The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

Rena threatened me, ”You’re really cornering me. I could tie you up and drag you along as I please.”

She revealed a long, translucent wire on her wrist. The multipurpose wire glinted softly under the moonlight. The motion of the wire, reminiscent of a snake, made me take a few steps back. The snake tattoo that had killed the Necron supervisor a few days ago flashed through my mind, making me tense.

Spurred on by that recollection, I reflexively grabbed the sword lying nearby and pointed it at her.

I felt disgusted with myself and blurted out random words in an attempt to cover my embarrassment. ”What are you hesitating for? The guild tests should have gone well. All that’s left is for you to keep climbing.”

”Haah...” After a deep sigh, she resignedly said, ”The tests aren’t over yet.”

”There’s more to do?”

”If you want me to advance in the guild, there’s something you need to help me with.”

I nodded lightly. ”Tell me.”

”They said I must bring you to them.”

However, her unexpected response left me stunned. ”Me?”

”Yes. They specifically mentioned you. Will you come with me?”

”I...”

”They know that you’re not human.”

***

They know?

T&T was a human guild. Their sudden interest in me was suspicious. An intelligence guild knowing my true identity made sense, but wanting me despite knowing was harder to understand.

What value could I have for them?

Rena asked, ”Will you go? I don’t know the details either. It’s not like they kindly explained everything to me.”

”They just told you to bring me without explaining why?”

Rena nodded with a somewhat subdued expression. ”They gave me the time and place. They called it the final procedure.”

”For you to become an executive?”

Rena emphasized the future tense subtly. ”They said if I go through this, the position of branch manager will be more than available.”

”More than available?”

”That’s the ominous part. What did they mean by that?”

I couldn’t grasp their intentions at all. ”Hm...”

”Going with me now might be an irreversible choice. I have a bad feeling about this.”

Rena’s complexion didn’t look good. She had sharp instincts, and I had never suffered by trusting her judgment. On the other hand, when I ignored her advice back in the dungeon, a blue-armored knight split me in half and killed me.

Should I back out?

Nonetheless, I wanted to move forward for now. There was too much left unexplored, and too many unanswered questions. This was a moment to take decisive action.

I said, ”Running away with you would also be irreversible, wouldn’t it? Your guild career would be over.”

Rena’s glistening eyes wavered. ”That guild... I don’t care about it much...”

”You don’t care?”

I cared. I wanted to know what would happen if Rena became a branch manager and cleared the scenario.

I pushed her despite her reluctance. ”Let’s go with my gut this time.”

I couldn’t be certain of a good outcome. The guild might have malicious intentions, but I needed to confirm why they were calling for me. In the worst-case scenario, if they wanted to kill me, I’d simply die.

They’ll only hurt me, after all.

The guild had tested Rena and then let her go without any issues. It didn’t seem like they would call her back just to harm her.

”You know what? Sometimes, it feels like it’s you, not me, who wants to engage in guild activities.”

”That’s an exaggeration. Ah, by the way, the director has disappeared...”

Rena blinked. ”The director?”

She must have come straight to my room without checking the director’s office.

She lightly bit her lip. ”Hm...”

”Aren’t you worried?”

”There’s something suspicious... Let’s leave as soon as possible. I’ll just see my younger sibling’s face and quickly pack what I need.”

***

Morning came, and we boarded a carriage. Lime had prepared one for us under the contract. Rena had been briefed beforehand, so she knew that our direction was northeast.

Clatter. Clatter.

The winter sunlight was light, which wasn’t enough to thaw the frozen ground. The hardened earth made the ride bumpy.

I glanced to my side. Rena was still asleep with a warm blanket over her lap. She leaned on my shoulder.

She stayed in that position for several hours, even in the jolting carriage. I found it amusing, but I couldn’t tell if she was genuinely asleep or pretending. She had transformed so much in a short three months compared to my twenty years. I no longer needed to protect or nurture her.

Suddenly, I felt as if I was missing something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

”...”

I sensed her gaze. Rena had woken up and quietly stared at me, her eyes like a gentle drizzle of rain.

To break the silence, I awkwardly asked, ”Are we there yet?”

”Not even close. I was just...” she trailed off.

A signpost appeared, marking the way to the capital and the eastern mountains. We took the middle path.

The area became desolate. Occasionally, birds chirped, but there were no people. We passed through mountain trails and wastelands. We entered a road lined with square piles of stones on either side.

Rena stretched and said, ”We’re almost there. We’ll arrive soon.”

After a while, we passed the stone-covered road, and she said to the coachman, ”Let us off here.”

The coachman stopped the carriage by the roadside. We disembarked.

The darkening sky felt oddly ominous, but it wasn’t just the time of day. This place also didn’t seem suited for sunlight.

”Hm...”

Large stone heaps on either side of the road concealed it until now. Beside the road was a sunken basin, which was about five times the size of a large colosseum. Due to its sheer size, it didn’t feel like a place meant for humans.

Rena said, ”This is it. The meeting spot.”

I followed Rena toward a steep cliff that loomed below. The cliff dropped vertically but turned into terraces midway.

Rena calmly walked to the edge and stepped across protruding rocks to make her descent.

At the midpoint, she gestured to me. ”Come down.”

They asked to meet here? What are they planning?

I was extremely curious about their intentions and purpose. Driven by a desire to satisfy my curiosity immediately, I felt no anxiety or regret about the location.

”Let’s do this.”

I grabbed onto the protruding rocks and climbed down. As I descended, I noticed large cavities in the cliffside.

Hmm...

They weren’t natural cavities. They seemed like stone caves painstakingly carved and polished long ago with chisels and hammers. Pillars and roofs were engraved into the caves.

Those almost look like houses.

They could have been tombs for the dead, but the caves were large and deep enough to comfortably house the living. The dark depths were completely obscured from view.

Thud.

I reached the middle section where Rena was waiting.

She casually remarked as I approached, ”Did you find the cloak cumbersome?”

”It burned away.”

”You’re still wearing the armor, though.”

I didn’t have much to say in response. Rena brushed it off and walked ahead. From there, we descended the terraced cliffside at a brisk pace.

The slope was steep, but each step was wide, making the descent easier. I had the leisure to observe my surroundings—strange letters and geometric patterns etched into the rocks caught my eye.

”It feels like a temple,” I said.

Rena glanced at the patterns as she walked slowly. ”Doesn’t it? It’s unpleasant.”

”Don’t you believe in gods?”

”I don’t want to rely on the favor of some deceitful being I don’t even know.”

I half-listened to her as we continued downward. The more I looked, the more this massive basin seemed like a temple dedicated to some being. Large stone sculptures of lions, snakes, and bears were scattered around, most of them cracked and half-collapsed.

The steps, caves, and cliffside were no different—evidence of twisting, tilting, and ruptures suggested a massive earthquake had struck long ago.

I’ve seen this somewhere before...

The sculptures of lions, snakes, and bears felt vaguely familiar. A large trumpet was engraved on one stone.

That.

I looked at Rena’s neck. The black jade necklace I had casually given her, which I had received from Lime, hung against her skin. It was also shaped like a trumpet. Despite the difference in size, the resemblance was striking.

Is there a connection?

Before I could organize my thoughts, we stood in the basin’s center. A massive stone altar loomed before us. It was positioned to overlook all the densely packed caves along the cliffside. The sun was setting slowly.

Rena said, ”We’re not late. They told us to wait here.”

I asked, ”What kind of altar is this?”

”It’s a sacrificial altar.”

I stared at the massive altar. It was over fifteen meters long, wide, and at least five meters tall, built like a stepped pyramid. There were no traces of recent rituals—no bloodstains or corpses—suggesting that ceremonies had either not occurred or had taken place long ago. The large steps were densely engraved with constellations’ star marks and geometric patterns.

I told her, ”This one is strangely intact.”

”It couldn’t be more ominous.”

Unlike the other sculptures and the cliffside, the altar remained unscathed and perfectly preserved. Even the material seemed different.

We stood before the altar. A soaked full moon appeared in the sky and rose right above the basin’s center, bathing the broken sculptures scattered throughout the arena with its moist light. One by one, they seemed to stir, as if coming to life.

Clatter.

The sculptures were too crude, too small, and far removed from reality. However, it suddenly clicked when I saw them under the moonlight. This was a Demon King’s altar: the Shrine of Purson, the Demon King of Uprightness.

He was the Demon King of Lightning who rode a 30-meter-tall black bear named Einstein, bore the head of a lion and playing a trumpet, and commanded twenty-six legions with one hand.

Not just the broken sculptures, but his symbols were scattered everywhere. There was trumpet on the necklace from the slime and the lion-headed human I had glimpsed in his drawer. All of those were symbols of Purson.

If these are Demon King symbols...

Understanding the sculptures’ identity helped connect other dots, such as the tattoo on the Necron supervisor’s neck or the snake that strangled and devoured the soul of the man on the verge of revealing secrets. That snake also represented another Demon King.

Botis.

Botis was the ruler of sixty legions in hell. A blind Demon King with sharp horns and long fangs, he reveled in inflicting pain on those who defied him, his body writhing with spines. The tattoo on the Necron supervisor’s neck was undoubtedly a crude depiction of Botis.

If so, Necron served Botis, and T&T was under Purson’s influence. My thoughts were in turmoil.

If the Demon Kings have already extended their reach into the human world...

The Demon Kings’ descent was supposed to happen in ten years, but they seemed to be laying out the groundwork for their power already. The symbols engraved on the sculptures and altar in this basin were clearly ancient.

Faith in the Demon Kings might have been widespread long ago, but I had no way of knowing because I had spent the first twenty years of my life endlessly rattling and breaking down in insignificant, wretched places. As the misery of those twenty years flashed through my mind like a panorama, I heard the sounds of movement.

Tap, tap.

Under the moonlight, they emerged from the countless caves around us, one by one.