Starlight Necromancer

Chapter 77 - Leaving The Dungeon

"Bone... eh, it's got sort of a sinister name..." Foster pointed out as he looked at the message window. The man slowly looked back and started to explain, "It's a simple one, truly. As it says, it makes it easier for you to break a being's bones. Try to use it well."

"Right, right. Anyway, we've only got like a minute left, right?" Foster replied, making the message window disappear from in front of him. The dungeon's incarnation nodded and took a few steps back. He snapped his fingers once, and a message window appeared in front of everyone.

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[You have received the status effect {Dungeon Invisibility}. For the next 24 Hours, you will be invisible to the monsters in the dungeon. The status effect will disappear once you leave the dungeon or actively attack a dungeon's monsters]

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"Wait, what? That's a thing?" Kyla let out confused, "I've never heard about this!"

"Of course you haven't. Because we don't give it out to random people. Anyway, hurry it up and make your way out quickly so that I can go back to sleep." The incarnation said quickly, turning around and ready to head off. But someone in the group had another question.

"Before you go... The undead that held the crystal balls for the slime... Erm... You didn't make them, right?" Octer asked with a slight frown. The incarnation turned around and locked eyes with him, "They were in here when I was born, I simply took control over them."

"So it was a real prisoner, then..." Octer muttered slightly, grinding his teeth together. Foster and Lynol looked at each other, not knowing why this was so important to him, but they didn't want to pry either.

"Yup, something like that. Anyway, see y-" The incarnation said, disappearing mid-sentence, as if he was never there in the first place.

"Alright. So now that he's gone... without being bothered by the monsters, it should take an hour or two to get out at most. That means we have plenty of time to talk, don't we?" Kyla said, staring at the group of three that she had joined in order to come into this dungeon, "Just explain to me what's going on. What is your relation to Thiodrus Argomna?"

Foster locked eyes with Kyla, and then let out a deep, annoyed sigh, "Listen, first of all, I'm not a threat to you, alright? You already know about the fact that I'm immune to necromancy and stuff, right? Well, that's the only reason why he gave me his legacy. I met him for a day or two, and I do owe him a lot, but I don't have much of a 'relation' to him." He replied immediately, and Kyla simply stared back.

"Why would he give a random kid his legacy? He's a vile, evil creature, so why would he give something like that to someone that isn't the same as him?"

Rolling his eyes, Foster quickly replied, "I don't know much about what he did in the past, but to me, he seemed like a good guy, alright? In the place I met him... the whole place was completely taken over by, well, something. It was this big fucking tree made of bones and flesh... It corrupted everything around it. Nature died, and water turned into pure necromancy or something. Either way, when a dude fell in there, not even his bones remained. Thiodrus gave up his strength and powers to seal that place away, and as I just fucking said, he gave his life to destroy it. I picked up this weird crystal ball thing that was in the middle of his chest the whole time, and when he saw that I did that, I think he made up his mind to give me his legacy."

"..." Kyla looked at Foster with a constant, deep frown, before squatting down with a loud groan, "Urgh, what the hell? Is that seriously it?"

"...You just believe him? It seems sort of... ridiculous, right?" Lynol pointed out, and Kyla slowly turned her head, "I mentioned how Aria have the ability to figure out someone's... talents, powers, that sort of thing, right? Basically, the way it works is that I see someone's... core. Like a flame surrounding someone's heart. Looking at the color, the way that the flame moves, its size and shape, and feeling the heat it gives off... and just the feeling that it gives me... that's how we can figure those things out. We read the flame to learn about it. And at the same time, it lets us see when someone is trying to trick us, or is just blatantly lying. But that's not the case here right now." Kyla explained, "He's not lying to me... Usually, I wouldn't go just off that, but neither of your guys' cores acted weird. That means that first, you two knew about his connection to... that man... and that, according to your knowledge, he was telling the truth."

"...I mean, thanks, I guess? But... does this mean that you're gonna leave, or are you going to stick with us anyway?" Foster asked, looking at Kyla with his arms crossed. He'd like to have her around, considering that she was a decent healer, something that they would obviously need. Their opponents would only get stronger from now on.

"Well, I can't just let you run around randomly on your own, can I? You don't seem like a bad guy, but until I know for sure, I'm keeping an eye on you." Kyla said with a determined, deep frown, before Lynol scoffed slightly, interrupting the conversation.

"You sure it's not just because you're aware you won't be able to talk to him again if you just leave us now?" He asked, but instead of acknowledging his words, Kyla quickly turned toward the door, "Anyway! Let's get that magic stone the boss dropped, and then let's get out clear-proof!"

"Huh? Clear proof?" Foster said as he turned his head toward Lynol, who quickly explained it to him while Kyla went to pick up the thumb-sized magic stone that dropped from the boss monster, "When you leave the boss room after clearing the dungeon, you get the 'clear proof'. It's basically just a small coin with the sigil of the dungeon engraved into it. It's a bound item, so only the owner and those he fully allows to can hold it."

As the group stepped toward the boss room's door and pushed it open, just as Lynol had explained, a small coin appeared in front of Foster. He held his hand out toward it, and it quickly dropped onto his palm. It was a small, slightly rusted metal coin, seemingly made of copper.. It had a sigil on it, a similar sigil as what's on Foster's chest, just slightly different in a few key ways that wouldn't let you immediately form the connection if you didn't know about the connection between this dungeon and Thiodrus himself.