Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 72
“I understand how you feel, but it’s dangerous. Sir Derek, you’d better stay here. Even Gerard would have trouble protecting two people at once.”
Kyle rejected him firmly, but Derek only drew the sword at his waist with a resolute motion.
“I wield a blade too. I can protect myself well enough.”
Kyle eyed him doubtfully but, faced with Derek’s unwavering stance, finally raised his hands in surrender.
“Fine. Then your life is your own to keep. Let’s move.”
Kyle gave Mildred a small nod, and at last, she turned and led the way out of the room.
* * *
Mildred led the party, crossing beyond the walls encircling the village and heading north into the forest.
By now, the sun was already dipping behind the mountain ridges. As we stepped into the woods, slowly swallowed by creeping darkness, the air grew faintly cold and carried an unsettling chill.
“How much farther are we going? The sun’s about to set.”
At Gerard’s grumbling question, Mildred pointed ahead.
“We’re almost there.”
Following the line of her finger, my eyes fell on a large sign planted at the entrance to a towering mountain.
The wooden board was smothered in moss, so old and brittle it looked like a single tap would crumble it to dust. I narrowed my eyes and made out the faded letters.
[ ▲ Hangerten Mine Ahead ]
“A mine.”
Elonen murmured softly as he read the sign just ahead of me.
“It used to be. But now it’s abandoned.”
Surprisingly, it was Derek who replied to Elonen’s musing. He was so close behind me that he was practically clinging to my coat hem, twisting it up in his hand—a downright annoying proximity.
“Why was the mine shut down?”
Kyle shot Derek an irritated look as he asked.
“Monsters. The damage got so bad they closed it off long ago and banned entry.”
“So basically, we’re heading into a monster-infested mine… that’s what you’re saying.”
Why is it that we never get a single peaceful day? I’d braced myself for chaos when I decided to follow the hero’s party, but somehow reality always outdid my worst expectations.
“Did monsters start showing up before the Black Flame Dragon appeared?” Kyle asked sharply.
Derek shook his head.
“Serendal was known as a ‘clean zone’, practically no monster activity. But after that Black Flame Dragon showed up, the attacks skyrocketed.”
Others might assume monsters were gathering because of the Black Flame Dragon’s miasma, but my thoughts went elsewhere.
I narrowed my eyes at the back of Mildred, who strode confidently at the front. Everything about her stank of suspicion.
“Not just here, the whole continent’s crawling with followers of the Dark God. They’re forging the Dark God’s spawn. When the god returns, their army will conquer this world.”
The lich’s words came back to me. A chill like an alarm bell prickled down my spine.
Something told me, with fierce certainty, that this shady witch was one of those dark devotees.
I hadn’t been in this Black Flame Dragon’s body for long, but my instincts were sharp. Razor sharp.
“Wait. Kakaros hears monsters.”
Kakaros stopped abruptly, voice low and tense. At once, Gerard whipped out his staff.
Almost at the same heartbeat, a guttural “Groooaah!” ripped through the trees as something lunged out of the shadows.
A massive gray-brown bear, like some grotesque grizzly, but impossibly huge, its tusk-like fangs long and jagged.
“Everyone, behind me!”
Before anyone could react, Gerard thrust his staff forward. Blue light burst from its tip, searing and all-consuming, swallowing the beast whole.
“GRAAAAAHHH!”
With a pitiful, guttural scream, the bear toppled backward, splintering trees beneath its enormous weight.
Cautiously, I stepped closer to the smoking carcass.
“Ugh… the smell…”
The charred-gray bear stank like burnt food waste, acrid and nauseating. Covering my nose, I bent closer and inspected its head.
Sure enough, a black magic stone was lodged deep in its skull.
Of course. Figures things wouldn’t deviate from my expectations. Someone out here was creating monsters, too.
