Arc | Chapter. 88: Traitor’s Graveyard

Sorry for late chapter. 

Chapter. 88: Traitor’s Graveyard

Raynell thought he had seen everything, but a minute after he recovered Arc made a question.

“Can you use your SS Tier skill for this?”

There was a brief silence as only the wind passed by everyone. Ceylon was tightly embracing Arc’s waist, which Raynell did not question as he was more focused on what was just said⁠— that’s right…

Arc, and the Dragon of Wind were both SS Tier beings. Even his lofty goals of reaching S Tier were nothing in the face of these two individuals. And that notion alone, made Raynell feel strange, but also excited. He wanted to see what SS Tier truly represented and so⁠—

“As you wish,” Faral replied.

Then, small whispers entered Raynell’s ear. Ones he couldn’t comprehend and⁠— the world began to blurr. The wind resistance increased ten-fold as he struggled to hold on for his life. Everything in the background began to become nothing but blobs of different colors, and Raynell himself began to feel sick and lost.

The strength of the speed was something he had never felt before, as for Arc she didn’t seem to care, only making sure to hold her companion tightly who seemed terrified for her life.

Raynell tried to hold on, but he wasn’t able to. It was too fast… His vision began to darken as breathing became hard… His heart was rushing as he realized the perilous situation he was in and just as he was about to faint, the wind around him shifted as he regained his capability to properly breathe.

The Dragon of Wind sighed. “Humans are really quite fickle.”

Raynell closed his eyes.

To think even a single SS Tier movement skill would make him faint.

The notion made him feel slightly humiliated, but he did want to witness all of this. So after a moment he nodded.

“Indeed. I’m sorry, thank you Dragon of Wind.”

There was no reply as the journey towards the Traitor’s Graveyard continued.

All Raynell did was prepare himself for the unexpected.

* * * * *

The Traitor’s Graveyard. A dungeon. A place that adventurer’s of all ranks visited due to its distinct nature. It had a vast territory that had threats of all kinds of Tiers, so in the nearest towns there were plentiful requests to cull the undead in the place. Its origins were dubious, some said a powerful necromancer had sacrificed his life to make a paradise for the undead, others opted to focus on the dark affinity of the mana in the place to explain the phenomenon.

But regardless of how the dungeon had come to be, it was a place that adventurers ventured to all year round. Whether it was to make a living or to grow stronger, the place served everything. However, just a month ago everything changed. Undead began to appear outside of the territory and attack towns.

Further requests were sent and their numbers were culled, however the inner areas too grew more and more dangerous. It was a weird phenomenon that had no explanation, but one that alarmed the Adventurer’s Guild and the residents of the nearby towns and cities. And so, parties had been established to investigate what had caused the surge of powerful undead.

Ila was in one of such groups, she was an A Tier [Phantom Scout], a class that would allow her to pass unperceived to most of the eye. Their team consisted of only reconnaissance classes, which quickly allowed them to ascertain things. They had traveled through the open dungeon and neared the sarcophagus entrance.

And that was when everything went downhill.

Jaz, the person that had the role of sensing the threats immediately panicked and told the rest of the party to run away, but somehow⁠, or in some way it had been too late. Ila stepped away, and one of her companions was grabbed by a gigantic skeletal hand sprouting from the ground.

The man had died in a single moment. It all happened instantly. Everyone but her died whether it was crushed, consumed by shadows or struck by lightning, Ila was lucky that her class allowed her to move undetected, but what she saw terrified her to her very core. The undead that had killed her companions had sprouted of the ground, and the moment she saw them⁠…

Ila gulped. She was safe now, but it was an image she couldn’t get off her mind.

One was a gigantic shadow that appeared to have no clear form, parts of skeletons and bones flared from its form every so often. It was something that Ila had never seen but recognized from how much she had studied about undead. It was a Lucid Reaper, an S Tier undead.

Then, there were two gigantic skeletons that were easily over three meters tall. They were covered in the hide of dead corpses and their figures were massive and broad. Incredibly intimidating. Their grip; enough to crush a person with their gigantic hands. They were Doom Wights. Both also S Tier undeads.

And the last, was one Ila would never forget. It resembled the figure of the Grim Reaper, it was just a skeleton⁠— some type of lich in robes and a hood. At his hand there was a jeweled staff. Ila had no idea what kind of undead it was other than some type of lich, but its mere presence seemed to freeze the ground.

A being that was so incredibly powerful was now residing inside the Traitor’s Grave. Ila had to report, but she was tired and exhausted⁠— the expedition had been ongoing for three days now, and while she had managed to run from the powerful undead she still feared being hunted by them. Ila was resting, and she was unsure if she would make it out alive, but right now she was focusing on conserving her energy. In combat she was at most, as strong as a C Tier adventurer so she was avoiding any and all possible contact.

She didn’t understand how the powerful undead came to be, or where they had come from, but she had a duty to report their existence.

She just had to hope she’d make it out alive.

Her class skills were very straining to use, especially for such long periods of time. Needless to say, Ila was on her last leg. But she held hope, she was an experienced adventurer, and she had made it out of the most dangerous area.

“The journey will only get easier from here…” she whispered to herself.

And at that moment, a gigantic hand sprouted from the ground before her. Her eyes grew wide as she activated her skill [Phantom Cloak] her non-existent mana was used and she coughed some blood as her body became translucent. And before her a familiar undead appeared⁠—

A Doom Wight…

She could almost see the system notification as if she had [Appraisal]. The letter S of its Tier hanging within her mind. She had to run. Ila tried to move only to feel her legs be grabbed by skeleton hands, and at that moment an ethereal and husky voice spoke, ringing within her ears.

“No witnesses are allowed to know of this great plan.”

Ila blinked, and the Doom Wight loomed over her as it raised its gigantic hands ready to slam upon her.

“This is a goodbye girl, my plans to make a land for the undead shall begin soon⁠⁠—”

And, the Doom Wight exploded as dirt and bones flew through the land. In a single moment the S Tier undead had been dismantled without care. It wasn’t dead. Ila knew that for certain but⁠— what had happened? She stared ahead, now more terrified than ever. There was a cloud of dirt in front of her.

And then, it cleared with a powerful gust of wind.

Ila froze⁠—

A… Dragon?!

She almost yelped, blowing her cover. There were people leaving it, as they stood nearby before the Dragon turned to a human. Ila didn’t understand what was going on, but quickly noted the strange white appearance of one of the women. The woman was white haired⁠— wore white winter clothes, and had crystalline blue eyes.

She turned in Ila’s direction before shaking her head and turning to the dragon, a green haired woman.

“Hey, Faral you landed right in front of an adventurer.”

“I did?” The dragon raised her brow and looked around before her gaze landed on Ila. “Oh, I did, sorry. I can dispose of her⁠—”

“It’s fine.” The white-haired woman shook her head and turned to Ila. “We need to talk⁠—”

Ila was confused and terrified, but before she could even give up and be taken as a prisoner, the land itself began to shake.

“Youuu! How dare you intrude upon my holy land! You shall regret it if you remain in this land!”

And then, the world grew silent as the Doom Wight reformed before the white-haired woman. She blinked and extended her hand. The S Tier undead swung down upon her and made contact⁠— dust and dirt exploded all around as Ila winced.

“Alright, let’s talk now.” The woman said from behind the smoke curtain.

Ila was uncertain if to speak, but a moment later she saw the Doom Wight completely frozen over. Her eyes flashed in surprise, before a sigh left her and her skill came to an end. Lowering her head she spoke simply.

“I surrender.”

“Surrender?” The woman asked, confused. “We just want to talk.”

And at that moment, Ila blinked as she got engaged in a conversation she didn’t expect to have.

* * * * *

Before I could ask any actual meaningful questions I got a lot of information I didn’t expect to have. Mainly that this place was a dungeon that seemed to cover a few kilometers of land, mainly open. There was also the fact that all the undead seemed to have grown stronger⁠— which was good news for me. She also told me that she had been sent on a request to learn more about why this happened but that her team had died.

It was… a lot to take in.

The woman, Ila, was dressed in rags and they were bloodied. Her short messy black hair hung low and her tanned skin was marred with dirt and wounds. It was… a bad appearance, and I did feel bad for her, but I wanted to ask something first.

“So who did the voice belong to?”

She paused. “I don’t… know,” she spoke weakly. “The first time I heard it was a few minutes ago, and now it seems to be gone…”

“Well, if I may interject,” Faral began vaguely pointing in a direction. “The voice source seems to be coming from the center of the land if it helps.

Ila blinked and nodded with seriousness. “That… perhaps the voice belongs to a powerful necromancer; that’s why the sudden increase of the undead’s strength.”

“Huh, alright.” I nodded.

“That said… even though you two are S Tier I advise you both to be careful,” Ila said, sighing. “The Necromancer must be at the peak of S Tier to have so many S Tier undeads under his control. It’s probably best if we all leave the place.”

“Right…”

I nodded and thought about things before turning around and faced the direction Faral had pointed at.

“Hey, Ila. How many adventurers do you think there are around?”

“I… haven’t seen a single party, it’s likely they are all dead, if not most,” she said grimly.

“Alright. Faral amplify my voice.”

So very few witnesses.

Faral blinked and cast a spell on me. I took a deep breath, cupping my hands to my mouth in order to be louder, but I didn’t scream, I spoke.

“We’ll be here for a few days, don’t interfere with us otherwise…”

I paused as my voice turned cold.

“I’ll kill you.”

And the magic ended as my voice echoed across the land.

“Arc!” Ceylon called to me in a panic. “You shouldn’t have done that!”

“It’s fine,” I turned to her. “Maybe if we are lucky I can get some levels from fighting this Necromancer.”

Ila blinked. “Wait, you are planning on fighting him?”

I raised my brow. “Sure why not? Could be fun.”

And I shrugged as the tired adventurer just stared at me with wide eyes. A silence settled around us before the old man began to laugh.

“You sure are more extreme than me!”

I smirked. “I mean what I said, but for now let’s just get settled.”

And my words were met with nods of varying enthusiasm. Whether there was a necromancer or not, I was going to level up Ceylon to at least C Tier.

* * * * *

Within a dark chamber a thump of anger resounded. Bones splattered and shattered, flying through the vast room.

“This is ridiculous!” A man sitting atop a throne of bones spoke. His skin was deadly pale and he wore nothing but robes. “Some random girl thinks she can threaten me!?”

He stood up, feeling angrier by the second as he watched the group through one of his skills. He would make them regret it. Moving his mana to his hands, he began to make undead of the highest Tier, all to make sure they had the most painful death possible.

“If you all don’t leave in a day, then you shall all see the consequences,” the man said gravely looking at them through his skill. “Fools, thinking picking a fight with me is a good idea.”

He snorted, he had grander plans to focus on that’s why he hadn’t gone to murder that bitch at that moment, but soon the little patience he had for them would soon run out. They were all going to regret staying, and especially the girl.

The man looked at the white haired woman that was stupidly smiling.

“You’ll regret picking a fight with me, pathetic human,” he hissed. “I, the Hero of Necromancy will not let this slide…”

His eyes narrowed.

“Sooner or later I will kill you.”