It seemed I'd managed to stop safely.
I lowered the arms that had been clutching my head and tried to stand, only to realize I was already standing.
No damage. The impact had been tremendous, but there was no pain. It looked like I'd survived.
Having steady ground beneath my feet after so long made me queasy enough to vomit, but I somehow held it back.
I shook my head, which was threatening to blank out, and kept myself lucid. Even with the long gap I'd had, I knew full well that losing consciousness inside a Treasure Hall was practically a death sentence.
I dusted off my shoulders with a few pats and took a deep breath.
My heart was still screaming. If I didn't calm it down soon, it felt like it would explode.
My face was still locked in a grimace. But considering I'd seen my life flash before my eyes, getting off with just this was probably a good outcome.
As I thought, the Dark Wings of the Night were an absurdly defective product. The genius who first came up with it must have been as crazy as my childhood friends.
Deceleration should've been the first thing they thought of.
The Phantom I'd used as a cushion had been driven headfirst into the wall.
I hadn't gotten a good look, but there seemed to have been two of them. The Phantoms lay toppled over each other, not moving a muscle.
Having been hit by a human missile from behind, a Level 3 Treasure Hall's Phantoms wouldn't stand a chance. Their thick black armor was badly dented and cracked.
Along the wall lay what must have been their weapons — a massive bow and sword.
Something felt off.
Phantoms.
Everything about them — size, shape, color — was completely different from what I'd expected. What on earth were they?
The Phantoms that appeared in this Treasure Hall were supposed to be wolves, but these ones lying on the ground wore armor so thick that even a superior knight wouldn't carry it. They were a far cry from what I'd imagined, and not in a good way.
Back when I was dragged into a Level 3 Treasure Hall before, the Phantoms had been somewhat... no, considerably weaker than this... But I hadn't been to a Treasure Hall in ages, so maybe this was normal now?
They could also be all flash and no substance. I felt like I was about to throw up.
And then I finally took in my surroundings. My vision, which had been hazy from dizziness, sharpened.
When I'd been flying, I'd had no bandwidth to check where I was going, but this wasn't a corridor — it was a wide-open space.
An impossibly high ceiling for underground, flat floors and walls that couldn't have been carved by wolves, windows that let in light so it wasn't damp and gloomy— If not for the Phantoms, this would've been a great room.
I spotted a familiar figure by the wall.
Tousled black hair and pale cheeks. No visible wounds, but she looked far more worn down than when I'd last seen her at the Clan House.
It was Tino. The Tino I'd accidentally saddled with that weird request.
Beside her were the boy Gilbert and Gregg and the others, all of them barely breathing, staring at me in stunned silence.
"M-Mastaa!?"
"Tino spotted."
Lucky.
...Wait, no, "spotted" isn't the right word.
I'd blurted out a casual greeting in my confusion, but this was a moment that called for a proper apology.
Even though she was unharmed, Tino's face was pale, and fatigue radiated from her in a way that was almost unrecognizable compared to her usual self.
It was clear that this Level 3 Treasure Hall had taken a severe toll on her.
So the time had finally come for me to show my junior the prostration skill.
All I could do was laugh.
Gilbert shouted at me with a desperate expression as I grinned.
"O-hey, old man! Behind you, behind you!"
"Huh?"
I'm not old. I'm a big brother.
That being the first thing that came to mind showed just how thoroughly I'd let the long gap turn me into a peace-brained idiot.
Losing your guard inside a Treasure Hall — no real Hunter would live that down.
I turned around lazily, and what entered my half-witted field of vision was another Phantom of the same type as the ones I'd used as cushions.
A giant Phantom clad in black iron armor. Two of them.
I hadn't noticed when I'd crashed into them, but their heads weren't human — they were wolf heads. And the right half of each was covered by a human skull.
Gleaming blood-red eyes, eerie even in the darkness, glared down at me, the rude intruder who couldn't read the room.
They shook their shoulders, breathing heavily. Thick saliva dripped from their nearly-split palates.
If this were the old me, I would've collapsed on the spot and thrown up just from that stare alone. But with my senses numbed from all the peace-braining, what I felt was a different thought entirely.
Huh, so Level 3s these days bring out ones this big. They've really evolved.
If this is Level 3, what the heck shows up at Level 8? Good thing I stopped going to Treasure Halls.
Past me — truly a genius strategist. A god, maybe?
The wolf knight, carrying a massive iron club that nearly reached the ceiling, took a step back when it saw me grinning. The burly wolf behind it, armed with some kind of heavy firearm, also growled softly and retreated.
Its nose twitched. Those sharp eyes narrowed as it studied me cautiously.
Only then did I finally grasp the situation and drop my grin.
Wait. This... could actually kill me? Am I in trouble?
It wasn't attacking, but there was no way I could beat something that had reduced the promising Hunter Tino to a wreck.
While I desperately racked my brain for a way out, Gregg shouted in a trembling voice: "Impossible... The boss is... scared!?"
...Huh?
"Scared?"
No way. If they were wolves, then I was a sheep.
A sheep whose Mana Material enhancements had mostly worn off, with nothing but a high certified Level to its name.
But even as I stared up at them, the wolf knight took another step back.
Its nose kept twitching up and down, its attention fully shifted away from Tino and the others, locked solely on me.
Sure enough, I could see intense wariness in its eyes.
What about me was it afraid of? Gregg was scarier than me.
I followed its gaze. I noticed where those eyes were directed.
Those crimson eyes weren't aimed at my face — they were aimed at my chest. At the metal capsule hanging from my neck, the one that was supposed to contain the Citri Slime.
I took one step forward. The wolf knight took one step back. Its eyes were trained on me, yet it wasn't looking at me.
Hmm? Wait, what?
A Phantom this big, scared just from seeing a capsule — what on earth did I have in there?
What had I brought with me?
When I closed the distance by one more step, both wolf knights retreated two steps in unison. They'd completely written me off as a poison sheep.
Luck was turning my way. It seemed this wasn't my place to die after all.
Without taking my eyes off the wolf knights, I called out behind me.
I put on a calm front, though my heart was still pounding painfully.
"Tino, can you run?"
"Y-yes... of course!"
She answered with plenty of energy.
There were three paths leading out of this room. The one straight ahead was blocked by the wolf knights.
Even if they were scared of me, there was no guarantee the wolf knights wouldn't eventually conclude "who cares if there's poison." Breaking through two enormous ones was out of the question.
"That one."
I pointed to the nearest path on the right. This wasn't a particularly large Treasure Hall. I should get Tino and the others to rest first, then we'd all push through together.
"Um, Master? Wouldn't it be better to... defeat them?"
Mm-hmm, yeah, you're right. If I could beat them, that would be better.
I could gamble by hurling the Citri Slime and hoping the enemy dropped dead, but staking my life on a Slime I didn't even know the nature of was far too risky.
If it worked while still inside the capsule, I should use it as is.
I sighed and spoke to my cute junior in a teaching tone.
"Tino, you must never mistake what's most important."
"!! That is —"
The most precious thing. It went without saying.
It was — your own life.
A fight where you bet your life was, as far as I was concerned, idiotic.
It was your own responsibility, so if you wanted to do it, go right ahead. But I absolutely never wanted to.
That was when, with a clank, a sound came from somewhere. Tino let out a small cry.
"Ah —"
A shadow fell over my vision. The jet-black armor had closed in right before me.
The wolf knight I'd knocked down by absorbing the human missile had risen and closed the gap in a single step.
By the time I realized, a massive blade — as long as I was tall — was already swinging down from directly above.
A roar loaded with fury and intimidation, along with the stench of beast, flooded every sense. My body went rigid, as if seized.
I couldn't react. I couldn't move a single finger.
The blade descended from above like a guillotine.
A blow that could easily cleave my body in two hurtled toward me— —and was deflected without leaving so much as a scratch.
"...Huh?"
Gregg's voice. The approaching wolf knight's eyes went wide. This was completely unexpected.
It retreated several paces, and in that brief moment, its eyes left its hatred behind and looked down at the sword gripped in both hands.
Then, following a sound like artillery fire, a massive arrow struck my forehead and was deflected just the same.
It seemed not a single one of the Phantoms I'd crashed into was dead.
And they were angry. Understandably so. If someone smashed you into a wall from behind out of nowhere, you'd be furious too.
The bow, the greatsword, and the other two wolf knights all fixed me with murderous stares.
All I could do was smile bitterly. It was the only thing I could manage.
This was — death. I was going to die.
Reaching that conclusion, I finally thought to take counteraction.
I extended my index finger and aimed it at the wolf knights like a gun.
I activated the Treasure Weapon on my left pinky — one of the Finger Shots, the Ring of Rushing Impact.
Blue light flickered at my fingertip, forming a magical bullet.
Just before firing, a hardboiled line popped into my head, and I blurted it out on reflex.
"Too bad. I've got — seventeen lives."
§ Treasure Hunting was a world of talent.
The human body was never meant to visit Treasure Halls brimming with Mana Material, or fight Monsters and Phantoms.
Even in this era of Treasure Hunter adulation, that was the reason the number of Hunters never grew beyond a certain threshold.
My misfortune was that I hadn't realized this until after I'd become a Hunter.
And my luck was that among my childhood friends, I was the only one without talent.
The Party we'd named the Mourning Specter had enough talent to clear Treasure Halls easily even without me.
And the fortune brought back and the reputation accumulated from that had made me just a tiny bit "less terrible."
So I had no talent, no courage, no drive, no dreams, no hope, and no luck — but I was still alive.
The Barrier Ring was a Treasure Weapon ring just as famous as the Finger Shot.
Its effect: when hit by an attack, it automatically deployed a barrier of fixed strength for a fixed duration.
In short... it was a Treasure Weapon that blocked a single attack.
Though they were all called Barrier Rings, their price and rarity varied depending on barrier strength and duration. But because I absolutely did not want to die, I'd bought every ridiculously expensive one I could get my hands on, regardless of strength or duration.
The number I currently had was — seventeen. At a price that could buy two or three clan headquarters buildings.
Normally, even a top-tier Hunter would keep just one as an emergency talisman. No one in the entire imperial capital would regularly equip this many — except maybe me.
Of course, with only ten fingers, I couldn't wear them all, so they were stored in a bag. But their effect still worked. In fact, without them, I'd never be able to use a terrifying Treasure Weapon like the Dark Wings of the Night.
They weren't invincible, of course.
The barrier activation time was one second at most. Usually just an instant.
Once activated, all the charged magic was spent, and the collision with the wall on the way here had already triggered one. A few more solid hits and they'd be done for.
I had to escape before then.
Saying I had seventeen lives was a massive exaggeration.
"—Dodged it."
Ruda shouted. The wolf knight wielding the greatsword reacted swiftly to the blue bullet fired at arrow-like speed.
Aiming for its head, it ducked slightly to evade. The blue bolt shot past overhead — and a thunderous roar shook the cavern.
"!?"
The wolf knight was smashed into the ground by a tremendous impact. The bullet had reversed course the moment it passed and struck the back of its head.
The wolf knights faltered. I didn't look away as I shouted: "Tino, run!"
"!? Y-yes!"
Tino and young Gilbert burst forward as if spring-loaded.
The wolf knights had their eyes only on me and didn't pursue them.
The Finger Shot was a general term for Treasure Weapons that fired magical bullets.
The Ring of Rushing Impact was a Finger Shot that could fire up to seven maximum-charge bullets, each delivering a powerful impact on contact.
But honestly, it was all flashy with almost no real power. The wolf knight that had been knocked to the ground was probably just a little startled.
Finger Shots came in many varieties, but none were powerful enough to actually defeat a Phantasm. At best, they could be used for suppression.
The wolf knight pushed itself up from the ground slowly, one hand braced. As expected — no visible wounds.
The wolves arranged themselves in a fan formation with me at the center. Two in front, two in back — good balance.
That gun of theirs wasn't normal, was it? Full-auto was the worst matchup for me!
They'd actually been scared by the Citri Slime, but the counterattack had tipped the scales toward anger. If I had to guess, their eyes held about ten percent fear, thirty percent rage, thirty percent resentment, and thirty percent caution (rough estimate).
First priority: buy time for Tino to get away. If it was just me, I could always fly one more time.
If I grabbed a weapon, I could at least keep them at bay.
Grinning like an idiot, I reached back to draw my sword Treasure Weapon from its scabbard — and my hand swung through empty air.
I tried to grab it again and again, but all my fingers touched was the crossbow-type Treasure Weapon — the one with trajectory manipulation that had guided the human missile and the magical bullets (the Absolute Bullet Hitter, as I'd named it, despite having absolutely no ability to guarantee a hit).
"Seriously... I dropped it?"
The scabbard was there, but its contents were gone.
I thought back to the journey, but I'd been so focused on minimizing collisions that I couldn't remember when I'd lost it. And it had been expensive.
Well, it wouldn't have been much use in this situation anyway...
The wolf knights were eyeing me warily as I flailed about.
"Master!? What are you —"
Tino, who should have been running, was watching me from the entrance to the path.
It wasn't just Tino — the other members were waiting too. I told you to run!
And "what am I doing" — I wanted to know that myself. What was I trying to do?
Losing a Treasure Weapon inside a Treasure Hall — what was wrong with me? "Unlucky" didn't even begin to cover it. Was I an idiot?
...Yeah, I was just an idiot.
Fine. Time to steel myself. If I didn't do something, we'd all go down together.
"I didn't want to use this, but..."
Half out of sheer frustration, I unclipped the metal capsule from my neck — the one about the size to fit an index finger through.
The wolf knights' eyes went wide, and they retreated several steps as if remembering something.
So they'd been afraid of this all along, not me. I knew it, but still.
If I was going to die anyway, I might as well let everyone get swallowed by whatever insanely dangerous Slime this Citry thing had made. I didn't know the details and didn't want to.
My fingers trembling from tension, I popped the cap off, then peered down into the capsule before throwing it.
"..."
I rubbed my eyes and checked again. I furrowed my brow, then cautiously stuck my index finger inside.
Tino and the others were watching me with worried eyes.
I nodded once, firmly, and screwed the cap back on.
Then, in one big windup, I hurled it toward the wolf knights and fired a shock shot at it simultaneously.
The wolf knights clamored and nimbly pulled back to put distance between themselves.
The moment I confirmed the trajectory-guided magical bullet had landed there, I sprinted toward Tino.
"Tino, hurry!"
Seeing me running toward them, Tino and the others took off at once.
The metal capsule burst open.
The wolf knights were roaring, trying to intimidate us, but I had no time to spare.
I needed to get out before they realized it was empty.
...What was that? Where did the contents go? That was terrifying.