The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

I had no idea why Isaac had suddenly collapsed.

Cradling him in my arms, I looked around. ”What happened...?”

It was unlikely the goddesses’ seal had suddenly grown stronger. The capital was still far away, and there was no temple in sight. Besides, hadn’t he traveled all the way to Daliac with me before without a problem?

He wasn’t the kind of being to faint from a mere sandstorm. If it had been an overload from too much information, he should have collapsed when I first started speaking. We hadn’t even gotten properly started. Each feather of the crow in my arms quivered uneasily in the wind.

”Isaac...”

I had, of course, already laid out the basic plan. His absence didn’t erase everything. Isaac himself had said it: after dying more than ten times and experiencing it all firsthand, I was better equipped than he was to find the right answer.

And yet, where else could I find someone to whom I could confess everything without guilt, someone who’d nonchalantly cut straight to the core?

I had to get him back.

Clutching the ominous sorcery device, I recalled his earlier words.

It originally operates on Lurium. I need to continue to recharge like this.

The crow effigy operated on Lurium as its base. If mana wouldn’t charge him, couldn’t I supply it with liquid instead? I carried rivers of Lurium. Isaac himself had said the amount in me was without visible limit. If I cracked open the casing, poured what coursed through my circuits into his beak...

Uuuung!

I used Sword Energy, forcing open the construct’s circuits.

Crackle!

”Hey! Stop! I was joking!”

”What?”

”Kukuku, just look at you, scared out of your bones.”

”...”

The crow effigy flapped in my arms, snickering. ”Were you afraid I’d died? Quit rattling those bones. I was only joking.”

For a moment, I considered burying him deep in the sand, but the relief that he was unharmed smothered my anger almost instantly.

”I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

”Aw, you don’t sound that mad.”

”What the hell was that stunt?”

”What? It’s a boring walk, what’s a bit of fun? I did it as a warning.”

”What kind of warning?”

”The first commandment, never give up your Lurium to anyone.” His tone shifted, eyes gleaming with gravity. ”My cult, Yemera’s temple, even the tomb’s golems... All the Lurium you’ve interfered with remained altered, even after regression. If you hand it out to others, who knows what changes it will force on you? It’s far too dangerous.”

His voice ground like teeth. ”Not even me.”

The words jarred me. I stared blankly at him. ”You, worrying about me?”

”Hey. I told you, I don’t know what my past self did. And I promised I’d help for six years, didn’t I? Don’t cling to your prejudices.”

”...”

Three years, plus another three.

”Why are you looking at me like that? Think of it this way. If your Lurium disappears, it could twist my future as well. I don’t want to take that risk.”

I wasn’t too sure after the mana charge, but his first collapse seemed real. Was he truly fine now? I found it hard to decide for myself, watching him anxiously.

Flutter!

Isaac shot upward as if nothing had happened, wings slicing the sky. ”Let’s go. How about a race?”

***

”We’re here.”

Even from the faintest outlines, I could already picture the city. The buildings, the alleys, the people, all taking shape inside that hazy silhouette.

”Ho... you can tell already?”

”It’s been three hundred years for you, hasn’t it?”

”Tch. If you’re going to steal my lines, at least let me complain first.” He huffed, then said, ”So, how do you plan to get inside?”

”The city gate is easy enough to pass under concealment, but there’s a barrier inside...”

”If you came here with me once before, a barrier like that shouldn’t stop you.”

”Of course not.”

I checked my Status Window.

[Barrier Knowledge Lv. 5

— You understand the following concepts.

— Dual Barriers, Barrier Compression, Barrier Erosion, Barrier Release, False Mimicry.]

The barrier around Daliac lay bare before me. Its threads were little more than slack ropes, its core dangling as if waiting for me to snatch it.

Tap. Tap.

I didn’t even need to slow down or pay it special attention. The barrier had already unraveled.

”Excellent. Naive you may be, but at least you’ve been taught well. Or was it Essence Absorption, you said?”

”That’s right.”

”Absurd. Absorption techniques usually collapse the vessel without planning. But you...” He blinked, then pointed his beak forward. ”First, find Rena.”

We slipped past a woman in a white mask, invisible in concealment. Isaac’s presence was synchronized with mine.

I flushed faintly at his praise and scanned the alleys. ”There’s no presence towards us. It’s an incredible level of stealth.”

Naneow Tropin and Sharunian were somewhere in the dark, waiting.

”Should I just walk into the auction house?”

”That would be boring. This time, you’ll be the one to grab that brat by the hair. You promised to tell Naneow everything, didn’t you?”

”And?”

”If you want credibility, you can’t let yourself be seen getting dragged around. Imagine how her heart will stop if you suddenly appear behind her. Shock her first, then persuade.”

”...”

I wandered the streets around the auction house for hours, but Naneow’s presence eluded me.

”The ground! Don’t take another step!”

I froze where I was, obeying Isaac.

”Heh. Someone knows their tricks. There’s a sorcery trap on the ground. Wait...”

”Wouldn’t it be simpler just to meet her?”

”Shh...”

[False Arm...]

[False Leg...]

[False Eye, False Blood, False Heart...]

Concepts boiled over. Hands and arms and eyes of shadow sprouted from nothing, flesh and blood taking shape from the void.

[The soul’s design is false, life’s purpose is reflected curse...]

Shock locked me stiff. With Isaac’s knowledge absorbed into me, I recognized it immediately.

It was a Familiar. They were ordinary wizard-bound fragments of will to subjugated beasts. The dumber the creature, the easier to control. Birds were common, their intellect weak compared to their size. Minds, desires, and vision shared. The death of a familiar struck its master like a blow.

However, this familiar was born only to die. Born from mud-like shadows, phantoms of imagination, to reflect the trap’s curse straight back at its maker. When it perished, it’d sever the feedback, delivering only information to Isaac. That was as much as my Lv. 5 Occult Knowledge could unravel.

”You’re sure it won’t kill her?”

The trap laid here on the ground was most likely the work of Sharunian, who cared for Rena more than anyone.

”Heh, too bad it’s far too weak for that. The original Black Mud could have corroded even the soul, but now, it can reveal a location at best.”

Shhhrrrk!

Shadow puppets shaped like people stalked the alleys. Arms bound, legs shackled, vision obscured, yet the Black Mud shattered its restraints, corroding the formless bindings in turn.

Isaac pointed his beak toward an alley a hundred meters ahead. ”There.”

The mist clung, the mud following close behind.

”You... you can perform sorcery like that even inside the effigy?”

”Tasting malice and reflecting it is my specialty...”

Thud.

This time, he had pushed himself too far. Isaac’s wings shriveled as he collapsed into my arms. His eyes went dark, glassy, no light remaining in them.

”What a troublesome fellow.”

I tucked the smaller crow effigy into my armor and closed in swiftly behind Sharunian. Through the swirl of mist, I saw the catfolk warrior shaking free of the mud’s pursuit. She was acting apart from Naneow, it seemed. With Isaac unconscious, any grander entrance was impossible.

”Sharunian, I don’t mean to fight.”

The white cat’s fur bristled as she turned. She wore a human frame, but her face and limbs remained feline, mid-transformation as her sorcery surged.

”Wh-what are you...?”

Isaac had burned his last strength believing I could handle this much alone.

”You could predict the date and hour of my arrival precisely, but not that I’d be an ally?”

Unable to maintain even her humanoid guise, she shifted fully into cat form, round eyes fixed on me. She seemed thinner than before. Had she been through hardship?

”You... you were impossible to read. My joints ached like never before. I’ve never met anyone harder to predict. What are you, really?”

Her voice carried a hiss, a rumble of purring irritation. Nevertheless, more than hostility, I felt the irresistible curiosity that only a cat could possess.

”I want you, Naneow, and Rena to hear me out together.”

***

”And that’s how it happened.”

Naneow and Sharunian stared, dumbstruck.

”Haa...” Rena gazed into the air as though dredging up memories, sighing deeply. ”My memories...”

Her eyes shimmered with moisture. That fragile glisten pierced the wasteland inside me, worn thin by more than ten deaths. Her life had been closer to tragedy than comedy.

”They’re returning...”

The two T&T executives flanking her turned toward her.

”Really? I feel nothing.”

”Nor I...” Naneow Tropin’s smooth, unwrinkled face tightened slightly. ”I never imagined living three hundred years together, that Lurium could hold such power...”

She didn’t even bother hiding the turmoil stirring beneath her porcelain skin. Silver mana flowed beneath instead of blood.

”When you come to the capital, I want you to visit my laboratory.”

Sharunian’s pupils narrowed vertically. ”You trust him? You believe everything he says is true?”

”I do.”

”It’s certain.”

Even without Rena’s testimony of resurfacing memories, they had no choice but to believe. The Lurium theft plan. Their secret path beneath the capital. The personalities and structures of the T&T executives. Details only someone with prior contact could know.

”Very well. Then leave the marquis, the Relic of Light, and everything else to us. We’ll handle it.” Rena took charge of the room. ”You said Rubia, didn’t you? We’ll help her with all our strength. Trust us.”

”Truly? And the price...”

What could I offer? I had nothing but an unconscious Isaac in my arms.

”You’ve already thrown us information the guild didn’t know. What more could you possibly give?”

”...”

Rena smirked at my silence, glancing around. ”Why are you all sitting there brooding? I actually feel clearer than ever. Don’t you have more to offer?”

I asked the question that had been gnawing at me, ”Do you have any information on Red Flake?”

Sharunian’s fur shot up as she growled with an absolutely final tone, ”Absolutely not!”

Rena’s gaze softened. ”Here and now, it’s impossible. We’re bound by treaty not to leak that information.”

I studied her. A woman who was ready to use me to the fullest just because I had cleared a scenario once. She had emphasized here. Even saying that much had risked much.

”Everyone travels incognito here, gathering information separately. Obtaining detailed profiles is nearly impossible.”

Sharunian’s incredulous gaze darted between them. ”What? Even the founder?”

”If you aid me in Lurium research, you’ll always be my most welcome guest. I’ll be waiting in the capital,” said Naneow.

”...”

Perhaps I’d spoken too much. When I mentioned the Ashen Knight who had slain her and drained her blood, even unflappable Naneow had trembled, deep down.

”Then... for optimal routes...”

Rena turned her back. ”We’ll head upward. I trust you already have your own plan.”

Her last words felt forced, as if pulled from her throat. I couldn’t bring myself to step forward and check her expression.

”Come, we must hurry. The guild’s traitors, those colluding with Biblio, must be purged.”

***

They left with only the parting words that they’d contact me when needed. Feeling cornered, I leaned against the alley wall and channeled mana into Isaac.

Bzzt... Bzzt...

After several attempts, Isaac’s eyes flicked open.

”...”

He locked eyes with me and slowly said, ”Ugh... so it wasn’t a dream after all...”

”Spare me the dream jokes.”

”Hmph. Did the negotiations succeed?”

”Probably. You overextended yourself, didn’t you?”

”Hard not to, when I’ve been abstaining from Lurium altogether.”

”Isaac, what do you think of Red Flake?”

”Why ask me? You should have pressed those T&T brats before they left.”

”I did. They said a non-disclosure pact binds them.”

”What, not even a hint?”

”They said... here.”

”Is that so? That’s more than enough. This place is just a meeting ground. Few stay here permanently. It must be one of the staff.”

The faces of those I had seen here flashed through my mind. The dazed non-members, the woman in a white mask in the alleys, the strangely powerful information broker at the auctions... The broker.

”Hmm...”

Almost as if reading my thoughts, the crow cut in. ”Don’t go poking around Daliac just yet. Once the Biblio matter is settled, T&T will reach out to you. You can meet them then. For now...”

”Where?”

Isaac’s voice sharpened. ”The basement. If Rubia’s emotions and memories are preserved, if they truly change this world’s past forever...”

Click.

The crow tapped his beak. ”There is no reason to stop at making her a mere lord. None whatsoever.”