It felt ominous.
Walking on the damp, eerie stone floor, she tried hard to ignore the cold sweat forming on her palms.
'♬♩♪'
The sound of the music box, playing since a while ago, seemed like a prelude to something jumping out at any moment.
"I'll protect you! Don't worry. Nuna!"
"Okay, I trust you."
Diana smiled faintly at the assurance of the child, who barely reached her waist, and gently ruffled his hair.
"Noel, can you light a fire?"
The castle's interior was unfathomably vast. There were hundreds of rooms, and the corridors intricately connected space to space.
The light Noel created barely reached the opposite end of the corridor, illuminating only their immediate surroundings.
Moving forward felt like stepping into the gaping maw of a beast.
Adding to this, the castle was filled with secretly installed trap magic, making it a labyrinthine maze.
"Krurrurr."
'♬♩♪'
Thud. The soft music box sound stopped, and in the fog obscuring their vision, a beast's howl echoed.
Diana's body stiffened. In the misty darkness, her eyes met something glittering.
She quickly checked Noel's location.
Out of the white fog, the snout of a beast emerged, growling menacingly.
"Noel!"
Just as Diana grabbed Noel's hand to run, a magic circle formed beneath their feet.
They had stepped on a teleportation magic circle. Or perhaps, under the circumstances, it was fortunate.
The indiscriminate magic could drop them anywhere.
Right before the beast's fearsome teeth could reach them, they were transported to another space.
Noel clutched Diana's dress tightly. When the glow subsided, they found themselves in a vast underground cave.
"Noel, are you okay?"
Ignoring the cold sweat down her back, Diana kneeled, gripping Noel's shoulders, and met his gaze.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
But just as they sighed in relief, another magic circle appeared in the darkness of the cave, and from within it, a beast roared.
It was a furious werewolf.
"Nuna!"
Noel stood protectively in front of Diana. Flames rose from his small hand.
"Krurrurr!"
The werewolf, drooling beneath its terrifying teeth, seemed unaffected by the flames Noel hurled. Instead, its fury seemed to increase.
Dodging the werewolf's attacks, Noel rolled on the ground, clenching his teeth.
He had to protect Diana. His mind was filled with the sole thought of her safety.
"Haa. Haa."
Restricted by his body, Noel couldn't use high-powered magic.
Sweating profusely, Noel was gathering his maximum magic power when suddenly a magic circle formed beneath him, lighting up brightly.
"Ah, Nuna."
In that fleeting moment, Noel turned his head to see Diana, reaching for the hand axe at her waist, her strength evidently waning.
A crestfallen Noel vanished in an instant.
As Noel disappeared, a blinding flash of light filled the cave.
Bang! Before she could open her eyes, a loud explosion sounded.
Something had flung the werewolf far away.
"...."
It was a man. Appearing in the spot where Noel had vanished, the man exuded a dangerous aura.
The werewolf regained consciousness and swiftly lunged at the man, but its nails, harder than steel, couldn't reach him.
The man inflicted non-fatal wounds on the werewolf, taunting the beast.
The more he did, the stronger the scent of blood became.
The werewolf, covered in wounds, snarled with a burning fighting spirit, but the man slightly tilted his head, assessing something.
His eyes narrowed.
Perhaps bored of toying with it, the man knocked down the werewolf with a single strike.
Diana, who had been staring blankly at the man, had her pink eyes wobble unsteadily.
Thud—she dropped the hand axe she had carried for emergencies.
Like being enchanted, she walked towards the man.
The man, more beast-like than the monsters, turned his eyes to seek his next prey.
He found his target.
His sharp blue eyes, shining fiercely, fixed on Diana. They gleamed as if they were about to tear her apart. He pointed his sword at the approaching Diana.
Diana, as if oblivious to the sword, exhausted her remaining strength and leaped towards him.
Her trembling hands reached out to embrace the man's neck.
In that brief moment, the man could have swung his sword but remained motionless.
Frozen. The man stood rigid, like a statue, unable to move.
"Haah…"
Crazy. She was crazy. That was Diana's first impression.
She didn't know where the man had come from, but since his appearance, her heart had been pounding irregularly.
Diana saw it—the dark red magic flowing through the man's body.
It was a thoroughly concentrated power. An enormous amount of magic that would have driven an ordinary person mad.
'If only there were a person cursed terribly enough.'
Just as Noel said, a man cursed terribly appeared right in front of her. How could she not be overjoyed?
Instinct overtook reason. She embraced this stranger as if he were a love of a thousand years.
Diana clung to the man's neck, absorbing the magic from the curse to her heart's content.