Chapter 16: Stupid A Rank

Ethan stared at the passage for one final moment, then crouched beside the Beowolf Nora had dropped and placed two fingers against its side.

```

[Ding!]

[Raise Undead (Basic) activated]

[Corpse Quality: Average]

[Energy Cost: 15]

[Result: Basic Undead (Beowolf)]

[Control Capacity: 1/18]

[Death Energy: 105/120]

[EXP +18]

```

The Beowolf rose on stiff legs, green light flickering to life in its empty eyes.

It stood steadily, waiting for orders and Ethan gave it a simple command to stay at his flank. The connection held cleanly as the beast moved and settled beside him.

Professor Crane watched the entire process without comment, then gave him a short, approving nod. That was all.

Ethan however, didn’t care at all. After all, restricted ability users were expected to demonstrate control. He had done just that.

Ethan turned his attention to the stronger trace still pulling at the edge of his senses and fully activated Death Sense.

The mental map sharpened, showing residual death energy from the Beowolves fading into the background. But there was one denser, heavier signal that remained.

He gestured to the instructor nearest him and received a brief nod of permission to investigate under observation.

He moved forward, the raised Beowolf following at his heel as he went into the side tunnel.

The passage opened into a small chamber and at the far end, a humanoid figure of dark metal was impaled through the torso on a jagged outcrop of rock.

His system reacted immediately...

```

[Ding!]

[Life signature detected]

[Species: Iron Golem]

[Classification: Slave]

[Rank: D]

[Status: Critical]

```

Ethan blinked. It was still alive... Death Sense had marked a still living creature as dead.

Ethan studied the wound and saw that the golem had a critical injury— the core was flickering like a dying candle.

He then realised that Death Sense had not marked a corpse. It had marked something on the edge of death.

That was new information.

He stepped closer, careful to stay outside the reach of its arms. The golem’s head turned slowly toward him, joints grinding and before it could pull itself free, Ethan placed both hands against its chest and drove it deeper into the stone spike.

Metal screeched, and the core flickered once and went dark.

Minimal external damage, so the body remained mostly intact.

He placed his palm against the cooling metal and pushed Death Energy into it.

The cost was noticeably higher than the Beowolf, and the connection formed slower. But when the Iron Golem finally rose, the Ethan knew he had succeeded as Its eyes lit with the same cold green glow as the Beowolf.

Ethan smiled, then exhaled and ordered it to stand ready.

***

Elsewhere in the upper layer, Marcus led his group past the designated boundary markers.

One of the students trailing him spoke up, his voice sounding nervous. "Marcus, we’re past the line. The instructors said upper layers only."

Marcus didn’t slow down. "Relax. I’m an A rank. If anything shows up, I’ll handle it. You’re safer with me than back there with the rest of the herd."

The tunnel widened into a broader cavern littered with broken stone, and two large shapes shifted in the dim blue light. They had hulking humanoid figures of pure rock, easily twice Marcus’ height.

And he was almost six feet tall...

Marcus grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Just two see? Nothing we can’t break."

He charged the nearest one.

The first exchange lasted less than ten seconds....

Marcus’s strengthened fist slammed against the golem’s chest and barely chipped the surface.

The monster looked at it’s chest in confusion and looked back at Marcus who was visibly surprised. It struck back, the blow catching him across the shoulder and sending him sliding across the stone.

The second golem dashed, moving at a speed something its size had no business mkbinyand slammed another student into the wall.

Panic tore across the group immediately.

"Fuck! Run!" Marcus shouted as they turned to their heels.

They ran, .but the two Stone Golems followed with heavy steps, moving fast enough that they closed the gap between them and the students more than once.

The golems crashed into a stone pillar, the noise echoing towards the main group.

**CRASH!**

The wall beside the main group exploded outwards and when Crane turned, she saw three students stumbling out with terrified looks on their faces as they ran towards the main group..

Confused, she looked closer where the dust had began clearing and her eyes widened as she was met with two hulking figures of stone growling and stepping forward.

"Monsters ahead!" She shouted, turning to the students.

"These are bigger ones, at least Rank D. Students fall back!"

And just like that, the tunnel descended into chaos...

Students were screaming as some tried to run to safety, others stayed to fight but were visibly shaken as they were faced with a monster this big.

Lila scanned the group, her expression tightening when she saw no sign of Ethan.

Before she could think of what next to do, both stone beasts charged towards them with terrifying speed. One of them jumped, aiming to slam into a cluster of students.

Then...

**BOOM**

Something slammed into the beast mid air, sending it flying with a force that sent a shockwave through the entire tunnel.

The stone golem tumbled, skidding across the ground as it slammed into the wall hard enough to crack it.

Every pair of eyes turned to the cloud of dust that formed and when it settled and Lila saw a beast with green eyes stepping out of it, a wave of relief washed over her...

"Next time, Ethan said, walking out of the tunnel with his hands in his pockets and staring at Marcus dead in the eyes, "when someone tells you not to go deeper, consider listening. It would save the rest of us the trouble."

Then he smiled, his expression taunting... "I don’t want to be saddled with the responsibility of looking after a stupid A rank..."