Into the Darkness Part 03

“…How could this be?”
The Knight King muttered in a grave voice.
It was because of the message delivered through Lionel, the second knight who had returned from the dead.

He had clearly said this:
“A wizard with an item has infiltrated.”
He was aware of the wizard’s existence.
After all, it was that wizard who had killed Gawain.
But…
“An item, you say?”
Wizards generally did not care much for items.
They could boast overwhelming power without relying on weapons.
The lower-ranked the wizard, the more they considered using items as a disgrace.
Which meant, conversely…
“At least a 6th order wizard, then…”
No matter how powerful a wizard was, once they reached a certain level, they would treat something like a small wand as nothing more than a toy.
It was impossible to find an idiot anywhere in the entire dimension who would criticize a 6th order wizard for using an item.
But the Knight King could not accept it.
Why would a noble wizard of Arcane come to a newly developing, uncivilized dimension?
Moreover, why would they come to interfere with someone else’s business when they know each other well?
“That’s ridiculous. Lionel must have seen wrong.”
Whoosh!
The Knight King dispersed the wraiths of Camelot.
To confirm the identity of the mysterious intruder.
And not long after…
He let out a sigh.
“…It was real?”
What the wraiths discovered were charred bodies.
They were the young vampires being raised for development.
There wasn’t even time to be devastated by the loss of his precious creatures.
Even though they were young, they were close to quasi-8th order creatures.
This meant the enemy was no ordinary foe.
A tension that felt like his bones were drying up crept over the Knight King.
And then…
“……”
The wraiths caught additional evidence.
A tightly packed, shimmering blue bars.
He had never seen anything like it before. It was so bizarre that he couldn’t even guess its purpose… But it was undeniably radiating the aura of an ‘item’.
“This can’t be…”
He wanted to deny it.
But when he found the blue portal moving along Camelot’s corridors through the wraiths…
He could no longer turn away from reality.
Portals were the exclusive domain of control-type wizards.
“Ah…”
Only then did the Knight King realize.
A madman from the Arcane dimension had come to wreak havoc.
He stood in silence for a moment before summoning a soul.
“Lancelot.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I need to summon you.”
Lancelot’s soul swirled in resistance.
“The Chamber of Commerce won’t stand idly by if they find out.”
Lancelot’s summoning rank was a whopping 7th order.
To comply with the Chamber of Commerce’s restrictions, the Knight King had to lower his own rank to 8th order, even though Lancelot was stronger than himself.
It was clearly a forbidden act, but,
The Knight King no longer had any reservations.
“I’ve already crossed the river. I’ve sunk my entire fortune into this… At this point, whether I die from this or that, it’s all the same.”
The Knight Kings’ bones trembled.
“He’s a lunatic who has no intention of talking. It’s clear he’s trying to snatch away Camelot’s harvest. I’m sure he came here without even informing his own dimension.”
If that happened, the King of Knights would suffer a huge ‘loss’.
And the Chamber of Commerce never forgave such ‘losses’.
The greatest sin that any being could commit.
That was the meaning of loss, understood by all beings across the dimensions.
“…I understand.”
Lancelot agreed solemnly.
The Knight King summoned the remaining three skeleton knights.
Tristan, Mordred, and Percival.
And then…
Swish!
He decapitated them in a single stroke.
Thus, three Enhancement Stones emerged.
The loss of Mana Stones invested in these knights was enormous, but the Knight King gritted his teeth and endured it.
Then, he poured all of them into Lancelot.
“Come forth.”
Rumble…
A cursed armor materialized in midair.
Three lights seeped into it.
Before long, Lancelot, his eyes glowing red, knelt before his lord.
“O great ruler of Camelot, command me.”
The Knight King once again received the vision from the wraiths.
Rumble…
The cursed fortress of Camelot trembled.
Camelot was greedily chewing on the corpses of the dead young vampires.
In the midst of the trembling stone walls and moving staircases, he noticed a blue portal quietly being swept along.
The destination of that portal was clear.
The most sacred place that symbolized Camelot, and also its greedy excretory organ.
The ‘wizard’ was moving toward that very place via the portal.
Whoosh!
The Knight King flung his cloak dramatically.
“Let’s go. It’s time to show this fool from the Arcane dimension what we’re made of.”
“I will follow.”
The two skeletons began walking side by side.


The vampire corpses were now beyond recognition.
They had been torn to shreds and ripped apart by the wriggling castle.
On the other hand, the Subspace Portal was immune to such physical shocks, so it was expelled separately during the final stage of the ‘digestion’ process.
Thus, we ended up in a massive space with a circular domed ceiling.
I couldn’t tell whether we were closer to the exit or not, but I could vaguely sense that we had moved quite a distance.
The space looked like the interior of a grand cathedral, except it lacked the usual ornate decorations you’d expect to see in such places. Instead, it was an eerie, bare arched structure, exposed in all its gloom.
“Let’s see…”
I stepped out of the portal for the time being.
Paths stretched in all directions from the towering sanctuary, so I decided to check if there was a suitable exit.
Just as I was about to look around…
Rumble…
The massive stone walls shook, the bricks rattling.
The most intense movement was coming from the ceiling.
At the center of the dome, surrounded by four hemispheres, something was twitching.
And soon after…
White sticks began to fall one by one.
Clatter!
Tap, tap!
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
And finally,
Thunk!
A skull, especially sharp with fangs, hit the ground with a loud thud.
It was undoubtedly the remains of the vampires we had defeated.
I was certain of it.
This place was not just any ordinary fortress.
It was perhaps closer to a living entity that consumed blood and flesh.
By this point, I began to roughly guess what the Knight King intended to use this castle for.
“This bastard…”
The massive walls, and the lid that covered the sky.
This place was nothing but a giant cauldron.
The Knight King intended to boil a stew with the hundreds of thousands of citizens trapped inside the castle.
Including my little sister, Kim Sol.
‘Should I really just put him into Subspace…?’
I was contemplating such drastic measures as a last resort when—
Click.
Click.
Footsteps echoed from afar.
Accompanied by a voice.
“How pitiful for the name of Arcane to sink so low. To think you’d come all the way to a tiny backwater like this…”
Two skeletons strolled leisurely from one side of the entrance.
The clinking of their armor rang out with each step.
One had a long blue cloth draped from its helmet, while the other, wearing a crimson cloak, walked with a commanding presence.
I could tell at a glance.
The one in the cloak was the owner of this castle, the ‘Knight King’.
He spoke.
“Let me ask you one thing. I can understand that even a lofty wizard might get greedy, but why the hell would you come to someone else’s place of business and cause trouble?”
Arcane, wizard, business—he was spouting words I couldn’t quite comprehend.
“You’d better answer properly. Even if you’re from Arcane… I’m at the point where I have nothing left to lose.”
I couldn’t answer.
How could I answer when I had no idea what he was talking about?
But that seemed to have provoked him in its own way.
“You won’t even talk to me? Damn… Do you wizards really think you’re so superior?”
Suddenly, he exploded in anger.
I wasn’t exactly sure what he was ranting about, but apparently, even among these aliens, there were hierarchies like educational background, race, and regional origin.
Honestly, it wasn’t much different from any other society.
The one-man drama he was putting on reached its climax.
“…You will die here today. Sounds like a joke, right? You probably think you can’t lose if we’re both 8th order. But the fact that you can’t see beyond that is your mistake.”
Sigh.
The Knight King let out a deep breath and spoke.
“Kill him, Lancelot.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Wham!
The skeleton knight charged at me, the blue ribbon on his helmet fluttering in the air.
Clang!
When I blocked his sword strike with the portal, the Knight King, who had been watching from a distance, chuckled in disbelief.
“…Unbelievable. Using a portal barrier as a defense mechanism?”
Now, it was my turn to attack.
I activated four portals using and, through , launched dozens of flaming bowling balls toward Lancelot.
Fwoosh!
The flames burned fiercely.
But…
Shu shu shu!
Swish!
Thunk!
Bang!
Bang!
Lancelot deflected them all with rapid punches, not allowing even a single hit.
The faint embers of [Ignition] flickered across his gauntlet, but that was all.
He was clearly far stronger than the two knights I had faced earlier.
Then, it happened.
“Wait…!”
The Knight King urgently stopped his subordinate.
Lancelot immediately returned to his master’s side with a swift motion.
In a voice that trembled with disbelief, the Knight King spoke.
“You… you’re not a wizard, are you?”
I had finally been found out.
The Knight King trembled as if he had just witnessed a miracle, muttering to himself.
“Could it be… you’re a human? How on earth did you manage to use so many items…?”
Items.
He must have been talking about the flaming bowling balls.
I had used Enhancement Stones to make them, so they were a bit unusual, but I hadn’t expected them to catch the Knight Kings’ attention.
Slowly, the Knight King approached me.
He strolled leisurely, brushing through the dozens of flames scattered around, as if walking through a flower garden.
His gaze locked onto me.
I recognized that look.
It was the same expression the administrative supply officer had when he looked at me about a month before my military discharge.
Well, except that this skeleton didn’t technically have eyes.
He spoke.
“You… can replicate items, can’t you? Isn’t that right?”
I’d been found out.
Not that I had tried to hide it.
I didn’t respond.
Even so, the Knight King burst into mad laughter.
“Hahahahaha! Have you ever seen such a crazy blessing? Human… do you even realize what kind of power you’ve gained?”
I didn’t.
All I wanted was to get my family out of this cursed castle.
I was only racking my brain, trying to figure out how to deal with that troublesome Lancelot.
The Knight King made me an offer.
“You, partner with me. If you listen to what I have to say, you’ll realize that you have no choice but to need me as well.”
He walked over to one of the pillars of the sanctuary, tapping it as he continued speaking.
He sounded just like an officer trying to convince me how great and noble a career in the military could be.
“If you can replicate items, I can use this Camelot to produce Enhancement Stones. Do you understand what that means? If we join forces, we’ll be able to mass-produce endlessly enhanced items, with no limit!”
“Oh…”
It was a tempting proposition.
I was already mass-producing items, but if Enhancement Stones were replenished, I could not only create new weapons but also craft items of higher grades.
“Well, the human sacrifice process is a bit of a hassle, but if we can get our hands on Enhancement Stones, that’s a small price to pay.”
“Ah…”
That part was less appealing.
No matter how much I needed Enhancement Stones, I wasn’t willing to obtain them by grinding up innocent people.
Maybe it was my stern expression, but a faint killing intent flickered in his demeanor.
Of course, it was only natural.
He called it a proposal, but in reality, it was closer to coercion.
Now that he had confirmed his superiority, he would try to subjugate me by force and turn me into his personal slave to serve his needs.
I relaxed my expression and asked him.
“This castle called Camelot… Can you control it properly? It would be troublesome if it ate me up on its own.”
“Heh… What a cute worry, typical of a country bumpkin. Don’t worry, this Camelot is an ‘item’ too. It’s greedy, sure, but it can’t disobey its master’s commands.”
Maybe to ease my anxiety, the Knight King continued.
“Rather, you’ll become safer. Now the knights belonging to this Camelot will protect you.”
He thumped on Lancelot’s armor standing next to him.
As if to say, feel the solidness for yourself.
Indeed, Camelot’s function wasn’t just to produce Enhancement Stones.
The skeleton knights I’d faced so far—every single one of them was a resident of Camelot.
The Knight King added one final thing.
“Now, it seems you’re starting to be tempted. You made the right choice. With your ability and this Camelot… it’s no exaggeration to say we could sweep up every Mana Stone in the entire multidimensional universe.”
“……”
His rosy business pitch had finally concluded.
I lowered my head.
My shoulders shook violently, overwhelmed by surging emotion.
Perhaps finding my reaction strange, the Knight King asked me,
“…What’s wrong?”
“…Knight King.”
I added,
“This business item… I’m tearfully grateful…”
“…What?”
I immediately made the request.
“PAX, please put Camelot into subspace.”


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