Darrick felt as if a massive, pitch-black cauldron had been slammed onto his back.
No one in the group was the type to point fingers, but his own sense of responsibility screamed at him. His shoulders curled inward under the imagined weight. He looked like a pilgrim burdened with sin.
His two grey wolves sensed his gloom and trotted over to nuzzle him softly.
Leon patted his shoulder—quiet, simple reassurance. Sometimes, between men, that was enough.
"I've got a theory," Leon said, glancing at everyone. "The monsters here scale with our strength. I already noticed something weird yesterday."
Yesterday, he had split up with Drew during the later stages. The monsters on Leon's path stayed the same, but the ones on Drew's side actually got easier.
Two people alone weren't enough to confirm anything, but after today… the conclusion was clear:
The monsters scale to the adventurers' strength—and the scaling is definitely based on the strongest one.
Which meant… if someone tossed a child or an elderly person inside, would the monsters become cripples?
He'd considered the idea, but it was hard to imagine Dungeon being that merciful.
With Leon's explanation, everyone quickly realized why the previous battle was brutal—the monsters had scaled up to Sword Saint level.
"Then we should stick together," Maru said. "Even if they scale up, it'll probably only match the boss or Darrick."
"Eh? Me?" Darrick pointed at himself. Why was he suddenly being compared to Leon?
"Have some confidence. You're strong," Leon said with a casual thumbs-up, making Darrick flush.
After some discussion, the group set off again.
Ten minutes later, they were back.
Leon's expression was dark. "Yeah… we were wrong. Monster strength scales based on the combined power of the entire party."
With all five of them together, the difficulty stayed ridiculous.
"Are they forcing us to explore alone?" Drew muttered, recalling something. Yesterday, when he went solo, the skeletons after the big tombstone weren't just weaker—they were fewer. Only a dozen left, manageable with some planning.
"Maybe groups of two or three can still handle it," Leon said, then looked at Darrick. "Want to try just the two of us?"
"You two? Boss, are you nuts?" Maru squawked. "What if the monsters shoop-shoop-shoop and get even stronger!?"
"A proper challenge is fine," Leon shrugged.
(If it's too hard, then it gets boring.)
"…Well, it's been a while since I've had a good workout," Darrick admitted after a brief pause.
Their palms smacked together with a crisp pa. They exchanged grins full of anticipation.
Maru stared at them suspiciously.
The hell? Don't tell me you two are about to start flirting in front of me.
Eventually, they decided: Leon and Darrick in one party, the other three in another. If three people still couldn't progress, they'd split again.
They entered the roguelike stage. Without Humanity, they couldn't receive blessings and had to proceed as-is.
In hindsight, the mandatory Darkwraith fight felt like it existed purely to hand out Humanity—a screening test for newcomers.
I miss you, Darkwraith.
Facing the rattling skeletons—this time without Bone Revival ruining everything and without Gapar's support—Leon and Darrick found the stage far easier and cleared it quickly.
Then came the tense blessing selection. No one knew what Leon picked, but he looked pleased.
When it was Darrick's turn, he grew nervous, expecting more trap options.
But what appeared was entirely different:
[Heir of the Undead Legion, receive this blessing of Wolf's Blood]
[Blessing acquired: Abyss Watcher]
[When fighting abyssal beings, you will fight with the valor of the first Watchers.
The deeper your abyssal corruption, the greater your potential.]
The blessing was given automatically, with no alternatives.
Once he recovered from the shock, Darrick realized—his Wolf's Blood must have triggered something. That's why he received the Wolf's Blood blessing.
The Catacombs and Farron Keep were connected through Firelink Shrine. It wasn't impossible that the Abyss Watchers had once fought here.
Receiving a Wolf's Blood blessing as a Farron warrior was perfectly reasonable.
Leon listened, eyes shining with raw envy.
Receiving an ancient blessing in this abyss-corrupted timestream… the sense of destiny was overwhelming.
If someone who followed the Warriors of Sunlight came here… would they get Gwyn's blessing?
The thought made Leon itch to return later as a full Sunlight Warrior.
Darrick hadn't thought much of it before, but Leon's talk of "destiny" and "blessings" ignited something in him too—like he'd come here to finish the Abyss Watchers' unfinished war.
With morale soaring, they pushed forward boldly until they reached their first elite enemy.
[Abyss-Corrupted Alonne Knight Captain]
A humanoid enemy—taller than both Leon and Darrick—but humanoids fought very differently from beasts.
With one hand resting on the hilt at his waist, the Knight Captain approached slowly in an unnervingly rigid stance.
He was a Dark Souls II enemy—one of the Alonne Knights, named after the Iron King's confidant, Knight Alonne, who hailed from a mysterious land and used curved-blade swordsmanship reminiscent of the katana.
No wonder Leon's earlier party had never seen this type.
"This guy's strong," Darrick muttered, instinctively shifting into the Abyss Watchers' 'Farron dance' stance. "You go left, I'll go right—wait—hey! Where are you going!?"
He turned mid-strategy to see Leon sprinting away.
"Leon! What are you doing!?"
"Fighting," Leon said, looking at him like he was the weird one. He dug into his backpack and pulled out—
A spread-shot crossbow.
"Why the hell do you have that!?" Darrick was stunned. He'd assumed Leon's backpack was full of potions—not a whole crossbow.
And wasn't Leon a swordsman!? Why!?
"Watch closely." Leon smiled confidently. "Against humanoid enemies, this is the best tool."
He loaded sleep bolts with practiced ease, like he'd done it hundreds of times.
At that moment, the Knight Captain abandoned his draw stance and charged forward.
And made the worst possible mistake:
Never approach Leon before the crossbow fires.
Leon exhaled and pulled the trigger—firing the sleep bolts along with the last remaining bits of his swordsman dignity.
He had been briefly touched by the abyss when Midir breathed on him yesterday—and somehow gained clarity:
Victory is everything.
Honor? …Already forgotten.
Adventurers should use any means necessary. Even the Sword Saint said so.
Pssh—
Dozens of powerful sleep bolts punched through the knight's armor. The knight staggered, not yet asleep—so Leon grabbed Darrick and kept running to widen the distance.
They needed the enemy unconscious before engaging. Absolute safety. Minimal risk.
But—
Darrick watched Leon pepper the knight again, finally knocking him out, quickly dashing in for a clean slash, then immediately running away again when the knight woke up.
Where was the swordsman spirit?
Where was the clash of steel?
Where was the blood-spraying battle?
Darrick's worldview cracked.
Then he stopped running. His expression hardened.
He turned back toward the knight.
"…What are you doing?" Leon asked.
"Sorry. I want to fight my way."
Darrick gripped his Farron greatsword with one hand and drew the dagger he'd bought from the smithy with the other, striking the iconic Abyss Watchers stance.
Leon's method was just too bizarre for him to accept.
This world's people were too old-fashioned. Every profession had its "pride" or "honor," and he'd been raised to follow that swordsman ethos.
But now… a "bad student" had shown him the perks of breaking rules.
His worldview had wavered. He needed time.
Watching Darrick dive into a full Farron dance, Leon sighed at his crossbow, feeling oddly guilty.
What, did this make him look like a criminal? He was just following Gapar's teachings.
He sheathed the crossbow and drew his straight sword to join the fight.
He had only wanted to show off to a new friend. If the friend didn't like it, then fine—he wouldn't use it in front of him.
Even without dirty tactics, the two eventually defeated the Knight Captain. The unfamiliar sword style caught them off guard at first, but they adapted and prevailed.
Darrick eagerly waited for the reward—Leon had said the Wolf Knight's painting fragment came from elite monsters.
But nothing dropped except a higher-tier blessing.
It seemed Wolf's Blood blessings were unique. In later levels, Darrick received only Grave King series blessings, which disappointed him.
There were also rumors of encountering "fragments of certain timelines"—events—but so far, he'd only experienced battles.
Though he didn't say it aloud, Darrick was extremely curious about the story behind Sein Dungeon.
After a brief rest, they opened the teleport chest and entered the next stage.
Finally—Darrick's long-awaited event arrived.
[As you wander through the chaotic timestream, you accidentally glimpse a fragment of a forgotten moment:]
[You are a brave knight capable of walking the Abyss.
With your trusted companions, you arrive to suppress the Abyss in a region where all residents have been corrupted.]
[Fortunately, you discover several survivors among the monsters—but they are on the verge of being consumed by abyssal corruption.]
[Seeing the trembling survivors, you choose to…]