Thing

Aster crawled after his comfortable bunker and examined the distant walls surrounding the graveyard.

'I have traveled for about 2/5th of the diameter of this circular cylinder wall. I should stick to the edges to be able to find a weak spot in the barrier.'

He calculated that he was currently in the southwest section of the volcanic crater.

He looked up to the overhead silver moon, now starting to drop and hide behind the volcano vent.

'Oops, I think I spent a little bit more time than necessary so the night is almost over. I'm sure the sun rises in this desolate place but I don't want to deal with the darkness that comes when the moon dips over the volcano crater.

On the bright side, I'm well-fed and refreshed so I can run to it right now.'

Aster pulled out a high-quality, leather boot from his bone backpack and wore it on his newly regenerated leg.

'Glad I took the boot from the torn leg. I'm not too keen on wearing a bone shoe.'

He descended down to the trap and took the monster core of the centipede back. He squeezed it tight and got some exp points as a result.

'Should I take the mana crystals with me? They would work fine as mana refreshments but I already know how to harvest mana from the surroundings.

Since my [Conceal] doesn't work on anything other than me, it would be disadvantageous for me to keep it on me since it would release bits of mana everywhere and leave a trail leading up to me.

I should just absorb them here.'

Now with his mana threatening to overflow, he set out from his temporary settlement.

'[Bone manipulation[EX]] is really handy for traversing here.

Instead of climbing over small hills, I can just tunnel through it and keep it stabilized for some time until it collapse.

I can also rearrange the bones every time I take a step so it doesn't collapse under my weight. 

Pretty useful for stealth but kind of draining on mana though.'

Aster decided to go west and scour the walls from there.

And he started to run, not slow but not fast either. 

'Wait a second, I could do this to make traversing easier.'

Aster stopped for a moment then put his right foot forward while putting his left foot backwards.

A bone pillar the size of a grown man rose from the ground in a tilted manner and under Aster's right foot, created by binding different bones underground.

Naturally, Aster would rise too.

As soon as the pillar reached its maximum height, Aster kicked off and soared in the air.

The calcium pillar was erected with 45 degrees tilt so instead of just going upwards, Aster went forward while soaring upwards.

This seemed a much more effective way of traveling to Aster instead of just running on the ground like a simpleton.

It would allow him to skip over many monsters wandering the land and a potentially few strong and annoying ones like the lich.

The height of the leap wasn't even half of the height of the volcano so there was no concern about him colliding with the barrier.

In the case of meeting a vulture or an avian species of scavengers, he could just drop down.

That was his thought until something flashed in front of his eyes.

DOING!

Vibration reverberated throughout the entire string and Aster took a good look at what he had collided with.

'What the'

He couldn't see the edge of the string as it dissolved into the environment. It seemed as if a long milky white string suddenly appeared in the air to intercept Aster's unauthorized air travel.

It looked like it was floating due to the lack of edge and Aster had a good idea why.

'Is this like a transparent string? It can't be observed from afar but will reveal itself when it is up close. So the reason why I can't see the edge is because that is as far as I can observe the string?

What is this string and why is this so… sticky?

Oh no.'

He looked up and saw many different strings reflecting the moon's rays. The mesmerizing way these strings were intertwined together was almost like a spider's web.

'Shit, so it can't be seen from the ground but can be seen from up here?'

BZZZZZZ

Aster sensed a vibration on the string that stuck to him by the chest thanks to his excellent perception attribute which wasn't excellent enough to detect the web earlier.

'This can't be good.'

Something emerged from the shadows and came into the moonlight. 

A dark silhouette with 8 legs and a hairy physique.

Aster recognized it. It was under his bed, watching over him when he was at the demon ship.

And it wasn't just one either.

From behind, left, right, and up. Shadow spiders came from all directions.

'Hell, no!'

With a sharp and swift wind slash, Aster cut the web holding him prisoner and dropped.

The wind slash further traveled upwards and cut even more strings, destroying the delicate balance the silky home provided.

Many spiders who were not used to such disruptions followed Aster's example and plummeted down.

'Spider rain… thankfully, they should be pretty weak individually so the… ecosystem below shouldn't be affected that much.' Aster thought as he glided in the air.

'I lost my momentum when I was stopped by that web but I still retain my altitude so it's fine.

I am almost there anyway.'

For some reason, Aster felt sleepy.

Not because he needed sleep, he still did but his body was more than strong enough to go for a few days without sleeping but because something deep within him resonated with something in the distance.

Something also told him that the gluttony demons stopped their pursuit but he had no concrete evidence to support his feeling so he focused on the looming wall over him.

A couple dozen kilometers away from his location, an adolescent boy was to be found sleeping on a very expensive couch.

He had ashen hair and pale skin that seemed to have never seen the sun. His body was thin as sticks as his muscles deteriorated over his lengthy slumbers.

The room he was in was very grandiose yet it was in poor condition with dust and debris all over the floor and expensive paintings.

He stirred from his sleep and his ashen colored eyes became visible.

"One of my own, huh?" He muttered.

'You should just sleep. It's all over now. That… thing you have created won't allow you any harm.'

"ACEDIA!" A roar broke the silence of the manor as enraged Balazear approached him.

"What are you doing here!? What gives you the right to invade another duke's territory!" He berated the sloth demon.

"Fine, fine. I accomplished what I wanted to do anyway.  But beware though, many unwelcome guests should be coming here to visit your daughter."

"That thing… is not my daughter." He spat.

Acedia yawned as he got up "Sure, sure. I will be going now." 

'Dumbass. You just don't see her value.'

Balazear eyed him as he turned into mist and vanished.

"Send some hunter hounds after that bastard." The gluttony count ordered his servants.

"I need to tame that thing first."