Villain: Ultimate Mutation System in the Alternate World

<Crestwood City >

Inside the walled city, the once lively streets turned into something out of a zombie movie.

Bodies littered the ground like discarded dolls, their pale faces showed just how much they suffered before they all die.

Traces of dried blood stained their clothing, an indication that they had succumbed to the virus's critical stage, coughing blood from a raptured lungs in their final moments.

Their suffering was beyond cruel, worse than death itself.

They had to wait for their end while struggling to breathe, watching their loved ones die one by one.

Some of the corpses were even hugging each other, likely a family accepting their fate together.

Others chose to end their agony quickly with a bullet to the head.

Rats scurried and nibbled on the dead, their beady eyes gleaming , accompanied by the incessant buzzing of flies that was feasting on the dead bodies.

Buildings stood empty and broken, their shattered windows a proof what happened after the riot.

Within these abandoned structures, the air reeked of even more death.

Bodies lay scattered, some twisted in agony, others motionless as they were just sleeping.

Blood marked the walls and pooled on the floor, a grim testament to the virus that had consumed the city.

Even the military, entrusted with protecting this place, had deserted their posts, leaving the residents to fend for themselves while they hide on their forts.

As the sun rose, its weak light couldn't pierce through the heavy despair shrouding area.

Despite the new day, the city felt dead, casting a dark shadow over the air.

A single figure walked down the dirty bloodied streets, holding a golden gold cup.

He absorbed souls while releasing flexible bone tendrils that penetrated the corpses, leaving only their clothing behind.

It was Reign, but he looked different.

Gone was the menacing sight of him soaring through the air with an unstoppable aura.

Instead, he now resembled a walking skeleton, devoid of the dark red aura and wings that once surrounded him.

Even his aura seemed subdued, lacking the intensity one would expect from someone who had just attained the status of a demon lord.

'Is it just me, or did the exp cap increase again?' Reign clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Despite absorbing over 200,000+ humans already, he remained stuck at level 45

The level cap had shot up when he hit level 45, and he also noticed that the EXP he gained from corpses that had been dead for hours was much smaller compared to freshly killed humans.

This was the trade-off of his plan,

At this rate, he doubted he would reach level 50 even after devouring everyone.

'I can't even level up or purchase anything,' he sighed .

His points remained in the negative, and the rewards from leveling up were so small they hardly mattered.

His only chance was the chalice; he planned to keep feeding it to earn more points later.

As for Dark Points, it wouldn't be a problem.

With his power and ability to fly, hunting down corrupteds would be a breeze in the future.

He could simply locate a nest, unleash a devastating attack, and wipe out everyone in one fell swoop, then repeat the process as needed.

Now, the reason why he was here was because he was pretending to follow through with Angela's command.

Though he maintained his act, a sense of tension hung in the air, heightened by his awareness of Angela's watchful gaze.

Every movement he made was calculated to fool her.

'That bitch must be excited to absorb all these souls, but she's in for a surprise later,' Reign chuckled inwardly, relishing the thought of betraying and killing her vessel.

As for the repercussions of killing another angel, he didn't really care at all.

If her words held truth, that unlike the other angels, she was harnessing souls, then it implied she was currently the most powerful.

Eliminating her would essentially neutralize the most dangerous threat.

[Level Up +1 ]

Another notification popped up, but he ignored it as it held no immediate relevance to him.

He hoped he could reach level 50 soon and undergo another evolution.

From a distance, a flapping sound echoed behind Reign.

When he looked up, he saw a figure enveloped in a golden aura.

She had pristine white wings that generated golden dust with each flap, giving her an immaculate appearance.

"You're more useful than I thought," Angela giggled, her lips curling with amusement as she observed Reign from her high position.

She felt like a god looking down on an inferior being, unaware that Reign had already attained the status of a Demon Lord.

Though she could sense that he had grown a bit stronger, it wasn't enough to concern her.

"I'm a man of my word. I just hope you won't turn on me after this is all over," Reign replied, feigning concern for his own safety to further fool her.

Angela, with her arrogant angelic demeanor, took his words as a compliment.

There was even a hint of surprise in her eyes at Reign's attitude. She found his current demeanor pleasing enough; if he could be a loyal servant, she wouldn't mind sparing his life.

'The future plan I have in mind requires a lot of powerful allies. This inferior creature may not have high potential, but I could still see him serving as a sacrificial pawn under my command' she thought to herself.

"Don't worry, we angels always keep our word," Angela declared confidently.

"I hope so," Reign replied, his tone somewhat weak and worried.

Deep inside, though, he was bad mouthing her for lying through her teeth.

He could even see the smug expression on her face, not even bothering to hide her lies.

However, he remained calm and composed about it.

After breaking through, he discovered he could lower his aura without the system's assistance. It was an instinct he learned after gaining more control over his body and energy cores.

He half-expected Angela to see through it, but to his luck, she remained clueless about his new status.

Which was a relief, as he still intended to feed the chalice more souls to maximize his benefits.

Relying solely on levels to gain Skill Points and Attributes was a bad strategy. The rewards per level were too insignificant at this point to justify the reliance on them, so he had to take the risk.

As for Angela trying to steal it from him?

He dismissed the idea as a joke; his maximum speed was so fast that he doubted even she could catch up if he decided to flee.

And his confidence wasn't unfounded; he reasoned that her power didn't lean on speed, given her domain was a giant Harp.

Reign continued to sweep through the entire city.

Though he encountered some individuals who were barely clinging to life, he had no time to stop for them, so he just killed them too.

Angela observed everything with amusement in her eyes.

'The Chalice is getting stronger,' she mused to herself, her eyes fixed on Reign. 'But I'll need to wait for him to absorb more souls. It's clear that it's still not enough for me to break through to the level of Demon King.'

The gap between "Peak Demon Lord" and "Demon King" was even larger than that between "Peak Upper Demon" and "Demon Lord".

Therefore, it was only logical that the requirements were also more difficult and taxing.