William's footsteps resounded with every step in such a quiet underground environment like this. Even the faint sound of breathing could be heard clearly in this place.
The stone stairs that he walked down were as endless as ever, and despite him having walked for thirty minutes, the end was nowhere in sight.
Thankfully, before he entered the underground depths, he scavenged around to make a makeshift torch. In this place, the darkness would be his greatest enemy, after all.
And then, finally, he made it to a checkpoint, a small room lit up by four other torches. The stairs continued from the other end of the room, and so William decided to take a small bit of respite here.
He sat down near a wall and looked around. There was an altar at the centre of the room. It felt like there was meant to be something on it.
"That's probably where the sorcerer got the crystal ball from… but, judging from what happened, I think that magic ball was just a trap in disguise. I don't think I'm gonna be able to trust sorcery from now on."
He inhaled, exhaled, and thought about something else. Or, someone else.
Sarah.
'I wonder how she's doing right now. She's usually calm and patient, but when something really bad happens, she freaks out like you wouldn't believe…'
'I've also realised… We haven't had the chance to relax at all lately, because of the world's sudden and total change. Maybe, by the time the six months are over, the world would've gotten back on its feet again?'
William scratched his chin and sighed.
"I shouldn't rely on false hope. Even if civilization is restored, with the existence of magic and everything else I've seen so far, it's impossible for there not to be conflict and danger at every step."
"…I don't know anything much about politics, but in the face of absolute power, even the ability to negotiate will ultimately fail against the powerhouses and tyrants."
William shivered, as he remembered the icy figure he met during Twilight's Dawn. Melatose, that man called himself, and he asserted himself as both a grandmaster and Goldenblood.
"I need to get stronger. I have a feeling I will have to end up facing that man eventually, whether that be soon or not. Who knows? Perhaps I'll end up facing him a few years or even decades from now."
"But, right now, my main enemy is him. The Chief General and his army, who massacred the city and my parents. When I'm strong enough to face him, my rage and fury will tear him apart…"
William realised the words that had just come out of his mouth and cringed slightly. He sat in silence for a minute, sighed again and stood up. It was time to continue onwards.
Down the stone stairs, he went, leading to the far abysm that was truly the end of the road. Seeing as how the caverns expanded so deeply into the ground, there also must've been some sort of treasure trove lurking around.
Unfortunately, however, he didn't have time to look around.
"Jeez, it's cold…" William muttered.
The next step he took on the stone stairs summoned a wave of dark energy towards him, almost sweeping him off his feet. This dark, abyssal energy made his legs go weak and gave him a heavy headache that impeded his mind.
Of course, this was a dark surge of Karmic Debt, which was almost like the antithesis of Mana. They were akin to opposites, but at the same time, not really. The Bewitched heralded this power as the only thing that could lead them to a "new world."
"This means… I'm close…" William said through his clenched teeth.
The Karmic Debt felt heavy and pressed down on him like it was a physical burden, but it didn't exactly feel like the poison that the old Naga implied it was.
"I guess we humans also have some degree of resistance against its effects… it's horrible, but no wonder Brewer's family was tricked like that…"
Step by step, he slowly began to edge towards the bottom of the stairs, and after a few minutes, he finally made it. But, he didn't expect, at the bottom of all those stairs, to be such a wide chamber. The place he stood currently was as if someone had hollowed the entire Empire State Building and placed a giant labyrinth in it instead.
That's right, there was a large labyrinth entrance right ahead of him.
"Crap."
He took one step forward. And then, he felt something shift behind him. Crawling down the stone walls of the chamber with its jagged claws, a massive beast leapt at him, its drooling maw ready to feast.
However, with the precision that William never knew he had, he turned, dragging his longsword across the floor and parried the attack just in time.
"Wo-woah!?"
Even the massive beast was surprised, and then it laughed. As it appeared, a werewolf was now right in front of him. It was tall and massive, as massive as the one he saw before, and it wore a purple cloak alongside a strange mystic bracelet. It could also stand on two feet.
"A human… the masters told us about you. Haha! You looked frail and lacked the vigour and confidence of any other ordinary swordsman, so I thought I could take you down instantly, but to my surprise…"
William glared at the beast, and the Werewolf's fangs gleaned sinisterly.
"Hahaha! The Wolflord shall be satisfied with this meal in his name! After we bring back our masters, he will unite the Wolven Tribes and the empire of the past will be born once again! The Moon God will gaze upon us again!"
The Moon God was an unorthodox deity that the druids and moon priestesses of past eras worshipped, alongside other particular species like the Werewolves. Unlike the worshipped orthodox Gods of today, like the God of Purity or the God of the Skies, the Moon God wasn't substantiated as a deity of the Skies Beyond, so the Lunarism religion was eventually abandoned by most people.
However, the werewolves maintained their strict faith in the Moon God for whatever reason imaginable.
"…Do they just like to babble, or are they just stupid?" William asked himself in regards to the Werewolves, "Screw you, and your Wolflord!"
William lifted his longsword against the beast and prepared to fight.
The Werewolf snarled and charged at William, its claws preparing to dig into his flesh. However, William recalled how he parried the first attack and tried to mimic it again to the best of his ability.
He failed and only managed to block the attack this time.
'Damn it…!'
The werewolf smiled and used its other claw to swipe at William's chest. Thankfully, however, the leather armour was able to protect his chest from getting pierced.
William leapt back, holding his sword tightly.
"After I deal with you, I will be sure to know how to deal with the rest of your kind!" William shouted irately.
"Haha! I'd like to see you try!"
The werewolf charged again, its claws aiming for William's face this time. But, William remained steadfast, even though his heart was pounding with fear.
In that split second, he needed to know how he was going to use his Golden Ink to defeat this enemy and the enemies that would come after. This crucial moment would decide the path that he, as a swordsman, would take.
His longsword's refined blade shimmered. His eyes focused on the target. In all the novels he read, he noticed that to say that you've won a battle, you needed to overwhelm your opponent completely. The culmination of novels inside his head influenced the foundation of the first "Sword Art" he would create in the far future.
In that split second, he saw a "world" within a cocoon, a painting which he formed with his sword. His sword was a means to how he could create such a world, and his ink was the basis of the world itself.
He realised that Gods gave him ink that flowed with golden black, so that could create anything.
'No wonder they were disappointed in me. I only discovered this now.'
With this new-found discovery, he even shocked himself with his new move.
[Art Form: Penetrating Thrust!]
An imitation of a novice-level sword thrusting technique. But, combined with the Golden Ink that flowed from his hands, he created an Art Form, a sword technique that could imbue a painted world in his blade, creating an absolute magic called a "world stance" for the first time.
The added strength helped him thrust the blade entirely through the werewolf's shoulder, making it yelp in pain and leap backwards.
"…Is this… an achievement or something? I feel like I finally know one thing I'm able to do with my sword now… if only I had this against that creature in the cave, I would've fared a little better."
"Anyway, let's dance."