Who was the guy that just killed me?

The adventurer stood in place for a long time, still dazed, not even reacting when enemy soldiers rushed past. The body's automatic combat was the only thing enabling a response.

The weapon—whether it should be called a longsword or a great sword—must have a significant story, and the one wielding it couldn't possibly be an unknown figure.

Yet he really couldn't remember!

All the knowledge he had about the Sain Dungeon was crammed in his mind only recently, and now he's forgetting it as fast as he memorized it back then. No matter how hard he tries, he just can't remember who the sword's owner is.

"Ugh, why can't I have a photographic memory..."

The adventurer lamented, sounding like a high school student from an eastern country.

However, even if he can't recall the origins of that sword, it doesn't matter; there's one thing he knows clearly now.

That is, he's probably no match for his opponent.

No, it's not just probably; he's certain he can't beat them!

Even now, wielding a Soul-sucking Ghost model, which is top-tier for him, he was still one-shot by that sword, unable to even resist. The mere aura from his opponent made cold sweat pour down his back.

This truly can't be blamed on his lack of piloting skills; the disparity in strength between the machines is just too vast!

What level of attack did the Little Longde Ruins suffer back then? Even the entire unit of Soul-sucking Ghosts didn't survive, so what about the kings they served? Did they also perish?

The adventurer always thought if he could successfully find the traces left by those four kings, he could possibly reach deeper layers of the Abyss. Recording it would surely reward him more handsomely than anything now.

After all, Soul-sucking Ghosts are now a dime a dozen, and just because they hadn't encountered them before, they valued them like treasures. Soon enough, intelligence about Soul-sucking Ghosts would be worth nothing.

"Now the focus should be on how to continue in-depth exploration of the Little Longde Ruins."

He finally snapped out of the lingering shock from being one-shot earlier, thinking while engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the soldiers attacking him:

The immediate priority is to get in good with the Dark Moon Sword group, infiltrating their team to continue exploring the Little Longde Ruins. He could sense that this group is definitely capable of fully exploring the entire ruins. Adventurers from Yanor Londo surely possess superior skills compared to us.

"Originally, I planned to make a run for it after this gig."

But now it seems if he puts in a bit more effort, he might gather even more intelligence?

So he decided to stay a while longer in Hepa Town.

After all, at most, it would only be for a few more weeks. It couldn't possibly become dangerous just in those few weeks, could it?

With that in mind, the adventurer regained his motivation. His grip on the Dark Sword strengthened as he relentlessly cut down the soldiers attacking him, growing more excited and feeling invincible with the Soul-sucking Ghost. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Then, once again, he was one-shot. The intense fear of death pulled him back to reality, reverting him to a mindset of a pitiful and helpless adventurer.

But after resurrecting, hacking down a few soldiers, his mindset swelled again without realizing, becoming wildly reckless, only to be one-shot again and brought back to humility.

"No, no, this Soul-sucking Ghost's body is poisonous!"

Even the dullest fool could sense something was wrong.

This Soul-sucking Ghost body was evidently amiss!

After killing a few people, this body would become excited, and this excitement would, in turn, affect the adventurer as the pilot, converting him into a fanatical supporter of the Abyss. If not for being repeatedly one-shot at the very end, awakened by the almost irresistible disparity in opponent's strength, he might genuinely succumb to the Soul-sucking Ghost mindset.

This body wants to influence me, transform me into a devotee of the Abyss!

Cold sweat broke out on the adventurer as a strong urge to escape this place emerged in his mind.

As it turns out, the Abyss really is such a dangerous thing.

Before arriving at Hepa Town, he had heard many times from others that the Abyss was dangerous, claiming that even the Undead Team couldn't escape its corruption, that the legendary Wolf Knight also couldn't withstand the Abyss's influence, and that one must be cautious while exploring it, and so on. But hearing these statements from others was never enough to actually warn the adventurer.

Finally, having come into contact with the terrifying aspect of the Abyss himself, he was so frightened that he dared not move.

Of course, another reason he dared not move, besides the influence of the Soul-sucking Ghost body, was because he was always one-shot at the last moment.

He could see it clearly now; every time he was killed, it was by a different weapon.

The most frequent being that great sword with an air of a formidable enemy of the Abyss, but sometimes it would be a flashing golden scimitar or a shimmering silver fishbone-like weapon, and on rare occasions, it would be a Silver Knight great sword he could recognize!

If the final enemy were a Silver Knight, he might be able to put up some resistance; though he wouldn't win, at least he wouldn't be humiliatingly one-shot.

But if it were any of the previous ones... until now, he hadn't even managed to catch a glimpse of the true face of his enemy. He would probably need to replicate himself ten times over just to barely hold his ground.