Roar! Roar! Roar!
A group of Demonic Lions roared loudly at Anvil and Lotus.
"How should we deal with them?" Lotus asked.
"As long as their skulls aren't broken, it's fine. But it would be great if not a single bone gets broken."
"I can do that. But may I ask, why avoid breaking skulls and bones?" Lotus asked.
After crying for ten minutes, she looked a bit messy. Her hair was in disarray, and strands covered her face.
But her expression was bright, and she looked more cheerful than before, a cute smile on her face.
"I have a [Skill] that lets me use the corpses." Anvil had no issue talking about his power. He didn't want to expose it to the world,
but he could reveal it to some people he trusted.
Lotus was definitely trustworthy. As for Lunar, he had zero trust in her. He would have to wait and test her.
As for the [Inheritance] and such, he didn't even understand it very well himself, so he wouldn't talk about it to anyone.
'Now that I think about it, after the first quest, I haven't received another notification from the [Inheritance] interface.
Do I have to fulfill some requirements before I can get another quest?' Anvil had some questions, but he set them aside for now.
Lotus nodded at his answer and didn't ask further. She stepped forward.
Her aura leaked out, terrifying the Demonic Lions. Just sensing it made them step back, ready to flee.
But fear held them in place.
ROAR!
They let out ear-deafening roars and glared at Lotus with petrifying gazes.
But it had zero effect on her. Her aura wrapped around her body.
The bloody red aura was mesmerizing. Covering her tiny frame, she looked like an angel.
A battle angel.
A small body, childlike appearance, a pretty face, and power that transcended logic.
Anvil truly felt he had hit a jackpot.
Her aura thinned. Hair-width strands floated and shot forward at high speed.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
Each strand pierced a Demonic Lion's body, entering from below and exiting above.
ROAR!
Roars of agony filled the silent room.
Not a single drop of blood dripped, yet all the Demonic Lions fell at the same time.
There were six of them, and she dealt with them effortlessly.
"Done. Minimal damage. I just cut small parts of their bodies and destroyed their hearts directly. This much is fine, right?"
She asked with twinkling eyes.
Her pure gaze and proud expression, with a hint of wanting praise, made Anvil nearly laugh.
He patted her hair and said cheerfully, "You did great!"
He stepped forward and stretched his arms. Black gas rose from the corpses.
It was easy to control them, and he reanimated the bodies.
The Demonic Lions stood up with vigor. Thanks to the minimal injuries, they looked well-preserved.
"Wow. Aren't these undead? Awesome! You can have your own army! That's such a cool [Skill]!" Lotus praised as she circled the undead Demonic Lion.
She patted its body and felt its fur.
"Amazing," she murmured.
"Your [Skill] is very good. You can easily deal with many enemies. I envy your [Skill]," Anvil said, trying to appease her a bit.
He did envy her, but not too much.
"Really?" Lotus asked. "These [Mana] wires are my [Skill]. I can command them as easily as my hand now.
At first, it was hard to control their power, sharpness, and durability. But now I'm confident I can kill hundreds of A-ranks with them without breaking a sweat."
"Wow, wow." Anvil ignored her bragging and moved on.
"Hey, listen!" She followed, continuing to talk about her power.
As a chatterbox, she spoke about many things:
How she visited a [Dungeon], her first experience, her first encounter with a monster, her first battle, and so on.
And she never tired. She kept talking without taking a single break.
Anvil placed a palm on his face but still admired her mouth.
It was too strong!
Her jaw didn't hurt from all that talking!
He really wanted to stuff something in her mouth to make her stop.
But hearing her stories softened him a bit, so he let her chatter as he sighed.
Roar!
'Nice save!' Anvil had never been so glad to encounter monsters.
The Demonic Lions felt like saviors, freeing him from the demonic voice. But that was just an illusion!
The Demonic Lions weren't saviors. They were frauds!
Anvil stood frozen as [Mana] wires emerged from Lotus's back and pierced the monsters' throats.
The horde froze and stepped back, but hundreds of [Mana] wires zoomed toward them and pierced their chests, puncturing their hearts.
Lotus did it without even glancing at them. Her mouth didn't stop.
"When I entered the dungeon for the second time, I was more experienced. It was like taking a stroll.
I had to focus since I didn't have a clear grasp on my power yet.
There was a time when I underestimated an enemy. I just shot my [Mana] wires—I could only control five at that time.
But I didn't care about their shape, quantity of [Mana], or other details." She glanced at the monsters' corpses.
"You can summon them as undead, right? Oh, and can I ride on a Lion's back? I always wanted to ride an animal—horse, elephant—but you know, they're nearly extinct.
So only riding monsters is an option. Speaking of that, I have another story, but I'll finish my first one first." She said it all in one breath.
'Wait, did she even take a breath?' Anvil wanted to focus on her face to see if she was breathing, but gave up.
He nodded at whatever she said and left some undead Demonic Lions behind.
While he was summoning the eight corpses, Lotus mounted a Demonic Lion and laughed.
"Yayyy! It's so fun! It's so soft! Comfyyy~" She lay her entire body on the Lion's back—it was so wide three people her size could lie beside each other and still have room to move around.
"I was saying, my [Mana] wires hit the monster—it was a boss of a C-rank [Dungeon]—and the wires broke. They shattered.
I was so shocked I accidentally beat the monster to death. I wanted the corpse intact, but I was in such shock I couldn't control my strength and smashed its skull. Ehehhe." She laughed, as if telling a joke.
Anvil just blinked, not really listening. He nodded now and then.
It took less time than before to summon the undead, as Anvil wanted to hurry up.
After that, the journey to the top of the [Dungeon] went smoothly.
The [Dungeon] looked like a building, but it was empty. Dust had accumulated on the walls, floors, and ceiling. There were many cracks too.
The building was very sturdy despite the numerous cracks.
Each floor was divided into four to five rooms with stairs at the far end.
Lotus's chatter never stopped.
Anvil enjoyed some of her stories—some were interesting, some worth listening to as they contained useful knowledge, and some were nonsense.
But the [Dungeon] expedition was still enjoyable.
Anvil fought some Demonic Lions for practice. He easily killed many, but when they used their [Skill], they affected him greatly.
His undead army grew in number. Every ten floors, the monsters increased tremendously.
Twelve to fifteen Demonic Lions attacked as a group on the 20th floor, and the number grew ridiculously to over 100 by the 70th floor.
When they reached the 99th floor, it was a single wide level with no rooms—and 200 monsters were crammed inside.
The floor was packed, with only the stair section leading from the 98th to the 99th floor left with some space.
But Lotus eradicated them within minutes.
The [Mana] wires roamed freely, piercing all the Demonic Lions. Not a drop of blood spilled, but all of them suffered fatal heart wounds.
It took nearly half an hour to summon all the corpses as undead.
He now had a whopping 1,000 undead at E-rank. Even he didn't know the exact number.
He still had to separate them into [Mana] and [Non-Mana] groups.
It only took two hours for the two of them to reach the boss floor, and most of that was just walking.
Fighting wasn't even two percent of the time, as Lotus finished every battle within seconds—and at worst, minutes.
The stairs leading to the boss room were different from the rest.
They were made of bronze and had a metallic feel as they walked.
The walls changed too—from old dirty ones to smooth white.
The two of them arrived at a massive door. The door was carved with a huge four-headed Demonic Lion.
Ordinary Demonic Lions were depicted around it, looking like babies before the four-headed beast.
Before touching the door, Anvil said, "I want to fight the boss by myself." He needed to improve his battle power, so gaining experience was crucial.
"So don't help me unless it's life-threatening."
"Okay! I'll watch from the sidelines—or take a nap on the cute Lion's back." She was honestly addicted to lying on them.
Anvil looked at her, speechless.
In what way is that Demonic Lion cute?
He didn't ask and just nodded. Then, steeling his resolve, he pushed the door.
The door opened with a loud bang!
Anvil gripped his dagger tightly and stepped inside with confident strides.