The corpse detonated near the barricade.

BOOM.

The explosion tore through the goblin cluster and sent bodies flying. Wood splintered. Mud sprayed across the field. The coordinated push collapsed before it could begin.

Team Zero cleared the first wave in eight minutes.

The last goblin fell with Aria’s spear through its back.

[WAVE 1 CLEARED]

[HOSTILE ENTITIES ELIMINATED: 50/50]

[WAVE 2 WILL BEGIN IN: 60 SECONDS]

The stream chat shifted as viewers watched Team Zero finish the first wave.

@DublinClimber92: They’re actually holding.

@RaidStatsGuy: Formation is clean. This team has cleared together before.

@GreenTowerFan: The necromancer is using a sword?

@MageUnionWatch: That’s not normal mage movement. He’s front-midline.

@PriestWanted: First wave is only the easy part. Wait for the aura.

Team Zero used the sixty-second gap to recover positioning.

Elliot checked his quiver and still had plenty of arrows. Aria wiped blood from her spear and rolled her shoulders. Finn stood at the front with his axe resting against his shoulder and watched the settlement.

Kael kept his hand near the circlet and waited.

James dismissed two damaged skeletons and kept only one standing. He checked his mana but didn’t open his full status page. Call of Souls had activated multiple times during the first wave and recovered mana from goblin kills.

[CALL OF SOULS ACTIVATED]

[MANA RECOVERED]

[CURRENT MANA: 1,048/1,080]

Finn spoke without looking back. "This is where the last run changed."

James looked toward the forest line on the right side of the battlefield. The trees were too still and the shadows between them felt wrong.

The countdown reached zero.

The second wave began.

More goblins emerged from the settlement, but this time they felt different.

Their eyes were darker. Their movements were sharper. A faint black aura clung to their weapons and skin like threads of smoke. Some goblins had black veins visible beneath their green flesh.

The viewers didn’t understand it at first.

@TowerWatchIE: Are they stronger?

@FloorWatchEU: That’s a buff aura.

@RaidStatsGuy: Something’s different about these ones.

Team Zero knew better because they’d watched the failed raid footage.

The pressure hit the battlefield like a weight pressing down on everything. The air felt heavier. Movements slowed slightly. Reactions dulled. It wasn’t overwhelming, but it was enough to make the difference between blocking a strike and getting hit.

Kael activated the circlet immediately.

[PURIFY ACTIVATED]

[APOSTLE’S RADIANT CIRCLET RESPONDING]

[DARK MANA PRESSURE REDUCED]

[PARTY MEMBERS WITHIN RANGE RECEIVE HOLY RESISTANCE]

The circlet’s divine light spread outward from Kael in a protective aura that covered Team Zero’s formation. The black pressure pressing against them weakened. The team could move properly again.

The stream chat exploded.

@PriestWanted: PURIFICATION.

@MageUnionWatch: The circlet is active.

@RaidStatsGuy: That dark aura was affecting movement speed.

@TowerWatchIE: They prepared for the second wave.

@FloorNineGraveyard: The circlet is working.

Finn raised his shield and met the first corrupted goblin head-on. The goblin’s strikes came faster than the first wave but Finn blocked them and countered with his axe. The goblin fell and Finn moved to the next.

Aria cleared the left flank with precise spear thrusts while Elliot dropped corrupted archers from the watchtowers. Kael maintained the circlet’s aura and called out enemy movements.

James fought beside Finn and killed corrupted goblins with sword strikes, then used their corpses for skeletons or Corpse Explosion when enemies clustered together.

But while the team fought, James kept looking toward the forest.

The dark aura wasn’t coming from the goblins themselves. It was being fed into them from somewhere else. He could see the faint threads of black mana flowing from the forest toward the battlefield like invisible strings.

James turned to Finn. "The aura isn’t coming from the goblins. Something in the forest is controlling them."

Finn didn’t like it, but this was the plan. "Go. Find the source. We’ll hold the line."

Aria snapped without looking back. "You better not take too long."

Elliot shot another corrupted goblin. "We’re already down one fighter if you leave."

Kael spoke calmly. "I can hold the circlet aura for now, but not forever."

James nodded and broke away from the formation.

The stream chat exploded again.

@GreenTowerFan: Why is he leaving?

@DublinClimber92: Four-man hold on Wave 2? Are they mad?

@MageUnionWatch: He saw something.

@FloorNineGraveyard: This is how teams die. They split.

@RaidStatsGuy: If he finds the source, this might be the right call.

James ran toward the forest on the right side of the battlefield.

The sound of Team Zero fighting faded behind him but remained close enough to feel tense. He kept his sword and shield ready and his eyes sharp.

The forest was darker than it should be even though it was still daylight on Floor 9. Crude goblin markings were carved into tree trunks. Blackened bones hung from branches like decorations. Patches of mud looked burned instead of wet.

The strange dark aura grew stronger the deeper he went.

A corrupted goblin lunged at him from behind a tree. James blocked with his shield and drove his sword through its chest before it could strike again.

[CORRUPTED GOBLIN SLAIN — 60 EXP]

He pulled his blade free and kept moving.

Two more corrupted goblins appeared ahead and tried to block his path. James killed the first with Necro Blast and cut the second down with his sword.

[CORRUPTED GOBLIN SLAIN — 60 EXP]

He summoned one skeleton from a fresh corpse and sent it ahead as bait.

[SUMMON UNDEAD SKELETON ACTIVATED]

[MANA COST: 45]

[CURRENT MANA: 985/1,080]

The skeleton walked into a small clearing twenty meters ahead.

Something massive moved in the shadows.

The skeleton was instantly smashed apart by a tree-trunk-sized club.

[SUMMON UNDEAD DESTROYED]

James froze and raised his sword.

A massive ogre stepped into the clearing.

It was larger than the goblin brute from Floor 6 and stood at least three meters tall with thick muscles and dark markings across its body. Black veins pulsed beneath its gray skin. It carried a crude weapon made from a tree trunk reinforced with metal scraps and jagged spikes.

The dark magic around it was visible now—threads of black mana flowing from deeper in the forest and feeding into the ogre’s body.

James realized this ogre was heading toward the battlefield to join the second wave. If it reached Team Zero from the side while they were already fighting corrupted goblins, the formation would collapse.

He couldn’t let it pass.

The ogre turned its head and noticed James standing at the edge of the clearing.

Its eyes locked onto him.

James raised his sword and stepped forward.

The stream comments exploded because viewers realized James was alone.

@TowerWatchIE: That’s an ogre.

@DublinClimber92: He’s alone.

@RaidStatsGuy: If that reaches the team, the formation collapses.

@GreenTowerFan: Run.

@MageUnionWatch: He’s not running.

The ogre roared and charged.

James tightened his grip on his sword, and the ogre closed the distance in three massive strides.