The invisible dome that had separated the University of Ibadan from the rest of the world flickered once, turned a sickly grey, and then vanished.
The hum of the barrier was replaced by a new sound: the distant, rhythmic popping of gunfire coming from the city center.
"Welcome to the open server," Bhy Khay said, stepping past the shattered remains of the campus security post.
The team moved in a diamond formation.
* Point: Bhy Khay (Melee/Scout).
* Rear: Elara (Mage/Crowd Control).
* High Ground: Zayn (Sniper), moving along the tops of abandoned cars.
* Intel: Tomiwa (Scout), her ink-eyes drawing a constantly updating map on her arm.
They reached the UI Main Gate. The chaos of the outside world hit them instantly.
The dual-carriage road leading into town was a graveyard of yellow Danfo buses and luxury cars. Smoke billowed from the Bodija market district in the distance. But what caught Bhy Khay's attention wasn't the fire.
It was the blockade.
Three massive petrol tankers had been overturned across the road, forming a wall of steel. Standing atop the tankers were men in torn uniforms—not military, but the green and white of the transport union.
They weren't holding bats. They were holding pump-action shotguns and machetes glowing with red energy.
[FACTION DETECTED: THE UNION]
[LEADER: "THE CHAIRMAN" (Lvl 8)]
[MEMBERS: 50+]
"Guns," Zayn whispered into the comms. "Real ones. Not system drops."
"Bhy Khay," Tomiwa hissed, looking at her arm. "My ink spy just died. Someone on that tanker has a [Eagle Eye] skill. They know we're here."
"Stop right there!" a voice boomed from the top of the central tanker.
A man stepped forward. He was huge, wearing a stained white agbada over a bulletproof vest. He held a massive, rusted pipe that pulsed with magnetic energy.
[ENEMY: CHAIRMAN RAZAK]
[CLASS: ROAD MARSHAL (Rare)]
[SKILL: TOLL GATE (Creates impassable barriers)]
"University students," Razak spat, looking down at them. "You think because you survived the tutorial you can walk on my road? This is Union Territory."
He pointed his pipe at them.
"The Toll is simple. The girls stay. The boys leave their weapons and armor. Then you can pass."
Elara stepped forward, her staff glowing with cold blue light. "We don't pay tolls to thugs."
Razak laughed. It was a wet, ugly sound. "Thugs? We are the Government now! Boys, collect the tax."
He snapped his fingers.
From behind the tankers, twenty men popped up. The ones with shotguns racked the slides.
CLACK-CLACK.
"Get down!" Bhy Khay shouted.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The shotguns roared. Lead pellets sprayed the asphalt where they had been standing a second ago.
"[Frost Barrier]!" Elara screamed.
She slammed her staff down. A thick wall of ice erupted, catching the buckshot. The ice cracked and chipped, but it held.
"Guns hurt," Elara gritted her teeth, holding the spell. "My barrier is losing durability fast! These aren't Level 1 attacks!"
"They are Physical Damage," Bhy Khay analyzed, crouching behind the ice. "System armor reduces it, but it doesn't negate the kinetic force."
He looked at Zayn, who was hiding behind a burnt sedan fifty meters back.
"Zayn! The Chairman! Take his head!"
Zayn popped up, his [Windforce Bow] drawn. The green runes glowed.
TWANG.
The arrow flew silent and true, aiming right between Razak's eyes.
But Razak didn't dodge. He just smiled.
He slammed his rusted pipe onto the tanker.
"[SKILL: ROADBLOCK]!"
The asphalt of the road suddenly rippled and shot upward, forming a stone pillar instantly in front of his face.
TINK.
Zayn's arrow bounced harmlessly off the concrete shield.
"Sniper!" Razak yelled. "Crush him!"
Razak pointed his pipe at the car Zayn was hiding behind.
[SKILL: TRAFFIC JAM]
The cars surrounding Zayn suddenly groaned. Their metal frames bent and twisted as if gripped by a giant invisible hand. They slammed together, crushing inward to squash Zayn.
"I'm pinned!" Zayn shouted. "The cars are moving on their own! I can't get a shot!"
"He's a Magnetism user," Bhy Khay realized. "He controls the metal on the road."
"Tomiwa! The tankers!" Bhy Khay ordered. "Are they full?"
"Checking!" Tomiwa drew a quick sketch of the tankers on her palm. The ink bled through the metal. "Yes! The middle one is full of diesel!"
"Elara," Bhy Khay looked at the Ice Mage. "Drop the barrier."
"What? They'll shoot us!"
"Drop it. And cast [Grease] on the road under the tanker."
"Are you crazy?"
"Trust the Admin," Bhy Khay's eyes glowed gold.
Elara dropped the wall.
"FIRE!" The Union gunmen leveled their shotguns again.
"[Grease]!" Elara shouted, coating the road in slippery oil.
Bhy Khay didn't run away. He ran forward.
He activated [Ring of the Void Walker].
ZOOP.
He vanished into smoke.
The shotgun blasts tore through the empty air where he had been.
Bhy Khay reappeared directly under the central tanker, right in the middle of the grease patch.
He looked up at the rusted underbelly of the massive truck.
[OBJECT: TANKER AXLE]
[STATUS: RUSTED]
[WEAKNESS: STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY < 20%]
Bhy Khay drew his [Broodmother's Fang].
"System," he whispered. "Apply physics."
He slashed the rusted axle bolts.
SNAP.
The massive wheels, already slick from the grease, lost all traction. The axle collapsed.
The tanker groaned. With a screech of tearing metal, the 30-ton beast began to slide sideways, tipping over.
"CHAIRMAN! IT'S FALLING!" a gunman screamed.
Razak looked down, his eyes widening. "No! Hold it!"
He tried to use his magnetism to stabilize the truck, but the momentum was too great.
CRASH.
The tanker slammed onto its side, spilling thousands of liters of diesel across the road—and onto the Union gunmen.
"My fuel!" Razak roared, jumping off the truck just before it hit the ground. He landed heavily, his white agbada soaked in black oil.
Bhy Khay stood in the middle of the spill, untouched. He looked at Razak.
"You like taxes?" Bhy Khay asked.
He pulled a single, cheap [Firestarter Flint] from his inventory.
"Here's your refund."
He struck the flint.
SPARK.
"RUN!" Razak screamed.
WHOOSH.
The road turned into an inferno.
The diesel ignited instantly. A wall of fire, fifty meters wide, engulfed the blockade. The gunmen screamed as the heat hit them. They didn't burn to death—the System protected them from instant death—but their HP bars melted away.
[CRITICAL HIT (ENVIRONMENTAL)]
[ENEMY DEFEATED x12]
Razak, protected by his high level, stumbled out of the fire. His skin was blistered, his health at 50%.
[CHAIRMAN RAZAK]
[HP: 800/1600]
[STATUS: BURNED]
He coughed smoke, raising his pipe. "You... you destroyed my toll gate!"
"I'm revoking your license," Bhy Khay said, stepping through the flames. The fire parted around him (thanks to Elara casting a [Heat Shield] on him moments before).
Bhy Khay lunged.
Razak swung the pipe. "[HEAVY IMPACT]!"
Bhy Khay didn't block. He ducked under the swing.
He slashed Razak's ankle. [Hamstring Cut].
Razak fell to one knee.
"Zayn!" Bhy Khay shouted. "Now!"
From the pile of crushed cars, a single arrow flew.
It was coated in Tomiwa's ink. As it flew, the ink expanded into a net.
THWACK.
The net wrapped around Razak's head, blinding him.
"I can't see!" Razak flailed.
Bhy Khay jumped onto Razak's back. He placed his dagger against the warlord's throat.
"Yield," Bhy Khay whispered.
Razak froze. He felt the venom of the Broodmother's fang burning his skin.
"I... I yield!" Razak gasped. "Take the fuel! Take the road!"
"I don't want the road," Bhy Khay said, keeping the blade steady. "I want to know where the City Lord Token is."
Razak laughed, a wheezing, painful sound.
"The Token? You think you're the only one looking for it? The General has it locked down in Dugbe. He has tanks, boy. Actual tanks. And he has a Level 10 System Class."
"What Class?" Bhy Khay pressed the blade deeper.
"[Necromancer]," Razak whispered. "He didn't just kill his soldiers. He raised them. Dugbe is a city of the dead."
Bhy Khay went cold.
A Necromancer with a military arsenal.
Bhy Khay stood up and kicked Razak away.
"Get out of here," Bhy Khay ordered. "If I see you charging tolls again, I won't miss the jugular."
Razak scrambled up and ran into the smoke, his surviving men following him.
Elara and Tomiwa ran up to Bhy Khay.
"A Necromancer?" Elara asked, staring at the fire. "Bhy Khay, that's... that's bad. We barely handled a Level 8 Ogre."
"A Necromancer raises the dead," Tomiwa added, sketching a skull on her arm. "Which means every enemy we kill just becomes his soldier."
Bhy Khay looked at the burning wreckage of the blockade. He looked toward the city center, where the sky was dark with unnatural clouds.
"He has numbers," Bhy Khay said, sheathing his dagger. "But Necromancers have a weakness."
"What?" Zayn asked, limping over from the cars.
"They need bodies," Bhy Khay said. "If we destroy the bodies, he has no army."
He looked at Elara.
"We need to level up your Fire magic. Ice won't work on zombies."
[QUEST UPDATED: THE CITY LORD]
[NEW OBJECTIVE: INFILTRATE DUGBE MARKET.]
[TARGET: THE UNDEAD GENERAL.]
"Let's move," Bhy Khay said. "The City is waiting."