Wu Shuang waited for four or five seconds. Once he was certain no living corpses were pounding on the door, he went back downstairs as quietly as possible, returning to the lit lantern in the cellar.
Fearing that the light might draw the attention of the living corpses and monsters outside, he dimmed the lantern to a very low setting, leaving almost no light reaching the doorway. Meanwhile, his Humanity continued to be drained from time to time, accompanied by sharp throbs of pain.
Having learned his lesson, he carried the lantern and stayed far away from the ritual magic circle on the floor, shrinking into a corner before looking toward the collapsed corpse.
He had nearly been killed by that damn thing just now!
Wu Shuang cursed beneath his breath and pulled out his canteen, taking a deep gulp of water. Only then did he catch his breath from the terrifying ordeal and check his status.
His Humanity had dropped to 89, but Wu Shuang felt his total loss was far greater than that. Intense emotional spikes normally increased Humanity, so factoring in those unearned points, he estimated the Black Beast had drained tens of points of Humanity from him. It was truly deadly.
Eating some dark bread, he slid down against the wall to sit on the floor. Only now did he have the frame of mind to inspect his gains and check the information unlocked in his handbook's index.
First was the shield he had just obtained from the chest.
【Name: Thrusting Shield】
【Quality: Fine】
【Description: A shield crafted from high-quality oak, refined iron, and brass. Its surface is sheathed in iron sheet metal held together with copper rivets, with a thick iron band wrapped around the rim to resist slashes.
At the center of the shield face sits a spike over twenty centimeters long, designed to increase ramming damage.
Furthermore, during the forging process, Humanity was infused into the metal and timber, boosting its overall structural strength and slightly increasing the shield's weight while sprinting to further enhance ramming impact.】
【Regarding Applications of Humanity:
Humanity is widely utilized within the Holy Kingdom. Incorporating Humanity into various items and equipment can significantly enhance their performance or even bestow incredible effects.
Generally, the more expensive and rare the material, the more Humanity it can hold. Even simple decorative elements infused with Humanity can yield unimaginable enhancements, triggering a qualitative leap.】
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This shield was clearly far superior to his previous iron-sheathed wooden shield. It was a size larger, studded with raised brass rivets, and topped off with a sharp spike, making it look almost like an artwork from a museum.
Yet Wu Shuang showed little joy on his face, as the shield did nothing to solve his current predicament; its help was extremely limited while he remained trapped in the cellar.
Instead, the additional explanation attached to the end of the description caught his attention.
"Applications of Humanity..." Wu Shuang muttered with a frown.
This note seemed to trigger the first time one obtained equipment with special properties.
Infusing Humanity into equipment could unlock special abilities. Argus had such a feature as well, but it required completing a Legendary Quest to unlock, making the weapon essentially a basic blank slate for now.
He unequipped the iron-sheathed wooden shield that had degraded to decayed quality and equipped this Thrusting Shield instead. Testing it out, he found it considerably heavier, but still manageable enough to use.
Next, he checked the Appraisal information, primarily to confirm what had happened to the grave digger.
That clearly wasn't an ability inherent to the grave digger himself. Had night not fallen right at that moment, Wu Shuang's ambush would have finished him off, preventing all the subsequent crises, saving Wu Shuang so many precious bullets, and avoiding such massive noise.
"Zombie!?" he whispered in an extremely low voice.
"Who are you trying to fool? Total nonsense."
Wu Shuang was once again dumbfounded by the system's Appraisal Spell.
This junk system couldn't appraise a single monster correctly, just slapping random names onto them, leaving him completely speechlessly exasperated.
But the description...
Wu Shuang's expression turned serious as he spotted something different within the description.
【Monster • Incompletely Transformed Resurrected One (Zombie)】
【Description: A villager resurrected on the verge of death under the blessing of the Goddess of the Night. Both their physical body and form of existence differ from before, growing far stronger, though they were eliminated before completing the transformation.
Goddess of the Night ①: The Goddess of the Night equally blesses all living beings under her gaze, bestowing power upon them.】
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"Goddess of the Night... that must refer to the Black Beast."
"This system can't even recognize the Demon King. Truly utterly ridiculous."
Wu Shuang complained internally, but still gathered some useful information from the description.
Just as he had felt, night empowered these living corpses and monsters—likely through the power of the Black Beast—and could even resurrect them when near death, making them stronger.
And during this process... the Black Beast would also drain Humanity from his body. It was truly a bugged Demon King, an invincible presence.
No wonder the Hero Alliance refused to mention the details of fighting this thing, or likely didn't even know, because every Hero sent on that mission had died.
In any case, Wu Shuang couldn't imagine any way they could have survived. It was far too absurd.
With a mechanic boss like this, even if put into a game, the devs' parents would be cursed to oblivion, not to mention this monster didn't even have a health bar.
Yet what Wu Shuang faced... was reality.
This shitty world actually had such a ridiculous monster, and it was the damn Demon King!
Fuck!
Wu Shuang cursed over and over in his heart, growing somewhat demoralized as he slid down against the wall, drained of energy.
But he still had to eat food and drink water. He couldn't actually let himself starve to death trapped here; he had to find a way out.
He looked at the ritual magic circle on the floor, then at the skeletal remains, and cast the Appraisal Spell on them as well. After reading the results, he felt even worse.
【Priestess of the Sea God Sanctuary • Bunilan】
【Description: Bunilan Coe was a priestess who embodied beauty, kindness, and piety. She possessed a head of gorgeous sea-blue hair, a symbol of the Sea God's blessing, and enjoyed immense popularity in Gulf Town. Her suitors could form a line stretching from the mountaintop all the way to the foot. Even the most destitute vagrants would be moved by her virtue and beauty upon laying eyes on her, finding the spirit to pick themselves back up.
However, one day, she suddenly contracted a bizarre illness. Her skin began to peel away, growing strange scales, while her bones mutated and her face gradually transformed into that of a terrifying fish, rendering her unable to face anyone.
Only a select few knew this secret, including Pike. But he could only watch helplessly in anxiety until one day, the priestess chose to hang herself. Fearing the strange disease might spread, those who knew of the matter intended to cremate her body, but Pike secretly swapped the corpse...】
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【Resurrection Ritual Circle】
【Description: A magic circle drawn by Grave Digger Pike to resurrect someone. He didn't know where this bizarre knowledge originated; amidst his pain and desperate wish to bring someone back, he heard a certain whispering voice. An entity imparted to him the secret method of resurrection, so he began trying it. Naturally, the very first step was to dig up the graves he had previously buried...】
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