New Field (1)
The ground shook violently. Thud—!!!! Boom—!!!!!
“Ack! You scared me!”
The moment we stepped out of the Ice Castle, it happened.
Rumble—!
“What the—?”
“Whoa!”
A sudden earthquake struck the Ice Castle. The seemingly solid fortress was shaking far more precariously than it looked. With so many people suddenly crammed inside, I worried the whole thing might collapse. If it did, everyone trapped within would die.
Clatter— Clatter-clatter—!
“The people on the fourth floor must be having a terrible time.”
We shook our heads, remembering the massive icicles on the fourth floor. The thought of those corpse-filled spikes crashing down and causing chaos made my brow furrow on its own.
“Let’s pull back. Just in case.”
Even around us, shards of fallen icicles were flying through the air. We had already left the castle, yet hearing the chaos inside still sent chills down our spines.
I’m glad we hurried out when we did. If we’d been even a little slower, we’d be in the same mess.
Our decision to leave the Ice Castle quickly had been the right one. I could only imagine how panicked the people still inside must be feeling right now.
Like spectators watching a house fire, we stood with the crowd that had spilled outside and stared at the trembling Ice Castle.
“But why is this earthquake happening? It feels like something artificial is causing it.”
The ground was vibrating, but this clearly wasn’t a natural phenomenon. Anyone could see that only the Ice Castle was shaking so violently.
“It means something we don’t know about is happening inside.”
If I had to guess who might be behind such suspicious activity, the most likely culprit was Prince Loras. He was the one best positioned to cause trouble right now. Of course, none of that was our concern anymore—we had already escaped.
“Everyone looks too distracted to notice us. Let’s get out of here while we can.”
Our leader spoke while watching the crowd, their attention completely captured by the shaking castle. We had worried that our heavy packs might make us targets for thieves, but luck was on our side.
“We’re finally leaving!”
Once the Ice Castle was completely out of sight, our party decided to take a break. We found a secluded spot with no one around and set our bags down.
“Now that the tension’s gone, my whole body aches.”
“Shall I heal you?”
“Oh no, that’s all right, Priest! This is just from old age.”
Normally I would have poured some Divine Power into him, but unfortunately I had just used up nearly everything I had stored. I couldn’t afford to waste what little remained. No one knew when another dangerous situation might arise that would require healing, so I needed to keep at least a minimum amount in reserve.
“I’ll heal you once I’ve recovered more Divine Power while we rest.”
“You’ve been working so hard, our dear priest. Please rest comfortably. If anyone complains about pain, I’ll shut their mouth for you.”
“There’s no need for that…”
“Aigoo, stop worrying about us and rest properly. No one’s going to bother our hardworking priest.”
Come to think of it, during previous breaks one or two people would always come to me for treatment. This time, however, no one approached. The only person near me was Melody.
“Everyone’s been looking out for me.”
I had thought they might dislike how foolishly soft-hearted I was. But they had been guarding me in case the prince tried anything while I healed, and they had even supported my decisions. I could feel the strong bond of camaraderie. They were even considerate enough to let me rest instead of working, knowing how much I had been through. The best thing I could do for my thoughtful teammates right now was to rest as thoroughly as possible.
“Haaa.”
The descent took just as long as the climb had. Taking the stairs had been practically a shortcut; walking the long way around meant traveling an enormous distance. We spiraled downward for a long time, and by the end my feet were swollen and throbbing. I used a bit of Divine Power to soothe the stinging sensation, ate my fill, and rested. Since we were still relatively close to the Ice Castle, my eyes kept drifting back toward it whenever a loud noise echoed from that direction.
“Doesn’t that sound awfully noisy?”
“Hm.”
Melody was also frowning, watching the Ice Castle with sharp eyes. The earthquake we had heard when we first left was one thing, but now strange sounds kept ringing out from the castle.
Oooooooong—! Oooooooooong—!
“That’s an ominous sound, like something monstrous is about to appear. If it’s loud enough to reach all the way here, it must be incredibly loud back there.”
“It has nothing to do with us.”
“That’s true.”
No matter how much of a pushover I was, I wasn’t about to suggest turning back to help after we had already come this far. But Melody gave me a stern look, as if she were staring at the world’s most hopeless fool, making me shrink back.
“I have common sense too. You don’t really think I’d suggest going back there, do you? It clearly looks dangerous.”
The lives of those left in the Ice Castle were important, but my teammates’ lives mattered more to me. So if anything happened, I would agree to run away—I would never suggest going back.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang—!!!!
“Huk!”
“!!”
While everyone had let their guard down, a tremendous explosion erupted from the Ice Castle. One side of the structure broke off and collapsed. No one had expected the building to actually fall apart, so we all froze in shock.
“Oh my god.”
“What is happening?”
“Isn’t that a monster leg? That black thing.”
Something pitch-black had jutted out sharply as the Ice Castle crumbled. Our guide rubbed his eyes, insisting it was a leg.
“Is this for real?”
He had said it himself that it looked like a monster’s leg, but he still seemed to have trouble believing it.
“Whoa— it’s coming out!”
But soon his words proved true. The black object that had poked out really was a monster’s leg. Even from a distance it looked enormous. To those closer to it, it must have seemed even bigger. I couldn’t imagine how something that massive had been hiding inside the Ice Castle.
“It’s a spider.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think the spiders we fought were its offspring?”
“Probably.”
The spiders we had defeated had been quite large, but they were nothing compared to this one.
“Ugh, who could possibly take that thing down?”
The spider crawled down the side of the collapsing Ice Castle. It was clearly targeting the people who had fled outside.
“The babies were white, so why is this one black?”
“Its fur color may change as it ages. Like animals do.”
Animals and monsters were completely different. The difference was as vast as that between humans and animals. No one would be foolish enough to confuse a monster with an animal just because their appearances were similar. Still, monsters and animals did share many traits. Looking at monster behavior, one could say they had evolved the strengths of animals and amplified their characteristics.
“What will you do?”
Our leader asked Princess Reciel. There were likely still members of the subjugation force and Prince Loras inside the castle. That must have been why he asked.
“There is no reason to go back.”
Princess Reciel firmly declared that she had no intention of saving the prince. She probably felt relieved at the thought of him dying to that giant spider. Since he had tried to kill Princess Canaby, his death would be a welcome outcome.
“Then we should move even farther away. We don’t know how far that monster’s influence might reach.”
Princess Reciel nodded in agreement with our leader’s suggestion.
“Do you think it’s dead?”
We kept moving until the Ice Castle was no longer visible. Strangely, the giant spider that had appeared seemed to have frightened away all the nearby monsters. We didn’t encounter a single one while fleeing. The eerie shrieks the giant spider let out gave us goosebumps. Of course, we could no longer hear them now.
“Who are you talking about?”
Whether the monster or the people. Someone asked in response to the vague question, and the one who had spoken simply shrugged.
“Both.”
“I think the monster probably got taken down. No matter how big it is, it can’t beat people.”
“Come on, it was that huge?”
“Just because something’s big doesn’t mean it’s strong, right?”
There were creatures that were easy to hunt despite their size. Usually ones whose movements were slow because of their massive bodies. They had high endurance and took a long time to bring down, but the difficulty of hunting them was relatively low.
“But that one had so many legs. It looked incredibly fast.”
“Hm.”
“…Still, not everyone would have died, right?”
“Let’s stop thinking about it. Why keep dwelling on something so unpleasant?”
“Honestly, that’s all any of us can think about.”
Just as my teammate said, I had been silently praying for the souls of those who might die to the giant spider. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt.
“If they had all worked together, they might have been able to defeat it.”
Moreover, the Ice Castle had been packed with people who looked ready to strike it rich. If they combined their strength, it wasn’t impossible. They might have dealt with it in the blink of an eye, distributed the rewards, and moved on. We had already put some distance between ourselves and the Ice Castle, so it was about time to set up a base camp. That was when our guide suddenly made a puzzled face.
“Huh?”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
When even our guide showed such a startled reaction, it could mean something serious. We all paid close attention.
“It’s the next terrain!”
“Huh?”
“Can’t you see? Over there! There’s grass!”
At his words, everyone widened their eyes and stared ahead.
“I don’t see anything…”
“You’ll see it if we go a little farther! Let’s hurry!”
If the weather wasn’t so cold, staying there would be far more comfortable. We all moved quickly, eager to see what our guide was talking about. And finally, the place he had mentioned came into view.
“It’s a forest!!”
“It really is a forest?”
“It feels like it’s getting warmer.”
Everyone realized we had completely left the icy zone. Not far ahead, we could see lush green grass. For the first time in what felt like forever, we were looking at trees with vibrant green leaves instead of frozen, snow-covered trunks.