Surviving as a Broken Hero

Chapter 31 – Echo (7)

Finally, after a blind stumble through the warm tunnels towards the source of the heat, I rounded a corner and saw a soft, golden glow emanating from just around one final bend in the tunnel.

It was a comforting glow that reminded me of campfires and of cold nights spent next to warm fireplaces. I felt drawn to the glow, relieved at finally being able to see something again.

I imagined that if any Lion trackers followed me down there, they would have a difficult time retracing my steps. It was much harder to track someone through a stony cave than it was to track them through snowy woods, after all.

It still left my need for medical attention unanswered, but at least I would hopefully have somewhere safe to rest.

At least, that was what I hoped as I shuffled along towards the turn in the tunnel and the soft, glowing light.

I entered the golden lights, turning the corner to greet the pointed tip of an axe directly under my neck, its point stopping just short of my skin.

High endurance or not, it would take much more than whatever I had to create any sort of barrier for that weapon. Its keen edge gave off a murderous aura, so it must have been enchanted in some way.

“What is it this time? Power? More levels? The ability to take vengeance on your oppressors?”

‘What?’

An orc was bathed in the blue light, lethal muscles and tall build standing out alongside her pale greyish skin, long, orange pony-tailed hair, and scarce armor. She was clad in hardly more than a tough, coarse leather shirt and shorts, and she was completely barefoot.

What’s more, her eyes seemed to gaze right through me—no, past me?

‘What…?’

Her eyes were colorless and pale.

‘Is she blind…?’

If that was the case, then the axe resting just micrometers from my neck made me ever more wary, even an exaggerated gulp or breath could bring my skin into contact with it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

It appeared that we were faced with a misunderstanding of sorts. Did she believe that I was there to take something from her?

My eye caught bloodstains dried against the stone walls at the edge of the tunnel where I stood, dark spots stained the ground further into the small stone cavern where the glowing light emerged from a rotating golden cube about the size of my hand in mid-air over a stalagmite in the center of the cave at about chest level for me.

‘Did she do that…?’

She had probably killed people who had gone there in search of whatever was emitting the warmth and light and assumed I was just another trespasser.

While the cube certainly piqued my interest, I had no intention of trying to fight my way through the orc. Her solid musculature alone looked to be more than enough to outdo just about any human armor I could think of. I could only guess how high her Endurance was.

“…”

“…”

We stood still for a few moments in the deafening silence, the sound of my blood rushing and my heartbeat thumping against my chest rushing through my ears.

She might have been blind, but I could still see the gears turning in her head as she came to some decision based on factors that I had no knowledge of.

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“ …You’re telling the truth.”

It was a confident statement, so I guessed that she had some method to separate truth from lies.

There were enough varied skills in the world that it wouldn’t surprise me for even a moment.

She lowered her axe back to her side, still seeming like a coiled spring, ready to strike me down the second I made a wrong move.

“Why are you here, then?”

I grimaced. It was a long story, but the truth of it came down to this:

“Honestly? I’m just looking for somewhere safe.”

“I see… Does that mean I should expect more guests soon?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think they followed me.”

“Mhhh… On the run, then.”

Her guard dropped a bit and she visibly relaxed, taking a more casual pose.

“Where are you hurt?”

She could somehow tell I was hurt as well. Whatever sense she was using, she had adapted to it well.

“My back…”

She turned around, not even facing me anymore.

“Follow me. We’ll talk on the way.”

Saying so, she started walking at a leisurely pace so that I could follow behind her without straining my injured body.

“What’s your name?”

It was the second time I had been asked that question that day.

“Aizen… and yours?”

At least she was a better conversation partner than the Lion Scout leader had been.

“Krylla.”

We had crossed the short cavern in a few strides, taking a roundabout path around the golden cube in the center of the space.

As if sensing my gaze, she warned, “Don’t think about it. I’d hate to have to kill you now.”

I tore my gaze away and continued following her.

“What are you doing down here anyway? Can you at least tell me what it is that I shouldn’t be looking at?”

She ignored my question, instead responding with a question of her own.

“Why are you here, Aizen?”

“I told you, I came across this place while looking for somewhere safe.”

“No, I mean, why did you run here of all places? To the high outer lands. There should have been easier paths to run through, no?”

“I’m looking for someone.”

I had to stop as she moved into another tunnel receding out of the cube’s light.

She halted only a moment after I did.

“Why did you stop?”

“I can’t see…”

It was pitch darkness again, and while I had used my heat sense to navigate a general direction before, I would be hopeless when trying to follow her away from the heat source to who-knows-where.

“That’s right…”

Her speech was direct. I imagined that she hadn’t had a casual conversation in some time, or maybe that was just her personality.

Either way, it seemed that she had forgotten that others couldn’t see with whatever method she used.

She fiddled around with something in the pouches at her waist before tossing me a small, glass-like orb.

“Imbue that with mana and it should give off light.”

I didn’t want to know where she had gotten it.

Besides… I couldn’t imbue objects with mana due to the externalization restriction from the Second System.

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean, ‘you can’t’?”

“I literally can’t… I have a restriction where I can’t use mana outside of my body.”

Just as all sorts of skills and buffs existed, so too did all sorts of restrictions and limitations. While being unable to externalize mana was something I had never heard of before, I figured it could still be counted as a possible System restriction.

“…Fine, then give it back.”

I thought about tossing the sphere back to her for a moment but wasn’t sure how her sight worked or if she would be able to catch it.

“Um…”

Haah…

I heard her exhale in what was probably exasperation.

“Just toss it back to me.”

After I did so, she caught it perfectly in mid-air and imbued mana into it, causing a cool, blue illumination to spread from it.

“Better?”

“Yeah.”

We continued down the tunnels.

It seemed she moved with purpose, but the offshoots and zigzags along the way just left me confused. I would have had no chance of navigating it correctly to wherever we were headed purposely.

“So who are you looking for? I know how it might seem, but I don’t kill every adventurer I come across, as you can see. Only the ones that make it to the Relic, though you’re the first one to find it by accident.”

That meant that others knew or had known about whatever that glowing object was.

I was, of course, familiar with the existence of Relics—incredibly rare objects of power that could grant incredible boons, abilities, and talents, or serve as items with groundbreaking abilities.

It was said, in fact, that what separated a major guild from a minor one was the possession, usually in the guild leader’s hands, of a Relic.

To think that I had stumbled across one by accident. I was either incredibly lucky or incredibly unfortunate.

“A woman with blonde hair, she uses lightning abilities and went missing a few days ago.”

“Did you think she might not want to be found?”

Of course, the orc imagined that I was looking for someone who had run away.

“No, you misunderstand. She isn’t running from anything, Rhil wouldn’t do that. It’s more like she accidentally took a portal that brought her to where I can only guess is somewhere in the north.

“And what about your injuries? Another misunderstanding?”

“Actually, yes… It’s a long story, but a guild thinks I killed some of their members and sent a scouting party after me.”

We turned through another branch in the tunnel, and the soft sound of splashing water came to my ears.

The blue sphere held up by the orc, Krylla, revealed a small dead-end passageway that, from the clutter and things lying about, I guessed was where she spent most of her time.

Water trickled down from a small crack in the ceiling, which was just high enough for her to not have to crouch slightly as she had to do in a few of the tunnels we passed through.

The water led to a small basin set in one corner of the little dead-end, and another crack that led away through the wall stopped with cloth to keep the water from escaping.

A few animal furs littered the floor, and what looked like the curved shells of some sort of insect were laid about containing substances I could only guess at that filled the passage with sour, sweet, and pungent smells. Food, maybe?

The air was just warm enough to be cozy, and Krylla wedged the stone into a small alcove in the wall, where it continued to illuminate the area.

“Tell me if it fades and I can restart it.”

She shuffled through the chitin bowls, stopping to sniff a few before handing one to me.

“Rub that on your wound and it should start to heal and prevent infection.”

“Uhm… I can’t reach…”

The wound was on my back, so it would be incredibly difficult to reach around with the constant pain and apply the balm to my injury.

“Then take whatever you’re wearing over it off and I’ll do it for you.”

Obliging her, I began to slip the overcoat off, muscles protesting with dull aches and pain going through my back as I had to pull the parts of it that had gotten stuck inside of the gaping wound out.

When it was done and I was standing bare-chested, the orc prodded around my back for a moment, her rough hands surprisingly gentle to avoid causing me further pain, before she applied whatever was in the chitin bowl to the wound.

It was a situation I would have never imagined even a week prior.