“Row faster, minion!”

  “I told you to stop calling me that. Just give me more mana!”

  Rusty rowed with all his might, pushing himself while several buffing skills were active as they reached the final stretch. His speed was intense, but they were still slower than the massive ship bearing down on them. Suddenly, one paddle snapped, and the rope on the other came loose. Luckily, their remaining momentum carried them onto the muddy shore.

  “Get back in there and just give me more mana!”

  “H-hey, stop…”

  Rusty shoved the necromancer’s head into the backpack and leapt out of the boat in a single motion. His metal boots hit the ground, and he broke into a sprint. At least now the necromancer was cooperating to some degree, and even better, this seemed to be the final part of the mission. They had finally reached the Deathly Primeval Woods.

  Towering trees loomed overhead, their thick roots clawing up from the earth like grasping fingers. The air was damp and heavy, filled with thick mana and ancient magic. Rusty pushed forward without hesitation, crashing through undergrowth and snapping branches as the forest closed in behind him. Behind them, the paladin ship scraped against the shore, and shouts rang out.

  “There! After them!”

  Rusty ran as fast as his metallic legs would carry him. It was not something he particularly liked, but the ones chasing him were above the D-rank grade. He stood no chance if he confronted these paladins by himself.

  The forest floor was uneven and treacherous, but that mattered little to him. He vaulted fallen logs, smashed through thorny bushes, and let the shadows swallow his shiny metallic form. The paladins followed relentlessly, their holy auras burning bright and lighting up the forest.

  “They’re gaining… gah, can’t you be more gentle?”

  Vesperus shouted since he had not been gagged this time. He did not hesitate to complain about the rough treatment he was receiving. His backpack bounced wildly as Rusty ran with reckless abandon, never looking back.

  “How far do we need to go? I thought this was the destination you…”

  He cut himself off and ducked just in time. Something lashed out at him, not from behind but from the front.

  “What? A monster?”

  At first it looked like a branch, but on closer inspection, he saw fingers curling at the end of it.

  “It’s a treant. Just ignore it and run further in. We are close!”

  “…”

  Rusty was not sure he could trust Vesperus, but he was out of options. With paladins on his heels and monsters ahead, the creatures in front of him seemed like the lesser threat.

  “I hope you’re not lying, because if you are…”

  After threatening his summoner with a beating, he swung his sword and cut through the tree limb reaching for him, then pushed forward. The forest seemed to come alive as the trees around them began to awaken. Fortunately, they were not focused solely on him. The radiant auras of the pursuing paladins drew the attention of the larger treants, leaving Rusty to deal only with the ones that crossed his path directly.

  For a moment, he looked back as a great deal of noise erupted behind him. The paladins were clashing with the tree monsters. Their advance had slowed, but they were still pushing forward.

  “When does this mission end?”

  Rusty wondered. The mission briefing had stated that all he needed to do was deliver the necromancer to his chosen destination, and that would be enough. Would he really have to kill all of their pursuers for it to be considered complete? If that was the case, he would need a different plan. Perhaps hiding Vesperus inside a hollow log while he dealt with the enemies was an option. Unfortunately, he could not tell which trees were ordinary and which were monsters, which made that idea far less practical.

  “Wait, what is that?”

  As he considered his options, something flashed in the distance. A strange aura shimmered ahead, and a powerful magical force pulsed from that direction. He could see mana particles from the environment being drawn toward it. The phenomenon was massive. Even from a kilometer away, the pulsating glow was impossible to miss.

  “Could it be a powerful monster? Or is it…”

  Vesperus had said they were nearing their destination, and he seemed to notice the surge of mana as well.

  “Yes, that is it. We are almost there. Do not stop, Mi… I mean, Rusty!”

  That was all the confirmation Rusty needed. It could be a trap, but he believed the necromancer feared the paladins far more than whatever lurked deeper within the forest.

  “I sure hope you are right.”

  “Vesperus Mortis is always right!”

  “Sure…”

  Rusty took off again, this time with a proper goal in sight. He pushed his body to its limits as he headed straight toward the source of the overwhelming mana. The forest grew unnaturally quiet the closer he got to the power. There were no birds anywhere and no woodland creatures in sight. Instead, flying insects filled the air. Flies and mosquitoes swarmed everywhere, while others crawled along the ground and clung to every tree.

  Suddenly, a dense barrier of trees rose before him. He forced his way in, but the branches were hard as steel. Even his reinforced body began to suffer deep scratches, yet he did not stop. He raised his shield for protection, making sure the necromancer in the backpack was not harmed as he pushed through.

  Shouts echoed from behind him, followed by arrows filled with holy energy. One struck his shoulder and bounced off, lodging itself in the rigid branches. The holy energy exploded, blasting the trees aside, and the sight sparked an idea.

  Rusty’s body began to radiate light as he activated a skill he had not used in a long time. Once he was enveloped in pure light energy, the trees parted, allowing him to sprint toward his destination. To his surprise, it turned out to be a hut perched on a small hill, surrounded by two massive trees.

  “Ahh… my light is fading.”

  As he reached the hill, something strange happened. The light he was producing was countered and forcibly suppressed, causing him to stagger forward. The backpack strap finally snapped, and Vesperus rolled ahead in his bound form. Only after the skill fully dissipated was Rusty able to stand and move again.

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  ‘That was close. My body was almost crushed under that pressure. Who lives here?’

  He looked ahead at the structure resting between two colossal trees whose trunks twisted together like entwined serpents. The hut appeared ancient, its crooked wooden planks nailed together at odd angles. Bones and charms hung from rotting logs, while jars filled with body parts and murky liquids lined the exterior. Moss blanketed the roof, and strange runes were carved into the living trees that supported the structure, glowing faintly with violet light.

  “Yes, I made it! Finally! Those pesky paladins and this treacherous minion will know the wrath of Vesperus Mortis.”

  Rusty did not like the sound of that as the necromancer started laughing. He had hoped this would be over, the mission complete, but it was not. Their pursuers were close, and holy energy exploded behind them as thirty paladins of varying power appeared. Some of them were likely above C-rank.

  “There he is. Kill the foul necromancer!”

  The armored men surged forward, an aura of light surrounding them. As soon as they stepped closer, they were struck by the same force that had caused Rusty to abandon the use of his light element. Their bodies shuddered, and even those above D rank began to drop to their knees, as if the entire area was rejecting their presence.

  “What is this unholy power? Resist it, brothers and sisters!”

  Their leader shouted as he forced himself upright. He was an elderly man with a gray beard, clad in golden armor. He radiated strength, perhaps even rivaling the mage Rusty had encountered in the past. Yet despite his imposing presence, it was clear that he was struggling.

  “What is all this racket? Can a maiden not leave in peace?”

  The crooked door of the hut creaked open, and something stepped outside. She was hunched and thin, wrapped in layers of tattered cloth and animal skins stitched together with sinew. Her skin sagged like melted wax over bone, gray-green and mottled with age. One eye was milky white, while the other burned with a violet glow that matched the runes carved into the trees. Long black hair clung to her scalp in greasy strands, crawling with beetles that scattered as she moved.

  ‘What is that?’

  Rusty had never seen such a creature before. She seemed human at first, but the aura she was giving off was far from it. Soon, he attempted to activate his identification skill to shine some light on this question.

  Rusty could not see her level, which could only mean one thing. She was far too powerful for his skill to properly assess. Even so, the ability revealed two details. She was an ancient being known as a hag, and she shared the same last name as his summoner.

  “M-mother, help me!”

  “Vesperus? Is that you? Why are you tied up like that?”

  The hag’s single sharp eye shifted toward the necromancer, who was struggling against his bindings where Rusty had dragged him. When her mouth opened to speak, her voice sounded strange and seemed to cause some of the paladins a lot of pain. For a moment she just started at the bound necromancer before bursting out with laughter.

  “Tied up…”

  She chuckled, shuffling forward a step as beetles poured from her sleeves and vanished into the soil.

  “Dragged here in a sack. Chased by holy dogs.”

  Her violet eye slid back to the paladins struggling against the oppressive force of the grove.

  “And still useless, why can’t you be like your other brothers and sisters…”

  She shook her head in disappointment while Rusty just stood there, wondering how he could get such a strange summoning mission.

  “Mother, please!”

  Vesperus cried, writhing.

  “They were hunting me! And this metal brute started bullying me…”

  “Oh, hush.”

  The word was soft, but it carried power. The pressure in the clearing doubled. Several paladins screamed as their knees slammed into the dirt. Golden and silver armor dented inward as if squeezed by invisible hands. The holy auras flickered for a moment before vanishing completely as they started to perish.

  “Hold on, brothers and sisters! We must not succumb to this evil witch! Pray, we must pray together!”

  The paladin leader began performing some kind of ritual. For a moment, his aura burst forth. The insects that had gathered were incinerated by it, but it did not last long. There was no resisting this hag. They had entered her domain, where she was most powerful.

  “Paladins. Always so loud. So righteous. So full of meat…”

  She cackled again, and soon the forest answered her call. The insects Rusty had noticed earlier, flies, mosquitoes, and crawling things, suddenly surged. The air darkened as a living cloud poured out from the trees, from the soil, from inside rotting logs and the hollow bones hanging from the hut.

  “What in the?!”

  One paladin shouted, but never finished the sentence as the swarm descended. Beetles crawled into visors and joints. Wasps stung exposed flesh again and again, injecting venom thick with corrupted mana. Ants burst from the ground, flooding greaves and gauntlets, biting until flesh peeled away. Clouds of flies forced their way into mouths and noses, suffocating them and turning their screams into gurgles.

  Within seconds, the clearing filled with shrieks, choking, and the wet sounds of bodies collapsing. Rusty stood frozen, watching powerful paladins devoured by tiny insects one by one. He had fought monsters and humans alike, but he had never seen anything as horrifying as this.

  ‘If she is his mother…’

  He did not care much for the paladins, but he knew that if the witch saw him as a target, he would be finished. He had beaten her son repeatedly, and now perhaps this was the end for him.

  The old paladin leader forced himself upright one last time, his golden armor cracked and crawling with insects. He locked eyes with the hag, hatred blazing through the pain.

  “Abomination, the gods will….”

  Agnes flicked her finger. A swarm of hornets plunged straight down his throat. The words died with a muffled crunch. Silence followed as, within moments, nothing remained of the paladins but empty shells and dark stains soaking into the soil. The swarm dispersed as quickly as it had come and melted back into the forest. The hag sighed, clearly disappointed at her son.

  “And you…”

  Vesperus shrank back as much as the ropes allowed.

  “M-mother, I… it wasn’t my fault. It’s this minion that…”

  “Silence.”

  The word struck like a slap. Vesperus’s mouth snapped shut against his will. Agnes bent down until her face was mere centimeters from his, her breath reeking of rot and old magic.

  “A necromancer who cannot even keep his own creations at bay is a failure. But don’t worry, my ungrateful son. Mother isn’t angry, just disappointed. If only your father were here to see this…”

  Rusty wasn’t sure what was happening, but luck was on his side. Just after the paladins were gone and the witch began speaking, the world system reacted to him.

  He had done it. The mission was over, and his body began to shimmer as he was pulled back toward the summoning chamber. This did not go unnoticed. The hag’s purple eye turned toward him as she finally became aware of his presence.

  “You…”

  His fading body was yanked back, tethered to reality by the witch’s will.

  “This child is interesting. It is even resisting me. What is this? Twilight metal? No wonder you couldn’t handle it…”

  Agnes raised her hand as power surged through the air, but even she could not stop Rusty from being recalled to the soul forge. Strange runes appeared around him, summoning chains that tried to bind him in place. Still, his body continued to fade, and moments later, he was back inside the summoning chamber.

  “T-that was scary…”

  If he had been human, he would probably be drenched in cold sweat by now. That hag creature was no simple foe. She could even force the system to bend, if only for a few moments. Still, he was finally safe, and now it was time to receive his rewards…