Terror, agony… there were no words that could describe what the knight captain was feeling. Deprived of his senses, he found himself in utter darkness, unable to move as countless small creatures burrowed into his body, biting and tearing at his flesh. How long had he been like this? Every passing second a living hell… for how much longer would he be made to suffer?

Thinking back just a short time ago, they were members of the royal army ordered to go out on an ordinary patrol mission.

Nobody was enthusiastic about having to go on patrol at this time of year, and being assigned to such a faraway route only made matters worse. The route they were assigned was especially disliked due to it cutting straight through a thick forest. This particular forest was unlike most in that it was completely dead. Not a single green leaf or blade of grass could be seen anywhere all year round. The tree’s black bark was as hard as metal, not even a steel axe could cut into it. No one knew how the road going through the forest was built, only that it had been there since the beginning.

When one traveled very far at all past the tree line, they would be enveloped by a dense fog, shortening their vision. With this, it was extremely easy to get lost.

All in all, this was the worst patrol route at the worst time of the year. They had definitely pulled the short straw.

However, during their journey, they discovered an escaped slave. Feeling like a bit of fortune had come their way, they set off to capture it immediately.

That’s where it all went wrong.

The slave had slipped away from them and ran into the forest. It wasn’t until it had almost reached the fog line that the chase had finally come to an end. And then, that mysterious ma- thing showed up.

Deciding it was pointless to wait for a response, the knight captain prepares to attack. Just as he is about to give the order, the person in the black armor turns its gaze on him.

His spine turns cold, and his head is filled with soft chanting and garbled words of languages he has never heard before. He stands still, unable to look away from the suit of black armor as the words become louder and louder, echoing throughout his head.

He had never heard anything like this. This was a language not of this world. It was something demonic, and as the words filled his mind, he felt them tugging at his consciousness.

Suddenly a crisp and clear voice resounded in his head. The tone was deep and carried an inhuman weight to it, as if the voice of a massive beast were calling out to him from a dark abyss.

[Such foolishness. Sleep.]

At that moment, an intense drowsiness assaulted him. He heard his comrades collapse around him, and something inside of him snapped.

Without thinking, he turns his back to the person and climbs the hill as fast as he can. It was common practice driven into every knight that you never show your back to the enemy. However he completely disregarded something so insignificant and fled like a frightened child.

This was not something they had any chance of winning against. He hated his past self for not realizing it sooner. Even now as he reached the top of the hill, it felt as if a black void was right behind him, reaching out to envelope his body.

Without a single look back, he sprints at full speed toward the road. If he could just reach his horse, he could get out of there and report his findings to the king. This kind of existence was a danger to the kingdom, perhaps all of humanity!

All around him, he can hear branches cracking, and broken hyena-like laughter. Numerous small steps resounded around him like a pack of wolves encircling him. From the sides of his vision, black shadows danced on top of the snow, darting back and forth between the dead trees.

The cold air filled his lungs as breathing became painful but he couldn’t stop, just a little further, the tree line was just in front of him. Just a few more steps and he could mount his horse and escape.

“Wha-!”

Just when he is about to break through the tree line, the ground disappears from under him and he tumbles down the side of a cliff. His skin slams into the cold dirt and snow as his body plummets, landing on the cold hard ice below.

The skin across his entire body burned from the contact with the frozen surface, and as he pulled himself to his feet, a cold wind blew through him, piercing him like daggers.

“What happened?! Where’s my armor?!”

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The knight captain clutches his naked body and looks around frantically.

There was nothing. Let alone his armor, the cliff side he had fallen down was nowhere to be found. All that surrounded him was an endless sea of ice. As if he were at the center of a frozen ocean.

“Where am I….”

Suddenly, he notices a shadow moving beneath the ice. Adjusting his gaze, the shadow of a colossal creature slowly circled him beneath the ice.

“!!!”

He tries to scream, but his voice doesn’t come out.

At that moment, the sound of ice splitting apart enters his ears and he sees cracks beginning to form around him.

Panicking, he turns and flees. It didn’t matter what direction he was running, he had to get away from there. If he were to fall beneath the ice, it would be over.

The cracks spread towards him, as if countless arms were reaching out to grab him. It was hopeless, in no time at all they had reached him and he felt the ground beneath him fall.

As he fell through the ice, his body became weightless for a moment before crashing hard into a stone surface below.

“Arrrghh…”

His legs had broken.

“W, what now!?”

Looking around, he seemed to be in a dark cave. He could barely make out the grey walls in the darkness around him. There were several tunnels branching off from the center cavern now found himself in.

Looking up, there was no sign of the hole he had fallen through.

“….ha HA ha HA….”

“Who’s there??!”

With his eyes darting back and forth, looking into the darkness of each tunnel, he calls out to the voice. The laughter seemed to come from a single person yet from different tunnels around him at the same time. It was the innocent laughter of a small girl, yet in this kind of situation it sounded cold and ominous.

“…Hee HEE hee HEE hee….”

Seemingly finding his confusion humorous, the giggling laughter continues to echo through the cave.

A feeling of sheer terror crawls up his back and numbs the back of his mind. The sound of light footsteps is heard right beside him and when his eyes snap to their location, nothing is there.

At that moment he feels a warm breath on the back of his neck as if there were something crouched right behind his back.

His body trembles as he slowly turns his head around. But just as the thing was about to come into view, the breath could not be felt anymore and there was nothing there.

“P,please… spare me…”

His weak voice travels through the cave, but there is no answer. He curls up and clutches his head, mumbling to himself as he lies shivering on the cave floor. He tries to escape, tries to deny the world around him, even prays to his gods for salvation, but he would not be saved.

A loud, piercing shriek shakes the cave and long black arms shoot out from one of the tunnels grabbing onto the man’s legs.

His heart stops in his chest and he almost blacks out from fear.

Without leaving the man even time to scream, he hands drag him into one of the tunnels at an inhuman speed.

Silence descends as the knight captain disappears into the darkness.

[How foolish. Sleep.]

Immediately the four knights behind the slave girl collapse in the snow. The knights that had threatened her life and put her in this crisis had so easily been vanquished. However, she couldn’t be happy. As soon as this suit of black armor appeared before her, the knights became no more than an afterthought.

[She can be a bit mischievous, but I hope you’ll keep her company.]

The person in front of her talks to himself about something she doesn’t understand. Rather than coming from within the helmet, his voice seems to originate from inside her own head.

Where had this person come from? What was going to happen to her? She felt her blood slowly running out of her body, and her life with it. She no longer had the strength to support her neck, and her gaze began to fall back to the ground.

Finally taking notice of her, the person kneels down and observes her.

She feels his penetrating gaze from within the helmet, as he were looking through her at her very existence.

[This one is quite interesting.]

Her vision begins to fade from blood loss. The sound of the wind blowing and trees creaking as they sway around her grows distant, but the person’s voice remains clear in her head.

[Still hanging on to life in that condition, even after coming in contact with this armor of mine…]

The voice trails off, as if considering something.

[How is it? Do you want to live?]

The slave girl’s breathing is faint, and her eyes are unfocused as if in a daze. After a long pause, her head nods slightly.

[Then, will you give yourself to me, body and soul? Will you accompany me on my journey, following my every command until your body rots and falls apart in the ground? Of course, there is no guarantee this will be a better fate than dying as you are now…]

His voice once again trails off, as if lost in thought.

[Now, tell me your answer. Just how far does your will to live go?]

In towns, bards would sing tales of people who have seen the devil and have sold their soul for a single wish. Some wish for money, some for power, some for fame… no matter what the wish, no matter how it played out, they would be unable to escape their contract with the devil and their soul would be lost forever.

Surely this person in front of her was the same as in the legends. A devil that could grant any wish as long as she gave up everything. There was no way of knowing what kind of life she would have if she accepted the contract, but even so, she would be alive. Her body numb, her senses dull, there was only one thing that went through her mind.

She didn’t want to die here.

And so…

In the cold snow, barely hanging on to life, the girl uses the rest of her strength to whisper a single word. On the verge of losing consciousness, she didn’t know if she had actually made a sound or not, but her quiet voice faintly escapes her lips and disappears in the wind.

[Very well.]

Hearing the devil’s voice, the girl allows her mind to fade into darkness.

On that day, the slave girl blindly entered into a contract to hang onto her life. She had no way of knowing what lied ahead. But at least for now, she could rest knowing she would see the sun rise once again.

Incidentally, when the sun started to set and his comrades still hadn’t returned, the fifth knight that stayed with the horses explored the forest a bit without venturing too deep. Unable to find his captain and the others, the fifth knight rides back to the capital to report the losses.

Some time later, a force was sent out to investigate, but the bodies of the knights or the slave girl were never found.