Rogue in the Dungeon (Hiatus)

Prologue - The Hatores Knight

The Hatores knight.

A monster, clad in a dull, viridian armor, with runic carvings and blood all over itself. He is renowned as the singular toughest enemy any guild has encountered thus far. Many parties have ventured forth, in groups of 5, to challenge this behemoth.

All have failed.

Countless techniques and strategies have been employed against this monster. And yet, like a knife slicing butter, it wields its crimson sword, melting through parties one after the other.

It does not help that this knight is not even considered a boss - It lays dormant, right outside the boss room, in a resting position. It simply waits for the fools whom approach him (or her, or maybe even it) carelessly, before roaring to life and killing everyone through that metal door.

A sadistic creature, truly.

It hacks and cleaves, and rends its opponents of their sanity and life.

Almost, seemingly, with every cut, it drinks the blood of its foes, and in a mocking laugh of triumph, it hacks at the viscera and remains of the fallen.

Drinking... Feeding... The sword he held, dyed in the blood of the fools whom he slay, pulsates a sickening, red radiance. His armor emanates a brilliant, glistening green, and the carvings upon it gradually glow red.

It was as if the armor itself thirsted on the blood.

I should know - I have seen it slay countless adventurers right in front of my eyes.

Its sadistic groan and merciless blows, even against the offals of the murdered, was enough to shake anyone morally. It did not yield nor reduce its strength, even when their opponent clearly has no means to fight any longer.

It was almost as if the Hatores knight before us was a machine, or a golem of some sort. But that was unthinkable.

No golem was that agile, to evade the opponent's attacks like a leaf in the wind. No machine was that intelligent, to use such clever tactics to disorient the enemy team while battling.

It was truly the textbook example of a 'monster', if anything.

Ruthless, unrelenting, merciless, unpredictable.

Old strategies that used to work against it, was quickly counteracted with it knowing what to do against them, as though the past experiences of combatting other adventurers have improved its dueling ability.

It was both a horrifying, and a beautiful sight to behold. Though it was a savage killer, it was somehow... Marvelous.

As though it were an artist, it paints and draws the stone blocks that comprised our floor with a crimson bloom and halved organs.

A horrific artist that has claimed the lives of many, many explorers before me.

I've kept count. A total of 63 explorers have died during my entire time up here.

I don't know how long I can keep this up. I... I think I've begun to turn insane already.

I stare, as the knight sucks up the last drop of blood from these dolls that were once human, just like myself. It doesn't even faze me anymore.

Good men are sent out to kill this guardian of the boss, and I simply stare at them falling by its blade, one by one.

I can't keep it up. This drives me insane.

... If there is a God out there, please...

... Put an end to this nightmare... And mine.