Endless piles of bones stacked atop one another, using the bodies of their companions as footholds as they surged toward the bridge, clawing at the living.
Even though they were only the lowest-tier skeleton monsters, once their numbers reached this level—and with the atmosphere perfectly set—the pressure they exuded was no less terrifying than facing a final boss.
The last time anyone saw undead piling up into mountains like this was probably in World War Z.
This kind of monstrosity deserved to be mowed down with machine guns!
Unfortunately, Luluwo's group didn't have machine guns. And after witnessing this scene, not only were they not afraid—
"Look! Look! What a spectacle!"
Luluwo excitedly held up a recording crystal and snapped a group photo with the skeleton horde below.
She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but it genuinely felt like the large-scale set pieces in Sein Dungeon were becoming more and more extravagant. Even scenes like this skeleton tide, which leaned heavily into cinematic presentation, were starting to appear.
It felt like a low-budget production that had suddenly transformed into a blockbuster burning through mountains of money.
"Captain, don't get too excited!" Belto and the others were already preparing to run for their lives. When he turned around and saw Luluwo still taking pictures, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"It's fine, it's fine. I just happen to want to test something anyway—ah, they got me."
One skeletal hand after another seized Luluwo and dragged her downward. These arms only possessed the strength of ordinary skeletons; if she truly wanted to, she could easily break free.
But!
A qualified strategy guide creator had to consider every possibility!
What if—and she meant what if—being dragged down by these skeletons unlocked a hidden area or secret reward? Like those classic stories where the protagonist falls off a cliff and accidentally stumbles upon a hidden master's sanctuary.
With that thought in mind, at the critical moment, she tossed the recording crystal toward Belto and flashed him an incredibly confident smile.
In response, Belto only wanted to scream:
"Captain, you're completely obsessed with strategy guides!"
He could only watch helplessly as Luluwo was dragged away.
At that moment, the skeletons had already climbed onto the bridge, forcing Belto and the others to accelerate their escape toward the mausoleum on the opposite side.
Once the white skeletons completely flooded the bridge, a violent collapse occurred. The bridge shattered, and the pursuing skeletons plunged into the bottomless abyss alongside the falling debris.
"We're safe… for now."
Belto panted heavily, still not fully recovered from the thrilling escape.
Looking into the endless abyss below, he wore an expression as though he'd just seen a ghost.
"Captain…"
Who knew what had become of Luluwo after falling in there? Had she already been torn apart by the skeleton horde?
If she died here, she would probably revive at the bonfire in Farron Keep. Getting back wouldn't take too long—but now that the bridge was broken, how was she supposed to return?
Forget it. They'd deal with that problem after she got back.
"Let's wait for the captain a bit," Belto suggested.
Everyone agreed.
But after waiting and waiting, they never saw the returning Ultr—wrong, the returning Luluwo.
"No way…" Belto was already mentally preparing for the worst. Could it be that Luluwo had somehow survived amidst the skeleton tide and was still fighting?
Regardless of her current condition, they couldn't continue waiting forever. Left with no choice, they pressed deeper into the tomb without their captain.
Without their leader acting as the backbone of the team, everyone instantly lost confidence. Even their footsteps unconsciously became lighter.
The normally dependable Belto temporarily assumed the role of leader and began directing the group.
From atop the bridge, the Catacombs of Carthus had looked enormous. But after crossing over and truly entering the interior, the structure instead felt incredibly intricate.
Just from standing at the entrance, one could tell the architecture followed a winding, labyrinthine design. Dead ends, branching paths, hidden routes—every classic dungeon element was definitely present.
The filthy environment, dust-covered floors, skeleton remains scattered everywhere, thick spider webs hanging from the ceiling, combined with the cold-colored torches on the walls flickering from time to time to increase psychological pressure—
The atmosphere of a land of the dead, where the living were forbidden, naturally seeped into everyone's hearts.
Some of the trainees were so nervous they unconsciously swallowed hard, cold sweat forming on their foreheads.
"Don't be scared. We've already seen scenes like this countless times in the Great Graveyard. They're just corpses—"
Before Belto could finish speaking, a skeletal hand on the ground suddenly moved and grabbed an intern's ankle, causing him to scream louder than a mandrake.
That scream triggered everything.
The scattered bones across the floor immediately began assembling themselves. Not only human bones, but all kinds of grotesque, malformed remains fused together chaotically, forming one hideous monster after another.
"…Forget it."
Suppressing the urge to sigh, Belto shouted, "Attack!" and led everyone charging at the monsters.
Fortunately, they had brought holy water blessed with sacred light, which possessed bonus effectiveness against undead creatures.
Bottle after bottle of holy water was poured over weapons as the group fought the monsters back and forth under Belto's command.
After extensive training, even without Luluwo carrying them, they still displayed the combat ability expected of a proper Silver-ranked team.
Thus, even against more than a dozen malformed skeletons, they steadily maintained the upper hand and cut them down one by one.
At that moment, however, some ordinary skeletons climbing up from the floor displayed unexpectedly "adorable" behavior. They scratched their heads blankly, seemingly not understanding the situation yet.
But the moment they saw the adventurers charging toward them aggressively, they were startled and immediately turned around and ran.
"I'll chase it!" one intern scout instantly volunteered and sprinted after the skeleton.
That skeleton was surprisingly nimble. Every time the intern almost caught up, the distance widened again.
"Hey, wait!" Belto's eyelid twitched.
Wasn't this the most basic lure-the-enemy-deeper tactic imaginable?
Where exactly had the captain found these interns? Their thought processes were way too simple!
The intern chased the skeleton around a corner—
—and vanished without a sound.
"…Let's go look for him."
When everyone hurried over and turned the corner, they discovered a corridor ahead.
On the ground were piles of shattered bone fragments reduced to powder.
But where was the trainee?
"Gurururururu—"
The sound of something massive rolling echoed through the hall.
Relying on instinct, everyone retreated.
Then they saw it—
A gigantic sphere composed entirely of skeletons barreling down the corridor at terrifying speed.
If that thing hit someone, they'd probably be crushed into dust.
Had the intern just been flattened to death by that thing?
But there wasn't even any blood on the floor…
Just as Belto thought this, the nearby wall suddenly moved.
No—
The wall itself hadn't moved.
Rather, someone had camouflaged himself against the wall like a chameleon.
It was the missing intern!
"Senior Mira, help me!"
He suddenly yanked up a thick iron chain net, positioning it perfectly in front of the rolling skeleton ball.
Mira instantly understood. Grabbing the chains with both hands, her small frame erupted with immense strength.
"BANG—!"
The skeleton sphere slammed into the iron net.
It continued rolling forward violently, sparks flying from the friction between bones and metal.
At the same time, the intern swiftly pulled out a bottle of highly concentrated holy water and splashed it onto the skeleton sphere before following up with several rapid strikes.
A scream rang out.
The skeleton ball instantly disintegrated into ashes, leaving behind a glowing loot drop.
When picked up, it turned out to be the long-unseen Alluring Skull and the extremely common Smithing Stone.
"You…" Belto frowned, unable to figure out what this intern was thinking.
"Senior Belto, how did I do?" The intern looked quite young, his face carrying the simple innocence of a countryside boy.
The kind of character who leaves his village dreaming of adventure, usually carrying the village's finest sword, a lucky charm, and a relentlessly optimistic personality.
Looking at the eager expression begging for praise, Belto thought for a moment before asking:
"You pretended to be lured by the skeleton… but actually wanted to trigger the trap in advance?"
The trainee nodded so hard he resembled a pecking chicken, excitement practically making him hyperventilate.
Finally—someone understood him!
Sein Dungeon's traps all shared one characteristic:
They only activated at the optimal moment.
And what counted as the optimal moment?
Like just now—
Under normal circumstances, the skeleton boulder trap would only activate after adventurers were lured deep into the corridor by the skeletons.
If the conditions weren't met, the trap wouldn't trigger at all.
This wasn't just to avoid alerting the victims ahead of time—it was also to maximize the "surprise factor" and harvest the greatest amount of emotional energy released by adventurers during moments of peak emotion.
Every single design in Sein Dungeon served a purpose.
And this intern had clearly realized that and applied it in real combat.
The moment he chased the skeleton into the corridor, he immediately escaped back out, narrowly brushing past the skeleton boulder.
He had gambled correctly.
Chasing fleeing skeletons would indeed trigger the trap early!
Setting up the iron net and preparing holy water to counter undead were all decisions he made instantly after discovering the trap.
Such outstanding reaction speed…
"You're clever." Belto's gaze instantly became much friendlier.
Talented people like this were genuinely likable.
Their group absolutely had to recruit him!
"What's your name?" Belto adjusted his glasses.
Embarrassingly enough, because he wasn't in charge of trainee management within the group, he didn't actually know the names of the trainees present.
"Tami! My name's Tami!" The boy revealed a bright, sunny smile. "I'm from Taqi Village! My dream is to make a name for myself!"
Belto smiled and patted the boy's shoulder approvingly.
"Keep it up. Continue making use of that cleverness. Stay with us, and sooner or later you'll achieve your dream."
"Yes, sir!"
Tami shouted energetically, secretly delighted that he had figured out the operational rules of Sein Dungeon.
Looks like I've completely understood this dungeon. Now it's time for me to shine! Watch me speedrun this new area in a single day!
A short while later—
"Where the hell is this!?"
Tami stood alone in a dark, unfamiliar tomb, his eyes vacant.
"What happened? I clearly followed the pattern…"
Earlier, he had once again spotted a fleeing skeleton and attempted to repeat the same trick to trigger another trap early.
But after a blur flashed before his eyes, he suddenly found himself here.
Thinking back now…
Had he stepped into some kind of teleportation trap?
No, that didn't make sense either. His unique talent, Danger Sense, hadn't reacted at all. If it were truly a trap, he should have detected it beforehand.
He scratched his head in confusion.
No matter how he thought about it, one fact remained unchanged:
He had become separated from the group.
"Oh no! My image in the seniors' minds is definitely dropping now!" he cried in despair.
Anyone who tried exploiting Sein Dungeon's rules would eventually be exploited by the dungeon in return.
Tami cautiously wandered through the graveyard, every step careful and deliberate, terrified that some horrifying monster might suddenly leap at his face.
At that moment, he accidentally kicked something.
Picking it up, he discovered it was an empty bottle with traces of medicinal liquid still inside.
"Smells like a healing potion… and it was obviously only recently used."
A puzzled expression appeared on his face.
"But nobody in our team bought this type of potion."
This potion was highly concentrated. Its healing effect was excellent, but it often left behind lingering side effects that required recovery time.
Usually, only people who constantly walked the line between life and death would use such medicine—mercenaries, assassins, and similar professions.
Could it be…
There were strangers down here besides them?
A creepy feeling crept into Tami's heart.
He immediately clutched the teleportation crystal in his pocket. Feeling that even this wasn't safe enough, he simply swallowed it whole.
Encountering unknown strangers in a dungeon was even more alarming than encountering monsters.
"I need to find everyone quickly and tell them about this."
Relying purely on instinct, Tami groped his way forward through the darkness.
But after walking for a while, the road ahead suddenly became blocked.
A pile of fragile-looking jars completely obstructed the path.
Beside them stood a stone tablet.
Tami couldn't read the original language, but glowing magical runes kindly translated it into readable text.
He unconsciously read it aloud:
"A traditional game of the citizens of Carthus.
The jars contain Carthus warriors, offensive magic, treasures, and empty jars.
Within two rings around a jar containing a Carthus warrior, there will never be another Carthus warrior.
Within two rings around a jar containing offensive magic, there will always be treasure.
Near treasure, there are surprises."
Tami fell silent for a moment.
"…What kind of nonsense is this?"