The carriage rattled as it sped down the dirt road.
The ride was far from comfortable, and his backside was starting to ache, but he didn’t let it show.
More pressing than that was the Knight sitting across from him, Sir Irsil.
‘He seems way too scared.’
Sir Irsil hadn’t been able to meet his eyes this whole time.
It didn’t seem to be from guilt over his own mistake, nor from the embarrassment of being subdued by a Priest.
-He just looks scared, doesn’t he?
‘Weak mental fortitude for a Knight.’
He did admit that he might have gone too far.
He’d been attacked in the middle of the night, so he’d been a bit irritable.
As if acknowledging that his emotional control hadn’t been up to par, the Goddess, who had been fidgeting restlessly, glanced at him nervously and spoke.
-Then I’ll step out for a bit. Stay safe!
‘Where are you going?’
-Ugh.. I got scolded by Mom for waking Dad up without permission.. I need to write a Penance.
“…”
Even after the Goddess left, the carriage continued on without pause.
A small question from earlier that morning resurfaced in his mind.
“It seems there was a way to travel back and forth quickly, but you didn’t use it this time?”
He asked with feigned innocence, recalling the Saintess’s words about detecting his energy in the Dungeon between evening and dawn.
The Saintess looked puzzled at that, then nodded as if she understood.
“It’s just that the Knights ran there quickly to check and came back.”
‘So they just worked up a sweat.’
It was a somewhat disappointing answer.
They arrived at the Dungeon before long.
But despite the early arrival, he couldn’t exactly be overjoyed.
“Soldiers are down.”
Around the Dungeon’s entrance, Soldiers lay unconscious.
“Was it like this yesterday too?”
“..No, it wasn’t.”
It was Sir Irsil who answered.
“When we came yesterday, they were definitely standing guard.”
That meant it had happened sometime during the night.
He approached the nearest Soldier.
There were no visible wounds.
But he was unconscious, drenched in cold sweat, and letting out intermittent groans.
“Ughh..“
It was the Saintess who attempted Healing.
A warm light, distinctly different from a Heal, enveloped the Soldier’s body.
“..?”
A look of confusion crossed the Saintess’s face.
The Soldier’s pained reaction hadn’t changed at all.
He could guess why in an instant.
‘It’s a mental attack.’
The purification itself wasn’t the problem.
It was because a human mind isn’t like a machine part; fixing the cause doesn’t immediately make it whole again.
The solution was simple.
All he had to do was refresh their mind.
‘Mental cleaning.’
Only then did the Soldier’s complexion clear up as if washed clean.
“It’s a type of mental attack. Please restore their minds along with their health after the Healing.”
“..Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
It seemed they didn’t have much experience dealing with patients suffering from mental attacks.
Given the Saintess’s young age, it was perfectly understandable.
But there was no need to worry.
Her energy, so different from his own and running hot, told him that the Saintess’s specialty lay in Healing.
“Let’s head inside.”
The Dungeon’s interior was nearly unchanged from the last time he’d seen it.
The only difference was that something was being assembled on the beach.
Priest Patch stared at it intently and raised a question.
“There’s an artificial structure in the Dungeon. Could this be the work of a Demon too?”
“It’s ugly, but it’s probably a ship under construction.”
“…”
Priest Patch quietly fell silent.
Ignoring Priest Patch’s flushed face, he turned his gaze to the Saintess.
“Do you sense any trace of a Demon?”
The Saintess closed her eyes for a moment, surveying the area, then shook her head.
“It’s faint. I can tell it’s there, but I can’t pinpoint the exact location.”
“I see.”
“Perhaps it hasn’t fully recovered its strength and is hiding to avoid a fight.”
As she finished speaking, the Saintess’s gaze drifted to a corner of the forest.
‘The direction of the Mana Stone.’
He felt his own energy dwelling within the Mana Stone and nodded in agreement.
He thought he understood the Saintess’s intention.
“..If the Dungeon disappears, no matter how powerful a Demon is, it won’t be able to keep hiding.”
Or it might show itself before that happened.
And he considered the latter possibility more likely.
But contrary to expectations, the Demon showed no reaction the entire time.
Even now, as they stood before the Mana Stone.
“Then let’s destroy it.”
“I’ll do it.”
At the Saintess’s decision, Sir Irsil drew his sword, as if to make up for his previous mistake.
Clang!
Sir Irsil’s sword arced down and struck the Mana Stone.
It was in that instant that the Mana Stone shattered.
The energy dwelling within the Mana Stone burst out, and at the same time, the entire Dungeon, which had been maintained by the catalyst, began to shake.
The Dungeon was beginning to collapse once more.
“Let’s hurry and get out before the Dungeon falls apart.”
But he had no choice but to stop mid-sentence.
Because the moment the Mana Stone was completely destroyed, a voice rang out, as if it had been waiting.
-Thank you.
-For getting rid of that troublesome Mana Stone for me.
The fragments of the Mana Stone, which should have fallen to the ground as they broke apart, rose into the air instead.
At the bizarre sight of the fragments, one by one, beginning to merge again, the Saintess hastily unleashed her power, but the transformation didn’t stop.
And the moment the last fragment attached itself, a voice filled with ecstasy echoed throughout the Dungeon.
-With this, this Dungeon is now completely mine.
The Demon, which had appeared from nowhere, gripped the now-blackened Mana Stone and thrust it toward the sky.
A heavy wave of energy erupted from the black Mana Stone, blotting out the Sun.
And then, the wave swept over everything around them.
‘..We’re screwed.’
He couldn’t know the exact details.
But he could make a rough guess from what he was seeing.
The Demon hadn’t been able to fully claim this Dungeon until now.
Ironically, it was because of the Mana Stone that had been sustaining the Dungeon.
‘And we went and smashed that Mana Stone without knowing what it was.’
In a way, one could say they’d been played by the Demon.
‘Nothing ever goes right.’
He looked down at the unconscious Saintess and the others scattered around her, and could only let out a sigh.
“Demon friend, how about we just call it a draw?”
He requested, staring directly at the form shrouded in dark mist.
“If you do, I’ll retreat quietly.”
After a moment, a voice tinged with amusement came back.
-My, my. This is the first time I’ve seen a Priest try to hold a conversation with a Demon.
-It’s certainly intriguing, but do I really have a reason to?
“What if I agree not to charge you rent? Since I was the one who anchored the Dungeon, I suppose you could say I was the landlord.”
-Oh, that’s a fair point.
-But what can we do? I’m the landlord now.
As if to say there would be no negotiation, another wave of mental attack came crashing in.
He reflexively raised his mental barrier.
Dizziness washed over him, threatening to shatter his consciousness as the force rummaged through his mind.
-It’s amazing that you’re still holding on when even the Saintess couldn’t.
-But even if your willpower is impressive, your Rank seems rather low.
‘This is too filthy to deal with.’
Another wave of mental energy came crashing in, scrambling his thoughts.
And he knew it.
This time, he wouldn’t be able to hold on.
His consciousness went dark as the wave from the Mana Stone slammed into his mind.
And when he opened his eyes again, he couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh at the sight before him.
…
The Demon stared at the fallen Priest.
An intriguing figure.
The fact that he had withstood a mental attack that even the Saintess couldn’t endure was one thing.
But a Priest who would so casually strike up a conversation with him was a type he’d never encountered in all his long years.
-He even anchored the Dungeon, didn’t he?
-If he hadn’t been a Priest, we might have been good friends.
That was certainly sincere.
-Now then, shall we see what kind of Nightmare he’s having?
The Demon couldn’t finish his sentence.
-Gah! What is this!
Because, in the middle of peering into the Nightmare, Flawi had awakened at some point and seized his throat.
-To think he broke free from my Nightmare, which recreates the most horrifying memories, all on his own, so quickly..? That’s absurd..!
“Sorry to interrupt.”
He steadied his throbbing head and cut off the Demon’s words.
“But unlike this neighborhood, the place I used to live had excellent Psychiatry, you see.”
-..?
“Do you have any idea how much money I spent at the hospital?”
PTSD was nothing; he’d dealt with that long ago.
The Demon immediately scattered its form, slipping from his grasp.
-Hoo, I’ll admit your willpower is remarkable. But what can you possibly do alone?
-Especially with the Saintess unconscious!
The Demon’s power surged as it crushed the Mana Stone in its grip.
He had a rough idea of its strength.
A 6th Rank on the verge of a wall.
It was clear that this was no pushover.
“Well, I suppose you’re right about that.”
There was ultimately only one way to break through this.
And like the Demon gripping the Mana Stone, he raised his hand forward.
-What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?
“It’s nothing important. It’s just that I have a certain sense of responsibility.”
All he did was post a notice asking for understanding on the Gallery.
Title : Gallery temporary closure notice.
Author : anon (123.123)
The gallery will be temporarily closed due to personal reasons.
Period : From now on.
[Kyaaaaah!]
[Abandoning the gallery is forbidden..!]
[Ugh.. Stutter-ssi.. I don’t feel well right now..]
[Closing? Closing? Closing? Closing? Closing? Closing? Closing?]