The Black Sky Pirate Laughs Beneath the Moon. The Crimson Mage Howls at the Stars (8)

Bad, scary, dangerous, terrifying—what do I do? My body is physically tipping forward.

The center of my brain grew numb and cold, and my whole body began to tremble. Even so, sweat poured from every pore, making it hard to breathe.

(【All Creation】【All Creation】【All Creation】【All Creation】【All Creation】! Sensei, it's your turn, Sensei!!)

When I forcibly concentrated on 【All Creation】, the fear dominating my mind began to fade.

With just the single command, "Be afraid," everyone here was trying to crawl along the ground. It wasn't just me; Dantes-san was bracing himself through sheer willpower, while Zelly-san was already in a full sliding prostration.

The 'Golden Caravan' party on the other side was in the same state, but Mimino-san and Muge-san, who were in the middle of evacuating, seemed to be all right.

(Distance?)

But what kind of mechanism could implant fear in us?

"C-come on, damn it!"

A loud clang rang out when Dantes-san caught the spear of the charging Automaton on his great shield.

Dantes-san's face was twisted with strain, and sweat was pouring from him. The spear attack launched by the Automaton's massive body was certainly heavy, but he should have been able to brush it aside with ease—normally, at least.

(What is this mental attack?)

Through 【All Creation】, I learned that this phenomenon had been caused by magic—or perhaps sorcery. Dantes-san and I were doing considerably better, but the light from Zelly-san's bracelet, while she still had her forehead pressed against the floor, was growing ever redder.

(What am I supposed to do?)

There was no doubt we had to defeat it. But my own movements had been cut in half compared to normal.

—And then,

"Fire!"

Boom, boom! Two 【Fire Magic】 spells exploded against the Automaton's back. The mage from the 'Golden Caravan' had fired them.

The 'Golden Caravan,' which had put quite a bit of distance between themselves and the Automaton, seemed to be in much better shape than we were.

Magic, huh? Certainly, this wasn't the time to worry about who got the spoils.

(Get through this first!)

I slammed a fist into my own cheek.

I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid!

Nothing terrified me more than failing to take my older sister's hand on the day the mine collapsed.

I never wanted to experience that terror again, and I never would.

There was no way I'd lose to the fake fear this machine had produced.

'—Intruders—'

The Automaton reversed the rotation of its left and right wheels and made a U-turn on the spot. This time, it changed its target to the 'Golden Caravan'—and turned its back on us.

"Don't underestimate us humans, machine!"

I formed 【Fire Magic】 on each finger of my right hand and 【Wind Magic】 on each finger of my left.

This would drain a huge amount of magic power, but there was no holding back.

"'Flame Tornado'!"

Five streams of flame and five streams of wind issued from my hands, overlapping and intertwining before merging into a gigantic fiery tornado that swept toward the Automaton.

Mimino-san had taught me the name of this spell; apparently, someone in the past had used magic by that name.

'—Intruders...—'

When the flames died down, the wheels stopped, and the Automaton turned only its upper body toward us.

Its body was pitch-black with soot, but the heat hadn't been enough to melt it.

Dantes-san stepped in front of me with his shield raised—was this Automaton still moving?

Snap!

At that moment, one of the jewels embedded in the Automaton's torso cracked and shattered. Two of the three had already broken, and it seemed the last one had just given way.

Then I felt the feeling of "awe" filling the area vanish all at once.

The Automaton fell forward with a tremendous crash. Perhaps its arms had deteriorated from the heat, because one tore off and went rolling away, and one of them slipped off the stage and disappeared into the abyss.

"Phew... That was dangerous."

"Y-yeah... That was bad. I never expected an attack like that... Reiji, are you all right? Zelly?"

"Hah! W-what was I doing?!"

I panted as Dantes-san cautiously approached the Automaton. Zelly-san was looking around and seemed fine—though maybe I should check later whether Zelly-san was mentally sound. No, Zelly-san was abnormal to begin with, so what would that accomplish...?

"It's all right. It isn't moving anymore."

Dantes-san kicked the Automaton to make sure. It finally seemed that the battle was over.

The trouble started when the nouveau-riche-looking merchant came back.

"The first spell was cast by the 'Golden Caravan' I hired! Therefore, we will take this Automaton."

And that's what he came out with.

He's selling us a fight, isn't he? He is a merchant, after all.

Let's buy it, then. At whatever price you name.

"...Reiji-san, let me handle this."

When I rolled up my sleeves and started to step forward, Muge-san moved in front of me.

"Anyone can see that Reiji-san's strike was what defeated this Automaton."

"We were the first ones to hit it!"

"Even so, that attack only worked because Dantes-san blocked it with his shield and drew the enemy's attention. Can you swear by the 'God of Commerce' that this loot is yours?"

"Guh..."

Oh, Muge-san was making his case! The 'God of Commerce'—come to think of it, Mimino-san had used that phrase when she was dealing with someone from the Adventurers Guild before.

—The God of Commerce sees all things fairly.

—A transaction in which both seller and buyer benefit.

Those were the kinds of words people exchanged.

"That's far enough... employer."

The person who stepped between us was none other than Leon.

"It's true that this Automaton was wrecked by that brat's magic."

"Tch—it's because you lot did such a lousy job! There are plenty of replacements. Work faster next time."

The tasteless merchant spat and stalked off. Jeez, he was crude, too.

"I never expected you to mediate."

"Hey, hey, what do you take me for, Dantes...? More importantly, what the hell was that spell just now?! Our Emily—ah, she's a mage—was so scared her legs gave out. How many spells did you mix together?"

Leon looked over at me.

"How many? Well, I only have ten fingers, so ten."

"Seriously...? I figured you had a scout-type Gift, but you're a mage in that getup? No, today you look unmistakably like a druid. But a druid using 【Fire Magic】...?"

Leon walked away, shaking his head. Behind me, Mimino-san was making some kind of smug face and saying, "Mmph-hoo. Did you see Reiji-kun?" It was cute. She was older than me, but she was still so tiny, which made her cute.

After that, Muge-san carefully inspected the Automaton and picked out any magic tools that might be useful. In the meantime, the members of the 'Golden Caravan' went on ahead.

"But that magic-like thing the Automaton used—what exactly was it?"

While we continued our break, Non-san brought it up.

"You and the others suddenly slowed down, didn't you?"

"You weren't affected?"

"No... I felt a chill run down my spine. It was similar to the sensation I felt when I sensed the presence of God in the grand cathedral of the Kingdom of the Holy Light Knights."

God... Since this was an emotion of awe, maybe it felt like sensing God's presence. Wait, Non-san, did you actually find God?

"What do you think, Reiji?"

"I still don't know... But it seems to weaken with distance, so next time we fight one, we should keep our distance."

"The documents didn't mention any cases where an enemy used something resembling magic. But this is a dungeon; anything goes. Let's stay alert."

Everyone nodded—but I was privately puzzled.

Did 'anything goes because it's a dungeon' really hold true? The only other dungeon I knew was the 'Six Heavens Mine,' but that place had its own 'rules.'

(There must be some kind of mechanism behind whatever makes this emotion well up, too.)

I found myself wanting to use 【All Creation】 to unravel that mechanism.