"A surge?" Vivi asked. "Inside the facility?"

"It's forecasted to hit the fountain directly," Aruid said. "The Stewards are crafting a boss monster. That's all I know."

Construction workers began stacking skulls atop the fountain and all across its perimeter. Some skulls were tossed into the water. The skulls were tied together with rope, presumably to connect the hosts together to spawn one boss instead of a horde of lesser skeletons.

"Looks like they're crafting a death-based monster," Lucius said. "Probably a necromancer boss."

Necromancer? Vivi asked. Like the type that summons corpses into undead?

"No, those types of whimsical necromancers don't exist," Lucius said. "Necromancy monsters extract corpses for their own power. They devour freshly killed ether to grow stronger."

Vivi frowned. That didn't sound too good. The Stewards were planning something beyond a simple boss fight.

"What about collection day?" Vivi asked.

"It's happening after the surge is cleared," Aruid said. "Look, I really can't be talking to you. That's all I know. Please leave!"

Vivi nodded. "Thanks."

She left the dwarves, feeling slightly bittersweet. Aruid and the blacksmiths weren't bad people. They didn't inherently hate her. They just prioritized their own safety. Her enemies were such a big threat to her allies' lives that it was best to leave her alone.

"Dear nimrods!" a loud voice suddenly said. The hub fell silent.

The speaker was Uundref. He used ether to enhance the volume of his voice, making his words almost deafening. The rest of Zand's Stewards stood behind him.

"A great blessing has been delivered to Zand!" Uundref said. "After four years without incident, another surge is spawning directly inside the hub!"

Two construction workers pulled forth a cart, on which sat a tall prize wheel. It had two colors. One side was a dark green and the other bloody red. Uundref grinned as it was brought in. "To celebrate this event, your honored Stewards have decided to launch a lovely little game!"

Vivi picked a spot to watch, Eem on her shoulders. She already wanted to leave. The Stewards couldn't have been planning anything good.

"All nimrods are allowed to enter!" Uundref said. "Those with a slash mark or two will gain priority in the queue. I encourage anyone with a slash mark to enter without hesitation! Today's prize wheel has no losing outcomes."

Uundref spun the wheel as a demonstration. He spoke while it spun. "A green landing will earn the contestant fifty ether straight to their reserves, no questions asked. A simple outcome, and a good way to earn yourself out of debt."

The wheel stopped on red. Uundref grinned. "The red outcome is far more interesting. Any contestants who earn red will join the Stewards for our upcoming boss fight! Any survivors are free to collect ether up to their maximum limit of three hundred!"

Lucius… You said necromancy bosses grow stronger if they devour ether?

"Indeed," Lucius said.

Vivi frowned. I see where this is going.

On the surface, Uundref's proposal sounded good. The green landing could very well save someone's life, pushing a nimrod above the one hundred limit for the upcoming collection day. The red outcome could be dangerous, but its rewards were especially enticing for struggling nimrods. They simply had to survive in the arena while the Stewards fought the boss.

A lot of nimrods were seemingly thinking the same. A queue quickly formed before the prize wheel. The first scrawny man looked like he would have taken the wheel even if red meant torture. He was almost begging beneath the wheel.

The wheel landed on green, and fifty ether was fairly transferred to his core. Vivi had never seen such relief on a demon's face.

The next spin hit red.

"Ahh, our first winner!" Uundref said. "Congratulations, and good luck on the boss fight!"

The demon was tossed inside the fences. She was a small woman with a slash mark showing beneath her torn clothes. She looked nervous as she entered the fenced-off surge zone, but she quickly picked a spot far away from the fountain.

The wheel continued spinning, hitting red more than it did green. After ten minutes of spinning, and after Uundref had spent at least five hundred ether on green results, the surge zone was starting to fill with demons.

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Vivi sensed the ether below the earth. A surge was definitely building. Uundref, too, seemed to sense the surge about to hit. He paused the line before the next contestant. In total, twenty six demons made it inside the fence.

"Dear contestants!" Uundref said. "Thank you all for entering. It will be an honor to fight alongside you." He spread his arms wide and faced the fountain. "Let the battle begin!"

Upon his words, the surge spawned, coating the fountain and the skulls within with active ether.

Surges were as deafening as Vivi remembered. The geyser-like surge coated the surge zone with active wisps. Demons hugged the fence to stay away. A few contestants were caught inside. Small cuts appeared on their skin as wisps of ether aggressively grazed past.

With Vivi's sixth sense more present, the surge felt even more terrifying. Thousands upon thousands of wisps of ether shot forth from the ground violently. Each wisp immediately searched for a host to reanimate.

The wisps quickly found the fountain and the skulls within. The monster formed. The fountain turned into a black slime-like substance, while each skull gained eyes. The monster was unstable for a moment until forming together all at once. Skulls poked out from the slime's surface. Each skull became deformed and devilish. Some appeared to be crying. The slime formed hands and feet.

Finally, the slime solidified into a humanoid shape. One larger skull became the head. The rest of the skulls were embedded into its black skin like the large scales of a snake. A gaping mouth poked out from the monster's stomach, large enough to fit a whole mace skeleton in one bite.

Its ether aura was the most disgusting and disturbing thing Vivi felt. The aura wasn't threatening. Rather, it was gluttonous. This boss wielded at least twenty thousand ether and it was hungry for more.

"A Devourer combined with Gluttony," Lucius said. "It's called a Life Devourer. A good boss combination. The Stewards got lucky."

Vivi watched in concern. Even before eating anything, the Life Devourer was a disastrous boss with an aura far surpassing anything Vivi had fought. Still, the Stewards should have been strong enough to defeat it if they had good teamwork.

The Stewards stepped back, hopping over the fence. The twenty-six nimrods were left inside.

All alone. Locked up with the boss monster.

The Life Devourer swung its arm, grabbing the first nimrod. The poor man, who was likely wielding less than a hundred ether, couldn't react. The Life Devourer tossed the man into its gaping mouth, devouring him whole.

Another skull appeared on the Life Devourer's skin. A crying skull with the horns of the man it just ate.

A sick feeling welled up in Vivi's stomach. Screams rang in her ears inside the arena as the Life Devourer ate the next person. Eem and Vivi watched as the boss monster grew stronger, eating up nimrods to fuel its growth.

The nimrods died in under two minutes. They couldn't stand a chance. The Life Devourer didn't specialize in speed, but its movements were lightning-fast compared to the nimrods, who were barely stronger than humans from the surface. It crashed into the fence, snapping the steel in half. The Stewards pushed the boss back into its arena, protecting the outside world.

After everyone was killed, the Life Devourer's aura must have reached thirty thousand ether. Its skin was entirely covered in skulls. Each skull was tough; the monster specialized in its defense.

The Stewards re-entered the playing field, ready to take down the boss.

They stopped messing around. The bulkiest of the Stewards, whose name Vivi hadn't learned, activated a skill. His skin became ether-empowered steel as he faced the boss. The Life Devourer threw a fist at him. His footing dragged backward by five feet, but he stood, defending.

"That's Impenetrable Iron," Lucius said. "A good rare skill. It's one of the better defensive skills available."

The rest of the Stewards took their weapons. Six of them had two-runed outside-carved runeswords. One Steward wielded a large stone bow. His arrows shone with ether. He must have enhanced them with a skill. The arrow hit the boss in the shoulder, cracking one of the skulls.

Everyone in the arena was ridiculously strong, with maxed-out auras and skills to add. The Stewards' movements were as fast as the assassin skeletons' in the main dungeon, and as powerful as the mace skeletons' heavy blows. The boss continued taking hit after hit from the Stewards' ranged attacks. The sounds were deafening. Every time the boss tried to attack, the runesword wielders pushed it back.

Vivi's focus, however, was on Uundref.

The skeletal Steward spun his fingers and two runic daggers appeared in his hands. Uundref concealed his aura, totally invisible within the messy fight. Despite this, he somehow appeared like the scariest fighter of them all. His portal appeared beneath his feet.

His portal is a ghost-type skill, is it not? Vivi thought. She spoke calmly within her thoughts, suppressing her disgust and anger.

"Um, yes," Lucius said. "It looks like a twilight skill."

Twilight is a variation of the ghost type, Vivi thought. Both mainly work with spectral powers.

Uundref's portal reappeared in the air behind the boss monster's neck. The boss didn't sense the Steward coming. There, Uundref activated another skill. His runic daggers grew in length, and a large ethereal aura enveloped them. The weapon turned spectral. A weapon enhancement skill.

With his dagger, Uundref spun, cutting the boss's head open.

The nape was slashed open in one clean blow. Wisps of ether gushed out. A fatal wound.

The Life Devourer fell, and its body began disintegrating.

The Stewards quickly collected its ether before nimrods could do anything stupid. Everyone was watching. They collected at least three thousand ether, making up for what Uundref had lost to the wheel landing on green.

A larger wisp spun within the body. A skill wisp. The nimrod sacrifice had paid off. One of the lesser Stewards picked up the skill.

"That looked like a common wisp," Lucius said. "They got lucky. Getting any skill at all from just a surge is almost unheard of."

Vivi bit her lip. They sacrificed twenty-six nimrods. Living demons. All for a common skill.

"Yeah…"

This place is disgusting, Vivi thought. Maybe we should have worked with Andre to escape.

"We should clear the main dungeon first," Lucius said. "If we clear it, we could earn a seriously powerful skill. Finding a dungeon of this scale might be impossible."

Vivi felt sick. She really didn't want to stay in Zand for any longer. Escape would be her next plan. But there was one additional benefit in killing the main boss… If we kill the main boss, the facility is forced to stop. No more monsters will be respawning.

The Stewards started cleaning up their mess. The platform for collection day was being carried in by construction workers.

Let's live through today's collection day, Vivi thought. Then we'll search for another smithy. We'll craft a two or a three-runed sword. That should give us enough power to make decisions on our own.

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