I entered the indoors graveyard, half-expecting zombies to pop up from the tombstones. 

They didn't. Tch. And here I was hoping to meet some of my potential siblings(?) if I had chosen the Lesser Zombie race...

In that case, is this the type where monsters pop up after you get the item? Or was I completely wrong about this all and the item is just for the taking?

I didn't change my plans though. I looked over the graveyard, which is as wide as it's long, and placed webs everywhere I could. It feels like ghosts are gonna pop up from anywhere, I fixed the webs with a little extra trick to trap them too. I also made snares attached to the withered trees, which were more flexible than I first expected. 

Oh, so I wish that Rogue was at Lv.40. [Trap Creation] would work wonders now. 

I kept on advancing towards the top of the hill as I laid my traps. Once I reached the top, I looked at the sole tombstone here.

The writing on it has faded over time, so I can't read it. From the looks of it, I would say that some war hero lies here? It's decorated with what appears to be military rewards... then again, this is a different world than on Earth. Not good to say how similar the worlds' cultures are.

Then there was the helmet. It's made of some metal that's completely rusted over who knows how long. The design is kinda draconic, especially the removable visor. 

Yup, this is the one. And from the description, the other remnants are also armor? 

I'll find out when I find them. Gotta take this one first.

Oh? This came as a surprise. A Quest inside the Quest. And it comes with rewards to boot. One that I already have, but maybe Gust would want them? Or the big bro-mole that leads the others? Meaning the mole that pushed me to fish up Gust from the hole.

As I was thinking about the rewards before the Tactician was killed, something happened on the other side of the room. The door closed and locked itself while a magic circle appeared right in front of it.

Ugh, another Dread Spirit. Were they possible to be used for Quests... guess they aren't. This one's bound by black threads and looks quite unhappy over being here.

Oh, a change appeared to the guy. Some dark-colored threads struck it from the ceiling, which made the Spirit start changing into a different form. Who shot those threads? I can't see anything on the roof... except for some really small black spots. Are those the culprits? I thought it was grime.

Just as I was thinking of throwing an Impact Thread at the spots, the transformation of the Dread Spirit was finished. Now it looked like an old man in armor. A pale-white, ghastly old man, but still...

"So, you are the ungrateful scoundrel that dishonors my lord through stealing his beloved helmet? Be prepared to face the consequences, you knave!" - Ghost(?)

Okay... but I didn't steal anything. At least, from any lords. 

My silent rebuke went above the ghost's head as some barriers appeared in front of him. The thing's created by 10 black spheres... now I see. The old man's gonna call upon the waves of enemies, and for each wave, one of those spheres breaks. 

Weak! This old man's weak! And "Living Spirit"?

Wait, I remember Gust talking about this. That certain Quests recreates famous persons to act as trials. They're practically Dread Spirits with a mind of their own and access to skills. Still no stats, but these guys die just as easily as the Dread ones. 

Who would have thought it was possible to utilize the Dread ones to make a Living one? Too bad it's not perfect. They couldn't recreate the name of the guy, nor his levels. Maybe some of his skills are worse due to this, or they are straight out missing?

"Now men, come forth and punish that insolent spider!" - Old man

The first wave is coming. These are... Dread Spirits!? Don't you guys have some imagination?

Strange as it may be, the Spirits are following the old man's orders and headed to the top of the hill. Well, not that they'll reach.

"Wa-ha-ha-ha! Dread your misgivings, spider, and pray to your god when...WHAAAAT!?" - Old man

*Crack*

And there goes the first crystal as the final Spirit disappeared. The old man, still unsure of what happened, started to call upon more monsters... which was, unfortunately for him, more Dread Spirits.

Too bad they can never, ever, reach me. I had spun a single thread across the whole graveyard, covering the whole place from the floor to the roof, the entrance to my current position. The thread's still attached to me, so when I make use of [Heresy Manipulation], well, too bad for you, Dread Spirits.

Of course, there are some holes here and there in the "web", which is the sole reason why the Spirits were okay from the beginning. And the damn barrier's interfering with the threads around the old man. They're not broken, but any magical moves with them, such as [Thread Manipulation], are useless. And here I had made the perfect trap there...

*Crack*

Oh? A lot of stuff happened. The title, the evolution, and the second crystal that broke. Yahoo! I did it! But... there are 8 more waves after this! Come on, I wanna evolve...

"Grr... next platoon, charge!!" - Old man

Charge all you want~. That won't break my [Heresy Modification] barrier~. Seriously, even a Lesser Zombie would be more of a threat to me than these guys. 

This wave contained even more Spirits... and wave nr.1 already had a good hundred. Where do they find all these guys?

Some of the Spirits looked like they understood the trick with the threads and tried to slip through them, so I threw a Piercing Thread at them like a javelin. The only difference from the previous wave was how long it took for the Spirits to die out.

*Crack*

As for the fourth wave-

*Crack*

It was a single Dread Spirit that looked like it was halfway to becoming a King. He looked more solid, but at the end of the day, still a Dread Spirit. An Impact Thread was enough to bypass his defense.

And wave five... what? You just increased from one to 3 semi-Kings? Triple Impact Threads, coming up~.

*Crack*

As for the next...hm? The barrier turned more transparent. I wonder...

"AAAARGHH!! What's wrong with you!? How can you defeat Dread Spirits like they were soap bubbles! They are-!" - Old man

The old man started complaining about something, but I ignored him. The threads inside the barrier have become receivable to my skills. Is it because we're halfway into this thing? It's only [Thread Control] that seems to work. Now, this is gonna be interesting.

"-and one is supposed to guard the magici-*STAB*-ans...eh?" - Old man

Did he say something? No matter, my armor-puppet plan worked! 

When I was setting up my one-thread web at the other side of the graveyard, I also left behind one of the armors I had taken from the castle corridors. The inside of the armor was filled with threads connected to another leg than the one-thread web.

Since the barrier had turned meek enough for me to control my threads inside there again, I moved the armor and had it use its sword to impale the ghost old man right into the core that kept him together. Victory!

Thinking about it, I could just have strangled him with the threads instead...but he's a Living Spirit, so it's safer to go for the heart. Yup, I'll go with that excuse.

Oh, so you clear the whole thing just by crushing the old man. 

I picked up the steel-thing and Skill Scrolls that appeared in front of me and placed them all in the Storage. You mustn't forget the helmet either. Now then, today's trip has been fruitful enough. Let's get back to the base. 

......[Identification].

Gue-he-he-he. I'm able to evolve!! Again. What are the evolution options this time? I'm too excited, so I'll look at them on my way home.

...? Wait, there must be something wrong with [Identification]. Let's turn it off, then... nope. Still so many evolution options. 

From the looks of it, most of them require higher-than-average stats. Except for the DEX-related ones, I wouldn't have obtained these evolutions without the cheat-trained Ability Skills. 

To think that the total amount of skill levels also had something to say. The thread skills got seriously boosted thanks to me using them in collaboration with [Heresy Manipulation]. Wonder if some creatures can't evolve due to them skipping out on training their skills?

The first two are from the Reha Zera line, with the Phraga being an ailment specialist and Aridna the same with threads. The Phraga gains the Poison attribute alongside Darkness and from what [Identification] tells me, it's a living plague. Aridna is still solely of the Darkness attribute, but it looks like one heck of a weaver.

Night Gaunts are... ah yes. Just as I thought. Right out from a Lovecraft novel. That one seems fun, and it also has the Heretic attribute. Still, having to shift to a defense style for it is like taking one step forward and two back. 

The next two aren't even demons, but yokai? Ah, yokai's are a sub-species of demons. The Ushi-Oni is a musclehead and an Earth attribute, so pass. A Jorou-Gumo sounds better... but it shifts from Darkness attribute to sole Heretic attribute. Decisions, decisions...

The Maneko is a strange one. Almost expected it to be a yokai... but a creature that has only luck and no battle abilities is unfortunately not what I had in mind. It's even a Light attribute to boot...

Then there's these "Rasetsu"-guys. Rasetsu, Rasetsu... I know I've heard that name before, but not where. The Ogre part is obvious, but there are two of them. And one of them even got a "Lord" in its name, as if the clear upgrade from the other guy wasn't obvious enough.

Alright, [Disce-, and I've reached the "backdoor". Times sure fly when you're got your head full of stuff. Plus I got the map now.

Better have Gust tell me more about these guys. I bet his jaw's gonna hit the floor when he sees this list~.

---

"You WHAT!?!" - Gust

*Crash*

Forget about his jaw, his whole body fell to the floor from sheer surprise. 

"No, I should have expected this when you showed me your Skill List. But to think you even obtained a Lord..." - Gust

Ah, he picked himself up. A little dusty in the feathers, but still a-okay.

Then, you know what this "Rasetsu"-the guy is?

"Do you know about Rakshasa?" - Gust

Those are those man-eaters, right?

I think I heard about them when I looked up Hinduism once. 

"Yeah, the Rasetsu Ogres are the 'demi-human'-versions of the Rakshasas." - Gust

What!? Rasetsu Ogres are man-eaters!?

Oh man, did I unlock some forbidden race here?

"You do know about them. And no. While they have some common points, the Rasetsu Ogre is more of a 'wild' demon species rather than the Rakshasa's that are simply wild, demonic animals." - Gust

Then, the difference is like with Goblins and Vile Goblins?

"Precisely. Rakshasas simply follow their instincts in eating anything they come over, while Rasetsu Ogres are demons that have obtained great powers through the act of ridding the world of evil spirits. More precisely, Dread ones." - Gust

In other words, a more "legal" version of the man-eaters. Phew, guess it's only a hidden character than a banned one.

"And you even obtained a Lord variant... do you know how a Vile Goblin can become a Vile Gobling King?" - Gust

Not a clue~. And "Evil" Goblins?

"Regular Goblins are Demi-humans while Vile Goblins are Demi-monsters." - Gust

Oh, I see. Continue.

I didn't get it at all, but the "Lord"'s more important.

"The Vile Goblins' natural evolution is to become a Vile Hobgoblin, but there are some individuals that can evolve into a Vile Goblin King or Queen." - Gust

So, a Lord's a type of Ex race evolution?

"That's right, but that's not my point. The King is rank C, and its stats far surpasses that of the Hobgoblin of the same rank, despite Goblins being the same as lesser Hobgoblins. " - Gust

Meaning that being a Lord is better than just being of a rare race.

"Pretty much. But Lords are rare in themselves, and it's not like all species have a Lord in their evolution line. Be glad you found that... well, it was easy enough for you." - Gust

Sure was~.

"Still, the Night Gaunt and the Darkness Globe could give you better chances-" - Gust

Of getting Kur Kigal? Nope. The Night Gaunt would probably lock me into the Outer One line due to it being a Lower Demon despite being rank E-. And the Globe-

"Yeah, good point. Forget I said anything." - Gust

Gust shrugged and went back to inspect the items I had brought back. I made another look at all the evolution-options' entries in the Kigal-Note... yup. Her majesty is the only one for me.

I went back into the bedroom that the moles had prepared for me. Then...

You bet! 

Well, good night. ZZZZZZZZZ...