BBYW Vol. 4 Chapter 40 (WN)
Chapter 40 – Grime and Mummies
“Gwoh…!”
Along with the light, an intense stench flowed towards us. I pinched my nose to resist somehow, and inquired about it.
“What the hell is this!? The smell of corpses? No…this is…”
“M-My apologies. I did not tell you where the passage leads to.”
Jaar replied, he too was pinching his nose.
“We are in the fort’s latrines. It will smell a bit, but please endure it.”
Of all places, the secret passage led to the fort’s toilet.
Holding my nose in order to suppress the stench as much as possible, I continued climbing up. The place we emerged from was indeed a latrine built with wood: the hole used to throw away excrement doubled as secret passage.
“You’re gonna pay for this, old man Sphinx…!! So this is why you put me in charge of this operation…!!!”
“I have no words to apologize…I believe the Lord bears no ill will…”
“That doesn’t mean he can be let off the hook…that old man definitely has a bone to pick with me…”
However, what kind of bone would make him decide to send the leader of the reinforcements that saved his territory through a shithole?
I must have at least stolen one of his most precious treasures to deserve something like this.
I pushed away Jaar, who was still apologizing, got out of the toilet and threw away my coat.
“Aaah, damnit!! It still smells like shit!”
“I will make sure there is a bath ready as soon as we return…Sir Maxwell!!”
“What?”
“GWOAARRR!!!”
Jaar shouted, with surprise in his voice. At the same time, a large mummy attacked me from behind.
I caught the creature’s wide open jaws and twisted its neck. With a dull snap, the monster turned into sand, which fell on my body like a shower.
“Well, better than piss and shit, at least. I’m more used to this kind of smell.”
Thanks to the shower of mummy remains, the smell of the latrine was slightly suppressed; more precisely, it was covered by the stench of death.
“…impressive. The ‘Prodigy of House Maxwell’ moniker was not for show, it seems.”
“Keep your praise for after I take down that Lord class or whatever. You’re the guide, do your job now.”
“Certainly…”
Jaar nodded and led us down a corridor.
We could hear the noise of conflict from outside: it seemed like the main force had started their diversion. Thanks to that, we could advance without encountering much resistance.
I called out to Jaar.
“Where’s the Lord class? There’s also the possibility it went outside.”
“Indeed…let us search inside first, then climb on the walls. I think we should check the commander’s room first…”
As soon as he finished talking, a pack of undead emerged from the corner. They probably felt our presence and returned inside the fort: there were more and more creatures behind them.
“Tch…! There’s still this many!?”
“The Lord class might have placed them here as guards! Which means that ahead…”
“There are enemies behind us too!”
“What!?”
I turned back towards the soldier’s voice and saw another group of undead, coming up the corridor we had been walking through.
Undead in front, undead in the back. It was a perfect pincer attack.
“Please keep being forward, Sir!! We will take care of them!!”
The adventurers and Sphinx soldiers pointed their weapons and the creatures.
“There’s no other way…! You’re in charge!”
“Let us pierce through the enemies in front and rush to the commander’s office! Please follow me!”
Jaar slashed through the zombies in front. As expected of Valon’s vice commander, his sword arm was rather sharp.
“Follow me…? Hah, you better make sure you won’t get left behind instead!”
I shouted as I unsheathed and swung my Herakles.
Several zombies were turned into dust by the slash. I rushed down the corridor, to catch up with Jaar.