Chapter 22: Spirit Wraith
"Use your clone and send it to East," Almond whispered.
There were two ways, one west and another east. Going east would give them more passages soon, according to the map, so the trio quickly ran east-side passage.
Natalia had used her clone skill and sent it to the east passage while making a sound to attract them.
And while the trio ran with Lily carrying Natalia’s body like a sandbag over her shoulder so she could control her clone, Almond suddenly received a notification from his skill.
[Spirit Wraith has been birthed. Due to the involvement of three sentient intelligent human spirits, the Spirit Wraith will have human-level intelligence. Please write down the personality description for your Spirit Wraith and its gender.]
Almond was startled but acted fast upon seeing a misty, dark gold window.
[———] <- Write the name.
-Describe:
-Gender:
The trio stopped after crossing twenty meters in a hurry and hiding behind a natural obsidian stone pillar growing out of the ground.
Meanwhile, Natalia let herself get spotted by that group, but only her back, and immediately used Light Pebble skill on the ground to create a blinding flash.
Henry the Knight acted fast, dashing at a breakneck speed as he waved his sword when he was halfway towards Natalia’s clone, releasing a wind-slash projectile as her clone was cut.
"It’s that bitch! Hurry, we have to capture her!"
’Fucking hell, are we here to kill monsters to capture girls? This goddamn garbage bag!’
’Why did I have to team up with this guy for my first entrance into Labyrinth?’
The girl and two boys in the group were frustrated but bound, just like Henry. They could only hatefully look at Zoren and nothing else.
Because if something happened to Zoren in the Labyrinth, Henry knew his life would turn into a living hell.
Those three kids also knew that there was no justice out there who would protect them from Zoren’s influential father. After all, they had normal parents who were only Silver-ranked and had no backing.
Zoren’s father could make them disappear without leaving any proof for the Global Adventurer Association or Earth Union.
And being a frontline adventurer exploring the 10th Floor, Zoren’s father had more weight in this world.
The plight of the weak against the strong and influential remained the same, no matter the age.
…
"We have to kill that bastard," Almond calmly said.
[Alfred] <- Write the name.
-Describe: Butler’s disposition.
-Gender: Male.
"Well, if we continue with our pace, it won’t be long before we are strong enough," Lily nodded.
"You will become stronger even faster," Natalia said, her eyes a mixture of slight fear and anger. "I want him dead because he clearly wants me to be subject to a life worse than death!"
"Voice down," Almond wryly smiled. "The next group of bears shouldn’t be too far."
Saying that, he waved his hand and added, "And we got a new ally."
Lily and Natalia were startled as dark green and dark gold sparkling smoke gathered before Aleron, who soon turned into a six-foot-tall butler wearing a black suit with a dark gold design and a dark green glowing border around him, appearing material yet slightly ghastly.
"A butler ghost?" Natalia was dumbfounded.
"He seems powerful," Lily blinked, her eyes filled with curiosity.
Before she could ask, Almond already shared the Spirit Wraith’s status with them.
[Spirit Wraith—Alfred]
-Rank: Bronze
-Level: 1
-Stats:
—Physical:
↳[Strength: 20 | Health: 15 | Stamina: 18]
—Mental:
↳[Mana: 23 | Focus: 17 | Perception: 21]
-Skills:
—Flame Manipulation (B)
—Sword Mastery (A)
—Sword Wave (A)
—Poison Lace (C)
—Bleeding Claws (C)
—Healing Orb (C)
—Icicle Spearshot (B)
—Fortitude Aura (C)
"Damn…" Almond muttered in amazement.
"Your summon has a level…does that mean it can level up?" Lily asked, her eyes glinting. "If it can, then this is big."
"It’s just like that Dragon Rider Krom…his dragon just evolved recently, so Almond’s summon can also get powerful," Natalia excitedly said. "And this guy got so many skills of different natures and types…"
"Alfred, use your skills appropriately and aid us in battle. We are going to kill a group of Glassblaze Bears."
"As you wish, Master," Alfred bowed like a butler with one hand on his heart.
…
The trio went towards another group of Glassblaze Bears and killed them. This group had ten Glassblaze Bears consisting of two Elder Glassblaze Bears, four Brutes, and four Cubs.
Alfred’s Fortitude Aura increased everyone’s resistance to magic and physical damage by 10%, and although he didn’t have a physical sword, he could conjure one made of flame and use it.
His movements were also not bad, and it appeared to learn from Almond, which was simply a cheat because Almond was getting scarily proficient with the sword, and so was Alfred by imitating him.
After the battle, Almond devoured two Elder Glassblaze Bear Spirits, gaining a total of +2 Health, +2.5 Stamina, and +0.5 Mana.
He decided to use Spirit Kodoku one more, adding ten Willowbee Guards Spirit, two Willowbee Queen Spirits, four Glassblaze Brute Bears, and four Glassblaze Cubs.
However, it didn’t work.
[You must include at least five different types of monsters among the twenty Spirits.]
’Hmm? If that’s the case, then it seems each human is considered a different type individually.’
After all, he had added Goblin, Wolf, and Human Spirits previously, which technically meant three types of monsters.
But if Lamp, Seyung, and Jacob were considered different types individually, then it made sense.
"I am done recovering Mana," Natalia said as she stood up.
The trio continued as they followed the passages and arrived at big or small caverns with groups of bears and continued killing.
This area was huge and was like a maze of sorts due to many passages, so it wasn’t often they would encounter other people.
But there were times when people would encounter another group accidentally as well due to its intertwining passages. There was no way of knowing when they would suddenly find another group at junctions where two or more passages intersected.
It wasn’t long before all three of them had killed 10 Silver-ranked monsters each and completed their advancement quest.
Alfred also reached level 8 since he was participating in the killing of Silver-ranked monsters while being lower-ranked, gaining experience faster.
His stat distribution was left to Almond, and he evenly distributed stat points to all stats.
There was just one problem. Alfred couldn’t learn Physical Enchantment and such applications of Mana. He could only use skills.
It appeared that his body wasn’t capable of that as he didn’t have Chakra points.
…
After the group reached Silver-rank level 1 after completing their Advancement Quest, they decided to rest at a relatively safe place covered by obsidian pillars.
It had been two hours since they entered this area, and the group was fully geared, thanks to Almond.
He made a bunch of stuff from Glassblaze Bear Spirits, all useful and powerful.
Armors, weapons, and one-time-use accessories of Defensive and Offensive-type!
"There should be Glassblaze Bears there. Let’s check it out."
A group of six Adventurers were passing by and stopped seeing a bunch of stone pillars that blocked their views.