Stepping between the monster corpses, Noah directed the beam of his omni device's flashlight across the scene of carnage, in order to examine the creatures, as his undead minions dispatched the dying and injured.

These monstrosities had backwards-bending, devil-like legs that supported their muscular forms. They attacked by slashing with the sharp claws on their four arms and snapping with their powerful, canine-like jaws. Apart from a mane of white hair, their dark, leathery skin was completely hairless.

However, this pack of monsters had been utterly annihilated, leaving the damp cavern filled with the foul stench of their blood.

For the last two days, Noah had been traversing the Hollowed Depths, following Silas' directions, and leaving a trail of decimated monsters in his wake, like the grim reaper itself.

Aside from Steve, Claws, and Harold, seven humanoid cave dwellers had survived Noah's battles within the Hollowed Depths. Now, he planned to further bolster his small band of undead minions.

Scouring through the slain four-armed monsters, Noah chose the largest and most ferocious-looking among them, raising them one by one. From the intensity of the battle against these creatures and the amount of essence required to raise them, it was clear that they were significantly more powerful compared to the cave dwellers.

The monsters' flesh and sinew evaporated into glowing green embers, as their skeletons levitated up to their feet, their empty eye sockets shimmering, awaiting Noah's commands.

Noah surveyed his new minions, ten in total. Though not as formidable as Steve or Claws, there was something particularly unsettling about their appearance. Standing roughly two meters tall, they seemed more demonic than beastly.

'I would not want to meet these guys in a dark alley...' Noah rubbed his scruffy cheek. 'Well, I guess I already met them in a dark cave, which is worse. Right, I'm rambling.'

Shaking his head, Noah directed the beam of his omni device towards the path Silas had instructed him to follow before encountering the pack of four-armed monsters. Exhaustion was beginning to set in after another day spent travelling through the Hollowed Depths, battling monsters, and expending essence to raise new minions.

Surrounded by his band of undead horrors, Noah marched on, seeking a defensible spot to camp for the night.

Raising his wrist to glance at the holographic display of his omni device, Noah's expression turned somewhat grim. The battery was at 37 percent, after continuously using the flashlight as his only source of light, and with no sunlight to recharge the device.

"Silas, you said we'll be out of the other side of the mountain range tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we should be out by early noon, give or take," the gruff voice in Noah's head responded. "Maybe sooner, if you cut back on the slaughter."

Noah sighed, ignoring the snide remark, and surveyed his surroundings. The cavern was strewn with the bones of creatures that had fallen prey to more powerful foes. Selecting a couple of bones that were likely the femurs of a long-dead monster, Noah took out his spare shirt, tore it in half, and wrapped each piece around the bones.

After mentally commanding Steve to use his ability to set the cloth ablaze, creating makeshift torches, Noah felt a pang in his heart. After all, the clothes had been a gift from Jeffrey. True, the shirt was ragged and covered in patchwork, but for someone living in the wilds, it must have been a small treasure.

'Nah, the goofy shark would understand.' Noah's lips curved into a faint, fleeting smile—a rare occurrence since his deadly encounter with the members of the Blazing Path.

Somehow, the days Noah had spent traveling through the monster-filled wastelands together with Jeffrey now almost seemed nostalgic.

Turning off his flashlight to conserve battery, Noah handed one torch to Harold, who marched beside him, and the other to one of the cave dwellers near the front of the skeletal formation, before continuing his trek through the cavern.

For quite some time, Noah marched in silence, accompanied only by the sound of water droplets trickling from the cave ceiling and the rattling bones of his minions, echoing throughout the cavern.

Noah found it quite awkward and difficult to converse with Silas. However, the gruff invader was a treasure trove of knowledge that Noah wouldn't be able to access elsewhere, so he decided to bite the bullet, so to speak, and address Silas.

"Say, you explained how... we grow in strength, but you also told me that we're unique, right? So how do other Touched become more powerful?"

It might have been due to some shared connection, since both of them inhabited the same body, or perhaps Noah was projecting his own emotions, imagining it, but he could have sworn he felt Silas stir and grumble within his head before answering.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Merely existing in this hellish world will empower you to some extent, but that's like a very slow drip-feed, happening in the background."

"The... drip-feed, what is it?" Noah asked, a bad feeling settling in.

Silas chuckled, rather ominously. "You have an idea, don't you?"

'The essence that I'm absorbing... it's normally dispersed into the atmosphere when something dies, "nourishing" everything ambiently? This world is a graveyard, feeding on itself...'

"That's for the two of us to have the dubious pleasure of knowing," Silas continued as Noah was still reeling from the revelation. "As for the Touched, their powers are a bit like a muscle. The more they train, struggle, and overcome, the more powerful they'll become."

"The same is true for monsters?"

"Yeah, although I suspect that devouring the residual essence in their prey's bodies also plays a part in their growth."

'Lovely...'

Silas did not elaborate further, and Noah was lost in thought as he continued marching on. Considering the fact that the remnants of humanity were hiding behind walled up cities from hordes of monsters, Noah never really thought this was a fairytale world. However, there was something truly rotten to the core about it, if what Silas claimed was true.

The vanguard of the undead company, led by Claws, suddenly halted, snapping Noah out of his morbid contemplations. The cavern had split into two distinct paths.

"Go left," Silas instructed.

With a nod from Noah, the skeletal procession continued its march. However, after a few more steps, Noah suddenly halted in his tracks, feeling a chill run down his spine.

'Something... is looking at me.'

Using his ability to perceive essence, Noah surveyed the cavern ahead. It wasn't long before his gaze fell upon a lone essence core, massive and shimmering with the intensity of a blinding sun.

As soon as Noah laid eyes upon the essence core, the horror to which it belonged began to stir and move, as though it knew it was being watched.

Instinctively, Noah ceased using his essence-detecting ability and took a step back, with the entire undead formation following suit. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to flee immediately.

"What the duck, Silas?!" Noah exclaimed as he and all his minions turned around, sprinting in a rather disorderly fashion. "When you sold me on the super-safe route, you forgot to mention I'd have to pass through death incarnate!"

"There are no safe bets beyond the walls," Silas grumbled. "Now, shut up and run."

Noah turned and bolted down the other diverging path, alternating between looking back to see if the powerful being was giving chase and looking ahead, to avoid running into another deathtrap.

No matter how swiftly Noah ran, it felt maddeningly slow to him, like running in a dream, believing that at any moment a nightmarish monster would emerge out of the darkness and pounce on him. Yet, it eventually became clear that whatever terror lurked in the other cavern hadn't bothered to pursue him.

'Guess I wasn't enticing enough?'

By now, Noah possessed superhuman strength, speed, and stamina. So, while he wasn't out of breath, he did require a minute to compose himself, rearrange his minions' formation, and study his surroundings.

'Great, my feet are soaking wet.'

A shallow stream meandered through the cavern, tracing a path over the uneven, rocky cave floor. Seizing the moment, Noah knelt, took a few sips, and washed his face.

"Silas, you're familiar with this place?"

"No, so stay alert."

Noah let out a heavy sigh as he began to traverse through the uncharted cavern, hopping from one protruding rock to another in the shallow stream, whenever he could.

The undead minions, however, did not seem to mind dipping their skeletal feet into the subterranean current as they advanced.

Given his recent brush with death, Noah kept his intrusive thoughts at bay this time and instead remained intently focused on his surroundings, advancing more cautiously than before. The problem was that the sound of gently flowing water was driving him crazy, and eventually, nature called.

Deciding it was time to drain the one-eyed cave dweller, Noah quickly stepped aside for some much-needed relief. It's not like his minions would be bothered by it, but Noah still needed privacy and found it difficult to do his business with company, even if said company was quite dead.

Balancing atop two rocks, Noah watered the stream, his eyes fixed on the water's surface, gleaming under the light from Harold's torch. It was then that he spotted a small, shadowy silhouette moving up the shallow river.

'Wait, is that a fish? Like a normal, pre-fall, regular fish?'

Just as Noah was about to examine the creature's essence, it leaped from the water, and no, it was not a normal, pre-fall, regular fish. It had a grotesquely oversized mouth, opened wide and bristling with jagged teeth, as it launched itself towards Noah's dangling noodle, zeroing in on it like a heat-seeking missile.

Noah gasped, his instincts kicking in faster than his mind, as he caught the fish mere inches from its intended target. In the process, he nearly lost his balance and tumbled into the water.

The little aquatic horror snapped its jaws ravenously and thrashed in Noah's grip.

'What the... why, you little...'

Noah smashed the fish against the cave wall repeatedly until it ceased moving, releasing a small amount of essence that Noah absorbed. The entire time, Silas was laughing so hard inside Noah's head that the usually cantankerous man was now wheezing, which made little sense, considering he was currently incorporeally challenged.

'Yeah, laugh it up.' Noah decided to ignore his ghostly hitchhiker, knowing there was no scenario where he wouldn't end up even more humiliated if he reacted. Instead, he sorted himself into a more presentable state and packed the little monstrous fish, deciding that vengeance would be having it for dinner tonight instead.

'What a day...'

Thankfully, the rest of the trek through the cavern was not as eventful. The monsters nesting and hunting in this area scattered away whenever Noah and his minions approached, and Noah was not in the mood to chase after them.

Along the way, Noah ordered the skeletal cave dwellers to use their bone spears to catch a few more of the bitey fish for him.

'Huh, what's this?'

Taking a diverging path that led him away from the shallow river, Noah seemed to have reached some sort of man-made structure, composed of colossal, block-like stones, ancient and worn from the ravages of time.

'Is that part of the spire emerging from the mountain range? Just how big is that tower? I'm pretty deep underground...'