On the evening the word “Rune” was mentioned by Iris, we mounted our horses and headed for the ridge where a newly discovered dungeon awaited us. The party consisted of Iris, Lize, Erica, and me—four of us in total.
Claudia stayed behind at the castle, insisting that someone must protect the city.
After about an hour of riding, we arrived at the entrance of a cave revealed between the collapsed mountainside.
Iris secured our horses to a nearby tree and used a scroll to cast a barrier that prevented monsters inside from sensing us. With her sword drawn, she approached the cave entrance.
“Although I detected Rune vibrations, there has been absolutely no exploration inside. That’s what we need to do. Stay alert; we don’t know what’s inside.”
Lize and Erica also brandished their weapons. Lize held her pair of twin daggers embedded with blue jewels, as blue as her eyes, while Erica wielded a Japanese sword adorned with intricate patterns.
It wasn’t due to a mod that their weapons changed; those were the actual weapons of the original NPCs.
“Oh, it’s a Japanese company after all.”
Despite the Brightest Darkness 4 having a mostly Western backdrop, no players would nitpick the presence of a Japanese sword in a game made by a Japanese company.
After all, from the first to the fourth installment of the Brightest Darkness series, weapons in the “Do” category were generally of mediocre performance, hardly a source of controversy.
In user-generated tier charts, perhaps only one or two would occasionally rank in the mid-tier of 3, while most languished in the fifth tier, virtually useless.
“I’ll go in first.”
Iris tightly gripped her longsword in one hand and held a torch in the other as she stepped forward. Lize followed her, I was third, and lastly came Erica.
It seemed that when it came to distinguishing between public and private matters, Lize suddenly clammed up as soon as we entered. She felt like an entirely different person.
The scale of the cave felt much larger than what I had seen in the game. Considering the size of the boss we were supposed to face, it made sense that the boss room would be massive too.
“I’m already feeling tension in my neck.”
Thinking about how long we might have to tussle with that monster made my neck ache. I sighed deeply as I followed Lize.
Clang, clang, clang, went the sound of armor as it echoed around the cave. Iris, Lize, and Erica were all fully equipped in silver full plate armor.
Now it felt a bit more like being a knight. Beneath their armor, they were still only in white sleeveless tops and dolphin shorts, but I decided not to worry about that.
I, of course, was dressed in my usual cloth clothing and leather pants. I’d tried wearing armor once just to check, but I couldn’t roll as easily, so I had no choice but to take it off.
It wasn’t that I had to roll more awkwardly; rather, when the weight of the armor exceeded my character’s usable weight, I could only bob my head forward, and rolling just wasn’t happening.
I wanted to believe this made sense, so I kept trying, but it was just awkward, like my body momentarily tilted without hitting the ground.
I couldn’t even run. Claudia, seeing my awkwardness, laughed and said I should build my health, but knowing the reason, I couldn’t find it funny at all.
So I just took it off.
“I’d rather walk around naked than give up rolling.”
Clearly, the hierarchy of priorities was obvious.
“Hold on a sec.”
Iris came to a stop. Before us was a vast expanse. I immediately realized where we were—it was the passage leading to the boss of this dungeon.
“This space is too wide. Lize, stay close to me. Newbie, stand by Erica. We’ll move in pairs.”
Lize stepped forward to stand beside Iris, and I took my position next to Erica. Each of us seemed tense, as elements began to emanate softly from the weapons we held.
Not knowing what might appear, the three of us cautiously stepped forward while I pretended to keep a lookout.
The mobs appearing here weren’t much of a threat. Besides, the knight commanders could easily wipe them out.
Facing just the boss was enough to sap my mental energy.
“Erica, where do you detect the Rune response?”
Hearing Iris’s question, Erica lowered her gaze to the necklace hanging from her neck, a green light buzzing ominously.
“It’s a good distance below us. Assuming there are no twists in the path, with our current speed, it should take just over an hour to reach.”
“An hour in a straight line? That means we should allocate a minimum of two hours for arrival. A round trip takes at least five hours!”
“And if we encounter monsters along the way, time will only increase.”
As those words were spoken, Iris began to gather wind around her sword, Lize summoned ice flowers on her twin daggers, and Erica ignited her weapon in flames—all happening almost simultaneously.
Something with rough, scaly skin mixed of black and gray was approaching from the passageway in the distance. Upon spotting it, Lize and Erica made disgusted sounds.
It was a centipede, nearly human-sized.
Countless legs twisted grotesquely, all covered in scales. Antennae flickered over its face, and a hard shell on its back was also fully scaled.
And it wasn’t just one. Five more identical creatures were also advancing from behind.
“Ew! I never imagined such a monster would show up. What the heck is going on here?”
“…It is indeed a bit unsettling. No, more than just a bit.”
Lize and Erica trembled as they summoned elements on their weapons. Ice enveloped Lize while Erica’s sword blazed with flame, illuminating the surroundings.
‘These guys definitely should not be taken along when we’re acquiring a magic book later.’
Eventually, we might discover a dungeon filled with true insect-sized creatures, not just nasty centipedes.
Those notorious for directly impacting players rather than characters. The developers even placed an NPC upfront to warn players to leave as bugs swarmed behind them.
But sadly, I needed to obtain a specific magic book located there. If not for that, I wouldn’t have given it a second glance.
“I’ll handle this quickly. Newbie, just stay back.”
With that, Iris, unbothered by the centipedes, charged in, weaving a whirlwind around her sword. Lize and Erica followed suit, letting out ooof as they dashed forward enveloped in ice and flames.
Thud!
And just like that, Iris crushed the centipede’s head in one blow.
As the head burst open, the centipede twisted and writhed, then curled up its legs, lifeless in no time. The others followed suit. Just a brush of the weapon caused them to explode.
“Oh?”
In stark contrast to their horrific appearance, they were wiped out with such ease that Lize expressed her confusion. Perhaps she hadn’t expected them to go down in one hit.
The cause lay in the fundamental difference in stats. This was a dungeon set for level 20, while the Silver Dawn knight commanders were in the upper mid-tier bosses.
Naturally, they were capable of steamrolling the minions here with sheer specs.
“Not surprised this time either, Newbie.”
Iris, having neatly dispatched the centipedes with a few strikes, turned to me. Although her helmet hid her expression, I had a good guess about how she felt.
“Do you have any inkling about this dungeon?”
Her voice held a hint of eager expectation. I replied without changing my expression.
“I know a thing or two.”
“Really?! Wait, why didn’t you tell us until now?!”
“I still need your help later on. Right now, I can manage just fine on my own.”
I scanned the area for a significant crack in the wall. Approaching forward, I walked towards the center of a stalactite until I was just beside it, taking three steps back to the right.
The three of them looked like they were completely lost as to what I was doing.
“Oh, you guys shouldn’t just stand there; you need to get over there.”
“…?”
They looked particularly confused, but they moved to the passage where the centipedes had just come from, seemingly thinking there was no harm in listening to me.
Once I confirmed the knights had retreated to safety, I sheathed the blood-stained sword into my abdomen. After Lize had already blabbed about its special abilities, nobody was surprised.
With that, I let it absorb blood to its limit before drawing it again. The ominous blood hue swirled around the blade.
“Why the sudden use of that, Newbie? And why did you tell us to stand here?”
“Well, I don’t want you getting caught up in this too.”
“Caught up with us too? Newbie, what the—”
Rumble!
Before Iris could finish her sentence, the ground beneath the expanse erupted with a deafening noise and began to crumble. The floor where Iris, Erica, and Lize were standing first began to sink sideways.
The three were startled, attempting to reach me, but between us, a chasm several times taller than a human had already formed. No matter how talented a knight commander they were, they couldn’t jump across such a gap.
Furthermore, even now, the crevice was widening further. The speed of the collapse accelerated. The gap was closing in on me.
Iris shouted in alarm.
“Newbie! Don’t tell me again…!”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I won’t die. Trust me?”
“This isn’t about trust! You should’ve warned us if there was going to be something like this—”
Before she finished, the remaining ground gave way, and I began to fall downward. The silver armor of Lize, Iris, and Erica quickly receded.
“Just follow the path straight down! I’ll be waiting below!”
While plummeting, I shouted upwards with all my might. I wasn’t sure if they could hear over the crackling ground.
‘If I go back, they’ll just grill me for not warning them in advance.’
There was no other choice.
The boss had to be fought with precise timing for its gimmicks, and if there were too many people, aggro would scatter all over the place, wasting time. With a little bad luck, things could go south in the middle.
I couldn’t afford that risk. I could rely on the commanders’ help later in the 4th phase after all the gimmicks were cleared.
‘Time to gear up.’
Having felt like I was falling for nearly 10 seconds, I finally spotted a puddle beneath my feet and calmly prepared for a falling attack.
