Retired Hero Wants To Sleep

Mission No.1 Return of Magic Swordsman (13)

It’s literally hell. A countless number of corpses were filling the space.

They were all monster corpses. There were shattered pieces of skulls, fallen orcs twisting their bodies, a few gargoyles, and even ogres.

Even a cursory glance would suffice for a hundred.

“Ugh, uh uh, what is all this?”

“… I think they are all monsters.”

A thoughtful expression appeared on Ewald’s face.

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“Are they all dead?”

It was a fake corpse. There was not a single living monster.

Strangely, there were no injuries. There was no sign of a fight or battle. There are just corpses lying there. But the creepiest thing is that all the corpses are dead with both hands covering their ears.

The monsters were all dead, frowning as if in agony.

Everyone, including Ewald, grasped the situation.

“… Master, master, what kind of harmony is this?”

“Dead body? Or mana deployment? Or is it that the entrance to the top is blocked?”

There was nothing unusual about any of them. Even the composition of this staff is strange.

“Can you tell me which one is strange?”

The surroundings are completely devoid of life, to the point where you even feel that there are only three living things in this space.

There is no place without a body. The arrangement of mana mentioned by Ewald was completely messed up and tangled here and there. In addition, the stairs on the other side were completely destroyed, as if someone had blocked them.

For Ewald, everything got on his nerves.

Even considering that it was a small monastery – actually a dungeon – the fact that monsters were dying concentrated only in this place.

Similar to the flow of air, the mana that should float freely in space is gathered in large chunks and stays here and there.

And finally, the obvious exit is that the stairs are blocked from above.

Ewald’s nerves were on edge when he saw the tightly closed exit, as if trying to block escape from this place.

“Let’s start with the body, shall we? Shall we see?”

Usbel approached the nearest corpse.

It was a standard sized ogre.

But as soon as he checked the position of the corpse, Usbel let out a strange voice.

“Are your hands and feet shriveled up? It shriveled up.”

Ewald drew his sword and ran it through the ogre’s limbs. He had no wounds or bloodstains anywhere. After examining the seemingly dead ogre with his ears covered, Balt approached the next target.

“Is he like that too? His hands and feet shriveled up.”

The same goes for orcs.

“A gargoyle?”

It is a gargoyle. Even the gargoyles were dead with their ears plugged. It’s a gargoyle whose appearance is determined in its sculpted state, so of course it has ears, but was it a monster that could hear sounds?

No matter how much Evaltra has a lot of bones in the dungeon, he has never seen a corpse like this in his life.

Ewald’s gaze turned to the next monster.

It is a monster drooping like a dead jellyfish.

“… Slime?”

Ewald’s fingers picked up the thick body of the slime. As soon as Ewald’s finger fell, the body of the slime, which had completely lost its vitality, slithered back to its original form.

Even that, with his elasticity gone, Laewald’s face was dotted with displeasure.

Ewald had adventures in all sorts of dungeons, but this was the first time he had ever seen a slime corpse that died in such a light manner. No, it’s the first time I’ve witnessed a slime’s corpse looking like this.

Living slime, slime bursting like pieces of jelly. There were only two types of slime that Ewald knew.

“What?”

Usbel pulled the body of the slime that had completely spread out.

“Master, Master, this is the organ of hearing.”

“… Do slimes have hearing organs too?”

This is the first information I came across.

“Yes, yes. But it’s blocked here too.”

“Then did this die with its ears closed too?”

“Yes, yes.”

Twenty or so corpses were examined in an instant. Even the slime is dead with its ears covered. Not a single bloodstain. It’s just lying dead on the floor with shriveled limbs.

It is an unimaginable sight.

Ewald asked what was bothering him.

“Can you hear the singing?”

“No. No. I can’t hear you now. It seems to have stopped?”

Ewald drew in a quick breath. With his eyes wide open as he slowly exhaled the air that filled his lungs, Bald meticulously observed the bizarre atmosphere of the space.

Full of corpses. Exit blocked. A mana deployment that sounds like a scream. The only ones alive are herself, Usbel, and Elif.

It is a space that is completely incomprehensible.

Even the corpses were brisk. Is it a corpse that died recently, or something prevents it from decaying? Ewald looked around the space with a cautious attitude he had never seen before.

If he missed even one, he felt a terrifying fear that he might be found with a corpse of this kind.

“The mana layout is completely messed up.”

“I will, I will. It’s just coming together and that’s it. Is it rare?”

It gave me goosebumps because it was so strange, but Balt had no choice but to nod his head.

Mana has a tendency to maintain a completely equal state in its natural state. It is the property of wanting to spread as uniformly as possible.

However, the mana that Ewald and Usbel were feeling now was completely different from being equal or having the same concentration.

Mana was gathered here and there like a lump. He even felt the empty space of mana to the extent that it was almost sparse.

But what’s even more creepy is that I can’t feel the source of mana fixation.

In order to abnormally bind mana, the source is needed. Something artificial, be it magic or magic items, is needed. But nothing like that.

And the last of the three singularities caught Ewald’s gaze.

All bodies are pointing in one place.

“Doesn’t it look like it was blocked from above?”

“Yes, yes. Does it feel like the top is blocking you from trying to escape?”

All corpses lay face down towards the sealed exit. It is unknown whether they fell while running or crawled and hardened, but the heads of the corpses were pointing towards the exit.

As if he died trying to escape.

Noticing this, Ewald and Usbel met each other’s eyes. But the two, who had never seen a situation like this, couldn’t say anything while looking at each other.

As they cover their ears and run towards the place to escape, they all fall to their deaths. And the place to run is sealed as if it was blocked from above.

It was a scary space.

Furthermore,

“Is it too quiet?”

“Even if it’s quiet, it’s too quiet.”

After replying to Usbel’s words, Ebalt looked at the arrangement of his corpse and narrowed his eyes.

“What the hell happened, Master?”

“… Should I find out?”

It was then.

The singing voice enveloped all directions.

“Look, Alpheus is dying.”

“aaagh!”

Elif covered her ears and sat down. Even so, Usbel, whose hearing is sensitive, fell to her knees without even screaming.

Even Ewald was not fine. He leaned over with a pained face, and quickly wrapped himself in a few strands of mana and plugged his ears. If you do it wrong, his brain may shake.

However, the mana that blocked his ears was shaking rapidly. Only mana can make her mana falter.

Mana was intensely wrapped around this terrifying voice. Ewald’s face contorted in an absurd situation.

But once again a terrifying song rang out.

“But even in death, Alpheus sings of Aladike.”

Unexpectedly, this terrifying singing voice was very clear and beautiful.

However, the singing voice, which completely ignored the pitch and beat, was truly a deafening cry.

“With her quivering tongue she calls the name of Aladike.”

My vision went white. Ewald gritted his teeth at the insane pain that throbbed from the nape of his neck. He was swearing and sleeping, and it seemed like he would go crazy if he didn’t spit something out of his mouth now.

This is what it feels like to say that he is selling his brain. This is what it would feel like if you split your skull with a sharp dagger. Ewald felt his molar split, but he couldn’t relax his clenched jaw.

My vision turned hazy. The screams that pierced his ears terribly scratched his brain. However, Ebalt gave strength to his collapsing legs.

Do you think you will fall!

Ebalt, whose eyes were full of miasma, took his hands off his ears with the feeling of doing what was right, and grabbed the fluttering mana in the air.

Usbel is lying on the floor. An elf foaming at his mouth as he knelt down.

Die later

Ebalt, who clenched his fists tightly, released mana with tremendous momentum.

“Spring!”

The mana disintegration that started from Ebalt’s hands. In an instant, the shimmering mass of mana exploded centering on Ebalt as if it would tear everything apart in the form of a sphere.

Jjoong!

It’s a gale. Usbel and Elif were blown away like pieces of paper, caught in the gale created by Ebalt. However, Ewald once again grabbed the mana wandering in the air, not knowing where to go, and shouted out a magic word.

“Spring!”

Whoops!

Ewald’s feet collapsed. The destructive power of sprenging, which exploded twice in succession, was not enough to devour the surroundings of Ebalt, and even the floor he was standing on collapsed. Ebalt, who lost his balance in an instant, covered his ears and fell to the floor along with the dead bodies, Usbel, and Elif.

Kurrr!

A disaster happened. The corpses of demons crushed by the stones and pressed against the walls exploded and spurted out bodily fluids. A disgusting green and red liquid covered everything. Even Ewald’s mouth was filled with a disgusting liquid that seemed to drive him crazy.

A completely sunken stone floor. Now, the empty space that was embarrassing to call it the ceiling was revealed in an ugly way.

But there was no time to lie down. Ebalt picked up his staggering body and quickly rose from his seat. A dullness of impact stirred his brain.

Tadadak!

The sound of footsteps Even though he was completely unconscious, Ebalt picked up the sound as soon as he heard it and turned his body towards the sound.

With blurry vision, I saw someone running.

“At there!”

After staggering once, but quickly balancing himself, Ewald gave strength to his legs. The shadow, which runs towards the darkness at high speed, is in a situation where Ewald cannot catch up. His mind is awake, but his body is not yet. Ewald gritted his teeth.

He doesn’t know what his identity is, but he has to catch it.

“Frysta!”

Ebalt quickly reached out and completed his magic words. At the same time, the running shadows were entangled in the binding magic and stopped in place, as if caught. The shadow that hit the magic properly froze in place without even falling.

It is now. Ewald ran towards the stationary at high speed.

Can catch

However, a singing voice spread from the stopped shadow.

“Look, Alpheus is dying.”

Ewald freaked out and brought his hands to his ears. In addition to that, he also pulled mana. It’s that singing voice. I didn’t want to hear that terrible song again.

But,

“But even in death, Alpheus sings of Aladike.”

… It’s fine.

It’s definitely the same as the song I heard a while ago, but it doesn’t have the same terrifying sound as before. However, the grotesque singing sound that goes far beyond the level of tone deafness is painful to listen to, so the impression is naturally frowned upon.

But I was able to endure listening to this much. I’ll put up with the sound of singing without mana. Ewald gritted his teeth.

He’s not far off Let’s catch who. Ewald increased his final speed.

“Aladike with a trembling tongue…”

The shadow shook his head quickly and took a deep breath.

And at that moment,

“Quaaa!”

A scream made of mana swallowed Ewald.