Chapter 125: Inevitability (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 125: Inevitability (7)
My senses, which had been momentarily cut off, returned one by one.
The first thing I saw upon opening my eyes were countless skeletons, lined up with tickets in hand as if waiting to go outside.
Through their empty ribcages, the surrounding landscape slowly came into view.
A dark, blackish land packed with cross-shaped tombstones made of woven, rotten branches, and a night sky blanketed in deep darkness.
A message window floating before my eyes helped me clearly identify where I was.
[You have entered the Sanctuary of the Dead.]
The Sanctuary of the Dead.
It was a plausible-sounding name, but in the end…
“…it’s just a graveyard.”
The moment I grasped the situation, the rotten stench that had been lingering at the tip of my nose began to intensify.
“Ugh.”
This body, still not properly trained, screamed in protest.
I couldn’t remember the last time it had happened.
The last time I’d had such a violent reaction to the smell of rotting corpses.
“Ugh… I feel sick.”
Forcing down the bile rising in my throat, I aimed my sword at the skeletons closing in on me.
“…Just what I needed, something to blow off steam on.”
Faced with these skeletons while already extremely pissed off from a pile of frustrations, they were nothing more and nothing less than toys to relieve my stress.
I twisted my body ferociously, like a wolf diving into a flock of gentle sheep.
I sliced off the head of a skeleton charging from the left and shattered the skull of another swinging its sword from the right with a single punch.
I completely ignored the magic I had honed until now, relying solely on my physical body.
Magic is great and all, but it’s just not as satisfying to use.
“Hoo…”
After smashing a whole lot of bones, my anger finally started to cool.
Ah, but that didn’t mean it was all gone.
Even now, my mind was racing, trying to figure out how to screw that bastard over.
No clear answer emerged.
It was inevitable, since I wasn't at that stage yet.
You can only find an answer when you know your enemy and know yourself, but since I knew nothing about my opponent, this was the only possible outcome.
“For now…”
I should deal with the task at hand.
The most urgent thing was to clear this dungeon quickly and get back to Yu-jeong, who was probably waiting outside.
As for revenge, all I could do for now was resolve to get it.
A plan can only be formed when you know something, anything, about the enemy.
So for now, I’d just hold on to my grudge and let it be.
The time for my bloody vengeance would naturally come when I discovered what he wanted to gain through me.
“Alright, enough thinking.”
Shoving my organized thoughts aside, I stepped firmly onto the foul-smelling earth and moved forward.
A murky, purplish-black magic swirled around the cross-shaped tombstones made of rotten branches.
Just as I expected.
Thud, thud, thud!
As I passed by, hands with rotting flesh clinging to them shot up from the dirt as if they had been waiting.
Rising from the ground were the protagonists of any apocalypse story: zombies.
The number of zombies that broke out of the graves was roughly fifty.
“Huh, that’s weird.”
Something was off.
I was sure there weren’t fifty graves when I counted them.
“Did they share a coffin or something…?”
Amazing.
“Not a share house, but a share grave…”
These zombies were clearly ahead of their time.
Guwooooh…!
Krrrrk!
The zombie neighbors from downstairs, their sleep disturbed, charged at me as if in protest.
There would be no apologies.
I was a victim too, forcibly dragged here against my will.
There are very simple ways to neutralize zombies that are already dead.
Either chop off all their limbs so they can’t do anything, or cleanly sever their heads.
I sliced through their surprisingly tough skin, separating head from torso.
Swish!
A headless body flailed about aimlessly before collapsing to the ground.
I swung my sword relentlessly at the zombies swarming me from all sides.
Using the principles of the Flowing Sword Style that Seo-yeon had recently been copying, I moved like flowing water, naturally beheading one zombie, then another.
Chwaaak!
Finally, I cleanly sliced off the head of the last zombie.
It took about ten minutes to separate the heads and bodies of nearly fifty zombies.
Just as the movements of the flailing bodies on the ground began to subside…
A rusty iron door leading to a large stone chamber at the far end of the graveyard opened.
Creeeeak—
The sound scraped out by the rusty metal felt like the sharp scream of the dead.
That must be this dungeon’s boss room.
I used magic to create water and wash the filth off my sword before stepping inside.
The interior was pitch-black, making it hard to see a thing.
To survey my surroundings, I created a light source and sent it floating high up.
「Light.」
The light source, emitting a pure white glow, finally began to illuminate the dark stone chamber.
Inside the chamber, which was built from crudely stacked rough stones, lay a sarcophagus carved from rock.
And not just one, but twenty of them.
The magic that had been rampaging through the chamber seeped into the sarcophagi.
At the same time, the tightly sealed lids of the sarcophagi fell to the floor with a loud crash.
Kooong! Kung!
The monsters finally revealed were skeletons.
However, they were quite different from the ones I had cut down like straw just moments ago.
A skeleton’s rank can be determined by the weapon it holds and the state of its bones.
Thick, sturdy bones without a single crack, and sharp, unrusted weapons that glinted in the light.
The only saving grace, perhaps, was that their bones weren't pure white.
Considering these points, the estimated rank of these skeletons was at least C+ to B-.
The skeletons rose with a clatter, surrounding the sarcophagus in the center.
Waking from within the ranks of its deployed minions was the boss of this dungeon.
The ‘Headless Horseman,’ holding its head in its hand instead of on its neck.
“…A Dullahan.”
A figure well over two meters tall rose from the sarcophagus.
As a red light flared in its eyes, the surrounding skeletons began to advance toward me as if on cue.
“Hmm.”
I thought of the most optimal way to deal with them.
Beheading them one by one like before was impossible.
This body was not yet strong enough to withstand the combined attacks of a Dullahan and nineteen B-rank skeletons.
The moment I got surrounded, my chances of winning would be cut in half—no, even lower.
That left only one option: run around with large movements to avoid being surrounded and wipe them out in one fell swoop.
Clack, clack.
The game of tag began with the skeletons charging, their bones making a cheerful rattling sound.
I moved along the chamber walls, narrowly dodging the tips of forcefully thrust spears and swords.
The Dullahan’s attacks, being the most threatening, I chose to stop and defend against rather than evade.
Kwaang—!
“Hup…!”
Every muscle in my body screamed as I blocked the attack from the giant over two meters tall.
In truth, the only reason it ended with just this was thanks to the incredible elasticity of this body’s muscles, something others couldn’t even dream of.
After eliminating the variable that could have been the worst for me, I immediately started moving again.
I wasn’t just running away.
While moving busily to avoid being surrounded, I was also preparing my trump card to finish them in one go.
And that was… through magic.
Weaving through the gaps between the skeletons closing in from all sides, I began to weave my mana.
Thinly drawn threads of mana entangled themselves around their sturdy bones.
Since these threads were only visible to me, they had no physical binding power, but that wasn't their purpose in the first place.
This was merely a fuse.
A fuse for the flame that would burn relentlessly until its ensnared target turned to ash.
About twenty minutes had passed since I started my frantic escape.
“Hoo, heuk, heuk…!”
Unlike me, who was drenched in sweat like a drowned rat from the tension and constant movement, the skeletons appeared unchanged at a glance.
But that was only to the ordinary eye.
To my eyes, every single one of them was tightly bound in thin threads of mana.
A Hunter who could sense mana, or a higher-level monster, would have noticed it long ago, but unfortunately for them, they had no means of sensing mana.
“Hoo.”
Catching my breath, I stopped in my tracks.
The preparations were complete.
All that was left was to light the fuse.
Leaving just a handful of mana to prevent mana exhaustion, I gathered all my remaining mana and created a small, flickering ball of flame.
A high-powered flame, created by compressing a much larger fire over and over.
I split it into several streams and sent it along the mana threads I held.
「Endless Flame.」
The flame raced along the fuse visible only to my eyes.
Soon, the fire engulfed the skeletons’ entire bodies, burning silently without a sound.
The only thing I could hear was the enraged cry of the Dullahan, the only one with its vocal organs still intact.
Guwoooooh—!
I faced the charging Dullahan as it tried its best to block the flames consuming its body with its own magic.
Kwaang!
As I blocked its sword, a thought suddenly struck me.
This sword… I bought it as a gift for Yu-jeong.
“…The blade isn’t chipped already, is it?”
I hastily checked the blade and, thankfully, the edge was fine.
“Phew!”
As expected, the weapons that old man makes might lack in other areas, but their durability is top-notch.
“Still, just in case…”
I should parry its attacks safely, deflecting the force of its blows as much as possible to avoid damaging the sword.
While I dealt with the Dullahan, which had forgotten even the swordsmanship it had honed in life and was charging blindly in its rage, the skeletons that had been standing tall and burning all disappeared.
All that remained where they stood was a handful of ashes.
At the same time, the Dullahan also reached its limit.
Grrrk…!
The flames began to dig deeper into its body as it let out a sound full of overwhelming emotion.
One knee buckled, and one hand burned away, scattering as black ash.
The large sword held in its thick hand fell to the floor with a loud clang.
When the flames finally engulfed its head, which it had desperately tried to keep them from reaching…
The creature finally laid its massive frame on the ground.
Thud!
After confirming the dispersal of black magic that signified the death of a living being, I could no longer hold on and collapsed right where I stood, gasping for breath.
“Hua…!”
If that thing had held on just a little longer, my head might have disappeared from my neck just like its.
It was that close.
I had only a handful of mana left, and my stamina had run out long ago.
It felt like I had endured purely on sharpened mental fortitude.
“Keung…”
After recovering just enough stamina to move, I immediately got up.
This was no time to be sitting around.
I also picked up the greatsword lying unceremoniously next to the pile of ashes as loot.
I figured I could get at least a few hundred for something like this.
Dragging the greatsword on the floor, I easily pushed open the tightly shut door on the opposite side of the stone chamber's entrance.
The Safety Room, signaling the completion of the dungeon.
However, there was one thing different from the usual.
The statue standing on the opposite side had a very different form from the normal ones.
If the usual statue had the feel of a benevolent goddess bestowing her grace, the one before me had the form of a Grim Reaper holding a sharp scythe, looking as if it would reap the lives of those who knelt before it.
“Just the statue changed, but it feels kind of creepy…”
A chill ran down my spine, and I shivered once before approaching the statue.
Just as I was having the anxious thought that the statue’s scythe might suddenly swing down on my neck…
A crimson light, quite different from the usual, enveloped my body.
[You have successfully cleared the dungeon.]
[Stat rewards will be given based on the user's actions.]
[Mana has increased by 4.]
[Stamina has increased by 3.]
[Strength has increased by 3.]
[Agility has increased by 3.]
“……?”
I think I might have run into a bug.
Usually, when clearing a C-rank dungeon, I’d be grateful if my stats went up by 1 or 2, but now I had just received a total of 13 stat points as a reward.
“Does this even make sense…?”
I tried to understand it from a common-sense perspective but soon gave up.
“I guess it makes sense here.”
Had anything that happened to me today been understandable by common sense?
Thinking of it that way, a reward like this didn’t seem like a big deal.
“Alright, now for the last thing…”
It was time to get that damn key the messages had been talking about until they were blue in the face.
I opened the lid of the box placed neatly to one side.
Inside the large box was a single worn-out key and…
“A slime…?”
Opposite the key, a palm-sized black slime was wriggling.
This was a first.
A slime coming out of a treasure chest, one of this size, and even this color.
“Haha, wow.”
It was so absurd that I had to laugh.
Its yellow eyes, which looked like two dots poked onto a piece of black paper, were staring at me.
I reached out a finger and gently touched its body.
“Ooh…”
It felt bouncy, like touching the surface of a pudding.
At the same time, the creature’s eyes changed to a > < shape as it shivered once.
It seemed to be enjoying it.
“Hmm.”
A dilemma weighed on my mind.
Should I let it live, or should I kill it?
Letting it live bothered me because it had the form of a monster, but killing it bothered me because it came from a treasure chest.
“Still, it came from a treasure chest…”
In the past, I would have thought that anything in the form of a monster must be killed, but having experienced so many abnormal things lately, the thought occurred to me that this creature might actually be a reward.
“Right, if it wasn’t a reward, how could it be in here?”
Just as I was starting to lean towards taking it out alive…
The creature, which had been trembling pleasantly, suddenly started crawling around inside the box.
While I was mesmerized by how cute it looked, struggling with each push of its body, it reached the old key that was also in the box.
Belatedly remembering I was short on time, I was about to grab both the slime and the key to leave when something ridiculous happened.
The slime, which had been wriggling on my palm with a pleasant sensation, suddenly opened its mouth and swallowed the key in one gulp.
“?”
…This completely screws me over.