Hero Party After the Nuclear War

Chapter 15

Dodo. Dodododo. Dodot.

Alternating between the keyboard of the terminal and the summoner on his left hand, Dante was absorbed in hacking the security gate terminal, but when things didn't go well, he tilted his head this way and that, frowning.

While assessing a person's actual 'intelligence level' with a simple number is quite difficult, Dante's intelligence is 3 according to the status system set by the summoner.

The average human common sense level is 5, and hacking requires at least that level. Even with the support of the Servants, hacking a terminal from an ancient civilization was excessively difficult for Dante, whose intelligence was inherently low.

After groaning for a while, Dante, seemingly frustrated, slammed the keyboard sticking out from under the terminal with his palm, drew his pistol from the holster, pointed the muzzle at the screen, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

"Uwaaah!!!"

"No. I'm not doing it. Impossible. I'm not doing it. I knew it, I'm not cut out for this kind of thing."

"Still, wasn't it a bit much to break it? I could've at least tried once."

Dante sighed and shook his head side to side.

"Do you know the password here? Do you have an ID card?"

"Well, uh. If I were confident, I would've volunteered to try operating the terminal first, right?"

Swallowing the thought, 'With Mr. Dante's level of intelligence, wouldn't it be much more likely for me to succeed?', she glanced at the half-broken terminal screen.

Since the barrier installed by the previous Hero party's mage was still active, even though the bullet hit the screen directly, it only left a slight crack, and the machine itself remained intact.

"Let's see... I don't know the code. But maybe I can find a bypass."

"Can't we just blow it open with explosives?"

"It's a structure that survived a nuclear explosion. I don't think simple magic or bombs can break through. The only reason we were able to infiltrate from the outside was because the outer barrier was damaged by the nuclear blast. It wasn't because the explosive force was enough."

"That's... Hmm. Makes sense."

Saying that, Dante stared at the unresponsive screen next to Eris and found a menu accessible with general clearance labeled 'underground ventilation facility'.

"Maybe we can get inside through the ventilation shaft door."

"Um... this isn't a movie. Even in large underground facilities, they don't usually make the ventilation ducts big enough for people to go through."

"I never said I was the one going in."

Dante clicked the dial on the summoner and switched the equipped Servant from Ranger to another one. Appearing with a burst of sparkling Fairy Dust was Pixie, a Servant he personally favored.

While other summoners firmly drew the line, saying such weak Servants were unnecessary and useless, and rarely included them in their entries, Dante was different.

Pixie might be weaker compared to other formidable Phantoms, Heroic Spirits, Evil Spirits, and Divine Spirits. If you compare Pixie to Leviathan, which ranks among the strongest in terms of combat power among his Servants, the answer becomes obvious.

But precisely because of that, by employing Pixie—whom no one else would ever consider including—he could devise unexpected tactics or overcome unforeseen situations.

"Pixie."

[My darling! Did you call me?]

"Do you see the ventilation shaft next to you? Could you go through there and open the door on the other side?"

[Okay! Leave it to me.]

If a human with a large frame couldn't enter, then Pixie, a small fairy, should be able to move freely. As Dante shot open the screw-fixed ventilation shaft door, Pixie dashed inside, lighting the way as she advanced.

"So this is how you've been handling things until now."

"I'm not very smart. I need to rely on the Servants' help as much as I can."

Eris, who seemed to have glimpsed a bit of the secret behind how Dante had managed to survive as a Raven in this harsh wasteland and even rise to the high position of Silver Rank, waited for Pixie to open the door.

Then, after a moment of clattering keyboard sounds coming from behind the door, Pixie, who had operated the terminal on the other side, opened the security gate.

"Nice."

Once inside, what came into view were scattered materials used for various magical experiments. And gigantic test tubes that looked big enough to fit several people.

And then.

In one corner of Dante's field of vision, a brutally shattered test tube caught his eye. At a glance, it didn't seem to be for holding ordinary experimental fluid or simple objects.

And at that moment, as if confirming his suspicion, a writhing monster suddenly appeared from the corner of Dante's vision and leapt toward his neck.

It barely maintained a humanoid form but wasn't a zombie. Reflexively, Dante drew a machete from his waist and, just before the monster could bite his neck, shoved the blade into its mouth instead. He then kicked it away and shot it clean in the head with his M4.

[Grr... Ruu... Weeeh...]

"Eek...!!"

At the sudden appearance of the monster, Eris was so frightened she fell backward.

[S-sorry, Dante. I didn't know something like that was in here...]

"It's okay."

Accepting Pixie's apology, Dante grabbed the monster's neck that he had just taken down and, to prevent any further risk, carefully severed and separated the head with his machete.

And then.

"W-what... what is this?"

That such a grotesque monster would come from a mage's lab... Eris, unable to believe that the elegant and beautiful mage had conducted such inhumane experiments underground, breathed heavily in shock.

"The summoner's Geiger Counter suddenly spiked like crazy... Aha. I get it now."

Looking at the horrific humanoid monster before him, Dante grimaced. He didn't need anyone else to explain what this facility had been for.

"...So being part of a Hero party didn't necessarily mean they were noble."

Dante carefully examined the face of the monster he had just cut down. Its skeletal structure was so distorted and the flesh so melted and corrupted that hardly any original shape remained.

"This is a Demon. Looks like the mage from that Hero party you mentioned was conducting some kind of human experimentation using Demons in this underground facility."

"Human experimentation? T-that's absurd. Don't say such ridiculous things."

"See that test tube over there? Apparently, humans 200 years ago knew that exposing mana to radiation creates Maso. They locked residents who had been happily living in the Demon Realm into those test tubes and continuously exposed them to Maso. They were studying the effects of Maso on the human body."

"That's impossible! If such experiments were happening, why didn't I know? I only learned about the concept of Maso after I woke up from sleep."

"That's..."

Dante couldn't explain beyond that, but it was a guess based on a piece of knowledge he had.

"I can't really explain it either. But do you know what happens to humans or Demons when they're exposed to Maso?"

"...Don't they become zombies?"

"Right. Usually they develop 'Maso Syndrome'... and either become a Nightwalker, or if they get exposed to even more Maso, they turn into monsters so horrific that a Nightwalker would look like an angel in comparison. But sometimes, there are people who can endure that level of Maso exposure.

Those people can sometimes use magic even without a summoner or a separate Spirit implanted in their body. They're called Psychers. I wonder if they were researching Psychers here."

"....."

At Dante's words, Eris was left speechless.

The Demon mutated by sudden Maso exposure. The various experimental facilities scattered around. The constant ticking of the Geiger Counter from Dante's summoner.

Doubt began to grow in her heart. Was the Hero she trusted and followed truly a savior who appeared to save the Human World... or a butcher who invaded and slaughtered the innocent Demon Realm?

"Let's quickly go get the Holy Sword."

As Eris spoke with mixed emotions, Dante calmly looked around the lab to see if there was anything worth taking. In ruins like this, there were often valuable things that could fetch a high price at auction, so since he'd risked his life to come this far, he figured he might as well grab what he could.

Though it was only speculation, Dante, leaving the disheartened Eris behind after learning the dark side of the Hero party, realized through his summoner that there was a hidden room nearby. He ran his hand along the wall, searching for the terminal's switch.

"Heave-ho."

As the door stuttered open, what he saw inside the room was...

Something far more horrifying than the truth about the Hero party he had just discovered. In the room hidden in the corner of the lab were dozens of Cryo Pods—the same kind he had seen at the Magi-Tech Research Facility where he first met Eris.

And inside them...

"...Sh...it. What... what the... what is this..."

Dozens of Cryo Pods.

Inside them...

'Dozens of Erises' were frozen solid, preserved just like that in the Cryo Pods.

No, 'preserved' is the wrong word. It seemed the cooling system had malfunctioned for some reason, and they were completely frozen to death inside the Cryo Pods.

Cold sweat trickled down Dante's back, who always maintained composure and calm. As if he had glimpsed behind the curtain of a tragedy he was never meant to see, he slowly tried to organize everything he knew about Eris in his mind.

'Guide of the Hero.'

'Fairy.'

'A magic user with an implanted Spirit in her body.'

Several key terms quickly flashed through Dante's head. After that, afraid that Eris might break down upon seeing this scene, he deliberately made no loud noise and securely locked the door.

Then he connected his summoner to the terminal operating inside the room, downloaded all the data from the lab, and immediately deleted it all.

Dante, who escaped the room as if fleeing, swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"Mr. Dante? You don't look so well. Are you... okay?"

"Hm? Ahhh. Yeah! Yeah. I'm fine. Let's go."

Thinking it best to quickly grab the damn Holy Sword that bastard Hero had wielded and get out of here, Dante opened the gate in front of Eris to reveal a passage leading directly to the underground tunnel.

"Do you know where the Holy Sword is?"

When Dante asked, Eris, who had closed her eyes tightly for a moment, pointed upward with her finger.

"I think we need to go up a bit. This place is too deep."

"Got it."

Following Eris's words, Dante finally found the stairs leading upward from the mage's underground lab. After confirming again that there were no reactions from Spirits, monsters, or golems nearby, he resumed tracking the whereabouts of the Holy Sword once wielded by the Hero.

And at last, Dante was able to find the Holy Sword of the Hero. It wasn't even heavily guarded. It was just lying on the floor of a building buried in rubble, the kind of place you'd find anywhere in the Red Grave wasteland, with a massive mechanical device embedded in the ground.

It was definitely not something an ordinary person could wield.

The overall blade was almost as big as a human, a greatsword larger than a claymore. Having been left untouched for 200 years, it was covered in thick dust and, of course, the blade was dulled. A faint light flickered on the small mechanical device attached to the sword.

"Is this the Holy Sword?"

"...That's strange. This... doesn't look like the one. The Holy Sword the Hero used was small enough to wear on the waist."

"I heard it from McKinsey. Apparently, there was more than one Hero. So, it's said that Holy Weapons are buried all over the place. Anyway, I guess we just take this one, right?"

Dante glanced behind his back, then switched out the Servant he had equipped. Although it was unclear what he changed it to, Eris concluded that he must have swapped to a Servant with high Strength Stat to lift the oversized Holy Sword, which was practically a giant chunk of metal.

"I'll help you. The Security Mechanism might activate."

"You won't know until you try it yourself."

Just as Dante briefly spoke and reached for the Holy Sword—

Whiik!!

A shuriken sliced fiercely through the air from the end of the corridor and lodged itself straight into Dante's neck.

"Guh..."

Before Eris could even react, Dante, who had been struck by the shuriken, belatedly turned to look behind him—but it was already too late. There stood a crow ninja, slowly emerging from the dark shadow, smiling.

"Do-mō. Dante-san. Shadow Ninja, Hanbae here."