Chapter 50 Aftermath

Samiel killed tons of Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps during the siege of the Zephystrand. After two more hours of intense fighting and killing Monstrous Spiders and Ettercaps, the battle was finally done, and the Magical Beast Horde was over.

"Ahh... that was a good one; it was a long time since I could let loose of myself."

Samiel mumbled under his breath, looking at his bloody armor, which was dripping with the blood of Ettercaps and Monstrous Spiders. The last time he could lose himself like this was on Earth, but that was not entirely as entertaining as this one because there he was slaughtering only ordinary Mortals, who didn't come into contact with Mana.

"I should probably return back to the City... Yvraine should be worried about me... probably."

He said to himself as he noticed that he was relatively far away from the Zephystrand, as he pursued some enemies that wanted to escape.

"Let the Void be your resting grave, and bring the peace to my soul, and damnation of the Outsidness to my enemies."

He then recited the short prayer he heard in his dream as he went back to the City.

After he returned to the City, he went directly to Yvraine to pass her the corpse of mutated Ettercap. He knew that the Ettercap was a weird one, just by the presence of Lolth's Divine Runes over his body, so something nefarious was happening in the shadows.

When he returned to the Zephystrand, he could see that everybody was but gloomy, especially the City Guards and Silvermoon Knights, as they were aware that neither Monstrous Spiders nor Ettercaps were native species to the 3rd Floor and that this story had not ended yet.

"When you said you have a gift for me, I thought it would some more... or not this."

Yvraine pointed at the corpse of big mutated Ettercap, as she was annoyed for some reason, and Samiel just grinned at her provocatively. He had just arrived at the Citadel, and the moment he found Yvraine, he dropped the corpse of the Ettercap in front of her, giving her a small bow, like presenting a gift to her.

"End this charade and look at the Ettercap; something was weird about this one."

Said Samiel, irritated, as he pointed at the corpse of mutated Ettercap. Yvraine just frowned but still inspected the killed Ettercap as she cast several detection spells on him before her frown deepened, and now it was replaced with a grim look.

"You were right... surprisingly."

She stated as she cast some fire spell that burned down the corpse of the Ettercap. This was one of the Divine Spells she was bestowed by her Goddess, called Moon Flame, which was specifically targeted at anything related to the Drow Gods as their eternal enemy.

"So, what did you find out?"

Questioned Samiel, knowing that nothing good came out of it. Even before Yvraine cast detection spells on it, he could sense this would be pretty fucked up, and fortunately, he wouldn't be disappointed.

"Surely created by Lolth's foul powers and... it was possessed by the Drider through some kind of possession magic. While crude work, it impresses to see on such low levels."

As expected, Yvraine was easily able to identify what had happened to the big mutated Ettercap.

"And that means?"

Asked Samiel as he sat down at the nearest chair that was there. The entire meeting room in the Citadel was empty, and aside from him and Yvraine, nobody was present.

"That this was just a start, they were probably testing waters, and whatever that Drider is doing here is nothing good for us. Drows are always scheming something bad and nefarious."

She answered, as their troubles on the 3rd Floor were just starting.

"Meow."

Samiel turned around as he saw Nefertari arrive from somewhere. He didn't really know what his familiar was doing, as she was sleeping at the Moon Pond when the Magical Beast Horde attacked, so he thought she remained there sleeping.

'Hooman, I am tired; scratch me on my head and behind my ears and under my chin.'

He heard Nefertari's voice in his head as she jumped on his lap, and he just scratched her as she wished. Indeed, as he predicted, she slept through the entire Magical Beast invasion and now has just woken up for some rubs and scratches and, certainly, food.

'You were too fighting?'

He asked out of curiosity as she noticed some drops of blood on her pitch black fur and on her tiny wings.

'Those foul creatures disrupted my nap time, so I went out and killed a few of them... but none were match for a might of the almighty Elder Wampus Cat.'

She stated haughtily as she purred due to Samiel's scratching her behind her ears. Nefertari was very powerful and could effortlessly kill even Bronze-Tier professionals when she attacked from shadows or used her innate abilities.

Thus it was not really surprising to hear her able to kill a whole bunch of Bronze-Tier Ettercaps and Monstrous Spiders and an untold number of lower-tiered ones.

"Are we going to search for that Drider? He must be hiding somewhere on the 3rd Floor... probably in the vicinity of the Zephystrand, and highly possible planning another attack."

Asked Samiel, as he would need sooner or later, to leave the Zephystrnad City to find and kill Ruler-type Magical Beast to complete a Unique Mission. So searching for one Drider during that didn't really mean any problem, but on the contrary, it seemed thrilling.

From what Samiel knew, the Drider was peak Bronze-Tier, meaning he was Level 50 and belonged to Elder Race such as Drows, so he wanted to fight with that Drow. Not to mention that all Drows were so-called Battle Race; all of them were natural born higher and warriors; they even developed several combat-related Classes which incorporated various forms of Magic.

This was the manifestation of his thirst to fight stronger opponents.

***

Several days later, Samiel was devouring one soul after another as he harvested several thousands of them during the siege of Magical Beast Horde. Damages done to Zephystrand City were already repaired, as there weren't many in the first place.

Unfortunately, all these souls were of low quality and didn't really increase his power too much.

But after he devoured more than two thousand of them, he finally felt his level to increase to Level 17. This time he attempted to use souls to increase his level, but the effect was even worse than suing Steel-Tier Mana Crystals, as it was lower.

[Your proficiency with the Ultimate Ability Soul Devour has been increased by 3%]

After he reached Level 17, he opened the small notebook, and he scribed something on it. After writing there for two or three minutes, he closed it and put it down next to him.

He was currently sitting on the balcony of the Citadel of the Zephystrand as he was enjoying the beautiful morning.

"You know how to write... really, every day you learn something new."

Said Yvraine as she entered the balcony.

Samiel grimaced, and as he stretched his hand to throw something at her, he realized that the only thing in his vicinity was his notebook. So, in the end, he refrained from it.

"So, what are you writing?"

Asked Yvraine as Samiel nodded, signaling her she could read it. Even though she appeared to be in her more arrogant mood, Samiel knew that Yvraine was just grumpy after the morning.

"Rule number 1: Souls are best from sentient species. Tortured ones give more power and are tastier. A small note on the side: Emotional torture is best, especially on the innocent ones are most preferable.

Rule number 2: Still don't know..."

Did she look confused? Or whatever as she read it out loud. It seemed like a diary of a psychotic murderer, but then she realized whom it belonged, and it fitted.

"What? Can't I write a book?"

He pretended to be offended as he looked at Yvraine while she just smiled at him.

"You know, if you are not scowling or frowning, you have a beautiful smile."

This genuinely caught her off guard, but she didn't let it pass and returned the book to Samiel, who then stored it in his Dimensional Storage.

"As an Eldritch, I grow by feeding on souls, but that was something that you noticed when you met me, right?"

He asked as she nodded and sat down next to him. He knew that many people could discern that what he was due to the special aura he was giving off. Still, unfortunately, he didn't know a method of how to conceal it.

They never properly spoke about these kinds of things, as they just came to some sort of silent conclusion to ignore it. Samiel never really talked about what he was, and Yvraine was the same, and like one would say, ignorance is bliss.

"You know, most people would be scared out of their wits to even hear of the existence of Eldritch Beings."

He stated as he watched the sun rising on the horizon.

"But I am not most of the people."

She answered flatly.

"No, you are not. You are arrogant, posh, and insufferable on top of that."

Samiel stated cheekily, in an attempt to rile her up, but Yvraine just frowned, hearing him to say that.

"And you are a madman who sacrifices innocent to his Gods and tortures others whom he finds lesser for fun."

She bit back as he was lost in thoughts for a bit. Not that she cared if it would offend him, but she was concerned about something else entirely.

"If that is a problem for you, then we can part our way and never meet again... maybe on the battlefield, be it as enemies or allies then."

He said as now Yvraine froze a bit and thought she might sound like some self-righteous bitch who wanted him to stop or whatever the tropes of these people were.

"I don't care what you did or what are you are doing... might makes right as they say, and in the end, all morality, talk about what is right and what is wrong is worthless in my opinion. In the great scheme of things, everything is insignificant, and only power matters."

She stated after several minutes of uncomfortable silence they experienced after her previous statement.

"Hhahahahaha."

Suddenly Samiel laughed as he heard that; he stood up and looked at the rising sun. The wind was blowing; his long red hair fluttered and created a very handsome image of him, at least to Yvraine, who would never say something like that out loud.

"Acceptance... what a weird feeling."

He said silently, but she heard it clearly, as she revealed a small gentle smile.