How To Survive A Calamity

Chapter 134 Dark Castle [1]

"Fuck!" I woke up with a loud curse.

Nicodemus that bastard... Did he actually kill me?!

Who would have thought that messy haired, frail looking bray was the antagon—

"Huh?" Before i continued painting pictures in my head, i spread my eyes open and took in my surroundings.

Am i...

I blinked.

"... dead?"

[Brain dead.] Meta scoffed.

"What was that?!"

[...]

Tsk, i was wondering why Meta had become a little more docile and quiet a bit ever since i came into the Academy, but the bastard system was just as cocky and bold as ever!

I remember the younger days when Meta's venom weren't this direct!

Sure they often dealt me severe emotional blows to my self esteem, hut at least she prided herself in subtlety.

"Argh. Fuck that. What happened?" I ignored Meta's rude commentary about my intelligence and groaned while getting up.

[The cadet from before, Nicodemus, he did something and transported all of you somewhere else.]

I paused, feeling slightly nauseous with my head spinning.

'We've been teleported?'

Huh, how nostalgic that was.

"Now that you say so..."

I recalled the last and final minutes before Nicodemus did whatever he did at the end.

Even now, i still couldn't properly explain it or understand because of how sudden the whole moment developed and spiralled.

At that time, Danger Sense had vehemently reacted to an unknown and vague threat which turned out to be Chelsea's boyfriend.

But by the time i realised it, it was too late.

"What was that weird thing he did at the end? Was that a skill?"

Nicodemus had done something that was totally unexpected. Of course it was, i hadn't seen the twist of his actions coming at all.

I wasn't sure if it was a weird skill or powerful ability but...

That Nicodemus brat had summoned a massive fortress out of the ground!

It was an imposing and intimidating black castle, made of lightless onyx stone which emerged straight out bof the desert ground our of nowhere.

It was after that happened, my senses were cut off and i was now struggling to make head and tails of everything.

...

•[Ding!]

•[Welcome to the «Dark Castle»]

...

A system prompt suddenly appeared before my eyes.

I gazed at it and narrowed my eyes.

Dark Castle? Was that the name of this place?

'This place...?

No, where even was this place?

Now that i realised it, i was in an entirely different and unfamiliar place.

It was like an empty room, a hallway perhaps, filled with darkness that bounced off the pitch black jagged walls.

The hallway was wide, and the ceiling stood high above, making the passage quite wide and empty with only ancient shadows flooding the inside, side by side me.

"Another dark hallway."

And the uncomfortable nauseating feeling churning my insides...I mused and i rose and dusted myself.

'That's nostalgic.'

I looked around the wide passageway infested with undulating ancient shadows and spread out my senses and awareness all over. My perception reached out and heightened.

But even after doing so, i couldn't sense or detect anything nearby or around me. My senses weren't reacting to anything at all, and it was also as if i had been dropped in an empty dark vacuum of space.

All of a sudden, i found myself in such a strange environment. Then i felt a wave of déjà vu wash across me.

'I've been forcefully transported.'

Hasn't something like this happened once before already? I thought, feigning nonchalance.

"But what about the others?"

At the time whatever it was that happened happened, Deandra, Trise, Chelsea and even Kyle were around me. It was only normal to think they've also been forcefully dragged into whatever this was, just like i had been.

That seemed like the most likely case. Experience new stories on empire

I took a deep breath and recomposed my thoughts evenly. Then i glanced around once more.

Worrying about the others was alright and all, but i was in probably just as much risk as they were.

"First of all, i have to find out where exactly this is and...!" As soon as i began that thought, i froze and my eyes sharpened.

Dabger Sense was reacting.

And then, suddenly out of nowhere something sprung forth out of the unshifting darkness around me and lunged straight at me.

It was a tall, long and snarly claw tgmhat tore through the air like a piece of fabric. The wretched claw was swift and precisely, aiming directly dor my face.

Danger sense reacted swiftly as always and my perception heightened as my instincts kicked in.

"Shi...!"

I jerked my head backwards in time and retreated away from the sudden attack.

After taking a few instinctive steps backwards, i gazed forward warily.

The appearance of a monster soon emerged itself partially from the darkness.

I activated my Appraisal skill instinctively, it was a monster i was quite already familiar with by this point.

One of the many common species that crawled around in the red sands of Terra Sanguis.

In other words, just like the King of the Desert, this one was also a habitat resident of the dungeon.

Yes.

But it was also one I'd killed countless times already.

The Monster pro-actively continued to ruthlessly attack me without providing even the leisure of breathing space for me to recover.

It had the unsettling appearance of a scrawny humanoid lizard and a salivating maw filled with yellowish and greenish teeth and fangs protruding from it.

I didn't panic, instead, i felt quite the opposite.

These lizard man type creatures were one of the most common monster specie populating the dungeon, i spent days farming these guys for points and experiences. I knew enough about their traits and habits.

The lizardman with long lanky arms reaching past even its high kneels ruthlessly pounced forward and spread its wide mouth to clamp at my head.

I calmly stepped to the side and summoned a small dagger from my bracelet, raised it, and struck its blade ruthlessly into the top of its head.

The short silver blade of the dagger, reinforced subtly by my Art, easily penetrate through the dry, hard scales, flesh, muscls, and even bones— cutting deep into the brain.

-Squelch!

And then...

•[Ding! You have slain a D rank monster, Sand Walker...]

A familiar set of words rang inside of my head.

[You have grown stronger...]