The Sovereign Necromancer: System of the Dead

The Contract of the Dead

The giant bone monster did not wait. It raised its massive spike of a fist, ready to smash my chest into flat meat. I could not move. My crushed knees felt like they were full of broken glass and hot needles.

But the glowing text boxes stayed right in front of my eyes, floating in the dark cave.

[Class Selection Available: Underworld Sovereign]

[Do you accept the terms of the Dead?]

"Accept!" I choked out, coughing up thick fluid onto the stone floor. "I accept!"

The voice inside my skull laughed. It was a deep, sharp sound that made my teeth ache. [Smart choice, kid. Let us rewrite your bad luck.]

A sudden rush of freezing energy shot up from the stone floor. It entered my hands and flooded straight into my legs.

Snap. Pop.

My kneecaps moved on their own. The broken pieces of bone slid back into place under my skin. I did not feel pain anymore. I felt an icy numbness that made my skin crawl. I pushed myself off the floor and stood up. My legs were perfectly straight, but my old sneakers were still soaked in my own blood.

The bone monster roared, the sound shaking loose small rocks from the cave roof. It brought its spike fist down toward my head.

"Get back," I said.

My voice sounded different. It was deep, empty, and heavy.

A wave of black mist erupted from my boots. It flew forward like a wall of water, hitting the monster's chest. The three-story tall beast actually stumbled backward, its giant claws scraping against the gray rock.

[Passive Skill Activated: Sovereign Domain]

[The dead within this zone must obey your command.]

[Look down, Tobe,] the voice inside my head said. Its name was Grim. [The big guys left you some tools. Use them.]

I looked at the floor. A few feet away lay the dead bodies of the three B-Rank Hunters that the monster had smashed earlier. Their armor was broken, and their faces were covered in dust.

"Arise," I said, pointing my finger at the corpses.

The black mist on the floor crawled over the dead Hunters. Their eyes snapped open, but the white parts were completely gone, replaced by glowing gray flames. They stood up slowly, their movements stiff like wooden dolls.

[First Summon Successful: 3 Shadow Servants created.]

[Current Mana: 40/100]

"Kill it," I ordered, pointing at the bone monster.

The three dead Hunters did not hesitate. They leaped forward, their movements faster than when they were alive. One of them, a guy who used to carry a giant iron sword, slammed his weapon directly into the monster's knee. The bone cracked. The monster tilted sideways, roaring in anger. The other two shadow servants jumped onto its back, tearing at the glowing red core in its chest with their bare, dark hands.

I watched the fight happen, but I did not f*el afraid. The deep terror I had five minutes ago was completely gone. Chief Segun had broken my body, and Chiamaka had left me to die for a school f*e. They wanted me to be the garbage that got cleaned up.

Instead, I was controlling the trash.

The bone monster swung its arm, smashing one of my shadow servants into pieces of black smoke. But the remaining two servants successfully cracked the red core on its chest. The monster stiffened, its red light going dark, before it collapsed onto the stone floor with a heavy thud.

It was dead.

[Target Defeated: Asymmetric Bone Variant]

[Extracting Target Soul...]

[New Summon Obtained: Shadow Gorilla (Rank: Elite Guard)]

The giant corpse of the monster dissolved into a thick, black puddle on the floor. From that puddle, a smaller, darker version of the monster rose up. It had red burning eyes and bowed its head toward me, waiting for my command.

"This is real," I whispered, looking at my hands. They were pale, and my veins looked dark blue under my skin.

[Of course it is real, partner,] Grim said, his voice echoing in my left ear like a close friend. [But do not get too happy yet. The hospital machine for your sister turns off in less than twelve hours, remember? And your lovely fiancée is probably back on the Island right now, telling everyone how sad she is that you died.]

My stomach dropped. Amarachi.

I looked at the sealed iron doors of the dungeon. They were locked from the outside by the guild's security system. A normal person would need an electronic key card to open them.

"Can we break it?" I asked Grim.

[You have a giant shadow gorilla now, Tobe. Why are you asking me silly questions?] Grim laughed.

I turned to the giant shadow beast. "Break that door down."

The shadow gorilla moved forward, its heavy fists slamming against the thick iron doors.

BOOM!

The metal bent outward. Another strike, and the iron hinges tore completely out of the concrete wall. The door fell forward into the lagoon water outside, letting the bright morning sunlight rush into the dark cave.

I walked out of the portal zone, my two shadow hunters and the giant gorilla following silently behind me in the mist. I looked across the water toward the high-rise penthouses of Victoria Island.

Chief Segun and Chiamaka thought they left a corpse in the dark. They had no idea what was coming up from the Mainland.

My phone buzzed again in my pocket. I pulled it out. It was a live social media notification from the Vanguard Guild's official page.

The title read: [Tragedy in Lekki: Vanguard Guild Honors Fallen Mainland Cleaner in Successful S-Rank Raid.]

There was a picture of Chiamaka standing next to Chief Segun. She was holding a handkerchief to her eyes, pretending to cry for the cameras while Segun held a gold medal.

I closed the app, a cold feeling taking over my entire body.

"Let us go to the Island," I said to the shadows behind me.