After resting and recovering, Caizher continued on his way and decided to explore the dungeon again. However, he still didn't travel to the mountains and remained at the forest surrounding it. He still doesn't know what kind of monsters live there
As this dungeon is clearly of a higher rank, Caizher wants to increase his strength more before climbing the mountains
Caizher cut the vines on his way as he explored the forest. He made sure to move cautiously and even used his dark snakes first to be his 'scouts'
Although the snakes cannot speak, it won't be hard for them to mentally inform Caizher if they encounter any enemies
The man suddenly waved his hand to make Shaina stop and he walk even more cautiously than before. Removing the vines on his way, he saw what it looks like a small village
There are some lizardmen acting as guards while holding their tridents. Seeing the lizardmen, Caizher's face brightened. For Caizher, these lizards are his soon to be slaves
But of course, he knew how powerful they were and won't casually attack a village full of lizardmen
Instead, Caizher ordered his snakes to spread around the village. The snakes have the simple task of notifying Caizher in case some lizards will exit the village or if some will enter
Caizher rubbed his palms at thinking how powerful his force will become after he conquered this village
Soon enough, a group of ten lizardmen exited the village together. Caizher waited for them to get far from the village. This time, he was the one that made a sneak attack only by himself and Shaina
The snakes are too weak while Caizher wants to have a lot of lizardmen and don't want for the few he has to die immediately
"[Darkness Style: Dark Slash!]" Caizher used his skill and a dark sword light cut the surrounding vines while advancing towards the lizards
"[Ice Style: Ice Needles!]" Shaina isn't idle at all and also used her ability. Tens of small ice needles flew out from her palm with the intent to kill
With the surprise element, the two managed to kill one each before the lizards became aware of their presence
Caizher and Shaina came out from the trees and charged at their enemies. However, the lizards won't just let them do what they want
Some lizards made water balls while the others slashed their tridents in the air making an arc of water
Caizher gathered his mana on his palm that wasn't holding his sword. Multiple black balls were formed in front of him and he used those balls to destroy his enemies' attacks
But the lizards outnumbered him and he wasn't able to destroy all of it
"[Ice Style: Frosty Fog!]" Shaina has an easier time as it was easy to freeze the water with her abilities. A proof that sometimes, you don't necessarily need to be powerful to defeat your opponent, sometimes, you just need to have the right ability
Caizher dodged the other water attacks but some still grazed past him. But instead of bleeding, as usual, only black fog came out from his 'wounds'
Caizher coated his sword with his mana again and it glowed it a dark light. "[Darkness Style: Dark Thrust!]"
This time, even Caizher's feet were coated with mana and it increased his speed. With the new speed, he charged at one of the lizards and successfully penetrated its chest
After that, Caizher returned his body to its original state and the surroundings were plunged into darkness. Unfortunately, the darkness also blocked Shaina's sight
She might be an Ice Demon but she's only at the lowest level. The darkness made from Divine Darkness Body is not something that is easy to not be affected
The lizards also didn't know where their enemies are and tightened their hold on their weapons. Out of nowhere, multiple condensed black needles charged at the lizards' direction
The lizards have sharp senses and although they cannot see properly, they still managed to destroy some of the needles using their waters attacks
This is an outcome that Caizher doesn't like, if his enemy entered his body, as long as they attack with mana, he would be hit and take damage. However, he wants to finish the fight as soon as possible
Who knows, these lizardmen might be so intellectual that they will try to call for help
The condensed needles were numerous and the lizards have at least one wound on them and that is what Caizher wants!
"[Darkness Style: Paralysis Curse!]" On top of the lizard's wounds, a black skull tattoo appeared and their bodies started losing its strength
Caizher retracted his darkness and this time, he was in his beast form. His sharp claws scratched one of the lizards but these lizards also have great vitality and didn't instantly died
Shaina covered her sword with an icy light and used this chance to attack. She slashed her sword on one of the lizards but although they are inflicted with the paralysis curse, they can still move albeit it was harder than before
The lizard barely blocked Shaina's sword but it caused it to be out of balance. The woman naturally seized this chance and finished that particular lizard
With the curse affecting them, it became much easier to kill the lizards. However, this time, Caizher wasn't as lucky as before. Only one of the lizards left a corpse
While complaining at the low the 'drop rate' the man turned the lizardman into a dark version of itself. The lizard enemies of before turned into Caizher's loyal slaves
----
After a week, Caizher still didn't attacked the lizard village. He continued in increasing the number of his force. With his efforts, he now has sixty dark lizardmen and a hundred dark snakes
Looking at his small army, Caizher nodded his head in satisfaction. He finally had an army again after his dark goblins and wolves died
This army was also made through his own effort! He can't help but praise himself for being such a 'hard working man.' Forgetting the fact that most of the reason why he has such an army is really because he wants to fight the lizards
"Armies, assemble!" Caizher shouted and the lizardmen lined themselves. But since this a forest, they weren't able to line up that properly due to the trees, making their formation quite ugly
But Caizher doesn't care, this is his army! Some of them will die today but they would die for their master!
The snakes coiled all over the lizardmen's body and was ready to provide assistance. As the snakes are more numerous, some lizards have two snakes on them
These snakes might be weak, but they can be a huge help if they attack in the right time!
Shaina as the only 'human like' with complete sentience is standing on Caizher's side. She too can't help but feel proud of this army. Although she wasn't the one that converted the normal lizardmen to their dark versions, but she still fought a lot with her master! A lot of these lizards also died because of her
"Alright, we will attack now!" Caizher announced and the lizards sneakily surrounded the village
Too bad that they are not professionals and the lizard village still noticed them. Caizher doesn't know why but it seems like the dungeon monsters knows who are part of the dungeon and who are not
The lizards issued a loud cry as a notice that enemies came to their village
"Tsk, go! Enter a frontal combat!" Caizher ordered to his army. He wants the element of surprise to lower the casualties on his side but since they are already discovered, no point in trying to hide
"[Darkness Style: Dark Slash!]" Caizher greeted the lizard village by a dark sword light and the first blood was spilled on the ground
"AAAHHH!!" Caizher shouted like a barbarian and a 'tribal war' starts between the normal lizardmen and the dark lizardmen
More blood spilled on the ground as the two sides clashed. The atmosphere in this war affected Caizher's mind. He abandoned his high-quality sword and turned into his Titan form
He's still around three meters high but this time, more spikes were covering his body. Caizher kicked the lizard on his way and the long spikes on his foot penetrated the lizard's body
However, his huge size caused him to stand out and almost ten water base attacks flew on his direction. He tried dodging some while destroying the others but a few still landed on him
Areas devoid of darkness appeared on his body and Caizher realized that this is not a wise decision. His body condensed and become quadrupedal as he used his beast form again
But this time, there are two tails on his back. The more he trained, the more he can use his body effectively. He can now fight using his two arms and also two tails in an effective way
Before, he can just grow tentacles to surprise enemies but not really continuously use them in a fight s it required higher body control. But now, he can!
Caizher charged at the enemies and used his mana infused claw to scratch and scratch
As this is a larger scale battle, he just doesn't have one enemy and Caizher used his long tails to deflect any incoming attacks
Caizher's claw went to slash on one of the lizards but that lizard blocked it using its trident. Caizher wasn't finish though as he condensed mana in front of his mouth
The dark ball then become a straight beam of light that hit the lizard on head. The lizard loses its life and its body fell on the ground
Shaina shot frosty energies on the ground causing their enemies to lose their balance. The dark lizards won't miss this chance and pierced their enemies with their own tridents
Although Caizher's side is receiving casualties but with his and Shaina's help, the normal lizards were being overwhelmed
Just as Caizher thought that this will continue and eventually kill all the lizards with minimal casualties, one of the wooden huts was burst open
From it, a lizardman two meters in height came out. It was holding a trident as long as its body and looked at the dark lizards with angry eyes
The tall lizard slashed its trident in the air and an arc of lightning formed. The lightning slammed on the dark lizards' body and all that were hit died without fail
Although Caizher doesn't have eyes on his current form, but if he has, one can see how his eyes lit up at seeing the boss lizardman
As he wants to fight it and also to receive lesser casualties, Caizher immediately charged at that lizard. When he was close, Caizher jumped in the air and used his two sharp claws to attack
However, to his surprise, lightning covered the lizard boss' body and its speed exploded. The trident on its hand moved like a shadow and pierced Caizher's 'head'
The lighting on it burst his head open but he quickly used his tails to slam on the trident and use the force generated from it to moved away
His head started returning back to normal as his other darkness 'healed' it
There is only one word on Caizher's mind now and that is...
Powerful!
The lizard boss was too powerful! Judging by its aura, the lizard boss might be at the early stage of Tier 3 Servant. Although it was hard to determine one's power at the Servant Rank, but a rank is still a rank!
Anyone would become more powerful as their levels progressed
As soon as he recovered, Caizher opened his mouth and gathered mana in front of him. This time, the amount of mana is higher than before
The black ball of light turned into a straight beam. The lizard boss thrusts its spear that were covered by water and lightning to defend from Caizher's attack
To Caizher's surprise, the lizard boss easily blocked his attack. This hurt his pride a bit and decided to use the same attack
However, this time, instead of using normal mana as fuel, he used the dark energies inside his stomach
The color of this ball was darker than the previous ones and even the lizard boss raised its guard on it