408. Those Preparing for Winter #6
Dang rak, dang gak—.
The ominous bone decorations hanging from the trees swayed in the wind, rattling softly.
At first glance, they resembled dreamcatchers—one of those souvenirs people often bought—but the use of unidentified animal bones and leather gave them a creepy vibe. Not to mention their crude craftsmanship.
Ssul—k.
“Everyone, stay still—.”
Luna drew the Totem of Silence from her back and struck the tree with all her might.
With a sound of dang rak, the bone dreamcatcher fell to the ground. Luna picked it up with her palm, furrowing her brows as she examined it.
“It’s made from combinations of squirrel bones and lizard bones. There doesn’t seem to be any curse attached to it. It might just be a warning sign?”
Suul—k.
Luna lifted her head. Through her radiant emerald eyes, reflected were the bones of various animals hung around.
“It seems like this is the territory of the monsters.”
We all agreed with Luna’s analysis. It certainly looked like some kind of territorial marker, akin to a scarecrow or totem.
“Here are some footprints…! Judging by the four toes, most of them belong to goblins…”
That’s when Paranoi discovered footprints between the fallen leaves.
True to Paranoi’s observation, there were footprints clustered closely together, about the size of a child’s palm.
Among them were larger ones, about the size of my palm, setting off some caution within me.
Their shapes resembled a Y-form — exactly like bird footprints.
Is there really a humongous bird here?
“Hassan, it’s a troll.”
“Why am I a troll, Elpride?”
“Huh? Not you, Hassan. These footprints indicate trolls, man.”
Judging by Elpride’s words, the footprints didn’t belong to a bird but rather to a monstrous troll.
Elpride continued.
“It seems trolls really do exist here. Hence, even fairly skilled adventurers would find it hard to clear this place.”
The name “troll”—I’ve heard about them many times from stories among adventurers.
Trolls were notorious as challenging monsters—strong, intelligent, and even capable of regeneration. Hunting them wasn’t easy, to say the least.
In fact, there were many cases where the adventurers themselves became the hunted.
Because of this, exploring the troll’s settlements or dungeons was generally considered safe only with at least two Silver Tier adventurers present.
Considering that, we, a 4-person party with an average level surpassing level 30 handily, would suffice for even fairly high-level gaming.
Of course, Luna has just stepped into level 30, I’m high-leveled but weak, and Paranoi is around level 20 as a nymph. But we have Elpride, a veteran mage. So, things should work out.
Good as honey.
Just as we were about to move again,
Tet—.
Something under my foot crunched. It didn’t sound like just stepping on leaves or twigs—it carried an uncanny air, making me wonder what it could be when…
“Hassan, it’s a trap!”
In response to Luna’s agile warning, something suddenly burst out from the ground, lunging towards us.
Pssss—.
As Luna had said, it was indeed a trap.
They had sharpened the trees into stakes which would spring out like a pop-up box.
As that something approached unnervingly close, I jumped forward with supernatural reflexes, thrusting my body into the wooden stakes.
“Ironclad—!”
Ujjig—.
The wooden trap couldn’t withstand the impact of my charge and shattered easily.
Fortunately, I merely had some scratches here and there on my body. No serious injuries. The others seemed to be in the same state.
That said, it was undoubtedly a perilous moment. We minimized the damage due to quick reflexes, but if we hadn’t been on alert, those wooden stakes could have inflicted fatal wounds.
Ssl—k.
Then Elpride knelt down and tenderly handled the broken traps.
“Crude it may be, but this trap was clearly made with malicious intent. There seem to be hobgoblins around. They love making things like this.”
Hobgoblins, huh?
I thought back to my encounter with Gogriad, the king of goblins. Apparently, they were the fully evolved forms of goblins.
“Hassan-san, there are many traps hidden beneath the fallen leaves…! From now on, we can’t step through the leaves casually…!”
Sulruk—. Basshak—.
As Paranoi swept away the leaves with her tiny hands, a peculiar device made of branches and ropes came into view.
Seeing those wooden stakes further ahead that I’d broken reminded me that the thing I had stepped on might just have been one of these trap mechanisms.
One way or another, it was clear that this logging site had become quite a challenging location.
Hunting regular monsters would be one thing, but dealing with these intelligent creatures could easily wear a person out mentally and spiritually.
Numerous goblins.
Smart hobgoblins.
And those troll brats that rival even the best savage warriors.
Expecting something to suddenly leap out at me as I remained on high alert, I—
Ultimately got startled by something surging from deep within.
“Disgusting.”
Who said that?
It must’ve been Elpride.
Elpride raised her hand, covering her nose and mouth with her gloved palm, likely due to the unbearable stench of bl**d and decaying entrails wafting from all directions.
When we entered the logging site, what met our eyes were numerous corpses. Fragments of green-skinned monsters.
Ying, wiiing—.
Flies and all sorts of insects swarmed around us, making it hard to advance further.
“Paranoi, see if you can handle it.”
“Lady Luna, are you referring to this? Understood… this will showcase Lady Luna’s wrath to the insects!”
Under Luna’s command, Paranoi opened her mouth wide, emitting a bwei— sound as she pulled out a moist leather bottle from inside.
I wondered what that strange spout attached to the leather bottle was. But when Luna pressed the round rubber part, a mist was sprayed from the spout with a chiik sound.
Luna evenly distributed this sharp-smelling substance all over our bodies.
“It’s bug repellent! With this, we should be able to pass through. It contains incenses from Ideope Island, so these flies here should be immobilized!”
Indeed, as Luna predicted.
Just as the locust plague during the Pharaoh’s time, these flies and insects gathered thickly but parted like the Red Sea as we approached, doused in this potion.
Only when the swarm of insects cleared did we truly realize the full extent of this grotesque scene.
Dead goblins lay around everywhere.
Their fragmented bodies, shredded intestines and bones were scattered, and bl**d was splattered in all directions.
“Here’s a troll too.”
Elpride pointed somewhere with the tip of her staff, revealing a large corpse with a hyena-like mane growing over its immense build.
It was hard to discern its original form due to decomposition, but there was no doubting this creature had been an absolutely terrifying monster, though now it was merely something that had been.
Recalling Jospeh’s earlier explanation about the flies swarming the logging site and the sudden silence among the monsters, I understood now.
Hiiiwhoo—.
The wind blowing past the destroyed shacks around only amplified the unsettling atmosphere.
I knelt down and placed my hand on what looked like a fireplace covered in blackened ashes. It was cold and devoid of warmth.
The fire must’ve gone out quite a while ago, considering there’s no trace of lingering heat. And judging by the rotting corpses, it seems they’ve been abandoned for about a week.
Seeing this gruesome scene, Paranoi cried out.
“What a splendid bunch these are…! They must have known Master Hassan was coming, and sacrificed themselves to relieve his efforts in battle. Truly obedient monsters!”
Paranoi’s words, as always, were ridiculous. The suggestion that these monsters had self-destructed knowing I was coming to save me trouble, sounds like what? Utter nonsense.
“These monsters have done the heavy lifting, so our task is simple now, collecting their manes and fangs! It’s easier than eating cake!”
Still, Paranoi’s deduction that the monsters destroyed each other seemed plausible.
“Could they have really killed each other?”
“That’s certainly the case!”
With such ferocious monsters, the probability wasn’t low.
“No, that doesn’t seem right.”
But when I voiced my question, Luna shook her head.
“Even monsters have their code. They don’t usually completely k*ll each other off. The Ideope Islands don’t engage in mutual annihilation either.”
Then Luna plunged her obsidian dagger into a decomposing goblin corpse and rummaged around inside it.
“A monster fight leading to complete extermination is always external factors.”
With a sound of zilgeuck, puuush, ulguk—k.
Elpride couldn’t bear the sight and ended up gagging, saying, “Ughhh—” Her weak stomach wasn’t a new discovery, so it was understandable.
Back when I was a slave, I was the one collecting all the monster corpses while Elpride watched. To her, Luna’s actions might as well have been the perfect excuse for the contents of her stomach to churn.
“There it is!”
Soon, Luna pulled something out of the corpse.
What emerged with Luna’s dagger was a fragment of metal.
Pointed metal… edged blade—more precisely, I suppose this was it.
“Arrowhead?”
“Yes. A finely crafted metal arrowhead. Monsters can’t make these. It looks like they fought against humans. We’ll need to examine other bodies to understand the full situation.”
Luna’s deduction was quite logical. She seemed to be suggesting that these creatures didn’t k*ll each other but were instead wiped out by humans while we were here.
Was another party here before us?
According to Joseph, no one had visited this place, leaving him pacing impatiently.
I organized my thoughts and said, “First, be careful, you don’t know what else is around here. And Paranoi, while we keep watch, you gather the teeth and fangs and manes. Here, take my dagger. It’s precious to me, so don’t ab*se it.”
“Understood!”
I drew the dagger from my waist and handed it to Paranoi while maintaining vigilance over the corpse-laden surroundings.
Of course, I didn’t think anything was left here.
If anything remained, it would be flies, maggots, and rotten corpses.
What happened here anyway?
Something extraordinary happened, that much was clear. Was there really a group of humans capable of wiping out creatures that a Silver Tier adventure party could barely handle?
And given this occurred near Sodomora,
How could no one know about it?
Suspicious points piled on.
That made me uneasy.
Because it meant there were potential threats to our safety happening where we were unaware.
As I furrowed my brows in thought, Luna spoke up.
“Alright, let’s see if we can try it.”
“Try what?”
“It’s not like I only did errands for the elders in Ideope! I’m on my way to becoming a Silver Tier adventurer! So, I’m going to do something to make a name for myself to honor my parents!”
Ssl—k.
Loudly announcing herself with confidence, Luna pressed her bone headband deeper into her brow and pulled something from her waist, holding it high.
It was a doll.
A crude doll that resembled Luna herself. Added bells made a daling-daling sound.
I wondered what she planned to do with it when—
Holding the doll in one hand and an obsidian dagger she acquired from Somnia in the other, Luna began a strange dance, alternating her hands.
Dalling, daling—k.
With the rhythmic chime of the bells, Luna finally raised her hands high.
“Ye who were servants, come forth at thy master’s call—arise, lifeless bodies! Obey your master’s command!”
As Luna called out, the doll in her hand began to tremble. Soon, its mouth opened wide and emitted a purple fog.
This unexpected and bizarre scene was less like magic and more reminiscent of profane sorcery.
Suaa—k.
The purple mist seeped into the nostrils and mouths of the scattered corpses.
Klerk—.
Eekk-buul—.
Geerrek—.
Monstrous sounds accompanied the corpses rising from their resting places. Paranoi screamed in surprise.
“Lady Luna is using necromancy… Lady Luna has become a cultist!”
To which Luna replied,
“It’s not necromancy, it’s voodoo from the Enzymic Forest. Similar, but slightly different. It’s more compatible with the dead!”
Though I didn’t fully grasp what she meant, it was certainly impressive.
With this, she could undoubtedly brag about reaching Silver Tier standing.
As the corpses of the beasts rose around us, an eerie atmosphere enveloped the area.
With a call, “Spirits, tell us how you died!”
The corpses began to move in unison, wildly gesturing at the sky, falling back down as if replaying their final moments of d*ath.
They were like actors reenacting the scene before their demise.
It’s bizarre—like a strange film.
While I was engrossed in this curious “theater,” Elpride suddenly seemed to realize something.
“I understand. These creatures fought not an army or a group but a single fighter. Look at their movements. They were broken through by just one individual.”
Kulreok—.
Geeg ek!
Corpses tumbled down like dominoes, front to back.
Observing them after hearing Elpride’s explanation, I felt I could discern the movements of one individual penetrating the crowd.
Chaak—.
Something cut through their chests—daggers? Longswords?
Small and round—heads pierced—this must have been arrows.
Seeing the pattern deeper into this penetration made me shudder. Who could take on such a monster-infested village alone?
That would become clear by following the retreating corpses.
Tracing the final reenactor, I came upon a peculiar-looking man who had collapsed with severe wounds.
A wide-brimmed hat adorned with feathers, an antique but bl**d-soaked leather shirt. Beside him were a scattered longsword and arrows.
Was this the man who massacred these creatures?
“…Keuheu….”
His rough breathing suggested he was still alive, but it was just a matter of time. The massive gash from his left shoulder to the right flank, arrows stuck into his back like a porcupine—none of these were normal injuries. The pool of bl**d beneath him had already exceeded lethal levels. He might as well be dead already.
I felt there was no remaining vitality in this man.
“…His stubborn resistance hasn’t been in vain, which is fortunate. You’re an adventurer party, right? Thank you. For making my d*ath not meaningless…”
The ashen-faced man looked at me with dull blue eyes and spoke slowly.
“Take this… Bring this to the Royal Castle… To His Majesty, Thunderblade…”
Finally, his trembling hand revealed what he had clung to, using superhuman mental strength to delay his d*ath.
Pinggureul—k.
What fell from his hand was a piece of metal, about the size of my finger. Adorned with a skull, it was clearly a key.
A skeleton key?
It felt oddly familiar, so I stared at it, lost in thought. Where had I seen something like this? I distinctly remembered having one too, but where was it…?
Ah, the Thief Guild. Didn’t I take this when I defeated the leader of the Hydra Thieves Guild?
That’s right. This definitely looked the same. While it was called the priceless treasure secretly guarded by the Thief Guild, no one actually knew how to use it, so it was probably carelessly tossed in a drawer.
But why was this key here? Given the slight difference in the skull shape, it wasn’t the one I possessed.
“T-this is…”
At that moment, Paranoi began trembling as if she recognized something.
“This is a precious key… It’s baffling how such an item ended up here, in the hands of this person!”
[Afterword]
In yesterday’s afterword, I made a typo…!!
I said I would scatter breadcrumbs again, but leaving them as they are seemed fun, so I decided to leave them alone.
Anyway, time for a new part…!!
A new episode, new region, new characters and story! I will carefully explore the path to new harmony.
