Chapter 9 : What is the landmark of the amusement park? (1)

The retreated people arrived at the village entrance.

Those who stopped their running legs couldn’t even straighten their backs as they gasped for breath.

But their hearts were much heavier than their legs, which had run a long distance without rest.

Their gazes fell to the ground and no one could open their mouths.

Some were tormented by the guilt of not saving the child.

Some blamed themselves for neglecting their training.

Some were heartbroken by the shock that a disaster had appeared in the peaceful Elysium.

Someone murmured quietly.

“We were too complacent. We lived our lives reassured that this was a peaceful land. And this is the result…”

He couldn’t continue speaking and sobbed, clutching his head.

The people around him couldn’t say anything.

Everyone knew that his words were not heard,

and that it was so painfully felt.

“…Was it wrong to believe that it was a world where we could put down our swords?”

“But this is paradise.”

“There’s no such thing as eternity, I guess. Even if it’s a paradise that the goddess takes care of.”

Heavy silence flowed again at the village chief’s words.

The fact that they had left the child behind weighed on everyone’s shoulders,

and the villagers also couldn’t welcome their return and were saddened.

Then, one person carefully opened his mouth.

“Shouldn’t we try again?”

“…That’s right. We can’t back down like this.”

“And you know what… that spore-like thing from before? It flew at me a lot, but honestly, I’m fine. I don’t think it’s poison.”

At those words, people raised their heads.

Faint courage and hope began to appear in their eyes.

“Weren’t we too scared? It was scarier because they said it was a dungeon.”

“That’s right. Maybe it’s nothing. Look. My legs that were trapped in the swamp are fine too.”

“Then, let’s go one more time. With more people.”

The village chief thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Good. But this time we have to prepare more thoroughly.”

“Yes!”

Having made a firm will, they went around the village and gathered supporters.

People who heard the rumors gathered one by one, and soon a considerable number of people gathered.

“Let’s rescue the child this time no matter what.”

“That’s right. We have to reveal the true nature of the disaster properly too.”

They headed to the sanctuary once again.

Determined not to fail this time.

However, that determination was shattered the moment they confirmed the sanctuary.

Because something terrible that they had never seen before had appeared in the sanctuary.

Half of the sanctuary soared high into the sky.

On top of it, irregular structures like black and pointy thorns were growing.

An ominous feeling that something terrible would pop out soon enveloped their whole bodies.

“Wh, what is that?”

“I, I don’t know. It looks like thorns.”

“…Is it a monster?”

“It seems to be staying still though…”

They approached cautiously, holding their breath.

Then..

Suddenly, colorful clouds gathered over the black structure, and

Thunder rumbled through the sky and a torrential rain poured down.

Even more bizarre,

pink hearts came out of the clouds every time thunder rumbled.

The woodcutter Hubert, who followed again because he couldn’t get the child off his mind.

He was terrified when he saw the heart effect that he had seen when the sanctuary soared coming out of the clouds and shouted.

“Th, that! It was also coming out when the sanctuary soared!”

“What?!”

“I definitely saw it! That pink shape came out when the sanctuary went up!”

Elysium is a paradise where good people from all worlds can come.

There were those who knew about the heart shape and those who were seeing it for the first time.

Of course, there were those who vaguely knew and those who regarded it as an ominous symbol.

“Why is the heart coming out of the clouds?”

“What is that?”

“Wasn’t it love or a heart? That thing?”

“Yes?! Then that must be a heart.”

People were confused and looked at the sanctuary.

At that time, the huge black thorns disappeared in an instant.

The people looked back at each other, unable to speak at the sudden change.

Their interpretations were divided again.

“Heart my ass! That’s definitely a sign of blessing!”

“Isn’t it a warning sign?”

“Still, if you look at the black thorns that disappeared…”

What was certain was that the hideous thorns that threatened them had disappeared.

Whether it was an ominous symbol or a sign of blessing.

Now that the thorns had disappeared, it was a golden opportunity.

The people looked at each other’s faces and nodded resolutely.

Again cautiously,

Taking cautious steps and moving forward.

At that moment

The giant thorns that they thought had disappeared reappeared like a lie.

It appeared suddenly without any warning.

People froze on the spot.

“Wh, what?! It definitely disappeared!”

“Th, this is a trap! The dungeon is playing with us!”

“Wait, there’s another one there!”

The pastel-toned colorful clouds that they saw earlier,

were again pouring out a torrent of water and pink hearts with thunder.

The clouds cleared and the huge thorns disappeared in an instant.

Various interpretations and conjectures raged among the people at the unbelievable sight.

But no one understood the reality of this bizarre phenomenon.

Before they could even organize their questions,

thorns appeared again, and soon pastel-colored clouds covered it.

The people became more and more confused by the repeating phenomenon.

It was just a normal leak test,

but the morale of the Elysium residents was shattered.

They had no choice but to retreat without even going near the entrance.

The village atmosphere was much more serious than before.

As soon as they retreated, they held a heated meeting,

and finally defined the unidentified thorns that had appeared in the sanctuary as ‘Tower’.

“Do we have to conquer it to the top?”

“…That’s right. That’s the only way the tower will disappear.”

“With what?! Look at the way it looks. There will definitely be something terrible from the start.”

The 1-story castle, which was unnecessarily high due to the creator’s poor skills, was regarded as a difficult and huge ‘Tower’ that couldn’t even count the number of floors.

The village chief opened his mouth heavily with a dark expression.

“…It seems that this disaster cannot be solved with our power alone.”

“Yes. I think so too.”

“Marx, let the capital know this fact. If the heroes who reside in the Colosseum come, the situation may be reversed.”

Marx nodded.

The heroes of the Colosseum.

They were the last remaining people in Elysium with fighting instincts, and were those who were called great heroes in the past.

Now they were no different from useless people who were soaked in a comfortable life and showed off their strength by fighting each other.

“I’ll offer a prayer to the goddess.”

“Then, I’ll scout around the dungeon.”

One warrior cautiously stepped forward.

He was the one who took the lead in dealing with the intruders,

and was known as the bravest person in this village.

People looked at him with worried eyes.

“What? Are you okay?”

“They say that monsters appear if there’s an anomaly in the dungeon. I can’t prevent such a situation, but I have to prepare for it.”

The villagers began to murmur after hearing those words.

“Still, isn’t it too dangerous?”

“Going alone is a bit…!” That’s right.

“You prepare for the worst. I’ll patrol around the dungeon and see what’s going on.”

The villagers couldn’t stop him anymore at his resolute attitude.

They could only pray that he would not get hurt and come back.

Some time later

Perhaps it’s because it’s the goddess’s paradise, so the prayers work well.

People’s prayers were answered in less than an hour.

The warrior who left the village with a determined face returned in a panic.

The people began to murmur as they saw the warrior returning.

“What is it, what’s wrong!”

“…The tower, the tower is a monster! It’s covered in all the colors and has mutated more hideously!”

People began to stir after hearing the warrior’s words.

“All the colors? What are you talking about?”

“The tower mutated?”

The warrior trembled all over and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Suddenly all sorts of colors appeared around the tower, red, blue, green… and then the surroundings kept flashing and those colors intertwined, covering the entire tower. That sight is so bizarre and… Ugh!”

“Are you okay?!”

It was when people were taking care of the warrior who was vomiting and falling.

Someone muttered with a pale face.

“……Is it a sign of a dungeon break?”

“A dungeon break? How long has the dungeon been around, and it’s already happening?!”

At that moment when people were trembling in fear

A huge cloud of dust began to form in the forest near the sanctuary.

The vibration and ‘thump thump’ sound that shook the ground were getting closer and closer.

Soon

“What is that?!”

“Mo, monsters already…!”

“B, bats with horns, Oniiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

A gaudily colored and hideous Oni.

No, it was the first encounter with the lovely rabbit girl corps.

The rabbit girls were covered in black and gooey red bean rice cake due to their flashy landing and running.

Their appearance was hideously covered with dirt and black substance like a golem created with black magic.

But the bodies and minds of the rabbit girls were inversely proportional.

The pure rabbit girls shook their carrots excitedly as soon as they found people.

To express the joy of finding people.

And to guide the companions behind them that there are people.

As the rabbit girls all raised their carrots up and shook them, the people recoiled in terror.

“Th, they’re holding weapons!”

“Everyone prepare for battle!”

“Evacuate the children to a safe place!”

One of the rabbit girls who was shaking the carrot hard ‘thump’ hit a tree next to her with the carrot.

It was because the red bean rice cake on her arms and carrot was unpleasant,

but the people who had no way of knowing that grabbed their weapons, looking even more pale.

Another rabbit girl couldn’t stand the unpleasantness and quickly shook her body.

As the rabbit girl’s body became clean,

the rabbit girls who thought, ‘This is it’ all started shaking their bodies.

Some of the rabbit girls, who valued carrots more than their bodies, ‘thump thump’.

They cleaned the carrots by powerfully hitting the trees with a full swing.

The red bean paste covered in dirt splattered everywhere.

The trees around them swayed and the birds flew away noisily.

The terrible sight brought about by the rabbit girls who loved cleanliness.

Some completely lost their will to fight,

and others couldn’t easily step forward in front of these brutal monsters.

The one-sided and uncomfortable confrontation continued.

Someone who had been carefully watching the rabbit girls cautiously stretched out their foot.

Then

One of the rabbit girls who saw that excitedly shook her carrot and approached quickly.

…To, rabbit girls. The big rabbit girl stays, and the rest go out and promote…

Unlike the ungrateful red bean rice cake on their bodies,

the rabbit girls were good mascots who followed their owners’ words better than anyone else.

The mascots’ role is promotion.

Their main job was to take pictures with people or hug people who approached.

The rabbit girl struggled to open her sticky arms and hugged him tightly.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!”

“Alan!”

“Get away from Alan, you crazy Oni!”

The people picked up their weapons and attacked the rabbit girl.

The mascot rabbit girl, whose defense power is high but whose attack power is zero.

She shook her carrot hard, expressing her intention not to.

Even so, she didn’t let go of the person she was holding in her arms in order to be faithful to her role.

The other rabbit girls

rushed at the people all at once when their comrade was getting hit.

In order to embrace people who were beating the mascots indiscriminately with love and warmth.

The people, who had no way of knowing that, stopped hitting and started running away.

A chase filled with one-sided love followed.

The rabbit girls ran to give a lovely hug,

and the people started a desperate escape.

At that moment

A huge magic power of purple color swirled like a vortex.

The rabbit girls, who were so many, were knocked down in one blow.

“…What, what are those things?”

A high-pitched voice is heard from the starting point of the magic power.

And soon the purple magic power cleared,

a woman appeared in the center, holding a magic-shaped whip.