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nThe group walked forward step by step, until they reached a point where it felt too dangerous for anyone but Foster to continue forward,

"I'll make sure to be back as soon as I can be.

" He said, and soon reached the door. Using his foot, he pushed it open, which was quite easy since it was barely hanging from its hinges anymore anyway, and looked into the room. The moment that he leaned forward, a small death slime came running at him.

nIt seemed to aim for the gap between his legs, but Foster quickly punched downward, and the force of his single strike combined with the holy aura on his body caused the death slime to splatter open, unable to move for a few moments. Then, Foster simply pushed his hand into its body and closed his hand around the bubble, causing it to pop open with little force.

nAs he fully stepped forward through the door, he was able to see what he had to face in this room. This time, it didn't seem to be attached to the ceiling, but rather one of the back-walls. It was a mummified undead creature once more, fused with parts of the rock. It hung maybe two or three feet elevated on that wall. Instead of it being in its mouth, a cracked crystal orb was now stuck in his chest right in front of where its heart should be.

nIt was a lot bulkier than that mummified undead before, and it was wearing rusty metal armor all over its body, with the exception of a large hole in its chestplate that the orb could be seen through.

nThere were multiple more skeletons, on the slightly better-equipped side, walking around the room as well. And of course, a relatively large number of death-slimes. There were some wooden shelves and desks standing around the walls, so the first thing that Foster did was pull the desks toward the door that he just walked through, before the skeletons could reach him.

nHe barricaded the door as much as he could, so that he didn't need to worry about the death slimes running toward the rest of the party, and then took care of the skeletons. They were quite easy to deal with, honestly. Their blunt weapons didn't hurt more than being hit by a child with a stick, and their blades were all too blunt to get even close to cutting through his clothes.

nAnd then, to his luck, before he even got to attacking that mummified monster source, he saw some messages in front of his eyes.

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nYou have leveled up!

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"Awe hell yeah! First time I've leveled up since that big **ing wolf!

" Foster said with a broad grin on his face. He could feel strength filling his body as his muscles seemed to bulge up and forcefully flex for a few moments. Foster felt lighter, and full of energy, as his mind cleared up.

nWith a smile on his face, Foster approached the mummified undead on the wall. If it was in reach like this, it should be easy to kill it, or at least to destroy the crystal orb in its chest. Or at least, so Foster thought. When he stepped up to it, and was about five meters away, it suddenly started moving. It opened its eyes and started violently pulling itself away from the wall. The parts of its skin that were fused to the wall began to rip, while the areas where its armor fused to the wall instead took part of the rock with it

nUndead were weak. They were corpses, after all. Their muscles were either nonexistent or rotten into basically dust, and the only thing that made them move now was magic. At the very least, that's what one of the book Foster took from Thiodrus' place said. But despite that... this undead had been able to pull rock off of a wall with it, instead of destroying or loosening the thick, but dried roots that tied the rock to the armor in the first place.

nThe undead soon pulled a club off the wall as well, which it seemed to have been holding tightly the whole time, and swung it forward at Foster. It had an incredibly long reach, so the club nearly hit his face if Foster hadn't dodged in time.

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"Well, **... that's kind of an upgrade compared to before, isn't it?

" He pointed out to himself with a wry smile, before pulling one of the throwing knives out of his bag. He grasped it tightly in his hand and threw it forward. It seemed too dangerous to approach that thing too closely right now.

nHowever, before the knife hit the chest of the undead, the creature simply hit it away, and quite easily at that,

"Fast too? Fucking hell, man...

" The undead took a step toward Foster and swung the large club once more.

nFoster dropped down and jumped forward, trying to jab at the crystal. And he did manage to hit it, causing the crack that was in it to open up further, but all that happened was that more slime now came pouring out of it.

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"Guess I gotta use a knife after all... **...

" Foster dodged out of the way as the club came swinging at him again, just that this time, it actually did end up hitting his arm. Luckily he was wearing the arm-guard, so it wasn't that painful or anything, but that hit instantly destroyed his whole stance.

nFoster held another knife in his hand, ready to throw it at the undead. He was standing there, trying to wait for the club to be pulled as far back as possible, and then threw the knife at the core as fast as he could. He practically imagined the knife being practically a bullet, with something like an explosion of force similar to the single strike's pushing it forward. And to his surprise, as the metal of the knife stopped touching his fingers, something of an explosion of force really did happen. It pushed Foster's hand back since he didn't expect it, and the knife flew forward in a straight line. It hit the crystal dead-on, piercing the black crystal in the center.

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n57 Experience Points Rewarded

nYou have learned the Martial Skill {Empowered Throw}

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