The Ghoul roared, a sound that shook the damp earth of the graveyard.
It was three meters of rotting muscle and raging fury. A Level 8 Elite Monster. For a Level 1 student, facing this meant certain death. Even a full party of Level 5 students would have to run for their lives.
It lunged at Arthur, its massive claws slicing through the mist toward his head. The wind howled, but Arthur didn't flinch. He didn't even move his hands from his pockets.
CLANG!
The sound of metal striking bone echoed through the graveyard. Sparks flew into the dark air. The Ghoul's claws stopped instantly—not by a shield, but by the heavy bone blade of the Elite Iron-Bone Knight.
The Knight hadn't taken a single step back. Its pitch-black bones absorbed the monstrous impact like a gentle breeze. The blue flames in its hollow eyes flared with lethal intent. The Ghoul paused, its tiny corrupted brain failing to understand why this prey wasn't crushed.
And that hesitation was its last mistake.
With incredible speed that defied its massive size, the Iron-Bone Knight twisted its blade.
SLASH!
A brutal arc of dark energy tore through the air. The Ghoul's right arm was severed completely, black blood spraying across the tombstones. Before the monster could scream, the Knight stepped forward, raised its heavy blade, and brought it down like a guillotine.
CRUNCH!
The Ghoul's head split in half. Its massive body froze for a second, then collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, shaking the dirt.
Silence returned to the graveyard. The battle hadn't lasted ten seconds. It was absolute suppression.
Arthur stared at the massive corpse, expression unchanging, but his eyes gleamed with excitement and anticipation.
[Ding!]
[Your summon has killed a Level 8 Elite Ghoul!]
[Experience gained: +500]
[Level Up!]
[You are now Level 3.]
He exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Two levels from a single monster? Normally, a party of regular Awakeners would grind weak slimes and basic skeletons for a whole week just to reach Level 2—but he did it in ten seconds.
"Experience isn't shared," Arthur muttered. "Because the summon is part of my power, I get 100% of it."
A faint smile appeared on his face. His leveling speed wouldn't just be fast—it would be monstrous.
He walked past the kneeling Iron-Bone Knight and approached the Ghoul's corpse. In this world, monsters dropped loot: cores, materials, and sometimes skill books.
Hovering above the Ghoul's remains was a faintly glowing green orb.
[Item Found: Corrupted Ghoul Core (Uncommon)]
[Effect: Can be sold for 5,000 credits or used for dark-attribute crafting.]
Five thousand credits. For an orphan like Arthur, surviving on stale bread and academy rations, it was a small fortune.
But he didn't reach for it immediately. His eyes shifted from the glowing core to the massive, muscular corpse of the Ghoul itself.
A crazy, dangerous idea sparked in his mind.
His class was Necromancer. His talent was [Absolute Synthesis].
"The system said I can fuse two identical summoned creatures," Arthur murmured, narrowing his eyes, "but what about raw materials? Can I use an Elite monster's corpse to upgrade my summons directly?"
He raised his hand, pointing at the Ghoul's corpse, then at his Iron-Bone Knight.
"System, use Absolute Synthesis on the Ghoul's corpse and the Iron-Bone Knight."
A moment of silence, then—
[Ding!][Warning: The target corpse is not a summoned creature.][However, the host's talent is SSS-Rank. Forcibly extracting the corpse's core for Irregular Synthesis...]
Dark red light erupted from Arthur's hands, swallowing both the Knight and the dead Ghoul completely. The ground cracked under the sheer pressure of the magic.
Arthur smiled. "Let's see what kind of monster I can create next."
Suddenly, the red light pulsed violently, and a terrifying roar echoed from within the synthesis storm—a roar that belonged to neither skeleton nor Ghoul. Something else was being born.