The Ritual of Evil Awakening.
This ritual could cause the incoming monster tide to shift more toward the Evil Soul type, greatly increasing the number of Evil Soul–type monsters born within the tide.
At the same time, it could also transform a dungeon into an Evil Nest–type dungeon.
There was no helping it…
This was the one type of nest that Kanzaki Rei countered the most.
Against other nests, Rei could at best be considered capable of fighting them—but he held no particular advantage.
However, the Ritual of Insect Awakening, the Ritual of Twin Awakening, and the Ritual of Giant Hive Awakening—Rei knew all of them.
Which meant that he could now summon dungeons of the corresponding tier at will.
At the highest limit… he might even be able to summon a Tier-7 dungeon.
Still, to be safe…
Rei had never truly attempted it.
At present, while his raw personal power was still insufficient to destroy an entire continent, if one were to speak of summoning monsters and calling forth dungeons—purely in terms of strategic or "soft" destructive capability—
Rei estimated that he already possessed the ability to annihilate an entire continent.
And furthermore…
Rei could feel the number of souls he had accumulated.
112 billion souls.
As for the ritual known as Pure White Descent…
He had no idea what level of destructive force it possessed.
But that ritual was also Rei's final trump card—the strength he would rely on when flipping the table.
Perhaps even a trump card capable of overturning Ansei himself.
Rei did not perform any sacrifices to the dungeon.
Instead, he walked directly inside.
The mist inside the dungeon was somewhat thinner.
It seemed the influence of Moonstar weakened considerably within nests.
His perception swept outward.
Through the dense fog, Rei could see quite a few Tier-6 Lord-class monsters.
Yet those monsters showed no awareness whatsoever of Rei's arrival.
The fog did not merely obscure intelligent beings.
It also dulled the senses of monsters themselves.
"Hmm…"
"The passageway looks fine."
Rei left behind a trace of "Origin" at the entrance.
A precaution—something for emergency handling.
Then, beside him, a creature covered in strands and dripping with viscous mucus was summoned.
"Chitabas (Subcontinental Class)"
The moment its two legs stepped upon the earth—
The ground instantly sprouted countless white fungal filaments, like mycelium spreading beneath the soil.
In the distance, the Tier-6 monsters still had no idea what had happened.
But from the moment their feet touched the ground—
Fungal threads began crawling across their bodies.
The filaments spread upward, infiltrating their flesh.
Corrosion erupted from the inside out.
At the same time, the fungus also began corrupting their souls.
Sssss—
Rei strolled forward leisurely, continuing his exploration.
Ever since obtaining the Source of Calamity, Rei and Akasei had explored quite a few Tier-6 dungeons.
During those expeditions, Rei naturally harvested a number of Subcontinental-class undead.
At present, within Rei's Little Netherworld, there were already over fifty Tier-6 Subcontinental undead.
Even among Subcontinental-class beings, differences existed.
But those differences mostly lay in specialized traits.
If one spoke purely of combat power…
It ultimately depended on who countered whom more strongly.
Rei had never encountered a Tier-6 monster stronger than the Subcontinental tier.
Except perhaps for the Ten-Thousand-Body True Soul.
He had once sent part of its severed limbs to the White Tower's monster scholars for identification.
Their final conclusion was that the creature was infinitely close to a level beyond Subcontinental, yet still technically confined within the Subcontinental classification.
If given more time to grow…
It might truly have broken through.
Unfortunately, Rei had been unable to refine it into a Dead Soul.
This area was a stone forest.
Strange and irregular stone pillars rose everywhere.
Tier-6 dungeons were enormous—their territory already far exceeded the size of ordinary cities.
If low-level adventurers entered here, let alone dealing with the powerful monsters…
Simply navigating this maze-like terrain to locate the final guardian would already be extremely difficult.
A Level-3 mage typically had a perception range of only a few hundred meters.
Rei's massive perception radius came from the enhancement of the Void Spirit Ring-Star War Spear.
Without that spear, even after all his training, Rei's perception would be less than ten kilometers.
Eventually, he did discover a puzzle chamber.
Sometimes in dungeons, even if the monsters were not particularly powerful, puzzle rooms still contained excellent rewards.
Rei arrived at a megalithic stone formation.
At the center stood a gigantic stone.
Around the formation, numerous monster corpses lay scattered across the ground.
Before Rei even arrived—
Chitabas had already wiped them out.
Chitabas was a fungal soul-extractor, spreading parasitic spores through its mycelium.
Once the fungus attached to an enemy, it would begin gnawing and devouring their soul.
Given sufficient time…
Its fungal network could spread across an immense area.
Until eventually, it might even cover an entire continent.
Subcontinental-class monsters…
Almost every one of them possessed the destructive potential to exterminate all life across a continent.
With a thought from Rei—
Numerous undead materialized around him.
This time, however, they were merely Tier-6 King-class cannon fodder.
"Bring the fresh corpses over here."
Rei gave the command softly.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The shadows surrounding him vanished instantly.
Then Rei turned his gaze toward the stone formation.
Did this puzzle require moving the different stones into place?
…Too troublesome.
Rei raised one hand toward the massive central stone.
Buzz—
The sealing restriction placed upon the stone was instantly undone.
With a thunderous crash—
The stone shattered apart.
Inside, a resplendent golden treasure chest appeared before Rei.
According to the scriptures of the Church of Fortune:
A world without randomness would be unbearably dull.
Thus the goddess of luck, Yakaticto, had hidden special treasures throughout the world.
Whoever found them would receive surprising rewards.
That was the origin of treasure chests in dungeons.
Outside dungeons, similar hidden treasures existed throughout the wilderness as well.
Rei had discovered many through his ability to peer into hidden secrets.
But most of them were trivial—items worth only a few silver or copper coins.
Even the luckier finds were usually only worth a few gold coins.
Eventually, Rei stopped bothering to pick them up.
But dungeon rewards…
Those were still worth opening.
Not long ago, when exploring a Tier-6 dungeon with Akasei, they had obtained a piece of Pure Hard True Steel.
An extremely rare material—one of the hardest steels in the world.
Akasei had snapped it in half and given Rei one portion.
The chest before him now…
Clearly looked like no ordinary treasure.
Even when examined with Rei's ultimate perception, the interior remained shrouded in gray fog.
Such treasure chests could not be inspected beforehand.
The surprise would only be revealed the moment they were opened.
Rei drew a circular ritual on the ground.
"Luck Enhancement Ritual."
Whether it worked or not, he had no idea.
There were no glowing lights.
No feedback.
No magical fluctuations.
Still—
Rei opened the chest.
He no longer needed to worry about mimic chests.
Rei possessed multiple abilities capable of detecting them.
Spiritual perception.
Ultimate senses.
Even simply checking for the presence of a soul.
SWOOSH!
A yellow-brown suit of armor shot skyward!
"Perfect-grade armor."
The same quality tier as the Void Spirit Ring-Star Staff.
The armor was extremely heavy.
Once worn, the user would root in place, unable to move.
However, the ground beneath their feet would also become indestructible.
After rooting, their defensive power would become extraordinarily high.
Additionally, all defensive magic, combat techniques, and protection skills cast within the area would become dramatically enhanced.
"Pretty good…"
Rei stored the armor in his spatial storage.
His collection of mystic treasures was growing larger and larger.
Once he collected the loot, his undead returned carrying the monster corpses.
"Mm. This place is perfect…"
"We'll set it up here."
Rei raised his hand casually.
Countless ores, blood, potions, eyeballs, and plants flew outward in all directions.
Blood formed intricate patterns.
A massive ritual array took shape.
Practice made perfect.
By now, Rei dared to say he was a master of ritual construction.
When it came to ritual studies…
Even scholars who specialized entirely in ritualism might not understand them as deeply as he did.
At the very least—
Rei knew a tremendous number of rituals.
He had money—enough to buy every ritual book in Kronoria.
He had authority—allowing him free access to nearly every library archive.
And he possessed the ability to peer into hidden secrets.
Most forbidden rituals could only be discovered through hidden knowledge.
Ordinary scholars or formation masters simply could not know as many rituals as Rei did.
SWOOSH!
The next moment—
A massive mountain appeared within the ritual circle.
From the mountain, countless black ants surged outward.
"Ant Mountain."
"You've followed me for so long… you've earned this."
"Even though you're a mindless, stupid monster… you've helped me quite a bit."
Without Thousand-Legion Ant Mountain, Rei would never have advanced so quickly.
Just searching for souls alone would have taken enormous amounts of time.
Grinding hundreds of millions of souls per day was an entirely different concept from wandering everywhere to earn only a few hundred thousand or million.
"Today…"
"I'll help you climb higher along the path of monsters."
Among Ruijia's forbidden books, there was one titled:
"The Path of Monster Ascension."
It recorded the life of a monster called Imperial Void, which rose from weakness to the upper ranks.
The book was unusual.
It was written entirely from the perspective of a monster.
At first glance, it resembled a novel.
But hidden within the story…
Was a secret.
The Monster Ascension Ritual.
Shed the old shell and obtain rebirth—From lifelessness comes ignorance and awakening.I climb upward endlessly until I blaze toward the final end.
That was the passage recorded in The Path of Monster Ascension.
"Evolution direction…"
"Higher reproduction numbers. Greater conversion efficiency…"
Before this, Rei had already overseen ascensions for three other monsters.
All were Tier-4 Nation-Destroyer monsters.
He had accumulated plenty of experience.
Rei never liked attempting critical matters without preparation.
Mistakes were too easy to make that way.
He adjusted the ritual.
Materials at each node were increased or reduced.
"Strangely similar to Transcendent Magic…"
Everything in the world seemed to share echoes of magic.
"Sacrifice…"
"Death and souls."
"Elevate its existence."
Rei raised his hand.
WHOOSH!
Souls poured continuously into the ritual.
Nearby, the fresh corpses of Tier-6 monsters dissolved under the ritual's influence.
They transformed into tiny particles—
Flowing toward the monster at the center.
THUMP!THUMP!THUMP!
The Thousand-Legion Ant Mountain trembled violently!
Each pulse spewed out a torrential swarm of ants!
Its body began expanding.
The holes across its surface multiplied.
The ants produced grew smaller in size—yet possessed stronger physical bodies.
"Too strong physically."
"Quantity is the priority."
Rei reduced the amount of flesh placed at one ritual node.
He increased the number of insect eggs at another.
Instantly—
The Ant Mountain produced even more ants.
But their bodies became weaker.
Although still Tier-2 black ants, they were now almost as fragile as Tier-1 monsters.
Yet the quantity…
Became absolutely terrifying.
Originally fist-sized, the ants shrank to thumb-sized insects.
But they swarmed in endless density.
THUMP!THUMP!THUMP!
The Ant Mountain kept erupting.
Each eruption grew larger.
Each expansion increased its size further.
It was undergoing continuous evolution.
Within barely five minutes—
Its size had already grown ten times larger than before.
And it still hadn't stopped.
Rei had retreated far away.
Yet the monster continued expanding…
Growing ever larger.
Finally—
At roughly thirty times its original size, it stopped.
It no longer erupted in bursts.
Instead—
It began continuously spewing black clouds.
BUZZZZZZZZ—
Every black ant now possessed the ability to fly.
Countless ants—tiny as particles—spread across the sky like fog.
They blotted out the heavens.
"Erupting Black Ant Mountain"
Tier-5 — Nation-Destroyer Monster
The enormous mountain opened countless holes in every direction.
From those holes, endless black fog poured outward.
If one looked casually, it seemed like ordinary mist.
But in truth—
Each particle was a Tier-2 black ant.
These ants were weaker than normal Tier-2 ants.
Yet they were far more aggressive, far faster, and extremely agile fliers.
If an attack could not fill every inch of space—
Some of the ant-fog would inevitably slip through.
The moment the fog touched someone…
They would suffer the piercing bites of hundreds or thousands of ants simultaneously.
A low-level adventurer would likely be devoured within seconds.
"Success, huh."
Rei casually raised a shield.
A flame barrier wrapped around him completely.
Not a single ant could approach.
Rei naturally feared none of them.
But if this Erupting Black Ant Mountain were released into the outside world…
It could easily wipe out an entire nation.
Even Level-5 adventurers might be completely helpless against it.
Flames ignited around it.
A blazing cage instantly surrounded the Ant Mountain.
In that moment—
Rei felt over one hundred million souls flood into him.
So many…
At this rate, he could produce hundreds of billions of souls per day.
This evolution had truly been the right choice.
Rei had used fresh Tier-6 monster corpses, along with high-grade souls as ritual sacrifices.
The goal had been to ensure the evolution was complete.
And now…
It certainly was.
Even the Tier-5 Nation-Destroyer monster on the 100th floor of the War God Tower would probably lose easily against this.
And then—
SWOOSH!
Rei instantly converted countless souls into undead.
Tiny black flying ants formed one after another.
Every single one was a special variant.
Now…
Rei finally possessed something that could truly be called an undead legion.
Whether in individual quality or mass quantity—
He lacked nothing.
Rei raised his hand.
The Erupting Black Ant Mountain vanished into his living-creature storage space.
To achieve this ascension, Rei had prepared extensively.
He had searched for the ritual.
Studied monster evolution theory.
Prepared materials.
Conducted repeated experiments.
And after the evolution—
One final requirement remained.
He needed a container capable of holding the monster.
A Tier-5 Nation-Destroyer monster was an unimaginably massive creature.
Aijin's previous bracelet could never contain it.
So Rei had asked Aijin to forge a new bracelet.
Thanks to the bracelet taken from the Church of Frost, which had advanced Storage-craft enchantments, the capacity was enormous.
All that remained was for Aijin to add living-storage enchantments.
Only then could it contain the Erupting Black Ant Mountain.
"Hmm…"
"The guardian of this dungeon has already been dealt with."
Rei looked at the antlered monster now standing beside him.
Earlier, Chitabas had already handled the boss.
The final boss had only been King-class.
Against a Subcontinental monster, it had been instantly killed.
This antlered undead was now the dungeon's former guardian.
"That's enough."
Rei turned and left.
At this point, solo-clearing Tier-6 dungeons was no longer difficult for him.
In fact—
Every dungeon he cleared gave him more souls.
More souls meant killing more enemies.
His power was snowballing endlessly.
Wind blew softly.
Rei stepped out of the dungeon with his hands in his pockets.
But the moment he emerged—
Something felt wrong.
He had originally set up rituals and barriers here before entering.
Yet now…
They had disappeared.
Something was happening.
Rei's perception swept outward instantly.
At the same time, hundreds of layered shields enveloped his body.
His mage robes layered themselves in overlapping defensive arrays.
Another sweep of perception—
And Rei immediately realized something shocking.
The surrounding environment had changed.
This…
Was not the place where he entered the dungeon.
What was going on?
Where was this?
Human interference?
Or the influence of the Month-phase?
SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH—
Rei released ten smaller Subcontinental monsters at once, surrounding himself with protection.
Then he carefully listened to his inner intuition.
After determining a direction through that instinct—
He began walking forward.
..
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