The Third Return of the Necrotic Magic Swordsman

Evan tilted his head with a faint chuckle.”I was wondering when this would happen. And here you are.”

A quiet thrill gleamed in his eyes—

Like the appearance of a man who has faced centuries of battles and still craves more.

The fruit’s power still pulsed through his veins, restless.

The air grew heavy around him, alive with a pressure that cracked the ground beneath.

”Shall we begin?”

Mana burst from his body like a storm, slamming into the three who dared stand before him.

He wanted to test his new limits—nothing better than a live experiment.

”...Hoh... look at the fool trying to scare us with mana tricks.”Holt tried to sound brave, though the tremor in his voice betrayed him.

He couldn’t let fear touch his team—not now.

”You’ll see who the real fool is,” Evan replied, his tone calm as mist.

”I was going to walk away. But you chose this. Now live—or die—with it.”

And then, he vanished.

The three froze, eyes darting wildly across the clearing.

”Find him!” Holt barked. ”He’s still here—don’t let him escape!”

”You don’t need to look for me,” Evan’s voice drifted in—not from around them, but through them.

A voice that existed everywhere and nowhere at once.

Holt swung his blade into the empty air.

No one.

The silence pressed down harder than the mana.

Then came the wet sound of something tearing.

Blood sprayed across the dirt.

Jorin’s body collapsed, a deep slash gaping across his neck.

Marek caught him before he hit the ground.

”Jorin! Jorin, no—” His words broke into a scream, raw and shaking, until his throat burned red with it.

”I’ll kill you!” Marek’s fury twisted into madness. ”I’ll send you to hell myself!”

A whisper answered him from behind.

”He won’t like my company. So why don’t both of you go together?”

”Marek, jump away, he is behind you,” Holt shouted as he saw Evan standing beside him, but it was too late already.

Two bone pillars erupted from the ground, impaling him clean through.

His eyes widened, life leaving them as his body slumped beside Jorin’s.

Holt stood alone now—heart pounding, breath shallow.

The scene before him looked unreal.

How had the prey turned into the predator so fast?

’No one’s with him… no sound, no shadow—nothing. It’s him. All of it’s him.’

He raised his sword and called out, forcing his voice to stay steady.

”Come out, coward! Let’s see your courage in a real fight!”

Evan’s voice floated out, quiet but sharp.

”Funny, hearing that from a man who hunts mages in packs. But fine… I’ll grant your last request.”

He appeared a few paces away, black coat rippling in the charged air.

Holt grinned like a cornered beast. ”Now that’s more like it!”

”Then show me what you can do.” Evan spun his dagger once, its edge humming with faint light.

”We’ll see who’s laughing at the end!”

Holt charged, bellowing as his mana flared—muscles swelling, eyes bloodshot.

”Berserk Strike!”

The ground cracked under his rush. But Evan didn’t move.

Every slash met nothing but air, every blow turned aside with a flick of his wrist.

Each deflection sang like metal on the wind.

Evan was smiling.

The fruit’s power coursed through him—His strength refined, his instincts sharper than ever.

These were no longer the hands of a simple mage.

Holt’s strikes grew frantic, desperate.

’He’s catching my attacks barehanded… what monster is this?’He stumbled back, panting, eyes wild.

”You’ve pushed me too far, brat. I’ll take you to hell with me! Feral Apex!”

Smoke poured from his pores as his skin flushed crimson.

Veins swelled. His eyes rolled white.

The man was transforming—into something feral, unstable, burning with borrowed strength.

Evan tilted his head, mildly amused.

”Let’s see what you’ve got with this little trick of yours, mad beast.”

Holt’s roar split the air as he lunged forward, twice as fast as before.

His palm shot toward Evan’s head—But when the strike landed, his hand wasn’t there.

He looked down.

His hand was gone.

Evan tossed it lightly in the air, playing with it like a toy.

”Looking for this?”

Holt screamed, clutching the stump. Blood gushed freely.

Still, he lunged again, blind with rage.

”If this is just another beast rampage,” Evan murmured, ”Then there’s no reason to drag it out.”

A flash of steel.A single step.

And Holt’s world turned upside down—literally.

His vision spun, watching his own headless body charge forward before collapsing beside his fallen comrades.

The field went silent.

Only the faint hum of mana lingered.

Evan exhaled, sliding his dagger back into place.

The thrill faded from his eyes, replaced by calm focus.

The team that once hunted others was gone—erased in a heartbeat.

He crouched down beside the corpses.

”Now… let’s see what you left behind.”

Dark veins crept from his body, crawling toward the dead like living roots.

{[]

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[Stats Absorbed] ➤ +18 STR | +21 AGL | +19 VIT | +11 INT

 | +14 END | +16 STA][Skills Absorbed] ➤ Warrior’s Heart (Passive) | Axe’s Mastery {Passive} | Dagger’s Mastery {Passive} | Stealth {Active} | Steady Aim {Passive} | Multi Shot {Active}]

[Some skills are incompatible with the host structure. Breaking into fragments.][Merging skills of similar roots and nature...]

[You’ve gained 5 Skill Fragments. T.F: 890]

[EEP Gained: 194. T.P: 68,191 EEP.]

[Souls Stored: 3.]

___

Evan skimmed the notifications, a faint smile on his lips.

”Not bad.”

His eyes moved across the new descriptions, scanning each word carefully.

Warrior’s Heart (Passive) ▶ Increases endurance and combat power. Slightly boosts resistance to pain and fatigue during battle.

Axe’s Mastery (Passive)▶ Enhances proficiency and control with axes. Increases attack speed, precision, and damage.

Dagger’s Mastery (Passive)▶ Improves handling and accuracy with daggers. Grants faster combo execution and higher critical hit rate.

Stealth (Active)▶ Conceals user’s presence for a short duration, lowering detection by enemies. Movement noise and aura become nearly undetectable.

Steady Aim (Passive)▶ Enhances focus and arm stability. Reduces weapon sway and boosts accuracy while aiming.

Multi Shot (Active) – Fires multiple projectiles in rapid succession. Damage per shot slightly reduced, but increases total hit potential.

__

A grin tugged at his mouth.

”Hmm... not bad at all. The passives stack nicely, and Stealth alone replaces Camouflage; just needs to level up.”

He flexed his hand, letting mana flow faintly around his fingers.

”Decent loot. Steady improvement. That’s what matters.”

His gaze fell on the blood-soaked ground. Three bodies. Torn open. Still warm.

’If anyone sees this, they’ll trace it back to me.’

He exhaled through his nose, calm and collected.

’But I don’t need these fools in my army anyway.’

His eyes narrowed.

’...Though I haven’t used that skill since I got it.’

A flick of his hand opened his Necromancer skill list.

Rows of abilities glimmered until one caught his eye—a forgotten gem learned from Velma.

[ (Active): Engulfs corpses in ashen necrotic fire, reducing remains to dust while infusing death energy into residue.

Each burned corpse has a 1% chance of reanimation as an undead imbued with Flame and Corrosion attributes.]

Evan’s smile deepened. ”Velma’s old trick... let’s see how it burns.”

Ashen flames coiled around his arms, licking upward like living serpents.

They weren’t hot—just hungry.

He snapped his fingers, and the flames leapt to the corpses.

The fire spread in silence.

No smoke. No crackle. Just a slow, eerie burn that erased flesh, bone, and blood alike.

Within seconds, nothing remained.

Only grey dust drifted across the wind, soon swallowed by the earth.

Evan clenched his hand, feeling the surge.

levelled rapidly, feeding on the high-grade bodies.

With his current mana pool, the growth was sharp and clean—no backlash.

He pressed his palm to the dirt, channelling earth mana to scatter the ashes deep underground.

No trace left. No proof. Only silence.

’Done.’

He straightened, brushing his coat.

’Time to move.’

His summon—a shadow-winged eagle—descended beside him.

Evan leapt onto its back and took off into the horizon.

His next destination loomed in the distance—a wasteland swallowed by mist, a zone forbidden even to adventurers.

Hours passed before he arrived.

The air thickened. The light dimmed.

The number of travellers dropped to none.

”Hah... finally here,” he muttered, eyes glinting.

”The land everyone fears. Even when I asked about it, they ran like rabbits.”

The eagle landed a few meters from the pale fog.

Even the undead beast hesitated, its wings twitching.

Something inside that mist whispered danger.

Evan frowned.

’Strange. It’s not reacting like normal mana or miasma.’

He reached out to touch the fog—But it didn’t move. Didn’t even ripple.

”Arven,” he called quietly, ”you sense anything from this?”

The spirit’s voice echoed faintly in his mind.

”That isn’t mist. It’s mana. Dense, concentrated, and unmoving.”

”Hah? Speak clearly.”

”You idiot,” Arven growled. ”That’s a mana field so dense it became visible. Can you ’wave off’ mana? That’s what you’re trying to do.”

Evan’s eyes widened slightly.

”Mana... visible? That shouldn’t be possible. Not on this scale. Even a peak being couldn’t condense this much.”

He tried to absorb it, but the field rejected him completely.

”…And it won’t even flow into me.”

”Exactly,” Arven replied. ”Something inside is binding it. Could be a relic, a treasure with sentience, or a fallen artifact from a higher plane.”

Evan’s lips curved upward, eyes sharpening.

”Now that’s interesting.”

He stepped forward, staring into the unmoving fog.

”Whatever’s in there might be what I need to crush those two ’chosen’ idiots backed by destiny.”

Without hesitation, he walked into the mist.

The air rippled faintly around his form—then swallowed him whole.

Whether it was a good decision or a disastrous one...No one knew.

—To Be Continued—

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. The mystery of the forbidden zone will soon be revealed, and I’m sure no one can predict what lies inside. If you have any guesses, please share your thoughts in the comments and stay tuned to find out what’s really inside. 

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