Chapter 49

Part 24: The Gift is Strange (2)

Just before being attacked again.

She came to her senses while staring at the dagger.

"You have to tell me what happened later!"

Leaving those words, she rushed toward the red monster that had been pushed back, gasping for breath, and I blocked the remaining monster.

The monster growled, but I only hovered in front of it, dagger in hand.

Honestly, I had little confidence in winning, and my young body was extremely exhausted.

I had already done more than my share. Here, it was enough to just hold onto one monster.

Thanks to her, who had turned the red monster into a bloody mess, the red monster's movements were very cautious. As a result, I could hold the monster without a fight.

A moment later, the monster she was fighting fell.

Indeed, it was because there were two of us that it was a struggle, but one-on-one, it was over quickly.

"Good job!"

She ran over to me without even catching her breath after defeating the monster.

Now, not only was she panting heavily, but her mana was also running low, and the shimmering from her sword had weakened.

However, it seemed she could still handle the remaining monster.

As I expected, she brought down the remaining monster before her mana ran out.

The monster resisted fiercely, but just by me joining in, it created many openings.

A moment later, the last monster fell, and she collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Huff, huff. What the hell is going on?"

The joy of defeating all the monsters and the struggle with her depleted mana did not stop her from asking her question.

She looked at me, gasping for breath with her whole body.

I scratched my head.

I need to know something to answer.

"I don't know. I was about to fight with the dagger, but the illusion of a bird from the emblem appeared. And then…"

In the end, I told her about what I had experienced a moment ago.

Seeing the illusion, hearing the hallucination, and responding to it changed my mana.

After my mana changed, I lost consciousness and when I opened my eyes, all the monsters were down.

"Even now, if I move my mana while holding this sword, the nature of the mana changes."

I showed her the shimmering dagger.

She stared at the dagger again, dumbfounded.

"Illusion and hallucination? That's impossible. The inheritance has already been passed on, so how can there be another successor?"

A story I didn't know came up. Isn't the inheritance ability something passed down genetically?

It was quite different from the inheritance I knew.

Surprised by her words, I looked at her, and we stared at each other in confusion.

Rumble.

The sound of water rising from the cave we had climbed up came to our ears.

Hearing that sound, I came to my senses.

"This isn't the time. We need to get out first."

At my words, she also returned to reality.

However, she had a look as if she had seen some strange being.

Fortunately, she had recovered some of her mana and stamina.

While she was getting up, I looked at the fallen monsters.

"Are Red Mice this strong? I thought they were common lower-level monsters during the Great War. How did they win if these kinds of monsters swarmed?"

At my words, she frowned.

"These monsters don't seem like ordinary Red Mice. I've never heard of Red Mice being this strong. I've never seen a gray Red Mouse before. Did something change in here?"

Fortunately, she answered my question well.

Thinking about her answer, I recalled the past appearance of the fallen monsters.

Did they fall behind during the Great War, trapped in this underground for hundreds of years, waiting for the Demon King to return?

Did they increase their numbers by having offspring and build their strength over a long time, waiting for their master to return?

A life of hundreds of years in isolation, unknown to anyone...

Looking at the dead monsters, I felt a chill, as if I could see myself in them.

But I shook my head. There was no reason to get sentimental over monsters.

"Still, it's a shame. If it were during the Great War, merchants would have paid well for these monsters."

At my words, she sighed.

"No, the problem isn't that we can't take the monsters now."

Indeed, the water was rising. It wasn't the time for such talk.

"Considering your inheritance ability, the monster corpses aren't important!"

Well, if you're worried about money, you can still take them out.

It was more unreasonable for her, a mercenary, to dismiss the talk of money.

But her words had a point.

The ability to inherit abilities multiple times... This wasn't something to be taken lightly, as she said.

If it became known, it would cause trouble, and her situation would certainly become complicated because of me.

But I was calm.

If I were an ordinary person, I would be very scared of what's happening now, but having died many times, I wasn't that afraid of what might happen.

In any case, the atmosphere lightened a bit thanks to my words.

The two of us, as in our previous life, opened the iron door and checked the inside of the warehouse.

The warehouse was no different from what we had seen before.

In the center of the warehouse, there was a large hole going up and down, and there were no intact items left in the remaining parts.

I had seen it before, and she had expected it, but we still sighed.

I checked the thick bag and urged her again.

The hole that went up.

She raised the lantern she had on her waist.

Looking up by the light of the lantern, we could see the ceiling far above the hole.

It was the ceiling of the tomb where we had fallen.

Slap.

But while looking up.

The water filling the hole below began to overflow.

Water was also rushing in from the open warehouse door.

The water had already soaked our shoes and was rising to our knees.

There was no time to be impressed by the ceiling.

She examined my body up and down and asked.

"Judging by your skills, it seems possible, but... can you climb up?"

"Yes."

In response to her question, I took out the greatsword from my back.

Holding the dagger in one hand and the greatsword in the other.

And when I focused on the greatsword.

Rustle.

The mana that had been moving roughly returned to its original state.

The shimmering mana on the dagger disappeared, and the bird hunter looked at me with a surprised expression again.

I pushed through the rising water and walked to the warehouse wall.

The wall, made of solid stone, seemed like it wouldn't even scratch with a decent hammer.

Climbing a cliff with a sword in this underground would have been unthinkable in my previous life.

It would have been impossible without mana.

But thanks to the cheat key of mana, I could do the impossible.

I focused on the dagger again to change the mana and plunged the shimmering greatsword into the wall as high as possible.

Thud.

The wall, which the greatsword hadn't even touched, had a hole in the shape of a blade, and I easily pushed the greatsword into it.

It was an impressive sight, but at the same time, a large amount of mana was being drained.

"Damn."

I immediately returned the mana to its original state and climbed onto the greatsword.

As the mana returned, it quickly refilled.

This time, I pushed the dagger into the wall in the same way, hung from the dagger, and pulled out the greatsword.

After climbing back onto the dagger and returning the mana.

Fortunately, the mana moved as expected, so there was no worry about running out while climbing.

'But, is the bird hunter okay...?'

I could change and refill my mana, but she couldn't.

Especially since she hadn't rested much.

Worried, I turned my gaze to her.

I remembered something I had heard in my previous life.

"They say you shouldn't worry about someone who's good...?"

It was originally about worrying about celebrities, but feeling foolish for worrying about her wasn't much different.

She was already past the ceiling and entering the hole.

She was climbing the wall in a completely different way from me.

Unlike me, who was making footholds with my sword, she was drawing lines on the wall with her shimmering sword and stepping on them to climb up.

It was an excellent use of mana and a proper rock climbing technique.

Indeed, it wasn't the time to show off.

Feeling awkward, I plunged my sword into the wall again and started climbing up.

I wanted to do it like her, but I couldn't use a mana sword as far or as fast as she could.

Besides, I had never learned rock climbing.

If I tried to follow and fell into the water, it would be troublesome.

With the greatsword and the gold coins in my bag, I would drown for sure.

I moved my hands and feet vigorously to avoid the rising water.

After passing the difficult ceiling and entering the hole, I continued climbing up.

She had placed her back against the middle of the vertical cave, so there was no difficulty in climbing.

However, the water continued to rise as I chased after her.

"How much higher is it going to rise?"

Muttering to myself while looking at the surging water, I finally reached the end of the hole.

Putting my hand on the edge and retrieving the dagger from under my feet.

At the moment of the final push to the top!

Whoosh!

A large greatsword fell toward my head.

"Whoa!"

Startled, I dodged quickly and naturally floated in the air.

In mid-air, I could see the person who had attacked me.

A knight with a greatsword. A handsome middle-aged knight.

Why is a knight here? And why is he attacking me?

Next to the knight was the bird hunter who had climbed up first.

She was sitting and panting, but she didn't seem injured, and she still had her weapons. She didn't seem to have been subdued.

So, are the knight and she a team? Indeed, she's not an ordinary mercenary.

More importantly, could I have been tricked by her?

Frankly, considering this ruin and the inheritance she obtained, it's possible she might kill someone to keep it a secret.

Moreover, getting my inheritance ability might be more dangerous for her or her family than I thought.

But the result was completely different from her character that I had seen through multiple deaths.

No, more importantly, didn't I take out insurance in case something like this happened?

Didn't I make a contract at the temple? Is there a loophole in the contract? Is there some kind of trick?

As various thoughts raced through my mind,

I saw her expression change.

"Stop! That child is my companion!"

The knight's expression also changed strangely at her words.

I fell down.

Splash.

What the hell is going on?

As expected, I sank quickly into the water.

Sinking into the water, I couldn't help but look bewildered.

If this is how it ends, I don't know how to repeat it again.

The situation is complicated, and I don't know if I can trust my companion. Why is the knight here, and what happened to the soldier guarding the well?

Anyway, I had finally reached the end!

I couldn't help but curse.

At that moment.

Someone fell from above my head.

Splash!

The person who caused a splash and sank into the water quickly approached me.

Thanks to the floating back, I could see his figure.

A handsome middle-aged knight in armor was quickly approaching me, even in the water.