[The remaining ones have all been dealt with. There’s no sign of other monsters.]
“Good work, Death Knight.”
Clatter.
In front of the Death Knight, the remains of skeletons were scattered everywhere. No living skeletons were left, only a mountain made of bones waiting to welcome them.
‘…The Death Knight is strong.’
They said it was a B-rank monster, and it showed considerable strength. Of course, it was facing an E-rank monster, the Skeleton. Taking on dozens of them by oneself wasn’t an easy task.
There was even a moment where they charged in and it was impossible to properly swing my sword.
[…I apologize.]
“What? For what?”
However, the Death Knight looked rather dejected.
[I almost put you in danger due to my negligence.]
“…Was it when the boss charged at me earlier?”
[It was entirely my mistake. Allowing a mage to spill enemies into your area.]
The Death Knight shrugged, adjusting its helmet with a sigh.
‘It wasn’t particularly dangerous, though…’
Sion was indeed surprised by the charging skeleton, but after dodging Professor Heruj’s sword in training, the boss monster’s attack felt almost slow-motion.
Using Yulseo Step, he knocked it down with a single blow. They did say that the 13 pieces of the sword made it easy to cut through bone like chopping off a head.
It ended so abruptly that Sion was left with a feeling of emptiness.
Thus, the Death Knight had no reason to blame itself.
[I… still cannot collect my thoughts.]
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. The outcome was fine, wasn’t it?”
[No, if I had been more alert…]
“Without you, it would have truly been dangerous.”
Sion, capable of swordsmanship, judo, and magic, was not invincible. As a human, there were limits to stamina and mana. If he had faced the swarm of skeletons without the Death Knight… he wouldn’t have been able to guarantee victory.
“So… lighten up. You did just fine, Death Knight.”
[……Thank you for saying that.]
“Instead of moping, please pick up the bones and magic stones.”
[If I must gather bones, then so be it?]
“Yes.”
Sion handed the bag to the Death Knight.
Collecting bones wasn’t for selling to the Adventurer Guild but for a 1st Circle necromancy spell, ‘Revival.’
“I think I could use them later for Revival and such.”
[Hmm, that’s a good idea. I shall follow your command.]
“Oh, and especially make sure to gather that talking skeleton.”
[Understood.]
As new commands were issued, the Death Knight stopped its self-reproach and began to pick up bones.
Sion, glancing at him, stepped forward.
Reaching the end of the 3rd floor, there was a staircase leading to the 4th floor.
‘Surely this isn’t the mid-boss, is it?’
Sion carefully ascended the stairs with his shield magic deployed across his body. Fortunately, his identification didn’t pick up any biological responses.
It seemed that the talking skeleton he had just killed was indeed the boss.
‘…But it’s too small to be a boss room.’
Upon arriving at the 4th floor, a large room greeted Sion. If this building were a castle, it would resemble a round room used as a watchtower.
Inside were various papers and pens scattered chaotically.
And in the center of the room was the core of the dungeon.
‘…This dungeon’s core is different from the ones I know.’
Sion approached the core, frowning.
Having tackled many dungeons with Boryan so far, this core had something distinct about it.
With his eye for magic, using ‘Identification,’ he sensed subtle differences.
‘The flow of mana is intricately woven. It’s as if someone made it artificially.’
The mana emitted from the dungeon cores he had seen until now was irregular. Like a living creature breathing.
But the core before him… though its appearance was the same, the flow of its mana was fixed.
‘If I think about it, that’s strange. The boss I just fought was absurdly intelligent… It’s odd for it to even speak. This is an E-rank dungeon.’
Sion recalled the words of the skeleton that had spoken before dying.
– It shouldn’t… be… possible… It’s an E-rank dungeon…
E-rank dungeon. This was the classification of the Adventurer Guild. How could a monster, the dungeon’s owner, know the Adventurer Guild’s classification criteria?
While Sion squinted in search of the identity of this uncanny feeling, the Death Knight roamed around the room.
[Ah, there are some strange documents here.]
“…Documents?”
Clatter.
The Death Knight, who had followed Sion, handed him the documents.
Most were written in a language Sion couldn’t understand, but a few were written in a language he could read.
– E-rank skeleton dungeon request approval
– A party of four from the new academy has accepted the request
– Process without exception, turning them all into skeletons.
“…What is this?”
Sion’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Documents containing someone’s orders.
Presumably destined for… the boss monster of the dungeon.
‘Did someone send a letter to the boss monster? From outside the dungeon?’
Sion’s expression grew serious.
While writing the report for the skeleton dungeon and during the data research, he had never seen anything indicating that monsters would act in such a manner.
So how could this happen…?
“Death Knight, is it common for dungeon boss monsters to receive orders from someone?”
[No, I’ve never seen anything like it. These beings wouldn’t be able to read properly… But I know what language it is.]
“What language?”
The Death Knight held up a document that Sion couldn’t read.
[It’s ‘Demon Language,’ a language that isn’t commonly used anymore. That is the language this document is written in.]
“…!”
Demon Language.
Literally, a unique language used by the demon race.
He remembered hearing it was a dead language that was no longer in use.
“Currently, they are using the common tongue, though.”
[When I was human, such concepts did not exist. The current common tongue is the human language… You know why that is well, don’t you?]
“…The reason?”
[Because humans won the Demon-Human War.]
“The Demon-Human War…?”
The Death Knight explained.
The Demon-Human War was a conflict between the human race and the demon race.
The war ended 120 years ago, with the humans emerging victorious.
However, the demon king left behind these words before dying.
[…In a hundred years, I will awaken again.]
“I’ve never heard that before.”
[…Have Heroes not heard of it?]
“No. What else is there?”
[Heh.]
Sion felt a headache coming on.
Demons? Demon King? Hero?
Though considered essential elements of medieval fantasy worlds, he had never encountered them here.
‘…Oh, wait. I did see a beast person and a demon race member, though.’
Professor Lunia, an elf, and Kainstos, a dark elf.
Then there was Professor Heruj, a squirrel beast person, and Professor Kaela, a cow beast person.
The demons include Maguniria in the health room.
He had just thought, ‘Of course there would be such races in a fantasy world,’ and moved on lightly…
He had no idea there was such a profound background to it.
[In any case, it seems best to report these documents to the Adventurer Guild.]
The Death Knight gathered the papers and handed them to Sion.
Just as Sion was about to take the documents…
– Ah, I heard they sent someone from the Adventurer Guild, but has everything been taken care of?
“…!!!”
A voice echoed from the dungeon core.
The quality was poor, and he couldn’t tell who it was. The voice was androgynous as well.
At the sudden voice, Sion felt as though he couldn’t breathe.
– Hmm? Why is there no response? They should clearly be there. I can sense both undead and human mana.
“……”
– Ha! By the looks of your mana, it seems you’ve reached the threshold of B-rank, yet you ignore me?
Sion’s gaze turned toward the Death Knight.
The unidentifiable voice emanating from the dungeon core.
He didn’t know who the voice belonged to, but…
‘They are mistaking the Death Knight for the dungeon’s boss monster.’
Were they seeing the dungeon through ‘mana’ rather than with their eyes?
Sion swallowed hard and gestured to the Death Knight.
The Death Knight nodded slightly.
[…I apologize. I was slow to respond due to a headache from the aftermath of the battle.]
– Oh? Is that so? Be careful. Even if you are B-rank, you’re hardly a morsel for me.
[Yes, I apologize.]
Sion let out a sigh of relief internally.
Thanks to the Death Knight’s quick response, it seemed the other party didn’t notice.
The conversation continued.
– I see. So what now? You were originally a skeleton mage, weren’t you?
[Now, I have become a skeleton archmage. The number of spells I can use has also increased. With a bit more trial and error, I may understand better.]
– Oh, I see.
The dungeon core grew quiet.
And just after that.
Wuuuu—!!
The dungeon core began rapidly accumulating mana.
– Gahahaha—!! Did you think you could outsmart me, mere academy freshman?
“…!”
– You didn’t think I would be fooled that easily, did you? How could a necromancer become an archmage? To fall for such a shallow trick… it’s laughable.
The dungeon core blazed red.
The voice’s owner had seen through Sion’s identity.
…He never expected it to turn out like this.
[Who are you?]
– Well, there’s no need to answer, is there?
[Reveal your identity!]
– Gahahaha! How amusing.
Swish—!
The Death Knight drew its sword and yelled.
But the unidentified voice merely mocked the Death Knight.
After a moment of laughter, he murmured softly.
– Everything is for the Demon King.
Boom—!!
Just as the voice finished speaking, the dungeon core exploded.
[Ah no!]
“Death Knight!”
Before the heat of the explosion could envelop Sion, the Death Knight rushed at him, wrapping around him.
However, there was no way to prevent being blown away by the explosion.
‘Damn!’
Wuuuuu—!!
Even while flying through the air, Sion drew up his mana.
As quickly as possible, he deployed the protective magic drawn from his heart.
The targets were himself and the Death Knight.
As the protective magic was completed,
“Cough…!”
…Sion’s back hit the walls of the dungeon.
Even with the impact mitigated by the protective shield, the air in his lungs was forced out painfully.
But it didn’t end there; the dungeon’s outer walls completely crumbled.
‘The dungeon…’
With the explosion propelling their bodies far away, the dungeon from the 4th floor onward began to collapse.
This was the end for the dungeon, losing its core.
[Ah no, keep your head together!]
“…Ugh…”
[Wake up! If you keep going like this—crash—]
The sudden use of mana and the shock of the explosion completely overwhelmed Sion…
As he flew with the Death Knight, he lost consciousness.
