Those Who Squirm from the Depths

Deep within the Great Canada Forest lay the elven village of Lalatoya.

A large, undulating outer wall separated the village from the mana-rich and monsterinfested trees. The wall was made of large wooden pillars, each of which twisted and

bent to close any gaps with its neighbor. Despite the wall's natural appearance, the

regular placement of the pillars made it apparent that this was an artificial structure.

The thirty-meter-tall living wall kept the tranquil village safe from the dangers of the

forest beyond.

Inside the wall's perimeter were wooden houses interspersed among fields for

growing crops and plains for grazing cattle. Each house was topped with a wooden

deck, and a large roof that gave them the appearance of large mushrooms. The houses'

walls were carved with intricate elven symbols. A quaint, lamp-lined stone path

meandered between the fields and houses.

Beyond this pastoral scene, toward the village's center, the trees grew larger and

larger—almost unnaturally so. Their massive trunks, far wider than even the widest

giant sequoia, were topped with an impressive layer of foliage. These trees were, in

fact, homes—a perfect blend of nature and artificial construction. Glass windows in

their trunks reflected the sparse light that managed to break through the gaps in the

thick foliage above. Birds called from among the gigantic branches, giving the whole

scene a mystical feel.

Two figures, wooden staves in hand, stood before the village elder's treehouse while

a pair of spectators watched. The tension in the air was thick.

One figure, a young-looking woman, had skin the color of amethyst, and snow-white

hair tied back in a braid. Her beauty had a magical, almost bewitching quality. Her

golden eyes—a color unseen among humans—stared ahead in silence, fixed on me. If

I didn't know better, I might have said her guard was down. But her elongated ears

twitched slightly with every movement I made. She kept a close eye on me, gauging

what I would do next.

The woman standing at attention opposite me was Glenys Alna Lalatoya, the village

elder's wife, and a dark elf—a rarity on this continent. She wore traditional garb

covered in elven symbols.

I faced off against her—a two-meter-tall, armor-clad knight. That was the avatar of

"Arc"—the game character I'd been playing as when I was suddenly transported to this

mysterious world. The wind rustled my dark cloak and revealed glimpses of my silver

armor's intricate white and azure designs. The armor was simply magnificent, like

something worn by the knights of legend.

My cloak was as black as night, and was lined with what looked like glimmering stars,

as if it had been ripped from the night sky. I was armed only with a wooden staff,

having set aside my sword and shield for the moment.

Glenys and I stood approximately three meters apart, watching each other closely.

Even having attained the highest level possible in the game, I stood little chance

against this woman, who'd been training for the past several hundred years.

Figuring it'd do me no good to continue standing there staring, I lunged toward Glenys,

swinging my staff down. It sliced through the air at breakneck speed, thanks to my

immense strength. But Glenys apparently read my movement well in advance, and

deftly knocked my staff aside with her own.

I recovered and swung my staff back up, this time aiming to knock her off her feet. She

evaded the attack easily, causing me to miss by a fair distance, and struck the back of

my hand with her own staff.

The strike didn't hurt, thanks to the mythical-class Belenus Holy Armor that protected

my body, but the loud, metallic clang caused me to cry out.

Glenys pointed her staff toward me and offered a piece of advice. "Don't move and then

strike, Arc. You need to strike as you move."

I nodded and waved my staff back and forth a few times, trying to wrap my head

around her instructions. "Understood, Miss Glenys."

However, considering that I'd never had any actual sword training in my life, I knew

there was no way I could pick it up in a day.

Glenys deftly dodged my next few strikes and scored a blow on the back of my hand.

She furrowed her brow and let out a sigh. "All right, I want you to try to avoid my

attacks this time."

"Okay, I'll—whoa!"

Before I could even get the words out of my mouth, Glenys was already lunging at me.

My enhanced perception and high reaction speed barely enabled me to dodge. I

readjusted my stance to aim my own staff at Glenys, but she continued her graceful

dance, evading my blows even as she pressed the attack.

I fell back again and again, until I eventually found myself up against a tree. An instant

later, Glenys landed blows on my hand, chest, and head. The clanging sounded an

awful lot like a xylophone.

I came to my senses to find her standing in front of me, a gentle smile on her face. "I

guess I win this round?"

I'd honestly thought I could put up a better fight, but that was quite clearly not the case.

"Hmph. Would you mind one more round, Miss Glenys?" I hoped to redeem myself at

least slightly.

Glenys rested her staff on her shoulder. "Fine by me."

Although I was glad to have another chance, it ended up being no different, since Glenys

still landed multiple blows on my head.

I swung the staff a few more times, groaning to myself as I tried to figure out how to

move more fluidly. Glenys and I were facing off in mock battle, using nearly harmless

wooden staves. Sooner or later, however, I'd find myself in a far more dangerous

situation, armed only with my sword. This talented ex-soldier was able to make quick

work of me, in what amounted to little more than a warm-up for her.

Glenys didn't sound even remotely winded as she offered her evaluation. "Your

reaction speed is incredible, Arc, but it's just too easy to read your movements. All you

do is react. Also, since you're not attacking based on the flow of battle, you're easily

fooled by feints. You might look the part of a knight, but you really don't have the

swordsmanship down."

She'd built her skills over time, and could afford to toy around with me before coming

in for the kill. Compared to her, what I was doing could hardly even be called

swordsmanship. My technique was basically suicide strikes that relied on brute

strength. If this had been a rock-paper-scissors match, I would have been constantly

throwing out whichever hand beat her previous move. Once Glenys recognized that, it

was easy to lure me into all manner of traps.

It reaffirmed my gut feeling that I needed to improve the flow of my movements, if for

no other reason than to make the best use of my sword.

While I thought that over, a voice called out in my defense.

"There aren't a whole lot of people who can match Arc's superhuman abilities, Mom.

No need to be so hard on him."

The woman, a dark elf like Glenys, walked up beside me. She wore a priest-like robe

marked with arcane symbols over her amethyst-colored skin. Her snow-white hair,

tied back in a ponytail, fluttered in the breeze as she fixed her golden eyes on me.

She was Ariane Glenys Maple, Glenys's daughter. Ariane was a soldier of Maple, the

capital of the Great Canada Forest.

I first became acquainted with Ariane by sheer chance, when she hired me as a

mercenary to help her rescue some fellow elves enslaved by humans. From there, we

got to know each other better as we continued to work together. Now I found myself

staying in an elven village—a place few humans were ever allowed to set foot in.

Glenys put her finger to her chin in thought. "I suppose you're right. Not many humans

could keep up with Arc. But, you know, plenty of elves could run circles around him.

Take your sister, for instance. Or even your grandfather."

There were quite a number of talented fighters in Ariane's family.

Ariane beckoned to me. "Arc, give me your staff."

I nodded and handed it over.

"Care to spar, mother?"

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

The two women exchanged smiles before silently separating.

Even though they were mother and daughter, Glenys looked so young that they could

easily have been mistaken for sisters. Due to their long lifespans—around four

hundred years—it was incredibly difficult to tell an elf's age by appearance alone.

"Hyaaa!" Ariane yelled as she glided toward her mother, closing the distance in a flash.

Glenys drew back, almost imperceptibly, and swung her staff to catch Ariane's midswing, deflecting the blow. She then gracefully moved into her own strike, swinging

low under Ariane's failed attack.

Using a move similar to her mother's, Ariane deftly dodged Glenys's subsequent

attacks, trying to build distance between them while launching a series of kicks to

keep her mother at bay. Glenys smiled at that, even as she jumped to avoid Ariane's

counterattacks.

"Tsk, tsk. You take after your sister, with your overreliance on kicking."

This match was nothing like mine and Glenys's. The contenders moved nimbly, as if in

a dance. It was captivating.

There was absolutely no way I'd ever be able to move around like that in my armor. I

could only hope that, under Glenys's tutelage, I might one day fight at least somewhat

as gracefully as she did.

My technique essentially relied on overwhelming force to destroy anything in my way.

That worked all right on monsters and other non-humans, but it wasn't well-suited to

opponents requiring a little more finesse.

I was thinking about asking Ariane to teach me the basics of swordsmanship, the next

time we had a free moment, when the battle between her and Glenys finally reached

its conclusion.

Ariane's staff spun through the air, landing in front of me with a dull thud. Looking up,

I saw her with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. She

glowered at her mother, who wore a satisfied smile.

Even as a complete amateur, I could tell that Ariane was a skilled swordsman. The fact

that Glenys could beat her so handily made me all the more impressed with the older

elf's abilities.

"Absolutely astonished" might actually be a better way of putting it.

"My, my. You've certainly improved, but you still have a ways to go."

"Gah! I couldn't even get a hit in!"

The figure standing beside me, who'd also watched the sparring match unfold, slowly

raised her hand.

Glenys caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and looked over.

"Oh, Chiyome. Do you also want to spar?"

"Please, if you'd be so kind as to give me a chance," the young girl replied in her usual

formal manner as she stood, fixing her azure eyes on Glenys. Her short black hair

rippled in the wind.

Chiyome was small in stature, and dressed in loose, black clothes for ease of

movement. She wore gauntlets on her arms, shin guards on her legs, and a short sword

at her waist. Two triangular ears poked out from her hair, and a long, black tail

wrapped around her waist, giving away the fact that she was not quite human.

Chiyome was one of the mountain people, who hid constantly to avoid being enslaved

by humans and used for manual labor. She was also a member of a militant group

known as the Jinshin clan, which was devoted to rescuing enslaved mountain people.

The clan was originally founded around six hundred years ago by a man who came to

this world in a manner similar to how I ended up here. He brought this group of

persecuted people together and trained them as ninjas. Chiyome was a member of her

clan's highest class, consisting of the top six fighters.

Glenys waved Chiyome over.

"Of course."

Ariane and Chiyome changed places, and Chiyome faced Glenys. She didn't pick up a

weapon, but instead clenched her gauntleted hands together. The two eyed each other

in silence for several moments.

Unlike the previous bouts, this time Glenys made the first move. She launched a series

of kicks, moving far more quickly than what I'd seen when Ariane attempted the same.

Chiyome dropped low to the ground, dodging the blows before jumping back to her

feet and delivering her own round of kicks. Glenys ducked out of range.

Thanks to her small form, Chiyome's movements were quick and nimble, making me

wonder if there actually was some cat blood in her. It almost looked as if she were

playing with Glenys.

However, even under Chiyome's onslaught, Glenys's ever-present smile never left her

face.

The two moved in a blur as they traded blows. The tip of Glenys's staff finally struck

the back of Chiyome's knee, distracting the young girl. Glenys laid into her until

Chiyome eventually lost her balance and found Glenys's staff at her throat. Chiyome

let out a low growl, but a moment later, she accepted her defeat.

"Well, I've been had."

Glenys withdrew her staff and clapped. "That was quite impressive, Chiyome. Your

mastery of martial arts outshines even my own daughter's. I worry that your attacks

might be a bit weak due to your small frame, but you're still growing, so I imagine that

will sort itself out with time."

Chiyome's expression, which was usually flat whenever she spoke, lightened up a bit

at Glenys's evaluation. She quickly bowed her head to hide her smile.

"Th-thank you, ma'am."

Glenys looked down tenderly at the young girl before turning her attention back to

me, and bringing her hands together in a loud clap.

"Well! I think that's enough morning exercise. How about we eat some breakfast and

begin preparing for your trip?"

"Sounds great!"

"Understood."

Ponta, who'd been busy playing around the perimeter of the house, picked up on the

word "breakfast" and let out an excited cry as it came running.

"Kyii!"

Ponta was a cottontail fox: an animal about sixty centimeters long with the face of a

fox and the body of a Japanese flying squirrel. It got its name from its dandelion-like

tail, which it was currently wagging. The soft and fluffy fur on Ponta's back was the

color of grass, while its stomach and half its tail were pure white, giving the fox the

appearance of a mountain of shaved ice covered in matcha syrup.

Ponta was a spirit creature, which meant that a spirit resided within it, allowing it to

use magic.

According to Ariane and Chiyome, spirit creatures were typically incredibly cautious.

Judging by how easily the mere mention of food drew Ponta in, however, I couldn't

help but think that it was somehow missing that instinct.

Ponta summoned a gust of magical wind, and caught the updraft with the membranes

between its front and back legs. It flew high into the sky and glided toward the top of

my helmet—its usual spot. However, before it could successfully make its landing,

Ariane reached up and grabbed Ponta right out of the air.

Ariane petted Ponta's head gingerly, speaking in an unnaturally sweet voice. "Hiya,

Ponta! You want something to eat?"

Ponta looked back and forth between Ariane and myself before letting out an excited

cry and burying its face in her ample bosom.

I guess the allure of food beat sitting on my head any day.

***

On the second floor of the village elder's treehouse, we sat down at a large wooden

table in the middle of a massive dining room with a built-in kitchen. Ariane and

Chiyome sat on either side of me, while Ponta munched a bowl of food near my feet,

its large cotton tail wagging happily. Ariane smiled warmly, scratching the top of

Ponta's head.

I'd traded my armor for traditional elven robes, and I was practically smacking my

nonexistent lips with excitement at the sight of the food in front of me. I noticed

Chiyome staring at me with great interest. I slowly turned toward her as I took a bite

of bread.

"What is it, Chiyome?"

A look of uncertainty washed across her face. "It's nothing. I mean… it's just that you

look like an undead. It's so peculiar to sit here watching you eat like a normal person."

I supposed the sight of a living skeleton shoving bread into its mouth was rather peculiar.

Blue flame flickered behind my eye sockets, deep within my skull. Despite the fact that

I lacked skin, muscles, and even organs, I was still able to taste things, and everything

I ate and drank disappeared into my body somewhere. When I first came to this world,

I unintentionally took the form of the avatar I'd been playing in the game. At the time,

I wasn't using my human character, but a special avatar with a skeleton's body.

"Yeah, but Arc doesn't have the death contamination on him, like the undead do. You

can see that, can't you, Chiyome?" Ariane continued patting Ponta, even as she butted

in to defend me.

Chiyome sniffed lightly and tilted her head to the side.

"Mountain people can't see the 'death contamination,' as you call it, but you're right.

He doesn't have that stench the undead are known for."

Ariane shot me a slightly incredulous look, then spoke past me, to Chiyome. "Besides,

you won't find an undead that asks for a bath to wash away the sweat from its morning

exercise. How do bones even sweat, anyway?"

Chiyome looked back up at me.

I looked down at my own body in an attempt to avoid their gazes.

Come to think of it, there really was no way for my body to sweat. I realized that taking

a bath after exercising was nothing more than a habit I'd developed over the years.

While I tried desperately to explain to Ariane just how refreshing the ritual felt, even

though I was a skeleton, Glenys approached the table and promptly handed a piece of

paper to Ariane.

I'd yet to see paper anywhere in the human towns, but apparently it was common in

elven villages. This particular page was large and thick, with a map drawn on it.

"This map will give you a general sense of the route through the cave to the Lord

Crown. I assume you already know the way to the cave, or at least, close enough."

Ariane nodded, looking the map over carefully.

Chiyome maintained her usual stoic look, although the ears atop her head twitched

slightly as she glanced at the map.

The Lord Crown was the location of a mysterious tree, near which the Dragon Lord,

the most powerful of dragons, lived. Over the generations, all manner of spirits had

come to inhabit the tree, since the Dragon Lord's magic imbued it with mystical powers.

The land near the Lord Crown was known to have peculiar effects, and according to

Dillan—Lalatoya's village elder and Ariane's father—it contained a spring that could

cure any curse.

The map Ariane held in her hand marked the route to that spring. Our journey there

was my payment for helping to rescue captured elves. We planned to finish our

preparations today, and head out tomorrow.

I couldn't be sure what effect the spring would have on my skeleton body, assuming it

had an effect at all. But it was worth at least trying to do something about this curse,

since the longer I had it, the more difficulties I'd encounter here.

Ariane studied the map with great interest, unable to contain her excitement.

"It's been a while since I went to the caverns. I'd never have imagined they were a

shortcut to the other side of a mountain range."

"So, you've been in these caves before?" I asked.

Ariane nodded. "My sister brought me there on several occasions, back when I was

still a soldier-in-training here in the village. We collected various rune stones to power

the magical items we use here." Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if she suddenly

remembered something, her gaze drilling into me. "If you plan to continue using our

bath, Arc, you should probably pick up some rune stones while we're in the cave."

That was her roundabout way of asking me to pay for the energy consumed when I

used their bath. Baths were still a luxury here, unlike the world I came from; heating

bathwater required either firewood or rune stones. If I wanted to continue enjoying

that luxury, I'd better stay on Ariane's good side. Once the curse was lifted, I'd finally

be able to enjoy the feeling of warm water against my skin again, assuming everything

went according to plan.

I clenched my fists in determination. "Right! I'll pay for my baths."

Ariane sighed loudly. "You really do love them, don't you…?"

I ignored her comment. Back in Japan, bathing frequently was pretty common, although

it was rarer here.

The human towns and inns in this world didn't even have baths, just wet washcloths

to wipe your body down. Once I saw that the elves built bathhouses, I felt a strong

connection to them immediately, given my roots. I couldn't help but wonder if the

Great Canada Forest's founding elder had been a Japanese man who was fond of

Canada, or perhaps a Canadian fond of Japan.

I was all too aware of the desire for familiar environments, and the longing for things

lost.

Glenys clapped to get our attention. "Well then, why don't you go down to the

basement, and pick out whatever you need for the trip tomorrow?"

Ariane and Chiyome stood up from their seats.

With breakfast finished, Ponta had begun grooming itself. The moment it noticed the

women heading downstairs, however, it hurried after them as fast as its little legs

could carry it.

The door leading to the basement was on the first floor, behind the massive, tree-like

pillar standing in the building's center. We followed a stairwell that spiraled down the

inside of the pillar. Thanks to magical lamps placed at regular intervals, the staircase

was far brighter than the dark, dank basements of the various human nobles' estates

we'd snuck into.

At the bottom of the stairs, we encountered a heavy wooden door, which opened into

a narrow space lined with crowded shelves. If I'd still had a heart, it would have been

racing with excitement. I felt as though we were on some sort of treasure hunt. Ariane

was already digging through various items on the shelves.

"What exactly do we need for this trip, anyway?"

She turned to me and held something out. "Well, we're heading into a cave, right?"

I looked down at the item she gave me. It was a handheld lamp. Inside the glass casing

were several clear crystal pillars, and there was a small knob on the bottom. As soon

as I turned the knob, the crystals flickered to life, casting a steady glow that reminded

me of an electric lightbulb.

"Wow. That's impressive."

Not only was I amazed at the lamp's ability to serve as a light source, but the detailing

on it was remarkable in its own right. I was sure it could have sold for several hundred

thousand yen in an interior design store back home.

"That's a crystal lamp," Chiyome said, while I busied myself playing with the shadows

the lamplight created. "They're made by elves, and prized for their strong light and

sturdy build. Only a few wealthy humans own one."

Thinking back on the dim oil lamps I'd seen throughout the human towns, I believed

her. A lamp like this, that put even electric lights to shame, would be far out of reach

for common humans. Still, I could probably afford one. It might be a good idea to

purchase one, in case—

"Hey, quit slacking off and give me a hand, will ya?"

I turned around to see Ariane's cheeks puffed out. She shoved two more lamps and a

bulging leather sack in my direction.

"Uh, I'm sorry," I said, taking them from her.

I undid the drawstring holding the sack closed and looked inside. It was full of

glimmering, purple sand.

"What's this?"

Chiyome came up beside me. "Powdered mana. It's made by crushing rune stones, and

it's in a lot of the elves' magical items. It's pretty powerful stuff, but you need to be

highly skilled to use it safely, which is why they don't put it in anything they sell to

humans. Best-case scenario, humans would just break the item. Worst-case, they

might cause a massive explosion."

She made "powdered mana" sound like jet fuel.

In front of us, Ariane puffed out her plump chest, a look of pride gracing her face. It

seemed she was pleased at Chiyome's assessment of the elves' exceptional skill.

I decided to play dumb. "What is it, Ariane?"

Ariane quickly wiped the look off her face, muttering something under her breath as

she moved to a shelf farther back in the room.

I started rifling through nearby items and asking Chiyome about them. Before long, I

spotted something familiar—a hemp bag filled with gold coins.

The bag was stuffed in the corner of a shelf, its contents gleaming dully. I picked up a

coin and rubbed my thumb over the mark of the Rhoden Kingdom.

Ariane stopped what she was doing and looked over at me. "That's part of the money

you stole from the noble's estate. Father said we should put some aside, in case you

find a use for it."

"In that case, I suppose we could put it toward the bath's fuel costs, couldn't we?" I

blurted out what I thought was a great idea, but Ariane merely shrugged, looking

exasperated.

"I don't get why you're so obsessed with baths. Besides, with your strength, you can

get all the rune stones you need just by hunting monsters. Don't you have anything

else to use the money on?"

I gave what she said some thought.

Of course, Ariane was right that I could get plenty of rune stones to fuel my baths from

hunting monsters or digging in caves. There was no need to buy them. Using the

money on magical items that would make my life easier instead might be the way to

go.

Fortunately for me, I had plenty of elven connections, so once I finally had a place of

my own, I could use the money to furnish it.

Actually, scratch that. First, I'd put the money toward building my own bathhouse.

Mind made up, I told Ariane my plan, eliciting the biggest sigh I'd heard from her yet.

Given the love the elves and the Japanese clearly shared for bathing culture, I'd been

hoping she'd understand me on that point.

The day wore on as we chatted among ourselves and prepared for tomorrow's journey

to the spring.

***

The next morning, we entered the mist-filled forest, with Ariane leading the way and

Chiyome and me following close behind. Ponta sat atop my helmet while I carried the

party's gear on my back.

What little light managed to break the dense leaf cover above cast an interesting

pattern at our feet, illuminating a path through the trees, as if to invite us farther into

the forest. Everything in this ominous, hazy wood looked the same to me, making it

difficult to sense where we were going. However, Ariane marched ahead confidently,

as if she were on some nature hike.

Once the magic-suppressing mist finally dissipated, we used my teleportation magic

to advance through the woods. Just before noon, we arrived at the point where the

Lydel and Librout rivers branched off—the same point we'd crossed on our previous

journey through the forest. I used Dimensional Step to take us to the other side of the

river.

I took a moment to look across the scene, observing the unique landscape where the

large river split in two, in case I needed to teleport back here.

When I mentioned this idea to Ariane, she retorted that we could simply teleport

straight to Lalatoya. I let out a low groan at my own stupidity. Ariane paid me no mind

and marched back into the forest.

The trees on the opposite shore were no longer the huge, ancient ones that filled the

Great Canada Forest. Here, we were greeted by dense clusters of more moderately

sized trees and undergrowth. We pushed through the shrubbery, fighting off the

occasional monster as we continued our journey, and teleporting whenever we got a

clear line of sight.

As we made our way northwest, the ground slowly took on a steeper incline. We came

upon a small footpath, which we followed up a tree-covered hill. A short time later, we

caught sight of the setting sun through gaps in the foliage as the shadows lengthened

and darkened.

"We'll stay here for the night," Ariane said.

She used her sword to chop off a low-hanging branch in front of her, revealing a

clearing, then pointed with her sword.

I looked where she was pointing and saw three large trees towering over the ones

around them. They were probably ten meters tall, and leaned toward each other, their

branches overlapping and intertwined, forming a nest-like structure in the sky. A deck

connected the three trees, resembling an observation platform sitting atop three

support pillars.

"Wow, that's… Well… What is it?" I asked.

"Kyii!"

Ponta cried out in excitement and dove off my shoulder, catching a breeze to fly straight

up to the platform. I lost sight of it as soon as it landed on the deck.

"The elves built this outpost. Soldiers use places like this when we're hunting for

monsters or on other errands."

It definitely looked like the kind of place where you could relax without having to

worry about land-based creatures attacking. However, it also seemed like it would be

quite a challenge for anyone without teleportation magic to reach—even more so if

they were weighed down by equipment.

We'd each packed the items we'd need for our journey through the forest into simple

rucksacks on our backs. I'd actually packed lightly, figuring I'd be able to use my

teleportation magic. Even so, it was no small load. The average person would probably

need a pulley to get their gear onto the platform.

Chiyome let out a low whistle as she looked at the elevated structure. "Wow. This is

really impressive work. Did the elves build places like this throughout the forest?"

Ariane puffed out her chest and smiled broadly, apparently quite pleased by the

compliment. However, the smile quickly disappeared, replaced instead with a slight

frown.

"Up until recently, we had several small villages here on this side of the river. These

outposts were made for the local soldiers. However, as the humans grew their slave

trade, we had to abandon the villages."

Chiyome looked somber as she gazed at the elven woman, her face cloaked in shadow.

Ariane shook her head, offering Chiyome a gentle smile before making her way toward

the large trees. She placed a hand on the thick ivy wrapped around the closest tree

trunk.

"The sun's about to set. We should make camp." As Ariane spoke, she began climbing

the tree, using the trunk's indentations and ivy growth as handholds. She hauled

herself up with her bag still on her back.

Chiyome darted to the tree and climbed up after Ariane.

Actually, calling what they did "climbing" didn't do it justice.

I craned my neck and moved around until I found a place where I could teleport

straight onto the platform using Dimensional Step. Sure, I was strong, but if I could

avoid climbing a tree with massive armor on, I would.

On the platform, I found that the two women had already put down their gear and

were making camp. Ponta ran around the perimeter, looking down at the forest below

as if claiming territory.

Despite our added weight, the platform didn't show any sign of collapsing. A layer of

grass underfoot gave us the delightful feeling of walking on a lawn. From below, the

platform appeared to be made of interwoven branches. From where I stood now,

however, it felt like a solid, flat surface.

At the platform's center was a stone firepit, carefully constructed to shield the

surrounding wood from stray sparks.

I watched as Ariane and Chiyome placed twigs they'd gathered during their climb onto

the stones.

"This place has a pretty unique look, Miss Ariane. It wouldn't be hard for me to remember

it. We could spend the night in the village and teleport back here tomorrow."

"You're probably right. But all these outposts look alike. So, if we wind up using

another one, it'll be hard for you to differentiate them."

"Hmm."

"Besides, we just finished setting up camp. We're going to be roughing it for the next

few days, so we might as well get used to it. Have you camped before, Arc?"

"Well…"

I had, actually. However, I didn't see any of the creature comforts—like a propane

burner, proper tent, or heavily insulated sleeping bag—that I had the last time I went

camping. In that sense, this really was my first time roughing it. Getting used to living

in the wilderness on our journey to the spring would be a good experience for me.

Also, as Ariane mentioned, if we wound up using similar outposts along the way, then

it was totally possible—even likely—that I might mistake one for another and teleport

us all the way back to the first.

I also risked teleporting us to some random outpost if I didn't have a clear, distinct

memory of the one I wanted to reach. In that case, we'd be stuck wandering the woods

for who knew how long.

From what I'd been told, people with a poor sense of direction had that problem

because they didn't properly burn images of locations into their minds. However, I

sensed that Ariane, with her ability to march through the forest without the slightest

hint of hesitation, could have easily distinguished between each and every outpost if

she had teleportation magic.

With all that in mind, I agreed with Ariane's assessment, and asked her and Chiyome

how I could help. They just told me to stand back and watch.

With nothing useful to do, I picked Ponta up from the grass, put it in my lap, and

wrapped my arms around my knees, patiently watching the two women work.

Ariane pulled a large, folded piece of canvas from her rucksack and hung it over a rope

she'd tied between two of the large trees. She attached the canvas edges to the

platform with small straps, resulting in a very familiar shape: a triangle tent.

The top of the canvas tent was dyed with an irregular green pattern—some sort of

waterproofing, I assumed—and shone slightly, likely from being treated with oil.

Meanwhile, Chiyome dug through a bag Ariane handed her, and pulled out a small pot

and various dried foods.

"Wow, they've even left food here?" she said, to no one in particular. "We usually don't

prepare this well when we're out in the woods. The more you bring, the slower you

travel."

"Food stores like this are pretty normal," Ariane said. "Elven soldiers spend a lot of

time patrolling the forests and hunting monsters. With Arc's teleportation magic, we

should make it to the Dragon Wonder's mouth tomorrow, so I figured we could pack

light."

Ariane pulled out several pelts and spread them under the tent, then used spirit magic

to ignite the twigs. She took the pot from Chiyome and placed it on the stones. After

filling it with water from her skin, she tossed in dried food and other ingredients.

I sat to the side, rubbing Ponta's belly and watching the two women. "What's the

Dragon Wonder?"

"A massive canyon between the Karyu and Furyu Mountains. The cave entrance we're

heading to is located in one of its walls."

"Huh. So, tomorrow, we'll enter the cave?"

Ariane shook her head. "At this pace, the earliest we'll make it to the Dragon Wonder

is probably the afternoon. The cave itself is full of monsters, so I'd prefer to travel

through it in one go. I think we'll need to spend a night camping out in front of the

entrance."

She dropped a packet of spices into the pot and began stirring with a wooden spoon

as we discussed tomorrow's plans. She then quickly tasted the soup and nodded. As

darkness descended on the forest, it slowly plunged us into silence, save for the

crackling flames. Steam rose from the boiling soup, carrying a sweet scent. Ponta rose

from my lap and sniffed the air.

"Kyii!"

"Well, it looks about ready to eat."

Ariane pulled out three light metal mugs she'd brought and filled them with soup.

Then Chiyome took sticks of bread from her own rucksack and passed them out.

I removed my helmet and accepted the offered mug and bread, delighted at the

unexpected opportunity to eat a warm meal here in the wilderness.

Enticed by the smell, Ponta tried desperately to look inside my mug.

Ariane poured some soup into a shallow dish, setting it before Ponta. The cottontail

fox wagged its tail excitedly and began to eat. Ariane smiled as Ponta used magic to

waft a cooling breeze across the hot soup.

"We'll take shifts being on watch. Chiyome, you're first; then Arc; and finally me. Is

everyone okay with that?" Ariane looked at us in turn.

"Fine with me."

"I have no complaints."

Ariane slowly wrapped herself in one of the pelts that lined the tent floor. "All right,

I'm off to sleep, then. Arc, do you want this?" She offered me another pelt.

Wrapping myself up—armor and all—didn't seem as though it would do much. On the

other hand, I was hesitant to sleep in the woods without my armor. In the end, I

decided to do without the pelt. I lay down inside the tent for a quick nap before my

turn to stand watch. Spending the evening in such close proximity to two women made

it hard to relax, but, fortunately, the night passed quickly.

The next morning, I jolted awake suddenly. I jumped to my feet, grimacing at the ache

that throbbed through my head.

"Hyaugh?!"

I looked around, the fog of sleep still hanging over my mind. I was surrounded by a

dense forest that stretched in all directions, veiled with a thin layer of fog. Behind me,

three large trees stretched into the sky.

"Arc?! Are you okay?"

"Kyiii!"

I tilted my head toward the sound of the voices. Ariane, Chiyome, and Ponta looked

very worried as they gazed down from the platform between the trees. Slowly, I put

together what had happened. I must have somehow rolled off the platform.

I remembered that, after finishing my turn on watch, I decided to lie down on the

platform edge, rather than climb into the tent with Chiyome.

"Err, sorry about that. I'm fine."

"You sure? That's a pretty long fall."

Ariane began climbing down, worry evident on her face.

I tried to sound cool and collected while assuring her that everything was okay.

"What about your body? You aren't secretly an undead, are you?" She sounded more

relieved as she approached.

Judging by the ache in my bones, I was pretty sure I wasn't undead. On the other hand,

falling ten meters and ending up with only a little discomfort was no small feat.

Thinking about it further, I felt rather pathetic; I'd suffered my first injury since

coming to this world from falling out of a tree.

Just to be on the safe side, I cast a recovery spell on myself. "I guess I should sleep

closer to the middle of the platform next time."

"Please do. I was hoping to start the day off without any major incidents."

I endured Ariane's gentle ribbing as I climbed back up. After a quick breakfast, we set

off toward the Dragon Wonder. We made swift work of the monsters we ran across as

we continued through the forest, collecting rune stones all the while. Shortly after

noon, we arrived at our destination.

Once we broke out of the dense, dark forest, we found an impressive, unobstructed

view all the way to the horizon. The earth in front of us split open, revealing a dense

green foliage carpet at the bottom of a steep precipice, covered in a thick layer of mist.

The vast canyon stretched to the north and south, bordered by the Furyu Mountains

in the east and by the Karyu Mountains in the west.

The forested canyon floor was easily a thousand meters below. Getting down there

would normally have been impossible. It truly looked as if a wound had been torn into

the earth.

From time to time, gusts of wind blew along the steep canyon walls, giving rise to

strong updrafts. Since Ponta was light, I was sure it could ride those updrafts high into

the air if it wanted.

Chiyome and I murmured in amazement at the sight before us. I edged timidly closer

to the precipice edge and glanced over.

"So, this is the Dragon Wonder? It's truly breathtaking. I can't even find words to

describe it," I said.

"It really is impressive," Chiyome agreed. "There's no way I could climb down from here."

Even I wouldn't stand a chance, falling from this height—death was practically assured.

The drop was at least a hundred times farther than my fall that morning.

Ariane urged us along, already walking away. "We'll follow the canyon edge east,

toward the cave. Be careful not to get too close to the edge. Wyverns sometimes shoot

out of the canyon if they catch sight of you."

I hurried after her.

We moved along, alternately walking and using Dimensional Step, for about an hour.

Finally, we drifted away from the canyon and into the trees, where we stopped at

another elven outpost.

The platform between these trees was a little lower—only seven or eight meters up.

Putting aside this outpost's proximity to the Dragon Wonder, it was almost identical

to the one we left that morning. We'd stay the night in this outpost, then head into the

cave first thing the next day.

On our second night camping in the wilderness, I decided to sleep in the middle of the

platform to avoid repeating my fall.

***

Early the next morning, we ate a quick breakfast and made our way to the Dragon

Wonder while the sun was still low behind the Furyu Mountains. The eastern sky was

an uneven blend of night and day behind the silhouetted peaks.

Down below, morning mist flowed across the treetops. It looked almost like a river

running along the canyon floor, completely obscuring the blanket of green foliage I'd

seen the previous day. Occasional updrafts that rippled through the mist's surface

provided only brief unobstructed glimpses of the forest below.

Practically clinging to the precipice walls, we made our way into the canyon along a

rock-strewn path just wide enough for one person. Due to my armor's massive

pauldrons, I had to turn sideways and face the wall, crab-walking. Worried that the

wind might blow Ponta away, Ariane held the fox tight against her chest.

After painstakingly hugging the wall the whole way down, while also trying to keep

my Twilight Cloak from fluttering in the breeze, we finally made it to the cave

entrance—about fifty meters from the clifftop. I peeked inside the large opening and

was met with darkness so absolute that it seemed to pull me in.

Now standing on a slightly larger outcropping, I pulled back and exhaled deeply.

The cave was about five meters in diameter. Moss-covered stone shelves—what

looked like stairs—led deeper inside, toward the canyon floor.

"All sorts of monsters live in here, so keep your guard up." Ariane pulled a crystal lamp

from her rucksack and turned it on, its glow filling the cave.

Chiyome and I retrieved our own crystal lamps and lit them. The light grew brighter,

illuminating the cave interior. Even then, it still wasn't enough to reach the cavern

depths. The way forward was nothing but darkness.

With such limited visibility, Dimensional Step would be useless.

Ariane led the way into the cave, holding out her crystal lamp. Chiyome and I followed.

Aside from the occasional chilly breeze blowing from the cave floor, and ominous

echoes deep within the cavern, the only sounds that broke the silence were our own

footsteps.

In addition to the main path leading down into the cave, multiple smaller paths

branched in various directions. Ariane ignored these and continued marching deeper

into the darkness.

Looking backward, I could no longer see the entrance.

I raised my crystal lamp, glancing around. "You mentioned something about monsters

living here, but I haven't seen any."

Just then, Ponta cried out worriedly from where it sat on Ariane's shoulder. Ariane

instantly drew her sword.

"Bats!"

I followed Ariane's gaze and spotted a meter-tall bat hanging from the ceiling,

stretching out its wings to an impressive two-meter span. The creature's ears

resembled gills. Large fangs jutted from its mouth. It let out an eerie cry, and a dozen

more bats dropped from the ceiling and flew toward us. They circled in lazy, irregular

orbits, occasionally swooping as a group toward Ariane in front or Chiyome behind. I

was stuck in the middle as my two companions faced off against the swarm.

"There are so many of them!"

"Kyuuukiiii!"

One bat got too close, and Ariane struck it down with a single blow. Ponta, in a rare

show of courage, summoned a blast of wind around Ariane, protecting her by

obstructing the bats' flight paths. Ariane made quick work of any creature caught by

the wind, chopping them cleanly in two. I wasn't sure what inspired Ponta to dive into

the fray, but perhaps it had something to do with just how unintimidating the bats

were.

"Body to water, liquid shuriken!"

At the back of the party, Chiyome hurled a shuriken of water into an oncoming bat,

knocking it to the ground.

Completely ignored by the monsters, I chopped down several bats as they continued

their assault on Ariane and Chiyome.

Given how randomly the bats moved, I wasn't completely confident in my ability to hit

them with a magical attack. With my superior reflexes and eyesight, I should have been

able to wipe out all of them. Large as my sword was, though, it wasn't quite long

enough to reach the bats as they raced through the air.

Then I recalled a skill I'd used previously to put down a bandit.

"Wyvern Slash!"

I aimed at the bats flying above us and let loose an invisible attack. A second later,

severed wings fell to the ground. It was a pretty effective mid-range attack skill, but it

was also incredibly risky, since my allies couldn't see it. One wrong move, and they'd

be doomed.

I continued to launch Wyvern Slash attacks one after another at the bats above, slowly

reducing their numbers until the survivors decided to escape.

"Were those monsters? For some reason, they didn't really seem interested in me."

I put my sword away and looked around. A dozen or so bat corpses were piled in a

mound on the floor.

Ariane wiped her sword with a cloth. "No, they weren't monsters. Just normal animals.

Those bats suck blood from their prey, which explains why they weren't interested in

you, Arc. You probably didn't look too appetizing."

She shot me a mischievous grin.

Being a bone-dry skeleton covered in metal armor, I likely didn't come across as a food

source to the bats. I wondered if they were able to tell that there was nothing inside

me simply by using ultrasound.

I looked back at Chiyome, who crouched in front of a fallen bat, pulling its wing.

"You seem to have fared all right, Miss Chiyome."

"Yeah, I'm okay. Hey, do you think we can eat these things? I've eaten smaller ones

before." Chiyome picked up a severed bat head and showed it to me, her head tilted to

the side inquisitively.

I was pretty sure there were quite a few regions back on Earth where people ate bats.

It seemed unlikely that the mountain people, who were constantly persecuted and

enslaved, could carry out any large-scale farming or ranching. I imagined that they

subsisted on a diet of whatever they could find.

With their long fangs, gill-like ears, and porcine faces, the bats could hardly be

considered beautiful. I glanced at Ariane, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"I've never eaten one. They don't look like they'd taste very good." She shook her head.

"Anyway, we better hurry up, or we won't make it out of here today."

Ariane lifted her crystal lamp and aimed it ahead.

"Right. Sorry about that." Chiyome set the bat's head back on the ground with a look

of disappointment. Then she jogged after us.

***

We continued into the cave, slaying our way through meter-long, ghostly millipedes

that crept along the walls, slime creatures waiting in hollows for prey, and monsters

that would have sent a chill down your spine just to hear about.

Under normal circumstances, seeing monsters emerge from the darkness at the edge

of our lamplight would certainly have made me scream. I was somehow able to keep

my cool, though, thanks in part to being a skeleton myself.

A bizarre, oddly shaped monster floated toward us.

"What is that, Ariane?"

It hung in the air, like a balloon covered in eyes and tentacles, or the ghost of a jellyfish.

I reached for my sword, ready to chop the bizarre creature in two, but Ariane placed a

hand on my arm to stop me.

"That's a spoyl. Don't touch it. As long as you leave it alone, it'll keep going. But if you

attack, it'll release a poisonous gas."

From time to time, as it floated along, the spoyl shot out tendrils to snatch insects that

flew too close. Its eyes darted about, inspecting its surroundings, as it feasted on the

bugs. The whole scene felt rather fantastical, but an eerie tingle ran up my spine all

the same. We carefully avoided the spoyl as it moved deeper into the cave.

Suddenly, Chiyome called out from behind me, alarm in her voice.

"Ariane, I'm picking up a rotten stench ahead. It smells like an undead."

Ariane stopped and raised her lamp. Off in the darkness, far beyond our limited

illumination, came a sound that was a mix of the wind blowing and something being

dragged. Moments later, several human-shaped figures lurched out of the shadows.

"Zombies?"

Their ashen arms and legs jerked spastically as they lumbered toward us, eyes staring

vacantly into space. Wriggling, worm-like tendrils covered their bodies. One zombie

slowly wrenched its rotting corpse in two, splitting along the midriff as though it had

been glued together, and spilling writhing tentacles from the opening. It looked like a

sea anemone on the hunt.

"Wha…?! Those aren't zombies, those are ghoul worms!" Ariane's voice echoed through

the cave. That drew the attention of the ghoul worms. They kicked off from the ground

and flew through the air at us.

"They can fly?!"

These creatures had been carrying out their routines in the dark, just beyond the

bubble of illumination cast by our crystal lamps. Now, revealed, they dove straight

toward us. I placed my lamp on the ground and leaped back, drawing my sword.

Fighting in darkness restricted my movements to the area around my crystal lamp.

Ariane and Chiyome, however, had great night vision. They could see just fine, even

when they moved away from the light. That made me the ideal target for our enemies.

I met the advancing ghoul worms with a mighty swing of my sword, attempting to

chop them in half as they flew out of the shadows. However, a spoyl also floated nearby,

forcing me to pull my sword back before I struck it by accident.

My massive sword's ability to take out multiple opponents at once was great out in the

open, but it wasn't suited to close quarters. Given the proximity of a monster I'd rather

not drag into the fight, the blade was more a hindrance than a help. And I certainly

wasn't at Ariane's skill level. She was able to strike at the ghoul worms while deftly

avoiding the spoyl floating among them.

"Sword of Judgement!"

I decided to try the Paladin skill, which I'd used to fell a giant basilisk in a single strike,

on one of the ghoul worms.

Light surrounded my blade, and it began to glow. As I swung it down, a magic circle

formed beneath the ghoul worm. Then a blade of light sprang from the ground and

shot toward the cave's ceiling. Unfortunately, the ghoul worm moved out of the way in

time, and the light blade only grazed it.

It was too difficult to hit these human-sized enemies. Not only did they lack the giant

basilisk's size, they were far too fast for the Sword of Judgement; they bounced around

like giant grasshoppers.

After fending off several more attacks, I returned my sword to its sheath, picked up

my crystal lamp, and made my way over to Ariane.

"I'm going to stop them in their tracks! Bring Whirlwind!"

Ariane cried out in surprise. "What're you doing, Arc?"

I called forth the wind elemental area-of-effect spell I'd learned from the Magus class.

A tornado formed around me, powerful blasts of wind shooting from my outstretched

arms. One gust caught the spoyl, and threw it far into the cave's depths. The ghoul

worms, however, were only knocked about a bit. They continued to close in on me.

I summoned another spell. "Rock Fang!"

Sharp, fang-like rocks jutted out of the ground, tearing open the earth and impaling

several ghoul worms. The creatures' movements slowed considerably as they tried to

pull their bodies free of the stones that speared them.

Ariane shouted at me, clearly alarmed. "Arc, you shouldn't use earth-based magic here!

We could be…"

A loud rumbling drowned out the rest of her sentence as the cave floor began to shake

beneath us.

The ground gave out under me, sending me tumbling down the massive hole that

suddenly appeared.

"Wauuuuugh!"

The world spun as I picked up speed, rocketing through the narrow tunnel that had

opened up in the earth. I felt like I was on a roller coaster.

"You shouldn't use earth magic in caves and other enclosed spaces! It can weaken the

ground around you!"

I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Ariane and Chiyome sliding down behind

me. Apparently, they'd been dragged into the ground as well. Ponta was safe and

sound, clinging to Ariane.

I hadn't even considered that earth magic could have this kind of impact.

"I'm really sorry! Once we find somewhere we can stand, I'll teleport us out of here!"

Despite the beating it took, my crystal lamp continued to illuminate the darkness. I

clutched it as tightly as I could. From time to time, rocks fell on my head as the cave

walls continued to crumble. That actually hurt a bit. However, the rocks did nothing to

slow my momentum as I slid ever deeper into the cave.

Finally, the darkness gave way to bright light as I flew into a vast, open chamber.

My tumbling slowed as the slope grew shallow, and I was able to stand at last.

"Look at that. It's an underground lake! And is that a…?"

I turned, following Chiyome's gaze, and discovered that crystal-clear water filled over

half the chamber, forming a large, subterranean lake. The water itself appeared to

glow, giving off a mystical, pale blue light.

Even more unbelievable, however, was the fact that a massive ship was anchored in

the lake, just a short distance from the wall we slid down.

I glanced around, taking it all in. The chamber itself had to be at least a hundred meters

tall. The rock surfaces around us gave off the same pale blue light as the water. The

light seemed to come from brightly glowing crystals scattered about the room. The

lake stretched into the distance and out of view; I spotted holes in the wall where

water poured into the lake like waterfalls.

A simple wooden pier extended from the shore to the ship. The ship's three masts

made it look like a galleon, although oars lined its sides just above the waterline, like

a galley. The fact that we found such a massive ship suggested that the subterranean

lake was connected to a river, or even the ocean.

Ariane, however, seemed preoccupied. "I can't believe it. This place is full of natural

light crystals."

"Kyii!" Ponta let out a cry as it looked around.

Chiyome walked up to me and fixed her gaze on the ship. "So, obviously, people have

been coming here."

"But why would someone build a pier underground?" I took note of the fact that there

didn't seem to be any signs of life around us.

Ariane picked a stone from the ground and showed it to me. "It could be for these."

The stone emanated a gentle purple glow as it caught the crystal lamp's light.

"Rune stones."

Chiyome's eyes widened. "There are near-perfect rune stones just lying around all

over the place. Finding this many natural light crystals explains why the cave is lit up."

I lifted my lamp and looked at the glowing pillars inside.

"Are these crystals the same kind that are in the lamps?"

"Those are artificial light crystals, made for use in magical items. Natural ones are

extremely valuable. They aren't something you'd use in camping equipment."

The way Chiyome spoke gave the impression that the thing in my hand was some sort

of knockoff, but according to her, any of the elves' magical items would be invaluable

by human standards.

We were standing on a literal mountain of treasure.

I suddenly remembered that rune stones could also be used as fuel. "With all these

crystals, I could probably run a bath year-round and still have some left over!"

Ariane laughed, exasperated. "Yes, well, with so much raw material here, I should

probably talk to father first, and see what he thinks about putting together a group of

soldiers to collect it all."

Chiyome's eyes were still fixed on the ship. "We'll also need to figure out who exactly

is using this place."

The ship didn't appear to be some long-lost wreck. It was in good condition, and

looked like it could depart at a moment's notice. However, there wasn't a single soul

in sight. In fact, aside from the distant roar of water pouring from the falls and

splashing into the lake below, I couldn't hear any signs of life in the cave.

"I suppose we should check out the ship first," I said.

Ariane and Chiyome nodded, as if they'd been thinking the same thing.

The shoddily constructed pier creaked under our combined weight. Once we reached

the ship, we stopped and looked up.

The ship was about sixty meters long, including the bowsprit. It was probably thirty

meters from the waterline to the mast tops, where the sails were neatly folded. A plank

extended from the ship to the pier for easy boarding.

From a distance, it looked like a simple wooden ship, but now that we were closer, it

gave off an ominous vibe. The upper half was almost certainly wooden, but the lower

half seemed to be embedded with massive bones of some sort.

Ariane looked stoic as she peered at the docked vessel. "It really doesn't seem like

anyone's around."

We climbed the plank and boarded the ship. On deck, we found a pair of double doors,

which I assumed led down into the hold. At the deck's highest point, I spotted a

darkened metal lantern. There were six cannons as well, which struck me as a small

number for a ship this size. Then I realized how interesting it was that cannons were

even used in this world.

Ariane's shocked tone interrupted my thoughts. "Are these mana cannons? What are

they doing here?"

"What are mana cannons?" Chiyome looked at Ariane inquisitively.

"They're a type of magical weapon capable of shooting large metal balls using the

power of mana. Only the elves in the Great Canada Forest, and the Great Fobnach

Kingdom down in the southern continent, should have access to them. I've never

heard of humans having them."

Ariane looked intently at the barrel of one cannon. Now that she mentioned it, I didn't

recall seeing cannons or similar weapons on the ships docked in Lamburt, back in the

Rhoden Kingdom.

"So, this ship's owner must be an elf, right?"

Ariane crossed her arms. "This definitely isn't an elven ship."

"Well, in that case, who does it…"

"Kyii! Kyiiii!" Ponta cried in alarm.

Chiyome's cat-like ears twitched. "Someone's coming!"

The double doors on the deck opened wide, and a horde of armed skeletons, looking

not unlike me without my armor, poured out.

"Whoa! More skeleton knights?!"

The skeletons said nothing as they moved. The only sounds were their clattering

footsteps on the deck, and the scrape of their swords and pickaxes.

"These are just undead. If they were like you, the whole country would be done for!"

After Ariane got her little jab in, she drew her flame-covered sword and engaged the

attackers. They didn't seem all that skilled at fighting.

Chiyome deftly dodged the attacks, spinning and using centrifugal force to knock

several skeletons off their feet.

I drew the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg from its sheath and swung the glowing

azure blade through the already-dead attackers, cleaving bones as if they were twigs.

For every skeleton I cut down, however, two more burst from the ship's hold.

"The whole ship's infested with the undead!" Chiyome shouted. "It'd probably be

easier just to light the whole thing on fire!"

"You're right," Ariane said. "We can use magic to set it ablaze, and sink it once we're…"

She cut herself off mid-sentence.

A massive figure had appeared from inside the ship, knocking skeletons out of its way.

"Roooooooooooooaaaaaar!"

Unlike the other undead swarming us, this monster was covered in blotchy skin, and

looked a lot more human. It was quite a bit taller than me, standing around three

meters. It wore armor on its massive upper bodies; it had two, connected at the waist,

a human-like head atop each half. Its faces—if you could even call them that—

glowered at us through five bloodshot eyeballs, and wore sinister smiles filled with

rows of sharp fangs. The two bodies were identical, giving the creature a total of four

arms, and it carried two swords and two shields. Its bottom half was spider-like, with

eight large, black legs.

The human-spider hybrid skittered toward us as we continued to fend off the skeletons.

"What is that?! It's got the stench of death… Does that mean it's undead, too?" Judging

by the tone of Ariane's voice, she'd never seen anything like this before.

I glanced at Chiyome, but her reaction was the same. I couldn't recall ever seeing this

creature in the game.

Its eyes focused on me as it opened its mouth to speak. "Kill… intruders! Kill…

witnesses! Kill them all!"

"Did it just talk?"

"Apparently, it's on an entirely different level than those simple skeletons!"

The man-spider flexed its legs and leaped toward us. Ariane and Chiyome dove to

avoid it.

I pulled the shield off my back and blocked the monster's massive swords; my shield

reverberated from the strength of its blow. I returned the attack with my Holy Thunder

Sword of Caladbolg, hoping to chop off one of the man-spider's torsos. However, it

caught my strike with its shield. A sharp clang reverberated off the cave walls as metal

struck metal.

"He blocked it?!" So far, I'd been able to take down most enemies with a single strike,

so this was a bit of a surprise. However, I took advantage of the momentary lull to put

distance between me and the monster.

"Stones of fire, heed my call! Slay my enemy!"

Ariane launched into a spirit magic-powered fire strike. However, the man-spider

blocked that as well, causing the fire to dissipate in a cloud of mist.

"He has a mythril shield?!" Disbelief was plain on Ariane's face.

Thanks to mythril's magical properties, it was an incredibly valuable metal in this

world. Setting aside the fact that this monster could speak, it seemed to be of low

intellect, which suggested that someone must have given it the mythril shield along

with the weapons and armor.

Here, as well as in the game, the low-intellect monsters I was familiar with were

generally armed either with weapons they scavenged from humans, or simple ones

they made from wood or stone. Weapons that required more sophistication, like those

made of steel, were practically unheard of.

It seemed pretty clear that someone behind the scenes was pulling the strings.

Taking advantage of our distraction, the monster thrust one of its long spider legs

toward Ariane in a swift, powerful strike. She dove out of the way. The leg tore through

several skeletons and into the ship's wooden deck, opening a large hole.

"Fire!"

I shot off a low-level magic attack as the man-spider stubbornly prepared to launch

another assault on Ariane. Flames slammed into the ship's deck and nearby skeletons.

I closed in on the monster, but it pulled its shield up once again, causing the magic to

dissipate into mist. Its speed and agility outclassed the skeletons greatly.

However, even though I couldn't actually harm the monster, I successfully ignited the

ship. The crackle of burning wood echoed around us as red and orange flames mingled

with the cave's peaceful pale blue glow.

"We should get onto solid ground! It's too dangerous to keep fighting here!" Chiyome

smashed through several skeletons and made her way down the plank to the pier.

Ariane looked to me.

I nodded. "I can handle this! Get Chiyome out of here!"

The man-spider let out another loud roar, its face a mask of rage. Its unsettling voice

once again echoed throughout the cave as both heads spoke at once. "Meddlers must

die!"

It brandished its swords.

Ariane and Chiyome were now safely on solid ground, still battling the horde of

skeletons. I was free to take this monster down myself.

Most of my skills were fire-based, and affected large areas. It was a lot easier for me to

fight alone, since I didn't have to worry about hurting anyone else. Also, my next attack

would be difficult to pull off with people fighting alongside me.

"Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg!"

This technique was basically an add-on in the game. It came with my mythical-class

weapon. From what I'd experienced in this world, I figured it would be a pretty

powerful attack.

A surge of purple electricity ran up the masterfully crafted sword as a blade of light

grew outwards. It doubled my power, adding a holy effect to all my attacks, in addition

to giving me a small chance of causing paralysis. It also expanded my sword's effective

range. The increased range was little more than an extra perk in-game, but here in the

real world, it changed everything.

As I swung the extended Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg, the nearby skeletons

literally disappeared before my eyes, thanks to the holy effect. I also chopped into the

base of a nearby mast, causing it to topple.

This add-on was commonly referred to as "lightsaber mode."

The mast fell backward, crashing into the ship before hitting the lake with a splash

and sending a massive plume of water into the air.

"Rooooooooooaaaaaaar!"

The man-spider wailed.

I fixed it with a steely glare. "I'll show you the true power of the force!" That was the

catchphrase of the Paladin—this weapon skill's class.

The monster lunged forward, bringing its swords down with all its strength. It might

have been powerful, but its movements were rather unrefined. Compared to sparring

with Glenys, this was like child's play. At the last second, I swung my lightning-covered

sword to catch the attack on the downward swing, cutting straight through and

severing one of the monster's torsos.

"Gyaaaaaaaugh!!!"

Its remaining head screamed with anguish. I launched a second strike, this time

aiming at the point where the other human torso met the spider body. My lightning

blade went straight through the monster's shield and the body behind it, stabbing into

the ship deck.

Mythril usually negated magic's effects, but in this case, it only weakened my mythical-

class weapon's impact slightly.

"Nnngraaaaaaaggh!" The severed monster let out a gurgling scream as it stumbled, its

body bubbling and tearing apart.

I took a few steps backward as a massive blast rocked the ship. Large flames erupted

in front of me, and I heard secondary explosions going off as well. Apparently, some

sort of combustible material below deck had caught fire. The ship wouldn't remain

afloat much longer.

I used Dimensional Step to teleport back to the pier. A cacophony of explosions

continued behind me, blasting me with heat as I walked to shore. I felt as though I was

in an action movie scene. It wasn't long before the pier decided it could no longer take

the abuse. It emitted an awful creak as it began to break apart.

I looked back to see the pier largely blown away. Due to its relatively simple construction,

it sank into the water at an alarming rate.

"Whooooooa!"

I raised the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg above my head and ran full tilt toward

dry land. It wasn't an ideal running posture. With my blade still enhanced, I could very

easily have cut off my own foot.

I somehow managed to make it to shore as the last of the pier fell into the water. My

shoulders heaved as I looked for my two comrades, wondering if they'd been watching

my comical run.

I didn't see them right away, so perhaps I'd been spared the embarrassment.

It struck me then that I could just have teleported straight to shore if I'd been thinking

clearly. My unconscious desire to look cool as I walked away from the exploding ship

set me up for failure.

The sound of swords clanging from behind a large rock brought me back to my senses.

"Huh. I guess a few pockets of resistance made it to shore?"

I took one last look at the burning wreckage as the ship slowly slipped below the

water's surface. Then I tightened my grip on the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg,

which had returned to its normal form, and ran toward the noise.

I found Ariane and Chiyome fending off a horde of pickaxe-wielding skeletons and

another man-spider. This man-spider had the same bizarre body as the last one, and

wore identical armor, but was armed with four large pickaxes—one in each hand.

Apparently, the second one was lurking here on the shore the whole time, although it

didn't seem to be faring well against Ariane and Chiyome. Since this man-spider lacked

a mythril shield, Ariane was able to use fire spirit magic to great effect, causing the

monster to slowly retreat.

Taking advantage of its blind spot, Chiyome flew up from behind, swinging her waterencased dagger. She lopped off one leg, then a second.

The man-spider screamed in agony as it tried to face Chiyome. Ariane took advantage

of its distraction to sever both its human heads with her fire-engulfed blade. The

strength instantly drained from the man-spider's body, and it slumped to the ground.

Its body began to fizzle and melt away, just like the other one.

The skeletons scattered. They had previously been attacking Ariane and Chiyome as a

cohesive unit, but they suddenly seemed to have lost all focus, and simply attacked at

random. The man-spider must have had some sort of control over them.

I slashed through the disorganized skeleton mob and called to the women. "Glad to

see you're safe, Ariane. I can't believe there were two of those things."

Ariane wiped blood from her sword and returned it to her sheath, dabbing at her brow.

"As soon as we left the ship, skeletons came rushing out at us from the waterfalls."

Chiyome looked down at the rather hideous sight of the melting man-spider and ran

her nail against her blade, testing its sharpness. "Those legs were tough. It'd be

difficult for a normal blade to cut through them."

I looked at the remains of the skeletons around us. "It definitely seems like someone

is pulling the strings behind all this."

A number of skeletons wielded no weapons at all, and instead wore baskets on their

backs. On closer inspection, it appeared that they'd been collecting the rune stones

Ariane showed me earlier.

"It looks like they were mining these." Chiyome frowned at the mounds of rune stones.

"But what are they using them for? And why would they come all the way out here?"

Ariane furrowed her brow. "Elves have many uses for rune stones, but humans still

haven't developed the technology to harness their power safely. The closest thing that

comes to mind is the Burst Spheres they used during the uprising in Houvan."

"The ship's already in pieces at the bottom of the lake, and I don't see anyone else

around, so I don't think we're going to find our answers here. We should probably start

looking for a way out. What do you think, Ariane?"

The two women nodded in agreement.

"You're right. The elders can perform a more thorough investigation."

Chiyome's ears twitched as she listened intently to our surroundings. "Why don't we

take a break, Miss Ariane? It doesn't look like there are any more threats in the area.

Besides, Ponta seems pretty frazzled."

"Kyiiii…"

The poor fox looked exhausted from clinging tightly to Ariane during the intense

battle, and more than a little terrified at the sight of the undead and the man-spider.

Ariane pulled Ponta from her neck and hugged it tightly to her chest.

We moved to the lake edge and sat down to discuss our next move.

"Well, I could use Transport Gate to teleport us back to the cave opening, and we could

start making our way through again. I still have a good memory of what the entrance

looked like, so it shouldn't be hard to get us out of here."

Ariane fed some dried beans to Ponta, trying to perk up our furry companion. She

shook her head. "That won't work if we want to send a squad back here to investigate.

We need to find a way up and out. We should camp here for the night. Aside from the

undead we just fought, this chamber seems relatively safe."

Chiyome nodded. "You're right. It's probably dark out already. Fortunately for us,

we've got light and water here."

I shrugged in agreement and took off my helmet, settling down for a quick break.