episode_0046

On a cold winter morning, when the sun was shyly showing its face, we climbed the roadless mountain.

We acted separately from the main unit according to the mission given by Veronica.

So, I climbed the snow-covered mountain with no trace of people at all and headed to the secret passage under the cliff leading from the fortress.

The mountain was so quiet that we could hear the sound of us stepping on the snow, which actually gave me goosebumps.

Even though it was lightweight, I felt comfortable both physically and mentally wearing the magic armor.

Thanks to this, I was able to easily run up the steep mountain and reach my destination.

Laura arrived in front of the secret passage first and carefully looked inside.

“It seems that when creating the secret passage, it was connected to a natural cave.”

“That’s right. There might be something living inside. Let’s rest for a moment and then go in.”

I used the rest as an excuse to buy some time and opened the map window to check out the people around me.

There was no one in the secret passage, and more than 300 enemies were stationed in the fortress.

If you add up the number of birds of prey that have originally been in the fortress, there will be more enemies than you see.

And the survivors, our first target, were locked in a prison directly connected to a secret passage.

There were about 40 survivors, and I packed my bag with blankets, buckets of water, and dried food given to me by the Knights, so I could easily distribute them to them.

‘There is no one named Dominic. But there is El Kudan. If I were alone, I would go and catch him right away, but it’s impossible because I’m with other enemies. When the main unit starts fighting, we should take advantage of that opportunity.’

Although I cared about the survivors, I was much more interested in capturing Dominic.

Although no one asked him to do this, if they catch him and find out the truth, Iris and Veronica will feel at ease.

However, I also worry that the truth may actually act as poison.

In particular, the relationship between Laura and Iris may become very uncomfortable.

A few hours ago, Laura comforted Iris, but depending on the truth, Laura’s reaction may vary greatly.

‘Once you capture Elkudan alive and hear the truth, you can worry about it. For now, let’s focus on rescuing survivors.’

I decided on an immediate policy and called Laura and Iris, who were on guard, to gather around.

And with the map window open, I entered the secret passage.

It was very dark inside the cave, but thanks to the magic pistol’s headlight, I was able to move around easily.

A stream of water flowed on the slippery floor, and water droplets fell like drizzle from the ceiling.

Bats were occasionally seen, and all kinds of unidentifiable insects and crustaceans were crawling on the floor or writhing in the well.

“Kya!”

“What’s going on? Iris.”

“Well… I’m afraid of bats hitting the horn.”

Iris was struggling to chase away bats fluttering around her.

Even though you can’t see its face because it’s wearing a helmet with holes for its horns, its behavior is very cute.

I’m not afraid of bats, but I hate them because they’re dirty.

So even though I was wearing magic armor, I felt extremely uncomfortable.

“Bats are unpleasant people. Now, hold my hand.”

“But then you won’t be able to shoot in time. It’s okay so I’ll just go.”

Iris refused to take the hand I held out.

It’s unfortunate, but what she does is natural.

They’re not out to have fun, they’re strictly participating in a military operation, so they can’t go around holding hands.

“You are right. Because it could get dangerous. Instead, if a bat attacks you again, tell me right away. I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you, Rebecca.”

Iris hugged me once and then returned to her seat.

I don’t know if she is aware of it, but she tends to exude charm in her every word and action.

Her personality is definitely different from Laura, who shows off her cuteness when necessary.

‘Laura’s cuteness can be scary sometimes. But it’s okay because it’s lovely.’

After a brief commotion, we continued through the cave.

If I’m not on a mission, I want to enjoy the mystery of nature while looking at the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites around me.

It would have been the best if there weren’t bats that flew in and harassed Iris when she was bored.

In the end, Laura cut down a few bats with her sword and the bats stopped attacking Iris after that.

They say there are people who will listen to you only if you see blood.

The cave had a structure that continued to rise, so it seemed like it might be connected to a secret passage leading to the fortress.

It is truly amazing that this cave is like a circular staircase climbing a cliff tens of meters high.

When a long time had passed, Laura, who had been leading, suddenly stopped.

She spoke to me in a serious voice.

“Rebecca, look at the floor.”

“Floor?”

I shined a light on the floor at Laura’s words.

Then, water as red as blood was flowing under my feet.

Even so, I felt sick because of the fishy smell coming from the humid place.

“It’s flowing from beyond that door.”

“That must be a secret passage leading straight to the fortress’ prison. But why over there… no way!”

I quickly checked the map window.

Surprisingly, the names of the survivors who were alive just moments ago had disappeared.

Even when the filter function was completely turned off, the names of the survivors did not appear at all.

That means they all died in an instant.

Was he executed? Or did something more terrible happen?

Just thinking about it makes me angry.

What on earth do the things in this fortress want?

“Let’s go in quickly and check the situation.”

“Yes, Rebecca.”

Laura and I opened the door with blood flowing out of it and went in, and Iris looked behind us and followed us.

A huge amount of blood had accumulated in the passage, which was narrow enough for one person to pass through, and it overflowed and flowed out the door.

As time passed, not only blood but flesh and even eyeballs began to roll.

I felt like my stomach was turning, and Iris was nauseous, but Laura moved forward without any problem.

And we found what looked like a manhole cover with blood pouring out like water from a shower.

“I will open the door.”

Laura left the gun to me, climbed up the ladder, and pushed open the manhole.

Then, a large amount of blood, flesh, and torn organs rained down on Laura, and she fell to the floor.

I was shocked and ran to Laura, and Iris and I hurriedly removed the terrible things that had covered her.

“Are you okay? Are there any injuries?”

“Yes, I was just a little surprised.”

“Thank goodness. I’ll go up first.”

“Be careful.”

I climbed up a ladder that was covered with what appeared to be internal organs.

And when I stuck my head out over the manhole, hell unfolded before my eyes.

The walls, ceilings, and hallways were littered with traces of people who had been alive not long ago, and the situation was so severe that no healthy bodies were to be found.

The slaughterhouse would be much cleaner and have a better atmosphere than this place.

It looked as if they had not simply carried out executions but disposed of them.

“Fuck. Crazy, this is.”

I looked around the prison to see if anyone was still alive, but it was in vain.

Beyond the iron bars, only traces of cruel death remained, and there was no sign of life at all.

The most intact thing I found was a hand wearing someone’s wedding ring.

All five fingers were still attached and there were no signs of injury.

“Oh my god, how could this happen… Iris, don’t come up. I think it would be better for you not to see it.”

“What’s going on?”

“There are so many corpses that just hit me.”

“Okay. I will guard the passage.”

Laura, who came up to the prison after me, stopped Iris from coming up and I thought it was a really good decision.

I couldn’t ask someone who was so nauseous just moments ago to see something like this.

“Laura, is this a monster again?”

“Well. Looking at the current situation, it seems like an explosion inside the body killed the people. However, if you look at the traces of feeding on humans, such as the torn part of this leg, it may be a new type of devil parasite or a monster we don’t know about.”

“The demons and monsters are too much, but the thought of another monster popping out from there is terrifying.”

“Sure. There’s no more information to get, so let’s go down.”

“Let’s follow those shoe prints.”

I was interested in the shoe prints that littered the prison’s hallways.

The shoe prints clearly showed a line of people walking through the hallway and out of the prison.

And seeing as there are wheel marks, it may have been carrying something obtained here.

I looked at the map window for nearby movements and noticed several enemies entering and exiting a warehouse not far away.

There must be someone here who horribly killed innocent people.

“Rebecca, that’s too dangerous. You never know when enemies will appear.”

“But I can’t go back empty-handed like this. For the sake of the dead people, we need to get at least a clue as to what happened.”

“If we are caught, it could affect the main unit’s operations.”

“Don’t worry. I have the ability to understand the movements of people around me in real time.”

I decided to teach Laura a little about one of my secrets, the map window.

Although it’s not a secret, it’s more like there’s no way to show it.

Anyway, in the current situation, this is the only way to quickly persuade Laura, and I was planning on teaching her someday, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

“Is it the magic of your hometown?”

“Hmm… That’s right. It’s a magic where a map of the surroundings appears and people’s movements are displayed on it. There’s no way to prove it to you because it’s only visible to me.”

“Don’t worry. Because I trust Rebecca. But it’s really amazing magic.”

“I think it’s really amazing even though I don’t know the principle.”

“But you can’t figure out the movements of the demons.”

“If I were the human leader of the fortress, I would not entrust such an important task to the demons. Besides, birds of prey don’t even wear shoes.”

“Yes, then let’s be careful.”

Laura eventually decided to follow my opinion.

And while I was checking the surroundings on the map window again, I told Iris to wait a little longer.

After making sure that no one was around, I carefully opened the prison door with Laura and peeked my head out.

As I checked, there were no people in the wider hallway, and as I expected, there were no birds of prey moving around.

In order not to miss the opportunity, we walked quickly and quietly until we reached the door of the warehouse guided by the blood trail.

The door was securely locked with a padlock, but it was torn apart by the power of the magic armor.

The sound was a little loud, but fortunately, no people or demons reacted to it.

We focused on the surrounding sounds for a moment, then opened the door to the warehouse and entered.

“Whew, I thought I got caught. But what is this?”

As soon as I saw the items loaded on the cart in the warehouse, I immediately frowned.

The cart was loaded with glass barrels about a meter long, and each glass barrel contained a large larva.

I used my analysis skills, but I couldn’t get any information because they were all already dead.

Instead, since it is completely sealed, I think I can put it in my bag and hand it over to the Knights Templar.

“It was good. It goes in well.”

As I expected, the glass container went into the bag without any problems.

Then, Laura and I put all the glass containers into my bag.

This way, you don’t have to worry about being caught by enemies due to the sound made when you destroy the glass barrel, and you can make their efforts completely in vain.

Before leaving the warehouse, I checked the map window once again, then took Laura with me and hurried back the way I came.

“Rebecca! Laura!”

Iris, who was waiting for us in the aisle alone, was very happy when we returned.

If she had a tail, it would definitely be wagging like crazy.

“Nothing happened, right?”

“Yes, nothing happened. Rebecca, did you get the information you wanted?”

“First of all, they stole everything they got from slaughtering people. The knights will take care of things like analysis. Then let’s go back quickly.”

We left the narrow secret passage and entered the cave again.

The floor of the cave was stained red in some places, which didn’t look good, but as time went on, the red color became lighter, and in the end, only the original clear water was visible.

As we walked, we found a small pond, and we went into it one by one, wearing magic armor, and washed away the blood and debris.

The water in the pond was thoroughly polluted, but I left with faith in nature’s purifying power.

After some time had passed, we came out to the snow-covered mountains again.

Looking at the surroundings being very quiet, it doesn’t seem like the battle has started.

“It’s already 12 o’clock. Time really goes by quickly. Let’s rest for a bit and then go straight up to the observatory.”

After checking the time, I first took off my stuffy helmet.

Then, a rush of fresh air came into my nose and mouth, cleaning my lungs.

I had no idea that cold air could feel so refreshing.

“Rebecca, aren’t you hungry?”

Laura tried to prepare me a meal when she said it was noon, but I had no appetite at all.

After witnessing such a terrible place, I lost my appetite.

“I’m sorry, Laura, but I don’t think I’ll want to eat anything for a while.”

“Is that so? Since Iris doesn’t eat it, I guess I’ll have to eat it by myself.”

Laura looked slightly pouty and began to soak the hard beef jerky in water by herself.

I felt a bit miserable, so even though I didn’t eat, I sat next to Laura, held her hand, and spent time admiring the smile she was trying hard to hide.