Wolves of Hader

I slid down frantically.

Even though I tried to control my speed with my hands and feet, it was useless. Before I knew it, I was sucked into another passage as if joining with it.

Sshhh—

This time, it was a passage with a fair amount of water flowing.

Perhaps there was truly a hot spring above, as the water was quite warm.

Swept up in the current, I was once again carried away madly.

I wondered just how far I would be dragged down.

Then, from the other side of the passage, a chill swept in!

Suddenly, my body dropped.

"Uaaah!"

In the midst of tumbling headfirst, I looked down in a hurry.

In the pitch-black darkness below, the glowstone I'd lost was helplessly flying away to the other side.

With it, fear surged in.

How high up was I falling from? What could possibly be below? If it was ice, then I was as good as dead!

Then I heard the sound of water!

With a sudden sigh of relief, I grabbed my nose.

Splash!

Underwater, my body spun around so I couldn't tell where the surface or the bottom was.

Flailing helplessly, my hand touched the bottom first. Then, pushing off with my feet, I swam upward with all my might.

"Puhah!"

Panting for breath, I looked around.

Because I'd lost the glowstone, it was pitch-black darkness.

For the moment, I just swam blindly in the direction the water was flowing.

Though the water above the waterfall had been warm, here, it was as cold as ice.

Soon, slush and lumps of ice caught my hands, and it gradually turned into a sheet of ice.

With all my strength, I barely managed to climb onto the ice.

If I stayed in the water any longer, I thought I would lose consciousness no matter how strong my will to survive was.

I hadn't wanted to overwork a child's body, but things had turned out this way.

Crawling a bit, my hand touched a wall.

Only then did I feel relieved and leaned against the wall as I walked.

Coming out of the water made my whole body feel like it was freezing over in an instant.

As I staggered along the wall for a bit, it happened.

Clang.

Something clinked against my foot with a metallic sound.

Stopping in my tracks, I placed my hand on the ground and reached for what my foot had kicked.

A round piece of metal. An emblem. A heavy weight.

A coin?

Heavy coins were scattered all around the area. Each time I stepped on one, a jangling sound echoed out.

Countless objects like dry twigs also caught my stride. It felt like I had stepped into a dead, thorny bush.

First, I gathered a few of the "twigs".

They were so dry that they would crumble to the touch.

Were these a type of unique twig that only existed in this world?

Why did they break so easily?

They crumbled and snapped with a dry crunch.

For the moment, I sat down, took out my flint and oil can from the backpack.

There was some hay, but it was useless since it had absorbed water.

After sweeping up the brittle twigs, I dripped a little oil over them.

Then I struck the flint—snap!

As the light burst forth, something white flickered into view.

And the frozen waterway as well.

I blew the moisture off the flint and struck again.

Snap—snap—snap!

Whoosh—

Happily, the oil caught fire.

Seeing the flame light up the area so quickly, I felt as though I had discovered daylight in the darkness.

And then, as my eyes adjusted to the light—

"What is all this!"

All around me were heaps of skulls and bones.

Countless bones of indescribable shape.

What could this be? An animal grave, perhaps.

What I had touched wasn't actually a twig, but something like a rib bone.

No wonder it turned to dust as soon as I touched it.

Why was there a burial-like place here?

Before the flame could go out, I quickly took off my shirt and wrapped it around a thick, long bone.

I tightly wound some rope from my backpack around it, turning it into a torch to light my surroundings.

Looking at the skulls, I realized these were not human remains.

Some small skulls looked like monkeys, and some were huge, almost three meters tall.

Some had horns like a goat's skull.

And on the ground, the fallen coins.

Silver and gold coins mixed together.

I picked up one—it had the script of this world engraved on it.

The fact that these beings carried money meant a certain level of intelligence.

Were there such species in Rac?

I'd never seen such beasts in the Rac game before. Even monsters were not like this.

If I counted, there seemed to be about a thousand in all.

It didn't look like they had died fighting, but rather that they had all been gathered and exterminated at once.

There were signs of writhing in agony.

The bones gave off a dim glow.

It was a very mysterious light.

It felt as though this glow had melted the bodies of these creatures in an instant.

Weapons and armor were also scattered around.

This space was a massive underground lake.

Water fell from above, slowly swirling before flowing outward through one side.

The place where I had fallen was near a waterfall on the other side.

Where the skulls were piled up was wide and flat.

There was a cave over there; since wind was blowing out, it must have been connected to the outside.

So for now, I walked into the cave.

Even on the cave floor, there were plenty of bones. I saw a rusted sword, and also an oddly shaped set of metal armor and helmets.

There was even a tall set of bones strung with gem-like ornaments.

Walking through the cave, I stopped.

Because something glittered in the darkness on the other side.

Worried that it might be a monster's glowing eyes, I approached cautiously.

Ahead, there was another cavity.

There were many bones here too, but unlike the place I'd just passed, all these remains were clad in armor.

And then, there was a particularly eye-catching skeleton.

A huge skeleton sat on a massive chair. It wore golden armor, and there was an enormous sword placed behind it.

Since there was no movement, I drew closer.

When I shined my torch on the skeleton.

My heart pounded.

"A demon?"

It really was the shape of a demon.

The helmet had long horns, the armor was engraved with bizarre patterns.

Gem ornaments dangled everywhere.

The skull was shaped like a human's, but three times larger.

Unless these remains were of Rac's giant race, it had to mean it was a demon.

Sitting alone on a large chair meant this one was the commander.

Were the small skeletons demon soldiers?

And this demon's skull was that of something like a legion commander?

These bones too appeared to have perished all at once.

I shined my torch on the ceiling of the cavity.

This place had also been artificially made. There were stairs on the other side of the cavity.

Was this underground place the demon legion's lair?

If so, it would mean that, long ago, some hero annihilated all these demons in a single blow.

What kind of force could have melted demons to such a degree?

Anyway.

I approached the [Demon Legion Commander]. Just seeing the remains of the demon soldiers scattered at its feet made my skin crawl.

They seemed as if they might rise as skeletons at any moment. Even just looking at the bones was horrifying.

The demon legion commander's skull.

Though only bones remained, the presence was no joke.

And its sheer size as well.

Standing in front of it, I spotted something.

A thing reflecting the torchlight from within the golden armor.

Inside the enormous demon's rib cage, an iridescent blue light shone in the darkness.

Without hesitation, I reached into the demon legion commander's ribs and pulled out the blue object.

Exposed to light, its brilliance became even more dazzling and resplendent.

This was no gem. It radiated its own light.

"This is it. The demon's essence."

The blue light of the orb illuminated the whole area.

What a truly mysterious shade. Blue particles drifted calmly inside.

It was as if a galaxy was contained within this small orb.

Unconsciously, I stared at it for a while.

It looked round like a stone, felt as smooth as a jewel.

It seemed to have a glassy membrane.

But was this really the Essence of Rage?

It was supposed to be red, so why was it blue?

After guildmaster consumed the Essence of Rage, his mana turned red.

The so-called sword aura was red, and his massive sword glowed crimson as well.

That's why guildmaster, after founding our guild's unique Berserker, developed rage and rampage-type mana.

Then he created and refined high-level skills, eventually forging a trump card.

So, the Essence of Rage should be red.

Mana is fundamentally white. Depending on one's skill inclination, this white changes color, and for berserker types, all is in shades of red.

Mana's color can differ by class and skill, but the Essence of Rage is supposed to be red.

So, why was this one suddenly blue?

Could the nature of the power have been blue at first and later turned red? That can't be.

Guildmaster's was definitely red from the start. He had made skills using the Essence of Rage, so it could be no other way.

Then what is this?

Just in case, I searched the demon legion commander's body further.

On the chest, I found something else.

"Huh?"

A necklace set with a purple gem.

This was the necklace guildmaster always wore.

Whenever I asked him about it, he'd just say he wore it because he liked it.

So it was certain that guildmaster had obtained the demon's essence here.

For now, I hung the necklace around my neck. I searched the demon legion commander's body again but found nothing else of interest.

Then I thoroughly searched the cavity as well.

Nowhere nearby did I see any red orb or stone. Various things that just looked like ordinary jewels were scattered about.

Since I couldn't stay here forever, I packed some gold coins and gems in my backpack and climbed the stairs.

The sun had probably set by now, but knowing the way out would at least let me rest easy for a while.

At any rate, I had obtained the demon's essence.

It didn't seem to be the Essence of Rage.

So what in the world was this blue essence?

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Is it possible that the necklace is the reason the guildmaster's mana was red?
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】