The scene behind the colossal stone doors led to a wondrous large hall, with massive stone pillars raising the high ceiling I couldn't even see on both sides.
Blue flame torches came alive the instant I stepped through. A ghostly pale blue glow spread through the large surrounding, dispersing a part of the gloom, enough to at least leave behind a wondrous dark visage.
"Woah. It's like some kind of really amazing audience chamber." I silently mumbled in awe.
Indeed, the room behind the stone doors was a large audience chamber, drowned and forgotten in time and age.
There were shadows the radiance of the blue torches didn't meet, and up ahead at the opposite end — a rather impressive looking throne sat on an elevated platform of stairs.
The mighty throne seemed to overlook the rest of the chamber from its position. It was empty, but I felt a vague sense of authority and power spread from it and fill the place. Like I truly was in the presence of a king or the like.
I suppressed the feeling and looked around the place one more time. The grandiose chamber was rather massive, about half the size of the cavern before.
The ceilings were high and hid in the shadows above the tall pillars in both sides numbered twelve and led up to a spot just before the throne on the platform.
Aside from that, the whole place was empty.
Ah, except for what resembled a full set of full silvery armor standing just underneath the side of the Throne platform. While I took in the grandiose sight before me, all of a sudden my head buzzed with a system notification.
...
[Warning! Warning!
Foreign interference detected!
[Initiating defcon protocol — sequence terminated!
Error! Error!]
...
"What the..."
Immediately, I panicked.
'Meta, what the fuck is going on?! ' panickingly I asked, when a low rumble reverberate from the ground and behind me. It felt like the underground chamber bellowed to life.
Immediately I turned around and jerked my head towards the entrance and my eyes widened as i watched the colossal stone doors close shot before me like a collision between two colossal mountains.
'No, no, no, no, no! '
I pressed on my heels and sprinted for the closing doors, feeling my heart race with an unsettling chill.
'I knew something would go wrong!'
-BANG!
At the same moment, I heard the sound of a loud bang like an exploding drum and my senses tingled from behind me. As time seemed to slow down at that very moment, I watched from the corner of my eyes, a mass of polished silver plates blur next to me in the blink of a eye.
'Is that...? ' my pupils shrunk and my instincts cried at me to run.
It was the full set of silver armor that was from the throne. It's silver gauntlet flashed a speed far greater than I could perceive.
I can't evade it!
Concluding that, I crossed my arms against my midsection and took a bone shattering blow from the silvery fist.
-BOOM!
The power was immense, despite my attempt I had the air knocked out of my lungs and my vision faltered. I was hurled through the air from impact, torpedoing across the chamber and struck a stone pillar.
"Guaek!" A wretched groan broke from my lips. My consciousness faded and I found it hard to breathe.
"Cough, cough, gasp!... Cough!" I choked on a round of incessant coughs, trying desperately to gasp for air through my empty lungs. My chest heaved and pumped heavily, and anguish filled my expression.
The taste of blood filled my mouth and I threw up a small puddle.
I looked down at my hands that were furled against the ground next to me.
"I think my arms are shattered."
One blow was all it took to obliterate both my arms and send me flying.
-GLANK!
The heavy sound of clattering steel plates made me raise my head. Up ahead before me was the mysterious Knight in full body silver armor.
It stood immensely tall, at the full height of 2'2m, and its polished plates of silver were lustrous and reflective. Yet watching my reflection in the surface gave me a rather unsettling and eerie feeling.
I reflexively activated my {Appraisal} skill and couldn't hide my bafflement at what I saw next.
...
_____
_____
[Skill {Appraisal} level 1 has been activated]
[Error! The target's level is too high. {Appraisal} Skill will be adjusted]
[Error! To many information. Details will be summarized.
...
[Name: Silver Sentinel (???)
Type: Golem, ???
Level: ???
???
???
???...]
____
____
...
Why the fuck? This was the first time I was seeing such a message.
The Targets level is too high... enough so I can't appraise it's stats, I thought internally with a heavy heart.
'What' s that supposed to mean?! '
I had never experienced a scenario where my Inspect or Appraisal skill failed to summarize my opponents detail over the difference in levels between us. If something like this was happening now, wouldn't that mean the difference between the strength of the Golem and me...was world's apart?
Just as I was begining to become cold with sweat, my eyes widened in realization. My fingers trembled and my lips shivered as I stared with feverish eyes at the silver knight slowly advancing towards me.
No, no, you have got to be kidding me, I chuckled self degradingly inside as the despair began to sink in. I opened my bloody lips with a strained smile as I silently uttered.
"...Eta Rank..."
[Worse. Hero.] Meta interjected and the Silver knight exploded with motion.
-BANG!
A powerful sound resounded as the silver body of the knight blurred out of existence before and disappeared.
At the same moment, Meta's urgent voice buzzed deeply in my head.
[Switch with me.]
'...What... ' before i could full register my thoughts, the system screen flashed before my vision with a few strings of characters.
...
[Skill {???} Level ??? Has been activated.]
...
I felt my consciousness pull inward and my vision momentarily warped.
The next moment, my body moved on its own as something crashed into the spot I once was.
-BOOM!
A sizeable cloud of dust spread out from the area of impact, yet I seemed unimpeded and quickly sprinted as far away from the area as possible.
Is Meta controlling my body? I thought with complexity. The idea that Meta could steal my body at anytime regardless of my concerns was deeply unsettling. One more time today, I was made to realize that.
'Hey, what are you doing?! Give me back my body? ' i shouted inwardly, and demanded.
Meta's cold and emotionless voice echoed where I was steadily.
[We are fleeing. This battle is not something we can hope to win. Not this time]
'What?! Even if you say that, how are we supposed to get out? The doors are closed behind us.'
At this point, the silver knight was already upon us once again.
I watched from my eyes - Meta's eyes as molten silver slithered down the Knight's arm and took the shape of large lance with an unsettling sharp silver point.
If I had control of my throat, I would have gulped.
But contrary to my reaction, Meta remained calm and composed. Seemingly unfazed by the intimidating weapon. The silver knight kicked off the ground and charged at us once more.
[I've completed the structural analysis of this whole place.] Meta suddenly said, and a system screen appeared before me.
[Number of Lives left: 3]
'Eh? '
[It's a dungeon.]
Don't say it so casually?!
The silver knight raised it's large lance as it appeared before us. Meta was too slow to react, the speed of a Hero rank monster wasn't something my Mortal Ranked body could compete against.
Everything happened so slowly, yet so quickly.
The silver lance flashed and the air tore apart like fabric. A red fountain of blood burst out from the wide horizontal cut in my belly as my innards and guts spilled out.
A burning hot pain surged through my mind, devouring my body as a blood curling cry escaped my lips, the sound of the system notification was like a muffled backdrop and by the the pain.
"Gaarrrggghhh!!!"
...
[Skill {???} Has been forcefully deactivated]
...
The last thing I saw were a string of words dyed in blood red flash predominantly against my whole dimming vision. The words were glaring, their meaning even more grimm.
.
.
.
.
.
[You have Died.]