Chương 4: The Lure in the Dark

Coburn stood tall with his skeletal body, holding the pickaxe he had taken earlier. Earlier, Arthur was reluctant to reveal his skeleton. However, people would eventually come to know of his class and his skeletons. Since the current situation was very severe, he decided to utilize his skeleton before these people. After a while, the laughter died down. The other people who were sitting afar also came over to view the skeleton.

"So, your class is a Summoner," Lena said, taking a few steps closer to Coburn.

"Congratulations, kid. It is a very rare class to awaken," the burly man said.

"My skeleton will act as bait, and it will evacuate the place immediately. It will not fight whatever you are hunting," Arthur firmly demanded his terms. He knew his skeleton could use a sword. However, how good it would be at fighting the anomaly these people were hunting was a question. If a skeleton with mediocre strength were to fight a strong opponent, it would definitely be destroyed. He did not know what would happen if the skeleton was destroyed.

Moreover, he was very sure the system or the damn notebook would impose a huge penalty if Coburn were to die. Hence, he agreed to act as bait and retreat from the battle these people were about to engage in.

"Not a problem, kid," Edgar said as he unstrapped the sword from his hip.

"If the sword is damaged, you will have to pay for it," Edgar said in a serious tone. Suddenly, Arthur felt a sense of regret about asking for the sword. Although he was confident Coburn would use the weapon properly, if it were to be damaged amidst the commotion, he would have to bear the debt. However, he did not bother over it for long. He had only asked for the sword just in case his skeleton was trapped in an emergency. If it had to defend itself, it would not be using a scrap-type pickaxe.

The sword was purely a precaution. Arthur received the sword. Instantly, he felt a certain kind of energy emitting from it. The sword felt solid, weighing around ten pounds. Although he did not know anything about swords of any kind, he felt the weapon was definitely special. He wondered why Edgar was not using it. Maybe he just strapped the sword on for show, Arthur silently thought. Arthur retrieved the cheap pickaxe from Coburn, handing the sword over and issuing a command.

"Use the sword to defend yourself when there is an emergency." Coburn did not react to the command, but it took the sword without any issues. However, Arthur faintly felt his command had reached and been understood by the skeleton. Now, it was time to hear the plan and the details regarding what these people were hunting. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

When Arthur asked about the plan, they only shared the actions his skeleton had to take, completely hiding the whole picture. Such secrecy made this entire matter extremely mysterious. Arthur himself felt an indescribable, ominous feeling. As bait, the only task his skeleton had to accomplish was to lure out whatever monster resided within the Toxic Mining cave. These were all the details Arthur obtained; the exact type of monster Coburn had to lure was not shared.

Did I overcommit myself to this monster hunt, placing my skeleton's life on the line? a thought came to Arthur. Currently, everything about his life was a dead end. If he were to refuse this bait job, he would strip away his opportunity to earn the money required for his debt. If he were to agree to lure whatever monster resided within that toxic mining cave, Coburn would be placed in a dangerous spot. However, he had to do it.

"Listen to my commands and follow them. You will go into the Toxic Mining cave and lure a monster outside. Cautiously stay away from whatever monster you see inside, put some distance between yourself and the monster, cause a commotion, and exit the cave immediately," Arthur commanded.

"Only fight if you have no other options and your life is threatened. Otherwise, escaping the cave is your priority. Once you have exited the cave, run away from the monster to a safe place." Arthur gave a thorough command to Coburn. Although the skeleton did not visually acknowledge the command, Arthur clearly felt it had been understood.

"Are you ready, kid?" Edgar asked as the group of more than ten people readied themselves for the hunt.

"Yes. Our job is only to lure the monster, not to fight with it," Arthur confirmed once more.

"Just lure the monster out; we will take care of the rest," Edgar assured as they all walked through the darkness towards the Toxic Mining cave. Hearing Edgar's words, Arthur felt a sense of mystery surrounding this entire matter. There were more than ten people present. Any one of them could have taken up this luring job. Instead, they had waited outside, asking a newly awakened person to do it. Such reasoning left Arthur in a completely confused state.

"Stay extra alert inside the cave. Lure the monster from afar, and do not go too near to whatever resides inside," Arthur whispered a final command to Coburn, who was walking by his side. After walking for fifteen minutes, they finally arrived at a large cave entrance. Inside, darkness loomed.

"Let's do this, kid. Command your summon to enter the cave and lure the monster out," Edgar stated as the others spread out into different positions. With slight hesitation, Arthur willed his intent for Coburn to enter the cave. Following that intent, the skeleton walked into the cavern, holding the sword in its right hand.

"You, take your position up high on that storage building," Lena instructed, pointing towards a three-story building not far from the cave. Arthur started walking towards it as the darkness began to disperse. Morning was about to arrive. Almost five hours had passed since he awakened his class. If he were to succeed in this job, he would definitely be able to pay off his outstanding debt. However, a voice in his mind told him this matter was not going to end as smoothly as he expected.

Finally, Arthur reached the top of the building. He could vaguely see the cavern's entrance as he waited for his skeleton to exit. Currently, he did not feel any connection between his skeleton and himself. He only hoped it would not be destroyed by the monster taking shelter inside that cave. While Arthur was pondering over these matters, a muffled commotion suddenly erupted within the silent, old district. Arthur could clearly identify the sound pattern; it was a mixture of hissing and clattering.

The hissing of a snake and the clicking sounds of claws echoed from within the cave. Arthur fixed his eyes on the cave's entrance. Within the dim darkness, a white figure exited in a jumping manner. Following behind the white figure, a massive figure rushed out, destroying the cave's entrance in the process. Arthur could finally understand what kind of creature it was under the dim darkness. All he could assume was that it looked like a scorpion with claws and the long body of a snake. It was a mutated monster.