What I didn’t understand, however, was their problem with Teoritta.
“What is that about, anyway? Why do you see Teoritta as a false goddess? The Temple recognizes her, don’t they? What’s the big deal if there’s one more?”
“Sorry. I know you are simply ignorant fools.” Necrus was clearly irritated, but it seemed he was finally willing to talk. I’d hoped he would bite if I brought up his faith. “Goddesses are supreme beings sent from the heavens, perfect and without flaw. There cannot be a new goddess!”
This reasoning didn’t make any sense to me. Perhaps if I were to follow his logic, I could find some basis for his beliefs in the scriptures or legends. But it was way too complicated for me, so I gave up trying to understand.
“Why don’t you get it?! It is you, the ones worshipping the false goddess, who are summoning the Demon Blight in the first place! This is punishment for your misguided faith. And using a goddess’s sacred remains for Project Saint?! Pure blasphemy!”
“…I’m with you on the Project Saint stuff.” I felt like heaving a great sigh. To think I’d agree, even partially, with a member of some insane cult. It was a tough world out there. “The idea of sending someone like Yurisa Kidafreny into battle disgusts me.”
“Really?” asked Tsav. “I think she’s cute. And she’s a hard worker. I guess she wasn’t that funny, but you can’t judge people’s worth based on how much they make you laugh, Bro.”
“Tsav, if I ever sink low enough that I need a moral lecture from you, I’ll walk into my own dagger.”
“Are you mad they’re using your old goddess’s corpse? Because I could totally see—”
“Tsav.” I gripped the hilt of my knife, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice. “Shut your mouth.”
“Whoa… Come on. Why does everyone discriminate so much between the living and the dead anyway? Like, why is it okay to make jokes about the living but not the dead? It seems unfair…”
“I told you to shut up.”
“Yes, sir!”
Tsav raised both hands in surrender, and Necrus’s lips twisted. I thought for a moment he would smile, but all I could see in his face was disgust. Was this just how he expressed his emotions?
“Look how obedient you’ve become, Tsav.” Necrus snorted. “…Why weren’t you this loyal to us?”
“I was! I always looked out for you guys, even though I knew how weak and hopeless you were. In fact, I’m such a good guy, I even impress myself.”
“What did you just say?!” Despite being bound, Necrus used his toes to grab the semi-ancient blade Tsav had tossed aside earlier and launched it at him.
Tsav simply laughed. “Again, you’re too slow. If you wanna kill me, you’re gonna have to use a new weapon I’ve never seen before. Or else develop some kind of superpower.” After dodging the sword, he effortlessly moved in to strike Necrus in the face. “See? I told you.”
“…I’m impressed, Tsav…,” the man said, groaning in frustration. “It really is a shame. You were the strongest soldier I ever raised. My greatest work. If only you’d had the mental fortitude to join our cause.”
“Heh-heh! Hilarious. You’re the last person I want to hear telling me about mental fortitude.”
“Tsk…”
After that, Necrus fell silent again. I doubted he could endure much more humiliation. I didn’t think I’d get anything else out of him, but I decided to try one last time.
“Hey, do you guys really not know who put you up to this? They just tried to off every last one of you. Do you really want to die here?”
“…Silence,” Necrus said, grunting. “Shut your blasphemous mouth, Xylo Forbartz. Don’t you dare pity me. I won’t allow it.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a matter of faith. I cannot forgive you for what you’ve done.”
Whatever, I thought. It looked like there was only one way to get this guy to talk. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, but do your teachings say anything about dying in these ruins? Are you sure that’s what you’re meant to do?”
I had to challenge his beliefs if I wanted him to engage with me… And it worked like a charm.
“…You don’t know anything about us or our teachings,” he muttered, his voice low.
“You’re right, I don’t. But I know that if you die here, it’s over for you. You won’t be resurrected.” Necrus didn’t say a word, so I asked once more: “Who set you up and tried to kill us?”
It might be pointless, but I was determined to keep pressing him. I began to stand up—and found I couldn’t. My legs gave out, and I collapsed to my knees. My temples were throbbing. I felt like my head was on fire—then a chill washed over me, like I was being bathed in pulsating waves of hot and cold. I wasn’t just feeling sick—something was wrong.
I tried to process what was happening to me. It was similar to the feeling of running low on luminescence, but I knew I hadn’t run out. I forced myself to take deep breaths, but that made me feel even worse.
Pull yourself together. This is no time to be passing out.
I blinked, and my vision blurred. I clutched my stomach.
“The hell is going on?”
That was all I could manage.
I thought at first that Necrus had done something, but even he was doubled over, vomiting. Only Tsav was still standing, staring at the door with an irritatingly goofy smile.
“Huh, is this poison, you think?” He was holding his sniper staff in one hand and a sword in the other. It was the matte-black blade he’d stolen from Necrus during their fight. “I’m super resistant to most poisons, so I didn’t really notice… Must be some powerful stuff, though, if you guys can’t even stand.”
It must have been an invisible gas, like the kind used by the Ninth Order of the Holy Knights. Stuff like this was really effective in enclosed spaces like this. But how had they pulled it off? Had they predicted we’d come this way and set up traps beforehand?
That would mean they’ll have an ambush waiting for us up ahead…
We were up against an opponent I couldn’t even detect with Loradd. Was it someone capable of suppressing their breathing and heartbeat almost completely, as if they were hibernating? It was hard to believe a human could pull something like that off, though it might be possible for certain faeries that took the form of snakes or other beasts. If we were up against a target like that, I’d have to expend a lot more energy and time using my probe seal.
I messed up. I was worried about running out of luminescence and reduced Loradd’s output too much. But, wait…
That was probably part of the enemy’s plan right from the beginning. They’d closed in on us, limiting our options and encouraging me to play it safe. I thought I was choosing the best strategy, but that was exactly what they’d wanted me to do.
…Bring it on.
It was about time that we took some risks. I was going to break out of this trap and make whoever was behind this pay. I was gonna give them hell.
“You can come out now,” Tsav said, eyes on the ceiling.
The enemy’s up there?
I followed Tsav’s gaze and found a ventilation shaft. It was only natural for an underground facility like this to have such a system, and that was apparently where our enemy had chosen to hide. I started to activate Loradd, then stopped.
Relax, Xylo. I was confused. What good would it do to pinpoint their location now? If Tsav said the enemy was there, then that was all there was to it. I needed to conserve my strength for both offense and defense. I could still move. This poison clearly wasn’t strong enough to kill at this distance.
“Come on, hurry up. Can’t you tell your poison isn’t working on me?”
Something stirred in the depths of the ventilation shaft.
Something slithered out—it looked like a lizard with dark crimson scales. It was clearly a faerie or a demon lord, but I’d never seen anything like it. It was bipedal, with its limbs encased in an insect-like exoskeleton. Vines grew all over its body, bearing poisonous-looking flowers.
Faeries that took the form of lizards were called nuggles, while multi-legged arthropods were boggarts, and plantlike faeries were alraunes. Each were distinct types, yet this creature seemed to be a combination of all three.