Journey to Become the Zenith

When Silence Breaks

Then Victor finally opened his mouth.

His voice was quiet.

Cold.

”For what reason...”

”...do you do this?”

The tone alone made the atmosphere shift.

Lane and Clara both felt it instantly.

The wild excitement Victor usually showed before battle—the gleam in his golden eyes, the almost childish eagerness when facing a strong enemy—was gone.

Something darker had taken its place.

Something colder.

Lane frowned slightly.

What’s wrong...?

She had seen Victor angry before. She had seen him amused, reckless, even bloodthirsty.

But this...

This was different.

This was the kind of calm that came before a storm.

Clara noticed it too.

Victor wasn’t moving.

But the air around him felt heavy.

Dangerous.

Alibaba tilted his skull slightly as if considering the question.

”What reason?”

The necromancer let out a thoughtful hum.

”Truthfully...”

”...I can no longer remember the original reason.”

His skeletal fingers tapped lightly against the bone mask fragments still clinging to his face.

”But if I had to guess...”

He chuckled.

”It was simply curiosity.”

”To see how deep magic could go.”

Victor’s eyes darkened.

Alibaba continued speaking, almost conversationally.

”You see, magic is a fascinating thing. Humans only scratch its surface. They fear what lies beyond. They call it forbidden.”

He spread his arms slightly.

”But forbidden knowledge is still knowledge.”

”And knowledge...”

”...is meant to be explored.”

Lane’s fingers tightened around her weapon.

Clara’s jaw clenched.

Victor didn’t move.

Alibaba chuckled again.

”I slaughtered a village.”

”I reshaped flesh.”

”I crafted souls from wandering evil spirits.”

”And yet people call me a monster.”

His hollow gaze drifted across the chamber.

”Tell me... what is truly evil?”

”Curiosity?”

”Or ignorance?”

The torches flickered.

Victor’s grip tightened around the handle of his scythe.

Alibaba continued calmly.

”You asked my reason.”

He tilted his skull.

”The truth is simple.”

”I wished to see the deepest layers of magic.”

”And now...”

”...I stand on the threshold of true resurrection.”

For a moment—

There was silence.

Then something exploded through the air.

A violent burst of dark mana slammed directly into Alibaba.

The impact thundered through the chamber like a cannon blast.

The necromancer’s body was thrown backward several steps.

But before the attack could fully strike—

A barrier flared.

A translucent dome of arcane energy.

Most of the force was absorbed by the shield.

Still—

A portion slipped through.

CRACK.

The mask covering Alibaba’s face shattered.

Fragments of bone clattered against the stone floor.

What was revealed beneath it froze the air itself.

A skull.

Bare.

Perfectly clean.

Not a shred of flesh remained.

Empty eye sockets burned with cold blue flames.

Clara’s breath caught.

”Damn it...”

She whispered.

Her worst suspicion had been correct.

Alibaba wasn’t merely a practitioner of necromancy.

He was one of its highest forms.

An ancient necromancer who had abandoned his humanity centuries ago.

A skeletal being sustained entirely by corrupt mana.

Clara’s mind raced.

An Elder Necromancer...

That meant he had survived for hundreds of years.

Possibly more.

Alibaba touched the cracked remnants of his mask slowly.

Then—

He began laughing.

A hollow, echoing sound.

Though he had no lips, no flesh, somehow the laughter still carried amusement.

No one could see a smile on a skull.

Yet everyone present could feel it.

”What an aggressive response,” Alibaba said calmly.

”Did I perhaps strike a nerve?”

He tilted his head toward Victor.

”Well... no matter.”

”It seems our conversation has reached its natural end.”

The necromancer slowly raised his hand.

”It was nice that I was able—”

He never finished the sentence.

Victor vanished.

One moment he stood several meters away.

The next—

He was directly in front of Alibaba.

The speed was so extreme that even Clara barely perceived the movement.

Victor’s scythe carved through the air in a violent downward arc.

The blade screamed as it cut through mana itself.

CLANG.

Alibaba’s barrier erupted into cracks.

The defensive magic fractured like glass under pressure.

Shock flickered inside the necromancer’s eye flames.

Fast.

Far faster than he expected.

Alibaba reacted instantly.

He thrust his palm forward.

”Frozen Abyss Spear.”

Mana condensed.

A shard of ice, sharp as broken glass, appeared out of nothing. It flew at Victor faster than an arrow fired from a siege engine. The frozen lance stretched longer than a person’s reach.

Victor twisted his body mid-motion.

A jagged crack split the air as the spear missed his shoulder by inches, striking the rock face behind. Ice burst outward like shattered glass, spreading in every direction.

Footsteps barely making a sound, Victor came down a few paces off. He touched ground soft, distance stretching between where he started and now.

Back stiffening, Alibaba stood taller. Then came a quiet shift through his frame.

”My, my.”

”What an impatient guest you are.”

He lifted one skeletal finger.

The silent villagers stirred.

All at once—

The corpses moved.

Their heads snapped toward Victor and the two women.

Alibaba spoke calmly.

”Deal with them.”

The fake villagers surged forward like puppets pulled by invisible strings.

The moment the horde moved—

Clara stepped forward.

Her shield slammed into the ground with a heavy thud.

”Formation!”

Lane was already moving.

The two women instinctively fell into the same battle pattern they had used in the dungeon.

Clara at the front.

Shield raised.

Sword drawn.

Lane positioned behind her.

Bow in hand.

Arrows already glowing faintly with mana.

The first corpse lunged.

Out of nowhere, Clara’s shield slammed into it, hard enough to stop everything.

A sharp snap rang out when her shield smashed against the beast’s face. The force twisted sideways, jolting up her arm. Jawbone split under the blow, teeth flying loose. She didn’t pause, already shifting weight forward. Impact shivered through metal and bone alike. Dust puffed from the creature’s snarl. One solid hit - clean, brutal - shut it down fast.

Flying past Clara’s shoulder came Lane’s arrow.

A sharp object drove straight into the head of someone from the village.

Falling fast, the body hit the ground without warning.

Teeth clenched, Clara held back a sharp breath.

”Victor!”

Out loud she spoke, filling the room. The sound traveled wide through stone walls.

”Don’t worry about us!”

A shape lunged forward, lifeless eyes wide. It stumbled toward her without sound.

The shield knocked it away hard.

”We’ll handle the villagers!”

A second arrow left the bow behind the first. The string snapped forward once more.

Two bodies dropped.

Out of nowhere, Clara started speaking louder. Then her words climbed higher still.

”You focus on killing that monster!”

Victor didn’t respond.

Not one sound reached his ears. Stillness stayed between them.

Those amber eyes stayed fixed on Alibaba.

Everything else faded until only one enemy remained in sight.

And the fight—

Had only just begun.