Chapter 114: Fifth Floor

“Phew! That was a lot longer than I thought. I thought we were goners back there. How long have we been fighting?” Kouki plopped onto the floor, his arm sore. It had been an awful experience. Thanks to being the squire, he had some leeway when infected creatures splashed their goo on him. But it still hurt when they attacked. They would have devoured him whole if he had let down his guard.

“I didn’t have a clock back then or now, but I didn’t think it would take that long either.” Andrew nodded as he looked at the star. Its glow felt a bit short compared to the previous star—more like dusk than noon.

“All that, and not even a single level up or coin.” Hain cursed, and James agreed. This dungeon sucked. All that work, and not a single coin or piece of loot as a reward.

“Alright, James. Please go to the next floor as soon as possible. The knights will be here soon, and I don’t want them to see you,” Andrew said. His breathing was still ragged, but he had his priorities.

James didn’t reply and disappeared through the portal.

Twenty minutes later, knights arrived at the reignited star. Along with them came a rotund man in a robe similar to those reserved for grandmasters. Andrew frowned. In this new world, thanks to stats, body shape didn’t mean strength. One could be as small as a little girl and still lift a car. One could be as fat as this man and still be as fast as a cheetah.

“Greetings, Mr. Andrew. I am Sephira, the new grandmaster of the Mystis Knights. Thank you for reviving the star. You have saved us all.”

“Yeah. It would be nice if you lazy knights could help us a bit, you know,” Hain snorted.

“We shall remember this favor. Now, let us take care of this star. With this, rebuilding the Star City is possible.”

“We thank you, Grandmaster,” Andrew said. “We shall be off now.”

The group then headed toward the portal. The grandmaster grinned as he waved them goodbye. Andrew couldn’t put his finger on it, but something felt off. He had never met this man before, yet he reminded him of someone he knew—the kind of guy who often threw colleagues under the bus. Andrew didn’t like making assumptions, so he proceeded to the next floor.

“I didn’t like him.” Kaina frowned.

“Why? You barely met him.” Kouki shrugged.

“I don’t know, he just felt… different from the other knights.”

“He has an infection,” Hou Yi said. Andrew snapped his gaze toward him. James turned as well. He wasn’t there when they met Sephira. But a knight having an infection was a serious matter.

“What did you say?”

“He has an infection. They’re small, but they exist somewhere in his body. I used my skill after the horde to check if there was anything wrong with my teammates, and it reacted to him.”

Andrew wasn’t the only healer in the group. While Andrew specialized in exchanging body parts and treating physical injuries, Hou Yi often dealt with poisons. Both of them used life magic, prioritizing buffs and curing toxins. The difference had been negligible—until now.

“Well, maybe he got injured in a fight when he came here,” Kouki said, but then he paused. That couldn’t be right. Knights of Mystis were supposed to be immune to infections and debuffs.

“So, what now, Andrew? We’re stuck in the middle of nowhere.” James broke the discussion as the barren wasteland stretched before them. The Star City was behind them, blocked off by a translucent purple wall.

“What’s this?” Kouki asked as he touched the barrier. It repelled his hand like glass.

“Ah, how nostalgic. This is the map boundary.” James knocked on the barrier. He had seen this kind before in the trial dungeon. “That means we can’t go back to the Star City.”

The group turned the other way, where a dark greenish castle stood on the horizon, a knight’s encampment spread before it.

“Hey! They do have soldiers after all,” Hain scoffed as they saw several knights wearing the trademark blue uniform.

“Alright. I’ll leave now while you explore the camp. No conflict with the knights, right?” James prepared his gear and left. The objective of this floor was clear: the greenish castle at the end of the map. James wanted to go there as soon as possible.

“Alright! We shall meet again somewhere before the castle. I’ll find you after we’re done talking to everyone in the camp.” Andrew nodded.

“Oh yeah. In RPGs, you usually need to talk to everyone,” James muttered. Dungeons didn’t feel like RPGs to him. James would have loved to talk with the dungeon’s NPCs, but his constitution prevented him. He was a monster, and the knights wouldn’t talk to him.

“I don’t think all of them are Mystis’ knights,” Kouki said as they entered the camp. The camp was small, just five tents—one for supplies, one for headquarters, and the rest for sleeping. There were fewer than thirty people here, and from their uniforms, they knew most were not full-fledged knights.

“Yeah. Their numbers have dropped to a single digit now.” Andrew looked around the encampment. Among the common soldiers, only one or two wore the armor of Mystis. The rest used leather armor. At the front gate, facing the Fortress of Pestilence, the grandmaster stood with the remaining knights.

“Andrew! We have been waiting for you!” Grandmaster Sephira turned toward Andrew. “Let’s go. This is the last stretch. We shall purge this land of the enemies of Mystis!”

“... You guys were coming?” Andrew twitched when he saw seven knights gathered with the grandmaster.

“Yes! We shall not idle away while our squire takes charge against the enemies of Mystis. You have dealt them a fatal blow. You have recovered artifacts of pestilence, preventing further harm. You have also reignited our star. There is no way we could ever repay you for your achievements.”

“I see. We won’t be using favors, right?” Andrew raised an eyebrow.

“Of course. This campaign was what we had decided among ourselves. But we shall follow your lead, Mr. Andrew. You seem to know our enemies better than we do.”

“... Thank you, Grandmaster Sephira.” Andrew bowed.

A crowd had unexpectedly gathered. Andrew, Houyi, Dehlia, Kaina, Kouki, Sanders, Henoch, Hain, Muto, two swordmasters of Mystis, an archer of Mystis, a paladin of Mystis, and the grandmaster himself had formed the group, totaling fourteen people.

Andrew was a little anxious. He had brought three parties of knights plus the previous grandmasters when he attempted this dungeon before, and they had barely made it. Even though the knights of Mystis were immune to infections, they had still fallen.

Since the knights were present, James had to sit this one out. Thanks to the map and the carriage the grandmaster brought, they reached the castle in less than an hour.

As they entered the castle, Andrew wondered whether they had to wait for James. He would have liked to have James as a backup in case the knights did not make it.

“Are you waiting for someone, Mr. Andrew? Perhaps a certain infected monster that decimated half of our knights?” the grandmaster asked.

“Um… yeah? He is not infected, though.”

“Our knights were so focused that they might have been blind to their surroundings, but I don’t recommend fighting together. We might have fired at him by accident when we fought the god of pestilence together.”

“Thank you! I will call him at once.” Andrew beamed.

“Ah, but we are in a hurry. Will you wait here, or will you come with us?” the grandmaster said as he brought a blue glass sphere from the carriage. Andrew knew what it was. In his previous run, he had seen it inside the knights’ headquarters. They had not brought it outside, but it had been shown to him when he asked the knights about the ennoblement of Mystis’ knights. It was Mystis’ Orb of Power—the source of the knights’ strength.

“Sanders could wait here. I shall fight with you,” Andrew said as he motioned Sanders to wait by the castle gate with the carriage. James was their reinforcement if something went wrong.

Several infected goblins crawled from the crevices of the castle, leaping from the walls and ceiling. Fortunately, they aimed at Mystis’ knights and not Andrew.

“Ahh!!” The grandmaster squealed as he ran behind a paladin, who promptly dispatched the creature. Andrew raised an eyebrow. He had now confirmed his suspicions. This grandmaster was a fake. He had not even brought any weapons with him.

But even if he knew, there was nothing he could do. The knights trusted him, and they refused to listen. Such were the dungeon rules—you could not change their way of thinking too far off the script. Andrew needed to beat this floor’s boss, and he needed the knights’ help. That was why he did not speak any further after the swordmaster dismissed him when he probed about the grandmaster’s behavior.

It did not take long for them to arrive before a massive stone door. Andrew shut his eyes as he recalled the boss monster that roamed the throne room and the lore behind it. This was the throne room. A long, long time ago, the kingdom of Elpheria had been struck by a plague. They had always prayed to Mystis, God of the Sun and Moon.

However, the plague was so severe that some of them formed a cult of their own, abandoning Mystis’ faith. Even the knights turned traitor. The cult grew harsher as the plague ravaged the kingdom.

Andrew once asked why they would worship such things, but in times of despair, there were always deviants. The god of pestilence offered a temporary respite for their souls, and they accepted. Simple as that. His concoctions—what they now knew as infections—numbed the pain of the plague. And thus, even after the plague ended, the kingdom never rebuilt, for they had new enemies.

Here in this throne room lay the Idol of Pestilence. If they could defeat it, peace would surely return to the land, and they could finally rebuild their kingdom.

Andrew took a deep breath as he approached the door with the knights and his new friends.

Meanwhile, James, who had taken the long way on foot, finally arrived. Sanders and Hou Yi greeted him, asking him to follow the advance group from afar.

“Geez. He’s such a slave driver,” James complained.

“Boss! Let’s go. We don’t want to miss the fun, right? You may need to wait until the knights are decimated, but the cavalry always arrives late!” Sanders grinned as he saluted.

“Let’s go.”