The grief of Ryn's sacrifice still lingered in the air.
None of us had truly recovered.
Yet the Summoning Trial had already begun again.
Before the summoned opponent even appeared, I felt it.
A strange aura.
Dark… corrupted particles drifting in the air.
Then the sky distorted.
A portal slowly opened above the battlefield, just large enough for a single person to step through.
And she emerged.
A wielder of twilight magic.
She carried a staff burning with elemental fire, surrounded by a golden spell circle filled with eldritch runes.
Her appearance felt almost unreal.
White hair flowed beneath a dark hood, her crimson eyes calm and distant. The aura around her carried both warmth and death—like the balance between creation and decay.
Behind her floated several ravens, silently observing the battlefield like watchful eyes.
She looked around the arena with mild curiosity.
Then she spoke calmly.
"System… why have you summoned me here?"
A screen appeared before her.
She stared at it for a few seconds.
Her expression barely changed, but her voice sounded almost amused.
"So you bring me here… to test trainees?"
She sighed softly.
It was the tone of an adult being asked to play with toys.
"Very well."
"For this time, I suppose I can tolerate the loss."
She lifted her staff slightly.
Then she whispered a command.
"Dead… answer my call."
The earth trembled.
And the ground split open.
Corpses began rising from the soil.
First one.
Then ten.
Then hundreds.
Goblins.
Trolls.
Oni.
Elves.
Dwarves.
Even vampires slowly floated upward from the shadows.
Despite our exhaustion, our team moved instinctively.
We had no choice but to fight.
Eron, Luna, Aeldir, and Caelrion stepped forward to form the front line.
I remained behind with Mira and Elara.
Seraphine still lay unconscious.
The clash began instantly.
Steel collided with steel as the frontline fighters rushed into the undead formation.
The dwarves stood at the front like living shields.
Heavy.
Slow.
Durable.
But strangely… they fell too easily.
Eron's blade cut through one.
Then another.
Luna shattered one with a downward strike.
It was too easy.
Before anyone could question it—
The corpses rose again.
Behind them.
The team had been surrounded.
If I hadn't warned them through telepathy, they would have been completely sandwiched between two fronts.
They barely escaped.
But the battle only intensified.
The Oni stepped forward next.
Massive bodies, brutal strength.
Their blades forced Eron and Aeldir to retreat several steps.
At the same time the goblins began darting through the battlefield.
They didn't attack directly.
They waited.
Watching for the smallest mistake.
When Luna stumbled after blocking a heavy strike, one goblin instantly rushed toward her throat.
Caelrion burned it to ash before it reached her.
But another corpse rose immediately afterward.
The pressure continued growing.
Soon Luna and Caelrion realized the real problem.
Cutting them down wasn't enough.
So they changed tactics.
Fire spread across the battlefield.
They burned the corpses instead.
Dozens of undead turned to ash.
For a moment, the tide seemed to shift.
But that was exactly the moment the enemy had been waiting for.
Suddenly—
A crushing gravity fell upon the battlefield.
Everyone except Mira and Elara was forced to their knees.
The elves had completed their domain spell.
At the same time the vampires finally moved.
Their hands cut through the air as rivers of blood gathered into hundreds of piercing spears.
The attack was meant to kill everyone at once.
The team was helpless.
Until ice exploded across the battlefield.
Crystals erupted upward, freezing several Oni and shattering many of the blood spears.
At the same moment Elara dashed forward.
Her speed was like lightning as she dragged the kneeling fighters back behind Mira's barrier.
The blood attacks slammed into the shield like a storm.
The barrier cracked.
But it held.
For the first time, it became clear.
The necromancer had never taken us seriously.
High above the battlefield she watched calmly.
Her white hair moved gently in the wind.
In her hand she slowly rotated a small clover.
A dangerous magic slept inside it.
A magic so cruel and devastating that she avoided using it unless absolutely necessary.
Instead she continued controlling the battlefield like a game.
Moving corpses like chess pieces.
Six types of units.
That was enough.
Her gaze eventually landed on Seraphine.
A faint smile appeared.
"That one…"
"Would make an interesting corpse."
Meanwhile the battle continued below.
Eron's sword had grown slower.
Aeldir's armor was cracked.
Luna's breathing had become heavy.
Even Mira's barrier flickered with exhaustion.
Ryn's sacrifice still weighed on everyone.
Yet they continued fighting.
Even in grief.
Even in pain.
Because giving up wasn't an option.
Just as Mira's barrier finally began to collapse—
A screen suddenly appeared before us.
{SYSTEM ERROR DETECTED}
The necromancer tilted her head slightly.
"So the children begin to cry."
Another message appeared.
{CORRUPTION DETECTED IN SYSTEM}
Far away, something hidden within the system's structure stirred.
An unseen force was manipulating the rules.
The trial itself had been corrupted.
Then a final message appeared.
{GAMBLE RECRUIT OPTION ACTIVATED}
Rules appeared beneath it.
1. Player level must not exceed A-Rank
2. If the recruited player refuses, the team must continue the battle alone
3. If the player is not registered in the system, recruitment fails
4. If the recruited player is near death, they will be partially healed
I stared at the screen.
And immediately realized something.
There was one person who could help us.
But choosing them would be a gamble.
And disturbing them was the last thing I ever wanted to do.
Yet looking at my exhausted team…
I knew I had no choice.