Chapter 290: Ashes to Ashes

A jet-black blood, as if condensed with the malice of this world, violently overflowed from its throat. One of the faces of the Asura Mask had completely ceased its function.

Following that, Josel leaped out and slashed at the right side face, crushing the Chimera Orc’s eyes.

Simultaneously, Gerhardt leaped from the opposite side and swung his beloved sword “Ittetsu.” With a blow filled with anger and frustration, the left side face was sliced into rings, and both ears fell half-cut.

Unable to see anything, hear anything, or plead for anything, the Chimera Orc raised its five worn-out hands toward the sky.

It didn’t desire to become like this, and it couldn’t protect its comrades either. Despite gaining immense power that surpassed anyone else’s, in the end, it couldn’t achieve anything.

It could no longer stand. Although the wounds on its legs were healing, it had turned blind with only one head remaining. Even so, its spirit had broken earlier.

One step, two steps, three steps forward, and then it fell forward, kicking up a cloud of dust.

It felt someone approaching. Somehow, it felt like that man with the mysterious sword. Whether death or liberation awaited, either would be fine. If only this nightmare could end.

When Lutz swung the “Kyouka suigetsu” and cut off three heads, the Chimera Orc’s body jumped several times before finally becoming motionless. It could finally be said that it died, or perhaps, it finally managed to die.

Soon, the corpse dried up like a withered plant and began to crumble apart. Gerhardt inserted the tip of his sword into the mound of sand-like remains, as if searching for something.

“Hmm, it’s not here…”

“Are you looking for something?”

Josel asked with a somewhat displeased expression. To him, playing with the corpse of an opponent fought with life on the line was not a pleasant sight, but faced with his mentor’s serious expression, he couldn’t complain.

He should find out what his intentions were first.

“If that cursed being existed, I thought some jewel or cursed weapon might appear…”

At those words, both Lutz and Josel’s faces turned pale. Did that mean there was something else terrifying out there?

“If that’s the case, the suspicious place is probably over there.”

Gerhardt’s gaze pointed towards a high, sheer rock wall, with a crack at its base that seemed passable for a person. It had caught his attention even before fighting the Chimera Orc.

Everyone was exhausted; there were casualties and injuries. Even so, they couldn’t just leave this place alone. They couldn’t predict what might happen if they did.

“No choice. Sorry, Lutz, you’re coming with me.”

Gerhardt scratched his dusty head as he said this.

This place won’t allow him to release the characteristics of the magic sword kyouka suigetsu. Lutz understands this, so he nodded naturally without a word of complaint. As always, this man was quick to act.

“Master, I’ll come too.”

“No.”

Gerhardt flatly rejected Josel’s offer.

Thinking about the outcome of the battle or witnessing a new threat, Gerhardt pointed alternately at Josel and the rock wall.

“If you try to squeeze in with that size, you’ll get stuck. After surviving this far, are you intending to die in such a foolish way?”

“Oh, no, that’s…”

Josel’s height exceeded 180 centimeters, and his physique matched it. His title as a high-ranking knight was not just for show.

The gap in the rock wall would barely fit Lutz and Gerhardt.

Without room for rebuttal, Josel sighed with resignation, and from behind him, Keith stepped forward.

“Then let me go instead.”

“You?”

Gerhardt cast an unreserved gaze over Keith’s body. His height was slightly taller than Lutz and Gerhardt’s. Was there any way he couldn’t enter?

“Without armor, you should be able to go.”

“It might be possible…”

“Even if I have to go naked.”

“Got it, got it. Just come with me for now. If it’s impossible, come back immediately.”

Faced with Keith’s determination, Gerhardt abandoned the attempt to persuade him. There was no time to waste on debating whether he should go or not.

They picked up the tool bags they had thrown out before the battle, took out pieces of cloth, oil, and flints, cut out sticks from the village’s tents to make makeshift torches.

With Gerhardt leading the way holding the torch, they advanced. He rubbed his favorite clothes against the hard rock to somehow squeeze into the gap, only to find surprisingly spacious inside. Was this space a naturally formed cave, or was it artificially dug?

Lutz followed shortly after, and even Keith, covered in scratches all over his body, managed to squeeze through.

When the three of them raised their torches simultaneously, they saw a large mushroom ahead. Embedded in the center of the mushroom was a gigantic gem, an emerald, pulsating eerily with a mysterious light.

Its radiance was breathtakingly beautiful. At the same time, it carried an eerie allure that one could reluctantly accept as the beauty born from having absorbed countless lives.

Gerhardt frowned and clicked his tongue as he examined the base of the mushroom. There lay what appeared to be the corpse of an orc child. Despite being of a hostile species, the sight of a child’s body was unsettling.

Was this where the young explorer had wandered into trouble in the first place?

Lutz advanced silently, containing a quiet anger towards the unjust fate.

With the torch in his left hand and his sword drawn in his right, he swung. In a flash, the mushroom split in two, its cap fluttering down. Like the corpse of the Chimera Orc, the mushroom quickly withered and collapsed into sand-like debris.

“Is it… over now…?”

Keith muttered with an incredulous expression at the unexpectedly abrupt conclusion. Was this the end of avenging Leonard?

“It seems so.”

Lutz agreed, but something still nagged at his heart. He raised the torch high to examine more closely the demise of the mushroom, revealing that the cave still extended further inside.

“Hey… what’s that…”

“Shall we go?”

Keith and Lutz nodded silently at each other. Keith cautiously unsheathed his sword and proceeded carefully, almost as if being drawn into the depths of the cave. Even through his mask, he could sense a hint of burning odor from deeper within.

There was something here. Keith’s heartbeat quickened, the sound of his heart pounding so loudly he worried it might echo.

Gerhardt, unfazed, calmly pocketed the gem buried silently in the sand and followed after Keith and the others.

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