Chapter 119
Chapter 119 – One Who Plays Around with Souls
When the dazzling light subsided, the giant tree, including its roots had disappeared completely . What left was a huge gaping hole .
Aaron had exerted more power than I imagined, perhaps because it’s his first battle after a long time .
[Wasn’t that a bit too much?]
[No, I think I am not overdoing things at all . ]
Yesterday I released Bloody Ptarmigan to kill the Goblin Shaman . In the process, I toppled all the trees standing in between me and my target .
By comparison, Aaron’s only ‘victim’ was a single tree . After I saw this, I could somewhat tell the difference in our ability and fighting method .
Of course, I won’t deny that my fighting method was crude . At the very least, I had to fix my reliance on Greed’s secret skills . I should treat them more like an ace in the hole as they consumed a lot of status . As for Greed, he won’t mind at all if I keep using them… .
Reminiscing about that annoying partner of mine, I instinctively grasped the holy sword in my hand tighter .
[Such an effective first strike]
[Hahaha, indeed it is . O Miria, can you please handle the hobgoblins that are left behind?]
[Yes, leave them all to me!]
[Well said]
Happy from being praised by Aaron, Miria quickly turned her attention to the monsters that surrounded us .
At that moment Miria turned to me, her gaze spoke to me without a word .
I will be able to do it . Her face was unmistakably that of a warrior .
Being stared at like that, I could only responded in kind .
[Shall we continue . Fate?]
[… . . alright . ]
The goblin shaman’s magic power had grown weaker, but he’s still alive . As evidence, I’m still here in Roxy’s body .
Ignoring the noise of battle raging behind us, me and Aaron jumped down the pit .
We continued to fall in the midst of darkness, until the bottom could be seen at last .
It was glowing in a thin red light . I was expecting a surprise attack, but found none .
[What in the world is this place…]
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[Looks like an ancient ruins . The floor is glowing light intermittently . ]
[Somewhat similar to the lights at the Military district . ]
[Fumu, indeed it is]
I never expected that such a place actually lied deep under the hobgoblin forest .
It says a lot when Aaron who are familiar with the old capital didn’t know about this place . No way we could see the whole picture just from the lights on the floor . Anyways, it’s a rather wide place .
The place reminded me of the great chasm just beyond the green valley of Gallia . Back then, it was where the fossil of an extinct ancient monster slept . There, together with Roxy, we fought a degraded machine angel, and unearthed a rare mineral . It was that kind of experience, but let’s take it aside for now .
Even so, this place is probably also… . . before I could finish my thought Aaron had already said it .
[Why is a Gallian ruin in this place!?]
[If Eris was with us, she might be able to explain this… . . but she’s not with us at the moment . ]
[We can only keep marching forward now . ]
[Yes . ]
As I carefully checked the floor, I noticed blood trail . It was new, seeing how it hasn’t dried yet .
Aaron also bent his knees to confirm .
[This should’ve come from the injury that I inflicted . Look, it’s leading to the entrance of the ruins]
Like he said, the blood trail was left behind in a haste . Judging from the amount, it must’ve been a considerably heavy blood loss .
It also had some difficulty in walking . I noticed a sign that it was dragging its feet .
[It seems to be quite spent already . There should not be any problem in handling it now, Fate]
[Yeah, but it’s a monster capable of manipulating other’s souls after all . It may still have some hidden ace that we don’t know of]
[Indeed you are right]
We approached the ruins while keeping our eyes out . The ruins, like the floor, glowed faint red . It gave me a weird feeling that repulsed me from going in .
No sign of hobgoblin . Only eerie silence .
The only sound we could hear was the occasional water dripping from the rock ceiling .
Even though the ruins still emanates light, there was barely any sign of life . We proceed inside .
[Nothing at all… . . Does Fate sense anything else?]
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[No, I only sense one]
The goblin shaman .
Its’ magic power was gradually weakening . Perhaps, it’ll die out on its own if we simply leave it here .
[In such a state, there is nothing else it can do . Rest assured . ]
[It may have a method to heal its wound . ]
It’s Gallian ruins after all . We have no idea what kind of technology hidden within . However, Aaron shook his head .
[I wonder about that . There is no recovery magic in this world, except for Milord’s Twilight Healing and auto regeneration of some monsters that can heal themselves to a certain extent . Do you know the reason why?]
[Maybe…because gods never gave human that kind of skill?]
Aaron listened to my reply attentively, before throwing another question .
[Umu, then why gods did not give that skill to human?]
[That’s… . . ]
I didn’t know . He took my silence as an affirmative .
As we proceed through the passage whilst checking for unusual thing, the talking also continued .
[As for those living in the current era, nobody knows why . This may not be the correct answer, but here is my thought on it…]
Aaron put forth his argument .
There were wide variety of attacking skills, both physical and magical, as well as auxiliary skills that improves their effect . One might say that offense is the greatest defense, but once you took damage, it’d be hard to keep fighting .
If it’s just a fight against individuals, then it would mostly be finished on the spot . But what if it’s a fight between countries?
If there was a healing skill, the wounded soldier could easily recover themselves and return to the battlefield immediately . Simply speaking, it’s like a fighting force that will keep fighting unless they instantly die .
In the end, it might become an endless and cruel war .
[Sometimes, I think that back in the day when Gallia was prospering, recovery magic might have existed . ]
[Could it be…]
[How do we explain milord’s 《Twilight Healing》? Isn’t it something that came from Greed, an ancient weapon? I have a feeling that black sword had some deep relation to Gallia…]
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[I couldn’t confirm that yet…Greed is not the type who likes to talk about himself . ]
[In any case . Once Eris returned, we should investigate this Gallia ruins more thoroughly . Those not in the know will always get left behind after all . ]
Perhaps there was a time when Recovery magic truly existed…if it still does till today, then my parents would’ve not died . Roxy’s father Mason would’ve not perished in Gallia . I couldn’t help wondering, if my parents are still alive…what kind of life I would be living today?
Would I still have awakened my Mortal Sin skill? Or would I just be a normal peasant working on the field gloomily? At the very least, I’m sure of one thing…I would’ve never met Roxy that way .
Aaron stopped in a damp hallway . Apparently it’s been abandoned for quite a while, looking at how the water drenched the floor . Among the faint red light, I saw a weird looking mushroom growing .
I thought that I’ve seen it somewhere . It’s the human-infesting type that I saw back at Gallia .
[Aaron, watch out with that shroom . If you breathe in too much of its spore, shrooms will also grow out of your body . ]
[I knew it…somehow . I thought that I’ve seen it somewhere . ]
I wanted to burn it off with fire magic, but then I remembered that I’m still in Roxy’s body .
Seeing my blunder, Aaron merely smiled .
[Hold your breath, we must pass through it quickly . ]
[Yes]
Eventually a huge door appeared before us . It seemed to be made of heavy metal, but it appeared to be light and soft when I touched it .
Aaron drew his holy sword out . He then circulated his magic in the same way as he would when activating grand cross into the holy sword . It’s a trick that allows its user to infuse the power of a technique to a weapon, dramatically increasing the sword’s destructive power .
[Let us get rid of that obstructing door . We will storm in on Fate’s signal . ]
I also drew out my holy sword, as Aaron made short work of that door, cutting it open like a hot knife through butter .
We immediately rushed in… . . and was surprised .
[Why…why… . . something like this is here?]
[This is terrible]
It’s the same kind of thing we found back at Rafal’s lab . Several cylindrical glass filled with red substance lined up the room . Naked humans floated inside the container .
There were more than dozens of them . I approached to check whether they are still alive… .
[They are dead]
[However, they appear to be still alive at glance . ]
The red solution, if it’s the same thing that Rafal used on his lab, can preserve a living being nearly perfectly . This was the information that Raine could glean out after the incident .
Then Aaron realized something .
[Look at their face . Those are people who had been missing recently . I have their portraits on a document inside my bag . ]
It’s quite common since the days of old for merchants to be attacked by hobgoblin on their way to the capital because they have to cross hobgoblin forest .
But the issue lies in the fact that these missing people has been preserved . What on earth is their plan… . . to have gathered so many people here .
[Couldn’t be…as a substitute for food storage right?]
[In that case, the room would have traces of carcasses strewn around . But, as milord can see, the room is tidy . ]
Monster likes to eat human . That is why I found this to be confounding .
Aaron also seemed to have similar thought .
[We’ve been educated since childhood that monsters are the enemies of humanity . The same can be said with the holy knights . And the teaching is mostly correct . If a cattle and human encountered a monster, the monster will first attack the human . I used to think that they find humans to be too delicious to pass off… . but, this place contradict all that . ]
[Yes, it’s strange that they preserve human in a such way . Normal goblins would’ve eaten them all on the spot . ]
Any monsters usually attack like a hungry beast when they noticed human . It’s also common to hear a story where a monster ate the human alive . This goblin shaman certainly acted differently to human in comparison to other goblins .
Speaking of which, it’s just one of its’ characteristics . The problem not only lies in the fact that it preserve human in this place, apparently it’s intelligent enough to operate the technology left in this place .
Suddenly the light in the room lit up all at once . The light was too dazzling since I still had 《Night Vision》active .
Then I heard a shriveling voice coming from the back of the room .
[Human… . . don’t…… . get in the way]
Aaron and I quickly turned our attention to that voice .
[That’s… . . ]
[I can’t believe it]
It was actually the goblin shaman who had lost its right arm and left eye . As Raine said, it has a gray colored body that is larger than regular hobgoblin . The muscle mass is slightly below the hobgoblins, probably because it’s not well versed in close combat . Instead it has long limbs that allows for quick movement . It actually dodged Bloody Ptarmigan, so there is no mistaking it .
It was holding a staff with its remaining hand . Its one eye glowed in red, emanating unfamiliar magic power .
Perhaps, it’s still maintaining the magic that switch my and Roxy’s body .
Taking the surprise that this monster could actually speak human tongue aside, we brandished our holy swords .
The monster was actually looking at us with a face full of hatred . Almost as if it was human .