Lost World-Chapter 49: Ceremony

An ice attack came from Ninia, striking the boss’s waist, slowing it down considerably as the ice spread outwards towards its feet and upper body.

Yamamoto pressed the advantage, working with the knowledge he had of attack patterns from this particular undead type monster.

"Ninia, give me one more when I say!" Yamamoto said as he circled, watching the boss’s movements. "Cole, get ready to shield bash on my signal!"

Listening to him, they all prepared themselves while marveling at Yamamoto’s performance against the boss.

Yamamoto was leading them now, directing the team as much as he could, even though he wasn’t used to it at all, as even when he would play with others, they usually matched his pace, and he wouldn’t have to say much. As for his teammates now, they listened to his every word without question—too shocked by his sudden competence to question it.

In the fight now, Yamamoto was gaining more control, reading the boss like a book. He was very cautious, in case an attack came that was out of the pattern, but so far that had not happened.

"Now!" Yamamoto shouted.

Ninia shot another frost attack seconds later, securing a hit for Cole who performed his move with his own shoulder as the weapon rather than a shield as it should have been.

Quickly, Yamamoto moved in with a solid overhead strike that carried real power behind it, aiming his strike at the boss’s neck.

He tried to pull the sword put, but for some reason he got stuck in something.

The blade had cut deep into the boss’s thick neck, but the cut wasn’t so clean because of resistance from the undead’s tough flesh and bones.

The boss toppled, its head nearly severed, and just like that, just when Yamamoto’s sword came out, it crashed to the ground, dead.

Almost immediately, notifications popped up before Yamamoto’s eyes.

[Dungeon Cleared: Collapsed Mine]

[LEVEL UP!] You are now Level 9

[LEVEL UP!] You are now Level 10

[LEVEL UP!] You are now Level 11

Rewards:

+3000

[LEVEL UP!] You are now Level 12

Lesser Health Potion x3

Lesser Mana Potion x2

Jagged Hammer (Uncommon)

Return Scroll

...

Immediately, he felt the effect of the level up as energy returned to him fully, his fatigue disappearing completely, and his MP and HP refilling. Even his breath had stabilized.

’Wow, a return scroll.’ He thought to himself, looking at the rewards. He saw how much his level had risen, and was quite surprised. ’Isn’t this a little too fast?’

Moving off the boss’s corpse, he turned to find his entire team staring at him in disbelieve.

Cole’s mouth was hanging open, Ninia had stopped crying since, and even the grief on her face had been replaced by shock, and as for Donovan, he was just completely stunned.

"What... what was that?" Cole finally managed.

Yamamoto looked down at his sword, still dripping with undead ichor. "We needed to survive. So I made sure we did."

"You solo’d a level 16 boss," Cole said, his voice faint. "We were just... watching. You barely needed us."

"That’s not true," Yamamoto said, though it mostly was. "Ninia’s magic made the difference. Your shield work gave me openings. We worked together."

It was a kind lie, and everyone knew it.

No one said anything much further, instead, they moved and grabbed whatever loot they could get. Most of it was worthless to them, but they were things they could sell for money.

Once they were done, they now had to trace their way out of the dungeon. They still found some monsters around that they hadn’t killed before reaching the boss.

After some time, they emerged from the dungeon. It was afternoon already.

They wasted no time hanging around and returned back to city.

The journey back was silent, save for Ninia’s continuous sobbing.

When they reached the guild, they went to Tormund straight to report what had happened.

"Damn it, he really did it this time," Tormund said painfully. "We will honor his memory and inform his family."

He too was grieved by the loss, though not as much as the others.

...

The funeral was held five days later in Silas’s home village, a day’s journey south of Mashlow.

The entire team attended, alongside available guild members. Tormund came as well, representing the guild.

There was no body to bury. The dungeon had reset by the time anyone could return, and Silas’s remains were gone—absorbed into whatever mechanism controlled dungeon spawning. Instead, they buried his weapons and personal effects, a symbolic grave in a quiet cemetery overlooking fields.

Silas’s mother thanked them for coming, for trying to save her son, for bringing news of his death. His father however, stood silent, his face as though it was carved from stone. It was clear he was fighting back emotions and tears to appear strong.

His brothers spoke briefly with Yamamoto and the rest, then left.

Yamamoto stood at the back of the gathering for most of the time where he was not needed up front, watching it all with that same uncomfortable distance. He knew he should have felt more. He knew he should, but the system kept the grief away.

’Having to deal with things like this after living a peaceful life in another world, who can deal with it?’ He thought to himself.

During the ceremony, Ninia approached him. Her eyes were red from crying, her face pale.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "For keeping us alive. For... for making sure Silas’s death wasn’t for nothing."

"I just did what needed to be done."

"It was more than that. You knew exactly what to do. Like you’d fought that boss before." She looked at him with genuine curiosity beneath the grief. "How did you know?"

"Experience," Yamamoto said vaguely. "And luck."

She didn’t press further. Instead, she said, "Silas told you to treat me right. In his last moments."

"He did."

"That was... that was very him. Thinking about me even then." Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. "I feel so guilty. If I hadn’t—if he hadn’t been trying to impress me—"

"It wasn’t your fault," Yamamoto said firmly, remembering Silas’s dying request. "He made his own choices. The only person responsible for his death is himself, and even then, it was an accident and painfully unfortunate, not malice."

"I know. Logically, I know... But it doesn’t help."

"It will. Eventually."

They stood in silence, watching as Silas’s brothers filled the symbolic grave with earth.