Chapter 165
Chapter 165: Mountain of Corpses
***
Following the direction of the sound, I jogged over, pressed both hands against the icy cold bluestone bricks of the wall, and turned my head to press my ear against it, waiting quietly for a moment...
Thud—!
A deep, heavy rumble, faintly carrying the distinctive resonance of heavy metal striking something solid, clearer than anything I'd heard before.
The source of the sound... seemed not far off now.
Realizing this, I hurriedly felt my way along the wall, peeking here and looking there, scratching and tapping along the edges of the bricks, and quickly discovered a perfectly square gap in the wall, shaped just like a door.
How do I open it... smash my way through?
I hesitated where I stood for a moment, then brought my nose close to the gap and sniffed... a faint stench of rot.
...No idea what's in there.
Better not go smashing things yet, there has to be a mechanism somewhere...
Thinking that, I tilted my head back and looked up at the extinguished candle holder mounted on the wall above. I stood on my tiptoes and stretched my hand up, feeling around where the wick should be... sticky. There was still oil, it could be lit.
But I had no fire... wait, what's that below the candle holder... a sliding rail?
It can be pushed down!
I grabbed the candle holder firmly, and using the weight of my body, yanked it down hard —
Click.
A soft sound. The candle holder was pulled from its original position, sliding down 10 centimeters. Immediately after, the sound of gears turning came from inside the wall.
Clack clack clack... clunk—!
The previously smooth wall surface suddenly caved inward with no warning, a huge chunk collapsing in all at once. The massive movement sent up a cloud of dust, caught by a faint breeze that swept straight into my face in an instant.
Whoosh—
I frantically snapped my mouth shut and stumbled backward, step after step.
"...Pfft— pfft pfft! Cough, cough— cough!"
Even so, I still got a mouthful. The dust had gotten in, every gritty little particle absolutely disgusting.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble...
The ground trembled faintly.
After roughly spitting out all the filth in my mouth, I lifted my head again.
The wall before me was slowly opening. Behind it, a narrow passage, dim and deep, stretched through the suffocating darkness within, all the way to an end I couldn't see.
It was like some terrifying beast that devoured people whole, letting out a thunderous roar.
Thoom—!
Clang... clang... clang...
The echo after the great sound wandered back and forth inside the not-so-large cellar, reluctant to fade for a long time.
This time I heard it clearly. Heard it plainly.
It was the sound of some indestructible, razor-sharp blade, driven by tremendous force, splitting through flesh and bone in a single strike, then burying itself deep into solid rock and throwing off sparks — that's the image that came to mind.
As if to confirm my guess, a moment later, a thick, heavy stench of rot washed over my cheeks and poured into my nose.
That smell... I was already quite familiar with it.
I knew what it was, the intertwined mix of decay and blood, the scent that belongs to death itself.
A sense of danger flooded my entire body. My heartbeat suddenly spiked. My expression went grim. In silence, I unstrapped Captain Grey from my back, wiped away the black cloth draped over it, and tossed the cloth aside at my feet.
My right hand tightened around the scythe handle.
I drew a slow breath, and swung it downward.
Clang! Click click click!
Zing—
The pitch-black, enormous instrument of death had taken shape.
Then I lifted my foot and stepped into the dark passage.
The passage was long, long enough that it felt like I could walk through it for a century. I knew that was just my mind playing tricks.
That strange muffled thudding had stopped. Whoever, or whatever, was making that sound had probably heard the commotion on this side, and knew that the hidden door had been opened. At this moment... they were likely lying in ambush in the darkness, silently waiting for their prey to arrive.
That was my guess, at least.
So then, what was hiding in a place like this? A person? A monster? Or something even more terrifying than either of those...
...And, Sister Theresa. Are you in here?
Bringing my vigilance to its absolute peak, I slowed my steps and moved carefully forward.
The passage was widening, the field of view gradually opening up. Before long, the ceiling that had been pressing down close above my head disappeared... it seemed I had walked into a wide underground hall.
My attention was immediately drawn to the enormous stone carving standing right in the center of the hall.
It appeared to be a human-shaped stone sculpture, about 5 meters tall, even craning my neck I couldn't see the top of it... but the craftsmanship was exceptional overall, enough that I could vaguely make out details from the silhouette alone.
Only the surroundings were too dark. Dark enough that I couldn't even clearly make out the statue's gender. I didn't dare rashly unleash Order Power to illuminate the area, that would completely expose my position. All I could do was feel my way through the darkness like this, observing changes in my surroundings while staying alert for enemies lurking in the shadows.
The air reeked unbearably.
Beyond the iron tang of blood, I caught another smell even more nauseating — the stench of rotting animal flesh.
It frightened me. My heart beat faster and faster against my will, as if it were about to leap out of my throat.
But I had to keep my composure and keep moving forward.
"Huu—"
I quietly let out a breath.
Clop— clop—
The sound of my leather boots on the stone tiles rang unnervingly clear in my ears, even though I felt I had already made myself as light as possible.
...The enemy shouldn't be able to hear that, right.
Alright... let's see what's up ahead.
I left the spot near the stone carving and moved toward the deeper darkness.
The stench saturating the air had already reached the point of making my eyes mildly uncomfortable.
I raised a hand to rub them, and then, at the far end of the hall, I spotted a flicker of firelight in the distance... something is over there!
What is that... ugh!
Suddenly, I kicked something.
! ! ! !
The scare nearly sent my soul flying out of my body. Every hair on my skin stood on end. I jumped back 2 steps, planted my feet once I steadied myself, and immediately froze, not daring to move. I gripped Captain Grey tight in my hand, closed my eyes, and listened and felt carefully.
Bzzzz... bzzzz...
All I heard was the buzzing of flying insects beating their wings.
Beyond that, I detected nothing out of the ordinary.
...What did I just kick? Something soft...
All of a sudden, I heard a soft rustling sound from up ahead.
Immediately after, at the far end of my field of vision, 2 long tongues of flame came racing toward me, twisting along the walls like snakes, and in an instant they were right beside me, roaring past along the walls.
And along the path they traveled, lantern after lantern blazed to life. The firelight surged up in an instant, driving the darkness away entirely, everything before me becoming bright and clear.
...So blinding!
My eyes instinctively squinted shut.
Then I dropped into a stance, bent at the knees, scythe raised high over my head. In that instant, my reactions were faster than they'd ever been before, every nerve primed to meet an enemy's assault.
But no assault came.
Just a sharp buzzing explosion in my ears.
In an instant, flies filled every inch of the space, swarming in all directions.
Bzzzzzz bzzzzzz——
"Mmph!"
The fright wrung a whimper out of me, and I hurriedly clamped my mouth shut.
What is happening!
Where did all these flies come from... get away from me!
These flies had apparently been completely still before. Startled by the sudden flare of light, they were now flying in every direction with no sense of where they were going, some of them crashing into my head and arms. I quickly retreated 2 steps, and once my eyes had gradually adjusted to the light, I saw clearly what I had kicked just a moment ago.
A female corpse, slumped against the wall, her chest split open.
The woman's head was tilted back, mouth agape, her whole face pale and purple. Sightless eyes stared up at nothing. Blood had congealed on her body into a dark brown — she hadn't been dead long.
A few seconds later, I recognized the body.
It was Tanis, vice-captain of the Sword of Kanri.
Behind her, there were countless, countless, piles of bones and corpses, stacked together into a small mountain.
Among them, I recognized several familiar faces. There were people with the Sword Emblem printed on their shoulders... and there were monks in monastic robes from the Church... I recognized them as the people who had come with Sister Theresa, the ones who'd helped intercept the cargo in the alley.
Flies crawled across their blue-purple faces. Dark brown blood had dried on their bodies, their clothing gone stiff and rigid... and the corpses further inside... had already rotted beyond recognition, or had long since been reduced to bare bones.
"...Ugh—!"
I couldn't hold it back. I turned my head and retched.