“Wait a moment.”
“Uh?”
“There’s something we need to do before we go in.”
Just in case, I should prepare myself to avoid getting hit from behind.
I adjusted the shovel I had over my shoulder and drew a line around the cave entrance. I didn’t have time to meticulously draw a blueprint, so this was just a rough estimate. I’ve done this enough times to know what I’m doing by now.
…Hmm, this should do.
“Everyone, step back five paces.”
At my words, the whole party stepped back. I checked the safety distance one last time, confirmed there were no issues, and activated my skill.
“Crafting. Crafting. Crafting. Crafting.”
Three elliptical walls and one roof. About a fist’s thickness. This should keep me from getting hit from behind. I placed my hand on the center wall and used the skill again.
“Crafting.”
It was a bit heavy, but a decent earthen door was born.
Now that I’ve done this, should I make it more robust? The work I started ended up taking about an hour.
“I thought we’d only put up a few walls, but you ended up building a fortress? Is this really necessary?”
“I, um, don’t think we need this much…”
“That’s exactly why you keep getting chased. If you want to secure safety, you need to prepare to an extent that it feels excessive, so when a crisis hits, you can really secure your safety.”
A condition I like to call ‘safety paranoia’. You have to be sensitive about safety; that’s how it does its job. The others nodded blankly at my words. It seemed they didn’t quite understand. I moved over the traps I laid within a ten-meter radius around the cave and opened the door.
“I’m going in now.”
“Ah, yes…”
Why does everyone look so uncertain?
Maybe it’s the students, but their safety awareness seems seriously lacking.
——————
The cave had a surprisingly calm atmosphere. It wasn’t devoid of strange creatures, but the level of activity was quite low, and I could manage to handle a couple of them with a swing of my shovel. Thus, our cave exploration went smoothly for the first hour.
Except that we had to use magic to light our way since there was absolutely no lighting.
“Actually, the inside of the cave seems safe.”
“Still, we shouldn’t let our guard down. They could suddenly swarm in.”
For a noble lady, she’s quite sharp.
“It’s because I blocked off the back. Normally, monsters would be attacking from outside the cave as well. Getting ambushed from both front and back is a completely different issue from having an attack come from just one side.”
The difference between needing to be concerned about what’s behind you and not is significant enough to matter.
When dealing with enemies in front, you don’t have to worry about your back, allowing you to act more boldly and feel more at ease psychologically.
I wish these guys understood at least half of my knowledge.
It’s obvious that learning through practical experience is far more helpful than learning dead theory.
“Shuri, turn up the lighting magic.”
“Got it!”
With the front getting brighter, we could see further into the cave as I carefully weighed whether or not to break through the floor.
Is the first floor here just gimmicks like a deserted island?
Considering the size of the island, I thought there would be an exit on the opposite side by now, but since that wasn’t the case, it might be more complicated than I thought, or there might be some gimmick hidden like the deserted island.
“Sif, have you noticed anything unusual?”
“Hmm, I don’t think so?”
“Lafeyrinne, can you use the search magic?”
“Should I cast it right here?”
“Yeah.”
No sooner had I finished speaking than Lafeyrinne gathered her hands at her chest and closed her eyes.
“Search.”
An aura of magical power radiated from around Lafeyrinne. I took out some jerky from my pouch and waited for the results while chewing on it. Lafeyrinne opened her eyes around the time I finished the jerky. She looked pale, likely from the excessive expenditure of magic, and provided me with the information.
“About 50 meters straight ahead, there’s an empty space. It seems there are stairs there.”
“Stairs, huh…”
At her words, I moved forward confidently for 50 meters. There were no obstructions. And it was silent. Unlike Lafeyrinne’s words, I looked at the smooth wall and placed my hand against it. This should be about the right spot.
While walking with the shovel’s blade against the wall, I felt around and discovered a relatively soft area. Is this the hole Lafeyrinne mentioned? I lifted my foot and pressed the blade deep into it.
Got it.
One, two, three, four.
Have I dug through the wall about ten times? With each time I dug, the resistance I felt lessened significantly. It seemed Lafeyrinne’s magic had indeed indicated stairs.
Sigh, if it weren’t for the heavy consumption of magic, I would’ve been using it left and right while going around.
“Shuri, come over here and shine some light into the stairway.”
“Okay!”
Since Shuri still seemed unsure of herself, she hurriedly approached and placed a glowing orb into the staircase. Thanks to that, my surroundings got dark, but the inside of the staircase brightened enough for me to see clearly. I carefully observed the staircase with a telescope.
“…It looks like an ordinary staircase.”
I scrutinized it like I was choosing expensive items in a shop, but there was nothing special about it. In the end, it was just an ordinary staircase… I turned my head, picked up some stones left over from digging the wall, and used my skill.
“Crafting.”
An appropriately weighted bowling ball rolled across the floor. I placed my finger in the hole I created and rolled it down into the staircase.
Bang, bang, bang, thud…
With a loud noise, the bowling ball rolled down into the staircase. As the noise faded, I could faintly hear the sound of it rolling. There doesn’t seem to be any traps.
“It seems safe. Lewis, you stand at the back.”
“Understood.”
“Behind me will be Shuri and Lafeyrinne. Sif, you stand behind and follow us.”
The staircase wasn’t very wide, so we had to queue up like a train to go down, which was unavoidable. I confirmed that our party lined up like typical JRPG protagonists and began to descend the stairs.
———————
“Huh.”
What on earth is wrong with this world?
No, is it the rift that’s the problem?
I could hardly believe that a grand temple, reminiscent of what you’d see in Greece and which lingered faintly in faded memories, existed underground. Particularly, lights like red flames sparkled from the ceiling to the walls.
The blood-red floor felt quite unsettling.
“This place is…”
“A temple.”
“Which god is it dedicated to? It can’t be to Kalon…”
“Maybe it’s the master of those grotesque creatures?”
I was absentmindedly overhearing Lewis and Lafeyrinne’s conversation as I looked at the temple in the distance.
It’s a temple that completely ignores the laws of physics, like something from badly made video games. A temple that stood gripping the edge of a cliff so precariously that it seemed like it could fall at any moment.
What on earth is this island? Between the grotesque creatures and this temple, what the hell has happened for such a hellish island to come into being?
“Johann, what are you going to do?”
“I’ll head toward the temple while keeping an eye on the surroundings.”
“Sir Knight, wouldn’t it be better to set up a camp here?”
At Lafeyrinne’s suggestion, I shook my head.
“This is not a good place to build a camp.”
Setting up a camp in front of an open staircase surrounded by nothing but air is a gamble. Making noise in a place where you have no idea what’s going to come out can attract attention.
If a creature worse than those grotesque ones appeared, our camp would be obliterated in no time.
In the worst-case scenario, even if we escaped through the stairs, there was a possibility of the entrance being blocked, so if we were to dig a camp, it would be wiser to dig near the temple.
Or we could go up to the first floor and set up a camp there.
“Everyone, follow me quietly.”
At my words, everyone nodded in silence. We crept forward like little thieves, hiding in the shadows of the wall as we approached the temple. The temple displayed an impressive aura as it looked down upon us, as if waiting for our arrival.
Do those grotesque creatures originate from here?
Or is there another factor?
My doubts were resolved when we reached the outer wall of the temple building.
“Th-they’re over there… monsters…”
At Shuri’s voice, I glanced down from the cliff.
A crimson swamp.
In the crimson swamp, small creatures writhed. From the cliff’s height, they merely looked like tiny dots, but instinctively, I could tell what those dots were.
“…So that’s where they’re born.”
I glanced at the faces of my companions. Everyone had expressions that looked like they were witnessing something revolting. No one could possibly see the grotesque creatures being birthed and not make that kind of face.
I suppressed my disgust and watched them intently. The creatures rising from the swamp were heading in one direction. It was dark, making it hard to see the situation, but it was likely a path out of the island. With the way blocked heading up to the cave, I had no choice but to consider that the monsters had some other way to exit.
“…Stay alert. I’ll set up a camp.”
I adjusted my grip on the shovel and plunged it into the ground.
Fortunately, digging the tunnel didn’t take too long, and in less than ten minutes, we managed to have what might be our last meal in this tunnel.
Which consisted of just a few pieces of jerky and some water.
“Eat up. This will be your last meal here.”
“Don’t say things like that. It makes me anxious.”
“It means to stay alert. No one knows what’s inside that temple.”
“Lewis, do you think we can go back alive…?”
Shuri’s voice echoed in the tunnel, ears drooping like a frightened puppy. Out of curiosity, I glanced to see Lewis comforting Shuri with sparkling eyes dripping with honey.
“It’s okay. We’ll be able to go back.”
“Lewis…”
“Shuri…”
Should I just abandon her?
“How can you do something so shameless in a place like this? Don’t either of you have any sense as students of Kalon Academy?!”
“This is quite interesting, though?”
“I’m on the same page.”
Sif and I chewed our jerky as we enjoyed the sweet triangular relationship unfolding. I didn’t want to miss the rare source of laughter I could find in this hellish rift.
And in the midst of that chaos, Viola, who was right next to Sif, added one more line.
“Damn it…”
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