“Help…” An extremely faint voice drifted from somewhere deep beyond the crack.
Mixed with the cold wind flowing through the rocks, it was so quiet that it could almost have been mistaken for nothing more than the sound of air passing through the narrow passage.
Kyle opened his eyes immediately.
He hadn’t imagined it.
Someone had definitely spoken.
And the voice had come from inside the crack.
Kyle didn’t stand right away.
Instead, he first checked the situation around him.
Six Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors that were still capable of fighting remained stationed nearby.
The other two, which had suffered heavier damage, had already been returned to the summoning space.
No new monsters had appeared in the mine tunnel.
The Goblin King’s enormous corpse still lay nearby.
The black markings that had spread into its flesh seemed to have completely solidified after its death, showing no further changes.
Once Kyle confirmed that the area was temporarily safe, he stood and looked toward the narrow crack again.
“Go in and check.” At his command, one Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior approached the opening first.
It turned sideways and slowly squeezed through.
A second followed close behind.
Kyle didn’t send all the remaining skeleton warriors inside.
The passage was too narrow.
If they encountered an enemy in there, too many summons would only get in one another’s way.
So he sent only two ahead to scout.
Another two remained near the entrance to the crack.
The final two stayed close to him.
Kyle waited more than ten seconds.
Once he confirmed that the skeleton warriors ahead hadn’t encountered an attack, he turned sideways and entered the crack himself.
The temperature inside was noticeably lower.
Both rock walls were damp.
Drops of water occasionally slid down the black-gray stone, while the uneven ground beneath his feet barely formed anything resembling a path.
But as Kyle continued deeper, the narrow space gradually widened.
After moving a little over twenty meters, he felt that strange interference again.
His connection with the skeleton warriors ahead hadn’t disappeared.
But it had clearly weakened.
It was almost as though an invisible barrier had appeared between them, turning what should have been a clear connection into something faint and blurred.
Kyle stopped immediately.
The two Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors ahead stopped at the same time.
No enemies.
At least, none for now.
Kyle looked around.
He quickly noticed that the rock walls here seemed darker than those outside.
At first, he assumed it was simply the color of the ore.
But after looking more carefully, he realized that countless extremely thin black lines covered the surface of the stone.
They followed the natural cracks in the rock and extended deeper into the passage.
Their color and appearance— were almost identical to the black markings he’d seen on the goblins.
Kyle didn’t touch them.
He simply remembered what he’d seen and continued forward.
After another stretch of tunnel, a faint light finally appeared ahead.
It wasn’t a mining lamp.
The glow was dark red, barely visible through the darkness.
Kyle didn’t approach recklessly.
He first ordered the leading Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior to investigate.
Before long, despite the weakened connection between them, Kyle sensed someone ahead.
More than one person.
Only after confirming there were no monsters nearby did he quicken his pace and pass through the final section of the tunnel.
The space before him suddenly opened up.
It was a naturally formed underground cavern.
It wasn’t particularly large.
Several broken mine carts lay scattered across the center, surrounded by rotting wooden frames.
Against the rock wall on the right— a blood-covered man sat slumped on the ground.
The voice calling for help had clearly come from him.
The man looked to be around thirty.
He wore a set of heavy armor that had been severely damaged.
A large section over his chest had been crushed inward, while his left arm hung at an unnatural angle beside him.
A shield split completely in half lay nearby.
Probably a knight.
Kyle didn’t approach him directly.
He stopped several meters away.
“Still conscious?” The man’s eyelids slowly lifted at the sound of his voice.
The instant he saw Kyle, he visibly froze.
Then his gaze fell on the Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors beside him.
His weakened body immediately tensed.
His right hand instinctively reached toward a broken sword lying nearby.
“Don’t move.” Kyle’s voice remained calm.
The man’s hand stopped.
“I’m a class holder.” The man stared at him for several more seconds.
Only after seemingly confirming that Kyle wasn’t some monster from the dungeon did he slowly release the broken sword.
“You…” His voice was hoarse.
Even speaking a single word seemed difficult.
“How did you get in here?” “There’s a crack outside.” The man looked genuinely confused.
“A crack?” Judging from his reaction, his party clearly hadn’t entered this place the same way Kyle had.
Kyle didn’t pursue that question.
Instead, he glanced at the man’s equipment.
“Were there six of you?” The man’s expression immediately changed.
“You know about us?” “The guild said six class holders entered Blackstone Mine last night and never came back out.” Kyle swept his gaze across the cavern.
“Where are the other five?” This time, the man didn’t answer immediately.
His face became even paler.
His eyes involuntarily shifted toward the other side of the cavern.
Kyle followed his gaze.
Something seemed to be lying in the darkness.
He didn’t approach it himself.
Instead, he ordered a Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior to move closer.
As the distance shortened, the object hidden in the darkness gradually came into view.
A corpse.
More accurately— half a corpse.
Everything below the waist was gone.
The upper half rested against the rock wall, its right hand still gripping a broken staff even in death.
Kyle recognized it immediately.
The other half of that staff was probably the piece he’d discovered earlier in the mine.
But the corpse itself wasn’t what truly caught Kyle’s attention.
The rock wall behind it was covered in dense black strands.
They emerged from cracks in the stone like plant roots and wrapped themselves around the corpse.
Several had even entered its body through the open wounds.
They were identical to the black substance he’d found inside the Goblin King.
Only— there were far more of them here.
“Don’t get close!” The knight suddenly shouted with all the strength he had left.
Kyle immediately stopped the Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior.
The effort of shouting sent the knight into a violent coughing fit.
It took him quite a while to recover enough to speak.
“Those things…
move.” “If they touch something alive, they’ll burrow into the body.” Kyle looked at him.
“You touched them?” “We didn’t want to.” The knight’s face was pale.
“They came to us.” Almost the instant he finished speaking— a faint scraping sound came from deeper within the cavern.
Scrape…
Scrape…
scrape…
It sounded as though something was slowly crawling across the rock.
All six Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors turned at once.
The dark red soul flames in their eye sockets locked onto the source of the sound.
Kyle looked over as well.
The black strands attached to the rock wall— were moving.
At first, the movement was barely noticeable.
But as Kyle stood inside the cavern, more and more of the black strands began lifting away from the stone.
Things that had looked completely lifeless moments ago— now seemed to have suddenly awakened.
The knight’s expression changed drastically.
“They’re coming!” The moment the words left his mouth— dozens of black strands shot away from the wall.
They ignored the skeleton warriors closest to them.
Every single one— was aimed at Kyle.
“Block them.” Two Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors stepped forward simultaneously.
Their blades swept across the air.
Slash!
The leading black strands were severed instantly.
No blood came from the cut ends.
Instead, an extremely thick black liquid oozed out.
Yet even after being cut apart, the strands that fell to the ground didn’t stop moving.
They twisted violently like tiny worms and continued crawling toward Kyle.
Kyle frowned slightly.
Ordinary physical attacks could cut them.
But apparently couldn’t truly kill them.
In that case— he would try something else.
Kyle raised one hand.
Dark flame silently ignited above his palm.
[Soul Flame]!
The flame struck a mass of black strands.
Nothing happened.
They continued crawling.
Kyle immediately understood.
[Soul Flame] attacked the mind and soul.
Whatever these things were, they clearly didn’t possess a soul that the skill could properly target.
If a soul attack didn’t work— then he would simply destroy them.
Kyle’s gaze shifted toward the class holder’s corpse wrapped in black strands.
Convenient.
There was already a corpse here.
“Move back.” The Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors immediately withdrew.
At the same time, Kyle locked his Spirit onto the corpse.
[Corpse Explosion]!
The knight’s face changed.
“Wait—” Too late.
BOOM!
A violent explosion tore through the cavern.
The corpse became the center of the blast.
A brutal shock wave carrying shattered stone and flesh swept outward.
Large sections of the black strands covering the rock wall were ripped apart.
Several rotten wooden structures nearby collapsed under the impact.
Two Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors immediately moved in front of Kyle and blocked the incoming debris.
Kyle himself only took half a step backward.
Dust filled the cavern.
The knight stared in shock.
“You…” Kyle ignored him.
His attention remained fixed on the blast zone.
After being enhanced by [Total Amplification], [Corpse Explosion] had an effective radius of twenty meters.
The corpse he’d just used had belonged to a fairly high-level class holder.
Its vitality had been far greater than that of an ordinary low-level monster.
Naturally, the resulting explosion was considerably stronger.
As the dust gradually settled, most of the black strands that had covered half the wall were gone.
Broken black fragments littered the ground.
Most of them had completely stopped moving.
Effective.
Ordinary slashes could only cut them apart.
A sufficiently powerful area attack could destroy them outright.
Kyle had only just confirmed that when— Thud.
A heavy sound came from deep within the cavern.
He raised his head.
Thud.
Again.
Something heavy was approaching.
One step at a time.
The knight, who had only just recovered, lost every trace of color in his face.
“Run…” Kyle didn’t move.
“What is it?” The knight’s lips trembled.
After a moment of silence, he finally forced out an answer.
“Our captain.” Kyle looked at him.
The knight closed his eyes briefly.
“Or…” “He used to be.” A dragging sound gradually emerged from the darkness.
A figure slowly stepped into view.
The man wore badly damaged warrior armor.
In his right hand, he dragged a greatsword along the ground.
The tip scraped across the stone, throwing out tiny sparks with every step.
But what caught Kyle’s attention— was his body.
Nearly every patch of exposed skin was covered in black markings.
They climbed from his neck across his face.
One eye still looked human.
The other— was completely black.
Kyle immediately used Detection.
[???] [Level: 18] [Status: Unknown Parasitism] [Threat Level: High] Kyle’s gaze stopped on the words [Unknown Parasitism].
Ever since entering Blackstone Mine, this was the first time Detection had actually identified the abnormality caused by the black substance.
Parasitism.
So that was it.
The abnormal goblins in the forest.
The monsters inside Blackstone Mine.
The Goblin King.
And now, a class holder from the missing six-person party.
Those black markings weren’t some ordinary mutation.
Something— was parasitizing them.
As Kyle observed him, the parasitized warrior slowly raised his head.
His one remaining normal eye settled on Kyle.
His lips moved with great difficulty.
“Kill…” The voice was so hoarse it was almost impossible to understand.
“Kill…
me…” Then— his completely black eye suddenly widened.
The man’s previously stiff body shot forward.
His speed was astonishing.
The greatsword dragged across the ground behind him.
Sparks scattered in a long trail.
“Stop him.” Two Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors charged forward simultaneously.
The first gripped its blade with both hands and brought it down against the incoming greatsword.
CLANG!
The weapons collided violently.
The metallic impact exploded through the cavern.
Cracks instantly appeared in the stone beneath the Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior’s feet.
Its body— was actually forced half a step backward.
Kyle’s eyes narrowed slightly.
A Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior had 3,500 points in all four attributes.
Something capable of forcing one backward in a direct clash was definitely beyond what an ordinary Level 18 class holder should possess.
The second Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior was already closing in from the side.
Its blade cut straight toward the man’s waist.
The parasitized warrior suddenly released one hand from his greatsword.
His fingers spread.
Clap!
He caught the blade with his bare hand.
The sharp edge cut into his palm.
Thick black liquid ran down the blade.
Yet the man seemed completely incapable of feeling pain.
His arm suddenly pulled backward— dragging the Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior toward him along with its weapon.
The next instant, the greatsword swept horizontally.
BANG!
The flat of the blade slammed into the skeleton’s chest.
Its entire body flew backward and crashed violently into the rock wall.
Several clear cracks appeared across its ribs.
Kyle didn’t wait any longer.
“All of you.” The remaining four Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors moved at once.
Six skeletons rapidly formed an encirclement from different directions.
Two restricted the greatsword from the front.
Two pressured his movement from the sides.
The final two circled behind him.
The parasitized warrior seemed to sense the danger.
Both hands tightened around his greatsword again.
His waist twisted sharply.
Whoosh!
The heavy blade swept in a full circle.
The two nearest Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors immediately retreated.
One was half a step too slow.
The edge scraped across its ribs, leaving two cracks across the bones.
But the instant the greatsword completed its sweep— a Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior behind him seized the opening.
Dark red light instantly covered its blade.
[Savage Strike]!
Slash!
The blade tore deeply into the man’s back.
The wound nearly reached the bone.
For a normal class holder, an injury that severe would’ve seriously affected their ability to move.
The man in front of them didn’t even stop.
He spun around and drove a fist into the Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior behind him.
BANG!
The punch slammed into the side of its skull.
The skeleton’s head snapped sharply to one side.
Kyle had seen it clearly.
It wasn’t that the man wasn’t being injured.
He simply couldn’t feel the pain.
The black parasite was forcibly controlling the host’s body.
It didn’t care whether that body eventually collapsed from the damage.
In that case— Kyle raised his hand.
[Soul Flame]!
Dark fire silently entered the man’s head.
His body suddenly froze in the middle of another swing.
“AAAAARGH!” A miserable scream tore through the cavern.
This time— it wasn’t the roar of a monster.
It was a human voice.
Kyle’s gaze shifted slightly.
There was a reaction.
That meant the man’s soul was still there.
The black parasite could control his body— but it hadn’t completely erased his consciousness.
Kyle raised his hand again.
A second [Soul Flame] entered the man’s head.
The hands gripping the greatsword began trembling violently.
The black markings across his face writhed as though they had been irritated.
Kyle was about to attack again when— “Stop…” The man forced a single word through clenched teeth.
Kyle immediately stopped.
The man’s remaining normal eye stared directly at him.
“Don’t…” “Don’t burn…” Fighting against the control of his own body, the man slowly raised one hand and grabbed the damaged armor over his chest.
RIP!
He tore it open.
His chest was completely exposed.
Kyle finally saw what had been hidden underneath.
Countless black strands had burrowed into his flesh.
They formed a dense web around his chest cavity.
And near his heart— a black crystal no larger than the tip of a thumb was embedded deep in the flesh.
“There…” The man’s body trembled violently.
“Cut…” Kyle didn’t hesitate.
“Left.” One Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior immediately changed position.
The man seemed to understand what Kyle intended.
Using what little control he still had, he forced his right arm down against his body.
The arm already controlled by the parasite struggled violently.
Its fingers repeatedly clawed toward his chest.
But the man held it back.
“Quick!” The Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warrior stepped forward.
This time— it didn’t use [Savage Strike].
The tip of its blade stabbed precisely toward the black crystal.
Thrust!
The blade pierced the man’s chest.
At the same time— CRACK!
The black crystal shattered.
The next instant— countless sharp screeches erupted from inside the man’s body.
“SKREEEEE—!” The black markings covering him twisted violently.
Black strands began forcing their way out through his wounds, desperately trying to escape the host they could no longer control.
“Back.” Kyle immediately ordered the skeleton warrior to retreat.
The man lost his support.
His body slowly dropped to his knees.
Meanwhile, the black strands that had escaped his body hit the ground and immediately began scattering in every direction.
Kyle glanced at them.
He couldn’t let those things escape.
Several Bronze-Rank Skeleton Warriors moved forward at once.
Their blades fell repeatedly, forcing the fleeing strands back toward the same area.
Once enough of them had gathered— Kyle locked onto the remains of a dead parasitized creature nearby.
[Corpse Explosion]!
BOOM—!
Another explosion tore through the cavern.
The violent blast swallowed the black strands instantly.
Shattered stone and black fragments flew outward.
This time, when the dust settled— nothing on the ground continued moving.
The cavern finally became quiet again.
Kyle stood among the scattered black fragments.
His understanding of the situation was gradually becoming clearer.
When he’d first entered Blackstone Mine, he’d thought he was dealing with something that caused abnormalities in goblins.
Now— it was obvious that the problem went far beyond that.
Whatever these things were, they could parasitize monsters.
They could also parasitize class holders.
They could continue forcibly controlling a host even after the body had been severely injured.
And they could strengthen that body beyond its normal limits.
More troublesome still— they seemed capable of actively seeking out living creatures to infect.
Kyle looked back at the badly wounded knight against the rock wall.
“Where are the others?” The knight remained silent for a moment.
Then he slowly raised one trembling hand and pointed deeper into the cavern.
“Inside…” “Three more.” “They were dragged in.” Kyle followed the direction of his finger.
Another passage lay at the far end of the cavern.
It was much wider than the crack Kyle had used to enter.
But almost none of the original black-gray stone could still be seen along its walls.
Dense black markings covered nearly everything.
They stretched deeper into the darkness.
Kyle didn’t enter immediately.
Because within that darkness— one pair of eyes slowly opened.
Then another.
And another.
They weren’t goblin eyes.
They didn’t belong to Mine Dire Wolves either.
They were human.
Except some of them— had already turned completely black.