"Call me the Demon King."
The commanding voice echoed through the pitch-black mine, like scorching wind pressing down on countless faces drained of color.
Chris collapsed to the ground with a thud, her pupils wide with terror, her previous composure entirely gone.
Even after years as an adventurer, she had never seen the legendary Demon King in person.
To survive, she abandoned all dignity, pressing her forehead to the ground.
"Your… Your Excellency… I… I beg your mercy! Please spare me!"
She didn't understand what he had done perhaps some dark necromancy beyond her comprehension.
All she knew was that her body felt completely drained, powerless, barely able to stay upright.
Tears, snot, saliva they all flowed uncontrollably.
And, like her companion Grayhound before her, she had… lost control.
It seemed to be a side effect of "soul extraction." When too much life force was drained, the body simply couldn't hold itself together.
On top of that, her Faith Points wouldn't rise any further.
"Seems like there's a limit to what one person can contribute… maybe it depends on the soul's rank as well," Royan thought, scanning past the group around the Silver Crescent Blades.
That opening line wasn't so much directed at these petty adventurers as it was designed to immerse the players themselves.
The moment he had pulled out the crystal orb, the online player count for Plague Online had spiked dramatically.
Once they realized they could see the game again, the chaotic crowd of players surged back to the official server.
'Holy holy holy!'
'What's going on?!'
'Is the server opening?!'
'Let me out! Let me out!'
The uproar sounded uncannily like a horde of restless undead.
Royan's gaze swept over the adventurers kneeling in fear, and then shifted to the skeletal soldiers in the distance.
These were the monsters he had summoned through the Demon Lord Core exactly one hundred in number.
They stood there blankly, waiting for orders.
As the most basic summoned undead, skeleton soldiers were weaker than even a common Empire farmer, with base stats of only 2/3/1/0/0.
Lacking intelligence, they could only follow simple commands, usually serving as cannon fodder.
However, according to the Plague System, he could use a ritual to inject the players' soul imprints into these skeletons.
Once done, they would grow like naturally spawned undead capable of leveling up and following more complex instructions.
As for whether they would disobey?
Royan didn't have a better plan.
After all, this was his first time being a so-called Demon King, and also the first time acting as a Plague Online game designer.
He would figure it out as he went.
"…I hope you'll be of some use," he murmured, opening his bag and taking out the chalk and crystal powders needed to draw a summoning circle.
He drew a perfect circle on the ground, filled in its intricate patterns, and placed the crystal orb at the center.
A faint green glow lit up, casting an eerie atmosphere throughout the mine.
Chris stared in horror, unable to tear her eyes away, yet too afraid to speak.
Royan clapped his hands, stepping back from the glowing circle.
"Come forth "
"My loyal servants!"
Sparks raced along the lines of the circle and exploded outward like fireworks.
Tiny green lights flew toward the skeleton soldiers, striking each skull with precision.
The struck skeletons convulsed as if electrified, joints cracking loudly.
Grayhound, lying on the ground with a pickaxe at his side, felt his heart leap into his throat, terrified that these deranged undead might target him next.
Luckily, the convulsions subsided quickly.
But that so-called "normal" state lasted only a few seconds.
In an instant, all the skeletons in the mine erupted into chaotic motion, producing a cacophony of bone-chilling creaks.
"Ohhhhhh!"
"The Dog Designer is amazing!"
"They're moving! I can move!"
"What?! Skeletons?!"
"I wanted succubi! Not skeletons!"
"Awful! Where's my brother?"
"My pants… wait, where are my pants?! How do I take them off without pants?!"
"This is real?! Fully immersive VR… I can't believe I'm actually playing it in my lifetime!"
The skeletons flailed, danced, and squeaked, utterly possessed by the game.
Royan could understand their shouts, but the Silver Crescent Blades lay unmoved, utterly bewildered.
The skeletons' chatter sounded only like bone-on-bone to them.
Grayhound's face, having just calmed, now painted pure terror again as he tried to distance himself.
Chris was no different.
When a few skeletons approached her, jaw joints creaking as if to bite her, her sanity completely broke.
Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
The game was terrifyingly realistic even NPCs could faint from fear, affecting nearby players.
Pig Knight: "Oh no! We scared someone out cold!"
Minotaur Warrior: "That's on you look how ugly you are!"
Pig Knight: "Excuse me, like you're any prettier!"
Minotaur Warrior: "%￥#@!"
The two skeletons clacked their jaws at each other, spitting imaginary saliva.
Meanwhile, some noticed the body of Bond.
The mangled corpse made a few squeamish skeletons gag, while others peered curiously.
"Ugh!"
"Gross!"
"Does this game not censor deaths?!"
"Dog Designer, step up! Someone says you lost the code!"
"Dude, that was brutal."
"Wait… my pickaxe has blood on it? Did I kill him???"
While the skeletons commented, one suddenly exclaimed:
"Look what I found!"
They all turned to see a skeleton holding an antique flintlock pistol likely dropped by the fallen adventurer.
"He should have bullets!"
"Quick! Search!"
Once one skeleton picked it up, the others realized they had been too cautious.
They tore through the body efficiently, leaving no trace of the meat.
Perhaps the game's filters made it easier, but the players' fearless looting saved Royan a lot of effort.
Thinking back to his first attempts at necromancy, Royan couldn't help but admire these goofy players.
But there was no time for that.
The final player entered the game, and a dark green dialogue box appeared before Royan:
[Quest: Prepare fully controllable bodies for 100 players (100/100) – Completed!]
[Reward: 10,000 Faith Points!]
10,000 Faith Points added instantly!
Unable to contain his excitement, Royan opened his character panel and selected the promotion button next to his soul rank.
The moment he pressed it, a wave of dark green energy surged from the void, flowing into his chest.
The euphoria of his soul being strengthened made him groan in delight.
It felt incredible.
Both body and mind were flooded with power.
In front of the players' eyes, Royan ascended from Bronze-tier Soul to Steel-tier Soul.
The overflowing experience shot him from LV30 to LV31, breaking a previously insurmountable bottleneck.
[
ID: Royan
Race: Human
Soul Tier: Steel (Max Level LV50)
Level: LV.31 (+1)
EXP: 0/310,000
HP: 1,300/1,300 (+500)
MP: 3,600/3,600 (+1,000)
Constitution: 13 (+5)
Strength: 13 (+5)
Agility: 13 (+5)
Intelligence: 35 (+10)
Spirit: 36 (+10)
]
Seeing his renewed stats, Royan nearly shed tears of joy.
Eighteen years… he had finally shed the Bronze crown!
He didn't care which year he had reached the Bronze peak he just wanted to revel in the moment, feeling the immense power coursing through every cell.
"Wow… LV30 to LV31 gave me 25 total attribute points, not just two."
"I wonder how much more I'll gain breaking the Steel-tier bottleneck!"
His spirit surged, itching to try long-forgotten Steel-tier spells that had been unusable due to insufficient spirit power.
While Royan grinned, a modest-looking skeleton approached and knelt before him.
"Respected Demon King! I am your most loyal servant, 'One Leaf of Autumn'!"
"I am ready to receive my mission please skip the story tutorial and give me my quest directly!"