[Notification] - [Magos' Form] Updated

Current Magos' Form Level: 1

Current Benefits

Reduced mana cost of Basic spells by 5%.

Unlock emergency casting of Advanced spells.

Pitfall Created Earth-type A Basic spell; derived from Rampart. Allows a circular pitfall roughly ten feet deep to be summoned in anything softer than stone. Size determined by the MP Spent in the spell.

The minimum size and cost of Pitfall are 20 MP per foot in width.

Size Limit: 10 feet wide.

Pitfall: 5 feet width!

The ground beneath the burning bear bursts from its sides and caves in, mana eating away at the earth and sending it face-first into the pit. As large as the boneback is, the sudden drop takes it by complete surprise; the entire front half of its body sinks inside, moments before I mentally target an extra spell at its rear haunches.

Rampart!

The earth explodes upward, lifting its hind legs off the ground.

It costs a lot of mana, but this... is my secret technique!

The nearby echowings are stunned, albeit none of them more so than the elder. Bomber continues rushing in to bonk the burning, charcoal-like bone, however and snaps most of the spear-armed bats out of their stupor. Perhaps being away from the dungeon made Bomber less tactical or maybe it was simply too difficult for him to approach, but he proves fruitless with the aid of the accurate strikes of the locals through the gaps in the boneback's armor.

In a single combination, the massive beast had become stuck... and had to use all of its strength just to prevent collapsing in on itself.

To be honest, this may be the cheapest and coolest combo I can do. Most other enemies I've dealt with barring the Omega could be killed with a single well-placed spell, but the adult Boneback's complete covering makes it practically impossible to attack it with magic. Comparing it to the younger ones, these adults are probably a true natural predator for a Creeper.

But normal Creepers probably don't dabble in Earth magic, do they?

Bomber blinks at my question but I don't expect an answer. I know the answer. The look from Homuugo is enough evidence of it. All he thought was that I was just some mage's summon, but now? Now he can see my importance and-

Oh fuck. He can understand that I'm different. Is this giving myself away? Fuckfuckfuck-

"Astounding," he whispers.

Huh?

"Astounding," Homuugo roars, far happier this time as he finally breaks free of the shock. The sight of his villagers poking and bleeding the beast inside the pit, and illuminated in the low light of the village by its fiery hide, makes Homuugo's vampiric fanged smile look far less peaceful. All of the echowings spattering themselves in blood don't look like the people I knew in my old life.

They look like monsters.

Homuugo turns to me, his eyes transfixed as he quickly approaches. "I cannot believe that mage has such a profound summon beneath him! Were we to serve him... truly, you are a blessed abomination!"

My ability-formed fingers twitch at that word: abomination. Although I've heard it and saw what to expect when I learned Oldnat, it's... bothersome to think that the echowings see me so beneath them. I mean maybe it's just Homuugo, but this guy is the leader of the echowings. Supporting them is beneficial to me, yet that was under the assumption that I truly have their best interests in a good relationship.

But what happens if he finds out the truth? What happens if they all find out the truth?

My ranbli paces over and he tries his best to comfort me with his hand-like paw on my branches, but I can't help notice something else above my vision as I gaze up at the impressed echowing elder.

You'll never be accepted by them as long as he's alive.

Kill him.

I can't-

The roar of the boneback as its fighting lessens and the spears become more frequent in their attacks draws my attention beyond the echowing elder. Their tender helps the wounded but the sights of the others attacking so relentlessly, each one relying on countless attempts thanks to their poor handiwork just to deliver a fruitful strike to the behemoth.

ERROR:// NOTIFICATION_OVERRIDE

KILL HIM.

REWARD: Blessing of Faceless Red, Slumbering

Alignment Shift to Neutral Evil.

Break Pact with Grey Man.

No.

"A creeper such as you will surely change our tribe's fate!"

USURP HIM.

HIS DEATH WILL EXPAND YOUR DUNGEON AND INCREASE YOUR CHANCES TO SURVIVE.

ENSLAVE THE ECHOWINGS.

No!

I raise my hand at the system messages, gritting my mental teeth as the mana surges into my palm.

ERROR OVERRIDE Ability Anger Control failed to activate.

Ability Anger Control failed to activate.

Ability Anger Control failed to activate.

Ability Anger Control failed to activate.

...

Homuugo, standing in front of me, immediately pales at the sight of it but I don't see him anymore. All I see is the messages popping up one-by-one and flooding my vision. My mana starts allocating as that familiar feeling of Mana Bomb starts rending my form, yet this time it's far larger than the last time. Control over my new body is something I felt so good about but right now all I feel is blinding rage at this person trying to manipulate me. Flashes of my prior life and the so many times someone misled me for their own gain, spiraling me down the road that closed me out to everyone else and made me abandon my family and friends all for my own gratification.

All I see is something I have to destroy in my new life before it's too late.

Mana Bomb-

Bomber tackles Homuugo, knocking him clear just as the attack releases. The messages on my screen explode and the mana bar descends toward zero.

And as it vanishes and clears my vision, I see Bomber facing down the massive mana bomb that I had let out in all my anger. There isn't even a warning like when I was experimenting with Ropert. I hadn't intended to harm him, after all, nor had I initially fired it at him. I can't stop it now. My own body hurts and my HP drops with the recoil from the huge spell.

Bomber! No-

The energy hits him and explodes outward, blinding light erupting over the village. The energy ball passes through Bomber, rending him into two halves before it crashes into the boneback's flank. Bone shatters and breaks as the sheer amount of mana overloads its resistance and passes into its body, blowing out its flank and sending bone and flesh everywhere. Echowings fall from the air and collapse in agony from the sheer loudness of it, while in the nearby distance I see another bear lumber around and flee for the woods.

All around us, the Grey Valley illuminates... and as quick as it bursts with light, it falls dark and torch-lit again.

The Boneback is dead and the notifications for its kill bing alerts for displaying their information. I don't see it nor do I want to.

All I see is the worst gut-wrenching feeling I've seen since being reborn in my "isekai fantasy" reincarnation.

[NOTIFICATION] Your summon Bomber has been killed by you.

After that, the echowings all gave me room to heal and mourn. Homuugo had been so flustered at nearly being killed that he had to be dragged away. Their tender approached to help at first, but the torn-in-two ranbli before me is too far gone to save. The few echowings brave enough to draw near still keep a distance, allowing me the time to sit beside him.

Even if he was just a rabbit, Bomber was my first summon. All he did is eat grass and kill things for me, but the time I'd spent in this world couldn't have been survivable without him. It was Bomber who gave me the time I needed to take down the Omega... and without him, this entire expedition may have failed.

And now he's dead. I can see his status window but his stats all read zero. The ability to dismiss him... I don't know if I can.

... Grey Man, why did you abandon me to that monster? All she wants is for me to kill, but... but I...

I turn my gaze toward the village, moving for the first time in a long time. My plant-like body doesn't even feel stiff; it's unnatural to have sat this long for a human, yet a bush doesn't feel that same pain.

I don't feel like I should. I should be the one hurting. But Bomber is gone. I don't-

[Notification]

Collect Bomber's remains.

New Quest initiating momentarily...

... Huh?

I don't even have long enough to think about it, staggering up onto my vines and carefully extending my hand to open my Inventory. It's the best way to transport him... and thankfully with our storage back at base, it should at least keep him hidden from Ivy.

Inventory.

Both halves of Bomber flicker out of reality, causing the nearby echowings to panic and flee. Them seeing this doesn't even bug me at all.

[Quests]://A God's Apology

Grey Man has resumed total control of the system. In exchange for the interference from another system controller, he will give you the means to revive your summon. Once used, this method cannot be used again and will be regulated by the system.

Construct the Altar of Grey.

Altar... of Grey?

I race through my menus until I notice that there is a new item underneath Dungeon construction.

Altar of Grey Resolve yourself and dedicate your future to the Chaotic God, Grey Man.

Allows the user to receive direct boons from their god.

Restricts the user to worship of the Grey Faith.

Makes the dungeon hostile to those of the Blue Pillar and Faceless Red faiths. 1 Unassigned Room

So that's it. In exchange for my future loyalty and dedicating myself to this mad god, I can bring Bomber back? All this time I spent trying to bridge the gap with the echowings had failed, yet I only stayed so long fearing retribution from Faceless Red. Now, not only her, but also Blue Pillar would become hostile?

... There's little reason to choose this, right? I mean, reviving Bomber is huge but won't this open me up to far more danger? All this time I've been away from my dungeon let me see just how big this world is. That massive group of Creeper Thorn in the plains may not even be the most terrifying foe I have, so why should I willingly throw myself under the bus? Not to mention the fact that Bomber had always seemed to have less than average stats in most of his abilities... couldn't he be replaced with a more efficient summon?

Maybe.

But how can I just ignore the fact he threw himself in to save Homuugo to stop me from descending over that cliff and doing what Faceless Red wanted? Relations with the Echowings can be patched... but not so long as I'm here. I can revive Bomber and that will let me do things a different way. Reviving him may anger the god of law anyway, so what happens if I have to revive someone else? The right way to fix this could be the right way later... and inevitably make me enemies with the two anyway.

All this time I've fought and made him out to be my enemy, but this chaotic god doesn't like them and is the reason why I'm still alive. His madness is still granting me the means to bypass restrictions like randomization via his card. Unlike either of the other two, he doesn't want me to take the easy path but the path that I naturally fall on through the unknown nature of fate.

Through the well-planned but random hand of destiny.

My hand flickers back to vines, restoring my body and letting me look one last time on the corpse of the adult boneback. Harvesting it may be beneficial... but I can't take the time and maybe they'll accept it as a gift. Perhaps it will help them defeat the other if it returns. If Faeh and the others survive that, I will take my time to figure out what Faceless Red truly wanted from this place.

And then refute her until she despises me the same way I do her.

Recall.

The forest melts away and the familiar room of my dungeon's teleportation chamber replaces it; in moments I go from the wilderness to the almost alien familiarity of my home. For the first time in days, I feel as if I'm all together and whole... but that doesn't stop me from staying focused. I turn and raise my staff, aiming it at the wall.

Construct. Altar of Grey. Confirm.

Albeit random, perhaps it's the fact I'm so energetic that I feel the cogs of my dungeon click and place the room directly in front of me. The doorway carves itself out moments before the interior does. The favor cost of the room is nothing to me now after using my critter pen and the farming done by my summons. I can feel them coming down to investigate but I don't look away as the stone morphs into a low, four foot tall altar with a flat surface roughly five feet wide.

I'm not a moron. I withdraw Bomber from my inventory, setting his remains on the slab and watching a figure carve itself from the wall behind it. A silhouette of a two-dimensional man, burned into the stone with his body outlined in a darker shade than the filled-in section. But more menacing and intimidating than its sudden appearance is the thin outline of a toothy grin that etches out on its head.

[Notification]

Your god is pleased with your dedication to disrupt the will of Faceless Red.

You will be awarded in: 7 days.

You bastard. I'm not going to be able to face the others with Bomber still like this! I-... I get it.

I set the staff down and stand before the altar, sorting through my features with a deep sigh. Ropert and Ivy would be confused and no doubt curious for answers, but I can't talk to them like this. The system will emulate how I'd act once activated, so they'll never get them. But that's fine. It will inspire chaos for a short time but that's just part of my god's offering. If I want Bomber back, it's not as simple as making them my enemies... it's about dedicating myself to him and inspiring chaos.

Just like how my dungeon can be built partly on the surface in contrast to other dungeons, everything I've been in Brogdar has been to stir up trouble. So I might as well embrace it for a bit more so I can get my friend back.

[Auto-Mode]. 1 Week.

System Alert

Auto-Mode has been activated. User's consciousness will now be assumed and controlled.

Fast-fowarding time... now.