Chapter 31. Black Flower
In truth, it was only natural.
The Imperial Knight Orders, including the current Judgment Knight Order, were committing countless acts of corruption in pursuit of their own objectives.
It had been almost inevitable that Aneis would pass down the judgment of Iron-Blooded Justice upon them in Shane’s previous life.
The problem was that Aneis had never considered the consequences that would follow after she carried out her justice.
In the end, everyone left behind had been forced to deal with the aftermath.
Shane pursued the same objective as she did, but he wanted the chaos to unfold in a more controlled manner.
That was why he needed to understand the source of Aneis’s sense of justice.
‘I made a mistake. I never expected to become involved with Aneis this quickly.’
If possible, he should have torn apart the soul of the Judgment Knight Order member he killed while rescuing Delilah and examined it thoroughly.
‘But perhaps there is something that can take its place.’
No.
Perhaps he had found an even better clue.
Shane watched Aneis and Dominic’s group returning from their search.
—
It had already been half a month since the search operation began.
Having rested sufficiently, the expedition resumed its advance.
[Having a guide through the underground tunnels has made the expedition much easier. How long until we reach the destination?]
[By human standards, about ten days. Human, there is something I want to ask.]
[What is it?]
[If we return to my homeland, my people will not welcome you humans. What do you intend to do then?]
[There is no need for everyone here to enter. Besides, your people will not want to create a new enemy right now.]
Orca suddenly stopped walking.
She stared at Shane for a moment before resuming her pace and asking again.
[A new enemy? Are you saying my people already have enemies?]
[Yes. They are similar to me, but far more aggressive in pursuing your people.]
[Do you know them?]
[They do not know me. But I know them.]
The Dragon Heart within the Mezaia Great Forest.
There was no possibility that the Organization did not know of such a thing.
For a long time, they had undoubtedly been applying continuous pressure to the Mezaia Great Forest and the Elves living within it.
However, Orca tilted her head at Shane’s answer.
[Is that not strange? This phenomenon you humans call a dungeon has its time held in place by Akasha, the being you call humanity’s god. Our people within this place cannot truly die even if they are killed, nor can they truly live even while alive.]
Like a curse.
Orca spoke those words, and Shane nodded.
[Normally, that is true. But there are always exceptions in this world.]
[Exceptions?]
[Do you remember when I temporarily lifted Akasha’s seal from you?]
[……Do you mean they can do the same?]
[They do not possess the ability to break the seal. However, there are other ways to temporarily escape the notice of the Great Seal.]
Akasha’s Great Seal appeared perfect at first glance, but it was not entirely without gaps.
Orca herself, standing before him now, was one such example.
Time itself remained sealed for her, yet she had regained physical freedom.
The same was true of Delilah.
If anything, Delilah was one of the Demi-Humans who had regained complete freedom from Akasha’s Great Seal.
There were gaps in the Great Seal like these, and several of them had even been deliberately created by Akasha, humanity’s god.
The Organization, however, had learned to exploit those gaps in other ways.
[Do you know why your minds remain intact despite being sealed for such an impossibly long time?]
[Presumably because time repeats itself.]
A dungeon reset after a certain period.
Dead monsters returned to life, and destroyed terrain returned to its original state.
Naturally, the mental exhaustion accumulated during that period was reset as well.
But what about this dungeon?
[Have you not noticed how many decomposing corpses there are?]
[……!]
Only then did Orca remember the rotting monster corpses they had passed on their way here.
Of course, there was no reason decomposed monster corpses could not exist inside a dungeon.
If those creatures had died before being sealed, it would make sense.
But there were far too many.
The number of larvae feeding upon those corpses was likewise anything but small.
[Time in this dungeon has not stopped. It is flowing properly. No—more precisely, it has been distorted.]
[What do you mean?]
[Someone split the Timeline. This place remains sealed, but time itself continues to flow. And that distorted Timeline has undoubtedly become a period of considerable suffering for your people.]
[…….]
Orca clenched both fists.
—
How long had they continued exploring?
As their sense of time gradually faded due to the underground environment where the sun could not be seen, the expedition began noticing something unusual.
“Something is wrong.”
They had just finished another battle and were resting when Adam gathered the expedition’s commanders and said those words.
“Hmm. Indeed. Those insects have been appearing more frequently.”
“That is true. But that is not all. Somehow……”
“It feels as though we are being led somewhere.”
Raviata responded to Adam’s observation, and when Adam continued expressing his suspicions, Ilexa added her own opinion.
“Now that you mention it, I think you may be right. We have encountered an unusual number of blocked paths.”
Finally, just as Dominic said, the expedition could no longer shake the feeling that they were being guided somewhere.
“Hmm. According to this old man’s experience, caution would be the proper choice at a time like this.”
“I do not want the schedule to be delayed again, but I agree with Sir Dominic. Furthermore, recently I have felt as though someone has been watching us.”
“Hmm. Is that so?”
Adam dismissed it as merely his intuition.
Shane, however, was slightly surprised by his words.
‘So he did not become a kingdom’s Knight Commander for nothing.’
Among the expedition, Adam’s contingent was generally considered to possess the weakest combat strength.
Yet Adam’s Instinctive Perception was unexpectedly sharp.
He had sensed the gazes of those creatures when even Raviata had failed to notice them.
It was rather impressive.
‘Have they finally begun moving?’
If anything, it was strange that things had remained this quiet even after they had come so far.
Given the Organization’s nature, they were meticulous enough to eliminate anyone who might interfere with their plans well in advance.
‘I understand why they refrained from moving until now.’
Naturally, the Organization had not left the expedition alone because they underestimated it.
They were simply waiting for an opportunity to eliminate such a large expedition all at once.
When the time came, they would undoubtedly unleash everything they had prepared.
‘As expected, that will start appearing soon.’
The presence Adam had sensed.
That alone was enough for Shane to realize that one of the cards the Organization had prepared was beginning to move.
From this moment onward, every step would need to be taken with extreme caution.
Yet no matter how cautious Shane became, he could hardly reveal that fact to the entire expedition.
For the time being, he had merely warned the Academy group not to separate from one another.
And then—
They moved.
“AMBUSH!!”
They had been walking through the underground tunnels as usual.
Raviata and Shane were the first to stop.
The instant Adam hesitated immediately afterward, every Glowstone in the surrounding area exploded at once, plunging everything into darkness.
Adam had shouted just before it happened.
But with the already-scarce Glowstones extinguished and an attack arriving simultaneously, how could anyone avoid being thrown into confusion?
“AARGH!”
“AAAAAGH!”
Ilexa’s Adventurer Party hurriedly raised their shields and moved into a defensive posture.
However, the attackers skillfully bypassed them and targeted the knights positioned behind.
“What the hell is this?!”
Flames erupted from Raviata’s hand at the front, immediately illuminating the surroundings.
The enemies attacking them were strange shadows that writhed unpleasantly.
Composed of murky violet energy, the creatures reached from the darkness and grasped at the expedition members’ throats.
A fierce battle erupted.
Klein drew upon the realizations he had accumulated until now and swung his sword, raising a more refined spiraling torrent than before.
Beside him, Aneis cut through the enemies while scattering Aura that shone pure white.
Delilah created spears and shields from earth, calmly controlling the battlefield.
Yet the chaos refused to subside.
“Damn it! What are these things?! Aura! Use your Aura!”
“Ugh…… It’s no use! They keep moving even after we cut them!”
“Wh-What?!”
Enemies that continued moving even after being cut by Aura?
Aura was not merely a technique used to increase cutting power.
Although its exact nature differed depending on the cultivation method, being struck by Aura generally caused the Mana inside one’s body to become violently disrupted.
That was why its lethality existed on an entirely different level.
Yet these creatures charged forward without faltering even after receiving such attacks.
Naturally, the knights became confused.
When it seemed the damage would become greater than expected, Shane considered explaining the solution himself.
But Klein shouted first.
“Simply cutting them is ineffective! Do not attack with a line—attack with a surface! Use blunt force!”
Several knights immediately altered the form of their Aura.
Klein had already distinguished himself considerably during their time in the Great Forest, and several knights had begun acknowledging him inwardly.
As people dispatched by the Imperial Family and royal houses, they were experienced enough to read the flow of battle and adapt quickly.
The Mana forming their Aura began changing into a heavier form.
And just as Klein said—
It worked.
“The enemy is vulnerable to blunt force! Remember that and fight accordingly!”
Adam, who had been the first to put Klein’s advice into practice, shouted.
The knights responded.
One enemy after another began falling, and the heat of battle gradually subsided.
“Phew…….”
As they looked over the fallen enemies, the expedition first checked those who had been injured during the attack.
“What…… is this?”
Every person who had been struck by the enemy had died in a grotesque manner.
Black flowers had bloomed atop their corpses.
Their bodies were pale, as though every trace of Mana had been drained from them.
Raviata frowned at the sight.
“This looks almost like……”
At the same moment, her gaze shifted toward Orca.
Orca examined the fallen enemies, and her face turned pale.
[Is this the work of the enemies you spoke of?]
[Yes.]
The violet energy surrounding their attackers faded away.
Beneath it lay Elves with blue veins bulging visibly beneath their skin.
[They are Dark Elves.]
—
The expedition was temporarily suspended, and everyone gathered for another meeting.
“I have never heard of monsters like these existing within the Mezaia Great Forest. The Kingdom of Hiel has conducted independent expeditions here for decades.”
Dominic responded to Adam’s statement.
“Hmm…… But none of those expeditions reached the central region, did they? Then what exactly are these creatures?”
Adam looked toward Orca, whose face was still pale.
“Judging solely from their outward appearance, they greatly resemble Elves. However, Elves do not normally look like that.”
“Hmm. Indeed.”
There were not many Elves currently free from Akasha’s Great Seal.
Still, none of the Elves they knew possessed characteristics like the creatures they had just fought.
“Leader Raviata, do you know anything?”
Unable to find an answer, Adam finally asked Raviata.
Raviata thought for a moment before speaking.
“Everyone knows that Elves are considered the masters of forests, right?”
“Of course.”
“But Elves don’t actually live in forests simply because they’re strong there. Their racial characteristics aren’t even particularly tied to forests in the first place.”
“Hmm?”
The others looked puzzled by her statement.
As far as they knew, Elves were fundamentally a race that lived in forests.
“There are Elves who live in deserts and Elves who live in polar regions. Elves are simply a race whose adaptations change according to their surrounding environment. The reason so many live in forests is because the Mana there is exceptionally pure.”
“Then should we assume these Elves were contaminated by something?”
Raviata nodded at Dominic’s question.
“Most likely, something abnormal happened inside the Cradle. The entire forest hasn’t been enveloped in that kind of Mana, so only a portion of the Elves must have ended up in that state.”
“Hmm…… Regardless, their ambushes are dangerous. The moment someone is wounded by their Mana, they end up like those who died earlier.”
The people killed during the battle had not suffered wounds to vital points.
Yet they had collapsed in agony and soon died.
Violet flowers had bloomed from their wounds.
“By the way, what have you been doing over there this entire time?”
In the middle of the meeting, Dominic turned toward Shane.
Shane had collected one of the flowers growing from a corpse killed in the battle.
He had taken out a Monocle, put it on, and was examining the flower closely.
“If we intend to fight an enemy, we should first understand what they are. I thought the flower they left behind might contain a clue.”
“Hmm. That is certainly reasonable. Have you discovered anything?”
At Dominic’s question, everyone’s gaze turned toward Shane.
This was the same Shane who had formulated a hypothesis explaining the weather phenomena of the Mezaia Great Forest without ever setting foot there.
Perhaps he would notice something different now that he was examining it personally.
Shane slowly opened his mouth.
