The fireball soared towards the man’s head and detonated. He tried to roll, but the force blasted him toward the ground. As earthen energies flowed around the skeleton mage, Max circled the trees, blocking the intruder’s path of escape.

Caesar watched the man burn, debating on whether or not this was really a good idea. He could still be saved with a potion. The skeleton mage held a giant boulder above its hands as it looked at him, awaiting orders.

Silence came when he slowly nodded his head.

[Notice]: Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 7! +2 Free Stat Points

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Skeleton Mage has leveled up to Level 13! +1 Free Stat Point

The miserable end of the man confirmed two things for him. One, killing humans provided black energy. Two, he was indeed just a lackey. But Caesar did not want whoever was targeting Arnold to harass him instead, distracting him from his goals. It was best for him to go more unnoticed, presumed a bystander, instead of a core member of this party.

With that problem settled, for now, he looked at the dark sky. Vague white shapes could be seen in four directions. Suspicion bubbled from within him as he thought about his parent’s advice. Irregular places could sometimes be seen in dungeons, requiring further exploration. The lucky people who managed to explore these places and survive received ample rewards.

But he only had today to discover what sort of secret lay inside this dungeon. After killing the boss, dungeon destabilization had begun. He’d need to rush to uncover the hidden part of this dungeon.

He approached one of the bony pillars and inspected its base. Nothing appeared abnormal, even when he knocked his feet against it. Max sniffed and wandered off. His skeleton mage shot both a fireball and a boulder at it, both unpowered and empowered. Nothing worked.

Caesar explored the area for more clues. Nearby the pillars, pockets of undead roamed the area, giving him an idea. He dragged the crippled bodies of some back and killed them near the pillar. No change occurred, even as he pressed their corpses into the bones. But a miniboss skeletal archer also lived nearby. Finally, something happened when he killed and speared it into the pillar.

Amazement filled him as the pillar absorbed the bones of the skeletal archer inside. Nothing else happened, but this was a good start. He searched for more undead minibosses, but none could be found. Instead, he spotted a pair of rank one gorillas in a thicket of trees.

The skeleton mage shot an empowered boulder at a gorilla and shattered most of its bones. As it lay there groaning, the other gorilla roared in rage and leapt toward Caesar, who ducked underneath its strikes. His spear jabbed forward to impede its movements, slowing it down enough for another boulder to hit his enemy.

He dragged them toward the bone pillar and hoped flesh and blood minibosses worked.

Caesar looked grim when nothing happened to the body of the impaled gorilla. But his feelings shifted to intrigue when a closer look revealed the bone pillar absorbing its blood instead. Minutes passed and the bloodless corpse of the gorilla collapsed. The pillar began to shift. It rotated clockwise – producing lots of grinding – and dug deeper into the earth. He heard a click as it locked into place.

He hauled the gorilla that bled the least toward the next location, avoiding fights along the way but noting down miniboss locations. No major change happened when he pinned its body into the pillar, confirming the necessity for both blood and bone. He hunted an undead miniboss and locked the second pillar into place.

Dread began to creep up his heart when he spied a few leaves fall from the ground from the trees around him. No direction was spared. The earth had shaken for a brief moment, which he hadn’t unnoticed.

He took more care in traversing the forest after such a major change. Although he didn’t know exactly what the pillars did, the possibility of a secret dungeon was growing. Yet he still wanted to be prepared if it caused any major changes in the dungeon monsters.

Nothing happened to the remaining monsters, and so he smoothly locked the third pillar into the ground. This time though, the earth trembled for a few minutes. Caesar stumbled and fell into the mud. Beneath the swamp, something seemed to breath. Cold shocks ran up his spine and his nerves tightened once again.

The phenomenon stopped and Caesar took a few more deep breaths before pressing onward. He did a more careful search of the area, but nothing had changed on the surface. His steps lagged behind a little when he approached the fourth pillar. His spear missed a few times trying to impale the live miniboss into the bony column, and he discovered his arms shaking. I need a break.

His skeleton mage put its hands on his shoulders. Caesar nodded after a few moments, stood up straight, and completed his task. The fourth bone pillar locked into place.

A major earthquake occurred but he braced for it. On the floor, he counted down the seconds in his head, holding onto his skeleton mage for assurance. For the next few minutes, terror gripped his heart. His eyes roved about, searching for any monsters that might have been startled by the earthquake.

When the shaking stopped and he stood up, a gargantuan, gaping chasm occupied the center of the swamp. A looming dread washed over Caesar, but he forced himself to walk. Step by step, he drew closer to the abyss that bewitched his sight. Some monsters took this chance to attack, but his summons protected him. When his body staggered over to the edge, he looked down and beheld a colossal tomb.

As the sun rose over the horizon, he shook himself out of his stupor. It basked him in heat and light, warming him up. As shadows crept across the swampy fields, he began his descent with his summons by his side. An eerie chill seeped into his bones, but he continued. In the front of the decrepit tomb, an old and worn-out gate large enough for groups of giants to walk through greeted Caesar.

Am I really doing this?

The same nervousness from earlier crawled up his spine again. But he forced the feeling down and walked through a ruined hole in the gate. He passed through another smaller gate leading to a dark passageway into the interiors of the tomb. The skeleton mage’s fire magic lit up a small spark in the darkness, allowing him to see.

The passageway led to a large room bereft of anything but dust. A few corridors branched off from this room into more empty rooms and some with blocked passageways. A musty smell attacked Caesar’s nose, almost causing him to cough. They journeyed down more hallways until they reached a doorway. Odd.

Caesar peered inside and came face to face with a skeletal squire wearing a buckler and carrying a spear. The spear flew at him, and he sidestepped, but it grazed his left shoulder and tore out a chunk of flesh. He ignored the pain and engaged the squire as the skeleton mage burned a branch to provide light.

The squire slid out a sword from a scabbard hanging from its side and slashed. Caesar kept his distance and poked at it with his spear, holding onto its attention. Many heartbeats later, a Boulder flew towards the squire’s torso and crushed it underneath. The rock crumbled apart into dust shortly after, revealing broken and scattered bones. While the level range of this secret dungeon was certainly higher, likely within the tens, so was his skeleton mage. This made the hidden dungeon beatable.

Max, the skeleton mage, and Caesar explored the room to find another mana potion, same as the one from before. They continued down more silent hallways and corridors and soundless rooms until light revealed itself at the end of one. He approached it and looked through, noticing a burning fireplace in the middle of a wall. Max sniffed around the room but could not detect anything. He ordered his skeletal mage to clump earth around and throw bits of it into the fire.

As the fire died down, Caesar spotted a red beetle wriggling underneath a clod of dirt. He speared it. Black energy flowed from it, confirming it as strong enough to be capturable even as a rank zero insect. Elation rose within him, as his power provided proof it worked on another life-form class. He looked down at the fireplace and picked up three brown balls speckled with red-gold dots. They resembled the fruit that the dungeon boss guarded, albeit much smaller.

“Identify.”

[Item]: Nutrient Ball – Rank 0

[Rarity]: Uncommon

[Effects]: A material. When eaten, increases specific stats up to rank limit.

Caesar shrugged at the bare-bones description and fed a ball to his wolf. It looked a bit more vigorous, but nothing changed on its status page. He fed it some more. After two more nutrient balls, Max’s Vitality increased by one. He nodded in satisfaction at having finally found some materials.

The group continued into the next room with a dead fireplace. Rows of these rooms appeared in all directions, each with its own fireplace. Only a few burned bright, but each one of those contained a Red Scarab – a Common insect – and up to three nutrient balls at a time. Caesar fed all the balls he picked up to Max, which increased the wolf’s Strength and Vitality by another point after eating another seven balls.

Gray Wolf (Max): Mundane

Level 0

Ability: None

Strength: 8

Agility: 7

Vitality: 9

Magic: 0

Willpower: 5

Spirit: 2

The group explored the remaining fireplace rooms but nothing else appeared except another doorway. They walked through it and continued into a large chamber. Here, dust and rubble filled the place with silence. Fetidness lingered in the air. But Max headed straight into the pile of dead objects on the ground and pushed them away. In the midst of trash lay a small wolf figurine covered in dust and dirt.

[Item]: Wolf Symbol – Rank 0

[Rarity]: Uncommon

[Effects]: When worn, increases Spirit by 1 up to the stat limit.

At rank zero, stats were limited to ten at most. But it could still be worth a good amount to new awakeners like him. Caesar stored it away and rested until his mark regenerated. While he was cutting time a bit close, he figured the boss of this secret dungeon would provide a great opportunity for him.

The three left the side path and came back to the fireplaces, continuing further ahead on the main passageway into a vast, expansive, and dark space. His sight did not extend past his hand. But the same could not be said for his skeleton mage. It knew something lurked within the room and clattered its skull to attract his attention.

Caesar turned his head to watch as the mage pointed in a specific direction and strode into a corner of the room. Max whimpered in fright, unnerved by whatever hid in the center of the room. He could only stare into the emptiness, his jaw clenched and fist tight around his spear.