The Cross of Memories #8
The Cross of Memories #8
I had no choice but to stay on guard under the armed skeleton's blatant stare. The other, ordinary skeletons didn't show any particular reaction even when Kate raised a Holy Water bottle. They just charged in like beasts, only to get a bottle smashed on their heads and knocked flat.
But if that armed skeleton possessed some intelligence? If it had the judgment to recognize what was dangerous to it, that is.
There's no way it would simply ignore Holy Water, practically a natural predator of the undead. As a soldier of the Ancient Kingdom in life, it would know exactly how to fight.
"Kate. Hand me one Holy Water bottle."
I took a Holy Water bottle from Kate. I had set my lantern down on the floor, but I had no trouble seeing. Behind me, Kate adjusted the lantern's angle to illuminate the interior of the stone chamber. I stared at the armed skeleton in the glow. The skeleton stood perfectly still, as if inviting me to target it.
Whoosh! I hurled the Holy Water bottle at the skeleton with all my strength. Just as the bottle was about to strike the skeleton's skull at ferocious speed, the skeleton swung its shield with lightning speed and knocked the bottle away. Holy Water splashed down over its shield. The skeleton had protected its head—its weak point.
"That one knows what it needs to watch out for."
"Y-yes, indeed. That skeleton is on guard against Holy Water."
"I'll create an opening. You aim for its head. Even if it's forced, we'll shove the Holy Water in."
Kate nodded, her eyes tense. We had two Holy Waters left. Two chances to take out the armed skeleton in one strike. But even if I missed, it wouldn't be a big deal. I could just whip it until its bones shattered. That's what I thought — right before the real fight began.
But the moment I swung my whip at the armed skeleton, I was forced to reconsider.
"It dodged?!"
My horizontal whip strike grazed past the skeleton's body. The skeleton bent its waist at a grotesque angle and completely evaded the whip. A movement no living human could ever imitate!
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
The armed skeleton closed in on me, its bones making an unpleasant grinding noise. Every whip swing has a recovery delay! As if it knew this, the skeleton began to sprint toward me with lightning speed.
"It's getting closer!"
"Step back and stick to the wall!"
Crunch—!!
The skeleton finally closed in and swung its sword at me. The longsword, fouled by the filth of the underground waterway, aimed for my throat.
"Tch."
I evaded the skeleton's attack and stepped back. It was tougher than I expected, but I couldn't run here. If I turned my back, the armed skeleton would immediately target Kate. Even while swinging its sword, it kept its eyes on Kate, who held the Holy Water.
"I'll throw one!"
The moment Kate, having read the situation, threw a Holy Water bottle from behind, I got a chance to create some distance from the skeleton.
Crunch!
As the skeleton swatted away the Holy Water bottle and froze, I delivered a kick with all my strength. The skeleton, struck squarely in its broad pelvis, tumbled backward. While it scrambled to stand with its weapon, I just barely managed to recover my Water Whip.
"Th-there's only one bottle left now!"
It was a powerful skeleton, but that didn't mean there was no way to take it down. It still didn't know much about my Water Whip. I had only kept it in a fixed whip form, but hadn't shown it any other possible applications. After a short, deep breath, I lashed the Water Whip down at the skeleton on a diagonal. The diagonally swung whip aimed for the skeleton's spine. But once again, the skeleton bent its waist and evaded the attack. This thing was truly quick on its feet.
Crunch!
As if seizing the opportunity, the skeleton lunged at me with explosive speed.
"Kyaaaah!"
Kate's scream echoed through the stone chamber.
Right at that moment, I poured magic power into the Water Whip.
"Liquid—!"
The magic for controlling the flow of water!
From the moment it was first formed, the Water Whip was governed by Liquid Magic. That meant I could freely change its direction without even needing a hand seal. The recovering Water Whip targeted the skeleton from behind.
My Water Whip finally struck true, catching the skeleton with its back exposed.
Crack! The skeleton, hit squarely in the spine, collapsed to the floor. I swung the Water Whip and pummeled it senselessly. I lashed the shoulder bones connected to its arms, and the pelvis connected to its legs, until they shattered. Under my merciless barrage, the armed skeleton was brutally crushed.
By the time I came to my senses, the skeleton was reduced to just its torso and head.
"Finish it, Kate!"
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Kate threw the Holy Water bottle at the skeleton collapsed on the floor. The bottle smashed against its skull, and as the Holy Water soaked the skull, the skeleton lost its power. It became just an ordinary skeleton, its head drooping toward the stone floor.
"It's all over now, right?"
"Yeah. We just need to destroy the totem."
I looked at the fallen skeleton and let out a sigh of relief. We'd now wiped out all the undead guarding the totem. Destroy the totem, go back, and the quest would be a success.
"Haah.... It's a good thing we hired Mongma-nim as a party member. To think such a troublesome skeleton was waiting inside this stone chamber."
Kate used her mace to smash the totem set up on the stone floor. The totem, made of bones and flesh, must have had terrible durability, as it crumbled under Kate's strength alone. Once I started helping, the totem was quickly destroyed.
"Is destroying it everything? Is there anything else we need to do?"
"Destroying it was all I was ordered to do. But please, Mongma-nim, burn the flesh with fire. I think we should burn it cleanly so nothing comes back to haunt us."
I knew next to nothing about pagan sorcery. But seeing the crushed totem fragments scattered on the floor, I couldn't feel at ease either. Better to just burn them all with fire, clean and final.
"Fire."
I lit a flame at my fingertip and burned the totem fragments. The beast flesh that had composed the totem began to blaze up. But as the flesh melted away, a strange orb dropped out from inside.
"What's this?"
The pitch-black orb rolled across the floor and soon reached my feet. Kate stared at the orb and spoke with a surprised expression.
"It's a sorcery tool pagans use. I learned that they use these orbs to amplify a totem's power."
"An orb? Then shouldn't we destroy this too?"
"N-no, we can't! Orbs like this fetch a lot of gold if you sell them. Of course, you have to sell them at the magic shop to get a good price. I've seen an orb exactly that size go for 30 Silver."
This small orb was worth 30 Silver?
At the utterly unexpected high price, I was left speechless. Didn't that mean I just scored some serious loot? 30 Silver was close to the bounty for taking a giant's head!
"What should we do?"
"What do you mean?"
"About the split. Shouldn't we divide the money from selling the orb?"
"Ah."
At my words, Kate stared at the orb, lost in thought. I wouldn't have minded if Kate took a share. After all, she was the one who told me the orb was valuable. If I'd discovered the orb inside the totem by myself, I would've smashed it without a second thought. 30 Silver would have evaporated into thin air. But after a moment, Kate said something unbelievable.
"There's no reason to split it. Please, Mongma-nim, you take the orb!"
"Are you serious?"
"It was all thanks to you that we safely made it this far. My contribution to the quest is pitifully small. It wouldn't make sense for me to demand a share here."
"Well, if we go by contribution, you're not wrong."
Considering the quest contributions, it was definitely true. A party member with a conscience might concede the spoils to me. But my party member right now was Kate. That shameless nun who always freeloaded quests and still grabbed her share. 30 Silver would be quite a large sum for Kate, too.
Didn't she think it was a waste to let me keep it all?
"Instead, I have one favor to ask of you, Mongma-nim."
Kate spoke up, fidgeting. I tensed up at her sudden mention of a favor. As expected, Kate wouldn't offer goodwill for free.
"P-please buy me a meal next time!"
"Buy you a meal?"
"Of course we should do a little after-quest celebration! You can pay for all the food, Mongma-nim!"
I'd thought she was going to ask for something huge. But it was just her asking me to buy her a meal! That kind of request — I didn't mind granting it at all! Of course, since I've pocketed a 30-Silver orb, I can't treat her to cheap food.
"Deal."
"Deal?"
"It means yes."
The moment I agreed, Kate's expression turned incredibly happy. Just the two of us celebrating would be nice too. I also wanted to hear more stories about my old peers from her. But of course, we couldn't set the celebration for today. Rebecca would be waiting for me back at the inn.
"How about tomorrow evening?"
"Sounds good!"
The deal was struck. As I stowed the orb in my pack, Kate didn't show any sign of complaint. We stepped out of the stone chamber and began retracing our path. Now was the time to exit the underground waterway. But the moment I reached the plaza, I instinctively stopped in my tracks.
"What's wrong?"
"Rattmen have appeared."
Kate peeked out from behind my back. The instant she saw the same scene, she shouted in a horrified voice.
"Why are there Rattman corpses? There weren't any when we passed by earlier."
The plaza of the underground waterway was littered with Rattman corpses. So many corpses that they covered the skeletal remains we'd crushed earlier. Naturally, neither Kate nor I had any memory of killing this many Rattmen.
"What on earth is going on? Don't tell me this is the work of the surviving pagans?"
"No, it's not. This happened because the Rattmen started a territorial dispute. Look closely between the corpses."
In the gaps between the corpse piles, Rattmen were biting and tearing at each other. A bloody battle with fangs buried into their own kind's napes! The Rattmen's territorial war had broken out in the plaza of the underground waterway. I knew Rattmen ecology well, so I recognized it immediately.
"Rattmen fiercely fight territorial battles even among their own kind. They run in packs, and packs of Rattmen wage war on each other. And it just had to happen today."
As time passed, the number of Rattmen appearing in the plaza swelled. Rattmen from different packs began engaging in group combat. With so many Rattmen, there was no visible path across the plaza.
"Ugh. Th-that's disgusting."
"We'd better hide for now."
I pulled the frightened Kate back. We couldn't move carelessly in a zone where a territorial war was underway. Rattmen were probably fighting bloody battles all over the underground passages. If we tried to force our way through, we'd be attacked by the rampaging Rattmen.
'Was it because the totem disappeared?'
I had a guess as to why the Rattmen suddenly appeared. The skeletons that had been occupying the plaza were now wiped out by our hands. The land was vacant and ownerless, so the Rattmen must have moved in to seize it. Still, I didn't expect them to make their move this fast.
"D-Don't tell me we're trapped here in the underground waterway?"
"We're not trapped forever. If we wait, the territorial war will end eventually. Then we can make a break for it and get out."
"When will it end?!"
"Probably tomorrow morning?"
"What?!"
Kate stared at me with bewildered eyes. I had no choice but to give her the grim news.
"Looks like we'll have to spend the night in the stone chamber."