Chapter 293: Blood Siege

Luke had just finished telling Ronan what everyone else had known for weeks: the Beast Lord was dead. The commander stared at him, pale and rigid, fingers digging into the edge of the table. Disbelief still clung to his face when Luke produced the trophy, a massive fang from the monster, and set it down in front of him.

“So you all knew… and I was the only one who marched all this way terrified out of my mind?” Ronan’s voice wavered between astonishment and disbelief.

“Come on. It’s not like you’re exactly trustworthy. You were Bartholomew’s man,” Evangeline shot back, eyes steady.

“But Eleanor was too…” he countered.

Eleanor gave a slight shrug and let out a controlled sigh. “I told them to tell you, but everyone has their reasons. Things aren’t always that simple.”

Mason cut through the tension by sliding a map across the table. His fingers traced the scribbled routes. “Now you know the plan, Ronan. We don’t want to return to our Safe Zone carrying news that we’re about to send people to their possible deaths trying to capture the third fortress. We need motivation. We need hope. If we go back with proof the Beast Lord is already dead…”

Ronan drew in a slow breath and leaned back. “I get it. It’ll be a bigger spark for them. Even if I don’t agree, it’s the best way to keep the fire burning.”

“Motivation also drives them to push their professions, to level up. We’re just trying to nudge the ones still frozen in fear,” Allison added, her voice calm.

Ronan rubbed his face, exhausted. “Fine. But from now on, keep me in the loop. I said goodbye to my fiancée, you know. Told her there was a real chance I wouldn’t make it back.”

His eyes flicked toward Jack, leaning silently against the wall. “Wait… even he knew and I didn’t?”

Everyone nodded without a word.

Mason unfolded another map, this one a clean copy of Luke’s rough sketches, redrawn by a skilled cartographer. The markings were sharper now, almost professional. “Alright. Next priority is leveling up. Luke, any recommendations nearby?”

Luke’s mind flashed to the statues hidden in the city, but he pushed the thought aside. Best to focus on the beasts first. “We stick to the forest. Follow the river all the way to the city. Either way, we’re going to have to clear it out.”

“What’s your race level?” Evangeline asked, curiosity flickering in her eyes.

“Forty-eight,” Luke replied without hesitation.

“He’s almost there,” Mason murmured to her.

Then Mason looked around at the group, his expression turning firm. “Right now our focus is hitting level 60 in class so we can unlock a powerful epic skill. For some of you, that’s also going to mean reaching at least race level 50, like Luke.”

Luke was already at 58 in class. It would practically line up, two new skills waiting on the other side.

“I’m going to give you all a piece of advice about rank skills,” Mason went on, straightening his posture.

This was the part Luke had found most intriguing over the last few days.

“A rank skill is born from your greatest flaw and your greatest strength. It’s a two-edged blade, addictive to some once it awakens. That’s why you need to master your flaw. Think of something you know, deep down, is a problem inside you, then overcome it or at least keep it under control. That’s how you handle a rank skill.”

“Flaw?” Jack frowned. “Like being bad at something?”

“No,” Mason said with patience. “A flaw in your personality. Ask yourself one question: what’s my greatest flaw?”

The conversation drifted back to progression and mapping new zones, but Luke’s mind had already slipped elsewhere.

Something born of my flaw… what flaw do I even have? Nothing obvious came to mind. It couldn’t be something trivial like hating to wake up early. It had to be something big, a fracture deep in his personality or in the way he lived. A flaw by his own measure, or by everyone else’s?

Either way, Mason had said the system would reveal it when the time came.

***

An entire week had passed since the group had settled into this new stretch of the tutorial. Time moved differently here, the dense silence of the ruins, the constant whisper of wind through hollow structures, all of it gave the sense of a place suspended between worlds. They had divided their responsibilities with military precision: one team dedicated to leveling, another to mapping and exploration.

Luke had taken the lead on exploration. He was simply the best suited for it, with his stealth abilities and the angel mask that let him roam the city without triggering the statues. Most days it was just him and Princess Charlie, while the rest focused on training and hunting.

Lately, Luke had been stepping back, deliberately letting Charlie handle the undead. She needed the experience. Luke could have climbed faster, unlocking new skills at a steady pace, but he’d chosen to slow down for the sake of the group. That was the price and the strength of working as a team: everyone rose together, even if the individual climb took longer.

Still, Luke hadn’t stagnated. He’d gained levels of his own, edging toward the moment when two new skills would unlock at once. His stats now were almost unrecognizable compared to just a few weeks ago.

Name: Luke
Level: 49
Race: Half-Demon
Rank: F
Class: [Demonic Predator (Lvl 59)]
Profession: [Guardian Botanist of Mother Freya (Lvl 60)]
Titles: [Dark Lord]
Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon]
Health Points (HP): 4263/4270
Mana Points (MP): 4423/(4940)
Stamina: 2373/(2890)
Soul Fragments: 104/1000

Stats:
Strength: 680
Agility: 492 (542)
Endurance: 269 (289)
Vitality: 427
Perception: 450 (460)
Intelligence: 489 (494)
Free Points: 0

Class Skills: [Advanced Blade Handling (Uncommon)], [Profane Knife Throwing (Uncommon)], [Twin Blade (Common)], [Basic Dark Dash (Rare)], [Basic Blood Regeneration (Rare)], [Predator’s Mark (Rare)], [Demonic Blade Dance (Rare)], [Wraith Form (Ultra-Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Advanced Stealth (Rare)], [Assassin’s Tracking (Rare)], [Mana Infusion (Rare)], [Basic Archery (Common)]

Profession Skills: [Herbology of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Precise Extraction (Common)], [Basic Potion Crafting (Common)], [Corrupted Plant Growth (Rare)], [Plant Sensor (Uncommon)], [Botanical Bond of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Seed Conversion (Rare)], [Plant Manipulation of Mother Freya (Rare)], [Corrupted Blood of Mother Freya (Ultra-Rare)], [Thorn Mutation (Uncommon)], [Soil Analysis (Uncommon)], [Botanical Purification (Uncommon)], [Acid Blood Arrow (Epic)]

Race Skills: [Identify (Common)], [Demonic Perception (Uncommon)], [Dark Blood (Uncommon)], [Meditation (Common)], [Demonic Endurance (Uncommon)]

Bloodline Skill: [Servant of the Dark Lord (Unique)]
Servants: [Princess Charlie (Skeleton) – Lvl 40], [Servant Slot Available]

Luke dumped every free point from his level 59 class upgrade, plus the spare point from his level 49 race milestone, straight into Intelligence. His mana pool swelled like a reservoir after a storm. He was inches from cracking the 5,000 mark now—enough to launch five Acid Arrows back-to-back without blinking. Just thinking about it gave him a thrill. With that kind of firepower, he could tear through crowds on his own.

[Princess Charlie has slain a …]

**The [Pugilist] 2nd Class of Princess Charlie has reached Level 41! (+3 Strength, +2 Endurance, +2 Agility, +2 Vitality, +2 Perception, +2 Intelligence, +2 Free Points.)**

Luke vaulted off a crumbling rooftop. Below, Princess Charlie and Eleanor were cutting through the last of the monsters. Charlie had made massive strides. At level 40 her pugilist build had bloomed into something dangerous, unlocking a skill born from a simple choice she had made months earlier.

[Flame Aura (Rare)]: Harnessing the power of [Flame], the brawler’s body is wrapped in a shimmering layer of fire that boosts their strength and agility, making their movements faster and their strikes far more powerful. The released energy leaves a blazing trail in the air with every motion, which can disorient enemies.

Charlie was already moving like a storm. He watched her explode into a sprint, triggering Flame Fist, her hands igniting in a fierce, rippling blaze. She drove a punch into a statue, shattering it into jagged shards that clattered across the ground. Undead crowded in and she tore through them bare-handed, each strike trailing fire, each hit leaving burning marks in its wake.

When she finally slowed, her stance stayed high, fists raised like a fighter in the ring. The flames around her hands went out first, then the shimmering aura across her body faded away. The synergy of her skills was terrifying. She also loved pairing Fire Aura with Steel Fist, the raw power stacking into something almost unfair. Hard to believe she’d once been a fragile skeleton. Now she was a walking weapon. She spotted more enemies ahead and charged toward them without hesitation, one blazing fist cocked back for the next hit.

Off in the distance, Luke muttered, “I’ve basically turned into support at this point.”

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“She’s having fun,” Eleanor replied, a quiet smile playing at her lips as she drew an arrow.

Luke kept scanning the area, senses sharp. They were near the edge of the forest, still inside the ruined capital.

“So your name, does it come from that old movie?” Eleanor asked, easing the tension.

“Yeah. Star Wars,” Luke said, a quick grin flickering across his face.

They walked side by side through the hushed streets.

“In a way, I’m basically a Jedi,” he joked, pulling a kukri from his inventory and tossing it down the street. The blade clanged against the stone. “Watch this.” He extended his hand; the kukri whipped back to him like a boomerang, drawn by magnetism. “See? I’ve got the Force.”

“Cute,” Eleanor murmured, arching a brow.

Princess Charlie came back, approaching them. For some reason, she didn’t seem to like leaving Luke alone with Eleanor. Charlie opened the system interface and, pretending it was nothing, showed Luke the free points.

Name: Princess Charlie
Level: 40
Race: Skeleton
Rank: F
Class: Death Knight (Lvl 48)
2nd Class: Pugilist (Lvl 41)
Title: [Servant of the Dark Lord]
Health Points (HP): 2603/2690
Mana Points (MP): 1837/2130
Stamina: 2509/(3010)

Stats:
Strength: 416 (486)
Agility: 215
Endurance: 261 (301)
Vitality: 269
Perception: 176
Intelligence: 213
Free Points: 21

Class Skills: [Basic Weapon Handling (Common)], [Heavy Strike (Common)], [Basic Spectral Charge (Rare)], [Crescent Slash (Uncommon)], [Whirlwind Strike (Uncommon)], [Spectral Chain (Rare)], [Spectral Barrier (Rare)], [Doomblade (Rare)], [Mark of Doom (Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Doom Explosion (Rare)], [Spectral Soldier (Ultra-Rare)]

Second Class Skills: [Advanced Hand-to-Hand (Uncommon)], [Steel Fist (Rare)], [Stunning Punch (Uncommon)], [Battle Roar (Uncommon)], [Concentrated Kick (Uncommon)], [Power Punch (Uncommon)], [Pugilist’s Leap (Uncommon)], [Muscle Reading (Uncommon)], [Movement Echo (Uncommon)], [Flame (Common)], [Flame Fist (Rare)], [Flame Aura (Rare)]

Race Skills: [Demonic Servant Perception (Uncommon)], [Basic Bone Regeneration (Rare)], [Bone Endurance (Rare)], [Iron Bones (Ultra-Rare)]

Rune Skill: [Berserker Flames (Rare)]

He handled the point allocation for Charlie. She still preferred to let him do it, choosing skills and distributing stats. Rarely did she ever show real interest in those details herself.

Stats Updated (Princess Charlie):
Strength: 416 (486) -> 426 (496)
Vitality: 269 -> 280
Free Points: 21 -> 0
Health Points (HP): 2603/2690 -> 2713/2800

Luke couldn’t ignore the big drawback of Charlie running two classes. Death XP had to be split between them. If it weren’t for that, she would have already maxed out her class or at least be standing shoulder to shoulder with him at nearly level sixty.

He wanted her to reach her epic skill as soon as possible. In terms of pure attribute gains, leveling her pugilist class had been worth it, low XP cost and generous stat rewards. But once it hit the higher tiers, the experience curve spiked, slowing down her Death Knight progress.

Now that she had finally pushed the second class to level forty, he had decided it was time to shift gears. From here on out, he would tell her to focus exclusively on using the sword. That way, all the XP would funnel into the Death Knight class and level it faster. If she could hit level fifty, the class would evolve, her stat gains would skyrocket, and she would finally unlock her epic skill, a massive leap forward in power.

***

After several more hours they finally made it back to Luke’s hideout in the cave. It was rough but secure, cold stone walls, torches wedged into iron brackets, and a makeshift table buried under maps, notes, and supplies. The air smelled of damp earth, but there was a strange comfort to it, the feel of a refuge carved out of the dark.

Everyone gathered inside. Allison broke the silence first.

“Any word from Jerry?”