Gulan nodded without hesitation at Ruon’s request for an advance payment.
“It’s a risky business, so I guess you’d feel more comfortable with a thick wallet. I’ll get it ready right away.”
Then Igor spoke.
“Can I see the person who came out of the underground? I have something to check.”
Gulan cocked his head at the question.
“It’s not impossible, but like I said, he’s out of his mind, so there’s nothing to talk to him about.”
Gulan shrugged his shoulders at Igor’s face, which smiled faintly as if he was okay.
“He won’t listen to you anyway… Well, I won’t stop you. Hey! Is there anyone outside?”
As he shouted, the tent opened and the soldier who had guided the party stuck his face in.
“Did you call me?”
“Take them to Glick.”
The soldier’s face darkened in an instant and he stammered.
“Glick, you mean?”
“Did you hear me or not?”
The soldier quickly bowed his head.
“…Yes, sir. Please follow me.”
As the party left the tent one by one, Gulan’s voice came from behind.
“It’ll ruin your appetite.”
The soldier who took charge of the party’s guide again muttered without looking back.
“What a mess… You’re stirring up trouble and ruining the mood…”
It was a near-mutter, but everyone in the party could hear him. Ruon, who was right behind him, asked.
“Is the mood really bad?”
The soldier, who scratched the back of his head nervously, sighed and answered.
“You may not have heard, but nine of our colleagues who went on an investigation went missing. The one who came back alive was foaming at the mouth and swinging his sword, injuring two innocent workers. Everyone’s just keeping quiet…”
He finished his sentence with a bitter tone, saying that the mood couldn’t be good.
He stopped in front of a small tent.
Another soldier who was standing in front of the tent with his arms crossed tilted his head.
“Henry? What are you doing here?”
Henry, who was called by his name, pointed to the party behind him with his thumb and replied.
“These people came to see Glick. It’s Gulan’s order.”
At his words, the soldier stepped aside reluctantly. He turned his head and pretended to be indifferent, as if he didn’t want to go in.
The party entered the tent without hesitation and frowned at the sight that unfolded before them.
Kyle muttered.
“…What a mess.”
A man whose arms and legs were tied with thick ropes was writhing around. The man’s mouth was gagged, and his bloodshot eyes were rolling around. He had been so fierce that blood was oozing from the cloth that was stuffed in his mouth.
Henry, who came in late, said.
“It was an inevitable choice. He was spouting nonsense, let alone attacking people. There was no other way.”
Then Igor silently approached the fallen man. He clasped his hands and prayed to the goddess, and a faint glow began to rise.
The man’s body, wrapped in a gentle light, gradually stopped shaking. Soon, he closed his eyes and breathed evenly, falling asleep.
Henry’s eyes widened as he confirmed his colleague.
“Oh, my God. Did you heal him?”
Igor shook his head.
“I only drove away the madness that was eating away at his body. It will take a long time to recover his broken mind. He may never come back.”
He said that and nodded briefly at the party. They all understood the meaning behind it.
Velducias.
As doubt turned to certainty, Kyle snorted softly. He said.
“Don’t we have to tell that merchant? This is not the time to be excited about the ruins.”
Strabo nodded in agreement.
“Exploring the past is a romantic hobby, but it’s a different story when innocent people’s lives are at stake.”
Henry, who had been listening to their conversation quietly, interjected.
“Hey, is there something in the underground? No, shit… It doesn’t make sense that there’s nothing when people are in this state. If it’s something related to the paladin and the priest, could it be…”
He couldn’t spit out the rest of his words and swallowed his dry saliva.
Ruon said.
“Let’s talk outside.”
The party left the tent and was greeted by a merchant with a grumpy face and a smiling face. It was Gulan. He handed a leather pouch to Ruon, as if he had been waiting.
“I packed it tightly. I was worried that you might change your mind after seeing the plight of my men.”
As he said with a hearty laugh, the pouch was glittering with gold.
He’s got a fiery temper.
Ruon, who took the pouch, looked at Gulan with eyes full of anticipation and said.
“There’s a high chance that there’s nothing of value in the underground that you want. You know that, right?”
Gulan replied with a relaxed smile.
“If there’s nothing worthwhile, I don’t mind taking the devil’s corpse. There are more nobles than you think who collect parts of the stuffed devil’s body. Some of them even write novels as if they killed it themselves… Ah, but maybe this is not something to say in front of those who serve the goddess?”
Igor frowned at the merchant who casually mentioned the devil.
“Did you know?”
“Ha ha, you didn’t bother to ask, so don’t you think you’re ignoring me too much? Anyone can tell by the circumstances that there’s something sinister down there. Of course, before you came, I only had monsters or curses in mind… But since you’re here, there’s no need to say anything else. It must be the devil.”
“It’s not a problem that you can think so simply. This is Beldu…”
Lion cut off Igor’s words and stared at Gulan’s eyes without saying anything.
There was no pretense in his flickering eyes. There was only something that writhed with curiosity and greed.
A warning was meaningless to someone with those eyes, so Lion spoke in a dry tone.
“So where’s the entrance?”
***
“Wouldn’t we have had a hard time if we came here by ourselves? Who would have expected that there would be stairs in a place like this? It’s amazing that you found this…”
The laborer who was leading the way down the stairs took Strabo’s words.
“It was purely by chance. There was an accident where the marble I was carrying fell off because the pulley rope suddenly broke. Thanks to that, I was able to find out that the floor beyond the crack was empty.”
The laborers who were working hard at Gulan’s curious command hammered the floor diligently, and soon they discovered the stairs leading to the underground.
It was not a special story.
As the group descended towards the underground, Ruon muttered to himself about the dull outcome of the event.
The dampness and darkness grew thicker as they followed the spiral staircase that curled like a snake’s tail.
As soon as they reached the floor, the laborer shoved the torch he was holding into Ruon’s hands and said,
“Can we go back now? My heart is pounding like crazy…”
Ruon nodded, seeing his pale and sickly face. The laborer wasted no time and ran up the stairs, disappearing from sight.
Kyle murmured softly.
“He must have been really scared.”
The group paused in front of a huge iron gate that was half-open and looked at each other’s faces.
“At last, our journey…”
Strabo, who suddenly had a moved expression on his face, was about to say something when Ruon raised his palm.
“Keep those plausible words in your head. The moment you say them out loud, they become clichés.”
At his words, the others started to chime in.
“Cli…what? Come on, you sometimes say things I don’t understand.”
“Why did you cut me off!”
“Strabo, Ruon has a reason for telling us not to do something.”
Ruon smiled faintly, seeing the three people’s different reactions. He handed the torch to Igor and walked towards the iron gate.
Creak-
The rusty hinges screamed as the heavy iron gate opened, revealing a wide and dark corridor.
Without hesitation, Ruon stepped into it, followed closely by the others.
The torches that burned his body brightened the surroundings and illuminated the carved mural on the wall of the corridor. Igor’s face twisted as he scanned it with his eyes.
“···Crazy.”
He rarely swore, so even Leon stopped walking and turned his head.
The murals that stretched along the corridor seemed to be arranged in chronological order, but their content was outrageous.
Naked humans, elves, and dwarves, with mad expressions on their faces, stabbed each other’s bodies with knives, and when there was nothing left to harm, they killed themselves. The process was vividly depicted in the murals. Kyle muttered as he looked at them.
“Damn, this is too much.”
That’s when it happened.
Grrr-
A creepy sound like thick phlegm boiling came from the darkness.
Leon narrowed his eyes and watched the pervasive darkness. He drew his sword from his waist and groaned as he saw the men approaching.
As he revealed his sword with a swish, red runes rose from the blade, and the darkness retreated, securing a few steps of visibility.
At that moment, the former vanguard, Gulan’s subordinates, started to rush in like crazy.
Kee-ee-ek!
Leon slashed the body of the opponent who swung his sword with his eyes of blood, and cut him in half with his sword. He kicked the slanted upper body of the guy.
The upper body that flew away, scattering the intestines, collided with another man who ran from behind, creating a disgusting scene. Leon’s body moved explosively.
He showed his strength by bouncing off the axe that flew horizontally with his pommel, and dug into the opponent. As he lifted his arm up, the guy who was split vertically fell apart on both sides with his last breath.
In the meantime, Leon avoided the spear tip that pierced his side without even looking. He grabbed the spear shaft and pulled it. As he pulled the spear and the man’s face with it, he hit him with his elbow. The man flew away with a burst of sound.
Ruon kicked the spear that was falling to the ground with his foot and grabbed it in his hand. Without hesitation, he swung his arm and threw the spear. It flew like a ray of light and pierced through the heads of two men who were approaching him, then stuck to the wall.
“Really, you’re insane.”
Kyle muttered softly as he lifted his shield to block the sword that was coming at him. Then he stabbed his arming sword into the gap between the ribs of his opponent with his other hand.
The sword that Garan had given him easily pierced through the leather and muscle, and sliced through the soft organs. Then he pulled it out and turned his back.
Kee-hee-hek!
He slammed his shield mercilessly into the face of his opponent who was making a wheezing sound. As he turned his head, he saw Strabo, who had transformed one of his arms into a beast, jumping up and smashing the face of another enemy with a hammer.
The dwarf spat at the guy who fell backwards with his facial bones caved in and shrugged his shoulders.
“We can’t let up now, can we?”
Then, a foul smell began to sting their noses from the bodies that had fallen to the floor.
At that moment, Igor, who had been guarding the rear, threw his torch to the ground and clasped his hands together.
“Merciful Mother!”
A light burst out of his body and created a shield that was the same size as the passage.
“Everyone, to my side!”
As the three of them stepped back into the light shield at Igor’s shout, the bodies began to explode one by one.
Kwang-!
The passage was shaken by the chain of explosions and made a rumbling sound. Ruon dusted off the dirt that had fallen from the ceiling and looked ahead. He saw the shield that was still holding its place, though it was stained with blood and flesh.
“What a rough welcome.”
He murmured as he looked at the scene beyond the shield.
“I hope this place doesn’t collapse.”
Kyle looked at the ceiling nervously as the pieces of rock fell down and Strabo chuckled.
“Kyle, you’re not thinking of running away now, are you? With a great feat that history will remember right in front of you?”
“Running away? What are you talking about? Let’s go now.”
“Yeah, let’s go!”
As he watched the two of them bicker and move forward, Ruon followed them at a leisurely pace.
His intuition told him.
It was going to be a long day.
Like never before.
