CHAPTER 171: CHAPTER 171: GET READY...

Chapter 171 – Get ready...

Inside the dark cave, five corpses of corrupted undead lay sprawled on the ground, lifeless. It was morning, but inside this realm of darkness, Kaden and Asael could only tell the difference between day and night because of how the dungeon’s nights were.

But at that moment, neither of them was in the mood to worry about morning or night. Their expressions were dark, and even light seemed to be darkness in their eyes.

Asael made a difficult expression, not knowing how to speak to his friend, but eventually, "I mean—Uhh—it’s not that bad, right?" he asked with a strained smile.

But Kaden didn’t even respond. He was doing his best to not curse right now and stay polite. But of course...

"Fuck this shit!" he, obviously, couldn’t stop himself from cursing—or rather, expressing his frustrations.

"Is this what I get after fusing with the half fragment of the death-aspect, huh? Is that all?" Kaden said with indignation as he paced back and forth in the dark cave, his boots striking the white floor with steps filled with nervousness and mounting rage.

He had expected that with his new trait he would be able to drown this whole dungeon in death, summoning an army to match his will—but no, Kaden could barely bring back these five corpses in front of him.

In fact, his limit was three. Every time he tried to summon more than that, it felt like his soul was being shattered into a thousand pieces. The pain was truly unbearable.

At best, with sheer willpower, he could go up to four summons but fighting with that kind of pain, against a Grandmaster-level corrupted being, as an Intermediate? That was just asking to be killed in a poetic way.

Something he couldn’t afford right now.

A deep, forlorn expression appeared on his face as he stumbled and dropped to the floor, trying to think of a way out of this mess.

Asael, sitting across from him, looked at his friend with a difficult expression. His jaw clenched, mouth shut into a thin line, and his body was subtly shaking, making the shadows around him quiver along with his rising unease.

Kaden slowly raised his head and locked his blood-red eyes on Asael’s shadowed gaze. A scowl carved itself onto his face.

"I dare you to laugh, Asael... I just fucking dare you," he growled as Reditha flashed into his hand, his crimson intent activating instantly, cloaking her like a veil of bloodlight making her already mesmerizing hues even more lethally beautiful.

Hearing those words, Asael’s body started to tremble harder. At some point, he placed his hand over his mouth and lowered his head, hoping that not seeing Kaden’s face might help contain it—but instead, his mind betrayed him and began vividly imagining how Kaden must be looking at him right now: seething with murder, glaring with bloody fury.

And weirdly...

It made it even harder to hold it in as he finally gave in his laugh bursting out through the dark silence in a sonorous wave.

Asael’s vocals were really something.

But to Kaden’s ears, it sounded like the fucking music of mockery, sung by the heavens just to piss him off. So, with bloodshot eyes, he grabbed Reditha and lunged.

Asael slipped into the shadows just in time, laughing even harder.

But Kaden’s blade could cut shadows now, so he continued his frenzied assault—only, Asael was no mere panther beast.

He was the Prince of Shadows. And so, the shadows responded like loyal soldiers defending their liege, shielding him from every strike. This little skirmish continued for a while before both got tired and stopped.

They ended up side by side, both breathing heavily, sweat dripping from their brows.

"Asael... you’re so childish. You’re making us lose time," Kaden said, exasperated.

Asael shot him an amused glance, then shook his head. "You’re so shameless. Aren’t you the one who started all this?"

"Me? Ah yes, of course...I’m the one laughing at my friend’s misery, maybe?" Kaden said, his tone laced with disdain.

Asael chuckled. "I think you might be the only person in the world who’d call having three peak Master-ranked summons as an Intermediate... ’misery’." And at the end, he gave Kaden a weird glance.

"No seriously, are you actually upset about this? Gods, Kaden, my friend, who the hell spoiled you?" he asked incredulously.

Kaden stayed quiet for a while, then sighed softly. "I just expected more. Because we need more... to fend off the other undead while we focus on the Grandmaster. We can’t afford to be distracted."

"If it’s just that, then you don’t have to worry," Asael replied with a smile.

"The Grandmaster is surrounded by three peak Masters, and as for the rest? Please, Kaden, my friend, they’ll drop like mobs if they try to interrupt us. They might be annoying, but we’ve dealt with overwhelming numbers before, haven’t we? We will manage."

Asael’s voice carried a confidence that blew through Kaden’s doubts like a fresh breeze scattering thick fog.

Kaden stayed silent, his thoughts spinning fast—but now that his head was clear again, he realized how silly he’d been. He truly was worried for no reason.

Because with synthesis, he could make his three summons stronger than any corrupted Master-ranked undead. Granted, if they got too strong, his soul might not hold all the three, but two hyper-enhanced summons were far better than three average ones.

’But I need a way to increase my soul’s strength...’ Kaden mused. ’Ranking up helps, sure but synthesis isn’t advanced enough yet to let me fuse souls...’

Weirdly—or maybe not at all—his thoughts drifted back to that bastard, the Soulless Hypocrite.

’The Devourer of Souls... I only got a fragment... Where are the rest? That might be my path, either that or having the full fragment of Death inside me. After all, isn’t death intrinsically tied to the soul?’

His thoughts spiraled fast as ideas emerged one after another, none of them actionable right now.

Sighing, Kaden got up and approached the corpses, ready to fuse them.

"That’s the spirit, my friend. That’s the spirit!" Asael raised a curled fist into the air, encouraging Kaden with a mock serious expression.

Kaden decided—for the sake of his own mental stability—to ignore this lunatic.

Instead, he muttered:

"Get ready, Asael..."

A small smile crept onto his lips—filled with madness, with recklessness, with joy.

"We attack tonight. Once they start their rampage."

Asael didn’t respond right away. Instead, the shadows in the cave deepened even further, the world dimming as his voice emerged—low, cold, and ancient, like something that crawled out from the depths of shadow itself.

"Finally."

—End of Chapter 171—