Chapter 281: Unearth (1)

Rumble...

Thunder rolled above my skull.

Flash! Boom!

Lightning tails lashed the sky, yet I felt a strange, drowsy calm beneath them. Sheets of rain poured down, reducing mountains into swamps in an instant. Torrents surged, black clouds emptied themselves, drowning the whole world in shadow.

The shadows clawed at the earth—shaking it, tearing at all sides, collapsing, flooding, and crashing down. And yet, the starving shadows only grew sharper.

Plink...

Raindrops struck my skull, scattering into dozens of rivulets. I didn’t even think to shield myself. I didn’t roll aside. Didn’t sit up. Didn’t climb atop the grave. I simply lay there.

Shhhhh...

Raindrops scraped at me, peeling away the remnants of the old world. They dug into my bones, erasing torn flesh, blood, and cries. Cries buried in the dark rose faintly into the sky, only to vanish under the rain.

Would anything change if I moved? Could acting for someone else hold even the faintest meaning?

I gained experience and grew stronger. Yet, hollow despair pressed down on me as I stared upward. Thoughts and emotions clung like threads of a web, stretched between raindrops. Emptiness, resentment, and anger at Biblio and myself tangled and collapsed. What I’d thought was the quickest path now felt like a pathetic lie.

What became of Rubia? Perhaps I should’ve killed her at the end. If she still lived in the world I left behind, it’d only be under Biblio’s shadow. With him guarding her, any attack I made would have failed. Stripped of hope, she’d remain. My mind devoured, I’d condemned to eternity as his slave at her side.

Helplessness gnawed at me. Still, I refused to let everything end here. With each return, I gained knowledge. With every scenario cleared, the past was saved. If I gathered it all, I could still shape the future I wanted.

Clack.

I clenched my fist. First, I needed to assess the situation.

Status.

A soft chime rang, and the translucent blue screen appeared.

[Succession Complete.]

[67.74%...]

[Name: None

Skeleton Soldier Lv. 1 (271)

Health: 127

Strength: 127

Agility: 127

Wisdom: 132

[Achieved Class: Skeleton Knight]

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

[All perks of the Skeleton Knight are retained...]

.

.

.

[Lightning Wave Lv. 5]

[Traits: Paralysis, Spread, Chain.......]

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.

.

[Stealth Lv. 8]

[Perk: Perception Guard (B+)

— Blocks magical wide-range detection across five dimensions.

— Prevents discovery through scent, taste, hearing...]

The twenty thousand experience points I had invested in Stealth remained. I had chosen it while fleeing with the relic, in a desperate bid to survive against Marquis Leandro. At the time, it felt wasteful and redundant, overlapping with Botis’s Concealment. In hindsight, it had been the right choice. I refused to ever serve under Botis again.

I scrolled further down. A new perk appeared.

[You resisted Botis’s mental corruption through your own will.]

[Perk Acquired: Anti-Demon (A-)

— Significantly increases resistance to unwanted possession, brainwashing, illusions, and madness.]

A high-ranked perk, born from Rubia’s agony, not Biblio’s gift. All that wretch had ever given me was the Demon’s blessing, none of which carried over.

The anger welled up again. For a fleeting moment, I wondered, what if I returned to him? Used him, fed off his blessings, and grew immune to his corruption? But no. Too dangerous. If he discovered I was immune to his influence, he’d never allow me to live. He was unrivaled. Should things turn, I’d have no escape.

I recalled his benevolent smile, the mask over his monstrous craft. Duke Biblio, honored by the emperor with countless titles. The Proxy of Botis, enslaver of the Necron Society. His hobby: human craftsmanship. If I intended to make Rubia a true lord, then I could never ally with such a man. The Necron, chained as his thralls, proved it.

Biblio had to be cut down and burned away.

Clack.

I rose. In the distance, I sensed Rubia approaching. I would not meet her lying helpless in the mud. At least, let me see her as she came.

Soon, human voices carried through the rain.

"Wouldn’t it be best to return to the castle, my lady? To seek out the subject of your nightmares... I confess I don’t understand your intent."

The presence was familiar, but the words were not.

"..."

"My lady?"

Her voice cut clear through the storm, firm despite the rain soaking her. "He is not the subject of my nightmares."

"But, my lady, your dreams often leave your bed drenched. In those dreams, he appears, does he not...?" asked another attendant.

She replied without hesitation, "It’s complicated... but he wanted to help me."

Nightmares. Even now, the torment Biblio had inflicted lived on in her sleep. Not a single beautiful memory, only nightmares. I clenched my resolve again. That could never happen again.

Her steps drew closer. As she drew close to my grave, I saw a rapier at her hip. I watched from the reeds.

"In my dreams... I saw him, clearly..." she murmured faintly.

The same reaction. Her face carried the same shock, even more poignant than before. A myriad of emotions flickered across her, twisting her features. Longing, confusion, disappointment, and sorrow.

Briefly, I wanted to speak. To comfort her. My fists tightened with pain. Still, the more I learned of Erast, the more I knew I couldn’t reveal myself. There could be ghosts watching her even now. I would never let the tragedy of my past life repeat itself.

She raised a hand, wiping her face, as if to erase her expression like rain from glass.

Then, her features hardened into practiced calm. "Let’s return."

"Yes, my lady."

As she turned away, I summoned her status window. Stats and job were unchanged. There were no additional buffs. Botis’s proxy had done nothing for her.

I followed silently as she strode back, walking with forced strength to hide her weariness. The castle’s state was much the same as before. Rubia was no fugitive now. The inner keep was hers. Even the conference predicting Marquis Leandro’s descent was the same.

I left once I had confirmed it.

Pat... pat...

The rain fell steadily behind me, droplets scattering in chaos. Like the rain, my thoughts splintered and leaped in every direction.

What now?

Until I faced Biblio, there was nothing that could be called a mistake. Following the same path should be acceptable up to that point. Erast crawled with ghosts shrouded in Botis’s Concealment. Without the Light’s Relic, detecting them was nearly impossible. For now, I needed to leave Erast.

Fwoosh!

I reclaimed every silver ingot from the captain of Yublam’s vault, slipped a Merchant Guild card from the chest, and infiltrated Yublam Castle. Because I had arrived slightly earlier than before, I spotted Benson Pretcher near the wall guards.

This time... perhaps I’ll use a bow.

I knocked one guard unconscious and took his bow.

Hmph.

The bow lacked elegance, yet its craftsmanship gave it surprising durability. It had probably been the Grassmere blacksmith’s work.

Creak...

My Archery skill was only Lv. 1, but...

[Absurdly high Agility stat compensates for Archery.]

[Absurdly high Strength stat compensates for Archery.]

[Ludicrously high Detection skill compensates for Archery.]

[Skill: Focus activated.]

[Skill: Wind Blast Lv. 5...]

Maybe that was overkill.

Whiiiiish!

The loosened arrow refused to hide itself. With overwhelming spin, it smashed Benson Pretcher’s teeth, shredded his tongue, and burst out the back of his neck. The thick fletching rattled inside his throat, as if mocking him while he died.

I turned to the next target. Asphode and his men fell the same way, pierced one after another by arrows. After ransacking the blacksmith’s home, I went to the training grounds, where Christina practiced alone.

"You are...?"

"Fight me."

Clang!

As before, I forced her to awaken her talent. Then, I entrusted her with the silver ingots and asked her to guard Rubia. That was as far as safe measures could take me. I retreated into the mountains, sinking into thought. My immediate goal remained the same: to clear Rubia’s scenario. Still, I felt the weight of it more than ever.

The Necron’s high priest, Biblio, would preside over the judgment of Erast’s succession. The castle itself brimmed with elite ghosts for unknown reasons. I couldn’t possibly resolve it on my own. I needed allies. Who were my options?

First: Rena. She was the most trustworthy choice. Not only did she believe me when I revealed my regressions, she even showed me an inexplicable favor. For all her obsessive hatred of humans—killed like flies beneath her hand—she had never betrayed or abandoned me.

If I drew her in, powerful figures of T&T like Naneow Tropin or Sharunian would stand at my side. Biblio’s infiltration of T&T was also something she had to be warned about. Regardless, I could never bear to let her die for my sake.

Second: Marquis Leandro. He alone raised his blade sharpest against Biblio. I could still see him cutting at the very barrier, as though rending the world apart. Someone of his skill, will, and nature would make for the most valuable partner. Yet, could such a man ever trust me? Did he even understand the concept of an ally? The enemy of my enemy wasn’t always a friend.

Third: Gith-Za-Rai. The greatest necromancer alive. Thinking of her stirred only guilt, gratitude, worry, and debt. I still had to tell her of Lindbrum’s sun, but would she even believe me? When I had first confessed my regression, she had laughed and dismissed me as a lunatic skeleton. Truthfully, she’d probably side with Biblio over Rubia. His perverse craft wouldn’t faze her. Without the Necromancer’s Lover perk, I had even less leverage over her.

Fourth: Isaac. After tasting Botis’s mental corruption firsthand, I realized Malphas could be a tolerable contract partner. Recalling the life where Rubia was defiled beyond recognition, I could almost understand his killing her out of mercy.

What should I do...?

The more I thought, the clearer it became. Isaac was the only real option. Only he could wield the vast knowledge I’d gathered, giving proper counsel on how to approach the others. With my new resistance to corruption, I was far less likely to fall for his tricks.

He was also the only one who’d seen through my regression with an offhand remark. The only one I could speak with about the Status Window itself. And if he failed, I’d feel the least guilt about letting him fall.

Fwoosh!

Having made my decision, I wasted no time. I turned toward Grassmere to rouse the sorcerer lying in his underground tomb.