Gate of Death

Itai prepared for the summoning, black flames appearing on his hands as he directed them at Zehren's massive corpse. But what was strange was that the corpse didn't even twitch, and the necrotic mana disappeared from it instantly.

[Tip: The skill your master is using has no effect on summoning the selected corpse because it is at an insufficient stage.]

Flain was quite annoyed by the message because he was eager to get out of this hole. The longer they stayed, the fewer EXP he would gain since the cost of leveling up kept increasing. It was already 60,000 EXP for the next level.

"This is probably going to take a long time if it didn't even budge. But I expected that since he was strong enough to injure you quite a bit, Flain." Itai murmured.

But then, an idea struck Flain. "Have you tried reading the second book? Maybe it could help you." he said.

Itai's eyes lit up. "I had completely forgotten about that. Alright, let's adjust the plan. First, I'll try reading the book, at least a little. Now that I understand necromancy better, I might actually get something out of it. And hopefully, it'll help with summoning the king. What do you think?" he asked Flain.

"You're reading my mind. That's exactly what I was thinking. Alright, I agree." Flain replied.

With that, Itai pulled out the book while Flain headed back to the cave to continue hunting monsters. But the moment Itai opened the book, his eyes turned pitch black.

Flain noticed and immediately turned around. A few moments later, Itai's eyes returned to normal, and the book in his hands crumbled to dust. Then, he looked at Flain.

"I think I just understood something." Itai murmured.

Flain wasn't sure what had just happened. Maybe it was some kind of spell that automatically imprinted itself in his mind. But Itai had mentioned before that he had already looked at the book and understood nothing. Maybe it only activated once he had gained enough experience.

"Do you know how to summon the king now?" Flain asked.

"This is something else entirely. Hold on, I'll try something." Itai said.

He stretched out his right hand in front of him and aimed it forward. Suddenly, something began rising from the ground—massive iron doors, about ten meters tall. The doors were covered in various symbols, mostly related to death.

Flain looked at them in surprise. "Itai, what is this?" he asked.

Itai himself seemed just as surprised by what he was seeing. "Honestly, when I opened that book, a spell forced its way into my mind. I don't know why, but I had a strong urge to cast it, and now I feel like I have to step inside." Itai murmured.

Flain thought for a moment. Those two books had supposedly been given to Itai by his father—one was a basic book on summoning skeletons, and the other was the one he had just used. There had also been a fragile crystal that, when broken, would teleport him somewhere else. None of this made sense to Flain. If his father wanted to lure him into a trap, why would he go through all this trouble, leading him to massive doors like these?

"Alright, let's go inside, but just to be safe, we're bringing Aran along." Flain finally said and summoned Aran.

Itai approached the doors and slowly began to open them. Surprisingly, they moved with ease. Once they were fully open, a pitch-black darkness poured out from within.

"Let's go." Flain murmured, and his eyes showed nothing but determination.

Then, all three of them stepped through the doors. As soon as they entered, the doors slammed shut behind them and retracted into the ground at the speed of light, vanishing back to where Itai had summoned them.

They found themselves in a place that resembled a forest, but one that had been dead for centuries. The trees were twisted and densely packed, their bark a lifeless gray, making them look truly dead. The ground was just as barren—lifeless, dusty, and hard.

Flain and Aran placed their hands on the hilts of their weapons, just in case something attacked them.

"Itai, lead us out of here. I just need to know if we're trapped." Flain murmured.

"Don't worry, I can." Itai said, aiming his hand forward, and once again, the doors rose from the ground.

Then, just as easily, the doors sank back into the earth. "But first, let's explore this place."

Flain's eyes suddenly widened. In front of them, a figure appeared out of nowhere. It was a humanoid being, standing about 3.5 meters tall, resembling a skeleton but with a thin layer of flesh on its face. It was dressed in tattered black silk and held a long, rusty-looking staff with a small gemstone embedded in the center.

The figure slowly stepped toward Itai and bowed to him. "Greetings, Prince of Death." it murmured in a hollow tone.

Then, suddenly, it turned to look at Flain and Aran, and its eyes began to glow dangerously red.

'Bow.' A voice echoed in their minds.

Flain stared back at it, completely unfazed. He had no intention of deceiving Itai—such an act was beneath him. Technically, if Itai ever truly ordered him to do something, Flain would have to comply or suffer a curse. But most of the time, Itai didn't give him direct orders and instead saw him more as a friend than just another skeleton.

"And what if I don't?" Flain said with a smirk. He knew that, for some reason, this figure was bowing to Itai. Theoretically, that meant it wouldn't harm Flain, as he doubted Itai would allow it.

"You must be punished." the figure said in a hollow tone.

"Hey, don't punish Flain." Itai cut in.

"And more importantly, where are we? Who are you? Why are you bowing to me? And why are you calling me the Prince of Death?" Itai bombarded the figure with questions, just as was typical for him.

"Forgive my rudeness. I understand that this must be unclear to you. Allow me to answer all your questions. But first, I must tell you a story." the figure said.

"There was once a human child born into a wealthy family in the world of humans. From birth, this child was special—he loved looking at the dead. From an early age, he somehow instinctively knew necromancy. However, in the land where this boy was born, necromancy was not well received. Necromancers were seen as deceitful and filled with evil intent."

"When the boy's parents noticed his strange tendencies, they considered him cursed, but they still loved him. The servants, on the other hand, despised him because he ordered them to bring him the corpses of animals and monsters. By the time he was nine years old, he was already summoning skeletons from them, though no one knew this. His parents allowed him to summon skeletons but forced him to destroy them immediately. But then, everything changed…"