He didn’t dare hesitate. Taking advantage of the monster’s temporary inability to launch a second attack due to its loss of balance, he lunged forward once more.
The iron rod delivered another heavy blow directly onto the crack, finally snapping the bone leg completely.
Immediately after it fell, he followed up with another strike, crushing the vital connection at its spine.
Having dealt with this troublesome monster, Bai Xuan’s breathing was becoming rapid.
The numbness in his arms hadn't faded, yet he didn't dare pause for a single second.
He immediately turned and lunged toward the other Bone Amalgam nearby, which was still stunned.
He repeated his tactic, the golden glow of 【Redemption Strike】 lighting up again as he smashed it ruthlessly into the junction of the monster’s ribs and spine.
The bones here were dense, but they were the key support for the upper body's movement.
A series of shattering sounds erupted.
The monster's health plummeted, and its frame began to lurch crookedly.
Just as Bai Xuan was prepared to deliver a finishing blow, the dying Bone Amalgam broke free from the stun!
Its skull snapped up instantly, and two bone claws crossed as they lashed out fiercely.
Bai Xuan had no way to dodge; he could only hold the iron rod horizontally in front of him to block.
A harsh screeching sound rang out.
The bone claws scraped across the iron rod, sending sparks flying.
The massive force sent him stumbling back once more.
The tips of the claws grazed his chest, tearing a long gash in his white robe.
A stinging pain flared on his skin as warm blood began to trickle down.
Facing the monster's frenzied lunges, he dodged repeatedly, searching for a gap to counter-attack and slowly whittling away the monster's vitality.
After several back-and-forth exchanges, he finally seized a moment when the monster's movements slowed. With a single strike, he crushed its skull, ending the battle completely.
At this point, he looked toward the remaining two Bone Amalgams.
Although they were still under control, the ear-piercing grinding of their joints suggested they would regain consciousness before long.
To make matters worse, Bai Xuan had consumed a significant amount of stamina and mana, and the numbness in his arms was growing more intense.
Bai Xuan grit his teeth and charged at the nearest one.
But just as his iron rod was about to descend...
The opponent broke free. A bone claw aimed directly for his face, the attack both fast and vicious.
His attack rhythm was completely disrupted. Bai Xuan didn't have time to adjust his movements and could only raise the iron rod to parry.
There was a loud bang.
He was knocked back several steps by the massive force, his arms so numb he could barely hold the rod.
In the moment of crisis...
He used the momentum of his retreat to dissipate the force, shifting his footing to dodge the monster's following sweep.
Before his stance was even fully stabilized, he swung his rod back, striking the side of the monster's support leg.
Taking advantage of the moment the monster wobbled, he repeatedly slammed the iron rod into its vital points.
By the time his arms had almost lost all sensation, the Bone Amalgam finally couldn't hold on any longer.
It collapsed into a pile of bones on the ground.
The last Bone Amalgam had already fully recovered.
Seeing its companions dealt with, it immediately roared and lunged forward.
Bai Xuan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, enduring the exhaustion and soreness of his body to meet the charge.
Continuous combat had drained a huge amount of his stamina, and his movements were a few beats slower than at the start.
Fortunately, the minor physical enhancement from his earlier skill upgrades allowed him to barely keep up with the combat rhythm, preventing him from being suppressed by the monster.
Even so, facing the monster's frenzied offensive, he could only fight while retreating, constantly looking for an opportunity to counter.
The battle was exceptionally difficult; every dodge and counter-attack drained what little stamina he had left.
After a period of bitter, struggling back-and-forth, Bai Xuan finally caught an opening.
The golden glow of 【Redemption Strike】 lit up once more, and a single strike shattered the monster's spinal connection.
When the final pile of broken bones scattered across the ground, he could no longer support himself. He leaned on his iron rod, gasping for air as his chest heaved violently.
The battle was finally over.
Bai Xuan immediately turned back to look at where Tessa had fallen.
She was motionless.
He walked over quickly, maintaining a distance of two steps, and gently nudged her shoulder with the rod.
No reaction.
He used the tip of the rod to gently brush aside her messy hair, revealing a face as pale as paper.
He focused his mind to check:
【Status: Severely Injured, Exhausted, Unconscious】
【Health: 9/110】
【Mana: 0/35】
The health digits were still slowly ticking down... 8... 7...
Her health was extremely low and was still dropping. She was one step away from death.
The shockwave from the earlier 【Concussive Field】, combined with her already overextended state, had sent her directly into a dying condition.
Bai Xuan crouched down, hesitating for a moment.
Should he save her? She had been an enemy before.
“What a pain,” Bai Xuan whispered.
She couldn't die here. The information in her head regarding the way out of this dungeon was the most important thing right now.
“Consider yourself lucky.”
He muttered under his breath, raised his iron rod, aimed it at Tessa, and released 【Holy Light Catalyst】.
A soft golden light infused into her body.
The horrific wound at her waist began to squirm, close, and scab over, and her pale cheeks regained a hint of color.
However, the intense stimulation of the healing process caused her to spasm even in her coma. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead, and a pained whimper escaped her throat.
A few seconds later, the treatment ended.
Tessa's health was back to full. The 【Severely Injured】 status disappeared, leaving only 【Exhausted, Unconscious】.
She lay limp on the ground, her breathing much steadier, but showing no signs of waking up.
His tensed nerves relaxed slightly, and only then did Bai Xuan feel a strong sense of emptiness in his stomach; his stamina consumption was also very high.
Bai Xuan stopped looking at her and took food and water out of his Space Ring.
In this corridor filled with broken bones and floating eerie light, he sat down against the wall and began to eat.
The hard jerky required forceful chewing, the rye bread carried a coarse grain aroma, and the water was cold and crisp.
The taste wasn't exactly good, but it could quickly replenish his strength.
He ate slowly, and as he did, he organized his chaotic thoughts.
Glay Dungeon...
Was this the place Barend spoke of, the labyrinth over fifty floors deep, filled with danger and opportunity?
The seventh floor... According to the dwarf, this was already a depth where a formal adventure team like “Silver Heart” would need to act with caution.
How did he end up in a place like this just from a lowest-level goblin-clearing mission?
Was it because of that black crystal?
When Tessa mentioned leaving, did she mean returning to the surface, or just leaving this eerie “Skeleton Corridor” and “Wraith Corridor”?
Questions came one after another.
He finished the last bite of bread and put the waterskin away.
Right now, the person who could answer these questions was lying unconscious next to him.
Bai Xuan looked at Tessa, his gaze calm.
He stood up, carrying the iron rod, and collected the Magic Cores from the Bone Amalgams.
Then, he cautiously scouted a short distance ahead and behind the corridor.
He confirmed that no new monsters would wander over in the short term.
Then, he returned to the original spot and sat down a few steps away from Tessa.
He closed his eyes to rest, while keeping a fraction of his mind alert to the surroundings.
Time flowed in the silence. It was unclear how much time had passed.
Tessa still showed no signs of waking, with only the slight rise and fall of her chest proving she was alive.
Waiting was draining his patience, especially for someone in an unknown and dangerous situation.
Bai Xuan opened his eyes, his gaze falling on Tessa’s pale, sweat-soaked face.
He didn't wait any longer. He took out the waterskin from his Space Ring and pulled the plug.
He poured a small stream of ice-cold water directly onto Tessa’s forehead and cheeks.
“Get up. Stop sleeping.” His voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the silence.
Under the stimulation of the cold water, Tessa’s body twitched violently, and her eyes snapped open.
In the first moment, there was no focus in those eyes, only bottomless terror.
A rasping gasp came from her throat, and her hands instinctively clawed at the air in front of her.
She shrank back, her spine hitting the cold stone wall before she stopped.
A few seconds later, her dilated pupils struggled to focus.
She saw Bai Xuan standing with his rod and saw the pale broken bones scattered on the corridor floor behind him.
Memories flooded back—the betrayal and collapse of the nest, and the endless bone monsters...
She instinctively wanted to curl up tighter, expecting the retaliation or interrogation to follow.
But the expected attack didn't come.
She froze, her chaotic thoughts leading her to look down at her own body.
The damaged leather armor was still there, but the tearing wound at her waist that had nearly killed her was gone.
All that remained was new flesh and dried, blackened blood.
The sharp pain in her arm had also vanished, replaced only by a deep, hollow soreness from overexertion.
She looked up, looking at Bai Xuan again, her eyes filled with unbelievable confusion and an ineradicable wariness.
Bai Xuan didn't give her any more time to organize her emotions.
He didn't even lower the iron rod in his hand; it was pointed steadily at the ground, but the invisible pressure already enveloped Tessa.
“You’re awake. Let’s save some time.”
Bai Xuan’s tone was steady and calm. “Answer me: was falling into this place a planned part of your scheme?”
“What exactly is the situation on the seventh floor of Glay Dungeon? And how do we leave this place?”
The questions were direct and concerned life and death.
Tessa’s gaze shifted from the iron rod.
The image of how this rod had shattered a powerful Bone Amalgam with a single blow just before she lost consciousness replayed clearly in her mind.
She had no doubt that if her answer failed to satisfy him, or if he had any suspicion, the next blow would land on her.
“No! It wasn't a plan!” she blurted out, her voice raspy from thirst and fear.
She spoke very quickly. “When we took that clearing commission, we had no idea there was something like that under the mine!”
“Kami... Boss Kami, she... she just used her special ability and discovered that you had... had the aura of a treasure that attracted her.”
Her voice grew smaller and smaller.
“Teaming up with you was just a whim, just... just like how we dealt with other adventurers who seemed to have no background and were alone.”
“When completing the mission report, we would just write ‘encountered an accident’...” The last few words were almost mumbled as her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Bai Xuan’s expression didn't change much, though his gaze turned a bit colder.
“It seems you are quite skilled at manufacturing accidents. Only this time, an accident found you instead.”
Tessa’s face paled further, her fingers clawing at the stone slab beneath her.
“So, falling into this place was also one of your accidents?” Bai Xuan pressed, his tone dripping with irony.
“I really didn't know this would happen!”
Tessa defended herself urgently, her breathing rapid. “After the black crystal came out, everything changed! The light disappeared, the sound disappeared...”
“When I woke up, I was in this hellhole filled with bone monsters!”
Bai Xuan didn't dwell on her excuses, pulling the question back: “Tell me about Glay Dungeon. You shouted earlier that this is the seventh floor.”
Tessa swallowed, trying to organize her words.
“I... I can't be one hundred percent sure. But I've heard many rumors about the seventh floor of Glay Dungeon.”
When Bai Xuan heard her uncertainty, he frowned, and the hand holding the rod shifted slightly.
Seeing this, Tessa instinctively shrank her neck.
“Ad... Adventurers call it the ‘Undead Plains’.”
“Those monsters pieced together from human and beast bones... the rumors mentioned them, like sentinels wandering that bone plain.”
She paused, her gaze sweeping over the surrounding stone walls and the enclosed corridor.
“But the bone plain in the rumors is supposed to be very open, like a wilderness. But here... it’s a stone building.”
Her voice carried uncertainty. “So I’m thinking, we might not have dropped directly into the main area of the seventh floor, but into some... hidden space attached to the seventh floor.”
“That black crystal is likely the key that opened this gap.”
Bai Xuan continued to push the questions: “Then, what is the method to leave this space? The way out you mentioned earlier.”
Tessa took a deep breath; this was her most important bargaining chip.
“There might be two ways.”
She held up two fingers, then quickly lowered them because of Bai Xuan’s gaze.
“First, find that black crystal and use it to activate the teleportation again. But the crystal disappeared back at the nest, and I don't know where it is.”
When mentioning the nest, a clear look of terror flashed in her eyes; evidently, that final scene had left a deep shadow on her.
“Second,” she quickened her pace, “this kind of independent hidden space usually has a core that maintains its existence.”
“Find that core, take it, or shut it down. The space should then become unstable and spit us back into the dungeon it was originally connected to.”
After she finished, she carefully observed Bai Xuan’s reaction.
She then added, “But this is just something I heard from adventurer chatter; I can't guarantee it's absolutely correct.”
The first method was ethereal and relied on finding the missing black crystal. The second method, though also uncertain, at least provided a clear goal of finding a core.
“What about the others?” Bai Xuan asked, his tone still flat.
Tessa’s body stiffened, and her eyes quickly turned red.
“After falling down, I don't know where Boss Kami went. Only Quentin and I were together.”
“We wanted to find a way out, but then we ran into the Bone Amalgams... He, he told me to run first while he held them back...”
Her voice choked up, and tears began to flow, mixing with the grime on her face.
Bai Xuan looked at her silently for a few seconds.
“It seems you still have some feelings for your companions.”
His voice didn't betray whether he was being sentimental or sarcastic. “The people you turned into ‘accidents’—did their companions feel the same way you do now?”
This sentence was like an ice-cold dagger, piercing through Tessa’s brief sorrow.
She snapped her head up, her lips trembling, wanting to defend herself.
But when she met Bai Xuan’s calm eyes, all the words got stuck in her throat.
She remembered the nights spent tossing and turning after a successful job, and the cold words of ‘missing’ on those reports.
Shame, fear, and lingering dread intertwined on her face.
Eventually, she lowered her head, and her shoulders slumped.
Rate on N.U.
