Exhausted
from the fight, Stark collapsed onto the hard ground.
They
had just eaten some of the jerky they packed from the supply room.
More
than ten hours remained before the second wave commenced, and Stark
noticed the path ahead was lit up. The corpses of the Ma’oks
hadn’t vanished after the fight.
“Why
aren’t they vanishing?” Kvran muttered, inspecting them.
“Do
they usually vanish?” Stark asked, turning his head, still lying on
the floor.
“Dungeons
are run by mana,” Kvran explained. “Killing a creature returns
its mana to the dungeon.”
“So
the dungeon has a fixed amount of mana. It creates traps, beasts,
etc., with it… Interesting,” Stark noted.
He
absorbed information from the knight like a sponge.
If
the corpses aren’t
disappearing, it’s definitely the work of the raven,
he thought.
I’ll
check it later. Right now, I need rest.
With
a sharp exhale, he drifted to sleep on the cold, hard ground.
He
woke to the crass, disgusting voice of Kvran.
“You
bastard, there are only three hours left,” he yelled. “How long
will you sleep?”
“FUCK!!
You damned muscle-headed bastard.” Stark sat up, clutching his
head.
His
sleep had been interrupted. The knight was right—they needed to
scout ahead and secure a better position for the next wave. The
corpses hadn’t
rotted and were still in great condition.
“Did
you scout?” he asked, adjusting his torn gear.
“Yeah!
There’s a junction up ahead.”
“Junction?”
He raised a brow at the knight. “I see. How far?”
“Just
a few meters ahead.”
Stark
went ahead to check the junction for himself. The pathway was
surprisingly lit with torches and widened as he approached the
junction.
I
could use the torches…
Stark
noted.
The
path led him to a junction, with three other paths branching off into
the unknown. The center of the junction was wide and circular, with a
massive pillar standing in the middle. Torches lined the perimeter,
creating a bright, well-lit space.
He
wanted to explore the pathways further but knew it wasn’t
the best idea. They could be trapped, and if the horde started in
such an unprepared position, it would end in disaster.
The
path is pretty wide. If we could create a barricade
Just
as the thought formed, something clicked in his mind. His attention
went to the corpses from the first wave—they could use them to
build barricade walls.
He
rushed back. Kvran was leaning against the wall, cleaning his spear.
The knight looked up in surprise as he saw Stark approaching in a
hurry.
“I
need some help! Come!” Stark said enthusiastically.
Taken
aback by the sudden energy, Kvran agreed.
Stark
quickly explained his plan: they would use the rocky, club-like arms
of the Ma’oks
to create a barricade. The limbs were durable and could withstand a
significant amount of pressure.
Without
wasting time, they got to work, severing the arms of the Ma’oks
and hauling them to the junction. Stark began arranging them,
interlocking the limbs to maintain tension and strength. They
constructed a double-layered barricade with a narrow opening in the
middle, forcing the horde to funnel through a single entrance.
Kvran
tested the barricade with a powerful strike, but it held firm. Stark
assumed it would endure the horde’s
assault.
They
gathered the remaining corpses and stacked them to form another wall
just in front of the real barricade. It took them only an hour to
complete.
“Let’s
take down the torches as well,” Stark advised.
“Why?”
Kvran raised a brow.
“What
if they use them?” Stark said. “We have no idea if it’ll be the
same beasts this time.”
“Right…!”
Kvran sighed.
They
removed every torch illuminating the junction, extinguishing them and
setting them aside as makeshift weapons.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Now,
let’s close the gap and wait.”
They
sealed the narrow entrance with a three-layered shield gate made from
the rocky limbs of the Ma’oks.
[1:00:54]
One
hour left…
Stark
exhaled, letting his muscles rest before the fight. He had done his
best with the information available to him.
The
timer ticked down and reached zero.
[Second
Wave Starts]
Text
materialized before their eyes. Another timer appeared—this time,
it was double the duration of the first wave. They had to survive
against the horde for six hours.
A
deep tremor rumbled behind the barricade as the beasts marched
forward. The duo braced themselves, pressing their bodies against the
shield gate to ensure it wouldn’t
break easily.
The
creatures struggled to make progress against the makeshift corpse
fort. They pounded against the gate, but Stark and Kvran held firm,
refusing to let them break through.
Time
passed, and the pounding began to slow.
“Huh…?”
Stark raised a brow. “What’s happening out there?”
Three
hours had passed, yet not a single beast had broken through. The fort
was holding, but something felt off.
The
horde seemed to be weakening as time went on.
“Should
we check?” Stark asked, a concerned look on his face.
Kvran
nodded thoughtfully. It was definitely strange.
He
gripped the gate and pulled it open, revealing the gap.
In
the same instant—
Spear
Arts: 3rd Form – Impale.
Kvran
launched his spear the moment the opening appeared, slicing through
every beast in its path.
The
creatures resembled jackals with green fur. A glistening, hardened
shell protected their foreheads and jaws, with a single horn
protruding from the center of their skulls. Their hollow eyes and
gaping jaws dripped with saliva at the sight of the flesh piled
before the barricade.
Stark
lit the makeshift torches and hurled them into the horde one by one.
Flames
spread, illuminating the junction. The fire revealed the room
littered with the corpses of the jackal-like beasts.
But
Stark also noticed something alarming—a significant portion of the
corpse wall was missing, exposing the barricade.
“Poison…!”
he muttered, his eyes narrowing. Without hesitation, he rushed back
into the corpse fort. Kvran quickly shut the gate behind him.
“What
did you find?” the knight asked.
“Those
damned mutts ate the poison corpses and perished.”
“Wait…
what?”
“They also seem as mindless as the
Ma’oks.”
“What beasts are they?” Stark
asked Kvran curiously.
“No idea,” the knight shrugged.
“It’s my first time seeing such a beast.”
“I see… so we don’t have any
information on them.”
It was a blessing in disguise—they
didn’t have to fight for the
next two hours while the beasts succumbed to the poison. Adding
insult to injury, Stark continued throwing makeshift torches into the
horde, setting their fur ablaze.
However, he knew the poisoned corpses
wouldn’t last long. As the
final hour approached, the beasts had consumed almost all the dead
bodies. Now, drawn by the scent of human flesh, they began to gather
for an attack on the shielded gate.
The charge was relentless. The
creatures rammed their hardened foreheads and horns against the gate,
inflicting damage and causing deep cracks to form.
Hundreds of beasts battered the
barricade, their sheer numbers sending violent tremors through the
structure.
Kvran held the gate up with his
superhuman strength. He was a knight, after all—his physical
prowess was far beyond ordinary. But despite his efforts, the
creatures' horns and hardened shells began to crack the rocky surface
of the gate.
CRACK
The gate shattered inward as the
beasts broke through the barricade.
Fortunately for the duo, the entrance
was only wide enough to accommodate one beast at a time.
Stark and Kvran pulled out their
weapons and slashed away at the green-furred creatures. Their
offensive worked in their favor as the accumulating corpses began to
block the path of the incoming horde.
Kvran had the best advantage in this
situation. His spear allowed him to jab at the beasts through the
gaps with ease.
Stark, wielding a sword, took down the
occasional stragglers that managed to slip past the knight.
As the battle raged on, Stark noticed
that they still had plenty of torches left—many of them collected
from the junction earlier.
The corpses continued piling up at the
entrance. Kvran could hold his ground and expend more energy, but
Stark decided it was best to conserve their strength. They had no
idea if the next wave would start immediately—dungeons were
unpredictable after all.
Without hesitation, he began lighting
multiple torches, saving only a few for later.
“Fall back,” the boy yelled to the
knight.
Kvran glanced back, sweat glistening
on his skin. A satisfied look crossed his face, as if he was enjoying
the battle.
With a click of his tongue, he stepped
back as soon as he noticed the torches.
Reaching Stark’s
side, he grabbed a few torches of his own and hurled them toward the
entrance.
The fire caught instantly, spreading
rapidly as the beasts’ fur
became kindling. Within moments, a sea of flames engulfed the
entrance of their corpse fort.
“Let’s fall back. We’d choke in
this enclosed space,” the knight advised.
They both stepped back, though their
eyes remained fixed on the entrance.
The beasts let out agonizing screeches
as the red-hot flames consumed them, their howls echoing through the
dungeon.
“It was a good idea,” Kvran
praised.
“Sure…” Stark muttered, watching
the inferno.
Something stirred in his mind. A
fragment of memory suddenly resurfaced—a grassy field from his
dream, with a tiny house standing in its midst.
But in an instant, the scenery shifted
into a sea of flames.
The entire place was burning. The
once-green field was now drenched in red, littered with corpses.
Spears and swords stood out of lifeless bodies.
The
whole place was decimated.
A lone child stood in the middle of
the chaos, crying.
What
the hell is this?
Stark’s thoughts raced. I
was fighting the horde just now
He looked down at his hands—covered
in blood.
The ground beneath him darkened into a
pool of crimson, swallowing him up. He began to sink.
Panic surged through him. He
struggled, squirming to get free.
He tried to scream, but no sound came.
As he sank deeper, a faint voice
echoed in his head, growing louder with each passing second.
“Hey, look out! What the hell are
you doing?” Kvran’s loud scream snapped him back to reality.
Stark’s
eyes returned back to focus. A half-burnt beast lunged at him, its
maw wide open.
It was too late to dodge.
He braced himself, shutting his eyes,
accepting his fate—
But nothing came.
The beast froze mid-air, then
collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
[0:00:00]
The
timer finally stopped and the text materialized before them.
[You
have successfully passed the second wave.]
Stark
let out a long breath of relief.
I
almost died.
