Chapter 56
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: A Gruesome Welcome
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Gulan nodded without hesitation at Luon's demand for an advance payment.
“Since you're undertaking such a risk, a full purse might put your mind at ease. I'll have it prepared right away.”
Igor then spoke.
“May we see the man who made it out of the underground alive? There's something I need to confirm.”
Gulan tilted his head at the question.
“There's no reason why not, but as I said, he's not in his right mind. You won't get anything useful out of him.”
Seeing the faint smile on Igor's face, as if to say it was fine, Gulan shrugged.
“You won't be able to reason with him… but well, I won't stop you. Hey! Is anyone out there?”
At his shout, the tent flap was drawn back, and the soldier who had guided the party earlier peeked his head in.
“You called for me?”
“Guide these men to Glike.”
The soldier's expression quickly darkened as he hesitantly asked again.
“Glike, you mean?”
“You heard me, why ask again?”
The soldier hastily bowed his head.
“...Understood. Please, follow me.”
As the party filed out of the tent, Gulan's voice followed them.
“It'll just spoil your appetite.”
The soldier, once again tasked with guiding the party, muttered without looking back.
“Stirring up trouble for no reason, and now look at the mood…”
It was a complaint meant for himself, but the entire party heard him. Luon, who was right behind, asked.
“Is the mood that bad?”
The soldier scratched the back of his head irritably, sighed, and replied.
“I don't know if you heard, but nine of our colleagues who went to investigate are missing. The one who came back alive was foaming at the mouth, swinging his sword, and badly injured two innocent workers. Everyone's just trying to keep it quiet…”
*Of course the mood isn't good*, the soldier finished his thought as he stopped in front of a small tent.
Another soldier, standing with his arms crossed before the tent, tilted his head.
“Henry? What are you doing here?”
The soldier called Henry gestured with his thumb toward the party behind him and answered.
“These people are here to see Glike. It's Gulan's order.”
At his words, the other soldier stepped far aside. The way he turned his head and feigned indifference seemed to be his roundabout way of showing he wanted no part in going inside.
The party immediately pushed aside the tent flap and stepped in, each of them frowning at the scene before them.
Kyle muttered.
“...What a mess.”
A man, his hands and feet bound with thick ropes, was writhing about. A gag was stuffed in his mouth, and his pale, unfocused eyes rolled wildly. He must have been struggling immensely, as the cloth over his mouth was soaked with crimson blood.
Henry, who had hesitantly followed them in, spoke.
“We had no choice. Aside from spouting nonsense, he was attacking people. There was no other way.”
Just then, Igor silently approached the collapsed man. He clasped his hands together and began reciting a prayer to the goddess, and a soft radiance began to bloom.
As the gentle light enveloped the man, his tremors slowly began to subside. Soon, Henry's eyes widened as he saw his colleague, now with his eyes closed, breathing evenly in his sleep.
“Oh, my gods. Did you heal him?”
Igor shook his head.
“I've only dispelled the madness eating away at his body. It will take a great deal of time to restore his already broken mind. He may never return to his former self.”
With that, he looked at the party and gave a short nod. Everyone understood the meaning behind it.
Belducias.
As suspicion turned to certainty, Kyle let out a low groan. He said.
“Shouldn't we tell that merchant? This is no time to be excited about excavating ruins.”
Strabo nodded in agreement.
“Exploring the old ways is a rather romantic hobby, but it's a different story when innocent lives are at stake.”
Henry, who had been listening silently to their conversation, stammered as he interjected.
“Is… is there really something down there? No, shit… It makes no sense for there to be nothing when a man ends up like this. If a paladin and a priest are involved, could it be…”
He couldn't bring himself to say the rest, swallowing dryly.
Luon spoke.
“Let's talk outside.”
As the party exited the tent, a merchant with a swarthy complexion greeted them with a smile. It was Gulan. As if he had been waiting, he handed a leather pouch to Luon.
“I've filled it generously. I was worried you might change your mind after seeing the state of my man.”
Just as he said with a hearty laugh, the inside of the pouch glinted with gold.
*He's certainly got a bold personality.*
Pocketing the pouch, Luon looked at Gulan, whose eyes were filled with anticipation, and said.
“There's a high probability that whatever you're hoping to find down there, anything of value, doesn't exist. You know that, right?”
Gulan replied with a leisurely smile.
“If there's nothing useful, you can just bring back a demon's corpse. There are more idiotic nobles who collect taxidermied demon parts than you'd think. Some of those morons even write stories as if they killed the things themselves… Ah, perhaps this isn't the sort of talk for those who serve the goddess?”
Igor frowned at the merchant who so casually mentioned demons.
“You knew?”
“Haha, did you take me for a fool just because I didn't press the matter? Anyone could tell from the circumstances that there's something unusual down there. Of course, before you all arrived, I was thinking of monsters or curses… but now that servants of the goddess are here, it's a demon, no doubt.”
“This isn't a problem to be taken so lightly. This is Beldu…”
Luon raised a hand, cutting Igor off, and silently met Gulan's gaze.
There was no pretense in the merchant's glistening eyes. There was only something writhing within—a mixture of curiosity and greed.
Warnings were meaningless to a man with such eyes, so Luon spoke in a dry tone.
“So, where's the entrance?”
***
“If we'd come here by ourselves, we would've had a hell of a time, huh? Who would've guessed there'd be stairs in a place like this? It's amazing they found this…”
The worker leading the way down the stairs picked up on Strabo's words.
“It was pure chance. A pulley rope suddenly snapped, and the marble we were transporting fell. Thanks to that, we found out the floor was hollow underneath.”
He continued the story, explaining how at Gulan's curiosity-piqued command, the strongest workers had diligently hammered at the floor, and before long, they had discovered the stairs leading down.
*Nothing special about that story.*
While Luon was inwardly muttering at the bland sequence of events, the party descended deeper underground.
As they followed the stairs, which spiraled down like a coiled snake, they were greeted by damp humidity and a deepening darkness.
When his feet finally touched the ground, the worker shoved the torch he was holding at Luon and said.
“Can I go now? My heart's pounding so hard I think I'm going to lose it…”
Seeing the man's deathly pale face, Luon nodded. As if he had been waiting for it, the worker scrambled back up the stairs and quickly vanished.
Kyle muttered under his breath.
“He must have been terrified.”
The party stood before a massive iron door, halfway open, and glanced at each other for a moment.
“At last, on our journey…”
Just as Strabo, his expression suddenly filled with emotion, was about to say something, Luon raised his palm.
“Whatever grand words you have, keep them in your head. The moment you say them out loud, they become clichés.”
His words prompted a round of comments from the party.
“Cli… what? I swear, you say things I can't understand sometimes, just like before.”
“Why'd you cut me off!”
“Strabo, if Luon says not to, there must be a reason.”
A faint smile touched Luon's lips as he watched the three disparate reactions. He handed the torch to Igor and walked toward the iron door.
*Creeeak—*
The rusty hinges screamed as the heavy iron door swung open, revealing a wide, dark passage within.
The party followed close behind Luon as he stepped inside without hesitation.
The torch, burning itself to illuminate the surroundings, cast its light on the bas-relief carvings on the passage walls. Igor's face contorted as his eyes scanned them.
“...This is insane.”
It was extremely rare for him to curse, so even Luon stopped and turned his head.
The murals, which seemed to be arranged chronologically, stretched along the corridor, and their contents were utterly depraved.
Kyle muttered as he looked at the mural, which graphically depicted naked humans, elves, and dwarves with crazed expressions plunging blades into each other's bodies, until finally, with no one left to harm, they took their own lives.
“Fuck, this is just too much.”
It was then.
*Grrlk—*
A gruesome sound, like bubbling phlegm, echoed from the darkness.
Narrowing his eyes, Luon peered into the pervasive gloom. The moment he identified the men shambling toward them, he drew the sword from his waist.
With a *shing*, the blade was revealed, red runes glowing upon it. The darkness receded, securing a few steps' worth of visibility.
In that instant, Gulan's men, the former advance team, charged forward madly.
Keee-ee-ek!
Luon met the charge of an opponent swinging a sword with bloodshot eyes, cleaving through the man's torso, weapon and all. He then kicked the sliding upper half of the body away.
As the torso flew through the air, scattering entrails, it collided with another man charging from behind, creating a disgusting spectacle. In that opening, Luon's body moved with explosive force.
Displaying monstrous strength, he parried a horizontal axe swing with his pommel and closed in on his opponent. As he thrust his arm upward, the man split vertically, falling to both sides with a final scream.
Without looking, Luon dodged a spear tip thrusting at his side, grabbed the shaft, and yanked it forward. As the man was pulled along with the spear, Luon smashed his elbow into his face, sending him flying with a sickening crack.
He then flicked the falling spear up with his foot, caught it, and swung his arm without hesitation. The spear left his hand like a bolt of light, simultaneously piercing the heads of two approaching men and embedding itself in the wall.
“...I told you, this is insane.”
Muttering to himself, Kyle raised his shield to block an incoming sword before stabbing his arming sword between his opponent's ribs with his other hand.
The sword, a gift from Garan, easily pierced leather and muscle, shredded the soft organs within, and exited through the man's back.
Khe-he-hek!
After mercilessly bashing the hissing man in the face with his shield, Kyle turned his head to see Strabo, one arm transformed into that of a beast, leap into the air and smash the face of an opponent wielding a hammer.
The dwarf spat at the man who fell backward with a caved-in face and shrugged.
“Can't wear myself out already, can I?”
Just then, a foul stench began to rise from the corpses on the ground, assaulting the party's noses.
Igor, who had been holding his position at the rear, threw the torch to the ground and immediately clasped his hands.
“Merciful Mother!”
A burst of light erupted from his body, forming a shield the same size as the passage.
“Everyone, to me!”
The moment the three backpedaled behind the shield of light, the corpses began to explode in succession.
*BOOM—!*
The corridor, engulfed in a chain of explosions, rumbled and shook. Brushing the dust and dirt from the ceiling off his shoulders, Luon looked ahead. The shield, though heavily cracked, was holding firm.
“Quite the rough welcoming party.”
He muttered, gazing at the scene of blood and gore beyond the shield.
“This place isn't going to collapse, is it?”
Strabo chuckled at Kyle, who was looking up nervously at the ceiling as stone fragments rained down.
“Kyle, you're not thinking of running away now, are you? Right when we're on the verge of a great achievement that history will remember?”
“Run away? What are you talking about! Let's go, now.”
“Yes, that's the spirit!”
Luon watched the two bickering as they moved forward, then unhurriedly started down the passage himself.
His intuition was telling him.
Today was going to be a long day.
Longer than any before.