Kyros moved all over the base with the darkness enveloping him. Moving at the maximum length of thirty meters was Calaminus, returning to the top of the Mages tower.

One of the archers realized finally confirmed their fear as he reached the top of the Mages tower, who were no longer responding.

“The mages are dead! Enemy attack! Sound the alarms! Light up the to-“

Calaminus finally gave another splash which was once more from the east side.

The sudden tap caused the archer to panic and reached for his bow.

FWIP!

A single arrow pierced from the back of his shoulder, and he stumbled and started screaming in pain.

They only saw the archer turn to the east and suddenly was struck from the east to those at the bottom.

Calaminus moved towards another archer tower and used splash, distracting them.

The knights heard the panic voices of the archers, but then, a strange dark shadow taking the form of a human appeared and attacked them.

The surprising appearance of this shadow drew the attention of many.

Kyros then moved silently and approached another archer on the tower that was not within the sights of the others. Using the Vermilion Earth Sword and the Sword of Ten Thousand Grudges, Kyros stabbed the two archers.

“AH!” One of the archers gave a pained scream.

Several knights and two archers emerged from their rooms as they were awakened from the shouts.

TING! TING! TING!

A metal sound resounded as Calaminus used splash on a metal shield hidden in one room.

The knights that left the room heard it and were confused as they knew no one was left in that room!

“What’s going on?” One of the knights shouted.

“Fight the shadow!” A mage appeared and began to harness holy magic to attack the dark familiar.

FWIP! FWIP!

The first arrow struck some form of barrier, but the second penetrated through and killed the mage.

Another shadow attacked another knight. Calaminus was bouncing and splashing around, creating taps and touching sensation on the knights, further added to the chaos.

“Something’s here!” One of the knights shouted as he drew his sword as he tried to slash the unseen Calaminus.

Calaminus used splash on the sword, and the sudden resistance caused the knight to charge forward and try to ram something in his desperation.

“Knights! Be on your guard! Get the torches!” One of the knights ordered, and they began to fight the shadow familiar. But Calaminus kept splashing on the torches that it added more panic.

Kyros stood on top of the wall. After he scaled the wall and made the two shadow familiars fight, he kept activating Dark Cloak. Kyros was confident they wouldn’t notice him with no mages around and the archers on the towers killed.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

And just like that, the knights were all wounded by Kyros’s harassment. Some had already died.

The two Shadow Familiars suddenly retreated.

The surviving three knights ran after it in great rage.

Two died as arrows struck them right in between the gaps of their helmets.

The remaining one that was chasing the shadow familiars died as the two shadows suddenly attacked.

Kyros made his move and slew the last man together with his shadows.

Just like that, the entire outpost was wiped out. 

“Finally. All dead. Now time to begin the harvest.” Kyros retrieved the Blood Blade.

Kyros found the many weapons in the outpost and began to send them back to the Temple.

The Blood Blade continued to absorb the blood of all the humans. Since Kyros was not devouring the blood, the blade soon transformed into a long blade.

“Now it’s time to merge it. The Sword of Ten Thousand Grudges is a sword that can harness the souls of Dark Dependent. The Blood Blade appears to be a special form of magic that branches out from the powers of an Ancient Vampire. By the looks of it, this magic ought to be left behind from a vampire that ascended.” Kyros observed.

“Both uses Dark energy to fuel it. If I combine these two swords, I should have a slightly stronger sword. If the Blood Blade fuses with the Heart of Fallen core of the sword, it should be able to gather both blood and darkness.” Kyros smiled.

He brought out the many smiting items left in the outpost and gathered the various artifacts that the Mages had.

[Allies are trying to access the Temple Storage Space. Open the doors?]

Kyros was stunned at the sudden notification.

“What the…?” Kyros closed his eyes. Due to the distance, viewing the temple through Micro-Management required five mana per minute.

Kyros saw his father tapping around one part of the Temple.

“Hm? Did he hear something when I sent these stuff? Oh well… I guess it’s better this way. I can easily send items in the temple and even communicate with them.” Kyros took out a parchment and began to write on it.

He clicked on Yes, and a secret chamber on the west side of the Temple opened up, leading to an underground storage facility.

“Why did it open?” Aron was amazed. The group went down and found ores of all kinds, some weapons, anvils, and other smiting equipment.

“What is this place?” Branze wondered.

“I recall that Avary said Lord Kyros could send items into a different place. One of the knights pointed at a sword lying on the ground. Oh, look! Those are Lord Kyros’s weapons!”

Suddenly, a pile of tables, chairs, and other odd equipment appeared.

On top of the table was a small notebook.

“Dear Father. I see that you’ve found the Temple Storage Space. I didn’t know where this was. But now that you found it, this makes things easier. We can communicate through writing reports here. I have marked this notebook for easy storage and retrieval. If there is anything you need me to bring, please write it here. But as I am busy, please give at least two to three business days to process your request. Thank you.” Branze read the notebook.

“Oh. That’s amazing! So Kyros can send stuff here! Men, do you want anything?”

“This is… a Mage basic magic book!” Branze was amazed at the nearby books that were on a pile.

“Wow. Those books are worth hundreds of gold! To think we got some for free!” Aron laughed.

“This is good. Kyros’s adventure can help us grow stronger here. Since father already got my message, he should be selling our lands to purchase weapons and equipment. But it seems we can spare more gold if Kyros can find the things we need!”

“This sword is amazing! It’s a standard knight’s sword!” One of the mercenaries praised.

“A knight’s armor. It’s weaker than the scale armor we got, but it should outfit the men who don’t have such armor!” Another mercenary praised.

“Damn it! I should have learned of this earlier! I could have sent father a message to minimize spending so we can save it for any possible purchases in the future!” Branze wept.

“Oh. Did you use up the energy of the message talisman? What if… the Temple can restore the energy of Talismans?” Aron guessed.

Branze’s expression changed as he swiftly bolted to the top of the Temple.

Meanwhile, Kyros continued to absorb the blood of the men. Kyros had stabbed the sword on one of the knights. He had successfully merged the two weapons. And it was rather easy to do so. The Sword of Ten Thousand Grudges sensed the power, and a notification appeared that confirmed if Kyros wanted to combine the two weapons.

Upon selecting yes, the two swords fused into a dark reddish sword with a strange beating heart onto the sword’s hilt.

The notification remained as Kyros continued to observe the stats.

—

Bloodied Sword of Ten Thousand Grudges (Lvl. 1)

Attack: 28

Durability: 30

Recovers durability when exposed to Dark Energy and Blood

Shadow Ghoul Familiar (7) / Blood Golem (2)

Soul Trapper

Dark Trapper

Blood Blade

Heart of the Fallen (1)

—

“Nice. Now it can absorb blood and darkness!” Kyros cheered as he read on the details of the ability.

Dark Trapper allowed him to gather bits of dark energy.

“If this is the case, I can level up just by killing people. But the experience it gives should be way, way, way weaker than the experience the temple can give.”

Kyros began to think more about the sword’s details and found that he can still unmerge the two swords at will.

“So the Sword of Ten Thousand Grudges can level up on its own. But something is missing. It feels like the Blood Blade is incomplete. It can’t level up. I have to find a way to make it more powerful.”

Suddenly, he heard screams on the outside.

Kyros sighed.

“And there goes Fate. Sending me new enemies. Oh well… Time to test my new sword.”

Kyros wore the dark armor using the shadow cloak and stepped out. He kept stabbing the sword on the dead man as he dragged the man outside.

Eight men were there. A mage, three archers, and four knights stood.

Leading the group was a tall and dark, beautiful woman. She raged as she saw her team dead.

“What happened here?!” The woman roared.

Kyros revealed himself as he dragged the knight. He held a torch on his hand so that the eight can see the horrors of his sword.

The Blood Blade kept absorbing more blood, and Kyros stood over to arrogantly display his cruelty.

“Ah… Fresh Meat!” Kyros laughed.

The mage was enraged. The knight that Kyros was devouring was one of his closest friends.

“Die!” The mage shouted and shot a firebolt.

Kyros moved a bit to the right and allowed the firebolt to hit his left arm.

BOOM!

The firebolt exploded out, revealing a bloody, gory arm. The darkness had been breached, and blood fell down Kyros’s arm.

Kyros laughed and held the Blood Blade tight.

The blood in his sword began to refuel him and heal his wounds at a visible rate.

“Life Steal!” The woman muttered in horror.