The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

GURGLE. GURGLE. GURGLE

Something spilled out, made of both liquid and gas. A shifting mass of colors pooled across the floor like a colossal beast's disremembered remains. At the same time, it also seemed like a smoke that slithered with a will of its own. As the ooze spread, the Ashen Knight shuddered.

The impossible, unthinkable, had wavered.

SKRRRK.

Steel scraped the void. The knight swung without hesitation, crimson aura bursting from his blade. His strike wasn't aimed at us or the sludge, but empty air. Then, he vanished into the cut he'd made. A ripple lingered where he disappeared.

"Did it just run away?" Naneow's voice cracked.

It looked that way. The titan puppets breaking free earlier, was it his doing, or this thing's? The sigil, the barrier of titans, the Ashen Knight's apparition—they could all be on the same side. And yet, even he had fled.

Plop. Plop…

Mud fell from nowhere.

GURGLE…

"You… broke… it…"

The voice seeped...