Return to Itai

When Flain was walking back to the base, something crossed his mind — a reason why he wanted to briefly return to the ruined, lifeless village of the Green Lizards.

The reason was that while thinking about his skill, Flain realized that Aran could absorb souls from corpses, which would strengthen both him and the skill itself. And in the ruined village, there were plenty of corpses.

Honestly, Flain was a bit angry at himself for not realizing this immediately after reading the skill description. But what could he do? Flain had no choice but to return there — he definitely couldn't leave so many unabsorbed souls behind.

'My king, can you hear me?' Aran's voice echoed in Flain's head as he was walking back to the village. The description never mentioned that a recalled slave could communicate with their master, but it was definitely a useful feature.

'Hmh, what do you want?' Flain thought back coldly.

'Well, my king, forgive me for disturbing you. I just wanted to ask — what happens to me if you die?' Aran asked.

'That's none of your concern,' Flain answered with a smirk.

Then, Flain arrived at the village again. With every step he took, he made metallic clanking sounds that echoed throughout the land. Even if any Black Lizards noticed him, Flain didn't care. He had already proven his strength when he massacred the entire Green Lizard village within minutes.

Flain wasn't entirely sure if he could do the same against the Black Lizards since they were stronger. But if they noticed him and sent an army after him, Flain was certain that even with half his HP, he'd win easily.

Flain reached the ruined village. A transparent silhouette of Aran emerged from his body and then solidified into his normal form — Flain had summoned him.

"In front of you lies a feast of souls," Flain muttered.

"My king, to be honest, I feel disgusted at the thought of absorbing their souls — they were my people. But at the same time, I have this strange feeling, almost like I'm craving those souls, like they're food," Aran muttered.

"Hmh, go on," Flain commanded.

Aran nodded and approached the first lizard crushed by the wall. Flain watched as a white mist rose from the lizard's body and was absorbed by Aran. Then, Aran repeated the process with all the Lizards and Commanders. After finishing, he returned to Flain.

"How was it? Do you feel stronger?" Flain asked.

"My king, it was something I've never experienced before. Forgive me, but I have no better comparison — it was like eating the bloodiest snake, it was simply incredible. As for whether I feel stronger… honestly, I don't know," Aran answered.

"You definitely got stronger, I can tell. Don't worry — you're going to need it," Flain said before recalling Aran again. Then, he headed back to the base.

Flain arrived at the base where the Green Lizard army and Itai were waiting.

"Flain, you're back? I just finished summoning all the corpses you gave me. I summoned the last one on the 45th attempt," said Itai.

'So now he can manage to have 15 skeletons summoned at once — he's learning quickly,' Flain thought.

"Keep it up. Anyway, I'd like to introduce someone to you," Flain said.

----

Meanwhile, in the Black Lizard settlement, one lizard approaches the Lightlord of the Black Lizards — Zehren.

The lizard wipes saliva from his face and speaks to Zehren. "My Lightlord, we found some dead soldiers at one of the cave entrances, the ones who were guarding it. Also, some soldiers on patrol reported that they occasionally heard strange noises," he said.

A smile appeared on Zehren's face. "Looks like the rat has crawled out of its hole. Send six patrols throughout the valley, each led by a commander. If any commander spots that monster, they are to immediately retreat to the village and report exactly where they saw it. Then, I and all the commanders will go capture it," Zehren ordered.

----

Meanwhile, at the base, Aran emerged from Flain's body. Itai observed the process with his mouth wide open.

Itai stepped back just to be safe. "Can you tell me what just happened? Why did some big weird green lizard suddenly appear in front of you?" Itai mumbled.

"Well, I destroyed the Green Lizard village and enslaved their king," Flain said as if it were nothing.

"My name is Aran," said Aran.

Flain didn't mind that Aran spoke without permission. Yes, he considered him his slave, but he wasn't particularly cruel to him because he had no reason to be. If someone Flain disliked became his slave, things would look very different.

"Hey, I'm Itai, heh, I've never talked to a monster before," Itai said to Aran.

"Well, congratulations, but what else should I expect from you — you never stop surprising me. By the way, is this some new ability of yours that lets you hide your slaves inside your body and summon them out?" Itai asked.

"It's much more complicated than that. I got it for absorbing enough souls. Basically, I can enslave someone's soul..." Then Flain explained the Lord of Souls skill to Itai, leaving out some system-related details.

Aran was there and listened to everything as well. At least now he learned something new about his condition, since when he had asked Flain about it directly, the answer hadn't been very informative. When Flain mentioned that the slave would feel a strong sense of sympathy toward him, it shocked Aran quite a bit.

He really did feel a strong sense of sympathy toward Flain ever since his soul was enslaved, despite having no reason to. Flain had literally massacred all his people, tortured him for a long time, and then enslaved him. What shocked him the most when he realized this was how natural it felt. Even after understanding it, he still felt the same strong sympathy toward Flain as before.

"What else should I expect from you. This time you really surprised me — I didn't expect you could pull this off. This really sounds like an expensive and advanced spell — you can basically turn someone into your immortal soldier who has to obey your every command. Sure, it has a few downsides, but even so, it's insanely strong," Itai reflected.

"Alright, anyway, now I'm going to do a release air particles," Flain said and recalled Aran back into his soul.

Flain felt a swirl of excitement — it was finally time to spend that pile of EXP he had earned...