Chapter 23. Why I Devour My Kind with Drowsy Eyes (1)

Skeletons were always hunted and trampled, counted one by one as mere fragments of experience points. I was always just a skeleton, occupying the role of another. No one cared about the skeletons’ hearts or circumstances.

Clatter.

I shook my head, breaking free from my bitter reflections. I found large letters written like an announcement on one side of the cave wall. It would be difficult not to notice these words if someone had reached this point. They were written by a human.

[Beginner’s Playground]

[Do Not Break the Skull]

I suddenly felt frustrated at the intention behind the humans who wrote those sentences. If a skeleton's skull was broken, it could no longer rise. The phrase “Do Not Break the Skull” was a request to refrain from playing alone and to continue recycling so the next person could use it.

The skeletons in this dungeon were used as public property for human amusement.

I turned my gaze away from the words. Still far from reaching me, I watched the gatekeeper skeleton slowly clattering toward me.

His pace was slow, and he was quite short. I didn’t know how long he had been here. Anyway, he had been here since the first time I came. At the very least, he was older than me. The gatekeeper skeleton held a rusty sword in one hand. It was a piece of metal with cracks all over it and crumbling edges.

If I listened to it, the blade could probably tell a long tale of many years. But that was all. There was no use for such a rusted sword as a blade. I thought it was pitiable. But pity and sympathy felt arrogant. I should not feel such things.

Clatter!

The gatekeeper skeleton didn’t crouch. It continued walking toward the intruder. Even when knocked down, it got up and charged again. It faithfully performed its role as the first plaything for humans.

Clatter!

It was now within five steps of me.

“

Ugh... ughhh...

”

It let out a strange sound. It raised its sword and charged at me. I took off my helmet, revealing my white skull. I showed my identity. I came here to kill humans, not to indiscriminately destroy skeletons. However, claiming I came here to “help” might be a stretch.

I didn’t have any goodwill, not toward the monsters of other dungeons or skeletons like myself. If I had to fight them, I had no reason not to. But I decided to try persuading them first.

“Calm down, friend.”

“

Ughhh

?”

The skeleton paused a little at the sight of my white skull. But after hesitating for a moment, it approached me again.

Can it not understand?

Or perhaps it was simply dull. None of the skeletons in this dungeon could speak. I had been the same when I was here.

Can’t it understand what it sees?

I tilted my head. Sometimes, skeletons would fight each other.

This one too?

The gatekeeper had never attacked me before.

Swish!

The rusty sword cut through the air. The skeleton was quite earnest in targetting me.

It’s swinging properly.

It seemed to show a faint killing intent. Inside its hollow eye sockets, a faint blue light flickered.

Swish!

But it was slow. Its pace was as slow as its steps, its reach was short, and its power was weak. It posed no threat at all. It felt like I was watching in slow motion. Of course, the agility difference between the skeleton and me would be more than threefold. No matter its weapon or strategy, it could never defeat me.

When I was in the ossuary, this skeleton was at a similar level to mine. But now, it couldn’t land a single hit on me. Between this skeleton and me, there was now an insurmountable gap. I could easily handle five or ten of them if they attacked.

It felt like a lie that I had once been at a similar level to this thing. I felt slightly elated, but my mood sank again when I thought about how I got here. I had witnessed the death of the Succubus who protected and nurtured me. I had lost the human woman who had awakened me several times before reaching this point.

And this is all I’ve achieved.

Swish!

Swish!

I dodged the sword several times and tried to speak to the skeleton. I removed my helmet and said I did not intend to hurt it, but it wouldn’t listen at all.

“

Ugh! Ughhh!

”

It only charged at me and uttered strange noises.

There’s no other way.

I looked down at myself. I thought maybe its hostility toward me was understandable. I wore a full plate armor similar to that of a human. I held not a rusty, dull sword but a shiny human weapon. Moreover, it had never seen me before.

My familiarity was based on memory. The gatekeeper was naturally distant toward me. The skeleton raised its sword again.

“

Ughhh!

”

I didn’t want to treat it roughly. To be honest, I didn’t want to fight such a skeleton. Perhaps things would improve if I took off the armor. Maybe it would recognize that I, too, was a skeleton and stop attacking.

But...

This was the armor Rubia had bought for me. The armor she had purchased before being killed after entering the city. I didn’t want to take it off. If the gatekeeper wanted to fight, perhaps it was only polite to respond.

I grabbed the arm, swinging the sword. The skeleton struggled wildly, but its bones didn’t move at all.

Weak

.

It was pitifully weak, and I had no intention of playing with it. Such an act would be shameful. These were the beings that had been persecuted alongside me, but I didn’t want to be hindered either. I raised my hand to snatch away the gatekeeper skeleton’s rusty sword and threw it far away.

Clang!

The rusty sword clattered against the stone floor. I pushed the skeleton back and knocked it down.

Clatter!

It toppled among the pile of bones. The sound was loud, but it rose again and charged at me. It grabbed the rusty sword. If the sword became duller, it might as well use a club. At least it would be more suitable for striking. It kept coming at me.

What now?

It was becoming a nuisance. I grabbed one of its shoulder bones, dislocated it, and threw it into the pile of bones. I removed its legs.

Thud.

Only then did it collapse to the ground. Rather than collapsing, it seemed to be trying to pick up its fallen arms and legs and reattach them to its body. It would stay like that for a while. Reattachment was not easy. Once separated, it took time to reconnect.

It was successfully neutralized for a while. As I confronted it, I realized again how weak Skeleton Soldiers were because I didn't even use my weapon. I had just dodged easily, grabbed its arm bones, and removed them. A perplexing message appeared as I walked past the fallen gatekeeper and took a step.

Ding!

[Experience increased by 34.]

[You have begun a dungeon conquest!]

Dungeon conquest?

Those words suited a human. I hadn’t come here to conquer the dungeon. I came to guard it. When I neutralized the gatekeeper, a message about starting a dungeon conquest appeared. It felt like the natural course was for me to conquer the dungeon.

What is happening?

I continued walking deeper into the dungeon. I found several human corpses stripped down to their underwear. There was quite a bit of blood that hadn’t completely dried yet. They hadn’t died long ago. This sight would be much more threatening for humans than a slow, lumbering skeleton like the gatekeeper I had just knocked down.

Did they fight among themselves?

It seemed like they had fought each other and stripped off their leather armor after killing. The skeleton soldiers of the ossuary wouldn’t strip humans. They didn’t take their belongings. I was the same when I was in this dungeon. This was the work of humans.

I nudged the corpses with my sword. There wasn’t a single coin left on them.

Whoever killed them took everything.

They most likely had fled outside. Dungeons were concealed spaces that some humans used as places for conflicts. They might attack their comrades for desirable items, even striking their party members from behind when confronted with monsters at a critical moment.

However, it was unlikely these people died in such a manner. This was an F-rank dungeon, not a suitable place for backstabbing. It seemed like their goal was to murder them from the start, or they were just fighting among themselves and ended up like this.

The bodies of those who died in the dungeon weather away, eventually becoming a part of the dungeon. They become walking skeletons. The humans I kill here will end up like that. I looked down at the bodies for a moment, then went deeper inside. Coffins were set up or laid down here and there. Of course, no skeletons were resting properly in the coffins.

All the skeletons were trapped by some unknown force in this dungeon. They just waited for an intruder to appear. The skeletons wandering around near the coffins looked at me. Five skeletons wielding rusty swords didn’t seem like they would fit into anything. They were not much better than the gatekeeper I had just put to rest.

Click, clack

...

Clatter, clatter.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

They clattered their teeth as they slowly walked toward me. I didn’t know why I appeared so hostile to them. They were not creatures I wanted to fight at all. Moreover, there was no reward or benefit in dealing with such things. I had entered the dungeon when there were no humans around.

My timing was bad. If the human adventurers had been in full swing, I could have ambushed them nicely from behind.

Click.

I pointed at my skull with my fingers after removing my helmet to show them that I was a skeleton too. However, they still looked at me with hostility. This was becoming tiresome.

“

Ughhh!

”

They clattered and charged at me. I didn’t expect hospitality. I wouldn’t even know how to receive it. However, I hadn’t expected them to attack me as soon as I entered the dungeon.

“I’m a skeleton too.”

“

Ughhh! Ughhh!

”

It would have been better if they had surrounded me properly and attacked in unison, but they pitifully came at me in a straight line.

Swish!

I dodged the swinging swords lightly and shoved them aside one by one. They collapsed pathetically, overlapping each other. They were slow and weak.

Clatter! Clatter!

Crack! Thud!

I neutralized each of the charging skeletons by dislocating them and throwing their remains aside. It wasn’t just my high stats, I knew better than anyone how to deal with them.

[Level Up!]

After putting all five of them down, I even leveled up because my level was still very low. It wasn’t pleasing at all. I had entered the dungeon to catch humans, not to tussle with these things.

Finding my way was easy. I passed old vines and puddles, and everything looked familiar. These were spaces where I had clattered around for years. I couldn’t get lost, even if I wanted to. I occasionally found shabby boxes and tables made of broken stones.

I wondered if they all had been looted because the creaky boxes were completely empty. I went further inside. The creatures guarding the dungeon kept coming, but they couldn’t stop me because they were all pathetically weak. I easily walked through the dungeon and reached the desired location.

There should be a stone wall around here.

Next, I needed to activate the hidden mechanisms one by one.

Snake, owl, horse...

After clearing away some branches and stones, I quickly found the symbols. Then I activated each mechanism. In this dungeon, which had no mechanical or magical traps, this was the only proper mechanism. It wasn’t hard to remember.

Rumble...

As I expected, the stone wall opened. The mechanism wasn’t even that complicated. Even if I failed, there were no pits or rolling stones.

Boom!

The stone wall rose all the way up.

Ding!

[You have deactivated an F-rank mechanism.]

[Experience increased by 350.]

I received a small amount of experience, but my level did not increase.

Is it because I just leveled up?

Suddenly, something happened.