Chapter 38: The Second Level of the Skeleton Dungeon

Everything was prepared. Xiao Yang pushed open the door leading to the second level of the dungeon, revealing a dim, gloomy corridor stretching into the depths.

Holding the darkness-repelling lantern high, Xiao Yang stepped forward. Even though he had boosted his attributes to a level that could be considered absurd for someone at his stage, he could not help but feel a faint, imperceptible tremor of fear when faced with such profound darkness. It was an unavoidable, primal human instinct—the fear of the dark.

A faint light appeared in the distance; he was nearing the next level. Xiao Yang quickened his pace. As he pushed open the rusted iron door at the end of the corridor, a dull thud sounded, and a stone puppet swung its weapon down toward him. In the midst of this sudden danger, Xiao Yang instinctively rolled away. His high agility allowed him to react successfully to the sneak attack.

The creature attacking him was a stone puppet carved into the shape of a small demon, clinging to the wall. It was not a monster, but a triggered trap; Xiao Yang’s "Inspect" skill yielded no feedback when cast upon it. Having just arrived on the second floor, the Skeleton Dungeon had already given him a harsh welcome. And this was far from the end: the rusted iron door behind him slammed shut with a creak. Clearly, he would not be leaving until he cleared this level.

"Dungeon Advancer" triggered, and three blue-tier items appeared before him. However, Xiao Yang didn't have much time to pick his rewards. Several crimson eyes suddenly blinked open in the darkness—blood-sucking bats. Immediately following was a piercing shriek; these bats had triggered a chain reaction with the dungeon’s original monsters.

The bats fluttered erratically, serving as the vanguard of the horde rushing toward him. Next came the cold, white flames flickering to life one by one, accompanied by the *clack-clack* sound of skeleton warriors and skeleton champions rising slowly from the ground. A single glance revealed at least twenty or thirty ghostly white soul-fires, and that wasn't all—more were igniting from the shadows.

*No! This is very wrong!*

Xiao Yang gripped his weapon, "Justice’s Consolation," tightly. Two choices lay before him: either rely on his high stats, shout that a dungeon king never submits, and start a boss fight against dozens of enemies—though, in this case, he was the boss being ganged up on—or run away and live to fight another day.

The question was, what would Xiao Yang choose?

The answer, of course, was the second one. Only a fool would initiate a group fight the moment they arrived on a strange, new floor without understanding the situation.

Run! Run fast!

Without hesitation, Xiao Yang dashed into the right-hand corridor. Upon entering the second floor, three paths had been presented to him: a path to the left, a path to the right, and a small, empty plaza directly ahead. Since all the monsters in the front were being stirred up by the blood-sucking bats, the way forward was clearly blocked. That left only the left and right paths.

Xiao Yang chose the right without a second thought. He only had time for a fleeting glance, but he made his choice because he spotted a soft, white glow in that direction. In a dungeon, that kind of light usually meant only one thing: a safe house.

Behind him, amidst the chaotic clatter, a massive swarm of skeletons began to pursue him. These skeletons were far more professional than their counterparts on the first floor; they were like a well-drilled skeleton army—no, they *were* a well-drilled miniature skeleton army.

There were no weak, common skeletons here; almost all were warriors clad in tattered armor and wielding weapons. The first to rise were mostly skeleton warriors brandishing long blades. They were biting at his heels, their bones clacking as they ran, waving their blades wildly. Beyond the blade-wielding warriors, there were those holding spears and shields, and even skeleton archers and crossbowmen.

A messy volley of arrows rained down around Xiao Yang. Their accuracy wasn't great, with most hitting the skeleton warriors in front, but a few struck Xiao Yang. These arrows were capable of piercing his defenses, but because he had stacked his defense stats so high, even when they broke through, they only dealt minimal damage.

He knew this because he kept seeing the word "Immune" popping up in his field of vision. Occasionally, when an arrow dealt slightly more damage, he would see "Damage -1" or "Damage -2" appear in green text. The life regeneration effect he had gained from being dyed pink by the Unstable Life Conglomerate was also doing its job.

The scene was pure chaos. For now, the skeleton army posed little threat to him, but Xiao Yang dared not look back, let alone stop, as more skeleton warriors and archers continued to rise from the ground.

Suddenly, with a sharp *whir*, a shorter, thicker metal bolt flew from the distance and struck Xiao Yang just as he was about to reach the hallway. A glaring "5 damage" popped up. Clearly, a new type of enemy had appeared: a skeleton crossbowman kneeling on the ground. This made Xiao Yang even more anxious. He was close to the passage now; without hesitation, he lunged forward, diving into the side corridor.

Once inside, he vanished from the line of sight of the archers and crossbowmen, finally shaking off their ranged attacks.

He performed a quick roll and scrambled to his feet. Even as he stood, arrows were still falling from his back. In just that short distance, he had nearly been turned into a pincushion.

*Luckily,* he thought, *thank goodness I didn't try to play the hero and engage these guys head-on.* If he had been surrounded, he would have been finished—likely pelted to death by the arrows of the crossbowmen and archers before he could do anything.

*Better to be cautious! Better to be cautious!*

Xiao Yang mused as he finished his tense parkour. He wasn't completely out of combat yet. As he climbed to his feet, the fastest of the skeleton warriors—three of them—had already caught up to him. Amidst the *clack-clack* of their bones, they surrounded him.