Chapter 173: Ghost Town Part 8

Midnight.

Once again, the moon was nowhere to be seen.

The darker it became, the more restless Ayla grew; she even started pacing anxiously near the window. As if she wanted to go outside, she kept glancing at the window but couldn't bring herself to beg me directly; instead, she just whimpered softly with her ears flattened and her eyes filled with a pitiful look.

"We'll be going out soon, so stop whining, Ayla."

– Whimper…

We quietly slipped out through the second-floor window. Once we hid beneath the building's shadow, it was hard to even tell each other apart. The villagers would never know that we roamed around the village at this hour.

At night, ghosts wander near the mansion. The hellhound does too. So you all shouldn't be out at night, either.

The village was effectively under a nighttime curfew, which explained why no one was seen once the sun went down.

Then, that man we saw when we arrived in the village…

Why had he been at that mansion of all places despite the curfew? The same mansion where "ghosts" and "hellhounds" were said to appear?

Surely he hadn't gone there to meet a horrific death on purpose.

He must have entered the mansion because he had a definite "purpose".

"...."

That must be exactly what the villagers and the village chief were hiding.

– Woooooooooo…

When we arrived at the mansion, a cold and eerie aura seeped into my skin. There was also a stifling, smoky smell. Even though a long time had passed since the fire, smoke still rose, as if the rumors were true. That the wizard couple had indeed cursed this mansion.

Unlike the day before, the mansion's door was tightly locked with chains. The village chief had told us to come to him and get the key whenever we needed to enter. It seemed he had purposely ordered the villagers to lock it up.

It was wide open until now, but after assigning us the job, they decided to lock it?

And having to go to the chief to get the key every time we needed to enter… it felt like we were being "watched".

Well, just because the door was locked didn't mean we couldn't get in. We easily vaulted over the wall. Inside, the fog was even thicker, perhaps due to the lingering smoke.

"Ayla."

At my call, Ayla quickly scouted around the mansion. After circling it once, just like before, she sniffed the ground and then approached the mansion's door.

– Creeeeak…

Once again, with not a single gust of wind, the door swung wide open as if welcoming us. To prevent it from suddenly closing like last time, I securely propped it open with a vine before stepping inside.

"Wow, whoa… This place is so creepy."

El muttered those words. Her complexion grew noticeably paler than usual, perhaps from nerves.

"Don't worry, El. With your skills now, you can even cut down ghosts."

Lloyd reassured her.

As intangible entities, ghosts could not be harmed by simple physical attacks. Therefore, unlike zombies or skeletons, ghosts were not usually hunted by warriors. However, for those with a certain level of skill, the story was different. It was possible to slay ghosts with something called "sword energy".

Has El's skill already reached that level?

I felt pleased, but there was no time to offer compliments, so I held back my words.

-Creak…

The wooden floorboards below us creaked with every step. No other sounds could be heard. The inside of the mansion was eerily silent…

-Whoosh…

…and cold.

This feeling again…

We passed the Dawson couple's portrait and headed toward the stairs. Since we had roughly checked the first floor last time, we planned to thoroughly explore the second floor this time.

"I was attacked on these stairs. Something jumped out from above and came down on me."

"Did it seem hostile?"

"At the time, that's how it felt…"

"But you returned unharmed."

"Yes, the only injury I had was a bump on the back of my head."

"Anything else you remember?"

"Nothing. I didn't even get a good look at it."

"I'll take the lead."

"I'd appreciate that. My head still feels sore somehow."

Lloyd and I stood in front of the stairs; we kept talking as we inspected the steps and railing for any hidden traps. After confirming that there were none, we carefully began to ascend the stairs.

-Creak…

Halfway up, I glanced back without thinking. Behind us was Ayla, following with her tail swaying. And then…

"…Wait, Ayla. Why are you the only one here? Where's El?"

-Kung?

Ayla tilted her head in confusion. I craned my neck and looked down the stairs, but El was nowhere to be seen.

A bad feeling swept over me.

"Lloyd! El has disappeared!"

"...!"

We hurriedly rushed back down the stairs, but even in the dim first floor, there was no sign of El.

"Ayla, check outside the mansion."

-Woof!

Ayla darted out like a bullet.

"I'll head this way…"

"No, Lloyd. We don't know what's happening, so we shouldn't split up."

Unfortunately, the scene unfolding before me felt like a horror movie. And in horror movies, the moment the group splits up, they start dying one by one. Even just staying together increases the survival rate fivefold. I closed the distance between Lloyd and me and pulled out a dark lantern from my space ring. This was a useful item I'd once used in the Silver Mountains. I never thought I'd be taking it out again in a mansion like this. If we used starlight branches or candles, someone from the village might notice the lit mansion, which would complicate things. Using the dark lantern was the right choice.

When I turned on the dark lantern, I could feel the thick darkness that had filled the surroundings gradually thinning. We slowly moved forward while carefully searching every corner of the first floor.

…I didn't even hear El moving separately, so where did she go?

In this creaky mansion, where every step made the floorboards groan, it was nearly impossible for either Lloyd or me to hide our footsteps, no matter how cautiously we moved. And yet, she vanished without a trace? No matter how much El had grown, disappearing like this was impossible.

Is there some kind of trap? Or… a ghost?

But this wasn't a dungeon, and in a mansion like this, there was no way a trap could exist that even I, with my [Explorer] trait, couldn't detect. Unless the Dawson couple were on the level of Archmages.

"Theodore."

Just then, Lloyd called me. In front of him was a door that I hadn't noticed when I first entered the mansion.

"..."

I nodded my head and Lloyd tried turning the doorknob, but the door wouldn't budge. He tried to break the knob with force, but despite its worn appearance, it didn't move an inch.

"Hold on."

I handed the dark lantern to Lloyd and pulled out a key I had been wearing around my neck. It was the "key that could open anything" that I had received as a reward from goddess Liadel for saving the cats. As I brought the key close to the doorknob, the tip of the key glowed faintly and transformed to fit the keyhole perfectly.

– Click.

– Creak.

The door opened.

– Bang!!

– Clang!

– Bang!

From the moment the door opened, a noise that had been completely inaudible before started echoing through. It sounded like something was being struck…or shattered.

"..."

Lloyd and I exchanged glances for a moment before opening the door. As the dark lantern absorbed the darkness filling the room, the outline of the space came into view. The room was very, very small; it was about the size of the tiny one-room dorm I had stayed in during my college days. When Lloyd and I stepped inside, the room felt almost completely filled.

– Creak…

When I took a step to touch the wall, the floor let out a faint creaking noise. I got on one knee and placed my hand on the floor. I could feel a groove in the dust-covered wooden floor.

"..."

I pushed my fingers into the small groove and pulled. A square section of the floor lifted, revealing a narrow staircase barely wide enough for one person to pass through. The stairs were quite long and quite deep. And from inside…

– Bang!

– Clang!!

– Bang!

The sound we had heard before echoed through the space.

Lloyd who was holding the dark lantern took the lead. We hurriedly descended the stairs. I felt a strong sense of certainty that the noise was somehow related to El.

Sure enough.

At the bottom of the stairs was a space slightly larger than the room above. There were two candles mounted on each wall; the candles were red, and the flames burning at the wicks were green.

"El!"

As the green flames flickered, the elongated shadows they cast swayed unsettlingly. At the end of one of those shadows was El. She didn't seem to hear my voice and kept swinging her sword at something. At a glance, it looked like a small door. El was relentlessly slashing at something like a lock that was securing the door.

– Murmur…

She was muttering something.

"What on earth…"

As I tried to approach El, Lloyd grabbed me. He shook his head, then drew his sword and moved toward El. When he placed his hand on El's shoulder…

– Swish!

– Clang!!!

At that moment, El swung her sword. The blade gleamed ominously in the green firelight and narrowly grazed Lloyd's neck, but Lloyd deflected the attack with his own sword. The impact sent El tumbling backward, but she quickly got back on his feet.

"…Must… find… it."

El kept muttering as she readjusted her grip on her sword. She was clearly preparing to attack again.

She's lost her mind.

While Lloyd repositioned himself, I quietly pulled a seed from my pocket. I planned to capture El with [Plant Binding] the moment Lloyd subdued her.

– Clang!!!

– Crash!

– Clack!!

Each time their swords clashed, pale sparks flew. Unlike El who attacked without hesitation, Lloyd was restrained by many limitations. He moved cautiously while trying to find an opening without hurting El, but it seemed the skill of the disciple he had personally trained far exceeded his expectations. El showed no signs of backing down.

"…The gold…"

El's muttering grew louder and clearer.

"I must… find it…"

A voice filled with conviction.

"…I must find the gold!!!"

No, it was a voice tainted with madness.

-Swish!!!

The moment El raised her sword high,

-Fwoosh!

The seed sprouted.

次の章へ