Dante found himself once again in the first room he had woken up in, above the blood formation and surrounded by a corridor and a marble gate.
Dante was furious.
Dante was irritated.
Dante was filled with hatred.
He stood up and gritted his teeth. Remembering his most painful and brutal death until now, a deep black coin appeared in his hand: 'I'll survive this time!'
Ting!
'No.'
Ting!
'Matter.'
Ting!
'What!'
He tossed his coin into the air, seeing the misfortune of every path.
Corridor: Skull. Skull. Skull.
Gate: Skull. Blank. Blank. Skull. Skull.
The underground room: Blank. Blank. Skull. Skull. Skull.
That spell consumed spiritual energy with every toss—thus he ended up losing 14 points instantly.
Again, the choice was between the marble path and the underground room. Facing the barbarian was probably impossible for him.
If he went down, he'd get a sword and an hour of rest, but he'd have to fight a giant skeleton or run from it.
On the other hand, the marble path was completely unknown. The only dangers on that path for now were the traps and the barbarian.
Dante took a deep breath and decided to run to the gate. He didn't have any confidence to fight the skeleton, therefore he wanted to try the gate again.
In the worst case, he'd learn something and simply… die again.
Immediately, he covered his legs and eyes with mana and demonic energy, getting a small boost in his sight and speed.
He discovered that enhancing the eyes could improve his sight when he was training in the underground room. It should help him to detect the traps.
He passed through all the traps he remembered in an instant before slowing down and stopping using magic other than on his eyes.
Now, it was the hard part. He had to move carefully while making sure he wouldn't stumble upon anything dangerous.
'If only I could teleport like Fafnir…'
Dante sighed, looking at the end of the path. He still couldn't see an end to it even after walking for a few minutes, and the barbarian was coming.
But after a few moments, he finally saw a faint blue light at the end of the path.
'It's near!' Hope returned to his heart as he did his best to speed up, almost falling into a few traps in his hurry.
All of a sudden, he saw a familiar red light coming from his back.
His heart sank: 'Shit!'
Without a hint of hesitation, he turned around and cast the strongest shield he had ever made until now.
Boom!
A spinning axe, covered in fire, shattered his shield and caused a small flaming explosion.
The pain hit Dante immediately as he flew away while covered in flames. He rolled in the ground a few times, activating a few traps, but his speed let him dodge them.
'Damn!'
When he finally stopped rolling, Dante took off his flaming tunic immediately and shot a few demonic shadow bullets while running.
'I'm close to the light. I can't die now!'
Click!
Dante accidentally activated a trap that opened a tunnel under him. Without the power to stop, he helplessly fell into it.
'No, no, NO!'
After a few seconds of falling, he found himself in a corridor lit by blue torches.
His eyes widened in recognition, then his jaw fell when he saw the giant skeleton on his back.
'There was another path?!'
Without hesitation, he started running. There was no way he could defeat it in his current state!
The skeleton noticed him immediately, but as it took a few steps forward, a woman holding two small axes and covered in flames suddenly fell from the tunnel.
All three of them froze in silence. The barbarian looked at Dante, then her eyes widened when she looked at the skeleton, noticing a small, round, white gem on its forehead.
"Rank 1!" She roared happily before ignoring Dante and charging at the skeleton.
Dante continued running, hearing the sounds of explosions and feeling the vibrations of their clash.
Then, all of a sudden, the corridor fell into silence.
'Fuck!'
That was faster than he expected. He didn't care about the result, both of them wanted him dead, but he wanted them to fight for longer!
As Dante turned into a corner, happiness filled him as he saw the end of the corridor, and it was a room lit up by blue torches.
In other words, it wasn't the room that was filled with shadow monsters!
Unfortunately, there were two human-sized skeletons with blue flames flying in their hollow sockets, protecting the entrance and holding two clean, sharp swords.
He barely had any mana, thus he knew that he couldn't fight them at the same time.
"Found you!"
All of a sudden, he heard the barbarian's voice in his back, but he didn't dare to look at her.
All he could do… was to keep running.
'What should I do? Will I die again?'
The skeletons finally noticed him and raised their swords. Suddenly, the right skeleton's sword became black, similar to Dante's shadow power but darker. And the left skeleton's sword was covered in a thin layer of dark-blue ice.
Despair almost filled Dante's soul as he started to lose hope, but just then, he got an idea.
'This might work… I have to focus.'
Dante ran faster and faster, getting closer to the skeletons. But as they were ready to swing their swords, he cast two bullets.
Not at them. Not at the barbarian. He didn't even use his hands.
He shot two bullets from his legs, aiming at the ground!
The sudden burst blew up his boots and threw him past the skeleton.
Seeing Dante fall in the room, the skeletons froze for a brief moment before charging at the flaming barbarian, ignoring Dante completely.
Dante felt immense pain all around his body. His hands almost shattered with the shield, his body was riddled with burns, and his legs were in a real hell.
But he couldn't give up now. Not after going that far!
He didn't know why the skeletons hadn't followed him, but he wouldn't waste this chance!
Dante rose up, using the wall to support himself, and scanned the room.
It was a clean room made of something similar to black onyx. It was completely empty other than the blue torches and the stairs in the middle.
The stairs were made of white marble and were designed in a spiral way, leading to the upper floor.
Without hesitation, Dante went to the stairs and began to move up as fast as he could.
He didn't know who would win between the skeletons and the barbarian, but he didn't want to see the result.
'I… only… have to survive!'
Step by step, he moved up, until he finally reached the end.
A room made of white marble. Dante looked at his left and saw a familiar path. It was a path that was made of white marble. This was the room he tried to reach!
'I'm… close.'
He didn't know what he was trying to find, but there was supposed to be something worth all that suffering, right?
If there wasn't, then he could leave this place while the barbarian was busy with the skeletons.
But as Dante looked to his right, despair and terror filled his eyes.
He saw five spears pointing at him, held by five skeletons similar to the two guards in the previous room.
'Was all that… for nothing?'
Dante was too exhausted, every breath felt like molten lava in his lungs. He did all that only to face these skeletons?
He couldn't even run as legs were barely moving. He couldn't go down where there were more enemies waiting and expect himself to do the same miracle, nor could he go to a path filled with traps.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly raised his shaky finger and pointed at the skeletons.
All the despair and terror in his eyes disappeared slowly, replaced by cold determination and calmness.
'I'll just die in the worst outcome… there is nothing to be scared about… haha.'
What was one more death? Maybe next time, he could memorize all the traps and use them against the barbarian, right?
There was always hope… wasn't there?
As Dante prepared himself to shoot the closest skeleton, they suddenly lowered their spears, their flaming eyes illuminated with recognition.
Instead of charging at him, they jumped down the stairs one by one.
"...."
Dante stayed frozen in his place, looking at the last skeleton jumping in confusion…
'What the fuck?'