I'm Not an Earthworm, I'm an Earth Dragon

“…Does it have to be this order? We can just pair up men together and women together, right?”

There was no disagreement that they had to stick together, but it was questionable whether it had to be in this specific order. With Yuna in front and Altera behind, he was awkwardly sandwiched between the two women.

“Of course, it has to be this way. I need to lead from the front, and Alteria says she doesn’t want to have anyone behind her but also insists on being behind you. What else can I do?”

It wasn’t just standing close; the person behind had to put their hand on the shoulder of the person in front, which was incredibly awkward.

“Myungho, please just be quiet. It’s not like I’m enjoying this either. Shoulder-to-shoulder is even more unpleasant, isn’t it?”

That was… true. To make sure everyone was covered by the concealment field, they had suggested holding hands, but Akash had rejected that idea.

He said that if they were too far apart, the concealment field wouldn’t work properly. It was uncomfortable, but he had no counter-arguments, so he just quietly followed along in front.

Outside the concealment field, the hallway looked completely empty, so he wondered what kind of dangerous traps were there that made them so adamant about not separating. He asked out of curiosity.

He was told that thin, unsolidified threads of magic were spread all over, and if the detection device above sensed anything, those threads would solidify and literally tear them into thousands of pieces. If the detection device was destroyed, the threads would solidify permanently, making it impossible to pass through.

“Altera, I’m sorry, but could you loosen your grip a little? Your nails are hurting me a lot…”

She made a small sound and then loosened her grip, apologizing. They were moving through the hallway at the speed of a maggot crawling, and he wondered how long they would have to stick together like this.

Even though she had loosened her grip, it was her nails that hurt more than her grip strength. Honestly, wasn’t it strange that such strength came from such seemingly soft hands?

This is normal. He turned his eyes away from reality while having such impure thoughts. Yuna? Yuna’s one hand is completely made of iron. And when he touched the other hand, it was also like iron.

“Listen to me until the end. We’re almost there. But don’t fall. More than half of the thread is laid out in front of you. Now it’s your turn to work, hero. I’ll turn sideways and stick as close to the door as possible, so write what I tell you to write on that door.”

Akash said that, slowly turning the rope sideways to stick as close to the door as possible. He twisted his body this way and that to carefully take out the brush, then asked Akash.

“So, what should I write?”

“By royal authority, open sesame. Even if you don’t know anything else, I’ve inserted a similar soul into the door. So your brush will be effective.”

Wait a minute. In the first place, I’m not royalty, and I don’t have any means to prove I’m royalty. How on earth is it supposed to open? I asked Akash with a question in my voice.

“…Akash, I’m not royalty. Is it really going to open if I write that…?”

“I told you I made it. Trust me, the guy on the door can’t even distinguish who’s telling him to open. He can’t understand anything you say. Except for ‘By royal authority, open sesame.’ That’s the soul I inserted for that purpose.”

I was suspicious, but knowing that Akash wasn’t the type to throw his life away, I slowly wrote it as he said. Then, as if there was some effect, the hallway shook slightly.

“Now you can move. The sensor is off. What? Do I have to shout ‘It’s done!’ for you to move?”

I wondered if only Akash was safe, so I stayed still. Akash looked at me as if I was pathetic and very politely returned the core to Altera.

Altera took the core in a daze and moved, but nothing happened to her. By the way, if he returned that, doesn’t that mean the cloak is gone too?

…It was a needless worry. I released the power I had been building up and shook off my stuffy feelings with a stretch. I thought I would have to walk like that for the next few hours, moving only my feet.

“Uh… Myungho. Is that really open? It still looks closed to me…”

Altera put the core in her pouch and asked if it was open. It doesn’t look open to me either. The door was still firmly closed.

“I don’t… think so. Akash. Is it open? It’s still closed?”

If there was even a slight creaking sound and it moved, I would understand, but the door, which hadn’t moved even 1mm, was still in place.

“It should be wide open by now. Why isn’t it opening…? Did it rust on the inside? It looks fine on the outside, no. That can’t be it, it received the blessing of preservation. Just a moment…”

Akash seemed to be approaching the door, tapping it, putting his ear close, and looking at it from various angles.

“…There’s no problem on the outside. Did they cut corners during construction and leave things out…? Yuna, shoot it twice. If it doesn’t open, we’ll have to break in.”

Yuna complained that Akash shouldn’t act like the boss, but she seemed greedy for the treasure, so she obediently nocked an arrow and shot it into the door.

It was more like a harpoon launcher than a bow. The arrow struck the door, scattering sparks everywhere. And where the arrow hit, there were spiderweb-like cracks.

“…If I only had the strength, I could just break through the wall.”

– – – –

I hated being powerless. It reminded me of that day, and I hated not being able to do anything. I also hated the frustration. Anyway, I didn’t like it.

The door looked incredibly sturdy to me, but the walls probably weren’t. I clenched and unclenched my fists to soothe my disappointment.

“Sometimes it’s okay to let others handle things. You’ve probably solved everything on your own your whole life, so it might feel awkward. Actually… it’s more amazing that you can handle everything by yourself.”

Myungho seemed to notice how I felt and advised me to let others handle things sometimes, while subtly praising me.

It’s not like it’s anything amazing. I just barely managed to do it. Still, it feels good to be acknowledged by someone, so I didn’t bother being humble.

That’s right. It’s incredibly difficult for a girl to survive in the wild. Even if there’s a man inside her.

The muscle elf drew her bow again and shot another arrow into the cracked spot. The iron door couldn’t withstand it and broke with a horrible sound.

And from the hole, red liquid flowed out.

“Ah. I couldn’t see why they were keeping so many souls bound. It was in a place like this. Damn, I keep seeing things I don’t want to see. Hey, Myungho. If you were expecting something, be disappointed in advance. It doesn’t look like there’s treasure inside.”

It was so foul and thick that I almost didn’t recognize it, but it was definitely blood.

“…Blood isn’t something you’d expect to find in a treasure vault, is it…? Altera, Yuna, Akash. Stay alert. We don’t know what’s going to come out.”

“Haa, I used an arrow expecting treasure, but… this is what comes out. It’s foolish of me to have expected anything. There’s no way anything valuable would remain in a place that’s been ruined for hundreds of years…”

Yuna visibly slumped, clearly disappointed. Akash, having received permission from Myungho, was also using a book as if it were a floating lightbulb.

Myungho drew his sword and stepped into the hole. I, too, gripped my stone knife, ready to strike if anything appeared.

Unlike the outside, the inside was filled with a terrible stench of blood and raw meat, as if a slaughter had taken place in a cave.

The floor was covered in ankle-deep blood, making a squishing sound with every step. It was also slippery and had a strangely slimy texture, which was the worst.

“…Everyone, stop for a moment and listen. Can’t you hear a heartbeat? A huge heartbeat… very loud…”

Akash shone a light on one of the walls, and Myungho stopped talking.

It was understandable. A large, mold-covered blood vessel was pulsating there. Just to be sure, I poked it with my fingernail, and blood spurted out.

“Ugh. This smells terrible…”

It wasn’t a joke. It was a horrific smell, like the essence of fishy odor extracted from animal blood.

It didn’t hurt, and the blood didn’t eat away at the flesh. It was just disgusting. I calmed the worried Myungho and walked toward where the blood vessel was connected.

“Altera. We’ll go first. It seems like right now—”

“I can protect myself. You don’t need to protect me.”

Even if I’m weakened, a strong swing of my tail could easily cut off someone’s head. Still, since I was making them worry, I slowed down a bit.

There seemed to have been shelves, storage boxes, and display stands, but they were all empty, replaced by blood vessels and meat.

“There’s really nothing left…”

“Yeah. You’d think there’d be at least one thing. It seems like someone took everything. Or… did these meat chunks… do something? It’s the same that there’s nothing…”

“Haa. This is so disgusting. Can’t we just turn around and leave now? Don’t say things like this after coming all this way. It’d be better for you too.”

“Gweeeeeeeeeeeeeeak…”

?

“Who was that just now?”

A terrible shriek, the kind that might be uttered by the damned souls of hell rather than a human, echoed from the ceiling.

When Akash shone a light, it turned out to be the sound of a mangled face, half-assimilated into the blood vessels.

“…What is that?”

Shining the light elsewhere, an enormous face was embedded in the wall.

In place of eyes, there were rotten purple hearts, and the disgusting sight of those hearts taking up 50% of the face’s area.

Though I had seen many unsightly things, I had never witnessed this kind of revulsion, and all I could do was cover my mouth to prevent myself from throwing up.

“I told you… let’s just go… Say hello. That is the king of this place… the medium that binds the souls of the people. It’s been a while, Your Majesty. I told you not to.”

Disgusting. Disgusting. Just looking at it made me feel that it was wrong. I wanted to swing my tail and erase any trace of its existence from this world.

But I didn’t have the strength.

Myungho stared at the face with a hardened expression.

“The medium that binds the souls… If that’s gone, the souls bound here will be freed…?”

The face was also staring at Myungho. It was staring at the holy sword.

“Leave it. Killing it won’t give us anything. They brought this upon themselves.”

Akash spoke to Myungho with an unpleasant expression, but Myungho seemed to have no intention of listening, approaching the face.

And then, he cut the heart with his sword. Unlike the expectation that many souls would emerge, a lump-like thing fell with a plop.

It was a sphere of condensed souls.

“Goddess. Have mercy… on these poor souls.”

Myungho said, and with the brightly shining brush, he drew a stroke on the sphere of souls.