Adam opened his eyes.
It seemed he had lost consciousness for a brief moment.
"Ugh..."
He stood up, his body numb from the sudden fall, which had left him no time to cover himself with mana for protection.
"Asterin, do you know where the two knights fell?"
Adam massaged his shoulders with a slight frown; the pain hadn't completely gone away, but that wasn't a problem right now.
"It seems you fell separately for some reason."
Asterin replied without elaborating; she knew where they were and why they had been separated.
"I see..."
He fell silent as he speculated about where the hell they had ended up, and the only thing that came to mind was... a dungeon.
That would explain why he lost consciousness for a moment and awoke to find himself separated from the knights.
Why didn't that damn older man tell me there was a dungeon here?
Adam clicked his lips in annoyance; if he had known beforehand that there was a dungeon, he would have prepared himself properly. But there's no use crying over spilled milk.
He sighed and began walking through the darkness.
As he advanced, he saw broken swords buried in the black or dark earth; he couldn't tell the difference because of the place's darkness, and since he didn't know any magic, he couldn't create any light.
The further he went, the more broken swords accumulated, as did the light emitted by the mana stones embedded in the ceiling and around him.
But the dungeon looked like a graveyard of swords.
Not long after, Adam arrived at what appeared to be the end of the dungeon, where Kevin and Robert were.
"You're finally here, young master; it seems that ghost was waiting for you," Kevin said with a nervous smile. It seemed they were in danger.
Adam looks around and sees a skeleton sitting with six arms and armor he had never seen in his past life.
The armor was made of iron plates and lacquered leather, held together by silk cords, light but sturdy, designed to protect without sacrificing mobility or elegance.
In one of its bony hands was a sword with a sharp, curved blade; it looked like black iron, but it was single-edged.
[So it was you who took my sword.]
The voice that came from the skeleton was surprisingly soft, but the sound of its jaw was disturbing.
A Death knight.
Adam's expression darkened, and he tensed up to the core.
A Death knight, as the name suggests, is a knight who has returned from death. It occasionally occurred due to demonic energy and black magic.
[You don't have to be so tense; if I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already,] said the knight of death.
He knew this from the energy he gave off. He approached, but without letting his guard down; he couldn't trust him.
"You are the owner of this sword, aren't you?" Adam showed Repentance to him.
[That was once my sword, but that's not important right now. Follow me.]
"Wait, young master..."
Before the knights could react, the death knight snapped his fingers, and Robert and Kevin vanished.
A sharp chill ran down Adam's spine, and he immediately circulated his mana throughout his body.
[Kekeke, good reaction, but you don't have to be so tense; I haven't finished with them yet.] The death knight laughed, amused, or rather, he feigned laughter, because it was his bone jaw that was making the sound.
Meanwhile, in the cave filled with mana stones, Kevin and Robert shouted.
"Young master!"
"Damn it! What do we do now? Do we go back and report this to Lord Zephyr?"
Robert searched for the hole where he had fallen, but found nothing, so he let out a long, tired sigh.
"We'll stay here; we'll wait until nightfall; if he doesn't come out before then, we'll go and report it."
Kevin nodded as he sat down, his expression serious.
...
The knight of death led Adam to a silent chamber, lined with broken swords stuck in the floor and walls, as if that place had been the scene of countless forgotten battles.
At the back of the room stood a crystal sword.
It emitted a dark, unnatural light, while the shadows around it writhed and danced, as if they were alive.
[So... the time has finally come.]
The gentleman's voice resonated with a deep, ancient murmur.
Adam narrowed his eyes and asked, with a slight smile that did not hide his caution:
"What moment?"
[None of your business.]
"Hmm..."
He hummed, amused and alert at the same time, without letting his guard down for a second.
Then he looked up at the crystal sword and asked again:
"So... why did you bring me here?"
The death knight did not answer immediately.
For a brief moment, the silence became thick, almost reverent. Then, with a slow and deliberate movement, he took the crystal sword.
The dark blade pulsed, as if it had been waiting for this moment for centuries.
Adam barely had time to frown.
The sword sank into his chest.
There was no explosion of mana.
There was no scream.
Just a dry, cold impact.
Adam's eyes widened in disbelief as the air left his lungs. The world seemed to stand still at that precise moment.
[May you be worthy.]
The death knight's voice resonated with cruel serenity, like a twisted blessing.
The pain came late, dull, distant.
The strength left his body.
Adam's vision shattered, slipping into total darkness, as his consciousness sank into an abyss.