How to Survive Against Villains Chapter 89

Chapter 89 – The Curse of the Abandoned Mine

“This bag... it’s heavier than I thought?”

“I’ve packed food and so essentials. Especially this—take a look at the hourglass.”

“An hourglass?”

“Pull it out of the bag and take a look.”

I reached into the bag and pulled out an hourglass identical to the one Dorneth was holding.

It was fascinating. The sand inside would take about three full days to fall completely. But the intriguing part? No matter how much you shook or flipped it, the sand only flowed in one direction, ignoring gravity altogether.

When all the sand collected on one side, the exit to the mine would reopen.

“If anything feels off, the exit will close imdiately,” Dorneth explained. “So make sure you’re there in advance, waiting.”

“What if we don’t show up in ti?”

“Then you’ll wait until the sand moves back to the other side. I’ll open the exit one more ti.”

“And if we fail to make it then?”

“The exit will remain sealed. Permanently.”

Once after three days. And again three days later.

I now understood why Dorneth had packed such generous rations into the bag.

“Thorough, aren’t you?”

“We’ve done this before. Many tis, in fact. And before , the rules were the sa.”

These were rules refined through countless trials and errors, established by those who ca before Dorneth, just before the mine was permanently sealed.

The extre precautions made sense, considering the massive casualties caused by the curse.

Of course, trying to explain this to Fenry was a waste of ti.

“Sealed or not, if you don’t open that exit, I’ll just smash it to pieces.”

“Don’t waste your energy.”

“Who says I’d waste it?”

“If you could break through, I wouldn’t have bothered coming here with you in the first place.”

“Oi, you hear that? This might beco your grave.”

My grave? What about yours, genius?

Fenry’s sharp gaze turned to , questioning whether I truly felt confident. How was I supposed to know?

If she was so worried, maybe she should’ve at least tried exploring this cursed mine during her 6-star days.

In the original tiline, Fenry discovered the Blacksmith’s Garden, swept up all the treasures, and even attempted to explore the mine. However, upon encountering the curse, she chose not to proceed further.

And why?

“Because she had no reason to.”

By then, the Tobaran region had already fallen into the hands of the Butcher. Fenry had no stake in the area anymore, no reason to risk her life.

So, while I knew the nature of the curse, I had no idea how to break it.

So stop glaring at , Fenry.

“Feeling nervous? You can always back out,” I taunted.

“…You’re cocky for a greenhorn. Fine. Get your ass down there already, unless you’re waiting to die?”

“Guess you really want that ruby belt, huh?”

“Shut it.”

With a sharp curse, Fenry kicked square in the rear, sending tumbling forward.

Before I could even process what was happening, I was falling into an abyss of darkness.

Falling?

This scene felt awfully familiar. Like when I’d been dumped into the altar’s pit back in the Dominic Research Lab.

Not again.

From above, Fenry’s voice echoed down the tunnel.

“Better grab the rope, unless you feel like dying!”

“…Shit!”

I snapped out of it and frantically stretched my hands to brace myself against the walls. Thankfully, the narrow space allowed to steady myself.

Looking up, I saw Fenry leisurely descending on the rope, and I glared at her.

Damn it, I almost died!

Before I could say a word, she started using my head as a foothold, pressing down on with her boots.

“…What the hell are you doing?”

“Stop hanging around like a sloth and get moving already.”

“Keep this up, and you’ll regret it.”

“Want to die now or get moving?”

“…Fine, I’m going.”

I gritted my teeth and swore to make her pay for this one day. For now, I grabbed the rope and slid further down.

At first, the descent was straightforward. The space was narrow enough that I could push off against the walls if needed.

But the further I went, the more the space opened up, and soon, there was nothing to brace against.

I found myself dangling in the middle of a vast, pitch-black void, swinging like a pendulum in the darkness.

“Where’s the bottom of this thing?”

The eerie emptiness felt like being dropped into an ocean of shadows. Even my voice ca back to as faint echoes.

Clutching the rope, I gradually increased my descent speed.

Suddenly, the surroundings lit up.

Looking up, I saw Fenry conjuring an orb of light. She tossed the glowing orb downward, and it floated slowly through the air, illuminating the cavern.

“…Damn, this place is huge.”

It was as though we were suspended in the center of a colossal hall.

The jagged walls around us, weathered by ti, rose steeply on all sides. Below, the space stretched endlessly.

It took a long while to reach the bottom, longer than I’d expected.

Finally, my feet touched solid ground.

Looking up, I saw the rope trailing all the way back to the tiny hole in the ceiling—a hole that Dorneth had said was our only way out.

‘If they don’t lower the rope, we’re not getting back up.’

A mont later, Fenry landed behind . She gave the rope a few sharp tugs, and it imdiately began to retract, slithering up and vanishing into the ceiling.

So they really weren’t going to leave it for us.

Why bother wearing armor if you’re not coming down here, Dorneth?

With the rope gone, Dorneth would now wait for us in the Garden for the next three days.

It was our turn now.

The best-case scenario was to finish our mission within those three days and return to the exit in ti.

“You brought the map, right?”

“Yes.”

Though the mine had been abandoned for years, the layout hadn’t changed. The map Dorneth provided would be useful.

By the light of Fenry’s glowing orb, I unfolded the map and studied it.

We were standing in what had once been a storage area for mined ore. Now, it was just an enormous empty space.

Our destination was the heart of the mine, where the curse had first taken hold.

After confirming our location, I folded the map and tucked it away. The path ahead was simple, so I wouldn’t need to check it again.

“It’s a straight shot from here. Looks like we won’t have much trouble navigating.”

“Yeah, let’s see how long that optimism lasts.”

“What do you an by that?”

“Hand over the bag.”

“Why?”

“Do I look stupid? I’ve been burned before.”

Ah, right. That ti in the Laub Forest when I left her starving for a week. Guess it left a lasting impression.

She clung to the rations like her life depended on it. Fine, let her carry the damn thing.

‘Enjoy being my pack mule.’

Satisfied with my small ntal victory, I focused on visualizing the mine’s interior.

“Let’s figure out the direction first.”

“All we need is to find the tunnel, right?”

“Yes. Can you increase the brightness? It’s a bit too dim to scout properly.”

“No point wasting mana.”

Instead of increasing the orb’s radius, Fenry moved it along the walls, tracing their edges. Eventually, the orb settled in front of a large tunnel.

The tunnel stood three ters tall, a wide and imposing entrance.

Without hesitation, we stepped inside.

There was only one path to the center of the mine, so we wouldn’t need to worry about getting lost.

‘At least it’s not a maze. That’s a relief.’

If the mine’s layout had been as complex as the labyrinth beneath the Dominic Research Lab, three days wouldn’t have been nearly enough.

Inside the tunnel, Fenry’s orb floated above her head, lighting our way.

Here and there, I noticed discarded tools—rusty pickaxes and other mining equipnt scattered about. Clearly, sothing had gone wrong, forcing the miners to flee, leaving their tools behind.

After so ti, we stopped.

There was a shield lying abandoned on the ground—an odd find among the mining gear.

Fenry picked it up, brushing away the dirt, and nodded.

“It’s a knight’s shield.”

As she wiped it clean, the emblem of Beneta appeared faintly on its surface.

This was a remnant of the forces led by the previous lords of Beneta.

With evidence of the past expeditions, we slowed our pace and carefully followed the trail.

Fragnts of broken swords, axes, and torn armor littered the ground, painting a grim picture.

Fenry took the lead, her tracking skills far surpassing mine. Quietly, we ventured deeper into the tunnel, ticulously examining each clue.

The monotonous silence stretched on until Fenry suddenly stopped, her brow furrowing.

“Sothing’s not right.”

“What do you an?”

“There’s plenty of abandoned equipnt, but no sign of the owners.”

“You an no bodies?”

Fenry nodded, picking up a handful of dirt and rubbing it between her fingers.

The dirt was stained red.

“Blood. There was a major battle here. But against what?”

“Do you see any unusual traces? Large monsters, anything specific?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Are all the tracks the sa?”

“Yeah. All of them are dwarven footprints.”

Hearing this, I nodded slightly.

So far, everything was progressing as expected.

“Then it was a fight among the dwarves themselves.”

“Fighting their own? That’s insane…”

Fenry trailed off, montarily lost in thought. The idea of allies turning on each other hadn’t crossed her mind until now.

She hesitated, then ran her hand over a battle-scarred section of the wall, her expression growing serious.

“You know sothing, don’t you?”

“Well, if all the tracks belong to dwarves, then who else could it have been?”

“You’re saying the curse made them turn on each other? That they were bewitched or driven mad?”

“You’re close. But not quite.”

At that mont,

Srrrrkkk—Srrrrkkk—

The sound of sothing dragging across the ground echoed faintly.

The noise ca from both ahead and behind, an eerie scraping that sent chills down my spine.

I strained my ears, trying to locate the source, but the oppressive darkness made it impossible to pinpoint.

Fenry and I instinctively moved back-to-back, bracing ourselves.

“So far, we haven’t seen a single corpse. That leaves two possibilities,” I said quietly.

“Which are?”

“Either the victors buried the dead…”

“Stop with the bullshit and tell the truth.”

I raised my finger and pointed forward.

“The entire force was slaughtered, and their corpses got back up.”

Fenry didn’t need to look where I was pointing. She’d already spotted them.

The silhouettes of shambling figures erged from the shadows, stumbling toward us.

Fenry clicked her tongue and burst her mana orb, flooding the tunnel with bright light.

We took up combat stances, grimacing as the scene beca clear.

Grrrrrroooaaaahh—!

Screeeeeaaach—!

The tunnel was filled with decayed bodies dragging themselves forward.

Most were dwarves, though there were a few beastfolk scattered among them.

Their appearances were horrific.

Every one of them had milky-white, rolled-back eyes and bodies riddled with decay. Flesh sloughed off their bones, leaving gaping wounds that oozed pus instead of blood.

A procession of the undead.

“That dwarf should’ve seen this,” Fenry muttered.

“Why?”

“Because if it’s this much of a shitshow, we could probably squeeze another golden plaque out of him.”

“…Are you seriously joking right now?”

Every single one of them had lost their sense of reason.

In the novel, these were referred to as “cursed beings.”

But I had a simpler term.

“Zombies.”

What else could you call them?

Raaaaghh—!

“What the hell?”

“Wait! Look at the ground!”

The horde blocking our path was just the beginning.

As if triggered by their appearance, the ground itself began to co alive.

Rotten hands burst from the soil in waves, clawing their way upward.

From where we stood to the path we’d just walked—and even the road ahead—zombies began to rise from every direction.

I’d anticipated the zombies.

But…

“…Why the hell are there so many?”