battle.
battle.
We proceeded slowly and deliberately in silence.
As we passed the meaningless statue and entered the white building, a pure white hallway greeted us. However, the hallway was covered in darkness, and as soon as Carmen lit a torch prepared in advance and took a step, a blue light lit up the hallway as if mocking him.
Carmen looked back at us and smiled awkwardly.
“I’m going to go in with what I’m doing to turn off the lights that have been turned on. It’s because you don’t know when those lights will suddenly go out, just like they suddenly appeared.”
I reached out my hand to Carmen.
“Then, I’ll carry the torch with me, since I have spare hands. All of my weapons can be used with one hand anyway.”
Among Carmen’s armaments, the bow was meant to be used with both hands, so I had to carry the torch.
Carmen lightly bowed her head in gratitude and handed me a torch. A huge door greeted us as we passed the pure white hallway with blue light. At the very center of the door was written a complicated letter. There were a lot of various modifiers, but to put it roughly, it was a very simple meaning.
– Prove the royal blood flowing through your body.
These were ruins that could be taken for free as long as there was blood from the ancient royalty.
Of course, it was a secret that I could read the ancient language, so Tonysa stepped forward and looked at the letters on the door with her eyes and said to Carmen.
“Blood. Without the blood of the ancient imperial family, I think I’ll have to be prepared for a fight.”
There was a possibility that only four people would be able to cope with the enemy who would jump out of such a well-preserved ruin. We all looked at Carmen.
The party’s leader and employer was Carmen, and it was entirely up to her to decide whether to step down and bring more people or to go further.
Carmen looked at the door quietly and opened her mouth slowly.
“Isn’t there another way written?”
“Yes. But in my personal opinion, you can escape with the ‘key’ in case of emergency, so I think it’s better to go inside.”
As if the silence so far was simply because there was no need to talk, Tonya said in an uncharacteristically clear and articulate manner. Sukus, who was standing next to him, nodded as if he was right.
“I think so too.”
After Sukus finished speaking, Carmen’s gaze turned to me. I was asking for my opinion. I replied with a quiet smile.
“I think it’d be good to go in once in a while.”
Carmen smiled at us.
“We came here because we all wanted something, so let’s be as careful as possible when we go in. Originally, precious treasures and broad-minded women are won by the courageous. Sukus. Please open the door. I will cover you.”
“i get it.”
Sukus, the thickest among us, took the lead and pushed the door open, and Carmen took out her bow from her back and put an arrow through the string. The taut string of the bow was ready to spit out an arrow at any moment.
“Suck!”
Awesome profit.
As Sukus gave strength, the huge door slowly pushed back. I drew the frost steel sword from my belt and stood behind Sucus.
thud.
When all the huge doors were finally opened, an ominous red light came on all at once in the dark plaza. Sucus quickly picked up the shield and ax that had been put down and finished preparing for battle.
We stood still and waited for something to pop out, but nothing appeared in the large square filled with red light.
Carmen quickly glanced around and returned the bowstring to its original state, gesturing with one hand. meaning to enter. With Sukus at the forefront, we moved forward slowly.
Only the sound of our footsteps could be heard in the heart-wrenching silence.
There were only two paths in the great plaza, one was the door we came in and the other was the black door at the far end of the plaza.
The change happened when we reached the very center of the square. Carmen, keenly aware of the change, spoke quietly.
“Tonysa. Get ready to use the ‘key’ just in case.”
thud.
The door we entered was closed by myself. And as the black door on the opposite side slowly rose, the guardians of this ruin revealed their true identities.
A body covered in black leather and white metal armor covering it. The Guardians were human-sized, bipedal monsters halfway between life and machine.
The number is approximately ten or eleven.
Fortunately, all the enemies were armed with swords and shields, and there were no objects armed with ranged weapons.
“Tonysa! Order!”
Carmen shouted and fired an arrow. The arrow flew at high speed and pierced the black leather with precision and lodged in the guardian’s neck. When one Guardian fell, the rest of the Guardians started running toward us as a signal.
With Tonysa’s murmur, a huge rock came out of the ground and hit another Guardian. The Guardian, whose arm was crushed, flew like a piece of paper and tumbled across the floor. Nine are left.
It was very dangerous to be surrounded in the open square, so we continued to fall back and check the approaching Guardians.
However, when the number of remaining Guardians reached seven, we eventually had no choice but to allow them access.
Now it was my turn to go. I threw down the torch I was holding in my left hand. The moment the red trail struck the head of the approaching guardian, he caught up and swung his frost-steel sword.
Another head flew through the air. six now.
“Sukus! Please follow me!”
“Leave it alone!”
The Guardian swung his sword at me. With that honest trajectory, I dealt with the onslaught as I had learned. When my sword raised diagonally and the guardian’s sword collided, the guardian’s arm, pushed back from strength, bounced back.
The Guardian calmly threw his shield at me. As if I had waited, I kicked the shield. The Guardian, unable to withstand my strength, fell backwards. The moment I was about to rush to finish it right away.
‘killing!’
Along with my mother’s warning, another guardian brandished a sword aiming at my empty side.
It’s good to have another one here.
As he was about to step back leaving behind his regret, an arrow pierced the guardian’s neck. Looking back, Carmen smiled and nodded. I jumped at the fallen guardian and suffocated.
There are four Guardians left. No, Sucus had just split the head of one Guardian with an axe, so there were three now.
Tonysa, who was standing behind Sukus, gestured lightly with a spell, and a rock rose from the floor and hit the guardian again. The bounced Guardian flew toward me. I calmly swung my sword and cut the flying guardian in half. No blood was spilled.
One of the remaining two was shot by Carmen with two arrows. The other one was dismembered by Sukus by splitting its head with an axe.
Finally all Guardians collapsed on the floor.
And as if they had been waiting, eight new guardians appeared. This time, there were two Guardians with bows among the enemies. Carmen stiffened her face and cried out loudly.
“Priest Marnak! Can you dig in and keep the archers in check?”
“Let’s try it!”
My job must have been a priest of corruption, but I couldn’t use my abilities openly in front of people, so in the end, my actions were closer to being a swordsman or a warrior.
A real melee combat class doesn’t even get a correction for this kind of situation.
Even though I grumbled, I continued to move my feet and charge toward the Guardians.
‘killing!’
With the mother’s warning, two arrows caught on the sharpened senses. One came for my body, the other for my head. I gripped the froststeel sword even tighter and swung it calmly.
kang!
He kicked off one foot that was heading towards his body. The arrow that was aiming for his head lightly tilted his head to avoid it.
Now those guys were able to get close enough before they took the next arrow.
As I approached the archer, the other guardians blocked me.
“Priest Marnak! Run as it is!”
Arrows flying from behind and protruding rocks blocked me and kept the Guardians in check. He dug into the gap and swung his sword horizontally.
An archer’s head flew through the air and landed on the floor. Not content with that, I quickly lowered my stance and continued the next attack.
The frost steel sword pierced the archer’s waist, giving the upper and lower body an eternal separation.
“Aaaaaaaaaa!”
Sucus, who ran after him, pushed one of the guardians away with his shield. After that, the situation was one-sided. The Guardians lost their lives without being able to reach Carmen and Tonysa.
However, in the middle, the body of the guardian who bounced off Tonysa’s spell kept flying toward me. Of course, I took advantage of the situation appropriately every time to end the lives of the guardians, but as soon as the battle was over, I frowned and growled at Tonica, as if it was taken in a different way by Sukus.
“Why do you keep pushing the enemy towards your allies from earlier? I and Marnak almost got hurt!”
“I just wanted to catch them all. I hope you don’t babble unnecessarily. And that was the quickest way to deal with enemies.”
“What?! You bitch without horns the size of pellets!!! Say it again right now…”
I stopped Sukus, who was about to attack at once, and Carmen intervened.
“Stop. Just go there. Sukus. Tonica.”
Sukus gritted his teeth wildly, gave Tonica a glare, then sat down to examine his equipment.
“By the way, Priest Marnak. It was truly an activity worthy of the title of ‘Demon Slayer’.”
I quietly smiled as I watched Carmen speak in a more lively voice, perhaps trying to change the atmosphere.
“I’m a little embarrassed because I don’t look like a priest.”
“Actually, it seemed a little like that to me.”
“By the way, you’re incredibly good at shooting a bow.”
Carmen smiled and replied.
“Since I was young, the bow has been my friend. I practiced really hard.”
While Carmen checked the condition of the bow and collected the arrows, I checked the condition of the froststeel sword alone.
The Froststeel Sword boasted of its undisguised appearance, as if not to underestimate itself.
“Certainly, precious things have a precious price.”
‘killing!’
I reciprocated by patting my breast pocket to my mother’s condescension of saying that I had brought all the swords.
After sitting for a while to catch my breath, Tonysa spoke up.
“When are you leaving? I’m fine right now. The remaining horsepower is fine.”
Before Carmen could say anything, Sucus frowned.
“Why are you screaming to start again as soon as you sit down?
Tonisha glanced at Sukus, then turned to Carmen. That was an obvious disregard. Sukus’s face slowly heated up. Seeing this, Carmen reacted quickly.
“Stop! Tonica. We’ll take a little more rest before leaving. Please be patient.”
To Carmen’s determined words, Tonisha glanced at Sucus and me and answered.
“Do you think it would be okay to start again right away? The three of us, excluding that Sukus, are still in good spirits, so rather than struggling here, we want to move forward and see the end of the ruins sooner. To be honest, seeing that Sukus whining like that is ridiculous.”
At the words of the self-righteous wizard, I just laughed out of embarrassment.
Well, most of the wizards I’ve met so far have been like that. Extremely self-centered and one-sided attitude. Actually, that level belonged to the more polite side for a wizard.
Carmen spoke quickly before Sucus’s face flushed again.
“I’m going to rest a bit more. I won’t accept any more disagreements.”
We eventually set off again after taking a break in an uncomfortable atmosphere. In the meantime, it was a bonus that I sat next to Sukus and gently comforted him.
As I slowly moved closer to the black door, it closed as if I had waited.
Yes, the enemy was too weak for the state of the ruins.
Suddenly trapped in the plaza, we quickly looked around, but at that moment, something huge fell from the ceiling.
bang!
A heavy crash and vibration shook us.
A blue jewel embedded in the forehead of a white metal torso with no flesh. The true guardian of this ruin has revealed itself.
thud.
The metal giants started coming towards us. While Sukus stood there blankly, Tonysa pushed him away and stepped forward.
“Move.”
As Tonysa waved her hands along with a low murmur, countless rocks protruded and shot at the giant along with waves of wild magic power.
The giant reacted with a speed completely unsuitable for its size.
When the blue gem embedded in the middle of his forehead glowed, all the flying rocks lost their power and fell to the ground. And the giant smashed Tonysa, who jumped forward, with his fist.
Flesh and blood splattered.
shit. I got this very wrong.
The giant didn’t stop. He swung his fist covered in Tonysa’s flesh and struck Sukus away. He couldn’t even scream and died instantly.
I quickly shouted at Carmen, who stood there stunned.
“Do you want to live?”
“yes?”
“Do you want to live!”
Carmen hurriedly nodded and replied.
“Yes, yes!”
“Then stick your chin out now!”
“yes···?”
I slapped the chin at Carmen, who was staring at me with a puzzled face. He shouted at the metal giant, who quickly took Carmen’s faint body and raised his fist.
“There’s a giant on my side as well! Mother! I’m in a hurry! I don’t even have time to pray! You have to send it away right away!”
‘killing!’
bang!
The air was torn apart, and the ‘Giant of Decay’ jumped out and struck the Metal Giant’s head. The massive metal giant’s body leaned against the wall.
– That ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!
As soon as the decaying giant let out a roar, the metal giant slowly began to stand up.
I smiled at the overwhelming sight.
“He’s a truly magnificent friend. Does your mother think so too?”
‘killing!’
