After lingering for a couple of breaths, the sounds of the skeletal scorpion's movements faded away.
Lune peeked over the edge of the wall, confirming the coast was clear.
'That was close…' he thought, taking in his new surroundings.
Instantly, his quest came to mind.
'Find the Temple of the Hollow God…'
They wouldn't give him a quest that was impossible to complete. He had wondered whether the system had made a mistake, but now, realising the crimson desert was a monster, not a desert, things began to make sense. If he were going to find a temple, it would be here, in these ruins.
With his thirst half-satisfied and his quest now seemingly possible, a newfound energy fired up in his heart.
He took a step out of the ruined building, confidence surging. But the moment his foot touched the clay earth, a loud hiss pierced the quiet from above. He looked up. On the wall of the building he had just left, a skeletal scorpion sat poised.
It hissed again, then lunged, its pincers heading straight for him.
He rolled back into the ruined building, summoning his glaive as he moved.
'Should've rolled outside!' he cursed inwardly as the creature scuttled inside after him.
The scorpion lingered for a moment, moving from side to side as if deciding how to strike. Lune mirrored its steps, unsure of its tactic but unwilling to give it an opening. Unlike the reckless vultures, this creature seemed calculating, almost intelligent.
Then, it finally lunged.
At the same moment, Lune rushed forward, narrowly avoiding the strike. The pincer crushed into the half-standing wall behind him, the impact rattling the whole structure. With a groan of shifting stone, the ruins collapsed, crashing down on top of the monster.
Lune paused, watching with perplexed relief as the building buried the creature.
"Easier than I thought," he muttered, turning to walk away.
But then, a sudden realisation struck him.
The system… it hadn't announced the kill.
At that moment, a sudden hiss split the air as one of the creature's pincers tore up through the rubble.
Lune's eyes widened. A second pincer followed, crushing the stone with ease and scattering rocks in every direction.
The creature, now visibly enraged, lunged from the debris toward Lune.
The good thing was that his glaive met the monster's pincer just in time, blocking the strike. The bad thing was the loud crack that echoed as the pincer closed around the shaft. The weapon held, but the sound was terrifying. The second pincer was already swinging wide, trying to grab him.
He moved in a circle, desperately holding off one pincer while dodging the other, his mind racing for a plan.
Then, an idea came to him.
The scorpion was stronger, heavier, and its skeletal frame gave him little to pierce. But the creature had one weakness: it was driven by pure rage, throwing its whole body into every attack. If he was going to kill it, he had to use that against it.
Lune shifted his weight, letting the glaive's shaft slide free from the locked pincer with a sharp twist. Instead of fighting the force, he angled backwards, baiting the enraged monster.
"Come on, you ugly bastard!"
The skeletal beast hissed, raised both pincers, and slammed forward. Lune sidestepped at the last possible moment, guiding the glaive's blade into the joint where the pincer met its body. The strike rang out, sparks flying as bone chipped. The monster staggered, its limb now moving sluggishly.
But it wasn't enough to kill.
The tail lashed out in a furious, violent arc. He ducked, rolling over the debris, nearly skewered as the stinger cracked the stone where his head had been just a second before.
He scrambled back toward the collapsed wall, forcing the scorpion to follow him over the unstable ground. Each of its steps shook the earth. Lune planted his feet against a large slab, waiting. As the creature lunged again, its tail whipped down. At the exact moment, he twisted aside.
The stinger plunged deep into the fallen stones, wedging itself instantly.
The beast screeched, thrashing violently to free itself.
But Lune didn't waste the second. He vaulted up the rubble, raised the glaive high, and drove the beak-like blade straight down into the skull between its glowing eye sockets. Bone cracked, and the creature's hiss was cut short.
This time, the system's voice rang clear in his head.
[You have slain a Bronze Stage Dormant Monster: Skeletal Scorpion.]
[You have received a Relic: Boneforged Carapace Armour.]
'Armour?' Lune repeated the word between his ragged breathing.
He wanted to inspect it immediately, but instinct screamed at him to move. He scrambled away from the corpse, putting as much distance as he could before stumbling into another half-collapsed ruin. The vultures had come in pairs, he wasn't waiting around to see if the scorpions did too.
Finally hidden, he allowed himself a moment. Before even reading the description, he focused and summoned the armour.
In an instant, form-fitting leather and cloth wrapped around his torso and limbs, secured by tight straps. Vital areas were reinforced with plates of a matte-black, bone-like material. He moved his arms and legs, testing it. The armour was light, flexible, and protective.
He pulled up his status and focused on the new item.
***
Relic: [Boneforged Carapace Armour]
Relic Rank: Dormant
Relic Type: Armour
Relic Description: [Swallowed by the abyss of sand, only bones remain]
***
'...only bones remain.'
He stared at the words, a cold knot tightening in his stomach. Was that his fate too? He shook his head, forcing the thought away. He had a chance they didn't. If he could find the temple and make a sacrifice... he would survive.
A fierce resolve burned inside him. He would succeed, no matter what.
He dismissed the window and scanned his new shelter. It was empty, filled with just rock and mud; any signs of past life had long been erased by time or monsters.
Seeing that there was nothing there of use, he left the confines of the building, and as he did, he noticed something he hadn't noticed before.
Partially hidden behind the ruins of the buildings was a small, mountain-like structure made of a white material. A small, barely distinguishable, black object protruded from its top, a stark contrast to its white body.
Only when Lune approached it closer did he realise that it was not a small mountain; it was a massive pile of bones stacked on top of each other.
His senses ran wild at the realisation, but the intrigue built by the object protruding from it, pulled him closer.
His steps fastened as he approached it closer and closer, and soon enough, he could make the shape of that very object.
A black hilt of what seemed to be a sword protruded from the top of the pile.
'A sword?'
Taking a quick glance to check for any immediate danger, he started to climb up.
The bones shifted and clattered beneath him, scattering as he climbed. After longer than he'd expected, he finally reached the top.
There, thrust deep into the pile, was the hilt of a black sword.
He, however, didn't dwell long on it as his hand reached out and closed around the grip.
In that moment, the sound of the familiar voice echoed in his head, followed by the sword vanishing from his grip.
[You have received a Relic: Blackpearl]
'It's a relic?'
Fascinated, he opened the description of the new item, and as he did, his breath caught.
***
Relic: [Blackpearl]
Relic Rank: Divine
Relic Type: Weapon
Relic Description: [Forged by the Protector of the Seven Seas, the Sword can be wielded by no one.]
***
His heart raced as he reread the description.
No human had ever held or seen a Divine Relic. That rank was simply a speculation, something nobody had ever reached or seen, but now, not only did he see it, he owned it.
But as his eyes drifted down to the item's description, a faint frown crossed his face.
'A weapon that can't be wielded? What does that mean?'
Confused by the description, he closed the window and stretched his arm outward, focusing on the name of the relic.
In an instant, a heavy burst erupted from his core, but unlike with the previous Relic, the weapon did not materialise, and instead, a heavy pain dug at his core as his vision swayed.
He tumbled down the pile of bones, hitting the ground below with a heavy thud.
Cold sweat ran down his face as he realised that almost all his Soul Essence was drained in an instant.
Then, before he had a chance to regain any of his strength, a sudden earth-shaking roar tore through the ruined city, vibrating through the ground and shaking the fragile ruins around him down to their foundations.
Without realising it, he had awakened something that should never have been disturbed.