Chapter 27: Growing Army
The emerald glow faded. Silence settled back over the forest.
The Venom Spider rose to its feet.
Faint strands of emerald and black mana still clung to its body. The crimson that had filled its eight eyes was gone, replaced by the same calm emerald light as the wolves.
There wasn’t a mark on it.
No shattered shell. No severed neck. The body had reset itself completely, like the fight had never happened.
It lowered itself before Malrik.
Waiting.
He nodded, satisfied. "...Good."
Behind him, Eliza hadn’t moved.
She knew what his Class was — the whole family did. Necromancer.
That part hadn’t surprised her. Necromancers raised corpses. Broken bodies. Rotting flesh, sometimes nothing but bone held together with mana. She’d seen it before, at a distance, at family functions where the conversation drifted toward bloodline talents.
What stood in front of her now wasn’t that.
What I expected was that it would revive the body, but the body remained unchanged while something else emerged that I didn’t understand—similar to the slain spider but with a different aura.
This spider had come back whole. Not stitched together. Not held in place by force of will. Whole, like the shell had simply forgotten it was ever broken.
The only proof it had died at all was the color of its eyes.
That’s not ordinary necromancy.
A second thought followed right behind the first, less comfortable than the one before it.
And how many of these can he control?
She glanced past him — twelve Spirit Wolves, one King, and now a spider — and felt a frown forming before she could stop it.
There has to be a limit. There has to be.
She didn’t ask.
If he wanted her to know, he’d tell her. Until then, her job hadn’t changed.
"Shall we continue?" Malrik asked, already turning.
It took her a second to find her voice. "...Of course, Young Master." She stepped forward. "I’ll lead the way."
The forest thinned further into shadow the deeper they went. Webs stretched between branches overhead, thick enough to block out what little light remained. The smell of venom sat heavy in the damp air.
Every so often, a pair of red eyes watched from somewhere in the dark before vanishing.
Another spider dropped from the canopy.
[Venom Spider Level 24 ]
Malrik didn’t bother with his spear.
"Attack."
The Wolf King moved first. The twelve wolves followed without a beat of hesitation, and the spider barely had time to register the threat before it was buried under all thirteen of them.
It went down fast.
[Venom Spider Lv.24 Killed.]
[Experience Increased.]
Malrik raised his hand.
"...Rise."
The mana wrapped around the corpse, and a moment later a second Venom Spider stood beside the first.
The pattern repeated.
A spider would appear. The wolves would surround it. The King delivered the finishing blow. Malrik raised the body.
Again.
And again.
An hour passed. Then another. The deeper they pushed, the stronger the spiders got — Level 28, then 30, then 34, then 37. Each fight stretched out slightly longer than the last, though never by much. Every win added one more body to the procession trailing behind them.
The empty forest path wasn’t empty anymore.
Spirit Wolves up front. Venom Spiders marching in formation behind them. The Wolf King at Malrik’s side the whole time, watching everything like it had personally appointed itself to the job.
Eliza kept glancing back without meaning to.
She’d seen plenty of strange things working for this family. She had genuinely never seen anything like this.
He’s not just getting stronger.
His entire army is.
A notification flashed.
[Level Up.]
[Level 15 Reached.]
Malrik smiled faintly and checked the Bond.
Every soul connected to him — wolves, King, spiders, all of it .
However, the spiders were at a higher level than Mallerik and the wolves, so their experience bar kept increasing, but without any level progression.
So that part wasn’t a fluke. We genuinely grow together.
He looked over the procession behind him. Thirty contracts now. Twelve wolves. One King. Seventeen spiders.
Thirty souls, all rising with him.
"...Terrifying," he said, mostly to himself.
A few more fell. Then the forest went quiet again — no movement, no eyes in the dark, nothing but wind through the canopy.
Malrik looked around.
"...That’s all?"
Eliza stepped up beside him. "For this area. Yes."
He looked at the forest stretching ahead, still endless. "We’re wasting time."
"...Young Master?"
"I came here for Level Fifty Morveth." He gestured at the spiders surrounding them. "So where are they?"
She was quiet for a moment.
"...I deliberately avoided their territory."
He looked at her.
"When we first entered the forest, I didn’t know how strong you actually were," she said. "I was concerned we’d run into high-level Venom Spiders before you were ready. So I took the safer route."
Her eyes moved over the army at his back — the wolves, the King, the growing line of spiders.
A small smile appeared.
"I no longer think that was necessary." She bowed slightly. "I’ll guide you to the strongest nest. If anything happens that exceeds your expectations, I’ll personally ensure your safety."
Malrik nodded. "...Lead the way."
The two of them, along with thirty bound souls trailing behind, continued deeper into the heart of the forest.
Comments