Chapter 202: The Magical Beasts and the Ancient Gravekeepers – Part 1
Tap. Tap tap.
Jack kept drumming his feet against the stone floor. Not only that, he insisted that I, Azidahaka, our sandy feline friend Sand, and our blacksmith Totuga knock on the floor and walls too.
“There’s bound to be a different sound somewhere! Like a pressure plate that activates a secret door or something. My experience as a grave robber tells me this much!”
“Your experience sounds fishy, you know.”
“I’m gonna knock!”
But in front of a trap-laden path, we really had no better idea, so we were left to check the bricks one by one just as Jack suggested.
“Hey, can’t you tell with your eyes or something?”
To my sly inquiry, Azidahaka responded in a hushed voice.
“I don’t know if it’s because of this pyramid, but my spiritual vision is significantly weakened. It’s tough just controlling my magical power so my transformation doesn’t wear off.”
“Well, that’s a problem.”
If Azidahaka’s transformation into a tiny airplane were to wear off, the passage might collapse, crushing all of us.
“So, I can’t rely on your x-ray eyes, huh?”
Reading my disappointed thoughts, Azidahaka quietly continued, “Let’s trust Jack. He may speak lightly, but he’s quite capable.”
“I found it!”
No sooner had Azidahaka finished, Jack shouted joyfully.
Clunk.
As Jack pressed down on the stone panel, a deep staircase opened up with a booming sound that resonated through the entire building.
“See, I told you. When there are two options, the third way is usually the answer. Well, not always, but this time it’s right!”
“Wow, impressive! I thought you were just a smooth talker who’s a bit of a weirdo.”
Jack scratched his head at Sand’s praise.
“This is my role. Now, let’s keep going. I think this is where the real ruins begin. Everyone, brace yourselves.”
Jack pulled out the bow he had slung over his back.
Heeding the warning of our seasoned guide, we all wiped the smiles off our faces and tightened our grips on our claws and hammers.
“I’ll go first.”
I stepped to the front to protect the group as we descended the stairs. Just ahead of me, hazy letters began to appear.
【Sanctuary: The Tomb of the Fallen God.】
Sanctuary.
I waved my front paw at the familiar letters.
The divine power that dwells within me sometimes gathers information about the world and relays it in words I can understand.
“Last time I met the divine being Adonai, there was a mention of a sanctuary too. Does that mean there’s another god sleeping somewhere in these underground ruins…?”
The artifact of King Ojimann Dias, said to grant the wishes of its owner, being closely connected to divine beings, makes the appearance of this word “sanctuary” start to make sense.
“Could there really be a wish-granting lamp in here, with a god inside?”
As my head filled with such idle thoughts, the stairs ended, revealing another cramped passageway.
“Wow, it sparkles!”
“It’s a magnificent gem. About the size of a fist.”
Sand and blacksmith Totuga admired the blue lapis lazuli embedded in the walls as they reached out to grab the gems.
Just at that moment.
Bzzzt!
Yingyi darted out of Azidahaka’s arms and thrust its body into their hands.
“What’s it doing?”
“It seems to be stopping them.”
Those hindered by Yingyi’s actions simply tilted their heads in confusion.
“It says not to touch anything.”
Being able to understand Yingyi’s intentions to some degree, I unsheathed a claw and plucked off one of the lapis lazuli.
Tap, tap. Clink.
The crystalline sound of the gem rolling on the floor.
But what followed was a language resembling that of spiders and scorpions. What I thought was a gem turned out to be beetles that looked like gemstones!
Azidahaka picked up one of the rolling beetles. The gem-like beetle squirmed in her hand and pinched her finger with its sharp teeth.
Yet, showing no signs of pain, Azidahaka gazed down at the beetle, intrigued.
“This is a gem scarab beetle. I thought they had gone extinct, but they’ve managed to survive hiding in this place. Their shells are fine-quality gems.”
Buzz…
The gem scarab, having emitted a tiny scream, finally drew a droplet of bl**d from Azidahaka’s finger. To inflict a wound on such a sturdy mythical creature, these gem bugs were clearly something to take seriously.
Buzz…
Clatter, rattle.
Buzz…
Zzzt!
Beetles clinging to the wall began to tumble down, as if waking from a slumber, and started to flap their little wings, gnashing at the air.
“This is… dangerous.”
“I agree!”
Sand and Totuga hid behind me. I positioned myself between the gem scarabs and my companions, then casually asked Azidahaka, “So, do we just catch them all?”
“These bugs eat anything. And as you can see, their teeth are razor-sharp. They were a grade-one pest in my nest. Occasionally, they would disguise themselves as gems and attack my people.”
Whack!
The gem scarab held in Azidahaka’s hand crumbled like a snack.
“They’re dangerous, so we must k*ll them all. If we want to extract the gems, we’ll have to remove their bug parts.”
“I was thinking the same thing without you saying it.”
Scattered through the stone passage were gem scarabs beginning to flap their wings at us. I tensed the muscles in my front paw and swung my claws mercilessly through the air.
Swish!
The sound of tearing through the air echoed as my claws soared. Just as I expected to see the bodies of the bugs shatter under my assault…
Buzz!
Zzzt!
Thanks to their hard, gem-like shells, it seemed the gem scarabs were completely resistant to scratches and strikes, charging towards me without concern.
“You little pests! Such a hassle!”
Though, compared to the hairy, multi-legged spider, these guys had a certain charm with their gem-like appearance.
I swiped at the oncoming bugs with my front paw, sending them crashing to the ground.
Crack, snap.
Zzzt!
Zzzt!
Fleeting cries echoed as the bugs vanished.
“Hard but nothing special.”
“The hardness is the problem. Not everyone has strong front paws like you.”
“C-couldn’t be what I think it is!”
While I was leisurely pulverizing the bugs, a sharp scream from Sand, the sandy feline, reached my ears.
What was going on? The right calf of the cat bulged and twitched mysteriously.
“It’s… trying to eat me!”
“It’s inside your body! We need to catch it! Otherwise, it’ll crawl up to your head!”
“Get it off me, hurry! It hurts!”
Sand squirmed in pain as it felt the agony of its flesh being gnawed. The blacksmith Totuga and Jack held Sand’s arms down to keep her still.
“It looks dangerous. It’s crawling up further and further!”
Jack grimaced at the sight of a gem scarab climbing from Sand’s calf up to her thigh.
“If we don’t get it out quickly, we’re in serious trouble! You have to hurry!”
At Azidahaka’s urgent shout, I unsheathed my claws and swiftly cut through the thin fur-covered skin of Sand’s right thigh.
Snip.
Zzzt!
Then, from that injury, a bug darted out, soaring into the air. Just as I reached out to grab it…
Grr!
Yingyi, who had been quietly observing the situation, leaped like an expert outfielder and devoured the gem bug as it was airborne.
“I… I survived! I thought I was a goner!”
Sand breathed a sigh of relief, and my crew of robbers came to realize once more just how perilous this grave would be.
“The wound isn’t very deep. Thankfully, I was able to cut it quickly with something sharp. It’ll heal fast. But just in case, I’ll disinfect it with heat. If I’m late, there could be germs, and you might lose your leg.”
Azidahaka stroked Sand’s thigh with a heated hand. The sizzling sound of burning flesh and hair filled the air.
“It’s… hot!”
“All done. You’ll have a little scar, but it’s better than losing your leg, right?”
“Y-yeah, but I’ve got a patch now…”
Sand pouted, looking at the patch on her magnificent thigh fur that resembled the sand color.
“What do we do with these scarab corpses? Extracting the bug parts could fetch quite a price.”
Totuga, the emotional dealer and blacksmith of the underground world, shot a gleam at the gem scarabs. But Jack shook his head and held Totuga back.
“If we keep picking up every single thing that appears, our load will get heavier, and it will take forever. Just grab one. If we happen to pass back this way, we can get more then.”
“Alright then.”
Totuga stroked his smooth jaw where no beard had grown.
“This one’s a good one.”
He picked up the smallest gem bug, which was only the size of a pinky.
“Wow, you have a keen eye! I figured a stone dwarf would prefer the big ones!”
“A stone dwarf is a gem master. And I’m a appraisal master. This one is the smallest but has the highest mineral purity. The others are just gaudy rocks.”
“I see. Your eyes may not be as good as mine, but they’re still useful for a stone dwarf.”
“Meaningless!”
It seemed that Totuga, the stone dwarf, and Azidahaka connected over their shared love for gems.
“Sand, can you walk?”
Jack’s question prompted Sand the sandy feline to limp a few steps around the area.
“I think I can manage now. It doesn’t hurt much anymore.”
“Okay, let me know if it starts hurting too bad. I’ve got potions if you need them. It’s dangerous to lead an injured comrade.”
“Those potions are expensive, like several gold coins, right? I’m not that badly hurt, I swear!”
“Well, that’s a relief. So, what do you think? Can we keep moving forward?”
Jack asked for my opinion.
Since one of us was injured, and since we knew the deeper we went, the more bizarre and stronger the obstacles and enemies would be, it seemed he wanted to acknowledge my stance as we were at the front of the line.
I stomped on a few of the fallen gem scarabs scattered on the ground.
Crunch.
“I’m fine. I can handle it. But if there are a lot of enemies, we may miss one or two, just like before, so be careful.”
“Understood!”
The sandy feline Sand nodded with determination. Meanwhile, Jack spread out the map again, deciphering codes and inscriptions only he could understand.
“There should be a resting place around here. Let’s take a short break there. Just keep going straight through the intersection up ahead without turning left or right.”
Following Jack’s instructions, we resumed our march. After walking for a while, an intersection with four paths indeed appeared, just as Jack had said.
Sticking to our initial decision, we didn’t deviate and kept straight ahead, revealing a fairly open chamber with a small, engraved fountain at its center.
“In a place like this, there’s even a fountain!”
“It’s customary for ruins to have a resting spot like this. Here, you probably won’t be ambushed by beasts, bugs, or traps. Let’s take a break.”
Jack set his gear down and approached the fountain.
“Is the water safe to drink?”
“Yeah, it’s water that bubbles up from underground. I’m not sure, but it should be clean. Just look at me—I’ve been drinking it and haven’t died yet.”
Jack leaned over the fountain and gulped down the water, perhaps feeling a significant burden and tension from having wandered through the narrow, damp underground tunnel.
Bzzzt.
Yingyi dove into the fountain and started bathing like a bird. It seemed, just as Jack said, that the water was indeed clean.
“The water turned blue!”
The water in the fountain, which Yingyi had splashing around in, took on a blue hue like an ion drink. Azidahaka nodded after taking a sip.
“Though it lacks some magical energy, it’s similar to an elixir. The water that bubbled up from the fountain had some mystical properties.”
“An elixir? Is it for real?”
Totuga, the emotional dealer and blacksmith, was greatly astonished, his eyes widening. He too cupped the fountain’s water in his palm and brought it to his mouth.
“It’s sweet and refreshing! I feel my energy reviving! It’s similar to mid-grade potions I tried before!”
“Seriously? Then if we just fill our water flasks with this, we’d be set! Who knows when we’ll get hurt again!”
Jack, Sand, and Totuga emptied their water canisters and bottles to fill them with water from the fountain.
“Are you sure you’re okay without any?”
As Jack filled his water container, he turned his head towards me.
“Not particularly thirsty right now.”
“It’d be wise to drink some now. A resting point indicates there might be significant obstacles afterward.”
“Obstacles?”
At my question, Jack’s eyes glazed over as he looked around the passages and doors connected to the resting point, exhaling a heavy sigh.
“Yeah, in an underground ruin, a resting point is like a d*ath row inmate’s last meal. With a scale this size, there’s probably a gravekeeper nearby. No, there definitely is.”
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