LVVL 52

Chapter 52

Puff—

—Ssshk….

Thud—

Three days had passed since they left the stronghold to find the old parish.

Eric, having met yet another raid he couldn’t even count, felled the monster that had been charging at the Cardinal and let out a deep sigh.

“—Sir Gregorius. I told you not to keep stepping out like that, didn’t I?”

“Hoho. Even so—everyone’s out there fighting like mad. How could I just stand by and do nothing?”

Gregorius shrugged, pointing at the tired soldiers and laughing lightly. Eric, too tired to argue further, muttered under his breath.

“So tell me—why am I the one who has to deal with the aftermath every time?”

“You said you were a servant of the goddess, didn’t you? Then it’s only right you protect this old man.”

Gregorius didn’t miss the chance to chide him, and Eric only shook his head with a pale expression.

At least he no longer charged wildly like before; now he gave a hint so people could keep up. If that counted as progress, Eric supposed it was something. He’d even kept Leona close just in case, but he wondered how in the world he was supposed to separate her from the old man. His stamina was lousy as it was, and chasing that old man through every fight was nearly suffocating.

Ding—

[Your body adapts to the ongoing limits.]
[Stamina increased by 1.]

…Well, at least his stats rose a little thanks to that.

“He keeps getting stranger the more you look at him.”

Watching Eric pull away and grumble like a sulky child, Gregorius looked at him with an amused, interested gaze.

“He was said to be useless, skipping training and loitering at the market every day. Yet he felled a Lizard Warrior in one stroke.”

Gregorius already knew that Eric was nothing like the rumors. But that only applied to how “useless” people expected him to be. The scion of the Ater family—who everyone called a delinquent—turning out to be so adept in combat was unexpected.

Of course, being useless didn’t mean someone couldn’t take care of themselves—but single-handedly defeating a Lizard Warrior, a unit normally requiring three soldiers even to guard a border, was a completely different matter.

And if he’d been taking down perfectly healthy foes like that every time—not out of luck—well, that was something else entirely.

“I heard rumors that the Church’s hero defeated a named that was commanding undead in the Moonfall Forest… I read whispers that the Winterrose domain’s name was being bandied about.” Gregorius mused.

He recalled the commotion in the Church not long ago: unbelievable rumors that Isabella’s hero had defeated a named that had been raising undead during the Moonfall Forest anomaly. Naturally he’d assumed the ravens pushing Eric’s reputation were exaggerating his deeds to give him credit. But after seeing Eric’s previous exploits, Gregorius began to think maybe the rumors weren’t so far-fetched.

“Master.”

“Ah—Lady Leona. Good work. Rest up until we move again.”

Having finished her share of the work and taken a brief rest, Leona returned with Malephica after their skirmish with the other soldiers.

“How much farther until we get there?” Lilian asked, puzzled — they had walked a fair distance from the stronghold but still couldn’t see the parish.

“Hoho. Don’t worry. We’re almost to the old parish; not much farther,” Gregorius replied, then turned his head toward something.

“…Master.”

Ahead of them loomed a high mound of sand. Malephica looked up at the hill with a peculiar, wary expression as if sensing something, and Eric nodded faintly.

Puff—puff—

After a few more skirmishes they reached the hill. Eric climbed the unexpectedly steep slope, his feet sinking with each step, and finally reached the top.

“Ugh—hek… ugh!”

Thump—

“Be careful. No need to rush up like that.”

“Y-yes… huh? That is—”

He helped Lilian up after she almost fell and followed her wide-eyed stare to something below.

‘Finally, we’re here.’

A violent sandstorm roared so thickly the ground could not be seen. Beyond that dense curtain of sand, a massive temple, left unattended for decades, came into view.

Its outer walls were cracked and split like a turtle shell, worn by the wind, and parts of the structure were half-buried by sand sliding down from the dunes. Despite the ruinous state, one spire of the temple remained eerily intact, piercing the sky—an odd imbalance that felt wrong and uncanny.

“Where is the abomination?” Eric asked, turning his eyes from the temple to Hector, who stood on the hill conversing seriously with the mage.

“…You seem to already know,” Hector said.

“Ah—how would I know that? I’m no mage, you know. I’m powerless.” Eric said, tossing the dead rat in Hector’s hand.

As expected, the traces left by the familiar pointed straight to the old parish.

“Only until we catch the monstrosity,” Hector admitted after a pause.

Eric watched him wordlessly, and Hector reluctantly nodded.

“Of course,” he said.

Eric smiled brightly as if to say, then, thank you in advance.

“No threats inside!”

“Keep your guard. Move in, everyone!”

The giant temple—Eric and the group descended the steep sand dune carefully. Finding the entrance partly buried in sand, they entered through a broken window and followed Hector and the soldiers, who were moving cautiously in case of danger.

“Wizard.”

“Yes, commander.”

Hector stepped out into the dark corridor. Because the sand-dune outside blocked the light, he called to the mage.

“No need for that. Let me see… it’s probably around here somewhere.”

Gregorius slipped between the soldiers as if he’d think of opening the way, and, groping along the wall, soon found something and pressed it firmly.

Click—

Whirr—

A mechanism engaged, and torches lining both sides of the corridor flared to life.

“Tsk tsk. Everything’s so old. Back in the day this corridor would shine bright,” Gregorius grumbled, watching the weak flames flicker, unable to burn fully due to lack of oil. He clicked his tongue.

“Thank you, Cardinal. Continue the search!” Hector bowed and led the soldiers onward.

Some torches were out from lack of oil, so parts of the corridor remained dark, and the ones that glowed gave off a dim, reddish light. It wasn’t bright, but it was enough to search.

They could have lit it further with magic, but conserving mana was wise—the mages were tired from the battles outside.

“Wow… It’s huge in here. It’s almost as big as the central temple!” Lilian whispered in admiration as they cautiously opened room after room.

“This used to be the northern command in the great war. It managed the priests sent to the border, so it was much bigger than now,” she explained.

“Then Cardinal, you were a cardinal even back then?” Lilian asked.

“Hohoho, back then I was just a bishop. Though I was a bit famous, I suppose.” Gregorius smiled and drifted into wistful memories: memories of when he was a proud, promising young bishop, strolling through this parish with his shoulders squared. Now he was old and behind-the-scenes, but that image stayed vivid in his eyes.

“Left side clear!”
“Right side clear!”

After some time, Hector had the corridor checked. They reached a stairway leading down and Hector turned to the mage.

“The familiar’s mana trail continues down the stairs as well… what do you want to do?”

Hector looked around, puzzled. From outside, all but the top windows of the old parish were buried in sand. That meant there was only one stairway down. If monsters got in through the broken windows outside, they could trap them top and bottom.

“…We go down. But leave a few here so they can report immediately if anything happens.”

“Yes!”

After deliberation, they decided to continue searching downstairs. Even though it was possible monsters could surround them inside, that was just a risk—the only way to cut off the plague spreading around the stronghold was to eliminate the monstrosity beneath.

“Wait—wait a minute!”

“…What is it, priest?”

Just as the knights and soldiers prepared to descend the stairs, Malephica, who had been quietly following, called out urgently and stopped them all.

“It’s strange. I’ve had a feeling for a while now…”

Everyone looked at the young priest in surprise. Eric had noticed her eyes fixed on a dark corner of the stairs and grabbed something from his pocket.

There was something there. Unlike the corridor, the stairwell was pitch black and nothing could be seen, but Malephica’s intuition—the trait called Paranoia—couldn’t be ignored.

Swish—

Eric took a handful of scales, collected from the Lizard Warrior earlier, and tossed them toward the stairwell corner.

Plop—

“Master! What are you doing—”

—Snap!

Kuu-gu-gu-gu—

At the same instant quiet sounds echoed through the corridor, and the great temple shook loudly.

“What—what was that? A rat?”
“An ambush? Prepare for battle! Brace for an attack!”

Startled, Hector drew his sword.

“It’s coming.”

Shortly after, something burst out through doors the soldiers had left open.

—Snap!
—Squeak, squeak!

Rats, about the same size as the corpse the no-mage had been carrying to trace the mana, poured out like a gray tide from the dark rooms—had they been hiding there? Thousands at a glance. The soldiers panicked.

“What is this…?”
“What do we do, commander? There are too many of them!”

Seeing the massive swarm, Eric spotted the still-empty stairwell and shouted urgently.

“Don’t stand there dumbly—get down the stairs, now!”

The soldiers hesitated a moment, then, seeing the swarm had reached very close, rushed down the stairs.

Thankfully, the stairwell was wide to match the temple’s size; despite the rush, no one was crushed or trampled.

“Wizard!”
“Y-yes? Are you calling me?”

Eric found the no-mage still among those who hadn’t descended and halted Hector, calling him back down the stairs.

“Can you use any fire magic?”
“If it’s simple…”
“Prepare it. Quickly!”

He didn’t give the mage time to casually reply—then ran to the wall and grabbed a torch.

Squeak—squeak!
“Ugh! Move!”

He swung the torch at a rat clinging to his leg, freed himself, and Leona fetched another torch from the opposite wall. Eric nodded in approval.

“Ready? Light it!”

He quickly cut the torchheads, spread oil-soaked cloth at the top of the stairs, and faced the mage.

“Fire Arrow!”

Whoosh—

—Screech!
—Squeak!

Flames leapt up in an instant. The rats hesitated, forced back by the growing blaze, and Eric led the remaining people quickly down.

“Ret—the retreat’s—”

Thump—

“What are you doing? You can’t act like that if you’re not a soldier. You’re supposed to be a commander.”

Entering the lower corridor, Eric found Hector still staring up stupidly. He grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him roughly.

“Let’s go. Now that this happened, there’s only one thing left to do, right?”

“If there’s something to be done…”

Hector blinked and regained some composure. He tilted his head to listen.

“What is it?”

Their escape route was cut off. There was only one option.

“We catch the monstrosity, and we catch whoever set this ambush, then get out of here.”