Suho looked around after passing through the long darkness that had been like a tunnel.
He was inside the corridor of what appeared to be an old building.
The only source of light was a single torch hanging on one wall.
'This is...'
He narrowed his eyes against the dim lighting and surveyed his surroundings.
The way back was... sealed off.
Suho felt along the solid wall blocking him from behind and shook his head.
There was no empty space beyond the wall either.
'There's no way forward except to keep going.'
The torch flickered.
Suho pulled the torch from the wall and illuminated the path ahead.
And then.
"Whoa—"
Weapons lined up neatly along both walls came into view.
Longswords, short swords, bows, spears, maces, and more.
An endless array of all manner of weapons stood waiting in the silent darkness for their new master.
Dumbfounded, Suho swallowed hard.
Why were weapons laid out here like this?
It was obvious.
'A choice...'
Suho's gaze turned more cautious than ever before.
He didn't know why he'd been brought here, but if there was an exit at the end of this path, the weapon he chose would become a trusty companion.
But something felt strange.
What was this exhilarating feeling?
His heart, which never raced even when running around with friends or playing the games they recommended, began pounding.
Suho's eyes gleamed with excitement as he examined the weapons.
'Alright...'
After scrutinizing every weapon on display, Suho turned around and gave everything one more thorough look.
A few candidates caught his eye, but nothing compared to 'that.'
He hung the torch on the back wall and carefully fitted 'it' onto both hands.
Clang, clang.
The steel gauntlets fit his hands perfectly, as though they had been forged for him from the very start.
Unlike other weapons that required skill to use, his two hands had always been his most familiar and most powerful weapon.
'This is it.'
Suho folded his spread fingers one by one, clearly pleased with the gauntlets.
And then.
Whoosh!
Every torch ahead burst into flame.
The long, long corridor.
Like a secret passage in an ancient castle, the path stretched endlessly deeper and deeper inward.
Something was about to begin.
Suho calmed his racing heart and was about to step forward when his eyes caught the short swords arranged beside the gauntlets.
But that was only for a moment.
'...Who would use such weak-looking weapons?'
As Suho slowly walked on, a pair of short swords left behind in his wake looked oddly forlorn.
* * *
Suho made his way cautiously through the corridor.
"Is anyone there?"
He even called out, but no answer came.
No, there wasn't a single sign of anyone's presence.
How long had he been walking?
He should have been tired, but Suho kept his senses sharp, never letting his guard down.
Sparks crackling from the torches, an old-fashioned architectural style, and walls packed with suits of armor.
'Is this some kind of underground chamber beneath a castle?'
The more Suho walked, the more curious he became about where exactly he was and why he had been summoned here.
But then.
'Wait.'
A chill ran down his spine, and Suho turned back to stand before one of the armor displays.
Strangely, its posture seemed slightly different from when he had passed by it earlier.
'Did it... have its sword raised like that before?'
He was sure the tip had been pointing at the floor.
The moment Suho tilted his head and took a step forward, the armor's sword plunged straight down.
Clang!
Had he not knocked it away with his gauntlet in a split second, the blade would have split his skull in two.
"What the—?"
Before Suho could even be startled, the armor that had dropped its sword now lunged at his neck.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Suho's gauntlet thundered repeatedly in desperate strikes.
The armor, its helm smashed to pieces, stopped moving.
"Hah, hah, hah."
Suho kicked the fallen armor aside and gasped for breath.
Thankfully he was completely unharmed, but his heart was racing like it might explode.
Wait.
What if this wasn't the only suit of armor that moved?
And what if every last one of them was hostile toward him?
The armors he had carelessly passed by earlier flashed through his mind.
They weren't the only ones.
There were more right in front of him, and the path ahead was lined with them.
Sure enough.
Creak, creak.
The joints of the armor squeaked as—
One by one, the suits of armor stepped down from their pedestals.
The weapons in their hands gleamed with a cold, bluish light.
"Ah..."
I should have picked the mace too.
Suho swallowed the small wave of regret that rose within him and clenched both fists.
The armors charged at Suho immediately after.
* * *
Bang!
The instant he knocked down the last suit of armor, a message rang out again.
[You have leveled up!] [Current level: 19.]
"Whew—"
Suho, who had been bent over at the waist, exhaled deeply and straightened his upper body.
After hearing the message, the fatigue drained away as if by magic.
It wasn't only that.
Suho steadied his breathing and threw a straight punch.
Whoosh!
His fist shot out like a bullet.
Incredible power surged through his entire body.
"Got it."
It was simple.
Defeat these living armor monsters, and his level goes up. The more his level rises, the stronger he becomes.
Naturally, he can take down the monsters even more easily.
A simple and powerful virtuous cycle.
Suho looked back down the corridor he had walked so far.
Piles upon piles of completely destroyed armors lay scattered everywhere.
Suho smacked his lips.
'What a shame...'
It would have been nice to level up a bit more.
He wanted to grow even stronger.
But.
Every path comes to an end.
Suho looked at the massive door standing before him.
His heightened senses, sharpened by each level gained, could detect a powerful presence inside.
That was exactly why it stung to stop growing now.
Following what his father had taught him, Suho closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then pushed the door open with both hands.
Grrrk—
The heavy door moved.
Inside was a grand chamber like a royal palace hall.
Following the densely lined columns on either side, he made his way to the deepest point, where a towering throne stood.
Suho's body stiffened in an instant.
A monster in armor sat upon the throne.
But this one — it was on an entirely different level from every monster he had faced so far.
'That's the one...'
The chilling presence he had sensed beyond the door.
The monster slowly stood and descended the steps beneath the throne, one step at a time.
A knight in black.
A black knight with a red plume atop its helm stepped down fully onto the floor.
The aura alone made his skin crawl.
But.
For some reason, Suho found himself grinning.
An electrifying thrill coursed through his entire body, raising every hair on end.
Shing.
The knight began to draw its sword.
Before that blade comes out, I strike first.
The moment Suho lunged—
The black knight was already right in front of his face.
The sword he swung flashed with blinding light.
"...Huh?"
A blinding radiance flooded his vision.
* * *
"Hah!"
Suho sprang to his feet.
He looked around with his senses on high alert, but the black knight was nowhere to be found.
No — he wasn't even in that room anymore.
He had somehow returned to the point where he had first started.
'What the...?'
Suho's legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground.
'I thought I was dead for sure.'
Just recalling the moment the knight drew its sword made his blood run cold.
He genuinely thought he was going to die.
"Either way, I have to go down that path again?"
With a grumble, Suho rose to his feet and noticed something that had changed from the beginning.
The torches at the starting point.
Whoosh.
One of the three blue flames among them had gone out.
Was this a coincidence?
No.
The weapons before the starting point, the level gained by defeating monsters, the body that grew stronger with each level number.
Nothing was a coincidence.
A small realization flashed through Suho's mind.
'It's not that I nearly died...'
Inside this bizarre place, there was no concept of pain or death — instead, blue flames represented opportunity.
If all three flames went out... there was no way to predict what would happen.
'Then.'
He would be more careful.
Suho's gaze grew far sharper than when he had first set out.
One more time — this time, he would not let the opportunity slip.
Bang!
Suho sent the monster armor flying with a devastating blow, a silent vow burning inside him.
* * *
"Aaahhh! Aaahhh!"
Having returned to the starting point once more, Suho rolled across the floor.
Not because he was hurt.
It was pure frustration at having squandered yet another chance.
He slapped the ground over and over until tears welled in his eyes.
He was that upset.
After swallowing some of his anger, he raised his head slightly.
Sure enough, the count of blue flames had decreased by one.
Only one remained.
'That black knight is way too strong!'
The gap was so enormous it could only be called cheating, grossly overpowered.
There was no way he could win at this rate.
"Aaahhh!"
Suho rolled across the floor again.
After rolling for a while and growing tired even of that, he leaned against the wall and stared down the corridor.
Wherever they were being gathered from, the armors had returned to their posts.
"Aren't you guys tired of this?"
Since this was the third time he'd seen them, Suho was actually starting to feel a strange fondness for the armor monsters.
"Sigh—"
Suho let out heavy, ground-shaking sighs for a while.
"Huh?"
A spark went off in his head.
Suho's gaze snapped back toward the armors.
'When did they reappear?'
At first, he simply assumed they had respawned because he had returned to the starting point.
But what if that wasn't it — what if they regenerated after a certain amount of time had passed?
Thump. Thump, thump, thump.
A ray of light appeared before his eyes.
'Let's find out.'
Suho smashed the armors near the entrance to pieces, then went back to the starting point and waited.
He sat with his back against the wall, watching for any change in the monsters.
After some time passed.
Crack, crack.
The dead armors turned to sand one by one and were absorbed into the ground.
And then.
Suho's eyes went wide.
'...!'
The sand piled up on the pedestals where the armors had stood, forming new suits of armor as good as the originals.
"Yes!"
Suho clenched both fists.
This was the answer.
These — the only beings that helped him level up — thankfully respawned after a certain amount of time.
Then all he had to do was beat the living daylights out of them over and over until he could match that terrifying black knight's movements, didn't he?
Suho smiled and rose to his feet.
The monster armors trembled at the sight of the sparks blazing in Suho's eyes.
* * *
Level 70.
No matter how many more he hunted beyond that, his level refused to climb any further.
But that was enough.
A dark aura slowly rose from Suho's shoulders.
He still didn't know the true nature of that black haze, but of one thing he was certain.
An overwhelming energy was flooding through every fiber of his body, more than he could contain.
Suho threw open the door to the room where the black knight awaited.
Unlike the previous two battles, this time the black knight had come to greet him near the door.
Suho smirked.
"Kept you waiting, didn't I?"
The black knight answered not with words but by drawing its sword.
For some reason.
It almost looked like the black knight was smiling.
Having ground his way to level 70, Suho released the mana gathered in his body in an instant, unleashing it in every direction.
The ground shook and chunks of stone shot upward.
"My turn."