chsdbacks Chapter 153: World Eroders Past
Chapter 153: World Eroders Past
chapter 153: world eroders past
world eroders.
they are outsiders who, for various reasons, have arrived in this world.
each of them once belonged to a world of their own, a place where they had undoubtedly found happiness.
but the nature of worlds is always finite.
ebelasque benapotchi.
the world she once lived in was no exception.
her world, known as dyrox, had already reached its end by the time she was born.
acid rain constantly poured from the skies, and the soil was barren, unable to nurture any form of life.
thus, the creatures of dyrox turned vicious in their struggle to survive.
beneath the earth, sheltered from the acidic downpours, countless people established their own subterranean cities.
ebelasque was a vagabond in one such city, living a life of mere survival, scraping by day after day.
her one dream was always to see the outside world.
she had never, even once since birth, laid eyes on the world above.
to fulfill that longing, she saved every penny she could, even skimping on food, to buy books from an antique shop.
those books contained stories and illustrations of the surface world from a long time ago.
reading them was her sole source of joy.
then, one day, she stumbled upon a certain book at the antique shop.
necromancer studies.
it was a book on a long-lost field of study.
fascinated, she began reading it, and soon realized one thing.
she had a natural talent for necromancy.
how else could she have, in just one day, crafted a bony monster using the remains of a rat she had eaten recently?
watching the skeletal creature move according to her will was utterly mesmerizing.
from that day forward, she dedicated herself to studying necromancy daily, devouring every book she could find on the subject.
secretly, she spent her days immersed in the research of necromancy.
until one day...
「ebelasque!」
a girl’s voice rang out, threatening to break down the rickety door of her shack.
startled, ebelasque hurriedly hid her materials.
then, feigning innocence, she greeted the intruder with a calm demeanor.
「ah, aimy, you scared me. what’s going on?」
the girl who had burst in was a young woman with braided brown hair.
the bright and cheerful girl was ebelasque’s oldest and dearest friend, someone who had been by her side since childhood.
even during the hardest times, when surviving each day seemed impossible, she had been ebelasque’s most precious—and only—companion.
「why are you so startled? don’t tell me you were looking at something naughty again.」
「w-what?! when have i ever done that?」
ebelasque shouted, her face turning bright red.
it wasn’t the first time she’d been teased like this. once, she had accidentally purchased an erotic novel, not realizing its content.
she’d been caught reading it engrossedly, and ever since, her friend never let her live it down.
laughing playfully, her friend entered the shack with exaggerated excitement.
「ebelasque, do you remember the rumors going around recently?」
「rumors?」
「yeah, the one about the surface being safe again!」
ebelasque blinked in surprise.
of course, she had heard the same rumors about the surface becoming safe, but she hadn’t paid much attention.
this world was far too grim to believe in such hopeful rumors.
even the underground cities were running out of time.
it wouldn’t be long now.
the estimation was three years.
within that time, all the resources of the underground would be depleted. the shelters sustaining the cities would fail, leading to the collapse of the ground itself under the relentless acid rain.
such was the bleak future of this world.
yet, aimy, this ever-hopeful girl, never lost her brightness or optimism.
「no, ebelasque, this time it’s real. a group calling themselves the dyrox salvation corps is actively recruiting people from each city to venture to the surface.」
ebelasque’s expression turned to one of surprise.
if the cities themselves were organizing such a group, it was a different matter entirely.
「th-that’s just like a regular reconnaissance team, isn’t it?」
「no, this time it’s different. the last reconnaissance team that returned found signs that the surface is becoming safe again. the city is gathering its most skilled people for the mission.」
aimy’s eyes sparkled with fierce determination.
she was a nuker, a combatant who fought against the criminal gangs and twisted monsters lurking in the underground.
as one of the best in her field, aimy carried a strong sense of pride and ambition in her work.
her eyes, glowing with confidence, now shone brighter than ever.
「they’re even planning to build a spatial transport magic circle connected to the underground at the location where the signs were discovered.」
「a-aimy, don’t tell me you’re planning to join them?」
「yeah, that’s exactly what i’m thinking.」
aimy’s gaze was deadly serious.
seeing that look, ebelasque felt a wave of unease.
even if signs of safety on the surface had been discovered, it was still just the word of the reconnaissance team.
nobody knew what the reality up there would truly be like.
in truth, this was nothing short of a gamble by the underground city, which had only three years of life left.
one misstep, and they wouldn’t even make it to the end of those three years, facing death instead.
aimy was struggling against that looming fate.
「aimy, it’s too dangerous.」
ebelasque said with deep concern.
aimy had mentioned that many others were also participating, so ebelasque wanted to tell her that she didn’t need to take part.
「i’ve been appointed vice-captain of the nukers this time. the previous vice-captain died after a lung infection.」
aimy explained.
in the underground city, proper sanitation and medicine were unavailable.
as a result, the inhabitants were highly susceptible to illness, and nukers were even more so.
their direct involvement in combat made it easier for infections to take hold.
yet nukers continued to exist.
they were the only ones capable of protecting the city.
「it’d look bad if the vice-captain spot stayed empty, right?」
ebelasque realized why aimy had come to her today.
she was here to say goodbye.
「aimy.」
「it’s an ancient word that means ‘hope.’」
「pfft, seriously? that’s way too sentimental.」
「well, we are the last hope, after all. the city is nearing its end.」
muzkang glanced down the seemingly endless staircase they had climbed, his gaze lingering on the underground city far below.
his expression was somber as he stared at the place where only death remained.
「it won’t be long now.」
iron lion said curtly, as if telling them to focus.
at that moment, ebelasque spotted the entrance to the surface.
a massive doorway reinforced with steel and other materials loomed ahead.
reaching the door, iron lion placed his hands firmly on the circular handle and began turning it with great effort.
creak, creeeeaak!
the heavy door finally swung open with a loud thud.
as light poured in, ebelasque instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.
having lived her entire life underground, she was highly sensitive to light.
when she slowly opened her eyes again, the sight that greeted her was breathtaking.
cracked earth and sand stretched out before her.
above it all, the sun shone brightly in the sky.
her eyes widened as she felt the warmth of the sun for the first time in her life.
this was the outside.
this was the world she had dreamed of.
「the sun’s out. seems like we’re lucky today.」
iron lion remarked as he gazed up at the sky.
then his expression darkened as he turned his gaze toward the horizon.
「but it won’t stay that way for long.」
in the distance, with a rumbling boom, dark clouds began to gather.
the storm clouds, heavy with acid rain, were rolling in, ready to turn the land into hell once more.
the rain would pour with such intensity that it would create rivers.
「we need to move quickly.」
and so, the journey of the four began.
* * *
the journey was, as expected, grueling and relentless.
「the ground is collapsing!」
the constant acid rain over the years had weakened the terrain.
with each step, the ground seemed ready to give way and swallow them into the underground abyss.
「there’s so many of them! captain, hold them off over there! ebelastick, help me here!」
「i told you, it’s not ebelastick! it’s ebelasque!」
「they’re coming again!」
「enough chatter, focus!」
even in the acid rain, monsters roaming the surface, blinded by hunger, rushed at them in packs.
as time went on, the four grew increasingly haggard.
fending off the acid rain was exhausting enough, but the crumbling terrain, the ceaseless appearance of monsters, and occasional magical storms made every step of the journey feel like walking through hell.
perhaps because of this, the four talked to each other more often.
「in times like these, if we stop talking, we’ll stop trusting each other. if that happens, we won’t be able to rely on one another. mistakes will follow.」
this was the philosophy of iron lion, the captain of the second salvation corps.
at first, the other three just went along with it, not thinking much of it.
but as the journey wore on, they found themselves talking more and more.
they all subconsciously realized that the moment their conversations ceased, it would mark the beginning of their end.
「i was born from a mother who was assaulted by criminals. she killed herself right after giving birth to me. i ended up sold in a back-alley deal and grew up as a slave. my owner was a lunatic with a hand fetish. when i was eight, he decided my hands were at their prettiest and cut one off. that bastard.」
ruzrang, the one-armed swordswoman, shared her harrowing past with grim detachment.
「haha, i don’t have any dark stories like that. oh, wait—maybe just this. my master, afraid i’d surpass him, tried to kill me.」
muzkang, the mage, tried to sound lighthearted, but the weight of his words betrayed him.
later, he revealed that the master who had tried to kill him was none other than his own father.
「when i was sick and bedridden after retiring, my daughter joined the first salvation corps. the medicine that kept me alive was the cost of her departure.」
iron lion explained why he had chosen to join this second corps.
more than anyone, he wanted to find the first salvation corps.
because among them was his daughter.
it was later revealed that iron lion’s daughter’s name was benapotchi.
「haha, then why don’t we make the second salvation corps into our own family? the benapotchi family. what do you think? the city’s so-called nobles do it all the time, those selfish trash.」
「a family? that would mean i’d be in the same family as ruzrang. that’s unpleasant.」
「stop being in love with me already.」
「...who said anything about love?」
ruzrang and muzkang often bickered like this.
though they seemed to be at odds, during dangerous moments, they always prioritized each other’s safety.
「ugh... you’re awful at this...」
「shut up. you’re just too rough.」
during the night, ebelasque pretended not to hear the noises coming from their bickering once again.
one day, iron lion shared an unexpected story with ebelasque.
「your friend and my daughter were friends.」
ebelasque was surprised to learn that her best friend, aimy, had been close to iron lion’s daughter, benapotchi.
iron lion admitted that he felt guilty about bringing ebelasque along.
she wasn’t much older than his own daughter, and although he prioritized his daughter’s safety, the decision still weighed heavily on him.
「it’s fine. i’m on this journey to find my friends.」
iron lion looked at her with surprise.
ebelasque, slightly embarrassed, continued.
「ahem. well, a friend’s friend is also a friend, right? so that makes benapotchi my friend, too.」
hearing this, iron lion gave a small smile for the first time.
「...i see. my daughter would like that.」
that smile remained etched in ebelasque’s memory.
the journey continued.
at times, they lost their way.
the landscape had changed so much over the years that navigation was far from easy.
still, the four pressed on, following the signal diligently.
but eventually, the first casualty occurred.
translators note: