82

“Sir Daniel.”

“Yes.”

─screeeech, thud

Hamel, having entered the temple, quickly shut the temple door.

It was already half-ruined, but the latch on the inside of the door remained intact.

‘Even if they return, it should buy us some time.’

“Lady Rena. Please.”

“Yes.”

Rena nodded calmly, then let a sphere of light float gently from her hand.

Then the interior of the temple was laid bare.

It was considerable in scale.

Massive pillars supported a high ceiling, and ornate murals embroidered the walls.

It wasn’t the order’s main hall, but it was a building of comparable stature.

’ I can see why the wild men were awestruck.’

A structure this old and intricate could easily carry religious significance.

Hamel examined the murals carefully as he advanced.

The murals were filled with dragons.

Scales covering their bodies shimmered blue, and their gray, outspread wings cast shadows over the ground.

They burned everything that stood before them.

They burned mountains and crossed seas.

And then…

“It broke.”

The murals, which had continued like the dragons’ chronicles, were cut off at the Age of Gods.

What had happened after that?

Hamel felt a flicker of curiosity but immediately brushed it from his mind.

David, who knew the root cause and the whole story, was ahead.

There was no room to entertain other thoughts with him there.

Hamel steadied himself and, with the party, slowly moved toward the temple’s interior.

─step step

Only the footsteps of the party echoed against the temple walls.

For some reason the inside of the temple felt desolate.

As if it had been completely emptied.

Hamel felt something strange.

Was it a trap?

Even then, they could not stop.

They had come too far to turn back now.

Hamel pushed forward with resolve.

How long had they walked like that?

Something strangely familiar appeared before the party.

“…Stone gate?”

“If that’s the case…”

Rena and Ono sensed something and looked around.

Then they quickly found what they were looking for.

A small inscription set beside the stone gate.

Hamel walked up to it slowly and read the runic language aloud.

[Before you lies a great dragon in slumber. No one may disturb the dragon’s rest.]

[Those who offer tribute at the dragon’s rest shall proceed.]

“Ha.”

Ono burst into incredulous laughter.

Hamel felt much the same.

That was it.

This place was not a mere temple.

A graveyard.

‘And a grave where a dead dragon sleeps.’

Hamel calmly ran his hand over the inscription.

It made sense.

The wild folk wouldn’t have been able to read runes. They certainly couldn’t have opened the sealed stone gate and would have assumed this was just an abandoned temple.

At that moment.

─Thud!

─Screeeeeech!

From afar came the sound of something breaking and the roar of the undead.

They had returned.

Whether the lure of the black wind had already ended or because they had trespassed into the temple, it was sooner than expected.

They had to open the door and get inside at once.

Hamel quickly examined the stone gate.

And he found a familiar mechanism.

A bronze chalice and a counterweight.

Just like the one he’d seen before.

Only the riddle carved on the inscription was different.

Hamel, wondering, cut his hand and let blood drip into the bronze chalice.

But, as expected, nothing happened.

Blood was not the answer.

Hamel paused as he drew back his wounded hand.

‘Could it really be that blood isn’t the answer?’

To be precise, Hamel’s blood was not the answer.

Then… what about dragon’s blood?

‘Those who offer tribute at the dragon’s rest shall proceed.’

Hamel cautiously unfastened a flask from his waist.

Then he began pouring the dragon’s blood from the flask into the bronze chalice without hesitation.

The next moment.

─Kugung

The stone gate trembled and began to move.

It was the correct answer.

But one wasn’t enough.

Hamel opened more flasks and poured.

One, two, five…

Before he knew it he had poured all the dragon’s blood, leaving only two flasks.

He had brought extras just in case, but if the door still didn’t open, the loss would be huge.

─creak

Fortunately the door opened and spilled forth light.

“Screeeech!”

The undead’s cries had grown so close they seemed within reach.

They were swarming so much the temple shook.

“Get inside!”

At Hamel’s shout, the rest, who had been waiting anxiously, sprang into the doorway.

At the same time, the undead finally revealed themselves.

They lunged forward, snapping jaws and stretching out arms as if to tear Hamel apart.

Hamel turned his head briefly at the entrance to look at them.

Everyone had gone inside; only Hamel remained.

“You’re late.”

Hamel murmured calmly and reached his hand toward them.

Blue flames blossomed in the air and burned the approaching creatures to ash.

“Screeeeech!”

The monsters screamed and tangled, falling over each other.

In that gap, Hamel walked leisurely inside the doorway.

---

The moment he stepped through the door.

The first thing he felt was cold.

“…Where is this?”

Hamel muttered quietly at the unexpected sensation.

A wind like a blade, cutting the flesh, stroked his cheek.

Yet he couldn’t easily take in his surroundings.

Because it was blindingly bright.

When his vision returned, a blue sky greeted Hamel.

“Why is there a sky…?”

Hamel stared at it dazedly.

Just a moment ago he had been inside a dark tomb.

Had they come out the other side?

He could quickly tell that wasn’t the case.

“Priest, this place…”

Rena, looking around, kicked at the ground in a daze.

It was clearly the site where once a massive building had stood.

A ruined city.

The architectural style was ancient beyond reckoning.

The city’s scale was unbelievably vast.

Hamel had never heard of a place like this in the north.

This was not simply the other side of the temple.

“Is it an illusion?”

At Ono’s frown, Rena shook her head.

She plucked a plant growing from the ground, examined its cross-section, and answered.

“There is no illusion that reproduces the cross-section of a plant stem. If such a thing existed, it would be another reality.”

“Yes. That would seem so.”

Hamel nodded slightly as he racked his memory.

This was not an illusion.

Hamel turned to look at the door he had come through.

The stone gate stood firmly closed, as if no one else would enter.

Strangely, the door hung in midair.

It was certain.

This was the interior of a dungeon.

A space created by the dungeon.

“Is something like this possible?”

Daniel asked in disbelief, but there was nothing to be done.

Denying the reality before their eyes was pointless.

“I don’t know much about dungeons either. Mr. Ono will look into it later.”

At Hamel’s words, the party looked at Ono.

Precisely, at the tree-shaped brand on his forearm.

“…Don’t treat a man like an encyclopedia.”

Ono snapped irritably and clicked his tongue.

‘He’ll tell us later after acting like that.’

Everyone thought the same.

Hamel shrugged and continued.

“However, there is one thing I do know.”

Hamel tapped the floating door.

“Dungeons are places where the common sense of the world does not apply.”

More bizarre, complex, and unreal than a mage’s workshop.

That was what a dungeon was.

Nothing that happened there would be surprising.

“….”

At Hamel’s words, the others finally nodded and steeled their expressions.

A good reaction.

Hamel met their eyes and thought.

‘There are hints.’

No matter how strange a dungeon is, like a workshop it shared one common trait.

That trait was ‘rules.’

Hamel looked around and easily found an inscription written in runes.

[Light the beacons at three places to mourn the dragon’s death. Then the wrath of the snow mountains will subside.]

[During the day watch the shadows; at night beware the sounds.]

[The monk’s step and the watcher’s whistle shall punish you.]

[Sunlight will save you and starlight will guide you.]

Just as a workshop’s rules are absolute, so too are a dungeon’s.

If you follow the rules well, you can reach what the dungeon hides.

Whether it be a treasure of legend or a monster hidden in the labyrinth.

“So what kind of bizarre nonsense is that?”

Ono looked to Hamel as if asking for an interpretation.

Hamel fell into thought.

“This riddle seems fairly straightforward.”

The inscription laid out the way forward and hints quite plainly.

In other words, that meant it might be all the harder.

Hamel pointed at the tall spires and spoke.

“Those beacons must be referring to those towers.”

Exactly three spires rose around the outskirts of the city.

“If we light all of them, it seems we can proceed. I expect…”

Hamel turned his head to look at the mountain towering behind the city.

The only path extending beyond the city.

The mountain was shrouded in mist and blizzard, its middle obscured from view.

“I think the path will open as that blizzard clears.”

“Sounds plausible.”

Daniel nodded slowly.

The others listened in agreement.

“And the advice to beware shadows by day and sounds by night should be taken literally, I think.”

By day, move only where there is light; by night, move quietly.

He didn’t yet know what the monk or the watcher referred to, but it seemed a method to avoid hostile creatures.

That’s as much as could be inferred for now.

The rest they would have to learn by confronting it themselves.

─swish

Hamel drew his sword and said.

“First, let’s head to the nearest spire.”

“Very well.”

The party drew their weapons and followed Hamel.

The ruined city was far larger than it had seemed from a distance.

Stone paved the ground, and each building displayed grandeur.

Though clearly a civilization from millennia past, it did not pale compared to modern structures.

‘No, it seems more advanced, even.’

Hamel moved forward, silently impressed.

He had never seen ruins so well preserved.

Rena, whose specialty was ancient magic, also seemed quite intrigued by the situation.

“…!”

She didn’t show it much, but her shoulders visibly quivered at each new discovery.

At times like this, she was unmistakably a mage.

How far had they come like that?

“Halt.”

“….”

The party stopped walking.

Despite having taken detours several times, they had reached a point where they could go no further.

“Shadows.”

Hamel frowned.

The sun in the sky cast shadows from the buildings.

Those shadows filled the alleys without a gap, blocking their path.

“…Shall we wait?”

Rupert asked cautiously.

But Hamel slowly shook his head.

There was no time.

They had only three days allotted to them.

And the shadows wouldn’t disappear just by waiting.

They would instead extend their shadows right to where Hamel stood.

“Let’s go in.”

Hamel carefully stepped into the shadow.

Everyone watched tensely.

─sabak

“….”

Nothing happened.

Hamel slowly proceeded down the shadowed alley.

The only sound was the crunch of snow underfoot.

Hamel gestured cautiously.

The others slowly followed behind.

How far had they gone like that?

Ahead they could see a street bathed in light.

Had Hamel miscalculated?

It was at that moment of doubt.

─sabak

From the moment he stepped into the shadowed alley, Hamel had opened his ears, eyes, and every sense.

Thanks to that, he detected an unseen presence.

“…Huh?”

His body reacted faster than he expected.

Hamel drew a dagger and hurled it toward Rena.

The next moment.

─Clang!

Something struck Hamel’s dagger just before Rena, sending sparks flying.