The Thing Beneath the Temple
The eyes beneath the mask grew moist with awe.
Blake was a man who never lost his composure, who kept his cold clarity in even the direst circumstances — yet before the colossal presence that loomed over him now, he could not help but gasp in wonder.
"…Still as beautiful as ever."
His awed voice echoed faintly into the dark.
The massive talons, the wings that could shroud the heavens — every part of it was magnificent.
After gazing upward for a long while with eyes full of longing, Blake slowly sank to his knees.
Time was running short.
The imperial knights had come pursuing at blistering speed, far earlier than he had anticipated.
No. It isn't a pursuit….
It would be closer to say they had begun moving almost the very instant he received her orders and set his own plan in motion.
It was that bastard. He was certain of it. Arendt von Eckhart.
He had no proof, but the instinct was overwhelming.
Recalling that brat's infuriatingly young face, Blake clenched his teeth.
"Lend me your strength — and the strength of Lady Iris — so that we may carve the myth of Lord Cernion into this land once more."
Rage steadily built in the voice that recited the prayer, slow and deliberate.
"Bring down the hammer upon those who are cursed!"
No answer came from the great presence.
Blake, kneeling in silence for some time, abruptly lifted his head. He had sensed something approaching from this direction.
"The hour of vengeance is at hand."
Today, at last, was the day to slaughter them all — to tear apart that detestable apprentice knight and Laios de Winfried with his own hands.
Dense mana gathered at his fingertips.
The reckless channeling soon wrung cold sweat from his body. His stomach churned, and at last blood surged up his throat, but still he did not stop.
When the moment was right, he poured every last drop of his mana into the crystal set in the pillar.
An ominous crimson light erupted from the magic crystal, blazing into the darkness.
* * *
KUUUUUM!
The earth shook violently.
The knights approaching the temple were forced to halt and steady themselves.
"What— what is that?"
"Look over there!"
Arthur glanced around in confusion, and Licht — uncharacteristically — raised his voice, pointing toward the temple.
A pillar of dark-red mana burst explosively upward through the ruined roof.
For a moment Arthur stood dazed — until he caught something whipping past at his side. He turned his head to find Arendt already charging toward the temple.
Laios had kicked off the ground and broken into a run as well.
"Seriously, you're all so impatient!"
In the end, Arthur and Licht had no choice but to draw their swords and charge after them.
By the time the tremors had somewhat settled, a dark mass came writhing into view at the temple's entrance.
Ghouls.
Spewing black blood from their maws, the ghouls caught the scent of the living and came pouring out.
Laios took the foremost position, with Arendt right behind him. Licht and Arthur split off to either flank.
"Not a single one gets through! There are civilians just steps away!"
"Yes, sir!"
Arthur and Licht answered the Commander's order at the top of their lungs.
KUM! Laios drove one foot into the ground as though planting it there, pivoted on it, and swept his sword in a great arc.
The ghouls caught in his blade aura shrieked as they were torn apart and burst apart. In that opening, Arendt charged ahead and unleashed Frost-Tinged Touch.
White ice descended wherever his sword touched. The ghouls frozen solid in an instant were cleanly cut down by Arthur and Licht.
There were several times as many as the ones they had faced in the cave.
Arendt, mindlessly cleaving through enemies with his eyes fixed forward, suddenly caught movement rushing in from his side and ducked low.
Thwack!
A sharp dagger buried itself in the skull of a lunging ghoul.
He drove his blade through the swaying creature's heart, then raised his head to trace the dagger's trajectory.
Something glinted deep inside the temple.
"The pillar on the right!"
"Got it!"
At Licht's shout, Arthur plunged into the midst of the ghouls. One of them tried to chase down the charging knight, only to be cut off by Licht and cut down moments later.
Arthur, closing in on the temple alone, quickly found the hidden enemy.
He cut down the staggered man in one stroke — then discovered the others lying in ambush.
Apart from being vaguely human in shape, they looked little different from the ghouls outside. Rotting flesh, patchwork skin, and a reek strong enough to turn the stomach.
But the moment their eyes met, Arthur knew: these things were not the shambling corpses outside.
"Ha. So these are the 'intelligent ones,' huh?"
"Bas… tard."
One of them, whom he'd thought thoroughly dead, vomited blood and chewed out the curse in a slurred voice.
"Oh, it talks."
Thud.
Arthur drove his sword through the fallen thing's skull, then turned straight to the remaining enemies.
The creatures had finished assuming combat stances and were already rushing at him.
He slipped past a sword thrust his way with easy grace, batted aside the dagger that followed, then raised his blade aura and took their heads in a single stroke.
Thump.
The headless bodies collapsed to the floor. But they weren't quite finished — before long they began struggling back to their feet.
Only after Arthur clicked his tongue in irritation and ran them through the chest did they finally stop moving.
By then, things were wrapping up on Laios's end as well.
But it wasn't over yet.
"Krrrkgh."
At the ominous sound welling up from within the temple, he turned to find yet another horde of ghouls pressing in.
"Oh, come on, damn it!"
"Straight through them!"
Then a chill swept over the air — and Arendt, who had already closed the distance, went barreling toward the newly arrived enemies.
"You lunatic! I said don't run off alone!"
Arthur yelped in horror and chased after him. Soon Laios and Licht, having finished mopping up behind, caught up with the two as well.
Cutting their way through the ghouls and into the temple, they found a ruin trampled into wreckage by the creatures.
It had once, ages ago, been a place that enshrined the God Luce.
Licht's face twisted at the sight of the toppled, shattered divine statue.
Then—
KUGUGUNG!
The earth began to shudder again. And with it, a spine-chilling wail that none of them had ever heard before erupted from somewhere below ground.
KEEEEEH!
The ground heaved, and debris rained down from the half-collapsed ceiling.
"What— what is that?"
"It's coming from below!"
At Laios's shout, the knights reflexively hurled themselves backward.
The very next instant—
KWAAAAAM!
A massive head burst up through the very spot where they had been standing.
Having wrenched itself free, the thing wasn't satisfied even after smashing the floor to rubble — it immediately swung its enormous maw at the knights.
KUM! KUUM!
It obliterated the solid marble floor as if it had never existed at all, then hoisted its colossal body into the air.
With no time to properly assess the enemy, the knights scrambled to put distance between themselves and it — and were struck speechless.
Great talons pressed into the ground, utterly obliterating what little traces of the temple remained. The unfurled wings brought the last precariously standing pillars crashing down, and the enormous head, sweeping about in search of prey, smashed through the aged roof as well.
At last, the massive frame — freedom fully regained — howled at the wide-open sky.
KEEEEEEH!
Its rotted eyes were hollow and empty; flesh dripped from it in strips amid a putrid stench. The rib-bared torso resembled a reptile at a glance, and when its tattered, hole-ridden wings spread wide, they looked for all the world like a bat's.
"…A dragon?"
Licht murmured blankly.
That form, that sheer bulk, that overwhelming presence that could crush even hardened knights — nothing else could explain it.
Dragons were creatures of legend and old tales. They wielded miracles of magic, and their bodies were harder than anything else in creation.
And now a mythic being like that — one that had supposedly slumbered beneath a temple of the God of Light — had appeared as a thing no different from the ghouls.
"No time to gawk."
But Laios recovered his composure almost immediately and steadied his grip on his sword.
"Yes…?"
"You know what they say?"
Arendt flicked the ghoul fragments from his blade and spat out the words.
"The bigger they are, the more places there are to stab."
At this point, Arthur genuinely wanted to check just how thick these people's nerves actually were. But instead of saying it aloud, he and Licht steeled themselves and glared at the dragon.
Gripping a pillar in its talons, the creature thrashed its head about as it struggled — then turned, with terrible precision, toward the knights.
The dragon, glaring at its enemies through hollow, empty eye sockets, split its jaws wide and exhaled a great breath.
KEEEEEEH!
A living dragon would have unleashed a devastating breath — but from the dead thing's mouth, only the toxin pooled inside its rotting body came pouring out.
The knights, having leapt back once more with light, agile movements, rushed the dragon without needing to coordinate.
Sensing Laios's rapid approach, the dragon swung a massive foreleg.
KUUUM!
Enormous talons gouged into the ground.
Laios vaulted over the strike, drove his sword deep into the dragon's neck, and locked himself on tightly with his legs.
The dragon began to rage.
It kicked and scraped and thrashed, desperate to shake him loose, but Laios gritted his teeth and held on.
Arthur and Licht went for the body.
Licht blocked the kicks raining down to crush them.
"Kghahk!"
The crushing weight knocked the breath from Licht's lungs. But he did not retreat a single step. Bracing his trembling legs, he channeled mana into his blade and pushed back against the creature's mass.
Arthur seized the opening and lunged for the torso.
He yanked his sword free from the creature's flank, then carved a great gash through its wing joint. The wing, made of a comparatively thin membrane, tore open wide.
Arendt, arriving a beat late, did not join the attack as Arthur expected — instead he leapt clean over the fray and plunged into the temple's already-ruined interior.
Arthur, having buried his sword in the thrashing dragon's spine, roared after him.
"Hey— where the hell are you going?"
"There's a magic crystal powering it somewhere inside. Follow him, Arthur!"
"Yes?"
Laios, who had torn himself free of the dragon in the meantime, shouted.
The dragon's liberated head came hurtling straight at the Knight Commander.
"…!"
He rolled clear — and the instant he did, KRANCH! — the thing's teeth sank into the ground where he'd stood just moments before.
Laios shouted again.
"Follow Arendt! There are bound to be ghouls left below!"
"Yes, sir!"
Wrenching his sword free, Arthur twisted his body one last time and left a long scar of blade aura across the dragon's flank.
SHRAK!
Black blood gushed from the deep wound, and the dragon convulsed for an instant. In that moment, Licht finally slipped free of its crushing pressure.
Watching Arthur dive into the depths after Arendt, Licht steadied his quaking arms and said, evenly:
"It is an honor to fight at your side, Commander."
"It is too early to call it an honor."
Only a few minutes had passed, yet it felt as though every last ounce of his strength had been drained from his body.
The situation was hopeless. But instead of despair, fighting spirit blazed up in their eyes.
Laios declared:
"We cut off the dragon's head, then return to the Imperial Palace."
"Yes, sir."
For men sworn as knights, no other choice had existed from the very beginning.