Noah didn’t know where the others were. The only thing he could find were never-ending rooms that spawned a countless number of undead.

Yet he didn’t complain.

Right now, he was in a boring, dark room filled with skeletons. He was too lazy to count, but it was definitely more than ten. If it was before, he would have had to be careful because of the number disadvantage, but with Gluttony nearing level twenty-five, his stats had shot through the roof.

He ducked under a powerful incoming swing. The air swished from the skeleton's axe, but Noah replied in kind with a thrust of his spear to its skull. Bone fragmenting, Noah’s enemy fell to the ground with a rattling crash.

Another skeleton charged at him with its great-axe dragged along the floor. Sparks turned the room orange. The flames kindling within its eyes told Noah it wanted to kill him, but with its weapon on the ground for whatever reason, it had signed its death warrant.

Noah blinked forward instead of dodging, and thrust his spear to its head. Spear-tip making contact with bone, it split the skull. The embers in its sockets were immediately extinguished.

Gluttony flashed in front of another skeleton standing a ten or so metres behind Noah. He swiped his razor sharp black claws to the undead’s leg, but now it wasn’t just a dull mark that was left. Swiping his claws, they sliced through the bone. Not able to completely cut through, Gluttony dashed back.

However, it was enough for Noah. It took a powerful step forward, only for a crack to form in the bone in its leg. Compromised, the skeleton's leg shattered.

Noah’s tamed monster recreated the steps, and in the next few moments; Noah wiped out the rest of the undead in the room.

Finally, the moment Noah had been waiting for had arrived.

You defeated a - Level 43 Skeleton Warrior.You defeated a - Level 44 Zombie Mauler.

You defeated a - Level 41 Skeleton Warrior.

…Experience is reduced for defeating lower levelled enemies!

Gluttony has Levelled up.| Gluttony level 20 -> Gluttony level 27

| Level 25 milestone reached!

| Your tamed monster - Gluttony - is ready to evolve!

Does it want a core to swallow? Noah tilted his head as he watched Gluttony. Krall was able to devour a heart in order to alter his evolution process.

In truth, Noah had never heard about a monster doing that as they only ever relied upon their bloodline to evolve. Essentially, they were locked into a path, like a class. A goblin would evolve into a hobgoblin, then from a hobgoblin to an ogre, and so on.

Krall was an outlier in that aspect, so he wondered if Gluttony was the same.

Noah took out some of the cores from the stronger monster he had faced. Namely the corpse bride as if it gifted Gluttony some fire magic abilities, that would be awesome.

Gluttony approached it, took a sniff, then shook his head in disgust. He looked around, seeing that it was safe, Gluttony sat down, and curled up into a ball. He was now approaching Noah’s waist in height.

That’s a no then. Noah tried to think of why it may be, but the only conclusion he came to was that Gluttony believed wholly on its evolution path. Its mother… or father was very strong, so it obviously had a high tiered bloodline.

Maybe that’s why it turned its nose at the other cores. Or maybe it needed a heart, or a core from a beast, not an undead monster.

Oh, or maybe it needs the proper element. Noah’s shoulders perked up at the thought, but it was too late to try. He could already feel some sort of energy pulsating within his tamed wolf-bat hybrid.

Noah approached closer, in hopes that he wouldn’t react negatively. THankfully, Gluttony didn’t move an inch as Noah got closer. It was a sign of trust.

At first, Noah thought that it was mana, not Expansion energy. But now that he was in front of him, he could tell that it was expansion. He wondered if Krall was the same, but he just couldn’t detect it at the time because he hadn’t awakened to Shards himself.

Whatever it was, Noah was about to sit down, and wait for the good news, but something happened that shouldn’t have. Something was approaching from the door on the other side of the room.

Given the density of the doors, he was surprised he could even hear anything at all. At first Noah believed that it was going to be Declan, or Thraz. Or perhaps Victor?

Snarling, Noah prepared his spear, and shield, and stood in front of Gluttony like a mother protecting its fledgling.

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However, when the doors opened, it was clear it wasn’t Victor, nor was it any other human. It was a hulking zombie of gigantic proportions. It had a patchy head of hair, like a doll that had a hair transplant. Most of its flesh was stripped away, displaying the tough, rippling muscle underneath, and each stomp of its foot was disorderly, like it had just woken up from a deep slumber, or had drunk too much of the fun juice.

Level 56 - Wandering Zombie Ogre

Well that’s just great. Noah spat at the dungeon. Of course, who was to say that the undead would just remain in their own rooms?!

Despite the surprise of the sudden intruder. Wait, aren’t I the intruder? Noah shook his head and decided to act first.

Bolting forward, he decided to stay in front just in case the zombie decided to hurl its monstrous hammer at Gluttony.

Just as he was a couple metres from the monster, Noah activated his thrust shard, and [Power Shot]. His spear shot out like he was throwing a javelin, and with the increased power granted from [Power Shot], it slammed straight into the ogres skull.

The tip of his spectral spear disappeared, but with sparks, it failed to go any further.

Not dropping to the ground like Noah half expected, the ogre hefted its humungous hammer. With speed, it swung it through the air, tumbling in protest, it boomed, heading toward Noah’s small body.

Time slowed. Noah didn’t know whether it had a skill that would somehow travel towards Gluttony, so he decided to risk defending. He decided to trust in his added stats.

Noah activated [Beastly Aegis] and something shocking occurred. Tendrils of shadows grew from his shield. He didn’t know what to expect, but an eldritch horror definitely wasn’t one of them.

Whether it was that, it latched around the incoming hammer, then smashed right into him. Undoubtedly the impact was lessened a considerable amount, yet the force caused Noah to stumble, then crash to the floor. Tumbling, he regained his balance, and counterattacked.

Ignoring the throbbing pain in his arm, his spear flicked at the monster's eyes. Piercing one, it continued through, but a numbing sensation caused Noah’s spear to halt.

Shit, was it a stunning skill? Whatever it was, Noah bit his tongue, restoring the feeling into his limbs.

Noah decided to blink backward in a straight line from the next attack as the zombie's hammer smashed into the floor, creating a miniature creature where it struck.

Preparing himself, he waited for a wave of force to arrive, but it didn’t. It doesn’t have a long range skill. Noah noted, and with that, he could move freely.

Noah used [Shadow Blink] without reservations, his spear devastating the zombie ogres body. It had one major weakness: speed. One that Noah took full advantage of. It had powerful strength, but if it couldn’t hit a target, that strength was useless.

Blinking beyond the attack, crouching just in front of the monster's chest, he activated all his offensive skills. His spear blasted through the soft tissue in its throat, and straight up into its brain.

Unlike the other zombies that didn’t have any blood, red spurted out from the wound, covering the unsuspecting Noah entirely.

However, his heart dropped when he received no kill notification. Wrong area?! Noah quickly blinked out of range from the zombie. His mana was dwindling, and so was his trace amounts of Expansion energy.

He dodged another slam without using blink, and as soon as the hammer impacted the ground, a snarling growl emerged from behind.

Gluttony has evolved!

Wolf-bat -> Wolthorn.

Noah glanced behind his shoulder. His eyes widened.

Gluttony was now way above his waist, almost reaching the top of his chest. He was far more streamlined than his parents. Bat ears, unicorn, short black fur, piercing purple eyes, and two blades on either side of its legs.

It bolted forward. Noah was worried about him getting too close as he was well aware of the ogre’s strength. One hit, and Gluttony would become meat paste. But he didn’t have to worry.

Blending into the shadows to the point that Noah could no longer detect it, Gluttony reappeared and swiped its claws in the air five metres away from the zombie.

Noah was wondering what he was doing, but his palms itched in the next moment. It threw a purple black blade straight for the ogres chest. With a tear, it struck the already wounded chest thanks to Noah’s attacks, and raked open its chest..

Blood splashed, and a beating heart was revealed.

“Good boy!” Noah shouted as he blinked forward. His spear pierced the heart, and finally, the notification rang out within his head.

You defeated a - Level 56 Wandering Zombie Ogre.

| Extra experience gained from fighting a higher levelled monster!

You have Levelled up!

| Noah ( Phantom Lancer ) level 50 -> Noah ( Phantom Lancer ) level 51

Krall, the Scourge of the Jungle has levelled up.

| Krall level 50 -> Krall level 51

Gluttony has Levelled up.

| Gluttony level 27 -> Gluttony level 31

Noah took a moment to recover his breathing. Fighting without a mount was taxing as he had long realised. In the next few minutes, the walls started trembling.

“So that’s why the room didn’t move.” Shaking his head, he took the core from the zombie, and walked ahead into the next room.

Everything was dead. Well, re-dead since the undead now lay motionless on the floor without their heads.

At first he thought that it was the ogres doing, but there were numerous weapon wounds. Broken arrow shafts even lay scattered on the floor.

Noah had finally caught up to the others. It was a huge maze, but now he was on the right track.

“Let’s go say hello, shall we, Gluttony?” Gluttony walked over. Despite him almost being taller than Noah, his footsteps made no noise. Like a remnant of a shadow, it stopped in front of Noah.

Smiling, Noah leapt on his back. “Run.”

With the order, Gluttony blasted down the hallway at a speed that Krall could only dream of. Hair buffeted by the wind, Noah’s smile widened.