The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon-Chapter 219: 9:1 (14)

I followed Isaac as we circled around the massive Wadluth. Despite having a lot of questions, I couldn't possibly ask them one by one. Clearly, whatever Isaac had done to that S-rank behemoth wasn't a permanent solution. According to him, the only way to put it to sleep for good was to enter the temple.

Flap!

Isaac, flying ahead, called back to us, "Wasn't that brilliant?"

Now he wanted compliments? We were still in a rush, and he was boasting?

"Yeah, totally. That was amazing. You're on a whole different level. Absolutely incredible."

I gave him exactly what he wanted to hear.

"Hmph. Just keep up."

Isaac soared high into the air once more.

Pop!

Thanks to my Desert Adaptation skill, I could sprint across the sand without losing speed.

"Wow..."

Rubia's hair whipped wildly in the wind behind me. Wadluth's slumbering self was so gargantuan, it felt more like a geological formation than a living thing. It took nearly a full minute just to reach his tail.

"This should be it."

"The map confirms it. This is the exact location."

We stood before a gray temple that was less majestic and barren.

"The Hall of Penance... and Atonement..." Rubia read the twisted inscriptions etched across the entrance. "Yemera's temple."

There was no door, just an open archway. I glanced inside. As if intentionally stripped of all decoration, the interior exuded a desolate, punishing atmosphere.

Only one statue stood watch—its face fixed in harsh severity, glaring down at the path of penitent followers. Instead of carvings, there were other things. Flesh-flaying whips, devices for suspending bodies upside down, box-like compartments to confine limbs, heavy stones that weighed someone's lap as they knelt...

"What... is all this?"

Rubia, who had unflinchingly solved impossible riddles, was visibly shaken.

"Yemera's followers offer penance by inflicting pain upon their own flesh while recalling their sins before the goddess."

The doctrine automatically came to mind. It was one of the pieces of knowledge I'd absorbed from the imperial guard.

"These... are all tools for self-torture?"

"That's right..."

I gave Rubia a brief explanation. In Yemera's faith, repentance must be proven through pain. Until they were purified, believers must scourge their unworthy flesh in the goddess's presence.

"But that one—I don't know what that is."

Near the base of the statue stood an open coffin lined with countless spikes. If someone got inside and closed it, those spikes would become iron skewers. It wasn't pain, it was death. Strangely, it appeared to have been used.

"Ugh..."

Rubia shivered and stepped closer to me.

SWOOSH!

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Isaac dove down and screeched at us. "Why would you just walk in there?!"

"Didn't you guide us here? That statue clearly contains the Lurium."

Click! Click!

Isaac clacked his beak. "Hmph! You're not wrong. But don't touch it. If you do, everything below will collapse and get jumbled together. Get out!" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Below...?"

Startled, I followed him out of the temple.

"Look by the turtle's tail."

Beneath the temple's shadow, a shallow ravine had been formed when the turtle stood up. As the tail lifted, it revealed a small, hidden space. At the base of the sandy gorge was a black rock about a meter in diameter, with smooth edges as if they'd been polished.

"What is this?"

"That's Yemera's backside. Move the stone, and you'll see something interesting."

"Hm..."

RUMBLE.

I gave it a light shove, and the rock rolled aside easily. If someone could deal with Wadluth, then a rock like this wouldn't be much of an obstacle.

"Looks like it was just there to block debris..."

Inside was a small, cramped space. But to my surprise, there was more treasure here than in the temple above. Jewels and gold coins sparkled in heaps.

"What is all this?"

"Hehehe. That's the penance fee."

"Penance... fee?"

"Instead of using all those horrid torture devices, some people offer filthy riches instead. Drop them at the base of the statue, and you're forgiven. Didn't you see the donation hole there?"

I hadn't been paying attention. Now that he mentioned it, there had been a small opening at the statue's feet, big enough for gems and coins. If someone dropped offerings there, they'd roll down into this chamber.

"I never heard about this..."

"It's unofficial. Naturally. Even temples need to pay their bills."

Isaac gleefully snatched up the most valuable gems with his talons, then gobbled the rest down. Didn't he say this puppet was a custom-made fetish item from four hundred years ago? The more I saw it, the weirder it seemed.

"What are you waiting for? Grab what you can!"

Rubia noticed and yelled out, "There's no silver coins! Just gold and gemstones!"

"Silver's not dirty enough. Offer that, and Yemera punishes you for being cheeky." Despite supposedly fearing divine wrath the least, Isaac pecked at the ceiling with mock caution. "It's up there."

There was a small hole in the ceiling, right above the tallest pile of treasure.

"So we'll get cursed if we take these?"

"You're really worried for someone scooping them up so fast."

Rubia was already pocketing coins and jewels with practiced ease.

"Well, it's the offering that matters. Where does it end up? None of our concern."

Listening to her, I began picking up stray gems nearby.

[Skill: Accounting Lv. 1 activated.]

These weren't fakes. Every single one was a real, high-quality jewel. Even with just Level 1 Accounting, I could tell many were premium grades. The gems here were easily worth ten times the silver bars hoarded by the captain in Yublam. Not only that, they also didn't take up much space.

RUMBLE...

"Isaac! The ground's shaking!"

Just as we were finishing, the turtle we had lulled to sleep was stirring again.

"Yeah~ Let's go back up now."

I looked behind us. It hadn't fully woken yet, but a deep, heavy growl rolled out as it twitched. If it got up again, would the same trick work twice?

Not likely. If it awoke, it'd never let us go a second time. Still, Isaac didn't seem worried. That meant he had something in mind. He flapped up to the statue and landed on top.

"This is it. The statue runs on the apostle's blood you're looking for. It's a surveillance device."

"So even the turtle is controlled by this? If it's destroyed..."

"Right. Wadluth will fall back into slumber. Just cover him in hot sand, and he'll stay asleep for a long time."

As soon as I heard that, I made up my mind to destroy it. I pulled my greatsword back, ready to swing.

"No. I'll handle this. Stay back."

His tone was firm. I stepped away, intimidated by the authority in his voice.

Clang! CLANG!

Isaac began rhythmically pecking Yemera's stone eyes with his beak.

CLANG!

A series of loud, metallic cracks echoed through the temple. Just as the paint on the statue's eyes began to chip away, a status window appeared in front of me.

Ding!

[The statue of Yemera, Goddess of Atonement, is under attack!]

[Divine Power of the Statue: C+ Rank]

[Warning: A powerful curse from the goddess is seeping into the attacker!]

Fwoosh!

Every time Isaac pecked at the statue's eyes, gray smoke curled upward and coiled around him. At first, it resembled wisps of thread, then it thickened, twisting like a living thing. Soon, it turned into a dense net of smoke, layering itself tightly around him. Even without the system message, it was obvious that this wasn't good.

KAWW!

Regardless, Isaac didn't seem the least bit concerned. He kept pecking away without pause.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay? That smoke..."

Still clutching a beakful of jewels, Isaac fluttered a wing lazily. "Yeah. It's a curse."

So he knew.

"Then... should you be doing that?"

"A curse?!" Rubia screamed.

"Heh. Adorable. I've been cursed more times than I can count. One more won't make a difference."

Clang!

The sound of his beak striking the statue's eye rang out louder than before. He genuinely didn't care about the sinister gray curse swirling around him. How many enemies had he made to become this jaded to being cursed? And if I kept sticking with him, would I eventually be lumped in too? That was when it happened.

A single drop of silver liquid slid from one of the statue's eyes. Soon, silver-tinged magical fluid gathered in the other eye as well, trailing downward in twin streams.

"This is it, right? We're supposed to collect this?"

Rubia had already positioned an empty vial beneath the statue to collect the Lurium. As the first bottle filled, Wadluth gradually stilled once more.

"It's quiet now!"

"How did you even know how this temple worked?"

Isaac raised his beak smugly and answered, "Maybe you didn't know, but I've ransacked plenty of temples in my day. You think I wouldn't know where they hide things?"

Clink.

As the last drops of Lurium filled the second vial, Yemera's eyes finally broke loose and fell to the floor.

Clatter, clatter...

The two eye-shaped ornaments rolled across the ground and disappeared down the narrow penance slot meant for offering riches.

"So that's it?"

I glanced once more to confirm that the massive turtle remained still.

"Yup. He'll stay passed out for a while. Unless you're planning to attack him?"

"Not at all."

I wouldn't even know how. Then, a thought occurred to me. "Wait a minute..."

"What is it?"

"Couldn't we have just come here and quietly extracted the Lurium like this from the statue? Wouldn't Wadluth have stayed asleep the whole time?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So we nearly got annihilated. For just a pile of jewels."

"There's no such thing as just jewels. Don't insult the treasure."

"..."

"Everything worked out fine, didn't it? Now quit sulking and absorb the apostle's blood already. I even took the curse for you."

I... couldn't really argue with that. He had put us in danger for loot, but he also took on the curse and cracked the statue himself. That probably made us even.

"Haa... Mr. Skeleton, here you go."

Rubia handed me the clear vial, filled with shimmering Lurium. I reached out to it.

Shhhhh...

The silver liquid began to evaporate, its glow seeping gently into me. Ever since I'd absorbed that fragment back at Leraie's sanctuary, this process had started to feel oddly natural. Beside me, Rubia gulped and stared.

[Servant System]

[Your master perceives you as a mysterious being!]

[Your Mystique has slightly increased.]

[As Mystique increases, you gain resistance to otherworldly entities outside the bounds of common sense.]

That was new.

"Still a strange sight, even now... Even I have never seen someone absorb an apostle's blood this way. Are you seeing anything unusual?"

Of course. A familiar sequence of messages appeared before me.

[You are becoming more attuned to Lurium.]

[Race confirmed...]

[Class is currently unassigned...]

Just like before, at Leraie's sanctuary.

[Current Class...]

...

[Additional Lurium obtained. Unlocking core class information.]

[Perks and penalties of the following classes have been unlocked:

—Skeleton Swordsman

—Skeleton Knight

—Skeleton Hunter]