A burst of brilliant energy erupts from the shattered crystal, expanding rapidly in all directions. I leap back, but there's no avoiding the shockwave. No one can. We’re all flung backward as the room floods with blinding light, sending shadows dancing frantically along the walls. When the shockwave hits the walls and ceiling, they shudder, releasing dust and small fragments.
I land on the ground, hard, on my rear. The air around us is suddenly filled with a suffocating heat. The torchlights flicker and waver. I notice everyone else, the lich included, has either stumbled or been thrown to the ground.
Taking advantage of the situation, Darius charges toward the lich, who is struggling to stand, and tackles it, delivering a flurry of bare-handed blows to prevent it from casting any spells. Mary hurries to help, and with a precise swing of her staff, she shatters the lich's skull, finally putting an end to it.
In that moment, I don’t react because a system notification pops up in my view—it’s a level-up notification. That, along with the fact that the pounding against the wall has ceased, confirms my suspicion: the golem has stopped functioning now that I’ve destroyed its core.
And I’m the one who dealt the final blow. This must have earned me a ton of experience.
As the dust begins to settle, roars and pounding sounds coming from the other room pull us back to reality. I glance over. The zombie bear is still there, blocking our view. Perfect—that way, my companions can keep thinking it’s the bear making all the noise. After a few moments, during which Mary has already started asking what’s going on and no one has an answer for her, the wall shakes violently.
Moments later, everything falls silent. We exchange tired, tense glances.
Ronan approaches me and places a hand on my shoulder.
“It’ll all be fine,” he says in a calm voice.
I understand what he means. I take a deep breath and cut off the mana flow to the shadow wolf’s spell.
That won’t dismiss it outright, but once the last seconds of the spell’s remaining time run out, it will revert back to its pup form on its own.
Ronan keeps his eyes on me as the others chatter, trying to figure out what just happened.
“I think you can remove your bear now—it should be safe to leave this room,” Vincent says to Ronan, misinterpreting why the bear was placed there. “The golem is gone, and I think the bear took care of the last scorpion that tried to get in.”
“Of course,” Ronan replies, still watching me.
I don’t know how to tell him to wait, but he seems to understand me anyway. He doesn’t release the bear until I’ve visibly relaxed, knowing the timer has reached zero.
It’s curious. Since it’s a summoned creature, its body begins to dissipate into the air, turning into black smoke, as if its existence is slowly fading away.
I hear a choked gasp of anguish, which must have come from Mary. I don’t turn to look at her. I know she cried out because watching the bear that saved us vanish like that has to be hard for someone with her high affinity for light. I silently bid the bear farewell as it disappears, thanking it for the invaluable service it provided. I know it can’t hear me, but I do it anyway.
When it’s gone, I avert my gaze. I notice that Ronan is still staring at the spot where his bear had been, deep in thought. I think he thanked it, too—and unlike me, it probably heard him.
“Man, you’ve got to tell me how the hell you managed to summon a beast like that,” Darius says, walking up to Ronan and clapping him on the shoulder.
The guy’s a brute. I see Ronan flinch. With how fragile he is, that must have hurt—but he doesn’t complain. Instead, he offers a faint smile.
I think he’s happy to have friends who are other human guys.
As for the scorpion room, I step forward first; I want to make sure everything’s okay. Vincent tells me to be careful.
I peek into the room, and the others follow, still recovering from the earlier chaos. The scene that greets me is utterly hellish.
Numerous columns have collapsed, scattering debris across the entire room. The remains of several giant scorpions are strewn across the floor, their carapaces shattered and their limbs scattered. The golem lies motionless near the wall it had been trying to break down, its massive stone body covered in viscous fragments and scorpion parts.
Near the entrance, there’s a chitinous pincer that immediately grabs our attention. Its size is colossal, even larger than the carriage that brought us here.
Instantly, Darius and the others go on alert. That confirms none of them noticed what had been lurking on the ceiling.
More remains, which I silently refer to as belonging to the "mother scorpion," are scattered across the ground.
Vincent takes command again, and they proceed cautiously, shields raised and swords at the ready.
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The rest of us linger at the entrance. I’m searching for the little pup, who must be hiding, waiting to sneak back into my backpack unseen.
When no threats are discovered, the prince relaxes and tells us we can enter.
As I move forward, I take in the scale of the destruction. I know the others are doing the same, trying to piece together what exactly happened during the battle. Every step reminds them of how close we came to disaster. No one speaks; the silence is heavy with awe and caution.
Ronan and I exchange a glance. Only the two of us know that a certain divine beast saved us all.
At that moment, Bob approaches me. He’s carrying something tucked into a pocket of his cloak, which is half-destroyed from the battle. It’s the little pup, who looks up at me with wide eyes, utterly silent. Discreetly, I take him and tuck him away.
How could I break the contract?
It’s not even about going back to level 1—now that I’m at the academy and have a team, leveling up is much easier—or about killing a pup. I couldn’t do it while he continues to be good to me. It’s that, if I had broken the contract, we’d all be dead right now.
Well, no, because we wouldn’t have discovered the secret level, but then I wouldn’t be level 8 either…
What I mean is that if my life is in danger, besides the greater protective collar, I have the shadow wolf as a trump card.
Right now, even if I didn’t care about the pup’s life, I wouldn’t break the contract because of the immense security it gives me.
And if at some point the contract forces me to accept a truly evil monster, I’ll make it clear to the wolf: it’s him or the evil monster. He’ll have, what, a couple of seconds? More? Before my hand moves to reject the vassalage. But for some reason, I feel that won’t happen.
I absentmindedly stroke the pup with two fingers over the exposed top of my pocket while holding the backpack tightly against my chest.
The others are talking, deciding what to do next. I put the backpack back on my shoulders and join the discussion. They want to return to the room where we fought the lich to ensure there’s nothing left that could attack us later.
We do. The atmosphere in the room feels different, heavier, as if the magic that once filled it still clings to the walls. While we examine the surroundings, something catches our attention: a chest adorned with intricate carvings, located beneath a mural that appears to depict the history of the pyramid.
We approach the chest cautiously, analyzing every detail for potential traps. Vincent and Alistair take the lead, ready to act if anything goes wrong, while Ronan observes in silence, his gaze fixed on the chest. Carefully, we lift the lid. Inside, we find a treasure worthy of a king's vault, with golden coins and abundant mana potions surrounding a skull.
I can’t help but feel excited. Could it be magical? Is there something in there that seems tailor-made for me?
We add the robe and gem we looted from the lich’s corpse. As for its staff, which is broken, we discard it. After identifying it, Vincent tells us that it’s not even worth salvaging for components. The gem can be used for crafting magical items or set directly into gear.
* 1 Minor Soul Blue Gem: Crafting component or socketable gem. +1 mana.
* 1 Lich Robe: Minor resistance to mental status effects. +2 mana. Visual effect: emits a faint black mist from below when equipped.
* Lich Skull: Crafting component. Can be used to craft potions that grant resistance to mental status effects.
* 10 Mana Potions.
* 20 Gold Coins.
Well, not for me personally, but the cloak and the gem don't look half bad.
“What exactly do you mean by mental status effects?” Mary asks the prince once he finishes identifying the items with his air spell.
“They’re usually effects that target the mind, like stun, fear, panic, or confusion.”
“Thank you.”
“Items that give mana,” Theodore says, almost drooling as he eyes the gem and robe.
And speaking of drooling… Ronan can’t take his eyes off the robe.
“I want it,” he says.
“We’ll store everything and finish clearing the dungeon,” Vincent replies. “Don’t worry. With that sinister mist effect it supposedly emits, I doubt anyone else will want it. Let’s look for more chests, get out of here, and then divide everything once we’re back at the academy.”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” Theodore interjects. “I’m not as concerned with my appearance as you are.”
“Well, we’ll settle it later,” Mary says, trying to mediate, which makes Ronan nod and drop the subject.
Honestly, I want the robe too. Two extra mana points... but I wouldn’t take it from my vassal. I think he’d look much better in it. Besides, if Ronan ends up being super powerful, since he swore vassalage to me, wouldn’t that be like keeping it for myself indirectly?
“I vote for Ronan,” I blurt out, raising my hand.
Theodore and Vincent glare at me. The latter is probably annoyed that I’ve reopened a discussion that had already been settled.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
As we pack up the chest’s contents, Theodore turns his attention to the mural surrounding it. The carvings depict scenes of what appears to be an ancient civilization, with a pyramid prominently featured in the center. Ever-curious, Theodore moves closer, carefully examining the etched figures.
“This seems…” he begins, running his fingers over the grooves in the carvings, “pressable, I think.”
All eyes shift to him, hanging on his words. Theodore points to the central figure in the mural: the carved pyramid. With some hesitation, he gently presses on it.
Oh no. Should I have stopped him? I can’t summon the wolf again…
A mechanical sound shatters the room’s silence, followed by a rush of fresh air flowing through an opening that wasn’t there moments ago. There’s another distant sound coming from the area where we entered the pyramid.
“What the hell…?” I whisper, unable to look away from the newly revealed opening.
“Could it be more monsters?” Mary asks, echoing the very thought running through my mind.
Because, honestly, the last thing I want right now is another hidden level.
I glance at her, she looks back at me, and then we both look at the others. I think we’ve just triggered something significant, though we don’t know what exactly. Personally, I’m crossing my fingers it’s more treasure and not another boss.
The fresh air coming through the opening feels different from the stifling, oppressive atmosphere of the pyramid, almost as if it’s beckoning us to move forward.
Could it be possible? Could it be the way out? Maybe the other sound was the white slab that trapped us receding.
Even Vincent doesn’t order us to advance right away. It seems the uncertainty weighs as heavily on him as the exhaustion does on our bodies.
“Let’s make sure this room is completely cleared of creatures and traps, gather the loot, and then do the same with the golem’s chamber,” Vincent finally says after a couple of minutes of deliberation. “Then we’ll check out this new path. Hopefully, it’s an exit.”
Without further ado, we got to work.
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