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Footsteps.

Not the steps of anyone from the expedition, but a mysterious sixth set of footsteps.

Hamel turned his head and looked back, seeing footsteps approaching Rena.

In the empty, nothing-filled space, only footprints had appeared.

Hamel, without hesitation, drew and threw a dagger.

Klang!

Something struck Hamel’s dagger in front of Rena, sparks flying.

Hamel dashed forward and swung his sword.

Whoosh

The blade cut only empty air, futilely.

A pity, but exactly as he expected.

The initial strike was meant to measure distance.

Hamel focused to catch the slightest currents of air.

‘This way.’

Then he relied on his instincts and swung again.

Kakang!

Once more, flames erupted in midair.

To an onlooker, it might have seemed Hamel’s sword spat fire on its own, but he clearly felt a heavy impact and tremor in his hand.

There was someone standing before him now.

Hamel continued to swing his sword.

Whoosh

He had to miss a few times.

And as a consequence…

Screech

An invisible blade cut his arm and leg.

Flesh split and blood flowed.

Fortunately, the thing didn’t sever bone, and that decided the fight.

“Mr. Hamel!”

Rupert and Daniel tried to help, but Hamel shouted urgently.

“Do not come. Everyone stay where you are.”

Hamel kept his nerves razor-sharp as he swung his sword.

He forgot even to tend his wounds.

And finally.

Klang!

He blocked the creature’s attack.

Then the next.

And the next after that.

Its attacks could not reach Hamel.

Meanwhile, each time Hamel struck, the opponent failed to dodge and was increasingly forced to parry.

The invisible foe became flurried, its footsteps chaotic as it struggled to block Hamel’s blade.

The outcome was practically decided.

Screech

Blood stained Hamel’s blade.

The bleeding was considerable.

He had likely dealt a critical blow.

Hamel slowly approached and kicked the invisible opponent.

Had it been covering its wound?

The creature’s red blood dripped onto the white snow.

The shoved creature staggered and revealed itself in the sunlight.

“…A human?”

“No, it’s something different.”

Only then could the party make out the form of the thing that had attacked them.

A tall figure wearing a silver mask.

Its appearance was not too different from a human’s.

But its blue skin showed it was not an ordinary human.

“Can you sense demonic energy?”

“No.”

Hamel slowly shook his head.

The thing was not a demon.

He didn’t know what it resembled, though.

Hamel instinctively recognized the ‘monk’ mentioned in the inscription.

‘Footprints revealed by treading on the eye. Was that the hint?’

Hamel organized his thoughts and stared at the thing.

The thing clutched at the wound Hamel had made and finally collapsed.

Then it did not move again.

“…Is it over?”

Ono asked cautiously, and Hamel shook his head.

“It can’t be this easy. It’s probably not just that one.”

“…Tch.”

Ono clicked his tongue as if disappointed.

But Hamel’s suspicion proved correct.

In the shade they entered afterward, the monks ambushed them again.

Rena narrowly escaped death once more.

Hamel, now familiar with the counter, subdued them without much trouble, but it had been dangerous.

“Continuing like this is dangerous.”

Hamel stopped and spoke.

The group nodded with grim expressions.

They still had a long way to the spire, and they would have to pass through shade many more times.

“Sorry. I’m of little help.”

Daniel and Rupert bowed their heads apologetically.

Both were better swordsmen than Hamel, but fighting invisible foes was another matter.

An enemy like that was hard to face without Hamel’s monstrous senses.

Needless to say, Ono and Rena would struggle.

The two who were not knights could be killed by a single ambush.

If more than one monk attacked at once, there would certainly be casualties.

Then Rena spoke calmly.

“Leave us here.”

“…”

“We’ll wait here.”

Rena said it firmly.

Ono nodded and waved his hand.

“Alright. I don’t want to die needlessly either. You two should manage somehow.”

“…”

Hamel fell into thought.

Certainly Rupert and Daniel would likely avoid fatal wounds even if ambushed.

They might even be able to counterattack.

But was that truly the best option?

As he pondered, something occurred.

‘Hmm?’

Come to think of it, why had they targeted Rena twice in a row?

Was she just an easy prey?

Or was it a simple coincidence?

That could be, but.

‘If not…’

Questions led to more questions for Hamel.

He needed to look for differences.

The differences between them and Rena.

They were.

She was the youngest.

She was female.

And… she was a mage.

The thought led him back to a line from the inscription.

Shadow.

And sunlight.

“Ah.”

Hamel couldn’t believe he’d only just remembered it.

‘To have realized this only now…’

He scolded himself.

Had he relaxed because they were almost there?

Hamel shook his head to steady himself and called Rena.

“Rena, do you have any magic that creates sunlight?”

Rena looked at Hamel in puzzlement and then spoke.

“No. I don’t. Unless you mean a spell that simply creates light.”

“…?”

That’s not it.

Hamel hesitated, wondering if his idea was wrong, when suddenly…

“Do you mean shine sunlight onto the shadow?”

Rena tilted her head and asked.

“If that’s it, I think it’s possible…”

Rena strode toward an alley thick with shadow.

“Rena, it’s dangerous.”

Daniel tried to interject worriedly.

But Rena stopped in her tracks and slowly began to speak.

“Bend it. And reflect it.”

A round circle formed above Rena’s head as she stood in the sunlight.

The circle refracted sunlight and brightly illuminated the shadowed alley.

At that moment.

Fwoosh

The two monks hiding in the darkness were fully revealed.

They looked flustered to have been exposed.

“…”

“…”

Their gazes met and a brief silence passed.

“I’ll take care of them.”

Daniel stepped forward.

Hunting down the exposed creatures was all too easy.

Klang!

Daniel rushed out and clashed swords with the two monks.

The monks were skilled, but not on Daniel’s level.

How many exchanges did they have?

Thud

In the end the two monks’ heads rolled on the ground.

“It was a blind spot.”

Hamel nodded as if incredulous.

Refraction of light.

A simple method, yet he hadn’t realized it.

Hamel took a mirror from his bag and stepped forward.

Shadows were no longer an obstacle to the party.

---

After dealing with the monks hidden in shadow, they reached the spire they had aimed for.

However, an unexpected problem presented itself.

“…Why is there no entrance?”

Ono kicked the spire and asked irritably.

As he said, the spire had no entrance.

It was taller than the city walls, so jumping up was out of the question.

There were no structures to climb, and the outer wall wouldn’t even take a sword.

‘A wall that mana can’t penetrate.’

Absurd, but it made the truth easy to spot.

This was probably part of the dungeon’s rules.

There must be a prescribed way to ascend this spire.

Hamel mulled over the earlier inscriptions and found a plausible line.

Starlight.

That meant night.

Perhaps something would change when night fell.

Hamel nodded and sheathed his sword.

“Let’s rest until nightfall.”

Even without further explanation, everyone nodded.

“I see. Under starlight maybe…”

Ono tilted his head at Rena’s murmur.

“What about starlight?”

“You don’t know?”

“How am I supposed to know if you only say that?”

“Starlight… never mind.”

Rena swallowed her words, annoyed by Ono’s boldness.

Ono, not particularly curious, just snorted and turned away.

Daniel and Rupert merely nodded again, seemingly not intending to understand in the first place.

They were simply acting on Hamel’s words.

‘Should I be pleased about this…’

Hamel pondered with a subtle expression.

“There’s a place to rest over there.”

Rupert, after scanning the area, approached and said this.

The party moved to the place Rupert indicated.

A temple located close to the spire.

Fortunately, inside the building there was no shadow.

Perhaps due to a special design, the temple’s interior was brightly lit.

There seemed to be no need to fear ambushes from the monks here.

‘Another temple, huh.’

Hamel mumbled the thought and walked inside.

He didn’t know whom the temple served.

But one thing was certain.

What those who built the temple had feared.

‘Dragons.’

Reliefs and crafts carved into the temple’s glass and walls.

And the fresco painted on the ceiling told the same story.

That dragons were beings to be feared.

The dragon in the painting burned the city.

As if hating everything in the world.

Briefly pausing in that thought.

There was a statue in the center of the temple.

An old dragon statue with its neck broken.

Beneath it was a sentence inscribed.

“Do not… get close… to dragons?”

What was this, then?

Hamel felt a slight unease.

The order did not view dragons as purely evil beings.

Of course, in the battles of the Age of Gods there were those called evil dragons who sided with the dark gods.

For example, the flame dragon that swallowed gods, Nilkarnas, sealed beneath the royal underground, was such a being.

But most dragons sided with the benevolent gods.

Indeed, from the mythic age dragons were known as natural enemies of demons.

Because of their power to hunt and destroy demons, the order regarded dragons as symbols of purging evil.

So why then…

Was the temple depicting dragons only as evil?

‘Curious.’

Hamel looked down at his hands.

Dragon’s blood.

Dragon’s blood flowed through Hamel’s body.

Also, dragons were the foundation of the power Hamel possessed now.

Since Hamel borrowed dragon power, the thought did not sit comfortably with him.

Lost in thought for a moment, Hamel closed and opened his eyes slowly.

“…such pointless worry.”

Hamel was already well aware of the danger in dragon power.

Hadn’t he experienced the madness that wanted to consume him several times?

Regardless of good or evil, dragons were undeniably dangerous.

He had built resistance with magi and suppressed that madness for a while, but it could still erupt at any time.

Nothing would change now.

Hamel neither blindly trusted dragon power nor intended to ignore it.

But he would need to remain vigilant.

‘I should be a bit careful.’

Hamel decided it would be best to avoid using dragon power where possible until he learned more about dragons and that power.

‘The problem is these resolutions don’t always go according to plan…’

Hamel shook off the ominous thought and took a rest.