Verc came to realize that this place he was currently in; was specifically made to seal in the weird skeleton inside.

The realization sat heavy in his mind as he clung to the ceiling, his fingers digging into the stone with [Adhesive Grip]. He looked at the vast, circular arena below him, seeing it now for what it truly was—a cage built to keep a monster away from the world.

The skeleton can attack all it wants, but it wouldn’t be able to damage the place at all. But Verc can.

And knowing that—

’The skeleton is making me do big attacks that can destroy the place, and possibly free it.’

Verc stated in its head.

It was a clever trap. The skeleton wasn’t just fighting him for sport; it was trying to bait him into becoming a living wrecking ball.

By the way, he tried running away earlier at the same doors he entered this place. He had hoped that since he had managed to push them open from the outside, he could do the same from the inside. But unfortunately; it didn’t budge at all. It was as if the moment he crossed the threshold, the doors had ceased to be doors and had become part of the mountain itself.

’So unless I break it open... I’m stuck in here.’

Verc frowned at that.

He knows that the skeleton is sealed here for a reason, and releasing that thing to the outside world is like summoning a natural disaster that could devastate a whole kingdom.

Verc couldn’t care less to the kingdom, to be honest. But the problem is—

’That thing will pass by the village first.’

Verc remembered Onyx, the kids, and others back in the village.

If this skeleton got out, it wouldn’t head for the capital immediately. It would emerge into the forest, and the first scent of life it would find would be his people.

The orcs, the gnolls, the dark elves, the beastwomen, the kobolds, the dwarfs, and the humans—they would be slaughtered in seconds by those dark spears. Everything he had built, every life he had taken under his protection, would be turned to ash.

And with that—

’Guess I either die here, or kill that thing and get out of here.’

Verc said that in his head.

No compromise could be made with a creature that viewed him as nothing more than a key to its cage.

Then opening his mouth—

"I’ll just consider this an extra hard training, with my life on the line."

He muttered that, a small smile on his face. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

-Huh? What are you saying?

At that moment, the skeleton asked that as it looked up.

Verc was directly above, clinging like a spider on the ceiling. From the skeleton’s perspective, Verc was a small shadow silhouetted against the dark stone. The monster tilted its skull, its empty sockets searching for the source of Verc’s mutterings.

"..."

Verc just looked down at the skeleton and didn’t say anything.

The time for talking was over. He needed to focus every ounce of his concentration on the flow of mana. He could feel the skeleton’s presence like a freezing weight in the center of the room, a black hole of corrupted energy.

FWISH—

Crimson red mana covered his sword and whole body; he was getting ready to fight.

The red light cast long, eerie shadows across the ceiling, illuminating the cracks he had made earlier. He felt the heat of his own power.

The advantage of knowing that the skeleton was trying to use him to get out of this place—Verc realized that it wouldn’t try and kill him quickly. It needed him alive and strong.

And because of that—BAM!

Verc was able to confidently kick off onto the ceiling, straight down to the skeleton!

The ceiling buckled where he had been standing, stone fragments raining down like a hail of grey pebbles. He descended like a falling star, his crimson mana trailing behind him like a bloody cape. The wind whipped past his ears, a roaring sound that drowned out the silence of the room.

And seeing him descend at a terrifyingly fast pace—

-KAHAHAHA...! DID YOU FINALLY ACCEPTED YOUR FATE?!

The skeleton exclaimed as he laughed maniacally.

The sound was grating, like metal scraping against bone. It raised its hands, and the shadows in the room seemed to writhe in response.

SWOOSH!

Three dark spears appeared in front of Verc, getting in his way!

They manifested out of thin air, their tips glowing with an unstable, violet light. They were positioned to impale him through the chest and shoulders, using his own downward momentum against him.

But calmly, and with a single, fluid motion—

S L A S H—!

Verc cut down the three of them!

His sword moved in a wide, circular arc, the crimson mana of his blade slicing through the dark energy like it was nothing more than smoke!

BOOOOOM—!!!

They all exploded behind him as he continued to fall fast onto the skeleton.

The shockwaves pushed him from behind, actually increasing his speed instead of hindering him. Verc pulled back his sword, gripping the hilt with both hands. He was ready to swing it as he approached the skeleton!

It was like he was a missile aimed directly at the monster!

But when there were only a couple of meters between them—FWIP!

"?!"

Verc felt the space around him twist!

It was that same sensation from before, a warping of reality that signaled a massive release of mana. And in the next moment—

B O O O O O M—!!!

A massive explosion occurred!

SWOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHH~!!!

It produced a strong shockwave that would’ve break the whole place if it wasn’t for the condition set on the skeleton! The blast was right in Verc’s face!

-’I made them appear slow enough. That guy surely avoided it... Now, where will he appear next?’

The skeleton thought to itself. It intentionally made its attack slower for Verc to dodge it.

The skeleton was expecting Verc to appear right behind it. It had purposely left its back "open" to bait Verc into a counter-attack. The skeleton searched for him in its scattered mana, its senses spreading across the room like a spider’s web.

But as it did so—

-???

The skeleton became confused when it felt Verc’s presence still inside the explosion.

The skeleton looked up again, its jaw hanging open in surprise, and in that moment—SWOOSH!

Something fast blasted out of the explosion and went straight to the skeleton!

It was a blur of red and black, moving so fast that it left a vacuum in its wake. Verc hadn’t dodged. He hadn’t blinked. He had simply charged through the center of the blast, using his [Black Scales] and his own mana to shield his vitals.

-Huh?

The skeleton was unprepared.

It had spent too much time thinking about where Verc would go. It tried to summon another dark spear, its bony fingers twitching as it scrambled to gather mana, but before it could even do that—

"..."

Verc arrived right in front of the skeleton!

His face was close enough that he could see the tiny cracks in the skeleton’s skull. The heat from the explosion he had just walked through was still radiating off his body, wisps of smoke rising from his shoulders. And without delay—

SLASH! TINK—!

Verc slashed diagonally down, his blade running through the ribcage of the skeleton!

The sound was like a hammer hitting an anvil. Sparks flew as the crimson mana of the sword ground against the monster’s bone!

"...?!"

Verc felt like he swung his sword on a diamond instead of a bone.

The resistance was incredible. His arms vibrated from the impact, the shock traveling through his elbows and into his chest. He hadn’t cut through; he had just pushed.

BOOOM!

Nevertheless, his attack still connected, and it sent the skeleton slamming down onto the floor!

The monster fell like a stone, the force of Verc’s downward swing pinning it against the ground.

-GAARGH?!!

The floor remained intact with no damage, the skeleton just bounced off of it.

It was a strange sight. The impact was enough to shatter normal bedrock, yet the floor didn’t even show a scratch. Instead, all of that energy had nowhere to go but back into the skeleton’s body. The feedback was devastating.

Though, Verc noticed that the skeleton looks like it was hurt more than the bounce on the floor than his attack.

The creature’s bones rattled, and for a second, the dark mana surrounding it flickered and died down.

’Just like when my kick connected before as well and he was slammed to the wall... it looks like the skeleton takes damage whenever it tries to destroy the place, intentionally or not.’

And that damage, it was doing more than Verc’s attack. Even that he realized.

Tap-

Anyway, Verc landed a few meters away from the skeleton on the ground.

He landed softly, but as soon as his feet hit the floor—

"Ugh..."

His knees buckled a bit.

After all; he just tanked an explosion just to launch a full hit onto the skeleton. His [Black Scales] were cracked in several places, and he could feel the warm trickle of blood running down his chest. His vision blurred for a second before his vampiric regeneration kicked in, stitching the wounds back together.

-You’re a crazy bastard, huh. Why would you take an explosion head on?

The skeleton then got back up, floating in the air again as it turns to Verc.

Its voice was no longer mocking. It was filled with a genuine sense of bewilderment. It had existed for centuries, and it had never seen a living being act with such blatant disregard for its own safety.

Verc looked at the skeleton as well, and with a smile on his face—

"Then you? Why would you take my kick and my sword head on? Now you got slammed onto the wall and floor now because of that."

He said that.

He wiped a smear of blood from his lip, his eyes glowing a fierce, predatory red. He was enjoying this. The pain, the stakes, the sheer impossibility of the fight—it made him feel more alive than he had ever felt back in the village.

-...

And his words made the skeleton silent.

The cold, chilling aura coming out of the skeleton began to intensify, darkening the room until even Verc’s [Nocturnal Sight] struggled to find the edges of the walls. The air grew heavy, like lead.

But Verc wasn’t one to lose. So while looking straight at the skeleton—

FWOOOOOOOSSSH—!!!

He activated [Dominion Aura] and cancelled the skeleton’s aura that was trying to weight on him!

"Trying to act cool? You’re not the only one who can do that."

Verc said, smirking at the skeleton.