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...]

[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?]

[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...]

[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.