A Temporary Conclusion

A world without hope—

An existence without value—

Not a trace of light—

Trapped within his own mind, Tiadam felt his entire body grow sticky. His limbs could not move, as though something were pulling him, making escape impossible. Suffocation and helplessness came one after another.

"What exactly is happening to me...?"

Tiadam tried to find something to brace against and escape this predicament, but there was nothing in the endless darkness. The scent of blood was like a swamp, trying to drag Tiadam in and assimilate him.

"Am I... dead?" An unknown liquid flooded into Tiadam's nostrils.

"Cough, cough—"

"Cough, cough—" Tiadam coughed violently. He felt his alveoli beginning to burst, the dying sensation of drowning echoing endlessly in his mind. Something seemed to be corroding his hands and feet, his heart began to stop beating, and the fear of death seized this hero's heart.

"I don't want to—I don't want to—I won't—die here..."

Just as Tiadam prayed, an inexplicable light appeared before him. In this indescribable darkness, that light was undoubtedly a beacon, and Tiadam desperately swam toward it.

"Dear Hero, we meet again..."

At the other end of the light was a sword. It was plain and unadorned, yet carried extraordinary significance.

"Who are you...?"

Tiadam felt that the blade itself possessed life, while the endless darkness was merely her veil...

"I have been waiting for you for a long time..."

"Do you want to gain power?"

"Do you want to become a hero?"

The sword's voice grew weaker and weaker, and the light seemed about to fade with it.

"I want... I... want to."

Tiadam desperately stretched out his hands, trying to grasp that last shred of hope.

"I want to become a hero—"

"I want to gain power—"

As Tiadam awoke, a pillar of light erupted from the heavens. Brighter than the sun and gentler than the moon, it exterminated the undead that even the demons could not kill.

"He succeeded... He proved that he could wield the Holy Sword."

Dilanna and the children of Ellina's Home watched the descending light together, while Chi Ze beside her was immersed in fantasies of adventure.

"Lord Hero... I knew I had not misjudged you..." The elven grand duke Veil Nas gently licked the white chess piece representing a knight in his hand, then heavily placed it before the black queen. "You will be my first step toward returning to Dimil Riago..."

"The Hero has been born once more. That means the struggle between the Old Gods and the new gods has only just begun..." Paladin Lapidemi stood atop his city wall, watching the light descend toward the ground.

The pillar of light lasted for dozens of seconds before beginning to dim. The evil aura spewed from the Giant Dead, along with the victims assimilated by it, turned to dust as the light vanished and were ultimately scattered by the monsoon winds from the north.

As the Giant Dead completely vanished, the eastern sun rose at just the right moment. At dawn, Tiadam and Denolan fell from the sky, and Klauna swiftly caught both of them by the ankles before flying toward Canfoer's Upper District.

"Not bad, kid..." Klauna said with a somewhat tsundere tone. "As a descendant of the Hero, you qualify."

"What... did I do?" Tiadam asked groggily.

"I saw a beam of light burst out of you and purify that monster," Denolan answered.

"Is that so... Blegh—" A stream of filth spilled from Tiadam's mouth. "Miss Demon, could you put me down... Being upside down feels awful..."

"Shut up—We're almost there. Don't make trouble for me," Klauna threatened. "Say another word of nonsense and I'll throw you and your brother down."

"She's... so scary..." Denolan muttered.

Because of the undead invasion, an entire sector of homes from the southern slums of Canfoer City to the Upper District had been reduced to mounds of earth and ruins, and most of the residents who had lived there were already dead.

"Looks like rebuilding the south side of the city will take quite some time..." Yetara struggled to rise from a pool of blood. Behind him stood an old woman nearly ninety years old.

"Since the south side has been destroyed, you could try shifting your focus to the east. You should know that Labi Village is a place... blessed by the gods..."

"Your suggestion is excellent... Demon King..." Yetara panted heavily. The sensation of nearly dying was not pleasant, but compared to death, being alive was still a far better experience.

"Is this the place?"

"According to Lord Boyabolo's calculations, that zombie created lesser undead somewhere around here."

In the ruins outside the southern outskirts of Canfoer City, Paladin Deqilai, under General Lapidemi's orders, led his ten-man squad in search of the zombie that had created the Giant Dead.

Based on the necromancer Boyabolo's understanding of Necromancy, such a massive aggregate of corpses had to have been created by a high-level monster. Simply creating an undead creature that enormous required immense magical energy, and the magic needed to make it move was even more staggering.

"If we can catch that zombie, Master Boyabolo's research might succeed..." said a black-haired girl. She had a pair of pale cyan eyes, wore an apprentice-standard mage robe, and carried a notebook recording the necromantic spells she had learned.

"Tarimilan, I'm warning you—" Paladin Deqilai drew his weapon and pointed it at Tarimilan. "We came here to destroy the zombie that created the Giant Dead. If you dare entertain any improper thoughts, I'll be the first to cut you down!"

"Tch—"

The girl snorted coldly and retreated to the back of the group.

Several hours passed in the blink of an eye, but Deqilai's group found no clues related to the zombie. The once-bustling black market in the slums was now desolate. Broken wooden beams, shattered walls, and scattered spiderwebs filled the ruined area.

"Strange..." Paladin Deqilai drew his sword and used it to lift aside the webs in the ruins. "This is clearly where the Giant Dead appeared. Logically, there should be many corpses here, so why isn't there a single one now?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Tarimilan explained. "The remains of those victims must have all been dragged into the undead aggregate. A Giant Dead as tall as a mountain would require an enormous number of corpses and a huge amount of negative energy. I'd guess there isn't a single living thing left in these southern slums. They were all dragged into the aggregate."

Deqilai: "No living things?"

Tarimilan: "Right. Not even a cockroach."

"Wait... If there are no living things, then... where did all these spiderwebs come from?" Deqilai looked at the webs draped throughout the ruins and felt a chill run down his spine.

At that moment, a careless paladin tugged at a web hanging in the ruins. It felt strange, rougher than the ordinary webs he had encountered before.

"Strange... It seems to be stuck..."

As he spoke, the paladin removed his gauntlet, but the spider silk in the ruins gently fell onto his hand.

"Oh no, it's wrapped around me..." The coarse spider silk coiled around his hand as though alive. "It hurts—So sticky—"

"Help—" Before the paladin could finish speaking, the webs in the ruins wrapped around him.

"If there are no living things here... then... then where did all these spiderwebs come from?" Realization finally dawning on him, Deqilai drew his sword. There were no intricate patterns on the blade; it was simply forged from Mithril.

Bang—

Bang— One black-and-red humanoid spider after another burst from beneath the ground, glaring hungrily at everyone.

"Everyone, stay alert—" Deqilai raised his sword and shouted, "The gods are with us!"

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