Chapter 89 – Cross of Memories #8

I had no choice but to be wary of the armed skeleton’s blatant gaze. The other normal skeletons did not show any particular reaction when Kate held the holy water bottle. The only thing I could do was run away like a beast, get hit in the head with a bottle, and fall out.

But what if an armed skeleton is imbued with intelligence?
That is, if you have the judgment to know what is dangerous to you.

There would be no reason to leave the Holy Beast, which is no different from the natural enemy of the undead, unattended. As he was a soldier of the ancient kingdom during his lifetime, he could not have known how to fight.

“Kate, just hand over a bottle of holy water.”

I got a bottle of holy water from Kate. The lantern he was holding was put down on the floor, but there is no problem securing his sight. From behind, Kate adjusted the angle of the lantern to illuminate the interior of the stone chamber.
He stared at the armed skeleton, leaning on the lights.

A skeleton standing still as if asking to be targeted.

Poof! I threw a holy water bottle at him with all my might. It was the moment when the holy water bottle, flying at a furious speed, was about to hit the skeleton’s head.
At that moment, the skeleton swung its shield at lightning speed and knocked out the holy water bottle. The flowing holy water soaked the skeleton’s shield. The skeleton protected its weak point, the head.

“He knows what to look out for.”
“That’s right. That skeleton is wary of holy water.’
“I’ll make a gap, so you aim for the head. You can forcefully shove holy water into it.”

Kate nodded his head nervously. Now there were two Holy Numbers left. You have two chances to defeat the armed skeletons in one blow.
But even if it misses, it won’t be a big problem. All you have to do is whip the whip until the bones break. That’s what I thought until right before we started a full-scale battle.
However, the moment I swung the whip at the armed skeleton, my thoughts were bound to change.

“I dodged it!”

The horizontal whip swung past the skeleton’s body.
The skeleton bent its waist at a bizarre angle and avoided the whip.
A movement that can never be imitated by a living human being!

Hard! Hard! Hard!

The armed skeleton closed the distance with me while making unpleasant bone noises. How a delay occurs because of the time it takes to retrieve the whip once it is swung! Knowing that, the skeleton started running at lightning speed.

“Get closer!”
“Stand back and stick to the wall!”

Creepy-!!
The skeleton that finally closed the distance swung a sword at me.
A longsword tainted with contaminants from the aquifer aimed at my throat.

“Kuk.”

I retreated to avoid the skeleton’s attack.
It’s an unexpectedly strong enemy, but you shouldn’t run away from here.
If you turn your back, an armed skeleton will immediately target Kate. Even while swinging the sword, the skeleton is watching Kate holding the holy water.

“I’ll throw a bottle!”

The moment Kate threw a holy water bottle from behind, she had an opportunity to distance herself from the skeleton.

Hard!
I kicked as hard as I could to the skeleton that had stopped moving while slicing the holy water bottle.
The skeleton, whose broad hips was hit, rolled backwards. I managed to retrieve the water whip while the skeleton stood up with its weapon.

“Hey, now we have one last bottle left!”

Although it was a powerful skeleton, it was not that there was no way to defeat it. He probably doesn’t know anything about my water whip yet. He only fixed it in the form of a whip, but he didn’t show him another way to use it.

After taking a few deep breaths.
I slapped the water whip at the skeleton in an oblique line. A water whip swung diagonally aimed at the skeleton’s spine.
However, this time, the skeleton bent his back again and avoided the attack.
He really is a nimble guy with only one movement.

Hard!
As if looking for an opportunity, the skeleton rushed at explosive speed.

“Kyaaak!”

Kate’s screams echoed through the chamber.
Just then, I imbued the water whip with magic.

“Liquid-!”

Magic to control the flow of water!
From the moment the water whip is first completed, it is under the control of liquid magic. This means that you can change the direction freely without having to sign a hand sign.
The retrieved water whip aimed at the skeleton from behind.
The skeleton that was showing its back was finally hit by my water whip.

Kwajik! The skeleton, hit in the spine, collapsed to the ground.
I swung the water whip and hit him recklessly. He hit the shoulder blades where the arms were connected and the hips where the legs were connected until they shattered. The armed skeleton was brutally smashed by my merciless hand movements.
The moment I came to my senses, only the body and head of the skeleton remained.

“Get rid of it, Kate!”
“Aaaaa!”

Kate threw a holy water bottle at the skeleton, who fell to her floor. The holy water bottle collided with the skeleton’s skull, and the flowing holy water soaked the skull, causing the skeleton to lose its strength. It turned into an ordinary skeleton and hung its head on the floor of the stone chamber.

“Is it over now?”
“Yes, just break the totem.”

Looking at the fallen skeleton, I let out a sigh of relief. Because now we’ve defeated all the undead guarding the totem. If you break the totem and return, the quest was a success.

“Haa… It’s a relief that I hired Dreammaster as a party member. I never thought such an annoying skeleton would be waiting inside the stone chamber.”

Kate smashed the totem installed on the floor of the stone chamber with her mace. The totem, which was made of bones and flesh, had poor durability, and Kate’s power alone caused the totem to collapse.
As soon as I started to help, the totem’s destruction was over in no time.

“Is the destruction over? Is there anything else I need to do?”
“It’s the end of destroying what you’ve been ordered to do. But, dreamer-nim, please burn the flesh with fire. I think there won’t be any remorse if I burn it cleanly.”

I know very little about pagan witchcraft.
Seeing the crushed totem pieces rolling across the floor, I couldn’t be relieved at all. I think it would be neat to burn it with fire instead of destroying it.

“Fire.”

I burned the totem fragment with the flame I lit on the tip of my finger. The flesh of the animal that formed the totem began to burn. However, the moment the flesh melted, a strange marble fell from within.

“What is this?”

A pitch-black ball rolling on the floor soon landed at my feet.
Staring at her marbles, Kate opened her mouth in surprise.

“It’s a magical item used by the cultists. I’ve learned that the cultists use that orb to amplify the power of their totems.”
“Orb? Then shouldn’t this also be destroyed?”
“Boo, you can’t break it! Bringing an orb and selling it makes a lot of money. Of course, you have to sell it to a magic shop to get the full price. I’ve seen an orb of that size sold for 30 silver.”

One of these small orbs costs 30 silver?
I stuck out my tongue at the unexpected price. So, isn’t that what I’m doing right now? Thirty silver was equivalent to the reward for cutting off the giant’s head!

“How will we do it?”
“What are you doing?”
“Distribution. Shouldn’t we share the money from selling the orb?”
“Ah.”

Hearing my words, Kate looked at the orb and thought about it. I had no complaints when Kate took the distribution. Because it was Kate who let me know that orbs could be money. If I had found the orb in the totem by myself, I would have destroyed it without asking or questioning. The 30 silver must have evaporated in the air.
But after a while, Kate brought out her disbelief.

“There’s no reason to distribute. Dreamer-nim, take the orb!”
“Are you serious?”
“It’s thanks to the dreamer that I was able to safely arrive here. My contribution to the quest is extremely small. It makes no sense to ask for distribution here.”
“If you look at the contribution, that’s right.”

If you consider the contribution of the quest, you are definitely right. A conscientious party member might concede the loot to me.
But now my party member is Kate.
She was a shameless nun who always took her share even if she ate quests raw.

If she’s 30 silver, she’s pretty big money even for Kate.
Wasn’t it a waste for me to gulp it all?

“Instead, I have a request from Mongma-nim.”

Kate opened her mouth with her hesitant mouth. I was nervous at the sudden request. Surely Kate couldn’t do me a favor for free.

“Everyone, please buy me a meal next time!”
“Do you want to buy me some food?”
“It’s natural to have an after party after the quest is over! Let Mongma-nim pay for all the money for the meal!”

I thought you were going to ask me a big favor.
I thought it was just a request to buy food! If that’s a request, there’s nothing wrong with accepting it! Of course, I couldn’t feed them cheap food as much as I received and ate the 30 silver orb.

“Call-.”
“Cole?”
“It means good.”

The moment Kate got my permission, she put on a look of delight.
It would be nice to have an after party with the two of you.
Because I wanted to hear more about her old classmates from her. Of course, I couldn’t make the appointment today. Rebecca will be waiting for me in the inn room.

“How about tomorrow evening?”
“Like!”

A transaction was established.
Even when I shoved the orb into her backpack, Kate seemed uncomplaining.
We went outside the stone chamber and started going back the way we came.
Now it’s time to get out into the groundwater.
But the moment I reached the plaza, I reflexively stopped.

“What happened?”
“The Ratmen have appeared.”

Behind me, Kate stuck her head out.
The moment Kate saw the same scenery as me, Kate shouted in a frightened voice.

“Why are there ratman corpses?

The plaza of the underground aqueduct was littered with the corpses of the Ratmen. There were enough corpses to bury the remains of the skeletons we destroyed earlier. Of course, I don’t remember Kate and I killing so many ratmen.

“What the hell is going on? Could it be that the surviving cultists did it?”
“It’s not like that. This happened because the rat men started fighting over territory. Look carefully between the corpses.”

Ratmen were biting each other in the gaps in the pile of corpses.
The appearance of putting molars into the nape of the neck of a fellow tribesman and fighting bloody battles!
In the plaza of the underground canal, the rat men’s territorial fight had begun.
Since I was familiar with the ecology of rat men, I was able to recognize them at once.

“Ratmen fight fiercely for territory even among their own people. They gather in groups and battle among themselves. That, of course, happened today.”

As time went on, the number of rat men that appeared in the plaza increased. Ratmen belonging to different gangs started fighting as a group. The number of ratmen was so great that it was impossible to see a gap to pass through the plaza.

“Huh. It’s disgusting.”
“I’ll have to hide first.”

I took her terrified Kate and stepped behind her. It was not possible to move hastily in this area where a territorial dispute took place. Ratmen are fighting bloody battles all over the underpass. If you try to force your way through, you will be attacked by horny ratmen.

‘Is it because the totem disappeared?’

If there was a reason for the sudden appearance of rat men, there was something to guess. It was because the skeletons that had been occupying the plaza had been eradicated by our hands. The rat men must have come out to occupy the empty land after losing their owner. But I didn’t expect them to act so quickly.

“Sir, are we really trapped in an underground canal like this?”
“It’s not like you’re trapped forever. If you wait, the territorial battle will end someday. You can aim for that time and get out of the underground canal.”
“When will it end!”
“Maybe tomorrow morning?”
“What did you say?!”

Kate looked at me with puzzled eyes.
I couldn’t help but tell Kate her terrible truth.

“Looks like I’ll have to sleep in the stone chamber for the night.”