A flash of red light flickered in the darkness of the cavern.
Yuri spoke hesitantly.
“No way—who’s a mage that worships ghosts?”
“If they died and came back to life, then they’re a ghost.”
“You should use the proper term.”
“Death Knight?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
Yuri said this as she nudged Jared with her foot.
“Jared, get up.”
“Uh, uh…”
“Get up.”
When she kicked him firmly in the rear, Jared sprang to his feet.
“Where—where am I?”
He looked around wildly, then spotted the Death Knight and instinctively drew his sword.
“Death Knight!”
Yuri calmed him down.
“Hold on a second.”
“P-please, stay behind me.”
“Good grief…”
Jared swallowed nervously.
A Death Knight is literally a knight returned from death. It happens when a knight, burdened with deep grudges, is consumed by dark magic or corrupted by black sorcery.
“This is dangerous.”
Jared was confident he could cut down most monsters, but Death Knights were a different matter.
When a knight dies and becomes a Death Knight, they grow stronger than when they were alive.
Long ago, the tale of Gert, a knight of Adelvain who was resurrected and destroyed the kingdom, was infamous.
“No.”
Yuri shook her head.
“That one isn’t dangerous.”
“How do you know?”
“I just feel it.”
Yuri stepped forward.
“Why would a guardian protecting the founder’s dungeon be hostile to me, Yuri Briol, the founder’s bloodline?”
“That’s a dangerously naive assumption!”
“Just wait and see.”
Yuri felt a strange confidence.
She’d felt it from the moment she drew the sword.
Who would have thought that an old blade, deeply embedded in the earth, would come up so easily?
Even when she fell underground, she somehow felt as if the entire dark dungeon was welcoming her.
So that Death Knight wasn’t a guardian sent to block her, but rather a guide sent to greet a descendant of Briol.
“Isn’t that right?”
[No.]
The Death Knight swung his sword.
“…!”
A flash of steel gleamed.
Hernando muttered in despair.
“Wow, the prince’s head is half off…”
“Watch your words.”
“Wow, the prince’s hair is half off…”
Yuri’s bangs fluttered.
Whether fighting Jared or now, her bangs never seemed to stay intact.
“Really not?”
[Actually, yes.]
The Death Knight answered.
His voice was deep and rough, as if echoing from the depths of the cave.
[I just reacted because your arrogant attitude annoyed me.]
“Arrogant?”
[You’re just like him.]
“Who’s him?”
[Erich.]
Hernando gasped.
“Oh…”
Everyone in Briol knew that name.
The founder of the Briol family, the first king of the Briol kingdom, and a peerless swordsman who conquered the continent with a single blade.
Erich Briol.
“Am I the first to come here?”
[Yes.]
“Only Erich’s bloodline can come?”
[If you’re not a descendant of Briol, you can’t draw that sword.]
“Could it be… this is the legendary sword the founder used…?”
[It’s the sword I used.]
Yuri was startled and dropped the sword.
[…]
“S-sorry.”
[You think I’d let just anyone hold it?]
“No, it’s just that you shouldn’t touch other people’s things without permission. I didn’t mean to.”
[Use it if you want. It’s no longer mine.]
Then the Death Knight turned away, his tattered cloak fluttering like rags.
Yuri picked up the sword again and whispered,
“Let’s follow him.”
“Are you sure? Shouldn’t we go back and report to His Majesty first…?”
“No.”
Yuri shook her head.
“We go now.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Then how do you plan to get out?”
“Huh?”
“That skeleton bastard…”
Suddenly, the Death Knight looked back.
Yuri froze in surprise but was relieved he didn’t seem to have heard her.
“…Do you really think he’ll just let us go?”
Jared immediately asked the Death Knight.
“Death Knight, we want to come back later.”
[Do you think this is some kind of neighborhood store where you can come and go as you please?]
His red eyes flared menacingly.
[Or do you think I stayed awake all this time just to play games with you? You think this is a joke?]
Unable to withstand his killing intent, Jared stammered,
“S-s-sorry.”
He stuttered twice.
Yuri chuckled softly.
“You’re scared.”
“It’s not that, it’s just for the prince’s safety.”
“Sure, sure.”
Hernando, who was looking out for himself, had been holding back silly remarks since meeting the Death Knight, but when Jared got scolded, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Quiet, Sir Hernando.”
“S-s-sorry.”
“Ugh…”
“L-let’s hurry.”
Jared sighed. None of them could take this seriously.
Hernando hummed a tune.
“A dungeon, how exciting.”
“All thanks to me.”
“Of course.”
Watching the excited Hernando and the bold prince’s backs, Jared wondered how things had come to this.
“Sigh…”
Was it really okay to be here like this?
It had been just another day on the way home from work.
Then suddenly, they’d come to Sword Mountain and entered an unknown dungeon.
It felt unreal.
“This makes no sense…”
Everything was absurd.
Yes, it all started then.
Since the day the third prince demanded a duel, life had been turned upside down.
This wasn’t the life Jared had wanted as a royal guard.
Working moderately, living peacefully, then retiring when the time came to enjoy his later years.
He’d never had any ambitions.
Who would have imagined he’d end up in a dungeon left behind by the founder of Briol?
It felt like fate had twisted, swept up by the storm the boy was stirring.
“Hey.”
Yuri, walking ahead, looked back.
“Are you going to keep me waiting?”
Jared took a breath.
It was dark.
Apart from the faint sunlight filtering through the cracks, there was no light; the prince’s figure ahead was shrouded in shadow.
Yet, for some reason, the smile on his face as he looked back was clear as day.
Over that image, something overlapped.
A bloodied face.
‘Hey, cut the nonsense.’
It was a fleeting vision.
Would the prince look like that when he grew up?
A handsome man, covered in blood, smiling wearily.
For some reason, Jared felt as if he could risk his life for him—then the feeling vanished.
A strange déjà vu.
“Not coming?”
Jared couldn’t answer.
His feet wouldn’t move.
“Then wait here.”
Like those words, Jared just wanted to wait.
He didn’t want to get caught up and wrecked by the prince’s reckless behavior.
But if he did that…
“Boring, isn’t it?”
The prince said.
The predetermined scenes of life flashed through Jared’s mind. Above them, the mad, frenzied face of the attacking prince appeared.
Amid the chaotic swirl of thoughts,
His body moved on its own.
Without realizing it, he took a step forward.
Once he moved, it was surprisingly easy.
“Your Highness.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go.”
Yuri, walking ahead, looked back and smiled.
“You should’ve followed sooner.”
Jared smiled back.
“I just needed time for my eyes to adjust to the dark.”
“Good excuse.”
“Not an excuse.”
“Come on.”
“Yes.”
And so, he ran toward the back of the willful third prince.
The Death Knight led Yuri and the others into a wide chamber.
A massive ore on the altar emitted a deep blue glow.
[So, the day has finally come…]
The Death Knight muttered. Yuri asked,
“What day is it?”
[Nothing you need to know.]
“A good day?”
[Don’t ask.]
Jared stepped back a pace.
From his perspective, Yuri’s casual conversation with the Death Knight made her seem out of her mind.
Hernando whispered to Jared.
“What if the Death Knight stabs him while he’s talking like that?”
“You’re being too harsh.”
“If the prince’s head gets separated from his body here, we’re really in trouble.”
“Enough.”
“Or if he gets stabbed in the chest and blood gushes out, and Sir Jared has to give him mouth-to-mouth…”
“Shut up.”
The Death Knight stood before the altar.
Yuri said,
“Hey, Death Knight.”
When he looked at her, she continued,
“I am Yuri Briol, descendant of Erich Briol and the third prince of the current Briol. Hand over the founder’s legacy to me.”
The Death Knight shrugged.
[Who gave you permission to take the legacy?]
“I’m a descendant of Briol.”
[Briol, huh…]
His eyes flared.
[I once bore that name too.]
Those words carried deep meaning.
Yuri looked at him, bewildered, while Jared and Hernando behind her froze.
No way.
Could this Death Knight be Erich Briol, the founder of Briol?
“Are you really Erich Briol?”
[No.]
“You scared me.”
Yuri sighed.
“There’s no way the revered founder would have become a skeleton like you.”
[You talk like you’re fearless.]
“I inherited everything.”
[Yeah, you really are like him.]
The Death Knight let out a short laugh. It wasn’t a pleasant sound.
[Not reliable, but the time has come, so I must fulfill my duty.]
“What duty?”
[I’ll give you what you seek.]
The Death Knight sat on the glowing ore.
A massive flow of mana could be felt.
“Your Highness, step back…”
Jared sensed something wrong and grabbed Yuri’s collar.
Hernando spoke up.
“It’s a mana stone. I never imagined something that big could exist.”
“That huge thing?”
“Yes.”
Mana stones naturally absorb and store mana on their own. Because you can use magic without needing external mana, they’re even more valuable than diamonds of the same size.
“Something that big can actually exist?”
“Unbelievable. A stone that size could probably buy an entire city.”
“Why would anyone just bury something like that in the ground?”
“Or, to put it another way, our ancestor must have left behind something even more precious than that mana stone.”
The Death Knight stared at them.
[Is everyone ready?]
A heavy silence fell.
He didn’t wait for an answer.
[I hope you’re worthy.]
The moment he finished speaking, a dazzling light burst forth from the mana stone.
Their vision was flooded with white.
Yuri closed his eyes, then opened them again.
……
The dungeon was gone. Instead, a barren wasteland stretched out before him.
“Where is this?”
Yuri looked around, bewildered.
He was surrounded by empty wasteland and a flat, endless horizon.
Suddenly, he spotted an unknown figure approaching from afar.
“Hey?”
Yuri called out.
“Stop! Stop!”
But there was no sign the figure would halt.
“Are you the ancestor?”
No, that couldn’t be.
“What is that?”
The figure wasn’t human.
Its entire body was translucent, allowing the landscape behind it to be seen—a humanoid shape, but something else.
The problem was, it was holding a sword.
“This is…”
Only then did Yuri realize he was holding a real sword too—not the one he’d gotten from opening the tomb, but a standard military blade.
“Is this a fight?”
As if answering his question, the figure suddenly charged.
Yuri blocked the strike.
A straightforward exchange of blows followed.
“Huh…?”
Something was changing.
From within the figure’s translucent body, a bluish glow began to emerge.
It started at the heart, then spiraled through the entire body, extending along the sword.
Clang!
With every clash of blades, the heart pulsed, and the blue aura expanded and contracted in rhythm.
Yuri understood.
“Mana Method…”
The dummy revealed its chest and circled around Yuri.
Through its transparent flesh, the path of mana flow was clearly visible.
Now he could comprehend.
The swordsmanship, the mana method, the fighting style—it was all Erich Briol.
Their ancestor, Erich Briol, was truly a madman.
“Learning by fighting directly?”
If there was any mercy, it was that this dummy was at least going easy on him.
The dummy tapped its chest twice, then summoned mana, showing how the bluish energy spread throughout its body.
“Hahaha…”
Once a mana method is ingrained in your body, it’s nearly impossible to change.
So this training must assume the trainee doesn’t know the mana method—but now they’re expected to immediately sense and manipulate mana.
An absurd demand.
Only someone on their second life could possibly pull this off.
“Alright.”
Yuri sank down to the ground.
Mana was thickly saturated throughout the space.
Pure mana began to flow into him.
In his previous life, Yuri had studied mana methods deeply to conceal his true identity. He was confident in his mana control.
“So this is how it feels…”
He tried to imitate what he had just seen.
A kid with no knowledge of mana methods handling mana like a skilled knight—no wonder even a dummy would be surprised.
He glanced sideways at the dummy.
“…!”
The dummy froze, elbows bent vertically, one hand pointing up, the other down. Looking closely, its mouth seemed to be wide open.
An impressive display of emotional expression.