## Chapter 103 – Cultists in the Underground Waterway
“So, what do we do with these corpses?”
Squatting, Meria lifted and dropped the arm of the gargoyle that Copson and I had killed. The black arm looked like the claw of a demon that granted wishes at random.
It was my first time seeing a gargoyle. I didn’t know how much it was worth. Even if we could use the hide, two of them were minced meat, and the other was literally riddled with holes, a complete mess.
Sharp claws, demonic wings, and maybe the beak might be somewhat useful, but I honestly didn’t know if the damaged hide would be worth anything.
Damn it, I was so focused on the fight that I didn’t think about the aftermath.
This sucks.
“Do you guys know how much these are worth?”
I decided to ask the others just in case. I didn’t know the exact value, but that didn’t mean we could just abandon the corpses. We had to take them with us.
“I don’t know.”
“It’s my first time seeing one too…”
Copson and Meria shook their heads.
They didn’t know either. If two people who had lived in this world since birth didn’t know about this monster, I guessed it must be somewhat rare.
Rare things are usually expensive.
“First time seeing one? Then how do you know it’s a gargoyle?”
“It looks like a gargoyle. Just look at it.”
“Looks like a Black Birdman to me.”
“What the hell is a Black Birdman?”
“A creature from nightmares.”
Meria didn’t seem to understand me.
This might be a difference in values between a modern Earthling and a native of this world.
I decided to ask Mr. Muhrman. As an expert on the waterway, he should know about gargoyles. This was his livelihood, after all.
“Mr. Muhrman, do gargoyles usually live in the waterway?”
“…No, I’ve never seen one either. I’ve never even heard of them… Shouldn’t we head back soon? There’s too much to report… And it’s too scary. There’s something here.”
Mr. Muhrman, who usually slacked off and took naps, was scared.
He seemed quite frightened by the sudden appearance of the bizarre monster.
“He doesn’t know gargoyles…”
He also didn’t know about the existence of gargoyles.
Then what the hell was this?
Did it drift in with the undead?
Did they hold hands and come in together…?
The circumstances were suspicious in many ways.
If it wasn’t just my imagination, I had a feeling that this gargoyle and the giant who ran away earlier were somehow related. After all, a suspicious guy is usually the cause of suspicious events.
Copson, who was watching the frightened Muhrman, asked,
“So, are we going to go up now?”
“No, we still have to finish what we were doing. What if the guild says something later? Mr. Muhrman, shouldn’t we at least go through the entire third underground level before going up?”
“…I suppose so. Then let’s do that.”
We cut off the most intact-looking parts of the gargoyle corpses and packed them into my sack and Copson’s bag. Adding the undead heads and everything else, there was no room left.
Heavy.
Anyway, we resumed exploring the darkness of the waterway. From now on, we would just cut off the heads of any undead we encountered and throw them into the waterway. Corpses were nothing new here, so the friends who came to work later would clean them up.
We had collected enough heads to show we had worked.
While dealing with the undead, we found some stairs. Stairs leading down.
“There’s a fourth underground level here?”
“Yes, but it’s usually locked, so there’s no need to check it.”
“Locked? It’s open?”
The gate that seemed to lead to the fourth underground level was half-open. Muhrman’s mouth dropped open when he saw it, and he froze.
“Wh-what…”
It was suspicious indeed. Judging from Muhrman’s surprised expression, he couldn’t believe the gate was open.
Some kind of conspiracy seemed to be brewing in this waterway.
“Katt, that guy who ran away earlier.”
Cloudy opened her mouth.
“Could he have gone down here?”
We nodded at her words. The giant who suddenly disappeared, the gargoyle that attacked us, and the gate to the fourth underground level that should have been locked… As the pieces of the puzzle came together, the situation became truly suspicious.
“W-we need to check this. Let’s go down to the fourth level.”
Muhrman said, steeling his resolve. He was in charge here, so we decided to follow his lead. I wanted to go down anyway. It was unsettling, but also a little tempting.
ㅡStep, step.
ㅡStep, step.
Our footsteps echoed as we descended the stairs. The flickering flames of the lanterns cast our five shadows on the walls.
ㅡFwoosh.
Suddenly, Copson’s lantern lost its light and went out. Relying on the light from Muhrman’s lantern, he took out an oil bottle and poured it into the lantern. The flame rose again. It would last for a few more hours.
We arrived at the gate. The lock on the half-open door was completely broken. Unless it had broken on its own due to the ravages of time, someone had deliberately destroyed the lock.
We opened the door wide and used some objects lying around to secure it.
The inside was pitch black.
Meria, who had been hesitating, put her shield in first and entered. It looked like she was being swallowed by the sticky darkness. Then Copson, and then me. Next, Cloudy and Muhrman entered.
“It’s been a very long time since I’ve been down here… So I don’t remember the way… Let’s investigate for a moment and then leave immediately.”
Muhrman said, looking around. The structure of the fourth underground level seemed larger than the first, second, and third levels combined. I didn’t know exactly what kind of structure it was, but it reminded me of the Necropolis dungeon we had gone to before.
“Shh.”
After walking for a while, Cloudy gave a signal before passing a corner, whispering softly.
“I hear footsteps. Dim the lights. We might not be seen around the corner.”
“…”
“…”
We held our breath and covered the lanterns with our cloaks to suppress the light. We immediately put our sacks and bags on the floor. Sticking close to the wall and suppressing our presence, the footsteps began to approach. Walking, leisurely approaching footsteps. After waiting a little longer, we even started to hear some muttering.
“SabasSabasArlgulTarban.”
“DodancroBeRitanainaRA.”
It was a language I couldn’t understand.
I wondered if I was the only one who couldn’t understand, so I looked at Copson, but he also looked clueless. Who the hell was beyond the corner? I was afraid that some apocalyptic beast would be standing on two legs.
Muhrman was desperately covering his mouth to hold back his breath.
I felt the same way. I just gripped my sword tightly and calmed myself.
The light beyond the corner grew closer. The voices were close too. The footsteps were so clear that it sounded like they were right in front of us.
“SyaSya… DuryubyiNya?”
“So-Dat. KuntaDaruga.”
We were already ready for battle. It seemed that they hadn’t noticed us yet. The tension soared. Whether we lived or died, we were about to clash when they turned the corner and revealed themselves.
“Too… Dat?”
Finally, the owners of the voices turned the corner.
They were wearing black robes. They each held wands with wood and black crystals, and one of them was holding a lantern.
They were chatting as they walked, and then they found us, swords drawn and waiting to ambush them.
“ㅡ!”
“ㅡ!”
Like a cat seeing a cucumber, they were startled and dropped the lantern.
ㅡThud!
In that instant, the flames on the floor revealed their faces.
ㅡFwoosh!
“Evil markings!”
The two guys had familiar tattoos on their faces!
It was the same face as the conjurer who controlled the Flesh Golem we had seen before. And the markings were the ones we had seen so many times. More than anything, their wide eyes had no whites… only black darkness!
There was no way these guys were innocent!
They were 100% evil bastards!
“Du, DurT…!”
One of them fumbled and raised his wand, muttering something.
ㅡWhoosh.
In an instant, black energy gathered in front of the wand. Was it the activation of a spell? Shit!
ㅡSwoosh!
Cloudy, who had jumped out at that moment, blew his head off. It was less than 0.1 seconds. Before his head could spin ten times in the air and hit the ground, we, the experienced adventurers, realized that we could only resolve the situation with violence.
“Screw it!”
Like demons, Copson, Meria, and I rushed at the remaining one.
“Gu… Guaaa! DuoSha! DuoSha!!!!”
I shoulder-tackled the guy. I braced for the impact, but he was surprisingly light.
He flew away, hit the wall, and fell, screaming something.
“Shut up!”
I violently snatched the expensive-looking wand and twisted his arm. A beastly scream erupted. There was no need to show mercy. The fact that he tried to hit us with magic as soon as he saw us meant he wasn’t normal.
“Huff!”
Then Copson came over and started kicking him in the head. Meria also held her shield with both hands and hammered him with all her might.
ㅡThud! Thud!
ㅡBang! Bang!
“…! …!”
I grabbed his mouth tightly with my gauntlet-covered hand and muffled him. Then I randomly punched him in the temple with my other fist.
ㅡThwack! Thwack!
ㅡThwackthwackthwack!
Since we had to maintain stealth, we all bit our lips tightly and focused on beating him without saying a word. It was a truly covert operation. First, we needed to make him a pulp for smooth conversation.
It was a savagery like the violence inflicted on a sacrificial offering by pagan worshippers.
In the midst of the insane beating, we just relentlessly ganged up on him.
“…Haa, haa!”
After about two minutes of pouring out violence, our breaths burst out from the intense movements.
“Haa… But what is this guy?”
“What kind of… haa… guy is he…?”
Copson said, exhaling, and Meria wiped away the sweat and expressed her question. But we had no way of knowing. We hadn’t even said hello before beating him. There was no time to learn about him.
“Who knows? Who is he? We just beat him up.”
“…”
The guy, barely alive, slowly raised his head. He was shedding black tears of blood from his black eyes. His eyes seemed to want to express his resentment about being beaten to a pulp.
“Heh, heh…!”
Cloudy, who was watching, burst into suppressed laughter. Trying her best to hold back her laughter, she said softly.
“Heh heh… You beat him up like that and now you’re asking?”
For some reason, her words felt funny, and I burst out laughing too.
When I laughed, Copson laughed along.
“Heh, heh heh…”
“Heh heh heh…”
“What? Are you all laughing?”
The monstrous person with the black eyes clenched his fists tightly as he looked at us.
Trembling jam?
“So, what should we do with this guy?”
I said, picking up the two fallen wands. They looked expensive. Meria and Copson’s eyes began to gleam when they saw the wands. They were the eyes of adventurers filled with greed.
“Heh heh, this is a good haul. Let’s clean up the corpses, take the heads and items, and drag him up to the third level. It seems like this place is the base of these ominous guys.”
Copson’s words were reasonable. As he said, I took the heads and wands and carried the bag and sack at the same time. Meria and Cloudy grabbed the ankles of the dead corpses and dragged them. Copson decided to support his fallen friend.
“Mr. Muhrman, let’s go up quickly.”
“…You guys are really violent.”
“That’s how adventurers are.”
We went back the way we came and reached the third level again. Copson, who had struggled to climb the stairs, threw the guy he had been supporting onto the floor.
ㅡThud!
The guy, who had fallen headfirst, grabbed his head.
“So, shall we interrogate him now…? This guy looks like an evil pagan or cultist who worships an evil god or demon. Don’t you think?”
“I think so too. We should hand all those guys over to the church. They’ll probably give us a good reward.”
“Reward…”
We reached out to the fallen guy.
