Demonic whispers began to echo, and spirits could be seen flying within the dense fog.
This time, they were lucky.
They did not encounter an overwhelming number of spirits again, and several days passed like this.
During those days, since only the two of them remained, they talked a lot, and Subedei learned several important things.
Everyone gained a profession, but not everyone could gain abilities.
At that moment, he finally understood why the three of them had been so shocked and frightened before.
Learning that Zev, just like himself, had once fought against a gathering of Whispering Spirits and collapsed unconscious was extremely important to Subedei.
At least now, he no longer had to blame himself as much.
At this moment, within the dense fog, Subedei and Zev were fighting Whispering Spirits.
Since they hadn't encountered an enormous gathering again, their moods had been relatively good over these past few days.
However, they still had not seen the boss of this floor.
The two of them desperately wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.
No one knew when a massive number of spirits might appear again, so all they wanted was to escape quickly.
But things did not go as they wished.
Despite all these battles, neither of them had even leveled up.
Even so, they continued killing every Whispering Spirit they encountered along the way.
[You have slain "Whispering Spirit"]
…
"This day is finally over," he thought.
But just then, demonic whispers grew clearer from afar.
Within the dense fog, an enormous number of spirits were flying straight toward them.
Subedei and Zev looked at each other, and the same word escaped both their mouths at the same time.
"Damn it."
"Damn it…"
Just as they were thinking that everything was over and that morning would never come, the gathering of Whispering Spirits suddenly appeared before them, completely crushing their spirits.
The two of them tightly gripped their weapons and stood still, waiting for the spirits to approach.
The closer the Whispering Spirits came, the clearer the demonic whispers became.
Subedei immediately activated "Mana Control."
[Your body and weapon are covered in mana. Strength increased by 20%.]
His body and spear were enveloped in blue mana, faintly glowing.
As the Whispering Spirits began circling around them, Subedei charged forward without any emotion.
This gathering of Whispering Spirits was even more terrifying than the previous two.
As soon as the spirits began circling, Subedei's ears burned, and blood started flowing from his nose and ears.
Even so, Subedei and Zev did not panic and remained calm.
They encouraged themselves, believing they could overcome this as well.
The battle began.
Although they cut down the Whispering Spirits as easily as slicing paper, even more spirits appeared than they destroyed.
Unlike before, the Whispering Spirits circled around them, kicking up fierce winds and dust.
They tried their best not to lose heart, but while they had survived the previous two times by luck, this time they understood that only death awaited them.
Even knowing they could not defeat such a large and powerful number of Whispering Spirits, neither of them gave up easily.
They were determined to fight to the very end.
After several hours, the battle dragged on for far too long.
Zev was already gasping for breath, leaning on his weapon to rest.
Meanwhile, Subedei continued fighting the Whispering Spirits.
The new skill he had obtained earlier was working well.
Even though he was short of breath, he still had enough strength left to fight.
Seeing Subedei's endurance, Zev was astonished.
Before, Subedei had always been the first to tire out, but now Zev was the one leaning on his weapon first.
However, Zev did not feel jealous or discouraged instead, he felt encouraged and rejoined the battle.
At that moment, something happened that greatly pleased them.
A glimmer of hope for victory finally appeared.
[You have slain "Whispering Spirit"]
[You have leveled up. Congratulations!]
[Strength +1, Agility +1, Spirit +1, Perception +1]
[You have gained 5 unassigned stat points.]
Subedei allocated 2 points to Strength, 1 to Agility, 1 to Spirit, and 1 to Perception.
They looked at each other and smiled.
They quickly realized that both of them had leveled up at the same time.
However, they did not know that this hope would only last for a brief moment.
As they began killing the Whispering Spirits faster than before, Subedei suddenly felt dizzy, and his vision began to darken.
Before he could understand what was happening, blood flowed from his nose, mouth, and eyes, and his body felt as if it no longer belonged to him.
Some movements happened against his will.
The world before his eyes slowly changed the ground turned entirely blood-red, and everything around him became dark and dim.
At that moment, an enormous, powerful white spirit stood before Subedei.
The monster held a massive, pure-white sword, even larger than its own body.
Something like mana swirled around the giant spirit, and even the mana it emitted was the same white color as its body.
Behind it stood the people Subedei loved, frozen in fear.
Suddenly, the giant spirit moved and swung its massive sword toward Zev, instantly splitting his body in half.
Zev's upper body flew into the air and slammed heavily onto the ground, while his lower body remained standing.
His eyes were wide open, staring at Subedei as if begging for help.
Seeing this, the people Subedei loved and knew looked at him and screamed pitifully.
"Please help us!"
"Help us!"
"Zev!"
Subedei was shocked, and a single thought entered his mind against his will.
"No matter what happens, I have to kill this monster."
He tried to run toward the giant spirit, but his body would not move at all.
It was as if his body belonged to someone else, completely unresponsive to his will.
In the next moment, he clearly saw the giant spirit swing its sword toward a woman.
"Help me…"
The woman screamed just before the enormous white sword reached her.
Enraged and panicked, Subedei tried to scream, but not a single word came out.
He clearly witnessed his sister being killed before his eyes.
"Sister…"
He could do nothing but whisper her name.
That scream of hers, begging for help, was etched forever into Subedei's heart.
The giant spirit did not stop there.
One by one, it slaughtered the people most important to Subedei his mother, his grandmother in the most brutal ways.
Their desperate cries for help drove Subedei insane.
In the end, only a single old man with white hair and a white beard remained.
When Subedei saw the giant spirit raise its massive white sword to split the old man in two, he glared at the monster with overwhelming rage.
"Grandfather…"
As he whispered those words, something inside Subedei felt as if it exploded.