“You’re an undead,” Viktor said.

  “I am, technically,” replied the skull. Unlike Khenemhotep, it didn’t bother with jaw movement. Instead, the words it produced seemed to resonate directly from the crystalline jar itself. Stranger still, the voice that emerged sounded like that of a normal human woman, a world apart from the dry, ancient rasp of the undead priest. “Though I’d prefer not to be called that. It makes me sound like one of those mindless corpses animated by some necromancy. Wait...”

  The skull rotated within its container as its empty eye sockets shifted toward the one who sat beside Viktor. Looked like only now did it recognize Khenemhotep was also here.

  “You are a priest of the Lord of Death, right?”

  “Verily.” Khenemhotep inclined his head. “And you, in turn, are a holy warrior of the Lord of Light, are you not?”

  “That’s correct,” the skull said without hesitation. “I am a Knight Exemplar of the Higher Will.”

  Another servant of a god, huh? Viktor sighed. You really couldn’t take a step without bumping into someone who had sworn themselves to the divine.

  “Galatea, isn’t it?” he said. “The terms you stated were that we treat your wounds. However, considering that you’re, well, not exactly alive anymore, I’m a bit unclear what I am supposed to do.”

  “My armor is my body now. The skull before you is the only remaining piece of my original form. It serves as the anchor that binds my soul to this vessel, and as you can plainly see, the vessel has suffered extensive damage.”

  “So, you want me to fix your armor.”

  Viktor wondered whether his gremlins could handle the task. They probably could. The real concern was what else they might add, remove, and modify while they were at it. Galatea probably wouldn’t be thrilled with how her “body” ended up looking.

  “Actually, you don’t even need to do anything. Once our pact is finalized and I become a Guardian of your dungeon, I’ll draw mana from the Core and gradually regenerate the damage myself.”

  Ah, self-repair. Of course. Why wouldn’t the walking holy relic come with self-repair?

  But that also meant she was offering her services for basically nothing. Unlike that succubus, though, it was probably the consequence of her being one bad crack away from permanent destruction.

  “I see,” Viktor said, leaning back. “But before I even think about letting you into my dungeon, I need to know more about you. Let’s start with how you ended up in that state. Who did you fight anyway?”

  “I don’t know if you’ve heard of him, but he’s a false god who calls himself the Great One of the Deep.”

  What?

  Viktor stared at the skull. “You’re telling me you fought a god? Alone?”

  “A false god,” Galatea repeated. “And no, I did not fight him alone. I stood with my battle brothers and sisters, along with the host of angels that answered the call of the Higher Will. And, of course, the False One himself was not unaccompanied; he was supported by a legion of his Prophets.”

  Prophets? Ah, yes, Orloth once mentioned the Prophets of the Great One. They were his closest servants, leaders of his followers. When the Great One abandoned a world once his conquest had been completed, the Prophets departed with him, while the Acolytes were left behind.

  “A full-scale battle, then. Where did it take place?”

  “In the Ethereal Sea.”

  Viktor knew the term. Everyone in this world did.

  Even though few could walk between worlds, the existence of the other realms had always been common knowledge. After all, the dungeons had brought all sorts of creatures from every imaginable world into this one. And if each world were an island, then the Ethereal Sea was the boundless ocean that lay between them all. When Celeste summoned a creature, she had dragged it here through this abyss. The Sea was also the source of power for all magic. Mana itself flowed from this place into the worlds, seeping into the air, into the earth, into everything.

  Now here someone stood, claiming that a battle had taken place there, fought amid the tides of raw chaos.

  “Go on,” Viktor said.

  “My battle group was assaulting a position, where we faced a particularly powerful Prophet. I had lost many of my brothers and sisters to him. I myself was surrounded by a horde of monsters he called forth. I tried to fight my way through, but in the end, I was ejected from the False One’s body and fell into the Ethereal Sea.”

  “Ejected from the body? Wait, what?”

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “The real body of the False One is a colossal, writhing mass of tentacles. A grotesque city of flesh, no, a nation of flesh, that floated upon the Ethereal Sea, with his followers living within it. So when we fought him, we didn’t fight a single enemy, but a massive country with multiple armies and fortresses.”

  Well, the tentacles the Acolytes summoned were part of the Great One’s body, so it was not a surprise that the main body itself was enormous. But a nation, huh? No wonder the guy didn’t care if some of his underlings borrowed a limb or two for their own use. To him, those things were probably little more than loose strands of hair caught in a brush.

  “When did this battle begin?” Viktor asked. “And has it ended yet?”

  “It began roughly two hundred years ago, when we received the order from the Higher Will to strike down the False One,” Galatea replied. “And it was still ongoing when I sank into the Ethereal Sea. I do not know whether it has concluded since then, but if I had to hazard a guess... probably not.”

  A battle that lasted two centuries? Wars between gods really operated on an absurd scale, didn’t they? And all the while, the Acolytes had gone right on praying and receiving miracles as if nothing were amiss. They didn’t even notice that their god was being attacked.

  “What happened after you dropped into the Ethereal Sea?”

  “Well, I kept sinking.” The skull tilted itself. Is that supposed to be a shrug? “I was badly damaged and unable to repair myself—”

  “Hold on. I thought you could regenerate as long as you had access to mana. You were literally submerged in the stuff.”

  “The mana within the Ethereal Sea is so concentrated that it’s lethal to almost everyone. Only the gods can safely harness its power. I could not. In fact, I had to expend what little power I had left just to block it out, to prevent my body from deteriorating further.”

  “I see.” Viktor nodded, prompting the skull to continue.

  “I did not know how much time had passed. All I knew was that my condition kept worsening. I was unable to contact any of my comrades, so I couldn’t call for help. I began to think that this would be the end of me. And then... I heard the call of your Dungeon Core.”

  “So... if I send you back now, that would be your death.”

  “Yes, very likely.”

  You’re basically saying that rejecting you would be the same as killing you. Lady, don’t emotionally blackmail people like that.

  As if she could hear his thoughts, Galatea added, “Feel free to decline if you don’t want to accept me as your Guardian. No pressure.”

  No pressure, my ass.

  “Alright,” Viktor said, “let’s talk about what you actually bring to the table.”

  “As you might guess from my appearance, I am a warrior. I’m also capable of using magic. I draw upon the power of the Light to enhance my combat abilities. I can vanquish incorporeal creatures such as ghosts, wraiths, and similar entities that might be immune to conventional weapons.”

  The intruders were human, though, so her usefulness would be quite limited. On the other hand, light magic fit the Domain of Light perfectly, and analyzing her spells could help him level up his own Mastery of Light when he had it unlocked. So that was something worth keeping in mind.

  “Anything else?”

  “I can create a projection of my spirit and send it away. It functions as a spectral image of myself. It can turn invisible at will, and I can command it to cast light magic, though the result is significantly weaker than I do with my real body. I can perceive everything through it, and I can even share that perception with other people, allowing them to use the projection’s eyes and ears like they were their own.”

  That alone could serve as an extraordinary scouting tool. Unfortunately, with him and Celeste already able to monitor everything inside the dungeon, the practical benefits would be greatly diminished—

  Wait.

  “Can your projection go outside of the dungeon?”

  “I don’t know. Normally, I can send it anywhere within the same world as me, but I have no idea what will happen once I am bound to a dungeon.”

  “Celeste?” Viktor turned to his Dungeon Core.

  [Theoretically, it should be possible. While her physical form can’t cross the boundaries of the dungeon, the things she creates shouldn’t have the same restrictions. Nevertheless, I can’t guarantee it will work in practice.]

  “Can you make a projection right now?” Viktor asked Galatea.

  “Not at the moment,” she replied. “I am in a weakened state, after all. You will have to wait until I’ve fully recovered.”

  In other words, he couldn’t know whether it would work until after he had already accepted her as his Guardian. A real gamble, huh? Still, even without the projection, she was decent enough. And if it actually worked, a ghost that could scout freely outside the dungeon would be very useful. It wouldn’t even need to fight; just its eyes and ears made it valuable enough.

  “Alright,” Viktor said. “We’ll see how that turns out when the time comes. But there are a few more things we should clear up first. First, my dungeon currently hosts the Acolytes of the Deep, servants of the very god you were just fighting. Is that going to be a problem?”

  “I am hardly in a position to be picky.” The skull “shrugged” again. “Besides, my real target is the False One himself. His lesser minions are beneath my notice.”

  “One more thing. You’re still sworn to your own god, right? Will serving both your god and me at the same time create complications? What will happen if there’s a conflict of interest in the future?”

  “My Lord will understand the choice I make under these circumstances. And I don’t think there would be any conflict between you and Him in the foreseeable future.”

  “What if there is?”

  “Then I would rather destroy myself than break any oath I have sworn.”

  Viktor nodded. “Gentlemen,” he asked his Guardians, “do either of you have anything else to add?”

  “None at all,” Sebekton rumbled. “I am honored to fight alongside another great warrior.”

  Khenemhotep said, “I rejoice to be in the company of a servant of my Lord’s equal.”

  “Then that settles it,” Viktor said. “Welcome to my dungeon, Galatea.”

  And with that, the holy warrior swore her oath.

  “Celeste,” Viktor said. “I choose the Domain of Light.”

  [Understood.]