Ch.6Home Outside Is Dangerous (3)

A skeleton with white bones and a gaunt body. It doesn’t sound like much from the description alone. But when it’s nearly 3 meters tall, who wouldn’t feel threatened?

The source of the heavy footsteps was a Skeleton Giant.

Thud.

Creak.

Cre-creak.

Simultaneously, at its side, Skeleton Mages and Archers had positioned themselves like subordinates following their leader.

A force that would make even seasoned hunters instinctively cower. Naturally, to ordinary people like us, its imposing presence was beyond imagination.

Gulp.

Knowing that detection meant certain death, the girl kept her eyes tightly shut, holding even her breath.

Her attitude was admirable.

However, I was actually in more danger.

Perhaps because we were pressed so close together in the narrow space, the side effects were rising, making me increasingly nauseous.

Simply put, I felt like throwing up.

“……”

Just as this time of endurance was passing, suddenly the Skeleton Mage began casting some kind of spell, creating a fireball in midair.

Creak.

Whoosh!

There was no sign of an attack. At least, it wasn’t aimed at us.

But unlike me, who could instantly judge this, the girl who had been tensing her entire body screamed at the sight.

“Kyaah!”

Crack.

Cra-crack.

At the same time, all the skeletons turned their heads back with a grinding of bones, and the girl was completely terrified by the grotesque sight.

“…Come this way.”

Thud.

The skeletons began to move, and I quickly grabbed the girl’s hand and led her away.

Pitter-patter.

Despite what its appearance might suggest, the Skeleton Giant is quite fast. Honestly, it wouldn’t take long for it to catch up.

However, I clearly remembered a place from earlier.

A narrow passage that the Skeleton Giant couldn’t enter. If we could just reach there, we might somehow shake them off.

Ping!

Ping!

“Kyaaah!”

The Skeleton Archer fired arrows from a distance, but since they were slow to begin with, they posed no threat at this range.

The problem was the Mage.

Even if we entered the passage, if it launched a fireball in there, we would undoubtedly be roasted alive.

How do I deal with that?

As I pondered while running, a good solution appeared before my eyes.

It was the remains of the skeleton I had destroyed earlier.

“Huff. Huff.”

Pitter-patter.

I jumped over the skeletal remains to create distance, and the moment the pursuers passed over them, I used the death energy stored in the magic stone to cast a spell.

‘Corpse Explosion.’

Boom!

Crack!

That choice was correct.

Though I couldn’t destroy the crucial head, the Archer and Mage who took the frontal impact could no longer pursue us.

Thud!

Thud!

Having entered the passage we were aiming for, we finally managed to shake off even the Skeleton Giant.

“Huff. Huff.”

“Hah.”

Barely catching our breath, the girl and I hurriedly headed toward the opposite end of the passage.

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

However, what awaited us and the girl on the other side was a crisis incomparable to mere Mages.

Creak.

Cra-crack.

“Ah. Aah……”

The girl couldn’t continue speaking.

And who could blame her?

“Keeek!”

“Grrrr.”

Not just Skeleton Giants, but Revenants, Devourers, and Bone Lizardmen too. Monsters classified as mid-tier undead were staring at us with their empty eyes.

“Hic.”

Each one of them was a monster ranging from C-rank to B-rank.

For ordinary people, they were disasters beyond description.

The girl and I hastily retreated back into the passage, but it was meaningless. In reality, except for the Giant, all of them could easily enter.

Leaving the girl who had slumped to 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 higher undead existed in this dungeon as expected, they could naturally share information and command their subordinates to corner us.

But judging by how their movements weren’t so coordinated from the moment we entered the dungeon, that didn’t seem to be the case.

At least, they weren’t receiving instructions for each and every action. That was certain.

‘Then did they simply detect us through some means?’

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

No, I had forgotten about this.

“It’s because of the magic stone……”

A magic stone filled with death energy. After using it to cast the Corpse Explosion spell, undead with sensitive perception would naturally notice.

In the end, it meant I had trolled myself.

‘……’

Honestly, isn’t it unavoidable?

I never thought I’d use death energy like this in my life, and it’s my first time in a dungeon.

It would be stranger to have anticipated this.

I’m not at fault!

But thinking that way made my conscience ache quite a bit.

“Mommy……”

Especially seeing the girl beside me sinking into despair.

“…Get up.”

I pulled the girl to her feet and took a stance with my crude sword.

I can’t die in a place like this.

If that’s the case, I just have to break through.

Swish.

Gripping my sword, I stared at the Skeleton Mage and Archer approaching from behind.

The Revenants and Devourers in front are C-rank monsters. If I want to live, I obviously need to break through the D-rank Mages.

The longer I hesitate, the tighter the encirclement becomes.

In a short time, I watched for the optimal timing, then turned around and charged fiercely.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

The Skeleton Archer nocked an arrow.

Simultaneously, the Mage created a fireball.

Roughly estimating, there were about 2 seconds left until the fireball’s completion.

I closed the distance while keeping precise time, watching the skeletal arms of the Archer and Mage, waiting for the moment to attack.

Twitch.

They moved.

Now was the time.

Tap!

Ping!

Whoosh!

Boom!

Charging diagonally at high speed, I narrowly avoided the fireball.

In that split second, a tuft of hair burned, leaving a lingering scent of battle, and I felt a near-painful heat from my right shoulder blade to my waist.

But I wasn’t hit.

Meanwhile, the first arrow also missed me, leaving only the second Skeleton Archer’s arrow that hadn’t been fired yet.

I lowered my posture extremely, calmly gauging the archer’s aim and finger movements.

Ping!

Clang!

At the moment of release, I raised my sword with both hands to intercept where the aim was directed.

The Skeleton Archer’s arrows aren’t that fast.

But despite that, my entire grip tingled.

Having overcome all attacks, the distance to the Mage at the forefront was now right in front of me.

Without hesitation, I swung my sword at its head.

Crack!

Thud!

To be honest, the power of my sword strike right now is terrible.

But the durability of a low-tier skeleton was equally terrible.

The sword, swung correctly and cleanly, precisely destroyed the Skeleton Mage’s head.

That’s one down. And I was confident I could handle the other two before they prepared their next attack.

As I charged forward, someone from behind pushed me aside. It was the girl who was with me.

‘Why?’

Losing my balance, I turned my head and immediately froze in thought.

Whoosh.

Something was flying toward us.

Looking closely, it was the head of a Devourer from the opposite side.

‘Ah.’

Come to think of it, I remember reading online that some Devourers attack by launching their heads.

It was a type of undead that didn’t exist where I came from, so I hadn’t considered it at all.

‘Life Consumption.’

People bitten by a Devourer’s teeth become living corpses, drained of their life energy.

And in front of the flying Devourer head stood the girl, arms spread wide as if to protect someone.

In her face, briefly glimpsed, was an expression of regret for her current action and despair for the imminent death.

I had seen such expressions many times from the other side as well.

‘……’

In that moment, an unpleasant sensation welled up from deep within my chest.

It wasn’t a side effect of dimensional travel. It was purely my own emotion.

‘Who gave you the right?’

I am the Lord of Death.

Death is me, and I am death.

It was not something that a mere undead without even life should dare to mention, nor was it a realm that humans ignorant of death could involve themselves in by their own will.

‘Just because we briefly got along and I helped you, you’re going to die for me?’

Life is not something to be taken so lightly, nor is it something to be treated so rashly.

The same goes for death.

It was a wrong action, an insult.

I twisted my body, forcibly correcting my lost balance.

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

Reaching out in front of the girl, the Devourer’s large head bit deeply into my hand.

Crunch─!

However.

“…I said I’d protect you once.”

Whoosh.

Those sharp teeth couldn’t penetrate the white barrier that appeared in an instant. It was the one-time defensive shield embedded in the necklace Seoha had given me.

Immediately after, something began to glow inside the Devourer’s mouth.

Due to the magic stone filled with death energy that I had been holding.

Crack!

As I crushed it, I picked up the Devourer’s head and threw it at the Bone Lizard in front.

And the moment the head hit its target, I uttered a spell to summon death after a very long time.

“Undead Call.”

Overflowing death energy filled the narrow passage.

Simultaneously, changes occurred in the Devourer and Bone Lizard that became the catalyst for the spell.

“Keeek─!”

Crack!

Cra-crack!

Crunch─!

The Bone Lizard’s body began to fall apart as if being dismantled, and each piece reassembled to create a new form.

Facial bones for armor, tail bones for a sword.

The headless corpse that was finally completed picked up the Devourer’s head that had been floating in the air and forcefully impaled it on top of its neck.

Crack!

Whoosh!

Black mist that had pooled in the empty neck burst out between the joints, and watching this calmly, I softly called its name to complete the spell.

“Halloween Knight.”