Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"There is it...the next Relic Armament should be right behind those doors," Remarked Lexia, as a large doorway came into sight up ahead.

"Nice, that'll make two out of the five we came here for. And there's a chance that the others have found at least one or two more. Keep your guard up...one of the doors has been broken down, there might be something lurking inside," Replied Colt, as they began to make their way towards the doorway.

"Looks like it was forced open from the inside, which means it was probably a Monster from a lower level trying to enter this level," Surmised Lexia.

The pair had reached the sixtieth floor of the ruins, they had encountered a number of High Level Threats along the way, but avoided confrontation using their Teleport Spell Cards.

As they headed towards the doorway, getting ready to claim another of the Relic Armaments, the two of suddenly came to a halt as a deep, ominous growl rang out from several meters above them.

They slowly turned their gazes upwards, before their eyes widened as they caught sight of a pair of large, gleaming yellow eyes above them...

"Holy shit...," Muttered Colt, as the eyes narrowed threateningly.

"Is that...is that a fucking Fire Dragon?" Added Lexia shakily, before the two of them quickly scattered as the large Monster came swooping down towards them with a vicious, ravenous roar, a massive, blazing wave of flames blasting down towards them from the creature's jaws.

They narrowly evaded the flames, before a loud crash echoed out as the Monster landed on the ground, a cloud of dust rising up around it as it threw back its head and let out a deafening roar, streaks of flames swirling around its towering body.

It was covered in fiery red scales, its limbs the size of trees, it had two straight, sharp black horns on its head, and a row of curved black spikes down its back, with razor sharp fangs and curved black claws.

Suddenly, it rapidly spun around, whipping its tail towards Colt, slamming onto his torso before he could react and sending him hurtling back through the air at an alarming speed, before he quickly unleashed a burst of blood behind him right as he crashed onto a nearby rundown building.

The Monster then shot towards Lexia, closing in on her in the blink of an eye, a sense of alarm rapidly rising up inside her as she crossed her arms in front of herself defensively as the Fire Dragon swiped its claws at her...

"[Bone Gauntlets]!" She chanted as fast as she could, a thick layer of bone forming over her hands and forearms, just in time as the Monster's claws slammed onto her arms, severely cracking the bones she'd formed around them before she got sent flying back, her body bouncing painfully along the ground before coming to a skidding halt, her arms trembling in pain as bits of bone fragments fell off onto the ground.

"[Blood Spear]!" Suddenly came Colt's voice as the Dragon before to approach Lexia, a rapid, long and narrow blood projectile shooting through the air and hitting the Monster's back, hardly doing any damage.

However, it was enough to rile up the creature and get its attention, as its head rapidly jerked around towards Colt as it snarled viciously before opening its jaws, a swirling, intense ball of flames forming in its mouth.

"We need to retreat, now!" Yelled out Lexia, as she took out her Teleport Spell and pointed it backwards, before running her Mana through it and teleporting a kilometer back.

And a couple of seconds later, Colt appeared a few meters away from her. She let out a quiet sigh of relief, before approaching him.

"That was way too close...I almost got roasted alive, I might have died if I took even a second longer to take out my Spell Card. While I am curious about what that would feel like, I don't want to die, since that'd mean I'd never get to experience either inflicting or sustaining pain ever again," He sighed wistfully.

"More importantly, we're stuck. We can't get to the room with the Dragon there," Replied Lexia with a huff.

"Yeah, and it'd be pointless to try teleporting straight into the room like we did five levels earlier, since one of the doors has been broken down. Dragons are supposed to have strong senses of smell, right? Even if try to be covert, teleport into the room and claim the weapon, the Dragon will notice us and attack. If it unleashed flames into the room, we'll be screwed," Surmised Colt, before adding, "So, uh...what should we do?"

"Let's head back to the tunnel that led down to this level. If any of the others landed above us and are making their way down, we can regroup with them there. If we stay here, they may well end up teleporting past us," Replied Lexia, after mulling it over.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Meanwhile, on the lowest level of the ruins...

"Something isn't right here...we haven't seen a single Monster since we arrived at this level and the second half of the previous level was deserted too, it's been way too quiet since then," Frowned Raven, as he and Celia made their way through the sixty-fifth level.

"Yeah...while I'm glad we haven't been attacked, it is really strange. We saw several Critical Level Threats before that, and while that was stressful despite the fact that we managed to avoid all of them using our Teleport Spells, except for the Cereberus, I'm feeling a lot more stressed out right now. Something's definitely off about this place," Nodded Celia in agreement, as she looked around warily.

"We shouldn't be too far from the end of this level now, we've already teleported thrice after arriving here, so the entrance to the next level should come into sight any minute now-...," Began Raven, before abruptly trailing off as he sensed an unpleasant feeling in the air, sending chills down his spine.

"Huh? Hey, is it just me, or is there a strange pressure in the air?" Frowned Celia, as she picked up on it too, before adding as she glanced ahead, "Weird...it looks like there's a strange dark mist up ahead. And this feeling in the air, it feels like it's slowly sapping my energy..."

"Yeah, I can feel it too. And this feeling will probably get stronger the closer we get to that dark most. There's something ominous about it, my instincts are screaming at me...hm? Wait...I think I see a large doorway beyond the mist, maybe about a couple hundred meters ahead or so," Noticed Raven, squinting slightly as his focused his gaze ahead.

"I don't see anything, but your eyesight is way better than mine. Should we keep going or turn back?"

"I don't know...I'm getting a bad feeling about this, but at the same time, I don't want to turn back after coming this far. Okay, how about this...let's get our Teleport Spells ready, and if something dangerous pops out, we'll leave immediately," Suggested Raven, after thinking it over.

"Oh, good call...yeah, I didn't even think of that, we can retreat right away if it comes to it, plus there aren't any Monsters on this level, so we don't have to worry about teleporting near one if and when we do retreat. Alright, then, let's keep going," Nodded Celia, before the two of them continued heading forward.

"Maybe this unsettling energy is being given off by a Relic Armament? The doors are closed from what I can see, so it's unlikely that the Knights made it down this far," Suggested Raven, before his vision blurred slightly.

"Y-yeah, maybe...ugh, I don't feel so good. Whatever this mist is, it's seriously draining my strength," Groaned Celia, a slightly dazed look on her face.

"Maybe it's some kind of toxin? In which case...hey, step back a bit."

"Huh? Uh, okay...is this far enough?"

"Yeah...okay, here goes," Remarked Raven, before unleashing his purple flames all around him, the dark mist disappearing as his flames burned it all up.

"Oh, wow...I didn't know you could do that. And it's working, I don't feel like my energy is being sapped anymore!" Grinned Celia, as she let out a sigh of relief.

"Let's clear the rest of it too," Replied Raven, before unleashing a wide, blazing wave of purple flames from his mouth, the dark mist rapidly fading as his flames washed over the area.

"Hey, I can see the doorway now too. Come on, let's go," Remarked Celia, as Raven placed his hand on her shoulder and used the Stamina Transfer Spell to replenish a bit of her energy, before she responded, "Oh, thanks...but is that the best idea? That mist must have drained some of your strength too, right?"

"Yeah, but this body has a pretty immense amount of stamina, I've got plenty to spare," He assured her, as they headed towards the doorway.

"So, that bad feeling you had, is it gone now?" She asked him.

"Mhm, I think that was my instincts responding to that dark mist, whatever it was. But after I burned it all away, the bad feeling disappeared," He replied with a nod.

"Okay, that's good. I wonder what created that mist, I've never encountered anything quite like-...," Began Celia, before trailing off as a loud grating sound suddenly echoed out...as one of the doors began to slide open, a massive burst of dense, dark mist erupting out of the room.

"Flames that can burn up my Miasma? How interesting...," Came a rough, scratchy voice from inside the room, as a figure emerged through the doorway.

It was a humanoid being, its body was thin and bony, its skin a pale gray and wrinkly, clinging to its bones. It had long, wispy white hair, its eyes were fully black and it had dark yellow teeth. It was wearing clothes, severely worn and tattered, and it had a collar around its neck with a jewel embedded in the middle of it.

It was surrounded by the dark mist, flowing around its skinny body as it lifted its gaze, narrowing its pitch-black eyes at the pair.

"Huh? Is that...a person?" Mused Celia cautiously, before putting her guard up as she glanced at Raven, a tensed look on his face.

"Wh-what...what the hell is that thing!? And why couldn't I sense its presence? I still can't sense it, but...just looking at it, my instincts are blaring like never before. Not even the Cereberus triggered my instincts to this degree! I can't even track it by scent, it's indistinguishable from the scent of the dust down here," Raven thought to himself as his blood ran cold, before he quickly exclaimed urgently, "We need to leave! Now! We can't fight that thing!"

"O-okay, let's retreat," Nodded Celia, as they both quickly pointed their Spell Cards back and ran their Mana through it...but nothing happened.

"What are these?" The being's voice suddenly echoed out from behind them, as it reached out and swiped the Cards from their hands.

"Wh-when did it...?" Celia thought to herself in alarm.

"I didn't even see it move!" Thought Raven as his eyes widened, an instinctive fear welling up inside him as the two of them quickly backed away from the being.

"Ah, I see, these are Spells...what simplistic Magic formula, it's so easy to understand. Looks like Spell formulation methods are different in this era. Based on the formulation...ah, it's Teleportation, huh? Looks like my Miasma wrecked the Spells...you should have burned it up sooner, Homunculus, these Spells might have still been functional if you had," Remarked the being, before tossing away the damaged Spell Cards.

"How do you-...? What the hell are you!?" Snapped Raven, struggling to stay calm with his instincts going wild inside him.

"Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself...I've just been down here so long, I lost track of time a long time ago, but it's likely been several centuries. I am known as the Immortal Undead King...but you can just call me Undead King. Now, then...it's been quite some time since I last saw a Homunculus. Yes, this should make for a fun battle for my first fight after so many centuries," Smirked the Undead King malevolently, the Miasma flowing around his body intensifying...