“Ewww! Necromancy? Who would want this kind of icky magic? Was this really what you’ve been hyping up? Can’t say I’m not disappointed.”

“[Idiot! This ability is insanely powerful, and miraculously, it’s the one you currently need most! With this ability, you can now use death-type mana all you want! That mana poisoning you have? It’s gone!]”

Kayden’s opinion of it dramatically improved.

‘Let me check!’

 

[Stat points remaining: 5]

“Hmm… upgrade my Mana stat twice.”

[2 stat points consumed. Increased Mana from D-- >>> D-]

[2 stat points consumed. Increased Mana from D- >>> D]

[1 stat point remaining]

Thanks to the power of cheating, Kayden’s maximum Mana value rests at a comfortable number of 168. He could feel a surge of mana rushing through his veins, and intuitively, he knew that his capacity to store mana increased as well.

“…This isn’t enough.”

It wasn’t nearly enough for him to beat his enemies. Kayden began to sift through his party’s equipment which was all piled up to the side. He was searching for something, and after pulling out rations, torches, and stray pieces of paper, in time, he managed to find his party's stash of potions. They were all stored in glass bottles that filled up the spaces of a fairly large crate, and Kayden took all the blue and red ones. There was quite a handful of them, twelve altogether, to be exact.

“[…You’re not thinking of possibly—]”

Kayden began chugging them like an addict.

“[—Okay... Just because you won’t get mana poisoning anymore doesn’t mean that there still aren’t any side effects to drinking so many. Give it a day or two and you’ll find out.]”

“I don’t care,” Kayden said as he poured the last drop onto his tongue. “I’ll need all the help I can get if I want to stand a chance.”

“[Suit yourself.]”

Throwing away the last bottle in his hand, Kayden flexed his muscles and could feel his body rejuvenate itself in a matter of seconds. Though he wasn’t fully healed, he was in a much better state compared to before.

“[Okay, if you are ready, I’m going to explain the strategy you’ll be using. Currently, your enemies aren’t quite sure where you are. Knocking out their sole tracker bought you some time, but they will still find you eventually. The first thing you need to do is read the necromancer’s journal.]”

It didn’t take him long to understand what Hel wanted him to do. He would pick off the weakest of the three, turn them into undead, then target the second weakest, and repeat the process from there. This ensured him the greatest fighting chance against the strongest of the four, Zhang. Kayden didn’t have any better ideas, so he readily accepted the plan.

He took out the book and began flipping through it quickly.

[You have met the requirements to learn these spells.]

[You have learned tier 2 spell: Create lesser Strength Undead.]

[You have learned tier 3 spell: Create Greater Strength Undead.]

Once that was done, he put the book away and got ready to battle. Of course, he didn’t forget to free Louis from his ice prison, lest he froze to death while he was away fighting.

“[Well, I think that this is as ready as you’ll ever be for the fight. The last thing I want to say to you is to keep your mind sharp and utilize your creativity to come up with new solutions. Your illusion magic may currently be useless, but you now have necromancy to compensate for that. Give it your best shot!]”

With those final encouraging words from Hel, he nodded grimly and sprinted toward his enemies, where the final battle is sure to commence.

***

The four men were rushing towards the location where they had left Kayden’s allies for that was the most likely place that he had escaped to. And they were right.

But why did it take that long for them to figure it out? Well, Brandon wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, and Zhang was influenced by Ronald’s spell orb. Ronald himself was currently a big, dumb idiot. Oda was dead. Madison was knocked unconscious, and Ryan never knew where they tied up the bodies, so it did not even cross his mind until so much time had passed.

Ryan could now only hope that the thief didn’t just ditch everyone and left. That would have meant that everything they did until now would have been for nothing.

“Tsk! Why did you have to smack him so hard? You practically gave him a chance to escape!” he yelled at Zhang.

“Don’t you dare blame me! I’m not used to having this level of power! I didn’t think it would send him that far!”

“Argh! Whatever! Just—”

“Yoo-hoo! Looking for me?”

‘He’s here!’

That single thought flashed through everyone’s minds as they looked up toward the sky. Falling towards them at meteoric speed was a tall boy with a devilish grin on his face. Trailing swiftly behind him were several black tendrils that barely keep up with his speed, and the place that he was aiming for…

Was right at Ryan!

“F#ck! This guy’s targeting me—”

Slam!

As if he had been struck by a speeding train, a bear’s paw plowed into his gut and slammed him hard against the ground. Both blood and bile shot out from his open jaw, and Ryan could see the life flash before his eyes as a brown, grizzly bear roared right into his face.

“Bastard! You won’t escape this time!”

Zhang came flying in and threw a heavy punch, causing a massive beam of white energy to crash into Kayden’s body. He was knocked back quite a distance, but landed standing on his two feet.

He then swapped out of bear form and burst forward as his original self, forming an ice dagger in each hand.

Zhang threw another punch and sent out another blast, but Kayden dodged it easily.

As he drew into close proximity to Zhang, Kayden feinted a strike, before proceeding to sidestep out of the way and dash toward Ryan, leaving Zhang taken aback and enraged. From his point of view, one moment the thief was in front, and the next he was already only a few meters from Ryan.

Ryan’s bloodshot eyes shot open as he stared at the oncoming fiend. The end was coming, and he knew it, but he still tried his best anyway. A ball of blood and acid fired from his jaw like a cannon, forcing Kayden to briefly stop to avoid the blast

Unfortunately, that bought enough time for Brandon to step in from behind, swinging a massive, plasma axe that cleaved through the air. However, as if he had eyes at the back of his head, Kayden ducked and then proceeded to roll out of the way.

“Heh. Playtime’s over!” he shouted as he kicked himself off the ground, “Sub-Zero Dominion!”

[Legend Manifestation: Ruler of the Underworld has activated.]

[User is using tier 4^ spell: Sub-Zero Dominion]

A tense silence followed until suddenly, it was as if the world had frozen over. Frost covered every inch of everything within a fifty-meter radius. The trees, the rocks, and even the bloody mess that Ryan had made were encased in a thin layer of ice. If Kayden’s spell from before felt like taking an ice bath, the spell right now felt as if ice had been injected into their very veins.

A strong, chilly wind was blowing, with the epicenter of it all being Kayden himself. Ryan could feel himself struggling to keep himself planted to the ground, though his other teammates had no trouble dealing with it.

It was still four against one, and Ryan had no qualms that they would make it out on top. However, what happened next made him quickly reevaluate their positions.

Kayden sneered at them as he let the daggers in his hands fall to the ground. In their place, a burst of blue light shone in each hand, fading away in a second and revealing two crystalline contraptions.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Zhang, Ronald, and Brandon collapsed to the ground at the same time, clutching their stomachs and groaning in pain. It seems that their barriers stood no chance against the new weapons Kayden had made.

“W-what the hell?!” Ryan couldn’t help but yell out in shock. He recognized the contraption in Kayden’s hands. It was the same one that the drunken master of his had used when she taught them a lesson! Except for this time, the bullets were far more fatal.

Kayden grinned as he took a step forward. Unlike last time when his weapon exploded upon a single use, they were now fortified to the extreme. Not only did he now have more mana to make them, the new ability he got upon reaching level 20 made his ice spells far better in every regard, which included mana cost, duration, strength, and casting time.

With what Hel called a ‘gun’ in each hand, he pointed the ‘barrel’ at them and taunted,

“What’s wrong? Four B-ranks cannot even beat a measly C-ranked adventurer? I’d die of shame if I were you!”

He pointed his gun at Ryan, and mercilessly shot him in the leg. Ryan couldn’t help but scream in pain.

“ARGH! DAMN IT! JUST WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?”

In the depths of Ryan’s heart, fear began to blossom and overwhelm him completely. This entire time the thief had been deliberately aiming for him, and Ryan wasn’t naïve enough to think it a coincidence. The thief was trying to pick them off one by one, starting with him.

He refused to believe all this to be true. This had to be a nightmare.

‘Why is this kid so powerful? He’s… not even B-rank anymore! He’s an A rank! The difference between then and now is too much!’

“Y-you piece of shit! You’ve been toying with us this whole time! You led us to believe you were weak!”

Kayden stopped, positioning himself right over Ryan’s shivering body. He wasn’t smiling or laughing now, just a pure look of apathy on his face.

“You forced my hand, that’s all. This is what I have to sacrifice.”

Bang!

[B-ranked adventurer has been killed! You gain 13,800 EXP!]

Kayden sighed. It was an anti-climatic end to someone who brought him so much trouble.

“I suppose not everyone gets a dramatic end,” Kayden looked over at the remaining three, “And that goes for you three, too!”

“YOU BASTARD! I’LL F#CKING KILL YOU!”

With a roar of fury, Brandon charged forward with two massive greatswords in each hand. It was incredibly unwieldy, but Kayden supposed that his strength must be through the roof now that he was hurt so much.

Kayden stomped his foot, and a wall of ice erected in front of him, stopping the two swords in their place. Before, the ice would be cut through like butter, but now, no matter how hard Brandon tried pushing, his weapons never moved an inch.

“You weren’t lying when you said this ability was powerful. A jump from tier three magic to tier four magic makes a massive difference!” Kayden spoke casually like there wasn’t a bunch of people trying to kill him now.

“[As I said before, the System was originally meant to create a hero powerful enough to save the world. It wouldn’t be possible if it couldn’t even do this much.]”

Kayden chuckled as a man appeared behind him and tried to catch him by surprise. It was the bald berserker, and he came out swinging his blade wildly, only for his legs to freeze on the spot, rendering him completely immobile.

“It seems that size and muscle are all you two have! That’s quite unfortunate! What if someone’s larger and stronger than you? Will you guys not be able to do anything?” he asked, but he only received crazed shouts in reply. Kayden shook his head in disappointment.

“Well, want to find out?”

Tendrils of darkness began wrapping around his body, forming a tight cocoon that grew larger and larger in size. It grew until the size of a bear, but unlike before, it didn’t stop growing.

It became larger and larger until eventually, the cocoon ended up even taller than the shriveled trees.

Slash!

The cocoon suddenly split in half, horizontally, and so did a cluster of trees as a massive ice greatsword cleaved through the air. It beheaded the two men in a single strike, their heads flying off into the distance as their bodies still remained propped up by the summoned ice, cold and unmoving.

Another two anti-climatic ends for two B-ranks.

The cocoon then unfurled itself, revealing a twelve-meter-tall skeleton, the very same one that Kayden had fought. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to maintain this form for long, and just as quickly as it appeared, he shrunk back to his normal self.

After taking a few deep breaths, he turned to his final opponent.

“I’ve noticed that you haven’t tried anything to protect your men, even though you’re perfectly capable of doing so. What’s up with that?”

He had expected this fight to be tougher and was even hoping to use necromancy to summon skeletons or something. However, at this rate, the fight was going to end quickly. No, it shouldn’t have been this easy… It was a Goddess’ power after all.

The moment Kayden said those words, Zhang stopped feigning his pain. He stood up and nonchalantly dusted some frost off his chest, laughing after he did so. It was clear that the bullet had no effect on him. Falling onto the ground earlier had just been an act.

“Teammates can always be replaced, and with my newfound power, I can now easily join the ranks of A-ranked adventurers. My old party will no longer be needed.”

“Oh? And what makes you so sure that your power isn’t temporary? Also, after seeing all I have done, how can you remain so confident?”

“Heh! I have no doubts about your defeat! In exchange for your head, I’ll gain even more power!”

Zhang laughed again, but this time, Kayden could distinctly hear a shrill, feminine, voice laugh alongside him.

“[I sense the power of divinity! Be careful!]”

His body began contorting painfully as a surge of bright light began blasting out of his eyes and mouth. These beams of light shot out in multiple directions like some kind of rave party. It blinded Kayden’s eyes, and when he eventually opened them, he was met with a ghastly sight.

It was a monstrosity, a chimera of some kind, and Kayden couldn’t even begin to believe that the thing that stood before him used to be a human.

[Target is using tier 4 spell: Lunar Metamorphosis]