Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: The Tomb of the Silent Dead (2)
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“What do you think? Should we head out right away, or take a short break first?”
While Amelia was incinerating all the mana stones, I'd been taking a brief rest. Once I confirmed she'd burned the last one, I asked cautiously.
“Hmm… What does Hyun-sol want to do? Honestly, I haven't used much stamina at all! More than that, mana stones don't usually drop this easily. Are we just lucky?”
“Well… yeah, we can definitely call it luck.”
Mana stones were like the energy cores of monsters, dropping at a certain probability when you killed them.
And they were rarer from lower-rank monsters.
Something about how their mana reserves were too low for the remnants to crystallize after death. That was the lore, anyway.
“If you're okay with it, let's move now. Hanging around too long in a dungeon thick with death aura isn't good for anyone.”
“Sounds good! Let's head out right away!”
And so, we pressed deeper into the tomb.
“Hmm… We're definitely getting closer to the dungeon's master. The death aura's gotten way thicker.”
Amelia had been examining the nearby statues and murals carved into the walls one by one. She turned to face ahead and asked,
“I forgot to ask earlier—what's the boss monster's rank?”
“C-Rank. A Skeleton Sorcerer, basically a lesser version of a lich.”
“...?”
At my casual explanation, Amelia's eyes went wide.
“Pardon? Hold on. So if I hadn't helped, you were planning to take on a C-Rank boss solo? Do you not want to live long?”
“Okay, I don't want to say you're exaggerating that much… but you're not wrong, so I got nothing. Yeah, if you hadn't helped, I was gonna try soloing it anyway. Of course, I'd have bailed midway if it got too dicey.”
To be honest, a standard C-Rank boss? Any three to five active C-Rank hunters could take it down easy.
Which meant that someone like me with an S-Rank trait sure as hell could.
But the reason Amelia was freaking out like that?
This dungeon we were in—The Tomb of the Silent Dead—was an undead-type one.
And a C-Rank undead boss in what was supposed to be a D-Rank dungeon? That was the issue.
No matter how low the dungeon's overall rank, a boss one step higher meant some external force was at play.
I chuckled awkwardly, trying to explain.
“But in the end, I didn't go full idiot and solo the whole thing, right? I even lured you in with the infinite bento box—best choice ever.”
“...Man, just when I think I get a little glimpse of who you are, Hyun-sol, it feels like I'm lost in a maze again.”
Amelia shook her head with a small mutter.
“Well… at least I can kinda see why Sophia's interested in you?”
“Huh? What was that…?”
“Nothing~!”
Amelia's eyes went round as she waved her hands frantically.
But her flustered expression was plain as day.
“Wait, you just said you kinda get why Sophia's interested in m—”
“Nope~ You misheard! I've never said anything like that out loud!”
She trailed off hurriedly, averting her gaze.
Then she fiddled with the knuckle guards on her hands and seamlessly changed the subject.
“Anyway, Hyun-sol, you feel that? Massive death aura and curses pouring out from up ahead! Looks like we've reached the boss room!”
“...You're dodging on purpose, aren't you?”
“Yep!”
“Wow… so bold I got nothing to say.”
I sighed in exasperation and conjured a few mana bullets at my fingertips.
Amelia wrapped her hands in holy power like she was slipping on boxing gloves.
Stepping over the threshold into what looked like the boss room, the space inside felt like a whole other world, centered around an altar.
Blackened stone walls, hazy green mist that screamed poison, ominous runes etched everywhere.
The runes pulsed at intervals, spewing death aura.
“They've laid down a ton of curses—low-grade ones, but stay exposed too long and it'll erode you.”
“Don't worry! If you get cursed and collapse, I'll heal you right up. Besides, it's about time the dungeon master reacted.”
No sooner had Amelia spoken than the stone coffin at the altar's center creaked open.
Chilling mana flooded the boss room.
A skull that had once been human like us—but abandoned humanity—slowly emerged from the coffin.
Instead of the usual red flames in a skeleton's sockets, murky green mana fire flickered there.
One hand held a cracked staff, the other a shattered obsidian orb.
“Fragment of a lich… no, Skeleton Sorcerer. Seeing it in person gives me chills.”
I muttered low, spinning the mana bullets I'd conjured. Amelia raised her guard, ready to fight.
Spotting us, a chilling voice like nails on chalkboard rasped from the sorcerer's mouth.
「Living ones… why disturb my rest…? 」
“Figured you weren't resting easy, so I came all this way to put you to eternal sleep. Even brought a saintess just for you—say hi?”
「Insolent fool…. 」
Provoked, the sorcerer raised its staff and muttered something.
Suddenly, skeleton warriors and zombie soldiers burst from small scattered coffins and the ground.
At least a hundred of them.
“You're what, centuries old? And you call your buddies 'cause a 20-year-old pissed you off? Petty.”
“Right! Super petty!! Is that what they call narrow-minded creeps like you? We just said the truth—why get mad?”
Amelia shouted in agreement, unleashing holy power that dwarfed the sorcerer's mana.
“Descent of Holy Light!”
Dozens of pure white beams rained from above.
Skeletons and zombies touched by the light turned to ash in an instant.
The few surviving skull soldiers charged with sharpened longswords.
Bang—! Bang—!
My three mana bullets— not a single miss—wiped out the rest.
“Clean work!”
“Says the one who talks big. I at least left corpses—you incinerated them to dust….”
“I'll take that as a compliment!”
She grinned triumphantly, but the Skeleton Sorcerer didn't miss the opening.
It summoned a massive black mana sphere overhead, and dark lightning engulfed the dungeon.
「Dark Thunderfall!」
“Amelia, back!”
Reacting to the attack, I invoked Star Mana to erect a double barrier—mana shield and protective ward—blocking it.
No comparison to Sophia's spells; not even a scratch on my barriers.
And Amelia seized the moment the sorcerer cast its big spell, charging the altar.
「How did 1-circle spells block my lightning…? 」
“Our turn now!! In the name of the Saintess—!”
Her fist glowed brilliant gold.
And slammed dead-center into the sorcerer's chest.
“May you rot in hell and atone for every sin you've committed!!”
Boom—!
The explosion sent waves of light radiating outward.
Green flames erupted, shaking the dungeon like an earthquake.
The altar runes winked out one by one; the sorcerer's body crumbled.
「Impossible… A saintess purifying undead like this…. 」
“Fist to the face is perfect for worthless undead scum!”
“Couldn't agree more. What kinda saintess smashes zombie skulls and purges undead with punches….”
The fight ended way too easily; I felt a bit deflated.
Guy… if I'd come alone, he'd have flexed all his power, pushed me to death's door, and I'd have died heroically….
Meets the wrong opponent, shows one skill—Dark Thunderfall—and croaks.
Couldn't be more pathetic… yeah right, served him right.
‘Think of it as payback for tormenting me a thousand times.’
I flipped the bird at the spot where the sorcerer—now fully erased, leaving only the hidden piece earring—had stood.
Picked up the earring—our goal—and checked its info first.
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[Silent Skull Earring][Rank: C+]
A relic of a man who once served as the court sorcerer of the Belsagran Kingdom.
Under orders from a king who sought to conquer the world, he attempted a forbidden ritual to revive fallen soldiers. His flesh was consumed by mana, and he fell into undeath.
This earring he left behind holds his lifetime mastery of mana control—and the 'silence' of his afterlife.
The wearer can suppress surrounding sounds and mana vibrations, minimizing presence for stealth or scouting. Attacks on undead drain some of their residual mana to restore the wearer's mana slightly.
Additionally, the earring holds the sorcerer's final ritual: when the wearer's life is in peril, the Shroud of the Dead activates temporarily.
(10 seconds of mana stealth, 150% mana recovery speed boost)
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“Hmm, perfect.”
Performance way beyond C-Rank.
This was why you risked your neck for hidden pieces.
Though this time, I barely risked anything—more like a free ride….
Whatever, Amelia got her fair share of mana stones, so win-win.
“Is that what you were after for conquering this dungeon, Hyun-sol?”
Amelia approached after incinerating all the mana stones again, her expression demanding an explanation.
“Yeah, I needed this bad.”
I held the earring up to the light.
Catching the glow, faint green mana shimmered inside its silver frame.
Great item on its own.
But…
“Hmm…”
Amelia peered closely at the earring in my hand and tilted her head slightly.
“Can I see that for a sec?”
“Huh? Why?”
“Don't you sense it? There's still unclean mana lingering. Some death aura remains—wearing it might have a slight negative effect.”
I flinched at her words.
“R-Really? But purification isn't necessa—”
“Hehe, I know exactly what you're worried about. Trust me—just gonna make it a bit cleaner.”
Amelia smiled and half-forcibly took the earring, placing it on her palm.
“Wait, no need, really….”
Something felt off—like I'd lose the item if I let it be. I tried to stop her too late.
But Amelia had already enveloped the earring in white light brighter than what she'd used on the sorcerer.
And the resulting item's effects were beyond imagination.