The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

It was the scent of blood, and not just from one or two people. There was a suffocating amount of it, still disturbingly fresh.

”Hasn’t even been a full day...” Isaac muttered under his breath.

I turned toward him and asked, ”Where exactly are we?”

”Didn’t I tell you? This is Kevin Ashton’s ruin.”

So this was what the ruins of Kevin Ashton smelled like: blood and death. Gently setting Rubia down on the ground, I tightened my grip on my sword’s hilt. Was it really safe to go in?

Detect.

Nothing moved within my detection radius, but that didn’t mean nothing was there. If we pressed forward without knowing what lay ahead, anything could happen.

Almost as if he’d read my mind, Isaac murmured, ”Leaving won’t guarantee your safety either. If something happened here, it might be better to understand the situation. Whatever caused this might already be outside by now.”

It was a valid point.

I turned to Rubia. ”What do you think?”

She tensed slightly as she responded. ”We should keep going, I think... You broke through the barrier just to get in here, didn’t you?”

True. Though it hadn’t been that difficult.

”Hmph...”

Both of us agreed. I started walking, feeling the slow, creeping tension rise from the tips of my toes. I didn’t mind if I got hurt. What truly made me wary was the thought of Rubia ending up like the corpses ahead.

Who could have done something like this...?

The farther we walked, the worse the condition of the corpses became. They were crushed, torn apart, and almost none of them remained intact.

”What happened to these people...?”

Every step they took between the bodies made Rubia press even closer to me.

”We need to keep looking.”

Her grip on my arm tightened. ”Please be careful, Mr. Skeleton...!”

I said nothing. If I died, Rubia would surely follow. And yet, even knowing that, she was more worried for me than herself. For a living, breathing human being, it was absurd.

Still, the lingering question: what happened here? The knowledge that turning back probably wouldn’t be safer pushed us onward. There were too many bodies—jumbled together and shredded—to even count. Limbs and intestines were tangled together like vines.

I glanced at Rubia. She was following me, but I could tell her legs were starting to shake. Maybe she wasn’t good with exposed organs and brain matter.

”What if you stayed back?”

She shook her head. ”N-no, I’m okay!”

Isaac fluttered his wings with a small snap. ”Don’t be stupid. Are you planning to leave her here alone?”

He was right. If there were bodies, there had to be a killer. Besides, we had no idea what that killer was or where it had gone. Rubia would be safest by my side.

”I... I’ll keep going.”

Her face wasn’t pale, and her teeth weren’t chattering. Even seasoned soldiers would react more strongly to the sea of corpses. Yet, she endured it all without breaking down. A necromancer’s trait, perhaps? Some kind of mental resistance, maybe a class-specific perk. Otherwise, there was no way a noble lady raised on reading books could stay composed in front of these remains.

”These people...” Rubia clenched her teeth, trying to hold herself together, and looked around. ”Are they all... elves?”

Indeed, they were. The bodies scattered everywhere had long ears and pointed faces. Dark skin, white hair. Their trademark wavy armor.

Rubia turned to Isaac and asked, ”You said this was Kevin Ashton’s ruin. But why are there so many elves here...? What’s the connection between them?”

Even while hesitating, her question was sharp. Something I hadn’t thought of myself.

Snap.

Isaac clicked his beak shut and replied. ”Because this is their sacred ground.”

”What...? The dark elves’ holy site?” I asked.

”Exactly. The sanctuary of their god, Leraie.”

The Demon King Who Hunts Birds, Leraie. I already knew from the last life that Leraie and Malphas were enemies.

”So you were lying again,” I said.

Leraie was Malphas’s foe. Had Isaac brought them here just to cause chaos?

The raven flapped angrily, feathers ruffling. ”Lying? Please. It’s still Kevin Ashton’s ruin. I simply didn’t mention that it also happens to be Leraie’s sanctuary.”

”Then you left it out on purpose.” Even with a pale face, Rubia didn’t hold back.

As they walked deeper into the valley of corpses, Isaac tried to redirect the conversation. ”Ashton’s writings pointed to this place. You see anything? Someone like you who sees the holes in the heavens might notice something...”

”Hard to say.”

Even if Isaac was telling the truth, there was nothing visible to the naked eye. No hints as to where we should go, or what would be wiser, to advance or to flee. Even a basic warning like to go forward or turn back now would have been helpful.

I suddenly thought of Rena. If she were here, I could’ve trusted her intuition—or even her pendant, if she’d left one behind. Now, the decision was mine alone.

”Lurium really is here?”

”Of course it is! This wouldn’t be Leraie’s sanctuary otherwise!”

Lurium, a substance that remained even after regression. A material with the power to alter the world. A liquid possibly linked to Kevin Ashton himself. There was no guarantee that turning back would be any safer. Going forward at least held potential value.

I pressed deeper inside. The domed ceiling overhead gradually expanded, growing higher.

”That’s...!”

Flutter!

Isaac soared toward the ceiling and swallowed a single drop of the silver liquid hanging there.

Fshhh...

A soft, unraveling sound echoed, and the raven’s wings expanded dramatically.

”Wow...”

”Behold!”

It was the same form he had taken when first imbued with mana.

”This will keep me going for a while, at least.”

Fwoooosh! Fwshhhhhh!

With each beat of his newly expanded wings, powerful gusts surged outward.

”Even one drop packs a punch.”

”Do you know how much trouble it took to make this vessel four hundred years ago? Everything about it is optimized.”

”Then why don’t you carry Rubia on your back?”

The way he soared so powerfully through the air, it looked like he could carry a human with ease.

”I’ll decide that for myself. Since when did you get to order me around?”

”Sir Isaac? Your tone seems a little different than before...”

Honestly, Isaac had been more tolerable when his mana wasn’t restored. Now, puffed up and arrogant, he was hardly pleasant to deal with. Still, if he was brimming with this much energy, he’d likely protect Rubia if anything happened. That alone was reassuring, especially in a place where danger hung thick in the air.

I moved deeper in. Nothing stirred, but the traces grew clearer the farther we went. Whoever had done this had slaughtered the dark elves outside without leaving any trace. The further we went inside, we found a few signs of resistance.

Broken spears and blades were scattered across the ground, as if the victims had managed to strike back before being torn apart. The floor was pocked with large holes, like something had punched through the stone. Boulders lay shattered in pieces.

It looked like the killer had smashed the dark elves with a spiked tail, torn them apart by hand, or ripped them with its jaws. The tension was taut, making my head spin.

Was coming here really the right choice? Should we have turned back immediately?

Flap!

Isaac’s larger wings beat the air behind him as he said, ”I think I know what this is.”

”You have a hunch?”

”Remnants. These traces resemble what’s left behind by the remnants of the apostles.”

”Remnants of the Apostles?”

It was a term I had never heard before.

”Yes. Back when I ruled the southern part of the Empire, I used to hunt them often.”

”If you hunted them often, they can’t be much, right?”

”No, they’re no small matter!” Isaac’s voice dropped low.

”Then, should we leave?” Rubia asked.

I told them, ”We can’t. You two stay behind.”

”What? What are you planning to do alone?” Isaac asked.

Rubia could be in danger, and I could end up just like the dark elves, mangled by whatever was still deeper inside. Still, I couldn’t help being drawn forward. From the heart of the temple, a faint green light was glowing.

I knew that light well—Essence Absorption’s light. Even after the countless lives I’d taken, that eerie green glow remained a rare encounter. Only bodies of exceptional strength, like Marquis Leandro’s, or assassins like Rayleigh, with stealth and skill to match, gave off such light.

Whoever had fallen here, in the temple’s inner sanctum, had been that powerful. I’d never expected to absorb essence of such quality and in such overwhelming quantity, especially in a place like this. I reached toward a male elf with gray hair, his torso split wide open. Green light flowed beneath my cracked silver armor.

[You have absorbed Scimitar Lv. 1!]

I reached toward a female elf whose legs had been blown off below the hips.

[You have absorbed Forest Adaptation Lv. 1]

The deeper I went, the more corpses glowed with green essence. It wasn’t as massive as the pit left by Gith-Za-Rai, but it was still far beyond the norm.

[Wisdom has increased by 1.]

[You have absorbed Dagger Technique Lv. 1!]

[You have absorbed Dual Sword Technique Lv. 1!]

[You have absorbed Dual Sword Technique Lv. 2!]

Just as I was absorbing the Dual Sword Technique from one of the dark elves, Isaac flapped over from behind where he’d been keeping watch.

”Isn’t that the Crest of Lutik?!”

Isaac pointed his beak at the elf’s chest. A strange pendant hung diagonally across the fallen elf’s breastplate. A silver oval ring embedded with two jewels—red on the top, deep green on the bottom.

”You recognize it?”

Isaac nodded. ”That’s the symbol awarded to the highest-ranking warriors among Leraie’s followers. Even someone like this was killed...”

”Are they strong?”

”I normally treat dark elves as nothing more than mine slaves. But those with that crest... honestly, they’re formidable. Strong enough to guard a mine on their own. You wouldn’t beat one easily.”

”...”

The dark elf with dual swords had signs of resistance all over his body. Unlike the ones outside, who were obliterated without knowing what hit them, he had fought back.

Isaac picked up a broken sword tip with his beak and swallowed the silvery fluid clinging to it. ”Look at this. Looks like he managed to land a few blows.”

Fwoosh!

Just as he released a small burst of flame from his beak, like he was thrilled to be alive...