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[230 Exp]

The skeletons in the gatehouse held on as they fought a losing battle, providing Jay with much needed exp and a distraction.

However, their numbers now dwindled to three.

The skeletons were only becoming better; not only at slaying the knights but better fighters. Finding weak points and gaps in their armor, dealing with their sub-par swordsmanship, and working together to fight them back while taking turns to eat bones and recover.

The knights provided the perfect training dummies for the skeletons, who were still growing their minds and learning. Unlike humans, they could also make dire mistakes, take risks and go all-out, which made them learn much faster, and ultimately, more vicious opponents to face.

Jay thought about summoning the fallen skeleton back, but decided to wait until his mana was full. Another skeleton would just get in the way and cause more noise, and the less sound he made, the better.

The sounds of marching knights got louder as he stood at the top of the lower staircase.

“There’s definitely more than two coming…” he thought.

Jay was in a narrow passage which connected the upper and lower stairs. There were no doors and no rooms; nowhere to hide. Jay wondered why they build the stairs disconnected from each other instead of as one continuous staircase, but his only guess it was for structural stability.

With a large force of knights coming up, he had nowhere to go but backwards.

“Dammit. I just came down these.” He sighed, walking back and going back up the staircase.

With his options limited, Jay had no choice but to backtrack. While he could hold off the knights in the narrow passage, which allowed one versus one fighting, it would cost him more time; more than he is willing to give.

There was also some risk involved as he didn’t know exactly how many knights were coming up the stairs. It could be several or seventy of them.

With Red in the lead, he entered the first pitch-black room that the stairs opened up into. It was one which wasn’t used by the knights as there were no luminous jars around, not counting the ones in Jay’s bag. As an added precaution he poured out some of the luminous jars from his stash around the entrance, in case there were any stray patrolling lesser knights and a patrol route in this room.

Before dispersing into mist, it lit the room up for a moment and revealed many long wooden benches arranged before a white stone altar.

“No time to investigate.” he thought, passing the rows of wooden benches.

Jay walked to the back of the room, hiding himself behind the altar and peered back at the staircase, waiting.

The luminous fluid disappeared, along with its light.

For now, all Jay could do was wait, listening to the sounds of marching knights getting louder.

“If they do come in and discover me, I’ll need to flood the room with bones… then, well, it’ll just be a painfully long struggle.” He thought, already making backup plans for if the enemy discovered his presence..

Peering into the darkness from behind the altar, the marching got louder, and soon, a faint light appeared in the staircase. The familiar glow of luminous jars.

One knight appeared, carrying a sword in one hand and a glowing jar in the other.

Behind it, an intelligent one directed it, carrying a sword and shield.

The lesser ignored the pitch-black room and continued upwards, taking a step on the staircase. However, the intelligent one reached forwards, grabbing the shoulder of the jar-carrying lesser.

Both of them paused.

It made the lesser turn to face the pitch-black room; more light flooded in.

The helmet of the intelligent one turned across the room, scanning it.

Jay quickly ducked his head behind the altar and hid himself completely from the light.

He held his breath and watched the walls, and the ceiling as the light landed on them.

The light remained unmoving - but only for a moment.

“Good… just leave.”

More marching echoed through the room as knights trailed up the staircase. Jay was about to sigh in relief, but then the light got brighter.

“Fuck.”

The enemy was coming into the room.

“But why? I don’t believe they would search every room every time they pass it? That would be a waste of time.”

*Smash!*

Planks of wood tumbling across the stone floor rattled through the room.

Jay gripped his sword tightly, hearing one of the wooden chairs being smashed apart.

Looking up at the walls, the light was getting even brighter. The enemy was approaching.

“Fuck, they’ll be on me any second. I’ll punish these inquisitive bastards after I dig them out of the bones...” he thought, but still tried to remain silent. He readied his sword.

(Red. Don’t make a sound, but get ready for a fight. Focus on blocking the entrance once it starts.)

Red’s cold eyes flashed a glow of green, covertly accepting Jay’s orders.

A knight carrying a luminous jar came ever closer, its light caused the shadow of the altar to appear on the wall; it was now the shadow Jay was hiding in.

The shadow of the alter got lower and lower, while the marching of knights got louder. However, Jay’s mind was not completely focused on the fight.

“How did it know? How?” Jay wondered, “No enemies escaped, and I damaged no roots down here. We tossed some knights into the deeps of the castle, but we were still far up, above the surface when we did that.”

It annoyed Jay, as he was sure that he made no mistakes. He continued to hold his breath, hoping to conceal his presence.

“They abandoned this room and left it dark. The intelligent knights don’t use the scent-paths, but there would be no reason for any paths to be here. All the dead bodies of enemies are much higher up the staircase, and they probably haven’t even found them yet.”

Yet the shadow dropped lower and lower, and in a matter of seconds it hit the floor behind the altar.

“It doesn’t matter now. It’s nearly on top of us…”

Jay tucked his feet in as he felt that the light source was just above his head. Any closer and there would be no shadow to hide in.

He fought against his mind to keep holding his breath, clenching his jaw to stop himself from giving up and gulping in the air.

“Just a little closer…” he thought.

The light moved around for a moment, shifting the shadow of the altar as it searched for something, then stopped again.

“Come closer you fucker!” Jay screamed in his mind, wanting to take a breath while plunging his sword through the enemy’s throat.

The shadow rose back up the wall and suddenly stopped.

*Clink.*

“…?”

It confused Jay, hearing the quiet, innocent sound of glass and stone, yet it was relieving at the same time.

“It… placed the jar down?” he smiled, slowly taking a silent breath through his nose.

The sound of a knight marched away, kicking some broken pieces of the wooden chair at it went.

Jay wanted to chuckle as he took in a steady, deep breath. Only now did he realise how tightly he was gripping his sword.

“I guess I didn’t make any mistakes.”

While waiting for his breathing to return to normal, he simply sat there, leaning against the altar and staring at the softly glowing light on the wall.

The marching continued behind him, and by the sounds of it, many knights were heading up the stairs.

Jay built up some nerve and peeked around the side of the altar, keeping his head in the shadows.

An unending line of knights appeared from below and disappeared up the stairs. Other than the ones passing by, there were no knights in the room. The intelligent one had left, along with the jar-carrier.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Jay hid back behind the altar.

“Looks like I have some time to kill.” he thought, and took out his rolled-up swag, using it as a pillow.

Propping himself up comfortably, he rested his eyes.

(Red, wake me up when the marching stops.)

Jay had only rested once since coming to this dungeon, during his brief time in the cannibal village. A nap was long overdue, and the sleeplessness had not been helping his nerves, while the darkness of the castle had just added to his craving for sleep.

[Your skeleton has been slain.]

“Enough already, I get it… I’ll bring them back soon.” Jay waved his hand, stifling a yawn.

In the gatehouse, two skeletons are still alive after one died. Instead of fighting any longer, they enacted out the last part of the plan their master had created for them.

The plan? Run into the opposite passage through the walls - opposite to the one Jay took when leaving the gatehouse, then keep running in random directions, leading the slow knights in a chaotic scramble throughout the castle.

It was unlikely that the skeletons would get kills during the fleeing, but it would help to cover Jay’s tracks. If the knights find the dead bodies of their comrades, they may falsely attribute their deaths to the two gatehouse skeletons who ran free inside the castle complex.

Their job had changed, but the goal was still the same. Ultimately, they were a distraction.