Chapter 103: Andrew

“Halt. Where did you come from? There aren’t supposed to be any humans outside Star City except for registered adventurers, and I know every adventurer’s face here. Are you with the Pestilence God?” A gate guard blocked their path, his tone harsh, his longsword already drawn.

“Andrew?” Hain glanced at him, his hand resting on the hilt of his own sword. Kouki mirrored the gesture, his eyes narrowing.

“W-w-wait! We’re adventurers from the city below! My name is Andrew—the Knight’s Headquarters can confirm it!” Andrew raised both hands, trying to defuse the situation. His heart pounded. Had we somehow become enemies of the Knights of Mystis without knowing it?

He had worked hard to earn favor with the knights. Pessimistic thoughts began to creep up his mind. Would all that effort go to waste?

“Is that so?” the guard said slowly. “Let me confirm it with headquarters. Drop your weapons and follow us. We must ensure you are not a threat.”

“Yes! Yes, we’ll follow your orders!” Andrew immediately dropped his belongings and weapons.
Unlike him, however, his comrades hesitated.

“...”

“Guys, come on. We’re all humans here. None of us are infected, right? We hate the Pestilence God as much as the knights do.”

“How did you get here? And what’s this ‘black arrow’ you mentioned?”

“We came through the cave to the east,” Andrew answered.

“That’s impossible. That cave is guarded by the Pestilence God’s minions!”

“...When we scouted it, it was completely clear. No infection at all. If you don’t believe us, you’re welcome to send knights to investigate. As proof, we even brought the black arrow we found there.”

Andrew glanced at Delila, and she quickly rummaged through her leather bag.

“I see,” the knight replied, eyeing them carefully. “Nevertheless, you will wait here until we can confirm your identities.”

He gestured, and a few civilians came forward to collect their weapons and supplies.

“Since you’ve cooperated, I’ll allow you to use the waiting room instead of the jail.”

“We thank you, honored knight,” Andrew said, bowing low.

As soon as the knights were out of sight, Andrew’s party turned on him.

“What the hell? He took my sword, Andrew,” Kouki complained. He had gotten swept up in the herd mentality earlier and surrendered his weapon with the others.

“There was no choice. We need the knights. We can’t defy them—if we do, they’ll hunt us down. You know how strong they are.”

“But James could kill them, right? Maybe there’s another way?”

“There isn’t.” Andrew shook his head. “The portal to the third floor is at the top of that tower. As far as I know, that’s the only one. Unless you’re willing to kill every single human in this city, we can’t progress to the next floor.”

“What about James then? We need him, right? We can’t just leave him here alone.”

“...We could probably put him in a box or something,” Andrew muttered half-seriously.

“We can’t even get past the guards without them checking all our belongings. How the hell are we supposed to smuggle something as big as James?” Kouki said, exasperated.

“There’s a secret path through the sewer… Then, all we’d need is a distraction at the portal entrance to sneak past the guards,” Andrew offered, though even he didn’t sound convinced. The portal room was guarded by two knights at all times. The odds were slim.

“So now what? How long are we going to be stuck here?” Hain asked, folding his arms.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been held like this by the knights before. But it shouldn’t take long. Last time, they didn’t waste any time investigating the artifact we brought.”

As if in answer to their concerns, a beautiful clerk entered the room, followed closely by the same rude knight from earlier. His expression had changed—no longer wary, but apologetic.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, Mr. Andrew,” the clerk said with a bow. “This knight was only doing his duty. According to our law, we must inspect every person entering Star City.”

“That’s fine. So, are we free?” Andrew asked.

“We have confirmed your identity with Dawn City. However, we have yet to verify the path you took. It is unthinkable that the Doom of Pestilence simply disappeared. Therefore, either you defeated it… or you received the blessing of the Pestilence God to pass through the cave. We shall assign five knights to accompany you and confirm the truth. Will that be agreeable to you?”

“Yes, of course. I will lead the way. We made no agreement or contract with the Pestilence God. The proof is that we handed their relics over to you. There’s no way we would do that if we were aligned with the Pestilence God, right?” Andrew said confidently.

“Yes. That is logical. We shall accept the relic gratefully. Once the cave is confirmed to be free of pestilence, the Knights of Mystis shall reward your merit appropriately.”

“Thank you.”

“Here are your weapons. Please confirm that they have all been returned.”

“I shall lead the way.”

After gathering their weapons, Andrew and his group led the five Knights of Mystis toward the cave. They journeyed back through the clearing and into the forest. As they walked, Kouki couldn’t help but analyze the knights’ party arrangement.

“One archer, two shield bearers, one mage, and one swordsman, huh,” Kouki observed aloud, eyes darting to each armored figure.

“Why do the knights even use shields? They’re useless,” Hain asked, clearly confused. He had never seen shield skills in action.

“Either the shield has a special skill that can repel one weapon skill—like the one Boss James used—or they can actually use shield skills,” Sanders answered.

“I’ve never seen a shield skill before. Are you sure they even exist, Sanders? I’ve seen bow skills, spear skills, axe skills, sword skills, even mace skills… but no shield skill,” Hain said skeptically.

“A Survivor can get a shield from the system, right? There has to be a skill related to that,” Sanders replied. “I’ve never seen a shield skill either, but it makes sense that one should exist.”

“Shield skills exist, alright—and these knights can use them,” Andrew said, ending the argument. “They’re powerful too. Too bad we can’t learn them. Or maybe we can, but I don’t know how.”

“What’s stopping us from learning it? Once we get level 1 in Shield Skill, we should be able to buy levels with our coins, right?” Kaina asked.

“That’s where it gets tricky. I don’t even know how to get that first level—Beginner Shield Mastery,” Andrew replied.

“What does a shield skill even do?” Kouki asked.

“It can deflect weapon skills. I’ve seen it. Ah, it’s better if you guys experience it firsthand. Look—half-infected trolls.” Andrew pointed toward two trolls idling in the forest, eating leaves and fruit like herbivores.

The knights nodded at each other and stepped forward to engage. They were knights, not adventurers. Unlike Andrew, who could sneak around the trolls, their belief system wouldn’t allow any infected creature to roam free. All infected must die.

The trolls charged, clubs glowing with golden light. One paladin stepped forward to meet them head-on. His shield flashed with a golden glow as he charged toward the troll. The moment the club struck the shield, it was thrown back as if it had struck a wall of steel, knocking the troll onto its back.

Ten fireballs exploded onto the downed troll. The archer released his bow skill, and a golden meteor pierced straight through the troll’s skull.

The other troll faced off against a paladin and a swordmaster. Just like before, the troll’s weapon skill was deflected. The swordmaster then lunged in. One upward slash bisected the troll’s arm. A horizontal follow-up decapitated its head.

All in all, the battle ended in less than ten seconds. One clean exchange of weapon skills was all the knights needed to slay the trolls.

Andrew and his team had fought the same type of troll back on the first floor. It had taken them over three minutes to defeat just two.

“Damn. A two-hit lunge skill…” Kouki muttered.

“So that’s a shield skill. Maybe I should try to learn it. It could prove valuable,” Hain nodded.

“The creature of pestilence has been slain. Let us continue.” The knights nodded toward Andrew, and he nodded back.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. After passing through the portal, the knights saw only an empty cave. After exploring the entire place, they emerged on the first floor. The knights had no choice but to accept that the cave was truly clean of pestilence.

“Thank you. I apologize for doubting you earlier. Your words have been proven true. Did you defeat the Doom of Pestilence?”

“Let’s just say we found a trick to lure a very dangerous monster into the cave. He was the one who defeated the boss monster,” Andrew said, turning away, refusing to elaborate.

“I see. The monster who killed six of our knights and injured two others… he could certainly defeat the Doom of Pestilence. But does that mean he wasn’t a pet of the Pestilence God?”

“They don’t like each other, that’s for sure. Do you think we could negotiate with him? There’s a saying in my world: ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’”

“It remains a fact that a monster has killed seven Knights of Mystis. Regardless of his achievement, he will forever be our nemesis—on par with the God of Pestilence.”

“I see.” Andrew sighed.

As they returned to the second floor, they found two arrows tied together with a wire, forming a cross. A flashbang grenade was at the center. One arrow pointed toward the cave, while the other pointed toward the forest.

“What’s this?” a knight asked, eyeing the contraption.

“...I’m not sure, Sir Knight. Maybe we missed some goblins nearby. But they can wait. Let’s return to headquarters. Your report is more important,” Andrew replied calmly.

“Andrew…” Kouki inched closer as they trailed a little behind the knights, who occasionally glanced back to ensure the group stayed on course.

“I know. But these knights are watching. We’ll explore that area later,” Andrew whispered back.

The arrows were clearly a message. Only James had access to a flashbang in this dungeon. It was confusing at first, but it was deliberate. If James had only tied one arrow to the grenade, the knights might assume Andrew was working with a monster. So, he tied two arrows—one pointing toward the cave as a red herring, and the other toward the real direction.

Now Andrew knew where to go to find the remaining artifacts. Next, he had to figure out how to persuade the knights to smuggle James up to the third floor.