Surviving as a Broken Hero

Chapter 37 – City on the Edge (1)

The Relic flashed gold, blinking slowly and picking up in pace until each blink of light blended into the other and it became a solid golden-white light as bright as the sun.

After it reached its peak, the light suddenly died down again, returning to the Relic’s original, soft golden glow.

“What did you do…?”

Krylla’s voice, full of curiosity and strength, spoke up behind me.

She stood, running her hands over her stomach, looking down at the pool of blood on the ground.

“I… I can see?”

Her voice shook, and drops of liquid plopped down onto the ground from her eyes.

“Why…?”

We had just met not long ago, after all. Why did I use the wish on her when I could have used it for anything else?

“Because I had to…”

It was hard to explain, and I didn’t really want to explain it. Some ideas and ideals were best left unspoken, shown through action instead of words. She would just have to accept it and understand.

“…You have to be one of the stupidest adventurers I’ve ever met,” she said, a slow smile tugging at the edges of her lips.

She looked back up at the Relic, eyes focused on it as she basked in its golden glow.

“Mmm… Come on, let’s get you on your way.”

She turned and walked down the tunnel towards her little home in the offshoot tunnel again.

I couldn’t help but notice her wipe her eyes one more time as she tried to hide her tears.

***

“Most die to starvation or dehydration, lost in the tunnels before they can find a way out. The Relic passively confuses and mixes up the tunnels in peoples’ minds, making it almost impossible to tell one from the next and erasing markers people try to leave.”

Having used his heat sense to find the Relic, it made sense to me as to why I was able to find it so comparatively easily versus others. Though some had stumbled upon the Relic over time, it was easier to find if you actively searched it out, which was why she had killed most people who arrived.

It also eased my mind somewhat that the Lion Guild likely wouldn’t find the Relic in their search for me.

Most people did not seek the Relic for good intentions.

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“You can’t use an Item Bag due to your restriction, right?”

She was referring to the storage bags most adventurers used that were bigger on the inside.

“Yeah, I have to carry everything with me.”

She fashioned a sling backpack that wouldn’t hinder my mobility and that could easily go around my shoulder out of old animal hides and sinew.

I suspected she had a crafting skill of some sort, as it was completed while we were talking.

“Here.”

She held out the sling backpack to me as she loaded it with dried meats that she had stored for food.

“It should be just enough to get you to the city without starving. Fill and take a few canteens with you as well.”

With all of the demons we had killed, there were plenty of canteens to go around. Filling a few from the water trickle was easy.

“You’ll know by the smell when you leave the Relic’s tunnel system. It’ll be best to take a scent vial with you.”

She spoke with her back to me as she worked on something else in the corner on a large boulder that she used as a table, the clinking of metal and stretching sound of leather just audible beneath our speech.

“A scent vial?”

I thought about how some insects used pheromones to differentiate each other and tell who was part of their colony or not.

“I told you I had an agreement with some of the monsters outside of the Relic’s tunnel system, right? I feed them trespassers and they stay out. The scent vial is something they recognize that they shouldn’t attack for moments when I have to venture farther.”

She held a vial out to the side from where she was continuing to work on something.

I gently took the vial in my hand, examining its contents through the cloudy glass.

It held a purple, viscous liquid. I didn’t ask what it was—I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“After you leave the Relic’s territory, the other monsters should leave you alone if you have that. If you use your echo sight, you should be able to follow the faint directional outlines that I laid out a long time ago along the tunnels. They’d be nearly impossible to see if you relied on sight. If you go too far from them, I can’t really tell you what you’ll find.”

The tunnel system was massive enough that not even she had explored all of it. Then again, she mostly stayed within the Relic’s territory.

Thunk.

Krylla slapped the boulder she was using as a table and turned around with the thing she had been working on in her hands.

“Here, try this on.”

She held out a wrist device with a triumphant look on her face.

It was a leather glove that looked like it would extend along the forearm with fastening straps along the bottom of it. The top of it had a long metal sheathe with a mechanical device at its base attached to a leather cord that was intended to wrap around the middle finger.

“I made it from the fragments of an enchanted blade left behind by an Awakener.”

…Probably an Awakener she had killed.

I took the odd device and examined it with the System.

[[Wrist-mounted Blade

A wrist-mounted blade attached to a spring mechanism so that the user can extend the blade by clenching their fist with the cord wrapped around their finger.

The blade of this device has been enchanted with sharpness and durability spells, making it harder to break and unable to lose its sharp edge.]]

I already mostly used the earthen gauntlet from my abilities with my right hand, so I slid the long glove over my left hand and tightened the straps along the bottom of it until it fit comfortably.

Then, I clenched my fist and felt the cord pull around my finger.

Chunk!

The blade shot forward, clanking to a stop as it reached its maximum length. The blade was about the length of my forearm, and even when sheathed, would be useful as a piece of armor.

I relaxed my fist and the blade thunked back into the sheathe.

It would take some getting used to, and practice so that I didn’t accidentally impale myself with it, but having an actual weapon that would go with the way I fought was exciting.

Before I left, I also made sure to finally get a shirt for myself that one of the less fortunate souls had left behind.

“Thanks, Krylla, I really appreciate it…”

I had never been good at giving thanks.

“Don’t sweat it, it’s the least I can do.”

She smiled at me for a moment before her face dropped into a more serious expression.

“One thing you should know…”

She paused and took a deep breath.

“The city… You’ll see why, but it’s not a place many leave from. There’s a reason most haven’t heard of it. Just… be careful.”

‘Why is she being so vague?’

I guessed that she had her reasons, but something almost seemed to be stopping her from telling me.

“Thanks again, Krylla.”

It wouldn’t be the last time I saw her or the Relic, but that story would come later.

* * *

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Just as Krylla had said, I could feel faint scratches along the roof of the tunnel, just at the edge of my echo sight.

The winding pathways through the tunnels were dark and lonely, and I occasionally passed by the remains of adventurers who had passed away and been worn by the passage of time to piles of bone and scraps of cloth. I didn’t see any signs of anything living until I reached the edge of the Relic’s tunnel system.

Shhhh.

An underground waterway.

It was just as Krylla had said, the edge of the tunnel system was clearly defined by a running river that led deep into the mountains. On one side of the river, where I stood, the stone ground was stark and bare, and on the other side, I saw little rat-like creatures about the size of my palm that were squeaking at me from the divide.

The river itself was only a few strides long and wasn’t difficult to wade through, though I regretted the sogginess I felt in my boots.

At least the temperature was still warm enough that I wasn’t worried about the water freezing over and causing frostbite or anything. I ignored the rat creatures, who eyed me warily, and continued down the tunnels, idly thumbing the scent vial that Krylla had given me.

If the vial was doing its job, it was likely that I would never even know it.

There were more signs of life in the tunnels going forward, namely, the sound of scratches and shuffling that seemed to be just around each corner, gone by the time I arrived.

Was the vial working?

I stopped at one point to chew on the rough, salty dried meat that was like jerky, taking sips from one of the canteens. After stopping, though, I felt something slithering closer to me along the ground in slow, halting movements.

‘A snake?’

It stopped and slithered away when I turned my head in its direction.

‘Are there things following me?’

I had been beginning to think that the faint sounds were just my imagination, but it was possible that things were lurking just outside of my echo sight.

I continued moving after that, somewhat wary of stopping to take another break after that brief encounter. I was even more worried about what would happen once I got tired. Krylla had been able to put salve on my chest where I had cracked my rib, but it still ached if I moved too much.

My echo sight grew more consistent over the journey, and it even felt like it had expanded a bit, though that could have just been wishful thinking. It still didn’t make it to the point where the System would consider it a skill.

At some point, the tunnels branched, with Krylla’s marking going one way but the peculiar sound of wind coming from the other tunnel.

Curiosity getting the better of me, and somewhat hoping to see the sun again after being in the dark for so long, I noted the path in my mind and followed the sound of the wind.