Chapter 399 - Episode 9: Cave of the Demon Realm ④
Ghouls apparently like eating corpses. Naturally, they eat human corpses too. In other words, they are also grave robbers. They dislike sunlight and usually stay underground. At night, they supposedly head out to scavenge for bodies, relying on the scent of blood.
The damage seemed quite significant, but it hadn't perished. Opinions were divided on whether to treat it as a valuable prisoner or to deliver the finishing blow right here. Even if we made it a prisoner, the ones interrogating it would be Violet and Gigant, so we decided to ask for their opinions.
When I sent a message to Eleanor-sama via the teleportation circle for letters, a reply came back after a short while saying, "Bring it back." In other words, an interrogation.
Since we didn't know how to treat it, taking advantage of the fact that it was unconscious, we placed it on a medium-sized bowl and returned near the entrance all at once.
"This guy? It's definitely a Ghoul."
Violet was poking the Ghoul lying on the ground with the tip of her claw. Gigant sat nearby, watching the situation.
"For now, can I give it some treatment? It'll wake up faster that way."
"Then, I will create a barrier so it cannot escape. Once the treatment is finished, please restrain it and move it onto the barrier. Rest assured, it only prevents escape; it is not something that causes harm."
As Price-sama responded to Violet's words, he simultaneously began drawing a circle on the ground with the silver rod tucked into his waist while chanting. Out of curiosity, I went to watch, and Harrison-san and Sianya came over as well.
The barrier was left incomplete. That was because it would be finished only after the target to be confined was placed inside the circle.
"Is it [Holy Prison]?"
"Yes. If it is a weakened C-rank, I believe we can somehow prevent it from escaping temporarily as long as it is restrained."
It was the same spell used on the one stuck to the bottom of the barnacle. When I asked Sianya, she said there is a higher-rank sealing barrier, but like the [Exorcism Formation], it requires both a magic circle and a spell, making it a time-consuming process, so they chose the simpler one.
Wait, hold on a second.
I secretly went over to Wilson-san's side.
"Wasn't the barrier that confined Mel on the mountain a holy type?"
"No. It was Forbidden Magic. It belongs to the ultra-high-level class of non-holy types. Otherwise, it would be impossible to capture a spirit. However, thinking back now, Mel might have just been pretending to be confined."
I see. So there were barriers in the Forbidden Magic lineage as well. Since it's non-holy, does that mean it can also block human intrusion?
"It cannot. If it could, wars wouldn't happen."
I see. That's certainly true. If you made a giant one on the highway, no one could ever pass.
"Don't you find it interesting, Jeanne? It means humans are neither light nor dark."
So neither white nor black. Mouse-colored... no, gray might be better, as it seems like it would have various applications.
Just as the magic circle was completed, it seemed Violet's treatment was finished.
When I went to look, an old man was lying there stark naked. His neck, limbs, and ribs had returned to normal. In appearance, he was no different from a human old man. Violet laid the Ghoul on his back and said he was a male. I see; looking at him, he had the same structure as a human male.
Sianya turned away with a bright red face. She's royalty, after all. Still a bit naive.
Once we dressed him back in his black clothes and black robe, Harrison-san showed us the rope he had wrapped around his waist.
"Let's restrain him with this. With this rope, even a C-rank cannot easily bite through it."
It was made like a long, thin cloth bag. It had a double structure with a rope core and a cloth bag covering it, and the core part had apparently been soaked in holy water.
The restraint was completed without issue, and Edward-sama and Roberts-sama carried him into the barrier together. Once the barrier was completed, the Ghoul was enveloped in a pale yellow light rising from the circle.
Since Violet and Gigant were in charge of the interrogation, the humans stepped outside the cave for a moment.
"Are Ghouls ever used by evil spirits?"
I tried asking Eleanor-sama. If they subordinate themselves to something powerful, then if it's not that, there must be something else there.
"I don't know. I've never fought while knowing it was a Ghoul."
Now that she mentioned it, even this time, we thought it was a member of the Demon Race until we actually defeated it.
"Since Ghouls have no interest in the living, they should rarely cross paths with humans. There is little to gain from fighting."
Price-sama informed me.
Normally, they apparently live by digging holes in suitable places within the forest. Humans also leave them alone since they dispose of animal carcasses. Their most frequent contact with humans is at battlefields, but since ghosts that could become evil spirits roam there, humans don't go at night. On the other hand, Ghouls, who don't care about ghosts, act at night. If Ghouls were interested in weapons or armor, there would be a conflict of interest, but the corpses of low-ranking soldiers who have been abandoned even by the church are simply thrown into large pits to prevent the spread of plague. Apparently, there aren't many Ghouls. In other words, they don't disturb things that much, so in a sense, it's co-existence and co-prosperity. As a priest, it's hard to condone, but reality is harsh.
"I pretty much understand now."
It seemed the interrogation by Violet and Gigant was over.
"The Demon Lord's army isn't involved. It's just that there's one powerful evil spirit inside, and three Ghouls... including that guy, and those three are being used."
"What do you mean by 'being used'?"
When Eleanor-sama asked, the unexpected relationship between the evil spirit and the Ghouls, as well as the secret of why monsters spawn from this cave, became clear.
"The evil spirit calls for ghosts. And then, whether it's animals or humans, it gathers ghosts to find out the location of carcasses and tells the Ghouls. Then, the Ghouls go to get the carcasses at night. The evil spirit, for its part, gathers ghosts to gain power and turns parts of itself into Orcs and such."
In other words, the evil spirit was a composite of many ghosts.
But why was it turning parts of itself into monsters...
"It likely wants to live."
Price-sama said.
"According to the story from Jeanne's friend, it originated from the evil spirit of a creature from the far ancient past. It's more natural to think that the evil spirit itself doesn't still exist, but rather that the method has been passed down as lore."
According to Price-sama, evil spirits are universally jealous of the living. While they have become existences that wander after dying in a way they cannot accept, the living are enjoying life. To escape the unspeakable pain, sadness, and fear of having lost their own lives, they feel anger and jealousy toward the living, and that emotion eventually turns into hatred. Those who die and lose their reason turn into evil spirits. In a way, they have no restraint.
For example, ghosts like the lords of the north do not feel fear or sadness about dying itself. That is because they have completely accepted it. It's even more so for the type like Fiona, who hadn't realized she had died.
"Then, if we can send it to the Goddess..."
It would surely regain a sense of peace.
"I hope so."
"Indeed. I do not know how much we can save, but we must do what we can."
Price-sama and Harrison-san agreed. Sianya also showed a smile. Let's do our best.
That said, the opponent was a powerful evil spirit. It wasn't an opponent that could be easily countered, so a strategy was necessary.
First, there was a proposal from Violet and Gigant to bring the Ghouls over to our side.
"Bringing them over is fine, but what will you do after we win?"
"I'll take them back with me."
When Eleanor-sama asked, Violet answered casually.
"Is that okay? If they rob human graves, they'll be targeted for subjugation."
"It's not like they prefer eating human corpses. Animals, monsters, anything is fine. Right now, there are few scavengers. Carcasses left out in the open rot quite a bit."
Scavengers are those who specialize in eating carrion, and Ghouls are apparently representative of them.
Even monsters die eventually. However, unlike humans, they don't have the custom of burying them in the ground. In some cases, it causes plague. If the three Ghouls increase, they can prevent such things.
"The Ghoul also says that since they are attacked by humans for what they're doing now, they'd prefer a safer way, so I think it'll work out."
Apparently, they don't have a sense of 'betrayal' or anything like that. Such a sense only begins to bud in B-rank or higher with high intelligence; for C-rank and below, strength and the superiority of conditions are everything.
In that case, we decided to have them cooperate.
From the information obtained from the Ghoul, it turned out we were unexpectedly close to the evil spirit. We wouldn't know until we actually fought, but the evil spirit apparently really dislikes Edward-sama's voice and the light of [Light].
For us, it was exactly what we wanted.
"For all that, the Ghoul still attacked us, didn't it?"
Indeed, it was as Gwyn-sama said. The unpleasant feeling of the evil spirit disappeared after it was blocked by the wall of [Light]. On the other hand, rocks kept flying at us.
"He said if they wear robes covered in mud, they don't get hit by the light directly, and for the chanting, they wore pots made by hardening soil with magic."
They're smart. They blocked the light by covering robes obtained from grave robbing with mud and used pots to counter the loud noise. In that case, they would be able to hear their own voices.
"For now, if we just throw rocks toward the entrance, they'll probably hit something."
Wilson-san was laughing. It was probably because what they did was the same.
Looking at the simple map drawn by the Ghoul, there was a place where the remaining two Ghouls were waiting, and beyond that was the evil spirit's lair. Since we had to take the Ghouls back, we decided to take Violet and Ghoul Number One along as well.
"Then, let us go. This is a memorable joint operation between monsters and humans. Our goals are the ascension of the evil spirit, the conquest of the Demon Realm, and bringing the remaining two Ghouls over to our side."
After being told "Please look after the base" by Price-sama, Henry-sama and Eleanor-sama, as well as Will and Gigant, saw us off with sour faces as the Demon Realm conquest operation began.
Edward-sama's chanting is on break for a while. The four priests rode in the front of Wilson-san's medium-sized bowl, four warriors in the center, and Wilson-san, Violet, and the Ghoul in the rear.
I am the lighting person during combat as well as the evil spirit repellent. Since the light is gathered in front by Price-sama's [Magic Reflection], it won't hit Violet and the others in the back directly.
We advanced deep into the cave all at once. Since they said it would still take time for the eggs to hatch, we decided to deal with them after the evil spirit was defeated.
When we reached the place where rocks were scattered, the bowl was deactivated. Wilson-san dug a hole for us, so we all hid at once.
Violet gave instructions, and the Ghoul began flying the scattered rocks. The magic itself was [Clump Stone], so it was mid-level magic, but since Ghouls can use high-level lightning magic, the power was also high. Rocks also came flying from the other side, and it turned into a shooting match.
At the same time, Wilson-san began flying rocks at ultra-high speed by wrapping them in [Wind Barrier]. The rocks disappeared in an instant, and only the sounds of clunk, clunk could be heard. After flying a few shots, it seemed we won the exchange. Rocks stopped flying from the other side.
"Wait a moment."
When Wilson-san said that, he took Violet and the Ghoul on the bowl to the back and returned with the two Ghouls whose necks and limbs were bent out of shape.
"Gigant and I will take care of these guys. The evil spirit was there, but it's alone, so do your best."
It was there...
"I am, you see, good at [Charm]. I'm strong against mental attacks. That's why it ends up in a standoff. Even though I look like this, my magic defense is high too."
Come to think of it, she was unscathed after taking a [Prominence]. Actually, aren't Arachne as strong as dragons?
The enemy's attacks became only mental attacks. With Edward-sama's loud noise and my [Light], wouldn't we be in a fairly advantageous situation?
"What do you think? For example, Jeanne, would you dislike going outside when a wind strong enough to blow various things away is blowing?"
Of course I'd dislike it. If there's someone who likes it, I'd like to ask them why.
"Then, what if it were a situation where you would lose your life if you didn't go outside?"
"I would... go."
In other words, for the evil spirit, it's about that much.
"Exactly. However, in such a strong wind, it is difficult to advance upwind. We are, so to speak, upwind due to Edward-sama's chanting and Jeanne's [Light]."
I see. If we fly something on the wind, the opponent will fall on their own. Assuming it hits well.
What Harrison-san said was correct, and the battle with the evil spirit became a complete war of attrition. We suppressed the opponent's movements with Edward-sama's loud noise and my maximum-power Fireflies. Amidst a situation that truly felt like a gale was howling, the evil spirit extended black, murky tentacles like an anemone from its main body of flickering, dark blue-black flames. A cycle continued where the four warriors, including Will, and Sianya attacked and neutralized them with silver weapons and [Holy Lance].
The back of the cave was a wide room, exactly the same as the room where the eggs were. I believe it was the thirty-third branch path. It was probably intended to be a room for making eggs. It seems the plan was changed after receiving our raid.
The evil spirit, a mass of blue-black flames, let out a chilling voice that echoed directly in the head. The voice was sometimes strong and sometimes weak; just when I let my guard down thinking it had weakened for a while, a sudden scream would echo. At those times, it felt like my heart was being pulled away, and my concentration for casting magic was about to break. When that happened, the momentum of the tentacles increased, and the burden on the warriors and Sianya who were countering them grew. They were trying to strike down the tentacles and step into the center, but when three or four attacked simultaneously, they had no choice but to retreat. In Sianya's case, [Holy Lance] wasn't fast enough, so Price-sama was casting [Over Flow]. If we keep doing it, magic power will run out too.
The reason we were managing to hold on was that Price-sama was calling out to us via [Thought Communication].
Special mention goes to the hero Roberts-sama. Using the tip and the butt of his spear, he skillfully parried the extending tentacles and frequently supported the other warriors. It must be because he had been training against the Headmistress's foul-play attacks.
As time passed, Price-sama seemed to understand the timing of the strength and weakness of the evil spirit's screams.
(It's coming soon. Everyone, put strength into your stomachs. Imagine the brilliance of Jeanne's Fireflies in your heads!)
In this way, he warned everyone.
(Alright! Jeanne. We're counting on you!)
(Give it a flashy one!)
(Jeanne, do your best!)
(Uooooo! Grant me Jeanne-sama's power—!)
There is one person with an incurable illness, but it can't be helped. It cannot be denied that he brought laughter... no, mental leeway to everyone, including Edward-sama, who was receiving Price-sama's [Refresh] periodically.
The black tentacles kept extending no matter how many were dispersed. Just when I thought it might continue indefinitely...
(Price-sama, sorry to have kept you waiting. Everyone, please support us for a little longer.)
It was Harrison-san.
Until now, he had been placing stone tablets used for the [Exorcism Array], which activates with a combination of a magic circle and a spell, so as to surround the evil spirit. Naturally, the evil spirit also noticed that Harrison-san was doing something. It had been flashily extending its tentacles, but the four warriors had been taking turns cutting in. Just placing the stone tablets wasn't enough. They had to be protected from the evil spirit.
Harrison-san was drawing barriers to protect the stone tablets. He set up a barrier surrounding the place where the stone tablet was placed with a circle, set up five high-level holy barriers to surround that barrier, and then set up a barrier with an even larger circle surrounding those. Unless he did that much, there was a possibility they would be destroyed by the evil spirit. He did that in five locations. In a sense, it was the most defenseless role and the one most likely to be targeted by the evil spirit, but the warriors protected him to the end.
(Jeanne. Please do your best until our chanting is finished.)
After saying that, Price-sama began chanting in a sonorous voice that echoed well in the head. It would be a joint chant with Harrison-san.
Price-sama, who possessed strength within calmness, and the low and powerful Harrison-san. The voices of the two reached directly into the head via [Thought Communication]. When the chanting of the two, which brought a sense of exhilaration suitable for the middle of a battle, ended, it activated.
([Distract Formation]!)
It was different from the [Exorcism Formation] which drives away evil within a barrier. It was an [Evil-Breaking Array] that attacks the evil within the barrier and significantly reduces its power.
Simultaneously with the activation, a loud noise exceeding Edward-sama's vocalization echoed, and an impact came that made me think the cave might collapse for a moment.
Pillars of white light rose from the five stone tablets, and a wall of light that confined the evil spirit was created as if connecting those pillars.
Light intersected within the wall, and a slightly warm, pure white light overflowed into the surroundings.
The evil spirit's death cry, which wasn't a voice, resonated in my head, and in my exhaustion, I lowered both hands, deactivated the Fireflies, and fell on my backside.
I seemed to have dazed out. When I came to my senses, I saw a giant, flickering mass of light.
"Jeanne, are you alright?"
When I turned toward the direction where I heard the voice, Price-sama was there.
"Right now, Bishop Harrison is trying to ascend the souls that had been absorbed by the evil spirit with [Ascension]."
"Ah, yes."
"You did well. Naturally, it won't be possible to save all the souls, but let's save as many as we can."
Harrison-san was holding up both hands beneath the mass of light. Small white lights were being absorbed into the light of [Ascension] one after another.
Looking around, the four warriors were crouching on the spot, and Sianya was on both knees offering a prayer.
I see, we won...
Slowly picking myself up and kneeling, I offered a prayer to the Goddess.