I Became the Black Knight

"Shit, it's a monster!"

Startled, Haken instinctively raised his shield to smash down—

But Dale reached out and stopped him, grabbing the shield mid-swing. Then he turned to the dwarf and asked,

"Your heart definitely stopped. How?"

The dwarf, too weak to even open his eyelids, responded with effort.

"To survive… I picked up a few odd tricks here and there. Slowing the heartbeat almost to a stop was one of them. Who are you people? Have I finally lost my mind and started seeing illusions? Or is that damn demon's servant casting hallucination spells again?"

"Garand sent us."

At Dale's reply, the dwarf fell silent for a moment—then let out a breath and spoke again.

"Well… that I didn't expect. The situation's so ridiculously good, it might actually not be a hallucination."

Though his body had been thoroughly ravaged by torture, the dwarf's mind seemed perfectly intact.

There was even a touch of composure in his voice.

Dale found himself intrigued by this dwarf.

"State your name."

"Valton. Valton, son of Brix."

"All right, Valton. How's your body holding up?"

"Hmm. To be honest, I feel like death. Not to be dramatic, but if I lose even a drop more blood, I'll probably keel over."

Dale glanced toward Estelle. That alone was enough—She understood and sprinkled holy water over Valton, quietly reciting a prayer.

A soft white glow enveloped the dwarf's body.

His wounds began healing rapidly.

"I don't know if we should be using holy water and miracles right before a dangerous fight," Haken muttered.

But no one paid him any mind.

As his body recovered, Valton's expression visibly relaxed.

He turned his head slightly in Dale's direction, with his eyes still closed. He asked,

"What happened to the other mercenaries? Do you know?"

"They're all dead. Were they your comrades?"

Valton immediately denied it.

"Ha! No way! It was a hastily assembled party this time. Just a bunch of idiots. When that demon lackey started preparing for torture and tried to coax us, those four gave in before the blade even touched their skin. All of them. Thanks to that, I had to endure the full brunt of the torture alone. Damn bastards."

Dale asked with genuine curiosity,

"And yet, you didn't give in. It must've been hard to endure."

"Don't underestimate the willpower of us dwarves. Something like that is nothing to me. Besides, if I had given in to a demon, my ancestors would rise from their graves just to crack my skull. How could I possibly give in?"

Pride and stubbornness—Those were the defining traits of the dwarven race.

And Valton's words carried both.

Stubborn enough to resist temptation, proud to be a dwarf.

Before long, the emergency treatment was complete.

Scars would remain, but his life was no longer in danger.

Now, it was time to deal with the demon's servant.

Before leaving, Dale asked,

"Valton. Do you know what kind of magic the demon's servant uses?"

"Well… aside from that eerie, scorching flame that demons are known for, not really. After he tried to coax us once, he never came back... Wait. Don't tell me—you're going to kill that bastard?"

"That's the plan."

"Value your life! That guy's not someone three people can just—... huh."

Startled, Valton forced his eyes open. Only then did he finally see the face of the man who had saved him.

Frozen for a moment, Valton muttered,

"No wonder my whole body felt cold and trembling… I never imagined the Black Knight himself would be the one to save me."

"Helping you doesn't cost me anything."

"I suppose not. Damn. Am I dreaming after all?"

He had gone on a reconnaissance mission, got caught by a demon's minion, thought he'd die, then a rescue party came—and the Black Knight was leading it.

It was all too much to take in at once. His head throbbed from the unreal sequence of events.

"Well, even if I tried to stop you, I doubt you'd run away now."

"If I was going to run, I wouldn't have come this far."

Valton let out a deep sigh and said,

"My backpack should be around here somewhere, isn't it?"

Haken picked up a green backpack lying on the ground. It was covered in blood.

"This the one you mean?" he asked.

"That's the one," Valton confirmed. "Good thing that servant bastard didn't bother with it. There should be a fist-sized box in the front pocket."

Haken rummaged through the bag as instructed. Just as Valton said, a fist-sized box was tucked inside the front pocket. Despite its size, it felt surprisingly heavy.

Haken turned the box over in his hands.

There was a small hole about the size of a finger on the front and a single button on the top, but he had no idea what it was for.

Haken muttered, "What the hell is this?"

"My masterpiece," Valton replied. "Press the button on top, and a dagger shoots out from the hole. It's strong enough to pierce metal at close range, so please use it to punch a hole right through that bastard's skull."

Haken handed the box over to Dale. Dale examined it, turning it around in his hands, then said,

"If it's as powerful as you say, it must be pretty expensive."

"Expensive or not, if you all die, I'm as good as dead too. So make good use of it."

There's no point in saving your belongings if you're going to die anyway.

Dale liked Valton's rational way of thinking.

"This, Haken—you use it."

"Ah, alright then."

"It can only be used once, so think carefully before you press it."

"Let's go."

As Dale turned his back, Haken followed close behind.

Estelle gave a polite bow.

"I'll be back soon."

"I really hope so. I need some sleep."

Valton closed his eyes.

Once even Estelle was gone, silence filled the room once more.

Unable to bear the stillness, Valton deliberately muttered aloud.

"Damn. I'm afraid that when I open my eyes, it'll all turn out to be a dream."

***

The three of them walked down the corridor.

At last, at the end of the endlessly stretching hallway, they saw a door.

A solid steel door, tightly shut.

It was obvious that something was waiting behind it.

Haken and Estelle's pace gradually slowed. Now that the fight was drawing near, their once-firm resolve was beginning to waver.

Dale glanced back at them.

But unlike the other two, Dale showed no hesitation as he placed his palm on the steel door.

Creak.

The door swung open easily, revealing what lay inside.

A spacious, square room.

A square altar in the center of the room.

A pitch-black longsword thrust into the altar.

And a female mage, continuously chanting in an unknown language with her hand on the sword.

At the sound of the door opening, the mage turned her head, her face full of irritation.

"I clearly warned you not to bother me, but I guess you didn't understand—ugh!"

Dale dashed forward without hesitation and drove his longsword into her.

The mage was too slow to react to the unexpected ambush.

The longsword pierced deep into her shoulder. But Dale tilted his head in confusion.

'She's not being pushed back?'

He had put all his strength into the strike, so he expected the mage's slender body to be sent flying.

But strangely, her body didn't budge.

It felt as if a heavy boulder was standing there instead.

The mage also stared at Dale in disbelief.

"The world may have gone mad, but stabbing someone without even a word—what kingdom teaches such manners?"

"Does a demon's underling care about manners?"

"...."

Now that he mentioned it, she had no rebuttal.

An awkward silence hung between them for a moment.

Then, the mage forcefully pushed Dale away.

Her arm had more strength than he expected. Dale was knocked backward.

The mage frowned as she looked this way.

Aside from the gemstone-like eyes that glowed with a crimson hue, she was a normally beautiful woman.

But the ruby-like jewels embedded in both her eyes glinted once. In that instant, any sense of normalcy vanished, replaced by an aura that was both mystical and eerie.

The mage asked,

"I'll start by asking—my familiars and slaves should've been guarding this place. How did you get past them?"

"Are you seriously asking that because you don't know?"

At Dale's reply, the mage furrowed her brows.

"So you're saying you killed them all. That's odd. Even if they were half-finished fools, their numbers shouldn't have been something to scoff at."

The mage's crimson eyes emitted a glow.

The light slowly scanned Dale and his companions from head to toe. Haken and Estel flinched, feeling as if insects were crawling across their skin.

The mage murmured,

"The idiot in the back and the harlot who calls herself a slave of light—both are nothing special. But you… the half-corpse who walks in darkness…"

"…you're different."

She narrowed her gleaming red eyes and took a step closer, her presence pressing down like a storm.

"There's something strange about you. You smell like death, yet you live. You walk with the stench of darkness, yet you haven't drowned in it."

Her voice lowered, silk-soft but edged with danger.

"I've only seen one like you before. A vessel—no, a failure. A knight who betrayed both light and shadow."

She tilted her head, studying Dale with curiosity now instead of hostility.

"…What are you?"

Dale didn't answer. He simply raised his sword again.

Hashina's eyes flickered rapidly—then her body began to distort in a grotesque transformation.

Scales formed over her skin, turning as hard as stone. Her legs split and bent unnaturally, transforming into six tentacle-like appendages, resembling the limbs of an octopus.

Each tentacle was covered in countless suckers, endlessly pulsing and contracting.

It was clear just from appearance—this was on a completely different level than anything they had faced before.

Hashina continued her transformation, becoming more and more inhuman with each passing moment.

But Dale was not the kind of honorable man to patiently wait for an enemy to finish transforming.

He charged in at once and brought his longsword down.

Hashina swung one of her tentacles with full force.

Clang!

The tentacle clashed with the blade. Surprisingly, it wasn't the tentacle that gave way—but the longsword.

A jagged crack split across the blade's surface.

'Broke again.'

Dale casually tossed the ruined longsword aside and pulled out his warhammer.

As he did, his mind swiftly sifted through memories—he still had a decent amount of useful information left.

'Argur of Annihilation. A demon that distorts the bodies of its minions to grant them powerful physiques. Its magic is crude, but if I remember right, its vitality was disgustingly persistent.'

Not exactly the kind of demon a mage would normally choose as their master.

Argur was all about brute strength, while most mages were the sedentary, physically weak type.

So was Hashina the sort who preferred to take matters into her own hands?

Or had she latched onto a less popular demon, waiting for the right opportunity?

No way to tell.

Dale simply swung his warhammer.

Bang!

The warhammer moved with surprising speed. Its pointed tip struck Hashina's rock-like skin with a solid blow.

A few of her scales clattered to the ground.

"Kyaaaah!"

Hashina let out a surprisingly human scream, considering her monstrous appearance, then whipped her tentacles like a lash.

A strike packed with both weight and force.

And if any of those pulsing suckers managed to latch on… not even Dale would get away unscathed.

Dale quickly took two steps back, maintaining distance as he searched for an opening.

Hashina shouted,

"What's wrong? Where's that bravado from earlier? Are you, a mere undead, scared now?"

Hashina's tentacles struck the ground. The suckers latched onto the stone tiles.

As she flexed her tentacles, the stone slabs were lifted with disturbing ease. Hashina began hurling them wildly.

'Annoying.'

Dale, dodging the flying slabs with quick footwork, was beginning to get irritated.

More than anything, he wanted to shut that nagging mage's mouth.

Just then, Dale caught one of the rapidly flying slabs.

The heavy weight surged through both his hands. Instead of trying to stop the momentum, Dale used it.

He spun his body in a wide arc, riding the force of the incoming slab.

Dale's body rotated in a full circle.

The slab had yet to lose its speed. Dale added his own strength to it.

The slab hurtled back with even greater force toward where it had come from.

Hashina, who had been preparing for her next throw, hurriedly moved her tentacles to shield her head.

Boom!

A thunderous crash rang out—far louder than what a breaking stone should sound like.

Fragments of the shattered slab exploded in all directions.

Even for a servant of a demon, it must've been jarring. Hashina froze momentarily.

But realizing her mistake, she quickly looked up.

Dale was already right in front of her. In his left hand, a hand axe sank into Hashina's head.

Crunch!

Her hardened skin prevented the blade from piercing all the way into her brain.

Still, the burst of green blood showed it had definitely landed.

Before Hashina could even scream, Dale wrapped his right arm around her neck. With his other hand, he thrust under her armpit, locking his hands together in a tight triangle.

Pinned firmly in place, Hashina panicked.

Dale's strength was greater than expected.

On top of that, the direction he applied pressure was precise.

Even using all six of her tentacles, Hashina couldn't break free immediately.

But conversely, Dale couldn't swing a weapon either.

Even if he was choking her with all his might, demon servants weren't the type to die just from being unable to breathe.

Hashina gasped and shouted:

"Khak! Wh-What kind of cheap trick is this?!"

"You seemed too focused on me."

"What?"

"Haken!"

At that moment, Haken had already approached and thrust out his arm.

Hashina quickly looked at his hand.

She expected a sharp blade—but it wasn't.

In his hand was a small box.

Hashina couldn't grasp Haken's intent. That delay cost her a beat in reaction.

Haken pressed the box against Hashina's temple.

Hashina screamed.

"What the hell?!"

"A gift from this idiot right here to you, you wench."

"What?"

Haken pressed the button.

Tick, tick. The sound of gears winding and a spring stretching rang out.

The next moment—Thunk! With that noise, Haken was pushed backward.

"Whoa!"

The recoil was stronger than expected. Haken quickly looked down at the box.

It had already done its job and lay broken in pieces.

He looked up again at Hashina.

Then he shouted in triumph.

"It worked!"

A hole had been blasted into that rock-hard temple of hers—a gaping hole big enough to see right through the other side.

Sticky blood dripped out steadily from the wound.

Hashina stared at them with bulging, shocked eyes.

"You bastards…"

"Yes, yes. Remember this well! Sir Dale and Haken—those are the names of the ones who brought you down!"

Dale was about to tell the overly excited Haken to stop and fall back, just in case.

But it was already too late.

The expression on Hashina's face had already regained its composure. Her gem-like eyes blinked once.

And then—the hole in her head began to fill in with flesh at an astonishing speed.

Before anyone could react, it had completely healed.

With a smug face, Hashina spoke.

"Surely… you don't expect that to be all you came prepared with?"

Dale thought to himself:

'Yeah. That was way too easy.'