Chapter 161
The bronze knights were paying their respects.
They knelt politely down to one knee.
Everyone just stared at me, surprised.
Not only did the bronze knights, who had stopped moving as soon as I picked up the crown, start moving again— they also took that posture toward me.
Did they end up following me now?
"It seems what the ancient king said was true. With that crown, the ghost knights here seem to follow you, young lord."
I tried the crown on briefly.
Then the bronze knights raised their heads.
As if asking for orders.
"Will you follow me?"
The bronze knights remained silent.
Naturally, since they're not living beings.
Are they a type of golem?
"Stand up."
As soon as I spoke, the bronze knights stood.
"Go outside and stand by."
Then the bronze knights walked toward where the monster was. Their movements were natural—though not as fluid as a human's.
"Donnie, you try giving them an order."
Donnie put on the crown.
"Bronze knight, come over here."
No movement.
"I guess the first person who touches it becomes the owner."
My teammates accepted naturally that I was the owner of the crown. It's not like I particularly coveted it.
"Donnie, pick up the sword."
Donnie picked up the king's sword.
There was no special response.
"Young lord, you try."
"It just feels like a regular sword, though?"
I took the sword Donnie handed me.
I swung it right away. But then—
"Young lord?"
"Oh my god!"
Everyone's eyes widened in shock.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Y-your face!"
I touched my face.
It felt like my own.
Everyone just stared at me, jaws agape.
Why were they so shocked?
"You look like a monster!"
"Yuri, it's Roger oppa."
"But... what's up with your face?"
"Check in your sword's reflection."
I looked at the blade, using it as a mirror.
What the heck?
A skull was reflected in the blade.
A blue, glowing gaze in those eye sockets.
Yet when I touched my face, it was the same as before.
"So this... is my face right now?"
"Yes, it looks like the king's face."
The king's face.
Comparing the face in the blade with the king's remains in the stone coffin, it was truly the same.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The ground shook, and dust fell from above. Maybe it was because we opened the stone coffin. It really felt like the underground was going to collapse.
"Let's get out. Hurry."
Everyone ran.
Once we exited the burial chamber, the bronze knights were lined up. As we exited, they followed behind.
Just in case, I took off the crown, but nothing changed. So I put the crown in my backpack, and hung the king's sword on it.
Then another tremendous roar came.
Followed by thump, thump, thump―.
Kruhaaaaa—
The monster appeared, sticking out its head again and crawling up.
Everyone dodged away, except Yuri, who just stood there.
"I told you not to!"
Yuri put her hand on her waist and glared at the monster. But the monster's behavior was strange. Instead of attacking, it stared intently at me. Then, it looked at Yuri too.
Yuri went "huh?" and turned to me.
The monster's behavior had definitely changed.
"What's wrong, Yuri?"
"Roger oppa, you're this monster's master now."
Everyone looked at each other in surprise.
It wasn't just the ghost knights, after all.
I had to give an order.
"Leave this underground and go out."
Kuwwoooo—
The monster let out a mighty roar and descended below. There must have been an exit down there.
Everyone stared down below, dumbfounded.
"We have to get out!"
"Run!"
I carried Yuri on my back and ran.
Rumble rumble rumble—
Boom boom boom—
The ceiling began to crack.
We got onto the elevator platform we'd ridden down. As soon as my group and the bronze knights boarded, the platform ascended.
When the shaft opened up, flame monsters appeared again, but this time, they acted differently. The fire demonic creatures raged, but didn't attack us at all.
"Everyone, leave this place!"
As soon as I gave the order, the rampaging monsters all rushed to the west. The same happened with the next chamber—the monsters immediately followed my command.
"The wall's going to break!"
"Get down!"
Part of the closed wall broke as the platform wobbled. If the disc flipped, we'd all fall to our deaths. That was because the bronze knights were all crowded on one side.
"Bronze knights to the center!"
Only then did the tilting elevator platform regain its balance. Just how heavy were those bronze knights?
We kept ascending like that.
Finally, we arrived at the place where the gatekeeper had been stationed. Everyone rushed out, as if we'd been waiting. The moment we were clear, the platform crumpled and plummeted down.
We kept running across the bridge.
The bridge was shaking violently. Everyone tried to cross, but had to stop suddenly.
"A rock is falling!"
A massive boulder rolled down from above.
Boom, crash!
It smashed through the middle of the bridge and dropped down. The shock caused the entire bridge to collapse.
Everyone was left in despair.
Not even a leap could make it across.
On the opposite side were many ghost knights.
"King's knights, come to this side!"
I waited briefly.
Our side looked like it could collapse any moment, but the far underground looked stable without much vibration.
Did we need to get closer? No.
Just as if they'd been waiting for me to come— the ghost knights started to step forward in formation.
"All of you, jump down and get out here!"
The ghost knights leapt down without hesitation. Naturally, they showed no fear. The bronze knights also jumped.
There were about 120 ghost knights. Even the darkness-tainted Noggs began pouring out. Among the falling Nogg was their king.
"Eilin, can you swim?"
"Yes! I live at the port, remember."
"Yuri, are you okay falling in water?"
"I hate water."
She has a flame affinity.
Of course, she'd hate touching water.
But it's not like she couldn't handle it.
"Yuri. You remember how you floated in the air?"
"Yeah!"
"Try thinking your body is really light."
"Light?"
"Right, concentrate. Your body's as light as a bird."
Yuri closed her eyes.
It looked like the ground under us would collapse any moment, but everyone waited for her.
"I can't do it..."
"Concentrate a little more. You're really light now. If the wind blew, you'd fly away."
Yuri closed her eyes again.
"You can fly. You're super strong. You just didn't know it until now. So, think you're turning into a bird, and your body is starting to rise up..."
"Huh?"
Yuri's body began to float gently.
It was possible—she just hadn't realized it. Now, with danger pressing, her body reacted on its own.
"I'm flying!"
Yuri floated higher and higher.
"What do I do now?"
"Grab my hand."
"Okay!"
I jumped up and grabbed Yuri's hand. That way, she kept floating in the air, though her body was upside down. And we floated even higher.
"Eilin! Grab my hand!"
"I can't reach!"
At that moment, Donnie jumped up.
He grabbed my leg.
"Young lady! Grab my hand!"
Next, Eilin grabbed Donnie's hand.
Still, Yuri held all the weight—and soared even higher, everyone hanging upside down.
"Yuri! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine! But I'm dizzy!"
"Try to imagine yourself upright!"
"Okay!"
"Hans! Grab Donnie's leg!"
Hans also leapt and grabbed Donnie's leg. Other teammates hung onto Donnie's legs, and others to Hans's feet.
And still, Yuri didn't come down.
It was as if we were all hanging off the body of a giant dragon. One by one, the rest madly grabbed on.
"Everyone's on!"
Then Yuri, who had been upside down, slowly righted herself. She had a face of utter confusion, as if she didn't understand at all. There was no magic spell—her will was the magic.
"Yuri! Let's go down!"
"Can I move around?"
"Of course!"
First attempts were hard—after that, easier. As Yuri focused, she started drifting lower and lower. Teammates hanging on below.
"I can't hold much longer!"
"Let go when you're a little closer to the bottom!"
Yuri and I hovered together, drifting lower little by little. But as soon as I lost my grip, Yuri's body shot upward.
"Wow! I'm flying by myself!"
Yuri soared around the underground, free as a balloon loosed from someone's hand, whirling in all directions, completely uncontrolled.
Splash!
Everyone who'd been hanging from her fell into the river and were washed away. The armor made us sink, but it wasn't as deep as I'd feared. The water, however, was very cold.
Floating downstream in the water, I looked skyward.
Far away, I could hear Yuri laughing, "Kyariririri~!"
Is she going to fly like that every day from now on?
/ / /
We were lying on the sandy riverbank.
The water that had flowed underground continued outside the cave and became a waterfall dropping down to the surface.
When we came out—
Everyone was exhausted and catching their breath.
On the riverbank, seven bronze knights and about 120 ghost knights were standing in orderly lines. The massive gatekeeper golems that fell with us were also there.
Even on one side, there were hundreds of Noggs, the dwarves tainted by darkness, gathered together. All were safe, but Allen was missing. And Yuri wasn't thinking of coming out.
"Did anyone see Allen?"
"He wasn't here when we got out!"
Was there another passage at the underground ceiling? Since Yuri disliked water, it made sense she wouldn't come out via the waterfall. But where was this, anyway?
I pulled out the map, trying to check our location, when suddenly I heard a thumping sound from the eastern rock gorge.
Allen came bouncing out of the gorge as well.
"Damn it! What the hell is that?!"
Allen was hopping with a sack of gold over his shoulder. He must have gone back into the underground city. Since he left the gold behind while fighting the ghost knights.
Kuwwoooo—
The monster's roar echoed loudly.
Thump—thump—
Finally, the blazing red monster came out from the gorge. Countless fire demonic creatures poured out below it.
And on the monster's shoulder—
There was Yuri.
"Big sister! Oppa! It's me!"
Everyone got up and looked at the monster.
They were left speechless.
Did even the monster now obey Yuri?
But where should these flame monsters go? We can't drag them around, nor the king's knight order. We can't always have them by our side.
"We should hide the monster underground."
"Yeah, that's best."
Just then Allen landed in front of me.
"Whew! That scared me. What is that monster?!"
"Did the underground city collapse too?"
"No, it was fine?"
At that moment, Yuri jumped off the monster's shoulder and flew straight toward us. Allen shrieked when he saw it. Yuri landed smoothly and went to Eilin's side.
"What? Why are you flying now?"
"Hey, don't call me kid. I can fly now."
"I told you not to call me 'kid'."
Yuri's face was beaming with joy.
Like she'd finally tasted true freedom.
"Yuri, where was the monster?"
"There was this red lake underground. The monster was hiding there, but since he's your subordinate now, I brought him out."
"Really?"
"There's lots of fire down there."
That must be the source of the flame's magic power. It'd be best to keep them all there—including the little monsters.
"Fire demonic beasts, return to your original place!"
Kukung—
The monster immediately turned, and the fire demonic disciples all rushed back the way they came.
Yuri looked a little regretful.
Maybe she thought she'd gained her own subordinates.
"Are you happy to have underlings?"
"Yeah. He's big, but he listens to me well."
"Fine. Then that monster is yours."
"Yay!"
I looked over at the ghost knights.
"Commanders, come to me."
One ghost knight stepped forward.
He alone wore a yellow cape.
The others wore red and blue.
"Are you the leader?"
― Oh king, I am Captain Galael.
"What happens if you remove your armor?"
― I would lose my strength.
"Would you cease to exist?"
― I would simply remain by the king's side.
"Is it necessary to wear that specific armor?"
― No, any armor would be fine.
Looks like I'll have to craft new armor and weapons.
As for the bronze knights, they can just stand around pretending to be statues. They're separate from the ghost knights.
Allen asked,
"Why are we with these guys?"
"They've become our subordinates."
"Really? That's incredible."
It really is an unbelievable thing.
We've obtained a nearly invincible knight order.
People might get the wrong idea about us, but—
"From now on, you are the Dark Knight Order. You are to follow my orders, and depending on the situation, you will follow the orders of the team members here. If you understand, pay your respects."
All the dark knights knelt to one knee. The gatekeepers did the same. The bronze knights saluted by raising their swords to their chests.
Allen was intrigued.
"Wow, so they'll follow my orders too?"
"They only reject commands from this little guy."
"What do you mean?!"
"Let's go."
I walked, smiling.
Allen probably wouldn't get any followers.
After all, he didn't have any power from the ancient era.