I rushed down the palace stairs whilst taking down another four men dressed in black, who were guarding it, with my spear. Their levels varied, but none of them was above 20 or caused me any trouble.
However, as I got further down, I was greeted by new enemies: Undead Lord's Soldiers and Undead Lord's Knights. The soldiers were level 30, whilst the knights were 40.
The Spiders with me were beginning to have problems with all these high-level undead, and a couple of spiders had fallen. I collected their corpses, planning to bury them or sell them. I wasn't sure what I should do, so I planned to ask Kumo after this.
I quickly placed a warp point and teleported back to the forest, where Kumo gathered a small spider army. There were many different types to name, but one stood out, called the Spider dozer.
It was three metres tall, and its front two legs were covered with two large armoured shields with many spikes. Even though it was slightly larger than Kumo, it was only level 76.
It took me four trips to transport them all into the palace, and then I released them to kill all the undead. The number of undead soldiers and knights were increased up to a hundred. I assume that these were created by the undead lord chilling inside the vault, fighting against two level 60 Vault security golems.
Accompanying me was Kumo, and the Spider Dozer, who was charged into large groups of undead at extreme speeds and completely crushing them. It was able to make us a path straight towards the vault door.
As we were just able to reach the door, a golem crashed through the wall and nearly crushed me. Thankfully, I used [Blink] to get out of the way, and the Spider Dozer destroyed it with its shield spike.
It created a large gap enough for Kumo and Spider Dozer to fit through it. The rotten smell was getting stronger, and I just wanted to get this all over with as soon as possible. It was nearly time for lunch, and I had promised Celia to bring some good food for her.
The Undead lord's body was a greyish colour and looked like a dried-up corpse. It was wearing something similar to what an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh wore called a Nemes, and it was also cloaked in this black shadow.
The black shadow seemed to be an extension of its main body that could change its shape and size. The Undead lord was in the middle of crushing the other golem with its gigantic shadow hands when it noticed my arrival.
"You, Human! Why do you shine so brightly!?" The Undead Lord's strange and sudden question piqued my curiosity.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"Ahahaha! Don't act ignorant; all that light emanating from you must mean you are a hero," As he continued to speak, the black shadow around him was getting bigger and darker. "I remember fighting one of you before, but her light was not as bright as yours."
"Seriously, I have no idea what light you are talking about, but how did that fight go?" I asked whilst I prepared myself.
"She sealed me before I could finish charging up my attack, but you fell for it! Our little chat has given me enough time to charge up my attack! " The black shadow armour began to condense into a giant ball of void at the centre of his chest. "Prepare to die! Death Aura Missil-Uraghh!"
Before he could finish his generic evil villain line, I used [Spear Throw] and launched my spear towards whatever spell the Undead Lord was concocting.
At most, I had hoped for was to disrupt his attack. However, the Mithril Spears completely sliced the dark orb into two halves, which wholly dissipated into the air.
"WHAT? HOW!?" The Undead Lord roared, "That spear must be a holy artefact!"
I stayed quiet instead of answering him. I had no idea what was a holy weapon, and this spear was not a holy weapon as I created it myself. Even using [Appraisal] shows that it is just a Mithril Spear.
"To have me fight the hero when I haven't even reached full strength, these people who released me must be idiots. I need a distraction. Awaken my undead champion and destroy my enemies!"
Appearing from a magic circle was a giant heavy knight. It was armed with a great sword and shield; both had parts broken or missing.
Its level was only 60 despite its quite heavy and monstrous appearance. If someone told me this was the Undead Lord, I would believe them. The actual Undead Lord looks like a mummified corpse in the end.
"You two, deal with his champion, and I'll take care of his boss."
While the Spiders and the Undead Champion had their fight, I repeatedly used [Blink] to follow the Undead Lord trying to escape.
I teleported a couple of metres before him, and I used a medium [Energy Ball]. Again, the explosion surprised me, and I used [Blink] to dodge the blast. The Undead Lord, who was caught off guard, was launched to the back of the vault.
The explosion also caused some items in the vault to fall over, and behind some large chests and paintings, I spotted three unconscious people.
Judging by the extravagant clothes, I could tell that two of them was the King and queen, whilst the other was just another of those men in dress in black. However, I noticed a disturbing looking book with a cover that was just human skin sewn together in his hands. Just looking at it made me shudder.
"That must be a high-level spell; just what type of hero are you!"
But I didn't answer; instead, I noticed that Kumo and the Spider Dozer had finished with the Undead Champion and joined me by my side.
"Kumo, tie him up," I ordered, and Kumo dashed off using her eight powerful legs.
Kumo launched her webs, but the Undead Lord dodge them with ease. Using his mysterious aura power, he's able to push himself out of the way of Kumo's thread.
"It seems she could do with some help. Spider Dozer help her out. " I said before I ran towards the King and Queen.
Both of them were still unconscious, but it was not safe for them to be resting here. At this point, I knew that the spiders could read my mind or at least can hear my instructions even from afar.
I called out to the nearest ones, and they came within seconds. I had them create two sturdy stretchers for the King and Queen whilst the man who probably started this mess was wrapped in webs like a gas station sandwich.
Then the spiders carried the three out of the vault, and I also told them to bring the royals straight to the Duke. I trusted the Duke enough to know that he was not the type of person to betray his country or King.
I then turned my focus onto the chase that was still ensuing. It seems that the Spider Dozer is trying to make the Undead lord move into Kumo's many web traps.
If my assumptions were correct, the Death Aura Missile move that the Undead lord was trying to fire required quiet time to charge up and activate or else he would fire it by now.
"You annoying spiders, I should just trample you!"
The Undead lord suddenly launches himself high up, and his black aura begins to increase in size by his feet.
But before he could finish, I threw my spear once again, taking advantage of the moment, and it impaled him to the ceiling.
"I will not be sealed again by someone like you!"
"Who told you that I was going to seal you? Some nutjob is just going to release you again. Kumo, give him some of your most toxic poison, and then rip him apart; I doubt he'd taste nice, so don't eat him."
Kumo does as I say and climbs up to the ceiling. Using her fangs, she injects the Undead lord with poison and begins to rip him apart.
<<
"Perfect"
"Stop! You can't kill me!"
"Why not?" I asked, whilst Kumo stopped as she was about to rip his head off to talk. His arms and legs were already ripped off and decaying at extreme speed.
"I am the lord of death! Nobody can stop me unless they seal me!"
"Well, let's test to see if that title of yours is true." I gave the nod to begin the head removal.
"HAHA, what did I tell you! Even with my head removed, I am still alive." says the helpless head.
"Kumo, drop it down here," I ordered, and the head began to fall from the high ceiling of the vault.
It made a disturbing thud sound when it landed, but I didn't care much and continued.
I opened up [Exchange] and saw that I gained two thousand worth of Skill points from today's kills. I then purchased a Spirytus Vodka, which has 96% alcohol, the strongest I have ever seen, and a lighter.
I also realised that many of the things I bought before cost quite a lot, and that was because they were the highest grade items. Essentially if I wanted to buy bulk, I needed to sacrifice quality. Of course, if I had many Skill Points, it wouldn't matter.
Moving on, I was given two bottles of alcohol, so I doused the head with enough and set the entire head on fire.
"Wait, stop. I'm sorry! It burns! Please stop!"
The fire was so large that I had to purchase a pack of thirty fire extinguishers for the price of five Skill points. Why thirty, I don't know? Ask the skill.
After the bonfire had finished, all that was left was a pile of ashes, and the book that had human skin cover then turned to dust.
<<
I opened up my status to see what had happened.
[Name] Masato
[Age] 17
[Level] 99
[Current XP] 4500/4500
[Health Points] 2900/2900
[Mana Points] 2500/2500
[Attack] 1300 (+1200 Magical)
[Defence] 2250
There is a possibility that humans could not level up any more than 99, which was a bit disappointing, not going to lie.
<<
"Huh, another surprise?"
I turned to look at Kumo, who had completely stopped moving and laid on the ground. There was no sign of movement until Kumo's whole body began to open at the top.
I don't know much about spiders, but I do know that they did moult to grow and replace their current exoskeleton. Wait, is Kumo going to get bigger!?
It was my first time seeing a spider moult, and it was Demon Spider Queen, possibly the strongest spider out there.
But what I did not expect was a beautiful dark-haired woman to emerge.