Necromancer Survival

Chapter 12

Something touched the soles of my feet, and my body stopped its descent. Did I truly reach the bottom of the lake?

You passed the first hardship without a hitch! Congratulations, you’ve been given the key to move onto the next round.

As if reading my mind, a golden system message appeared in front of me and congratulated me for passing the stage. A small golden key floated in front of that message; as soon as I held the key in my hand, the floor began to shine brightly…as if someone had pressed a switch.

When I looked at my surroundings through the light, I found that I was stepping on a gargantuan tombstone stuck in the middle of an endless, barren lake bottom. At one end of the tombstone, a statue of a lion’s head was carved into the rock; its gaping maw seemed to be an entrance. Maybe I’m meant to progress through the lion’s jaws.

I couldn’t see anywhere else to leave except through the tombstone–and nothing else could be seen for miles around. Eventually, despite my trepidation, I was forced to walk into the statue’s open mouth.

A black iron door barred the way within the lion’s mouth; the keyhole seemed to perfectly match the key I just received. Once I pushed through the door, a bright light enveloped my body.

Soon, I was transported into an unfamiliar cave, soaked body and all.

* * *

[Clack Clack.]

“Haaaaah…..”

The moment I stepped foot in the cave, the water spirit surrounding my neck disappeared. Lackey and I flopped at the entrance, exhausted.

The Dungeons I’ve experienced so far and the <Tower of Command> were completely different. In the Dungeons I’ve been to, there haven’t been such intimidating monsters like before–if any of those dungeon monsters were named, they were most likely to be a slightly bigger wolf or a different colored orc than usual….

A few minutes ago, if it weren’t for the help of the Animist I would have drowned. I felt no relief for avoiding that crisis. Instead, I was just physically and mentally tired and depressed. Most of all, I was anxious about being separated from the rest of the party.

[O-hoo-hoo-hoo.]

Just then, I heard a strange sound from ahead.

I thought I’ve been hearing a racket in the background for a while now, but…You’re kidding me, is something coming over?

I immediately sprung up from my sitting position. Lackey, too, followed my lead and became alert. As soon as we did that, another chilling laugh rang out from the edge of the cave–this time sounding just a bit closer.

[Ahahahaha!]

Oops…you’ve wasted too much time. The devil of the tower is now approaching. It seems they’re looking forward to meeting you.

My foreboding intuition was accurate.

In front of my eyes a warning message, informing me of the appearance of a monster, popped up. I was forced to move in the opposite direction of gradually frequent cackles. I may be heading for another trap, but right now the priority was evading that monster….

When I turned the corner, a shadow loomed from the other side.

It drearily hummed, [Who’s there? Are you the one who’ll play with me today?]

I had no choice but to turn back around and run the opposite way.

This time I discovered and entered another alley through a forked road. However, even as I ran, the humming sound came closer and closer.

I returned back to the fork, leaning my back against the wall. I wanted to see what the monster looked like, so I turned my head towards the encroaching sounds. I almost screamed when I saw it.

At first, I thought she was just another human being. However, as the monster came closer and stepped underneath a light stuck on the wall, a grotesque figure was revealed.

In place of her eyes were empty sockets, crying tears of blood. The mouth was eerily torn. She was dressed in a blood-stained white dress holding an unfolded parasol. She hummed and sobbed [Where are you? Where are you?]….I knew that if I were caught by that monster I would have no chance of survival. In order to escape, I sent Lackey out first, hoping to draw its attention.

Lackey deliberately ran opposite to my chosen route. As Lackey passed, the monster turned its neck 180 degrees and found my skeleton servant. With her neck turned around like that, she began to run towards Lackey. Goosebumps raised all over my skin at that terrible sight. As expected, a monster that lacked eyes was sensitive to sound–it seems my life expectancy was extended for a short while.

So, I quietly waited for the monster to disappear from view and ran the other way.

A new monster’s information has been updated!

[Tower of Command — Lulu, wants a new playmate!]

Lulu: the devil of the labyrinth trap. She’s searching for someone who will be an empathetic ‘friend,’ one who tolerates her childishness.

She can resist dark and curse attribute attacks. Both her power and speed are very high; it’s best to run away if you encounter her. In addition, Lulu will sob and cry out for her nanny if she does not get her way. It’s said that her nanny is quite strict with her ‘friends.’

Lulu’s monster information was updated after she entered my vision; the information was somewhat similar to the description of the human hand snare fish.

In particular, the last line of the explanation was quite horrifying.

Doesn’t this mean, like that fish who rode the eel, that there’s an additional mid-boss in this stage? Hoping that Lulu wouldn’t cry, I moved along the labyrinth, nicking the walls with a dagger to mark my way.

But….

“Lackey” is in Danger!

A warning indicating possible danger to my servant popped up. Damn it, he’s already caught? Still, servants can always be called back to my side. So, I called out “Re-summon!” and transported Lackey to safety.

[Clack Clack Clack!!!]

Lackey had briefly stumbled when he was unexpectedly re-summoned, but, when he saw me, he hurried to embrace my legs.

I was wondering what was wrong with it, so I opened Lackey’s status window.

Current Mood: ‘I’m very very very scared!’

My guilty conscience was pricked. Well, even I would have been terrified out of my mind if a monster chased me with their head turned 180 degrees around. “Sorry….Let’s just quickly get out of here.” Freeing my legs from its grasp, I went back to the most recent fork in search of a path that wasn’t marked by my dagger scratches.

[Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!]

I heard a tremendous cry.

The sound was distant, but it was definitely Lulu.

Ah….Why are you crying when I haven’t even touched a strand of hair on your head? If you cry like that your monster ‘nanny’ will appear! I hid, frightened, just in time for Lulu to throw another temper tantrum.

[WHERE DID MY FRIEND GO!!!!!]

No way, is she searching for my ‘Lackey?’ I looked down…Lackey was plastered to my feet, trembling, and shaking its head ‘no.’

Aigoo….It would be too much to ask a kid like this to face off against that monster again….After sighing, I gathered Lackey in my arms and darted for the last unmarked passageway.

Meanwhile, Lulu continued to scream loudly, echoing through the whole cave system. She made such a loud din that, if I were that kid’s nanny, I wouldn’t be able to ignore my charge’s tantrum. The cries were much worse than a fire alarm, much worse….

Lulu’s nanny, ‘Marien/Marienne’ is looking for you.

She promises to Lulu, ‘I’ll bring you a friend who won’t run away again.’ Isn’t it clear to see how she became so spoiled?

The system announced the entrance of another named monster, as if to taunt me. From the other side of the cave, I began to hear unfamiliar heavy thuds.

I ran to what I imagined to be the end of the cave at breakneck speed. As Lackey was far too small and may get left behind, I was forced to recall and store it into my subspace.

[My poor young mistress….you should be surrounded by only the most precious of things….But you’ve been pitifully locked up here….]

Behind me, the ‘nanny’s’ eerie murmurs echoed. As the voice came closer, I decided to run without looking backwards. How the hell did it find my location so quickly?

As soon as I entered what I thought would be the end of the alleyway, the road forked in two. With a huge, grotesque shadow hunting behind me, I had no time to spare for careful decisions.

It’s 50/50 anyway; I ultimately chose to take the left path….

“….I-it’s a dead end?” Unfortunately, just a few steps into the path, a wall obstructed the way forward.

In a panic, I turned to go back to the intersection. However, at the entrance of my alleyway was the face of a woman with numerous wrinkles, her eyes were marked by broken capillaries. Her eyes searched mine with a fierce expression.

I screamed as soon as our eyes met, “Ahhhh!”

In addition, her face sat upon a very long neck, which was covered by dense fur….

[Are you the one who made my lady cry?]

As expected, that monster was Lulu’s nanny.