"Boss, what did you choose?"
Maru stared at the three blessings floating before her, completely unable to decide. She glanced at Leon for guidance.
Leon didn't answer. He only shook his head, his expression twisting in bizarre ways—as if he wanted to laugh but couldn't, wanted to act serious but kept failing, wanted to scold himself yet felt he hadn't actually done anything wrong.
It was almost impressive how many conflicting emotions a single face could display at once.
In the end, Maru selected [Miasma], the blessing that left a trail of black mist whenever she dodged. She was confident her resistance to poison was high enough to handle the side effects.
Terl chose [Rolling Wheels], which drastically increased his impact and damage when he curled up and rolled.
Apparently, blessings available to each person could overlap.
Drew stood in front of the gravestone for a long, agonizing silence. Every blessing he rolled felt like a curse.
[Farewell Gift: After death, your body continues moving for a few seconds before exploding.]
[Death Chant: Upon your death, allies are inspired to fight harder.]
[Dead Prisoner: Upon death, a bone prison traps the creature that killed you.]
…Was he fated to die today!?
He looked moments away from a heart attack purely from emotional damage. In the end, he chose Death Chant.
Once everyone had made their selections, the gravestone went inert. At the same time, the teleportation chest across the room shed its red seal.
"So… does this mean the teleport trap is the only way forward?" Leon muttered, analyzing the design. The gravestone did mention distorted space-time, so perhaps that explained the lack of proper pathways—they had to rely on teleporting chests.
Leon's brain was in peak overthinking form.
Suddenly, Gapar swung his sword, cleaving open the wall. Behind the split stone yawned a bottomless darkness.
He picked up a pebble and tossed it in. No sound. No impact. It simply vanished.
"Master!" Leon rushed to him, worried something would go wrong—but nothing happened.
Gapar clicked his tongue. "I thought there'd be a hidden passage. You kids kept talking about secret walls that appear when you slash them."
Throughout their adventure, the party had explained all kinds of Dungeon knowledge aloud—not because they didn't know it, but for Gapar's sake. They obviously couldn't say:
"Old man, your intel is outdated. Let us teach you how modern dungeon exploration works."
That sounded like suicide. Although honestly, Gapar would probably just think they were bold.
"Uh…" Leon sighed. He'd need to explain later that hidden doors weren't exactly common.
Gapar snorted, reading his expression. "I only used it as an excuse to practice. You think I don't understand?"
Given Gapar's perfectly unreadable face, it was impossible to tell whether he truly understood or was pretending.
They opened the teleport chest and were transported to another room identical to the previous one—except this time, monsters were waiting for them.
Skeletons. Nothing but skeletons.
Wheel skeletons, ragged skeletons with scythes, armored skeletons wielding greatswords… different gear, same bone structure. And there were hundreds.
A brutal battle erupted instantly.
Have you ever seen dozens of skeletons leap at you all at once, each swinging something akin to a mountain-splitting strike?
The team now had. It was… impressive in the worst way.
Everyone scrambled to dodge. Drew cast his magical barrier—yes, the same barrier that always shattered the moment it appeared—over the group.
Gapar, however, stepped outside the barrier.
He stood still. Eyes closed. Hand on the sheath of his sword. The blade wasn't even drawn, yet the killing intent emanating from him cut sharper than steel.
The blessing he'd chosen had given him sword knowledge from the dead. The Grave King's power was genuinely remarkable—even the Sword Saint had grown stronger because of it. He now felt he could cut through anything.
The feeling was intoxicating—even though a single touch could kill him.
The skeletons avoided him entirely, going for the party members instead. Several wheel skeletons barreled toward the barrier at ridiculous speed.
"I'll handle this!"
Terl charged forward, dropped onto the ground, and curled himself into a perfect ball—his massive, muscular body forming a solid sphere.
A pure, flawless battle stance.
"Kick me!!"
Leon hesitated only a heartbeat before delivering a fierce kick.
[Rolling Wheels] activated. Terl spun faster and faster, colliding with the wheel skeletons head-on.
Bone fragments exploded everywhere. The skeleton wheels lost the battle of impact.
But Terl…?
"Help!! I'm stuck!!"
He couldn't stop rolling and slammed straight into the wall—half of his body buried inside the stone.
One inch farther and he would've shared the pebble's fate.
"That's… hard to watch," Maru whispered, scrunching her face.
Terl currently resembled that meme you see online if you are cultured enough.
"We'll dig you out later!" she shouted as the others kept fighting.
Leon, dodging frantically, repeatedly reached toward his lower back—wanting to pull something out but stopping each time.
It wasn't that he didn't want to throw it—he just wasn't sure:
Can skeleton monsters even be poisoned?
…Probably not.
"Drew!" Leon signaled.
Drew understood immediately and cast several low-tier Slow spells—not enough to cripple, but enough to inflict a debuff.
And that was all Leon needed.
His spirit surged. Power overflowed. Suddenly, he felt unstoppable—charging forward and cutting down skeletons like a true warrior.
Once the team had defeated about half the enemies and fatigue began creeping in, Gapar finally stepped forward.
In one sweep, he cleared the rest.
[You have passed the Grave King's trial. Now, face the true abyss.]
A new Humanity appeared in everyone's inventory.
…So they really received one per room?
An altar materialized from thin air. Interacting with it offered the choice to exchange Humanity for a blessing.
Odd—wasn't it supposed to be a gravestone?
But the process was exactly the same: offer Humanity, choose one of three blessings.
"Huh?"
Leon frowned the moment the blessings appeared.
Each blessing had an icon.
During their first selection, all icons were black backgrounds with skull clusters—clearly representing the Grave King.
But now—
[Sunlight Protection] – A golden background with a very familiar emblem.
[Skeleton Leap] – Grave King symbol.
[Negative Harvest] – Grave King symbol.
The last two were the same style as before, but the first one—
A Sunlight Medal.
…Was this Gwyn's blessing?
So the dungeon had blessings other than Nito's.
And the third blessing was identical to the one he previously chose. Why the duplication?
No—the Sein Dungeon never designed things without meaning. There had to be a purpose.
Without realizing it, Leon had talked himself into full-on self-gaslighting.
He hesitated between Sunlight Protection and Negative Harvest. He loved everything related to Gwyn… but he was curious what would happen if he picked the same blessing twice.
After a fierce internal struggle, he whispered:
"…Sorry, Sunlight."
And chose Negative Harvest again.
[Your blessing from the Grave King has been strengthened.]
So blessings could be upgraded!?
Incredible. No dungeon had ever done something like this.
Oh, Sein… you brilliant madman.
Gapar selected a blessing called [Hellblade], which ignored all enemy defenses for true damage—but sharply increased abnormal status buildup on himself.
The stronger the blessing, the harsher the drawbacks. Strange design.
Once everyone finished, they prepared to continue—only to find a new problem.
Three chests had appeared.
Three!?
How were they supposed to choose? And the regret afterward would be legendary.
Normally, they would split up for maximum exploration.
It wasn't like they needed a deathless run. Every raid was preparation, and the more knowledge, the better.
Besides, adventurers were the type of people who'd risk their lives just to see whether a dragon could really mate with a rabbit—out of pure curiosity.
But with Gapar, they preferred following his judgment.
"I want this one."
Gapar pointed to the leftmost chest. Everyone moved to follow, but he waved them off.
"Choose for yourselves. Blindly following me is a terrible habit."
"But Master—"
"Go." He gave a gentle smile—a kind, grandfatherly expression. "Choose your own path. I feel like exploring alone anyway."
That… was not what Leon meant.
He wanted to cling to the Sword Saint's thigh for safety, but he obviously couldn't say that now.
"Split up?"
"Split!"
Decision made, Leon and Drew chose the middle chest. Terl and Maru took the rightmost one.
"If those bards who sing creepy horror songs saw us, they'd say we're asking to die," Maru laughed nervously.
Terl shrugged. "Exploring the unknown is the core of adventuring."
Besides, their strength wasn't weak. Even split up, each pair was on par with a bronze-ranked squad.
There was no way they'd die that easily.
The chest activated. Leon closed his eyes, waiting for new scenery to appear.
But instead—
[You drift through chaotic space-time and accidentally glimpse a fragment of a distant moment:]
[In a space dripping with wet, sticky slime, a massive black dragon devours darkness itself. You can't tell if it enjoys the taste.]
[It notices you. Madness flickers in its eyes. It introduces itself: Midir. With the last of its sanity, it extends an invitation.]
["Want to try a bite?"]
[Option 1: Accept the invitation and devour the darkness.]
[Option 2: Politely decline and leave.]
[Option 3: Kick Midir and say: 'Please stop eating garbage.']