Trauma
"Wait."
Ferda called out to the two adventurers walking ahead.
"While you inspect the path, may I take a look inside that room?"
He pointed toward the chamber.
The two adventurers glanced inside. It contained several desks and shelves filled with books.
Its purpose was easy enough to guess from its general layout.
"It looks like some kind of reading room used by guests... There don't appear to be any traps, at least."
After surveying the room, the adventurers exchanged glances and nodded.
"Go ahead."
"You would not be much help to us right now anyway..."
They made no attempt to stop Ferda from acting independently.
In fact, it was more convenient for them.
By adventurer standards, Ferda was a novice and therefore an obvious source of unpredictable complications.
Since they were already lightening their burden, they decided to set aside one more.
They turned to the armored knight standing beside him.
"Sir Knight, please remain with Regent Ferda."
Nod, nod.
The armored knight obediently moved closer to Ferda.
"Wait."
?
Ferda looked at the knight with a stern expression.
"Do not stand so close. I would prefer that you keep some distance."
...Nod.
The knight appeared disappointed.
That disappointment sent a chill down Ferda's spine.
Why would a grown man behave like that?
"We will return in ten minutes."
"Very well."
Suppressing his discomfort, Ferda ignored whether the knight remained nearby and pulled one of the books from the shelf.
However, he soon found himself frowning.
'The writing is different.'
It was neither runic script nor the commonly used Imperial language.
Just as one would expect from such an obscure region, the people here had used their own unique writing system.
Fortunately, Erika was familiar with it and would be able to translate it.
Ferda spread out across the room and selected several samples from different shelves.
If any of them concerned cultivation methods or emotions, then this search would prove worthwhile.
As he continued gathering information, Ferda suddenly realized something.
"More than ten minutes must have passed..."
It was already time for the adventurers to return and call him and the armored knight back.
Yet they had not appeared.
'Was this a trap to lure me away?'
Ferda instinctively became suspicious of them.
'No, that is unlikely.'
Their attitude had made it obvious that they found him troublesome.
But that irritation had merely come from the burden of having to escort beginners.
Had this been a trap, they would likely have treated him far more kindly.
"Then perhaps they were the ones caught in a trap."
The armored knight reacted strongly, immediately turning toward the door through which the adventurers had left.
"Let us search for them."
Nod!
The knight's steps were filled with enthusiasm.
Ferda did not like that enthusiasm.
"Wait."
?
"Follow behind me. If magic is involved, I will inspect it first."
Nod.
Still, the knight obeyed without complaint, so the arrangement was not entirely unpleasant.
Ferda cautiously followed the adventurers' tracks.
The corridor continued straight before branching to the right.
Ferda did not need to wonder which path to take.
A groaning sound came from the corridor ahead.
Following it, they found one of the adventurers.
"Ughhhhh..."
The man was staring at something, his face twisted in anguish.
Ferda held his breath and signaled for the armored knight to stop.
He approached alone and examined the situation.
"I'm sorry... I never meant for this to happen. Please..."
The adventurer stared into the distance, confessing his sins and begging for salvation.
'An illusion?'
Was a demon lying in ambush?
Ferda's eyes began to glow faintly.
He attempted to detect the source of the illusion and destroy it through mana perception.
What he saw, however, surprised him.
'There is only a faint trace of magic... It is not enough to explain an illusion.'
If magic were responsible, there should have been mana surrounding the man's head or eyes.
Breaking that flow would awaken him.
Yet the mana was rising from his heart and lower abdomen, and even then, only in trace amounts.
'In that case...'
Ferda suddenly recalled his conversations with Luri.
Her confession about her past.
Her regrets.
And the pain they had caused her.
Having grasped the situation, Ferda traced the direction of the adventurer's gaze.
He did not look directly at whatever lay there.
Instead, he drew his staff.
"Lightning Spear."
Crackle!
Red lightning shot toward the end of the adventurer's line of sight.
Crack!
It struck flesh, burrowing inside before exploding.
Green blood and chunks of purple flesh scattered through the air.
At the same time, awareness returned to the adventurer's vacant eyes.
"H-huh? What in the world...?"
"Are you all right?"
"Yes? Ah, yes..."
"Where is the other man?"
"Well, um... More importantly, how did you get here...?"
His consciousness had returned, but the lingering effects left him incoherent.
"There is no time. He may have been caught by the same thing that trapped you. Do you want to watch him die?"
"Ah! I'm sorry! He probably went down the passage at the fork we passed earlier!"
Ferda looked toward the armored knight.
'It will be even worse if this one falls under that creature's influence.'
"Armored knight."
Nod?
"Take care of this adventurer. No matter what he points toward or tells you to look at, do not look in that direction."
Nod.
At least the knight's responses were decisive.
Whether Ferda could truly trust them was another matter, but he had no other option.
The Flint Expedition was meant to serve as the beginning of something greater.
They needed to demonstrate that this expedition could produce meaningful results.
Avoiding casualties was essential.
Hestia had been established as a base for the conquest of the East, so every survivor was extremely important to Ferda.
He ran toward the location the adventurer had described.
After retracing his steps to the fork, he heard similar groans coming from that direction.
The second adventurer was in far worse condition than the first.
Ferda saw him embracing a mass of flesh.
He instinctively covered his eyes.
It was already too late, but the glimpse allowed him to learn something.
'Seeing its general outline does not seem to have any effect.'
That meant a specific part of the creature was responsible for the illusion.
For the moment, Ferda focused on rescuing the adventurer.
Unlike the first man, who had been tormented by pain, this one wore an expression of absolute happiness.
"Sandra... I am coming to you... This time, please let me remain by your side. I will never let you go again..."
Ferda could feel it.
At that moment, the man believed he was being saved.
But it was time for them to part.
"Lightning Bolt."
A bullet of red lightning shot forward in a straight line and struck the mass.
Crack!
Dozens of black hands emerged from Ferda's sleeves and seized the adventurer's body.
There was not a single source of light in the corridor, strengthening the power of his shadows.
The hands managed to tear the man away from the creature.
"Ah! Aaaagh!"
Wounds covered the adventurer's body.
Blood poured from them, yet he paid no attention.
"Sandra...! My love, where have you gone?!"
"Come to your senses."
"Sandra! Sandra! Let me go!"
The man tried to throw himself toward the mass again, but Ferda forcibly dragged him backward.
"I said let me go!"
The adventurer drew a dagger and stabbed one of Ferda's shadowy hands.
"Ugh!"
Though they were made of shadow, the pain they suffered was transmitted vividly to him.
Ferda quickly withdrew after forcing himself to recognize the sensation as an illusion created by his nerves.
Everything about the environment placed him at a disadvantage.
The dense demonic energy made him feel sick, and the sudden burst of pain caused him to lower his guard for only an instant.
That was enough.
Ferda accidentally saw what the adventurer had been staring at.
It lasted only a moment, but he saw it clearly.
The enormous eye embedded within the mass.
"Damn it!"
In the brief instant it took him to blink, the creature's form changed completely.
"Valdrova...?"
Two pairs of horns and a beautiful face.
A healthy, feminine figure that seemed wholly unsuited to someone called the Tyrant Dragon.
"Why are you here...?"
It was impossible.
There was no way she could be here.
And yet she stood before him.
"Ferda..."
Her beautiful voice called his name with heartbreaking longing.
'I cannot concentrate.'
Every time Ferda looked at it, he found himself believing that she was truly there.
She should have been beneath Valdrova Castle.
Forcing his emotions aside, he placed logic above all else.
A Mana Bullet barely formed in Ferda's hand and struck Valdrova's figure.
Pshk!
Her head snapped violently backward.
Ferda had assumed that once the figure was destroyed, it would return to its true form and release him from its influence.
But it did not.
"Why... are you attacking me?"
Valdrova slowly raised her head and looked at him again.
Half of her head had been blown away.
Tears streamed from her remaining eye.
Ferda knew that sight.
Though she now possessed a human form, she had looked exactly like that when she had still been a dragon.
Ferda continued hypnotizing himself.
That was not Valdrova.
"Ah, I see... You... don't need me anymore..."
That was not Valdrova.
"Hehe... I'm sorry. I misunderstood again and only caused trouble for you, Ferda..."
That was not—
"This is what you needed, wasn't it?"
Pshk!
Valdrova—
"I'll give it to you."
She tore out her own heart and held it toward him.
Ferda's reason crumbled as despair stabbed deep into his lungs.
She staggered toward him.
"Sor..."
Despair became regret.
Regret stirred the deepest darkness inside Ferda.
"I'm... sorry."
At that moment, Valdrova's body suddenly shot upward.
The place from which she had torn out her heart was pierced once again.
A steel gauntlet protruded through it.
Clutched in the gauntlet was an enormous heart.
The armored knight had ripped out the creature's heart and crushed it on the spot.
"Ah...!"
At the peak of his regret, Ferda felt something release its grip on his mind.
He closed his eyes, then opened them again.
Where Valdrova had stood, a mass of flesh now hung limply.
Green blood and purple flesh.
It was unquestionably a monster.
There were two of them.
One lay where Ferda's Mana Bullet had struck.
The other had just been impaled by the armored knight.
Ferda slowly recalled what he had seen and pieced together the situation.
When the first creature's forehead had been pierced, another monster had replaced it and continued the illusion.
It made its victim believe the enemy had been killed, only to remain alive and torment them further.
Even Ferda had to admit that it was an excellent tactic.
'So this is what Luri saw.'
It was certainly enough to drive someone mad.
There had been no sign of spellcasting, making magical countermeasures difficult.
One thing was certain.
They needed a way to deal with these creatures.
But more than anything, Ferda first needed to calm himself.
"Ugh..."
His Shadow Circle was spinning wildly.
It was on the verge of bursting and killing him.
The armored knight cautiously reached toward Ferda's face.
The intention was obvious.
The knight was worried about him.
It was an act of kindness.
That kindness once again took Valdrova's shape before his eyes.
"Get away from me!"
Ferda violently slapped the hand aside.
Valdrova's image returned to that of the armored knight.
Startled, the knight withdrew their hand and carefully stepped back.
A beast became most dangerous when its weakness was exposed.
Ferda was exposing his weakness.
He could not allow that.
In this land of despair, despair itself was easy prey.
Ferda steadied his breathing and answered politely.
"I apologize, but... please keep your distance."
...Nod.
The knight seemed to understand reluctantly.
They carefully lifted the adventurer onto their back and took the lead.
Ferda followed behind.
For some reason, the knight's back kept resembling Valdrova's.
Ferda believed he was going mad.
Not everyone returned at the appointed time.
Surprisingly, every group that had split up had encountered the same kind of monster.
The right-side group, which included Ferda, had suffered the most damage.
"For now, we will name this creature 'Trauma.'"
Its shared characteristic was its ability to extract a memory from its victim's mind and display it as an illusion.
The illusion took the form of the person the victim had longed for most throughout their life.
"It appears that mental-protection magic cannot block its gaze. Based on that, I suspect it may be hypnosis rather than magic."
"Hypnosis..."
"Is such a thing possible without magic?"
"My current theory is that it functions as a trap. The moment you look into its eye, the trap is triggered."
That was Erika's conclusion.
If the monster called Trauma were casting an illusion spell, there should have been a visible structure of mana.
Destroying that mana structure should have freed the victim.
Yet no such structure existed.
"What should we do? Should we stop splitting up and move together?"
The horrifying visions were more than enough to discourage them.
Even so, the adventurers who had fallen victim to the creatures did not immediately agree that they should regroup.
"There were no other traps, and the greatest threat seems to be those Trauma creatures..."
"If we remain careful, I think we can still continue..."
They still believed the expedition was manageable.
"Then we will continue with the same groups. This time, we will avoid making eye contact with them as much as possible. We will move in pairs, facing one another."
"So that if one person becomes trapped, the other will notice immediately."
"Understood."
"We will proceed with a deeper exploration. Before that, does anyone have any questions?"
No one raised a hand.
"Good. Check your equipment again, and we will depart shortly. Take a ten-minute break."
The expedition briefly dispersed to inspect their supplies.
"Captain Erika."
Ferda was the one who called her aside.
"What is it?"
"I found these books in the area I explored."
Ferda discreetly handed her several books.
"They are written in an Eastern script. You want me to translate them?"
"I only memorised a few of the more important characters, so for now..."
Erika briefly skimmed through the books before asking,
"Did you find all of these in the same place?"
"Yes. They were in the same room, though I took them from different shelves."
"They have one thing in common."
"What is it?"
"Do you see this character here?"
The character Erika pointed to appeared in every book.
"This character means love."
"Love..."
"I do not know exactly what each book contains, but they are all related to love in some way."
Ferda's strong intuition had led him there.
These were likely the very things he needed.
The room must have contained texts on controlling and utilizing emotion.
Places like that often had secret passages, and deeper within them, hidden manuals were usually stored.
"Then that is where we should go."
"Yes. There may be magical artifacts there, and even a clue to what you seek would be enough. Was that all you wanted?"
"There is one more thing."
Ferda answered Erika's question.
"You said the central group was also affected, did you not?"
"...Yes."
Erika and Virgil had been the ones caught in the central group.
Unlike the members of the side groups, who had received help from others, Erika had attempted to escape on her own, just as Ferda had.
And she had succeeded.
"What did you see?"
"Must I answer that?"
"You do not need to be specific. I only want to confirm something."
Erika pressed her lips together.
After a moment, she answered as though she had no other choice.
"What I saw was... the greatest mistake I ever made."
What they had seen was different, but the essence was the same.
"How did you overcome it?"
That was what Ferda wanted to know.
How had she escaped from something so horrifying and terrifying?
Erika answered as though it were simple.
"Because I realized I could never allow myself to repeat that mistake."
It was the worst possible answer Ferda could have received.
His Shadow Circle was still spinning.
No.
With every passing moment, it was turning even more violently.
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