"What just happened?"
The question escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
A moment ago, I had been falling through the Fairy Realm. There had been trees, roots, wind... and then that strange opening beneath my feet had swallowed me whole. Now there was nothing.
No sky.
No trees.
No sound of the Fairy Realm.
Only darkness.
I slowly turned my head.
A cold stone wall pressed against my back. The ground beneath my feet was hard and uneven, covered with a thin layer of dust that moved whenever I shifted my weight. There was barely enough light for me to see my surroundings, and whatever little illumination existed seemed to come from nowhere.
Then I heard it.
Clang.
I froze.
Another metallic sound followed.
Clang...
Heavy footsteps.
Slow.
Rhythmic.
Someone—or something—was walking through the darkness.
I tightened my grip around my sword.
"Where the hell am I?"
There was no answer.
Only those footsteps.
I could have stayed there and tried to figure things out, but there wasn't exactly a convenient map lying around.
So I sighed.
"Guess I don't have a choice."
I pushed myself away from the wall and carefully moved toward the source of the sound.
The darkness ahead slowly became clearer.
At first, I thought I was looking at statues.
Then one of them moved.
A soldier.
It wore a full suit of old armor, the metal scratched and covered in dust. It walked forward with its sword hanging beside its body, moving with the stiff rhythm of something that had forgotten what walking was supposed to look like.
There was something deeply wrong about it.
I didn't know its strength.
I didn't know what it wanted.
And, more importantly...
I didn't know why I was here.
Yet something inside me kept pulling me forward.
It wasn't exactly a voice.
More like a direction.
A strange instinct telling me that I needed to go deeper.
I didn't understand it.
I didn't like it.
But I followed it anyway.
I raised one hand.
A small sphere of wind formed between my fingers.
I threw it toward the opposite wall.
Whoosh!
The little ball of wind struck the stone.
The soldiers immediately turned toward it.
Perfect.
I disappeared from their sight.
"Wind Burst."
The compressed wind exploded beneath my feet.
My body shot forward.
The soldiers barely had time to react before the force slammed into them.
BOOM!
Several armored bodies crashed against the walls.
Metal screamed against stone.
Then silence returned.
I stood there for a moment.
"...That was easy."
Too easy.
I approached the nearest soldier and crouched beside it.
There was no movement.
I reached toward its helmet and slowly removed it.
I expected a face.
Instead...
Nothing.
There was no person inside.
Only a strange Golden light drifting within the empty armor.
I stared.
"...What?"
I touched the armor.
The golden light moved slightly.
Like smoke.
Like a soul.
Like something pretending to be alive.
"An empty shell?"
I stood up slowly.
Something was definitely wrong with this place.
I continued walking.
Not long afterward, another group appeared.
Their armor was silver this time.
Older.
Rougher.
Covered in cracks.
They noticed me immediately.
Unlike the previous group, I didn't bother hiding.
I drew my sword.
One swing.
Slash.
The entire group fell.
I looked at them.
Then at my sword.
Then back at them.
"...Still weak."
What was going on?
Were these things actually supposed to be enemies?
Or was I somehow far stronger than I thought?
I continued deeper.
Eventually, I found something different.
A massive figure stood in the center of the corridor.
Silver armor.
A giant sword.
Unlike the other soldiers, this one was much larger.
I stopped.
"Oh."
I smiled slightly.
"Something new."
The creature lifted its sword.
I immediately understood.
"This is probably the boss."
For some reason, the thought made me feel like I had entered some kind of game.
"A labyrinth..."
I looked around.
"Or maybe a tower?"
I considered it for a moment.
"If it's a dungeon, I should be going deeper."
I glanced behind me.
Then toward the massive armored figure.
"And if it's a tower..."
I looked at the ceiling.
"...I'd be going up."
I sighed.
"Guess we'll find out."
The armored giant charged.
Its sword came down with enough force to crack the stone beneath my feet.
I raised my wind barrier.
BOOM!
The impact pushed me backward.
My boots scraped across the ground.
I stared at the sword.
"...Okay."
That one actually had weight.
I strengthened the barrier.
The giant attacked again.
This time, I didn't use wind.
I stepped forward.
My sword met its armor.
Slash.
The entire body split cleanly in two.
The giant collapsed.
I stared at the corpse.
"...Wow."
I lowered my sword.
"Am I getting stronger?"
I looked at the armor.
"Or are they just weak?"
There was no answer.
Only silence.
Then I noticed something behind the fallen boss.
A staircase.
It didn't lead upward.
It descended.
Into darkness.
I stared at it.
"...Dungeon."
I couldn't help smiling.
"Definitely a dungeon."
I stepped onto the stairs.
And descended.
The next floor looked almost identical.
The only difference was the armor.
Golden.
The soldiers moved faster.
They were stronger too.
But not enough.
I fought my way through them without much trouble.
Then came the boss.
A golden knight.
Larger than the previous one.
It actually possessed some techniques.
A few sword strikes nearly caught me.
But eventually, it fell.
I looked toward the next staircase.
"Level two?"
I rubbed my chin.
"Am I a max-level player stuck in a dungeon glitch?"
I paused.
"...Okay, that joke wasn't funny."
I kept walking.
The deeper I went...
The stranger it became.
Red armor.
Then purple.
Then yellow.
Then blue.
Each floor had different soldiers.
Different weapons.
Different fighting styles.
But they all shared the same thing.
They were empty.
No flesh.
No voices.
No minds that I could see.
Only armor containing that strange different colours light.
The farther I descended, the stronger they became.
By the time I reached the blue floor, I had finally begun taking damage.
A dual-sword knight caught my shoulder.
A shallow cut opened across my skin.
I jumped backward.
"...Okay."
I touched the wound.
"Finally."
I looked at the knight.
It was wearing lighter armor.
Faster.
More agile.
And definitely stronger than everything before it.
I smiled.
"At least you're trying."
The battle lasted longer than the others.
But eventually, the blue knight fell too.
I continued.
The staircase appeared again.
I counted mentally.
"If I had to guess..."
"Thirteen."
I looked down the staircase.
"...I'm on the thirteenth level."
I took one step.
Then stopped.
The feeling inside me had grown stronger.
That strange sensation.
That pull.
That invisible hand pointing deeper.
My chest tightened.
Something was waiting.
I didn't know what.
But I knew it was there.
I continued.
Brown armor.
I stared at the soldiers.
"Seriously?"
"How many colors are there?"
I defeated them one after another.
They were stronger than the previous floors, but still not enough to force me to use everything I had.
Eventually, I reached the boss room.
I stepped inside.
And stopped.
The brown knight wasn't standing.
It was lying on the ground.
Its sword was beside it.
Its armor was cracked.
"...Wow."
I slowly walked closer.
"Someone got bored waiting here?"
The knight moved.
It tried to stand.
Its hand reached toward the sword.
It pushed itself upward.
Then collapsed.
I blinked.
"...Huh?"
It tried again.
Nothing.
It collapsed once more.
I stared.
"Are you giving up?"
No answer.
I walked closer and tapped its helmet with the tip of my sword.
"Come on."
Nothing.
"Isn't it your duty to stop anyone passing through?"
Still nothing.
Then...
Its eyes lit up.
Two faint brown lights appeared beneath the helmet.
It tried again.
Its body trembled.
The armor creaked.
One knee lifted.
Then the other.
For a moment, I thought it was going to stand.
But it collapsed again.
I stared at it.
"...You're kidding."
Why was I still here?
I could simply kill it.
Move forward.
Continue to the next floor.
That was the obvious thing to do.
Yet...
I didn't.
I put my sword down.
Then extended my hand toward it.
"One more."
I paused.
"If you don't try again..."
"...I'm not moving either."
Wait.
That sounded wrong.
I was supposed to defeat it.
Not motivate it.
I opened my mouth to correct myself.
But before I could—
The knight moved.
Its entire body trembled.
It pushed against the ground.
Harder.
The armor shook violently.
I clenched my fist.
"Come on."
It continued.
"That's it."
One knee.
Then another.
Its hands tightened.
Its body rose.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Until finally—
It stood.
I couldn't help smiling.
"Wow."
I actually felt happy for it.
"Good job."
I immediately realized how ridiculous I sounded.
"But now..."
I looked at my sword.
"...I need to defeat you."
I looked at the knight.
"Can you move?"
Obviously, it didn't answer.
It simply raised its sword.
Then—
Slash!
The blade stopped beside my throat.
My eyes widened.
"...!"
I jumped backward.
The knight hadn't even taken a step.
I stared at it.
Then at the sword.
Then back at it.
"You..."
A smile slowly appeared on my face.
"...were pretending to be helpless?"
The knight raised its sword.
It pointed toward mine.
I finally understood.
It hadn't attacked me earlier because it couldn't stand.
And now that it could...
It wanted a proper fight.
I walked toward my sword.
The knight didn't move.
I picked it up.
Then pointed the blade toward him.
"I only got caught off guard because I thought you were injured."
I gathered wind around my body.
"But now..."
My eyes narrowed.
"...I'm ready."
The knight charged.
The clash shook the entire room.
Our swords collided again and again.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
He was strong.
Stronger than anything I had fought in this dungeon.
His movements were simple, but every strike carried enormous force.
I dodged.
Blocked.
Countered.
He avoided every attack.
I increased the pressure.
Wind arrows formed around me.
"Go!"
Dozens of compressed blades shot forward.
The knight moved.
Every arrow missed.
I rushed in behind them.
Our swords collided.
His blade pushed mine away.
I spun.
Struck again.
He blocked.
Then—
The knight suddenly stepped backward.
His sword lowered.
His hand tightened around the handle.
Something changed.
Brown light began leaking from his armor.
I stopped.
"...What?"
The ground trembled.
My instincts screamed.
I stepped backward.
The knight grabbed the edge of his sword with his other hand.
The brown light intensified.
My wind arrows struck him.
Nothing.
They disappeared against the light.
Then the ground exploded.
BOOM!
Blades erupted from beneath me.
I jumped into the air.
But the attack didn't stop.
The knight released his sword.
It flew toward the ground.
I stared.
"He threw his sword?"
Then a shadow covered me.
I looked upward.
My expression changed.
"...What?"
A gigantic mass of earth was falling toward me.
A chunk of the dungeon itself.
A meteor.
"You've got to be kidding me."
I looked down.
The knight stood beneath me.
No sword.
No movement.
Just those brown eyes staring upward.
For some reason...
I understood.
He wasn't asking me to surrender.
He was telling me:
Survive.
I gripped my sword.
Wind began gathering around the blade.
Compressing.
Condensing.
Becoming sharper.
I hadn't used this technique in a long time.
"...You're the first one here who actually pushed me."
My eyes began glowing blue.
"Let's finish this."
I raised my sword.
"Wind's Rush."
I swung.
The entire mass of wind compressed into a single blade.
The meteor split.
BOOOOOOM!
Pieces of stone scattered across the dungeon.
Dust filled the room.
I landed.
Silence.
Then I looked toward the knight.
He was lying on the ground.
Just like before.
I sighed.
"Again?"
I walked toward him.
But this time...
I understood.
He wasn't unconscious.
He had used everything.
The brown light inside his armor slowly began fading.
His eyes looked at me one final time.
Then the light floated out.
The armor cracked.
Crack.
The shell broke apart.
I watched silently.
"So..."
"This is your end."
The brown light disappeared.
The knight was gone.
I stood there for a moment.
Then looked toward the staircase.
I picked up my sword.
Before leaving, I glanced back.
"Thanks."
I smiled faintly.
"That was a good fight."
Then I turned away.
And descended.
The next floor was different.
I stopped the moment I stepped inside.
No soldiers.
No armor.
No battlefield.
Instead...
There was a gigantic window.
I slowly approached it.
Something about it felt wrong.
On the opposite side of the room stood two enormous structures.
One was white.
The other...
Black.
They were larger than the window itself.
I frowned.
"What is this place?"
Curiosity pulled me closer.
I looked through the window.
And froze.
My breath stopped.
My entire body went rigid.
"..."
I couldn't speak.
Because outside that window...
I saw the Fairy Realm.
The gigantic trees.
The roots connecting them.
The bridges.
The buildings.
The fairies.
Everything.
It was exactly the place I had been moments ago.
But something was horribly wrong.
No one was moving.
Not one fairy.
Not one bird.
Not even the leaves.
Everything was frozen.
Like time itself had stopped.
And then I noticed the second thing.
There was no color.
The beautiful green trees were white and black.
The bright clothes of the fairies had become shades of gray.
The sky had lost its color.
The entire Fairy Realm...
Was trapped inside a world of black and white.
I slowly stepped closer to the glass.
My reflection stared back at me.
For once...
I had no joke.
No theory.
No explanation.
Only one thought.
"What the fuck is happening?"