Darian hadn't expected this sudden situation at all.
Wade activated the teleportation device and left this server, leaving him here all alone.
But that wasn't the main point; the main point was that without Wade, he couldn't continue teleporting to other servers to recruit members for the Immortal Alliance.
Thinking of this, Darian gritted his teeth in anger and immediately turned to look at the source of that terrifying energy beam.
He wanted to see which reckless fool was ruining his plans.
Then, Darian saw a figure suspended in mid-air.
The person had short blonde hair, was biologically female based on her physique, and was looking down at him from above.
[NPC: Carol Danvers]
[Codename: Captain Marvel]
[Favorability: -100]
[Review: Universe Police, a Captain Marvel whose face isn't square, one of the strongest Avengers, capable of smashing a cosmic mothership with her head]
[Status: Zombified]
Seeing the other party's information, the corner of Darian's mouth twitched violently.
How was he supposed to fight this!?
No, even fighting with his head wouldn't work; she was a tough woman who could smash an interstellar mothership with her head. Darian wasn't confident enough to think he was harder than the armor of a cosmic battleship.
"I didn't expect that little snack to escape..."
The zombie Captain Marvel in the air stared intently at Darian, her rotting lips slowly pulling back to reveal jagged, grey-black teeth.
"But luckily, another little snack stayed behind. Little snack, tell me, do you have any other companions hiding here? If you hand them over obediently, maybe I'll consider letting you go."
Naturally, Darian wouldn't believe the zombie Captain Marvel's words.
Her favorability had dropped to negative one hundred; she likely wanted to literally skin him alive and eat him. Only a fool would believe she'd let him go.
Darian ignored the zombie Captain Marvel and said quickly, "All Immortal Alliance interns, immediately promote to official members!"
As he finished speaking, the system's notification sound rang out.
[Dungeon Quest 'Immortal N-Person Group' Completed]
[Beginning Dungeon reward settlement...]
"Settlement my foot! Leave the dungeon immediately!" Darian urged.
The zombie Captain Marvel seemed to sense something was wrong and frowned.
"Forget it, I'll catch you first."
The zombie Captain Marvel didn't hesitate at all. A blinding burst of energy erupted around her, and she was instantly enveloped in a violent torrent of energy, turning into a dazzling streak of light that tore through the air, charging at Darian with terrifying speed!
Darian felt a suffocating pressure rush toward him, and his scalp instantly went numb.
He immediately raised his hand to block, and a transparent circular shield visible only to him instantly expanded in front of him.
[Item: magnetic shield (One-time use item, creates a directional magnetic barrier lasting 30 seconds after release, providing excellent resistance against most physical attacks and energy impacts)]
Bang!!
A massive impact sound exploded, the magnetic shield vibrated violently, successfully blocking the zombie Captain Marvel's impact.
However, Darian could see that the surface of the magnetic shield was covered in dense cracks; it clearly wouldn't last much longer.
"Hmm?"
The zombie Captain Marvel shook her head, a hint of surprise flashing across her rotting face.
She hadn't used her full strength just now, fearing she might accidentally crush this little snack, but even so, this wasn't something an ordinary person could block.
Red light flared in the zombie Captain Marvel's eyes, and her right fist gathered dazzling energy again, poised to strike down.
[Dungeon mission completed, player may remain in the dungeon for a maximum of.....]
"No staying! Exit the dungeon immediately!!"
Darian practically screamed his voice hoarse.
The next moment, his figure vanished instantly, but not before giving the zombie Captain Marvel an internationally recognized gesture of friendship.
The zombie Captain Marvel's punch hit nothing but air, her momentum carrying her forward before she froze in mid-air.
After a moment of dead silence, an angry roar echoed through the heavens and earth.
"No—!!"
Main Server.
Darian's vision blurred, and he was back in his castle in Sokovia, letting out a sigh of relief.
Acting cool and then running away, how thrilling!
That zombie Captain Marvel was clearly not something he could solo right now; it was better to retreat for now.
He wasn't afraid; it was a tactical retreat.
As a player, one must be flexible. Encountering an unbeatable opponent, run if you can; if you can't run, beg for mercy. At worst, turn on the mic and use a squeaky voice to beg for your life—it's not embarrassing.
Once his level was up and his gear was complete, it wouldn't be too late to go back and settle the score.
After some self-consolation, Darian quickly put the incident behind him and began checking the dungeon rewards.
[Rewards: 30,000 EXP, 10 Free Attribute Points, Skill 'Energy Tentacles', Skill 'Lord of the Sand-Sculptures', Item 'momotaros rice ball', Item 'holy water', Item 'dry juice', Equipment 'folding stool', Equipment 'holy halo']
[Skill: Energy Tentacles (You can release controllable Energy Tentacles. These tentacles can touch physical objects and possess half of your basic strength attribute. The strength of the Energy Tentacles depends on your spirit attribute.)]
[Skill: Lord of the Sand-Sculptures (You are the Master of sa... sand. You can freely control all sand. The precision and scale of control increase with your spirit attribute.)]
[Item: momotaros rice ball (Can tame wild beasts through feeding, making them follow simple commands. Only effective on animals or beast-like creatures; ineffective on humans and high-intelligence beings.)]
[Item: holy water (Produced from a Holy Maiden. Has a restraining effect on dark-attribute creatures. If consumed by non-dark creatures, it can dispel evil forces and restore a certain amount of HP.)]
[Item: dry juice (A mixed vegetable juice invented by a certain killer tennis player. The taste is indescribable. Drinking it easily leads to fainting or even brief memory blanks.)]
[Equipment: folding stool (The foremost of the seven weapons. The wonder of the folding stool is that it can be hidden in residential houses, easily accessible, and you can sit on it to hide your murderous intent. Even if you're caught by the Police, they can't charge you.)]
[Equipment: holy halo (Purifies the hearts of those around you, comes with a heaven special effect, requires AA batteries to use.)]
Perhaps because the dungeon mission objectives were exceeded, the rewards this time were much richer than before, with two skills alone.
But what's with this 'Lord of the Sand-Sculptures'? System, have you been infected by that guy Wade too?
Complaints aside, the skill was actually quite good. Being able to control sand freely—if he were on a construction site, the foreman would probably treat him like an ancestor.
As for the other items and equipment, the style was as bizarre as ever, with far too many points to complain about.
momotaros rice ball and dry juice were somewhat normal, but what on earth was this holy water? What does 'produced from a Holy Maiden' mean? Is the source even decent?
And then there's the folding stool—can this thing even be considered equipment?
The holy halo was even more speechless. The name sounded awesome, but it turned out to require AA batteries to work. That's just too low-end.
Darian couldn't even complain anymore and turned his attention to the other new skill, Energy Tentacles.
The next moment, a pitch-black tentacle suddenly emerged from under his white magic robe, slowly extending into the air, writhing silently like a living thing, exuding a sense of eeriness.
"Interesting."
Darian grew interested and began trying to control it.
The tentacle felt like a natural extension of his limb, with a very fast response speed.
With his thought, the black tentacle moved flexibly, striking various poses in the air. Not only that, it could perform delicate actions, such as holding a weapon for combat, or even an American-style quick draw, hitting the bullseye every time.
Next, Darian locked his gaze on a wall a few meters away.
With a shift in his mind, the black tentacle instantly shot out like an arrow, with a short whistling sound of breaking wind, slamming hard against the wall!
Bang!!
A dull impact sound echoed in the room, and a clear indentation appeared on the wall's surface.
Darian nodded in satisfaction.
The walls of this castle were built by HYDRA using specially made high-strength materials. Their defense was extremely strong; even an ordinary missile might not blast through them in one go. The fact that the energy tentacle could cause this level of destruction was already quite amazing.
Darian tried it out a bit and found that he could currently summon a maximum of six black tentacles. Any more, and both strength and control precision would decrease significantly. It was fine for acting cool, but definitely not for combat.
But this was already quite good, equivalent to having six extra arms out of thin air.
Most importantly, each black tentacle possessed half of his main body's strength attribute, which was fifty points of strength. This was stronger than typical superheroes and supervillains.
Moreover, they didn't fear pain and had no joint restrictions, offering much more control space than arms.
Bang!
With a loud bang, the room's door blew inward, the twisted door panel slamming onto the floor.
A glowing Wanda floated into the room. As Darian's secretary, she was closest and had rushed over after hearing various strange noises from the room.
"What happened? Is it an enemy attack..."
Wanda's words came to an abrupt halt.
From her perspective, a figure hidden entirely within a large white magic robe, wearing a hood and mask, stood in the room.
And from beneath the white robe, several viscous, deep black tentacles touched the ground, writhing in different directions. The wide robe hid the specific starting points of the tentacles, making them look more like strange organs naturally growing from the lower body, replacing legs.
The corners of the robe and the shadows of the writhing tentacles intertwined, presenting a surreal sense of distortion.
The shadow cast by the hood completely swallowed the person's face, only faintly revealing the eerily writhing runes beneath the darkness, further deepening the overall mysterious atmosphere.
How should one describe this look?
Didn't look like a good person, and didn't look human.
"What kind of monster is this!?"
Wanda's personality was timid and introverted; seeing this scene terrified her.
Immediately, powerful crimson energy surged from her hands, using Chaos Magic instead of thinking.
Now it was Darian's turn to be afraid.
Wanda's Chaos Magic wasn't any weaker than the zombie Captain Marvel's.
He quickly shouted, "Wait, Wanda, it's me!"
Hearing the familiar voice, the crimson energy gathering in Wanda's hands suddenly stalled.
"Darian?"
Wanda saw Darian take off his hood and mask. After confirming his identity, she looked surprised: "What kind of monstrous thing are you possessing now?"
Darian: "...."
What do you mean 'possessing a monstrous thing'? Couldn't it be that I'm being possessed by a monstrous thing?
"This is a new magic I learned. Want to learn? I'll teach you," Darian said cheerfully.
This wasn't exactly a lie; theoretically, he really could teach her.
Wanda's Chaos Magic was already more ridiculous than cheating. One of its core characteristics was the ability to objectify false illusions, turning them into reality.
Simply put, as long as she believes it's real, it becomes real.
Because of this, Darian didn't actually need to teach any complicated incantations or principles. With just a little guidance, he could make Wanda create something from nothing and automatically learn the skill.
Of course, he didn't dare to use this kind of deceptive teaching recklessly.
Wanda's power was deeply tied to her mental state. If the guidance went wrong, or if it caused her perception of certain dangerous concepts to become distorted, it was hard to imagine what terrifying things might happen.
Perhaps the entire World would instantly slide into an indescribable abyss, and a sudden mutation into Cthulhu-esque horrors was possible.
It was also because of this heaven-defying ability that Darian made Wanda go fishing, to learn to be calm and unruffled, and not let her emotions collapse over every little thing.
As they say, fishing is the best way to hone one's willpower.
After all, what in this World could be more soul-crushing than a huge fish about to be caught suddenly slipping off the hook?
"No thanks," Wanda replied.
As a magical girl, Wanda had an instinctive aversion to these kinds of tentacles.
And she felt this eerie imagery didn't suit her; it was like something out of a horror movie, too scary.
It was a good thing Wade wasn't here, otherwise, if that guy knew what Wanda was thinking, he'd definitely joke that she was scarier in the Doctor Strange 2 movie, and even Sadako would have to respectfully hand her a cigarette.
After confirming it wasn't an attack, Wanda turned and left the room. She was going to fish... or rather, slack off.
Darian retracted the black tentacles at his feet and continued checking the system information.
[Congratulations Player, you have successfully leveled up!]
[Player: Darian]
[Level: 25 (28,000/75,000)]
[Attributes: Strength 100, Agility 50, Constitution 60, Spirit 40]
[Distributable Free Attribute Points: 15]
Darian thought for a moment and allocated all his free attribute points to Spirit.
The two newly acquired skills were both directly linked to the Spirit attribute, so naturally, he couldn't ignore it like before.
The attribute panel refreshed accordingly.
[Attributes: Strength 100, Agility 50, Constitution 60, Spirit 55]
With the allocation of free attribute points complete, Spirit was no longer Darian's weak point; it was even more than half of his Strength attribute.
Darian sighed softly: "Sigh, if this continues, this mage account might be ruined."
But this wasn't without its benefits.
An increase in the Spirit attribute meant he could learn faster.
Darian decided to head back to Kamar-Taj to see if there were any new spells to learn, and while he was at it, check if that big bald Ancient One had returned.
After all, the Ancient One owed him a dance.