In order to resolve this situation and keep his life intact, Victor spoke earnestly to the Ghost Necromancer. “Just tell me what you want, and I’ll do my best to fulfill it.”

  Valeria’s monstrous form shrank back to its human-like state, regaining her calm perplexion as she raised an eyebrow in interest. “What I want?” she repeated, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Actually, I never had any intention or particular grudge to attack your little Magus academy.”

  Victor frowned, confused. “Then why attack it?”

  “Simple,” she replied bluntly, folding her arms. “What I’m after are the crops you’re planting. You’ve got an impressive amount of them, and I need them to kickstart my plan for a paid cooking service to conquer the world.”

  Really? Is that what you want? That’s absurd! His eye twitched involuntarily as his hands curled into fists of frustration. Who would have thought the entire invasion of his academy by her undead army was all for crops? She sounded less like the fearsome Fallen Princess of legends and more like a petty thief. Her reasoning was absolutely ridiculous.

  Exhaling slowly, Victor forced himself to calm down. Losing his temper would accomplish nothing. After a pause, he offered, “How about we make a deal, then?”

  “A deal?”

  “Yes,” Victor spoke steadily. “If crops are what you want, I can provide them. In fact, I can arrange for periodic deliveries in large quantities. I’ll even include other food ingredients—meat, seasonings, anything you might need.” He raised his index and middle fingers. “In exchange, I have two requests that I want you to fulfill.”

  For a moment, Valeria simply stared at him. Then her expression twisted into an exaggerated frown, her face elongating unnaturally toward him. “You? A weak little Magus, daring to propose a deal with me?”

  Victor flinched, startled by the horrifying display. She wasn’t wrong; a deal between two Magi was typically only negotiated between equals.

  But just as quickly, Valeria burst into laughter, her face snapping back to its normal form as she clutched her forehead and stomach. “Hahaha! This is too funny!”

  What’s so funny about this? I’m being serious here…

  Her laughter subsided as she grinned. “You said that you’re from the Asteriscus family? Now that I think about it, weren’t they the family of court jesters? How could I forget?”

  Court jesters? What the fuck! It’s your entire lineage that’s full of clowns, not mine! Being threatened was one thing, but being humiliated like this? It was far worse. Still, her words struck deeper when he considered the truth: his family did have some inexplicable ties to the Dark Era. Their records regarding her tale were remarkably intact—perhaps suspiciously so.

  “Fine, then.” Valeria’s amused smirk faded as she adopted a more serious expression. “Your proposition isn’t entirely unreasonable. It will save me a lot of time and effort. However… you do realize your academy is currently under attack by something quite disturbing, don’t you?”

  Victor creased his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

  “The monstrosity ravaging your academy—that filth of the stinky Outer God; it just reveals itself when you come here,” Valeria continued. “It grows stronger with every passing moment, absorbing the mass of corpses and undead surrounding it. In time, its power will eclipse yours. So, if you don’t stop it soon, you’ll lose everything. And if that happens…” She gave him a pointed look. “You’ll have nothing left to negotiate with me.”

  “What?!”

  What she meant was probably the same monstrosity that had been lurking in the depths of Thornwood Forest—the same one that had evaded Victor’s earlier investigation. If she was telling the truth, he had no time to lose. He would need to act swiftly, return to the academy, and face this so-called monstrosity, somehow surviving the ordeal while keeping his leverage with Valeria intact. It seemed to be his only way out.

  As Victor prepared to leave posthaste, a thought struck him. He turned back to Valeria. “By the way, have you seen my acolytes?”

  Valeria’s eyes lit up with amusement. “You mean those hapless little mages?” With a wave of her hand, a long dining table materialized in the center of the hall. Sitting around it were the missing players: Prominence and his party. Even SuperNova was there, though he had been turned into an undead, much to Victor’s concern.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll return them to you once you’ve dealt with the problem at your academy. How about that?” She gestured at the players, slumped in their chairs and snoring peacefully. “They’re my precious customers, after all; I wouldn’t want them leaving bad reviews about my cooking service.”

  Victor blinked. Customers? He glanced at the six players more closely. Each one was stuffed with food, their bellies round, their faces slack with satisfaction.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Satisfied customers are the backbone of any business.” She grinned gleefully.

  In any case, Victor had no time to unpack the absurdity of this. He quickly surveyed the room, searching for the exit. But as he turned, he realized that the shattered window he’d crashed through earlier was gone. Where was the exit?

  Noticing his confusion, Valeria asked, “Looking for a way out? Here, I will send you out.”

  Before Victor could respond, Valeria raised her hand. “I won’t assist you with your troubles, though. You’ll need to prove yourself,” she added. “Good luck, young Magus.”

  Then, a swirl of dark energy engulfed him, and the next thing he knew, he was outside, hovering a few meters above the ground. Looking down at the sinkhole, he quickly noticed that it was gone—vanished without a trace.

  Suddenly, his Master Shadowlink Mark flared to life, and countless unread messages flooded in. He quickly checked to find that the sender was Lizbeth. In haste, he initiated a video call to find out what was happening.

  Immediately, Lizbeth’s face filled the screen, full of concern. “Master! You’re okay! I thought you’d died!”

  Victor winced slightly at her dramatic reaction. Er… Please don’t just go killing me off so easily.

  “Calm down, Liz,” Victor said, his voice steady but urgent. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  Lizbeth took a deep breath and explained, “Right after you left the academy, a flesh monstrosity attacked. It’s been assimilating everything on the battlefield—corpses, undead, anything it can get its hands on. The thing is quite massive now, Master, and the players are hard-pressed to keep it at bay! At this rate, the academy will be destroyed!”

  Victor’s expression darkened. “Seriously?” The question was obviously rhetorical, but it confirmed what Valeria had said.

  Lizbeth continued, her tone trembling slightly. “I tried to contact you, but the connection through the Shadowlink Mark was completely blocked, just like what happened to the six players! I didn’t know what to do…”

  This meant that Valeria’s power had been strong enough to sever even his own Shadowlink Mark’s connection. Given that his bond with the System was unparalleled, her ability to interfere at that level suggested her influence far exceeded his initial assessment…

  A stray thought flickered in Victor’s mind, but he quickly shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

  “Stay put, Liz,” he said firmly. “I’m on my way back. Don’t let the players take any unnecessary risks; they might exacerbate the situation further.”

  “Yes, Master!” she replied, determination evident in her worried expression.

  Ending the call, Victor steeled himself, turning toward the distant horizon. Without hesitation, he launched into the air, flying at full speed back to the academy.

  ***

  Sean never imagined the war would escalate to this point. The surviving players gathered, numbering less than one hundred. Their morale shaken against the enemy that was unlike any they had encountered before. The rumors among the players had been true—an abomination had indeed been lurking in the depths of the Thornwood Forest.

  The flesh monstrosity towered before them, a grotesque amalgamation of sinew, bones, and fused corpses. Its form pulsated with an unnatural rhythm, as though alive in a way that defied logic. Tentacle-like appendages writhed from its body, some dragging along the ground, others lashing out at random. When it wailed, it let out a horrifying sound that seemed to pierce the soul, shaking the resolve of even the most seasoned players.

  “Damn, this thing’s straight out of an SCP game!” one player muttered, gawking at the monstrosity.

  Satellite, who was barely clinging to life, tightened his grip on his staff without pausing to cast spells. “If you’ve got time to geek out, you’ve got time to think of something! This thing isn’t waiting for us to admire it, and we’re all on the verge of running out of mana!”

  Indeed, the monstrosity advanced toward the players behind the walls, crushing debris and undead alike beneath its bulk. Each step it took seemed to absorb the remains it touched, swelling its already massive body further. The only reason that it hadn’t swallowed all of them was because it mainly focused on assimilating the biomass, while the players kept shooting spells at it nonstop.

  Sean scanned the battlefield, his heart sinking at the grim sight. Butterfly, once an unstoppable tank, was now covered in blood. Her bones had shattered, and she was barely clinging to life solely thanks to her extraordinary bloodline power. Nearby, Chicken lay motionless on the ground. He had sacrificed himself to save Sean and was flung aside like a rag doll by one of the monstrosity’s lashing tendrils.

  The scene was like something straight out of a nightmare.

  The only good news was that the undead army had pulled back, ceasing their relentless harassment. Now, the players could focus entirely on the powerful new enemy that had suddenly appeared in the midst of the battle.

  Sean knelt, scooping up a handful of dirt. He clenched his fist, then sighed as he let the dirt fall slowly through his fingers. Rising, he turned toward Auralise, the key figure in their previous plan. She had rejoined the battle alongside the remnants of the group after completing her role.

  “Auralise, I’ll distract it,” Sean said firmly. “Can you lead the others to find a weak spot and have your spells simultaneously target it?”

  Auralise raised an eyebrow, sizing him up. “You? Distract it?” She folded her arms. “It’s not that I doubt your abilities, but…”

  Satellite narrowed his eyes skeptically. “The thing has omnidirectional vision and can attack from all sides. Are you sure you can pull that off?”

  Sean’s gaze hardened with determination. “If I can’t do it, then I don’t deserve to call myself one of the top players in the game.”

  “Well, the best bet is to target the fleshy areas where it’s still unstable,” Satellite mused. “If we can blast those off, we might slow it down—or even take it down.”

  “We could also deploy ‘SPARK’ and blow it to pieces in one go,” Auralise added with a faint smirk.

  SPARK stood for Suicidal Payload Assault with a Risky Knight. The players apprenticed to the blacksmith NPC had developed this plan as their garage project. It essentially amounted to suicide bombing with a piloted golem that was recently developed. Sean and the others heard about it only recently.

  “Agreed,” Satellite said. “StealthPeanut here is already prepared to pilot it.”

  “I’m ready to sacrifice myself!” StealthPeanut declared with a crisp military salute. His exaggerated posture and tone made it abundantly clear this guy played way too much Call of Duty and other military-themed shooters.

  “All right, then! Let’s move!” Sean shouted, springing into action.