Chapter 70: Declaration of War
The Core was completely silent.
All bugs had ceased. Temporal anomalies had stabilized, distorted instance names had been corrected, and NPC logs had finally stopped resetting.
It was as if the system had... breathed.
Eren opened his eyes.
The interface, previously unstable, had returned to normal.
No time glitches. No broken messages. No corrupted reflections.
Digital peace. But not real peace.
He stood up slowly, his steps steady and rhythmic.
His eyes revealed no relief.
Only calculation.
[Shadows: 3/3]
[Vitality: 84%]
[Environment: Stable]
He made a gesture with his left hand. An exact movement, without hesitation.
[Summon: Nyssa – Primary Bond Slime]
[Summon: Sylha – The Scenic Ghost]
[Summon: Kaela – The Scarlet Wolf]
Morwynn was not called.
Nyssa appeared first, floating in soft shades of blue. Her hesitant form trembled as it took shape, as if unsure of still being there. When she fully materialized, she remained silent.
Sylha came spinning in, as always. But there was something restrained about her performance. As if the absence had made her theatricality more... economical.
Kaela appeared last, bursting through a cloud of flaming vapor. She came with her arms crossed, eyes half-closed, tail twitching. Ready to fight.
The three looked at him. They waited for orders. They waited for explanations.
Eren offered no consolation.
"Stabilization began a little less than an hour ago," he said in a neutral voice.
"The system has ceased dynamic testing. The observation algorithm has been suspended. Adaptive intelligence is in the background."
Sylha floated to his side, eyes half-closed.
"So the stalker went to take a nap?"
"No," Eren replied. "He was pulled to another function."
"As I predicted."
Kaela raised an eyebrow.
"So we won?"
"No. We survived. The system paused, it didn’t give up."
"Elliot Shard will be back. And next time, he’ll come with hatred."
"That’s why we’re not going to wait here."
He looked at the three of them. His brown eyes were calm, without a spark of hesitation.
"We’re going to migrate to another state."
"Cross the safe zone boundary and seek out new monsters, new information, and new weapons."
"I want more dangerous pacts. Creatures that don’t follow patterns."
"If the system wants to classify me as a bug... then let it have reasons."
Nyssa looked down, her body trembling. She whispered:
"I-I can still... be useful?"
Eren didn’t hesitate.
"You carry parts of me that even I can’t access. You’re still our best way to access living bonds."
"You’re not useful. You’re necessary."
Sylha clapped her hands softly.
"Ahh, so cold, so precise... I’m melting all over."
Kaela snorted.
"Okay. Which state?"
"Barovik."
The three reacted differently.
Nyssa shuddered.
Sylha looked hysterically excited.
Kaela’s eyes widened.
"Are you serious?"
"Totally," said Eren. "A cursed, abandoned city, with a recorded presence of draconic pacts and ruins of ancient tamers.
No zone is as ignored by the system as those it cannot stabilize.
That’s where we’re going to grow.
Nyssa tried to say something, but Sylha interrupted her:
"I love it! Walking corpses, voices in the walls, and the smell of ancient mold. This place is my vibe."
Kaela crossed her arms.
"What about the spider?"
"Morwynn stays where she is. I don’t want a strategic presence in this cycle."
"Just direct action."
The three nodded, at different rates. None of them argued.
Eren activated the Core’s central panel, connecting to the global map.
Barovik’s coordinates were blocked by a magical fog—but he would get around it.
[New Travel Route: Unstable Zone — Barovik Region]
[Zone Status: Reduced monitoring / Irregular code / Presence of corrupted links]
[Risk: Level 5+]
Eren smiled slightly.
"Perfect."
Then the interface flickered.
First as a subtle vibration.
Then, as if the system itself had sneezed.
[Attention.]
[User Lee Min-Jae has reached Risk Level 8.]
[Countermeasures will be applied.]
The three monsters looked around. The light in the room changed color — from pale blue to deep red. A sudden heat ran through the digital layers of space.
[Confrontation Mode: Developer vs. Player initiated]
[High Priority Monitoring | Protocol 7 Unlocked]
Sylha let out a whistle.
"Oh, something good is coming."
Kaela bared her teeth.
Nyssa just backed away a little.
Eren, meanwhile, snapped his fingers and opened the map of Barovik with a single command.
"If the system is my enemy..."
"Then let it prepare to be broken."
And with that, the board became a weapon.