"Leon… should we switch to a different entrance to the seventeenth floor?"
Iris offered the suggestion—though her feet had already carried her several steps farther away from the Level 17 entrance.
"No rush," Leon said as he also backed away, moving into the corner along the rock wall. "Let's widen the distance and probe first. We're not even sure it's really a charm-type monster yet. If anything feels off, we run."
"Iris—watch the path we came from too. We can't rule out another monster trying to ambush us."
Iris nodded and stood slightly to Leon's right. She planted her jade-green staff on the ground and immediately triggered a barrier spell.
Light flared.
A defensive light shield appeared in front of them.
Leon extended his left hand. Mana gathered in his palm.
Whoosh!
Five ice bolts shot into the tunnel entrance.
Beginner spell: Ice Bolt.
Mana: -1.
After the bolts flew in, the two waited.
"Aaah!!!!"
A piercing scream erupted from inside the tunnel. Outside the entrance, sand and loose gravel trembled violently.
The sound pierced through the barrier, weakened noticeably—the seductive force in the scream was reduced.
Even so, Leon's eardrums still hurt, as if they might rupture.
He checked his panel—despite the defensive shield, he'd still lost 1 HP.
"Judging by that," Leon said, "it's either a Chanting Faerie or a Sighing Succubus-Faerie."
He turned to warn Iris and saw a conflicted expression on her face.
Chanting Faeries and Sighing Faeries were both charm-type monsters.
Neither was large—similar to flower faeries—and both needed to parasitize a monster or a mana-rich intelligent being to survive.
The difference was that Chanting Faeries weren't very lethal. They used alluring sound to confuse travelers and protect themselves, but they didn't parasitize intelligent races.
Sighing Faeries, on the other hand, loved to take intelligent hosts and feed on their abundant mana and life force until the host burned out completely—leaving nothing behind.
As the screech gradually subsided—
a gaunt blond man in silver plate armor—no helmet—stepped out of the Level 17 tunnel.
He carried a clearly third-tier damaged magic sword. His eyes were pupil-less white.
The sword was about 1.53 meters long and a palm's width wide, with a conspicuous triangular notch near the lower part of the tip.
On the belt at the man's waist was an eagle-head crest, flanked by a sword and shield.
From that insignia, the gaunt blond man was most likely a knight of the Royal First Knight Order.
Before being parasitized, his strength was at least third-tier.
Because the minimum entry requirement for the Royal First Knight Order was third-tier.
"Looks like a Sighing Faerie is parasitizing that knight," Leon said, "and it's hiding somewhere on his body."
Then he added, "Iris—stand farther back. When it matters, just provide ranged spell support."
Leon was about to step forward when Iris suddenly grabbed his wrist, worry in her eyes.
"Leon… are you sure you can handle this? Should we retreat? Before it bursts into speed, we can pull back and find another entrance."
This was the first time Iris had ever shown real fear.
Against a Sighing Faerie, her instincts flinched.
So much so that she even forgot—briefly—that she was supposed to be wary of Leon, this mysterious man whose background she still didn't fully trust. For the first time, she openly showed concern for him.
Before now, she'd mostly behaved like a teammate: do her part, keep observing Leon, stay guarded.
Leon noticed the subtle shift in her mindset and smiled faintly.
"Relax. That knight has already had most of his vitality sucked out. It's hard to say how much combat power he still has."
"I know," Iris said, "but what if the Sighing Faerie targets you?"
"If it tried to charm us directly, I'd be a bit worried," Leon said. "But the moment it chose to control this knight and walk him out here, it already sealed its own failure."
"Why?" Iris asked.
She could hear Leon's calm in his voice. Even as she asked why, she felt strangely reassured.
"Watch carefully," Leon said. "Don't zone out."
He shook Iris's hand off, didn't cast any magic, drew his silver sword instead, and strode forward—leaving Iris only a strong, agile back view.
[Iris Affection +2. Current Affection: 66%]
A panel update flickered through Leon's mind.
He didn't turn back to see Iris's expression. His focus was entirely on the blond knight ahead.
His words sounded confident, but his movements were cautious—he wasn't being careless.
The blond knight raised the broad magic sword, pouring mana into it. A faint gleam appeared—unique to the third-tier sharpening enchantment.
The rapid, frequent clink of silver boots on stone grew faster.
Leon didn't infuse mana into his own second-tier silver sword. He simply sprinted straight at the knight.
Just as the two silhouettes closed in—
Slash!!
Leon suddenly became a shadow and vanished into the ground.
His Phantom Walker core skill: Shadow Leap.
In the next instant, a long, slender figure sprang up behind the blond knight—Leon—riding the momentum into a thrust.
This strike was unexpected and clean, stabbing directly into the plate armor at the knight's shoulder blade.
Clang!
Without mana infusion, the silver sword lacked sharpening amplification. It didn't pierce the plate—it only delivered a heavy impact through the armor.
The knight's body swayed from the shock, then steadied, and he swung his sword at Leon behind him.
As it moved, a deep, heavy whoooom filled the air—showing the frightening weight of that third-tier magic sword.
If Leon took that hit, he'd be badly injured, no question.
Seeing it, Iris's heart clenched. She almost launched elemental magic on the spot—mana surging on her staff.
But when she noticed Leon's completely unshaken expression as he dodged, Iris froze.
Was Leon doing this on purpose?
She watched closely. The mana gathered on her staff remained ready—she could fire at any moment.
Keeping mana pre-charged did let her cast faster…
but the cost was that it consumed noticeably more mana than true chantless casting.
After watching for a while, Leon and the blond knight had already exchanged seven or eight rounds.
Iris realized that Leon's movements were quick and agile. He dodged rapidly, and every time he struck he managed to hit the knight—yet he didn't break the armor.
The knight was slower, but his strength was terrifying. Every time he endured Leon's attack, he seized a moment to swing hard, the sword wind howling—unstoppable in momentum.
At the same time, Iris noticed something else:
Aside from movement techniques, Leon hadn't used a single offensive technique or spell.
Every attack was a simple thrust or slash.
And he was deliberately striking thick plate areas—shoulders, waist, chest plate—rather than obvious weak points.
He never once targeted the head.
Sure, a full-body second-tier plate set used by the Royal First Knight Order was exceptional defense.
But it shouldn't be so tough that repeated attacks left no visible damage, right?
Was Leon doing this because he believed the Sighing Faerie was hiding inside the knight's armor?
Or did he have another purpose?
Did he truly have a way to resist the faerie's charm?
That was a problem elves had never solved for centuries.
With all these questions piling up, Iris suddenly felt that the Leon she'd begun to grow familiar with had become more mysterious again.
And then—her long, slender ear twitched.
From inside the Level 17 passage, she faintly heard the sound of other blades and hard objects clashing.
"Is that… the blond knight's teammates?"
As she thought that—
suddenly—
a brilliant flare of magic light burst out from the tunnel entrance, turning the surrounding cavern as bright as day.