Chapter 302: In Their Eyes, He Had Long Since Become More Than Just Their Master! [2]

Silverback Ape had no words for that fear.

It only knew that it had to strike harder and keep pace whenever Zich called it to battle.

"ROAR!"

The Silverback Ape Grunt smashed both fists into the ground. The terrifying force caused the enemies ahead to lose their footing, and the two Skeleton Soldiers following it immediately seized the opportunity to attack from both sides.

It didn’t look back because it knew that person could see it fighting.

One simple urge burned through its instincts.

Do not fall behind!

...

Within the broken wall zone, a dark red figure silently moved through the shadows.

A monster had only just turned the corner when Blood Leech dropped from the wall above, its hooked mouthparts instantly piercing through a gap in the creature’s armor and killing it soundlessly.

Its body was then dragged into the darkness.

Blood Leech didn’t understand the Silverback Ape Grunt’s anxiety, nor did it possess Slimy’s simple and direct dependence.

In its eyes, almost every living creature in existence belonged to one of only two categories.

Prey it could hunt.

And prey it could not hunt yet.

Only Zich was different.

Zich had reshaped it from death and chaos, given it its current body, and granted it a purpose from which it would never separate.

To Blood Leech, this was not what humans called gratitude.

It was a sense of belonging carved into the deepest part of its soul.

Anything that attempted to harm Zich would automatically move from the second category into the first. Without exception.

Blood Leech raised its head. Its crimson gaze passed briefly through a gap between the broken walls and landed on the figure standing in the center of the battlefield.

Then it disappeared into the shadows once more.

Its next prey had already appeared.

...

Meanwhile, Slimy’s body was continuously expanding in the central region.

Several monsters that had broken through the side defenses had only just approached when a translucent Silk Barrier instantly appeared in front of them.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Continuous impacts sent ripples spreading across the barrier. Slimy’s soft body trembled repeatedly from the force, yet it refused to move backward.

It did not understand that this was the Twenty Third Floor.

It did not know that if Zich continued climbing and killing monsters, he would eventually be able to leave the first layer.

It did not even understand why the other summons were always trying to prove that they were stronger.

Slimy remembered very few things.

Zich gave it food.

Sometimes fruit. Sometimes other things that could be stuffed into its body.

Although Zich occasionally moved the food around on purpose and made it twist its body from side to side trying to follow it, the food always ended up inside its stomach eventually.

Therefore, Zich was good.

And these things trying to reach Zich were bad.

For Slimy, that was enough reason to fight for its master!

"Bo!"

The Silk Barrier suddenly pushed forward, forcing several monsters back into the passage at once. Immediately afterward, Slimy stretched part of its body beneath the barrier, wrapped itself around one monster’s legs, and forcefully dragged it to the ground.

Zich flashed past its side.

Frostgrave Scythe swept through the air in an icy arc, instantly tearing open the monster’s chest.

"Good job."

The moment Slimy heard those words, its entire body swelled by a full circle.

Then it enthusiastically threw itself toward another opening.

...

High above the battlefield, Tiamant beat her enormous skeletal wings and forced her way through several flying monsters.

Her claws tore apart one creature before her thick dragon tail swept outward, smashing another two monsters toward the stone walls below.

As the summon with the most powerful bloodline and fundamental existence within the group, Tiamant had never truly regarded the other members highly in the beginning.

Even though her current body could carry only a fraction of the power she had once possessed, the ancient pride carved into the depths of her soul would never allow her to bow her head to the weak.

At first, Zich had merely been the human who held her contract.

A fortunate human who had obtained her incomplete soul and used countless materials to reconstruct her body.

Yet she had personally watched that human walk at the front of his summons again and again.

He had never assumed that possessing an undead army gave him the right to hide safely at the rear.

He calculated the limits each member could endure. He sent them back into the Graveyard before a situation could spiral beyond control. And when his summons were sealed, he personally gripped Frostgrave Scythe and slaughtered his way through the enemies blocking his path.

Tiamant remained proud, but only recently, after watching Zich fight on the front line and survive the summon seal trial with his own strength, had she stopped resisting the title transmitted through their contract.

Master.

Not because the contract forced her to obey.

But because the Zich of today was proving, step by step, that he was worthy of having a dragon fight for him.

The final flying monster in the sky was torn apart by her claws, but Tiamant did not search for another enemy right away.

She abruptly turned her head toward the central battlefield below.

The situation there had changed!

...

Zich had just used Blood Arc to sever several weapons in front of him when three towering figures hidden behind the ordinary enemies suddenly accelerated, charging toward him from different directions.

A massive axe from the left sealed off his retreat.

A spear from the right stabbed directly toward his chest.

And from the front, a heavy battle blade descended from above, covering almost every direction in which he could dodge.

These enemies had deliberately remained hidden until now.

They had been waiting for the moment when all his summons were scattered!

Zich’s gaze sharpened.

[Shadow Blink!]

His body vanished from the spot, avoiding the battle blade descending from the front. Yet the instant he reappeared, the spear on his right forcibly changed direction and stabbed toward his heart once more.

It was too close!

Zich tightened his grip on Frostgrave Scythe, preparing to forcibly block the attack, when..