The Crystal Knight, whose colors had clearly faded, flailed desperately, mobilizing all the crystals around him, but it was just a final struggle.
“Uuuhhhh…”
Joined by Friede, who had drawn the Holy Sword, we pummeled him until he couldn’t breathe, and he quickly collapsed into dust.
At the end of the long battle that lasted for dozens of minutes, as he completely disintegrated, I sank to the stone floor where the light had vanished, panting heavily.
“Hah… hah… We won, we won.”
The victory declaration I barely managed to utter contained not a trace of satisfaction. We had won, but I felt no joy—just a bitter aftertaste.
“Haaaa…”
I sighed as I glanced at Arine’s severed lower half, lying in the distance.
…If only I hadn’t hidden Friede’s Holy Sword, she wouldn’t have been killed. We could’ve easily overwhelmed the Crystal Knight and taken him down much faster.
“If I had known this would happen, should I have taken out the Holy Sword from the beginning…”
A hint of self-blame slipped out with my sigh.
“…If I had done that, I wouldn’t have had a chance to understand Reed’s true intentions. We would have likely been betrayed in a much more dangerous situation than just now.”
Friede shook her head while tightly clutching my left hand with both of hers, offering clumsy comfort, asserting that Arine’s death was not my misjudgment.
“Yeah, you’re right…”
I let out a hollow laugh.
In a way, Friede’s consolation implied that it was perhaps fortunate Arine died now, and I found it amusing that I felt real relief at that sentiment instead of resentment.
After all, we’ve only known each other for three days. It was a brief connection for something like deep camaraderie to bloom… but we had faced adversity together, hadn’t we?
Feeling relief at the death of someone like that struck me as a rather lowly thing. I started to wonder if I was such a pathetic person.
Sticky self-hatred and guilt clung to my heart like gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe.
Thoughts like “What if…” sparked small regrets—how I hadn’t even noticed any signs before his betrayal.
All those emotions swirled in my mind, fanning my despair, soon transforming into rage towards the true culprit behind all this.
“Reed, that bastard…”
A human waste who shot Arine, a long-time companion of mine, in the back and then fled downstairs spouting nonsense.
It was clear that this wasn’t an impulsive or accidental betrayal.
The moment he betrayed us was the most advantageous moment possible to shoot an ally in the back.
As the battle reached its climax, everyone was exhausted, our attention distracted, and the glowing crystals had lost their light, casting darkness like evening.
There couldn’t have been a more favorable moment to ambush someone.
He must have been waiting for this opportunity to arise, gradually moving closer to the transference gate throughout the battle.
Moreover, singling out Arine also proved that his betrayal was premeditated. Knowing our reaction times, he figured even if an arrow flew toward us, at least one of us could adequately respond.
I certainly wouldn’t die from a hit due to my armor.
Reed was well aware of this, which is why he targeted Arine, someone who couldn’t counter the ambush, despite playing a crucial healer role.
This was way too meticulous to be an impulsive act. Looking back now, I wondered if he had even dealt with Max beforehand.
And…
“Why did he betray us?”
Despite being a meticulously planned betrayal, I couldn’t make sense of why he made such a choice.
“Just for some treasure we don’t even know about now? Knowing full well that if we reported this, we’d be chased by the organization for the rest of our lives?”
No matter how much I thought about it, his choice had far more to lose than to gain.
There was no guarantee that the 12th floor was the final one, and even if it was, who knew what could be found there?
Besides, even if luck led him to acquire some immense treasure, how did he think he could handle what followed?
Unless he was hiding some powerful otherworldly identity that could easily wipe us and the organization out, it was a miracle he would survive more than ten days with a bounty on his head.
Perhaps a greedy fool wouldn’t get it, but someone who seemed clever couldn’t possibly have made a choice that offered no future.
I simply couldn’t comprehend it.
Could he really be a gambling addict putting all his savings on the line for a life-changing bet?
…Surely not, right?
“We’ll have to find out from him. First, we’ll capture him and cut off his limbs.”
Friede lightly tugged my arm while glaring at the transference gate.
It seemed pointless to just ponder the reasons for his betrayal; if I was so curious, we could go down, capture him, and interrogate him ourselves.
“Cut off his limbs…?”
“Yes. Honestly, I was pretty angry about it too.”
Friede shared my anger over Reed’s betrayal.
The proposal wasn’t just sinister; her piercing golden eyes made it clear.
“Arine could have been in danger because of this. And all this gloom I’m in right now is entirely that bastard’s fault, isn’t it?”
…It sounded like we were approaching things from slightly different angles.
“Uh… yeah, that’s true…?”
“So let’s go cut off his limbs and ask him. Did he think we were that easy to deal with? Did he really think he could get away with it?”
Friede smiled, her lips curving up.
“I’m really curious what he’ll say.”
While she smiled, her eyes bore no warmth, like a predator sizing up its prey.
◆◆
After catching my breath and recovering some stamina, we set Arine’s body ablaze to give her a brief cremation and then headed straight through the transference gate.
There was no need for further rest.
Having fought while receiving healing miracles throughout the battle, neither I nor Friede was seriously hurt; I was even healing slowly thanks to my armor.
Thus, all that remained was to venture beyond the transference gate and teach the bastard Reed a lesson for his betrayal.
– Woooooooow…!
In stark contrast to the other crystals on the altar losing their light, the transference gate still sparkled faintly, vibrating softly with magical energy.
“…Let’s go.”
“Okay!”
I took Friede’s hand and stepped into the transference gate. It felt akin to being swept away in a flowing river.
And after about five seconds, the moment we finally reached the other side of the transference gate…
– Waaah!
“Ugh…!”
I instinctively raised my arms to shield my vision.
It seemed the area beyond the transference gate was filled with glowing crystals too, and the splendid brilliance that burst forth at once stung my eyes, accustomed to darkness.
“Ow, my eyes… Are you okay, Friede?”
“……”
“…Friede?”
No answer came from Friede. I quickly turned my head to look down at my left hand, which she had just been holding.
There was no one there. Only the shimmering magical light reflecting off the crystals danced painfully before my eyes.
Friede had disappeared.
◆◆
The 12th floor was a maze made of crystals.
An artificial labyrinth filled with smooth, flawless crystal walls and countless forks in the road.
Walls that reflected the scenery like mirrors, and transparent walls like glass mixed together haphazardly, appeared significantly more complex than a rocky maze.
‘It looks like a perfect place to starve to death while lost.’
A labyrinth reminiscent of the mythical one where a monster was imprisoned, it was impossible to guess how many days it would take to pass through safely.
At least, I had no confidence in finding the right path in this maze.
‘…But I never really planned on it anyway.’
Did I seem like someone worried about getting lost? There was a much simpler way to handle this.
“Hahhh!”
I pulled out my black iron spear and swept through the crystal walls as if mowing down weeds.
Unleashing a power akin to a troll, the crystals shattered upon impact, and the complicated maze transformed into an open space.
‘Nice, clean.’
I stepped over the remnants of the walls, smiling.
When the body is fit, the mind doesn’t have to struggle. If I couldn’t find the way through the maze, I could just flatten the maze itself.
‘So… where are Friede and that bastard Reed…?’
Friede abruptly vanished as soon as we entered the 12th floor.
At first, I was quite bewildered by the unexpected turn of events, but after a moment, I grasped the reason for her disappearance, finally settling down.
‘Could it be a spread-type transference gate… It’s just terrible luck.’
A spread-type transference gate. Just as the name suggested, it was a gate that scattered those who passed through it across different areas of the next floor.
It was clearly not set up on purpose… perhaps a result of some minor damage to the spatial transition techniques that caused the error?
In any case, Friede disappearing from my side was a consequence of that glitch. By now, she was likely wandering around somewhere in this maze looking for me.
Considering the ruckus caused by my wall-smashing, it shouldn’t take too long for us to find each other again.
So, there was no need to worry much about being separated.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.