The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

I kept running through the shattered, fragmented, warped space like a broken spiral that had lost all form. Things that should’ve been on the ground floated in midair. Time itself was twisted beyond recognition.

Anyone thrown into a place like this would inevitably fall into a spiral of confusion about their very identity. However, some things were clear. It wasn’t just me. It looked like the entire battlefield had been enclosed in one massive barrier. Yet, the Lurium vault, the original goal of this whole operation, was nowhere to be seen.

Could the Ashen Knight have appeared just to steal it?

There was no concrete evidence, but if it didn’t turn up even after all this searching, then it was safe to assume that the Ashen Knight had taken it.

However, Rena was nowhere to be found. I needed to get out of here, but I wanted to at least recover a memento. I needed to save Rubia because she was still alive. Naneow and Rena were dead, but there was no time to wallow in grief.

The plan’s been completely wrecked. There’s no way the imperial forces wouldn’t respond. It’s already begun.

A ruthless retaliation was sure to come for the fools who dared to attempt a heist like this. T&T would be at the center of it all. Although Rubia was hidden in Rena’s capital hideout, there was no way she would be safe. I was the only one left who could protect her now. I had to get her out and bring her somewhere safe where no danger could ever touch her again.

My anxiety sharpened. I kept running forward. More corpses came into view. Some still wore masks, while others had died with their faces exposed. However, their corpses were disappearing. They didn’t rot or crumble — they simply vanished cleanly, quietly, like transparency spreading across their skin. None of them gave off any glow.

Among the dead were more than just Lurium guards. Even the two swordsmen who had charged the Ashen Knight were there. They’d seemed strong, surely not weak enough to leave behind no absorbable essence. At the very least, they should have yielded some minor sword skills.

So, the only explanation was time. Time was the issue. My Lv. 2 Essence Absorption skill only worked within seven days of their deaths.

Has it already been a week?

Space and time must’ve both been twisted beyond recognition.

Still, a full week already?

That felt extreme. My heart pounded. Finally, amid the decapitated and dismembered corpses, I found Rena. I could tell from a distance that it was Rena, but she was fading too. The void was consuming her.

I rushed over, but more than half of her was already gone. I reached for where her arm had once wrapped around mine. It was empty. Her legs and her torso were also completely buried in light, dissolving into air.

I could only stand there and watch helplessly. Rena’s slightly parted lips, as if trying to speak, were the last thing to vanish.

Rena was gone. She had died showing me kindness, even though I hadn’t done anything for her in this life. I had been proud to see her thriving at T&T, but now she was dead, and I was still alive. That wasn’t right.

I thought of the name she gave me, Ameritatre. She said it meant ”First snow with you,” but she was slain before the first leaves of autumn had even fallen.

A strange discomfort suddenly struck me. I looked down at my own skeletal arms. Then I scanned my legs and feet.

White bone.

My armor was gone, and so was my sword. All of it was gone, including Rena’s pendant and even the handkerchief Rubia had given me.

Only my skeleton remained, seemingly untouched by the vanishing effect.

This barrier must be one that seals space and erases everything inside it.

I checked my inner Lurium circuits.

Blaze.

FWOOSH!

[Magic Charging...]

[Double Casting...]

Wind Blast.

WHIRRRR!

My bones and the Lurium inside me were still intact. I raised a finger.

Sword Energy.

[Skill level too low.]

[Current execution not possible.]

[Perk: You have not attained Blade Unity yet.]

Not good.

WHOOSH!

I charged forward, firing spells wildly.

[Skill: Blazing Flare Lv. 1 activated.]

[Skill: Frost Storm Lv. 1 activated.]

[No medium for channeling detected.]

[HP decreasing by 0.489% per second...]

Flames and frost fizzled the moment they left my hand.

If even that won’t work, then it really is just me. Everything else is being erased. What is this place? Do I have to kill myself to escape?

CLACK.

I shook my skull. Rubia was outside this barrier. I couldn’t just die here and leave her behind. Even if I returned to my own world, if this timeline remained, then the Rubia left behind might suffer a fate worse than death, waiting endlessly for a rescue that never came, believing I’d return until her final breath.

I punched the air.

FWAP!

This entire mess was something I created. I couldn’t allow Rubia to be left alone.

[Skill: Adrian’s Martial Art Lv. 1 activated.]

[Attack Power...

Critical Rate...]

[Skill: Battle Cry Lv. 3 Activated.]

Of course, my skills had no effect, but giving up wasn’t an option. I had to break the barrier.

***

Who knows how much time has passed?

CLACK.

I slumped, exhausted, in the crevice of warped space. I tried to burn, freeze, scorch, melt, pull, and punch it, but nothing worked. I lost count long ago.

Ten thousand times? Twenty thousand?

I didn’t keep track. I just kept attacking until my stamina was gone, trying everything I could think of to tear open the barrier.

Maybe because of that sheer variety and desperation, a system alert popped up.

DING!

[Skill Level Up]

[Double Casting Lv. 2 → Lv. 3]

[Penalties when casting two spells simultaneously have been completely eliminated.]

Double Casting had leveled up again, and there was more.

Status.

[Wind Blast Lv. 2]

[Thunder Strike Lv. 2]

[Frost Lv. 2]

[Adrian’s Martial Art Lv. 2]

Even the magic and martial arts skills I cast out of necessity had all leveled up. However, the warped air around me still had no intention of letting me out.

Focus.

Maybe I’d already given up on the inside, but I had no choice but to keep trying.

[Skill: Battle Cry Lv. 3 activated.]

SHHHHH!

Power flowed into my fist. It was not quite sword aura-level, but it was stronger than a regular hit.

BOOM!BZZZZZT!

Suddenly, the air cracked open like an eggshell, spider webbing in all directions. Fractures split across the warped space, like cracks in a desert.

Did the barrier break because my Martial Arts skill reached level 2?

BZ-ZZT! CRACK!

From within the broken air, a crow’s beak poked through.

”When did you decide to become a martial artist, huh?”

”Isaac?”

”You dumbass, do you really need to ask? Who else would it be? I’m seriously struggling here. Don’t get all emotional. Just follow me.”

I felt like I was being greeted by light itself. I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t even look straight at him. I never imagined I’d feel this kind of relief just from seeing Isaac. It was as if my last ember of hope suddenly roared back to life.

When I got a better look at him, I noticed that something was off. ”You...”

CRACKLE... SPARKLE...

Isaac was covered in patches where black feathers had fallen out. Like deep wheel tracks through thick mud, there were marks of something powerful that had passed over him. Even his beak was visibly cracked.

”...”

I had a mountain of questions to ask him.

What’s going on outside? Where’s Rubia? How much time has passed?

Looking at how worn out Isaac was, I couldn’t bring myself to ask anything yet.

”From here on out, do exactly as I tell you.”

”Got it.”

”Step back. No right. A bit more to the right! Yeah, there. The barrier shifts with your movements. Stabilize the space a little where you are, then move again. Now left...”

As I followed Isaac’s instructions, I was somehow able to distinguish between left and right again.

”Keep a bit of distance! Hey! You have to move a little at a time! If you mess up even once, the key will drop, and we’ll have to start all over!”

”...”

I had no clue what key he was talking about, but I followed his instructions anyway.

”Don’t touch the edges of the space. Focus on that subtle pull with each half step. If you don’t feel it, don’t move!”

Even with my Focus skill active, it was tough. I’d never imagined that just walking could feel this grueling.

”Even though I’m literally calling out the correct answer for every half step, you’re still like this... Tch.”

”Sorry.”

”Hmph! Don’t apologize. It doesn’t suit you. Honestly, this is hard even under normal circumstances. Alright, now ease to the left. No right. Just a half-step at a time. Imagine that left and right have been flipped upside down in the world...”

VRRRRRK...

A sound echoed from somewhere. Just like Isaac said, I started to feel the space pulling toward me slightly.

”Good. Now up. Start listening for the sounds...”

Then, the sounds of nature began to trickle in. I heard the sound of flowing water, frogs croaking, and songbirds chirping. I could even hear distant wolves howling.

”What’s the order of the sounds?”

”Water, frog, songbird, wolf. Wait until you hear an owl. Then, when the frog croaks again...”

The order of the sounds kept changing. I couldn’t even begin to guess the logic behind it. Isaac instructed me to move sideways, forward, or backward based on the sequence in which the sounds reached my ears.

”The more obscured the information, the easier it is to distort and the wider the distortion gets. Alright...”

SSSHK!

The moment I took the final step, I found myself standing in the middle of a dense forest.

”Awooooo...”

A wolf howled. This time, the sound was really far more vivid than anything I’d heard inside that barrier.

”Is... is it over? Where am I?”

FLUTTER!

Isaac looked down at me from a branch above. ”The Eastern Mountains.”

”What?”

I quickly scanned the area. There were no signs of snow yet. I didn’t see any fallen leaves either. It was still summer. Thankfully, it didn’t feel like too much time had passed.

”What day is it? It doesn’t seem like autumn yet... And Rubia?”

Isaac looked down at me with a strangely quiet expression. ”...”

Then, he slowly replied, ”Yeah, it’s not autumn. But two autumns have already gone by.”