Ch.35Chapter 35 – The Underground Ossuary

“It’s quiet.”

“Indeed.”

Only the sound of their footsteps echoed around them.

The passage was generally dark but it was a single path, and torches were placed at regular intervals, so it wasn’t completely dark.

I wonder if these flames are also maintained by the clergy?

“Are these torches maintained by the clergy as well?”

“No. These are managed by the Magic Tower. I heard it works on a principle similar to street lamps.”

I didn’t know the Magic Tower was involved even in places like this.

“Do people from the Magic Tower frequently visit the cemetery?”

“Not really. I’ve just heard that they can operate them directly from the Tower.”

I had thought sending people for such menial tasks would be wasteful, but it seems they can operate them directly like street lamps.

That means I can exclude the Magic Tower from the list of suspects.

‘…So that means no one from there has visited recently.’

Right now, we have undead hordes wandering around, news has reached the church and guild, and only now are reconnaissance teams being sent to investigate the source.

I thought if the lights were on, the culprit must have turned them on, but if the Magic Tower manages them remotely, that means nothing.

“At least it’s good that it’s not dark.”

“That’s true, but…”

Christina narrowed her eyes again.

“Step back, benefactor!”

“What?”

Just as I was wondering why she suddenly said that, Christina crossed her hands without hesitation and shot out a golden energy.

“…!”

And something disappeared.

“It’s a ghost-type monster. It appeared suddenly and startled me.”

Her tone was so calm that I couldn’t tell if she was really startled.

Besides, I hadn’t sensed anything on my end.

‘Is it real?’

I looked at Christina with slightly suspicious eyes.

Christina seemed to interpret my gaze differently and proudly thrust out her chest as she began to boast.

“It’s natural for someone not accustomed to magical or divine energy to not notice such things!”

It seemed the reason I hadn’t noticed was because I wasn’t familiar with such special energies.

“Well, ghost-types are extremely vulnerable to divine power, so don’t worry! Just trust me, trust me!”

In other words, there seem to be many enemies here that I can’t detect.

That meant I would have to rely entirely on Christina to proceed through this place.

As Christina took the lead, she fired Holy Light in various directions as we walked.

For me, it felt like enemies were disappearing without me even knowing what was happening; I could only sense that something had been there and then vanished.

Thanks to her, we were able to advance comfortably down into the columbarium.

There were no major delays except for the brief moments when Christina checked if there was anything wrong with the interred bodies along the way.

After some time had passed, Christina spoke up.

“By the way, benefactor.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you think we make a pretty good combo?”

“Pardon?”

What is she talking about?

When I didn’t answer and just left her be, Christina started rambling on her own.

“Well, you’re a warrior, right?”

“…That’s right.”

“And judging from how you fought outside earlier, your skills are quite impressive.”

“I’ve never felt lacking in skill so far.”

There were times I nearly died, but I decided not to mention that.

“With someone like you, wouldn’t having a priest by your side allow you to accomplish even more?”

I thought about it for a moment.

Certainly, if I had a priest who could heal me, I could fight more boldly.

“The priest profession is quite rare in the guild, you know? And I’m confident in my healing skills, and as you can see…”

Christina narrowed her eyes again and fired Holy Light.

“…I can quickly detect things like those evil spirits. I’m confident in my abilities, I’m very useful, really!”

Alright, it’s time to stop her from beating around the bush.

“…Your point is?”

“Would you like to form a party with me?”

Christina smiled and put her hands together in prayer.

I decided to answer with a smile too, though she wouldn’t see it through my helmet.

“Let’s finish this job first, shall we?”

“…Yes.”

Leaving Christina slightly dejected, I fell into thought for a moment.

Healing skills aside, it doesn’t seem like Christina lacks ability.

At first, I kept my distance because she gave a somewhat bad impression, but seeing how she can detect strange energies from afar, or how she immediately notices and intercepts ghost-type monsters like now, her skills must actually be quite impressive.

‘They wouldn’t send someone without skill for a mission like this.’

Considering she was selected after each church held a council meeting, it means her abilities are not just confirmed but properly recognized.

Taking these points into consideration, she must be skilled enough that it wouldn’t be strange if she begged, “Please join my party.”

‘But there must be a reason why she can’t form a party.’

Suddenly bringing up her church’s doctrines and creating unnecessary work…

It seemed like being with her would increase troublesome incidents.

No matter how valuable her profession might be, I’d need to think carefully about whether I should form a party with someone who unnecessarily creates more work.

“Ugh… I couldn’t find a party again… My employment…”

‘You brought this on yourself….’

Judging by her daily proselytizing and the state of her church building, she must be quite desperate for money.

I do feel a bit sorry for her.

As Christina continued intercepting ghosts while we walked along the single path, we finally reached a large cavity.

Christina and I stopped in our tracks at the same time.

It was a massive monster.

But looking at its appearance made me nauseous.

“Who would create such a horrible thing…”

It was a monster that seemed to be made by crudely stitching together corpses.

The stench of decay was so strong it reached where Christina and I were hiding.

Though it was a body made of corpses, bizarrely, it had everything it needed.

Arms and legs. Fingers, toes.

And even a head.

I saw Christina put her hands together in prayer.

“Lady Evgenia, please grant mercy and rest to these poor souls…”

Not wanting to interrupt her prayer, I continued to stare at the monster.

Given what it was made of, it was hard to say it was alive.

From the start, its movements were mechanical.

For convenience’s sake, it would be better to call it a corpse golem.

What was more troubling was…

“There’s more than one…”

The fact that there were several more of these large creatures inside.

I stepped back a bit and looked at Christina.

“Christina, I have a question.”

Christina finished her prayer and opened her mouth.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Do you know exactly what that is?”

“All I can say is that they’re monsters created through unholy methods.”

Christina narrowed her blue eyes.

“And I can feel the same energy from those monsters that I felt before.”

“…The same? Is that the cause?”

Christina shook her head at my question.

“What I felt is coming from even deeper below. Wouldn’t these monsters be something like gatekeepers or guards?”

I looked at the golems after hearing her words.

These golems likely have a significant connection to the root cause of this incident.

“…Perhaps that’s the cause, and what’s making these things move.”

“I think so too.”

“One more thing. Can you stop them, Christina?”

“I’m not sure.”

Christina shook her head.

“If we have to fight, I’ll try…”

Christina looked straight at me.

“…We either retreat from here, or…”

“Or?”

“You face them directly, benefactor… those are our only options…”

Christina looked at the monster and said:

“I think the safest option would be to escape.”

Surprisingly, Christina was the one suggesting a retreat.

Given her earlier talk about “lost lambs” and such, I expected her to charge in saying “Let’s grant peace to these poor souls!” It was unexpected.

“Um, benefactor. Even I know it’s better to be cautious in unknown situations…”

‘Says the person who tried to create trouble by talking about lost lambs.’

I did think that retreating and reporting back might be better, as Christina suggested.

We don’t know what’s below.

The mission objective was to determine the source, not to risk our lives for a complete reconnaissance.

According to Christina, with so many golem-like guards, this place is likely the source.

“Let’s withdraw.”

“Yes.”

It was just as we carefully turned around—or rather, were about to turn around.

Suddenly, one of the golems looked in our direction.

-“Kyaa,”

It tilted its body back while opening its mouth and began to roar.

Incongruously, it was making the sound of a woman’s scream.

-“KYAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!”

“KYAAAH?!”

Christina covered her ears and screamed at the tremendous volume.

I, on the other hand, couldn’t cover my ears because of my helmet and had to listen to the sound directly while watching the creature.

I realized that while the other golems remained indifferent, only one was looking precisely in our direction.

It charged toward the passage where Christina and I were standing with its massive body.

“…Let’s run for it!”

“Huh? Ah? Eek?!”

I immediately grabbed Christina, hoisted her up, and ran.

The creature chased after me using its massive body.

“Waaah! Hey, could you at least turn me to face forward?!”

“No time for that, just bear with it!”

“I’ll never get married like this!! Really, I won’t!!”

“Do you even have someone to marry?”

“If you keep this up, I’ll marry you?!”

Yikes, scary words.

Of course, I ignored her.

The footsteps behind us sounded ominous, and I had no time to humor Christina’s nonsense.

“For its size, it’s quite agile!”

“Left—no, right! Jump right!”

Following Christina’s instruction, I jumped to the right.

A sickening green liquid fell on the spot where we had been.

I kept running without even looking at what it was.

“Whoa, the stone floor is melting?!”

“Give me clear directions! If you’re wrong, we both die!”

“Aaah, oh God!”

She’s looking for God at a time like this?

I continued running in the directions Christina indicated, avoiding the liquid that was being shot from behind us, though I couldn’t see how it was being fired.

Finally, the entrance began to appear ahead.

“Get away from the door!”

At Christina’s words, I quickly pressed against the wall.

The green liquid hit the door directly, and the door began to melt.

“Saved us the trouble of opening it!”

I climbed over the melting door.

Then, the golem broke through the door and chased us outside.

The golem let out another female scream, and I put Christina down while drawing my greatsword.

Then I looked around.

‘Ah, damn.’

Undead were beginning to gather around us, drawn by the creature’s screams.

“At least we weren’t surrounded as soon as we came out…”

It seemed the undead had retreated after we entered, as there were none positioned right next to the columbarium.

Still, they were all coming this way, attracted by the golem’s screams.

As I clicked my tongue and considered my next move, the area below the golem’s neck opened up, revealing a large mouth.

“That green liquid from before!”

So that’s how it fired that disgusting substance.

I quickly moved to avoid the green liquid being fired from the golem’s mouth.

The liquid hit the undead that were approaching from behind us.

The undead’s bodies began to melt and disappear.

“…Huh.”

Christina had frantically shouted earlier that even the stone floor was melting, so I had my suspicions.

If we get hit by that even once, we’ll melt away and that’s the end.

Should we just flee?

I looked at Christina and opened my mouth.

“We might get caught between the undead and that thing and die. Should we retreat?”

“I think that would be—”

Just as Christina was reluctantly about to agree, the golem moved.

It charged at Christina and me while letting out a strange cry.

It rushed forward, treating the surrounding undead as mere obstacles, not caring whether they got caught in its attack or not.

Skeletons standing in the golem’s path were reduced to dust.

Ghouls that were flying toward us were instead knocked away by the golem.

It was hard to believe that a body made of corpses could possess such agility and strength.

It spun around once, looking as if it was searching for an opening to attack us.

‘It has no intention of letting us go!’

I charged with my greatsword.

I dodged the golem’s arm and thrust my sword into it.

Blood spurted up.

That was all.

-“KYAAAAH!!”

As it tried to punch me while I was attached to its body, I quickly let go of my sword, dodged, then retrieved my greatsword and delivered a large slash.

Again, blood splattered greatly.

But perhaps because it was made of corpses, it seemed to feel no pain from attacks with the greatsword.

“Damn it!”

“Holy Light!”

Christina used her divine power to shoot a beam of light, and the golem was hit by it.

The creature screamed and retreated.

-Rustle rustle

“Eek?! It’s dropping corpses!”

We could see it dropping burning corpses that had been hit by Holy Light, minimizing the damage.

Our attacks weren’t effective.

-“KYAAAAH!!”

It grabbed a zombie that was approaching us and threw it at us, which we dodged.

The sword doesn’t work.

Attacks using divine power are minimized by the creature disassembling its body.

‘What should we do?’

As we stood there, stunned by the fact that almost all our means of attack were blocked, the creature continued to approach us, screaming.