The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

Ding!

[Succession Complete.]

[Skeleton Soldier Lv. 1(1)]

I closed the status window.

Clatter...

Carefully, I checked my surroundings.

Whoooosh...!

I was lying once again inside a narrow coffin. Two deaths in an instant. I didn’t even have to check myself to know what had happened.

So, it didn’t work?

I had trusted the overwhelming combat experience I’d accumulated until now. Even without my stats, I thought a mere soldier would be no match for me.

I was foolish. This was an entirely different situation. It would take time, perhaps a considerable amount of time, to adapt to this new form.

Still, I wasn’t completely helpless. The power of the Inventory hadn’t left me. Moreover, even the items inside it had been preserved.

Srrrk.

The rough sensation of the Inventory unfolded before me once again.

Huh? They’re gone...?

The five books I had thrown earlier had vanished from the Inventory.

Hope of Salvation, The One Eye, none of them were there. I was speechless, regret flooding through me. Those priceless works of Kevin Ashton, tossed away like common debris. Five out of a hundred, yes, but each one irreplaceable.

They weren’t books that could be obtained easily. And even though I’d realized that items within the Inventory carried over after regression...

It was a mistake...

Items in the Inventory did persist through regression, but anything thrown out into the world was lost for good. Learning that much was valuable in itself, but the loss still stung.

Where had those books gone now? Back to the imperial archives? Or somewhere near the grave? Even the rapier that had flown off, the one that clearly wasn’t ordinary, was nowhere to be found. Still, there was no use crying over spilt milk.

For now, I had three enemies to deal with. I could barely even roll across the floor. I still had plenty of weapons from the archives in my Inventory. Several were similar to the rapier that had flown off earlier. Nevertheless, no matter how fine the blade, it was useless if I couldn’t swing it.

A normal battle was impossible. I would have to use the Inventory itself.

First... the wind.

When I had fought alongside Isaac, I’d blocked an army of angels across a hundred meters. A soldier who couldn’t even cut through a book? I could easily blow him off a cliff.

If sharpened properly, it could be deadlier than any Sword Energy. Instead of drawing a weapon, it was far more efficient to wield the Inventory as a weapon itself.

I fixed my gaze on a particularly ornate rapier with no name, then unfolded the Inventory. One meter... Two meters... The translucent subspace stretched out like a ribbon. So far, it has been stable.

Srrrk... srrrk...

The Inventory spun gently through the air as if alive. I could draw items from any angle. A fine start, but not enough. Even if I ambushed one of them, taking down all three was impossible. I wasn’t even sure I could land an attack with my strength.

Should I just blow them all away?

Ssshhh!

I expanded the Inventory wide. However, the farther it spread, the harder it was to sense its edges. My control quickly faltered, the space flickering out of focus.

A diameter of about two meters?

So even the Inventory had a range limit, tied to my perception. I couldn’t project it into areas I couldn’t sense. It was frustrating, but solvable. Once my perception or skills improved, that limit would surely expand. I moved the Inventory slightly, studying its movement, organizing what I learned in my mind.

Wuuuum... srrrk.

At least I could still draw items. That alone would be enough to startle someone like Nexmond, the merchant captain. Of course, I could also store things inside. I could even make the Inventory wrap around myself. There was an issue, though.

Whoooosh!

It can’t even block the wind?

Physical interference was difficult. Forget blocking angels over a hundred meters; I couldn’t even form a proper wind barrier. Even this was restrained, because I had changed. Lying in the narrow coffin, feeling the air flow through, I recalled a conversation with Isaac.

***

”You lack finesse. Just imagine the Inventory as a layer surrounding you. Wrap it and expand it.”

”Then make the boundary like you did before.”

”...”

”What? Go on, make it.”

”You have to realize it on your own.”

”I really don’t get it. Can’t you just show me?”

”You fool... You’re in a hurry, aren’t you? Very well then...”

***

Isaac’s red eyes had wavered at the time, not from annoyance, but from hesitation. So, he hadn’t refused out of laziness, he’d wanted me to learn it for myself.

It’s not that I haven’t awakened yet. I just can’t use it.

I recalled the moment of awakening.

A space that contains nothing. A space that contains nothing... No good.

That was impossible now. If I truly had to rediscover it from the beginning, it’d take far longer than I expected to wield it like before. I had to find another way to survive this immediate threat.

They had said they were patrolling, hadn’t they? Judging by their reaction, they weren’t searching for me specifically. If I stayed perfectly still until morning, they could just pass by.

I shouldn’t have moved.

I lay still inside the coffin, staring up at the sky. I hadn’t noticed before, but dying twice in a row didn’t leave much room for reflection. Only now did I take in the moonlight spilling across the graveyard, almost dizzyingly beautiful.

Maybe I should just read?

For a moment, I considered lying here in the coffin and reading one of Ashton’s books. In the end, I decided against it. If I was going to endure this, I had to be cautious. Even the slightest sound could give me away.

Since I couldn’t block the wind, there was no way to stop the sound of pages fluttering. Judging by the chill, it was probably late autumn or winter. The sky was clear, yet the wind was sharp and biting.

Before I could even finish a few pages, they’d come running and crush my skull again. Besides, after carelessly losing a few of Ashton’s precious books earlier, I couldn’t bring myself to take another out. The ones that remained felt far too valuable.

Who were those soldiers, anyway? I’d visited Erast many times, but I didn’t recall any soldiers like them. The same went for Yublam. I knew their guards well enough.

Of course, I couldn’t claim to recognize every voice, but I knew the guards of Grassmere even better. They were the ones I’d personally trained in secret. If they weren’t from any of those three nearby towns, where had they come from?

No answer came to mind. I stayed completely silent, waiting motionless inside the coffin for a long while. There was neither sound nor presence. Whether they were near or far, it was clear I couldn’t sense them at all in my current state.

Patience, then. I had to take things one step at a time, starting with what I still could do.

Rubia. Since I’d woken up at the Erast graveyard, it was impossible not to think of her. If this were the same world line as before, and if the regression had placed me after our first meeting, then by now, she’d have been pierced by arrows, her limbs crushed beneath a warhammer.

I wonder... Scenario.

I carefully summoned it. Even if I couldn’t see her, I should still be able to view any active scenario. What had become of it?

Ding!

The familiar sound echoed.

[An S-rank Scenario, Rubia Ray, is now in progress.]

[Subquest: Lord Rubia.]

[Crown Rubia as the Lord of Erast!]

[Raise her Governance Level to 10.]

Rubia Ray had not disappeared. A deep wave of relief welled up inside me. Even stripped of every stat and skill, her existence remained.

But...

The scenario window didn’t reveal whether she was alive or dead. Even in death, a scenario could remain active. The real question was timing—that was the problem from the start.

When exactly am I?

What was Rubia doing now? How should I act? That all depended on when I was. Without knowing the timeline, I couldn’t predict whether Rena would appear at Daliac again, as she had before.

Maybe I’m overthinking this.

Escaping this graveyard came first. But above all, I had to deliver a certain message.

Walk the dream parallel to the Sun of Lindbrum. Gith-Za-Rai, the necromancer.

If I succeeded, I could prevent her assassination, receive Essence Absorption, and grow stronger with her support. Then again, it all depended on timing. The emperor’s assassination could’ve been foiled already. The message of Lindbrum would be meaningless even six months past the original point.

Could she already be dead? If I couldn’t meet her, the entire plan for strengthening myself would collapse. Even slipping into the Grassmere catacombs to meet Isaac would become impossible.

So when exactly am I?

Whoooosh!

I couldn’t guess, hence I decided to wait until sunrise. I lay perfectly still, not moving a single finger. That was the safest. Though it was only one night, it felt longer than the days I’d once spent hiding in the cave from Leandro.

The darkness slowly thinned. The sky and the trees began to reclaim their colors. They’d said patrol, hadn’t they? Soldiers wouldn’t stay at a grave all night. They had to sleep, at least.

The living ruled the world, but the undead had their advantages. No need for rest. No fear of drowning. Beyond that, there wasn’t much else to boast about.

As I lay there through the night, another thought occurred to me. Since my stats had reset, would the cave Rubia and I once traversed count as labyrinth again? If I could reach it and pass through, I could earn ten levels at once.

Clearing the labyrinth would be easy. I knew every inch of that cave. It wasn’t much, but it would be a good opportunity to recover some strength. And even if it didn’t work, just thinking of it made me feel strangely satisfied.

The darkness lifted bit by bit. The faint sunlight that brushed against my bones felt unfamiliar, perhaps because of all the time I’d spent in the imperial archives. So much had happened there that it felt like months had passed.

Should I climb out now? No. The first to move always loses. A few hours wouldn’t make a difference anyway. Waiting was the best option.

Gith-Za-Rai... please, still be alive.

Thwip.

The moment I prayed that, a soldier’s face suddenly leaned over the open grave above me.

”What are you looking at?”

”Ah... something doesn’t feel right. You think this thing moves?”

His unpleasant voice echoed right above my skull.

Doesn’t feel right? Was he joking?

Just go away.

If nothing changed, the same future would only repeat itself. Even his intuition would repeat. I had to endure. I had to overcome this...

”Hmph...”

The soldier snorted and drew his sword like it was his habit.