"They probably noticed us from your persistent shouting rather than from my ignite spell. I assume all the neighbors are awake because of you now."
And rumors will spread that certain naughty activities have been happening inside the restaurant.
"It is not like you didn't shout… Anyway, we do not have time for this Terax. We have to enter this secret passage and close it before the guards come and capture us."
*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*
The running sound of the guards, with their thick metallic armor, was growing louder. The guards are heavily trained level 30 elites, prepared at any time to guard the city. Terax, who is a mere level 3, would stand a chance to stop even a single guard. Dragoona is only level 1, so she is not even worth considering.
Terax complained, "We just finished dealing with the ghosts, and now the guards are searching for us. What a miserable day." He stood up and followed Dragoona to the secret passage.
A few moments later, the guards were already inside the restaurant, "Where are they? Search the whole place."
Luckily, the restaurant was too dark for the guards to notice the two hiding behind a thick, half-opened wall. And Terax still couldn't close the wall yet because it was too heavy for him.
He whispered, "I need some help here, Dragoona."
As Dragoona began helping him, the wall let off creaky noise, which alarmed the guards, and they headed immediately towards the sound, "Do not let them escape."
Dragoona shouted, "Hurry!"
Had Terax and Dragoona not closed the door in time, then the guards could have overpowered them in strength and forced the wall open. So they were safe, at least for the time being.
"Phew, we barely made it," said Terax.
What was in front of the duo was a long stairway. At the end of the stairway was another area that had some light emitting from it. Some of this light leaked to the stairway and gave it some decent visibility.
"What a shame, you are so weak that you can't close a door?"
"I do not really want to agree with you, but yeah, I do need to level up. But a certain someone wasted my time by abducting me to her house and eating me.
"You bastard, this certain someone is putting her life at risk to help you."
"To turn herself back into a dragon and eat me."
"Of course, you should still be glad that a great dragon is helping you. Not a single human has had this privilege."
"A former dragon who got exiled you mean?"
"They did not exile me. I exiled myself. My brother Dregon, who is head of our clan, will probably be begging me sooner or later to come to his side."
"Sure, sure. Now how about we move on, my lady?"
After the two descended the whole stairway, they were welcomed by a well-lit place that looked exquisite. The floor was made of deep blue stones, the torches on the walls were emitting blue light, and even the door in front was made of dark blue material. But the most unbelievable thing of all was the skeleton standing in front of them. He was entirely naked, to his white bones, except for a light blue scythe that he was holding.
I will call this the Blue Area. Everything is blue here, except for the skeleton.
"For some reason, I don't feel afraid of this skeleton standing in front of us," said Dragoona.
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"This is probably because you got multiple skull ghost injections," Terax replied.
"Hello," said the skeleton in a loud tone as to keep them from talking. "My name is Daskeleton. I am a servant of the great necromancer Bonex. How may I help you two?"
"Woah, quite a professional skeleton servant, aren't you?"
"I am flattered by your kind words, gentleman," replied Daskeleton with a bow.
"But why did not your master give you any clothes to wear? Or do you enjoy walking around naked?"
The skeleton tossed his scythe hard on the ground.
"I know, right?" Daskeleton replied. "Finally, someone noticed. Think about it, I am a person who got resurrected. I am literally a living, walking miracle. Yet Master treats us like garbage and keeps us naked."
"What a poor bone-man… If you want, I can talk to your master, the necromancer about it."
"Please don't. He is quite stubborn and sensitive."
It looks like we will soon be dealing with a very bothersome person.
"Fine, we have an urgent matter. So, could you hear us out?"
"It is probably about resurrecting someone, isn't it?"
"Oh, you figured it out?"
"How would not I figure it out after you two kept blabbering all about yourselves as soon as you reached the stairway. I could hear everything you know."
Terax and Dragoona blushed and looked to their sides.
"And even if I did not hear you two, it is not like you would want a necromancer for a reason other than resurrection. You won't ask a necromancer to paint your house, would you? I do not recommend it."
"So you will let us talk to him?" asked Terax.
"Definitely, I do not mind letting a sensible person such as you talk to him."
"Finally..." Terax sounded glad. He can soon talk to his dead Father.
"But the problem is he threw me out of his house and locked the door for four months."
"Huh? He locked the door?"
"Yes, he told me to guard the door until he unlocks it."
"Guard it?" said Dragoona. "Don't tell me you where the one who sent these skull ghosts at us?"
Daskeleton looked to the side and scratched his cheekbone. "Well, I made sure they did not harm you two. I even used them to open the hidden door. I really wanted someone to talk to, but my master's words are also absolute, so I had to make compromises."
"Who cares about this right now? I had enough problems today. I will open this freaking door even if it is the last thing I do in my life." Terax walked to the door and kept trying to smash it open, but it did not work out. Then he swung his sword against the door nonstop. But an inscription of many symbols popped up, acted as a barrier, and protected the door. He even tried saying, "Open Sesame," but it had no effect.
"Give it up, lad," said Daskeleton. "Master is the best guy you can find when it comes to sealing doors. And it is not like you two are the only ones who came to see him during these four months. The king Abaramsa came. Three female adventurers came as well, but I forgot their names. They had a huge staff, the largest I had ever seen. Anyway, all of them went back sad and grumpy because they could not see the necromancer."
King Abaramsa is the king of the Waterfall kingdom. Even though he had publicly been a passive king, it has been said that he had many indecent activities behind the scenes.
Terax sat on the floor with an annoyed look on his face. "These three ladies are called the Kimama group. They are among the top adventurers. Their staff is so heavy that at least three people are needed to lift it."
"I am surprised you know so much about these ladies," said Dragoona. "Could it be that you are interested in them?"
Terax gave a long sad sigh. "Never! After my mother went missing ten years ago, Freya used to take care of me whenever my dad was busy. Her friends were these three mad ladies. They used to bully me so much that I should have filed for child abuse."
"Pffft, for the first time in my life, I am feeling sorry for you Terax."
"Daskeleton, do you mind giving me your scythe for a minute? I will dye it red."
Daskeleton seemed startled, "Well, that is a bit—"
"A-Alright, alright, I am sorry hahaha…"
Terax sighed. "This sucks, so there is no way for us to resurrect Father unless the necromancer opens the door. Daskeleton, do you have any idea when he will open the door?"
"Based on my experience, it can take between one to ten years."
"Ten years? Oh, my God," Terax felt like slamming his head against a wall.
"Why are you going mad Terax? We can still search for another necromancer to do the resurrection."
"I do not recommend doing that miss, because it will probably be impossible to find another necromancer. I traveled with Master for nearly 50 years but have never seen a necromancer other than him. They have either gone extinct or that they are very, very rare beings."
And without Dragoona's former dragon detection skills, we won't be able to differentiate between a typical human and a necromancer.
"I guess that is it. It was nice seeing you, Daskeleton... Dragoona, I will be living in the dungeon, trying to figure out what was my Father's final will. So forget about me, forget that I ever existed."
"Terax..." Dragoona did not know what to say.
Terax stood up and walked toward the stairway, swaying left and right. He looked weak and lifeless as if he had not eaten for a whole week.
Daskeleton stroked his jaw as if he was thinking about something but said it out loud. "There is a way to unlock the door. But should I tell them about it?"