Homi, the artificial human, had witnessed something that was supposed to be impossible. A soul, protected by two spirits of the land: one of them was one that had authority over the underworld, and the other one… authority over Azalia. The first one was possible if the soul belonged to an underground creature that was venerated by those of the same species. She had witnessed other creatures who had similar spirits protecting them. Underground creatures barely had any semblance of civilization, so their souls were pure enough that they could easily merge together to become a nameless spirit that protected those they deemed worthy. But the other one…

  It was clearly a spirit that originated from a human. Unlike beasts or monsters, humans were more complex. Society, culture, ideals, faith, experiences, and even their names affected the purity of their souls. These were why pure human souls usually only existed in babies or children — and to be a spirit, one’s soul needed to be pure.

  Most dead children usually became a low-level spirit, unless it happened in great numbers. In fact, the spirit of the dead children that followed this soul were mostly low-leveled, but there was one who had an authority akin to a land god. For it to happen, the spirit must either be venerated by the locals for a long time, or they had a powerful name when they were alive. The spirit in front of her had authority all over Azalia… as far as Homi knew, the Azalians did not venerate any spirit as their guardian deity… that left one possibility, the spirit had the name Azali when she was alive. But the Azalian royal family usually muddied the purity of their name by adding their first name, their noble name, and then the royal family name. Their souls should not have any authority over the entirety of Azalia… yet she was looking at one right now. Was she looking at a very ancient spirit? The very first Azali? No, it could not be. The spirit was too young for that.

  TAAAR

  KYAAAAK

  Homi was so lost in thought she forgot about the injured giant burrowing worm. To her surprise, the worm’s body snapped in two, right where the soul was. It was clear to her now, the soul was in the middle of hunting the worm. She did not know who the possessor of the soul was, its real body was covered by the many spirits following it. If Homi wanted to know, she needed to deactivate her [Soul Vision], a trait that was permanent for a necromancer.

  Homi climbed a tall structure with the help of her undead, the four hooded figures that had been following her. Once she got a bird eye’s view of the situation, she casted [Eagle eye] over her right eye, layering the [Soul Vision] in her right eye and deactivating it as a side effect, for [Soul Vision] could not be used in tandem with any visual enhancement magic. With [Eagle Eye], she finally saw the true figure of the possessor of the soul — a boy, with skin black as iron.

  The boy was small, probably the same size as Homi, maybe even smaller. The first feature of the boy that caught her attention was his fully black skin, but not a black skin because of one’s pigment, but a black skin due to [Iron Body]... or that's what she thought, but the quality of the [Iron Body] was beyond anything that she ever saw. She layered her [Eagle Eye] with [Aura Vision], the best way to judge one’s [Iron Body] quality, and she immediately overwhelmed by the mana the boy exude. The boy disappeared, covered by the fog of mana. She had no choice but to turn off her [Aura Vision] if she wanted to see the boy.

  The next thing Homi noticed was the boy’s hands and feet. They were humanoid, but morphed in a way that made them monstrous. The tips of his fingers were sharp like claws. The tips of his toes were also similar, but not only were they sharp, they were merged to make three big toes instead of five. And his heels also had a sharp claw, making his feet look akin to an avian instead of a human's.

  Was he human? Or was he an artificial human just like her? Homi could not help but ponder.

  But her curiosity got the best of her. Made her careless. For the next thing she saw was the boy looking in her direction. Homi reflexively hid herself and closed her mouth. She observed the boy for far too long, and the boy might notice her.

  Judging from his build, the boy might be someone who adapted to live underground. And if he was, he might have a bad vision just like any other underground creatures. She hoped that the boy did not actually see her, and that as long as she did not make any sound, the boy would not notice her.

  She looked at her undead. Three of them were designed for combat, while the fourth was designed specifically for mobility. Judging at how the boy easily dismantled the giant burrowing worm in two, she doubted her three undead could put up a fight. Worst case scenario and the boy noticed her, she had no choice but to abandon her three undead.

  BOOM BOOM BOOM

  And then she heard it. Loud supersonic sounds. Sounds that were getting closer and closer. The worst case was happening — the boy noticed her.

  Homi jumped into the embrace of her fastest undead. And they immediately bolted as fast as they could, not even sparing to look back. Just in case, she ordered the three she left behind to hold the boy as long as they could… but then she felt it — her connection to the three undead were cut off. They did not even last a second.

  Homi took out a ring from her pouch. It was engraved with a third-circle spell, [Assassins' Veil]. An invincibility spell that not only erased their presence, but also dampened any sound the caster made. She poured her mana into the ring and cast the spell on her and the undead that was carrying her.

  There was only one thing she could do now…

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  …pray.

  **********

  TAAAAR

  KYAAAAAAAK

  After much digging inside its stomach, Regulus finally managed to cut the worm in two. Covered with the green blood of the worm, Regulus emerged from the stomach, landing on the ground below.

  BLAAAAM

  The worm fell violently on the ground, crushing everything underneath it. With only half its body left, it tried to wriggle away from its predator. But Regulus just watched it wriggle away, with no sense of urgency. He knew from experience that the worm would bleed out on its own. There was no more reason to chase it.

  Brrrt Brrrt Plop

  A Molrret head popped out next to him. It pulled itself from the ground, greeting Regulus who was in the middle of cleaning himself from all the green blood that covered him. “Kiiii~” the Molrret squeaked to Regulus. It asked Regulus if it was fine to harvest the other half of the worm body that was currently still lodged on the cavern wall behind him.

  “Sure, go ahead.” Regulus answered him. “Kiiii~” the Molrret squeaked happily, and immediately pissed into the hole it just dug, informing the herd to start harvesting the giant worm.

  RUMBLE RUMBLE

  The earth shook, and in a matter of seconds, loud noise of Molrret claws tearing apart the worm’s armor could be heard echoing throughout the cave. Regulus enjoyed the sound, it was a melody to his ear. But his good mood did not last long. He smelled corpses around him, and not just any corpses, moving one — undead.

  Regulus unleashed an ultrasonic blast, using the sound for echolocation. They were currently in a large cavern space, with a ruined city inside of it. Regulus knew this place, it was marked as a dangerous place by the molrrets, for a bunch of them were slain here before for wandering into the place.

  Before he met Eda, Grigori, and Azali, the original plan was to completely cave in the place, erasing the threat to his herd completely. But Regulus put the plan on hold. The ruin was located underneath Hazen city, and caving in the whole place might sink part of Hazen and the cavern system where the gang resided. Killing the gang in the process.

  Right now, the plan was to dig in a way where they could drop huge rubbles on top of the ruin, but not extreme enough to completely cave them in and in the process sink the city. But the process took longer than expected and the damage was probably not enough to make the place safe for Molrrets. But now that he was here, he wondered if he should eliminate all the undead one by one instead.

  While Regulus was pondering his option, he instinctively felt watched, reflexively moving his head towards the direction of the observer, even though he could not see.

  He sensed a sliver of mana, from a humanoid figure he thought was an undead. Regulus let out another ultrasonic blast to echolocate the figure, and once he triangulated where it was, he remembered its unique smell.

  “Carven?” The smell was similar to Carven, there were differences, but too similar. But he was sure he already ate every single piece of Carven, he should already be dead… but then again. The mysterious crows that often followed him always had the same smell, even though he ate a lot of them. Could it be that the mysterious figure was Carven?

  He had to make sure. If it was Carven… Regulus would not let him go.

  Regulus pissed on the hole next to him, informing the herd that was busy dismantling the worm behind him to be ready for everything. He ordered them to stop harvesting for now. Some of them should surround the entire cave, ensuring the figure would not escape. While the rest should go underneath, preparing themselves for combat.

  RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE

  The earth trembled. The Molrrets smelled their orders and began to move. Regulus crouched, he gathered his strength in his legs, and then…

  BOOOM

  He leapt with great force towards the mysterious figure.

  ***********

  Homi hugged her undead tightly as it jumped from building to building. It was her only lifeline left as the other three were already decimated in an instant. In the distance, she could hear the sound of sonic boom and crumbling buildings, and the sound was getting closer and closer.

  It had been decades since she last felt fear in her artificial heart. The last time she felt like this was when she accidentally stumbled into a sleeping dragon, but at least it did not realize she was there. The last time she was chased with her life on the line was centuries ago, when the inquisition was chasing her and her parents had to sacrifice themselves just so she could escape. But even then, she managed to pull out a couple tricks when the inquisition managed to corner her. She did not think those tricks would work on someone like that Iron-bodied boy.

  BOOM BOOM BRAAAK

  The sound got closer, and finally an object flew in front of them. Destroying the building and footing in front of them. The undead stopped in its track, in front of them was a cloud of dust. Even though her vision was obscured by the dust, she could see through her left eye, the soul covered by giant claws, followed by grudges and spirits. The boy was in front of them.

  Homi was hoping, hoping the [Assassin’s Veil] was enough to hide their presence. Once the dust cleared, Homi saw the boy up close. His face was as black as his hand. If there were light in this cave, his skin would reflect it. His mouth was a bit opened, and she could see his blackened teeth.

  If Homi was a normal human, she would have reflexively gulped out of fear and nervousness, luckily she could control her bodily function. But as artificial as she was, she could not maintain her heartbeat that was drumming like crazy. Seeing the boy up close, she was now convinced that the boy was as physically destructive as a dragon.

  Then she saw something that made her heart drop… the boy’s nose moving up and down, he was sniffing his surroundings. Homi was screwed. [Assassin’s Veil] might make her invinsible and dampen the noise she made… but it did not hide one’s smell. Most underground creatures had good hearing, so [Assassin’s Veil] was more than enough, but she did not expect the boy to have a great sense of smell — just like a Molrret.

  The boy’s eyes locked with Homi’s. That was when she saw his fading yellow iris, the boy was blind, [Assassin’s Veil] was redundant, so she turned it off. Inside her mind, she was already chanting spells, preparing to cast a fourth-circle spell on a moment’s notice, the strongest spell she could use — she was thinking of casting a [Firelance of Azhal]. A fourth-circle spell that conjured a green flame lance that not only caused an explosion and burned its target, but also had the property of melting mana. Normally the spell was effective against [Iron Body] or any defensive spell, but she doubted it could do anything to the boy — his [Iron Body] was on a different level. At the very least it should destroy the boy’s footing and make some space between them.

  But then, the boy opened his mouth…

  “Who are you?” the boy asked.

  Homi was surprised. She did not expect the boy to converse with her. The boy was speaking in a language that was familiar but at the same time foreign to her. It seemed she had spent too much time underground, language already evolved beyond what she had known. While she understood the boy’s question, she was worried that the boy wouldn’t be able to understand her answer — but she had to try. Diplomacy was better than conflict.

  “Homi thy name, begot by two whomst walketh the path of life and death. Thy to am the one who followeth thy parents path. Thy am a Necromancer. But thy wish thee no harm.”

  The boy looked a bit confused by the way Homi spoke, but it seemed he understood her. The boy smiled, and he replied to Homi. “Thy like the way you speak Homi. Thy name is Regulus.” The boy introduced himself while giggling to himself. He found the way Homi spoke amusing.

  Homi breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the boy had no intention of harming her. It seemed she got to live her fake life for another day.