[The Traitor Unveiled]
Thud! Thud! Boom!
The rough crash of the battle continued to echo across the vast square.
I... ugh! I told you earlier, you little brat!! Once these guys are all taken care of, I'll kill you no matter what it takes!
Stop calling me 'little brat'! Argh! You're really finished!
When the monsters finally fell, Teraden and the spiky-haired guy immediately locked eyes and began fighting each other without a moment to spare.
You've been calling me 'little brat' seven times since yesterday! Then go ahead and get yourself killed seven times!
The spiky-haired guy, having kept calling me that in his heart, rolled his eyes and charged at Teraden, and the result was obvious—Teraden's overwhelming victory needed no explanation.
After their fight ended in Teraden's triumph, the spiky-haired guy knelt before him, his left face swollen like a watermelon from being pummeled by Teraden's glowing fist.
Help... ugh... help me...
“...”
The spiky-haired guy begged for help with pitiful eyes, but his companions looked away into the empty air, doing their best to avoid the situation.
They feared that if they clumsily tried to intervene, they might end up in the same sorry state.
“Leader... what did you say? Look at this guy. Dude, he's still not with it.”
Teraden casually raised one arm as if to strike, and the spiky-haired guy shrank back, desperately clinging to Teraden's pants and pleading.
“Eek! S-Sunbae! I was wrong! I swear I won't do it again! Please, just spare me this one time!!”
“...He is right. Please, stop it. If we continue, Burn will die. I beg you.”
“L-Leader... ugh...!”
Unable to bear it, the spiky-haired guy who had introduced himself as Carvin closed his eyes and pleaded with Teraden.
“Sigh... fine. I didn't plan to do more anyway, so I'll let it slide this time. If you do it one more time, you won't even have soup left. Got it?”
“Ugh!”
“Answer.”
“Yes! I got it!”
...Who was the villain here again?
“So, what will you do now? Judging by the looks of it, you've all taken quite a beating.”
Teraden, having finished his task, lightly dusted off his hands and stood up.
Carvin, looking at his companions with a serious expression, slowly nodded.
“As you say, the losses have grown too great. We won't be able to enter any further. We should withdraw here.”
“How are we supposed to leave when the entrance is completely blocked?”
“Hmm...”
Carvin let out a thoughtful hum, then turned to me with grave eyes.
“May I make a suggestion to you, even though it's our first meeting?”
“What is it?”
“If you permit it, until we escape this place, I would like to continue traveling together with you. Even though we reached the deepest point, I can assure you I won't become a burden.”
His words were not wrong.
If someone had the strength to reach this far despite all the traps and obstacles, it was safe to team up until escape.
Moreover, he didn't seem bad-hearted, and there was no obvious ulterior motive either, so it was tempting.
“I'm fine with it, but... what do you guys think?”
“Tsk, do as you like.”
“When have I ever not followed what Hyung said? I'll always do as Hyung says. Uhaah!”
“Maru too!”
“Good, it's decided. We'll continue as allies until we exit this place. And since formal courtesy isn't familiar to me, treat me casually.”
“Thank you very much.”
Carvin, having cleared his chest, smiled brightly, relieved at last.
“Ah, but could you wait a moment so we can finish treating the wounded?”
“It worked out well. We were also starting to feel the need for a bit of rest.”
“Understood. From now on, we'll follow your lead. Do as you wish.”
“Good. Then, after a short rest, we'll move again.”
After reorganizing the formation—including treating the injured and resting—we set out once more.
Inside the vast cavern, besides the eight passages leading to the various peaks, there was one corridor that was narrower yet strangely filled with a desolate atmosphere.
The passages leading to the peaks had suddenly sealed off completely during the battle with the monsters, so the only remaining route was this one.
“If it's not a bother, could you tell me how you came to be here?”
While passing through the desolate corridor and reaching a fairly wide square, Carvin asked me.
“It doesn't seem like you came here for the Ouparts.”
“Why do you think so?”
“If we had teamed up happily? If I had come for the Ouparts, I would never have cooperated with you wounded. Every extra rival makes it easier to seize the Ouparts.”
“Carvin is right. Our purpose here isn't the Ouparts, but finding our missing comrades.”
“Indeed. Then...”
Carvin nodded quietly.
“Because we came together, you didn't get a chance to find the Ouparts and weren't disappointed, were you?”
Carvin jolted in surprise at the casual question and vehemently shook his head.
“What nonsense? I never expected to find the Ouparts in the first place. What a ridiculous remark!”
“Eh? Then why did you come here?”
“This place doesn't only have one Ouparts, does it? So... even if not that, there must be some treasure worth calling a divine relic, and I hoped to take at least one of them.”
Carvin's face was bitter as he clicked his tongue again.
“It seems even that was too greedy. Now our goal is only to safely escape this place.”
As we crossed two more corridors and the vast hall, we approached the third passage.
“Teacher, I'll go ahead and scout.”
Once again taking the lead without fail, Burn boldly entered the corridor.
After the situation had settled. The spiky-haired guy's attitude had completely reversed from 180 degrees to Burn's. It seemed he had changed his mind after seeing Teraden's overwhelming strength.
However, after Burn entered the corridor, he soon returned, face pale and scurrying out in a hurry.
“Uwaaaaah!!”
As if he had seen something horrific, he leaned against the wall and retched repeatedly.
“What is it...?”
“Teacher! It's... inside... uwaaaaah!”
What had reduced him to this state? Teraden and I entered the corridor together to investigate, and an overwhelmingly foul stench hit us.
“Hah...!”
Covering my nose in a hurry, I scanned the surroundings. It was filled with an immense amount of corpses.
Not just corpses either. The scarecrows that had been brutally smashed and the monsters we had defeated earlier were scattered everywhere, and the numbers were beyond counting.
I had thought I was getting used to the sight of corpses, but it was a false assumption.
There were bodies that hadn't begun to rot, skeletons, and scarecrows buried under layers of dust. The varying thicknesses of the dust suggested they had been left for days, months, or even years, yet it was impossible to judge the time from the outside.
“Something's wrong.”
Teraden covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve and narrowed his eyes.
“Skeletons mean they died at least several months ago—years, even. So who came here before that? Weren't these found a few days ago?”
“...”
“And the Seven Stars shouldn't have been unable to predict this kind of horror. What were they trying to achieve? The more I think about it, the less sense it makes.”
After our rough check, we warned the others outside firmly and called them over.
Thereafter, advancing cautiously until the end in case of any surprises.
“Eh?”
Finally reaching the end of the corridor, in the center of the third hall, we found what we had come here for.
We spotted a familiar yet deeply missed back view standing motionless.
It had been so long since we last saw him, but Junior looked completely unharmed and fine.
Teraden, overjoyed at finally finding him, dropped his guard and sprinted over, grabbing his shoulder in one stride.
“What? You were here? We've been searching for so long! Glad there wasn't any trouble after all. Let's get back quick...”
Puff...
“Eh...?”
Teraden's body suddenly lost balance and toppled over near Junior.
“Junior... eh... why...?”
Thud.
“Hyung-!!”
“KWAAAANG!”
Blanser roared and slammed the ground hard, leaping toward Teraden at the same time.
* * *
I had instinctively thrown myself to save Teraden without a moment's thought, but it took some time to fully understand what had just happened before my eyes.
Thud.
Teraden stumbled backward and fell sideways, unable to steady himself.
Drip, drip.
From Junior's hands, dark red liquid—Teraden's blood—dripped.
Why? What was he doing?
“Junior... what is this?”
Junior, ignoring me and Blanser completely, reached for the fallen Teraden again.
Crack!
And Junior's fist was caught by Blanser.
“You... what the hell do you think you're doing to Hyung right now?”
Blanser's voice was unusually calm, unlike when he usually spoke to us.
Junior didn't even blink at the question and showed no reaction.
Grit.
“Don't you hear me? I'm asking what the hell you did!!”
At that moment, a sharp woman's voice rang out from afar.
“Shouting like that won't do you any good.”
A short while later, a pair of men and women emerged from the darkness.
A short-haired man with sharp features and a woman with curly hair stepped forward.
At their appearance, Junior turned without hesitation and headed toward them.
“That crazy bastard!”
“Is that the companion you were looking for? But why...”
Carvin was stuttering in confusion when the curly-haired woman spoke first.
“It seemed noisy from behind, so I came back and found a bunch of toys I wanted to play with.”
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The sharp woman's voice rang out from afar.
“It seemed noisy from behind, so I came back and found a bunch of toys I wanted to play with.”
The sharp woman's voice rang out from afar.
“It seemed noisy from behind, so I came back and found a bunch of toys I wanted to play with.”