This time, I won't be the devil.

Every dark knight considers himself a partner of justice. They follow the justice in their hearts, protect the weak, and resist all oppression.

The tavern owner Van Dam is also such a person. Although he doesn't say it, he still silently practices the principles of the Dark Knight.

The reason why the New Nippori District, where low-level adventurers gather, can maintain good public security is precisely because of the secret protection of this Kamen Rider.

As the guardian of New Higurashi, Van-sama is powerless to do anything about the recent mass deaths of Iron-rank adventurers.

Of the six levels in the Jabberwock Underground Labyrinth, the first and second levels, or the first 20 levels, are classified as the upper levels.

According to the regulations of the Church, people above level 30 are prohibited from entering the upper levels of the maze, not to mention that Van Dam is no longer an active adventurer.

As for the reason for the ban, the Vatican said that strong people above level 30 would affect the stability of the upper level of the maze.

Defeat the Rotten Giant and save the life of the Black Iron-level adventurer. This is one of the bargaining chips that Frey proposed to Van Dam.

In return, Frey needs Van Dam to teach him the Dark Knight's detection skill - [Shadow Perception].

In order to make Van Damme trust him, Frey also prepared another important prop.

In his space ring, there is a Dark Knight's soul crystal.

Given Frey's personality, he certainly couldn't gain the recognition of the crystal. He got this crystal from a dark knight during the half month he became the Demon King.

Soul Crystal is a token of trust between Dark Knights, just like the bullets of the Sea Ranger. As long as you hold the crystal, all the Dark Knights on the continent will provide you with help.

But this was ultimately just an agreement without any binding force. As cautious as Frey was, he decided to test Van Dam's attitude before showing the crystal.

"Boss, after spending some time together, I think it's time for us to be honest with each other. In fact, I already know your true identity."

"So you already know it, so what do you want to do?"

"I have a request..."

Given Frey's understanding of Van Dam's character, instead of beating around the bush, it would be better to make the request directly and let the other party feel his enthusiasm and sincerity.

"Please train me to be a real man!" Frey earnestly expressed his desire to gain strength.

Faced with Frey's request, Van began to think, and soon he seemed to have figured something out, and gave Frey an understanding look.

"After all, you've been in the Labyrinth City for over half a month now. I understand your irrepressible feelings."

As expected of Van, he immediately understood Frey's request.

"But I've retired. If you really need me, I know four top experts in this field. Each of them has their own strengths and unique skills. Their fighting spirit and endurance are amazing, and their secret weapons can bring unexpected surprises..."

"No, I have to have you, boss!"

Seeing Frey's firm attitude, Van Dam finally agreed after hesitating for a while.

"Since you've been helping the tavern a lot lately, I'll make an exception and give you some guidance today."

"I'm going to go get ready. You wait in the locker room."

As Van Damme requested, Frey sat in the locker room and waited.

He always felt that something was wrong and that the other party agreed too readily.

The moment the locker room door was opened, Frey's doubts intensified.

Van was left with only a pair of black underwear on his body, and he was holding a rope, a small whip and a strangely shaped purple stick in his hands.

Hmm?

Looking at these wonderful little props of Van, Frey couldn't help but feel his anus tighten.

He quickly recalled the conversation just now, and then realized that Van seemed to have misunderstood what he meant.

As an expert in intelligence, Frey understood that Van-sama had another identity besides the Dark Knight: Dark Homo.

(Note: Homo means homosexual)

But before Frey could ask, Van came over impatiently.

"What are you standing there for? Don't you want to wrestle with me?"

"Come!!"

After saying that, Van roared and lunged at Frey.

This is the unique impatience of Homo...

After that, after some explanation, Frey finally managed to defend his backyard.

After learning that Frey wanted to defeat the Rotten Titan, Van Dam said it was too dangerous.

So Frey took out the Dark Knight's soul crystal.

"The Dark Knight's crystal will only be entrusted to someone he approves of. What is your relationship with the owner of this crystal?"

"As you know, I was rescued from the Demon King's Castle as a captive."

“There was a dark knight who fought to the very end to protect the humans who had fallen into the hands of the demons. He only fell after the demon king promised not to harm the captives.

"Before he died, he entrusted this crystal to me."

The reason why Frey treated the human captives in the Demon King's Castle so well was to abide by the agreement he had made with the Crystal Master.

After seeing the crystal, Van Dam finally stopped hesitating and agreed to Frey's request to teach him skills.

"Kid, remember this: if you want to learn shadow perception, you need to master three techniques."

“Deep, Dark, Fantastic…” (Feel the depth, understand the darkness, and use your imagination)

That night, Dark Knight Van-sama's lectures continued until dawn.

……

After learning the skills, Van Dam took Frey to the basement of the tavern, where various equipment he had used were placed.

"Take a look. If there are any suitable ones, just pick a few."

Frey first looked at the armor hanging on the wall.

Normally, mages do not wear armor. This is because heavy armor will affect the control of magic power. In addition, magicians often have low endurance, and wearing armor will greatly increase physical consumption.

Therefore, magicians often give up their defense and instead wear light robes that can improve the efficiency of magic transmission.

But as the saying goes, only those who are alive can output. Frey's endurance is not weaker than that of a normal warrior. In addition, the MyGO team now mainly relies on Noelle for output, so having Frey wear armor and act as the front row is a very cost-effective choice.

When fighting against powerful elite monsters, having a set of armor can greatly improve the tolerance rate.

However, the physique difference between Van Damme, who is covered in muscles, and Frey is too great. Frey definitely cannot wear those tailor-made heavy armor.

Van Dam obviously thought of this as well, and he took Frey to the depths of the basement.

"This is what I wore when I first became an adventurer. I was still very thin then. It should be just right for you now."

Through [Identification], Frey discovered that this armor was not simple.

[Armor Blessed by the Fairies: This is a worn-out armor set, but it has been blessed by the forest fairies, which slightly increases sensitivity.]

After putting on his armor, Frey came to the area where his weapons were stored.

In the battles so far, Frey had always left the maze early before his magic power was exhausted, but when facing elite monsters, he probably wouldn't have the room to retain his magic power.

In order to prevent himself from losing his combat effectiveness after his magic power was exhausted, Frey decided to pick up another melee weapon.

With his current physical panel, he is not able to use the Dark Knight's two-handed sword, so he can only go to the miscellaneous area to look for it.

[Wet Scythe: A weapon embodying the spirit of chivalry. Attack Power: 0.2]

[Physics Holy Sword (crowbar): Give it a fulcrum, and it can move anything. Attack Power: 0.4]

Healer's Fire Stick: Human stick or fire stick, that's the question. Attack power: 0.3

What kind of abstract weapon is this?

Putting aside the inexplicable descriptions in the appraisal results, the panels of these weapons are very ordinary and their practicality is not very good.

Just when Frey was getting discouraged and about to give up, something placed in the corner of the room caught his eye.

"Wow! I found it!"

Frey picked up this "weapon" as if he felt the call of fate.

After selecting his equipment and resting for a few hours, Frey arrived at the entrance of the maze to meet Noelle after making all necessary preparations.

"Frey, what's your equipment?"

At this time, Frey was wearing a short iron armor covered with scars on the outside, a worn leather armor on the inside, and a damaged chain mail in the middle, like a knight who had experienced countless battles.

Unlike the knights who were holding broadswords, Frey was holding a silver metal baseball bat in his hand.

Baseball Bat: You can use it to kill your friends and family, or conquer the galaxy. Attack Power: 1.0

This is the best stick that Frey found in all of Gensokyo.

"From today on, please call me Maze Bat Man."

Chapter 10 Tide, I have returned

After showing off his baseball bat, Frey opened his backpack and took out Noelle's bronze sword. He then asked with concern:

"Are you feeling well?"

The reason I asked this was because the day before yesterday afternoon, before we parted ways, Frey borrowed Noel's bronze sword in the name of an experiment and drew a vial of blood from him.

"It's just a little blood, nothing serious. But you, Frey, suddenly said yesterday morning that the maze exploration was canceled. Are you feeling unwell?"

"I just made some extra preparations to defeat the elite monster today."

Afterwards, Frey explained to Noelle about learning skills from Van Damme last night and today's battle plan. As for the experiment that took place in the early hours of yesterday morning, he did not mention it.

Noel didn't think much about it. He seemed very happy when he heard that they were going to defeat elite monsters.

Before entering the maze, Frey once again confirmed the current panels of the two.

[Name: Noelle Doragon]

【Level: 8】

[Attribute panel: Strength 12.9, Endurance 5.9, Agility 5.5, Magic 37.9]

Putting aside his still impressive magic power, since Noel had put all his attribute points into strength, his strength was even higher than Frey's who hadn't added any points.

[Name: Frey]