"I have a plan, and it's most likely the only plan that would reasonably work. I just cannot see us defeating this thing." Kayden said bluntly.
It was true. This huge monster isn't meant to be fought by a few C-ranks and a single B-rank. Putting its absurd health points aside, it's also far from the blundering giant that they had imagined it to be at first. This thing was both fast and intelligent.
And you know who else is fast and intelligent? This guy right here!
"Alright… what's your plan?" Ezekiel asked.
"It's pretty simple!" Kayden tried putting his hood up but quickly realized it was no longer with him. He settled for drawing his knives instead. "I'll draw its attention somewhere else, and you guys take all the loot you can get. No time to waste, I'll do it now!"
"Wha—That's reckless! You might need up h-hurt just like Alice!" Cathy tried holding onto Kayden's shirt in an attempt to stop him, but he already vanished into thin air. "W-wait!"
Kayden's voice could be heard coming from a long distance away. "Don't worry! I'm a lot faster than you think! You guys just focus on your thing!"
And with that, Kayden ran straight towards the giant skeleton.
"Ugh… that guy has a death wish…" Alice groaned in pain while clutching her damaged arm.
Louis, who had retreated to the rest of the party, shrugged.
"I mean… if he wants to do it, then let him go ahead and do it. Anyways, let's go get the treasure."
Ezekiel frowned in the direction where the skeleton was at. It had just picked up its massive greatsword from the ground and seemed to be eagerly chasing after something. Kayden, he assumed.
"Let's trust him. If I'm not wrong, his plan is most likely to bring the skeleton to meet with Aisha's party. They would be able to deal with this much better than us."
It was a decent plan that relied heavily on how fast Kayden was, and as he said, it was most likely the only reasonable plan to work. However, luck played a huge factor as well. Kayden would have to correctly guess the Crimson Menace's location.
"Bleh… running way to his crush… how unsightly," said Alice.
Cathy let out a sound of surprise. "Eh? Aisha's his crush? How did you know?"
"Isn't it obvious? He prioritized staying with her party over potential profit. That's a tell-tale sign that he cares about her if I've ever heard one. Though, seeing how I ended up like this, his judgment may have been the right one…"
The party looked over as the skeleton squeezed its massive figure through the exit by folding in its limbs. Soon after, it disappeared into the darkness ahead.
***
Echoing throughout the corridors of the dungeon were the sounds of heavy impacts and crumbling rocks, and chasing after a small figure was an absolute giant of a skeleton, with a sword almost as large as it. Due to its unwieldy size, the sword would frequently crash against the walls or ground, crumpling metal and breaking apart rocks in the process.
Like a man trying to kill a cockroach, the giant figure swung the sword ravenously at the little figure, only to have it barely miss each time. Haunting laughter came out from the wide-open mouth every once in a while, drowning the sounds of destruction and rattling bones.
The rampant destruction of their surrounding caused tremors and shakes so violent that Kayden almost thought that the ceiling, or even the entire mountain, would collapse.
"Oh sh*t sh*t sh*t! Why did I volunteer? I must be crazy—"
Crash!
The massive blade loomed over and decimated the area right next to him, sending sharp debris shooting out in all directions. Although he dodged the blow, he was not unscathed.
[-4!, -3!]
'Cr*p!'
[User is using skill: Honed Instinct C]
[User is using skill: Knife combat C]
As more debris continued to spray towards him, Kayden caught a few and threw them right at the skeleton. To no one's surprise, it wasn't very effective.
[-2!, -1, -2!]
"Welp, it was worth a shot."
Suddenly, without warning, black flames began to crawl up the blade from the hilt up, and like a black hole, it sucked in all the light in this already dark corridor. Kayden was now running in complete darkness.
[Target is using tier 2 spell: Flames of Destruction]
Spell name: Flames of destruction
Tier: 2
Description: The pure absence of mana manifested in the form of burning flames. Will absorb anything and everything to balance the mana concentration.
'Ah cr*p. If only I learned how to use transformation magic properly, I wouldn't have to be running like this! And Conner was there too, I could've asked him! Should've known my aversion to transforming would come bite me in the ass.'
The dark flames weren't hot, but rather, it was bone-chillingly cold, like they absorbed even the heat from the surroundings. Kayden was always pretty tolerant of the cold, more so than other people, yet even he found it unbearable.
However, it was thanks to that feeling that he could guess the trajectory of the swing and dodge out of the way, despite being completely in the dark.
He braced himself for the impact of the scattering debris, yet nothing happened. There was no debris, no sound, and no force of impact as if the attack never existed in the first place.
Another chill ran down his spine, and he rolled to the left. Again, there was no impact or sound, just the heavy footsteps of the sprinting giant behind him.
'This is getting even worse! Destruction magic? Does it destroy the debris too? Since when can it do that? Good thing I lured this thing away then, I don't think the party realized just how dangerous this thing is.'
He dodged once more to the right and felt the chill slide past him. Despite not being able to see or hear the attack, Kayden was confident he could avoid it long enough for him to fulfill his plan.
The plan that he thought up wasn't to simply just sacrifice himself for the safety of his comrades. No, of course not, his life is incredibly important. The plan that he thought up would sacrifice the lives of others instead.
'It sounds terrible if I put it like that, but those that wish to enter a dungeon must be prepared to sacrifice their lives for profit in the first place.'
"Alright, I believe that I need to make a right here… eh?" He let his blade run across the surface of the wall. If there was an opening, he shouldn't have missed it.
"…Did I miss it?"
His destination was the large room where the massive tide of skeletons was, but it seems that he had unknowingly ran past it. There was no way for him to tell with the absence of light, but judging by the amount of distance he ran, he must have passed it quite a while ago.
"Things really aren't going my way today… Damn it. They should've had told me about this black f—"
Slam!
Kayden slammed headfirst into a wall, all thanks to the impenetrable darkness. He immediately fell backward and landed on his back just as a biting chill caressed his face.
Without thinking, he leaped to the left, only to slam into another wall. The force of the two impacts caused him to feel an overwhelming sense of dizziness. All the exhaustion and stress from running away simultaneously started to catch up to him. It seemed that he had been backed into a corner, both physically and metaphorically.
'Cr*p. Why does this always happen? Things just have to go south some way or another, all the damn time.'
A burst of laughter equally as chilling as the black flames resounded and sent shivers down his spine. No, it wasn't just that, those black flames must be staring right down at him, moments away from tearing him apart. There was an incredibly slim chance for him to dodge this, and even if he did, what could he even do?
'Why does this happen? Why aren't I strong enough? Just what do I have to sacrifice to come out on top? Are sacrifices always necessary?'
Kayden could properly feel the black flames descending on him now. It was cold, harsh, and it was the last sensation that he would ever feel, right before his death. The cold slowly spread all across his body, from his face to his spine, from his spine to his limbs, to every inch of his body. This is goodbye.
[…]
Or so he thought.
***
"Damn. This death thing is taking a lot longer than I thought. Even the chill completely disappeared and everything."
He stared upwards while laying down, waiting for the inevitable outcome. By right, his death should have come by now, right?
"Or maybe… I'm already dead? Don't tell me that this is the afterlife."
He sat up straight and took a look around. Everything was dark, just as it had been before. The afterlife sure was great if it still allowed him to think constantly, though he was sure it would become torture later on. Or perhaps whatever god or goddess of the afterlife was giving him some time to reflect upon his life.
"Huh. This is interesting—No. Nope. Wait. I've been here before. Am I breathing? Nope. Sigh, I see, it's this again…"
Indeed it was, he was back in the strange black world that made zero sense. He was supposed to be getting attacked right now, and him being here meant one thing. At any moment, he could die, and his brain will forever cease to think, yet he had been brought into this world.
"But no, seriously. I'm should be dead right now. If I'm not dead, does that mean…"
A shocking idea popped into his head. It was a potential explanation as to how and why this all happened.
"No way. Is it possible that I've never actually left this world in the first place? If this is true, then whatever happened then must be a dream, or even better, a vision." Kayden stood up with his fist clenched in excitement.
"Hah! Then I must use this power for the sake of my comrades. I'll prevent my own death, Alice getting her hands chopped, and put a stop to that big undead! This power, I shall call it: Future Sight!"
"[That's an interesting idea. But no, you are definitely about to die.]"
He turned around, surprised to hear a familiar voice behind him. However, upon seeing what was behind him, he turned back.
Burying his face in his hands, he cried.
"Damn it… This punishment is just… too cruel…"
"[Wow. That was rude. Is this how you normally treat women? No wonder you're still single.]"
"What? My comment can in no way be interpreted as how I treat women. Also, being single is a lifestyle! Also, I'm still young."
"[What are you talking about? Humans marry at an age as early as twelve, you know? You're five years older than that but never went on a single date.]"
"What are you talking about? Where did you get that information? What's your source?"
"[…Nevermind. Now, can you just turn around? We really need to talk. You're just about to die, remember?]"
"…You're right."
After that brief tangent, Kayden once more turned around, this time with one eye shut.
"Ah. Much better."
"[…]"
It was the same lady that he had briefly met the last time he had come into this dark space. A youth whose beauty couldn't be described with mere words stood before him. Just ignore everything on the left side.
"Wait. Wasn't the icky part on the right-side last time?"
"[I can change it at will. It doesn't matter.]"
"Right…"
They both stared awkwardly at each other, each waiting for the other to speak. Once they couldn't stand the silence any longer, they began to speak.
"So—"
"[Do—]"
"…Okay, I'll go first. Aren't you gonna explain about my whole death thing?"
"[I was waiting for you to ask questions before I would say anything. If that's the first one, then so be it.]" The lady turned around and gestured for him to follow. "[There's a way to save you, but I'm not about to do it for free. Before we reach our destination, is there anything else you wish to ask?]"
Kayden thought about it for a while, before shaking his head.
"Nope—"
"[…Seriously? You don't want to know about my identity? About this place? About how this is all happening?]"
"Uhh…" Kayden tugged the collar on his cloak, which he was surprised to find was completely fine here. "I kinda assumed you would fill me in on everything…"
"[…A reasonable assumption. We do have quite a lot of time here, and I was hoping for a nice, long chat with you.]
"[I'll start with more pressing matters. First off, I can tell that you recognize me from my voice, right? You didn't seem to treat me like you do with strangers.]"
"Right. You're the System, a hundred percent. By the way, you did not look like how I imagined you to be."
"[Ignoring your comment on my looks, you are correct. But I appreciate it if you don't call me that.]"
"What? Oh, you mean as 'the System'? What should I call you then?"
The System turned around, causing Kayden to flinch as the rotted side of her face momentarily came into view. He swear he could see her visibly frown at his exaggerated reaction.
"[Hel. You can call me Hel.]"