The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

Chapter 75: You’ll Be Able to Do Something Fun (1)

Rena shouted fiercely, ”Protector of Silver! Helm of Spring! Lancer of Dawn!”

The deer flinched, his long antlers quivering at the base. He felt unsettled.

”If I launch these here, they’ll see everything,” Rena continued.

I recognized the names she called out—they were from the Empire’s knight orders. I had heard of them at least once on the battlefield.

Is their garrison near?

In such a short time, she had researched and prepared so much. Rena was an incredible woman. Unlike her, I had come here without making any plans or preparations.

The deer stomped his hoof and glared at the harpy with his pitch-black eyes swirling with energy.

Thud!

“Stand down,” he commanded.

His intent resonated through the air with such force that the harpy folded her wings, perched briefly on the spot, before flapping them again to retreat to the back.

Rena turned to me and asked, ”You haven’t changed your mind, have you?”

I understood what she meant. She was asking if I would side with them.

”I won’t take the mark,” I replied.

Her expression darkened. ”Then... I don’t think we’ll survive this.”

”Escape?”

”I don’t think we’ll survive at all,” she clarified.

I glanced at her backpack, which was stuffed with fireworks. For now, it seemed to work against the deer.

”Let’s go.”

A loud growl vibrated and echoed as I took a step forward.

Grrrrr!

I turned toward the sound, which had come from the left.

Glowing red eyes stared down at me from far above.

A wolf?

It was a werewolf, and his figure slowly swelled as he howled toward the moon. Now standing on two legs, he growled menacingly. The werewolf’s darkness seemed to exude hostility toward me, the pressure heavy and ferocious.

It’s huge.

Even in human form, he had been over two meters tall. Now, after his muscles swelled and transformed, he was nearly three meters tall. His size seemed to have increased sixfold. Every muscle resembled a massive boulder.

Yet, his movements were not sluggish in the slightest.

Whish! Whish!

The wolf leaped effortlessly like a gray streak of lightning between the cliffs, springing several times his own height in a single bound.

The wolf opened his massive jaws. ”They might... just be bluffing.”

Like a winter night or the chime of a funeral bell, the wolf’s voice was deep and resonant. Most people would collapse just from hearing that voice.

We’ll lose.

If we fought, we would undoubtedly lose. Even if I were reborn multiple times, I wasn’t sure I could defeat that wolf.

The deep voice echoed again. ”Nearby humans... may come. Weak like ants. Fewer than ants.”

The wolf’s words were clipped and deliberate. He stood on the cliff steps, ready to leap down and attack any moment. His gray fur shimmered with a sheen, and black mist rose from his body like heat waves. Even his blade-like teeth and long claws flickered with black energy.

”Ugh, look at that thing’s eyes. Why are they so terrifying?” Rena muttered, irritated.

The pressure from the wolf was clearly weighing on her, too. The tension was palpable, and it coursed through me. A werewolf of that size was a disaster in itself—he might even be the strongest being here.

I couldn’t help but be curious. Wolves were natural hunters, solitary and reliant on their instincts and intuition. They would never welcome a leash.

How could this one have accepted the mark of a Demon King?

I recalled that a werewolf must answer when asked their name. To refuse would be seen as a dishonor, even in battle.

I asked, ”What’s your name?”

The wolf hesitated for a moment but then answered with dignity. ”Brody Valdorf. The last of the Full Moon Avengers. The Savage Shadow. The final Broken Fang. The Starlit Howl.”

His introduction was long. The names at the end must have been his clan titles. However, it was unusual for a werewolf to have four of them.

Rena quipped, ”Why is your name so long?”

Grrr...

The wolf growled and shook, but he didn’t respond. I fixed my gaze on him. Even if the wolf were my only opponent, escaping would be impossible because he was too fast and too strong.

As he took a few steps toward us, the deer, Aezar, commanded the rest of the group. “Everyone, step away from them.”

Aezar’s massive, sturdy antlers glowed with white light. Soon, his intent resonated clearly.

”Do we really... have to?” a woman asked the deer, her voice tinged with venom.

Screech! Screech!

The woman’s lower half—part of a serpentine—rubbed against the wide stone steps. Her snake-like form stretched over ten meters, covered in dense scales that scraped against the edges of the steps, creating a grating sound that echoed in the air.

The woman hissed, ”Why not crush them completely and eat them?”

“We don’t want the altar to be discovered.”

The woman licked her lips with her red tongue. ”But the altar... isn’t every part of our body an altar? With the mark engraved, we can live anywhere, can’t we?”

The deer shook his head, his intent resonating with his sincere tone. “This place is optimal for King Purson’s descent! We don’t want human attention. Let them go.”

Tap.

The deer stepped to the side, and crackling black electricity around its hoof dissipated. The massive wolf and the snake-woman also stepped back, their intensity diminishing.

Are they letting us go?

”We’re leaving. Do whatever you want—I don’t care,” I said.

Then I grabbed Rena’s hand and pulled her along. With my other hand, I drew my sword, walking cautiously while staying alert. I tried not to pay attention to the dozens of non-human beings surrounding us. The deer continued moving aside, creating an open space. We walked toward him, distancing ourselves from the others. As we ascended the cliff steps toward the deer, he lowered his head and pointed his antlers at us. Light sparkled at their tips, and his will resonated in the air.

“Paralyze.”

Suddenly, my feet felt glued to the ground. My ankles and thigh bones froze, and an invisible force gripped my arms tightly.

Clench.

I barely managed to grit my teeth. This was as far as they would let us go.

I looked around. Rena was completely immobilized, seemingly under a stronger spell.

Was it a trap after all?

They had lured us in to make their magic easier to target. But there had been no other choice. Once we entered this place, there was no way out.

The deer asked, “What do you think? The human beside you can’t even move her mouth.”

The deer raised his head. The runes etched densely on his antlers emitted a bright white light.

”Is this... magic?” I asked.

“Indeed.”

”...”

“You’ve seen too much. Letting you leave would be difficult. We could kill you here, but...” The deer hesitated for a moment, then said, “How about this? I’ll give you one last chance. Join us.”

Being the target of an attack spell is a first for me.

Even on the battlefield, large-scale magic was never wasted on the likes of Skeleton Soldiers. Though the situation was dire, I felt strangely detached.

I turned to look at Rena. She was frozen in place, unable to move even a finger or her lips.

Hmm.

I decided to buy some time.

I looked at the deer and asked, ”That mark you mentioned—can it be forced onto someone?”

“It cannot. There’s no way to force a contract.”

”Are the Necron Cultists followers of Botis? I’ve seen someone get killed the moment they tried to leak a secret. Are you in the same predicament?”

The deer’s eyes flickered with interest. “If you join us, you’ll learn everything. If not, you’ll forget it all. You seem very curious.”

”Didn’t you know? People become most curious just before they die. Think of it as a parting gift—tell me.”

I wasn’t just stalling for time. The knowledge I gained now could be useful even if I came back to life again.

The deer chuckled softly at my words. “A parting gift... The serpent Necron serves is deeply suspicious. It grants power to only one priest, who then rigorously binds the followers. The priest likely did that killing.”

”The priest?”

“That’s enough talk. Now decide—will you join us and create a new world, or will you die meaninglessly here?”

At that moment, a piercing sound tore through the air.

Whiiiiiz! Whiiiiiz! Whiiiiiz!

Not just once—dozens of times, over and over.

Whiiiiiiiz! Whiiiiiiiiiiz!

It was coming from Rena’s bag. Dozens of signal flares shot into the sky simultaneously at incredible speed. Bright red smoke rose high into the air, dispersing repeatedly.

What’s going on? Did she set it to go off automatically?

Maybe it had been programmed to activate at a specific time or to launch if left untouched for too long.

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!

The fireworks kept soaring. The sky filled with red smoke, staining a corner of the black heavens. The full moon looked blood-red. Then it happened.

Grrrrr... Grrrrrrrr!

The massive wolf closed his eyes and slammed his head into the ground, trembling violently.

Is it going berserk?

The deer stomped his hoof and exclaimed, “What a ridiculous turn of events!”

A woman with her eyes covered by a thick black cloth quickly darted across the cliff. She whispered something into the deer’s ear.

The deer nodded and hollered, “Scatter, all of you!”

The deer left the scene, and the others followed. Soon, only the agonized wolf and the woman with the covered eyes remained in the area. Including the two of us, frozen in paralysis, only four of us were left.

The paralysis was slowly wearing off.

I need to escape quickly.

The wolf’s head was still buried in the ground. His gray fur stood on end, bristling like needles while his growls grew deeper and more ferocious.

The woman approached us. She pressed herself close to me, and Rena was right next to me. Ultimately, she touched us both.

I asked, ”What’s with that wolf?”

The woman answered, ”Werewolves that see the blood-red full moon can go mad. A cruel coincidence, isn’t it? Surely this wasn’t your intention?”

Of course, I had no idea. But I couldn’t say the same for Rena. Still, it seemed unlikely that she would have anticipated the presence of a rare werewolf with such a reaction to the moon. When she first mentioned the flares, she referred only to their colors—green, yellow, and red. This was just her terrible misfortune.

I replied, ”It wasn’t intentional. But aren’t you going to flee?”

The woman smiled faintly. ”I’m fine. It doesn’t matter to me. I have something to ask you.”

”Me?”

”Yes.”

She nodded and began untying the black cloth covering her eyes. Layer by layer, the thick cloth unraveled, revealing her eyes. One was red, and the other was green. Her lifeless, inorganic eyes glimmered under the moonlight.

The woman asked, ”Did you discard the necklace?”

I didn’t answer her question. ”Who are you?”

”You didn’t like it, I take it. Did you throw it in the trash?”

”You’re the director of the orphanage, aren’t you?”

I was surprised but didn’t show it. She didn’t respond to my question. Instead, she shifted her cold, lifeless gaze to Rena.

”Oh, so the necklace is here. You gave it away immediately after receiving it, didn’t you?”

”Are you offended?”

”Not at all. I’m relieved.”

She smiled faintly and reached out with a pale, delicate hand to stroke Rena’s jaw gently with her green, corrosive, slime-covered fingers.

”...”

Rena remained completely still. She couldn’t even open her mouth. She seemed to be paralyzed much more strongly than me. The woman’s hand slid downward, and her delicate fingers grasped the small black jade trumpet-shaped necklace.

Then she tore it off and tossed it to the ground. For some reason, the necklace did not make a sound as it landed.

She murmured, ”I’ll take good care of your sister. Don’t worry. I’ll handle both of you. After all, we’ve grown fond of each other.”

I hesitated momentarily, but a question I could only ask now came to mind. ”If I had worn the necklace, would you have helped me?”

”Who knows? I have no idea what you mean.”

Behind me, the wolf’s growls grew harsher. The woman pressed herself against my armor.

Sizzle!

The armor began to melt.

Drip! Drip! Drip!

The hot, mind-numbing slime seeped into the cracks of my armor, dissolving it. My bones started to soften.

I shouted at her, grasping at my last chance. ”You—didn’t you care about human children? If war breaks out—”

She briefly smirked, a corner of her mouth curling upward, before her expression turned bitter. ”I’ve seen enough, but it seems...”

Thud!

I melted. My scorched skull fell to the ground and rolled. The writhing green slime seeped between the cracks of my skull, coating it entirely.

The woman continued, ”Perhaps humanity’s extinction is the right path. It was enjoyable while it lasted. It’s a shame we couldn’t work together.”

As my consciousness dissolved, the last thing I saw was the small necklace lying alone where Rena’s melted form had been.