Chapter 26. Why I Devour My Kind with Drowsy Eyes (4)

Ding!

[Doorkeeper Skeleton Affection has increased by 4!]

[Dungeon: Ossuary of the Wraiths Affinity has increased by 0.4%!]

[0.4%/100%]

The Affection of the Doorkeeper Skeleton and the dungeon's affinity had increased.

"

Hmm

..."

Well, I wasn't sure about the affection, but the dungeon affinity didn't seem that useful.

***

Six months passed.

Swish!

During that time, no one ever discovered the mechanism and entered deeper inside. Given that this was a place where novice adventurers played around, it might not be too strange.

Swish!

[809,999/810,000]

[You have completely depleted your stamina.]

[If you move further, there is a high chance of total dislocation.]

[Remaining Stamina: 0.17%]

I had one more swing left.

Swish!

[Quest Clear!]

[810,000/810,000]

[Reward: Swordsmanship Lv. 5 acquired]

[You have diligently trained in swordsmanship without resting.]

[Additional bonuses granted.]

[Strength +2, Agility +2.]

Thud.

[Recovering stamina.]

[0.171%...]

[0.174%...]

A few hours of rest should do it. Then, I planned to resume training. However, the messages I received this time were different from usual.

[Swordsmanship talent has reached its limit. Current talent: Lv. 1]

[You can no longer increase skill levels through training.]

[Please purchase a higher talent!]

Is it over?

Is this the end?

So, there was a limit to this thing called talent. Of course, if it continued like this, it would be absurd to become extremely strong with no other conditions than just swinging a sword.

Was it called Hero Points?

I received that talent automatically after clearing the dungeon and earning those points.

Does that mean I have to find another dungeon to continue this?

But I didn't know where the other dungeons were located. I didn't plan to survey the world. From the 10th year onwards, I had been caught up in the war between the Demon King's army and humans, unable to move freely.

I needed information.

I need to interrogate a human.

Even now, it seemed like doing that was the right thing.

Hmm

.

It would take about an hour for me to recover to normal. I stared blankly at the core of the dungeon. Inside the stone coffin, another skeleton was gaining experience points—the doorkeeper skeleton that had first entered the coffin was now outside.

I didn't know what level it had reached before I left. I could see Rubia's status window, but I couldn't see the status windows of the other skeletons. Currently, I hadn't used that coffin yet because another skeleton was gaining experience. I planned to level up all the skeletons here before entering it myself.

Taking advantage of my break, I opened my status window.

[Name: None

Skeleton Soldier Lv. 8 (64)

Health: 30

Strength: 38

Agility: 39

Wisdom: 9]

Below various basic skills, the glowing [Swordsmanship Lv. 5] message caught my eye, and I felt quite proud.

Suddenly, I heard a sound from the system.

Ding!

[Dungeon Message: An intruder has entered!

— Current Dungeon Affinity: 5.4%

— Initial alert provided when affinity exceeds 5%.

— The higher the affinity, the more dungeon functions you can use.]

Perfect timing.

It had been a while since a human entered. A good prey had arrived. After all, I had left the dungeon intruders alone for too long in the name of training.

I tried to get up. No, I intended to get up, but my legs wouldn't listen.

Ding!

[You are in an exhausted state!]

[You cannot move.]

[Recovery time: 58:42]

***

In front of the F-rank dungeon called Ossuary of the Wraiths, three adventurers were about to enter. The three adventurers consisted of one man and two women.

"How much do you get paid for an F-rank?"

The question came from a woman in tight leather armor. The woman sent a coy look at the well-armed man. The silver-haired explorer in a cloth outfit sneered at her.

"Rena, you don't come for the pay from an F-rank. Just think of it as practice."

The woman in leather armor clenched her teeth subtly.

"Oh, is that so? Haha... Fonza, you're so smart!"

However, her words and thoughts were completely different.

What a sly fox. She's clearly got her own agenda. I'll kill the man with poison, then slowly slice her up with a knife. I'll tear that smug look off her silver-haired face and cut her body bit by bit.

The silver-haired woman maintained her mocking smile and responded, "Hmm, didn't you even check that much before coming? What a waste of armor."

She was blatantly provoking her.

The silver-haired woman thought,

This suspicious woman keeps acting all cute. It's disgusting. I need to push her buttons.

Invisible sparks flew between the two women.

At that moment, the man, wearing chainmail and carrying a large great shield on his back, tried to diffuse the situation.

"Haha. Everyone, Fonza is right. An F-rank dungeon is just for defeating the monsters inside. But Rena, your curiosity is good. Always ask questions. Shall we do a quick briefing then?"

He had a rather short but heavy-looking mace on his waist, suitable for wielding with one hand. It looked like a blunt weapon designed to shatter bones.

"Yes!"

"I'll listen carefully!"

Both women turned to him with eager eyes, intending to flatter the man.

The man boasted as he continued, "The main monsters here are skeletons. There are some big spiders, but they only appear much deeper inside. And they say other adventurers have already wiped them out."

The woman in leather armor widened her eyes and asked, "Skeletons? You didn't kill them?"

Adding an obvious question like this would usually make men feel like they were special. It was necessary and akin to warming up the muscles before killing them to make the knife cut smoothly.

"Haha, Rena, you're such a novice. Skeletons reassemble themselves over time after they're killed. Now you get it?"

The man tapped the woman in leather armor on the head with his fingers, his hand sliding through her hair to scratch her scalp subtly.

"As long as you don't break the skull, they just keep coming back together, so it's perfect for practice."

"Wow... that's amazing. And a bit sad, too."

Rena found the man disgusting but did not show it at all. Instead, she moistened her eyes and acted innocent.

"What's there to be sad about?” the silver-haired woman spat out curtly, apparently displeased by the atmosphere.

The man wielding the mace nodded. He wanted both women.

"Yeah, Rena. They're there just for that. To be broken and reassembled, over and over. That's their purpose."

"If priests conducted a large-scale purification, wouldn't they stop coming back to life?" Rena asked.

"True, but who would bother? The supply would just dry up. Practice skeletons are always necessary."

"I see..."

"

Hmph

,” the silver-haired woman snorted.

"Alright, shall we go in?"

The two women nodded.

"Just trust me. Follow closely behind, and stay in line. Got it?" the man said in a creepy voice as he led the way.

***

"See that pile of bones there? It could reassemble into a Skeleton Soldier. Be careful. They're really slow, though.

Hahaha

..."

The man swung his mace in the air.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The silver-haired woman stepped back from the man, uncomfortable about being hit by the moving mace.

She asked a question she didn't care about to make it seem natural. "What is this pile of ashes?"

She pointed to the ash pile gathered on the ground. But, the man did not know what the ashes were.

"Oh, that? Don't worry about it. Just ignore it."

When unsure, that was how he answered. He thought that whatever he didn't know wasn't worth knowing.

Tap tap.

The three walked across the stone floor. The man knew the path well as he had been here many times years ago. He didn't even consider this a dungeon raid.

Both of them are mine.

He thought of it as a conquest of women, not a dungeon.

"There's a fork in the road! What do we do?"

The woman in leather armor, Rena, pretended to be scared.

"Haha... Should I use my intuition? I feel like two paths are blocked, and one is open."

"If you say so... I believe you!"

Rena clenched her fists tightly. Of course, both the man and the women knew it wasn't intuition. The man confidently walked ahead.

Clang. Clang.

The metal parts of the mace the man carried clanked against each other as he walked carelessly. In truth, the man was thoroughly prepared. He had the perfect gear combination for dealing with skeletons: a great shield and a mace ideal for smashing bones. One strike would be enough to knock them all down, and there was no chance of him getting hurt.

After walking a short distance, they reached an open area that adventurers used. Torches and campfires were set up, brightly illuminating the place.

"Hey, ladies, if you want to rest, just let me know," the man said, now referring to both women as "ladies," showing he no longer saw them as fellow adventurers.

His adventurer rank was much higher than required for such a low-level dungeon. He was only focused on impressing the novice adventurers to get them both into bed together. Just thinking about it sent a shiver of excitement from his toes to his head.

"

He he

... I'll do this with one of them... and that with the other...."

He felt a heavy sensation as if blood was pooling downward. Not because he was tired but because of his thoughts, which made walking awkward. The flirtatious behavior of Rena, the woman in the tight leather armor, further provoked him. They had hardly walked before they stopped to rest.

"Shall we go now?"

After a few minutes of walking, Rena pointed toward the ceiling.

"Dead vines are sticking to the ceiling. They aren't alive and moving, are they?"

"Come on, Rena, think sensibly," the silver-haired woman interjected sharply.

"

Haha

... It's okay not to know everything, but this is an F-rank dungeon. Just follow me," the man replied confidently, holding up his great shield.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

An F-rank dungeon. While further subdivided into F+ and F-, dungeons were fundamentally categorized into six levels, from A to F. The F-rank was the lowest tier. F-rank dungeons had to meet specific criteria. Of course, the types of monsters in the dungeon determined its classification, but there were other conditions as well.

First, F-rank dungeons could not have any traps, magical or mechanical. If the ground suddenly collapsed into a pit filled with spikes or drops into a poisonous swamp, it wouldn't be considered an F-rank dungeon regardless of how weak the monsters were.

Second, the path had to be easy. It should be simple for even a novice to navigate, find their way in, and get out without much trouble. Even if the monsters were just spiders, if the layout was such that someone needed advanced tracking skills or risked starving to death by getting lost, it wouldn't be considered an F-rank dungeon. Instead, it would be classified as a D-rank labyrinth or a C-rank maze.

There were a few other criteria, but in short, an F-rank dungeon was simply easy. There was no chance of something like a living vine being present.

The man swung his mace at the dried-up vines.