Goodbye

Beta soon finished all of his experiments on the undead and proceeded on his way. Since it already used up a lot of his time, he moved more hurriedly. If Chugum said that he would need two days to kill everything in this tomb, then he expected it to take at least three days normally since Chugum doesn't want him to get his rewards that easily. But Beta didn't mind that. A bit of pressure and urgency always helped him advance faster, which ultimately was his goal by coming here. Even if he failed to do it within the specified time, he was still able to improve greatly so it would not be really much of a loss. If he were to fight the three Black Wolves again, he was sure that he wouldn't have a problem defeating them at all, quite easily at that. However, Beta wanted more. Simply being able to take care of a few stray wolves didn't satisfy him. There was still the pack and its leader left so he's itching for a comeback.

Suddenly, as Beta was walking along another winding corridor, a very thin, malnourished looking human being stood in front of him. At first, he thought it was another undead, but he then noticed that there wasn't any rotting flesh on it. Instead, it looked as if it was still alive. But it had one thing in common with the undead, its clothes. They were just as decayed as the undead ones. When the thin person in front of Beta took notice of him, Beta knew that it wasn't human anymore.

"Scree!"

It let out an ear-piercing screech and with great speed, advanced forward toward Beta who reacted in a flash. As usual, he willed out his soulpower and shot three arrows at the incoming enemy. But surprisingly, he didn't hit. The creature was so agile that it avoided all of his arrows and stood next to him in a flash, touching him. As he felt the cold touch, Beta noticed that his soul was slowly being sucked out. He immediately moved his soulpower to his shoulder, where the creature was touching him.

He didn't care about being secretive any longer and used both his void and death elemental soulpower. When his life was on the line, he definitely wouldn't hold back anymore. No matter what Chugum would say after that, he couldn't care less. Yes, he owes the old man for teaching him but he plans to pay back someday. So, to make that even possible, he needs to survive this crisis against the strange creatures lying in wait in the Tomb.

Beta first used his void elemental soulpower to get rid of its hand and then shot out his death elemental soulpower arrow. As it entered through the creatures stump, Beta's soulpower slowly brought the creature's arm to decay. It then looked at its rotting arm and started screaming again. Suddenly, its eyes turned blood red and it attacked Beta once more. The fury seemed to already be seeping out of its body as the air around it changed.

Beta, instead of using arrows like the usual, formed blades made of his soulpower to attack it instead. It took up much more energy, but due to its greater size, it was much harder to dodge and inflicted a bigger area of damage. Beta completely let go of his restraints and used both void and death element, alternatively letting blades rain on his enemy. The creature was still able to dodge the first few blades, but as more and more continued rushing at it, it finally couldn't handle it anymore and got hit.

As the blades hit, it sliced off a part of its body and then the severed area slowly started rotting away, giving no chance for regeneration. It couldn't recover its momentum as it kept on getting damaged, thus, its indignant screams filled the whole tomb due to its impending defeat. Beta only stopped his attacks once the creature was completely quiet and had even less flesh on its body than the undead he had met before.

"What a fearsome creature! It seemed to also have used the death element, as to be expected in this tomb. I wonder if I can replicate this soul-sucking attack...", Beta pondered as he kept looking at the corpse, checking if it's safe to get closer or not. Luckily, Beta still had his soulpower inside the creature's body, which clearly let him feel that it was certainly dead. He then got closer and inspected it.

When he got closer, he finally got a clear look at its body. It was an almost hairless body as it only had a few random strands of hair on its head which were right next to its unusually large ears. Just like its ears, the nose too was larger than a normal human's. In addition, its eyes were small and beady which are a big contrast to its nose and ears. Overall, it looked quite deformed and yet, it seemed to suit the conditions of this old tomb perfectly. Beta was a bit saddened when he dissected it because all of its organs had already rotted away. He didn't know if it was like that from the start or if it was his doing, but he had the feeling that he might have gone overboard with his own power.

"How did this kind of creature come to be? Did, at some point in time, something happen on the surface of the world and some humans hid inside caves, turning the generation to generation more into whatever that is? Or have they lived there from the very beginning? I should ask Chugum later. Thinking of that... I wonder if he saw me using my death elemental soulpower...", Beta thought quietly, while looking towards the way the entrance of the tomb was.

He then continued, "It doesn't matter. If he saw, he doesn't seem to be radical enough to directly kill me on the spot. If he didn't... I'll just continue using my void power until the training is over."

Starting from this encounter, Beta was prepared at all times. After resting for a while, he continued clearing the tomb. No matter where he met an enemy or how it looked like, he killed them all instantly. Beta was sure that the part that took up the most time in this challenge was finding his enemies. But he found a way to solve that quite quickly. He put several corpses on top of each other and cut them into several pieces. Soon, the smell of blood permeated the whole tomb. Just to make sure, Beta also shouted a bit to attract the undead that might otherwise not be interested in him.

Because of the huge size of the tomb, the beasts and undead came at him one by one, making it quite easy for Beta to kill them off without a hitch. One hour before the time he had for the challenge was completely used up, Beta finally killed the last one. The corridor he was in, was strewn with corpses, filling the air with a scent that could be used as an attack on some people. Beta was completely covered in blood and looked more like a monster than everything that had been living inside the tomb before. Since the blood had already partly dried, it truly was a sight to behold. When Chugum saw Beta moving out of the tomb, he almost attacked him, thinking it was a monster that somehow found its way up.

"I finished.", Beta said in a hoarse tone. After killing monsters for two days straight, he felt completely emptied of energy. It was a wonder he could still move.

"Eh?! Beta? Oh, so it's you! Hehe… Let me check real quick... eh? You really killed them all off!", Chugum said unbelievingly.

"That was our bet. Now I want my rewards. As the reward for this challenge, I'd like to have all the materials needed to create runes."

"Ugh, you brat. Always straight to the point. Oh well, I guess you really do deserve it. Here, take this pill and restore your power.", Chugum said after letting out a defeated sigh. He then flicked over a pill into Beta's hands and afterward snapped his fingers once. After the sound of his fingers snapping was heard, Beta suddenly looked completely clean.

"He definitely used void power! His precision is truly remarkable!"; Beta thought while looking at Chugum.

He then continued with a question. "I met a weird, screeching creature down in the tomb. What was that?"

"Heh, nasty ugly looking ones, right? That was a Wight. They are pretty dangerous. Especially the strong ones. What you fought in there were just babies.", Chugum answered Beta as if it was common knowledge.

"Why do they look so similar to humans? And what about the undead? How do they live?"

"They look similar to humans because they took the same path of evolution up to a certain point but they are still not completely human. As for the undead, they are something you will see every now and then. They are created by Liches who use the death element to capture a soul and then put them into the dead bodies. Even though that sounds quite bad, there are actually some quite heart-wrenching stories of people trying to revive their loved ones who died tragically. Sadly, only the ones with extreme skill are able to revive them without any changes to their behavior and such. Still, those who are revived, no matter how high the intellect, will never be accepted as proper human beings. They are usually unable to get very far in life unless they hide very well. With all those undead everywhere, you might think that Liches and similar beings are everywhere, but there are actually less than there are people with the void element. They just always tend to build ginormous armies of undead for some reason.", Chugum said, yawning while giving Beta a small bag with a rune on it that Beta clearly remembered.

Beta was truly shocked by all this information. He didn't expect that there would be such things happening in the world. But of course, that influx of information and revelation didn't hinder him from taking the bag from Chugum.

"Is this a void bag?", Beta asked, inspecting the bag carefully.

"You're not able to carry all that stuff inside your personal storage yet, so I'll just lend you that bag for now.", Chugum answered as if he was giving Beta a cabbage.

"Thank you, Chugum. I'm truly in debt after all this help you've given me. Even though I have a lot of questions regarding the outside world, since I'm out of time, I can't stay any longer. But, I'll make sure to repay you once I'm able to in the future.", Beta said with a serious face. He was truly thankful for all the help he got.

"Alright, remember it. Now it's about time for me to leave as well. I still have some things to do. I believe you should meet up with your friends too."

"They are alive?", Beta asked with a bit of anticipation.

"Yes, they are. They had their own hardships the past few days but it was nothing too serious.", Chugum said with a laugh.

Beta really was rendered speechless. Chugum may seem like a miser and Beta was sure that he was one, but he was also someone who looked after weaker persons. Even though Beta's friends had nothing to do with him at all, he knew all along that he still looked after them. And that, after getting ripped off by Beta which he can't really feel guilty of since he truly needed those things anyway.

"Where will I be able to find you in the future?", Beta asked.

"We're both void elements. There's no need for a certain place, at some point we naturally will meet again! Now... goodbye and take care little one!"

Right after Beta heard the word 'goodbye', he suddenly appeared inside the cave he had been in at the very beginning. He looked around him but saw no one. He then took a look at his new void bag which was currently filled with expensive materials that he wished for and hid it inside his robe. He patted it once, feeling fulfilled and strode out of the cave as he breathed in the fresh air. He turned around and said something towards his back.

"Goodbye!"