Lost Izalith Ruins

The Holy Light Knights charged forward, shouting about love and courage.

This display of bonds was enough to blast even a resurrected Demon King back down.

Yet what appeared before them was merely a pitiful, weak, and helpless hollow.

Hearing the commotion behind it, the thing turned around and looked at them with an innocent, clear-eyed expression, as though "Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?" had been written all over its face. Anyone who saw it would have found it pitiful.

Then a Holy Light soaring into the sky struck it, annihilating body and soul.

As the Holy Light gradually faded, this place known as the Lost Izalith Ruins returned to its deathly silence.

"..."

The Holy Light Knights said nothing. Only after quite a while did they raise their heads and look at one another, their expressions so complicated they could have been divided into a pie chart—say, twenty percent bewilderment and thirteen percent confusion.

"Who was the one shouting so passionately at the start?"

They had all thought some formidable enemy on par with a Black Knight was waiting ahead. Yet it turned out to be nothing more than an ordinary, inconspicuous hollow!

Their emotions had been wasted on such wild ups and downs! (Sain Underground City: They had not.)

"Cough, cough."

Anleisi coughed awkwardly, dispelling the high-tier Holy Light spell gathering in her hand. "I didn't expect hollows to be here too. Forget it—there's nothing strange about these creatures appearing anywhere. Let's keep going. We need to stay calmer from here on."

So they continued onward, and then...

They encountered even more hollows.

Yet no battle broke out at all.

"What exactly are these guys doing?"

Even the most serious Holy Light Knights could not help voicing their utter confusion. After