Dante slowly raised his aching head. His vision was blurry, and his ears were buzzing, but he could still feel the cold and hard ground through his hands.
This place was dark. All he could see was a few yellow spots of light and the dim beams of moonlight.
Moonlight? Wasn't he in The Lower Catacombs?
The last thing he remembered was that space crack and its incredible suction power. Pygmy skeletons, newcomers, even the torches... everything in the hall that had the possibility for moving had been sucked into the crack in just a second.
After that happened, Dante immediately lost his consciousness. The headache and the buzzing feeling in his ears were most likely the after-effects of that suction power.
His nostrils were filled with a fishy and putrid smell. His mind was still muddy, but his nose was working properly. He didn't know what this smell belonged. It was foreign to him, yet he didn't find it disturbing at all.
Dante heard a weep from up ahead. It was strangely mixed with warped laughter. As his muddy mind finished recognizing the owner of the voice, his vision returned to normal as well.
The crying-laughter was coming from Niles. He was crying like a little girl and laughing like a mad man at the same time.
"Niles?" said Dante. His voice sounded a little drowsy.
He didn't show a strong reaction because his mind wasn't fully awake yet. Otherwise, he would have raised his guard immediately, as soon as he had seen this strange scene.
Niles slowly turned his head toward Dante. The moment when he fully displayed his snot and tear covered face, his crying-laughter also came to a stop.
To tell the truth, this was the ugliest expression Dante had ever seen.
Niles was feeling a series of emotions right now. He already felt these emotions more than once after he had come to The Labyrinth of The First. The only difference was that these emotions were hundreds of times stronger now.
Horror, regret, rebellion against his own fate...
For a moment, their eyes met, but Niles averted his gaze and abruptly looked upwards. Not just his appearance were crazy, his actions were crazy too.
"He-he... Ha-ha... Wha-ha-ha... Here I was thinking... It couldn't have been worse. He-ha-ha... Not even a week passed in my new life, but look at what happened... Gods sent us to this shithole called The Labyrinth of The First... to be butchered and tor..."
*BOOM*Pssshk*
A loud bang alongside a strange sound suddenly jolted Dante awake. As something wet splashed all over him, his pupils contracted strongly.
In his frontal vision, there wasn't a Niles anymore. In his stead, there stood a big metallic skull. It was as big as Niles himself.
As for Niles... Some of him was on Dante, and the rest was spread around that skull like a red-white veil.
Dante was in shock. A few seconds after he had woken up from his unconsciousness state, he saw a crazed Niles, and then, a portion of Niles was all over him. What the hell was happening? Where was he?
He forced himself to look around. As his eyes surveyed the surroundings, his expression gradually sank. The more he saw, the more danger he felt.
Incomplete bodies were everywhere! Some of them couldn't be considered as human corpses anymore.
Now he knew what was that fishy and putrid smell was. It was the smell of blood!
His eyes frantically searched for Ulfred.
The old man should also be here, and it would be best if he was safe and sound.
Yelling out in this place was a stupid thing to do in this situation, but his mind wasn't in its best condition right now.
"Ul..."
As soon as he opened his mouth, a fairly big hand closed it instantly and pressed Dante down to the ground at the same time, burying him into a pool of blood and flesh. Then he heard a familiar voice near at his right ear.
"Don't... Yell... Don't... Move... It's there... Look."
The hand's owner was none other than Ulfred. He crawled among the corpses and prevented Dante from yelling just in time.
His voice and the hand that closed Dante's mouth were trembling. Whatever 'it' was, it made the old man, who was a genuine skald, scared witless.
Also, he was soaked in blood head to toe. Had he been feigning death among the corpses all this while?
Dante had many questions in mind, and surely, Ulfred had an answer for many of them, but he didn't ask anything. He couldn't ask. His gaze had been locked into where Ulfred had signalized with his eyes.
When Dante laid his eyes on 'that door' for the first time, he had felt a familiar feeling coming from the inside. In fact, this feeling has been in him since then. He had just been ignoring it all this time.
If he had to describe it, Dante would say 'It was a feeling similar to being called by close kins. Like the bond between a mother and her child. You can't accurately describe that bond, but you know it is always there.'
However, the truth could still be something entirely different.
Seeing this five meters tall skeletal monster, now he knew where this feeling had come from. And... It definitely couldn't be his mother.
He failed to notice this monster before because the moonlight and the few torches that were about to die away weren't enough to illuminate this place. Also, most of his attention was on Niles at first, and then on the metallic skull.
"It has been clutching its head like that... and groaning from time to time. Lately, this behavior of its... started to happen more often. It looks like... it has some worsening issues." Ulfred whispered Dante's ear using a grave tone of voice. He went straight to the point, not giving Dante much information.
"How long have I been unconscious?" asked Dante.
"At most for half an hour..."
The stoic-faced old man Dante knew of was nowhere to be seen. Seeing Ulfred like this was perhaps the biggest shock that Dante has received since he woke up.
Dante looked at the creature. It was still groaning as if it was in pain.
They still had some time.
"Tell me what happened, old man."
"Y-yes. Everything that the crack sucked in ended up coming to this place. Most of the surviving newcomers who fell here were in an unconscious state... and the others became targets for this monster as soon as they tried to run or screamed upon seeing... this slaughterhouse."
"All of them died horribly. It didn't even spare the pygmy skeletons... I hid under the corpses near you. I planned to inform you when you woke up... because all the newcomers I had seen from here tried to run or made a lot of noise before they met their ends."
A wry, self-mocking smile appeared on Ulfred's face. He looked like he was trying to convince himself while he was saying his last sentences.
"I don't know where we are. The System doesn't respond to me at all. I can't even use my skills. I... I don't know what to do. There is nowhere to run."
Of course, Dante knew where they were right now, but saying it to the current Ulfred would do no good. He also did not bring up Nathaniel and Iona.
"Calm down, old man. You have to tell me more about this creature. Also, why are you... like this?"
"You saw Niles, right? It can produce a strange roar that's similar to what we had heard from the dungeon boss. Anyone who heard this roar is ending up like Niles."
"That big skull is its weapon, a flail. Its physical strength is beyond imagination, and it doesn't move from that spot."
Ulfred gave Dante a defeated look and continued. "If you are thinking about battling it, I must say it's useless. Once you heard that roar, you are finished. Plucking your ears with something won't work either. Believe me, I tried... I stuffed my ears with meat pieces... I buried my head into a blood pool... but it still did not work..."
Ulfred started to lose his voice's control towards the end of his speech. It was evident that he had gone through a hard time.
Dante didn't urge him to lower his voice. He was sure that 'the unique monster' already knew about their existence. Hiding among the corpses wouldn't help them at this point.
They had to do something, and also, Dante had to do something about this scared cat Ulfred.
"This creature is very likely to have my memories. I can feel it," said Dante and got on his feet. "As you said, we have nowhere to run and despite being very strong, this creature has some worsening issues. So we might still have a chance in defeating it."
Dante looked at the old man in the eye and continued with a stern tone of voice. "I want my memories back, old man. With you or without you, I'll push my chances until their limits. Therefore, the current you have only two choices now. Die with me or die alone."
"I must say I don't like the Ulfred I see at the moment. I want the savage one back, so we can survive together. Also, he is a thousand times more beautiful than the current you."
"Now, get up Ulfred. You are a skald. Act like one." As he said this, Dante turned his back to Ulfred. He wanted to give the old man some space for thinking even if it was just a momentary one.
The situation wasn't in their favor, and most likely this place would end up being their grave, but even so, Dante was still filled with the desire to know himself.
If he couldn't obtain his memories here, he would die at most. Like the other newcomers. What was the big deal about this? He was a person who would do what he wants to do until his last breath.
Though, it wasn't like there were any other options other than fighting in a desperate battle. If there had been any, Dante would have preferred it.
Ulfred looked at Dante's back with wide open eyes. It wasn't Dante's words what moved him. He hasn't even made any sense from Dante's last sentence. What moved him was the brave character of his.
Though, it wasn't like he believed Dante could talk like this if Dante was in his shoes.
*Bang*
Ulfred gave a pair of heavy slaps to his cheeks. His desperate expression gradually transformed into a savage one whilst he made silent oaths to himself.
"That's more like it." Dante smiled and helped Ulfred to get up.
"You are a fearless fool, aren't you? Wha ha ha ha!" Ulfred gave out a hearty laugh. "I don't care anything anymore. So, tell me the plan, Boss!"
Now, head to toe, both of them were soaked in blood. If their opponents were humans, this scene would be enough to plant fear into their hearts.
At this time, the groans of the skeletal creature came to an end. The blackish-grey glow around the striking head intensified several times, and it brought the metallic skull to its side with a quick pull.
"Looks like time is up, old man. This time, there is no plan. Just attack while protecting your life!" said Dante with an indomitable will.
Then, he imagined bringing out The Bonesword and the rusty shortsword that he had taken from the dungeon boss out of his inventory.
"Huh?"
Nothing came out!
He tried asking things to The System in a flurry in order to check the situation, but it was futile. He didn't get a response from it. His connection to The System was also thoroughly dead!
'I thought the reason Ulfred couldn't access the system was that because he was still affected by the roar of the creature. Damn it! It wasn't a status effect!'
And, just like that, 'his indomitable will' received a heavy blow before the battle has started.
"So, there is always a worse situation. Am I right, the ghost of Niles?" murmured Dante with a wry smile on his face.