Professor Aldwin sat on the makeshift bench outside the dungeon entrance, flipping through his clipboard like it had insulted his mother. His quill scratched rapidly, quick notes, then annoyed scribbles as he crossed half of them out.
A few steps away, the gray-haired woman inspected the wards lining the dungeon gate. Her fingers glowed faint blue, expression calm.
anwhile, the youngest instructor, paced back and forth, muttering curses as he juggled a crystal tablet and a mana-gauge device.
"Should’ve been my assignnt," he grumbled. "But no. Aldwin has to supervise everything—"
Aldwin didn’t look up. "Did you say sothing, Taryn?"
Taryn froze mid-step. "N-Nothing. Just... calibrating readings."
Aldwin gave him a slow, skeptical glance then returned to his notes.
Taryn exhaled. Almost relaxed—
Then, the ground shivered.
His eyes snapped to the mana-gauge. The device shrieked, numbers spiking once, twice, then rocketing past limits they had no business reaching.
"Uh... Professor?" His voice cracked.
Aldwin stood. The woman turned sharply, calm evaporating.
The shimring barrier over the dungeon entrance flickered, not the comfortable, lazy pulse of a Rank-E dungeon, but a violent surge like sothing inside had woken up.
The reading on the artifact stabilized.
"Rank... C? That can’t be right," Taryn whispered, stepping back.
Aldwin’s jaw tightened. "C-Rank dungeon, damn it. He can’t clear it alone. He’s just a first-year student."
The woman’s gaze darkened. "We can’t go inside either. It gets locked when one party enter and can’t be accessible until cleared or the ones inside die."
Taryn swallowed. "Then... the only option he has is to use the ergency artifact we gave him."
Aldwin didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
He knew Jin was in serious trouble.
*****
{Jin’s POV}
My lantern was the only thing pushing against the shadows. It was like a pool of light fighting against a sea of black.
Each breath ca out visible. The air here beca colder.
The tunnel sloped slightly downward, cut from rough stone, the walls beaded with moisture.
Tip! Tip!
Water dripped from sowhere above, each drop echoing too loud, making the silence heavier.
Stay alert!
I kept the lantern low, and sword ready. The ground here wasn’t flat, uneven stones forced to watch every step.
Then I heard it... a faint rustle.
Ahead? Behind?
I couldn’t tell, just stood there, listening.
But nothing followed.
I forced my breathing into control again and moved forward.
Finally, the passage widened into a dead-silent chamber, the lantern glow catching sight of a massive oak door bound in dark iron. I pressed my hand against it, feeling the cold seep through my glove.
Then pushed.
The door swung open with a groan.
And sothing massive stepped through from the other side.
I had half a second to register what I was seeing sothing humanoid.
Then it attacked.
The blade ca at my throat in a horizontal slash.
I threw myself backward, my own sword coming up on pure instinct.
CLANG!
The impact rattled through my bones. My boots skidded on stone as I stumbled back, arms screaming from the force.
Oh, that’s not a skeleton or even a ghoul.
The thing advanced through the doorway, and my lantern light revealed what I was dealing with.
A Wight?
Had to be.
It was six and a half feet tall, wrapped in dark plate armor. The helt’s eye slits glowed with a sickly green light, and beneath the armor I could see dried, leathery skin stretched tight over bone.
It raised its sword again, a proper longsword, held with the confidence of soone who’d used it a thousand tis.
Why the fuck is sothing like this here?
My Debug Vision flared automatically:
[Entity Analysis]
entity_id: "blackwood_wight_B07"
type: "undead_commander"
hp: 280/280
threat_level: "high"
abilities: {
command_undead
necrotic_strike
tactical_combat
}
weaknesses: {
decapitation
holy_magic
sustained_physical_damage
}
Fuck this shit!
The wight ca at again with a thrust aid at my chest. I parried, blade scraping against blade, and tried to riposte.
It batted my counter aside effortlessly and kicked in the stomach.
The air exploded from my lungs. I flew backward, crashed into the wall, and barely got my sword up in ti to block the next strike.
Steel scread against steel.
The wight pressed forward, driving back step by step. Each impact sent jolts of pain up my arms, my muscles screaming, my grip weakening.
It feinted left, I bought it, and the real strike ca from the right that caught in the ribs.
Crack!
Pain flared white-hot.
I staggered, gasping, and the wight’s blade ca around in a horizontal slash—
I threw myself flat.
The sword passed inches above my head and buried itself in the stone wall with a crunch.
I rolled, ca up on one knee, and ran.
Not toward safety, there wasn’t any. Toward the doorway the wight had co through. It was a narrow space. Limit its movent.
Though my side scread with every step, but I made it through and spun, sword raised.
The wight pulled its blade free and followed thodically. Not rushing.
It’s not mindless. It’s thinking. Waiting for to make a mistake.
We faced each other in the narrow doorway, maybe four feet wide, enough for one person but cramped for a real fight.
Just what the hell is going on? How the fuck can a E-Rank dungeon be this difficult?
The wight attacked again, but this ti the confined space worked against it. The overhead strike it tried caught the doorfra. It had to pull back to adjust.
There. That’s sothing.
But "sothing" wasn’t enough. It ca at again, thrust, slash and I was purely defensive now.
My arms were going numb from the impacts.
I needed an edge. Literally anything.
Then focused on the wight’s sword mid-combat.
[EDIT: Wight’s Sword → Balance Off-Center]
The blade shimred faintly. The wight didn’t seem to notice.
It swung again.
And the swing went wide.
I lunged into the opening, driving my sword toward the gap between its chest plate and helt.
My blade scraped against armor and skidded off.
Fuck!
The wight backhanded with its free hand.
I crashed into the doorfra, stars exploding across my vision, and felt sothing wet running down my temple.
My blood.
Can’t penetrate the armor.
Think, dammit. Think!
User Comments
0 comments from readers