"Lady in White? You received that title?" exclaimed Dreidus. He rushed toward the Wailing Lady and examined her.
It was rare to see Dreidus so agitated and based on Dreidus' attitude, she knew it was a good thing. However, she did not understand what was so good about that title. Her previous title was "Queen" since she ruled over the other Banshees. It gave her the authority to order the other Banshees and lowered the damage she took by 10%.
On the other hand, her new title: Lady in White, allowed her attacks to have a 10% chance of causing a [Fear] effect. Having two titles did not cancel the effect of the previous one; the two effects would be stacked but only one title would be displayed.
"Why are you so excited?" curiously asked Lyra. She was starting to feel uncomfortable when facing the stares of all the nearby monsters.
Dreidus smiled and explained. "It is probably because I used all the corpses of the women for your evolution, much more than required. Having Lady in White as a title means that your future will be brighter. Your next evolution is Dame Blanche; it should have normally been your final evolution but now that you have this title, it means that you have a chance of becoming a Bride of Death."
"I am relieved. Fortunately, your title ended up leaning toward the lighter side. I thought the barbarians would bear more resentment toward us. If they did, your title would have been Lady in Red. Your path of advancement would have been Dame Rouge and finally, Scorned Bride. I would not have left you if that happened but I prefer our current outcome."
They spoke to each other but were not comfortable doing so in public.
Lyra was not the only one to have evolved. All the other Banshee evolved into Wailing Ladies too. They were all linked together and as Lyra's bloodline underwent a change, so did theirs. They were now level 24 while Lyra was level 33.
"Cough cough. Let us proceed with the others. Because the corpses are fresh, we can use them to upgrade you guys instead. Can the Death Knights select a representative? One of you will also get the chance to go through an evolution."
Using [Dead Mind], Dreidus started coordinating the other Undead. There were 1500 bodies left, including those of the animals that perished in battle. The bodies of the women used had already disappeared.
The remaining bodies were arranged into three neat piles. Just like he did with Lyra, Dreidus was not planning on being stingy, he was going to use all the corpses on a single monster to not restrain their growth in the future.
The first to go through the process was the Mylingars. Unfortunately, they were also the ones allocated to the smallest pile of bodies. The rituals for the Mylingars required young children. A single Myling stepped forward and went through the transformation. It became a Myling Leader but unfortunately, it did not gain any additional titles.
As the number of bodies was insufficient, the Myling was unable to upgrade its bloodline, it was only able to become a Boss Monster among the Mylingars. Despite failing to upgrade their bloodline, the Mylingars were very satisfied with the outcome. They now had a Boss Monster to represent them.
It was then the Zombeasts' turn. Quite a few horses perished in the battle but as the beasts prevented the barbarians from using their mounts, the pile of corpses was also relatively small.
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The Zombeasts absorbed the energy in the corpses under Dreidus' guidance but just like for the Mylingars, only one Zombeast evolved into a Zombeast King. However, all the other Zombeasts went up one level.
Finally, it was time for the Death Knight to go through the evolution process. The selected Death Knight had a very large pile of bodies in front of him. Dreidus started chanting and just like for Lyra, it was a long and dull process.
However, this time, the monsters could see a gradual change happening in the Death Knights. Their armors became darker and their steed, more muscular. The Death Knights evolved into Dreadknights. The selected one evolved further into a Boss Monster and became a Nemesis Dreadknight.
The Dreadknights were powerful level 26 creatures. They all gained four levels after going through an evolution. As for the Nemesis Dreadknight, he was a level 30 Boss Monster. Unfortunately, he did not obtain any titles.
Seeing the changes in the Undead Monsters, Ishan whistled in amazement. "Very impressive. If only there was something like Necromancy for us. We would not have to work so had to upgrade our bloodline."
"Maybe but at least, you do not attract the hostility of the entire planet by slaughtering innocents like this," answered Dreidus.
Their job here was complete. All that was left now was to gather the loot and return to the dungeon. Although Harriet was still guarding their home with some monsters not suited for the attack, they felt uncomfortable when they were away from their dungeon.
The monsters had already collected another pile of items. There were weapons, armors, daily utilities, and food. The Shaman's tent had also been empty and a few relics were in the harpies' storage items.
Dreidus commanded the Undead who all picked up a few items to carry. There were also a small pile of corpses left which consisted of the elders. They were not suitable for any of the monsters and would be brought back to the dungeon. Similarly, Umar's body was also left untouched as it would be a waste to not convert it into a powerful lich later.
"Are you tired after all these rituals?" asked Lyra with concern.
"I'm fine. We should leave quickly."
"Are you not going to use the graveyard of those barbarians? There should be quite a few corpses buried down there. Normal tribesmen are usually burnt but important ones should be buried safely somewhere."
"We don't have time. The corpses should be buried quite deep and they are too old to be used for rituals. Their only use is to be turned into Living Corpses but it would not be worth it to stay here. We don't know if the other tribes noticed our move," answered Dreidus.
"Got it. It is better to be careful. Our rewards this time are not small."
At that moment, Ishan interrupted Dreidus' sweet time with the Wailing Lady. "I have something to show you. It has something to do with the mounts."
Intrigued, Dreidus followed the Flame Scarab Warrior. He saw the beast kings watching after the mounts of the Vicious Rhino Tribe. There were hundreds of horses all surrounded by the beasts. However, Ishan did not stop here.
"Follow me." He brought Dreidus further in a sort of stable. It was one of the rare actual buildings of the tribe. When he entered, Dreidus' eyes lit up. Unexpectedly, the Vicious Rhino Tribe had been breeding other animals to use as their mounts.
Inside the stable, Dreidus saw several level 33 Horned Rhinoceros separated in different enclosures. The beasts snorted. There were only twenty of them; the Vicious Rhino Tribe had been actively looking for ways to help them reproduce to form a squad. The Horned Rhinoceros were powerful. With their heavy body, they were unstoppable tanks once they started charging in a particular direction.
"Excellent work. Master will be pleased to absorb them in the dungeon.
...
[System prompt: Your monsters have attacked and destroyed the entity: Vicious Rhino Village. You are awarded 9999 Destruction Points.]
Five heaved a sigh of relief. From the safety of his dungeon, he had been constantly monitoring the progress of the monsters. He could not watch the battle but he could see the number of monsters he had decreasing. He lost several monsters in the battle but in the end, they emerged victorious.
"Judging from your expression, it was a success," commented Harriet.
"I cannot hide anything from you. I just received the system prompt. We just need one Destruction Point to pass the trial now."
"One point? How stingy. They could not have given it to you directly?"
"It's fine. Also, Alice and the others are still alive. None of the harpies died in the battle," said Five.
The harpy queen let out a faint smile. She was relieved. "What do we do now? Not one day has passed and you have almost completed the quest."
"We wait. We let Dreidus do his things and wait for the beasts' results. How are things going on your side? Did the Blue Eagles say anything?"
Harriet shook her head. "No movements from the other dungeon yet. But it is quite foggy today. It is possible that the dungeon sneaked out without the Blue Eagles noticing since they fly at such a high altitude. They might also have secret exits we don't know about."
"It's fine. We just need to keep an eye on them for now. Since they can plot against us, I don't see why we cannot do the same. It is very likely that just like us, they will attack the tribes hostile to the one exploring their dungeon. I asked Angela to ask the Shamans about the Swift Gazelle Tribe. Since it is the strongest tribe of the region, it should not have many enemies or at least, not many in the open."