Blood-Red Knight [3]

An anxious silence lingered between Jin-Woo, Julie, and Kim Sang-Shik, their senses tuned to eleven as they slowly skulked through the tight and regal hallway of the dungeon.

After the black door shut behind them, the stone corridor transformed before their very eyes, shifting into a grand hallway reminiscent of a castle. They carefully and quietly walked through the dungeon. They were expecting monsters to appear, but after ten minutes of absolutely no threat appearing, Jin-Woo spoke up.

"I'm not saying I've experienced every dungeon in the world or something, but this is really… weird, isn't it?" Jin-Woo's voice pierced through the silence, halting to get a good look at the hallway's walls. His hand groped the wall, looking for anything that could stick out.

"I agree. This… just doesn't make sense as a dungeon. We've faced no enemies, no traps, and no problems…. I just can't understand this dungeon," Julie noted, holding her fingers up as she listed off the various oddities about the dungeon. "Atop of those issues, this only started occurring after we entered the black door. Is this dungeon like some odd Red Gate?"

Jin-Woo felt a cold sweat run down his neck at the thought.

"Ignoring that worrying possibility, the only thing we know about this dungeon is that it's the 'path of darkness' and only the weakest person in the dungeon could go inside of it. They could also bring a single person with them. Why does darkness fit with weakness, and why does the weakest have the choice of bringing two allies?" Jin-Woo hummed to himself, tapping his fingers against the wall.

"I don't see why you're thinking about it so much," Kim held his sword up, blue energy running across the blade. He held his sword up high, "I'd rather just break straight through it!"

Following through with his words, he slammed his sword into the wall, causing dust and dirt to fill the air, causing Julie and Jin-Woo to wave their hands in hopes of seeing the success of Kim's attack.

The dust was quick to settle to show the curious duo the wall, looking as if Kim hadn't ever tried to strike the surface. However, the nearby candles had gone out and it took about ten seconds for the candles to relight themselves.

"Well, that was a waste of energy," Jin-Woo spoke, the words falling from his mouth after the moment of silence.

"H-Hey! It's better than just sitting here and thinking about nothing! That weird tablet was clearly just nonsense, trying to rely on that to get us out of here isn't just a stretch, it's stupid!" Kim huffed, face slightly flushed.

"Well, we just saw what brute force proved, didn't we? I think brute force would fit the S-Rank's path more. We need to rely on our heads, not our bodies," Jin-Woo nodded, smiling at Kim's annoyed grunt.

Julie glanced at the two Hunters, letting out a small sigh before she turned back to the walls in the hopes of finding anything different.

Jin-Woo looked around more intently, noting the small details now.

The walls were a dark black, lit up by the candles lining the walls. No windows, enemies, or other paths were around. The path didn't have anything unique along the way either.

"It's as if… we're going in circles…?" Jin-Woo's eyes widened as he quickly patted down his pockets, letting out a groan upon only finding his few mana crystals. "Damn, I should've kept that box."

"What is it?" Julie asked, running a hand through her hair. Kim looked at Jin-Woo intently, curiosity and suspicion filling his gaze.

"Nothing much, just didn't want to do… this!" Jin-Woo took a mana crystal out of his pocket, throwing it deep into the hallway.

"H-Huh?! Why'd you throw the mana crystal away?!" Julie shrieked, her heart dropping to her feet. "You could've thrown your shoe or something! Don't waste precious money like that!"

"Ah… I didn't think about that," Jin-Woo realized. "Well, I threw it in because I thought we'd been moving in a repeating hallway, but I guess that wasn't the case."

"A… repeating hallway? Why'd you think that?" Julie questioned, turning her head softly.

"Yeah, that's just… stupid! Now you've lost a mana crystal, God, what a waste," Kim groaned underneath his breath, although neither of the Hunters gave him their attention.

Jin-Woo gestured towards the walls of the hallway.

"The walls haven't changed, we've seen nothing new, and we've been walking for around ten minutes at this point. An infinitely repeating hallway would make sense, right?" Jin-Woo asked, holding his fingers into the air as he noted the various reasons for his deduction. "But well…."

Jin-Woo slumped as nothing happened.

"The mana crystal didn't show up behind us, so that must not be the case," He laughed nervously, softly running his hand over the back of his neck.

"Did you just… throw away that mana crystal?" Julie gasped, slumping even further than Jin-Woo was.

"Don't remind me of my failures…. I needed that too," Jin-Woo sighed, shaking his head to get himself back on track. "The point is that something is happening here based on the tablet from earlier. Something that has to do with the lighting in here, the fact that there's three of us in here, and has to do with me being… weak."

Julie tapped at her chin, interesting thoughts whizzing through her mind. Jin-Woo tapped at his chin as well, snapping his fingers as an idea fluttered through his mind. Kim sighed and closed his eyes, not quite interested, but willing to humor Jin-Woo's idea.

"It's clearly not a test of strength, so we won't have to worry about busting through the wall. That'd be more suited for Alnair's challenge, not ours," Jin-Woo noted. "And well, Mister Kim already proved it."

There was a moment of silence before Julie let out a soft "Aha," while happily palming her fist.

"What if… we need to make it completely darker in here, like putting out the candles?" Julie slowly spoke, throwing out an idea that she didn't feel very confident about.

Kim nodded, "That sounds amazing! Let's give it a try!"

'He doesn't seem to mind her suggestions. I guess it's just me he doesn't like,' Jin-Woo silently observed, barely suppressing the urge to sigh.

"That… could work. Here, let me go and grab the mana crystal first," Jin-Woo nodded, walking deeper into the hallway, hoping to grab his item.

Julie looked up at the candles, curious to see if there were any easy ways to turn the candles off. Kim did the same, as if he'd been planning to the entire time. After a few moments of looking around the candles, Julie noticed that Jin-Woo was still by her side.

"Uh, aren't you gonna go grab your mana crystal?" She asked, receiving a small look from him. Kim looked back at Jin-Woo, annoyance falling to his face.

Silence, utter silence.

"I'm… not moving?" Jin-Woo deduced, suddenly breaking out into a full sprint.

Every few steps he took, he was suddenly moved from his position and returned to Julie's side. It was as if Kim and Julie were blinking without blinking, because Jin-Woo would appear mid-step, and yet he was completely oblivious.

"You're being… teleported?!" Julie gasped, suddenly causing Jin-Woo to stop moving.

"Really? I… I didn't notice. Everything looks the exact same," The E-Rank admitted, holding a knuckle over his mouth. "Is it possible that after a few paces we never moved farther….?"

Julie looked behind them, noticing that the door wasn't right behind them. She nodded.

"No, no, that can't be right! A dungeon that can teleport the people inside of it? This… this must be sort of an elaborate trick! I won't believe this!" Kim yelled, taking a handful of Jin-Woo's shirt. "Stop joking around, you damn E-Rank!"

Jin-Woo grabbed Kim's wrist, using everything his Awakened strength was worth to silently warn the older man.

"You think I did this? Do you hear yourself?" Jin-Woo asked, and before they could continue, Julie stepped between them and softly pushed them apart from one another.

"Guys, I get that this is a little intense, but let's just… calm down a little bit, alright? We'll be out of here soon, but we need to work together for right now, y'know?" Julie asked, thick nervousness seeping into her voice.

The two stepped away from one another, Kim grunting while Jin-Woo slowly sighed. He looked up to Julie, ignoring Kim.

"The hallway isn't infinitely repeating, we're the ones being moved. If that's the case, putting out the candles should be possible, even if we don't know when we're being reset," Jin-Woo nodded softly to himself, reaching up to a candle and snuffing it out with his fingers.

As he snuffed it out, every third candle on the wall went out as well. However, as soon as he let go of the candlewick, the candle quickly relit itself, the flame sparking back to life.

"That's… bizarre," He furrowed his eyebrows before pulling his fingers back. "I see. Julie, could you put out the two candles with your fingers?"

"I guess it's worth a try," Julie hesitated, shrugging softly before doing as Jin-Woo asked of her. Jin-Woo did the same, using both hands instead of one.

They snuffed out the candles in nigh synchronization, but after a moment of darkness, the candlewicks grew hot, forcing the two to pull back from the small fires. Then, the candles relit themselves, as if nothing they'd done had made a difference.

"Huh, they didn't relight nearly as fast when Mister Kim attacked…." Jin-Woo noted, tapping his finger against his chin. "Mister Kim, can you try to smash through the wall again?"

Kim stared at Jin-Woo, confusion running across his face.

"I don't really get why, but okay!" Kim raised his sword up high, coating his weapon in mana and swiping it towards the wall. Once more, dust and dirt flew into the air, and the wall was completely untouched, however, what Jin-Woo cared for, the candles, had gone out and stayed out for about ten seconds.

Jin-Woo looked at Kim's sword, noticing the fading mana from the blade's swipe. He tried to coat his hand in mana, but the latent energy within him refused to flow out, causing him to sigh.

"The candles turn out due to the mana they interact with. I… can't help though," Jin-Woo told the two, clenching his jaw before he received a soft nod from Julie. She sat a hand on Jin-Woo's shoulder, giving him a soft nod.

She looked up to Kim, nodding towards the candles.

"Let's do this, Mr. Kim!" Julie smiled, coating a hand in mana, and swiping towards the candles, causing a slew of them to go out all at once.

Kim followed her without a word, spinning in a circle and extinguishing the other candles in one swipe.

Total darkness enveloped the area. It was a sickening, eerie darkness that dared to absorb the trio whole, but soon after it appeared, it faded, the light of another passageway filling the room.

"I guess I was right. Well, let's continue," Jin-Woo hummed, walking towards the new exit that opened a few feet away. However, he didn't look satisfied with his deduction.

Kim looked at the new exit in shocked silence, mouth hanging agape.

"Ah, yeah!" Julie yelped, scuttering to the E-Rank's side. "Hey, how did you know that'd work?"

"Well…." Jin-Woo began.

The hallway after the black door had one specific trait that set off Jin-Woo's senses, its eerie repetition. It was the same patterns, the same candles, and the same odd feeling to it. Because of that repetition, Jin-Woo was quick to believe the hallway was infinitely repeating, but that assumption was incorrect.

Rather than the hallway infinitely repeating, it was the trio who were repeating, their positions being reset after a few steps. This process of constant resetting only began after the first initial steps though, to prevent them from realizing what was happening due to the door behind them. The dungeon also seemed to adapt where the trio was being teleported to, seeing that Jin-Woo didn't notice anything different even when he was the only one being repeated.

The clues given by the stone tablet were vague, yes, but they were still decipherable under the careful gaze of the World's Weakest Hunter.

That is what being the weakest did to Jin-Woo's senses. He was weak, but he was strong in a way unlike many other Hunters.

"Still, even if I figured out the trick, I couldn't do anything about it…." Jin-Woo sighed, a sour expression on his face. "There's not much point in the ability to notice a problem if I can't even solve it…."

Julie looked at Jin-Woo, and instead of speaking, she allowed the silence to sit. She thought to extend a hand to Jin-Woo's shoulder, but she hesitated and pulled her hand back at the last second.

Jin-Woo took a deep breath before passing through another large doorway, entering a large open room with Julie at his side and Kim behind him.

"Whoa, just what is this place?" Jin-Woo gasped, walking together with Julie to an open room with large stone statues scattered all about. While Jin-Woo stood still for a moment, glancing about curiously, Julie walked deeper into the room. Kim slowly skulked into the room behind them, silent and curious.

Some statues had weapons, some had instruments, and some had books. They all looked like armored giants, standing three times the height of an average human being.

"Are these things monsters…? No, they're more like…." Jin-Woo's voice drifted off, trying to get a closer look at the statues without putting himself in the range of danger. "Seeing that I can't sense mana from them, and they aren't attacking us, could they possibly be… puppets?"

After Jin-Woo's deduction, there was no response from Julie, leaving the air to fill with silence. Kim's voice cut through the silence.

"That's just… not possible! Don't make up stupid ideas just because you figured out one small puzzle! These things are just basic statues, that's it!" Kim yelled, nervous sweat running down his face.

"Y'know, I've gotta agree! I think you're a genius, but you're also an idiot. Puppets insinuates that there's a puppet master, and monsters just aren't capable of things like that! Surely… surely that wouldn't happen, right?" Julie yelled, traces of fear failing to be covered by faux annoyance. Julie shook her head, pointing at the statues with a shaking finger. "They're just statues! That's all they are!"

"…Right?" She asked, nervously laughing as sweat ran down her face.

"…Right," Jin-Woo nodded, walking to Julie's side. Kim stood next to her as well, on the other side, thumbing his sword's hilt nervously.

"All we need to do is figure out what the next step of the way is. This place is lit up by mana crystals, so we don't have to worry about repeating our actions from earlier. Still, that doesn't actually answer what we're supposed to be doing…."

The E-Rank looked around the large room, his eyes carefully tracing for anything that could relate to the knowledge he was already building off. He ran over the statues, then the walls, and finally, the ceiling.

"The ceiling… has an exit?" Jin-Woo murmured, squinting to get a better look inside the hole. On the other side, it was simply darkness, with nothing notable that Jin-Woo could see on the other side.

Julie's head snapped up at Jin-Woo's comment, "Whoa, you're right!"

Kim looked up, noticing the hole with a low hum.

"If the ceiling's interesting…." Jin-Woo changed directions entirely, looking down at the floor of the room to see a single word etched into a stone tablet embedded in the floor.

"Survive."

A red blur came flying down from the ceiling of the room, an armored red foot slamming into the stone tablet just a few inches away from Jin-Woo and Julie. Dust and dirt came shooting into the air, filling the surrounding area with a blinding smoke.

"H-Huh?!" Julie and Jin-Woo yelped, rolling back several feet as the sudden threat fell from the sky. Kim was quick to point his weapon towards the new enemy.

Jin-Woo tumbled and rolled to his feet, holding his dagger tightly and pulling himself to a shoddily formed fighting stance. Julie scuttered behind Jin-Woo, slowly rising to her feet on shaky legs. Kim stood in front of them both, suddenly ready to defend them.

The blood-red armored monster stood tall, a similarly red mane sticking out of the monster's helmet as it dragged a massive red sword at its side.

"That's a lotta red, huh? This isn't looking too hot…." Jin-Woo laughed anxiously, pointing his dagger towards the intimidating monster. He met the red knight's pure white gaze, focusing intensely.

Right before his very eyes, a bit of text appeared above the red knight's head.

[Blood-Red Knight]

[Igris]

"Why is this thing showing up now again…?!"