After he had an agreement with Eren, they were looking for a certain species of the magical beast to be hunted; it was Rotten Hunting Rat, one of the weakest and most common magical beasts.
They checked to possible places that would be used as their lairs; bushes, under trees, even under rocks. However, they hadn’t found any single hole.
“Well, I guess the most common magical beasts are difficult to find too. As weak creatures, they must have some ways to keep their lives safe in this environment,” Eren complained.
“You just did something half-assed. Here, I’ve found a hole.”
The hole was located under thorny vines. Allen tore the vines apart with a knife, and he measured the deepness of the hole by putting a broken vine in.
“How’s it?” Eren asked.
“I haven’t reached the bottom of the hole yet. It’s deep. Do you mind to check it with your spell?”
“I don’t know. I can’t move around when I cast my root spell. I am afraid this hole is a home of a large rat colony. Even if this beast is weak individually, they are powerful as a group.”
Allen sighed. “Then, you can just stand there and try to look cute. Ah, I will borrow your life force too.”
Allen tapped Eren’s shoulder and absorbed his life force. He cast Darkness Chain into the hole and checked how deep it was.
“Aw, the feeling of your soul is being absorbed isn’t good. Have you found out how deep it is?”
Allen’s expression was unsettled. “When I reach the bottom, the hole is divided into many directions. I guess this is a den of a very large rat colony.”
“Stop casting your spell, Len. If we somehow disturb them, there’s no way we can escape them,” Eren said in a panic.
“I know.” Allen canceled the spell as Eren advised.
“I guess this is it. Let’s think of another plan.”
“No, I am not giving up. There are many convenient things I can do with small-sized undead like rats. I will build a trap.”
Allen built a tiny noose trap near the hole; there was also a food bait near it. He and Eren observed behind near bushes.
“Are you sure ordinary trap works on magical beasts?” Eren asked, seemingly in doubt.
“Reymond said that these kinds of traps work on them unless they have an insane amount of strength or can fly. However, it’s the first time I make a noose trap in such size. Let’s hope for the best.”
After a while, a long muzzle popped out of the hole. It sniffed around the area and then came out entirely, revealing a black-furred body and bald tail. The creature’s eyes were fully black.
“That must be the rat’s scout. Its appearance isn’t that different from city rat except for the slightly bigger body and thicker fur,” Allen commented.
The rat approached the bait and sniffed it. As it was about to step the rope around the bait, its body suddenly blurred; the bait suddenly disappeared.
“Ah, I know it. An ordinary trap isn’t effective for magical beasts,” Eren complained. He put his hand on the ground. Suddenly, a large vine grew out of the hole, blocking the entrance.
“My mistake, but I have anticipated that too.” Allen chanted a spell. Several chains manifested and flew to the shadow that rushed to the blocked hole.
The shadow dodged the chains and climbed the vine, but the chains kept chasing it. As it reached the tip of the vine, it jumped out while blocking the incoming chains.
“You fall for it!”
A renegade ghost came out of Allen’s chest and crashed into the shadow. The mouse fell down and stunned. He used this chance to direct his chains to impale it.
The mouse left a pitiful shriek before completely passed away.
“Is this okay, Allen? Don’t you need its corpse intact?”
“Don’t worry, I avoided the bones.” Allen hurriedly retrieved the corpse and retreated away from the scene.
They stopped running when they felt the area was safe. Eren looked around to make sure it was safe.
Allen absorbed the lingering soul inside the corpse and refined it. After finished, he flayed the rat and cut off its flesh, leaving only the skeleton.
Allen tapped the skeleton. Lifesteal aura flowed into it. He maintained the image of an undead rat inside his mind rune. As he was concentrating, Eren was peeping curiously.
After a while, the skeleton moved. A blue dot appeared in each of its eyes. Its body emanated black mist.
“Woah, it worked out,” Eren said in a surprised tone.
Allen wiped his face. “I was lucky. My first undead took me many times.”
Eren was about to say something when the bushes near him swayed. He jumped out and immediately took a fighting stance, but it turned out to be Allen’s undead.
“It surprised me. I forgot about him. Where has he been?”
“I ordered him to scout around. He found something surprising.”
“What’s that?”
“I was suspicious as to why this forest lacked wandering magical beasts. There was a shocking reason behind it.”
“Come on, don’t beat around the bush. Wasn’t it because of most magical beasts active at night?”
“No, even in my hometown, I often encountered one or two wandering magical beasts when I went for the hunt. The reason is a group of powerful creatures is active in the middle of the day. They even killed other groups too.”
Eren’s complexion became stiff. “Can you describe it to me?”
“I was focused on hunting rat that I didn’t fully pay attention to the skeleton’s vision. However, I grasped their silhouette. They appeared to be human-like figures with jet black skin. They slaughtered an entire group with ease like they were toying them.”
Eren’s face paled even more after hearing it. “That’s impossible. They are a race called black goblin. Their bodies might be weaker than magical beasts, but stronger than humans. Furthermore, from what I heard, black goblins in this area were comparable to rank three magical beasts and can fight them one on one.
“They are the guardian of the Inner Circle. They are normally hiding somewhere underground and only emerging to surface when magical beasts from core circle step out of their area.”
Allen could sense the seriousness of this incident. “I know we haven’t reached the quota, but how about we go back?”
“I strongly agree. For now, let’s calm about it and travel cautiously.”
Allen nodded. “I want to use my new undead to scout around too. Oh, please let me absorb a bit of your life force too.”
Near the temporary tent El had set up, Allen told Eren to watch the situation first before revealing themselves. Some people had come back from the hunt. They seemed relaxed and chatted leisurely.
“Let’s go, Eren.”
Allen pushed Eren so that he could lead the way. They visited El Grimfield inside the tent. The man welcomed them from his chair.
“Looking from your complexion, you didn’t bring back any crimson tuber, did you?” El guessed.
Eren broke a sweat. “I have one, actually. Is it forgivable?”
El sighed. “Fine, one for the two of you. The situation is critical right now. We’ll come back in two hours after I finish preparing things.”
“Thank you, Eldest Brother.” Eren bowed.
El waved. “You can get out. I am busy.”
When they were out of a tent, Eren sighed in relief.
Allen approached a nearby passerby and asked a question, “Excuse me, brother, can you be kind to tell us about the current situation?”
“I heard the Church of Enlightenment has tracked us. When they fought a hunting group, they somehow angered dark goblins that’s been sleeping underground. As a result, they started to hunt down humans. We are in a great pinch.”
After the passerby left, Eren commented, “Oh, Eldest brother is fucked up.”
“Who’s fucked up?” Suddenly, El got out of the tent and approached them.
Eren’s face became pale. “No, wait, Eldest Brother, it’s a misunderstanding.”
“What are you talking about?” El asked. “Just get in. I have some business with you. Allen can come too. You are an elder’s servant too after all.”
They followed El to the tent. Every maid had disappeared. There were only five people including him, Eren, and El.
Allen believed they were Elders’ servants. One of them swore allegiance to El.
“Wait, all of you are here? So, who’s guarding the base?” Eren asked, surprised.
“I won’t beat around the bush. You must have heard the situation. As elders’ personal servants, we have to protect the base. We can’t let the Church of Enlightenment know what our sect has been experimenting with. We will stay here and build a temporary base,” El said.
“What about the base? There are many valuable resources,” one of them said.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I naturally have activated the stealth formation. We will work together to reinforce defensive formation here. As for Eren, we need you to inform elders in the main base. It has been three weeks since they ventured to Nether Necropolis. They must have come back to get a rest before continuing deeper.”
“Going out in this kind of situation? Spare me, Eldest Brother. Didn’t you have another scout? If it’s really critical, we can use the hawks.”
“They are dead and you know we can’t use the hawks for that. Only people who know secret code can get in the main base. I will reward you highly. You can bring Allen too.”
“I want upfront payment. One more thing. Please reward Allen too. That crimson tuber I gave to you was his finding.”
“As long as it’s no excessive. What do you want, Allen Vos? Make it quick.”
Allen’s eyes brightened. He ignored the curious gaze of other servants and said, “I want to borrow the sect’s coffin. I want a manual about Limitless Vigor Body Art too.”
“This….” El looked troubled by his wishes. “Normally, I will grant you, but you have to deliver our message successfully. We are afraid that—”
Eren interrupted, “You don’t have to worry about our safety. I am not bragging, but in terms of survivability, I am the best among all of you.”
“Fine, then. I will prepare your rewards. For now, I know you need to refine your lantern spell in a short time. We will help you. We need people who train with Life Leech Technique.”
Allen raised his hand. “I can help, Brother El. My master gave me the exact mana absorption technique. I excel in life force absorbing.”
One of them retorted. “You? An early-stage brat? You think highly of yourself.”
Allen looked at the person who dissed him. He was a middle-aged man with a half-bald head. His body was thin and has pale skin.
“I am sorry if I’ve offended you, Mister. Please correct my mistake.”
The man snorted. “I, Jovanni Jovana, have been cultivating with Life Leech mana absorption technique for almost a decade. To say you, a pretty brat, are excel in this area is just an exaggeration. You just want to curry favor.”
“Pipe down, Jovanni! It’s not the time to make a foe,” El roared.
“I can prove it to you, Mister Jovana. If I somehow mess it up, you can punish me as you see fit.”
“Hmph, fine. You have to gather the crowd immediately, Brother Grimfield.”
After a while, people gathered outside the tent.
“Now, you have to prove yourself, Brat. We have to absorb their life force and convert them into mana,” Jovana said. He gave Allen a crystal orb. “This item is mana storage, an expensive one. Let’s see who is the better Life Leech user? You or me.”
Allen sighed. He disliked unreasonable people. However, he didn’t want to miss a chance to increase his level. With a calm attitude, he walked to the crowd.
