47
Chapter 47
Seven kobolds stood blocking the path.
They were tearing into something.
As I absentmindedly took another step closer, a terrible stench pierced my nose.
Bloody water spread across the ground, and an unrecognizable corpse lay sprawled there.
'...Is it a person?'
For a moment, the thought crossed my mind, but I quickly shook it off. That wasn't what was important right now.
The kobolds, seeing us, glared and flinched before quickly backing away.
I had felt this before, but they didn't seem to be as aggressive monsters as I thought.
Or, perhaps they were simply a cowardly race.
"Kobold."
As I muttered, Eileen whispered next to me.
"Are those... kobolds?"
It seemed Eileen was seeing kobolds for the first time.
If she had only lived in the castle, it would be natural.
"Ugh..."
Eileen slightly grimaced.
I cast my gaze down for a moment.
The spot where blood and flesh were scattered... anyone could see it wasn't the traces of a normal beast.
There was also something that looked like a finger.
"...Tsk."
I clicked my tongue.
The fact that these guys were eating human meat was horrific, yet it strangely added a sense of reality.
If I lost here... I would become no different from them.
The ones who had retreated must have noticed that there were only two of us, as they slowly began to close the distance.
Such calculating movements made them look smarter than expected.
Step.
At that moment, Eileen stepped forward.
"...."
Light cloth armor and a single dagger.
It was a somewhat lacking set of equipment to act as the vanguard, but her expression was quite resolute.
It would be useless to stop her.
So I didn't say anything either.
Instead, I quietly drew upon my mana from behind, ready to respond at any moment.
"Kieek!!"
One kobold at the front let out a sharp cry and charged.
It was the one that looked to be in the best condition out of them.
Its height was about half of Eileen's.
However, beneath that messily grown fur, the bulging muscles and sharply raised claws were more threatening than expected.
Eileen kept the tip of her blade raised, twisting her body at an angle, and glared at the charging kobold.
The weapon I had given her was called a dagger, but in reality, it was closer to a regular sword.
It was almost fifty centimeters long, with a double-edged sword blade.
Although it could be held with one hand, it had enough weight that it wouldn't be awkward to wield with both hands.
Eileen, who had a clear reach advantage over the kobold, quickly swung her sword down as soon as it entered her range.
The kobold instinctively raised its hand to block the sword.
However, trying to block a sharp double-edged sword with bare hands was a reckless choice.
Thwack.
Cleaving through flesh and bone, the sword split right through the back of its hand.
Blood splattered, and the kobold screamed in pain.
"Kieaack!!"
The creature stumbled back and collapsed, and the other kobolds also flinched for a moment and stepped back.
But it didn't end there.
The moment it curled up its body in pain.
Eileen stepped forward and swung her sword once more.
Swish.
A short sound of something brushing past.
This time, it was the nape of the neck.
Perhaps because of its curled-up posture, it probably had no time to defend itself properly.
Thud.
The kobold collapsed without even a twitch.
Only then did the other kobolds flinch and step back.
Blood dripped from the tip of Eileen's sword and spread across the floor.
As that single drop of blood soaked the ground, even the air felt lighter.
I watched her with my mouth shut.
Before talking about magic or anything else, she was doing what she could.
For this moment at least, it wasn't strange for her to stand in the vanguard.
Of course, looking at her tightly sealed lips, she didn't seem entirely free from the shock of the killing.
Standing there with a blood-soaked sword, she quietly swallowed her breath as if suppressing something.
This wasn't training, it was a real fight.
Whether it was a person or a monster, the fact that you killed something didn't just easily pass by.
But there was no time to hesitate.
"Kieek!! Kiiiik!!"
As if enraged by the first victim, the kobolds in the back leaped forward all at once.
It was a fairly organized movement.
It was also proof that the one in front wasn't simply a beast that had failed its hunt.
'Did these guys have the concept of a colleague too?'
That thought briefly crossed my mind.
To me, they were just furry monsters, but it might have been different among themselves.
If they could react so violently to the death of one of their own.
My heart began to beat faster in tandem.
This time, it might be too much for Eileen to handle alone.
I immediately raised my left hand and deployed the gathered mana.
A cold energy formed at my fingertips.
[Water Barrier]
Swoosh-!
The groundwater splashing on the floor underwent condensation, creating a thin, wide shield.
Once again, the cold sensation of blue magic permeated my hand.
Now, rather than feeling foreign, it started to feel familiar.
The kobolds flinched at the suddenly rising blue barrier.
The transparent ripples of water wavered like a haze, blocking their path.
"Kiek...?"
A momentarily bewildered cry rang out, but soon, as if they didn't care, they raised their claws and charged again.
It was as if they believed they could just push through such a strange shield with sheer numbers.
I took a half step back with my right foot and lowered my stance.
Standing at an angle behind the water shield, I created an angle to deflect the impact.
The first kobold to collide bounced off the shield, and the second one slammed right into the front and stopped in its tracks.
It was an opportunity.
I swung the mace held in my right hand just like that.
Alongside the shield where water drops scattered, heavy steel dug in.
Crack.
The sensation of something hard being crushed.
The kobold's shoulder was struck by the mace and twisted abnormally to one side.
"Kkiek!!"
It was sent flying backward without even being able to let out a proper scream, and rolled on the stone floor a few times before barely coming to a stop.
Unable to even raise its arms, its body trembled as if convulsing.
Eileen's gaze briefly turned in that direction.
But the kobolds didn't stop.
With furious eyes, they were still charging at us.
"Kueek!"
The rest of them scattered while making threatening sounds.
It was a sound where fear and instinct intertwined.
"Phew, I'll just be wasting my mana for nothing."
I shoved one kobold away and let out a short breath.
It wasn't such a threatening situation yet.
Splash.
"Kiek-!"
Whenever Eileen swung her sword next to me, the kobolds' blood soaked the boulders.
Her movements were still sharp and calm, but I couldn't place the burden solely on her.
I still had mana to spare.
However, a corner of my mind kept warning me.
'If the herb gatherer's words are true... there's no way this is the end.'
The kobolds probably wouldn't be everything.
Somewhere in the cave, something bigger might be quietly lurking.
I readjusted my grip on the mace.
I had to avoid wasting my strength unnecessarily.
It was a short, tension-filled battle, but the physical toll felt much greater than that.
"Eileen! Stop."
"Yes?"
Eileen, who had been taking a step toward the kobolds, stopped at my words.
Short breaths echoed throughout the cave.
Drops of blood were dripping from the tip of her sword, and her eyes were still burning from the fight.
I quietly nodded, signaling for her to step back.
As Eileen and I carefully took a step to the side, the kobolds in front of us flinched.
"Kie... Kiek?"
One of them let out a cautious cry.
The trembling cry hit the cave walls, echoing small but sharp.
Their legs were visibly shaking.
The fierce momentum they had charged with in anger just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.
Now, fear was clearly dominant.
'Good, now is the time.'
I lifted my mace slightly and slowly took a step forward.
I intentionally made a sound, and that alone provoked a reaction from them.
"Kieeek!"
One of them let out a scream and turned its back first.
And soon, the rest of the kobolds fled out of the cave as if crumbling away.
Beyond the narrow cave passage, the sounds of scratching claws and bumping into boulders echoed in succession.
They ran away without looking back.
I silently watched their retreating backs.
I didn't bother chasing them.
The goal of this fight wasn't to fight to the bitter end.
Investigating the people who went into the cave was the priority.
"That's a relief."
Eileen said from beside me, catching her breath.
Her sword returned to its scabbard, and I quietly nodded.
In the spot where the kobolds had fled, a gruesomely mutilated corpse remained.
It was hard to recognize its shape, but there was something strangely noticeable.
"Ugh, this person... what on earth did they get hit by?"
The head area seemed to have been crushed by something heavy.
It was severely distorted, as if struck by a massive mace.
It seemed a bit of a stretch to say the kobolds did this.
"Could they have fallen from a high place?"
"Hmm... is there a place like that in this cave?"
Even so, assuming they dragged a dead corpse in from outside, the timing was strange in many ways.
To think such a thing would happen today, the very day the village youths went out to explore.
If the corpse had been dragged in from outside, at least the path we came through should have been painted like a red carpet.
Above all, the kobolds... I was worried they might flee deeper into the cave and become a nuisance, but contrary to my concern, they ran straight toward the back of the cave.
As if they absolutely shouldn't go any deeper inside.
"Let's head inside for now."
I took my steps along the path the kobolds had been blocking.
The thought that it might be the opposite side of the fork briefly crossed my mind, but fortunately, the path continued deep inside.
As expected, red trails that looked like something had been dragged could be seen further inside the cave.
Trudge, trudge.
As we went deeper and deeper along the only path, a large cavern appeared, completely unlike the narrow and stuffy passageway.
Inside it, strange things were scattered here and there.
"...Spider web?"
White, sticky spider webs densely covered the inside of the cavern.
On top of them, a few tightly rolled cocoons caught my eye.
"There are people over there!"
At Eileen's urgent cry, I also shifted my gaze toward the cocoons.
It was true. Fingers, toes, and in some cases, even faces, were faintly visible through the gaps in the cocoons.
They were clearly people.
Spider webs and cocoons...... Then, where is the spider?
A chill ran down my spine as I raised my head toward the ceiling.
And right at that moment, I saw a heavy shadow flying toward us.
Whoosh.
"!!"
Before I could even finish speaking, I grabbed Eileen next to me, almost pushing her over as I threw my body to the floor.
Something brushed past us roughly with a sharp whistling wind behind my back.
What just went by? A spear? A claw? Or a spider leg?
Crash!
As a dull sound of impact erupted, the entire cave hummed as if it were alive.
Crumbled rocks poured down like fragments from above our heads, and the entire cavern was covered in pale dust.
"Cough, cough...!"
Inhaling the dust, Eileen coughed and raised her body.
I also lowered my posture while covering my face with my arm. It wasn't a collapse, but the impact of something slamming down.
I lifted my head to check the identity of what had just struck the cave wall.
It wasn't a simple boulder.
A boulder large enough to easily crush a couple of people was wrapped in a long, stretched spider web.
It was slammed down aiming exactly at the spot where we had just been. As if it wasn't thrown, but pulled and struck down.
Crack.
The sticky, thick spider web gripped the boulder as it was slowly pulled up toward the ceiling.
I unconsciously raised my gaze, following that movement.
Something was clinging to the ceiling.
Camouflaged in the surrounding darkness, the first thing that caught my eye was a vivid red color.
Large red eyes—one, two, three, four.
It perfectly matched the features the herb gatherer had mentioned.
Hanging upside down from the spider web, it quietly raised its upper body and looked down at us with a gaze as if choosing its next prey.
'Is that... the monster?'
An intimidation on a completely different level from a simple monster.
An instinctive sense of wariness that was hard to express in words pressed down heavily on my body.
"Riv..."
Eileen called out softly.
Her face was dyed with fear.
However, there was no time to soothe Eileen's fear.
Whoosh.
Because the next attack was flying in.
"Get down!"
I roughly pulled Eileen's arm and lowered my body to the floor again.
The vibration of the air echoed once more.
Something massive plummeted, cleaving through the space.
Crash!
The second impact.
This time, it was closer.
The floor heaved, and crushed stone fragments rained down from above.
A suffocating pressure.
"Are you okay?"
I glanced at Eileen, who was curled up next to me.
Her face as she nodded was still pale white, but soon the light in her eyes returned.
It was a relief.
That was one of the reasons we could hold on right now.
The beast was aiming from above.
Waiting for its prey to panic and shrink away.
But I couldn't back down.
Over my hand, the water barrier still remained.
And, I still had enough mana.
'This is where it really begins.'
I gripped my mace tightly.
Defense alone wouldn't be enough.
In order to fight this monster, I had to create a condition where it had no choice but to come down.
And I had no choice but to exploit that opening.
"Get ready. We need to find a way to drop it down."
I muttered lowly.
The only thing that could cut through the fear was action.