The Shadowed Legacy Of The Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 115

Sir Brock, who had killed the spider woman, was so shocked that his legs gave way and he couldn’t move.

“Are you alright, Sir Brock?”

Zibeck supported Brock.

“I, I’m sorry. I showed you an unsightly sight.”

“You must be in great mental pain. But there’s still….”

There was still danger.

‘And that danger is likely your wife.’

Zibeck couldn’t bring himself to say that.

But then, suddenly, the surrounding sounds disappeared. It was as if the sound was being absorbed by something, like cotton soaking up water.

Without a word, everyone looked up at the sky. Above the thick fog, a mountain was visible. The mountain, revealed above the fog-covered ground, looked so majestic that it seemed unreal.

But….

That mountain was moving.

“Is that… a Nether monster?”

Azadin frowned.

It was a huge beast covered in fur. Covered in gray fur, it was a humanoid figure, like a hairy human or a bear.

However, what was different was its majestic size and the clear sense of otherness emanating from it. It was as if one was seeing something that shouldn’t exist in this world, causing a sense of disgust that made every pore on the body stand on end.

Then, the monster raised something like a front paw. Or rather, one could tell it was trying to raise it. Its body was so huge that from here, it only looked like it was moving slowly.

But then, a whirlwind rose from the ground.

“Damn it! Oh, it’s coming!”

Azadin and his group immediately took cover behind the stone walls of the building. But could human-made structures withstand such a huge monster swinging its front paw?

Indeed. The huge monster’s front paw scraped the ground and pierced through the wall, striking Sir Brock, who had not yet escaped.

“Eek!?”

Sir Brock, startled, trembled… but nothing happened.

Like a mirage or an illusion, the huge monster’s front paw simply passed through Sir Brock.

-Gwoooooooo!

However, a strong wind followed, and Sir Brock tumbled across the ground like a pebble. Swept away by the wind, Sir Brock collided with a rafter lying on the ground.

“Ugh!”

“Oh, my god! A Nether monster! It hasn’t fully manifested in our world yet, but it won’t be long! If the wind is moving, it’s soon!”

The orc necromancer, Scott McGreene, sitting in his recovered wheelchair, shouted as if screaming, grabbing the rope on the floor.

“That… it’s going to manifest? Soon?”

Azadin was horrified as he looked at the huge, mountain-like monster.

Sir Brock was alive only because it had not yet taken physical form, but if such a huge monster took physical form….

Its mere existence was threatening. If it were to stumble forward once or twice, it would cause an earthquake.

“We have to kill the caster before it manifests! Otherwise, everything in this area, including us, will die!”

“But, the caster….”

Sir Brock got up. He had been swept away by the whirlwind caused by the huge monster, but his full plate armor was so good that it protected his body from the impact.

“Are you saying we should kill my wife?!”

“…….”

Everyone stared at Sir Brock in disbelief.

“If you had managed your household properly in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened!”

Brand retorted.

“I know I was wrong! But this is too much! Everyone else does it, so why is such a cruel thing happening to me?!”

“Still a kid. Hmm?”

Then, a wolf’s howl was heard in the distance. As the wind blew, the huge monster, the Nether monster, became transparent and then disappeared again.

“It disappeared?”

“It didn’t disappear! It just can’t manifest in this world yet. The light of the King’s Flower is preventing its existence from manifesting in this world!”

As Scott explained, suddenly, the spiderwebs began to freeze. Black magic gathered around the corpses of the Nagas and were-rats caught in the spiderwebs, and began to raise them again.

“N, Necromancy!”

“Not me.”

As Scott said that, the corpses began to mutate.

-Crack….

The skeletons of the corpses broke, their skin burst, and fur grew from within. Thick, coarse fur, like that of a Kerim mountain goat, grew, and horns sprouted from the corpses’ heads. And a terrifying chill emanated from their breath.

“That’s what’s freezing them.”

A monster that looked like a shrunken version of the huge Nether monster appeared before them.

*********

“…That’s the story.”

Azadin explained what had happened to Shati and drew the sword from his waist, examining the blade. The blade was chipped and the sword was twisted, making it unusable.

“So that’s why you came here?”

“Yeah. The Caragala bell tower or whatever was not something to be trifled with. A mountain was moving, I tell you.”

“The Caragala bell tower is also huge, you know?!”

“I’m sure it is. But have you ever seen it with your own eyes? It collapsed when the Naga Empire fell, so you haven’t seen it since, have you?”

“Ugh. Still….”

“Now is not the time to have a pride fight over that monster and the buildings of the Naga Empire. If that thing manifests, the fight between the Yegas and Kurt gods won’t matter.”

Azadin flicked the sword’s body with his finger and clicked his tongue. He leaned the sword against the wall and looked at the trapdoor entrance Shati had come through.

The trapdoor above the stairs was too small for Azadin, Ismail, and Midiam’s Kerim mountain goats, let alone the knights’ horses, to enter.

“Sweater, you stay here and guard. And, um….”

Azadin took out weapons from his saddle. After hesitating between a gleaming gem sword and a decent steel sword, Azadin put both on his waist.

“The fur of those monsters is so thick that the blades get damaged too easily.”

Then, he took out a short spear and handed it to Brand. Brand had also broken his weapon while fighting the monsters.

“Thank you.”

“No, I should be thanking you. Sir Zibeck…?”

“I would also like to request a weapon replacement.”

Zibeck’s steel sword was also dull. It wasn’t impossible to sharpen it again, but in this situation, they couldn’t afford to leisurely sharpen their blades.

“Ugh. The weapon stock is running out in an instant.”

Azadin grumbled and took out weapons from his mountain goat’s saddlebag, distributing them to his companions. Azadin’s mountain goat, now lighter, made a happy bleating sound.

“I’m hungry. Give me something to eat.”

Scott was looking for food even in this situation.

“Then, shall we go to the underground passage? Sir Brock, since you are the lord of this place, please guide us.”

“I don’t know it very well either. When I inherited the vassal contract of this place from my father, I did go through the underground passage once, but at the time, I just knew that the old city had sunk and a new village was built on top of it, and the old city became the sewers and drains.”

“You don’t know the paths inside?”

“Maps showing the paths are made of large copper plates and stored in each section. If you copy them, you won’t get lost.”

“Hmm. Is that so? Does your wife know this place?”

“She probably does.”

“That’s bad news.”

Azadin’s group took supplies from the horses’ and mountain goats’ saddlebags, reorganized, and chopped off the arms and necks of the fallen Naga corpses with axes.

“Let’s go!”

*********

“But what are you people anyway?”

Sir Brock was curious about Azadin’s group.

“I was wondering that too.”

Guillaume Valois was also curious about Azadin’s group.

“Heh heh. We are seekers of chivalry.”

Brand puffed out his chest and spoke proudly.

“…….”

“Tch. Nonsense….”

Shati grumbled and swept her hair back.

“First, this one is a prisoner, and this one is a defector who promised to become a mercenary instead of being a prisoner.”

“Huh? Why are you treating me and that orc differently?”

“You ran away again this time, didn’t you?”

“I healed you, didn’t I?”

“That’s why you’re alive. Otherwise, I would have killed you a long time ago.”

“Even if you say that, if you listen closely, it means you don’t want to kill me easily. Hah. Well, humans are often captivated by my beauty.”

“Okay, quiet. If we’re not quiet in the underground passage, we’ll alert the enemy to our approach.”

Azadin said that and began to walk quietly. When Azadin, Ismail, and Midiam walked quietly, even their footsteps could not be heard.

But….

-Clatter.

-Clank.

The knights in metal armor could not easily reduce their footsteps, no matter how hard they tried.

What was even more ridiculous was Brand. In his case, he was wearing a makeshift armor made of iron pieces attached to old leather armor, so every time he walked, it sounded like junk.

“…We should give up on stealth.”

Azadin quickly gave up and walked forward.

“Are you alright? It’s so dark here?”

“Ah….”

Azadin’s eyesight could pierce through the darkness, but most people couldn’t. Even Ismail and Midiam, who were also Aragasians, couldn’t see in a place without a single ray of light like Azadin could.

“Here.”

Scott picked up a stone from the floor and cast a spell to make it glow. It was a simple colorless magic, but Scott cast a glowing spell on several stones and distributed them to his companions.

Judging by his attitude of not caring much about mana consumption, this level of magic seemed like nothing to him.

‘He’s called a genius, so he must have some skill.’

Azadin received the glowing stone, held it in his hand, and walked forward.

The inside of the underground passage should have been damp and stinky with moss and mold due to the water seeping in from above… but there was no smell. The air was freezing, the water was freezing, and the moss and mold on the walls were all frozen and crumbling.

“It’s cold.”

“It feels like the cold air is pooling below. It’s colder below.”

“The floor is an ice rink.”

Azadin’s group carefully adjusted their collars and went inside.

After a while, they arrived at a confluence where the underground passages merged. Inside the large confluence where the domestic sewage and groundwater from the upper levels flowed in and merged, an orc was sitting with an axe-spear.

Opposite him, a B’tuma woman with black hair, black skin, and a voluptuous figure was confronting him.

“Liz!”

Sir Brock recognized her and called her name.

“How dare you call my name! Brock!”

“I, I was wrong!”

“Do you even know what you did wrong?!”

“That’s….”

“Okay, okay. Stop. There’s more than just a marital spat going on right now. Let’s all calm down.”

Azadin stopped the couple from clashing emotionally. Meanwhile, the orc necromancer Scott recognized the orc confronting the lord’s wife.

“Isn’t that Walter?”

“And you’re Scott? You were riding around in a wheelchair to avoid gaining muscle, but it looks like you’ve gained a lot of muscle in the meantime?”

“I’ve been busy. What happened?”