Three Years Ago (3)
Maxim stood with his arms crossed, eyes fixed on the dungeon entrance. The cadets, paired off and striding in with boundless confidence, were all spat back out looking utterly spent, as if the dungeon itself had vomited them up. It seemed clearing the place wouldn’t be nearly as simple as they’d expected.
“Nervous?”
It was nearly Maxim’s turn. Theodora stood beside him, slowly loosening her muscles. The long platinum braid down her back swayed with every movement.
“Not sure. I don’t think it’s nerves.” A vague anxiety gnawed at Maxim, but he couldn’t find the words to describe it. It felt like a dark shadow in the corner of his heart, quietly probing at his chest.
“Staring the dungeon down like this… it just doesn’t sit right with me.”
Theodora paused her stretching, bent at the waist, then lifted her head to study his face. Worry creased her brow. “Maxi, are you all right? If you’re not feeling well, should I tell the instructor?”
Maxim pressed a hand to his chest where his heart circulated blood and mana with an irritating itch. Yet beneath the breastplate, he couldn’t feel the heartbeat at all.
“…I’m fine. Condition’s perfect. Besides,” Maxim forced a crooked grin, “you can’t exactly go into every fight at full strength, can you? If anything, this is good practice for real missions later.”
“You still need to warm up properly. Keep your mana circulating steadily.”
When Theodora refused to let the concern fade from her eyes, Maxim reached out and playfully ruffled her hair. “Don’t worry. I know I can handle it.”
Just then, two cadets staggered out of the dungeon entrance. The blades that had been sharp when they entered were now dull, their once-gleaming armor covered in scratches and stripped of all luster.
“Looks like they had a rough time,” Maxim muttered, as if it had nothing to do with him.
Theodora’s lips curved into a small smile once she confirmed he had returned to his usual self.
“Next! Maxim Apparte and Theodora Benning. Enter!”
The corner of Theodora’s mouth twitched at the instructor’s announcement. When Maxim gave her a puzzled look, she moved her lips in a tiny whisper.
“Groom and bride, please enter. Doesn’t it sound like that?”
Maxim barely managed to swallow the cough that nearly burst out of him.
From the outside the dungeon’s interior looked like nothing more than a pitch-black void. Only after Maxim slowly stepped across the threshold did the internal structure reveal itself.
“It’s more orderly than I expected,” Theodora said, following him in.
He had imagined rough, jagged walls, but the dungeon’s surfaces were as smooth as the interior of a stone building.
“Don’t touch anything carelessly. We have no idea what kind of traps are waiting.”
“Right. Let’s be careful.”
Theodora and Maxim advanced slowly into the dungeon’s depths. Maxim took the lead while Theodora guarded the rear. Every step demanded total awareness of the ground and every direction around them. The mental and physical drain was far greater than expected.
Clunk.
The floor beneath Maxim’s feet gave way as he pressed forward. The sound of something slicing through the dark reached his ears.
“Maxi!” Theodora cried sharply.
Even before her warning, Maxim had already drawn his sword and readied himself to intercept. From the edge of the darkness, a bolt hurtled toward them, gleaming with a deadly point. It was larger and heavier than anything meant for a crossbow—far bigger than an arrow.
Maxim leveled his blade. Moving on pure instinct, he swung twice, three times. The elegant, almost languid arcs of his sword tangled with the incoming projectile. There was no sound. When he brought the blade down, the severed pieces of the bolt pattered to the floor.
Because this was a dungeon modified for examination purposes, the arrowhead hadn’t been properly sharpened. Maxim kicked the fragments aside and turned to Theodora.
“Guess I didn’t even need to draw my sword.”
Theodora’s voice carried equal parts disappointment and relief. “I was ready to shoot it down too, but none came my way.”
Maxim gave an awkward laugh and sheathed his blade again. “Maybe I should have left one for you.”
“No, honestly… I was happy.” A gentle smile spread across Theodora’s face. “Let’s keep moving. This is the final exam—we can’t afford to let our guard down.”
The traps grew increasingly cunning. Some floors suddenly dropped away while others shot upward without warning. Sticky fluid coated sections of the ground. Occasionally lesser monsters appeared to obstruct their path.
Even so, it was manageable. For the academy’s graduating class final exam, the dungeon so far felt far too easy.
“We haven’t run into that many monsters yet,” Theodora remarked after smashing a skeleton soldier, her tone uneasy.
It wasn’t the high-difficulty dungeon that had left their classmates crawling out exhausted. Maxim found it strange too, but he kept his suspicions to himself.
“Maybe we’ll see more the deeper we go?”
They were already at the third staircase. Quite a bit of time had passed since the exam began. Since it wasn’t an especially deep dungeon, descending one or two more floors should bring them to the deepest chamber.
The moment Maxim stepped onto the fourth underground level, what greeted him was an enormous cavern far too vast to exist underground. At the far end of the space—easily the size of a training field—stood a door leading to the next stage.
“At this point I’m actually curious what kind of trap they’ve prepared,” Maxim’s voice echoed through the cavern.
The blatant warning sign made both of them draw their swords at the same time.
“We’ll have to watch our every step.”
“Want to hold hands?”
“Focus, Maxi.”
Theodora’s light scolding came with the hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth. Maxim let out a hearty laugh and stepped into the open space.
“I’ll go first, Theodora.”
“All right, Maxi. And don’t forget I’m right behind you.”
Theodora puffed out her chest, telling him to trust her. Maxim shook his head with a smile and walked into the empty chamber.
Hiss.
The sound came from the corners of the room. Maxim saw a thick fog rolling in, blurring the space.
Fog? What kind of trick is this…
Maxim ground his teeth and looked back. The fog had grown so dense that nothing behind him was visible. All he could see was his own body, and even that was hazy and indistinct.
He could simply press forward carefully until he reached the end, but there was no telling what might happen in the meantime. He decided to call out to Theodora.
“Theo, I think we should stay closer together…”
But Theodora, who should have been right there, was gone.
“…Theo?”
No answer came.
The fog had erupted the moment Maxim stepped fully inside the chamber.
Theodora, who had followed him in, flinched as the mist swallowed her vision and thrust her hands forward.
“Maxi?”
Maxim had vanished. The man who had been walking right in front of her was nowhere to be seen. Theodora took a few steps, waving her hands desperately, but felt nothing. No voice answered when she called.
“Maxi…?”
She called again. Still no reply.
“Maxim!”
This time she raised her voice. The silence remained unbroken.
Theodora clicked her tongue and looked around. Nothing. She could neither see nor sense anything. It seemed the fog completely severed the five senses.
She stopped where she was and forced her rebellious breathing to calm. Maxim will be fine. It’s okay.
“Get a grip.”
Theodora bit her lip hard. Soft flesh tore, and a drop of blood welled up.
“Move, Theodora.”
If she simply kept walking straight, the exit shouldn’t be far. Theodora took a heavy step forward.
Yet no matter how hard she tried to focus on moving, she couldn’t completely shake the thoughts burrowing into her mind. The fact that Maxim had disappeared, that he was no longer visible to her, began to eat away at her.
Where is Maxi?
Thoughts of traps had completely vanished from Theodora’s head. Her steps quickened. Only the single fact that Maxim had suddenly disappeared circled endlessly in her mind.
Maxi. Maxi. Maxi.
Unaware she was even muttering the name, Theodora walked like a corpse. Don’t leave me. Words she would never have spoken in her right mind slipped out. Where are you? Maxi. Stop joking around.
Her sword scraped against the ground with a metallic clatter. Theodora kept walking, eyes fixed on where she prayed the edge of the fog would appear. She had no attention to spare wondering whether she was going the right way or simply circling the same spot.
“Maxim…”
A weak sound escaped her lips. Her hand was half-stretched forward.
Then her body was suddenly yanked forward. The fog had vanished. Theodora blinked eyes that had lost focus and looked up at the man who had pulled her hand—Maxim.
After struggling through countless hardships, Maxim had finally broken through the fog and reached the exit. The mist was designed to block even the slightest presence on the other side. Yet he had desperately extended his senses, reached out toward Theodora as she drew near, and with absolute certainty that he had caught her, pulled her free with all his strength.
“…Maxi?”
“Theo, are you okay?”
Theodora’s eyes were glazed. Maxim caught her limp body and helped her stand. She managed to regain her balance, then shook her head. Her breath was cold, her face deathly pale. The hand gripping her sword trembled faintly.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
Maxim’s brow furrowed slightly. She said she was fine, but Theodora was clearly anything but.
“Let’s rest a moment. The final chamber is right ahead, and we still have time.”
He placed both hands on her shoulders as he spoke, but Theodora shook her head.
“No, Maxi. I can’t make us waste any more time because of me.”
She tightened her grip on the sword in her right hand. The trembling had mostly stopped.
“Let’s go in, Maxim. It’ll be over quickly.”
Seeing the resolute look on her face, Maxim nodded. He had a feeling the spiraling staircase that formed the dungeon’s final descent was nearly at its end. The ominous chill brushing his cheek made him swallow dryly.
“The presence ahead feels… off.”
“Agreed. We need to stay sharp.”
The end of the spiral came into view. Unlike the gloomy, poorly lit dungeon they had traversed so far, the chamber before them was brilliantly illuminated. Theodora deliberately took the lead and stepped inside.
“There it is.”
In the center of the room stood the guardian they would have to fight—the dungeon’s protector. It stood tall and silent, as if asleep, both hands clasped at the very end of the grip of an enormous sword nearly as tall as Theodora, its point resting on the floor. Inside the pitch-black armor, a pair of crimson eyes glowed. Yet it seemed no living person inhabited the suit.
The guardian was a monster created by mages, commonly called a living armor. The creature released its clasped hands and took up the greatsword in the perfect stance of a knight.
“I’ll go first.”
“Be my guest.”
No more words were needed. Theodora charged straight at the living armor. Maxim followed, sword swinging.
Boom!
The full force of the collision made Theodora grit her teeth. She had deliberately refrained from using aura. The final chamber was no place to swing aura freely. Yet even without it, the mere impact of their blades made the underground space tremble.
Maxim slipped into an opening, trying to break the armor’s balance. The living armor answered with a wide sweep of its sword. The wind pressure alone forced both of them back.
“How are we supposed to bring that thing down…!”
Theodora adjusted her grip. They had only exchanged a few blows, yet the aftershock still lingered in her hands and wrists.
“We probably can’t defeat it without aura… We need to create an opening.”
At that moment Maxim thought he saw the living armor’s crimson eyes flash. Before he could shout a warning, the creature had already launched itself like a cannonball, driving a strike at Theodora.
“What the…!”
Theodora barely managed to block and cried out. The living armor’s assault did not stop there. Its blade, radiating ferocious killing intent, continued raining down on her. It was as if Maxim didn’t even exist; the creature attacked Theodora with single-minded persistence.
“Suddenly it’s…!”
Theodora channeled aura into her sword for a moment and knocked the living armor away. As it staggered backward, Maxim’s blade—cloaked in golden aura—shot forward like lightning. The living armor did not retreat at the sight of aura; instead it met him head-on.
The black greatsword and the golden longsword collided in midair, scattering shockwaves in every direction. The living armor pressed down on Maxim with raw power and let out a monstrous howl.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Maxim met the pressure with equal force. But in pure physical strength the living armor surpassed him. He was gradually pushed back, and the creature seized the opening to send him flying.
The living armor’s incomprehensible roar shook the entire chamber. Maxim struggled to his feet and watched Theodora continue the fight. Without aura she was somehow holding her own, but the living armor’s attacks were growing faster and sharper by the second.
Maxim tried to disrupt the creature’s rhythm without interfering with Theodora’s flow, yet each time the living armor responded to his movements with uncanny precision.
If only it would come at me like that.
Maxim clicked his tongue. Theodora’s pure swordsmanship was outstanding, but she still fell short of him in certain areas. If the creature had focused on him instead, it might not have been so difficult to handle.
This was no monster suited for an exam. That much was certain. At this rate Theodora would be in danger. Maxim abandoned the idea of calling for the instructor and threw himself back into the fray.
The living armor tried to kick him as he approached from its blind spot, but Maxim dodged the flying foot. He shoved Theodora behind him and blocked the incoming strike.
“I’ll hold it off somehow—you cut this damned armor to pieces…!”
Theodora nodded and withdrew from the front line. Maxim stepped into the path of the living armor that tried to pursue her. The creature let out an irritated roar and began swinging its greatsword at blinding speed.
Maxim’s stance steadied. There was no need to match strength; he only had to endure. He deflected the living armor’s strikes with the flat of his blade, letting them slide past. The creature howled with rage. Again from the right—Maxim redirected the blow once more.
Finally the living armor seemed to decide to kill Maxim first. It turned its full attention away from Theodora and onto him. Its sword rose high.
A platinum aura blade appeared behind it. The instant the black sword came crashing down, Theodora’s blade sliced the living armor cleanly in two.
“Done…! Maxi, I took it down!”
Theodora rushed toward him with a bright expression. Maxim was sitting on the floor, apparently exhausted from dealing with the armor.
“Maxi?”
“Ah, good work, Theodora.”
Maxim gave a weak laugh. His left hand, no longer holding a sword, was pressed against his chest and abdomen. Blood welled between his fingers, soaking his armor and the floor.
Blood. The sight of Maxim’s blood drained every drop of color from Theodora’s face as she bent over him.
“I’m fine. I’ve taken worse wounds than this.”
Maxim tried to laugh it off, putting on a brave front. It was fortunate he had been wearing plate armor. The blow had been partially absorbed; the wound wasn’t fatal. But Theodora’s eyes could not accept the scene so calmly. Even before the battle with the guardian, her mind had already been frayed by the fog.
She tried to steady him while frantically searching through her belongings. The desperate cry she had uttered in the mist—Don’t leave me—still echoed inside her head.
“Theodora, I told you I’m fine. If you just stop the bleeding and help me walk, I can make it out…”
Ignoring his words, Theodora stripped away his armor and pulled out a small glass vial. It was filled with a liquid as red as blood.
“Theo, isn’t that… a potion? Where did you get it…? And you’re not seriously thinking of using it here, are you?”
The fact that she even possessed a potion was shocking, but the idea that she would use it on him right now was even more astonishing.
“Theodora, I’m really okay…”
“Shut up, Maxim. I’m doing this because I hate it.”
Theodora’s face twisted as she looked at the exposed wound. Blood was flowing freely, far more than the injury’s severity warranted. Without hesitation she pulled the stopper from the vial. The sweet scent unique to potions slowly spread through the underground chamber.
“Theo…”
“Keep your mouth closed. Don’t even start with ‘use the potion or don’t’ right now.”
At the sound of Theodora’s trembling, tearful voice, Maxim could say nothing more. She tore his shirt to fully expose the wound and began pouring the potion over it.
“Ugh…!”
Maxim grimaced at the burning pain. Smoke actually rose where the potion met the torn flesh. Theodora kept pouring without restraint, and the wound began to close at an unnaturally rapid pace.