’s glide ability to remain in the air, somehow reaching above the stairs, I race down them.
The time left is displayed as 3 seconds …Partially down the stairs, I check that the time-limit timer display has stopped completely, and finally I release a huge sigh, then take a deep breath.
— I barely made it, but it was enough. My first emotion was relief, then gradually I got excited; it finally dawned on me that I was actually standing where no one had gone before.
After that I slowly descended the stairs, drinking a Potion Juice and eating meat grilled on a skewer to recover HP and MP, as well as hunger and thirst.
But man, these stairs are frighteningly long, I’ve already walked 20 meters and I still can’t see the end.
“ … Hou, hou, AT LAST there art a single man OF the humans THAT hast DESCENDED to this place.”1
Suddenly that hoa.r.s.e voice echoed all around.
“… Who the heck’s there?”
Did someone else already get here? And that voice …
“ … Mine name IS Andre … a knight OF A CERTAIN empire I AM … THOUGH THAT be a story OF long ago … MOST LIKELY YOU wouldn’t know OF THE name of mine empire; HOW MUCH time has pa.s.sED I NO LONGER know.”
I’m descending the stairs, but I still can’t see the end.
“Right now the stairs YOU ARE descENDING are particularLY lonG …TO Pa.s.s the time I thouGHT MINE tale WOULD BE good… back THEN THIS great labyrinth OF THE dead TOOK lives of The empire; to investigate THIS labyrinth, TO seal it, I entERED it.”
… hm.
“But you couldn’t finish that task?”
A short silence occurred before the voice echoed again.
“You ARE correct, IT IS as you saY … many subordinates I HAD BUT, THIS labyrinth’S traps, eatEN BY FRIGHTFUL monsters, deATH, necks seveRED … atroCIOUS deaths OCCURRED, our numbers WERE reduCED … MY subordinates, MY comrades, IN EXCHANGE for THEIR blood, I pursued our course and REACHED HERE …”
The voice sounded like it was going to cry.
“So there … what was there?”
There was silence again. It was strange that I could hear my footsteps loudly as I descended.
“THERE was nothing.”
I didn’t expect that response.
“… Nothing, at all …?”
What’s up with that? The ancient knight’s story continued.
“YES, nothing AT ALL, ALL THERE was THERE WAS an empty s.p.a.ce WITH nothing … YES, NOT EVEN air.”
!? … That has to be the penultimate trap, that s.p.a.ce.
“Then you entered it …”
There’s only 1 thing I can expect would happen.
“IT IS as you expecTED, the moment I enteRED, I diED. I underSTOOD THEN what HAD happened, I WAS forced TO entER THE ranks of THE liVING corpses … the me NOW is a Skeleton Knight, AND NOW I can ONLY call out WITH my voice temporARILY … HOW LONG has it BEEN SINCE I COULD REMEMBER times from beFORE…”
… There’s one thing I want to hear.
“Um, that s.p.a.ce you entered; does it still exist even now?”
The response came quickly.
“NAY. I HAVE deSTRoyed it. Ironically THE me now can uSE magic that I COULDN’T in LIFe, WITH all THE magic I could uSE, I destroyED THAT s.p.a.ce … THE lives THAT TRAP will claim will be 1 ONLY; myself …”
So he’s a knight even in death …
“… I can see the end of the stairs, so this will be my final question. … What is that you want?”
I bet … it’s probably…
“… I, kiLL me … TO reTURN TO my comrades … livING any LONGER … I’m tiRED of IT, I AM NO LONGER myself aNYMORE … I DON’T WISH to JUST add to THE monsters’ ranks, FOR that I HAVE enDURED, BUT I HAVE reACHED my limits. AlreaDY … THIS body HAS ALREADY fallen TO THE desires AND actions OF A monster.”
So it was like that after all. The stairs have ended, and a door that looks like the end appears.
“AnY sympaTHY for me IS useless, thiNK OF me as JUST a monster and deSTROY me … my consciousness is ALREADY fadING … I leave IT … TO …yo…u.”
This is his, the Knight Andre’s, final words.
There’s no one here to see … no, I bet the Grim Reaper is probably watching; right now, in the Dead’s labyrinth, a duel is about to begin.
SKILLS
[Kicking a.s.sault]Lv21 ↑1UP
[Craftsmanship]Lv51
[Stealth]Lv40 ↑2UP
[Chivalrous Thief]Lv18 ↑16UP
[Fairy Language]Lv99 (Forced Acquisition) (Unable to be moved to Reserved Skills)
Reserved Skills
[Blacksmithing]Lv39
[Advanced Cooking]Lv3
ExP 4
t.i.tles Possessed: The One who Charmed Even the Fairy Queen, The One who Defeated a Great Foe Alone
A/N: Secret Boss, The Remnant of Knight Andre
Conditions:
Solo down to the 10th floor.
The number of times caught in traps must not exceed 10 times.
As long as you can fulfill the conditions just once, you can fight him.
There are random words in katakana (bleh), and random parts of words in katakana (cries), so I represented them in all caps. I guess it’s supposed to be a weird, disjointed way of speaking. It’s not supposed to make any sense which ones are capitalized, and boy was it a pain in the ***