MMORPG: Rise of the Peerless Pumpkinmancer

"It won't work." Lyriana spat between her teeth. 

"Tsk, tsk, tsk— Oh ye of little faith, why must you be such a downer?" Jack gently shook his head, playfully glancing at the dark elf next to him. 

They faced one another as they discussed. They had gone from prisoner/captor to allies in a strange twist of fate as both needed to escape the City. 

Her eyes were mercilessly cold whenever her would-be husband's name came out. After all, Theron the Butcher was quite infamous. 

Anyone he deemed interesting would definitely suffer a fate worse than death at his hands, for this sadist believed in a simple truth: "you are what you eat" He really took it to the extreme. 

On the one hand, Jack really couldn't criticize anyone for practicing cannibalism, but on the other hand, this guy was simply a horrendous selfish bastard. 

Dark Elf + Corrupted Noble + Demonic Practices = Theron the Butcher 

It wasn't that he was THAT strong, but he was akin to a mad dog (elf) that none dared to attack. This was simply because his House Raven-Heart wasn't a pushover. 

Various Houses —> Constant Power-Struggle 

Killing Theron —> Would Weaken the Attacker's House 

The dark elf community as a whole was very cut-throat, and every little move had to be done so very carefully. The whole thing was a political nightmare! 

"… That's why we can't escape. As one of the great lords, he has plenty of guards in his pockets. They'll stop us long before we can leave Silver Spider City!" She exclaimed. 

"Yep, you're not wrong," Jack admitted before showing a schadenfreude smile. "So all we need to do is get rid of his entire House, am I right?" Jack grinned. 

"?!?" She gasped. 

Normally Lyriana would have laughed at anyone uttering such insanity…yet the magnetism in his voice and eyes was so convincing right now! 

"Anyway, I need some more info. Start from the beginning since it's been an eternity since I last came here." Jack requested. 

Why was it that the more he spoke, the less she understood him? Who was he really, and when had a ghoul ever visited them in the past?! 

In any case, she complied. This would be a long night… 

━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━

"Next, next, next! Stop wasting my time, you bunch of lower lifeforms!" A displeased dark elf warrior kept grimacing. 

He oversaw a small arena ring, plenty of races lining up for him. There were gnolls, goblins, various animal folks, etc., all livid and shaking.

"What a waste of space! How dare you breathe so disgustingly in front of a noble dark elf!!!" Yet another angry shout was heard, this time a head rolling. 

In the back of the crowd, a group of humans couldn't help but gulp in fright as they witnessed such violence. 

They were the once proud and lively MTG miners, now only a shell of their former selves. They were now slaves getting sold.

"Gulp. I think we're done for this time." One softly whispered as he glanced at the dark elf trainer. 

Their soon-to-be owner was the worst of the worst, even by Dark Elves standards. He was apparently a monster known as Theron the Butcher… 

Being sold here was a death sentence.

Displeasing Their Captors —> Torture And Death 

Lost in the Arena —> Guaranteed Death 

Won —> Still Death 

No matter what, they were utterly screwed. They knew that expecting a rescue mission from their association was only a pipe dream. Dark Elves were just way too powerful. 

They knew their fate would be horrible, and yet they somehow did everything in their power to survive. They simply didn't want their lives to end as cowards. 

Even in this desperate situation, they tried to keep the morale up, even joking around. 

"Done for? At least I'll die young and handsome, right? This should be—Fuck!" The miner's face suddenly froze as he witnessed a familiar figure. 

He glanced sorrowfully at the newcomer. The robe he wore was the exact same as the one Jack'O had used a while ago. Was it him? Had he been captured?! 

That's when the miner felt the man's gaze on him. Underneath the hood hid pitch-black eyes…it wasn't him?! His body froze in fear, and yet he sighed in relief.

Still, what was a ghoul doing here?! He somehow found his eyes attracted to the flesh-eating monster…and he wasn't the only one. 

Jack inwardly grinned as he felt the trainer's gaze on him. 

"You, the flesh sack in the back, come here!" The dark elf hollered at him. "Show me what you can do." 

Now was the time to time to wow him. This was the very basis upon which their current plan revolved. 

Thus Jack gave his everything— or almost. He gleefully showcased his necromancy magic, invoking skeleton after skeleton and making them perform various martial art moves. 

Did it look powerful? —> Not really 

Was it entertaining to watch? — Hell yeah! 

"Great! Great, you're ugly, but you're the one! You'll do just fine for later" The slave trainer chuckled in satisfaction as he approached him. 

Theron would be partying before, during, and after the "getting a new wife ceremony" (sacrifice). Now he would be part of it all…right in the Arena. 

As Theron's minion bought him, Lyriana couldn't help but think how crazy he was. How the heck was his plan even supposed to work?! 

He was soon brought away… 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Night, the small crowd was going wild. 

Haughty dark elves laughed as they pointed at the poor creatures forced to kill one another in the Arena. To them, this was the natural order of the world. 

There was only one rule in such fights: to please the masters. 

Blood Berry wine flowed abundantly as lightly-dressed servants ran all over the place to take care of the guests. 

At the seat of honor stood a powerful-looking dark elf, his handsome face making him look like a prince from a fairy-tale. Looks could be deceiving, for this was the bastard himself. 

Next to him was Jack's new partner in crime, the dark elf Lyriana, who looked like a beautiful ice queen. They would have appeared as a match made in Heaven to the misinformed! 

Soon it was Jack's turn to enter the circular Arena. He could feel the excitement and the primal savagery that came from such a life and death event. 

— Clang! — 

The sound of metal moving resounded as the doors on the other side opened, a giant monster swaggering in, his heavy footsteps making the ground vibrate. 

Those elf madmen had paired him with a mighty monster he seemingly had no chance to win against. 

< Crazed Cave Troll Lv 42! > 

Many raised a brow as they witnessed this pairing. 

"This useless little ghoul stands no chance whatsoever!" 

"Tch— What's the point of watching this? It will be so one-sided…." 

"At least ghouls take a while to kill. We'll see it struggle till the end! It—"

— ROAR!!! — 

The Troll mightily charged, eyes red with fury! 

How would the ghoul react? Jack was already "panicking," his whole body shaking as he glanced at the killing machine heading his way. He was frozen in fear! 

Luckily, right before he was stampeded, he barely managed to get out of the way. Then again, so what if he had survived its charge once? 

The Troll turned around, coming back. This time, evading wouldn't be as easy as the enemy expected him to move. 

Just as they were about to clash, the ghoul threw a small pearl on the ground, a gift from the elf trainer. 

— Jack Used Small Smoke Bomb!— 

The smoke filled his immediate surroundings, hiding him and the Troll from view. A second later, a white severed head came flying out. 

The elves sneered. Talk about a short-lived fight! They chuckled, knowing that whoever had planned this encounter would pay a heavy price for it, most probably their life. 

"Wait! It's a skeleton!!!" A shout suddenly echoed in the Arena. 

The ghoul reappeared as the smoke cleared out, but it wasn't alone. Around it, there were a few skeletons. Wait, what?! A necromancer?! How interesting! 

This twist was enough to change their opinion. Perhaps this fight wouldn't be boring after all! What followed next was a display of excellent summoning control. 

The ghoul kept using the skeletons to bait the Troll, the thing slamming its giant body into them or crushing them directly with its fists. It made them look so brittle! 

But while skeletons were getting smashed, he had all the time in the world to attack! Little did they know that the fight had been a set-up from the very start! 

Crazed—> Had lost its mind! The thing was unable to differentiate between the white ghoul and the white skeletons! 

The elves exclaimed in awe as they saw their expectations defied! The result was now to be expected. They saw him slash and slash relentlessly, the creature unable to defend. 

Some thought the fight would be over just like that…but nope. The little ghoul's slashes were completely ineffective given the thing's incredible regenerative powers! 

Now the opinions were highly diverse. 

"The Troll will win! The ghoul will make a mistake at some point, and it will be over!" 

"Nonsense! The dumb Troll will be the one to fall. Just look at how the skeletons are toying with it!"

Many argued as they watched the show excitedly. Jack kept notice of the crowd, but most importantly of the man on the Throne. He had to find the best timing to impress him….now! 

That's when Jack failed an evasion maneuver, the Troll's large fingers wrapping around his body. Many exclaimed in shock. It was over for him! 

The Troll started squeezing tighter and tighter until— CRASH! 

"?!?" They all glared at the scene, flabbergasted. 

The one who had fallen was actually the Troll. But a second later, it was bound to become even more surprising… 

[Congratulations! Successfully Raised A Macabre!] 

 "...."

This had never been part of the plan...