Chapter 193

Chapter 193: Trauma

Trauma
Chapter 193. Trauma
— Wait a moment.
Ferda said, looking at the two who were walking ahead.
— While the two of you scout the path, would it be alright if I examine that room over there?
Ferda pointed at the room and asked them.
The two looked at the room Ferda wanted to inspect.
All that was there were a few desks and bookshelves filled with books.
Just by the general layout, one could guess what kind of room it was.
— It looks like a study used for guests… In any case, there don’t seem to be any traps.
The adventurers, having inspected the entire area, exchanged glances and nodded.
— Then, please go ahead.
— In any case, there’s no benefit in you lingering here right now…
The adventurers didn’t bother to stop Ferda’s arbitrary action.
To them, it was rather a good thing.
As an adventurer, Ferda was a novice, so he was bound to be a variable.
Thinking that he might as well get rid of another burden in the meantime, he asked the Armored Knight who was beside him.
— Sir Knight, please accompany Regent Ferda as well.
Nod, nod.
The Armored Knight obediently stuck close to Ferda’s side.
— Wait.
?
Ferda’s expression hardened as he spoke to him.
— Don’t stick so close. I’d prefer if you maintained some distance.
…Nod.
A look of disappointment.
That disappointment gave him goosebumps.
What is a grown man doing acting like that?
— We’ll be back in 10 minutes.
— Sure.
Ferda suppressed that feeling and, regardless of whether the knight was there or not, pulled a book from the shelf.
But immediately, he had to furrow his brow.
“The writing is different.”
They are not runes, nor is it the commonly used Imperial language.
As befitting an unfamiliar land, its script was also unique.
Fortunately, Erica knew this one, so it could be interpreted.
Ferda first gathered some samples widely distributed across the study.
If there were books on cultivation methods or emotions among these, it would be a good acquisition for Ferda.
While searching for information like this, Ferda realized a fact.
— More than 10 minutes have already passed…
It was time to call Ferda and the Armored Knight back, but they did not return.
“A trap to lure me in?”
Ferda reflexively suspected them.
“…No, that can’t be.”
From their attitude, it was clearly visible that they found him troublesome.
Nothing more than the burden of having to babysit novices.
If it were a trap, they would have acted with even more kindness.
— Then, conversely, it is possible that they have fallen into a trap.
!!
The Armored Knight reacted violently.
He turned his head toward the door they had entered through.
— Let’s go check for now.
Nod!
A gait that denoted motivation.
But Ferda didn’t like that motivation.
— Wait.
?
— Follow me. If it’s magic, I’ll check first.
Nod.
Yet, since he obeyed so easily, it wasn’t all bad.
Ferda moved cautiously, following their footprints.
A path appeared that continued straight, then branched off to the right.
Ferda didn’t need to ponder which way to take.
From the straight path, a groan was heard.
Following the sound, an adventurer was there.
— Ughhhhh…
He was looking somewhere, suffering terribly.
Ferda held his breath and signaled the Armored Knight to stop.
Ferda approached first to inspect the place.
— I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to do this. Please…
The adventurer was confessing his sins while looking somewhere, begging for salvation.
“Illusion magic?”
Is there a demon lurking?
Ferda’s eyes began to glow faintly.
He attempted to break the source of the illusion with mana detection.
Yet what was reflected in his eyes was astonishing.
“Magic is faintly felt… but this cannot be called being caught in an illusion.”
If it were magic, there should be an aura of mana enveloping the head or eyes.
If haeju is performed, one can awaken.
However, mana is surging from the heart and the danjeon, and the quantity is minuscule.
“Which means…”
Ferda suddenly remembered his time with Ruri.
Her confessed past and her regrets.
The pain that stemmed from that.
Having grasped the situation, Ferda checks where his gaze is directed.
However, he himself does not look there.
Instead, he draws his staff.
— Lightning Spear.
Snap!
A red bolt of lightning flew toward the end of the gaze.
Crack!
The sound of something piercing flesh and exploding is heard.
Green blood and purple flesh scatter.
At the same time, the eyes of the adventurer who had been captured by something returned.
— Huh, what? What just…?
— Are you alright?
— Huh? Ah, yes…
— Where is the other one?
— T-that is… more importantly, how did you get here…?
His mind returned, but he was babbling from the aftereffects.
— There’s no time. You probably fell into the same thing. Do you want to see him die?
— Ah! I’m sorry! Probably… he went down the fork in the path before we got here!
Ferda looked at the Armored Knight.
“If this guy gets captivated by that thing, it becomes a bigger problem.”
— Armored Knight.
Nod?
— I entrust this adventurer to you. No matter where he points, even if he tells you to look there, under no circumstances do you look there.
Nod.
At least the response is refreshing.
Whether he is trustworthy is another matter, but for now, Ferda had no other choice.
Since the Flint Expedition is the starting point, he had to show how significant the results of this adventure would be.
Among them, having no casualties was essential.
Since it is a city built for the Eastern Conquest, survivors are extremely important to Ferda.
Ferda ran toward the place the adventurer described.
Retracing the path they came from and turning at the fork, similar groaning sounds could also be heard from there.
The situation was worse than that of the first adventurer.
The sight of an adventurer hugging some sort of lump came into view.
Ferda reflexively covered his eyes.
It was already too late, but thanks to that, he gained a piece of information.
“Just seeing the outline seems to be fine.”
Which means the central part of the illusion is independent.
Ferda decided to rescue the adventurer first.
Unlike the adventurer who had suffered in pain, this one showed an incredibly happy face.
— Sandra… I’m coming… Please, this time, I’ll be with you. I will never let you go…
It was felt.
At this moment, he is being saved.
Yet now is the moment of parting.
— Lightning.
A bullet of red lightning flew straight and struck the lump.
Crack!
Several black hands emerged from Ferda’s sleeve and grabbed the adventurer’s body.
Without any light, the shadow’s power was strong, and he was able to wrench him away from the lump.
— Ah, aaaah!
Wounds covered the adventurer’s body.
He was bleeding profusely, but he didn’t care.
— Sandra…! My love, where did you go?!
— Snap out of it.
— Sandra…! Sandra! Let go of me!
Ferda dragged the man by force while he tried to pounce back toward the lump.
— Let go of me, I said!
The man stabs Ferda’s shadow with a dagger.
— Ugh!
Even if it is a shadow, the pain felt is transmitted vividly.
Ferda recognizes the pain felt by those nerves as an illusion and quickly pulls away.
Everything is an unfavorable environment.
The dense demonic energy makes him feel unpleasant, and a brief pain creates a momentary lapse.
Because of that, he ended up seeing what the struggling man was looking at.
Only for a fraction of a second, but Ferda saw it clearly.
The large eyes that lump possessed.
“Damn it!”
In the blink of an eye, the shape changed completely.
— Val… drova?
Two pairs of horns and beautiful features.
A figure showing a healthy femininity, unfitting for the word ‘Violent Dragon’.
— Why are you here…?
It is impossible.
Her being here is impossible.
Yet, she is here.
— Ferda…
Her beautiful voice called him with desperation.
“I can’t concentrate.”
Every time he looks at that thing, he comes to believe that she is here.
She should be beneath Valdrova Castle right now.
He forcefully discards emotions and prioritizes logic.
A mana bullet barely formed in Ferda’s hand pierced Valdrova’s figure.
Puh-shuck!
Her head snapped back with force.
He thought that if the figure shattered, it would naturally disperse back into its original appearance, and Ferda would also escape what had captured him.
Yet it was not so.
— Why… are you attacking me?
Valdrova raised her head again and looked at Ferda.
Her appearance with half of her head shattered.
The single remaining eye shed tears endlessly.
Ferda knows that appearance.
Although she is human now, when she was a dragon, she looked like that.
Ferda constantly self-hypnotizes.
That is not Valdrova.
— Ah, I see… I… am not needed…
That is not Valdrova.
— Hehe… I’m sorry, I had another strange delusion and caused trouble for Ferda…
That thing.
— What Ferda needed was this, right?
Puh-shuck!
Valdrova.
— I’ll give it to you.
She ripped out her own heart and held it out.
Reason collapses, and the air of despair pierces Ferda’s lungs.
She staggered toward Ferda.
— I…
Despair turns into regret.
Regret envelops Ferda’s deep darkness.
— I’m… sorry.
It was then.
Valdrova’s figure suddenly shot upward.
The spot where the heart had been ripped out was pierced once more.
What stood there was a steel gauntlet.
What it held was a large heart.
It wrenched the heart it had held and crushed it completely.
— Ah…!
With the culmination of regret, Ferda felt something that had captured his mind break free.
He closes his eyes and opens them again.
Where Valdrova should have been, some lumps lay limp.
Green blood and purple flesh. Definitely monsters.
And there were two of them.
One was where Ferda had driven the mana bullet.
And the other was what the Armored Knight had just pierced.
Ferda slowly recalls what he saw and evaluates the situation.
Another monster replaced Valdrova’s place where her forehead was pierced, continuing the illusion.
It made them believe they had killed it, but in the end it didn’t die and tormented them even more.
It was a splendid trick, enough for Ferda to acknowledge it.
“So this is what Ruri saw…”
It certainly makes you lose your mind.
There were no signs of magic being cast, so countering with magic is also difficult.
What is certain is that a countermeasure against that thing is needed.
Above all, what is most needed right now is stability.
— Ugh…
The Shadow Circle was spinning crazily.
It was about to explode and kill Ferda.
The Armored Knight carefully extended a hand toward his face.
That intention was, without a doubt, concern for Ferda.
That is kindness.
That kindness, once again, took the form of Valdrova before his eyes.
— Get lost!
Ferda brushed that hand away sharply.
The form of Valdrova returned to the Armored Knight.
He flinched, withdrew his hand, and stepped back cautiously.
A beast is craftiest when its weakness is exposed.
Ferda is showing his weakness right now.
That won’t do.
In this land of despair, despair is easy prey.
Ferda steadied his breathing and answered with courtesy.
— I’m sorry, but… please keep your distance.
…Nod.
Reluctantly understanding, he carefully lifted the adventurer’s body and took the lead.
Ferda followed behind him.
For some reason, that back kept resembling Valdrova.
He thought he was going crazy.
Not everyone gathered on time.
Surprisingly, everyone who had moved separately had fallen before the same monster.
The Right Path group, where Ferda was, suffered the most damage.
— For now, let’s call this creature “Trauma”.
The common trait: it extracts memories from the target’s mind and displays those illusions.
Those illusions are what they have yearned for most in life.
— It seems impossible to block that gaze with mental armor magic. So my guess is that it isn’t magic, but hypnosis.
— Hypnosis…?
— Is that possible even without magic?
— My current guess is that it might be set up in the form of a trap. The type that activates the moment you make eye contact.
That was Erica’s assumption.
If the monster called Trauma cast hypnosis magic, there would be a form of mana, and breaking that mana form would allow you to escape.
— What will you do? Shouldn’t we scatter and stay together?
They saw horrific illusions, enough to be discouraged.
Yet the adventurers who suffered did not readily suggest grouping up.
— There were no separate traps, and if the biggest trap is just that thing called Trauma…
— If we’re just a bit careful, I think it’s fairly doable…
They still thought it was an adventure worth attempting.
— Then let’s move in the same groups as before. This time, we’ll do it in a way that avoids eye contact with those things as much as possible. In pairs of two, looking at each other.
— That way, if one is caught, the other will notice immediately.
— Understood.
— Let’s proceed with the deep exploration. Any questions before that?
No one raised a hand.
— Good. Then let’s do personal maintenance again and depart. Rest for 10 minutes.
They dispersed briefly and checked their equipment.
— Captain Eri.
The one who called her aside was Ferda.
— Speak.
— I found books like these in the place I went to.
Ferda secretly handed her some books.
— They’re written in eastern script. Do you want me to interpret them?
— Yes.
— I myself only memorized some important characters, so for now, hmm…
Erica lightly flipped through the contents of the books and asked.
— Did you find all of these in a single place?
— Yes. It’s one location, but I brought them from separate points.
— But there is a common characteristic.
— What is it?
— Do you see this character here?
The character Erica pointed to was in every book, just as she said.
— This character means “love”.
— Love…?
— I don’t know what the books contain, but basically, they are all books related to love.
Since a strong intuition led him there, they were necessary items for Ferda.
It is, without a doubt, a place that stores grimoires on the control and operation of emotions.
Most of those places have secret passages, and if you go deep inside, secret grimoires are stored.
— Then we just need to go there.
— Yes, there could be magical tools, and if there’s a clue to get what we want, that alone is enough. Is that all?
— Actually, there’s one more thing.
Ferda answered Erica’s question.
— Didn’t you say the Front Path group was also affected?
— …Right.
Those affected in the Front Path group were Erica and Virgil.
Unlike the Side Path groups who received help from others, Erica tried to break free on her own like Ferda.
And she escaped.
— Back then, what exactly did you see?
— Do I have to answer?
— It doesn’t need to be specific. I just want to confirm something.
Erica pressed her lips tightly, then opened her mouth as if she had no choice.
— What I saw… was the biggest mistake I ever made.
What each saw differs, but the essence is the same.
— How did you overcome it?
Ferda was curious about that.
How did she escape that horrible, terrifying thing?
Erica answered as if it were something simple.
— Because I realized that I can never repeat that mistake twice.
It was the worst answer for Ferda.
Ferda’s Shadow Circle kept spinning.
No, as time passed, it moved even more violently.