Darkness disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived, Karl opened his eyes and found himself standing upon an old stone road, with Leon and Mira appearing beside him a moment later.
A massive city stretched across the distance before them, tall stone walls surrounded most of it, although several sections had already collapsed.
The enormous main gate stood completely open, revealing empty streets and rows of dark buildings beyond.
Thick grey clouds covered the entire sky, blocking almost every trace of sunlight and leaving the world beneath them bleak and colourless and a strange silence covered it all.
Leon stared toward the city for several seconds before suddenly turning toward Karl.
"Why the fuck did you choose Insane?"
Karl glanced at him.
Leon pointed toward the city. "You do know nobody has cleared this difficulty before, right? I don’t want to die young because you suddenly decided to become suicidal."
Karl placed one hand against Leon’s shoulder and pushed him slightly away.
"Now, now. Don’t worry."
Leon narrowed his eyes. "That isn’t reassuring."
"I already have a plan."
That immediately made Mira look toward him.
"You know something about this dungeon?"
"A little."
Karl turned his attention toward the distant city.
The Last Lament was considerably different from most ordinary dungeons because its progression changed depending upon the selected difficulty.
On Easy, challengers barely entered the ruined city before encountering several enemies and eventually killing one of its City Guards.
Medium revealed more of the place, with increasingly large groups of guards appearing before the Guard Commander finally blocked the challengers’ path.
Hard went even farther.
Teams were forced deeper through the fallen church district until they eventually encountered the High Priest, making it appear as though he had been responsible for whatever happened to the city.
That was where almost everyone believed the dungeon ended but Insane Mode revealed something completely different.
The High Priest had never been the true source of the corruption, neither had the guards nor anyone else wandering through the ruined city.
They were all puppets and behind them stood one person.
Seraphine.
The fallen priestess who had transformed the entire city into her marionettes.
Karl had only learned the truth about The Last Lament several years later in his previous life, long after someone finally completed its Insane difficulty.
He looked toward Leon and Mira.
"Basically, the farther we go, the more of the dungeon we uncover."
Leon stared at him suspiciously. "And you somehow know this?"
Karl smiled slightly.
"Useful information."
"That’s not an answer."
"It wasn’t supposed to be."
Mira shook her head before looking toward the open gate.
"So what comes first?"
Karl stepped forward.
"The first real challenge should be the Fortress Commander."
Almost the instant those words left his mouth, a deep trembling sound passed through the ground.
Leon stopped.
"You just had to say it."
The enormous city gates shook violently as heavy footsteps followed from somewhere beyond them, mixed with the unmistakable sound of metal striking stone.
Then a horse slowly emerged from the darkness beyond the gate, the beast itself was enormous, nearly twice the size of an ordinary warhorse and covered beneath thick black armour.
Sitting upon its back was an equally massive man, he wore dark silver armour across most of his body, while a long spear rested within one hand.
Despite his enormous build, his face was unexpectedly handsome, with short dark hair and sharp features that made him appear more like a decorated general than a corrupted dungeon monster.
His gaze settled upon the three of them.
"Leave this city and its believers alone, you filthy cultists."
His voice carried clearly across the empty road.
"Turn back now and your lives shall be spared."
Leon slowly looked toward Karl.
"He seems pretty reasonable."
Karl ignored him and activated Perception.
[Fortress Commander]
[Level: 30]
Karl’s expression sharpened slightly.
Whatever memories or personality remained inside the Commander, he was still part of the dungeon and they needed to defeat him to continue.
Karl raised one hand and death Energy gathered beside him before a familiar black skeletal wolf emerged from the darkness.
The blue runes covering its bones lit up one after another as it lowered its body toward the mounted Commander.
Karl looked between him and Mira.
"Take your positions."
Mira drew both daggers and moved toward the Commander’s left side without hesitation.
Leon struck his gauntlets together before shifting toward the right.
Karl remained near the centre with the Death Stick held firmly in one hand, while the skeletal Greyfang Wolf stood several steps ahead of him.
The Fortress Commander watched them spread apart, his expression gradually became colder.
"So you have chosen death."
He lowered the spear and the enormous warhorse beneath him slammed one hoof against the stone before suddenly charging forward.
Karl tightened his grip around the Death Stick.
"Move."
Leon and Mira rushed from both sides as the skeletal wolf shot directly ahead, the Fortress Commander’s spear tore through the air toward them.
The Fortress Commander reached them first and his spear swept horizontally toward Karl, but the skeletal Greyfang Wolf rushed between them and took the strike across its ribs.
The impact threw the undead several metres across the road, leaving thin cracks across two of its black ribs but it immediately dug its claws into the stone and charged back toward the horse.
Karl stepped away from the spear’s path and raised one hand.
Hellfire.
Dark flames erupted beneath the Commander’s horse and climbed across its armoured legs.
The beast released a loud neigh and reared backwards, but the Fortress Commander tightened the reins and forced it under control while swinging his spear toward the approaching wolf.
The skeletal Greyfang twisted aside and the spearhead scraped across its shoulder instead of striking directly.
[Fortress Commander: 98.4%]
Karl frowned slightly.
His defence is really high.
Mira moved at the same moment as her body slipped under the horse before reappearing beside the Commander’s left side, both daggers already moving toward the opening beneath his armour.
The first blade was deflected, but the second slipped beneath the plate and left a shallow wound.
The Commander immediately twisted and drove the rear of his spear toward her and Mira hurriedly crossed both daggers before herself but the impact still sent her sliding several metres backwards.
Leon charged from the opposite side with a real spear already inside his hands.
Qi flowed across his arms and spread along the weapon until a thin golden layer covered the entire spearhead. "Piercing Spear!"
He stepped forward and thrust directly toward the Commander’s chest.
The Fortress Commander shifted his own spear to intercept, but the Qi surrounding Leon’s weapon burst forward at the moment of collision.
Clang!
Both spearheads separated violently and Leon was forced backwards, yet a small crack had appeared across the Commander’s breastplate and Leon’s spear totally shattered.
"Ha!"
Leon Immediately took out a sword next and Qi wrapped around the blade before he rushed beneath another sweeping attack.
"Heavy Slash!"
The sword descended against the Commander’s side but the armor stopped most of the strike and barely anything happened
[Fortress Commander: 96.7%]
"Damn, this bastard is tough."
"Stop talking and move!" Mira shouted.
The Commander’s spear descended toward Leon’s head and Leon immediately stepped backwards and pulled the large shield from his storage equipment.
Qi spread across its surface.
"Stone Guard!"
The spear crashed against the shield, Leon grunted as his boots tore backwards across the road, but the reinforced shield remained intact.
Karl was already moving as death Energy gathered inside his hands and formed a long black scythe.
Death Severance.
He approached from the Commander’s exposed side and swung; the curved blade tore through part of his armour and opened a wound beneath it.
[Death Mark applied.]
The Fortress Commander turned almost instantly and thrust his spear toward Karl’s chest.
The black skeletal wolf jumped from the side and clamped its jaws around the shaft.
Its claws scraped across the ground as the Commander tried pulling the weapon free, but the undead held on long enough for Karl to step closer.
Death Severance crossed the previous wound again.
[Death Mark applied.]
[Fortress Commander: 92.8%]
Karl moved away before the Commander could retaliate.
The damage was increasing, but slowly, Leon attacked again, switching back to his spear as Qi gathered around the point.
Mira circled from the opposite side while the skeletal Greyfang repeatedly harassed the Commander’s horse, forcing him to divide his attention between four different directions.
The Commander roared and released a violent sweep of his spear, forcing Leon and Mira backwards while his horse charged through the skeletal wolf and knocked it aside.
[Fortress Commander: 86.9%]
Mira landed beside Karl and tightened her grip around both daggers.
"This is taking too long."
Karl watched the Commander turn his horse toward them again.
"Can you stop him?"
Mira remained silent for a moment before nodding.
"I have something."
She lowered both daggers as darkness began gathering beneath her feet.
Leon noticed immediately.
"Wait, you’re using that already?"
The Fortress Commander charged but the shadow beneath his horse suddenly expanded.
[Shadow Severance activated.]
[Cooldown: 6 Hours.]
Mira disappeared and a black line crossed the road, she reappeared directly behind the Commander as both daggers completed their movement.
A deep cut suddenly opened across his chest and tore through the damaged section of his armour.
Blood sprayed across the horse’s back and at the same moment, several dark blades erupted from his own shadow and pierced through the gaps around his armour before thick shadows wrapped around both rider and horse.
The Fortress Commander pulled against them and for the first time since the battle began, he could not move.
[Fortress Commander: 64.2%]
[Target Pinned.]
Mira landed several metres behind him and released a heavy breath, Karl tightened his grip around the DeathStick.
"Now."