The Tomb of the King

It was a strange feeling.

The one I had personally killed — and now, this time, I had to personally protect.

'Back then, he was a monster.'

Now he was a living, breathing man. Not a husk of bone and leather, but a man with proper skin and muscle on his frame.

"…Is there something on my face?"

"Ah — no. My apologies."

I had been staring without realizing it.

Wengrum faltered for a moment, then resumed speaking.

"From here on, we enter that place. As you know, it's fair to call it half a dungeon already."

Save for the lack of a core, it supposedly possessed every element a dungeon required. Monsters dwelled within, and traps riddled its halls.

"You have no further information on the interior?"

Chadwick asked the question. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It stood to reason that Wengrum's ancestors, who had entered the Tomb of the King for generations, would have left records behind. If we planned our approach around them, reaching our goal would surely be easier.

"Information? Oh, there's plenty of it. Everything that happens inside is required by law to be recorded."

"Then…"

"But it's all utterly meaningless. You'd be better off not reading a word of it."

Wengrum shook his head.

"Nothing inside is ever fixed. Do you have any idea how many of my ancestors' records I've pored over?"

"What do you mean, not fixed?"

"Exactly what I said. Countless forebears have entered that place, and every single time, the tomb was different. Not one record overlapped. Not a single similarity between them."

"Is that… even possible?"

The dungeon's contents changing with every entry — objectively speaking, it was a difficult claim to believe.

"It's not a question of possible or impossible. Most likely it's a mistake of the world — the bastard child of ancient magic and an incomplete transformation into a dungeon."

A mistake of the world.

And now we were about to set foot into exactly that kind of place.

"So keep your head light and your heart heavy. Be ready to respond to whatever you may face."

"Understood."

"…I'll do my best."

With each of us resolved in our own way, we stood before the entrance of the tomb — a massive stone door sealing it shut.

Wengrum laid his hand against the stone and poured his mana into it. In answer, golden light glimmered through the seams of the door, and with a grinding groan, it swung open.

"Well then. Shall we?"

Countless steps descended into darkness below, stretching toward a floor we could not see.

We began the descent.

A sensation of weightlessness washed over me.

Whenever I felt this, the circumstances were always the same.

'The space has changed.'

I wasn't the only one who felt it — out of the darkness, Wengrum spoke.

"I'll get a light going."

A short incantation, and a ball of flame appeared in his palm.

Fwoosh!

Light born of fire drove back the darkness and revealed the interior around us.

"This place…?"

"A stone chamber. An enormous one, at that."

Chadwick surveyed the surroundings carefully, his hand resting on his sword's hilt, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

Whumm!

Then, in an instant, our vision opened wide. Blue flames blossomed to life upon lamps mounted on pillars, illuminating the chamber's depths.

"Bigger than I expected."

We stood at the very center of the stone chamber.

Before us, a colossal statue sat enthroned upon a great seat — a figure of three heads and six arms, evoking the image of a demon lord.

"Hoo… I'm afraid we've walked into something properly bad."

"What do you mean?"

"That statue is alive."

Wengrum twisted the corners of his mouth into a grim smile.

"I can feel a life response coming off of it."

"A living statue… do you mean a golem?"

"Nothing like a golem. That thing is a kind of avatar-body."

An avatar-body — a vessel into which the soul or power of a higher being had been instilled.

"An avatar-body? Why would something like that be in a place like—!"

Chadwick was struck with disbelief.

Avatar-bodies were not things one encountered easily. Even I had seen one only a handful of times in my life.

'And every one of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those was in a high-rank gate, at that.'

None of those memories were good ones. For the most part, all I'd done was run — or hide behind other hunters.

"Whose avatar-body is it, exactly?"

"If it's an avatar-body of this place, there's only one possibility."

This was the Tomb of the King — the great coffin where the First King lay in eternal rest. Which meant the shard of soul within that statue could only be—

Krrkikikikik!

The First King's.

"It's moving! Everyone, be ready!"

The statue opened its eyes. A sinister light blazed forth, overwhelming our surroundings in an instant.

The colossal body rose from its throne. Six arms moved with the eerie suggestion that each possessed a will of its own.

"Straightforward enough. I like it."

I drew my spear without delay.

"So we just smash it, right?"

"I wouldn't be so cavalier about it. As you well know, an avatar-body feels no pain and does not perish merely because it takes damage."

The core of an avatar-body was the source of power that animated it. In other words, one had to seek out and sever — or shatter — its soul.

"Let's begin with this, then."

Wengrum wove his mana into spellcraft, and a cascade of buffs settled over us, lightening our bodies.

"Whoa. Impressive."

"I do have a bit of a name in magical circles, despite appearances. You knights wouldn't know it, but we mages—"

"It's coming!"

The statue gave Wengrum no time to ramble. In a flash it leapt, driving all six arms down into the floor.

BOOM!

Dust and shards of rock went flying. The three of us scattered, each dodging the fists.

"Filthy huge, and yet it's fast."

"The First King was a master of combat, or so it's said. A soul like that makes a vessel like this — of course it is."

Krrkik!

Six arms shot out, each targeting one of us.

"Those extra arms are starting to grate on my nerves!"

Wengrum raised a protective shield of mana, and Chadwick—

"Tch…!"

—deflected with his blade and was thrown backward.

And I?

Flaaare!

I ignited the Karma Flame.

'Why bother blocking and dodging?'

I could just smash it all.

BOOM! CRASH!

Two Fire Pierces unfolded in rapid succession and erased the arms from existence.

"Well, well. You're a hotter number than I took you for."

"You… destroyed it? How in the world…"

Wengrum and Chadwick echoed their astonishment in disbelief. Regrettably, I was in no position to respond to their reactions.

Grrrrind!

Because the thing's arms had already regenerated.

"Just as I thought. Unless you destroy its origin, you can carve it up a hundred times and the result will be the same."

Wengrum concentrated mana into his eyes.

"An absurd avatar-body, this. It has three souls instilled within it."

"That does explain why its movements were unnaturally refined."

So that was it — an avatar-body built from three separate soul shards.

"One resides in the torso, one in the head, and one in the heart. The problem is, all three must be broken simultaneously."

"Do they have to be?"

"Certain soul shards possess restorative properties. If they aren't shattered together, the odds are high they'll simply grow back."

I hadn't known that — every avatar-body I'd faced before had carried only a single shard.

"Well, then. No choice, is there."

"Right. I'll take the heart. You take the torso, and you take the head—"

"I'll have to break all of them myself, at once."

"Yes, yes, that's the spi— I'm sorry, what?"

Wengrum's eyes went round at my remark.

"Are you in your right mind? Soul shards are never easy to destroy!"

"I know."

Destroying a soul shard demanded extreme precision in mana control. That was why most people chose severance over destruction.

But in this trial, a simple severance of the soul shards seemed meaningless.

"Which is all the more reason it should be me. If three people who've never fought together try to sync their timing and slip up even once, all we've done is hand it a free opening to attack. Wouldn't you agree?"

Maybe if we were veterans who'd drilled together for years. In truth, the three of us had met for the first time today. None of us knew the tempo or speed at which the others' attacks flew.

Better for one man to carve through all of it than to gamble on that.

"Unbelievable…! Say something, will you! He's going to get himself killed at this rate!"

"……"

Chadwick held his silence for a long moment, then spoke in a low voice.

"…I say we let him try."

"Wh… what?! Are you serious?!"

"In return — you can absolutely carve them out, yes?"

I answered his question with a slight nod.

"I'll cover your approach."

"Thank you."

"Ghh…! What a pair of strange protectors I've been assigned!"

Wengrum let out a sigh and began channeling his mana.

"If you fail, I'll have no idea what to tell anyone!"

"Don't worry."

I tightened my grip on the spear's shaft.

"I don't fail. Ever."

I coiled strength into my legs and launched myself.

"I'll cast protection and strength-enhancement spells!"

"Appreciate it!"

Perhaps it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was true that he had a name in magical circles — my physical capabilities climbed noticeably.

"Think only of reaching it. I will carve the road."

Chadwick raised his sword, and white aura traced a long, glimmering arc through the air.

The statue's arms moved. A torrent of fists poured down in an instant — six of them hammering toward our position.

"Hnngh!"

Chadwick detonated his aura and swung. He didn't yet have the power to cleave one of those fists clean through — but that wasn't his job.

'He's deflecting each of those lightning-fast fists aside, one by one.'

Turning them away from my line of advance.

So that was what a captain was.

'Then I'd better mind my own job, too.'

I charged with my spear in hand, and the thing's head swiveled toward me. Its maw split open, and—

FWOOSH!

—it spewed a gout of crimson flame.

"D-Dodge! That fire is steeped in dense mana! Protective magic won't avail you against it!"

Wengrum shouted his warning from behind.

I ignored it and kept driving forward.

"Sorry, but fire and I don't mix. That is — I'm immune to it."

With a snap of my fingers, I snuffed the flames out all at once.

"Wha—?!"

A body that endlessly regenerated, fire that punched through protective magic, and three soul shards that were meaningless unless all six arms were broken simultaneously.

'Anyone else would have been put through the wringer by this thing.'

Even if you dragged modern hunters in here, I wondered how many could clear it.

But as it happened, my compatibility with this thing was about as bad as it could get — for it.

THWOOM!

I leapt high into the air.

'The method to destroy three souls in three places at once?'

It was simple.

"You just grind the whole thing to paste."

I cloaked myself in the red aura of bleeding, then layered on a spear art that split the very origin of its target.

"Three forces, bound as one."

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spear, charged with a power almost comically overwhelming, struck the statue in a single instant—

KA-BOOOOOM!

The instant blade met stone, explosions great and small erupted across its body, pulverizing it to dust.

Krrsh, krrsh, k-kr-krshh…

KAGAGAGAK!

Shatter it. Grind it down.

Without a shred of mercy, crush it all.

'A spear forged with nothing but destruction in mind.'

Try to endure it, if you can.

&((#$#$#$@!$!

The statue shrieked out some unidentifiable howl.

Krakk! Krakk! Kagagagak!

The sound of souls being destroyed rang out in rapid succession.

Truly melodious. I nearly felt like singing along.

"……"

"…What manner of monster just sprang out of nowhere…"

Two gazes fixed on me as if beholding something beyond the human — and they stung my cheeks like needles.