Dungeon Exploration
Death Knight.
A powerful undead forged by a wicked black mage from the corpse of a knight.
Of course, everything I knew about them was nothing more than fiction spun from imagination.
But the figure that had just revealed itself before my eyes was real.
Cold sweat slid down my back.
The strength of a Death Knight, as I understood it, defied imagination. Once they gained the ability to wield malevolent mana, they could unleash power far beyond anything they had possessed in life.
Of course, this one probably wasn’t the Death Knight from my old stories.
Clank—!
In that instant the Death Knight charged.
Its legs pounded forward at terrifying speed, violet mana surging to support every movement. The murderous intent in its assault made my body react on pure instinct.
Clang!
“Ugh… kuh!”
The sword I raised on reflex caught the Death Knight’s blow. The moment our blades met, I understood.
This thing’s strength far surpassed my own.
“Th-this…! Ceris! Just hold on a little longer!”
Isolin’s frantic voice scattered through the air.
Could I really hold on the way she said—using nothing but swordsmanship?
The thought didn’t last. The Death Knight’s blade came screaming toward me again.
A storm of sword strikes poured down as if determined to give me no room to think.
Clang—! Clang!
“Khrrgh…”
A groan slipped through my tightly clenched teeth. Every time the blades collided, a sharp vibration raced up my arms.
Even with mana reinforcing my body, I was being overpowered. Counterattacking was unthinkable; I didn’t even have a moment to catch my breath. Every scrap of focus had to go into defense.
And still, I couldn’t stop every strike.
As time dragged on I grew exhausted, while the undead Death Knight never tired.
Then its sword traced a bizarre curve. The motion was pure snake—malevolent mana coiling around the blade as it slipped past my guard and stabbed straight for my chest.
An instantaneous thrust. No time to block. No thought of dodging.
Thud—!
The blow landed clean. My vision flickered and my balance shattered. It felt as if every last scrap of air in my lungs had been punched out through my mouth.
“Hwaak…!”
Using the force of the impact, I shoved myself backward and clutched my chest. Fingertips found torn leather and the sticky wetness of blood.
The wound was shallow. Nothing that would hinder my movement.
Worth every coin I’d spent commissioning that ogre-hide gear.
KWAANG—!
The explosion came without warning.
The Death Knight staggered back, caught in the blast. I turned my head just enough to see Isolin, wrapped in a storm of mana, wand leveled and ready.
The Death Knight recovered its stance and moved again. One long stride closed the distance in a heartbeat—straight toward Isolin. It meant to eliminate the mage pouring out those threatening spells first.
In this world, mages became completely vulnerable the moment they cast. I’d only ever met two of them, so I couldn’t be sure it was universal. But I knew at least this much: Isolin needed my help right now.
Pretending to be an ordinary swordsman was over.
Once the fight ended she might interrogate me, but I felt not a shred of hesitation.
Kiiing—!
The Mana Circle formed in my heart began to spin at high speed.
Mana laced with pure white starlight and blue frost raced through the burning ring of fire. Power surged from my heart, raced up my arm, and poured into the tip of my sword.
Shwaaaak!
A straight beam of starlight mana, cold as winter, froze everything in its path. First the air itself turned brittle with frost; white rime settled over it.
Yet the Death Knight, struck dead-on, never stopped. Its speed slowed, but the blade still flew toward Isolin.
Clang—!
The reduced speed was enough. Breathing hard, I managed to intercept the Death Knight’s sword.
Isolin’s gaze burned into my back, but I had no luxury of turning around.
Krrrk—!
As the freezing cold began to dissipate, the frost clinging to the Death Knight’s body flaked away. Its movements returned to normal.
At the same moment Isolin’s voice rang out.
“Ceris! Get clear!”
I felt the violent surge of mana. Her second spell was complete.
I hurled myself sideways.
KWAANG—!
The sphere of mana slammed into the Death Knight and detonated. Rough flames erupted; the dungeon itself seemed ready to collapse under the shockwave.
I frowned. Even through that savage explosion the Death Knight still stood. Its armor was badly dented, yet its movements hadn’t changed at all.
“Haa…”
I exhaled low and drew mana up once more. Starlight mana spinning in my heart shot forward into the blade. I swung the star-wreathed sword at the Death Knight.
Its swordsmanship was systematic, refined, and at times razor-sharp. The snake-like technique was especially troublesome—whenever the tip of its blade began that eerie sway, it slipped past my guard and drove unerringly for a vital point.
The longer the fight dragged on, the more blood streamed from my body. The once-sturdy ogre hide hung in tatters; the cloak at my back had been torn away long ago. My flesh was failing fast.
Klang—!
The moment I blocked a heavy swing, strength fled my hand. My exhausted body could no longer hold on; the sword spun free, struck the ceiling, and clattered to the floor.
“Shit…”
The curse left my lips on pure reflex—and never finished.
The Death Knight’s follow-up strike was already descending, a great overhead cut aimed at my now-empty torso.
I flung up a hand in desperation and released mana. Freezing cold gathered at my fingertips, shaping itself into an unstable blade of ice.
Clang—!
The ice shattered, of course. White frost scattered as the brutal slash carved through the fragments and bit deep.
Crunch—!
Hard leather split; the soft skin beneath tore open. Using that force, the Death Knight hurled me sideways.
“Kraaagh…!”
It didn’t finish me while I tumbled across the floor. Certain I could no longer move, it turned and advanced on Isolin.
In that same instant her next spell completed. A sphere of mana shot from her wand, struck the ground in front of the Death Knight, and erupted in a massive explosion.
“Aaaagh!”
Isolin, standing too close, was caught in the blast as well. She was flung far away; her only weapon—the wand—clattered to the floor and rolled into a corner.
I lifted my head dazedly. The wand had rolled right to me.
“Ceris! Throw it!”
Isolin shouted for me to toss her weapon back.
Common sense said that was the right call.
I didn’t.
I picked up the fallen wand and rose to my feet. My legs trembled and one side of my vision had gone blurry, but both arms still worked fine.
“Ceris!!!”
Isolin’s voice reached me as if through water. A vicious headache throbbed; my entire body began to burn.
This was a world where swords and magic lived and breathed. There were mages and dragons, and now a Death Knight stood before me as living proof that black mages existed. Everything that had once lived only in imagination had become reality.
A single question rose unbidden.
Then… couldn’t my imagination become reality too?
I recognized the presence of mana and built my own inner world. Beyond the haze of my vision, countless points of starlight unfolded. Each star was another world I had once known—another possibility held within mana.
Kiiing—!
A rotation sound only I could hear. The Mana Circle seated near my heart began to spin at full speed. The ring of raging fire revealed its savage nature without restraint and started to devour my body.
“Haa…”
Fwoosh—
Hot flame rode the breath that left my lips.
At my current level I couldn’t freely control Calvein’s mana. But if I used the power of a magic stone, I could at least guide its direction.
The heat invading my body drained away—straight into Isolin’s wand gripped in my right hand.
Kiiing—!
At the same time another Mana Circle began to turn. I gathered every last drop of remaining mana and shaped blue frost. Starlight-wrapped mana flowed into my left hand.
Both hands now held opposing forces at once.
In that moment a single star flared beyond my blurred vision. With it came the image of a man—someone from another world only I knew. The Emperor of the Northern Sea, both hands wreathed in opposing energies, striking a strange stance.
I moved exactly as he had.
The instant the opposing powers fused, they shoved against each other with tremendous repulsive force. A violent storm erupted between my small hands; the shock snapped the wand, leaving only the magic stone behind.
I couldn’t hold it any longer.
Gritting my teeth, I thrust both hands forward. The raging storm that had been pushing itself apart shot ahead instead.
Everything in its path was shredded. The floor tore open; the sealed wall collapsed, revealing the far side. The Death Knight caught in the storm fared no better. Its upper body vanished somewhere out of sight; the sword it had held went flying into a corner and embedded itself deep.
Then the Death Knight’s lower half toppled.
The violet mana that had inhabited its body was gone. It had met a true death.
I wondered whether “death” was the right word for an undead that had already died once, but no better expression came to mind.
“Ah…”
My body tilted and I collapsed onto the cold stone. The backlash of burning through every last scrap of mana had arrived.
“Th-that magic… what in the world…?”
Isolin’s voice drifted through my fading consciousness. I smiled and answered—whether the words reached her or not, I made sure of them.
“Polar…”
The end of the word blurred as my mind sank into darkness.