Chapter 218

218th Chapter

d*ath Knight

218 – d*ath Knight #2

At Sodomora’s North Gate.

Beyond the North Gate stretched a path leading into a massive gorge, as if the earth had been torn apart by some colossal force.

The vastness of this gorge was so immense that it seemed like a gigantic giant had scraped the ground with a colossal plow, creating a formation of this scale.

Though I’ve never been abroad, the feeling of this place was somewhat similar to what I imagined the Grand Canyon might feel like.

“Wow-.”

I stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing down at the scenery.

The bottomless chasm stretching endlessly downward engulfed a pitch-black void so deep that even when a stone was thrown into it, there was no sound to indicate it had hit the bottom.

This was the valley of Manticore. No doubt, it was a magical wasteland home to terrifying beasts.

Magical wasteland.

Indeed, a magical wasteland. A place untouched by humanity, full of mysteries and secrets of the world, challenging the limits of even Silver Tier adventurers. This great gorge, located a day’s journey to the north of Sodomora, was exactly such a place.

The thought of what unspeakable monsters might lurk down there instills a sense of fear.

“Hassan, what an amazing view!”

But to Luna, this damp, hellish hole seemed like a stunning landscape. Of course, in a way, it was as beautiful as Luna described.

Paranoi, on the other hand, stood transfixed, her jaw agape as though mesmerized by the depths of this deep cliff. One slip and she’d be on her way to the afterlife.

“Paranoi, be careful. If you fall in, we’ll never find your body.”

“Ah, this is truly the Valley of Manticore… Even more terrifying than the rumors suggest. Indeed, fierce lions and half-human, half-bird Sirens must be swarming around here. Terrifying monsters indeed… Surely, even a named d*ath Knight hiding here wouldn’t be surprising at all!”

Paranoi’s words rang true.

The feeling that even a Named Monster could have set up its lair somewhere nearby in this vast expanse was not far-fetched.

However, although we had come here without a plan, since the valley stretched for kilometers, it was unclear where or how to begin our search.

“Hassan, let’s start by eating lunch!”

“Right, that sounds like a good idea. Paranoi, could you get the picnic blanket and lunch out?”

“Indeed, I can do that well!”

We ate a quick meal of flat, broad bread, decent-sized meat pieces, and yogurt-like substances stored in leather pouches.

After finishing our meal, we felt drowsy from the fatigue.

However, just at that moment, an earth-shaking tremor erupted from the deep underground.

An earthquake?

Though I had lived in Korea where earthquakes were uncommon, they surprisingly happened quite often on the Gaia Continent. It felt like we experienced one every month.

This tremor, however, was stronger than usual. It was so powerful that we were worried this gorge might collapse entirely.

Thankfully, we had finished eating. Otherwise, it could have been quite chaotic.

After the earthquake subsided, we checked for any broken items or injuries as we slowly picked ourselves up.

Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any major damage.

“Surely, this is the Valley of Typhon… The grudge of Typhon, hiding deep in the earth, seeking to destroy the world!!”

“What’s the Valley of Typhon?”

“Surely you don’t know of the great monster Typhon? The great monster who once repelled Jupiter! The father of monsters, the child of earth and the abyss, the living great upheaval-.”

“Hold on, ‘the child of earth and abyss’?”

The phrase ‘child of earth and abyss’ was something I had become familiar with when Gogriad explained the Lords of Hell to me.

Gigas.

And in plural, Giganthes.

The beings who gnash their teeth in the depths of the pit, trying to overturn the order of this world- could they be related to this huge earthquake?

Paranoi continued.

“This Valley of Manticore was supposedly created when Typhon’s wings struck the earth. His spilled bl**d turned into the monsters that wander the world, and his crouching posture fractures the land, causing chaos in the world.”

Wings powerful enough to create a valley.

People of this world were known for their grandiose exaggerations.

But lately, with the things I’ve seen and experienced, it was difficult to simply dismiss Paranoi’s musings as mere delusions.

“Surely, Typhon must be writhing in the depths trying to escape. The continent is in danger! Originally, it was the duty of Pluto’s followers to monitor and prevent the escape of such beings. But now that the influence of Pluto’s followers has waned, there are none left to watch over them!!”

Watching Paranoi over-exaggerate, the tension seemed to dissipate. She was clearly prone to excessive speculation.

“Aaaah-!!”

Just at that moment, Luna, who had been silently listening, suddenly screamed. She opened her eyes wide and quickly dashed off somewhere.

“Hyooot!”

Luna then leaped and threw her hands forward like an experienced goalkeeper saving a goal from a penalty kick.

“Phhtsht!”

Amidst a flurry of dust and swirling flower petals, Luna picked up a rather interesting creature.

“Wow, look at this! Hassan, it’s a snake! A snake! I caught a snake!”

The snake Luna held was impressively marked with black and white spots, reminiscent of a cow. We might as well call it a cow snake.

What was particularly interesting was its head. It was bizarrely split, having two heads.

“Shhhh.”

A two-headed snake.

A hydra.

The snake whose neck was held by Luna was trying to escape by wrapping its tail around Luna’s wrist or wriggling in different directions, but to no avail.

“Shh, shh, Shhh!”

“Shhh, Shhh! Isn’t it cool? Same, right? Shhh!”

Luna was extremely delighted to have caught the snake. She had apparently realized that the “Shhh” sound she often muttered was imitating the hissing of a snake. Luna seemed to have a fondness for spiders and snakes alike.

“Are you planning to use this as a potion ingredient?”

“No, snakes like these should not be used for potions. We should let it go now.”

“Shhh.”

Luna promptly threw it back onto the grass. Given her actions, I still could not fully understand why she had to catch it in the first place.

We’ve been around Luna for quite some time now, but her logic is still puzzling at times.

“They’re here, so it should be easier to find the way!”

Apparently, Luna had caught the snake to help find the way. How exactly does one use snakes to find the way?

Whether or not she understood my thoughts, Luna addressed the snake wriggling on the ground.

“Shhh, sh, shheht.”

My mind struggled to keep up with the current situation.

What exactly was going on?

Right at that moment, Paranoi, who had been packing the luggage into her backpack, started trembling.

“This, this is Serpentine Language! Lady Luna is toying with those cursed serpent tongues! To use the language of Typhon! The impiety of this situation is too much! We must stop her!”

“What nonsense.”

“Paranoi, be quiet! We’re in the middle of a conversation…Shh.”

I nearly lost my composure.

Right then.

Sssssss… Hiss.

The snake, which Luna had released, circled around us several times, seemed to nod toward us, and then began crawling away slowly.

“Hassan, let’s follow it! It can lead us!”

“Lead where?”

“To the great skeleton’s resting place. The d*ath Knight we came to find!”

“Ah.”

*

I’ve heard of guide dogs for the blind, but this was my first time hearing of a guiding snake.

Luna tied the snake’s neck with a tiny string-like thread, and then tied the other end to her own finger.

Thus, she transformed into something like the owner of the snake on a leash, leisurely strolling across the plain.

Sssslither.

The cow-patterned hydra gracefully slithered across the grass, and we followed in its wake.

To be honest, it’s unclear where exactly this snake is leading us or whether Luna’s claim that it’s guiding us holds true.

It’s uncertain whether Luna and the snake truly communicate in their own language.

“Sir! This must be an ambush! That two-headed snake is surely leading us into a trap!”

“Be quiet. You’re making me nervous. Luna, are you sure it’s alright to follow?”

“To be honest, I’m not quite sure. I only managed to learn the intermediate level of snake language. The advanced part is beyond my comprehension.”

Something’s not right.

I suddenly felt uneasy.

It was at that moment.

Sshh, sshh.

The small two-headed snake circled around a rock-like object.

It was an enormous rock. It looked like it might weigh over a ton.

Since the hydra had been leading us well until now, we were naturally curious about its sudden behavior.

“Hotan, there must be something below this rock, I assume!”

“Terrible! The gaping mouth of some monstrous Manticore must be below this, I fear! Sir Hassan, Lady Luna, we should definitely turn back!”

“Who brought you along anyway?”

“You were the one who brought her, Hotan.”

“…That’s right. Be quiet, Paranoi.”

“But why would it be circling around this rock?”

As we wondered what could be under this rock, we checked the surrounding area for any special markings.

However, aside from the regular plain, the distant cliff, and a cool western wind, there was nothing particularly unusual in sight.

That was when Paranoi, trembling from head to toe, spoke up.

“The priest of Pluto often sealed the cracks in the earth with strong rocks. I suspect this might be one of those!”

According to Paranoi, it wasn’t the rock itself that was special, but the implication that there was something beneath it. This led me to push the rock with all my might out of curiosity.

Grrrrr…

A deep, ominous sound echoed all around as a massive object moved.

“Truly incredible brute strength! Are you lifting that gigantic rock?!”

Though Paranoi seemed awestruck, the rock didn’t budge.

My strength wasn’t enough. More accurately, my muscles felt like they’d give out before lifting it.

So, I consumed an action point via the Moai Totems I had prepared earlier.

Ding, ding…

『Name: Hassan Lv. 22 25

Strength: 12

Agility: 4

Stamina: 6 9

Actions: 255 55

Blessings: Blessing of Chaos》 The Brilliant Hand》 Armor of Darkness》』

With an appropriate stat boost, my stamina indicator now read 9. They say anything above 10 falls into the superhuman category, right?

Level-wise, I was at 25 now, well ahead of most Bronze-tier amateurs and nearly reaching the level of seasoned Silver-tier adventurers.

“Huff… wait… little buddy, you’re done for.”

Slapping my hands together and embedding my walking stick into the crack between the rocks with all my might, I employed the principle of leverage to shift or roll the rock.

“Grunnnh…”

Grrrrrr…

Then, the rock that hadn’t moved an inch until now began to tremble violently with a mysterious sound.

“Hassan, I’ll help too!”

“Also, I can try to do something, sir…”

Just as they said this, both Paranoi and Luna clung to the rock. Once the three of us pushed with all our might, the rock could no longer endure the pressure and had to move its hefty bottom away.

Goooh…

Below the rock revealed a rather deep cave. It reminded me of something I’d seen just recently.

The small goblin kingdom of Gogriad was strikingly similar in appearance. Was this cave also connected through similar hollows carved inside the cliff?

Not knowing the exact details, I tested it by holding one of the feathers I had prepared in advance to the cave’s entrance — and, indeed, a slight breeze was flowing out from within.

“Hassan, there really is something beneath! Thank you, Shh Shh!”

Sssslithering… Ssssss… Hhiiisss…

In response to Luna’s grateful words, the snake’s two heads chattered with something indecipherable. I asked Luna what it meant out of curiosity, and she simply replied, “I don’t know!”

Seems like Luna’s ineptitude extends beyond potion making.

“Anyway, let’s go inside, Hassan. It feels like an adventure, and it makes my heart race!”

“There could be terrible monsters inside, sir… It wouldn’t make sense to seal the entrance with such a massive rock otherwise!”

The reactions to the cave were mixed. Luna was excited about the adventure, and Paranoi was right to exercise caution about the potential dangers.

After much consideration, the conclusion we reached was to send a small skeleton rat in for reconnaissance.

While Luna and Paranoi were debating about the cave, I slipped my hand into my pocket and retrieved a handful of bone fragments.

Without anyone realizing, I sprinkled them on the ground, like seasoning a dish, and they transformed into a tiny skeleton rat the size of a clenched fist.

The bones were too small to create a Bone Goblin this time, thus becoming what I call a Bone Mouse — an aptly named race of my own invention. But it made for a decent stealthy scout in situations like these.

I whispered softly to the creature.

“Go. Go ahead and check, then come back. If it’s not dangerous, wag your tail.”

Tik-tik.

The little rat quickly disappeared into the small hole.

“Hassan, what should we do? Should we mark this spot and gather more people?”

“Quietly turning back seems like a good choice too… I have a bad feeling about this…”

Both Paranoi and Luna were now waiting for my call. However, I was anticipating the return of the scout rat I had sent in.

After some time, there was a scratching sound from within.

Bone Mouse had returned.

Since its tail wagged briskly, it seemed there was no immediate danger.

“Let’s go inside.”

Thus, we climbed into the narrow tunnel on our bellies.

“Sir Hassan, sir Hassan, the tunnel is getting narrower!! The earth, the earth is closing in on us!!”

“That girl is at it again.”

Next time, I’ll consider leaving Paranoi behind as we finally entered the narrow passageway.

“It’s spacious. Paranoi, do you have a torch? Could you light it?”

As Luna spoke, Paranoi began rummaging in her backpack, producing a hissing sound from flint striking flint. Then, with a “Tak!” sound, the fire lit up.

We were stunned at what lay ahead.

A vast cavern beneath the cliff.

Inside, we could see something truly colossal.

“Sir Hassan, it’s a dragon! A dragon is in there!!”

[Author’s Notes]

Shhh, Shhh!! Luna making snake sounds was a scene I just wanted to try out…

Indeed, I’ve caught a lot of snakes in reality…

That’s all…

Paranoi’s design is nearing completion at the rough sketch stage… It’s going to be a slightly different and fun illustration compared to previous styles…

Your coupons for the manuscript fee… Will be converted into… Paranoi…!!!

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