Leaving behind the rotting, mutilated remnants of the level 0 zombies that were exorcised at his hands, Val resumed his trek through the outskirts of the EverNight Forest, edging closer to the notorious ShadowFall village.
As he advanced, the shadows within the forest seemed to thicken, an all-consuming darkness swallowing the path before him.
The EverNight Forest had earned its name for a reason. The towering trees growing in this forest formed a living barrier between the earth and the sky, blocking out the sun's rays during the day and the moons' silvery and bloody glows at night.
Under their eternal shade, the forest seemed to be forever bathed in twilight's mysterious glow. At some part of the forest's outskirts, there were gaps in the canopies of the trees, allowing a pitiful amount of the light of the moons to seep in at this time of the night, But the part Val was currently treading offered no such luxury.
He was in the harshest corner of the Evernight forest's outskirts, a zone known infamously as the Devil's Throat. The terrain here was uneven, rough, rugged, and entirely enveloped in an abyssal darkness so profound that even discerning one's hand before their face was an impossibility.
In such an overwhelming darkness, most would succumb to suffocating terror. In blinding darkness, panicking was a man's natural reaction, and the ensuing fear of the unknown would inevitably precipitate irrational errors, often leading to a premature demise.
Val, though, was far from being a typical man.
Although immersed within the inky depths of the Devil's Throat, he remained unperturbed. His heartbeat kept its steady rhythm, his demeanor calm and composed. It was
Actually, he was able to see clearly even in this environment!
His uncanny ability to see in such absolute darkness was a result of the trait that he had acquired by becoming a Blood Devil.
It was called Nocturnal Vision. It allowed him to see clearly in the dark.
It was a trait that proved invaluable in his present surroundings, but even without this advantage, Val would not have hesitated in venturing into the Devil's Throat.
After all, in his past life, Val was no stranger to the darkness!
In his previous life, he had spent most of the first ten years of his life submerged in darkness. During that time, he had learned to breathe it, to embrace it, to become one with it. As a result, he ended up developing a special technique that allowed him to picture what was around him by relying solely on the echoes of his surroundings.
With this technique, he had, on several occasions in his previous life, pinpointed his adversaries, discerned their numbers, and struck them down, all within a landscape devoid of light.
Such was the dread-inspiring prowess of Val, the Unfeeling!
This world was yet to witness it!
The Devil's Throat was infamous among the denizens of Eldrich for its high concentration of dangerous beasts and, in particular, an abundant population of zombies as it was close to the ShadowFall Village.
And true to its reputation, the further Val traversed into this region, the more level 0 zombies he encountered.
However, to him, these pathetic creatures posed no real threat.
They were but fodder, stepping stones in his path to level up.
*Whoosh!*
His sword danced in his hand, whistling as it sliced through the air as well as rotting flesh with ease, severing zombie limbs and causing them to charge at him.
This only made things worse for them.
With a quick sidestep, he dodged their charge and quickly cut off their heads, then stabbed their skulls over and over until they stopped moving.
It was clear that he was taking full advantage of their simple attack methods to the best of his knowledge!
[Ding! You've defeated five level 0 servants of the Corpse Devil. As a result, you have gained +5 EXP.]
After he reached level 2, the EXP yielded from level 0 zombies diminished from 2.5 to only one point. It was not hard to guess that the higher his level, the lower the EXP he would receive from those creatures who were lower level than him.
This meant that these level 0 zombies might become redundant in providing him with significant EXP as he continue to level up. Maybe when he reach level 5, the value of defeating level 0 zombies would entirely diminish
But for now, it was still good to farm them as they provided him with a good amount of EXP.
'At the rate I am earning EXP, it won't take much time before I level up once again,' Val thought.
To reach level 3, he required 30 EXP. With the accumulation of 5 EXP from his recent victories, he was approximately 25 EXP away from this goal.
Gah! Gah! Gah!
He just killed five but five more appeared.
He charged towards them like a bull!
*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!*
The swings of his blade were like an execution, a declaration of death, ensuring the annihilation of each and every level 0 zombie in his path.
At this moment in time, he seemed like a reaper that had come to pass judgment on these unholy abominations!
[Ding! You've defeated five level 0 servants of the Corpse Devil. As a result, you have gained +5 EXP.]
'20 more EXP left to go,' Val thought.