Not long after Leonard left, Jolan snapped out of his daze and remembered—there was still an offering waiting for him. Following the massive drag marks left by the corpse, he hurried along the path.
When he arrived, a new problem struck him. He looked at the colossal body, then at the modest opening of the grave, and froze. The corpse was simply too big to fit!
"Split into two groups, grab the arms of the ape, and drag it over the grave. Line it up exactly."
There was no other choice. Perhaps, in this world where logic often bent to chaos, such an approach might work. The logistics team followed their lord's command, pulling the enormous corpse until it loomed over the grave's mouth.
The moment it was in place, the notification he longed for appeared.
[ Alert: Offering detected. Conditions met. Proceed with summoning? Yes/No ]
"It actually worked!" Jolan's heart eased. The fear of a flaw in his territorial talent vanished instantly. He confirmed the summon. The gigantic corpse shimmered, turning half-transparent, and was swallowed by the grave like a black hole—gone without a trace.
In its place, a figure rose. A young woman, unarmed, her presence mysterious.
She stepped forward, knelt on one knee before Jolan, and spoke in a cold, soft voice tinged with menace.
"Necromagus Anara pledges her soul and loyalty to my lord."
"Good. Rise."
Jolan's eyes flicked to her status window.
[ Name: Anara ]
[ Territory: Frozen Plateau City ]
[ Class: Magus (Necromancy Branch) ]
[ Power Level: Mid-Blue ]
[ Skills: Spellcasting Mastery (Mid-Blue), Spiritual Strike (Low-Blue) ]
[ Loyalty: 100/100 ]
[ Potential: Mid-Gold ]
[ Overview: Do not be deceived by her frail form. A true Magus always stands atop a mountain of corpses. ]
'A Magus! Just as I thought, this world does have spellcasters. And not just any caster—she's already mid-blue rank!'
The doubt in Jolan's eyes disappeared. He finally had time to study his new recruit. Anara appeared to be in her late twenties. Like all undead under his command, she bore the telltale racial traits: pale bluish skin, stark white sclera, and eerie violet pupils that glowed faintly in the dark. At over 190 cm, she was even taller than him—imposing in her own right.
But Jolan didn't linger. He wasn't interested in the dead beyond their usefulness. With her absolute loyalty assured, he immediately ordered Anara to patrol the territory, then turned his attention to the loot left behind by the ape.
[ You have obtained: White Ape Meat ×120 units, Ape Fangs ×2, Nearly Complete Ape Pelt ×1, Scroll of Strength ×1, Chaos Gems ×15 ]
The sheer amount of meat made him grin. Monster meat carried traces of energy—especially from higher-ranked beasts. For most lords, mid-blue monster meat was practically a cheat resource. He planned to keep enough for his people and sell the rest tomorrow for a fortune in supplies.
Then his gaze fell on the mysterious scroll.
[ Name: Scroll of Strength ]
[ Rank: Low-Blue ]
[ Type: One-time Use ]
[ Effect: For 10 minutes, the user's power rises by one entire realm. Note: Ineffective for those at Silver rank and above. No side effects. ]
"A trump card… perfect."
Jolan nodded. With this, he could temporarily boost one of his peak-blue soldiers to silver rank—a decisive edge in a crisis. He stored the scroll and looked skyward.
The world darkened. Night fell swiftly, but instead of blackness, the sky turned a deep, hellish red. Jolan raised his head—and froze. Looming through the storm clouds was a sight that made his heart seize.
A moon. Crimson as blood.
[ Chaos Will Notice: Lords, from this night onward, at the start of each month the Blood Moon will rise. Note: The Blood Moon does not harm intelligent beings, but it drives beasts into madness. They will lose reason, grow stronger and more violent, and actively attack nearby territories. ]
Before Jolan could react, his heightened sense of smell overwhelmed him with countless monster scents flooding in from every direction.
Thankfully, the protective barrier still held. Jolan immediately ordered all patrols to retreat twenty steps inward from the boundary—one mistake in this blood-drenched dark could cost lives. He then directed his people to prepare makeshift torches.
While waiting, he opened the world chat.
[ Lord Zero: Holy hell! A bloody moon? If not for the system notice, I'd think we were in a vampire or werewolf world! ]
[ Lord Masters: Thank God for the barrier. Thank God for the barrier. Thank God for the barrier… ]
[ Lord Big Brother: What happens next month, when the Blood Moon rises again? Another monster tide? How are we supposed to survive that?! ]
[ Lord Darko: @BigBrother You won't have to worry—if you fail Chaos Will's trial in seven days, you won't live to see it. ]
[…]
[ Lord Timekeeper: I thought I was clever, using the barrier to farm monsters. It worked during the day, but now… I lost my only fighter. Now the rest of us huddle by the fire, praying for dawn. ]
[ Lord Matrix: Be careful! Don't try farming. The beasts aren't just stronger—they devour their own dead. No corpses left to loot. ]
[ Lord Lion of the South: If you've got ranged troops, you might still gain promotion energy even without the corpses. ]
"Lord, the torches are ready!"
Jolan closed the chat, grabbed a torch himself, and approached the northern edge.
CRACK! ROAR!
"What in the—hell!"
Even with the torch's weak light, he could see them. Massive shapes slamming against the barrier: white apes larger than the one they'd slain, frost wolves the size of trucks raking their claws across the shield, and countless other hulking beasts, all crazed by the Blood Moon.
Jolan steadied his breath and crept closer, pulling up a beast's info window.
[ Name: Frost Wolf ]
[ Power: Peak Blue ]
[ Description: Originally an ordinary predator of the Frostwood. But something unknown triggered a mutation, pushing its power to new heights. ]
[ Name: Iron Bull ]
[ Power: Peak Blue ]
[ Description: Once a common beast of the Frostwood, now mutated into a monstrous juggernaut by a mysterious influence. ]
Every status window told the same story.
"All of them… from the Frostwood to the north. The same forest Leonard warned me about. Whatever caused this mutation, it lies there. But damn it—I don't care about the cause! How the hell am I supposed to protect my territory once the barrier falls in six days?!"
Jolan cursed under his breath and turned away. Fighting tonight was pointless. The barrier meant no corpses would remain anyway, and corpses were the lifeblood of his strength. Best to let his troops rest and preserve combat power for tomorrow.
That evening, he ate a simple meal of blue-ranked ape meat, then relaxed with an apple in hand, skimming the world chat one last time before retiring.
Lying in his hut, eyes heavy, his mind spun with chaos. He felt as though he'd forgotten something important… but sleep claimed him before he could remember.
---
End of Chapter 13