Stia, lieutenant of the Lamia Dungeon.
Stia could not hide her confusion as she watched the undead legion approaching.
“Wh-why is there a Death Knight here?”
The information she had heard from the merchant guild was completely wrong.
According to what she had been told, the master of this dungeon was supposed to be an Arch Lich.
Yet now that she had actually entered, there was a Death Knight here instead.
In a way, a Death Knight, whose attacks were simpler, might be easier to deal with than an Arch Lich that used Corpse Explosion.
However, a Death Knight was a monster with the trait known as “Death Aura.”
With that trait, it was strengthening the undead legion even now.
And that was not all.
It was well known that those killed by a Death Knight were reborn as ghouls, and as an enemy with a skill that revived the dead one more time, it was the worst possible existence.
Seen from that perspective, a Death Knight might be even worse than an Arch Lich.
“We have to inform Lady Arcannea at once!”
Her master, Arcannea.
She had to inform her of this immediately and plan their next move.
With a Death Knight here, their current plan was completely useless.
If there was one hope left, it was the fact that Lady Arcannea had become 5-star with the help of the merchant guild.
If they could regroup with her, they still had a chance of winning.
But the undead legion did not let Stia escape.
“Urgh…!”
The skeletons began firing arrows all at once.
With arrows pouring down like rain, it was difficult to recklessly leave her position.
“Block them! They’re only arrows!”
Stia had no choice but to order them into a defensive formation.
The scales of the lamia race were tough.
Of course, that did not mean it would be safe if they were hit in the face.
At Stia’s words, the lamias coiled their bodies and covered their heads.
Ting—ting—
The arrows struck the lamias’ scales and fell to the floor.
‘Will Lady Arcannea be safe?’
Even in this moment, Stia could think of nothing but Arcannea.
Her master, Arcannea, was everything in life to her.
She would not begrudge even her life for her sake.
‘Lady Arcannea….’
After all, if Arcannea had not existed, Stia herself would not be alive now.
Long ago, when Stia had not yet reached adulthood.
There had been a time when she had nearly been killed by adventurers.
As she dragged her wounded body and fled desperately, Arcannea appeared before her.
And she easily defeated the adventurers chasing Stia.
The sight of Arcannea looking down at her while standing atop the corpses of the adventurers she had killed was overwhelmingly dignified.
Stia remembered staring at her in a daze for a long while back then.
The one who had saved her life, and an absolute existence she wanted to follow.
From that moment on, Stia began serving Arcannea as her master.
Time passed, and Stia became a loyal lieutenant.
And now.
Stia swept her gaze around, watching for an opportunity.
She was not thinking of fleeing because she valued her own life.
She was trying to figure out how to regroup with the main force and escape this dungeon.
Even in this dangerous situation, Stia’s mind was filled only with thoughts of the master she served.
Was it loyalty?
Or obsession?
In the end, Stia gave an order that was far from rational.
“All of you, step forward! We must buy time for our master!”
Even if she had to sacrifice twenty lamia soldiers, they had to stall for time.
However, perhaps startled by Stia’s sudden command, the lamias hesitated.
“……”
No matter how much it was for their master, when their lives were on the line, they could not help but waver for a brief moment.
A very brief opening.
That became the lamias’ fatal mistake.
The undead legion did not miss the gap and charged without hesitation.
The terrified lamia soldiers resisted fiercely, but the undead legion, empowered by the Death Knight’s buff, did not fall easily.
Only when Stia desperately swung her tail did a skeleton knight shatter.
The skeleton knights sliced by her sharp tail were broken to pieces, but the undead legion surged in like a wave.
Far from buying time, the result was that their retreat was blocked instead.
“Kraaaagh!”
The horrifying screams of zombies and ghouls echoed through the dungeon.
Stia resisted with all her might, but most of the lamia soldiers were being torn apart by the undead.
This was precisely the terror of the undead.
Even if each individual was weak, their tireless tenacity was enough to make one shudder.
Before long, the stench of blood spread throughout the dungeon.
“No….”
Stia staggered as she struggled to get away.
“I have to… get to Lady Ar…cannea….”
She tried to break through the undead legion.
But one ghoul seized her tail.
“Krgh!”
She squeezed out the last of her strength and struck the ghoul, but it was no use. Soon, dozens of ghouls lunged at her.
With her body unable to move, the sword of a skeleton knight pierced Stia’s scales and dug into her flesh.
“Gah!”
Stia collapsed onto the cold floor.
Red blood pooled beneath her.
“Lady Ar… cannea.”
She could see the Death Knight, who had been standing still in the distance, slowly approaching.
At that sight, Stia clenched her teeth.
Even if she lost her life, she had to warn her master of the danger.
Bleeding, she crawled across the floor.
As she crawled little by little toward the outside, the Death Knight, who had approached before she knew it, pierced her heart.
“Lady Arca… nnea.”
The Death Knight’s sword had run through Stia’s heart.
When the cold blade was pulled free, Stia’s body convulsed.
She could feel that the time granted to her was nearly gone.
Even so, she squeezed out the last of her strength and called her master’s name.
“Ah….”
She could not die like this.
Even if she died, she had to fulfill her use.
But her body would not move.
“Arcanne—”
Her vision gradually blurred.
Her memories from life also began to fade.
The loyalty she had once devoted absolutely to her master.
Even that loyalty, insignificant as it was, was being swept far away along with her memories.
Then, a chilling change began to take place in Stia’s body.
Dark energy enveloped her entire body.
Her eyes turned black, and her whole body rotted in an instant as pieces of flesh began falling away.
“Ar—”
A voice flowed from Stia’s mouth. But that voice was no longer Stia’s.
A hollow voice, steeped in death.
Ah.
Now even her master’s name was vanishing from her memories.
She had surely sworn loyalty to someone, yet she could no longer remember who that person was.
“……”
Instead, the look in her eyes as she gazed at the Death Knight before her changed.
A desire drawn to overwhelming power.
Stia’s mind already belonged to the Death Knight.
It was the Death Knight’s skill, “Shadow of Death.”
A dreadful skill by which those killed by him were granted life again as ghouls.
Now Stia’s master was not Arcannea, but the Death Knight.
Only the Death Knight’s orders were absolute.
“Give me… your command….”
Stia, now transformed into a ghoul, struggled to rise.
“…my master.”
With a twisted smile, she bowed her head.
Stia had now become the Death Knight’s servant completely.
The master to whom she had once sworn loyalty at the cost of her life had been forgotten.
Only absolute obedience and loyalty toward the Death Knight remained.
The Death Knight looked down at Stia with a cold gaze.
At present, intruders had appeared in the dungeon.
“If you would only… give me an order, I will offer my life.”
Even in life, Stia had been remarkably capable when it came to handling matters on her own.
In the current situation, there was only one order anyone could expect to be given.
“If you would only give me an order, yes? …Why are you suddenly giving me a pickaxe—”
The Death Knight placed a pickaxe in Stia’s hands.
At present, intruders had appeared in the dungeon.
For the Death Knight, whose construction work had been delayed because of the intruders, the deployment of laborers was urgent.
If there were too few workers, then all he had to do was deploy more workers.
Soon after, the lamias that had fallen around them—no, the lamia ghouls—began to rise.
The Death Knight was satisfied.
* * *
Picha had taken the middle path among the three branching roads.
Picha was a high-level member of the lamia race who made use of magic.
A so-called lamia shaman.
On top of that, with thirty-six lamias accompanying her from behind, there was nothing for her to fear.
“……”
And the place she was heading toward was filled with goblins.
Picha deliberately slowed her pace as she recited an incantation to cast her magic.
Soon, the goblins came into view ahead of her.
Countless goblins were filling the dungeon.
There was even a goblin wearing a crown among them.
‘A Goblin Lord!?’
It was not an existence she could fail to recognize.
‘Why is a Goblin Lord here?’
This was clearly supposed to be a dungeon where an Arch Lich existed. Yet since there was a Goblin Lord here, Picha could not help but be bewildered.
But nothing changed.
No matter who the opponent was, Picha only had to eliminate the goblins according to Lady Arcannea’s orders.
Picha cast the spells she had prepared in advance.
“O earth, be stained with poison!”
Along with Picha’s incantation, green smoke billowed from her mouth.
It was poisonous smoke.
The poisonous smoke pouring from her mouth dyed the air.
A toxic mist that stole life blanketed the goblins.
Victory was as good as decided.
Picha smiled in triumph at the sight.
But then an unexpected situation arose.
“Poison! Poison! Poison!”
When a hobgoblin in the back shouted, every goblin began putting some unknown mask over their face.
The masks were shaped like bird beaks, and every goblin except the Goblin Lord wore one.
And for some reason, the Goblin Lord merely smiled proudly.
“Krrk! The time was shortened even further! Excellent, cluck! It was worth securing that budget, cluck!”
In fact, the goblins wearing masks were not poisoned.
When the magic she had painstakingly prepared failed to work, Picha’s face twisted in frustration.
“Krgh…!”
She could not believe that lowly goblins of all things had neutralized her magic.
It was infuriating.
Her pride had been wounded so badly that Picha’s face flushed red.
“You worthless little bastards!”
That was not the end of the magic Picha had prepared.
She recited another incantation.
One failure was enough.
If she failed this mission here, she would no longer be able to hold her head up before Lady Arcannea.
That, at least, she did not have the confidence to endure.
“The earth shall be dyed in death, so rise!”
As Picha’s cry rang out, the ground trembled and shook.
Soon, countless spikes sprouted from the earth.
Their tips were filled with poison, like the touch of death itself.
This time, even the goblins could not block it; those pierced by the spikes lost their lives.
‘This works!’
The poisonous mist might have failed, but the attack just now had been effective.
Picha cast the spell once more.
“The earth shall be dyed in death, so rise!”
Then spikes rose from the ground again.
But this time, the goblins did not remain still.
“……!”
They climbed atop the corpses of their already dead kin and avoided the spikes.
The Goblin Lord in the rear only wore a proud expression.
“That’s it, cluck! We must not let the sacrifices of our already-dead comrades go to waste, cluck!”
When even her second attack came to nothing, Picha grimaced.
How dare lowly goblins of all things counter all her magic?
Even if the Goblin Lord was giving orders, did it make any sense for every goblin to move in such perfect order like this?
Picha did not give up.
If this attack did not work either, she would simply use another spell.
“O power of poison dwelling within me, bring down the curse of death upon my enemies!”
As she recited the incantation, a crimson glow burst from Picha’s eyes.
It was the energy of a curse.
The curse energy took the shape of a snake and paralyzed the goblins.
Once all the goblins were paralyzed, the lamias would pounce.
But that lasted only a moment.
“The best shield is right beside you! Krrk! Just move exactly as we trained, cluck!”
The goblins immediately lifted the comrades beside them and used them as shields.
“What in the world…!”
The goblins were using their own kin as shields to avoid the curse.
Rather than the fear of losing, Picha felt fear at the sight of the goblins behaving like that.
No, it was more than fear.
Those goblins were simply insane.
They were not merely insane; they were displaying madness by using their own kind as shields.
“This place is insane… Th-those monstrous—”
The goblins were advancing little by little, using their comrades as shields.
At the sight of the goblins swept up in madness, Picha could not hide her shock.