CHAPTER 153: CHAPTER 153: SECOND INTENT

Chapter 153 – Second Intent

A blinding light shot through the cave and reached the dark, bleak sky of the dungeon, producing a strange visual that immediately attracted the attention of many undead around them.

Asael sighed softly, still feeling tired after the great battle he had fought during the night, but still got up to intercept any approaching undead.

"Well, I guess this spot is doomed. Gotta move out after this." Asael said, lips curling into a small smile as twin sleek black swords that looked almost liquid formed in his two hands.

The moment he saw the two humanoid undead on the horizon approaching, his body disappeared inside the shadows before appearing just beneath them, cutting off their legs with one flawless strike with his blades briefly transformed into shadow spikes making the undead stumble and fall on their faces with a wet thuds.

He reappeared and plunged both swords deep into their chests — more precisely into their dantian, where their corrupted Origin Cores were — before finally killing them mercilessly.

He turned his head and saw undead approaching from all directions. Humans, elves, dwarves, wolves, chimpanzees, even big dogs and cheetahs.

They were all here.

Many kinds of creatures with grey skin and hollow eyes marching toward them with weapons and sharpened claws that gleamed under the bleak sky.

The atmosphere became tense as the scent of death thickened to the point you could almost taste it.

It was maddening.

But Asael was already used to this madness. So he smiled.

No, he grinned — a wild, mad grin, his twin shadow-pool eyes looking as if they could drown the world in cornucopia of darkness.

"Come here, bastards. Let me use you as a whetstone for my budding friendship." Asael spoke and immediately lunged forward at the approaching undead without hesitation, shadows twisting behind him as they moved like a tidal wave of darkness.

And so, the battle started.

...

Meanwhile, inside the cave, Kaden was going through something he never thought possible.

It was his first time using himself as a component in a synthesis. And he had never thought it would be this painful, this agonizing.

Inside the white cocoon, Kaden’s body was being destroyed piece by piece. It was like a biologically obsessed scientist had decided to observe every component of his body and choose what to discard, what to keep, and what to add to make it more... perfect.

The first thing he felt was the fusion of the threads inside his body, and it was both incredible and agonizing. The threads permeated deep into his muscles, blood and organs alike, weaving themselves into him.

The result made his muscles more supple, faster, and ridiculously malleable. The added silk from the ant made different parts of his body surprisingly difficult to cut, and even if they were cut... they would reattach.

Proof came instantly as pure, semi-transparent silk shot from the stump of his right arm and attached itself to his severed arm on the floor, pulling it back to him.

Then came the fusion of the undead body.

Since Kaden rejected its grey skin, what he gained instead was a ridiculous level of compatibility with the dungeon — or more precisely, with death-type environments — and a remarkable affinity for death.

Soon, the transformation ended and Kaden was left on the rough ground, his breathing ragged with exhaustion.

Yet strangely, he also felt energized.

"Ah... fuck. I never knew it was this painful," Kaden muttered as he stood up, this time without losing balance.

He smiled, raising his right arm and clenching it. There was no awkwardness at all.

It felt as if he had never lost it.

No — it felt like he had more control over it. Over his whole body.

Instinctively, Kaden wanted to test something.

He bent backward slowly until the back of his head touched his legs.

The position was eerie and unnatural.

But Kaden grinned. With this level of flexibility, he had a new tool for battle.

Not only that, but he could feel the high dexterity in his muscles — and with his speed, the possibilities were endless.

Then came the most surprising reward.

[With the high concentration of death in your body, and your understanding of Death as your forever companion and as its representation, you have obtained a new budding Intent.]

[Budding Intent: Death’s Envoy.]

And more.

[You have gained 10 stat points in every stat.]

Kaden smiled.

Two Intents.

Crimson Sword and Death’s Envoy.

One was fully awakened. The other, budding.

But in this place, it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

Smiling faintly, Kaden turned toward the cave entrance, hearing the sounds of heavy clashes.

He scanned the cave quickly, taking all the letters he found and even the bone bed into his space ring. There was nothing else.

He stepped outside just as the cave collapsed under the relentless assault of stray skills. A shockwave erupted, blasting rocks and debris everywhere.

Kaden sighed. This was his fault.

’I never knew it would attract so many enemies.’

And then he saw Asael.

From where Kaden stood, it looked like a swarm of ants engulfing a single piece of food.

There was at least a thousand undead under a pitch-black sky. The weakest were Intermediate rank. The strongest were near the cusp of Grandmaster rank.

Their strikes split the space and sent shockwaves into the sky. The ground was littered with corpses, making movement a battle on its own.

Madness.

It was truly madness.

And in the center, Asael fought.

His usual unseriousness was gone. He fought with a ferocity that made even Kaden’s heart tighten. His shadows devoured the light around him, every strike making the world dim further.

He was formidable.

But he was slowing.

CLANK—!

Asael stumbled as an undead slipped through and struck from behind.

He was covered in black, viscous blood, his body marked with deep wounds — it was hard to tell if the blood was his or theirs.

Two Master-ranked undead broke through. One was a dwarf swinging a massive hammer that warped the space around it, aiming for Asael’s head. The other was a sabertooth tiger, fangs like spears tearing through reality toward his throat.

And around them, weaker undead closed in.

Seeing this, Asael laughed. Loud. Mad.

"HAHAHAHAH! COME!!"

He clutched his white necklace with one hand, raising the other to meet the blows—

"Damn lunatic. You’ll die if you take that head-on."

A cold and murderous voice cut through the battlefield.

"Flame of Blood."

And then — fire.

A bloody blaze, flecked with blue stars, erupted under the black sky, swallowing everything except a single human clutching his necklace.

The black expanse turned bloody red with fire. And the sky of the dungeon seemed to lit up like fireworks under starless night.

And in the middle of it, Asael grinned up at him.

"MY FRIEND, YOU’RE BACK!!" He roared.

What a lunatic.

—End of Chapter 153—

A/N:

The next five — including this one — are bonus Chapters for the castle.