The towering hulking chicken bone golem charged at the party with incredible speed.

This monster was all bones, sharp ones that would rip a human to pieces on impact, and it was throwing its body at them! Jack instantly went in front, shield first, bracing himself for impact. There was nowhere to run nor to turn back.

— BAM! —

The incredible weight forced him to take a few steps back, all until he was up against the wall. The monster creaked, growled, and kept pushing.

Wall in the back, the golem in the front: this was a freaking compactor! Any more, and the man would be turned into a bloody mush staining the stone.

But as much danger as the wall posed, it could be used as a foothold!

"Time to fight back!

" Jack shouted.

"Woo!

"

Jack pushed back using 100% of his power, slowly forcing the creature backward. This was an STR stat check for sure!

The shield was playing a vital role here. Cold sweat trickled down his back, just imagining doing without. It would have meant having to be careful of the creatures' bony spikes.

Jack held it back, but it took all his efforts. Meanwhile, Moon Moon clawed at it with the fury of a thousand warriors— but without much success.

-0

-0

-0

It couldn't do any damage whatsoever! Why was this big guy so resistant! Wolf claws were made to hunt beings with bones!

"Woo!

" (Stunned!)

It wouldn't give up that easily! It quickly summoned a flame chicken right above the big bully's head! The fire engulfed the creature, sticking to its rotting frame, but it didn't seem to mind. It just kept pressing forward.

Did this mean it wouldn't be able to help its master?!

"Woo…

" (Despondent.)

"Let me try.

"

Jack's Cluckinator slashed the surrounding death fog, landing on the bony monstrosity. Clang! But even he didn't do any damage.

"Woo?!

" (Shocked!)

That's when Moon Moon realized that there was something wrong. There had to be a trick to it!

It observed the monstrosity. It hadn't seen it before because of the darkness, but there was something odd! Some of its bones were shifting around, revealing gems hidden underneath a layer of bone plating!

Moon Moon's eyes glowed with resolution as it lunged at what it had identified as the monster's weakness! Following the slash of the sharp wolf claws, there was a shattering sound.

-30

"Woo!

" (Excited!)

This was the start of their counterattack!

Before long, the bone golem crumbled under Moon Moon's intense assault. It rejoiced seeing its master's approving glance.

"Good job,

" Jack whispered, satisfied with his pet's progress. It had figured out the crux of the fight relatively quickly, and he had only given a single hint.

The two carefully made their way toward the dark passageway.

It looked akin to the maw of a gigantic beast, the fog giving it a mysterious look. The darkness stuck to them as they could only distinguish a few meters ahead of them.

They had barely progressed that a discordant lullaby resounded. It sounded like children sang it but contained so much malice and chilliness:

It went like this:

♪♪

Tasty looking things

Ripe for the taking

Let them hear our cry

Time to suck them dry

♪♪

Look at all that mana!

It is time to devour

Oh yes, we're gonna!

We'll get so much power!

♪♪

Are you ready?

This will be a feast.

Let's begin already!

We'll even eat the beast.

♪♪

The more the demons sang, the louder it seemed to get. No, it wasn't that it was getting louder but that they were getting more sensitive as time passed.

"Woo!

" (Whimper!)

Those creatures were the freaking worst! Jack knew what they were: Formless Mana Leeches (FML).

They were an absolute nightmare for mages. They lurked in the shadows, were incorporeal, and devoured their prey's mana with songs akin to sirens.

That's all they did, but it was plenty. Mages would scream

"Fuck my life!

" when hearing them. After all, a magician without mana was pretty darn useless!

There were two ways to counter this:

1. Have specialized spells that could track them down and obliterate them (they couldn't). An ironic fact: they were the bane of mages yet could only be killed by magic.

2. Have high SPI. This would boost one's mana regeneration and nullify these creatures' effects. This was the second Stat check, wasn't it?

Jack could only sigh, realizing this. Both of their spirit stat was too low to resist it. This would reduce their combat potential a lot…but would this be the only consequence? He could only hope.

They kept journeying in this gloomy and oppressive atmosphere. The song kept grinding at their minds, trying to take them down. But Moon Moon valiantly howled to keep the fear away.

— Awooo! —

But was the fear the only danger? No way! They were suddenly attacked out of nowhere, enemies flying at them!

"Dodge!

" Jack shouted, alarmed!

— Swish! Swoosh! Slash!—

Jack covered them both, blocking most of the projectiles. Blood splashed, and he felt coldness penetrate his flesh. Then his vitality dwindled as he felt deadly energy invade his wounds.

Fuck!

-4

-4

-4

"Freaking death spreaders!

" He spat out.

In the air, chicken bones were floating with a menacing blackish glow.

They were akin to living weapon spirits, except they were resting in sharp bones. That's when the creatures began clucking as they charged once more.

— Swish! Swoosh! Slash!—

— Cluck! Cluck! Screeee! —

Those were some really weird chicken phantoms! This reminded him of that stage with the feathers to avoid, but worse!

These things would fly at him, then change direction all of a sudden! He had to take them down, but that required incredible agility. Bubblegum would have shined here with her twin daggers!

"Tch— So what if you're fast! I just need to predict your movements!

" Jack snorted, putting on a strong front.

It would have been impossible for him to resist them if he was using a slow weapon like a greatsword. But dual-wielding barely gave him the necessary attack speed to survive.

He was akin to a man inside a swarm of flesh-eaters. He was barely holding his ground, using his shield to keep the enemies at bay. He kept fighting what felt like a bone tornado.

These flying bones didn't know who they were freaking messing with! After all, he had to protect the small wolf at his feet.

It felt like an eternity had passed.

He finally managed to reduce them to bone powder, giving a reassuring look to Moon Moon— only to collapse. He couldn't even stand anymore, his body so full of wounds.

"Woo?!

" (Shock!)

The little wolf hurriedly grabbed a potion from its potion necklace and offered it to its master, but Jack refused. He understood the state of his body very well.

"These things leave dark energy wounds that are far from simple to heal.

" Jack sighed.

"It seems our run ends here.

" He gave an awkward smile.

A few seconds later, he was faced with a familiar message…

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━ YOU DIED! ━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He found himself respawning in the tiny entrance room, the dungeon back to its initial state, ready for him to press that one red button.

Current status:

STR —> Sufficient to overpower the hulking golems.

AGI —> Need to figure out a better way to dodge the flying bones.

SPI —> Insufficient, but is it 100% needed to complete the run?

INT —> ?!? No data so far…

"Woo!!!

" (Unbeatable Spirit!)

"Yeah, we'll figure it out. Got any suggestion?

" Jack asked teasingly. But Moon Moon surprisingly raised its paw in the air.

"Woo!

" (Yes!)

It was time for a strategy meeting….

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

A

/N The new Dungeon really is meant to be beaten with a team of members, each specializing in one attribute. How to overcome this? It will involve a game of…. =P