140 – The Magical Beasts and Osiris’s Underground Palace #2
Boom.
—Ack!
Suddenly, I found my face buried in the sandy bed from a shock to my head.
“We’ve really come deep underground. I think we’ve gone down several dozen floors.”
What had hit my head was Azidahaka’s b*tt, who had fallen from above just like me and landed right on top of me.
“If we’ve made it this far down, I wonder if we can find the entrance to the tower that was my nest.”
—Just get off me, can’t you see you’re sitting on me like a cushion?
“Oh, that’s why it felt so soft. My apologies.”
—Yingyiing.
Azidahaka, holding Yingyi in her arms, got up from on top of me. I shook the dust and sand off my front paw with a grimace.
—It’s too dark to see anything. Can you light a fire or something?
“I suppose you think of me as a flintstone, don’t you?”
—Flintstone? Not quite. I was thinking more along the lines of a high-performance gas burner.
“Gas burner…?”
From the dark, I could almost sense Azidahaka tilting her head in confusion. It seemed like the gas burner had yet to be invented in this world.
—Anyway, light the place up. I can’t see a thing.
“Relying solely on vision is a bad habit of humans, you know. You resemble humans quite a bit. It’s only natural for someone like you, a descendant of divine beings, to look like a human.”
With a grumble, Azidahaka brought her tail in front of her face and puffed a short gust of air, igniting the long tip of her tail like a makeshift torch.
Whoosh.
It felt nostalgic to see the flame at the end of her tail, reminiscent of childhood days. Yet, that nostalgia was quickly overshadowed by the sight of the illuminated surroundings.
—What in the world…
I squinted my eyes and narrowed my brows at the sight in front of me.
Everywhere were scattered skulls and bones, sending a chill of danger through me.
The rocky cave-like background, reminiscent of the Ancient Nest, was littered with broken primate skulls scattered all around.
“They call it the Ancient Nest. Other places weren’t too bad, but this is brazenly a scene from hell.”
I approached and picked up a skull.
Crack.
It crumbled into fine dust, like sand or dirt, scattering on the ground. It meant it had been left here for a long time, easily crumbling to dust with just a light touch.
“Underground worlds and skulls, huh. It’s like the afterlife.”
—Hey, do you happen to know the name Osiris?
I recalled the name of the god known as the ruler of the underworld in Egypt.
In this world, many characters’ names overlapped with those I knew from various myths or stories, such as Eve, Adam, O Kong, and Jupiter.
Even Behemoth and Leviathan were names of monsters found in the Bible.
Until now, I had thought it was merely coincidence or of little significance, but at this point, I couldn’t help but be curious about the identities of these strangely familiar names.
“Even Azidahaka is known as the evil dragon in Zoroastrianism.”
However, by the looks of this innocent and friendly fire dragon before me, there was a world of difference from the image of a wicked dragon.
Maybe it was all just a simple coincidence.
“Osiris….”
Azidahaka mumbled the name a few times, as if it bothered her.
“It’s a name I’d rather not remember. But how do you know it? It belonged to a fairy from long ago….”
—Fairy, huh? Let’s just go see what’s ahead.
I positioned Azidahaka, now with her tail lit, at the front, and we cautiously moved deeper into the dark underground cave.
—I’m not sure if this direction is right.
How long had we walked in the lightless underground? Doubts began to creep in as the winding passage continued.
Azidahaka, walking with sound chains attached to her feet, calmly assured me.
“If we’re in this underground, my nest will surely reveal itself somewhere.”
—How can you be so confident in that?
“Fear not, oh faithless one. In this great desert, all roads eventually lead to the labyrinth city of Sumer. Even if it’s buried in sand, its size and grandeur cannot be hidden.”
—Hmm.
I nonchalantly replied with a sniff.
The city Azidahaka claimed as her nest, Sumer, was known as a legendary marvel built around a tower that reached for the sky.
With Azidahaka, Boq, and her own magical powers, it was filled with magical tools and mysterious devices, teeming with laughter and happiness, free from hunger.
As generations passed, the ever-growing population and the expanding city meant that Sumer’s tower kept climbing towards the heavens.
But eternal glory is a fairytale. Eventually, that tower, which seemed destined to reach the skies, became buried under the sands of the desert, hidden away deep underground.
The millennial empire, the maze tower of Sumer, vanished overnight as if it were a joke.
The world claimed, “Because of the sin of daring to reach for the heavens, the gods sent a celestial bull to bring destruction.”
“As for the city I spent centuries building, Nialli….”
Seeing Azidahaka gritting her teeth made me think there might be a more complicated and hard-to-explain reason behind it all.
“Hmm?”
As we continued walking, a peculiar wall appeared in front of me. Unlike the natural stone and rock-filled underground passage, this was made of a substance that caught my eye, shining brightly.
—Is that gold? A wall made of gold.
A wall made of flat golden bricks stood before me.
“Sumer was the city of gold. Of course, it was gilded. But when the sunlight hit it, the entire city sparkled in a way that was quite a sight.”
Azidahaka grinned widely, revealing her sharp teeth. It was a grin so big it seemed to stretch her lips.
—She also mentioned liking gold.
Just like in various myths and legends where dragons fell due to their greed for wealth, she too supposedly had fallen prey to Adam’s tricks and was captured by humans.
Despite possessing extraordinary talents and character to be called a saint, it seemed her true nature was no different than that of a raccoon I knew.
“It seems we’re truly approaching my nest now that we can see the golden wall. Go ahead and break it down.”
Knock, knock.
I tapped the golden wall with a paw at Azidahaka’s suggestion. It didn’t seem particularly thick, and I could feel the sound of my knock echoing through to the other side.
‘At this thickness, I could probably break it with my tail.’
—Hup.
Crash, rumble.
I swung my tail with all my might and crashed through the golden wall. As the bricks crumbled, a vast space behind the wall opened up.
What I had broken was apparently the outer wall of the tower Azidahaka had been talking about.
—Oh my, it’s magnificent.
I couldn’t help but grin wide at the spectacular view unfolding before my eyes. A completely gold-tinged landscape of buildings and cities dazzled me.
If you were to sprinkle gold all over the view of Santorini in Greece, this would probably be it.
The vast plaza, which seemed to have no end, was adorned with jewels of various colors shimmering brilliantly on streetlights—a legendary golden aroma was openly displayed before me.
—Luxurious, isn’t it? A tower like this once stretched to the ends of the sky? That’s asking for trouble.
Even I, who had no desire for gold or material things, couldn’t help but be blinded and feel a sense of greed at such a sight.
As I watched a waterfall of golden sand cascading down from the rocky ceiling, I slowly stepped into the city.
Fire dragon Azidahaka swung her tail, extinguishing the flame, and said,
“Welcome to my nest. Now we only need to find the path that leads down to the depths below. However, it won’t be easy. Nialli’s subordinates are likely occupying various places in my nest.”
—
The royal palace of Jerusalem, Gideon’s grand mansion, and the top architectural marvels my imagination could conjure up were all rationally understandable.
But this labyrinth city of Sumer was so incredible and bizarre it made my tongue-twist.
A city that had not let anyone visit for over a thousand years, a forbidden space that seemed almost alive, served its role as a dwelling place.
Properly organized paths and clear, clean water flowing through canals were lively enough to have small fish swimming around.
‘Who would have thought I’d see something like this in my lifetime?’
What was most remarkable, though, were the automatons that moved using magical power.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
Strange golden mannequins wandering around the city were cleaning up the sand and dust from the street.
—Robots? Amazing. How were they made? I thought this was a dark age like the Middle Ages, yet here are these wandering around.
I couldn’t help but shine my eyes as I fiddled with the golden tinmen in the street. Even after over a thousand years since this city had fallen, these automatons still functioned without a hitch.
As a man, how could I not be intrigued by such magnificent machines?
“The fairies were clever and skilled with their hands. Everything in this city was made by the western nobility, the fairies. Since they’ve all passed away now, the technologies of the past can’t be reproduced.”
Thinking of the fairies from the West as Azidahaka explained, I suddenly remembered the faces of Harmony and Symphony, with their sharp, long ears and beautiful looks, with golden hair.
Harmony’s body, burned to ashes, and her sister Symphony—she had vanished without a trace after that incident.
Setting the Mandel mansion on fire was believed to be the work of the vengeful fairy siblings who had been sharpening their teeth for their clan’s vengeance.
‘So those fairies lived in this city.’
I walked through the golden corridors and paths, peering through the windows into the houses beyond.
Inside, lit by glowing stones, were clean dishes and cutlery on neatly arranged furniture—a scene that seemed like any moment the homeowner might return to set the table.
“Isn’t this an amazing place?”
Azidahaka asked me a question, revealing her evident pride in the golden city she created.
—It’s stunning. But seriously, it’s a bit too desolate. In this groundbreaking future city, it feels like we’re the only ones here.
“This place used to be filled with children playing, and the sounds of humans and beasts laughing echoed all around. The sight of little ones catching fish in these canals is still vivid in my mind.”
As Azidahaka seemed lost in reminiscence, listening to the sound of water flowing beside the road.
“But Nialli ruined everything. He couldn’t stand to see me succeed. He corrupted Osiris, the king I had appointed, and forced the people into terrible biological experiments. In the end, I had to k*ll him…”
—Ah, so Osiris was the king here.
I began to understand the meaning behind “The Ancient Nest: Osiris’s Underground Palace.” It seemed he truly was the king of this buried city.
—That Osiris fellow, is he definitely dead?
“Why do you ask? He was a fairy king who lived a thousand years ago. Even if fairies have long lifespans, they don’t last beyond a hundred years. I didn’t verify the corpse, but since he took my flames, he’s certainly dead.”
—Your handling of the situation is rather unreliable, isn’t it?
I snickered.
Having experienced various magical nests, it felt quite likely that Osiris was alive. The mention of his name in the magical nests only fueled that suspicion.
“Anyway, let’s find our way down. My room is on the bottom floor of this tower. There, I can release my restraint and find the gem.”
—How do we find the way down in this vast city?
“For visitors, there are signposts everywhere… Oh, you don’t understand the ancient fairy language, do you? Hmmm… Ah.”
Azidahaka seemed to realize something and exclaimed brightly.
“Ah! We can ask the automatons! The fairies must have programmed them with logic to guide the way!”
—Impressive.
I looked at the automatons continuing to sweep the street’s sand, humming along as I absorbed the surroundings.
Clank. Clank.
I approached one with a heavy metallic sound, and cough, cleared my throat.
—Hey, how can I go down from here…?
To my polite question, the automaton halted its cleaning and blinked its metallic eyelids. Its shape and actions were so human-like, it sent shivers down my spine.
Is this what they call the “uncanny valley”?
〈Intruder. Intruder confirmed. Repelling.〉
—Huh? Intruder?
The automaton swung its arms at me with a clanking sound.
Although its movements were sluggish and rusty, I certainly hadn’t expected it to react this way, and it made me panic.
—Hey, you were supposed to guide me!
“T-That can’t be! Repelling an intruder!? They weren’t programmed with such logic…!”
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