James cut a goblin down with the sword and Necro Blast came off cooldown at the same moment.
[GOBLIN SLAIN — 25 EXP] [EXP: 312 → 337/400]
He fired it at a wolf pressing toward Lars's side. The bolt hit its hindquarters and the rot spread fast — the wolf crashed and dragged itself forward before going still.
[DIRE WOLF SLAIN — 35 EXP] [EXP: 337 → 372/400]
[CALL OF SOULS — MANA +22]
Amara put an arrow through a goblin that broke toward James from the right.
[GOBLIN SLAIN — 25 EXP — TEAM KILL — EXP SPLIT] [JAMES: +12 EXP] [EXP: 372 → 384/400]
He killed the next one himself.
[GOBLIN SLAIN — 25 EXP] [EXP: 384 → 409/400]
[LEVEL UP — LEVEL 4] [ALL STATS +1] [STRENGTH: 10 → 11 | AGILITY: 16 → 17 | INTELLIGENCE: 23 → 24] [ENDURANCE: 14 → 15 | LUCK: 9 → 10] [HP: 242 → 252 | MANA: 280 → 290] [EXP: 9/600]
His grip on the sword felt easier and his next step landed faster than the one before it. He didn't stop moving.
Twelve enemies left. Eight goblins, four wolves.
Summon Undead Skeleton reset. James pointed at two wolves that had just gone down and activated the skill. Both skeletons rose — larger than the goblin ones had been, the wolves' frames reconstructing in bone and dark smoke — and crashed into the nearest cluster before James had finished turning away.
[SUMMON UNDEAD SKELETON — 45 MANA] [MAX CONTROLLED: 2/2]
One skeleton took a wolf down with it when it was destroyed — the two collided and the wolf's leg snapped under its dead weight. Amara put an arrow into the wolf's skull before it recovered. The second skeleton drove three goblins back before a wolf tore it apart from behind.
[DIRE WOLF SLAIN — 35 EXP — AMARA]
Corpse Explosion came off cooldown. James detonated a goblin body at the edge of a pack of three. Two died from the blast and the third lost its footing and stumbled within reach of Lars, who drove his sword through it from the ground as it fell.
[GOBLIN SLAIN x2 — CORPSE EXPLOSION] [GOBLIN SLAIN — LARS] [EXP: 9 → 59/600]
Sofia put a Fire Bolt into the last wolf cluster — two wolves pressed together near the treeline. The flames caught between them. One bolted and Amara tracked it and released as it ran.
[DIRE WOLF SLAIN — AMARA]
The burning wolf died three seconds later.
[DIRE WOLF SLAIN — 35 EXP — TEAM KILL] [JAMES: +17 EXP] [EXP: 59 → 76/600]
Three goblins left. James killed two with sword and Necro Blast and ran the third down when it broke for the treeline.
[GOBLIN SLAIN x3 — 75 EXP] [EXP: 76 → 151/600]
Silence.
[FLOOR 1 — SUBJUGATION COMPLETE — 50/50] [FLOOR CLEAR BONUS: 500 EXP] [EXP: 151 → 651/600]
[LEVEL UP — LEVEL 5] [ALL STATS +1] [STRENGTH: 11 → 12 | AGILITY: 17 → 18 | INTELLIGENCE: 24 → 25] [ENDURANCE: 15 → 16 | LUCK: 10 → 11] [HP: 252 → 262 | MANA: 290 → 300] [EXP: 51/800]
Then the notifications came in a cascade.
[SKILL UNLOCKED: REANIMATE (F)] [SKILL UNLOCKED: DISMISS UNDEAD (F)] [CONTRACT SLOTS UNLOCKED: 5/5 AVAILABLE]
[TITLE UNLOCKED: APPRENTICE NECROMANCER] [+15% NECROMANTIC SPELL DAMAGE | +10% MANA POOL | UNDEAD +10% MAX HP | CALL OF SOULS RANGE +5M] [MANA UPDATED: 300 → 330]
[TITLE UNLOCKED: NECROMANCER SWORDSMAN — UNIQUE — FIRST HOLDER WORLDWIDE] [PASSIVE UNLOCKED: SWORDSMANSHIP (F) | SHIELD INSTINCT (F)] [+2% SWORD DAMAGE | +2% DAMAGE ABSORBED ON BLOCK — SCALES WITH RANK]
[MILESTONE REWARD: DEATH CHAIN (S)] [PASSIVE — AUTO-TRIGGERS ON KILL — CHAINS 30% KILL DAMAGE AS NECROTIC DOT TO NEAREST ENEMY WITHIN 8M] [COOLDOWN: 4 MINUTES — DRAWS FROM MENTAL STAMINA]
James read through each one before moving. He looked at the clearing. Eleven Dire Wolf bodies in the grass. Five contract slots. He had 330 mana and Reanimate was a new skill with no listed cost visible yet, which meant he needed to check it before committing.
He opened the skill description.
[REANIMATE (F)] [COST: 60 MANA] [DURATION: PERMANENT UNTIL DESTROYED] [STAT REDUCTION: 40% AT F-RANK] [REANIMATE WINDOW: 20 SECONDS FROM DEATH] [CONTRACT SLOT: 1 PER UNDEAD]
Sixty mana each. Three hundred and thirty total. Five slots. He could reanimate five wolves if he spent everything, but that left him with no mana for Necro Blast or Corpse Explosion if something went wrong before transport. Three was the number that made sense.
He walked to the nearest wolf — the first one he had killed, fur matted where the sword had gone in — and crouched beside it. The twenty-second reanimate window had already closed on the earlier kills, but the bodies that had died in the final push were still within range. He placed his hand flat against the wolf's side.
"Reanimate."
[REANIMATE — 60 MANA] [MANA: 330 → 270] [CONTRACT SLOT: 1/5]
The body shuddered, a deep full-body tremor that ran from its shoulders to its hindquarters. The legs straightened one at a time. The wounds were still there and the blood was still matted in the fur, but the muscles moved beneath it and the head came up and turned toward James. The eyes had been yellow. Now they were flat green.
It waited.
He did it twice more, moving from body to body while the window was still open.
[REANIMATE x2 — 120 MANA] [MANA: 270 → 150] [CONTRACT SLOTS: 3/5]
Three reanimated Dire Wolves standing in the clearing. Silent. Still.
Amara saw the first one stand up.
She took two steps back before she caught herself. Her bow came up and an arrow was nocked and aimed at the wolf's chest before she registered that it wasn't moving toward her. It was standing there looking at James. She didn't lower the bow immediately.
Lars had his eyes open — he'd been slumped against the tree — and when he saw three wolves standing in the clearing where corpses had been his short sword came up from the ground. His arm was shaking but the blade pointed at the nearest wolf and stayed there.
"Those are dead," he said.
James didn't answer. He was already looking at the eight wolf bodies he hadn't reanimated and thinking about the ring on his right index finger.
Sofia didn't step back. She just stood with her staff in both hands and stared at the three wolves without speaking. Her Fire Bolt cooldown was running and she wasn't casting it.
The wolves didn't move. They stood where James had left them and waited.
Nobody spoke.
The ring stored non-living matter. Dead wolves were not living. Eight bodies meant eight of his twenty slots, which was almost half the ring, but Floor 2 could have worse enemies than these and having wolves already dead and ready to reanimate instead of waiting for kills at the start of a fight changed how the first thirty seconds of every fight went. The maths were simple.
He crouched beside the nearest unreanimated wolf and willed the ring open, mentally designating the body for storage. It vanished with a faint shimmer and folded into the ring's inventory.
[ITEM STORED: DIRE WOLF CORPSE x1 — RING INVENTORY: 1/20]
He moved through the rest without stopping.
[ITEM STORED: DIRE WOLF CORPSE x7 — RING INVENTORY: 8/20]
Eight dead wolves in the ring. Three standing in the clearing. He straightened and the System chimed once.
[FLOOR 2 ACCESS UNLOCKED]
Then Amara lowered her bow. Her hands were still shaking.
The clearing began to dissolve in white light. James looked at the field of bodies — goblins, wolves, and one spot near the treeline where Hyun-Woo had been standing when the wolves hit him. He didn't feel good about that. But he had filed it and the floor was clear and the light was already taking everything.
He stepped into it with three wolves at his back and eight more in his ring and said nothing.
[WOODEN SHIELD (F) — DURABILITY: 61/80]