New chapter of Nameless Hero is out! (2/3 chapters)
Gala Ruins (2)
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“――Answer me.” (??)
I found myself standing on the vast earth, looking out toward a distant hill. A voice echoed from afar.
“――Answer my voice.” (??)
All around me was an endless wasteland, barren as far as the eye could see, with nothing growing from the ground. A voice that I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman echoed endlessly in my ears.
“――Warriors seek me.” (??)
Gradually, the voice became clearer. White stones began to roll down from the hill, and rolled toward my feet. The sky was filled with a strange yellow light, and it was hard to tell if it was dawn or dusk.
“――And they shall defile me.” (??)
I picked up one of the stones that had rolled over to me. It felt unusually light for a rock. The stone began to pulse with a rainbow light, but soon lost its glow.
“――Please help me. The battlefield calls for you.” (??)
When I looked again, the stone had transformed into a human skull. The raw, lifelike form startled me, and I threw it down because I was so shocked. The skull rolled away, and as it came to a stop, it had transformed into the head of a young girl. Then, she opened her mouth and spoke.
“…I’m waiting for you.” (??)
—
“Uwaah!” (Jack)
I jolted awake to find myself inside a tent. My whole body was drenched in sweat.
“Ha… ha…” (Jack)
It had been a disturbing dream. I’ve had nightmares before, but this one was particularly intense. Moreover, the scene is so vivid.
“…Mmm…? Jack? What’s wrong?” (Lindsay)
Lindsay rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked over at me, clearly just waking up.
“N-no, it’s nothing.” (Jack)
“Must’ve been a nightmare…” (Lindsay)
Then, she lay back down again.
Maybe camping out in a dungeon made me so tense that I dreamed up something strange. Let’s not worry about it.
—
Once we all woke up and prepared our gear, we immediately set out. Since I was the one chosen to pick where we’d dig, I took the lead. Tristan was walking beside me, detecting mana.
“Jack, how’s it looking?” (Tristan)
“Umm…” (Jack)
To be honest, I didn’t have a clue. Yesterday, I’d looked around the dungeon while following the group of five, but I hadn’t noticed anything that looked like the right spot.
“The dangerous magical source seems to be coming from all directions. It’s possible that moving forward itself is a risky choice.” (Tristan)
Tristan spoke up thoughtfully, then turned back to address the leader.
“Fred, maybe retreating is an option we should consider?” (Tristan)
“…Tristan, you’re right that it’s important not to push too hard in dungeon exploration. But treasure lies underground, and we’re not running low on stamina or anything. I’d say that as long as we’re here to strike it big, there’s no real reason to turn back now, is there?” (Alfred)
Alfred had a point. Our goal was still unmet, but the party hadn’t suffered any real strain. If we didn’t push onward now, we’d be no true adventurers.
“Hmm. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong.” (Tristan)
“A bad feeling? It’s not like you to get spooked, Tristan.” (Alfred)
“Well, I suppose that’s true.” (Tristan)
The exchange between the two was nothing out of the ordinary. But I still had no clue where to start digging. If only someone would give me a sign.
“――This way.” (??)
I thought I heard something.
“――Over here.” (??)
“Did you say something?” (Jack)
“Jack, what’s up?” (Tristan)
“N-no, I just thought I heard something.” (Jack)
“Hey, don’t start spouting weird stuff. You’re making this place sound haunted or something.” (Alfred)
“Over here!” (??)
It was the same voice from my dream. The voice was weak and sounded like a cry for help. There was a risk of it being a trap, but the members of Liberta were the strongest. Even if I set off a trap, these people would probably pull me out in no time.
“Hey, Jack!” (Alfred)
“Jack’s acting weird. Let’s follow him.” (Tristan)
Tristan and Alfred followed me as I moved forward, and the rest of the team followed their lead.
“This spot… feels right.” (Jack)
It was an unremarkable path, nothing particularly suspicious or noteworthy, just another part of the dungeon’s corridor.
“Right here? Why do you think so?” (Alfred)
“Um… just a hunch, I guess.” (Jack)
I answered Alfred’s questioning look with a response that had no basis at all. But that was how it was supposed to be. They asked me to go with my Intuition, and my Intuition told me this was the place.
“Jack, you seem a bit out of it. Are you alright?” (Lindsay)
Lindsay spoke up, concerned as she looked over at me.
“I think so.” (Jack)
“Hmm… something seems off here. Dwayne?” (Lindsay)
Lindsay turned to Dwayne, asking for his opinion.
“I’m not sensing any ghostly presence. I think he’s just speaking honestly about his Intuition.” (Dwayne)
“Oh, I thought maybe he was possessed by a ghost or something.” (Lindsay)
“If he were, I would’ve noticed, so you’re safe.” (Dwayne)
“Well, that’s reassuring.” (Lindsay)
With Dwayne’s confirmation, everyone was on board. All that was left was to start digging, straight down to the voice calling from below.
—
Each of us prepared ropes and watched Lindsay as she began casting her magic. Lindsay was a magician, capable of wielding advanced spells across all elements. Her magic control was said to be unmatched in the kingdom or so Alfred always claimed. I’d witnessed it for myself, once. Using a mid-level fire spell, Fireball, Lindsay concentrated its energy into a dense mass, taking down a gargoyle with a single shot.
This time, she was going to use that spell to excavate. But if the energy dispersed upon impact, it could collapse the whole dungeon. So she was using her dexterity to precisely focus the explosion downward.
“――In the name of Kano, the master of my art, transmute and burn, descending in wrath.” (Lindsay)
Lindsay’s clear voice echoed through the dungeon as a fiery mass started to gather and swirl in front of her.
“The fire of Kano falls once more upon countless battlefields――!” (Lindsay)
The fiery orb grew brighter, shining as intensely as the sun.
” Flame of Instant Destruction! Fireball!!” (Lindsay)
She released it, and the Fireball drifted slowly toward the ground at our designated digging site. Normally, it would explode on impact, but instead, it sank into the ground without detonation.
The glowing mass continued to drill downward, spinning rapidly as it dug. When it finally disappeared from view, darkness filled the area again. The Fireball must have tunneled down pretty deep by now.
*Boom*
Surprisingly, it burst with a soft pop. The ground swelled, then settled, leaving a neat hole right in front of us. Lindsay ignited a flame with her magic to light the way.
“That was amazing, Lindsay!” (Alfred)
“Yeah, even I’m blown away by how great that was.” (Dwayne)
Despite also being a magician, Dwayne couldn’t help expressing his admiration. There aren’t many magicians who can perform such skillful tricks.
“Wellyeah.” (Lindsay)
Lindsay flashed a proud smile that shone just as brightly as the Fireball.
“Alright, let’s lower ourselves in with the ropes.” (Alfred)
Lindsay cast her fire magic down into the hole. The rest of us peered in silence as she did. After a while, the light revealed a large open space below. It didn’t look particularly dangerous.
“All right, I’ll go down first.” (Alfred)
With that, Alfred volunteered to go first, and the others agreed. I set an anchor point into the ground near the hole and secured the rope tightly. Then, I lowered it into the hole.
Lindsay took on the role of providing light. She lit two flames, illuminating both our party members on the first layer and the second layer below. This feat might look simple, but it was actually pretty challenging. She said it was like using right and left arms to perform completely separate movements simultaneously.
Then, Alfred began his descent. As usual, he didn’t hesitate when it came time to take action. He slid down the rope and descended to the floor below.
“All right, it’s safe. Come on down.” (Alfred)
The rest of the members began to descend. The order was the same as when we entered the dungeon which was Tristan, Liz, Lindsay, me, and then Dwayne. However, an accident occurred just as I was about to descend.
“Wait! Something’s coming!” (Tristan)
Tristan’s voice stopped us. The members below were gazing down the ruin that was out of my line of sight. Their expressions gradually turned to shock. I called out in concern.
“What?! What’s going on?!” (Jack)
“Oh man, that’s a crazy amount of them…” (Alfred)
As Alfred’s voice echoed, the dungeon began to shake. A loud rumbling sound reverberated from below. I clung to the rope, but it shook in time with the dungeon’s vibrations, threatening to throw me off.
“Jack! It’s too dangerous to go down now! Come back up!” (Dwayne)
Dwayne reached out his hand for me, but the rope’s shaking didn’t stop, so I couldn’t grasp it properly.
“…Liz! Lindsay! I need some cover!” (Alfred)
“Got it!” (Lindsay)
“I’m on it!” (Liz)
Meanwhile, it seemed some kind of battle was unfolding below.
“Here we goooo!” (Alfred)
With the leader’s rallying cry, flames burst upward from below.
“Jack! Grab my hand quickly!” (Dwayne)
“Y-Yes!” (Jack)
At the same time, I managed to grab Dwayne’s hand, but just then, an explosion sounded from below, causing the entire dungeon to shake violently. The impact caused both of us to be dragged into the hole. Feeling weightless for the first time, I let out an involuntary scream.
“Whoaahhh!” (Jack)
“Don’t let go of my hand!” (Dwayne)
Unlike my panicked self, Dwayne was exceptionally calm. He maneuvered me to his side and, with his other arm, pointed a staff-like object downward. There was a puffing sound, as though air had been expelled, and suddenly the free-falling sensation disappeared, replaced by jolts of deceleration.
“Ugh…!” (Jack)
After a few of these blasts of air, our fall speed slowed.
“This should be safe enough now.” (Dwayne)
“Ugh…” (Jack)
Then, he let go of my arm, and I dropped to the ground. Dwayne landed gracefully beside me. There was no time for me to voice my discontent over being tossed aside, as the tense atmosphere among the other four party members made me hold my tongue. Before us was a wall of countless ‘cows’. Their charred bodies were piled high. Beyond the wall of corpses, the path was packed with hordes of Ushi-oni.
――Bwo, Bwo, Bwoooo!
Roars echoed from every direction.
“So, these are Ushi-oni… They’re not quite like I imagined.” (Dwayne)
Dwayne commented leisurely. The Ushi-oni looked like earthen statues shaped like cattle. Their hides were coated in ceramic material, revealing decayed flesh where the coating had chipped away. Black magical seals coiled around their bodies, with demonic script floating around them. Observing a single one of them could be a mystical sight, but the sheer number made it grotesque.
“Dwayne, now’s not the time for chit-chat! Get in here and help!” (Alfred)
“…With that many, isn’t it a bit hopeless?” (Dwayne)
“More are coming!” (Lindsay)
At Lindsay’s warning, the demon cows began to charge. The wall of corpses finally broke down, and multiple monsters started surging forward. While their movements weren’t as fast as Grizzly, they were just as fierce.
“Flare Curtain, open!” (Lindsay)
Lindsay spread a curtain of flames over a wide area, trying to check the Ushi-onis advance. But the charging bulls didn’t stop.
“I’ll use my revolver to counter them.” (Liz)
Liz pulled arrows one by one from the quiver at her waist, loading and firing them in quick succession. Each arrow was imbued with lightning magic, trailing electricity as they struck the decayed flesh of the bulls, paralyzing them one by one. But there were just too many of them. The Ushi-onis pressed forward, unaffected by their fallen comrades, charging recklessly at our party members.
“This isn’t a good match for me…” (Liz)
Liz was a long-range supporter. It was proving difficult for her to handle such a large swarm. At that moment, Alfred and Tristan dove into the horde of demon cows. Tristan calmly dispatched each one with a single strike. Despite the overwhelming numbers charging toward him, he continued to take them down one after another. Alfred, on the other hand, seemed more focused on overpowering them with brute strength rather than skillful strikes. His approach was more about bashing than slicing. Occasionally, flames flared up from his sword strikes, incinerating his targets.
“…Damn it, there’s no end to these guys.” (Alfred)
“Flame of Instant Destruction! Fireball!!” (Lindsay)
Before we knew it, Lindsay had begun chanting. Her specialty, Fireball, flew at high speed toward the center of the swarm and detonated. A massive explosion ensued, and another wall of corpses piled up. With the swarm slightly thinned, we had a brief moment of respite.
“Alfie! Look at that in the back!” (Lindsay)
Lindsay pointed beyond the flaming aftermath of her Fireball. Past the wall of bodies, even more Oshi-onis were pawing at the ground in preparation for another charge. Beyond them, the walls were studded with brilliant, rainbow-colored stones.
“Those are magic stones.” (Alfred)
Alfred’s eyes gleamed like a predator that had spotted its prize.
“But with that many still left…” (Jack)
“Damn it!” (Alfred)
The Oshi-onis numbers hadn’t diminished at all. In fact, it seemed like they were increasing. They appeared to be gathering from further in the depths.
“Alfie, I’ve used up a lot of potions already.” (Lindsay)
“What?!” (Alfred)
“That last Fireball was my third one, remember?” (Lindsay)
Lindsay wasn’t the only one. Tristan’s breathing was heavy, showing signs of exhaustion. Liz had already used up the arrows in her quiver. She could create ice arrows as a substitute, but they consumed a lot of mana and were disadvantageous in such a massive swarm battle.
Looking at everyone’s faces, I realized the entire party was nearing exhaustion except for me and one other person.
“…Tch. We’re heading back! We know what the enemy’s like, and we’ve found the treasure’s location! That’s a pretty big success!” (Alfred)
Alfred knew when to retreat. He wasn’t the kind of leader to be blinded by treasure and rush in recklessly. But what was the man next to me doing? Was he not going to do anything?
“By the way, Dwayne, are you just going to stand here doing nothing?” (Jack)
“My role starts now, actually.” (Dwayne)
“Huh?” (Jack)
“Alright then, Dwayne, it’s all on you!” (Alfred)
“Roger that…!” (Dwayne)
With that, Dwayne deployed a magic circle around himself. A faint green light appeared on the ground, displaying a geometric circular pattern. The rest of the party hurried to gather around him. Meanwhile, the stampeding Oshi-onis resumed their charge, the sound of their rampage echoing as they advanced with terrifying speed.
“Dwayne, hurry it up!” (Alfred)
“Yeah, yeah. Alright, here we go! Transit Circle!” (Dwayne)
Dwayne pressed one hand to the center of the magic circle, releasing his magical energy. The ground was bathed in a blinding light, and the world around us began to distort.
——Ah…
For a moment, it felt as if time had stopped. The Oshi-onis froze mid-charge, some even suspended in the air. Everyone else seemed to have stopped as well, as if frozen in time. For some reason, I was the only one who could move, and I looked around in confusion.
“——Don’t go.” (??)
“What…?” (Jack)
Standing amidst the gaps in the stopped crowd of Oshi-onis was the girl from my dream. She seemed to be faintly glowing. Her long hair, a color somewhere between pale pink and purple, drifted around her.
What is that? A ghost?
“——Please, wait.” (??)
Then, light enveloped me. The next thing I knew, we had returned to the cavern where we’d spent the previous night. We seemed to still be in the dungeon.
“Phew… looks like it activated without a hitch.” (Dwayne)
Dwayne’s voice reached my ears.
“Ah, damn it! We were so close!” (Alfred)
“But there were still so many of them. It was impossible!” (Lindsay)
“I’d say we put up a pretty good fight. With that many magic stones around, we’re in for quite the payout.” (Liz)
Each of them started sharing their thoughts, acting as if nothing unusual had happened.
But what is with that apparition of the girl just now…?
“What was that just now?” (Jack)
I asked Dwayne, still a bit rattled.
“What do you mean? That was a teleportation spell.” (Dwayne)
“… A teleportation spell?!” (Jack)
Ignoring my confusion, Dwayne began his explanation. The term ‘teleportation spell’ stirred a sense of wonder within me.
“There aren’t many people who can use this kind of magic, you know.” (Dwayne)
With a rare, smug grin, Dwayne continued.
“It’s difficult because it involves space-time manipulation. I can link a previously drawn magic circle on one surface to another one drawn on the spot as a counter-surface. You need negative energy interpretation and mana absorption skills to pull it off, though.” (Dwayne)
Honestly, I had no clue what he was explaining. And his explanation didn’t shed any light on who that ghostly girl had been either.
“Alright, let’s wrap it up. Oh, let’s seal up that hole to the lower floor too.” (Alfred)
We returned to the opening that Lindsay had created above where the ox-demons had been swarming earlier. The commotion had died down, and the hole below was now silent. But it still smelled charred.
We covered the hole with a large sheet we’d used for our tent and sprinkled some dirt on top. This way, if other parties arrived in the dungeon, they wouldn’t stumble upon it. It was just a passage, after all, so it likely wouldn’t be noticed.
—
By evening, we’d exited the dungeon and made our way back to the city of Dari Amor. It was quite late by the time we arrived. During the day, the city had bustled in vibrant colors under the summer sun, but at night, it took on a quiet elegance, the street lamps glowing softly. Even though we’d just returned from the dungeon, I couldn’t stop looking forward to the concert a few days away. I could already imagine the beautiful voice of Medna echoing in the night air of such a lovely place. Just thinking about it gave me chills.
“Everyone did well today. Let’s rest at the inn tonight, then get ready to head back in again.” (Alfred)
“Wait, Alfie.” (Lindsay)
“What’s up?” (Alfred)
“Money-wise, we’re in a bit of a pinch.” (Lindsay)
Lindsay was also in charge of the party’s finances.
“Since it’s festival season, the inns in this city are expensive. Plus, once we restock our supplies from today…” (Lindsay)
“Sounds like we can’t take our time. We’ll prep quickly and head out again in two days.” (Alfred)
“But didn’t you promise Jack something?” (Lindsay)
“Hm? Oh, right…” (Alfred)
Is it my fault the lodging costs are going up? As the junior member, maybe I should give up on the festival?
“Alfred, you don’t have to grant my selfish request—” (Jack)
“Nah, a man’s word is a man’s word. I keep my promises.” (Alfred)
“Really!?” (Jack)
That’s Alfred for you. This is why he’s our leader.
“We’ll save what we can, and what we don’t have, we’ll earn.” (Alfred)
“What do you mean?” (Jack)
“In other words, we’ve got five days until the festival and its eve. So we’ll save the five days’ inn fees and focus on earning for those five days.” (Alfred)
“Wait a second. How do you plan to save on lodging fees? I’m not sleeping outdoors. We’re already worn out.” (Liz)
Liz was adamantly opposed.
“Hold up. We’ve learned something from the dungeon this time.” (Alfred)
“What did we learn?” (Lindsay)
Lindsay asked, curious.
“First, Tristan—you’re not necessary for this dungeon.” (Alfred)
“What…” (Lindsay)
The one to react was Lindsay, not Tristan.
“How can you say that?! Tristan took down so many enemies for us.” (Lindsay)
“I agree. I was thinking the same thing.” (Tristan)
But Tristan agreed with Alfred’s opinion.
“Look at this.” (Tristan)
Tristan drew his sword and showed us the blade. It was badly nicked and in no shape to be used anymore.
“Those monsters are tough. They seem weak to fire, but I can’t imbue my sword with magic like Alfred can.” (Tristan)
“That’s…” (Lindsay)
“If we keep fighting like that, the cost of repairs for my sword will become unreasonable.” (Tristan)
Even though he’d seemed to handle the battle with ease, it turned out Tristan had been doing his best while his sword wore down and broke.
“That’s how it is. And he doesn’t seem interested in the festival, so he’ll head back first.” (Alfred)
“Understood. I’ll hold down the fort.” (Tristan)
“Hold on. In that case, it’s not easy for me to deal with such a large crowd either.” (Liz)
Liz volunteered at that moment.
“We need you, though.” (Alfred)
“Why?” (Liz)
“I’ll explain tomorrow. Besides, you’re interested in the festival, right?” (Alfred)
“Uh…w-well, yeah, I guess…” (Liz)
Liz’s face turned red. It seemed she felt a bit shy at being caught looking forward to the festival like a kid. So, it was decided that Tristan would be the only one going back separately.
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