The first thing that hit me was the smell. Musty, stale air hit my nose and I had to hold myself back from gagging as the rancid scent of something rotting wafting into the root of my nostrils. The scent was so thick that it stuck to the back of my throat, and I coughed repeatedly to get the taste off of my tongue.

"You okay?"

I stared through teared up eyes at Matsumura as he patted my back. "What is *cough cough* that smell?"

My answer was a wry smile as he gestured around us. All around us was a forest full of fog. Silhouettes of trees stood out from the thick, milky fog, and I wasn't able to see more than five feet in front of me. Head-sized, floating balls of blue flames illuminated various parts of the fog, allowing me to see more details of the Dungeon I found myself in. I could only hold my breath as I realized what the horrible smell was.

The trees were gnarled, twisted bones that were arranged into facsimiles of crooked branches. Pieces of bloodied and rotting meat stuck to fake trees, releasing smells of decaying corpses. Gritty, coarse sand crunched underfoot with every step.

However, I hurriedly looked around, looking for the entrance we had walked in before. I found others also looking around with Matusmura shaking his head in denial to my unasked question. Several other Samurai and Exorcists had also taken to not breathing through their noses while trying to ignore the disappearance of the exit, and I felt some comfort in noting that they looked as uncomfortable as me.

I found Minamoto staring off into the fog. There was a frown on his face as he slowly tore his gaze away from whatever was in the distance to address the others with him. Finally, he turned to look at me with a wry smile.

"I know you are looking for an exit here. However, you should know that only a seldom few Dungeons are not a trap." He said simply. I had expected panic or more unease spreading through the group, but apparently I was the only one who felt a thrill of fear spread through me from those words. Though, I noticed how the Samurai shifted uncomfortably with the words, eying their surroundings. Whatever playful thoughts they had on the Dungeon was now gone.

“I still have not forgotten the promise to help you survive the land where you are now. This is another of your lessons.” Minamoto said, taking my attention away from the Samurai. “First off, Dungeon environments are based off of the contracted and their god. But this…" I followed his look around the barely illuminated fake and rotting trees. "Means that the god might have some domain pertaining to death." He gestured to the floating balls of flame, "Those are Onibi, a type of resentful spirit. Probably because of the Nurarihyon."

I watched as one of the Onibi floated near a bone tree, igniting some of the husks of skin and hair attached to one before passing by. All that was left of what it had touched were ash. That seemed pretty resentful to me. I'd honestly resent it too if it came at me like that. We were only safe from any particularly painful and fiery deaths because the Onibi didn't seem to actively move towards us.

Then, we could hear the crunch of sand as someone moved over it. Someone was walking towards us. Multiple someones, if I had to guess by the number of footsteps I was hearing.

The Samurai were the first to react. They surrounded the Exorcists, including me, in a small semi-circle while facing in the direction that the sounds of moving feet were approaching. The Exorcists were busy pulling out a variety of paper cutouts for whatever engaged us.

"This is a good time to learn the basics of combat." Minamoto was finally regaining his cheery self. Whether that was at the expense of my own well-being was up for debate, but I certainly enjoyed it when the old man smiled more. "The Dungeon creatures are fairly weak. Probably due to a young Nurarihyon that is leading them, so this bodes well for us. Your abilities are… less desirable, but that is nothing that time and effort cannot fix. By the time we are done with this Dungeon, you'll have upgraded from weak to… well, still weak but you probably won't die in a fight with a child anymore."

I wouldn't want to be in an area where I have to fight a child! Why is this analogy a thing in the first place? Minamoto, stop changing your character traits! Stick to serious or playful. My heart cannot handle too much!

Another crunch signalled nearby movement. I snapped over to look at the sound, feeling my heartbeat pound in my ears. Minamoto's words rang in my ears. The basics of combat, he said. Truthfully, I had never been in a fight. Any indication of a conflict, I had just ran.

My eyes followed one of the Onibi that floated towards the sounds and shook my head at what I saw. Human bones, not shaped like a lovecraftian nightmare, were stalking towards us as if they still had all their muscles and organs. Clenched in their hands were rusty single-edged swords and splinter-filled, wooden shields.

Stereotypical skeletons, I nearly yelled. It was hard not to. They were the basics of any fantasy book or genre I had seen or read, and they were currently shambling towards me with murder in their empty eye sockets.

Honestly, if they weren't so bloodthirsty, I would be honored to be attacked… Though, I would prefer not being attacked in general.

The skeletons reached the front line of the Samurai before I knew it and soon they clashed. Steel swords sheathed in their scabbards screeched against rusty swords. It was quickly clear there was no contest. The skeleton's skill with their weapons and shields were no issue for the individual Samurai. Each attack snuck through the defenses of the skeletons, smashing their scabbards on the undefended bleached white skulls, smashing them into flying shards.

The first wave of the skeleton horde didn't even stand a chance. Any time that a Samurai made a mistake, an Exorcist nearby would throw out a paper Shikigami that grew into a long ribbon to wrap around the skeleton, stopping its attack from going through. Another Samurai would take advantage of that moment to crush the skeleton's skull with a simple swing.

Despite the sideways glances they sent me every now and then, I carefully stayed in the back with Minamoto. If I jumped in there, what would I even do? I knew I would create more problems if I stepped up. They would have to save me, or I would let some skeletons break into the thin formation that protected the Exorcists in the back. Minamoto seemed to understand this too as he carefully watched over the Samurai and Exorcists who were easily holding off against the undead.

However, as I sat in the back, I had a similar look over the whole conflict. Unlike the Samurai who were constantly smashing skulls and trying not to get tetanus from those rusty swords, I could see the unending waves of undead further in the back as more Onibi passed by them. Perhaps they were fine now, but I doubted they would be able to last forever against the skeletons in such a wide, fog-covered field.

"We need to move back." I said, glancing at Minamoto. He was giving me an appraising smile, and nodded.

"What do you suggest?" He asked, and suddenly I felt like he was patronizing me. However, I knew that he probably considered this under his whole 'training me enough to survive' thing. I wouldn't say it out loud, but perhaps our definitions of survival were rather different.

"Somewhere with a little more cover, probably. Not where we can be surrounded… but don't take my word for it." I said, feeling confident until I saw a couple eyes turn my way.

"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" Matsumura was the first to speak out. "You guys are not going to ignore some good advice because he's a Gaijin, right?!"

I found myself hiding a smile at the man's cheek-splitting smile. Of course, if he did that without cracking a skull with his weapon I would appreciate it more.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Matsumura's words served as enough reason for the Samurai and Exorcists as most of them reluctantly agreed with me. Though their reluctance was not because they thought of better decisions, but because they just didn't like me on principle. I chose to ignore them as we began pulling backwards. Minamoto nodded as we made our decision, and he started to walk confidently through the fog in a single direction. There was little doubt in my mind that he had already known what we were doing and had found the perfect spot to accomplish what I had just said.

Spurred by Minamoto's confidence, the group began slowly escaping the horde of undead. My fears of being surrounded were being proven as more Onibi illuminated shambling silhouettes of skeletons moving towards us with murderous determination. The Samurai changed from just protecting the back to circling around the whole group with equal amounts of men leading from the front and protecting the sides.

I focused on keeping my breathing steady as we marched into the fog. Slowly, I was getting used to the sounds of clashing swords on scabbards, stopping myself from flinching every time. The Exorcists were fine for the most part; all they did was send Shikigami out every now and then to arrest the movements of particularly difficult to deal with undead. They were fine. My concern mainly rested on the Samurai surrounding us. They were beginning to breathe heavier, slowing down as the fatigue of constant fighting took its toll on them no matter how much training they had endured. It was just another thing that began hammering home the idea that I was going to have to fight at one point.

That didn't stop me from ignoring that piece of information to focus on the smiling Matsumura next to me. The man had seemingly worn his smug smile the entire time as we followed what I had said. Apparently, he had gotten it in his head that I was some kind of general in the making.

"I thought you said you were a peasant from your kingdom." He leaned in close, conspiratorially whispering, "Are you perhaps a rogue prince or noble?"

I sighed. This man read too many novels to even think that when all I did was come up with a simple strategy that anyone could have figured out. "For the last time, man, I am not a noble or prince. Can't we just, you know," I found someone who was staring at me with an uncomfortably heavy gaze. "Drop this topic?"

"Sure, sure," Matsumura laughed, turning away to dodge a haphazard strike from a skeleton and slamming his sword's scabbard straight into the skull's eye socket without even a hint of hesitation. "How about we get you into some fights soon. Wouldn't want you to come into a Dungeon without gaining something, right?"

I flinched at his words. How could he easily say and do such a thing was rather juxtaposed to his naive and cheery personality. Matsumura, you are one scary guy. "I, uh, am not really the best fighter. I'm more of a pacifist."

"Hahaha, that's a good one! I knew this one guy who kept saying that as he sent to- wait, you're serious?" He started only to realize I wasn't laughing along.

"...Yeah."

Matsumura paused for a second before untying the shorter sword around his waist. Before I could respond, he shoved the sword into hands and let go as if he didn't care about it anymore. It was heavier than I thought it would be. "I get that you might not have needed to fight before, but you have probably started to understand the limit of Life Ranks."

I took in Matsumura's words. The first two weeks of my time in the village was all about training. Minamoto had been everything a good teacher needed to be, and forced me to my limits to hit the next level. However, I had noticed that while my Life Rank had reached G+ pretty recently, there was a sort of barrier that stopped me from advancing further. And now, a pit of dread started to fill my stomach as I realized what Matsumura was hinting at.

"I need to kill things to level up my Life Rank, huh." It was more of a statement than a question, and Matsumura's nod only cemented my understanding. I had thought this world's system was all about unceasing training, but this new information brought about something that I had missed.

Experience values. Or, at least something that was similar.

"It's why Dungeons are important." Minamoto chimed in from his lead. "Every major increase in Life Rank needs sufficient energy to actually happen. From G+ to F-, F+ to E- and so on. Dungeons are an… easier and more acceptable way to get this energy."

"I… see." I said.

Again, my thoughts were interrupted by what I knew was our destination. A large, black clifface jutted upwards from the fog and disappeared into the sky above. Jagged rocks stuck out from every corner of the rough, vertical wall of stone, and I found a similar abyss-like archway that stood within a depression on the black stone.

"We will take a rest here before going in." Minamoto said, waving the white branch in his hand. Large, white bushes sprouted up in a semicircle on the cliff wall, blocking the skeletons from getting closer. The bushes seemed to come alive every time a skeleton touched them, and wrapped around several nearby undead before pulling them into them. All I heard was a loud crack before the bushes repeated their actions so long as more skeletons came.

The Samurai and Exorcists sighed in relief as they watched the massive hordes of skeletons being grinded down by the vicious bushes. However, I wasn't the only one who felt a little scared of the sheer number of skeletons that simply threw themselves to their deaths. Even now, I couldn't see the end of the skeletons, and it didn't look like they were exhausting themselves.

Finally, it seemed like resting for longer than an hour was too much to ask for as the Samurai and Exorcists were all ready to have another go. They fearlessly walked into the archway entrance with only a little bit of hesitation.

I shook off my feelings of discomfort and apprehension before getting up to follow them. Obviously, the fact that they all went into the mysterious, dark cave was a dangerous flag, but staying out here with the skeletons was even more a a death sentence. I had no idea when Minamoto might fall over from exhaustion or something.

"Here," Minamoto stopped me before I went in and handed me a stick. I stared at it, trying to find something different about it. It was still only a stick in my eyes. Minamoto smiled. "Just in case something happens and we are not able to meet up, this will help you. Just think of it as a Shikigami, and point it at what you want to kill."

I shivered at how simply he said the word. Carefully, I put the dangerous stick into a pocket while clutching Matsumura's sword in my hands. "What about everyone else?"

"I planted something on them to keep them safe. You need a bit more help than them, though. They have been training to tackle Dungeons and everything in them for years."

"Ah, that makes sense…" I felt awkward. Of course, Minamoto never needed to tell me what he did, and I was a little too arrogant to think that I could catch what he was doing anyways. "Thank you again."

"Try to stay safe." Minamoto said, and I felt that his smile got a little more fragile than normal.

Giving him my best smile despite my hammering heart, I stepped through the second abyss door today. This time, I quickly regathered my bearings unlike last time.

I was in a large tunnel. Everything around me was coarse stone, and I turned around to find that once again, my exit was gone. There was only unnaturally smooth stone behind me.

"Why did I expect anything different?" I said, gripping Matsumura's sword tighter. My nerves were on every single edge they could be on, and just at the height of my panic, I heard it. The rattling, gritting footsteps on the small amounts of gravel on the stone floors. I had heard those sounds enough while marching here that I knew they were skeletons before even seeing them.

Except, now I was alone.