Next to the silver ship that was parked on the ground, Ethan and Beet were having their meals. Unlike his other departure to the Primordial Ream, this time he bought many different kinds of delicacies. Still, he thought he should've gotten more because the food in the free cities wasn’t only cheap but also absolutely delicious. He hoped that would be the case for Mirasata as well.
Beet ate his seafood as he peeked at the growling limbless ghoul who was crawling on the floor not much further from them.
‘’Don’t worry about it. It’s dead, anyway. Or undead? Doesn’t matter, I don’t think this is cruel,’’ Ethan said, noticing that Beet was uncomfortable with the last ghoul’s fate. ‘’I don't even think it knows what pain is. Didn’t you see how they were? They don’t have a shred of intelligence other than the desire to kill. I’m guessing most of the undead are like that but I hope you don’t get the skill to create ghouls. A skeleton army would be much better. Well, at least more pleasant to fight along sides.’’
He resumed his meal with a thoughtful look when Beet didn’t react. ‘’I mean, maybe your shades would gain sentience in the future. Although, I’m certainly not an expert and I don’t think we’ll be finding experts on this anytime soon.’’
Beet lifted his head with a curious look. It seemed that he liked the idea of his shades gaining their own intelligence.
Ethan smiled in amusement. ‘’Yeah, I’d like that too. Let’s hope the owner of this place left some research materials, unlike the bullshit cultus. Katherine said that this place was forgotten by the realm long ago. I think although she had some guesses, even she wasn’t sure who the owner of this place was. If it was a local tier-9 necromancer, I doubt there will be any in deep studies, but you never know.’’
Along with some idle but interesting chat -mostly Ethan’s ruminations-, they finished their food shortly and meditated for a few hours more to fill their reserves.
When the time came, they killed the ghoul and jumped onto their ship, heading toward the door. As they got close, Ethan noticed that the giant door was still closed without any change, but the moment they were in front of it, it started to hum and sucked some of Beet’s mana before opening slowly and loudly.
Ethan raised an eyebrow and cautiously drove the ship forward. This place really requires someone with high talent in death at every step. There was no such thing at the Inane Cultus’s inheritance site or the testing grounds of Wish Palace.
More ghouls started to enter Ethan’s domain as they continued, but none of them were showing interest to attack. Only after the same torch show, they started to get energetic and ran toward them in hysteria.
As the place illuminated with fanfare, they were able to see that the surroundings were very similar to their entrance, but the pillars were shorter, the spacious area this time was curving in a half circle, and the ground itself sloped downward.
Are we going down in a spiral? This mountain was huge. I hope it won’t be going down all the way, he thought as he checked the creatures coming. They were the same ghouls they’d killed but there were no tier-3s this time. All of them were between the early and peak of tier-4. So, their tactic stayed the same as before.
Even though they could’ve gotten more essence by fighting in close combat, it was both risky and filthy. Ethan was very pleased by killing them from the above.
Just like before, first, he killed them by stabbing through [Fabric Tear]s, then he cultivated to gain his mana faster while Beet occupied the horde. Once the numbers were around dozens, they jumped to kill them personally. Because while they weren’t Ethan’s favorite monsters, they were still good essence for Beet.
If the monsters ahead were tier-5s, he didn’t think that Beet was ready for it yet. Maybe the little terror would be able to handle one tier-5 with his shades, but to go for a chaotic group fight was too risky for him.
With a few rounds of slaughtering and cultivating, they’ve cleared this place as well. This time it took a few hours longer and they decided to have some sleep before passing the next door.
The second door also opened in the same fashion, but the moment the place illuminated, Ethan’s expression became severe. ‘’Get inside the cabin and order one of your shades to block the way. The other three could stay on the deck and hunt, but if your mana can’t handle it, call them back.’’ When Beet didn’t move, he urged gravely. ‘’Now!’’
This time, half of the ghouls were at tier-5 and all of them were flying toward the ship at a speed faster than the ship itself. That was about a hundred ghouls, and he had no idea if he could kill that many before his mana depleted.
Once Beet was out of sight, he called his daggers and waited. The moment one of them entered his domain, Devi appeared in front of it and pierced into its skull. With a flurry of movements, Ethan managed to kill five of them before they were on the deck.
The ship’s deck was already full of shades, so the ghouls were barely able to plant their feet, but in a short time, they already surrounded it from every side.
Ethan started his fight like a machine. With a solemn expression and absolute focus, he blocked the claw an inch away from his face and kicked the ghoul’s chest before opening a [Space Tear] to kill one flying above himself. He [Blink]ed to avoid an attack and cut another’s head from the neck.
They were everywhere. Even the shades were getting attacked from all sides. He tried to help them since their injuries meant Beet’s mana loss, but when he killed one another appeared instead. It was so crowded that he barely had any place to [Blink]. In order to open some space, he was using [Shadow Spikes] with [Fabric Tear]s to kill the flying ones, but he often missed since he was also fighting in close combat.
When two of them were too close to him, he opened his [Mana Aura] and slashed his daggers, removing their heads. Immediately positioning himself, he picked two from above and pierced the dagger toward them with [Fabric Tears]. In the two seconds of panic [Mana Aura] gave the enemy, he killed four of them, but he didn’t seem happy at all.
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The deck started to fill with corpses and it was spoiling his footwork. He had no time to clear the deck, and carrying this battle to the ground was even worse. Because even more ghouls were waiting for their own turn on the ground.
He dodged another claw attack but the one behind him held his arm and pulled him toward itself. Ethan bent the same arm and stabbed his dagger to its head, but its nails had already penetrated his armor and reached to his arm, making him impossible to use [Blink]. Another claw hit his ribs, and even the armor blocked it, the damage was there, both for him and his armor.
He used a [Long Jump] into the air and got rid of the ones close by, but a flying one made a dive, sending him back into the crowd with a collision. Ethan pierced the belly of the hugging ghoul and cut it until he reached its heart, before kicking it toward another ghoul.
The second he was free, he [Blink]ed next to the rhea shade that was blocking the cabin’s entrance, and started clearing the ghouls around it. Another damn claw made a swing and he ducked low before pushing the ghoul with his elbow and jumping on it to stab its head. A second ghoul also jumped after him but a [Shadow spike] arose from his back and drilled into the enemy's brain.
This whole battle was a collection of close calls and the worst was his rapidly depleting mana, despite the returns from Devi. He didn’t even kill a quarter of them but his mana was already below half. As he resumed his never-ending fight, he was also controlling the ship to not allow the ghouls to swarm them completely while making sure that he won’t crash into a column.
When finally both his health and mana were at dangerous levels, he [Blink]ed a hundred yards up. Sending his dagger into his ring, he fetched a mana potion and chugged it before doing the same for a health potion. As he was dropping back from that high, he understood how grim the situation was even more clearly. A dozen who noticed him were flying up while another five dozen were pushing each other to reach the shades. And all he had was about 1200 points of mana.
An AOE skill would be perfect, but I didn’t even see one skill that would attack a large area in the free cities. What else could I do? What the fuck did the people who build this place expected? Another necromancer that would fight with his own horde?
Just before he clashed with the ghouls, he [Blink]ed once again to the ship, ceasing his momentum altogether and appearing behind two enemies. With a step forward, he stabbed his dagger into their hearts and opened his arms forcefully, throwing them to the sides. Stepping on top of the corpses, he joined the shades which were struggling a lot.
The good thing was this kind of place was perfect for their healing ability. Thanks to the corpses lying everywhere, the death aura was thick and they were absorbing it crazily to heal themselves. Ethan hoped that would allow them to fight longer, and that Beet didn’t drink his mana potion already.
He made a sharp turn to the ship and went for the ghoul who lost its footing, piercing Devi into its eye. The others started flying once again and attacked him at once. Any biting attempt required a [Shadow Spike], and any lethal claw made him use [Blink]. After killing half of them he was already out of mana and his health was missing a quarter.
It was at that point Beet got out of the cabin and joined the fight.
‘’Get back inside!’’ he yelled. ‘’It’s too dangerous!’’
Beet didn’t even stop for a second. He cut the ghoul’s arm before reaching his shade and flew toward Ethan, his scythes glowing red.
Ethan burst out laughing. ‘’You little rebel. Very well. Let’s go wild together!’’
The one he was fighting made a grasping move toward his face, he dodged to the right and smashed his forehead to its head before penetrating Devi under its chin. He pulled his dagger back and jumped to the empty corner. Getting support from the side of the ship, he used a [Long Jump] and blocked the one going for Beet before starting to slash his daggers faster than the eye could follow. Without even killing the creature, he switched to another.
Almost like possessed by an evil spirit, Ethan brought destruction everywhere he passed with Beet following closely and finishing everything he abandoned. He didn’t care about efficiency nor about saving himself, and instead, he went full berserk.
Once he forgot about his calculations, the [Blood Rush] activated itself. Ethan was already moving at full speed, and with the help of this skill, he made a 10-step plan in just a moment. He grabbed the arm of a ghoul and threw it with a half spin before using another [Long Jump] and appearing right after the collision. Already aware of the ghoul’s position, he butchered each of them with a single move and switched to the next group.
When the last of their enemy was dead, both Ethan and Beet were in terrible condition. He was barely standing on his feet while Beet was bleeding from several places and flying unsteadily. Ethan checked his resources without hoping much.
Health: 310/1500
Mana: 28/2000
Stamina: 122/1000
We’d be dead if not for Devi. He sighed tiredly at the sounds of more ghouls growling down there. ‘’You okay, bud? Did you drink a health potion yet?’’ Seeing that Beet shook his head, Ethan smiled wryly. ‘’Go ahead then. I still need you to lure those bastards. Just give me an hour. Then we’ll float in the ship and rest, okay?’’
Beet drank his potion and called his shades back before jumping from the ship while Ethan drove the ship to the darker areas with broken pillars. He didn’t even bother to throw the corpses out and the moment he found a place, he stored the ship and [Blink]ed on top of the pillar.
Trying hard not to pass out, he forced himself to cultivate with Void Manual. When Beet returned, he had enough mana to fly the ship for a few hours. They first tossed everything out, then took a bath with Ethan’s drinking water before entering the cabin and throwing themselves onto the couch.
‘’I can’t sleep. If I fall asleep, stab me with those scythes.’’
Getting Beet’s tiny nod, Ethan smiled. Man, what a crazy fight that was. My body is regenerating but my mind is on the brink of shutting down. And even though I’m getting close, after all this, I still didn’t even get a single level.
They slowly floated in the air while checking outside from a screen. When they were getting close to the door, Ethan used his [Mana Aura] to see if there was any change and to his surprise, he wasn’t able to see behind the door. Something was blocking his mana completely. I hope that’s the treasure room. I really don’t want to fight similar battles anymore. Hell, I don't wanna see ghouls ever again.
He also noticed that even though the ground was still inclined downward, it wouldn't take much to bring them to the bottom of the mountain. And with how big these places are, they had to be outside of the mountain by now. Or we’re inside another mountain already. There were many others close to each other without any distance.
Once his mana was empty again, he meditated for more than two hours and started killing the rest of the ghouls from the ship. After two more rounds, the third stage was finally clear. This time they didn’t leave any of them alive since the door wouldn’t open without Beet getting close, and went to sleep right away. Whatever they would face, it had to wait until tomorrow.