I Became the Black Knight

Hashina, the minion of the demon, moved her hands with meticulous care. She gently caressed a sword embedded in the altar.

Each time her hand touched the blade, her fingertips recoiled.

A sharp pain pricked her.

But Hashina smiled.

"Just a little more. Just a little more, and it will be mine."

Her eyes glimmered like starlight in the deep darkness.

She had struggled for a long time to corrupt the power sealed within the sword, but now, the end was in sight.

Hashina wanted to finish the task quickly.

She couldn't wait to taint the sword and offer it to her master.

If she succeeded, her mighty and merciful master would grant her even greater power.

Just thinking about that moment made all her current efforts feel like nothing.

Without a moment's rest, Hashina continued her work. Then, one of her minions approached.

The minion bowed its head and spoke clumsily.

"An… in-intruder. An intruder… has arrived."

Hashina frowned and glared at the minion.

"Didn't I tell you not to disturb me until I finish? Whether it's an intruder or whatever, deal with it yourself. If you interrupt me again over something so trivial, I'll tear you to shreds."

"B-but… they're s-stronger than expected…"

"Get lost."

With a vicious command, the minion scurried away in fear.

Left alone once more in the dark chamber, Hashina resumed her task.

"Just a little. Just a little more…"

Her muttering, like metal scraping against metal, echoed through the darkness.

***

Dale, Haken, and Estelle made their way toward the jagged mountain of rocks.

Haken glanced around nervously, anxiety written all over his face.

Seeing that, Dale spoke to him.

"There probably won't be any more ambushes."

"Sorry—what?"

"No matter how powerful a demon's minion may be, they can't summon monsters endlessly. No matter how poorly we fought just now, we must have killed at least half of them."

"Well… I suppose that's true."

"Besides, we're heading into their territory. Wouldn't it be more logical for them to fight on their own turf than to come out and meet us?"

Haken nodded. Rationally, Dale made sense.

But his pounding heart simply wouldn't calm down.

He kept panting noisily—huff, huff—drawing more attention to his nervous state.

In contrast, Estelle remained composed.

Her expression was solemn—almost resolute.

It was as if she considered their current mission a holy crusade that must be undertaken by a follower of the God of Light.

With serious eyes, she spoke.

"Are we going the right way right now?"

"I checked the monster's memories. There was a cave at the midpoint of the sharpest and tallest peak."

"Huh? Isn't that the tallest and sharpest one? We're going in the complete opposite direction."

Haken pointed to a peak behind them. Just as he said, it was the tallest and most jagged one in sight.

Estelle furrowed her brows and scolded him lightly.

"Haken. Do you really think Sir Dale would mistake something that obvious? Right, Sir Dale…?"

At some point, Dale had started walking in the wrong direction.

Haken and Estelle quickly caught up to him.

"Sir Dale?"

"I got momentarily confused."

"Ah. I see."

The three continued walking in silence for a while. They needed to conserve as much energy as possible for the battle ahead.

The mountain was eerily quiet.

No chirping insects, no hooting owls—nothing could be heard.

It felt as though the entire area had fallen into a deep slumber.

Haken gripped the torch tighter and muttered under his breath,

"Shit. It's even scarier because it's so quiet."

Estelle agreed.

"I've never been in a place that felt this disturbing."

Dale continued walking in silence. His calm and composed demeanor helped settle both Haken and Estelle's nerves. As they continued onward, the group eventually arrived at the base of a towering peak.

Dale carefully scanned the area, then pointed to one side.

"There."

"Where…? Ah."

Two large boulders were pressed against each other, and in between them was a gap.

A small crevice—just barely big enough for a single person to squeeze through.

The three of them stopped briefly in front of the crevice.

"So… you're saying we have to go in there?"

"Looks like a one-way ticket to getting screwed."

"I'll go first."

"Huh?"

Dale dug away at the dirt, widening the gap, then pushed his body through it.

Estelle and Haken exchanged glances as they stared blankly, then soon followed Dale, crawling into the earthen tunnel after him.

A horrid stench filled the tunnel. But the foul smell itself was proof that they were on the right track.

The three of them crawled through the narrow, winding passage.

At one point, the tunnel suddenly ended—not blocked by earth, but opening up into a wide, hollow space.

Dale took the torch from Haken and threw it downward.

Thud.

The torch hit the ground shortly after. Fortunately, the drop wasn't very deep.

Dale exited the tunnel and landed on the ground below.

Immediately, he began scanning the surroundings.

'This… isn't just a tunnel.'

Neatly fitted stones covered the floor, walls, and ceiling.

A square corridor, with equal length and width, stretched out endlessly.

Haken let out a whistle of admiration.

"Wow. When did they even build something like this? Gotta admit, demons sure are talented."

"Haken. That's an inappropriate remark."

"I mean, I was just saying…"

As Haken pouted, Dale spoke up.

"This wasn't built by demons."

"Huh?"

"It's been here a long time."

Amid the putrid stench, there was also the musty, heavy smell unique to ancient underground structures.

Besides, it was hard to believe a demon's minion could construct such a precise underground facility in such a short time.

Maybe a demon could, but not their servant.

Dale sifted through his knowledge from the game, piecing together the true identity of this place.

"A ruin… Judging by the architecture and the atmosphere, it looks like something the dwarves built."

"Oh—if it's a dwarven ruin…"

Haken's eyes widened in surprise.

Dale nodded.

"Yeah. It's going to be filled with lots of traps."

"No, I was going to say it's going to be filled with lots of treasure."

Scratching his head, Haken turned his gaze down the corridor.

"Well, even if there were traps, wouldn't the demon's minion have already dismantled them all?"

"That's true."

"Then let's move on. I've got a feeling that by the time this journey ends, we're going to be rich."

Suddenly fired up, Haken gripped his shield and strode confidently ahead.

The group walked down the dark corridor.

And Haken's guess was correct.

The traps had already been dismantled—by the demon's minion, and in a very brutal way.

"…So she just shoved her underlings into the traps."

Scattered throughout the corridor were the corpses of monsters that had fallen victim to the traps.

The terrible stench they had been smelling all this time had been coming from those very bodies.

The three carefully made their way forward, avoiding the corpses, wary that some traps might reactivate.

How long had they been walking like that?

Suddenly, Dale came to a stop.

"What is it?"

"They're coming."

Haken quickly raised his shield. Something was approaching from beyond the darkness.

Estelle, hiding behind Haken's shield with her mace at the ready, gasped when she saw the enemy drawing near.

"That's…!"

It was walking on two legs—clearly human.

Its joints were twisted in unnatural directions, and its skin looked as hard as stone. Yet, despite that, it still resembled a human more than a monster.

Dale studied the figure closely.

And then he realized—he recognized those faces.

'They were the advance team of mercenary scouts.'

Among them, one who appeared to be the leader stepped forward.

He was a middle-aged man with a military-style buzz cut.

From his mouth came a grating, metallic voice that sent chills down their spines.

"L… leave. If you v-value your l-l-life…"

"What? You want us to just walk away?"

"Go! Get out! G-get lost before we devour you alive!"

"Leave!"

The mercenaries all shouted in unison. Taken aback, Estelle asked,

"They really were mercenaries, right? What… what happened to them?"

"They were captured by the demon's minion—and persuaded to turn. They're not human anymore."

After being captured and tortured, who could resist the temptation when offered power?

Estelle asked in a sorrowful voice,

"Then… is there no way to heal them?"

Dale shook his head.

The mercenaries' eyes had hardened, like solid stone.

It meant it was already too late.

Still staring straight ahead, Haken asked,

"So they sided with the demon's lackey—fine. But why aren't they trying to fight us? Why are they just telling us to leave?"

"Why do you think?"

Dale gripped the warhammer slung across his back.

"Because they're scared."

"…What?"

In the next instant, Dale surged forward.

Perhaps they hadn't expected such a sudden attack—The mercenary in front flailed his shield up in a panic.

Dale brought his warhammer down in a vertical swing.

Crunch!

The wooden shield shattered, and along with it, the mercenary's hand broke with a sickening snap.

"Gaaaargh!"

Dale shoved his gauntlet into the screaming mercenary's mouth.

For someone who had embraced demonic power, his jaw broke far too easily.

But of course—it made sense.

They had only just accepted the demon's power.

They were still green, inexperienced—didn't even know how to properly wield their newfound strength.

You could tell just by the way they spoke, sluggish and awkward.

And besides, they hadn't even received their power directly from a demon. These were mere subordinates—slaves, at best.

What kind of power could a demon's minion even grant to slaves?

Dale continued swinging his warhammer.

The mercenaries-turned-monsters could hardly mount any proper resistance.

They just took the blows helplessly.

At that point, Haken also realized how weak they were.

He slammed his shield forward, crushing one of the mercenaries' heads with a brutal downward strike.

"Gyaaah!"

The mercenaries, overwhelmed and beaten, curled up on the ground, screaming in pain.

At times like this, people usually responded in one of two ways—

They'd either beg for their lives…

Or they'd start making threats.

These ones chose the latter.

"S-stop! Stop it! If you kill us, our master… our master won't let you live!"

Haken scoffed in disbelief.

"Seriously? You switched sides that fast?"

"He is powerful! He is none other than Argur the Annihilator, ranked 19th among the demons!"

"A demon? Here?"

"…He is a powerful sorcerer who received power directly from Lord Argur."

Argur.

Just hearing the name was enough for Dale to gauge the abilities of the minion who served such a demon.

Dale asked,

"So. What's this oh-so-great sorcerer doing right now?"

"Th-that's…"

"Never mind. I'll just go find him myself."

Dale raised his warhammer again—but then suddenly paused, struck by a thought.

He glanced at the trembling mercenary cowering beneath the suspended weapon and asked:

"Where's the fifth one? I remember there were five of you."

The mercenary, perhaps already out of his mind, grinned stupidly as he answered.

"H-heh… That one… that idiot still hasn't accepted the blessing of the Star God…"

That meant—despite all the torture and temptation, he had yet to surrender to the demon.

'A cleric, maybe?'

Crunch!

Having heard what he needed, Dale struck the mercenary's head without hesitation.

Even with their bodies hardened by demonic power, that didn't mean they were unbreakable.

Dale made sure not a single one was left breathing.

There might have been room for sympathy.

After all, they were just unlucky souls who crossed paths with a demon's servant and were swayed.

But once someone tastes demonic power, there's no going back to being an ordinary human.

In pursuit of even greater strength, they'd commit unspeakable horrors—Until, in the end, they lost all trace of humanity and became true fiends.

That was the only future left for them.

What was needed now wasn't misplaced sympathy—It was a clean, definitive kill.

Estelle looked quietly at the mercenaries' corpses and murmured,

"Once this is over, we'll give you a proper burial. Please wait a little longer."

"Let's move."

Dale quickened his pace.

The fact that one survivor might still be alive lingered in his mind.

'If he's been tortured all this time, he's probably as good as dead by now.'

Still, he had to check.

As they moved swiftly down the corridor, several rooms of varying sizes appeared on either side.

Every single one reeked of blood.

Dale stepped into the room where the scent of blood was strongest.

Estelle followed close behind—then immediately covered her mouth.

"Ugh! I-it's horrific…"

Horrific.

There was no more accurate word for it.

The room was filled with all manner of torture devices, splattered with blood and flesh in every direction.

And at the center of it all, a dwarf was tightly bound, or was it really a dwarf?

There were so many wounds, and the face was so badly disfigured, it was hard to tell.

It was only the small, stocky frame that made them assume it was a dwarf.

Dale placed a hand on the figure's body and shook his head.

"Heart's stopped. He's dead."

"Ah…"

Haken scratched his head and asked,

"But don't you think it's kinda suspicious the demon just left the body there? Just in case… let's burn it."

"Now that you mention it…"

Estelle nodded, and Haken moved without hesitation, bringing the torch closer—Just then, a faint, barely-alive voice rose up from below.

"W-wait. I ain't dead yet."