235 times
Deep Valley Abyss, Erebor 235 – Deep Valley Abyss, Erebor #5
After a brief rest by the campfire, we set off again.
Perhaps it was the light and warmth from the bright fire that had some effect? I felt like my walking strength and the confidence in my shoulders had increased a little.
“I don’t know if we’ll be able to find your elf party members this way.”
Of course, it wasn’t all good things.
We couldn’t even tell where we were, and there was no sign of where Elfriede’s party was stranded.
Even we, who have only been here for half a day, are facing this danger.
I feel like I don’t need to say anything about what kind of situation Elfriede’s party is in now that they’ve been here for three days.
Maybe it’s already too late.
We might not even find the body.
That thought crossed my mind. Then wouldn’t it be faster to just find a way out?
Since I’m thinking like this, I’m sure Hippolyte, the party leader, is also having a lot of worries.
Materials are not abundant, and all around is darkness, with no way of knowing what will pop out from where.
Anyone who looked at it saw that it wasn’t a very good situation.
As we walk with such a vague feeling, some rather strange patterns and designs begin to appear beneath our feet, illuminated by the torch.
“Sister, look at this.”
Antiope was the first to react to the pattern. As expected of someone who tattoos pictures on their bodies, she may have been interested in patterns and logos.
Stop.
“It’s quite an interesting picture.”
We all stopped walking and looked at the large pattern drawn under our feet.
On the floor, various letters and pictures were arranged irregularly in a circle the size of a playground.
It feels like a giant pizza carved into the floor.
Sval, pizza. What am I thinking right now?
So, while I was checking the reactions of the people around me to change my thoughts, I saw Hippolyta with her arms crossed, rubbing something that looked like a law circle drawn on the floor with her greaves.
Of course, the picture wasn’t erased or anything.
“Do you know what the picture is? Is it related to the exit?”
“It’s like a law. I think I’ve seen something like this in the Knights Templar-. Oh, what was it? It seems to have something to do with the spiritualists.”
Hippolyta asks Antiope again, who is scratching her head.
“Geminiscents?”
“These are the pagans who have been on the rise in recent years. They are the ones who think that this material and physical world of Saha is tainted with evil. They are the ones who seek a perfect spiritual world somewhere.”
“This world is evil? These guys are funny.”
“They are the ones who consider even the gods who created this world to be devils. That’s why they are being exterminated as soon as they are seen. Those leaders are causing me a bit of a headache because I can’t see a single hair on their head.”
Antiope’s description brought to mind the image of the Knights Templar, an order of warriors who subjugate pagans.
Their mission seems to be not only to deal with the Pluto cult, but also to simply exorcise anything that threatens the kingdom and its established religious worldview.
Spiritualism, huh?
This existing material world is evil, and the gods who created those materials are called devils.
Is there any other cult in this world that is so blasphemous and horrible to people who place such high value on religion and faith?
While I was thinking like that, Antiope, who was rubbing the law mark on the floor with her sandal, spoke.
“The most difficult thing about them is that they believe that somewhere beyond this material world there is a spiritual world of perfect goodness. A very different world.”
“That’s an interesting perspective.”
“Yeah, that’s right. If we just end it from that perspective, we won’t talk. But the real problem is that we keep trying to open up cracks in other dimensions and universes. This is probably a door.”
“door?”
“That’s a pretty big gate. The summoning circle, you know. The summoning circle of the spiritualists that can be seen from this deep abyss. Damn, I don’t even know what it was trying to do.”
Finally, Antiope finished her story, trembling.
At that very moment, Elfriede, who was kneeling on the floor and scanning the summoning circle with her palm, said a word.
“This summoning circle has already lost its effect. Since it doesn’t seem to have any mana, it seems like something has already burst into this world through it.”
Elfriede was a magician who had some expertise in mana. Hearing Elfriede’s words, I tightened my grip on the hand holding the torch.
Something has already popped out of the summoning circle as large as a small playground?
I have no idea what it could be.
As I was feeling a chill running down my spine, Hippolyte said something as if summing up everything.
“This is such a large summoning circle. Are you trying to summon a god from another world?”
“no.”
It was his younger sister, Antiope, who corrected his words.
“God? In their terms, that would be the devil.”
That was the end of the talk about the magic circle. He moved his lips as if he had something more to say.
It seemed as if he was holding back his words for fear that it might invite some kind of negative reaction. However, there was no time to discuss it.
Flash, flash-.
Because red lights began to glow around them.
Sreung-.
Hippolyta draws her sword from the scabbard at her waist.
Unlike the gloomy mood she had been in just a moment ago, Hippolyta drew her sword and her expression brightened like a different person.
“It seems you’ve finally appeared, you dogs of the abyss.”
“I felt like I came out a little late. Sister, I’ll look at the back like we planned! You have to block the front well!”
Antiope also drew the javelin from her waist and aimed it in all directions. A huge static electricity-like thing crackled and shot out from the tip of the spear.
Hippolyta raises her voice as if startled by the sight.
“You, just now that-.”
However, Hippolyte’s words could not be finished.
The reason was that the red-eyed guys lurking in the darkness were rushing at us.
Gehaaaaak-!
Gehaak!
The guys let out a most horrible scream.
The sight revealed under the torch was even more horrifying, as it looked as if a human body had been cut down to the waist, leaving only the front piece.
Perhaps because he doesn’t get enough sunlight, his skin is pale and ashen.
There is no hair at all, and even the face is so flat that you can’t tell the eyes, nose, and mouth. Looking at this grotesque and strange appearance, it really makes my hair stand on end.
Gehahak!
“Damn, there are so many Volt Morts!”
The guys crawled on the ground with both arms and lunged at me. I don’t know where they got that speed, but before I knew it, they were crawling up to my feet.
The feeling of Volt Morts, who only have the upper body, sifting through my body. It’s a horrible feeling that would be in the top three worst I’ve ever felt in my life.
“Get out of here you little shits-!”
So I had no choice but to kick and swing my club around to get the guys off.
As I kicked the ones around me with all my might, trying to get the one attached to my right foot off, the monsters fell to the ground with a crunching sound.
Despite its vicious appearance, it seems to have little durability.
Is it worth doing?
As soon as that thought comes to mind, confidence begins to well up in my head.
“I go through this fucking rice baby!”
It was about time I hit that guy’s head with all my might.
The electric noise of crackling, crackling – it seemed as if the output was being turned up to maximum, and then Antiope raised her spear over her shoulder and threw it at the monsters, shouting.
“Condemned-!”
Phage support support-.
The javelins that flew in a flash of white light split the heads of these bland monsters, sending lightning flying in all directions.
The ability to fire a chain of lightning bolts as it passes through the bodies of monsters, roasting everything in sight until crispy, was amazing even to me.
Swish.
Antiope opens her palms again towards the empty space.
I thought that a blood clot would open in the guy’s hand and suck up all the remaining mobs. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and the spear just came back.
By the way, I think you said that the spear, Ganrunga or something, has a strange enchantment that makes it automatically return.
“Perfect-. I can become stronger.”
Dismissal, dismissal-.
Antiope swept his spear, Ganrunga, up and down. The spear began to crackle with electricity again, as if it was being charged with static electricity.
It was a really great sight, but I felt like my Juji would stand up because of the way it generated static electricity. What an obscene finishing move casting this is.
“God-sin-sin!”
The spearhead is once again hurled like a flash from Antiope’s hand.
*
*
*
The name of the monster we defeated was Dust. It was a monster born from a mixture of negative thoughts and dust from the abyss.
The total number of Dusts we encountered was fifty-three.
I took down three of them. The remaining fifty were taken care of by women. Of course, most of them were massacres carried out by Antiope under the pretext of testing her new power.
Actually, I was a little worried about having to navigate this darkness, but looking at it this way, I think my worries were justified.
That was a really strong party.
Before we set off, it occurred to me that Antiope was a sumptuous partygoer.
“I don’t have anything particularly useful.”
Hippolyte kicked the corpses of Dust with her feet and rummaged through them. However, as she had said, there didn’t seem to be anything of great use.
“These guys, they’re the same level subjugation monsters. How much of anything useful could they possibly have? They’ve been eroded by the abyss, so you can’t even make equipment with their materials.”
Unlike the many that I hunted, the Dust Pups were just useless mobs that didn’t really help. They looked really horrible.
Swish-.
I took out the dagger I had just half-sharpened and cut through the back and spine of this strange creature. Then, I could see some fairly white bones between their muscles.
The bones look useful. They would definitely make good undead.
Of course, in this situation, I don’t do anything like raising the goblins because I don’t know what kind of chaos will occur.
“Let’s gather the bodies and burn them. We don’t know what will happen.”
Even as Hippolyte said, I had no other choice but to burn their bodies to dust, even down to their bones.
After that, I continued to deal with the Dust guys, but it was always the same.
“Hassan, how many dog meats are left?”
“There is only one left.”
“Damn, one. I don’t know about dust and other squirrels, but if you keep getting eroded by the abyss, who knows what will happen.”
If I light the torch a couple more times, it will all fall down.
In that situation, Hippolyte’s stress level was quite high as she had to keep fighting the small monsters.
“Antiope, how many times can you use your electrical powers? You seem to be using some interesting powers.”
“Well, I guess I’ll have to try it to find out.”
“I see. Phew, there’s so much to consider.”
It’s probably because it’s a party, so there are more things to worry about than others.
Since I had Antiope, Hippolyte, and Elfriede with me, I didn’t have to exert myself that much, so I was more relaxed and physically fit than the others.
If I keep going like this, I’ll feel like I’m just falling asleep in the back of the bus.
Is there anything I can do about this situation? At that moment, something like a brilliant idea occurred to me and I opened my mouth and said to Hippolyte.
“Give me your hand. Take off your gauntlets.”
“My, my hand? Why my hand?”
“Let me give it a try.”
“Knead? Hand?”
“It might make you feel a little better.”
“There are other people here. You want to rub my hand here?”
“Is there a problem with just getting a massage?”
“Ahem, no, no, nothing. It’s no problem.”
Hippolyte finally took off the gauntlet she was wearing on her right hand. Her hand, which was revealed, was quite sweaty.
Hippolyta wiped the sweat off her face on her greaves, perhaps feeling embarrassed.
“… Okay, here it is, here it is.”
So I pressed down on Hippolyte’s outstretched palm. It was unexpectedly soft for someone who lived with a sword, which always surprised me.
“There aren’t any calluses on your palms. Are you taking care of them?”
“That’s obvious. For Amazons like me, strength is beauty. Beauty is strength. That’s why I have to train and take care of my appearance every day without fail.”
That’s right.
Luna also puts various face packs on her face and takes foot baths and stuff when I can’t see her.
Hippolyta also seemed to be making efforts to improve her appearance in various ways behind our eyes.
Anyway, that’s not important right now.
Because it seems like you are out of your mind because of the darkness, apply pressure with the tip of your thumb as if you were waking up a sleepy person.
“Euuuuuuuuuuuu… .”
Hippolyta screams and trembles as the blood clot is pressed hard.
“Ughhhh. My spine feels tingly. I’ve felt it before, but, uh, strange dexterity-.”
“Oh, what? Why do you only do it for me? Do it for me too!”
Antiope, who had been watching this, growled. In the end, I ended up pressing Antiope’s palm as well.
Antiope’s hands are slightly calloused compared to Hippolyte’s. Does this mean she’s trying harder?
“Eww!”
However, unlike calluses, Hippolyta’s abnormality was so sensitive that it screamed as if it was going to die even when pressed lightly.
“It hurts-! It hurts!!”
Hippolyta clicks her tongue in reprimand at him.
“You are joking, Antiope. That means you still have a long way to go.”
“I’m coming to my senses, I’m coming to my senses! Stop, stop, stop! Stop!”
The massage was over quickly because Antiope was in so much pain. Judging from the tears that were falling, she really looked out of her mind.
Now all that’s left is Elfriede.
Swish-.
When I looked at Elfriede, she shivered as if startled.
“Why, do you need it too?”
[Work review] Chaego Atomic Bomb!!! Caffuccino!!! bzzneong!!! Qaisha!!! Hyepan!!! Seokyulyungim!!! Shurion!!! Potato Server!!! And thank you Milnal for giving me the WangWangWang sponsorship coupons…!! I was really surprised…!!
I would also like to express my gratitude to those who sent me manuscript fee coupons, comments, and recommendations ㅠㅠ….
