The moment both snow elves fell on the ground, Silas also fell onto his knees, and his grip on the hilt of his sword weakened slightly as it fell from his hand.

A faint thud sound filled the air when the sword made contact with the stone. Silas looked at the deceased archers, a faint smirk curled up on his lips.

"System, let me use Life-Steal on these fuckers right away, time to level the fuck," Silas said, his tone filled with the touch of cockiness.

[Residual vitality detected. Would you like to absorb it?]

He took his hand out, directed it towards the corpse of the bodies of Snow Elves as he muttered, voice low yet firm. "Life Steal."

The red strings started coming out of the corpse, crimson light coming out of its wounds. It started swirling in threads of vapour as it came towards Silas's palm.

His veins glowed dimly beneath his skin, a soft red pulsing through his arm and across his chest.

His muscles started to tighten, heartbeat steadied. Every ache in his body started to lighten up a bit.

[Life absorbed: +80 days.]

[Stats increased: +20 Strength | +22 Agility | +25 Endurance.]

[High-tier entity absorbed.]

[Option unlocked: Absorb ability traits.]

[Available Skills: Frostpierce Arrow]

[Silent Snowstep]

[Select one to inherit.]

A wicked grin began to curl up on Silas's lips as he looked at two of the skills. "Hmmm, they had nice skills."

[Yes, host. They were snow elves, one of the best kinds of el; es, no wonder you're getting those skills for your stupid body. ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡]

"System, show me the description of these," Silas said, voice firm.

---

[Skill: Frostpierce Arrow – A Rank]

[Create a condensed frost-mana projectile that pierces the target and explodes into freezing shards.]

[Effects:]

•[Slows enemy by 20%]

•[Deals bonus damage on weak points]

•[Can be fired without a bow using pure mana]

[Skill: Silent Snowstep – A Rank]

[A stealth movement technique that erases sound and killing intent while boosting evasion.]

[Effects:]

•[Footsteps become silent]

•[Presence harder to detect]

•[+15% evasion during duration]

•[Enhances Phantom Step synergy]

---

Silas took his time scanning both the skills thoroughly and finally made his choice. He extended his finger and tapped the skill.

[Skill Acquired: Silent Snowstep – A Rank]

After absorbing them, Silas noticed a suspicious thing: the bodies of the snow elves were still there, but just the bones were left.

The rest had been absorbed by the Life-Steal skill. Silas scratched his chin as his voice came low. "System, what happened here? Why didn't they get absorbed fully?"

[Host, the rank of the deceased was way higher than yours, the affinity of their souls was way higher and older than yours.]

"So, the absorption rate depends on one's age and the rank?"

[Affirmative.]

"Well, I get it, system."

After using the life-steal on the deceased, Silas sat on the ground next to a tree as he rested his back against the tree's bark.

Silas let out a deep sigh and pulled one of the potions that he recently bought from the awakened association out from his inventory, splashing it all over the wounds that he had recently got.

"Owch..." A small groan escaped Silas's mouth. When he finished treating wounds, he said in a low voice. "System, if you know anything about what's happening right now with this dungeon, then tell me."

The system's panel appeared in front of his eyes, shimmering with bright blue light as the panel said:

[Host, I can feel the disruption in the mana level of the dungeon. It doesn't feel like that of a normal B-Rank dungeon, and the only possible outcome I can come up with is someone changing the mana from outside.]

A feeling of confusion took over Silas's mind. "But, how's it even possible? How can one disrupt the dungeon power levels?"

[Host, a normal hunter can't do that, but someone with the knowledge about the mechanics of the dungeon can. But, even for that, someone should know the origin of the dungeons.]

Silas would have said something back, but before he could do that, he heard the sound of footsteps that were coming from nearby.

Silas took a hiding spot behind the trunk of the tree, peeking through the side of it. A group of snow-elves was coming towards his location.

There were four archers, and this time there were two swordsmen too. Silas looked at them, trying his best not to let any voice out of his mouth. 'System, scan the stats of those swordsmen.'

[Right away, Host.]

[Name: Snow Elf (Swordsman)]

[Rank: A+]

[Potential Awakening: A-S Rank]

Silas stared at the system panel, which was floating in the air in front of his eyes bead of sweat rolled down his cheek to his neck as he gulped. 'Fucking hell, four A-Ranks and two A+ Ranks.'

Silas started looking for a good spot where he could hide from them. He started moving his gaze from one place to another

And finally, his sight fell on a small hole under a tree. 'Systemanalyseze that hole and tell me if it's usable for now or not.'

[Yes, Host.]

[That hole was dug by an arctic fox, an animal that digs a hole into the ground when it feels like predators are behind it.]

[Completely useful for your current sorry self, host.]

'Blue screen bitch, let me get out of here safely, then I'll hunt you down with my own two hands.'

Silas made his way to that hole, steps were slow and deliberate. He was trying his best not to blow his cover to the snow elves.

He went inside the hole and put some leaves in front to cover it. Silas looked at the snow elves, who were looking at the deceased bodies of their own kind.

They all made a small circle around the deceased, and one of the two swordsmen leaned down as he sat on his knees.

He slowly placed his hands on top of the foreheads of the deceased, touching them with two of his fingers; the others were just looking at them with silent stillness.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.