Whatever joy or relief had seeped into the survivors shattered when they saw the message. The Legion—the strongest mortal army on the continent—was broken. Three of the five divisions within the Legion lay slain, with no hope of resurrection. One in three of the strongest adventurers had also given their lives.

  "How can there be another one?" Alycia asked, her voice breaking.

  "I am not sure," Sylt admitted. "But I must return to Matthias. Will you come with me?"

  "I can't," she said quietly. "There are too many dead. I…" Her words died in her throat. If she were not so exhausted, she might have cried.

  "Can I at least take you home?" Sylt asked. "Let you rest in your own bed."

  "No time," Alycia sighed. "The dead need to be sorted and processed before they start to rise. Even demons can become undead. Their bodies don’t just vanish. We have maybe two weeks to process as many as possible. After that, they will begin to rise and walk again."

  "I do not envy your task," Rey said as she appeared beside them. "Sylt, we must return. We need to see where this new threat is heading."

  Sylt nodded absently, bone-tired. He rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his palm, as if only now noticing how much they burned. He pulled Alycia close and kissed her softly on the lips.

  "I will be back," he promised before melting into the shadows.

  "You had better," she huffed, then pulled out a flask of espresso and downed it in one go.

  Rey and Sylt reappeared beside the iron-sand map. Rey blinked several times, her vision swimming for a moment before she forced it into focus. They studied it for a moment before Rey frowned.

  "Why do I not see it?" she asked, rubbing at the bridge of her nose as if fighting off a headache.

  "Nergoz is the Deep Ocean Dungeon," Lucy explained. "It has never been delved, simply due to its location."

  Rey and Sylt nodded tiredly and switched to the mana-tracking view. What they saw made them pause. The once-tumorous mass of mana in the southwest was gone. In its place stood a massive tree.

  "What is that?" Sylt asked, his weary eyes widening as he straightened despite himself, tension briefly overriding exhaustion.

  "That would be a dryad and her tree," Serenia said proudly. "Matthias crafted a dryad seed and had his manticore plant it in the center of that mass of chaotic mana."

  "But why? How?" Rey asked.

  "Matthias taught it to cultivate," Serenia replied with a grin. "You two should rest. You look exhausted."

  "How does cultivation explain the vastly diminished chaotic mana?" Sylt demanded.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Matthias discovered his Bios by distilling it from chaos," Serenia reminded him. "He gave the dryad that knowledge. She has simply been processing all that energy, patiently."

  "None of this helps us with the new Demon King," Rey said, trying to steer the conversation back on course while stifling a yawn she hadn’t realized was coming. "In a less dire situation, I might be amused."

  "Again, you should rest," Serenia said as she gestured and muttered over the map.

  Suddenly, the new Demon King came into focus.

  He resembled two crabs stacked atop one another. The upper crab had no claws or legs—only a head. It was connected to the lower crab by a thick, chitinous torso with two tentacles in place of arms. The lower body bore massive claws and scuttling legs.

  Grotesque as its form was, that was not what seized their attention.

  The Demon King was already under attack.

  Deep beneath the ocean, immense life teemed. Massive aquatic predators—nearly matching the Demon King in size—circled him, yet ignored him entirely. Instead, they consumed every demon that spawned around him. It was a feeding frenzy.

  Great crabs, sea serpents, squid, octopi, sharks, and countless unrecognizable creatures swam in tightening circles. They tore apart demonic armies as quickly as they formed. The true attackers, however, were far more mundane: parasites and smaller ocean denizens.

  Barnacles were already taking root across the Demon King’s shell. Smaller crabs dug into joints and tentacles, taking vicious bites. Everywhere, lesser lifeforms searched for structural weaknesses, tearing at him for easy meals.

  The Demon King finally abandoned any attempt at defense and began scuttling toward shore as fast as his legs would carry him. Rey felt a tightness in her chest loosen for the first time since the battle.

  "How?" Rey whispered. "How is there so much life down there?"

  "Matthias has been busy," Serenia answered proudly.

  "While you were all fighting the queen," Chloe added, "Matthias was gathering mana for this. He was giggling as he pumped out every form of oceanic life he could imagine. Turns out suppression of life outside dungeons is greatly diminished under the sea. The ocean has its own mana signature."

  "Then why was it barren until now?" Sylt asked.

  "Because ocean dungeons suck," Lucy said bluntly. "No one delves them. They have to grow slowly and can’t waste mana on anything unnecessary. So they never built ecosystems like ours."

  "That’s all well and good," Sylt interrupted, "but it just means the Demon King is rushing to make landfall."

  "It won’t help him," Lucy said with an evil grin.

  "Dragon turtles control the entire coastline," Chloe added, barely suppressing laughter. "They might not kill the Demon King, but they’ll absolutely eat everything he spawns."

  "Why am I not surprised?" Sylt muttered, sagging as the tension bled out of him. His shoulders slumped, and he swayed slightly on his feet. "Of course the ecosystem is overrun with murderous turtles. If even the Primeval Hydra couldn’t wipe them out, I doubt the Demon King will fare better."

  Lucy zoomed the map out and studied it in silence. Then she grinned and laughed. Chloe followed a moment later.

  "What is so funny?" Rey asked.

  "The ocean life is forming a wall," Lucy said. "They’re trying to funnel the Demon King here."

  "I fail to see the humor," Sylt said. "The Demon Queen wiped out the mortal armies opposing her. This one could devastate entire nations."

  "You’re missing the point," Serenia sighed. "You’re letting what you saw overwhelm you. The ocean life spread this far and fast to escape larger predators."

  "So the closer they force the Demon King," Lucy finished, "the more dangerous the life he runs into."

  "You two should rest," Chloe said gently. "You’re only still standing because adrenaline hasn’t realized the danger has passed." "By the time you wake, Matthias will show you a very different kind of war. At his current pace, the Demon King will take days to reach shore. There’s nothing you can do right now."

  The moment the weight of vigilance lifted, exhaustion crashed over them like a wave. Sighing in quiet surrender, they obeyed, sleep already tugging at the edges of their awareness.