NOVEL NEXT “I’m feeling absolutely shitty, seriously.”
“Shut up, Emerson.”
Emerson, the archer who always has complaints to make.
Even in this situation, Yona wasn’t in the mood to take a jab at the grumbling Emerson.
The sticky soles of the shoes, well, everyone here probably has the same issue.
There’s no one here with good gear, and unless you’re weirdly protective of your equipment like Alex, boots are just pieced-together leather scraps.
Yona too.
“Alex, it’s okay. It’s okay.”
Yona kept muttering as she placed her hand on Alex’s shoulder.
Whether he liked it or not, since they entered the dungeon, the healer had to stick close to the tank.
Alex had been doing well so far keeping Yona secure, but this large-scale situation was something else entirely.
“If it’s okay—”
“Yeah, I said it’s fine.”
“If we make it back alive…”
Alex inhaled deeply.
As he led the way down the stairs, he adjusted his shield with a grunt.
How he managed to carry that hunk of metal around was beyond her.
“If we make it back alive, what?”
“Let me touch some boobs.”
“You bastard.”
A senseless joke in a situation like this.
And Yona played along with that senseless joke.
Thanks to that, faint laughter spread through the ranks.
Even so, their steps didn’t slow.
After quite a long descent down the winding stairs, just when they thought they were nearing the second floor…
– Meeeeh!
Out of nowhere, the sound of a goat bleating echoed.
“…A goat?”
Someone muttered from behind.
His curiosity was shared by everyone.
What the hell was a goat doing in an underground tomb?
It felt so out of place.
– Meeeeh!
– Bang!
Along with the goat’s bleat, something collided loudly.
And then, a scream echoed through the air.
As soon as he heard it, his body reacted first.
“Yona, stay right behind me! Everyone, run!”
With Alex’s shout, Yona gripped the Sacred Barrier tightly.
No way that bleating belonged to just a regular goat.
And that sound of collision and screams…
Looks like Kaiyak’s party collided first.
Without a prayer or anything, twenty adventurers started to dash down the stairs in unison.
Yona, too, sprinted right behind Alex.
Adjusting her round shield in her left arm, as they ran down the stairs, the sounds of shouting, screams, and clashing weapons only grew louder.
“Emerson, don’t run ahead too much!”
With Alex’s warning, Emerson slowed down a bit.
Alex charged forward, followed closely by Yona.
After descending all the stairs, they entered a wide catacomb through an already open stone door.
Torches lined the high walls of the catacomb, illuminating the interior enough so it wasn’t completely dark—
“Damn. What the hell is that?”
It looked to be four times the height of an adult man, with the bulk of about five Alexes glued together.
Its skin was bright red, and it had massive circular horns on its head.
It had the upper body of a human and the lower body of a goat, with reverse knees that made for a grotesque sight.
“…Oh, it’s a demon…!”
“Everyone shut up! Get ready and spread out!”
With Alex’s shout, twenty adventurers scattered into their respective party formations.
Parties of four to five members fanned out into the spacious catacomb.
“Alex, Alex. Calm down, just breathe, okay? Got it?”
Yona gasped for breath, pushing her hair behind her ear.
At her words, Alex glanced back.
“Don’t worry about me; keep an eye on the healer.”
“You should watch your own back.”
Even amidst the chaos, they exchanged silly banter.
Yona raised her hand with the Sacred Barrier.
Divine power surged through her.
A warm energy wrapped around her right arm, circulating smoothly.
“Alex! Attack from behind!”
Kaiyak’s voice rang out.
Even though there was a vanguard in Kaiyak’s party, he was currently using his two-handed hammer to parry the demon’s greatsword while also playing the role of the vanguard.
“Yona!”
Yona turned at the sound of Freaky’s voice.
At the spot Freaky pointed, a man leaned against a pillar, gasping for air, with one arm nearly severed.
“Rock!”
“Go quickly, Yona!”
If they had just two more healers…
Yona shot a worried glance at Alex before sprinting toward the direction Freaky indicated.
As she ran, she noticed the monster swinging a greatsword in each hand, its head resembling a two-headed goat.
It felt eerily familiar to her, but really, what could she do about it if she had seen it before?
“Hey, Rock! Are you okay?!”
Yona grabbed Rock’s half-severed elbow.
“Ahhh!”
Rock screamed in agony.
He writhed as if to say ‘let go of my arm,’ but no matter how much he struggled, Yona wouldn’t release her grip and instead, slapped her face.
“Ouch!”
Yona’s face whipped around, but she still didn’t let go of Rock’s arm.
She felt a metallic taste in her mouth, like she had split her lip.
This damn world doesn’t let you heal unless a healer’s hands touch your body directly.
In other novels or animes, if you just recite a spell from a distance, everything’s healed, but in this cursed world, it has to be hands-on.
To be exact, it’s got to be a touch wrapped in this Sacred Barrier.
The holy energy that enveloped the Sacred Barrier flowed along her hand and settled into Rock’s wound.
With a gentle blue glow, the severed flesh began to knit together, and at this rate, soon—
“Yona!”
At Alex’s shout, Yona, still holding onto Rock’s arm, rolled sideways with him.
The spot she had just been standing on was now filled with a dust cloud as a monster’s great sword slammed down, before quickly returning to its place.
“What are the archers doing? Hurry up and shoot!”
Kaiyak’s voice boomed, while the monster let out a roar that couldn’t be outdone.
The sounds of clashes between spears and swords, the incantations of the mages.
With flashes seen here and there, it seemed the mages were holding up pretty well.
Confirming that Rock’s arm was completely healed, Yona gave him a quick slap on the cheek before turning straight to Alex.
The moment she looked back, something zoomed past her face.
As she saw it stuck into the rocky wall, Yona froze.
It was Kaiyak’s two-handed hammer, and the handle of that hammer.
The handle, now in two pieces, whizzed past her and got lodged into the bricks, trembling slightly.
“Th-this is…”
Before she knew it, she plopped down to the ground.
As she turned to look where it had come from, she locked eyes with the monster rushing at her.
The monster’s hand, clutching the giant sword, was raised high.
Despite all the attacks from the adventurers, it only seemed slightly injured but was still fine to move.
The giant sword sliced through the air, coming down like it was in slow motion.
It was rushing down toward her face with each passing moment.
She had to dodge.
If that hits, it’s game over.
Ah.
Damn it.
Is this how I die?
I might have given up on going back to my original world, but I didn’t want to die in this girl’s body.
Ah.
Yona’s golden eyes filled with the shadow of the monster’s great sword.
“Yona!”
Someone suddenly shoved the dazed Yona hard.
She rolled sideways without making a sound.
The impact of her collision caused some of the bricks to crumble away.
“What are you doing! Where’s your head at, you crazy girl!”
Yona stared blankly as someone leaned in close to her face.
It was Alex, his bald head shining in the torchlight.
“Damn, this is bad.”
Kaiyak threw down the broken hammer and picked up an axe that belonged to some unknown adventurer.
No adventurer would toss their weapon aside, so the owner must be dead.
In Kaiyak’s mind, that thing wasn’t a demon.
If it were, the forty (well, now less than thirty) adventurers here wouldn’t stand a chance.
It was simply a massive monster.
One he had never seen before.
“Magicians, fire magic! Fire magic, shoot! Alternate it, shoot! Freaky, you little punk! You think hiding makes you invisible!”
Kaiyak cursed and encouraged those around him.
Hell, they had to survive somehow.
“Alex, cover me!”
“Got it!”
Alex ran in from a distance, followed by Yona.
Despite always insisting she was a guy, Yona looked like she was struggling to catch her breath like a girl.
“Yona, can you heal more?”
“…I-I can do it.”
Alex’s clothes were also stained with blood here and there.
It was tough to block the monster’s great sword head-on, so he was just trying to parry it, which left him with some wounds.
Still, seeing him so energetic right now was thanks to Yona, no doubt.
“Emerson! How’s the arrows?”
“Not much left!”
“Freaky, what about the mana?!”
“Almost out!”
Damn, this is fun. Really fun.
Kaiyak couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.
The hunting party that was supposed to deal with this thing—the knights and priests—never even made it inside.
It was surprising they had lasted this long against the monster with a bunch of copper-ranked adventurers, but Kaiyak understood.
Here, no one was getting out alive.
After all that fighting, that beast showed no sign of dying.
Yona knew what Kaiyak was thinking.
She was thinking the same thing.
But suddenly, a thought popped into her head.
“…No, I think there might be a way.”
Yona spoke up.
“But I might die.”