was nowhere nearparable to what Samiel had as he was mostly Eldritch Creature. He was an enormous bundle of vitality and stamina and she suspected that he could probably continue for several more days without anyplications.

    Her previously fit stomach had a small bulge on it, as she took probably several liters of his cum inside her, as he was drilling her womb right now, with powerful trust, while they held their hands and battled with their tongues.

    His muscr arms were firmly wrapped around the slender waist of the Silvermoon Princess, whose dignified appearance was nowhere to find, as she dropped away all pretenses when they started and behaved like whore in the red light district.

    "This will be thest one."

    Samiel said as he bit her nipple, causing her to moan as she once again came around his cock, already losing count of how many times she had climaxed as he had his way with her.

    "Come!"

    She screamed as she felt him stretching the walls of her cunt apart with his humongous shaft while Samiel was slowly increasing the tempo of his thrusts, and Yvraine embraced his waits with her legs, pushing him closer, so his cock could reach even deeper parts of her womb.

    Suddenly as he was thrusting, reaching the deepest parts of her, while only sloppy sounds of their flesh, her moans and Samiel''s grunts were heard, she felt his member pulsating in her depths as he leaned over to her and invaded her mouth with his tongue starting kissing her, while with one more powerful thrust, he released his spunk into her depths once more as she shuddered violently and was twitching on the bed.

    As he was cumming, he kissed her more passionately, exploring every part of her mouth as she returned the kiss, which stopped only after several minutes, when they separated, as heid on the bed next to her while Yvraine leaned over his chest,pletely worn out, as he erection was slowly going down.

    "That was fantastic."

    She saidzily whileying on Samiel''s chest, who caressed her hair.

    "I cannot wait for the next time already. You were so rough, ying with me and when you licked me down there... while denying me the releases... that feeling was... out of this world."

    Samiel looked at her surprised, but then he considered the fact that Yvraine for sure had her own kinks and the one he found about today was an extensive wish to be treated roughly and dominated, basically a hardcore animalistic sex.

    As they spend there some more time, the fatigue soon took over and both of them departed to the realm of dreams.

 Chapter 199 Vault-76 (2) Semi 18+

    The next morning Samiel was slowly waking up with the most pleasant feeling ever. Not only from yesterday''s night but also right now, he felt warmth and wetness around his member as he heard some sloppy sounds.

    He slowly opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Yvraine wrapping her tender hands around his raging morning wood; as she was taking it almost to its root, the entire 21 centimeters of his enormous cock, as drool was dripping from her mouth and love juices from her pussy were making a mess on the bed again.

    She then took out his monster cock from his mouth, which was well lubricated from her saliva, as she trailed with her tongue down to his balls, gently sucking on his balls, while Samiel shuddered from pleasure, holding back his urge to cum instantly.

    "Good morning sleeping beauty... finally awake... though this ''little guy'' was awake before you so..."

    Yvraine winked at him, giving his cock a long lick straight to the tip, as she gave a kiss on the tip of his cock, leaving there a lipstick mark, which made it look more erotic. She then took his entire member into her throat, starting deepthroating him like an experienced whore, but Yvraine was a quick learner after yesterday''s amateur attempt; now she could do much better.

    Samiel felt his cock throbbing violently in her mouth as she was using her tongue to pleasure him while he heard only sloppy sounds as she was bobbing her head up and down. He only moaned in pleasure from the blowjob he was receiving immediately in the morning.

    "You are going to burst? Right?"

    She then took out his cock as she whispered sultrily in between, licking his member with long licks before she once again took it entirely in and in a split of second, she felt warm thick gooish liquid going down to her throat as she drank everything, not spilling a drop.

    After Samiel finished his release, Yvraine licked his cock nice and clear and then licked her finger to eat the remaining spunk he left there, which was creating an extremely erotic scene as he was hardening once more.

    "And now... my thwat seems to be scratching..."

    She then straddled him in a cowgirl position and with one swift motion, she inserted his manhood in one go into her itching pussy which was already wet like a fountain from the morning blowjob, as she moaned loudly.

    Samiel, meanwhile, instinctively grabbed her ass while giving her a few ps as he was slowly thrusting into her pussy. Contrary to yesterday, this time, it was more sensual and slow, it wasn''t that overwhelming lust like thest time, but this time, they were savoring every second of it.

    While this wasn''t the rough treatment that made her extremely aroused, she was also enjoying this, as his monster cock was slowly yet surely stretching the deepest parts of her pussy,pletely destroying her, as Samiel was leaning over while biting her nipples, which made her instantly climax around his cock.

    Samiel felt how Yvraine''s folds were enveloping his member with her warmth, already eager to milk him entirely out of his cum. Fortunately, with the Silvermoon Elven reproductive restrictions, he could cum inside her without any fear of getting her pregnant; thus he could give her one creampie after another, something which the Silvermoon Princess came to love as she bounced on his cock, bringing him closer to the release.

    Silvermoon Elves were fertile only during the special asion under specific circumstances, so they were basically having safe sex, one could say.

    For half an hour, Samiel was passionately thrusting into his lover, but slowly, bringing her to climax several times with his slow, powerful and sensual thrustsbined with him teasing her nipples or ying with her ass.

    As he was closing near, he sat on the bed while still with his member in Yvraine''s pussy, hugging her closely as he invaded her mouth with his tongue as he they started passionately kissing, battling with their tongues, in a sloppy kiss, as he started increasing the speed of his thrusts slowly and decreasing, as he soon with one powerful thrust, Yvraine moaned into his mouth as he started spawning his load into herher depths.

    When he released everything, Yvraine copsed on his chest as she breathed for some air, tired from the morning lovemaking season.

    "We should go to the shower."

    Samiel stated as she nodded because they really needed some good bath. Fortunately, because this Vault was probably made for some high-ranking members of the Korias Empire, there was even a huge bathroom adjected to every chamber.

    ***

    Two hourster, Vault-76, 10th Floor of the Tower.

    After continuing to fuck in the shower for another two hours, Samiel and Yvraine were finally ready to scout through the rest of the Vault-76. Unfortunately, due to the peculiar inhabitants of the 10th Floor, which were the Arrakian sandworms, Samiel couldn''t use his Holo-Brain to contact Dharzug or Juulius without endangering them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Arrakian sandworms had a great sense of energy; they could sense various types of energy and transitions through the Magitek devices, which meant that they could even sense if someone was using Holo-Brain to make calls to someone on the 10th Floor and thus, they were able to trace the locations thanks to that.

    Naturally, this was primarily only reserved for the Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms, but rather be safe than sorry. It was too great to risk because there was still the possibility of some random Legendary Level Arrakian sandworm being in the vicinity of both of them.

    Fortunately, he sensed that Nefertari was okey, though she was very far from his. Apparently, his familiar got teleported to another Floor of the Tower together with Tytos, as he predicted and knew, and now both felines were making their way to Samiel''s location.

    Tytos sensed that his master was somewhere in the desert and was in a rather dangerous location, so Samiekl''s location, which was in one of the doomsday shelters of the former Korias Empire, was a much better option.

    "So, did you find anything?"

    Samiel asked as Yvraine wanted to explore the Vault of the Korias Empire; thus, they have started from the currentyer where they were before they proceeded to the down levels. It was surprising because the entrance to the down levels of the shelter were actually pretty well hidden; apparently, somebody didn''t want it to be found, so that piqued up Samiel''s curiosity.

    "Nothing... just standard bedrooms like the one where we were... all ten of them or what basically have nothing else aside from luxurious furniture, bedsheets, some things like soaps and other necessities for hygiene."

    Yvraine exined, but that was to be expected, these were just living quarters, but after this was done, they went to the end of the corridor, where the hidden entrance to the lower level or levels of the underground doomsday shelter was.

    "Do you know how to open it?"

    Contrary to the Vaultdoor, which were pretty easy to open due to the numbers engraved on them, the ones which were installed on the floor proved to be much more problematic. There were no clues to work with, and on top of that, it was clear that the doors were made from some kind of alloy that was able to resist even higher-tier Professionals.

    "Not really... it appears to be made from at least C-Grade Alloy and there should be even some of the Primordial Psionic Energy used in the creation of these doors... blowing it up is practically impossible and tearing it away, I don''t really know, If I have a physical strength for that."

    Samiel exined while he continued examining the door. The C-Grade Alloy was basically material that could be used for some weaker Unique-Grade Artifacts and was extremely durable and dense for Mortal Level Professionals. Typically only Gold-Tier Professionals were using the Unique-Grade equipment due to its strength, so having there a door made from the C-Grade Alloy was a sign that the Korias Empire invested a lot into this shelter.

    "Though... there is one possibility of how we can open it, theoretically speaking."

    Samiel stated though a bit unsure if to go with this method, but at the same time, he was very curious about what was down there, not talking about the fact he couldn''t wait for Dharzug to arrive. Even Yvraine was bugging him to open the doors so they could explore the underground levels of the Vault-76 of the ancient Korias Empire.

    Yvraine knowing what he wanted to do, as they could understand each other very well after the years, immediately started walking away as far as possible from him, and when she was at a safe distance, she only told him "good luck" and closed the heavy steel door to one of the bedrooms.

    "So here we go."

    He muttered to himself as he started using the Nuclear Chaos Mana Control Method to swirl Mana above the doors of the C-Grade Alloy into a form of a portal and when the portal form was created from the Mana, he started chatting something in the Eldritch Language R''Lyehian as prating creeping presence of the Void started escaping from the portal, as Samiel was doing everything in his power to control the Void and navigate it to the C-Grade Alloy doors.

    Soon enough, he already started sweating a bit as the C-Grade Alloy doors started corroding from the Void and, in some part, it was even begin dposed. When Samiel couldn''t bear it anymore, he closed the portal as the Void vanished into nothingness while leaving some bits behind, which were still corroding the C-Grade Alloy doors.

    After more than ten minutes, the pristine state of the C-Grade Alloy doors was long gone; now it was nowhere near simr to its previous state, as it was corroded, brownish-orange in color, as Samiel grabbed the handles of the doors and used the Nuclear Chaos Mana Control Method to boost up his physical parameters as he started pulling the C-Grade Alloy doors apart.

    Soon only a ''nk'' sound was heard as Samiel ripped the doors from the floor and threw it aside, revealing the deep tunnel with adder installed onto it, which led to the down level. This was probably the sole entrance to whatever was located down there and hopefully, there won''t be any hostile enemies because right now, Samiel wasn''t in the mood for a fight.

    "Yv,e out! It is already safe!"

    Samiel seeing that it was safe, looked in the direction where Yvraine went as he screamed at her. Fortunately due to the clever usage of the Void, there wasn''t much problem with tearing the C-Grade Alloy doors apart, though if he made one mistake, then the consequences could have been pretty severe for him though.

 Chapter 200 Legacy Of The Doom-Tex Corporation (1)

    Soon enough, the Silvermoon Princess arrived she looked down the shaft where it was leading, uncertain who would go the first one, as she looked at Samiel intensely as he, in the end, relented under her gaze.

    He took out one Silver-Tier Crystal while he inserted some of his Mana into it, forcing it to glow as he dropped it down. Soon it fell onto the ground, as both of them saw that the next level of the doomsday shelter''s second level wasn''t as deep as they initially thought.

    Thus Samiel started descending down through thedder. He quickly reached the second level of Vault-76; while he saw there a switch on the metallic wall, which he pushed as the entire ce lit up like a christmas tree. Samiel observed the ce; it was a small room with only a few things that caught his attention as he quickly scanned it with his eyes.

    Probably the most notable were a few skeletons that were long dposed and even some parts of their bones started falling apart, though that was bugging Samiel because they should be initially Professionals, so there were some other factors in y.

    He then looked at the next one of the skeletons that was holding in his hand an ID Card that was probably for the huge metallic doors that were at the end of the room, the sole entrance and exit to whatever was behind them.

    "Ok... I don''t like this."

    Yvraine said when she looked at the room because there was one small detail that was giving this situation a very ominous feeling. The miniputer that was for the ID Cards next to the huge metallic doors was full of dried blood, meaning that the people that died here were probably escaping from something that was behind those doors. However, while not killing them directly, they, in the end, sumbed to their injuries.

    "You were eager to explore the underground levels of this shelter... so, please stop being fussy, ready weapons ande. Maybe we will find something interesting, though..."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine grumbled but readied her Jade Swords, hoping that whatever was behind the doors was dead. In the end, thest time the shelter was opened was two Epochs ago, so even technically speaking, if there were survivors and whatever, they couldn''t withstand around 200,000 years in this doomsday shelter.

    Seeing that Yvraine wasbat-ready, Samiel took the ID Card from the skeleton and swiped it through the reader on the miniputer as suddenly, mechanisms in the huge metallic doors started working and the doors were opening slowly while the lights were already on.

    "Why green light... it looks more creepy this way..."

    The light which lit up in the long metallic corridor was green or light green in color, giving the entire ce a very creepy feeling. He immediately conjured an Ice Trident and summoned Ashimer to advance with them as they went through the corridors.

    On the ground, they noticed a few more skeletons lying around, together with some that seemed like some kind of assault rifles, probably working on the Psionic Energy, judging by the crystals which were inserted in the assault rifle.

    Samiel picked one up as he held it and tried to shoot several times into nothingness that was in front of him. To his surprise, energy projectiles came out of the assault rifle and each one of them wasparable to a 1st Level Spell in terms of offensive power.

    "It is still working... the Korias guys had some quality guns."

    Samiel stated as he observed the assault rifle before storing it in his dimensional storage that if he could obtain more, they would sell pretty well. Unfortunately, right now, the IMC doesn''t have any capabilities to produce more of these weapons as for that, he would need first to find people qualified to work with the Primordial Psionic Energy.

    What reminded him that after hepleted the Advancement Quest, he needed to return to the 3rd Floor of the Tower to meet with the dwarves that were working for him and check on the forges in the Zephystrand.

    Not to mention, from thest news he got from master Brigric Goldengroc, they were very close to reverse-engineering the Power Armors that the elite ck ops assassins of the Avalon Kingdom were wearing and the first prototypes were already built and were in testing, so Samiel was pretty curious how they turned up.

    When someone was climbing the Tower as part of The Journey, they could move only backward through various channels, not forward. Meaning Samiel could go to the lower Floors, which he had already "cleared" through someone''s help, or by his own intentions or use any other way, but he could go to the higher Floor where he didn''t clear the Advancement Quest or bypass the Floor. If he did that, then The Journey would fail and he will lose the benefit of it.

    "We should be going..."

    Yvraine said as they advanced further through the metallic corridors. Interestingly enough, they were descending a bit deeper; there were no doors, any side corridors or anything, just this long empty path with some venttions installed here and there that led nobody knows where, but fortunately, they would find out when they arrived there.

    After walking for some time, they finally arrived at the end of the corridor, in front of other metal doors, though these ones were very simr to the entrance doors to the Vault-76. They were absolutely humongous, round in shape, with a huge number of 76 imprinted on them.

    "There is something written there."

    Suddenly Yvraine came to a stop, as there was some text on the sign next to the door.

    "Doom-T Corporation Special Projects Division, Research Site Alpha."

    When he read that, he was surprised and, at the same time, eager to enter and find out what was inside. When Samiel and Yvraine searched through the first level of the Vault-76, they found that everywhere they looked was the name of the Doom-Tex Corporation; clearly, it was some kind of mega-conglomerate in the Korias Empire that had much more power than it should have.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Themon sense tells us that if the private corporation as this power, then, it should probably be doing something pretty nefarious, and that means whatever is behind those doors... I have a slight feeling that it isn''t dead."

    Samiel stated as he was putting one plus one together. His intuition was telling him this and his intuition was, till this day, every time right, so he didn''t see a reason why it wasn''t right once again.

    "If Doom-Tex Corporation was experimenting with the Primordial Psionic Energy, it is highly possible that the gically engineered lifeforms would not be restricted to the short lifespan or they created some monsters that are sustained by the Primordial Psionic Energy to this day."

    What Yvraine said was highly possible, while typically gically engineered lifeforms have a very limited lifespan and even most advanced Magetek or other technological trees could prolong it to tens of thousands of years if someone as powerful as Primordial Psionic Energy was taken into the equation... then the result would vastly differ.

    "I am going to open the vault door... be ready in case we are attacked."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine nodded and he then swiped with the ID Card that he obtained from the skeleton through the miniputer as the door started opening itself. Soon enough, they saw what was beyond; it was an atrium, probably as big as the entire level 1 of the doomsday shelter and it appeared to be someboratory of some kind.

    There were countless steel-ss tanks filled with green liquid and in them, there were several creatures floating, connected to some kind of machinery that was probably still functioning and keeping them asleep.

    Samiel didn''t recognize them, but Yvraine did...

    "Death ws..."

    She said more with dread than with fascination and when he heard that name, suddenly, his Eidetic Memory kicked in as he remembered everything that he knew about the Death ws. As countless pieces of information flooded into his brain as he remembered everything he knew, saw or heard about the creatures.

    Deathws are arge, carnivorous, bipedal reptile species designed for maximum lethality. The choice to make them bipedal was natural, as bipedalism raises the head, providing a greater field of vision and thus improving the ability to detect targets or resources. They had frightening regeneration levels, their senses and instincts were eclipsing almost everything of the same tier and they could also act as pack animals, making them far more dangerous in groups.

    They were gene-engineered for the first time by the Solheim Civilization in the 35th Epoch of the Psion Era as means of recing the standing army of the Solheim with the Death ws. Solheimesse collected countless species and DNA samples to create a perfectly gene-engineered killing machine.

    The result was... only partially sessful.

    The Death w experiment was sessful, but they proved to be extremely difficult to control, often failing to carry out even simplemands, their restraints on them were failing and countless times they entered a berserker state where they lost control and were killing everything around them, be it foe or ally.

    For countless years and across several Epochs, the research on the Death ws was conducted by countless factions and civilizations and many improvements were made on the original research that was started by the Solheim, which abandoned the ns to use the Death ws as a standardized army instead of their soldiers.

    Not to mention the biggest reason why nobody managed to mass-produce Death ws into tens of thousands is because even one of them was very costly to manufacture because the resources needed for them were scarce and often came from high-tiered lifeforms.

    "There are tens of them here..."

    Samiel muttered as he went to one thing, which seemed like the mainputer of the entire research facility alpha of the Doom-Tex Corporation and by pushing up one button, he turned the power on of the mainputer.

    "We need to first go through their logs to see what exactly they were researching here and if there are other things here aside from these experimental Death ws..."

    Samiel said, inserting the ID Card into the mainputer.

    [Wee Division Head Vaister.]

    When theputer turned on upon insertion of the ID Card, Samiel was greeted by V.I. or the virtual intelligence that was pre-installed there, as he started searching for the research logs. Fortunately, luck was on his side because the ID Card he picked up belonged to the Division Head of the Special Research Division of the Doom-Tex Corporation, meaning he had unlimited ess to everything.

    "Wait a moment... if this was the Division Head... someone as important wouldn''t be in some random bunker... he would be somewhere where essential and most crucial research for the corporation would be carried out...puter search for the main shelters of the Doom-Tex Corporation, highlight the ones that are still active, ck for the destroyed, red for the ones that were taken over someone."

    Yvraine held him mutter as he only now realized it.

 Chapter 201 Legacy Of The Doom-Tex Corporation (2)

    [During the exodus of the Korias Empire, Doom-Tex Corporation prepared 1,000 official shelters for the Korias Empire and other purposes of the Doom-Tex Corporation. From the official 1,000 shelters termed as Vaults, 546 have been breached by intelligent species and plundered, 214 have been destroyed either by Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms or were destroyed through other means and 74 are deactivated. Currently, there are 166 Vaults of the Doom-Tex Corporation still activated and sealed. Most of the Vaults are located within the center of the Sikarra where several Holy Levvel Legendary Arrakian sandworms have been identified.]

    Samiel heard the Virtual Intelligence of the Research Site Alpha answer him. This was far more shelters sealed than he anticipated, though if he had to guess, there were 1,000 of them and the fact that 166 shelters still remained was a miracle on its own, though they were mainly in the central area of the Sikarra...

    "Where is the mainputer of the Doom-Tex Corporation and what are the official shelters?"

    Samiel then asked another question to the Virtual Intelligence as Yvraine just remained on guard next to his right, as Ashimer was doing the same and observed the entire atrium for potential enemies because they noticed that some of the ss tanks with the Death ws were broken...

    [In the Imperial Date of Year 7,801 of Korias Kalendar of the 90th Epoch of New Era, the Doom-Tex Corporation started building the underground doomsday shelters across the entire 10th Floor, because the evacuation was impossible due to outside interference. Doom-Tex Corporation officially built 1,000 shelters termed, from Vault-1 to Vault-1,000. Aside from them, there is Vault-X0Z which houses the mainputer of the Doom-Tex Corporation with its entire databank, containing the inheritance of the Doom-Tex Corporation along with all of its research on everything that the Korias Empire and Doom-Tex Corporation ever done.]

    Samiel frowned hearing that because he had a hunch that the Vault-X0Z was out of his reach for a very long time, but he wanted it... it wasmon knowledge that at its height, the Korias Empire had one of the best research and knowledge of the Primordial Psionic Energy across the Material ne of the Cosmos, not falling much behind the Mind Flyers.

    "Where is the Vault-X0Z?"

    Samiel asked as suddenly one of the dots on the screen lit up with the words ''Vault-X0Z''.

    [Vault-X0Z as the main headquarters of the highest-ranking members Doom-Tex Corporation and Korias Empire, is located deep under the former Imperial Capital of the Korias Empire. Current state: serves asir of two Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms which are mates and an entire colony of sandworms.]

    When both Samiel and Yvraine heard that, they were aware why nobody till this day bothered with it... it was like a mission impossible. No one Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworm, but instead two together with an entire colony of them, there could be possible tens or hundreds of Legendary Level sandworms.

    Samiel knew that even his master would probably never go there because it was too dangerous. Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms could easily fight those above their level in their natural environment, and there were two sandworms of that level was almost suicidal.

    "What was researched here in the Research Station Alpha?"

    Seeing that he couldn''t get to theplete inheritance of the Doom-Tex Corporation, Samiel wasn''t sad because he had time to spare and he was suicidal enough to try it in the future. Now, he was most curious about what they were doing here, seeing here countless Deathws.

    [Special Research Division of the Doom-Tex Corporation was researching gic modification of the Deathws to feed solely on the meat of the Arrakian sandworms within the Project: Sandfall.]

    The moment he heard that his ears perked up as he ordered the Virtual Intelligence to exin what the Project: Sandfall was.

    [Project: Sandfall consisted of three phases. Phase One was to contract doomsday shelters that would be immune to the attacks of the Arrakian sandworms, where the elites of the Korias Empire would hide. Phase Two consisted of gene-engineering Deathws to force them to feed on the Arrakian sandworms and increase their reproductive abilities. Phase 3 was to release the specifically created Deathws onto the 10th Floor and let them hunt down every Arrakian sandworm during the time the poption of the Korias Empire would hide in the Vaults. Phase 4 was the elimination of the Deathws through the self-destruction and subsequent terraforming of the 10th Floor to its previous state.]

    Now, this was the most shocking thing, but not that surprising to hear... the Korias Empire was indeed put to its destruction by the very sole thing that contributed to its rise. Naturally, he was aware of what it would mean that if someone released these gically modified Deathws... they could grow stronger with time, probably even reaching the Holy Legendary after some years and annihting every single Arrakian sandworm.

    "Has the research beenpleted?"

    Soon enough, the answer put chills into him as even Yvraine paid attention closely to what the Virtual Intelligence was saying.

    [The research on the sandworm hunting Deathws has beenpleted and Phase 3 of the Project: Sandfall has never been initiated because only the Research Site Alpha contains the gically-engineered Deathws. During one incident, several of the Deathws went out of control and killed everyone before they could be released on the 10th Floor of the Tower.]

    Hearing this, he sighed in relief because he nned to do something which would probably piss off Yvraine a lot, but seeing her to calmly standing there and sending him a nod, he looked at theputer before giving it the most importantmand.

    "Upload all of the Research on the Deathws and the entire database on theputer to the databank and then start deletion of anything rted to it."

    Samiel ordered... because he had his own intentions and the Arrakian sandworms were too valuable a resource just to pass them on. Just the breeding of the Arrakian sandworms and harvesting their Nuclei for a few centuries made the Korias Empire one of the strongest factions in the Cosmos and also, one of the richest factions, far eclipsing out even some of the biggest interdimensional corporations that ever existed.

    [Order has been entered. Data on the Deathw Research are being uploaded on a separate data bank.]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Upload of the data on the Deathw Research has been finished.]

    [Initiating deletion on everything rted to the Deathw Research and Project: Sandfall.]

    [Deletion o everything rted to the Deathw Research and Project: Sandfall has been finished.]

    When everything was deleted from the mainputer of the Research Site Alpha, then the only ce where the other copies of the same data are contained is the centralputer of the Doom-Tex Corporation in the center of the Sikarra underneath the ruins of the former Imperial Capital.

    Samiel then took the databank as he stored it in his di?-imensional storage, making sure it was safe. Maybe one day it woulde in handy, and on top of that, he wasn''t fond of destroying some fine pieces of research and knowledge on a whim.

    "Show me the levels of the Vault-76 and how many Deathws are now moving freely across the research station?"

    Samiel then proceeded to ask the thing; as it was time to close the search through the Vault-76, he would then seal the entrance and they would stay just in the residential area during their entire stay on the 10th Floor. When he would be done with the all things on the 10th Floor and haspleted the Advancement Quest, he would activate the self-destruction sequence to ensure that nobody would be able to make use of this ce again.

    Though before that, he nned to hunt down all Deathws... in case some unforeseen circumstances happened which would force them out of theirir before the scheduled time and at the same time he wanted to fight against the pinnacle of gic engineering of the Korias Empire as it sounded fun.

    [Currently, across the entire Research Site Alpha, there are exactly 1,000 Deathws, from which 67 are awake and roaming the Vault-76 through its three levels. The remaining Deathws are in the status in the container tanks. As long as the machinery is functioning, there is no zero possibility of them waking up. From the Deathws that are awake, all of them are Silver-Tier initial levels.]

    "Create a self-destruction protocol that could be activated through my Holo-Brain."

    Samiel then started typing something on the holographic keyboard of his Holo-Brain while connecting with the Virtual Intelligence of the mainputer of the Research Site Alpha, downloading the program for the self-destruction.

    "What are the chances of the of the active Deathws surviving the self-destruction sequence?"

    Samiel asked though at the same time, he was utilizing his Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect to calcte the result of the situation he asked the Virtual Intelligence.

    [34,98%.]

    ''21,77%.''

    While he trusted more his own calctions, more than 20% was still uneptable... though for Samiel, only 0,00% would be totally eptable results. He knew that the Deathws that were deactivated would surely die in the self-destruction, but those who were awake, some of them were bound to survive and then, they would get to the surface world, where they could start hunting for the weaker Arrakian sandworms, reproducing, hinting and establishing the cycle, thus endangering his future money.

    "We need to go and hunt every Deathw that is still activated and roaming these halls... apparently they have a solid chance to survive through the self-destruction of the facility and that would mean less money for me... that is uneptable."

    Samiel stated seriously as Yvraine rolled her eyes at this, though, at the same time, she was aware that this was a unique money-making opportunity because they obtained countless research and legacies of the Doom-Tex Corporation in that data bank.

    And while their main concern was the research on the Deathws, there was plenty of that on the sandworms and apparently, the centralputer o the Doom-Tex Corporation contained a method for breeding the Arrakian sandworms.

    Certainly, there were countless people that would want to return the 10th Floor to its previous state because, truth to be told, the presence of the Arrakian sandworms right now is not benefitting anyone.

    With the fall of the Korias Empire, there breeding methods of the Arrakian sandworms were lost and right now, there were only so few ces where they lived naturally, with the 10th Floor of the Tower was basically a single ce that wasn''t categorized as a Death Zone.

    With all of that lost, nobody could efficiently control the Arrakian sandworms and use them for anything. While there were some efforts and tries from Germinal Order a few centuries ago, they ended spectacrly bad and even for the Germinal Order it was not worth the effort.

 Chapter 202 Deathclaw Hunting (1)

    "Also, insert aplete database deletionmand when the self-destruction sequence is activated."

    Samiel inserted anothermand into the centralputer of the Research Site Alpha in the Vault-76 befitting to his paranoid nature. After everything was finished and he obtained the data that could be counted as partial Legacy of the Doom-Tex Corporation, which would be then passed to the Hall of Kadath and copied to the IMC, they could start hunting for the Deathw hunting.

    "How much of the data you have obtained is rted to the Arrakian sandworms?"

    Yvraine asked him after they opened the map of the entire Vault-76 showing the three underground levels of it. Contrary to Samiel, she didn''t wish to remain here any second longer after finding out that they were researching and strong Deathws here... she couldn''t imagine how she would sleep at night with the knowledge of what was down below them.

    "Apparently only 15%... the Doom-Tex Corporation were one of hell of paranoid bastards and without special ess, I couldn''t get to the confidential files only for the CEO and Board of Directors... everything should be in the main servers of the Doom-Tex in Vaul-X0Z underneath the former Imperial Capital of Korias Empire."

    Samiel grumbled a bit as Yvraine giggled on it as she shot her silencing re.

    "What? It is funny that you are calling someone else paranoid... especially the fact if this was apetition, you would win every spot avable."

    He just nodded because he knew she was right and there was some sense of irony in her words, as they then looked at the map. The entire secondyer of the shelter consisted of this Atrium, then the Laboratory sector to the right and to the left, there were some kind of living quarters for the scientists and personnel assigned to the Research Site Alpha.

    On the thirdyer, there was a warehouse for some necessities for the proper functioning of the shelter, filled with some resources, data banks and other things that would be needed for either research or living. The rest of the thirdyer was filled with the ss tanks, keeping there the Deathcalws that were already finished battle-ready, sleeping and ready for the deployment.

    "So, the only ce which seemed to be swarming with the Deathws is the Laboratory Sector and Living Quarters for the Scientists... the thirdyers seems to be devoid of the Deathws."

    Samiel stated as only these two areas were filled with the Deathws... and there were 67 Silver-Tier Deathws were roaming through the secondyer of the Vault-76. Samiel decided that they would go there as a team because hunting them down separately would be a death sentence, though the one thing was giving him peace of mind about these Deathws.

    They were not that strong despite being the Silver-Tiers.

    "For the Doom-Tex Corporation to create a perfect gene-engineered weapon against the Arrakian sandworms, they tweaked them too much, making them basically weaklings when they are not on the desert and feeding on the meat of sandworms... these Deathws were hibernating for tens of thousands years and awaken only a short time before so while they are technically Silver-Tier creatures, their realbat prowess due tock of specific conditions is only around Bronze-Tier."

    Samiel exined to Yvraine that this task was not to be that feared and that the Deathws weren''t that strong despite being Silver-Tier ones. When he skimmed the research conducted by the Doom-Tex Corporation to maximize the effect of the Deathws against the sandworms, they gene-crafted them for fighting specifically a single foe in a single environment.

    Arrakian sandworm on the desert.

    If the Deathws were not in the desert, theirbat prowess was lowered by approximately 30%, not to mention they got even weaker when they didn''t regrly eat the meat of the sandworms. This was done on purpose by the Doom-Tex Corporation for two reasons, the first being forcing the Deathws constantly hunt the sandworms due to immense hunger and the second as they got stronger and evolved with each worm they ate.

    Naturally, if they didn''t eat any, their physique got weakened, they were tired and they couldn''t use some of their innate racial abilities. It was a good n; even Samiel could see the benefits of gene-crafting and gene-engineering the Deathcalws that way because they had a sole purpose and there was no reason to do it otherwise.

    "You take the front; I am taking the support, with Ashimer taking the vanguard."

    Samiel stated as their roles in the battle were divided. Ashimer, as the vanguard, would be the most effective, while Yvraine had the highest offensive power in terms of closebat, while Samiel would be supporting them with his Magic from behind.

    Yvraine nodded, while his Higher Undead Frost Death Knight didn''t say anything as Samiel took out the ID Card belonging to the Division Head of the Special Research Division of the Doom-Tex Corporation as they went to the Laboratory Sector of the secondyer, which contained 21 Deathws.

    It was the Living Quarters of the scientists and the personnel of the Doom-Tex Corporation that were living there, where it was swarming with the Deathws as the remaining 46 Deathws were there. If Samiel had to guess, when the incident happened, all of the Deathws went for the Living Quarters as that was the ce where most of the people attempted to barricade themselves and so it lured them there in hopes of easy food.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The entrance to the Living Quarters consisted of two sets of huge steel doors separating the atrium where some of the Deathws in their ss tanks were deactivated from long corridors, on whose end was another pair of huge steel doors.

    Samiel opened the first set of huge steel doors, which had countless w marks on them, evidently from the Deathws that were at some point attacking the steel doors. With his superior eyesight, he saw that the doors on the end of the corridor were breached, as he readied his Ice Trident while Ashimer and Yvraine were doing the same thing as they advanced through the corridor.

    "Be ready... I can sense six of the Deathwsing our way..."

    Samiel stated as both Ashimer and Yvraine assumed abat stance, while Samiel immediately cast a 5th Level Spell of the Winter Magic called Come of Cold, as the extreme coldness soon started overtaking previously lukewarm temperature in the corridor to the point where even their breath started freezing.

    He was already creating an environment suitable for him o fight in. Because the Deathws were gene-engineered to fight in a scorching hot climate to absolute limits, during their creation, additional adaptability to other types of environments and weathers were sacrificed entirely to increase the affinity of the heat as much as possible.

    This means... coldness was especially deadly to the Deathws created by the Doom-Tex Corporation. Soon enough, the already familiar visage of the Deathws entered their sight, as several figures of around 4 meters tall, with lizardish appearances and horns atop of their head, appeared and started running towards them like rabid dogs starved to death.

    It was evident that the years that they had spent in hibernation took their toll on their mind, as they were acting purely on their instincts, devoid of any logical thought process. Normally, the Deathcalws were pretty intelligent creatures; while they weren''t fully sentient per see, they could adhere to logic, reasons and often carried out advanced calctions to make the best decision possible.

    The second Deathws started rushing at them; Samiel cast another 5th Level Spell of the Winter Magic, whose effects were even further amplified due to the presence of the previous 5th Level Spell Come of Cold, as countless frostbites started appearing all around the six iing Deathws that were nearest.

    Soon enough, their legs started freezing up and they were moving slower and slower, which was an opportunity exploited by Yvriane and Ashimer, who sued this to attack on their enemies immediately.

    Yvraine appeared behind one of the Deathws and with swift shes of their twin swords, she at first severed the longs hands of the creature; immediately after jumping over and after shended in front of it as she decapitated it in one swift stroke.

    The same situation as with Ashimer, who didn''t do any fancy movements like Yvraine did, but he went straight for the head, as he severed in one move. Because the effect of the frost and cold was strong here, especially after the usage of the 5th Level Spell Frostbites, the Deathws had a rather very hard time even moving around as the remaining four were frozen in their ce.

    Or three, because one of them was hit by more than ten 3rd Level Spell Void Strikes simultaneously, as Smaiel used the opportunity to cast them at one of the Deathws who was in his strike zone almost perfectly.

    Instantly after, Yvraine and Ashimer went for the remaining three Deathws, who were being slowly frozen to death, as they were soon decapitated because the fastest way to kill a Deathw in any situation was to take their head. Additionally, they were right now like big unmoving targets who couldn''t really move with their legs which were half-frozen and half-covered in the frostbites that were continuously injuring them.

    Within several minutes all six of the Silver-Tier Deathws were annihted andid dead on the ground. Indeed as Samiel predicted, they were much weaker than any Silver-Tier creature should be, not to mention they were taking immense damage from the frost and cold when he used his Winter Magic.

    "That was rather anticlimactic, don''t you think?"

    Yvraine asked and while Samiel was tempted to agree with her, he shook his head in denial... at least partially she was wrong and partially right.

    "We were lucky because they are deprived of everything that is giving them any kind of advantage. If we fought against the Deathws in the desert, they would be already overpowering us... fortunately, we are underground and they were suffering greatly from the coldness. From now on, we are repeating the same strategy as it proved itself to be very effective against the creautres."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine nodded because while it seemed boring, it was the most logical thing to do and they were not some adventurers fighting for the sake of thrill and glory. There were still 41 Deathws remaining in the Living Quarters Sector that needed to be killed before they could move onto the Laboratory Sector.

    Samiel looked at the corpses of the Deathws as he was deciding if they were worthy of something before he decided to use 3rd Level Spell of the Necromancy Arts, Vampiric Touch, as he started draining Life Force from them and transferring it into himself.

    While it wasn''t as effective as the Life Drain Spell of the Void Magic, it did its job as Samiel greedily absorbed the Lifeforce from the deceased Deathws, revitalizing himself a bit from the fatigue.

 Chapter 203 Deathclaw Hunting (2)

    The Living Quarters Sector of the secondyer of the shelter was consisting of several tens of standardized rooms. All of them were pretty small, just enough for one or two people to live in them, as they were designed with utility in mind as the first objective.

    Then there was some sort of standard room, which was connected through several corridors with the rooms of the scientist and the personnel that was working for the Doom-Tex Corporation. With the limited space that the shelter of the Research Site Alpha provided, then every square meter has been used with the highest utility possible.

    "There are thirty rooms in the Living Quarters Sector, spread across six corridors, plus there are also bathrooms, consisting of two ones one for males and one for females. Also, there is themon room, which is in the middle of the Living Quarters Sector, where are right now approximately fifteen to twenty Deathws as they are constantly moving around the entire Living Quarters Sector."

    Samiel stated while their group of three was advancing through the corridors, asionally encountering some skeletons of the employees of the Doom-Tex Corporation. They advanced carefully as they would be arrived at themon logue for the employees where several of the Deathws were currently taking their time and probably heading towards them.

    Deathws while having a limited lifespan as they were gene-engineered, they could go to hibernation; thus they were able to survive for very long periods of time because, during the hibernation, they were preserving their Life Force; thus they could survive for a very long time if they actively used the hibernation.

    Now that the Vault-76 was opened by Samiel when he was escaping from the Arrakian sandworm that was pursuing them. Naturally, when he opened the Vault, this act also woke up all of the active Deathws which weren''t in the ss tanks and were in hibernation. Now, the Deathws were roaming through the secondyer of the shelter and searching for something to kill and eat.

    "Ashimer on the front, Yvraine hide behind him... we will use the element of surprise."

    Samiel said as both of them did what he said as they advanced onto themon room of the Living Quarters Sector. When they entered themon room of the Living Quarters Sector, he noticed that it was rtively big, though entirely destroyed, with the furniture either already dposed with only some metal parts remaining and all around where the signs of battle and skeletons of the people.

    ''So the Deathws went first here and they even fought against them... though the results were pretty much clear.''

    They soon noticed seven Deathws advancing at them from the right and another nine from the left. They were of the same appearance like the previous one, as Samiel was tempted to call them big white demon lizards, though that wouldn''t be that wrong as one of the base materials in the creation of the Deathws was actually DNA of some of the inferior dragons and DNA of some lowest ranking demon species.

    Naturally, thebination of these two types of DNA resulted in the creation of Deathws, which was why their appearance was so simr to that of drakes and demons as if some amalgamation between the two of them was created.

    Samiel immediately cast 5th Level Spell Come of Cold like the previous time and started spamming the 3rd Level Void Strikes as the iing Deathws that wereing at them from the right side. At the same time while Ashimer held his ground while using his Frost Aura Ability to freeze them while Yvraine jumped from behind Ashimer''s back directly in the mids of the Deathws and started crippling them one after another.

    Samiel even used his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to condense arge amount of frost and cold from the environment, which was created from the previous conjuration of the 5th Level Spell of the Winter Magic Come of Cold, as several huge balls of highly condensed frost and cold were created in a split of second and threw them at the iing 7 Deathws.

    As he threw there the condensed balls of Frost and Cold, upon its explosion, it enveloped all of the 7 Deathws as they shrieked in pain and anguish, in piercing cry that probably warned all of the remaining Deathws that something was fighting them and that they remainingpatriots were dying from fighting whatever enemy they were fighting.

    Naturally, the attack that Samiel has done was frightening against the Deathws because the nearest three of them that were in the center of the explosion of frost and cold were basically killed on the spot as the frost was too intense for them to bear. The remaining 4 Deathws that managed to survive were half frozen and Samiel finished them with only a few Void Strikes aimed at the half-frozen Deathws sted them apart.

    In another part of themon room, the fight was still going on, as Yvraine was crippling one Deathw after another, severing legs and hands here and there, as Ashimer joined in the fight, as the two of them worked in perfect synchronization as they were fighting against 9 Deathws.

    When Samiel saw that, he immediately went into action, using the coldness of the ce with the Winter Ruler, as he started conjuring several of the ice weapons and shooting them at the two Deathws, skewering them from their back.

    Yvraine then severed the head of another of the Deathws as their numbers started dropping and soon enough, only three from the initial nine remained. When Ashimer slit the throat of one of the remaining three Deathws and it dropped on the ground, he pierced its head, killing it instantly, as the remaining two Deathws roared loudly, summoning here other Deathws from the entire Living Quarters Sector.

    ''Though this could be good... they would being to us, so we can kill them en masse, and didn''t need to hunt them on by one across the rest of the Living Quarters Sector. We killed 6 in the corridor, and here 15, that makes it 21 killed from the initial 46 Deathws... so now we have here 25 Deathws.''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel thought as he calcted the best course of action that they should take as the next step, while Yvraine was distressed when she heard those Deathws roaring because she knew that other Deathws from the entire Living Quarters Sector were heading right now here, though at the same time, it was also a perfect opportunity to take them out simultaneously.

    "Start preparing traps around the exits... we have exactly one minute and forty seconds when the first Deathwse."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine immediately went to the nearest corridors after decapitating the Deathw, whom she kicked down and started lying down a trap for the Deathws, mainly with thebination of Ice Magic.

    He did the same thing; as he was lying down, the Spell Holding Wards capable of holding Intermediate Magic, he was sending them on all entrances to the corridors that were spread across the Living Quarters Sector and at the same time, he was injecting there 4th Level Spells and 5th Level Spells of the Winter Magic to give the Deathws as nice wee as possible.

    It didn''t take long for them to finish as soon afterward, the remaining Deathws started flooding in as several violent ice elemental explosions took ce while freezing the Deathws that came through the corridors in a split of a second.

    This alone killed 12 Deathws that were nearest and immediately came to themon room, as they answered the call for help from theirpariots. Deathws acted mainly as pack animals if there were more of them in one ce and soon enough, more of the Deathws were arriving as they were greeted with the whole bunch of Ice Spells that were cast by Yvraine and Samiel working in unison with each other.

    The poor Deathws were basically defenseless against the barrage of elemental spells that both of them were spamming at them as they were attacked the second they exited the corridors. This tactic was most effective in this situation because the Deathws were essentially defenseless and there were not many of them, so Samiel and Yvraine could safely use their magic against them without fear of missing some of the Deathws.

    Even if, by any chance, some of the iing Deathws managed to slip by their barrage of Spells, they would be intercepted by Samiel''s Frost Death Knight Ashimer, who was standing guard beside his master.

    Within several minutes, the Deathws were killed as under the countless ice elemental spells was something that was extremely deadly to them, as it was their greatest gic weakness. When it was finished, Samiel looked around; right now, it was time to search through the Living Quarters Sector to see if there was something valuable in this ce; thus Samiel and Yvraine split up.

    All Deathws here were killed, thus making it safe to move within the sector. Unfortunately for Samiel, there weren''t many valuables in the Living Quarters Sector because their former inhabitants weren''t, in the first ce, rich people but rather just employees of the Doom-Tex Corporation. Though he found some data disks, with something that appeared to be the currency of the Korias Empire, but that was virtually useless because nobody would want the currency of the long-destroyed nation.

    After half an hour searching through all the rooms inside the Living Quarters Sector, Samiel managed to find virtually nothing of any value, though some of the rooms had hidden side them data disks with some bits of research... apparently, some of the researchers were stealing from the Doom-Tex Corporation their research.

    "Have you found anything?"

    Samiel asked as Yvraine shooked her head in denial; clearly, the results of her search were the same as Samiel''s. Even she didn''t manage to find anything useful in the rooms that she was searching, though like Samiel, she found some data disks with the currency of the Korias Empire, but those ones were worth less than dirt.

    "No..."

    After saying that, he nodded, as they then left the Living Quarters Sector and headed towards the Laboratory Sector. Contrary to the Living Quarters Sector, the Laboratory Sector was much better secured because this was the ce where the scientist of the Doom-Tex Corporation were carrying out their research on the gically modified Deathws.

    When that came in front of the huge C-Grade Alloy Doors leading to the Laboratory Sector, Samiel swiped with his ID Card and the humongous metal doors started slowly opening, showing them a nice and clean white corridor with another C-Grade Alloy Doors several meters before them.

    There were five of such doors across the entire corridor to ensure the security of the Laboratories, as they were the most prized asset of the Doom-Tex Corporation here, technically, aside from the Deathws that were being researched here.

 Chapter 204 Deathclaw Hunting (3)

    Samiel swiped the ID Card belonging to the Division Chief of the Special Research Division of the Doom-Tex Corporation as they continued through the long white corridor, door after door, before they arrived at the end of the corridor, as Samiel looked at the doors with anxiousness and at the same time the equal amount of excitement.

    "There should be 21 Deathws in the Labs... I think that the strategy employed before is not applicable on this situation as well because nobody knows what the Doom-Tex Corporation was researching here aside from the Deathws, so there would be a possibility of exploding some random things or releasing some viruses..."

    Samiel warned them as they would be changing their strategy this time to more closebat than before and refrain from the usage of AOE Spells as well. Yvraine didn''t really have a problem with this and Ashimer just wordlessly nodded his head in eptance.

    Contrary to thest time, they would be going from oneboratory to another one, cleaning them one by one. The Deathws here were spread by a huge margin, they weren''t concentrated in one ce and there were "distributed across fourboratories that were in this Sector of the shelter.

    When the huge C-Grade Alloy Doors opened, all three of them saw one long corridor with four sings leading to the fourboratories where the Deathws were researched. Samiel listened closely, seeing that there were none of then outside of theboratories, which was a good sign.

    "So, with what number are were starting?"

    Yvraine asked jokingly, as Samiel went forboratory number one as they would be taking this chronologically, to which Yvraine giggled a bit as she followed after him together with Higher Undead Frost Death Knight Ashimer.

    When they arrived in front ofboratory number 1, he swiped through the console with the ID Card as the doors started opening. When they opened, they entered the decontamination chamber, which was still functioning to the surprise of all present because it was older more than two Epochs and still functioning.

    After passing through the decontamination chamber, they entered theboratory and it looked exactly like Samiel had predicted that it would look. Not only were there several ss tanks with the sleeping Deathws, but there were also several ss tanks that were destroyed, signifying that their inhabitants had escaped already.

    When he looked around, he didn''t see a single Deathw; this made Samiel realize something. Considering the fact that the entireboratory was rtivelyrge and had also two more room adjected to it, they were hunting and waiting for their prey to appear.

    Though he sensed them, as he could sense 4 Silver-Tier Deathws because nothing could hide from his superior Eldritch senses.

    "There are four of them and they are currently hiding... probably preying on us."

    Samiel whispered to Yvraine as she nodded while also scanning theboratory with her eyes, though, unfortunately, she didn''t see anything. It was evident that either the Deathws were hiding too well or they were hiding in some of the rooms, adjected toboratory number 1.

    "I didn''t see anything... though..."

    She stated while casting a few detection spells of Divine Origin, she learned as the Holy Apostle of the Chief Goddess of the Seldarine Pantheon, Moon Goddess Eluria. Immediately, a subtle energy of the moon prated the entire area while Yvraine was able to pinpoint the four hiding Deathws.

    "Two in the rooms in the back, one is hiding on the ceiling''s venttion systems and one is hiding behind the contamination area."

    Yvraine whispered to Samiel who nodded as he looked at the ceiling of theboratory, precisely, the part which looked like it was opened before, big enough for even an adult Deathw to enter in.

    Then he started using his Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to its maximum, as he was condensing as much power of the Winter Ruler as he could for the moment before instantly everything around the entrance to the venttion froze within a split of a second.

    "That is one. Now for the second one."

    Seeing Samiel nod, Ashimer and Yvraine advanced to the contamination area, which was an enormous ck ss tank. Now that the Deathw in the venttions was killed, they could safely go through the are of theboratory without being ambushed from the ceiling by a gically engineered monster.

    Ashimer and Yvraine went from different sides, one from the right and the other from the left, as they surrounded the Deathw who was hiding within the opened contamination chamber; as they both attacked the creature at the same time, Yvraine severing its head, while Ashimer piercing his heart and freezing its insides.

    "That are two down..."

    Samiel muttered as he looked at the corpse of another Deathw before they split once again and went for the rooms where the other Deathws were hiding. Samiel went for the door to the right as he entered something which appeared to be a storage room for things?

    He wasn''t sure himself, as he saw a lot of boxes and other things, probably some supplies for the research and other things, as he suddenly dodged to the side, evading the Deathw that attacked him with his extra sharp ws while simultaneously as he was dodging the attack, he conjured a 3rd Level Spell Void Strike on his right palm and then he sted apart entire left arm of the attacking Deathw.

    The creature shrieked in pain, but Samiel didn''t waste a second, casting a 5th Level Spell of the Winter Magic Frostbites instantly, as countless frostbites covered the bleeding parts of the Deathw, freezing his wound and his flesh, as the monster started madly attacking everything around it.

    He evaded every strike of the Deathw as he soon saw an opportunity and after casting three Void Strikes he sent them all at the frozen parts of the Deathw''s body, essentially sting apart arge part of the creature, killing it easily.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As he exited the room, he noticed that Yvraine and Ashimer were already done with their too, apparently, when they worked together, a single Deathw was killed faster than he could outstretch his ws.

    They didn''t search through theboratories as that would be done after everything was cleared, simr to their advance on the Living Quarters Sector. Fortunately, the next twoboratories were cleared without many problems as the Deathws while were hiding and attempting to hunt them down; with Yvraine''s superior detection of Divine Magic, they were found and killed off.

    Though only when they came in front ofboratory number 4, Samiel got a very uneasy feeling out of nowhere when he looked at the doors as if something bad would happen. He got feelings like this from time to time, most usually when he was about to encounter a dangerous foe.

    "Be on guard... I again got ''that'' feeling."

    He stated as Yvraine''s gaze sharpened too because she knew that Samiel got some Divine Danger Sense from the God he worshipped, which was warning him about very dangerous situations, with a high percentage of dying.

    When he swiped the ID Card through the console and the C-Grade Alloy Doors started opening, Samiel was instantly able to see why his danger sense gifted to him by his God was screaming at him like crazy.

    ''Mother Deathw.''

    The Deathw before him was at least two times bigger than the average Deathw, its skin looked tougher and its spikes were bigger; practically everything about the creature looked either bigger or more powerful than your average Deathw that they were right now killing en masse.

    Not only that, but he could see that the monster was the peak of the Silver-Tier, though it was understandable as this was the Mother Deathw, the pinnacle of their Deathw species. Only the Mother Deathws were females of their entire species and thus were capable of lying eggs.

    Not only the Mother Deathw was stronger and bigger, but she was also superior to the ordinary Deathw in every aspect. Be it physical strength, regeneration,bat senses, intelligence or practically anything that someone can think of. Not only that but Mother Deathws were also armed with sets of innate abilities that were typically not avable for the normal Deathws.

    Even Yvraine realized what their foe was and her expression turned very ugly instantly when she saw the Mother Deathw eyeing them dangerously. Any further movement and the fight between them would erupt and overall, Samiel was getting rather a bad feeling about fighting against the Mother Deathw, but there was nothing they could do in at this point already.

    Samiel raised his Ice Trident as he instantly cast a 5th Level Spell of the Winter Magic, Come of Cold, while Yvraine seeing him raising his Ice Trident, knew what he aimed to do, as she cast another spell of the Ice Magic called Burst of Frost, which was also a 5th Level Spell, as the temperature of the room dropped drastically within several seconds.

    "Roooaaarrr!!!"

    The Mother Deathw didn''t like this at all as they were greeted with an enormous roar that would have broken the wills of the lesser people because it had a special effect on the psych??s and wills of the enemies. It could be considered as some sort of the mind-rted attack by Deathws that only a few of their race could execute.

    When the temperature fell tremendously, with Yvraine and Samiel casting the spells together, the Mother Deathw was drastically affected because she was feeling the cold biting her and causing her minor injuries just being in the room.

    The Mother Deathw didn''t waste a moment as she lunged at the nearest enemy, which was the Higher Undead, Frost Death Knight Ashimer, as he easily dodged her strikes, counterattacking by shing at her with his swords.

    To everyone''s shock, the Mother Deathw managed to block the blows without an injury, which clearly showed that her hide was extremely durable and dense for anyone to break through it without at least being peak Silver-Tier and having extreme offensivebat prowess.

    "She has increased physical resistance, probably something to imitate Abilities like Skin Series and Bone Series."

    Samiel shouted to Yvraine; as she nodded, hearing this and jumped away from the Mother Deathw, preparing to cast magic spells instead of physical attacks on the Mother Deathw. If Samiel''s assumptions were correct and the scientist of the Doom-Tex Corporation managed to imitate the Skin Series and Bone Series Abilities into the creation of Mother Deathws, then using physical attacks to break her defenses would require too much energy.

    Yvraine then started casting some of the Ice Spells and attacking the Mother Deathw, which was distracted by Ashimer, while around Samiel, three enormous ice ciers appeared as he cast the 5th Level Spell of Winter Magic sh of ciers as he shot them at a tremendous speed at the Mother Deathw.

    Unfortunately for the poor gene-crafted monster, it didn''t manage to dodge, as three enormous ice ciers smashed into her huge body, which was like literarily made to be a target, as it flew through the entireboratory while crashing into the walls.

    "Continue casting... it is not dead... only severely injured."

    Samiel stated as he continued casting one Spell of Winter Magic at the ce where the Mother Deathw crashed, with Yvraine following suit as she was casting either Ice Spells or Water Spells, as inbination with the ridiculous amount of frost, every Water Construct that apparent in theboratory was instantly frozen into a huge block of ice.

    With each wave of the freezing cold spells falling onto the Mother Deathw, its shrieks were getting weaker and weaker until it went entirely silent, killed in the bombardment by two magicians.

 Chapter 205 Inheritance Of Civilization Long Gone

    "It should be dead, right?"

    Yvraine asked as they finished bombarding the Mother Deathw with the ice-attributed spells that were most deadly to the Deathws and when the Mother Deathw went silent and Samiel couldn''t sense it anymore, he came into the conclusion that the creature was finally killed.

    "It is... even though the Mother Deathws are several times stronger than average Deathw, the amount of ice-attributed magic spells we have unleashed onto the creature was enough to kill it for good... this should be thest Deathw that is still awake in the facility, though it would be prudent to search for eggs."

    Mother Deathws were also considered the most dangerous of their entire species because they were capable ofying eggs, creating countless generations of new Deathw. Samiel was aware that Mother Deathws couldy eggs even in the most hostile environments and grave circumstances, when the poption of Deathws was low, to repopte themselves as fast as possible.

    Thus Samiel and Yvraine were searching throughboratory number 4 in case the Mother Deathw managed toy some eggs and fortunately, they didn''t find anything, indicating that the Mother Deathw didn''ty any eggs which was a good thing.

    Though unfortunately, they didn''t find anything else because this ce was essentially empty or rather, the Mother Deathw destroyed everything. While unfortunate, there was nothing that they could do about it, as they proceeded to search through the entireboratory number 4.

    Though there was one thing that they found and it was a sealed container. Samiel looked at the sealed container when he noticed the miniputer console; as he took out the ID Card of the Division Chief and inserted it in.

    Soon enough, the sealed container opened itself, and what was in almost made Samiel gape like a fish out of water and Yvraine was no different from it; when she came to ask what had happened when she noticed that he was standing here for more than three minutes without saying a word and just staring at the object inside the sealed container.

    It was an egg hovering in the swirls of Primordial Psionic Energy in some kind of stasis. The egg was huge, like very huge, probably bigger than a human torso, brown in color with several red lines running through the surface of the egg, which were pulsating with power.

    "That is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is... that is..."

    Yvraine constantly muttered like a broken machine because this thing was practically priceless, like really, really, really priceless, far more than average Holy-Grade Artifact and probably no amount of Credits would be able to tell the worth of this egg, really, not even tens of billions would be enough...

    Why?

    Because this was the egg of an Arrakian sandworm and not only the ordinary Arrakian sandworm, but it was the Queen Egg, meaning the thing that could hatch from this would be the sandworm Queen, which could spawn more and more eggs, even without the partner.

    "How the hell did they manage to get one of these?"

    Samiel was totally astonished seeing the Queen Egg of the Arrakian sandworms as his mind was working on how they managed to get this thing because this should beid down by the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworm Queen, so stealing this from the nest where not only one such worm but also her mate, which was even stronger was mind blogging.

    "What should we do with it?"

    Yvraine asked hesitantly because taking this thing with them could spell a lot of trouble. This wasn''t something that could be ignored by anyone; even all of the 13 Gates would stop at nothing to obtain such an egg because this could give birth to a new generation of Arrakian sandworms, even though the breeding and taming method of them was lost, with enough time could develop new ones.

    "What else? I will be taking this beauty with me... in truth, I was hoping to find something like this and alter capture a whole bunch of worms and try to integrate them into a new environment, but that won''t be really possible because the worms will die if they leave the 10th Floor."

    Samiel stated because the major, if not one of the sole reasons why nobody managed to breed the Arrakian sandworms was that if they brought one of them outside of the deserts of Sikarra, they would die within several hours as their lives were directly and tightly tied to the ce where they were hatched.

    Practically nobody have found a way how to safely bring the Arrakian sandworms out of the 10th Floor during the past two Epochs and there were countless people who tried such, yet everyone failed because probably the only safe way was to obtain an egg... and it would need to be a Queen Egg, but the such task was night impossible.

    And yet it was here, in some god-forgotten research station of the Doom-Tex Corporation, they were researching one of such eggs; the sheet irony and impossibility of the situation almost gave Samiel a heart attack if not for his strong health.

    "Are you absolutely stupid or just ovee with greed? You can''t take this away?!"

    She almost shrieked in shock because even taking this egg inside the Dimensional Storage would leave the possibility for the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms in the center of the deserts of Sikarra to trace them to obtain back the egg.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Meanwhile, Samiel wasn''t really thinking about such possibilities because he was already thinking about how best to exploit this opportunity to make money out of it, as this was indeed and unique and heaven-sent opportunity.

    "Why not? I know about the tracing from the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms, but even they would need several days to get here and if we are fast enough..."

    He didn''t get to finish his words as Yvraine smacked him on the back of his head as he was stopped in the middle of his speech.

    "There won''t be any faster, you dolt! Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms would be here within three days...pleting the Quest within the three days from the very second the egg is taken out of the stasis is impossible and they will eat us alive... Samiel, please find another way or just leave it here."

    Yvraine spoke heatedly as he hung his head in shame... he didn''t wish to admit it, but she was right, and in a moment, he was ovee by his greed over this egg and the possibilities he could obtain from it... naturally, all would be technically useless if he died here.

    Indeed she was right about this. The moment the egg was taken out from the stasis, the Primordial Psionic Energy would disperse and the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms would be able to sense the Queen Egg''s pulsating Lifeforce and Psinic Signals that the egg was releasing.

    It would take not even three days for the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms to arrive at the outskirts of the deserts of Sikarra and eat them all in one gulp to obtain the egg. He knew that he wouldn''t have enough time to finish the Quest because finding the Divine Altars in this ce and traveling to them is night impossible in the situation they were in.

    But at the same time, he was pretty reluctant to abandon the egg here.

    ''If the Mortals cannot help... then the Transcendents could at a price.''

    Samiel thought after some time of contemtion about the situation as he was going to use some of the souls as a ritual sacrifice for the Azathoth to use a whisp of his might for the Void to swallow the egg together with the entire container while still in stasis and transport it directly to the Holy City of the Hall of Kadath to Hall Master''s office.

    "I will carry out a sacrificial ceremony for the Outer Gods to use Void to swallow the egg together with the stasis device and transport it directly in that way to the Hall Master''s office in the headquarters of the Hall of Kadath... in this way, nothing on the 10th Floor would be alerted and I get the Queen Egg..."

    Samiel presented his n as Yvraine nodded because this was countless times better than the initial idea of just having it stored in the Dimensional Storage and hoping that nothing would find it... how utterly foolish... greed was really good at clouding one''s judgment and Samiel made a mental note to take precautions for a future simr situation like this.

    "That is a good n... and for the future note... try reign your greed for the future asions, or it could end pretty badly in case it goes to fuck."

    Samiel nodded and gave her a kiss on the cheek, secretly thinking it was so hot when she cursed

    "After we return up, I have some use for that foul mouth."

    He whispered into her ear as she shuddered mildly, as he then went to prepare for the ritual and praised himself for not wasting all of the souls he obtained on the 8th Floor of the Tower because now they would be put to good use.

    If he didn''t have them, he still had a backup n that was riskier, which was to make use of some Holy of the Hall of Kadath toe and take out the Queen Egg, but that would notify the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworm and that could end badly.

    While the method he was nning to use is costlier but many times safer.

    Samiel then only started praying to the Outer Gods and used ten thousand souls that he had collected as he soon got the signal from the Primordial Demiurge and "paid" another 40,000 souls to Azathoth as instantly after he delivered the souls; the portal opened above the Queen Egg in the stasis and the Void started seeping from the portal.

    Instantly, Samiel opened his Holo-Brain and send a message to the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber that soon enough, something of extreme importance to his office as the Void soon absorbed the entire Queen Egg together with the container as it closed soon after, transporting the entire thing to the Hall Master.

    "Now, we have that thing done... the only thing which remains is the 3rd Layer of the shelter."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine observed from the side before she nodded as they now needed only to go through thestyer of the shelter to see if there was anything of value that could be taken or used in the long run, hopefully is, because apparently, the 3rdyer was serving as the warehouse for the scientist in the shelter.

 Chapter 206 Research Site Cleared

    After they cleared outboratory number 4, killing the Mother Deathw and transporting the Queen Egg of the Arrakian sandworm, he got the call from the from the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber as his Holo-Brain lit up with the holographic projection with the familiar visage of the elderly Hall Master.

    "I only ask this... where did you find that thing?"

    The Hall Master asked with a tired sight, because for his disciple and Holy Son of Hall of Kadath, obtaining the Queen Egg of the Arrakian sandworm was something that he would never predict because there were countless, thousands of Legendaries that searched through every nook and cranny of the 10th Floor, including tens if not hundreds of Holies during the time and found nothing.

    "Luck? Probably... when we arrived on the 10th Floor, Yvraine got backsh by lingering nature spirit. We got pursued by sandworm, so in a hurry, I used Architect to calcte the location of the ce we could hide based on the information I bought through Net and Kadath''s data banks. I got navigated to one of the shelters of the Korias Empire build by the Doom-Tex Corporation. Surprisingly enough, it wasn''t an ordinary shelter but rather a hidden research station under the pretense of being a shelter for high-ranking people of the fallen nation and we started searching through it and in one of the areas of theboratory, we found the Queen Egg in stasis. Evidently, it was off records because not even the centralputer and its V.I. were aware of the existence of the egg, so I think that the Doom-Tex deleted it from their servers."

    The Hall Master was listening to everything his disciple and the Holy Son was saying and this was already out of ordinary luck. Who would find probably the most important thing for the cultivation of Psionics through identally falling through the pit?

    Though there was one thing that the elderly man noticed about his disciple... he had an unnatural amount of luck, like really unnaturally...

    from the lucky encounters, if they could be called that way, or the rewards given to him by the Akashic Records were all top-notch and while not many were helped to him right now, most of them were for the future and they were things that even Holies would kill for.

    "Unfortunately, without the breeding method and taming method, we cannot really cultivate the Sandworms effectively as the Korias Empire did and with the fall of the Empire, the methods were lost and theirst copies should be stored in a ce where even I wouldn''t dare to enter."

    Hall Master sighed as he said that; Samiel knew what he was talking about, but he promised himself that he would obtain them in the future if he reached Legendary Level and became strong enough.

    "For now, I will let Queen Egg be studied by our Research and Development Department with the level of utmost secrecy and importance... we still need to find a method how to hatch it safely and also the suitable world for it."

    The Hall Master stated as he then cut the call and Samiel returned to Yvraine, who was already waiting for him at the entrance to the 3rdyer of the Research Station Alpha. Fortunately for this time, they didn''t need to tear anything out, as he just used the ID Card to open the entrance and they descended through thedder which was leading there as they chose to use the smaller entrance.

    When they entered the thirdyer, both of them noticed the most significant difference was that it was an enormous space; it looked like some kind of underground cave with the size of a huge diatorial arena, with hundreds of ss tank containers where countless Deathws were put to sleep.

    Aside from them, there were a few small buildings that were clearly the storage for the equipment and research materials on whatever the Doom-Tex Corporation was researching here, aside from the Queen Egg and Deathws.

    "We are heading for the storages... other things are practically worthless... let''s see what they had here stored for us."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine wordlessly followed after him to the first building, though that ended up being a huge disappointment because it was full of tools, machines, and other outdated technology that was working on the Psionic Energy, practically speaking this was just two Epochs'' old junk.

    So nothing to take; after that, they went to another of the storage buildings, but that one was also a disappointment because it was a storage room for the blood samples of the demon species and inferior dragon species together with some corpses.

    This was the ce where they stored the DNA needed to manufacture the Deathws, but unfortunately, all of the things were so ordinary that they would be worth, at max, a few tens of thousands of Credits.

    "Majority of these samples is already without their properties due to begin left here for more than two Epochs worth of years and the flesh of species in some cases already dposed long ago due to malfunctions of some machines."

    Samielmented disappointedly as they went through the storage room because there was essentially nothing and the things that could be useful no longer were useful due to a variety of circumstances, so the only thing that the money grubber in Samiel could do was to sigh as they left the storage rooms.

    "It was over two hundred thousand years... so it would be only understandable that many of these things would either rot, dissipate or go wrong in any other way due to the passage of time and malfunction of some of the machines as nobody was carrying out the maintenance on them."

    He just nodded as they went back to the secondyer of the shelter after going through the 3rdyer. After both arrived at the shelter''s secondyer, they went through theboratory sector once more to ensure nothing was missed. They returned to the firstyer, to the corridor where the hidden entrance to the further undergroundyers was located.

    Samiel looked at the doors that he ripped apart, which were still corroded by the Void, as he put them in a ce where they were before he ripped them off, while he took out some of the metal ingots and put them all around the frames as he nodded at Yvraine, who called forth the strongest and hottest me and started melting it, sealed the entrance.

    After it was melted, Samiel covered it up as it looked like the entrance to the true Research Site Alpha was never opened at all. He had the doors sealed mainly for peace of mind because he was paranoid as hell that some of the Deathws would wake up and attack him in his sleep... even if it was technically and realistically impossible to happen, Samiel''s paranoia was never ending and high as the sky itself.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Now we have that thing done; we can start plotting on how toplete the Quests..."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine nodded, but before that, it was time for some sleep because this entire search of the Research Site Alpha left him dead tired for some reason, as he went to have a shower and get some sleep while his lovely Silvermoon Elf while trying to look stoic, her ear betrayed her emotions as she soon followed after him.

    ***

    98th Floor of the Tower, approximately around the same time

    The Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath was looking at the Queen Egg of the Arrakian sandworms for a few moments before he typed something on his Holo-Brain and called for some people to arrive. He wasn''t either an expert on the biology of various magical beasts and other species, a scientist or researcher of the depths of Arcane who could take care of things like this.

    "That boy sure knows how to give this old man a heart attack."

    He muttered after some time of observing the Queen Egg, whose red veins were pulsating with power. As he was looking at the Queen Egg inside of his study, after ten minutes, he heard somebody knocking onto a huge wooden door.

    "Enter."

    He said and the person entered, wearing the insignia of the Hall of Kadath and its Research and Development Department; it was a middle-aged man with light grey short hair, wearing sses and a pristine whiteboratory cloak.

    "Dr. Crowley, I have called you here because I have this specimen for you to take care of... until we can find out what to do with it."

    The Hall Master stated as the man in sses excitedly ran toward him and started orbiting around the Queen Egg of the Arrakian sandworm like a hawk and casting various spells to obtain more data.

    "This should be somethingid by an insectoid magical beast on the Holy Legendary Level? Psionic origin... oh and extremely strong lineage... traces of the..."

    Seeing the Dr. Lloyd Crowley so excited and forgetting the time and ce where he was, the Hall Master was forced to stop him, before he would start carrying out moreplex experiments in his office.

    "Dr. Crowley, please stop. For your information, this is the Queen Egg of the Arrakian sandworm."

    When he said that, the head of the Research and Development Department of the Hall of Kadath stopped whatever he was doing as he almost got a faint heart attack despite being an Intermediate Legendary Level Professional.

    People from the Research and Development Department were not among the strongest ones, because they focused more on their research than training and getting stronger.

    "How...? This is..."

    Indeed getting the Queen Egg of the Arrakian sandworm was a priceless treasure and also, an invaluable research object.

    "Geniue one, indeed. Right now, I want for you to conduct some preliminary tests on the egg to ensure it is okey, it was in stasis for more than 200 thousand years in the end. After that, transfer some parts of funds and manpower to research how to hatch the egg."

    Hall Master stated as the Head o the Research and Development Department nodded his head while he took the Queen Egg of Arrakian sandworm together with him, as there was a lot of work awaiting him.

    After he was gone, that was one thing that was done from the Hall Master''s list of things to do. Now, there was a matter of a suitable world to hatch the Arrakian sandworm, which would be a bit problematic, because it would need to be a High World or at least some significantly big and powerful Middle World where the nature presence was extremely strong and dominant.

    Just exactly like the 10th Floor of the Tower before it became known as the deserts of Sikarra. Such worlds are typically heavily inhabited or under the control of powerful factions with mainly the elves of the Nesser Dynasty taking the majority of them and those who were independent were under the control of powerful Elven factions.

 Chapter 207 Heavenly Morning (18+)

    Next Day, 10th Floor of the Tower, Outskirts of deserts of Sikarra, Vault-76

    After clearing the entire Research Site Alpha, Samiel was sleeping on the king-sized bed in one of the bedrooms. Slowly his eyes started opening as he felt something moving below the nket that was covering him on the enormous bed that could fit at least five to seven people.

    ''Oh god...''

    That were his only thoughts as he felt something wet and hot around his raging morning wood and it didn''t need the genius to figure out what was happening when he saw something moving around his crotch.

    He knew that Yvraine decided to wake him up or rather greet another part of him that was already awake because his little friend was already fully erect in its full glory of 25cm of throbbing hot flesh and desperate need of attention, to which his lover greatly took the role, as he was taking his entire length down to her throat with ease like an experienced whore.

    While it was painful for her because she could breathe properly, Yvraine was just getting more and more aroused as she was deepthroating his meat pole. Samiel just continued toy down on the bed while enjoying the attention that his lover was giving him while listening to the sloppy sounds that her blowjob was creating.

    After more than ten minutes, he felt that Yvraine took out his cock out of her mouth, giving his shaft one sloppy kiss on the head, a whole long lick to his cks, as she started sucking and licking his balls, which caused his manhood to twitch like crazy as he groaned in pleasure.

    He then uncovered the nket to see Yvraine working on his balls, as his shaft continued twitching; as he saw her slender fingers wrap around his cock, started jerking him off very slowly, which was pleasurable as it was half-agonizing.

    "Enjoying the morning?"

    She asked him with a wink as her piercing green eyes were staring directly into his while she was licking his balls and jerking off his shaft and he was doing his best not to release his spunk into the air right now.

    He nodded at her quest as he took Yvraine by her chin and gave her one sloppy kiss; as he invaded her mouth with his tongue,pletely dominating her as she submitted to him while he pinched her erect nipples.

    When they separated, only a trace of saliva was connecting them as he looked directly into her eyes before hemanded her.

    "Suck."

    Hemanded with an authoritative voice, to which she shuddered a bit before she lowered her head to his cock and started worshipping his meat shaft by giving it several kisses on its head, causing his dick to twitch upon contact with her pouty red lips.

    Second after, she took his cock into her mouth. At the same time, she felt Samiel head grabbing her hair violently, forcing her to take him deep to the root as she gagged for air, but Samiel didn''t have anything of that and just continued to use her like he wished, which caused Yvraine to climax after he used her mouth as onahole.

    Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon was the perfect embodiment of saying: "Princess by day, slut by night". It couldn''t get more urate in regard to the Silvermoon Princess because after their first night, Samiel finds out that she was as depraved and perverted as he was.

    Just like he had enjoyed dominating and sadism, she too greatly enjoying in submitting to him, just judging how many times she climaxed during their first time when he was treating her roughly and she constantly begged for more and more. She couldn''t get enough of it when he was treating her like his toy, using her holes like he wished and being rough with her like no tommorow.

    Behind her cold mask of nobility and aloofness, that she put on when they weren''t alone, she turned into a being of passion and emotions when they were alone, just two of them. She exined to him that it was part of the training, that she should never show her emotions or anything when she was in public, only behind closed doors.

    Samiel gripped her ponytail as he was forcing her head down and up on his shaft as he was soon close to cumming, while his entire crotch was a mess of Yvraine''s saliva from the sloppy deepthroat she was giving him.

    "Close..."

    He moaned as he sensed that it wasing, his shaft started twitching, as he pressed her head deepest as possible while he started releasing his spunk into her throat, to which Yvraine gagged for air, but he didn''t do anything and continued holding her head in ce, choking her on his spunk as she was drinking every single drop and the prating smell of saliva and cum getting into her nostrils.

    After two minutes of gagging and cumming, he finally let go of her head as his dick popped out of her mouth and she breathed for air. Naturally, as she was a powerful Professional, such treatment was actually not even far from what could be considered harmful, though he suspected that it wouldn''t be taking long before she would be suggesting more and more kinky things to do in the bedroom... something he was pretty eager.

    "It seems it won''t be going down like this..."

    She muttered after she cleared her finger and bit her lips when she looked at this cock that was still duty-ready and prepared to go a few more rounds. Samiel wouldn''t be satisfied with going only once.

    "So, what do you say, giving this imperial pussy some attention?"

    Spreading her legs, showing him her dripping wet cunt, Samiel gulped a bit as he didn''t waste a second; jumping from his position, he instantly took her by her hips and without any warning, he prated her entirely, knocking on her womb with his shaft, as he started drilling her violently, enjoying her moans.

    "Do you like that you elven whore?"

    He asked as he smacked her jiggling tits, as she moaned loudly.

    "Yes! Punish this lewd cunt! Let me be corrupted by the evil cultist! Ruin me! Punish me!"

    She screamed in pleasure as Samiel smacked her tits, leaving there red imprint of his hand as she climaxed around his huge cock that was splitting her in half; even Samiel sometimes wondered that if she didn''t have some psychological issues?

    It was like two personalities in one body... though he certainly didn''tin because he found somebody who epted him the way he was and epted everything about him, including the darkness inside him.

    Not to mention for her, his darkness was something arousing and exciting. Suddenly he got a strange gleam in his eyes as he stopped thrusting into her, causing Yvraine to whimper as he took out his cock out of her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Before she could realize what was going on, he positioned his throbbing monster a bit lower and mercilessly prated her asshole.

    "OHHHHH!"

    Samiel immediately felt her tightness as this was on an entirely new level; her perfect ass was on a whole new level, as her fold almost crushed her shaft with how tight she was, while immediately upon the pration, she squirted onto his chest, dirtying everything around them with her love juices.

    "What a naughty Silvermoon Elf... who loves being fucked into the ass."

    He said to her, as he was starting to pound her and her eyes were rolling back, reaching the ahegao expression because this was already too much on poor Yvraine. The feeling of having his monster of cock in her pussy was one thing, but in her ass, it was absolutely different, as she screamed and shouted from a mixture of ecstasy, pleasure and pain as he was drilling her ass.

    Fortunately, his cock was well lubricated from the mixture of her love juices, saliva and precum when he fucked her cunt, as she watched how his thick shaft was going in and out of her asshole. Then after working on her butt, he flipped her on her stomach and raised her ass as she gapedrgely enough for him to see inside of her butt.

    ''Smack, smack, smack.''

    Samiel then smacked her ass several times as she squealed in delight as she bit the pillow before he once again sealed her gaping ass with his shaft while gripping her hair into a ponytail and started brutally fucking her ass with all of his might and speed, making Yvraine into one bbering mess, as he pulled her close to him, while still drilling her insides.

    After several minutes of rough handling her ass, he took out his shaft and inserted it into her dripping wet cunt, which was begging for attention so much that she made a small pond of her love juices as he continued his fierce fucking her pussy this time, as she moaned like bitch in heat.

    "Where do you want it?"

    He asked with an authoritative voice, while he was kissing her neck and pinching her nipples, but the only thing he heard back were incoherent sounds of babbling, pleasure and nothing because she was overwhelmed with pleasure.

    "Answer me, you fucking elven bimbo whore!"

    He hit her ass violently, leaving her a red imprint of his hand, as he felt her pussy tighten on his cock as she mini-climaxed from that hit and the verbal abuse, making her crawl for more and at the same time, Samiel felt indescribable satisfaction seeing her so submissive and so helpless as she was squirming on his cock.

    "Inside!"

    She half-screamed and half-moaned as she felt him knocking on her womb, as she was being split in two and surrendered to his magnificent cock meat, which was bringing her to new heights of pleasure.

    "Beg for it slut."

    Samielmanded as he decided to elevate their y further. Yvraine didn''t have normal sex preferences and neither did he...

    "Please, cu..."

    Before she could finish her words, Samiel smacked her perfectly shaped ass several times, showing that he wasn''t satisfied with her words.

    "Again."

    Yvraine put herself up as she was having a hard time focusing on something because at one side, there was a huge wonderful meatstick that was doing wonders to her cunt as she could barely think straight.

    On another side, he was constantly abusing her either physically or verbally, which was continuously increasing her arousal and every time she got smacked on her bottom or verbally degraded, she always climaxed and could barely think anymore.

    "Paint this lowly elven whore with your glorious cum!"

    She screamed at him as he nodded his head and increased his tempo whole hugging her body which was already half-limp from either tiredness, pleasure and brought fucking as he was nearing his release and then, with one powerful thrust, he reached the deepest parts of her pussy as he released his spunk into her depths while falling onto his back, with Yvraine still connected with him through his dick in her pussy.

    Samiel tightly hugged her body as he released everything he had stored into her depths for two or three minutes as they ended their rather intense and passionate sex season. After he finished cumming and french kissed her passionately as shey next to him on the bed.

    "I have to admit... that was the best fuck till now... oh my poor ass..."

    Yvraine then stated after several minutes of

    "Did anybody tell you that are are not right in your head?"

    Samiel asked jokingly while he gave her a kiss on her forehead as she giggled.

    "No, but you are one to speak... probably because of that we ended together... not to mention, next time I have some new things I want to try and you will see how much extreme I can get..."

    She muttered as he kissed his jaws before kissing Samiel on his lips and forcing her tongue in his mouth as she started the intense kissing season.

 Chapter 208 208 - Plans

    After a morning full of sex and lust, both Yvraine and Samiel went to take a shower before they proceeded to talk about the Advancement Quests of the 10th Floor. Right now, they essentially obtain some semi-safe ce of operation from where they could travel to the deserts of Sikarra and then back.

    Not to mention, this shelter proved to be immune against the Arrakian sandworms below a certain stage of the Legendary Level. When they were in the undergroundyers of the shelter, Samiel read it was designed to resist even Intermediate Level Legendary sandworms for some time, so it could be considered one of the most secure ones.

    Considering the fact of what they were researching here and storing, it was only understandable that it would be secured very well. Hopefully, this shelter was located in a position good enough, so they didn''t have to travel very far from it in their search for Divine Altars of other Gods for Samiel to destroy.

    "So, where do we start?"

    Yvraine asked as they sat behind the table onfortable chairs after a good shower as they were looking at maps of the outskirts of the deserts of Sikarra.

    "Currently, ording to my calctions were are in the part of the desert which is considered as the weakest one. From the information I gathered, several Divine Altars should be dedicated to some Gods here. The first one should be God of Kobolds who is the Lesser God; then there are two Divine Altars dedicated to some Lesser Gods of Blood Pantheon and some Divine Altars dedicated to the Evil Gods, mainly to the Lesser Gods and one Intermediate God."

    Samiel exined as he primarily went for the Divine Altars of the weaker Gods. Lesser Gods were the weakest of the Gods, but that meant that each of them could blow up the entire Lower World, which would be like destroying the entire Sr System, which is also protected by a very strong protective barrier.

    Yet, as they were Lesser Gods, they couldn''t efficiently meddle in the Material ne as they were not strong enough, and thus, their Divine Altars were essentially the prime target for Samiel.

    "That could be a good start; we can use some of the captured worshippers to find out about the locations of the Divine Altars of Spider Queen, Eilistraee and Kiaransalee. Though Spider Queen''s Divine Altar would be protected very well and there would be possibly even some Gold-Tiers protecting it."

    Yvrainemented because this could indeed be a problem, but nothing that couldn''t be handled with enough nning. Spider Queen Lolth was Greater God, her power was extremely frightening and she could easily meddle in the Material ne, not to mention, Samiel already became some sort of her target after he banished her Avatar on the 3rd Floor of the Tower.

    "Should we go for the Divine Altar of the God of Kobolds? It should be approximately seven hours of travel... though it would be prudent to make preparations before traveling through the scorching hot sun of Sikarra."

    Samiel, this time nned to prepare for traveling through the desert properly because he didn''t wish to be knocked out unconscious out of the heat and scorching sun. Naturally, Yvraine would be making her own preparations to block the connection with the anguished nature spirit of the 10h Floor of the Tower.

    "The God of Kobolds is a suitable choice because his worshippers are mainly Kobolds across the Material ne; he is not a very strong God and his presence in other realms aside from Faerun is abysmal."

    Yvraine agreed with his proposition because he indeed chose the easiest target to start with and they could gather a lot of information. Not to mention, Kobolds were weak; typically for many of them, the cap was Gold-Tier, while the ones who would be here should be maximally Bronze-Tier and even that is a serious overestimation.

    God of Kobolds was gathering most of his strongest, if not all of his strongest, across the Material ne, directly in the Faerun, which was the Higher DImensional World with the presence of an entire bunch of Pantheons.

    Not to mention as the God of Kobolds was Lesser God, his ability to give blessings to his follower or in any other way intervene in the Material ne were not that high. Fortunately, this also left a great window of opportunity for them to attack his Divine Altar.

    "What about the Vampire Gods and the Evil Gods?"

    Yvraine pressed for the further topic because, ording to Samiel, there were other Gods''s worshippers who were building Divine Altars for their Gods.

    "Lesser God Mokug who is Evil Ogre God, apparently a newly ascended who is attempting to get worshippers from the Green Gods, considering the fact that he was originally Ogre before he became God. About the Blood Gods that have their worshippers build their Divine Altars here, ording to information, they should be too Lesser Gods. Also, thest Divine Altar in our vicinity is the Divine Altar dedicated to the Intermediate God of unknown origin, which was concluded based on the number of worshippers and their individual power, which were singed to have a conflict with the worshippers of the Vampire Gods."

    Samiel exined because for Samiel, the destruction of the Divine Altars of the God of Kobolds or the Vampire were would actually not really matter in regard to thepletion of the Unique Mission about the Destruction of the Divine Altars because the Blood Pantheon was more like Neutral to that of Outer Gods, while the God of Kobolds was in fact too insignificant to be considered as something more than a nuisance.

    Naturally, the Evil Gods were a different case because they were the primarypetitors of the Outer Gods of Azathoth''s Court, so that would be productive to hunt down their DIvine Altars and kill their worshippers; even better, if he managed to find more of home or Altars of Daemon Cultists to the Daemons.

    "Then we can depart..."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel stated as Yvraine went to carry out the ritualistic sacrifice towards the Goddess Eluria, who was Chief of Pantheon of the Seldarine Pantheon, to obtain protection from the anguished nature spirit of the 10th Floor, while Samiel was doing how own ones to protect himself from the scorching heat of the deserts of Sikarra.

    ***

    After two hours, they departed from the Vault-76 as the enormous C-Grade Alloy Vaultdoors closed behind them and they started walking through the dark tunnels of the underground entrance towards the Vault-76.

    The Doom-Tex Corporation chose to build this Vault in the underground cave, so it took both of them some time to reach the exit, as they finally sensed the scorching heat of the Sikarra, hitting them with the full force as the sun was high in the sky and being hot as always.

    "This ce is really shit..."

    Samiel cursed as they entered the dune while, at the same time, they stepped their foot onto the endless oceans of sand; he cast several motion-absorbing spells onto his feet, with Yvraine doing the same thing with her own method.

    They were doing this not to attract the attention of the Arrakian sandworm, who were very sensitive to any vibration waves that could rtively effortlessly traverse through the dune and attract the sandworm.

    And thus, they started their arduous journey towards the approximate location where the Divine Altars of the Gods were built, in the most outer part of the continent, in the ce known as Bone Mountains, because it was apparently named after one of the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms was killed there by the Korias Empire and it skeleton dposed into the mountain range, terraforming it into ghastly and cursed ce.

    This made the Bone Mountains the prime locations for many of the unsavory elements who were building there their settlements, viges,munities and it especially lured there countless cultists and fanatical worshippers of Gods and Transcendents that were not weed in more "civilized" society.

    Not even Yvraine was thrilled that they were going there, but if he could predict something, he knew that it would be there where they would regroup together with the Dharzhug and Juulius and probably even the felines because, in the entire area here, there was absolutely nothing, no point of interest which would serve as the meeting ce.

    "Reinforce the motion-absorbing spell every half hour to be sure that it is performing at 150%... we can''t risk any possibility of attracting the sandworm here."

    Samiel said as Yvraine nodded in agreement as they traveled through the oceans of sand. Fortunately, due to Samiel having Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, one of the passive abilities of it was the Eidetic Memory, so there was no possibility of them being lost or not finding their way back to the Vault-76.

    Normally, this would be the case because getting lost in the deserts of Sikarra was an easy feat and would require almost nothing. Usually, nine out of ten people who entered the dunes of Sikarra would get lost and die from thebination of exhaustion, heat, sun andck of basic necessities.

    This was noted to happen even to Legendaries who were trapped in the central areas of the continent where they couldn''t even properly teleport away due to disturbance of the energy done by the Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms who were preying on the Legendary Professionals who were unlucky enough to enter their territory.

    "We are nearing the Bone Mountains... only two more hours."

    Samiel stated when they were already near their targetted destination, which were the Bone Mountains of the outskirts on the 10th Floor of the Tower. Fortunately, this time, they were much better prepared for the journey and traversing through the Sikarra.

    Yvraine did her got Divine Protection from the Goddess Eluria, which blocked her connection to the anguished nature spirits that were lingering here and also blessed her to be immune towards the scorching sun and heat of the desert, while Samiel was using a thinyer of the Void as his means of protection from the heat and sun.

    "Good... thanks to the Divine Protection, I don''t even feel the weather of this dammed ce and the sun is doing me nothing."

    Samiel nodded because indeed, the Divine Protections were powerful things. Samiel was too using one, though not in the true sense; he only sacrificed a few thousand souls to Azathoth for his God to create him a Void membrane around his body that would activate every time he stepped foot onto the desert of the 10th Floor.

    "We have only a small part of the distance between the Bone Mountains and us... when we arrive, we can start searching for the targets."

    Samiel stated as they continued advancing towards the Bone Mountains.

 Chapter 209 209 - Bone Mountains

    After another two hours of traveling through the deserts and dunes of oceans of sand, they finally arrived at their destination, which were the Bone Mountains; fortunately, they arrived fast enough because several tens kilometers behind them, they nearly met and were caught in the sandstorm which was forming there, which would be... most problematic oue.

    "So... what now?"

    Yvraine asked unsurely, looking at the huge and tall white mountains that looked like enormous bones sprouting from the ground, giving off a ghastly feeling and entirely the bad atmosphere around the entire ce.

    "We should capture someone for talk."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine almost shuddered at the thought of what Samiel considered talking, probably torturing them physically and mentally. Naturally, the Bone Mountains were attracting many of the unsavory elements due to its half-cursed nature; essentially, nobody who had everything right in their heads would evere to the Bone Mountains.

    She then nodded and followed behind Samiel as they were mainly keeping their search to the outskirts of the Bone Mountains, not going any further than that for now because their primary objective was just information gathering and nothing more.

    Fortunately for them, it took them only half an hour before they finally found someone, as they saw some cultists being on patrol or whatever. Why were they so sure that the person was a cultist? Simple because nobody sane enough would be wearing ck robes on the 10th Floor and have a symbol of Daemon engraved onto his forehead.

    "It seems that we are in luck..."

    Samiel muttered as he observed the Steel-Tier human cultists of Daemon Andromalius based on the emblem engraved on his forehead. Andromalius was one of the 72 Daemon Pirs with the rank of Count and was Greater Daemon, which wasparable to the Intermediate God with his rank being the 72nd of the 72 Daemon Pirs of Ars Goetia of the Abyss.

    Even though this should be some grunt of the Daemon Cult of Andromalius, it should be enough for them to gather basic intelligence, at least on the known factions in the Bone Mountains, if nothing else.

    ''Though I should rather devour his soul right away... with my proficiency, I could get the basic information out of his soul straight, considering his abysmal power.''

    Samiel thought as he walked up to the Daemon Cultist of Andromalius and used the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler and froze the human entirely in a split of a second, effectively killing him instantly as he captured his fleeing soul and stuffed it into his mouth.

    ''Bleh... it tastes bad...''

    He thought as he ate the soul of Daemon Cultist because as he was more Eldritch Creature than human, he could easily taste the souls and how they tasted. Naturally, the souls which tasted the best were ones from the pure soul; people who were innocent and before their death were tortured to insanity; those were the best or the ones from the powerful Professionals.

    This soul of the Daemon Cultist tasted like a pile of rotten food because it was tainted by the presence of Daemon, but nevertheless, Samiel got all the necessary information he needed for their journey as he revealed a rare smile.

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 1%.]

    Samiel got a notification from the Akashic Records as a tremendous amount of information entered his head, starting from the unimportant ones, which were the personal memories of the cultists he killed, but those were immediately deleted because they were virtually useless.

    Then came the information rted to various cults, politics, Daemons and other things, which could be useful. However, there were not many new things at all because Samiel knew even more sensitive information due to his status as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath; as he searched through the memories rted to the 10th Floor of the Tower as he grinned at this.

    "Here it is... now, this is even better than initially anticipated..."

    He muttered as Yvraine came up to him from the hiding ce where she was previously.

    "So, what have you found?"

    She probed, seeing that Samiel was in a really, like perfect mood after eating the soul of the Daemon Cultist, aside from the short episode of disgust upon tasting the soul, but that was to be expected, considering that he told her that the souls of Daemon, Devil and Evil God worshippers typically tasted like shit.

    "That this ce is literarily swarming with the Daemon Cultists and some other minor Gods. Around twenty kilometers, there is the Divine Altar of the God of Kobolds Kurtulmak and then there is also a Divine Altar of Kuraulyek... which is most surprising to see a Divine Altar of the Demigod in the Tower. Also, aside from them, in the area where we are currently located, there are another ten cults, mainly of the Daemons, who are not part of the 72 Pirs of Ars Goetia. And... apparently, in the depths of the Bone Mountains are the Divine Altars of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon... a whole bunch of them; apparently, this grunt didn''t know more of it, but they are the big boss here."

    Samiel exined from the memories he managed to obtain from the soul of the Daemon Cultist and it appeared that the Bone Mountains were indeed a catch.

    "That is good... though having the Divine Altar of Demigod here is indeed weird."

    Yvraine muttered because this was an extraordinary situation. Demigods are Holy Legendaries who are already in the state of transition to Godhood and bing Transcendents, so they are very powerful.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The biggest difference between them and the Holies was that, contrary to the Holies who only obtained the Holiness and weren''t hard set in their path to Transcendence, Semi-Daemon, False Immortals or Demigods were already on it, they did the first step and became something more than ordinary Holy Legendary.

    This made them extraordinarily powerful, but some monstrous Holy Legendaries like Menuhyutt Faulhaber, Angol of the Golden-Horned Demon Tribe or others, killed plenty of people who reached the transition phase.

    "Kuraulyek is the servant of the Kurtulmak and they are essential members of the Chromatic Dragon Pantheon and are probably striving for better chances of ascension for the Kuraulyek; there should be the possibility of some dragonoid magical beasts being in the Divine Altar of those two... seeing that their Divine Altars were not destroyed by those who worship Metallic Dragon Pantheon."

    Samiel said, considering the enmity between the two Dragon Pantheons, but at the same time, he was pretty curious, so they still chose the Kobolds to be their first choice if they proved to be too powerful and had something to guard their Divine Altars, which were gathering Faith for them in the Tower, they would retreat and go for more suitable targets.

    And if not...

    Then it would be a festival of ughter and carnage.

    "Come on... we can at least give it a try... perhaps they only stood that long because they have the numerical advantage, something which I am master in dealing with."

    Samiel grinned as Yvraine sighed and followed after him to the depths of the Bone Mountains as they went through various paths and corridors until they reached a particr mountain in the mountain range, in which the Divine Altar of the God of Kobolds Kurtulmak was built.

    The good sign was that they didn''t feel any powerful aura but felt many more aura, which meant it was the numerical advantage that Samiel was talking about. So they could safely attack and destroy the Divine Altar without problems.

    "There are at least five thousand Kobolds of various Tiers, though mainly Iron-Tier and Steel-Tier, with only their strongest warriors and shamans being at the Bronze-Tier."

    Samiel concluded after scouting the mountain for several minutes with his superior sensitive senses towards the Mana itself. With them, he was able to effortlessly identify the strongest people in the colony of Kobolds whose sole purpose of being here was to reproduce and pray to the God of Kobolds, thus generating an endless and continuous stream of Faith.

    "We should wait with the attack until they are in the prayer."

    Yvraine proposed as Samiel agreed with her and thus they just remained there, observing the kobold colony from the hiding spot that Samiel found for them and waiting until the shamans of the colony started calling everyone for prayer to the God of Kobolds.

    Not to mention, attacking during the prayer was a great sacrilege, so it will lead all of those dragonoid dog creatures into a frenzy berserker state, where they wouldn''t be using even that shed of logic they have.

    Half an hour alter, after the prayer started, Samiel released over ten thousand of his Undead all around the mountain space and let them ughter the kobolds. For him, these creatures were so weak that is was far beneath him to intervene directly and left everything to Negash and Ashimer, who were both very powerful Silver-Tier Higher Undead.

    Both he and Yvraine just observed from their hiding spot how the Undead started swarming the praying kobolds and ughtering them in the ferocious ambush in tens every second as the unfortunate creatures didn''t have a way out as they were totally surprised by this.

    It took them several minutes to cope up with the situation as they started a counterattack, but unfortunately for them, it was toote because within three minutes they were organizing themselves, hundreds of kobold warriors were killed by Samiel''s Undead and that was in a situation where neither Ashimer nor Negash made a move, aside from killing all Bronze-Tier shamans and some of the Bronze-Tier kobold warriors.

    Meanwhile, Samiel was just enjoying the show, collecting souls and thrilled in the environment of ughter, while some part of him was getting horny from thebination of ughtering thousands and Yvraine''s soft body rubbing on him.

    It took several more minutes until everything was done and thest kobold was killed. Afterward, to be sure, Samiel sent his Undead to search through the mountain, locate valuables as he finished collecting exactly 5,978 souls of the kobolds, which was nice.

    Then he stood in front of the Divine Altar to the God of Kobolds Kurtulmak as he used the most powerful 3rd Level Spell Void Strike as he could and sted the Divine Altar apart.

    [The Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars has been updated.

    Current progression: 1 Divine Altar Destroyed (Ordinary-Tier Transcendent)]

    After the destruction of the Divine Altar of the God of Kobolds Kurtulmak, all the Faith stored in the Divine Altar burst out and he heard the notification from the Akashic Records as he noticed that somewhere in the corner a small portal to the Void opened as the Faith was being absorbed into it.

    Even though the Outer Gods didn''t need the Faith, for them it was still tasty snacks as they were immune to the corrosion of it, so probably some Outer God who was a member of the Azathoth''s Court decided to take this Faith for him/her/it?

 Chapter 210 210 - Of Kobolds And Gods

    "That is one..."

    Samiel stated as he destroyed one of the Divine Altars, this belonged to the God of Kobolds Kurtulmak; considering the fact that it was only of a Lesser God, it wasn''t built with many precious resources as Saamiel skimmed through it with his eyes, seeing for something that could be used in his own attempt to build a Divine Altar.

    "There is nothing I could use to build my own Divine Altar..."

    He muttered slowly after he finished looking through the materials that the Kobolds used to build the Divine Altar of the Kurtulmak. Unfortunately, there was nothing valuable and nothing usable because for the construction of the Divine Altar dedicated to the Outer Gods, one needed many more precious and rare resources.

    "So where now?"

    Yvraine questioned after they managed to destroy the Divine Altar of the God of Kobolds Kurtulmak. Samiel was pondering over the matter for some time, before deciding to go after the Divine Altar of the Kuraulyek, the Demigod serving under the Kurtulmak.

    "Divine Altar of Kuraulyek... actually I am pretty curious about this one."

    He answered because normally, when Holies who wanted to be Gods were attempting to attain Godhood and thus transcend, they would build their Divine Altars mostly in the Lower Worlds or Middle World to gather Faith, as that opinion was many times safer.

    Building one in the Tower was pretty dangerous, as thepetition in the Tower was very high and it wasn''t that unusual of Gods who were thinking that some upstart Demigod was attempting to steal worshippers from him, sending his follower to destroy the Demigod.

    The most evident example was the God of Light, who often sent out his Legions of Angels after anyone who dared to proim himself One True God or attain the Divinity of Almighty; there was a good number of Demigods who fell to the Legions of Angels of Heaven.

    "We should be going then..."

    Yvraine agreed with him as they exited the mountain where the Kobolds were camping and went further into, unsurprisingly, another mountain where the Kobolds who worshipped Kuraulyek built him the Divine Altar.

    When they came into the vicinity of the Divine Altar, Samiel felt something rather unusually because he felt there several Brontze-Tier auras, and when he felt several, there were around hundreds of them together with around ten Silver-Tier ones.

    "Be ready for the immediatebat... at least above hundred Bronze-Tiers and eleven Silver-Tier Professionals are inside... I knew that something was going on when I felt that there was a Divine Altar of Demigod."

    Samiel said to Yvraine as they entered the ce, evading any sentry guards that the kobolds ced around, as they then saw something which was most unusual. One of the Silver-Tier aura wasn''t an ordinary kobold but a Dragonwrought kobold.

    Normal kobold was a reptilian humanoid, standing between 60cm �C 75cm tall and weighing 16 �C 20kg though the mutated ones could be twice the size. They had scaled skin between reddish brown and ck in color and burnt orange to red eyes. Their legs were sinewy and digitigrade. They had long, wed fingers and a jaw like a crocodile. Small white or tan horns protruded from their head and they had rat-like tails.

    Dragonwrought kobolds were something akin to an evolved version of kobolds because, technically speaking, they were superior to them in every aspect, as they had a way deeper connection to their draconian ancestors.

    All dragonwrought kobolds had scales that were tinted in a hue that aligned with the draconic color of their respective ancestors. Some but not all of these kobolds had a functional set of reptilian wings, which would appear and increase in functionality as the dragonwrought kobold aged.

    Different from ordinary kobolds was that they were taller, standing around 100cm or even above one meter and were way heavier, essentially weighing something between 50kg to 75kg, so some called them kobolds on steroids.

    Another great difference was that all Dragonwrought kobolds were immune to sleep and paralysis inducting Magic and had a strong magical affinity to the Elemental Magic of their dragon ancestor, so every Dragonwrought kobold could do at least a whole bunch of Spells of the specified element.

    Every Dragonwrought kobold was considered a blessing by normal kobolds, being a sign of their heritage and a powerful boon for their race as a whole. They were typically the leader and most powerful beings that protected and ruled the entire kobold colonies, so it was pretty mind-boggling that there were some of them in the Tower because Samiel would predict that they would be in Faer?n.

    Faer?n was one of the Higher Dimensional Worlds that Samiel wanted to visit because, contrary to some of the Higher Dimensional Worlds, the Faer?n was essentially one tremendously huge continent, where even inds were the size of entire sr systems. Contrary to many, the Faer?n was inhabited mostly by Mors and Legendaries because the entire world served as the breeding ground of worshippers of various Pantheons who were native to the Faer?n.

    "So what do you say for my intuition?"

    Samiel asked as they were observing several of the Dragonwrought kobolds were ordering the ordinary kobolds here and there, giving them instruction or sometimes beating those who couldn''t properly carry out the orders of their betters, which was actually happening far more often than one would think.

    "Nothing... still, seeing some many Dragonwrought kobolds in one ce is most unusual and this is no coincidence; they are here for some specific purpose, I had to say..."

    Yvrainemented back, to which he nodded his head in agreement because this was indeed a most unusual number of the Dragonwrought kobolds in one ce, especially all of them being Silver-Tier ones.

    Something nefarious was taking ce here...

    And just as they were observing the ce, suddenly both of them were startled by the screams of several people who were being dragged here by a whole bunch of kobolds; from what Samiel and Yvraine could see, most of them were humans though there were also some dwarves and elves among the other, together with some minor species that were rarer in the Cosmos.

    "Oh... I know where this is going..."

    Samiel muttered as he watched how the captured were being dragged to the Divine Altar as they were going to sacrifice them in some ritual; for Samiel, this was the most curious situation. Normally, Gods avoided this sort of method of increasing their power because it often resulted in some really unsavory side effects.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Even though the Faith was corrosive toward the person who was absorbing it, using ritualistic sacrifices was even more dangerous because all of the resentment and hatred won''t go to nothingness but would be absorbed by the person who for whom the sacrifice was carried out.

    "They are going to carry out sacrifices for the Kuraulyek to advance into the Godhood... it appears that the God of Kobolds Kurtulmak is really in a tight spot to the point of needing another God on his side to support his powerbase in the Faer?n."

    While the Kurtulmak was, technically speaking member of the Chromatic Dragon Pantheon, as he was Lesser God, he wasn''t of any significance, not to mention the Chromatic Dragon Pantheon was locked in a war against the Metallic Dragon Pantheon in the Higher Dimensional World Dragon''s Nest as they waged war for the supremacy.

    Logically speaking, they wouldn''t be able to send some of their forces to support Lesser God in Faer?n, who, on the top of everything, wasn''t even a dragon, but rather a lowly kobold, as dragon tended to look down on kobolds greatly.

    "So what do you say? Should we intervene?"

    Yvraine asked to which Samiel shook his head in denial because this wasn''t the right moment to make their appearance.

    "We will wait until they are at least in the middle of the ritual... then we can essentially cause the ritual to go wrong and backsh, killing all of those who were carrying out, easing out the job of killing all of these creatures."

    Samiel answered because as a person who was very skilled and knowledgeable about the rituals and everything around them; he knew what would happen if they, for example, started killing the priests or the people who were in the middle of being sacrificed.

    It would be a total and absolute mess in here.

    "As you say... you are here the expert on the ritualistic sacrifices."

    Yvraine said with a giggle as both of them then watched how some of the unfortunate people that were captured by the kobolds were dragged in front of the Divine Altar of the Kuraulyek as some of them were being just killed out of the right, while the females were at first gang-raped by the kobolds on the Divine Altar before the kobolds killed them off.

    Yvraine observed this neutrally though Samiel could see that she wasn''tfortable with the scene when the female elf was literarily raped to death by the kobolds as around hundreds of them took their way with her before they killed her by beating her.

    "It is time already?"

    Yvraine asked, seeing that Samiel was getting ready for something as she wanted nothing more than just descend and kill off those disgusting creatures. Sometimes Samiel couldn''t see past her logic; on one side, she was okay leaving the captives to their fate, so they have a better starting point in their attack, while on another side, when seeing the ritual, she wanted to kill them off as soon as possible.

    For Samiel, this was the most illogical behavior.

    Still, he decided to ignore Yvraine''s behavior right now, as he was casting several spells of the Void Magic at the same time and using Metamagic Techniques to increase their potency and offensive prowess, as he was boosting the three Void Bombs that he fused together to the absolute extreme.

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Empower Spell has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Empower Spell has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Empower Spell has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Spell Control has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Spell Control has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Spell Control has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Spell Fusion - 4th Level Spell has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Spell Fusion - 4th Level Spell has been increased by 4%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Spell Fusion - 4th Level Spell has been increased by 3%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Spell Fusion - 4th Level Spell has been increased by 2%.]

    [Proficiency with the Metamagic Skill: Spell Fusion - 4th Level Spell has been increased by 2%.]

    Samiel got a whole bunch of notifications from the Akashic Records when he finished conjuration of the enormous Void Bomb and released it directly at the Divine Altar of the Demigod Kuraulyek as an enormous explosion shook the entire mountain where the kobolds and Dragonwrought kobolds were living in this rtively big colony.

 Chapter 211 211 - Seek And Destroy

    From using several of the Metamagic Techniques on the Void Bomb that he used, he managed to increase his proficiency in several of these techniques when he conjured the Spell to destroy the Divine Altar of the Demigod Kuraulyek during the time when the ritual was at its peak.

    [The Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars has been updated.

    Current progression:

    1 Divine Altar Destroyed (Demigod)

    1 Divine Altar Destroyed (Ordinary-Tier Transcendent)]

    Immediately after Destroying the Divine Altar of the Demigod Kuraulyek, Samiel got the notification from the Akashic Records about the progression of the Unique Quest; as the mountain stopped shaking and countless kobolds and Dragonwrought kobolds were killed by the Spell and the explosion, which resulted from the destruction of the sacrificial ritual for the Demigod Kuraulyek.

    Instantly after the explosion aftermath subsided, Samiel summoned his Undead Army and descended down on the helm of his Undead and started ughtering the kobolds who were still in shock at what the hell had happened.

    Yvraine, too, joined the fight as she was decapitating one kobold after another while heading after the Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds, who were already readying their weapons and preparing to join thebat against the Undead that were invading their home.

    Sadly for the kobolds, they were still in a state of shock from the surprise explosion done by Samiel when he interrupted the ritual, so they had a much harder time in coordinating and counterattacking the hordes of Undead, which appeared like thunder from the clear sky and ughtering them one by one.

    Samiel was asionally casting some spells, but this time he was mainly using his Ice Trident to kill off the kobolds that wereing at him as he was advancing at the Dragonwrought kobolds, which had already recovered from the shock of the ambush and were bossing around ordinary kobolds to bolster up the defenses.

    Naturally, Samiel''s Undead were blocking any coordinated counterattack efforts from the side of the Dragonwrought kobolds. On the battlefield, Samiel quickly tore his way to the Dragonwrought kobolds as he shed with one of the Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds, knocking the creature flying several tens of meters away.

    Fortunately, many of these Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds couldn''t properly fly with their wings, which made thebat situation easier because he didn''t need to shoot them down; Samiel applied to Yvraine and Ashimer, though contrary to the Frost Death Knight, they at least had something in their arsenal that would be able to bring down the Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds if they could fly.

    ''They are not even that strong... though considering that they are only a bit superior to the average kobolds, it should be expectable.''

    Samiel thought as he ran his Ice Trident through the heart of one of the Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds killing it in a split of a second, before he moved directly to the next Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds, as he was jumping from one to another, killing them effectively, while Yvraine doing the same thing.

    She was far more ferocious and brutal in her fight because she was ughtering everything in her path with her twin swords. Yvraine was taking a lot of her pent-up anger on the primitive kobolds in her brutal ughter, while Samiel focused more on cold and efficient killing one by one as he was disposing of the Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds.

    It didn''t take even ten minutes for all Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds were killed either by Samiel or Yvraine and some of those who were pretty lucky to survive were finished by Ashimer and Negash who weremanding the Undead tide that was dealing with the ordinary kobolds.

    After the Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds were disposed of, the entire thing was much easier because the colonies which gave birth to the Dragonwrought kobolds were essentially depended on the Dragonwrought kobolds for leadership as they were a superior evolutionary stage of their species.

    "Secure the entire mountain and clear it out of any kobold or anything that is living here."

    Samiel ordered both of these Higher Undead Ashimer and Negash, who didn''t say anything and went to carry out his orders. At the same time, Samiel turned to Yvraine, who was in the middle of literally tearing apart thest of the Dragonwrought kobold as she severed its wings and pierced its skull.

    "This should be thest one... do you think that they would have something valuable? For everything, they had several Silver-Tier Dragonwrought kobolds and a bigger colony than the one of the Kurtulmak, which is most interesting."

    Yvraine asked as Samiel nodded because he truly believed that he would be able to find good loot here, at least maybe some precious metals or something, as the Kobolds were known for being a species that liked to collect shiny things.

    In a pretty simr way to dragons who loved to collect treasures, so Samiel predicted that the stronger colony of the kobolds that had even some Dragonwrought kobolds would have some valuable; thus, he sent his Undead to screen the ce.

    And as Samiel predicted, they managed to find a good number of gold coins which the kobolds collected, but unfortunately for them, there were no Credits or bank cards with the Credits... because from the souls of the few Dragonwrought kobolds he ate, when the kobolds found them they typically threw them away...

    And the reason?<novelnext></novelnext>

    They were not precious metals, so they were worthless.

    Just thinking about this made Samiel erupt with rage as he smashed into the nearby wall, cracking it apart as the entire ce shook from the hit of his punch. As he was a Bronzre-Tier Eldritch abomination, Samiel''s physical strength was enormous, rivaling those of the Silver-Tier Elder Species who were born with huge physical strength like Demons.

    Naturally, after the Gold Coins, there was a good number of the Mana Crystals and other things that the kobolds managed to collect across the years, so Samiel dly took them, but he was still pretty pissed at the stupid creatures that threw away the Credits.

    But s, there was nothing he could do about it as he attempted to calm down. Still, today was a pretty productive day, as they managed to clear out two colonies of kobolds, and destroyed two Divine Altars, so Samiel was thinking of retreating back to the Vault-76 for some rest. After some two days or so, they could once again depart to the Bone Mountains to continue their hunt.

    Fortunately, as the infighting among various factions here was prettymon, nobody here would be surprised that somebody destroyed the kobolds and their Divine Altar. Samiel knew that everyone would presume that they were destroyed by some of their rivals or some powerful Professional who was passing by.

    He also wanted to reach a higher Level because he sensed that the Mana inside his body was stable enough to push it further. For Samiel increasing Levels was getting harder and harder because after the exponentially fast start, where he reached Level 39 as he was right now, came tremendous stagnation due to various factors.

    Mainly the thing he needed a ridiculous amount of Mana Crystals and the second, after every Level-Up, he required a long time to stay in that Level for the Mana in his body to properly limatize, as each increase of Level gave him a huge power boost to his raw power.

    "We have done good work for today... I think we should go, there are plenty of souls that I obtained from which I could extract information and I want already rest."

    Samiel proposed as Yvrane wholeheartedly agreed with him because she too wanted to return to the luxury of the Vault-76 as it was constructed by the Doom-Tex Corporation of the old Korias Empire with the utmost luxury andfort in mind.

    While it wasn''t practical to travel for several hours here and there, it was better for both of them to sleep in the Bone Mountains or somewhere here. Not to mention, Samiel was already thinking about how to make their traveling easier and faster. If only they could capture Bronze-Tier Arrakian sandworm and ride the creature, it would be perfect, as they were best for transportation across the deserts of Sikarra.

    Some of the natives of the 10th Floor, who were descendants of the Korias Empire, calling themselves Sairoks, who were living in the tribal society, were using them as their means of transportation.

    They couldn''t leave the 10th Floor because their bodies had long ago evolved to the Primordial Psionic Energy they obtained from the sandworms, so essentially, without the sandworms, they wouldn''t be able to survive; thus they were forever forced to live on the 10th FLoor of the Tower.

    Most of the Sairok Tribes lived in the central area of the 10th Floor and were outright hostile to the outsiders... partially ming them for the decline and destruction of the Korias Empire, which in fact, wasn''t that irrational, but whatever.

    Samiel and Yvrriane, after disposing of the kobolds and taking anything of value, departed back to the Vault-76 and arrived this time within six hours. One hour faster, mainly because they already knew the path and could allow themselves to be in haste.

    After they arrived back, the first thing on the program was taking a shower, as both of them were sweaty, but without any sexual activities as they were too tired from the weather because neither of them was taking the dunes and sun well.

    After they finished the shower, both Samiel and Yvraine went to rx while watching TV shows of the Nesser Dynasty that were on Yvraine''s holo-brain interconnected with the enormous television projector on the walls inside their bed chambers as they cuddled together.

    Unfortunately for him, she chose some crappy romance tv show... again, though he suspected that she was doing it on purpose just to agitate him, as they were always having some sort of mental war between them so they could tease one another.

    In Yvraine''s case, when they were watching something together, it was always like "Forbidden Romance between Elf and Silvermoon Royalty..." a tv series with over two thousand episodes of pure garbage.

    And worse off were the ones which were about interracial; those were even more, cringe that made Samneil groan in frustration when they were watching it.

    Still, at least one good thing was about this ordeal; sometimes, they had a great time when they were watching it because, for some mysterious reason, Yvraine was highly emotional when watching these shows, which was most unusual.

    But apparently, everyone had their own quirks.

    ''Just wait... next time we will be reading the copy of the Gospel or Arcanum Spell Theorem... yes, that would be it.''

    Samiel thought deviously because if there was something that Yvraine hated the most, it was the magic theory, as it was endlessly dull for her. He even didn''t know where they started with this little game of theirs, whosted longest doing the thing which the other had.

 Chapter 212 Level-Up And Start...

    Two dayster, at the Vault-76, Samiel was finished absorbing another bunch of the Silver-Tier Mana Crystals. However, he was already emptying the reserves of his Mana Crystals because his consumption rate was too fast.

    He was draining them like a ck hole, one after another and soon here literarily ate hundreds of them within several tens of minutes. However, they were not only Silver-Tier Mana Crystals because there were also some of the Bronze-Tier ones and Steel-Tier ones which he obtained while raiding the kobold colonies in the Bone Mountains and on the 9th Floor of the Tower.

    Suddenly Smaiel felt that the Mana inside his body was undergoing a new wave of consolidation, as he felt it was increasing tremendously, finally advancing from Level 39 to Level 40 as he was stagnating for a pretty long time already.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 40.]

    Samiel then heard the notification from the Akashic Records when his eyes opened from the long meditation as he stopped circting his Mana with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, finally reaching the next step in his path for supremacy.

    After advancing toward the next Level, Samiel could now depart to the Bone Mountains once again in their pursuit ofpleting the Advancement Quest and also the Unique Quest missed by the Tower''s System. This time, he nned to delve deeper into the Bone Mountains, probably into the inner area of the Mountain Range, where more stronger opponents would be.

    Yvraine has long ago reached Level 48 and soon would be reaching Level 49 because she required way fewer resourcespared to Samiel. Though if it was about the raw power that each of them possessed, then Samiel way eclipsed her, as his raw power andbat prowess were absolutely frightening.

    During thest spar with the Dharzug, who was nearing the peak of the Silver-Tier, he was able to go for a draw. Naturally, neither of them were using anything aside from their Abilities and raw power, not God''s possession or any simr things, just their own prowess and the fact that Samiel managed to end a draw with him was astounding as Dharzug could fight the weakest Gold-Tiers of some races on equal ground.

    The difference between the Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier was like heaven and earth because the Gold-Tier Professionals have extremely potent and dense Mana, not something that even peaks Silver-Tier Professionals couldpete against.

    "Have you finished already?"

    Yvraine asked after entering the chambers as she left Samiel alone when he started his meditation to increase his Level and went to do her own things while he finished digesting all of the Mana Crystals that he had in his disposition and managed to reach Level 40.

    "Yes... now I have also finished digesting all the memories from the souls of the killed Dragonwrought kobolds that were killedst time. It appears that the situation is getting moreplicated in the Bone Mountains."

    Samiel said from this meditative position.

    "Howplicating?"

    She frowned at this because this could be either good or bad, depending on the situation itself.

    "From the memories of Kobolds, the strongest yers in the Bone Mountains are Dark Seldarine Pantheon, mainly the Spider Queen worshippers, the Church of Lolth, Blood Gods of Faer?n; there were aware of Greater God Andruil and Daemon Cult of Sitri. Essentially speaking, worshippers of Lolth and cultists of Sitri are preparing tounch a massive campaign against the other factions within the Bone Mountains to clean out the inferior factions and take the entire territory of the Mountain Range for themselves. So, in short, the war is knocking on the doors."

    Samiel stated with a charming smile, as Yvraine had the temptation to smack him because he was so cheerfully talking about fucked up situation. Not to mention she found out who the big yers in the core of the Bone Mountain Range were and it was not positive.

    Lolth was the Chief Goddess of the Pantheon and was Greater God, Andruil was one of the Blood Gods who were worshipped by the Blood Races and was based in the Faer?n and was also a Greater God and Sitri was one of the Daemons of the 72 Pirs, ranking 12th with the rank of Prince.

    So their worshippers were naturally far more powerful than those like Kurtk or Kuraylek who were just Lesser God and one iplete Transcendent, so from a certain sense, he could understand why Yvraine was stressed about the situation.

    "Are you nuts?! This makes out Quest many times harder!"

    She shouted at him, to which Samiel just nodded happily because while he agreed with her statement that it would make their Advancement Quest harder, at the same time, it would present them with opportunities.

    "Yes, it will, but at the same time, it will present us with many opportunities. Yv, there are more than thirty other factions in the Bone Mountains and mainly worshippers of the Spider Queen and Fallen Prince are participating in this conquest. Even with the bolstered forces, they would need to attack multiple fronts in an ambush in the first wave to take out some of the opponents closest to them, so they could establish proper positions and advance from them. We can use this to attack them during the time they would be conducting ambushes on the weaker factions when their forces would be divided, giving us the best opportunity to take them in one swoop."

    Samiel exined his strategy as Yvraine was marily stuck in one ce as she thought about it over and couldn''t find anything wrong with it. In the end, she was aware that Samiel was very good at creating various strategies and he was a good tactician.

    "We can depart to the Bone Mountains once again... this time, I think we can get here within five hours."

    Samiel stated with a nod while standing up from his meditation position; he then went together with Yvraine once again to the deserts of the Sikarra, heading to their target, the Bone Mountains.

    ***

    "I have told you that we will get here within five hours."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Samiel said with a grin, because this time, they indeed managed to cut the time down by two hours, getting into the Bone Mountain Range within just five hours instead of the initial seven. While this was still indeed a lot of time, it was a good result.

    "Yes, yes, yes... what else now? Where should we head over first?"

    Yvraine asked when they arrived, while Samiel started calcting the most optimal approach of things through his Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect. After several seconds he opened his eyes and decided on the next target of their attack.

    "Lesser Evil God Axun, mainly worshipped by humans in the Mana-Less Worlds, I don''t even know what he is doing here, but apparently he has some small cabal of worshippers here and they should be one of the first targets for either Church of Lolth or the Cult of the Fallen Prince."

    Samiel said as Axun was the most suitable target to be the first one. Surprisingly considering his strength and powerbase of his cult, they managed to snatch nice territory which was close to both Church of Lolth and the Cult of the Fallen Prince; they were not that numerous, but their position was well defended, mainly thanks to the environment and natural defenses themselves.

    After Samiel stated that, Yvraine didn''t reply and just followed after him while they were crossing through the mountains and valleys of the Bone Mountains.

    "What should we do after we arrive? Attack or wait?"

    Yvraine questioned when they passed another of the corridors and were one step closer to the territory of the Axun''s Cult. Not all Evil Gods were worshipped by the Cmity Church, which was the primary organization of the worshippers of the Evil Gods.

    Some of the newly ascended Evil Gods were worshipped by their Cults instead and some other Evil Gods also preferred this approach, mainly because there were many factions among the Evil Gods as well, as they were in no way a united front.

    The Cmity Church mainly worshipped the God of Cmity and his followers, not all Evil Gods that lived in the Abyss or were spread across the infinite Cosmos.

    "Wait... we will create some hiding ce and hide until someone of the big three doesn''t make a move on them; only then will we strike."

    He exined their next steps; while the notion of waiting here for the time when someone will attack the Cult of Axun didn''t seem that appealing, but right now, after viewing the memories of the Dragonwrought kobolds properly, he found out that the attacks should be happening in these days... sometimes so they didn''t have the luxury of going back to the Vault-76.

    Not to mention, he felt the connection between him and his familiar Nefetari strengthen, signifying him that she was closer to the location of the Bone Mountain Range, meaning it would be productive to remain here and wait for her.

    "Then we will do as you say..."

    Yvraine said as she followed after him as they started searching for a suitable ce to hide and wait until the attack on the Cult of Axun arrived. They find a nice cave area in one of the mountains, where they settle with Samiel taking out one of his Magic Tomes and started studying it while Yvraine was attempting to distract him from reading the book with either pestering or seduction.

    "Yv, please stop with that... I am trying to go through this Tome once again..."

    Samiel said, annoyed, because contrary to him, Yvraine was sometimes a little bit too hyperactive?

    Not to mention her constant love of annoying him or distracting him from doing things...

    "But you are so cute when you are so focused on something."

    Hearing that he nearly got a heart attack, hearing him call him "cute" was too much for him; right now, Samiel was like a gaping fish, not knowing how to react to this.

    "Okey, you win... what do you want to do?"

    Samiel asked with defeated sight because this time it was her win, so they would be doing something entertaining even for her, not just reading magical tomes, which was his joy and her torture.

    "I don''t know, actually... what about we y cards?"

    Samiel nodded at her as she took out the set of the ss Fight Cards, essentially a card game where various famous Professionals were written down and people battled against each other in variousbinations and so on...

    It was pretty interesting, though, because one could learn many things about the famous Professionals of the Material ne while at the same time learning some bits of strategy and tactics?

    Who knows, though, the mostmon usage of these cards was their collector value, as they were prized objects for various people who collected them.

 Chapter 213 Head Off

    "And with this, you lose again."

    Samiel said as he won another round of the ss Fight. Not saying it out loud, but Yvraine was constantly using against him, only due to the presence of his Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, because not only due to his Eidetic Memory but also calction abilities of the Architect.

    He could almost effortlessly calcte the entire game from the start in various possibilities, how the game could end, based on the cards he received from the deck. Every time Samiel yed something with Yvraine, he always won due to the advantages he possessed due to the Architect.

    Naturally, Yvraine knew that he had some sort of ability that allowed him to win every time, she continuously challenged him to countless games because she wanted to beat his ability, something which was pretty irrational from his point of view, but he enjoyed the time they spent together.

    "I swear that I will beat you in the end... dammed calction abilities."

    Yvraine cursed as she collected the cards and started mixing them once again while forcing Samiel to close his eyes for absolutely no reason at all... as she started dealing the cards once more because they were going to have another round of the game.

    They then continued ying the card game for the next few hours, until Samiel suddenly sensed some powerful Mana signature approaching the location of the Axun''s Cult. In a split of a second, they stopped the game and started looking toward the direction of the Mana signatures, as they could see that somebody wasing.

    "They are here..."

    Samiel muttered as Yvraine''s expression morphed into one of utter disgust because the invaders of the Axun''s Cult were of the Church of Lolth. Naturally, if they were either the Vampires or cultists of the Cult of the Fallen Prince, Yvraine''s reaction would be many times milder, so it was only logical conclusion that the ones who came here were of the Church of Lolth.

    "Drows... so they are the ones heading for this territory... most interest... do you wish to lead the charge at them?"

    Samiel asked gently, to which Yvraine nodded eagerly because she wanted to tear apart the drows. While she wasn''t a very bloodthirsty person who was a battle maniac or whatever, but whenever it came to Drows, she always turned into extreme buttle lust and wanted to tear them apart one by one.

    "How strong are they?"

    Yvraine asked, as she knew that Samiel was much better at sensing people''s aura and their correct strengthpared to her, as he did what she asked and focused his senses on the iing Drows who came from the Church of Lolth and he was mildly surprised with the iers and at the same time, certain level disappointment washed over him.

    "They are weak... all on the Steel-Tier with three Bronze-Tier individuals leading them, probably the priests of the Lolth; I think we should leave the Undead to take care of them."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine was also disappointed hearing this because she hoped that the group that the Church of Lolth sent here would be much stronger, at least with several Silver-Tier individuals, though Samiel doubted that because as they were in one of the lower floors, the strongest individual that the Church of Lolth would have here would be probably peak Silver-Tier, even though this was an area of rtive importance.

    "Then release on them the Undead..."

    Yvraine reluctantly agreed with his proposal because she could see that personally attacking would be just a waste of her time and strength because the enemies were weak and way below her level. Even though she herself was Level 45 Bronze-Tier, she could go toe to toe with average Silver-Tier Professionals, even stronger ones, if she used her Ultimate Abilities to their fullest extent.

    When he heard that, Samiel prepared his Undead while he waited together with Yvraine in their hiding spot as they watched the confrontation between the Cult of Axun and the Church of Lolth started; interestingly enough, the Church of Lolth didn''t even demand their surrender and just attacked out of nowhere.

    Unfortunately for the cultists of the Axun, the Church of Lolth''s members were too stronger, mainly because they were primarily Drows and even some Druergar. In contrast, the cultists of the Axun were primarily humans collected across the Lower Worlds. Even though the cultists of the Axun were outnumbering the Church of Lolth by a great margin, but where the Axun was winning in quantity, the Church of Lolth was winning in quality.

    And as Samiel predicted, the Church of Lolth were done with the cultists of the Axun within twenty minutes, as they breached their defenses and entered their stronghold and started ughtering the non-fighters and wreaking havoc in their base, as this was the moment when Samiel unleashed his Undead Army that started attacking the Church of Lolth.

    The Undead were ambushing them from behind; Samiel released only his Bronze-Tier Undead together with Ashimer and Negash, who made short work of the Spider Queen''s worshippers within five minutes because they couldn''t match the overwhelming power of hundreds of Bronze-Tier Undead.

    Naturally, they didn''t kill anyone, but they focused on the woman that had the highest level of strength out of all of them because she acted as their leader. Samiel wanted to eat her soul to obtain her memories personally, as she should be aware of the exact strength of the Church of Lolth, Cult of the Fallen Prince and worshippers of the Blood Gods in the Bone Mountains were better than some dregs of the society...

    "Come on... they should have already captured the leader. I am going to find what she knows and we can attack directly on them if they are weaker than my own estimations."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Samiel stated to Yvraine as he saw Ashimer dragging here unconscious Dark Elven Female, who was wearing the gown of the priestess of the Church of Lolth, which was a very revealing and certainly even erotic piece of clothing.

    He conjured an ice dagger through the Winter Ruler and without a second thought, he slit her through and captured her soul, eating it secondster after he captured it as countless memories were entering his brain, most of them were totally useless or unusable for him.

    "We are directly attacking them..."

    Samiel started secondster after he finished digesting the most important memories from the priestess of Spider Queen because he found out that the forces of the Church of Lolth and the other two hegemons of the Bone Mountains were weaker; their strongest person was only a peak Silver-Tier and altogether the Church of Lolth had only a few tens of Silver-Tier individuals stationed in the Bone Mountains.

    The same applied to the Cult of the Fallen Prince, while the worshippers of the Blood God were even worse on it as they were right now being attacked by... orks.

    Somehow they were unlucky to encounter a group of a few hundred orks, led by enormously powerful Ork and humans who tore apart through the defenses of the Blood Gods worshippers and were right now sieging their strongholds in their territories.

    When he got that, Samiel instantly knew that it must have be Juulius and Dharzug because no way would ork and human work together in any other situation. So this only confirmed that Juulius and Dhatrzug had already arrived at the Bone Mountains and were wreaking havoc here and it also exined why thest of the three hegemons of this ce was keeping to themselves instead of expanding.

    It was evident that they have enough problems as they have right now.

    "Juulius and Dharzug are attacking the territories of the Vampires, they must have encountered some group of ork upon their arrival and they directly headed towards the Bone Mountains... this also exined why the Vampires are not participating in this endeavor; they are now waging war with a powerful adversary. In regards to the Church of Lolth and Cult of the Fallen Prince, their powerbase on the 10th is actually nothing at we can''t handle."

    Samiel exined to Yvraine that he got it from the soul of the priestess of the Spider Queen Lolth as she Silvermoon Crown Princess revealed a feral grin hearing this, as her wish to struct at the Drows woulde true.

    Between their current position and the territories of the Church of Lolth, there was a whole bunch of minor factions; some were so weak that they were essentially insignificant, as Samiel nned to ignore them... or not depending on what faction they were and if they were hostile to the Hall of Kadath or the Nesser Dynasty, then their destruction was imminent.

    After that, Samiel stood in front of the Divine Altar of the Lesser Evil God Axun as it looked like some kind of abomination with his statue on it... at some moment, Samiel didn''t know if it was due to the real appearance of the Axun or just the ipetence of his own followers to create a proper statue for him.

    When Samiel sted the Divine Altar apart, he received the familiar notification from the Akashic Records about the progression of the Unique Quest.

    [The Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars has been updated.

    Current progression:

    1 Divine Altar Destroyed (Demigod)

    2 Divine Altar Destroyed (Ordinary-Tier Transcendent)]

    ''Hmm... I wonder how many I will manage to destroy... Blood Gods are neutral with us so that they won''t be counting, but the Dark Seldarine, Evil Gods and Daemons are the fair game; hopefully, there would be a lot more of them.''

    Samiel thought as he dismissed the notification from the Akashic Records about the Unique Quest progression as he then called Yvraine and they went further deeper into the Bone Mountains because they were heading directly straight for the territory of the Church of Lolth.

    Not to mention, with this, he would have the possibility to move along his Advancement Quest because the Divine Altars for the likes of Spider Queen or the Fallen Prince Sitri were for sure made from the precious and rare materials that even he could use for the construction of his own Divine Altar for the Outer Gods and the Azathoth''s Court.

    As they went through the Bone Mountains, it didn''t take them long toe across another faction that was living here, it was some tribe of local humans that were calling the Bone Mountains their home, but because they were of no importance, Samiel decided to ignore them entirely as they moved away.

    Fortunately, the second ones that they came across were actually some minor cultists of some unknown Daemon, as Samiel got to destroy another Divine Altar with glee and made another progression with his Unique Quest with four Divine Altars destroyed already.

 Chapter 214 Juulius And Dharzug

    Some time ago, the 10th Floor of the Tower, Dunes of Sikarra

    "We are amidst the desert, you brutish greenskin... and we are lost... and soon we will attract a sandworm."

    It was several hours ago since members of the Khaos Chapters were teleported from the 9th Floor of the Tower to the 10th Floor of the Tower. Once again, it was rtively unfortunate; they were all teleported by groups into different parts of the Floor.

    Worst of for the Temr Knight of the Holy Temr Knight Order of the Hall of Kadath, he was teleported together with the Ork Champion of the Green Gods and was separated from his familiar Tytos.

    Fortunately, he sensed through his connection with his familiar that Tytos was okay and was apparently with the familiar of his Lord, Nefertari. Though his distance was immeasurable because he was teleported together with the ork, he could guess that his Lord was teleported together with Siulvermoon Crown Princess, which was logical because the teamwork and chemistry between the two of them was something not seen very often.

    "What now?"

    Juulius asked mainly himself because they were unlucky enough to be teleported in the dunes of Sikarra, meaning the sun would soon get them unless they couldn''t get into some safe ce. From what he could conclude bout the deserts of Sikarra, even Orks would have a hard time adapting to this ce because the heat, conditions and other factors were hostile to all lives aside from the rulers of the dune.

    Arrakian sandworms that lived here, creatures found and bred by the Korias Empire, long forgotten rulers of the 10th Floor of the Tower.

    "We need to move as fast as possible to find some ce to hide, or else we risk encountering worms."

    Juulius stated as Dharzug reluctantly agreed with the human because he was aware that he could survive in the deserts of the real on the 10th Floor, but the real problem came not from the environment of the Floor, but rather from the inhabitants that were swarming through the floor.

    Even though Dharzug didn''t like the human Knigth, not like he liked humans in generals as they were self-entitled species that was weak, arrogant and squishy in almost all of the cases, he knew that the man was more resourceful and intelligent than him.

    In the end, the expertise of the orks wasn''t intelligence but Waaaggghhh.

    And he didn''t wish to be the food for the Arrakian sandworm; fighting even one was suicide; they were enormous creatures that, without AOE abilities, were essentially impossible to kill through normal means and unfortunately, Dharzugcked that kind of ability right now.

    Still, he followed after Juulius Crawford, who was heading towards somewhere, as Juulius had a special sensing ability, which allowed him to scan his surroundings in several tens of kilometers diameter; naturally, this ability was almost not possible to detect when he sued it, if not for that, this ce would be already swarming with the sandworms that would want to eat them for dinner.

    Through this Ability, Juulius was quickly able to find a cave-like construct several tens of kilometers west of their location, as they immediately headed there. He chose that ce because it was well protected and defendable, not to mention it was from some kind of extremely tough stone, which should be able to resist the Arrakian sandworms below the Gold-Tier.

    Fortunately, both of them managed to arrive at the ce which Juulius found rtively quickly, because Dharzug wasn''t bothered by the scorching heat right now because he could withstand it much longer than Juulius could, as the ork''s adaptability was even above that of the High Human what Juulius was.

    After they arrived at the ce, a short timeter, when they finished scouting the cave, they found that it was deep and cold enough to protect them from the scoring heat of the deserts of Sikarra, though they didn''t enter the depths of the cave, only the outer area, because their main priority was to rest for now.

    "We should remain here for a few hours and rest; after that we have essentially two choices... the first one would be to continue through the path up and traverse the dunes, while the second one would be exploring this underground cave system and seeing where it leads."

    Juulius proposed, as right now, they had only these two options. One would be either going back to the desert, which was something that Juulius wanted to avoid and another one was to go deeper into the cave system, as due to his ability that allowed him to scout the area, showed him... this underground cave system was absolutely enormous.

    He would rather prefer going to the tunnels of the underground cave system as that was first 1st safer than traversing through the dessert due to the presence of the Arrakian sandworms and heat and for the 2nd, it was also more exciting what was underneath the dunes of the 10th Floor.

    Meanwhile, Dharzuh was pondering on what course of action to take, while in the end, he agreed with the human temr knight and decided that they would be going down through the underground cave system.

    Even though Dharzug was confident in his orkish adaptability, he didn''t wish to push his chances, and at the same time, he knew that even with his adaptability, it wasn''t thatfortable walking endlessly through the dunes of the Sikarra.

    "Then da underground go."

    Dharzug then answered as they decided that they would alternate the watch, as one of them would be resting while the another would keep the guard in case they were attacked by sandworm or by some sort of magical beasts that were living in the desert.

    The ork was the first one to go rest for the next three hours, while Juulius stood guard while polishing his sword in the meantime, as he had a bad feeling about entering the depths of the cave system for a pretty simple reason.

    While it was a fact that the surface of the 10th Floor of the Tower was right now inhospitable to almost anything that wasn''t Arrakian sandworm or any other magical creature that didn''t thrive on the dunes.

    Juulius predicted that something would be living down there and whatever it was, it wouldn''t be friendly. During the time he was standing on guard and polishing his sword and then his shield, the sun started rising on the 10th Floor and the temperature was rising to the point that even Juulius felt it in the cave, forcing him to wake Dharzhug prematurely by one hour.

    Afterward, they went a bit deeper into the cave, as both of them clearly seriously underestimated the scorching heat of the deserts of the Sikarra, as they changed positions and this time, Juulius went to sleep while contrast, Dharzug went to guard the area.

    When Juulius finished his sleeping, both of them checked their weapons, supplies and other things needed forbat or diving into dangerous areas before they descended down into the underground cave system.

    As they were traversing through one of the corridors of the cave system, suddenly, both Juulius and Dhartzuh readied their weapons as they saw the sound of howling... simr to dog or hyena, immediately knowing that this ce was inhabited by the gnolls.

    Soon enough, they saw iing hundreds of gnolls their way as they howled at them as they were the invaders of their territory.

    Gnolls were extremely tall, with the average member of the race standing on average between 2.1?2.3?m. Though gnolls were rtively lean for their height, weighing in usually between 130kg to 170kg, depending on the sub-breed of the gnoll.

    Gnoll skin was greenish-gray, and their furry hide had a light or dark brown hue, sometimes marked with spots or stripes. Many gnolls also had a dirty yellow to reddish-gray crest-like mane that stood on end when they were angry; they were also believed to be bearers of the Fiend Bloodlines, which was actually the truth.

    "It seems that we have here our fun..."

    Juulius said with glee in his eyes as his golden eyes lit up in mild light; while he brandished his shield and sword, Dharzug did the same thing with his waraxe as the two of them rushed at the iing horde of the gnolls.

    Poor hyena-like creatures were ughtered mercilessly by the due, because they couldn''t stand a chance against the superior firepower of two Siulver-Tiuer Professionals that could fight even those above their Level rather effortlessly, as Dharzug''s waraxe ''Da Big Choppa'' cleaved through tens of gnolls at the same time like a hot knife through the block of butter.

    Most, if not all, gnolls were either peak of the Iron-Tier or Steel-Tier, they were not the strongest creatures around and in fact, they were weak. Gnolls were weak in nature because they preferred using their numerical advantage against their enemies, ganging up on those who were stronger than them, but this time it didn''t work.

    Juulius was typically a logic-ruled person and was always stoic and calm, not letting his emotions to afflict his thought process. Only during the battles he typically lost himself in the bloodlust when he was ughtering his enemies with a sharp de and sturdy shield, as he used his shield, shattering the head of another gnoll that was unlucky to approach him.

    With a precise sh, he severed the head of another gnoll while dodging the sword attack by another one, as he was agilely either dodging or counterattacking the gnolls, killing them one by one with fast speed, while Dharzug was killing them in bulk.

    The ork''s overwhelming physical strength allowed him to smash apart the gnolls with his bare hands like nothing. With his waraxe ''Da Big Choppa'', which was enormously big and unpractical waraxe, more appearing like just a curved and sharp piece of metal that would be impossible to pick up even by some physically weaker Gold-Tier Professionals, he was like war god incarnate on the battlefield.

    Soon enough, after the initial ambush of the gnolls went wrong, as the cowards they were, a few of them that were standing back behind the lines started howling into nothingness before all of them started escaping from the ce as fast as they could.

    The gnolls were actually simple-minded creatures that attacked and ambushed. If they were losing, they would escape as fast as possible without any kind of shame to save their own lives... a pretty contradictory for the creatures that were breaking the blood of the Fiends of the Infinite Abyss.

    Neither Dharzug nor Juulius were keen on pursuing the gnolls; thus they let them escape where they wished... there was a still high probability that they would encounter them at ater date when they were exploring the deeper parts of the underground cave system.

 Chapter 215 MakGora

    "Was that thest one?"

    Juulius asked the big ork as he nodded to his question, looking at the freshly decapitated gnoll leader of this pack, who was at the peak of the Steel-Tier. After ughtering the gnolls, the rest of them escaped as fast as possible.

    At the same time, Juulius and Dharzug then went to search through their belonging, what they left here if they didn''t leave behind something either useful or valuable.

    Though both of them seriously doubted that gnolls would have something of significant value and this premise proved to be a truth, as they indeed didn''t have anything at all. Gnolls were known for being a collector species; they tended to collect a myriad of things, especially shiny things and most of them were trinkets or absolutely useless things.

    After they went through the corpses of the gnolls, both of them descended deeper into the underground cave system as they went searching for anything notable or possible passage to the Bone Mountains.

    Through his ability and knowledge about the 10th Floor, Juulius predicted the approximate position where they were.

    He knew that the only notable location that was somewhere in their vicinity were the Bone Mountains, which meant that they were on the outskirts of the 10th Floor, which was essentially a piece of good news because the outskirts of the 10th Floor were essentially the safest ce for them to be right now.

    Not only were there the least number of sandworms here but also other factions that were typically living in the outskirts of the deserts of the Sikarra were the weakest out of them, so that was a good point for them, as they didn''t have to fear about encountering someone highly above their level.

    They descended deeper into theplex underground cave system as they instinctively went somewhere; usually they chose the ces from where they sensed the strongest Mana Signatures, basically following their senses.

    They did this until they arrived at something which appeared to be some kind of enormous underground valley or underground space. At the same time, instantly upon entering the ce, Dharzug perked up as he sensed something very familiar at this ce.

    "What do you sense?"

    Juulius asked when they stopped in their tracks while Dharzug was looking somewhere in the distance, at the end of the underground space, because both of them could hear the screams of battle and fights; somebody was waging war here.

    "Ther''ya orks here... no many, probably only a few thousand and they are waging waaaggghhh against the furs for this ce."

    Dharzug answered with broken Cosmos Common with his typical orkish ascent, while Juulius looked at this situation and started thinking on how to utilize this situation properly now that they were allies with the ork.

    He was aware that the alliance between the Champion of the Green Gods together with the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath was the will of the Gods and there was nothing that their servants could do about it aside from carrying it out as their faithful servants should be.

    Now Juulius was thinking that if Dharzug could assume the leadership of the orks in this ce, they would essentially obtain a free army for their endeavors that could be used to assume some territory in the Bone Mountains.

    Juulius knew that this would help his Lord in his Advancement Quest while Juulius own advancement through the Tower was tied to that of his Lord; if his Lord Samiel Zentuar didn''t advance that neither would he.

    "Could you assume control over them?"

    Juulius asked because this was the crucial part of his newly formed n in his head; if they manage to assume control over the orks in here, if that seeded, then it would be for the best; if not, then his ns would be thrown out of a window and they could continue forward.

    "Yer, need to kill a Boss."

    Dharzug confirmed his suspicions because the orks kulture was simple as the strongest rule. If Dharzugh defeated and killed the boss of these orks, then he would be a new one and would be their leader.

    They were pretty simple-minded creatures, where fights to the death solved everything essentially and there was nothing in the orkish kulture that couldn''t be solved through the fight to the death, as easy as that could get.

    After hearing that confirmation, both of them descended down to the valley and as predicted, this entire ce served as an enormous battlefield between the orks and gnolls that were living here, probably fighting each other for the living space of this underground space.

    Based on the number of the corpses of gnolls all around this ce, they could see that the orks were severely outnumbered but were superior to the gnolls in terms of individual power, which was good at one part, though only if the orks weren''t that strong.

    If they had some Gold-Tiers among them, while the chance for that was extremely low and Juulius predicted that the boss should be the peak of the Silver-Tier.

    Juulius followed after Dharzug because the ork could sense other orks; thus he led the path and they were going the right way, because longer they walked through the underground space, avoiding various poisonous nts and mushrooms that were growing here due to perfect conditions for that, they were seeing more and more gnoll corpses piling up.

    In certain areas of interest probably, there were even several hundred of them piled on huge mini mountains, as this seemed to be one of the headquarters of the orks living in this underground space, probably their sole camp, considering the effort of gnolls to take this ce from them.

    "Wer near... I sense greens..."

    Dharzug stated to his humanpanion when he sensed several tens of orks in their vicinity, all of them at the peak of Steel-Tier and some were even at the Bronze-Tier. If this was theposition of a standard patrol unit, then the group of orks here were stronger than they both initially anticipated, but this could also be a positive thing instead of a negative one.

    "Stop ya ther gits!"

    Shouted one of the Bronze-Tier orks when they crossed a certain line, probably entering the territory of the orks living here. As they stopped in their tracks, several other orks surrounded them while ignoring Juulius mostly and focusing solely on Dharzug because they were able to sense the blessings of the green gods on his body.

    Dharzug carefully looked at the orks that arrived at the ce while he subsequently released his overwhelming aura that contained bits of the Divine Power of the Green Gods; as every ork in their surroundings stopped whatever what they were doing and almost dropped on their knees, as the encountered the Holy Apostle and Divine Champion of the Green Gods.

    "Listen yar here yo gits! Yar challenge yor boss to Mak''Gora for yar rule!"

    When the challenge was issued, everyone grew quiet as the orks started murmuring something between each other Juulius knew that they didn''t have much opinions on the matter, for orks mak''gora was a sacred ritual where both participating or more participants fought in a brutal duel to the death to resolve their differences.

    There was only one possible reaction to the issuement of the mak''gora, which was eptance; there wasn''t the possibility of rejecting because it would make the party who rejected seem weak, that would be essentially the same like admitting defeat... and orks followed only the stronger, even slight amount of weakness was enough to incite rebellion in the more ambitious specimen.

    Several secondster, the lead ork, who was at the peak of the Bronze-Tier, told Dharzug that he would lead them to the boss as the mak''gora was formally issued and needed to be addressed as soon as possible.

    Juulius didn''t mind as he followed after Dharzug into the camp of the orks that lived in this underground cave system and battled against the gnolls. While the orks were asionally giving him stares of hostility, the second he released his overpowering aura, they looked away.

    And another thing that certainly helped was the fact that he was together with Dharzug, so he essentially had a free pass. They soon arrived at the center of the camp where the boss of these orks was living, which was actually one huge leather tent to Juulius''s distaste of everything orkish.

    When they arrived at the campsite, one of the orks went to the tent of the boss and informed him of the thing, afterwards; around ten minutester, the ork boss exited the tent and Juulius saw an enormous ork walking towards them, an even bigger and more muscr than Dharzug.

    Then both orks started screaming something at each other in the orkishnguage, which Juulius naturally didn''t understand, aside from some curses which he did indeed understand before two of them bumped fists and everyone around them took several steps back... the mak''gora has started as two of them rushed at each other.

    Typically speaking, the rules during the mak''gora were either in two ways. One was without any weapons, just physical strength alone, together with their fists as their weapons; no magic or anything other was allowed, including Leveled Abilities.

    Basically just martial arts and physical strength.

    Then the second type was with weapons and abilities and everything included.

    The first one, without weapons, Leveled Abilities or anything, was used to determine the leadership among the group of orks and had a more ritualistic, ceremonial and spiritual meaning. Not to mention the first way of mak''gora wasn''t used lightly, as most of the mak''goras that took ce were of the second category.

    That one was typically used to resolve any kind of dispute, be it for loot, material things, conflicts between orks, fighting for mates or anything one could think of. Juulius observed how two orks were fighting each other in a ferocious hand-to-handbat match, with Dharzug clearly winning the odds because he was physically stronger, much stronger.

    While both of them were of the rtively same Level and on the same grade of expertise in the aspect of hand-to-handbat, but Dharzug, due to being a mutated variation of ork, was physically much stronger, not to mention he was heavily favored by the Green Gods, which passively empowered the ork.

    And with one sharp and powerful left hook, Dharzug knocked out the enemy ork boss, essentially signifying his victory and ending the mak''gora. After that, he went to the unconscious ork boss and literarily tore his head from his neck, as every ork dropped on their knees who epted him as a new chief.

    "With this, we have step onepleted..."

    Juulius muttered to himself as he saw that Dharzug won the mak''gora, bing boss of these orks, meaning they essentially obtained a small army that would do anything as long as they were strong enough to ruler around the other orks.

 Chapter 216 Orks Vs. Gnolls

    One day earlier, Juulius and Dharzug were still reorganizing the entire ork band that was living in the underground cave system after Dharzug won the leadership over this precise group of orks, they needed to reorganize them ording to Dharzug''s vision of the future orks.

    Begrudgingly he even shockingly asked for help from Juulius and Juulius begrudgingly and shockingly epted and helped. What Dharzug wanted was to revolutionize the orkish society into something modern and coherent because he saw 99% of the orkish factions, namely almost all of the nz and Tribe, were highly primitive in their civilization.

    It was even discussable if the orks had any level of civilization because the only thing that they knew was waging waaaggghhh, killing, ughtering and plundering. Dharzug wanted to uplift them up to a certain level... he was aware of the fact that the Green Gods neither ''Them'' would allow orks to be uplifted how they wanted but only up to a certain grade, which was eptable and won''t be breaching the equilibrium of the Great Game.

    If such a thing happened, then they would intervene by themselves, which would be catastrophic. But that wasn''t even his aim; no, Dharzug wanted to civilize the orks a bit, to not live in such poor conditions and to be a bit depended on themselves instead of raiding everything around them because sooner orter, their numerical advantage would mean nothing and they would be annihted one by one.

    Their division between various Tribes and nz was something that was on one side, making them stronger because various factions were forced topete against each other, thus bing better and stronger in the process.

    On the other side, through this brutal division, they were constantly at war against one another, killing themselves for supremacy, lowering their own potential and at the same time, seeding seeds of hatred between each other, making any possibility of working with each other against the outside enemy was basically impossible.

    "How many warriors do we have avable at our disposal?"

    Because Juulius was the only other person who knew what the word ''administration'' meant, he was constantly helping Dharzug in these matters. To Juulius''s shock, he found out that Dharzug, despite his barbaric appearance, was actually pretty literate, knew how even to read Cosmos Common and had some knowledge about administration, bureaucracy and other things.

    "Something on 4 thousand of boyz."

    Above four thousand ork warriors was a rtively good number, but unfortunately for them, there were more than thirty thousand gnolls in the enemy camp. Though fortunately for them, the gnolls were pretty much weak trash; most of them were only peak of the Iron-Tier, or some stronger ones were at the Steel-Tiers.

    Apparently, only a few pack leaders were of the Bronze-Tiers, but their numerical advantage was overwhelming... as they were outnumbering the orks in the ratio of 7,5 to 1, which was a lot, but if they implemented the right strategy then this issue won''t be a problem.

    "Before we move out of this ce, we need to deal with the gnolls... how are things going with the organization of orks into fighting units?"

    Juulius asked as the newly manned ork boss frowned deeply at this because this was probably the greatest weakness of the orks was that they didn''t have even a semnce of disciple or anything remotely close to that...

    The typical ork setting was just a bunch of boyz in the field as they rushed on the enemy and chopped their way. Nothing else and nothing more, this typically resulted in tremendous losses for orks and many defeats that orks suffered against more organized enemies because many learned strategies and tactics to counter the ork charge.

    "Yaring hardly... but those gits will do what''I will tell or else I''ll smash their skus."

    Dharzhg stated angrily as he started drilling the ork warriors on how to advance as a coherent unit. As he was one of the very few orks who didn''t only fight against other orks and other species, he also fought alongside other species and he found the concept of organized warfare fascinating and yet so distant from the ork kulture.

    Juulius just nodded at this; he was right now in charge of building proper fortifications up to his own standards, another thing where orks failed spectacrly because their fortifications, defenses, buildings or anything that they essentially built was just scraped together, and nothing more.

    They were preparing for the iing attack of the gnolls on their fortifications because Juulius had prepared a n for the gnolls to attack them. He wouldter on send a few of ork boyz to provoke off the gnolls, as he wanted at least five to seven thousand of them to attack their defenses.

    If this strategy seeded several times over, they would be able to defeat the biggest gnoll colonies here one by one, essentially winning the fight without any effort. Gnolls on the spectrum of intelligence were even worse than orks, as they were more stupid and their didn''t even know of the concept of strategy, orks at least were masters of warfare, in their own brutish way, though...

    ***

    Two dayster, it all went ording to Juulius''s prediction, as the gnolls were pretty much easily provoked into a mindless fight and attacked the ork fort, which they built just within two days.

    All that Juulius needed to do was to send a few orks to bother and provoke the gnolls that were living in the colony south of their location and voa... two dayster, evidently, more than 6,000 gnolls were already marching on their location.

    During the past two days, they managed to build decent fortifications because it showed that the orks were good workers as long as there was somebody who was telling them what to do and how to do it; thus, the work progressed at tremendous speed and just two dayster, they managed to build decent stone walls, together with several watchtowers and some traps.

    Orks were naturally hard workers; they didn''t get tired; they also were physically very, very strong so that they could transportrge quantities of building materials like nothing and all of this resulted in very fast building speed when they were under Juulius''s supervision.

    Presently, Juulius was standing on the watchtower together with Dharzug as they were observing the iing gnoll horde numbering something between six thousand five hundred to seven thousand gnolls as they collected some smaller packs along the way.

    Juulius really marveled at their stupidity because they let themselves be provoked into an all-out attack just from a few words and curses, there was essentially nothing else done to them, and they immediately attacked.

    In the entire underground valley, there were around more than thirty thousand gnolls; if all of them attacked the orks at the same time, then it would be highly problematic, but in this way...  divide and conquer was indeed the primeval truth applicable to almost any kind of conflict.

    It seemed way too easy.

    "Prep to shoot yar gits!"

    Dharzug screamed from the top of the watchtower as they watched the gnoll horde approaching while the orks prepared their shootas, bows or crossbows or essentially any kind of device they had for long-ranged attacks as they awaited furthermand.

    Itneretinstgly enough, drilling discipline into orks was easy... all it required were a few brutal beatings and a few dead of those who were opposing the most. The rest of them quickly then fell into line and acted like proper and good soldiers.

    "Shoot!"

    After that, all of the orks released their long-ranged attacks, shooting their bows, crossbows but primarily their shootas, as they shot from either projectiles or pure mass of energy of their won converted Mana which was green in color.

    Juulius watched how all of this befell onto iing gnoll horde as they killed hundreds of them just within the single salvo, then they immediately reloaded and shot once more and more, bombarding the iing gnoll horde into the oblivion because more than three thousand orks were shooting at them with everything they had from behind the walls or from the walls.

    The rest of the ork boyz were waiting for the closebat, as they were stationed around the gate or other potentially reachable ces, which Juulius saw as problematic. Just within a few salvos of the long-raged attacks, they managed to ughter more than two thousand of the gnolls, which was a spectacr sess.

    All of this was achieved without loosing even a single ork, as the bombardment from the ork fort stopped because the gnolls were already pretty close, so Dharzug gave themand for only those who were armed with bows or crossbows to remain attacking because typically shootas also made a mess on the battlefield in forms of explosions.

    And Juulius told him that "friendly fire" was strictly forbidden.

    "Boyz attack!"

    Hearing the order for the attack, hundreds of the ork boyz started jumping down from the walls, dropping on the gnolls that were trying to climb through the walls and started massacring the gnolls with their enormous weapons.

    After Dharzug took charge of these orks; he ordered them to arm themselves properly; shockingly, most of them didn''t even bother wearing armor; they only had a few protectors and that was all.

    Ironically though, their camp was full of metal scraps, armors and weapons that were even better than they currently used, so they also underwent a bit of upgrade as they tore their way through the gnoll horde.

    Unfortunately for the gnolls, the hyena-like creatures were too weak individually to resist the ork charge, especially angry armored orks who were like enraged beasts that were killing everything they saw.

    Also, on top of everything, they also didn''t have any sort of numerical advantage because approximately four thousand gnolls were fighting against three thousand orks on the ground while they were still being sniped by the orks who were attacking them with long-ranged weaponry from the top of the fort''s walls.

    After several moments, Juulius too joined the fight, as he was one of few Silver-Tier Professionals that were in their little faction, together with Dharzug and a few of the former boss Nobzes, which were something akin to a ruling caste among the orks, if they had something closest to the nobility among them, even the word "Nobz" was derivated from the word Noble.

    Dharzug, too, joined after a short while because it was uneptable for the boss of the horde not to fight in the waaaggghhh, that was characteristic of the coward and Dharzug needed to bring a few victories to the horde because even though he killed the previous boss in the mak''gora and assumed leadership over the horde, he still needed to prove himself in a certain sense of way, to obtain their unconditional loyalty.

 Chapter 217 Boyz!

    "They started escaping... should we pursue them?"

    Juulius asked when he saw that the remnants of the gnolls had already started escaping, seeing that there was no point in prolonging the fight anymore, as approximately 80% of their enormous pack was destroyed in this fight by the orks, while the orks didn''t have almost any losses because the gnolls were too weak to kill them en masse.

    Their overall losses were in the tens, which was a splendid result. These were the excellent results and fortunately, with enough luck, they would be able to repeat this several times over, essentially provoking the biggest gnoll packs into attacking them, then they would just head out and clean out what remained from the gnolls.

    "Listen her'' ya git''s! Start clean the battlefield!"

    Dharzug shouted to the Ork Boyz, as they immediately carried out his orders with much more enthusiasm than ever because they saw that his "weird" and unorthodox strategies brought them to victory in the waaaggghhh as they massacred thousands of gnolls against whom they were warring for a long time already.

    Not to mention, they would have a feast for uing days from all of those gnoll corpses because the ork cuisine was literarily eating what you kill. Naturally, Juulius wouldn''t be eating gnolls, as he found just the notion of eating those creatures disgusting...

    Nevertheless, they won the battle and needed to prepare for more because they needed to reach Bone Mountain as soon as possible because it was the sole area where his Lord would go after finding somece to hide and rest.

    ***

    Juulius got to witness a true orkish feast as they ate the baked or roasted gnoll corpses, which looked pretty much disgusting to him, as he ate some food inside his dimensional ring. Naturally, eating the most wasn''t the sole thing in the ork feasts.

    There was a variety ofpetitions in eating, drinking and fighting. Orkspeted against each other to see who could eat the most in the shortest time or who could eat the most during the entire feast. Then they had a drinkingpetition where they drank their fungus beer or blood of the killed enemies.

    And thest sort ofpetition were the fighting ones because a lot of fighting was among the orks during the feast. There were countlessbat-basedpetitions for the orks, or they just found out because they werepeting in something and one of the participants used the other ones of cheating and they resolved it through the duel to the death...

    Juulius just scoffed at the barbarism orks as she continued eating the dinner that he had from his dimensional ring and preparing other strategies to deal with the gnolls that were still in the underground valley before they would be moving towards the Bone Mountains.

    He saw that there were several pathways that were leading to the direction of the Bone Mountains. Dharzug got into fisting against one of the Nobz and started punching the smaller ork to death because he offended him in some way... while it would be problematic for the horde to lose another Silver-Tier Professional, Juulius also knew that the Nobz were previously the loyalists to the old boss.

    While they epted the results of the mak''gora, they would still feel some resentment and while the ork race wasn''t the greatest schemers, they could be pretty mean and backstabbing at certain times and situations.

    So it was better to kill those who had some backside intentions right now than just let them be and backstab them during some crucial time when they would be able to make an absolute mess.

    Approximately two dayster, they managed to fend off another of the gnoll packs of roughly eight thousand gnolls, who were killed like the previous ones, with minimal losses sustained during the siege. During the past two days, Juulius managed to upgrade the fortifications of the fort based on the trial of fire from thest attack of the gnolls.

    This repeated once more as they were attacked by another and thest of the gnoll packs that were active in the underground valley after they were provoked by them. With this done, essentially any coherent resistance of gnolls against the ork advance was destroyed even before it could properly begin.

    They naturally looted the equipment, weapons and armors from the kobolds and now the orks under Dharzug''smand were perfectly armed, mostly wearing armors from bottom to head and nothing was harder to kill than an enraged ork wearing thick metal armor.

    Right now, they were marching to clean up the remnants of the gnolls that still remained in the underground valley before they would be moving toward the Bone Motunaisn. Dharzug and Juulius had already sent a whole bunch of scouts through the tunnels to see if some of them was indeed leading toward the Bone Mountains.

    If they found a pathway, they could enter their destination without going through the deserts of Sikarra and couldfortably travel underground. That would be more suitable and easier than just going through the scorching heat of the 10th Floor.

    After several attempts by gnolls to conquer their fort, all of the gnoll packs were broken beyond any salvation; thousands of them were ughtered mercilessly and effortlessly, the orks made short work out of them during these attempts to attack.

    Right now, the gnolls that were surviving in this ce were mainly the survivors from the biggest packs that failed their attacks on the ork fort and were basically just scraping around and licking their wounds.

    Many of them were already seriously injured from the previous battle, and they were thus by no means of putting any kind of resistance against the iing orkish horde, which was in perfect condition.

    The entire operation took one day as they managed to clear the entire underground valley in this ce, killing all of the gnolls and looting everything that the gnolls hoarded in their hideouts. This allowed Juulius to redistribute the resources and equipment among the ork Boyz.

    Not to mention all of the resources they obtained as they were right now preparing to entire the underground pathways and arrive at the Bone Mountains. Ironically though, the Orks didn''t have any problem with moving to the Bone Mountains, as they were promised waaaggghhh.

    Their simple-minded was actually a good thing in this because just after a few words of promise for waaaggghhh they were able to convince the entire ork horde of several thousand orks to move across the entire outskirts of the deserts of Sikarra... it was the foolish notion to everyone else because this ce was like heaven on earth considering the conditions of the 10th Floor and finding something simr like this underground valley would be night impossible.

    ***

    One dayter, after another feast where the orks ate and drank like there was no tomorrow, the horde of approximately four thousand and some hundreds of orks started moving toward the direction of the Bone Mountains after the scouts returned with the information that the passages were safe... or at least as safe as they could get.

    Juulius and Dharzug were on the helm of the marching ork horde as they led them through the tunnels of the underground system. They were already been walking through this underground tunnel for several hours, till now, without any result or any perspective, not even knowing where it would take them.

    However, Juulius knew that they were heading in the right direction due to his Ability which allowed him to scan his surroundings.

    p����d�� ��?�ͨ�|,�㨰�� Though aside from the encounter with some underground dwellers, these pathways were essentially empty and rtively safe, if one wasn''t counting the empty paths or natural traps here.

    When they were walking for a good twelve hours, Dharzug was alreadyining to his humanpanion because he was already bored from this and there wasn''t any action. Many of the other orks were for sure bearing simr thoughts in their minds, albeit they would never voice them out of loud due to their ce in the hierarchy.

    Not to mention, they knew that the human whom their boss was traveling with was much stronger than them and if there was one thing that the orks knew very well aside from killing and destroying everything around them, it was respecting the strong, especially those who were stronger than themselves.

    In the end, this was something on what the entire orkish society and their kultur were built on. Still, Juulius just shook his head in mild amusement because he already knew that they were nearing the exit of the pathway. He sensed several powerful, potentially hostile auras guarding the entrance, which was approximately ten kilometers away from their current location.

    "You would be delighted to hear that we are nearing the exit... and there are several potentially hostile auras; some of them are pretty powerful."

    Juulius stated as the newly crowned ork boss revealed a savage grin over his face, hearing that the battle was soon toe, readying his weapons together with the rest of the orks behind him, mimicking his action as they sped up in their tempo.

    With the orks speeding up, it didn''t take them long to arrive at the exit or the entrance, depending on the point of view as they saw who was guarding the entrance to the underground pathways.

    It was a whole bunch of Vampires, meaning that they were already in the Bone Mountains because, from some of the notes they found at the gnoll camps, they found out that Vampires were one of the major powerhouses in the Bone Mountain Range.

    "We will be arriving soon... prepare for thebat."

    Juulius stated because he knew that the vampires were essentially their enemies, so there was only one option which wasbat. Naturally, even if they weren''t their enemies, then the orks would be made them so because Okrs were thirsty for some blood and waaaggghhh and wanted to ughter something after walking around for several hours.

    It didn''t take them a long time to arrive at the end of their destination because from the moment the orks were promised of waaaggghhh, they ran like their very own lives depended on it and the entire ork horde was moving along at tremendous speed, which was actually fascinating to watch.

    "Listen her ya gits! Now we gonna smush a bat skus! Waaaggghhh!!!!"

    Dharzug roared at his orkish followers, which in turn roared back at him as they started pouring out of the exits that led to the Bone Mountains as they roared for the blood and flesh of their enemies.

    Meanwhile, in this, Juulius decided to stay back and just enjoy the show because he didn''t wish to be caught in that mess. It was clear that the ork entered their battle-frenzy state and when that happened, he wanted to be nowhere near them.

 Chapter 218 Orks Vs. Vampires

    The Vampires were wholly different enemiespared to the gnolls that the orks of this mini-horde fought previously. While the gnolls depended purely on their instincts and pack tactics, not to mention that they had poorbat skills and extremely low firepower, it was a different situation with the Blood Races.

    Species that were categorized as the Blood Races, namely Dhampirs, Vampires, Kindreds and not to mention the pinnacle of their species, the Pale Blood were masters of Physical and Magical Combat. Even the lowliest Dhampir which were the hybrids of Vampires and Humans couldpete in terms of physique against the weakest of ork boyz, not talking about the Vampires which were basically as strong as standard Ork Boy footsoldiers.

    Aside from that, on their evolutionarydder, starting from the Vampire stage, they could all disy affinity for both sides ofbat, meaning each Vampire would be an expert in magicalbat and also physicalbat. All of them were born with the Blood Magic and could cast some really nasty spells, not too mention Kindreds who were born with the Leveled Ability of Blood Control.

    Pure Blooded Kindreds of Noble Lineages were all born with Blood Control on the Rare Level, while le Bloods all of them were born with the same Ability just on the Ultimate Level, while some of the most powerful lineages were born with a variation of that Ability called Blood Sovereign.

    Juulius observed how hundreds of orks were shing against what seemed to be mainly Vampires, but there was something that shocked him a bit because he saw there a Kindred in pristine silver armor walking through the battlefield and reading the lives of countless orks that dared to approach him.

    ''Peak Silver-Tier and has Blood Control on the Level 2 Rare... not to mention his entire armor is of an ending spectrum of the Rare-Grade Equipment and it should be Runic Armor, but some of the bits arebined with the concept of the Power Armors... most interesting, it appears that we have encountered either descendant of some great aristocrats or priests of the Blood Gods.''

    The Temr Knight of the Holy Temr Order of the Hall of Kadath thought while he observed how the Kindred man was intercepted by Dharzug himself because there was essentially nobody who could face him in one-to-one singlebat, thus the responsibility fell onto the ork boss of these orks, which was naturally Dharzug''s responsibility.

    On the battlefield, the Vampires were severely outnumbered they were superior in terms of firepower and equipment, but Juulius could see that it wasn''t helping them much in the great scheme of all things.

    Yes, they were able to kill a whole bunch of Ork Boyz, but in the end, they were brought down by the sheet number of the Ork Boyz who were justing out from the entrance to the underground paths, as a few of the orks that the Vampires managed to kill were inconsequential in the battle, because soon enough the winner and loser of this conflict were clear.

    On another part of the battlefield, across the ce where Juulius was standing and observing everything from the safe position, Dharzug was engaged in singlebat against the leader of the Vampires here, the Silver-Tier Kindred who was giving him one hell of a battle.

    With his Blood Control Ability, the Kinred was able to perfectlybine long-ranged, mid-ranged and closebat together, not to mention, due to all corpses of the orks and vampires that were killed here, he had a tremendous amount of blood he could control, thus Dharzug was constantly being bombarded by various blood constructs, ranging from simple weapons to more advanced ones such as magical beasts ones.

    Dharzug was rtively sessful in defending against the Kindred''s attacks, but he had a very hard time approaching him because he was experiencedbatant enough to know not to let ork like Dharzug near him... such cases always ended pretty poorly.

    But also for the Kindred, Dharzug knew how to fight such people, and the best way to close the distance between them, by tanking all of their hits and forcing them to closebat, basically forcing them to y ording to their rules.

    This strategy was pretty problematic, because not everyone had such ability, but Dharzug had... as he roared and burst out in waves of green energy as it cracked around him like electricity or striking of the lighting, as he took every hit of blood construct that the Kindred man sent towards him like nothing, closing the distance between them with each step he took.

    This action caused the Kindred man to panic because he didn''t predict an oue like this that his opponent would be taking every hit with his body. In contrast, mostly unscathed and approaching him at tremendous speed, as he tried to change the strategy. Still, unfortunately before he could do anything, Dharzug''s transformation happened once more, as he entered some kind of "mode 2.0" and appeared in front of the Kindred man.

    ''nk''

    The Kindred blocked Dharzug''s waraxe with his longsword as it seemed that the closebat was inevitable and this was the big ork''s win, as he managed to bring the battle to his enemy. When he was already in his close vicinity, there was nothing that the KIndred could do to create a distance between them once more, so the only choice was to fight against the ork boss.

    Dharzug didn''t waste a second as he sent the Kindred man flying with a powerful kick, as he crashed into nearby orks. At the same time, Dharzug jumped high in the air and with his waraxe he shed at the Kindred man as he fell down, while only barely missing his head, severing a few strands of his pure white hair maximally.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    The Kindred, still lying on the ground, twisted his body as he jumped back on his legs and counterattacked, aiming at the unprotected spot at Dharzug''s neck, forcing the big ork to defend with his waraxe. At the same time, the bloodsucker used his Level 2 Rare Ability Blood Control to collect the blood around him, to heal himself and also boost up his parameters, forcing hisbat prowess to skyrocket.

    After boosting himself with the healthy dose of thebination of orkish and vampire blood, he attacked the ork boss with more ferocity than before, with his longsword glowing with ominous crimson light as it drank some of the blood.

    The conditions was in favor of the Kindred because the Blood Control wasn''t suited only for offensive or defensive purposes but also supportive ones; the user could boost himself physically, restore his magic, regenerate at tremendous speed and create literal miracles through the usage of the Blood Control.

    And in the ce where blood was in abundance... it was a heaven-defying weapon, because the blood was a crucial resource for the Kindred, who could use it in an endless way and the more of blood was there, the stronger he would be.

    But Dharzug also wasn''t without an card in his sleeve as the green Divine Power of the Green Gods cracked around him like the lighting, as he appeared in front of the Kindred in a sh, punching him in his stomach and sending him flying tens of meters away.

    In a split of a second, faster than one could blink, he shed at the Kindred with his waraxe, hitting the silver armor of the Kindred man, which cracked in the area where Dharzug hit the Kindred in his full force, augmented by the Divine Power of the Green Gods, which he summoned to cope with the power increase that his Kindred opponent got from all of the blood around them.

    Juulius watched all of this with keen interest because it wasn''t every day where one could see Kindreds fighting on the battlefield, especially using their Blood Control Abilities and he could agree why they were called "One Man Armies"...

    As long as there was blood on the battlefield, they would never get weaker, they would recover from almost every injury and their stamina would never run off. They would just ughter their way through entire armies, leaving behind them nothing more than decimated opponents and a sea of corpses.

    Dharzug had already dealt with foes simr to this and from his experience, he knew that how to deal with them... overwhelming power and destroy them as fast as possible without allowing them to use any of their abilities to bring themselves back or to save their hides.

    Naturally, this didn''t escape Juulius, who was observing from the small rock on which he was sitting, but there was something that wasn''t ying with him nice and that was, even though Dharzug''s power was enough to kill even half-step Gold-Tier Professional, Juulius knew that it wouldn''t be enough to kill the Kindred man before him.

    Juulius was still more knowledgeable as he was educated by the best tutors and teachers that the Hall of Kadath could provide. He recognized that the Kindred was someone descended from the Great Aristocratic Houses of the Pale Blood... probably some sort of bastard, but that didn''t change the fact that he should inherit something from the Pale Blood parent that he didn''t want to use.

    He knew that because the Great Aristocratic House of the Pale Bloods, the House of Von Carstein, were members of the Hall of Kadath and the Holy Temr Order for countless Epochs already since the Blood Schism in ancient times.

    Coincidentally, Juulius was in the same ss in the Temr Academy as the Heir of the Von Carstein House, Frederic Wilhelm Von Carstein IV. and thus he was aware that the Pale Bloods had one special life-saving method, which allowed them essentially to condense all of the blood in their surrounding together with igniting their own Life Force and Blood Energy to enact some sort of "Immortal Transformation".

    In that state, they are almost impossible to kill and one would need to be iparably stronger to kill them. For example, if Gold-Tier Pale Blood used it, then he could be killed only by Legendary Level Might... and not some weaker or Initial Stage Legendary Level, but a proper one instead.

    Seeing that Dharzug was unaware of this fact because if he were, then he would already ended thisbat as soon as possible by entering his most powerful state that the Holy Apostle could do, by letting the will of God possess him and obliterating the enemy from the face of the earth, Juulius decided to intervene personally.

    He brandished his sword while chanting a silent prayer to the Outer Gods, to the Outer Court of the Primordial Demiurge and the Great Dreamer and to the Crawling Chaos, whom he personally worshipped as his primal God.

    His golden eyes shined brightly as he disappeared from the rock and strode through the battlefield in a split of a second as he beheaded several of the vampires that were close to killing the orks, hurrying towards the Kindred man before he could activate hisst resort...

 Chapter 219 Waaaggghhh Against Bats!

    Juulius appeared in front of the Kindred man in a sh as he shed at him with his sword, forcing him to block by condensing shield made out of blood, but this didn''t deter Juulius a bit as he continued to attack the Kindred man all over, summoning down the bits of the Divine Power of the Crawling Chaos.

    Dharzug looked at this pretty annoyed but didn''t say anything because while he was ork through and through, but contrary to many, if not most of the other orks, he knew when and what to do because he was aware that the Kindred man was holding back something from the battle and knew that he wasn''t going all out.

    Not talking about the fact, he suspected that Juulius must have recognized what was going on and thus let him intervene in the single co??mbat. Normally, when someone intervened in the singlebat of an ork against his foe, the orks would throw a fit of rage and typically kill everything in their surroundings...

    Juulius maintained eye contact with the Dharzug and while he didn''t hold any kind of good emotions about the orks whom he was essentially saving, during the time he was with Dharzug, Juulius learned to rein his distaste and hatred for the greenskins, though, at the same time, he found out that they were not that one-dimensional like they seemed on the first nce.

    Normally, many people thought about orks that they were one-dimensional creatures that only new one thing, which was waging Waaaggghhh and nothing else. Yes, it was a pretty understandable viewpoint on the orks because their behavior, society or anything didn''t seem to say anything otherwise about their ''kultur''.

    Juulius Crawford met many orks during his rtively short life and most of them were like themon stereotypes were about them. They were crude, stupid, brutish and knew only how to destroy.

    He didn''t know if he should be delighted or frightened that ork like Dharzug existed, somebody who wanted to bring real civilization to the orks, something beyond their typical waaaggghhhs and destruction of everything that wasn''t them. It was so fascinating and yet it was so terrifying and frightening even to consider orks getting civilized and learning how to create...

    With their number, their industrial capabilities could be absolutely out of nothing that the Material ne of the Cosmos has ever seen before. Still, if such orkish civilization could be reasoned a bit, then it would create a space for diplomacy, and space for diplomacy created the possibility for negotiation, which in turn created the possibility for the alliance between them and the "civilized orks".

    ''Attack with everything you got; we need to kill him before he activates his final stand; this is not ordinary Kindred but the bastard of a Pale Blood!''

    Juulius instantaneously sent a mental message to Dharzug, who grimaced as he grit his enormous lower teeth that looked like the ones of the sabertooth when he received it because the situation was worse than he anticipated and it confirmed his suspicion about the human Temr Knight who knew that something was going on.

    Bursting out with a new wave of power, Dharzug shed in front of the Kindred man and attacked him once again with his waraxe ''Da Big Choppa'', cathing him unprepared, using the element of surprise on his side as his waraxe hit his chest and created enormous cract on his te silver armor, that started cracking all around.

    Juulius seeing this, used this opportunity to stab the Kindred man through one small crack, piercing through his lungs, as the Kindred man coughed a mouthful of blood. This was an example of perfect coordination inbat as they managed to wound the Kindred man severely, but not wasting any more time, Juulius summoned all the power he could as he sent a wave of the Divine Power of the Chaos into the body of the Kidnred man which was still pierced by his sword.

    Almost instantaneously, one could see countless ck lines spreading through the body of the Kindred man as his body started morphing into some kind of mutated monstrosity in real time, erging in size almost ten times in several seconds before it started pulsating violently, to which Dharzug conjured some kind of Divine Shield as the enormous body of what used to be the Kindred man exploded into bloody dust.

    "That was a close call..."

    Juulius sighed when he confirmed that the Kindred man was killed... this was indeed surprising because he would never suspect some half-blooded Pale Blood was here; considering other circumstances, Juulius was sure that it was a bastard child of someone from the Great Aristocratic Houses.

    "Who would have thought that we would encounter a Pale Blood even if it wasn''t a Pure-Blooded one..."

    Interestingly enough, which was pretty surprising, even bastards of the Pale Blood and their half-bloods weren''t normally allowed to leave the Holy City because they all had the potential to evolve into Pure-Blooded Pale Bloods with the Blessings of the Blood Gods.

    So seeing on here was most interesting and Juulius suspected that it was either due to politics of the Great Aristocratic Houses or someone just escaped from home... though he rooted for the second one because Pale Bloods were too rare and too important for the Congregation to just allow them wantonly leave the Holy City.

    "We need to clean out the battlefield and move towards some defendable position... if more bats arrive, we are fucked up; right now, we are in the enemy territory."

    Juulous said while Dharzug grumbled but still agreed with the Temr Knight because he was aware that right now their first priority should be the securement of the base of operation, somewhere where they could defend it very well.

    Normally orks didn''t bother with such inconsequential things, but under Dharzug''s leadership, things were going to be pretty different as he started bossing around the orks. Fortunately, only a few tens of orks were killed during the battle, something little above a hundred, which was a rtively good result, considering the fact they faced around 70 vampires.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    And the bats were much better prepared and were individually stronger, but Juulius taught orks to utilize their numerical advantage better, justpared to the simple "overwhelm them with numbers" thing of strategy.

    The good thing for the orks was the fact that it didn''t take them even an hour to find a suitable ce which was, ording to Juulius''s standards, good enough to build a provisionary fortress, as they started building a fort in one of the mountains that had only three exits.

    It was in a better position than the rest of the things that Juulius considered for the provisionary fort that would serve as their point for the expansion towards the Bone Mountains.

    Not to mention, it was empty from the inside, probably used as some sort of housing in the past, considering it was naturally created. It was perfect for their purposes because they didn''t need to do everything from scratch and at the same time, it would be much faster donepared to the situation where they would be building from nothing.

    Naturally, the orks brought all necessary materials together with them, so the construction process was going very fast when somebody wasmanding them and just within six hours of hard, non-stop works, the preliminary defenses were already in ce and the fort was already steadily growing.

    During the time that the orks were building the forts, Juulius was interrogating the prisoners, which were, unfortunately for him, only two barely surviving vampires who were lucky enough to survive the onught of the orkish horde that was going through their positions.

    With a little bit of torture, Juuliuhs was able to learn everything relevant and against whom they were standing in the Bone Mountains, as he took his words for taken and anticipated the challenge.

    Juulius was delighted to learn that in this ce, there was one of the bigger branches of the Cult of the Fallen Prince, Daemon Sitri and even the Church of Spider Queen Lolth, both of which were enemies of the Hall of Kadath.

    With this information, Juulius went to Dharzug so they could prepare for their next moves. Not only that, but he also learned that the three major powers in the Bone Mountains, which were actually the Cult of the Fallen Prince, the Church of Lolth and the bats, were actually nning to attack all remaining factions within the Bone Mountains and divide the entire area in three.

    This was even better than he initially anticipated because all of them were prepared for the offensive war and not the defensive one, meaning if they were attacked right now, their defensive capabilities would be very low and they could catch them unprepared and if they attacked hard enough, they could even cripple bats out of right from their first attack.

    ***

    One dayter, the basic fort in the empty mountain that was hollow from the inside was finished and the orks were already preparing for the great Waaaggghhh that their boss promised them, as each of them was gearing up, polishing their weapons to be in the best state possible and adjusting their armors to meet their foes on the battlefield.

    "Can we finally depart?"

    Juulius asked as he watched the ork getting prepared for the Waaaggghhh; as the ork boss nodded his huge head, looking toward the distance of the territory ruled by the Vampires in the Bone Mountains.

    "Yar! Waaaggghhh!"

    Dharzug then roared for all orks to hear the most important word in the orkish vocabry, the word of ''waaaggghhh'' or how everyone else would understand it, the war. It was the essential word and sometimes the only word that the orks learned during their whole lives.

    It was a call for every ork toe, take their weapon, stop being a pansy git and stand their ground as it was time to wage waaaggghhh and ughter the enemies. Most often, it was the sole reason for what the orks existed.

    "Listen''s her ya pansy gits! We''r marchin to waaaggghhh and Gork bless this moment as we''n gonna give them hell! We''ze Orks! We''ze made for waaaggghhh, fightin and winnin! And even if we doie, we still win as we''r orks! That is of what we are made of! Waaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!"

    Dharzug shouted for every ork to hear, as each of them stiffened by hearing the sacred phrase stated by their boss as the morale started rising and the ork started hitting the ground with their weapons in anticipation for goodbat.

    As Juulius listed to something which sounded like a really, really crappy motivational speech, shockingly or not to the orks, it was a live heaven-sent prophet was speaking to them, as the morale skyrocketed ad they were cheering for their boss by roaring and hitting the ground with their weapons.

 Chapter 220 Regroupping

    "How far are we from the territory of the bats?"

    Yvraine asked impatiently because after several days, crossing seven factions that dwelled in the Bone Mountains and annihted four of them, as they were essentially enemies of the Hall of Kadath or the Nesser Dynasty or even if they weren''t outright enemies, they were hostile, their target destination was still rtively far away from them.

    During their warpath, Samiel decided to change the target and went for reconnection with Dharzug and Juulius, who were leading the orks to wage war against the bats. This was something that he learned as they approached closer and closer to the territory of the bats who worshipped the Great God of Blood Andruil.

    Apparently, out of nowhere or rather from the underground, one nice and sunny day, like there was any kind of different environment here, thousands of orks appeared and started killing their way through the territory of the vampires.

    Ironically though, on their first day, they managed to kill one of their leaders, who was apparently half-blooded Kindred and bastard of the Pale Blood, which was most shocking to itself, as even Yvraine was shocked by this news that someone like that was in a ce like this.

    Samiel opted for the reconnection with the two of them, mainly because together they would have a much bigger army and thus a much bigger possibility, not to mention they would finish the vampires as first and then move on to the Church of Lolth or the CUlt of the Fallen Prince, because they are pre-upied with the conquest of the other territories.

    "I told you that we still need to cross another four passes and three valleys when we got there... so yes, we are still far."

    Samiel answered because right now, as Juulius was in the Bone Mountains, he instantly contacted him through his Holo-Brain as they started coordinating their advance to produce better results and increase their efficiency.

    "I still cannot believe that those two are working together and being civil..."

    Yvraine muttered as Samiel could just nod in agreement, also finding the situation pretty much surreal because he was deeply aware of the hatred that Juulius and his entire lineage had for anything even remotely connected to the greenskins.

    "Apparently, in front of themon benefits, they are forced to work together. Still, I am surprised that they got control over the ork horde."

    Samiel was also surprised that Juuloius could control himself in that situation because he hated the orks more than anything in the world, but at the same time, it was clear that he knew how to control himself.

    If not, then he would certainly be disappointed in his retainer because one needed to be able to divide his personal feelings and professionalism towards the situation. In the situation that he found himself, working with the orks was the only opinion on how toplete the mission sessfully; thus Samiel was d that his retainer / personal knight was someonepetent.

    Naturally, if he wasn''t, then he wouldn''t be assigned to him by the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath.

    "They are right now wreaking havoc through the territory of bats... and worshippers of the Andruil are not weak... apparently, there are even forces of the Great Aristocratic Families of the Congregations aside from the normal soldiers of the Church of Blood."

    Samiel said as they were approaching the territory of another of the factions; this one was a small group of natives of the Bone Mountains; thus Samiel decided to ignore them by passing them because they were essentially worthless.

    He wasn''t keen on wasting time on attacking factions that would give him nothing; he would dly leave that job to the forces of the Church of Lolth or Cult of the Fallen Prince... at least they would lose some troops while attacking them.

    "Certainly, working with orks must have been tedious and problematic at best... I still wonder how they managed to control the horde to act as something more than just a bunch of below barbaric creatures."

    Yvraine said, scoffing at the thought; she too wasn''t that big fan of orks; ironically though, she could too be considered an ork hater, but most elves were. Elvenkind as species had some sort of innate and racial distaste, disgust and in many cases, even hatred towards the Orkkind...

    Still, her hatred was nowhere near that of Juulius, where it was apparently passed from one generation to another, as it was passed like some kind of heritage... some noble lineages passed weapons or so; Crawford Family was passing to each other hatred against greenskins...

    "Fortunately, they are doing good, not only good, but their chosen approachbined with luck is like heaven-sent to Advancement Quest we have... not only that, but if what I suspect is the truth about Dharzug''s n, then he ns to conquer the entirety of the Bone Mountains to create his own n."

    Yvraine looked at her man with a raised brow, because he could see the pattern in this action... orks were peculiar species; even if the starting point of the n creation was only that much as ten orks, within a few years, they would be in hundreds.

    The reproduction speed of the greenskins was absolutely frightening, not to mention Samiel knew that the horde that Dharzug currently was leading even had some goblins, which certainly did help the stability of the orks because at least they had whom to abuse.

    "I still don''t like it... bringing civilization to the orks could spell absolute disaster for the entire Material ne of Cosmos..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Yvraine frowned from the side, still not agreeing with his approach, but Samiel didn''t care too much for her concerns because he knew how this was going to end anyway... In the end, he was aware of the fact that Dharzug won''t be ever allowed by the Green Gods of Gork and Mork mainly to truly unify the orks and uplift them as a whole race.

    Nobody among the Transcendents would allow it... because that would be breaking the game and nobody wanted to break the game... this was something that his master told Samiel and while he didn''t truly understand the meaning of the words, he suspected something from them, mainly the fact that everything would be okey.

    "Let them be... your deepest concerns will never be fulfilled, so you don''t have to worry about that things..."

    Samiel stated already for the third time today as they continued climbing through the mountain range as they, bypassed the locals and went further toward the position where the orks under Dharzug and Juulius were currently waging waaaggghhh.

    "I still propose that we should kill them before they multiply."

    She said as they climbed through another huge rock and decided to rest for a bit while observing how the locals that were living in the nearby valley started fighting against each other for some food or alcohol, to which Samiel greatly enjoyed the show.

    Even Yvraine did enjoy seeing humans squirt and fighting to the death for some scraps of food... he had to admit that in a situation like this, she was greatly sadistic and enjoyed torturing humans and humiliating them.

    "And you tell me that I am a sadist..."

    Samiel stated as he observed how Yvraine enjoyed the humans killing each other while she looked at him with a smirk.

    "Yes, you are... especially in bed when you take me..."

    She literarily purred in his ear; hearing and seeing that, he knew that he had lost this round of argumentation as they, after several more minutes of resting, proceeded with traveling through the Bone Mountains, climbing through them and passing through valley passes as they were approaching the "territory" of the orks.

    Suddenly as they were passing through a tight mountain pass, Samiel saw something which made him almost jump from joy and, at the same time, frown because he saw an ork. And clearly, the ork saw him too as he ran towards them, but it didn''t attack and instead started screaming something in orkish as Samiel answered him.

    During the time Sameil spent with Dharzug, he learned the basics of the Orkish as it was a pretty crudenguage that had too much of usage of the word "waaaggghhh" and aside from that, there was a lot of cursing.

    But fortunately, Samiel knew enough as he exchanged a few words with the ork, while Yvraine watched from the side and observed theirmunication while being ready in case this delved intobat... nobody could predict what orks would do.

    After the initial conversation, Samiel managed to find out that this was indeed the ork under Dharzug and evidently, all orks were ordered to search for someone of Samiel''s and Yvraine''s descriptions and lead them back to their main camp.

    He nodded at Yvraine as they followed after the Ork Boy to the main camp of Dharzug''s orks; as they were right now in the battlezone against the Vampires, apparently from what he was told by the Ork Boy, the orks only managed to get to this part of the Bone Mountains a few days ago and clean it up.

    Unfortunately for the orks, they still faced iing attacks from the bats as they were attempting to reconquer the territory they lost. Some of them were clearly not taking their loss very well, especially considering the fact that they lost to the orks... that must have been humiliating to the proud Kindreds that were leading the bats here.

    They passed through several more paths and after approximately forty minutes of more traveling through the mountains, they finally arrived at the main camp of the orks, as Samiel saw countless orks running here and there, bolstering the defenses around the camp, building fortifications and doing the typical jobs rted to building a new outpost.

    "My Lord, I am d that you are well."

    Samiel heard the voice of his retainer Juulius Crawford as he turned around and saw him dropping on his right knee, immediately greeting his liege with a proper etiquette of a sworn knight. He just motioned him to get up from his knees, as Juulius then followed tightly after, leading him to the main tent where Dharzug was discussing the next steps with the rest of the ork leaders who had more brain cells.

    Hearing that, Samiel wondered how muchpared to the normal orks... if the normal Ork had an intelligence level of 1, then smart would be what? 1,5 or 2, perhaps... who knew?

    Naturally, among orks, there would be those who were more intelligent than the others and those specimens were normally responsible for nning the attacks, operations and other things for the n or Tribe or even the entire Horde if one was established.

 Chapter 221 Against The Vampires I.

    When they arrived at the main tent of the orks, Samiel noted that there were another five orks aside from Dharzug, but all of them scrambled away the second Juulius entered with Samiel and Yvraine, with Yvraine looking at the orks menacingly, but didn''t say anything.

    "So what is the situation?"

    Samiel asked the second he entered the tent and saw that the orks left the tent and Dharzud replied back in some broken Cosmos Commonnguage as he started exining the situation they faced against the vampires in this part of the Bone Mountains.

    "Right now, we are spearheading towards the core of the bat territory in the Bone Mountains and within next week, we should  arrive at the man fortresses that they have constructed in the depths of the Bone Mountains."

    Juulius exined as they made good progress on the conquest.

    "And what of their powers?"

    Samiel knew that they had already managed to kill a few of the powerhouses of the vampires, as they had several Kindreds among them; it was clear that they were supported by the real powers of the Congregation.

    "We have noted that they have at least ten more Silver-Tier Professionals among their ranks... from which at least four are the peak of the Silver-Tier and are Kindreds. From the prisoners captured, we have found out that these are not just ordinary worshippers of the Andruil, but there is Great Aristocratic Family supporting their efforts because they are searching for something in the Bone Mountains... If I had to guess, they are probably trying to excavate some remains of the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworm that was killed here a long time ago."

    It still didn''t make sense for a bunch of Silver-Tier Professionals trying to excavate remains of the Holy Legendary Level being, but whatever... probably the bats that were ordering this operation had their reasons for this... maybe they had.

    Or perhaps it was a suicide mission from the start and it was just a political move to kill off the potential opposition in the younger generation among the same Family... who knew, but that would be certainly adhering to the vampire style of solving the inter-familypetition.

    "And the level of the ordinary troops?"

    It was clear that the level of the average ork was really below that of an ordinary Vampire... that was something pretty understandable because of the fundamental difference between the two species had between each other.

    While the orks usually went for quantity, Vampires went for quality; thus an individual ork was much stronger than an individual ork. Not to mention the Kindreds that could take tens of orks of the same Tier without a problem.

    "At least two thousand in their fort... and we have something little above four thousand orks, so I have preliminarily opted out for direct attack as that would be essentially impossible, but with the addition of the Undead Army, we have better chances."

    Juulius stated as Samiel nodded, but he didn''t agree with the direct attack on the vampires, because even with the addition of the Undead Army of his, it would be still too dangerous and losses would be high and Samiel always went for the method with the least casualties and best effect.

    "We will not be attacked directly, but we will try to bring as many of them out of their hiding ce and weaken them at first. Are there any notable ces which they would be forced to defend at any cost?"

    Samiel asked as he observed the map; it was evident that Juulus did a good job at mapping the area and highly the major points of interest for them. There were at least three ces highlighted with the red color for the utmost importance for Vampires from what Samiel could read off from the map.

    "Yes, there are... we have noted down three sanctuaries across the territory of the Bone Mountains; apparently in those sanctuaries they have altars for the Great God Andruil and at the same time, they are also digging up somewhere there. So in a situation of attack, they would be forced to defend the ce with everything they got."

    Juulius answered as Samiel grinned ferally while Dharzug observed two of them as it suddenly started making sense of him, especially what they were nning.

    "We will attack all three of them at the same time; each one will be attacked in two waves. One wave would consist of four hundred orks, while another wave would consist of a thousand orks and my Undead. Through this, we should be able to lure out something in between 750 to 1,000 vampires out of their hiding ce."

    Samiel proposed the n as it was a good one. With the two-wave tactics, he was aware that bats would send out maximally three hundred of their own towards each ce because they needed to hold their fort, something that the orks didn''t need because the aim of orks was to destroy their enemies altogether.

    So, they didn''t need to leave their soldiers behind, while vampires needed to leave at least 50% of their entire numbers behind to guard their lines, while orkish forces bolstered by those of the Undead Army could move unhindered towards their victory.

    "But even then, breaching the fortress that the vampires managed to build would be hard... yeh the bats would have only around one thousand soldiers if everything goes right, but we need toe up with a strategy on how to breach their defenses in the shortest time possible. If not, we will sustain considerable losses on our side, even if I use my Undead as cannon fodder."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was actually pretty surprising, but blood races were pretty good at building the fortifications because they were experts at building fortifications filled with the most deadly traps and easily defendable buildings.

    They were not master-crafts on the level of dwarves or other species that were proficient in this, but none couldpare against vampires in terms of creativity when it came to traps that were always filling the entire ce and were basically deathtrap.

    They needed to find a way how to deal with this, because if not, then they would be skewered by the vampiric traps. In a certain twisted sense of irony, their cruelty and love for torture have proved themselves exceptionally suitable for trap crafting and creating highly effective traps.

    "There is still the possibility of using Undead to clear the traps... at least those for one use."

    Yvraine said after some consideration, but this solved only one-third of the problem. Many of the traps that vampires like to build in their buildings, were for more than one use, some were permanent and some were actually magitek weaponry in-built into the structure.

    "What about the infiltration and getting into the control room and getting hands on the controls of the defense system? Vampires are keeping with the time and for more than three Eras they are keeping everything automated."

    Samiel stated even though he himself had a low opinion of this possibility. Even though some of the stuffy aristocrats of the blood races didn''t like technology and preferred to live by something Samiel called medieval standards, it was interesting to see, that when it came tobat or military, they always used everything possible in their capabilities.

    "That seems... possible, though we are running into two problems. One would be the location of the person holding themand code over the automated defense and the second would be finding who is the person in question because I seriously for that doubt that they are stupid enough to give it to themander, as he would be the most obvious choice."

    Juulius analyzed the proposition that Samiel brought to the table as it had two most visible problems. Naturally, there would be a need for someone to enter the ce and unfortunately for them, they didn''t have anyone who could enter.

    Samiel tended to make a huge mess out of everything, Dharzug didn''t even know that the word "subtlety" existed, Juulius was Holy Knight and Yvraine wasn''t that adept in stealth to actually sneaking into a fortress filled with masters in this aspect and perform the mission.

    "Then a distraction would be in ce..."

    Samiel said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes as he used his Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect to calcte his possible new approach toward the situation.

    "I have the highest firepower among us and with enough preparations, I could create some warded ce from where I could start bombardment of their fortress with my most powerful spell. Among the chaos, Yvraine could sneak into the fortress together with Nefertari and perform the assassination. The connection with her is getting stronger, so she should be here with Tytos within three days to four maximally."

    This was something that seemed pretty much usible because if he could create enough chaos, then it would be possible for Yvraine to sneak into the fortress and search for the person holding themand over the automated defenses and disable them.

    This was the most probable scenario that they could implement and achieve their goals without sustaining too many losses. In the end, everyone agreed to go with this n because it was the one that had the highest probability of sess.

    "Then it is decided."

    Samiel stated with the tone of finality, as the next strategy on the things was decided and everyone moved towards their own things. Dharzug went to organize the ork boyz to start doing something more productive, while Yvraine and Samiel went to spend some time together while Juulius went to the outskirts of the Bone Mountains as he felt that their familiars were getting closer and closer so he would be there to wait for them.

    "I will also need to prepare for the casting of the spells... if we want to achieve the best result, I will need to construct Maan Field around me..."

    Samiel said as he considered his options on the things, as he came to the conclusion that the construction of the Mana Field was the best one to increase both potency of his spells and also the quantity he could release.

    With the Mana Field in y, Samiel could obtain heightened Mana Regeneration capabilities an cast far more spells and also cast spells at tremendous speed. For the creation of the Mana Field, he would need to make some preparations because creating Mana Field was not an easy task and often required a lot of hard work to build.

    "It appears that this time we are going against the vampires... it was a long time since I fought against some."

    Yvraine said as they found a nice spot, which was overseeing the orkish campsite and they were watching the orks working in the camp as they were preparing for the uing attacks on the three points of interest of the vampires.

 Chapter 222 Yvraines Feelings I.

    Two dayster, everything was prepared and the orks in their divisions could start to go and execute the n as the first three groups of Undead were prepared to go into action and start attacking the three points of interest for the Vampires.

    All of them were aware the second they were spotted; the Vampires would be forced to send some of their forces from their headquarters to defend their positions because they confirmed that the bats were indeed excavating something in those ces, aside from having there their altars and a few of their priesthood.

    From what Samiel knew, only rarely someone excavated something in the 10th Flooor because it was pretty much dangerous. Digging into the ground wasn''t the brightest idea where many underground species lived was pretty much suicidal and only a few would do something like that...

    Samiel got this news from Neferatri, who returned one day ago together with Tytos and Juulius; naturally, Samiel showered his little cutie with treats, pats and scratches as he was separated from his beloved familiar for too long.

    Of course, now that Nefertari was here, he could send her for the scouting missions and it naturally paid off; she brought the news that the bats were excavating there a remains of the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms as Juulius predicted.

    What was surprising, though, was that they were having some degree of sess and indeed managed to excavate some things and some remains of the killed beast.

    He didn''t know why they were digging there because there were countless people who were doing the same thing and were digging in the Sikarra in hopes of getting the remains of the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms, but it typically yielded nothing.

    The few lucky ones could get their hands on some bones that could be used to forge powerful weaponry in various rituals or had countless uses in the Alchemy.

    Such remains would be typically used in things that could advance the strength of peak Legendaires or even Holies, depending on the quality and quantity of the remains they dug out.

    Obtaining whatever they managed to dig out was only a bonus, not to mention if they already managed to dig out something of remote value, that meant that Samiel could order some Undead to continue digging.

    Maybe they will also find something.

    Later that day, several hourster, in themanding tens of the Boss, a meeting urred between the entire Khaos Chapter and some of the remaining Silver-Tier Orks that were still alive as some were killed by Dharzug during the takeover of the ork band.

    The Kindred man killed some during their arrival at the Bone Mountains because the Kindred was far more powerful than a group of these average Silver-Tier Orks.

    Even though the Silver-Tier orks were powerful, the ones living in the deserts of the Sikarra weren''t really anything specialpared to Dharzug, for example.

    "Okey, Dharzug will go with Group A, I will Group B and Juulius with Negash go with Group C. Yvraine will go with Group B and Ashimer with Group A... aside from this, everything is right and clear?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Samiel asked as he divided their high-end fighters among the three attacking groups, as each one had its precise target. Naturally, Groups B and C were rather close to each other and because of that, Samiel joined one of them so they could cooperate well with Negash.

    "Then, if everyone understands the n, we can start."

    He then stated as everyone went with their respective groups as the forward forces of the orks departed towards the points of interest of the vampires and right now, they should have entered their perimeters.

    If everything went ording to Samiel''s calctions, then Vampires should have already sent reinforcements to their outposts.

    Every group consisted of something around a thousand orks and a few thousand Undead that were controlled by Samiel or Negash. They would act as supports to the Orks, who were individually more powerful butcked the numbers.

    Naturally, due to the unique nature of Negash as a Higher Undead, Elder Lich and his higher Level, he could control Undead even from far away distance without a problem.

    More terrifying Elder Liches that reached Legendary Level could control Undead from a world distance away; there were even cases where some powerful Undead from different worlds unleashed Undead Tide from Higher World to Lower World.

    With their current numbers, they should effortlessly outpower whatever the vampires will be sent and their reinforcements, not to mention that each group was supported by at least two very, very powerful Silver-Tier Professionals, or in the case of Yvraine and Samiel, they had very powerful Silver-Tierbat prowess.

    Samiel and Yvraine were inmand of approximately one thousand orks; they too had with them two other Silver-Tier orks who weremanding the other orks in their stead because almost the absolute majority of the orks didn''t speak othernguages aside from the orkish.

    Hence, thenguage barrier was pretty problematic.

    But fortunately, the higher Tiered orks at least understood the Cosmos Common even though they were even worse at speaking it than Dharzug, but they were talking with Samiel in orkish as Samiel understood the orkishnguage to a certain extent and even knew how to speak some things... not great but not terrible one could say.

    Right now, they were making haste towards location B and were approximately five hours away; as they were marching, the sight of one thousand heavy armored orks and Undead that were with them was really intimidating, with Nefertari was flying high above them and searched for possible threats.

    ''Nothing to report?''

    Samiel asked his familiar through their telepathic connection, as he got a negative response from the scouting cat that everything was boring... and boring was good in the end; Samiel also partially loved boring because boring meant that everything went ording to n and he loved when everything went ording to the n.

 Chapter 223 Yvraines Feelings II.

    ''Nothing... everything is clear, hooman.''

    He nodded his head in satisfaction when he heard that everything was clear out of enemies and they had free passage toward their destination.

    Afterward continued listening to Yvraine as she was ranting about some news from the Nesser Dynasty because apparently her "rival" or whatever it was, got promoted to the Silver-Tier faster than her.

    "And would you believe that whore called me a frigid bitch? That audacity of that upstart House!"

    Samiel nodded in agreement absentmindedly without a second thought.

    "Of course, dear, you are right."

    He gave out an already pre-programmed answer. This wasn''t the first time he was forced to listen to her ranting about various things, mainlyining about some nobledies in the Nesser Dynasty.

    Typically some of her friends and acquaintances and Samiel knew that the best way to get around that was to constantly agree with whatever she was saying.

    Disagreeing was not an opinion in this aspect.

    In situations like this, everything that Yvriane wanted was an agreement with everything she said. Naturally, Samiel, like a proper suitor / fiance?? / lover, agreed with everything she said... like a parrot.

    Of course, his tricks were constantly tested by her because, from time to time, she would ask him even question about things she was saying; she tried to test him to see if he was really listening to her and not just pretending by nodding his head like one of those figurines with huge heads on a string that were bouncing.

    ''What the hell again happened that she won''t be shutting out about this? Though calling her frigid bitch... looks could be indeed deceiving.''

    Samiel thought as Yvraine red in his way before she huffed and continued her rant. He was already tired from hearing her ranting, but he knew that she wouldn''t be stopping for some time and saying otherwise would only worsen the problem.

    The entire way they were traveling to ce B on the list, he was forced to listen to how her "rival" Eleria got into an argument with her over something through the Holo-Brain call and it ended when they startedparing each other...

    When it was clear that Eleria was losing, then she used the card where she was winning and that was... love life. If there was some weakness that Yvraine had and which was something that she couldn''t ever win an argument against, it were essentially topics of love life and social life.

    Yvraine had, indeed pretty terrible reputation in the Nesser Dynasty for being cold, ruthless and for her approach to some men that attempted to pursue her.

    It was abination of several factors, her history and her not much likable personality, which resulted in her current situation.

    So in spite of their argument, she apparently called Yvraine a cold frigid bitch, which evidently wasn''t the best idea around because right now, Yvraine was indeed very, very, very much pissed off.

    Rather it would be much more prudent to say that she was absolutely enraged to the point where she needed to destroy something very quickly.

    It didn''t need the genius to figure out that Yvraine was extremely pissed off right now and fortunately, they were going to battle, so she could blow up some steam on the poor vampires that would be the targets of her ire.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    On the brighter side of things, he was sure that after the battle would alsoe to some hot and steamy sex. Hopefully, she won''t be recording it and sending it to ria to prove her point... though the more Samiel thought about it more disturbed he became about the situation, but only time will tell.

    "Yv, calm down, please... we are already pretty close to the ce B of the bats and it seems that the reinforcements of the Vampires have arrived."

    Samiel stated as he got the news from Nefertari, who was flying high above them and scouting the area when she saw that ce B, as they termed it, was swarming with vampires.

    There were a pretty lot of them; at least three hundred of them were present and most of them were peak Steel-Tier or abination of the Bronze-Tiers and some Silver-Tiers ones.

    Not to mention the armor and weapons of the Vampires were naturally top-notch because bats were not stingy in this aspect; they were arming their troops in the best fashion and with efficiency in mind.

    Samiel put his hands on her shoulders in his attempt to calm Yvraine down because she was pretty angry that she got into an argument with her rival, but not probably about that, but Samiel understood that she was conscious about her personality a lot...

    ''Maybe she still fears I will exchange her for someone more approachable and likable... who would have thought that I won''t be the only one with fears in this rtionship?''

    He thought because he himself had simr insecurities sometimes; thus he knew approximately about what she was thinking and how she was feeling. It was very weird to be empathic, but he then came to Yvraine and hugged her tightly from behind as she stopped in her ranting and was frozen in ce.

    "Listen, don''t take seriously what ria said... whatever she said... you know that I love you and I would never change you for anything in this world."

    Samiel said gently while hugging her; he could see that she had tears escaping her eyes as she turned to face him and kissed him passionately with her tongue as she invaded his mouth and rxed visibly in his embrace.

    "Thank you... Sami... sometimes I fear that you will leave me behind because I am not..."

    Yvraine said when they separated from her kiss, but she didn''t get to finish her words as he put his finger on her lips to stop her from whatever in what she was saying.

    "I know that we already talked about it, but even if I have more partners in the future, you will always be the first and I will not be with anyone whom you also don''t like... Yvraine, you were the first person to ept me how I am and to love me... You are the reason why I didn''t fall into the endless madness that is tempting me each day and whatever will happen in the future, I don''t know, but I know that we will always be together. Kay?"

    He said gently, seeing that more tears were forming in the corners of her eyes as she nodded her head and snuggled into his chest, as she sobbed a bit and Samiel patted her blonde hair slowly. For him, Yvraine was indeed something like an anchor... he was aware that their rtionship was far from a healthy one.

    He would do everything in his power to not lose her because he feared that he was not good enough and surprisingly, Yvraine was thinking the same thing.

    Sometimes life was inscrutable.

    ''It seems that we are pretty much suited for each other... fate... what a bitch, but this time it was well yed. Well yed indeed...''

    Samiel thought as he hugged Yvraine and kissed her forehead.

 Chapter 224 Against The Vampires II.

    After talking with Yvraine, she calmed down considerably as they proceeded towards ce B with great haste, as the advance ork party was right now hiding in ambush as they were waiting for the Vampires toe to them in their search for them, which certainly would happen, for that Samiel was sure of that.

    The weather was shitty like the rest of the Bone Mountains and like the rest of the 10th Floor, the only good thing about being in the Bone Mountains was that, due to the presence of the enormous Mountains that were blocking the sun, it wasn''t scorching hot just hot.

    Fortunately, due to that they were not being constantly burned by the sun, but the hot weather was still extremely ufortable for him and Yvraine. Nefertari was okey, and so were the orks because they had limatized to the situation.

    After a few days here, the orks under Dharzug, with him included, were absolutely adapted to the conditions of the Sikarra. Orks, in this aspect, utterly fascinated Samiel because they were able to adapt so wlessly to the environment and it took them only a few days.

    However, the adaptation process was constantly in the process because they could always adapt even better and be one with the environment.

    "It appears that bats are already sending their troops to search for the orks and clean out the area... this gives us the element of surprise as we could conduct an ambush on them."

    Samiel said to Yvraine as she agreed with him in this and thus proceeded to exin the things to the Silver-Tier Orks Nobz that were present as he left the overallmand of all orks here to them while he would be targeting the strongest and most powerful Vampires in the group that was heading towards the outer perimeter of the ce B.

    He would be going directly after the high-endbatants when the Vampires would sh against the force of one thousand and three hundred orks and approximately three thousand of Undead.

    Samiel''s force had the quantity and quality on their side, though if the Vampires had something simr to the Blood Combustion, then they could forcibly make theirst stand even more annoying.

    Blood Combustion was basically igniting their very own bloodlines in return for explosive power. It was mainly used by Vampire as theirst stand to obtain overwhelming power and kill the enemy at any cost, even if the cost was their very own life.

    Normally it was known among the fanatics or the standing armies of the Great Aristocratic Houses as they were forced to follow the will of their masters at any price.

    Samiel suspected that these Vampires should probably be able to execute the Blood Combustion if they were ordered and in the incredible numerical odd like this, they would be forced.

    Blood Combustion was able to raise their Tier by one and something, so if it was used by Steel-Tier Professional, he could raise his power to the peak of the Bronze-Tier temporarily.

    That was also part of the reason why he was targeting the strongest ones from the start because if some Silver-Tier Vampire Professional used, it could be problematic... though he knew that those ones would be reluctant to use their life in this way.

    Samiel then conjured his Ice Trident and ran towards the iing Vampires at tremendous speed because they would soon be encountering the first waves of orks that were hiding.

    And fighting approximately three hundred Vampires under the effects of the Blood Combustion with their superior armor and weapons wasn''t going to be easy.

    He ran across the rocky terrain while conjuring the 5th Level Spell of the Void Magic, Void Bomb on the tip of his ice trident while at the same time, he was infusing a whole bunch of the Winter Magic Spells, into his trident, mainly the 5th Level Spells Frostbite and Come of Cold together with the 4th Level Spell Deep Freeze and Brittling to increase the power as much as possible.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''There is the one... and luckily, themander.''

    Samiel thought as he saw the strongest Silver-Tier Vampire Professional, someone who was on the peak of the Silver-Tier from a distance and instantaneously, he threw the Ice Trident at the Silver-Tier Vampire Professionalmander.

    Everything happened extremely fast as the next thing that could be seen was an explosion that destroyed everything around the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional and what wasn''t destroyed waspletely frozen from the effects of the Winter Magic Spells that were infused into that Ice Trident.

    Secondster, the orks were hiding all around the rocky terrain. Be it under the ground or behind huge rocks shouted for Waaaggghhh and ambushed the vampire soldiers that were searching for them.

    Samiel didn''t waste a second as he searched for the next Silver-Tier Vampire Professional seeing that the Vmapire already realized that they were numerically overwhelmed when the rest of the orks joined the fray together with Undead and one after another started using the Blood Cumbustion to increase theirbat prowess.

    Right now, only the Bronze-Tier and Silver-Tier Professionals on the Vampire side were not using it, as the situation could still be reversed from their point of view.

    Fortunately for Samiel, he quickly managed to locate another Silver-Tier Vampire Professional that was wreaking havoc among his Undead with his fire magic and burning down his Undead by tens.

    Samiel used the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler as he created enormous walls of ice around the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional and copsed them on him, while at the same time, he created snow and started freezing the remaining fire from the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional.

    ''Just a few seconds and he managed to destroy more than seventy Undead and from them, twenty were Bronze-Tiered ones... this one is the nemesis of the Undead... pretty ironical.''

    Samiel thought as he watched the ice walls that copsed on the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional melting away, which made him grin in anticipation and at the same time in annoyance. While on the one hand, he was pretty happy that he had a powerful adversary and on the other hand, he was in a hurry.

    He didn''t waste any more time and used Winter Ruler to conjure tens of ice weapons and shot them at the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional while I was using this as an opportunity to cast a more powerful spell, which was the Void Bomb that Samiel instantly shot toward the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional.

    Naturally, the ice weapons didn''t do anything to the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional, they were too weak to injure someone strong as him, but the Void Bomb was a different story, as it sted the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional far away and cracked his armor.

    Samiel didn''t stop with that as he sent Frost Death Bone Spear, which was a fusion of several spells together of various Levels which shot towards the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional at tremendous speed and pierced the heart of the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional through the rack in his armor.

    ''Another down.''

    This was already the second one. Meanwhile, Samiel was taking down the Silver-Tier Vampire Professionals; the battle raged on and orks and Undead on one side were shing against severely outnumbered Vampires, who were using Blood Combustion to boost up theirbat prowess and were relentlessly resisting against the onught of the hordes of orks and Undead.

    Through this increasement in explosive power, around three hundred and fifty vampires were able to hold against an overwhelming numerical disadvantage, as Smaiel grimaced seeing this; the only good thing about all of this was the fact that they managed to cut down several Silver-Tier Vampire Professionals before they could execute the Blood Combustion.

 Chapter 225 Against The Vampires III.

    Even Yvraine managed to kill one Silver-Tier Vampire Professional and right now, Samiel was heading toward thest one, as they had only four of them in this group. Probably most of the Silver-Tier Vampire Professionals remained within their headquarters, protecting their home turf.

    ''Hoomna, hooman, one Silver-Tier Vampire Professional is hiding within the shadows... judging based on his actions, he has some sort of Assassin rted ss.''

    Samiel heard Nefertari''s voice in his head through their telepathic connection as he frowned at this, but he nned to let Nefertari to deal with the bat because she was way stronger than she looked.

    As an Elder Wampus Cat, it wasn''t a problem for her to fight above her Tier without any problem; that was a perk of being a member of a superior species and bearing the Divine Blood of a Goddess Bast.

    ''Deal with him. I am going after thest one.''

    He stated; while running through the battlefield and asionally beheading some of the bats that were in his strike zone as he found thest of the Silver-Tier Vampire Professionals that were assigned to this group of reinforcements.

    He attacked the man from behind with his ice trident that he was holding, managing to catch him by surprise as he stuck his ice trident deep into his back.

    Samiel had some good luck in this, because the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional was preupied with fighting against several of the Bronze-Tier orks and Undead that were surrounding him, that Samiel noticed he had already lost some of his precious darlings to the vampire, which filled him with rage.

    Using the Winter Ruler, he instantaneously started freezing the insides of the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional. However, he was forced to stop and dodge the iing sword from the vampire, who reacted swiftly upon being ambushed.

    As Samiel dodged, he controlled the Undead directly as they attacked simultaneously. One of them pierced through the stomach of the Silver-Tier Vampire Professional, causing him to puke a huge mouthful of blood before the Undead was incarnated with the me spell.

    "What the fuck is with these ones?! Everyone knows some Fire Magic, damm!"

    He cursed at seeing one of his own reduced to ash, as he sued Witner Ruler to freeze the spell before it could get to other Undead, so they don''t meet the same fate. Samiel then swung his ice trident, separating the head from the body, as the headless corpse fell onto the ground as blood sputtered.

    "Now we are done with the most imminent threat..."

    Samiel muttered when he suddenly sensed around ten new Silver-Tier auras erupt among the Vampire, as clearly some of the Bronze-Tier vampires used the Blood Combustion, which made him want to curse once again.

    Not wasting any time, Smaiel threw the ice trident he was holding at the nearest Silver-Tier Vampire Professional after quickly infusing there several 3rd Level Spells Void Strikes all concentrated on the tips of the trident when he saw that the Vampire had still not stabilized his power.

    ''Nine remaining.''

    He said to himself as he rushed to the next target with lightning speed and with another whole bunch of Void Strikes; he killed the second Silver-Tier Vampire Professional and near him, he froze to death the third one.

    These ones had not stabilized their powers yet, so they lingered somewhere in between the Bronze-Tier and Silver-Tier, which made them vulnerable enough for Samiel to take down three of them in record time and Yvraine killed another four as she was much closer to them.

    That still left them with three Silver-Tier ones that finished the transformation and joined the fray when they started massacring his Undead and Orks alike.

    Samiel then searched for the nearest Silver-Tier Vampire Professional before he rushed at his enemy, as he was notified by Nefertari that she managed to kill her own opponent and was right now moving towards the next one.

    Ironically though, the battle progressed well for the rest part; after the majority of the Silver-Tiers were killed by either Samiel or Yvraine, some were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the Undeaad and Orks.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Not to mention in the horde, there were also Silver-Tier orks, so, in the end, the Vampires started losing ground below them and within the next ten minutes, they were entirely exterminated.

    After the battle ended, they started clearing the battlefield and Samiel counted losses if they could be called that way. For him, even though he lost a few hundred Undead, it was essentially nothing because he could always resurrect more and create more and more Undead.

    So technically speaking, he lost in this battle around 800 Undead and around 70 of them were his own Bronze-Tier Undead, but those losses would be mended within a few hours. He obtained 374 corpses of Vampires that would make superb Undead as he stored them in the Dimensional Ring, where he stored corpses for the situations like this.

    Contrary to his losses of Undead, the orks also had lost approximately one hundred and fifty of them, which wasn''t that bad. Fortuantealy Undead were used as shields for deadly blows aimed at orks if it was possible because Samiel was, ording to the agreement, preserving as many orks as possible.

    "Yv,e on, we are going to check on their outpost; what is there."

    Samiel said to Yvraine as she followed after him to the outpost of the vampires, which was right now empty. He suspected that the assigned personnel that was there either joined the attack or escaped the mo meant when their troops started using Blood Combustion to warn of theirpatriots.

    It was a standard outpost; there was one Divine Altar to the Great God Andruil and some deep tunnel that led to the depths of the Bone Mountains. Samiel looked deep down as he got a weird feeling; when he was still an ordinary human on earth, he would probably puke already, but now it was nothing.

    "They are indeed excavating something. I will leave here some Undead to continue the excavations works... seeing that they have already found some bones of the Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms, it seems that they are digging in the right ce."

    Hemented as he then looked at the Divine Altar of the Great God Andruil before he contemted a bit as he conjured a Void Bomb and sted the Divine Altar apart into countless pieces.

    [The Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars has been updated.

    Current progression:

    1 Divine Altar Destroyed (Monarch-Tier Transcendent)

    2 Divine Altars Destroyed (Ordinary-Tier Transcendent)

    1 Divine Altar Destroyed (Demigod)]

    [You have destroyed the Divine Altar of the Monarch-Tier Transcendent of the God Path, Greater God Andruil.]

    [You have attracted the attention of the Great God of Blood Andruil.]

    [Great God of Blood Andruil is watching you.]

    [Greater God of Blood is expressing his anger at his follower for being weak and swore vengeance at user Samiel Zentaur.]

    Samiel read the notification from the Akashic Records, but even though it may seem bad and some people, even Legendaries, would probably piss themselves from fear because attracting someone so powerful was never a good thing, but Samiel had a more powerful background, so he didn''t feel Andruil.

    He then dismissed the notifications from the Akashic Records as he went to search through the rest of the outpost together with Yvraine, but they didn''t find anything notable aside from the bones and remains of the Arrakian sandworms that were killed here.

 Chapter 226 Against The Vampires IV.

    "And here we go, nothing... we should go to the rendezvous point."

    Samiel said disappointedly and afterward summoned several tens of his Undead and ordered them to continue digging in the ce where the bats were digging. After cleaning the battlefield, taking weapons and armors from the killed, they departed to the meeting point.

    ***

    Two hourster, the meeting point.

    From the connection that he had with Negash and Ashimer, he was very well aware that the other two groups suffered slightly higher casualties, especially the Negash''s group because themander of that outpost decided to y smart and enacted a trap that wiped out more than thousand of Undead...

    Naturally, they were already back to the original number because Negash resurrected the killed vampires and orks and used the corpses from his Dimensional Ring to supplement for the missing numbers, so there was essentially no loss, though.

    It was Dharzug''s group, ironically the one who had the best results from all of them because they managed to ambush the vampires with a trap and wiped them out without any significant losses.

    Dharzug perfectly coordinated with Ashimer and the Vampires were no match for the two of them.

    "Already three destroyed Divine Altars of one of the Greater Blood Gods..."

    [Your Higher Undead, Frost Death Knight Ashimer, has destroyed the Divine Altar of the Monarch-Tier Transcendent of the God Path, Greater God Andruil.]

    [Your Higher Undead, Elder Lich Negash, has destroyed the Divine Altar of the Monarch-Tier Transcendent of the God Path, Greater God Andruil.]

    [The Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars has been updated.

    Current progression:

    3 Divine Altar Destroyed (Monarch-Tier Transcendent)

    2 Divine Altars Destroyed (Ordinary-Tier Transcendent)

    1 Divine Altar Destroyed (Demigod)]

    [Great God of Blood Andruil is enraged and promises vengeance.]

    Samiel chuckled a bit as he read the notification from the Akashic Records because he managed to achieve a feat on its own... pissing off an incredibly mighty Transcendent while being mortal... this was indeed a worthy achievement.

    "Did something good happen that you are grinning so much?"

    Yvraine asked him as they were waiting for the other two groups already at the meeting ce.

    "Actually, yes... apparently, with the destruction of three Divine Altars of Andruil, he is promising vengeance on me."

    Samiel said happily as Yvraine almost copsed on the spot from the sheer shock.

    "You are actually mad, do you know that?"

    She asked him incredulously because only he could be proud about pissing off Greater God, which was Monarch-Tier Transcendent; those were already leaders of their own Transcendental Factiosn, they were God Kings of Pantheons, Masters of Immortal Sects, Head of Daemon or Devil Houses and so on...

    And yet this man was actually proud that he managed to enrage such an entity to the point when lofty Transcendent actually promised personal vengeance on mortal... she really didn''t know what to say.

    "I know, right?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Samiel asked jokingly, but to Yvraine, it didn''t seem even remotely funny, but he didn''t care too much about that as he continued waiting for the other two groups that should have already returned by now.

    It took another hour till both of the groups consisting of Juulius, Dharzug and Samiel''s two Higher Undead Negash and Ashimer arrived at the rendezvous ce. It was clear that both groups suffered certain levels of losses from the fight against the bats, but the orks were only eager for more and more.

    The battle lust of the orks was something not to be underestimated.

    "I will be going to sneak into the fortress of the Vampires and will carry out the ambush on them to break through their traps and defenses; afterwards you can start the invasion."

    Samiel said as everyone nodded their heads.

    Right now the sole task for Dharzug and Juulius was to reorganize the invasion force for the attack on the military headquarters of the vampires, not to mention Samiel ordered Negash to create Undeads on the Bronze-Tier from the corpses of the Vampires that he obtained because he lost a good number of his personal Undead.

    After discussing the ns, Samiel departed toward the main fortress of the Vampires in the Bone Mountains.

    Samiel had everything needed to construct the Mana Zone because the main things needed for the thing were actually only Mana Stones and some Ward Stones for that, everything that he already had in his Dimensional Ring.

    After one hour of walking through the heat of the Bone Mountains, Samiel arrived at the ce from which he had a rtively nice view of the main fortress of the Vampires that were stationed in the Bone Mountains.

    The first thing he did was to scout the area and look for any potential hostiles and seeing that there were none of them, he chose the suitable ce which had the best and straight view of the ce as he then startedying down the basic wards for the Mana Zone.

    "Damm... who would have thought that this would be that hard ward..."

    Heined as he wasying down the wardstones and interconnecting them with each other throughplex inscriptions. If not for his knowledge of the Warding Magic and his Eidetic Memory, the progress would be several times slower.

    ''And this here, and this here... with this here.''

    Putting down thest Ward Stone and putting the Mana Crystals into the spell-powering formation, he was done with the Mana Zone. Coming up to the Main Ward Stone, he put his right hand on the main Wardstone; Samiel chanted an activation spell as the entire Ward lit up and the Mana Zone was active.

    "Hmm... the effects are pretty good, I must say."

    Samiel muttered when he felt Mana Zoneing active, feeling that his Mana Regeneration skyrocketed to staggering heights, which should allow him for exponential increasement inbat prowess.

    "Now we need toy down the stealth spell to hide me for as long as possible in case they decide to return the fire."

    Afterward, Samiel startedying down the Stealth Ward and connecting it together with the Mana Zone Ward so he could have it extra powered up by the power of the Mana Zone. With his expertise, it took him only a few minutes toy down the Stealth Ward.

    "Now done is done... time for the attack."

    The entire Mana Zone activated brightly as Samiel started casting the spells in preparation for the siege of the fortress of the bats.

    With the Mana Zone activated Samiel did something that he didn''t attempt before, as he more than ten 5th Level Spells at the same time, all of them of the Winter Magic, sh of ciers.

    When he conjured all of them, he shot several tens of huge ice ciers toward the fortress of the vampires carved in the stone.

    Instantly as the ice ciers were approaching the fortress, the automated defenses activated and several of them shot down some of the ciers, but it was not enough to bring all of them down.

    Samiel watched how the ice ciers fell down onto the defenses of the fortress, breaching the walls and destroying the surroundings.

    Countless traps were destroyed by the bombardment of the ice ciers, while the walls of the fortress and even the entire environment started freezing due to the intense presence of ice and frost.

 Chapter 227 Anticlimatic Escape (1)

    As Samiel was bombarding the military fortress of the bats, vampires were panicking inside because they realized that they had fallen into some kind of trap. The orks that lurked around were just a pretext to lure out their forces where.

    Unfortunately for the Vampires, they figured out this toote when the trap was already in a full go and there was already no return from this point.

    They were all ambushed and killed to thest man, inflicting great losses on the vampires in the Bone Mountains. It was a very efficient trap that cut their numbers by half in one swoop and now, they were attacking their headquarters too...

    And when someone started bombarding their headquarters with intense magic spells, literarily spamming 5th Level Spells like they were nothing, not to mention that each spell was highly destructive.

    Each of the 5th Levels Spells was reaching the standard destructiveness of the 6th Level Spells, the leaders of the vampires realized that someone was trying to wipe them out and was just using the orks as their instrument.

    If Samiel heard that theory, he wouldugh because it was partially true and if someone was using someone, then it was actually Dharzug making use of him to clear out the Bone Mountains for the future n that Dharzug nned to found here.

    "How are we?"

    Questioned the man who was bearing the garbs of a priest who appeared to be themander of all the vampires in the Bone Mountains. Because this was a thing of the Blood Church, it was understandable that only a Priest of high stature would be able tomand them.

    Still, politics were politics and so the Priest was somebody who was also a member of the Aristocracy.

    Contrary to the other blood race members, his aura was far more powerful, his hair tinum and his red eyes shined in rage. His appearance was even more beautiful and supernaturalpared to other male Vampires that were gathered in the room.

    It was clear that the man who wasmanding here the others was Kindred; not only was he Kindred, but he was also a Priest of the Blood Church and descendant of Aristocracy of the Pale Congregation.

    "The initial strike managed to cripple shield formation thus; we arepletely vulnerable. Right now, the barrage of spells is focused directly on all the traps we have around the fortress. It is clear that the attackers are nning the ground invasion and that they are very knowledgeable around us and about our military doctrine."

    Another person wearing the garbs of a priest answered him as the leader grumbled at this because their situation was bing grim.

    The enemy purposely took out the shields in the surprise attack and now was targeting the traps and hidden weapons that they had stationed around the walls and in them.

    It was clear that they were preparing for the ground invasion. As themander, he was aware that when it came to the ground invasion, after such throughout preparation operation, they won''t be able to defend against it.

    Hence, they had only the sole viable option.

    "Activate whatever defenses that remain undamaged... is the machine stable?"

    After some sort of consideration and with a good amount of uncertainness in his voice, themanding Kindred asked his second inmand as another Kidnred man nodded his head in agreement to both the order and the question.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Teleporting out of the 10th Floor is highly dangerous and the possibility of us seeding is around 41,70% ording to our calctions."

    Reposdned the second inmand with a grim voice. These numbers were not high and good... actually they were pretty bad, butpared to what has awaited them on the other side of the walls of their fortress, it was worth a try.

    "Pack up everything, prepare tounch the device. We have obtained what we wanted either way, with this not only will the House Von Habsburg will ascend to the Pale Bloods with this, we will obtain another source of energy by assimting the Heart Blood of the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworm into our bloodline."

    Stated the Kindred man because he obtained the aim of his House, the Von Habsburg House, what he wanted and what they were actually digging here in the Bone Mountains. All descendants of the Old Blood could assimte other Bloodlines into their own, some better and some worse.

    Naturally, the Kindreds could do it very well, only second to the Pale Bloods. At the same time, Dead Apostles were an exception because bing Dead Apostles was more an artificial thing than a natural one.

    "Indeed, with this, the Congregation would have no choice but to allow us to digest the Old Blood."

    Stated his second inmand, who was also a member of the Von Habsburg House, which was one of the strongest Houses of the Kindreds who, had very high prestige among the Pale Congregation and made an enormous contribution to the Congregation.

    With the addition of the Heart Blood of the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian Sandworms, their main branch could evolve and obtain tremendous psionic potential.

    ording to the rules of the Pale Congregation, they would be entitled to redeem for the procedure, which would see the rise of another Pale Blood House.

    This would bring the Congregation to a whole new level of power because each time a new house of Pale Bloods was created, it led to an unprecedented level of expansion and a golden age for the Congregation.

    They may even expand their territories in the Faer??n.

    "Though if we use that method, we may be able to increase the percentage of sess to straight 80% or something around that."

    Stated the second inmand as the leader nodded and ordered him to make it that way.

    "Then make it... Gather all core personnel and priests; we are withdrawing."

    The people who would arrive here would find here nothing, though the Blood Church would be pissed beyond reason because they lost several Divine Altars to the invader and their entire foothold on the 10th Floor.

    But as Frederik Von Habsburg has seen it, they would lose it either way because the enemy whom they were fighting against was smart and was determined to take control over this ce. With their cunningness and tactics, they managed to cut them in half, even without a proper confrontation.

    Not to mention, he could take this as an opportunity to exit the Church because his infiltration mission has ended when he sessfully obtained what he wanted.

 Chapter 228 Anticlimatic Escape (2)

    Frederik Von Habsburg was only using the Blood Church to gain ess to the 10th Floor of the Tower and locate the Heart Blood of the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworm as that was the aim of the Habsburgs all the time.

    It didn''t take long for the core members who were under themand of Frederik Von Habsburg and were either members of the Blood Church or the Habsburg House to pack up everything of remote value, taking all valuables, remains of the sandworms that they dug up and precious Heart Blood of the beast.

    Just looking at a few ruby-like crystals, one could see the tremendous psionic power that the blood contained. Everything was soon enough stored in the Dimensional storage as the magitek device was activated and created a portal in the secret hidden room on the bottommost level of the fortress.

    "Everything is ready; we can go..."

    Said the second inmand to Frederik Von Habsburg as they started evacuating, seeing that the portal was sessfullyunched, something that even he seriously doubted.

    Still, it appeared that Lady Luck was indeed on their side this time because everything went ording to the n and they would be able to leave this Floor with their loot and Von Habsburg House would be a new yer on the Cosmos-scale with the Psionic Abilities of the Arrakian Sandworms.

    And while they were escaping, hundreds of vampires were instantaneously drained of their very own being; their Life Force, their Mana, their Souls and their Blood was taken to support the activation of the Magitek Teleportation device that transported the small numbers of people out of the 10th Floor of the Tower.

    For the first time in the New Era, Congregatrion would give birth to a new Pale Blood Lineage and this one would be one of the strongest ones due to absolutely frightening Psionic Capabilities from the Arrakian Sandworms.

    Unaware to the House Von Habsburg that they took the Core of Arrakian Sandworm, which almost reached the Annted State and became full-fledged Transcendent.

    ***

    Meanwhile, Samiel, who was continuing his spell barrage on the fortress, suddenly noticed tremendous spikes of energy like someone was casting some sort of ritual or whatever and felt that vampires started dropping dead like flies one after another in the fortress.

    ''They managed to create a working teleportation Magitek device and probably sacrificed all other members to ensure its safe functioning... dammit, that means that they found something so precious it was worth risking getting shredded by a void or found by something that is living in there... whatever it is, I am sure that I will hear about it soon in the future.''

    Samiel thought as he couldn''t get closer to the truth, even though he was obviouslypletely unaware of it right now. He was aware that the possibility of such things working on the 10th Floor were not very high, but apparently, the vampires had luck on their side as well...

    He then stopped the barrage of spells that he was casting at the military headquarters of the vampires.

    With the bats escaping the 10th Floor, it meant that they obtained their territory of the Tower without much resistance, as most of them were killed in the headquarters in an attempt to boost up the efficiency of the Magitek Teleportation Device.

    ''At least this makes our job much easier.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Samiel thought as he sent a message to Juulius about what had happened. While it was clear that orks were disappointed beyond belief that their enemies were killed even before they could put up some resistance, but nevertheless.

    Samiel wanted for the iing army to arrive as they secured the perimeter of the fortress and started clearing it out. Samiel was met with great disappointment when he found out that there was nothing of even remote value in the headquarters because they had taken everything with them during their evacuation effort; that much was clear to all of them.

    "It seems that you are pretty disappointed that the vampires chose to escape from here."

    Samiel''s train of thought was disrupted by Yvraine, who came up to him as he was standing in front of the entrance to the fortress. Indeed his mood was pretty down from the fact that the bats teleported out, but he had to admit that it was the most logical course of action that they could have taken.

    Fighting was not an option because they would be surely killed, so considering the fact that they found something very precious in there, it was clear that it was enough for them to risk getting lost in the Void over it.

    "Yes, I was in anticipation of a good battle."

    Samiel watched how the forces of orks and Undeads started clearing out the fortress; naturally some of the Undead had already started repairing the damages that Samiel had done to the ce because the fortress was ced in a strategic location.

    It was close to the center of the entire Bone Motuanins and was carved into the enormous mountain. Its position was very good, easily defensible against potential invaders and that wasmitting its enormous size.

    Thus Dharzug chose the fortress to be their main headquarters because they would not have done betterpared to the vampires. Why build something new when they can just take over and make some adjustments?

    "Now what?"

    Yvraine asked as she stood next to Samiel, who was looking into the distance, his sight aimed at the territory of the Church of Lolth as he revealed a predatory grin thinking it over.

    "We consolidate and march forward the territory of Spider Queen; perhaps we can conduct a few ambushes on her forces and cut her forces down significantly without a head-on confrontation."

    They could either attack the Church of Lolth or the Cult of the Fallen Prince and Samiel didn''t want to deal with the demons and daemon worshippers right now, not to mention he was certain that Yvraine would be happy to go and kill a few drows.

    So his decision was also influenced by the thought of making hisdy happy, which she certainly was when she heard that.

 Chapter 229 Falldown

    Several days have passed since the attack on the headquarters of the vampires in the Bone Mountains, together with their evacuation, or at least it would be more prudent to call it evacuation of their leadership.

    During that time, the fortress, which was partially destroyed by Samiel''s barrage of spells, was repaired by thebined effort of Samiel''s Undead and working orks; aside from that, there were also some minor adjustments and improvements to better suit orks.

    This fortress was built for the vampires in mind, not orks. During that time, he sent Nefertari out several times to scout the area for further advances on the others.

    It appeared that both the Church of Lolth and the Cult of the Fallen Prince werepletely unaware of what was happening in the territory of vampires, now the former territory of vampires.

    Samiel was spending most of her time studying magic because there was nothing else for him to do, as he delegated most of his jobs to Juulius, as he was his retainer who could handle most of the inconsequential things.

    "When will we be ready to depart to the territories of the Church of Lolth?"

    Samiel asked Yvraine, as she was the one who was helping Juulius in the reorganizations of the fortress and orks. Another thing that was taking ce was the founding of the orkish n, which Dharzug nned to establish and create his power base.

    It was called Holy Sunz n and it was a n that was never seen before. It incorporated advanced administration and military doctrine from the other civilized nations; Juulius installed and created a battle doctrine for the Orks that was suitable for them, while Yvraine created a bureaucratic system for the orks that they could understand.

    Menial work it was indeed, but because Yvraine was very knowledgeable about the orks and their society together with Dharzug, she was able to devise and create a preliminary ruling system that was entirely different from whatever orks nz and Tribes had ever seen.

    The efficiency had proved itself because some of the smarter orks were chosen to act as administrators and deal with the decision-making. At the same time, their entire poption was divided into their precise rules.

    In a certain sense, this system seemed pretty much like some dystopian technological human worlds that she had seen or the ones that Samiel remembered from the pop culture of the Earth. Surprisingly, it worked well.

    The orks were able to function on themselves; the ones that were designed as Beuboyz, short for the Beucratic Boyz, were the ones that dealt with the paperwork, ruling, administrative matters and other things.

    The Beuboyz were chosen from the smartest Nobz, which was the closest thing to the orkish aristocracy... in regard to orks, everything was rted to evolution because, for example, one was Nob, which meant that the orks was bigger, smarter, more cunning and more powerful than other orks.

    "In a few days... it is shocking to say that the system that I have designed together with Dharzug is actually working... though, we will see its true worth only after some time and how long it would be preserved."

    Yvraine answered as she sat on hisp, disrupting him from his activity of reading the magic grimoire as she pressed her buttocks against his crotch.

    "You are vixen, do you know that?"

    Samiel asked as he put away his grimoire that he was currently studying and hugged her tightly.

    "I know... "<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    She said while enjoying being held by her beloved. During the past few days, there was were not many opportunities that they could spend together like this because she was working hard on the administration system of the Holy Sunz n.

    "Though I wonder how long it will take to see if it will copse or thrive?"

    Samiel pondered over the most precious question, the worth of million credits.

    "Who knows... right now, we are going for three days on the new system and considering the temperament and characteristics of the orks, I would say that the optimal time for the copse should be one year. If they could go after one year, then it willst them for indefinitely."

    Yvraine summarized as it was exactly the same thing that Smaiel got through his calctions with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect. Orks were fascinating in one aspect of their psychology and character; they were stubborn beyond belief.

    Learning something new was night impossible for them and they were hard-line conservatives on what they were already existing. Samiel also knew that if the orks managed to sustain the system for another year or so, then they would be able to adapt to it indefinitely and exist in an entirely new society.

    "If this reaches the ears of the other Ork nz, Tribes and Hordes this could spike Waaagggghhh of enormous scale among the orks. Not to mention, some of the madder ones would for sure attack the 10th Floor to eradicate Dharzug''s n."

    Samiel stated because orks would view this as sacrilege to their traditions and history. Most of their race would not take to something like Dharzug was doing kindly and would do everything in their power to eradicate Dharzug together with his n as fast as possible.

    To the point that some of the more traditional ones or zealot ones, would even attack the 10th Floor... which would naturally end extremely poorly due to any invasion on the Deserts of Sikarra was essentially suicide even for the strongest of the 13 Gates due to the presence of tremendously powerful Arrakian sandworms in their home turf.

    This was also the primary reason why Dharzug chose to station his n on the 10th Floor because, among all Floors of the Tower, it was the only one that had a suitable environment for potential growth and development while at the same time being protected from the outside influence and attacks.

    Nobody would be able tounch an invasion here and even Legendaries would be eaten by the worms the moment they entered the 10th Floor. Thus, it provided excellent protection to the Holy Sunz n so it could develop until it was strong enough to handle their own matters.

    "Yes... but we are on the 10th Floor and not even the Hall of Kadath would dare to invade this ce. Everyone who underestimates those sleeping Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms are arrogant idiots... not to mention, ording to my master, the Hall Master, there may be even more of those in the center of the Sikarra or somewhere else, nobody knows..."

    Samiel answered because he knew that some of the orks would be stupid tounch the invasion on the 10th Floor due to being extreme traditionalists. Not like this would happen for the first time because, in history, this has happened already several times in the past.

    Some of the factions which were functioning on the Psionic Energy attempted to invade the 10th Floor and assume control; some of them even brought some decent armies and powerful professionals with no shortage of Holy Legendaries among them and yet...

    And yet they were all seated by ever-hungry sandworms.

    The attempt made by orks would end in exactly the same way as they would be eaten by sandworms.

    Due to that, nobody feared any kind of retaliation for the threat of the orks beyond the 10th Floor; on the contrary, Dharzug was eager to see it because it would remove some of the most traditional Ork nzs and Tribes from the equation.

 Chapter 230 Talk Over The Sweets

    While Juulius was even more eager because he just wanted to see orks getting killed... no biggie here, just as simple as that, nothing more and nothing less.

    Yvraine was mildly surprised hearing this, but even her father always talked about the 10th Floor as the "Graveyard of Empires", not only due to the presence of the Korias Empire but also because a good number of Interdimensional Empires and factions were buried in the 10th Floor either thanks to the Arrakian sandworms or other reason.

    Nevertheless, the 10th Floor of the Tower, due to its conditions, was not taken lightly. Meanwhile, she was pondering over the things; Samiel was enjoying her warmth as he was hugging her closely and savoring every second of it.

    For him, the moments like this were the ones that were most precious and most valuable out of all of them. In regard to that, Samiel was the person who carved affection even though he would never admit that openly and he greatly enjoyed cuddling with Yvraine.

    He didn''t say anything else as he just hugged Yvraine while she herself let herself to be cuddled by him. They were like that for more than half an hour before Yvraine felt hungry and wanted Samiel to cook her something to eat, which he happily obliged.

    Samiel went to his private kitchen if it could be even called that way, but it fulfilled its purposes as Samiel could cook some food there for himself and Yvraine.

    He even cooked some portions for his sworn knight Juulius because the military rations were not the tastiest ones even if it was prepared by the Holy Temr Order of the Hall of Kadath.

    "What do you want for dinner?"

    Samiel asked as they arrived at the kitchen that was adjusted to his private quarters.

    "Something grilled... and spicy..."

    Yvraine asked as she thought about it, which Samiel nodded and started preparing the food. For the meat of choice, he took out the tenderloin of the Earth Drake, which was a pretty expensive ingredient that cost thousands of Gold Coins per kilogram.

    Normally only those of very high social status could enjoy it as he took his meat grinder and started grinding the meat, which took him a few minutes.

    Aside from the meat, he also ground some fat, because fat is vor and started adding the mixture of pepper seeds that were extremely, but extremely spicy.

    Because Yvraine wanted it to be spicy; Samiel made it spicy. After mixing everything well, he put it around a metal spike, shaped it a little bit around it and started grilling it over charcoal. In the meantime, he prepared a torti for the ground meat kebabs.

    Yvraine was naturally observing his cooking skills from the side and was already salivating as she inhaled the aroma of the grilled meat, which was intoxicating on its own. It didn''t take long for the meat to be grilled, the tortis were also ready, and Samiel started serving the food.

    Though the serving caught Yvraine unguarded because she wasn''t expecting to eat with her bare hands, this was something out of her expectations as she unsurely looked at the food in front of her and then at Samiel.

    "Are you aware of the fact that we are here alone? Not to mention that I don''t really care about the manners..."

    Samiel stated with a smile as Yvraine reluctantly nodded.

    "So, how is it?"

    He asked Yvraine who was learning how to eat kebab; not like there weren''t foods like this in the Cosmos or back home in the Nesser Dynasty, but types of food like this were not served in ces where she typically went.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Naturally, most ces where Yvraine went and ate were befitting her status as an Imperial Family member of one of the most powerful Interdimensional Empires in the Cosmos, so she naturally wouldn''t wander through the streets of cities and eat street food from the street vendors.

    At the start, Samiel found it funny that she had trouble getting the torti in her hands and she made a mess as the food was falling apart when she was not holding it properly, but it took Samiel only a short time to teach her how to do that.

    "It''s best... like always..."

    Yvraine stated because she genuinely enjoyed Samiel''s cooking, but she was always a bit regretted that she couldn''t cook for him.

    This was because she sometimes heard that the men liked women who knew how to cook, but she only knew how to burn things when she attempted to cook something.

    Naturally, she didn''t cook due though she often contemted that she needed to find something that would make her more desirable aside from her appearance, which was often the object of lust from the males.

    Thanks to herst discussion with Samiel, her feelings and emotions got more stable, though it was still understandable that some of her insecurities remained within her. She didn''t know that Samiel was sometimes feeling the same as her, though for a different preseason.

    "Thank you very much for that point..."

    Samiel stated as he took another bite from the kebab, savoring the spiciness as he thought that he probably added too much of the hot pepper seeds and chose the spiciest variable of the pepper, called Hotme Pepper.

    "Do you have something for dessert? I am in the mood for something sweet."

    Yvraine muttered as Samiel looked at her, thinking about what dessert he could make because he was not that good at making sweet things. In the end, he decided to make a tiramisu, as it was one of the few sweet things which he could make easily.

    It took him one hour to make a tiramisu as he yed with the recipe a bit and used some really exclusive resources, one of them being a social kind of rum that cost an entire fortune per bottle... in the end, he was pretty satisfied with the results as he presented the end product to his elven princess.

    "How do you like it? For me, it is a decent try for making something sweet... deserts are not really my strong side."

    This and also another thing that Samiel sucked at and wasn''t very good at was working with dough... he quickly messed up and when he was making dough, he was always extra careful not to make any mistakes.

    Yvraine smiled nervously, looking at Samiel because he liked cooking for her and he didn''t wish to serve her something that wouldn''t be up to his standards of being edible.

    "Sam, it is really good... though after yourst attempt for whatever it was supposed to be, I can understand your fear..."

    Yvraine said as she took another bite from the tiramisu that he prepared as they talked about some things during the desert.

    She greatly enjoyed the dessert which he prepared and soon enough, they started talking about sometest developments in the fashion industry of the Nesser Dynasty because apparently, Yvraine''s birthday was closing in and she was subtly hinting to Samiel she wanted a really precious ne.

 Chapter 231 Gift And Aftermath

    Samiel took note of it because he had already checked a few fashion designers about the ne that she wanted. He almost fainted when he saw the price being in millions of Credits, but that was understandable because the ne she had in her eyes was made from Stygian Iron and was decorated with Tartarian Opals.

    Materials were exclusively mined in Tartarus, a part of a former Higher Dimensional World of Olympus, right now Principal World that was still highly superior to the majority of the Principal Worlds, so the price was really something else.

    Naturally, Samiel had already ordered it... for nearly 20 million Credits which was a huge purchase on his part, but fortunately, he was a billionaire... still... IMC was not generating profits till now, but the good news was that the factories in the Zephystrand were already finished and the dwarves that he employed through the GMC.

    Samiel already got the report that the Power Armors they reverse-engineered from the ones captured from the assassins of the Avalon Kingdom. Naturally, the Power Armors were of rtively good quality and would cost 25,000 Credits even for the lowest grade one, the Mark I. Warrior Power Armor.

    ***

    Several dayster

    It took several days toplete everything that needed to be done on the fortress until it was entirely retrofitted for the ork purposes. Samiel''s Undead were working day and night toplete it as soon as possible and after everything was done, they could move towards the next targets on their list.

    Right now, they were advancing towards the area which was designed as the one marked for the conquest by the Church of Lolth, which was the priority contrary to the territory of the Cult of the Fallen Prince because Yvraine wanted to attack them first, Samielplied and orks didn''t really care about whom they attacked first.

    Naturally, the Church of Lolth expanded rapidly during the time, as they conquered one weaker faction after another; most of the factions that existed in the Bone Mountains were actually not that strong and were presided over maximally by Bronze-Tier Professionals, even that was considered above the standard.

    "Have the scouts returned from the territory of the Church of Lolth? How strong are they and what are their numbers..."

    Samiel asked when they were talking about the next steps because Dharzug sent several scouts to see to scout the area of the Lolth to find how strong they are and how many professionals they have.

    "Yes, they have... and the results are not that good because apparently, they got reinforcements from the Underdark in the form of several tens of Silver-Tier Professionals."

    He heard Juulius answering him while they were staring at the map of the Bone Mountains, which was vastly different from the previous version, as many of the territories were right now marked as the ones of the Holy Sunz n.

    The territory of the Church of Lolth was at least twice what it waspared to the start of their conquest because the forces of the Church were advancing at a rapid pace through the Bone Mountains and were conquering one territory after another.

    "How many?"

    Samiel asked, already preparing for the bad news mentally because there was nothing else to anticipate when he noticed Juulius looking rtively grim at this.

    "More than fifty Silver-Tiers have been sent to the 10th Floor by the Underdark with hundreds of Bronze-Tiers... from a few captured ones; we found out that they n to establish the foothold on the 10th Floor and want to hunt for the Sandworms and harvest their cores, probably for the notable Mind Flyer poption among the ranks of the Underdark''s members."

    Hearing this, not only Samiel frowned hearing as this was bing pretty dangerous, but also Yvraine grimaced severely because it seemed that Underdark was not ying around and really wanted to obtain a foothold in here.

    Ironically though, they were employing a good strategy because they were establishing the foothold after a long time of being here and also in a ce that was strategically ced without fearing of attacks by the powerful sandworms and the Bone Mountains themselves were in a location where the sandworms were scarce, so they don''t need to fear of imminent attacks.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "And the Cult? Did they do any sudden movements?"

    Samiel asked because, currently, they were the onlypetitors for the rule of the Bone Mountains and he doubted that the Cult of the Fallen Prince would just leave the rulership of the entire mountain range to the Church of Lolth.

    "Not yet as we know... it is possible that they are gathering their forces in secret or it is also possible they woulde to some sort of agreement with the Church of Lolth... who knows, Daemons are pretty unpredictable."

    Juulius answered and Samiel didn''t like this answer at all, but for now, they would need to work with what they had on their hands. So for the moment, their priority will still remain the Church of Lolth because, with enough strategy, they could defeat them...

    Yvraine, during the past days, had already reached higher levels of the Silver-Tier after emptying her Mana Crystals to push her forward and reach the new TIer, as they needed another heavy hitter among their ranks.

    "Indeed, that was the truth that Daemons may even choose to abandon this ce entirely..."

    Samiel considered even this option because there was a high possibility of demons above abandoning theirparisons down here if they thought any additional efforts were not worth of it, which was actually highly possible, considering how much effort the Church of Lolth seemed to invest into this.

    This was not out of pragmatism entirely but also a goodbination of demonic cruelty and ruthlessness towards their specimen. If it became clear that further efforts were futile, they wouldn''t really care about it anymore.

    Especially considering the fact that for the Cult of the Fallen Prince, their continuous presence on the 10th Floor was not that worth of itpared to the Church of Lolth. In the Underdark, there were countless Mind Flyers that could make use of the Psionic Cores of the Arrakian sandworms.

    Demons didn''t make use of anything even remote to the Psionic Energy, so Samiel wouldn''t be that surprised that they would just ditch them here and let them be killed. It wouldn''t be the first time they did something like that in the past.

    Demon Race wasmonly known as a race of backstabbers, even more than racespromising the Underdark.

    "Ironically, though, that would be the best-case scenario because it would make one enemy less for us to deal with."

    After discussing things further, it was decided that Samiel and Yvraine would depart to attack several nearest factions to the territory of the Holy Sunz n.

    Several factions around the Holy Sunz n''s territory were pretty weak and would serve as a perfect outlet for Samiel''s frustration from doing nothing for several days and from the fact that the Vampires escaped from the fortress before they could attack them.

    "Okey... we can right now go... after we clear several of the factions, the army can bring down the big factions."

    Samiel stated as everyone agreed with his statement. They also chose for this approach because bringing the entire army of orks together with them for a few small fishes would be inefficient, as that could be handled by Samiel and Yvraine...

    He was also taking this as a date with Yvraine.

 Chapter 232 Purge The Spider (1)

    While Yvraine often told Samiel that he had weird presumptions about what "dates" were supposed to be because only he would have an idea to consider hunting down and ughtering the enemies as a date.

    But, fortunately, Yvraine was okey with it.

    After they divided their roles among everyone, Samiel and Yvraine departed for the nearest hostiles that needed to be annihted, which was a small colony of the local humans, one of the ones that Samiel ignored on his way here, but this time they needed to be killed.

    Sadly for them, there was no ce for them in the Bone Mountains.

    Samiel and Yvraine departed shortly after they finished their discussion with Juulius, who then passed the information to Dharzug because it was up to the big ork to assemble the orkish army.

    This army would be advancing towards the stronger factions that were remaining in the Bone Mountains, as some of them were not conquered by the Church of Lolth... yet.

    Fortunately, the weather in the Bone Mountains wasn''t that intensepared to the rest of the 10th Floor, as most of the sun and heat were blocked by the enormous mountain range.

    Also, the huge bones of the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworm were passively absorbing a lot of the sunlight and heat from the sky, thus lowering the whole temperature and sunlight levels of the Bone Mountains.

    This made the ce much more habitable.

    "Are we there yet?"

    Samiel heard her ask already the third time since they departed the main headquarters of the Holy Sunz n. Fortunately, the only good thing that remained after the vampires had left were the resources they left him there because Smaiel finally had enough toplete the Advancement Quest of the 10th Floor and build the Divine Altar to the Azathoth.

    He also wanted to postpone his leaving this floor until he didn''t destroy as many Divine Altars as possible to obtain the best possible reward from the Akashic Records possible. This would require some time, but he was okey with it... as usual, Samiel had a lot of free time on his hands.

    "No... and stop already asking... you are already bing more annoying than me..."

    Samiel answered his lover as she was rambling about a plethora of things; she grinned, hearing his answer because she essentially achieved what she wanted, which was riling Samiel up.

    For Yvraine, who was bored during their trip to clean out the weaker factions around the Holy Sunz n, which wouldn''t be suspicious.

    Two people would be much harder to notice than an entire horde of screaming orks for waaaggghhh...

    "I learned from the best."

    Yvraine said cheekily while giving her man a kiss on his cheeks and happily hugged his army as they were walking through another corridor that led to the small fortress which belonged to the small tribe of local humans.

    Apparently, they were also a bit cannibalistic due to theck of food on the 10th Floor... which was rtively understandable because this was a ce where nothing would grow. The stronger factions would delve deep into the underground to hunt for the magical beasts or the strongest ones would hunt directly for the sandworms.

    A single sandworm could feed hundreds and we are talking about lower Tiered ones; the bigger and stronger sandworms are able to feed thousands.

    This wasmon practice among the powerful factions that still lived on the 10th Floor of the Tower because, logically, only the sandworms were the only stable source of food that could feed wide poptions of various factions.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Indeed you did... but whatever... for now, be quiet and focus on a journey... we could be ambushed at any time possible in these areas."

    He instructed as Yvraine nodded her head and snuggled to his arm, as Samiel grimaced her at reckless behavior. Even though they were attacking a weak enemy, it was the enemy nevertheless and he would never underestimate any kind of enemy.

    "You should be warier of your surroundings and that we are in a hostile territory and could be ambushed at any time... this is not time to act jovially and ignore the dangers that these natives possess."

    Samiel rebuked his lover as she raised her brow at him, to which he knew that he fucked up because she would say something that would destroy his argument in one sentence.

    "Are you saying that you are so ipetent that you can''t protect me?"

    Indeed it was... if there was one thing against which he was pretty vulnerable, it was his own pride in his own power and Yvraine knew exactly where to attack him to win this round... as expected, he didn''t say anything else aside from that, as they continued closer to the small fortress deep in the mountains that belonged to the natives of the 10th Floor.

    For the rest of their little journey through the mountain range and avoiding some zones where powerful magical beasts were noted to live, they finally arrived at something that seemed like a small valley, where both of them could see big fortresses made from stone standing proudly.

    Though the design itself was a bit primitive for Samiel''s taste because its defensive capabilities seemed a little low, while Yvraine scoffed because it looked ugly... though what else would he expect from elves... they always cared about the superficial beauty of the architecture of their buildings.

    "So, how would we do it?"

    Yvraine asked as they were observing the fortress. It was pretty big, though that wasprehensible because in that fortress, at least three thousand people lived in there, while another few thousand lived in the mini city that was built all around the fortress.

    Altogether the poption of the entire tribe of humans was around eight thousand, plus / minus a few hundred taken. Samiel was also analyzing how to do it most efficiently, considering the fact that the strongest aura that he felt was around Bronzte-Tier and there were not even a lot of them... they were scarce on, contrary to what one would expect.

    "I seriously doubt that these scavengers sh cannibals would have something of any value... so bombard it; Undead will finish what was lucky to survive."

    Samiel answered coolly as Yvraine nodded and went to prepare her spells. After she reached the Silver-Tier, she had alreadyprehended and mastered a good number of the 6th Level Spells from the Elementia Magicae, so this time, they were going to supplement each other''s spells.

    Samiel was using the Winter Magic, while Yvraine was using the Ice Magic. As they were rtively far from the targetted location of their attack, both of them started conjuring their magic and within several seconds, a huge wave of ice constructs started falling down onto the fortress and its surroundings of it.

    Both of them could see how everything was crushed into debris, people were killed and Samiel''s ward, which he hadid down previously almost instantaneously, was doing its job at capturing every single soul.

    "Send them another wave... this time, use something simr to the Blizzard."

    Samiel stated as Yvraine carried out his order and used the equivalent spell of the Ice Magic as the temperature in the entire valley dropped drastically almost within a few seconds, it even started snowing.

    He liked the snow, and he liked when it was snowing; it was nice and gave him peace of mind; it was a bizarre and yet very satisfying feeling. Yvraine also observed how the freezing frost was freezing everything below them to one huge block of ice while the injured from the precious attack were already being frozen to death.

    ''And the soul count is increasing at tremendous speed...''

    He thought as he looked at the soul-catching ward that was albeit a bit primitive by the standards of the Hall of Kadath but still very much effective at catching a low number of souls from the entire valley.

 Chapter 233 Purge The Spider (2)

    "We should be already done, right?"

    Yvraine asked after half an hour when everything was already frozen to death and there were no survivors and Samiel collected all of the souls of the killed beings.

    "Yes... all souls are collected; we could move on to the next target..."

    He said as they moved forward to the next location on their mini-map through his Holo-Brain.

    ***

    A few dayster and, a good number of ces were destroyedter, Samiel and Yvraine were finished with the clean of the entire surrounding area around the territory of the orks, all smaller factions were destroyed.

    "And with this, we are done... we have destroyed entirely 7 smaller factions and the only ones which are remained are the bigger ones on which we could either use the Undead Scourge or to employ orks..."

    Samiel pondered over the situation, though that was cut short when he noticed Yvraine''s gaze and thus he decided that he would continue on his own.

    It was clear that his lover wanted to spend more time alone with him rather than be surrounded by orks or his ever-tailing retainer in the form of Juulius Crawford.

    Yvraine was greatly enjoying every second that they spent alone together because such asions were rare and at this time, they could have an entire trip for themselves.

    During their mini crusade, they were not only pursuing the destruction of their enemies, but they were also doing some other things, like taking naps, strolls; they even had several pics together at some nice locations.

    "Okey then... we will go on them on our own... I still have several thousand Undead."

    Samiel said as he pondered over the remaining three factions that were standing between them and the Church of Lolth.

    He ignored a few minor ones that were in front of them; those were right now being attacked by the forces of the Church of Lolth...<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Suddenly, as he was thinking, he got an iing call on the Holo-Brain from Juulius. When he picked it up, a small holograph of Juulius appeared on his Holo-Brain.

    "My Lord, I bring you the report."

    He said as Samiel motioned for him to continue.

    "ording to thetest intelligence, the Cult of the Fallen Prince has probably decided to abandon their effort on the 10th Floor. From what the Inquisition was able to find out, they traded their efforts on the 10th Floor for some Lower World, which has importance for the Sun-Moon Coalition..."

    He frowned at this; probably the Inquisition must have captured someone high-ranking from either the demon side or the Underdark side. While not ideal, but the Sun-Moon Coalition was of lesser priority over the Underdark right now, as they were needed to fight against the Atraksan Empire or Hellsalem forces.

    "What will happen to their territory? Hand over or silence?"

    Samiel asked as Juulius looked grim over this one... so hand over it was...

    Silence would be much more preferable.

    Silence meant that the demons and cultists on the 10th Floor had been essentially abandoned here and would be left to their fate. For Samiel, such an oue would be much better because, through the hand-over, the demons would leave their territory for the Church of Lolth.

    This meant that the Church of Lolth would soon send some forces to their territory to take it over. Samiel was pretty pissed over this because as it would increase their difficulty and create much more work for them.

    "Fuck... have they already sent someone to take over the territory of the Cult?"

    Seeing Juulius to shook his head in denial, Samiel sighed in relief because this meant that they could do something with it.

 Chapter 234 Purge The Spider (3)

    ?

    "As you wish, my beloved."

    Yvraine stated neutrally, while she felt a bit conflicted that they were going to attack their main temple.

    It was dangerous because they were going to the heart of the Chruch of Lolth, a ce where they were concentrating all of their resources and powerhouses; there were at least twenty or so Silver-Tier Professionals stationed in their main temple.

    Yet at the same time, she was also thrilled and ted that they were going to strike their main tent. That sense of danger was thrilling for her and was making her almost moist in between her legs...

    They were advancing at a steady pace, avoiding all of the sentries and outposts of the Church of Lolth. It wasn''t time for any disturbances here; Samiel wanted to catch them unprepared; only that way would they be to destroy the majority of their forces in one go...

    Ironically though, due to the longsting presence of the Church of Lolth in the Bone Mountains, the territory they ruled was maintained and they even created there roads that interconnected all of the major ces under their rule.

    This was a great thing for Samiel because they were using one of the side roads that led directly to the main temple of the Church of Lolth. Naturally, they were under concealment spells, so even when they encountered some patrols, they were not seen.

    The main temple of the Church of Lolth in the Bone Mountains was majestic...

    Samiel was forced to agree and even though Yvraine would never say anything positive about the drows, even she looked mildly surprised at the appearance of the humongous building that was used to worship the Greater Goddess of the Drows and the God-Queen of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon.

    "How do we even enter that ce?"

    Yvraine asked as she noticed that the defenses around the ce were top notch and even Samiel noticed several very powerful wards installed around the temple. This was problematic to a certain degree, but it was nothing that couldn''t be ovee with the correct strategy.

    "Hmm... their detection wards suck and they are only Intermediate Wards so I can hack them..."

    Samiel pondered over it as he used his "magic" and that was double meaning for his skills and his actual warding magic to locate one of the wardstones. It didn''t take him a long time to locate one of the wardstones and thus, he moved to the location of the wardstone with Yvraine.

    As he uncovered the hidden wardstone, he put his right hand on it and started overdriving the wardstone with his Mana and the process he was right now executing was essentially hacking... it was pretty simr to hacking throughworks orputers...

    And due to having heaven-defying leveled ability like Architect, Samiel was able to hack most of the wards that were not very strong within several seconds.

    Even advanced wards would be broken down by him within a few minutes and only those Higher-Grade Wards would be able to stop him.

    "And with this, I have created a small path for us to enter the temple... on top of everything, we can y with explosives a bit..."

    Samiel muttered as he finished what he was doing and thought over the Magitek explosives that he had in his Dimensional Ring for some time already.

    Due to his scavenging habits, he tended to pick essentially everything with him and during that time, he apparently also got his hands on a good number of Magitek explosives.

    With that notion, they entered the temple and because Samiel got into the system of the wards, he also knew theyout of the temple from the wards because they were enveloping the entire temple; thus Smaiel knew exactly where to go and how to go.

    "We are going to the main pirs of the temple and blow this ce apart... or at least create enough explosions to kill as many of the members and soldiers of the Church as possible."

    Samiel grinned as Yvraine followed after him wordlessly and they went across several locations within the enormous temple as they ced the Magitek explosives across them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    When everything was ced, Sameil went to the main hall and together with Yvraine, they waited for the periodic prayer to the Gods that would be conducted by the priests.

    As hundreds upon hundreds started entering the enormous main hall of the temple where the Divine Altar of the Spider Queen Lolth was built.

    Samiel pushed the imaginary button or inserted themand through his Holo-Brain.

    Several secondster, a series of explosions was heard, and he almost went deaf from the noise level of the explosions.

    Even Yvraine was holding her head in mild pain as the entire building shook and several of the decorations were crumbling apart, but as it seemed, the skeleton of the temple was mainly okey... probably it was reinforced by some runes and magic.

    But the results were still good because he could see, hear and even feel the panic beneath them as the priests of Lolth, especially those on the Silver-Tier, were instantly ordering everyone to lock down the entire temple and search for the perpetrator and at the same time for survivors.

    Samiel could sense several hundreds of departed souls within the temple at least as he started catching the souls, certainly gaining the ire of the Spider Queen Lolth.

    Still, he didn''t care about that as he instantly summoned his strongest Undead and unleashed the massacre on the ce.

    He didn''t waste a second because he knew the moment he touched the first soul, Lolth or some other God from the Dark Seldarine Pantheon would send down a warning to the priests that they were under attack.

    Suddenly hundreds upon hundreds of Undead appeared all around the main temple of the Church of Lolth and started massacring the people in the temple.

    While the forces of the Church of Lolth were pretty strong, they were not that strong topletely resist the advance of the Undead, especially when they were under the ambush.

    All of them were led by Ashimer and Negash, especially the Elder Lich was casting one spell after another on the Undead to boost up theirbat prowess of the Undead.

    Liches were a form of Undead life that were expert at boosting up their Undead and Negash as Higher Undead and Elder Lich could use countless types of magic to boost up the power of the Undead.

    Meanwhile, the Undead were carrying out the ambush Yvraine and Samiel released the spell they were conjuring as they hit several of the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Church of Lolth and killed them in bulk.

    Yvraine then brandished her twin jade swords and joined the party down below them as she beheaded the nearest drow priest as she jumped down and then headed to the nearest Silver-Tier drown while Samiel was chatting something in the Eldritch Language of R''Lyehian.

    It was the first-time Samiel was using the Blessings of the Outer Court since he obtained it, as his power started increasing tremendously and he felt that his Mana was bing stronger and stronger, bing much closer to the Void itself in its fundamental nature.

    Suddenly Samiel burst out with the power as he jumped down from the top of the temple, down in the middle of several of the Silver-Tier Professionals, as he waved his ice trident and decapitated one of the Silver-Tier Drows priests.

    Instantly he found himself surrounded by fifteen more Silver-Tier Professionals; as he grinned as he conjured a Winter Maic Spell and froze several of the Silver-Tier Professionals in their ce, as he rushed at others, who were okey and ferociously attacked them.

    Not even a secondter, he conjured several Void Strikes and sent them at the two Silver-Tier drows that attacked him as hended on the ground, killing three of the SIlver-Tiers in one go.

    In the meantime, he was attacked and dealt with the attackers; the Silver-Tier Professionals managed to get out from their frozen prisons and rushed at Samiel, who didn''t give them any opportunity and attacked them as the first one.

 Chapter 235 Purge The Spider (4)

    ?

    Grabbing his ice trident, within a second, he inscribed the Intermdedaite Spell Holding Ward onto the tip of the trident and inscribed there a 5th Level Spell Void Bomb and threw the ice trident at the iing Silver-Tier Professionals as he soon saw an enormous explosion that probably killed at least one of them and injured some that were near.

    He conjured another ice trident and raised it in front of him as he blocked the enormous warhammer of Silver-Tier Druergar that appeared from the explosion, unharmed by most of it, as dark dwarves had really terrifying defensive capabilities.

    Using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, Samiel controlled overwhelming Mana in his body, as he pushed the ice trident in his hands against the warhammer of the Druergar, sending the gray dwarf flying backward as he crashed into hispanions.

    Not wasting any more time, Samiel used Winter Ruler and shot hundreds of ice weapons at the "flying" dwarf, skewering him amidst the air, which was another kill for the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

    Meanwhile, Samiel was killing the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Church of Lolth; the Undead, under the leadership of the two Higher Undead and Yvraine somewhere in between, were wreaking havoc across an entire temple, killing everything that moved or lived.

    Ashimer was leading the charge and was ughtering his way as some of the members of the Church of Lolth were smart enough to barricade themselves in some well-defendable rooms.

    This created only a partial problem because the moment someone with high enough firepower arrived, their defenses were sted apart and they were killed to thest one.

    Negash was coordinating thousands of Undead that were running across the temple, while Yvraine was dealing with the Silver-Tier Professionals that were not fighting against Samiel.

    Luckily for them, during their ambush, the majority of the Silver-Tier Professionals stationed here went for Sameil, while some were killed by Yvraine.

    Then, as it seemed, at least four to six were killed by the explosion from the Magitek Explsoived that they put down, and some were killed by the copse of the parts of the temple.

    Even Silver-Tier Professionals couldn''t survive being crushed to the meat paste by debris weighing several hundred tonnes.

    Yvraine was also fighting against the higher-tiered ones, specifically targeting the remaining Silver-Tier Professionals of the Church of Lolth.

    As expected, the members of the Church stationed on the tenth floor were just low-ranking members and not elites of the Church.

    That also exined their high numbers, as there were several Silver-Tier Professionals and a whole bunch of Bronze-Tier who numbered in the hundreds.

    Against them, the Undead were worthy foes, especially Samiel''s Bronze-Tier Undead were fighting against the Bronze-Tier members of the Church of Lolth.

    As she advanced through another corridor of the main temple of the Lolth and killed another of the Silver-Tier Professional, several tens of Bronze-Tier Undead were following closely after her, killing everyone who approached Yvraine.

    And as Yvraine was clearing the temple, Samiel was finishing his fight against the Silver-Tier Professionals of the Church of Lolth, as after several minutes, the overall number of the enemies he was facing dropped to 5.

    And the fewer of them were, the easier time Samiel had fighting; under the Blessings of the Outer Court, none were his enemies because the disparity in the raw power was extreme... in this form, which was his second-highest, Samiel could literarily spam 5th Level Spells like a machine gun.

    With a wave of his ice trident, he conjured a wall of ice that rose from the ground and backed several spells that were heading at him, most of them being of divine origin, as they were cast by priests of Lolth and other gods of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon.

    Not wasting any time, he jumped over the ice wall andnded behind the remaining Silver-Tier Professionals as he stabbed one of them from the back, lowering their overall number from five to four.

    Not even a momentter, he attacked the one that was next to his right and sent another of the Drows flying, crashing into the wall.

    What happened next time was not that surprising to Samiel, as seeing that the numbers were terrible, the remaining drows started escaping from the temple because, in truth, they were petty cowards.

    Such was the fundamental nature of the drows... thus Samiel didn''t care too much about them, as he focused on killing those who remained here because the ones that escaped could be caughtter and having a few Silver-Tier ones running here and there were not that problematic as one could think.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He then used his Winter Ruler, concentrating the pure essence of winter, ice and frost as he froze the remaining ones that were still in his vicinity to a frozen state and with one hit from his ice trident, he shattered them into countless pieces.

    With that done, Samiel had efficiently disposed of every high-tiered enemy in the temple and using the remaining time he had in this form, he turned his sight to the other Professionals of the Church of Lolth as he delved into them.

    As he tore and ripped them apart, cast spells, or used his ice tried to kill hundreds of species that were worshipping the Dark Seldarine Pantheon and mainly the Spider Queen Lolth.

    There were not only the races consisting of the Underdark but also a good portion of humans, though they didn''t have even status of full-fledged members and were often considered as some sort of ves or third-rate members.

    "That would be done."

    Yvraine muttered as she watched her man ughter his way through the disgusting drows and kill them in tens like they were pigs waiting to be ughtered.

    This was making her so... horny... even she considered herself to be a bit weird... but it was indeed the truth.

    She then swung her sword as she severed the head of a crawling dark elf that was lying beneath her legs in a puddle of his own blood, killing him instantly.

    She then looked at the Divine Altar of the Spider Queen and the nemesis of the Seldarine Pantheon as suddenly a few gears clicked in her head and a sultry grin appeared on her face.

    "That would be wonderful and desecrating at the same time..."

    She giggled to himself a bit as she thought something perverse in her mind while the Undead around here were finishing the job of cleaning out the temple of Church of Lolth as the resistance was broken, defenses were down and enemies were killed...

    With thest priest of the Church of Lolth being skewered by Samiel''s ice trident, his Blessing of the Outer Court diminished as time was used.

    Though at the same time, it was even better than he expected because Samiel didn''t really expect that he would win.

    "Who would have expected that we have managed to destroy the main headquarters of the Church of Lolth just with my Undead... I either severely underestimated my own capabilities or overestimated the capabilities of the Church of Lolth... no, it was abination of both and element of surprise and also some bits of arrogance from the side of the Church of Lolth as they believed that they had the everything won."

    Samiel muttered to himself as he analyzed the situation to obtain more precise data about the situation with the Church of Lolth and this attack.

    Obviously, this didn''t mean that he waspletely right or wrong because approximately one-half of all forces were stationed across the entire territory in the Bone Mountains.

    "Whatever... with their headquarters destroyed, they lost their man foothold and their other locations are not that well-defendable."

    Samiel muttered as he went to Yvraine, who was right now in the main hall looking at the Divine Altar of the Spider Queen Lolth.

    "How are things on your end?"

    Yvraine asked, seeing Samieling to her, as he grinned at her question because he finally had his own fill of ughter and killing.

    ''Oh, my gods... with all of that blood of drows on his clothes, he looks even hotter than before.''

    Yvraine thought.

 Chapter 236 Desecretating 18+

    ?

    A destroyed temple can be a haunting sight; its once grand and majestic architecture now reduced to ruins. The temple''s walls were partially orpletely crumbled, with pieces of broken stone scattered about the area.

    It appears that the aftermath of the explosives that Samiel and Yvraine put there, were far more destructive than it appeared. While it was a shame for the main temple of the Church of Lolth to be destroyed this much because it would be either abandoned or it would require a lot of resources to repair.

    "Either way... done is done..."

    Samiel muttered as he observed the half-destroyed temple of Lolth; on the other hand, Yvraine would probably want to destroy it entirely and Samiel, in truth, couldn''t care less about what would happen to it.

    "Yes... it went surprisingly well... too well, to be honest... we managed to sneak into their main temple and we managed to destroy a significant portion of their strength here. Probably due to thebination of luck, the arrogance of Drows and the element of surprise."

    Yvraine stated naturally, essentially the same things about which Samiel was thinking. They indeed managed to pull this out rtively easily, which made Samiel smile, because the job was easy... hopefully, the rest of it will be easy as well.

    "What are you looking at?"

    Samiel asked when he noticed that Yvraine was intensely looking at the Divine Altar of the Spider Queen Lolth as she grinned at him. Naturally, it took him several seconds to figure a what she wanted to do and it was pretty exciting...

    "Oh my... that is pretty kinky..."

    He said as he followed after Yvraine, who sat on the Divine Altar of Lolth and spread her legs for him to see her crotch. He then knelt down; he then gripped her tights with his hands as he started gently rubbing her crotch, slowly tearing apart her pants, revealing her wet pink cunt that was already drenched.

    ''It appears that our Princess is bing more and more depraved...''

    Samiel thought as he gave her twitching pussy a long lick before he started properly eating her cunt out as she gripped his hair with her hands. Right now, they were here alone because he mentallymanded Undead to stay away and focus on hunting down the survivors if there were any; ording to Negash, there were only a few of them on the outskirts of the temple.

    So he chose to focus down on the meal before him, turning his full attention to Yvraine''s needy cunt that seriously needed licking andter some good rough pounding.

    "Yes! More!"

    Her moans and screams echoed through the ruined main hall of the temple of Spider Queen Lolth as he buried his tongue deeper into his folds while teasing her clit. Yvraine forced his head deeper into her crotch while she bit her lips because it felt sooo good for her to be licked like this while at the same time she was defiling the Divine Altar of the Chief Goddess of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon, which was turning her on even more.

    And Samiel did exactly what she wanted as she intensified his speed as his tongue worked on her folds, bringing her close to climax as she suddenly felt her squirt all over his face. Yvraine panted loudly as she caught her breath after her first orgasm, as Samiel kissed her passionately, letting her taste herself, invading her mouth with his tongue.

    While they were battling with their tongues, Yvraine''s hand traced down to his crotch, freeing up his cock, which was already raging hard and twitching with anticipation as precum was leaking from the tip of his schlong.

    "Do you want it?"

    Samiel asked her huskily as they separated with a trace of saliva connecting them while he looked straight into her eyes. He rubbed his bitch yer across her cunt, teasing her even more right now as she was extra sensitive because she just came a lot.

    Yvraine nodded her head, eyeing his cock hungrily and Samiel was also in desperate need of release because giving her cunnilingus and making her climax straight away on the Divine Altar of the Spider Queen Lolth made him extremely hard, so he decided to spare her of further teasing as he inserted his entire length into her needy pussy without a second thought.

    "Ahhh."

    Both of them moaned at the same time, he from the pleasure of tightness that her folds were providing, as her cunt was clenching on him with everything she had, while Yvraine was being spread in half as she wed his back.

    "Am going to move..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He said after several seconds as he started pounding his slutty elven princess, who was biting her lip, as she felt his spear spreading her in two, drilling her relentlessly, reaching almost her womb. Right now, Yvraine was already in another world, filled with theplexity of pain and pleasure she was feeling; the only thing she could do in that state was to moan incoherently.

    "M--oaoa-rrr..."

    With drool escaping her mouth, Samiel knew that Yvraine was already brought to the second heaven while he was nearing his first release in his womb; with one powerful thrust, he released his spunk in her deepest parts.

    As he was releasing his load in her pussy, he licked the drool escaping from her mouth, invading her mouth with his tongue as he gripped her soft ass. When he was done cumming inside his beloved, he turned her around and tore a bit more of her trousers even more, revealing her asshole.

    He went a bit down as he licked her ass a bit afterward; he spit a bit of saliva on her asshole as he started inserting his huge cock into her tight ass, while she was lying on the Divine Altar of Spider Queen.

    "O-Hh... to-ooo big!"

    Feeling that her ass was being torn apart, Yvraine panted like a bitch in heat as he gave her buttcheek a powerful p, which resounded across the main hall and inserted the rest of his cock into her tight ass.

    Contrary to her pussy, this was an entirely different sensation and extremely tight. He let both of them have a few seconds to adjust properly before he started drilling her ass while asionally giving her butt a few ps, leaving there red imprints of his hand.

    This act continued for several minutes, feeling her butt jiggle a bit every time Samiel thrusts into her tight butthole as it was devouring every single centimeter, taking him down to the root, as her stomach bulged a little, from taking his huge cock into her.

    Deciding to spicy things a little, Samiel traced his right hand down to her crotch as he started fingering her wet cunt, which was dripping wet, bringing her to the edge also down there...

    "Yv... I am close."

    Samiel whispered into her ears as he continued working on her gaping asshole. She was already a drooling mess; her eyes were in an ahegao expression because she was being pleasured by both of her asshole and being teased on her pussy was too much for poor Silvermoon princess, especially as Samiel started nibbling on her ears, which were pretty sensitive for all elves.

    Giving her ass a strong p, he released his seed in her butt, while Yvraine climaxed on his fingers as he released his sperm inside her asshole. When he finished releasing his seed, he took out his cock, which was still covered in the mixture of her love juices and sperm and pushed Yvraine on her knees to clean his dick.

    Not waiting for anything, a slurping sound echoed through the temple as she took his twitching dick in her mouth and started deepthroating him like a professional 1st tier harlot. She was licking his entire length with ease and blowing him like nothing.

    "Very good."

    Samiel moaned as she licked down his balls while jerking off a twitching cock while he was petting her long blonde hair, slowly nearing the long-awaited release. Yvraine started choking and gagging on his huge cock, which was on top of everything, releasing a huge amount of thick white cream into her mouth.

    He continued shooting his seed down to her throat for several minutes before he stopped; taking out his cock out of his mind, he picked up Yvraine and put her on hisp; as he was sitting on hisp as he inserted back his cock into her needy cunt.

    Tightly hugging her soft body, Samiel started passionately yet slowly thrusting in her; several secondster, Yvraine leaned over and kissed him intensely. This was another kind of sex; contrary to the rough and animalistic fucking they often had, this was passionate, slow and sensual.

    Yvraine actually liked all types of sex, though she preferred when he took her like she was his own property; it was something that she had a kink for, even though she would never admit it openly. She moaned into his mouth as his tongue swirled around his while her cunt was mping on him tight as ever.

    Hugging her close, Samiel gave her one powerful thrust as he released his seed into her deepest parts.

    "I love you, my Silvermoon princess."

    Samiel whispered into her ear as he nibbled on in, while at the same time of his climax, she came around him, as he felt her squirt around his enormous schlong.

 Chapter 237 Quest Completed (1)

    ?

    Several hours after the attack on the main headquarters of the Church of Lolth and the ruination of their temple, Samiel got the message from Juulius that the Holy Sunz nunched an attack on the territory of the Cult of the Fallen Prince and they caught the demons and daemon worshippers by surprise and cut deep into their territory.

    For the leadership of the current branch, it didn''t take long to figure out that they were abandoned by theirpatriots from the leadership administration of their own faction; thus they were in the middle of some internal problems regarding their next steps and on what to do.

    Because they werepletely unprepared, ferocious orks brutally decimated them and four of their forward outpost were instantly destroyed and right now, just within a time span of a few hours, Juulius and Dharzug were crusading towards the headquarters of the Cult in the Bone Mountains.

    Samiel predicted that within the uing days, the Cult of the Fallen Prince would fall and be destroyed by Holy Sunz n.

    Among the three factions that were considered hegemons of the Bone Mountains, the Church of Lolth was the most numerous, Bloodkins were the strongest individually and daemon worshippers were essentially average.

    Naturally, Samiel ordered the Undead to barricade the entrances to the ruined temple of the Spider Queen Lolth because he predicted that this ce would be soon enough attacked by the remaining members of the Church of Lolth.

    Looking at the Divine Altar of the Spider Queen, Samiel was thinking about how the Spider Queen was raging that he was fucking Silvermoon Princess directly on her Divine Altar while Yvraine was adjusting her clothes.

    "She is probably raging in the Abyss and killing her Legendary Level goons left and right... shame that I cannot see it."

    Yvrainemented from the side, grinning at the desecration of her Divine Altar because this would piss the Goddess of Spiders to no end before Samiel grinned as he sted Divine Altar to rubbles with his Void Magic.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has destroyed the Divine Altar of the Spider Queen Lolth.]

    [The Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars has been updated.

    Current progression:

    4 Divine Altar Destroyed (Monarch-Tier Transcendent)

    4 Divine Altars Destroyed (Ordinary-Tier Transcendent)

    1 Divine Altar Destroyed (Demigod)]

    [Spider Queen Lolth is looking at you.]

    [Greater Goddess Lolth is cursing you.]

    [Attempt of the Spider Queen Lolth to inflict User Samiel Zentuar with a Divine Curse has been repelled by the Primordial Demiurge Azathoth.]

    [Greater Goddess Lolth is attempting to curse Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon.]

    [Attempt of the Spider Queen Lolth to inflict User Yvraine Nesser Silvermoon with Divine Curse has been repelled by the Primordial Demiurge Azathoth due to her closeness to the host Samiel Zentaur.]

    Samiel received a whole bunch of notifications from the Akashic Records as he destroyed the Divine Altar of the Spider Queen Lolth.

    "We should be preparing for the iing attacks of remnants of the Church of Lolth... their outposts and fortress around the main temple are still intact and their manpower is in their full force."

    Samiel stated as he kissed Yvraine on her cheeks while they prepared some traps and ambushes for the uing invaders from the Church of Lolth.

    There would be a lot of enemiesing at them, so there was a need to prepare a good number of Spell Holding Wards, among other things, not to mention that with the upation of the temple of Lolth, Samiel obtainedst bits of resources he needed to construct the Divine Altar for the Primordial Demiurge.

    "I just got the notifications from the Akashic Records that Spider Queen wanted to curse me with a Divine Curse, but failed due to the outside interference... additionally, I managed toplete the Advancement Quest with this because all Divine Altars in this ce were destroyed but you, but system proxied it on me as I helped..."

    Samiel smiled a this; with this, Yvraine was finished and only Samiel remained. In truth, he wanted to get away from the 10th Floor as soon as possible because this ce was a living hell for him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He only needed to construct the Divine Altar and help the Holy Sunz n to establish themselves in the Bone Mountains to fulfill his agreement with the Dharzug.

    ***

    With Yvraine helping him, they were done with the process ofying down the Spell Holding Wards and inscribing them with spells rather easily within the next two hours.

    When they were done with this, the only thing which remained was to wait for the remnants of the Church of Lolth that were heading their way.

    "Ahhh... the first ones are already here."

    Samiel said with a smile, but soon he was disappointed because there were not as many of them like he had predicted.

    It seemed that only a few hundred of them were here altogether; probably, each of the outposts or fortresses that still existed sent here a few of their soldiers to check up on the situation as they lost contact with their main temple.

    As they were sitting on the ruins of the temple, both of them saw a series of explosions taking ce all around the temple as the soldiers of the Church of Lolth activated them when they entered the outer perimeter of the temple.

    Samiel collected souls, which soon enough started numbering hundreds, as all of them who came here were slowly, but surely being killed by boratelyid down traps by him and Yvraine.

    The traps did short work out of members of the Church of Lolth and soon enough, they were slowly yet surely killed one by one...

    "Come on... let''s go and finish what has remained..."

    Samiel muttered as he was in on some good killing after arduous work ofying down the Spell Holding Wards and a few rounds of sex; now he needed to kill something really fast and what was better than defenseless drows or whatever garbage that they brought here.

    ***

    [Unique Quest The Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars has beenpleted with current results:

    Description: 10th Floor of the Tower is suitable for building Altars dedicated to various Gods, Daemons, Devils and other Transcendental that are worshipped in the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    As the Apostle of the Outer Gods, you have many enemies among the other Transcendents, especially in the ranks of Evil Gods, Daemons and other Transcendentals, who have worshippers on the 10th Floor of the Tower.

    Mission: Destroy the Altars dedicated to the enemies of the Azathoth''s Court.

    Current progression:

    4 Divine Altar Destroyed (Monarch-Tier Transcendent)

    4 Divine Altars Destroyed (Ordinary-Tier Transcendent)

    1 Divine Altar Destroyed (Demigod)]

    [Unique Quest The Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars has been.]

    [Tower System is calcting the Rewards for the Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars.]

    [Reward for the Unique Quest: Destruction of the Divine Altars has been calcted.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has been awarded the Ability Seed.]

 Chapter 238 Quest Completed (2)

    ?

    Samiel grinned, almost fainting from the sheet shock that he got an Ability Seed because they were very, very much rare, but from the principles of how the Akashic Records worked, he knew why he got such rewards.

    Mainly because during thepetition of this Quest, he pissed off a whole bunch of Transcendents that would stop at nothing to kill him as a form of vengeance.

    One thing was some sort of faction-based hostility, but another one was vengeance, which some Transcendents would stop at nothing to achieve.

    Especially some of the more narrow-minded gods; those were the worst kind. Samiel knew that the rewards were appropriate to the hardness of the Quest and the risk that he undertook.

    He wondered what Ability he would be able to obtain from the Ability Seed, but he left that thing for ater date.

    With this, only the Advancement Quest remained and in truth, Samiel already couldn''t wait to get out from the 10th Floor and this dammed desert.

    As he expected, Juulius, together with Dharzug, managed to breach the inneryers of the Cult of the Fallen Prince and were right now sieging their main fort.

    Their fall was only a matter of time.

    Probably because of that, Tower''s System concluded that hepleted the Unique Quest and getting the Ability Seed was far better than anything he expected out of this. So, now he could happily y a construction worker and start building the Divine Altar.

    "Do you want to y with bricks?"

    Samiel asked his Silvermoon princess cheekily as he started putting together various parts of the materials that he had prepared for the Divine Altar of the Great Dreamer, Azathoth...

    "Maybe..."

    Yvraine said unsurely because this wasn''t the best activity that she wanted to do right now, especially since building Divine Altars wasn''t something that she wanted to do.

    Yet, in the end, she dutifully decided to help Samiel like a good wife and started putting bricks together.

    All of them were from the previously destroyed Divine Altars of various Transcendents that they encountered. These were the most suitable to build a Divine Altar of the Outer Gods because they were from the Divine Altars of their enemies.

    Together they were working rtively fast and within one hour, they had already built the basic skeletal structure of the Divine Altar.

    The basic structure was done and now, Samiel was working on the details of the Divine Altar of the Outer Gods.

    Mainly decorated with the sacred items of other Gods, Daemons and other Transcendents, these ones were used as sacrificial materials for the Outer Gods.

    Because Samiel was building a proper Divine Altar for the Outer Gods for the first time, it was giving him some trouble.

    Still, after the basic structure was done, the only thing that remained for him was the runic engravement of the R''Lyehian Eldritch Speech Runes. Soon enough, the entire Divine Altar of the Outer Gods was covered by the R''Lyehian Eldritch Speech Runes and only a finishing touch wascking.

    "And with this, it is done... now we arecking the activation method."

    Samiel muttered as he cut his wrist with an ice dagger and started dropping his blood over the Divine Altar.

    When his blood came into contact with the Divine Altar, it lit in ominous purple-red light, pulsating with the waves of power as space cracked a little around the Divine Altar and Samiel felt the freezing cold power of the Voiding from the Divine Altar.

    It was so powerful that Yvraine froze on the spot from being exposed to the Void; for many, it was a feeling that was absolutely disgusting and not many would get used to it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It took several more seconds until the aura around the Divine Altar was stabilized and Samiuel soon enough received the notifications from the Akashic Records that he hadpleted the Advancement Quest.

    [Advancement Quest: Build a Divine Altar dedicated to the Outer Court has beenpleted.]

    [Advancement Quest: Build a Divine Altar dedicated to the Outer Court

    Description: The 10th Floor of the Tower is suitable for building Altars dedicated to various Gods, Daemons, Devils and other Transcendents worshipped in the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    For countless millennia, various species have been building tens of not hundreds of Altars dedicated to the veneration of their Gods and carried out worshipping ceremonies on the 10th Floor of the Tower by sacrificing local Magical Beast to their Gods.]

    [The Tower''s System is calcting the reward for the Advancement Quest: Build a Divine Altar dedicated to the Outer Court.]

    [Reward for the Advancement Quest: Build a Divine Altar dedicated to the Outer Court has been calcted.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has been awarded the pure Lesser Divine Shard.]

    "Useful for the future."

    Samiel muttered because the Lesser Divine Shard was indeed a thing that he couldn''t use right now, aside from maybe trading it for other resources, but that would be foolish.

    Though, the second he reached Legendary Level, he could absorb the Lesser Divine Shard to strengthen his Bloodline or use it during his transition to the Legendary status to obtain tremendous power.

    Divine Shards were basically crystallized bits of Divine Power like Mana Crystals were just crystalized forms of Mana; Divine Shards were essentially the same thing. However, they were far more potent and powerful.

    On the Material ne, the Divine Shards were a scarce thing that couldn''t bee across by normal means, and typically only Holies used them to purify their Mana to increase their strength, or Demigods used them to be closer to the Apotheosis.

    Or he could use it to activate the Holy Apostle ss that was sealed, which would allow him to use the powers of Azathoth more wlessly and for a longer time without and backsh.

    Naturally, it was a good reward for his effort, much better than the past ones he got from the lesser Floors, but unfortunately, he couldn''t really use it right now, so he put it away to the things that he had for the other times.

    This wasn''t the only thing that he had that he couldn''t use; for example, one of his most prized possession was the Bloodline Crystal of unknown grade Transcendent Fallen Angel...

    As Samiel pondered the rewards, he suddenly realized that reality around him was warped and twisted beyond degrees, driving the lesser people to madness.

    He appeared to be floating in the emptiness of endless space, with only one colossal eyeball floating there, surrounded by countless tentacles spreading all around.

    The eye looked at Samiel attentively, scrutinizing him from tips to toes.

    [Well done, my Son.]

    Samiel heard the distorted voice of his Patron God as he looked at the Outer God, one of ''Them'' who ruled supreme across the Dimensions, not hindered by either Space or Time, unshackled by Fate and Eternal for all.

    [Soon enough, another one would be starting... a few thousand years are remaining.]

 Chapter 239 Conclusion

    ?

    He heard the voice of the Patron God as he tried to read underneath the lines of the words that his Patron God stated to him, noticing a hidden warning stated by his Patron God.

    Samiel already got hints from his Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber that turbulent times wereing to the Cosmos and now even his Patron God was saying exactly the same thing.

    Instantly, after he heard the words from his Patron God, everything disappeared and reality returned back to normal like it was before as he was standing in the middle of the ruins of the Temple of the Church of Lolth.

    Yvraine was looking at him while waving his hand in front of his hands because he appeared to be in some kind of trance.

    This often happened when the reality was warped for someone, especially for Samiel, who had experienced something like this already several times, because every time when his Patron God summoned him, he would also do it through the reality-warping...

    It was probably some kind of fetish of the Outer Gods to warp reality...

    Also, it was some sort of show power because only a few entities across the entire Cosmos had reality-warping powers, and not even some mighty Transcendents could say that they could warp reality in the Tower.

    "Are you already back? You cked out a few seconds earlier."

    Yvraine asked him as he nodded that he had now returned back to reality. Yvraine alsopleted the Advancement Quest with the fall of the main line of the Church of Lolth in the Bone Mountains when it was destroyed.

    Suddenly when Samiel was thinking over some matters, he suddenly felt something surging from his Ability Seed when the Divine Power of the Primordial Demiurge surged out of the Divine Altar and entered Samiel''s body within several seconds, speeding up the germination of the Ability Seed from several months to a few minutes.

    He observed how the Ability Seed inside his Soul was growing at tremendous speed, and Samiel was getting one notification from the Akashic Records after another.

    [The Ability Seed within the Soul of Samiel Zentaur has started the germination process.]

    [The Gerimantion Process of the Unknownown Ability Seed has been sped up by the energy of the Primordial Demiurge Azathoth.]

    [The Ability Seed has been germinated.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has obtained Level 2 Rare Ability Rift.]

    When someone on the level of Azathoth interfered in the germination process, it was done within several seconds.

    Even for normal and average Transcendents, this would be considered an impossible feat because this was a direct interference in the matters of Akashic Records and the mostprehensive maniption of Soul.

    Samiel looked at the unusual name of the Leveled Ability called Rift as he clicked at the further notification exining the ability.

    [Level 2 Rare Ability Rift - Rare Ability to create and manipte tears in the Space-Time Continuum, based on the location and distance. User can create tears only to the ces which were once already visited by the user. User can create tears only to ces that are located on the same Dimensional Units.]

    When Samiel read over the description of this Level 2 Rare Ability, he grinned from ear to ear because this would allow him to move through the Tower rtively unhindered across the ces where he had been.

    While the Ability had imposed some heavy restrictions, like knowing the ce where one had already been and opening the portal only to ces where he had been, that was okay.

    This thing about opening a portal only within the same Dimensional Unit meant that he couldn''t open Rift anywhere else than the Tower if he was in the Tower.

    And for example, if he were in the Lower World, he wouldn''t be able to open Rift to the Tower. Naturally, this was only a small restriction for obtaining the possibility of Travelling through the Floors that he had already visited.

    "It seems that I have obtained something good..."

    He grinned at reading the descriptions of the Rift Ability while being tempted to use it right now because he wanted to get back on the 1st Floor and 3rd Floor as soon as possible.

    He wanted to participate in the next Trials across the Chains Quest, the Inheritance of the Last Human King and then go to the Zephystrand and check on the development of the IMC on the 3rd Floor.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    From thest reports, he got knew that they were already doing good and were also slowly mass-producing the Power Armors that they somehow reverse-engineered.

    Soon enough, the Credits would be flowing into his pocket in millions when he started releasing them on the free market... he will probably also order to raise their price because their performance was way better than he expected.

    "I was pondering over the IMC and money..."

    He replied as Yvraine frowned, thinking that he should be born as a dragon or whatever because Samiel''s greed was really legendary.

    She often thought that her lover was thinking only about making money and gathering riches.

    "Whatever..."

    Yvraine muttered, looking over at Samiel, who was in deep thought about m, money and how to get rich, or in his case, richer.

    She chuckled a bit about him, but at least her man was capable that he knew how to make money.

    "What now?"

    She asked when she looked over at Samiel because, in her mind, she had let him ponder over money and gold for too long.

    "What, what now?"

    He asked, not understanding the situation.

    "We are going down to the 3rd Floor and 1st Floor... though only if you want to join me... if not, then you wait here, and I will go alone."

    As he said that, Yvraine almost instantly scoffed at the thought of him going to the nice and beautiful Zephystrand while she would be left in the wastnd of the 10th Floor and rot in the Bone Mountains.

    "Of course, I am going with you, you dunderhead... you would be going to the Zephystrand and leaving me here, rotting in this wastnd of scorching heat and sun."

    She frowned at him, thinking that he was either teasing her on purpose or he was just dense as a brick.

    Sometimes she thought that her lover was an absolutely insufferable person, but at least, with his ability or whatever, they would be going right now back to the Zephystrand.

    It was long since they left, and Yvraine wanted to go back to the lovely elven city. She already thought that they could go on a nice date, sleep in a nice bed and have some good sex underneath the moon''s light.

    When Samiel looked at her, he already knew what she was thinking about, so he made a mental note to take Yvraine on some nice date so she would be satisfied and even he would like to spend some good time with her, in a safe ce, without any fights and wars.

    That sounded pretty much unlikely like him, but even he preferred to have some time free and just in peace.

    And he liked Zephystrand, its calming atmosphere and the entire environment that the city of ancient elves of a long-forgotten world provided.

    It was a really magical ce and for Samiel who often read fantasy novels when he was still an ordinary human, the city of Zephystrand was everything for what he imagined fantasy cities in his imagination.

    "Okey and we can go to some nice ce for dinner or whatever..."

    Samiel muttered while on Yvraine''s face, a victorious smile emerged; this was because she got herself a nice date and Samiel learned how to read situations a bit better...probably...

    Even he would appreciate that so he went with that decision, not knowing entirely what Yvraine was thinking about.

 Chapter 240 Rift

    ?

    After theypleted their Advancement Quests and Samiel managed to germinate the Ability Seed in record time due to the outside help from the Outer Gods, they observed how the Void was enveloping the Divine Altar dedicated to the Outer Court.

    It looked like some sort of crystallization took ce around the entire structure, looking like some protective shield enveloping all nooks and crannies of the Divine Altars of the Outer Court.

    Probably some sort of mechanism so nobody under Legendary Level would not even dream of damaging this splendid piece of architectonic wonder that he scrapped up together, but that was not his matter at all.

    When they were done here, Samiel contacted Juulius and they started coordinating their effort to clean out the remaining factions of the Bone Mountains so the Holy Sunz n could take root in this ce entirely.

    One interesting piece of news that found its way to his ears was that the Church of Lolth was withdrawing entirely from the Bone Mountains and even the remnant forces of the Church that were still in here, were heading to other parts where it was pretty much habitable.

    Clearly, their efforts in the desserts of Sikarra were too much, but Samiel learned that this came from the very top.

    It was very highly possible that it came from the Pope of the Church, which in turn meant that Dharzug''s Green Gods intervened on his behalf so he could establish his power base in this ce.

    This was the most unusual scenario because the Green Gods of Orkoids never cared about their believer and when someone never said, it really meant never.

    Even Daemons or Evil Gods had more contempt for their worshippers than the Green Gods.

    This only meant that Dharzug''s very own existence was very important for some of their schemes to the point where it forced them to scare Dark Sledarine Pantheon to pack their things and scram off from the Bone Mountains.

    It took another three weeks in this dammed ce to stabilize everything, to kill everyone who didn''t surrender and be ves to the orks.

    Those who put down their weapons became ves and, thus, a freebor force.

    Those who didn''t surrender became food for the greenskins. Orkoids didn''t have problems with eating other humanoid species, something that Samiel sometimes had a problem understanding in its entirety...

    It sounded a bit gross to him?

    Orks were even cannibalistic; that was an area that was still out of his reach...

    Dharzug was even nning sooner orter to interconnect this ce with some Lower Worlds where orks were populous to either take them over and bring them to the Tower or to attack those worlds by using the local orkoid poption as his troops.

    Either way, he would be obtaining a rather nice army and Samiel dreaded the day when they would be strong enough to affect entire Cosmospolics on the scale of the entire Material ne.

    Right now, Samiel was experimenting with the Level 2 Rare Ability Rift and opening tears in the space-time continuum across the 10th Floor of the Tower. He had already opened one to the Vault-76 of the Doom-Tex Corporation, where they were staying with Yvraine.

    The Rift appeared to be of the appearance of a regr space crack... just for whatever reason that he couldn''t really exin, it was ck-white like the old movies of Earth.

    It was a bit nostalgic as he observed the Rift while some of the nice memories were resurfacing in his mind before he dispersed them and turned his focus back on the current task at hand.

    Samiel then stepped through the tear in the space and found himself in the chambers of Vault-76 as he looked around the ce before it was destroyed by the self-destruction that he had initiated.

    "So the first test could be considered a sess..."

    After that, he inserted a fewmand lines into his Holo-Brain, activating the self-destruction sequence. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    When he returned back to the Bone Mountains, to the main headquarters of the Holy Sunz n.

    "It seems that your experiment is going well... good thing that we don''t need to call someone to bring you back or patch you up... really, experimenting this dangerous with the Dimensional Abilities is utterly foolish."

    Yvraine reprimanded him severely because he was partially doing something really dangerous.

    Rift wasn''t technically speaking a Space Ability, but it was a Dimensional one, meaning it had a higher potential, but at the same time, it was also more dangerous.

    If it was just a space-rted ability, it would be teleporting from A to B.

    Still, with Dimensional Ability, he is opening Rifts in the Space-Time Continuum, which was a pretty dangerous thing...

    If something has gone wrong, then only his Patron God would be able to save him, but Samiel had a strong faith in his own abilities and he hoped that nothing would go wrong and it paid off.

    Samiel didn''t know or knew very little that traversing through the Space-Time Continuum was equally dangerous like traversing through the Void itself, just in a different sense.

    While the Void was inhabited by countless mighty Lifeforms, when someone opened tears in the Space-Time Continuum, it would lure there some entities that were attracted to those kinds of energies, which were released by the opening of the tears in the Space-Time Continuum.

    Fortunately, Samiel had it covered by his Patron God, so he was safe.

    "Stop being worried...I will be opening the Rift to the 1st Floor of the Tower right now."

    Samiel stated as he opened another Rift; leading to the 1st Floor of the Tower.

    More precisely, it was the area of the entrance to the Tomb of the Last Human King, where he once tortured and sacrificed those human adventurers when he entered the Tower.

    Soon enough, the Rift to that ce stabilized and Samiel saw the familiar surroundings of the 1st Floor of the Tower.

    "Come after me..."

    Samiel said to Yvraine as he motioned her to follow after him, which she naturally did, just waiting several more seconds until he sessfully arrived at the 1st Floor because she wanted to be extra sure that his new Leveled Ability was a safe method of travel.

    After looking over and seeing that it was safe for travel, she also entered the Rift, which closed immediately after she appeared on the 1st Floor of the Tower.

    One of the most significant advantages of the Rift Ability was that it was particrly stealthy and it didn''t leave any sort of wavelength or anything; basically, once he used it, it was almost night impossible to detect.

    That was also a reason why he dared to use it on the 10th Floor. It wouldn''t lure any Arrakian sandworms to the Bone Mountains, especially the Holy Legendary Level sandworms that were dwelling in the center area of the 10th Floor of the Tower.

    "It is still that beautiful like I remember..."

    Samiel heard Yvraine''s voice as she appeared on the 1st Floor of the Tower and looked at the environment.

    He looked over at the entrance to the ce where the Tomb of the Last Human King was located as he gave one short prayer to Azathoth, summoning the dream to protect himself from the sight of the remnant consciousness of the Last Human King.

 Chapter 241 Trials Of The Last Human King (1)

    ?

    Afterward, he took out a small Steel Emblem for the Steel Trial from his Dimensional storage before he looked at Yvraine.

    "Wait for me here, I will be undergoing two trials, so I would suggest making yourselffortable with some nice book."

    Samiel said as she scoffed at him, but nevertheless, she nodded her head in agreement and took out some Grimoire for her to study while Samiel entered the Tomb, which already recognized his fake aura signature as the potential inheritor of the Last Human King and allowed him to enter the premises.

    "Just don''t take too long... I already want to go to the Zephystrand so we can have a nice time for ourselves."

    He heard Yvraine said as he promised her internally that he would try toplete the Trials as fast as possible... maybe he would also get some nice reward at ater date from her...

    Samiel went to the Tomb of the Last Human King; as he went to the door which were for the Steel-Tier and pressed the Embled for the Steel-Tier to the doors and entered the area for the Steel-Tier Trial as he saw the notifications of the Tower''s System.

    [Chains Quest Inheritance of The Last Human King - Steel Trial.]

    [Steel-Tier Trial of the Inheritance of The Last Human King has been initiated.]

    [Steel-Tier Trial: Clear out the Steel Gatekeepers.]

    Samiel soon read over the notifications from the Tower''s System and looked all around the huge arena-like room with several huge steel knights that were positioned around the room.

    All of them looked like armored knights, fully equipped with protective gear, weapons, and other outerments of battle.

    When Samiel finished reading the notifications, suddenly all of them came to life, gripped their enormous weapons and got into a battle stance.

    "Naturally, this wouldn''t be that easy..."

    He muttered because he sensed one not-that-nice thing about the Steel Guardians... even though they were technically Steel-Tier in terms of Mana Capacity, their physical power should be above Bronze-Tier Professionals and they were also coated with a thinyer of Dimeritium which was infused in their construction.

    Basically, giving them some sort of Magic Resistance whichplicated the whole thing because Samiel was primarily a Magic Caster and not a closebatant.

    Even though he was pretty skilled with a trident, unfortunately, it was not his main expertise and against a truly dedicated foe to his craft, he would lose without magic.

    He still conjured a trident and looked at the tens of Steel Knight Constructs warily before the first one attacked him with his enormous two-handed sword, forcing Samiel to dodge backward.

    The instincts of the Steel Knight Constructs were good if someone could even call it instincts, as they were not living golems, but whatever.

    Samiel then started freezing the legs of the first Steel Knight Construct that attacked him before he teleported in front of the Steel Knight Construct and smashed the ice trident that he was holding against the Steel Knight Construct, shattering it into countless pieces.

    ''Hmm... physical strength is good, magic resistance is rtively strong, but it could still be bypassed by freezing the legs of the Steel Knight Constructs for a brief period of time. Fortunately, my physical strength is enough to destroy them in one hand...''

    Samiel analyzed the situation with the Steel Knight Constructs as he looked at the half-destroyed ice trident before he conjured another one through the Winter Ruler.

    When the new ice trident was created, Samiel was attacked by four Steel Knight Constructs at the same time because all of them were already activated and werebat-ready.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Samiel kept on dodging the iing strikes of the Steel Knigth Constructs that were ferociously attacking him one after another, forcing Samiel to train more on his footwork in thisbat.

    He didn''t wish to be hit by the enormous weapons of the Steel Knight Constructs because he didn''t wish to be cleaved in half.

    Even though he seriously doubted it would happen if he were to be hit by the weapons, he would still be injured enough to hinder his movements.

    ''There are twenty-four enemies remaining after I killed the first Steel Knight Constructs.''

    Samiel has already begun drafting the ns for dealing with the Steel Knight Constructs; magic was primarily out of the question for now because the only Magic Spell he could use now would be that of the Void Magic.

    Unfortunately, those required some time chanting and in the situation he was right now, that was night impossible because he was too focused on dodging the attacks.

    So, he needed to do make an opening for him to lower their numbers even further.

    Samiel used Architect''s advanced calctions to predict the iing attacks of the Steel Knigth Constructs in real-time.

    One of the advantages that he had against the enemies like these Steel Knigth Constructs was that, as they were just golems with low intelligence and wisdom, they were extremely predictable.

    Against enemies like this, he could predict their movements countless steps ahead of them.

    Not even two secondster, a sliver of opportunity appeared as he hacked his ice trident against the chest of the Steel Knight Construct, piercing through the golem, and destroying it in one hit.

    ''That''s 23...''

    He started mentally counting as he performed a flip backward,nding behind the Steel Knight Construct who was behind him, hitting him with his ice trident at his head, destroying the Steel Knight Construct''s head... with this, another was down.

    This time the Ice Tri managed to survive the hit because Samiel was constantly using the Winter Ruler to strengthen the ice construct weapon.

    At the same time, he heard several notifications from the Akashic Records as the proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler was increasing with each passing second.

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    Growth of 3% for the Ultimate Ability during one fight was a good thing; he had already reached the proficiency of 45% with the Winter Ruler.

    When he finished another of the Steel Knight Constructs, Samiel jumped high in the air before he used his Mana Technique, Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, to sh being the line of the Steel Knight Constructs, attacking the one who was thest one.

 Chapter 242 Trials Of The Last Human King (2)

    ?

    When another of them was destroyed, the rest of them turned their attention back to Samiel. His eyes glinted as he threw the ice trident at the nearest Steel Knight Construct, aiming directly at its head which was destroyed upon being hit by the ice trident.

    This continued for some time, as Samiel was dodging the iing strikes from the Steel Knight Constructs while at the same time, he was counterattacking the construct when the opportunity arose.

    Through this, he managed to bring down another seven of them.

    More of them were killed, more easily Samiel was able to fight against them because he was constantly analyzing them through the usage of Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect.

    When Samiel learned all of their attacking patterns, the rest of the fight wasn''t even fought at all because he destroyed them one by one like nothing.

    [Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability has been increased by 1%.]

    He even got a 2% increasement in proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect for making exact predictions for the attacks of the Steel Knight Constructs.

    Soon enough, when all of them were destroyed, Samiel got a notification from the Tower''s System that he hadpleted the Steel-Tier Trial.

    [Transcen Level Being is delighted to see such an outstanding sessor.]

    [You have cleared the 2nd Trial - Steel Knight Gatekeepers perfectly.]

    [You obtained Bronze-Tier Trial Token for the 3rd Trial.]

    [You obtained a Key to the Steel-Tier Treasury.]

    [You have obtained a fragment of Ultra-Order Weapon Trish.]

    He read through the notifications from the Tower System before he dismissed all of them and went to the room, which was the Steel-Tier Treausy. The only valuable thing for here was the fragment of the Trish; that one was good, but the rest...

    Unfortunately for Samiel right now, there were not that many useful things... aside from arge amount of gold, pieces of jewelry worth of few million Credits, there were some Magic Tomes and Artifacts.

    Unfortunately, there was nothing that would catch his attention because there were not any high-end items. For current Samiel, these things were essentially worthless trinkets, but as money grubber and thus he took them all and stored them in his Dimensional storage.

    He could sell them at ater date and take out the Bronze-Tier Trial Token and activate the Token.

    He went straight for the Bronze-Tier Trial, which was instantly initiated after he used the Token.

    When he used the Bronze-Tier Trial Token, the huge gate to the Bronze-Trial opened and Samiel entered the next room, which served as a Trial ground for the Bronze-Tier Trial of the Last Human King''s Inheritance grounds.

    [Chains Quest Inheritance of The Last Human King - Steel Trial.]

    [Bronze-Tier Trial of the Inheritance of The Last Human King has been initiated.]

    [Bronze-Tier Trial: Climb the staircase to the doors.]

    Samiel read the notifications of the Tower''s System while he warily looked at the staircase leading to the top, where a huge pair of doors were. Those ones led to the Bronze-Tier Treasurey and then subsequently to the Silver-Tier Trial.

    When Samiel put his right leg on the first stair of the staircase, he felt the gravity on his person increase.

    Yet it was nothing that he couldn''t withstand as he continued to climb the stairs and advance through the staircase; with each step, the gravity on his person was increasing tremendously.

    When he reached the 40th stair of the staircase, he noticed that he was almost in the middle of the staircase, but he started to really feel the gravity that was pushing him down.

    If he was some ordinary Bronze-Tier Professional, he would have been long ago crushed to a meat paste from the enormous gravity.

    From their Khaos Chapter, only Dharzug would be able to withstand gravity with only his physical body and nothing else.

    Samiel wanted to take this test fully and test his physical capabilities, so he didn''t use any enhancement techniques or anything on his body and used his physique alone to withstand the power of gravity.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was some sort of body tempering, but it was paying off because he already felt that his body was at least 10% stronger than before he started this Trial. At his level, the increment of his physical strength was something that was hardly achieved.

    Thus he continued advancing one step after another, advancing through the staircase; only when he reached the 80th stair he stopped for some time.

    For several seconds Samiel needed to recover and adjust to the gravity before he continued once more.

    Unfortunately, after the 80th, the increase in gravity was several times more than before and Samiel was forced to use the Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique to strengthen his physical capabilities by a good amount.

    Without it, he wouldn''t be able to continue climbing the staircase as the gravity became too much for him to handle without any help.

    On the good side enough, when he was using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique to strengthen the body, it also meant that he was increasing his proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique, which has been stagnant for some time already and right now, he was using it non stop for tens of minutes.

    With each step he took, he spent a few minutes adjusting to the heightened gravity because he couldn''t just sh through the as he did with the lower stairs where the increase in the gravity on his body was so abysmal that he couldn''t even feel it properly.

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique has been increased by 1%.]

    Samiel got the notification from the Akashic Records when he was using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique for more than ten minutes and climbed one step after another.

    When he was near the 90th step of the staircase, his proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique increased by 4%.

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique has been increased by 1%.]

    ''Dammit... from the 90th step, the staircase is something truly else... the gravity is tremendous and without the usage of Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique, I wouldn''t be able to cross it.''

    Samiel thought as he continued climbing one step after another, soon reaching thest ones stairs in the staircase.

    When he reached the 100th stair, he finished climbing the staircase; he felt the enormous strength of gravity pull him down as he started limatizing to it before he breathed in relief when he withstood it.

    [Transcen Level Being is delighted to see such an outstanding sessor.]

    [You have cleared the 3rd Trial - Staircase Climb perfectly.]

    [You obtained Silver-Tier Trial Token for the 3rd Trial.]

    [You obtained a Key to the Bronze-Tier Treasury.]

    [You have obtained a fragment of Ultra-Order Weapon Trish.]

    Samiel then read the notifications about thepetition of the Trial... finally atst, because this one was harder than fighting against the Steel Knight Construct...

    Those ones were rtively easy to fight because the only thing he needed to do was to analyze their movements entirely before counterattacking.

    He then took the key to the Bronze-Tier Treasury; Samiel opened the doors at the end of the staircase and entered the next room.

    Once again, he was a bit disappointed by the things that were there, but at least there were a few thousand Mana Crystals in this ce.

    But when he started taking things from the Bronze-Tier Treasury, he found there something that he would think he could ever encounter...

    It was a creepy-looking leather book made from human skin, with wrinkles all around it and radiating evil from entire miles.

    "Basic Principles of Mythos Necrosis"

    He read the title of the book with mild shock... still processing the reality that he had managed to obtain such a precious thing here.

 Chapter 243 Samiel Vs. Ork Horde (1)

    ?

    Samiel was once again closer topleting the Necronomicon... now that he found the Basic Principles of the Mythos Necrosis...

    Grimoires of the Necrosis Series were once part of a greater thing... a book called Necronomicon. It was an enormous grotesque grimoire written in the long-forgotten past several Eras ago by a man called Abdul Alhazred.

    Nowadays, not many, even in the Hall of Kadath, aside from the high-ups, were even aware of the existence of the Necronomicon and the fact that the book existed in its shattered form in the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    Something happened that nobody knew, but the Necronomicon was shattered into several parts that Samiel was searching for.

    The books contained tremendous power and there was a legend that once they were put together and Necronomicon was once againplete, it would show its true power.

    Now he obtained the ones of the Mythos Necrosis, which was Magic that allowed one to borrow the powers of the Outer Gods, using the powers of the Mythos.

    Among all parts of the Necrosis, the Mythos Magic was one of the strongest because it borrowed the power of the Outer Gods to use their power as someone''s own.

    Samiel pondered over it for some time before he stored everything in his Dimensional Storage.

    He would return here after reaching the Silver-Tier... with his Level 2 Rare Ability Rift; it was easy, like taking a child his toy.

    After collecting everything, Samiel decided to leave the Trial ce.

    When he exited the Tomb of the Last Human King, he saw Yvraine sitting on her chair and reading Magic Tomes diligently as he instructed her to do...

    "It was faster than I expected..."

    Yvraine stated when she saw her lever exiting the Tomb while she continued reading the Magic Tome she was studying. It was clear that she was bored waiting for him, but nevertheless, she was waiting for him dutifully while reading a book... pretty rare sight.

    "Can we go already?"

    She asked him as he shook his head in denial because he sensed something approaching them from a long distance and in huge numbers.

    Since the time he left the 1st Floor, the situation here was bing more and more precarious because Ork ns that were living on the 1st Floor were in an all-out war against each other...

    Indeed, they managed to destroy the Bugbear Tribe with all of their Legendaires, but at the same time, the infighting among them got way worse than it was before and they started openly waging wars with each other.

    "No... it seems that we havepany... apparently a few thousand Orks are heading our way."

    He stated with a feral grin because all of those Orks were Steel-Tier at minimum, with a few hundred of them being Bronze-Tier and tens of them were at the Silver-Tier.

    Unfortunately, none of them were particrly strong and were the most average that they could be.

    Though what else eh could await from the orks that were living on the 1st Floor of the Tower.

    "Don''t tell me that you want to fight that many Orks?"

    She asked him with exhausted sight, as he grinned stupidly because she knew him very well indeed... and indeed he wanted to fight them. There were only a few situations when he could fight an entire army by himself and right now, a golden opportunity presented itself...<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Whatever, you better make it up for me, do you hear me?"

    She faked her anger as she asked him, to which he nodded his head in delight before he turned his sight to the iing greenskin army, which was mainlyposed of orks that numbered 3,000, but aside from them, there were a few hundred goblins as auxiliary forces.

    Mainly to do the hard work for what the orks were toozy to do for that they had goblins... they were mainly Iron-Tier creatures and they were pretty weak evenpared to other Iron-Tier Creatures.

    Their only use among the greenskins was to be some sort of ve servants for the orks, either to do the hard work or to be abused by theirrger and stronger cousins for their entertainment.

    Whatever, they were not any kind of threat to Samiel; they were just an annoyance because their numbers were high, even though their Levels were low; fortunately, he didn''tck AOE-type attacks that could wipe them out in one go.

    "Naturally, I would take care of it pretty much swiftly..."

    He said to Yvraine, as he utilized the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to strengthen his legs as he rushed at the iing greenskin army that wasing from the north to the Tomb of the Last Human King.

    Within several minutes he crossed a distance of several tens kilometers and arrived at the hill, from which he could see the iing greenskins.

    As he predicted, there were thousands of them and they were marching somewhere... that he didn''t know where.

    Samiel just wanted to massacre them, for now, the reason, so technically speaking, this orkish army was just unlucky that they encountered him.

    He grinned when he looked at the iing Orks before he started using Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to strengthen his physique, jumping high into the air; he appeared high above the iing greenskins as he grinned and released his Magic.

    Suddenly several enormous ice ciers appeared above them and fell onto the iing greenskins, killing hundreds of them in one swoop.

    Samiel cast several 5th Level Spells sh of ciers to annihte a significant portion of the greenskins.

    He then fell onto the ground, as his fall created a small aftershock from the impact force. At the same time, he used Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler to freeze everything around him in the vicinity of ten meters and raised several huge ice walls around him.

    The greenskins that were rushing at him started hitting the ice walls with their weapons, which soon started cracking down under the attacking force of more than two thousand orks.

    Still, Samiel just grinned as he controlled the ice walls, which then exploded, killing the orks that were near them as the flying ice shards from the walls injured even the orks that were standing far from them.

    He saw that some of the Silver-Tier Orks were attempting to resist him by joining and creating some sort of magical barrier to protect them from the iing ice shards that were shooting toward them.

    Yet it was futile because the power behind the ice shards was too powerful for the poor greenskins to handle and their barrier was destroyed by the countless ice shards that were being shot at their barriers and started killing them in tons.

    Just after the initial sh of Samiel against the greenskin army, they lost almost half of their number.

    After the initial sh was done, Samiel decided to wait for them to get together as they decided to counterattack on him while some of their shamans were throwing one spell on him after another.

    After their defense was destroyed, greenskins started getting restless while the goblins that were surviving started escaping from the ce because they were spinless creatures that feared even their own shadow in many situations.

 Chapter 244 Samiel Vs. Ork Horde (2)

    ?

    Samiel decided to ignore the goblins because they were inconsequential and turned his attention back to the orks, which were still eager to fight even despite the disparity across their strength.

    For the orkkind the escape from the battle was as good as death because, in their Kulture, it was the highest sort of taboo...

    Escaping from the enemy was uneptable.

    And at the same time, it was pretty ironic because the stronger the orks were, the more they valued their life and especially the Legendary Level greenskins would oftenmit the taboo, but nobody would be foolish enough to reprimand Legendary Level Ork.

    Suddenly several cracks in the space appeared around Samiel as he was conjuring 5th Level Spells Void Bombs which then were shot at the iing Orks as they sted them apart.

    When the Void Bomb Spells fell onto the iing ork army or what remained from them, everywhere was the blood and flesh of the orks.

    When he started casting the Void Bombs at the orks, they killed the heavy majority of the weaker ones.

    Soon enough, only the Silver-Tier Orks remained, while some of the more lucky Bronze-Tier ones were smart enough to dodge or hide from Samiel''s powerful Magic.

    Void Bombs were strong and powerful spells that were good for the Area of Effect Spell with extra devastating effects when used against a huge number of enemies. Just a few of them were enough to kill hundreds of them easily.

    Now he looked at the Silver-Tier ones that were preparing to engage him in the closebat department, as he used Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to boost up his physique, rushing towards the Silver-Tier orks with his newly conjured Ice Trident.

    Appearing in front of the Silver-Tier Orks, he sted them apart with the Level 3 Winter Ruler, freezing them to ice statues and with a single sh of his ice trident, he shattered them into countless bloody red ice pieces.

    Meanwhile, he was disposed of 5 Silver-Tier Orks, the other twenty were rushing at him with a ferocious glint of his eyes.

    Samiel had to admit that their foolishness or bravery deserved some sort of respect, but he just grinned at the iing Ork Professionals as he cast several spells of the Winter Magic simultaneously.

    In real-time, the Orks started freezing while still alive and none of them could defend against the overwhelming ice powers of Samiel Zentaur.

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Winter Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Winter Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Winter Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    He got notifications from the Akashic Records about the increasement in proficiency with the WInter Ruler and Winter Magic at the same time. Meanwhile, he was getting notifications about this; the orks were being frozen to death in a real-time.

    "And the scraps of them are already escaping... goblins are gone and the rest is dying due to the frost."

    He muttered because the temperature in the surroundings was enough to kill even a low-Tier Professional in under a few minutes in this ce... such dangerous was this ce from his usage of Winter Magic.

    "It was a nice experience to ughter an entire army of orks... I wonder how this would affect the development on the 1st Floor."

    He looked at the frozen statues of orks that were all around here while the injured ones were also being dead on the ground.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Additionally, with his superior eyesight, he could see that the goblins that were escaping from this ce were also not escaping because they were killed by the overwhelming frost and coldness of the entire enviroment.

    Most of them were just Iron-Tier creatures, so they couldn''t really resist against the frost.

    He collected all of their souls before he departed from the ce as he used Nuclear Void Mana Control Technique to increase his speed as he soon arrived at the small teau where Yvraine was reading her Magic Tome.

    "I can see that you are done... it was way faster than I anticipated."

    She stated with a giggle, teasing him a little bit, but Samiel didn''t fall for her provocations as he just smiled at her.

    "Naturally... I am strongest."

    Samiel grinned as he heard a p of the Magic Tome, which she closed, signifying that she wanted to leave this ce already.

    Yvraine scoffed at him mildly when she saw that ever-arrogant expression on his face once again, but she didn''t say anything.

    She just nudged him to teleport them to the 3rd Floor because she could clearly see that his Mana reserves were okey and he could still execute the Rift to the 3rd Floor without a problem.

    Due to Samiel''s racial characteristics, he had tremendous Mana reserves; even teleporting across the Tower''s Floors was rtively easy for him.

    While teleportation across them drained his reserves a bit, but his regeneration capabilities were tremendous and he was quickly in top-notch conditions after testing a few minutes.

    "What am I to you? Personal teleporter?"

    He asked jokingly as he used Rift to create a portal to the Zephystrand... but the moment he tried to conjure a portal, suddenly he was blocked by the wards of the city.

    This was something new, but understandable, that the cities of the Nesser Dynasty would be warded against random teleportation.

    However, Samiel was surprised that they were protected even against unique means like Samiel''s.

    "I can''t open the Rift to the Zephystrand... could you please do something about the Wards?"

    Samiel asked as he closed the unsessfully opened Rift to the Zephystrand as she looked at him.

    "Can''t do... control of the Wards is in the hands of the Patriarch of the Daragan Family and some of their remembers, so I cannot open it or whatever... it would be best to open the Rift somewhere in the outskirts of the Zephystrand City and we will go the rest on foot."

    She answered as he annoyedly opened the Rift to the outskirts of the Zephystrand; as both of them disappeared from the 1st Floor of the Tower.

    Meanwhile, they were leaving, in the far distance, thousands upon thousand kilometers away from their position, one of the Orkish ns that were living on the 1st Floor of the Tower got the news that one of their armies was wiped out in a ce that was near the Lizardmen territory.

    Hence, they immediately assumed that the Lizardmen were behind that.

    So in their anger, the orks gathered their forces and ordered a march on the Lizardmen, that were mainly neutral in the conflicts among the orks.

    Every action has its adequate reaction.

 Chapter 245 Zephystrand IMC

    ?

    Zephystrand City, 3rd Floor of the Tower.

    The City of Zephystrand was as majestic as he remembered it. Its huge white walls were shining in the darkness of the night because it was night on the 3rd Floor when they teleported here, not speaking of the beautiful moon that was shining high in the skies of the 3rd Floor.

    Enormous trees that were across the entire city of Zephystrand could be seen even from a distance of several kilometers as they were projecting majestiness to the city.

    Giving it it''s a signature profound and natural feeling that was unique to the elven cities, especially those made by noble subspecies of the elvenkind.

    "It is even more beautiful than thest time I saw it..."

    Samiel muttered as he observed the city from a far distance; as he opened Rift to one hill several tens kilometers away from the Zephystrand, but even from a distance of 110 kilometers away from the city, he got a clear view of it.

    "Yes...e, it should be evening right now and there is something that I want to get done."

    Yvraine then practically dragged him by his hand as she hurried to the Zephystrand.

    He didn''t know what she wanted to do because the restaurants and bars were open non-stop, especially the exclusive ones for the high-ranking clientele, but he didn''t ask.

    During the time she would be taking care of her matter, he would visit the Industrial District, where the headquarters of the IMC was located, to have a talk with Master Brigric Goldengroc and take a look at the manufacturers and factories of the IMC.

    He also needed to inspect the newest products that would be leased on the market several months after he gave them the green light of approval.

    Apparently, the prototypes for the Power Armorrs were working well, though he wanted to see the performance for himself before they started selling them.

    Soon enough, they arrived at the gates of Zephystrand City.

    The guards stationed at the guards let them enter as they bowed to Yvraine when they saw her. When they entered the Zephystrand, Yvraine went directly for the Merchant District of the city, while he went to the Industrial District as they parted their ways.

    The Industrial District of the elven city Zephystrand was unlike other industrial districts of other cities because there was ack of smog, dirt and other things associated with the factories and heavy industry.

    Elves kept everything clean and attuned to nature.

    They prevented any kind of pollution from appearing in the city; they were very throughout in this area because elves hated pollution and the corruption of nature.

    Samiel walked through the Industrial District of the Zephystrand until he arrived in front of an enormousplex of several buildings meshed up together, connected with each other.

    The specific notable thing about thisplex was its distinctive dwarven architecture for better and more efficient usage of space.

    Just as he was approaching the IMC headquarters, he suddenly saw a group of heavy-armored dwarves rushing toward him.

    These were the guards of the IMC that were hired to protect the headquarters... most of them were at the Bronze-Tier, but their appearance here was just for formality''s sake.

    They escorted him to the offices, where he saw countless dwarves working on the same paperwork or making designs for new weapons and armors, improving existing ones, or doing some administrative matters.

    This was the administration department of the IMC''s headquarters and soon enough, he arrived in front of the office of Brigric Goldengroc, who was Chief of Manufacturing.

    Naturally, they were stillcking the CEO of the Corporation, but for that, he needed to find someone trustworthy and someone who was skilled enough.

    The dwarf didn''t change a bit even after all the time he departed from the 3rd Floor, but that was something that he viewed with the old views because from the standpoint of the Cosmos, it was an extremely short time.

    "You have finally arrived... I thought that you noble ass would never make it back here in the first ce."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The dwarf noted down sarcastically, to which Samiel ignored his remarks because this was the typical behavior of the dwarves. They were not the most pleasant people around for most of the time; fortunately for the dwarves, Samiel didn''t care too much for the protocol and their behavior.

    "Yes, I have... you should know very well that moving across the Floors of the Tower is not an easy matter. Thought from now, there won''t be a problem with this, but don''t waste time anymore and let''s start with the important things... I want to see prototypes."

    Samiel stated as the dwarf nodded because dwarves were folk that didn''t like dancing around something or wasting time, as they immediately went for the most important thing, which was the inspection of the Power Armors.

    "Naturally, I will take you to them."

    The grumpy dwarf said as he led Samiel to one of the rooms that were in the hall, where a few sets of the prototypes were stored for simr things. Here the potential buyers would be taking a look at them.

    "For now, we have only two versions of functioning the Power Armors. The first and the cheaper one, set on the 250,000 Credits per set, is the Mark I. Warrior-Type Power Armor, a Normal-Grade Artifact Rank, but it is still packing a serious punch. Pretty much suitable for Iron-Tiers and Steel-Tiers."

    Master Brigric Goldengroc introduced the Mark I. Warrior-Type Power Armor to Samiel while he observed the sleek design of the Power Armor.

    While it looked pretty muchpact, yet it still looked sturdy and was made from top-notch F-Grade Alloys.

    "Has it been tested? What about the Power Source?"

    Samiel asked Master Brigric Goldengroc, who nodded his head.

    "Yes... the Power Source Mana Crystal Reactor works on both user''s own Mana and Mana Crystals. In realbat, the armor has proved to be pretty much useful and was able to increase the raw power of Peak Steel-Tier to the standard of rtively weak Bronze-Tier when ignited... though the big drawback of the armor is its inability to withstand heavy hits for a prolonged period of time. In its nature, it is pretty much simr in designs and function to the things that you provided, which were created by the Avalon Kingdom."

    Samiel was certainly pretty much impressed by the efforts that the dwarves have put into reverse-engineering the Power Armors of the Avalon Kingdom and adjusting them to the usage needs of the wider Cosmos.

    "And the other one?"

    He then looked at the next Power Armor which was next to the Mark. I Warrior Power Armor.

    It was much bulkier and looked like an armored juggernaut, with several tes of additional armor and there were several more protection means, as it was designed to be like an immovable mountain.

    "Mark I. Juggernaut Power Armor... this one is indeed a masterpiece that we could make in such a short time. To even use this armor, one needs to be Bronze-Tier; otherwise, the weight of this thing will crush the user to imprison them in their armor. Under the full defensive state, it should be able to withstand attacks of Silver-Tiers for a prolonged period of time, but for the superior defensive capabilities, we were forced to sacrifice its agility."

    Samiel nodded; hearing that was understandable, but he had to admit that the Mark I. Juggernaut Power Armor was a piece of art.

    "And the price?"

    He proceeded to know thest piece of the puzzle.

    "One million credits per suit... it is made from D-Grade Alloys with more advanced Mana Core Reactor installed, with Psionic Reactor as a backup that is essentially a possible upgrade which will increase the price to two million credits per unit."

    Even he, as the owner of the IMC, was surprised to hear the price of the Power Armors because their price was much pricier than the average Power Armor on the market... but in terms of parameters, their own were far more superior.

    "And it would probably delight you to hear that we already have orders for several hundred pieces from some factions affiliated with the Hall of Kadath, mostly the worshipping nations."

    This time Sameil almost fainted on the spot from the happiness because the IMC was starting to be profitable... dividends would be paid early, but he hoped to receive at least one hundred million Credits... which would be nice.

    For example, the cost of one Mark I. Juggernaut Power Armor was approximately 100,000 Credits, and the revenue of one was 900,000.

 Chapter 246 Zephystrand Date (1)

    ?

    This was tremendous revenue from single Power Armor... it would be a profitable business soon enough. Naturally, the first clientele would be just worshipping nations of the Outer Gods that were affiliated with the Hall of Kadath.

    Only at ater date would they be able to sell these beauties to the wider Cosmos because these Power Armors were pretty much advancedpared to other mass-produced models that were being sold practically to anyone who paid.

    The best models were in the hands of factions that developed them, while the ones circting in the market were rtively obsoletepared to the high-end technology.

    Though at the same time, even those obsolete models were like heaven-sent things for factions in most of the Lower Worlds and Middle Worlds.

    "Splendid... though, who ordered such a huge amount?"

    Samiel was a bit curious about the affiliated faction, which ordered such a huge number of Power Armors. Worshipping nations was a term for factions, most nations that had a state and sole religion that of the Outer Court.

    Most, if not all, of them were under the protection of the Hall of Kadath. They were some sort of faith for the Outer Gods, mostly kept on the whim of the Outer Gods of the Outer Court.

    Usually, they were also the recruitment pool of the Hall of Kadath''s branches, as these factions were fanatically loyal to the Hall of Kadath.

    Most of their worlds were typical medieval worlds without any speck of technology or any kind of advancement, living off the mercy of Gods.

    He even wanted to visit that kind of world to experience such a thing... it sounded like some sort of dark fantasy like some novels he read on Earth.

    "Several truths to be told, but the biggest order came from the nation named Nofrena Empire; they are located in the Dess Sector in some Middle World infested with some kind of ferocious monsters from what they told me..."

    The Material ne of the Cosmos was divided into countless Star Regions, which were collections of countless Worlds, typically under one Principal World. Only a few of the Star Regions had more than one Principal World.

    Samiel knew of the Dess Star Region because it was on the edges of the Material ne of the Cosmos, which was ever expanding into the emptiness of the Void; thus, the outer edges were extremely dangerous.

    Countless worlds there were infused with monsters corrupted by the Void, so it was a very dangerous ce to live or even visit.

    Still, at the same time, those worlds were treasure troves because they were newly created, contained countless primordial treasures and even those Void Monsters were priceless.

    "Did you manage to get somebody to be the head of the Weapon Research Department?"

    Samiel questioned the dwarf who was head of the Manufacturing Department, because when he departed from the 3rd Floor a long time ago, at least from him... he gave him the task of finding someone who would be suitable to be head of the other Departments.

    Still, for now, he wanted to get one of the Weapons Research as soon as possible; making weapons was the most important thing for the IMC right now.

    Their sole product were just a variation of reverse-engineered Power Armors and that was not enough for the future money-making goals.

    "Yes, I have contacted a few good dwarves; hopefully, somebody will answer back soon enough."

    There were still new departments that needed to be opened, but right now, there was ack of people.

    Samiel preferred to hire dwarves, though, because they were pretty much loyal as they treasured their friendships and contracts with the other people.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Dwarves were honest people who didn''t really like much scheming and other things, they were loyal to those whom they called friends and they always adhered to the contract they entered into.

    "Oh, I have here these things... sell them through the channels and use the money to develop the IMC."

    Samiel gave Master Goldengroc Dimensional Ring with treasures, gold, jewels, weapons and other misceneous items that he got from the treasuries of the Tomb of the Last Hauman King...

    ording to his calctions, there should be a few tens of millions of Credits; it wasn''t a lot thus he decided to leave that to IMC so they could invest it into something.

    "Then, with this done, I would be taking my leave."

    He then excused himself as he exited the Headquarters of the IMC and went to the Noble District of the Zephystrand, more precisely to the main fontaine where he had a meeting with Yvraine as he got a message from her that she already took care of things she wanted to do and even reserved them dinner at a newly opened restaurant.

    Yvraine was already waiting there for him, sitting on the bench and looking at the time on her Holo-Braine, but fortunately for him, she didn''t look annoyed from waiting for him... that was a good sign.

    "Sorry for making you wait... I was in a hurry, but checking on the Power Armors took longer than I anticipated..."

    Samiel said as he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, while Yvraine just sighed and stood up from the bench.

    "I just arrived a few minutes ago..."

    Yvraine answered as they went for a short walk around the fontaine area while they were talking about some things; the main topic of their conversation was their dinner ce because Yvraine chose a different cepared to thest time.

    "So, what restaurant did you choose? You mentioned that it was one opened just recently."

    Samiel asked her as she hummed in delight about something.

    "Yamato-style cuisine, the restaurant is currently a pretty hot topic in the Zephystrand."

    Yamato was the name of one of the Principal Worlds of the Material ne of the Cosmos and if Samiel had to describe it somehow, it was basically a magical version of Japan of old Earth.

    Shinto Pantheon was a dominant faction of the Yamato World, though there were also countless other types of Transcendents that ascended there from various paths; together they were creating some sort of Yamato Coalition.

    "Then I cannot wait for dinner already..."

    He said, though, in the little back part of his head, he was already thinking about the price of the dinner because these things were not cheap, especially considering the fact that Yvraine for sure booked up the entire floor exclusively for them.

    They arrived in front of the building, which looked like a small pagoda, truth to be told, it didn''t fit the architecture of the Zephystrand at all, but Samiel could see several buildings like this in the Noble District.

    These were special and unique buildings, often some exclusive establishments for the high-ranking citizens of the Nesser Dynasty that were living in the Zephystrand or descended down from the higher Floors of the Tower or came from the other worlds of the Material ne to enjoy the beauty of the Cosmos.

 Chapter 247 Zephystrand Date (2)

    ?

    The architecture of the typical Japanese style was something that Samiel didn''t saw for a long time since he left Earth...

    He remembered that he spent a lot of time in Asia because there were the remaining Mana Veins that still had some activity located there, more precisely in China and Japan...

    Europe had the thirdrgest amount of them, but on the other hand, Europe had thergest number of Magi inheritances while China had some of the cultivation influence, which Samiel concluded must have been from the Immortal Path influence.

    In contrast, America had almost none and mana in that region of Earth had already died long ago, while Europe and Asia were only in the process of dying and would bepletely Mana-Less in a few decades.

    It was actually a sad thing to see because Europe and Asia still had some Magical Beasts and Creatures living there, but they were slowly dying an agonizing death of extinction fromck of Mana in the atmosphere.

    "Wee to the Shokugakure, honorable guests."

    Like the traditional Japanese restaurants of Earth, this one also featured a peaceful and serene atmosphere that is designed to promote rxation and reflection. The decor was minimalist and incorporated natural wood, stone, and bamboo elements.

    When they entered the restaurant, they were greeted by hostesses dressed in traditional Japanese attire, as they were wearing beautiful, ornamental and colorful kimonos as they led them to their seats.

    Samiel noticed that both of them were Kitsunes, judging on their fox ears and tails.

    He raised his brow at this because Kitsunes were rare in these parts of the Cosmos; most of them didn''t really leave Yamato at all, only when they reached Legendary Level would they wander off as they lived in closedmunities with other Yokai.

    They were led to one of the exclusive private floors for the clients that didn''t wish to be disrupted during their stay; it was on the top of the pagoda, and they had a nice view of the Zephystrand at night, which was certainly a nice bonus.

    "I will have the main menu... three times, plus bring me the specialty of the chef two times."

    Samiel ordered for himself as he was pretty hungry and even Yvraine made an order, but hers was much smaller because she was not that big an eater like her lover was.

    One of the Kitsune Hostess took the orders, while the second one brought them a bottle of sake as she started, pouring them a cup for each.

    The menu here wasn''t that big, but it stuck mostly to the traditional and simple food, mainly sushi, sashimi, tempura and other things. There were also more than three types of ramen, so Samiel was pretty much eager for a good dinner.

    He loved this type of cuisine and wanted to have his fill after a long time because he wasn''t very skilled with Asian cuisine; because every time he was making something of it, it felt like it was missing something that he couldn''t just find.

    Soon enough, the hostesses started to bring the food to the table, and Samiel was already salivating for the food because he was hungry as a wolf.

    Yvraine couldn''t help but raise a brow at her lover, who was eating everything like a bottomless pit, as countless tes of food were disappearing into his stomach.

    "You are really a glutton, do you know that?"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Yvraine remarked, seeing him eating, as she continued eating as well. During their dinner, both were enjoying the restaurant''s serene atmosphere while also talking about some things, mainly about the development of Samiel''s corporation.

    She asked him how things with the IMC were going; Samiel was, in truth, happy "boasting" about the IMC because it was his darling... aside from Nefertari and Yvraine, of course.

    Samiel enjoyed sake; it was one of his favorite alcoholic drinks as he had already drank his seventh cup... he was a tank even when he was human and could drink a lot, but after bing a partial Eldritch Creature, he could drink even far more.

    "So, where now, my dear?"

    Samiel asked teasingly, as they would be now spending the night at the hotel before returning back to the 10th Floor of the Tower, from which they would be ascending to the 11th Floor of the Tower. At least one day, after a such long time, they would sleep in safety and in afy bed...

    He didn''t really count the Vault because it was not that safe. The danger of the Arrakian sandworms was still there and that wasn''t giving him any time to sleep.

    He was still pretty much paranoid about the entire thing; when they were in Vault, something back in his mind was warning that their Vault could be attacked by the Arrakian sandworm.

    "We are going to have some nice fun at the hotel... I have some surprise for you..."

    She whispered seductively as they paid for the bill or rather, Samiel paid for the bill because he was richer as he was the owner of the IMC and she knew that he obtained a pretty good loot from the Trials of the Tomb of the Last Human King.

    "We are going to the hotel that is also owned by the same owner of this restaurant."

    They were then led to another building that was next to the restaurant.

    The design was pretty much simr to the restaurant and when they entered their room, which Samiel remembered was called ryokan, it featured a minimalist and elegant design with tatami mats covering the floor.

    The room often has a low table and cushions for seating and a tokonoma alcove for disying artwork or flowers.

    The bedding in a ryokan consisted of futon mattresses, which were ced directly on the tatami floor and on the mattresses, there were two yukatas for them to wear. The room also had shoji sliding doors, made of translucent paper and wood, that could be opened to reveal a view of the city.

    "I am going to prepare myself... wait for me..."

    She whispered and left the room to change her clothes, while Samiel sat down on the bed and started unclothing himself while he put on his yukata.

    He waited there for several minutes until the shoji sliding doors opened and revealed Yvraine in the most erotic outfit he ever saw.

 Chapter 248 Zephystrand Date R-18+ (3)

    ?

    She was wearing a ck leather corsage with leather gloves that reached almost her arms; her nipples were covered by X-shaped markings. She was also wearing ck stockings and long leather boots.

    Her long blonde hair was tied to a ponytail as she strode to him, while Samiel seeing this beautiful visage in front of him, was instantly hard as a rock and ready for action. Because he was wearing a loose yukata, his erection was clearly visible across his clothing.

    She went close to him without saying a word as she traced her finger from his mouth down to his throbbing cock in anticipation of what was toe. Suddenly Samiel felt her hands wrapping around his prick, but this time, it was a very different feeling as the feeling of leather was weird yet more erotic than normal.

    "It seems that the little big guy here is pretty much eager for some action."

    Slowly jerking off his cock, she sat on hisp while she nibbled on his ear.

    "Let me lead today..."

    She whispered as he nodded and suddenly felt that his hands were bound behind his back. He couldn''t move an inch, but it was making the situation far more erotic and he was far more aroused than previously; while he enjoyed dominating her, it wasn''t bad to switch sides sometimes and he felt a weird pleasure in being dominated.

    "Do you want toe?"

    She asked him huskily as he nodded that he wanted to cum, because he was holding back. That was how slowly she was jerking him off... those leather gloves on his cock were working their magic and he was holding back with everything he could.

    "Yes.."

    Samiel whispered as she suddenly stopped jerking him off, leaving him blue-balled on edge, as she put her right leg on the bed and pushed her dripping wet pussy in front of his mouth.

    "Then you need to work for it..."

    He understood as he gave her pussy one long, sensitive lick; she arched her back in pleasure from him licking her down there. In truth, Samiel was very skilled with his tongue, as he attacked all of her sensitive spots.

    Yvraine was shuddering as he bit her clit, while he felt her hands gripping his hair strongly as she moaned loudly from being eaten out.

    "I aming...ing!"

    She moaned while biting her lips as her hands were forcing his head into her crotch while Samiel soon felt hot golden liquid shooting violently into his mouth, as he was drinking everything as she pissed herself during the cunnilingus.

    "You are such a good boy... how about I give you a small reward..."

    After several minutes she calmed down as she came really, really hard. Several secondster, she dropped on her knees; his cock was raging for release already. She gave the tip of his dick a kiss before her pouty lips and immediately took his prick into her mouth without a second thought as she started deepthroating him from the start.

    He moaned as he felt her skilled tongue dancing around his cock, but when he was nearing the release, she stopped, edging him for a bit before she continued after the feeling passed. This repeated several times before she decided to take mercy on him as she gave him his release, his white spunk down to her throat.

    Samiel heard ''gulp'' sounds in the room as she drank everything. He had huge loads; as she took out the cock of his mouth while some bits of the thick white gooish liquidnded on her face. Samiel''s cock twitched very hard when he saw her licking her long fingers as she savored the taste of his cum from her finger...

    When she was finished, she pushed him down onto the bed while she climbed on hisp, rubbing her pussy against his twitch cock, as she pushed her boobs together.

    "Do you like this outfit? I knew that if I were half-covered by, you would find it more erotic... especially when covered my nipples with marking..."

    She whispered silently while maintaining eye contact with him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Do you want to insert it? Into my wet cavern? Do you..."

    Samiel could just barely nod because he desperately needed release and Yvraine was the minx that was enjoying teasing him. But no matter how hard she tried to tease him, she herself was very much horny and she too needed to relieve herself, as she bit her lips before slowly inserting the huge bitch-yer into her cunt as she moaned loudly upon the insertion.

    He, too, moaned because he felt his dick being crushed apart by the toughness of her cunt as she started riding him with all of her power. She put her hands on his chest, pping sounds were heard across the entire room as he was prating her deepest parts.

    While he was bound and couldn''t move an inch, Yvraine was doing all the job as she was furiously riding him, bringing herself closer to the release while.

    "Oh yes, deeper... deeper!"

    She screamed from the bottom of her lungs, as with one powerful thrust, Samiel released another load in herher depths, as Yvraine immediately gave him one sloppy kiss. Their tongues battled for supremacy as Samiel was desperately thrusting into her womb, releasing thest bits of cum in his balls.

    When he stopped cumming, he heard ''pop'' sounds as his cock fell out of her pussy and his white jizz was dripping from her cunt. She then proceeded down to his crotch and started sucking his cock, cleaning out the remaining cum from his dick and balls.

    "Oh!"

    Samiel shouted when he felt taking his balls into her mouth; while she was jerking off his cock, her leathery hands were bringing his sensitive cock to new levels of pleasure. She was skillfully working her tongue on his testicles, bringing him once again to edge as he once again released his jizz on her face and tits.

    "Sooo yummy..."

    Yvraine started licking the remeaning cum from her hands and boobs, before she licked of the remaining one from his cock, which was still fully erect as she grinned and brought up her tight asshole and started inserting his enormous prick, stretching her out entirely as she felt being split in half.

    Samiel had a clear view of his enormous cock splitting up her tight asshole while her pussy was dripping wet from love juices and his sperm that was leaking out from it.

    Yvraine started mping down on his cock with her butt, the tightness was entirely different level from her cunt and at the same time, she was also teasing her pussy with her fingers as she fingered herself in front of him.

    She then took out a magical dildo out of her Dimensional Storage and inserted it directly into her hungry pussy. It was smaller than his cock, but it was doing a wonderful job stimting her; being pleasured in both of ces, was too much for poor her as he came really hard and squirted on his chest.

    Samiel was right now in "second heaven" as he enjoyed the tightness of Yvraine''s ass on his cock, as she was milking him dry while the sight of her being prated by his monster cock in her tight butt as she was pleasuring herself with a dildo to her cunt.

    "I am cumming!"

    Samiel shouted as he released spunk into her butt while she came at the same time when she felt that he was cumming inside her. As he was cumming inside her, she fell onto his chest, with his cock still in her butt and dildo in her cunt, while Samiel gave her one passionate kiss as he broke the bindings and grabbed her fleshy ass.

    "That was extraordinary... and that outfit... oh my gods..."

    He muttered when their lips separated as she was breathing loudly.

    "I knew that you would like it... I took my entire hour to select it in the shop and even finding something like this was pretty much arduous. Elves, especially the noble ones, don''t really have a thing for erotic outfits and things like this... most of them think of it as debauchery, but fortunately, here is a shop headed by someone of subus lineage... so..."

    She giggled a bit as she give Samiel quick kiss who was hugging her tightly.

 Chapter 249 Going Up

    ?

    Next morning, 3rd Floor of the Tower, Zephystrand City

    The next morning Samiel woke up earlier than Yvraine as he felt soreness from his cock and even the rest of his body. While his vitality was enormous as a partial Eldritch Creature, Yvraine even brought some stamina potions and even some aphrodisiacs...

    So thest night was pretty wild as they continued for the entire night and right now it was already afternoon as he woke up after a good sleep, but he still felt tired.

    Nevertheless, Samiel opened his eyes groggily as he yawned, feeling that Yvraine wasying on his chest, sleeping soundly after their nightly activities.

    While he would enjoy the feeling of lyzing around in bed for the entire day, but unfortunately, he needed to return back to the 10th Floor.

    "Yv... Yv... wake up already..."

    He nudged her sleeping head gently as she was waking up very slowly... Yvraine hated being woken up early and her sleep disrupted... neither Samiel was thrilled at that idea, but he knew how to wake up when needed.

    "Let me sleep..."

    She muttered while pushing a pillow against him, not allowing him to disrupt her sleep once again. Samiel just sighed seeing this because she was making it harder for him, as he didn''t really wish to wake her up when he saw her sleeping so peacefully.

    But they needed to depart from the Zephystrand because they couldn''t stay here indefinitely... it was unfortunate, but there was nothing they could do.

    Growing in power was much easier by traveling through the entire Tower, not by staying on the lower Floors of it.

    "No, we need to return back to the 10th Floor and go up to the 11th one... so please get up... I think that we have slept already a lot..."

    Samiel ordered as Yvraine begrudgingly woke up and went to take care of the morning routine now that they were in the "civilized" parts of the Material ne of the Cosmos, while Samiel started clothing himself, as he was sleeping naked.

    Soon enough, both of them were done, but before they left, Yvraine wanted to have a nice lunch at least; thus they went for lunch because the 11th Floor of the Tower won''t have such luxuries or rather, they would need to travel a lot to encounter even a single inn...

    During the time he was waiting for Yvraine, he checked up on the information on the 11th Floor because he wasn''t keen on the adrenaline of experiencing the unknown and truth to be told, he wasn''t pleased with all from what he read...

    But at least it was better than the tenth Floor... if not anything else.

    They went for lunch to one of the restaurants in the Noble District of Zephystrand, letting Yvraine choose once again. The lunch itself was nice enough because Samiel had several steaks from Silver-Tier cow-type Magical Beasts; those were delicious when he ordered them medium rare.

    When they finished their meals, they needed to exit the Zephystrand to a safe distance where Samiel could open Rift to the 10th Floor. The wards around the Zephystrand were strong enough to cause a strong disturbance even in the surroundings of the city, so they needed to go far enough.

    "I am going to open the Rift."

    Samiel stated when they arrived at a safe distance enough to open the Rift, as he started using the Level 2 Rare Ability Rift. Soon enough, the Rift to the 10th Floor was opened to the same ce they had left.

    [Proficiency with the Level 2 Rare Ability Rift has been increased by 1%.]<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He even got a notification from the Akashic Records about the increasement in his proficiency with the Level 2 Rare Ability Rift. This was a nice bonus for opening one Rift to the 10th Floor, as he crossed with Yvraine following after him.

    ***

    10th Floor of the Tower, Headquarters of the Holy Sunz n

    The environmental difference between the desserts of Sikarra and the 3rd Floor of the Tower was enormous, especially the differences in the weather conditions, which were indeed like heaven and earth.

    When they exited, the Rift, which opened in the middle of tents of Holy Sunz n Samiel, was hit by the wave of heat and sun that was scorching the entire area of the Bone Mountains as he instantly cursed at the weather.

    At the same time, even Yvraine wasn''t that much thrilled at the prospect of being back.

    "Hopefully, this will be thest time since I came back here for a very, very, very long time..."

    Samielmented as he felt the scorching sun heat and the piercing light was too much for him, now that he was in the normal environment of the 3rd Floor. He wished to leave this ce and never return because he hated it here and Yvraine was no better, though, for her, it was also a racial thing.

    For Samiel, it was a thing of personal preference that he hated heat and sun... someone may even mistake him for a Vampire or other type of the Blood Race because those too hated environments like this and for the low-ranking members of the Blood Species, it was even deadly.

    "I can say that I wholeheartedly agree with this... let''s find Dharzug, Juulius and felines to get this thing over with."

    He proposed as he adjusted his hat and bandana while they went to the fortress that the Blood Races built. They strode through the corridors of the fortress until they arrived at the small inner courtyard, which was already rebuilt and adjusted to serve the needs of the orks.

    In the courtyard, they could see Juulius and Dharzug sparring against each other while two felines, Nefertari and Tytos, were sleeping onfortable spots after a nice meal.

    Naturally, the felines were ignoring everything that was happing around them because they just didn''t care; their most important thing in the world was food and sleep...

    Seeing those two fighting against each other, Samiel and Yvraine just sat down and decided to wait until their duel had ended because it was already nearing the climax as both of them were going all out, naturally not including their trump cards or anything too deadly.

    "Who do you think will win?"

    Yvraine asked Samiel, who was keenly observing the duel in front of his eyes, but at the same time, he was observing Juulius and Dharzug fighting; he was also using Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect to analyze theirbat styles and predict the winner of the duel.

    Through the advanced calctions and analysis of Architect, Samiel was able to predict that if they were going ording to the script and not using any of their special Abilities or Transformations, then Dharzug would win.

    If they were using their unique abilities, then it would be 50/50 and would essentially depend on the fact of who was faster among them.

    Either it would be Juulius who would summon the power of the Outer Gods to aid him and decimate Dharzug, or Dharzug would be faster and defeat Juulius before he summons d the power of the Outer Gods to the Material ne.

 Chapter 250 11th Floor

    ?

    "Dharzug, because in his base form, he has more raw power and it seems that he learned from his past mistakes of letting Juulius outsmart him that easily..."

    And as Samiel predicted, the match ended in favor of big ork, who won after several more minutes and countless exchanges being done.

    [Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability has been increased by 1%.]

    As the duel concluded, Saiel even got increasement in proficiency for making an urate prediction. At the same time, Juulius and Dharzug went to them, as both of them noticed that two of them had arrived back from their short trip to the Lower Floors of the Tower.

    "Now that the entire Khaos Chapter is assembled, it is time to move forward to the next Floor of the Tower... though I will assume that Dharzug wishes to remain here until things are calmed down on the Bone Mountains for the n, right?"

    Samiel asked as the ork nodded his head, agreeing to his statement because he needed more time to calm down the situation here, build a proper foundation for the Holy Sunz n and also to defeat some more enemies that were slowly eyeing the Bone Mountains.

    Not to mention it was evident that the news of the Orkish n controlling the Bone Mountains had spread far; it would lure there not only potential enemies but also other greenskins that lived in the same area as the Bone Mountains were located.

    "Yar, need mor time to calm down boyz and new gits that will arriv."

    With this, it was essentially decided that the rest of the Khaos Chapter would be advancing the Floor while Dharzug would remain on the 10th Floor.

    He would take care of his matters on the 10th Floor and properly help the Holy Sunz n to establish itself before he would depart.

    Samiel was aware that if the orks didn''t have their leader with them, they would do shit, aside from maybe fighting and killing.

    They needed to have their Boss around to order them and Nobz were not very responsible people in this aspect because even they would need some supervision.

    The re-education process of the orks was something that would take a lot of time to achieve, but Samiel didn''t care that Dharzug would arrive a few months or yearster because he had a feeling that he would be spending a long time on the 11th Floor and it wasn''t making him any happier at that.

    Though the 11th Floor had several spots where he could obtain Mana Crystals and didn''t need to buy them and waste his Credits on them.

    He had a feeling that he was already ready to advance in Levels once more and for that, he would need a tremendous amount of Silver-Tier Mana Crystals.

    "Then it decided...me, Yvraine and Juulius will be going to the next Floor... when you arrive, contact us through the Holo-Brain of your location and we wille to pick you up."

    Samiel stated while he and everyone else sans Dharzug were enveloped by bright light and transported to the 11th Floor of the Tower by the Tower''s System.

    After everyone left, with the familiars leaving as thest ones, Dharzug looked at the distance of the Bone Mountains because he got a feeling that the war was on the horizon, but he wasn''t stressed on the contrary, he was eager.

    Because not only the war wasing, but he got signs from the Green Gods that new waves of Grenskisn were being navigated to the Bone Mountains and join the Holy Sunz n under the directive of the Green Gods and their will.

    ***

    On a tropical ind which was a smallndmass located in the tropics, characterized by its warm climate, lush vegetation, and stunning natural beauty.

    There were several of those inds on the ocean, surrounded by crystal-clear waters and featuring long stretches of white sandy beaches, colorful coral reefs, and diverse marine life.

    One of the most noticeable features of these inds were their lush greenery. This was the due warm and humid climate, which provides ideal growing conditions for a wide variety of nts. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Many tropical inds also have volcanic soils, which are rich in nutrients and further support nt growth.

    Across the inds, there were countless palm trees, hibiscus flowers, orchids, and ferns.

    Many of these nts have showy, colorful blooms, which add to the ind''s beauty. Other types of nts found on tropical inds include vines, shrubs, and trees with broad leaves.

    While it certainly added to the beauty of the inds, it also increased its dangers tremendously, as most of the ns were either highly poisonous even for high-Tiered Professionals.

    Not talking about countless meat-eating nts that could eat even Gold-Tier Professionals in some rare cases or countless magical beasts living on these inds.

    When Samiel Zentaur opened his eyes, he had the urge to curse because he was unlucky enough to be transported to one of the inds across the 11th Floor. The entire Floor was covered by enormous, endless oceans and seas while seeded with countless inds and archipgos.

    The biggestndmasses on the 11th Floor were a few of the enormous inds that could be called as subcontinents that were controlled by some of the local nations.

    But Samiel was teleported to one of the endless numbers of inds across the oceans; he looked around to see enormous palm trees with vies and flesh-eater nts all around him.

    [Advancement Quest: Pirates, Marines or Hunters

    Description: 11th Floor of the Tower consists of countless inds, archipgos, oceans and seas and because of that, it is swarmed by Pirates that are guing the seas and oceans of the 11th Floor.

    Mission: Became Pirate, Marine or Bounty Hunter and contribute considerably to your faction.

    Sub-Mission:

    - Pirate: Became a feared Pirate of the 11th Floor and lessen the influence of Marines on the 11th Floor

    - Marine: Help the Marines and local nations with the Pirates and lessen the influence of Pirates on the 11th Floor

    - Bounty Hunter: Hunt Bounties worth of 10,000,000 Credits]

    Samiel read the description of the Advancement Quest as he grimaced because neither of the options was really attractive to him.

    The description of the Advancement Quest was pretty much vague, but it was clear that either way he chose, he would need to make a significant impact on either of the factions.

    With his current strength, it should be a rtively easy feat.

    But on the other hand, there were three options.

    One was to be a pirate, which, while giving most freedom, was something that Samiel detested because he hated pirates and bandits. For him, most of them, if not all, were just a bunch of scum and the lowest dregs of any society.

    Meanwhile, joining the Marines or what seemed apparent to be some sort of military force established by the corporation of multiple nations, typically the ones with the strongest armies to patrol their seas and so on, wasn''t too, ording to his tastes.

    That would be basically doing dirty work for somebody else for minimal benefits, not something that he, Samiel Zentaur, appreciated doing; aside from that, neither Yvraine would be thrilled at helping humans...

 Chapter 251 Bounty Hunter And...

    ?

    So thest and the most obvious choice was to be a Bounty Hunter... in that aspect, it was better because as long as he could obtain the license from the local Bounty Hunting Guild or he could do it legally on the 11th without being mistaken for a Pirate.

    Fortunately for Samiel, as he was a member of The Guild and was registered as an official mercenary, he didn''t have such a need.

    He could normally do the Bounty Hunting quests without being affiliated with the Bounty Hunting Guild of the 11th Floor.

    Not only that, but his identity as the Mercenary of The Guild was far superior to anything that the native organization of the 11th Floor could offer.

    "This is essentially decided... so I would be going through the Bounty Hunting opinion... now, where the hell were Yvraine and the rest teleported to? I could feel the presence of Neferatri not that far from my position..."

    Samiel muttered as he opened his Holo-Brain and sent a message for both Yvraine and Juulius, who should be teleported somewhere in the vicinity of the ce where he was teleported.

    Soon enough, he received a message from Yvraine, that was on the ind next to him, and Juulius was actually teleported to the same ind as him, just he was on another end of the ind.

    "Well... this could be worse, so considering the bigger picture, it is not that bad, actually."

    He muttered to himself as he delved into the depths of the tropical ind, not even a bit thrilled at what was waiting for him.

    From the information he knew about the 11th Floor, he knew that the majority of the flora here was dangerous to even high-Tiered Professionals and there were countless poisonous and carnivorous nts across the ce.

    So he needed to be extra careful... even though he possessed very strong poison resistance towards countless types of poison due to his racial characteristics, Samiel always told himself that rather be safe than sorry...

    Yet indeed, he marveled at the beauty of the tropical jungle because it was the first time he saw something like this in its untouched beauty.

    When he was on Earth, it was sad and unfortunate, but most of the jungles of the world were already contaminated by the hand of humans and their endless greed.

    Trees were cut down and the soil was transformed so it became suitable for building; countless species of animals and other creatures were brought to extinction.

    For him, it was rare to see such an environment thrive in its natural habitat.

    ''Nefertari, do you hear me?... Helo, you useless cat... answer back...''

    Samiel contacted his familiar through their connection, but there was nothing...

    He suspected that his familiar was just ignoring him for whatever reason she had to ignore him...

    Not like it was the first time she was doing something like this, but Samiel didn''t stop and was bothering her until she finally answered him...

    ''What it is hooman, nyaaa? I was having such a nice nap...''

    When he heard that he almost exploded from anger that his familiar was happily sleeping god knew where, because she just depended on him going through the jungle, finding her and picking her up, so she didn''t have to move a paw to do anything.

    Yeah...

    Cats.

    ''Don''t give me this crap... immediately sense my energy and fly to my location. I have already entered the jungle, so hurry.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He instantly ordered his familiar to start looking for him because he suspected that he was on somerger ind and he wasn''t in the mood to go through the ind and search for hiszy familiar.

    Meanwhile, Nefertari had better energy-sensing capabilities and could find him much easier, especially considering that she could fly in the air and search for him from the heights of the sky.

    ''Okay, hooman, but I want some treats.''

    She said back petntly, like some small child, which was indeed going on his nerves, but s, there was nothing she could do in front of her master''s order as shezily stood up from her sleeping spot and went to search for her master.

    When Samiel got her confirmation, he cut the connection as he continued deeper into the jungle, heading to the other side of the enormous mountains that could be seen even from several surrounding inds because that was the ce where Juulius was teleported to.

    He conjured himself an ice sword and started advancing through the jungle, cleaning his way through the vines that were hanging from the palm trees.

    Aside from them, Samiel also cautiously looked for any poisonous or carnivorous nts that could pose a danger to him.

    Fortunately enough, this was probably one of the inds in the Western Oceans, more precisely in the outskirts seas of the Western Oceans area, so it wasn''t all that dangerous to delve deep into the jungle.

    shing forward, Samiel cleaved in half the huge purple carnivorous nt with white dots over it, which looked a bit funny, but was dangerous as hell, because he recognized the nt as one of the top ten most dangerous flesh eater nts on the 11th Floor.

    When he passed another fifteen kilometers, he finally arrived at the position where he was able to sense Nefertari more clearly.

    Through their bond, Samiel was always able to sense her location, though unfortunately, he was always able to sense only an approximate location, while Neferatari was always able to find him clearly.

    She had far superior sensitive capabilitiespared to him and she was always able to find him much more easily. Within several more minutes, he saw a ckish blur flying toward him at a tremendous speed as she crashed into him and started affectionately licking his face.

    "It took you long to arrive..."

    Samiel muttered as he scratched Nefertari behind her ear, she immediately started purring when he started scratching her. He just chuckled at that because he knew that his familiar was manipting him through his love for cats, but he enjoyed her cute and cuddly appearance.

    "Come one... we need to find Juulius and Tytos. They are on the other side of the ind, behind that huge mountain."

    He said as he received a lick on his face from his familiar, who looked aggrieved from being told that they were going on another troublesome journey, but now, instead ofzying around and sleepingfortably, they were going on a trip...

    Exactly perfect.

    "Don''t worry; you will get your treats as well..."

    Hearing that, she started purring more loudly as he chuckled at that... she was always so eager to get her treats and thus, she was extremely bribable... it was that easy to bribe Nefertari with a few pieces of jerky made from her favorite type of meat.

    "As you wish, hooman..."

    Nefatari said from his arms as they delved deeper into the jungle in search of Juulius and Tytos; as he sent a message to Juulius he would being to the determined location as they chose a suitable spot on the edge of the mountains.

    From then on, they would need to find a path to another ind to get to Yvraine, preferably to find a boat or a ship.

    They were located in an uninhabited area of the Western Oceans, but there should be some people sailing through these waters.

 Chapter 252 Ship On The Horizon

    ?

    Two hourster, they were near the rendezvous point with Juulius.

    Unfortunately for him and his poor little Familiar, due to the environment of the ind, they needed to advance rather slowly, so they won''t be ambushed by some carnivorous nt or some poisonous things.

    Making the next step forward, Samiel waved his right hand, sting apart several monkey-type Magical Creatures that were instantly turned into a bunch of frozen parts as they were frozen before he destroyed their frozen corpses.

    "Juulius should be close... I think I heard Tytos''s roars somewhere..."

    He said to Nefertari, who was sitting on his shoulders,ying there, with one eye closed as she asionally observed their surroundings.

    Even though she spent most of her time sleeping, she would never forget to be aware of her surroundings... it was in her very own blood and instincts to always vary of everything that was happening.

    Finally, they were all ready to close to the back side of the mountain when Samiel sensed a powerful Mana source on the Silver-Tier, which belonged to Juulius.

    Not long after he sensed Mana of his sworn knight, he saw the familiar visage of Juulius because his white armor outfit could be seen even from a far distance.

    Good to be recognized but bad to be hidden...

    "My Lord."

    Juulius greeted him when they met, after several seconds, he saw Juulius''s familiar White Tyger Tytos.

    That enormous White Tiger had some fox-type magical beast in his mouth, of subspecies that Samiel didn''t recognize as he dropped it on the ground and started munching on it happily.

    "Now that we are all here... though two of us sans felines, we need to figure out a way how to get to another ind. From what it seems that Yvraine was teleported to the next ind, but crossing through the sea is night impossible due to the strength of mari-type magical beasts living in the oceans... god forbid we encounter some Sea Kings or Ocean Emperors..."

    Samiel summarized as Juulius''s agreeing with him because, as his sworn knight, he was well-versed and educated in the matters of the Tower.

    While Samiel knew only some things, mostmonly some high-end information he got ess to as Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath or other sources, Juulius was like a walking encyclopedia on countless topics.

    "Sea Kings or Oceans Emperors won''t be wasting time in these waters... maximal danger would be some rtively more powerful magical beasts, maximally at the Steel-Tier or Bronze-Tier..."

    Sea Kings and Oceans Emperors were tiles given to the strongest of the mari-type magical beasts living in the depths of the seas and oceans, typically in control of some huge territory.

    Nobody knew how many of them were there, but some of them had really terrifying levels of power and there were even talks of the ones at the Legendary Level.

    "That may be the truth... but that doesn''t mean that the ships of the dregs of society that are broadening the seas here."

    In order to sessfully set sail across the dangerous waters of the 11th Floor one needed to have a suitable ship...typically the ships with strengthened hulls or the ones made directly from the F-Grade or E-Grade Alloys...

    Normally those were only in possession of truly big-shot pirate crews or in possession of Marines. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    asionally, there were some very powerful Bounty Hunters who amassed enough wealth to buy such a ship.

    Still, even the cheapest one would cost tens of thousands of Credits even for an F-Graded one... for an E-Graded one, the sum would be a minimal hundred thousand to two hundred thousand.

    "The best course of action would be waiting till some ship arrives, kill the crew and take the ship. Most preferably if they are either Pirates or Bounty Hunters. Parading with ships belonging to either Marines or sovereign nations of the 11th Floor would be bad for business..."

    Samiel didn''t wish to be chased by the locals the entire time he was on the 11th Floor.

    Even though he was aware of the fact that the Marines of the 11th Floor weren''t that strong, they had several Silver-Tier Professionals and there were rumors of a few Gold-Tiers hidden in reserve.

    Not to mention their overwhelming number, so long short story, even though they were not particrly strong, they were problematic.

    "That may not be entirely true, My Lord... you may not be aware of this fact, but on the 11th Foor, more precisely in the Northern Oceans, near the frozen shores of Noria, there is a theocratic state of Skr?n?ti?. It is nation worshipping the Outer Court; we can head there and from thereplete the Advancement Quest... they would give us their full support due to our status."

    This was indeed something new for Samiel and could be much better than his own n to be Bounty Hunter on his own.

    If they went to the Skr?n?ti?, then their Advancenmetn Quest would be much more essible than just aimlessly wandering the seas and oceans.

    Not only that, but ess to supplies would be easy as nothing; additionally, he would be able to get some special status within the Marines.

    "And now, do we get there in a short time? Considering the size of each Floor and speed of the ship... it would take even months with the fastest ship possible."

    Juulius just shook his head in denial because he knew that there was a possible and very fast way to get to the Skr?n?ti?.

    "Each of the hegemonial nations has a teleportation circle that allows them to connect with one another. They have established floor-sized teleportationwork... we need to arrive at one of the major cities of any of the hegemonial nations."

    This was something Samiel was not aware of, but indeed this made the work much easier.

    Naturally teleported to the Skr?n?ti?, which was on another side of the Tower, considering that each Floor was tremendous in size, from the 10th Floor and forward the size of each Floor was tremendous.

    So, he would need to pay an extraordinary amount for that; preferably, they would let him pay with Gold Coins because they have been gathering dust in his dimensional storage for a very long time already.

    "That is actually good... which one is nearest?"

    Samiel asked as they headed towards the beach. Right now, they were located on the mountainside and actually, they were not that far from the beach.

    Thus, they started walking with both of their familiars reluctantly following after them, with Nefertari sleeping on huge Tytos, who wasn''t bothered at all that he was carrying her.

 Chapter 253 Pirates

    ?

    "Few months from this archipgo should be a small sub-continent under the control of Laros Kingdom; they are a small native force, not really connected to the Gates or any other of the Cosmos Factions. Still, they are pretty strong in these ends of the Tower and are actually a very old faction; they even produced several Legendaries, including Supreme Stage Legendary Level Professional."

    Actually, some of the factions that existed in the Lower Floors had some really terrifying backgrounds because they produced many Legendary Level experts during their long time of existence.

    Their foundation was very deep due to this.

    Juulius knew that the Laros Kingdom should have even several Gold-Tier Professionals keeping guard; countless of them were protected by some of their high-Tiered Professionals that had already long ago given up on any kind of advancement for the future and their possibilities of reaching Legendary Level were null.

    So many of them just retreated to the lower Floors, where they lived their lives in peace until their remaining lifespan was passed.

    Naturally, due to the Covenant and the purpose of the Tower, in certain ces, their actions were pretty much restricted.

    Still, if their respective factions were attacked and were in danger of destruction, then ording to the Covenant, they could move freely.

    "Then it is decided..."

    Samiel said as they arrived at the white sandy beach of the ind as they observed the horizon.

    There was nothing on it except the sea, endless waters, sometimes some of the enormous mari-type magical beasts resurfaced from the depths of the ocean to the surface.

    Suddenly as they were observing the horizon, they saw something approaching them from a distance and Samiel''s superior eyesight recognized it as a ship... this was really considered as heavenly luck because the second they arrived at the beach, a ship was approaching the ind.

    "Pirates or Bounty Hunters... the ship is too shabby to belong to one of the nations or to the Marines... and this area wouldn''t be attractive for the top dogs. So this is considered as our luck; they are probably going to anchor and take a break."

    Samielmented on the situation with the ship because, during very long voyages, the crew needed the ground not to go mad from the nothing else than sea and oceans.

    This would be their opportunity to get their hands on the ship, which would bring them to the Laros Kingdom.

    "Should we lure them or wait for them on the beach?"

    Juulius asked his Lord so they could implement their strategy against the pirates, but in truth, Samiel didn''t care about that. He was confident that whatever pirates wereing here would be maximally Steel-Tier; stronger ones wouldn''t be wasting their time in the outskirts of the Floor like this.

    "Not really... let us serve as bait... they will think that we are two clueless climbers and see us as easy targets for robbing; that way, we can easily kill them and take over their ship. How many members does one Pirate Crew have?"

    Samiel stated that as he ended with the question, because he wasn''t well versed in this type of knowledge, he only studied what he considered important and information about pirates certainly wasn''t one.

    "A few tens for the smaller ones, typically small-sized ships will have around thirty to forty pirates at best... "<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Juulius answered with a whistle, while Samiel grinned as this would be ended in a few minutes if they yed with their prey.

    Thus they waited on the beach while the pirate ship approached the ind and soon enough, the ship arrived at the ind and started anchoring while the pirates started disembarking from the ship.

    Samiel scrutinized the pirates and they were, in fact even in a worse statepared to the bandits he encountered in the Tower... and that was something to behold because even bandits in Tower had better equipment and disciplepared to militaries of Lower Worlds in many cases.

    All of them were dirty as heck, wearing shabby clothes and weapons; clearly, the words "shower" or "hygiene" wasn''t in their vocabry at all.

    Most of them fulfilled the stereotypical assumptions and images of pirates with beards and crude appearances as they rushed toward them without a second word, with weapons in their hands and the intention to kill burning in their eyes.

    Samiel just chuckled, seeing that the pirates of an unknown pirate crew attacked them without a second thought, while Tytos, who was sleeping by Juulius''s legs, woke up and pounced at the nearest and biggest of the pirates, ripping of his head and gulping it down to his stomach in one go.

    Most of the pirates were only Iron-Tier and some of them were Steel-Tiers ones, probably the lieutenants, officers and captain, so Samiel didn''t even bother making a move, as he let his "underlings" do the job for him.

    Secondter, even Nefertari joined the fray, as with her ws slit the throats of a few pirates and Juulius started decimating them one by one with his sword.

    The pirates were falling down like a flies, one after another, under the precise and precise sharpness of Juulius''s sword.

    Not even considering the grand disparity in terms of raw power, his technique was superb, polished through several Eras already, because Crowford House was older than many of the factions of the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    Within two minutes, only one man remained from an original number of thirty-seven pirates, who was kneeling on the ground with Juulius pressing his sword to his throat. Samiel then went to the kneeling pirate, who was clearly, based on his appearance, the pirate captain.

    The pirate captain attempted to spit it on him, but Samiel just dodged and with a nod from his lord, Juulius slit his throat as Samiel captured his soul and instantly ate it.

    Through the passive effects of the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour, he got all information about that the pirate possessed.

    "So, whom did we put to eternal sleep?"

    Juulius asked with a smallugh, knowing that there was no eternal sleep for those whose souls were eaten for the Eldritch Creatures so it was more or less a joke.

    "Wadham ''The Rat'' Combs, captain of the Tooth Grin Corsairs... they have a bounty on them 5,000 Credits. Basically just small fish; they only operate in these waters because they don''t dare to cross the sea lines ande into the territorial waters of the Laros Kingdom due to the feer of their military and the strong presence of Marines. Unfortunately, though, his knowledge of shit and he doesn''t have much useful information aside from some big shot pirates on the Floor with tremendous Bounties, reaching even hundreds of thousands of Credits."

    Samiel summarized because he didn''t get a lot from the Combs, aside from information on local pirate crews.

    The Tooth Grin Corsairs were one of the strongest pirate crews in these waters and most of the others had bounties ranging from a few hundred Credits to a few thousand...

 Chapter 254 I Am Sailing! (1)

    ?

    They were essentially low-profile targets whom Samiel couldn''t be bothered by unless they encountered them.

    Certainly, he won''t be wasting his time searching for them because it would take too much time and the gains were not that good.

    "So we will be going directly for the big shots?"

    Juulius asked for confirmation, to which Samiel nodded.

    "Yes, only the long timers and powerful pirates would allow me toplete the bounty rtively fast within a time span of maximally two years due to the size of the Floor. When we arrive at the Skr?n?ti?, we can use their informationwork to gather more information about them and start hunting those with a minimal bounty of at least fifty thousand Credits. Preferably we will find some of the Sea Warlords or Pirate Kings."

    Samiel stated because, for example, even the weakest of the Pirate Kings, Caxton ''White Beard'' Amaranth, who was actually a peak Bronze-Tier pirate, operating on the seas for three centuries, had a bounty of 150,000 Credits or the Big Choppa Doomsmashah was of the same Tier and had a bounty of 300,00 Credits...

    "Search through their possession if they have some other than diseases and filth on them..."

    He ordered because he didn''t wish to search through the pirates personally, but unfortunately, diseases and filth were the only things that the Tooth Grin Corsais had on them.

    Aside from a few thousand Gold Coins, there was nothing of remarkable value...

    "Done?"

    Samiel questioned and seeing Juulis nod, he stood up and put down Nefertari, whom he was petting, as they went towards the ship.

    Like the rest of the ships, this one was rtively small and fast, designed for speed and maneuverability rather than cargo capacity.

    It was made of a wooden hull and multiple masts with square sails. The ship was armed with cannons, which were used to intimidate and overpower other ships.

    As he inspected it, he saw that most of those cannons were damaged and only one-third of them were capable of being used in realbat. The ship''s interior was rtively spartan, with minimal living quarters for the crew and limited space for cargo.

    With the limited possibilities for space and housing, thus the crew were the ones who paid the price of living in abysmal conditions.

    On the contrary, the captain''s cabin, however, would be rtively luxurious, with arger living space and often featuring decorative elements such as carved woodwork or borate furnishings.

    It was clear that every bit of money they got went to the captain''s coffers so he could live way above the standard.

    "Do you know how to sail a ship?"

    Samiel asked, but Juulius knew only some basics; this made him regret a bit about killing all the pirates.

    While he got the knowledge from the memory of the captain of the Tooth Grin Corsairs as he ate his soul, even with the memories, he wasn''t confident in controlling the ship.

    So he used Undead in the ce of a real crew, but their efficiency won''t be that good, but that was the best solution they had on hand.

    He then summoned his Undead and ordered them to do exact things he knew from the memory of the captain of the pirate crew as they got the ship ready for setting sails.

    This took more than a half hour because he needed to instruct every Undead individually, which was a pretty arduous thing as each Undead needed to do some specific things and unfortunately, at the start, they were making some mistakes.

    Soon enough, the ship, which was anchored to the ind, started moving towards another ind where Yvraine was. Samiel sent her a message through the Holo-Brain to wait for them at a predestined location on the beach.

    "This is a pretty weird feeling, but it is not something that I couldn''t get used to..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He muttered while enjoying the wind blowing to his face as they were sailing to another ind. Fortunately, the distance between the two of them was not that big, so they arrived very soon and saw Yvraine waiting for them on the beach.

    Sending down a small boat, Samiel went to pick her up and soon enough, Yvraine was standing on the deck of the former pirate ship.

    "This ship looks like crap."

    And while Samiel grimaced, there was nothing he could say to refute her words because they were indeed truth, that the ship was in terrible shape. but

    Nevertheless, considering all circumstances, it was understandable and Samiel was d to have at least something on hand that would bring him to the Laros Kingdom.

    "Do you think you can expect something better from the pirate crew on the outskirts of the Floor?"

    Samiel asked sarcastically, seeing that Yvraine was quite displeased with how things were; probably, she expected something way fancier and morefortable.

    "Ts... where are the captain''s quarters?"

    Samiel then pointed her to the captain''s quarters which became his personal chambers for the time being until they arrived at the Laros Kingdom. Yvraine then went to now their chambers to make herselffortable, probably reworking the entire room to be something up to her standards.

    "And with that, we picked up my temperamental lover and can continue towards the Laros Kingdom... Juulius, how far are we?"

    Juulius, hearing his lord''s question, checked up on something through his Holo-Brain and found the answer.

    "Week if we push the ship to the limits, this included the usage of Wind Magic to boost up the speed."

    So they needed to wait for Yvraine until she was done with rearranging the former captain''s quarters and cleaning the ce, probably changing the furniture into something more usable and stylish.

    Considering the fact that she was wearing the entire bedroom, including bedside tables or closets inside her dimensional storage... though considering the number of spatial items she possessed, it was no wonder she had countless of them.

    Even he had... usually, people from big factions didn''t have problems with this, but the ones outside of 13 Gates or other simr factions with long foundations or those wielding tremendous powercked them and thus the spatial equipment was considered a priceless treasure.

    "We will wait for Yvraine until she finishes decorating and cleaning the captain''s room... she will use the Wind Magic to speed up the ship. How long would it take without the usage of the Wind Magic Spells?"

    Juulius was observing the Undead, who were doing the work around the ship and managing everything under Samiel''s instructions.

    "Double of that time probably... another factor influencing that would be if we encounter pirates, bounty hunters, monsters, or also depending on the weather."

    Weather... indeed, if they got unlucky and got hit by a storm or strong waves, it would be disastrous. This ship was just an ordinary wooden boat, nothing special; even the wood from which it was made was just ordinary one.

    So, indeed, it won''t be strong enough to withstand the storms or more powerful waves.

    Not talking about the possibilities of withstanding powerful sea monsters and magical beasts that lived in the depths of these waters.

    "Hopefully, we will have some more luck."

    Juulius stated as Samiel gave him one stoic nod because they could only hope for now.

    Samiel even started praying to the Outer Court, with Juulius quickly following suit as they both started reciting the Defensive Prayer, which could also be used for asions like this.

 Chapter 255 Cross The Sea (2)

    ?

    "I call upon the powers of the Void and Outsidness to protect me from the enemy across time and space, as my unbreakable shield."

    As they finished chanting, a light appeared around the ship, as both of them breathed in relief that their prayers were heard and answered. This form of protection would at least protect them from possible storms and strong waves; hopefully it would scare away powerful magical beasts...

    "Hopefully, with this, we will have a smooth journey toward the Laros."

    Samiel muttered as he looked into the distance of the horizon.

    Only several hourster, after they set sail from the ind where they picked up the Silvermoon Princess, did shee from the captain''s cabin, probably already finished with refurnishing, when they saw several ships appearing on the horizon.

    "Do you see there? What are their gs?"

    Samiel questioned as Juulius handed him a binocr as he then looked through it and observed three ships that wereing here.

    Neither one of them were of the pirate crew because theycked distinctive gs, but he noticed another symbol hanging on the ships.

    ''Bounty Hunter Guild.''

    Samiel muttered as he saw the distinctive logo of the Bounty Hunter Guild, which wasn''t organization solely restricted to the 11th Floor of the Tower, they had branched across other Floors or in some bigger and more open Higher Worlds and Principal Worlds.

    They were pretty much simr to The Guild, but their influence was countless times smaller; they didn''t possess any sort of internal unity or obligation to help their faction grow.

    They were true mercenaries in every sense and due to that, their influence was many times slower.

    The Guild possessed their own Legendaries and even several Holies, their own worlds and even "Punishment Armies" that were considered as one of the best across the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    "Bounty Hunters... should we go after them or just ignore and attack in case they attack?"

    Juulius asked as Samiel was meanwhile considering the situation and, in the end, deciding for the attack on the Bounty Hunters because they could get some resources and they could get their hands on a better shippared to the shabby ones he got from the Tooth Grin Pirates.

    A better ship meant that they could get to their target destination faster, which would mean saving more time, so that was a good bonus.

    Not to mention, l there was still a possibility that they would be attacked by the bounty hunters as they were sailing on the pirate ship and in truth, based on what Juulius told him, many of bounty hunters were ruffians and not different from bandits and pirates.

    They were just kicking for a different team.

    "Everyone prepare for an attack. We will take care of the bounty hunters and take their ships; hopefully, they will have something useful."

    When Samiel gave out the order, everyone started gathering their weapons and preparing for the battle; as they were approaching the ships, with even the felines woke up from their sleep.

    Juulius was meanwhile considering if the Magicite Canons that were installed on the ships could be used, but Samiel decided against it as the ship wasn''t in a state to be used as abat tool.

    "Weck munition for the Magicite Canons... this level of technology is already pretty obsolete and is used only in some less developed Lower and Middle Worlds. If we start firing, they would retaliate and this ship couldn''t handle even hit..."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Samiel growled with frustration, saying this, though another reason was the fact that during the naval battle, there was a high chance for the ships on the other side to be damaged, something he didn''t wish for.

    Magicite Canons were prototypes of the proper Magitek Artillery Batteries and were considered "ancient" technology ording to the standards of the Tower, but they were still very popr across the Material ne due to their easy maintenance.

    The only thing needed were the Magicite Cores which could be either mined from the areas that had high Mana Density or created through the Alchemical Transmutation of several Magic Crystals.

    If Samiel had topare it to something, it was like arquebuses from Earth... they were primitive canons but were cheap and dependable in certain situations.

    "So the boarding action it is..."

    Juulius nodded in understanding as they watched the bounty hunter ships approaching. Tytos yawned from the side, eager for battle and food; he always appreciated eating Professionals.

    Their meat was more nutritious for them, not to talk about the fact that the magical beasts advanced from consuming either powerful lifeforms or Magic Crystals.

    "We would be fighting against entire parties... it is doubtful that they are just individuals... probably they are entire bounty hunter parties altogether."

    Yvraine stated from the side while she was polishing her jade swords. Even she was eager for battle, not caring against whom she was fighting; hopefully this would be way better than just fighting the dregs of the pirates.

    "That is very much probably... most of the bounty hunters are individualistic, so the possibility of them working together is rtively low; this should be one of the bigger bands. Considering the dimensions of their ships, they should be the party of considerable size and power."

    When Samiel saw their ships, he noticed that their size and equipment.

    Even though the ships were made from wood, he noticed that the quality of the wood seemed much betterpared to the ones from which their own ship was built, not to mention the ships were in pristine condition.

    "Another reason for capturing them is the information... we can get info on the local waters if there are any pirates with high enough bounties to take a detour. While unlikely, the possibility still exists and who knows, maybe they have some precious things."

    Yvraine just pursued her lips, hearing Samiel''s rationalization of the attacks; the man rarely admitted that he wanted to kill them just for the sake of killing.

    But he told her many times that proper reason always matters, not from the material side, but for the formal side...

    It was politics, something that he was fond of ying and something that Yvraine was not.

    "Stop looking at me like that... I know what you are thinking.."

    He refuted her re when he noticed what she was thinking about.

    Within several minutes the iing ships of the bounty hunters were already near them, as Samiel was looking at the biggest ship in the middle of the three of them.

    "That should be a ship of the leader... I am taking that one; you two take care of the remaining ones."

    Samiel ordered for the attack when he noticed that the iing ships of the bounty hunters were hastening up.

 Chapter 256 Stormy Waters (3)

    ?

    Clearly the bounty hunters either thought of them as pirate crew judging on the appearance of their ship or just wanted to rob them because they appeared to be an easy target for three ships full of bounty hunters.

    When they were near enough, Samiel used the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to strengthen his legs as he jumped high in the air and fell down directly at the deck of the ship in the center of their small formation.

    Not wasting any seconds, waved his right hand, freezing the entire deck through the usage of Winter Ruler, with a few of the bounty hunters that were unfortunate to be in the vicinity of him, too frozen to death.

    He then conjured an ice trident and directly rushed at the nearest Steel-Tier bounty hunter, who was wearing a long leather trench coat, piercing through his stomach with the ice trident.

    It was an instant kill, as the bounty hunter was pierced through and his insides were frozen to icicles.

    The remaining bounty hunters that were still alive instantly woke up from their stupor as they just realized what happened and started drawing out their weapons and started attacking Samiel.

    Unfortunately for them, their numbers were meaningless in front of absolute power because while they were fifty of them on the board, all of them were just a mixture of Iron-Tiers and Steel-Tiers with three Bronze-Tier...

    When the head of thest bounty hunter fell onto the deck, Samiel was finished with the cleanup operation.

    All of the bounty hunters were killed by him within several minutes and he had no doubt that the situation on the other two ships was essentially the same.

    "Killing these ants doesn''t give me any sense of satisfaction... I should leave such small fries to Undead from now."

    He muttered, slightly disappointed with the situation.

    He was aware that in the aspect of raw power, he eclipsed these trashy Professionals...

    Even those from prestigious backgrounds would have trouble fighting him, unlike those who never received formal training.

    Opening his Holo-Brain, a holographic image of Yvraine and Juulius appeared and as he expected, they, too, finished their part on the deck. Naturally, both of them were Silver-Tier Professionals and extra powerful at that so that some bounty hunters won''t be a problem for them.

    "Did you search through them?"

    Asking the important question for a money grubber like him, they nodded before they proceeded to exin what they obtained from the bounty hunters.

    "Yes, we obtain a good number of weapons, some loot, mostly alcohol and gold. Nothing special."

    Juulius stated because there wasn''t much to obtain from the bounty hunters. Most of them lived from what they made, what they made they instantly used, so not many of them had anything of remarkable value.

    "Same here. Probably the main ship will have something more, considering it belonged to the leader of the bounty hunters."

    Yvraine too had a stroke of bad luck with the loot, normally she wouldn''t even bother with this, but unfortunately, then she would receive either a scolding or a cold shoulder from Samiel...

    He was really on looting and obtaining everything of even small value.

    She always knew that it was just a manifestation of his inner fear of bing poor and not having money and at the same time, it was a remembrance of the memories of his past life on Earth.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "What about the other two ships?"

    Juulius asked as Samiel thought about it for a short time before he decided to order sink the ships as they won''t be needing them.

    "Sink them, including our old ship. We will be taking this one."

    Samiel ordered as both of them went to carry out his orders; while he went to search through the ship.

    Before he searched the corpses of the bounty hunters and the quarters of the leader and crew, he summoned his Undead and ordered them to clean out the ship and throw all corpses to the sea.

    When he started going through the personal belongings of the bounty hunters, he was mildly surprised that the bounty hunters had some nice things in their spatial storages, especially the ones who were the Bronze-Tiers.

    "They have surprisingly good weapons stored here... a few tonnes of gold in bars and some artifacts, probably belonging to extinguished civilizations that existed on the 11th Floor. And there are even some items belonging to the Merfolk, though I don''t know which tribe."

    Merfolk was a term for a humanoid species that lived within the oceans; sometimes, they appeared closer to humans, while some of them appeared closer to fishes or other species of maritime lifeforms.

    They lived in worlds that were either solely aquatic orrgely aquatic and rarely interacted with the surface world above the ind.

    So it was pretty rare to see Merfolk in these areas.

    ***

    Time on the seas was flowing fast and soon enough, Samiel and co arrived at the territorial waters of the Laros Kingdom.

    When they arrived with their ship in their territorial waters, not even two hours after that, they were surrounded by five ships of the Laros Kingoddm and another two from the Marines.

    All of their ships were several times bigger than the one they were using, but that was understandable, as they were the ships of official organizations and all of them were made from steel.

    One of the bounty hunters was made of wood, so it wasn''t that special and powerfulpared to the ships of the Marines and the Laros Kingdom.

    It was clear that they were patrolling their territorial waters and guarding them against the pirates and other scum of the seas that would attempt to enter their territory.

    Samiel left themunication with the Marines and Kingdom Official to Juulius; it was his responsibility as his personal knight. After Juulius presented them with a seal from The Guild, they let them pass and enter the territory of the Laros Kingdom.

    The proof of identity as Mercenaries of The Guild was something that the Laros Kingdom couldn''t ignore as their social standing was too lowpared to members of the 13 Gates like The Guild.

    They opted for this because Samiel didn''t wish to reveal his identity as a member of the Hall of Kadath.

    After all, this was the area under the influence of the Germinal Order.

    Laros maind was located on a small sub-continent, which was humongous, considered even by Sameil''s standards, but ording to the ssification of the Tower, it was just a sub-continent, even though it was twice big as Eurasia from Earth.

 Chapter 257 Laros Kingdom

    From the deck of their ship Samiel saw the city in the distance; nestled between the jagged cliffs of a misty coastline lies the bustling port city of Arvandor. Its medieval architecture, with towering walls of stone and timber, is a testament to its long history as a hub of trade and culture.

    At the heart of the city stands the grand citadel, a towering fortress that overlooks the bustling harbor below.

    Its crented walls are adorned with banners of the city''s noble houses, and its gates are guarded day and night by a contingent of heavily armed soldiers.

    Most of them were of the Githyanki and Githzerai species; considering the fact that the Laros Kingdom was heavily supported by the Germinal Order, it was logical that there would be many of theming here across the Material ne.

    Within the citadel''s walls lies the ruling council chamber, where the city''s lords anddies meet to discuss matters of state and strategy. The council is led by the city''s High Lord, a wise and just ruler whose word isw within the city walls.

    From the citadel, narrow streets lined with shops and taverns snake down towards the harbor, alive with the sounds of merchants haggling over exotic goods from far-offnds.

    The city''s market square is a riot of color and noise, filled with traders selling everything from silks and spices to precious gems and rare beasts.

    Beyond the market, the streets give way to a warren of winding alleys and hidden courtyards, where the city''s craftsmen toil away in their workshops. The air is thick with the scent of woodsmoke and the nging of hammers as cksmiths, weavers, and potters work their trades.

    At the heart of the city lies the harbor, a sprawlingplex of docks, piers, and quays that stretches out into the misty sea beyond. Here, ships from all corners of the known worlde to trade and refuel, bringing with them tales of adventure and intrigue from far-offnds.

    The harbor is guarded by a floti of warships, each flying the colors of one of the city''s noble houses. These ships, with their sleek lines and formidable armaments, are a constant reminder of the dangers that lurk beyond the city walls.

    But despite the ever-present threat of attack, life in Arvandor is a vibrant and colorful affair.

    The city''s people are a diverse mix of races and cultures, and its streets are alive with music, dance, and celebration. It was an interesting sight to see humans mixing with Githyanki and Githzerai and with them even with Dwarves and even some Elves.

    Samiel andpany were escorted by one of the ships from the Laros Kingdom to the port, where they docked at the empty docking space.

    They took everything valuable from the ship as they disembarked and Samiel soon enough noticed a dwarf wearing luxurious clothes and a golden ring.

    Clearly, this was one of the merchants and probably also one of the port officials. He then went to the dwarf and greeted him in dwarvish, which was getting better and better as he worked onnguages of the Material ne andmon dwarvish was rather pretty much-spreadnguage.

    "I would like to sell my ship master dwarf... that one which has right now docked."

    Samiel said inmon dwarvish and pointed at the ship as the dwarven merchant observed the ship and made an offer for Samiel.

    "15,000 Credits at best."

    Samiel nodded, hearing the offer and gave the dwarf number of his Vaultbank ount so he could transfer the money.

    "Is there anything interest in the surrounding area, master dwarf?"

    He then questioned the dwarf as he received the payment of 15,000 Credits. For him, it was nothing, but it was better than just sinking the ship or just leaving it there.

    This should be enough for a few dates with Yvraine in exclusive restaurants that he prefers.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Yar. For those brave enough to venture beyond the city walls, the misty cliffs and rocky shoreline offer a wealth of adventure and danger. Ancient ruins, hidden tombs, and long-forgotten treasures lie hidden in the mist-shrouded hills, waiting to be discovered by bold adventurers with a thirst for glory and riches. Das area was one a battlefield between several dukedoms and churches... yar there many treasures and precious thing, thus not many return from there... some of the tombs of ancient factions buried there even Holies."

    Samiel nodded, assimting the information he got from the dwarf, but he decided against it.

    While he was tempted by the mary gains from the tombs, there could be some really precious things, riches and treasures hidden there, but he didn''t have either time and neither did he have the necessary power to explore such things.

    Now with the ship being sold, Samiel exchanged the departing greetings with the dwarven merchant and went to Yvraine and Juulius, who were waiting for him at the port, already getting the carriage to the teleportation district, with a short stop at the merchant district.

    "I managed to get a few thousand Credits for the ship... we could go and buy some nice dinner and treats for the mascots."

    Samiel muttered as he scratched the Nefertari behind her ear and even Tytos raised his head in anticipation because it meant that master of his master would be paying and even the huge white tiger realized that the scary-looking man had a very soft spot for the felines and cats in general.

    "That''s good, I think?"

    She didn''t really care about what happened to the ship we captured from the Bounty Hunters. For her, a situation where we have obtained a few thousand of Credits wasn''t changing anything, not like for me, because for me, it was bringing some sort of psychic satisfaction.

    "Should we depart for the merchant district?"

    Samiel asked as Yvraine nodded in agreement and Juulius subsequently motioned for the driver of the carriage to drive them to the merchant district.

    He looked through the window, observing the citizens interacting with each other, buying goods and other things that they were normally doing, while Yvraine was looking through the page of the Arvandor on the NEX Network on her Holo-Brain.

    "How much for the teleportation to Skr?n?ti??"

    He asked as Yvraine checked on the prices... when he looked at her expression, he noticed that the price must be something that surprised even Yvraine deeply.

    "75,000 Credits per person... and they even want 30,000 Credits per familiar... greedy bastards, but considering the distance between Skr?n?ti? and Laros, not talking about the recent changes on the Floor, it is a good offer."

    If they were in the territory of the Skr?n?ti?, then they wouldn''t need to pay a single Credit, but unfortunately, they were not and Samiel knew that there was no other option than to pay.

    Distance between the Skr?n?ti? and Laros Kingdom was tremendous and teleportation through it was no easy matter.

    Not to mention, the monopoly over teleportation was in the hands of the Laros Kingdom, so they were calling the shots on what the prices of the usage would be.

    Those who don''t like that either would just shut up or go their way.

    "Whatever... still, 285,000 Credits is a rtively lot... hopefully, the pirates in that area would be more powerful and it would pay off."

    For a cheapstake like him, it was heartbreaking to part with such a high amount of Credits.

 Chapter 258 Skr?n?ti?

    ?

    "In the Northern Ocean Area, there should be more pirates and, more importantly, far more stronger ones with high bounties. Only a few years ago, the strongest nations of the Western Ocean Areaunched a great clean-up of the pirates together with the Marines and even some of the strongest bounty hunter groups and managed to destroy approximately 60% of all pirate crews and more than 90% of strongest pirates crew were killed, including the majority of the Sea Warlords and even Pirate King was hunted down."

    Yvrainemented from the side because she read some information about the 11th Floor and because of the clean-up that was carried out on the 11th Floor''s Western Ocean Area, only some small fries and weak pirate crews remained...

    Naturally, the Kingdoms and Marines suffered greatly from those actions as well because they lost a lot of Professionals and high-tiered personnel in operation.

    Yet, for them, the good thing was that they obtained everything that was left after the pirates were killed.

    "Did you also go through some information about the Skr?n?ti? and Northern Ocean Area?"

    Samiel asked as he saw Yvraine nodded and proceeded with the exnation.

    "Northern Ocean Area has the lowest number of pirates, but all of the pirate crews that are operating there, are the strongest of the pirate crews. Not to mention, they have a special social ss called Vikings who are long lineages of raiders living in the coldest and most inhospitable areas of the Northern Ocean Area. There are several Sea Lords and three Pirate Kings operating in the Northern Ocean Area so that the area would be rather fruitful for our hunt."

    Yvraine stated as Samiel hummed in satisfaction.

    "Splendid... now we need just to eat somewhere and we can depart toward the Skr?n?ti?."

    He muttered while they proceeded towards the merchant district of the city, as Juulius ordered the carriage driver to bring them to the most exclusive restaurant in the Avandor Port City.

    It was famous for its menus from the local sea life.

    When they were weed to the restaurant, Samiel ordered the VIP box for them as they were led to avish room on the top floor of the restaurant, which cost him a hefty sum of Credits for a single VIP box.

    "I will have an entire sushi menu... at least from Silver-Tier fishes... nothing less and for Familiar, bring me a few corpses of Imperial Tunas and Pink-Red Salmons for the felines."

    The waitress made a note of the order and soon enough, the orders started rolling because the kitchens started working very fast, especially when the orders were for the VIPs, which were paying astronomical prices.

    "Thank you, hooman."

    Nefertari yawned happily as she was munching on the Pink-Red Salmon, as it was one of her favorite treats.

    While Samiel soon enough started enjoying his sushi.

    He had to admit that the sushi from here was top-notch, mainly because the fish from which it was made from were all high-tiered and freshly hunted by the fishers.

    "It is splendid... how do you like your food?"

    Samiel asked as he didn''t need to hear a response from Nefertari and Tytos as both of them were too engrossed in eating their fish.

    Tytos was munching on enormous human-sized Imperial Tuna while Nefertari was gracefully eating the Pink-Red Salmon.

    "It is delicious."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ***

    Northern Ocean Area, Skr?n?ti?, the capital city of the Skr?n?ti?, Jorvik.

    "It is different here... yet beautiful and the environment here is empowering me..."

    Samiel muttered as he looked around the buildings made from timber and stone; all of them were constructed in distinctive Viking-style architecture, which was the dominant culture of the Skr?n?ti?.

    "Skr?n?ti? was originally a loose alliance of several Jarldoms and smaller viking Kingdoms that were worshipping the ��satr�� Pantheon a long time ago. After something happened within the ��satr�� and they closed off their borders and stopped intervening within the wider Cosmos and restricted their influence solely to the Yggdrasil and a few worlds adjusted to their Higher Dimensional World, backers of these smaller organizations disappeared and they were left on their own; thus a few from the powerful factions backed by their Transcendetns started freely spreading their influence here."

    Juulius exined to Samiel that it was rather interesting to see that faith in the Outer Court was dominant in these areas.

    However, he could still observe some temples dedicated to the ��satr��s and there were even a few of their temples, though they were not as grandiose as the Cathedrals and Churches of the Outer Gods.

    "In the end, the culture left by the ��satr�� through their faith created a warrior society which was very appealing to the Hall of Kadath, so we invested a lot of resources to bring these Jarldoms and nations to hell and established a covenant with them. While the faith of the ��satr�� is not outrightly banned because their faith is deeply steeped in the very own culture of the Viking people, their loyalty has changed within the past tens of thousands of years to the Hall of Kadath. They even produced one Cardinal, High Excellence Ragnar Kallikratos."

    Samiel naturally heard about his High Excellency Ragnar Kallikratos and Yvraine shuddered at hearing that name because that man waspletely savage, even by the standards of the Hall of Kadath.

    He was a person who rose from being a lowly viking serf to the position of one of the most powerful mortals in the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    Not only that, but he was born as a Berserker, which was a sub-species of the viking people, who entered uncontroble rage on the battlefield, that increased their powers tremendously at the price of their sanity.

    They were absolutely savage warriors that left only blood, carnage and pieces of their enemies and sometimes even allies alike on the battlefield.

    Naturally, some of the Berserkers, like Ragnar Kallikratos, learned how to control their transformation and rage, which made them even more dangerous.

    "So, where now?"

    Samiel asked as he breathed in the freezing cold air of the Northern Ocean Area because he was feeling more powerful in this environment.

    It was pretty much simr to Yvraine, who thrived in the forests and ces where nature was strong; Samiel thrived in the freezing cold ces due to his Lord-ss Knight of the Niflheim.

    "We need to go to the local Cathedral to meet with the Bishop in charge of that one."

    Hearing that, he was marily surprised to hear that the Bishop of the Hall of Kadath was present on the 11th Floor because normally, Legendaris didn''t spend their time on the Lower Floors of the Tower due to the Covenant.

    "Yes, there is a Bishop stationed here, but naturally, due to the Covenant, he is under strict restrictions on how to use his power and so on to not breach the Covenant."

    Such a thing was absolutely unthinkable to almost all of the factions across the Material ne of the Cosmos probably with the exception of the Vaultbank and Hall of Kadath.

    For the Vaultbank, it was pretty much a simple reason because somebody needed to guard their branches and for the Hall of Kadath, the reason was their entire organization was most militaristic and ran on the pure meritocratic system.

 Chapter 259 Bishop Of The Hall

    ?

    Legendary Level Professionals were lofty individuals that were standing on the peak of the Material ne of the Cosmos. In some areas of the Material nes of the Cosmos, they ruled entire Worlds and they were the backbones of any proper factions.

    So even for the powerful faction, it would be problematic to force them actually do things like this...

    Only a few factions had such inner organization and structure, hierarchy and nature that they could order their Legendaries like this and most of them could be counted on one hand.

    "Then we should be going... I also want to take a look at the local architecture and temples of the ��satr�� Pantheon."

    Afterward, they strode through the city, which was a different feeling for Samiel, especially from appearances.

    All the towns he visited till now were absolutely humongous, but the Jorvik, even though it was the capital of the entire hegemonial nation of Skr?n?ti?, was rtively modest.

    Most of it was attributed to the culture of the people of the Skr?n?ti?; there were no huge builds,rge-sized districts, or whatever.

    Houses were modest; after humans, the second most populous race of Skr?n?ti?, were dwarves and thus there was a good number of houses made of distinctive dwarven stone-carving architecture.

    Naturally, there was nothing like a noble district or something like he saw in the previous locations because the people of Skr?n?ti? were divided into social sses based on theirbat prowess.

    Those who were stronger and produced more warriors lived in bigger houses and those who did not in smaller ones.

    Though they were all modest, in his opinion.

    Yet one thing which was certainly unique to the Skr?n?ti? was the number of "public fight areas" or battle arenas where the citizens were fighting andparing their martial prowess.

    Slowly they arrived in front of a huge temple that was dedicated to the ��satr�� Pantheon.

    Like most, if not all, of the buildings in the city, this one was too made from only stone and wood and was designated to resemble the longhouse and mead hall that weremon across the society.

    The exterior of the temple featured intricate carvings and other decorations that paid homepage to the ��satr�� Pantheon. The main entrance to the temple was adorned with arge wooden dorn that was decorated with the carvings of ��satr�� Runes and creatures affiliated with their Faith.

    "It is certainly more modest than ones worshipping other Pantheons."

    Samiel remarked as they went to the Grand Cathedral of the Outer Court of the Hall of Kadath, which was the only tall building in the entire city.

    In a certain sense, it was destroying the entire appearance of the city with its gothic appearance and somewhat creepy statues of the Outer Gods and mystic creatures.

    When they arrived at the Grand Cathedral of the Outer Court, it was guarded by a whole bunch of Silver-Tier Temr Knights acting under themand of the Gold-Tier Temr Knights.

    It was rather an impressive lineup on such Lower Floor, but the Hall of Kadath had a few of the Temples and Churches in the Tower and all of them were protected with rather powerful military setups.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    When the Temr Knights of the Holy Temr Order saw Juulius, they gave him a traditional bow of Temr, as his distinctive features as the descent of the House of Crawford, were very well known among every Temr Knight.

    When they entered the Cathedral, Juulius and Yvraine together with the felines, remained back while only Samiel went further, down through the long hall.

    The interior of a Gothic cathedral is typically divided into three parts: the nave, the transept, and the choir.

    The nave is the central aisle of the cathedral, and it runs from the main entrance to the altar at the front of the building. The walls of the nave were lined with rows of columns that supported the towering arches and vaults overhead. The windows along the sides of the nave were tall and narrow, allowing in a diffuse, colorful light that filled the space with a soft, ethereal glow.

    The transept is the cross-shaped section of the cathedral that intersects with the nave. This area typically houses the choir stalls and the pulpit, and it may also include a small chapel or shrine. The transept is often one of the most ornately decorated areas of the cathedral, with intricate carvings, statues, and stained-ss windows that depict scenes from the Gospel of the Outer Gods.

    The choir is the section of the cathedral that surrounds the altar, and it was reserved for use by the clergy and the choir. The choir stalls are often intricately carved and decorated with images of saints, angels, and other religious figures.

    The high altar was typically located at the center of the choir, and it may be adorned with borate decorations such as void crystals, statues of the Outer Gods and other things deciphered in the Gospel of the Outer Gods.

    "Wee, Holy Son, to my humble temple."

    Samiel heard a voice of a man who was wearing the clothes of priest, rather simple, but it had modifications to suit the weather of the Northern Ocean Area, as it was made from furs of the creatures that lived in the Skr?n?ti?.

    Naturally, Samiel''s appearance and movements were very well known among the upper echelons of the Hall of Kadath, so Bishop Vilgar knew that the Holy Son of their factions hade to the 11th Floor and he was aware that sooner orter, he woulde to the Skr?n?ti?.

    Bishop Vilgar was an elderly-looking man with a long gray beard, but even though he looked like an old man, the muscr physique of a warrior was absolutely undeniable. His entire posture was screaming "word" warrior and his muscr physique could be seen even from a distance.

    "I thank you for your wee, Bishop Vilgar."

    Samiel stated as he sat down next to Bishop Vilgar in the front row of seats, which was closest to the Altar of the Outer Court.

    "May I ask, what has brought you to my temple, Your Highness Holy Son?"

    Bishop Vilgar asked Samiel, who proceeded to exin the situation at hand.

    "I need ess to the informationwork of the Skr?n?ti? and also, I need to buy a ship. Preferably one of their best ships that have avable... it would be nice if it came with some nice discount."

    Bishop of the Grand Catherdal of Skr?n?ti? nodded in understanding and proceeded to contact the High Jarl of the Skr?n?ti?, who was essentially something like a king of the nation.

    Naturally, the Hall of Kadath had a big say in the matters of the Skr?n?ti?, as the Faith of the Outer Gods was the official state religion of the Skr?n?ti?.

    It wasn''t a theocracy because ��satr�� Faith was still practiced among the people of Skr?n?ti?, but as the state religion and main ambassador of the Hall of Kadath on the 11th Floor, Bishop Vilgar had a big political influence within the nation of Skr?n?ti?.

 Chapter 260 Training And...

    ?

    The High Jarl was the highest political authority within the Skr?n?ti? and contrary to the Monarchs of other nations, the session of the Skr?n?ti? was determined on the meeting of Jarls called moot, where the candidates for the High Jarl would fight among themselves and only the strongest and mostpetent would be chosen for the High Jarl.

    When it came to the request of the Bishop who was the highest religious authority in the Skr?n?ti?, it was almost impossible for the High Jarl to refuse the request and soon enough, Samiel received a few messages on his Holo-Brain.

    ��?��m One of them was ess to the informationwork of the Skr?n?ti?, which was filled with the exact thing that Samiel needed. It was primordial truth that the information were one of the most destructive and deadly weapons ever.

    A piece of very detailed information about all of the pirate crews that operated in the Northern Oceans, together with the Sea Lords and Pirate Kings and even some of the nations that secretly or openly supported the various pirate crews.

    The second one was the list of warships that the Skr?n?ti? could sell them.

    Samiel immediately started screening through them and chose one of the best warships at the 500,000 Credits. It was a small investment, on top of which he could always sell it back at a good price if the ship was in good condition.

    "I thank you very much for your help, Your Excellency Bishop Vir. If possible, could you please assist me in procuring a crew? Using undead has proven to be inefficient. Having Vikings and Temr Knights as part of my crew would be the most productive scenario."

    Bishop Vir agreed with this sentiment, acknowledging that using undead was not the most efficient method of controlling a ship.

    "I will send an entire crew for the ship at theter that... for now, you should go and find your lodgings within the Cathedral that was already prepared for your needs."

    Samiel then thanked Bishop Vir and went to meet Yvraine and Juulius, who were waiting for him at the back of the grand cathedral.

    They needed to find their dwellings within the grand cathedral of the Hall of Kadath.

    As they would be using the nation of Skr?n?ti? as their home base for the time being, they unanimously decided to stay in the grand cathedral of the Hall of Kadath because it was of a high standard and, most importantly, it was free.

    "Good news is that I got us ship, crew and even dwellings... the bad would be, we need to wait a few days before we could set sail. During that time, we need to n our sailing route toward the most notorious pirate crews with the highest bounties and other ces of interest. I already have ess to the informationwork of the Skr?n?ti? Kingdom."

    Samiel said to Yvraine and Juulius as soon after he returned to both of them, a servant came, clearly a member of the lower clergy, only a priest-in-training who would lead them to their dwelling.

    Because the Grand Cathedral of the Hall of Kadath in Skr?n?ti? was an enormous building, it took some time before they arrived at the part of it where their chambers were located.

    Yvraine and Samiel naturally got a big room that they would be sharing, while Juulius got a bit smaller roompared to theirs, in the same hall.

    Like the rest of the building, their chamber looked like a cut out from some gothic movie, with an enormous king-sized bed in the middle, naturally colored ck, which Yvraine already eyed with sparkles in her eyes.

    "Do you want to test the bed?"

    Even though the offer was pretty much tempting for him, right now was not the time for activities like that because Samiel wanted to train for a bit.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He sensed that he could continue to increase his Level once more because it was a long since he did so thest time and Mana in his body was already stabilized enough.

    Not to mention, there was still one Magic Grimoire, Basic Principles of the Mythos Necrosis, that was impatiently waiting for him to open it.

    From the moment he got his hands on that book, he heard its whispers and temptations that it was constantly giving him.

    He knew that the consciousness of that one was bent on driving its users mad and probably turning them into puppets for the Outer Gods to y. Such was the nature of the Necronomicon when it was in its peak state.

    ording to the legends, it could enve Holies like Demigods or False Immortals and so on, those with weaker wills just within a few sentences and the moment a person opened the Necronomicon, he was forever lost to the will and whims of the ursed book.

    "Spoilsport... whatever... I will then entertain myself."

    Yvraine shrugged as he wanted to curse in his mind because he knew what would be following... while he would normally be eager to have some sexy time with his Silvermoon Princess, he didn''t want the spend uing days in bed entirely.

    ''At least I should get master some of the basic spells from the Mythos Magic before my will to resist her temptations will crumble apart...''

    Samiel knew that when it came to seducing, he couldn''t say no to Yvraine for a prolonged time and she always got what she wanted... especially when she wanted her healthy dose of D.

    Decided to ignore Yvraine for now; for as long as he could, he sat down cross-legged and entered the meditation while circting the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method and one after another, he was draining one Silver-Tier Mana Crystal after another.

    He sensed that the Mana inside his core was increasing bit by bit, being refined from the Mana Crystals, refined and tempered to be an extraordinary unique kind of Mana that was unique to his very own existence.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 41.]

    [Proficiency with the Mana Control Method: Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    He heard the notification from the Akashic Records approximately ten minutester after he reached Level 41 and then Samiel decided to stop with this. He felt that the increase was rather big in terms of his raw power.

    After that, he would need at least a few days to adjust to it properly.

    From the other part of the room, Yvraine looked at him with interest and some levels of lust, because she was getting off from Samiel getting stronger... it was like some sort of aphrodisiac for her...

    "Wait more time if you could... I will being to you soon, so for now, y with yourself."

    Samiel said to her, as he couldn''t take his eyes off Yvraine in lingerie.

 Chapter 261 Mythos Magic

    ?

    Next Day, Skr?n?ti?, Jorvik, Grand Cathedral of the Hall of Kadath

    The following day after their arrived at the Skr?n?ti? and its capital Jorvik, Samiel woke up after good sleep and was happily satisfied.

    Last night they were fucking like rabbits and thus, Yvraine was still soundly sleeping after a night of stressful activities.

    Because he was up far sooner than Yvraine, Samiel decided to study the Mythos Magic from the Grimoire he got on it from the Trials of the Last Human King.

    Samiel took out the creepy-looking book from his Dimensional Storage as he put it in front of him.

    For the study of the Mythos Magic, he was in a separate room within his chambers that was warded against any outside interference and also protected outside from whatever was going inside the sealed warded chambers.

    ''Open me...kill everyone... destroy everything...''

    Samiel immediately heard the voice of the Grimoire, understanding why everyone went mad who touched the book...

    It contained the primal essence of the Outer Gods, its corrupting nature was even far higherpared to the Grimoires of the Void Magic.

    Because Samiel was a partial Eldritch Creature that was infinitely close to his Eldritch Origin, he was essentially immune to whatever the book was throwing at him.

    He opened the book and slowly started unfolding the secrets of the Mythos Magic.

    The fundamental essence of the Mythos Magic was borrowing the powers of the Outer Gods to cast spells that were based on their attributes. Each Spell was extremely dangerous, as it was to the caster, as it was to the target.

    This was because, while each Spell was based on the aspect of power and attribute of some Outer God, the second such Spell was cast, the Outer God felt it and could react adequately.

    Most of the Outer Gods were not happy when someone was using their power, for whatever reason, but they let it slide, because the people that cast Mythos Spells were typically turned into their ves.

    Samiel started reading the book attentively andprehending every bit of the wisdom stored in the Grimoire because it contained another aspect of his powers as the Eldritch Creature.

    When he started studying the Grimoire, it felt rather simr to that of the Void Magic because it was familiar.

    Like it was part of his very own being.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has learned the basics of Mythos Magic.]

    [Proficiency with the Mythos Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Mythos Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Mythos Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Mythos Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Mythos Magic has been increased by 1%.]

    Samiel got one notification from the Akashic Records after another as he wasprehending the primal essence of the Mythos Magic.

    He was grasping the basics of the Basic Mythos Magic rather quickly, in a simr fashion to the Void Magic.

    It was clear that his racial capabilities were showing useful in the heightened affinity for the Mythos Magic, not to talk about the fact that he was getting stronger and stronger with each passed Spell that heprehended with ease.

    "Time is surely going when you are having fun."

    After several hours he closed the Grimoire as he entirely ignored the screaming voice of the Grimoire, which was cursing him or attempting to do so, but it was futile against someone like him.

    Because Samiel Zentaur was the Holy Son of the Azathoth and chosen one of the Outer Court, there was nothing that could happen to him... probably...

    Then he opened his Record within the Akashic Records to check on the newest addition to his status as he obtained the Mythos Magic.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Outer Court

    Age: 31

    Race: Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (80%) / Human (20%)

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (40%), Grand Necromancer (27%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level:

    Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter, Warding, Mythos)

    Intermediate (Void, Necromancy, Winter, Warding)

    Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost, Outer Holiness

    Records Points: 5,640

    ***

    Tier: Bronze<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Level: 41

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (42%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (40%) - Ultimate Ability

    Rift (1%) - Rare Ability

    Architect (7%) - Transcendental Ability

    ***

    Techniques:

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (26%)

    Star Mind Protection Technique (25%) - 3 Stars

    ***

    Magic:

    Necromancy Arts (38%)

    Void Magic (23%)

    Winter Magic (22%)

    Warding Magic (14%)

    Mythos Magic (5%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (50%)

    Swordsmanship (14%)

    Trident Mastery (23%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 4th Level Spells (68%)

    Metamagic - Spell Control (25%)

    Metamagic - Spell Pration (22%)

    Metamagic - Empower Spell (21%)]

    While his growth seemed rather slow in certain aspects or from a certain perspective, considering the nature of the Skills and Abilities he had, he was progressing at tremendous speed.

    Normally gathering proficiency was something that took entire years, so his progress was extremely fastpared to the average Professionals.

    "I should be going... Yvraine should be waking soon and it is time for breakfast."

    He then left the sealed room and went back to their chambers, as he caught sight of Yvraine wearing just a towel because she just came out from the shower.

    "You were gone when I woke up."

    She said with a pout because he knew how she hated when they were sleeping and he woke way ahead of her. Sometimes, he wasn''t in the mood to continue just lying down on the bed and went to study Magic, which was the thing that Yvraine certainly didn''t appreciate.

    "Sorry... but the temptation of the Mythos Magic was too big for me to ignore and I wanted to grasp the basics until we set sail..."

    Yvraine reluctantly nodded; even though she didn''t entirely like it, she knew that it was important for Samiel. Though for the next time, he made a mental note that he would spend a morning with Yvraine, just to make her happy.

    "Come, we need to go for breakfast."

    After several minutes Yvraine dried herself and wore a nice outfit that was more aimed atfort than the outer appearance, and Samiel was also wearing his pajama as he didn''t really bother to change himself.

    "No, go to change yourself at first... You look like some homeless human who just came out of the trashcan..."

    Hearing Yvraine scolding his pajamas, he stuck out his tongue at her, but he still went to change into something much more respectable, yet it was done with great reluctance.

    He came out in a steampunk-inspired suit, which was the type of fashion he had liked since the Earthen times, so he let her choose his wardrobe during thest time they were shopping for clothes with Yvraine.

    On the positive side of things, Yvraine knew exactly what clothes to choose to make him look cool, elegant or intimidating. He wondered if she had some kind of fashion sense for the things like these.

 Chapter 262 Morning And Breakfast

    ?

    The was being served in one of the halls within the Grand Cathedral of the faith of the Outer Gods, which was typically reserved for greeting the high-ss guests that came to visit Bishop Vilgar, who was stationed on this floor.

    In fact, Samiel was eager for the breakfast because he would have food that was directly prepared for the Legendaries, as Bishop Vilgar would be eating with them, so they could enjoy some high-end ingredients that sometimes not even money would be able to procure.

    He came out of his chambers, closely following after Yvraine as they went there side by side, with her leaning over his right hand, which she was gripping strongly. Mainly because she noticed the nces that the female members of the clergy were giving her man, so she got a bit territorial.

    Nefertari was happily flying through the corridors of the enormous Cathedral, enjoying the scenery of the archaic gothic church, filled with countless, some may say, creepy-looking statues of the Outer Gods and some other types of the Eldritch Creatures.

    Aside from him, she was probably the other person who was most eager for food.

    She was sure that she would get her paws on some good high-quality meat and because she was a familiar of the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, once again she was sure that the Bishop Vilgar wouldn''t be stingy sharing his personal stash.

    Some may wonder, but high-end food made from precious magical beasts or high-tiered lifeforms was worth of all money and for many people, it was also a source of strength and power.

    For Nefertari and Tytos, who could push forward boundaries of their powers and evolution to the higher ends, while even Samie, as a partial Eldritch Creature, was the same because he too could grow stronger from the same thing.

    That was the reason why he was never stingy with meals and ate only the best he could buy with his capabilities.

    Soon enough, they arrived at the hall, where Bishop Vilgar was already waiting for them, sitting in a luxuriously decorated hall. He was seated at the end of the long table, at the ce where those with the most seniority in the room sat.

    While technically speaking, in terms of ranking, Samiel as the Holy Son of the Hall and also as the personal disciple of the current Hall Master, was slightly above in statuspared to Bishop.

    Still, Bishop Vilgar was Legendary Level Professional and the Hall of Kadath respected personal strength above everything else.

    "Good morning, Your Excellency."

    Samiel greeted the elderly Bishop the moment he entered the room, with Yvraine closely following suit as she gave him a small bow of respect.

    "To you too, Your Highness the Holy Son, Silvermmon Princess."

    Bishop Vilgar greeted them as he motioned for them to sit daw, as Samiel sat to his right while Yvraine sat next to Samiel.

    "It would certainly please Your Highness that the crew of your newly bought ship has been assembled from the promising young Temrs and some experienced sailors of the Northern Ocean Area."

    Bishop Vilgar stated jovially while they waited for their food, to which Samiel nodded his head, that everything was going ording to his ns.

    "I am deeply thankful for that, Your Excellency."

    Seconds after he said that, Samiel noticed a small frown on the face of Bishop before he went to exin the situation.

    "Though, you could take sail only after several days because a week earlier, a terrifying frost-storm had passed through here and froze the shores... High Jarl told me that they would need at least four to five days to remove the aftereffectspletely."

    While this was unfortunate, it was true that they couldn''t leave the Skr?n?ti? under current conditions. Though on the bright side, he could at least continue studying Mythos Magic and prepare for the sailing.

    There were still some things he needed to go through. He had some parts of the Intermediate Warding Magic that he needed to learn because he was missing thest parts before he could move on to more advanced forms of the Warding Magic.

    "Time is not a problem for us at all... also I wanted to ask, where is Juulius, Your Excellency?"

    He stated as the food was soon served to them by waiters, as Samiel salivated a bit when he smelled the fragrance of the dishes that were being served to them. He also noticed that Juulius was missing from the setup, as he guessed that he was probably dealing with the Temrs.

    "Your sworn knight has departed to examine the ship that is to serve and he also went to organize the Temr Knights who would be acting as your crew."

    Samiel nodded; at least Juulius was the one who was responsible, but it was exactly for a situation like this, and he was also the person who knew the Temr Knights best. So, it would be better to leave that task for him... not to mention, he wasn''t fond of dealing with such menial tasks.

    "Then everything is as it should be... now let''s eat."

    With that being said, everyone started eating, especially two felines, Nefertari and Tytos, who were voraciously devouring every bit of piece of meat that was put in front of them.

    Despite her small stature, Nefertari was able to keep up with Tytos because she was eating delicious high-tiered meat from Gold-Tier magical beasts.

    "I must admit that your personal stash is really something else, Your Excellency..."

    Samielplimented viking-looking Bishop because he liked the food very much; even ever-picky Silvermoon Princess nodded gracefully that she agreed with what he said.

    "How many people have Your Excellency recruited for the ship?"

    The ship that Samiel bought was veryrge, probably capable of easily holding a few hundred people altogether without any problems.

    All warships that were being constructed by the Skr?n?ti? were humongous and were typical to amodate a small army.

    Naturally, the one that Samiel bought was no different and thus, Samiel also needed a small army for the ship, which Bishop Vilgar kindly provided for him.

    "Something about 350... most of them are directly from the Temr Order that were sent here for tempering, though I have ordered for some clergy to help with injuries and also to gain Spell Casters."

    While priests of some religions were rather weak because they could cast only Divine Spells that were used by borrowing the Divine Power of their Gods, the ones of the Hall of Kadath were vastly different.

    All Priests of the Hall of Kadath were aplished Spell Casters and Magic Users on their own. They were using their Divine Power granted to them, by Gods, in an entirely different manner because they used them to boost up the offensive potency of their normal Spells while also giving them Divine properties.

    "That seems to be a pretty sizable crew..."

    With a crew of this size, he wouldn''t need to use his Undead and could delegate most, if not all, work to his Knights and Priests. Among the Temrs and Priests, there was a whole bunch who were Bronze-Tiers, because they were the best of the best that the hall of Kadath sent here for tempering.

    "Indeed it is... but they are one of the best from the younger generation among the Temr Order and lesiarchy."

    Naturally, only the best would be allowed to apany the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

 Chapter 263 Crew

    ?

    The following days passed quietly as Samiel continued his training and when he was resting, he was devoting himself to the study of the Mythos Magic. It took him only three days toprehend Basic Level Mythos Magic and now he could cast the spells without any problems.

    He had to admit that the spells of the Mythos Magic, even some of the 1st Level Spells, were extremely terrifying curses that could affect even higher-tiered Professionals, which was really something to behold.

    That was mainly because Spell contained some of the essences of the Outer Gods, who were lending their very own power to the caster. He already mastered some really nasty curses that would certainlye in handy in the future.

    Today they would be taking sail to travel through the Northern Ocean Area as the aftereffects of the frost storm were removed entirely and the ships were given the green to leave the ports.

    Yvraine was naturally eager to leave the Grand Cathedral because in her words, it was too boring here. Samiel wasn''t that keen on leaving; for him, this ce was good and he enjoyed his time greatly.

    From time to time, he would study Gospel with the other Priests of the Hall of Kadath, as there were many members of the clergy from the lesiarchy who were training on the 11th Floor.

    He also ministered several prayers during the several days he spent in the Grand Cathedral, which was certainly something new and it was a refreshing experience.

    This was the first time he was carrying out the prayer and in the future, it would be one of the most important duties as the Hall Master of the Hall.

    Life in the Cathedral was peaceful and rxing; on top of that, Samiel found a new passion for theological debates with the priests, which was something new. Fortunately, on the ship and among the crew, there were several members of the junior clergy from the lesiarchy.

    So he would have partners for discussions there.

    Samiel didn''t realize that this was an important thing as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, not just to put up with the title and make an appearance, but he also needed to build connections and a base of followers within the Hall.

    Presently, Samiel was walking through the streets of the capital city of Skr?n?ti?, Jorvik and was heading toward the port. Port of the Jorivk was enormous; it easily could house tens of warships without a problem, as he searched for his personal warship, which he bought from the Skr?n?ti?.

    Naturally, it didn''t take long for him to locate his ship because it was the biggest warship within the port. The thing was a humongous steel behemoth made from the best alloys and metals that the Skr?n?ti? had in their disposition.

    For that, the price he paid for the ship was adequate while he marveled at his newest toy he could y with. Yvraine silently walked behind him, though she was more interested in the uing fights and action.

    After spending several days in the Grand Cathedral, where the only activities were the study of the Gospel, as a more active person who needed to do something, she almost went crazy.

    Countless people were running here and there around the ship and on its deck because they were preparing for sailing and there were still a lot of things that needed to be done on the ship.

    Samiel noticed that the firepower of the ship was rtively good, considering the fact that the people of Skr?n?ti? usually abhorred the usage of Magitek for military purposes or even other types of technology.

    Because of their viking culture, using guns and other "gadgets" to fight was disgraceful and was considered something that no proper viking would ever do. It was considered as a grave weakness to use external sources of power for any person of their civilization.

    Due to this culture, even their ships were not often armed with advanced weaponry as Skr?n?ti?ns depended on the boarding actions when they were fighting on the open sea or ramming through hostile ships.

    "Hopefully, it is worth of the credits you invested into this piece of steel..."

    Yvrainemented from the side as they boarded the ship and went directly for the captain of the ship. Naturally, Samiel won''t be captain because he knows nothing about managing a ship and managing a crew.

    For that, they hired some experienced people who were already well versed in this aspect and were also knowledgable about the entire Northern Ocean Area so that they could bring them to the biggest pirate crews as soon as possible.

    Juulius was already waiting for him together with the ship''s captain, who was named Alvar, in the captain''s quarters. Alvar looked like any other viking warrior, clearly signifying his strong heritage and Samiel noticed a ferocious aura around him.

    He came to the conclusion that the biking Alvar was highly probably a Berserker; those kinds of warriors were rare across the entire Skr?n?ti?. Even though Alvar was only the peak of the Steel-Tier, hisbat prowess under the Berserker State should be enough to match even some average Bronze-Tier Professionals.

    "My Lord."

    "Your Highness."

    Both men greeted Samiel with a bow; with a wave of his hand, he motioned them to sit down as they began discussing the situation and where to go first.

    "Has the route beenpleted yet?"

    Samiel asked as he sat down on the leather sofa, with Yvraine sitting next to him. He looked directly at Captain Alvar, who nodded his head and presented the Holy Son his nned route, which would be considered as sure death to anyone, but them.

    "Yes, I have included there more than forty pirate crews; among them, we have even several Sea Lords and if we are lucky, we could attract the attention of some of the Pirate Kingds that are living in this area."

    This entire sentence didn''t have any rationality and if the people on the ship were not from the Hall of Kadath and for the presence of good number of high-tiered Professionals, nobody would be crazy enough to do something like this.

    Purposely searching for the biggest pirate crews and even for the most frightening Pirate Kings, who were all very powerful Professionals on their own.

    "Splendid... among the Pirate Kings, there should not be any Gold-Tier Professionals?"

    Samiel asked and after seeing Captain Alvar nod his head, he was sure that this would be a piece of cake toplete. The only disadvantage of this mission would be the time aspect of it.

    They would need to spend a long time before theypleted their objective which was umting bounties with an overall worth of 10 million Credits. Naturally, Samiel even counted on the scenario where after some time, the pirates would purposely avoid them and flee.

 Chapter 264 Setting Sail

    ?

    Captain Alvar was someone who was sailing through the waters of the Northern Ocean Area for entire decades and he was a very experienced and knowledgeable captain.

    If not for his previous experiences and also some parts were attributed to his personal strength, he wouldn''t have been chosen for the position of Captain of Samiel''s ship.

    Samiel had to admit that the route was well-nned and contained a lot of pirate crews. If they were lucky, it won''t take long before he wouldplete the Advancement Quest and depart from the 11th Floor.

    "Good job Captain Alvar."

    Samiel praised Captain Alvar, who was in charge of the ship.

    "When can we sail?"

    He asked as he went through thest of the ns that Captain Alvar presented him.

    "Within one hour, everything should be prepared. Right now, the engineers are checking on the engines of the ship for thest time and after they give us the green light, we can go."

    Nodding his head, Samiel decided that it was time to check out the quarters that he shared with Yvraine while he left thepetent people to do their job.

    Security and protocols were above everything else and because the ship was functioning on the Magitek Engines, they needed to be properly checked before every usage. The explosion of such an engine was rather dangerous.

    Even though this was only a lower-graded engine, its explosion could still kill the average Silver-Professional.

    Samiel didn''t object to anything and just looked at Captain Alvar before he exited the captain''s quarters and went with Yvraine to their personal chambers.

    Their quarters were huge enough, constructed with Samiel''s favorite gothic style... probably Yvraine ordered this for him as he smiled seeing the ck-colored bedroom, with notable green colors among it.

    Approximately after one hour, the ship started exiting the port and was finally heading toward the open sea. Because they were still in the vicinity of the Skr?n?ti?, they would need to spend some good time on the seas before they would encounter the first pirate crew.

    Not even Pirate Kings and the most powerful ones among them dared to enter the territorial waters of the Skr?n?ti? because that was certain death on the spot.

    Most of the pirates valued their very own lives dearly and they would never do something that suicidal.

    Skr?n?ti? was a war-like nation and Skr?n?ti?ns liked to fight anyone who was out there.

    Because of that, the various pirate crews didn''t dare to enter their territorial waters to cause chaos and even if some of them entered, they would always adhere to the rules and act as proper citizens, which was sometimes rare sight.

    ***

    Several dayster, the Northern Ocean Area.

    For the past four days, they have been spending their time in peace and sometimes freezing due to the extreme conditions of the Northern Oceans, which were really, like really cold.

    Luckily the ships manufactured by the Skr?n?ti? were specifically adjusted to withstand extreme cold and frost, not to mention they were armed with battle rams to destroy and break ciers that were all around the entire Northern Ocean Area.

    Traversing through the Northern Ocean Area was dangerous not only thanks to numerous pirate crews, because in this area, only the strongest of the pirates gathered, but also due to the environment.

    The entire area was filled with countless ciers and enormous ice constructs that seeded the oceans of the north.

    Frost storms of extreme cold weremon as clouds on a rainy day and one could be easily swept by some random frost storm and be frozen to icicle.

    And for whatever reason, the cold waters of the Northern Ocean Area were very attractive to a plethora of powerful and mighty mari-type magical beasts that preferred this environment.

    So any sane people that were traversing through the Northern Ocean Area needed to be extra careful not to attract the attention of something powerful, but there was also always the aspect of luck.

    And luck was sometimes undeniable.

    Fortunately for their little expedition, they had enough luck not to be targeted by any powerful magical beasts that dwelled in the depths of the oceans.

    Samiel was peacefully spending time on the seas by studying Magic as he always did.

    It became monotonous to the point where Yvraine called him boring as hell because he wasn''t doing anything else aside from studying ancient tomes and practicing spells whenever he had some time for it.

    While Samiel and Yvraine were in their chambers, Captain Alvar was in themanding deck, directing the ship and managing all matters rted to it.

    "Captain, the radar has registered a powerful Silver-Tier magical beast approaching the ship at a fast pace."

    Suddenly the first mate of Captain Alvar notified him of the situation as Captain Alvar grimaced upon hearing that.

    "Species?"

    He asked with a grave tone in his voice because the Silver-Tier magical beast approaching wasn''t good news. Though truthfully, it depended on the species of the magical beasts; some were easier to deal with while some were harder to deal with.

    "Some sub-species of Kraken which I don''t recognize... probably some mutation. Should we activate the defensive protocols?"

    The first mate of Captain Alvar asked as the berserker viking nodded and issued orders to take out the Kraken. As soon as he gave out themand, suddenly, from the bottom of the ship, a small Magitek device was released.

    In a split of a second, it transformed into a small rocked and shot directly at the kraken, which was approaching the ship at a fast pace, as it exploded into a violent explosion when it his tremendous huge creature.

    The kraken shrieked in pain before it turned around and unexpectedly fled.

    Seeing that the enemy could injure it rather easily, kraken didn''t dwell on attacking the ship at any cost but opted for retreat and decided to search for a wooden ship.

    Even though most of the magical beasts that were of average lineage didn''t belong to the smartest one walking the Material ne of the Cosmos, it was smart enough to recognize the threats to its life.

    When it realized that the resistance was futile and there was nothing to gain from attacking the steel behemoth of a ship, it fled and it was done with it.

    Captain Alvar sighed in relief when the scans showed them that the magical beast had fled because they were safe. Some of them, even while in lesser tiers, due to their humongous size, could cause big problems for ships.

    Especially for the krakens, they were very problematic magical beasts to deal with, as their mostmon strategy was to envelop the ship with their tentacles and then pull it down to the depths of the ocean, where it would be crushed into countless pieces by high pressure.

 Chapter 265 Finally The Encouter

    ?

    When Samiel opened his eyes in his cabin, he noticed that their ship was attacked by kraken, but he quickly dismissed it as nothing important. Naturally, he was confident in thepetence of his crew that Bishop Vilgar chose.

    Of course, the kraken was repelled very swiftly without anyplication; it was also for this reason that the nation of Skr?n?ti? constructed their ships with several counter-measures against various types of mari-type magical beasts.

    "What was that?"

    Yvraine asked as she wasying on the bed, half-naked with bedsheets covering parts of her body. Right now, after they finished one round of passionate love-making, Samiel convinced her to explore the secrets of the arcane with him, to which she reluctantly agreed.

    "Our vessel was attacked by kraken and it seems that the threat was already disposed of. It seems that Captain Alvar was able to dispose of the beast in almost record time."

    Samiel praised the captain that Bishop Vilgar chose for the ship before he turned his attention back to reading the Magic Grimoire he was previously reading. He could admit that the kraken may pose a threat to some ships but certainly not to theirs.

    In truth, aside from the endless waiting for something to happen, there weren''t many things that could be done on the ship in the meantime. Samiel spent most of the time studying magic and, due to Yvraine, also having sex.

    ***

    Several dayster, after sailing without results, they finally got some fun in the form of encountering an entire piratepany consisting of several pirate ships that were heading directly toward them.

    Instantly after Captain Alvar became aware of the iing pirate ships, the entire crew became frenzied and everyone was running here and there, going to their positions as they were readying for thebat.

    Unluckily for the viking captain, he was forced to remain on the ship by direct order of Samiel Zentaur because Samiel himself was going to lead the charge against the pirates.

    And in truth, he was very much eager for that.

    And if there was, a person who was much more eager was Yvraine, who was standing next to him on the deck and gripping her twin jade swords and looking at five pirate ships that were heading towards them.

    "It seems that we would be getting some fun..."

    Samiel remarked as others agreed with him while the Temr Knights and Priests were getting into the position and ready for the attack.

    "Was the scan for the hostiles already performed?"

    To Samiel''s question, Captain Alvar nodded and passed him a small magitek device.

    "So, more than 2,000... so this should be some medium-sized crew... though considering the size of the ships, they are probably only some small fries."

    All of them agreed with this statement, if they used the weapons installed in the vessel, they could sink the ships from a distance without any problem, but that was something that Samiel'' didn''t really want because he wanted to proof of the hunt.

    "Use the canons to sink the smaller ships and record their destruction for the reward... we will be directly attacking through the boarding only the main ship where the captain and the strongest pirates should be."

    Samiel ordered swiftly because it was absolutely unnecessary to attack all of the ships at the same time. Not talking about the fact that they rtivelycked the manpower because some people needed to stay aboard of their own ship and the strength of the pirates was rtively unknown.

    Still, Samiel didn''t see the point of personally attacking the smaller escort ships as they could be sunk down directly without any boarding or directbat.

    "As youmand."

    Captain Alvar gave Samiel a bow as he went to carry out his orders and several momentster, several of the canons of the vessel targetted their targets and fired salvos. In the distance, they could observe how four of the five pirate ships suddenly exploded into a ming inferno.

    "That was a nice one... now for the rest of the guests."

    Samiel muttered as their ship suddenly hastened and went directly at the leading biggest pirate ship, which was in the middle.

    To their surprise, the pirate gship, as Samiel termed it, didn''t escape or change the course but instead continued their advance on them.

    It was highly possible that the captain of the pirate ship concluded that they didn''t have more ammunition or whatever and went further with the attack, which was, in truth, good because they wanted to fight with them too.

    Samiel conjured one ice trident for himself for the uing battle, while Juulius readied his sword and felines looked around confusedly while Nefertari tried to roar intimidatingly but ended up looking extremely cute instead.

    "Those are the Ox Head Pirates..."

    He then heard Captain Alvar to mutter and while to Samiel andpany, the name didn''t mean anything; in the Northern Ocean Area, the Ox Head Pirates were a rtively famous newly established pirate crew.

    They were named Ox Head Pirates because their captain was Bronze-Tier Minotaur, a rare species, as the beastmen rarely left their tribes or whatever societal structures they had.

    Yet, they were considered as superstars in some parts of the Northern Ocean Area due to their rapid pace of rise and how much wealth they managed to plunder from some of the local nations.

    There were even evidence that they were behind the destruction of some smaller ind nations with Bronze-Tier Professionals protecting them.

    ording to the rumors, the strength of the captain of the Ox Head Pirate was not to be underestimated and there was another sort of rumor that he would be the next Warlord of the Seas.

    Unfortunately, not even they could contend against the hegemons like the nation of Skr?n?ti? and thus, one top-tier battleship was able to sink down the majority of their "fleet" and right now, it would be their end as it seemed.

    "Prepare for the boarding!"

    With Sameil''s order, every Temr Kngith from the Holy Temr Order and Priest from the lesiarchy prepared for the battle as they readied their swords and shield in the case of knights and mystic codes in the case of Priests.

    The moment their steel behemoth ship crashed into one of the Ox Head Pirates, countless Temr Knights started boarding into the ship of the Ox Head Pirates and ughtering the pirates.

    Naturally, the rug-tag pirates were no match for disciplined and trained Temr Knights who were reaving through them like they were not even trained in some cases. Most of the pirates among the Ox Head Pirate Crew had some good raw strength, but they absolutely didn''t know how to use their power properly.

    This was pretty much amon problem among many Professionals that came from lower backgrounds or didn''t have any at all.

 Chapter 266 Vs. Ox Head Pirates

    Chapter 266 Vs. Ox Head Pirates

    Yvraine jumped on the deck of the Ox Head Pirates and started ughtering pirates one by one while the Temr Knights were advancing steadily. The ship of the Ox Head Pirates was even bigger than Samiel''s, at least when it came to the size aspect.

    Samiel observed this for a while because he was gauging how strong the Ox Head Pirates were and at the same time, he was also observing how well the Temr Knights were fighting against the Pirates.

    That was something new to see and he wanted to see how they operated. Till now, he saw only Juulius fighting and he was a special case as he was Heir Apparent of the House Crawford.

    This was the first time he saw Temr Knights fighting as one unit.

    "Their teamwork is wless... but that was to be expected as they are trained from birth."

    Samiel thought while observing the Temr Knights killing the pirates because only a fraction of the Temr Knights boarded the ship and were fighting against this scourge of seas.

    "I should join the fray..."

    He muttered as he saw the huge shadow of a five-meter-tall minotaur appearing on the deck of the ship.

    Minotaurs wererge, muscr humanoids. They had the head of a bull, upper torso, hands, and the body of a human and hooved feet. Their fur and wild hair typically ranged from brown to ck and covered forearms, chest, abdomen, and legs.

    He was wielding an enormous two-sided waraxe as he advanced towards Yvraine and radiating a very powerful Bronze-Tier aura; it appeared that the captain of the Ox Head Pirates had advanced even further and reached higher Levels or something different happened, which increased his power.

    And substantially at that.

    Using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, Samiel concentrated Mana into his legs as he jumped high in the air and fell directly in front of the minotaur and in a split of a second, he shed at the minotaur with his Ice Trident.

    Surprisingly the minotaur managed to raise his waraxe and block Samiel''s strike with a swift movement. Seeing this, Samiel grinned because he was d that his opponent wasn''t dealt with by one move.

    With how he progressed, finding someone on the lower floors which could withstand more than a few moves from him was harder and harder. Naturally, the only people against whom he fought with full power were those of simr circumstances to him.

    "Let''s dance."

    Samiel said in R''Lyehian Eldritch Speech as the minotaur captain of the Ox Head Pirates became dizzy for several seconds, which Samiel used to his advantage and appeared in front of a huge creature and kicked him in his stomach, sending him flying like a cannonball.

    An enormous body of the minotaur crashed into several unfortunate pirates from the crew, who were crushed to death from the impact.

    When the dust settled, the minotaur was okey, before he barked something in his nativenguage that probably only his crew understood and attacked Samiel once again as he shed in front of his person.

    Minotaurs were not among the strongest creatures of the Cosmos, but even Samiel felt that this one was certainly different, at leastpared to what he read about the minotaurs as species in the Compendium of the Species of the Cosmos.

    ''Either it is a mutated bloodline or some kind of Divine Intervention.''

    Samiel thought while exchanging a few blows with the minotaur and observing the towering creature.

    He quicklypleted the analysis of the creature''sbat prowess through the Architect and precisely estimated thebat capabilities of his opponent.

    He dodged to the side as the minotaur captain shed at him with his huge waraxe; because of the huge statue of the minotaur, its agility was rtively subparpared to Samiel, so he kept on dodging easily.

    After a short time, Samiel counterattacked as he hacked his ice trident at the vulnerable spot of the minotaur around his neck, managing to pierce through his armor with ease.

    Captain of the Ox Head Pirates shrieked in pain, as part of his neck was severely injured and it was running for time.

    Naturally, the minotaurs had a rather strong healing factor, so the moment it was injured, it had already started regenerating, but because the minotaur was injured by Samiel''s ice trident, the residual ice aura was preventing its recuperationpletely.

    Exchange after exchange, Samiel began pushing the minotaur captain of the Ox Head Pirates back step by step. Without the usage of his Magic and purely based on martial mastery and physical capabilities, he was slowly turning the sh into his own advantage.

    He rarely fought without the usage of his Magic as that was his strongest weapon, but right now, Samiel felt a weird type of joy that he could be the captain of the Ox Head Pirates purely on martial arts.

    He had to admit that the minotaur was very skilled when it came to handling the waraxe, not to mention his physical strength was rather fearsome, even from Samiel''s view of point.

    Naturally, the longer their fight progressed, the worse it became of for the minotaur, as after Samiel flipped backward andnded behind the captain of the Ox Head Pirates, he pierced through his chest with his ice trident.

    In a split of a second, the minotaur captain exploded into countless frozen shards as he was destroyed from the inwards. Meanwhile, Samiel was fighting against the captain; the Temr Knights, together with Yvraine, essentially ughtered the entire pirate crew of the Ox Head Pirates.

    "Clean the ship of the bodies, collect the head of a captain."

    Samiel issued an order to the Temr Knights, who diligently started doing what he said and collected the head of the minotaur after Samiel killed him before they went to check up on the ship.

    Naturally, they were looking for anything of even remote value in case the pirates had something. Fortunately for him, and which was a big surprise, was the fact that the Ox Head Pirates managed to gather some good loot.

    They were a rtively big pirate crew and had been reading for a long time already, not talking about their targets as they were attacking only those who were rather rich, so they managed to gather sizable wealth.

    Samiel kept only some of the most precious objects that caught his interest, while the rest was distributed among the Temrs fighting against the Ox Head Pirates.

    The things that the Ox Head Pirates gathered were worth nothing for him, though they had some Magic Tomes, which he kept.

    The rest was rewarded to his crew, as they would need it far more than him. From his side, it was not only an altruistic move, but also a move to gather loyalty and build up his reputation among the various branches of the Hall of Kadath.

 Chapter 267 Unexpected Loot

    Chapter 267 Unexpected Loot

    After looting the ship of the Ox Head Pirates and getting the proof of their sessful hunt for the captain of the Ox Head Pirates, Samiel ordered Captain Alvar to sink the ship of the Ox Head Pirates because there was nothing else they could do about it.

    After the ship was sunk, Samiel departed to his chambers to count the gains and check on the Magic Tomes he obtained from the Ox Head Pirates because Juulius brought him more than a hundred Magic Tomes from the ship.

    If he had to guess, the Ox Head Pirates must have robbed somebody who was transporting them for business purposes, so they were pretty lucky. It was possible that they managed to catch the ship of some merchant that was transporting them or some collector.

    Magic Tomes were rare merchandise and they sold well for high prices, especially in the Tower or more developed civilizations. They were the basis for the magical education for all Paths of Magic, so there was a constant need for more and more of them.

    Not to mention, he saw that there were even a few Grimoires among the books he got, which piqued his curiosity over the matter because Grimoires were peerless treasures among the magic-rted literature.

    Each Grimoire was sentient and contained profound mysteries of the Arcane. It was not an easy matter to get their hands on them and yet the lowly pirate group managed to get their hands on several of them.

    After he arrived at his chambers, he told Yvraine that he didn''t wish to be disturbed, to which she put Juulius in front of his door to prevent anyone from disturbing him. Meanwhile, the Silvermoon Princess went to the deck of the ship to find someone to exchange notes about swordsmanship.

    Samiel then activated several protective wards around his chambers in case the Grimoires proved to be aggressive... some of the older and more powerful ones could wreak quite a havoc if they wished so.

    When they were activated, he took out more than a hundred old-looking books from the Dimensional Ring given to him by Juulius as he started going through each one of them.

    For him, he was looking for something useful, powerful Spells that could actually boost hisbat prowess or unique types of Magic.

    After reading them superficially, he concluded that most of the Magic Tomes were only basic ones; many of them were of Elemental Magic and of only basic elements at that, not even advanced ones.

    But even that was something.

    On the bright side, there were a few Magic Tomes on the Conceptual Magic, mainly for Enchanting, which was an area of Magic unknown to Samiel, so he decided to keep them for further study.

    The rest of the Magic Tomes would give either to Juulius or Yvraine based on their needs because some of the Tomes he obtained were One of them was a very creepy-looking book with countless Thorns over it, with the title Thorn Curse. Despite its scary appearance and really old, at least several tens of Epochs and had some powerful Spells.

    Now the only thing that remained were the Grimoires.

    Five of them, which was high number, considering that they were right now on the Lower Floors of the Tower.

    Among the five of them, there were only two that caught his attention at first nce...

    One of them was a very creepy-looking book with countless Thorns over it, with the title Thorn Curse. Despite its scary appearance and it was a rtively simple type of Magic... called Mystic Artes.

    Mystic Artes belonged to one of the non-standard Magic Types because they were rare, not very spread and only a few people knew how to use them and understand them enough to use them.

    And the Thorn Curse was the Mystic Arte that revolved around the creation and maniption of Thorns. This was the first Mystic Arte that Samiel encountered in his life, because they were too rare, too rare.

    The fascinating thing about the Thorns was that they could act as Anti-Magic and even Anti-Energy Techniques, drain various types of Energies and were extremely versatile in their usage.

    Aside from Mana, to use this concrete Mystic Arte, one needed to use his own Negative Emotions to fuel the "Curse" aspect of it, which made it very different from the standard Magic, due to which it was categorized as Mystic Arte.

    "Fascinating... this would be totally worth learning... but I wonder how they got their hands on something like this."

    Samie pondered over the matter because this was certainly not a thing that should appear here.

    Either it was only luck on the side of the Ox Head Pirates or a deliberate act from the third party, which didn''t know that the Ox Head Pirates were annihted and their Grimoire fell into his hands.

    For Samiel, it didn''t really matter because he would keep the thing whatever happened; at worse, he could act like a proper young master and call his Elders if someone too powerful appeared to take the Grimoire from his hands.

    After he put away the Thorn Curse Grimoire, he took a look at the second Grimoire that caught his attention because it radiated a feeling that was repulsive to him; every cell in his very own being was crawling with utter disgust as he looked at that book.

    That one had some sort of "Light" or "Divine" feeling around it, in a way that he felt only once in his whole life when he killed the Pdin of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light on the 8th Floor.

    It was weaker bit than "His" Light and Holy Power so, Samiel assumed that this must be the Divine Grimoire of one "His" Avatars or Incarnations.

    Divine Grimoires were like ordinary Grimoires, but they were different in several aspects.

    The first one was that their sentience was many times stronger and they built an "Ego". Having an Ego was much more dangerous than just ordinary sentience because it made the Divine Grimoire many times more dangerous as it was capable of autonomous action.

    The second one was that they contained part of the Divine Will of their creator and their creator was always the God to whom the Divine Grimoire was dedicated and who power the Divine Grimoire was borrowing.

    The third was that, contrary to the typical Grimoires, which contained Magic, the Divine Grimoire contained Divine Spells of a particr God or aspects rted to that specific Deity.

    ''Maybe this is the fabled luck of the story protagonists...''

    Samiel thought jokingly as he carefully eyed the Divine Grimopire, very, very unsure about what to do with it. Certainly, he wouldn''t even dream of touching the book with his bare hands because the book would probably try to obliterate him for sure.

 Chapter 268 Divine Grimoire

    Chapter 268 Divine Grimoire

    After contemting about it for some time, he decided to be a responsible young man and called his master to tell him what to do. Certainly, he couldn''t keep the book with him with his meager strength.

    This was an entirely different situation because "His" followers and worshippers hated the Outer Gods to their very own core and would stop at nothing to kill everyone even remotely rted to them.

    Keeping the Divine Grimoire was dangerous for current him; thus he nned to drop the responsibility for someone else; aside from this train of thought, hopefully, he could obtain some Contribution Points of the Hall of Kadath.

    One of "His" Divine Grimoires was very precious, even for the Hall of Kadath.

    Not wasting any more time, Samiel dialed on his Holo-Brain contact of his master, Menuhyutt Faulhaber, to discuss the situation about one of "His" Divine Grimoires that somehow ended up on the Lower Floors of the Tower.

    Soon enough after Samiel dialed his master, the elderly visage of a familiar face appeared in the holographic projection. It appeared that the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath was right now dealing with the paperwork.

    Bane of every leader of every faction.

    No matter what level of automatization or perfection of the administrative system someone achieved, the paperwork remained eternal and always prevailed victorious.

    "So, what has happened, my dear pupil... you seem rather distressed?"

    When he heard the soft voice of his master, he calmed down considerably because he got a feeling that everything would be alright.

    "During my time on the 11th Floor, I came across something most peculiar and disturbing master. After our encounter with some lowly pirate crew, we managed to secure the most precious loot in the form of more than 100 Magic Tomes, among which were five Grimoires... one of them was a Divine Grimoire of Light belonging to ''Him''. If I should guess, it would be one of his Avatars... stronger ones."

    Samiel then described the situation to his master as his smile faded almost in an instant and now his elderly face was dead serious. This was no small matter because getting one of ''His'' Grimoires was most problematic.

    "I am going down to pick it up."

    After several minutes long silence, Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber finally stated with a grave voice.

    Hearing that, Samiel was surprised to say it mildly and shocked to say it realistically because he wouldn''t think that this Divine Grimoire would force his master to act personally.

    Instantly the call was cut and not even a momentter, Dimensional Crack appeared next to him, as his master directly descended down by creating a Dimensional Crack between the 98th Floor and 11th Floor of the Tower.

    "Greetings, Master."

    Samiel then stood up and gave his master a bow as the old man patted him on his shoulders.

    "You have grown much stronger from thest time we met... but right now, we have more important things to take care of."

    He then looked at the Divine Grimoire, which was lying among the other books and carefully went in front of it as he studied the outer appearance of the Divine Grimoire, scrutinizing and analyzing it from every aspect.

    "Indeed, it should belong to one of ''His'' main Avatars... how the hell it ended here. Still... it appears that it has active trackingtched to the book and it should be highly possible that right now, there should be some Pdins from the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light searching for it right now."

    Samiel visibly cringed hearing that, but if the Pdins were only around the same Tiers and Levels as his own crew, then he would dly meet them on the open seas in a sh for supremacy.

    It would be a battle of two of the best Knigth Orders in the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    "I will be taking this with me."

    Several Eldritch Runes appeared around the Divine Grimoire, which allowed Hall Master to pick it up safely. He was careful around this thing because it was dangerous; even someone as powerful as him could suffer greatly if he was not careful.

    After Hall Master picked up and stored the book within a specially prepared Dimensional Storage exactly for situations like this.

    "Do I get something for obtaining Divine Grimoire?"

    Samiel looked at his master with that knowing, greedy look in his eyes as he was using every opportunity to gather any advantages and riches that he could. Naturally, Menuhyutt as his master, knew that his precious disciple always wanted to get the most out of any situation.

    "You will get a few thousand Contribution Points for that...maybe something more, depending on my mood."

    He nodded his head in satisfaction because getting a few thousand Contribution Points was better than he initially anticipated. Now, depending on the host, the Divine Grimoire would be used and if those uses brought additional benefits for the Hall of Kadath, Samiel will get even more rewards.

    "Thank you very much, Hall Master."

    Samiel gratefully bowed his head as he thanked his master before the elderly master disappeared from the 11th Floor through the same Dimensional Crack he used to descend down here.

    "Finally, it is done and I instantly feel many times better."

    Sighing in relief, he could finally turn his attention to other things.

    He turned his attention to the Thorn Mystic Arte Grimoire as he started reading the Grimoire and learning the basics of the Mystic Arte, the Thorns. Actually, even though it seemed hard, it was actually pretty easy for Samiel to learn.

    [Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect has [Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect has been increased by 1%.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur hasprehended the basics of the Mystic Arte - Thorns.]

    With the presence of a cheat like Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, he was able to learn the basics of the Mystic Arte effortlessly and even use it, as several small Thorns were conjured out of thin air and were enveloping Samiel''s right hand like a snake choking its prey.

    "Fascinating..."

    Samiel muttered as he looked at the thorns coiling around his right hand...

    He could feel that these ones were pretty powerful and if they struck even peak Steel-Tiers, they would be killed in one hit.

    The density of the thorns he conjured should beparable to average Rare-Grade Artifacts or strongest D-Grade Alloys, which was fascinating, as the thorns were biological in their nature even though they were conjured from his Mana.

    [Proficiency with the Thorn Mystic Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Thorn Mystic Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    The more he trained with the Thorn Mystic Arte, the quicker the proficiency was rising at lightning speed and it didn''t take long before he reached 5% Proficiency with the said Mystic Arte.

    [Proficiency with the Thorn Mystic Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Thorn Mystic Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Thorn Mystic Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    "Now the only thing that remains is to Level Up an reach the higher Levels..."

    Samiel stated as he was done with the Thorn Mystic Arte for the time being.

 Chapter 269 Level Ups and Power

    Chapter 269 Level Ups and Power

    Most importantly, he went to practice the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method as he prepared to reach higher Levels.

    Samiel was already nearing theter stages of the Bronze-Tier and in a few months, if he was lucky, max two years, he would be able to reach Silver-Tier without any problems. Taking out several of Sivler-Tier Mana Crystals and started absorbing Mana from them.

    Using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, he was slowly increasing his Mana Reserves continuously, as he felt that he was approaching Level 42.

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    He heard the notifications from the Akashic Records, as he soon heard another one when he reached Level 42.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 42.]

    Feeling that he had grown more powerful once again, Samiel didn''t stop at this and continued absorbing Mana from the Silver-Tier Mana Crystals one after another. His consumption was too high and that was considering that he was right now only Bronze-Tier.

    While he obtained a good number of Mana Crystals from looting or other means, he was also using Credits to buy them. If not for his Credits, he wouldn''t even dream of advancing any further than where he was.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 43.]

    [Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

    After Samiel heard the next notification from the Akashic Records, he felt that he had reached the limit he could get right now in a short time. He achieved three breakthroughs in one go and increased his Level from Level 40 to Level 43.

    ''I should hurry to reach the Silver-Tier so I can advance through the Lower Floors as fast as possible... with my current strength, it is pretty boring as hell. Maybe the Pdins would prove some solid entertainment for me.''

    Samiel thought over the situation. With his current strength, there were not many who were his opponents and only on higher Floors of the Tower could he encounter some enemies or opponents that could prove a challenge to him.

    When he ended, he stopped the cirction of the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method as he opened his Record Screen within the Akashic Records to check up on his changes.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Outer Court

    Age: 32

    Race: Old Deus - Eldritch Creature (80%) / Human (20%)

    ss: Knight of Niflheim (40%), Grand Necromancer (30%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level:

    Basic (Void, Necromancy, Winter, Warding, Mythos)

    Intermediate (Void, Necromancy, Winter, Warding)

    Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost, Outer Holiness

    Records Points: 5,640

    ***

    Tier: Bronze

    Level: 43

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (42%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (41%) - Ultimate Ability

    Rift (3%) - Rare Ability

    Architect (9%) - Transcendental Ability

    ***

    Techniques:

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (29%)

    Star Mind Protection Technique (25%) - 3 Stars

    ***

    Magic:

    Necromancy Arts (40%)

    Void Magic (25%)

    Winter Magic (24%)

    Warding Magic (17%)

    Mythos Magic (5%)

    Thorn Artes (5%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Undead Creation (50%)

    Swordsmanship (14%)

    Trident Mastery (29%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 4th Level Spells (70%)

    Metamagic - Spell Control (26%)

    Metamagic - Spell Pration (23%)

    Metamagic - Empower Spell (22%)]

    Samiel checked up on his Records and observed his gains and other things, especially the skills and abilities that were rising in their proficiency after either rigorous training ormon usage.

    With the addition of the Thorn Mystic Arte, Samiel grew once again stronger because not only his offensive prowess was increased, but the most important thing that he gained was versatility.

    Thorn Mystic Arte drastically increased Samiel''s capabilities to react to different situations; it could be used for a myriad of usages, so that was a great gain.

    For the rest of his Magic Tomes and the remaining three Grimoires, Samiel packed up them in the Dimensional Ring and would redistribute them among Yvraine and Juulius.

    ***

    Several monthster, the Northern Ocean Area, 11th Floor of the Tower.

    After several months of sailing across the seas of the Northern Ocean Area and during that time, they encountered tens of pirate crews and other types of people sailing through the sea... mercenaries, bounty hunters or even privateers...

    All of them fell under their swords and magic, and the number of bounties Samiel gathered already reached more than several million Credits. Surprisingly, contrary to his first assumption, his progress was way faster than he anticipated at first.

    In the Northern Ocean Area, there were countless private crews, too many for somebody to effectively clean out and Samiel even encountered two Warlords of the Sea, who were both peak Bronze-Tier Professionals, but they were not his match.

    They fell in a single confrontation and Samiel gathered an enormous amount of loot and bounties for their heads. Right now, they were heading towards thest known location of one of the Pirate Kings of the 11th Floor.

    Surprisingly it was Ork who reached peak Silver-Tier and his crew solely consisting of the greenskins and they were pretty dangerous and, at the same time, a very powerful pirate crew.

    Naturally, among the crew, Juulius was most excited by this and literarily begged his Lord to allow him to take the head of the Ork. The Green Beast Pirates were known to controlrge ind archipgo at the edges of the Northern Ocean Area and Eastern Ocean Area because they operated in both of them.

    Captain of the Green Beast Pirates, Bagtork, was a strong and powerful Ork with good potential, but he was evidently exiled from his n for some crimes hemitted and was forced to live on the 11th Floor like some rat.

    Together with him, there were only his followers among the Greenskisn from his n that established themselves on the 11th Floor. The crew of the Temr Knights and the Priests of the lesiarchy were in anticipation because many were eager to sh against Orks.

    Especially the Temr Knights, because the majority of the Holy Temr Order inherited the passionate hatred for the Greenskins from the House Crawford.

    However, that was something understandable because the House Crawford was leading the Holy Temr Order Eras already.

 Chapter 270 Green Beast Pirates (1)

    ?

    11th Floor of the Tower, Northern Ocean Area

    Samiel was standing on the deck of the steel behemoth of a ship as he was admiring the ocean and observing the life around them. He could see and even sense the sea creatures that were either following their ship or feeling from it.

    Using the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour on countless souls that he obtained during the ughter of various pirate crews on the 11th Floor of the Tower, Samiel was able to learn the precise strength and powers of each of the crews...

    Who better knew about the situation of other pirates than the pirates themselves and this proved to be sacred truth. Just after devouring a few tens of Souls of pirates, Samiel knew a lot about where to hunt for pirates.

    He also knew about the weak and strong sides of each of the pirate crews that were operating in the Northern Ocean Area.

    ''Unfortunately, the more memories I gain from the souls, the more I need to work to transfer them into proficiency within the respective Abilities and Skills.''

    Using the Soul Devour didn''t instantly miraculously give him Skills and Proficiency with them, but he needed to train ording to the memories to get them, but at the same time, his knowledge about Magic broadened a bit.

    From time to time, he devoured Soul of some magic user and obtained all of their memories., which proved to be gain. Unfortunately, most of the magic users that were operating within the pirate crews were only low-grade ones.

    Meaning while they had a certain level of power, their theoretical knowledge was shit.

    Casting spells and knowing the theory behind them were two entirely different things and usually, magic users from low backgrounds or those who were not talented enough could only get to the storage of executing the spell without even understanding the mechanics.

    "My Lord, we are nearing the territorial waters of the Green Beast Pirates."

    Samiel heard the voice of his retainer Juulius Crawford who was already standing behind him for the past several hours, as Samiel enjoyed thendscape of the Northern Ocean Area for several hours.

    He liked nature; it gave him a very calming feeling in his mind, something that was deeply appreciated by him. After getting together with Yvraine, their favorite couple activity was actually going to nature and having there pics.

    "I know... I could feel the tainted Mana of their kind even here this far."

    When Orks took root in some territory, something peculiar always happened in their controlled territories. The Greenskins, as a whole, had a very strong psychic presence, like very, very strong and their collective will was constantly corrupting Mana.

    This corrupted Mana was green in color and was like specifically created for the Greenskins.

    For non-greenskins, this kind of tainted Mana was actually dangerous and weakening at the same time. At the same time, the stronger Professionals could withstand it and face only minor weakening from it.

    For the weaker Professionals, the situation was way worse; for example, if the tainted Mana was too strong, then those who entered and could not withstand it could go insane or be corrupted into some form of abomination.

    "Activate the cloaking... we don''t need to attract the attention of the greenskins; it would destroy our ambush attempt."

    Samiel ordered as the cold wind struck into his face... this area of the Northern Ocean Area was especially freezing. Still, fortunately, the ship was constructed by the best artisans and engineers of the Skr?n?ti?.

    It was not that expensive for nothing and the price was very well deserved.

    Juulius raised his brow at his master before he excused himself and went to carry out the order and inform Captain Alvar, who was in charge of the ship. It didn''t take a long time before the cloaking mechanisms around the ship were activated.

    This should be enough for them to arrive at the ind where the Green Beast Pirates had their main headquarters. The headquarters was located within a small ind archipgo, on an ind that was surrounded by eight smaller inds.

    These inds have created some kind of defensive wall against the invaders, making the headquarters of the Green Beast Pirates very hard to invade. Due to that, almost nobody has breached it, as the fortification were very well done.

    Even Skr?n?ti?ns had to admit to that fact.

    But Samiel and his crew wereing here prepared.

    With the best stealth and cloaking methods.

    The stealth method that was installed on the ship was directly done by the members of the Hall of Kadath and was supported by the best Magitek devices that the kingdom of Skr?n?ti? could sell them.

    Due to that, he was confident that they could get past the defenses that the Green Beast Pirates had prepared. Samiel wanted to strike directly at their leader, Bagtork, straight away as the typical doctrine of dealing with the Greenskins dictated.

    When one fought against the Greenskins, the first thing one needed to do, was to kill their leader as soon as possible; following that, Nobz needed to be killed next.

    This was to cripple theirmand structure and essentially, after this was done, in 80%, it led to the copse of any Greenskin unit.

    Obviously, there was none better at this doctrine than the Holy Temr Order and the Crawford Family, as they were the ones who perfected it and now their teachings were being used across the entire Material ne, Tower and countless worlds when dealing with the Greenskins and their endless hordes.

    "How long until we arrive at their of the Greenskins?"

    Samiel heard Yvraine ask in annoyance; for sure, she was thrilled that they were going to the ce that was swarming with the Greenskins. On one side, she was thrilled that she could ughter some Orks; on the other, she was repulsed by their very own being and existence.

    "A few days at best... we are already near. You could already sense the tainted Mana of the Green."

    She nodded because she could sense even more than him due to her immense connection to nature as the Silvermoon Elf and Holy Apostle of the Goddess Eluria.

 Chapter 271 Green Beast Pirates (2)

    Chapter 271 Green Beast Pirates (2)

    "Yes, I can... it is disgusting and filthy."

    Yvraine scoffed when she sensed the tainted green Mana in the air, signaling that they were already closing to the Headquarters of the Green Beast Pirates. The taint of the collective consciousness of the Greenskins was getting stronger and stronger.

    "Certainly it is... but fortunately, we are protected against it... but that is the aftermath, if the Tower is not suppressing the effects of the taint."

    Contrary to the 1st Floor, which was swarmed by the Orks and Greenskins as a whole, there was zero to no taint from the Greenskins because the Tower itself took the initiative to suppress their growing psychic collective consciousness.

    On the 11th Floor, there was none of that, and the Greenskins would be much stronger than those on the 1st Floor of the Tower. The tainted areas where the Mana was tainted was making them stronger, far stronger than they should normally be.

    "How strong the leader of these menaces is?"

    Yvraine asked Samiel as she enjoyed the cold breeze of chilling wind on her face.

    "Silver-Tier... he is considered pretty strong even among the other Pirate Kings... not to mention Bagtork has proved himself to be very cunning and scheming Ork."

    Not many Orks actually knew how to use that thing that was sprouting from their neck... using their head was something rare among the Greenskins.

    Very rare...

    So when Ork that was smart and cunning appeared, it signaled danger and usually such Orks are typically dealt with as soon as possible. If they are left to their own devise, then in most cases they would be new Bosses, Warbosses or even leaders of entire Waaaggghhhs...

    That would certainly be disastrous.

    "Hmm... at least it would be somewhat entertaining to say..."

    Naturally, Yvraine wouldin if the Greenskins were killed easily; they needed to resist a bit before her sword chopped off their heads.

    "Thought I doubt that you would get your chance as Juulius is already preparing his de for them..."

    The Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty and Silvermoon Elven Species frowned slightly at that because killing Greenskins was something akin to a hobby of hers and she wanted to kill the chief of the Green Beast Pirates on the 11th Floor.

    Bagtork was the sole Ork among the notable pirate crew on the 11th Floor because Orks rarely left their n to wander alone... when one thought over it, they really had something like pack mentality and were social creatures in some twisted sense.

    "Then we will see who is the fastest among us..."

    Yvraine muttered, to which Samiel just gave a smallugh...

    ***

    For a few days, their journey was peaceful; they didn''t encounter any powerful sea creatures or even any other pirate crews... so in silence and peace, they approached the territory of the Green Beast Pirates at a slow pace.

    And with luck on their side, or instead, in their case, with advanced magic and Magitek on their side, they were not found by shamans of the Greenskins and their magic users.

    They had already crossed the initial defensive line of the Green Beast Pirates, which consisted of the 8 smaller inds that were around the main ind where their headquarters was.

    Right now, they were only a few hours fromnding at the main ind and attacking their headquarters and more than three hundred members of the Holy Temr Knight Order were already preparing for the fight against the Greenskins.

    As Samiel walked through the deck of the ship, he could see many of the knights polishing their swords and shields, preparing for the battle, checking the Runes on the armors, weapons and other equipment so everything was in a pristine condition.

    Even Yvraine was doing the same thing, followed by Juulius, who was already prepared for the fight. Only Samiel just walked around as he didn''t n to participate actively in the fight, as he promised Juulius that he could have this one.

    "We would be arriving at the targetted destination within approximately one hour. Order the highest level of alert and be ready to enterbat at any time."

    Samiel gave our order to Captain Alvar.

    As they were already near the headquarters of the Green Beast Pirates, there was a low possibility that they had some Shamans who would be screening the area for enemies employing stealth methods.

    While most of the conventional methods found on the lower Floors of the Tower would prove to be futile, the Shamans still had one trump card hidden in their sleeve. Borrowing the Divine Power of the Green Gods to cast their magic.

    This would certainly prove to be efficient as their cloaking and stealth methods couldn''t resist in front of the Transcendental might when it was boosting the shamans. Naturally, all of them hoped that this wouldn''t happen because they would be forced tounch their ambush sooner than nned.

    After approximately forty more minutes, Samiel could see an enormous ind on the horizon with his superior eyesight. The most notable thing about thendscape of the ind were the enormous trees; some were even 100 meters tall or even taller.

    Seeing this, he understood why the Green Beast Pirates chose this to be theirir... aside from the outer protection of the eight inds forming an octagram pattern around the main ind, the main ind itself was a fortress on its own.

    All of those ridiculously huge trees were practically forming some kind of shield wall on the ind, practically rendering any attempts at bombardment, scouting or flying to the ind futile.

    "Captain Alvar, is the artillery strong enough to destroy the targets despite the conditions we are faced with?"

    Samiel asked as he sternly looked at the viking captain, who gulped visibly, calcting the percentage of sess of the order, before he very slowly nodded.

    "It is highly probable... if the information we have about them is not outdated, then we need only to fire three times before the target is reduced to rubbles."

    Captain Alvar answered slowly because they wanted to destroy the ind shield generator as their first move.

    During the attacks on the smaller nations within the Northern Ocean Arae, in one of the nations destroyed by the pirates, they managed to snatch a shield generator in pristine condition that somehow managed to survive the siege and plundering by barbarous pirates.

    Normally speaking, most of the pirate crews didn''t have anything like this in their disposition and now, where there was talk about the Greenskins... it could be considered that they didn''t smash the device apart like they usually do.

    "Then fire the most powerful rounds the ship can handle... we need to take out that shield generator out of the picture before we disembark..."

    Samiel ordered and Captain Alvar went to carry out the order, still unsure if the ship''s cannons would be able to destroy the shield generator in only a few hits. The shield generator was located in the center of the ind, protected by countless enormous trees...

 Chapter 272 Green Beast Pirates (3)

    Chapter 272 Green Beast Pirates (3)

    Even despite that, Samiel was confident that the ship''s artillery should be able to destroy the shield generator in a few hits before the Greenskins realized what was going on. Samiel knew that the ships manufactured by the Skr?n?ti? Kingdom wouldn''t be that sloppy.

    After several minutes, the artillery was ready as Samiel saw everyone rushing to their position because the moment they started bombarding the target, their stealth would be automatically canceled.

    Even if it wasn''t, it would be useless because even an idiot could tell from which direction the attack came.

    Soon enough, several magic circles appeared above the artillery canons as they were being loaded; momentster, Samiel heard the firing sounds of artillery shooting.

    Due to his orders, they were overloading the canon''s capacity and firing at 150% to be sure that their bombardment would destroy the shield generator for sure. If it didn''t destroy the shield generator, then their efforts in attacking the Green Beast Pirates would be many times harder.

    The siege was something that nobody wished for.

    Especially in these conditions.

    Samiel was observing the main ind of the formation where the Greenskins had their headquarters with keen interest, together with Juulius, who was already ready to lead the Holy Knights of the Holy Temr Order and Yvraine, who was not less eager for a fight.

    His familiar Nefertari was peacefully sleeping in his chambers because she wasn''t interested in doing anything else aside from sleeping for now, and Juulius''s familiar Tytos was next to his master, ready to tear apart some Orks.

    Suddenly as they saw that the attacks had hit their targets and the shield generator waspletely destroyed, Captain Alvar ordered the ship to dock on the inds so the ground assault could start.

    "Bagtork is yours, Juulius; though I would be killing a few of them myself... staying on the ship would be boring."

    Samiel stated as his sworn knight nodded before he started organizing two hundred Temr Knights of the Holy Temr Order into neatly ordered battle formations as they were ready to march the very own second they docked.

    Soon enough, the ship was close enough to the ind as it used an extendable bridge, connecting the humongous battleship with thend of the main ind.

    Not only did it create a bridge that connected two points, but it also created a magical barrier to prevent anyone from attacking them when they descended from the ship.

    Usually, when soldiers were docking down anding from the ships, they were most vulnerable, so having something like this already in-build in the ships was genial.

    This was another neat gadget that the Skr?n?ti? Kingdom''s shipbuilders and engineers installed onto the battleship.

    Under Juulius''s leadership, two hundred Holy Knights quickly disembarked from the ship as they marched in perfect formation without wasting any movement or time, as they took ce on the beach of the ind.

    While Juulius wasmanding the Holy Temrs, Samiel tookmand of a few tens of priests that came with them, as they would be acting as support for the Holy Knights against the hordes of Greenskins.

    Contrary to the Holy Temrs, who were wearing full-ted armor, underneath the heavy-ted armor, they were wearing chainmail armor, under which was leather armor and under that was anotheryer of cloth armor.

    All fouryers were made from top-notch materials and crafted in a way, that they won''t be too bulky and especially not hinder the movements of the knights on the battlefield. Each of them was armed with either sword or hammer in one hand and holding a huge shield in another hand.

    No matter how Samiel looked at them, they were armored, walking killing machines.

    Each of the Temrs was sculpted by the Holy Temr Order, strengthened by Alchemy and forbidden sorcery rituals to make them the best soldiers of the Hall of Kadath.

    "All priests gather behind me and wait for my orders."

    Samiel ordered as he summoned Ashimer and Negash, together with a small contingent of a few Undead Warriors that were here to protect the priests in case they were attacked by some lucky Ork that was able to survive the charge of Holy Knights.

    With a singlemand, all priests that were brought by Samiel to the shores of the inds gathered together in formation as the Undead Warriors surrounded them in a protective manner.

    Juulius brandished his sword as he pointed forward and they spread, creating a shield wall from their shields because they could sense movement in the forests; clearly, the Greenksins were already here.

    The battle would be taking ce at the shores first. Considering the number of Greenskins on the ind, it wasn''t that surprising that the Greenskins found them this soon. Soon enough, hundreds of goblins rushed from the woods directly toward the shields of the Holy Knights.

    While severely outnumbered, the Holy Knights didn''t falter as they held their weapons and shields, withstand the charge of co��untless goblins as they counterattacked and with each attack, hundreds of goblins were killed mainly by decapitation.

    "Priests, release the spells!"

    Samiel yelled the moment the next wave of goblins was approaching, this time with a good number of Orks among them, as several tens of priests released various Spells of various Levels, together with Samiel, Yvraine and Negash.

    In a split of a second, a rain of spells fell onto rushing goblins and Orks, annihting hundreds of lives in a moment, but that didn''t deter the greenskins as they crossed over the dead, stepped over the bodies of theirpatriots and continued in their frenzy attack.

    Using the window of opportunity created by the magic barrage, Juulius ordered the shield wall to move forward as they cleaved through the Orks, killing one after another, ughtering hundreds of greenskins like it was their sole divine mission.

    Meanwhile, Samiel was summoning more and more Undead, ordering them to surround the area and not allow any greenskin to leave the ce, as he, together with Negash and Ashimer, coordinated the Undead Scourge on the ind.

    He noticed that the Nobz and Bagtork were missing, probably still remaining at the core area of the ind where their headquarters was located in some kind of fortress if they could build one.

    With spellsing from the Priests, boosted by the Divine Power of the Outer Gods and Holy Knights advanced through the hordes of greenskins; soon enough, the waves of the Orks and goblins were growing weaker and weaker.

    One after another, they were killed and Samiel''s Undead Scourgepletely secured the area while also killing arge number of greenskins without much resistance.

    While the greenskins were powerful, they were highly disorganized against the coordinated effort of the simrly powerful unit with much better training and equipment.

 Chapter 273 Green Beast Pirates (4)

    ?

    This was the greatest weakness of the Greenskins that the Temr Knights, under Juulius''s leadership, splendidly exploited as with step they took, more and more Orks were killed by their swords and hammers.

    Meanwhile, the Undead who had surrounded the entire area were ughtering the escaping goblins because the cowardly creatures wouldn''t dare to remain on the battlefield after they saw their stronger cousins being massacred like pigs waiting to be butchered.

    Goblins were cowardly by nature, only attacking when they were either forced or were sure of a 100% sess rate of their attack.

    Otherwise, they would just hide or escape, not to mention they were far smarter and more intelligent than your average Ork.

    Orks were rather stupid, not that much as Ogres, but not that far from it either, not talking about their ridiculous concepts of honor on the battlefield and fighting culture that ordered them to fight to the death.

    For them dying on the battlefield was the greatest honor, and naturally, they didn''t care if their death achieved nothing at all... it was essentially the orkish way of life.

    Samiel continued casting spells andmanding the Priests of the lesiarchy of the Hall of Kadath to do the same thing, as they were supporting the knights from a safe distance while being protected by the Undead.

    Another great thing that Samiel obtained from all of this was the constant influx of hundreds of souls that were just keep going and going, something that was always very wee.

    As he was turning more and more towards the Eldrtich Creaturre, his thirst for fresh and powerful souls was getting more and more powerful, unquenchable, so he was eating several souls on average per day.

    "And that should be thest one..."

    Samielmented as he sensed that thest of the greenskins had perished under the sword of Juulius Crawford.

    They managed to exterminate more than three thousand greenskins with just around 200 Holy Temr Knights and 70 Priests, not counting the Undead. Though it was important to take note of the fact that most of the greenskins were goblins and gretchins.

    Gretchin or Grotz are basically a smaller subspecies of Orks, who are more cowardly than normal Orks and are usually used as living shields to clear mine fields, are stepped on to get through difficult terrain, and sometimes even as emergency rations.

    In this aspect, they were not different from goblins, but contrary to goblins, who were entirely different species of the Green Tide, Gretchin were subspecies of Orks; thus, their status within was slightly higher.

    Only slightly.

    "Okey, everybody... now that they are killed, do your thing, burn everything to ashes."

    Samiel ordered as it was important to destroy any remnants of the bodies of the Orks; he only chose a few of the most powerful corpses to reanimate as Undead, while the rest would burn.

    All Priests and even Negash immediately went to work, burning down the corpses of thousands of greenskins while Temr Knights were securing the perimeter and putting down some basic fortifications around the warship.

    ***

    After one hour, when everything was burned and the beach was cleared out of the corpses of the greenkins, their small expeditionary group started advancing toward the target.

    And the target was the heart of the ind, where the main fortress of the Green Beast Pirates was located and where their leader, Boss Bagtork was leading the greenskins.

    Advancing through the dense jungle of enormous trees was nothing to scoff at, but fortunately, due to Juulius''smand, they were able to advance rather swiftly in neat, orderly formation.

    Samiel, together with the Priests, were in the middle of the battle formation, protected by the Holy Temr Knights, who were creating a square pattern around them. A bit far away from them, there were a few tens of Undead who acted as scouts and rear guards.

    asionally they came across some powerful magical breasts or some weaker ones, though neither of those kinds wanted to fight their group because of their numbers.

    Everything was happening under the sounds of artillery firing as the warship once against started bombarding some of the strategic positions of the Green Beasts Pirates.

    It seemed that Captain Alvar decided to sink down their fleet, which was docked at the main docks on the other side of the ind. If they didn''t sink down their fleet, they would risk being surrounded and attackedter on.

    As the ships were left unprotected, all of them were turned into the ming sea as they were gunned to nothing more than just ming wood and destroyed scraps of metal, as some of theirrger vessels were actually made from metal.

    Samiel didn''t care much for the sounds of artillery firing as he focused more on the situation on hand, as an enemy ambush coulde at any given moment. This was also a perfect opportunity to ambush them as they were traversing through the jungle and were in an unknown territory.

    And as expected, not such thing came because Orks would want them to fight round and square.

    This was proof that the Bagtork wasn''t one of those scheming and cunning Orks of their kind but rather someone who preferred to meet their enemy head-on.

    If he was cunning, then he would have poured all of his forces here because in this jungle, it would be the best ce for Greenskins to fight them.

    Aside from a suitable environment for the Orks, as they were familiar with the ce, it also lowered the capabilities of all Spell Casters.

    Due to the extremely dense jungle filled with a plethora of trees and flora, it was difficult to aim and release the Spell at the target. There were many ces for the Greenskins to hide from the barrage of Spells.

    And due to the limited amount of Spells and the fact that the Spell Casters could easily harm their allies by releasing the Spell at the wrong ce due tock of space, theirbat capabilities were greatly lowered.

    This gave the Orks an unnatural advantage if they fought in the forest, but s, it seemed that they were lucky because if they fought ording to Samiel''s and Juulius''s rules, then there would be no more Greenkins on this ind after today.

    "It seems that there would be no ambush from the green''s..."

    Samiel whispered to Juulius as he saw the knight nod.

    "Traditionalists are very rare in the lower floors, especially ones that get exiled from their ns."

    Juulius was an expert when it came to the Greenskins and knew about them probably even more than the Greenskins themselves.

    "Their foolishness is our gain."

    They were whispering to each other because there was still the possibility of attracting some powerful Magical Beast.

    Thest thing they needed was to have that kind of luck to wake some slumbering monster.

 Chapter 274 Paint It, Green (1)

    Due to the unhindered path to the heart of the ind, it didn''t take long for the party of the Holy Temr Knights and Priests of the Hall of Kadath to arrive in front of the gates of the Orkish fortress that belonged to the Green Beast Pirates.

    As expected, it was a formidable and imposing structure, reflecting the brutal and savage nature of its inhabitants. Built with abination of raw strength and a crude sense of architecture, an Orkish fortress stands as a symbol of their dominance and power.

    It loomed like a monstrous beast with jagged walls that jut out at harsh angles. Constructed from rough-hewn stone, it appears as if boulders and bs were haphazardly piled upon one another, forming a massive, irregr structure.

    The fortress stands surrounded by a deep, murky moat filled with toxic sludge, emitting a putrid odor that repels all but the most powerful of intruders.

    Atop the walls, crude battlements are manned by hulking Orcish warriors, their muscr frames silhouetted against the sky. They stand vignt, wielding massive axes, wicked spears, and rusted des, their eyes glinting with a predatory ferocity.

    The main gate, an imposing structure of iron and wood, is adorned with crude spikes and menacing symbols carved by the Ork shamans and their Warlocks. Just from those symbols alone, one could sense the corruptive powers of the Greenskins.

    It was protected by a fearsome portcullis that is rumored to have crushed entire armies. As the gate creaks open, a sinister green aura emanates from within, revealing a dark and foreboding world.

    Even from their current position, they could see the towering figure of the Bossing from the opened gates. Even Samiel and his group had to admit that the Boss of the Green Beast Pirates, Bagtork was far more powerful...

    Different from Dharzug, who still didn''t evolve into the being of Boss.

    The Ork Boss was a massive creature, his hulking frame radiating an aura of raw power. Muscles bulge beneath leathery green skin, crisscrossed with scars earned through countless battles.

    His broad shoulders are adorned with crude armor, patchwork tes of scavenged metal and trophies salvaged from fallen enemies, creating a makeshift but menacing ensemble.

    A pair of beady, bloodshot eyes, gleaming with fierce intelligence, peer out from beneath a heavy brow. His broad, tusk-like teeth jut out in a permanent snarl, emphasizing the savage and menacing expression that dominates his face.

    A heavy, choppa weapon, dwarfing any normal-sized de, is clutched tightly in one massive, calloused hand. The jagged, serrated edge is caked with dried blood and bears crude engravings, telling the tale of countless foes who fell before it.

    "Yar havee her! Now wer fight! WAAAGH!"

    The creature roared as it waved its choppa high above his head, as the rest of the Greenskins followed their suits, cheered for the uing WAAAGH on the worthy enemy and powerful enemy.

    Such was the existence called Ork.

    When the booming voice of the Ork Boss issuedmands, there was nobody who dared to refute and if there were some, then the Nobz, grizzled warriors who have proven themselves in battle, the personal retinue of Boss would make sure that everyone did what was expected.

    "Formation 3! Prepare for the attack!"

    Juulius shouted immediately as the Temr Knights shifted, creating more denser formation around the Priests that were in the middle,pletely protecting their long-ranged fighters.

    Meanwhile, Samiel was ordering the Priests to use all kinds of blessings and buffs on the Holy Knights, who would soon be fighting the towering figures of the Orkish hulks, each one being warmachine on itself.

    Soon enough, the first waves of the Orks already started rushing towards the Temr Knights who created a shield wall and cast various types of magic to help them in their fight, calling upon the blessings of their Gods and great unknown.

    They stood there, as an immovable mountain, not blinking, facing the mad charge of the green tide that was approaching them second by second. Yet nobody felt fear, because fear was the mind killer; fear was the little-death that brought total obliteration.

    So they don''t know fear and they stood face to face their enemy, with their des drawn and their magic ready.

    "Fire!"

    Upon the order of their Holy Son, the Priests released the barrage of their spells, specifically prepared for the Greenskins as hundreds of Orks were killed faster than one could blink, but as usual, this only lowered their numbers.

    The morale of Orks was unshaken; the WAAAGH stood strong as long as their Boss was breathing and fighting. Countless spells were released on the battlefield, either from Samiel''s Priests or from the Orkish Shamanans and Warlocks using their foul magic.

    This was countered by the Priests and this soon developed into the battle of spellcasters.

    "WAAAGH!"

    "WAAAGH!"

    "WAAAGH!"

    "WAAAGH!"

    "WAAAGH!"

    "WAAAGH!"

    "WAAAGH!"

    "WAAAGH!"

    The Orks were cleaved in half, their limbs or heads were severed by the Holy Temrs as they attacked their fortified lines, but they stood strong and the Orks just continued in their mad assault, not caring about their losses.

    They were Orks and they fought for the victory.

    Nothing less was eptable.

    Juulius just observed this as he grits his teeth because while he was aware of their presently good situation, as they managed to stand strong... from the long-term position, they were at a severe disadvantage.

    "Commander Tirius, the charge is yours."

    Juulius brandished his sword and put away his shield as he looked at one of the Holy Temr Knights that was standing next to him.

    He decided to take the head of the beast by himself and cut the head from the body.

    The very second the Boss was killed, the Orks wold just...

    Disperse...

    This was their greatest weakness; the very moment their Boss was killed, their entiremand structure copsed like a house of cards.

    It was even worse because sometimes they would start fighting with each other, even during the ongoing battle.

    Fundamentally speaking, it was the existence of the Boss that was holding them all together in one group.

    "I will not disappoint you, my Lord; not single greenskins will make it here alive."

    Commander Tirius said as Juulius called the greater powers and disappeared from his current spot, leaving only a trail of lighting behind him and tens of decapitated Orks that stood in his path.

    He was tearing his way to the Boss, killing tens of Orks every second without a problem.

    Seeing this, Samiel conjured his ice trident as he looked at Yvraine and his Higher Undead and ordered them to take his ce, rushing after Juulius.

    He wanted to engage those Orkish Warlocks and Shamans during the time Juulius would be dealing with the Boss, in case the Warlocks decided to interrupt the duel between Juulius and Boss.

    They were... in the end... pretty treacherous kind... those Warlocks...

 Chapter 275 Paint It, Green (2)

    ?

    Fighti��ng against Warlocks was, most of the time, very problematic because most of Warlocks were crafty foxes. Even the greenskin ones were cunning as hell and were dangerous opponents.

    That was because Warlocks got their Magic from entering into a contract with some kind of extradimensional entity...

    Most of the Entities that were dealing with Warlocks were various kinds of Eldirthc Horrors, Void Creatures, Outer Gods, monstrosities that existed since immemorial or other types of creatures.

    And always...

    Always the price was your very own soul and the only way how to not lose it was to remain alive.

    So the Warlocks were experts at survival.

    Samiel identified five Warlocks that were in the area; all of them were at the Silver-Tier, signifying their power. In a split of a second, as he located all of them, he rushed at the nearest ork Warlock.

    The Ork Warlock looked like most other Orks, disyingmon physical traits that were normal for their species. He had a green tone of skin, prominent tusks protruding from their lower jaw, muscr builds, and a generally intimidating presence.

    Like other Orks, even the Warlocks adorned themselves with tribal tattoos, bone and metal jewelry and wore dark and rugged attire to reflect their connection to the dark arts.

    Contrary to most of the Magicians, the Orkish Warlocksbined their innate physical strength, which was frightening for the average Magician, together with Magic.

    Depending on whom they entered a contract and obtained their Magic, they would have some frightening Magic in their disposition. Warlocks were extremely proficient in Curses and other nasty types of Magic.

    Naturally, Samiel didn''t waste any time, as he struck the unprepared Warlock with his Ice Trident, piercing his soul. The first one was easiest to kill because he was unprepared, for Samiel was fast as lighting.

    The remaining four Warlocks reacted as they shot some kind of Shadow Spells at him, but Samiel could feel their nefarious aura. From the aura of the spells alone, he could feel that the contractors of the Warlocks here was probably some kind of Outer God not affiliated with Outer Court.

    From what Samiel was aware, all Outer Gods were born from the Azathoth''s dream and there were only two ways to get away from the Azathoth''s Dream.

    The first and easier way was to be allowed out by Azathoth himself. The second and harder way was to transfer his own existence into the real world through champions of the said Outer Gods.

    This was a very long and arduous process that typically required extremelyrge sacrifices, mostly on the level of entire High Worlds, just for the birth of Outer God, who lost 99% of his power, but there were many who seeded.

    Now Samiel encountered some Warlocks that were in contract with such Warlocks.

    He jumped high in the air as he could see the soul of the Warlock he killed departing from the Material ne and was heading towards the Outer God who was lending the Warlcok his Magic and power.

    Such was the way how the contract between them worked.

    He dodged all spells that the Warlocks were shooting at him because he wasn''t keen on getting hit by them... most of them were pretty nasty curses and while they wouldn''t cause him severe damage, their effects could be pretty terrifying.

    He wasn''t wasting any time, as during the windows of opportunity, he was dodging the spells from the Warlocks; he was preparing his own while simultaneously using the Winter Ruler to freeze the limbs of the nearest Warlocks.

    In a split of a second several 4th Level Spells of the Void Magic were cast, all targeting two Warlocks that were nearest to him, as their heads were sted apart by the impact of the Void Spell.

    All of that happened so fast that nobody could properly register what had happened because Samiel was acting extremely fast, not giving his opponents to use any more powerful spells or, god forbid, calling for possession.

    Some Warlocks could even call the entities whom they called masters to possess their bodies and tremendously increase their power. It was pretty simr to what he could do, but more dangerous because it was a very crude method.

    Crude possession methods could easily damage someone''s soul.

    With three Warlocks down from the original number five, now only two of them remained.

    The Orkish Warlocks were shouting something in the Orkish Language as suddenly tens of Ork Boyz started surrounding the Warlocks, creating some kind of protective wall around them, as they were casting some powerful Curse Spell.

    Samiel''s eyes constricted seeing this because this didn''t signalize anything good.

    However, he still grinned at seating at that, as he used the Winter Ruler and used the residual coldness from the previous usage of Winter Rule and hundreds of ice weapons appeared around him as they skewered the Orks through and through.

    Obviously the Orks were not able to defend against the Ice Weapons, as they pierced through their bodies like hot knife through butter, as Samiel approached their locations, killing the Orks that survived.

    He moved fast as lighting, dodging attacks from some of the luckier Orks that had managed to survive, as he decapitated them with his ice trident while approaching the Warlocks.

    He noticed that one of the Warlocks was even injured from his previous barrage, as an ice sword was sticking from his stomach.

    Using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to boost up his physical parameters, Samiel burst out with an even more terrifying level of speed as he appeared behind the injured Warlock, piercing his heart with his ice trident and freezing his inner organs at the same time.

    Now only one of the Warlocks remained, who when saw that everything had gone to shit, decided to escape... even though Orks disdained such an act as a sign of ultimate cowardice, Warlocks were Warlocks in the end.

    They were aware that dying meant that their very own souls would be the property of their contractors and that was something they wanted to avoid at any cost.

    Naturally, Samiel wouldn''t let any enemy escape from him, as he froze the entire area in a split of a second and severed head of the Orkish Warlock in one sh of his trident.

 Chapter 276 Juulius Vs Bagtork

    ?

    Orks had the honor ofbat...

    Singlebat was never to be interrupted by anyone; no one could do that, especially if the Boss was dueling someone; that would be one of the greatest offensives within the n, Tribe or Horde.

    Naturally, nobody would even dare to do such a foolish notion because only death awaited, as the Boss would kill the interrupter no matter of his position within his organization.

    "Com''n puna human!"

    The Ork Bosss and captain of the Green Beast Pirates shouted in broken Cosmos Common at Juulius, who stood there silently as the wind blew into his face and he readied his sword and observed every movement of the Ork.

    The beast of flesh and muscles was towering over Juulius, making the Temr Knight indeed seem punypared to the monstrous Boss. The Orks that achieved this status typically underwent many mutations, increasing their physical parameters tremendously.

    Juulius didn''t give to the training of the Bagtork because he was aware that the beast was attempting to provoke him. One should never underestimate the Ork Bosses as some of them could be pretty cunning and smart.

    While not of them, but most of them were dangerous, even in the intelligence department, as they were pretty smart.

    "Are you going to attack Greenskin or are you that cowardly?"

    The Temr Knight needed only one single sentence topletely enrage the Ork Bagtor, as the enormous Ork gripped two choppas that he was holding and rushed at the Holy Knight.

    In this regard, Orks were pretty short-tempered and easy to anger, especially if someone insulted their honor, then enraging an Ork was a piece of cake, just like Juulius did it right now.

    Looking at the humongous Ork that swung both of his enormous choppas at him, Juulius flipped backward while casting some enhancement spells at himself and using the Mana Control Method to boost up his physical parameters.

    He was aware that without it, it would be impossible topete against the powerful physique of the Ork Boss and due to his spars against Dharzug, he knew the weak points not only from his own point of view but also from the point of view of Orks themselves.

    Suddenly his sword shined in something that appeared to be Light, but it had coldness and properties of the Void, an abomination between Light and Void, called Voidlight. Very unique and special element that was unique to the Hall of Kadath and Holy Temr Order.

    Naturally, Juulius has achieved high mastery over the Voidlight; he shed at the neck of the Ork Boss Bagtork as it was unprotected. Obviously, such an attack was nothing against the Ork Boss, as he raised his choppas and blocked the strike.

    Instantly, he kicked Juulius to his stomach, causing the Temr Knight to crash into the ground as he rushed towards him. He struck the ce where Juuliusnded, forcing the Juulius to roll and doge as he got into his hands and shed at the legs of the Ork Boss.

    Green blood spluttered onto the earth as the Ork roared in pain and let out a roar into the air and charged at the Holy Knight once more. Using the Voidlight, Juulius erupted in power and struck the Ork Boss in his stomach with his fist.

    With that, he sent the Ork Boss Bagtork flying and crashing into the walls of the crude wooden fortifications.

    Juulius then chanted something in the Eldritch Speech of R''lyehian and suddenly, several balls of concentrated Void Energy appeared in the air and shot towards Ork Boss Bagtork.

    Their speed was so high that the Ork Boss Bagtork couldn''t dodge any of them and was hit on several ces across his body by the balls made of the Void Energy, which started quickly spreading through his body.

    Not wasting any time, using the window of opportunity as the Ork Boss raged from the pain he was forced to withstand by the Void Energy that started spreading through his body. The Ork still tried to fight the Void Energy, but it was futile because he was nowhere near powerful or skillful to do so.

    In a split of moment when he wasn''t paying attention to the battlefield, Juulius already appeared behind the Ork Boss and Captain of the Green Beast Pirates and with one price sh of his sword, he severed his right arm.

    Before the arm could fall onto the ground, Juulius''s sword shined with the power of Unholy Light as he charged the Void Energy into his sword and shed at the neck of the humongous Ork, liberating the ugly head from an even uglier body.

    "And as expected... most Orks are easy to kill..."

    Juulius muttered as he kicked away the head of the Ork Boss.

    He looked all around the fortress of the Orkish camp; everywhere where he looked, the Greenskins were yed and ughtered mercilessly to thest one. The unruly Greenskins were no match for the disciplined Temr Knights and Priests.

    Swords of the Temr Knights were ughtering them en masse, while the Spells of the Clergy. Soon enough, the entire Green Beast Pirates were wiped out to thest Greenskin and the once-feared horde of the green was finally finished.

    Samiel looked around the former camps as he looked at his Priests and Undead before he started issuing themmands to search through the entire camp and then destroy the camp as they would be leaving.

    "My Lord, unfortunately, we have found only a few millions of Gold Coins and a few thousand Mana Crystals of various tiers."

    He frowned at that because he thought that the Green Beast Pirates would have umted much more wealth. Some paltry few million Gold Coins and a few thousand Mana Crystals.

    "Whatever, search through the camp once more and then set everything on fire... or you know what? Set on fire the entire ind; let it burn."

    He ordered as he looked at the Undead and Priests working hard, as they were going to search through the Orkish encampment once more to be sure that they didn''t miss anything.

    Juulius brought the head of Bagtork to Samiel, who stored the head in the Dimensional Storage.

 Chapter 277 Cleaning Up And Moving Forward

    ?

    Samiel enjoyed watching the ind burn when they exterminated the Green Beast Pirates to thest Greenskin. Probably Juulius enjoyed it even more, considering his personal hatred for the Greenskins.

    Though at the same time, he was already getting bored with the 11th Floo... spending time on the ship wasn''t as enjoyable as one could have thought and it was just not for him.

    In the end, he decided to procure the bounties as soon as possible so he couldplete the Advancement Quest issued by the Tower''s Systema and move forward toward the next Floors.

    Not to mention, the challenges he faced on these lower floors were rtively low considering either his personal power or the army of Undead that was already steadily forming under hismand.

    Samiel stood on the deck of his battleship, together with Juulius and Yvraine, as they were observing the ind where the Green Beast Pirates resided burning, under the might of magical mes that were devouring everything in their path.

    "I think that I have spent enough time on the seas for the uing centuries..."

    He muttered silently, though both Yvraine and Juulius heard him clearly. While Juulius didn''t care about being onnd or seas, Yvraine would certainly prefer some nice forest contrary to the endless waves of the ocean and water.

    For the Silvermoon Elf like her, while this environment wasn''t the worst one, it wasn''t certainly the preferable one.

    Meanwhile, they were observing the burning ind; Samiel was holding a green blob in his right hand, which was the soul of the Ork Boss Bagtork that he collected to aid the chaos that was on the ind when the forces of the Hall fought against the Green menace.

    In the end, he stuffed the soul of the Ork Boss Bagtork in his mouth and gulped it down in one go as he went through the memories of the Orks to find something useful.

    Unfortunately, while his proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour was high enough, Bagtork didn''t know anything useful for him.

    Aside from the location of some powerful pirates that were hiding in the Northern Ocean Area and even the Pirate King, who was hiding here in his secretir, he didn''t obtain much from the soul.

    Aside from the weird aftertaste, because Bagtork was a worshipper of the Green Gods, he felt some slight increase in his power and hisprehension of the Orkish Language became much better.

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 1%.]

    From all the souls he consumed, one thing that he obtained aside from the memories wasprehension ofnguages, which were instant ones and now his proficiency with the Orkishnguage was top-notch.

    Naturally, from each soul he obtained, he gained a shitton of information, mainly about the martial arts, weapon masteries and other things that he never bothered properly learn because it would take too much time.

    Having memories and having proficiency was one thing after another.

    While he obtained memories about various katas and moves that didn''t equal the immediate mastery and he would need to practice the moves properly and everything to gain geniue proficiency in some art.

    "Where are we going next?"

    Juulius asked his master as they were all observing the burning ind, as the mes had already devoured the entirety of the smallndmass and soon enough, nothing aside from ash and residual magic would remain there.

    "Several weeks worth of journey from here, there is Pirate King hiding there in a secretir he constructed there... someone at the peak of the Silver-Tier should be a worthy opponent for me."

    Samiel said that as he received memories of the Cpatain of the Green Beast Pirates Bagtork, he was aware of all secrets of that the Ork knew.

    "As youmand, My Lord."

    Juulius gave his master bow before he excused himself from the deck.

    Soon after, the battleship started moving forward, away from the burning ind, further into the open sea. Samiel''s familiar Nefertari was sleeping soundly in her ce, which she imed to be her nest and asionally observing happenings around her.

    Like normal cats, even Nefertari, despite being an "abnormal" cat was a normal cat in this, as she liked a heightened ce to take a nap. Mainly because it was instinctively safer for her and at the same time, she had a nice view of everything that was happening on the deck.

    ***

    Several days have passed since they annihted the Green Beast Pirates and were still on the open sea. Their journey towards the hideout of the Pirate King, who was hiding in the Northern Ocean Area.

    Samiel spent most of his time byprehending the mysteries of the arcane and, together with Yvraine, in their room, as his Silvermoon Elven Princess was feeling pretty much cuddly and in the mood for some naughty time alone.

    The next day after leaving the unnamed ind of the Green Beast Pirates, Samiel practiced the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method and devoured all of the Mana Crystals like crazy, but unfortunately, he didn''t manage to break through and reach the next level.

    "What are you thinking again?"

    Yvraine asked Samiel as they were lying on the bed after an intense season of naughty activities and both of them were equally tired. Due to the experience, Yvraine gained from their lovemaking; she was slowly learning how to suck Samiel dry.

    "That I want to get away from this sea and oceans already...."

    He said briefly and Yvraine agreed with him too...

    "I think that if I spent even more time here, I would get sea sickness from everything..."

    Yvraine muttered; even to her, spending months on the waters was something already annoying...

    "We just need to deal with the Pirate King and then we will bepleting the Advancement Qeust and could finally move forward... I already want to reach the higher floors... the lower ones are not providing any sense of danger to me."

    Samiel said casually because he was already nearing thepetition of the Advancement Quest.

 Chapter 278 Pinnacle Mortal Battle (1)

    278 Pinnacle Mortal Battle (1)

    Somewhere in the Material ne of the Cosmos, Unknown Time

    Menuhyutt Faulhaber took the Divine Grimoire from his disciple; he teleported out from the Tower as he forced his way into the unknown Middle World across the vast Material ne of the Cosmos.

    The Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath looked at the Middle World with calmness as he waited for something to happen. He didn''t choose this Middle World randomly, but he chose it for one precise reason.

    This was one of the Middle World controlled directly by the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light which was loosely affiliated with the Avalon Kingdom. Simrly, like the Holy Temr Order used certain worlds as their recruitment grounds, the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light used this concrete world as a recruitment ground.

    The entire Middle World was filled with the Holy Powers of the Divine Light belonging to ''Him'', but Menuhyutt Faulhaber was strong enough to withstand the side effect of that.

    He just sat down on one of the mountain peaks as he sat cross-legged and waited for something to happen.

    As he was meditating in the mountains, he suddenly felt energy spikes near his location; it gave off a holy feeling, very reminiscent of that of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light''s high-ranking Pdins.

    "So you are finally here..."

    Menuhyutt stated neutrally as he looked at the man that appeared several meters away from him. While the Hall Master looked calm and neutral, actually, he was very wary of his opponent.

    The Grandmaster of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light, Johan d''Orle��ns, Master of the Light, Grand Pdin and one of the most zealous followers of ''Him''... also a person who was almost guaranteed to be an Angel under ''Him'' once he undergoes Transcendence.

    Johan d''Orle��ns was a middle-aged man with a bit of short dark blonde hair and a full beard that was perfectly trimmed. His eyes shined with light as his heavy armor was radiating the Holy Power on itself.

    "Menuhyutt... return the Divine Grimoire; that book belongs to the Faithful of the Lord, not to a heretical sphemer like you."

    The Grandmaster of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light said with a stern voice, with his eyes never leaving the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath for a moment.

    "What about... no?"

    Secondster, hundreds of spells burst out of nowhere and shot toward Johan d''Orle��ns, all of them were 9th Level Spells, with some of them being 10th Level Spells. Menuhyutt Faulhaber was bearer Eternal ss Arcanist of Apocalypse and Lord Sub-ss Arcane Keeper.

    For him casting this amount of Spells of such high Levels was nothing.

    An enormous shield and sword appeared in the hands of Johan d''Orle��ns as he put the shield in front of him and intense light shone from the shield and created a light crystal barrier around him, stopping all of the spells at him.

    "Of course, you would survive this... but I have not ended."

    Suddenly the entire world shook violently while Menuhyutt finished chanting; several stars appeared high in the air as they all shot res of their power at the Johan d''Orle��ns with full force.

    The power was so great that it obliterated everything in its path and one could clearly see that it was seriously damaging the entire Middle World which was feat on itself. Usually speaking, Mortals no matter how powerful would never have the power to do feats only Transcendents could do.

    And yet, every few Epochs, one such individual appeared that broke the bnce between the boundaries.

    Mortal with the power of Transcendent.

    "You madman! Do you want to damm this world!"

    The Grandmaster of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light shouted with unprecedented rage and hatred as he stared at the Menuhyutt Faulhaber because this attack would seriously damage the Leylines of the World.

    Now that Johan d''Orle��ns thought about it, he slowly came to the realization of why the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath was waiting for him here and not at any other ce.

    This was the trap from the start.

    This was a ce where the main Leylines were connected with each other.

    If this ce was severely damaged, then the Leylines could be crippled or worse, even destroyed permanently.

    "So you have realized?"

    The mocking voice woke up Johan d''Orle��ns from his stupor as Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath looking at him mockingly, awaiting his inevitable death.

    "You should be aware that my death won''t change anything in the great scheme of things; sooner orter, a new Grandmaster will be chosen by the Lord."

    Johan d''Orle��ns spoke with strong conviction and faith in his voice, as he was resolved to die today, but he knew that his death wouldn''t change anything.

    "Indeed, it won''t and soon new would be chosen... but you are forgetting something, my old friend... that during those few decades, thebat prowess of your Order would be lessened tremendously and at the same time, even the Avalon Kingdom would be weakened."

    To the Transcendents, even the most powerful mortals like Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns were expendable to a great degree, and they could find someone else to fit the role.

    Yes, it would take some time, but in the end, everyone was just a pawn in the great scheme of things.

    But the aim of the Hall wasn''t to kill the Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns to achieve victory or something, but rather to temporarily cripple the ability of Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light and by extension Avalon Kingdom to participate in highest-endbat among mortals.

    For factions like Avalon Kingdom, who had problems cultivating Holy Level Legendaries, not to mention someone as powerful as Johan d''Orle��ns, who was Limit Level Holy Legendary on the verge of Transcending would be a tremendous blow.

    It would take at least a few decades until a new Grandmaster would be chosen and during that time, the vulnerability of the Avalon Kingdom would be increased several times.

    And that was the goal of the Hall.

    It wasn''t Pdin Order itself by killing the Grandmaster because that was not enough...

    It was the Avalon Kingdom by extension.

    If the Pdin Order was weakened enough, Avalon Kingdom would lose ess to its highestbat power, which would allow other factions to act against them freely.

    Even though many of the 13 Gates would hate to admit the fact, but the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light was extremely powerful... while it was very small in terms of numbers, it had quality.

    For those who are actually reading this book till now, check out the announcement at the discord about it... its too big to put it here...

    https://discord.gg/vF5qYPBpqF

    Trafford

 Chapter 279 Pinnacle Mortal Battle (2)

    279 Pinnacle Mortal Battle (2)

    But Holy Legendaries were rare, and people who reached that boundary and could be Transcendents at any given moment were even beyond rare. Each one f them was an undisputed ruler of the Material ne of the Cosmos.

    With the death of Johan d''Orle��ns of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light, the list would be once again shorter and the Pdin Order would need to invest a lot of resources into the cultivation of a new Grandmaster.

    "So that was your aim from the start..."

    Johan d''Orle��ns said quietly, without much emotion showing, because he epted his fate and knew that this wasn''t just the plot of the Hall of Kadath.

    No matter how arrogant he was, he had to admit thatpared to the Hall of Kadath, the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light and even the entire Avalon Kingdom were nothing more than just annoying pests.

    The Hall of Kadath in truth didn''t care about the existence of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light, though they were wary of the Avalon Kingdom for an obvious reason.

    "Who else?"

    Johan d''Orle��ns asked as he defended against the Spells of the Hall Master, who was considered as one of the most powerful Spell Casters among the mortals for the past several Eras.

    "At least half of the 13 Gates..."

    Supreme Pontiff of the Azathoth''s Court answered casually as he conjured another wave of crimson-like energy into a form of an arrow and shot it towards Johan d''Orle��ns at tremendous speed.

    Actually, the sole reason he was doing this entire charade was that he was paid for it by thebined efforts of the Nesser Dynasty, Underdark, Asura Tribe, Pale Congregation, Cmity Church, Germinal Order and Magisterium to get rid of Johan d''Orle��ns and thus weaken the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light.

    Most of these factions didn''t wish to fight Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns on their own for many reasons, so they put a request through The Guild for the assassination of Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns.

    Meanwhile, Menuhyutt Faulhaber wanted to kill another being on the same level and quench his thirst for battle, which, while very well controlled, but he needed to satiate it once in a while.

    Apocalypse Magic was one of the most dangerous branches of Magic in existence and it was something that was typically wielded only by powerful Transcendental Spell Casters.

    But right now, the mortal was using the power of the Apocalypse Magic to destroy the Divine Light Shield that was protecting the Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns through Apocalyptic Spell Weapons that the Hall Master was casting at him.

    To the mild surprise of the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath, the Divine Light Shield that was protecting Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns was holding still. It didn''t take a genius to figure out that the Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns was using the Divine Power of his Lord to boost up his ownbat prowess...

    Which was most interesting, using that power right from the start.

    Normally speaking, even Holies couldn''t hold the Transcendental Power for a prolonged period of time, especially if it was the Transcendental Power of one of ''Them''.

    Even their mighty bodies would crumble and their very own souls would be crushed into nothingness under such overwhelming might that was never to be meant in their hands in the first ce.

    ''He is still holding very well... I wonder how he will survive this.''

    As the Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns was preupied with maintaining the Divine Light Shield, Menhuhyutt Faulhaber summoned his sword and staff as he spread his arms, holding a sword in his right hand and staff in his left hand.

    In a split of a second, the sky darkened from the previous azure blue color to the menacing crimson-ck color as thunderbolts started striking the ground and wind was blowing, the earth was shaking and nature itself was bing unstable.

    Not even momentster, the crimson sphere of destruction appeared in the sky; as the entire Middle World shook, nature cried in panic and the mountains around them started copsing one by one.

    "Enjoy... Ruin the Extinct."

    As he finished the incarnation, the crimson sphere of destruction fell onto the Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns''s Divine Light Shield as everything went white from the explosion.

    The very own second the crimson sphere of destruction exploded, the central Leylines imploded from the explosion above them.

    What followed after was an unprecedented degree of destruction, as the Leylines all over the entire Middle World started exploding one by one; most of them were entirely destroyed while some, which were not, were crippled.

    Menuhyutt Faulhaber used the Void Magic to cast a Void Shield over him to protect himself from the Apocalypse that was taking ce on the earth because he was sure that even he wouldn''t leave unscathed if he was caught in those explosions.

    He waited for some time for the situation to calm down as approximately 95% of the lifeforms in the Middle World had perished, while the remaining 5% would perish within the uing day as they were lucky to survive.

    Unfortunately for them, the destruction of the Leyline Network through the Apocalyptic Magic was far more frightening than even the Hall Master anticipated. Even though the Middle World was standing and wouldn''t be destroyed, it would soon enough be turned into a Death World.

    This was a grave loss for the Avalon Kingdom and Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light, probably even far more severe than the loss of their Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns.

    Only rarely is the World destroyed because it was very rare for such a thing to happen and not many Transcendental would care enough to destroy World personally.

    Worlds were crucial resources for the development of the factions, and due to fact that Transcendents could exist in the High World, it mainly left Middle World and Lower Worlds for the mortal factions to develop.

    To obtain resources, recruit people and so on...

    So Middle Worlds were priceless and irreceable resources for any faction.

    And even if the World wasn''t destroyed, it became a Death World...

    Which was essentially the same thing, just in a different way.

    Death Worlds were worlds that were once magical in nature, but their Leylines were entirely destroyed and the World Core was damaged severely through it.

    When that happens, although the World won''t be destroyed, it will be an empty husk without any life, resources, energy or anything else.

    Once the explosions died down, Menuhyutt Faulhaber looked at the broken form of the Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns, who indeed perished in the explosions...

    "Goodbye... old friend."

    He muttered as he looked at the departing soul of Grandmaster Johan d''Orle��ns, which was being personally taken to the Divine Kingdom of the ''Him''.

    In this regard, even though Menuhyutt was tempted to catch it, he didn''t dare.

 Chapter 280 Aftershocks

    ?

    And as the Grandmaster of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light Johan d''Orle��ns breathed for thest time and the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath Menuhyutt Faulhaber said his goodbye, another part of the n started instantly.

    When the soul of the Johan d''Orle��ns departed to the Divine Kingdom of his God, Menuhyutt Faulhaber took out several objects from his Dimensional Storage, which were actually gs...

    Naturally, they were not ordinary gs but rather Ritualistic Runic gs that were used in sacrificial ceremonies, especially in the ceremony that the Hall Master was going to execute right now.

    With the entire Middle World, all the souls, anguish, hatred and negative emotions as the fuel and the Divine Grimoire of ''Him'' as the main object of the ritual.

    Menuhyutt Faulhaber waved his hands as several gs that he brought with him disappeared into the corners of the world and started creating something that was reminiscent of the spell array.

    Within several seconds, an enormous symbol of the Outer Court formed in the skies of the Middle World and shined with ominous aura and colors.

    This spell array was catching all the souls and everything that was remaining in the entire World and sacrificing it to the Outer Court.

    The aim of the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber was to carry out a sacrificial ceremony to sacrifice the Divine Grimoire of ''Him'' to the Outer Court.

    The Divine Grimoire that belonged to ''Him'' contained part of ''His'' Essence. Usually, all Divine Grimoires belonging to the Gods contained part of their very own Essence which then allowed their bearers to cast the Divine Magic straight away from the Divine Grimoire.

    This presented something very attractive for the Outer Gods, who could devour the Essence to free themselves from the partial restrains of not intervening with the Material ne directly.

    As they operated on a different set of rules, while the strongest of the Outer Gods were not restrained by this, some of the Outer Gods were and for them, the Essence of one of ''Them'' would break the restrain and allow them to spread their corruption in the Material ne on a grander scale.

    Around ten hourster, the spell formation was still activated and refining all souls, negative emotions and everything in the Middle World or at least what has remained from the Middle World.

    Every bit of refined energy was gathering in the center of the Spell Array, gathering around the Divine Grimoire that was being slowly corrupted by the power and might of the Outer Gods and Eldritch Abominations.

    "Hmm... they sent here someone this fast."

    He opened his eyes slightly as his sight prated deep out of the Middle World as he saw a fleet of several tens of voidships that were bearing the g of the Avalon Kingdom.

    The voidships of the Avalon Kingdom were not the best and their level of technology was probably enough to deal with only some Intermediate Legendary Level Professionals, but the number was rather too high.

    The Avalon Kingdom was producing their voidships on their own because no other faction would sell them theirs. Most of the factions actually produced their own, or they were buying theirs from the Scientia Hierarchy.

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber even saw a few voidships bearing the sigil of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light; probably one of the Order Commanders came to the ce personally.

    "It would be a shame if all ships were destroyed..."

    He muttered slightly as his eyes shined with purple light and in a split of a moment, several stars exploded near the voidships of the Avalon Kingdom, obliterating more than fifty of the vessels in one go.

    This was a trap prepared by the Hall Master before he even went to the Middle World. He then disappeared from the Middle World and appeared right in the Void, floating in front of the Middle World and observing the remnants of the fleet.

    Waving his sword, he controlled the remnant energy from the explosions, conjuring an enormous wave of pure destructive energy that smashed apart the remaining voidships of the Avalon Kingdom.

    ''This should take a good number of their strength for some time... it seems that this journey was far more profitable than anticipated. Destruction of one of the Avalon''s Fleets.''

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber thought as he watched the ships being destroyed to smitterness. At the same time, the souls of the killed Avalonian personnel were being caught by the Spell Array in the Middle World.

    Naturally, the fleets had no chance against someone strong as Menuhyutt Faulhaber, so after destroying the entire fleets belonging to the Alvalon Kingdom, he returned his attention to the happenings in the Middle World.

    He could see that the ritual ceremony was almost already finished.

    As he sacrificed the Divine Grimoire to the Outer Gods, the sole thing that remained within the entire Middle World was only one purple crystal.

    It was hovering high in the skies of the Middle World like it was observing the destroyed and deste Middle World.

    "So it worked..."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber stated emotionlessly as he stared at the purple crystal that was hovering in the air. For now, he didn''t dare to approach the thing, as he just kept on observing the crystal.

    "Azamuth Crystal... so perfect... so beautiful and so powerful..."

    After making sure that the Azamuth Crystal was in a stable condition, he startedying down some runes and isting the Azamuth Crystal in a sealing formation before he would store it in dimensional storage.

    The Azamuth Crystal was very vtile and if handled incorrectly, it could easily explode and take with it not only this Middle World but also several others that were located in the vicinity...

    The procedure of sealing the Azamuth Crystal took several minutes and that was only because the Hall Master was very proficient in sealing magic and runes, aside from his overwhelming power.

    As he sealed the Azamuth Crystal, he stored it in a specifically prepared container, which was then stored in dimensional storage.

    "n Faith is done... now the n Promised Land could begin..."

    He grinned viciously as he then disappeared from the Middle World because soon enough, it would be swarming with countless powerhouses and there was probably of ''Him'' sending down some Holy Level Legendary Angels to check on the situation personally.

 Chapter 281 Ambush!

    ?

    3 Weeks Later, Northern Ocean Area, 11th Floor of the Tower

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Level 44.]

    [Proficiency with Mystic Arte: Thorn Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with Mystic Arte: Thorn Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with Mystic Arte: Thorn Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with Mystic Arte: Thorn Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with Mystic Arte: Thorn Arte has been increased by 1%.]

    On the deck of the steel behemoth battleship that was traversing through the frozen oceans of the Northern Ocean Area, Samiel was fighting against Yvraine in a sparring match and this time, he was using Mystic Arte: Thorn Arte.

    The Silvermoon Elven Princess was agilely dodging all of the thorns as Samiel was trying them to get her trapped. The Mystic Arte: Thorn Arte focused on the creation and maniption of the Thorns; they were harder than metal and sharper than a de.

    With Yvraine practicing with him, both of them were training what they wanted to train; for Samiel, it was the Mystic Arte: Thorn Arte and for Yvraine, it was her footwork. Due to the sword style she was using, she needed to have the most agile and fast form as possible and Samiel''s Thorns were the best method.

    Samiel''sbat style with the Mystic Arte: Thorn Arte became pretty much unpredictable and if hebined it with his Magic, then it was several times more deadly. He needed just a moment to cast a spell and hit his target.

    "Stop!"

    Juulius, who acted as a referee for the match, shouted as he saw that Yvraine was already tired from the spar.

    During the spar, Samiel managed to reach Level 45 through the continuous use of the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method as he was passively absorbing Mana from the Mana Crystals and environment to increase his reserves.

    Coupled with the fact that he was constantly depleting his Mana Reserves and refilling them at the same time, he was basically continuously getting stronger and closer to making a breakthrough.

    "Attack!"

    Suddenly as they were all getting ready to get some rest, they were woken from their stupor by hearing Captain Alvar screaming as they were under attack. For several seconds, Samiel was frozen in one ce because he wouldn''t even anticipate that they would be attacked by pirates.

    When Samiel came to his senses, his eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked at Nefertari, who instantly woke up from her sleeping position and went flying around to scout the situation.

    ''Hooman, hooman, we are surrounded, nya... there are twenty-five ships around us, nyan... More than fifteen Silver-Tier auras from them and one at the peak of the Silver-Tier.''

    He heard the distressed voice of his familiar in his head, as he frowned deeply because the situation didn''t look good...

    ''Some of the smarter pirates must have realized that someone was hunting the powerful pirate crews en masse and forced all of them or a majority of them to cooperate to get rid of us...''

    With the help of Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, he was going through countless scenarios of what could have happened and what could happen in a few next minutes, as they would be most crucial as they needed to set up the game.

    If they are going to y, they need to get control over the game and y by his rules, not otherwise, because the very own second they lose control, they will start losing lives and that was something uneptable for Samiel.

    All people he took from the Hall, be it from the lesiarchy Branch or the Holy Temr Order Brach, were the future foundation of the Hall of Kadatgh. They were best of the best, either from the Clergy or the Pdins.

    "Juulius, get me the captain, activate the emergency protocols and get ready for the defensive war. Yvraine, release the big weapons and create hell around us; minimalize the number of ships that could actually to boarding on our vessel."

    Afterward, he summoned his strongest Undead and let them bolster the defenses of the ship because they were facing an overwhelming numerical disadvantage. The enemies surely numbered in tens of thousands.

    Soon after he called for Captain Alvar, the man looked pretty nervous because they were ambushed by a veryrge pirate army and it was a very strong one at that... altogether things weren''t looking very good for them.

    He was aware that the Holy Son would most probably survive, together with Princess of Silvermoon and Juulius Crawford, as their factions won''t let them die...

    Though with the Hall of Kadath, one never knew as their response to such a thing.

    "Captain, immediately start to counterattack and try to sink as much of ships as possible... also..."

    Samiel made a pause as he looked in the distance because he saw several tens of airshipsing in their direction and none of them looked like they belonged to some of the nations of the 11th Floor.

    Because Voidships were rare toe across in these parts of the Tower, most of the factions on the Lower Floors used the Airships instead, as they were much cheaper alternatives to the air force.

    "Shoot them down! Activate everything to take as many of those ships down!"

    Barking one order after another, he conjured Ice Trident as he went to preparing several ice spells, creating Ice Boulders one after another and shooting them like cannonballs at the iing airships that belonged to the pirates.

    "At once, My Lord!"

    Captain Alvar saluted Samiel as he went instantly to carry out his orders to which soon enough the weapon system of the battleship were being activated one by one, and they started their counterattack.

    ''Nefertari, remain in the sky, hidden under the stealth spell and try to find themander airship... if you find it, notify me immediately.''

    Samiel then sent a mental note to his familiar as he continued casting more and more spells, already taking down two airships...

    Unfortunately, there were tens of them and this was a very well thought ambush, as the one who nned this crafted it with good care...

    ''It seems that we somehow fucked up...''

    Samiel thought as he sensed that another airship was destroyed, but suddenly on the opposite end of the battlefield, another wave of the pirate ships was approaching to their position.

    ''That bastards are really fearing that they would die... but... the person who brought all of this together must be someone of considerable power and force; if not, those sea scums wouldn''t be listening to him like obedient toy soldiers...''

    All kinds of thoughts were going through Samiel''s head right now.

 Chapter 282 Counterattack

    Chapter 282 Counterattack

    When the pirates were divided, they were easy targets for  Samiel and his entourage of Holy Temr Knights and Priests. One or two pirate crews couldn''t match the might of the elite troops of the Hall of Kadath.

    Unfortunately, this time, the numerical disparity was too huge just to ignore because this time, they were meeting probably more than thirty thousand pirates and that was just an optimistic guess.

    ''If we use everything we can in order to weaken them before they get close, we can cut down their number approximately by 40% to 47% at best... realistically speaking; it should be around 44%, which is good...''

    Though, even if they managed to bring the numbers down, it would still leave them with more than fifteen thousand pirates of various Tiers, all of them rather powerful Professionals on their own.

    One thing that nobody could take from the pirates of the 11th Floor of the Tower was that they really knew how to fight and how to kill. Just Samiel casting 5th Level Spell of the Winter Magic, sh of ciers, was enough to destroy a good number of ships and kill hundreds of people.

    Naturally, Samiel didn''t forget to put out the soul-collecting rune as he started catching the souls of the departed.

    When the first souls started getting back to him, he took the soul of the most powerful person and immediately devoured the soul to get the information of what was happening.

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 1%.]

    The moment he devoured a whole bunch of souls, due to his rtively high proficiency with the Soul Devour, he got all information and it confirmed all of his fears...

    It appeared that one of the Pirate Kings reached Half-Step Gold Tier and hearing that somebody was hunting pirates en masse, he decided to use his newfound strength to unite all pirate crews in these waters under his rule and deal with the pirate hunter.

    ''Damm... Half-Step Gold Professional is too much for me to handle right now, but it seems that there is no other choice.''

    Samiel was already calcting countless scenarios on how to fight such an enemy and the odds of him defeating him were slim. The disparity in raw strength was too much and while he easily could fight above his Tier, fighting someone who was halfway to getting Mastery was suicidal.

    ''The best way to end this would be to kill the leader... rest of these rats would just escape and hide in whatever hole they could find.''

    As the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, it was his duty and responsibility to fight against the Pirate King even though the opponent was vastly above his Tier. But at the same time, Samiel was also aware that if he yed his cards right, he could kill the Pirate King and this entire situation would reverse in a split of a second.

    Most, if not all, of the pirates here, were only recently unified into a Grand Fleet and there was no sense of unity orradery between them, not like most of the pirates even knew what those two words meant.

    Secondter, huge explosions could be seen and heard from the skies as the battleship activated its anti-aircraft weapons and started shooting down the airships belonging to the pirates one by one.

    Fortunately, the airships that the sea scums were using were the ones without any proper protection and they didn''t even have some basic shield or anything that could help them survive being hit.

    Samiel grinned, seeing this, because not even a momentter, their battleship started shooting toward the iing naval vessels of the pirates and sinking many of them.

    While they may have hundreds of ships, all of them were inferior wooden ships and were basically just wood floating on the water.

    Nothing extra.

    Pirates were often poor and only big and powerful crews had good ships and only the best ones among them had ships made from metals. Everyone from the Hall of Kadath was doing everything they could to operate the ship''s weapons system to the maximum.

    The traps were alreadyid down without any of the pirates noticing that they were marching to their certain doom, creating only a small pathway for a few of them to cross, which would be defended even more...

    Like the three hundred spartans defended Thermopyles from the Persian Emperor and his army, Samiel and his Knights and Priests would defend their position at all costs and massacre anyone who dared to board their ship.

    The Temr Knights were already finished stretching out the defenses and right now, most of them were around the cannons and shooting at the iing pirate fleet, while the Priests of the lesiarchy were casting Spell after Spell.

    Targeting the Airships high in the air because it was a bigger threat than the naval vessels on the ocean. The anti-aircraft defenses were already working fully and were shooting literarily non-stop.

    Samiel''s Undead also joined the defenses as he summoned hundreds of Bronze-Tier Undead, together with his Higher Undead, that were doing their job in defending the ship against pirates.

    This continued for some time, but even due to the enormous losses that the pirates were getting from the battleship, they were not stopping their attack. When their the naval vessels of the pirates were close enough, Samiel grinned as he gave the order to activate the "gift".

    Fortunately, the airships of the pirates were forced to halt their advance due to the enormous losses temporarily they were suffering from the Anti-Aircraft Mana Cannons and Spell Casters on the ship.

    Instantaneously, at a diameter of three hundred meters away from the ship, everything exploded in enormous explosions, taking down with it tens of pirate ships that were near and severely damaging more than a hundred.

    Everything around the battleship turned into a ming inferno as Samiel got an influx of more than ten thousand souls instantaneously.

    Not only that but all that smoke and ash created an enormous cloud above them, essentially crippling the movement ability of the airships that were hovering above them. They were forced to retreat even further away from the cloud of ash and smoke.

    "Launch the second wave!"

    Samiel shouted the orders, as everyone knew what to do, as they started the second wave of a counter-offensive against the pirates. Using every bit of ammunition, they had in their disposition to give their enemy hell.

    Suddenly as they were counterattacking from the smoke and ash, one enormous ship appeared among the pirate fleet, which Samiel recognized as the gship of the pirate king...

 Chapter 283 Pirate King

    Chapter 283 Pirate King

    The gship of the entire pirate fleet, which belonged to the pirate king Wentworth Rutnd, nicknamed the ck Eyes, as he inherited some kind of bloodline, giving him ocr abilities.

    From some souls that Samiel devoured and saw their memories, he found out that Rutnd was rather an impressive individual. He wasn''t native to the Tower but came from some High World one day.

    By his pedigree, he belonged to the Royal Lineage of some insignificant kingdom on a great scheme of all things, but at the same time, apparently, the same family produced several Legendary Level Professionals.

    All of them bore the same weird bloodline giving them some powerful ocr abilities that he almost never used. One thing about Wentworth Rutnd that wasmonly known, he was a geniusbatant and a very powerful Professional.

    There were even rumors of him having some kind of Ultimate Ability, but those ones were never confirmed and even from the memories Samiel got, he couldn''t tell if they were indeed true or just rumors or fabrications of someone else.

    Instantly, a barrier appeared around the battleship, though it was iplete one because it was leaving an opening, albeit a small one. Samiel didn''t wish to y for the turtle and he would rather fight the enemy.

    And once the barrier was established, leaving only one single entrance through it leading to a small area around the ship, the enemy would be forced toe through his own version of Thermopyle and then he would meet death.

    "Captain Alvar, prepare for the collision with the gship of pirate gship!"

    Samiel shouted as it was heard by the rest of the crew, and everyone grew tenser hearing that someone would soon be boarding them.

    As Samiel was expecting the pirate gship to attack them, it suddenly stopped and several other pirate ships started bombarding the barrier with their cannons. Hundreds of cannon sounds were heard across the entire area as they rained down on the magic barrier.

    Still, such action was absolutely futile because the barrier was designed to withstand a lot of firepower and they would need to fire at them for several days straight to crack it down.

    Though surprisingly enough, after approximately half an hour, the sounds stopped, and instead of bombarding, the ship started once again approaching their position. Samiel knew that the time was on their side...

    That was why he left only a small entrance, barely for one ship to enter...

    ording to his calctions, under the heavy concentrated firepower of all remaining ships, it would take them approximately 75 hours to break down the barrier. Meanwhile, the reinforcements from the Skr?n?ti? would arrive within the next 60 hours as they were pretty far from the biking kingdom.

    The moment they were ambushed, Captain Alvar, seeing how outnumbered they were, activated the emergence protocol that sent a message of this event to the Skr?n?ti? to notify them that they were ambushed and in need of reinforcements.

    Unbeknownst to them, the very second they sent the message, the Skr?n?ti? already mobilized their forces as soon as possible and was already on their way.

    It even got into the ears of Bishop Vilgar, who personally investigated if this was really an ambush by pirates or orchestrated by someone else behind the curtains of shadows.

    Samiel predicted all of this happening because it was standard protocol, so everything he was doing right now was just buying time and nothing more...

    He was aware that they were severely outnumbered by the pirates and usage of his Undead woulde pretty hard on the ship because he could use only his strongest ones, not the Negash''s army of Undead.

    "Juulius!"

    Samiel shouted at his personal knight, who hurried back to him.

    "I am giving youmand over the operation... I am going to entertain our biggest opponent. If we cut down the head, the rest will copse."

    The Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath had a clear n in his head. He would directly engage the pirate king Wentworth Rutnd and kill him in singlebat. With the death of their leader, the pirates would behave like the rats they were and escape as far as possible.

    "My Lord, I must remind you that it is extremely dangerous as the opponent has reached Half-Step Gold-Tier and probably achieved partial mastery."

    Juulius stated calmly, as Samiel just nodded but didn''t say anything else. He was already aware of this long ago and prepared for it as much as he could.

    "You know Juulius, sinceing to the Tower, I forgot about one thing... with my newly found power... the Lower Floors of the Tower are not representing much threat to me... so this time, I am going to experience it once again finally."

    Samiel grinned maniacally.

    "The feeling of death on you... so wonderful and so entrancing..."

    For him to finally have a Life and Death battle was something that he carved for... Sinceing to the Tower, the Lower Floors were a bit disappointment because there was no danger for him in these ces typically...

    Though onrge, that was understandable because most of the stronger people were on the higher Floors and people of the same TIer as him would often just steamroll the Lower Floors very fast.

    "As you wish, My Lord."

    Juulius said; Samiel walked away, and decided to head to the end of the ship, where they would be most probably boarded as the gship belonging to the pirate king ck Eyes, was approaching them at fast speed.

    All Undead were under themand of Ashimer and Negash, as the Elder Lich summoned some of his own Undead, mainly the spell casters, to help him in magicalbat that was soon toe.

    "Everyone prepare for the impact andbat!"

    Samiel heard Juulius shout to the Temr Knights and everyone grew even tenser as they would be meeting the elites of the elites, followed by cannon fodder.

    That was because, after the gship of Pirate King, there was a small convoy of his pirate crew following as they would be for sure joining in the attack.

    ''So it is also a show of force... good thing for us...''

    When Samiel saw how fast they were advancing, he realized that this wasn''t just an attempt to get rid of him as fast as possible, but the Pirate King Rutnd was also asserting his authority by showing force by killing them.

    And naturally, there was also a good amount of old greed for their battleship because this was something that even an ordinary Pirate King couldn''t get his hands on unless he deiced to rob some royal navy of a local faction.

 Chapter 284 Analysis of Opponent

    Chapter 284 Analysis of Opponent

    Because they were letting them board their ship, the pirates atop the vessel of the Pirate King didn''t have a problem when closing to the battleship and slowly, they began their boarding actions on the battleship.

    Samiel watched everything that was happening with a certain level of patience, but at the same time, he was also deeply nervous about what was to happen because the enemy this time was dangerous...

    Too dangerous a truth to be told.

    From a distance, he could clearly see the imposing figure of the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd.

    Even though his aura was powerful and oppressive, the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd had a very refined aristocratic appearance that may even seem gentle to some people.

    He appeared like a middle-aged man with short blonde hair and a trimmed beard, wearing an attire that was not unlike the rest of the pirates.

    While most of the pirates were typically wearing abination of whatever clothes and armor they could find or plunder, Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd wore a very expensive and noble-looking white attire.

    It was also decorated with gold and some gemstones, giving it a feeling of richness and nobility. Not to mention, he had a certain degree of pompous looks and he looked annoying for some reason... Samiel really wanted to punch him.

    He looked like an embodiment of pompous, arrogant and ipetent nobility that was rathermon among many monarchies.

    It was like he was straightly cut out of some book or whatever, as the resemnce was indeed uncanny.

    ''But on the other side... He is close to getting Mastery of Strength and this means I am pretty lucky.''

    When a Silver-Tier Professional reaches the peak of the Silver-Tier at Level 75, they would need to get Path Mastery in one of the five Paths: Energy, Mind, Strength, Soul, and Spirit and then achieve Gold-Tier.

    This was something that made the Gold-Tier Professionals an entirely new dimension because they had Path Mastery which was tremendously increasing theirbat prowess.

    Naturally, they could master multiple Paths, but those cases were pretty rare.

    Normally even geniuses mastered two Path Masteries and those of heaven-defying qualities mastered maximally three Path Masteries. More than that were only myths and legends that happened a very long time ago.

    Yet mastering multiple Path Masteries gave tremendous advantages during the entire Legendary Level because the power of the Legendary Level Professional was decided by the Mastery and the Path one chose.

    ording to Samiel''s calctions through Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, he calcted that even as Peak Silver-Tier Professional, he would have a chance only against weak, newly ascended Gold-Tier Professionals.

    Such as the disparity between the two Tiers.

    Samiel''s ability to fight above his Tier would be getting lower and lower because from onwards, it would be much more harder to fight above his Tier. For him, mastering several Path Masteries would ensure that he would have the so-called "heaven-dying battle power" even at the Legendary Leve.

    Fortunately, the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd was still technically a Silver-Tier Professional and only touched the Path Mastery. Yet just touching the Mastery was something that distinguished him from all other Silver-Tier Professionals to a tremendous degree.

    He obtained the Strength Mastery, which focused on the physical aspect of the Profession, which meant this greatly yed into Samiel''s cards because he didn''t wish o engage him in closebat in the first ce.

    Practically speaking, every other scenario would be more troublesomepared to the Strength Mastery. Not that they would be stronger if they had another Path Mastery, bur rather, Samiel would be hard-pressed to deal with such opponents.

    The Energy Master would mean that his opponent was an extremely powerful Magic User; Mind Mastery would be most problematic to deal with as it would signify powerful Esper or something in that way.

    Soul Mastery, while one of the most powerful Masteries that the Gold-Tier Professional could grasp was actually no threat to him, and the same about Spirit Mastery; due to his racial capabilities, he was very resistant to any kind of Soul or Spiritual attacks.

    Strength Mastery was, on the contrary, all about physical power and thus, from a certain point of view, it was easiest to deal with... People who practiced Strength Mastery usuallycked the troublesome capabilities that those with Soul Mastery or Spirit Mastery had.

    Unless the person who had Strength Mastery wasn''t someone who was a friggin genius with it and had a tremendous affinity for the Strength Mastery.

    Then it would be more problematic, but from what Samiel saw about Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd, he belonged to the category of the more normal ones.

    Samiel conjured one ice trident through the Winter Ruler Ultimate Ability that would be acting as a conduit for his Magic, as he sent a wave of frost forward, freezing the tens of pirates that attempted to cross over to the battleship.

    Using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, he boosted up his legs and jumped on the deck of the pirate ship while simultaneously releasing a wave of freezing Mana that froze everyone in the vicinity.

    Instantaneously he used Mystic Arte: Thorns as they appeared around him, shattering the pirates that were frozen to the popsicles. These average pirates that were mainly at the Steel-Tier or some even just at the Iron-Tier were instantly ughtered by him.

    Contrary to the aristocratic appearance of the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd, the rest of his crew looked indeed like the majority of the pirates would look like... dirty, disgusting, rag-tagged and ugly by any means.

    lights����vel The rest of them feared Samiel to the point where they backed away and rather kept on boarding the battleship of his while making way for Samiel to the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd.

    "Wee, wee and to the third wee, my friend, to my ship!"

    Samiel heard the voice of Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd, who was pping his hands and weing him aboard, as he frowned because even his voice was annoying to hear. He sounded irritating and one had an uncontroble need to punch his stupidly smiling face.

    "And I thank you for the wee... should wee to the matter or keep up this charade?"

    Samiel asked as he got ready in the battle position, ready to call upon any spell in his arsenal if needed. During the time, he was observing his opponent; he was also using the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect to calcte the best strategy to win.

 Chapter 285 Life and Death Battle (1)

    Chapter 285 Life and Death Battle (1)

    [Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect has been increased by 1%.]

    And hopefully, sh, thankfully to the Mystic Arte: Thorns; he got several strategies that could exponentially increase his odds in the fight against the Pirate King.

    He even got a slight increase in Proficiency with the Ability to make several thousands ofplicated calctions within a short span of time, as everything shed as fast as possible, so he could calcte the strategy against his enemy.

    "You barbarian not appreciating the true beauty of my magnificent self."

    People like Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd loved to hear their own voices and would often get lost in themselves, as they tended to ignore everything else in their arrogance and vanity.

    It''s really a terriblebination.

    Still, as much he was pompous, he was powerful because the very own moment the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd released his Mana on the battlefield, Samiel felt to the full extent the raw power of the Pirate King.

    [Proficiency with the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect has been increased by 1%.]

    ''The first step is to bind him and deprive him of the mobility to make any moves and then keep his distance... weaken him and drain him of stamina, only then attack... shame all of my Undead would be totally useless in this aspect.''

    Samiel thought as he started implementing the first steps in his n.

    But unfortunately, sometimes ns were only ns because before he realized he found himself crashing into the ground as he was kicked away by Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd like a ragdoll.

    Momentster, he stood up as he coughed a huge amount of blood, and grinned happily...

    "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! This is it!"

    The Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath startedughing maniacally as he was barely able to stand up from the impact. This feeling was something that he desired, something that he had almost already forgotten and right now, he was absolutely enjoying it.

    He spread out his army like he was about to hug someone and tremendous cold Mana descended on the battlefield as even the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd stopped in his tracks and his eyes narrowed at his opponent.

    [Caluting the most appropriate course of action.]

    [Advanced battle mode is activated.]

    [Approximate time is set to five minutes.]

    Samiel activated the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Archtiect to the activated battle mode, which was putting a huge strain on his Mind, Soul and Mana but there was no better option than this.

    Instantly he used Mystic Arte: Thorns as tens of thorns were conjured out of thin air, all of them shooting at the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd as Samiel attempted to make a bigger distance between them.

    After being kicked away by his opponent, it only affirmed to Samiel that he was no match against him in the physical contest of strength and that he would be killed if he tried something against him.

    Thus he decided to employ the safest strategy like he previously wanted. Making distance between the two of them, so Samiel could safely cast his Magic and, if possible, bombard the Pirate King to oblivion.

    Fortunately for the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, even though Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd was half-step into the Gold-Tier, he wasn''t that fast topletely dodge all thorns that were attacking him in an attempt to bind him down.

    The Pirate King was fast, very fast; that was to be expected from someone who was already embarking on the Strength Mastery, probably focusing more on the aspect of the speed for now, as that was actually a very smart decision.

    Yet, even his speed wasn''t enough topletely dodge all thorns that were conjured through the Mystic Arte because there were tens upon tens of them and Samiel was still creating new ones constantly.

    Samiel''s eyes shined brightly when he noticed that the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd was bound down, as the thorns were enveloping both legs, giving Samiel precious seconds to act.

    [Proficiency with the Mystic Arte: Thorns has been increased by 1%.]

    [Proficiency with the Mystic Arte: Thorns has been increased by 1%.]

    He then got two notifications from the Akashic Records, which he promptly dismissed as he started another part of his n. Right now, all of his attention was on thebat, not the notifications from the Akashic Records.

    "Let the Void out, Let the Madness Spread, Led the Chaos Descent and Let the Order Perish.

    For I am the vessel of the Dreams, and warrior of Chaos, priest of the Void and champion of the Outsidness."

    Using the small window of opportunity, he was presented with before the Pirate King broke from the restrains of Mystic Arte: Thorns, Samiel immediately called for the Possession of the Outer Gods.

    Possession of the Outer Gods was Samiel''s trump card to deal with far more powerful enemies than him. The only great disadvantage of the Possession of the Outer Gods was that it required a lot of strength to summon and had very limited time when it was activated.

    In a second, his aura entirely changed faster than one could blink and a cold, creepy aura burst out of his body. It was the same aura as that of the Outer Gods, Void Lifeforms, Eldritch Creatures and Abomination.

    His power increased tremendously, but he wasn''t stopping there, as he kept releasing every single limitation on his being and was casting one Void Magic Spell after another. With the Possession of the Outer Gods active, his raw power wasn''t even a bit inferior to that of the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd.

    Shooting them at the Pirate King, who broke from the thorn restrains as he was soon enveloped by huge explosions and even the ship itself shook and was close to sinking down.

    Looking at the direction of the explosion, Samiel knew that this level was nothing to the Pirate King, who reached half-step to the Gold-Tier, but he grinned as he started gathering all Mana inside his body.

    With this being done, the true fight could finally begin.

 Chapter 286 Life and Death Battle (2)

    Chapter 286 Life and Death Battle (2)

    Not even a momentter, a grey me appeared all around him as it exploded around Samiel Zentuar, burning down everything in its path; all pirates that were watching and observing the battle were turned to ash.

    This was the 6th Level Spell of the Void Magic called Void me, a special type of me that didn''t burn anything inorganic, but on the contrary, it was especially dangerous and devastating to the organic manner.

    Due to his genius, he could easily cast Spells that were above his Tier, though, at the same time, he wouldn''t be able to do such a feat in his normal state without paying an appropriate price. While he indeed had enough Mana for that, the mental strain and pressure on his soul were too much.

    But when he was using the Possession of the Outer Gods, the situation was vastly different, especially when he was using the Void Magic Spells.

    Instantly, the mes of the Void me got even stronger because as they were annihting the pirates and every living being on the ship, they also assimted their souls, getting stronger in the process.

    "Void me Control: Phoenix Descent!"

    As Samiel cast another spell, this time it was a 7th Level Spell as he felt his Magic being tremendously drained away, but; it was okay as his reserves were huge and potent, but the strain on his Soul and Mind were entirely different manner.

    High above the air, all of the Void mes started congregating together, creating a shape of a ming phoenix which pped its wings and then shot towards Pirate King Rutnd, descending like some kind of divine judgment and exploding in one huge infernal bomb.

    ''Finally some effect...''

    Samiel saw that this time, the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd was finally injured to a great degree because he had severe burns around his entire body and was bleeding profusely from the various parts of his body.

    Not only that, but his very own soul was being corrupted by the powers of the Void, but he was still able to resist the inevitable.

    Unfortunately, it was not enough to kill him or to even decrease his mobility to a degree where he won''t be a threat. Yet, it was only a matter of time,

    Before the Holy Son of Hall of Kadath could make the next move, suddenly,y a weird energy field appeared around the entire ship when Samiel noticed a small magitek device from his Dimensional Storage.

    The bad thing was he felt that his powers were being drained at a tremendous pace and that his Possession by the Outer Gods was getting weaker and weaker by every single second, as he found that Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd had disappeared from his location and appeared in front of Samiel, shing at him with his rapier.

    At thest moment, he managed to conjure an ice shield through the Winter Ruler, but unfortunately, it cracked pretty soon and Ruthalnd''s rapier pierced deep into his right shoulder as blood sttered all around.

    The Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd smirked at him as he hit the rapier with his goldish-silverish Mana, severing Samiel''s right arm entirely from his shoulder, as Samiel screamed out from the intense pain.

    Though while he experienced tremendous pain, he used the negative emotion in thest movement to power up Void st Spell, as he shot the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd far away from him, crashing through the ship.

    "Fucking... Magisterium..."

    He felt like he was going to pass out because of the blood loss and also the weird Magitek device that waspletely draining and restraining the Void around him, making Samiel weaker with each passing moment.

    The sudden loss of the Possession of the Outer Gods took a very severe toll on Samiel''s body, was not something that Samiel could withstand. This was another severe weakness of the Possession; after the end of its time, he would always feel extremely weak, the toll on his stamina was too high.

    There was only a single faction in the entire Material ne who would dare to create a device like this and use it against the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

    Not even a momentter, he saw that the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd rushed at him once more, using whatever power the Pirate King had, as he hacked his rapier at Samiel, piercing through his stomach.

    Still, at the same time, Samiel used his left hand as he grabbed Rutnd''s rapier and used the Winter Ruler to the extreme, freezing the weapon and even parts of Rutnds body at one moment.

    "It seems that even your ice is futile... abomination... the end is here."

    Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd said with a smirk as he looked at his opponent, who was in a terrible state, mainly because the weapon he was using was specifically designed against those of Void origin by Magisterium.

    "This is just beginning... my dear pawn."

    Samiel said with a grin as he used hisst force; sensing the weird energy inside his body that was destroying his inner organs, he made a resolute decision to destroy his enemy at any cost.

    In a split of a moment, he sacrificed all the souls he gathered, tens of thousands of souls, into one concentrated energy st of Void Energy that was as corrosive and dangerous to others as it was to him and after that...

    Everything went white...

    Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd was obliterated on the spot with not even his soul remaining; the explosion of the Void Energy was so powerful that it shattered the shield around them like nothing and enveloped the majority of the pirate fleet.

    Be it on sea or in the air.

    Nothing remained; nothing was spared as everything was wiped out from existence, with only a few pirate ships that were far from them reaming, lucky to survive.

    While Samiel''s body was shot towards the ocean as he was falling down to the depths of the ocean, hearing the calling of the deep...

 Chapter 287 Death... Death Comes to All...

    Chapter 287 Death... Death Comes to All...

    Approximately ten minutes before Samiel Zentaur, the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, began his duel with the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd. The pirates were flooding the battleship of the Hall of Kadath as the Temr Knights, Priests and Undead that Samiel summoned were fighting against the invaders.

    Individually, the pirates were no match for the experienced Temr Knights or for the powerful Bronze-Tier Undead that Samiel cultivated with all of his might, effort and time, as they were his little darlings.

    But if there was one thing that the pirates had the great advantage, it were their numbers, as they were like a never-ending horde that was stilling anding, no matter how many of them they had already killed.

    Yet it didn''t deter anyone from killing more and more of the scum of the seas as everyone on the battleship fought like a God of War incarnate for the precious seconds and time. Every single of their high-end powerhouses had specifically selected roles for them.

    Juulius wasmanding the Temr Knights, while Yvraine after the battle started, was forced to takemand of the clergy and join them in spell casting.

    The Priests of the lesiarchy Branch of the Hall of Kadath, while powerful individually, had the best results when they were cast as one. Their battle formations when they were spellcasting together were fearsome across the entire Material ne.

    Samiel''s Higher Undead were too engrossed in the battle, as they were blocking arge number of pirates by themselves, especially Ashimer, who wasmanding all of the Bronze-Tier Undead on the ship that Samiel summoned.

    Suddenly as everyone was engrossed in the battle, they could all see a tremendous aura erupt from the pirate gship belonging to the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd, and soon after, a second aura erupted on the pirate gship belonging to the Holy Son.

    Everyone from the Hall of Kadath could feel the prating cold aura belonging to the Outer Gods appearing on the Material ne of the Cosmos, signifying that the Holy Son used the possession form and was fighting against the Pirate King.

    Even Yvraine, who had reached Silver-Tier some time ago, had to begrudgingly admit that she was inferior in terms of the raw power to the Pirate King Wentworth Ruthalnd. The same could be said about Juulius, who would be even more at s disadvantage against the Pirate King as both of them were a closebatants.

    After the battle started, Yvriane had killed more than several hundred pirates, either with her sharp des or through her Spells, as she was casting one elemental spell after another from the Elementia Magicae.

    "Increase the output of spells; prepare another super-spell formation!"

    Yvrainemanded the Priests of the lesiarchy Branch to cast another super-spell formation that would wipe out a good number of pirates that were running to the ship.

    Not only that, but the super-spell formation would be powerful enough to sink several of the pirate ships that were surrounding them. And as Yvraine wasmanding the Priests, Samiel''s sworn knight, Juulius was cutting his way through the battleship and defending all critical areas.

    Together with Ashimer, they were the reason why the pirates didn''t achieve any significant victory in the battle and were still dying in great numbers. As soon as the pirates boarded, they targeted the defenses and cannons of the battleship.

    But those were all defended splendidly by the entourage of the Holy Son and they stood their ground.

    From the battleships, everyone soon saw that Mana Levels were tremendously rising at lightning speed. Yet at the same time, those with a keen sense to Magic and Mana sensed that something was happening at the pirate gship.

    The aura belonging to Holy Son was steadily decreasing, like something was draining his aura at a fast speed and it was getting stronger and stronger. Especially the aura of the so-called "Outsidness" was being suppressed.

    This didn''t escape the superior senses of Yvraine and Juulius and in the end, Yvraine couldn''t hold her worries as she decided to take the fight to the pirate gship and went there after givingmander over the Priests to Samiel''s Higher Undead, Negash.

    The Silvermoon Crown Princess started running toward the pirate gship, acrobatically avoiding any object in her path while decapitating unfortunate pirates that were standing in her way.

    As she was nearing the gship, she suddenly saw an enormous ming phoenix that pped its huge wings and descended back at the gship with full force, exploding in waves of mes that were burning everything alive in their path.

    Only when the void mes disappeared she continued to the pirate gship while killing the pirates that crossed her way with even higher ferocity and rage than before.

    From the moment she decided toe here, she started getting very bad feelings about the entire situation and felt that something bad would certainly happen.

    And unfortunately, she was certainly right because she saw her lover being pierced through his stomach with some anti-void weapon, as he was bleeding from all over his body, feeling weak, tired and on thest legs of his power.

    She was frozen in her stupor as she watched how Samiel froze himself around the parts of his body where Pirate King Wentworth Ruthalnd stabbed him in the stomach and then sted the Pirate King apart until he was obliterated from the realm of existence.

    Unfortunately, as she rushed towards him the very moment, the impact of hisst blow was so powerful that it shot him like a cannonball directly into the cold waters of the Northern Onceans, as his form was slowly being sunk down.

    Yvraine was so shocked that she couldn''t utter a word, as subconsciously, she started crying because the only thing she could think of was the death of her most beloved person.

    Everything was silent...

    With thest blow, Samiel Zentaur destroyed the entire fleet of pirates and the majority of the pirates died, be it those on the ships or airships; almost nobody survived.

    Those who did were already escaping as far as possible from her.

    Not noticing anything around her, she copsed on her knees as she sobbed silently and a few tears dropped on the deck of the ship, when she noticed a small magitek cube lying several meters away from her.

    "Magisterium..."

    She muttered with venom and hatred as she looked at the small mechanical magitek cube. The sole reason why Samiel was in such a situation was due to this device nullifying the Void, as it was specifically designed to counter them...

    And there were only three factions within the Material ne that were capable of producing something like that. The first was the Hall of Kadath; the second was the Scientia Hierarchy and the third...

    Third was the Magisterium.

    "I will kill you all... even if it should be thest thing I do..."

 Chapter 288 Ressurection

    Chapter 288 Ressurection

    MC POV

    Darkness...

    Everywhere I looked, there was nothing more than just the darkness and more and more of darkness...

    And cold, I felt immense cold, which was weird... normally I would be immune due to my Lord ss Knight of Niflheim, but now I was feeling cold like the coldness itself was prating deep into my very own soul...

    And on top of that, my memories were hazy... I felt like I got kicked into the head by a horse or kangaroo...

    I remembered a bit of the recent events, how I walked directly into the trap orchestrated by the Magisterium through some of their intermediaries... and how I felt some wannabe Pirate King called Wentworth Rutnd...

    The only true Pirate King is Roger...

    But that aside... I also remembered...

    Dying?

    Yes...

    That would be that one...

    That feeling and experience...

    Dying...

    What a life... that was why I was right now feeling like a falling down?

    And I was also feeling a pain, so much pain that I never felt through my entire life and existence, it hurt so much, but yet I couldn''t even scream or feel anything else aside from the paining from my soul.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has been inflicted with severe Anti-Void Injury.]

    Yes, I remembered that one... nasty thing to be inflicted with the Anti-Void weapon specifically crafted to kill Eldritch Beings, those of that origin or the ones dwelling in the Void, such thing I couldn''t have survived indeed...

    [Physical Body has been killed.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has lost arge portion of the Soul Source.]

    Soul Source was the origin of someone''s very own soul, any damage done to the Soul Source was almost night impossible to heal and it was also extremely dangerous and deadly, as most of the injuries to the Soul Source resulted in swift and sure death.

    That fact that I suffered one and was apparently in some sort of state between life and death, or whatever I was in right now, was a miracle in itself that I couldn''t really fullyprehend and it was highly possible that the sole reason why I was still alive was due to the direct interference of the Great Dreamer.

    [User Samiel Zentaur has lost the Unique ss Grand Necromancer.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has lost control over his all Undead.]

    Losing a portion of my Soul Source was something very severe because now that I lost part of my own Soul Source, I knew I lost all of my affinity for the Necromantic Arts with the loss of the Soul Source of the Necromancy.

    However I couldn''t say that it was really surprising me because my affinity for the Necromancy and the ss Grand Necromancer was actually much weaker than for the Knight of Niflheim since I entered the Tower.

    Now, holding on to all aspects rted to the Necromancy would be redundant from a certain point of view.

    It was logical that I would be losing everything rted to that; without the ss, its usage was futile and in truth, I wasn''t even a good Necromancer and it was not suitable for me.

    Since I have obtained the Lord ss Knight of Niflheim and the Level 3 Ultimate Ability Winter Ruler coupled with the Winter Magic, I found the unnatural joy in the closebat mixed with the Magic Combat.

    Not to mention the newly obtained Mystic Arte Thorns Arte...

    [Revival Protocols have been initiated by the ?!?]

    [The Sacrificial Rebirth has been started.]

    Indeed there was something that was supposed to keep me alive as it was... something immediately reacted and activated itself as I felt an unnatural amount of power congregating around my falling consciousness...

    It was power far higher than even that I felt from my master Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber.

    [Commencing the Evolution.]

    [Suitable Materials have been found: Bloodline Crystal of Fallen Angel, Lesser Divine Shard, All Mana Crystals and Soul Force Crystals.]

    [Sacrificing the unnecessary parts of the Soul Source. Does the User Samiel Zentaur wish to sacrifice: Undead Creation, Swordsmanship, Necromancy Arts, Basic Necromancy Magic and Intermediate Necromancy Magic?]

    [Sacrificing the redundant parts of the Soul Source will make the Evolution stronger by a great margin.]

    Indeed, to obtain something, you need to sacrifice something at first, as I agreed to it... now, after losing the Unique ss Grand Necromancer, the knowledge, while albeit undeniably useful, I am willing to sacrifice for the greater good...

    Not to mention, Swordmsnaship was mostly wasteful to me... not only that, but I nned to sacrifice everything that was cumted through the Soul Devouring...

    [Does User Samiel Zentaur wish to proceed?]

    Indeed... do I?

    Sometimes, I wondered... if death wasn''t the best solution because I would finally get my peace...

    No...

    For the first time in my life, I felt some longing to live again...

    I wondered what had changed...

    Perhaps the time I spent in the Tower has changed me more than I have thought.

    For what do I want even to live?

    What was the reason?

    Does all of this even have some reason?

    For what were we there?

    I don''t know... for some time; I was just starting at it...

    At the translucent words in front of my eyes as they were just levitating up there...

    Maybe I was not sane for wanting to die?

    Maybe yes, and maybe no...

    Who knows...

    But now I felt a weird longing to live...

    I clicked on yes as I felt the Bloodline Crystal containing the Fallen Angel Bloodline levitating in front of my eyes together with the Lesser Divine Crystal; countless Mana Crystals and Soul Force Crystals were also floating around me as they shined in a myriad of colors...

    If I could, I would certainly be screaming at the pain that I was feeling right now, but I couldn''t... yet I felt it... my body was being reconstructed into something greater and newer, into something stronger and more powerful.

    [The Ressurection Protocol has been initiated.]

    [The Body Reconstruction Protocol has been initiated.]

    [Racial Evolution has been initiated.]

    [Compatibility between the Eldritch Blood and Fallen Angel Blood has reached more than 85%.]

    [Records Points have been reset to zero.]

    [Records Points have been reset to zero.]

    [Records Points have been reset to zero.]

    [Record of the Eldritch Angel has been registered within the Akashic Records.]

 Chapter 289 Eldritch Angel

    Chapter 289 Eldritch Angel

    MC POV, Unknown Location

    Time passed, it after some time, it was very hard for me to tell where I was; almost impossible for me to tell how long had passed since the process of the Resurrection started, but after some time, I was beginning to feel my body once more.

    It was a wonderful feeling once more to feel my limbs, to feel everything around me because when I was stuck in the soul form or whatever the form it was, It was torturous like hell; now I was begging to feel alive once more and once again.

    I knew that it would be a long time or just some time until it waspleted, but it was impossible to tell when it would begin. The perception of time was royally skewered within the ce, and it was impossible to tell when and what would happen.

    After floating within the emptiness, outstretching my hand, I clicked on a translucent window containing information about the Eldritch Angel species.

    [Eldritch Angel

    One of the Old Deus Species that was personally blessed by the Great Dreamer Himself and is considered a unique species even among the Old Deus due to bearing a connection to the two of ''Them''.

    It was created by thebination of the Origin of the Eldritch Race and Fallen Angel Race, through the miraculous urrence, through Life and Death and the nirvana of the bearer of the two Origins.

    User Samiel Zentaur has be the 7th Eldritch Angel in existence.]

    I read the information about the Fallen Eldritch Angel species and waited for the process to be finished. When it was finished, I was already thinking about where I would end, because something had been telling me that it wouldn''t be the Tower anymore.

    Ending in some unknown part of the Cosmos also wasn''t anything to glee about because the Cosmos was an enormous ce and the Tower was just one speck of dust in it. Even though it was a bit bigger speck of dust, but if I ended up back in Tower again, I would basically be able to contact the Kadath and no problems...

    However, something was telling me that the situation wouldn''t be that easy, and this opportunity that was presented to me would need to be repaid by something.

    Because you cannot obtain something before losing something in exchange.

    Everything with the Akashic Records was about the principle of the equivalent exchange.

    ***

    3rd POV

    And thus the time has passed, minutes, hours, days, weeks and perhaps months or years went by, almost impossible to know...

    Until...

    Suddenly in the endless darkness, a cocoon cracked and a figure appeared from the cocoon... It was a figure of a man with an ethereal appearance and beauty, with a gigantic pair of golden wings sprouting from his back, illuminating the darkness away.

    The most notable feature on his wings were several eyes that were observing everything around them and just looking at them would cause some more weak-willed individuals to go mad from the sheer iprehensibility of reality.

    His hair was pure white, whiter than snow, with crimson red tips and a tail that was waving behind his back, with a spear-head-like end on the top of the tail. Power was radiating from the figure, as it was the danger, death, ughter and madness.

    It was the creation of the Eldritch Angel, a being ofpletely opposite nature that were called one of the impossibilities of the Cosmos and were destined for the greater things. Some were bad, some were good, but they were great, nevertheless.

    [Racial Evolution to the Principality Eldritch Angel is at 97%.]

    [Racial Evolution to the Principality Eldritch Angel is at 98%.]

    [Racial Evolution to the Principality Eldritch Angel is at 99%.]

    [Racial Evolution to the Principality Eldritch Angel is at 100%.]

    [Racial Evolution to the Principality Eldritch Angel has beenpleted.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has be the 7th Eldritch Angel in the history of the Cosmos.]

    [Lord-ss Knight of the Niflheim has been used as a sacrifice for the ss Evolution.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has obtained the Holy-ss Herald of the Apocalypse.]

    [Notice!]

    [Holy-ss Herald of the Apocalypse is partially sealed. Condition for the ss Unsleaening has not been met yet.]

    [User Samiel Zentaur has reached Silver-Tier Level 75 due to the Racial Evolution to the Principality Eldritch Angel and obtained Holy-ss Herald of the Apocalypse.]

    Principality Angels belonged to the Lesser Orders of the Angeloid Species, but even those were extremely powerful entities and frighteningly powerful... When Samiel Zentaur awoke from the slumber, he felt overwhelming power flowing through his veins.

    ording to his calctions, he suspected that he would be able to fight head-on, even peak Gold-Tiers, rather easily and kill the weaker ones with some effort. Indeed... he almost died, but he obtained far more from it than he lost actually.

    Samiel then opened his Record Screen through the Akashic Records as he observed the changes that took ce within his record.

    [Name: Samiel Zentaur

    Title: Blessed by Outer Court

    Race: Old Deus - Principality Eldritch Angel

    ss: Herald of the Apocalypse (0%)

    Sub-ss: Apostle of Azathoth (Sealed)

    Magician Level:

    Basic (Void, Winter, Warding, Mythos)

    Intermediate (Void, Winter, Warding)

    Mana Quality: Void, Ice, Frost, Outer Holiness

    Records Points: 0

    ***

    Tier: Silver

    Level: 75

    ***

    Abilities:

    Winter Ruler (42%) - Ultimate Ability

    Soul Devour (44%) - Ultimate Ability

    Rift (3%) - Rare Ability

    Architect (12%) - Transcendental Ability

    ***

    Techniques:

    Nuclear Void Mana Control Method (29%)

    Star Mind Protection Technique (25%) - 3 Stars

    ***

    Magic:

    Void Magic (25%)

    Winter Magic (24%)

    Warding Magic (17%)

    Mythos Magic (5%)

    ***

    Artes:

    Thorn Artes (12%)

    ***

    Skills:

    Trident Mastery (29%)

    Metamagic - Spell Fusion 4th Level Spells (70%)

    Metamagic - Spell Control (26%)

    Metamagic - Spell Pration (23%)

    Metamagic - Empower Spell (22%)]

    Naturally, proficiency within his skills and abilities didn''t really increase, lost some things during his rebirth procedure and other things, but he obtained far greater raw power and shot toward the peak of the Silver-Tier.

    Additionally, he also felt some weird feeling inside the back of his mind that his future progress wouldn''t be that hard and easy at the same time. Something that was directly tied with his ss Herald of the Apocalypse.

    "My memories are a bit hazy... probably a temporary state that will return to normal soon enough."

    Samiel muttered as he looked into the distance within the darkness as he looked around himself, trying to figure out where he was right now.

 Chapter 290 The Quest

    Chapter 290 The Quest

    He knew that his memories would be returning rtively soon, depending on his speed of recovery, which was already very fast, as his racial healing was utterly ridiculous. One of the perks of the Eldritch monstrosities was their ability to heal and regenerate.

    It took only several minutes until his mind reacted on its own and started remembering everything that happened before he regained consciousness and appeared in this ce as a floating soul or whatever that form was.

    At the same time, for several moments, he was ovee by rage as his silverfish Mana materialized around him and started pulsating.

    Still, soon enough, almost instantly, it dispersed into nothingness, and a tranquil and serene expression returned to him.

    "No point in getting angry... in the end, I profited the most from the situation."

    Samiel knew that without being on the verge of death, then bing a full-fledged Old Deus would be a pipe dream before the Legendary Level. It was like a mission impossible, but by almost dying, he managed to evolve into something greater than before.

    [Issuing the ss Quest - Doombringer!]

    [Holy-ss Quest - Doombringer

    Description: To unlock the full might of the Holy-ss Herald of the Apocalypse, one needs to conduct an Apocalypse on the some world that would be chosen by the Akashic Records, that would correspond with the User''s capabilities and abilities.

    The User needs to unleash the Apocalypse on the World that would be chosen and bring Doom to its inhabitants and the World itself toplete the Quest. Depending on the World chosen and the progress of the Quest, the User may obtain further rewards based on his performance.

    Rewards: Unlocking the Holy-ss Herald of the Apocalypse.]

    Samiel read the description of the ss Quest - Doombringer with interest because this would be a rather hard and challenging Quest. He knew that the Holy sses were one of the most rare types of sses that only a selected few were lucky to be born with or to obtain.

    He instantly epted the Quest because it was the sole way on how to get away from this pace and return back to somewhere...

    Right now, Samiel predicted that he was within the borders of the real and unreal, in a ce of seemingly non-existent and existent at the same time, that was created by the dreams of the Great Dreamer.

    Or so he thought, because this wasn''t Void that he knew for sure, as he couldn''t really feel it properly, and now that he becameplete Old Deus by bing Principality Eldritch Angel, his connection to the Void was stronger than ever.

    The transition into the full-fledged Old Dues ensured that his power grew rapidly and not only did he reach the peak of the Silver-Tier and was only a step away from achieving the Gold-Tier, as he had rather a clear idea of the concept of the Mastery, but he also obtain many other things.

    Naturally, the one thing that was most precious was the Holy-ss Herald of the Apocalypse, but before unlocking the full potential of the ss, he would need toplete the special Quest for that.

    [Your Patron God has intervened on the User behalf in the World Selection process by the Akashic Records for the Holy-ss Quest - Doombringer.]

    [World Lottery has been adjusted ording to the intervention of the Patron God ?!?.]

    [Lower World that has met the preliminary requirements has been discovered.]

    [Akashic Records is judging thepatibility between the Lower World chosen by Your Patron God with the requirements of the Holy-ss Quest - Doombringer!]

    [Akashic Records has judged thepatibility between the Lower World - X489-C978-A44 chosen by the ?!? Patron God of User Samiel Zentaur aspatible with the requirements of the ss Quest - Doombringer!]

    [Initiate the Teleportation to the Lower World - X489-C978-A44?]

    Samiel read the notifications from the Akashic Records one by one, with curiosity and cautiousness mixed in between.

    Obviously, the World chosen by the Akashic Records won''t be a weak one for the Quest Doombringer because to have a Holy ss of any type was something akin to a privilege given by the Akashic Records.

    So one needed to achieve and deserve it in the first ce and foremost, that went without a question. Technically speaking, even for the people to obtain Lord-ss, they would need to make some achievement worthy of being recognized by the Akashic Records in many cases.

    Samiel was just lucky that he obtained the Knight of the Niflheim from the start when he underwent Nirvana and entered the Tower from the Earth. Nowadays, he attributed it to luck because he didn''t really know how to describe the situation otherwise.

    This was a rathermon procedure and he also knew that if his Patron God intervened in the World Selection Process that was done by the Akashic Records, it would be one of the more powerful Lower Worlds.

    Something that warranted the attention of the Blind Idiot God himself... that was certainly not a good sign, but s, there was nothing he could do. And as they say, the greater the risk, the greater the rewards would be.

    He naturally didn''t know what World he would be sent to because, normally speaking, Akashic Records didn''t record the names of the Unranked Worlds, Lower Worlds and Middle Worlds.

    Akashic Records was recording only something akin to a Serial Identification Number that was issued to every single World, and Dimension when it came to these worlds for a very simple reason actually.

    None of these worlds had the limit of a Transcendent, so from the standpoint of the Akashic Records, the names of these World were not that important due to their sheer number because there were too many of them within the Cosmos.

    Or rather, those under the Transcendent Status didn''t really have ess to that kind of information.

    Normally, only the High Worlds and Principal Worlds were recorded with very detailed information because of their significance and importance to the Cosmos as a whole, especially the Principal Worlds.

    When he clicked on the translucent window and agreed, he disappeared from the empty darkness.

 Chapter 291 Inquisition of the Hall of Kadath

    Chapter 291 Inquisition of the Hall of Kadath

    Around the same time, the 98th Floor of the Tower, an Undisclosed Location, Headquarters of the Inquisition.

    "So, have the information been verified thoroughly?"

    The man who was speaking was the Lord General Inquisitor of the Inquisition, Ardyn Tiberrius, who was now investigating the case of the Magisterium plotting against them during the attempted assassination of the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath.

    Naturally, the higher-ups of the Hall were aware of the fact that Samiel Zentaur survived the fight with the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd on the 11th Floor of the Tower. Still, from the evidence gathered, it was clear that the Pirate King Wentworth Rutnd was someone who was sent there by the Magisterium.

    With Anti-Void weaponry that was specifically crafted to destroy anyone with the Eldritch Origin, something that was especially deadly to someone like Samiel Zentaur, who was basically more or less an Eldritch Creature.

    Surprisingly, when the news reached the Hall of Kadath, everything went quiet, contrary to the expectations of many, because many people would anticipate that, that the old monster Faulhaber would erupt in rage and it would be another Starfall...

    No... it was silent... but anyone with a bit of brain could tell that this was just silence before the storm and that the storm would be very strong and would blow many of them away...

    "Yes, it is... our sources within the Magisterium confirmed that this was part of the wider plot of some radial faction within the Magisterium that wanted to obtain Bloodline Source of Eldritch from the Holy Son and also Bloodline Source of the Silvermoon Lineage."

    Ardyn Tiberrius didn''t say anything because he wasn''t much surprised by hearing this; in fact, it was something that he could expect very well.

    "Not surprising in this case... Magisterium has always been eyeing the position of the 1st Gate and the Majins are investing an extraordinary amount of resources into the Magisterium for it to seed... but this may represent an opportunity..."

    Majin was a Transcendent Path for the so-called Magic Gods; even though they were not Gods, but they were rather embodiments of some of the Magic Rules and fundamental aspects of the Magic.

    There were not many of them in the first ce because not many people embarked on this Path of Transcendence due to extremely harsh requirements, but the ones that ascended through bing Majin were very powerful.

    "Then we need to contact the Nesser Dynasty; it seems... the pointed ears are going to be pissed pretty much about this revtion..."

    The Lord General Inquisitor then typed something on his Holo-Brain before he looked at the subordinate who was giving him the report about the situation.

    "Is anyone else rted to this issue, or was this just the action of the Magisterium alone?"

    He then asked as he stopped writing because there was one thing that didn''t really sit up with him from the background of the Wentworth Rutnd, who was, ording to all reports, a former nobleman of the Avalon Kingdom.

    He didn''t believe even for a second that the Avalon Kingdom wasn''t somehow involved in the entire thing because it was highly improbable, and as someone who had led the Inquisition of the Hall of Kadath for several centuries, he didn''t believe in idents.

    idents were just borately crafted ns that gave the feeling of that they were natural.

    "Yes...there was somemunication between the Magisters and the Avalon Kingdom one month prior, but our source is not that high in the hierarchy to know about the exact content of the meeting because it was only for the Magisters and their most loyal."

    As expected, the Avalon Kingdom was involved in the matter...

    Though it was something that many people would expect and at the same time, this would only give them reason to act against the Avalon Kingdom and drag the Nesser Dynasty into this mess because, apparently, it was also the attack on their Crown Princess.

    And the elves were a pretty arrogant race, especially the Highborne and Silvermoon Elves; they would never forgive any slight, not to mention something on this scale as attacking the Heir to the Imperial Throne of the Nesser Dynasty.

    "Compile everything into aprehensive report and send it to me within the next ten minutes; I will go to the Hall Master to report our findings."

    Ardyn Tiberrius was Lord General Inquisitor of the Hall of Kadath for a very long time, and in a situation like these, he knew that they needed to act faster than the limits allowed and without making even the slightest mistake.

    If everything went well, they would have an opportunity to move against the Magisterium, something that the radical wings among the higher-ups of the Hall of Kadath, especially some of the more warlike Cardinals and members of the Choir, advocated for a very long time already.

    ***

    The 98th Floor of the Tower, Main Temple of the Hall of Kadath, The Throne Room

    "What are the results of the investigations, Ardyn?"

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber asked with a calm voice, but anyone hearing him could hear the anger behind his words. There were not many people within the Throne Room; aside from the honor guards from the Temr Knight Order, there were only a few Cardinals and Archbishops present.

    But nevertheless, everyone was anticipating the results of the discussion between the two men because it could very well mean that the Hall of Kadath would be going to war. Something that wasn''t present for a very, very long time already.

    "Everything isplied here, Your Holiness. ording to the evidence and information gathered, we came to the conclusion that the Magisterium wanted to obtain the Bloodline Source of the Eldritch from the Holy Son and the Bloodline Source of the Silvermoon from the Crown Princess of the Nesser Dynasty, or at least, that was the n. With the explosion that the Holy Son did, all of their ns evaporated straight into nothingness."

    Ardyn Tiberrius reported as he then passed the file to the Hall Master, who started reading it very quickly while simultaneously listening to the report from the Lord General Inquisitor.

    Now, hearing that, it was clear to everyone gathered here that the Hall would need to make something grand to exact revenge, solidify their status and so on... many other things would be ounted for there, but it was also an unprecended opportunity.

    It was a very long time since there was somerge-scale conflict between factions of the 13 Gates.

    Such conflicts were exceedingly rare, and even the Underdark was constantly warring against the Nesser Dynasty wasn''tunching anyrge-scale offensive.

    So this could be the first time in a very long time since some of the factions within the 13 Gates waged war against each other.

    It would be...

    Wait for it...

    Legen - dary.

    Legendary.

 Chapter 292 The Covenant

    Chapter 292 The Covenant

    "I havee to the decision, Lord General Inquisitor."

    After a long time of silence that havested for more than ten minutes, the Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber said with a severe voice.

    It was clear that something important would be announced, something that could very well change the politicalndscape of the entire Material ne of the Cosmos.

    "Contact the Nesser Dynasty and present the proposition for the joint war against the Magisterium and also contact the Scientia Hierarchy and present them the same invitation..."

    Hearing the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath, the Lord General Inquisitor''s eyes shined because he understood the implication behind mentioning the Scientia Hierarchy.

    When they attacked the Magisterium, it would be an all-out war between the several factions of the 13 Gates that may very well end with some of them falling from the list of the 13 Gates.

    The Guild and Vaultbank were true neutral factions that would never care about what was taking ce in the Cosmos and would not intervene in anything. The same could go for the Asutra Tribe, Pale Congregation, and The Nexus, who won''t care about things that don''t concern them.

    The only problematic ones and the ones that were unknown were the Avalon Kingdom, Cmity Church, and Germinal Order and their stance on the matter.

    But the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath knew that due to the losses of the Most Holy Pdin Order of the Silver Crusade of Divine Light, they wouldn''t intervene.

    The Cmity Church itself was in a precarious position, as during the past years, they suffered some losses against the Hall of Kadath due to theirpetition for the souls, so they would stand at bay.

    Gemrinal Order would probably try to fish for gain, and it was ounted for that they would probably attack the Magisterium once their faction was weakened enough.

    From the list of the 13 Gates, it only left the Underdark, but everyone present knew that due to the situation, they wouldn''t be making a move against the Nesser Dynasty.

    If they did and attacked the Nesser Dynasty on arger scale, using this as an opportunity to strike at them.

    At the same time, if during the time, the Nesser Dynasty was distracted with the war against the Magisterium was attacked by the Underdark, then it was sure that the Hall of Kadath would attack the Underdark.

    And that would be something that the Underdark won''t be able to survive.

    "Per your order, it shall be done."

    Lord General Inquisitor Ardyn Tiberrius bowed to the Hall Master.

    "Also... leak some of the confidential information about the holds of the Magisterium that we have to the Chromatic Dragon Faction and Metallic Dragon Faction... we could cause them great damage through this way without lifting a finger."

    While it didn''t seem like that, but the Chromatic Dragons and their Chromatic Dragon Cult and Metallic Dragons and their Metallic Dragon Cult had a great deal of hatred against the Magisterium for various reasons.

    One of the most notable ones was that many people of the Magisterium were using the dragons as a source of their Bloodlines, especially the Sorcerers who were using the Dragon Bloodlines as their own...

    "It would create a mess... once the Dragons join the conflicts, it may even result in the Chromatic Dragon Faction and Metallic Dragon Faction entering the truce to attack the Magisterium..."

    Magisterium was far more powerful than most of the people knew; even among the 13 Gates, it was the strongest one right afterward; the Hall of Kadath, The Guild and Vaultbank that were the strongest mortal factions.

    Aside from the factions like the ck Emporium, if it could even be called a faction that were considered irregrities, then the Magisterium was the strongest mortal faction.

    They had a lot of Holies hiding in the shadows, and practically even to the other Gates of the 13 Gates, their exact strength was pretty much unknown.

    "I don''t care... I aim to cripple the Magisterium as much as possible. While I know that as long as their Majin are alive, we won''t be able to eradicate them entirely, but we can cripple them for entire Epochs toe."

    Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber said coldly as everyone suddenly found it very hard to breathe even a bit due to the overwhelming pressure that was being released from the body of the Hall Master.

    "The Magisterium has breached the unspoken rules, and in truth, they are a threat to the supremacy of the Hall over the Material ne of the Cosmos, with their development of the Anti-Void and Anti-Eldrtich weapons and Magic. The Scientia Hierarchy views their research into the Magitek as a threat to their own existence, and their practice of stealing the Bloodlines of other species to boost their own is a threat to the existence of the Covenant..."

    The Hall Master then made a slight pause as the Lord General Inquisitor shook a bit when he heard the words that were being spoken before he quickly rposed.

    "You should know very well that the Covenant is the thing that brought the Humans down, and we should do everything in our power to see it''s being preserved."

    Se ancient times, all the factions since the fall of the Last Human King adhered to the sacred creeds of the Covenant.

    The Covenant was something that was respected by even the mightiest of the Transcendents, and everyone wanted to see the Covenant behind respected and applied at all costs.

    "Humanity... such adaptability and so much talent... what the Magisterium is doing could resolve some of the Absolutes that were imposed on their species to cripple them for eternity, even if for part... and for that, the Magisterium must be wiped out."

    The Lord General Inquisitor raised his brow hearing that.

    "Won''t their own Transcendents do something about that?"

    The Magisterium produced a lot of Majin, as they were called, basically the Magic Gods that grasped the Magic Rules and uncovered the deepest mysteries of the Arcane itself.

    "No, they won''t... I already got a dream from the Great Dreamer, saying that the problematic ones among them were already taken care of, and the rest agreed that as long as Magisterium survived as a faction, it doesn''t matter how much of them remained. They would be confined to their High World and would be forbidden to leave for the next Era, as their crimes against the Covenant."

    The Hall Master exined that because not many knew that his move against the Magisterium was something that was blessed by several Transcendent Factions of the Cosmos.

    It was passed at thetest meeting of the High Council of Cosmos.

    It seemed that it was inevitable.

 Chapter 293 Bringer of the Apocypse

    Chapter 293 Bringer of the Apocypse

    "Now, I am be Death, the destroyer of worlds."

    ***

    Unknown Lower World, designation X489-C978-A44.

    When Samiel appeared in this ce, the first thing he noticed was that he was in some kind of wilderness because he was surrounded by very tall trees and green grasnds.

    Everywhere around him was quiet; he didn''t sense any animals, Magical Beasts, or any other Lifeforms in his vicinity, which was weird for some reason, but for now, he didn''t dwell on that because he had more pressing matters to solve right now.

    The window that was a notification from the Akashic Records was still popping out as the Holy-ss Quest - Doombringer was making itself known. He was getting headaches just thinking about how toplete such a ridiculous requirement for the Holy-ss Quest.

    [Holy-ss Quest - Doombringer

    Description: To unlock the full might of the Holy-ss Herald of the Apocalypse, one needs to conduct an Apocalypse on the same World that would be chosen by the Akashic Records, that would correspond with the User''s capabilities and abilities.

    The User needs to unleash the Apocalypse on the World that would be chosen and bring Doom to its inhabitants and the World itself toplete the Quest. Depending on the World chosen and the progress of the Quest, the User may obtain further rewards based on his performance.

    Rewards: Unlocking the Holy-ss Quest Herald of the Apocalypse.]

    Though there came the question...

    How he wanted to unleash the Apocalypse on this world.

    While Samiel was aware that he was very strong for the peak Silver-Tier Professional, he was also aware of the fact that it wouldn''t be enough to bring an end to the Lower World.

    Most Lower Worlds would have at least a bunch of Gold-Tier Professionals within them, some even bunch of peak Gold-Tier Professionals that were one step in the Legendary Level but, for some reason, were suppressing their advance any further.

    As much as confident Samiel felt, he knew that even with the Architect''s calctions, if he encountered someone at the peak of the Level 100 Gold-Tier and a problematic Path and skillset that could match his abilities, it would spell his own Doom.

    Not the Doom of this Lower World.

    Especially considering the fact that it was Lower World chosen personally by the Akashic Records to meet the criteria for the Holy-ss Quest Herald of the Apocalypse. Samiel knew that this world must be pretty powerful for it to meet the criteria of the Holy-ss Quest...

    "I should probably go and find some dwelling... I can ponder about how to unleash Apocalypse on this ce at ater date."

    Samiel said as he noticed the iing clouds, thinking that it would probably start raining soon, so some pce where to hide from the rain would be good.

    Carrying out the Apocalypse was much moreplicated than it seemed...

    Though right now, his priorities were food and dwelling, he could scheme the Doom of the world after eating something and praying to the Outer Gods to let him see another day...

    Even though he was already an Eldritch Angel, right now, even thest remaining of his humanity were washed off as he carried out thest racial evolution to the higher and more superior being.

    "I should probably wait to test my wings until I confirm that the ce is safe..."

    He didn''t really want to fly right now because he wasn''t sure of the environment he was in, so for now, he decided to carry out reconnaissance first and then test his wings in real flight.

    ***

    Several Day Later, Unkwnon Forests of the Unknown Lower World, designation X489-C978-A44.

    For the past few days, Samiel had been wandering through the forests of the unknown Lower World, where he was teleported by the Akashic Records, and he had absolutely no idea where he was located.

    Surprisingly enough, the one thing that he managed to deduce was the fact that this world was pretty rich on Mana, meaning it must be one of the more powerful Lower Worlds. Either that or it was one of the Lower Worlds that only recently underwent Mana Resurgence.

    This could be either good news or not, depending on the other circumstances. Some worlds that were without much Mana and experienced the Mana Resurgence were lucky in that area that they were able to cultivate a lot of very powerful people within a really short time.

    It happens from time to time, and Samiel would prefer such a scenariopared to the old, more powerful, magically developed Lower World because such one would have a strong foundation in Magic and so on...

    That would be pretty problematic to destroy entirely.

    Still, he continued walking through the dense forests of the Lower World for approximately three days until he encountered something strange.

    It was Magic Ward, a very powerful Magic Ward located in the depths of the forest. He didn''t know where, but he could sense it very well because the magic signature of the ward was stronger than anything that he felt since he was teleported to this world.

    On top of that, he also felt something very familiar within that Miagc, something that he hadn''t felt for a long time.

    It was an aura of Void.

    Or at least something Void rted...

    ''Hundred kilometers to the west.''

    As Samiel identified the exact source of the leaking Magic and Void-attributed energy, which was somewhere here, he started running at his top speed towards his destination.

    As someone who was at the peak of the Silver-Tier Level 75, it didn''t take long for Samiel to arrive at his final destination. He was soon enough standing in front of the small cave entrance that was covered by fallen trees and greens, almost not even visible due to the state it was in.

    "So that is the reason why I never encountered even a single lifeform during my stay in this part of the forest."

    Samiel muttered as he observed the Wards that were sealing the entrance to the cavern, but they were cracked in many ces, either from some type of external damage, old age or they were just poorly inscribed.

    The reason, in fact, didn''t matter as much as the results in this case.

    And the results were that the Aura of Void, stemming from something in that cave, was leaking outside, basically scaring everything that lived to run for its life. The Aura of Void wasn''t something that the ordinary creatures coulde even remotely close to.

    "If I break it now, it wouldn''t really matter. At worst, I would attract here some powerful Professionals, but at the same time, I am pretty curious about what is there."

    Samiel pondered over the matter for some time, and naturally, he wanted to search through the cave to see what was there. If there was something that was of Void origin, then he must have it.

    After evolving to apletely higher being and bing Principality Eldritch Angel, he became extremely sensitive to the Void and any of its remains of it to an almost ridiculous degree.

    And at the same, he also obtained unnatural, almost innate-like greed to possess anything rted to the Void. It was like the instincts of the dragons that made them collect treasures and valuables; Samiel obtained something simr, though just for the Void objects.

 Chapter 294 The Gift from the Void

    Chapter 294 The Gift from the Void

    For some time, Samiel studied the Sealing Ward that was over the entrance to the cave, which was blocking anyone from entering. It seemed that the Sealing Ward was pretty old, like very old, and was in a poor state, which was a bonus point for him.

    "One or two hits would do the job..."

    Samiel muttered as he thought and conjured trident through the Winter Rule and congregated some bits of the Void Energy on the des of the ice construct end.

    Now that he had entirely evolved into the creature of the Void and became Principality Eldritch Angel, he was able to control some limited amount of the Void Energy.

    Even though the amount he could control was abysmal, due to the vtility and state of the Void Energy, it tremendously increased hisbat prowess to a ridiculous degree.

    If he used it at the right time, he was confident to take out even pinnacle Gold-Tier Professionals with several Masteries, as long as he hit them first. They would have no means of getting themselves rid of the Void Energy.

    Grabbing the ice trident, he then smashed the weapon that contained some of the Void Energy against the Sealing Ward, which broke into countless pieces under the first sh.

    Clearly incapable of withstanding such overwhelming power, because the power of Void was something that even the most powerful Legendaries would be wary of to a great degree due to how dangerous and destructive it was.

    "Here we can go..."

    After destroying the Sealing Ward, he dispersed the ice trident because the ice construct was also heavily damaged from being forced to host the Void Energy, which would be impossible to use in any further potentialbat.

    Then he entered the dark cave, though the darkness itself wasn''t much of a problem for him, as he had basically night vision that he obtained upon his evolution to the Principality Eldritch Angel.

    Due to that, it wasn''t hard for him to continue advancing further and further into the depths of the cave, which was a bit surprising because there was only one way to the cave.

    Samiel originally expected some inter-cavern system or anything in those lines, but there was only one way to the one end.

    This was either purposely chosen due to this structure, or it was manually created to hide something or store something.

    Either way, he didn''t really dwell upon the fact, but he continued going deeper and deeper into the cave until he arrived at something that could be described as the end of the road for him.

    At the end of more than half an hour-long journey to the depths of the underground, he was standing in a vast underground-shaped dome. This was all he needed to know that this ce was manually created, coupled with other indicators that he noticed during the path; he was right.

    Somebody created this ce.

    Judging from the state of the stone pirs that were all around the massive dome, it was a pretty long time ago because they were all falling apart one by one.

    Everything was filled with ruins and rubble, though there were no remains of civilizations of any kind.

    It was just a bunch of stone, ruins, dust, and maybe some ash or whatever it was.

    The only interesting thing that was more or like eye-catching was a huge altar in the middle of the entire underground dome that was surrounded by several huge pirs made from ck stone.

    All five pirs that surrounded the altar were inscribed with some kind of runes that Samiel wasn''t able to identify, but he could sense their power and also their purpose, as they were sealing runes and suppressing runes.

    Their target was whatever what was in the stone coffin that was on the top of the altar, and considering the fact that the stone coffin was rtively small, Samiel was curious about what was being sealed there.

    "Probably some kind of object or whatever..."

    He then went in front of the altar, as he, at first, studied the altar a bit, noticing it was covered by the same runic matrix, as the entire ce was one huge inscription that was covering the entire area.

    "Someone really wanted for whatever is hidden here to remain hidden... they even used sacrificial runes... the most interesting thing."

    While he didn''t know the purpose of all runes that were used in the inscriptions around the stone pirs and the altar, he could recognize the purpose of a few of them as they were sacrificial runes.

    Something that he knew very well because he used them many times during his life, so he was able to spot and recognize them with a single nce.

    "Though...rge parts are missing, probably damaged due to the passage of time inbination with the falling rocks from the copsing dome. Without that, I would need to spend more energy to bring this thing down entirely..."

    He knew that this ce must be old, at least a few tens of thousands of years, but due to the abundant Magic and superior craftsmanship, the ce managed to withstand the passage of time splendidly.

    At least as much as it could get.

    Even then, the time still took its tax andrge parts of the runic matrix were destroyed, which allowed Samiel to rather easily destroy the remaining parts of the inscriptions as he just used the Void Energy and let it do its wonder.

    The very moment the Void Energy got into the inscriptions, it started corrupting down everything and breaking down all of the runes, with the stone and metal being turned into nothingness as it was destroyed by the power of the Void.

    When the runes that were sealing whatever was in the small stone coffin were destroyed, he came up to the stone coffin and gently pushed off the huge stone te that was covering it.

    As the stone te fell down and shattered into countless pieces, it gave Samiel sight to the thing that was being sealed and protected here, or rather, protecting the outside world from the thing sealed here.

    The strong stench of the Void burst off from the small stone coffin, as Samiel was able to see what was inside.

    "Egg... though a bit more disgusting looking egg... of Eldritch and Void origin..."

    He muttered as he saw an obscuredly-looking egg that was covered in some kind of ectosmic coat, all slimy and disgusting...

    Though the aura of the Void was undeniable in this one because it was very strong, especially now that all of the Wards and Runes that were sealing and suppressing this thing were effectively destroyed.

    Even he, as the Principality Eldritch Angel, got some sort of connection to the Egg because it felt very familiar for some reason.

    "I know to not touch suspicious-looking things... but..."

    As he muttered quietly, he took off one of his gloves and slowly touched the slimy surface of the Egg.

    The very moment he touched the surface of the Egg, he felt like thousands of thunderbolts strode through his body and the Egg itself started pulsating with life; a beating sound could be heard from it.

    He felt that his Mana was being drained at a tremendous pace and went towards the Egg, together with some of his Lifeforce and even part of his very own Soul was split off and assimted by the Egg.

    This presented enormous pain to him because having your very own Soul being split even by the smallest margin was not something that anyone could withstand.

    At the same time, Samiel also got a vision, or more precisely, a part of his gic memory was activated upon contact with the Egg.

    This was another piece of news that he discovered right now, that upon his evolution to the Principality Eldritch Angel, he obtained gic memory. A gic memory that contained a tremendously huge information bank but was activated only when the right input was inserted.

    For a mere moment, thousands of images shed through his mind of an enormous creature that looked like a bug, towering over even the biggest mountains of the countless worlds of the Material ne was devouring the entire worlds.

    Billions upon billions of smaller bugs were swarming the entire world, no matter they were the Lower Worlds, Middle Worlds, High Worlds, and even attacking some of the Principality Worlds for resources.

    Like a swarm of locus moving from one target to another, devouring everything in their path, not leaving even a single life behind them or even a single soul.

    They were the eater of the entire Worlds and the doom of the entire civilization, born from the deepest and coldest parts of the Void.

    The Worldeater Race.

 Chapter 295 Worldeater Species

    Chapter 295 Worldeater Species

    Within the Cosmos, there was already something that was pretty simr to the Worldeater Species, yet it was fundamentally different in several areas.

    One of the Scourges of the Cosmos, together with the Orks and hostile Outer Gods that were doing what they wanted... the Zerg Swarm.

    And yet, contrary to the Worldeater Species, the Zerg Swarm, no matter how big it was and how many World have fallen prey to it, were not that dangerous to the bnce of the Cosmos in the first ce.

    Samiel knew why...

    The fundamental origin of the Worldeaters was too terrifying.

    They are creatures of the Void that use the resources of a World in order to grow. Within the depths of the myriad Worlds of the Material ne of the Cosmos, they are a powerful species that can eat anything, viewing all life with Soul as its food.

    They are the natural enemy of all life; their very own existence presented the antithesis to the concept of life itself.

    The seed of war and destruction, otherwise known as the Broodmother Worldeater, is a wondrous weapon of war. They are ultimately adaptable creatures, able to evolve and adapt to any situation.

    What made them even more dangerous, far more dangerous than the Zerg Swarm, was the fact, that they could devour Soul and obtain all of the power through the Professional''s Soul, which was making them countless times more dangerous than the Zerg Swarm.

    Aside from that, the Worldeater possessed extremely frightening intelligence; Samiel could tell that their intelligence was no less than hisputing abilities when he was using Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect to the maximum.

    Worldeaters were able to reproduce at a rapid pace, eat everything in their path, including some things that would give even the Zerg Swarm some headaches and they dwelled in the concept of Souls.

    They were able to extract their very own essence, thus obtaining all things that someone mastered and learned during their life, including their very own skills and abilities, that made the Worldeaters so frightening.

    Not to mention, their final evolution, which was the Worldeater Matriach, these creatures were usually so powerful and troublesome to deal with that even the strongest Principal Worlds with all of their Transcendents would find it troublesome to deal with them.

    Samiel knew that once the Matriarch got her hands on the Transcendent of any path, she could devise special methods ofbating the Transcendents and with their skills and abilities in the area of Souls, they were even able to y some Transcendents as peak Holies.

    And the moment Samiel touched the Worldeater Egg, he basically bound himself to the Worldeater. The Worldeaters were species that were probably as old as his Patron God; they existed like the Outer Gods... born directly from the Void itself.

    Their origin was very simr to that of the Azathoth the Great Dreamer, as they were born from the Primordial Essence of the Void, that was the moment when the first Worldeater was born, and due to that, they are often associated with the Eldritch Beings.

    However, that assumption is inherently wrong because the Worldeaters don''t have an Eldritch Origin, as they are pure beings of the most primal Void.

    Samiel knew that this was probably the best means of unleashing the Apocalypse on this World; if he managed to cultivate the Worldeater Broodmother to the Legendary Level, he would have on his hand an Apocalyptic Being.

    On the other hand, he was also aware that the presence of the Worldeater Broodmother represented a great deal of danger to him, but at the same time, he decided that it wasn''t that much of a problem.

    The Worldeater Broodmother wasn''t considered as one of the most dangerous lifeforms across the Cosmos for now; even now, there exist a few Worldeater Matriarchs that are even more frightening than several Outer Gods put together.

    In the end, the situation couldn''t be really worse for him than it already was, and it wasn''t like the Worldeater Broodmother would be traveling with him everywhere where he went. The Worldeater Broodmother would be left in this world for a long time until he needed her help with something else.

    For some time, he was looking at the Worldeater Egg that was pulsating with enormous power, assimting Samiel''s Mana and part of the Soul. He sensed that the connection between their Souls was established and stood strong and firm.

    He knew that it would take some time for the Worldeater Broodmother to hatch because it needed to assimte all of the things that it obtained from Samiel. The most usual way of the Worldeaters of hatching was through bonding with someone.

    And nobody was better than either another Broodmother or the beings of Void; this was because of the simr origin between the two of them.

    The Worldeater Broodmothers either sought another Worldeaters to bond themselves with, or they searched for powerful Eldritch Creatures and Outer Gods. For the Worldeater Egg, Samiel Zentaur, as Principality Eldritch Angel, was the best choice for the bonded person.

    "It should take a few days at this tempo for the Worldeater Egg to hatch..."

    Samiel muttered as he decided to stay here within the ruins of the dome until the Worldeater Egg hatched. Actually, this ce was rtively suitable for bing his base until he was ready to explore the rest of the forest and then the rest of the Lower World.

    Even though it was in ruins, it was still standing strong and once the Worldeater Broodmother started producing Drones, it could repair the damage done to the underground space and dome.

    "Blood."

    Having absorbed a piece of Samiel''s soul, therva in the Egg had built a spiritual connection with him, just like the one that he shared with the Nefertari, but this one was even more close.

    Its calls were quite feeble, almost as though they were about to fade away. However, that thirst was exceptionally distinct. Samiel was for a moment observing the Egg, in an almost trance-like state, until he woke up and conjured a dagger of the ice through the Winter Ruler.

    With one swift movement, he pierced the dagger through his palm as he let blood flow on the Worldeater Egg.

    "Blood��"

    The Worldeater Egg was still calling out. This was no knownnguage, instead a fluctuation that bombarded his very soul with the request. He decided to simply smear the blood on his hands onto that wlessly smooth and shiny eggshell.

    The moment he did so, all of the blood was consumed; the Worldeater Egg was greedily absorbing all the blood that was leaking from Samiel''s hand, but soon enough, it was being healed due to his ridiculous healing factor.

    The very moment the Worldeater Egg finished drinking the blood from his pierced hand, something wondrous happened that Samiel didn''t really anticipate. The moment the blood was assimted, the Worldeater Egg also assimted the remnants of Samiel''s Mana and Soul Force.

    The Worldeater Egg asked for no more blood or energy because it was already fully satiated.

    That single drop was akin to a spark, igniting the fires of its life. A soft click rang out, and a visible crack appeared on the eggshell, soon followed by many more. A sharp de of darkness eventually made its way out, signifying that the Worldeater Egg had hatched.

    The Worldeater Egg has finally hatched.

    The eggshell shattered with that de as the centre, pieces falling to the ground as what seemed like a ck insect crawled out from within.

    This creature had six limbs like an arthropod, with an exceptionallyrge abdomen. Two sharp des were attached to the area near its head, making it look like aical little ball with a few des stuck on it.

    The creature dived for the remainder of the eggshell the moment it made its way out, chewing it all up in the blink of an eye. It cleared the fragments out thoroughly, leaving nothing behind at all.

    It was like a vacuum had sucked everything on the ground away.

    The creature then forced itself up, its entire body trembling rapidly as the sticky fluid on its surface was rapidly absorbed within. Its shell gradually grew hard, beginning to sparkle even as its body grew at a visible pace.

    The creature was looking at Samiel with its six pairs of eyes, staring at her master for a moment, as it then started looking for a way tomunicate with her master, as the Worldeater Broodmother had just been born.

    "High-Energy Food..."

    Soon enough, the Worldeater Broodmother managed to transmit its intention as Samiel understood what the Worldeater Broodmother wanted and started then feeding the creature with his own Mana.

    Because his Mana had properties of the Void and Outer Holiness, it was the most suitable food for the Worldeater Broodmother. Not to mention, his Mana was extremely potent and dense, so it was very rich and powerful for creatures like the Worldeater, the most suitable source...

    Even to the visible eye, the Worldeater Broodmother was getting more healthier and stronger, as it didn''t have a problem of standing alone as she was absorbing Samiel''s Mana at a tremendous pace.

 Chapter 296 Worldeaters and her Progress

    Chapter 296 Worldeaters and her Progress

    Within just seven weeks, the improvement to the Worldeater Broodmother was clearly visible to anyone who could see the enormous insectoid creature. He was feeding the Worldeater Broodmother his Mana for seven whole days without a stop.

    And only now was he starting to feel some drain on his Mana because the healthier and stronger the Worldeater Broodmother became, the more of his Mana she was able to assimte and devour.

    Right now, she was in some kind of baby stage, and she needed a lot of Mana as pure as possible to fuel her growth. Even though his Mana Regeneration has reached literarily insane degrees, the same could be said about the consumption rate of the Worldeater Broodmother.

    Fortunately enough for him, as the Principality Eldritch Angel, he still had some advantage when it came to this area because his Mana, together with his Mana Qualities, was far more superior to the other beings.

    For the past seven days, Samiel remained within the underground cave where he found the Worldeater Broodmother''s Egg because that was the simplest thing to do, as he was waiting for the Worldeater Broodmother to grow a bit.

    ording to the information that he got from her through their connection, once she grew enough, only a tad more, she would be able to create Worker Drones that would do the work for her.

    Right now, he was emptying his Dimensional Storage, or at least the ones that were not destroyed when he was in the Void. As unfortunate as it was, all of his Dimensional Equipment was destroyed, which meant, that he lost a lot of things.

    But on the bright side of all things, he managed to get his personal Dimensional Storage preserved because it was created through his Void Magic and tied directly to his Soul.

    Within his Dimensional Storage, he managed to preserve the most precious things that he collected, including some random weapons and armor that he managed to loot somewhere and as they were resting within the Dimensional Storage for some time.

    Because the Dimensional Storage was limited in size, because it was created through the Void Magic, it depended on the Mastery over the Void Magic. He knew that some people, more powerful Legendary Magic Users were able to create enormous personal Dimensional Storages within their souls.

    "Master, if you have some metals within you, I can eat them to evolve even further."

    Worldeater Broodmother said in a raspy voice. She managed to learn severalnguages just within a span of one week, which was fascinating in itself. The creature was currently two meters long, being a meter tall and wide as well.

    She was growing very fast, just by feeding on his Mana, which was utterly fascinating, but he knew that she was soon reaching the limit that she could reach through the Mana feeding, as she would soon need some real food.

    "Let''s try that then..."

    Samiel said as he then started taking out a whole bunch of weapons and armor from the Dimensional Storage before he passed them to the Worldeater Broodmother, who started immediately eating the weapons and armor like they were candied.

    The Worldeater Species were able to eat anything, ranging from the mostmon Biomass to the hardest metals within the entirety of the Cosmos, including the whole worlds, were nothing more and nothing less than just food for the Worldeaters.

    "These metals can strengthen and harden my armor. Everything that you gave me was of rtively good quality, and my armor is now twice as though as it was before."

    The Worldeater Broodmother stated after she finished eating all of the metals in the form of armor and weapons that Samiel gave her, she turned her head towards him as if wanting to say something.

    "Master, I feel that I am close to evolving and obtaining a new form if I devour more biomass."

    These words came as a certain level of surprise to Samiel, because he didn''t really expect that the Worldeater Broodmother would be able to evolve this fast, but this also represented a certain problem for him.

    He didn''t have a Biomass, as everything that could serve as one was destroyed within the Void. Samiel was storing some special corpses from more powerful enemies that he killed within the Dimensional Equipment, but those were all destroyed in the Void.

    So, the only choice for him that was left was to wander into the wilderness to search for something that would meet the criteria of the Worldeater Broodmother''s evolutionary Biomass.

    "I will need to go out and hunt for something... how much would you need toplete your evolution and to have enough Biomass to create some Worker Drones?"

    Samiel wanted the Worldeater Broodmother to create the Worker Drones as soon as possible because it would greatly ease up his life. With enough Worker Drones, they would be able to secure the Biomass and evolutionary materials for the Worldeater Broodmother without his direct intervention.

    Worldeater Broodmother was at the Level 10 Iron-Tier and was ready to evolve into the Bronze-Tier. From the connection that he had with the Worldeater Broodmother, he knew that for them, reaching higher Tiers also equaled that of racial evolution.

    "At least that of the Silver-Tier for my own evolution. For the Worker Drones, Iron-Tier or Bronze-Tier would be the most suitable."

    Sometimes, Samiel was marvelling at the superior intelligence of the Worldeater Broodmother. Even though the creature was only seven days old, she was already showcasing superior intelligence to average sentient species.

    Not to mention, she was constantly evolving; with each Level that she increased her Mana by, she was not only getting stronger in terms of physique or Mana, but she was also getting much more smarter.

    "I will need to go out and hunt down such beings... as unfortunate it is right now, I have nothing that would meet such requirements..."

    Samiel said because this would mean that he would leave the Worldeater Broodmother alone here, something that he wasn''t really keen on because he was aware that the Worldeater Broodmother was rtively weak right now.

    Even though she had far higherbat prowesspared to her actual Level and Tier, she could still be killed by a bunch of Bronze-Tier Professionals. The sole thing that Samiel coulde up with was to seal the entrance to the cavern once again and remain within the vicinity of the cavern.

    After the Worldeater Broodmother started producing War Drones, he could leave the cavern without supervision because the Worldeater Broodmother would have more means to defend itself.

    He knew that everything depended on the quality of the Biomass, other specific materials and Mana Crystals or other types of Energy Crystals for the creation of the Drones that the Worldeater Broodmother could create.

    Due to that, Samiel needed to find her the things that she needed as fast as possible, as the Worldeaters were most vulnerable during their early growth stages. During this stage of growth, the Worldeater Broodmother was dependent on Samiel''s protection and evolution.

    As soon as they reached the Bronze-Tier, they started showcasing more of the unique abilities of their species and were getting more and more powerful.

    And once they reached the Gold-Tier, they would typically undergo several specific evolutions, making them almost impossible to kill, not to mention that once they reached the Gold-Tier they were able topletely refine the World Core of Lower World.

    When they reached the Legendary Level, they became entirely different entities, that were nigh impossible to kill, with terrifying devouring capabilities that could be regarded as scourge of the worlds.

    "I will cast several powerful Wards around the entrance to the cavern system and seal it entirely until I return."

    Samiel''s mastery over the Ward Magic was rtively high, so he nned to make use of it and cast the protection of Ward Magic over the cavern entrance. Seeing the Worldeater Broodmother nod her huge head; Samiel then left the cavern system as he arrived at the familiar entrance.

    He cast the Intermediate Warding Magic over the cavern entrance as countless Seals appeared around the entrance to the underground. Most of them were cast within the Eldritch Speech because it was the most potentnguage.

    "That should be done... now I can go hunt..."

    Now that the safety of the Worldeater Broodmother was guaranteed, he could go hunt for the Biomass without care of the other things.

    While the Wards that he cast over the cavern entrance were only of the Intermediate Magic, he knew that to break through them; one would need to be at least peak Silver-Tier Professional.

    That was because the Wards were inscribed in the Eldritch Speech, a very powerful Magical Language that even further amplified the strength of the Wards. On top of everything, he alsoid down a few concealment and stealth Wards for the cavern entrance to be hidden from the sight of ordinary Professionals.

    "Considering the Mana Density of this Lower World, it should not be a problem to gather materials that the Worldeater Broodmother requires for her evolution."

    Hopefully, this trip would be cut short and he would find the things that he needed as soon as possible.

 Chapter 297: Hunting for the Biomass (1)

    The forest outside the cavern was dense, alive with the rich cacophony of life that seemed almost foreign to Samiel after his prolonged stay underground. The trees towered above him like ancient guardians, their leaves rustling softly in a breeze that hinted at the world''s natural beauty.

    The air was crisp, filled with the scent of pine and earth, a sharp contrast to the stagnant, dusty atmosphere of the cave where he was staying with the Worldeater Broodmother among the ancient ruins of whatever was built down there...

    Samiel took a deep breath, drawing in the fresh air and preparing himself for the hunt, he needed to find the sufficient biomass for the Worldeater Broodmother''s evolution and materials for her to make the Worker Drones and then also the Warrior Drones.

    The Worldeater Broodmother was his primary concern in this aspect, because for the future endeavors she would requirea substantial amount of biomass to continue her development.

    Once the Broodmother created enough Worker Drones and some Warrior Drones, she couldmand them to gather the biomass for her, and Samiel wouldn''t really need to go out and hunt for the biomass sources for the Broodmother.

    At the same time, the gathering capabilities of her Drones would be several times faster than his own.

    He had only a few days to find what she required. Samiel knew that any dy could impact the Broodmother''s growth, which could ultimately jeopardize their ns. The sooner she could produce the Working Drones and a few Warrior Drones, the sooner she could hunt for the biomass by herself.

    Samiel was a practitioner of the Void Magic, and while his Dimensional Storage had saved some precious items, hecked the resources he usually had at his disposal. He had a lot of things to make up for, especially right now, as he needed to gather more and more resources.

    As he was traversing through the enormous forests, he was using his newly enhanced senses with the support of the Essence of the Void Magic toamplify his senses, his eyes narrowing as he focused on detecting any signs of powerful creatures or potential sources of biomass.

    As he ventured deeper into the forest, the sunlight filtering through the canopy created an ethereal glow, casting shifting patterns on the forest floor.

    As the Principality Eldritch Angel, whose abilities allowed him to see beyond the ordinary spectrum of reality, was making him a top-notch predator within this ce.

    His Void Magic made him even more formidable altogether; as the Principality Eldritch Angel, his Void Magic was even stronger than if cast by an ordinary magic user.

    And if everything went to fuck, he still had ess to the Mythos Magic to summon the power of the Outer Gods to enhance his power to a greater degree. Still, the usage of the Mythos Magic was basically hisst resort because using the Mythos Magic, especially at theter levels, required a rather steep price to pay.

    Soon enough, he found his target that met all of the criteria that he set for the target of the hunt and the biomass requirements for the Worldeater Broodmother. He was searching for powerful Magical Beasts because only those of considerable power and strong Lifeforce met the requirements of the Broodmother.

    A formidable beast known as the Gloom Stalker.

    It was a massive, four-legged creature with chitinous armor and razor-sharp ws, just from the look, it was clear that the creature was one of the local tyrants of the forest as its entire body was made for killing.

    The Gloom Stalker that Samiel chose as his target was the peak of the Silver Tier, which made its biomass even more potent. This made the Gloom Staler more suitable for the Broodmother''s needs.

    At the same time, with the opportunities came the risks because the Gloom Stalker was an even more dangerous foe. Samiel approached the creature with strong caution, not before casting several concealment spells that he mastered so he could approach the Gloom Stalker as much as possible.

    The beast moved with an eerie grace, sniffing the air as it prowled.

    He had already formted a n in his head to strike as quickly and decisively as possible, using the Void Magic''s destructive capabilities to his advantage.

    At the same time, he also cast a series of protective Wards around himself, ensuring that he remained hidden and also obtaining some protection against the potential retaliation from the Gloom Stalker.

    The Gloom Stalker suddenly stopped, its head snapping up as if sensing something,with Samiel still remaining hidden withinyers of concealment spells, illusion spells and protective wards around his person.

    The Gloom Stalker''s senses were acute, and it seemed to be hunting for something other than prey. Samiel waited patiently until the Magical Beast''s guard was down because, soon enough, the Gloom Stalker once again let his guard down when he didn''t find any enemies.

    Samiel then instantly used the Rare Ability Rift to teleport behind the Gloom Stalker in a split of a second as he struck at the most visible weakness that the Gloom Stalker had.

    He channeled his Void Magic and conjured Void de, a 6th-level Spell of Void Magic. A sleek, dark de was forged from the essence of the Void itself. The de then sliced through the chitin of the Gloom Stalker like a hot knife through butter, and the defenses were destroyed almost instantly.

    The creature roared in pain and attempted to retaliate, but Samiel''s strike had already been decisive. Within moments, the Gloom Stalker was killed, its massive form copsing to the ground, breathing itsst breaths...

    Harvesting the biomass of the creature was rather simple and straightforward, as he just needed to store the corpse of the Gloom Stalker in his dimensional storage that was created through the Void Magic and tied to his very own soul, as all of the interspatial items were destroyed together with his physical body some time ago.

    This corpse of the Gloom Stalker weighed several tonnes, in fact, because the Gloom Stalker was enormous, more than five meters tall and its protective chitin was made from whatever... Samiel didn''t really know, but it was extremely dense and resistant.

    This corpse of the Gloom Stalker would provide the necessary biomass for the Worldeater Broodmother''s evolution and the creation of the Worker Drones.

    As he worked, Samiel remained vignt because he felt some kind of danger, though he couldn''t really describe the feeling.

    The forest was swarming with Magical Creatures and other beings, various monsters and native beings and although he had sessfully dispatched one threat, others could be lurking nearby.

    Thest thing that he wanted was to fight against some Gold-Tier Magical Creature that hje couldn''t really one-shot, because once it turned into the battle of attrition, then it would attract the attention of the other Gold-Tier Magical Creatures and perhaps even Legendaries.

    As hepleted his first task rather fast, like really fast, he decided to search a bit more... even though the Gloom Stalker was a good catch, he wanted to obtain more corpses for the biomass, so the Broodmother could create more Drones that would do the work for her.

 Chapter 298: Hunting for the Biomass (2)

    The next few days were a blur of activity, mostly consisting of hunting the creatures for their Biomass for the Broodmother, who right now needed a lot of it. And Samiel was forced to oblige its needs because the faster she got stronger, the faster he couldplete the Mission and unlock the ss Herald of Apocalypse.

    As Holy ss it was, it would bring him a tremendous amount of power the moment it was fully unsealed, perhaps even to a degree, where he would be able to skip a whole bunch of lower levels of the Tower without any problems.

    Even before his unfortunate demise, he was able to match some Gold-Tier individuals under the right circumstances, but only those who didn''t have any Mastery. Still, dealing with average Gold-Tier Professionals who didn''t master the Path Mastery shouldn''t be too much of a problem for him.

    After the racial evolution, he got much stronger, but most importantly, his durability and survivability were something that was on a totally different degreepared to his previous self, when he was still racially a human, technically speaking.

    However, it made him sometimes wonder if the humans that were already remolded by Mana, Primal Magic, or anything other would still count as human based on their DNApared to the humans that never came into contact with any kind of Energires like Magic and so on...

    Samiel hunted various creatures, ranging from lesser beasts to more formidable opponents; fortunately enough, there were a lot of Magical Beasts in these ancient forests, and a lot of them were brimming with powerful vitality and strong lifeforce, exactly the thing that he desperately needed for the Worldeater Broodmother.

    Each battle was a test of his skills and an opportunity to gather the resources required because some of the Magical Beasts were proving to be as cunning as they were strong, not to mention he was sensing that the World''s Will was putting some kind of attention on his person because more than often he was being ambushed by many and many Magical Beasts.

    He didn''t need to be a genius, even though he obviously was, in his opinion, that the World Will was sensing that he was a danger to the civilizations within this Lower World, and it was attempting to destroy him through these means.

    It was rather particr, and he was rather lucky that he wasn''t sent to the Middle World or perhaps even the High World, or else he would have already died long ago. Wills of the Lower Worlds were not really that strong and powerful, and thus, they couldn''t attack someone directly with their power.

    They could only use indirect means of influencing the flora and fauna in its domain to do the work in their stead, like the World Will of the Lower World was doing. And if Samiel had to guess, then this was most probably also the work of his Patron God.

    He knew that as long as he carried the Blessing of the Outer Court, no dammed World Will of the Lower World would dare to trouble him; they wouldn''t even notice his presence and intentions at all, as he would be technically invisible to the senses of the World Will.

    So the only logical conclusion was the fact that his Patron God did something that spooked the World Will of this Lower World to make a move on him as some form of test or training, perhaps even both of them at the same time.

    At this point, not like he cared about that because he was strong enough to withstand it, but if things got tenser, it would be even more problematic. Samiel, as the Holy Son of the Hall of Kadath, was aware that the Will of the World could make a Hero who could break the limits that were imposed on the world.

    For example, in the Lower World, the limit was Gold-Tier, and the peak Gold-Tier was the maximum that someone could reach in the Lower World. When Hero was born, the Hero could reach beyond the limit, basically ascending to the Legendary Level.

    The rest depended on how much power the Will of the World used to create the Hero.

    Heroes were dangerous.

    That was something that the Hall of Kadath had learned long ago, especially those who were born in the High World; those ones were utter monsters and wielded power like any other person around.

    Most of them also had basically guaranteed Path to the Trasncednence as long as they were not killed along the way. In fact, it was rather secret, but many of the Transcendents who were living in the High Worlds were, in fact, former Heroes who were born in that World and ascended to the Transcendence.

    And while the forest was unforgiving to the weak, Samiel''s mastery over the Void Magic and Winter Magic ensured his superiority over his enemies. His hunting trip proved that he was stronger than most of the Magical Beasts when they met his Magic head-on, as he was often reflecting on the future.

    The fact that he obtained Worldeater Broodmother was certainly fate or just a carefully arranged setting of his Patron God. Still, he, the Worldeater Broodmother, was right now his responsibility, and he would need to take care of it until it grew big enough to defend itself.

    After several days of traveling through this wilderness, there were still no traces of civilization or anything; if he had to guess, then he was confident that they were in some kind of very huge and old forest.

    Finding an exit from it won''t be easy, as even the Lower World of any rtivity was enormous, like, really, really enormous.

    During the several days that he was spending in the wilderness and collecting corpses for the Worldeater Broodmother, the faced countless Magical Beasts, dangerous flora and even some sentient nts that tried to eat him and deal with rather treacherous terrain.

    Still, his determination was as strong as before, and he was rather satisfied with the results because he had gathered a lot of Biomass for the Worldeater Broodmother.

    On the fourth day of his hunt, Samiel finally stumbled upon a hidden de, illuminated by the golden light of the setting sun. In the center of the de was arge, ancient tree with roots that seemed to pulse with a strange, otherworldly energy.

    There were also several enormous stone pirs with unknown runes carved into the stone itself, that was radiated some kind of energy that Samiel wasn''t familiar with.

    He noticed that all of the stones were ced around the enormous tree, which was far bigger than the ordinary trees in this forest, which was already an achievement on its own, considering the size of the trees in the forest as they were already huge.

    Samiel''s keen senses picked up a powerful presence emanating from the ancient tree; from one side, it was rather familiar because the same feeling of Nature was only given off by the members of the Nesser Silvermoon Lineage.

    Such innate connection to Nature was very rare, even across the endless Cosmos. As he approached the tree, he noticed that there was some sort of gem inserted in the tree, or rather, it would be better to say that it was a crystal that was growing in the tree itself.

    Or from three itself?

    He didn''t know what the crystal was, but Samiel knew that it possessed a tremendous amount of Life Force. And if he said tremendous, he really meant, because it was approximately a hundred times stronger than his own, which was frightening due to his species having an abnormallyrge amount of Life Force.

    Samiel approached cautiously, recognizing the significance of his find. Whatever this crystal was, he knew it was a very rare item that contained a tremendous amount of Life Force and would be of great use to the Worldeater Broodmother.

    As such, he needed to obtain the item at any cost and needed to act with great care because he was still paranoid about potential enemies that could be here. At the same time, his paranoia was growing stronger because he was wondering why this thing was essentially unprotected.

    Even an idiot could sense its power, and due to that, it was only logical that it would attack at least a few powerful Magical Beasts that would act as its guardians. Normally, if such things were born in the wilderness, they would be imed by powerful beasts as their pizes.

    Using his Void Magic, he created a protective barrier around himself and the Core, ensuring that no external forces could disrupt his extraction.

    As he carefully extracted the Core, Samiel couldn''t shake the feeling of being watched. The de was serene, but there was an underlying tension that he couldn''t ignore because his senses were telling him that something was not right.

    Suddenly, the tranquility of the de was shattered by a deafening roar. From the shadows emerged a colossal creature, a Guardian of the Forest. The Forest Leshik happened and shattered all the barriers that he had raised in one go.

    The creature was mighty, already a Gold-Tier Magical Beast. It was a certainly bipedal creature, standing on four legs, resembling an enormous mutated deer. Guardian of the Forest, Leshiks were dangerous beings, something that Samiel learned from the books that were sent to him by the Hall of Kadath.

    They were at the top of the list because they could be encountered anywhere in the wild, untamed forests that were brimming with the power of Nature and overwhelming Life Force, making the perfect home of the Leshik.

    Once Leshik made some forest his home, he would be Guardian of the Forest, creating something like a pseudo-domain in the Forest, which boosted the capabilities of the Leshik by a great degree and allowed the creature to use the Forest itself as its sharpest weapon and strongest shield.

    Samiel looked at the Leshik for a while before he turned away his sight when he noticed that the Third Eye of the Leshi was shining lightly. Their Third Eye was typically used to hypnotize their opponents and also granted them powerful ocr abilities when it came to sense Magic and seeing through illusions, barriers, and other things.

    There were also records that more powerful Leshiks could also use their Third Eye to see weaknesses in their enemies and their attacks.

    Which once again increased their danger level.

    Aside from that, the Leshik had scales around his arms that acted as some sort of living armor for the beast. They were durable as hell; their stamina was almost endless as long as they were in the forest, which made them very hard to kill.

    And it was better not to speak about their frightening regeneration that was above 90% of all known Magical Beasts known across the Cosmos.

    The Guardian of the Forest was a formidable opponent, and Samiel would have to use every ounce of his power to defeat the enemy. At the same time, escape was impossible, considering thecreature''s strength, which was immense, and its control over the forest elements made the fight even more challenging.

    He knew that the moment he attempted to escape, Leshik would block his routes with the trees and roots that would listen to hismand. So the only choice that reamed for him was to fight against the creature.

    Still, unbeknownst to him, he was grinning at the prospect of the prospect of fighting something as powerful as this Leshik. He was rather curious about the real extent of his power after the racial evolution that he underwent.

    Principality Eldritch Angel was the new thing, the new state to which he somehow evolved, and now, he needed to uncover the extent of its power. Not to mention, he was always a battle maniac, and he loved the feeling of blood and fire.

    Something indescribable swelled within him every single time when he was fighting to death, and the feeling was really something addictive.

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