A young man with blond hair and blue eyes.
He wore the armor of the White Order and carried a sword.
“I am called the paladin Eric.”
He bowed his head and introduced himself with utmost courtesy. His name was Eric.
He was a paladin belonging to the White Order.
“My role is to send lost lambs to the side of the Goddess.”
Paladin Eric looked around at the adventurers with a pleasant smile.
The adventurers, too, turned their gazes toward Eric.
It was true that Eric’s first impression had been somewhat stiff, owing to the fact that he was a paladin.
But as if to render that impression meaningless, Eric was the first to extend a hand.
“If it is all right with you, may I guide you all to the great being?”
At Paladin Eric’s words, everyone tilted their heads.
‘The great being?’
But they soon accepted the meaning without thinking too much of it.
The great being a paladin spoke of most likely meant the Goddess.
And saying he would guide them to the Goddess probably meant he would resolve their current worries.
He was speaking in circles, but that was a characteristic of paladins to begin with, so the adventurers merely nodded.
Blunt, looking only to the Goddess, loyal to the Order.
That was the common image people had of paladins.
But Paladin Eric, standing before them, was somehow similar and yet different.
Eric had a blunt expression and a voice devoid of emotion.
Yet he was the first to offer a helping hand.
On top of that, Eric’s rugged appearance revealed a more human side of him.
Because of that, the adventurers began to lower their guard toward Eric.
“Sounds good! If it’s where the Goddess is, I can go anywhere!”
The adventurer who had been the first to run over to the paladin spoke up.
As she addressed him, she took her place beside Eric.
“Oh, those are truly righteous words. May I ask your name?”
“Nella. My name is Nella. To think I’d meet a paladin here—what luck!”
Her name was Nella.
Although she worked as an adventurer, she was also a fervent believer of the Order.
Delighted to have encountered a paladin in the mountains, she introduced herself to Eric with a broad smile.
“Nella… You have a beautiful name.”
At Nella’s answer, Eric gave an inscrutable smile.
Then he looked toward the other adventurers and said,
“Now, let us not remain here. If we go just a little farther, there is a place where my companions are gathered.”
Companions?
At Paladin Eric’s words, everyone’s faces lit up.
If they were a paladin’s companions, there was a very high chance they were paladins as well.
Even if they were not, they would at least be people from the Order.
They would be traveling with the Order.
If they accompanied them, then their safety was practically guaranteed.
Of course, they had been safe up until now.
They had not encountered so much as a bandit, let alone a monster.
But the mountain range was by no means a forgiving place.
Even if things were fine now, the situation could change suddenly.
If luck was not on their side, they could encounter monsters at any time, or they might lose their lives to a band of mountain bandits. That was what the mountain range was.
In a situation where variables could appear anytime and anywhere, meeting a paladin was the greatest stroke of luck.
One adventurer, who had been grumbling only a moment ago, leaned toward Eric’s words.
“Very well. I’ll follow you.”
The adventurer who promptly said he would follow the paladin was named Silloin.
He had other thoughts in mind.
‘It’s better than staying here.’
In any case, the group he belonged to was made up mostly of nobodies.
On top of that, they had no guide like Nariel here who could find traces.
Their original purpose of following the footprints in reverse had already lost meaning.
In this situation, accepting the paladin’s goodwill was one of the better options.
After all, the request was to scout the mountain range in general and observe its movements.
Broadly speaking, their current actions could also be considered within the scope of the request.
‘More importantly, there’s something here.’
On top of that, he was curious as to why paladins were in the mountain range in the first place.
If he could learn that, it would be a major gain.
‘Perhaps…’
A possibility suddenly came to mind.
The one who had given them the request was a noble of the Seil Kingdom.
And the White Order was said to be visiting the Seil Kingdom.
A noble of that Seil Kingdom had sent the request.
But was it truly a coincidence that they were meeting paladins in the mountain range, the very location of the request?
Silloin thought the two were connected somehow.
Having thought so, Silloin immediately followed after Eric.
Once one or two people opened the way like that, the other adventurers naturally began to follow behind the paladin as well.
Everyone followed closely behind the paladin.
Their appearance was like that of chicks following a mother bird.
It was proof of just how much they trusted the Order.
“But Paladin, why are you here? Did something happen?”
Nella, who was walking beside him, spoke to Paladin Eric.
Eric was silent for a moment, then turned his head toward Nella.
“It is because there are those who dare challenge the great being. Ah, do not worry. Everything will be over soon.”
Those who challenged the Goddess must be wicked heretics.
Because such a thing had happened, the paladin must have been dispatched.
Nella sympathized with Eric’s words.
The conversation was brief.
The procession began again.
The adventurers walked after Eric for quite some time.
No, not quite some time.
Before they knew it, they had arrived before a cave they had never seen before.
“My companions are waiting here.”
Saying his companions were inside the cave, Eric gestured for everyone to enter.
“It really is a cleverly hidden place.”
One of the adventurers muttered as he looked at the cave.
Just as he said, the location of the cave was subtly concealed by trees and vines.
Had it been an ordinary day, they likely would have passed by without noticing it.
Silloin also looked at the cave.
Even as he did, he felt slightly uneasy.
‘Are there really other paladins inside?’
He did not know why, but something felt strange.
Above all, was it truly all right to go in?
He discreetly took an artifact out from his coat.
It was an item that confirmed whether a place was a dungeon or not, an artifact fairly commonly used among adventurers.
‘It’s not a dungeon.’
If there was anything fortunate, it was that the cave was not a dungeon.
Since no energy was detected in the first place, it was right to regard it as an ordinary cave.
After confirming that, Silloin moved his feet into the dungeon along with the other adventurers.
“……”
The inside of the dungeon was dreary.
Though not a single breeze blew, it gave off a chilly atmosphere.
Only the intermittent sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling echoed in their ears.
A quiet silence.
And a cold space.
The two combined, even giving them the illusion that they formed a single abyss.
Everyone had such thoughts as they stared only at Eric’s back.
Eric said nothing.
He merely walked on in silence.
Then a three-way fork appeared.
Paladin Eric still did not speak.
Just like before, he simply walked forward.
Though the three-way fork had appeared, he entered the first path on the far left.
The others followed behind Eric without suspicion.
As they entered the first path, the ominous energy increased even more than before.
It was cold enough to send chills down their spines.
“Um… Paladin?”
Something was strange.
Nella, who was right behind Eric, spoke to him.
“Are your companions really here…?”
Perhaps it was just her imagination.
But she had a strong intuition that there would be no other paladins here.
And that intuition seemed to be sounding a warning of danger in her head.
Even at Nella’s cry, Eric did not stop.
He merely walked forward.
But then, an abnormal phenomenon occurred.
“Heehee… heeheehee!”
Nella suddenly began laughing like a madwoman.
She brought both hands to her head and kept laughing.
“Heeheehee!”
She laughed, and laughed again.
Then strength entered the hands clutching her head.
Crack—
With the sound of bone, her head twisted in a bizarre direction.
Even though her head was broken, Nella’s expression was still smiling.
“Fuck!”
Silloin, who was at the very back of the procession, cursed and drew his sword.
At this point, even if he wanted not to know, he could not.
Things were going wrong.
Starting with Silloin’s action, the adventurers also stopped in place.
And everyone raised their swords.
But those swords lost their direction.
They did not know where they should be aimed in the first place.
“Haha!”
One by one, more adventurers began making laughter similar to the dead Nella’s.
The sight of all of them smiling in the same way was not merely bizarre; it filled one with revulsion and an uncanny feeling.
The adventurers laughing like mad raised their swords.
The direction of their swords was one of two.
Their own necks.
Or the necks of the people in front of them.
Once the direction of the swords was decided, they began to swing them mercilessly.
The thick scent of blood filled the air.
Everyone’s laughter, filled with ecstasy, rang out and echoed.
Dark-red liquid scattered through the air.
“W-What is this…!”
Silloin was horrified by the situation unfolding before his eyes.
If there was anything fortunate, it was that not everyone had lost their minds.
He himself, for one, was perfectly fine.
But the problem was that the others were wildly swinging their swords.
No matter how much they had lost their minds, they were still people like him.
Hesitation could be felt in his sword.
“……”
But that brief hesitation brought about an entirely different result.
Someone’s sword pierced Silloin’s neck.
Blood began spurting from his throat.
Silloin’s vision was dyed red.
His eyes slowly closed.
The scene he saw just before they shut was—
“S-Save me!”
“Please…!”
It was, in the truest sense, a scene of carnage.
His body collapsed to the floor.
The bodies of the other adventurers, too, crumpled to the ground.
The final number of adventurers left standing was seven.
But none of them were normal.
Their entire bodies were covered in red bloodstains.
With unknowable expressions, they merely smiled as if enraptured.
Only after they alone remained did Paladin Eric, who had paid them no attention until now, approach.
“As expected, you are my companions.”
There were beings flying about here.
Beings like ghosts that seemed to exist and yet not exist.
They were all banshees.
Because the banshees had manipulated the adventurers’ minds, the current situation had occurred.
And Eric, too, had once been a paladin.
But now he was nothing more than a being whose mind had been consumed by a banshee.
“Brothers and sisters who have received mercy from the great one.”
Eric smiled as if satisfied.
“Go.”
Eric raised his hand and pointed toward the passage leading outside.
“Pass judgment upon those who dare stand in the way of the great being.”
He murmured quietly, as if whispering.
“Guide them all into the embrace of the Goddess.”
The bloodstained adventurers began running forward.
* * *
— Celia offers an adventurer as a sacrifice to Master.
— Celia offers an adventurer as a sacrifice to Master.
Countless alerts rang out.
— Celia offers an adventurer as a sacrifice to Master.
— Celia offers an adventurer as a sacrifice to Master.
— Celia offers an adventurer as a sacrifice to Master.
They were sacrifices being offered for the first time in a long while.
— Celia offers an adventurer as a sacrifice to Master.
— Celia offers an adventurer as a sacrifice to Master.
But this time, the sacrifices being offered were not what mattered.
Along with a new alert, a system appeared.
— The number of offered sacrifices has reached a certain amount.
— You have obtained a clue to unlocking the next system.
[Dungeon Monster Enhancement System] (Locked)
That system was none other than the Monster Enhancement System.
It was something I had seen when I first obtained the trait “True Master of the Dungeon.”