The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

Two hundred meters ahead. I could feel dozens, maybe hundreds, of murderous presences encircling something.

They’re surrounding her.

Using the darkness of the cave, I silenced my steps and approached carefully.

Clatter... Clatter...

However, the soldiers following me couldn’t completely hide their presence. I slowed their place, issuing a few silent instructions so they could react on cue. Gilaut and I took the lead.

”My lord is there,” he whispered.

I could feel it too. When we slipped out of the dark corridor ahead, I finally saw Gith-Za-Rai. Hundreds of demonic beasts and monsters encircled her in a perfect formation.

We remained hidden in the passage’s shadows. Fortunately, every eye and every drop of killing intent was focused on the necromancer and her Dullahans. They hadn’t yet noticed us.

The man atop the massive crocodile chuckled. ”Keke... It begins,”

Gith-Za-Rai swayed as if the ground itself were sucking her down. When she wavered, it felt like the entire cave—no, this entire life shook with her.

Chaaaank!

Even the Dullahans staggered, their swords scraping the ground. They leaned on their swords as though they couldn’t support their own weight. A suffocating, crushing malice poured over them like an endless avalanche.

This is dangerous.

A sharp warning screamed through my mind. Gilaut tensed, ready to rush out blindly. I grabbed his wrist to stop him. We had to understand what was happening first.

The dog-headed demon’s staff glowed faintly with purple light as he said in a low, resonant voice, ”Renowned Necromancer, you are already finished. Accept it with grace. The Third Throne has consumed even karma itself to open this path. The other Thrones are already striking you in unison.”

In contrast, the man on the crocodile screamed hysterically, ”The King will reclaim what he has planted! The King will tear and devour your wretched body! Your origin! Your cries! Your power! Yes, you! The necromancer Gith-Za-Rai shall be consumed! Rejoice, and submit gladly!”

The twisted priest shrieked again.

”...”

Still, Gith-Za-Rai said nothing. With her instincts, she certainly knew we were lying in wait. If she said even one word, one signal, we would leap out immediately. Gilaut was holding his breath, prepared to charge at any moment. Listening to the demons speak, I realized something.

Bassago’s curse...? He’s devouring her?

I had thought it impossible, but the truth was right in front of me. Bassago was attacking Gith-Za-Rai.

How foolish.

I had trusted the Heavenly Palace Wheel too blindly. No, the Wheel was correct. My interpretation had been wrong. I fixated on the brilliance of Bassago’s sigil, ignoring Gilaut’s instinctive warnings. How naive I was! The gnome and the bat I met along the way, the self-proclaimed “scouts”, were also here.

”Heh! Opportunities like this don’t come often! Besides... a rope that’s already cut...”

I remembered the gnome Nopelluns’ words. He claimed to be ranked 157th in the Demon Realm. I’d thought it absurd that high-ranked demons would try to ”scout” someone like me.

Was this their real mission?

If the goal was killing Gith-Za-Rai, then it made sense for heavy hitters like them to be deployed.

Clatter...

The noise swelled. I motioned silently, gathering the soldiers behind me, ready for an ambush.

The crocodile-rider let out another volley of mockery. ”How foolish... so foolish. Even following us here willingly became a key to amplifying your curse. Hahaha... kill her!”

As if they had been waiting for that command, hundreds of corpses sprang toward Gith-Za-Rai at once.

From behind them, I shouted. ”Throw!”

Fwheeeeeee!

Twenty throwing spears sliced through the air.

Puk! Puk! Puk!

The targets were so densely packed that most of the spears landed clean hits.

”Again!”

Shraaaaaa!

Fwheeeeeeew!

The throwing spears and shuriken flew three, four times in only a few heartbeats. The corpses were caught off guard and had no chance to avoid them. Still, a single spear wasn’t enough to kill them, four or five were. We couldn’t shave off even a hundredth of their number.

Even so, there was no way I could simply watch the necromancer die. Defenseless as she was, she was perhaps in more danger now than when she faced the Ashen Knight.

Even if it ended here, even if every bone in my body shattered, I would save her. The one I had to rescue...

”Gith-Za-Rai!”

”My lord!”

Swoosh!

They charged toward the staggering Gith-Za-Rai. We couldn’t just sit still. We started cutting down the ones lingering around the outskirts one by one.

”W-wait! What are you doing!?” the gnome riding the wolf cried out when he spotted me. ”You rejected our scouting offer and still came here!? Do you have a death wish!? Run!”

”Or join us instead,” the bat chimed in. ”Your party is already doomed.”

From the very center of the charging corpses, the wobbling necromancer glanced our way and gave a faint smile. ”Were you worried?”

Hundreds of shadows surrounded her, yet her intent reached us, clear as if spoken directly.

FWOOOSH!

A deep-blue flame surged up her forearm like a rising tide.

”What?!”

Even from hundreds of meters away, I felt the heat.

KWA-BOOOOM!

A spiraling blast erupted outward, engulfing every corpse within range. Hundreds of bodies were thrown aside in an instant. A white flash cut through the fire.

Gith-Za-Rai kicked off the ground and thrust her arm forward, spearing straight toward the man on the crocodile.

The man twisted desperately as one of his arms was torn off. ”Uaaaagh!”

Thud.

Saturated with failed necromancy, the limb came off like rotten garbage, offering no resistance at all. Despite Bassago’s sigil turning into the worst possible curse, despite her body being bound, poisoned, decayed, and devoured, the necromancer did not stop.

Grab.

Her left hand seized the short, black goat horn sprouting from the man’s temple.

He understood exactly what it meant to have his horn seized. Pus-filled eyes bulged wide, showing a milky layer of terror over the black. ”H-heuh...! Huhhhk!”

CRACK!

Gith-Za-Rai slammed his face with her other fist. One punch at point-blank range crushed bone inward.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The horn made an excellent handle. Half-rotten as he was, his face caved in repeatedly. The former priest of Bassago gurgled black foam, unable even to scream. ”Kik! Krk! Kek! Kihihk!”

Unable to watch him collapse, the surrounding demons quickly layered enhancement spells on him. Gith-Za-Rai felt the slight resistance and drew her fist back.

The man shrieked through his half-collapsed mouth, ”S-stop! Stob! D-don’t break! If you con... continue... the c-curse... i-it’ll sp... spread beyond rep—”

”Shut up.”

KWAANG!

Her punch shot forward. A spiral of force wrapped around her fist as it drove into his face.

THUD!

His skull split from the impact, snapping the horn she was holding. The body of the former priest collapsed like discarded trash. Gith-Za-Rai kicked away the crocodile she’d been pinning the whole time. The creature, fond of chewing the living whole, burst open and died instantly.

”Snails... thought they could kill me?”

I had managed to cut down several earlier, but at some point even the enemies and I had stopped moving altogether, overwhelmed by her sheer presence.

”My lord!”

The Dullahans cried out, reverence and relief overflowing.

”My lord!”

Even in the worst of conditions, she displayed overwhelming power. Their admiration was sincere. Gith-Za-Rai calmly turned her gaze to the remaining enemies. Yet I understood.

It was a bluff.

I could feel it. Others probably couldn’t, but as someone who had watched her die more times than anyone, I knew exactly what she felt like when she took a fatal blow. This was one of those moments.

This is dangerous.

The man she had just killed should have been someone she could crush effortlessly. Someone she could’ve skewered with a flick. Someone she could’ve pulverized with a single casual gesture.

”This wasn’t the one,” Gith-Za-Rai murmured, her voice reaching me with unnatural clarity.

[You are currently engaged in a transcendent-grade battle ritual focused on one target.]

[You are experiencing a highly unusual situation.]

[You have recovered Ritual Knowledge Lv. 1!]

Another recovery...

There was no time to celebrate. Her words now made sense. She likely believed the former priest of Bassago was the curse’s medium. Hence why she targeted him despite her condition.

And she failed.

Swish.

I cut down an enemy rushing for my flank and moved beside Gilaut.

”Wow! Your group is unbelievably strong!” The gnome stared at me astonished. ”Incredible! Now I see why Bassago spent so long working on her! She truly could ascend to a Demon King’s throne. Her hidden powers are countless!”

”Gith-Za-Rai is aiming for a Demon King’s seat...?”

Was that even possible? No matter how strong she was, I had never heard of anyone becoming a new Demon King. There were already sixteen fixed Thrones.

The white-hooded figure’s words surfaced in my memory.

Do you think Demon Kings have always been sixteen?

He had said the number could’ve been far greater.

What did he mean...

[Ritual Knowledge Lv. 2 has been restored!]

[Assimilation Rate has decreased.]

[53.14% → 52.49%]

My vision blurred.

The bat and the gnome kept rambling.

”Yes! She’s fully capable of ascending!”

”This necromancer is too strong. No wonder the Demon King would betray his own contractor, even at the cost of karmic backlash, and still come out ahead.”

Then...

[Malphas advises you to retreat.]

Retreat? Impossible. If I retreated, Gith-Za-Rai would die. Maybe it wouldn’t change the outcome, but...

[Malphas advises you to retreat again.]

The same message repeated.

Why? Was he worried?

[Malphas says they must have a valid reason.]

Valid reason or not, I wasn’t going to let Gith-Za-Rai be killed. The curse had clearly taken effect. Even the Dullahans struggled to stand.

Gilaut too. The others were barely holding their swords. My twenty soldiers moved by my mana alone. They were weak, and could only form a defensive line at best. I felt certain this would be the end of this life.

Even so...

Of course, I had to fight. I tightened my grip on my sword.

”It seems she’s barely holding on.”

”Shall we finish this?”

”Yes.”

The four high-ranking demons stepped forward.

”Prepare to attack!”

From the darkness, countless shadows crawled back onto the battlefield. Everything was covered in black. Not hundreds, but thousands. It seemed like every monster and beast the current level of corruption could produce was being deployed here.

”Gather!”

They were few compared to the swarm, but they were the soldiers she had entrusted to me. I began forming them into a defensive formation and moved to rush toward her.

”Pathetic!” Gith-Za-Rai shouted.

Everyone, enemy and ally, turned toward her. Even the thousands preparing to charge froze for a heartbeat.

”Pathetic! All of you! Is this truly why you want to kill me? Because when the Demon Realm opens, I might threaten your seat?” Her voice exploded across the cavern. ”And you call yourselves amusing? The so-called Third Throne? The self-proclaimed ruler of the dead? All for something so trivial?”

Gith-Za-Rai had never been one for speeches. Her tongue was blunt and unskilled. Yet, the agony of not being able to aid her knights poured through her words, raw and sincere.

”Even if Bassago were foolish, the law of the Demon Realm is survival of the strong! You, the ones who volunteered to spearhead the first invasion, you agree to strike me down over this?”

Her accusation was valid. A rightful condemnation. But the four demons didn’t flinch.

”That is not the point, Potential Lord of Death, ” the bat said quietly.

”Then what is the point!?”

”You know it well. Lindbrum. You, who would wake the forgotten dragon from its frozen memory.”

”...!”