The Zombie King's Treasure.

When Adrian activate Life Hunt on the Superclass level soul he felt the largest rush of energy going toward his soul. He closed his eyes as he watched his own soul devour more and more energy from the purest and strongest soul he had ever had access to.

He felt like he broke some kind of limit and pure soul energy rushed toward his soul. The soul in his hands shrunk as his soul grew larger by the second. After he absorbed half of the soul he felt light-headed.

<Adrian, I would stop.>

"I know."

Adrian stored what remained of the soul as he closed his eyes. His soul seemed to have grown 4 times larger and that was just the start. Adrian fell on his ass as he grit his teeth to deal with this. His soul seemed a bit unstable as unlike the souls from Dark Souls which were normal to absorb, souls outside of that were much more unique.

<Your soul has broken its limits.>

Adrina felt as his explosion of energy erupted in his soul causing his eyes to shoot open as pure soul energy rushed through his body. His soul was dispersing some of the energy in it toward his body to let him get stronger without needing to absorb more souls.

His entire body was saturated with soul energy which fused into his tissues causing him to feel like ants were in his body.

"FUCK! It itches."

<Soul energy has fused into your body. Even the most grievous of wounds will heal far faster than before. Your body is now resistant to soul attacks and magic. Your very body will now be linked with your soul.>

Adrian rose to his feet as he felt the excess energy go toward his sword and armor. Hannibal roared at the feast of energy and by the end of it, Adrian felt that he could destroy entire countries.

"Hila, how strong am I now?"

<In terms of power you would be in the top 10 of the old ranking of that world. Sadly your wish to increase the danger has been accepted. In DxD, the rankings can be seen as Rank 10-0. 0 being the strongest and 10 being the weakest.

You are rank 5, while Amara is rank 3. You are a powerful being, but there are still dangers in the new world of DxD. Do not get complacent.>

"Oh right. If I am rank 5, it means I am at least in the top 50 while Amara is in the top 30. Can I ask how strong Lucifer is?"

<Lucifer is rank 5. You will just have to fight him to find out how strong he is>

"I like the sound of that."

Adrian popped his neck as he felt the power flow through his body. He drew his greatsword that ignited in Abyss Fire.

"Time to test it."

He held the giant blade with both hands and raised it to the sky. He cleaved down toward the ground causing a giant explosion to rock the entire field. Adrian exhaled as he looked at the danger he caused.

A giant pit formed that was comparable to the one that Amara caused with pure brute strength.

"Not too shabby."

'Master, you are as incredible as always.'

From her eyes he saw revelry.

"You are stronger than me Amara."

'And you are my master. Does that not make you more incredible?'

"I guess it does, let's check out the castle."

From his shadow emerged his 500 Abyss Knights who all kneeled before him with their shields and swords planted to the ground.

"Alright, we explore that castle. Take every valuable you see. If it is shiny, take it. If it looks like a statue, take it. If it looks like it can be melted down, take it. If it is a book, take it as well. Even furniture is no exception. Leave no stone overturned, check every wall."

They all roared as they put their blades and shields away. It was time to loot, but first they had to open the front gates. Adrian and Amara walked toward the unburied castle that seemed to be in the style of what was expected from the undead. It was black and the statues around depicted different undead ranging from zombies, skeletons, and vampires.

"I wonder why the only thing we fought was zombies. Hila, any answer to this?"

<The Undead Kingdom was taken from a fantasy world in a different reality. From what I can access, the other undead all fled when the Demons killed the Zombie King. Only the zombies stayed behind waiting for the day of his resurrection.>

"Interesting. Amara, can I ask you to open the gate. Try not to smash it though."

'I got it.'

The giant dragon rose to her back legs and used her front arms to move the gate open. Adrian did not know what to expect from an undead castle, but he wondered if the Zombie King really did kill his entire subjects for their souls.

He pulled out the two blades the Zombie King used starting with the karate.

<A black blade forged from the bones of a Zombie Dragon for the Zombie King as a gift. This blade served the King for many centuries until his kingdom was assaulted by the invading Demons.>

"A dragon weapon. What about the other one?"

He grabbed the second sword to show to Hila. When she scanned it she gave the history behind it.

<Since the beginning of the Zombie Kingdom this sword has been the duty of the King to guard. Forged from the soul of the Demon King of Magic. A powerful weapon that is also a double-edged sword. The soul in the blade gives power at the cost of the life of the wielder.

He did not expect something like Amara to be in your service.>

"Hila, do you know what kind of Demons are on the second floor. Do you mean Demons from Hell, Daemons from the Warp, or just humanoids that call themselves Demons?"

<I do not know until you go to the second floor.>

"Fine."

Now that the door was open Adrian looked at his waiting Abyss Knights.

"Go."

The 500 giant knights rushed in and separated as they did as he ordered. They collected every piece of metal they could find and piled it outside. This included swords, armor, table wear, and jewelry. While the Demons had their fun Adrian entered the castle as their didn't seem to be any traps.

Amara stayed outside as she was far too large to enter. She cursed as she wanted to learn how to shrink already.

"This place ain't bad."

As he said that, his knights carried out what looked like a stuffed Griffon.

'Hila?'

<It seems to be a Royal Griffon. It is only the hyde, feathers, claws, fur, and beak. No flesh or bones remain inside.>

"You, you 4 bring that here."

The Knights rested the giant stuffed Griffon in front of Adrian. It was 30 meters long and the main decoration of the main hall.

"Hila, can you simulate what its organs should have looked like. I think as long as I recreate the proper anatomy, just the outside should be good enough. As for the soul, I will think about it."

<I can probably do just that if you leave this in your inventory for a while. I will have to analyze the stuffing and recreate it from scratch.>

"Do it."

The Griffon was stored in his inventory as Hila began to scan the body to recreate the proper internal composition. While she did that, Adrian looked around as anything of value was taken away by the Abyss Knights.

"Might as well check the lower levels. That is most likely where the treasure and tombs are."

Adrian looked around until he found the path to the lower levels. The artwork and design of the castle changed when he got down as he saw what he could only call religious symbols. A statue with a zombie holding his guts to the sky appeared more often.

Some with their hearts in their hands or even their limbs.

"Ok, that looks messed up. However, it does look like what zombies would use for their tombs."

<You would be correct.>

"I thought you would be too distracted by the job I gave you."

<That would be inefficient. I have found 45% of the Griffon's internal body and just need a few hours to complete it.>

"Thank you, Hila."

From behind him came 30 Abyss Knights who rushed at the statues ripping them out of the ground. They carried them away with care like they were holding treasure. He stopped to watch them and after 10 minutes not a single statue remained, but they were not done.

There were more floors to explore and more Abyss Knights went down to look for more of the designated items.

"They are efficient."

Adrian walked down to the depths of the castle as he looked for the tomb. He was forced to walk down several levels passing armor, statues, and weapons, but no traps.

"Maybe they decayed after being buried in the sands for so long."

<I do not think so. I think you absorbing the soul of the King had something to do with it.>

"Possibly."

Adrian went down another level and he saw just what he was looking for. Bodies, tens of thousands of bodies. All of them were fully armored with their weapons and gear with them.

"Hila?"

<These are the bodies of the Zombies. I count a total of 30 thousand in this tomb. They were asleep before the King returned and saw you as a threat worthy of sacrificing his people. No souls.>

Adrian reached out and stored all of the bodies. They had mages, archers, shielders, knights, and rogues. Silver Knight and maybe Black Knight souls would work to fill in the spot as they had slightly similar bodies.

"Amazing. Too bad the cheating bastard wasted all those souls. Oh wait, all that energy went toward me. In the end, all the energy is mine anyway."

<Yes.>

Adrian looked around the tomb and found that the treasury was supposed to be guarded by the Zombies.

"Wow, the King killed the guards. That is hilarious."

Adrian walked past where the bodies used to be and approached the giant door. He felt a reaction from his soul and the door which opened up for him.

<I was right. The soul of the Zombie King gave you authority to enter the treasury.>

Adrian agreed as he entered inside. When he opened his eyes he saw a glittering mountain of treasure. They included jewels, weapons, coins, and armor. Some of those coins were not gold, but he considered them even more valuable than gold.

<Mithiral, Orchicalucum, and Adamantium coins. Only rich kingdoms would use such metals for such a thing as coins.>

"Store all of it."

The whole pile vanished but left behind a pile of rings.

<Those are storage rings. I thought you should check them out first.>

Adrian picked one up and checked inside of it. What he saw felt far more valuable than the other treasure he saw. This ring contains only two things. One was a giant corpse and its soul.

"Is that a Tarrasque? By Death herself, I made it big right now. Were these zombies from DnD or what?"

The same ring also contained another giant body which took most of the rest of the ring. It was the body of a giant purple worm that made him grin. The souls of both were still in the ring meaning he could create two giant Abyss Demons for the war.

Hila answered his question before he got too distracted.

<Most likely not. Probably it is only a creature that resembles what you see as a Tarrasque. Either way for a Demon crafter this is just what you were looking for.>

Adrian checked another ring and found this one was full of DnD wyvern bodies and souls. It was full to the brim making him wonder why these zombies had so many bodies and souls stored.

<I believe the Zombie King at one point was a necromancer. He probably wanted to rise those creatures one day, but he died before he could do so. Now you have gained his bodies.>

Adrian kept checking the rings and found far more bodies that made this trip worth it. He gained several dragon bodies that the Zombie King had gathered for him. Even a Unicorn body which made Adrian remember the lore behind DnD Unicorns.

"Guess that the Zombie King did not fear Celestials or something. Thank you, Zombie King."

He stored everything and left. He decided to let the rest of the castle be explored by his Knights before he went to the second floor. When he got out he saw giant piles of different statues, metal, weapons, armor, and books They were neatly arranged by type and one of them was pretty much scrap.

What did draw his attention was another Stuffed Griffon and even a few more stuffed bodies Even a few bears and Owlbears. Hila spoke about the Griffon he was looking at.

<The one in your inventory is male. This one is female. Royal Griffons mate for life so the Undead Kingdom hunted most beings. I believe the ones that were stuffed refused to submit and become undead.>

Adrian waited another hour for his Abyss Knights to finish taking everything of value. Once they finished Adrian got ready to ascend to the second floor. However he was curious about something.

"Before I go to the second floor, what about the others. What did they do while I was here?"

<Seraphine, August, Solaire, Artorias, Sif, and Priscilla have already gone to the second floor. The others are exploring the first floor or recovering. No one died if that is what you are asking>

"Alright, can you send them a message?"

<Yes."

"Tell them to rise to the 5th floor, but no further."

<Done."

Once he was ready Adrian opened the portal to the second floor.

"Time to test me some Demons."

He entered the portal leaving not even a scrap of treasure in the castle. It was time for the second floor.