That night, just a day before we were set to leave Rosenburg with Counter Arrow, I was drawing.
What exactly was I drawing?
The internal mechanism of a standard pistol. The trigger connected to the sear, the hammer, the slide, the recoil spring, the barrel aligned with the chamber, and the magazine slotted into the grip.
Of course, drawing it wasn't the same as building it, but I needed to keep my mind occupied.
[In this world, I no longer control your actions, but I remain a library. It's as if you have a solid-state drive in your brain. It forgets nothing, though it can also get overloaded.]
'Do you say that because you were offline from the time we left Millis until just before... the incident with Eris?'
[Yes. I cannot coexist when you are saturated with positive emotions. That is why I was able to return after the Dragon God incident. That sensation of strength, of dignity, of being able to protect those you love... it had vanished.]
'Well... I'd better get some sleep. Those thoughts are coming back.'
I closed the book and tucked it away in a drawer.
"I suppose we leave tomorrow..."
I stretched one last time and let myself drift off to sleep in that cold bed.
...
The next morning, I woke up with a strange sensation. It wasn't discomfort. If anything, I felt lighter.
What had happened while I slept?
Perhaps it was time to accept, once and for all, that I had to move forward. I had a family waiting for me and a group that needed me. Maybe that was why my body decided to repair itself on its own, ignoring my mind's orders.
I dressed for the road and headed out, grabbing the cloak Eris had given me.
I went up the stairs and knocked on the door.
"I'm coming, brother! Wai-! Wait!"
[These last few months, Rudeus has been more active in the mornings. Your training has paid off, and his physical condition has improved greatly compared to when he started. Added to the Shockwave... he'll be something more than just a simple aerodynamic mage.]
'Yeah... that's true.'
My swordsmanship had improved quite a bit, too. As for the North God Style, I could already consider myself Saint Rank. I had the strength, and the intelligence to turn any terrain into a battlefield full of traps and advantages.
Regarding the Sword God Style, I was sure the Saint rank had been beneath me for some time now. I simply had no one to test it against. Ghislaine had left with Eris, and there didn't seem to be anyone in town capable of putting me to the test.
Before I could get another word out, the door to Rudeus's room opened.
"Sorry, I had a beautiful dream about... well, never mind. Let's go."
"Right."
...
After packing the essentials, we left Rosenburg alongside the members of Counter Arrow. Our destination was a set of ancient ruins located two days' travel south of the city.
Our only goal was to collect the scales of a Winter Wyrm, a monster found only in those specific ruins, at least in this region. They were wingless, typically measuring three to four meters long. Although considered lesser dragons, they didn't roam the skies. Instead, they nested deep in caves and dungeons, almost always in large packs.
They were powerful creatures, and encountering a pack could turn the situation into an S-rank threat. They hated bright light, which meant they didn't appear on the surface. They wouldn't attack unless their nests were threatened. In general, most adventurers saw them as nothing more than A-rank monsters, as they were rarely considered a proactive danger.
However, gathering them meant venturing into the territory of extremely powerful creatures. I had no intention of attacking the lizards' nest, but those ruins were also home to many other monsters. Just because the Winter Wyrms were relatively docile didn't mean they couldn't decide to attack us suddenly.
When we finally arrived at the ruins, we camped outside.
"I brought arrows made of wyrm bone for this, but I'm not sure they'll pierce the scales of a Winter Wyrm," Sara mentioned.
"They don't like bright light, right? Couldn't we scare them off with fire magic?" Timothy added.
"If that were enough to scare them, they wouldn't be near S-rank monsters."
The members of Counter Arrow took their preparations very seriously. It made sense. When a monster can attack you simply because it decided to do so that day, it never hurts to anticipate. Still, they had gathered plenty of intel on their own and were trying to figure out how to best pull their weight in a fight.
"Daiki, are you there?" Suzanne snapped her fingers in front of me. "I wanted to ask you something."
"Ah... yes, sorry. What do you need?"
"Do you plan to do the job all by yourself, like you did with the bears?"
"Well, Rudeus helped too..."
"I didn't ask you that," she interrupted. "What do you intend to do?"
"I came to help you guys."
"Good. Just... restrain yourself, okay? We need to gain experience, and with you two, that would be impossible."
"Don't worry. I will only intervene when strictly necessary."
Sara stepped in front of Suzanne.
"Just don't get in the way, got it?"
"Ah... I understand. I'll do what I can."
"You better. My arrows might not be very effective against those things... and if one gets too close to you, we might not be able to help you in time..."
Rudeus stepped up beside me.
"Don't worry so much, Sara," he said calmly. "Our job is to collect scales, not fight the Winter Wyrms. Basically, we're just going to clean their house."
"He's right," Timothy said, nodding gently. "Let's do everything possible to avoid a confrontation."
"And if things get ugly, we can always run for our lives."
"You're the best at that, Patrice. I'll give you credit for that," Mimir commented with a slight smile.
"Don't be modest, Mimir," Timothy retorted. "You are, by far, the fastest of us all."
"Faster? If I get behind the twins, that's more than enough, Timothy."
Everyone burst into laughter. Timothy was a good-natured man, but he knew exactly when to drop a joke... or a suggestion disguised as one.
"Alright," said Suzanne, clapping her hands. "Shall we go?"
Everyone stood up, their expressions serious once more.
...
The entrance to the ruins was hidden behind a waterfall in the mountains. At a glance, it looked like nothing more than a hole in the hillside, the interior partially covered in ice with long icicles hanging from the ceiling. From below, it was easy to miss.
"Is this really it?" Suzanne asked with some doubt.
"I think so," Sara replied, pointing to the ground. "Look, there are tracks here."
"Hmm... are they recent? I hope we don't have a double booking."
"Nah, they look like they're five or six days old."
"Even so, there's a chance another group is still inside."
"Some marks lead out of the cave, see? I'd bet they've already gone home."
I half-listened to the conversation between Sara and Suzanne while Rudeus checked our gear, making sure we had everything needed to enter the cave. Especially the torches we had prepared in advance. He took them out one by one and lit them carefully, checking that they burned well.
[If only you had an eye like your brother's...]
'Looking into the future in complete darkness isn't much use. Although... Ghislaine had another type of eye. One capable of perceiving mana. She showed it before the teleportation incident.'
[You may not need an eye to predict a fight.]
'Speaking of which... do you know why Rudeus's Demon Eye doesn't work on me? It only seems to activate when I've already started fighting.'
[I'm not sure... Could it be the Darian factor? If he was a Void Miko, maybe that has something to do with it.]
'Darian... No. He had no mana, and I do. I am not that person. End of conversation.'
"The ground is frozen in some parts," I warned. "Walk carefully."
As soon as we crossed the entrance, all relaxed conversation vanished. We advanced in single file down the sloping path, in complete silence, our senses on alert.
"...Oh."
The corridor we were descending ended abruptly. Before us opened an enormous space, a chamber so wide and so brightly lit that for an instant, it felt as if we had returned to the surface.
I looked up and noticed the ceiling was covered in patches emitting a bluish-white glow. At that distance, I couldn't tell if it was moss or some kind of mineral, but regardless, it made Rudeus's torches seem unnecessary.
The path also widened suddenly.
Where before we barely fit single file, there was now enough space for five people to walk side by side. Further ahead, a large rocky slope descended into darkness, diverging from the main path.
And at the end of the path stood the true objective of our journey: a massive structure shaped like a fortress. Parts of its walls had crumbled, but as a whole, it was still standing.
These were the Galgau Ruins.
"This place served as a fortress during the First Human-Demon War," Timothy explained calmly. "Apparently, it was built by one of the Five Great Demon Kings of the era. They called him Largon-Hargon the Underground."
"It is said that he was a Divine-tier Earth Mage," Timothy continued. "He used to raise fortresses like this in places almost impossible for humans to find, and then dug tunnels to the surface so his forces could launch surprise attacks."
"Really? You know quite a lot about the subject, Timothy," Rudeus commented.
"Well, the fight against the Underground Demon King was especially fierce in this region," he replied. "There are many stories of the war that have been passed down from generation to generation. I remember hearing several when I was a child."
"Timothy, didn't you say you grew up in Ranoa?" Suzanne asked, turning toward us with curiosity.
"That's right. I was born in a nameless village in that region and spent my formative years in the city of Sharia. You might know it for its Magic University. Eventually, I went to Asura to pursue the dream of becoming a great adventurer... and that brings me to today," he added with a faint smile, "turned into a much humbler man."
The conversation was cut short.
"We're under attack!" Sara shouted, tossing aside her torch and reaching for her bow.
Ahead, a group of black shadows lunged toward us. Each was around a meter in size.
"Giant Bats!"
"Formation!" Suzanne ordered instantly. "Rearguard, handle it!"
"Hmm?"
One of the bats dove straight for me. It crashed violently, but the only thing it found were the crossed edges of my sword.
"Wow... this one is fast."
Without giving it time to react, I kicked it away, launching it back into the air.
"It's yours, Sara!"
Sara didn't waste a second. She drew the string and fired in a single fluid motion. The arrow sliced through the air and pierced the bat's head.
[Well done, Sara... although I'm still annoyed by the way she treated you.]
'Not the time for that.'
"Let this small, burning fire produce a great and burning blessing! Flamethrower!"
Timothy was less subtle. He raised both hands toward the ceiling and unleashed a wide-range fire spell that engulfed two Giant Bats, reducing them to ash in mid-flight.
"Wind Blast!"
Rudeus opted for something more basic. The compressed gust exploded against the creatures, tearing their wings enough to prevent them from flying.
"Ugh!"
From the water running beneath the cliff, a huge frog emerged suddenly and, in a single movement, swallowed one of the falling bats. The men in the group watched the scene with astonishment; Sara, on the other hand, made a face of absolute disgust.
"Let's try not to fall in there, shall we?" Suzanne muttered.
Sara nodded vigorously.
"Let's move on," said Timothy. "Pay close attention to where you step."
The seven of us resumed our march toward the fortress, advancing with caution, keeping our senses alert to any movement around us.
...
Galgau was enormous.
About five stories high and an expanse comparable to an academic building. Part of its structure was buried beneath the rock.
We didn't enter through the main gate but through a side opening. From there, the cavern could be clearly seen: to the left, a narrow ledge path we would have to follow; to the right, a wide void descending into a dark and silent subterranean lake.
The place felt disturbingly familiar. It was my first time there, but the style of the stone... the way the blocks fit together, the feeling of the space... it resembled the memory of that rock corridor too much. And yet, it was completely different.
"Are you going to stand there all day or what?" Sara asked.
"No... I was just thinking a bit."
"You're quite the thinker, huh? Do you like big buildings?"
"No... it just reminded me of something."
"Hmm..."
Putting that aside, we had to keep working.
Timothy carried a detailed map of the ruins, which was logical considering many adventurers passed through there. Even so, the place was a veritable labyrinth, with narrow corridors, high ceilings, and routes that didn't seem to make sense.
We commented that the structure was probably designed for demons with different abilities, like flying, climbing walls, or moving through upper ducts, which would have given them an advantage against human invaders.
The strange thing was that, despite the site's fame, we hadn't found monsters inside the fortress. Only bones and scattered remains.
Too much silence.
And then, without warning, a gust of wind brushed past us with an unsettling whistle.
"We're under attack!" Mimir shouted instantly.
The bones I had seen scattered on the floor began to vibrate, rattling against each other. Slowly, they rose and began to assemble, forming clumsy, fleshless silhouettes in front of us.
At the same time, further down the corridor, a partially translucent figure appeared. It floated in our direction with unnatural movement, as if swimming through the air. It was humanoid, thin, covered in a tattered robe... but it had no head or legs.
"Skeletons and a Wraith, Boss!"
"Lure them in, Patrice!"
"Got it!"
"Sara, Timothy, and Rudeus, cover the rear! Focus on the skeletons!" Suzanne ordered. "And you, Daiki, with me."
"Out of the way!" Sara shouted. She slung her bow over her shoulder and unsheathed a large knife.
"Rudeus, skeletons are weak to blunt attacks!" Timothy reminded him quickly.
Rudeus and Timothy smashed several skeletons with Stone Cannon, but they began to reassemble immediately. Timothy recalled that as long as the Wraith remained alive, the skeletons would be practically immortal.
Physical attacks only incapacitated them temporarily. The key was to eliminate the Wraith with divine magic. However, defeating everyone at the same time implied more space to rest, so I dedicated myself to that task.
"I call upon you, God who blesses the land that nourishes us! Deliver divine punishment upon those foolish enough to defy the laws of nature! Exorcism!"
Light condensed in Mimir's hands and shot out against the Wraith.
I remembered that Cliff also mastered the shin-geki branch—"divine attack"—a magical specialization designed precisely to inflict effective damage on spectral entities and malignant demon races.
"Gyyeeeeeaaaaaa!"
The ghost let out a deafening shriek before disintegrating. Its translucent form fragmented into countless motes of light that dissipated into the air. Instantly, the skeletons collapsed, their bones falling inert to the ground like simple remains without will.
"This is the first time I've seen divine magic... or even a ghost," Rudeus commented calmly, looking at Timothy.
"It's only the second time I've seen a Wraith," he replied. "The first time, my group had no idea how to face it... and that cost one of our comrades his life. It was a very hard lesson."
"Was Mimir not with you back then?" asked Rudeus.
"No. That was long before we formed Counter Arrow. After that, I made sure to prepare for something like this. I'm glad I did."
With that, we continued.
...
"We're here!"
We exited the labyrinth and entered a wide hall, about a hundred meters long.
"Oh... wow..." Suzanne murmured.
And then I saw it.
The floor was practically covered by a carpet of white scales. They glowed softly under the bluish light of the ceiling.
They were Winter Wyrm scales.
And there were so many of them.
"Beyond this room is the territory of the Winter Wyrms," Suzanne warned from the front. "Do not advance past that last statue. Understood?"
"Yes!" Mimir and Patrice replied in unison.
Without wasting time, both began gathering the scales scattered on the floor.
We had planned this part carefully. Along with Sara and Rudeus, my task was to watch for any possible threats from all directions.
Winter Wyrms usually appeared from the back of the room, but they weren't the only danger. Sometimes monsters emerged from the second floor or even from the corridor we had just crossed. It could be Giant Bats, Red-Eyed Moles, Wraiths, or Skeletons.
The possibility of an attack didn't worry me... it excited me.
Staying still for too long had never been good for me.
"What was that!?" Timothy shouted.
A moment later, deafening shrieks, coming from some distant point in the ruins, reached us.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Boss..."
"Everyone prepare for combat!" Suzanne ordered. "Push the bags to the side!"
The six of us adopted a tight formation, attentive to any movement.
The screams resonated throughout the room, bouncing off the stone walls.
If we were about to face a horde, that only left two options: fight... or retreat immediately with the bag already full.
"It doesn't sound like they're coming in our direction," said Suzanne after a few seconds. "I think we should keep gathering scales, but quickly."
"I also think we should finish up," Sara opined.
"Yes, I agree," added Mimir.
"Besides, we're almost done, right?" said Patrice.
The majority supported Suzanne's decision.
"Very well," Timothy concluded calmly. "We'll continue a little longer. But hurry."
Everyone hurriedly returned to their tasks.
I approached Sara.
"Sara. If something happens... I want you to lend me your large knife."
"My knife?"
"I have a technique called 'Dual.' The name is simple, but basically, it allows me to use the Water God Style and the Sword God Style at the same time. I wanted to use these monsters as training."
Sara looked at me with a raised eyebrow, evaluating me.
"Training? This isn't exactly the best place to experiment."
"For me, it is, you know?"
"Tch. I'm not giving you anything, okay?"
Rudeus shook his head.
"In any case, let's stay alert."
Suzanne stopped picking up scales.
"Huh, guys?"
"...Mm?"
Suzanne looked up and stared suspiciously toward the place where the shrieks were coming from... which suddenly cut off.
In the next instant, the Winter Wyrms burst in at full speed. They slid under the legs of the statues.
"Shit! They're here!"
They didn't hesitate. They took off running at the same time. Although I was faster than the wyrms, there were too many of them, and if they surrounded us in this enclosed space, the odds of someone getting hurt increased drastically.
[Better run. There's no point fighting here.]
Heeding the voice, I grabbed the full bags and ran with the group.
Rudeus extended his hand backward and conjured a massive wall of earth in the corridor, a thick, solid barrier that completely blocked the wyrms' advance, rising up to the shoulder of the nearest statue.
Winter Wyrms were lizards; a simple wall, even a high one, meant practically nothing to them. One by one, they scrambled over it and slipped through the small gaps on the side.
I drew my sword immediately.
Beside me, a wyrm much larger than the others, and therefore faster, tried to ram me. There was no need to block. Dodging at the exact moment was enough.
"Ice Storm!" Rudeus conjured.
Gusts of freezing wind filled the air, lifting the scales from the ground like an inverted snowfall. A second later, spears of ice as thick as a man's hip pierced the corridor, impaling the Winter Wyrms that had managed to overcome the wall.
"Offensive Flow Technique!"
I slid with the momentum, deflecting the giant wyrm's charge and slashing diagonally. The blade shore through scales and flesh. Before the body could collapse toward the group, I delivered a side kick to deviate its trajectory.
"Rudeus!" I grabbed him by the shoulder before he crashed into the wall. "We have to fight!"
Rudeus shook his head for a second... but then gripped his wand tighter.
"You're right."
"More coming from the left!" someone shouted from behind.
A whistle cut the air. It was an arrow passing by my side.
I crossed the arrow's path, caught it in mid-flight, and without slowing my movement, spun my body. I channeled touki through my arm and stabbed the projectile with all my accumulated force.
The creature fell sideways, skidding over the scales. Then, without wasting time, I cut it down using my sword.
"What...?" Sara's voice came from behind. "My arrow..."
"Let this small, burning fire produce a great and burning blessing! Flamethrower!"
A line of flame passed by my left side; and a moving Winter Wyrm stopped dead instead of running through it.
"Let's do this, Patrice!"
"Yes!"
Suzanne ran past me, with Patrice and Mimir on either side.
"These things aren't after us! Just hit the ones charging in this direction and knock them off course!"
"Understood!"
"More coming from the left!"
We didn't need to defeat them. It was enough to deflect those getting too close. While Suzanne ordered us to advance toward the wall to reduce the angles of attack, I limited myself to controlling the flow of combat, keeping the monsters away from the group. Furthermore, they seemed to want to avoid me. Eventually, they began to back away, baring their fangs in an attempt to scare us.
From inside the ruins, someone burst onto the battlefield. However, there was nothing left to face. I had already torn apart all the persistent wyrms.
...
I looked sideways at the group that had arrived on the battlefield. They didn't seem like good people... or, at least, they looked visibly annoyed.
"Hello. I am Timothy, from the party Counter Arrow," Timothy said, approaching the man with a friendly smile. "Thank you very much for your hel-"
The man tried to punch Timothy in the face, but I stopped him before his fist arrived. I grabbed his wrist and squeezed slightly, enough to make it clear I could break it if I wanted to.
"What's wrong with you? You got a problem?" I said calmly.
The man tried to break free, but that only increased the pain.
"You've got some nerve stealing our prey like that...! AGH!"
I squeezed a little harder.
"Enough with your hostility. Or do you want to end up with a disfigured face?" I said without altering my tone. "I'm no storybook hero. I have no problem putting people like you in their place."
I released his hand immediately and turned toward my group.
The man, in a clumsy attempt to "get even," punched me straight in the face.
"I don't care if you're young, you were very... huh?"
I spat to the side and stared at him.
In a quick movement, I punched him. His body went flying and ended up crashing against a statue.
"That will teach you that if you throw a punch, you'd better be ready to take one back."
"Besides..." Suzanne intervened with a slight smirk. "Are you joking? Those things attacked us out of nowhere! You guys dragged us into this!"
"Oh, please! You guys showed up from behind and tried to take those scales while we did all the work!" the man persisted, despite having been hit.
"We didn't even know anyone else was working here!"
"We told the whole damn town! We announced we'd be here!"
"Well, we didn't hear anything about that!"
They were Stepped Leader, an S-rank adventurer party. An extremely competent team, associated with the prominent Thunderbolt clan. I had heard they were rated as the strongest group in the entire city of Rosenburg, so I could understand their frustration. Plus, their leader, Soldat Heckler, tended to have a very short temper.
"Now that I think about it..." I decided to speak up. "I heard that Stepped Leader had taken an S-rank job at the guild. The mission was to wipe out a large group of Winter Wyrms that appeared in the Ilbron Caves..."
"Ilbron Cave!? What!? That's a day away from here!" shouted Suzanne.
Soldat's face tightened, clearly furious.
"What the hell? This is Ilbron Cave!"
"Are you drunk!? We're in the Galgau Ruins!"
"Calm down, Suzanne," said Timothy.
"I think I have an idea of what might have happened here," he continued with a small sigh, offering a kind smile. "I remember hearing that, some time ago, a large number of monsters emerged from Ilbron Cave, and the group sent to fight them was wiped out. The sole survivor reported that they had found a nest of Winter Wyrms deep in the cave."
"So... what? Are you saying you came here for a different job?"
"That's right. If you want, you can confirm it with the Guild."
Soldat made a face, shook his head, and spat on the ground.
"Well... dammit." Then he looked at me. "Then I'm sorry for punching you out of nowhere."
"Don't worry about it. I've taken harder hits."
"Hey, don't insult me like that."
"I'm just being honest. You're strong, but you attacked without technique."
There was a long, awkward silence.
"Even so, those things were our prey. You guys take the couple you killed; that's all. Understand!?"
"Of course."
Timothy agreed immediately, although Sara and Suzanne frowned.
"Once you've collected your scales, leave the cleanup to us and head back to Rosenburg," Soldat continued. "Don't worry, we'll seal that hole at the bottom of the ruins once and for all."
Soldat turned around and walked away.
The other members of Stepped Leader shrugged and followed him back into the depths of the ruins.
"Alright. Let's gather our scales and get out of here," said Timothy.
Rudeus approached me.
"Thanks, brother, for today."
"Why are you thanking me? You did very well."
"Yeah, but I feel like I chickened out too much."
"I did too, you know? I might not show it, but I always worry about your health and the group's."
Rudeus smiled.
"Well, anyway, let me thank you. I don't know what would have become of me right now without you, so... thank you very much."
"Don't mention it, Rudeus. Your big brother will always be here," I said after a brief pause. "I just hope you will be too. I won't always be able to hold you up... I need someone to hold me up, too."