Seven kobolds stood blocking the passage.
They were tearing into something.
The moment I took another step closer without thinking, a terrible stench stabbed my nose.
Blood had spread across the floor, and a corpse, mangled beyond recognition, lay sprawled there.
‘...Is that a person?’
For a moment, the thought flashed through my mind, but I soon shook it off. That wasn’t what mattered right now.
The kobolds who noticed us glared and flinched, then quickly backed away.
I’d felt it before, but they didn’t seem to be as aggressive a monster as I’d expected.
Or perhaps they were simply a cowardly race.
“Kobolds.”
At my murmur, Aileen whispered beside me.
“Those are... kobolds?”
It seemed to be Aileen’s first time seeing kobolds.
If she’d only ever lived in the castle, that was only natural.
“Ugh...”
Aileen’s face twisted slightly.
I lowered my gaze for a moment.
The place where blood and flesh were scattered... was clearly not the trace of an ordinary beast, no matter who looked at it.
There was even something that looked like a finger.
“...Tch.”
I clicked my tongue.
The fact that these creatures had been eating human flesh was horrifying, yet in a strange way, it made everything feel more real.
If I lost here... I’d end up no different from them.
Perhaps realizing that there were only two of us, the creatures that had been backing away slowly began to close the distance.
Their seemingly calculating movements made them appear more intelligent than I’d thought.
Step.
Just then, Aileen stepped forward.
“...”
Light cloth armor and a single dagger.
Her equipment was somewhat lacking for someone taking the vanguard, but her expression had hardened quite firmly.
Stopping her wouldn’t do any good.
So I didn’t say anything either.
Instead, I quietly drew up mana behind her back, ready to respond at any moment.
“Kieeek!!”
One kobold at the front let out a sharp cry and charged.
Among them, it was the one that seemed to be in the best condition.
Its height was about half of Aileen’s.
But beneath its filthy, overgrown fur, its protruding muscles and bristling claws were more threatening than expected.
Aileen held the tip of her sword upright, turned her body at an angle, and fixed her gaze on the charging kobold.
The weapon I had given her was called a dagger, but in truth, it was closer to a sword.
A double-edged blade nearly fifty centimeters long.
It could be held in one hand, but it had enough weight that wielding it with both hands wouldn’t feel awkward.
Aileen, who had a clear advantage in reach over the kobold, swiftly swung her sword down the instant it entered her range.
The kobold instinctively raised its hand to block the blade.
But trying to stop a sharpened double-edged sword barehanded was a reckless choice.
Thunk.
The sword sliced through flesh and bone, splitting straight into the back of its hand.
Blood sprayed, and the kobold screamed in pain.
“Kieeeaak!!”
It staggered backward and collapsed, and the other kobolds flinched and retreated for an instant.
But it didn’t end there.
At the moment the creature curled up in pain.
Aileen stepped forward, and her sword swung once more.
Slice.
A short sound, as if something had brushed past.
This time, it was the nape of its neck.
Because it had been curled up, it likely had no chance to defend itself properly.
Thud.
The kobold collapsed without even convulsing.
Only then did the other kobolds flinch and draw back.
Blood dripped from the tip of Aileen’s sword and spread across the floor.
When that single drop of blood soaked into the ground, even the air seemed to grow lighter.
I watched her in silence.
Before anything about magic or whatever else, she was doing what she could do.
At least in this moment, it wasn’t strange for her to stand at the front.
Of course, judging by her tightly pressed lips, she didn’t seem free from the shock of killing.
Standing there with a blood-soaked sword in hand, she quietly swallowed her breath as if suppressing something.
This wasn’t training. It was real combat.
Whether it was a person or a monster, the fact that one had killed did not simply pass by.
But there was no grace period.
“Kieeek!! Kiiiiiik!!”
Perhaps enraged by the first victim, the kobolds at the back burst out all at once.
Their movements were fairly coordinated.
It was also proof that the first one hadn’t merely been a beast that had failed in the hunt.
‘So even they have the concept of comrades.’
The thought briefly crossed my mind.
To me, they were nothing more than furry monsters, but perhaps things were different among themselves.
If they could react so violently to the death of one of their own.
My heart began to pound faster as well.
This time, it might be too much for Aileen to handle alone.
I immediately lifted my left hand and deployed the mana I had drawn up.
A cold energy gathered at my fingertips.
[Waterflow Barrier]
Swaaash!
The groundwater sloshing across the floor condensed, forming a thin, broad shield.
Once again, the cold sensation of blue magic seeped into my hand.
Now, rather than feeling alien, it was beginning to feel familiar.
The kobolds flinched at the blue barrier that suddenly rose before them.
Transparent ripples of water shimmered like a heat haze, blocking their path.
“Kiek...?”
For a moment, a confused cry burst out, but soon the creatures raised their claws again and charged as if it didn’t matter.
As if some strange shield could simply be pushed through with the force of numbers.
I pulled my right foot half a step back and lowered my stance.
Standing at an angle behind the water barrier, I created an angle to deflect the impact.
The first kobold to crash into it bounced off as though repelled by the shield, while the second slammed squarely into the front and stopped in place.
It was an opening.
I swung the mace in my right hand without hesitation.
Beside the shield where water droplets scattered, heavy steel drove in.
Crack.
The sensation of something hard being crushed.
The kobold’s shoulder, struck by the mace, bent grotesquely to one side.
“Kieeek!!”
The creature was flung backward without even managing to scream properly, rolled several times across the stone floor, and finally came to a stop.
Unable even to raise its arms, it trembled as though convulsing.
Aileen’s gaze briefly turned that way.
But the kobolds did not stop.
With eyes full of rage, they were still rushing toward us.
“Kreeek!”
The remaining ones scattered while making threatening sounds.
It was the sound of fear and instinct clashing.
“Hoo, I’ll only waste mana for no reason at this rate.”
I shoved one kobold away and let out a short breath.
The situation wasn’t that threatening yet.
Slash.
“Kiek—!”
Beside me, every time Aileen swung her sword, kobold blood soaked the rock.
Her movements were still sharp and calm, but I couldn’t put all the burden on her alone.
I still had enough mana to spare.
But a corner of my mind kept warning me.
‘If what the herbalist said is true... there’s no way this is the end.’
The kobolds wouldn’t be everything.
Somewhere inside the cave, something larger might be lying in wait in silence.
I adjusted my grip on the mace.
I had to avoid wasting more strength than necessary.
It had been a short, tense battle, but the strain on my stamina felt greater than that.
“Aileen! Stop for a moment.”
“Yes?”
Aileen, who had been stepping toward a kobold, halted at my words.
The sound of short breaths spread through the cave.
Drops of blood were still dripping from the tip of her sword, and her eyes were still heated by battle.
I quietly nodded, signaling for her to step back.
As Aileen and I carefully moved one step to the side, the kobolds in front of us flinched.
“Ki... kiek?”
One let out a cautious cry.
The trembling sound, striking the cave wall, echoed softly but sharply.
Their legs were visibly shaking.
The force with which they had charged in rage just moments ago was nowhere to be found.
Now, fear had clearly gained the upper hand.
‘Good. Now.’
I raised the mace slightly and slowly took one step forward.
I deliberately made a sound, and that alone was enough to draw a reaction from them.
“Kieeek!”
Leaving behind a scream, one of them turned its back first.
And soon, the rest of the kobolds collapsed like a broken dam and fled out of the cave.
Beyond the narrow cave passage, the sound of claws scraping and rocks colliding rang out one after another.
They fled without looking back.
I silently watched their retreating forms.
I didn’t bother chasing them.
The purpose of this fight wasn’t to battle to the very end.
Investigating the people who had entered the cave came first.
“That’s a relief.”
Aileen said beside me, catching her breath.
Her sword returned to its sheath, and I quietly nodded.
In the spot where the kobolds had fled, a horribly mutilated corpse remained.
It was difficult to make out its shape, but there was one strange detail that stood out.
“Ugh, this person... what on earth got him?”
The head looked as though it had been crushed by something heavy.
It was terribly distorted, as though struck by a large mace.
It seemed a bit much to say the kobolds had done this.
“Maybe he fell from somewhere high?”
“Hmm... is there anywhere like that in this cave?”
But to say they had dragged in a corpse that had died outside, the timing was strange in many ways.
For something like this to happen today, on the very day the young men from the village went out to explore.
If the corpse had been dragged in from outside, the path we came through should have looked like a red carpet at the very least.
Above all, I had worried that the kobolds might flee deeper into the cave and become a nuisance, but contrary to my concern, they had run straight out toward the rear of the cave.
As if saying that one must never go any farther inside.
“Let’s go in for now.”
We moved along the path the kobolds had been blocking.
For a moment, I thought it might be on the opposite side of the fork, but fortunately, the path continued deep inside.
As expected, red traces could be seen deeper in the cave, as if something had been dragged along.
Step, step.
As we went deeper along the only path, unlike the narrow and suffocating passage, a large cavern appeared.
Inside it, strange things were scattered here and there.
“...Spiderwebs?”
White, sticky spiderwebs densely covered the interior of the cavern.
On top of them, several cocoons were visible, something wrapped round and round inside.
“There are people over there!”
At Aileen’s urgent cry, I turned my gaze toward the cocoons as well.
It was true. Through the gaps in the cocoons, faintly visible fingers, toes, and in some cases even faces could be seen.
They were unmistakably people.
Spiderwebs and cocoons... Then, where was the spider?
A chill ran down my spine as I lifted my head toward the ceiling.
And at that very moment, I saw a heavy shadow come flying.
Whoooosh.
“!!”
Before I could even finish speaking, I threw myself to the floor, almost shoving Aileen down as I pulled her into my arms.
Behind my back, something swept past roughly with a sharp rush of wind.
What had just passed by? A spear? Claws? Or a spider’s leg?
Kwaaang!
A dull impact burst out, and the entire cave hummed as though it were alive.
Crumbled stones poured down from overhead like shrapnel, and the entire cavern was covered in pale dust.
“Cough, cough...!”
Aileen, who had inhaled the dust, coughed and pushed herself up.
I also covered my face with my arm and lowered my posture. It hadn’t collapsed; it was the impact of something being driven down.
I raised my head to confirm the identity of what had just struck the cave wall.
It wasn’t a simple rock.
A boulder large enough to easily crush two or so people beneath it was wrapped in long strands of spiderweb.
It had been driven down precisely at the spot where we had just been. As if it hadn’t been thrown, but pulled down and smashed there.
Creak.
The sticky, thick web gripped the boulder and slowly dragged it back up toward the ceiling.
Unconsciously, I followed the movement with my eyes.
Something was clinging to the ceiling.
Amid a form camouflaged in the surrounding darkness, the first thing that caught my eye was a vivid red.
One enormous red eye, then two, three, four.
It matched exactly with the traits the herbalist had described.
Hanging upside down from the web, it quietly raised its upper body and looked down at us as if choosing its next prey.
‘So that’s... the monster.’
An oppressive presence on an entirely different level from ordinary monsters.
An instinctive sense of wariness that was difficult to put into words pressed heavily down on my body.
“Liv...”
Aileen called softly.
Her face was dyed with fear.
But there was no time to soothe Aileen’s fear.
Because the next attack was already coming.
Whoooosh.
“Get down!”
I roughly pulled Aileen’s arm and lowered my body to the floor again.
The air trembled once more.
Something enormous plunged through the space.
Kwaang!
A second collision.
This time, it was even closer.
The floor lurched, and broken stone fragments rained down from overhead.
A suffocating pressure bore down on us.
“Are you okay?”
I glanced at Aileen, who was crouched beside me.
Her face was still deathly pale as she nodded, but soon the light returned to her eyes.
That was a relief.
That was one of the reasons we could endure right now.
The creature was aiming from above.
Waiting for its prey to panic and shrink back.
But I couldn’t retreat.
Above my hand, the Waterflow Barrier still remained.
And I still had plenty of mana.
‘Now it really begins.’
I gripped the mace tightly.
Defense alone wouldn’t be enough.
To fight this monster, we had to create a condition that would force it to come down.
And then we had no choice but to exploit that opening.
“Get ready. We need to find a way to bring it down.”
I muttered in a low voice.
The only thing that could cut through fear was action.