Chapter 60
Lydia stepped forward, sensing countless presences. The moment the mysterious voice spoke, they began rushing toward them from all over the building.
Footsteps echoed through the darkness.
Thudthudthud—
They were quick,
but somehow their steps sounded flustered.
“…!”
‘Are those the guards watching over the secret auction house? Normally, they’d wait until more customers had gathered before starting. It feels like they’re rushing over because something suddenly went wrong.’
Even so, they were fast.
Their response time was like that of an emergency rapid-response unit.
Lydia realized they were being surrounded. She glanced at Morgan to make sure she was keeping the bundle safe.
“Well, this is unexpected.”
“This is dangerous! Before they surround us, we have to run—!”
“…”
It would be easy to run away now.
For a Sword Master, escaping with one mage in tow was no trouble at all.
But…
If they left the ‘Triangle of Desire’ alone,
they’d resume their business in an even more secretive and meticulous way. They’d keep advancing, putting out increasingly brazen and deadly merchandise.
‘Even in the original story, the Merchant of Darkness said as much a year later.’
『Merchant of Darkness: Heh heh, the secret auction house? Even the Hero would be surprised to go there. It’s nothing less than a festival where all the most prominent people in the world gather and give voice to desires too unimaginable to conceive.』
Compared to that description,
this was still little more than a discreet little shop.
“…”
That was why Lydia didn’t run. She decided it was better to take them down here, even if it meant pushing herself a little.
‘This is earlier than planned, but nothing is going according to the original plan anymore. Insisting on sticking to it would be the worse move.’
She spoke to Morgan behind her.
“Do you trust me?”
“Y-yeah?”
“Do you trust this princess?”
“…”
Morgan fell silent for a moment.
But her answer came quickly.
“I trust you.”
“!”
Trust her in what?
How?
She didn’t ask.
She’d already made up her mind.
Now that she’d stepped into this,
she’d decided to trust the companion at her side.
Lydia gave a small smile.
“Then I’ll show you what I’ve kept hidden all this time. The true nature of those who have been slowly gnawing away at this world since the distant past. And what we’ll have to fight from here on.”
“!”
“Now that we’ve come this far, there’s no turning back.”
“…”
Morgan’s gaze didn’t waver. In her resolute eyes, a faint red glimmer seemed to flicker in the darkness.
“I won’t regret it.”
“…”
Even as they spoke,
their enemies were closing in from far away, surrounding them.
Thudthudthud—
The footsteps of more than a dozen people.
People in black robes came rushing over. Adorned with jeweled rings and bracelets, they charged without hesitation, driven by their master’s grand design.
Before long, their shouts rang through the underground passage.
“Kill them all—!”
“We’ll make you disappear from this world without a trace!”
“Become the spoils of greed—!”
Amid it all,
Lydia and Morgan faced forward.
“…”
“…”
Morgan reached for her catalyst and was about to recite her spell’s activation words—
when Lydia spoke softly.
“Oh, there’s one more thing I’ll show you.”
“?”
“Something I’ve kept secret all this time.”
“S-secret…?”
She spoke calmly.
“I’ll show you my true power, too. I can’t show you everything without my sword, though.”
“!”
Morgan briefly caught her breath.
‘Her true power…? Isn’t she already so strong that those nobodies made a huge fuss about it?’
She had no time to voice the question.
The black-robed ‘devotees’ surrounding them charged, the various artifacts dangling from their arms shining as they did. These were the most opulent hounds in the world, wreathed in fire and lightning, baring their fangs.
Crackle—!
Each one of them became a single fang.
They became a dog with its enormous jaws wide open.
They shouted in crazed voices.
“By order of the bishop, execute them…!”
“We offer everything to the Black Temple and the Golden Archduke!”
“Freedom from the sun! Freedom to indulge in ‘greed’—!”
And then.
Step!
Lydia planted both feet and clenched her fists. Just extending her graceful legs sent an aura as immense as a mountain pouring out.
Her fist was aimed at
the direction from which the enemies were charging.
She clenched her fist tight. An aura seemed to ripple and flicker around her body, as though it were ablaze. The presence of a goddess wreathed in a storm of flames poured forth.
Fwoosh—!
Each of those flames gently burned the energy surging toward her from all around. They blazed like embers lighting the darkest underground depths.
The goddess wreathed in flames cried out.
“…They’re not even worth a punch.”
Lydia kicked off the ground and charged forward.
Crash!
The stone floor shattered,
and clouds of dust flew everywhere.
Her fist surged forward in a red arc. Each time her small, white fist swung, it left behind the afterimage of a fiery whip, battering the enemies this way and that.
Thudthudthud—!
Accompanied by countless deep, drumlike thumps,
those struck by her fists went flying.
Their black robes caught fire,
and they flew with their limbs splayed all the way to the opposite wall.
“Gah?!”
“Urgh!”
“Ugh…!”
Thudthudthud—!
Lydia swung her fists like a drummer beating a drum.
In the dark underground, the sound of a battlefield drum rang out instead of crazed roars, leaving behind countless fiery whip-like arcs.
Thudthudthud—!
“Ugh!”
“Aah?!”
“Haaah—!”
Where the drumbeat sounded, screams rang out. In the blink of an eye, they were slammed into the opposite wall. A dozen or so black-robed figures were subdued in an instant.
Like flowers decorating the wall,
countless bodies were stuck to the opposite wall.
They hung limp, unable to move any longer.
In the midst of them,
Lydia stood, lightly shifting her stance.
Morgan shuddered as she watched. No matter how she looked at it, this wasn’t merely a matter of reaching the Flowing Realm or anything like that.
‘How can one person be this overwhelmingly powerful…? It’s like…’
“What… is this?”
Lydia brushed off her fists and said,
“The name of the enemy we have to fight is the ‘Black Temple.’”
“!”
“Remember that well.”
The Black… Temple…
Lydia spoke seriously.
“And I’ll show you how to crush them, too.”
*
Boom—!
The building’s walls shook.
Black-robed figures ran down the narrow corridor.
Tat-tat!
As they ran, they muttered with crazed eyes,
“The Archduke of Greed…!”
But then.
Whoosh—!
“Gah?!”
At the same time,
they were knocked backward, unable to block a bunny girl’s dropkick flying in from the opposite direction. One of the black-robed figures tried desperately to grab hold of her long, extended leg, but…
“Guhk?!”
Boom—!
The figure flew straight into the opposite wall and crashed against it.
Lydia nodded. Morgan was following beside her, carrying the bundle.
“I see. Greed, ‘greed’… I was confused because every last one of the Black Temple’s remnants shouted it. Good to know.”
-?!
Perhaps that name had been heard somewhere before?
The mysterious voice couldn’t hide its agitation.
-What is this…?!
“Every one of your subordinates is desperate to reveal what they belong to. At this rate, I could figure out who they serve without even trying. That’s the limit of a fanatical organization that gathers people blinded by greed and raises them.”
-…
“I never imagined you’d literally be a faction devoted to ‘Mammon of Greed.’ I thought you were the least significant group within the Black Temple, where everyone indulges in greed. Thank you for telling me.”
-…
The Archdukes of the Dark Realm had their powers sharply limited the moment their ‘true names’ were discovered. It was a unilateral protection decreed by the Sun God.
But that was a fact known only in the distant age of myths. That was why so few within the Black Temple knew the true names of the exalted Archdukes.
-How could you possibly know that…?
Lydia continued without pause.
“In return, I’ll dismantle the ‘Triangle of Desire’ starting today. The overseers, the middlemen, every last one of them…”
-…I see. So that’s what this is.
“Oh? Have you figured out who I am?”
-No, I haven’t.
“…?”
-That’s something I’ll have to find out little by little from now on.
“What?”
At that moment,
a group dressed in white came down the corridor. They were all wearing clothes like cocoons. And, like the black-robed devotees, they were covered from head to toe in artifacts.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Dozens of them gathered,
filling the corridor,
yet not even a breath could be heard.
Lydia and Morgan recognized them.
“!”
“!”
Morgan said,
“Those people seem to be in the same state as the kidnapped people in the jars. No way…”
“Hmm. Humans who are as close to dolls as can be. For people with unusual tastes who dream of complete ‘ownership,’ they must be an alluring product.”
“Is this really the time to say that?!”
The mysterious voice sneered.
-Looks like you’re a group hostile to the Black Temple. I don’t know how you found out the Black Temple exists, but… I’ll have to stop you with the ‘merchandise’ I’ve gathered from all over.
“!”
-Heh heh, these are the products you wanted. Break them and play with them to your heart’s content. But when it’s all over, how will you be any different from us?
“…”
-Farewell. Somehow, I feel like we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.
“…”
-Daisy. It may not be your real name, but I’ll remember it. I’ll capture you and turn you into a doll, without fail.
“…You’re a textbook example of a mastermind.”
But Lydia had no intention of letting the mastermind get away.
However, as though to thwart that plan,
the ‘merchandise’ began to approach them slowly.
Step
Step
Step
“…”
“…”
“…”
With blank expressions,
and without even breathing,
they tried to carry out their master’s orders.
Their artifacts lit up one after another, glowing brightly.
Morgan swallowed hard.
“What are we going to do now? That sounds like something someone planning to run away would say. The way ahead is completely blocked by those things.”
“…Take the staff from the bundle.”
“This one?”
“That’s right.”
“What is this…?”
Morgan took hold of the staff inside the bundle. Worn cotton thread was wrapped tightly around its red, branchlike shaft, which was covered in strange patterns.
The moment she grabbed it,
“…!”
she felt something.
Overwhelming resentment,
and hatred directed at the world….
This was a powerful curse catalyst.
“A powerful curse catalyst… At this level, I could cast curse magic without any preparation…? For curses, I wouldn’t even need activation words.”
“…”
“How can something that isn’t even a filthy object from the Dark Realm contain such pure resentment…?”
Lydia answered in her mind.
‘Of course it can. This is an item that appears as one of the final pieces of equipment in the game. It’s been a while since my knowledge of the original story came in handy.’
“Try casting a paralysis curse on them.”
“What?”
“If you use that staff, you should be able to fire off spells over a wide area without any strain.”
“B-but if I use a paralysis curse with a catalyst this powerful in an enclosed space like this…”
“Hmm, you mean they might die because even their respiratory systems could be paralyzed?”
“…”
It was a firm, merciless answer.
She hesitated for a moment,
but
Morgan took a deep breath and answered.
“…Yeah. B-but if you’re asking me to.”
“No. Those innocent people won’t die.”
“?”
What did she mean?
Morgan thought for a moment.
Then she remembered.
They weren’t breathing.
“Oh.”
“They’re human, but not human; dolls, but not dolls… They’re in an in-between state. For now, paralyze them, pass through, and focus on chasing down the mastermind.”
“!”
“We can’t let them escape.”
Even if she cast a paralysis curse, it would only stop them from moving…
Remembering that,
she was able to prepare with a much lighter heart.
“Got it.”
Morgan quietly recited the activation words.
[Writhing power, blood in the shadows, cease your control.]
Then,
a sinister energy began to surge through the corridor.
Rumble—!