The [Undead Knights] and the [Forest Snakes] were of the same level, yet the [Forest Snakes] held a clear advantage.
Their massive bodies and superior movement speed far exceeded that of the Undead Knights, making it difficult for the undead to land proper attacks.
The Undead Knights would have struggled even more if not for the support skills [Soothing Veil] and [Wind Blessing], which enhanced their movements and allowed them to keep pace in battle.
Combined with their overwhelming numbers and the fact that Undead Knights neither felt pain nor hesitated, they managed to kill the two dozen Forest Snakes after nearly thirty minutes of fighting.
Ethan sighed as he looked at their condition.
With severe damage and torn limbs, his Undead Knights were barely holding together, though they were already regenerating at a visible speed.
He immediately commanded the [Wood Spirits] to use their skills to further accelerate their regeneration.
"Just dealing with one batch of these snake monsters is hard enough. There are hundreds more in just the outer layer." Ethan rubbed his chin. "Looks like I'll need to use all my summons at the same time if I want to clear this dungeon faster."
He couldn't help but imagine what it would be like if he had to fight himself. How would he fare against so many monsters?
"If I compare my undead knight to an awakener of the same level, it's obvious the awakener would be several times stronger than my summon," Ethan thought. "Of course, an awakener wouldn't struggle the way my summons do, even if my summons make up for it in numbers. After all, it's always quality over quantity…"
To clear the dungeon, Ethan needed to slay every snake monster within it.
The dungeon was divided into three distinct zones: the outer layer, the middle layer, and the core area.
The deeper one went, the fewer snake monsters there were, but in exchange, their levels, attributes, and skills increased significantly.
The outer layer, where Ethan currently stood, contained the highest number of normal monsters.
In the middle layer, both normal and elite monsters roamed.
At the core area, located at the center of the forest, lay the Snake Lord's nest, home to the dungeon's boss monster, the Snake Lord, along with its elite and normal subordinates.
Their attributes were far superior to those found in the outer and middle layers.
"This is a good opportunity to test the elemental skills of my spirits. If I can use elemental fusion successfully, then I could likely use synergy just as easily, maybe a little harder. Regardless, clearing this dungeon will become much easier with either."
Ethan waited until his Undead Knights had fully regenerated.
In the meantime, he began summoning more Undead Knights, gradually increasing their total number to 250.
"This, along with my Undead Spirits already numbering in the hundreds, should be more than enough."
His gaze then shifted to the corpses of the fallen Forest Snakes, where he noticed something shining, light reflecting from within the mangled flesh of one of the bodies.
Reaching into its thick, blood-soaked green carcass without a single feeling of disgust or discomfort, Ethan retrieved a gem-like object, a small green crystal that radiated a faint energy similar to the essence he sensed from the monsters themselves.
---
[Attribute Stone Fragment]
[Attribute: Poison]
-Collect 100 Attribute Stone Fragments to merge them into one Complete Attribute Stone.
-A Complete Attribute Stone can be used to imbue a compatible existing skill with a new attribute or grant it an attribute-based effect.
-A Complete Attribute Stone can also be fed to spiritual-type equipment or items to increase their value and capabilities.
---
"You can give a poison attribute to an existing skill? I didn't know things like you even existed… And why didn't Sir Shawn tell me about you?"
Ethan spoke as he stared at the small yellowish green gem resting in his palm.
It was about one inch long, oval shaped, and shimmered beautifully. Its surface pulsed faintly, like a beating heart, and it felt warm to the touch.
Ethan could sense a strange energy and essence radiating from it.
"Hmmm… I guess this is one of those things awakeners learn along the way. I have to collect ninety nine more of these, huh?"
Ethan muttered as he glanced at the bodies of the other monsters scattered around.
Without hesitation, Ethan commanded the Undead Knight to tear apart the corpses of the remaining forest snakes.
After rummaging through their squishy flesh, brain matter, organs, and other insides for a few minutes, Ethan found fifteen more fragments.
They were randomly present inside the monsters' bodies, sometimes in the brain, sometimes in the heart, sometimes near the spine.
He even found a fragment lodged at the very tip of one snake's tail.
"In just one group of monsters, I found sixteen of them. Looks like it won't be hard to collect all the fragments."
Ethan grinned and stored them away.
Suddenly, his pupils dilated as his enhanced senses picked up something fast approaching from behind.
Something dangerous.
Before the attack could land on him, one of the Undead Knights near him leapt into the path of the incoming strike, taking the hit in Ethan's place.
"That was too close."
Ethan quickly retreated, allowing his undead to handle the threat.
It was another forest snake that had silently trailed him, waiting for him to drop his guard.
A few moments later, the monster was slain.
Searching its insides, he found yet another fragment.
[Attribute Stone Fragment: 17]
"That… was a little too close. If it had reached me, it would have swallowed half my body in a single swoop. In that case, I wouldn't have been saved even if a powerful healer somehow made it here in the dungeon…"
Ethan muttered under his breath, a deep sigh escaping him as he clutched his chest.
He wouldn't deny it.
At that moment, he had truly felt as though he stood on the very edge of death.
And yet, a slow smile crept onto his face, one that felt painfully out of place given the cold sweat soaking his skin and the frantic, uneven pounding of his heart.
Even so, the smile refused to fade.
"I don't know why," he whispered, his voice trembling slightly, "but I like this feeling… Is it adrenaline? Or does coming so close to death actually excite me?"
The thought should have unsettled him.
Instead, it sent a strange warmth crawling through his chest.
It took several minutes for Ethan to regain his composure.
When his breathing finally steadied, he noticed something unsettling.
Alongside the relief of survival was a faint trace of disappointment.
The overwhelming rush, the crushing presence of death looming so close, it was gone.
And he missed it.
The realization made his smile sharpen, just slightly.
Somewhere deep within him, a dangerous spark flickered to life.
An abnormal thrill.
A destructive curiosity toward death itself.
It was not fear that lingered in his thoughts, but fascination.
As if part of him wanted to stand at that edge again, to feel that same intoxicating pressure one more time.
Ethan exhaled slowly, forcing the thought down.
Yet the echo of that near-death moment lingered in his mind.
No matter how much he tried to suppress it, a single, unsettling truth remained.
He had been happy.
"This isn't good… I don't know why, but I want to feel that excitement again…"
Ethan shook his head, trying to dispel the unnatural, possibly self-destructive feelings he had just discovered within himself.
His gaze shifted as he took in the dense forest surrounding him.
This place was clearly the snakes' territory, their playground, their home ground.
Pushing deeper into the forest would be far too risky.
Being forced to constantly look over his shoulder was the last thing he wanted, especially when his enemies were not only poisonous but intelligent enough to stalk him patiently and wait for the perfect opening.
A slow smile crept across his face as a simple yet effective idea took shape in his mind.
"If the snakes use the forest to their advantage, I'll simply destroy the entire forest."
"This is also a great chance to test my elemental fusion," Ethan whispered. "I'll go layer by layer, clearing everything while killing the snakes."
"First, I need to see if my spirits can combine their skills. Let's try synergy first."
Ethan recalled the concept Sir Shawn had explained to him and Shiro the previous day, since both of them possessed elemental spirit summons.
Synergy was the phenomenon in which two or more elements or skills of similar or compatible nature merged together, producing an effect far greater than what each could achieve individually.
Sir Shawn had only explained the theory, not the practical method.
Still, Ethan had a general idea, drawn from what he had read during his time living in Lord Alistair's manor.
He issued clear instructions to his spirits.
Five Undead Fire Spirits stepped forward.
"To make synergy work, the skills must match in level, intensity, and compatibility."
Ethan controlled every movement of the five fire spirits as they aligned themselves in a straight line and raised their fire-formed arms.
Their blazing palms converged toward a single point ahead.
A moment later, all five activated their Heat Wave skill simultaneously.
Instead of several overlapping waves of flame, a massive orb of condensed fire energy formed above them, expanding rapidly.
In the next instant, it detonated.
A colossal wave of fire surged forward like a wall of scorching destruction.
Leaves ignited instantly, the temperature spiked, and within moments, everything within a 25-meter radius was reduced to charred remains, the trees left half-burned and smoking.
Unfortunately, no snakes happened to be in that area.
"Succeeded on the first try. I guess I really do have talent." Ethan smiled.
Under normal circumstances, multiple Fire Spirits using the [Heat Wave] skill would simply cast the same skill repeatedly. The strength would not change, and only the accumulated damage would stack.
Synergy, however, allowed multiple spirits to fuse their power into a single, vastly stronger attack, multiplying its range, force, and destructive capability many times over.
It also consumed less spiritual energy, making the technique exceptionally valuable.
"Let's make it even more powerful."
Ethan commanded all 120 Fire Spirits to synergize their Heat Wave into a single devastating attack.
The spirits moved with machine-like precision, arranging themselves into a perfectly synchronized legion, row after row.
In unison, they raised their burning arms and activated their skills.
Fire gathered instantly.
A tiny spark condensed at the focal point.
It swelled, growing larger and larger.
Within seconds, a massive sphere of blazing fire energy hovered before them, glowing like a miniature sun.
The next moment, the miniature sun exploded.
The released fire transformed into a towering wall of flames that surged forward in a 180-degree arc, spanning more than a hundred meters in radius.
Everything in its path was consumed.
Nothing survived.
The area of forest was reduced to dust and ashes, leaving behind a scorched wasteland.
"I can probably clear the outer layer and middle with this skill alone… this feels too easy," Ethan muttered as he walked across the burned land of the outer layer.
He prepared to release the synergy skill once more.
Another miniature sun manifested and exploded.
A massive surge of flames, tall as towers and wide beyond measure, swept forward, annihilating everything in its path.
Dozens of [Forest Snake] caught within the area were incinerated instantly, reduced to dust and ashes without any chance to escape.
The only remnants left behind were the Attribute Stone Fragments, which, unlike the monsters themselves, did not burn.
Ethan ordered his Undead Knights to collect them.
[Attribute Stone Fragment: 69]
...
[A/N: If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider adding it to your library and supporting it with some Power Stones. Arigato!]