"Call me the Demon King."
The majestic voice echoed through the pitch-black mine, like scorching wind brushing across faces devoid of any blood.
Chris fell to her knees with a thud, pupils filled with trembling fear, no longer the effortless demeanor she had before.
Having been an adventurer for so many years, it was her first encounter with the legendary Demon King.
In order to survive, she abandoned her dignity and pressed her forehead firmly to the ground.
"De-Demon Lord... I am a fool who didn't recognize you, I beg you to spare me, just treat me like a fart and let me go..."
She didn't know what this creature had done, perhaps some form of Undead Magic unknown to her.
In any case, she felt completely powerless, to the point where she couldn't even stand steadily.
Tears, snot, saliva... uncontrollably spilling out.
And that wasn't all.
Following her colleague known as Grey Dog, she also, unsurprisingly, wet herself.
It seemed to be a side effect of "Soul Drain," with too much life force drawn out, one couldn't hold on.
Furthermore, her faith points stopped increasing.
"It seems there is a limit to the amount a single person can contribute... Perhaps it's also related to the level of the soul."
Thinking this, Luo Yan's gaze moved past the group led by Silver Scythe.
The line he had opened with seemed less for the small fry in front of him and more for enhancing the player's immersion.
Just a moment ago, when he fetched the Crystal Ball, the number of online players in "Cataclysm OL" surged upwards.
Finding they could see again in the game, those fools rushed back from the official website.
'Fuck fuck fuck!'
'What's happening?!'
'Is the server opening?!'
'Let me out! Let me out now!' (screaming)
Their noisy clamor was somewhat reminiscent of homeless Undead.
Luo Yan glanced at the adventurer groveling on the ground and turned his gaze to the skeleton soldiers in the distance.
These were creatures summoned from the core of the Demon King Territory, precisely one hundred in number!
Currently, they stood idly, awaiting his command.
As the most basic summoned creatures in Undead Magic, the initial stats of skeleton soldiers were even lower than those of imperial farmers, at 2/3/1/0/0.
Lacking intelligence, they could only follow simple orders, so they were usually used as cannon fodder to attract firepower on battlefields.
However, per the Cataclysm system's rules, he could imbue these skeletons with a player's soul mirror image through a sacrificial ritual.
Consequently, these skeletons would have growth attributes similar to those of naturally born Undead—they could level up and execute more complex, specific commands.
What if they don't listen?
Luo Yan didn't have a better solution.
He was also new to being a Demon King and running "Cataclysm OL."
He'd just have to take things one step at a time.
"...Hopefully, you'll prove useful."
As he spoke, he opened his luggage, took out the Demon Crystal chalk needed for drawing magic circles, drew a standard circle on the ground, filled in the inner lines, and then placed the Crystal Ball on top of it.
A faint green light glimmered, adding a ghastly touch to the ambiance of the entire space.
Chris's eyes widened in terror, wanting to know what was happening, yet she didn't dare to ask.
At that moment, Luo Yan clapped his hands and stepped back from the shimmering green magic circle.
"Come forth—"
"My minions."
Hiss—
Sparks danced around the magic circle, suddenly bursting into fireworks that scattered high above!
Tiny firefly-like sparks flew towards each of the skeleton soldiers and hit their skulls precisely.
Struck by the green light, the skeletons jerked violently as if electrocuted, their joints creaking and clattering.
Observing the pickaxe by his neck, Grey Dog, lying on the ground, felt his heart leap into his throat, terrified that these deranged Undead would give him a similar treatment.
Fortunately, the abnormal state didn't last long, and the skeleton soldiers quickly returned to normal.
But—
That so-called normalcy only lasted a few brief seconds.
In just a moment, all the skeletons in the mine began to boil, emitting a series of cringe-inducing sounds.
"Oh oh oh oh!"
"Dog planner, awesome!!!"
"I can move! I can move!"
"Fuck! Why am I a skeleton?!"
"Where's the Enchanting Demon?! I don't want a skeleton! I want an Enchanting Demon!" (scream breaking)
"Negative review! Why isn't there a little brother!"
"Pants... wait, where are my pants?! Damn! How can I strip without pants?!"
"Wuwuwu... it's actually real! Fully immersive virtual reality MMO... I can't believe I'm actually playing it in my lifetime!"
The skeleton soldiers, as if bewitched, creaked noisily while hopping around the mine, dancing and gesticulating.
Luo Yan could obviously understand what these players were yelling, and he had anticipated their excitable reaction.
After all, he had personally baited them.
Contrary to Luo Yan's smiling demeanor, the Silver Scythe lying on the ground was in a completely different mood.
They couldn't understand what the skeletons were saying or even realize they were speaking at all. To them, the creaking was merely the sound of bones rubbing together.
As they watched the chaotic scene, Grey Dog, who had just calmed down, once again wrote fear across his face, desperately trying to distance himself from them.
Chris was the same.
Especially when she saw a few skeletons approach her, their jaws clacking as if planning to devour her, her soul nearly left her body in fright.
SAN value finally broke through the bottom limit.
Chris's eyes rolled back, and she eventually passed out.
Who would have thought this game was so realistic that an NPC could be stunned by their own ugliness, leaving the surrounding players quite injured as well.
Pig-headed Knight, "Dang! It seems we've scared someone into fainting!"
Minotaur Warrior, "It's all because you're so ugly!"
Pig-headed Knight, "Hey! As if you're any better looking!"
Minotaur Warrior, "%￥#@!"
The two skeleton soldiers clacked their jaws, seemingly spitting non-existent spittle at each other.
Elsewhere, someone discovered Bond's corpse.
Looking at the mushy mess of flesh that was chopped up, a few skeleton soldiers with a poor mental constitution instinctively retched, but a few bolder ones squatted down curiously to observe.
"Ugh!"
"So disgusting!"
"Does this game not have any censors?!"
"Game developer, come out! Someone said you lost your code!"
"Man, this guy died a pretty miserable death."
"Wait a minute... there's blood on my pickaxe? So I'm the killer???"
While the skeletons were busy critiquing the corpse, suddenly, one of them excitedly shouted.
"Look what I found!"
The skeletons all looked over and saw one holding an antique flintlock pistol... presumably dropped by the guy lying on the ground.
"He must have bullets on him!"
"Quick! Start searching!"
Seeing someone had already picked up some equipment, the skeletons realized they had been too conservative in their approach to the game.
Coming to their senses, they immediately began turning over the body on the ground, and in moments had stripped the mushy mess of flesh completely bare.
Perhaps it was due to a filter of some sort, but these players had picked up the equipment without any fear or disgust, which saved Lord Demon King quite a lot of trouble.
Luo Yan recalled his own first time learning Undead Magic and found himself somewhat admiring these foolish players.
But now wasn't the time to deal with these guys.
Just as the last player logged into the game, a row of dark green dialogue boxes also simultaneously appeared in front of Luo Yan.
[Mission: Prepare a freely movable body for the players (100/100) (Completed!)]
[Reward: Ten thousand faith points!]
Ten thousand faith points credited!
Holding back his excitement, Luo Yan immediately opened the attributes panel and clicked the upgrade button located after his soul level.
The moment he pressed the button, a surge of dark green energy swiftly emerged from the void, then relentlessly poured into his chest.
The pleasure of his soul being replenished made Luo Yan let out a satisfied low moan.
Awesome!
It was utterly freaking awesome!
Both physically and mentally!
In front of all the players, Luo Yan, standing amidst a green glow, completed his upgrade from a bronze-level soul to stainless steel-level soul.
And the overflowed experience directly raised him from LV30 to LV31, breaking through a plateau he could never surpass before!
[
ID: Luo Yan
Race: Human
Soul Level: Stainless Steel (Level cap LV50)
Level: LV.31 (+1)
Experience: (0/310K)
HP: (1300/1300) (+500/+500)
MP: (3600/3600) (+1000/+1000)
Constitution: 13 (+5)
Strength: 13 (+5)
Agility: 13 (+5)
Intelligence: 35 (+10)
Spirituality: 36 (+10)
]
Looking at his revamped attributes panel, Luo Yan was so excited he nearly burst into tears.
Eighteen years!
He had finally removed that stubborn bronze hat!
Exactly which year he had reached the peak of bronze, Luo Yan couldn't quite remember, nor did he want to spend the time recalling it.
He just wanted to enjoy the moment, silently feeling the vast power filling every cell in his body.
It might sound a bit exaggerated, but that was his most genuine feeling at the moment.
"... I didn't expect that the attribute points gained from breaking through from LV30 to LV31 would not be 2 points, but a total of 25 points across all attributes!"
"I wonder how much attribute growth breaking through the stainless steel-level bottleneck will bring!"
His spiritual power had surged greatly!
He could hardly wait to try that high-level magic he had learned long ago but couldn't use because his spiritual power wasn't sufficient!
While Luo Yan was unable to contain his joy, an unimpressive skeleton soldier suddenly scurried over to him, knelt down on one knee with a creaky noise.
"Respected Lord Demon King! I am your most, most, most loyal servant, 'Yiye Zhiqu'!"
"I am already aware of our mission, please skip the storyline description and directly grant me the mission!"