Chapter 37: [Chapter:36][A night of grinding.]
'Everyone's asleep…'
Echo looked at the mirror, his blank eyes taking on a golden hue as they shone dimly.
This was what happens when he activated his 'Clairvoyance' skill.
At the moment, despite facing the mirror, Echo was in fact 'looking' at the scene of the many ladies in the group entangled and dead drunk. As for the men? The only two boys in the group, other than him, were the fatty Kohta and Takuzo, who was supposed to have died according to the original plot, both of whom were currently cleaning the many guns they found in the apartment.
'Who knew he's a gun nerd too…', Echo thought as he 'looked' as the two boys fervently discuss about guns and tanks and warships and what not, unaware of the tempting scenes they were missing out just out in the living room.
Shaking his head, Echo's eyes shone brighter as his vision shifted away from the apartment, out into the street, and then onwards to the bridge which was currently quite lively.
*boom!*
Another series of explosions followed as a brave batch of soldiers, having been bitten and knowing that they can no longer be saved, plunged into the hoards of 'zombies' trying to cross the bridge before pulling off the pins of the grenades on their bodies, taking several scores of the undead along with them as they blew up.
((Skill [Equipment Mastery(I)] levelled up!))
Echo's eyes flashed as his lips curled up to form a grin.
'As expected, even just looking at weapons being used and handled will help the skill level up.'
Of course, he wasn't just going to look at precious bodies being blown to smithereens.
'A pity, my skeletons are no longer present…'
His figure flashed and disappeared, and within mere seconds, reappeared on the tallest building in the city, one of the few skyscrapers that haven't yet been demolished and taken apart.
'But it's not like I need them anyway.'
Specks of eerie grey light emerge from his body, forming a cocoon of light which opened up to the figure of a bony skeleton.
The [Skeleton Magician] Bones, back to level 1 again, looked at its master as its ghastly glowing eyes flashed, and feelings of grievance flowed through their connection, reaching Echo.
"As expected…although your level was reset, your memories and emotional growth throughout the day remained…"
Bones nodded, his mana pulsating from within him as he expertly manipulated it to flow throughout his body, and into his hand, forming a sphere.
This simple action caused his skills, which were similarly reset to level 1, to level up rapidly, as in mere seconds, they reached mid 60s before the rapid increase slowed down.
"Good boy."
Bones' eerie eyes danced in joy as it jumped off the building, prepared to go back to its job of killing zombies, storing their bodies, and ransacking buildings and pretty much everything…
*boom!*
Only to crash onto the ground and break apart, it's HP instantly bottoming out as its soul fire disappeared.
"…"
"Although it retained its memory and knowledge…'
"Once an idiot, always an idiot, I guess…"
Echo shook his head as he sighed softly. Luckily, the Skill evolution cleared his doubts about what would happen should his summons die, and the answer was nothing.
Consuming his MP once more, the familiar sight of a cocoon of grey light appearing next to Echo played out, and Bones appeared from within it. Only this time, it scratched its head as it sent out emotions of 'embarrassment' through their connection, making Echo laugh.
"Go, take the stairs. And level up quickly. You're weaker than a child as you now are."
At the same time, he gave the 'exist' order to Bones, making 'Strategic Combat Mastery' take effect as Bones' stats instantly doubled. And along with 'Focus(II)' which had levelled up to level 13, raising the boost to a whole 130%…
*clack* *clack* *chatter*
Bones' bony skull clattered as it nodded before getting down the skyscraper slowly.
Meanwhile, Echo's left eye, which had remained golden the whole time, flashed, as he saw a scene he didn't expect to see anytime soon.
"Shido…my dear Shido…you're still alive? I thought you'd die since the skeleton I sent to protect you secretly disappeared…but good. It's good that you're alive…you're still of come use to me, after all…"
Both his eyes shone a bright regal gold, as Echo took out his bow from his inventory.
But unlike before, this wasn't a simple wooden practice bow.
. . . . . .
[Robin Hood's Bow]
Type : Equipment / Weapon
Description : The bow used by Robin Hood, which brought him much of his fame and glory and helped him in many a times of need. As his trusty partner, the bow has been immortalised, but it can only be used by those it judges worthy. However, after intervention of a great power, the bow has turned 'docile' and less picky.
[[Equip Requirements]]
Strength : 100+
Endurance : 80+
Agility : 120+
Senses : 180+
[[Equip Bonus]]
Agility : 40
Senses : 60
[[Weapon Skill]]
— Child of the Jungle : When in presence of Nature, increase damage, attack speed, and range by 10%
— Robin Hood : Increase effect of Charm towards those weaker / less wealthy than you by 30%. Increase gains from defeating those stronger / wealthier than you by 30%.
. . . . . .
The bow was, of course, something his mother Aya had prepared for him. One of the weakest bows in her collection that he could handle at the moment, in fact.
While Aya wasn't interested in bows, she was a collector, and among her collection, the strongest of bows require tens of thousands of stats to lift.
Even this one, previously, had several annoying requirements, such as possessing the 'Hero' title, doing one good deed in line with the original Robin Hood every day, etc etc… .
It was only after the great power, aka Aya, forcefully modified and 'tamed' the weapon, that Echo could now use it. After all, a hero…
"I am anything but a hero."
Yet at the moment, even including his two guns, this was his most powerful weapon, as well as the weapon with the largest range, and combined with his skills…
"Got you."
Locking on to the head of one of the zombies that was ready to pounce onto a poor soldier, Echo raised his bow, stretched the string, condensed an arrow made of pure mana, and released it, all in one smooth, continuous motion.
*twang!*
The arrow, true to its aim, flew across over half a mile, reaching the zombie which was nearly 700m away from his position in mere seconds.
And the next moment…
*squelch!*
The zombie, already mid air from pouncing towards an unsuspecting soldier, crashed onto the ground as its head was pierced by a glowing blue arrow, which soon dissipated into specks of light.
And right that moment,
((Quest [Terminator(III)] complete. Issuing rewards…))
((Sub-Function [Loot] unlocked. Activate?))
((Obtained [Skill Advancement Card]*5. Detected activation of Function [Skills]. [Skill Advancement Card] converted to [Skill Points].))
((Skill Points +5.))
'Loot function, is it?'
Echo didn't even bother pondering on what he would use his Skill Points for. His currently most powerful skill is undoubtedly 'Focus(II)', so he saved 2 Skill Points for that skill.
'Let's make a small goal for myself, increase 'Focus' to Max level of Tier 4, getting a 100,000% bonus in EXP and everything…'
One Skill Point was used to advance his 'Clairvoyance' skill to tier 2.
((Skill [Clairvoyance(I)] advanced to [Clairvoyance(II)].))
And the remaining two Skill Points were reserved for his 'Equipment Mastery' skill and his 'Summon : ???' skill.
'A good name for this skill…how about 'Legion'? 'Summon : Legion'…sounds good enough.'
((Skill [Summon : ???] updated to [Summon : Legion].))
Looking towards the prompt about his newest Function, Echo chose to activate it.
((Activating Sub-Function [Loot]…))
The next moment, the headless zombie which he had shot less than a few seconds ago disappeared, and the 100,000+ zombie bodies in his Inventory also disappeared.
And what appeared in their places were…
[Parasitised Human Brains : The brain of a human parasitised by an unknown parasite.]
[Parasitised Human Hearts : The heart of a human parasitised by an unknown parasite.]
[Rotten Human Flesh : Semi rotten flesh of a human.]
[Rotten Human Bones : Semi rotten bones of a human.]
[Rotten Human Organs : Semi rotten internal organs of a human, excluding the heart and the brain.]
[Rotten Human Skin : Semi rotten skin of a human.]
[Rotten Human Nails : Semi rotten nails of a human.]
[Rotten Human Hair : Semi rotten hair of a human.]
'Well, that's convenient. I guess.'
Although the bodies were no longer whole, it wasn't like he needed whole bodies anyway. Echo was sure there were many ways for a Necromancer to 'create' zombies from just parts.
Not to mention, he also obtained information which would help him in his last World Quest.
'Parasites…'
As he had expected, these so-called 'zombies' weren't truly undead. Instead, according to the description of the 'Parasitised Human Brains' and 'Parasitised Human Hearts', the source of his disaster might not even be magical in nature.
'They could also be magical parasites…but I doubt it.'
The world he was in, HOTD, wasn't a magical world. At least, it wasn't shown to be one. Perhaps this one was a little different from the original, but…
'In any case, it doesn't matter for now.'
Echo's eyes flashed a regal gold as he activated his 'Clairvoyance' to its limits, before sighing softly.
'Tier 2 isn't enough to look into the past…oh well. I have time.'
While it wasn't enough to look I got he past, however, 'Clairvoyance(II)' was more than enough to look through skin and flesh.
With a thought, Echo's vision shifted from the bewildered soldier, who just saw a 'zombie' that had pounced onto him get its head popped by a magical arrow which disappeared, followed by the corpse of the 'zombie' itself disappearing into thin air, to the skull of another 'zombie' running towards the bridge.
'Where…are..you…'
Echo's vision seeped through the 'zombie's' rotten scalp, slipping into and beyond its flesh as it entered its skull. Moments later, it's brain was entirely visible to him.
'…ah. There you are.'
Echo smirked as he found something deep within its brain, and with his other eye moving away towards its chest, at the Centris of its heart as well.
A parasite which looked like an eyeball with several fleshy tentacles wriggling around and latching onto the insides of its brain and heart.
'Zoom in.'
With a thought, his vision 'zoomed in' onto the fleshy tentacles like a microscope, and Echo saw the extremely thin ends of the tentacles, thinner than cells in fact, slipped into the various nerves and blood vessels of the brain and heart, and from there, spread throughout the body.
'Small, yet surprisingly long…and it seems these two are also connected.'
Echo blinked, his vision returning back as his eyes stopped glowing, gazing back to their original black, blank look.
'Parasites…aliens? Or maybe they are man-made?'
He chuckled at the thought.
'This world just got a lot more interesting.'
Recalling the appearance of the parasites, Echo's grin widened as he wondered what an undead parasite looked like.
Combining evolution with magic…
'I wonder if mom would be surprised? Rhi and Sis would probably be disgusted though…'
That night, the many survivors, officers, the army, and even the criminals who let out the darkness within their heart during these lawless times, witnessed a scene far more magical than the 'dead' rising from the 'dead'.
They saw arrows of blue light appearing seemingly from nowhere, and they saw 'zombies' disappear the moment they were shot.
And among those survivors, a few could swear they saw the terrifying scene of a skeleton walking around destroying and making hoards of 'zombies' disappear, it's jaw clattering as the eerie grey light in its skull danced, several spheres of ghastly blue light appearing around it before shooting forward like cannons.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone