Leaving the fallen Wendigo’s corpse behind, we headed for the dungeon.
Climbing a snow-covered mountain with exhausted bodies was not an easy decision, but no one objected.
We had seen hell descended upon the mortal world in that village.
We could not leave those capable of committing the same atrocity unchecked.
With the same thought in our hearts, we turned our steps toward the snowy mountain.
And after about thirty minutes had passed.
Before we knew it, we had arrived at the dungeon entrance.
Where the altar should have been, a massive rift had revealed itself.
Its appearance was not so different from the dungeon entrance I had seen beneath the academy.
Except for one thing—the scenery inside the dungeon.
Was it because this place was a temple? Or had someone tampered with it?
Monsters and humans alike, even those who had already lost their lives, were praying to someone.
I did not know to whom they prayed, or why.
No, I did not want to know.
The thought instinctively surfaced in my mind that I must not understand it.
‘What about Red Blood?’
Just in case, I observed my inner self, but there was no particular reaction.
‘Does that mean it isn’t dangerous? Or…’
Did it think that, inside this place, it would be able to run wild to its heart’s content?
I could not decide which it was.
Suppressing the ominous feeling within me as much as I could, I looked at my companions.
Even at a glance, they were all extremely exhausted.
Common sense said we should not be fighting like this, but resting at once.
And yet their eyes were shining brighter than usual.
Looking at them, I slowly opened my mouth.
“Can everyone fight?”
The first to answer was Senior Rena.
“I still have half my arrows left. With this much, I could probably wage a war. And…”
Senior Rena’s golden eyes shone with the light of sunset as she looked at me.
“At the very least, it won’t be lacking when it comes to hunting down bad guys.”
I smiled back at Senior Rena, then shifted my gaze to Cecilia.
“Cecilia, are you tired?”
“Who do you think I am?”
Sweeping her reddish-brown bangs back, Cecilia snorted at me.
“I’ve already recovered more than half my mana. At this rate, I should be worrying about all of you getting exhausted first.”
“That’s impressive. Then I’ll be counting on you.”
“Just leave it to me.”
After watching her boast so confidently for a moment, I met Theodora’s eyes beside her.
“Theodora, what about you? You used the Wave of Holy Fire, so isn’t it hard on you?”
“To be honest, it is hard. But I’m fine. I’m already used to this much. And…”
For an instant, killing intent flashed through Theodora’s violet eyes.
“I don’t want to stand still in front of people who turn others into that.”
Was it because she herself had lived as a toy of the Church?
She harbored intense hostility toward enemies who toyed with people’s fates.
“Even so, don’t push yourself too hard. We’re friends, so we should support one another.”
“Yes, of course. Don’t worry, no—don’t worry, Ashen.”
Lastly, I turned my gaze to Brandon.
After all he had gone through today, his face was steeped in fatigue.
Even so, he smiled at me.
“Don’t tell me to rest, Ashen.”
“Will you be all right?”
“I’m not so tired that I’d rest while leaving my friends behind.”
Brandon spoke with the hand holding his staff placed near his chest.
Respecting his will, I nodded.
“All right. Then let’s go in.”
After confirming everyone’s resolve, I turned and entered the dungeon entrance.
**
The moment we passed through the entrance, my vision was dyed red.
At the same time, what welcomed us was a grotesque prayer.
“Deliver us from life.”
“Guide us from death.”
“In the world where both the living and the dead exist.”
“Lead us to Him.”
Voices flowed in all at once, belonging to men and women, young and old, impossible to tell whose they were.
The desperation contained in their voices made me want to join them in prayer at any moment.
Just as my body was about to kneel on its own, I shouted loudly toward Theodora.
“Theodora! A purification spell!”
A pure white light burst forth at once.
As it seeped into my body, the sound of prayer ringing in my ears vanished in an instant.
I immediately checked on the others.
All four of them were in awkward, half-bent postures, but fortunately, none had knelt and begun to pray.
“Not easy from the start, huh.”
Senior Rena muttered, cold sweat running down her forehead.
A mental attack of this level right from the beginning.
An ordinary party might have been wiped out the moment they entered the dungeon.
“It’s a relief Miss Theodora is here.”
Realizing that, Cecilia let out a sigh of relief.
Unfortunately for her, I had to deliver yet another piece of bad news.
“I don’t think that was the end of it.”
Keeping my eyes fixed on the corpses that had been praying, I spoke to the others.
They had clearly been looking inward until just a moment ago, but now they were all staring at us at once.
The gazes sent from eyes rotted and robbed of light.
I could not tell what that meant.
‘Are they attacking?’
The moment I lowered my stance with that thought, the corpse that had been praying at the very front rose to its feet.
It had died so long ago that it was little more than a skeleton, but judging from its frame, it had probably been a woman.
She slowly took a step toward me.
“Should I shoot, Ashen?”
Seeing that, Senior Rena whispered quietly to me, but I shook my head.
“Not now. If we make a mistake, we might provoke the other corpses.”
“Got it. But if I think it’s dangerous, I’m shooting right away.”
By the time my conversation with Senior Rena ended, the female skeleton was only about ten steps away from me.
She stopped there and looked straight at me.
And a moment later.
Thud.
The skeleton sat down on the spot and offered a prayer toward me.
“What is this?”
Brandon burst out in a flustered voice at the unexpected action.
The others did not say anything, but their thoughts seemed similar.
The female skeleton’s prayer was only the beginning.
Soon, all the other corpses knelt while looking at me and offered up prayers.
At the same time, the female skeleton muttered something.
“That is an ancient language.”
Cecilia, the only one among us who understood it, spoke as if intrigued.
“What does it mean?”
“One moment. ‘You have returned. Noble’—no, here it would be ‘master.’ ‘We waited. For a long time.’”
No sooner had Cecilia finished speaking than everyone’s eyes gathered on me.
They likely could not understand the sudden situation of undead calling me master.
I wanted to answer as well, but honestly, I did not know the details.
Only one possibility came to mind.
‘Is the Lord of Fresh Blood their master?’
“It seems they’re mistaking me for their former master.”
“Is that because of that power of yours, Ashen?”
“…Probably.”
“Then that’s enough.”
At my answer, Senior Rena simply nodded and turned her gaze forward.
“Senior?”
“You said it’s because of your power, right? Then I have to trust you. How long has it been since I decided to believe in you?”
Saying that, Senior Rena stepped through the undead.
Perhaps they had accepted her as one of my companions; the undead merely remained still and did not attack her.
Seeing her confident figure, the others let out small laughs.
“That’s right. Mr. Ashen is Mr. Ashen. It’s foolish to hesitate.”
Cecilia was the first to follow behind Senior Rena.
“Mr. Ashen has already believed in me, so I must believe in Mr. Ashen as well.”
Theodora smiled at me and moved forward.
“Haha, I’m a little flustered, but still, we’re friends.”
Scratching the back of his head, Brandon said that and was the last to step forward.
After staring blankly at them for a moment, I soon followed without saying anything.
Because saying thank you would have been rude to them, who took this situation as only natural.
**
We advanced through the dungeon.
We continued to encounter undead along the way, but none of them attacked us.
Thanks to that, I was able to pay a little more attention to the dungeon’s environment.
‘As expected. It’s the same style as the Lord of Fresh Blood’s tomb.’
No, it was not simply the same style.
Walls that appeared to be made of ordinary stone, yet showed no trace of age.
Murals so vivid they seemed as if they might come out of a dream.
And letters that had been crushed and smeared, though I did not know whose doing it was.
Everything was identical, as though the Lord of Fresh Blood’s tomb had been rebuilt exactly in the form of a temple.
‘Is it because this is the Lord of Fresh Blood’s legacy? Or…’
Had the Lord of Fresh Blood only made buildings like this his own?
As I continued thinking, we eventually arrived at a large hall.
At the center of the hall stood seven thrones.
Placed in the middle of the thrones was a round table carved from stone.
Seven symbols were engraved on the round table.
Seeing them, Theodora narrowed her eyes.
“These are the symbols of the Orders of the Six Great Gods. Though one of them is a symbol I’ve never seen before…”
“Is it shaped like a tree? I’ve never seen a Church symbol like this before.”
Cecilia, too, seemed interested in the round table and looked at the symbol after her.
Unlike those two, Senior Rena and Brandon were looking at the path we had to take.
“What is that?”
Brandon pointed with a trembling hand at the red barrier blocking the way.
Like living flesh, it undulated as if breathing.
Senior Rena stared at it quietly, then immediately fired an arrow imbued with mana.
Boom!
An explosion rang in my ears.
Even though she had fired the arrow with considerable force, the red barrier did not move at all.
“Looks like forcing our way through is impossible.”
Seeing that the barrier had not been left with even the slightest mark, Brandon frowned.
It might be lacking compared to Theodora’s technique, but Senior Rena’s sunset arrow was an exceedingly powerful skill.
If that could not damage it at all, then none of us could break through it with strength.
Yes, with strength, that was.
Wooooong.
The moment I looked at the barrier, Red Blood stirred inside my body.
It did not speak to me directly, but I understood instinctively.
That was its prey. Give that to me right now.
Red Blood was thrashing about like that.
“I’ll try opening it.”
I called out to my companions and placed my hand on the barrier.
Crunch.
With an unpleasant sound like bones being crushed, the barrier was forcibly crumpled and sucked into my hand.
Unlike when I had absorbed the Wendigo’s heart, Red Blood did not run rampant.
Rather, just as I was feeling relieved at Red Blood settling down as though satisfied—
I suddenly sensed something approaching.
At the same time, a bolt of red lightning fell.
Boom!
“Urgh!”
I hurriedly raised my spear to block it, but my body was sent flying far backward.
What had struck my spear was no larger than a dagger at most, yet the force behind it was like that of a massive war hammer.
“Oh, not bad.”
When I lifted my gaze, someone wearing a dark red robe was looking at us.
Because of the hood pulled low and the loose robe, I could not tell the other party’s gender or appearance, but there was one thing I could tell.
They were a being strong enough to treat a Wendigo as insignificant.
‘At least knight-class.’
Ignoring the sweat flowing from my hand, I tightened my grip on the spear.
Senior Rena immediately nocked her bow, and holy fire rose from Theodora’s sword.
At the same time, spears of ice and arrows of mana appeared.
Everyone aimed their weapons at the robed figure, yet they continued to look at me with composure.
“I see. I wondered why the Wendigo was defeated, but this was why.”
A red glow appeared from within the lowered hood.
The flame was not looking at me, but at the being inside me.
“The saint’s relic has been given to one unworthy of it.”
Pointing the red-glowing dagger at me, the figure declared in a calm tone.
“I shall retrieve it now.”
With those words, all of my companions’ attacks poured toward them at once.