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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“I can’t even imagine how many zombies have piled up on the 1st floor by now… Even if we purify them, won’t the entrance be completely filled with zombie powder, making it impossible to get out?” Renny remarked with a concerned expression.
“That’s a terrifying thought…” Karina shuddered.
It was a statement that couldn’t be denied.
Judging by the endless procession of zombies going up to the 1st floor, it seemed like the donut-shaped corridor would really burst at the seams.
After waiting for a while, when all the zombies had disappeared beyond the stairs, we started moving to find the key.
First, we headed to the area near the stairs leading down to the 3rd floor.
“Using this as the starting point, we’ll go around clockwise and search for tombstones. Renny, take care of the approaching zombies and skeletons. Karina, you’ll examine the tombstones with me,” I instructed.
“Yes! I’ll do my best!” Karina replied with enthusiasm in her eyes.
I liked her determined attitude.
“What about me?” Millia asked.
“Just keep breathing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?! I’m quite smart too, you know? If a puzzle like this falls into my hands-”
“You don’t have hands,” I pointed out.
“…That’s too much!”
Millia’s face, which had been looking up at me with slight anticipation, instantly turned gloomy.
She couldn’t move around on her own anyway.
Although she could roll around, it wasn’t a good idea to let her wander on the dirt-covered ground by herself…
Crucially, I might need Millia’s help when checking the inscriptions on the tombstones.
I couldn’t leave her behind.
We immediately started moving.
Given the limited time we had, we needed to complete the search as quickly as possible.
We had to find the corpses that would serve as keys among the tombstones that numbered at least in the three digits.
“The zombies will keep following us, so don’t stray too far,” I warned.
The two of them nodded their heads with serious expressions upon hearing my words.
Let’s begin then.
We promptly began searching the tombstones while circling the cemetery.
“Lena Sigmund? That’s the surname we saw near the coffin earlier,” I noted.
Two people so far.
“There’s also a surname called Carcassonne here,” Karina pointed out.
Carcassonne? Where had I heard that name before?
“Carcassonne…”
Millia, who had been quiet for a change, suddenly reacted, making me look at her.
With a complex expression that seemed like she was trying to recall something, she muttered the name Carcassonne.
Was there something bothering her about it?
“Millia. Do you know anything about the Carcassonne family?” I asked.
“Um… It feels familiar. But I can’t remember…” she replied vaguely.
It was an intriguing answer.
However, it could serve as a clue to some extent.
I immediately threw a question at Millia.
“Millia. Do you remember your surname?”
“I can’t remember… (censored)”
It seemed Millia had more secrets than I had thought.
And it was clear that those secrets were entangled with this dungeon.
It would have been better if we could ascertain what they were, but in the end, we would have to figure it out on our own.
I gently patted Millia’s head a few times as she made a gloomy expression, unable to recall the memories that wouldn’t surface, and then turned my gaze back to the tombstones.
There were still many more to examine.
I diligently scanned the names.
Sigmund, Carcassonne, Fallon, Hayes…
Numerous surnames passed through my mind.
The puzzle required us to find a family with the same surname for five people among these tombstones and retrieve their remains.
It was a tedious puzzle that forced us to grind, but fortunately, it wasn’t one that required wracking our brains.
None of us could really be called a brainiac, after all.
Karina was knowledgeable but not to the extent of being called a brainiac, and Renny went without saying.
Millia wasn’t much different from Renny either.
In the end, I would have had to squeeze my brainless head to solve the problem, but honestly, I wasn’t very confident in using my brain either.
I preferred physical labor like this.
“Melina Carcassonne. This is the third person with this surname,” I noted.
“The next is Sigmund, with two people,” Karina added.
If we had found three people in roughly one-third of the cemetery, it seemed to have the highest probability so far.
I stuck my shovel into the grave in front of Melina Carcassonne’s tombstone and used a skill.
“Crafting.”
A cross made of dirt.
The human-sized cross was noticeable even from a distance.
Sigmund had a square pillar, Carcassonne had a cross.
While thinking of structures that could be easily distinguished, I continued wandering among the tombstones.
Occasionally, I would stick my shovel into the heads of zombies that were emerging from the ground, sending them back into the earth.
After walking around for some time, the cemetery became filled with all sorts of structures.
Round pillars, square pillars, crosses, structures resembling chess pieces, and…
“Why did you make a sculpture of me?!” Millia exclaimed.
“I ran out of ideas,” I replied.
“It’s annoying! It’s even more annoying because it looks exactly like me!”
The brown sculpture of Millia, recreated 100% accurately by the power of my skill, had a smile that somehow irritated people.
Perhaps my unconscious image of Millia had been reflected in it.
“But doesn’t it look quite nice? It gives off the vibe of a sculpture in a plaza…” Karina commented, but before she could finish her sentence, cracks started appearing on the face of Millia’s sculpture.
The cracks grew larger until the head was about to split in half vertically.
Everyone was at a loss for words and silently watched.
Suddenly, a rotten arm appeared from between the sculptures.
It was a zombie, of course.
It was quite strong too.
I kindly split the head of the zombie that had emerged by breaking through the structure.
The head sculpture that had been split in half, with its face shattered, never returned.
“My head!” Millia screamed.
I turned my gaze away from the head sculpture that had crumbled under its own weight and looked at Karina.
Karina also glanced at me and Millia alternately with a slightly troubled expression.
Don’t look at me like that.
How was I supposed to know a zombie would crawl out at that timing?
I sighed and stuck a piece of jerky into Millia’s mouth.
Millia quickly calmed down.
However, it didn’t stop the zombies that had been aggroed from approaching.
Of course, those zombies had their heads cut off by Renny and were rolling on the ground.
As expected of an escort knight, her guarding skills were top-notch.
“Since we’ve gone around once… The people with the surname Carcassonne seem to be the family mentioned in the hint,” Karina concluded.
“Seems so,” I agreed.
Melina, Asmond, Natasha, Pater…
…and Millia.
Five names.
“Millia. Do you really not remember anything?” I asked.
“…I can’t remember… But it feels familiar,” Millia replied in a confused voice, gazing blankly at the tombstones.
What would it feel like to see a tombstone with your own name on it?
We silently looked down at Millia.
How much time had passed?
I reluctantly broke the silence.
“…I guess we don’t need to cut off their arms separately.”
“Below is (censored)!” Millia blurted out.
Even though her words were blocked, I roughly understood.
It meant there was nothing underneath.
I looked in the direction where the tombstones of the other Carcassonne family members were located.
It felt distasteful to dig up someone else’s grave, but we had no choice since we couldn’t clear this floor otherwise.
I grabbed my shovel and headed towards the graves to retrieve the corpses of the Carcassonne family.
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“O Kalon. Please forgive our wrongdoings…” Karina prayed with her hands clasped together.
Should I join her in prayer?
I disliked praying, but it felt like I should pray at a time like this.
I sighed as I looked at the four corpses we had pulled out from the graves.
“Whoever created this dungeon is truly evil…”
Renny remarked from beside me, looking at the four corpses with a disgusted expression.
I couldn’t help but agree with her words.
The reason being, the four corpses looked perfectly intact, as if they had been alive until just a moment ago.
It seemed like they could start breathing at any moment.
And we were supposed to cut them up and put them in the coffin?
Was this for real?
“This is crazy,” I muttered.
But we had to do it.
In the end, this was nothing more than a ploy to shake the mental state of those trying to explore this dungeon.
I gripped my shovel tightly and looked at Millia.
“…”
It was unsettling to see Millia, who had been bouncing around like an excited puppy, quietly gazing at those presumed to be her family members.
“…Millia.”
“…What?”
“Is it okay to do this?”
“…It’s fine! I don’t even properly remember their faces anyway! They’re not my family! Kill them!”
Millia’s last sentence was filled with intense hatred.
She seemed surprised herself at the words she had uttered, looking up at me with wide eyes.
“…Karina, take Millia with you for a moment.”
I couldn’t let her see this.
I raised my shovel high, took a deep breath, and swiftly brought it down, wanting to get it over with quickly.
…It was a task I never wanted to do again.
I was used to the sensation of cutting through flesh, but I was reluctant to dismember the family of someone I knew.
I took out a piece of salted meat and put it in my mouth, trying to forget the unpleasant feeling.
The insanely salty taste distracted my thoughts.
After burying the corpses again, we moved to the front of the coffin.
The coffin stood with its lid open, as if asking what took us so long.
“Millia.”
“…Hmph, hurry up and put them in!”
As the four limbs were placed into their respective compartments, and finally Millia’s head was placed where it should be, the sound of metal scraping could be heard.
It was the sound of the door opening, of course.
We looked at the stairs visible beyond the door.
Would we have to go down a long way again this time?
…Should we go down right away?
We looked at each other and then glanced in the direction of the shelter.
“We should gather all our supplies before going down to the 3rd floor,” Karina suggested.
“Lady Karina. Wouldn’t it be better to get some fresh air outside first? Today was a bit…”
Renny trailed off.
“…We brought plenty of food, so let’s get some rest and then head down,” I decided.
Everyone nodded in agreement at my words.
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looks like millia fitting shameful head thing means something def up