Chapter 164: Desert Ruins
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7583de/
Author: Hirukuma
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
Our aim was the desert ruins. However, since we could not accurately gauge the distance, it was quite a trippy experience. The ruins loomed huge and conspicuous in front of us, but no matter how much we walked, we couldn’t seem to reach them for some reason.
“Why aren’t we there yet? The tower’s just there,” Ramis grumbled.
Ramis’ disgruntlement was understandable. The tower had been sticking out like [1] a middle finger from the time we left the settlement.
At first, it was more like a strand of hair shimmering in the hot desert air. On the fourth day of our desert crossing, it looked more like a hefty pole.
“The Desert Pillar may be super annoying, but I heard that it is quite the sight to behold up close,” Hyurumi muttered.
The so-called ‘Desert Pillar’ appears to be a name for the tower that was part of the ruins. It had a proper name in the past, but the hunters just called it the ‘Desert Pillar’ amongst themselves.
The Pillar was said to be 100 stories high and apparently, the Floor Boss was said to reside at the topmost floor.
Intermediate parties could easily conquer up to the 10th floor quite easily. Moreover, the Scorching Sand Director also said that the majority of the hunters that resided on this floor tackle that tower for its decent loot.
“Haahh… it’s so hot-su… I want ice-cream-su…”
I floated a refreshing orange-flavoured ice-cream to Shui. It was already her fifth ice-cream for the day. While I know that it is tempting to keep cool by eating cold food, you will make yourself sick at this rate.
The three of them had stuck close to me for the first couple of days. However, after getting used to the heat, they managed to maintain a bit of a distance. Only coming closer to enjoy a bit of the <Air-Conditioning> whenever they are nearing their limits.
According to Shui, ‘Ice-cream and cold drinks are even more delicious after going through that heat’. I get the feeling that she had been deliberately letting herself feel the heat so that she could experience greater joy when eating cold food. What a classic Shui-foodie move.
We took a long break during the hottest part of the day, so our pace was not exactly quick. Still, since we managed to deal with any and all monsters that had popped up thus far, the going had been pretty smooth.
“We haven’t seen anyone for a while,” said Hyurumi.
By ‘anyone’, Hyurumi included the corpses that we would encounter now and then. We came across a few desiccated corpses for the first couple of days, but after that, it was all monsters.
The lack of change in the scenery is quite tough on the mind, making us doubt whether we are making any real progress at all. The only proof that we were moving forward at all was the gradual thickening of the Desert Pillar.
It had been 7 days since we left the settlement. Surely we’re about to arrive soon?
“According to the Director, if nothing goes wrong, the whole trip should take around 10 days. Since we’re going pretty quickly, we ought to be there soon, I think,” said Hyurumi.
She was sitting on Botan’s back and squinting her eyes at the Desert Pillar sticking out in the middle of the desert.
“Kuroyata, could you scout ahead a bit for us?” Kikoyu called to Kuroyata who was perched on my head.
“Kuwakka!” Kikoyu replied with a cry and took off.
Its jet-black body is quite striking against the cloudless sky. There was something surreal about the way it glided in the air on its broad wings.
As I was absent-mindedly watching the black figure in the air, it suddenly disappeared. Eh?
“Huh? Kuroyata?!”
“He just vanished, didn’t he!?”
“Ah, he had indeed disappeared,”
“I manipulated my vision to enhance my sight, but I can’t see him.”
“Master Hakkon, he appeared to have disappeared to me as well.”
So, it wasn’t my eyes playing tricks. Everyone had witnessed Kuroyata’s sudden disappearance.
Although we were unclear about what had happened, everyone quickened their pace, hoping that we would somehow discover something. Perhaps afraid that our anxiety would spill out the moment we opened our mouths, but as we walked, no one spoke.
After walking for about an hour, we arrived at the spot where Kuroyata had disappeared. However, there was nothing to see.
“Hmm, there’s nothing. It should be around here…”
“Kuroyata… are you alright?”
“Bufoo bufoo,” Botan appeared to be comforting Kikoyu as he bobbed his head vigorously.
The worst-case scenario in my head was that it may have been shot down by someone. However, there was no evidence of a body. No pieces of body parts with black feathers anywhere.
“I wonder how he disappeared… It was so sudden that I could not see much, but it looked like he suddenly sped up before he was gone,” Ramis said as she thought out loud.
Personally, I don’t want to think that we have lost Kuroyata, if only because he is too wily and cunning. Even so, we still have to find out why he suddenly disappeared.
“Hm? I think there’s something strange here?” Ramis had set me down and was staring at nothing in front of her.
I scanned my surroundings, but could not see what caught her eye. So, I tried looking in the same direction she was staring at. There was… nothing.
Wait, did the image just… shimmered?
It was only a bit, almost like the heat shimmer that had been plaguing us these past few days. Only… this was more like a ripple. Like the wobble of an image reflected on the water.
“Hey, it happened again! Just what-” Ramis was reaching out without thinking.
In a panic, I shot out a bottle of water before she could touch whatever it was.
The spot where the bottle hit wobbled and… vanished! It was exactly like that time we lost sight of Kuroyata. The bottle was there one moment and just disappeared next.
“Uwaah! It disappeared! Hakkon, it’s just gone! It just disappeared!”
Yes, I saw it too Ramis. Now, let’s calm down for a moment.
To cool her down a little, I pressed a cold can of juice against her cheek. After a sharp ‘hiyaa~!’ she quieted down.
I took out another water bottle and floated it towards the same area with my <Telekinesis>. The wobble was still there. When I gently touched the spot with the bottle, the area where the bottle touched the wobble disappeared, as though sinking into water. What should have been there vanished without a trace.
When I pushed the bottle forward, more of it disappeared. Curious, I pulled the bottle back to see what happened to the bit that had entered the wobbly bit of air. Oh my, the part that had disappeared into the mystery section was perfectly intact.
“Eh? Eh? It’s perfectly fine?” Ramis cried on the side.
I repeated the experiment again, and found that although the bit of the air caused things to disappear, it was more like it just became invisible rather than actually making something disappear.
“What the heck?” Hyurumi muttered.
All of my friends were watching as I conducted the experiment. All of them had their heads tilted to the side as they observed the strange sight.
Hevoy was also experimenting by poking the air with his morning star weapon. Shui was doing the same with an arrow.
“Looks like some kind of illusion barrier that is similar to my Gift. I believe this illusion must be anchored to a specific place. It is possible that beyond this barrier may be something completely different from what we are seeing,” said Hevoy.
So, Kuroyata didn’t disappear, he just crossed a barrier?
“This is pretty fun~”
Hey, don’t just stick your head in without thinking!
It was pretty terrifying to see Ramis without a head, like some kind of horrible magic trick. However, since we can still hear her, I guess this barrier only deceives the eyes.
“Hm? Hey, that’s really close! The tower is right in front of us!”
Startled by this remark, everyone stuck their heads into the barrier and… woah, all their heads just disappeared. This is pretty surreal…
I felt a little left out. I was the only one who could not move freely to join in this weird game. Ah, how lonely!
“Looks like the Desert Pillar is actually pretty close. Do you think the mirage is also fake? A way to make the ruins look like it was further than it actually was to discourage people from heading there? I can tell that the power is very similar to my Gift of sensory manipulations,” said Hevoy.
“A way to force people to turn back before they even reach this place, you mean?” said Hyurumi thoughtfully.
“Wait, so someone doesn’t want us to get close and use this trick to make people not even set out for the pillar?” said Shui in an annoyed voice.
“I wonder why anyone would do this… The Scorching Sand Director never mentioned anything about this, right?” said Kikuyo.
“No, he didn’t. Didn’t he, Master Hakkon?” said Mishael.
“Welcome”
If such a mechanism had existed before, surely the Scorching Sand Director would have mentioned something?
Therefore, this could only be a recent thing. Someone must have set up this illusion barrier because they did not want others to get close to the tower.
“This is all really strange…” said Ramis.
“Indeed, things may not be as straightforward as we thought,” said Hevoy.
“I wonder whose work this is,” Hyurumi said thoughtfully.
“Rest assured, I won’t let a single scratch come to Master Hakkon!” cried Mishael.
“Kuroyata must have sensed something and came here to investigate,” said Kikuyo.
While the others were discussing the situation in front of us, Ramis tilted her head the other way, still confused.
“What are they talking about? Do you know, Hakkon?” Ramis leaned over to whisper to me.
Looks like she realised that she was the only one who did not get what was going on. Would it be too patronising for me to tell her not to worry? That being aware of things around us is my job? After all, her occasional cluelessness is part of her charm.
It’s just not in Ramis to be sharp and alert against danger at all times. So long as she is with me, I can compensate for what she lacks. So, Ramis, you’re fine the way you are.
On the other hand, being a hunter is a dangerous business. Lives are often in danger and your survival could depend on your quick understanding of the situation around you. Therefore, I should explain the situation properly.
However, even if I wanted to, I lacked the necessary words and syllable count to do it quickly and efficiently. Fortunately, Hyurumi could be counted on to summarise the situation (and Ramis) with a few words. As expected, everyone already understood the situation. The summary was mostly for Ramis’ benefit.
“Um, so some bad people could be doing something weird at the Desert Pillar and we should be careful?”
“Hm, that is true as well,” said Hevoy.
After all, it is entirely possible that the barrier may have something to do with the Raging Inferno party and Tasite.
This was all speculation, but it can’t hurt to be cautious.
After that, everyone braced themselves and crossed into the wavering barrier. The next thing I knew, we were standing right in front of the Tower, which was just less than a hundred meters away.
A single massive pillar stretched up to the sky. Even though I strained myself, I could not see the top. Just thinking about how high it was made my head spin.
“Ah, Kuroyata!”
Kuroyata swooped over to us from behind the Desert Pillar as though it was perfectly normal for it to suddenly appear after having disappeared right in front of our eyes. It landed in front of us and hopped towards Kikoyu. It looked at Kikoyu expectantly.
“Thank you for your hard work. Did you find anything interesting?”
Kikoyu asked several questions as she stroked Kuroyata’s head. She must be finding out whatever information she could from Kuroyata ever since it had disappeared into the barrier.
[1] After a while, she turned to us and said, “Um, Kuroyata says that the tower was too tall for him to reach the top. There was no sign of people aside from a person who looked like a guard on the second floor. After provoking the guard relentlessly, the guard had left to fetch more arrows.”
Perfect. Kuroyata had not wasted its time here but had instead created the perfect opportunity for us to sneak into the tower.
We ran the short distance in one breath and pressed our backs against the large iron door of the tower. Here, no one would be able to spot us from above, not even someone peering out the windows of the second floor because the eaves would obstruct their view.
Right, the real thing is starting now. Let’s get ready.
[Gumihou: This is actually super interesting!]
[1] Add detail
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