The World of Masks

The cavity is enormous. The light from the beads of light held by Politon and Galilee cannot even illuminate a portion of the cavity.

"This is · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·. A torch?"

Politon, who was looking up at the beads of light, finds something and approaches. It was hanging on a wall that looked about 50 cm long. Politon shines further with the beads of light. There was another latch a little distance away, and after that, the latch continued to hang on the wall at some distance.

Politon pulled something out of the bracelet. The flint is a flint. You turn the bead of light over to Miles next to you for a moment and face him on a hunk of flint. A small spark rises, and a red flame rises from the wick.

"Looks like we can still use it."

Polliton pulls him off the wall. Compared to the beads of light, it was much weaker than the beads of light, but it was hanging on the entire wall of the cavity as opposed to the two beads of light. Once Polliton lit only a few fires around him. Galik pulls off the nearest shovel and lights the shovel opposite the direction Polite is headed. Galik and Politon light a torch around them, and the torch alone gives me some visibility.

Some light comes in around you, and the group looks back to the front. The first thing that caught my eye was a huge structure that looked like an altar. The length to the top was about 100 m. The top of the pyramid, though it was generally square horned, was not sharp and flat. There is a long staircase on the side of the altar facing the group. The shimmering shadow of the altar, shifting with a shimmering torch, brings ominous energy to people's minds.

Politon strides forward to the altar, as if trying to shake off his ominous mind. The group drifts apart and follows. The more light sources, the better, so people each had a torch. The sound of people's footsteps echoes through the massive void and turns into a strange sound.

When the group arrives near the altar, they light the altar with beads of light and torches. An altar of massive gray rocks presses the group heavily. Meanwhile, Samantha stops in front of the stairs, bending her knees and sweeping something with her hands. A strange pattern was engraved on the side of the stairs.

"It's the mark of the Demon King."

It was a pattern reminiscent of the inferno. If you were to pour out all those negative emotions, like fear, despair, destruction, would this be a pattern? It was not something that came to mind, but it was a symbol that provoked human negative emotions without emotion just by looking at it.

"The Demon King's dungeon seems clear."

Politon shines torches and beads of light everywhere. Then I found something. Long torn eyes, sharp fangs, long protruding nails and claws, muscular bodies, and a beast of disgusting face stood against something. The beast had a huge back. Politon puts a torch on the back of the statue.

Glug glug.

My back is on fire. The murmur deepens, as if a flame had breathed life into the statue of a monster. The lamp on which the creature stands continues to the top of the altar, either side of the stairs. Politon starts climbing the stairs with his back on fire. After that, Galik sets a fire to his back in the other direction, followed by the rest of the group.

Shortly after I walked up the stairs above the altar, I heard Samantha breathing heavily again. Otherwise, I felt like my physical strength had been used up to come here again. Eventually, Jack picked him up again. Seems that Samantha is sorry to owe you another debt. She gives Jack a big hug.

Jack's torch was handed to him by Miles, and Samantha raised the torch from Jack's back and lit the way ahead.

The rest of the party climb the stairs as easily as a warrior. In Galik's case, two steps are raised at once, using that huge size. The rest of you keep up with Galik's pace. The ascent speed was quite fast.

Jack looks back as he steps up. After coming up quite a long way, you can see the ground shining horribly on the burning torch. As I came up, the lamp illuminated the surroundings as if the entrance to hell was wide open. Jack looks forward again and mocks the steps. The long, fine hair from Samantha's head on her back tickles my neck.

The size of the altar is as big as a mountain, so the group has to spend quite a long time going up. The majority of warrior characters with stamina make the party less physically difficult.

Jack looks down at the stairs he's walking on. The seams are not visible, as if they weren't made of bricks or something. It seemed to have been entirely carved from the large monolith in the cave. I wonder how big it was. Jack sticks out his tongue.

After some time, the group arrives at the top of the altar, when the relatively weak miles want to slow down their pace a little.

The top of the altar was flat. A thick stone pillar tucked tightly around the center. The slight crack and murky color seemed to be traces of time engraved on the pillar. You pass through a pillar that is stretched out to escort you to the center of the altar. Samantha was walking down Jack's back, because the ordeal of the stairs had already passed.

In the center of the altar is a small table of stones. People frowned. The color of the altar that I have seen so far has been a grey color unique to rock, but the color of the table is a dark red color. The group instinctively notices. That's dried up blood.

A red picture was drawn on the floor around the table. Inside the large circle were abstract symbols, lines overlapping each other, the sun, the moon, and figures that could not be predicted, and letters that could not be interpreted.

"Magic, it's like dark magic, too."

Samantha sweeps the lines at her feet.

"The ingredients used are like blood. That, too, is human. The blood hasn't deteriorated since the special treatment."

Blood changes color when exposed to oxygen, and dries up after a long time. However, the magic circle painted on the floor remained very vividly red. While Samantha remains curious about the enchantment, the other party walks to the center of the enchantment. There were five corpses that had fallen down, pressing down on the robes.

"Is this a victim?"

"No. They were probably followers of the Demon King."

Galik and Politon stab the corpses with a weapon and talk. Jack and Miles also touched the other body by his side.

Hoodluck.

You hear something cracking and the robe sinks down.

"The corruption is already over."

Politon took Robb out with the tip of his sword. Fragments of broken bones are rotten. The same was true of the other lobes.

"Why are they being searched here?"

"Perhaps the Stragglers who fled here after the Demon King was defeated. He died of some kind of injury."

Galik and Politon, who have already identified the bodies as perfectly fine, have dug up the robes. A book and the orb of life appear as a grimoire through the falling pieces of bone. At that moment, people stopped moving. It was the item I wanted so much. Samantha stops observing the sorcery camp and quickly approaches the group. There was a subtle tension between the people in front of the treasure.

As tension grabs people heavily, Politon claps his hands and ventilates.

"Here! Here! You haven't forgotten the existence of the contract, have you? I'm not going to stop you from breaking the contract here and giving up your share, but if you don't, think about the contract and move on. It was definitely a" no harm "contract."

"Heh. Definitely."

Galik relaxes as his appetite settles. The rest of the crowd also relaxes.

"Once I find the item, I put it on the table in the middle."

Polliton first grabs a few items and walks them to the table. The rest of the people also flew away with the fallen items. Miles even took all the bone fragments from the lobe.

"Why would you take that?"

"Maybe it's a good thing."

Even in Galik's Pinzan, Miles places the gear robe on the table.

After that, the group moves diligently to see if there's anything worth paying for. I also went down under the altar and searched the area thoroughly. There were stairs on the other side of the altar. The group can find a few bodies under the altar and retrieve items. Unfortunately, you have not acquired any treasures such as gold, silver or jewelry.

"Hmm. Will this save you the trouble?"

Galik mutters, looking at the piled items on the table at the top of the altar.

You got a rare grimoire and some life orbs. Moreover, there was no consumption of healing items that I had prepared because I thought exploration would be difficult. At least I didn't think I would lose it. This expedition was too easy, unlike the value of the Demon King.

"Shouldn't we start distributing?"

It was time to distribute the acquired items and end the expedition. It's time for Galik to turn his head to the polisher standing behind him.

!!!!!!!

Galik's sixth sense echoes the alarm. Could a monster have appeared? But the risks were too close. Moreover, the opponent has a level that is no different from his own.

Phew.

Between the helmet and the armor. You dig a shivering sword into the narrow passage that cannot be defended. Galik opens his eyes. Red blood spills out along the blade that has been dug into your neck.

Phew.

The sword in your neck draws a large semi-circle and slips out to the side. Galik's throat rises high. The falling head of Galik. Before the severed brain completely ceased to function, what Galik saw from the falling head to the ground was the image of Politon with a deep smile on his mouth, covered in red blood, and a sword in Samantha's chest.