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Chapter 347 - You are not coming?

After traveling for a few hours, the group cut through the forests and arrived at another hilly terrain.

This was the mountainous region in the north, but this time Liam did not go as far as he went the last time.

While the mecha gnome territory was located further up north, this dungeon was situated at the foot of the terrain itself.

"The dungeon should be somewhere around here." Liam stopped and looked around. The others as well took a note of the surroundings.

They had tackled several Level 35 to Level 40 beasts on their way here, so everyone was on high alert.

"Should we split up and search?" Mia asked.

"No need. Let's keep moving." Liam shook his head. "We should be arriving soon."

'If I remember correctly, the ruins of the Rock Temple should be here somewhere.'

He jumped around and soon arrived at a peculiar rock, behind which the dungeon portal was inconspicuously located.

"There we go."

Everyone gulped and prepared to enter the dungeon, but weirdly Liam hadn't stepped in?

"What? Why are you guys looking at me? I can't always be baby sitting the bunch of you. Ha Ha."

"I have some work to do. So good luck."

"Huh?" Everyone looked at him and then at the dungeon portal. They were supposed to clear a level 40 dungeon by themselves?

"Brother, what are you saying?!" Mei Mei scratched her head.

"Mmm… work hard. Our guild's progress is now in your hands."

He patted the girl and then looked at the person next to her, who just happened to be Shin Soo.

"I am trusting you guys." Liam winked.

"Boss!" Shin Soo felt as if heart stopped. This was too much pressure. He started sweating buckets. Most of the group was dumbfounded.

Only Derek had the usual blank expression and simply prepared to obey the order and do what was expected of him.

Mia calmly gazed at the dungeon portal and Alex had an expression as if someone had just given her a challenge.

She clenched her fist, determined to accomplish this task, no matter what.

Liam took a look at everyone and nodded contently.

"Oh and try not to die." He further added as he jumped off the bunch of rocks, down to the ground.

Leaving behind the rest of the group stunned silly, he then casually retraced his steps and wandered back into the forest.

Next to him, Luna was happily jumping around.

He had brought everyone here but he never promised that he would run the dungeon with them.

Liam might not have put together an all-star team like the other group with the four big shots but he had also brought together some decently skillful players.

Also Derek's and Mia's skills were at par with the top experts.

So if he spoonfed everything at every step of the way, then that would be the worst thing he was doing for them. It would not be productive.

Besides, he also had certain things that he wanted to do before entering the spatial rift.

Liam wandered back into the forests and came all the way to the mountain bear territory that they had recently crossed.

These bears had thick black hide with sharp spikes on them and were Level 25 beasts.

"Shall we start?" Liam grinned. He unsheathed his sword and the first bear was swiftly brought down.

Before its body touched the ground, he already located the small soul bead.

He quickly molded mana around the bead and then summoned the dozen mana hammers that he was used to.

However, when he tried manipulating the hammers to forge the soul bead, an intense repulsive force welcomed him.

The hammers felt heavier than usual and no matter how much he tried he was not able to bring them down and hit the bead into shape.

Liam frowned as he felt the weight of the manipulation on his mind and body. Nevertheless, he grit his teeth and persevered.

Luna worriedly looked at her Master. She also wanted to help.

She rounded up a few more bears, roasting them all one after the other, silently piling more corpses near Liam.

A few more minutes passed by in this manner when Liam finally was able to get the grasp of things at least to a certain extent.

He was now able to withstand the pressure and he hammered the soul bead slowly and steadily.

He continued this process for an entire hour before he finally received the notification that he was expecting.

[Ding. Soul forging successful]

A big spectral spiked bear appeared in front of Liam, its eyes arrogantly looking around.

Kyuuuu! Luna cheered loudly.

Liam wiped the sweat of his forehead and turned to look at her. Seeing the mess piled up around him, his face twitched.

But he was far too tired to spank the naughty fox and just grabbed some roasted meat to appease his hunger.

Forging in this manner was even more exhausting than forging metals or even fighting.

But unfortunately, he was short on time so he couldn't afford to rest as much as he wanted.

"Next." Liam spotted another bear and started his work all over again. Another hour passed and one more spectral bear appeared.

It looked like he had really grasped the essence of the skill and was now able to forge the souls of higher beasts.

The two bears standing in front of him were truly magnificent. They seemed to hold the same vigor and strength of a live mountain bear.

"Just how strong are these?" Liam pondered. Before, he was only forging chickens and rabbits, so he was not able to test.

But now he had some wolves and bears, it was a good time to test their ability and growth potential.

"It should take them at least a few more hours to finish the dungeon. I can create some more soul-forged bears and then go for a hunt."

Liam cracked his neck and grinned as he located the next mountain bear.

Chapter 348 - The living vs the undead

A couple of hours later…

Leaning against a tree, Liam panted as he tiredly gazed at the small group of spectral beasts in front of him.

In total, there were 10 chickens, 5 rabbits, 5 dire wolves, and 5 spiked mountain bears.

And every single one of them looked fierce and ready to fight.

Liam stood up, dusted his back, and walked around the group observing all the beasts from top to bottom.

Each had an individual level, and he was pretty sure that each of them also had different growth potentials.

His skill level had steadily increased since he first began forging, so it was only logical that his latest creations were more sturdy than his earlier ones.

Liam took another two laps, inspecting all the beasts in silence, and then stopped at the front.

In his last life, Kouske had a strong undefeatable army of humanoid undeads, but now he was starting with chickens, rabbits, wolves, and bears.

Liam chuckled helplessly, shaking his head. "Well, whatever. This is not a bad start."

Standing next to him, the small white fox was also imitating each and every one of his movements.

She pointed her nose up and walked back and forth with her small paws, eyeing the small troop of ghosts.

Kyuuuu! You are not as good as me, but you will do!

Liam chuckled at her antics and picked up the little thing by her scruff, tossing her on his back. "Let's go. Time to test some things."

He dashed through the forest, closely followed by his ghosts, and soon they spotted another mountain bear.

Explore the extended edition on 𝒃𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝒈.

Luna was immediately about to take off and roast this bear as well, but Liam hurriedly grabbed the little white fur ball by one of her tails.

"Wait. Not your turn."

Kyuuuu!

The little fox immediately sulked.

Liam ignored her and turned his attention to the three bears. He wanted to see how their strength compared to a live one.

However, this wouldn't be a hundred percent accurate comparison as the levels of three ghosts bears were 17, 15, and 20, while the live one was a Level 25 beast.

But still, it was good enough. At least he would get some idea about their fighting capabilities and their potential weaknesses.

ROAR!

The big black spiked mountain bear caught sight of the motley group in its territory and bounded towards the intruders in anger.

"Go." Liam as well ordered his three undead bears.

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

Immediately, the three ghost beasts bellowed even louder and pounced on the incoming live one.

ROAR! CRASH! GROWL!

The four of them rumbled and tumbled, blood and black fur flying out.

They punched, swiped each other with their paws, sunk their canines into the other, and raised a huge ruckus.

After a couple of seconds, even Liam could no longer observe the fight properly as he saw only dust and sand kicking up and flying everywhere.

But another couple of seconds later, a notification promptly chimed in.

[Ding. You have gained 10 experience points]

The Level 25 spiked mountain bear was already dead!

And the three ghost bears looked back at Liam, their jaws dripping with blood.

Round1: The Living vs The Undead goes to the Undead!

Liam pulled up and observed each of their statuses and saw that they had lost about three-fourths of their health in the fight.

like it to be, but it was there alright.

The undead bears were clearly able to absorb the souls from their kills. No, it did not matter who killed the target.

As long as it was just killed, they were able to tap into the soul of the dead and recuperate their own health and perhaps more?

So with every kill, they were able to gain experience points and also replenish their health. This was simply unbelievable!

Due to their undead status, they already had formidable stamina, so when combined with the new traits, his army definitely had the potential to grow exponentially stronger with each fight!