Keith closed his eyes.

The moment they were alone, his master shoved him against the wall and kissed him.

A purifying warmth flowed through those soft lips and into his body. The malicious energy coursing through his veins gradually calmed. As the fever clouding his mind subsided, a pleasant heat spread through the rest of him instead.

His lower abdomen tightened heavily.

Something hard pressed insistently against his thighs.

Keith was not surprised by the reaction.

The curse tormenting him existed to provoke desire. At first, it had felt strange for purification itself to arouse him, but after thinking about it, there was nothing unnatural about it at all.

What did it mean to receive grace?

Was it not a struggle between the blessing bestowed by his master and the corrupt desire left behind by demons? Of course the remnants of that desire would stimulate his body.

But there was something else Keith wanted to know.

Taking advantage of the brief moment their lips parted, he spoke softly.

“Lord Ian.”

“Stay still. Isn’t this dangerous?” Ian narrowed his eyes.

“Yes...”

“...If you have something to say, then say it. What is it?”

His master could never abandon a wandering lamb.

Warmth spread quietly through Keith’s chest, though no smile reached his face.

“May I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Does this also comfort you?”

“...What are you talking about?”

The kiss halted.

Keith did not show his disappointment.

Ian looked up at him with a grim expression. For the first time in a long while, Keith felt as though their eyes had truly met.

Ian had been strange ever since the battle ended.

It had been a brutal fight that cost many lives. It was easy to imagine how exhausted Ian must be.

As the servant who spent the most time at his side, Keith had noticed it immediately. Since the battle’s conclusion, Ian spoke only when necessary.

Even after the funeral ended, he remained silent.

Keith wanted to know what weighed on his mind.

Was he mourning the dead?

If Keith could offer him even the smallest comfort, there could be no greater honor than that.

“The grace you grant me brings me peace and warms my heart. I wondered if this act means the same to you.”

Ian was purifying Keith, yes.

But the grace Ian bestowed upon him had never been limited to that alone.

Ian was Keith’s lighthouse.

If the body lost its way, one could consult a map.

But what if the mind lost its path?

Then one had to seek guidance from a higher being.

Yet Keith was only a weak and foolish human, someone fragile enough to doubt even the existence of such a being.

Whenever he wavered, it was Ian who helped him find his place again.

And now, seeing Ian himself lost...

It felt as though the ground beneath Keith’s feet had become unstable too.

“Be quiet.”

Ian answered curtly as he seized Keith by the collar and pulled him closer, as if dismissing the entire question with a single gesture.

That was the Ian Keith knew.

The soul that had seemed so distant moments ago finally felt present again.

Though Ian often appeared cold, the way he pressed against Keith was unexpectedly gentle.

Their lips met once more.

A small tongue brushed against Keith’s lips like cool water extinguishing flames.

The careful movement tickled.

Grace flowed into him again.

Keith swallowed everything Ian gave him. He accepted even what was not openly offered and held it close.

And all the while, he never looked away from Ian.

The tension between Ian’s brows slowly eased.

Without his usual frown, his face looked almost innocent.

Almost childlike.

Keith worried for him, yet in the end, he was the one receiving comfort.

Ian never faltered.

Even those around him became steady beneath his presence.

‘A strong person.’

Admiration.

Respect.

A love too overwhelming to define with a single word.

The ecstasy of facing something divine consumed Keith completely.

With a heart overflowing with reverence, he kissed Ian again and slowly lowered his lips to the pale curve of his neck, yearning to receive even more of that endless grace.

Then—

Thud!

“Lord Ian! Are you inside? Lord Ian!”

“What is it?”

Ian immediately pushed Keith away, straightened his clothes, and opened the door.

An empty feeling lingered behind.

Keith quietly composed himself and turned toward the entrance.

An ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) elf dressed in ranger attire stood there.

‘An elf.’

Keith held no hostility toward other races.

Originally, the elves had fought alongside humanity in wars against the demon tribes. Keith had never hated them, but now even the instinctive discomfort he once felt toward non-human races had disappeared completely.

They, too, were Ian’s people.

Following their lord’s commands, the elves had performed brilliantly during the defensive battle and willingly became guardians of the forest. They established outposts not only within their assigned territories but throughout the regions surrounding the dungeon as well.

Ian had never ordered them to do so.

They acted of their own accord to repay the grace they had received.

Keith’s narrow world had broadened.

Not every other race was selfish or ignorant of the divine.

The elf who had come to repay that grace spoke in a trembling voice.

“Lo-Lord Ian... Something strange... I don’t know how to explain it... It’s impossible... No, not me—my elemental saw it...”

“What is it? Calm down and tell me what you saw.” Ian frowned at the elf’s panicked stammering.

“The forest is moving!”

“...What?”

“The forest—the Dark Forest—it’s moving as though it has legs!”

“Where is your elemental?”

The elf clasped his hands together.

A flower bud bloomed in his palms, and an elemental emerged.

But something was terribly wrong with it.

Blood streamed from its eyes and nose.

“No!” the elf screamed.

Keith knew little about elementals, but even he understood one basic truth.

Beings from the elemental realm did not suffer physical damage from ordinary attacks.

That was why knights targeted the summoner rather than the elemental itself.

“Lord Ian! Please save this creature—no, it can’t die—”

“Get a hold of yourself!”

“Ghk—!”

“If you can’t calm down, then at least repeat what your elemental is saying!”

Ian grabbed the elf by the collar.

Tears poured down the elf’s face, but he obeyed the command of the hero he revered.

His eyes turned the same vivid green as the elemental’s.

“Everything alive in the forest... fleeing...”

“The Demon Realm is coming.”

“All living things... die.”

“Let Moritz return to nature.”

Blood trickled from the elf’s face just as it did from the elemental’s.

Then, with empty eyes fixed upon Ian, he whispered:

“Hero.”

Thud.

The elf collapsed unconscious.

Silence followed.

‘The Demon Realm is coming.’

Keith knew exactly what those words meant.

A place where beings of the Middle Realm could not survive.

A land of death.

A domain that belonged entirely to demons.

The Vatican called such places Demon Realms.

The Dark Forest had always been considered land close to one, but neither the Vatican nor its leaders had ever truly called it a Demon Realm.

Because anyone who had seen a real Demon Realm knew the difference.

As long as living creatures could still breathe there, it was not one.

A true Demon Realm was hell itself.

Keith had once crossed through one while carrying out the Pope’s orders.

A horrifying wasteland thick with the stench of rotting corpses.

A plain haunted by wandering spirits left behind by those who had died in the great war without ever finding peace.

Traveling through it would have shortened their route considerably, yet not a single knight had suggested doing so.

Instinct alone told them it was a place humanity was never meant to enter.

Even from afar, the demonic energy suffocated them.

Keith had not expected the other knights to endure it.

‘The Demon Realm is coming.’

What exactly did that mean?

Keith immediately asked, “Who is Moritz?”

“The elf standing in front of you.”

The elemental had begged for its contractor to be allowed to return to nature.

Keith knew that was how elves referred to death.

He also knew elves believed those devoured by monsters could never return to nature at all.

Were monsters approaching?

Then they needed to prepare for battle.

Keith organized his thoughts and spoke without hesitation.

“Lord Ian. Your orders.”

“...Wait.”

Keith turned toward Ian.

His master’s face had gone deathly pale, as though he might collapse at any moment.

“Lord Ian?”

“No...”

Ian stared blankly into empty space.

He was reading something only he could see.

Keith carefully wrapped an arm around Ian’s shoulders—

—and froze. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

‘Sweat...’

“Lord Ian.”

“No... if this happens...”

Ian murmured faintly.

Messages filled his vision.

Ding!

[Main Quest: Exposed]

All demons have detected the existence of the dungeon.

Ding!

[Title Penalty]

Due to the ‘Hero’ effect, all demons are now hostile toward you.

Ding!

[Main Quest: Dungeon Defense]

Survive the approaching forces of evil.

The map turned crimson.

Rippling circles spread outward around the dungeon, countless arrows converging from every direction.

Enemies.

Gathering.

Everything beyond the Dark Forest had turned red.

The game’s final main quest—

[Dungeon Defense]

—had begun.

But the dungeon was not ready yet.

‘How many have I killed?’

No.

That was the character.

...Wasn’t it?

Ian’s eyes met Keith’s.

Blue eyes filled with worry looked back at him.

It was the first time someone had ever looked at Ian that way.

His chest hurt.

Strength left his legs, and Ian collapsed into Keith’s arms.

“Lord Ian!”

Cold sweat poured from him.

The map continued emitting harsh warning sounds while fists pounded against the door outside. Voices called desperately for Ian.

Ian was not ready to lose them yet.

[Reverse Dungeon] Part One End.