Chapter 102: Zero
The Ice Hopper didn’t feel any pain, only a strange, itchy sensation the moment the [Nightmare Mist] enveloped its body completely.
Slowly, it felt a reaction from its missing limbs and broken mandible.A strange energy ripped at those locations, in retaliation to the [Nightmare Mist].
The Ice Hopper finally understood why it hadn’t been able to heal: this remnant energy was the culprit. The energy almost felt alive and intelligent, but the exact moment it touched the [Nightmare Mist], it dissolved like snow on a sunny day.
This deeply surprised the Ice Hopper, as it didn’t expect the energy to be overpowered so thoroughly. It made the Ice Hopper inherently understand that the one standing before it was undeniably the stronger monster.
The Ice Hopper watched the energy struggle. But no matter how much desperate effort the strange energy put into creating resistance, the [Nightmare Mist] was relentless. And just as the absolute last of the strange energy was devoured, the true systemic change finally began.
The very first thing that happened was the Ice Hopper felt itself lose its level. It rapidly started dropping:
85... 84, 80, 79, 75, 72, 70....
At first, the Ice Hopper remained relatively calm, but as the level continued dropping while showing no signs of stopping, it panicked.
65, 62, 55, 50, 47, 42...
The level didn’t stop dropping; instead, it picked up pace, making it wonder whether it had been tricked.
A seed of doubt took root: maybe Night was actually eating it. But unable to move or react, it could only fall into despair.
As the level finally reached the 40 mark, the drop slowed down, but it was not something the terrified Ice Hopper noticed. All it could feel was its inevitable doom.
It desperately wanted the rapid level drop to miraculously stop, but the process was ruthless and continued with the same brutal efficiency.
40, 38, 36, 33, 32, 31.... 30.
It finally stopped completely at Level 30.
And then, suddenly, a tremendous amount of energy was released from its body startling it.
The energy naturally tried to disperse, but the [Nightmare Mist] firmly held it in place. Instead of dissipating into the outside cave, this pure energy was forcefully diverted right back into the Ice Hopper’s body by System Girl.
Yes, System Girl.
Completely unlike before, when Night had bonded Lucy, Lilith, Eve, and Death purely by following his own blind instincts, this time, System Girl was doing the heavy lifting, which enhanced the overall process.
The energy released because of the massive level drop seemed different from typical mana... it felt vastly more primal. It inherently possessed a distinct Primordial quality to it.
As the highly concentrated energy flooded back into the Ice Hopper’s body, it felt overwhelming bliss that made it almost lose consciousness.
But the Ice Hopper stubbornly held on. It wanted to stay aware during the process, even if it meant certain death
But the death it was expecting didn’t come; instead, its entire being was beautifully filled with this primal Primordial energy.
First, it was the severed legs; they rapidly grew back, and then followed the broken mandible.
This profound energy completely healed it in mere seconds, but it didn’t physically stop there.
It started entering every single part of its body enhancing its potential and evolving it far beyond its previous self.
As the evolutionary process reached its crescendo, the Ice Hopper was deeply moved to the point of almost crying.
And finally, when it felt a soul connection from Night trying to form with it, it didn’t resist and even eagerly assisted in the delicate process.
It had gone from hell to heaven and safely come back; its gratitude for Night was at its peak.
When the bonding process was successfully over, the [Nightmare Mist] returned to Night’s body.
[Ding!]
[New Summon Acquired]
[Ice Hopper Queen]
[The Ice Hopper has successfully broken its limitations and evolved beyond its limits with your assistance.
Innate Skill: Splitting - Allows it to split itself at the cost of energy. The clones and the main body can function and level independently or together.]
Night looked at this happily. Finally, he had a new friend, and this specific one looked like it was born with a powerful Innate Skill!
[Synchronicity: Ice Hopper Queen - 70%]
The initial synchronicity was a lot higher than the others, but it was still lacking compared to Sage, who boasted an unprecedented synchronicity of 90%.
Night then casually absorbed the [Nightmare Fire] back into his core, knowing it was safe now.
Sara and Blade quickly reached him and looked closely at the newly evolved Ice Hopper Queen.
The Ice Hopper Queen looked not much different from before, except now it radiated an incredibly regal air.
The Ice Hopper Queen looked down at itself and happily clicked its mandibles.
Then it looked directly at Night. It was surprised that Night was officially only Level 30, but that didn’t make it disappointed.
Raw levels were deceiving.
In the perilous Death Zones, it had seen several terrifying anomalies like this, where a being was exponentially stronger than what they were supposed to be at their level.
It used to be one such terrifying existence, after all.
The Ice Hopper Queen gracefully bowed its head to Night telepathically. "Thank you for accepting me as your follower, my liege. I absolutely shall not fail your trust."
Night was completely stunned. First ’Master’, and now ’Liege’?
Still, Night ignored it; it was up to them what they called him.
"Don’t worry," Night reassured it warmly. "From now on, we are in this together."
Sara finally asked cautiously, "Is it over?"
"Yes!" Night replied happily, and then he quickly explained the process to them.
While they spoke, the Ice Hopper Queen enthusiastically jumped around the cave on its new legs and meticulously collected all the Mana Crystals.
While they were just Epic Grade in its eyes, it was better than nothing.
If Sara and Blade had heard its dismissive thoughts, they would get a heart attack. That was easily tens of millions of SC!
Blade sized up the massive Ice Hopper as it moved. "So its race also evolved because of the process?"
Night nodded. It was obvious; despite losing so many levels, it didn’t physically look weak. In fact, it looked more fearsome.
Sara asked gently, "Have you thought of a name yet?" She well knew all his summons had names.
Night then thought deeply for a bit.
In Levi Rose’s inherited memories, he had seen a fictional character who used ice magic. He had a terrifying spell called Absolute Zero, which instantly froze everything the moment he used it.
"Zero..." Night muttered.
The Ice Hopper Queen paused what it was eagerly doing, looked at him, and gracefully nodded its head. It seemed it was okay with the icy name.
After Zero had efficiently gathered all the Mana Crystals, Night stored them inside his internal world.
As for exactly why his other friends absolutely hadn’t tried to stop him when he was bonding with Zero?
It was simple: they entirely didn’t know...
Even Night was unaware of this fact.
At some point, [Dream] had cleverly distracted all of them and assigned them some mundane tasks in the internal world, keeping them busy.
And his friends took the tasks seriously since it was Night’s World, completely unaware of the outside situation.
Night created a group telepathic link and connecting all of them.
Sara asked Night, "Do you want to set up camp and rest, or do we continue?"
"I can go on," Night replied. "I barely did anything; it was all System Girl this time."
Blade crossed her arms. "So where do we farm now?"
"It would be better if the place possessed a lot of monsters. I need a lot... I mean an mountain of them if I wish to level up," Night said honestly.
Zero was new to this group dynamic, but it quickly caught on. "How about we go straight to the Eternal Light region?"
All of them looked at the insect in puzzle.
Sara frowned. "Where exactly is this ’Eternal Light’ region?"
Zero quickly realized they were clueless. It raised a sharp leg and pointed North.
And that was exactly where the terrifying Death Zone was located.
Night gulped. "You actively mean... the Death Zone?"
Zero looked directly at him, not understanding exactly what he meant. But after Night rapidly explained the systemic classification to it, Zero finally understood.
"I see. So you humans call it ’Death Zones’ in the outside regions."
"I was natively born there inside a dungeon, and from my firsthand experience, I can say the specific phrase ’Death Zone’ is not an improper word for that savage region."
"In there, terrifying monsters rise and fall each and every single day, and it is the exact same even for the strongest of them. The competition for resources is insanely there."
"Even the most abnormally gifted monsters become just mundane food for the truly fierce ones. There is no rest, no peace, and no safety in that place. Every single waking moment is a desperate battle for survival."
"It was only when I escaped outside the region that I realized exactly how ruthless the Eternal Light region was."
"Out here, I have been lazily resting and expanding for months, and I rarely faced any true conflicts."
"Though I don’t know if this is fundamentally good or bad, seeing how easily I almost fell to you guys," Zero added thoughtfully.
Night realized grimly, "So it is exactly like an war zone where brutal fights are common?"
Zero paused. "That..." It completely didn’t know if that was a correct way to verbally describe it, but after some thought, it agreed with the bleak assessment. "Putting it simply... yes."
But Sara and Blade were still apprehensive.
Sara asked sharply, "Can we enter and leave at will, or will we be stuck exactly like the other native monsters inside the Eternal Light region?"
Zero quickly clarified. "No, no. We won’t be trapped."
"Once a native monster successfully escapes the boundaries of the Eternal Light region, they organically gain the right to actively enter and exit at will."
"It acts the same for any monster or being that willingly enters the restricted region from the outside."
It seemed Zero fundamentally knew a lot about this loophole. But it also made them realize something terrifying: it was possible for native monsters to successfully leave the Death Zone boundaries.
Blade then calmly asked something that had been bothering her ever since the conversation started.
Looking directly at Zero’s imposing form, she asked, "How exactly did you manage to leave the restricted region?"