I continued down the corridors of the goddess' dungeon, Rufi bounding ahead of me in playful leaps as we cleared a few more rifraff wolves, looking for the way to the second floor. Rufi seemed to have our destination in mind, so I mostly just followed her, and eventually, after a few more twists of the corridors we found an archway that opened into a wide, dark chamber, and over the archway was inscribed "Hall of Sloth," in an ancient script.
For some reason when I died I lost the title Hero from Another World which had granted me the ability to speak and comprehend all the languages of this world as a kind of auto-translate feature, but after I left the goddess' dream world, she had bestowed a few extra things on me, one of which was the knowledge of the language of Undeath, the divine tongue for her servants, which could also be used to cast dark magic. Unlike the old title, though, this was a direct infusion of knowledge, which meant it couldn't be taken away nor would it show up on my status screen.
I'll still have to figure out the other languages of the world when I get out of here…Sigh. I thought I was done with language-learning when I found out we had an auto-translate feature, but I guess not.
I took another look into the Hall of Sloth. Rows of deep stone shelves lined the walls, and far on one side of the room, I could see a dull amber glow emanating from one of the shelves. I followed Rufi's bounding leaps into the room, cautious as I continued into the long, dark room.
We approached the section where I had seen the dull amber glow and we found a stone egg encased in amber, set deep into the stone shelf. It seemed to be dormant, but it felt like there was a glow of power swirling slowly around it. I looked around and saw a few more amber gleams, lighting the darkness of the shelves every now and then.
"Curious?" A deep, heavy voice sounded close behind me, so that I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned quickly only to see a giant skeleton in tattered robes carrying a huge scythe, a horrifying red aura constantly pouring off of him.
I made a strangled croak, and fell to the ground, crossing my hands over my face in expectation of imminent death. I paused for a moment as nothing happened, and then looked to see Rufi snuggling against the skeleton's shoulder and licking his bare skull. Another servant of Melphinoe?
"Um…yes," I said hesitantly, remembering his former question.
"These are Eggs of Renewal. It is a skill Lady Melphinoe grants to her more high-ranking servants. Once slain, they may choose to rest here and regain their strength through the grace of Lady Melphinoe's domain, rather than risk its acquisition through battle. They rest here in the hall of sloth protected by its guardians, as the centuries pass by them unfelt. Some come not because they were slain, but simply because they are tired—of this world and the woes that await even the most unfeeling."
"Guardians?" I asked. "Are you not the only one?"
"As you should know this domain is sealed off from the rest of the world. But simply because a place is sealed does not make it impregnable. Do not think the wolves you have encountered are so easily slain by those who are not Blessed of Melphinoe. The tide of sloth awakens when danger reaches its height, and the weakest realm might very well be the strongest when foes come to play. This is the grace of Melphinoe to us her children."
"O-ok." I said, scratching the back of my head, even though there wasn't anything there to scratch.
"You have been blessed indeed to receive the companionship of this dear one," He gently scooped up Rufi from his shoulder and handed her back to me. "Our Lady is often the most gracious to the young amongst our ranks. Please, heed her guidance well."
"Th-thank you, I'll try." I took Rufi and quickly headed further down the corridor. The large skeleton watched me go, unmoving until at last his form vanished into the gloom of darkness.
What a pious skeleton…I thought still rather unnerved from our conversation. He had seemed both gentle and utterly terrifying at the same time. I was sure that in my current state he'd hardly have to lift a finger to completely obliterate me.
As we reached the end of the row of shelves, a room opened to the side. I peered inside and found a massive gilded coffin in the middle of the room. The lid of the coffin was set aside on the floor, and around the coffin were the remains of half-melted candles. I approached and found that the inside of the coffin was empty besides for loose cushions. At the foot of the coffin was an inscription: "Greyor, Keeper of Souls."
Greyor…I looked back at the passage we had come from. I wonder if that's that skeleton's name.
I returned to the corridor of shelves where two massive doors stood at the end of the room. This looks…suspiciously like the entrance to a boss room. "Status," I called out, the sounds that came out were only strange growls, but somehow the Language of Undeath worked whether or not you had proper vocal chords.
[Name: #)(@*]
[Race: Skeleton]
[Sex: #] [Age: %1]
[Lvl. 4]
[HP: 100/100] [MP: 60/60] [SP: 76/80]
[Skills: Dark Slash lvl. 2, Dark Vision lvl. 3 Dark Magic lvl. 2, Improved Balance lvl. 1, Improved Reactions lvl. 1, Corrupting Touch lvl. 1]
[Titles: Undead, Blessed of Melphinoe, Contracted Familiar: Rufi]
Woah! It had been a while since I'd last checked my status, but I wasn't expecting this much to be different. Lots to look at, let's see…damn, huge stat increase, am I really only level 4? Wait, Race: Skeleton? Wasn't I a Lesser Skeleton before, when did that change? I'd had a vague assumption that monsters evolved into higher lifeforms, but I had assumed I'd at least notice when it happened. Maybe the difference between the two isn't that big. Let's see, what else…Got a lot of my old skills back, that's nice, plus Corrupting Touch? What does that do?
[Corrupting Touch: Applies the Necrotic status effect to creatures or objects within touch range, rotting flesh or advancing the decay of objects, applying damage over time]
Ooh! Cool! This could definitely come in handy. Let's see the only other weird things are…The way my name, sex, and age are bugged out. Everything else went back to normal…I guess it's having trouble with my personal information? I did die after all…though I don't remember it being this confused the last time I looked at it…Maybe it's something to do with being a monster? After all, names are usually more important for non-human creatures, right? Well, no use thinking about it too hard, I guess.
I looked back at the door then down at Rufi. "You ready for the boss fight, girl?"
"Ruf!" She chirped, putting her legs up on mine.
"Alright! Let's do this!"