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Hamel looked at the box with a complicated expression.
‘…I should open it soon.’
Quite some time had passed since Rupert closed the box.
He was the only one left.
Even so, he couldn’t bring himself to open the box.
Because he was afraid?
Maybe.
It didn’t feel like that.
Rather, a bottomless unease clung to Hamel’s legs like an anchor.
Still.
‘Everyone’s waiting for me.’
When Hamel turned his gaze, everyone met his eyes and nodded.
There was not a single person in the group without a painful past.
Daniel had a family tragedy from long ago.
Ono had comrades he couldn’t protect.
Rupert had to recall words he never wanted to hear again.
Rena was….
‘Come to think of it, Rena didn’t seem particularly troubled.’
She even seemed to take pleasure in hitting Mellina, oddly enough….
But that’s beside the point.
The important thing was that none of them had turned away from their weak pasts.
Hamel clenched his fist.
He couldn’t run, if only so he wouldn’t be ashamed in front of them.
He already knew what would come out of the box.
There was only one thing that could come out.
Hamel steeled himself and placed his hand on the box.
The surrounding silence grew even heavier.
The box opened, and at that moment.
Click
Hamel’s time rewound.
It was a shard of a night more than six years ago.
The breathing of a beast could be heard.
The first things that caught his eye were pieces of cloth scattered on the floor.
They were a blood-soaked bedsheet and his mother’s torn clothes.
“…Ah.”
Hamel slowly lifted his head.
There stood the being he had searched for, replaying its memory thousands upon thousands of times.
With each breath, the white scales covering its skin rippled like waves.
Because of that, the blood splattered on that body seemed to glow even redder.
It was him.
The monster that had overturned his life in a single night.
Perhaps because he had searched for it for so long.
Somehow, he even felt a strange welcome.
“Ha.”
Hamel let out a hollow laugh and sneered.
There was not a hair’s breadth of difference.
He had shuddered at the monster’s form that night.
Thus Hamel knew the creature’s weakness well.
“Burn.”
A blue flame sprang up in Hamel’s hand.
That day, the creature had recoiled because of the Azure Flame just before striking Hamel.
It had ultimately failed to harm him and fled.
It was clear the Azure Flame was its weakness.
It was also why Hamel had firmly believed the thing to be a demon until now.
He had fainted that night and hadn’t seen everything to the end.
‘Today, at last.’
Hamel expanded the flame he had conjured in his hand even further.
To the life flame, Incendium Vita.
Flames leapt up and spread in every direction.
Like a fire on a dry field.
Like a tidal wave rolling in beyond the horizon.
Hamel’s Azure Flame, filled with murderous intent, closed in and blanketed around the creature without a gap.
‘So what will you do now?’
Hamel’s sword trembled in his hand from excitement.
Hamel was not one to show his emotions easily.
Especially in battle, he usually kept his head cool; this was a first.
Hamel stared at the beast without even blinking.
Would it thrash about?
Or scream?
Despite the cruelty of the imagination, he even felt a bizarre pleasure.
However.
“…Huh?”
The creature’s next reaction was nothing like what Hamel had expected.
Shhrrr
Even though the Azure Flame surrounded the creature completely, it did not so much as stir.
It simply moved its scales like before and quietly stared at Hamel.
That was all.
After staring at Hamel for a long while, the creature’s body crumbled to pieces and vanished as dust.
“….”
Hamel could not say a word.
The Azure Flame had not burned the creature to the end.
What had happened?
Hamel couldn’t make sense of it.
Could it be the creature wasn’t a demon after all?
Or a demon immune to the Azure Flame?
If so, why had he been unharmed that day?
Questions were piling up when suddenly.
Clank
The final lock on the stone gate opened.
There was no longer any door standing between them and the way forward.
“Hamel.”
Daniel called his name as if to ask if he was alright.
Only then did Hamel slowly nod his head.
As if waking from a deep sleep.
Grasping his dazed mind, Hamel spoke calmly.
“…Let’s move to the next room.”
Though confused, Hamel knew the priorities.
The identity of the creature, which they couldn’t figure out right away, had to be put aside.
What they needed to do now was follow David’s trail.
After all, David’s whereabouts would lead to the answer Hamel sought.
“I’ll take the lead.”
“…All right.”
Daniel at first looked worried, but then nodded.
He realized Hamel’s words weren’t spoken in a fit of emotion.
Hamel advanced with steady steps.
The party prepared and followed after him.
As they took a step into the next room.
Ssssh
A dagger like a streak of light cut through the air toward them.
But.
Clang
It was merely deflected midair by Hamel’s sword, which was already prepared.
Hamel twirled and snatched the falling dagger.
‘Black dagger.’
The blade was blackened as if soaked in charcoal.
If thrown at night, it would be impossible to see and dodge.
As expected.
“Assassins?”
Daniel stepped forward like he was protecting Hamel and raised his sword.
Hamel nodded and quietly spoke.
“They are the ones who killed those people earlier.”
“Then…are they allies?”
The branded people found dead at the dungeon entrance were clearly enemies of Hamel’s party.
They bore no demonic energy aura, but were surely heretics akin to demon worshipers.
However.
“Just because they killed an enemy doesn’t mean they’re our allies.”
Relationships aren’t so simply divided.
Daniel asked, looking troubled.
“Then what do we do?”
“We’ll find that out now.”
Hamel moved forward calmly and continued.
“Greetings.”
“….”
There were three who had thrown the daggers.
Their black robes hid their gender and age.
They didn’t answer Hamel’s greeting and only stared.
Still, their stopping the attack was a gesture that at least they would listen.
Hamel introduced himself.
Revealing little but using the easiest way to determine friend or foe.
“I am an Exorcist priest of the order.”
“…!”
The robed figures exchanged glances.
There was a reaction.
With a less hostile tone than before, one of them spoke.
“What’s the name?”
Were they trying to verify if he was a real Exorcist priest?
Since their hostility had eased, they might not be enemies of the order.
Hamel waited a moment and then spoke slowly.
“I am a priest of the Azure Flame.”
“…I see.”
The one who had asked the question, apparently their leader, nodded slowly.
He seemed to lower the hand holding his dagger slowly, but then….
Shweeeek
Suddenly he crossed the daggers in both hands and threw them.
“Kill them.”
At the leader’s murmur, the two behind him also hurled daggers at Hamel’s party and charged.
Hamel parried all the flying daggers and said.
“I will subdue all of you.”
“Leave it to me.”
Daniel ran forward to meet the charging men.
In an instant the distance closed and they swung their blades simultaneously.
Sparks flew in the air.
The daggers thrown by the men in black robes were sharp and precise.
They showed excellent skill.
But….
“Ugh.”
“Grrk.”
It was the two of them who were driven back in an exchange of blows.
They had been easily thrown aside in the clash with Daniel.
“So this is what assassins feel like, huh.”
Daniel murmured, as if refreshed by fighting foes who were neither knights nor demons after a long while.
After a moment, Daniel laughed harshly and muttered.
“Not much to them, it seems.”
“….”
The men in black robes remained silent.
They just watched Hamel’s party silently.
‘Those two are about mid-rank knights, maybe.’
Hamel calmly assessed their skill.
The one who seemed to be the leader might be an upper-rank knight.
But he felt no worry.
It was a matter of matchups.
Clomp clomp
Daniel walked toward them as if taking a stroll.
There was no fear or tension in his steps.
Assassins were certainly fearsome, but Daniel was a knight.
A knight was someone who crushed enemies head-on and seized victory.
Those who hid in darkness and used daggers couldn’t stand against that.
“…They’re attacking together.”
At the leader’s order, the three robed men lunged forward as if to die together.
But.
Kang kagagak!
Daniel handled the daggers coming from three directions without much trouble.
He swung his sword to deflect two daggers and caught the remaining one with his gauntlet.
It was the leader whose blade was caught.
Had he not expected a rune-imbued dagger to be stopped by a gauntlet?
The man’s eyes shook violently under his dark robe.
As if sensing his fate.
Screech
An arm, severed along with the robe, flew through the air.
However.
“…Keep going!”
At the leader’s shout, the two whose daggers had missed seized the opening from Daniel’s attack and struck again.
But this too was futile.
Ssshh
Daniel used the blade’s flat and his guard to deflect all their rushing attacks.
One of his signature techniques.
Wood Graft.
Their attacks failed, their stances collapsed, and they staggered backward.
Hamel stepped forward toward them and said.
“The outcome is decided.”
“….”
The opponents, seemingly sensing their defeat, had no reply.
The leader, clutching his severed arm, glared at Hamel for a moment and said.
“…You seem to believe your companions are alive because you were good.”
“Isn’t that so?”
At Hamel’s question the leader snorted a derisive laugh.
“Well. I don’t think so, at least.”
“What do you mean…”
It was at that moment when Hamel asked the question.
Grrk
They all bit down on something at the same time.
The next moment.
Blood gushed from the mouths of the three robed figures simultaneously.
It was no ordinary blood.
The blackened, dead blood contained pieces of internal organs.
A poison of the deadliest kind.
‘Suicide poison…!’
Hamel clenched his teeth.
Not one of them was of sound mind.
Then the man who seemed to be the leader murmured weakly and collapsed.
“…In the end, you were just one of His major pawns.”
“….”
“Go… go over there… and wait.”
Hamel watched him silently.
The man’s breath had already stopped.
Hamel inspected the bodies of the fallen men.
And he easily found traces on their bodies.
“…It’s a mark, isn’t it?”
Ono murmured, tilting his head.
The men bore brands as well.
However….
“They’re a little different.”
David.
And the brand differed somewhat from the ones the monsters that assaulted the Mage Tower and Lonelybirch bore.
Black wings and a black beak.
And red eyes that glittered like jewels.
“It’s a crow.”
It differed from the previous brands that depicted a beast with a black mane.
But Hamel could sense that they were forces of a similar sort.
So why had these two factions killed each other to the death?
Hamel couldn’t hide his puzzlement and tilted his head.
‘This is another matter we have to look into.’
One thing was certain.
At the end of this dungeon, there must be a reason why these two groups fought each other.
Hamel had to uncover its identity.
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