"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Vel's left arm had been hacked off at the shoulder. Blood sprayed from the stump in an unstoppable torrent as he clutched his grotesquely melted, festering face with his remaining right hand.
For a split second, Rei stood frozen, startled by the sheer ugliness of the traitor’s ruined features. He quickly dismissed it as nothing more than a deserved fate and prepared to bring the Death Scythe down for the final blow.
"Guruu!"
Hearing Set’s urgent cry from behind, Rei sensed something hurtling toward him. He reflexively swung the Death Scythe to intercept the threat.
"..."
The opponent—the Golem that had been occupied with Set—made no effort to evade. It exposed its body to the blade as if intentionally throwing itself into the strike. Infused with magic power, the Death Scythe’s blade sliced the construct in two with ease.
(This is bad!)
Rei leapt back with reflexive speed to put distance between them. But a split second faster than he could move, the Golem—cleaved neatly in half by the scythe—began to glow with a blinding radiance.
Boom!
The construct exploded, lashing the surroundings with a violent shockwave.
Rei took the blast at point-blank range, but when the flames and smoke cleared, he emerged virtually unscathed. In his place, the Magic Shields that had been orbiting him dissipated like mist.
(Self-destruction? I didn't take any damage thanks to the Magic Shields, but... damn it! Where’s Vel?)
Rei swung the Death Scythe, clearing the thick, lingering smoke as he searched for his target.
With his left arm gone and his face a melted ruin, it seemed impossible for Vel to have escaped far. Rei knew better than to let his guard down until he’d delivered the coup de grace. He scanned the area, and a voice finally drifted from the thinning haze.
"Heh... hahahaha. I... I might have underestimated you a little. But next time, things won't go so well for you."
Vel’s face twisted in agony from the stump of his shoulder, his melted features warping into an even more hideous mask as he made his declaration. In his remaining right hand, he clutched a jewel-like object, preparing to smash it against the floor.
"I won't let you escape!"
Rei instantly called up the Misty Ring List in his mind. He withdrew the needle displayed at the top of the list and hurled it at Vel before the man could trigger the jewel.
The needle sliced through the air with the predatory speed of a hawk. Drenched in poison liquid, it flew true, burying itself deep into Vel’s right thigh.
By some twist of fate, the needle Rei had just thrown was a trap from the dungeon’s B5F—the floor teeming with undead—which Vel himself had disarmed and given to Rei earlier.
"Guh... persistent to the very end, aren't you? But this match is my win!"
Though the poisoned needle, propelled by Rei’s superhuman strength, had pierced through his leather armor and deep into his muscle, Vel ignored the pain. He slammed the jewel into the cobblestone, unleashing a flash of light that rivaled the Golem’s explosion in intensity.
"Tch! Set!"
"Guruuu!"
Rei didn't know exactly what was happening, but he knew he couldn't let the man get away. He called out to his partner. Set responded by firing a Wind Arrow, and not to be outdone, Rei unleashed a Flying Slash.
But...
"He's gone."
The dazzling flash subsided. Once the spots cleared from Rei's vision, Vel was nowhere to be seen. The only evidence of his presence was the pool of blood from his severed shoulder and his left arm, which lay abandoned on the floor a short distance away.
On the far wall where Vel had stood, a massive scar remained from the Flying Slash, alongside several gouges left by Set’s Wind Arrow.
Rei quickly deduced what had occurred. The jewel Vel had smashed likely contained space magic—specifically, teleportation magic. Considering the rarity of space-expansion items like the Item Box, enchanting a magic item with teleportation was a feat of extreme difficulty. However, if cost was no object and it was designed as a single-use consumable, it was well within the technological reach of the Bestia Empire.
(Even so, you’d need alchemy on par with that Magic City Ozos...)
Rei sighed. Having driven off the snake in their midst, he decided there was no immediate threat left and rushed to Elena’s side.
He pressed two fingers to her neck. Finding a steady pulse, he let out a long breath of relief. Then, his eyes drifted to the figure lying beside her.
"...Kyuste."
Kyuste lay perfectly still. His eyes were wide and vacant, and it was clear he had passed. Yet, seeing the faint, satisfied smile on his face, Rei could only guess that the man had held onto life just long enough to see Vel driven away.
"I didn't like you. Not one bit," Rei muttered. "But you did your duty. You protected Elena until the very end. I’ll give you that much."
Rei crossed the man’s arms over his chest, removed his helmet, and gently closed his eyelids. The full plate mail that had covered Kyuste’s body was almost entirely shattered by the force of the Death Scythe's earlier blow; only his gauntlets, greaves, and the discarded helmet remained intact.
"Guruu."
While Rei had previously treated the knight with cold indifference, Set had been openly hostile toward him. Even so, the griffon seemed to have been moved by the man's final act. It let out a low, mournful trill from the back of its throat that sounded to Rei like a prayer for the dead.
"The real question is... what happens to the Ritual of Inheritance now?"
Rei turned his gaze toward the Altar of Inheritance. The Ancient Dragon Magic Stone was gone, shattered into fragments by Vel’s strike. The silver lining was that Elena had already absorbed roughly seventy percent of its power before it broke. However...
(The ritual is supposed to be about absorbing everything. She only got seventy percent. I have no idea what the consequences will be.)
Elena remained unconscious on the altar. Even in her deep sleep, her beauty was striking, a sharp contrast to the violence of the room.
"At any rate, we can't do anything until Ara and Elena wake up. I don't even know if it’s safe to move them like this."
Unsure of how the interrupted magic circle might react if she were moved, Rei decided their only option was to wait. He retrieved a clean cloth from the Misty Ring, draped it over Kyuste’s remains, and sat down.
Several hours passed.
"Nn..."
The first to stir was Ara.
"Are you awake, Ara?"
"Lord... Rei?"
She blinked, looking around in a daze as she struggled to grasp the situation. Then, reality crashed back in.
"Wait! Elena-sama?!"
Recalling the events just before she had blacked out, she scrambled to her feet. Seeing Elena unconscious on the altar, she tried to rush over, but Rei’s hand clamped firmly onto her arm.
"Ara!"
"Lord Rei, let go! Elena-sama is—!"
"Calm down! The Ritual of Inheritance was cut short! We don't know the state of her body right now, and moving her from the magic circle could be dangerous. We have to wait!"
Ara glared at him, her eyes burning with a flash of murderous intent, but the warning about Elena’s safety seemed to reach her. Gradually, the lethal aura she was emitting began to fade.
"...My apologies."
"Don't worry about it. I know how much she means to you."
Once she had settled, Rei pulled a bottle from the Misty Ring. It was wine he had bought in the City of Gilm. Rei wasn't much of a drinker himself, but he kept it on hand for emergencies like this—to serve as a restorative.
He forced the cork out of the bottle, poured a cup, and handed it to Ara.
"Drink this. It’ll help settle your nerves."
"Thank you..."
Ara sipped the wine in silence. Her expression was heavy with thought, likely dwelling on Vel’s treachery. Finally, she spoke.
"...Lord Rei, I understand that Vel betrayed us. But... what about Kyuste? Did Kyuste also..."
She trailed off, unable to voice the suspicion that he too might have been a traitor. Rei shifted his gaze toward the cloth-covered form lying near the altar.
"Guruu..."
Set, who was currently serving as a makeshift backrest for Rei, also looked toward Kyuste’s remains.
"Eh? ...N-no... You're joking, right?"
Ara set the cup down with trembling hands and approached the body. She reached out and slowly pulled back the cloth.
There lay Kyuste. His face was peaceful, almost serene with that satisfied smile, despite the blood staining his lips.
"Why... why?! Why is Kyuste dead?!"
Driven by an explosion of grief, Ara slammed her fist into the cobblestone. Fueled by her Herculean Strength, the blow shattered the sturdy stone, sending fragments flying. She struck the floor again and again for several minutes until the initial burst of emotion spent itself. She wiped her eyes and looked up at Rei.
"Lord Rei... please tell me. Was it... Vel?"
"Yeah."
"How... how did he go?"
Her knuckles were torn and raw, blood dripping from her hands, but she didn't seem to notice. She clenched her fists even tighter, her nails digging into her palms until fresh blood welled up.
"Do you remember how Vel kept giving Kyuste water from his own canteen throughout the dungeon?"
"Yes..."
"The canteen was laced with a magic potion. It turned Kyuste into Vel's puppet."
"That’s impossible! Vel was drinking from that same canteen himself!"
"He had an antidote. On top of that, he used a magic item to boost Kyuste’s physical ability and forced him to fight me. I didn't have much of a choice."
Ara’s gaze suddenly sharpened with a lethal edge.
"So... was it you who killed him, Lord Rei?"
Rei felt the full weight of her killing intent, but he simply shook his head.
"Even with those boosts, I was stronger. I struck him with the shaft of the Death Scythe to break his armor and knock him out of the fight. While I was focused on Vel, the bastard released a small Golem—there, near the altar."
Rei pointed to the deactivated construct, which lay with a dagger buried in its chest, a longsword still clutched in its hand.
"When that Golem tried to finish off the unconscious Elena, Kyuste somehow broke through the magic potion's binding. He threw himself in the way to shield her."
"With your strength, Lord Rei, you could have—!"
Ara’s voice cracked, sounding like she was choking on her own blood. But she bit back the accusation and hung her head. She squeezed her eyes shut, and the blood dripping from her hands pooled on the floor.
"...No. I was unconscious. I have no right to say anything. Besides, looking at his face... he died happy. There’s no point in blaming you. If I want justice, I’ll get it myself. I will kill Vel with my own hands."
Her voice was thick with a resolve she was carving into her soul. Rei watched her for a moment, then pulled a potion from the Misty Ring.
"Heal your hands first."
"Yes... I'm sorry."
She poured the liquid over her torn knuckles. In less than thirty seconds, the wounds had vanished, leaving her skin unmarred.
"So... what do we do about Elena-sama?"
Ara turned her attention back to the center of the magic circle. Rei shook his head.
"I don't know enough about the Ritual of Inheritance to give you an answer. Her pulse is strong, so I think we just have to wait for her to wake up naturally. Fortunately, there are no monsters on this lowest floor."
"But we can't stay here forever."
"I know. We have plenty of supplies, and I’ve got monster meat in the Item Box... but sleeping on these stones isn't good for anyone. If she isn't awake in half a day, we’ll take the risk and carry her out."
Rei pulled an hourglass from the Item Box—another magic item.
"This hourglass takes two hours for the sand to run out. We’ll use it to track the time. If she isn't awake after three turns..."
Ara nodded solemnly.
"I understand."
With that, the two fell into a heavy silence, waiting for the sand to drop as the hours ticked away.