Volume 2 - CH 16

Act 2-16: March Toward Despair 2[Side: Hook]

The vicinity of the ancient temple!

I grimaced while suppressing the pain in my stomach as a one-eyed giant passed by right before me, causing a small-scale quake.

All the monsters that had appeared before me were disaster-class monsters that I only knew by name before. If they found us, D-rank hunters like me and my comrades would turn into mincemeat in just a moment.

The pendant that the suspicious hooded man had given to us turned out to have a stealth effect. Moreover, its effect covered fixed areas. It was largely thanks to the stealth effect that my comrades and I could arrive in the vicinity of the ancient temple without any trouble.

（Hey, Raiga, let’s just go back. I’m getting a really bad feeling about this.）

My instincts had been ringing nonstop since a while ago as if it were telling me to get away from this place as soon as possible.

（The hell you’re talking about after reaching this far! Just a bit more! The achievement that surpasses even A-rank hunters is right in front of us!）

Dammit! This bastard Raiga is ecstatic after arriving in front of a temple that no one has ever found before. There’s almost nothing that can change his mind now.

At this rate, I guess I have no choice but to satisfy Raiga’s ego by praising him for this great discovery of the century after entering the temple, then return to the city immediately. To be honest, the difficulties of this quest are way beyond our rank.

When we arrived in front of the temple’s huge gate, the four of us pressed the door and pushed it open.

「Let’s get going!」

Raiga entered the temple while saying that in an extremely spirited voice. The temple was spacious from the inside. The space was surrounded by stone walls made from black stones.

Sphere-shaped structures were buried in the wall and released a pale light, illuminating the room and giving it an eerie look.

Moreover, there was a blood-colored geometric pattern in the center of the room, drawn in a circle. There was a cylindrical structure right inside the circle. Embedded on the top side of that cylindrical structure was something resembling a red key.

「Is this… a key?」

「OI, WAIT A MI―」

I shouted for him to wait, but Raiga didn’t lend an ear to my voice. He casually inspected the structure and even picked up the key.

Why does this fu*king guy always act carefree even though I have repeatedly warned him to be careful with something like this! It seems like I need to have a proper talk with Raiga once we’re done with this matter. If things stay as they are, one day, we might have to face an extremely dangerous situation due to this ba*tard’s carelessness. I have to make him understand that he can’t involve his comrades in an even more dangerous situation due to his carelessness. If he doesn’t understand even after I tell him that, well, even though I’ll feel bad for him as his best friend, I guess we’ll have to part ways with him.

「Since there’s a key, there must be a keyhole too, right?」

Raiga and my other comrades searched the entire room.

Such a dungeon is usually accompanied by an extremely atrocious trap. Properly speaking, the person who should investigate this place should be an experienced hunter with a treasure-hunter-type gift instead of us, who have no such gifts. Besides, we can’t explore an ancient temple this way.

「I’ve told you guys again and again: be careful!」

Yet, none of them paid any mind to my warning after they had arrived this far. I guess I have no choice but to leave this matter to our luck.

「OI! OVER HERE!?」

When Raiga heard one of our comrades shout in an excited voice, he immediately rushed in. Then, he inserted the key into the keyhole with a trembling hand. When he twisted the key, part of the wall moved out, revealing a passage behind it.

「WOOW! COOL!」

Contrary to my comrades, who were cheering and hugging each other, my anxiety became bigger and bigger upon seeing that passage.

How can it be? if it were really this simple, the passage should’ve been left open from the very beginning. In short, the one who made this temple had no intention to hide anything inside this temple.

（This is bad! We’re walking into a trap here!）

My intuition was always spot on when it comes to this. That’s why I―

「Let’s go back now! I have a really bad feeling about this entire situation.」

My gift was 【Stargazer】. In short, it was something akin to prediction-making. That’s why everyone would follow my intuition in a normal situation. However, right now, I had told my comrades to retreat when a vast amount of wealth was waiting right before us.

「What are you talking about after we’ve come this far, Hook-san?」

「Yeah, advancing is our only choice in this kind of situation!」

Not good, huh! Seeing the resolute look in their eyes, I guess there really is nothing that can change their mind. Rather, they might become even more reckless without me.

「I understand. But, we have to retreat when I feel that the situation is way too dangerous for us. Do you agree with that?」

「But, if we return, our achievement―」

「We’ve already secured our achievement the moment we arrived in this temple! Are you referring to something else? Do you really think that a single hunter can do everything from discovering the temple until the investigation?」

Raiga seemed like he had been chewing his molar for a while, but he still said,

「Kaykay! We’ll go back once you feel things have become way too dangerous. I promise.」

That was the answer I wanted to hear the most. I was saved from the fact that he was obedient right now.

「Then let’s go. Don’t act rashly again.」

Everyone nodded at once. And so, we entered even deeper into the temple.

Soon, we arrived at the end of the passage. That place was definitely a mountain of treasures.

「We ain’t… dreaming, right?」

「Yes, I pinched my arm, and it hurts. This is real.」

Everyone was overjoyed upon seeing treasures such as gold and silver stacked like mountains.

However, my instincts had yet to stop telling me to escape from this place.  Rather, it had gone up and made me feel hallucinatory pain.

「According to the law of this industry, the ownership goes to the one who finds it first. Thus, all of this is ours. Let’s go back at once. Leave the rest to the real investigator! 」

I urged everyone to get out of this place immediately.

「Yeah. More than this is unnecessary.」

Raiga and my other comrades all nodded, albeit with rather reluctant expressions. Great! We can finally get out of this creepy place. I heaved a deep sigh as if I had found a lantern in the darkest night.

「Well then, let’s go.」

Just when we were about to leave that treasure warehouse filled with treasures―

「There’s nothing wrong with bringing back a little bit right?」

「Heavens, just how much we can get from selling this!」

When I turned around, I saw my other three comrades stuffing as much treasure as they could into their rucksacks.

『Nfuu, it’s wonderful that you took the bait. Now we can open the gate.』

Suddenly, a hoarse voice of a man resounded in my head. Then, a magic circle suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, rotating in its place.

I felt my entire body go limp as soon as that man’s voice resounded in my ears.

「THROW THAT THING BACK TO ITS PLACE, AND ESCAPE FROM THIS PLACE NOW!!!」

I seized Raiga, who was right beside me, from the nape of his neck and brought him out of the room as fast as possible.

CRUNCH!

A while later, a giant mouth appeared from the magic circle, which was rotating in the treasure room. The giant mouth swallowed two of my comrades, who were still in the room, and chewed them alive. I could only watch as that giant mouth ate my comrades alive while they were wailing in pain.

「Uuh… 」

Raiga groaned upon seeing that.

Our comrades were being eaten alive right in front of us. That realization sent a chill running down my spine. I quickly propped Raiga, who was still in a daze as if his vigor from a while ago were a lie, and ran toward the exit of the temple.

『Liste~n, you may escape! And then, extol the greatest fear. For the strong and beautiful Pazuzu-sama is gonna make a mess of this world after this!!!』

The only thing that I clearly remembered from back then was the delighted, hoarse voice of the man from before.