Chapter 697: Growing Stronger.

The dust settled slowly over the ridged plain.

Thoren stood still, his eyes fixed on what remained of the Fallen. Its head was gone, crushed into a heap of gray fragments and rust that lay scattered across the cracked ground.

The undead Storm Tyrant landed beside the corpse, its hammer resting on the ground, its soul fire burning steadily.

The undead Horn Lizard King and the undead Scorpion Men King stood a few steps away.

The undead vanguard had gathered behind them, battered and covered in dust, but still standing.

For a moment, a suffocating silence hung over the plain. And then...

Thoren let out a long breath, and the tension in his shoulders melted away.

Slowly, a smile crept onto his face, small and tired, and it was the first real smile he had worn since the Weeping Ossuary.

He had not known what the Fallen was or what it could do. Against a Level 47 creature, he could only go out and hope for the best.

And the result did not disappoint him.

Just then, a panel flickered into view before his eyes.

[Congratulations! Your undead servants have leveled up.]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[...]

The notifications kept coming, one after another, rolling down the panel in a bright stream.

Thoren’s eyes widened, and he watched them scroll, every line another gain for his legion.

The smile on his face stretched wider and wider, until it turned into a wild grin he could not hold back.

’This is what I’m talking about...’

His heart pounded, and a warm surge of joy spread through his chest.

After the Mother, after the collapse and the long, lost walk in the dark, this was the reward he had needed.

He felt it through the link, the strength rising in each of his servants like a tide. He looked at the panel again and read the final lines.

’Now both the undead kings and the undead vanguard have become Level 44.’

It was true.

Each of them had jumped up by two levels.

His gaze moved across the line.

The undead Horn Lizard King stood a little taller, its aura thicker. The undead Scorpion Men King’s gauntlets glimmered with a sharper edge.

The undead Garron’s grip on his butcher knife was firmer, and the undead Kharv’s massive axe seemed lighter in its hands.

The undead Royalty Stonewall’s dark blade hummed faintly, the undead General’s massive saber gleamed colder while the undead Elite Jackal Beastman’s spiked club seemed to carry more weight.

Lastly, their soul fires. It burned brighter than before.

Their might had grown, and the legion was now far more formidable than it had been an hour ago.

Thoren laughed softly under his breath.

’Level 44,’ he murmured. ’Let’s see what can stop you now.’

Thoren looked over his legion one last time and raised his hand.

The Undead Space rippled open, and the undead Horn Lizard King, the undead Scorpion Men King and the rest of the undead vanguard dissolved into dark light and flowed into it, one after another.

Only the undead Storm Tyrant remained.

It stepped up behind him, its hammer resting on its shoulder and its soul fire burning in the hollows of its eyes.

He closed his fingers, and the illusory Soul Lantern floating above his head faded from existence.

The light that had pushed back the dark for a hundred meters thinned and vanished like breath on cold air.

Darkness fell over the plain once again.

Thoren stood still and let his eyes adjust. Then he turned and walked on, following the line of the stone ridge deeper into the unknown.

The undead Storm Tyrant followed, its heavy footsteps measured and steady.

The farther he went, the darker it became.

The darkness thickened with every step, pressing against his skin like cold water. This was not ordinary that came from the absence of light but something more.

It was like the darkness was a living entity, monitoring his movement.

Likewise, the ridges grew taller and sharper.

Their edges rose above his head, and the spaces between them narrowed into trenches that split off in different directions.

One path forked into two, then three, then into a tangle of narrow channels he could barely tell apart.

Loose stones shifted under his boots, and each sound seemed to carry farther than it should.

Thoren kept his hand near his side and chose his path by instinct alone.

Just then, a strange tension settled over him. He looked around, pushing his perception to the limit but found nothing.

There was no sign of danger, no sound and no movement, yet his skin prickled and his nerves stayed drawn tight, as though something unseen were watching from the edges of the dark.

Thirty minutes passed, and the tension did not lessen.

It only deepened.

Then he heard it.

It was faint, so faint that he almost thought he had imagined it. He stopped walking, and the undead Storm Tyrant stopped behind him.

Thoren held his breath and listened.

Somewhere ahead, far down the trench, the sound came again.

’That is the sound of a battle...’

He thought for a moment, his jaw tight.

He was lost.

His map was useless, and he had no landmarks left to follow. He had already given up hope of finding anyone soon but now.

A fight meant there were people or something nearby, or at least something worth fighting over. It could also mean danger, and he could not tell what he would find.

’Let’s see what is going on.’

He turned toward the sound and began to move, slower now, keeping to the shadow of the ridges.

All he could do was hope the fight was between humans and a beast.

If it was humans, the chance of finding his way back to Scarwind Camp would be high. They would know the routes, and some of them might even know where this place was.

If it was anything else, he would have to be ready.

***

[AN: New Month Goal.

1 Magic Castle +10 Chapters.]