NOVEL NEXT Kaiyak swallowed hard and licked his dry lips.
Slowly, very slowly, he turned to the archer, Emerson.
When their eyes met, Emerson nodded slightly and laid down on the floor, pressing his ear to it.
“No, it’s not the first floor.”
After a while of listening to the vibrations, Emerson stood up and said.
The source of the vibrations wasn’t the first floor, but that didn’t solve the problem.
The door that led back to the entrance was closed, and the party at the back was straining to open it, but the door refused to budge.
“It seems the door isn’t opening from the outside either. What should we do, Kaiyak?”
The quick-witted archer from the rear dashed over and whispered to Kaiyak.
One conclusion could be drawn from this.
Something had forcibly closed the door and wouldn’t let it open.
As a result, they couldn’t get out unless they defeated that something.
Fear began to slowly weigh down on the adventurers.
In the thick darkness, some unknown entity was lurking, and in the shadows where the torches didn’t shine, monsters were eyeing them hungrily.
Even if they could handle those little monsters, the problem was that unknown entity roaming around in this underground tomb.
Fear spreads like wildfire.
The terror of a giant unseen enemy quickly soaked into the adventurers.
“Ka, Kaiyak. What do we do?”
In an instant, all eyes were on Kaiyak.
Among the forty adventurers who had entered the underground tomb, Kaiyak had the most experience and rank, so naturally, everyone looked to him as the leader in this situation.
“…We need to organize ourselves.”
Kaiyak tried to remain calm.
Above all, if his composure wavered, they’d all be dead.
In such situations, staying calm was essential.
If he got swept away by the excitement, fear would consume him in no time, and that could not happen.
—Or maybe, it already had.
“There are stairs to the second floor on both sides…”
“Hey, Kaiyak. Isn’t escaping the priority here?”
Emerson asked with an annoyed voice.
Isn’t escaping the most critical thing in this situation?
Emerson couldn’t understand why Kaiyak was mumbling about the stairs going down to the second floor.
Kaiyak shot a sideways glare at Emerson.
He knew that Emerson was a grumpy kobold, but moments like this made him want to scream.
What a little brat.
“Is this a joke?”
“Hey, Emerson. Isn’t the whole point of the door being open to escape? You’re not actually suggesting we break through that rock wall, right? If you can smash it with your bow, I’ll give you credit.”
Emerson frowned and fell silent.
“Stupid little kobold.”
Kaiyak suppressed his irritation and collected his thoughts.
Isn’t a tomb just a fancy underground tomb for a reason?
This structure, stacked down to the underground with bricks, would collapse in an instant once the bricks started to give way.
“We have to fight. The clearest way out is to kill that demon and escape.”
Kaiyak quickly glanced back and forth at Alex and Yona.
Then, his gaze fixated on Yona’s pale face.
“…What’s with that look, lizard?”
Yona flinched but didn’t avoid Kaiyak’s gaze.
Her lips went pale with fear, yet she still showed a decent amount of composure.
“Alex, Yona.”
“What is it? Why?”
“Let’s split into two parties. Go down the stairs on either side. Let’s meet up in the catacombs on the second floor.”
The underground tomb is circular.
The first floor resembles an exhibition hall with corridors, and only when you go down the stairs at both ends do you reach the second floor, where the tombs are located.
“Once down there, the first one to arrive engages the demon, while the other one sneaks up from behind.”
“Wait, wouldn’t it be better for all of us to go down the same staircase instead?”
Yona argued with Kaiyak while tapping Alex on the head.
Even though there are forty of us, most are of the same rank, with only a few at silver rank.
They’re not exactly the most powerful bunch, so splitting them might not give them the best odds. Wouldn’t it be better to stick together and rush in all at once? But Kaiyak shook his head.
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with. From the noise, it doesn’t seem like an ordinary demon. Do you really think it wouldn’t notice us moving? What if it comes to greet us on the stairs, Yona?”
Only then did Yona shut her mouth.
Kaiyak grinned and playfully tapped Yona’s cheek.
“If we split up, the demon will have to choose one side. While one group is engaging it, the other can attack from behind. That might give us a better chance. Right?”
“…That makes sense.”
Kaiyak silently looked down at Yona, who hung her head in defeat.
Yona, a somewhat rare healer, who had reached the same rank as them.
Yona.
Since registering as adventurers with Alex, we’ve consistently made it back alive, and our skills have improved quite a bit.
“Let’s split into two groups. I’ll take the vanguard, and Alex will handle the other.”
“Oh boy, I’m really nervous.”
The torch slowly illuminated the rocky walls of the corridor with its red glow.
As the light approached, small monsters squeaked and scampered away, occasionally running in the wrong direction right into the adventurers, and those poor creatures quickly turned into minced meat.
Alex marched forward, holding his shield upright.
Right behind him, Yona walked carefully to keep the torch’s flames from touching the Sacred Barrier.
“Just try to survive, will you?”
“What good will that do?”
The adventurers, soaked in sticky fear and heavy-footed, didn’t say a word.
Only Alex and Yona were having their lively chat.
“I’m going to grope your chest however I please.”
“Who’s going to let you do that?”
“I heard he’s a guy. Why not show some generosity?”
“Hey, if I grabbed yours like that, wouldn’t you feel bad?”
“Not really. Seems like it’d be nice.”
“Are you crazy or what?”
Yona instinctively wanted to slap the back of Alex’s head but held her hand back.
This isn’t a village.
Her life is on the line, following Alex in the vanguard, so she couldn’t afford to act carelessly.
“Think we’ll be okay?”
“We better be okay.”
Deep down, Yona felt fear.
Three years, she thought she’d gone through all kinds of hardships by now.
But surpassing those hardships only revealed even greater ones.
“It’s stairs.”
Yet, all that could be heard from below were the thudding footsteps of something wandering around, with no sound of weapons clashing.
Is that team still not inside yet?
Where exactly is that thing wandering below?
At the barely reachable edge of the torchlight stood a staircase.
Black liquid was splattered everywhere, and it somehow seemed more decorated than when she had been here before, so Yona stretched her neck to get a better look at the stairs.
“…Isn’t that a corpse?”
Yona pressed her face close to Alex’s ear and stretched out her hand.
Alex momentarily dazed by the peach scent wafting from her, soon looked where her finger was pointing.
I was momentarily dazed by the peach scent wafting through the air and then turned to look where her finger was pointing.
“Right, it’s a corpse. A human corpse.”
It was obvious at a glance that it was a corpse.
The lower half was missing, leaving only the upper half, so there was no way it was still alive.
“Must be those guys from the investigation team we ran into before.”
Alex raised his shield again and moved forward.
The other adventurers listened to their conversation and adjusted their grip on their weapons.
They already knew the investigation team was wiped out, so they understood the meaning of descending further down.
As they got closer to the stairs, the torch illuminated the surroundings.
Only then could they see more clearly what was stuck to the stairs.
It was entrails.
The once crimson entrails had already turned black and were lying all over the floor haphazardly, looking oddly like decorations…
“Uweeeeeeek.”
Yona turned around.
A freshly registered rookie adventurer was standing there with a pale face and retching.
He bravely followed them, but it was hard to accept such a scene.
‘…Can’t blame him.’
Since they couldn’t hear any fighting sounds, it should be fine for a moment.
Yona tapped Alex on the shoulder and approached the rookie adventurer.
“Scary, huh?”
“S-sorry… uuuurgh!”
The rookie kept shaking his head, realizing that Yona came all this way because of him.
But he couldn’t stop the vomit that kept coming up.
Yona gently patted his back as he struggled.
The sound of her patting echoed softly down the corridor.
“It’s okay, everyone feels like this at first. I felt the same.”
Even now, she wasn’t feeling great herself.
“Don’t die. Just don’t die, okay?”
“Y-yes… I understand…”
He seemed to have calmed down a bit.
“Hey, Yona. Let’s start heading down.”
“Why does your voice sound like that?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re sulking, aren’t you? What’s with the sudden mood swing?”
“I didn’t sulk! Whatever, everyone get your weapons ready. Let’s go down.”
The torch began to move again.
Creepy sounds echoed as small monsters fled from the light of the torches, while the adventurers descended to the lower level with grim faces.
The stone stairs were still so sticky it was disgusting.