Where Did the Dog Come From?

The Skull Head's stats were indeed low, significantly lower than Caelan's.

And after having his magic drained, Caelan couldn't help but feel a sense of emptiness in his body.

It felt like he had sprinted fifty meters, and only slowly recovered after standing and taking deep breaths for a while.

However, now was not the time for a leisurely rest; he turned the Chaos Encyclopedia to the Skull Head's page and held it open in front of him.

Magic was once again drawn by the Chaos Encyclopedia, and the Skeleton Soldier on the illustration floated out of the page, transforming back into its original form under the wrapping of runes.

The Skull Head still looked as dazed as ever, scratching its Skull Head.

"Come here."

Caelan gave the Skull Head a command, and it immediately scurried over to Caelan's front with a clattering sound.

"Go over there and squat."

The Skull Head ran in the direction Caelan pointed and squatted by the wall.

"Pick up the axe."

"Chop that table."

"Dance Gokuraku Jodo."

Skull Head: "..."

Finally, there was no response.

Alright, it seems overly complex commands cannot be completed, but simple attack commands are no problem at all.

Then, the next thing to do was simple: he still had some magic left, which should be enough to put all the known Undead in the Demon King's City into the Chaos Encyclopedia.

Why "known"? Mainly because even after two or three months, Caelan hadn't been able to explore the entire Demon King's City.

For example, in the underground area and dungeon of the Demon King's City, Caelan could feel something terrifying hidden below.

His life was still young; he didn't want to die here.

It didn't take long for Caelan to collect all the Skeleton Soldiers he knew into the Chaos Encyclopedia, a total of nine.

And there was an unexpected bonus: the one he had smashed when he first arrived hadn't completely died.

【Broken Bone · Low-Tier Undead】

【Race: Undead】

【Level: 2】

【Strength: 0】

【Agility: 0】

【Stamina: 41】

【Endurance: 16】

【Magic: 0】

【Talents: Undead, Soul Devour】

The image in the Chaos Encyclopedia was a pile of bones spread on the ground; it had no attack capability and couldn't move, but it wasn't dead either.

However, it wasn't entirely useless.

Caelan planned to use it to test the second function of the Chaos Encyclopedia—fusion.

This function was also simple: it was to fuse two monsters from the Chaos Encyclopedia into one, with a random outcome.

Kolas Wallger had tried fusing humans and giant apes; when he was lucky, he produced ape-men with giant ape arms, possessing both the strength of a giant ape and the intelligence of a human...

When he was unlucky, it was an ape-man whose intelligence was comparable to a giant ape's and whose strength was barely better than a human's.

In short, the result depended on fate.

Caelan wanted to try and see what would happen if he fused this Broken Bone with other intact Skeleton Soldiers.

The other material for the fusion was the Skull Head that Caelan had captured earliest.

It wasn't that Caelan was ungrateful; it was mainly because the Skull Head's base stats were indeed the lowest overall among all Skeleton Soldiers, apart from the Broken Bone. If not it, then who?

Feeling that he still had some magic left, Caelan didn't hesitate and immediately began the fusion ritual.

He first summoned the Broken Bone and placed it aside, then turned the page of the book to the Skull Head's page, opened it, and infused magic.

A large number of runes appeared around the Broken Bone, and at the same time, Caelan felt something was wrong.

His magic was being sucked into the book like flowing water.

"It's over, this magic consumption..."

He fainted before he could finish his sentence.

...

Crackle, crackle—

Thump, thump, clang, clang—

Caelan was awakened by some sounds.

"...I thought I was going to die."

He struggled to get up from the ground, his head still a bit dizzy, and the ground felt shaky even when standing, requiring him to lean on the wall to stand steadily.

There was basically no light in the Demon King's City, so he couldn't tell the time.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

Caelan decided that he definitely needed to install a clock in the city, a big one, given the opportunity.

However, before he could stand firm, he saw a hunched shadow approaching from the other side of the corridor not far away.

Upon closer inspection, it was a Kobold holding a fork.

When Caelan saw it, that Kobold also saw Caelan.

"Wah!"

The Kobold immediately let out a loud cry, brandished its rusty fork, and charged towards Caelan!

If he were stabbed by that thing, even if he didn't die immediately, the tetanus it carried would probably kill him.

Caelan was frantically looking for something to block with when his gaze suddenly fell upon another figure standing silently to the side.

"Protect me!"

With this command, that figure raised its hand and swung it fiercely.

Bang—

Like a watermelon being smashed, the Kobold's ugly head burst open in front of Caelan, splattering various viscous substances all over the ground.

The headless body continued to walk half a step forward before falling face down.

"Where did that dog come from? Get the hell out of here!"

Caelan cursed and let out a big breath.

After two months of adaptation, his psychological fortitude had improved greatly, much better than when his whole body trembled for a long time due to excitement after killing the Broken Bone.

It was then that he had time to look at his new monster.

【Skull Head · Low-Tier Undead】

【Race: Undead】

【Level: 5】

【Strength: 82】

【Agility: 30】

【Stamina: 51】

【Endurance: 93】

【Magic: 0】

【Talents: Undead, Soul Devour】

This was the result of fusing "Skull Head" and "Broken Bone"; all attributes, especially Strength, were greatly improved, almost doubled.

Because of this, its level also increased.

—For the residents of this world, levels and attributes seem to be part of common sense; every living creature has its own level and attributes. The levels here don't increase by gaining experience from killing monsters; they are more like a rating of attribute values.

Among the books collected by the Demon King, there seemed to be one about human Scholars' research on attributes, but Caelan hadn't had time to read it yet.

From its appearance, the newly fused Skeleton Soldier was a head taller than the original Skull Head; the Broken Bone's body transformed into bone armor, making its body look more robust, and a second arm grew under its left rib. The wrist and above of this arm were wrapped in many scattered bones, forming a long rod, making it unclear whether it was a bone blade or a bone club.

That Kobold earlier had its head smashed by this bone club, and blood and brain matter continued to drip from the gaps between those scattered bones.

It seemed that this fusion was quite successful.

Without time to study it carefully, Caelan summoned three more Skeleton Soldiers, maintained his remaining magic at a level that allowed for improvisation, grabbed the tetanus fork left by the Kobold, and headed downstairs.

The appearance of this Kobold and the rummaging sounds from downstairs indicated that quite a few Kobolds had also invaded the castle.

What Caelan had to do now was to drive all these things out of his territory.