Dungeon Discovered
Dungeon Name: Lich Tomb
Dominant Species in Dungeon: Skeletal Warriors
Dungeon Rating: E
To Clear Dungeon: Defeat the Lich.
Fully Stepping Past the Threshold Means You Accept the Challenge.
Dungeon Challengers Are NOT Allowed to Exit Dungeons Before Fulfilling Clearance Requirements.
Step Back if You Do Not Wish to Undertake This Challenge
Last chance to turn back.
Nathan glanced at the information with full focus; this wasn't the time to joke and play around. The facts were laid down: he'd grown too strong for F-ranked dungeons to improve him fast. At most, he'd have to clear three or four F-ranked dungeons to receive a single level up at this point, while still risking his life in the process, as nothing was hundred percent certain.
E-ranked dungeons, on the other hand, would offer him a challenge—one that would probably involve him risking his neck to clear. He would've stepped through the threshold if not for a little issue that had been bugging him since he'd begun walking up to the closest E-ranked dungeon he'd found during his exploration.
He'd outgrown F-ranked dungeons, yes, but had he grown to the point where he could challenge E-ranked dungeons and get out alive? Maybe. His mind whirred around the possibilities, letting him know that if F-ranked dungeons had monsters from around level 5 to 15, then E-ranked dungeons at the very minimum would have monsters anywhere from level 16 to 30.
Or even higher.
Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose as he considered the scenario, eventually coming back to a simple conclusion. He needed to get stronger fast, and this was the place. It had high risks, sure, but it also had high rewards attached—mainly the level-ups He didn't know if the system would offer him an uncommon skill for completing this dungeon.
I hope not.
Unsheathing his sword, Nathan rolled his shoulders, giving himself a pep talk before walking past the threshold and into the dungeon proper.
Welcome Challenger.
The Lich's Tomb Awaits.
The dungeon is Locked and Will Remain Locked Until You Fulfill Clearance Requirement.
Clearance Requirement: Kill the Lich.
Nathan willed the screen to close with a thought, focusing on what the actual dungeon in front of him looked like.
Of all the dungeons he'd entered since the start of the apocalypse, this one was the one that looked the most like a dungeon. Fantasy-like torches hung on the wall in what looked to be a fighters' pit, with a throne at the extreme end of the pit.
Oh my!
He couldn't help but chuckle at what sat on the throne: it was a skeleton with a crown on its head, its eye sockets two hollows of blackness while its jaw balanced on a bony hand facing the entrance to the dungeon with a... dead expression.
"How am I supposed to kill what's already dead?" Nathan mused, looking around the pit as he began walking towards the throne.
Creak!
Nathan had barely made it three steps forward when he heard an ominous creak coming from the throne—the kind of creak a skeleton made. Focusing his gaze on the throne, he almost let out a curse. Where there'd been a very dead skeleton seated haphazardly on the throne, there was now one seated much more regally, its hand no longer supporting its jaw, orbs of fire replacing the emptiness he'd seen in its eye sockets.
Do they just keep all these monsters in hibernation mode?
Nathan pointed his sword at the skeleton, which was presumably the lich, getting ready to charge when it pointed a bony finger at him and opened its jaws to let out one of the most bizarre sounds Nathan had ever heard.
It was like someone had gone into a studio and made a song that combined the noises of a creaking wood board, metal door against stone, and something that Nathan couldn't even find a comparison for.
"Uhm, yes. I, Nathan Orion, have come to challenge you."
He had no idea if that was what he was supposed to say or if he was even supposed to respond to the confusing noise the lich had made, but as soon as the words left his mouth, patches of dirt around the pit began to tremble violently. A white skeletal hand burst out of one of the patches, the hand trying to leverage the ground around it as it sought to pull out the entirety of its skeleton.
"Ahh!"
Nathan was more shocked than hurt when the scream left his mouth, and while he wasn't proud of what he'd just done, he couldn't really blame himself. While he'd been busy looking at a hand trying to pull the rest of itself out of the ground, another hand had burst out just a foot from where Nathan stood and had clamped on his left leg.
Creepy.
Nathan slashed at the bony hand, noticing with trepidation how it took more effort to break through the bone holding his leg than it had been to cleave through the nagas. This was certainly going to be a hard fight—one that meant he'd have to be smart about how he approached it.
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Stepping away from the still trembling areas, Nathan made his way to the only place other than the throne in the pit that didn't have literal skeletons pulling themselves out of the ground—the center of the pit.
He had half a mind to attack while the skeletons were still pulling themselves out of the ground, but he restrained himself because they were way too close together for that plan to work in his favor. All it'd take was a couple of bony hands to hold him down, and he'd be food for the skeletons. Although Nathan doubted that the skeletons ate meat or anything else by the looks of it—pretty bad look for the lich. What kind of leader didn't feed his followers?
One that wanted to be killed.
Nathan dispelled the jokes; it was time to be serious, dead serious. With a glance, he saw that a skeleton had pulled itself free of the earth, others in suit. Giving it a once-over, he confirmed that it'd certainly pass for a model in his biology classes.
[ Undead Skeleton]
The information that had come after Nathan had gotten his act straight enough to analyze it was concerning: the undead didn't seem to have a level attached to it. Hoping it was just a mistake on the system's part, he glanced at the other ten skeletons pulling themselves out of the ground, some with more success than others.
[ Undead Skeleton]
[ Undead Skeleton]
[ Undead Skeleton]
[ Undead Skeleton]
[ Undead Skeleton]
[ Undead Skeleton]
[ Undead Skeleton]
[ Undead Skeleton]
[ Undead Skeleton]
Each and every other undead skeleton apart from the lich on the throne had no level attached to them. Nathan didn't even know how to feel about this. Turning his head to the throne, he analyzed the one undead he hadn't.
[ Lich
Level 22
]
TWENTY-TWO!!! Nathan couldn't believe what he was seeing, so he had to check it again. Yep, it really was twenty-two. To put it in context, Nathan was at level sixteen, meaning the undead that sat on the throne before him was a whopping six levels above him. SIX! And the worst part was that he wasn't even going to be able to level up with its minions as they seemed dead to the system.
Shit!
Nathan wanted to curse out loud but held his tongue for fear of angering the lich lord into ordering its minions to kill him. He considered trying to reason with the lich but that would probably be like trying to have a conversation with a dead man.
Instead of hoping for a miracle, Nathan decided to create one. He charged towards the lich lord on the throne, hoping to bypass the five skeletons that were between him and it.
He managed to get past the first one with no issues, sidestepping its blow with a little twist at the right moment, just to get sucker-punched in the face by another skeleton who'd rushed from the side.
Crack!
Geez Louise!
For things that had been labeled undead with no levels of their own, Nathan had been surprised when his head rocked back from the punch, the contact breaking his nose. His mouth tasted tangy, something like salt and iron—blood.
The skeletons had drawn first blood, and Nathan couldn't wait to repay the favor. Changing targets from the lich lord to the undead that had punched, he slashed with unmatched vengeance.
Crack!
His sword arced upwards as it broke through the offending arm, going up until he broke its collarbone, making that entire side of its skeletal structure drop to the ground. The undead stared at him, unperturbed, already reaching to punch him, and Nathan wasn't surprised; he'd be dead stupid to be.
A focused slash cleaved through its bony neck through its skull, making the rest of its body fall to the ground with a thud. Nathan barely got a chance to gloat at the one-punch undead before he was barreled into by a skeleton pushing him toward the other group of skeletons around the exit.
That group sent their own skeleton to barrel into the still-spinning Nathan, who fell to the ground with an "oof". A bunch of skeletons had just used him to play—him, a whole lord of Blood Rock. Slowly getting off his feet, Nathan waved his blade at the remaining nine undead.
"Y'all are going to be wishing that you stayed buried."
He charged at the closest skeleton, an overhead strike breaking through its skull and stopping at its empty abdomen. Nathan kicked the skeleton off his blade as he rushed to meet the charges of two skeletons who'd presumably come to avenge their comrades.
Too bad, Nathan didn't have any plans to let them. He executed a horizontal slash as soon as the undead skeletons got within range, his sword making a terrible noise as it broke through bones with a lot more resistance than he'd have liked.
Thud!
The bisection didn't seem to do the trick, as he could still see the pair of undead crawling towards his legs. With a shout of rage, Nathan broke both undead skulls into pieces with his sword, ending their feeble struggles.
"Come on, make this interesting!"
Nathan said as he tried goading the seven undead that remained standing. His antics seemed to have struck a nerve—or something in the skeletons—as they charged at him, the undead that had clamped on his legs before the main fight began leading the charge. The absence of a hand almost helped Nathan identify it.
He wasn't going to play favorites, though. First or second, his sword was ready to sing, and so it did. Overhead strikes seemed to be the fastest way to end the imitation of life these undead enjoyed, so he didn't even bother going for fancy slashes and maneuvers. He just went for barbaric overhead slashes, his sword breaking the skull of the lead undead, instantly snuffing out its imitation of life.
He couldn't get all of them, though. As soon as his sword made contact with the lead undead's skull, he received a punch from another undead at his abdomen. Pain exploded around the area, but Nathan persevered and finished his attack, ending the lead undead.
[ Warning:health below 75%]
Bollocks
Pivoting, he struck at the undead that had punched him, bisecting it and two other skeletons standing beside it with a horizontal slash. He didn't even use his sword to deliver the killing blow to their forms still crawling towards him—no. He crushed their skulls with his bare feet, ending their attempts as he returned his focus to the three others that were left.
"Rarrgh!"
With the confidence of a madman, Nathan charged at the remaining three undead, his chest heaving as he broke their skulls apart like they had gold in them. His sword came down mercilessly on their heads like it was a Warhammer.
When the last of the undead fell, Nathan turned to the lich sitting on the throne, with madness in his eye. He pointed his sword at the lich and roared like a barbarian, the berserker in him coming alive. The lich simply pointed a bony finger at Nathan and let out the same bizarre noise as at first.
Shlunk !
Creak!
Shlunk!
Creak !
Shlunk !
Creak!
Shlunk!
Creak!
Shlunk !
Creak!
Shlunk!
With a terrible sense of dread, Nathan turned back to see that all the undead he'd just put an end to had been reassembled back into one piece and were very much alive.
Freaking liches.
BOOK 1 COMPLETED ON PATREON.
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