‘…There are too many skeletons.’
As Sion took a step back, his back hit a hard wall.
A giant wall blocking the stairs he had climbed.
Skeletons were clattering and slowly walking toward him.
“Boryan’s Martial Arts, Second Style: Gale!”
Boom!
With a massive explosion, the skeletons collapsed in droves.
A corridor shaped like a fan.
However, the empty spaces were slowly being filled by the approaching skeletons.
“O ancient power, the flame that is authority, reveal your form and burn the enemy! Fire!”
Flare.
Patrick continued to chant without pause, resisting.
Geivolg was outright smashing skeletons with his staff.
But they were still being pushed back, and the situation wasn’t looking good.
“There’s nowhere left to retreat!”
“Is this how I d*e… I haven’t even experienced love yet!”
“Haha! Patrick, you’ve never been in love?”
“Shut up!”
“Ah… to d*e surrounded by skeletons.”
The encirclement was getting tighter.
Boryan and the others worked hard to clear away the skeletons.
But they were being pushed back helplessly.
They might be dead already.
If Sion weren’t here.
“…Earth.”
“S-Sion?”
Plodding.
Sion stepped forward with his wand in hand.
Estroja gasped in surprise.
Sion ignored it and moved forward.
According to the incantation of his magic, piles of dirt appeared in the air.
It wasn’t just a simple 1st Circle Elemental Magic, ‘Earth’.
Kiiing—!!
The piles of dirt spinning in the air rotated violently.
The sharp piles of dirt.
With a single gesture from Sion, all that rock shot forth.
Boom—!!
“Y-yeah!”
Boryan jumped back.
Bones collided with the rock shot and scattered in every direction, creating a dangerous situation.
But the fragments of bones were blocked mid-air by the protective magic Sion had spread with his left hand.
“…What?”
A hooded figure mumbled.
The magical maneuvering was beyond imagination. It was hard to believe they were an Academy student in uniform.
…But soon, he regained his smile.
“Hehe, you’re better than I thought. But it’s meaningless.”
Clatter. Clatter. Clatter.
The skeletons began to fill the corridor again.
Even the skeletons whose magic stones hadn’t been destroyed began to recover their bodies.
The expressions of Sion and his companions darkened rapidly.
“There’s no end to this… no matter how many we k*ll, they keep coming!”
“Even Sion has a limit… Is there really no way to break the window and escape?”
“The window is too small to break and pass through. And the outer wall of the dungeon is physically indestructible! As long as the core of the dungeon isn’t destroyed…”
“……”
As Boryan said, the outer and inner walls of the dungeon were physically impossible to attack.
If that were possible, there would be no need to entrust requests to adventurers.
They could just bombard the castle from outside and collapse it.
‘It’s impossible to escape through the window. The stairs we came up are blocked by a wall, and the skeletons keep pushing forward….’
Sion closed his eyes and organized the situation in his mind.
His mind turned rapidly.
His conclusion, considering all the elements, was one.
“Guys.”
“…Sion?”
Sion whispered to those around him.
“I will break through the blocked wall, and you should go down the stairs.”
“…!”
“That’s impossible! The heir of the Rodenburg family wouldn’t do such a petty thing and leave his friends behind…”
“I don’t intend to d*e here.”
Anticipating the backlash, Sion pulled out a rolled piece of parchment from his pocket.
“What’s that…?”
“A Recall Scroll. It’s expensive, but the performance is certain.”
A Recall Scroll.
A magical scroll that allows you to use the 4th Circle Space Magic, ‘Recall’…
It can teleport you to a designated location.
Naturally, this was invaluable to an adventurer, which made it extraordinarily pricey.
“How did you…?”
“Shh. Don’t ask how I got it. There’s no time. The skeletons are coming now.”
“……”
“I’ll count to three, and I’ll break through the wall blocking the stairs. You will go down and escape the dungeon. I will… hold out as long as I can.”
Everyone nodded gravely at Sion’s words.
The best plan brought forth by the variable of the Return Scroll.
Sion began counting without delay.
“Three.”
Whoosh!
Sion infused magic into his wand.
“Two.”
“What are you trying to do?”
Four students moved stealthily behind Sion.
Whether the hooded figure sensed their movement or not, it began to chant something.
It was too late to count.
“One, now!”
Simultaneously with the sudden shout, magic formed from Sion’s wand.
It was the 1st Circle Elemental Magic, ‘Earth’.
A sharp rock flew toward the wall blocking the stairs.
Thud.
“…Ha! Did you think a wall could be broken by just Earth?”
The Earth Sion created couldn’t penetrate the wall.
The rock was sharper than the previous rock shot.
But it didn’t generate enough speed to match its sharpness.
“Well, I think this might change the story.”
“…!”
But it was all according to Sion’s calculations.
Whoosh!
Sion generated another giant rock.
It slammed into the sharp rock stuck to the wall with all its might.
It was an attack using the principle of a nail and hammer.
Boom—!!
…With that strike, the path to the stairs was opened.
The thick wall cracked, revealing the stairs.
The rest of the party hurriedly moved ahead.
They couldn’t waste the golden opportunity Sion had created.
“…Sion, you shouldn’t push yourself.”
“We have to hurry!”
Boryan’s words echoed in Sion’s ears.
The sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs.
That noise began to fade away.
“In the end, what I chose is sacrifice.”
“…You think I sacrificed myself?”
“You will make quite the good skeleton.”
Snap!
With a snap of his fingers, a wall was once again erected in the passage leading to the stairs.
This time it wasn’t just a single layer.
One layer, two layers, three layers… a total of ten layers completely blocked the stairs.
So Sion could never escape.
“Well then, now you can’t run away at all. What will you do?”
“……”
“How long do you think you can hold on? Ah, just thinking about it makes me happy.”
The hooded figure let out a genuinely happy laugh.
Skeletons walked straight toward Sion.
In the dark corridor, the horde of skeletons, focused solely on him, was pure terror.
If he were an ordinary Academy student, he might have already lost his will to fight in fear.
‘Finally, I can fight to my heart’s content.’
Whoosh!
The magic flowed through his wand.
There was no ally nearby who would get tangled up in his magic.
This meant he could use magic without any problem.
Then—
“Summon Undead.”
“Hehe, a summoning magic. Do you really think you can face my army with such a 1st Circle magic—”
[I was awakened, Ahya.]
“……!!!”
A new form slowly rose from the darkness of the ground.
An undead wearing black armor, wielding a black great sword.
The B-rank monster d*ath Knight revealed itself.
[I will become your sword and battle. Command me.]
“Wipe them out! From skeletons to that strange person over there!”
Swish—
The cold sound of a sword being drawn.
His sword reflected the ray of light coming through the small window, shining blue.
B-rank monster d*ath Knight.
[I will carry out your command.]
“…!”
His sword began to dance.
*
‘This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening…!!’
Crunch.
Skeletons made from difficult-to-source corpses.
They shattered like autumn leaves with a single swing of the sword.
The strikes targeted the magic stone in the skull with precision.
As a fellow undead, he was too familiar with his weaknesses.
‘How can a kid like that summon a B-rank monster…?’
The notice that had come to the Adventurers Guild was for an E-rank dungeon.
It should have required at least E-rank or F-rank adventurers to be normal.
But the kid’s power exceeded all of his expectations.
‘Am I losing? Me?’
Crunch.
Half of the skeletons collapsed.
The skeletons that seemed to endlessly come out in the room were… merely a performance to instill fear.
Naturally, they didn’t come out infinitely.
The dungeon’s master was well aware that the activation of the skeletons had its limits.
[The skeletons are no longer coming out.]
Plod.
The d*ath Knight walked forward.
It felt like his hollow eye sockets were piercing through him.
Most of the skeletons had already been shattered by the magic stones, lying on the floor like dust.
He felt a chill run down his spine and desperately averted his gaze.
‘No matter how strong the d*ath Knight is, the master must be insignificant!’
At the end of his evaded gaze stood the expressionless kid.
In the face of d*ath’s threat, his mind raced desperately.
He had summoned a B-rank monster with Summon Undead, but the level of magic he had displayed so far wasn’t high.
Even though he used the incantation, it was on the level of 1st or 2nd Circle.
This meant he was utterly weak compared to a B-rank monster.
Snap—!!
As he snapped his fingers, the few remaining skeletons suddenly sprang into action.
With clattering sounds, the skeletons latched onto the d*ath Knight.
They rushed toward him without giving him a chance to swing his sword.
“Now, buy some time! Skeletons!”
[…What!]
While the d*ath Knight was dealing with the skeletons in close combat, the hooded figure threw off his hood and charged in.
That figure was a C-rank monster, a skeleton necromancer.
A special undead capable of summoning and controlling skeletons, but not particularly skilled in close combat.
‘But a kid from the Academy with little experience should have a tough time with this!’
He cackled, rattling his jaw.
The kid in the Academy uniform stood frozen as if in panic.
The necromancer, now right in front of him, aimed the end of his staff to stab his heart.
And at that moment.
“…What?”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
His body moved as if it were being severed.
It broke free from the trajectory of the jab.
It was an evasion skill that could almost lead to a moment of confusion.
However, Sion drew a sword from his waist while evading.
Swish—!!
The draw that began at his waist was followed by a clean trajectory, decapitating the necromancer.
It was the ‘Acorn Cut’ he learned from Professor Heruj.
“That’s… impossible… It’s an E-rank dungeon… Why is someone like you… a monster…”
The skeleton necromancer muttered while clutching at his remaining head.
Sion held the severed head high in an expressionless manner.
Even in the dark, the shining sword stopped in front of the skull.
“It’s over.”
Swish!
The skull split cleanly in two.
As expected of the magic sword, it easily cut through a C-rank monster like slicing tofu.
‘…Is it true that there are monsters like this in the Academy…?’
That was the final thought of the skeleton necromancer.
