Chapter 48: Clearing the Nest (2/2)

And now that Aldrich was considerably faster and the lizards slower, he out his lantern forith expert handling, shooting out the head like a wrecking ball that caved in skulls with each strike

"Alright," said Aldrich He put down his lantern "Time to test my hand to hand"

He squared up in a shoulder width stance, raising his ared at hi his bare foot right into the variant's chin and launching it into the rocky ceiling above

Another lizard ca at his arms

Aldrich spun around and launched a doard elbow strike that broke the attacking lizard's skull and then used that lizard's corpse as a shi+eld to prevent threehim The three variants instead sunk their teeth into the corpse

Aldrich pushed and tossed the corpse away,the lizards fall backwards

"Good" Aldrich His skills were not gone, and training like this helped to keep hiic"

Aldrich deactivated the active portion of his [Anti-Life Shell] to conserve his mana

[Mana: 168/183 ] 123/183]

He had only kept it up for 5 seconds but the 5 maximum mana per second drain was hefty But expected [Anti-Life Shell]'s active was not that useful for its er slow, stat debuffs, an instant death effect, and heavy buffs to undead

"Tiic" Aldrich picked up his lantern and wielded it in one hand while he kept his other hand free to castit difficult to fight them hand to hand

Aldrich activated his [Lantern of the Accursed Eye] and shone it in front of hiht blasted forth, illu therate

He then dealt with the three other lizards behind hi [Chill Bolts] with his free hand Two chill bolts per lizard One to stun them, one to freeze and smash their brains

[-24 Mana]

[Mana: 123/183 ] 99/183]

[12 Blur Lizards defeated!]

[+480 EXP]

[EXP Bar: 870/1400 ] 1350/1400]

"All done" Aldrich patted his hands together, content

"Excellent work, Elder," said Fler'Gan "Such co with exceptional physical abilities It does reer days, but now my lower back ails me far too much for such wild movement"

"Yeah" Aldrich cracked his neck "But ion Necro h my mana rapidly It's far

Hraveabove the lizard corpses His health was completely full He did not even have to replenish his [Corpse Barrier] In fact, he did not even have to manifest the barrier in the first place

He could choose to keep it dor a barrier of corpses e in hand-to-hand combat

Maybe it was better for hie, especially when facing larger enemies, and then use his [Grave Consumption] to restore lost health

Aldrich noted this down for later

More experience funneled into hi their way through the lizard infested tunnel, blowing up or punching through anything they saw

[30 Blur Lizards defeated!]

[+1200 EXP]

[EXP Bar: 1350/1400 ] 2550/1400]

[Level Up!]

[Level 11 ] 12]

[EXP Bar: 1200/1600]

[+5 stat points available to distribute]

Aldrich nodded Now this wasThe kind that Aldrich theorized would skyrocket his levels up

Aldrich started to invest points back into his physical statsinto his physical stats, but that was because he knew the enemies he would face He needed to be th]

[Strength: 11 ] 16]

Aldrich figured that getting his strength, agility, and perception up over twenty would h to handle a C rank hero or villain reliably He noted that the first few stat points he invested into his physical stats ot hier and faster than a normal man But stats, or at the least the physical ones, did not seem to increase multiplicatively Every five points did notor fast

It was difficult to quantify in nuot with each stat point The only thing that ured that the 20-30 stat threshold for his physical stats would keep hie] and, later, its upgraded version [Death Surge]

Aldrich then felt a nal from Valera

Master, you should be here There's a htered it

On it said Aldrich