Si-woo and Hae-in watched over the mining team from a distance as they set things up.
It took them no more than fifteen minutes to do so under the watchful eyes of the experienced foreman.
Once the setup was complete, the two moved deeper into the cavern as the sounds of pickaxes hammering away at crystals became dimmer and dimmer.
They could still hear the distant echoing sounds when the boss room entered their vision about one hundred meters away from them.
Hae-in turned around and held Si-woo’s forearm “Let’s turn back.
We might agitate the boss if we go too near,” she whispered to him.
Though she urged caution, Si-woo’s eyes were glowing with a soft light as he stared intently at the prison-like boss room in front of him.
He leaned in close toward Hae-in.
“Stay here, Hae-in.
I need to check something,” he whispered to her, gently pulling her hand away from his forearm.
“I’ll be careful,” he reassured her in another quiet whisper before moving near the jagged edges of the cavern, advancing slowly toward the boss room.
He paused when he noticed that Hae-in was following him anyway, standing still until she caught up to his side.
“Stay behind me.
I need to test something,” Si-woo told her, to which she nodded immediately.
When they were about ten meters away from the threshold of the boss room, Si-woo held her arm and guided her directly behind him, which she allowed without resistance.
He moved a little closer and discovered a gentle green glow radiating from the desolate boss room.
A lone knight stood in the exact middle of the room.
His sword tip was piercing the ground and both of his hands rested heavily on the hilt as the death knight stood in a silent, eternal vigil.
His armor was rotting but somehow still sturdy, his cloak was tattered but somehow still majestic, and the lower half of his face had almost completely rotted away, though his expression somehow still looked peaceful.
His most distinct physical feature was his long ears, extending behind him, getting thinner toward the tips.
Green glowing dust floated around him, illuminating his dead yet somehow almost alive figure.
“I don’t hear it when I see you,” the knight whispered, his face was still facing the ground, though Si-woo could tell the knight had known of their approach for a long time.
“Hear what?” Si-woo asked, wondering briefly how they were speaking the same language.
The answer to the question he had not spoken out loud came from right behind him.
“How do you know his language?” Hae-in’s voice cut in, filled with surprise.
‘I guess we don’t speak the same language after all.
It must be an innate ability I obtained from the dragon blood.’ Si-woo thought to himself before answering Hae-in.
“Honestly, I thought he was speaking Korean until you pointed out he wasn’t,” he whispered back to her.
“The voice,” the knight’s answer came just after Si-woo finished speaking.
“The voice telling you to kill humans?” Si-woo asked, and the knight answered with a slow, low hum.
“How long have you been…” “Dead?” the knight completed Si-woo’s sentence for him.
“Long enough to have forgotten most of my life from back when I had blood in my veins.” “Do you wish to be free?” Si-woo asked another question, which was met by a bitter, humorless laugh from the knight.
“You will kill me here.
You will shatter my sword, break my body, and purify what remains of it.
Then my sword will reform, my broken bones will come back together, and my rotten flesh will stick itself back onto my bones.
That is my eternal curse,” the knight proclaimed, his face turning to look directly at Si-woo for the first time since their conversation started.
“You…
sound like you think you deserve it,” Si-woo observed quietly.
“I betrayed my goddess.
I deserve this and much more,” the knight said, taking a heavy breath that he did not need to live, but merely to speak.
His gaze then turned to the green motes floating around his form.
“The fact that she still loves me is further proof that I have earned my punishment.
Enter.
Fight me.
You both will be more than enough to shatter me completely.
The bridge will close when you do so, and I shall be granted a temporary reprieve.” The knight beckoned the two over to him.
By bridge we was referring to the gate that had brought them to him.
“You are a knight, right?
She challenges you to a duel,” Si-woo announced after a sudden idea formed in his mind.
“She…
will die in but a moment,” the knight countered smoothly.
“I will be her champion.” “What does she get if her champion wins?” the knight asked, turning fully toward Si-woo.
By now, Hae-in was clutching Si-woo’s t-shirt from behind as her head rested against his back, listening intently to the exchange as if she would just learn the language from that.
“Your power.
Your sword.” “My curse,” the knight growled, wondering why would Si-woo want the woman behind him to be cursed like him.
“I will purify that part,” Si-woo assured him.
He placed his hand in his pocket, though in reality, he was connecting himself to his separate inventory space.
He took out a dark piece of parchment and a single silver coin from his pocket.
The dragon god Luxarion had given him so many magical artifacts and piles of gold that it had taken him a long time to sort through the inventory space and even now he was not fully done.
Among those artifacts and magic items were this contract and the coin.
Any contract formed on this parchment was one death itself would honor, and the coin was the required payment.
Si-woo thought about what he wanted the wager to be, and the contract immediately reflected that thought in glowing white text.
It simply stated that if Hae-in’s champion won the duel, the knight’s power and sword would be completely purified and given to her.
The purified part was why Si-woo had chosen this specific contract, because using the coin as payment meant death itself would use its authority to make it happen.
“What are you talking about, Si-woo?
Let’s just go,” Hae-in asked from behind him, sensing something was wrong.
“Won’t you add my own price into the terms?” the knight countered, and fresh text formed on the parchment as if the paper knew exactly what the knight wanted.
Surprisingly, the knight’s wish was that if Si-woo won, his consciousness and soul would be delivered to his goddess in complete surrender for her to do as she wished with him.
Si-woo did not mind the condition.
The contract floated toward the knight first, who just gave a firm nod, which seemed to be enough confirmation for the magic.
It then floated back toward Si-woo, as it still lacked Hae-in’s required confirmation.
Si-woo turned around and came face-to-face with Hae-in, who was looking at him with confusion and worry.
“Come on.
I’ll tell you what we discussed,” he said, holding her hands and whispering to her gently.
Si-woo turned back to the knight and nodded to him before he and Hae-in flicked away from the entrance, her hand still resting in his.
“What was that all about?” Hae-in asked the moment they stopped.
She clearly had about a million more questions.
They were now on an elevated area in the cavern, so Si-woo sat down, letting his legs dangle in the air as he patted the spot right beside him.
She sat down after a moment, crossed her legs, and leaned in toward him to listen to his answer.
“I will explain everything to you.
Just trust me and let me finish,” Si-woo started, and proceeded to translate the important parts of his conversation with the knight to her, mostly the part about the wager.
That explanation only created even more questions in her mind.
How did he know that language?
How did the contract work?
Where did he get such an item?
Si-woo raised his hand when he sensed she was about to ask all of that out loud.
“Hae-in.
I don’t like lying to you, and I hope I never will have to.
Though, if you ask me the specific questions I know you are thinking about right now, I will be forced to lie to you,” Si-woo said openly.
That honesty shut her up and made her think deeply as she looked into Si-woo’s eyes intently.
Her gaze then turned to the parchment floating in front of her.
She could only read Si-woo’s part of the deal, as the other section was written in an entirely alien language.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“Because I have grown to care for you.
And that makes me want to protect you.
Making you stronger is simply the best way to do that,” Si-woo answered almost clinically.
What Si-woo did not mention to her was that it was also a viable way to permanently relieve the death knight of his curse.
“How sure are you of winning?” was her next question.
“One hundred percent.
Trust me, he would need ten more just like him to even scratch me,” Si-woo said with absolute confidence.
He was entirely sure the knight was not strong enough to even breach his Saint Dragon Touki.
He then handed her the silver coin.
“Place it on the parchment,” he instructed.
When he saw she was still reluctant and overthinking everything, he gently took her hand and guided it toward the floating parchment before letting her touch the coin to the surface.
A/n: Please give me your thoughts on the chapter.