Chapter 133: [133] Upgraded Summons

You could be impaled by Inquisitor, dashed into pieces by Sumo, or be crushed by Mountain... but if there was one thing all monsters should pray to avoid, it was Jenna’s spell.

Ark was more than certain she had been a witch in her previous life...

Her spells were often instantaneous, coming out of nowhere, with her targets getting incinerated before realizing what had hit them. Thalia and countless others had been a victim of this...

But to see someone like her actually taking her time to cook up a spell... Ark’s heart wept for the Basilisks, because he knew that what awaited them was not a pretty death.

They were in the site of an active volcanic eruption, and yet... the air suddenly became frigid, as though they had been transported into the Arctic.

Jenna stepped forward, black fog swirling around her body as she raised her staff, and hundreds of pitch-black spikes began to appear in the air above her head...

It was clearly ice, but as to why it was that color, Ark had no idea...

"Black ice..." Thalia suddenly muttered in disbelief.

Ark glanced at her. "You know what it is?"

She nodded skeptically. "I have heard of it before. Correct me if I’m wrong, sir Euros... black ice is a primordial form of ice, it is a version closest to its most original form."

She paused briefly.

"I heard that those who manage to summon black ice are people who have gone through intense hardship in life... and as for the ice..."

Steam escaped her lips as goosebumps appeared on her skin. The air around them had already gotten that cold...

"It is so cold that it can freeze even mana..."

Swoosh!

Hundreds of icy spikes flew into the air like black arrows, blackening the already dark sky, just before coming down like a hailstorm.

Each basilisk it impaled was not only maimed by the arrows, they were also encased in a block of solid black ice that withstood even the heat of the lava...

But the spell had not been without cost, it had clearly taken a lot out of her... Ark could feel copious amounts of mana leave his body just to fill in the gap.

Jenna staggered backward, Sumo and Inquisitor quickly attempted to prevent her from falling, but Inquisitor was closer so he got to her first.

It was strange how almost... alive they felt sometimes.

The noisy battlefield settled into a still silence. There was no movement in the vast expanse of land, only death.

Limbs were scattered across the molten plain, broken bodies of monsters were left lifelessly staring into space, and black ice dotted the floor, blending perfectly well with the occasional chunk of obsidian...

Ark let out a breath and laughed, leaving Olivia and Thalia to once again stare at him as though he was mad. He was more than satisfied with the outcome of the test.

"You guys can rest, you have more than deserved it...." Ark instructed his summons, and they vanished into the shadows.

While Olivia and Thalia settled into a conversation with the deity, who was still there for whatever reason, Ark decided to check the notifications that he had skipped due to the fight.

[You have leveled up!]

[Level 10 >> Level 11!]

[You have received +7 stat points]

[You have leveled up!]

[Level 11 >> Level 12!]

[You have received +7 stat points]

Naturally, Ark immediately invested his points into mana, taking his mana points to a sweet 640! If he could progress as quickly as this, then it was only a matter of time before his evolution.

The only thing that could potentially hold him back was the second requirement for evolution...

[Advance two Dark Spells (0/2)]

Dark spells were either spells associated with the darkness element, or ’evil spells’ such as curses, necromancy, blood magic and the likes.

To evolve, Ark did not just need to obtain these spells, he had to use them enough for it to evolve...

’The only viable dark spell I have is Malformed Devourer...’ He mused as he stared at his system tab.

’I guess it is about time I invested in a skill tome.’

Skill tomes were magical books imbued with spells, all a player needed to do was infuse his mana into it over time in order to learn the skill.

Obtaining a skill tome did not automatically mean a player would obtain the skill, and the difficulty of obtaining the skill rose with the rarity of the tome.

But Ark was not like normal players. Unlike them, he did not need to infuse the tome with any mana, all he needed to do was harvest it to obtain the secrets of the tome.

’I’ll visit a tower when I get back...’ If he was lucky, he would get one with a very potent dark spell.

"Alright.." Ark turned around to face his party, interrupting their conversation. "You guys know we aren’t done here, right?"

Olivia frowned in confusion, then cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean? There is nothing left to fight... except you want us to go deeper, towards the volcano?"

Ark shook his head. "There will be no need... it will come for us soon."

Euros, Thalia and Olivia shared looks before glancing at him with puzzled expressions. Ark sighed, then he motioned at the corpses.

"Basilisks are solitary hunters. They will never band together like this, unless—"

"Something was leading the pack..." Thalia said in a low tone, the realization slowly hitting her.

Ark nodded. "And since their little hunting party has been dismantled, it will soon come to investigate."

A monster capable of leading a horde of Basilisks would be no easy foe... there was even a chance it would be a boss.

Ark’s bones trembled in anticipation, the monster he had fought so far had been too weak to even properly warm him up. Perhaps, this would be his chance to finally have a little fun...

"Well, I guess that is my cue to leave. Watching you guys slaughter more innocent monsters is sure to be rather boring. Besides...I’m done here."

He smiled as he glanced at the girls, then waved at them. "Bye, ladies!"

"Take care of yourself, Euros." Thalia smiled at the deity.

Olivia waved at him. "Don’t forget what I said, follow my instructions and you will be sure to snatch her heart!"

’What the hell did they talk about?’ Ark thought.

Euros turned around and frowned when he stared at him. "Goodbye, little undead..."

’Heh?’

It sounded like he had simply said it to fulfill all righteousness. He seemed to get along with the girls fine... there was only one reason he must have disliked Ark.

’He’s probably sexist...’

Ark couldn’t blame the guy... if Olivia was a man, he would have likely killed her fifty times already.

Euros’s body was slowly beginning to vanish when Ark’s demeanor shifted and he suddenly screamed, "WAIT!"

Euros paused his disappearance. "What do you want, little skeleton? I’m warning you, you better not be cooking up any scheme—"

"Me? Cook up a scheme against a mighty deity such as yourself? Phfft! I’m not that foolish..."

Euros eyed him warily. It was heartbreaking... even his party members did not seem to trust him.

Ark walked up to the deity and said in a polite tone. "I don’t want our meeting to end on a sour note." He sighed. "I have not been the kindest..."

"Kindest?" Euros frowned. "You were rude."

"Yes, and I apologize, forgive me." Ark’s tone lightened. "And from the very bottom of my heart. Thank you for helping me out today." Ark stretched out his hand...

There was no telling where he would meet the deity in the future, having a good relationship with one was paramount.

"Hmmph!" Euros scoffed and looked away like the diva he was. Then he glanced at the hand and smiled before shaking him.

"How can I call myself a deity if I cannot forgive mortals?" He laughed. "You’re not as bad as I thought, Ark...?"

Ark’s fingers suddenly tightened around his hand, his face turning into a blank, emotionless mask.

"Hmm? You have quite the grip, young man—"

"Hehehehehehe... got you, sucker!"

Euros’s face turned dark. "You bastard, what are you plotting?!"

He tried to pull back his hand, but it was already too late.

[Initiating Harvest....]

[Harvest...]