Chapter 15

Interlude How the Hero Was Defeated Toudou’s internal clock is all mixed up. She isn’t sure if it’s morning or evening anymore. A damp wind blows and brushes against her cheek. The only visible light comes from Garnet. In Yutith’s Tomb, there is only silence and the damp, heavy darkness. Toudou holds her breath as she progresses forward, an uneasy look on her face. The stone path is easier to walk on than the forest floor, but their pace is far more sluggish. Behind her walks Aria, looking serious as usual, followed by Limis and Glacia. Limis has an old map open in her hands. The map, which looks like it has gotten many years of use, was given to them when they visited the church in the village near the tomb. It’s covered with cautionary notes, the locations of traps, and the types of monsters that appear in each room and passageway. Eventually, Toudou stops and looks back over her shoulder. “…Limis, where are we now?” “…We’ve only been in here an hour.” “…Oh… Only an hour, huh?” “Are you all right, Nao? You don’t look so good,” Limis says, sounding shocked. “I’m f-fine… Just not used to this yet.” But there isn’t much energy in her voice. She bites her lip. Limis turns to Aria, who has been unusually quiet since they entered the tomb. “You don’t look so good, either, Aria.” “…I’m all right. Just not used to it yet.” Aria glances around restlessly into the empty darkness without even turning to look at Limis. Just then, a cold wind blows. Limis notices a shadow in the corner of the passageway and cries out. “Ah—!” “?!” Toudou and Aria jump, then slowly turn toward the corner. What appeared is one of the living dead. They are one of the weakest monsters to be found in the Great Tomb. Still ten meters away, Toudou and Aria reflexively draw their swords. The creature’s skin and flesh are decaying. A nauseating, rotten smell drifts through the air, and a groan of sorrow and resentment echoes through the passage. Its eyes aren’t looking at them, but it moves slowly toward them, one step at a time. Squinting at it, Limis says, “I thought I saw something moving over there!” Ignoring her, Toudou and Aria look at each other. Toudou is the first to speak. “Oh… Aria…you can take this one.” Wide-eyed, Aria bites her lip. “N-no, no—N-Nao, I concede this to you.” “Ah—a wraith!” shouts Limis. “EEP!!” Hearing this, Toudou and Aria both retreat backward, trembling. In their hurry, they trip over each other and fall on the ground. A transparent form passes above the living dead. The thing has a body like mist and has vacant, ghostly eyes. It doesn’t move extremely fast, but it’s much faster than the living dead that creeps slowly toward them. A wraith—the second-weakest monster in the Great Tomb after the living dead. Toudou falls back in fright until she hits the wall. Aria readies her sword, her arm shaking. She prepares to attack the living dead. “I-I’ll take—the living dead. Lady Nao, y-you take the wraith.” “N-no, actually, I’ll take the living dead.” “It doesn’t matter—just hurry up!” shouts Limis, striking the floor with her staff. At that moment, while Aria and Toudou argue back and forth, the floating wraith catches hold of them. “EEK?!” “Flame Lance.” At the sound of Limis’s voice, a bright, burning flame in the shape of a lance shoots out, piercing the wraith and bursting on impact. As it dies, the wraith’s scream of agony echoes through the passage. Wincing, Limis covers her ears. The scream has a sharpness that pierces the eardrum and shocks the brain. It causes Toudou to collapse on the ground. “Nao!!” shouts Limis, rushing over to her. “It’s the Scream of Sorrow…,” says Aria, her face pale. “A wraith skill that sends a jolt through the mind that can cause humans to lose consciousness…” Suddenly, Aria’s body goes limp, and she collapses on the ground like a marionette. “Aria?!” cries Limis. She looks at the two of them, dumbfounded. Though neither took a hit, they are both now unable to fight. Limis nervously checks that they’re both still alive. Pressing a hand to her forehead, she mumbles in shock, “…She’s the Holy Warrior, but she can’t handle the undead…? How does that even work…?” The living dead groans as it draws nearer. It moves much slower than the pace a human would walk—in fact, you could probably get away from it pretty easily. The monsters in the Forest of the Vale were much more quick-witted and agile. “I’m hungry…,” mumbles Glacia sadly, looking neither at the pair collapsed on the ground nor at the approaching enemy. For the first time since joining the party, Limis truly feels that she is in danger. Lifting her staff, she points it at the living dead that stumbles toward her. Even a beginner like me should be able to defeat something this slow. “Geez… Since I can’t rely on anyone else… Flame Lance.” The lance flies into the body of the living dead, and it bursts. Its fluids evaporate and emit an intense odor. “Huh…?” As she breathes in the vapors from such a close distance, the paralysis absorbs into her. In a moment, her consciousness starts to fade, and her entire body goes weak. As she passes out, Limis has no idea what just happened. “Why’d they even come here in the first place…?” I grumble, fed up with this group. After only an hour in the tomb, the hero’s party is totally defeated. Since they all seem to have completely lost consciousness, I immediately approach. Toudou, Aria, and Limis lie flat on the ground, and only Glacia is left standing. The paralysis doesn’t affect her. When she notices me, she jumps back and starts trembling. “I…I’m not hungry,” she says, almost like she’s making an excuse. “You don’t even know what you’re saying!” All she talks about is being hungry when clearly that’s not even what she actually wants to say. But I don’t have time to deal with her right now. I go to Toudou and Aria to check their pulses and their pupils. They seem to have just taken some mental damage from the wraith’s attack, which caused them to faint. Next, I check Limis, who used her half-power flame magic to kill the undead enemy. The paralysis caused by killing the living dead takes effect extremely quickly, but it isn’t the type of thing that could kill you. For humans, who have some amount of divine protection from the God of Order, it’s something that will fade over time. After confirming they’re all alive, I give them sleeping medicine to ensure they don’t wake while I carry them out. I tie ropes to Toudou’s and Aria’s wrists. Carrying Limis on my back, I grip the ropes and start pulling them toward the exit. As I make my way out, using photon order to get rid of the low-level undead that appear along the way, I can’t help but wonder— Will these guys really be okay?