Chapter 88 – Cross of Memories #7

After killing three ratmen, I cut off their thick tails with my longsword and put them in my backpack.
Ratman tails cost 2 copper each, which is the same as one goblin fang.
It wasn’t for nothing that I called these Ratmen the Sewer Goblins.

“Why are you cutting off your tail? Mongma-nim.”
“Sell it and you’ll make money.”
“Really? How much?”
“Two coopers each.”
“Tsk.”

Hearing my words, Kate turned her head away with a disappointed expression. He didn’t seem to care about the ratman’s tail in my hand.
Does that mean that japtem like 2Cooper isn’t even interested?
Come to think of it, when Kate received gifts from adventurers, it seems that she skipped japtems that cost less than 10 copper.

‘I collect the dust and don’t know that it’s Taesan.’

Actually, I was on the side of learning magic and earning a lot better.
It was a habit to take japtem that could be used as money from monsters. If you collect 2 coppers 50 times, isn’t that 1 silver? Scraping even copper coins was the shortcut to becoming rich. One day, I will definitely build a bathhouse in Yoensuu with the money I saved.

“Are you done?”
“We’re leaving.”

Kate, who had been killing time nibbling on hard biscuits, started walking again when I signaled her to start. After that, rat men appeared one by one, but there was no particular problem. It was because they were bound to lie down wielding a water whip.
If there was only one problem, it was Kate.

“Hiyaaaaa”
“This is God’s Wrath!!”

Kate participated in killing Rat Man in the ensuing battle as well. Seeing him wielding his mace with a bizarre spirit made me laugh and drive myself crazy. Abnormal Laughter made me suffer.

“You can’t do that.”
“Whoops! I’m just trying to get rid of my anger at not being able to go for a walk with a stick! It’s kind of painful to just stay still.”

That’s what she said, but Kate seemed very happy to hear the compliment earlier.
Maybe if I continued to praise her, this blond nun would change her job to a monk?
Suddenly, I thought about it, so I forgot to say it.

While exploring with Kate, the time came when she had to stop her steps suddenly. It was when I was walking down an underpass that was connected in a straight line. The underpass was cut off in the middle, so it was impossible to move forward.

“The road is cut off. The map said to go this way.”
“Hmm? It was originally connected here.”

The passage leading to the southern stone chamber was cut off. Has there been a major battle recently in this area? A scene where the road is completely destroyed and dirty water fills up at the broken part. Perhaps it was the place where the paladins of the church fought against the pagans.

“Can I swim?”
“Absolutely not. You’re going to get sick and die if you soak in the water here?”

It’s absolutely not as good as swimming through a canal. Because the contaminated water in the groundwater itself was toxic.

“The map says that there is only one passage to the stone chamber in the south.”
“Not necessarily. Other passages are also around here.”
“Yes? There is another passage?”

Kate looked around her with a surprised expression. There were a lot of tall pillars rising around the straight underpass. I pointed with my finger at one of the pillars.

“There’s a space behind the pillar-“
“Wow!”

There was a small path between the pillars I pointed to, and that path also led to the southern stone chamber. It is so exquisitely hidden by pillars that adventurers miss it.

Even the mapmaker of the aqueducts probably doesn’t know all the roads. It wouldn’t be strange if Kate’s map was missing something.

I walked towards the passage hidden behind the pillars.
Kate opened her mouth excitedly as I followed.

“Today, for some reason, you’re trustworthy, Mr. Dream!”
“Then what about other days other than today?”
“You were a nice person on other days, too.”

Looking behind her, Kate was twisting her fingers through her hair.
Kate added her words as she smiled.

“…Today is especially cool. To the point where I want to make Hmongma-nim my regular party member.”
“A fixed party?”
“Mu, of course, that story was over the other day. Dating is prohibited in my fixed party. I just wanted to say that the dreamer looks great.”

Hearing compliments from a beautiful woman saying that he was cool made me feel embarrassed for no reason.
I answered while clearing my throat.

“Yes.”
“You still don’t have any intentions of making a fixed party with me, just the two of us, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Quit.”

Apologetically, Kate turned her head away.
Is this the second time Kate has gotten her fixed party offer?
Thanks for the fixed party offer, but I couldn’t get Rebecca out of the party. Again, I flatly declined Kate’s offer.

“It’s a shame.”

Listening to Kate, I walked forward in silence.
The moment we reached the end of the hidden passage, what unfolded in front of us was a large plaza. A plaza built in an underground canal.
The surrounding area seemed to have been used as a temporary dwelling place for the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom. Looking at the countless stone chambers around the plaza.

Of course, the southern stone chamber where the pagan totem exists was also located around this plaza. I couldn’t help but be nervous from the moment I arrived at the plaza.
The undead summoned by the totem finally showed up.

“It’s a skeleton.”

White skeletons with nothing but bones remaining.
Skeletons were walking inside the plaza. The moment the lantern’s light hit them, the skeletons turned their empty eyes to look at me and Kate.

“It’s an undead monster. It must be a monster summoned by a pagan totem.”
“Did you bring holy water?”
“Sure!”

Kate took holy water out of her backpack. Judging from the fact that she emitted a weak aura, she was a low-level Holy Beast. It means that she can inflict enough damage on undead monsters.

“These are terrible people.”

Trembling with fear, I put the water whip in my hand. Seeing the walking skeleton with your own eyes is grotesque. As long as it has bones, it’s fine, but the rotten flesh additionally decorates the bones.

Hard! Hard!

Skeletons began to run while making unpleasant bone noises.
Five skeletons were rushing from all sides. I held back my screams and whipped the water whip frantically. Skeletons exploded whenever the whip hit them. However, they were clearly different from ordinary monsters.

“It keeps moving even when it falls to the floor.”
“I can’t feel pain because I’m undead!”

The skeleton with its broken leg pursued me, even crawling on its arms. Mouth crackling might get bitten if caught. Their empty pupils contained hatred for the living.

It was impossible to kill five skeletons at once.
It is impossible to wipe them out in one blow, as they run in different directions.

Is it to spread the famous siege annihilation on the subject of skull heads?

“Smart baby!”

A skeleton that dug into the gap swung its arm. He tried to scratch me with the tip of his sharp hand bone. The moment I narrowly avoided the attack, a glass bottle flew from behind.

Poof!
A glass bottle that hit the head of the skull accurately!
What was contained in the bottle was holy water with an aura. Kate threw holy water at just the right time. The water that flowed out of the broken glass bottle melted the skeleton’s head.

“Does the skeleton melt?”
“It’s 30 coppers per bottle of holy water! This is the power of money!”

Surprisingly, the melting of the skeleton did not end there. Because the skeleton that fell while staggering fell silent in that state. Unlike when I hit him with a water whip, he couldn’t even fight with his broken body.

“Go to God’s side!!”

Kate threw her holy water at the approaching skeletons. Every time the holy water was sprinkled, the skeletons collapsed like puppets with broken strings.
The five skeletons were cleaned up in an instant.
I looked at Kate, who held her holy water in her hand, with her surprised eyes.

“Did it end just by spraying it? They all fell in one blow.”
“You have to match it to the head. That way they can’t rise again. I’ve been taught that the part where a skeleton’s soul dwells is its head.”
“Is it the head?”

As she said, all of the parts of her that Kate hit the glass bottle with were the skeleton’s head. It was to accurately fit the heads of the moving skeletons with glass bottles. Unexpectedly, Kate may have a knack for her throwing technique.

“How much holy water do you have left?”
“Eight bottles!”
“I’ll have to save it.”

It is not that there is no way to subdue the skeleton without sprinkling holy water. All I had to do was thoroughly break the skeleton’s bones. If not only the limbs but also the spine were destroyed, even the undead would not be able to move.

“The stone chamber with the totem should be around here. Let’s destroy it and go back.”
“Yep-!”

I and Kate advanced towards the stone chamber to the south. However, as they got closer to the totem, the skeletons continued to pop out. He swung the water whip and smashed it thoroughly, but he didn’t have the ability to just stand by the skeletons pushing him with their swords.

As time passed, each bottle of holy water was consumed.
The moment she finally arrived at the entrance of the southern stone chamber, Kate had a total of three bottles of holy water left. This means that you have to finish off all the skeletons in there with these 3 bottles.

“Are you ready?”
“Of course.”

The entrance to the secretly hidden stone chamber in the south.
In front of him, I checked Kate’s condition. Carrying a bottle of holy water in her arms, Kate’s complexion was pale.
As the battle continued, Kate was often exposed to skeleton attacks.
Up until now, I had managed to block it, but I didn’t know what was going to happen inside this stone chamber.

A stone chamber with a pagan totem.
It was the same place as the production facility that summoned the undead. You can’t even guess how many skeletons are waiting inside.

After making the water whip even thicker, I carefully opened the door to the stone chamber. The stone door opened, revealing the landscape inside. The moment I shined the light of the lantern inside, I could clearly see what was inside the stone chamber.

“That looks like a totem.”

A thick totem built on the stone chamber floor.
The material that made up the totem was, terribly, the bones and flesh of beasts. As expected of pagans, the materials used to make totems are terrible. The thought of having to destroy it with my own hands is already making my hamstrings tingle.

“There is only one skeleton here.”
“Really?”

At Kate’s words, I hurriedly looked around the inside of the stone chamber. It wasn’t that she misunderstood, there was really only one skeleton inside the stone chamber. However, it was different from other skeletons that only had skeletons left. The moment I took a closer look at that one, I couldn’t help but be embarrassed.

“I’m holding a sword and shield.”
“It’s an armed skeleton.”

A skeleton that appeared in the light of a lantern.
The skeleton was clad in the old armor of the Old Kingdom, holding a sword and shield in both hands. Unlike the old armor, the quality of the sword and shield is very good. It was probably obtained from the corpse of a dead adventurer.

A soldier from an ancient kingdom buried in an underground canal.
It was as if it had become undead and revived right in front of my eyes.
The armed skeleton was silently watching us from around the totem. With sword and shield raised.

I asked Kate in a puzzled voice.

“Isn’t the undead, after all, a dead person resurrected?”
“Yes?”
“Then what if the undead learned swordsmanship in their lifetime? Does that mean they can use the swordsmanship they learned?”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to use it. Compared to when you were alive, your swordsmanship would have deteriorated considerably. Because in an undead state, your memory will inevitably be blurred.”

Nervous, Kate held three bottles of holy water over her head. She probably intended to throw them all at once and send them off in one blow. Being an armed skeleton was definitely different from the ones I had seen so far. It was so suspicious that only that one animal was holding out in this large room.

“I’ll throw it.”

The moment Kate stretched out her arm and was about to throw holy water.

“For a moment.”

I quickly grabbed Kate’s wrist.
Stopped Kate from throwing holy water.

“I have something to check, so wait.”

I confronted the armed skeleton alone.
Because I realized it in that brief moment.
The skeleton’s empty pupils were glaring at Kate’s holy water bottle.