Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 172

The moment when the play reached its climax.As the hot lights went out and the world went dark, a tense silence and cool air filled the stage.

While the audience, whose view was suddenly blocked, held their breath and stared at the stage, anticipating the next act, the actor was able to relax his stiff posture and take a breath.

While the actors were cooling off, the staff waiting behind them were busy changing the background and rearranging the props.

When the curtain rose again and the lights came on, another world unfolded before their eyes. It was ‘Lee Soo-hyun’s’ favorite moment when he stood on stage as an actor.

And just now, strangely enough, a memory from that time came to mind.

If he had to make a metaphor, what Arendt felt the moment he emerged from the broken barrier was similar to that moment when the play reached a lull… when the stage stopped for a moment to move on to the next scene.

But the annoying voice coming from the side proved that this ridiculous stage was not ‘Lee Soo-hyun’s’ play.

“Hey, what are you thinking?”

“Something like, ‘How can I make sure to screw them over?’ or thoughts like that.”

It wasn’t a lie.

For a brief moment, he did stray off the path.

At that bland answer, Richt growled, trying to calm his seething insides.

“…That’s fine too, but do you have no intention of helping us?”

“Why would I? You guys are doing well on your own.”

“Senior, can’t we just kill that bastard first?”

“Calm down. It’ll be quicker to deal with this guy than to kill that bastard.”

In the end, Richt calmly responded to Arthur, who had become angry.

Now the two were dealing with a monster so huge that it filled the hallway, and Arendt just watched his seniors with his arms crossed.

“Oh, really!”

Arthur, who had been struggling with the monster for a long time with trembling arms, let out his frustration and struck the enemy.

Crunch!

The giant, whose chest had been cut open, screamed and retreated, and in the gap, Richt pierced its head with a now very familiar gesture.

“Ugh… Ugh.”

The monster let out a short roar, then stumbled and fell backwards without any strength.

Kuuung.

A heavy roar filled the hallway, and crimson blood poured from the monster, soaking the carpet.

“Is it similar to the guy that showed up earlier?”

“It’s the same kind.”

Only then did Richt glance at Arendt, who was approaching him, with a disapproving look.

“Don’t you think he’s somewhere between the ghoul that first appeared and the guy who stirred up the people in the riot area?”

Arendt kicked the dead monster with his foot for no reason.

“Judging from the fact that it screams when it’s cut, it’s clear that it has some sense of pain, and judging from the fact that it doesn’t run away even when in pain, it doesn’t seem to feel fear… they really have unique tastes.”

In the process of being modified, all emotions other than anger, hatred, and aggression were removed. They all acted like bloodthirsty berserkers.

Arthur grumbled, clicking his tongue.

“By the way, where do these guys keep popping out of? I definitely didn’t feel anything.”

This situation had been repeating itself several times since a while ago.

They didn’t feel any movement until a ghoul jumped out suddenly, and when they left the monster’s corpse behind and walked a few steps, they looked back and saw that the corpse and all the blood had completely disappeared.

Even if they left the feeling of discomfort behind and took another step, the same sight continued: a dull wall, faded carpet, musty air, and a corridor filled with endless darkness.

Arthur grumbled as he wiped the blood off his sword.

“What the heck is this place? I’m starting to feel a little sick.”

“…I’m worried about the prince.”

Richt looked anxiously into the darkness across the hallway.

They tried breaking down walls and swinging their swords at places where barriers were supposed to be, but nothing changed.

Beyond the hollow wall, the same hallway appeared over and over again, and even though they tried breaking the barrier, the situation did not change.

Eventually, they gave up and had no choice but to walk endlessly.

Arthur tried to keep his composure, but he was starting to get a little anxious as he kept seeing the same scenery.

Any normal person would have already collapsed in fear.

But even at this moment, that damn apprentice knight just remained calm.

“It’ll be okay since Warren is with them. And those three guys seem to know how to protect themselves in their own way.”

Arendt answered indifferently, then fell into a light thought again and suddenly opened his mouth.

“While my seniors were having a hard time, I thought about a few things.”

“…Can’t I just hit him once?”

“You’ll lose more than you’ll gain, so just stay still.”

Arthur, who was clenching his fists, was quietly stopped by Richt. Arendt opened his mouth without paying attention to that.

“There are a few strange things.”

“What is it?”

“First of all, even in this chaos, we still haven’t found the real enemy.”

Arendt counted them on his fingers.

“And secondly, if the goal was to isolate us, the enemy should have blown us all up into another space, but they didn’t.”

“…”

“For now, let’s take these two… Since you can’t know what’s going on in a madman’s head, let’s put the latter aside for now and consider the first problem.”

The two people kept their mouths shut and just listened quietly.

“Considering that they’ve set up a barrier of this size, they are definitely not an ordinary person. But if they are that strong, it would be faster for them to fight us directly.”

“…That’s true.”

When Richt nodded, the apprentice knight continued.

“But the reason why they chose such a cumbersome method is because it is impossible.”

“Why?”

“They either don’t want to show themselves to us, or they can’t…”

Arendt, who had been trailing off at Arthur’s question, added plainly.

“Either they can’t fight, or all three.”

The staff who moved the stage props should never be visible to the audience.

The enemy’s hiding might have been for a similar reason.

“But you just said it. The enemy is strong enough to maintain a barrier of this size.”

“It’s true that magical power has a great influence on combat power, but that doesn’t mean it’s an absolute standard.”

Arthur shut his mouth again at the precise point.

“Let’s stop speculating here. The important thing is that we’ve been dragged into a situation that the enemy has already created… and we’re in a pretty difficult situation.”

“Yes.”

It was ominous in itself to hear the word “difficult” coming out of Arendt’s mouth so easily, but Richt nodded anyway.

“Do you know what you need to do first to make the enemy’s stomach churn in a situation like this?”

Arendt’s eyes turned again to the darkness across the hallway.

“It’s destroying the plan they set out to make.”

“What?”

“Thanks to my seniors, the verification process has already been completed. Please take care of it.”

Before the two could even react, Arendt drew out his magical power and activated the anti-demon barrier bracelet that Count Stadler had once given him as a gift.

Just like when they were first drawn into this space, a strong light that made it hard to open their eyes swept through the surroundings, and then, with a bang, the sound of glass breaking erupted from all directions.

“…!”

The barrier shattered and the space before their eyes became strangely distorted.

Soon the shattered wall oxidized into shards of light.

“Hey, hey!”

Arthur was startled and shouted when he suddenly discovered Arendt staggering around, his magical power suddenly drained, but even that was obscured by the bright light bursting out from his wrist.

The next moment, they felt the ground beneath their feet give out.

Splash!

Before they could even come to their senses, their bodies were swallowed by cold water.

“…Uh?”

When Warren, who was walking in the front, suddenly stopped, the group following him also stopped in their tracks.

“What’s the matter?”

“It smells.”

Warren gave a short reply to Llewellyn’s curious question.

“Smell? What smell?”

“The smell of a boy.”

This time too, the answer he got back was very plain, but that was enough for them to understand.

The scent of the missing boy who was used as a guide when first leaving the village.

Warren detected it again.

Ken muttered as he checked his surroundings again.

“…Now that I think about it, the air feels completely different.”

It was exactly as he said. Until just now, all they could feel was the murky air that was clearly soaked in blood, but now the chilliness unique to the underground was making their noses tingle.

The monotonous wallpaper and carpet had disappeared at some point, leaving the shabby walls exposed.

Warren frowned and offered a hypothesis.

“It seems like we were trapped in the barrier the whole time. We’ve finally gotten out.”

“I’m going crazy. I never imagined that I’d fall into the barrier trap so many times, even with the werewolf.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Warren, who had been watching him grumble, muttered, and Llewellyn jumped.

“It’s not your fault! The other party is just that much of a monster. Even the great knights of the Careleon Empire were helpless.”

“No, I was complacent too. When I go back, I’ll have to train a bit more.”

Warren answered blandly, starting to focus on the smell again.

“…It doesn’t seem to be nearby. But I’m sure he’s passed by here. It seems like it was quite a while ago.”

“So this is the bastard’s base?”

“Maybe so.”

When Roderick asked, he nodded.

“Let’s be a little more alert and move forward. We’ve been lucky so far and haven’t fallen into any other traps, but we don’t know what might pop up in the future.”

“Okay. Warren, keep following the scent.”

“Okay.”

At Llewellyn’s command, Warren briefly used his magical powers and puffed up his body. He took on a more wolf-like appearance and began to slowly move forward.

The air that clung to their faces was quite humid, so they thought they were either near a lake or in an underground space.

Ken, who was carefully examining the floor and walls, blurted out a sentence.

“It’s a bit messy, but doesn’t it look like it was made relatively recently?”

“That’s right. At most, it’s a few years… No, wait. Hasn’t it been less than a year since the evil cult disturbances began in the Caerleon Empire?”

As Roderick, who had been nodding along, suddenly realized something, Llewellyn also arched an eyebrow.

“That’s right. The timing is a bit off. Arendt said that a suspicious person appeared in the village only a month ago.”

“Then there is only one answer. They have been nesting in the Calvino Mountains for a long time. We have only just discovered them.”

“So, they’ve been hiding here all this time, and then suddenly they need humans and take them? Doesn’t that seem a bit odd?”

Roderick retorted to Ken’s response. Llewellyn, who had been listening to their conversation, chided him.

“There’s no way to tell when this structure was built exactly in line with when they settled here. And if it had undergone preservation magic or some other processing, it’s hard to tell when it was built just by looking at it…”

“Wait a moment.”

But the words didn’t last long because Warren suddenly stopped the group.

“What, why are you like that?”

“There is someone.”

Warren, who had pushed Llewellyn behind him, strode forward. Roderick and Ken, who reacted reflexively to those words, placed their hands on their swords.

Warren confirmed that his comrades were ready for battle and slowly approached the target, his footsteps quiet.

And finally, the moment when he carefully turned the corner and checked the shadow beyond.

“…Uh?”

Warren ended up making a stupid noise.

It was because a wounded human was lying there, unconscious.