Honestly, when it came to the whole situation, it was hard not to feel shocked.
They had arrived under the assumption that they were taking on a group of nine hostile necromancers with bad intentions.
Instead, it turned out there was only one bad necromancer.
The other eight had been brought in because they wanted to do research, get something out of the dungeon, or just have a place to themselves.
If anything, the whole situation was both strange and kind of odd.
Yet at the same time, there was only so much one could do.
Aiden, Thalia, and Selene stared after the departing guards as they escorted the necromancers away. While the necromancers had initially been bound, once someone the guards called a sealing mage arrived, they were allowed to walk freely as long as they agreed to go along for questioning.
"Not gonna lie," Thalia said as they watched the little gray kobold and his small entourage make their way down the road, "I was expecting a repeat of the poison arrow thing when we took on this dungeon."
Aiden shrugged.
"Well, I personally don't want to start going gray from that much stress so soon after the first time."
Selene turned to Aiden and Thalia, who seemed just about done with things outside.
"I-I'm gonna head back in," Selene said. "Just to make sure everything is handled in the dungeon."
"Got it," Aiden said, giving her a thumbs-up as he turned back to the remaining necromancers. "We'll finish up out here and head in so we can get to the last room."
Selene reached the dungeon entrance and dissolved into sparks, entering the bricks within.
The moment she reformed, her vision was flashed by a sudden barrage of system notifications.
Her eyes went wide.
She tried to read a few of them.
The only things she managed to catch were Jax getting attacked.
And taking a lot of damage.
Selene broke into a sprint.
She dashed down the hallway as fast as she could.
Up ahead, she saw Liora rounding the corner.
"They're at the last room!" Liora yelled. "I'll grab Aiden and Thalia. Hurry!"
Liora jumped over Selene's head and ran for the entrance.
Selene nodded and rushed past her.
Notifications kept appearing.
Message after message.
But she had to keep moving.
She had to get there in time.
Party member Beatris has evoked the pact.
A Primrose Garden rises around her.
Party leader Jax attacks Skeleton "Jack."
Skeleton "Jack" has taken 54 damage.
Skeleton "Jack" has crumbled away.
Party leader Jax's skill Relentless Assault (D) activates.
Party leader Jax attacks Skeleton "Jullian."
Skeleton "Jullian" has taken 62 damage.
Skeleton "Jullian" has crumbled away.
Bone Golem "Papa" has attacked party leader Jax.
Party leader Jax has taken 20 damage.
Party leader Jax spent 1 Ki to take 18 damage.
The Bane of the Vow of Soul activates.
Party leader Jax has maintained their grip on sanity.
Skeleton "Adam" has been attacked by the Primrose Garden.
Skeleton "Adam" has taken 11 damage.
Skeleton "Adam" attacks party member Beatris.
Party member Beatris has taken 15 damage.
Selene continued to sprint.
Her shoulder barreled into a corner and took a chunk of stone with her as she slid around it in a dead run.
At best, she could get there in ten more seconds.
But in a fight like this, where one person had taken on a whole party of adventurers and won, ten seconds could be a death sentence.
She could hear the echoing clash of blows ahead as she ran.
Then a true chill ran down her spine.
Bone Golem "Papa" attacks party leader Jax.
WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.
Party leader Jax is unconscious.
WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.
Party leader Jax is bleeding out.
Skeleton "Kaelith" attacks party leader Jax.
Selene's eyes did not want to keep reading.
The notification was too casual.
Too simple.
Too cruel.
Her legs would not move fast enough.
They would not go faster.
And yet, she was forced to look as the next notification appeared.
Party leader Jax's heart has come to rest.
May they be remembered.
Mutation surged through Selene.
Her soul screamed before she did.
Then the cry ripped from her lungs with a ferocity she could not have fathomed possible.
"NNNOOOOOO!"
Her condition flared.
Something changed.
But her legs were stronger now.
She could get there.
She could do something.
She would not be made to watch one of her first friends die through a fucking screen.
Selene tore through the dungeon and came to the corner.
There, she saw the scene.
Beatris stood surrounded by vines and flowers, the primrose growth wrapping around and ripping at a skeleton that tore through them and advanced on her despite the cracks running along its body.
Blood leaked from Beatris's side and stained her white coat.
Past her stood a hulking humanoid covered in rotting flesh.
Next to it was another skeleton.
The two stood over a gray, bloody figure on the ground.
Selene tore forward with a ferocity she could not recognize as human.
The skeleton attacking Beatris shattered as Selene swung with everything she had at the massive rotten thing.
It raised an arm to block.
Flesh caved.
Bone cracked.
But it held.
"You are too late, creature," the towering golem said. "The ritual is complete."
A pulse of energy spread throughout the room.
Around Selene, more skeletons rose from the piles.
Far too many for a mere level-eleven necromancer to summon on her own.
Lily has used skill Necrotic Surge.
All undead receive a moderate buff to all stats and abilities.
Lily has called forth 10 new undead.
Selene wanted to say she became a feral beast.
She wanted to say she ripped through rotting flesh and bone with ease.
She wanted to say she rushed forward and beheaded that necromancer.
She wanted to say she found that Jax, despite the odds, was still alive.
But she could not.
Years of practicing control would not let her.
Like a leash holding firm despite the thrashing dog at the end of it.
She could not win this.
And there was already one person dead.
For all they knew, Aiden, Thalia, and Liora would arrive only to see the rest of them puppeted by this sadistic little girl.
Selene hated the feeling that realization caused.
The dread.
The knowing.
The cowardice that was not cowardice, but still tasted the same.
She kicked away, grabbed Beatris, and pulled them both back from the fight.
"Not fast enough!" the large lumbering zombie roared.
It jumped with surprising speed.
Its hand stretched toward them in a grab.
Selene braced herself.
She wrapped around Beatris to shield her.
They rolled to a stop.
No impact came.
What did come was a cold, familiar sweat.
The kind that came from terror being injected directly into one's soul.
Beatris shook in Selene's arms as that terror settled over them like a blanket trying to slam them into the floor.
Selene turned her head.
The large zombie was no longer staring at them.
Instead, it was looking to their left.
The arm it had been reaching with had been ripped off.
Then came a sound.
Popping.
Snapping.
Like bones breaking and reforming to find just the right angle.
Selene turned her head and saw a bloody gray figure.
The wall in front of it was covered in gore where the zombie's arm had slammed.
The figure turned.
Whatever it was, it was no longer Jax.
Its head was twisted completely around.
A full one hundred eighty degrees.
Its nose pointed toward the ceiling.
Its ears pointed forward.
The thing pawed at its head for a moment before catching its own snout.
Then, with a sickening crack, it spun its head back into place.
A strange sound escaped its lips.
Something that almost sounded like…
Laughing.
A notification appeared.
Party leader Jax's soul burns too bright to be snuffed out.
Party leader Jax's Vow of the Soul has activated.
Party leader Jax's consciousness is unavailable to resist the madness.
Party leader Jax has fallen into insanity.