Lich Apep
“No support…?”
“That’s the conclusion they reached.”
Two mages sat across a small table, trading words. One was Leoniss, his arm wrapped in bandages; the other was a messenger from the Magic Tower.
“Why? Her crimes are clear. She impersonated a Tower mage and lined her own pockets.”
“Your report was the problem. An independent magic system, leaked knowledge from the Battle Mage lineage… and a beastman. Instead of punishing Ceris, the Tower’s leadership seems to have decided to recruit her. If she becomes a real Tower mage, those sins simply vanish, don’t they?”
“Then…”
“You’ve been ordered to return to the Tower at once.”
Rough mana erupted from Leoniss’s entire body. The force of it whipped his robe about as if he stood in a storm.
“They’re going to let a beastman into the Tower. They’ve gone completely mad.”
“It is the leadership’s decision.”
Leoniss let out a sigh at the messenger’s calm delivery. Losing his temper with the man would change nothing. He thought of the girl far smaller than himself and forced his mana to settle.
“Huh…”
I swallowed a startled breath and checked my feet. Only moments ago there had been nothing beneath me and I had been plummeting into the depths—yet now solid ground met my soles as if the fall had never happened.
“Where is this…?”
I wasn’t the only one thrown into confusion. The other adventurers looked just as rattled—even Terra, who had seemed to know more than the rest of us. Watching her, I understood: arriving here had not been the Raoum royal family’s intention.
“What in the world…”
“The path changed…”
“The markers we left are gone.”
While the adventurers drew their weapons and settled into wary stances, I stepped over to Terra. She was frowning, fingers brushing the hilt of her greatsword.
Terra…
Yeah.
Is this another planned situation?
I don’t know… No one said anything about something like this…
If it wasn’t planned, then I was the reason we had fallen into a trap.
I frowned at the adventurers still glancing around in complete ignorance. Just then Alfonso clapped his hands, drawing every eye. His expression was utterly serious.
“Everyone, calm yourselves. It seems a dungeon trap has been triggered. Have you forgotten that moments like this demand a cool head and a careful look at the situation?”
“Mm…”
“He’s not wrong…”
The adventurers tilted their heads, half-convinced. Alfonso smiled at them.
“Our task hasn’t changed. We examine the dungeon and press forward.”
In the end the adventurers fell back under Alfonso’s command and began advancing once more.
The corridor looked nothing like before. Neatly cut bricks packed tight formed the walls, and every so often ominous statues emerged from the gloom.
The lamp light flickered faintly. From the far end of the darkened passage came a dry clatter—clack, clack.
Instinctive revulsion surged up. A wicked mana that defied death itself rippled into view.
“Those are…”
Not wolves or goblins. What stepped out of the dark were walking skeletons—skeletons wreathed in ominous mana, clutching rusted, broken weapons as they clattered closer.
“This isn’t what we were told…”
“They said goblins or wolves at worst…”
The adventurers muttered under their breath, weapons already in hand. I glanced at Alfonso. He looked as though he had never seen a skeleton before; his face twisted with deep aversion as he drew his sword.
When the skeletons closed to striking distance, Alfonso charged first. The rush looked reckless at a glance, but there was little to worry about—his full plate would shrug off anything the skeletons could throw at him.
“Haaaaah!”
The skeletons proved no great challenge. Every flash of an adventurer’s blade sent white bones cascading to the floor.
The fallen remains became the priests’ work. They swung maces glowing with faint light and smashed the shattered bones to dust.
“What’s going on? Why’s there no signal?”
“Maybe they’re just taking a break?”
The soldiers hauling the heavy cart began casting uneasy looks down the pitch-black passage. The cages stacked on their cart were packed with goblins.
Their job was simple: when the signal came, open the cages and drive the goblins into the dark. Yet no matter how long they waited, the signal never arrived.
“Haa…”
How much time passed? One soldier, unable to bear the boredom any longer, was just about to rise when a man clutching a lamp came sprinting out of the black corridor.
The two soldiers who had been sitting and loafing quietly stood the moment they recognized the face. The man who had raced through the dark was a servant attending the third prince.
“Y-you there!”
“What is it?”
The servant’s expression was anything but ordinary. Unease prickled through the soldier as he asked.
“Has… has the party led by His Highness the third prince come this way?”
The soldier glanced at his companion before answering.
“Anyone pass through?”
“Not so much as an ant…”
At their reply the servant’s face went deathly pale. Clutching his head, he spun and bolted back the way he had come.
“Your Highness! The third prince has vanished!”
His pitiful cry scattered into the darkness.
The occasional skeletons that appeared were never truly threatening. For a while it seemed we would pass through the dungeon without trouble.
“Hold a moment.”
The words came from the Gold Rank ranger at the front. He thrust a hand back, stopping the party’s advance.
“A trap?”
“Yes.”
Answering Alfonso, the ranger dropped flat and carefully brushed the dust-coated stone. When the white powder cleared, a section of floor that rose just slightly higher than the rest came into view.
“Best not to step on this.”
Having spotted the trap, the ranger gave a light laugh and took a small step forward.
A sharp pfft! split the air. Between the walls a blue flash streaked out. I scowled—the distance was too great. I thrust my sword out in haste, but only grazed the edge of the azure light. The Gold Rank ranger’s head toppled free with a dull thud.
Puhak!
Belated crimson sprayed. Few of the adventurers even reacted to the ranger’s empty end.
Alfonso, the party’s leader, stood with his mouth hanging open, red blood spattered across his face.
“Huh…”
“Oh no…”
Only then did the adventurers’ gasps break free. The ranger’s body, still pumping blood, crumpled bonelessly to the floor. In the same instant a rapid tadadak! sounded, and three arrows shot down from the ceiling.
A strange silence settled over the group. The adventurers eyed one another, then suddenly threw their heads back and began shouting like madmen.
“Hey!!! This isn’t what we agreed on!!!”
“Show yourselves!!! This is a breach of contract!!!”
Their roars seemed to jolt Alfonso back to his senses. Still dripping with blood, he opened his mouth in a careful attempt at calm.
“I-I say… everyone, settle down… And a breach of contract…? What on earth are you talking—”
Just as Alfonso stepped forward to quiet them—
Clank—
Heavy footsteps began to echo from the dark.
Clank—
Clank—
Not one. Two—no, three. The longer the moments stretched, the more footsteps joined the chorus. The adventurers who had been shouting in high excitement fell silent, sensing the new threat drawing near.
Clank—
The faint, wavering lamp light caught gleaming full plate. Out of the darkness stepped three knights clad in battered, ancient armor.
“Oh…!”
Alfonso’s face brightened at once. He turned to the party with a radiant smile and called out.
“No need to worry, everyone! Those are knights of the Raoum royal house! They’ve clearly come to rescue us!”
“K-knights…?”
Clank—
Just as Alfonso said, the faded crest of Raoum still lingered on the knights’ breastplates.
Yet the three knights said nothing. They simply advanced in silence. Terra and I drew our swords and stepped forward together. These were no ordinary knights.
“I-I say… you lot… what do you think you’re doing? Those are knights of Raoum—”
Alfonso’s voice never finished. The three knights lumbering closer each drew their blades and began to pour out a mana so foul it raised the hair on the skin.
In that instant Terra lunged, swinging her greatsword in a massive arc. The black blade, heavy with power, gouged wall and ceiling as it smashed into the lead Death Knight.
Kwaang!
It was a tremendous blow, yet the Death Knight looked unharmed. Its full plate was merely dented a little.
“Tch…”
Three blades streaked toward the spot where Terra stood. The sword strokes, wrapped in violet-black mana, were blindingly fast—but Terra slipped past every one of them without delay.
Her soft pink hair fluttered as she settled lightly at my side.
“D-Death Knights…!”
“Death Knights? The ones the warlocks use…?”
Panic rippled through the adventurers behind us. Alfonso himself began backing away, face drained of color.
All the better. There was no room for everyone to fight in this narrow corridor. I spun my Mana Circles and spoke to Terra.
“Terra.”
“Yeah.”
“Can you handle it?”
“Hard to say…”
She frowned at my question and adjusted her grip on the greatsword. The black blade scraped along the floor.
A Gold Rank swordsman would not guarantee victory. That alone spoke of how strong the three Death Knights were. In that moment the murky violet mana pouring from their bodies swelled even further.
It felt as though a blade already rested against my throat. Quietly, swiftly, I wrapped mana around my entire body. The circles in my heart began to draw up starlight mana—and the Death Knights’ assault began.
Kaaang!
The instant sword met sword, ominous mana and starlight tangled together and a violent storm exploded outward.