Rest Assured, I'm a Good Death Knight
[Lv. 5] [Lv. 6] [Lv. 5] [Lv. 4]
What is a level? It is a metric of bullying the weak and cowering before the strong—a numerical value that lets you instantly size up whether someone is stronger or weaker than you. For a pathetic coward who only goes all-out against the weak, levels are an absolutely indispensable game mechanic. Fortunately, even now that this world had become my reality, I could still see them.
As a side note, in the 72 Dungeon Strategy Record, levels were not just a yardstick of strength; they also allowed you to glimpse the target's current emotions. A red level indicated hostility. Green meant goodwill. Orange was caution. Pink was affection. And black represented fear. Right now, every single level floating before my eyes was pitch-black.
For one agonizing second, we simply stared at each other. My body was frozen, but my mind raced.
I'm screwed.
Levels 3 to 5 belonged to ordinary adult male NPCs. To a Level 44 Death Knight, they were less than insects. But regardless of how low their levels were, just encountering humans was a massive crisis. They were undoubtedly thinking far worse things about me than I was of them. Those pitch-black levels were proof enough of that.
First, I had to clear up the misunderstanding through dialogue, right? Ah, rest assured. I'm a good Death Knight.
"I am a good—"
"It's a Death Knight!"
"Aaaagh!"
But damn it, this body wasn't even capable of attempting a conversation. At my gesture telling them to calm down, the humans scrambled to flee, trampling over one another. Because of the narrow, straight path, they shoved and tripped, descending into utter chaos. One person, even after falling, kept his eyes locked on me while dragging himself backward on his butt. Even if they had seen a ghost, they wouldn't have reacted this violently.
"Run! Run, hurry!"
"Stop pushing and move!"
They were running away when we needed to talk? I didn't even have time to filter my thoughts.
"Don't go! Please, just listen to me!"
"Hyaaaah!"
"It's coming! It's coming, hurry!"
"Oh my god, Mom!"
Their screams turned into outright wails. Realizing too late that my actions were only making things worse, I stopped. Once they had all vanished into the distance, I was left standing there entirely alone. Suddenly, I was reminded of the time I accidentally walked into the girls' restroom back in school. The reaction back then was exactly like this.
"Man, that suddenly makes me really sad."
Not even an hour after hiding away to avoid humans, I had been discovered. It wasn't just one or two people who saw me, and there was a village nearby. It was as clear as day that rumors would soon spread: 'Hey, I'm telling you, that Death Knight is right here!'
"It's still daytime, so I can't even leave. What a mess."
As much as I wanted to pack up and leave immediately, the sun was still high in the sky. Even before worrying about humans, the threat of sunlight exposure was too great. Once night fell, I had to get out of here as quickly as possible. Surely a subjugation group wouldn't show up here in less than a day, right?
Outside the cave, a pitch-black night had finally settled in. My anxiety about a subjugation group arriving before nightfall turned out to be nothing but a groundless worry. A sigh of relief escaped my lips naturally—though that sigh manifested as a chilling, ghostly draft.
Rustle—
Just as I was about to step out of the entrance, the bushes shook. Damn it, again? It was accompanied by the distinct presence of someone there, far too deliberate to be just the wind. Sure enough, something burst out from the thicket.
An undead's vision is unimpeded by the dark. I realized at a glance that they were "people," not "things." Seriously, how does another group show up not even a minute after I finally relaxed? Fearing I might be spotted, I backed away from the entrance and retreated deeper into the cave. Yet, for some reason, the footsteps drew closer and closer, eventually stepping right inside. At this point, they had to have come specifically to see me after hearing the rumors. There was no way they were the people from earlier today; it made no sense for them to return after being that terrified.
"Wake up! Please, Sister...!"
"I'm sorry, everyone. I don't think... I'm going to make it."
A thick scent of blood hung in the air. Paradoxically, even though undead lack a sense of smell, they can detect the scent of blood with uncanny precision. I was no exception. Sensing the gravity of the situation, I focused my attention. In the darkness, one person was dying, surrounded by others who were sobbing. At first, I thought they were human. If I hadn't spotted their red eyes and fangs, I would have mistaken them for humans until the very end.
[Lv. 12] [Lv. 10] [Lv. 14]
Looking at their levels, they didn't quite seem like vampires. Adult vampires usually exceed Level 20. Despite these vampires clearly being adults, none of them were anywhere near 20. They were probably either a subspecies or a lesser breed.
She doesn't have long to live.
The dying female vampire was completely pale, and even her lips had lost their color—a stark contrast to the vivid crimson lips characteristic of vampires. It was a tragic situation, but there was nothing I could do. My only option was to quietly watch this melodrama unfold and wait for them to leave.
A target meeting the conditions for evolution has been detected.
Would you like to evolve the vampire, Isabella?
What? As I stared at the vampires, a system notification popped up in my field of vision.
Wait, this actually works here?
The skill Evolution was structured so that the target, not the caster, had to meet specific conditions to activate it. There were three conditions. First, the target must possess abundant latent potential. Second, the target must be facing a life-threatening danger. Third, that life-threatening danger must have been incurred through self-sacrifice for the sake of others. If only the first two conditions were met, an evolution attempt was still possible, albeit at a 50% success rate. Meeting all three conditions guaranteed a 100% success rate. As a side note, the reason self-sacrifice was included as a condition was because only those capable of sacrificing themselves could become proper familiars for the caster. Well, not everyone who evolved became a familiar, but that was the general idea.
It seemed this woman had sacrificed herself for the other vampires. I, too, was a sentimental human—no, Death Knight. To just stand by and watch when there was a way to save her would make me a truly heartless undead. Even if my body was like this, my heart was still as warm as any human's. Before I knew it, my feet were carrying me toward the vampires.
"Ah!"
As I steeled myself and stepped out of the shadows, seven pairs of red eyes locked onto me.
Oh?
Their levels were orange, indicating caution. As expected of fellow monsters, they didn't immediately panic in terror. I figured if I spoke to them properly, I might even be able to win their goodwill. I had heard that just as humans shared a sense of humanity, monsters shared a similar bond among their own kind.
"A Death Knight?"
The vampire holding the dying woman in his arms sprang to his feet. He looked back and forth between her and me, his face turning pale. "How is a Death Knight here? Don't tell me... this is a Death Knight's dungeon?!"
What kind of nonsense was he talking about? It wasn't a dungeon, though they had indeed entered my shelter. In a way, they were uninvited guests. I wanted to help them, but there was no way they could know that.
"I beg your forgiveness, Lord of the Dungeon! If your wrath cannot be appeased, please take my soul instead. I only ask that you let the others leave alive!"
"No! Young Master, absolutely not! Kill me instead!"
"O great Dungeon Boss, these are pitiful souls. Please, let my life alone appease your anger!"
Seriously, what did I even do? Coming here to help only to be met with this was incredibly depressing. Suddenly, my reflection in the spring water flashed through my mind.
...Yeah, with this face, I probably looked less like a prince on a white horse and more like the Grim Reaper on a nightmare.
Hoover Village was situated near the highway connecting the Commercial City and the Free City. It was a frequent stopover for mercenaries, merchants, and travelers alike, with merchant caravans bound for the Commercial City constantly passing through. It was also the perfect place for dungeon subjugation groups heading toward the Free City to rest and reorganize.
"So, what you're saying is there's a dungeon in the mountain right behind us?"
"I'm telling you, yes! We almost died up there!"
The tavern in Hoover Village was exceptionally rowdy. Taverns were always noisy by nature, but today was on another level. It was all because of an exploration party loudly boasting about surviving a dungeon. An exploration party, not even a proper subjugation group, surviving a dungeon? While the patrons had initially dismissed it as a joke, they soon found themselves hanging onto every detail of the party's vivid explanation.
"Hey, buddy, you're the leader of this exploration party, right? Is what your men are saying true?"
"Of course it's true! Why on earth would we put this much effort into spinning a lie?"
"Tell me more. In detail."
At the voice interrupting from behind, the exploration leader turned around. His eyes widened instantly. The six men standing there were all heavily or lightly armored. Even without an explanation, it was obvious they were a formal subjugation group. The middle-aged man who appeared to be their leader was clearly a battle-hardened veteran who had seen his share of rough times.
A steel breastplate was layered over his padded gambeson. On the right side of his belt hung a scabbard containing a bastard sword, while the left side was cluttered with various potion pouches. A dagger was strapped to his thigh, and the crossbow slung across his back was pristine, without a single speck of dust—a clear sign of meticulous, regular maintenance.
"And who might you be?"
"I am Sergei, leader of the Billion Star Subjugation Group."
"Ser... gay?"
Sergei, who had introduced himself as the subjugation leader, slumped into the empty seat next to them. He snatched a mug of ale that a waitress had just brought over and brought it to his lips. Chugging the ale with terrifying momentum, Sergei's head tilted further and further back.
Slam!
In less than three seconds, he slammed the mug back down, completely empty. Sergei tilted his chin toward the dumbfounded exploration leader.
"Now, why don't you tell me more about this dungeon?"
"..."
Without hesitation, the exploration leader explained the entire sequence of events. Sergei listened in silence, his eyes narrowing slightly at the mention of the Death Knight they had encountered.
"Are you certain it's a newly formed dungeon?"
"Absolutely. A local herb gatherer confirmed it. He said he was coming and going from that very cave just the day before yesterday."
"A Death Knight in a newly formed dungeon..."
"It's no lie! If you don't believe me, go ahead and ask the rest of my men."
If it were just one person, it could be dismissed, but with over a dozen witnesses, it was impossible to write off as a mere hallucination. Still, it was a difficult story to believe outright. Undead were creatures that defied the natural order of life and death, and a Death Knight was a high-tier entity among them. For a Death Knight to appear in a newly formed dungeon—and right at the entrance, no less—was highly unusual. Furthermore, Death Knights were monsters typically deployed as dungeon guardians or mid-bosses. Outside of the official 72 Dungeons, they were practically unheard of—
"Wait."
A sudden realization struck him, tied to the massive news that had recently taken the world by storm. The 72 Dungeons were considered the common enemies of humanity. Among them, which were divided by a strict hierarchy, the top seven dungeons were uncharted territories that had never once been conquered. The Imperial Subjugation Command referred to these seven with deep dread and awe as the Mugan Seven Palaces. However, exactly one week ago, the lowest of the Mugan Seven Palaces was completely cleared by the Hero's Party. When a Rank 7 dungeon disappeared, the Rank 8 dungeon didn't simply move up to take its place. Instead, a brand-new dungeon would eventually emerge, inheriting a comparable level of power to succeed the vacant Rank 7 position.
"Jaden."
"Yes, Commander."
"How many of the 72 Dungeons have been cleared in the past week?"
As a professional subjugation group, their information regarding dungeons was top-tier. The members already knew this information by heart, and Sergei was no exception. He was merely asking to confirm the facts.
"Only one, Commander. Bango's Dark Abyss."
Bango's Dark Abyss was the lowest of the Mugan Seven Palaces. No other dungeon had been cleared. A week was more than enough time for a new dungeon to emerge and inherit its vacant rank. A single cleared dungeon, an impeccable timeline, and a newly formed dungeon where a Death Knight guarded the very entrance. There was only one possible answer.
"...The Mugan Seven Palaces have been updated."