The Traveling Hero Won’t Let the Innkeeper’s Son Escape

"Hey, what, this!?

"What's happening!?

The sudden darkness lifts a voice that reminds everyone of their anxiety. But it just didn't seem to reach the point of shouting or panicking, and we checked each other's position and cheapness, although there was anxiety in our voices.

Ruth checks his surroundings in the dark, but realizes that everything is covered in darkness and he doesn't even know where he stands. From the position before the light fell, I think there was Yuan nearby, but I can't see him at all either.

Zokri and his skin ran chills into the darkness that seemed to swallow everything.

"Hey, what happened to the lamp for all three of you!?

"My lamp doesn't light up for some reason"

"Neither can mine."

"I'm not gonna light this one either."

All the lamps on Ruth, Colt and Fritz had stopped lighting. On the contrary, they don't even turn on the Daniel lamp they had in reserve. Sometimes the lamp breaks, but at the same time, I don't think it will be possible to use all four of them. I really didn't get the point.

"Nobody can turn on the lights. I can't help it. - [Light]"

Try to respond to Karen's words and a small sphere of light appears in the dark. Looks like Karen, who has a lot of magic, used the light of life magic. The ball floats around like he just calls Karen his husband.

We all gathered to be sucked into the light that finally appeared. Ruth sighed relieved as the faces of all appeared at the light. The lights just ran out, and it looks like there's no injuries or anything.

"I'm sure you all know that light magic isn't very fuel-efficient, so you don't have a lot of eagles."

"We'll have to take turns around there."

"Should we keep diving underground in the first place?

"On the contrary to the lamp, it's absolutely strange that the lights on the candlestick in the dungeon go out, it's impossible. He said we should go back!

……

Daniel shuts up after listening to everyone. Daniel, who runs the lead, is the current leader, so we all asked him how he was waiting for his decision.

That Daniel's gaze turned to Ruth. Apparently, he's asking Ruth for his opinion, too.

"I think I should go back, too. For one thing, without a lamp, you'd be using light magic to deplete everyone's magic, and you wouldn't be able to move well during the operation. I think the exit is still closer than diving underground and going to the cave"

"... right. Looks like we're gonna have to go back. Colt, give me a map."

With this, Leo will be able to establish himself as the fourth faction in the current three-ways succession war.

No dissatisfaction was raised with Daniel's decision. I guess not only is Colt in his mouth saying it's weird, but they all feel creepy about the situation right now.

Weirdly chilling air, passageways that can't go according to the map, lights that have suddenly gone out - this is all the phenomenon that's going on, and I don't really think this is going to go along as well as usual. Everyone seems to feel they shouldn't be here, even if they don't say so.

Colt spreads the map with both hands directly beneath Karen's light. We all held our fingers and figured out how to move forward.

But that's where Ruth realized something strange.

"Oh, you know..."

"What is it, Ruth?

"I'm just checking... Colt's got the map with both hands now, right?

"Yeah, I got it."

Ruth was stuck with words in Colt's reply. I felt a nasty sweat flowing through my spine and my shoulders getting heavy. I'm either nervous or thirsty, but I swallow my spit and manage to squeeze my voice out.

"Well, why - there's six" right hands ”on the map?

Ruth, Daniel, Fritz, Yuan, and Karen are the five people who make the current map finger. I mean, there's five of us, so there's five of us with the right hand - which means there couldn't have been a sixth right arm.

'What……?

A voice conceived of confusion with no one sounds in the dark.

As Ruth was wrapped up in tenacious silence, he slowly checked one right arm at a time placed on the map.

(This is Fritz, this is Yuan, this is Karen, this is Daniel, - so, this is...?

Ruth noticed in the arms of his companions a right arm like an unrecognizable dead tree and looked up to the end of it in horror. Try to learn from Ruth's movements, and everyone follows him at the end of his gaze. The tip of my arm was the darkness between Daniel and Fritz.

There is no one there. Only my arms were popping out of the darkness.

"Huh…………!

Daniel and Fritz looked blue and flew off the scene. Hurry up and run over like Ruth and the others are here.

"So, who is it!? Who the fuck is there?!? Answer me, or I'll attack."

When Daniel magically appeared a sphere of flame as he threatened, an arm that was stretching out of the darkness pulled in, and instead sounded like a watery footstep called a hitahita. And in the dim light, the faces of people peer out of the darkness.

"Are you a human, a woman………?

It was the woman with dark hair who hid her face that came into Ruth's sight like Colt's grunt. I can't see from the neck down, but I looked like a normal woman.

But there's a frivolous and unpleasant feeling running through that figure.

"- No, get away from me! This guy is Killshades!

"KIHHHHHHHHH!!

The moment Yuan urged him to be vigilant, his nagging face turned to Ruth and the others as he shouted.

There was no noticeable nose that should be there, just three black holes.

From all the holes, a tedious sound was emitted, and Ruth hurriedly blocked his ears.

"[Light]!

When everyone at the same distance used the magic of light to brighten their surroundings while pulling out their weapons, they saw the whole picture.

(Wow, a little visually this is......)

Killshays is a demon whose torso is about the diameter of a well, with two arms and two legs each, and four necks longer than the torso, against a frog-like neck. It emits a black, blunt color throughout, but the tip of the neck is shaped to mimic a woman of a human race in her skin tone. But his face doesn't have eyes or teeth, it just has three holes. To be honest, I don't want to be in my sight. It's disgusting. The method of attack is magic by simultaneous chanting, using four heads, and confusion caused by sound as much as just now. Though offensive and irregular in nature, it is possible to run and escape mostly because of the slow movement.

Killshades are also basically prone to appear in dim and humid lands, and it is only in cemetery-like places that they frequently appear. Of course he must never have appeared in a dungeon in Hashi village where the lights are always on. Up to now.

"Kill Shades!? Why are you here!?

"This guy is rank C!?

"Damn! Dead!"

I let Daniel's embodied sphere of flame hit directly into one of his necks. Burning heads in a flame attack shouted and showed resistance, but couldn't stop the flame momentum from falling to the bottoms and the floor. - But the next moment, the head that was supposed to have fallen off was born again first from the neck.

"Oh, shit. He's a pain in the ass!

The weakness of Killshades is his neck, which has four. But even if I could say no easily, one bottle at a time, it would soon play back. The only way to defeat it is to cut four pieces that move apart at the same time. That was the ultimate reason why even D-rank-like fighting power was treated as C-rank.

"Wow! He's over here, too!

Turning to Colt's scream, there was also a Killshades the same size. There are several other footsteps when my ears are well cleared. Apparently, they were surrounded at some point.

"With this darkness and diminishing magic, I can't fight this guy. Daniel, retreat!

"Oh, we're retreating! Hurry up, this way!

Daniel answered Yuan's voice honestly.

Ruth and the others followed Daniel's instructions and jumped out of the deepest hall. I listen to Killshades behind my back and still ignore them and keep running.

I didn't have time to make sure the road was right anymore, I just keep going in the direction and even as I run. Meanwhile, I also heard Killshades with slow legs coming from here and there. It was as if I had entered the Killshades' nest.

"If things go well like this, we're almost at the exit! Step on it!

Daniel's voice also filled Ruth with hope. It even gave me room to check my surroundings when I thought I could get out.

That's when I noticed a white shadow moving in the corner of my vision.

(Eh -?)

Ruth looked back reflexively and saw the little girl run away to the end of the hallway. The figure belonged to a girl under the age of ten, and I knew immediately that it was not like a demon. And I also realized that the girl's destination was in a completely different direction than the exit that Ruth and the others were trying to take, and Buwa ran like a chill all the time.

"Wait a minute! There she is! You can't go that way!

"What's wrong, Ruth!?

"A girl ran over there! Maybe a kid from the village of Micana!

"Seriously, Ruth, wait! Hey!"

Ruth rushes out to a dangerous dungeon like Killshades that she shouldn't leave the girl behind.

Ruth couldn't think calmly because of the strange events that kept him going. I think the situation being pursued in the dark, my judgment was completely blunt because I was standing in a situation where I couldn't make a calm decision.

"Hey, you, wait!

I keep chasing the back of a girl who doesn't turn around, but no matter how desperate Ruth ran, I couldn't catch up. Ruth is never a slow leg. Given that, the girl's leg speed was unusual.

And after a third bend, I finally realized something weird.

(Um, how can I see that girl when it's so dark...)

The light on the candlestick goes out, and the dungeon without the lamp is dark because the light outside doesn't come in. It is understandable to see the companions who were nearby because they are illuminated by the magic of life of light, but they cannot be seen as clearly as normal, such as the rear appearance of a girl who runs away in the distance. Even now I could still see the girl's hindsight, but I didn't see any of the dungeons around it.

Ruth finally stopped.

(Um... not human......?

When I understood it, the frizz and chill swelled up. At the same time, I feel the temperatures around me keep dropping. My exhale was so warm that I felt it. It's like the dungeon is telling Ruth the right answer.

Ruth hardening herself into the cold turned her gaze toward the girl - she was peeking at her face from the corner and waving at Ruth. But its head was higher than Ruth's. Impossible position for the girl in that outfit.

"Oh, they did it!

Ruth, who understood that he had been fooled by demons or something, rushed back and ran out behind him.

I haven't run that far since I talked to Daniels and the others. I thought I should still be able to join my people now.

"Ah, that......?

But no matter how far back on the road I came, I didn't see my people. On the contrary, I can only hear my own footsteps in the dungeon, even though that was all we all made a fuss about.

I can't hear my people's footsteps, their voices, even the sound of demons, nothing. It was so quiet that my ears hurt.

(Not good, not good, not good………)

For the first time at this time, Ruth realized that the current situation was very bad. In a dungeon where something strange is going on to keep you standing, you misjudge your judgment and leave your people alone. Objectively speaking, I just think there's a death flag.

But no matter how much I regret it, it was already too late.

"Ah, uh, hey!? [Light] Hey! [Light]!

Ruth's life, which was turning blue. The magic light suddenly went out. Ruth was in a fierce hurry when dark darkness came again. But there should still be some magic left, but the light never appeared again after casting the spell.

(........................)

An earlier girl appeared in front of Ruth, who had lost her words. When I looked closely, she floated white even though she wasn't emitting light, floating 'out of the world' enough to see that she was laughing in Ruth's eyes, who shouldn't have seen anything in the dark.

[I've been waiting for you. Ruth Blau.

The moment the girl in front of her disappeared and she heard a whisper in her ear. The ground that you should have felt at your feet until just now suddenly disappears.

The feeling of your body inadvertently losing balance, your heavy head falling down, and your stomach turning upside down -

"Ugh! Wow...!"

Ruth fell to the bottom of darkness.