CHAPTER 148: CHAPTER 148: RUINED DEATH

Chapter 148: Ruined Death

Kaden truly didn’t have any other choice than to enter the mysterious dungeon.

It was either risk everything, gambling that whatever waited inside would kill him so he could rewind time and get stronger... or let himself be captured by a spider for who knew how long.

There was no real need to think further.

He preferred gambling with an uncertain outcome over walking into a certain one that was entirely against him.

So he took his chance and plunged deep inside the dungeon. The moment he did, his senses twisted violently as the world around him shattered, reforming into somewhere completely different.

Thud.

Kaden hit the ground... if you could even call it that.

He forced his eyes open through sheer will, vision swimming, and saw what lay beneath him... bones, blood... death.

There was no soil, no stone, no familiar terrain—only an endless layer of rotting bones fused with coagulated blood, an unholy mixture that radiated a stench so foul it burned his throat. Even Kaden, who was no stranger to death, felt his mouth dry and his chest constrict.

It was too much.

Each breath was a labor, the air so heavy with decay it seemed to scrape his lungs raw.

Cough—Cough—

Black blood splattered from his lips, sliding thick and hot over his chin. His eyes widened at the sight.

"W...what is this...?" he rasped, voice fraying apart as his vision began to darken.

He’d lost too much blood already, and whatever was laced into the air here was eating at his body from the inside out.

But a faint smile tugged at his lips. Finally... maybe finally, this was it.

He let go. He stopped fighting to stay awake, his body collapsing into the corpse-littered floor, bones slick with black and crimson, waiting for death to claim him.

It would have...if a man hadn’t appeared beside him moments later.

The stranger’s gaze swept over Kaden, then scanned the surrounding expanse, expecting to see... something else.

"Nothing," the man muttered, clicking his tongue in mild irritation before it faded away as if he was long used to disappointment.

His eyes returned to Kaden, and without needing to check further, he knew—this human would be dead in moments.

A slow, amused smile curved his lips.

"What a lucky man, to be found by me and not those undead," he said, before grabbing Kaden effortlessly and vanishing into the shadows.

Only minutes later, dozens of undead arrived at that exact spot, their empty sockets sweeping the area in confusion.

They’d sensed their prey here, recently, but now there was nothing. With no trail to follow, they drifted away, aimless again, until they found him... or rather, them.

...

Kaden had expected to open his eyes to the endless black void of Death, ready to revive.

Instead, his stomach dropped when he woke... alive.

"Where...?" he muttered, disoriented, as he pushed himself up from a makeshift bed of bones—every inch of it jagged, uncomfortable, and cold. But that wasn’t his concern right now.

His gaze swept his surroundings. The space was a cave, rough and uneven, the walls jagged with blackened spikes and the ceiling lined with the same. A single crude table sat in one corner, scattered with letters he couldn’t make out from here. The stone floor was stained with blood so deep it looked part of the rock itself.

The air was thick. Oppressive.

Kaden tried to step away from the bed, only to collapse to his right side, forgetting entirely that he no longer had a right arm to catch himself.

"Argh—!" His half-healed flesh slammed hard against the bone frame, a sharpened shard driving straight into the raw stump. White-hot pain tore through him.

"Oho. You should be careful, lad. Your state is... something else," a voice said lightly, moments before its owner stepped into the room.

The man crossed to him, and in one fluid motion yanked the bone shard from his wound.

"ARGHH—!" Kaden’s cry was guttural, his teeth clenching until he tasted blood, his entire body quaking under the fresh surge of agony.

He forced his head up and met the stranger’s eyes—those sharp, watchful eyes glinting with interest beneath a pale face framed in light-absorbing black hair. The man was slender, draped in a torn black armor so thin it looked ready to fall apart, the darkness of it broken only by a stark white necklace at his throat.

Kaden stared at him for a moment before managing, "W...who are you...?"

The man tilted his head, feigning confusion.

"Who am I? Isn’t it obvious?" he said, his smile widening. "I’m your savior. But don’t worry, I saved you because I’m a good person, alright? I won’t ask you for anything." He nodded, pleased with his own words.

Kaden just stared, blood-red eyes dull with exhaustion and exasperation.

He’d been planning to die. Now this man had saved him.

Who the hell asked him to?

Kaden exhaled heavily, every bone in his body aching.

The man studied him with intrigue, grin stretching further. "Interesting... you don’t seem too thrilled to be alive."

"Oh really? Bravo, Sherlock. What else?" Kaden’s voice was dry, heavy with sarcasm.

"Sherlock? Bravo? New words from the outside?" the man asked, stepping closer and gripping Kaden’s remaining hand.

"Young lad, you came at the perfect time. I was bored to the bone with only undead for company. How about you teach me the new words from outside, and in return I’ll teach you how to survive?"

"What... do you mean?" Kaden asked, brows drawing low. "Since when are you here?"

The man’s smile sharpened.

"Me? Hah... I’ve lost track. But I can tell you I’ve been here far longer than I was ever outside this dungeon." He paused.

"Ah, you still don’t know anything, do you? The will didn’t warn you?"

He leaned in, his gaze locking onto Kaden’s.

"Well...I will tell you then."

"Welcome," he said softly, "to the Dungeon of Ruined Death."

His grin curved unnaturally.

"A dungeon where the only way out... is to give peace to every undead within these walls."

Kaden’s gut tightened.

"And before you ask...let me tell you how to give them peace."

"It’s simple, really..."

That crooked smile widened into something predatory.

"...you just have to kill a peak Grandmaster-ranked being."

—End of Chapter 148—