When that yellow glow took over my vision, my consciousness faded. The next moment, I felt the cold ground against my face.
I opened my eyes slowly, with great effort because they still burned after the flash, and my tunnel vision focused on a place entirely unfamiliar to me.
With some effort, I managed to get up and kneel down.
My eyes took a while to adjust to the darkness of the place, especially since just a second ago we had been standing in a sunny area.
I looked around and saw that I was inside a room with sand-colored brick walls.
This made me realize that I was still in the Ruins of the Sun Temple.
Considering that the room was cramped and there was no light except for a faint torch to my left, I quickly deduced that this was probably the inner chamber of the Sun Temple.
"That idiot probably triggered a trap that teleports intruders to random areas inside the temple..." I muttered, leaning my hand against the wall next to me to stay upright.
There didn't seem to be anyone else in the room, so either we had all been teleported to different places in the temple, or whoever had been with me was gone.
The first option was probably the right one. No one in their right mind would want to be alone in a place like this... I, however, was already enjoying the solitude.
[You have received a new mission!]
+
[Mission Details!]
Mission Name: The Fallen Kingdom.
Description: You are in an abandoned temple, once home to a tyrannical king who fell from grace. His spirit and those of his soldiers still roam the halls, protecting a throne that no longer rules anything.
Type: Dungeon Clear Mission.
Difficulty Level: D.
Main Objective: Defeat the Last Fallen Knight.
Secondary Objectives:
- Defeat 20 Hollow Knights (0/20).
- Find the Castle Chest.
- Survive for more than 1 hour.
Rewards: ???
+
I was surprised by this mission notification, but I figured the system was just giving me information because I hadn't entered here with a Dungeon Key like I did in that library.
My eyes quickly scanned the list of objectives.
'The Fallen King must be the final boss of this dungeon, which means I can't just wander aimlessly. I need to find his chamber, because he'll definitely drop a lot of Soul Fragments.'
I took a deep breath and started stretching. "Time to get moving."
Since my other skeleton had been destroyed during the teleportation, probably because my consciousness had faded, I was alone. And to explore a place like this, the simple knife I had at my waist wouldn't be enough.
I raised my right hand and summoned two skeletons. If four was my maximum now and I had used one before entering this place, I wanted to leave at least one for a possible emergency.
Two black mists appeared in front of me, swirling like whirlwinds until bones began to materialize. Finally, two Skeleton Soldiers were ready.
"Let's explore... You'll be my vanguard."
The skeletons moved in front of me, assuming a defensive stance with their swords as we advanced down the dark corridor illuminated by the torch I had picked up.
The system had already warned me that there were Hollow Knights lurking around the castle, and I could feel a strange presence in the air.
Hollow Knights were relatively common enemies within the Tower of Babel. As their name suggested, they were knights who had once served someone so loyally that they couldn't let go of that doctrine even after death.
There were Hollow Knights of various ranks, from E to A, because a knight's power depended on their original strength and how many memories they retained from life.
Luckily, we were still on the first floor. Normally, we wouldn't encounter any Hollow Knights higher than Rank D.
After walking for a few minutes, my Summons and I entered a large hall where a fallen candelabra still held a few lit magic candles.
A red carpet covered part of the floor, but it was torn and covered in dust—which rose with every step we took on it.
That's when a figure began to move in the darkness at the end of the hallway, and one of them appeared.
[HOLLOW KNIGHT – RANK D.]
Its name was yellow above its head. According to my experience in games and anime, the color above the name indicated how much stronger a monster was compared to the player. White meant it was weaker. Yellow meant equal strength. Orange meant slightly superior. Red meant much stronger. And black meant I was fucked.
This knight's armor was rusty and stained by time, but it still held an imposing presence with beautiful patterns on the steel breastplate.
He held a classic long sword with both trembling hands as he moved in a jerky, erratic way.
My two skeleton soldiers raised their curved sabers in a defensive position and waited for an order.
"Attack," I ordered.
The two skeletons dashed toward the Hollow Knight at the same time.
CLANG! CLANG!
The sound of metal clashing echoed through the castle corridors. The Hollow Knight blocked both of their blows surprisingly quickly, deflecting one saber and parrying the other with his own blade. He counterattacked, swinging his long sword with force.
SHIIINK!
The blade passed too close to one of my skeletons, leaving a trail of wind in the air.
The impact was strong enough to make my skeletal soldier stagger backward, almost collapsing.
The Hollow Knight was more agile than I expected. This could be a problem.
"Let's see how he handles simultaneous attacks." I pointed forward and ordered,
"Attack from the flanks at the same time!"
My skeletons obeyed instantly, splitting up and circling around to attack from opposite sides.
The Hollow Knight swung his blade, trying to block both at once. This time, he failed.
CLANG!
One of my skeletons managed to cut off the enemy's head, causing the helmet to fall to the ground with a sharp, metallic clang. The helmet rolled across the floor, hitting one of the stone pillars in the hall. I sighed, relieved for a moment... but something was wrong.
The monster's body did not fall, and no kill notification appeared.
I looked up and saw that the Hollow Knight was still standing, his sword still firmly in his hands. He took a step back, as if readjusting himself, and then raised his sword again in a battle stance.
My eyes widened.
"The damn thing is still standing...?" I smiled broadly at witnessing something I had only read about in the pages of The Journey to the Beyond.
Yes, it wasn't completely surprising to me. Normally, cutting off the head of any creature was a finishing blow, but it was completely different when it came to the undead. And Hollow Knights weren't zombies that could simply have their heads separated from their bodies.
"I need to remember how Hunter Ruse dealt with these monsters!"
Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to try to remember. The Knight soon swung his sword at my skeletons.
CLANG!
The impact sent one of my skeletons sliding backward, scraping the stone floor. Meanwhile, the other one ducked at the last moment, avoiding being decapitated.
I only had a knife, but I started running toward the Hollow Knight anyway. Three against one was even better than two against one, and as I said when I was choosing my class, I didn't want to just stay in the rear during battles.
Fortunately, one of my summons realized that I was about to draw only a small, old knife, and a skeleton slid a saber toward me across the ground.
My eyebrows lifted in surprise. These Skeleton Soldiers were getting very smart!
I bent in midair to grab the sword, my fingers closing tightly around the hilt.
"Now!" I shouted mentally as my grip tightened around the sword's handle.
The Hollow Knight swung his double-bladed sword toward me. At that moment, I remembered the time Hunter Ruse made a brief two-chapter appearance in these ruins...
I didn't remember what he wanted here, because the routes he followed in the various paths always differed greatly, but I remembered the solution he found to easily defeat the Hollow Knights of this place.
I ducked to dodge the blow, which whizzed over my head. Before he could think to retreat, I attacked. My blade struck an exposed joint in the armor's breastplate.
SHINK!
The tip of the saber slid inside, and something struggled there. A black, twisted creature, pulsing like a parasite.
"I found you!"
Normally, ghosts inhabited the armor of the Hollow Knights. However, the Hollow Knights of the Temple of the Sun were creatures that lived inside the armor, between the metal plates, and so their movements, which were erratic, suddenly became fast.
The black creature, a worm-like mass with many tentacles, writhed, trying to burrow deeper into the armor, but I wouldn't let it.
I swung my blade and pushed it in. The Hollow Knight spasmed. His posture faltered, the joints of his armor shaking uncontrollably because the creature had stopped trying to control the armor.
"Now!"
My skeletons attacked at the same time—one with his fists, tearing off the metal plates to get to the creature, and my other Skeleton Soldier raised his saber high and brought it down with force.
SLASH!
The armor and the parasite were cut in two at the waist. The armor fell to both sides like a pile of scrap metal, and the creature, also split in half, deflated like a balloon until it was the size of a golf ball.
[Your summon eliminated 'Hollow Knight (Rank D)!]
[You received +50 Soul Fragments!]
[Your summon absorbed the skill 'Slippery Lv1' from the Shadow Spider.]