In the sixth cell, which is presumed to be the last area of this dungeon, there was a spacious room, big enough to comfortably hold fifty people—unlike the other five cells.
The ceiling was even more than four times my height! It was as if they were expecting to house a giant or something.
“Hmm…”
This place was in worse shape than the other five cells. No, it was far worse.
The Holy Sword didn’t help much; the room was too dark to see properly, but at a glance, the walls and floor were covered with long scratches and dents.
It looked like a crazed giant had gone on a rampage with weapons.
‘Is all of this the work of that “Hryungchank” dude?’
There were visible traces of what looked like walls tougher than black steel, ripped apart as if my fingers could sink deep into them. A wave of tension rose within me.
If this was indeed the work of what was written in the research journal as “Hryungchank,” it meant that the creature had strength surpassing mine.
Moreover, it wasn’t just the countless knife marks left behind inside the cell.
“…There are a lot of corpses here.”
“Right? It’s like a corpse fest in here.”
As Friede said, the floor of this cell was packed with corpses—there was hardly room to step.
They looked like they had been dead for hundreds of years, either dried up like mummies or completely turned to skeletons.
Most of the bodies were missing heads and torsos, and even those with heads still attached had holes in their bodies or broken bones.
Unlike the corpse in the first cell, which had starved to death… this suggested they had either killed each other or had been massacred by someone.
Considering the similar size of the wounds, it was probably the latter.
‘Which means there’s someone here who made this graveyard of corpses.’
My vigilance heightened.
Seeing that the inside of the cell was quiet, it was likely that Hryungchank had also starved to death… but what if he was still alive?
It was certain that he could move freely within the cell. If he had been tied up to the walls or pillars, he wouldn’t have been able to carve knife marks all over this wide cell.
In other words, if he was truly alive, he might be lurking somewhere in this place, watching us right this moment.
“…Let’s go deeper. I’ll take the lead.”
I readied Edelmut, prepared to unleash my holy barrier at any moment, as I stepped forward to shield Friede with my body.
If it came to it, I could withstand attacks that Friede wouldn’t be able to block, thanks to my armor and the holy barrier.
“Just in case, be careful, Hilde.”
Knowing this, Friede only expressed her concern once and didn’t oppose my leading the way.
We walked about twenty steps in.
– Crack, crack.
The entire floor was filled with bones and corpses, so every step echoed like breaking snacks.
If there was an enemy lurking here, we were essentially giving away our location… but the same was true for the enemy.
In this environment, anyone approaching to ambush us would probably be discovered by our footfalls before they could attack.
…Honestly, looking at the outcome, there wasn’t really a need to worry about an ambush.
“This is… no way, is this the ‘Hryungchank’?”
As we continued deeper into the cell, the light of the Holy Sword illuminated the innermost wall, and we finally discovered something that was different from the corpses scattered on the floor.
“That’s… a coffin, right?”
A metal coffin was vertically fixed to the wall.
The lid was shattered into fragments on the floor, and a chain as thick as my wrist protruded from the wall, binding the open coffin tightly.
Inside lay its contents, arranged as if asleep.
Friede lifted the Holy Sword, shining its light into the coffin. She flinched, as the reflected light on the wall trembled visibly.
“A girl…?”
Yes. It was a girl.
With platinum hair that appeared bleached and long flowing, she seemed to be sleeping, her head drooping while wearing a restraint suit.
This was the appearance of the prisoner trapped in this cell… known by the alias of Hryungchank, a demon.
“…Is she dead? She doesn’t seem to be breathing.”
Of course, just because she appeared as a girl didn’t mean we could let our guard down.
Friede, despite her pretty and lovely appearance, could unleash unimaginable violence.
She looked like an angel, but when facing an enemy, she’d transform into a brutal killer capable of scaring even orcs.
If that’s how fearsome a hero blessed by the goddess, Friede, was, I could hardly guess how wicked this girl, labeled Hryungchank, could be.
So we had to stay cautious.
Even if she lay there looking like a corpse, with her pale face hardly breathing.
“I think she looks dead… but she seems too intact for a corpse…”
Friede muttered quietly, still pointing the Holy Sword at the girl.
The girl’s face revealed through her hair was a bit thin but still beautiful.
Her cheeks, devoid of color, were slowly regaining health, turning from pale to a healthy hue thanks to the Nibelung’s glowing aura.
…Indeed, she looked too good for a corpse.
Unlike the other corpses, her face wasn’t rotting or shriveled. It was like a preserved entity rather than a dead body.
Whether it was due to her monstrous strength that kept her body from decaying or if she was still alive was hard to tell. If she had been breathing, one might have mistaken her for sleeping.
It was clear she had no consciousness, considering she hadn’t reacted even after hearing our voices… but what if it was some kind of state to conserve her power?
“…What should we do?”
“Well…”
There was only one way to confirm it.
“Let’s just stab her and see.”
“…Huh?”
I aimed Edelmut at the girl’s heart. The nape was obscured by chains, making it difficult to cut through.
“Haah!”
With a burst of light, my sword shot towards the girl, aiming to pierce her upper body when suddenly—
– VWOOM…!
A low vibrating sound echoed as my outstretched sword was halted abruptly as if it had hit something.
“What…!”
A tremendous resistance was transmitted through the hilt.
It felt like I was trying to push a tough rubber band aside, a mix of vibrations and a counterforce that gripped the tip of Edelmut and held it back.
‘This can be blocked…?! With the strength of “Up” plus [Kwangwan]?!!’
I stared in shock at the stopped tip of my sword.
Crack, crack. The blade trembled, struggling to push forward.
There was a small disc hovering in front of the girl’s chest, strong enough to shred through steel.
A red circular barrier, throbbing like blood.
That red disc, no bigger than a drinking glass, was undulating with waves, holding my sword from moving forward an inch.
It was a chilling sight. The tension shot through me, leaving me momentarily dazed.
“Urgh…!”
I grunted involuntarily. Supporting Edelmut with my left hand, I pushed the sword forward with all my might.
The iron plate beneath my feet buckled under the pressure, and my armor creaked against my bulging muscles.
– CRACK…!
Was it working? The center of the red barrier was slowly being pushed back, transforming from a disc into a cone shape.
‘It’s working! If I keep pushing like this…!’
I was sure I could pierce through. Just as I was about to shout for Friede to attack—
– Screech.
With the heavy sound of chains grinding against each other, the girl, who had been drooping her head like a ghost, lifted it.
Her eyelids rose, meeting my gaze. Her red eyes glimmered ominously, and a ghostly smile appeared on her lips. The face of a predator.
A wave of terror hit me, biting my teeth together.
Instinctually, I realized. This was a monster. A monster to be ignored, not touched.
It was a grave mistake to have provoked her to wake.
“This demon, she was alive after all…!”
“HILDE!”
As Friede recognized that the demon’s eyes were open, she hurriedly raised her Holy Sword, ready to cleave the girl’s head like firewood while she was still bound.
In that moment, the demon spoke softly.
“Mom…?”
A shocking statement that no one, not even me, could have predicted.
The Edelmut, which was about to pierce through her barrier, veered away, crashing back into the coffin, and Friede’s Holy Sword came to a hard stop.
“…What? Mom, what?”
In an instant, my mind went blank. It was that surprising of a statement. The first words the demon uttered upon awakening.
“H-Hilde? No way, no way…? It can’t be, right?!”
Friede, having halted her sword, looked back and forth between me and the demon, her face reflecting the shock of someone who just witnessed a video from a lost lover.
‘Her hair color…! It’s similar…!’ she muttered to herself.
“What the heck are you saying! Of course, no!”
I reflexively shouted in disbelief.
What do you mean, ‘no way’? For this insane little brat to imply I had a kid at my age? That would mean I had to be around seven years old when I had a child!
I was so taken aback that even the panic pounding in my heart vanished for a moment.
