Chapter 5: Grieving Souls

Rudolph Davout had absolute confidence in his strength. He had learned lance techniques from rigorous training during his time as an imperial knight. Once he changed occupations and started raiding treasure vaults, he only refined them further. His power, bolstered by mana material, had far outgrown that of his former self back when he was known as a top-class Lancer among the knights.

His lance-type Relic, strong enough to bend steel clubs, was called the Wind Dragon’s Fang. It was able to pierce through the thickest of shields, and anyone who was caught up in the resulting gusts would be blown away in the process.

He didn’t only excel in offense, however. As an ex-knight, one could say that Rudolph’s true specialty was defense. His armor wasn’t a Relic, but normal phantom attacks could hardly scratch it. Combined with the shield in his left hand, he was an iron wall. Rudolph was confident that his defensive abilities could stack up against Grieving Souls’ legendary Immutable.

Though he had little experience, he was still a level 5. As long as he continued to accumulate experience over time, gaining a title of his own was no distant dream. Rudolph’s party members weren’t quite so powerful, but together, they made a fine party.

He had accepted this request primarily because of his profound confidence. The target had been a level 3 treasure vault, two levels below the vaults Rudolph’s party typically raided. There hadn’t been any logical reason to be concerned, but it being a lower-level vault didn’t mean that they could neglect proper preparation.

At first, things had gone well. They had easily swatted away various phantoms as they progressed deeper and deeper. It had taken three days for them to notice that something was off, when the phantoms had abruptly spiked in power. It had been a minor difference at first, but it had grown and grown until the White Wolf’s Den had begun spitting out bizarrely powerful phantoms.

If anything, Rudolph’s party may have been too strong. In terms of the request they had come to fulfill, they had been one man short. Yet Rudolph Davout and his party members had still managed to overpower these abnormally-strong phantoms.

They had been wary at first, but that had quickly faded. After all, it may have been strange for the phantoms to suddenly grow stronger, but the party was still stronger than them, so there hadn’t been an issue.

The appearance of the silver, bone-wearing wolf knights had been cause for raised eyebrows, but with Rudolph’s power, his Relic, and his capable party, they still hadn’t posed all that much of a challenge.

At that point, they had realized that something was very wrong. However, the raid was only supposed to last another day after that, so they’d figured they had energy to spare. Rudolph had deliberated for a few moments, but he had then quickly decided to push forward.

Then, on the final day of their raid, Rudolph and his crew had met a smaller wolf knight covered entirely in human bones. That being was the incarnation of the Silver Moons’ grudge against humanity.

Once everyone had regained consciousness and recovered some of their stamina, we began the fateful trek home. In war and raids alike, retreat was the time when most casualties arose. Especially considering half of us were injured, escaping from a vault this crazy was a far-fetched prayer.

The Great Greg was hauling two big guys, Li’l Gilbert was carrying one, and Rhuda took charge of the lightest girl. Rudolph’s party members could walk if they pushed themselves, but it was best that they preserve their energy in case they needed it.

Mercifully, Rudolph used up the rest of the mana in Healing Faith, so he was now able to walk on his own. He wasn’t in top shape, but if he used his lance as a cane, he could walk in his suit of armor, albeit slowly.

Tino cautiously led the way. With my lack of both strength and resistance, I was just dead weight. But I was still the highest level!

Rudolph looked ready to collapse at any second, but he said, “If the boss appears, I’ll be your shield. I can at least buy you some time.”

“Nobody gets left behind,” Tino responded promptly. She was becoming a fine hunter.

Ignoring her reply, he let out a groan. “I entrust my comrades’ lives... to you. Get them to Zebrudia; that’s all I ask.” There was deep regret in his voice.

Hunters needed luck just as much as, if not more than, skill. It was all too common to hear about high-level prodigies disappearing at random. I didn’t know what they had come here for, but it looked like they were acting safely enough to me. If nothing else, they probably just had shit luck.

This was a rough job. With or without that boney-faced boss he’d mentioned, it would be difficult to bring everyone home alive if those wolf knights showed up. And if I knew that, then Rudolph was sure to be painfully aware of it. He would also know that should the need arise, the first ones we would abandon would be our emaciated rescue targets. His level 5 recognition wasn’t just for show. Surely he had seen countless friends and comrades lost along the way.

In spite of his bravery, Tino answered curtly, “Worry not. As long as Master is here, we have nothing to fear.”

Girl, you’ve got way too much trust in me. All I can do is run away.

The Night Hiker was a one-man Relic, though perhaps you could carry one more person if you tried really hard. Fortunately for me, Tino was small. In the worst case, I could abandon Li’l Gilbert, Greg, and the rest in order to escape together with Tino.

But of course, now that we’d come this far, we had to get everyone home in one piece. I’d do my best, but I wasn’t going to forget my priorities.

Rudolph turned to me and bowed his head deeply. I’m not God or whatever, so there’s not much point in bowing to me!

He talked at length while we walked along the narrow path. “I’d say we’re only alive because it was toying with us.”

“Toying with you how?”

“It wielded a sword with incredible strength. Even my most powerful thrusts were easily parried. It cut through our shields and our armor, digging into our flesh and bones. If it’d been serious, it could’ve killed us all with ease. But it only injured us and left us alone. I imagine it wanted to weaken us and torture us to death. Or maybe we were just supposed to starve. It’s intelligent enough to be cruel, and it’s abnormally strong.”

These unbelievable scraps of information made even Li’l Gilbert look grave.

The denser the mana material surrounding a vault, the more powerful the phantoms within. Their intelligence, strength, and equipment could all be affected. Low-level vaults contained phantoms that were little more than glorified monsters, but as you got into the higher levels, it wasn’t too rare to find ones smart enough to understand human language. Still, such advanced phantoms had no business showing up in a vault like this.

Rudolph continued, “Just once, I tried entering a level six vault. Before long, I hit the ground running, but I swear that the phantom we ran into here was even stronger than the ones back there.”

I had a hard time buying it. This was a level 3 vault; a little change in the environment shouldn’t have been enough to make them that much stronger. Unusually powerful phantoms showed up once in a while when there were sudden shifts in the surrounding area, but I’d never heard of it being that extreme.

“I understand it’s hard to believe, but I saw it. The difference in power was awe-inspiring. I’ve never seen such incomprehensible, fear-inducing technique.” Rudolph’s clear-cut features warped into a terrified grimace as he shuddered. “With those skills, the thing might even be on par with the Protean Sword.”

“The Protean Sword?!” blurted the Great Greg, his eyes nearly popping out of his sockets.

It was a name that any Swordsman would know. Li’l Gilbert’s gaze hardened; he seemed equally familiar with it.

Tino glanced at me, watching my reaction. It’s okay, kid. Don’t worry about me.

The man behind the nickname was rumored to be the strongest Swordsman in the capital. He’d learned orthodox swordsmanship from the Sword Saint and used that as a foothold to learn any and all other styles. A real, dyed-in-the-wool sword maniac.

His real name was Luke Sykol. Like it or not, he was a member of my party. Funny. While everyone was sitting there astonished, I was the only one who didn’t especially react.

Unlike mine, Luke’s title wasn’t an exaggeration. He was top-tier when it came to swords and swords only. Even Ark couldn’t hold a candle to him; the guy was just leagues ahead. If there was a phantom that strong out there, Luke would’ve gone to kill it long ago.

Still, Rudolph was looking pretty ghastly. Being defeated came with some fear, of course, but he was saying all of this to the people who’d come to save him. No doubt they were strong; I certainly didn’t want to run into them.

It was becoming clear that Tino wouldn’t be able to win alone. Damn, I really should’ve brought Ark.

I’d been hearing the howling of wolves for some time now. Each time, my heart leapt into my throat. As the eerie sounds echoed through the narrow tunnel, it was hard to determine the distance between us and them. Not that I had the ability to tell anyway. It would’ve been nice if Red Alert told me about it, but this piece of junk often just didn’t react.

“It was small. Not even half as big as the knights with half-bone masks; maybe the size of a person. But it was much, much stronger.”

“Not my lucky day, huh?” the Great Greg said with a heavy sigh.

I totally empathized with the guy. Bet Greg would make a good drinking buddy, assuming we both make it back alive.

Rudolph had taken down a fair few phantoms on his way here, it seemed. Though the unexpected wolf-men had caught them off guard, they hadn’t faltered. After defeating several of these half-masked phantoms, they decided they were about done, and then were attacked just before they could leave. Considering how unpopular the request was, they probably would’ve died of exhaustion without our intervention.

The man supported by Li’l Gilbert piped up deliriously, “It’s all my fault that we—”

“Don’t say it, Helian.”

It seemed like Rudolph and his buddies had their own fair share of troubles. But seeing as we were in such a sorry situation, I didn’t want to hear a word of it.

With a shrug, I said, “You guys can talk about that on your own time once we’re back in the capital.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Goodness, Master. You really are God.”

If I were God, I’d call down lightning and burn this goddamn vault to smithereens.

We walked slowly to match the pace of Rudolph and his crew.

About halfway back, the Great Greg frowned at us and spoke for everyone when he said, “So are we screwed, or what?”

“What’s going on?” Li’l Gilbert looked uncomfortable alongside him.

The wolves’ howls had grown more frequent now. At first, they would echo a few times and then stop. Now, it was rare to have a moment of silence. I didn’t know what, but it was clear that something was going on.

I was already down to five of my seventeen Safety Rings. Six hits, and I was a dead man. Furthermore, I had almost no usable Relics. My Hounding Chain hadn’t returned, and though my Shooting Rings were still available, I’d already used my trump card. In other words, they likely wouldn’t be useful in stopping the enemy.

I did have one Relic on hand that had some charge, but it was magic that obliterated the entire area—courtesy of my little sister—so that would have to be a last resort. I could only use it once, after all, and wide-area magic was inferior to single-target magic when it came to power. It was dubious whether or not I had anything that would work well on a level 7 or so phantom.

Huh. Are we actually screwed? Did I bring the wrong Relics?

Nothing had gone according to plan. The rescue targets were still alive, and Tino couldn’t handle the phantoms in here alone. I appreciated that Li’l Gilbert and the rest actually put in an unexpected amount of effort, but everything else sucked. Plus, I had lost a Relic! Was this karma?

While I groaned and cursed under my breath, Tino stopped ahead of me. “Um, Master, something big is coming our way.”

She turned around, and I could see anxiety and hopelessness written all over her face. It really stirred up my desire to protect her.

Her claim prompted the group to prepare for battle immediately. The guys let the rescue targets down from their shoulders and huddled against the wall. Rudolph’s chiseled face was covered in a cold sweat as he lifted his lance.

Everyone was ready to fight. In the midst of the nerves and seriousness in the air, I gave a half-hearted shrug. With no other option, I pulled Tino behind me and stood in front. Even I had some measure of pride.

“What are you doing?!”

“It’s dangerous. Stay back.”

Gotta do what you gotta do. It was time for me to show off my strongest human missile yet. I wasn’t sure how much mana the Night Hiker had left in it, but I ought to at least be able to get one clean hit in. The enemy shouldn’t expect a high-speed missile to come rocketing through, so the first one should hit... I hope.

I’d slammed into armor before, but if I could create a miracle here, I might be able to knock its head off. Of course, that hit would mean losing one of my lives, but it was unavoidable.

The incredible nervousness slowed my heartbeat, like the thing had given up on panicking. Was that even possible? Though if I was really up against something as strong as Luke, well, I’d just die. I strained my eyes, looking ahead. From a dimly lit corner, it emerged.

Rudolph gasped as all the color drained from his face. It was the phantom he had told us about, the one whose entire face was covered by a skull. About half the size of the silver wolf knights, it was around as big as me. But the overwhelming pressure emanating from it was beyond comparison to the wolf knights we’d fought.

This phantom was much more human in appearance than the others. From the side, it appeared to have canine ears, but the shape of its head and its hair were humanoid. An obsidian sword hung from its hand, dragging behind it.

“What is that thing?” Li’l Gilbert croaked. He was shaking like a leaf.

Oh, it’s strong as hell. Red Alert had finally started to heat up. Why’d I even bring you, dammit?

The phantom was on such a clearly different level that even I could understand it. Surely Li’l Gilbert was even more aware. Then, as if chasing the phantom, yet another humanoid figure appeared. It looked almost comical next to the first, as this one was tiny and wore a bone mask with a big grin on it. Instead of armor, it donned light clothes, but it had metal boots so long that they reached its knees.

This new figure, approaching with light steps, held in its hands two familiar-looking Relics: the Silent Air sword I’d dropped somewhere along the way, and my Hounding Chain. I rubbed my eyes and surveyed them carefully.

“There’re two of ’em?!”

“Oh, no. Krai, what do we do?”

The Great Greg and Rhuda were on the verge of losing all hope. Our strongest member, Rudolph, froze at the sudden development.

Tino was the one who reacted the loudest. With a pathetic, tearful “Eep!”, she clung to my arms. She wasn’t wheedling like usual, either; she was just terrified.

“Oh, Master! Please, it’s all over. You have to save us! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll do my best, I’ll do anything, but please, forgive me and save us!”

Seeing our cool-as-a-cucumber Tino in a panic, Li’l Gilbert and the rest of our temporary party, alongside Rudolph, were all stunned.

The laughing bonehead slowly turned toward me. Unlike the wolf knights, its eye holes revealed only darkness. Its lips warped to form a grin, as if it laughed upon all the world. I didn’t know what was going on anymore. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Patting Tino on the head to reassure her and ignoring the rest of our disconsolate group, I kicked things off by saying the first thing that came to mind.

“Shit. Liz, is that you?”

The vast quantity of mana material spawned something befitting the White Wolf’s Den. Cue the awakening of consciousness. The initiation of thought within the brain. The establishment of the ego. Its first emotion wasn’t resentment; it was exhilaration.

Eyes that pierced the dark. Ears that could pinpoint echoes in the distance. All five senses began to work, feeding enormous amounts of information to the brain. Palpable strength filled the body, along with knowledge of how to use the sword at its waist.

It could be likened to the king of the Silver Moons, a being that existed at the logical endpoint of their endless grudges and ideals. Its form was like the humans it imitated, but its way of life was vastly different. The human bones that covered its face were proof of its wolfhood. But in truth, it was closer to human than beast.

The mana material collecting in the White Wolf’s Den had reformed the existing phantoms within into stronger beings than the Red Moons. Knights of silver fur, intelligent and able to freely wield weapons, were born. They were retainers, excellent knights that served the alpha.

Now, over ten years after the Silver Moons had disappeared and left their curse behind, the wolves in the den had achieved their true form. If they had had this much strength to begin with, the creatures known as Silver Moons would not have been driven from their home.

The five hunters who had infiltrated the den were stronger than the ones who had hunted the Silver Moons to near-extinction, but they were no match for the new and improved canines. Even the strongest among the humans, the giant with his lance, couldn’t stand up to the leader and its pack. A single strike of the lance boasted enough strength to pierce thick armor, but it meant nothing if the hunter couldn’t hit his mark.

The boss had the strength, swiftness, technique, and intelligence to surpass the hunters in every way. Unlike the other wolves, it bore no hatred—only exhilaration.

Foolish hunters groveled before the boss’s power, writhing as they realized they weren’t strong enough. It relished the looks on their faces as their hopes were crushed in one fell swoop. So much so that, occasionally, it might overlook the hunters as they fled unknowingly away from the exit.

The White Wolf’s Den was a hunting ground. Poor souls who found their way into the den would find only death. No man could escape the boss’s blade. It brought death to the intruders who sullied its home—cornering them, giving them hope, then crushing that hope before them. The hunters’ despair soothed the ennui felt by the boss and its brethren. In the end, they would have to expand their den, but that could wait until they had more allies.

The boss waited some distance from its chamber, which the hunters would surely return to. Once it heard its comrades’ screeching howls, it prepared to greet the wounded hunters as an agent of death. But just as it thought to do so, it finally met one grieving soul wearing a delighted smile.

One could liken it to wind. Or perhaps a shadow, lightning, flames, or even a storm.

“Huh?” came Li’l Gilbert’s voice.

I didn’t even blink.

Without any sort of forewarning, the boss’s body had been blasted away. As it bounced off the ground with a thud, the laughing bonehead now stood before me.

“What the—?!”

Rudolph, standing next to me, opened his eyes as wide as they would go. The base of his long lance quivered and fell to the ground with a clatter. Rather than gawking, his gaze was more akin to the vacant look of someone who couldn’t get a grasp on the situation. He couldn’t see it. Nobody could have even perceived it.

So fast that even the battle-hardened hunters couldn’t lift a finger, the bonehead brought its face right up to mine. Hot-pink hair peeked out from behind the mask. The voice that came from within was somewhat muffled, but adorably high-pitched.

“I just wanna make sure of something real quick, Krai Baby.”

Still clinging to my arms, Tino tried to hide behind me.

The laughing bonehead paid her no mind, jabbing her thumb backward and asking, “Is that thing our new member, or what?” There wasn’t a trace of tension or fear in her tone. Seeing that she was just the same as ever was strangely relaxing.

The boss, knocked all the way over to the wall, fell to its knees before rising again. It scrutinized the laughing bonehead, whose back was currently turned to it. The only human aspect they shared were the bones covering their faces.

I didn’t know of anyone else this dangerous. Well, actually, I knew some people who were even more dangerous. Everyone but Tino was afraid of the bonehead as she spoke. Tino herself was downright terrified of her.

I sculpted my tense facial muscles into a smile. “Pfft, no. Hey, how about you lose the mask?”

“Really? Whew! I didn’t think so either, y’know, but I thought the mask was kinda like ours. Oh, by the way, here. I think you dropped these, Krai.”

Oh, she was pissed right off. Liz’s voice was almost saccharine as she handed over the Silent Air and my beloved Hounding Chain. She only called me “Krai” without the “Baby” when she was livid. With a pompous air, she put a hand to the mask that covered her features and yanked it off of her face.

Nobody moved. The Great Greg, Li’l Gilbert, and even the boss behind her stood motionless as they watched.

Her hot-pink hair fluttered, unbound. Revealed for all to see were her tan skin, thin lips, chiseled nose, and most strikingly of all, shining pink irises. She was beautiful, but she gave off the aura of a dormant volcano ready to erupt at any time.

Rhuda gulped. “What? It was a human?”

“No freakin’ way.” The Great Greg took a step back, unable to cope with this turn of events. Did he know? Was he one of those people who followed the crowd?

Liz finally looked over, as if she had only just noticed the people other than me here. “What? Do they, like, not know about us?” She smiled, but the blazing light in her eyes proved it was fake. “Are you hunters? I mean, Krai’s right here. What are you, fakers? I can’t believe people from the capital wouldn’t know.”

Her mask—the laughing bonehead, party symbol of Grieving Souls—fell to the ground.

Liz then laughed, arrogantly and derisively, both at the phantom and all of the hunters present. “Wow. People still don’t know Grieving Souls, huh?”

Everyone was aghast.

Again, one could liken her to wind. Or perhaps a shadow, lightning, flames, or even a storm. Her little figure was chock-full of energy, like the sun. All of these described the Stifled Shadow, Liz Smart, well. Her face, her appearance—it was the real Liz, all right. But why was she here?

Seeing that I was just full of questions, Liz whispered, “Sorry, Krai.”

I didn’t buy it. Her little mouth was trembling, like she was holding back a sob or stifling some intense emotion. Although she looked ready to cry, Liz wouldn’t do that.

“You don’t know how sad I am. I beat that castle, ran back home as fast as I could, and you weren’t there! Then, I heard you went to a treasure vault, of all places.”

Her voice faltered. Her skin flushed, and her eyes glowed like cinders. The air around her warped like a mirage. Liz was hot. The heat rising from her warmed the cool cavern.

She is really, uh, fired up. Maybe she’s all excited from beating that treasure vault?

It was all too common for hunters to go wild when they had too high a dosage of mana material. Also, the Night Palace, the vault she’d been to, wasn’t exactly close enough to run back from. How in the hell...?

“Sad. Just sad! Do you even know...” Liz paused, collected herself, then spat, “how embarrassed I am?!”

Her eyebrows warped, her eyes narrowed, and her cheeks and lips grew taut.

“I trusted you, really. I thought it was all a mistake; maybe Krai here was just too much of a worrywart, right? But look. My little apprentice...” She glared at Tino. “Can’t even take out the trash. Hot damn.”

Everyone aside from Tino was shaken. Tino, meanwhile, had long surpassed that and was now practically dying. Before, I just heard her teeth chattering. Now I even felt it through her hands as she squeezed my shoulders.

It’s okay, kid. She’s not gonna kill you, or whatever.

Li’l Gilbert tried to interject. “Hey, what the hell’s—”

“Say what? Go die, kid. Can’t you see I’m busy apologizing here?!”