Chapter 39. The Reason Wings Rot in the Cave (7)

"Block them!"

The most disorganized front line attacked me. I quickly spun around, pivoting on my leg, and deflected their weapons with the shield.

Clang! Clang!

Their aimed weapons were knocked away. It was a clash of force against force. Fortunately, none of the humans here seemed to be stronger than me. They weren’t even close to my level.

I guess I've become quite capable.

Once more, I firmly planted my feet and swung my shield to push them back.

Clang!

The front intruders were already affected by the poisonous smoke. Many were dropping their weapons and writhing in pain. Breaking through wasn't difficult.

"

Argh

!

Cough

!"

"

Grr!

"

"It's poison smoke! Fall back!"

Thud! Thud!

The men, overwhelmed by force, fell back. It was impossible to chase them all down and finish them off one by one. However, breaking through the collapsed formation seemed possible.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

I broke through the first line. Two spearmen from the second line thrust their spears at me from the front, but the dungeon passage was narrow. Their numerical advantage was losing its effect.

I just have to get out somehow.

It was my responsibility. I concentrated and swung my sword forward. This was when my Lv. 5 Swordsmanship shone.

Slash! Slash!

The two spears that were thrust from the sides had their shafts completely cut off.

Thud! Thud!

The severed spearheads dropped helplessly to the ground.

"

Eek!

"

"

Huff!

Huff!

It's him, after all!"

The ones who lost their spearheads retreated hastily, breathing heavily as they ran away. They didn't seem to have a strong will to stop me. Rena was crouched close behind me. At this rate, we might be able to escape.

"The smoke will clear soon," Rena whispered to me.

I could see the smoke that once filled the passage slowly dispersing elsewhere.

Whoosh!

I quickly stepped forward. Someone who seemed like a commander shouted something, but I approached faster than they could retreat and closed in. Those holding spears could no longer maintain their advantage in distance. While protecting Rena with the shield in my left hand, I wielded the sword in my right, swinging it wildly.

Clang! Slash! Thud!

Most of the sounds were of metal striking metal or metal hitting wood. There was neither the time nor reason to kill each one individually. The archers at the very back had, for some reason, already retreated outside. I pushed away the few remaining intruders who were still coughing and moved toward the entrance.

Did we survive?

I had made the foolish choice to stay inside, but perhaps I had managed to escape. I still didn't understand why I had decided to remain here.

Beside me, Rena said, "

Huff

... Something feels... off, doesn't it? Considering how desperately they came in, they gave way too easily."

It was true. It almost felt as if they wanted us to break through.

"It's like they expected us not to be able to stop them. We could have died here, and it wouldn't have been surprising."

"Could they be aiming their bows at us from outside?"

I raised my shield and opened the dungeon door.

Creak.

The dungeon door opened. Bright light from outside flooded in. For nearly a month, I hadn't seen a clear sky. The dry air felt refreshing. And, under that sky stood a man in blue armor. I couldn’t identify the material, but the armor had an unmistakably unique presence.

The blue armor was beautifully inlaid with a dragon. The attire was impeccably clean, with not a speck of dust on it. The man looked to be in his late twenties. He had a neat, polite appearance that anyone would call handsome.

However, a strange stench emanated from his face. It was like the odor from countless corpses piled in an unseen pit. Beneath his clean expression, it felt like hundreds or thousands of corpses were concealed underneath.

Tap.

The man habitually patted his head. His fine hair, neatly swept back, was an ashen blue, giving off a peculiar aura.

The man frowned. "This isn't right."

The clear autumn sky and the moderately dry, fresh air also seemed to dampen simultaneously. He looked at me, and our gazes met.

The man complained, "With this kind of mess... I won't even reach the two mages, let alone the Royal Guard. What a complete waste of time."

The man in blue armor glanced to his side.

To his side?

There, a man in a silk robe was trembling. There were other lords around him. And the archers, who had lowered their bows and were standing quietly, came into view. It was a new scene I hadn't even realized was there.

Ah...

Only then did I realize that the presence of the man in blue armor was so overwhelming that everyone was captivated by it. Thus, I hadn't noticed the man in the silk robe or the other lords standing around. The man in blue armor spoke to the man in the silk robe.

"You."

The man in the silk robe stiffened in shock. "Y-yes, master!"

"Your report was exaggerated. Kill yourself."

The man in the silk robe trembled violently. His belly and chest quivered with each shake. The instincts I had accumulated over time screamed at me. Some primal instinct was howling madly.

Run. Run. Run.

But I couldn't move a single step. I could only stare blankly at what was happening in front of me.

"K-kill m-myself...."

The man in the silk robe shakily reached into his clothes.

Is he really going to kill himself?

"I'm joking, lord. I can't make informants kill themselves. If I kill them all, who would make accurate reports? Right?"

The man in the silk robe couldn't speak and just continued to tremble. Then, as if something that had been binding him had suddenly been released, he collapsed to the ground. The man in blue armor slowly walked toward me.

It was silent. He wore the same full plate mail as I did. Yet, his footsteps were silent. I couldn't tell if there really was no sound or if I just couldn't hear it. At that moment, it felt like only he and I existed in the world—no Rena, no one else around.

Whoosh!

The man swung the sword at his waist, scabbard and all, slowly. It was slow enough to see the trajectory.

The swing was so slow it was boring, enough to make one drowsy. It felt like he was dragging the space itself. It was so slow that there was nowhere to dodge.

[Skill: Intimidation activated.]

[Rolling for resistance!]

[Strength is too low. The wrist attempting to roll the dice won't move.]

[Intelligence is too low. You've forgotten how to roll the dice.]

It felt like time and space were being dominated. I couldn't lift my weapon or shield.

Thud!

A violent impact struck my head.

[Attacked by someone with an immeasurable rank in swordsmanship! All resistances are ignored.]

[The level difference is unimaginable! The chance of evasion is fundamentally eliminated.]

My skull split in two. The pure white scabbard with a blue glow split my skeleton and the armor that the dead Rubia had bought in half.

What will happen to Rena?

That thought was the last thing

on

my mind as my consciousness faded.

***

Clack!

The feeling of the scabbard, without a sharpened blade, slowly slicing my skull, remained as a lingering impression.

Clink! Clank!

I shook my body, but the unpleasant sensation didn't easily go away. I lifted my arm to check.

Tap, Tap!

I roughly felt my skull. It was flat, with no cracks or gaps. It was solid and intact, very well attached.

A dream?

Was the splitting of my skull something that happened in a dream?

Clatter!

I shook my head vigorously. No, it wasn't a dream. Of course not. A Skeleton Soldier couldn’t dream or go mad. It had all actually happened. I had definitely died.

"..."

The surroundings were very quiet. All I could hear was the faint echo of someone's soft breathing.

Breathing?

It was a familiar sound. I turned toward the source. There was a woman asleep on a blanket.

Clink!

Startled, I stumbled backward.

Thud!

I hit the wall. The sound echoed throughout the hall.

"

Ugh

."

The woman mumbled in her sleep, twisting slightly. That face wasn’t just familiar. Until a moment ago, we had been together, trying to escape the dungeon.

Rena.

It was her.

Ding!

[Succession Complete!]

[Name: None

Skeleton Soldier Lv.1 (70)

Health: 34

Strength: 40

Agility: 39

Intelligence: 11]

[Automatic progression... Marking the usage of Uskoreniye of Constricted Regression as complete.]

[Assimilation rate has decreased.]

[93.54% -> 92.49%]

A status window appeared before my eyes, clear as if etched into my brain. However, some of the words initially appeared faint. Gradually, they became clearer over time. The term ”Uskoreniye of Constricted Regression” was like that.

My head hurt. It genuinely throbbed. For a while, I stood still, unable to move. It felt like a fine crack was forming.

Uskoreniye of... what?

Do I need to raise my intelligence to understand something like this?

It was a completely unfamiliar term and feeling. Maybe if I had some extra points later, I could try raising it, but... In truth, points were always lacking, even when I invested solely in Strength, Agility, and Health. Intelligence was directly tied to the power of magic, and I was far from magic.

Clatter.

I shook my head. I decided to focus on what I could understand for now.

I’ve come back to life.

However, the situation had changed. I hadn't returned to the grave. The surroundings were quiet, and there was no storm pouring down like madness, no thunder so loud it made my head tremble.

There was no clumsy necromancer in a gray robe. No desperate cries calling my name. The woman who was startled by my every move was gone.

Rubia. Has she disappeared for good now?

It had always started in the graveyard at night. The rain and her always began together. She wasn't much help. I died multiple times trying to protect her. Her every action was clumsy, especially as a woman who had learned about the world solely from books.

Nonetheless, she wasn't someone who deserved to die like that. Not that anyone should die in such a miserable way, but there was no such thing as that kind of morality or ideal. Abuse and torture existed everywhere. Plundering and killing were the norms of the world. In the end, everyone fed off corpses.

However, she was the one who had raised me from the grave. She welcomed me for the first time and showed me affection. She was surprised and moved by even my trivial actions. This place was a dungeon, The Ossuary of Wraiths.

It had returned to the moment I took Rena down from the spider web and laid her on the blanket.

Is Rubia's death a fixed event?

Can I not return to the point when I met her again?

I hoped not. Rubia had met a miserable end. Thinking that she had been buried in the past made my chest feel tight.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

While I was lost in my thoughts, the annoying sound kept ringing in my head. The empty space before my eyes was continuously filled with translucent blue windows.

[Death Memorial]

[You have achieved your fifth death since succession.]

[An incomprehensible concept has been applied to this death. You cannot gain any related perks.]

[You can enhance another perk. Please choose a number.]

For the Necromancer+

Blunt Weapons are Dangerous

Skull Protection Method