Reiteration

"Hey, you should have expected it at this point."

No, I shouldn't have. The witch just gives me a casual shrug as she leaps into the gaping hole. At the same time, conjured wind wraps around the two of us, slowing our fall.

Despite my criticizing gaze, the witch remained quiet, focusing at some point below us. When she didn't respond after a minute or two, I decided to stop.

*whoooosh*

The wind she conjured with magic was neither strong nor weak, more of a casual breeze passing by. I bathe in it's coolness for while as we descended through the darkness.

Come to think of it…

I tap her shoulder. "…? Oh, right. I made this hole while fighting a rather large monster. The stupid beast threw me to the wall using it's strength..."

Oh, is that how this 'shortcut' was made…?

"…So I threw him back. I mean, it's only fair."

Never mind.

She complained some more, something about how it was disgraceful and unbefitting of a battle between magicians. This time, I was the one to ignore her.

"—And then, and then, you know what? It wasn't even that strong. At most, it was about as tough as that weird dog." I don't know about THAT, that dog looked pretty formidable when I saw it. "Also it—oh, we're here. Get ready."

I give a quick nod and pull out my sword from the scabbard and belt that the witch made for me. It was very well-made, though not as well as the cloak she had given me first. Still, it served it's purpose, so I was pretty satisfied.

Light pierced through the darkness, just a couple meters below. With that streak of light as reference, the witch slowed our descent the closer we got to it, eventually stopping and being pushed inside.

The witch gracefully took a step inside while I flopped on the ground unceremoniously.

"Be careful, I haven't explored this floor much so I don't know what to expect." She turned back to me with a…grin? "Well, good luck!"

…Eh? After saying her parting words, the witch disappeared almost instantaneously. What the hell just happened?

*grrrrr*

Oh, crap. I point my blade in front, facing the giant monster baring it's fangs at me.

I'll definitely get her back for this…!!

◇◆◇◆◇

I stand in front of my white-haired knight, holding my breath. All of a sudden, he brandished his blade, a steely-determination forming on his face.

Does he…huh?

I turn back, sensing a large canine beast like the one I fought half-mindedly earlier, except that it was larger and only had one head. Not to mention the dark mana emanating from it's spiked collar. Even if I was preoccupied with my invisibility spell, the fact that I couldn't detect the enormous beast spoke volumes of it's mastery in it's element.

And yet he was able to notice it earlier…I have to admit, that's pretty impressive.

My knight lowers his center and waits for the beast to make it's move. It wasn't a bad plan per se, but I wouldn't call it the best, either. Waiting for your enemy to make the first move to gauge it's power is a common strategy for unknown enemies and first encounters in normal instances. However, that wasn't always the case.

Oh, it's moving. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest as the beast swung it's enormous paw to crush my knight. I gripped my robe.

Calm down, this is for his own good. He needs this experience if he's ever going to survive in this place. Besides, if something were to happen to him, I'll be here. I reassured myself once more, trying to bury the dread and anxiety that came with every scrape, wound, scratch, and drop of blood that my knight shed. Once again, this is all for his own good.

Within the shadows, a white-haired figure appeared, the black circuits on his limbs burning like liquid fire on his skin—common trait for those whose mana circuits are more shallow than normal.

The steel longsword in his hand turned ebony-black, imbued with my knight's elemental mana.

The Black Hound let out a mighty growl, commanding the darkness that loomed in every corner of the Guardian's Lair to heed it's commands. The collar around it's neck glowed too, expanding the range of it's command spell.

My knight's eyes grew wide, backing up at the last second and barely avoiding a spike that grew from the shadow below him. It did not end there.

The Black Hound howled again, summoning multiples spike that erupted from the shadows, flying out and turning into spears made out of darkness. It was the same spell the Guardian used in our battle, one that I found more and more annoying as the fight went on. It manipulated shadows via the darkness element, a feat both impressive and aggravating. The one the Black Hound used, though, seemed to be a degraded version. Even with the artifact expanding the beast's area of influence, the range and quantity that it could produce without dipping in it's activation and speed was still inferior was still inferior to the Guardian—a fact that did not surprise me.

Guardians are monsters that threw away everything in exchange for power to achieve some kind of goal. It could for revenge or vengeance, though most people do it for simple desires like wealth and military superiority. The amount of power that they receive is directly proportional to the both the sentimental, monetary, and historical value of the chosen sacrifice.

There are also fools who choose themselves as sacrifices, willingly offering their life, soul, and future for temporary power. It was a foolish deed, and a fast burning one, thus, it is usually frowned upon. The fools who choose this method normally offer only one of part of themselves, i.e. the soul or their own life force.

Still, that doesn't mean that their power should be taken for granted. Many people dedicate years, maybe even decades just to prepare the perfect sacrifice and the appropriate ritual to summon the most powerful being to make a contract to. The latter is done by either performing a ritual related or directed to the being they want to summon. This also includes catalysts—rare artifacts connected to the higher being themselves.

However, even with all of these, saying that a ritual is guaranteed is like saying what's the difference between dream and reality. Nobody can really tell the difference, but others will still insist that their words are true. People are just like that. Lenient with their opinions but flexible with their lies.

…Oh, he's just about done.

Despite the beast's enormous advantage in mana manipulation, range, and physical strength, it was no match for my knight. A smile creeps up my face.

Using the beast's own barrage of flying black spears as cover, he used his concealment spell to approach the Black Hound through quick thinking, speed, size difference, heightened instincts, and agility. Soon, he was upon the enormous canine, his ebony-black blade slashing the Black Hound's eye—a familiar feat.

The beast tried to swat him away with it's paws, only for my knight to stab his blade into it's nose and use it's own head to block the oncoming paw.

It crashes upon itself, falling down to due to it's own strike. My knight held on for dear life as he brace for impact, a look of shock on his face. Did he not expect this?

*crash*

The Black Hound fell to it's side, knocked out and bleeding. My knight soon emerged under one of the beast's front legs. It would seem that he used the beast's body to lessen the impact, minimizing the damage he took. He stood and shook his arms, pulling out the sword stuck on the beast's nose and once again gathering mana into it. Since he couldn't use 「Reinforcement」 on the blade yet, he just poured elemental mana into it, making blade appear ebony-black.

With a single vertical stroke of his sword, the beast's skin and flesh split out, it's organs falling out. Though I was used to the carnage and unethical scenery that lurked in every corner of the gigantic labyrinth, the sight of flesh leaving the body is a sight that I would never get used to.

The Black Hound's eyes opened when it was cut, awoke from the pain and all the worse for it. It convulsed as the blood drained from it's dying body, too weak to get up and retaliate. A minute later, the beast stopped moving.

He wiped the blood off his blade and continued heading down the lair.