Ethan looked down at his body with a frown. Under his cracked armor, there were three bleeding wounds and one of them was especially deep. He would rather wait for some time to heal up, but since the door had opened already, he didn’t want to risk it by delaying their entry.
Collecting the wendigo corpses into his ring, he motioned Beet to follow and passed through the door.
Leaving the stones of the labyrinth behind, he planted his foot on the soil. The same stones’ soft glow was illuminating the area around the door, but the more they walked forward, the darker it became. To make it worse, the problem with [Mana Sense] was still the same.
Ethan managed to see some green light far away but hesitated to explore it in a rush. ‘’Let’s rest a bit. Once our reserves are full, we’ll continue,’’ he said to Beet in a low voice. ‘’Send your shades to four sides, let them warn us if any enemy comes by.’’
He sat on the ground and started to cultivate right away. The mana he absorbed from the void, got refined with Void Manual and filled his own pools while healing his body rapidly. No one came to bother them, and in about two hours, he was almost at his top condition. Getting up, he gave a nod to Beet and they resumed their walk toward the light.
As they got closer, the hazy green light became more livid and separated into small ones. Only after they were a few miles away, did Ethan manage to tell that in the middle of this vast space, there was something like a village, and at its different corners, dozens of ghastly green fires were burning brightly.
Everywhere around this village was barren and dark, while the village itself was considerably large in size and filled with hundreds of one-story houses. On its roads, many people seemed to be walking with cold weapons and shields.
Ethan kept walking warily with Beet on his shoulder, and just a few hundred yards away, he realized the reason for the eerily quietness of the place. The people of the village were actually skeleton soldiers. Perhaps because of their old full plate armors, they looked more human-like than the death knights he fought in the Wish Well, but now that he had a good look, there was no doubt these were the enemies they had to kill.
Covered with his cloak and blended in darkness, he stared at the new challenge and whispered. ‘’No more bullshit of fighting a tier-5 horde like a maniac. This time, we do it professionally.’’ He turned to look at Beet with a grin. ‘’It was about time you learn the family business.’’
In the dark alley of the village, two skeletons with full body armor were walking side by side at a steady pace. When they arrived at the end of the road, a red blur appeared from the corner of the house and slashed through the skeleton’s neck. The moment its head was removed, a kick pounded to its chest, hurling it toward the other one.
When they collided, Ethan [Blink]ed behind it and swung both of his daggers horizontally, severing the arms of the skeleton. It turned to look at him and charged right away while trying to bash its head. He sidestepped and lifted his foot, tripping the creature to the ground. Without giving it any chance to stand up, he pierced his dagger to its neck bone before twisting the hilt and crushing the already shattered bones.
‘’You see, timing is everything,’’ he said, his voice echoing oddly inside of [Void Mute]’s barrier. Removing his hoodie, he turned back to the dark corner of the house. ‘’To get the right timing, you have to be patient and observant. The patient part is rather easy, you can push down the restlessness in you with time. The observant part is a bit complicated because I’m not only talking about paying attention to the details, but also putting yourself in your enemy’s shoes.’’
Beet walked out from the darkness, staring at the scattered bones as he listened.
‘’What could they see from their point of view? Are they sharp and vigilant, or are they walking in a daze? Where is the light coming from? Would they notice you from that angle? You have to calculate many things with a calm mind and act accordingly. The acting part is naturally the most important one. You must be swift and precise. Since you are the one who gave them a surprise, don’t give them any time to adapt, use that confusion as your first attack,’’ he explained and kneeled to check the armor of the skeletons, knocking on them to see if they were any good. ‘’And you can’t make too much noise since you don’t have a skill like [Void Mute]. Once you kill the enemy, leave that place right away. Even if a few skeletons hear you and come to check, it’s not a problem if you hide the bodies in your necklace and disappear from sight. Getting lost shouldn’t be a problem for you with that small body.’’
Whether it was the armor, the shield, or the sword, none of them seemed to be worth anything. They were made of the worst kind of materials. He still collected everything into his ring, but only to throw them someplace else.
‘’Come. We can’t stay in the open for too long,’’ he said and started walking in the alley. ‘’You don’t have [Mana Conceal] yet, but this place doesn’t allow [Mana Sense] anyway, it’s perfect for your training. I’ll show you everything you need to know and when you’re ready, I’ll send you to exercise alone, but remember to be quiet without me around. Don’t let your shades cause havoc. As I said, no battling against a fucking horde this time.’’
And so started the serial assassinations in the creepy village. The duo took their time to kill the skeleton army bit by bit. They chose an attic of an old house as their resting place and even temporarily decorated it with the items inside the ship.
Unfortunately, the skeletons didn’t have any mana, so there were no returns from Devi. Ethan had to meditate a lot to fill his mana pool.
He spent a full week explaining everything that might be useful for Beet. Only after that, he sent him on solo missions but still watched closely. As long as the number of skeletons didn’t pass two, Beet and his goons were able to handle it. If they were making enoıgh noise to attract others, Ethan killed the ones rushing in. Other than that, he mostly let the little terror hone himself alone.
When it came to sneaking around, Beet was a natural. His dark purple skin was hard to notice at night -and it was always night in this village- while his small body was able to hide in the most ridiculous places. He attacked at the most unexpected times and unleashed four wendigo shades from his shadow simultaneously. One of the shades was for holding the enemy down, while the others struck the fatal areas as Ethan had shown before. Beet himself was also a good fighter, but against tier-5s, his strength was a bit lacking. It wasn’t so bad, but he wasn’t able to sever the skeleton’s head in a single move like Ethan. Still, when they ganged upon a single enemy, just the shades alone were a terrifying force.
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During this time, other than hunting and giving lessons, Ethan focused on his skills. His level was increasing slowly and steadily, but there were no signs of a breakthrough in his skills so far. He tried to console himself by attributing it to the absence of [Mana Sense], but a gloomy thought always stayed at the back of his mind; The chance that his first breakthrough was a coincidence, and the second one was a product of considerable danger and luck.
He had no control over coincidences or luck, and the dangerous part wasn’t only stupid but also not a guaranteed solution. The fight with the ghouls was even more dangerous than the dryads but he didn’t get anything from it. And even if he were to get something, he wouldn’t put himself in such a situation if it was up to him. No matter the gains.
Well, that was his thoughts for now. If he were to be stuck on tier-4 for years upon years… Maybe he’d change his opinion on the subject.
On the bright side, there was still the possibility of Ani creating VR simulations in the future. If it could design an environment just like that dying pocket world where Ethan could train every night with limitless mana, that’d be a game changer.
The possibilities of a fortunate or unfortunate turn of events were affecting him mentally, but he knew that being over-worried didn’t help anything. He understood that all he had to do was keep moving forward. As long as he did his best, he’d face anything that he came across without any regrets.
Inside the dark attic, he watched the burning candle and the shadows around it with pure attention. Just like he did with his [Shadow Spikes], he tried to shape the shadows and materialize them. However the natural way of the skill was limited to his own body, anything beyond was just impossible with its current rank.
Ethan tried to understand the difference. Under his clothes, his body was covered with shadows and he was able to use them anytime. And in this dark room, he was able to produce [Shadow Spikes] from all around his body, but the starting point always had to be close to his body. Why? Isn’t this skill about shadows? What’s that got to do with my body? I should be able to control all the shadows just like that [Earth Spikes]. Oliver was able to cover a large area even when his skill was only at rank 1. What’s the difference between these skills?
Adding more issues with the spikes, like their size, durability, and launching speeds, they already became useless even against some of the tier-4 creatures. If he wasn’t able to change these aspects with an advancement, this skill with so much potential would only stay mediocre, and he’d eventually stop using it.
After an hour of pondering, he gave out a deflated sigh. ‘’Maybe its path of evolution is different from [Earth Spikes], and no one has been able to turn it into something good so far.’’ Standing up, he stretched his body and walked to the couch, sitting next to Beet. ‘’That’d also explain its dirt cheap price.’’
He took out his water bag from the ring and took a sip before settling into a more comfortable position. ‘’Though, Saruman said that [Void Mute] could be turned into an epic battle skill. If it's all up to me, then it should be possible with this skill as well. Oh, speaking of it, I’m using [Void Mute] all the time these days. I should pay more attention to it. I can sense that one with the Void Manual even without [Mana Sense].’’
Looking at Beet, who was listening to him wordlessly, he gave a dry chuckle. Man, I need a companion who can talk. I wonder what Evelyn is up to. She said that she’ll come to Meteora, but whatever she is doing right now, it’s certainly not an easy task. I hope it’s not something too stupid, and she doesn’t risk her life carelessly.
As he thought about the fate of his friend, he started creating [Shadow Spikes] with the back of his hand and observing them idly.
Probably affected by his hard-working attitude, Beet also called one of his shades and gave a command to attack the air. It was keeping its claw straight and making a stabbing motion as fast as possible before returning to its old position. This was a move recommended by Ethan since removing the heads of the skeletons was the easiest way to kill them. Though, the key was speed, because thanks to their large shields, fighting with alerted skeleton warriors was anything but easy.
The duo kept training absentmindedly in the old attic under the dim light of a candle. Once they were out of mana, they slept for a few hours and went out to hunt again. The routine continued for a few more weeks and they managed to kill hundreds of skeletons in just a month, leaving just a few dozen in the center of the town. Ethan advanced to level 42 and was even halfway through it, while Beet was almost level 39, getting closer to tier-4.
The progress with their skills was minimal, nothing noteworthy. But of course, that was the case for Ethan, since Beet still only had one skill-without counting [Blood Edge]-, all he did was to get more proficient with his shades. However, his most notable progress was in the art of assassination. Guided by Ethan at every step, the little terror became the grim village’s reaper for the past month. His killing speed was doubled what it was at the start, and his shades were now starting their attack during their short time of materialization and striking at the moment they turned solid.
The duo gazed toward what remained of their enemies from the roof of a house. As the small group paced back and forth, the shadows of the armored skeletons were flickering on the ground. All around the village, there were sizable ever-burning ghastly-green bonfires, but the ones at the center were the biggest ones.
Ethan decided that the amount of the undead was good enough for them to run amok, but there was one thing he was worried about. Why isn’t there a damn door here? We walked for hours to find this place. I hope there are no more villages like this, or we’ll have to walk everywhere in this darkness to find them.
He shook his head and hoped that killing this bunch would be enough to leave this place. Standing up, he offered a sunny smile to Beet. ‘’It’s time to get out of the dark, disciple. Remember, a man should know when to be low-key and when to be flamboyant!’’
With two [Blink]s, he appeared a hundred yards above the biggest bonfire and emptied half of the junk in his ring. All the skeleton bones and the old equipment started to fall from the sky into the fire. Ethan [Blink]ed once again and emerged a bit away from the fire which set everything that dropped from the sky ablaze, getting much bigger and illuminating the place many folds more.
He enjoyed the show for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and yelling with all his might, ‘’Come and get me, you knuckleheads! I have already demonstrated your fate for opposing us! Come, if you dare!’’
As expected, the undead didn’t give a shit about the threats or the show, for that matter, and charged at him immediately. Ethan called his daggers with an amused smile and activated [Void Wrap], vanishing from sight.