Suddenly, Liam decided to make a move for the very time during this expedition.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
Without another word, he raised a hand, fingers stretching outward.
"Emerge..."
"Awaken... "
"My shadows"
A sudden gust of wind erupted from beneath him, swirling in an intricate pattern.
Within seconds, a glowing diagram materialized before his hand, one layer after another, overlapping.
Mize's eyes widened. "This is…?"
"Summoning magic, my profession" Liam answered smoothly, the diagram expanding even further.
"I have some spare resources. Might as well put them to good use for a quick battle"
And then.
Boom!
From the depths of the runes, dozens of towering figures emerged, their forms solidifying in rapid succession.
A hundred new dark knights stood tall as they slowly began to walk from the puddle of darkness.
"All Tier 3?" Mize asked, excitement filled into his voice.
Liam nodded. "Correct."
At his command, the summoned soldiers moved, their armor glinting as they bulleted ahead to the battlefield.
And finally, the battlefield shifted.
Where once the trolls had the upper hand, now they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
They faltered.
Hesitated.
And then.
They began to fall.
The onslaught was relentless.
Each troll, no matter how large, was soon swarmed by a tide of dark knights, blades carving through their thick hides like sharpened scythes through overgrown weeds.
Boom!
One troll smashed its fist into the ground, the force creating a two-meter-wide crater upon impact.
Dust and debris exploded into the air, swallowing the nearby knights in a choking haze.
But from the smoke, dark silhouettes surged forth once more.
They never stopped, fast and swift carried the meaning of their movements.
Even as another troll roared and sent a knight flying, two more took its place, hacking away at its exposed limbs.
The ground cracked beneath, forming deep web-like fractures that spread outwards from each collision.
And then.
The last troll fell.
Falling onto the ground with a thud, the dust stirred and spiraled into the air.
"A brutal yet efficient slaughter"
Mize let out a low whistle. "That was… fast."
Liam dusted off his hands. "Number is efficiency, and efficiency is key"
Mize glanced at him from the side, an amused smile creeping onto his lips. "It's kinda scary how used to this you are."
Liam smirked. "You'll get used to it too."
Mize didn't know if he wanted to get used to it, but well… that was a problem for future him.
For now
He turned his gaze toward the colossal gate, standing tall and foreboding before them.
The final obstacle before the true depths of the maze awaited.
Liam cracked his knuckles. "Shall we?"
Mize exhaled. "Let's get this over with."
And with that, they stepped forward. Leaving behind the mess of the corpses and bloods, thrown aside.
--
The gates towered above them, their upper edges lost in a swirling mass of fog.
Mize tilted his head back, following the colossal stone beams stretching toward the sky, his gaze narrowing as he murmured under his breath, "Were ancient lords big or something? Who even needed gates this massive?"
A ghostly wind swept past them, carrying with it the scent of dust and the dampness of the underground cave air.
Liam, stepping forward with a casual ease, wrapped an arm around Mize's waist and lifted him slightly, his grip effortless.
The army of 1100 Tier 3 Dark Knights moved in unison, their heavy steps echoing off the stone as they spread into a tight, circular formation around the two of them.
Some had fallen in the last battle, but Liam didn't so much as spare them a glance.
Sacrifices were part of the process.
Losses were irrelevant.
'After all, I could always summon more with her being with me'
His true army was right here in his arms.
He smiled faintly.
"Ancient humans weren't giants," Liam said, voice calm.
His gaze followed Mize's up toward the obscured sky, his golden eyes flickering with a contemplative glint. "But they did love to build oversized things for no good reason."
Mize's head leaned sideways against Liam's chest, the warmth grounding him amidst the eerie silence.
His fingers idly traced over the fabric near Liam's collar, his voice light but laced with skepticism.
"Building a city that people ran away from? Sounds fishy to me."
His ruby-red eyes swept over the surrounding walls of the maze, towering and oppressive, seemingly the whole place was meant to be a prison rather than a dungeon with rewards.
"This place feels less like a city and more like a prison, like it was built to keep something inside"
His gaze darkened. "And the trolls obviously haven't been here for that long."
Liam's lips curled into an amused smirk.
"Quite the conclusion, little detective."
Mize rolled his eyes at the teasing tone but didn't argue.
The army moved beneath the gate, passing under its enormous archway.
The moment they stepped through, a long, darkened shadow stretched across the cracked stone floor beneath them.
Mize's sharp gaze flickered upward. "…Light sources?"
He squinted, trying to pierce through the dense fog, but the faint glimmers of illumination above remained frustratingly unclear.
Liam followed his gaze, his expression thoughtful. "Should be. But considering how long this place has been abandoned, the fact that they still work is… impressive."
He dropped his focus back ahead, narrowing his eyes at the shifting landscape emerging before them.
Then.
The army came to an abrupt halt.
Before them lay a city, a sprawling ruin of forgotten blocks.
Half-collapsed walls surrounded it, with a single half-broken gate standing between them and the remnants of the past.
Beyond it stretched a graveyard of buildings, squared and crude in design, their wooden support beams barely holding them upright.
Some had been stacked atop one another, forming uneven structures that threatened to crumble with the lightest touch.
And at the distant of it all, looming in the distant darkness.
A palace, a place for the Lord.
A castle-like structure, shrouded in thick shadows, its silhouette faintly visible against the swirling mist in the far distance.
Liam scanned the sight before him, his eyes gleaming. "Judging by the scale of this place, it could've housed at least 100,000 people at its peak."
Mize tightened his grip around Liam's neck, his legs wrapping slightly closer around his waist like a stubborn koala refusing to let go.
He exhaled softly. "So that's why there was so much blood outside…"
His voice dropped to a murmur. "To make this many people run in sheer desperation… What the hell happened here?"
Liam's gaze sharpened. "They probably never even knew what was happening."
He took a step forward, knights following in disciplined silence, their shadows moving like liquid over the cracked ground.
Then, with a smooth motion, he leapt over the wall and landed soundlessly atop the roof of a crumbling building.
Mize clung to him tighter at the sudden motion, glaring. "Warn me next time, would you?"
Liam chuckled but didn't respond.
His golden eyes were scanning the ruins beneath them, taking in every inch of the devastation with eerie calm.
"These cities and the secret realm itself," he mused, "were probably built in entirely different eras"
Mize hummed in agreement, then suddenly shot his hand into the air like an eager student in class. "Oh! I have a theory!"
Liam gave him a sidelong glance, intrigued despite himself. "…Go on."
Mize cleared his throat dramatically, then placed a hand over his own eyes as if he were a renowned detective revealing a grand mystery.
"Ahem! Picture this!"
"A Lord stumbles into this secret realm, maybe running away from an enemy. The terrain is good, the defensive structures are insane, so what does he do?"
Mize spread his arms wide, eyes gleaming.
"He builds a city here and relocates his people, thinking 'Ah, what a brilliant idea! No one can get in!'"
A pause.
"…Only for them to realize too late that the real danger wasn't from the outside, but from within."
Silence.
Mize dropped his hand with a smug expression, pushing up imaginary glasses as if he had just cracked a case wide open.
"Yare yare… I think I've already uncovered the truth."
Liam stared at him.
"…Huh."
There was an uncomfortably long beat of silence.
Then Liam exhaled deeply, rubbing his temple. "…I don't know what's worse. The fact that your theory actually makes sense or the fact that you're so damn proud of yourself right now."
Mize puffed out his chest. "I should be proud! That was peak detective work!"
Liam, unable to stop himself, flicked Mize's forehead.
"Ow... Heyyy!" Mize pouted, rubbing the spot as he grumbled under his breath.
Liam shook his head with a sigh, but his expression was fond.
With that, they continued their descent into the city of the forgotten.
The ruins stretched endlessly before them, whispering secrets of the past, ones neither of them could ignore for long.
The formation moved deeper into the ruins, their footsteps quiet, almost close to nothingness.
Liam avoided the main roads, instead leading them over the rooftops, higher vantage points, better control over their surroundings, and fewer unknowns lurking around the crumbling alleyways below.
'After all, I wouldn't like for a group of strange creatures to lurk in every corner for a place this huge and being clueless... ' He learned from the past experiences.
The knights mirrored his movements, spreading out just enough to cover a wider area without breaking formation.
Their armor barely made a sound as they landed, disciplined even in the stillness of this dead city.
The wind stirred lazily through the ruins, carrying dust and whispers.
Mize nestled closer against Liam's chest, fingers grasping the fabric of his coat as he curled his toes beneath his dress, shielding them from the occasional gust.
His crimson eyes flickered over the broken streets below, watching as they crossed deeper into the heart of the city.
Clusters of buildings loomed ahead, stacked atop one another in a tangled mess of crumbling stone and rotting wood.
Bridges once connected them, now shattered and useless.
Stray pieces of cloth still hung on rusted laundry lines, swaying like specters caught between time.
A glimpse of what had once been a living, breathing city.
"What exactly happened to them"
Mize frowned.
"You know… there's something bothering me" he murmured, his voice quiet against the backdrop of hollow winds.
Liam acknowledged him with a slight tilt of his head, landing lightly on another rooftop before leaping again. "What is it?"
Mize took a slow breath, steadying himself against the city's despair.
The knights below were careful, each movement as quiet as a drop of ink, every turn cautious.
It had been too quiet.
The trolls had been their only resistance so far, yet where was everything else?
"The trolls," Mize started, his grip tightening slightly, "at first, we assumed they were nesting here"
His eyes darkened.
"But now… it doesn't feel that way at all. There were no signs of more of them other than those we killed"
Liam remained silent, listening.
Mize's gaze drifted across the eerily lifeless city. "It doesn't feel like they were guarding this place from us"
His heartbeat quickened.
"It feels like they were guarding it from something inside. Or someone must have had placed them there in panic or something"
The air seemed to still.
Liam landed on another rooftop, boots barely making a sound. "You think the trolls were keeping something in?"
Mize nodded, his expression serious. "Like the maze itself, locking something away."
Liam's gaze flickered, his eyes deep.
Then he sighed.
"I already knew."
Mize stiffened. "You knew?"
"There were carvings back at the maze," Liam explained, vaulting over the edge of the city wall, landing smoothly in a clearing below.
His arm remained tight around Mize's waist, holding him steady.
Most of the knights had landed ahead, already securing the area.
"The walls were inscribed with stories, hidden behind layers of illusion. Only a few markings were visible to the naked eye, but they all told the same thing."
Mize listened.
"These trolls weren't just living here," Liam continued, stepping forward.
His voice was quieter now, gaze locked ahead.
"They were placed here"
Mize swallowed.
And then.
They reached the clearing.
The city's edge gave way to an open expanse, a new landscape stretching before them until it reached the distant castle.
But Mize didn't have time to take it all in.
"Mize, I would need you to stay calm, okay?"
"Pardon?"
And without being able to turn his head in tine. Liam's hand covered his eyes.
Roar!!!
"What?!" Mize jerked as Liam landed softly onto the ground.
A sound split the air, not just a roar, but something distorted, unnatural, more like an unintelligible roar...
A flicker of red.
Flashes.
Tearing flesh.
A woman screaming.
A child kneeling, hands raised. "May God forgive us"
"May god forgive us!"
"May god forgive us!!!"
A priest, his lips curled in a twisted smile, his robes soaked in red, clutching a torn, rotting book, fleshes were made out of it.
His dream crashed!
His world dyed in red!
"May Goddd!!!!" he dragged, his voice trailing, and with a smile, "Forsaken us!!!"
Mize gasped.
Liam's arm tightened instinctively around him, holding him against his chest, shielding him from whatever lay beyond.
"They never escaped," Liam murmured, voice low.
Another roar.
Something wet, mangled.
The scent of rotting blood, it was disgusting, heart wrenching, but why does it smells like fire?
Fire?
"Why do I smell... Sadness?"
Mize shuddered. His hands clutched at Liam's coat, his ears ringing, desperately hugging.
"L-Liam… what's that sound?" His voice trembled, and his body began to tremble.
"It hurts…"
"It's weird…"
"What are these noises, Liam... It's weird"
He could feel something crawling under his skin.
The air pressed against him, suffocating.
Liam's grip did not waver.
"…They never escaped, they never did." His words were final.
And then.
The next roar shook the very earth.