“There should have been a warning on the request form. That area is close to the Silvermoon Wolf King’s territory, so you might be attacked by it—there’s a certain level of danger.”
Facing the Silvermoon Wolf King, which only Gold-ranked adventurers could handle, this squad made up entirely of Silver ranks really stood no chance. If they really encountered it, casualties were to be expected.
However, this had been clearly stated in the request form, and before they set out, the receptionist lady had specifically reminded them.
If they wanted to blame the Guild over this, the Guild wouldn’t accept their complaint.
“That’s not the problem.”
“It’s not?”
If it wasn’t the Silvermoon Wolf King, there shouldn’t be anything else in that forest that could threaten them.
But looking at the still-shaken expressions on the others’ faces and the party’s loss of a member, if it wasn’t the Silvermoon Wolf King, then it must have been something unexpected in that exploration area—something they couldn’t handle, which led to the loss.
“It’s all recorded in there. See for yourself.”
With that, the hot-tempered adventurer pointed at the memory crystal in the receptionist lady’s hand.
“After you’ve watched it, we need an explanation. This is a serious error in the Guild’s risk assessment for the mission. How could a C-rank request have us run into that kind of monster?!”
Seeing the adventurer nearly raise his fist to slam it on the counter again, the receptionist lady frowned slightly and looked down at the memory crystal in her hand.
What on earth had they run into that made this adventurer so agitated, convinced that the Guild’s risk assessment was at fault, and even wanting an explanation from the Guild?
It was well-known that exploration requests always came with unpredictable risks.
That was why the reward for such tasks was a bit higher than usual.
Before adventurers accepted such missions, the Guild would always inform them in advance that unexpected situations could occur during the mission.
Well then, she would take a look now, to see what sort of accident had taken place to make this adventurer come demanding an explanation.
She activated the memory crystal in her hand, and soon, a moving scene appeared before the receptionist’s eyes. Everything was normal at first, but when the scene reached a clearing among the dead-leaf forest, the picture began to shake.
It seemed to be because the recorder had seen something terrifying, and their hands were trembling, causing the footage to shake.
The view inside the image still looked normal; nothing seemed present that could terrify the recorder… Wait, what was that?
She noticed something abruptly out of place: at the center of the blackened clearing, a pitch-black anomaly was taking root.
It looked as if it had been formed by the condensation of deep, endless shadow, twisted and grotesque in shape. Jagged branches writhed upwards, but their tips drooped downward in a bizarre fashion. This anomaly wasn’t large—perhaps because it had just appeared—about the height of a six or seven-year-old child, resembling a stunted, malformed sapling.
Even through the recording, she could feel the oppressive, suffocating aura of death and foreboding that threatened to overflow.
Centered around the anomaly, the ground had also changed.
Some kind of viscous, seemingly living black liquid was constantly seeping up from beneath the earth, silently corroding the original soil. Wherever the black fluid spread, all traces of life were devoured, leaving only a chilling deadness behind.
The once lively Guild hall fell into utter silence as everyone watched the footage.
“Wh…what’s that?”
From within the crowd, someone’s startled voice broke the silence. Soon, another spoke up, confirming that the guess was correct.
“That’s an Abyssal Nest.”
“Why is it there? Why is it so close to Anvil City?”
Shock swept through the crowd, quickly followed by a cry of terror that spread to everyone in the Guild.
“This has to be fake…”
“You’ve got to be kidding, how could that thing show up nearby?”
“Run. We have to run. Now.”
In an instant, panic became the dominant mood throughout the entire Guild.
Even though, from the image, it appeared to be just a newborn, small-scale nest, everyone present knew what its appearance meant.
The Abyss had set its sights on Anvil City.
As long as the nest remained, it would continue to corrode and transform the surrounding area, spawning all manner of Abyssal Avatars from within. From now on, Anvil City’s sporadic troubles from the Abyss would escalate into continuous, ever-growing waves of frenzied attacks.
Not until every living thing within Anvil City was utterly devoured would the Abyss cease its assault on this town and turn its attention to the next.
The receptionist lady was so frightened she couldn’t speak. This was no situation she could handle.
Right now, there was no time to mourn for Yuuri, who had taken the Silvermoon Wolf King subjugation request. All she could do was clutch the memory crystal and bow deeply to the adventurers before her. “Thank you for your discovery. The matter is urgent—your compensation will be distributed later.”
With that, she rushed off toward the Guildmaster’s office.
For now, all she could do was report this to the Guildmaster and let them make the decision.
She’d thought that the relentless incursions of the past few days had been bad enough, but it turned out that was just the beginning. Now even a nest had appeared to the west of Anvil City. What would become of Anvil City from now on?
*****
At the same time, Yuuri—who had left the Guild a while ago—had no idea what was happening there.
Nor did she know what she would face after leaving the city and heading to the request location.
Before leaving the city, she first made a stop at the blacksmith’s workshop, where she’d left something very important.
For this mission, it would be extremely useful.
Yuuri arrived a bit earlier than scheduled. She had thought the grappling hook upgrade wouldn’t be finished until noon, but when she reached the shop, the craftsman had already completed the enhancement.
After recognizing her, the craftsman left his workbench and handed her the grappling hook device.
“Here you go, lass. Your equipment.
As you asked, I reinforced the drive mechanism and cable retrieval assembly. The hook itself is now forged from solid refined iron—it’ll be much harder to wear down.”
“Eh? I only asked you to polish it…”
Hearing that the craftsman had reforged the hook using stronger refined iron left Yuuri dumbfounded. She hadn’t requested anything like that—and with a purse as empty as hers, there was no way she could afford the extra material cost.
“Think of it as my gift to you.”
The craftsman waved his hand, his face showing a hint of regret.
“Eh?”
Yuuri was stunned again, three words slowly surfacing in her mind.
Why is that?
“After all, your brother… he was a true genius.” The old craftsman’s voice turned low and wistful.
“To design something like this—what a prodigy. And now he’s… ah, what a shame. I’d hoped to learn a thing or two from him. Take it—consider it a token of my respect.”
As he spoke, the blacksmith brought out two more spare hooks, also forged from refined iron, along with the newly polished short blade, and handed them all to Yuuri.
“Don’t forget these, either.”
“Thank you…”
Yuuri stared blankly at the items in her hands, momentarily at a loss for words.
She had spent so long hiding and evading others, accustomed to cold stares and suspicion. For the first time, she felt such genuine, simple kindness from a stranger.
Hugging the items to her chest, her thoughts became a tangled mess, and all she could do was keep repeating that feeble phrase of gratitude.
“There’s no need to thank me. If anyone deserves your thanks, it’s that genius brother of yours who left these behind.”
With those words, the blacksmith returned to his workbench and resumed forging.
Yuuri opened her mouth, but in the end, simply hugged her things and left the blacksmith’s shop.
Just then, the craftsman’s hammering paused slightly, and his gaze followed the figure as she walked away.
“Lass, whatever happens—don’t die.”