Within the damp cavern, a grave silence filled the air. The bones that once scattered the ground were nowhere to be found, and the two chained figures had vanished, their shackles broken and cast aside. In their place, a tall skeletal figure slumped against the wall, its arms resting at its sides. The skeleton's bones were sturdy and dense, a faint white glow emanating from its skull.
"I did it..." it spoke in a raspy, guttural voice, barely audible. Its tone was hollow, devoid of emotion. "I killed her." The skeleton stared straight ahead, its gaze fixed on the empty space where the woman had once been, now replaced by somber, dark screens.
─ Level 6 Human slain!
─ Reward: 410 Experience Points
─ Quest "Devour the Two Humans’ Bone Essence" Complete!
─ Reward: 150 Experience Points + 2 Stat Points.
A silence followed, the skeleton's gaze never wavering. "I did what I had to do," it continued, its voice growing louder and stronger. "I had no choice."
The skeleton sat up, its bony fingers digging into the ground as it clenched its fists. "I will survive this," it growled. "I will not be broken." As it spoke, its gaze grew fierce, and it stood up, shaking off all of the guilt weighing down on it. It was not weak and would not allow itself to be. With clinical coldness, it brought up the status screen and allocated the two new points straight into strength.
─ Status
─ Kaden (Brittle Skeleton)
─ Level 2 (Classless)
─ Health: 14/14 ─ Stamina: 14/14 ─ Mana: 6/6
─ Experience: 590/600
─ Stats
─ Strength: 7 ─ Agility: 4 ─ Vitality: 2 ─ Endurance: 2 ─ Mana Core: 2 ─ Mana Flow: 2
─ Free Stat Points: 0
─ Unique Abilities
─ Bone Essence Absorption
"Only 10 more experience left..." Kaden noted. Looking down at his chest, he saw no change in the light. "So it’s not strength then, good to know."
Now he needed to find a way out. He turned toward the door, considering his options. Should he try to break out or wait for someone to come by? While he clearly felt hunger, his body didn’t seem to depend on food or drink for survival. He also knew for certain at this point that he had been awake for over twenty-four hours, but he was still fully awake and not even a little tired.
He could afford to wait, which was a safe plan; wait, ambush the first guard that came by, use him to level up, and escape quietly. Yes, he could afford to wait, but he didn’t like it. It put him in a passive state, waiting and wasting time, dependent on others for his escape.
No, definitely not. He was going to break free himself somehow; he just needed to figure out a way past that door.
Walking up to it, he knocked on it, finding it solid. If he had a weapon, maybe he could break it, but he wasn’t confident about knocking it down with his bare hands. His arms would definitely break before he got through. There was no way he was going to willingly cripple himself again.
Yet, he had a weapon, didn’t he? He looked back at the chains where the two figures had been. The chains had been broken in several places, chewed clean through. In his foggy state, he must have eaten the chains by mistake without realizing it.
His teeth and jaw were his weapon. He’d seen it firsthand, biting through flesh and bone without the slightest trouble. Wood and that little bit of iron reinforcing the door shouldn’t be a problem; hell, he’d chewed through the iron chains too.
It was definitely worth a shot.
Continuing to inspect the door, he noticed the hinges. The goblins had been stupid enough to install the door with the hinges on the inside, which wasn’t all that surprising considering their general intelligence. He didn’t want to break the door completely, as that would leave him vulnerable if he had to give up in the middle of his escape. But if he could just bite through the hinges, he’d be able to pull the door free and keep it intact.
Feeling hopeful, he crouched down, pushing his jaw as close as he could. Not quite able to reach, he got down on his side and strained. Unable to get any further, he clenched, and felt instant joy as his teeth struck the rough metal.
For a brief moment, it struggled against his bite, looking as if it would hold through… and then it shattered. The bottom hinge breaking off and causing the door to move slightly after losing the support.
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Now confident, he stood up and prepared to attack the second hinge. This one proved to be a little more trouble as he couldn’t lay down. With a bit of trial and error, he figured out a way to stand on the door handle with his left leg, press his body tightly against the door, and stretch his other leg out along the wall. Hugging it all as close as he could, he finally got the proper leverage and reach.
Once in position, with his skeleton frame contorted in the strangest of ways, it was easy for him to bite through and with the hinge off, the door loosened even more. The door no longer stable, it moved under him and he was caught off guard, falling down on the floor in a mess of limbs, his legs over his head.
After regaining his bearings, he rose back up and smiled. A minor miscalculation, but it didn’t matter in the slightest. Wasting no time, he put his hands around the door frame and pulled hard. The wood creaked, and while the door bolt tried its hardest to hang on, it was only a matter of time before he got it entirely free. He put the door frame up against a wall and stood back.
So far, so good, he nodded to himself. Taking a deep breath, he pulled himself together and stepped carefully through the opening, eyes looking down the dark and empty cavern tunnel. He made his way down it as quietly as he could. On edge, he kept his eyes peeled, keeping ready for anything.
As he moved, it was difficult to keep quiet, his joints were rough and grinded against each other with every step, the noises echoing deep into the tunnel. Still, he pressed on, and thankfully it was a straight path. It wasn’t long before the tunnel started opening up and the light began to peek in.
Having gotten to the end, he peered into the massive cavern. He saw the fire pit, and noticed that most of the goblins were milling around it or sitting down. A bit further away, the throne was empty. He didn't see Big Grulak anywhere, which was both a blessing and curse. It was good because the the goblin chief was definitely the most troublesome one, but if he didn’t know where he was it was infinitely harder to avoid him. He could be anywhere.
Scanning the other parts around the cavern, he noticed a fair few goblins moving around the entrance, some sleeping on the ground, others chatting and drinking. Thankfully they weren't at all on guard and there were no patrols. The goblins seemed rather at ease, like they didn’t have any enemies to be afraid of.
His original plan of getting to the entrance was now looking like a long shot. There were way too many goblins gathered around it, and getting through unseen would be impossible. He could make a run for it, but had no confidence in succeeding. If even a single goblin got his hands on him, it could be over. He didn’t know how he stacked up against them.
He had to think of something else, but what?
There were quite a few other tunnels scattered around, but he had no idea where any of those lead. Entering any of them would be a gamble, he could end up walking right into a goblin’s home, or something even worse.
Still, it was better than nothing, and there were several tunnels close to him. With nothing to base his decision on, he just picked the nearest one and crept along the walls. He reached it without trouble, and with a quick look back to make sure no one was coming towards him, he slipped inside of the hole.
It was even narrower than the damp tunnel he came from, barely wide enough for a single person to fit.
The whole tunnel was covered with a strange purple slime. As he breathed the air smelled foul and toxic, and unlike the damp tunnel, there wasn’t a single lichen here leaving the tunnel pitch black. If it wasn’t for his incredible night vision, he wouldn’t have been able to see where he was going.
In the distance, he could barely make out some rocks blocking his path. Cursing inwardly, he approached to investigate. A large pile of rocks blocked the tunnel, and it looked as if the tunnel had collapsed. But looking up, Kaden saw no holes in the ceiling.
Either way, there was no way to get around it. But he might be able to shift the rocks, and if he could, then at least he would be sure that there were no goblins on the other side. It would be safe.
Kaden pushed and found that the rocks were very loosely packed. They moved easily, and with a few shoves and moving a few of the big heavy ones, he was able to create a hole wide enough for him to squeeze through.
On the other side, the tunnel continued for a little while longer, growing wider and wider. It was big enough that three adults could stand shoulder to shoulder and still have room left over. Ahead of him, the path split into three, seemingly all identical. Needing a plan, he made the choice to always stick to the left side, giving himself a better chance of being able to find the way back if he needed to.
He walked and walked in the darkness, and then, he felt something squish and pop underneath his foot, immediately followed by a familiar chime.
─ Level 1 Darkweaver slain!
─ Reward: 20 Experience Points
─ Experience Criteria Met!
─ Level increased from 2 to 3.
─ Species Reward: 2 Stat Points
"Huh?" he looked down at his foot and saw green liquid dripping down, nasty looking splattered guts covering his heel bone. A scratching, chittering echoed from all sides. and he saw the rocks begin to shift in front of him.
Something was very wrong, and as he looked closer, he realized that those things weren’t rocks. No, they, were little dark gray spiders, blending right in with the rocks. There were tons of them, and they had all woken up after he stepped on one, squishing it underfoot.
Kaden shivered, feeling frozen as the spiders stared right at him, their little glowing red eyes all too easy to see in the darkness.