Chapter 9: The Skeleton Dungeon

Why can’t we escape?
Is the system broken?
Did I break the game?

Or maybe, if we complete the game, we’ll get sent back? That sounds too obvious. Maybe there’s a loophole somewhere. Or maybe not. I don’t know. All I know for sure is this: neither of us wants to die like them.

We kept walking after I looted the fallen players. The only useful item I got from them was a mini-map, but even that had a catch. It only recorded places the previous owner had already explored. So, we’re moving blind, avoiding dead ends, trying to stay alert.

Our goal right now? Find a way out of this place. Maybe others already escaped.
And Jarrod… I still don’t know if he’s okay. We got separated earlier, and I pray he didn’t end up like the rest.

Eventually, with the map’s limited help, we found what looked like an exit, a large iron gate carved into the rock, lit by cold blue torches. But just as I stepped toward it—

Thud.

I slammed into something invisible and staggered back.

"Jack!" Ysanthe rushed to my side, helping me up. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I grunted, rubbing my shoulder. I pressed my hand out again, nothing but empty air, but I could feel it. A solid wall that wasn’t supposed to be there.

I narrowed my eyes. "An invisible wall? Seriously?"

I concentrated and summoned my glitching power, warping the air in front of me, trying to break through the system. Nothing. It fizzled out. Again.

Suddenly, a notification bloomed into existence:

[System Notice]
ACCESS DENIED.
DEFEAT THE KING OF THE BONES TO UNSEAL THIS AREA.

"The King of the Bones…?" I murmured.

That was all the warning we got.  While understanding the situation.

Two undead players lunged out of the shadows, bones rattling, armor rusted, their eyes hollow with pale light. One of them tackled Ysanthe to the ground.

"Hey!" I yanked out the Dangatana and fired. A burst of shock bullet shot out, and then followed by a knockout round, ripping one of the skeletons to pieces.

I bolted forward, grabbed Ysanthe, and yanked her back just as the second attacker lunged. I swung hard, clean slash. Its skull rolled to the floor.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, breathless.

"I’m fine… thanks. What in the world were those things?"

I crouched near the bodies.

"They were players," I said slowly. "I think… the King of the Bones can control corpses. These guys? They didn’t log out. They were turned into puppets."

Ysanthe’s expression darkened. She looked like she wanted to scream but kept it in.

"Do you have anything you can use to fight?" I asked.

Without a word, she drew her weapon, sleek, red dual daggers, glinting like blood under moonlight.

"Good." I nodded. "Stay behind me. Let’s find this final boss."

The mini-map shimmered. A new icon appeared, a skull with devil horns, floating like a boss marker in the southeast wing of the dungeon.

We followed the winding corridors in silence, the tension thick enough to choke on.

That’s when we saw him.

A kid. Maybe seven, maybe younger, standing in the middle of the path. Alone.

"Wait," I whispered. "What the hell?"

"There weren’t any kids among the players," Ysanthe said, frowning. "Where’d he come from?"

I stepped forward carefully.

"Hey there, kid," I said softly. "What are you doing out here?"

The boy turned to look at me.

He smiled.

His voice was cheerful, too rehearsed. "Please, kind adventurers! There’s a terrible monster called the King of the Bones! He’s taken my family and all the people from the village! Please, you have to help us!"

I froze. That wasn’t a cry for help.

It was scripted dialogue.

Ysanthe and I exchanged a look. Something felt off. Way off.

Then, without thinking, I placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

His body glitched, a quick stutter, like corrupted data.

And then—

He changed.

His eyes widened. The smile dropped.

He looked… terrified.

He grabbed my arm, clinging to it, trembling.

"Please…" he whispered, voice trembling. "Help me. Help my mommy and daddy… please. Please save them…"

Ysanthe stared in stunned silence. So did I.

Whatever this place was… something wasn’t right. And that kid?

He wasn’t acting like an NPC anymore.

The kid stayed close beside Ysanthe, his small hand clutching the hem of her cloak. We tried to ask him a few simple questions—his name, where he came from, what he saw—but he was too frightened to form a clear answer. He stuttered and shook with every word, and eventually, we stopped pressing. We’d already startled him enough. Whatever this place was doing to people, it clearly wasn’t sparing the children.

So we decided to keep moving, me gripping the Dangatana tightly in hand. The corridor ahead was narrow, with jagged stonework and flickering torches that didn’t seem to cast any real light. Then, without warning, a massive skeletal arm burst through the wall, bones cracking, dust spraying, as it reached toward us with claw-like fingers.

I stepped forward instinctively and swung the Dangatana up, catching the bony hand mid-swipe and forcing it back. Sparks flew from the impact. Behind me, Ysanthe reacted just as fast, yanking the kid away and sliding him behind one of the nearby pillars. She turned and joined me, her Flare Flower glowing faintly as she drew her dual red daggers, ready for combat.

I tried to activate Nova Bloom. I knew I had the spell, it showed up in my unlocked skills earlier, but  for some reason, nothing was happening. No interface prompt. No casting animation. Nothing.

What the hell?

Was the game expecting me to perform it manually? No HUD, no commands, just… do it?

This game was really starting to blur the line between roleplay and reality. Too much.

I didn’t have time to figure it out. I gritted my teeth and charged at the arm, slashing wildly, battering the giant skeletal limb with everything I had. I fired off a few glitch rounds from the Dangatana, not caring about my aim, just focused on driving it back.

Click.
Empty.

I’d run out of bullets. But it was worth it.

The arm recoiled, bones cracking again as it withdrew into the wall. A guttural growl echoed from the tunnel beyond—long, low, and furious. It vibrated through the floor like an earthquake tremor.

"That had to be the boss," I muttered, my breathing uneven.

Ysanthe nodded, still holding her daggers in a reverse grip. Her eyes flicked toward the boy, then back to me.

"Let’s go," I said, reloading my weapon with a metallic snap.

Whatever this "King of the Bones" was, it just noticed us. And now we were heading straight for it.
We finally reached the lair of this so-called King of the Bones. The path opened into a massive, circular chamber, like the interior of a sunken coliseum, its ceiling lost in darkness above.

I found myself wondering: were we about to face a skeleton the size of a skyscraper?

The moment we stepped inside, the air turned cold. Bodies, dozens, maybe hundreds, were scattered across the ground. Players and NPCs. All of them dead. The silence in the room wasn’t just eerie, it was heavy. I couldn’t tell how many had died here, but it was more than I was ready to count.

Along the walls were tall iron-barred jail cells, each one packed with prisoners. I rushed to scan their faces, were any of them players?

No. Not a single one. Only locals. NPCs, if that even meant anything anymore in this hyper-real world.

Suddenly, the kid let out a cry and ran ahead. He stopped in front of one of the cells, gripping the bars tightly. His mother was inside. I turned to Ysanthe.

"Take him to her," I said. She gave a quick nod and guided him through the debris.

Then, from the far side of the chamber, another group of players entered through one of the archways, five guys. One of the guys had a loud, cocky voice, already mad about something. But when they saw us, their tension dropped and they waved.

Before we could approach them, more footsteps echoed. Another group arrived, more survivors, thankfully, but still no sign of Jarrod. My eyes scanned everyone frantically.

Where the hell was he?

We were just about to regroup when it happened.

A giant skeletal hand burst out from one of the tunnels and snatched a player from the rear group. It yanked him back into the darkness so fast, no one had time to react. All we could hear was the sound of his final, horrifying scream echoing down the corridor.

Everyone instinctively closed ranks, pushing toward the center of the room.

Then… slam. One by one, the exits sealed shut, massive stone gates crashing down, sealing us in.

We were trapped.

The room grew silent again. Not a sound. Just the tense, uncertain breathing of the crowd.

Then from above, high in the shadows, a monstrous figure began to descend.

Bones. Only bones.

Its lower body was a twisted mass of skeletal legs, like some grotesque spider, and its upper half resembled a human torso fused with more skulls and ribcages. It loomed above us, moving with unnatural smoothness, every limb clicking and scraping against the stone as it crawled down from the wall.

Its head twisted to look directly at us. Its empty eye sockets locked onto the gathered crowd.

And then, the HUD finally kicked in.

A massive health bar flashed into view above the creature, blood red and pulsing.

[KUMODOKURO — THE BONE SPIDER KING]

Looks like we found the boss.

Or maybe… it found us.