Hero's Coffin Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Though it was a mutter to himself, the sound echoed and everyone looked at him. Though he felt sorry seeing the shocked expression on Noi's face, it was unsettling that the cores' locations were also deep inside.

Perhaps they were giving up one Encroachment Zone to kill the hero who would be an obstacle to Dedium's revival. Though only two Encroachment Zones remained in the empire, the number remaining wouldn't matter if they could ultimately revive Dedium. It was a strategy of giving up one thing to gain something bigger.

Soon Haren spoke with a serious face.

"Let's check the place with the mass of light first."

"Yes!"

The companions, having grasped that the situation was unusual, also became sharply focused. They had already come deep into the cave, and moreover, the paths inside were twisted like a maze. It would take a long time to return to the single entrance, and if it collapsed while they were going anyway, that would be the end.

So they decided to investigate the suspicious location instead. Everyone rushed forward following the hypothesis that the Dium might be where the mass of light had rippled. Even he, who had been tired from climbing the snow-covered mountain, could move quickly from tension.

But when they arrived at the corner of the cave, everyone froze. Something was piled up high enough to reach the tall ceiling, and instead of them who had stopped abruptly and couldn't say a word in front of it, he muttered.

"...People?"

It was very different from the missing persons who had become zombies that they had encountered in the first Encroachment Zone. That is, they were... piled like a mountain. The number seemed to easily exceed several hundred, no, a thousand, and they were stacked densely mixed together regardless of age or gender.

It was a mountain of colorless, faded corpses.

"Uuk, uweeek. Kuuuk, huuk...!"

Noi knelt while dry heaving, then soon let out sobs like wailing. His whole body trembled as if shocked by the too terrible scene. Kalterik also dry heaved while leaning against the wall, and Mela covered her mouth with her hand. Only Haren and he remained standing still here.

"..."

But Haren was absolutely not composed. Rather, he was frozen completely stiff, staring more persistently at the horrifyingly repulsive sight. He seemed to be looking for anyone matching the appearances of missing persons they had collected over the past few days among the corpses piled like a mountain.

Meanwhile, he was in a daze. Though he was certainly shocked too, they say when you encounter too shocking a sight, you rather lose your sense of reality. A very strange sense of alienation and déjà vu mixed together as a zing- headache came. His head hurt stingingly.

Instead of staggering and collapsing, he moved forward while slowly taking deep breaths. Though he didn't know what mindset drove him, he moved following a compulsion that he had to approach, and placed his hand on a corpse. Behind him, Kalterik was shocked.

"You, don't tell me you're trying to subjugate them as undead...!"

"...There are no souls."

He murmured softly. Though it had been uncertain from the outside, he could be sure upon touching them. Though they say you can't find traces of souls in those who died very long ago, these didn't look like old corpses at all. No, they just looked peacefully asleep as if it wouldn't be strange for them to open their eyes right away. But their bodies were chillingly cold, proving their death.

However, there was a contradiction even in that aspect. According to Noi, the most recently disappeared person had gone missing in winter. That was at least several months ago. Yet why were these corpses in such an intact state? Was it because they hadn't decayed in the cold cave, or was something different because it was an Encroachment Zone?

Except for being faded to colorless, no wounds could be found on the corpses.

"The zombies we saw in the southern Encroachment Zone were covered in wounds..."

They said those killed by Dium became zombies. They should have been wounded in the process of resisting, but these bodies were completely clean. Then had they all come into the Encroachment Zone out of curiosity and died from contamination? And so the Dium had brought them and stacked them neatly? Something was strange.

They looked as if they had come here in neat attire as if having purified themselves, and only their souls had left and they had died.

"They hardly match the appearances of the missing persons we've collected so far."

Just then, Haren spoke in a sunken voice, as if he too had finished comparing. Thud thud, he approached as if wanting to check from closer up anyway.

"Wait, Isaph."

Whoosh, suddenly Haren grabbed his arm and pulled. He was dragged along dazedly at the sudden touch. Though he was surprised at the first contact since that day, there was no time to pay attention to that. He too was shocked when he checked where Haren was looking with a stiffly frozen face.

There was a pitch-black wall behind the mountain of corpses.

No, perhaps it was a cavity?

Though it was clearly a blocked part on the map and should have a wall as the end of the cave, that place existed like a pitch-black cavity. The entire wall surface was black as an abyss, and even the artifact Beatrice had given couldn't illuminate it. No, it seemed like no light could be contained there at all.

It brought an eerie revulsion similar to but greater than an Encroachment Zone core. This almost looked like... some kind of 'boundary'.

You'll die if you cross it.

Intuition warned of that. Without even knowing what might be beyond it, or whether it was even a space where the concept of crossing applied, he instinctively stepped back hesitantly. It felt like they shouldn't even touch it.

"What in the world is this..."

The companions also sighed seeing that strange wall. This Encroachment Zone was too bizarre. Just as they were about to exchange opinions looking at each other, kigigigigik- a chilling sound rang out.

It was a noise like what might occur when an enormous spring unwound. The clicking sound like something being fitted together echoed through the entire cave loud enough to hurt their ears. Not just him but all the companions covered their ears in pain, and finally kugugugung! even the ground shook.

Could they really be planning to collapse the cave and kill them all? Though it was chilling, he couldn't properly look around. His whole body shook excessively, and in his swaying vision, he confirmed an even more shocking phenomenon.

"...The space is, changing?"

At some point, no, perhaps from the moment the vibrations began, strange light burst forth from the black wall. Just as the scattering light seemed to dye their vision, finally the ground collapsed. Not the ceiling, but the floor split in all directions.

Whoosh– Haren pushed him forcefully.

What kind of intuition had driven that action? He staggered as he was pushed and landed on his bottom. Kwagwagwagwang! A new wall rose up before his fallen eyes. No, perhaps this view appeared because where he sat had plunged straight down.

Crazy, the map suddenly rotated randomly.

Though they had clearly been in a snow mountain cave, suddenly the space changed to a cave filled with blue crystals. Moreover, the anomaly didn't stop at once.

Suddenly lava stalactites like those seen in volcanic caves appeared, then suddenly the sound of water splashing came from over there, and the colors of minerals changed wildly. All these changes proceeded in time with the kigigik– spring sound.

When all the commotion subsided, he was startled to find himself face-to-face with a mirror-like transparent crystal. Ugh, it felt like seeing his face reflected in a black screen when a game suddenly turns off.

His white face looked more dumbfounded than pale. After staring blankly at the purple eyes reflected in the crystal that somehow looked unfamiliar, he belatedly turned to look around.

What is this, a cave theme dungeon?

Are they showing all types - snow mountain cave, volcanic cave, coastal cave, mine cave, etc.? This isn't even a complete set, you crazy bastards. After cursing this terrible game every day, are they explaining 'We prepared this many maps'? The player needs to be able to enjoy it, just showing off data like this only makes me think 'what are you trying to do'.

As he was getting up while spewing curses, he suddenly clutched his stomach and groaned.

"Ack...!"

The degree of pain was severe. Wondering if he had hit or been stabbed by something while the map was changing extensively, he hurriedly checked his stomach. It was extreme pain as if his stomach had been pierced and all his internal organs had burst. His back tingled too and cold sweat poured like rain.

But when he checked, his stomach was fine. Since there wasn't even the smallest scratch, he blinked blankly. His thoughts were slow. His body had no wounds at all yet it hurt this much? Then, this...

"...Haren."

Haren, he was the one who was injured.