Episode 15 – The Gargoyle II
It's not that Nada was emotionless.
If you take enough verbal abuse, your heart wears down.
He was just a human whose heart was only slightly tougher than others.
“Kahh!”
Nada tightened his core as if to sweep away the murk that had surfaced.
But his focus had already been stolen.
Noise echoed inside his head.
“—Hey, hey, is it true that Vinya’s Great Tree is just waiting for the chance to quit being an adventurer? Great—one less pest at the academy.”
His thoughts wouldn’t stop.
He should be watching the gargoyle, yet his gaze kept being dragged around like debris in a raging current.
The gargoyle charged at him.
Nada dodged sideways, but it extended its glaive toward him. Nada’s reaction was late—its blow struck his torso. He rolled across the ground.
A gut-wrenching pain twisted his organs. If only this pain could clear his mind.
That’s what he thought—unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.
“—It’ll feel so refreshing once he’s gone from Aghiya.”
The murk didn’t fade.
If anything, it grew thicker.
Nada stood up and tried to force the murk out of his head by shouting from the pit of his stomach.
“Haaah!”
But it didn’t disappear.
Why are their voices replaying now, of all times? He thought as he looked at the gargoyle.
The gargoyle had already closed the distance.
The glaive overhead gleamed. Nada desperately dodged sideways again.
Shards of shattered floor scraped fresh wounds across his body, and without pause, the rebounding gargoyle’s glaive slammed into Nada’s right shoulder.
His armor saved him from a fatal hit—but the glaive still left deep gouges in the metal.
Suppressing the pain, Nada staggered back to widen the distance and gulped down another healing potion to deceive his body a little longer.
At the same time, he desperately tried to silence the noise in his head—but it wouldn’t stop. It grew louder. He couldn’t even properly see the gargoyle. Even when he looked straight at it, the image blurred, as if tears were clouding his vision.
“—Ahaha, if he dies, everyone will be happier. Does he even have the right to live?”
The gargoyle closed in on the staggering Nada. Its wings beat the air as it flew low to the ground, adding a twist to its body, spiraling as it attacked.
Nada tried to leap sideways to escape, but the wide sweep of that glaive couldn’t be avoided.
A slash cut across his torso.
Gasping, he widened the distance once more.
While steadying his breath, he tried to check whether his organs were still intact—but it didn’t seem he had the luxury.
The gargoyle had already ascended into the air.
Nada had seen this sight before.
The next moment, just as expected, the gargoyle dropped crystalline icicles from above.
Nada clicked his tongue.
Because he had no throwing knives left.
He had no choice but to dodge—but the gargoyle didn’t drop icicles directly above him. Instead, it aimed at the surrounding ones.
What is it aiming for? Nada wondered as he kept his attention fixed on the gargoyle lurking overhead.
“—The priest told me everyone has a purpose in life, but looking at him… I’m starting to think that’s not true. Just seeing him makes me sick.”
Nada’s thoughts were invaded by the past for just a moment.
His attention slipped away from the gargoyle.
In that instant, a deafening crack rang out as the crystal above Nada’s head was smashed at the base by the gargoyle’s glaive, and shards rained down like a downpour.
Nada reacted late and threw himself backward to escape.
Several of the falling crystals chased after him, forcing him to keep rolling desperately to evade them.
“Where is it!?”
Driven into a corner with his back against the wall, Nada couldn’t see the gargoyle at all; the creature’s figure was completely concealed behind the countless crystal fragments drifting down like diamond dust, glittering like droplets of sunlight.
Keeping his back to the wall, he strained to move only his head, scanning the surroundings as hard as he could, but the beast’s massive frame never entered his field of vision.
Then Nada heard the sound of slicing wind.
Above him.
Just like the countless crystals that had dropped moments ago, the gargoyle descended.
Nada quickly turned his crescent blade sideways to block the glaive, but the gargoyle’s weight crushed down on him, slamming him onto his backside hard. The heavy crescent blade was driven deep into his chest. Without missing a beat, the gargoyle raised its glaive again, aiming to split Nada’s skull open.
But in that momentary gap, Nada snatched a paralysis drug from the pouch at his waist. It was contained in a small leather bag, and he used his teeth to tear the opening open, then flung the pepper-like powder inside straight into the gargoyle’s face. The powder burst apart instantly and got into the gargoyle’s eyes and mouth.
The gargoyle stopped its attack, stumbling back several steps with both hands clamped over its face.
Nada sprang up in that moment and swung the crescent blade in a desperate strike, but the gargoyle’s unpredictable, flailing arms—driven by its shrieking agony—knocked his attack aside.
“—I heard being near that Vinya’s Great Tree will get you cursed. Apparently, even the gods hate him. Honestly, it’d be better if he just died.”
A follow-up kick struck Nada, pushing him back several steps.
For a moment, Nada’s vision blurred.
By the time the gargoyle finally seemed to grow accustomed to the pain, its cries had grown quieter, and it lowered its hands from its face.
Nada had already drunk another potion, adjusted his body’s condition, and was charging toward the gargoyle from the right. A full-force, all-out downward strike. It connected.
It connected—he felt clearly that it struck and tore into the gargoyle’s flesh—but it hit the creature’s right wing. He had only cut through the membrane.
Black blood sprayed shallowly, but it wasn’t fatal.
If anything, it steadied the gargoyle, which swung its glaive in a wide arc.
The blade targeted Nada’s abdomen with vicious precision, so he stepped in even further, jamming the weapon’s shaft deep into his side.
His body was flung about two meters. Whether because the blow dug into his liver or simply from shock, oxygen failed to reach his body properly, and Nada dropped to one knee, gasping soundlessly.
The gargoyle spread its legs wide and swung its glaive at him again.
This time, the gargoyle’s stroke was too rough, striking his waist and sending him flying. Nada rolled helplessly across the floor, barely managing to keep hold of his crescent blade.
As the gargoyle approached once more, Nada pulled out his liquid paralysis drug and hurled it at the monster.
The gargoyle shrieked again, thrashing wildly.
Like the powder, this kind of drug was something adventurers generally hated using—too expensive, too situational, and offering no direct damage. If he hadn’t set his mind on killing the gargoyle, Nada thought, he’d never have used such costly items knowing it would put him in the red.
With the gargoyle writhing in agony, Nada took out his last healing potion, gulped it down in big swallows, and poured the rest over his body. The potion stung the countless wounds he had accumulated, but Nada simply gritted his teeth and endured. Using the crescent blade like a cane, he pushed himself back to his feet.
Nada’s vision was hazy.
Pain was clouding his consciousness.
Even so, he stood—likely out of sheer habit born from past experience.
He no longer even understood why he was fighting the gargoyle.
Why was he suffering so much? Leaning on the crescent blade for support, Nada nearly collapsed.
Why had he even decided to kill the gargoyle in the first place? Even that purpose was fading into murk.
No—everything before his eyes felt dreamlike, while past events began to blur together with the present.
The countless drops of darkness that had fallen upon Nada time and time again resurfaced in his ears like a curse.
“—That guy, isn’t he going to quit the academy soon?”
He had heard similar words so many times that he no longer remembered the count.
They’d been saying that ever since about a year after he entered the academy.
He was the only one who failed to manifest the Unique Skill One-Off Ability. He never received a divine blessing—a Gift.
Just that alone branded him a failure as an adventurer in Larva Academy. Naturally, there were several others in his year who were the same as Nada, and all of them left the academy.
The fact that he still hadn’t quit was unusual for a student. Nada had even heard that some of his classmates used to bet on when he would finally leave.
Why was he still continuing as an adventurer? Nada still had no clear answer to that question.
“—Thank you. You know, I want to conquer as many dungeons as that person did. And… I want to leave something behind too, something like a dragon’s claw.”
Another set of words resurfaced in Nada’s mind.
In a way, he had envied those words.
He had no dreams or goals of his own.
Continuing as an adventurer was just inertia. He had nothing else he wanted to be, and he’d never once thought “I want to become an adventurer” at any point in his life.
“—Hm? Anri? Well, a letter came recently, and it sounds like my dad back in the countryside, got sick… He looked fine when he saw me off from the village, though…”
Nada barely had any warm memories or exchanges with his own family left in his head.
Let alone sending money back home—he’d never even considered the idea.
What remained to him were only the dark dungeons, the ear-splitting roars of monsters, the smell of blood and iron, and the weight of heavy weapons.
If there was anything “warm,” it was the lukewarm feel of blood—no matter how many times he washed his hands, that sensation never left.
It was as if he lived deep underground, in a dark burrow like a mole.
For Nada, the closest thing to comfort was the hard feeling of his bed when he lay down to sleep.
Even that had recently been invaded by nightmares.
He didn’t have the kind of strong mind that could shake them off and dive into dungeons undeterred.
That was why, like this, he was seeing the continuation of his nightmares in reality.
“—It seems you do not possess the aptitude for the One-Off Ability.”
Shut up, Nada screamed inside.
It was a death sentence he had heard countless times.
It remained like a trauma burned into him.
“—That guy’s trying to get close to Miss Iris, right? Did he bribe her? Rumor says he’s the son of some local nouveau-riche noble. Probably threw dirty money at her.”
When he first joined Aghiya, he heard countless insults like that.
Even though he had no such money.
Even though he had never tried to curry favor with anyone.
Nada thought Iris was being eccentric when she recommended him. Otherwise, there was no advantage to letting him join.
He’d known Iris for about five years now, but there were parts of her he still couldn’t grasp. Aghiya was the same—sometimes they forced their way through with some irrational, subjective sense they carried.
“—Hey, I heard he finally quit Aghiya.”
Lately, he’d been hearing that one the most.
Was everyone really that happy I left Aghiya? Was it that big a topic? Nada wondered.
All that happened was that some no-name adventurer from one of the academy’s countless parties left.
He wished everyone would just leave him alone.
He genuinely wished it.
Men’s voices were noisy.
Women’s voices were noisy.
He didn’t want to hear insults directed at him.
But Nada remembered all of them clearly.
They were burned into his mind.
Like a burn scar that would never fade.
“—He’s still carrying that stupid weapon. I laughed the last time I saw it. Having such a big weapon in a party is just a nuisance.”
Shut up.
Nada heard the hallucination.
“—I heard he’s got a hobby of torturing little kids. Leaves tons of knife cuts on them and enjoys watching them slowly weaken.”
Shut up.
Nada muttered like he was losing his mind.
But the voices didn’t stop.
If anything, they rang clearer than ever—sharper, more vivid, echoing inside his skull as if the speakers were right beside him, filling his head again and again.
“—Looks like that Vinya's Great Tree finally got kicked out.”
“—Just looking at that guy’s face feels like he’s gonna knock you up.”
“—Gifts are granted naturally if your affinity is good. If not, that means your affinity is poor.”
“—No Gift, not even a One-off ability. And it’s not like he’s particularly good with martial skills either. We don’t need someone like that in this party.”
“—Yeah. The one I’m aiming for is Lord Adamas.”
“—Heard he’s still pretending to be an adventurer. Even after being kicked out, he’s pathetically trying his best.”
“—I heard being near that Vinya’s Great Tree will get you cursed. Apparently, even the gods hate him. Honestly, it’d be better if he just died…”
“––––SHUT THE HELL UP!! Just disappear already!!!”
With a roar, Nada slammed the butt spike of his crescent blade into the ground.
The shock running up his arm and the force of his own shout helped peel back the black emotions smothering his head, letting a little clarity return.
Thoughts bloomed like bright flowers.
Right.
He wasn’t like them.
He never became an adventurer because he wanted to.
He wasn’t ambitious like Reaon, dreaming of making a name for himself at the Academy, becoming a top-tier adventurer, then rising to nobility. Not once had Nada ever thought of such things.
He didn’t aspire to be a hero like Cain either. He’d never admired Adamas, never admired any hero at all. Such figures were nothing more than fairy tales to Nada.
And unlike Kuuri, he wasn’t here to earn money for his family. The money he made was for himself, and that’s why he went into the dungeon.
There was only one reason he had become an adventurer.
—To survive.
This was the only path left to him.
He had no home to return to, unlike others. And even if he did return, he’d just be used like a rag again, worked until he broke. And once he could no longer work, or when the crops ran thin, he’d be the first one thrown out. Nada had no intention—none—of going back to that life.
Find another path?
What path was left?
He wasn’t educated—far from it. He still messed up simple arithmetic. Nobody in any merchant guild would hire someone like him.
So what then, move to another village and become a farmer? As if. Villages like that were closed off, cold toward outsiders. Nada knew that better than anyone—he’d grown up in one. And the fate of an outsider there? No different from what awaited him if he returned to his own village.
Then what—become an assassin? A mercenary? Someone’s bodyguard?
No thanks. Nada didn’t want to risk his life for someone else, nor did he want to throw himself into grim, lopsided work like assassinations or mercenary fighting.
That was why he clung to the only road left: adventuring.
No Ability, no Gift, no trustworthy companions.
But in this world, you could survive with nothing but your own strength.
—As long as I kept fighting, I could keep living.
He could eat his daily bowl of terrible oatmeal and sleep in a hard bed.
To maintain that life and keep diving into the dungeon in peace, the gargoyle was an obstacle.
He knew the gargoyle stayed in this area. He also knew that if he avoided it, he could go back to exploring the dungeon as usual.
But Nada wasn’t someone who could stomach that.
He knew he wasn’t smart.
Even if this battle had nothing to do with his everyday survival, Nada wanted to win—because he’d finally found meaning in living as an adventurer.
“So I’ll swear it again—this time for real. I’m going to kill you.”
He pointed the blade of his killing intent straight at his enemy.
The gargoyle, its paralysis seemingly gone, stood calmly atop the stone of the dungeon. A dull, gleaming blade rested in its hand.
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