《When Earth Sneezed A Dungeon (A LitRPG)》


 The Six-packed Slime

    Slimes are the most miserable monsters of all, and a slime called Slimey wasquiteangered with that. Ever since he was born, he saw his fellow slimes getting stepped on, stabbed, tortured, and then killed day after day. He could not help himself but feel enraged.


    We slimes are peaceful creatures, we harmed no one, so why do we deserve this, Slimey thought. Slimes attacked only if they got attacked, and many do not even attack, they instead run away from their foes. That is until their inevitable death by an adventurer. Their only method of attack, jumping and hitting their opponents with their heads, is useless against human shields and armor. It can only lower their HP by a miserable 1.


    After spending a whole year thinking about how he could raise his brethren to greatness, Slimey settled to scouting humans to come up with what makes them strong. Most of what the humans used was useless to him, the gear and the weapons the humans had cannot be used by slimes, heck, and they had no idea how to forge any of them. However, Slimey once saw a strong human full of muscles, training his abs, and saying he is doing it to get "Da ladies." Slimey never knew that it was possible to train like this. And after trying a few of the human workouts he saw, Slimey realized that abs workout was the only training that slimes could do because their bodies were just a big belly without any limbs. With this conclusion, Slimey committed his whole life to abs workouts.


    And after 10 painful years, Slimey gained not just two or four, but six awesome packs. He cried, finally his people will no longer be slaughtered, finally they will beat up the humans. On a side note, he also realized the words of that strong human were actually true. Once he got his six-packs all the slime ladies swooned around him in no time. I guess ladies love da squares, he thought. It was needless to say that he had many kids and grandchildren ever since. The male slimes asked him how he got these six squares, but he did not tell him, he wanted all da ladies to himself. The six-packs changed Slimey to a different person.


    And Slimey''s first opponent came. Finally, he could show off the fruits of his efforts. He had no experience in fighting humans since he was hiding doing abs workout for ten years. His opponent was your typical level one adventurer, wearing thin leather armor, dirty pants, and shirt. Level one adventurers usually have nothing but a short sword, but this one got a big black ball attached to his belt. This ball was not something that Slimey was familiar with, but it was not sharp, so his instinct told him it was not dangerous.


    The adventurer, on the other hand, looked surprised. The slime in front of him differed from the other slimes he had seen. He noticed that below the mouth of the slime were six squares. Slimey saw the adventurer staring at his body and replied with a laugh, "kikikiki" your days are neigh humans! He thought.


    The human went back to his senses and immediately seized the initiative. He ran to the six-packed slime and stabbed him. Slimey could have dodged the stab, but stood still, waiting for the short sword to stab his six-packs. And it did no damage. The sword could not dig into Slimey''s body, the six-packs acted as a thick shield that blocked the sword from causing any damage to Slimey. The adventurer was startled. "Huh?¡± Three stabs were enough to kill any slime, but on this slime the stab did no damage. He jumped a few steps backward, thinking about what he should be doing next. The situation looked dangerous.


    How about I give him a taste of my powers? Slimey thought with a smile. He squeezed his body and then jumped like an arrow toward the belly of the human. The adventurer could not react in time as he shouted in pain and fell on the ground. The adventurer lost half of his HP, becoming 6 out 12. Another head attack from Slimey and he will be dead.


    "Kikikiki," Slimey laughed. It was easier than he expected. The adventurer attacks did no damage to him while his own head attack removed half of the human''s health. Our great days are approaching, he thought to himself. Once he was done with this weakling human, Slimey decided he would train all the slimes to get no more than four-packs to make sure they are all weaker than him, while he becomes the six-packed slime king. He was drooling Slimey water from imagining such a great future.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Shit," the adventurer said as he rubbed his belly. "Father''s pendant sent me to a legendary slime. Looks like I will have to waste my firebomb." He looked at the black ball attached to his belt. Before the slime made another head attack, the adventurer casted a spell that ignited the tiny rope on top of the bomb. He tossed it at the six-packed Slimey and ran away outside Slimey''s room. Meanwhile, Slimey was staring at the bomb''s rope getting shorter. He still had no idea what is this black ball in front of him, and why did the adventurer run away after he tossed it. In any case, Slimey was confident that whatever tricks the adventurer tried to pull would pose no harm to him. His six-packs were just too strong. And even if did harm him, it will merely scratch his muscular body, which would heal quickly since slimes have high regeneration.


    And as Slimey was pondering what he should do next and how vast his kingdom should be the bomb gave a sudden BOOOM!


    A massive explosion shook Slimey''s room, and the adventurer was safe since he already left the room. The slimes around the adventurer ran away from the source of the explosion. And as the smoke and the other side-effects of the explosion settled down, the adventurer returned inside the room. Slimey''s whole body got blown up like a water balloon, his green bits and pieces got scattered all over his room.


    All the hopes and dreams he had vanished in an instant, what a shame.


    At the center of the room was the loot of the fight, floating half feet above the ground. "Damn, even after his death, dad sure had given me nothing but trouble," said the adventurer as he walked to his loot. The legendary slime, Slimey had dropped two items:


    [Slime Jar] {Common} - Contains sticky green liquid used mainly as a cheap paste to stick the building blocks of buildings.


    [Six-packed Hexagon] {Legendary} - A six-sided object that allows its user to choose one of the two following options: 1) Provides any creature legit six-packs till it dies and not require any training to maintain, a miracle indeed. 2) Enchants the sword or shield of the user (requires a blacksmith) raising his HP by +20. There are no level limitations to using this enchant.


    "This buff is amazing," said the adventurer, jumping in excitement. "I currently have 12 HP, so if I enchant my sword my HP will become 32. This is higher than the HP of a tank around my level¡­ Oh, I forgot to check my level."


    Before fighting Slimey, his experience bar was half-way from reaching level 2. When he checked it now, his level was not 1 anymore, not even level 2, but level 3. The experience he gained from killing this slime was so high. To reach level 2, an adventurer has to kill 20 slimes, and 30 slimes for reaching level 3 and so on. It was basically an increase of 50% in the experience required to reach every next level. So the experience he gained from killing legendary slime equaled killing about 40 slimes.


    The stats of the hero had also changed. Each level, regardless of the job, provides the adventurer an increase of 2 points in all his core stats: Strength, Attack, Intellect, and Dexterity. This means that the two levels he gained earned him an increase of 4 points across all his four core stats. Not bad, the adventurer thought. It also worth mentioning that he had forgotten all about his talent tree because his mind was too busy thinking about the +20 HP upgrade he got from Slimey. He had to go to a blacksmith to use it.


    And that is precisely what he did; he slashed one slime after another as he ran to the entrance of the dungeon. "Fear me, I am level 3!" shouting at the slimes. He had no idea if they understood a word of what he had said or not, but he did not care. The slime that needed three good hits to get killed now needed only two hits instead. Even the damage of the slimes became weaker, he had no issues fighting multiple of them at once. But he could not go too greedy since he still won''t be able to best ten slimes at once, especially not without the firebomb that he had used on the legendary slime.


    After running for thirty minutes and killing all the slimes along the way, the adventurer reached the entrance of the dungeon. He was once again surrounded by the warm sunlight and the smell of grass. He took a heavy breath and ran to the human capital. He could not wait to get the +20 HP upgrade and boast about it to Freya.


    And the slimes continued getting slaughtered.

 The Female Dragon Loves to Eat Young Human Males (1)

    Nothing tastes better than teenagers boys, or so the young female dragon Dragoona says. The sight of young human boys drools her mouth with saliva. Why? Isn''t it obvious? They are hairless, their meat is young and tender, and their bones are still strong and crunchy. Yum!


    Dragons are picky eaters. They prefer eating high-quality beings like demons and angels. Eating them provides the dragons with the abilities of their victims like curses from demons and blessings from angels. This diet eventually had split the dragon race into two factions, those that ate demons and those that ate angels.


    But Dragoona was different. She simply liked eating young male humans. The reason for it was a coincidence. One day she tried to hunt an angel, but as she was fighting him, the angel bested her. She then fell on Earth heavily injured and could not move. Dragoona was about to die.


    But after three days she saw a young boy named Baroon. The boy seemed to have a caring heart and wanted to help her. However, a human helping a dragon was a highly suspicious act. Because it was considered a taboo in the human world to come close to a dragon since throughout history, dragons never lost a single battle against a human. So what Baroon was doing is a guaranteed death attempt, even if the dragon was injured.


    "Are you fine?" Asked Baroon.


    "What do you think?" Dragoona replied. "Do not you see me bleeding and unable to move? Are you retarded?"


    "Oh my God, even a dragon says that I am retarded? Why is the world so cruel? It is not like I wanted to be born with this brain." And with that, Baroon ran away from Dragoona crying.


    "No, wait. Damn it. Looks like I missed my chance to eat him."


    Dragoona knew this marked her end. She had no more than two days to live. And if she ate nothing within these two days her body will not heal itself and she will die. She missed her golden opportunity.


    "Are you fine?" Baroon asked the next day, completely forgetting what happened yesterday.


    Huh? He''s back? Dragoona thought. He looks as if he is seeing me for the first time. Did he forget about me? I didn''t know humans had such a bad memory, or is it just him? I got to try my luck anyway, it''s now or never.


    "I was happily flying two days ago. But I suddenly had a very sharp toothache that I fell on the ground as you can see and I cannot move."


    Baroon looked in pain, "That is too bad, but I know the feeling. It is probably because you eat lots of sweets like me."


    Wow, it worked. This human is messed up. Now I know why dragons don''t like to eat humans. But in my current state, I have got no choice but to eat him.


    "Umm, I am very embarrassed to ask you this, but could you please take a look at my teeth. You look very smart definitely you can help me with my toothache."If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Baroon covered his eyes and cried once again.


    "This is the first time I was told that I am smart. You dragons are good creatures, unlike humans. They enjoy hitting me and laugh at me because they say I am not smart."


    Yup, this guy is messed up.


    "Umm, I appreciate it. So could you take a look at my teeth?"


    "Of course, could you open your mouth a bit more? I cannot see anything like this. Yes, like this. Sorry, but I will put my head inside your mouth to see it more closely. Ah, scary and smelly but no problem because I know that you are a kind--"


    "Crunch"


    A single bite separated Baroon''s body into two as his warm blood got splashed everywhere. His head got chomped by Dragoona, followed by the rest of his body into her belly. And that was it for Baroon, it is sad to see Baroon get eaten, but this is nature; idiots get eaten by dragons. He did not live a good life, but at least he saved someone''s life.


    But it was not all good for Dragoona either.


    [Warning - you have eaten an extremely incompetent human. You will be receiving a substantial decrease all in your stats.]


    Dragons absorb the good and the bad of what they eat, which is why they mainly eat demons and angels. And since Dragoona just ate a low-quality human, it will, unfortunately, make her weaker.


    But Dragoona''s focus was elsewhere. The juiciness of Baroon''s meat, his chewy fat, his warm blood, and his crunchy bones lingered in her mouth. She ate tons of angels, but it was the first time she ate something this tasty. Perhaps the less nutritional the food is, the better it tastes.


    With this, Dragoona returned to her floating dragon islands. But for days and then weeks, the exquisite taste of Baroon never left her tongue. She could not forget the taste even after she ate a few angels. Soon her body was sending her all sorts of nerve signals to eat another young boy like Baroon. And the more she resisted, the more her body desired, and eventually, Dragoona gave up. She decided to eat another young human male.


    I do not care whether it is wrong or right, and I do not care whether it will harm me or not, what is wrong about giving my body what it dearly wants?


    The closest human settlement to Dragoona was the waterfall kingdom, established mainly for the sake of fighting against the monsters in the dungeon. So basically the entrance of the dungeon was inside the kingdom itself. And because most of the kingdom''s residents are males, since fighting is a male-focused job, Dragoona found it the best hunting place for young males.


    Dragoona transformed herself into Baroon''s form. This is not surprising because dragons can shapeshift into anything any creature they have eaten. With that, Dragoona lived in the kingdom, and within a week, 50 teenager males went missing. And after a year, more than half of the teenager males in the kingdom had vanished. The spellcasters detection spells and the guards who patrolled day and night could not see through Dragoona''s shapeshift spell. The young boys were forced to stay inside the house most of the day or simply leave the kingdom.


    But as time passed on Dragoona''s body became weaker. She could no longer rely on brute strength to hunt for food. She instead switched to a simpler tactic by simply shapeshifting in her most gorgeous human female form, and wait for the young boys to leave the dungeon. Such an attractive sight was always welcomed by everyone, especially the young virgin adventurers. Then she would invite that exhausted and wounded boy to her home, drug him to sleep then enjoy a delicious feast. They tasted best this way because they were already well-seasoned with salty sweat.


    And during one of her boy-hunting days, Dragoona saw the most beautiful boy she had ever seen leaving the dungeon. She could not explain why, except that she wanted to eat him right away. The adventurer is the same one who had killed the legendary six-packed slime Slimey. His name is Terax.


    Her two hearts were beating fast. Yes, dragons have two hearts on both sides of their chest. And her body became warmer the more she stared at Terax.

 The Female Dragon Loves to Eat Young Human Males (2)

    I need to eat him, I need to eat him, she thought


    Dragoona sprinted to him as fast she could, grabbed his arm, and said in the sweetest voice she could muster, "Oh my, your clothes are dirty. How about you come to my house and wash up?" It was not the smartest pickup line, but her brain could no longer think straight.


    Terax being a teenager and all was quite vulnerable to Dragoona''s feminine charm.


    His face reddened and replied while looking away from her. "I know. But I found this enchant that I really want to use on my sword. So could you wait until I upgrade my sword first?"


    Terax was not actually obsessed with the weapon enchant he looted from the six-packed slime. Instead, he was too nervous around her and tried to find any reason to just run away from her.


    "Oh, an enchant? That is nice. It is tough to find an enchant these days. But it is much tougher to find a pretty girl like me." She ended with a wink.


    What she said was technically true. Enchants were one of the rarest items anyone could find and could fetch a high price in the market. But a dragon in female human form is even rarer.


    "Y-Yes, maybe, but I really need to go, sorry."


    Terax tried to break free from Dragoona grabbing his arm but he could not. She was much stronger than him even in her weakened state.


    "No, you are coming with me."


    ***


    Terax, remember that you are ugly. So if by any lucky chance you come across a lady that seems to like you do not be fooled, for she is definitely after your money.


    Terax remembered the wise words of his father as he sat in a chair inside the living room of Dargoona''s house.


    "Wait a bit. I will bring you some tea."


    "Sure."


    And what the heck am I supposed to do now?


    After killing the six-packed slime, a young lady dragged Terax all the way to her house. Nothing was especially striking about her room, except for two objects: A painting of a dragon eating an angel, and a giant chest with 50 drawers. And being a curious person Terax couldn''t help but think of what the drawers might contain.


    Perhaps there are secrets she wants no one to know about? Like gold or ancient scrolls? Or maybe love letters?


    Soaked in curiosity, Terax pulled one drawer after another in a silent fashion as to not alarm Dragoona while she was away. The chest had five rows and ten columns, a total of fifty. The first row of drawers was completely empty.


    So she wants to play hard, huh?


    In the second row of drawers, he found knitting needles and lots of cotton yarn.


    So if there''s nothing weird at the first twenty drawers, it means she hides her nasty stuff at the bottom. Not so smart.


    Instead of checking the third row of drawers, Terax checked the last row of drawers at the bottom. He found a large bag full of red gemstones.


    Bingo! We are getting somewhere. But why is she storing so many red gemstones? Maybe the remaining drawers will have the answer?


    But before Terax was about to check the last two rows of drawers, the third and fourth, he heard footsteps approaching the living room. Clicking his tongue, Terax aborted the mission and sat back in his chair like the most obedient child.


    "Sorry, I am late. I forgot where I put the tea leaves, so I brought you coffee instead."


    "You can go back and search for them. I don''t mind waiting."


    Please go back. I want to check the remaining drawers.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "You want me to go back so you can check the rest of the drawers?" she smiled, but anyone could tell that behind this smile was a great evil.


    Holy shit I have been caught, but how did she know?


    "Well¡­ Would apologizing be enough?"


    Dragoona gave Terax a long and cold stare. He could feel his blood freezing.


    "You know, Terax I am starving."


    "O-oh, of course, people get hungry once in a while. Just wait here, and I will bring you the best food in the kingdom."


    Time to run away.


    But when Terax tried to stand up, she said, "Wait."


    "Yes?"


    "Sit down and tell me about yourself."


    "What? But aren''t you hungry?"


    "Quite hungry," she gave a long stare at his body. "But food tastes better the more you know about it."


    Terax face flushed red.


    Me? Food? So she wants to steam the situation before we do the nasty act then steal my money? What a cheap lady.


    "I am sorry, Dragoona, but I am not fit for what you want from me."


    "Oh, so you figured it out?"


    "Yes, I am poor, so I can''t pay you for your adult services."


    "Adult services?" Dragoona didn''t get it at first. But after a few seconds, she got enraged and threw all the spoons and teacups at him, "I would rather die before I do it with an inferior creature like you."


    ***


    "So your father died just before telling you why he wanted you to go to the dungeon? What the hell? Even I am pissed off right now. If he was alive, I would have punched him in the face."


    "I would have chocked him instead. I had sleepless nights thinking about why he wanted me to head into the dungeon."


    "But knowing your father, what do you think it could be?"


    "Well, my father was a dungeon treasure hunter. He collected hundreds of artifacts from the dungeon. But he died last week from an old poison that he couldn''t cure. I think it''s either a rare artifact that he wants me to hunt, or it could be something related to my missing sister."


    "Wait a minute. Your father is Arexus, the legendary treasure hunter?"


    "¡­Yes."


    He was about to lie, but he felt she would see through him if he did. Usually, once people knew his father is the famous Arexus, their whole personality changes to please him out of greed for the treasures and artifacts.


    Dragoona''s eyes grew large, "you are a goldmine. Surely you have endless treasures at your disposal."


    And that is precisely what he feared. "No, he never told me where he kept his treasures."


    "Hmmm, you do not seem to be lying. So your goal now is to find out why your father wanted you to go to the dungeon just before he died. Or basically what were his last words."


    Terax stared at the ground. "Yes."


    I am surprised she didn''t digmore aboutmy father and his treasures. Could she perhaps be a nice person?


    "And today was your first day in the dungeon, is not it?"


    "Yes."


    "I got what is going with you now. All right, it is my turn to tell you about myself. Behind me there is a painting, did you notice it?"


    The painting shows a dragon eating an angel.


    "Yes, it is a good painting. The colors are vibrant."


    "Alright, is the dragon happy?"


    "Probably, he is eating an angel, he should be."


    "That is the standard answer. In fact, if you ask a dragon, he would answer the same as you did. But to me it is the opposite, this painting is quite sad."


    Terax was getting lost here, "What do you mean?"


    "Angels provide dragons with tons of powers. That much is quite-known, but everyone forgets about the taste. Tell me, Terax, do you know what does an angel taste like?"


    "No idea. I did not taste one, and I''d rather not. I do not want to go mad."


    There have been incidents of humans attempting to eat angels. But it has been said that they all have either gone mad or died on the spot.


    "Angels have no taste because they are just a big ball of concentrated light. There is no joy in eating such a plain meal."


    "Fine, so angels taste bad. So why are you concerned about it? I would not care about it unless it was part of my own diet."


    "It was part of my diet."


    Terax did not buy it. "Yeah sure, so you are claiming you ate a dragon?"


    "Not a dragon, but lots of dragons."


    "Right, so how come your body is still fine? A human eating an angel is impossible."


    "That is true; a human can''t eat an angel without dying on the spot or going mad. But guess what? I am not a human."


    Terax swallowed a big ball of saliva. "What?"


    "Do you know what tastes best for me, Terax? It is humans like you." She stood up and tickled Terax neck with her fingertips. "Humans are definitely the best food God ever made. I do not get why dragons have not tasted any of you yet. Or perhaps they did long ago. And once these ancient dragons knew how addictive you humans taste like, they forbid the rest of us dragons to even lick you. It is obvious. You forbid something only because it is so dangerous."


    "Wait a minute, you are a dragon?" Terax body shook, and his whole body sweated buckets.


    Come to think of it, she had such insane strength when she grabbed my arm after I left the dungeon. Why didn''t I notice it sooner?


    "Took quite long for you to realize it? You should be thankful that I kept you alive until now. You know, you might be the finest human that I will ever taste."


    Slowly but surely, Dragoona''s body began to change. Her human skin switched from smooth light brown to rough dark red. Her head popped two horns.


    If this did not prove that she is a dragon, then what will?


    Out of instinct, Terax leaped from his chair and sprinted to the door leading outside the house. If he left the house, he might survive. Dragoona would not be that stupid to reveal herself to the city.


    [Paralyze]


    Dragoona cast a spell that forced Terax body to freeze in place. He was paralyzed and unable to even lift a finger.


    "Not so fast boy. A mere human can''t run away from a dragon, so do not trouble yourself. Many boys like you tried to do the same, but it never worked out. But at least you didn''t cry or pee your pants like them. Do not do that, you will taste bad."


    Dragoona walked at a very relaxed pace toward Terax, who was lying on the floor. His heartbeats were so loud that he could feel them echo throughout his whole body.

 The Female Dragon Loves to Eat Young Human Males (3)

    Is this my end? There is still so much that I have not done yet, especially dad''s...


    "It is quite painful, isn''t it?" Dragoona said. "To die without knowing what your father wanted to tell you. But you know what? These feelings taste so good when you eat them."


    Terax tried to speak up, to plead, and to give anything and everything he has to save his life. But no, the [Paralyze] ability she cast on him was so strong that he could not even speak.


    "Alright, bye, it was fun talking to you. And I hope it will also be fun eating you."


    Dragoona opened her large dragonic mouth and swallowed Terax whole body in one go. The scene took no more than five seconds. Her swift movements proved how used she is to this entire process. But after that, the unimaginable happened.


    [Warning - We have warned you so many times to stop eating humans, yet you kept ignoring us and did whatever you wanted. As a result, we have taken extreme measures against you. To stop you from destroying your own body, you will thereby be transformed into a level 1 human. Enjoy your punishment.]


    Dragoona coughed hard then threw up Terax body, while she permanently transformed into her punishment; a female human.


    ***


    *Slap* *Slap*


    "Wake up."


    Terax was asleep on a bed but woke up getting slapped on his cheeks. He opened his eyes, and he saw Dragoona sitting beside him.


    "Finally, you woke up." She looked relieved.


    "Oh, you are¡­ What!" Terax was about to leave the bed until Dragoona grabbed his shoulder. It was not with the same insane strength she used to have.


    "Don''t worry, I am not going to harm you. Look, I even bandaged your wounds."


    Weird, she did indeed bandage my body¡­


    "Hard to believe it from a person who ate me just a while ago. Wait, how come I am still alive?"


    "I got punished by turning into a human and threw you up. You got skin burns because of my stomach acid. Anyways, you do not have to worry about me eating you again. You may even be stronger than me at this point."


    "Punished? But who can punish a dragon then turn you into a human? Could it be an archon?"


    Dragon''s strength rivals angels and demons. And in this human kingdom, no one is capable enough to subdue a dragon to even think about transforming the dragon into a human. The only beings capable of such a feat are archons, the royal guards of the gods.


    "No, your imagination went too far. It''s my internal defensive system that punished me."


    "Huh? What the hell is this system?"


    "All dragons receive defensive spells to help them survive once they are born. The system did save me numerous times, but the problem is that it has full control over our bodies."


    "Wow, that is amazing."


    So I am stronger than her now, Hehe.


    Terax placed his two knuckles on both sides of Dragoona''s head and grind it hard.


    "Ouch, hey, what are you doing. Stop."


    "This is your punishment for eating me."Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "Do not make it sound I did something weird to you."


    ***


    "Even though this defensive system is helpful, I would rather remove it from my body." She opened her arms to show her new body and gave a long sigh. "Look at what it did to me."


    It is a beautiful body what is she complaining about?


    "Being a human isn''t so bad."


    "This is like telling me being an ant isn''t so bad. Well, at least my system gave me the body of a good looking female, which is probably because she has higher survival rates."


    Terax couldn''t deny that. Men would jump at any moment to help and gain the affection of a good looking lady.


    "So you no longer want to eat me?"


    She looked sad. "Nope, I tried to bite your finger, but it didn''t taste good like it used to."


    Terax looked at his fingers and saw a bite mark on his index finger.


    She continued, "But I do not know what to do with my life anymore. This year was the best in my whole life. I had so much joy in eating human boys. But now that it was taken from me, I have nothing left." Dragoona sobbed loudly.


    This is so messed up. She ate me then treated my wounds and is now crying in front of me.


    "Since you hate this new body so much can''t you revert back to a dragon?"


    "It is impossible. The modifications of the defensive system are irreversible. I have no choice but to get used to this body. Or wait, unless¡­"


    "Unless?"


    Dragoona stared at Terax for a long while then said, "Unless we have access to your father''s treasures, it may be possible. Some of them may nullify my punishment. She grabbed Terax shoulders. "You said that your father hasn''t told you where he kept his treasures. But are you sure, absolutely sure that he didn''t give you any hint to find them?"


    Why is she so close? Calm down Terax, she is a dragon. Why are you shy from a dragon?


    "He is not that stupid to throw hints here and there. It''s best to give it up. Many people tried to find his treasures, but none succeeded. The only way to find them is to talk to Father about it, and that is no longer possible."


    Terax expected Dragoona to look desperate because the situation is clearly hopeless. Over the years he had seen many people begging and offering his father piles of gold to receive just a single artifact, but he always declined.


    "Not quite. It is possible to speak to the dead." She gave a confident smile. "Necromancers can."


    "Necromancers? Come on they are no more than fables and legends."


    Necromancers were believed to have originated ten years after Earth''s First Sneeze incident. Billions have lost their lives to the dungeon monsters back then, which created this intense desire to resurrect them. This strong desire gave birth to necromancers, who created many instances of mass resurrection. But, soon enough, necromancy disappeared as quickly as it appeared. On the other hand, some say that the whole concept of necromancy is just a legend and nothing exists of this sort.


    "True, necromancy is still a highly debated topic. But the existence of magic was also highly debated for thousands of years. But today magic is everywhere is not it?"


    Dragoona opened her hand and ignited a tiny fire floating on her palm, as to emphasize her point.


    "True."


    Terax agreed. Magic was also known to be a legend just like necromancy. But because the old human technology of guns and bombs had failed to stop the hordes of monsters humans had to come up with something more powerful. And they came up with magic.


    "I have lived for two hundred years now, and I did see actual necromancers raise the dead with my own eyes... I think it was 70 years ago. Necromancers do exist."


    "Are you saying that we should search for a necromancer? But how will we find them? It will be like searching for a needle in a haystack."


    "True, but luckily I have already found one a few months ago thanks to my dragon detection skills. And guess what? There is a necromancer in this kingdom."


    Could it be that I will actually find out what were Father''s last words?


    "Great, should we head for him right away?"


    "Not so fast. First, we have to agree on two rules things before we go to the necromancer."


    "Sure."


    "No one must know that I am a dragon. I am helping you in here to turn back into a dragon. I also have to stick with you to make sure you do not die, that is until I return back to a dragon and feast on your body. We only have a few years until you grow into a hairy adult, so we do not have much time to waste."


    Terax felt weird goosebumps all over his body, "You sick lady."


    "Call me whatever you want, I have already been called so many things in my homeland then got exiled. But I will never stop doing what I enjoy for the sake of the public."


    O boy, her madness is getting out of control.


    "Alright... And what about the other rule?"


    "Do not tell them about your father. People will definitely go greedy for the treasures, and they will use you instead of helping you. We are dealing with necromancers here, so we do not know what tricks they have up their sleeves. That should be it for the two rules. Do you have any questions?"


    Oh, she is giving a human like me the opportunity to ask questions? Argh, why do I feel like my status has gone high? So lame Terax.


    "I have one single and a pure request."


    "Very suspicious."


    She looked annoyed as if telling him to just go on with it.


    "Since you already know about what I did yesterday, can I check your third and fourth row of drawers?"


    "...Do you have an obsession with drawers Terax?"


    "No!" He shouted. "I am just curious."


    With a very gentle smile, Dragoona declined Terax''s request while twisting his ear like a door key.

 There Is a Naked Skeleton Below the Restaurant (1)

    "What a long queue, and after two hours, we are still midway," said Terax.


    "Do not complain and be patient Terax," replied Dragoona.


    "Patient? I cannot bear with this anymore. Just what the heck is this bonesoup restaurant? Why there are so many ladies in the queue?"


    As an old resident of the Waterfall kingdom, Terax knew about the restaurant, but he never understood why the ladies liked it so much.


    "It is obvious, is not it? Their soup does not make you fat, and it tastes great."


    Terax tilted his head to the side, "Oh, I see. I have been thinking about this for years, and the answer turned out to be so simple. So are you sure that the necromancer is in the restaurant?"


    "Not in the restaurant but underneath it. Back when I had my dragon''s detection skills, I found a necromancer located underneath this bonesoup restaurant. I expect he wanted to hide in a very dull place so that none would notice him. But the mysterious part is that even after three months I haven''t noticed him ever leaving his location. So basically, he had been living underneath this restaurant for at least three months."


    "That is weird, maybe he is researching something?"


    "Maybe, I do not know much about necromancy. Once we enter the restaurant, we will keep talking about necromancy and decide what we will do based on the reactions of the workers."


    "Sounds good to me."


    Terax agreed to what Dragoona had said and tried to stay patient, but for only ten minutes, "No, no, I cannot wait for more than this. My dead father is waiting for me to resurrect him, and I am here wasting time in a never-ending queue."


    "Well, I also want to resurrect him as much as you do because he is probably capable of returning me back into a dragon. I am not expecting much from you, Terax, but If you got a way to make us bypass this long queue, I don''t mind trying it."


    "Hmm¡­ I have a trick."


    ***


    "Mom, where are you?" Terax shouted as he kept pushing his way through the long queue. He was screaming with tears while Dragoona was following him.


    "Hey, why are you moving to the front of the queue? We have been standing in this queue for hours." complained one of the ladies.


    "Oh, poor boy, let him be he is searching for his mother." replied another.


    "But is not he too old to cry for his mother?"


    "An offspring is always a baby in the eyes of his mother."


    "Not bad, Terax," whispered Dragoona so that none would hear her. "We might actually reach the front of the queue in no time."


    And as Terax was blazing through the queue, a very dangerous foe grabbed his shoulder. Her name is Freya.


    "Oh, look who do we have here, it is Terax," said Freya.


    Terax felt a cold shiver through his spine. "H-Hi Freya. What a coincidence, I am so happy to see you."


    Why is Freya in this damn queue? Why is my life so miserable?


    Freya is the bodyguard for the queen of the waterfall kingdom. She also is the caretaker of Terax after his father passed away, and she used to be a friend to Terax''s mother. The queen is also a very picky person who cannot have a female bodyguard with her unless she has extreme beauty and extreme strength, and Freya had both.


    She grabbed his shoulder tightly while giving a dark smile. "I am also quite happy to see you, Terax. I heard you shouting for your mother. But I wonder where is your mother right now? She is not in this queue, is not she?"If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Terax''s mother had gone missing for almost ten years. People have searched for her nonstop, but they could never find her. Freya, who was a friend of Terax mother, knew this quite well. This is why the situation did not look bright for Terax.


    She knows my mother more than me, better to just be silent.


    Thus, Terax went mute and relied on giving her sad, puppy looking eyes, which he felt may somehow penetrate through her cold, harsh heart.


    "These emotional tricks won''t work on me, Terax. I asked you where your mother is, didn''t I? When people ask you a question, you have to answer it. Or should I teach you how to answer?"


    I have to tell her the truth before she kills me.


    "My mother had gone missing, and I do not know where she is."


    "Then why have you been shouting for her? Could it be that you were trying to use your mother''s name to bypass the queue?"


    The eyes of all the ladies were staring at Terax and Freya talking and murmured to one another.


    "So, this boy was lying?"


    "Kids are so annoying."


    "If he were my kid, I would have spanked him."


    Freya gripped Terax shoulders more tightly, causing him sharp pain. "So we have a liar. And as your caretaker, I have to discipline you. Otherwise, your parents would blame me, wouldn''t they? Now I wonder how should I punish you?"


    Freya maintained her same dark smile as she kept staring at Terax, creating a tense atmosphere.


    Shit, I didn''t expect to die young...


    "Umm, could you punish me instead? It was I who told him to do this," said Dragoona.


    Freya''s relaxed her grip on Terax shoulder, "You forced him? Is it true, Terax?"


    Terax was surprised. Why is she doing this?


    The ladies murmured once again.


    "Oh, poor boy, so he was forced to lie because of this evil woman?"


    "She looks so beautiful, yet her heart is so ugly."


    "Never judge a book by its cover."


    Terax ignored the words of the ladies surrounding him and was more focused on the words of Dragoona. It did not make sense to him. She ate him and did not care one bit about his feelings, nor on the feelings of the thousands of young boys whom she had eaten. She would not have cared whether he would get punished or not. It was surprising to see her sudden change of heart. That is, to put the blame on herself instead of on Terax.


    I do not need your sympathy.


    "No, I lied to bypass the queue. I do not even know this lady, never seen her before."


    Dragoona looked angry, "You have forgotten about all the flowers you have given me? All the oaths of love that you showered me--"


    "Alright, that is enough," Freya interrupted Dragoona. "I do not want to waste my time anymore with this. If you two want to be punished so much, then I will do it. I will forbid you two to enter this restaurant you love so dearly for a whole week."


    Freya grabbed the two from their clothes and tossed them high in the air. And thanks to her great strength, they flew all the way behind the end of the queue. All the ladies around Freya had gone silent in terror of her power.


    "Argh, my head, why did she have to throw us like that?" complained Dragoona. "This is why ladies do not taste good. If I were still a dragon, I would have crushed her just like an ant."


    "Just be glad that we have survived. Freya is among the strongest in the waterfall kingdom. I prefer to avoid her at all times."


    "And we are back on square one, huh?" said Dragoona.


    All the trouble that the two have gone through had gone to waste thanks to Freya.


    "What an annoying caretaker you''ve got. How did she become your caretaker in the first place?"


    "She wanted to become my caretaker after my father had passed away because she pitied me, and she knew my missing mother quite well. Honestly, I never saw a drop of pity from her. All she kept doing was beating me as you have just experienced."


    "And so, we have to find a way where we can enter the restaurant without making her find out about it?"


    "About that, I suggest sneaking into the restaurant at midnight. Freya is always busy at that time guarding the queen in the Great Castle. She would never prioritize our punishment over protecting the queen."


    "Makes sense, but the restaurant will be closed at that time. So we will have to sneak in without anyone noticing us."


    "Yeah, we will probably have to unlock a few locked doors. Do you know anything about lockpicking Dragoona?"


    She gave a grin. "Of course. I have a large set of lockpicking tools at home. I had to unlock many locked rooms to eat some juicy young boys. Aaaah, such sweet times."


    "As much as I hate saying this, at least your obsession is helping us this time. Let us go back and prepare for the sneaky mission. My dead father is waiting for me."


    ***


    It was midnight, and both Dragoona and Terax were hiding beside the bonesoup restaurant. Dragoona had a bag full of lockpicking tools for the mission.


    "I am not feeling Freya''s presence," said Terax. "What about you, Dragoona?"


    "My detection skills are so weak in this human form, so don''t rely on it too much. But no, I am not detecting Freya either."


    "Great, then let us head to the restaurant. I cannot wait to meet the necromancer."


    "I also cannot wait to eat you."


    The duo was running without making any noise. They have to be careful here because of the guards patrolling the whole kingdom. These guards are required to protect the city from thieves and monsters if they somehow sneaked outside the dungeon. No one is allowed to hang around the kingdom at night, and especially at midnight.


    If the guards caught any citizen walking around at midnight, then they will be sent for a week in jail regardless of the excuse, period. The only exception to this rule is those with special permission from the king. Luckily, there were no guards around the bonesoup restaurant, which makes sense. Because who on Earth would steal a restaurant that sells bonesoup? Thieves search for wealth, not for bonesoup.


    Meanwhile, Terax and Dragoona have reached the door of the restaurant, which was obviously locked.


    "Clink"


    And Dragoona unlocked it with ease.

 There Is a Naked Skeleton Below the Restaurant (2)

    "Ouch that hurts, can''t we use dim light at least?" asked Terax.


    "Nope, if we do that, then the guards might notice us. We have to find the entrance to the basement without light." Dragoona replied.


    Terax signed, "And I thought this sneaky mission would be awesome."


    After unlocking the door to the bonesoup restaurant, the two were searching for a passage to the necromancer''s hiding place. They are hoping to use the necromancer to resurrect Arexus, the father of Terax, and know what was his death will.


    "But without light, how do you expect us to find this nasty entrance? I mean, it is probably so difficult to find that none of the customers would have noticed it even in broad daylight."


    "Well, we will keep searching until we have given up. If we still could not find anything, then we will call it quits and search for another way to get to the entrance, perhaps by abducting one the workers and squeezing all that we need from them."


    So she went to abduction rather quickly, as expected from an expert abductor.


    "Your methods sure don''t change. But I did not expect this place to use bones as a decoration. The owner must have a thing with bones."


    "Bones cheap and last for a really long while without any maintenance, a good choice I would say."


    Suddenly, a voice was heard out of nowhere, "Bu."


    "Bu? I could not hear you well, Dragoona. What did you say?"


    "I did not say a single thing."


    The voice was heard once again, "Bu Bu."


    "Huh? What is this that I am hearing? Perhaps I am hallucinating..."


    Terax felt something bit lightly into his right arm. Startled, Terax turned his head to see what is going on, then shouted on top of his lungs, "AAAAAAAAAAA."


    A ghost of some unclear monster was floating just behind Terax, which had bit into his arm. Its mouth had like a hundred canine teeth.


    "Why are you shouting Terax?... KYAAAAAAAAAAA"


    Terax leaped away from the skull ghost and glued beside Dragoona. Both were shaking from fear.


    "W-Why are you shaking Dragoona? I thought a big and mighty dragon like you would not be afraid by a tiny ghost."


    "S-Shut up. I am shaking from laughter."


    The ghost floated toward them while saying, "Bu Bu."


    Terax pushed Dragoona toward the ghost, "Dragoona, you fight him. I am a pathetic human, but you are a mighty dragon."


    Dragoona went back and clung to Terax. "What? No, I am no more than a weak and innocent young lady. You want to leave a lady like me alone against a ghost? Man up and hit him with your sword."


    "Grrrr, fine."


    Terax pulled his sword and gave the ghost a quick stab, but it did not affect the ghost. The sword passed through the ghost as if it was not there.


    The ghost seemed angry, "Buuuuuu."


    "Alright, I am outta here. You are on your own, Dragoona."Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Before Terax was about to leave, Dragoona grabbed his arm. "Gosh, why are you such a weakling? Do not you have other spells that you can use?"


    "It does not matter how many spells I have, have not you seen what just happened? This thing is immune to everything."


    "What everything? You merely stabbed him then decided like an idiot that it is immune to all attacks? Just dump all your spells on him."


    The ghost was now very close to the two "Buuuuu."


    I only have a single spell. Why not try it?


    [Ignite]


    A little flame appeared from the palm of Terax hands and illuminated the whole restaurant for a few seconds. Upon getting affected by the light, the ghost''s body seemed to become more transparent. And after a while, the ghost became barely visible until it completely vanished.


    "Did it work? Where is the ghost?" Terax asked.


    "I think it is gone. I am not sure whether it died or not. But it seems that the ghost disappeared after you exposed it to light."


    Upon realizing that he is no longer in danger, Terax sat on the floor to catch his breath, "I don''t like ghosts. I hope this is the last ghost that I will ever see."


    "Hey, this is not the time to relax. We have to find the necromancer quickly."


    "Come on just for a little bit."


    She kicked him, "Stand up, or I am leaving you."


    "Ouch, what is wrong with you?"


    *Thud* *Thud*


    There was a slight sound of something hitting a wall just beside them.


    "T-Terax¡­ Did you hear that?"


    "What now? You are such a delusional lady. Are you still thinking about the ghost?"


    *Thud* *Thud**Thud* *Thud*


    "Dragoona, your hallucinations are starting to affect me now."


    She kept pulling on Terax clothes, "Terax Terax, the sound is coming from the other side of this wall. What should we do?"


    "It is me who should be asking you this. How would I know?"


    "It could be a large ghost or something even worse."


    "H-Hey, do not make me imagine weird stuff."


    "Ummm, how about we leave this restaurant and come back some other time?"


    *Thud* *Thud**Thud* *Thud**Thud* *Thud**Thud* *Thud*


    Dragoona began dragging Terax''s body outside the restaurant. "Let us leave. I do not wanna die in here."


    "D-Do not worry, I already killed a ghost. Another one is no big deal."


    "Are you crazy? The demon lord could be on the other side. We have no chance of beating him."


    "I know the situation is scary, but you are making it even worse."


    "Terax, please let us leave. I promise if we leave, I will let you open my third and fourth row of drawers in my house."


    "Really? You should have said this earlier¡ª"


    *BOOM*


    The wall beside the two was flung open, and dozens of skull ghosts came flooding out of it, shouting, "Buuuuuuuuuu..."


    "MAMAAAAAAA," Dragoona shouted while hugging Terax.


    The skull ghost swarmed around the duo and kept biting their bodies. Even though they all had long canine teeth, they barely did any damage to Dragoona and Terax. However, the two were too frightened to notice this.


    [Ignite] [Ignite] [Ignite]


    Terax was spamming his ignite spell while keeping his eyes shut. After two minutes of spamming ignite, Terax noticed that he could hear no more Buuu sounds. He opened his eyes and saw nothing around him besides Dragoona. She was still shaking and hugging the hell out of him.


    Perhaps the ghosts are dead?


    "Dragoona, are you still alive?"


    Terax sudden voice made Dragoona jump in fright, "What? You scared me."


    "Alright, you are still fine. It seems all the ghosts have disappeared with the ignite spell."


    "Really?" Dragoona opened only a single eye to confirm Terax words. Then after she scanned the whole restaurant with a single eye, she laid down on the floor in relief.


    You act all big and might, but you are still a lady at heart.


    "I hoped the ghosts would drop some items or at least give us some experience, what a bummer."


    So far, the duo was already in a miserable state even before entering the passage underneath the restaurant. Dragoona seemed useless in her human form, while Terax was out of mana. So if they came across any more ghosts, Terax could no longer stop them anymore. He thought of telling Dragoona about it but decided against it. It will only make her more anxious, and she won''t be able to think properly.


    I would not abort this mission after coming this far.


    The secret passage they were searching for was opened from the other side, thanks to the skull ghosts. They still have no idea how to open the passage again, so they should exploit this golden opportunity.


    After Terax waited a few minutes for Dragoona to relax, he spoke up, "Are you fine, Dragoona? We should get going. The ghosts have opened the secret entrance for us. It should lead us to the necromancer."


    "You are asking me if I am fine? Who do you think I am? You think mere ghosts can harm me? Think again." Dragoona stood up and walked toward the secret passage. But before she stepped into the passage, she stopped, "Umm Terax?"


    Hehe, she is afraid to enter alone, "What is it?"


    "I am hearing the sound of guards approaching us. You used your ignite spell countless times, so it would be odd if they did not notice us by now."

 There Is a Naked Skeleton Below the Restaurant (3)

    "They probably noticed us from your persistent shouting rather than from my ignite spell. I assume all the neighbors are awake because of you now."


    And rumors will spread that certain naughty activities have been happening inside the restaurant.


    "It is not like you didn''t shout¡­ Anyway, we do not have time for this Terax. We have to enter this secret passage and close it before the guards come and capture us."


    *Clang* *Clang* *Clang*


    The running sound of the guards, with their thick metallic armor, was growing louder. The guards are heavily trained level 30 elites, prepared at any time to guard the city. Terax, who is a mere level 3, would stand a chance to stop even a single guard. Dragoona is only level 1, so she is not even worth considering.


    Terax complained, "We just finished dealing with the ghosts, and now the guards are searching for us. What a miserable day." He stood up and followed Dragoona to the secret passage.


    A few moments later, the guards were already inside the restaurant, "Where are they? Search the whole place."


    Luckily, the restaurant was too dark for the guards to notice the two hiding behind a thick, half-opened wall. And Terax still couldn''t close the wall yet because it was too heavy for him.


    He whispered, "I need some help here, Dragoona."


    As Dragoona began helping him, the wall let off creaky noise, which alarmed the guards, and they headed immediately towards the sound, "Do not let them escape."


    Dragoona shouted, "Hurry!"


    Had Terax and Dragoona not closed the door in time, then the guards could have overpowered them in strength and forced the wall open. So they were safe, at least for the time being.


    "Phew, we barely made it," said Terax.


    What was in front of the duo was a long stairway. At the end of the stairway was another area that had some light emitting from it. Some of this light leaked to the stairway and gave it some decent visibility.


    "What a shame, you are so weak that you can''t close a door?"


    "I do not really want to agree with you, but yeah, I do need to level up. But a certain someone wasted my time by abducting me to her house and eating me.


    "You bastard, this certain someone is putting her life at risk to help you."


    "To turn herself back into a dragon and eat me."


    "Of course, you should still be glad that a great dragon is helping you. Not a single human has had this privilege."


    "A former dragon who got exiled you mean?"


    "They did not exile me. I exiled myself. My brother Dregon, who is head of our clan, will probably be begging me sooner or later to come to his side."


    "Sure, sure. Now how about we move on, my lady?"


    After the two descended the whole stairway, they were welcomed by a well-lit place that looked exquisite. The floor was made of deep blue stones, the torches on the walls were emitting blue light, and even the door in front was made of dark blue material. But the most unbelievable thing of all was the skeleton standing in front of them. He was entirely naked, to his white bones, except for a light blue scythe that he was holding.


    I will call this the Blue Area. Everything is blue here, except for the skeleton.


    "For some reason, I don''t feel afraid of this skeleton standing in front of us," said Dragoona.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "This is probably because you got multiple skull ghost injections," Terax replied.


    "Hello," said the skeleton in a loud tone as to keep them from talking. "My name is Daskeleton. I am a servant of the great necromancer Bonex. How may I help you two?"


    "Woah, quite a professional skeleton servant, aren''t you?"


    "I am flattered by your kind words, gentleman," replied Daskeleton with a bow.


    "But why did not your master give you any clothes to wear? Or do you enjoy walking around naked?"


    The skeleton tossed his scythe hard on the ground.


    "I know, right?" Daskeleton replied. "Finally, someone noticed. Think about it, I am a person who got resurrected. I am literally a living, walking miracle. Yet Master treats us like garbage and keeps us naked."


    "What a poor bone-man¡­ If you want, I can talk to your master, the necromancer about it."


    "Please don''t. He is quite stubborn and sensitive."


    It looks like we will soon be dealing with a very bothersome person.


    "Fine, we have an urgent matter. So, could you hear us out?"


    "It is probably about resurrecting someone, isn''t it?"


    "Oh, you figured it out?"


    "How would not I figure it out after you two kept blabbering all about yourselves as soon as you reached the stairway. I could hear everything you know."


    Terax and Dragoona blushed and looked to their sides.


    "And even if I did not hear you two, it is not like you would want a necromancer for a reason other than resurrection. You won''t ask a necromancer to paint your house, would you? I do not recommend it."


    "So you will let us talk to him?" asked Terax.


    "Definitely, I do not mind letting a sensible person such as you talk to him."


    "Finally..." Terax sounded glad. He can soon talk to his dead Father.


    "But the problem is he threw me out of his house and locked the door for four months."


    "Huh? He locked the door?"


    "Yes, he told me to guard the door until he unlocks it."


    "Guard it?" said Dragoona. "Don''t tell me you where the one who sent these skull ghosts at us?"


    Daskeleton looked to the side and scratched his cheekbone. "Well, I made sure they did not harm you two. I even used them to open the hidden door. I really wanted someone to talk to, but my master''s words are also absolute, so I had to make compromises."


    "Who cares about this right now? I had enough problems today. I will open this freaking door even if it is the last thing I do in my life." Terax walked to the door and kept trying to smash it open, but it did not work out. Then he swung his sword against the door nonstop. But an inscription of many symbols popped up, acted as a barrier, and protected the door. He even tried saying, "Open Sesame," but it had no effect.


    "Give it up, lad," said Daskeleton. "Master is the best guy you can find when it comes to sealing doors. And it is not like you two are the only ones who came to see him during these four months. The king Abaramsa came. Three female adventurers came as well, but I forgot their names. They had a huge staff, the largest I had ever seen. Anyway, all of them went back sad and grumpy because they could not see the necromancer."


    King Abaramsa is the king of the Waterfall kingdom. Even though he had publicly been a passive king, it has been said that he had many indecent activities behind the scenes.


    Terax sat on the floor with an annoyed look on his face. "These three ladies are called the Kimama group. They are among the top adventurers. Their staff is so heavy that at least three people are needed to lift it."


    "I am surprised you know so much about these ladies," said Dragoona. "Could it be that you are interested in them?"


    Terax gave a long sad sigh. "Never! After my mother went missing ten years ago, Freya used to take care of me whenever my dad was busy. Her friends were these three mad ladies. They used to bully me so much that I should have filed for child abuse."


    "Pffft, for the first time in my life, I am feeling sorry for you Terax."


    "Daskeleton, do you mind giving me your scythe for a minute? I will dye it red."


    Daskeleton seemed startled, "Well, that is a bit¡ª"


    "A-Alright, alright, I am sorry hahaha¡­"


    Terax sighed. "This sucks, so there is no way for us to resurrect Father unless the necromancer opens the door. Daskeleton, do you have any idea when he will open the door?"


    "Based on my experience, it can take between one to ten years."


    "Ten years? Oh, my God," Terax felt like slamming his head against a wall.


    "Why are you going mad Terax? We can still search for another necromancer to do the resurrection."


    "I do not recommend doing that miss, because it will probably be impossible to find another necromancer. I traveled with Master for nearly 50 years but have never seen a necromancer other than him. They have either gone extinct or that they are very, very rare beings."


    And without Dragoona''s former dragon detection skills, we won''t be able to differentiate between a typical human and a necromancer.


    "I guess that is it. It was nice seeing you, Daskeleton... Dragoona, I will be living in the dungeon, trying to figure out what was my Father''s final will. So forget about me, forget that I ever existed."


    "Terax..." Dragoona did not know what to say.


    Terax stood up and walked toward the stairway, swaying left and right. He looked weak and lifeless as if he had not eaten for a whole week.


    Daskeleton stroked his jaw as if he was thinking about something but said it out loud. "There is a way to unlock the door. But should I tell them about it?"

 There Is a Naked Skeleton Below the Restaurant (4)

    "WHAT?" Terax shouted.


    "Ops, this is what happens when you think out loud. I should quit this bad habit."


    "Why have not you told us about it?" Dragoona complained. "I thought you were a nice skeleton."


    "I told you before. I have to make compromises between you and my master''s wishes."


    "You keep saying compromises," Terax said. "But in the end, you don''t follow what your master tells you."


    "Fuck this master of mine. He threw me naked, homeless, and bored."


    O boy, I feel like I touched a very hot lid.


    Daskeleton tapped the ground with his scythe. "So there used to be this person with a very long white beard who unlocked a door sealed by the necromancer. I never thought this was possible, but this man did it. I also thought Master would get angry, but no. He thanked this man because he said this would help him make a stronger seal."


    "A man with a long beard¡­ Where does he live?"


    We will end up wasting months if we travel to any of the other three kingdoms.


    "Fortunately, this incident happened ten years ago in this kingdom, so he should still be in it. Thin old men don''t travel much."


    There are only four remaining human kingdoms. They are Green, Fire, and Water Kingdoms, with the Waterfall kingdom being the fourth one. Because the Waterfall Kingdom contains the dungeon and is the one responsible for fighting the monsters, it is called the offensive kingdom. The remaining three kingdoms, on the other hand, provide extensive support of food, armor, and weaponry whenever needed, which is why they are called the defensive kingdoms. This relation has caused fiery complaints from those living in the Waterfall Kingdom; that they are fighting and dying while the defensive kingdoms are snoring and laughing.


    "So you are saying that this person can help us unlock the door. But can he still do it even after ten years?"


    "There is a possibility that Master had become much better in sealing doors. But this could apply to both of them. I know this is not a perfect plan, but this is the only way I could think of to break the necromancer''s lock."


    I can''t complain much about that. Daskeleton seems to be trying his best to help us.


    "So we''ve got no better lead but to search for this person. Terax want to try it out?"


    Terax looked anxious. He had been troubled by one problem after another ever since the death of his father. A dragon tried to eat him, and then ghosts and guards were following him. The necromancer he wanted to meet locked the door on himself. Because of all of these incidents, he felt that searching for this person would surely dump piles of new problems at him.


    But I have got no other choice but to search for him.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    "Fine, so what do you know about this person other than his long beard? We need more clues."


    "If I am not mistaken, he used to call himself a lockmaster."


    Lockmasters experts in opening locked doors. It is more like a passion for them. They are capable, based on rumors, to open up any locked door no matter how complex it is. But their biggest problem used to be thieves and gangsters. They used to harass the lockmasters until they forced the lockmaster to join their side. This is why lockmasters have developed ways to protect themselves using the skills they have learned from their profession. Thus lockmasters eventually became a respectable line of adventures for the dungeon, capable of opening locked doors and treasures.


    "If you tell me this lockmaster is very rare to find like a necromancer, I will beat you up."


    "Sadly, I know nothing about that because Master never lets me leave this place. He could be really tough to find, or he could be just beside your house."


    "So we will basically have to search the whole kingdom for him," Terax sighed. "Just how much do I have to suffer to talk to my father once again?"


    "You should be the last one to complain Terax," said Daskeleton. "Miracles are not cheap, yet you are about to receive one almost for free. Do you how much effort it takes for the necromancer to reincarnate a dead person? Why do you think he keeps locking the door like that? It is because he is recuperating all the lost energy and mana he had used up from his recent resurrection. Well, he sometimes locks the door for researching and reading books. But it is tough to resurrect anything, so do not just slack off after just a day''s work."


    "I agree. This is what happens when you work with kids," said Dragoona.


    "I am fine hearing a lecture from Daskeleton, but I do not want to hear that from a mad lady like you."


    "You keep calling me names, like mad and sick, while all that I want from you is just to eat you. What is wrong with that?"


    "Did you notice how ugly this woman is Daskeleton?"


    "She is not ugly. I mean, a dragon is helping a being that is like an ant to her. I think that is quite generous and romantic."


    "¡­I think I asked the wrong person."


    "At any rate, we cannot leave this area to search for the lockmaster. The guards will be waiting for us as soon as we open up the door of the secret passage."


    "Oh, I forgot about them," said Terax.


    Getting captured by the guards, especially after running from them, can put anyone in a very miserable position. First, their reputation will sink deep underground. Second, they will beat him up so much that he will confess whatever claim they applied to him. And after leaving jail, this arrested person will be so rejected by the society that he will end up getting verbally and physically abused by everyone, even kids. Eventually, he will leave the kingdom depressed and start a new life elsewhere.


    As for Terax, the matter is even worse. Since his father is Arexus, the legendary treasure hunter, the guards will do everything they can to squeeze the location of the legendary items from him. And Terax cannot help them with that because his father did not tell him where he had hidden his legendaries.


    "And the guards will probably be camping beside the door for at least a week or so."


    "If that is troubling you two, then I have a quick fix for it."


    "Oh, you will send the skull ghosts to scare them?"


    "No, these petty tricks won''t work on trained soldiers. I only use them to scare kids like you two."


    "Suddenly, you are starting to get on my nerves Daskeleton," said Dragoona.


    "Oh, I am sorry. I did not mean to offend you two. I was just trying to stay the truth."


    "That is even worse," Dragoona sighed.


    Since Daskeleton is the servant of the mighty necromancer, he should have a lot more tricks up his sleeve.


    "Oh, I apologize again. I usually use tougher spells to scare stronger people like those guards. Because if I used the skull ghosts, they will laugh them off with a simple spell and make them even more curious about what is behind the wall. That would only make things worse. Instead, it is always better to do something that will terrify them and force them never to come back again."


    "I am suddenly starting to feel sorry for what will happen to the guards," Terax said.


    It seems we are talking to a really powerful skeleton. Come to think of it, he did say he is a walking miracle.

 This Lockmaster Has One Last Wish (1)

    "Alright, but please do not kill them."


    ''Indeed, the scythe you are holding seems a bit too sharp."


    The scythe seemed to have been sharpened to perfection. It is as if a slight, feathery attack with the scythe can behead multiple guards like butter.


    "Oh no, I am not a murderer. I only murder if it is an order from the necromancer. I will only show them my smile, and they will never dare to come back."


    "Huh? You are a skeleton. Skeletons can''t smile."


    "You will get what I mean. Come, and you will see."


    Dragoona and Terax followed Daskeleton as he walked up the stairway and reached the door to the secret entrance. "Do not let them see you two unless you want to get tracked forever by them."


    Because of that, the duo hid and could not see what happened. But as Daskeleton opened the door, they heard the metallic armor of the guards. So they were indeed camping beside the door. But after a few seconds, the guards shouted in a terrified manner, and Daskeleton returned back to the duo.


    "What the heck have you done?" asked Terax.


    Nothing, I just showed them my smiley face and they left, forever."


    They still had no idea what he did to them.


    ***


    The next day, the duo followed the advice of Daskeleton and began their search for the lockmaster.


    The Waterfall kingdom is made up of three large circles. The outermost circle is reserved for the traders, merchants, and workshops of all professions. The middle circle is for the residential houses of the commoners. And this is also where the homes of both Terax and Dragoona are located. The last and innermost circle is reserved exclusively for the royalties. Around this circle are guards who keep all commoners from entering it except with permission. The king lives in the innermost circle as well. The dungeon finally is located at the very south of the Waterfall kingdom as part of the outermost circle and is densely covered by guards for obvious reasons.


    Now Terax and Dragoona had a problem. They did not know where to search for the lockmaster. The two never heard of the lockmaster profession before or of a person with a long white beard. And after spending two days searching aimlessly for him, they finally agreed to ask the most knowledgeable people in the whole kingdom about it. That is, the guards standing at the entrance of the kingdom.Stolen novel; please report.


    These guards check every human and every piece of cargo before they get inside the kingdom. Their job is so delicate that they are required to hear all the news and listen to every gossip. This makes them less likely to get tricked by any suspicious personnel entering the kingdom.


    The duo asked the guards about lockmaster, and with a little bit of under table money, the guards gave them a detailed map of all they needed to know about the location of the lockmasters. Terax was surprised at how much these guards knew about the kingdom. He felt they even knew about the location of the necromancer. It turns out that lockmasters are known in public as lockers, which are simply the people who create door locks.


    "How come we did not notice it?" Terax asked. "That the people who create all these door locks are the ones best suited to unlocking them."


    "Don''t ask me, stupid human," Dragoona replied. She was pissed off from the same reason but did not want to show it to Terax.


    Just what is wrong with this dragon?


    With detailed knowledge about the location of the lockers, the duo visited each and every locker, sniffing for the old man with the long white beard. After visiting ten lockers, they have found him.


    The workplace of this old man was striking. It was full of keys. At least thirty keys were lying on the floor, a few dozen glued to the wall, a few in a jar, and much more hanging on the roof. The old man was wearing key-shaped earrings and black robes.


    "Oh, new customers." said the old man. He was busy making a new lock for a door. "My name is Kivok. If you want a new lock for your door, then come next month. I got a long waiting list."


    "Terax," Dragoona whispered. "This guy fits the description of the lockmaster that Daskeleton told us about."


    Terax got straight to the point, "No, we want you to open up a magically locked door for us."


    The old man''s hands stopped moving as he gulped his saliva loudly. "A magically locked door you say?"


    It seems that it made him curious.


    "Yes," said Dragoona. "You are a lockmaster, aren''t you?"


    "So you know about my old profession, interesting. Who told you about it?"


    Dragoona ignored his question, "Is it true that you can open any locked door?"


    "I think so. I managed to open any locked door, except for the doors of the dungeon floor levels."


    So he used to be a dungeon adventurer as well.


    "We want you to open a door that got locked by a necromancer. We already know that you opened a door that was sealed by a necromancer before."


    Kivok gave the two a sharp glare. "Who are you two? You are saying things that no one should know about."


    The duo spent about an hour explaining the situation to Kivok. But they excluded that Terax father is Arexus and that Dragoona is actually a dragon.


    "So, in summary, you want me to open the door to the necromancer so that he can resurrect your father?"


    "Correct."


    "I can feel there are still a few gaps in your story, but I don''t want to dig deeper than this. But what a surprise, I did not expect an incident that happened ten years ago to lead to this situation."


    "I did not expect many things lately," said Terax. "Life loves to surprise us, I guess."


    "Starting to act like a wise man Terax?" said Dragoona as she pocked his side with her elbow.


    A human eater is getting more friendly with me. I should be careful.


    Kivok kept tapping a key on a table. "I can assure you that I can unlock the door that you want quite easily."


    "So, you will unlock the door for us?"


    He seems confident. Great, this turned out to be easier than what I had expected.


    "Sure, but I won''t be doing it for free."


    "How much money do you want?" asked Dragoona.


    Kivok laughed. "No, I am old and single. Money is of little use to me,"


    "Alright, tell us what you want, and we will give it to you."


    "That is assuring. I need you to two help me unlock the dungeon level doors. This is the last thing I want to do before I die."

 This Lockmaster Has One Last Wish (2)

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    [Teleport Scroll] {Rare} - Allows you and your party to instantly return back to the entrance of the dungeon. Can only be used once per day.