Chapter 178 Alternative Thought

[!]

Jay took out the item from his inventory, attempting to inspect it again – but as it sat in his palm it began to vibrate and move around radically before floating upwards.

“Hey!” He tried to grab it but it accelerated upwards too quickly.

Without a second thought he threw his shield upwards at it, as if he was trying to knock a bird out of the sky, but he simply missed.

The item flying away was the porcelain locket which he found in the ruins near the first pyramid when he first entered the dungeon.

“Dammit…” he frowned.

A skeleton sheepishly brought him his shield as he continued to watch the flying locket.

As it sped upwards, it was releasing some sort of power and left a light blue trail behind it; it flew closely to the white gate as if it was hugging the white gate, but wasn’t quite close enough to touch it.

Suddenly, like a wisp, it disappeared somewhere over the top of the gate, leaving only a blue trail behind it which quickly disappeared too, going over to the other side of the wall somewhere.

Jay watched and waited for a moment, but nothing happened.

“Well shit…” he continued to stare upwards, hoping for something but he felt like he just got robbed..

“What was that?” Anya quizzically asked.

“Oh, some weird locket I found in the ruins near the start of the dungeon. It gave me a strange feeling a few times, so I held onto it. I can’t really describe it…”

“Huh. I guess it was magical.”

“Oh, could it have been magical?” Jay retorted sarcastically, “was it the blue trail of light or the flying that gave it away?”

Anya didn’t say anything, but only looked at him with a frown.

Jay sighed, “Sorry… It’s been a long day and I just lost something… I really just want to get this quest finished.”

“It’s ok. Let’s just try to find a way forward.”

Jay gave her a warm smile back with a nod.

Jay was going to add that the porcelain locket reminded him of a feeling of loneliness, but he decided to leave it at that. While Anya was as close as a friend would be, he considered her as merely an acquaintance – besides, their relationship was merely situational.

“Hmm…” Jay gazed at the large black walls on either side of the gate. They seemed to go in either direction forever. It seemed that there was no way around.

After backing up from the wall a bit he had a thought.

“I wonder… can I throw a skeleton over the wall perhaps?” he thought, scratching his chin.

Jay was thinking outside of the box, on a different level – the dungeon wouldn’t have factored in such crazy ideas to its design; the wall was incredibly high, so it would be a stretch to throw a skeleton that far, but who’s to stop Jay from trying?

He knew he couldn’t do it alone, but surely if every skeleton grabbed a leg of the smaller one, Dark, maybe it would be enough.

Jay only had twenty strength after all, but combined with the other four skeletons it would reach seventy-one.

Seventy strength is considered high for someone on Jays level. If someone was level eleven and had invested all their attribute points into strength, it would reach seventy – though they would be the melee equivalent of a glass cannon: high damage, low health.

Anya noticed Jay looking concentrated so she stood back and gave him some room as she watched patiently.

The next thing she saw him doing was quite strange, and she wanted to immediately question him but decided to just wait and see. Besides, Jay seemed a little frustrated with this never-ending dungeon.

Jay had his smallest skeleton lie down while he stood over it and channelled his glowing necrotic mana, sending it over different parts of its body and slowly severing different bits of bone.

Eventually, the poor creature wasn’t even able to stand up – it lost its feet, hands and ribs, along with its tibia, fibula, radius and ulna (forearm and shin bones).

“This should work.” Jay smiled.

Oddly enough, Dark didn’t look betrayed – in fact it even looked excited somehow, ready to carry out its mission as it wriggled helplessly on the ground.

The four other skeletons all grabbed one of its upper leg and arm bones and began to swing the amputated skeletons backwards and forwards, while Jay grabbed its skull.

“Here we go.” Jay smiled.

After a few more practice swings, the skeleton was released; it rocketed upwards and even whistled through the air. There was little resistance and it folded its elbows into its body and went skull-first.

From a distance it would have liked a skull and a spine flying upwards, like a large undead ballistic missile.

Surprisingly, the skeletons didn’t need his help to throw it over as Dark went easily sailing upwards and above the black wall. Eventually it disappeared over the top, wriggling wildly in the air as it reached the apex.

It seemed like it was even trying to swim through the air at one point.

“Huh, that wasn’t so hard.” Jay nodded.

Next he planned to send bones over so Dark could eat and regain its limbs – then it could wander around and hopefully find a way to open the gate.

[Your feeble creature has died]

“…” Jay looked up, confused for a moment. It had lower health after he took some of its limbs away, but he didn’t expect it to simply die.

Anya was still looking excitedly at him, realising his plan. She gave him an approving look as she waited for the gate to open – of course, she didn’t know that Dark just died.

“Fuck… I guess it took fall damage without its legs to brace the drop.” Jay thought, pursing his lips.

“Maybe it’s face-planted?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Something wrong?” Anya asked, seeing his expression change.

“Nope, not at all, why do you ask? Everything’s fine.” he bluffed.

“Oh, good. Never mind.” she shrugged, “Pretty awesome idea by the way.” she smiled.

“Thanks. We’ll see how well it works.” he shrugged, not revealing anything.

“Dammit… fall damage. The skeletons are light but I guess they at least need legs to land properly.” Jay thought to himself.

Unknown to Jay, the porcelain locket was still flying beyond the other side of the wall, and finally it found its target: A pedestal near the front of the pyramid which had the perfect indentation – Its rightful home which is socketed itself into.

*DRRRRRRR!~~~*

A deep vibrating rumbling sounded as traces of dust and pebbles shifted off the walls.

The heavy ancient white gate began to open inwards, beckoning them in.

“…” Jay was confused, since Dark had died on impact.

“Nice. Looks like your plan worked.” Anya nodded with a smile as she grasped her crossbow and got it ready for a fight.

Immediately he re-summoned Dark before Anya could enter and see the dead skeleton body – though this time, Dark was brought back using human bones; no longer was it a feeble creature, but was now a skeleton instead. A bit smaller than the others but a skeleton nonetheless.

The five skeletons formed a line in front of Jay and Anya, walking forwards into the gate; the gate was incredibly wide though, and the skeletons standing side by side made up about one-fifth of the gate.

What greeted them on the other side of the gate though made all of them pause.

“What the fuck…” Jay whispered.

Anya lowered her crossbow as she gazed for a moment.