Leon watched as the armor clad skeleton came to life with a sparkle of awe and wonder in his eyes. He had seen this same thing happen when he first created Kaladin, and now, it was happening again. His mind was stunned by the visual flare of it all.
[Spirit Summoning has gained a level.]
[Spirit Summoning has gained a level.]
…
Whoosh! Clank!
When the wind died down, the skeleton immediately fell to the ground with one knee while bowing its head.
“Your wish is my command, master. Please name this humble servant.” Its deep voice rumbled through Leon’s ears.
“Hmm, let’s see… Your name shall be Nero.” Leon said after a moment of thought. Red light flashed through the gaps of the skeleton’s armor, and its eyes as it received its name.
“Thank you, master. I shall cherish this name you have given me!” Nero slammed his fist onto his chest.
“Good, good. Now, let us step out and visit the centipede nest.” Leon grinned and rubbed his hands together. He had initially not planned to go out, but after seeing how flashy it was to raise Nero, he suddenly wanted to oversee how well the new summon would fight.
“Oh right.” Leon snapped his fingers and called up Nero’s status.
[Summoning Appraisal]
Name: Nero
Race: Obsidian Skeleton Knight
Level: 1
Health Points: 500
Mana: 100
<Strength: 10>
<Agility: 10>
<Durability: 10>
<Intelligence: 5>
<Dexterity: 5>
Skills:
<Furious Slash level 1>, <Beginner Sword Mastery level 1>
Titles: None.
—
‘Oh? I can see that he is geared towards physical combat. And his health is very high compared to how Kaladin and myself started out. Pretty good.’ Leon thought to himself. He was happy to have another elite fighter under his command, and felt that it would be pretty nice to see how Nero would turn out as he grew stronger.
The group soon left the cathedral and Leon led them in a straight line for the centipede nest. He could feel his millipedes, and could tell their location easily. Most of them were currently probing the nest of the centipedes carefully to draw out the weaker ones so that the newly hatched Undead Millipedes could level up quickly. Leon chose to travel through a different route to see if he could find any lone centipedes for Nero to kill.
They traveled for some time before coming across a group of Ghost Centipedes that belonged to the lowest caste. Upon seeing Leon, the group of centipedes actually hesitated!
They hesitated!
This was a new emotion in the behavior of these creatures. Before, all they knew was to throw themselves at the enemy until they overwhelmed that enemy, but it seemed that those basic character templates that they had been born with had somehow been overridden with fear whenever they saw something that was not like them.
It was only after confirming that Leon was not a millipede that the centipedes actually had the gall to charge forward.
“Fight them, Nero.” Leon ordered and pointed forward.
Nero stepped forward, propping up his shield and sword before charging forward to meet the group of five centipedes in direct combat. The black blade of the special sword that he had been summoned with glowed with a blood red corona as he activated a skill.
<Furious Slash>!
Nero’s sword tore the the body of one of the centipedes in one smooth motion, before a few more flashes of light chopped it up into even more pieces. Like that, he unleashed a combo that easily killed a centipede in mere moment!
[Your Summon, Nero, has leveled up!]
…
The level up notification came a couple more times as Nero threw himself at the centipedes, easily cutting them apart with his <Furious Slash> skill. Whenever one tried to pounce at him, he would simply block it with his shield, and with his 500 health points as a buffer, they were never able to deal enough damage to put his life in danger.
“Good job, Nero.” Leon commended the armored skeleton and Nero bowed his head in thanks.
“Thank you, master.”
Leon absently waved as he thought, ‘I might have to drag on leaving the city soon. The centipedes need to produce fast enough so that I can let all the hatchling millipedes advance at least once, while Nero also needs to advance at least once.
Just thinking about it made him sigh tiredly. This was supposed to be something relatively simple, but now, he had too many creatures to raise.
“Well, the matter will solve itself for my direct followers when we leave. The Undead Millipedes we leave behind will only see some action when something approaches the town.” Leon nodded his head as he thought about it. “Welp, let’s keep going, guys.” He waved for the group to follow him. Like that, they kept on killing Ghost Centipedes, and Nero kept on leveling up. By the end of the day, he managed to reach level thirty. When the group returned to the cathedral, Leon felt extremely pleased with how the day went. He had power leveled Nero, and his millipedes continued to level up elsewhere. Things were going good.
.
.
While Leon was reveling in how well things had been going for him, a group of three rode on three horses as they travelled through a forest. A green haired, young man was seated atop the horse that led the way and he was currently examining a map in his hands.
“Are you sure we are going the right way?” A young lady with yellow hair and blue eyes asked exasperatedly.
“Of course, I’m sure! If you don’t believe me, then when we arrive at the next town, you can buy your own map.” Adrian sighed once again at how impatient Bella was being.
Malaki just laughed on top of his horse that was at the back, earning a frustrated look from Bella.
The three had already been travelling for more than a week, and had made good progress in their journey. If everything went well, then they would be arriving at their destination, the desolate ruins that they had chosen to explore, within two weeks.