Chapter 65
Chapter 65
Giant’s Tomb (3)
The atmosphere cooled instantly. No one was able to properly respond to the sudden incident.
Winter stared blankly at the place where Davide had disappeared above. He was no longer even visible, so it was no different from looking at the ceiling.
“Danger? A situation.”
Worden immediately took up a combat stance. He pulled out the slingshot he was familiar with and turned outward the belt hanging with various reagents.
“Didn’t see this coming~”
Canis was just as flustered. As an exceptional mage, she realized that the phenomenon that had just occurred was based on the principle of spatial separation.
“Looks like we’ve been trapped~ in a ridiculous place~”
Even as she said that, she moved forward without hesitation.
“W-Where are you going?”
“Hmm~ Davide told us to go to the center~”
Watching Canis move with her characteristic bouncy steps, Winter took a deep breath.
She pulled out Silent Bell and shook it, steadying her mind before following behind.
“Fire? Fire. Fire attribute.”
Worden continuously muttered the attribute Davide had told him about. He slowly began moving toward what appeared to be a newly formed doorway.
“As expected~ Davide had a reason to brag.”
Canis admired him sincerely. Davide’s words that Worden would play a major role were no lie.
The bandage-wrapped monster—more precisely, a monster formed by bandages taking shape and moving—was blown apart by Worden’s glass marbles.
“How interesting~ Is it your ability? Or that slingshot?”
The first marble he fired exploded with flames, reducing the monster to dust. The second marble exploded with ice, restricting the monster’s movements.
“Hm? What about it.”
Curious about the unusual attack pattern, Canis did not receive a proper answer.
She had known from the start that communication would not be easy. Even when she glanced at Winter just in case, Winter only wore a shocked expression.
“It’s not as scary as I thought.”
Winter, who had been ringing the bell repeatedly, felt complicated emotions as she watched the monsters being dealt with at Worden’s level.
From what she had heard from Davide and from the rumors, this place was supposed to be extremely difficult and grueling.
“Well~ you never know.”
Canis threw out a remark to the relaxing Winter. Though Winter tilted her head, she steeled her resolve.
At the very least, she decided she would not become a hindrance.
“Still~ this is getting a bit boring~”
“…If you’re bored, you can step in.”
“Those things~ physical attacks barely work on them~”
Though she was a mage, the battle-loving Canis voiced her disappointment. Even at Winter’s suggestion, Canis shook her head.
A crystal shard she had thrown as a test failed to inflict any damage whatsoever on the bandages. The same went for earth-attribute magic.
“Marbles? None left.”
“Ta-da~”
In moments like this, she simply created crystal spheres suitable for throwing whenever Worden ran out of glass marbles.
“Is this the center?”
Canis, who moved at the very front of the group, showed no hesitation. Winter desperately wanted to trust her, but it was not easy.
At Winter’s uneasy question, Canis wore a confident expression.
“Of course? The direction is already set~”
“It’s the center, right?”
Always brimming with confidence, Canis took on the role of the party’s leader now that Davide was gone.
Unlike the somewhat awkward and odd Worden and Winter, who lacked experience in matters like this, she seemed accustomed to leading a group.
“No?”
“Huh?”
Winter, who had assumed they were heading toward the place Davide had called the center, was left dumbfounded when completely different words came out of Canis’s mouth.
“Th-Then where?”
“I’m heading~ to Davide~”
“…Stalking magic?”
She ended up voicing a perfectly reasonable suspicion. Canis responded with nonsense along the lines of that wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
“No, how is that even possible?”
“Astrology~ I don’t know why~ but whenever I use astrology around Davide~ everything points to him~”
Rather than suspicion, amazement came first. Having spent a fair amount of time face to face with her, I didn’t think she had done anything strange.
“Ta-da~”
Canis brought her hands together and then suddenly spread them apart. A sparkling circle and the smooth lines connecting them resembled a three-dimensional constellation.
“Do you see this~”
“Yes.”
Canis pointed to one of the constellations. The largest and brightest star overlapped with a small star.
“This~ is Davide.”
“…It’s moving at an insane speed.”
The star representing Davide was, quite literally, racing somewhere at a mad pace. Canis simply said we would meet up with him eventually, so there was no need to worry.
“Shall we rest a bit~ What about you, little sparrow~”
“Sparrow? Oh, rest? Sure.”
We sat side by side against one wall, catching our breath while drinking water from our canteens.
If not for Bereninche’s forced stamina training, I would have collapsed long ago under this grueling pace.
“Winter.”
“Yes?”
“Could you ring the bell~”
Just as my heated body was beginning to cool down, Canis, who had been watching the constellation, made her request.
Though puzzled, I took out Silent Bell and shook it immediately. A clear, beautiful ringing sound echoed repeatedly.
“That’s strange~”
“Yes? What is?”
“It’s moving~ It’s moving. In time with the bell.”
Canis tilted her head. She sensed a subtle change, but it was hard to pinpoint what exactly it was.
Reacting to that, Worden placed his ear against the floor. After silently concentrating, he spoke meaningfully.
“Seven times~ Could you shake it seven times?”
I obediently rang Silent Bell. Seven chimes followed one another, and silence settled around us.
“Now what—”
I could not finish my sentence. Suddenly, the sound of something breaking rang out.
The noise grew louder and louder, and we quickly retreated into a corner. Canis’s crystals formed a barrier around us.
—Boom!
“Aaaah!”
Winter, who had been scanning the surroundings in heightened tension, finally let out the scream she had been holding back when the ceiling suddenly collapsed and something fell down.
“W-What is that?!”
“Oh my~ that’s~ Davide~”
Davide, drenched head to toe in blood, was embedded in the floor, breathing heavily. At Canis’s words, after she cleared away the dust with magic, Winter nearly fainted.
“Senior! Senior!”
It had been roughly two hours since we were separated. She hadn’t expected him to be this badly injured in such a short time.
Having received healer training, Winter immediately assessed Davide’s condition. There were no internal injuries, but the external wounds were excessive.
“Huh? What. Winter?”
I stood up as if nothing was wrong, wiping the blood off my face as I greeted her.
“Everyone’s safe.”
“Doesn’t look like~ you are~”
“Ah, I ran into a mid-boss.”
Muttering incomprehensible words, I caught the potion Canis threw at me.
“Just what I needed. While you’re at it, make me a sturdy crystal sword.”
I promptly drank it and, at my request, Canis obediently formed a crystal sword.
“Ah, don’t come over. You’ll get hurt.”
“What? What are you talk—”
I stopped Winter as she tried to rush over. What was she saying at a time like this? As she attempted to run forward, Canis held her back.
“It’s still separated~”
“Yeah, still is.”
Winter shook off Canis’s arm, only to be blocked by a transparent wall. Watching that, Canis let out a small exclamation of admiration.
Even she could not tell what kind of magic had been used. A spatial separation where objects could pass through, but people could not.
“It’s coming. You all go on ahead. If you reach the center, everything will be resolved. Ah, and try not to ring Silent Bell.”
***
Right after separating from Winter’s group, I immediately took out the Holy Scripture of the Anaye Faith. I headed toward the only open doorway. Robe followed silently behind me without complaint.
The light of the Holy Scripture was not bright but rather gentle, yet it was enough to illuminate the narrow passage.
“What was it again?”
I tried to recall what kind of place this had been in the game. Giant’s Tomb was divided into five spaces.
Each space was formed from the body of a giant who had died here. Left arm, right arm, both legs, head, chest.
“I’d planned to clear it all together.”
I had intended to tackle the most difficult part, the head, first and then head straight to the chest. But contrary to my expectations, the group had been split apart.
With Canis there, they should be fine.
I just hoped they remembered my words to head to the center. Still, having someone smart and experienced with them gave me some reassurance.
“If there’s anything uncomfortable, let me know.”
I glanced back and spoke. Robe simply nodded. At that gloomy figure, I let out a small sigh.
Robe walked in step with me, a longsword slung over his shoulder. Whenever I stopped, his steps halted at the exact same moment.
“Are you close with the Vice-Commander?”
I tried striking up a conversation to see if I could learn anything, but there was no response. If he had no intention of talking, then I intended to pick up the pace.
“I’m going to run. You can keep up, right?”
Without even waiting for an answer, I increased my speed. Given my position, there was a high chance I would encounter the head.
If Winter’s group below happened to defeat their mid-boss first, it would become troublesome.
He keeps up well.
Even as I ran at a considerable speed, Robe followed comfortably. With his sword still slung over his shoulder, he showed no sign of strain.
I pushed forward harder. Of the five bosses, if one side’s boss died, the boss on the other side would become strengthened.
The others were manageable somehow, but once the head began to power up, it would turn uncontrollable.
“Hm? Damn!”
Sensing a sudden shift in the air ahead, I quickly slowed down. The surroundings trembled faintly, and a wall abruptly formed before my eyes.
But my running speed had been too fast to stop completely.
“Hup!”
I leapt toward the newly formed wall. Planting my foot against it, I endured the full force of my momentum with both legs.
“Too late.”
I pushed off my body toward Robe, who had been running from a distance. He also sensed something wrong and slowed down, but the rebound force did not diminish easily.
So I smoothly hooked him and rolled along the ground. Fortunately, we avoided colliding into anything.
“Sorry.”
Since I had made him roll across the floor out of nowhere, I gave a brief apology. Without a word, Robe promptly stood up and brushed the dust off his robe.
“More importantly. What do we do about this?”
The wall that had suddenly appeared completely blocked the passage. I tried recalling whether there had been such a gimmick, but nothing came to mind.
“…The bell sound?”
From the wall, I could hear something being dragged repeatedly. Pressing my ear against it, it seemed the structure was moving in rhythm with the bell’s chime.
It appeared to be interacting with Winter’s Silent Bell.
“Hm?”
I felt a small hand tap my shoulder. The impact was rather blunt, so I turned around.
Robe was holding an enormous lance that I had no idea where he had pulled from. A massive conical tip, even a guard near the handle.
The lance, about five meters long, was such a masterpiece that it seized my attention at a glance.
“You want me to break it?”
Robe casually handed over the precious lance. Now holding it, I saw him point at the newly formed wall.
Understanding his intention immediately, I swung the lance around a few times. It was heavy, but not impossible to handle.
“Ah, like this?”
Perhaps my stance was extremely clumsy, because Robe demonstrated it himself. He tucked the end of the lance under his elbow and pressed his arm tightly against his body.
With just that, the heavy lance lifted easily. Come to think of it, I didn’t even have a horse—what was I supposed to do with a cavalry lance?
“I’m going in.”
With a dry chuckle, I struck my chest twice. In response to my fighting spirit, lightning wrapped around my body.
The lightning armor did not stop there; it coiled its current around the lance as well. With all my strength, I charged toward the wall.
“Wow.”
The lightning-clad lance pierced through the seemingly solid wall with ease. At the electrifying sensation in my hands, my eyes widened.
“This is insane.”
I turned back and gave Robe a thumbs-up. The weapon’s performance was incredible. Robe simply shrugged in response.
Wearing a bold grin, I surged forward once more. There would be no more stopping my charge now.