Chapter 35
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Skeleton
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"Kuh... kuhk..."
'He suddenly got ridiculously feeble.'
I'd subdued the male hero, who had charged at me alone and pulled something out from his bosom, only to weaken dramatically right after. Just moments ago, he'd been flying around freely, sword qi pouring from the blade he wielded like it was nothing. Now, he was down to the physical capabilities of an ordinary adult man, making it easy to overpower him with just the [High-Pressure Cleaner].
"First things first, I'll take that weapon."
"D-Durandal..."
The weapon's name was Durandal? Cool.
I had no idea why he'd weakened so much, but I wasn't about to let the opportunity slip. I drilled holes into his limbs with the [High-Pressure Cleaner] and snatched the sword from his hand. Along with the strange object he'd pulled out.
'What is this? A balance scale?'
I swiped the balance scale—something I'd only seen in childhood science classes—and that still wasn't enough to put me at ease. For extra measure, I restrained the man further.
[Janitor's Clothes (lv.1)]: The janitor's uniform that repels all dirt!
It was the new [Janitor's Clothes] I'd bought from the [Shop]. I'd seen it block those arrows earlier, confirming that gear and cleaning tools from my [Shop] boasted infinite durability. Without it, my shoulder would've been pierced clean through by that volley.
Tests with the level 1 [High-Pressure Cleaner] and such had already proven it: even at level 1, all this gear came with infinite durability as standard.
I stretched out the freshly bought [Janitor's Clothes] and bound the man's hands and feet. Then I stepped back a bit and aimed the [High-Pressure Cleaner] at his head.
"Hey."
"Kugh..."
Betrayed by his comrades, limbs riddled with holes, and stripped of his weapon, the hero named Chris glared at me with murderous intent, groaning all the while.
"Eyes down."
"...Kuh..."
I wasn't in a great mood either, having fought another desperate battle against these intruders who'd shown up out of nowhere, so I was rough with him too.
"What... what the hell are you? Why don't the holy relics work on you?!"
'Holy relics?'
Even after I told him to look down, he kept staring daggers and hit me with a random question. Holy relics not working on me?
'Is he talking about that white land I erased? Or the arrows that spawned in midair?'
A few things came to mind.
That white land had vanished thanks to the [All-Purpose Detergent], and the arrows in the air had all been "collected" somehow because the [Contaminant Detection] activated.
Not that I had any reason to explain it to him.
"Looks like you don't know your place... You think you're in any position to ask questions?"
"Kuk..."
I shut him down easily and opened the [Fast Travel] map.
'Where the hell did Erzsebet go?'
I'd run into these humans while searching for her, since she hadn't come back. Given the situation, it seemed connected to what she'd said about her "link to her kin being severed." No way she'd fallen to these guys...
'Nah. There she is.'
I'd worried she might've been taken out by them, but the [Fast Travel] map showed her beacon just fine. Though why was she near the entrance? No wonder I couldn't find her.
Fortunately, Rio's beacon was there too. Checking the [Staff Management] screen, both were showing normal status.
'Call Rio first.'
Originally, I'd planned to use [Fast Travel] to summon Erzsebet here, then have her turn this guy into kin. It'd looked super convenient when she did it to those demonkin before.
Turning intruders into her kin seemed more merciful than killing them outright—and it'd let me extract info.
But those women who'd fled earlier nagged at me. What if they ransacked the garden and ran into Rio alone...
[Fast Travel]
Move staff member [Rio] to this area?
'Confirm.'
-Flash!!
The moment I activated [Fast Travel], light gathered in the air, coalescing into a familiar petite girl...
...spewing flames.
"Whoa?!"
"Kyaa?!"
I'd summoned Rio on a whim and taken a direct hit from her flames, yelping in surprise. But no pain came. Of course—my max-level gear made me immune to fire.
"Master! Are you okay?!"
Rio hurriedly extinguished the flames and rushed over, but my [Janitor's Clothes] didn't have a single scorch mark. Sure, I'd gone into volcanic craters unscathed in the game, but seeing flames pour over me in real life and coming out fine was still disorienting.
"Master! Th-that human...!"
I calmed Rio and asked why she'd been blasting flames... er, firing the [High-Pressure Cleaner]. She stammered out an explanation. Summarizing her words...
'...Rio caught one?'
I'd been worried she'd get jumped by the fleeing hero, but instead, Rio had turned the tables and subdued one using the [High-Pressure Cleaner]. She'd been hosing flames at the woman trying to kill her when I summoned her.
"...Good job."
I patted her head, feeling a bit stunned. Rio had her village massacred by humans, after all. As I stroked her hair, I felt a slight tremble.
Probably fear from reliving the past.
"Did I do good, Master?! I... I caught a human!"
"..."
No, not fear? She seemed hyped and thrilled...
"But Master. Behind you..."
"Oh, another hero. Rio. It's not just the woman you saw. I'll call Erzsebet too, so once she's here, I'll explain..."
I was petting Rio's head when she pointed behind me, trying to say something. Yeah. Rio was safe, so hurry and summon Erzsebet, turn this tied-up hero into kin or whatever, figure out what to do with him, and hunt the escapees...
"N-no, there's a skeleton..."
"...Skeleton?"
I'd assumed she meant the bound human behind me, but she muttered something out of left field. Her frozen demeanor made me turn slowly.
-Clatter. Clatter.
"...What the hell is this?"
A walking skeleton.
Blue soulfire leaked from its eye sockets. It wore decrepit, rusted armor and clutched a rusty, toothless iron sword in bony hands, rattling as it approached.
The bizarre sight clashed utterly with the vibrant green plants around us. Rio and I were speechless, frozen in place.
In that moment, the sudden skeleton attacked the nearest living thing to it.
-Crunch!
"Gaaahhh!!!"
Chris. Unable to flee, bound by the [Janitor's Clothes] and bleeding profusely, the hero's neck was cleaved by the rusty sword. It was a spot unprotected by his remaining armor, 'Akram,' and a close-range strike at that.
Chris thrashed as the icy blade bit into his neck, but the emotionless skeleton impassively drove it deeper.
"I-I'll curse you, Dungeon Mas...!"
Realizing his end, Chris spat curses at the Dungeon Master—not me?—with bulging eyes before expiring. I was caught off guard by the turn of events, but then his corpse began to glow.
"Tap. Tap?"
The light repelled the skeleton, making it back away. When the glow faded...
"He's... gone?"
Chris's body had vanished without a trace.
Just as a new dungeon spawns somewhere on the continent when its core is destroyed, when a hero chosen by a holy relic dies, that relic selects a new hero.
Unlike dungeon cores, however, holy relics don't respawn somewhere on the continent when a hero dies. They take the form of tools, left behind with the hero's corpse upon death.
Like the relics from the 1-star heroes Eugene had captured, simply abandoned.
Thus, the Empire had one safeguard for beings possessing multiple relics—heroes of 3 stars or higher.
"The Temple of Return has activated!"
"What? Damn it. Who this time..."
The Temple of Return. A structure enchanted to teleport the corpse and gear of pre-registered subjects back to the temple upon their death.
Teleporting living beings is incredibly difficult, but moving the already-dead—non-living matter—is comparatively easy. It was developed to recover corpses and their equipment, namely holy relics.
Even so, registering everyone was impractical, so only high-priority targets—3-star heroes and above—were enrolled. Its activation meant one thing.
A registered hero had died.
"ID the body first!"
"Damn... who? Among the 3-stars dispatched outside..."
The temple priests rushed to the central altar to identify the teleported corpse. The Empire had sent many heroes out to monitor dungeons across the lands. One dying wouldn't be surprising.
The problem, however...
"Identity confirmed! B-but..."
"What? Who is it? No way a 4-star got killed?"
"N-no, it's a 3-star hero..."
"Phew. That's a relief, at least."
"Th-that's... the deceased is... the disciple of 'Radiance.'"
"...What?"
The faces of the priests working in the temple turned ashen.