Black Knights.
One of the classic and highly popular enemy types from the Dark Souls series.
Originally, they were known as the Silver Knights, elite warriors who served under Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder. They participated in countless grand wars recorded in history, including the campaign against the Ancient Dragons.
Later, the Silver Knights split into two factions. One faction remained behind to guard Anor Londo, while the other followed Gwyn into battle against the Chaos Bed and the demons born of Chaos. During those battles amid endless flames, their weapons and armor were scorched black, and thus they became known as the Black Knights.
Another theory claimed that their armor turned black after they followed Gwyn in linking the First Flame.
Regardless of which version was true, one fact remained certain:
The Black Knights had participated in the linking of the fire, and now wandered the world as ashes left behind by that age.
Wade wondered whether, now that they themselves had become ashes, they could still burn once more. Even if they could, their shields and equipment possessed extremely high fire resistance.
The Black Knight Sword also dealt bonus damage against demon-type enemies. Their overall strength ranged from approximately C to C++, making them neither overwhelmingly powerful nor too weak—an ideal force for this suppression campaign.
That said, would the "Burning Demons" of this world even trigger the Black Knight Sword's anti-demon effect?
After all, demons from different worlds were not necessarily the same species.
So whether to use the Black Knights or some other monsters remained undecided.
Speaking of demons, characters like DOOM Slayer, Master Chief, Dante, and Geralt would probably also be highly effective.
"Whatever. The Red Fang Dungeon is handling the main force anyway—I'll just play support."
With that mindset, Wade continued going about his daily routine.
. .. ...
Three days later, right at midnight, he received a support request from the Eagle Dungeon.
How many dungeons were supposed to participate in this operation again? As an introvert, he was already starting to feel nervous.
He accepted the invitation.
As usual, his vision blurred, and his consciousness transformed into a spirit as it traveled through space. When his sight finally cleared, he found himself floating in the sky above a ruined city.
"Is this the part where I slick my hair back like those cool protagonists?"
He muttered a joke only he understood while casually pulling out a telescope from somewhere and observing the area below.
This was the internal structure of the Eagle Dungeon—a massive circular ancient city.
If Wade had to describe it, it looked like an enormously scaled-up Roman Colosseum, packed with all kinds of structures inside.
He carefully observed the city while instinctively comparing it to his own dungeon.
Soon, he noticed a key difference.
It was something like realism—or perhaps a genuine sense of history and life.
At first glance, the Eagle Dungeon carried an overwhelming historical atmosphere. Many of its buildings had clear purposes, and their arrangement followed natural logic and expectations.
It was subjective, but simply looking at the place allowed Wade to imagine how bustling the city must once have been before gradually declining into ruin.
Aside from Sein, the other dungeons seemed to share this same sense of historical realism—as though they were fragments ripped directly out of real history.
Considering that dungeon masters might originate from entirely different eras, perhaps these places truly were pieces of history.
"No wonder adventurers think my scenes are based on real history—other dungeons already established that expectation."
He really ought to thank the dungeon masters who came before him.
Compared to them, the design philosophy of the Sein Dungeon was… significantly more "free-spirited."
Sure, it looked grand and visually spectacular—but it was also complete chaos.
After all, how often did people get to see things like Farron Keep's enormous poison swamp, bizarre Gourmet-themed zones, or the dazzling architecture of Raya Lucaria?
But if you seriously thought about it—who would actually want to live in a place where professors randomly sprinted marathons through the halls, puppet soldiers dropped from ceilings, and opening the wrong door could get you smashed by a warrior jar?
Most of Sein's design existed for one reason:
To mess with people.
It felt less like a coherent city and more like multiple wildly different themed versions of Sein's ancient city mashed together into one place.
So… should he start pursuing more realism in the future?
Wade thought about it for a moment.
"Eh, I'll just call it a unique artistic style."
Just then, he sensed spatial fluctuations behind him.
Turning around, he saw another dungeon master's spirit appear.
"Uh…" Wade blinked. "A… bipedal unicorn?"
Standing before him was a rainbow-colored horse walking upright on two legs, complete with a matching rainbow horn.
This was the master of the Unicorn Dungeon—Rainbow Horn.
"Oh! You must be Aldwin! I'm Rainbow Horn. We've been in contact quite a lot lately."
The unicorn sounded extremely friendly.
"Nice to meet you." Wade shook its hoof before hesitating slightly. "By the way… is Rainbow Horn your real name, or…?"
Rainbow Horn blinked.
"We use our dungeon identities when interacting with each other."
Meaning—the names of the bodies themselves. After all, who knew how many souls had occupied them over the years?
After chatting for a bit, Rainbow Horn suddenly looked at Wade enviously.
"I really wish I had a human form like yours… sigh."
Wade instinctively wanted to pat its shoulder in comfort, only to realize the unicorn was way too tall.
"Oh right," Rainbow Horn suddenly said, "you do know people have been talking about you a lot lately, right?"
"About me?"
"Yeah. You revived a dying dungeon in an incredibly short time, made it flourish, and even started pulling adventurers away from other dungeons. Some places have lost so much traffic that their income's practically been cut in half."
Wade didn't even know what expression he should make. In the end, he settled on something resembling a sweating emoji.
Rainbow Horn chuckled and nudged him lightly.
"You'd better keep a low profile later. Some of the dungeon masters invited here… aren't very fond of you."
"Because I stole their adventurers?"
"What else?"
Wade fell silent.
So his reputation among the dungeon masters had quietly become… terrible?
I just innovated the dungeon system!
If you can't attract adventurers, that's a skill issue—not my fault!
He really wanted to say that.
But after thinking it over, he decided against it. Getting beaten up probably wasn't worth it.
"Which era are you fro—"
Before Rainbow Horn could finish the question, several new spatial distortions suddenly appeared nearby.
A few more figures emerged.
And what a bizarre lineup it was.
A moss-covered slime-like creature.
A walking hawthorn skewer with limbs.
And… half a coconut with an axe embedded in its head.
Compared to them, Wade suddenly looked perfectly normal.
Unfortunately, they didn't seem particularly friendly.
"Which one's Aldwin?" the slime demanded.
Rainbow Horn immediately backed away and pointed directly at Wade.
You traitor!
"Hello," Wade greeted calmly.
The three instantly surrounded him.
"You're Aldwin?"
"The Sein Dungeon master my adventurers won't stop talking about?"
"The one who stole my favorite adventurer?"
"The one who created Bloodhound Step? My dungeon got completely wrecked because of that!"
People are using Sein gear to invade other dungeons?!
Wade immediately said in a serious tone,
"That's entirely the adventurers' personal behavior. I bear no responsibility for it."
Unfortunately, that only made things worse.
The three prepared to pressure him—
Then suddenly shouted in unison:
"Change your dungeon back!"
"Teach us your design methods!"
"Please nerf your weapons!"
All three froze.
"…Wait, what?"
The slime stomped angrily.
"Weren't we supposed to pressure him?!"
The hawthorn rolled its eyes.
"Your threats obviously wouldn't work anyway. We might as well learn from him instead."
The coconut let out a sigh.
"Half of my adventurers are already using Sein equipment. I've accepted reality."
"You betrayed me!" the slime shouted furiously.
Watching the three argue among themselves, Wade quietly took a step backward.
As expected… these dungeon masters were all somewhat… lively.
Maybe being trapped inside dungeons for too long had made them a little unhinged.
He had expected some dramatic confrontation.
Instead, they had completely ruined their own momentum.
Just as he was wondering how he should join the conversation—
The true centerpiece of the operation arrived.
A powerful spatial distortion swept across the area.
"ROOOAR—!"
Before they even saw it, they heard it first.
A dragon's roar shook their very souls.
An image flashed before Wade's eyes—
A world consumed by flames.
Demon armies engulfed in fire.
Everything transformed into a living hell.
This was the sealed entity within the Eagle Dungeon—
The Burning Demons.
Impressive.
And incredibly dangerous.
As the vision faded, a massive shadow descended over Wade.
Scorching heat washed across his face.
He slowly looked up.
Scales.
Massive limbs.
Wings large enough to blot out the sky.
This was the master of the Red Fang Dungeon—
A red dragon named Red Fang.
The dragon lowered its enormous head, its snake-like eyes locking onto Wade.
Its deep voice rumbled like thunder.
"Which era are you from?"
The exact same question Rainbow Horn had tried to ask earlier.