Hero's Coffin Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Kalterik bristled at his indifferent tone from behind, but Harenir simply nodded. It had been at least a week since they went missing, so if they had indeed been dragged into the Encroachment Zone, they wouldn't have been able to survive anyway.

Noi finally managed to add,

"Th-that's right. An ordinary human can't even withstand an hour, no, not even ten or twenty minutes before becoming contaminated—"

"Still, let's look for the missing persons' bodies to be certain."

Everyone busily began preparing to enter the Encroachment Zone. They gathered their robes and fixed them like capes so they wouldn't restrict movement, and Noi, looking worried, put on an extra layer of mask.

Then he witnessed them enveloping their bodies in golden energy. As the holy knights drew their swords and took deep breaths, a soft golden light swirled around them, and when Noi muttered something, a light green aura surrounded him. Just looking at them, they seemed sacred and fresh respectively—probably holy power and fairy magic.

Since living beings start becoming contaminated the moment they enter the Encroachment Zone, it seemed they were each putting up a kind of shield to protect themselves.

So then...

"...What about me?"

At his question, all four looked at him. Especially Harenir, who even let out an "Ah" of realization, which sounded very subtle. He looked him over and muttered,

"Right, you're human too."

...Was that an insult? It was, wasn't it?

Judging by Noi mumbling from behind, "I thought he'd be an exception since it's a space dangerous to living beings..." and Kalterik chiming in with "He looks like an evil spirit...", it was clearly an insult. Even Mela nodded this time.

"Take this."

In a situation where everyone was unanimously treating Isaph as non-human, unexpectedly, Harenir handed him a necklace. It was the very necklace he had been wearing. It was a simple design with a round jewel hanging from the center of a gold chain, but a blue light swirled around the jewel, clear as an autumn sky.

"It's an object filled with holy power, so it should allow you to withstand the Encroachment Zone for at least an hour or two. It will also heal wounds, so wear it well."

"Gasp, Commander! That's such a precious holy relic..."

"That's why it's right for Isaph to use it now."

Harenir calmly cut off Kalterik's protest.

"We can't have him collapsing inside."

It felt less like he was treating him preciously and more like he was preventing things from going wrong, but in reality, if he had treated him like the former, he would have been more bewildered and suspicious of the other's intentions, so he immediately accepted the necklace. Still, Harenir seemed to have clear interests.

The description of it being a precious holy relic wasn't an exaggeration—as soon as he put on the necklace, his headache disappeared. It also became much easier to breathe, so he willingly took the lead, as if bestowing a favor.

The moment of entering the black and white forest was very strange.

Everything he looked at was faded, but only his companions retained their colors. Even Mela's silver hair, which he had thought cold, looked warm here. The thick scent of grass had disappeared, and the only smell he could detect was that of charred remains, like in a completely burned space. The sense of dissonance was quite severe.

The tension that began the moment he set foot in the Encroachment Zone gradually intensified as they went deeper. Even without him being conscious of it, his subconscious recoiled from this space, and he felt like the energy was being drained from his entire body. To use a game analogy, it was like taking real-time dot damage.

Normally it would be HP -1, -1, -1... but with the holy power shield, it might be more like HP -0.1, -0.1, -0.1.

This must be what they call 'contamination'.

And perhaps when fully contaminated, the color of living beings might completely fade away. He absently stretched out his hand from the wide sleeve of his robe, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fist. He was glad to see even the faint hint of color in his pale palm.

"We, we really entered the Encroachment Zone..."

Noi trembled, his shoulders hunched tightly. As a fairy, he seemed to have an even harder time walking through the Encroachment Zone, but not wanting to worry his companions, he tried hard to act fine. It was pitiful to see him deliberately looking around, marveling at how strange it was, and saying he was probably the only fairy to have entered an Encroachment Zone.

So he quickened his pace a bit to guide them to where the black stones were.

"I think if we go left at the bent tree..."

The thick fog made it difficult to discern the path, but he moved, straining his memory as much as possible. He was worried that what the souls had seen might differ from reality, but that wasn't the case. They really did see a tree with a bent trunk, and then...

"It's here."

They found the pitch-black stone.

It looked less like a simple stone and more like a crystal of condensed contaminated energy from the Encroachment Zone. Facing that pure black devoid of any light sent chills down his spine. Noi also gasped, seemingly surprised at encountering the massive crystal, and Mela and Kalterik were on guard. The ominous energy made their bodies tense involuntarily.

Only Harenir stared at it blankly, without any change in expression. Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to Harenir's blue eyes.

He just realized that even the sky was black and white in the Encroachment Zone. The saturation had gradually lowered from the edges, and now that they had come deep into the forest, it had completely faded. So Harenir's eyes, gazing at the contaminated stone, felt just like a small sky.

The eyes finally facing the stone he had seen in his childhood were infinitely calm. There was no sign of pleasant reminiscence. He just looked down quietly, as if a saint was looking down on an irreverently contaminated land, and then for a moment, a flash of terrible disgust seemed to cross those eyes.

Whoosh!

The pure white holy sword was swung diagonally downward. It seemed to have been swung very lightly, but with a crash! the huge stone shattered into pieces. Black fragments fell heavily.

At the same time, the air became fresher and breathing became much easier. Throughout their walk in the Encroachment Zone, his chest had felt tight and his body sluggish, but now the pressure was greatly reduced. Whether the crystal had formed naturally as the energy of the Encroachment Zone condensed, or whether the land had become contaminated as the crystal was embedded, it seemed that this thing functioned as a 'core'.

Oh, just as he was marveling, a black energy spread out with a hiss. Before he could properly examine what it was, his arm was suddenly grabbed and he was pulled into someone's embrace.

The movement came first, and the realization followed. As the miasma spread from the scattered stone fragments on the ground, Harenir had pulled him close to protect him, as he had been closest to it. As Harenir raised his robe like a shield, the miasma bounced off.

It had been a potentially dangerous situation, but the warmth enveloping his entire body was even more shocking, causing his whole body to stiffen. Meanwhile, Harenir looked around at the other knights and spoke casually.

"It seems that when we break the core, the contaminated energy bursts out one last time. Let's be careful to suppress it with holy power when we destroy them from now on."

His tone was extremely calm. He seemed so composed, as if it had merely been an action to protect their guide, that he alone slipped away with an uncomfortable feeling. Kalterik's eyebrows shot up, but he nodded, considering the priorities of the situation. It was a moment when what needed to be done in this Encroachment Zone became perfectly clear.

Kalterik gripped his greatsword firmly and shouted vigorously.

"I'll smash them all!"

From now on, it was a race against time.

They had to destroy all the cores before their bodies became contaminated. Although no Dium had been discovered yet, it seemed that Harenir's goal was to eliminate the Encroachment Zone itself, as Noi had guessed.

But would the Encroachment Zone really disappear just by destroying all the cores? He had a vague doubt, but he kept his mouth shut and quickly guided them to the next location.

Crash!

At the second location he led them to, there was indeed a core. As Mela destroyed it, Harenir nodded and said,

"Let's split up and deal with them now. You just tell us where the stones are located."

It probably wasn't a decision based on trust. He had likely just judged that the urgency of the current situation outweighed their distrust of Isaph as a being. It had also been proven that he wasn't lying.

He shrugged. He had just started to feel that walking was becoming difficult, so he was glad they were splitting up like this. And it wasn't just him who seemed to need a rest—Noi looked the same way.

As soon as he told them the locations, the knights quickly dispersed.

Boom! Crash... Almost simultaneously, the sounds of cores being destroyed came from the directions Mela and Harenir had gone. The sound carried well in the quiet space.

Now, if they heard it one more time, all the cores in the Encroachment Zone would be destroyed.

"Aaaaargh!"

But what echoed through the forest was not the sound of a stone breaking, but Kalterik's loud scream.