TLLN 06

Chapter 6

A pure-white skeleton with a thin, gaunt body. Just hearing that description, it didn’t sound like anything special. But if I told you it stood nearly three meters tall, could anyone possibly not feel threatened?

The source of those heavy footsteps was none other than a Skeleton Giant.

Thud.

Creaaak.

Creak-creak.

At the same time, a Skeleton Mage and Skeleton Archer had taken up positions beside it, like subordinates following their leader.

It was enough firepower to make even seasoned Hunters instinctively shrink back. Naturally, to ordinary people like us, their presence was far more terrifying than words could describe.

Gulp.

Perhaps realizing that being discovered meant certain death, the girl squeezed her eyes shut and held even her breathing completely still.

It was admirable.

But I was actually the one in greater danger.

Perhaps because we were pressed tightly together in such a confined space, the side effect was beginning to rise again, and my stomach was gradually churning.

Simply put, I felt like I was going to throw up.

“……”

Just as this agonizing stretch of time was passing, the Skeleton Mage suddenly began casting some kind of spell, creating a ball of fire in midair.

Creak.

Fwoosh!

There was no obvious sign that it intended to attack.

At least, it wasn’t targeting us.

Unlike me, however, who could immediately make that judgment, the girl, whose entire body was tense, screamed at the sight.

“Eek!”

Creeeak.

Creak-creak.

At the same time, every skeleton turned its head backward with the sound of bones scraping against one another.

The bizarre sight completely terrified the girl.

“……Come out.”

Thud.

The skeletons began moving, and I quickly grabbed the girl’s hand and pulled her along.

Tap-tap-tap!

It was difficult to imagine from their appearance alone, but Skeleton Giants were surprisingly fast.

Honestly, they would catch up to us before long.

But there was a place I had clearly remembered from earlier.

A narrow passage that the Skeleton Giant couldn’t enter.

If we could make it there, we should be able to shake them off somehow.

Whoosh!

Ping!

“Gyaaah!”

The Skeleton Archer began firing arrows from a distance, but its projectile speed was slow to begin with, so they weren’t a threat at this range.

The problem was the Mage.

Even if we entered the passage, if it launched a fireball into it, we’d be roasted alive with nowhere to escape.

How am I supposed to deal with that?

As I pondered while running, something useful happened to appear right in front of me.

It was the corpse of the Skeleton I had smashed earlier.

“Haah. Haah.”

Tap-tap-tap.

I leaped over the Skeleton’s remains and widened the distance between us.

Then, just as our pursuers passed over the corpse, I borrowed the death energy stored within the magic stone and recited an incantation.

Corpse Explosion.

BOOM!

CRACK!

It was the right choice.

I couldn’t destroy their most important parts—their heads—but the Archer and Mage, which had taken the blast head-on, could no longer pursue us.

Thud!

BOOM!

We entered the passage I had been aiming for and finally managed to shake off even the Skeleton Giant.

“Haah. Haah.”

“Huu.”

After barely catching our breath, the girl and I hurried toward the opposite end of the passage.

It would be troublesome if the Mage recovered and came after us.

However, what awaited the girl and me on the other side was a crisis that made a mere Mage seem insignificant.

Creak.

Creeeak.

“Ah…… Aah……”

The girl couldn’t even finish her sentence.

And there was good reason for that.

“Kiieeek!”

“Grrrr.”

Not only a Skeleton Giant, but Revenants, Devourers, and Bone Lizardmen as well.

Monsters classified as intermediate undead were staring at us with their empty eye sockets.

“Eek.”

Each of them was a monster ranging somewhere between C-rank and B-rank.

For an ordinary person, calling them a catastrophe wouldn’t even be enough.

The girl and I hurriedly retreated back into the passage, but it was pointless.

Aside from the Giant, all of them could enter without any trouble.

Leaving the girl, who had collapsed onto the floor, behind me, I quickly racked my brain.

The first thing that came to mind was a question.

How did they know?

Of course, if there really was a higher-level undead inside this dungeon as I had suspected, it could have shared information and commanded its subordinates to corner us.

But that didn’t quite fit.

From the moment we had entered the dungeon, their movements hadn’t been particularly coordinated.

At the very least, they weren’t receiving instructions for every single action.

That much was certain.

Then did they simply detect us through some means?

After thinking deeply, I soon realized the answer and broke into a cold sweat.

Ah. I’d forgotten about this.

“It’s because of the magic stone……”

A magic stone filled with death energy.

I had used it to activate Corpse Explosion, after all.

Naturally, undead with particularly sensitive senses would have noticed it.

In other words, I had basically trolled myself.

……

Honestly, what else could I have done?

I’d never imagined that I’d ever have to use death energy like this while alive, and this was my first time entering a dungeon.

It would’ve been stranger if I’d anticipated this beforehand.

It’s not my fault!

But even as I thought that, my conscience hurt quite a bit.

Especially when I looked at the girl beside me, who was completely overwhelmed by despair.

“Mom……”

“……Get up.”

I grabbed the girl and pulled her to her feet, then took up my crude sword and assumed a stance.

I couldn’t die in a place like this.

If that was the case, then I simply had to fight my way out.

Swoosh.

I gripped the sword tightly and stared at the Skeleton Mage and Archer approaching from behind.

The Revenant and Devourer in front were C-rank monsters.

If we wanted to survive, naturally, we had to break through the Mage, which was only D-rank.

The longer I hesitated, the tighter the encirclement would become.

I watched for the optimal moment, then abruptly turned around and charged forward with all my might.

Whoosh!

Fwoosh!

The Skeleton Archer nocked an arrow.

At the same time, the Mage began forming a fireball.

Judging by its progress, it would take roughly two seconds for the fireball to be completed.

I accurately measured the timing as I closed the distance, staring at the Archer and Mage’s bony arms while waiting for the moment to strike.

Twitch.

They moved.

Now.

Tap!

Ping!

FWOOOSH!

BOOM!

I suddenly charged diagonally and narrowly dodged the fireball.

In that brief second, a handful of my hair caught fire, leaving behind the lingering sensation of battle, while a searing heat—almost painful—ran from my right shoulder down to my waist.

But I hadn’t been hit.

At the same time, the first arrow also flew past me, leaving only the second arrow of the other Skeleton Archer, which had yet to be fired.

I lowered my stance as much as possible and calmly read its line of aim and the movement of its fingers.

Ping!

Clang!

At the moment it fired, I aimed for the point where its shot was headed and braced my sword with both hands.

The Skeleton Archer’s arrows weren’t particularly fast.

Even so, my entire grip tingled painfully from the impact.

I had survived all of their attacks, and I was now right in front of the Mage at the very front.

Without hesitation, I swung my sword at its head.

Kagak!

CRACK!

To be honest, my sword strike was pitifully weak in my current state.

But the durability of a low-level Skeleton was equally pitiful.

My properly aligned, clean downward slash accurately destroyed the Skeleton Mage’s head.

That’s one.

And I was confident I could deal with the other two before they had a chance to prepare another attack.

But just as I charged forward, someone behind me shoved me aside.

It was the girl who had been with me.

Why?

I lost my balance and turned my head.

Then my thoughts stopped.

Whoooosh.

Something was flying toward us.

Looking closely, I realized it was the head of the Devourer from the other side.

Ah.

Come to think of it, I’d once read on the Internet that some Devourers could launch their own heads as an attack.

Since they were a type of undead that hadn’t existed in the world I came from, I’d never even considered it.

Life Devouring.

They said that anyone bitten by a Devourer’s teeth would have their life energy drained and become a living corpse.

And right in front of the flying Devourer’s head stood the girl, arms spread wide as though she intended to protect someone.

On the glimpse of her face, I could see regret over what she had just done and despair over the death that was about to come.

I’d seen that expression countless times over there as well.

……

For a moment, an unpleasant sensation surged up from the depths of my chest.

It wasn’t a side effect of dimensional travel.

Those were entirely my own emotions.

Who gave you permission?

I was the Lord of Death.

Death was me, and I was death.

It wasn’t something a mere undead that didn’t even possess life had any right to speak of.

Nor was it a domain that humans ignorant of death could meddle in according to their own whims.

You’re willing to die for me just because we’ve spent a little time together and I’ve helped you?

Life wasn’t something that could be treated so lightly.

It wasn’t something to be handled so recklessly.

The same was true of death.

It was a misguided act.

An insult.

I forcibly corrected my collapsing balance and twisted my body.

My ankle twisted painfully, and my waist screamed in protest, but I didn’t care.

I stretched out my hand in front of the girl.

The Devourer’s enormous head sank its teeth deep into my hand.

KRAAAK—!

But then.

“……I said I’d block it once.”

Whoooosh.

Those sharp teeth couldn’t penetrate the white protective barrier that had appeared in an instant.

It was the one-use defensive barrier embedded in the necklace Seo-ha had given me.

Immediately afterward, something began glowing inside the Devourer’s mouth.

It was caused by the magic stone filled with death energy that I had already been holding in my hand.

CRACK!

The moment I crushed it, I grabbed the Devourer’s head and threw it toward the Bone Lizard in front of me.

And the moment the head struck its target, I spoke an incantation that I hadn’t uttered in a very long time.

“Undead Call.”

Overflowing death energy filled the narrow passage.

At the same time, a change began to occur in the Devourer and Bone Lizard that had become the catalysts for the spell.

“Kiieeek—!”

Crack!

Crack-crack!

CRUNCH—!

The Bone Lizard’s body began coming apart as though it were being disassembled.

Then, piece by piece, its bones reassembled themselves into a new form.

The bones of its face became armor.

The bones of its tail became a sword.

Eventually, the completed headless undead reached out and grabbed the Devourer’s head, which was still floating in midair, then forcefully slammed it onto its neck.

CRACK!

FWOOOSH!

Black mist that had been pooled inside the empty neck burst through the point of connection.

I calmly watched the transformation and, to complete the spell, quietly called out its name.

“Halloween Knight.”