Bro, I'm not an Undead!

BZZZT!

Skullius felt a wave of terror and pain as the knife sliced through Eldris’ neck and chopped off his head!

Blood sprayed in his vision, but in the next moment, a notification gave him a ‘clear’ explanation on what had happened.

[Your host has died. You have accrued soul damage]

A electric feeling rushed through Skullius with a great intensity as at the same time, he found himself being pulled away from the dropping body of the Heroic Warrior and heading towards flying body that had almost reached the doors!

It didn’t take more that a moment for Skullius’ vision to zip through the distance and suddenly be replaced by the view of the doors as he returned to his Discount Human body which was still intact, though with almost half of the armour missing!

However, Skullius didn’t have time to think of much else as his first thought was that he would crash into the door and ultimately see that his plan wouldn’t work.

Yet…

The double doors opened slowly as if anticipating him, their low rumble making Skullius wear a big smile as he was sure that he would survive now!

‘Yes! I made the right choice after all!’

YET…

For the moment right before he could pass through, his feet touching the ground as if to give him a chance to exit the hall with a hop in his step, a chill ran down Skullius’ back!

The Discount Human didn’t need to turn around to know what caused this dreadful feeling as even though the physical advantages he had enjoyed for a short time had ended, he remembered the super fast menace with the knife clearly!

That’s why, he didn’t hesitate!_.

Perhaps the battle instincts he experienced from a powerhouse like Eldris had temporarily carried over to him, or perhaps there was another reason, but the Discount Human, in the next moment, activated a skill that he believed would improve his chances!

[Artless Dodger has been activated]

[Agility has increased by 25%]

As Skullius feet touched the ground, the residual motion he had plus the effect of this skill shot Skullius through the door a miniscule fraction of a second before he was cleaved in half!

The man in the simple shirt raised a brow as he was surprised by the sudden increase in speed Skullius had gotten right after he had exerted his strength to slicing him up a few centimetres of distance before!

Skullius stumbled and rolled before he straightened himself and looked back.

The figures of the men and women in the hall looked at him with unveiled malice. One wouldn’t even believe that these were the people that had been hospitable to him before.

It seemed that they couldn’t leave, which is what Skullius had been hoping for as that had been the general trend with captives in the Labyrinth.

Slowly, the doors began to close up again and Skullius breathed a sigh of relief.

He was safe.

Surprisingly.

He avoided meeting the gazes of the people within the hall, especially Remos who looked at him bright, blazing mana within his eyes!

DUM!

The doors closed.

Skullius finally sat down and allowed himself to grunt from the pain he was experiencing. It was excruciating!

The feeling was like when there was an internal itch that you can’t do anything about except, in this case, it was like having a few dozen volts of electricity released to run rampant within your sturdy soul!

Skullius gnashed his teeth.

[You have chosen to enter the hall and accept Fulgardt’s hospitality. Even though you have chosen to leave early, you will be rewarded]

[Please wait for your reward]

“Huh? What do you mean I left early? How else was I supposed to survive?! Urrgh.. its hurts!” Skullius yelled.

Now that he thought about it, what was the purpose of this section of the Labyrinth? It certainly wasn’t simply about eating and being merry only.

As Skullius saw it, you could either be left in there to spend an eternity with them or you could just be killed after refusing to adhere to their request.

‘So… all I had to do was enter and exit alive? Or was the purpose of the hall to make allow me to learn the new skills that I gained from analysing those guys?’ Skullius thought while rolling on the ground.

There certainly seemed to be another grand reason.

[You reward has arrived]

[You have gained ‘Voiding Key’]

At that moment, a silver key with strokes of white and black appeared in Skullius’ hand!

As he held it, Skullius felt a rich amount of [Evil Darkness] and [Just Light] within it. The fascinating object lessened Skullius’ suffering for a bit as curiosity overtook him instead.

Skullius immediately checked out its details with the guidance field.

~~~

[Voiding Key]

<???>

A Key that allows the user three chances to go anywhere they wish within the Labyrinth. Verbal requests will prompt key to open a warp gate to the location.

-This is a rare item even within the Labyrinth and is seldom found by those who are unable to reach the hall of Fulgardt-

~~~

“What in the Deadmanland is this?! I can go anywhere I want with this? Wait…!” Skullius said.

“Can I actually wish to go to the legacy?!”

Skullius thoughts reached this point immediately. This reward seemed way too convenient. This was obviously just him being directed to the final destination however, the special note on the skill made Skullius think deeper despite the pain he felt.

This was an important matter after all and strangely, the pain seemed to be subsiding little by little.

‘This is an item that can found in the Labyrinth. So even if you don’t enter the hall, or can’t, you can still find it somewhere? Now that I think about it, what if there were some powerful humans in the past that actually managed to defeat all their opponents and reach wherever the legacy was without going through this hall! That’s possible right? Gaaah… my mind!’ Skullius grunted as he had overexerted his mind again.

It was possible indeed.

There were many variables and too little information to go off of, thus Skullius decided to wait until the pain he felt subsided.

He had initially thought it was a very big deal, but it seemed like it was just fine.

Yet, it wasn’t.

Another set of chances and luck had met to create a profound situation that allowed him to survive.

***

In the hall, Remos was seething with fury. His dignity had been soiled by an undead. He who was a pioneer of a great art had been thrashed by the machinations of a lowly undead.

It was unacceptable!

He wore an ugly expression as this defeat had left a very bad taste in his mouth. The damage he had received had taken a huge toll on him, the mama required to heal in such a short time not being small at all.

“I’ll find that little set of bones! Mark my words! I’ll find its source and torment it for eternity even if it is covered by undeath!” Remos bellowed.

“Give it a rest. If you of all people start slipping then we’ll start to go mad one after the other,” the man with the knife said as he walked from the door and sat on one of the chairs.

The woman had summoned the viper to capture Eldris’ body sighed and took a seat by his side.

At this time, most of the others were already beginning to get seated while chatting about the latest topic.

The furniture that had sustained damage had recovered, restoring the peaceful ambience of the hall.

“Hmph! You say that because you haven’t had your pride crushed twice!” harrumphed Remos.

“Perhaps, but the fact of the matter is that we were had. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine a low level undead with such cunning. It barely had a presence after it shed off its disguise. I wonder if the undead are making a move again,” the man with the knife said.

“If that’s the case, then I hope that the world is prepared for it. Perhaps most of them don’t even know the true terror brought on by those Arch-Liches,” said the woman.

“If they don’t, it will be unfortunate. Right. Should be about time now,” said the man with the knife as he turned towards Eldris’ corpse.

A shocking phenomenon began to occur to the Heroic Warrior’s body!

The dark mist in the hall began to coalesce and shroud Eldris’ body with a thickness that almost made the corpse within invisible.

Several spots of light rushed towards the body and formed a bright halo that slowly floated above and around the body!

Slowly, the head that had been sliced off rolled on the floor and reached the neck stump of Eldris where it attached itself seamlessly!

An oozing of darkness began to ensue while the bright halo descended and sat above Eldris’ head.

A moment later, the black haired man’s eyes shot open and he woke up, taking in deep gusts of air with a semi-shocked expression on his face!

He panted as he tried to recall what happened.

“Welcome back, friend,” the man in the simple shirt raised a glass full of wine at Eldris. “An eternity of celebration won’t allow you to perish. Don’t get too hopeful next time.”