Chapter Forty-Nine: The Creeping Shadow Behind

The gap.

Though he had sensed it during his battle with Mia, only when he stood as a true observer did the Glorious One realize just how vast the chasm was between himself and the Order’s swordbearer in terms of martial skill.

It was, without exaggeration, as if heaven and earth lay between them.

Despite Mia wielding a great silvery cross-shaped sword that seemed larger than herself, her slaughter never faltered. Hundreds of subterranean monsters swarmed from every corner of the mine shafts, their dense, crimson eyes illuminating the entire underworld with an eerie brightness. Yet never did they seize the initiative in battle; it belonged always to the petite, graceful swordbearer.

Like a solo performance, the angel of death danced amid the horde, the silver blade gleaming like snow, like a waterfall, like a bolt of lightning cleaving from the heavens. Even with those terrifying crimson eyes filling the field of vision, beneath that pristine radiance, what awaited them was nothing but the purest death.

Even from afar, Amy could sense a breathtaking beauty.

The girl’s swordplay was unrestrained, her steps fluid, the force of her blows perfectly balanced. The rhythm of her battle was seamless, her movements flowing like water, her swordsmanship elegant and composed. She transcended the battlefield, and in every casual gesture there was an indescribable aura. Not to mention the crimson blossoms of blood that bloomed freely around her—

At this moment, Mia was undoubtedly at her most beautiful.

Yet the boy had no mind to appreciate her. He simply watched the swordbearer clearing a path ahead, unconsciously rubbing his reverse-gripped short sword, Darkblood.

If... if it were him, could he move so effortlessly?

He narrowed his eyes, and the answer surfaced naturally within him.

The subterranean monsters bred by the Dark Guild were formidable, but only compared to ordinary people, within the limits of human comprehension. Never mind the Glorious One or the swordbearer—even patrol squads from the lower district could dispatch these seemingly terrifying but actually clumsy creatures one-on-one. However... when their numbers swelled—dozens, hundreds—the pressure became a different beast altogether.

Up, down, left, right, BA, BA—no, forward, back. Everywhere he looked there were hulking, hideous man-eating beasts, surging from all directions, fearless and relentless, leaving no room to breathe, nowhere to retreat, surrounded by danger, death ever near—a true battlefield, a true slaughterhouse. The slightest doubt or hesitation within, the smallest delay in action, and death would be inevitable.

If it were him, he could not do it.

Although he possessed an instinct for battle that surpassed mortal imagination, and his body was no stranger to killing, he had only learned the most basic swordsmanship at the academy, lacking systematic training and real experience. If he relied solely on instinctive reactions, he could only barely parry the monsters’ attacks. Amidst the chaos, the scales of life and death would inevitably tip against him.

He would die—he would be killed.

Barring some forewarning, this would be his fate.

On the other hand, the swordbearer of the Order, amidst hundreds of monsters, if not entirely at ease, was at least composed. Her steps were always steady, her expression ever calm, her great silver sword always clean and sharp. Her efficiency in killing had not diminished in the slightest; if anything, it seemed to rise. In contrast, the monsters’ numbers began to dwindle, bit by bit.

Until—

The final drop of blood slid from the frost-white blade.

The world fell silent once more.

“What’s the next move?” The fierce battle had left no trace upon the girl. Not even her chest rose or fell; her pale-gray robe remained pristine. Nothing suggested she had just finished a massacre. “The enemy is purged.”

“Just keep going forward.” The handsome youth from the Dice House smiled, ignoring the heaps of corpses at their feet. “These monsters are byproducts of the Dark Guild’s demon-breeding, abandoned here as guards. Finding them means we’re on the right track.”

“And the guide?” The swordbearer raised an eyebrow.

“Just a guide for the Ildan Mine.” Dick shrugged. “Don’t expect an ordinary miner to make it through a passage guarded by demons. He knows nothing of this place, and there’s no need to drag unrelated people into our fight.”

“Correction,” Mia gave her blade a sharp flick, sending crimson blood flying, “my fight.”

“Well,” the blond, blue-eyed youth said sheepishly, “it means the same thing in the end.”

“Ulysses,” the swordbearer turned her gaze to the Glorious One, who had been silent from the start. Compared to the enigmatic Dice House youth, she preferred to trust the boy before her, though only relatively so. “There are three forks ahead.”

“Three forks...” Amy, lost in thought, was a beat slow to answer. He turned to his companion. “Dick, do you have any suggestions?”

“Regrettably, no.” The handsome Dice House youth shook his head. “We’re still a long way from omniscience and omnipotence. There are many places we can’t reach—like here.”

After a pause, he explained, “The Dark Guild is no joke. In comparison, the Dice House is small. I’m taking a big risk coming here. If we fail, it won’t just be me—our whole Dice House could be wiped from Hemtica.”

“Oh... is that so?” The young Glorious One stroked his chin. He didn’t believe a word. The Dice House, which once aided Emperor Michelangelo in his rise, was in no way inferior to other organizations—at least in status. In Hemtica’s lower district, it was a power none could afford to underestimate.

“Hey, don’t be so dismissive.” The blond, blue-eyed youth gave a bitter smile. “I’m not lying. The Dice House isn’t insignificant down here, but compared to the Dark Guild, we’re nothing. Remember, Emperor Michelangelo, the House of the Lost, and the Dark Guild are known as the ‘Three Pillars.’ They’re the builders and rulers of order in the lower district.”

“I’ve never heard that before.” Amy narrowed his eyes. He remained skeptical of Dick’s information, but took the opportunity to piece together what he knew. “So the chaos down here began because the balance of those three powers broke?”

“Well... I didn’t say anything.”

The Dice House apostle averted his gaze, looking up at the ceiling.

“If we have to pick at random,” seeing the conversation was ending, the Glorious One let it go. His trust in Dick was limited to begin with, and as more oddities surfaced, it grew ever thinner. “Let’s take the middle path... Judging by the wear, it’s the oldest of the three.”

“No objections.” The swordbearer nodded, added nothing more, and walked into the darkness.

“I’ll leave the task of marking the way to you.”

Amy was not entirely ignorant of the mine’s labyrinthine passages, but he was no expert. He could only hand this duty to the ever less trustworthy Dice House apostle, then followed after the girl who had gone ahead—he had no intention of letting the swordbearer take all the monster kills. If possible, he wanted to use these creatures to hone his own swordsmanship—or at least observe and learn up close.

He longed to become stronger.

—Stronger than anyone.

“It’s no trouble at all.” The blond, blue-eyed youth seemed oblivious to the Glorious One’s mistrust, and waved with a cheerful smile. “This is what I’m here for anyway. You two go on and clear the path—I’ll be fine. I am a Dice House apostle, after all. A few stray monsters won’t hurt me.”

When the two figures finally vanished into the gloom, his bright smile faded.

“At least seventy or eighty, I’d say.” His gaze swept the corpse-strewn ground as he narrowed his eyes. “Another two or three fights of this intensity and the Dark Guild will be alerted. That’s good—I didn’t lead them down this path for nothing.”

Indeed, it was deliberate.

Both the guidance and the information about the monsters being the Dark Guild’s guards—he’d done it all on purpose.

Though this path did indeed lead to the Dark Guild, and the monsters did serve as their guards to a degree, the road the Glorious One and the swordbearer walked was an abandoned passage—abandoned for a very simple reason: these monsters had long made it their lair. Even the Dark Guild... could not pass here.

After all—

The greatest monster of the lower district, the Dark Guild’s trump card—

The terrifying demon known as the Dark Earth Mother—dwelt here.

If he didn’t use the Glorious One and the swordbearer, these free mercenaries, to clear it out, he’d have a hard time tackling such a behemoth alone.

He had no other choice; his compatibility with mindless monsters was abysmal, and his employer had demanded that the Dark Guild be purged. If he weren’t eager to stir up chaos in the lower district, he’d never have accepted such a troublesome job.

Thinking this, he spun his dagger, then breathed onto the rock wall—a small, neat cross appeared before him.

“See this mark, and you’ll know which way to send the employer,” Dick sighed softly, pocketed his knife, and stepped into the central tunnel. A moment later, from the darkness, a name echoed forth—

“White.”