“What the hell?”
That was the first reaction of the paladins assigned to Team 1, who had headed down the far-left path.
“It was a dungeon?”
Eric said in a startled voice.
They had merely come here to find a single vampire, yet the sight before them was something else entirely.
In the vast plaza, there were only skeletons.
If they wanted to cross to the other side, they would have to deal with those undead bastards first.
“At least it’s a good thing they’re skeletons.”
Thomas replied, drawing his sword.
The fact that this place was a dungeon was an unforeseen variable, but just as Thomas said, it could actually be considered fortunate for them.
After all, the greatest enemies of undead creatures like skeletons were paladins.
Unlike undead of the dark attribute, paladins possessed the attribute of light.
Even in terms of compatibility alone, it was true that paladins of the light attribute held an overwhelming advantage.
Knowing that, they naturally found themselves smiling.
Thomas shouted in a powerful voice and tried to raise his sword.
“We’ll finish this in no—”
Boom—
But Thomas’s words never reached their end.
A skeleton soldier rushed toward Thomas, only to explode immediately after.
There was no one left where Thomas had been.
Only the chunks of flesh and equipment scattered on the floor proved that someone had once stood there.
“Everyone, scatter and activate Shield! It’s Corpse Explosion!”
“Fuck! If it’s Corpse Explosion, that means there’s a lich!”
A lich.
An undead monster, and at the same time one capable of using magic—a monster of the 4-star grade.
Their existence was troublesome, and the reason was just like now.
Boom— Boom—
Because they possessed a skill that caused undead monsters to explode.
Of course, it only worked on monsters of a lower grade than themselves, but even now, there were quite a few 1-star skeleton soldiers inside the dungeon.
It was extremely troublesome.
When the skeleton soldiers ran toward the paladins, the lich activated Corpse Explosion.
“Use Shield right now and hold out!”
Eric shouted with a grimace.
How long would this Shield be able to endure?
He only hoped it would hold for a while……
Everyone was thinking the same thing.
Corpse Explosion was ultimately a battle of attrition.
Since it was a skill that exploded undead monsters, it was no different from a suicide attack.
If they continued to be consumed like this, eventually there would be no undead monsters left to explode.
And that would lead to the absence of the monsters guarding the dungeon.
So they only needed to hold out a little longer.
They believed that all they had to do was endure.
Those skeletons couldn’t be appearing infinitely, after all.
Boom—
Boom—
“We only need to hold out a little longer!”
The enemy lich was recklessly consuming the skeleton soldiers.
At this rate, the number of remaining skeletons should have dropped drastically.
In the end, it was an act of cutting away its own flesh, so they waited for the right moment.
If they endured just a little longer, they would be the ones to win.
But what unfolded was different from what they had expected.
Clatter—
Clatter—
Tap— Tap—
Even more skeleton soldiers appeared from somewhere.
There were even far more of them than before.
“This can’t be….”
It was despair itself.
At that moment, Eric spotted the lich in his field of vision.
“The lich is over there!”
They only had to eliminate the lich.
Then Corpse Explosion would stop happening.
If that happened, they could deal with the remaining undead with ease.
Eric immediately raised his sword in the direction of the lich.
“O Goddess, please take pity on your young soul and grant me the strength to punish evil.”
Pure white divine power coated the blade of his sword.
And the moment Eric swung his sword wide—
Sacred light in the shape of a blade flew straight toward the lich.
Kwa-boom—
The divine power he had fired seemed to have struck head-on, and dust scattered from where the lich had stood as thick smoke rose up.
“Yes!”
Everyone cheered.
The attack had landed precisely.
Before long, the smoke cleared.
“No!”
Contrary to their expectations, the lich was unharmed.
No, rather, they were now facing the worst possible situation.
Because someone had appeared in front of the lich with a shield and blocked it.
A knight whose entire body was stained black.
A monster that absolutely should not exist in this place.
“…Death Knight.”
At the appearance of the Death Knight, everyone froze in place.
‘Why?’
‘Why is there a Death Knight here?’
Everyone was thinking the same thing at once, only their eyes darting about.
A Death Knight was a 5-star monster.
If such a being had been here, they should have noticed it beforehand.
But the enemy had appeared suddenly.
As if it had fallen from the sky.
No matter how they thought about it, they couldn’t understand.
And what was with the shield the Death Knight was holding?
Eric muttered as he looked at something in front of the shield.
“A maid outfit…?”
A maid outfit was hanging from the front of the shield held by the Death Knight.
That outfit was the maid uniform Celia had been wearing for quite some time.
The maid outfit was an S-grade costume with an option that could offset as much as 90% of an opponent’s attack power when that attack contained divine power.
However, because Master had recently bestowed new clothing upon her, the maid outfit that was no longer needed had been attached to the shield.
With this, the undead were able to overcome, even if only slightly, divine power, which was practically their one and only weakness.
But since the paladins had no way of knowing this, they had no choice but to be bewildered.
“Ha… hahaha.”
It made no sense.
This was something that should not happen.
Eric burst into loud laughter as though he had lost his mind.
Boom—
Boom—
Of course, that did not mean the battle had stopped.
The lich continued causing Corpse Explosions, pressuring the paladins.
“Get a hold of yourself! Eric!”
But Eric was already in a state of madness, only continuing to laugh.
How long had he laughed?
At last, Eric stopped laughing.
At the same time, the life in his eyes vanished.
Paladin Eric.
Suddenly, he raised his sword and approached his comrades.
The moment his comrades thought he had come back to his senses—
Pshk—
“Huh?”
Eric’s sword pierced into a comrade’s abdomen.
“Eric! What the hell are you doing!”
The person beside him tried to stop Eric, but—
Slash—
As expected, it was useless.
Eric began swinging and stabbing his sword at those who had once been his comrades, one after another.
“Eric, why….”
The Eric they had known was already gone.
Only Eric, whose mind was being controlled by a banshee, remained.
Mind control, the banshee’s ability.
Normally, paladins were immune to it, but the lich’s Corpse Explosion and the appearance of the Death Knight had been dealing the paladins mental blows little by little.
The banshee had merely slipped into that opening.
“Khehehe.”
Before anyone realized it, only one paladin remained in this place.
His name was Eric.
From now on, instead of the Order, he would protect the proud dungeon.
Even so, his devotion to the Goddess was sincere, so he vowed that he would guide many people from now on.
To the Goddess’s side, that is.
* * *
“Aaaargh!”
Bloodsucking butterflies clung to the paladins’ entire bodies.
Some were being eaten alive by plants.
Others, poisoned by spider venom, were slowly being wrapped in webs.
It was truly hell itself.
If someone asked what hell looked like, one could point to this place without issue—it was that wretched a sight.
Berter, too, flailed desperately as he swung his sword at the butterflies.
‘Where did it all go wrong?’
He had come here simply to capture a vampire.
No, to be precise, he had found the demonic sword and chased after the vampire.
But what had been waiting for them were terrifying beings.
It was far too difficult to overturn the current situation.
Bang—
Bang—
Boom—
Boom—
And the explosions that rang out from time to time.
It wasn’t hard to tell that monsters existed not only on the path he had entered through, but everywhere.
Berter squeezed his eyes shut.
Could he survive in this place?
No, he would survive no matter what.
He had to.
There were things he needed to do after surviving.
He had to get rid of his incompetent older brother and protect the family.
He had to drag his father down from the position of family head for naming that incompetent brother as heir.
That was the duty and goal he carried.
Therefore, he could not die here.
With his sword in hand, Berter approached one paladin.
The man had merely had his blood drained by the bloodsucking butterflies; for now, he was still breathing.
Slash—
Berter’s sword severed his leg.
Then he lifted him as though carrying a piece of luggage and immediately ran toward the next passage.
‘I can’t die in a place like this.’
He would survive, no matter what.
After running for quite some time, a lake soon appeared.
It was a fairly large lake.
When he tried to circle the lakeshore and head to the other side, several nagas sprang out from the water.
Monsters whose lower bodies had the shape of snakes—nagas.
Without hesitation, Berter threw the paladin he had brought with him.
The paladin’s face was filled with despair, but without legs, he was in no state to flee.
The nagas thrust their spears toward the paladin Berter had thrown.
‘Now!’
When the nagas’ attention was fixed over there, Berter blindly ran toward the passage on the other side.
Fortunately, no group of monsters chased after him.
Normally, he should have found this unnatural situation suspicious.
But it was difficult to expect that kind of reasoning from him now.
The thoughts in Berter’s head were focused solely on the demonic sword.
Thinking only of the demonic sword, he ran and ran.
Before he knew it, Berter had reached the center of the dungeon.
And he saw it.
The demonic sword he had seen before was lying on the floor.
“Finally!”
It was a scene anyone could tell was artificial, but Berter’s expression was already soaked in greed.
“Heh heh.”
As long as he obtained that demonic sword, he would gain power.
Power stronger than anyone else’s!
The demonic sword he had wanted so desperately was finally in Berter’s hand.
Very slowly, he drew the demonic sword.