After returning the the room where Leo's body was, Zane's nostrils were immediately hit by the pungent smell of rotten flesh.
'… Strange. Human bodies usually don't start decomposing until a day or so after death… is it already rotting?'
Zane could only imagine the reason behind this to be a biological side effect of the zombification process. Regardless, he couldn't use rotten flesh as emergency food, so with a deep breath, he lifted his arm, and lit the corpse on fire with a single ember. With tier IV [Fire Manipulation], the body would disintegrate within minutes, reduced to nothing but ash.
'… Goodbye, Leo.'
As Zane watched the corpse burn, he glanced down at the sharp marble piece inside his hand, still stained with the dried blood of Little Dan. Then, bringing it up to his mouth, he licked the smooth surface, ignoring the coppery taste and swallowing the flakes of what used to be liquid.
Immediately, a notification appeared before him, signaling that the process was successful, and Zane stuffed the marble piece back into his pocket.
[Daniel Philips (Lv. 32) — Devoured.]
[Cartography — Skill Obtained!]
[Added to Compendium!]
To double-check, Zane opened his status screen, and saw that the [Cartography I] skill was indeed listed under his list of available abilities. Now, to use it… well, he wasn't exactly sure how. This wasn't the same as [Fire Manipulation], when he had Leo to refer off of.
Deciding to just try his luck, Zane closed his eyes and attempted to chart this Dungeon just based off of the routes he'd taken himself. To his surprise, however, the image of a map gradually began to form and piece together on its own, slowly and steadily. He kept his eyes shut tight and remained undistracted, until eventually, the map was completely finished.
Zane blinked.
Now, whenever he closed his eyes, he could call upon the finished map from his subconscious, and figure out where to go next from there. This was beyond useful—it was necessary. Not only that, the map also showed his current location, so navigation was easy and straight-forward.
With this, he was ready to explore further into the Dungeon. Narrowing his eyes, he set off, following the path guided by his map.
*****
Zane's goal was the middle of the catacombs.
Usually, treasure chests and lootboxes could be found all over Dungeons, but the deepest and often most centralized part was where the ultimate rewards lay. In this case, according to the map in his head, all the various branches of the catacombs seemed to lead towards one place—the center—so it was natural to assume there would be something there worth checking out.
Not only that, he could feel a strange sensation in the back of his mind telling him to go to the center of the Dungeon. It was less of a 'thought' and more of a subconscious 'instinct', though Zane couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He didn't why that feeling was there or how it got there in the first place, but all he knew was that the directive was in his mind.
[Undead Knight (Lv. 6) — Defeated!]
[+60 EXP]
[Undead Knight (Lv. 5) — Defeated!]
[+50 EXP]
[Undead Knight (Lv. 7) — Defeated!]
[+70 EXP]
On the way, Zane slaughtered a few more basic enemies that he encountered, and even picked a suitable weapon off one of them—just a basic sword, nothing too fancy. He couldn't wield it very well just yet, but a weapon was better than no weapon.
As he went deeper, the levels of the enemies also became higher—which was only natural, for a Dungeon. Levels, however, weren't the only thing that changed—enemy types began to vary as well, meaning Zane would soon have to start fighting against monsters not as easy to deal with as possessed armor.
It didn't take long for that to happen.
Soon, Zane entered a dimly-lit corridor, reminiscent of an ancient crematorium. On either side of the hall were coffin-shaped metal gates, each connected to a furnace deeper in. Above each of the gates was a torch, bearing a blue flame. At the end of the path was a stone archway leading to the next room, but Zane hesitated.
It was quiet. Far too quiet.
In parts of the Dungeon this deep, there had to be monsters around every corner. The fact that this long and wide corridor was just completely empty like this was inconceivable. This wasn't Zane's first rodeo in a Dungeon of the catacombs archetype, so he knew exactly what was going on here.
"… Wraiths, huh?"
It was about time he faced some slightly more… challenging enemies. Slowly, his lips curved up into a devious smile, and he licked his lips in anticipation. After what Zane had seen and done, who could blame him for becoming a little sadistic?
Slowly, he strode forward, taking his first step into the corridor.
Immediately sensing movement, the shadows lurking invisibly in the air prepared their attack. Little did they know, it was a trap. Zane knew they were there from the very beginning, and had already prepared a little gift for them for when they struck.
It didn't take long for them to take the bait.
From behind Zane, a low, hoarse voice rasped out some kind of ancient language, and clawed towards his neck.
"… Hmph."
Without even turning around, he simply snapped his fingers, and a ring of fire suddenly exploded around his body. The Wraith, whose raggedy fabric clothes weren't nearly as fire-resistant as an Undead Knight's armor, immediately burst into flames, painful wails drowned out by the sound of kindling embers.
[Wraith (Lv. 10) — Defeated!]
[+100 EXP]
Now, all the rest of the Wraiths in the room were alert—but it was already too late. Zane, with a maniacal grin, expanded the ring of fire using his hand, more and more until its diameter covered the entirety of the corridor's width. Not only did it provide incredible illumination, it also served to keep any Wraiths trying to sneak up on Zane at bay.
"Who's the monster now, I wonder?"
But he wasn't done yet. Eyeing the various blue torches on either wall, Zane took control of them with his mind, and made a small gesture with his index finger. The flames shook a bit as they were forcibly torn from their wooden homes, and once they were free, began randomly flying around in the corridor in search of the hiding Wraiths.
They had nowhere to run.
Such was the power of Tier IV [Fire Manipulation]—Zane could control multiple fire sources at the same time, granting him infinite potential.
That is, with the exception of mana—and oxygen, which was running low due to all the fire in the chamber.
"Tch…"
As a low-level Hunter still, his INT stat—which governed magic power and mana capacity—was not very high. He used all 8 of the SP he gained from leveling up to Level 8 on INT already, but even so, controlling this many flames was somewhat difficult. He couldn't keep this up for long.
Thankfully, neither could the Wraiths.
[Wraith (Lv. 10) — Defeated!]
[+100 EXP]
[Wraith (Lv. 11) — Defeated!]
[+110 EXP]
[Wraith (Lv. 10) — Defeated!]
[+100 EXP]
Wraiths were not very fast, instead relying on their invisibility and stealth as their main source of strength. Zane knew this very well, which was why he chose to use this method to deal with these monsters.
After all, invisibility wasn't going to help much against a room filled with fire.
As the disintegrating screams of the Wraiths filled the corridor, Zane relished in the EXP notifications that filled his eyes. How fitting it was—a crematorium, now lit ablaze to burn the Undead souls inside.
One by one, the Wraiths fell to the ground, their clothes reduced to ash and their bony bodies charred opaque black. Very soon, the entire room was cleared, and Zane recalled all of his fire. The blue flames returned to their respective torches, and the ring of orange simply dissipated into thin air.
[Player Level Up!]
[Lv. 8 -> 9]
[+9 SP]
"Hah…"
Panting, Zane fell to one knee, wiping the sweat from his forehead and evening his breathing. His mana was all out. Once his condition stabilized a bit, he stood back up, and calmly walked over to where one of the Wraiths lay, skeleton completely burnt black.
Without even flinching, Zane tore off one of its bony fingers, and popped it into his mouth. It was crunchy—and if one ignored the taste, it could almost pass for chips—albeit decade-old expired ones.
'Now then… let's see. What kind of skill will you give me?'
Surely it won't be another stat increase. Wraiths did not count as 'basic' enemies like Undead Knights did, and instead were classified by the Hunter's Association as 'Casters', a rank above.
Sure enough, as expected, when Zane saw the notification appear before his eyes, he smiled—and it wasn't because of the refreshing health and mana regeneration that came with every new Devour.
[Wraith (Lv. 10) — Devoured.]
[Basic Invisibility — Skill Obtained!]
[Added to Compendium!]