Chapter 85 – Sewer (2)

“Aaah!”

The mysterious figure shrieked and rolled on the floor. It was because the connection with the familiar was cut off unintentionally. Due to that, the black hood she was wearing became damp, but the figure paid no heed.

“What are you doing?”

The voice came from above the figure. It was massive enough to reverberate through the cavern, and bizarre, like scratching a window. Enduring the pain, the figure slowly opened her eyes. A monster measuring 7 meters, easily four times her size, was looking down at her.

What was she doing? Damn it. You ignorant bastard. What do you know about the side effects of spells? She wanted to snap back, but now was not the time. Swallowing a groan, the figure spoke.

“Ugh. A-An attack… Some intruders are currently destroying my creations and running amok in this place.”

“An attack…? Is it the Lord’s army?”

The monster’s red eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“No, there are four of them. One is a nobody, and the other three are a knight, a paladin, and a mage… and every single one of them is highly skilled. Damn it. Did the bastards from the Holy Kingdom catch wind of this? First, we must flee…”

Despite the throbbing pain in her head, the figure accurately explained the situation and hurriedly tried to get up. Beside her, a hammer crashed down with a thud. It was a hammer made of stone, as massive as the monster’s size. Had it been a little closer, her head would have been shattered. The woman, whose hood was blown back by the wind pressure, swallowed hard.

“Why, why are you doing this? All of a sudden?”

“Fleeing is a cowardly act. Lord’s command. Did you forget? We must burn this city.”

The monster, burning with a sense of duty, let out a rough growling breath. The woman blinked her eyes and pushed herself up from the floor. Then, she shouted loudly.

“Hey, you crazy bastard! He is your lord, not mine! Don’t forget that we are in an alliance. Show me a bit more respect!”

As the monster’s gaze narrowed and its hand holding the hammer threatened to move again, the woman shouted defensively.

“Of course! I haven’t forgotten the mission either! The will of the Magic Tower is my will! But I am saying we should be more cautious! It’s because you haven’t seen what they look like. The one who uses lightning…”

The monster did not listen to the woman to the end. Instead, it swung the stone hammer in its hand violently. ‘Shit. This monster bastard is finally going to kill me…’ Just as the woman was terrified, sparks flew with a ting.

A yellow line spun around and embedded itself in the floor. It was a giant spear engraved with strange patterns like waves, its tip split in a triangular shape.

The spear crackled with sparks and trembled. Soon, it flew back with a whoosh into the dark passageway. The monster’s gaze had been fixed on the passage for a while. The woman’s gaze also turned there. Shortly after, with the sound of steady footsteps, four figures revealed themselves.

A female knight wearing breastplate armor engraved with a cross pattern, a red-haired woman dressed in leather armor, a turban-wearing middle-aged man with chattering teeth, and finally, a man wearing black armor with a strange crest engraved on his spear. He spoke.

“Your reaction is fast. Or is it because my attack was too monotonous?”

A thrown spear flies in a single line. If one could recognize that trajectory, blocking it would not be very difficult. ‘It’s a monster I’m seeing for the first time. It has good eyes. It should give a decent amount of experience.’ Belloc hung the thrown spear at his waist and stepped forward a few more paces. In his hand, a giant sword was now held.

“A Minotaur…? Doesn’t seem to be one…”

Adel trailed off as she saw the monster. The sheep horns on its head and its face were clearly in the shape of a bull. However, its dried face reminiscent of a skull and the grey exoskeleton covering its skin were something she had never seen before.

“Well, since it’s a monster with horns, isn’t it an ogre or a demon? Either way, they seem to be the culprits of this incident.”

Cara, answering Adel’s question nonchalantly, spun her staff. Indeed, since when did they search through monster encyclopedias to find how to deal with them? Adel also thought those words were right, so she nodded and gripped the shaft of her axe.

Thick black blood trickled down beneath the menacingly shining axe blade. Soon, this blood painted the floor sticky, drawing bizarre pictures. It was as if it spoke of the path they had walked.

“You cleared all the other creations in that short interval… What kind of shit is this… It’s dangerous, it’s dangerous.”

Even in front of the demon, the momentum of the three did not decrease, so the one who was flustered was naturally the woman. She pulled her hood back over to cover her face and muttered spells. Because the speed was extremely fast, the party could not block it. Then, the walls of the cavern rumbled. Soon, they flipped over, and dozens of Arian-style coffins popped out.

It reminded him of a movie he had seen in his childhood. ‘Now they will crawl out from there.’ It was exactly as Belloc expected. Once the woman’s spell ended, the coffins shrieked and opened all at once. Bandaged humans with their arms crossed in an X-shape revealed themselves from within. This time, carrying swords at their waists, they seemed to be of warrior origin.

Kweeeeek!

The mummies waddled out of the coffins and drew their respective weapons. Since they were covered in rust, it seemed that if hit, one would die of disease rather than be cut apart. In the end, the party faced the bull-headed monster, dozens of dead, and a mage who used strange sorcery. Cara spoke.

“As expected, she is a necromancer. More than that, this style and spell… seem similar to the witch we met before.”

“You mean that bitch from the ruins who controlled the headless knight.”

Something smells fishy. Cara nodded silently and chanted a spell. Looking at the opposite side, the eyes beneath the hood were also emitting a mysterious light. The spells of the two women clashed, and the surrounding space distorted with a crack. The warriors leaped forward. Soon, without slowing their momentum, they brandished their respective weapons.

The double-edged axe and the greatsword blade flashed. The worn-out blades of the enemies shattered in an instant. It was the result of combining the paladin’s holy power, the knight’s monstrous strength, and the rushing speed of the mummies.

Grrr.

The two were soon engulfed in the wave of monsters. On one side, flames surged with a bang, and on the other, a fierce wind pressure arose. ‘If you don’t wash for hundreds of years, this is what you smell like.’ Leaving behind a brief comment, Belloc swung his usual large sword.

The greatsword easily sliced through the mummies’ worn and contaminated bandages, the rotten flesh, and bones beneath. A single horizontal slash cut five or six bodies to pieces, but in the extremely short interval during which he swung the sword, the mummies squeezed through the space and rushed in.

Some stabbed with daggers, and some tried to crush him with their bodies. To the damn ignorant method, Belloc responded exactly the same way.

Minor attacks were blocked by his armor. Soon, he swung the black hammer attached to his wrist. Hit by the steel gauntlet, the mummy’s head spun around. There was another guy digging his head into his collarbone and chattering his teeth.

Belloc reached out, grabbed the guy’s head, and snapped it just like that. Leaving behind the sound of bones cracking, he swung his sword, punched, and kicked.

The speed at which the monsters were dying accelerated. Though he felt sorry for the people who had been killed by these things, he was relaxed. Therefore, he could notice the stone hammer falling from above and dodge it. The ground rumbled, and the water pooled on the floor splashed. Belloc spat out the mummy’s fluid that had entered his mouth and spoke.

“Did you aim for a gap? But your body is too huge to not stand out for that.”

Since it was four times larger than the mummies, Belloc had to look up at the creature. The bull-headed monster’s red eyes were wide open. In his view, those eyes contained both surprise and a competitive spirit; it seemed to possess intelligence. The monster spoke.

“That small body, how does such strength come from it? Amazing. Besides, you are fast.”

It even speaks. ‘I find your face more surprising.’ Hiding his inner thoughts, Belloc brought his hand to his waist. His wrist moved in a blur. A short dagger-like spear blade flew like a boomerang. The heads of the remaining mummies were sliced off one after another.

Familiar words. Boring reaction. Belloc did not bother to answer and raised his sword. Perhaps the monster also hadn’t spoken with much thought, as it lifted its stone hammer. The two figures took their stances, taking a brief breath. Soon, the two weapons clashed.

The blade shrieked with a screech, and stone dust crumbled down from the hammer. The monster’s eyes grew wider. Having clashed directly, the strength felt in its grip exceeded its expectations.

“What is this…”

Belloc, who was demonstrating the eccentric feat of blocking a downward strike with an upward slash, twisted his sword. Sparks flew, and the hammer that lost its support flew in with a tearing sound. If it were an ordinary warrior, the moment they released their weapon, they would have been smashed to pulp by the hammer. However, this did not apply to him. His superhuman strength, reflexes, and footwork made it possible.

Consequently, Belloc’s body dug beneath the monster like an arrow. The moment the monster felt a chill, its right leg was severed. A huge amount of blood, fitting its massive size, poured out.

Kweeeeek!

The monster, suddenly rendered one-legged, lost its balance and stumbled. However, even at that moment, its eyes glared with a red, sinister light. The hammer held in its hand was also swung to counter the threat. It was the habit of a warrior trained to fight in any situation. Of course, it did not work on Belloc. It just required two more slashes. The hammer was deflected with a clang, and losing even its remaining leg, the creature slumped to the ground.

The monster’s eyes changed. From its heavily distorted gaze, competitive spirit and curiosity could no longer be found. In their place were quite human emotions such as pain, fear, and regret. Belloc was not interested. It was not the first or second time he was killing such monsters.

“Wa…”

The ruthless blade shattered the wall of the sewer. The monster’s head on top of it was also split into pieces. Belloc turned his gaze. Adel’s double-edged axe was just bisecting the upper body of the last remaining mummy. Leaving behind the ribs and heart that fell with a thud, this time, a woman’s shriek was heard. Having approached the mysterious figure at some point, Cara was thrusting her rapier into her shoulder area.

“Aaah!”

“You smell bad. Why don’t you shut your mouth?”

As the woman struggled, the blade dug deeper into her flesh. Cara did not stop there; she slapped the figure’s cheek and drove her knee into her abdomen. As Adel and Belloc watched, she was nothing short of a ruthless female warrior. ‘She’s quite good. Indeed, she has talent.’ The two, who finished the battle, approached Cara while carrying their respective weapons.

Her face was flushed with excitement. Perhaps it was because of the experience of wielding a blade to stab a living creature. ‘It’s not a very pleasant feeling.’ While Belloc was thinking, Adel grabbed Cara’s hand and touched the figure’s belly.

“Rather than here… a bit lower is the vital point. Here, if it goes in properly, they can’t even breathe.”

“Really? I will keep it in mind next time.”

With her chest heaving, Cara pulled the rapier out from the figure’s arm. Soon, she wiped the blood on the screaming figure’s hood and sheathed it. She spoke.

“Adel. Can you heal this woman?”

Adel’s expression turned strange. Healing her after making a hole in her body and beating her up? Did she have a hobby in this kind of thing? Perhaps noticing that gaze, Cara, who was stuffing a piece of cloth into the figure’s mouth to gag her, spoke hurriedly.

“This person… no, this woman. She is not just some crazy wandering mage. She has practiced spells for killing people countless times… She is someone who learned properly from somewhere. That’s why I’m trying to dig into who is behind her. Surely, to pull off an incident of this scale, there must be some massive organization behind it.”

“You’re going to torture her?”

When Belloc asked, Cara smiled brightly. Perhaps due to her red hair along with the blood splattered on her face, it was a smile that looked even more eerie. Brushing back her hair, she spoke.

“I don’t do barbaric things like searing flesh or pulling out fingernails. Because I am a mage…”

Cara paused for a moment. Soon, licking her lips, she muttered.

“I will use drugs. Just one drink, and she will lose her mind to the point where she would want to vomit up everything she knows.”

Belloc did not say anything. Because he suddenly recalled when he first met Cara. The figure of the witch who laughed while burning people alive with a fireball spell. And her current appearance was enough to remind him of that scene.

Right, you also didn’t have an ordinary temper. I had forgotten. He nodded, and the conspiracy of the mysterious figure who planned to burn the city came to a futile end.