Hero's Coffin Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was an incredibly bewildering moment, but he decided to follow along as if he were crazy. Since the center of the main hall was filled with monsters, the arrow pointed towards the path along the wall.

As he ran along the wall, circling the main hall towards the altar, he came face to face with Harenir. He seemed surprised to see him coming this way, but there was no time to explain. He simply moved according to the status window's instructions.

At some point, his vision began to flicker repeatedly. Like the prelude to fainting, his sight shook and alternated between zooming in and out. The whole world became blurry, and occasionally, flashes of red light rippled sporadically. It felt as if his body wasn't moving according to his will. In this strange sensation, as if someone was forcibly controlling his body.

As he ran towards Harenir, using the altar as a springboard to leap over...

Suddenly, he reached out his hand towards the head of the centipede-like monster that had descended right above Harenir.

"Fall."

The air twisted. The moment he uttered the word like a sentence, a purple energy whirled out from his arm and struck the monster's head directly.

That instant was perceived slowly. As if the frames per second had been stretched out, each moment was etched clearly in his mind. The purple light reflecting in the monster's crimson eyes, its body staggering, and... finally, the sight of its 'soul' detaching. Its body and soul had been forcibly separated.

Thud. The monster fell to the floor like a puppet with cut strings.

Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief at the sight, bang! He too fell over the altar onto the floor. Unable to control the momentum of his run, he tumbled over.

Gasp, huff. It had been a chilling moment. His hand had almost been caught by the monster. He had witnessed hundreds of sharp teeth filling its gaping mouth up to the palate. The sight was so disgusting that he felt nauseous.

It seemed like an out-of-body skill, but damn, it was incredibly difficult to use.

"...Ah."

Harenir's exclamation sounded quite strange. His reaction suggested he hadn't guessed at all that this was the reason he had come running. A peculiar light flashed in his eyes as he alternately looked at the monster behind and him beside.

Only now could he see the red line in Harenir's hand slowly disappearing. No wonder there had been flashes of red when his vision flickered earlier—Harenir had been considering blowing up his head. It was unfair, but his own situation was more pressing at the moment.

Ugh, as he kept dry heaving, Harenir looked at him with an increasingly subtle expression.

"...Well done."

"Huff, I didn't—gasp—do it to get your praise."

"...I see."

When he rejected the praise while panting, Harenir nodded with a very disgruntled look. Ha, he thought he might have heard a faint chuckle.

Thud, Harenir took a step forward and said,

"Well, thanks to you, we've made it to the end..."

Harenir, who had already reached right in front of the coffin, stretched out his hand. As his hand touched the sword's hilt.

Whoosh—

In an instant, the entire space was bathed in pure white light. Just by Harenir grasping the sword, light exploded outwards, spreading to every corner of the main hall. It was as if the sword was trembling with joy and welcome, finally in the hands of its rightful owner. Harenir's lips curved into a faint smile.

As he lightly swung the sword, all the monsters pouring into the main hall froze in their tracks. It was truly a shockingly intense moment.

"Ah..."

He looked around the space in a daze. The monsters, unable to make any more wicked movements in the face of the sublime light, stopped and then... simply dropped to the floor with a rustle. It was a scene that unfolded in an instant, like the dawn chasing away all the darkness in the world. Violently sacred.

How could one express the impact of this moment? It even gave him the distant feeling of witnessing a divine manifestation. He had never believed in religion, yet he felt such sentiment. It was worthy of being recorded as mythology. With phrases like, "As the hero raised his sword, light came to the whole world, and all evil things vanished."

Only now could he see the situation inside the main hall again. He had thought Harenir was walking straight ahead, trusting his two knights, but it seemed that Kalterik and Mela had trusted him instead.

That the moment Harenir grasped the sword, everything would be resolved.

"Let's leave now. It's been noisy enough."

Having found the holy sword, the key now was to quickly leave the main hall. Moreover, with the loud warning sound ringing due to the barrier being broken by the monsters' attack, speed was even more crucial.

But the problem was...

"Urgh..."

He simply couldn't walk. As if in reaction to the momentary pause from the shock of the earlier scene, he felt even more nauseous. His head was spinning. This symptom couldn't be explained simply by the disgust at the monster's mouth.

Could it be a side effect of the skill? The sensation of something else possessing his body was quite chilling. It was a ridiculous situation. Strictly speaking, 'he' was the soul possessing Isaph's body.

Meow— The cat mewed softly beside him. No matter how cutely it meowed, he wouldn't use such a skill again.

"You bastard, stop exaggerating and move quickly!"

Kalterik snapped at him irritably. As he staggered and retched while barely trying to follow, Kalterik stomped his foot threateningly right next to him, but unexpectedly, it was Harenir who restrained him.

"I'll take care of him."

"What?!"

"...He did help us just now, after all."

Harenir grabbed his back. Thinking it might be an apology for almost blowing up his head due to misunderstanding, he relaxed his body. He thought Harenir might throw him over his shoulder, tuck him under his arm, or perhaps carry him dangling like a shopping basket, but...

"...?"

He found himself lifted in Harenir's arms. This posture—wasn't it called a princess carry? Seeing Harenir's face so close made him feel uncomfortable, and paradoxically, the fact that this position was comfortable made him very uneasy.

"Why, why like this..."

"If I carried a retching person upside down, they'd vomit, wouldn't they?"

He was at a loss for words at the matter-of-fact answer. It was bewildering, but this time he didn't feel indignant. Rather, the fact that Harenir gave a reasonable answer made him feel more at ease, giving him an excuse that it couldn't be helped.

He could feel Kalterik glaring at him with fiery eyes, but he didn't have the energy to focus on the outside. Instead, feeling an urge to tease him, he completely relaxed his body and sprawled comfortably, leaning on Harenir. It would look like he was treating the hero completely as a means of transport.

As expected, Kalterik cried out, "You...!" but Harenir only hesitated for a moment. As Harenir looked at him with a very strange expression, he brazenly closed his eyes. I'm tired, so move on your own—bed.

...He wouldn't throw him, would he? He tensed up belatedly, but Harenir just let out a small sigh and continued moving.

It seemed they had gotten out quite peacefully, but a problem soon arose.

"There's a commotion in the main hall...!"

"That's where 'Piarus' is stored!"

Just as they were about to leave the building, several shouts were heard very close by. It seemed to be not just one or two, but dozens of people. With the warning sound ringing so loudly, it was no wonder people had come to investigate.

In a hurry, they all hid in the bushes. It was a thicket just big enough to hide if they crouched down. The vast forest they had used to come from the prison to the temple was still far away. This place was practically in the middle of the temple grounds.

He also managed to gather his wits and got down from Harenir's arms. There were too many knights. Moreover, from the moment they started looking for what they called 'Piarus', probably the holy sword, the outcome was obvious.

The knights were shocked to find the interior of the main hall devastated by the monster attack, and then gasped in dismay upon discovering the empty coffin. The priests sank to their knees, lamenting, "Oh, Solnium..."

"Find the holy sword!"

"They couldn't have gone far. Move quickly!"

Booming orders rang out, saying they needed to find it quickly since the warning sound hadn't gone off long ago. As they were not far away, he anxiously looked in that direction and asked,

"Should I summon some undead to divert their attention...?"

"Are you planning to advertise that an escaped prisoner is here?"

Harenir furrowed his brow as if the situation had become troublesome. As the number of searchers kept increasing, Kalterik said gravely,

"I'll go out! I'll divert their attention elsewhere, and in that moment, you can escape...!"

"You can't lie."

"Mela..."

But Mela cut him off firmly. She looked him over with cold navy blue eyes and shook her head. Her gaze seemed to say it was obvious he'd be caught the moment he stepped forward to speak.