Chapter 148 : Mercy of a Barbarian
Mercy of a Barbarian
"Barkal, crying is useless."
As I threw out a word toward Barkal, who was shouting so loudly the dungeon seemed like it would collapse, he replied,
"I'm not crying! A barbarian doesn't cry!"
It seemed like he only had that pained face because Thrag wouldn't listen to him.
"I'm just protesting to Thrag!"
"... I-isn't that the same thing?"
At Serena's pointed remark, Barkal shut his mouth.
Thump, thump, thump.
With noisy Barkal quiet, the sound of the heartbeat became even clearer.
That couldn't be the Dark Knight—surely the real dungeon master was the owner of that sound.
"B-but, brother."
Serena carefully opened her mouth.
"What about Gor from earlier? I'm certain he went ahead to that place."
I remembered. Gor chased after Melissa, heading first toward the source of the heartbeat.
"Gor."
Barkal stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"He'll be fine. He might look weak, but he's a warrior of the Red Wolf Tribe."
He muttered those words as if he had a deep sense of pride in the "Red Wolf Tribe".
Honestly, I couldn't put much trust in Barkal's words.
"S-still, it seemed like he was being completely swept along by Melissa..."
It seemed Serena's thoughts matched mine, as she spoke with a worried face.
Even Barkal, who had spoken so firmly before, soon cleared his throat awkwardly, as if feeling uncomfortable.
"Ahem... Actually, he's adopted. He's not a true 'Red Wolf Tribe' member like me."
So that's how he was going to get out of answering. As I stared at Barkal in disbelief, he only gave a sheepish grin.
'I can't help but feel worried.'
Melissa was a woman who had prepared for revenge for twenty-five years.
In other words, she wasn't an ordinary woman with a bit of poison. Surely her love with Gor was part of her revenge too. That offensive approach must have been for that purpose.
"We're moving out."
The more I thought about it, the more worried I became for Gor.
She had prepared for twenty-five years, so she must have had a definite way of dealing with Gor.
* * *
The corridor made of living flesh was gradually widening. Just a short while ago, it was barely big enough for three people to walk side by side, but now it was wide enough for ten people to walk together.
But—
"Hmm."
Barkal's back, walking ahead, came into my view. Normally, he'd stride strongly out in front.
But now, his footsteps looked noticeably heavy.
"Barkal, are you alright?"
At my question, Barkal turned his head.
"What are you talking about! This is nothing!"
He let out a hearty laugh.
"I am a warrior of the Red Wolf Tribe! This much is nothing to me!"
He said that, but at the end of his laughter, his breathing was rough.
Even I, who hadn't fought the Dark Knight head-on, was tired. Just how exhausted must Barkal be after fighting him directly?
He'd even been exposed multiple times to the Aura of Famine.
"Serena, what about you?"
"I'm fine too, brother."
Serena replied with a smile. But since she'd also been exposed to the Aura of Famine, her face was more shadowed than usual.
Both of them were pushing themselves.
Even as we chatted and laughed, our breathing was rough. There was no strength in our voices like before.
Now that I think of it—
"I forgot to check something."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Ignoring Serena's question, I scattered blood once with the "Blood-Colored Awl".
After that, I summoned "Dullahan"
Chunsik again.
― Grrr..."
Even after being summoned again, chunsik was foaming at the mouth, probably from the wounds inflicted by the Dark Knight.
Even though he was undead, he was so weak that I wondered if this made sense, but in fact, I had only ever summoned his "head", not his full body.
Of course he'd be weak.
Thinking so, I cancelled the summoning of "Chunsik."
Go take a rest for now.
"I feel something up ahead,"
Serena said, pointing forward.
Presence?
"Yes, not just one, but several."
Several, huh.
A group of monsters, maybe.
That could be possible. Imagining that the "dungeon master" was waiting alone for us would be too convenient.
"It could be our brothers."
At Barkal's remark, my eyes flashed.
We weren't the only ones who had entered the dungeon. Members of the "Red Wolf Tribe" had entered together with us, so there was a chance they were barbarians.
"We'll know when we get there."
Hiding our exhaustion, we kept moving forward.
The end of the passage.
There, a vast open space awaited us.
"What is this..."
Serena gasped. It was a dome-shaped space made of living flesh.
And in the center—
'A heart.'
There was a gigantic heart.
It looked at least ten times the height of a person, an ugly mass covered in red flesh and black tendons.
The heart was beating. With every throb, the fleshy walls around it pulsed like a heartbeat.
〈Dungeon Master〉
Cradle of Hunger
As expected.
That heartbeat really was the sound of the dungeon master.
But it wasn't just the heart that was here.
"Aaagh!"
"For Thrag!"
Barbarians were fighting around the heart.
Led by the chieftain, dozens of barbarians were battling against the tendons stretched from the heart and the "infected barbarians."
"Chieftain!"
Barkal called out. The chieftain was swinging his greatsword, covered in blood.
"Barkal?!"
The chieftain noticed us and shouted.
"You've finally come!"
"What's the situation?"
"See for yourself!"
With that, the chieftain's axe chopped through one of the tendons. But where the tendon was cut, a new one writhed up again.
"No matter how many I cut, there's no end! Unless we destroy that heart, nothing will change!"
Ffff.
Taking a breath, the chieftain shouted,
"We'll open the path! Brave warriors, destroy that heart and save the tribe!"
Nodding at his words, the chieftain began to swing his greatsword left and right, cutting through tendons.
The other barbarians also stepped up to help.
Though exhausted, we had no choice but to press forward and try to conquer the dungeon quickly.
We, the "Dungeon God", moved forward with the barbarians' help, just as the chieftain said. But then—
"You're here."
Right in front of the heart.
Melissa greeted us, holding her broken wrist and placing her other hand on the heart.
She smiled as she met our eyes.
"Did you kill that monster and come here? I guess I underestimated you all."
She put on a show, but her body was ragged. It wouldn't have been strange if she collapsed at any moment.
"Where is Gor?"
At my question, melissa forced herself to look unfazed.
"I know this dungeon inside out. Separating him was nothing."
Squirm.
I saw one of the heart's blood vessels crawl along Melissa's hand.
"The Vessel was completed a long time ago. With this, a gate will be opened in this village connected to the Abyss."
A look of madness burned in Melissa's eyes. Barkal gave a hollow laugh at her grotesque appearance.
"It's a relief Gor isn't here."
"What?"
"It's a sight you wouldn't want your lover to see, witch."
Melissa's face twisted in a way I hadn't seen before, as Barkal's biting words seemed to stab deep into her heart.
Thump, thump, thump.
Perhaps because of that, the heart's throbbing grew even faster.
"When this is over, the first thing I'll do is kill you."
"Khahaha! You're the one who'll die here, woman!"
With a laugh, Barkal raised his axe and charged.
But the tendons stretching from the heart blocked our path.
"Grk!"
Barkal's axe chopped at the tendons. Thanks to his merciless strength, the tendons split instantly, but new ones sprouted up right away.
"A-as expected... two fights in a row is rough, Thrag!"
It was clear Barkal's movements had grown noticeably sluggish.
His stamina was spent after the battle with the Dark Knight.
"Haa... haa...!"
Serena was the same. She swung her fist, but it didn't have its usual force.
Even worse, her punches barely managed to cut through the "tendons," and her much-vaunted joint techniques were useless—she needed bones to break for them to work.
I also rushed in wielding the "Blood-Colored Awl", but the situation was the same.
My stamina was running out quickly. In the meantime, a tendon wrapped itself around my ankle.
I tried to hold out with the "skeleton exoskeleton", but I could feel my strength ebbing away.
'Crap.'
Stamina was at its limit.
Meanwhile, melissa's laughter grew stronger, and the heart's beat accelerated.
"Ha, haha."
Melissa giggled.
"All worn out from fighting that monster, aren't you? I love to see it."
Blood vessels from the heart dug even deeper into Melissa's body.
The giant heart's rhythm and Melissa's pulse began to resonate. As if that grotesque heart was about to swallow her as its new nest, the two were fused together in a horrific way.
"Melissa."
Then, a low voice sounded from behind. Melissa's eyes trembled violently at that voice.
Where her gaze landed, Gor stood, soaked in blood from head to toe.
Just the briefest of eye contact. It was enough—Gor kicked off the ground. In his hand was a spear.
Just as had happened to us, the heart's tendons writhed to defend Melissa.
Yet, strangely,
The blood vessels and tendons did not cling to Gor at all.
Before I could wonder why, Gor's spear tip struck home without hesitation—impaling Melissa's heart.