Nathan could barely feel the murky fogs around them. His familiarity with the souls spared him a glimpse of their aura despite losing his title as the [Lord of the Souls].
There was only the massive 190 cm tall soul of the madman and the 10 meters diameter wide taking the form of a mouth.
The wandering souls of the kids were equally consumed by the mouth. The murky fog appeared to move as it dashed towards the soul of the madman.
The latter stood its ground, his massive arm prepared to hit the mouth should it approach him. Despite being reduced to nothing but soul, the madman maintained its proud and boastful attitude.
It gathered its strength towards its arm as his foot stomped to the ground.
Nathan could barely feel the strength amassing in the madman's location. He also knew that it was futile. The mouth was the nemesis of souls.
*shriekkk
*stomp
Nathan strode in between the madman and the mouth, his hand set in dazzling light as he used his SS-grade skill [Tears of the Healing God].
On how the mouth was the nemesis of the soul, the bright golden tear forming in Nathan's hand similarly deterred the movement of the mouth.
The murky fog retreated as it felt divinity emitting from the tear. Divinity was its greatest nemesis.
Nathan believed that a survivor stronger than A-grade resided in this portal. With his level, he was not confident to defeat such monster. After all, he only had [Kramel's Tentacle], [Body Enlargement], and [Tears of the Healing God] usable at the moment.
He couldnt wait to level up and increase his mana capacity.
'I might need the power of this kid to clear this portal', Nathan pondered.
*swoosh
Nathan threw the materialized tear in his palm towards the weary Alab. It hit his body and instantly restored his strength. The scratches in his body healed in speed visible to naked eye. In just a minute, Alab was fully healed as he opened his eyes.
And as Nathan thought, the murky mouth drew closer to Alab. Before he could open his eyes, the mouth permeated his body as if nothing happened.
Alab opened his eyes. The dreary area with corpses lingering in the ground, the azure moon lighting up the drenched soil, and two entities, met Alab's drowsy eyes.
"You have conquered the first power of the death, kid", Nathan uttered as he walked towards Nathan.
As Nathan said, Alab could now feel the death aura lingering in the area. He could feel about 38 souls ceasing to exist. Their leftover emotions permeated his skin like a knife as they seek for redemption.
Alab scratched his skin helplessly as pain relentlessly pierced his body.
"You should get used to it. At least only until I get my skill back", Nathan muttered as he then pointed towards the soul of the madman he had saved earlier.
"That soul, govern it", instructed Nathan as the massive soul of the madman stood still, just watching the two exchanged discussion.
*gulp
Alab nodded his head as he pulled himself upwards, standing and walking towards the soul.
The madman was rather behaved, contrary to their expectations. He just stood and let Alab touch him.
The moment Alab's hand passed through the murky soul, he felt a connection frantically began to form between them. It was too chaotic that Alab felt like retracting his hand but he also knew that if he wanted to govern this soul, he had to withstand the chaos.
Alab glanced right at the madman's murky head, seemingly looking at his eyes. Then, Alab voiced out.
"Serve me, become my aid in the upcoming battles. GOVERN"
As his words ended, the chaotic connection began to regulate as the murky fog condensed. Like it was blown, the fog flew towards the chest level of the madman. It compressed and compressed until eventually, a marble size condensed soul of the man took form.
From this marble, a red mist spread out. The mist flew higher and higher as it reached a height of 190 cm tall. It then grew broader as limbs began to materialize. The bulky arms of the madman were restored, along with his skull and packed chest.
Haze surrounded his newly formed red soul, emitting a domineering aura of a predator. As it extended its hand, mist spread out from its palm and took a form of the shield.
"ROARRRR"
The undead, [Soul Trainee] had been reborn.
"I shall call you Steven", Alab muttered.
Looking at the undead before him, Nathan couldnt help but feel something was out of the blue.
'This undead, it looks a bit different', he uttered as the undead was blazing with shade of flame.
------
"Dont rejoice too much, not until we exit this portal", Nathan disrupted the celebration of Alab whose eyes glimmered with light, scanning Steven with amazement.
"Can you please let me have my moment?", Alab scowled
He didnt know why Nathan changed drastically earlier, but, something was telling him that it was still Nathan that was inside that body. That was why Alab no longer feared him.
[Name: Steven (Soul Trainee)
Level: 5 - First Awakening
Exp: 2%
HP: 140/140
Mana: 130/130
Attributes:
Strength: 14
Endurance: 14
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 13
Stat points: 75
Talents:
Taunt (C) (Active)
- You can attract aggro by taunting the target.
Mana Cost: 10
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Stone throwing (E) (Passive)
- You can now throw stone accurately.
Unbreakable Shield (S-grade) (Active)
- You can summon a shield that will get stronger as it breaks. Create the unbreakable shield.
Mana Cost: 70
Cooldown: None ]
"WAHHHH! So cool! Steven!"
Alab rejoiced louder than ever as he saw the third skill of Steven. It was the unheard of, S-grade.
'This...', similarly, Nathan was threw off his composure as S-grade had been appearing way too frequent in this early times. This was throwing his past knowledge off the bin.
'Is S-grade really that easy to awakened?', dubious, Nathan pondered.
----
[Planet Dem's Mission:
Option 1: Kill the survivors of the destroyed Planet Dem
Option 2: Survive for 30 days]
[Number of survivors: 4/4
Number of challengers: 216/1,000]
"So many people died"
Alab lamented upon seeing the number of challengers dwindling to 216. About each minute, it dwindle, whilst the number of survivors remained at 4.
"Its a given. Earthlings are just too weak", Nathan uttered before he closed his eyes. A while later, he slept as he rested his head on the boulder behind him, sitting on the ground.
Alab doubt that he was fully asleep. It was safe to assume that he was half unconscious and any malicious intent could alert him.
It had been 24 hours since they entered the portal. They were given no time to rest as they keep chased of Arabelle. Alab glazed a last time at the azure moon before he patted the hazy back of Steven.
"Do you even need sleep?", he uttered. Steven just stared at him, a scorching fire dwelled inside his eye sockets.
"I think no, right? Then, I will sleep, keep watch, okay?", Alab muttered as he similarly leaned his head in the boulder. He sat opposite Nathan as the latter got annoyed by him sitting beside him earlier, threathening to kill him.
Looking at Nathan sleeping like a child, Alab revealed a faint smile.
"So you also have a childish side in you, huh?"
"You want to die?", Nathan muttered with eyes still closed.
Alab just smiled as he closed his eyes.
The first day of entering the portal ended that way, with a 14-year-old boy, the 23-year-old regressor, and 37 years old undead, resting behind the shoulder. Relieving themselves of ammased exhaustion the entire day.