Invisible force made his body shrink as if it were about to burst in his hand.
One side of his skull was swallowed by the darkness.
The bone that was once an arm vanished as if torn off by a wild beast.
Black spots appeared on the skeletal form, turning it pitch black and swallowing it into the darkness.
And how long had it been?
The vast sea-like night pressed down on death.
The crumpled skeleton, like a piece of paper crushed in his hand, fell to the ground.
Like a toy that a child had grown tired of and thrown away.
'This brings back memories.'
In the darkness, Rune, who had watched this, slowly smiled, lifting one corner of his mouth.
The black dragon's wyrmling.
The reason he was utterly alone, feared by all.
Because the darkness he wielded could even swallow fear and despair, making it impossible to maintain one's self.
At that moment, a small white light flickered.
The round light, with wings, flew over and calmly perched on top of the darkness's head.
Shivering slightly as if cold, Byakuya chirped and flapped his white wings.
As Rune slowly pushed back the darkness, the dungeon's structure was revealed again.
The corpses of the dead, torn apart by the darkness, were scattered around.
"That was too anticlimactic."
Byakuya patted Rune's head with his wings.
"What a thing to be worried about."
Smiling, Rune shrugged and looked around.
Nearby, Heumi was visible. Unafraid of the darkness, he was sleeping peacefully.
He picked up the sleeping Heumi under his arm.
"Ugh, Rune-nim, Heumi is hungry…"
When he placed Heumi in the area where Jedd was, Heumi smacked his lips and muttered in his sleep.
Rune, frowning, also carried the groaning Ferdikion to the side.
After taking care of the group, Rune rummaged through the shattered remains of the skeletal reaper.
The skull, with a power core that had lost its strength, resembled a greenish spirit.
Although it was cracked, the other bones had also failed significantly.
'Well, I can take this much. It's at least worth the price of a life.'
The principle was that items obtained in the dungeon were distributed equally among the team based on contribution.
Even if Rune took the boss's remains as a reward, it wouldn't violate the principle.
He opened the leather pouch he had received as a gift from Christina and stored the bones.
'There will be a use for them.'
At that moment, a small window with information appeared before his eyes.
[Victory over the first appearance of <Soul of the Dead> since the dungeon's creation!]
- A soul who has forgotten everything in the vast ages.
- Once a powerful superhuman, but after being immersed in death for a long time, became a vengeful soul.
'This guy's name was <Soul of the Dead>.'
Rune, who had been calling the reaper and skeleton, looked at the bone remains with renewed eyes.
The updated information didn't end there.
* Command <Revive> possible list
'Why is this showing up? I don't need to see such trivial things.'
He casually skipped through it until the last item appeared.
- Soul of the Dead (Acquirable)
'Can I… revive this guy?'
Rune couldn't hide his excited expression as he looked into the pouch.
"Oh, right. Good job, Byakuya."
The black dragon's curse potion.
He had brought Byakuya, who could cleanse curses, just in case, and he had performed his role very well.
Pleased, Rune rewarded Byakuya with potato chips he had made.
After collecting other reward items and exiting the dungeon, the unconscious group began to wake up.
"Kwark. Save the dwarf… please."
Everyone, except for Heumi, who was still snoring, woke up and looked around.
Ferdikion was the first to grasp the situation.
"Could it be, you cleared it? The hidden dungeon?"
"How? That skeleton definitely blinded me and attacked. I thought we were done for."
Ferdikion never even considered the possibility that Rune might have attacked.
After all, it was a darkness so thick that one couldn't see a thing, and he hadn't seen who attacked.
Rune only gave a plausible explanation.
"The curse of the potion was gone, and my power returned to normal. Thanks to that, I could deal with that guy."
Ferdikion stared at Rune's face.
But he instinctively realized that Rune was telling the truth and looked relieved.
"…No major injuries. It's shameful that I put you in danger due to my oversight."
Ferdikion frowned, feeling ashamed of himself.
"That's not it. It was a hidden boss that only reacted to those with the 'Revive' ability. There's no way anyone could have predicted such an absurd condition."
If Rune hadn't brought Byakuya, they would have never encountered this creature.
But Ferdikion still looked frustrated.
"…I should have predicted it."
Rune, who had inwardly rolled his eyes, spoke to the dejected Ferdikion.
"Thanks to you and Heumi holding out until the curse was gone, I could defeat that guy."
His voice was calm, neither comforting nor sympathizing.
"Thank you, really. Bro."
'Actually, Byakuya bought me time to cry and drink the tears to detoxify.'
Ultimately, he had received help from them.
Seeing Ferdikion's face relax slightly, Rune looked around.
Just then, he met Jedd's eyes, who had been listening to their conversation.
"Did we defeat that terrifying thing?"
Jedd, who had been groaning a moment ago, was now excitedly swinging his S-grade battle axe, Pararium.
"Yah! We're alive! We're alive!"
Rune held back from saying, 'If you keep playing with fire, you'll lose your hand.'
Since Jedd had thought he was doomed to die, it was fine to let him celebrate for a bit.
"Are you going to keep playing with fire?"
Jedd quickly put away his weapon and chuckled sheepishly.
"Hehe! Rune-nim, you're so serious. This is a celebration, a celebration!"
Only then did Ferdikion's tense expression relax.
"Hmm! Speaking of which, your servant did a great job. What reward would you like for him?"
'He called him Heumi just now.'
With the urgent situation over, he was back to calling him a servant.
Rune smiled at the straightforward Ferdikion.
"I have one idea, but it might be difficult for you."
"Instead of calling him 'servant,' call him 'Heumi.'"
Ferdikion's eyebrows twitched and narrowed.
'Surprising. I thought he would outright refuse.'
It seemed he had enjoyed the teamwork more than expected.
'Did he develop some camaraderie?'
Rune believed that Ferdikion would eventually call him 'Heumi' properly.
"Wow. Heumi-sama, you look so small and gentle. Your brave appearance earlier was unbelievable."
Jedd, carrying the sleeping Heumi, exclaimed, and Ferdikion, inwardly pleased, replied.
"Of course. I trained him myself."
"Wow! You're amazing, Ferdikion-sama!"
With a warm atmosphere, everyone prepared to leave.
Before leaving the dungeon, Rune took a closer look at the mural of a human and a dragon at the entrance.
'Could the human depicted here be the <Soul of the Dead>?'
If Phasias had indeed ordered the mural, he might have known something about the hidden dungeon.
Ferdikion, judging by his reaction when they defeated the boss, had no idea.
It was something they couldn't know for now.
'Someday, I'll hear the story about this.'
Soon, they disappeared into the flames Ferdikion had summoned.
"Vardin, you came to meet us."
"Yes. It's just an old man's foolishness… I was worried because you were later than expected. Hehe. Is everything alright?"
Hehe, he laughed and checked the group's condition with his eyes. Ferdikion replied calmly.
"Yes. There was a hidden boss, so we had to deal with it."
"! A hidden boss? What do you mean?"
Ferdikion explained the entire situation they had encountered in the dungeon.
During this time, Rune instructed Jedd to take the sleeping Heumi to his bedroom.
After Byakuya and Heumi left,
Vardin, who had heard the entire story, was momentarily speechless.
"…That's surprising. The dungeon was created before Ferdikion-sama was even born. A monster that has never appeared until now."
"Let's seal the dungeon for a while, just in case. We'll form an investigation team to check the dungeon's status."
"Yes! Understood, Ferdikion-sama!"