Chapter 14
...….
"That makes 17."
Lucifer glanced in a seemingly arbitrary direction, quickly noticing that his clones were also hard at work.
The only reason he bothered to kill a few humans and Spiritual Beasts himself was simply to loosen up his muscles and also understand just which direction he needed to take in his technique comprehension. If not for that, he would have just left all the hunting to his clones.
Fortunately, this recent battle gave him a clear idea of his path forward.
With this newfound clarity, he vanished from his spot.
As he headed back to his room, the system notifications flooded his vision.
BLING!
[Ding! You have killed two hunters in the 4th Stage of Qi Condensation!]
[Ding! You have obtained 1200 Clone Essence!]
[Ding! You now have over 4000 Clone Essence in your Clone Essence Bank. Would you like to spend some of it in order to summon more clones?]
"Yes, use 2000 Clone Essence to summon another 20 Clones in the Qi Condensation Rank."
Following his command, a flash of light occurred!
FWIP! FWIP!
Twenty figures with strength in the 4th Stage of Qi Condensation materialized from thin air.
These clones were stronger than the three he had sent on the hunt, and would make excellent additions to the 'Farming Force'.
For now, Lucifer only had this one squad of clones, however, he planned to create more in the future—maybe for Logistics, Marketing, Alchemy, and other tasks.
But for the moment, the Farming Force was all he needed to acquire greater strength.
SHING!
Lucifer directed one of the Clones to unleash a sword strike, allowing him to witness the transferred abilities firsthand.
Upon witnessing the clone's attack, a small smile formed within his psyche. The execution of this technique was exactly as he would have done it.
Even the subtle hand movements were an exact copycat, meaning all of these Clones possessed the same level of strength as he did!
Furthermore, the best part of it all was that these 4th Stage Qi Condensation Rank Clones cost the same as those in the 3rd Stage.
Lucifer wasn't sure how long this price bracket would last this way, but while it did, he intended to make sure that he took full advantage of it!
With that in mind, he ordered the clones to spread out in the Great Mormonga Forest, instructing them to kill anything that crossed their paths and then carve out the beast cores.
With these commands put into motion, the Clones immediately embarked on the killing spree.
However, after several hours of killing, Lucifer sensed an unusual phenomenon occurring with one of his clones.
Lucifer maintained a constant tether with his clones, allowing him to track their approximate location on a mental map and also had the ability to see what they were seeing using a system ability called 'Clone Sight'.
But about 7 seconds ago, one of those tethered connections suddenly went dark, cutting off both the map locator and Clone Sight…
'What could it be…? Some sh*thead trying to get in my way?'
Curious to understand just what had happened to the clone, Lucifer darted in the direction of the clone's last known location.
Yet, considering the high chance that the Clone might have simply died in the hands of an overwhelming foe, he decided to proceed with caution.
For now, he just wanted to assess the situation…
_____
After a few minutes of speeding through the towering trees at a speed faster than a modern supercar, Lucifer eventually perched himself atop a large overhanging branch.
Once there, he scrutinized the area where the Clone's signal had gone dark.
'The body is gone, and there are no signs of a scuffle. Could the enemy be so powerful that the Clone didn't even get the time to react?'
Entertaining the possibility that this notion had even the smallest modicum of truth to it, Lucifer activated his stealth abilities to their maximum capacity, refusing to let his guard down or be complacent.
After seeing nothing of immediate concern, he slowed the speed of his heartbeat and waited on the branch, his breath on the verge of turning completely imperceptible...
With this heightened state of stealth, several minutes passed by… but nothing happened.
Just as he was about to give it up and declare this area as a forbidden zone for the Clones, something rustled in the nearby trees.
Rustle! Rustle!
Or rather, multiple things rustled…
From his vantage point, Lucifer's apathetic gaze lifted, and he immediately understood what happened to his clone.
Drip Drip
Thick strings of saliva dripped down from the branch above the silent young man as something truly unnerving gazed down with a savage glint in its countless eyes.
'It seems like a Venomweaver has made this part of the forest its home…'
Lucifer hadn't thought of looking that high up before coming here, but after realizing what had killed his clone, his hawk-like eyes scanned the surroundings.
The first thing he saw was the spider silk. It was whitish black and somehow able to blend in with the forest canopy, all of which formed an intricately woven blanket over the woods.
At the very center of this covertly hidden web nest sat a humongous, 20-meter-long spider. Its eight extraordinarily long legs and countless eyes presented an utterly terrifying sight.
And then there was its face—one that looked as if it had come straight out of a horror story, with its wide, gaping mouth, bus-sized fangs, and countless primitively glowing eyes adding like the cherry on top.
This was a Venomweaver, a beast known to weave its webs around entire villages and gobble up their populations overnight.
Typically, this Spiritual Beast had a cultivation base within the 5th Stage of Qi Condensation, but there were a few rare cases of it reaching the 7th or even 8th Stage of Qi Condensation!
As for this one…
'It's at the 6th Stage of Qi Condensation, and somewhere in the middle of that stage to boot.'
Lucifer was nowhere near having the level of strength to take over such a monstrosity head-on, but that didn't mean he had no options to overcome this foe.
With that, he conjured more than 25 Clones, each with strength in the 4th Stage of Qi Condensation. He had them stealthily sneak around the large trees, eventually positioning them at 25 strategic locations.
With all of the pieces set on the chessboard, Lucifer threw a stone at the spot where his clone went missing, setting the scene in motion…
...…