Chapter 56: Tension (Part 5)

The dungeon was not far from where the carriage stopped.

It was a dungeon that exuded an aura that was hard to ignore, so it wouldn’t be strange if a civilian fainted if they

passed by near this dungeon.

As proof, all the flowers and trees that had bloomed near the dungeon were dead.

…Ah, it’s originally a dead forest, so maybe that doesn’t matter.

Really, nothing has changed from before.

I walked forward with Leticia with a sullen expression.

If nothing has changed, I know this area better than Leticia.

Because the last time I remembered this place, it was a place where day and night changed routinely, and it was a

battlefield where I didn’t even have time to sleep for a week.

At that time, everything I saw here was corpses, corpses, and if not corpses, dead trees or flowers, or comrades,

subordinates, and demons screaming at each other with hatred and anger. But now there is only this dungeon visible

in front of my eyes.

Well, this is the best place to create a dungeon.

Considering the corpses of comrades and enemies that may still be buried underground, it’s a place where you can

get pretty good undead soldiers with just a few necromancers.

Still, the Imperial Family said they would send knights or mages to take turns managing it, so it would have been

difficult for necromancers to access it, but a dungeon in a place like this.

Are they planning to make undead even the corpses that couldn’t be recovered from the ground?

They wouldn’t have used a cumbersome method like a dungeon if that was the case, but I couldn’t erase that thought.

If it helps, they are the ones who will make even their allies into undying corpses and use them forever.

I stared blankly at the dungeon in front of me and soon hardened my expression.

I thought the size of the dungeon in front of me was as huge as the pressure it exuded in all directions, but the size of

the dungeon was not that big.

Should I say it’s similar to a normal dungeon?

But the aura felt inside the door was definitely different from a normal dungeon.

It would be dangerous to just charge in recklessly.

I asked Leticia with a hardened face.

“Should we contact Leo?”

“Leo’s communication has been cut off after he said he entered the dungeon earlier, so support will be difficult.”

“…Really? That’s a shame.”

It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.

If someone with common sense saw this dungeon, they would never go inside.

But who are we?

We are members of the Hero’s party who always ran at the forefront of the Human-Demon War.

We almost died several times, but still, we had to walk forward.

And that hasn’t changed even now.

I let out a hollow laugh and spoke to Leticia a question that suddenly came to mind.

“It would be nice if there was an option to turn around and run away without looking back, but there’s no such

option, right?”

“Retreat can sometimes be an option, but if we run away from here, the Empire will be in danger, right? Well, I don’t

have any loyalty to the country, but there is no option to retreat.”

“That’s really a shame. If it were Damian Radius’s body, it might be possible, but it seems a bit difficult with this body now.”

“Huh? Ahaha! It’s unusual for you to worry like that. If you’re that scared, I’ll protect you, so don’t worry.”

“…That’s enough.”

I’ll rely on her when I need to, but I had no intention of relying solely on Leticia.

A few seconds passed.

I looked at Leticia, who was staring up at the dungeon, and said.

“Shall we go?”

“We have to.”

Because nothing will change even if we just drag out the time.

Well, if we don’t come out for too long, the knight from earlier will either request support or call Leo’s group.

I thought optimistically and put both hands on the dungeon door and slowly pushed.

Creak, Creeeeakㅡ.

The iron door slowly began to open with the sound of metal clashing against each other.

It wasn’t heavy in proportion to its size.

After a few seconds of tug-of-war with the door.

The dungeon door, which had been firmly closed, opened, and the interior of the dungeon was revealed.

Whoosh.

The cold wind blowing from inside the dungeon was cold enough to freeze to the bone.

I rubbed my shoulders with both hands.

Vampires are strong against the cold, so it wasn’t enough to make a fuss, but I still felt the cold.

Is it a dungeon related to ice and cold?

If so, it was possible to guess that magical beasts or demons that control ice would appear.

If this dungeon is a normal dungeon, yes.

My guess would be correct, but considering the dungeons I’ve cleared so far, there was a high possibility that my

guess was wrong.

An unknown dungeon where you don’t know what will come out.

My heart is pounding, but there is also fear.

Because there is only one life.

So I have to try not to die.

With that thought, I took a step into the dungeon, but unlike me, Leticia, who frowned deeply, took a step back from

the dungeon and wrapped her body in multiple layers of preservation magic and magic that regulates body

temperature, and I spoke.

“Leticia, you’re particularly vulnerable to the cold. The North is also an unimaginably cold region, although not as

much as this dungeon, but even after living there for decades, you haven’t adapted to the cold…”

“Ugh. Really, not all northerners are strong against the cold, you know? I’m weak to the cold because I take after my

mother, you know. Charle is strong against the cold because she takes after her father, but I’m not.”

Leticia said, rubbing her shoulders and saying that she hates the cold.

Seeing Leticia like that, I shrugged.

I heard Leticia’s mother’s hometown was a warm place.

Influenced by her mother, who was constitutionally strong against heat and weak against cold, Leticia was also

strong against heat but quite weak against cold.

When it snowed a lot and it was cold, I would see Leticia huddled in front of the fireplace, wrapped in warmth magic

all over her body, and I would laugh without realizing it.

“…What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing. By the way, it’s quiet.”

The dungeon door has been closed for a long time.

I don’t feel the presence of any monsters, and the quest that always appears in important-looking dungeons like this

doesn’t appear.

As if it’s not time yet.

Only the cold wind, blowing from who knows where, filled the interior of the dungeon.

I narrowed my eyes and looked ahead.

Because in situations like this, enemies often appeared when I let my guard down a little.

I was wondering if it would be the same this time, so I walked forward with my nerves on edge, but I couldn’t feel the

presence of monsters or demons.

I blinked and asked Leticia, who was quietly calming her magic and checking her surroundings with detection magic.

“Is there any sign of being caught by surveillance magic?”

“No.”

“Are there none nearby? Well, there are dungeons like that, so it’s not strange, but how about increasing the range of

detection magic?”

“I can’t gauge the size of the dungeon, but I’m gradually increasing the range.”

If this is a dungeon, at least one should be caught.

And at that moment, Leticia’s eyes seemed to flicker for a moment, then subsided coldly.

I didn’t feel any presence, but I was about to ask Leticia if she felt anything when Leticia spoke first.

“There’s a guy who was caught by the detection magic and disappeared in an instant. Like the guy we saw before, it

seems like there are guys who are quite good at hiding their presence.”

“……How many?”

“Even if we only include the guys who were caught for a moment and then disappeared, there are not just one or two.

I’ve never heard of a magical beast that can hide its presence, so I think it might be a demon… It stopped right in

front of…!”

Crack.

Crackle.

Dozens of knives blocked by Leticia’s defensive magic bounced off with a harsh friction sound.

Fortunately, there were no knives aimed at me, but judging from the attack just now, it seemed like I wasn’t even in

their sights.

It’s embarrassing to say, but they probably concluded that neutralizing Leticia was more important than me.

So they showed themselves the moment they thought they were discovered.

I immediately spewed a large amount of shadows in the direction the knives flew from.

Because their eyes are bright in the dark, I had already grasped their location from the moment they revealed their

presence and attempted a surprise attack, so it wasn’t difficult to take their lives.

“…Ugh!”

“!”

A small groan was heard.

The shadow spewed from the floor quickly spread out in multiple directions like thorny vines, like a beast craving flesh.

Exactly three revealed themselves.

There may be more, so I made sure to be vigilant of my surroundings, and I bared my teeth at the guys who revealed

themselves first.

If possible, I wanted at least one person to be neutralized by that attack, but reality doesn’t always go as I think.

There are no fatal wounds among the guys who barely avoided the attack.

By the way, are black masks and clothes still in fashion these days?

I quickly scanned the attackers with my eyes.

‘Right arm and one eye, one left leg. Did I pierce one person’s liver?’

The physical structure of demons is generally similar to that of humans.

Sometimes there are demons with two hearts, but such cases are special.

So now would be the opportunity.

Taking advantage of the moment when they were momentarily stunned, I held a sword condensed with shadows in

my hand and charged towards the demon who was trying to hide in the left corner.

First, I’ll start with the one who lost his right arm and one eye.

I have to take the initiative.

In the dungeon, which is the territory of demons, they were the hunters because they had been preempted.

So I’m just taking that role away.