Chapter 270 I Would Have Been Your Daddy (2)

'Oh, yes... this is much better.' Ashton thought as soon as he stepped out of the portal conjured by the Lich, 'I feel like I'm on steroids.'

[Abyssal Smoke is reacting to your presence.]

[Your Dark Aura is increasing rapidly.]

[Your stats have been boosted by 33%]

[All Necromancer class abilities have been increased.]

Abyssal smoke, that was the name Astaroth gave to the black smoke while he was in control of Ashton's body. The name was a bit... over the top, according to Ashton. But now that he was experiencing the effects of breathing the smoke in, he could understand why Astaroth named it so.

"Who are you?"

A voice interrupted Ashton's pleasure. He opened his eyes only to stare at a poor excuse of a woman. He wasn't one to judge people based on their appearance, but Ashton couldn't help but see Servina in an unfavourable light.

Heck, Celeste looked a thousand times better than her, even though her face was always covered by her shadowy hood.

[Oi, stop with these misogynistic thoughts and deal with them.]

'What misogynistic? I'm just stating facts here.'

[Looks like the smoke has clouded your brain.]

'Yeah, that's where you live.'

N0 v el Next. CoM

Ashton was in a good mood. In fact, he hadn't felt this good in god knows how long. But his mood was about to get ruined. While others might have a bit of difficulty breathing and seeing through the smoke, Ashton was immune to all of its effects.

In fact, the longer he stayed inside the smoke the stronger he was getting. It was all thanks to the [Dark Aura] stat, providing him with random stat boosts. It was a shame that the boosts weren't permanent.

"By the way... where are we?" Ashton mumbled to himself while looking around, "Wasn't that Lich guy supposed to open a portal to Contingent? This place doesn't look like Contingent to me..."

[No one has as much command over magic as that Lich does, at least in this country. I doubt he would send us to the wrong place.]

Astaroth might be saying that, but the place there were in did not look anything like Contingent Ashton remembered. However, as he looked through the smoke, he saw people wearing the academy's uniform. Which meant he was at the right place... and the city itself had been totalled.

Ashton's silence was killing Servina. Even in the smoke, she could realise the person in front of her was a strong one. Stronger than any one of them... but what could merely four of them could possibly do when she had an army of more than thirty thousand at her side?

"I asked who are you-"

"Shush." Ashton placed a finger on his lips, "Do you wanna die or what? Just stay quiet for a moment."

Saying so, he casually walked up to Layla and helped her get back to her feet. Since Ashton rarely conversed with the nobles while he was enrolled at the academy, he only knew Layla by her face and not by her name. Still, he knew she was close to Anna.

"Where's Anna?"

"...she stayed behind to let us escape," Layla replied while pointing towards where the tunnel once was, "I don't think she-"

"Thanks for the information." Ashton smiled, patted her shoulders and left in the direction she pointed, "Oh and I think you can kill them with ease now that my subordinate has immobilised them."

No one even tried to question or stop him. All of them were too shocked to see how carefree Ashton was.

He didn't try to rescue the students and simply walked past them as if he couldn't give a shit about them. Well, it wasn't a lie either way. He had more important matters to handle than rescuing a bunch of runts.

Even Servina was a bit taken aback. He might have been strong but this disrespect was a bit too much.

"This bastard..." Servina gritted her teeth, "How do you think you are? Acting all high and mighty even though you are alone?"

Ashton sighed and turned to face her, "Didn't I tell you? I'll kill you the moment you opened your mouth. Or maybe I forgot to put my thoughts correctly. Well, it's said one should grant the last wish of a dying person, so I think I should answer your questions first."

A moment later Ashton disappeared and reappeared in front of her. Almost as if he had teleported in front of Servina, but in fact, he had merely walked up to her.

"Who am I you ask? Hm... how do I explain this, oh right," Ashton smiled before slapping her so hard, Servina's skull bent at a weird angle, "If I was born in Nirvana, I would have been your daddy. As for your second question, no, I'm never alone."

As soon as he uttered those words, the ground shook and didn't stop shaking. Everyone was confused until they realised where the vibrations were coming from. Ashton grabbed Servina by her hair and forced her to watch the portal.

"Earlier, I had summons, but now I have an army. An army of the strongest undead on the planet."

Thousands of undead walked out of the portal one after another. But before the portal closed, one last being walked out. Gracing the outside world with his presence after... a lot of years.

"At last, I'm free from the curse." The Lich said with a horrendous smile, "Thank you, young one."

"It's fine gramps!" Ashton winked at the gigantic skeleton, "Do you think, you could take care of the mess here?"

[How high are you? Ordering the Lich around like that, you're definitely not in the right headspace.]

"You messed up, it's 'hi, how are you?' Higher civilization, my ass."

[May God save us all.]

"I'm just messing with you. I'm fine." Ashton smiled before dragging Servina and throwing her across the portal, "We'll talk more when I get back. For now, sit your ass there. I have left some... people to entertain you while I'm gone."

[Ashton... I just want to confirm. You do know you'll have to kill all these people right?]

The smile on Ashton's face disappeared as he nodded. Both Deja and Contingent were a lost cause. Just like the people who were still stuck in those cities.

Even if Ashton could absorb all of the Abyssal Smoke in those two cities, he couldn't completely erase its presence. Also, those who were unfortunate enough to come in contact with the smoke would eventually die and spread the disease even more.

The smoke might have been an elixir for him, but it was a venom for the rest of them. A venom that would give them a slow and painful death. Thus, it was better for Ashton to kill them to save them from the misery of such wretched death.