[Forgotten Journal]
That you are reading this means you have presently reached the entrance to the Disaster-class dungeon [Swamp of the Abyss].
This is the root cause that made the two hundred thousand people of the old Grimwald county vanish in a single week.
After the disaster the imperial court recovered part of the surviving Lionheart Knight Order and the Third Princess, and sealed this region.
But from time to time, for reasons unknown, people like you arrive in this region.
Do not panic. Carry out the following ten instructions.
1. You are alone. Never respond to a voice.
2. Never respond to a voice.
3. If the sun has set, dig into the ground and lie there like a corpse. It will at least raise your chances of survival.
4. You must not head for the old county. The citizens there are not human.
5. If the sun is up, find the shelter near the dungeon entrance. You must go inside and lock the door.
6. Do not ignore a knock. You cannot hide the sound of your breathing from them.
7. In the case of a screaming woman, answer politely: "My lord has gone out to inspect the town."
8. In the case of an angry middle-aged man, answer: "Nothing to report on duty, Platoon Leader."
9. If you hear a grotesque voice asking for meat, unfortunately, good luck.
10. The method of escape is as follows. From the shelter, ■■ hours ■■■■ ■■ ■■
Come out? Immediat@ely. The c!ounty## is safe. Follow the voice
11. Come out.
12. Come out
13. Come out
14. Now
page 55. Survival Rules for Those Missing in the Swamp of the Abyss
***
"Advance on alert. Do not slow your pace."
With Schnellia at the head, the main body moved back up through the eighth floor.
We ran back along the road we had broken through with such difficulty.
We had already been running long enough to be out of breath.
But we could not stop.
'Tch. The timing was bad.'
What had been on the dungeon's lowest floor was an Outer God's Projection.
A Projection is something like a temporary body that an Outer God, a being of the outer world, uses in order to appear in this one.
'In the original history, that Projection swallowed me.'
Whether the laws of physics are different or whatever it is.
An Outer God seeks a host in order to operate on the continent.
Since I had not become that host, it seemed to have lost patience and gone on a rampage looking for another.
"We must catch it before it climbs any higher. If the reserve unit at the encampment encounters it first."
"They could not beat an Outer God. They would be annihilated."
"Let us hurry."
As we moved back through the eighth floor, traces were found.
A black curse streaked across the floor. Left like footprints, it told us the direction the thing had gone.
And then, about an hour into the run.
"There is something ahead!"
"Halt!"
Something emerged from the shadows.
Three Grimwald knights.
I immediately asked them.
"The supply unit. Hey, did you see anything grotesque on the way down? Something pitch-black, or squirming."
"Yes, that is so."
One knight answered instantly.
Another came toward me and reported.
"There is."
"Where did you encounter it? What was its form?"
Information was desperately needed.
That was when it happened.
"Dunker Grimwald."
Schnellia grabbed my shoulder.
"Your Highness?"
"Do not go closer."
She yanked me back.
Her strength was tremendous.
"What did the supply unit do with the supplies?"
Hearing Schnellia's observation, my head cleared too.
These men.
They had not a single piece of baggage.
"There is."
"Yes, that is so."
The supply unit stared at us expressionlessly.
"There is."
"There is."
Twitch.
Abruptly one eye moved in a grotesque way.
"Minions! Battle stations!"
At Schnellia's shout the area brightened. The knights loosed aura into the swords in their hands.
"There is.There is.Ther isis is."
The knights approached, bending their joints at impossible angles.
No, not knights.
They were now merely aberrations scattering curse, controlled by an Outer God.
"Young Master, stand back."
Charlotte stepped in front of me. Whoosh! She raised wind and formed a defensive wall.
"Hup!"
Schnellia was fast. With a clean trajectory, aura erupted and split a minion in two.
"Uuup, uuuup!"
As its upper body was cut away and fell, the minion made a grotesque sound as though vomiting.
Its body then melted and became a sticky curse that surged at Schnellia.
"Not a chance."
Fwak!
Schnellia's reaction was faster. Pure white radiance burned the black curse away.
The curse poured down and scattered on the floor. In the black puddle, an aberration squirmed unpleasantly.
Seeds.
Good grief. These things are walking disease vectors.
Touch one wrong and you would be eroded on the spot.
"Do not let them get close!"
"Beware the Erosion!"
The knights charged out bravely.
Clusters of light flashed.
—Ssssss......
Soon the pack of minions was left without a trace of form, only black puddles remaining.
"Haah, haah."
The knights were worked up with the fight over.
"Are there any contaminated? Grimwald, check them."
"Yes."
In the previous attempt too our knights had been eroded into minions.
Back then it had been close to zombies.
This was the first time I had seen them try to deceive humans this maliciously.
Shocking, if you want to call it shocking. And we had lost three precious knights besides.
Had the Outer God eroded them directly for them to end up like that?
I ran Diagnose on the knights and reported.
"There are no contaminated. The remains......"
"There is no time to burn them. We advance for now."
The main body moved again.
I looked at the curse puddles, still squirming.
"There was not even a moment to treat them."
Charlotte came over to me.
"Young Master, they were unlucky. They must have encountered the Outer God directly on the upper floor. There was no time to do anything."
"I know. Let us at least pray for their rest."
I pressed my palms together.
"So this is the end of the eroded."
Even in the modern world there are countless diseases that penetrate as far as the mind.
Rabies, commonly known. Viral, it causes acute encephalomyelitis in the central nervous system.
Lyme disease, known for its ticks, induces anxiety disorders and schizophrenia too.
"Vicious."
What is frightening about Erosion is that at present there is no way to overcome it, and above all.
"And malicious."
That it is not a naturally occurring disease, but one spread with intent by beings called Outer Gods.
It makes me angry.
"Young Master."
"Never mind. Let us move out."
***
"The traces are growing thicker. The target is right in front of us."
The scout reported.
The main body had climbed to the sixth floor.
"The situation at the temporary encampment?"
"We have no means of contacting them......"
"We finish it here. Absolutely do not let it slip outside."
"Yes!"
At Schnellia's order the knights answered forcefully.
We walked the passage.
"......"
Crunch, crunch.
There was nothing but the sound of stone fragments crushed under boots.
Every one of us killed even the sound of our breathing and watched all directions with maximum vigilance.
"Caught on detection aura. Approaching within one hundred meters."
At the scout's report Schnellia raised a hand. Everyone halted.
"The direction?"
"Still searching...... huh?"
"What is it?"
The scout's face turned urgent.
"I-It is getting closer! Fifty, thirty, twenty!"
"All hands, scatter!"
Schnellia shouted.
Before the knights could even respond.
—CRAAASH!!
The outer wall collapsed and something swept over the main body.
"We are under attack!"
"Khh!"
Something black swept across our vision in an instant.
When the dust lifted, great holes had been punched through on both sides, and the three knights who had been standing there had vanished without a trace.
"It is the Outer God! The Projection!"
"Where is it attacking from?!"
—CRAAASH!!
Another blow. The main body was cut through the middle. This time five were taken.
'Damn it.'
This time I saw it clearly.
Something like an enormous black octopus leg had swept past, piercing the knights' hearts precisely.
The knights melted away in an instant without even screaming, absorbed into the thing.
'Is it eating humans?'
No.
Thinking about the Outer Gods' behavior patterns, there was clearly another purpose.
'This bastard is looking for a host to parasitize.'
On the continent an Outer God can operate only as a Projection.
Whether it is a strain or simply hard to act, it always goes hunting for a host to fix itself to this world.
Not just anyone becomes a host, it seems. I do not know the suitable conditions.
'Perhaps minions and Apostles are by-products derived from failed attempts to make a host.'
To an Outer God, our knight order's main body would be a well-laid buffet.
Picking one up at a time and going, oh, this one's good, and taking it.
And the tastiest item on the menu here would be.
'Me.'
Since in the original work I became Outer God's host and destroyed the county.
Er, then.
Am I in a bit of danger right now?
"Young Master, get down!"
—CRAAASH!
It was not even bothering to hide anymore. It swung its tentacles openly.
Walls and ceiling collapsed and rubble poured down. Charlotte pulled me into her arms and spread aura overhead.
"Khhh."
"All who can move, come up!"
"Beware falling rocks!"
The knight order raised their heads in confusion.
The passage had completely collapsed.
An enormous cavity appeared.
And only then.
"......Good heavens."
"This is an Outer God?"
"The size, compared to anything we have seen......"
A shadow fell.
Large enough to swallow a decent high-rise in one gulp.
—■■■■■......!
The aberration shrieked like breaking glass.
Countless tentacles connected together to form its body.
"The Outer God Nyalath."
The one that stained the Empire's west with chaos and evil.
The name of the worst of enemies.
"Do not look at the head! Touch a tentacle and you will be eroded. Open the distance and watch for attacks from the floor!"
I gave the order at once. The knights scattered and took position, but.
"Good heavens......"
"There is no way we can beat something like this......"
[Diagnose]
[ASR (acute stress reaction)]
[Cognitive collapse, neurogenic weakness]
[Voluntary action impossible]
......
The knights' willpower was being shaved away in real time.
"Hold the formation. Keep your wits about you!"
Only one.
Only Schnellia shouted, the aura in her eyes never guttering.
—Rumble.
The Outer God twisted its body in response to Schnellia's voice.
In that instant.
'What?'
Its next move seemed to become visible to me.
The trajectory of the tentacle is about to come, vividly.
And the direction it was headed was clear.
"I am not the target."
There was a tastier item laid out for it than me.
Schnellia.
"Tch."
My running and the thing opening its chest to pull out a mass of tentacles happened at the same time.
"Princess!"
Schnellia meant to wrap herself in aura and resist.
But I had an instinct.
She would not withstand that blow.
The Erosion would burrow in at a stroke.
If Schnellia were eroded now, the worst possible outcome would occur.
The Outer God would gain a host far more powerful and lethal than an ordinary person like me.
I would be meeting the final boss before I had even done the tutorial.
"Dodge!"
Thud! With no time to hold back, I threw myself at her with everything I had.
Schnellia's body tilted.
"Grimwald......?! What are you——"
At the same moment, FWAK!
The mass of tentacles ran me through.
Ah, this was not in the plan.
"Grimwald!!"
I could see Schnellia's frantic expression.
At the same time, dozens of tentacle strands tearing out of my body blocked the view.
'Damn it.'
Throwing myself in directly had been a bad choice.
I was in a hurry and overreached.
So in the end, just as in the original work, I am to be devoured by the Outer God and become its host.
Is this my life flashing before my eyes?
Fried chicken...... I want some......
The Erosion burrows in.
Gnawing at my mind, my self gradually disappearing......
......
"Huh?"
I blinked.
"What is this?"
I gathered myself and checked again.
Nothing in particular had happened.
Looking again, the tentacles had failed to invade my body and had been repelled.
"What?"
I turned my head.
The Outer God had frozen too, apparently flustered.
"......Dunker Grimwald?"
A step away I could see Schnellia's face, mouth hanging stupidly open.
"You were not eroded......?"
She blinked over and over as though she could not believe it.
"What happened? No, what on earth......"
"Hm, what is this, really."
I scratched my head.
"That is how it turned out."
I shrugged.