By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 6

Chapter 8, Episode 23: The Starving Gallows

“Shadow Bind,” Remily chanted, and two ropes woven of darkness shot out from the floor and wrenched the lances away from the sets of armor. Immediately, both suits clattered to the floor like marionettes with their strings cut.

“They’re detained,” Remily announced.

“That was easy.” I watched the shadow-bound lances flailing on the ground as if unseen wielders were pulling on them. That, plus the fact that I was detecting more magical energy from the lances than from the sets of armor, meant that the weapons were the monsters. Roaming weapons, as they were called, were a type of Undead that moved and attacked the living of their own accord. From what I was told, weapons left abandoned for a long time in an area rich with magical energy and weapons that had taken many—human or monster—lives were more prone to become roaming weapons.

“Where did these sets of armor, or the weapons the wardens were wielding yesterday, for that matter, come from?” I asked.

“Remember how zombies and skeletons regenerate when damaged? Advanced Undead species create weapons and armor as a part of themselves,” Reinbach explained.

“The theory is that they are driven to manifest their living form as closely as possible, equipment included,” Sebas said.

“I see...” I replied as the roaming weapons thrashed about.

But as soon as Remily hit them with Light Balls, they stopped moving. The ropes of shadow released them, and the lances clanged onto the floor like the inanimate objects they now were. Light magic remained highly effective against the Undead, even when they were in weapon form.

Still, my curiosity was piqued by something else. “So that’s Shadow magic.”

“Shadow Bind. As you saw, it’s a spell that binds the enemy with ropes materialized from shadow. It’s one of the more difficult spells, but you can control the ropes you create, so it can come in handy in different situations. Binding an enemy is one, but you can also use it to tie something down, or even as a lifeline if it comes to it,” Remily explained.

“I would love to learn it.”

“I thought so. Once we harvest some midnight dew, I’ll walk you through it. Watch this.” Remily pointed to the lances on the ground. “Despell.” A dull glow enveloped the lances, then seeped into the weapons. “Roaming weapons revert to normal weapons once you defeat them, but sometimes residual Dark magical energy can harm its next owner in the form of a curse. Despell is a curse-breaking spell. As long as you cast it on them, the weapons are safe to use or sell. Despell is also a good counter against curses made from Dark magic. I’ll teach you that one later too.”

“Thank you, that’d be great,” I said, already looking forward to it. With the Starving Gallows feet away, I was itching to secure some midnight dew and get to that... But judging by the several sources of magical energy beyond the door, it would not be smooth sailing yet. “We have company.”

“Not too surprising. This is the epicenter of the Undead,” Sever said. “Let’s clarify before we go in. Ryoma and I will lead, with you three backing us up from behind. And Ryoma, I’d like you to leave the emperor slime here to reduce the risk of us getting flanked.”

“That would be for the best,” Reinbach agreed.

“I’ll leave you boys to punch ’em and sock ’em,” said Remily.

“I agree,” Sebas chimed in.

“Me too. I’ll separate a king slime from the emperor to come with us, and have the rest defend the door.”

Ready for whatever awaited us within, we carefully opened the doors. Three ghouls were already in our faces, screeching as they launched themselves at us. Keeping my wits about me, I sliced through them with Light-magic coated blades and rapid-fire Light Shots.

Just as described, a staircase spiraled down counterclockwise into an abyss. Each step was wide enough to hold an inmate—about six meters wide and three meters long. Some ways down, I could see even wider landings at regular intervals. They were spacious and sturdy enough not to hinder us in battle. What we needed to look out for was the blown-out center of the staircase. Some remnants on the edge of the steps suggested that there was once a railing, but now there was nothing between us and a terrible fall. We would have to fight along the wall as much as possible and not let any Undead push us towards the ledge.

“Here they come!” Remily called.

I sicced the king scavenger on the rising tide of Undead, but three figures leaped over the slime.

“Light Shot!” Remily shot down one with her magic, then Sever and I took care of the other two ghouls. There were more and more ghouls rushing up the stairs, though. Apparently, most Undead here were advanced species. One of them at the front of the pack raised its claws at me. It was faster than a zombie, but...

“Still too slow.” I swiped with my sword and split the ghoul’s torso before bringing it down from the top of its head to its neck. The Undead fell backwards, and neither moved nor regenerated afterwards. Since the Light-magic coated blade was just as effective against advanced species, the only thing I’d have to look out for was being surrounded.

“Let’s continue down and face the wave at the next landing,” Sever said. “Have the slime take care of the bodies when you can. It’ll be difficult to keep fighting if they pile up.”

We did exactly that, making our way down to the landing while Reinbach, Sebas, and Remily whittled down the horde with magic from a few steps above. I maintained a constant flow of Light magic on my weapon and kept slicing and dicing, not letting any Undead get past us and up to the others. This was the most rigorous and dangerous combat situation we’d been in since arriving at the City of Lost Souls, but I wasn’t stressed about it. My body felt light and limber like it had during my match against Sever...but it wasn’t enough. Just like last time, I felt a slight awkwardness between my physical movement and spellcasting.

“Ryoma! Alternate magic and sword instead of using them at the same time!” Sever called.

“Got it!” I jabbed my sword in between the eyes of an Undead, then two more rushed at me from either side of the fallen monster. The one on my left was slightly closer, so I dodged its swing, sliced it with my blade, and kicked it away. Then I detached the arm of the other and sliced through its body to buy me more time. “Follow Sever’s advice...” I muttered to myself, then put myself in between the two ghouls and faced the one on my left. Raising my sword above my shoulder, I fired a Light Shot from the sword tip at the ghoul behind me, then sliced the other in half from head to groin. That series of movements went smoothly.

“Good! Cover the gaps in your swordplay with magic, and cover your gaps in magic with your sword! That’s a good style of arcane sword fighting!”

“Yes, sir!” I kept on going, trying to make it second nature.

My glimmering sword cut the enemies that came near, and my spells sniped the ones that kept their distance. I kept looping: sword, spell, sword, spell, sword, spell... Slowly but surely, I was becoming more comfortable with it.

I continued fighting off the ghouls, applying Sever’s words of advice as soon as he gave them, until... After what only felt like ten minutes or so, we made it to the bottom of the gallows, where no Undead remained.

“Is that it...?” I asked.

“That’s it,” said Sever. “Good concentration. After watching you fight like that, I’d be happy to write you a letter of recommendation for the Knight’s Order,” Sever said.

I appreciated the compliment, but I felt like I could have worked out some more kinks if there had been a few more Undead to take down. I’d give myself a C. There was much to learn about combining magic and sword fighting, so that was something I’d have to work on. But for now... “Look at all that.” I pointed out the lawn of matte-black grass growing on the mossy ground at the bottom of the stairs. It was the midnight dew.

“There’s even more here than I expected,” Remily said.

“Not many would choose to come all the way down here to harvest them. Especially considering the Undead outbreak, I doubt anyone has been here in a long time,” Sever said.

“How is the quality? Were they affected by cursed energy?” Reinbach asked.

I plucked one that was growing by my feet and inspected it. “It’s great quality. Definitely good enough for me.”

“Me too,” Remily chimed in. “Midnight dew is pretty resistant to cursed energy. It even repels it to a certain degree. If I’m being picky, I’d like the ones that haven’t been trampled by Undead.”

“With this many, I’m sure we can find enough that are not,” Sebas said, and we all followed his lead to find midnight dew that were left untouched.

Soon, I sensed something strange...something oddly familiar.

“What’s the matter?” Sever asked.

“No, I... Maybe it’s nothing,” I said, unable to find the words to describe what I felt, becoming less confident that I’d felt anything at all.

“If something’s off, tell us right away,” Reinbach said.

“I will.” I shook it off and returned to harvesting the grass.

By the time we’d filled five bags with midnight dew, I had nearly forgotten that feeling. But then I felt it much stronger than the first time. “Everyone,” I called.

“What is it? Something was on your mind earlier,” said Reinbach.

“It’s hard to explain, but... Don’t you feel something?”

“That’s pretty vague... But not as far as I can tell,” Remily said.

“I don’t see any Undead either,” Sebas said.

Even though no one else had felt what I did, they joined me in inspecting the pit of the Starving Gallows.

Then... “I sense it around there.” I pointed to a spot some ways off from the staircase. It was a portion of the earthen wall that looked no different from the rest that encircled the pit. Yet, I was sure of it. And it was unsettling that I was so confident something was there.

“Here?” Remily asked.

“Do you mind if I dig into the wall?” I asked.

“Legally, that won’t be a problem,” Sebas said.

“The tower’s sturdy, so a little excavation shouldn’t hurt. Just be careful,” Remily reassured.

I had my steel slime switch from a blade to a shovel. Coating it with the Break Rock spell, I started digging. With every scoop of dirt I removed, the strange sensation became more visceral. It wasn’t painful or discomforting, but it definitely wasn’t pleasant. Whatever I was sensing, it wasn’t alive.

I dug and dug and dug, as the mysterious sensation strengthened. I kept at it until I’d dug about five meters in.

“Are you all right, Ryoma?” Reinbach called from the entrance to the cave I’d dug.

“You’ve been at it a while,” Remily added.

“I feel it getting closer and closer. It’s almost— I felt something!” I called back, and leaned closer to see what the shovel had hit. “A magic crystal?”