The Undead Dungeon

Their confusion cleared up once they read the information in front of them.

[ Welcome to "The Moonlit Graveyard" [E]

The Moonlit Graveyard is an [E] rank Dungeon. Once the moonlight shines upon the resting departed, they shall rise from the depths and walk the earth once more. You must put the troubled souls back to sleep.

Participants: 3 Humans.

Clear Requirement: Defeat the Undead.

Minimal individual reward: 2000 Gold coins + 5000 Experience Points.

]

A second after they all read the information given, the overlapping moons in the sky started separating.

Once some space appeared between the two moons, a massive amount of light illuminated the graveyard in front of them.

Even Layla could see perfectly up to 300 meters away.

'The moonlight...' She thought.

A couple of seconds later, bones started rising from the ground in different spots.

Hands, feet, head and tails struggled to leave the ground.

Once a hand left the ground, a whole arm followed it.

Monsters were leaving their graves.

"Skeleton Soldiers..." Adam muttered.

"Not just that." Salma said as she pointed towards a big Skeleton.

"That's a Skeleton General. Oh, look that way. It looks like some kind of skeleton dog." Layla pointed towards another monster made of bones.

"Can you tell how many there are?" Adam asked Salma.

"No. They're still going out. The graveyard is huge, you know. No wonder we thought it was weird last time." She answered as she aimed a Fire Arrow at the Skeleton General.

She shot her arrow and it landed on the monster's knee.

It lost a leg.

It fell to the ground and started crawling towards the group.

"They aren't coming towards us. Most are Skeletons or Skeleton Soldiers too. This shouldn't be too hard." Salma said before summoning her Fire Fox.

Layla took out her Reinforced Iron Maces and ran towards the monsters on the right.

"Am taking this side! You guys be careful, okay?" She shouted as she started fighting the weak Skeletons and Skeletons Soldiers.

Salma and her Fire Fox moved to the left.

"Am taking the middle then..." He muttered.

'Although I don't think I will fight a lot...' Adam thought as he called out Light and Python.

"Python. Fly above all the monsters and go as far as you can safely. If you see a strong or weird monster, come back. Otherwise, start attacking the monster from above. Alright?"

The Winged Fire Salamander took off.

"Light. Get rid of as many monsters as you can."

The Great Black Wolf immediately moved towards the enemy forces.

Adam looked at both his Tamed Monsters before looking at Salma and Layla.

Both were fighting and getting rid of enemies easily.

Layla could get rid of the Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers in one hit from her Reinforced Iron Maces.

Salma on the other hand was teaming up with her Fire Fox. Although, thanks to her Spider Queen's Shortsword, the Skeletons fell to the ground in one hit.

'Saving Mana Points to summon the fox later. Good.' Adam thought.

Now that he knew both sisters could handle the monsters easily, he opened his Inventory.

"Oh, yeah. There was this..." He muttered.

It was the Leader's Battle Axe. He had taken it from the Boss Monster previously inside The Orc Camp.

'This isn't the time for that.' He thought as he took out his Goblin Chief's greatsword.

He held it with two hands and started shattering Skeletons alongside the Great Black Wolf Light.

...

They slashed and slashed at monsters for more than thirty minutes.

The number of Skeletons appearing from the ground went down by a lot.

'It's free Experience Points, but at 5 Experience Points per Skeleton, this is hardly worth it. Even the Skeleton Watchdogs give 15 Experience Points.' Layla thought as she swung her Reinforced Iron Maces.

'This is getting hard. I used more than half my Endurance Points. Good thing I'm not using Mana. Otherwise, I would have been unable to summon Roxie again.' Salma complained to herself as she swung her white shortsword.

'Oh. Python is coming back.' Adam thought as he jumped back, away from the monsters.

Python was flying as fast as it could towards Adam.

Adam raised his hand towards it.

The Winged Fire Salamander landed on Adam's hand and took deep breaths.

"You came back. You found a strong monster?" Adam asked.

Python turned back towards the monsters and raised his right wing towards the darkness behind them.

'It's there? All we can do is get rid of these monsters first. We'll think about that monster later.'

The Tamed Monster climbed on Adam's shoulder and starting shooting Fire Balls at the monsters.

Adam took his Black Widow's Sword and attacked the Skeletons once more.

After 5 minutes, the group had gotten rid of all the monsters.

"Is that it?" Layla asked.

"What... do you mean? There were... so many... I even gained... Stat Points..." Salma said while catching her breath.

"Nobody is hurt, so that's great. Python found a strong monster that way. I'm not sure if it'll come to us or if we should go to it." Adam told them.

The three stood around for a bit.

They suddenly felt a light breeze guiding them towards the Skeleton Mansion.

Adam, Layla and Salma looked at each other simultaneously.

"Should we leave it for later?" Adam suggested.

"I have a feeling that strong monster won't come here. Just like how the monsters only came out of the ground once we came into the Dungeon, it'll only move once we go in there." Salma said.

"Maybe. Let's go into the Mansion then." Layla said as she turned towards the building.

They pushed the door open and went in.

The room was the same as before, except that it was completely dark.

Even after taking walking in, no lights appeared, unlike their time before.

"This is creepy." Layla said as she grabbed her little sister's shoulder.

"Don't worry. Just follow me." Salma said confidently.

The three made their way to the Fourth Floor.

Thankfully, the moonlight could enter the window they had previously found on the Fourth Floor.

Layla let go of her sister since she could now see.

"The monsters we had defeated here are gone." Adam noted.

"True. The Skeleton General's body isn't here." Layla said as she made her way to the room the big monster had gone out from.

"Yes!" She shouted once she entered.

"What?" Adam and Salma asked loudly.

"I found a Chest."

"Oh. Open it!" Adam said as Salma and him walked towards Layla.

She did as Adam told her.

[ Congratulations! You have found a Wooden Chest [F].]

[ You have received the following Artefacts and Items:

{A Necromancer's Ring [E-]} {1 Title Parchment } {A Necromancer's Earring [F+]} {800 Gold}

]

'The Title Parchment doesn't have a Rank...'

Layla told them the names of the different Artefacts she had received.

"First, use the Title Parchment. Those can't be given anyways." Adam said, remembering the Title Parchment he received after they defeated the Spider Queen.

"Alright. I'll use the Title Parchment." She said.

Three screens appeared in front of her, one next to the other.

[ Will you accept the Title "Summoner of Skeletons"?]

[ Will you accept the Title "Necromancer"?]

[ Will you accept the Title "Dark Mage"?]

Layla told them the choices she had.

"Dark Mage sounds cooool." Salma said.

"Skeleton's Summoner is probably just like the name suggests. Skeletons are too weak to be summoned. The other two sound better." Layla said as she brought her hand to her chin.

"I think Necromancer would suit you better. Dark Mage is something Salma could use properly." Adam told Layla.

"True. I can't even use my own magic properly. Since I can't get more info about them, I'll take the Necromancer Title." She said.

[ Congratulations! You have acquired the Title "Necromancer".]

[ You have acquired the Skill "Death's Mark".]

[ You have acquired the Skill "Skeleton Summoning".]

"Info?" Layla said out loud.

[ Magic Skill: Death's Ritual [C]

Before fighting an enemy, one must mark the enemy that shall come back to life after its death. Once the monster is marked, the ritual begins. The Marked Monster must be defeated by the Necromancer and the Necromancer only. Skeletons summoned by the Necromancer are part of the Necromancer's Strength and can be used during the ritual. At first, the monster's bones will come back. After gaining a certain amount of Experience Points, the Revived Monster will be back at Full Strength. Mana Consumption: Depends on the enemy. ]

[ Magic Skill: Skeleton Summoning [F+]

The user can summon a Skeleton.

Multiple Skeletons can be summoned at once.

Mana Consumption: 100 Mana Points. ]

"That good. Very good."

Layla proceeded to explain the two Skills she had just obtained.

"It's perfect for you. To mark an enemy before fighting you'll need Agility." Adam said after listening to her explanation.

"Just the bones? That's creepy...." Salma shivered.

'I want to try it fast, but the monsters here are all Skeletons.' Layla thought.

"What about those Artefacts?" Adam asked.

"I think I should keep them. The ring helps store the Revived Skeletons and the earring adds 10 Stat Points to Mana."

"Yeah. They go together."

"Can we go down now? Let's finish this Dungeon already. I wanna do the Testing Room. My Sponsor is excited about it too." Salma complained.

The three made their way back down.

They went outside and arrived at the moonlit graveyard.

"So we gotta go further into the darkness?" Layla asked.

The other two nodded.

The three walked slowly across the graveyard.

Once they stepped into the darkness, the two moons moved once more and illuminated the whole area in front of the group.

They all breathed a sigh of relief.

After they took a couple of steps forward, the ground below them started shaking.

Bones started going outside the ground.

In only three locations, monsters appeared from the ground.

At first, they looked like Skeleton Soldiers.

But then, something below them started rising from the ground.

It had four legs.

"What is this? A knight?" Layla muttered.

Salma immediately shot one Fire Arrow at the monster rising from the ground.

Once the arrow was shot, the monster it was aimed at managed to escape from the earth's depths and dodged the arrow.

'They're quick.' She thought.

A Skeleton Soldier armed with a Spear, riding on top of a horse's skeleton appeared.

It started racing towards them.

As this one was the only one that already left the ground, the group focused on it.

Adam called out his two Tamed Monsters and Salma summoned Roxie.

The two also took out their weapons.

Layla had already taken out her Reinforced Iron Maces and stood in front of Adam and Salma, but as the monster got closer, she got an idea.

'I don't usually use my magic, but...'

She lowered her body and touched the ground with her left hand.

As she did that, a trace of Ice appeared on the ground.

It led to the ground below the approaching monster.

In an instant, an Ice Spike was formed and it penetrated the skeleton horse's stomach.

Since the monster was bones and no flesh, the attack broke the monster's bones, but more importantly, it threw it out of its course.

Because of the sudden attack and the speed it previously was traveling at, the skeleton horse was knocked out of balance.

As it staggered and nearly fell to the ground, Layla had cut the distance between the two and swung her Reinforced Iron Maces at the horse's skull.

As the horse's skull was broken, the horse and the Skeleton Soldier fell to the ground.

Layla proceeded to get rid of the Skeleton Soldier, as was her habit by now.

[1 Skeleton Knight has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 30Gold and 60Experience Points.]

She turned towards Salma and Adam.

They were staring at her with wide eyes.

"Guys, these are [F+] rank at best." She told them.

[Correct.]

The System answered vocally.

Salma and Adam chuckled and each of them approached one of the remaining Skeleton Knights that had just gotten out of the ground.

Adam took out his Goblin Chief Greatsword and ordered Light to knock the monster over.

Light sprinted forward and hit the horse's side which made it fall to the ground and Adam was there to finish them.

'Maybe I should Light get the Experience Points.' He thought.

He turned to look at how Salma was doing.

The Skeleton Knight was standing in front of her.

She was armed with her Spider Queen's Shortsword and was deflecting the monster's attacks.

Meanwhile, Foxie was shooting Fire Balls at the monster.

Its bones were slowly getting burnt.

"I guess she wants Foxie to defeat the enemy. Apparently, it gets stronger, but we still haven't seen that happen." Layla commented as she stood next to Adam.

A couple of seconds later, the monster fell to the ground and Salma didn't even have a scar on her body.

"Rank?" Adam asked while looking at Salma who was coming back towards them.

[ A Skeleton Knight is an [F+] Rank monster.]

"Is this really an [E] Rank Dungeon?" Salma asked.

"What? Are you challenging? Do you find it boring or something? I welcome an easy Dungeon." Layla criticized her sister.

The ground below them shook one more time.

The vibrations were coming from about fifty meters in front of them.

What was at first a few vibrations became a true earthquake.

It lasted for about 30 seconds.

"What the hell was that?" Layla shouted.

"Am not sure. But it's coming from there." Adam pointed to a spot fifty meters away from them.

"It's coming." Salma said.

The three focused on that spot.

Suddenly, bones started emerging.

Huge bones, bones much bigger than the ones they had seen previously.

After a huge mass got out of the ground, they recognized what it was at the same time.

"A hand?!" The three shouted at the same time.

Slowly but surely, an elbow followed that hand, and then a full arm.

'This is bad.' Adam thought as he ran towards the emerging arm.

Layla followed him.

"No. Don't!" Salma shouted at them.

The two started hitting the hand with their weapons.

Scratches appeared on the bone, but once more, the earth shook.

The vibrations were much stronger now that they were next to the hand.

They both lost their balance and struggled to not fall on the ground.

As soon as they breathed a sigh of relief, a hand made of bones pushed them aside with great force.

Adam and Layla were both pushed away and they rolled on the ground multiple times before standing back up.

"You're okay?" Adam asked.

"Yeah. Ice Armor was enough to protect me from damage."

A Fire Arrow and a Fire Ball hit the emerging monster's arm.

"Let's just attack from a safe distance, I guess." Layla said.

They both joined Salma and attacked the monster.

Salma used Fire Arrows and her Fire Fox Roxie was shooting Fire Balls.

Layla shot Ice Spikes.

Adam shot Conjured Arrows and Python shot Fire Balls.

The Conjured Arrows were the least effective attack, but he still continued attacking.

It took the monster about two full minutes for its arm and head to emerge from the ground.

'Alright. Let's attack its back.'

Adam sprinted forward accompanied with Light and circled around the monster.

They both attacked its head, nape and upper back.

Layla eventually got tired of shooting Ice Spikes and joined them.

Once the monster's other arm emerged, its back and neck bones were practically destroyed.

Its front was also burnt and destroyed thanks to the destructive Fire Arrows.

As the enemies were either behind it or too far in front of it, the monster decided to use its arms to raise itself outside the ground.

Before its waist could leave the ground, the front of its skull hit the ground.

It had run out of Health Points.

[1 Skeleton Giant has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 1500Gold and 3000 Experience Points.]

[Congratulations! ]

[You have defeated The Undead. You have cleared the Dungeon.]

"That was stressful!" Layla shouted.

"If it had gone out it would have been a problem." Adam said.

"Yeah. This fight is basically a race against time. If you don't get rid of the Giant fast enough, you'll be in trouble. What's the Giant's Rank?" Layla asked.

[A Skeleton Giant's Rank is [D-]. ]

"That's not so bad." Adam commented.

"It had very high Health points compared to previous [D-] monsters like the Spider Queen or the Orc Leader. I'm happy we didn't have to fight it head-on. I even leveled up!" Layla said as she high-fived Salma.

"I leveled up too!" The younger sister shouted.

'Light and Python leveled up, so that's good enough.'

"Alright. Let's leave."

[You have expressed your desire to leave the Dungeon "The Moonlit Graveyard".]

They all took the Gate.

It was very sunny outside as it was about 1pm.

Adam looked at the screens in front of him.

[You have cleared the Dungeon "The Skeleton Mansion".]

[Rewards are being calculated.]

[Achievements:

You have defeated the Undead.

You have defeated 234 Skeletons.

You have defeated 123 Skeleton Soldiers.

You have defeated 9 Skeleton Watchdogs.

You have defeated 1 Skeleton Knight.

You have defeated 1 Skeleton Giant.

]

[ Reward per achievement:

Defeating the Undead: 2000 Gold Coins + 5000 Experience Points.

Defeating 234 Skeletons: 2340 Experience Points.

Defeating 123 Skeleton Soldiers: 2460

Defeating 9 Skeleton Watchdogs: 270

Defeating 1 Skeleton Knight: 120

Defeating 1 Skeleton Giant: 6000]

[You have received 2000 Gold Coins and 16.190 Experience Points.]

[ You have leveled up!]

"To the Testing Room!" Salma shouted.