One week after completing the request from Togo-san. It was also the middle of June.
Other than cheering—and only cheering—during the sports festival, nothing particularly unusual happened in my school life. If I had to say something though, I would probably pick the stealthy winks I got from Aihara-kun.
Unlike me though, the world at large was apparently having anything but uneventful days.
<<A region in America that has been facing dwindling in their supply of underground water summoned rains through Blue Magic—>>
<<A river in China was about to overflow when an Awakened One from Japan employed Yellow Magic—>>
<<Crimes committed by Awakened Ones have been on the rise in Japan. According to experts, the dangers posed by superpowers—>>
<<Koyama Kosuke, the founder of the religion called “the Society of the Sage”, declared that only those who have Awakened could survive in Japan in the future—>>
<<Minister Arikawa announced the construction of a school exclusively for Awakened Ones. This was met with a stream of criticism from both ruling and opposition parties—>>
<<The opposition is demanding an explanation from Minister Arikawa on the alleged aggressive hiring of Awakened Ones in the construction of shelters to be used during dungeon overflow events—>>
It felt like positive news from abroad regarding Awakened Ones have been increasing as of late. That said…well, it might have been swiftly suppressed, but the fact of the matter was that there had been a movement in China petitioning the government to cease the favorable treatment of foreign Awakened Ones—including those from Japan. In America too, Awakened Ones were apparently being treated harshly because of favorable treatment toward them in things like employment and whatnot.
But then again, there were countries abroad like the UK where things were reportedly calm. Awakened Ones who had distinguished themselves with their feats were awarded sufficiently—like with the granting of the title of Sir, among other things. At the same time, the financial situation in those countries weren’t leaning toward one group or the other and as such, the people there weren’t too displeased.
While on the topic of the UK, I heard the detective who proclaimed herself as the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes had been working hard on cases, rushing in and knocking down the Awakened One criminals herself. Oh, and there were also talks about the UK lending their Awakened Ones to foreign nations.
…after thinking about it a lot, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t want move abroad anytime soon. Not that I could given that I couldn’t speak any foreign languages and that I was still a high school student to begin with.
Anyway, today, I was headed to another dungeon.
I had over 2 million yen in savings—an amount that a high school student like me wouldn’t normally have—but that didn’t mean I could be complacent. I was going to spend a lot of money on the making of the Golem, so the more I had in the bank the better. That said, earning money wasn’t my main objective for today.
After all, the dungeon I went this time was the [Abandoned Village] dungeon.
It was yet another so-called unpopular dungeon. This was made more evident by the lack of adventurers in the Dungeon Store. So then, why would I choose this dungeon? That was so I could collect Mandrakes. Well, I had one other reason too, but let’s save that for later.
Layla wanted those Mandrakes so that she could make the artificial skin of the Golem out of them. According to her, the kind of Golem she wanted to make was one that we could regularly bring to places and also be used as a guard for my father and mother.
Which made me wonder what kind of Golem she wanted to make exactly. Personally, I would prefer if she made it to look like a beautiful woman, but since asking for that when I already had 2 wives was probably too greedy of me, I didn’t say anything.
But it was not the time for such idle thoughts. We were about to enter the dungeon and that should be where my attention was on.
The dungeon this time was assigned a rank of D. It was a dungeon rank I could normally handle with ease, but I still couldn’t let my guard down because this place was a little bit special.
I called forth Layla and Yukine, and then drew my weapon.
“…Master, are you sure about exploring this dungeon?”
With a concerned smile, Layla asked me so as soon as she appeared.
“Yeah. With the world like it is, I want to make sure I can do something like this. If not, I’ll have to make myself get a little bit used to it”
“…this is vital to your survival, so I understand, but please don’t push yourself too much. If that situation does happen, you can just rely on me and Yukine. We’ll take care of it.”
“Indeed! And all we ask in return is for you to thank us later!”
I smiled wryly under my helm after hearing Layla and Yukine.
“If that does happen, then yeah, sorry but I’ll have to rely on you. For now though, I want to know if I can even move when push comes to shove. Then we’ll know for sure which approach to take.”
“Understood”
“Very well. But if it ever get too tough for you, just go leap into my chest, ok?”
Thanks for your boobs, err, I mean your kindness.
Knowing that they worried so much for me made me happy. However, it didn’t change the fact that things have gotten more heated lately.
People mostly talked about crimes done by Awakened Ones, but crimes targeting Awakened Ones definitely existed. As such…
I shifted my gazed from the two to the inside of the dungeon. It was pretty much what you would expect from a place called “abandoned village”. Instead of the usual labyrinth style of many dungeons, this place was lined up with old, western-styled, wooden houses. Those houses were barely standing, with their walls, roofs, and ceilings in a state of disrepair.
There were also fields but they were neglected. There were even abandoned farming tools and carts. And in the distance, there was church in ruins.
The dungeon’s ceiling looking like a cloudy sky made it seem even less like a labyrinth.
It truly was like I had come to a ruined village near the mountains.
But then, I heard a bang followed by the emergence of humanoid figure from one of the houses. At first glance, it really looked like a person, a human. It wore clothes reminiscent of a medieval villager’s, something you really only saw in RPGs and stuff nowadays. Its unsteady walking made it look devoid of energy, of life.
Before long, it turned its head toward us. Its eyes were cloudy and its face was rotting in places. I wasn’t entirely sure if it had the sense of sight, but my instinct told me that we have locked eyes.
“Gaaaa…!”
It bared its teeth and cried. This thing was called a [Zombie].
There had been a trend in recent years of Zombies being made because of a virus, but the one before me was different from those. It wasn’t an actual person turned monster. Its body wasn’t actually made of flesh but of magic power. Some might argue that Zombies were closer to being a part of the dungeon—like a wall or the ground would be—than the average monster.
At the end of the day though, it was still a monster. A monster that would kill and consume the souls of its victims.
Perhaps hearing the initial cry, other Zombies soon emerged from the buildings one after the other. There were so many of them that it made the name Abandoned Village seem unsuitable.
My hands trembled at how human-like the Zombies were. This was the reason why this dungeon was so unpopular despite being a place where one could gather Mandrakes. Between the Zombies’ human-like appearance and the stench in the air, it was no wonder nobody wanted to go here.
So then, why was I here?
It was to confirm whether or not I could fight back against a crime targeting Awakened Ones. I wasn’t checking whether I could kill a person, only if I could hit back against a human enemy. And if not, I wanted to know if I could get used to it enough.
“O, oooo!”
I cried so to pump myself up, held my sword overhead, and then charged. My target was the Zombie I first saw. Faster than it could react, I swung my zweihander at its head and—
Suddenly, scenes from the Crete dungeon incident flashed in my mind. The people who were killed, bloodstained in the chest and head. The cop whose head was crushed so badly, his face became unrecognizable.
Those people and the monster before me blended together in my mind for half a moment. A half moment that I lost focus. My attack continued, or rather, I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to. And soon the Zombie was cut down vertically in half. Flesh and blood got splattered all over, staining even my body.
My swing proved to have too much force and I gouged the ground below. That stained the ground with flesh and blood too, of course.
An intense discomfort assailed my whole body.
“Gaaa…”
It didn’t take long for another Zombie to extend its arms toward me. I tried to swipe at it with my sword.
“[Oh, Earth]”
“[Glacial Wind Wall]”
But then, a wall of earth appeared between me and the enemy. And on the other side of the wall, hail—each the size of a pinball—barraged the enemy. Guessing what they were planning, I stepped back while gritting my teeth. I stood somewhere between Layla and Yukine.
“I guess from your point of view, I wasn’t doing too hot, huh. Sorry”
“With all due respect, yes, you were unquestionably moving so much slower.”
“Leave these to us, dear!”
With a hint of pride in her tone, Yukine swung the fans in both her arms.
The Zombies that climbed the wall of earth and those that circumvented it were blown away and got riddled with holes as though each one was shot with a shotgun.
I felt Layla grab on my shoulder. I looked at her and we locked eyes.
“How is it? Fighting monsters that resemble people, I mean.”
“…to be honest, it’s tough”
“Enough for it be impossible to do?”
“…no, I can do it. It’s alright.”
Still looking into her eyes, I gave her a firm nod.
No matter how much they looked like people, a Zombie was a Zombie. I would probably still get nervous and maybe even let that dull my blade again next time, but that was beside the point.
In this dungeon that I could handle strength-wise with ease, I could force myself to do it until I get used to the act.
“Very well. But do leave the ones at the back to us. Let’s go at it in a reasonable pace.”
“Okay.”
I nodded and adjusted my grip on my sword. Yukine was mowing down the Zombies in the front, but there were more from other directions. After all, we were in the middle of the village and surrounded by houses where the monsters were pouring out.
I pointed my sword at the closest Zombies and charged at them.
* * *
It was a walk in the park, if I may so myself.
The Zombies had some strength and durability to them but they were so slow, and above all, they only had an overall power of a D rank. Moreover, even though they had the appearance of decomposing corpses, I got used to cutting them down after doing so to a few.
Or rather, I had been cutting so many of them down that I didn’t have the time to worry.
“There’s so many! Like, aren’t there too many!?”
Like, I thought our kill count was already in the 3-digits.
“[Ice Fang]!”
The spear of ice that Yukine launched hit a number of Zombies as well as a house near them.
“They’ll keep coming as long as the houses stand! Include the houses in your attacks as much as you can!”
“Got, it!”
I dashed forward and pushed back any Zombie I came into contact. While I didn’t bother swinging my sword at any of the Zombies, I swung it at the nearest house and destroyed that.
In terms of pure destructive power, my Strength stat of A afforded me greater power than the average anti-materiel rifle. Something like a shabby, wooden house didn’t stand a chance.
Be that as it may, this maneuver made rotting flesh and blood cling to my body! This was why I would rather not do bull charge attacks!
We continued to assail the Zombies and the houses with our ice spears, stone spears, and blade of steel until none were left. In the span of 5 minutes, we had taken down more than 30 houses and who knows how many Zombies. I doubted the verification camera was able to capture all our kills, so it felt like a waste of effort.
I couldn’t help but sigh as I collected the Item Drop called [Crude Gold Coins]. Each of the coins was worth about 1,000 yen, so it wasn’t anything amazing. Treating it normally as a gold coin subjected it to the volatile market prices, and it was full of impurities in the first place, so I heard most people simply melted it down and used it for arms against monsters.
In most instances, it was remade into bullets but since the coins held only a small traces of magic power, each wasn’t worth much even in this use case.
Considering that, I had undertaken a quest issued by the local government before I entered the dungeon. For the task of taking down 100 Zombies, I was to be given 50,000 yen. Not only was that lower than the standard rate, it wasn’t even a “per hundred” slain type of quest. That is to say, I would only get paid once even if I took down a couple hundred more.
That was unfortunate but after seeing the town on the way to this dungeon and thinking of the word “depopulated”, there just wasn’t much to be done.
I resisted the urge to use my sword as a cane and stood in front of Layla to shield her from whatever might come out of the wooden gate in the distance that separated this block from the next. Meanwhile, she tapped the ground with her staff and let her magic power flow.
“It seems like there are no Mandrakes nearby.”
“Ok.”
Tough but nothing we could do about that. We would have to go to the next block. This dungeon might not feel like the typical labyrinth, but it still followed several dungeon patterns. For instance, this village block served as one “chamber”. Moreover, the wooden fence served as the “walls” and the gate was, well, the entry point between chambers. I heard that if one were to jump over the fence and gate, they would be greeted by an invisible wall.
At any rate, we walked until we were in right before the gate. I was in front with my sword at the ready and the two slightly behind. Entering through this gate in stealth was going to be hard, if not impossible.
Just as to be expected from a gate that was sturdy but also slightly dirty in places, it made quite the noise when I opened it. It might be because of that noise or maybe it was because of some kind of special magic mechanism, I didn’t know, but the Zombies on the other side responded nonetheless.
Instead of hiding or falling back, I decided to mow them down.
“Take this!”
I activated Magic Power Discharge and let my sword be wrapped around by a gale of magic power. I then smashed through the gate and continued forward with that momentum. I unleashed the gale in my sword and, despite being somewhat pushed back myself, destroyed many houses and buildings that looked to be warehouses.
About halfway through, more Zombies came flooding out. Without delay though, spears of ice and stone came flying at them. However, the Zombies were appearing at a rate faster than the speed we could kill them.
This was why unpopular dungeons were doomed to remain unpopular. With no one coming to cull the monster population, the monsters that people hated to fight only grew in numbers.
I stopped using Magic Power Discharge and slashed my sword at a group of Zombies.
“Master, how are you feeling?”
“I don’t feel guilty in attacking them, but it still feels unpleasant.”
With a groan from slashing at an incoming Zombie, I gave Layla a frank answer. I had gotten accustomed to attacking despite their human-like appearance.
* * *
“Haa…haa…”
I was so fed up with this. Physically, there was no problem. However, in terms of my mental state and the amount of magic power I had left, I wasn’t doing so good.
At this point, we had searched 3 village blocks and obtained several Crude Golden Coins. We were yet to find a Mandrake though. The exit gate also eluded us.
“Are you alright, dear? Here, have some iced water.”
“Thanks…”
I took off my helmet and drank the cup of water that Yukine handed.
Ahh~that hit the spot
“In this block, no, it’s in the block ahead, I can feel a reaction similar to a Mandrake’s.”
“Huh? For real?”
“Yes!”
I gave a smile back in reaction to Layla’s wide smile. That was our main goal pretty much accomplished. All that was left was to actually get it and find the exit gate.
…hopefully, the exit gate this time wouldn’t be as elusive as the last dungeon’s exit gate. Finding that one took a damn long time.
But we were still inside a dungeon. Carelessness had no place here.
I adjusted my grip on my sword and moved toward the next gate. I glanced at Layla and Yukine once and activated Magic Power Discharge again. I smashed through the gate and ran to the center of the buildings.
But this place was different from the village blocks we have been to thus far.
There was a church covered in ivies. It was built in what looked to be a public square. In that square, there seemed to be a broken cross lying in the ground. The houses in the vicinity were on the brink of collapse much like those in the previous blocks, just barely recognizable as houses.
But in the middle of the square and in front of the church was a single humanoid figure. Its whole body was covered by a black robe. In its hand was a wooden staff about as tall as it was. From the way it was dressed, it looked similar to a mage Awakened One. However, the face peeking out of its robe easily told me it was not human at all.
Only rotting flesh and skin clung to its face. It was missing eyeballs, and its nose was sliced off. Yet, despite all that, it managed a smile as it pointed its staff toward us, the invaders.
This was a D+ rank monster called a Lich. Although Black Magic only had a few users among Awakened Ones, this monster was fully capable of it. It was also able to control undead monsters of ranks lower than its own, including Ghouls.
It made a black light shine on the tip of its staff and trained that staff on me as I dashed with the aid of Magic Power Discharge. I could only wonder if it had sensed us before we came through that gate.
And then, it fired off a curse that could have made a normal person bleed profusely all over their body until they were dead.
It had no effect on me though. Like usual, my Resistance stat dispelled it and I continued on my merry way. But something strange burst forth with a black light right in front me. I slowed my approach and saw Zombies emerge from the ground.
“●●●●…!”
The Lich uttered words I did not understand and made efforts to escape to the ruined church. If I was remembering properly what the municipal office’s site stated, upon entry to a church, a Lich would be able to escape to a different and random village block.
Not wanting that to happen, I enveloped my sword with magic power and blasted away the wall of meat standing in my way. With a path opened, 2 spears simultaneously flew from behind me.
“[Fire Javelin]!”
“[Ice Fang]!”
The spear of flame broke through the church’s door and burned those within. Meanwhile, the spear of ice transfixed itself to the church’s wall and froze the entire front side, including the broken door.
Before the Lich, whose exit has now been cut off, could do anything else, I was able slash its back and cut it diagonally in half from its shoulder. And when the top half touched the ground, I trampled on its head just to be sure.
“Alright. Now…”
With the Lich turning into particles under my foot, I gave my surroundings a quick look. Zombies were pouring from the houses one after the other.
Unfortunately, despite Zombies being so closely linked to dungeons, they still were their own independent beings. It wasn’t some scenario where taking down the big evil wizard ended the whole fight then and there.
In order to collect the Mandrake which was somewhere in this block, these Zombies all had to go down.
…we had accomplished our side objective of getting me used to fighting Zombies, but who knows if that actually translated to being able to fight against other people when the time comes.
* * *
We had spent a total of 5 hours exploring the dungeon, divided almost equally between a morning and an afternoon session. We had gathered a total of 3 Mandrakes. My subjugation remuneration was a total of 101,170 yen. As mentioned, I took on a quest that rewarded me with 50,000 yen. We had collected 15 Crude Golden Coins and those sold for a total of 15,000.
All in all, my earnings today amounted to 166,700 yen. I knew that was a lot for a high school student to earn in a day, but…the Mandrakes which we kept aside, it felt like I should have earned more given that we took down at least double of what was captured on camera.
The saving grace, if it could be called that, was that the municipal office employees in the Dungeon Store looked happy.
…but, yeah, I’m never going back to this dungeon!
Having defeated the source monsters and exited the dungeon, the rotting flesh and blood that clung to me was now gone, but my discomfort of the whole affair was not. It was almost like I could still smell the putrid scent from before.
It was only after I took a slightly longer than usual shower in the Dungeon Store that I returned home by train.
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