Chapter 174
Chapter 174
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 174
Chapter Title: Ghost City (9)
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-Kwang!!!!
Vines shot up rapidly, coiling around El’s ankles. Her body, thrown forward by its own momentum, wobbled for a moment before collapsing flat.
-Rattle.
Even after smashing her face straight into the floor, El didn’t falter. She swung her sword to sever the vines reaching for her ankles, then sprang back to her feet. Turning her gaze, she locked eyes precisely on me where I’d retreated to the side and raised her sword high.
“El!!!!”
-Thud!!!!
The moment the severed vines began regrowing to seize her legs again, something streaked toward her at lightning speed and tackled her. From the brief glimpse, I thought it was Ayla. But….
-Woof! Woof woof!
It wasn’t Ayla.
The thing barking furiously at El, who was about to swing her sword at me, and driving her back—it was a “dog.” Not quite as large as Ayla, but bigger than an ordinary large breed, with sleekly extended legs: a magnificent hunting hound. The only difference from a normal dog was….
“That thing….”
Its faintly translucent, ghostly form, perhaps. Its face and body were fairly distinct, but its legs below the knees—or rather, its paws—seemed completely erased, as if wiped away. The phrase “ghosts have no legs” sprang to mind. I instantly recognized this “ghost dog” as the same entity that had lunged at me in the mansion last time.
-Woof woof! Woof!!!!
It bared its fangs ferociously, snarling as if ready to tear into El at any moment. The instant Lloyd reached out to intervene….
“Wait!”
Hearing my shout, Lloyd withdrew his sword, infused with blue energy. Good thing I was quick; otherwise, his blade would have cleaved the ghost dog. Someone of Lloyd’s caliber could slash even formless beings with a sword….
-Woof! Woof woof!!
The ghost dog kept barking at El. Then, astonishingly, El dropped her sword and shrank back. It was bizarre. El had grown to the point where even fairly vicious monsters barely fazed her, yet here she was, cowering at a mere ghost dog.
“G-get away!!!”
-Grrrrr….
“Eek, aaagh!!!!”
Even as the ghost dog pressed her, El refused to back away from the door she’d been trying to open. Instead, she clung to the doorknob and huddled tighter. Rattle, rattle, rattle! The sound of El desperately twisting the knob echoed loudly.
-Woof!!!!
Worried the ghost dog might actually attack El, Lloyd watched the scene with a furrowed brow. Being struck by a ghost wounds not the body, but the soul. That required visiting a temple for a complex soul-repair ritual. If things went wrong, the body might remain intact while the soul perished, leaving a vegetative state.
But I was certain. That ghost dog wouldn’t attack El. Canines had telltale signals before and after attacks. Right before lunging, their tails flick short and sharp side to side, eyes going still. This ghost dog menaced El while scanning its surroundings, as if checking whether we might end up in the same state.
-Rattle, rattle, rattle.
-…Click!
At last, something gave way in the doorknob El had been wrenching desperately. The ghost dog immediately barked even louder. I swiftly used [Vine Bind] to wrap the remaining vines tightly around El’s body. Even then, she struggled fiercely to open the door and slip inside.
“Lloyd, take care of El!”
Lloyd hoisted El—bound tight in vines—over his shoulder and started up the narrow stairs. I grabbed El’s sword and followed, but paused midway to glance back. Through the narrow door’s gap leaked an eerie green flame. The green flames in the wall sconces had swelled to fist-sized blazes, roaring fiercely. A chilling sight.
-Woof!!!!
As I stared entranced, the ghost dog—glaring at the door—barked loudly at me and began ascending the stairs, as if herding me away. I hurried up the narrow stairs alongside it. Hadn’t these stairs seemed this long and steep before? They felt like they were stretching endlessly as we climbed. A bizarre heat rose from below. Unable to resist, I glanced back once more: behind the ghost dog’s translucent form, green flames licked like serpentine tongues.
“Damn.”
That was hellfire.
Only then did I realize how the man we’d seen upon arriving in the village had ended up in that grotesque state. Chills raced down my spine.
Lloyd, carrying El, emerged first, followed by me and the ghost dog. Once outside, I slammed the floor door shut and tried [Vine Bind] again to secure it firmly. But the seeds didn’t stir.
“They’re all cooked.”
Indeed. The seeds had been roasted by the hellfire’s heat, unable to sprout. As a stopgap, I pressed a heavy picture frame from the wall against the door. Thud! Thud! Thud! It rattled violently.
“Theodore!”
Turning, I saw Lloyd already outside the other door. The open doorway was fading into translucence, on the verge of vanishing. I sprinted desperately. The room had been cramped enough for just Lloyd and me when we entered, yet now it seemed to expand. Meaning the door was receding farther from me. Damn it, I cursed as I ran. The ghost dog had reached the door first and paced anxiously, watching me.
-Woof! Woof woof!
I barely crossed the threshold. The instant I did, the door and beyond turned fully transparent and vanished. Where it had been stood an empty wall. Just as I remembered—no such door had ever been there….
A painting hung on the now-doorless wall. Glancing at it carelessly, I gasped. The painting….
“This is… that room from earlier….”
It depicted the very room I’d just escaped. In the center stood a small child, face blackened and unrecognizable like the couple’s portrait at the mansion’s entrance. An uncanny dread gripped me; I whipped my head away.
-Scraaaape….
A scraping like claws on the wall, and heat wafted. Escaping the room wasn’t the end.
“Let’s get out—fast.”
We fled the mansion in haste. Only after crossing the dead garden and scaling the wall could we catch our breath. Was it finally over? I turned back to the mansion. Then….
-Roaaar!!!!
Green flames engulfed the entire structure in an instant. From garden to rooftop, the blaze consumed it all, vanishing in mere seconds. For a moment, the garden reeked of brimstone.
“So that’s why smoke always rose….”
-Mew.
Ayla licked El’s collapsed face vigorously. Come to think of it, where was the ghost dog? I scanned around, but it was gone. What on earth? After checking a few more times, I drew my dagger and cut the vines binding El.
“Puhah!”
“You okay?”
“M-Master….”
“Do you remember what happened inside?”
El hesitated, then slowly shook her head.
“Well… I was looking at a picture frame by the stairs….”
“The couple’s portrait?”
“Probably. Y-Yeah…. I felt a chill looking at the portrait… and after that, nothing.”
“No memory of the basement at all?”
“Basement?”
“Yeah. You found a hidden basement and went inside. There was a small door at the far end, and you went berserk trying to open it. Muttering ‘I have to find the gold.’”
“Gold…. Gold!”
“Something click?”
“I-I heard voices saying I had to find the gold.”
“Didn’t know whose?”
“So many voices….”
“I see.”
I have to find the gold…. I could vaguely guess what the village chief was hiding. The truth remained hazy, but I’d gained a clue.
“Why would this happen to me?”
I exchanged a glance with Lloyd. He nodded and spoke for me.
“Because fear lingers in you.”
“…!”
“You’ve been uneasy since arriving here. This mansion read your fear.”
El hung her head glumly. I stroked her hair, then said quietly,
“El. Don’t blame yourself. Fear is a perfectly natural emotion. No one escapes it. Not me, not Lloyd.”
“But you two….”
“The key is not leaving ‘fear’ as some unknown. Examine it, confront it. Once you understand what fear is, its power fades.”
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what fear the mansion evoked in El from seeing it. I could only dimly infer her brutal family history. No need to coddle her. Overcoming it was her burden.
“Let’s call it here and head back. Everyone needs rest.”
Before dawn broke, we slipped away as quietly as we’d come, cloaked in fading shadows.
Just before the inn, in the final alley. Whether an unusually diligent villager or a lazy one still awake, whispers drifted like a conversation.
-Did you see that light?
-Who this time?
-No screams, though.
-Did someone finally succeed?
-No way. Probably died without escaping the basement.
-Ah, figures.
-When the hell can we get that gold?
-Wanna leave this damn village already.
-Shh. Watch your mouth.
Sorry, but I heard it all. “Basement,” “gold,” “succeed”…. Not hard to guess what’s happening in this village. I gave a wry smile and melted back into the darkness.