What is a skeleton warrior? Bones animated by mana, moved by an unshakable will. Or that is conventional thinking anyway. Unmoored to reality by the recent death of their master, two skeleton warriors are left searching for a source of EXP to revive him.

Greg screams as another trap is sprung, arrows with steel tips shoot out from both sides—

“Shield BASH!”

The warriors are back to back with shields raised and a boost in defense stats. It is barely enough as the flying arrows nearly rip through the basic shields and find their home deep inside the skeletal warriors’ skulls.

This is but the third trap that was triggered; the first one was a poison gas that still coats their skeletal frames after Greg tripped over on some tripwire, and the second…

Greg looks back the way they came and shudders at the sight of all that rubble blocking the way back. He had to drag the other minion along as they tried to outrace the falling debris.

“E-ranked my ass,” Greg grumbles.

“Yes Boss!” the skeleton warrior replies, though Greg’s ear almost detects a hint of sarcasm. No way this guy has a sense of humor, Greg thinks but shrugs the thought aside.

Greg moans to himself. For a second, Greg thinks about what would have happened if he simply escaped into the world above… but also remembers that eventually, the “mana” keeping him alive will run out, and he’ll die.

And meet the thing waiting for him inside the void.

The warriors are now walking through the dungeon. Greg gambles that going down this way will give them something to defeat what murdered Matt. If he were to think about it, this is a pretty stupid assumption, but he doesn’t have a lot of options. And besides, despite his life being in constant danger, the world around him has followed video game rules so far…

“Boss,” the nameless skeleton warrior shouts as the pair stops before the abrupt ledge. They went through poison traps, arrow traps, and fall ceiling traps. It would be silly for them to suddenly find themselves falling to their deaths because they failed to notice the path leads abruptly to an empty chasm.

Greg picks a rock from his sling and drops it over the edge. He doesn’t know how to count the seconds to determine how far the drop is, but he reasons that if it takes a long time to hear that ‘pck’ then it’s a long way down. Which going by the ‘pck’ he hears several moments later, means…

“We’re jumping.”

“Boss?” says the skeleton in confusion. Greg notes a hint of fear, but he shrugs it off. They don’t have the time, and it’s like not they can throw a rope to the other side or even jump it.

“When we jump, I want you to tuck yourself into your shield and use Shield Bash.”

Greg watches the skeletons’ eyes carefully, looking for signs of recognition before sighing, “Please just nod your head if you understand me?”

The warrior nods and shouts, “Yes Boss!” before jumping down the chasm, shield tucked underneath his legs, as he falls down in a wordless scream.

“I didn’t mean-” Greg starts to groan, but after a moment of feeling stupid, shrugs his shoulders, “Fuck it—”

And jumps.