Let's see… Portal does not work. Return… doesn't work. That was the biggest cheat of all. Return will take me into a dungeon, but won't take me out of a dungeon? This was absolutely the biggest rip-off ever. Whoever wrote this world's instruction manual needed a good thrashing.
I was mostly just angry at my own failings. I had used Return without thinking about such things. Had I been in a party with the girls, this wouldn't even be that bad of a situation. Although we still had a way to go before we reached the mansion, I had no doubt that as long as we were together, we could fight our way out. However, this wasn't that situation. I was in here all alone, and while I could see ghosts and had the skill to slice them, the high-level spirits we were against were beyond my paygrade.
My strength lay in my status ups and ability to heal. Although I had Basic Swordsmanship, it was not at a level where I could fight my way through a dungeon. Why was this a dungeon anyway? We had the impression that the dungeon was under the mansion. That was only conjecture though. No one had been in the mansion since it started spreading ghosts. Therefore, no one knew that the mansion itself had been turned into a dungeon.
On that note, a dungeon was created by a curse, unfulfilled lore. Usually, that lore flowed freely until it met the right conditions and implanted itself into the earth. However, this lore seemed to be spawned directly from the mansion itself. Where the lore was created was where the dungeon formed. How did I know this to be the case? Well, that was simple. The name of this dungeon was Karr's Dungeon, which I recalled was also the name of the nobles who had lived here.
Whatever happened, something in this mansion led to the downfall of Old Chalm. I couldn't say I wasn't curious. I'd love to find some murals that explained this mansion's history. However, at the moment, my life was considerably more important. Walking to one of the windows at the end of the hall, I could see only darkness outside the window. It wasn't the color of dirt, as if I was underground. Rather, it was blackness like an infinite abyss. I even created a light and held it to the window, and there was just nothing beyond.
Although dungeons were usually seen as some kind of underground anomaly, they were often spoken about as if they were alive. Some people said that they were a completely different realm of existence. Once a dungeon's lore was destroyed, everyone was expelled from the dungeon. It wasn't like it slowly collapsed in on itself. Rather, it was like it just ceased to be. That was why there wasn't massive cave-ins or anything like that. The dungeon technically existed in a different realm. So, why did Return take me here?
A sound came from behind me. I immediately spun around. I quickly looked for ghosts and found nothing. I was just about to take an easy breath when a voice whispered right next to my ear.
"Get out!"
I let out a scream that wasn't manly at all and immediately ran down the hallway, turning the corner. Right in front of me was a ghost. Except, he wasn't like the disembodied ghosts outside. Rather, he was fully formed into the shape of a knight. He was even wearing armor. He immediately lowered his spear towards me and started approaching with his shield protecting him. He looked like a trained soldier who knew what he was doing. How many levels higher did a ghost need to be to both have weapons, form the shape of a human, and also apparently retain intelligence!
"Crap!" I pulled out my sword and swung it.
He moved way faster and the sword was knocked from my hand with ease. He also had a strong physical presence! Most stronger ghosts could do physical attacks, but they always felt weak and unless they could get a direct hit on my skin, they never caused damage. This guy struck away my sword with ease! Level-wise, he was much stronger than anything I had ever faced before. His spear flashed out and I leaped back to avoid it.
Even with my jump, my leather was gashed. His blade hadn't struck me. It was the sheer force through the air that had caused this damage. I was totally screwed! Jumping back and still getting hit, I was thrown off balance. Stumbling back, I landed on my butt. The ghost knight didn't wait for me. He took a few more steps forward, raised his spear, and then aimed it directly at my neck!