33 Nether Advancing Cycle

Still maintaining his Grim Reaper form, James and several damned souls ran through the dark and cold forest. Since he did not want to draw the attention of the other beasts who had gone berserk on the command of the Level 4 monster, he could not afford to summon the corpses from the Army of the Fallen. Using his skill - Mana Manipulation, James ensured a pitch black darkness covered a 200m radius around him. Although some monsters had the ability in his artificially generated darkness, James knew they were in the minority. Most of them relied on their sense of smell and hearing in such a dark forest. Since his Grim Reaper form emitted no smell and made little noise as he ran, James had a 90% confidence he could evade most of the rampaging monsters. The only time he would face a problem was if he encountered any of the monsters who made up the 10% - those who had developed special organs to track their prey and nocturnal beasts.

Since the Spearhead Hydra ran towards the west, James ran towards the east. He hoped the screams of the beast earlier would chase away the weaker monsters, which would give him a clear path to flee. However, James had not forgotten about what Henriksen said. Since it was easy to get lost in the forest and lose track of one's direction, James did not want to be in an unfavorable position once the nether advancing cycle starts.

'I detonated seventy members of the Army of the Fallen with the purple soul purifying flame, yet it did not even injure the beast. It seems tricks will always be useless in the face of absolute power. I wonder what will happen if I tried the same trick with sorcerers or warriors on my level. It's a good thing I've enough samples to try it out,' James mused as he dashed through the thick forest. With the boost from his agility stat, he was several times faster than his normal human form.

As he ran, he could hear occasional sounds of explosions and faint howls of beasts. Although subtle, he could also hear screams of pain and agony, from what he presumed to be the other youths. With the help of his damned souls, he could easily maneuver through the chaotic forest. Anytime they informed him of an inevitable clash with a superior monster, he burrowed into the ground while using a corpse from the Army of the Fallen as bait. Others might consider his actions shameless, but James did not give a damn about their thoughts. He would do every and anything to ensure his survival.

…

A few hours later, the faint outline of the sun illuminated the crimson morning skies, and a chilling wind carrying a thick woody fragrance pervaded the air. Because of the forest's unique weather, a thick fog covered most parts of the forest. Unlike the previous night, the enraged howls of beasts and the echoes of explosions ceased. Instead, the Odon Forest had a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. With occasional chirping of birds and the rustling of the vegetation by the chilling wind echoing in various directions.

From the over hundred youths who arrived at the Odon Forest a few hours ago, only fifty of them remained. And over twenty of them were nursing one form of injury or the other. They were among the lucky few who survived the chaotic night. However, these youths had no reason to be excited yet. Because, in a few hours, the Nether advancing cycle would begin. And none of them looked forward to their deaths, especially after surviving the previous night. The only dilemma some of them faced, was whether the path they took faced the incoming wave of destruction.

Meanwhile, in a region of the forest predominated by redwood trees which towered over 50ft above the ground, James's figure ran through the somewhat rocky terrain. Over the last couple of hours, the unique topography and divergent vegetation he encountered left him awed. If not for the savage beasts, poisonous and man-eating plants, James believed it would have been a wonderful place to explore.

"Master, no sign of danger from the east."

"Master, no sign of danger from the south."

"Master, no sign of danger from west."

"Master, no sign of danger up ahead."

With a slight smile on his face, James stopped in his tracks after listening to the reports of the damned souls. Since he had been running all night and had little time to rest, he was heavily fatigued. Unlike before, the merged damned souls searched the top of the trees and underneath the earth. James did not want to leave anything to chance he was lucky the last time. Who knows if he'll have that same lucky next time.

Leaning against a redwood tree, James took in deep breaths to calm his tensed mind, while using his hands to wipe his sweaty face. Wearing tattered robes, he looked different from the James in the Tiodon Kingdom and the country of Antyork.

'Since I've found a peaceful location in this dark forest, it's time to test if I can complete the last ranking requirement.'

With this thought in mind, James suddenly spoke in a low voice, "Arise, Army of the Fallen."

Instantly, over fifty damned souls emerged from the earth like fiends who had escaped the depths of hell. Through his mental connection to the corpses, they all prostrated themselves on the floor the moment the emerged.

"System, what are the odds of extracting the soul in the corpses?" James asked.

<Ding! >

Calculating…

Calculation Completed!

The user has a 90% odds of successfully extracting the Item - Damned soul, from the Item - Army of the Fallen.

Warning!

The user cannot use the same vessel after extraction, and if the extraction process ends in failure, the user will lose both Items.

Item - Damned Soul, will revert to their unpurified form after extraction!

<Ding! >

"It's much better than I expected. Since it's only a 10% odds of failure, there should not be any problem," James muttered as he read the system's notification.

Without wasting time, he suddenly shifted to his Grim Reaper form, which made the already frightened corpses more agitated. In a swift and decisive motion, James grabbed one corpse by its head. While it shrieked, James ghoulish voice echoed, "Come out."

At that moment, the body of the corpse trembled as if it was undergoing a severe seizure. Which made the pitiful creature scream in a soundless voice while scratching its body with its hands as if it wanted to shed its physical form. While this corpse screamed in soundless agony, those prostrating on the ground cowered in terror. Even the merged damned souls became terrified when they watched the chilling scene. Even though they were all considered as undead, they felt absolute terror from watching James extract the damned soul in the corpse. What frightened them the most was the smile on James's face as he watched the creature scream.

'Hahaha… I wonder what kind of pain its experiencing. Well, this is only the beginning.'

With keen interest and a pleasant smile on his face, James watched as the damned soul slowly, but painfully extract itself from the corpse. Since the extraction started from the feet of the corpse, only the head of the damned soul had yet to emerge. However, just as the head of the corpse was about to emerge, its ethereal body shook violently. At that moment, the smile on James's face disappeared.

'Wait… wait, it can't be… No, no… no! I'm not that unlucky.'

While this thought occupied James's mind, the system notification followed.

<Ding! >

Extraction Process has failed!

<Ding! >

Before James could even complain, the trembling damned soul and the corpse turned into ash and stardust.

"Damn it…" James cursed. However, he did not think too much of it. "You, get over here," James said as he pointed as a trembling corpse. Even without looking at James, the corpse knew it was the one James commanded. With its wobbly legs, he hurried over to James's position with its head lowered. Without saying a word, James grabbed the head of the corpse and started the extract process again. Even if his luck was that rotten, he had over four hundred damned souls in his inventory and several corpses too. With the extraction started, the corpse screamed just like the one before it. Meanwhile, James was not in the mood to enjoy it this time. In fact, his attention was already on another corpse, in case the current extraction ended as a failure, too.

After a few seconds, the current corpse reached the same point the previous corpse met its demise. Watching with keen interest, James hoped the extraction would end in success. However, the damned soul's purple body shook violently the moment its head emerged from the corpse.

'You've got to be kidding me. Wasn't it supposed to be a 90% success rate?'

While this thought occupied James's mind, the system notification followed.

<Ding! >

Congratulations!

Extraction Process has succeeded!

<Ding! >

"What? A success? Then why is it shaking? Is…" Before James could finish his statement, great changes occurred to the body of the damned soul. Its purple body was slowly changing to blood red. What surprised James the most, was a purple flame gathering above the body of the damned soul.

'Soul purifying flame?'

A few seconds later, the damned soul had reverted to its previous form before being baptized by the soul purifying flame.

Before James could even react, the purple flame shot towards his empty eye sockets. At that moment, James's body trembled slightly, "I understand now. Why did I take so long to try this? Hahaha… Well, it's not too late to try it now," James muttered with a sickening smile on his face.

He had a flash of inspiration on how to complete the last ranking requirement after absorbing the remnants of the soul purifying flame. With a chilling smile on his face, he summoned another two corpses. Meanwhile, James summoned the two best merged damned soul in his inventory to watch over the frightened, reverted damned soul. Now that he had a flash of inspiration, he did not want it to flee.

…

Unlike before, the sun had set in the beautiful skies over the Odon Forest. Bathing it with its warm and brilliant light. Five hours had gone by since James started his experiment, and there were over three hundred red damned souls prostrated in midair, as they cowered in terror. Apart from these damned souls, several merged damned souls and ordinary damned souls surrounded these frightened souls like guards. After the first failure, he had only failed another forty-nine more times. But he succeeded four hundred and fifty times from his five hundred attempts. Although James regretted sacrificing his disposable corpses, he had no choice. Because, he could not afford to remain as a mere Apprentice in such a treacherous place. If he did not complete the last ranking requirement soon, it was tantamount to signing his own death warrant.

If other people were to stumble upon this scene, it would make most of frightened out of their mind. Although the chilling sight of a Grim Reaper standing amidst corpses was enough to induce fear in anyone's heart, the more terrifying scene occurred in the spirit realm beyond the physical perspective.

"System, send the items to my Inventory," James said while holding the head of a screaming corpse. The number of damned souls extracted satisfied him. Immediately after he gave the order, a blinding light covered all Items classified as Damned Souls by the system.

<Ding! >

Congratulations!

The user has stored 450 damned souls in the inventory!

<Ding! >

Nodding his head, James stared at the newly emerged red damned soul with a brilliant smile on his face. Although nothing prevented it from fleeing, it did not have the courage to do. Especially when it looked into James's empty eye sockets which harbored the soul purifying flame and the Hellfire flame.

Without paying attention to the frightened damned soul, James reverted to his human form as he sat on the ground while resting his back on a redwood tree. With his eyes closed, James assumed a meditative demeanor while breathing in a rhythmic pattern. However, no changes occurred both in the physical and spirit realms.

'In order to begin the crystallization process, the user must be in perfect sync with physical realm and spirit realm while absorbing the souls of the damned.'

James muttered the system's message on how to complete the crystallization process repeatedly in his mind.

'After absorbing the remnants of the soul purifying flames, it think I know what the system was talking about. Absorbing a damned soul in my Grim Reaper form is next to nothing. I can also the do the same in my human form through the help of the system. However, what will happen if I absorb a damned soul from the physical realm through the system while also absorbing it from the spirit realm through my Grim Reaper form?' James mused while exhaling deeply.

Meanwhile, the damned soul who had been cowering in fear earlier became puzzled when it saw James transform to a human. When James sat on the ground and ignored its presence, it became more confused. Since the soul purifying flame wiped the essence of the soul, the soul did not know it was once James's lackey. And the only reason it felt tremendous fear towards James was because of the two flames he had in his Grim Reaper form. Since James had reverted to his human form, the damned soul saw no reason to be afraid of James, or why it should remain in its current location.

Having come to this conclusion, the damned soul fled. The moment the distance between the damned soul and James was about 30m, James's body trembled violently, and a series of eerie phenomenons followed. A strong wind suddenly whistled through the redwood dominated area, which caused the massive tress to rumble in response while its gray clover-shaped leaves fell on the ground. Meanwhile, the biggest changes occurred to James who continued to tremble like a convulsive patient. The strong wind originated from a whirlpool forming over his head, which released a horrifying aura.

The damned soul who fled earlier, suddenly felt as if something marvelous called it back to where it fled from. It was just like a sailor lost at sea enticed by the call of a siren, the urge to satisfy their desires outweighed their trepidation. Like a moth chasing after the flame, the damned soul ran towards the whirlpool floating above Jame's trembling body with a faster speed than it used when fleeing.

With a few meters, separating the damned soul and James, It could see fresh blood dripping from James's nose. At that same moment, James body seemed to flicker in and out of existence. Almost as if his human form and that of his Grim Reaper form were merging and separating at the same time. The shocking sight woke the entranced stupor, however, it was already too late. Because, the suction force of the whirlpool was greater than what the damned soul expected.

Before it could even regret its actions, the whirlpool devoured it while it screamed in agony. At that same moment, the outline of a translucent white mask formed on James's right hand. The whirlpool suddenly spat a whitish blue ethereal wisp of energy towards the white mask which it absorbed greedily. However, the energy was miniscule. Because, there were no changes to the mask after absorbing the energy.

A few seconds later, the masked, and the whirlpool disappeared. The strange environmental changes that accompanied it also disappeared. James's trembling body regained its calm, but fresh blood continued to fall from his nose and the sides of his mouth.

The moment the mask and the whirlpool disappeared, a familiar sound echoed in James's mind.

<Ding! >

Congratulations!

The user has absorbed one soul of the damned!

Crystallization process status: 30.09% (+0.09).

<Ding >

James's tightly shut eyes snapped open. Just like his nose and his mouth, he bled from his eyes, too. However, his eyes looked different. His left pupil had a deep purple color just like the soul purifying flame, while his right pupil had a scarlet red color like the hellfire flame.

<Ding! >

Warning!

As per the user's instruction, the Nether advancing cycle would begin in five minutes!

<Ding! >