Echoes of Hollow

"Hmm... isn’t this bad? We’ll need to send a report soon, but what will we say if we can't even see them? Let alone hear them..."

"Didn’t I already say you’re free to get closer if you want?"

"Oh, okay, sorry..."

Veins in his partner’s forehead bulged, and with a leap, the man quickly stepped back and turned away, briefly closing his eyes.

"But you’re the one responsible for the report, not me!"

"Alright, fine, I’ll do it! Just shut up already. I think I’m going deaf."

The leaves of the trees rustled, and with nothing but the sound of the wind cutting through, that silent response seemed so precious, leading the man to let out a deep sigh as he smiled and briefly looked away.

"But what...?"

With wide eyes and trembling hands, his fingers moved frantically, yet his mouth couldn’t even express his true desires, let alone the rest of his body. Only one word echoed repeatedly in his mind: ‘Flee! ...I need to flee now!’

Seeing his companion’s state, the man quickly sprang up, turning to whatever had caused such a reaction; blue eyes met his, sending a cold shiver through his bones as sweat began to bead in his hair.

"W-Who are you?!"

A gray mace appeared in his trembling hands, and unlike its intended purpose, it seemed to exert no influence over the beings before him, who walked calmly towards him without any sign of hesitation.

Your instincts fire, alerting you repeatedly. Even being an S-rank, fighting is not an option. With the blue glow approaching, trying to escape is indeed all that remains.

"D-Don’t come closer! Stop! ...Stay away!"

With desperate swings of his arms, thorns appeared around the weapon in his hands, causing Lykos and the one he had brought with him to stop advancing. The pause in their approach brought some relief to the man, enough to make a faint smile appear on his trembling face.

"Th-That’s right! Don’t come closer!"

Sliding his feet on the ground in fear, an incongruous action was taken instinctively by his body. His eyelids fluttered, succumbing to the tremors of the rest of his body, falling over his eyes. After another swing of his mace amidst the darkness, an abnormal pressure was applied to his body, and before his eyes could open again, his head was slammed into the ground, blood spilling onto the soil.

"No, Andreas, we shouldn’t have killed them..."

"Sorry, no, I... I didn’t mean to... I just didn’t think he’d be so weak."

Seeing the red liquid in his palm, with its metallic smell and sticky consistency, something so repugnant... Andreas brought his clean hand to his mouth and, trembling, turned away.

The appearance of the two was so similar to his own that, if not for the difference in their scents, he would never have been able to distinguish them by sight alone. This fact, painted in his mind with the drops dripping from the tips of his fingers moving in a series of constant motions, seemed to form before him a door... the door... with its wood tinted red and its horrifying ability to inhibit his senses, for none of them could hear what was happening in that place... they couldn’t... they didn’t want to...

"W-What... What should I do now, Lykos...? I... I don’t..."

His fingers trembled, and his eyes kept returning to the sprawled body beside him. Seeing this, Lykos observed the corpse for a moment and then sighed. His calm demeanor in the face of such a scene was strange, and he wondered why he was so indifferent. Was it because of the current situation they were in? Or... in his mind, black fur swayed, massive fangs gnashed, and red eyes stared intensely at him, causing a sudden shock and shiver.

"..."

Turning his gaze back to Andreas, he briefly covered his eyes with his fingers before sighing deeply again. Placing his hand on Andreas’s shoulder, Lykos immediately felt the tremor resonating through him.

"Don’t worry, I... I’ll talk to him about this..."

"Lykos, I... thank you..."

"But before going back, take the other one somewhere on the mountain; at least one of them we should take with us."

"Yes, don’t worry, I’ll handle it. I won’t make the same mistake again."

Sighing, Lykos approached the body and crouched down. With the mace in hand, the strange sensation that object imparted was not the only oddity he noticed. After pushing the corpse, he used his hand to clean the spot where the man’s head had been crushed.

"Really... it seems to be... intact?"

No hole or crack, not even a single dent was left in the ground where Andreas had struck with such force. Pulling his fist back, he struck the ground with enough force to easily shatter a large rock, but again, nothing happened.

"This world is really strange. Not only are there portals leading to unknown places, and monsters that can eventually come out to attack this side, but also strange weapons that transform and, apparently, are indestructible...?"

***************

"Mana...?"

With confusion on his face, Arche watched Alyia, who, holding one of the white blocks, began to exhibit a kind of bluish energy in her palm where another block lay. The block changed color to gray and took on a peculiar appearance, like a malleable mass hovering over her palm when it came into contact with the mana.

"Yes, when exposed to mana, blocks can not only change color and shape, but when joined together, they become almost impossible to separate by normal means. This only happens if a creature above rank C makes an effort to destroy them."

The block reshaped itself, returning to its original form, and Alyia, placing the gray block next to the construction wall, let it move on its own to the other blocks and merge with the ground below.

"After mana is imbued in them, they will join with those closest to them, and when placed directly on the ground, they will create a connection with the existing mana and immediately attach themselves to the spot where they are left. So, as blocks placed by one person can only be removed by that person or destroyed by someone strong enough, this has become the best method of securing houses nowadays."

"I see..."

With a white block in hand, Arche tried to mimic what Alyia had done, but for some reason, he failed no matter how hard he tried.

"But this mana... how is it used?"

"Mana...? Well, that is..."

Looking around, Alyia found herself surrounded by curious children who had been gathering for some time. Hesitating with a sheepish smile, she struggled to give an answer, as she wasn’t even sure how to explain to hundreds of beings whose bodies showed no trace of mana surrounding her.