Making his way into the training grounds after hearing the speech of the men and women that would be overseeing their actions here today, Griswold was altogether unhappy with how things had turned out with the formation of groups. For whatever reason they had pictured in their minds, they had believed putting Griswold on a team with the same guy that had abandoned him in the middle of a fight within a dungeon of all places, was somehow a good idea. Sure, they had no idea as to what had transpired before all of this as they were likely also quite unaware of the kind of person they had ditched him with here today, but that did not exactly make it any better in his head. The way he saw it, this guy was just going to either not pull his weight or take whatever chance he could get to steal his credit as a means of making himself look better.

Clearly, Griswold had not a single good thing to say about the guy, but that much was to be expected. Being the type of person that would aim to help out others, especially when inside of a potentially dangerous location where death could lurk around every corner, it baffled him that there were those who would see someone getting attacked and have their first thought be about how quickly they could abandon them to their fate in hopes of claiming whatever treasure the dungeon had to offer. Even if he might try to twist and warp the truth of what had happened there that day, there was no chance in the world this guy was going to be forgiven for it. If nothing else, he had shown himself to possess exactly zero of the qualities required for someone to even remotely be a good person. And in Griswold’s mind, that excluded someone from ever becoming a good magic knight.

Sure, there were plenty of magic knights out there. Some were decent, some were good and others were great at what they were doing. When he was still a crimson lion, Griswold believed himself to be quite good at his job too, just not great as he more or less just did the kinds of jobs he wanted to do within the regions he preferred to be in. That said though, he had never denied anyone who asked for it his aid, and if he were to be requested to do a mission or two within the noble region, which had actually happened two or three times, he’d never shy away from it. These days though, he was just a mercenary wearing the badge of a royal knight, meaning that once these particular exams were out of the way and he got himself assigned to a magic squad that would hopefully fit him better, he would be shipped off with his team to fight the archdemon Aamon.

This in turn meant that, even if everything were to go by perfectly here today, he could still die before he would actually get to reap the benefits of being a magic knight in one of the squads he truly wished to be in. Because of his upbringing in the elven enclave out in the fringe, as well as his alternative upbringing on a farm in the forsaken realm, he had always believed that those who had the least required the most aid. Not just in the form of protection from those that would do them harm, but in ways that would better their lives and push them towards a point where they might not need the help as much anymore. While he did not doubt that there were plenty of others that likely felt the same way about it as he did, there was no denying the fact that the forsaken realm as a whole was still not in the kind of state it deserved to be in. Which was exactly why he had taken the idea that had more or less been pitched by Hania and ran with it.

Not too long ago, he had pointed out the fact that he was too much of a hot-head and reckless for a crimson lion, perhaps even being more reckless than the majority of the black bulls he knew. Not really taking this as an insult, regardless of whether it had been intended as one or not, it made him think about whether or not he would be better suited for one of the two magic squads that dealt primarily with issues regarding the forsaken realm and only went out of their area on occasion. So when the two of them trained in preparation for the royal knights exams, which they had both passed as a likely result of it, the subject had been raised again because Griswold had issues with the way in which nobility was handling the country by claiming a lot of the income and investing very little in return. From that point on, the two had more or less come to terms with the fact that while the crimson lions had given Griswold a lot by accepting him as their only peasant among nobles, it just wasn’t the “Perfect Fit” he had been hoping for.

And now here he was, taking the magic knight exams in hopes of getting where he wanted to be, only to find that he was being paired with someone he cared very little for. So little in fact, that after a bit of a back and forth after the abandonment and being left to ones fate, not to mention the threatening of a creature he was trying to save, that Griswold had told him he would kill him if he crossed him again. And he was very much set on keeping that promise, even if it meant having to go with it in the middle of the exams. One way or the other, there would be other magic knight exams in the future, and he could just continue his work as a mercenary in case things did not work out, allowing him to just keep protecting the forsaken realm, he’d just need to do it without the actual backing of a magic squad.

Because of this knowledge, he knew that even if he failed here today, his true mission would not truly be jeopardized, which was something that would hopefully keep the red-head from getting in his way and becoming a problem. Restraint had never really been the thing he had been best at, and Griswold sure as hell wasn’t going to start making exceptions for those who had treated himself and likely others in the way he had done. That said, as soon as they got in, Griswold turned his attention towards his temporary “ally” in an attempt at making it quite clear that he would not be accepting any shenanigans in here, not today. Having already formulated exactly what he wanted to say before they even entered the place, the thought came to mind that the guy had been too much of a scumbag to even tell him his name when last they met. But hey, that was his loss.

“Listen up Scab, I don’t know what you pulled to even be allowed to get in here, but my earlier statement still stands. If you try anything to stab me in the back, pull any kind of shenanigan that might warrant an “accident” or cross me in any way, I will end you right here and now. Rules be damned.”

Knowing that there were people watching them and how they performed, he imagined the guy would not dare raise a finger against one of the people he was supposed to be working with, as he was more or less inside the lion’s den right now. For all the speed he had because of his light magic, there was no way he would ever get out of this place if he pulled anything. That was, unless he was truly delusional and imagined he’d be able to get by various captain level magic knights and the wizard king himself. But none of that really mattered right now. Regardless of what king of strings he had pulled to be able to get in here, there was likely something he felt he could gain by becoming a member of the magic knights. This in turn meant that he would need to do a good job here and show that he was a prime candidate for at least one of them, which could be rather hard when one was focusing on taking someone else down.

“So instead of inciting such things, how about you do us both a favor and get with the program. The sooner we make our way through this place, the sooner you’ll be out of my hair, which is more or less the way I like it. If you can do that, we won’t be having any problems for the time being.”

With that out of the way, if the guy was going to be a useful contribution to the team or not, it was his own loss or gain because Griswold wasn’t about to let himself get held down by it. He had people he had to protect, something that would be far easier to pull off after becoming a magic knight in the fitting region. So as he wandered on ahead, he got his first good look at the room they were in. If nothing else, it had a rather menacing look to it. The walls themselves were all adorned by rather grim depictions of death. Not just scenes of death, but actual depictions of the grim reaper, which did not leave a whole lot to the imagination. After a little while, Griswold noticed a fairly large chest in the middle of the place, as well as someone partially laying on top of it. Even from where he was standing, he could tell that whoever it was had been there for some time as the parts that would normally show some skin now only showed bone.

To the elven mercenary, this proved that the trials had officially begun. Reaching over his shoulder, he picked his greatsword up by its handle and held close, ready to destroy whatever might get in his way. Extending his sword as a means of touching the skeletal remains, he wanted to make sure it was not some kind of undead enemy waiting to lash out. So as he poked and prodded it, the rags tumbled over as the skeleton just came apart, which more than likely meant that it wasn’t exactly going to be a threat. And with it out of the way, it was clear to see that the contents of the chest were empty, making the fact that there was a dead body laying on top of it that much more peculiar. Getting closer in an attempt to see what exactly might have been in there that got this man or woman killed, a whole bunch of shadows erupted from the wooden chest and began floating about.

By the time the shadows coalesced into a physical form, it turned out that there were a total of two of them on his side, and two of them standing at the ready for his “ally”. Once the shadows made way for discernable physical features, he saw that the two of them were elves. At least, that was what they would look like to Echo if he were to look upon them, just two random elves. To Griswold however, they were much more than that. Velenranir and Valinae, the people that had given birth to him and looked after him all of his life, until Asmodeus and his schemes had ripped both of them along with everyone else he knew out of this world through the shattering. Looking pale and veiny, their bloodshot eyes and long teeth did not exactly make them look as welcoming and warm as he was used to, though he imagined that was just what this place was about.

Unlike people with actual fears, Griswold did not fear the two people standing in front of him, he feared the idea of them, and what might have became of them after they had disappeared. Having seen various curses created by powerful demons and placed on elves, he had seen how one of them had turned into a powerful vampire while the other had been turned into something that seemed to be more bat than human, a hybrid of sorts. Not a week went by when he did not think about the family he had lost and what might have happened to them after learning that they had been flicked away by an archdemon. Clearly, there was a part in his subconscious that believed that they might have been cursed and turned into the things that stood in front of him now. And truly, a part of him bled over the thought that he had never been able to do a damned thing to save them, not even now.

So as the first of the two came dashing towards Griswold, his hands turning into long limbs with sharp claws, hair bursting out of his clothing and his head turning into a large set of animalistic fangs, the only thought in Griswold’s mind was that he could at the very least bring peace to these versions of his parents. In a moment’s notice, Griswold gripped onto the handle of his weapon with both hands and swung it in front of him with as much physical force as he could muster. Channeling his own mana throughout the emerald crystalline blade, he severed the large bat monstrosity’s head along with a shoulder and an arm, sending it flying across the room. Once he did, it turned out that his mother had used the attacking monstrosity as a means of hiding her own movement, preparing to lash out from behind his father’s now bisected body with her talons. But without giving it a second thought, Griswold utilized the peculiar ability his sword possessed, which caused the emerald blade to glow for a second.

A split-second later, two thick thorns shot forth from the blade, capturing the vampiric elf in the chest and lower abdomen before shooting themselves into the wall, thus pinning her in place. Happening almost at the same time as the body of his father hit the ground, the vampire pinned to the wall screeched for a bit longer before she eventually went limp and silent. It wasn’t long after that that her remains, as well as the beast that was his father reverted back into their shadowy state and more or less dispersed into the air. So as the thorns retracted back into the blade, Griswold was overcome by a strangely mellow sensation. Not really thinking about his ally for the time being, he just looked at the skeletal wall for a moment, staring down the embodiment of the grim reaper before sharing the first few words he had spoken in this place that were not intended to be mean.

“Rest in peace you guys… wherever you are.”

With that single sentence, he put the idea of fighting the shades of his parents, as well as the idea of finding them again some day to rest. Wherever they were, at least the entire family was mostly together with all of their friends and relatives. And given the headstrong nature they had passed on to him, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that they weren’t going to do just fine in their new location. After all, Solarian had always been among the weakest of the Shadesingers, and he was doing just fine now. He had a new family with the Cromwells now, as well as a whole realm that he needed to protect now that he was Griswold, and that too was worth something. Shaking the thought and leaving the past where it belonged, he turned himself around, reinvigorated and ready to fight in case Echo was somehow incapable of putting his own shades to rest.

2690

Floor 1:
Room 1: 2690 / 3500

Pushing the door open into the next room, he fully ignored Echo and his taunts of calling him solar boy, as he would receive what was coming to him soon enough. Since he was so eager to head in first, Griswold allowed him to do just that before closing the door behind them. Once he did, he took a moment to get a good look around the room, which seemed to be a lot less intricate than the previous one. One thing that did stand out about it however were the spikes along the floor, which seemed like they were part of something else entirely. In the past, he imagined it might have been some sort of trap room in which the ceiling would open up and drop those above to their deaths, which would explain the bones in the room and the carrion feeding off of it.

Once they entered the place, the bugs scurried away in a hurry, likely not enjoying it that they were being interrupted in the middle of their business, which was in turn not really Griswold’s problem. Looking around the place, it seemed like there were no doors in the room for them to move out through, and given the fact that the whole space seemed to be about four meters wide, it was going to be quite hard to fight here. Both with the spikes on the floor, the range of his sword in case he were to swing it with the redhead also being in the room, not to mention actually using one of his spells in here. While he could easily limit the damage entirely to his enemies and keep the light mage from getting enveloped in the hit as well, he wondered as to whether he really wanted to.

A place like this was the perfect place for him to fight in, but not so much for the other guy. A room with such dimensions made it hard to properly navigate, let alone dart around like a headless chicken on steroids. Because of that, if they were to be attacked here, that meant that neither of them could go attacking all willy nilly, as that would likely result in one of them hitting the other or someone putting the other in a less than ideal situation, especially with the spikes protruding from the ground. So while he did not want to do it, Griswold knew that he would need to work together with this piece of human garbage so that they would both be able to make it through to the other side. Even though he did not doubt that he would be able to make it out of here on his own, the teams had been put up for a reason, or so he imagined.

Noticing the swirling of peculiar mana in the air, it seemed like there would be something happening sooner rather than later. Somehow, they were going to have to get on out of the room, which seemed like it wouldn’t be all that possible as there was only a way in. So while he could try blasting out all of the walls to see if there was something behind it, that would likely take a considerable amount of effort and mana, so it was likely not the best way of going about things right now. There was likely some kind of mechanic within the room, maybe something having something to do with whatever enemies were skulking within the room that would trigger something. But as all of that was purely speculative, before any of the actual fighting broke out, Griswold considered it to be the wise thing to turn to the redhead and set a few ground rules.

“Before we continue, let me make one thing clear. I remember from our first meeting that you said quite clearly that I “Did not need to know anything about you, or you might not be able to let me leave”, which sounded like a threat to me. So I’ll tell you this now, the name is Griswold. So taunt me again, and you’re going to be having a problem. That is a promise I can make to you, and one I fully intend on keeping.”

Making at least that much clear, he wasn’t going to be taking a step until he knew exactly what he was going to get if he continued along with this guy. Because he had already tried working through a dungeon with this guy in the past, only to get repeatedly taunted, mocked, threatened and left in the midst of battle so the same redhead could go collect the treasure for himself, he was not about to let him go about his machinations here. The stakes were too high to let some asshole with no morals drag him down here today. So the moment it seemed like things were going sideways and he might try something, he’d see to it that he’d put the guy in his place once and for all. Hopefully however, it wouldn’t come to that, which was why he stated some rather simple and straight forward rules.

“Now get ready, because I’m sure your high-end sensory abilities had already picked up on there being something in the air here.”

880 (3570)

Floor 1:
Room 1: Completed
Room 2: 880 / 3500

“Well, that’s quite simple though isn’t it? I expected someone with your “above average” sensory skills as you put it would be aware of the fact that most people have a pretty distinct mana signature to differentiate one person from the other. So while you might have changed your looks a bit, I’ve seen you in action, and you’re one of the only people I know who have something as rare as light magic, which doesn’t exactly work in your favor if the goal is to not be recognized.”

Figuring that summed up most of the argument regarding how Griswold even knew it was him, he could have gone into greater detail by bringing up how he still had the same voice, the same height, the same kind of mannerisms and manner of speech all the way down to using the same mocking nickname he had for him, the same weight and shoe-size and more, he imagined that his more compressed and short explanation would do the trick just fine. Whether the guy would agree with it or not however was something else entirely, though that wasn’t something he could care about a whole lot at this point. The important thing right now was to get through this dungeon, and that wasn’t something they would be able to do if they stood on opposing sides, which was very much the deal as far as Griswold was aware, and something Echo did not seem to understand.

Griswold had come from a place where people were taught to care, both about themselves and about others, whether they were people, animals, creatures or something else entirely. His time on a farmland in the forsaken realm had tempered those morals and brought them into a more down to earth version, though one thing had never changed. Threats once made could not just be taken back and brushed off as they possessed a long-term presence, hovering over people like a negative little cloud that just kept getting bigger and bigger the more insults were thrown around and the more negativity was fueled into it. And then, at some point, that cloud would eventually turn into a storm, which in this case would likely result in a fight between the people involved. As such, it wasn’t about the notion of feeling threatened, it was about being threatened and how that made some feel. Because in Griswold’s case, being threatened made him feel like ripping Echo’s spine out through his mouth.

“As for the threats, I’d suggest you hold your laughter, as you clearly misunderstood. One would expect a noble to understand the proper code of conduct when dealing with other people, and that making threats isn’t something one should casually do. For me personally, I did not feel threatened by you, nor do I feel threatened by you now. What it made me feel was a rather present urge to put your corpse on one of these spikes, which isn’t exactly in the spirit of teamwork, nor will it help either of us progress through this place. Hopefully that at least made things clear enough to you.”

As he spoke, he shook the man’s hand, figuring that in the spirit of working together, it would be the next best gesture to make. While that still did not mean that he would trust the guy any further than he could physically throw him, which was most likely not all that far, he hoped it would also show that he was willing to work with people he truly did not care for at all for the sake of the country. After all, not being able to work together with someone like Echo during something like these exams meant that he might also fail to cooperate with others he did not like, and that was not exactly the kind of vibe he wished to set here. No, one way or the other, they needed to dig their heels in and get out of this room, showing that they were at least good enough to handle this level of threat. So once Echo inquired as to what they should be doing next to deal with the shade-like beings that entered into the room. So seeing as how he did not exactly wish to take any damage from Echo, he’d do something else that would get neither of them in trouble.

Glowing for a moment, Griswold erupted with solar mana that would fill up the small room with enough of it to turn it into a furnace to all those he did not consider an ally. Luckily for Echo, the two had decided to come to terms with what had happened a few months ago, even if only for the sake of this trial, allowing the elven mage to do this without causing some serious damage to the light mage in the process. When they had ventured into the tower of Quinteps, Echo had most likely seen a lesser version of this particular spell already, and how Griswold could keep it from harming his allies. This function of the spell was something he had further elaborated on by repeatedly testing it and similar spells when handling an altogether different dungeon in Aristaeus’s basin along with Hans. Thanks to all that training, he barely hard to even think about not hurting Echo as much as he had to think about how he wanted it to utterly incinerate the shades that came to attack them.

And incinerate them he did, along with any attempts they might make at getting back up. Though that still left them with the issue of getting out of here. Because the pit these creatures had come out of did not seem like it would be a good place to just go diving into, it left but a single option. The ceiling, or rather the lack thereof. Seeing as how the floor was covered in spikes and the walls were all more or less similar to one another as even the door had blended into it, he could tell that the grooves between the rocks making up the walls were wide and deep enough for fingers and the tips of his boots to fit into them. So as he wandered over to it and started feeling them up a bit, Griswold placed his fingers into them and pulled himself up before putting the tip of his right boot in too. From there on, he kept putting his hands up a bit further and just lifted himself up some more.

“Seeing as you can fly, I’d recommend you go on up and scout the place out. Depending on what you encounter there, I imagine I’ll eventually catch up to you.”

Trying to cover as much ground in as little time as possible, he would not be making any rash moves as he still had to also carry the large sword that was hanging from his back. With all signs pointing to the fact that they needed to go up to get out, he hoped that he was doing the right thing by climbing towards wherever the ceiling was as it just seemed to be a black hole. If he were to encounter any more of those shades along the way, getting rid of them would become tricky, but he believed in his own ability to overcome whatever threats he might come across along the way. So right now, it was Echo’s turn to show what he was worth.

1248 (4818)

Floor 1:
Room 1: Completed
Room 2: 2916 / 3500

“As a matter of fact I didn’t. I figured that since you were a light mage, flying or at least floating was something you should be capable of. The fact that you can’t seems somewhat odd to me, but it doesn’t really surprise me a whole lot either. Just get going and make yourself useful for once.”

Speaking with regards to whether he had pulled the idea of flying or levitating out of nowhere, he wasn’t lying when he said it didn’t surprise him much to hear that he couldn’t do it. That said, Griswold had other things to worry about, as his magic wasn’t meant for flying either. His magic was not based around speed of movement or being a floaty little butterfly, nor was it intended for the protection of others, it was meant to kill and to destroy. In that regard, his magic was a very simple one, as it was all about either destroying things through means of explosive or eruptive force, or by simply incinerating it by compressed rays of sheer cosmic heat. What it was less great at however was the more supplementary stuff, which was more or less why he was the one that had to do the climbing while the other guy could just sprint up along the walls.

But such was the nature of magic, as there was no one who was well versed at all kinds of magic and still exceeded the abilities of others simply by being a jack of all trades. He had seen when he fought Verena for instance that, even though they were considered equals at the time, his destructive force was leagues beyond her own as he could wipe out an entire army of her golems in a single blow. But in other respects, his most powerful spells were not capable of toppling the mirrors she erected with her carbon magic, which was a whole different kind of story from the golems. As such, he imagined anyone in this world had their personal strengths and weaknesses, and how they overcame those was entirely up to them. In Griswolds’ case, he chose to overcome his lack of defensive skills by creating offensive means of protecting himself from harm, which was working fairly well.

And given the fact that he insisted on wielding a sword, he imagined he would also need to get better at using magic that enhanced his physical attributes, which was honestly not something he was even sure he could pull off. But seeing as how just about anything was better than having to physically climb his way to the top of this damned shaft or pit or whatever it was, it was still something he wished to try. Feeling like he was just about halfway to the top, Echo began talking about how Griswold should have focused on using some kind of spell that would have gotten him up here so he wouldn’t have had to resort to climbing. By this point, that was something anyone could have come to figure out, but not something anyone could really do something about anymore. So, he waited until he was starting to get to the end of the pit and could actually see the edge before he would reply, seeing as the guy wouldn’t hear him otherwise.

“You say that, when my magic could roast you inside and out in an instant if I felt so obliged. So like I said before, make yourself useful for once as you haven’t contributed a damn thing yet.”

About this part, he wasn’t lying. Even as he had to spend all of his time climbing while the guy was able to use his magic to just run up, he still did not do any kind of recon of the area they would be in next, which could have been rather helpful in terms of moving on sooner. Guessing some people were just naturally useless while others were born with glorious purpose, he raised himself on up from the pit and began looking around to get a better idea as to what they were to be dealing with here. Strangely enough, this bit of climbing had been the second most exhausting thing he had been tasked with doing since the trials began, the most exhausting one clearly being having to deal with the light mage. But it was what it was, and there wasn’t exactly a whole lot that could be done about it now. Brushing off his clothes for a bit to get whatever dust that had gathered there off of him, he began looking around.

For as much as it bugged him that Echo had been incapable of following up on a simple request that would have helped them both out a great deal, he made no attempts at hiding this fact. But for as much as he wouldn’t hide it, it was also by that much that he would go about looking for a way out on his own. Such was the price of uselessness. From what he could made up by scanning the room, there were a total of fifteen different sarcophagi scattered across the room, stacked in five rows of three, as well as a final, sixteenth sarcophagus standing in the center of the room not far from the pit he had just climbed out of. Whatever their purpose was, there did not seem to be any residual mana within the room itself, which led him to believe that this room wasn’t so much about the two of them encountering another band of enemies as much as it was a test of their mental capabilities.

In other words, a puzzle.

Being something he had repeatedly brought up was the fact that he was not a scholar, as he was the kind of person that learned by doing and not by reading. Still, through doing, he had managed to learn at least some things that had some vague relation to what was going on here. He had been in several elven ruins up until now, which were all places that were either rigged with boobytraps, had some peculiar mechanics that were required for the opening of secret doors, as well as murals and statues that were often a big part of it. So with that thought in mind, he began looking around more closely at the sarcophagi, the surrounding walls and any and all other objects in the room. It would be easy to be drawn to the sarcophagus in the center as it was being held in place by various pillars, something the others notably lacked.

Whether or not this was just what the creator wanted in order to draw the attention of those taking the trials away from the actual goal, or if it were the actual goal itself was currently unclear, though there was something about the fact that this particular one was standing alone. Walking closer to it, he took the lid off of the sarcophagus and tossed it down the hole, where it would fall for some time before eventually shattered upon the spikes at the very bottom. Revealing a rather life-like statue of a woman inside of it, he looked at where she was facing, which seemed to just be randomly into the distance. Feeling like this was part of the solution, he could not help but feel like this statue could spring to life and attack them any moment, having actually encountered statues made in the image of ancient witches that attacked men on sight. Clearly not a fun memory to have.

Wandering over to the various rows of sarcophagi, he checked their contents to see statues of warriors that were all posing as if swearing their fealty. Though they did not nearly possess the same level of craftsmanship as the woman in the center, it woke the impression that maybe these had all been added at a later point in time. Whatever the case, something about the placement of the entire place made it seem that much more off, as they were all slightly looking in different directions. Getting an idea, he tried shoving one of the warrior statues, finding that the floor they stood on was actually a rotating pedestal. Checking to see just how far he could actually rotate it, it seemed to be able to go around the whole way without it giving that satisfying clicking noise when it got put in the exact position it needed to be in, which was quite the shame.

While this would really only help him so much, Griswold was at the very least happy about having made at least some manner of progress, which just reeked of more. Returning to the woman’s sarcophagus, he noticed that she too had a rotating pedestal beneath her. When he tried to turn her around however, just to see what would happen, it turned out that the other pillars were keeping her in place. After some contemplation, Griswold decided for himself that since the pillar she was resting on was the only one with a rotating pedestal, the others were only in his way. And so, he took out his sword and began bashing the pillars to bits one by one, causing their rubble to litter the floor. Taking him a good few minutes to get them off without using any magic that might do more damage than he really wished to inflict, the female statue had been freed. By this point, he turned to Echo.

“In the off chance you feel like putting yourself to use, how about you help me rotate all of these guys so they face the woman in the center. I may be wrong in my assumption, but I feel like they are supposed to be either swearing fealty to this woman, or offering her their protection. So it makes sense for them to look in her direction, rather than… well, anywhere else really.”

With a bit of a show of force, Griswold began rotating the statue of the woman to make it face her fifteen soldiers, guards, protectors or whatever they were. Aiming them in their general direction, he wanted to make sure her gaze was aimed at the center of the troops. It seemed like the right thing to do in his opinion. So even if Echo wasn’t going to do anything to help, he was more than willing to take care of it on his own, meaning their potential failure would also fall on his shoulder. But that was a risk he was willing to take, as doing nothing would not get them anywhere anymore than failing would. That said, by going through failure, they also risked getting closer to the truth, or maybe they wouldn’t need to risk a damned thing as he was simply right about all of this and the trick with the statues would pay off.

Right now though, the only thing they could realistically do was to just go along with the plan and see what that would do. Beyond that, only time would tell whether it would pay off or if it was all just a bunch of wasted effort.

1863 (6681)

Floor 1:
Room 1: Completed
Room 2: Completed
Floor 2:
Room 1: 2020 / 3500

“Had this been an actual ruin, there’s a chance that little stunt could have brought down the ceiling, and I couldn’t hold up all that stone even if I wanted to. So the fact that I of all people should be the one to tell you that violence isn’t always the answer should really put you and your upbringing to shame. I’ve been called reckless even by Black Bull standards by some of the people that actually know me a little bit better.”

It was strange that he had to tell anyone this kind of thing, mostly because it made him feel like how Hania must’ve felt when they went through the Tyrant’s Castle and Griswold just kept charging on ahead. The difference between them however was that Griswold didn’t go about beating out walls while inside of some old looking structure that might very well be underground. At this point, he couldn’t even figure out whether this was in a building or some old kind of dungeon that had been repurposed anymore, but it didn’t matter. Whether it was a building coming down on your head or several tons of stone and earth, either way, they’d get buried and killed as Griswold for one did not yet possess the kind of fire power to blow away that much pressure coming down upon him. And he was sure that being light on your feet wouldn’t let you outrun it either, meaning they’d have both gotten killed.

But since they were still in this place and had been requested to take these “trials” as they were intended, he wasn’t about to let some idiot ruin things for him. And so, he went about walking back and forth between the statues, moving them in the way he had envisioned. Had Echo been willing to work with him, chances were he would have known the answer to this already, but now he needed to go about doing it on his own. If he wanted to be undermined by people that didn’t know any better, he would have gone on a mission with the Vermillion boys of the Crimson Lions, which were a pair of redheads the one he was currently “working” with would fit in with perfectly so far. Though it took him a moment to actually get it all done on his own, Griswold eventually managed to position the statues just right, causing some kind of mechanism to start moving throughout the walls and ceiling.

Once the rumbling stopped, a secret door opened up on the opposite side of the room, which actually made quite a bit of sense. There was no hiding any mechanisms inside of a hollow wall, as it would end up breaking more frequently than it would end up working due to the load-baring systems in place. In a way though, it was funny, as it went to show exactly how badly things would go for people here when they could not end up working together properly to do what was asked of them. When they had been sent into this “Trial of attrition”, Griswold had already imagined that it would be taxing both physically and mentally, ever more so due to the presence of Echo, so he wouldn’t be caught trying to cut corners by blowing out walls when they were required to do a puzzle. It was in very strong contrast to being a Magic knight, as not doing what the mission stated would end up in black stars. And he could know, he had actually received a few.

“But I should be expecting people who are incapable of thought and teamwork to discuss anything before they go around bashing out walls. So I’ll just say this about it. Next time you make a decision that can make the both of us fail, at least have the decency to discuss it, or I’m kicking you back down that pit.”

Preparing to get away from the sarcophagi and make his way over to the opening that had just formed, he felt a rumble in the floor that seemed to come from the stone tombs. One by one, the lids churned and fell off to the ground, revealing the contents to be that of undead warriors that had seemingly been triggered by the violence in the room. Standing face to face with one, Griswold prepared to cut it down where it stood, though it appeared to not be interested in him at all. He had just gone about finishing the puzzle as intended, allowing them to gaze at the lady in the central sarcophagus that they were supposed to be protecting. However, the magic that had been used to violently knock out the walls had triggered the undead, who now considered Echo to be a threat to them and their lady. Stepping out of their coffins and drawing their weapons, one released a harrowing screech as the fifteen warriors made their way over to Echo.

FLOOR 2 | ROOM 2

Part of him felt like he should have stayed back in order to fight the undead, though the matter of the fact was simple, they were not after him so he saw no point in beating on them. They were here to take part in the trials and this particular trial was a puzzle, meaning the undead were likely implemented as a system to deal with those who tried getting around having to actually use their brain and result entirely on brawn. Even if Echo would likely deal with the undead warriors in time, the goal behind them was to punish people that deviated from the trial, so Griswold saw no point in helping him out. Besides, the guy was trying to upstage him by being “useful” and blowing out a wall so he would be able to completely circumvent all of the work the solar mage had put into solving the puzzle. Sighing deeply, he let the guy reap what he had sown, hoping it would teach him to actually make himself useful to the team.

Making his way through the new opening, part of him hoped Echo would follow the path leading into the opposite direction or received a beating, figuring that it was likely some kind of hidden door people could use in order to get people back outside in case one of them got in trouble, likely due to the undead. Knowing he would be able to get much further on his own than he ever would with someone who seemed to just be there for the singular purpose of working against him and undermining everything he did, he looked around this new space. Again, this place was vastly different from the previous one they had been in, and seeing as he had gotten here first, it seemed like the wise idea to gather up about as much information about it as possible for when Echo got there. In spite of previous actions, he wasn’t ready to give up on working as a team just yet, though this was going to be his last attempt at it before he’d go on on his own.

There was one thing about this next room that instantly stood out, which was the fact that the walls were all filled out with skulls placed inside of them. Due to the fact that there was literally nothing else in the entire room that even remotely stood out at all, it was a somewhat similar situation as the previous space. With seemingly no enemies or hostile elements being present in the room, it would again turn into some kind of puzzle for those involved rather than going around killing whatever threats would come at them. In a way, something like this would likely feel calming to most, but it really didn’t do that for Griswold. He was much more about fighting than he was about solving puzzles, particularly solving puzzles on his own because his ally was just making it worst by bursting through walls and not thinking. He understood that some people were reckless at times, because to be fair, he was reckless really often.

But it was a form of recklessness with thought, not just a means of being reckless without it, as that was the kind of thing that got people killed. It was stupid and incredibly un-magic knight, as the group was something that, at its core, was about working together for the safety and security of the country. And for as much as he struggled at times to deal with authority, when he was still a magic knight, Griswold felt like he had actually managed to do a lot of good when he managed to work with people. So far, the people he worked with in a successful manner had grown quite a bit, far overshadowing the amount of people that he had been utterly incapable of working with such as the Vermillion twins he brought up earlier. Doing his best to get the lay of the land…. Or rather the room, he would wait for Echo to make his way over to where he was once he had dealt with the undead so he could disclose the information to him.

Because for whatever it was worth, two brains had the capacity to process more information and come up with more solutions than a single one could. Taking note of the checkerboard pattern and the candles burning on top of the skulls, he wondered if maybe they had to be put on or off in a certain pattern, like blowing out the ones in black and leaving the ones in white on, or vice versa. That said, maybe the candles didn’t have a damn thing to do with it at all, though it seemed a bit too obvious to miss. But for the moment, he would just wait for Echo to finish, watching how he was going to do the fighting from the room he was currently in. It was a good thing the hallway connecting the two was so short, as it would give him somewhat of a front row seat. Because even though he shouldn’t, he couldn’t help but revel in the thought that of all the people to turn a non-combat based room into a brawl, it wasn’t actually Griswold himself.

1719 (8400)

Floor 1:
Room 1: Completed
Room 2: Completed
Floor 2:
Room 1: Completed
Room 2: 887 / 3500

Watching the guy as he was dealing with the undead warriors, Griswold could not really help himself from smirking in a rather notable fashion. The fact that there was really not even an inch of him that believed he should have helped the guy out proved, at least to him, that the guy had brought it upon himself and earned this rough treatment. Normally, when something bad happened, Griswold would be the first to help someone out, usually before actually thinking whether or not he should do such a thing, because he went off of his gut feeling alone. In this case, his gut feeling had told him to just sit back and enjoy the show while getting a better idea as to what the room entailed. And so, that was exactly what he did. Unfortunately for him, the fight was a rather uneventful and boring one since the zombies were just that, zombies. Shambling and slow.

So as the last of the zombies got put back to rest, Griswold just signed and went back to scanning the room. By the time Echo came in to say a thing or two about how life was terrible and these puzzles were worse, Griswold did not outright respond to it as he was working something out in his head. Due to the checkerboard theme, he had already determined that it was likely that only the skulls in the black tiles had to be lit, or maybe all the ones in the white tiles, as that was likely to reveal the way forward to them. Or rather, he hoped that that would do the trick, as he really did not have a whole lot of other ideas as to else they might try in order to get them moving towards the next destination. One thing at least that he did agree with during Echo’s ranting was that he also wasn’t much of a puzzle person, instead preferring to fight something head on as that was where his magic was best served.

“Did someone ever tell you you complain a lot? Because if they didn’t, they likely have more restraint than I do when it comes to pointing it out.”

Hoping that pointing it out would keep the guy from complaining for a bit, he wondered what the captains and other spectators were thinking as they kept track of their progress somehow. Complaining about the puzzles was one thing after all, but complaining about already being tired of the “magic knights and their games” and about how he should have made a remark about Griswold not helping him but him not wanting to sound like Griswold, he imagined the former would likely not sit well with a lot of people. It was why, whenever he had that kind of thoughts, especially in a place that was accurately being kept track of, he would keep them to himself. It was called common sense and wit, which both seemed to be lacking in this case.

“I shouldn’t need to point this out, but you are comparing a place like this, that is being kept track of by various captains and other spectators, to a place where if you get put in harms way, you only have those around you to rely on for aid. Because that’s what a dungeon is. And if you honestly believe me leaving you to clean up your own mess is the same as you abandoning me by literally using the words “Well, good luck with that” and darting off with your fancy little light magic to go claim the treasure at the end for yourself, that makes you into a truly delusional piece of trash. It’s also why I don’t think people like you belong on any kind of magic squad, as you clearly don’t even want to be here, nor earned the right.”

It was funny though, how the guy was trying to compare a situation he had put himself into by not doing what was required in the room and instead trying to blow his way out of it through violence, to a dangerous location like a dungeon and literally abandoning someone the moment they were put in harms way so they could go collect whatever treasure awaited them at the end of it. If nothing else, the guy just kept piling on more and more reasons for Griswold to hate his guts and hope that the two would not get put on the same squad. That was, if the guy even got picked for anything to begin with since he was clearly sick of magic knights in general already. But the more outspoken he was about things like that, the bigger the chance he would just get himself from being picked, so Griswold wouldn’t even bother trying to stop him.

“Besides, I was in the next room over, so if you had gotten yourself in trouble, I could have blasted those shamblers away in seconds, though that would only further prove that you shouldn’t be here to begin with.”

The sooner the two of them got out of here, the better, as Griswold had to constantly fight the urge to physically harm the guy, which would be highly detrimental for the both of them and their eventual evaluations. So he would keep focusing on the checkerboard pattern and the candles, because there was always a potential catch to this kind of thing. If they ended up extinguishing the wrong ones, there was a chance that they would trigger some kind of trap similar to the undead Echo had brought about. That said, his treatment had been something that was caused by stepping away from the setting of the room and being violent, which had almost caused him to venture into the wrong place entirely. But if that was a potential outcome, them putting the wrong candles out might bring about some kind of offensive element as well. As such, they had to go about this wisely and not just pick something at random.

“While I’m not entirely sure if you’ve actually thought about the colors before you picked the white ones, I’d have to say that I agree. Based on the overall death theme both here and in the area below, one would almost believe there is some kind of an afterlife theme here. What with the shades, facing our fears, having to fight the undead in your case, it all fits the theme. So maybe us climbing our way out of the previous space and making our way up here is something symbolical, like crawling out of the shadows and into the light… It’s worth a shot at least.”

With that thought in mind, Griswold used his magic to light a small flame on top of his index finger, which he used to light some of the unlit candles in the white spaces. Upon lighting the first one, it did not seem like doing so served any detrimental purpose, so he just kept going. But because there were so many of them in total, actually getting through all of them was going to take a while, so he could use some help. Hopefully this time, the guy would be okay with following directions rather than just randomly blowing holes in the walls. With some luck, the guy had learned from his recent mistake and would be willing to make himself useful now.

“Go ahead and put out the candles in the black spaces while I light up the ones in the white spaces. Once we’re done, if we’re lucky, whatever doorway this room has to open should be jumping wide open.”

1274 (9674)

Floor 1:
Room 1: Completed
Room 2: Completed
Floor 2:
Room 1: Completed
Room 2: 3307 / 3500

Merely smiling a bit as the child finally showed his true colors, Griswold really had nothing to add to this bit of conversation. During the last puzzle, Echo’s “Results” had caused him to break down a wall on the wrong side of the room and brought about him being attacked by a bunch of zombies that did not seem to really be hostile at all if not triggered. As such, the results he spoke of had not been present at all. Griswold however had managed to singlehandedly finish the puzzle on his own, revealing the true passage and made his way into the next room. Could he have been a better team player? Probably, but that was an issue he had rectified after the impetuous child had taken care of the mess he had gotten himself into. Giving the guy the chance to redeem himself, if not in his own eyes, than in the eyes of the captains that were watching their progress, he had explained in detail what needed to happen.

After all, when dealing with people who seemed to have about as many active braincells as this room had people present within it, it was often required to overexplain things. If he ended up not doing so and going off of the expectations that this guy could actually think his way out of a paper bag, he instead ended up by people trying to break their way through walls which might very much have brought the entire ceiling down on their heads. The ceiling not coming down however had clearly been in both of their favors, though to bring in results while having contributed next to nothing of his own creation to this whole endeavor spoke volumes about Echo’s character. He was clearly delusional, believing himself to be capable of far more than he actually could, believing to be far more than he actually was, mouthing off like that to someone who could have killed him on the spot if he had felt so obliged.

Clearly though, Griswold did not feel obligated to kill the guy, mostly because he knew the type. Emotional, incapable of holding up a mirror and looking at themselves for who and what they were, not having the patience nor the mental capacity to find their way out of the aforementioned paper bag and simply being impetuous and rude for the sake of rudeness. People like that would eventually run into someone who wasn’t as laid back about such things as Griswold was, and in Echo’s case, that would likely happen sooner rather than later. Regardless, what he had to say to Echo would have to wait, for the kid dashed away after mumbling about how this must have felt like a déjà vu moment to him. And in a way, it did, though this time it was applicable in a good way. Even if it was really childish to call someone out like that and then run for the hills like that, him running into the next room worked out well for him.

It meant that he would be able to figure out the next puzzle and get to work on opening the doorway to wherever else they needed to go in order to get out of this place and out of each others hair. Because what the guy clearly did not realize, was that both words and actions had consequences, though he would find that out soon enough. But that was merely something else Griswold considered to be quite funny. Bringing up how he should let go of the past, only to then do a one hundred and eighty degree turn and bring up how him abandoning Griswold in the middle of a dungeon to go collect the treasure for himself. Had it been the name calling alone, the solar mage would not have been upset with Echo, as he could handle such things. He had to, because he gave people nicknames all the time. And when dishing things out, it was important to be able to take a few hits in return, that was simply how it worked.

But that was just it, for when one added the threats being made against him at the time along with the fact that he abandoned him in the middle of a fight against a rather imposing aquatic monster from the past, mixed with his general behavior and the attempts he had made at circumventing the rules of the trials that could very well have messed up his own chances at progressing was more than enough for Griswold to never consider the guy an ally in any way. Besides, he had made it oh so clear that he had no intention of being an actual magic knight, simply because he hadn’t a single bone in his entire body that was capable of logical thought, reasoning or teamwork, or he would have shown it by now. And making it clear that he was done with the magic knights and their crap in general and stating it openly wasn’t the brightest move one had ever made in the history of cleverness either.

But regardless, Griswold would simply shrug and start following Echo down the corridor that had opened after he had done as the solar mage had instructed. Luckily for the both of them, his assessment, or as Echo put it, rambling a lot about nothing, had paid off. Had he been wrong and gone with the black tiles instead, he did not doubt that they would have been thrown into another gauntlet similar to the one in the previous room with the zombies, albeit this time would likely bring about more danger as it was devised to be so. With his blade resting on his shoulder, he made his way through the darkness, only to hear the sounds of fighting up in the distance. It was clear to the swordsman that Echo had run into trouble up ahead, though that wasn’t anything new at all, as getting himself into trouble seemed to more or less be what he was best at.

Rather than picking up the pace and rushing to his aid, he was simply going to let him deal with the trouble he brought upon his own head yet again, just like he had done in the previous room. That said though, he wasn’t going to just stop and enjoy it, as he would merely keep walking on at the same speed he had been moving at since making his way into the corridor. After a little while, Griswold got to a point where he was close enough to properly peer into the next room, noticing that the guy was fighting some kind of outlandish beings near a large statue. Even as he approached, he could hear how Echo was actively adding dialogue to himself and his fight, as it seemed unlikely that he was having an actual conversation with these things. When one of them managed to pierce his shoulder with their sharp claws, the talking seemed to stop.

Thinking to himself how this was not actually the worst possible outcome as it was at least quiet now, he pondered on what to do. After all, according to Echo, Griswold was wrong to think that he was anything more than a nobody who believed he was running the show while having a “bitch-like attitude”. Besides, Echo was the one who claimed to be the only one who brought about any actual results here, so maybe it was finally time for him to make true on all of his big and empty words. But that was when it hit him. Echo was merely deflecting his own issues on Griswold, as all of the things he had said about Griswold were the things he himself was guilty of. Having a bad attitude, not being the right fit for any magic squad, and not having brought about any actual results of his own creation since the moment they entered the trials. Now, as this seemed to be a combat room, fighting seemed to be the way to go to put an end to all this and move on.

So in that spirit, Griswold made his way into the room to make a quick assessment of what was going on as he stabbed the crystalline blade of his sword into the ground. Making mental notes as to what their attackers were capable of, Griswold was taken completely off guard by the stupidity of the kid that had just gotten stabbed, as he for some reason believed the best way to handle this situation was by driving his own sword through himself in order to attack the creature behind him. While it paid off, the amount of damage he had done to himself had clearly rendered the arm attached to that shoulder useless, meaning he would need to continue fighting with just the one arm he had left. And if injuring himself was how he intended to get through this, he not only made himself into a huge liability, he would also end up being a threat to himself, as no one in their right mind would stab themselves like that.

So in an effort at helping the guy before the other creatures would be able to get to him, he allowed his solar mana to erupt from his body in a way that quickly covered the full length and height of the room. Releasing it in somewhat of a hurry, he had not taken the time to fully control the output of his magic, meaning it would not be differentiating friend from foe. But seeing as how the damage Echo had received and had inflicted upon himself was done by means of claw and sword, he imagined he still had his mana skin up to cushion some of the damage and keep himself from being hit by the actual spell. That said, both he and the creatures would get flung across the room and slammed into the wall as a result, though the monsters themselves would have likely been reduced to ash by the time they hit the wall. Also inflicting quite some damage to the demonic statue, Griswold wondered to himself what would happen next.

It was clear enough to him that Echo would not die from this, though the chances of him getting knocked out after being slammed into a wall and taking as much damage prior to it as he did, not to mention the sheer amount of blood he would have lost due to all of the trauma. But maybe that was for the best, as continuing to move with wounds like that would likely only cause detrimental effects in the long run, which was likely not something Echo himself would have taken into consideration for even a moment. From this point on, he could only wait to see what would happen next, as he was quite certain that the creatures would have been dealt with by his magic eruption. But what mattered right now was to see how Echo was doing once it was all said and done. Luckily for him, Griswold had some means of healing, so if things did truly get bad, he might be able to do something about it.

But for however much it was worth, getting blown into a wall after flying across a room like a ragdoll was likely still leagues better than being torn apart and eaten by angry, hungry monsters in a dark room.

1920 (11594)

Floor 1:
Room 1: Completed
Room 2: Completed
Floor 2:
Room 1: Completed
Room 2: Completed
Room 3: 2659 / 3500