Black Lotus and White Marigold -9-
-Fsssh... The summoned undead vanished like illusions as their summon time expired.
-Fwoosh...
“Grrr...”
“Groooar...”
-Thud!!! Thud!!
Two famine asuras collapsed in front of me at the same time.
Just like when I'd killed the ogres earlier, level-up alerts popped up several times.
'Compared to when I killed the first famine asura, I took down way more this time, but the number of alerts is subtly off.'
It couldn't be helped. The higher your level, the more experience you needed—that was par for the course. Plus, there were no more bonus points from first kills.
For now, I'd check the notifications later. As a necromancer, there was something far more important to do first: inspect these fresh new materials I'd acquired.
'That said, this was easier than I expected.'
I'd originally planned to split up with my undead so each of us handled one, but my stats were stronger than I'd thought, and the Black Flame proved incredibly useful, so I just took both on myself.
Black flames rose from the bodies of the two fallen famine asuras. If I wasn't careful, the Black Flame might devour them entirely in no time.
-Snap
-Shooo!
So I flicked my fingers in a signaling gesture to snuff out the Black Flame.
That was one of its strengths: I could control it precisely and burn only what I wanted.
The famine asuras looked like they'd been completely incinerated in flames from the outside, but I'd selectively torched just their skin and vital organs like the brain, leaving the corpses mostly intact. In other words, perfect for materials.
“Woo woo!!!”
As I pondered how to use these famine asura and ogre corpses, Kangjang's confident voice rang out from behind me.
“Auu~!!”
There she stood atop a famine asura she'd beaten into pulp, striking a victory pose over its corpse.
'Kangjang's the real deal, as always.'
Typical mid-grade undead topped out around level 30-something, but thanks to my Spirit Enchanter skill [Lord and Vassal Unity], Kangjang shared my levels. She was a level 43 jiangshi.
'In this fight, aside from Black Flame, I didn't use any skills or spells—just pure physical ability and mana reinforcement.'
Honestly, as a summoner type, I didn't know buff spells all that well, and attack magic wasn't efficient anyway. Close combat with my perks, Black Flame, and mana reinforcement—using magic only as support—made me stronger overall. My strength was on par with a pure melee build, and Kangjang's was even higher.
'Thanks to the [Herculean Strength] skill I got from using famine asura corpses as materials.'
Since I'd beaten two famine asuras in melee so easily, it was no surprise Kangjang won handily—even without Black Flame, considering the skills she could use.
'Not to mention [Mid-Grade Magic Resistance Skin], [Tough Skin], and [Asura Frenzy], plus her innate jiangshi abilities and my reinforcements. Losing would've been weirder.'
“Auu~!!”
Lost in thought, I heard Kangjang calling me.
-Sparkle sparkle
When I turned to her, she was gazing at the famine asura she'd killed and the few ogre corpses felled by my other undead, her eyes wide and sparkling.
“Slurp”
She licked her lips with relish.
“Woo! Au~! Woowoo~!!”
“Ah, you want to eat that? Of course you can.”
How could I say no to my cute Kangjang when she wanted a snack?
“Auu~!!”
-Stab
-Rip
Kangjang let out a joyful cry, then used her signature sharp jiangshi nails to tear off a hunk of the dead famine asura's flesh.
“Nyam! Nomnom”
-Munch munch
She stuffed the still-bleeding chunk straight into her mouth and chowed down blissfully.
-Drip drip
Blood from the juicy meat dribbled down her chin in red trails, but thanks to her stunning beauty, even that looked sensual.
Undead didn't need food or feel hunger by default, but Kangjang craved ogre and famine asura flesh for a simple reason: skills from her creation materials.
Eating living creatures rapidly restored stamina and mana, with a low chance to absorb some of their stats—[Asura Predation]. Ogre-types boosted that success rate and even offered a chance to steal skills—[Kin Predation].
Feeding her these ogres and their evolved form, the famine asuras, would strengthen her further.
“Nom nomnom”
-Gulp gulp!
Kangjang neatly stripped the flesh with her nails and scarfed it down.
Compared to her frame, there was a mountain of meat, and her belly ballooned out like a pregnant woman's with each bite, only to shrink right back thanks to the famine asura's bottomless stomach and superhuman digestion.
Whether from undead traits or the asura's nature, all that meat broke down completely—no waste, just pure mana conversion.
And this quirk confirmed something handy.
'Famine asuras digest kin faster.'
Undead struggled with digestion too, which was why my earlier plan had worked.
“Hahp!! Slurp nomnom”
Now Kangjang ditched stripping the meat and buried her face straight into the corpse, devouring it whole.
-Wiggle wiggle
Her massive ass jiggled side to side in excitement. With no panties, her pussy and asshole were fully exposed—utterly vulgar.
Unable to resist the seductive display, I approached her right away.
-Stroke
-Pat pat
-Rub rub
-Squeeze knead
I caressed her plump ass with both hands, gripping and kneading it. Soft and springy like her breasts, but firmer, bouncier.
“Oh...”
-Knead knead
It was truly a devilish ass.
“Nom? Woou~♥”
Noticing me fondling her while she ate, Kangjang wiggled her hips invitingly, begging for more.
-Boing boing
Her springy, moon-like cheeks shook lewdly and shamelessly.
-Knead knead
I lost myself groping Kangjang's ass in a trance.
“Auu~♥”
The more I did, the more she shook it, demanding attention.
After a while...
“Thanks, Kangjang. Time to get back to work now. I'll grope you more later.”
“Woou~♥”
I returned to the corpses.
'Hmm... How much should I let Kangjang eat?'
Even with boosted odds from kin predation, it was still probabilistic. Bad luck meant no gains. Plus, she already had all the famine asura's skills, and regular ogres wouldn't add much.
“Nomnom”
'Still, she looks so happy scarfing it down. Let her finish this one famine asura and half the ogres.'
With that decided, I turned to the two I'd killed myself—and eyed the exactly thirty-four ogre corpses.
“Hmm...”
Now I checked the backlog of level-up alerts that had been on hold.
'Total levels gained this time: twelve...'
Even dumping them all in, supreme undead were out of reach. Famine asuras made supreme-grade material, so turning them into undead now would be wasteful.
'One for flesh fusion, the other into the corpse vault for later.'
Their abilities were damn useful. Even without undeading them, they'd make great elite materials down the line.
'Ogres for mid-grade undead, then.'
Mid-grade were meat shields even at max level sometimes, so ogres could become those—or...
-Slink
I approached one ogre corpse and activated my Corpse Sculptor skill.
Corpse Refinement
-Grind!!
The ogre corpse shrank rapidly, morphing into a black leather-and-metal gauntlet.
◈ Can only be worn by undead. Grants the power of an ogre.
“Ogre Power Gauntlet. Been a while.”
But it wasn't particularly useful. "Grants ogre strength" meant nothing if you were already stronger than one—and most mid-grade melee undead had higher strength stats anyway. Me and Kangjang went without saying, and the defense boost wasn't tempting either.
In short, trash.
“Disassemble.”
-Grind!!
-Thud!!
With that word, the gauntlet reverted to its ogre corpse form.
“[Corpse Refinement]”
I repeated the process, refining ogre corpses into various gear before reverting them. Different corpses suited different equipment, so this was just testing.
For ogres, the earlier gauntlet, armor, greatswords, and blunt weapons performed best relative to others.
But only relative—and by my standards, meh.
'Half the ogres Kangjang didn't eat go to mid-grade undead... or I eat 'em.'
With that in mind, I approached a famine asura corpse.
Flesh Fusion
-Grind