I see Mary pale and trembling, staring at the intense concentration of dark energy radiating from Ronan. The young girl has turned her head toward him, watching him with a mix of awe and fear.

Ronan murmurs words I don’t understand. His voice is low but brimming with power, as if he’s summoning something from the deepest depths of the afterlife, from some realm of the dead. The darkness surrounding his body grows denser, shifting like a heavy mist until it concentrates in his hand. And that’s just what I perceive—who knows what Mary might be seeing.

Finally, the necromancer casts that energy onto the ground, where it spreads into a black pool that seems to burn with shadowy flames.

And there it is.

From the pool, a colossal creature begins to emerge. First, massive paws appear, covered in thick, dark fur. Then, its entire body follows until it stands upright, imposing: a giant bear, well over three meters tall on its hind legs and about two meters wide. It’s the first of the two "papa bears" we fought before, the smaller one. Only now it’s even more terrifying, reinforced by death magic. Fortunately, I can’t smell anything. Either my nose and mouth are clogged with sand particles from the fight, or being a summoned zombie, it hasn’t started to rot yet. In any case, its presence is so overwhelmingly intimidating that the air around it feels heavier.

I keep an eye on my scorpion, even if only from the corner of my vision, and for now, it seems under control. So, I remain wide-eyed at the fact that Ronan has summoned that bear—the one he once raised as a zombie from its skinned corpse, missing a leg and large chunks of flesh.

Now here it is, whole, in all its glory.

The bear turns its head slowly, as if assessing its surroundings. For a moment, its eyes lock onto Mary, and she instinctively steps back. Even I can feel it: the zombie’s gaze pierces through her, as though it’s trying to drill into her soul.

I shudder. Mary probably does even more. That creature radiates an aura of pure ferocity, as if everything in its path is utterly insignificant.

Ronan, with a firm voice, gives the order:

“Finish the scorpions.”

The scorpion from the other group is retreating, blinded by Mary’s sphere of light. As I saw earlier, Darius had taken advantage of the opportunity to get closer.

What I didn’t see, and what I’m told later, is that the disoriented creature tried to swat away the sphere of light with its pincers, even striking it with its stinger to destroy it. But the sphere was made of light; evidently, it didn’t work. That massive curved stinger pierced through the sphere and came out the other side, leaving it intact. When it swung back down, the tail struck the ground.

Vincent, who was paying attention to Darius’s movements, positioned himself beside him.

“Now!” Vincent shouted, shoving Darius forward at just the right moment.

Darius leaped and clung to the base of the scorpion’s tail. He wrapped his arms and legs around the appendage, ensuring he wouldn’t be thrown off as the creature thrashed violently, slamming into walls and columns in its desperation.

And now I see him, riding the creature.

With the stinger raised and the scorpion focused on its pain, Darius uses the opportunity to search for weaknesses between the plates of its armor.

Sword in hand, he places the tip against one of the visible joints. With all his strength, he begins hammering the hilt, driving the blade centimeter by centimeter into the scorpion’s structure. A guttural screech echoes through the chamber as the sword finally sinks deep. The creature tries to reach Darius with its pincers, but it can’t because of his elevated position. Darius, sweat dripping from his forehead, clings even tighter to the tail as the creature bucks and charges across the chamber, desperately trying to shake him off.

On the other side of the room, the giant bear locks its gaze onto my scorpion—the one still struggling against my earth magic. Without hesitation, it charges directly at its prey. The scorpion, with one pincer immobilized, turns its body to react, but it doesn’t have enough time. The bear slams into it with a brutal tackle, the impact reverberating throughout the chamber.

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With a thunderous roar, the bear bites down on the base of the scorpion’s tail, tearing it off with a horrifying sound of splintering armor. The creature thrashes violently, screeching in pain, but the bear gives it no respite. It drops the tail to the ground and turns its attention to the remaining pincer. With a ferocious bite, it rips it off at the joint, tossing it aside like a mere toy.

Now defenseless, the scorpion tries to retreat, but the bear continues its assault. Its massive claws tear through the carapace as we all watch in stunned silence. The creature, which had once seemed an insurmountable foe, is being reduced to nothing more than a shattered husk. Finally, the scorpion lies motionless, reduced to a heap of mangled remains.

A notification pops up.

Your Earth Control spell cannot level up due to the limitations of your Aetherblade specialization. To maintain balance, you must first improve your basic air and water spells before advancing Earth Control to a higher level.

What a distraction.

I barely glance at it before swiping it away, making a mental note to figure out how to disable notifications during combat.

Pfft...

By the way, there’s noise coming from the left, from the wall, but for now, I ignore it. First, let’s deal with the scorpion that’s still standing.

This one is still thrashing wildly across the chamber, smashing into walls and columns as it tries to shake off Darius, who remains latched onto its tail. Each blow sends pieces of the wall crumbling and raises even more dust into the air.

During one of its frantic movements, Darius’s sword slips from his grasp and falls to the ground, leaving him with no option but to hold on with all his might.

Darius, his face taut with effort, wraps his arms tighter around the joint, trying to immobilize it, though he doesn’t have enough strength to crush it as he seems to wish. His only choice is to endure, holding on to avoid being flung off.

“What the hell is that now?” Alistair asks dryly, his gaze fixed on the left wall, where those steady, muffled thuds have been coming from for the past few seconds.

His comment, tinged with frustration, makes a few of us turn toward the source of the noise.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Theodore remarks, his brow furrowed as he continues watching the wall. “It’s not undead, I can tell you that much.”

“Now what, a dragon?” Alistair adds sarcastically, attempting to lighten the mood with humor as he raises his two-handed mace, ready for anything.

The pounding intensifies, shaking the ground beneath our feet. Cracks begin to spread across the left wall, and an intense red light seeps through them, casting ominous streaks across the chamber. We all back away. With one final, explosive strike, an enormous hole bursts open in the wall, revealing what lies on the other side.

“It’s a golem...” Vincent says, his voice low but steady.

The figure looming on the other side of the hole is massive, a stone colossus standing at least five or six meters tall. The red light comes from a crystal embedded in its chest, glowing with a constant intensity that threatens to blind me if I stare at it for too long.

The golem begins to move on the other side of the newly formed opening. From our position, we can clearly see its hulking humanoid form and the ominous crystal in its chest that seems to power its existence. However, the hole isn’t yet large enough for it to enter the chamber. The colossus continues to pound against the wall, steadily widening the gap with each strike. Stones crash heavily to the ground, and the echo of its blows reverberates like a grim warning.

“It can’t get through yet, but it’s only a matter of time!” Alistair shouts, retreating toward the group while adjusting his grip on his mace.

“Let’s finish this scorpion first,” Vincent says, his eyes fixed on the still-active creature, which thrashes chaotically around the chamber with Darius clinging to its tail.

We regroup quickly, reorganizing ourselves to surround the scorpion, which is entirely focused on ridding itself of Darius. We move cautiously, taking advantage of the scorpion’s erratic movements as it slams into walls and columns in its desperate attempt to shake him off.

I begin to consider how I can use my earth magic to help him—perhaps creating stakes inside the creature’s joints?—while my hands itch with the desire to channel fire and charge into the fight with my sword.

Also, where’s the bear?

No, I’m not distracted. It’s just that with the golem’s sudden appearance, I stopped paying attention to it. Now I realize I probably should have, since it should have finished off Darius’s scorpion by now. I step away from the group, distancing myself from the area where the creature is smashing walls in its attempts to dislodge its unwanted rider, and scan the rest of the massive chamber. Yes, now that I’m inside, I can confirm—it’s much larger than a football stadium.

Oh my gosh, the bear...

It’s fighting another giant scorpion, and at its feet lie the dismembered remains of yet another one (besides mine).

Were there more enemies?

Bless Ronan, bless the bear!

Without them, we wouldn’t have survived unless I had summoned the wolf.

I watch as the zombie beast quickly dispatches the other giant scorpion, tearing it apart, and then turns its attention to the only one left—the one with Darius.

With a deep roar, it begins charging toward the scorpion, its massive figure shaking the ground with every step. But before it can reach its target, another scorpion suddenly drops from the ceiling, landing squarely on its back with an impact that halts the bear in its tracks.

Oh... so that’s where these extra arachnids are coming from.