Dungeon (Part 4) - A Bloody Dance

"The true test of strength is not the battle itself, but the courage to face it"

The door slowly opened with a loud creak that echoed loudly in the tunnel, the team's eyes collectively widening as they took in the scenery.

Through the darkness, one could see a huge chamber, a magnificent throne room.

There was complete silence, occasionally broken by the low growls of the hundreds of monsters lined up on the red carpet.

There was a faint, metallic smell of blood in the air, one which only seemed to heighten the tension.

The ceiling soared so high that it seemed to fade away into the darkness, as if this room was down in the pits of hell itself, giving an illusion of an infinite void.

The walls were adorned with jewels, carved with intricate designs, worthy of being in such an extravagant throne room. They reflected a warm, silvery light akin to moonlight in the winters.

The team stepped inside, their breathing quickening as their worst fears were confirmed.

There were hundreds of monsters, the lowest being D-Rank, spread across the room. There were C-Ranks sprinkled within.

However, what scared them more was the fact that the monsters were organized… they weren't fighting each other at all.

However, the true terror sat on the throne, the Overlord of these monsters, a skeleton, almost twice as big as a normal human, its eyes glinting with a deep red glow that sent a chill down anyone's spine who dared to gaze upon him.

"B-Rank," Anny muttered, her voice shaking.

The revelation hit like a truck to all the team members. Nina was barely holding herself together, her fists clenched in determination, but her eyes told a completely different story.

Even Sukuna was slightly trembling, his gaze slightly uncertain. However, there was a small smile on his face… he was having fun.

Sounds of their ragged breathing reverberated in the room, the monsters turning to them in sync, as if they were one entity.

Sukuna's heart skipped a beat. He had already noticed a large amount of monsters under the throne room, as if ready for an ambush.

However, their mana was just too low to pinpoint the number, he assumed around 100.

The mana was so low that it seemed almost… deliberate.

He didn't have time to think of anything, however, since the Skeleton king had already raised it hand, which was glowing in a faint white color.

Hundreds of skeletons, which were E-Rank, rose from the ground, their bones slowly forming from thin air.

A smirk formed on Sukuna and Johan's faces, their twisted expressions mirroring each other.

"Necromancer, a bit cliché, don't you think?" Sukuna muttered, his gaze fixed on the Skeleton King. They were staring into each other's eyes, marking each other as the biggest threat.

With the King's silent command, the monsters lunged towards the six, their footsteps making the floor tremble and crack.

"Good luck," Sukuna shouted, bending down, cursed energy flowing to his legs.

The team exchanged nervous glances, their expressions varying from excited to borderline pissing themselves.

The team collectively nodded. They already understood… he was going for the boss.

Sukuna shot up, the ground under him cracking in a spiderweb-like pattern, making Nina and Ryogaku stumble.

A gust of air blasted out from where he was due to his speed, the force of the wind pushing Alexia back a few inches.

She slowly opened her eyes back up, which immediately widened on seeing Sukuna's following actions.

He had jumped towards the wall. Reinforcing his hands with cursed energy, he dug into the wall with his fingers, holding onto it for support.

His smirk only widened as he maneuvered on the wall, getting closer to the boss with every passing second.

The monsters under him either completely ignored, or failed to attack him. How funny a sight it was to him.

As he was moving towards the throne, he suddenly felt something… an overwhelming sense of danger, like when he was about to be assassinated in the forest.

His smirk faltered, and as if by instinct, he ducked, his foot slightly slipping from the wall, sending him tumbling down.

Less than a second later, an arrow impaled the wall right where his head was with a loud thud, stuck into place.

His eyes widened, before he breathed a sigh of relief, his heart pounding in his chest… He had almost died. The little slip, however, had decided his next moments.

He fell right into the horde of monsters. He landed on the floor on his back with a thud, a groan escaping his lips.

A monster immediately took advantage of his state, punching towards him, aimed right at his chest.

He managed to roll away, the punch hitting his arm instead, completely breaking his into pieces along with the floor beneath it, which cracked due to the force.

Sukuna gritted his teeth in pain, his arm hanging limp as he got up, standing on two feet.

He immediately used reverse cursed technique to heal the injury before it got lethal. Suddenly, he felt a presence, and ducked, the sword swung by a monster narrowly missing his head, almost cutting off a bit of hair on his head.

He raised his healthy hand as the other one healed, cursed energy converging at his fingertips as he opened his mouth, his breathing uneven.

"Dismantle," he muttered, his fingers moving with a practiced grace that immediately split the monsters in front of him into two, his smirk widening at the view.

The monsters didn't even have time to scream as their bodies fell, blood pooling beneath them as their organs fell out onto the floor, coloring it a disgusting mixture of red and yellow.

The other monsters, however, didn't care about it at all. They shot closer, stepping on their comrades' intestines without a single ounce of regret.

That's just what monsters are.

"I didn't need to avoid you, now did I?" Sukuna shouted, his expression morphing into a huge, borderline maniacal grin as he shot forward, sending an innumerable amount of slashes towards the monsters, splitting them into pieces without exertion.

The Skeleton King, on its throne, shifted slightly, its eyes glinting in an unknown, faint red light.

On the other side of the room, his team was struggling in a fight of their own.

"NINA, FOCUS!" Ryogaku shouted, his voice drowning under the cries of the monsters circling him. He slashed with his sword, around which a few sparks burned bright, cutting the monsters' bodies with practiced precision.

Nina was almost tearing up, her hands trembling as she struggled to cast spells. She was on the support with Anny and Alexia, while Ryogaku and Johan fought in the frontlines.

Nina, unlike these five, was just… normal. She had never seen such a battle… a war. It had more of an emotional impact on her than a physical one.

Every time she saw a monster being ripped apart by Johan, every time she saw blood flying in the air, her stomach churned… she wanted to puke… she wanted to escape.

"Inferno," Anny's voice rang out from beside her, sharp and focused, both her hands raised in the air as she chanted a spell.

A torrent of fire exploded from the ground, engulfing a group of around 20 monsters in a hellish fire that burned them alive, their bones turning into fine ash.

"Alexia!" Johan's voice rang out. He was in the middle of the horde, his clothes torn and his back filled with injuries and scratches as he grabbed a goblin's face, pushing it down to the floor, blood flowing out from its ears and eyes as he crushed its skull.

Alexia, standing next to Anny, nodded, raising both her hands, which glowed in a faint white light.

Johan exhaled audibly as his injuries slowly healed with a sizzling sound, the result of Alexia's healing magic, the one she was most adept in.

His movements became faster now that he was free from his injuries, the ever-present grin on his face unwavering.

"Thanks!" He shouted, his hand digging into the flesh of a wolf that tried to jump on it from behind, entering its abdomen without an ounce of sympathy.

He pushed his hands away, ripping the wolf into two pieces. It howled in pain, its cries slowly dying down as its eyes went lifeless.

Nina, both scared and disgusted, glanced at the other side of the room, her eyes landing on Sukuna who was in the air.

Her eyes widened as she observed the spectacle. Sukuna had jumped straight towards the boss, on his face a huge grin that she could only call savage.

Lost in the scene, she didn't notice a huge, armored monster sneak up behind her, slowly getting closer.

The warrior raised its sword, a large smile visible through its helmet.

Alexia's eyes widened as her eyes met that of the monster, her heart racing as she shot towards Nina, her arms extended towards her. "NINA!"

The scream brought Nina back to her senses, her eyes meeting that of the monster, and the first thing she saw was the sword, glinting with a bright light, swinging towards her in all its glory.

On the other side of the room, Sukuna was having the most fun of his life.

He had singlehandedly killed more than 20% of the monsters, his breathing ragged as he ran around the place.

He glanced back, seeing his teammates doing quite well, killing the monsters without having too much trouble.

He was confused too, however, how did they get so strong so quickly?

His gaze turned to the Skeleton King, who was sitting on the throne, unmoving, not even blinking as it saw its subordinates slaughtered one by one.

Sukuna froze, his gaze meeting the King's as they both stared into each other's eyes, their gazes clashing in the air, which seemed to crackle with energy.

The atmosphere got more tense, the monsters who were previously rushing to attack Sukuna were now slowly backing off, their senses screaming at them to run.

"Wanna say something, Ainz?" Sukuna shouted, a huge smirk on his face.

His mocking did not affect the King in the slightest, who simply continued to sit on its throne, staring at the boy.

Sukuna grabbed the hilt of his knife, which was wrapped on his waist, his fingers crackling with a dark energy as he bent down, pushing cursed energy into his legs.

His lips curled up further, forming a huge, savage grin on his face as he shot towards the King.

The ground under him cracked, sending a wave of air blasting off due to his speed, pushing the monsters surrounding him back.

Sukuna, in the air, pulled his hand backwards, tightly clutching the knife as he poured cursed energy into it, more than he had ever tried to.

The knife vibrated, as if it was being fed too much cursed energy, as if it would shatter into pieces at any moment.

The King, noticing the threat, raised its hand, quickly grabbing a longsword placed next to his throne, pouring mana into both his bones and his sword to strengthen them, trying to tank and retaliate against the incoming blow.

Sukuna didn't stop, he was confident in his attack.

With a loud cry, he swung his arm with full force, the knife going towards the King's skull with a whoosh sound.

The King's bones cluttered as it moved, its eyes burning with an ominous red light. It was impossible to read its emotions.

Time itself seemed to slow down as Sukuna's senses were heightened to their very limit.

He could hear every sound, he could see every single thing.

The knife slowly went towards its skull, as if bending space itself with the energy.

The King swung the sword at the knife, the weapons colliding, sending bright yellow sparks flying in all directions.

A loud CLANG echoed throughout the room, alerting everyone, including some monsters, whose gazes darted towards the source.

Sukuna was thrown back. With a flip, he landed on his two legs, his body trembling with exertion as he slowly raised the hand holding the hilt of the knife tightly.

The knife was… broken into two.