James stood in the grey void and counted four strangers as they materialized around him in white flashes.

A man in plate armor appeared first with a shield already strapped to his arm and Japanese features. He looked at James and nodded once. "Takeshi Yamamoto. Japan. Guardian."

A woman came second with a compound bow across her back and skin that suggested Brazil. "Camila Santos. Brazil. Archer."

A man appeared third wearing twin daggers and light armor with a French accent when he spoke. "Étienne Dubois. France. Assassin."

A woman in mage robes materialized last with lightning scorch marks running up her sleeves and an Indian accent. "Priya Sharma. India. Mage."

They all looked at James and waited.

"James Ganner. Ireland. Necromancer."

The silence that followed felt different from the one before. Takeshi’s hand shifted half an inch on his shield and his eyes stayed on James longer than they’d stayed on anyone else. Camila’s expression didn’t change but something in her posture tightened. Étienne was watching now in a way he hadn’t been watching before. Priya took a step back without seeming to realize she’d done it.

"Necromancer?" Camila said. "What’s that?"

James said nothing.

The System chimed before anyone could ask follow-up questions.

`[FLOOR 2 — SUBJUGATION MISSION]`

`[OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE ALL HOSTILE ENTITIES]`

`[ENEMY COUNT: 51]`

`[TRANSPORT INITIATING IN 30 SECONDS]`

Takeshi turned away from James and faced the notification even though there was nothing physical to look at. "Fifty-one enemies. One more than Floor 1." He looked at each person in turn. "I hold center when we land. Find your range and stay in it."

Nobody argued.

`[TRANSPORT INITIATING IN 15 SECONDS]`

James opened his storage ring and felt the weight of the two contracted dire wolves waiting inside from when he’d dismissed them after Floor 1.

`[TRANSPORT INITIATING IN 5 SECONDS]`

White light swallowed the Waiting Room and James’s stomach dropped the way it always did when the System moved him between spaces. The sensation of being taken apart and reassembled somewhere else pressed against his ribs for three seconds and then released all at once.

Forest materialized around him and James landed in grass and rolled his weight forward before his vision fully cleared. Trees surrounded the clearing in every direction and the grey sky overhead provided flat light that cast no shadows. The air had the same artificial quality as Floor 1—temperature-controlled and wrong in a way that suggested the System had built this place from a template and never bothered making it feel real.

Takeshi had landed center and already had his shield raised. Camila was ten meters left on a fallen log. Étienne had vanished into the treeline. Priya stood five meters behind Takeshi with her hands already glowing.

`[FLOOR 2 — FOREST ZONE]`

`[MISSION: SUBJUGATION]`

`[ENEMY COUNT: 51]`

`[HOSTILES DETECTED — SPAWNING]`

The trees at the far end of the clearing shuddered and goblins poured out in a wave. James counted thirty-five before they spread too wide to track individually. Wolves came next—eleven of them, low to the ground and fast, splitting to flank on both sides. Spiders dropped from the canopy above—five in total, each one dog-sized with legs that moved in perfect sync and mandibles that *clicked* as they oriented on the team.

`[35 GOBLINS — LEVEL 3]`

`[11 DIRE WOLVES — LEVEL 4]`

`[5 VENOMOUS SPIDERS — LEVEL 5]`

Takeshi’s shield flared gold and the light spread into a barrier that covered three meters around him. The first goblin hit the barrier and bounced off like it had struck a wall.

James opened his storage ring and pulled both dire wolves out at once. Black mist coiled up from the ground where they materialized and the wolves stood and shook themselves before turning their green-eyed sockets toward the enemy wave.

An arrow whistled past James’s ear and punched through a goblin’s throat. *Thwick.* The goblin went down without making a sound. Camila’s second arrow was already nocked and fire spread along the shaft before she released it into the center of the goblin pack. The arrow detonated on impact and three goblins died in the blast.

`[GOBLIN SLAIN x4 — CAMILA]`

Lightning arced overhead and jumped between six goblins in a chain. Four collapsed and two stayed upright but their movements turned jerky and slow.

`[GOBLIN SLAIN x4 — PRIYA]`

A spider died somewhere behind the goblin wave and James saw the notification but didn’t see Étienne make the kill.

`[VENOMOUS SPIDER SLAIN — ÉTIENNE]`

James pointed at the wolves flanking right. "Intercept."

His reanimated wolves broke into a run and hit the first two enemy wolves before the pack could adjust. One clamped its jaws around an enemy’s throat and the *crunch* of bone breaking carried across the clearing. The other went low and tore into a hind leg.

A goblin broke through Takeshi’s barrier on the left and charged James with a rusted blade raised overhead. James sidestepped and cut across its midsection with his obsidian sword. The blade bit deep and the goblin folded around the wound.

`[GOBLIN SLAIN — 25 EXP]`

`[EXP: 51/800 → 76/800]`

Black energy shot from the goblin’s corpse and arced through the air to the nearest enemy—a goblin three meters away. The chain hit it in the chest and the creature’s skin started to blacken and peel. It screamed and clawed at the spreading rot before collapsing.

`[GOBLIN SLAIN — DEATH CHAIN]`

`[EXP: 76/800 → 101/800]`

James’s vision blurred and the edges of the clearing doubled before snapping back into focus. Pain drove through his temple like someone had shoved a spike into his skull and twisted. His legs tried to fold and he caught himself on his sword.

*Mental stamina.*

The exhaustion hit harder than any mana drain he’d ever experienced and his thoughts moved like they were pushing through mud. He forced himself upright and shook his head to clear the fog even though the movement made the pain worse.

`[DEATH CHAIN — COOLDOWN: 4:00]`

The exhaustion was already fading but the memory of it sat behind his eyes like a warning he wouldn’t forget.

More arrows flew and more lightning crackled and more goblins died but James stopped tracking the kill notifications that didn’t belong to him. His reanimated wolves were locked in combat with three enemy wolves and blood mixed with black mist in the grass where they fought.

A spider dropped from the canopy directly onto one of his wolves and sunk its mandibles into the spine. The undead body shuddered once and collapsed into dissipating mist.

`[CONTRACTED UNDEAD DESTROYED]`

`[CONTRACT SLOTS: 2/5]`

James dismissed the notification and kept moving. His remaining wolf was fighting two enemies at once and losing ground. He ran toward it and cut one of the enemy wolves across the shoulder as he passed. The obsidian blade opened the wolf from shoulder to ribs and blood sprayed across the grass.

An arrow took the wounded wolf through the eye before it could turn on James.

`[DIRE WOLF SLAIN — CAMILA]`

James raised his hand toward the goblin cluster pushing Takeshi’s barrier. "Necro Blast."

`[MANA: 360/360 → 348/360]`

Black energy gathered in his palm and shot forward. The blast hit the lead goblin in the chest and flesh started to rot. Skin turned grey and then black and then sloughed off in wet chunks. The goblin collapsed and the three behind it scrambled backward.

`[GOBLIN SLAIN — 25 EXP]`

`[EXP: 101/800 → 126/800]`

A wolf charged from his left. James met it with his sword and the blade cut through its neck in one stroke. The head hit the ground and rolled.

`[DIRE WOLF SLAIN — 35 EXP]`

`[EXP: 126/800 → 161/800]`

Two enemy wolves coordinated an assault on his remaining reanimated wolf and tore it apart in seconds. Black mist dissipated where the corpse had been.

`[CONTRACTED UNDEAD DESTROYED]`

`[CONTRACT SLOTS: 3/5]`

James was out of undead and the fight was still going. He checked his mana—three hundred forty-eight out of three hundred sixty—and calculated what was left. The notifications were coming faster now as the team cleaned up.

`[GOBLIN SLAIN x3 — TAKESHI]`

`[GOBLIN SLAIN x5 — TEAM KILL]`

`[VENOMOUS SPIDER SLAIN x2 — ÉTIENNE]`

`[DIRE WOLF SLAIN — TEAM KILL]`

The last two wolves broke for the treeline. James ran one down and drove his sword through its spine between the shoulders. Étienne appeared from shadow and killed the other with both daggers in its neck.

`[DIRE WOLF SLAIN — JAMES]`

`[DIRE WOLF SLAIN — ÉTIENNE]`

`[EXP: 161/800 → 196/800]`

Silence dropped across the clearing like a weight.

`[FLOOR 2 — SUBJUGATION COMPLETE — 51/51]`

James stood in the center of the clearing and breathed hard. His chest burned and his arms felt heavy and the exhaustion from Death Chain still echoed in his skull. Eighteen minutes of continuous fighting and both of his contracted wolves were gone.

`[DISTRIBUTING LOOT BY CONTRIBUTION WEIGHT]`

Takeshi took wolf pelts. Camila claimed spider venom sacs. Étienne grabbed goblin blades. Priya collected mana stones. James stored what remained—nine goblin corpses, three dire wolf bodies, two spider carcasses.

`[GOBLIN CORPSE x9 — STORED IN RING]`

`[DIRE WOLF CORPSE x3 — STORED IN RING]`

`[VENOMOUS SPIDER CORPSE x2 — STORED IN RING]`

`[RING INVENTORY: 14/20]`

The System chimed.

`[FLOOR 2 CLEAR — BASE REWARD]`

`[TOWER CREDITS AWARDED: 800 TC PER CHALLENGER]`

`[TOWER CREDITS BALANCE: 3,065 TC]`

`[PARTY EXP POOL: 1,300 EXP]`

`[DIVIDED BY 5 CHALLENGERS: 260 EXP EACH]`

`[JAMES GANNER — EXP: 196/800 → 456/800]`

`[CALCULATING MVP...]`

`[MVP: JAMES GANNER]`

`[MVP BONUS: VENOMOUS FANG DAGGER (D-RANK)]`

`[PASSIVE: POISON INFUSION — MELEE ATTACKS APPLY VENOM DOT]`

`[BONUS EXP: 275]`

`[JAMES GANNER — EXP: 456/800 → 731/800]`

The dagger materialized in his hand and James stored it in his ring without looking at it.

`[EXIT COUNTDOWN: 30:00]`

The team spread out across the clearing. Nobody spoke. Takeshi sat against a tree with his eyes closed and sweat running down his face. Camila checked her arrows. Étienne disappeared into the brush. Priya sat cross-legged in the grass. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

James walked to the edge of the clearing and opened his stat screen.

`[NAME: JAMES GANNER]`

`[CLASS: NECROMANCER (LEGENDARY)]`

`[LEVEL: 5 | EXP: 731/800]`

`[HP: 292/292 | MANA: 348/360]`

Sixty-nine EXP from Level 6.

The countdown hit zero and white light dissolved the clearing.

James materialized in his Northgate apartment and the silence pressed against his ears after eighteen minutes of combat noise. He walked to the gear mat and set his sword down. The Carbon Shield was at full durability. The C-rank armor had minor tears in the shoulder plating but nothing structural.

He checked the ring—fourteen out of twenty slots filled.

James stripped the armor and showered. Hot water ran over his shoulders and the blood washed pink down the drain. He stood under the spray until his fingers went numb and then dried off and collapsed on the bed.

The exhaustion from Death Chain still sat behind his eyes like a warning and sleep came fast.