The stream exploded again when James killed the ogre alone.

This time the donations were bigger because viewers realized he hadn’t just survived. He’d won.

[DONATION RECEIVED: €5,000]

[DONATION RECEIVED: €10,000]

[CHALLENGER DONATION RECEIVED: 1,000 TC]

[VIEWER COUNT: 308,441]

@DublinClimber92: HE KILLED IT.

@RaidStatsGuy: Solo ogre kill on Floor 9.

@MageUnionWatch: That necrotic damage countered the corruption.

@GreenTowerFan: Team Zero is not disposable.

James dropped to one knee and breathed hard for three seconds while his entire body hurt and his mana sat lower than he’d like, but he was still alive.

Then Call of Souls activated.

[CALL OF SOULS ACTIVATED]

[MANA RECOVERED: +112]

[CURRENT MANA: 969/1,080]

A much larger death energy flowed into James compared to normal goblin kills. It was mixed with dark mana, but his Necromancer class filtered enough of it to restore a significant portion of what he’d spent.

Then another notification appeared.

[REANIMATE AVAILABLE]

[TARGET: CORRUPTED OGRE]

[TIME REMAINING: 18 SECONDS]

[REANIMATE TARGET? Y/N]

James remembered the twenty-second limit from his class description. If he wanted this ogre, he had to act immediately.

He confirmed without hesitation.

[REANIMATE ACTIVATED]

[MANA COST: 60]

[CURRENT MANA: 909/1,080]

[REANIMATION IN PROGRESS]

The ogre’s massive corpse twisted. Broken bones snapped back into place with wet cracks. The dark veins faded into black scars across gray flesh. Green necromantic light burned in the creature’s empty eye sockets as it rose to its feet.

[REANIMATION SUCCESSFUL]

[REANIMATED OGRE ACQUIRED]

[LEVEL: 10]

[CONTRACT SLOT USED: 1]

[CONTRACT SLOTS: 2/4]

This was the biggest reaction so far.

The stream viewers lost control because James hadn’t just killed the ogre. He’d brought it back.

[DONATION RECEIVED: €15,000]

[DONATION RECEIVED: €20,000]

[DONATION RECEIVED: €25,000]

[VIEWER COUNT: 421,892]

@TowerWatchIE: HE BROUGHT IT BACK.

@RaidStatsGuy: Reanimated ogre. This changes the raid.

@MageUnionWatch: That is not normal necromancy.

@GreenTowerFan: Team Zero has an ogre now.

@CivilianViewIE: I’m watching history.

James stood and looked at the reanimated ogre, which was slightly smaller than when it was corrupted but still massive. The green light in its eyes flickered when James gave it a mental command to follow, and then Finn’s voice came through the party channel.

"James." Finn’s voice was strained and James could hear combat in the background. "Did you find the source?"

"Not yet," James said. "But I stopped one ogre from joining the fight."

Finn was silent for half a second. "One ogre?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Yeah."

"The second wave is getting worse," Finn said. "The circlet is helping, but Kael can’t hold the aura forever. How much longer do you need?"

"I’m moving deeper now," James said.

"Then hurry," Finn said, and the connection cut.

James looked toward the deeper forest where the dark aura was strongest and could feel it pulling at him like a thread. He started running with the reanimated ogre crashing through the trees behind him.

The forest grew darker the deeper James went while the crude goblin markings on the trees became more elaborate. Blackened bones hung from branches in deliberate patterns and the mud beneath his feet looked burned instead of wet.

Then he found the clearing.

A hidden clearing surrounded by twisted trees with branches that bent toward the center like they were reaching for something. Hanging bones rattled in a wind that shouldn’t exist underground. The ground was covered in blackened mud that formed crude symbols.

In the center of the clearing stood a statue.

It was carved from dark stone and depicted a beautiful woman with horns curving from her temples, wings folded behind her back, and a smile that looked seductive and dangerous at the same time. The craftsmanship was too good for goblins to have made.

The statue felt wrong in a way James couldn’t fully explain. Looking at it made his skin crawl and his thoughts slow down.

A goblin shaman knelt before the statue with its arms raised and its mouth moving in a harsh chanting rhythm. Dark threads stretched from the statue outward in every direction, disappearing into the forest toward the battlefield.

This was the source.

The goblins and ogres were being empowered and controlled through this statue.

James didn’t announce himself but crossed the clearing in three quick steps and cut off the goblin shaman’s head with one clean sword strike before the creature could react.

[GOBLIN SHAMAN SLAIN]

[125 EXP GAINED]

The shaman’s death made the statue pulse violently while dark mana surged through the clearing like a wave. James felt the pressure crawling over his skin and trying to push into his mind while it whispered things he couldn’t quite hear but felt in his bones.

The reanimated ogre stood at the clearing entrance and didn’t react to the dark mana because it was already dead.

James gripped his sword with both hands and channeled mana through the blade. This wasn’t a skill but basic mana reinforcement that any Challenger with decent mana control could do.

He struck the statue once and the stone cracked. He struck again and the cracks spread across the carved wings and down the torso. On the third strike, the statue shattered.

[HIDDEN CORRUPTION SOURCE DAMAGED]

[DARK MANA CONTAINMENT BROKEN]

Dark mana exploded outward from the broken statue.

Before James could retreat, his inventory reacted on its own when the Mythic Egg materialized in front of the broken statue without James summoning it. The black shell appeared in midair and dropped to the ground with a heavy thud while James froze because he hadn’t called for it.

The egg drank in the dark mana like it had been starving for centuries while the purple veins across the shell flared brighter than James had ever seen. The entire egg pulsed with each wave of absorbed energy.

[MYSTERIOUS EGG HAS MATERIALIZED]

[DARK MANA SOURCE DETECTED]

[ABSORBING DARK MANA]

The incubation progress started climbing.

[INCUBATION PROGRESS: 2.0%]

Then it jumped.

[INCUBATION PROGRESS: 18.6%]

It kept climbing faster.

[INCUBATION PROGRESS: 47.9%]

James watched in shock as the progress bar filled.

[INCUBATION PROGRESS: 81.4%]

The egg was absorbing years’ worth of mana in seconds.

[INCUBATION PROGRESS: 99.9%]

Then it stopped.

[INCUBATION HALTED]

[FINAL REQUIREMENT UNKNOWN]

James stared at the egg. It had jumped from 2% to 99.9% in less than thirty seconds, but it still hadn’t hatched. Something was missing. Some final requirement the System wasn’t telling him.

He stored the egg quickly because the floor wasn’t over yet and he needed to focus.