Demonic Realm (6)
I wondered just how long we had been descending. Even though we were heading downhill rather than climbing a steep incline, fatigue was gradually beginning to set in.
“We have arrived.”
Arhen’s voice broke the silence at last.
I expanded my Divine Power Detection outward to survey the surroundings, and sure enough, we were here. But wait a second. Something was wrong.
‘If things had gone according to my calculations, there should hardly be anyone here, if at all…’
For some reason, the life signatures picked up by my detection weren't fewer than before—if anything, they were more numerous. I had clearly given them a warning. I told them that the demonic beast would soon awaken, and that if they lingered in this place, they would inevitably be annihilated. Knowing that with such absolute certainty would have raised suspicions, so I had borrowed the Goddess’s name to deliver the prophecy.
In any case, it wasn’t as though they didn't know I was a Saint. If a Saint invoked the divine will to warn them of a beast’s impending resurrection, I naturally assumed they would have evacuated the settlement. But they hadn’t.
‘This is really bad…’
If these beastfolk let slip to Arhen that I was the one who forewarned them about the beast’s awakening, I would be put in an exceedingly awkward position. Yet it wasn't as if I could suggest turning back now. The underlying premise—that they would take my sincere warning seriously and relocate or at least emigrate elsewhere—had completely fallen apart. At this rate, everything would go entirely down the drain.
“Is this… a village?” Evan asked, gazing around with open bewilderment.
“This place is called the Haven of Frost,” Arhen replied.
Evan wore a look of wonder before a sudden curiosity prompted him to ask, “All the names around here seem rather metaphorical, don't they?”
“It is part of their culture. Most of their naming conventions are exceedingly convoluted. The name ‘Matimos Tribe’ was merely a moniker we bestowed upon them.”
The Haven of Frost. A subterranean village nestled deep within the Demonic Realm, destined to crumble and vanish without a trace once the beast stirred from its slumber…
A cold sweat broke out across my back. Was this really going to be all right?
While I agonizingly deliberated over what on earth to do, we arrived at the main gate before I even realized it. Sensing our approach, guards marched forward, leveling their raised spears straight at us.
“Step no further, or we will strike!”
“State your identities!”
Fierce and bloodthirsty. They hadn't typically reacted with such extreme hostility in the past. What had brought this on?
While I was left wondering, Arhen stepped forward and produced an object from her robe, displaying it before them. The moment the two guards inspected the token in her hand, their eyes went wide. Hastily apologizing for their impudence, they ushered us inside.
I had already found it somewhat strange that Arhen seemed so familiar with this place, but had she been maintaining ties with the Matimos Tribe since long before I even knew?
‘So she already knew about them.’
Then again, centuries ago she had sealed the beast in the prison below alongside the local tribe. Even if none of the beastfolk from that era had survived to this day, it was entirely plausible that diplomatic relations had continued down through the generations.
‘In that case, I can breathe a little easier.’
If Arhen had already been informed that I was the one who foretold the beast's awakening, she wouldn't have brought the matter up under the assumption that I was in the dark. If she were merely testing me, that would mean her intellect was leagues beyond mine—an insurmountable wall—so I might as well just let myself get played. But for her to act like that, she would have had to suspect me from the very beginning, and there was zero reason for her to harbor any suspicion in the first place.
For whatever reason, it seemed the beastfolk hadn't mentioned me to her. Perhaps they had only relayed the fact that the beast was soon to awaken. And quite recently at that.
After all, I had tumbled down the cliff and invoked the Goddess's name to deliver the prophecy back when no anomalies had occurred yet. Now that strange phenomena were actively unfolding all over the region, the tribe had likely only reported that an issue might have arisen with the barrier.
‘What a relief.’
Yes, blurted-out claims that a demonic beast was about to wake up were far too jarring to take at face value. It had sounded bizarre enough coming from me, but had the beastfolk made such an announcement out of the blue, they would have had no way to explain it. They must have waited until anomalies actually manifested before raising concerns about the seal. If not for my earlier intervention, we would have been caught entirely off guard and forced into an impromptu raid, so this was infinitely better. Truly…
In any event—
“This way, please.”
A man who appeared to be the captain of the guard approached and began leading us forward. The destination he guided us to was none other than the chieftain’s residence. Once inside, we were immediately shown into the main quarters. This matter was far too grave not to discuss directly with the chieftain.
We sat waiting in the reception parlor for a short while before the door slid open with a gentle rattle, and someone stepped into the room.
I couldn't make out colors very well, but if my faint memories served me correctly, he was a massive humanoid bear beastman cloaked in thick brown fur reaching down to his waist…
‘His silhouette matches the character I remember, at least.’
“Forgive me for keeping you waiting, Headmaster.”
“Think nothing of it. You have your own duties to attend to.”
It was true.
“Then allow me to begin… with an introduction.” The chieftain—or rather—
“I am the Guide in the Chilling Frostwind. I serve as the chieftain of this sanctuary.”
Guide in the Chilling Frostwind. Considering he not only showed the way down to the perilous Prison of Permafrost and personally guided challengers there, but also provided virtually all the walkthrough steps and boss weaknesses as the very first boss encounter, the moniker could not have been more apt.
Sure, that kind of handholding was invaluable for a greenhorn newbie… but the layout of the area and the boss's vulnerabilities were fixed facts that would never change, so I hardly needed his guidance. That was why I had warned them in hopes they would evacuate and survive.
‘So why on earth are you still standing here?!’
Things were turning out well enough in the end, so perhaps I shouldn't have been dwelling on it, but I genuinely could not comprehend why he was still here. I had explicitly told them that remaining here spelled mortal danger, yet had the thought of packing up and moving never even crossed their minds?
‘No matter how you look at it, this place will be the very first thing to collapse when the beast awakens…’
There was no way to prevent the destruction. Even if we dove directly into the seal binding the Prison of Permafrost and slew the monster ourselves, the unraveling of the seal would inevitably trigger the emergence of that colossal beast, bringing the entire subterranean cavern crashing down. Conversely, if we didn't subjugate it, the beast would eventually resurrect on its own, which would also destroy the cavern. In short, staying in this village was practically synonymous with signing one's own death warrant.
In the game, the villagers had been crushed and dragged into the abyss below before they could do a single thing, dying to the last person. Even if anyone had survived the initial cave-in, escaping the fractured canyon was a task beyond the reach of ordinary folk, beastman or not.
‘I’m going to lose my mind from sheer frustration.’
How could I not feel suffocated? It was as if these people were actively courting death.
While I inwardly agonized over their obstinacy, Evan, seated beside me, subtly raised Estel’s hilt.
Hm?
“Um… is it really okay for me to be sitting here?”
—Just stay put. You're the Hero, so you need to be informed about this.
Meanwhile, Evan seemed terribly uncomfortable with being in this meeting. He had spoken so softly that ordinary ears would have struggled to catch it, but because I processed everything through mental resonance, every word came through crystal clear.
Thought waves really were the absolute best.
‘Hmm…’
Come to think of it, Evan hadn't heard any of the things Arhen previously discussed with the Grand Duke. I had been in the room from the very beginning and heard the whole thing, but Evan had been dragged all the way out here by me without receiving a shred of explanation, so he was in dire need of a briefing. Not that I was the one who would deliver it—the chieftain would do the honors by summarizing the current crisis.
“Now then, let us speak of the Beast of the End,” the chieftain began gravely.
He launched into a recounting of the slumbering calamity buried beneath our feet, serving as an overview for Evan, followed by a succinct briefing on the various anomalies that had plagued the area up to this point.
Having listened silently for a long while, Arhen suddenly sprang from her seat.
“We must inspect it immediately…!”
The Grand Duke’s reports, the myriad disturbances that had erupted deep down within the Weeping Cliff, and—whether out of sheer fortune or consideration for my predicament—the revelation that a prophecy from the Goddess had warned of the beast’s impending resurrection.
Having taken in all of it, Arhen cried out, insisting that we set off at once to verify whether the barrier was still holding.