After descending into the valley and looking around, a familiar scene came into view. Back in the first life, we hadn't even been able to come down this cleanly. At that time, the caravan was being chased by a horde of undead, and while one archer was caught, the rest of us threw ourselves down here. Our bodies were scratched, wounded, and twisted, but all we could think about was survival, so we got up and frantically searched for a place to escape. What the caravan leader discovered then was the Cave Of Wailing.
"Ungh. It's steeper than it looks. Kim Su-Hyeon, so somewhere around here is the Cave Of Wailing that you mentioned?"
With Vivienne being the last to come down, the whole party landed safely. She brushed the dirt off her cloak and asked me.
"Yeah. Just in case, keep an eye on the surroundings too. If you see an area where the trees or bushes are thicker than elsewhere, there's a good chance that's the entrance to the cave. And Sol, you should return to the main formation now. Thanks for your help so far. Also, once we finish this expedition and head back, I want to have a little talk with you."
Sol looked a little disappointed but obediently let go of my sleeve. (She had a habit of clutching my clothes whenever she could.) She looked curious about what I wanted to talk about, but this wasn't the kind of thing we could discuss with everyone gathered here. I still needed to think it over, but I was leaning towards raising her Luck stat to 101 points.
Drip, drip, drip.
The valley was filled with a quiet stillness, broken only by the sound of water flowing. The valley overall formed a sideways V-shape, narrowing more and more towards the right. Since I remembered there being a bit of open space in front of the entrance, I decided to head left for now.
While we were marching, there were no signs of the undead. I could still see some of them above the valley, just as I initially expected, but strangely enough, the lower area was filled only with a chilling atmosphere — not a single figure in sight. Now that I think about it, back during my first life, I had been too busy running to notice, but even then, I hadn't encountered many undead down here. Considering that thing was present, it would make more sense for there to be more undead below. Was there something going on that I didn't know about?
After about 20 minutes, I finally arrived at the spot I was aiming for. When I silently stopped walking and stepped aside, I could feel the puzzled gazes of the group on me. Ignoring them, I pushed through the thick cluster of trees and bushes, almost as if they were hiding something. And there, after what felt like ages, was the entrance to the Cave Of Wailing, standing alone and undisturbed.
To be honest, uncovering ruins or dungeons didn't excite me as much anymore. I had practically jumped for joy when we found places like the Ancient Alchemist Dungeon or Ruined Laboratory, but nowadays, I have come to accept it as something almost routine. Maybe it was partly because this was a place I already knew very well.
Still, I couldn't deny that it felt pretty good. The others, who had followed behind me, gasped in awe the moment they laid eyes on the cave entrance. With this, we had achieved three consecutive exploration successes (though for Shin Sang-Yong and Jung Ha-Yeong, it was their second), and it was definitely not something to take lightly.
"Hah. Is it really okay for us to find something this easily? What if it's just an ordinary cave?"
"Our Sol here is a lucky charm, after all. It won't be just any cave."
"Sigh. If you're going to say things like that, at least make them sound less annoying. Hmph."
"Is there a problem?"
"Of course, the problem is—"
Shhhhhhhaaaaaaa.
Go Yeon-Joo, who had been about to speak with eyes full of doubt at my words, abruptly shut her mouth at the chilling sound that echoed from deep inside the cave. And it wasn't just her. The rest of the group, who had been lively just moments before, instantly fell silent, as if doused in cold water. After clearing my throat once or twice, I spoke again, this time in a soothing tone.
"It's likely that the undead in the cave won't be much different from the ones we encountered in the Blue Mountains. It's not like we can turn back now anyway, and judging by the width of the valley, it doesn't seem particularly long or wide. If we hurry, we might be able to make it out of the cave by tomorrow morning."
At my words, the others seemed to pull themselves together a little, straightening their backs and lifting their shoulders. Once everyone was reorganized, I led the party forward and we entered the Cave Of Wailing.
A part of me, knowing this was the final expedition, was eager to get it over with and return as quickly as possible.
We had barely taken a few steps inside when the darkness and the heavy, eerie atmosphere of the cave closed in around us. The walls were thick with damp moss, and an unpleasant, moldy smell filled the air. I turned my head and glanced at Jung Ha-Yeong, who gave a small nod and quietly began chanting a spell.
"Light."
As she finished the incantation, the area around us brightened somewhat, making it a little easier to see. With a glowing orb floating ahead of us, we continued deeper into the cave. Of course, the Cave Of Wailing didn't have separate floors. Once we passed through the long corridor we were walking down, the paths would split into a maze of cramped, rat hole-like passages, and it would be crucial to choose the right way forward.
Looking back now, I have to admit — we hadn't fully conquered the Cave Of Wailing during the first life. Before entering the cave, we had lost an archer from our group, and as a result, we spent an absurd amount of time getting lost. In the end, we inadvertently ended up clearing out most of the cave's corners.
However, we hadn't managed to defeat the final inside and had to flee, so calling it a 100% clear would be a stretch. (Later on, that creature was finally defeated by an expedition team formed based on our exploration report.)
I didn't intend to explore every nook and cranny of the Cave Of Wailing. Instead, once we reached the branching paths at the end of this corridor, I planned to move according to a pre-calculated route.
"It's hard to breathe. Why is the cave so humid? Everything feels so damp and sticky."
"Yeah. Honestly, I think it was better outside."
Listening to Yun-Jung and An-Hyun chatting softly, I kept quietly sweeping the area with my detection ability. Even before we reached the branching paths, there was still a chance monsters could jump out, so charging ahead carelessly would be reckless.
About fifteen minutes into our walk, I felt something brush faintly against the edge of my detection field — then vanish.
The presence kept flickering — appearing, disappearing, then reappearing again. It felt almost like it was toying with me, and irritation started to rise, but I quickly calmed myself and brought the party to a halt.
"There's something strange about 80 meters ahead. I can't tell what it is exactly, but we should move forward with even more caution."
The party responded with silent nods. I slowed our pace even further and carefully pressed onward.
After some time, we drew close to the spot where I'd first sensed the strange presence. The area was cloaked in complete darkness, but every so often, a cold, bluish flame would flicker to life at the center of the path — only to vanish again just as quickly.
"I'll send the Light orb further ahead," Jung Ha-Yeong said.
With a wave of her hand, Jung Ha-Yeong sent the floating orb drifting farther ahead. As the orb floated into the center and lit up the surrounding area, we suddenly saw them — countless statues lined up neatly on either side of the path.
The moment the others caught sight of them, a collective murmur of discomfort rippled through the group. Even I couldn't help but frown.
All the statues looked eerily similar — as if human skulls had been cut cleanly at the waist and only the upper halves placed there. It wasn't just the grotesque appearance that was the problem. In my memories, before reaching the branching paths, there had been no encounter with statues like these — no battle, no sign of them at all. Confused and unsettled by the unfamiliar sight, I tried to gather my thoughts when suddenly, the sharp crackle of something tearing through the air reached my ears.
Crackle!
"Uh...!"
Jung Ha-Yeong's startled voice rang out. Up ahead, flashes of white light mixed with blue sparks erupted violently.
Sensing that something was very wrong, I instinctively activated my Third Eye. After quickly analyzing the situation unfolding before me, I immediately shouted:
"Cancel the Light magic! Now!"
"Can—!"
Crackle! Crackle-crackle! Crackle-crack-crack!
Her reaction was fairly quick, but unfortunately, it seemed she was a beat too late. I regretted not activating my Third Eye earlier — it felt like I had let my guard down, thinking I knew everything, only to get blindsided. The Light spell burst apart with the sound of a firework, and at the same time, the flickering blue flames flared up violently.
At this point, it was better to clear my mind completely — the priority now was the battle. I immediately raised my right hand and shouted loudly:
"Something's wrong! Everyone, prepare for combat!"
Whooooshhhhhhh!
The moment my words left my mouth, the blue flames split into multiple streams and shot toward each of the statues. Upon contact, the statues began to writhe and transform.
A cracking sound echoed through the air as fractures appeared across the surfaces of the statues, followed by a burst of radiant light shining outward. The light was so intense that everyone instinctively squinted and shielded their eyes.
When we opened them again, what we saw were skeletal torsos — no lower halves — floating in the air, their bodies wreathed in flickering blue flames. There were about ten of them.
The true identity of these creatures: Wraiths.
< Haaahhh... Haaaahhh... >
< Hraaahhh... Hraaahhh... >
The Wraiths beat their wings of fire, letting out eerie, soul-chilling screams as they closed in on us. The others quickly moved into battle stances. Come to think of it, had we ever fought spirit-type monsters before? Before anyone could panic, I swiftly issued orders.
"Sol! Cast Holy Striking on An-Hyun and Yun-Jung. And An-Hyun, Yun-Jung — until Sol's spell hits you, gather your mana and fight with it. Never, ever strike with a regular weapon without mana! Got it?"
"""Yes!"""
Hearing their energetic responses, I swung my sword fiercely, releasing a powerful blade wave forward. I was aiming to buy us some time to prepare.
The formless wave spread out in a fan shape, and luckily, it caught a few of them squarely — they shattered into pieces before my eyes. For a brief moment, I thought things might go better than expected.
"They're not dead yet," Go Yeon-Joo said quietly.
Above the wreckage of the shattered Wraiths, flames flared up once again. The flames swirled inward toward the center, then poured down over the scattered bone fragments.
The sight that followed confirmed Go Yeon-Joo's warning. Not just the fragments — even the bone dust itself reassembled piece by piece, and the Wraiths rose again, letting out chilling screams. It was clearly an undead-specific resurrection spell.
Meanwhile, the ones that had remained out of range earlier, along with the resurrected ones, began slowly closing the distance toward us.
It wasn't that I couldn't think of a solution — in fact, too many possibilities and strategies were flooding into my mind.
Even among spirit-type monsters, Wraiths were known for being highly resistant to magical damage. We had tried different tactics — Shin Sang-Yong had used Gust of Wind to push them back, and I had combined my Anti-Magic ring with Jung Ha-Yeong's Overlap spell — but the Wraiths simply shrugged off the attacks and kept resurrecting, persistently hounding us.
Given the situation, there was no way the kids would have had any clever solution either. No matter how many holy spells they used or how many they knocked down, the monsters just stubbornly got back up again, flapping their wings. This is exactly why undead-type monsters are said to be such a pain to deal with. In other words, unless you're perfectly prepared for every possible scenario, you can't comfortably hunt in the middle of a horde of undead. But since perfect preparation was realistically impossible, all I could do was mutter how damn unlucky we were. A bitter smile crept onto my face as I resigned myself to using Hwajung.
"User Kim Su-Hyeon. Wait a moment."
Just as I was about to call Hwajung, I felt a hand grab my shoulder. As I turned my head, a cold, blue wing brushed past my cheek. It was a little annoying to be interrupted in the middle of such chaos, but I took a step back and listened carefully to what she had to say.
"Listen carefully. I've experienced something similar to this before. To get straight to the point, you have to take care of all the wraiths that your team is fighting. However, you need to take down the first one, then the last one — but you must finish off the others before the first one revives. Can you do it?"
"I can."
Go Yeon-Joo seemed to have figured something out. Earlier, I had skimmed through the information my Third Eye had gathered because I was focused on the situation, but now I was tempted to read it more carefully. Still, I decided to trust Go Yeon-Joo for now and took a deep, steadying breath. Once a wraith was down, it would take about three seconds for the flames to die down and allow me to enter again. Then it would take another four seconds for the internal restoration process, and an additional three seconds for it to fully regain its complete form. In short, with ten wraiths, I would need to kill one per second.
But it wasn't absolutely necessary to kill exactly one per second. I hurled myself like a gust of wind toward the four wraiths An-Hyun was fighting.
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