A mild breeze blew across the forest. The leaves jingled and the trunks of the heaviest trees swayed. Looking at Princess Ar'iur from the distance, the tension built heavy enough to snap a branch.
Before I could become the strongest fighter, I had to get better at my role as commander. Though I was once a boss, fights were nothing like this on earth.
As Prax folded and warped her mana, triggering her skills innate to lust fiends, Lilac butterflies invaded the area, and black bat wings sprouted from her back. A profoundly complex eldritch seal appeared behind the swarm and Prax's power was unleashed in waves.
'Why does that seal look so familiar?' I thought.
My enhanced brain pulled the memory from the depths of the mind.
"I-Impossible." I stammered in shock of a possible meaning of the seal.
The lilac butterflies swarmed the demon guards and the princess shouted, "Heretic!", as she and the guards scattered for safety.
The demons began to actively defend against Prax's butterflies. But all it took was a single touch and the guards, regardless of gender, were infected with her mana.
'Prax, maintain control.' I transmitted mentally. 'Clarissa, buff. Sahyia, press the Princess. Rema, go in for the switch when she's off-balance.'
My beauties gave their own replies as I reached out to Nyx and Dahlia.
'Master, they're strong.' Dahlia's heavy panting could be felt through the transmission.
At the same time, an unbelievable sight occurred. Near the Sakura tree, the demon guards gained a foothold, mana gushed from his body and mysterious seals obliterated Prax's lilac butterflies.
Prax threw up a glob of blood and her face paled. The demon princess suddenly vanished as Rema attacked and reappeared next to Sahyia.
The Princess's sneak attack was nearly caught, but Sahyia was hurled into a tree, buried in its trunk. Before the Princess can deliver her last blow that visibly caused space to ripple, Rema injects all of her power into Kilij Arslan and met the Princess's fist.
Bang! Power exploded and a dust cloud shrouded the area once the earth cracked.
A moment later a battered and bleeding Rema appeared from the dust with Sahyia in her arms. Whilst the Princess appeared next to her guards who were protected by the mysterious seals.
Without an order, Clarrisa healed her sisters.
Meanwhile, Gigsa, Phele, Prax, and I stepped forward to face the haughty demons who believed themselves the victor.
"Little Goblin, I thought I warned you never to cross me again." The princess spoke with hard eyes and a harsher tone.
"Haa, my little wife can use these Sakura Tears. And I just can't stand a highborn bitch that thinks the world belongs to her" I replied, earned rage from her guards.
Princess Ar'iur chuckled. "Little wife?? She has the blood of a heretic. Hand her over and I'll let you leave alive."
"No. I'm good. How about you leave with your man and I won't kill them all. But he has to stay." I gestured to the elder who created my mind inscription.
Princess Ar'iur smirked and her eyes turned blood red, void of an iris, as she flashes to my location. Her fist hit the ground and a crater formed, but I was long gone.
My beauties and I appeared again as Gigsa tittered.
"Not even she's faster than my 'Teleport'"
"Ladies, support your master," I spoke with a chilling tone as a green orb was conjured in my hand then crushed. My power increased by 5 percent. Prax, Phele, and Gigsa then used level 3 buffs for a 60 percent increase in power.
My body felt alive and unchained. Twelve flying daggers appeared under the control of my telekinesis. It was raw power and less refined than that art of Ten Thousand Monds.
"Princess Ar'iur, I bear no ill will, but this tomb and all of the treasures within must be mine." I declared, "Today I will prove to cosmos that I deserve this divine opportunity."
My power touched that of an average fighter in the early forty ranks. It wasn't enough. My mind stretched and in a moment, a damaged Superior-grade high-ranked broadsword appeared. It was the most valuable weapon ever earned during a quest. Luckily I didn't have a system storage when my body was snatch. All of my quest rewards were kept in my storage ring. This broadsword being the most valuable.
The sword spun with silver radiance before it found a home in my hand. My mana whipped like raging tides and my six elemental dragons manifested on a small scale, circling my sword.
"Sword of Damus! Sword King Sutra!" My voice rumbled and my elemental dragons roared before plunging into the blade. The blade instantly shined with an ancient script from hilt to tip.
Finally, my Uhnok Avatar appeared with a sword of his own. It was a domineering sight. A goblin with a tyrannical sword and ring of orbiting flying daggers.
A moment later, my Mind Inscription rumbled then shattered. The sigil on my brow was replaced with a small sword. My mind opened and my eyes shined with blinding light.
"Sword King Sutra: Sword Mind!" I twisted my hand my blade turned horizontal emitting swirls of sharp energy similar but not exactly like mana.
My power now touches the middle forties as my enemies looked on in stupor. The sword mind skill could never be achieved in my original body. a Tier 8 mind inscription was hard to find and even hard to acquire once it is found.
"Little princess. I will damage my foundation by activating my next skill. But to end this conflict, I do not mind. Howl of the Alpha!"
My veins bulged and my blood boils as I roared to the sky. My six beauties then fell to their knees as I used the skill to sap their power. It was a skill bought from the system to use during party quests. Since I couldn't share exp with people, I had to get some use from them. That's when I discovered 'Howl of the Alpha'.
[Host has taken 10 levels from Sahyia LVL 25]
[Host has taken 10 levels from Rema Lvl 26]
[Host has taken four Lvls from Clarrisa Lvl 6]
[Host has taken 10 levels from Prax Lvl 33]
[Host has taken 10 levels from Phele Lvl 39]
[Host has taken 10 levels from Gigsa Lvl 35]
[Howl of the Alpha can be sustained for five minutes before the Host must burn his levels]
'I know.' I growled internally as my power level barely exceed Lvl 100 by a handful of stat points.
"You had your chance!" my voice boomed like a god. My flying daggers were organized and they sped off in the blink of an eye. What followed was the cries of demons and a deluge of blood and bone. My daggers had no eyes nor feelings. They did not discriminate as they shredded my targets.
Even those who managed to defend eventually fell, leaving Princess Ar'iur and her third elder. At the same time, Dahlia and Nyx returned in ragged shape but victorious. Clarissa wanted to move and heal them, but she only have 1 level left. If I had taken all of her levels, the martial skill would have killed her. Her body was currently and weak and heavy to move.
"Demon Elder," I spoke and the omen looked up at me with weary eyes.
"You created the Tier 8 mind inscription, did you not?"
"Y-yes!" the elder replied.
"I figured as much."
Pah! Pah! Two daggers blew through the elder's knees. The old man cried out and I proceeded to take his arms. My daggers then surround the sweat-drenched princess as I pointed my sword at her.
"W-what the hell are you?" Her voice trembled.
"Just a lowly goblin with a few tricks trying to make a way for himself and you are interfering with that." I took a deep breath with only a minute of time left. "Being of noble birth, considering I just killed the Second Beast Prince and have the Ghoul Princess as a slave, you have two options."
"I will not be you slave." She firmly declared.
"I don't want that either. Although your beauty is clearly undeniable." I replied, "Option 1, you leave this tomb now and do not come back. Maybe something in the future will come that can save your sister. Option 2, since you're noble and all, I'll use this sword to kill you."
The Princess swallowed as she looked at the sakura.
[Host has ten seconds of Howl of the Alpha remaining. Do you wish to burn a level for another minute of time?]
'Yes'
[Buring level. -10 stat points, -100 mana points]
[Host has receded to level 8]
My building veins intensified and power surged causing the princess to flinch.
'This skill is completely broken. He could slaughter anyone as long as he has enough allies' the Princess thought as she looked at my weakened beauties and my drastic increase in power.
"I never got your name," she said.
"Kane Uhn. Now, what do you choose?" I asked.
"Life," she replied.
She then took a step back, looked at the corpses of her guards and the wailing elder. She hissed the sped off.
[Ten sec...]
I immediately ended the skill and I collapsed to my knees in exhaustion. Though I decided to burn a level. The skill itself ate away 100 stat points from each attribute just by activating it. It was a suicidal skill. In a matter of moments, my beauties regained their strength and bombarded me with questions.
"Enough!" I roared. "Prax, collect Sakura's Tears when they emerge. Phele, collect the heavenly treasure surrounding the tree. If you don't have space, us the storage rings from the demon guards."
As I continued to issue orders, I walked over to the crippled elder as a black tome with a blood-thirsty aura appeared.
"Tome of the Hungry Lich" I muttered. The Tome of the Hungry Lich was a reward received by killing a low-level Lich from a small village. A girl had won her clan's inheritance and discovered the tome and its power. She achieved fast growth by eating the souls of others and creating an undead force. This power was sensed by a masterless Lich. The Licht brutally killed her and stole the tome.
The downside is that soul-devouring burned 50 wisdom points. But they could be temporarily regained by raising the dead. The tome fluttered open and the first page of the book was the spell I needed.
My lips moved and mana wormed its way into the elder's mind. The dark ghastly magic slowly ate away his soul as his entire life became known to me. Once I was finished, the tome pages fluttered again.
I began to chant and the dark shadows pulled the bodies of the demon guards to the elder's body. In a single breath, the corpse melted into a pit of blood and black sulfur. My chant intensified as the souls bombarded each other and splashing into the blood pit. A moment later, a single body emerged with dead pale skin, red eyes, and long black hair that fell to his rear.
Newly born, the pale man stepped out of the pit and kneeled before me. A pitch-black slave mark appear on his neck and a tattoo ring appeared on my middle fingers next to the finger that wore Nyx's Chains of Fate seal.
[Host has gain 50 wisdom points.]
[Host raised Level 55 Dead Chief]
[Host has used Level 2 spell 'Corpse Refining']
[Host has achieved Blood and Sulfur Pit Furnace]
[Host has become a Tier 2 Necromancer]
[Name Dead Chief....]
'Dead Chief will be named, Thantos'
[Thantos has gained Sentience]
"Thantos greets master" he spoke for the first time.
I couldn't help but smile at my creation. I never thought much of necromancy, but I would use every skill available to me to conquer this tomb.
I rested for a while to recuperate as Thantos protected me. When my beauties were finished, I ordered them to stay with Prax as she waited for Sakura's Tears. The next moment, Thantos and I ventured out exploring the rest of the tomb.
After the day of trinkets and death traps. We found a big hall with a mural from beginning to end. What surprised me most was that the story began with a man holding a gun in a fox hole with many brothers in arms.