Dante moved carefully in the corridor, scanning everything around him before taking a step forward.
The image of spears digging through him clawed at his mind, making him afraid of any sudden trap.
'I'd rather cut my own head off than die in that way again!'
For a few minutes, he continued moving forward and turning around a few corners. Thankfully, he didn't encounter separated paths. It would have been really bad if this place was a maze.
TAK! TAK! TAK!
Suddenly, he heard loud, fleshless footsteps.
He stopped moving and held the rusty sword with his demonic hand. A moment later, a white figure emerged from a corner in the corridor.
Dante's eyes opened in shock and disbelief as the figure came into his sight.
'How is this even possible?!'
Another skeleton, similar to the one he killed before, but it was fucking three meters tall!
It had a white gem engraved in its skull and its bones were big and thick, giving it a muscular form despite being made of only bones and allowing it to hold the huge warhammer that was resting on its shoulder.
'Was this even a human?!'
Dante couldn't imagine that skeleton with flesh and skin. The biggest man he knew was Jason—and Jason was only 2.1 meters!
The moment the skeleton's empty eyes landed on Dante, it held the hammer with two hands and charged at him.
'Shit!' Dante held the sword with his teeth to free his hand and pointed his index at the skeleton.
Demonic Mana spell — Demonic Bullet!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dante shot five bullets toward the skeleton's head, but all of them left only small cracks. The skeleton's bones were too durable!
He shot four more demonic bullets, trying to hit the same place, but his aim wasn't perfect, causing only one to hit an already injured area.
He wished he could make one single attack with all his remaining mana, but that was beyond his control and capabilities.
The skeleton became dangerously near, and Dante had no choice but to fight face-to-face.
He enhanced his entire body and sword, going so far as to use demonic energy, despite having only around one point left. Then, he charged at the huge skeleton.
The skeleton swung its hammer. Dante felt the air pushing against his face, but at the last moment, he dodged it. With swift movement, he closed the distance with the skeleton and slashed, aiming at the skeleton's leg.
Clank!
Dante's eyes widened as his sword bounced back, leaving only a small cut on the skeleton's leg.
The next moment, the skeleton kicked.
Bam!
Dante tried to use the sword as a shield, but the kick was so strong it broke his sword and sent him flying backward.
He rolled on the ground before finally stopping, but as he was getting up, he felt the air pushing against him again.
Instinctively, he extended his hand, casting a small, round shield in front of him. It was blue in color and had a small trace of crimson.
He poured all the remaining demonic energy into it, and did his best to pour as much mana as possible into it.
As he looked up, he saw a large warhammer held by two fleshless hands flying toward him.
Crack!
The shield shattered, and Dante was sent flying again, coughing several mouthfuls of blood.
The impact moved through his entire body, damaging almost all his bones and some of his organs.
As the dread and helplessness washed over him, he had only one thought:
'I have to run!'
He started running back, adrenaline helping his broken body to move, feeling the giant skeleton getting closer to him.
The sound of bones stomping the ground followed Dante, every step closer to him more than the previous.
Eventually, he finally saw darkness ahead of him as he was close to the first room he was in.
'Dead end…'
In his rush, he forgot 2 important things.
The first was that entering this room wasn't the best option to run. It would have been better if he tried to pass through the skeleton rather than returning to the room.
As he finally went into the darkness, he found himself stuck between the skeleton and the wall. Dante panicked, but when he looked at the skeleton, he found that it didn't dare to leave the blue light.
Puzzled, he wondered: 'Is it like how the shadow monster was scared of the light? Is the skeleton afraid of darkness?'
A glimpse of hope surged through him. If the monster stayed like this, then he could simply rest and keep shooting mana bullets!
Dante inhaled and glared at the skeleton, aiming at it with his index. But at that exact moment, he felt a sudden, familiar exhaustion hitting him.
There was another important thing he forgot — his spell showed this room as more dangerous than the giant skeleton!
Dante felt many gazes landing on him. Looking up, he found 8 shadow monsters clawed onto the ceiling and walls, looking at him with endless hunger.
'How…?'
If they had always been there, then why didn't they show up when he was fighting the first shadow monster?
Thinking about that, why didn't that shadow monster show up when he was unconscious or fighting the skeleton? Why were they appearing out of nowhere?!
Dante gritted his teeth and aimed his shaky finger at them. He knew, he knew that there was no hope, but he refused to die without struggling!
The world slowed down as they swarmed over him, then the sound of screaming echoed through the room.
Without a trace of mercy, the monsters crushed his bones, severed his limbs, chewed his flesh, all that while keeping him alive to devour his vitality.
Dante screamed until his voice broke. In the middle of his pain, he kept looking at them with immense hatred and killing intent, even after they took out his eyes.
'Damn… everything…!'
Eventually, the last point of his vitality was devoured.
9 lives remained.