Lighting the way forward with the beam of his omni device's flashlight, Noah marched through the pitch-black cavern.

'Stormbinder, huh...'

August Cassian, leader of The Vanguard, was something of a public figure in The Arc—practically a celebrity. Despite being hailed as the most powerful man in Arcturus City, with some even believing he could hold his own against Dea Zan, the War Maiden of War City, Stormbinder never gave off an air of superiority or elitism.

On the contrary, Stormbinder was not just a force of nature on the battlefield, where he used his immense power to aid the city's military in defense. He also utilized his charisma and influence to mediate and resolve political and economic crises in Arcturus City, at times playing a key role in keeping the city running smoothly.

By all accounts, it would have been reasonable for Noah to wait on the corpse-filled plateau for Stormbinder to find him and explain that Silas had failed in his attempt to take over his body. Of course, Voidstrider was also supposed to be kind and passionate about protecting the people of The Arc, and yet she beat Noah and dragged him beyond the city walls, intending to murder and dispose of him.

Despite living a simple and uneventful life, Noah wasn't an idiot. Clearly, there was something shady going on with The Vanguard, and Silas had stirred the proverbial hornet's nest.

Stormbinder wasn't taking on hordes of monsters to find Noah. No, the powerhouse was after Silas.

For Noah to have any hope of survival and returning home, he had to remain blissfully ignorant of The Vanguard's activities, 'part ways' with Silas, and then somehow convince The Vanguard that he knew nothing, wished to know nothing, and was only interested in going back home and resuming his boring and mundane existence.

On the upside, running for his life—while pondering on just how unlikely it was that he'd survive long enough to return home—thankfully kept Noah distracted from the burden of guilt he now carried.

And so, Noah marched on for several hours, following Silas' directions whenever the path split. At some point, while traversing through a massive cavern, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being stalked.

To begin with, it was suspicious that he hadn't encountered any monsters up until now.

When Noah stopped and attempted to listen for anything out of the ordinary, the only sounds he could hear were the occasional droplets of water trickling down from the cave ceiling and the rhythm of his own breathing.

Scouring through the dark cavern with his flashlight did not reveal anything either. However, Noah had another tool in his arsenal.

While concentrating on sensing essence, Noah's gaze scanned through the darkness. It wasn't long before he spotted a shimmering green orb, followed by many others, hiding in the far corners of the cavern and behind rocks, all observing him.

'This is not your lucky day...'

True, Noah and his skeletal minions were vastly outnumbered. However, Noah had learned to gauge the strength of beings by the intensity of their essence cores. Quite frankly, whatever sort of creatures these were, Noah was not impressed.

The cave-dwelling monsters were likely aware of the difference in strength between themselves and Noah's group, which probably explained why they were stalking, instead of attacking. They might be waiting for Noah to set up camp and fall asleep before launching their assault.

'I'm not waiting for them to make their move.'

While the monsters remained oblivious to the fact that they'd been spotted, Noah began preparing for battle.

Despite its imposing stature, Harold was the weakest of Noah's undead companions, so he kept the skeletal ape by his side. Steve, the stalwart warrior, advanced toward the monsters lying in wait before entering a fighting stance, his Greatsword poised to strike.

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As for the agile Claws, the undead reptile had already lunged forward at Noah's command, targeting two monsters crouched behind a large rock. The sound of flesh being torn echoed through the cavern, followed by a bone-shattering thud as Claws whipped its tail at the second monster.

The was a short moment of silence and then Noah heard the sound of some sort of guttural clicks. The strange noise repeated from different locations, reverberating throughout the cave.

'Is this how they communicate?'

Either way, it appeared as though the monsters had reached a consensus, as Noah could observe through the essence cores all of the creatures emerging out of their hideouts and charging forward.

Since Claws had already retreated, the cave monsters were now heading towards Steve, who was positioned out in the open. Despite the darkness of the cavern, Noah could still see the shimmering outline of the undead warrior's skeletal form, poised to strike, and the essence cores of the first three creatures closing in on him.

With a single powerful slash, Steve cleaved through the three approaching monsters. Noah watched as their cores evaporated into a mist-like form, drifting toward him before being absorbed.

Curious about the appearance of the monsters, Noah directed his flashlight at Steve just as the next wave of creatures reached his minion.

'What the...'

Noah was expecting to see some sort of horrific monstrosities, but these things looked... almost human.

Tall, lithe, and slender, not a single hair grew upon their pale skin. Their eyes were milky white and did not respond to the beam of light pointed directly at them, while their ears were sharp and elongated. The creatures' maws were filled with jagged, mismatched teeth, yet that was not how they attacked—they wielded primitive-looking clubs and spears fashioned from bones.

Were these humans from the other world who had sought refuge underground, adapting to the darkness and becoming feral in the process?

'Matters little now, I suppose.'

Another swing of Steve's Greatsword sent a head flying through the damp cavern air. The ancient blade then carved through another of the humanoid creatures, slicing it cleanly from shoulder to hip and splattering blood everywhere.

At the same time, Claws pounced again, slashing and biting at the monsters bringing up the rear of the charge, then retreating before they could react. The creatures that broke off from the main group to chase Claws soon fell prey to the skeletal lizard, picked off one by one.

In a display of a sort of bestial instinct, one of the monsters, taller than the others, bypassed Steve, as the undead warrior was engaged with the bulk of the assault, and lunged directly at Noah, spear in hand. Perhaps it recognized Noah as the real threat, or maybe the still relatively heavy-set man simply seemed more enticing to the monster compared to the walking skeletons.

Regardless of the reasoning behind it, the cave dweller thrusted its spear forward, only for Noah to catch it mid-drive, effortlessly stopping it in its tracks. The creature snarled, its scarred face contorting with effort as it tried to wrest the weapon free, to no avail.

As realization dawned on the creature, it was already too late. Noah swiped with his free hand, the claws of his gauntlet slicing through its stomach.

The monster gasped and released its hold on the spear, frantically trying to contain its innards as they spilled out, along with a stream of fetid blood. As its strength failed and it collapsed to its knees, Noah stepped back and took a seat on a nearby rock formation.

Harold walked towards the dying cave dweller, raising its massive fists into the air. At that moment, as the skeletal ape slammed down and caved in the creature's head, Noah understood the lingering sensation of loss that had accompanied him ever since he woke up—it was his innocence that was gone.

'Rise.'

The flesh of the slain creature began to disintegrate into green embers, until only the skeleton remained, slowly levitating up to its feet.

With a thought and a simple motion of his finger, Noah sent his new minion to join Steve in battle.

Still seated, Noah began to raise the corpses sprawled at Steve's feet, commanding them to aid the undead swordsman. The cave dwellers were clearly shaken by witnessing their own dead rising to attack them. A few, losing their nerve, broke rank and fled, only to be hunted down by Claws.

As Noah continued to raise more minions from the slain, the initial trickle of fleeing cave dwellers swelled into a full rout. However, the battle was not over.

With a mental command, Steve, Claws, and the newly risen skeletons chased down the fleeing creatures, cutting them down. A few managed to escape, diving under rocks and into burrows for refuge. This was but a temporary reprieve, as Noah used his ability to sense their essence cores.

The undead dragged the living from their hiding spots and crawled into their burrows.

Noah watched as the glowing essence cores were extinguished one by one, each transforming into an eerie mist that flowed and absorbed into him, until none remained. Just a day ago, Noah would have been far more disturbed by how human-like these creatures were compared to the other monsters he had encountered, as well as the ruthless manner in which he had acted against them.

'What good will it do to agonize over it? They tried to kill me and paid the price.'

With so many obstacles standing in his way, Noah needed to gain as much strength and power as possible. He had absorbed the essence of these creatures and turned fifteen of them into his minions. It was a good outcome. And the part of Noah's mind that was telling him that he was lashing out over the trauma of taking human lives? He buried that part deep within his consciousness.