That one last fight had been against one of the giant bears as it ambushed him from around a crumbling ruin on top of one of the rolling hills. It charged through his Undead, outright destroying both Butchers, one of the Workers, and two Blackguards.

Alaster’s Undead quickly surrounded the Beast. They spread out, diverting the Bear’s attention, allowing the Minotaurs to swing their glaives into the backs of its legs. The armored plates of the Bear didn’t cover the joints, and previous fights had proven that none of the Undead’s weapons could get through them.

Even Alaster struggled to break the armor of the Bear. However, the joints were always a good target. Any armor there would be much weaker. And with the glaives, designed for powerful swings, the Minotaurs were able to cut into the fragile muscles, if only barely.

With its rear legs weakened, it was much slower to move, though no less powerful. Two of the Blackguards were swept aside, their armored frames sent flying.

An arrow from the Longbowman pierced an unarmored spot. It was shallow, nearly falling out. Alaster’s eyes widened. That was a very impressive shot from the low leveled Skeleton. The next twelve shots reminded Alaster that he still had a long way to go as they all hit the armor of the Bear or missed completely.

Alaster continued to launch [Necrotic Bolts] while healing and resummoning his Undead. His bolts cracked the armor but did little else. But it did not go unnoticed.

The Bear faced Alaster, roaring so loud the dirt below it moved. Even with its rear legs weakened, it charged forward, knocking aside two Minotaurs who stepped in front. Alaster didn’t shy away from the challenge.

Alaster drew his sword and charged. But he was not foolish. He might weigh more than the Minotaurs with his large stature and metal armor, but he would still be trampled if he met the massive Bear head-on. So, he didn’t try.

Just before they clashed, Alaster dropped into a slide, the ash aiding his slide between the Bear’s legs. Its powerful swipe soaring over his head and crashing into the last Worker Undead. Alaster drove the point of his sword into the knee joint of the Bear’s front right leg.

It roared, both out of agony, and rage, as its leg gave out underneath it, sending it to the ground. Alaster stood up behind the Bear, the ash clinging to his armor. His Undead pounced on the Bear, driving their spears between the armor plates and cracks.

It roared again, this time much weaker, but it had not given up.

Alaster ran around it, intent on casting full powered [Necrotic Bolt] into its eyes several times. He dived under clawed backhand. He had intended it to turn into a roll and continue, but he was not experienced enough to do so. Crawling back to his feet, he finally reached the head.

Alaster raised his hand towards its large eyes.

In one last act of defiance, it pushed as hard as it could and lunged at Alaster. Its large claws digging deeply into the black earth as blood surged out of its wounds.

Alaster jumped back but it was not enough as the massive fangs widened even further, consuming all that he could see. He raised his sword, deflecting the teeth and using them to propel himself away.

The Bear landed heavily, sending up a cloud of ash. A puff of air expelled through its mouth blowing through the ash, its last.

Alaster bent down, hands on his knees, but still standing, breathing heavily. His Undead stood still, ever watchful of new threats, as if they hadn’t just killed a Monster so drastically stronger than them.

He walked over to a large nearby rock and sat down, trying to calm his heart. As he did so, he looked at his sword that had saved his life in the end.

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Deep cracks ran down the length of the blade, including several chips in the blade. It was ruined. His first sword. The sword he had paid for with the coin provided by the Siphas Family and had served him faithfully since, broken.

Alaster put it in his Ring while he withdrew some bone, forming it into a halberd. He had previously made a halberd before, in the Hollow Tunnels Dungeon, but it had proven ineffective against the Ogre, at least compared to the pure penetrative power of the Blackguard spears, or the corrosive power of [Necrotic Bolt]. It had been too fragile.

Now, Alaster was capable of manipulating the bone to a much higher degree. The bone was pure black, nearly shiny along the blades. However, it was a heavy instrument, which was the purpose of a standard halberd made from wood and metal.

A halberd was a powerful weapon meant for slow but devastating swings or quick lunges with the spear tip. It could also be propped up against a charge, but the spear would still be better suited for that. Against the beasts of the Dungeon, Alaster believed the halberd would be best suited for him.

When he finished molding the halberd, Alaster grabbed it and used it to help himself up with a groan. The battles of the Dungeon had taken a toll. And while he had not been personally wounded, his armor had received countless dents and scratches. Mostly from the Wolves as their twin tails allowed them to strike in otherwise awkward positions.

While none of the blows had managed to pierce the armor, the blunt forces had bruised his body. They had since healed, but that did not stop it from being sore. A few of the Wolves had even managed to strike at his armored head, where the bone helmet was weaker than the metal armor [Death Pact] provided.

Alaster walked over to one of the nearby ruins, a long since burned down house, leaving only the short stone walls and foundations remaining. One of the short walls had been blown outwards, like something had been thrown out.

The short walls of stone were used to add structure and strength to the building, typically only two feet tall, where wood would be used to construct the remaining height.

Alaster sat down and leaned against the wall, uncaring for the ash which already coated him. He propped his new weapon against the wall as he began to rebuild his Undead. A lengthy process, even with the Blueprint Evolution.

Watching the Skeletons rebuild around him, Alaster pulled out some previously roasted meat and began to eat, blowing on it to cool it down. After all, the Ring preserved everything exactly as it went in, at least while the Ring was bound to someone, once it lost that connection, everything inside would begin to decay, just at a much slower rate.

Leaving his Second Mind to rebuild his army, Alaster looked over his Status once again. Not much had changed, though all his Summoned Undead had leveled up once or twice. Though none had an evolution available.

Alaster leaned back as his newly summoned Butchers began their work on Bear’s corpse. It was slow going as they had to work around the armor.

Eventually, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, falling asleep in moments.

When he awoke, everything was just as it was before. Ash covered ruins, blood red sky, black earth, and all his Undead standing guard. Next to him, was a large stack of meat next to an equally large rolled up hide. His Butchers had been busy. Alaster stood up, rubbing the back of his neck.

‘Not the best way to sleep.’

The young man stretched his body before storing all the meat and fur in the Ring. The fur itself could cover a bed large enough to fit four people at least.

‘Day three huh? Only three hours have passed in the Real World. Wonder what Aila is doing.’

However, instead of dwelling on it, he got on his Skeletal Stallion and began the hunt once more. He needed to be strong enough to fight the Devils, and for that, his Undead needed to be stronger and more numerous. Not just that, but he needed to strengthen himself as well.

As his Undead marched forward, Alaster pondered just how to become more powerful. Of course, the easiest and more straightforward way was to simply level up. But Levels were becoming increasingly difficult to achieve. And he knew from Richter and Aila that Levels were also the most fragile type of power. True power lay in the Abilities of a person, and how skilled they were in using them.

Of course, he could simply improve his current Abilities, but they were quite simple. Most of his Abilities affected his Undead. Only a few were his own Power.

With several of his Bonuses, it seemed like he should be more of a Warrior Mage Hybrid. Yet currently, he only had one Ability that wasn’t a Bonus that could be used in melee. And [Death Touch] was still very weak. Sure, it could help heal him, but it was only five Health and Mana per second. He didn’t imagine that he would be able to keep ahold of someone for very long during a fight.

His mind inevitably turned to the Monsters of the Dungeon. They were the strongest he had ever faced. Yet, he still hadn’t fought the true force of the Dungeons, the Devils.

The Bear’s armor was strong, but besides that, it was only the Bear’s size and strength that made it a threat. The Wolves were objectively a much stronger threat. Their tails were powerful weapons, allowing them to attack multiple targets or the same target multiple times from different angles.

‘Could I use Necrotic Mana emulate the tails?’

Alaster chuckled, ‘What a fascinating idea!’