139. Emily is dead. She’s gone.
“How…. Ah, you are a warrior.”
Aren’t you too quick to understand? However, the guy who was calm for a while soon raised his head again and cried out earnestly.
“On the way! On the way, didn’t you see my comrades?”
[Who are you looking for?]
“This is Emily, my fellow wizard. A young woman my age…”
I went back to my memory. Probably, he’s referring to the only woman at the party at the time. Well. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t remember if he was on the way.
In the first place, all the corpses there were withered and covered in filth, so I couldn’t even recognize their shape, let alone who they were. Even Zach was like that at first.
But well, seeing as the cream didn’t react to the other corpses…
[I didn’t see it.]
“No way!”
I wonder if the other guys are already dead. To put it bluntly, it is a miracle that there is even one survivor in such an environment. Narrow, damp, dark. In addition, even the neglect of the guards.
The one who felt that fact more than anyone else must have been Zach, not anyone else. When Cream was silent, he bit his lip as if he wanted to deny reality.
The warm air warmed with cream now rather stimulates the stench. Zach, who was slowly lowering his head in the silence, immediately raised his head again.
“I, the hero, the party came from that direction, right?”
Desperation and hope once again appeared on his face. I don’t know if it’s an escape from reality or what it really is, but Cream nodded his head at Zach’s absurd question.
“Yes.”
“They took Emily in the opposite direction. So, maybe not yet…!”
However, there was no confidence in Zach’s words as he mumbled so enthusiastically. He also knew that the odds of not one but two surviving in a place like this were too low.
But perhaps the power of love is greater than expected, Zach immediately stood up while staggering. His breathing, which had been panting for a while as he leaned against the wall, calmed down little by little.
No, since this happened after being healed by the cream, should I say the hero’s power is great?
[Well, I have to go inside anyway, so can I help you?]
[Haa······. We originally came here with an adventurer rescue request, right?]
[Amolang.]
I ignored the sound of the Holy Sword clenching its teeth. Even if you don’t have any teeth. Well, the most important thing in our group was always neither my will nor the will of the holy sword.
Cream was already getting up. Apparently, she’s been quite active lately. Is not it. Come to think of it, she originally did only what she wanted to do.
But these days, the range of ‘things I want to do’ has only increased a little.
“Help me.”
“I really am!”
“Yes.”
Well, actually, it’s not that great to help, but Zach nodded his head with a bright face as if he was so happy.
As long as you don’t know what danger lies ahead, there’s nothing more reassuring than the help of a hero. Zach, who had completely recovered himself, brushed himself off and stood up.
Although his outfit was more than sloppy and worse than rags, and although his muscles trained as an adventurer had gone, his body was too skinny, but his eyes were sharp.
[Let’s go, then.]
After Zach regained his strength enough to walk on his own feet, we started walking again. Seeing that Cream wasn’t responding, it seemed there were no more survivors in the prison.
After crossing the bad taste space, there was another door similar to the one we first entered. Besides, they seem to be paying attention to security, even with thick padlocks.
However, any lock in the world was equal in front of the hero’s almighty key (physical). Cream, who cut off the lock with the holy sword as if sawing, opened the door without hesitation.
“Ugh, ugh…”
It was kept extremely clean, unlike the prison we just passed through. Luminous stones illuminate the darkness here and there, and rooms isolated with opaque glass are also visible.
The prison air warmed up by Cream is pushed away by the cold energy. The air in this place was cold and dry, as if a special force was acting only in this space.
[It feels like a laboratory in earnest. Did you really bring your colleague here?]
“Because this is the only place.”
[Hmm.]
First of all, we decided to walk around wherever we could. But all I could see was the corridor and the glass walls. Eventually, my patience reached its limit, and I exploded.
I mean, not figuratively, but for real. Pieces of darkness shot out of my body like shotguns, shattering the glass everywhere.
[Kyaa! What are you doing!]
Protest of the Holy Sword. However, Cream, who had read my thoughts beforehand, immediately took action, so the catastrophe of Zach being torn by shards of glass did not happen.
Shards of glass poured from all directions only avoided the space where we stood, like a lie. Zach gulped down his saliva as he looked at the mangled surroundings in an instant.
It’s because the boy is so small. I smiled and started looking around. Most of the inside of the glass walls were empty, or, like prisons, there were dead bodies.
To be honest, it’s no surprise now that there are corpses everywhere, like interiors. Most of the corpses that were placed here belonged to monsters, and even though they had been dead for quite some time, they didn’t seem to rot.
[Meaningless death, resentment······. How long should I watch these things?]
The holy sword, looking at the scene, complained about whether the hyeonta had come. Well, as you can tell by looking at the face of Zach right next to you, this was actually a normal reaction.
Too many corpses. It’s a bit too much. Of course, in this world, human life and fly life are no different, but no mad killer would display a corpse that way.
Well, I don’t know if it’s once or twice, but it’s that sh*t everywhere I go.
“So. Not even going to eat. I’m going to die.”
“Eating monsters…?”
“Huh? They eat monsters too.”
And that is an abnormal reaction. Cool air. Looking at the incorruptible corpses, Choco’s face did not show the slightest fear or reluctance.
Because it is a beast, it must be more sensitive to the smell of death and disaster. Choco’s ears were properly folded as always. It means that the guy’s current mood is normal, nothing special.
“Over there.”
And Cream wasn’t even looking at the corpses. Cream, who was staring at a spot on the wall where the glass shards splattered, moved her steps at some point.
Standing in front of the wall, Cream drew the holy sword. The dazzling brilliance drew a straight trajectory, and soon a chill hit from between the cracked walls.
[Oh.]
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It was strangely cold. Looking at what was inside the wall, I let out an exclamation. Cream reached her hand towards it without hesitation.
A bluish orb that exudes cold air from Cream’s fingertips. However, that cold aura did not do any harm to the body of the hero wearing the protection.
[Is it Ice Crystal Jade? I get something valuable again.]
As Cream tossed it into the subspace bag, the cold air in the space slowly began to return to its normal temperature. After getting a decent harvest, we started exploring again.
However, as the exploration continued, Zach’s expression hardened. He shattered every glass wall he could see, and even smashed a few walls, but the one he was looking for couldn’t even see a shadow.
I was the only one who smiled as I dug up several ice crystals from the wall. After looking around the entire maze-like complex space with all kinds of corridors and walls, Cream declared.
“No.”
I found several corpses of monsters. However, not even the human corpse was found, let alone the Emily that Zach was looking for.
There are more than one or two walls that we have already broken down to say that there is another secret location. I’m worried that if I try to break down the wall here, the entire facility will collapse.
“That can’t be. You must have seen me taking you here…”
[Why don’t you just accept the reality?]
In spite of my kind advice, Zach shook his head vigorously. Soon, he shouted as if he realized something.
“There are places we haven’t found yet!”
[What?]
And then, Zach suddenly started running somewhere. Cream and I tilted their heads and quietly followed.
The place Zach ran to was one of the corner rooms in this huge space. At the top of the door, it says ‘Garbage Disposal Center’ in an unnecessarily archaic language.
Jac jumped through the hole in the wall instead of the door, and immediately opened the lid of the huge barrel in the room and groaned. However, it was not easy because the size of the barrel was larger than that of a person.
[Why?]
Of course there is no way I haven’t taken a look at such a curious object. However, as soon as I opened the lid, I was frightened by the terrible smell that emanated from me and closed it right away.
Jacques groaned as he clung to the rim of the barrel, and finally managed to push the lid off a bit. His already weakened body convulsed with just that much activity.
However, Zach climbed the barrel with a grunt, ignoring the pouring sweat. He held on to the rim of the barrel and tried several times to pull himself up onto it.
“aaa!”
As if trying to get into it.
With an angry shout, Zach’s body finally sprang up. However, perhaps because he gave too much of his power, he fell into a barrel full of his corpses.
Unlike the ones outside, the corpses inside were already crushed and decayed. Ugh, a hand rose above the vat as I shuddered at the overwhelming filth.
“Help me, hero…”
A mumbling voice as if buried. Cream let out a short sigh and lightly jumped up and landed on the rim of the barrel. Soon, she grabbed her wrist as she squirmed as she plucked vegetables from her field, and lifted her up.
Amidst the foul-smelling corpses, Zach’s dirty figure was pulled out. No, it wasn’t just that. In Zach’s hand, another corpse came up with it.
As if it had been abandoned not too long ago, a corpse was the only one that maintained its original form among this swamp of decayed and mangled corpses.
“Ah.”
It was impossible to determine the exact figure as it was covered in rotten blood and flesh, but at least it was clear that the corpse was a human, and that it was a young woman.
As Cream carefully put Zach and the body on the floor, Zach began to vomit what he had swallowed. A mixture of pale gastric juices and dark rotten flesh poured out.
He was crying. As he vomited, his face covered in black marks was washed away little by little with a clear liquid. Sobbing, vomiting, he called a name frantically.
“Eh…, …, Lee.”
Cream lightly reached her corpse’s face, pushing away the filth from her hands. It was a familiar face. Junior. The magician of the party Zach led. She was his lover.
“·······Emily.”
Only a man’s hoarse voice resounded over and over again in the midst of the fiercely spreading poetry.