Rise Of The Undead King

Chapter 5

Marcus stared at her and finally said, "Fine. If you don't need my help then you can stay here."

From the past, he had learned not to carry people that didn't want to be carried. He had spent years begging his father for attention, stretching his hands to Jessica for affection, trying to prove himself to people who only looked at him like he was the trash of the Cave family.

He turned away and forged ahead into the thick shadows.

His Beast Sense stretched out around him as he walked deeper. The air was freezing, dark fog rolling between twisted trees that looked like they had been dead for years. Any normal person would have turned back. Even trained hunters moved carefully through places like this.

Marcus called his beasts forward.

The lion appeared first, then the three wolves and the massive bear. They materialized from the shadows, bowing slightly before taking positions around him.

A growl echoed from the trees above.

Six Shadow Stalkers dropped down, their bodies like smoke with glowing red eyes. These were the kind of beasts that made even B ranked hunters form parties and plan strategies. Marcus had read about them before - how fast they moved, how their claws could tear through armor like paper.

"Kill them," Marcus muttered.

His bear moved like a hurricane, slamming into three Stalkers at once. The impact shook the ground and bones snapped like twigs. His wolves darted between the others, their fangs tearing through shadow cores in seconds. The lion crushed the last one under its massive paw.

It took just ten seconds for them to tear through the hoard.

Even a B class would have struggled with this beast pack that his shadow beasts destroyed so easily.

Marcus kept walking. A giant bone serpent rose from a dark pool, its scales dripping with poison. His lion caught it mid-strike and bit its head clean off. A swarm of death crows dove from the cave ceiling. His wolves leaped up and tore them apart before they could even screech.

His hands vibrated with anticipation that sank deep into his bones. He was excited.

To make things better, he had an infinite evolution. While Henry would stay A ranked forever, soaking himself in guild master attention, Marcus could keep climbing. Every beast he tamed pushed his limits further. There was no ceiling.

A pack of Bone Wolves charged from behind dead trees, their skeletal bodies rattling as they ran. Even experienced hunters would need expensive gear and careful positioning to handle a pack this size. Marcus didn't even slow down.

"Tear them apart," he said.

His beasts moved like they owned the forest. The bear's paw crushed two wolves against a tree. The lion's jaws snapped another in half. His shadow wolves moved so fast the bone pack couldn't even react before they were scattered across the ground.

Marcus scoffed, anger filtering through his veins as he thought about everyone who had called his class trash. They had no idea what they had thrown away.

A massive Shadow Elk stepped into his path, its antlers crackling with dark energy. This was a mini-boss creature, something that would make B ranked combat classes sweat and bleed just to escape alive.

His bear grabbed it by the antlers and slammed it into the ground so hard the earth cracked.

The thick sense of power arched deeply into his bones. For the first time since his mother died, Marcus felt like he was holding all the cards.

Just as he was about to step into a brighter clearing, a loud explosion rocked the ground ahead of him.

Marcus stopped. The sound of something heavy crashing into trees rushed over him, followed by a sharp scream.

He moved toward the noise, pushing through thick bushes until he stepped into a wide clearing.

It was a fight just up ahead of him.

The girl from earlier was there, her silver hair messy and blood staining her expensive combat gear. She was fighting with a two headed beast - a massive shadow hound with dark flames wrapping around its body. Both heads snapped and snarled, acidic saliva dripping from its fangs and burning holes in the ground.

This wasn't just any shadow beast. This was a zone boss.

The girl was fast, dodging and slashing with her glowing dagger, but she was losing badly. One of the hound's heads slammed into her and she tumbled on the floor multiple times like she had been hit by a hurricane. Blood dripped from cuts on her arms and legs.

Marcus watched from the shadows.

He wanted to ignore her. After all, she had snorted at him, called him useless trash, said he couldn't even help himself with his weak ability.

But then he saw how powerful the beast was.

He didn't care about her. He cared about taming the beast.

The thick sense of anticipation crawled through his skin. 

The good thing about his skill was that he could take undead, shadow beasts, and resurrect dead beasts to tame them. It didn't matter if the creature was alive or dead when he found it.

If she somehow managed to kill it, he could resurrect its corpse. If it killed her, he could have his pack tear it down and then bring it back under his control. Either way, that two headed hound would be his.

A smirk formed on his lips.

This beast would be perfect for his collection. Just the kind of weapon he needed when he finally went back to face Henry and wipe that smirk off his stepbrother's face.

Marcus stepped out of the shadows and walked into the clearing, his hands relaxed at his sides.

The girl's head snapped toward him. She was struggling to push herself up from the dirt, breathing heavily and clutching her ribs. When she saw him approaching with that calm expression, her face washed up with shock.

Her eyes went wide as she recognized the same E ranked Mortician from the forest.

"Are you mad?" she yelled, her voice cracking as the massive hound turned both its heads toward Marcus. "Do you want to die?"

The beast's four glowing eyes locked onto him, saliva dripping from its fangs as it sized up this new target.

Marcus's smirk didn't move. She still thought he was the same pathetic trash who couldn't help himself.

"Run away, you useless E rank!" she screamed at him, coughing violently. "That thing will kill you in seconds!"

But Marcus just stood there, his hands clenched tightly as his shadow beasts began materializing from the darkness around him.