Journey to Become the Zenith

The Price of Survival

Inside Victor’s head, Diana spoke - soft but clear. Her words stayed there, hanging without sound.

”That is why you cannot fight the way you used to - back when you had nothing to lose... and no one waiting for you out there.”

A weight pressed into Victor’s ribs. The phrase stayed there.

A haze settled over the scene, as if the fight had slipped into another world. His eyes shifted slowly, finding Alibaba once more.

A hush sat heavy in the hollow where the necromancer held his ground - still as a needle in windless cloth. Upward stretched his bone-white hands, knuckles taut, fingers like cracked spears pointing skyward. Around him swirled cold magic, sharp and spinning, biting at the dark. Light bled through cracks, thin and ghost-blue, icing over every ridge and edge. Silence broke just before the surge - he waited, breath gone, as power snapped tight.

Victor could feel it.

”...Yeah.”

His grip tightened around the scythe.

The familiar weapon felt heavier tonight. Not physically—but in meaning.

”For the first time...”

His voice was low, almost lost beneath the rising hum of mana.

”...I have something worth surviving for.”

A gasp slipped out from somewhere near his back. Her eyes jumped to Victor, wide with doubt, caught off guard by how steady he sounded.

Footsteps echoed down the hall. Silence fell between them. Words could wait.

Into the air near Alibaba, energy crackled like storm-lit wires. A sudden pulse twisted through the space, sharp and uncontrolled.

Out of nowhere, the necromancer’s hollow eyes sparked with a cold blue glow just as the magic surged. Under his boots, frost burst upward, spreading fast - snaking through stone as if it had breath.

The chant reached its final word.

A hush gripped the cave, sudden and thick. Silence pressed down like weight.

Then—

The spell activated.

”Ice Apocalypse.”

A terrifying cold exploded outward.

It was not simply cold. It was annihilating winter. A storm compressed into a single violent eruption.

The temperature of the entire underground cavern dropped instantly. Frost spread across the stone floor like wildfire. The air itself froze, turning sharp and painful with every breath.

Victor’s eyes widened.

Too late.

But he moved anyway.

Victor dashed across the battlefield, ignoring the pain from the arrows embedded in his shoulder and chest. Each step sent a jolt of agony through his body, but he forced himself forward.

The icy wind clawed at him, trying to slow him down.

He didn’t stop.

”Lane! Clara!”

The two women turned just as he reached them.

Clara had been mid-spell, her staff glowing faintly with defensive magic. Lane’s bow was already half raised, instinctively searching for a target.

Both froze when Victor suddenly appeared between them.

Victor grabbed them both in a sudden embrace.

Clara’s eyes widened.

”Victor—?!”

Her voice cracked with confusion as his arms wrapped around them.

Lane stiffened in surprise, her bow still clutched tightly in her hand.

”What are you doing—?!” she began, startled.

But the answer was already written across Victor’s face.

There was urgency there. And something deeper—something fierce and stubborn.

Before either of them could react—

Victor spoke quickly inside his mind.

”Diana. Now.”

For a split second, the world seemed to hold its breath.

Then the spirit of the scythe answered immediately.

”Yes.”

Her voice was calm, steady, almost reassuring.

A ripple of mana expanded around the three of them.

Teleportation.

Space itself bent under Diana’s power. The air warped and twisted like water disturbed by an unseen force.

Clara felt the sudden surge of magic and gasped.

”Wait—Victor, what are you—”

Lane’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

”Teleportation?! Right now?!”

The space around their bodies distorted for a single heartbeat—

Then they vanished.

The moment they disappeared—

The spell finished unfolding.

The entire underground cavern turned into a frozen nightmare.

Thick layers of ice covered the walls, ceiling, and ground.

Then came the killing blow.

Hundreds of razor-sharp icicles erupted simultaneously.

Some shot upward from the ground like spears.

Others descended from above like falling swords.

The entire cavern became a field of death.

The only untouched space was the small circle where Alibaba himself stood.

When the spell finally ended, silence returned.

Everything underground was either impaled by ice...

Or sealed within thick frozen layers.

Alibaba lowered his skeletal hands slowly.

The necromancer scanned the battlefield.

No bodies.

No traces.

The three adventurers had vanished.

Alibaba tilted his skull slightly.

”So they escaped.”

His voice sounded mildly impressed.

”How unexpected...”

The blue flames within his eye sockets flickered thoughtfully.

”I truly wanted to learn the boy’s origins.”

”And the origin of that weapon he carried.”

His fingers flexed weakly.

But the necromancer could feel the truth clearly.

His mana reserves were almost empty.

The spell he had just cast had drained nearly everything.

If Victor returned right now—

Killing him would be effortless.

Like crushing an insect.

Alibaba turned slowly toward the tunnel leading out of the underground chamber.

”I suppose our meeting will have to wait.”

The necromancer walked away calmly.

”I am certain we will meet again someday.”

”For now...”

”...I must recover.”

And with that, Alibaba disappeared into the dark tunnels.

Several days later.

Inside the Adventurers Guild of Fantom City.

Isabella sat behind her desk with a deep frown.

Clara had just finished giving her report.

The guildmaster slowly rubbed her forehead.

”...An extremely powerful necromancer...”

”...beneath Northwest Mountain Village.”

Her head began to ache.

The destroyed village was already bad enough.

But the existence of a necromancer powerful enough to freeze an entire underground cavern...

That was something far worse.

And to make matters worse—

This place wasn’t some distant wilderness.

Fantom City stood near one of the kingdom’s three great knight academies.

Meaning reckless young nobles were everywhere.

Isabella sighed deeply.

”...What a disaster.”

She leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling.

Clara stood across the desk quietly.

Lane leaned against the nearby wall, arms folded.

Isabella began thinking through the situation.

To deal with a necromancer of that level required serious preparation.

At minimum—

Two S-rank fighters.

Several A-rank parties.

Multiple B-rank teams to surround the battlefield.

The reason was simple.

Unlike ordinary practitioners of forbidden magic...

A high-level necromancer could summon undead instantly.

No rituals.

No delay.

As long as they had mana.

Which meant a small group could be overwhelmed in seconds.

Isabella sighed again.

First, she needed to search historical records.

Any magician named Alibaba within the past century.

Then she needed to contact the guild branches in nearby cities.

They would have to request reinforcements.

After that—

She needed to send experienced scouts to track the necromancer’s movements.

And finally—

She would need to inform the principal of the knight academy.

If certain arrogant noble students heard rumors about a powerful necromancer...

They might try to hunt it themselves.

And that would be a disaster.

Isabella grabbed a pen and began writing letters quickly.

Her thoughts drifted briefly toward one person.

Victor.

Her eyebrows twitched.

That idiot...

The moment he appeared in this city, trouble followed him like a shadow.

First the dungeon incident.

Now this.

Isabella gripped the pen harder.

I should punch him.

Her expression darkened.

No.

Two punches.

Then she sighed again.

Still...

If Victor hadn’t reported the incident, the necromancer might have continued his experiments unnoticed.

Isabella leaned back again, exhausted.

”...What a headache.”

But despite her irritation—

A faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

Because deep down...

She knew something.

That reckless young man would probably end up fighting that necromancer again someday.

And when that happened—

The entire kingdom might shake.