Evolution

…..

After their discussion that lasted several hours, Lethia had returned to her estate, lying alone on the roof under the darkness, lost in some thoughts.

Through the discussion, she informed her father of the progress of their plan and how long it would take for completion. Her father wasn't pleased to hear the little progress that has been made, but their plan was a tedious one.

Unfortunately, the plan involved a lot of small variables that needed to be perfect or they couldn't succeed.

Just entering the middle lands was difficult in itself, let alone the highlands. Thanks to dozens of loyal dhampirs, who possessed a resistance to sunlight, at least they knew about the things they had to be careful about, but it's still clear that there were many secrets that the dhampirs wouldn't have found.

No matter how much or how long they searched, the humans must've had something that they didn't find.

"Why does something that seems simple have to be so troublesome?" Gazing at the darkness, Lethia muttered as if talking to herself.

It had been two weeks since she first started, yet she had made little progress. Raising over a thousand zombies took this long. How long will it take to raise the millions or even billions that she needs?

The zombies themselves weren't the problem; instead, the materials needed to create one were. To create a single zombie, she needed a lifeless human, but that wasn't all. The human's body had to be intact or else her spell wouldn't bring them back—not as a part of the living but as a part of the undead.

"At this rate, it'll be unlikely that we'll finish this before the year ends. Who knows what might happen before that time?" Lethia let out a sigh. "So troublesome. I'll have to prepare just in case a war breaks out between the humans. This plan could start a war, which would hinder our speed even more than it already does."

The air was cold and refreshing, and a strong wind stirred her beautiful silver hair, creating a strong but somehow pleasant feeling on her skin.

She remained on the roof, under the darkness, not realizing when she fell asleep. Even though she didn't need the necessities of sleep as humans do, she enjoyed doing it, letting her stressed mind be free of it all.

****

The faces of the zombies started turning pale, as if the little life they had after becoming undead was disappearing.

At the same time, Aurora felt as if her body was greedily absorbing the dark energy of each and every zombie.

This was a strange yet wonderful feeling. It felt as if she was becoming stronger.

The zombies all tried to resist. However, their resistance was futile in front of Aurora's devouring skill. It was no different from an ant trying to forcefully stop a giant elephant.

The dark energies were devoured completely by Aurora! The zombies' movements stopped the moment the dark energy inside the dark cores was devoured.

The whole process was over in just five hours!

Aurora opened her eyes. Her face was plastered with surprise! She hadn't expected her growth to be this much!

[Name: Aurora (Heavily Weakened)]

[Race: Demi Goddess, Succubus Empress (Locked), Snow Demi-Goddess (Locked), Fire Demi-Goddess (Locked), Zombie]

[Sex: Female]

[Titles: First Universe Tier, Daughter of Chaos and Order, Empress of Lust, Submissive, Sex Demon Slayer, Creator of Neko Succubus, Incubus Genocider, Incester, Brutal Slayer, Monster Genocider, Diligent Worker, Lazy Ass, Empress of Sloth, Empress of Diligence, Gorgan Servant Slayer, Ant Genocider, Guild Master Of The Moonlight Guild, Last Snow Woman, Ascended Monster (995,574,946/1 Billion Humans Killed), Merciful, Hybrid Nymph Slayer, Ice Princess, Naga Slayer, Ogre Killer, Empress of Wrath, Undead Slave]

[Level: 17 (Divinity Rank 1 (Locked)]

[HP: 320/320 (Locked) (True Value 1 Billion)]

[DP: 240/240 (MP Locked) (True Value 10 Billion)]

[SE: 0/3,392,050 (Locked)]

[STR: 12 -> 35 (Locked)]

[VIT: 14 -> 38 (Locked)]

[INT: 64 -> 83 (Locked)]

[AGI: 7 -> 29 (Locked)]

[DEX: 5 -> 26 (Locked)]

[DEF: 11 -> 32 (Locked)]

[CHA: 3,402,088 -> 3,402,112]

[Unassigned Stat Points: 20 -> 0]

[Balance: 100.52 Million USD]

[All stats are drastically weakened due to Order and Chaos' punishment.]

[Magic: Demonic Magic - Tier 8; Arcane Magic - Tier 6; Curse Magic - Tier 1; Undead Magic - Tier 1]

[Magic Skills: Imagination Creation, Corruption Manipulation, Void Shift, Void Step]

[Active Skills: Telepathy, Future Sight, Imperceptibility, Necromancy]

[Passive Skills: Omni Weapon Proficiency, Regeneration]

[Arts: Dark Arts, Demonic Arts, Assassination Arts]

[Perception Skills: Danger Detection, Extrasensory Perception, Thermal Perception, Enhanced Instincts]

[Resistance Skills: Disease Immunity, Contaminant Immunity]

[Innate Skills: Chaos (42.9% Unlocked), Order (14.3% Unlocked), Devour, Conversion, Claw Retraction]

Initially, a zombie's stats were the weakest in comparison to other undead, but, completely contrary to the common sense of this world, her basic stats had jumped to a tier higher than the undead at her level in an instant. There was also more than one cause, and that was her system, which proved time and time again that it was broken.

Unfortunately, Aurora had devoured the last of the zombies. She was three levels away from her second evolution, but she would have to wait as she couldn't devour any more dark cores unless she wanted others to notice the sudden disappearance of zombies.

Aurora stood up and stepped out of the small cavern. She had increased her strength enough that she felt a little satisfied with it. However, her strength wasn't close to rivaling Lethia's or Malik's. She needed to make some preparations before the battle began!

****

While Aurora made some preparations for the battle that was to come with the help of Amia, Malik, on the other hand, had left the mine hours earlier with the thoughts of becoming stronger.

The vampires had two main ways they used to improve their strength. The first being the most common way, which was to devour dark cores, and the second being hunting. Vampires could slay a demon or human and consume their blood to both replenish and increase their strength. This was both the quickest and the most dangerous.

Consuming the blood of humans was the safest, but for that, one would have to enter the Middle lands only to find humans to feast on. However, on the other hand, consuming demons could be incredibly dangerous. A demon could possess blood that was poisonous to vampires, but they were easy to find as demons belonged to the dark lands.

As for Malik, he despised the thought of simply devouring dark cores and increasing his own strength without having to walk on the thin line as he tried to find the correct path that wouldn't lead him to his eventual death.

Not even for a moment was he frightened that he could die from one droplet of a demon's poison. Instead, he considered it his fate. If he died at the hands of the poison or succumbed to the strength of a demon, he wouldn't be angered by that.

This gave him a sense of thrill during a battle with the unknown.

"This time that b*tch won't open her eyes again after she returns. She will regret everything she has done to me." Malik had finished off the last of the demons, staining his deep-red sword in blood as he muttered.

Malik was close to evolving into a peak vampire, an evolution under Lethia's. He only needed to consume a few hundred more demons for him to evolve.

"According to that woman's estimates, Lethia will return in two days after she left, leaving only a little more than one day."

Malik felt a strong presence trying to close in on him. He turned around and asked.

"Why don't you show yourself? Didn't you come here specifically to become the nutrients I need to evolve?" A grin spread across Malik's face as he sensed his meal coming closer.

The demon appeared out of thin air. "A vampire like yourself shouldn't overestimate their enemy, much less a demon. As you're still young, I'll grant you a painless death. I hope you don't make this mistake again."

The demon turned into a mist and disappeared from sight. The demon seemed to belong to the race of shadow demons.

Clank~

A loud, almost metallic sound echoed as Malik blocked the demon's attack with his sword, only to be forced back a step. Despite the demon's attack being impossible to see, Malik was still able to block it without suffering any injuries in the process.

"For someone so young, you're strong! I'll make sure to fight with all my strength." The demon felt pleased to see someone block his attack, even though he was supposed to be impossible to see or sense. Strangely, the vampire before him could see right through it!