Chapter 232: 123. The Tomb’s Guardian -1 (Part Two)
**
Without a doubt, Titalos was a world filled with unknown mysteries.
But coming down here was the right call to make in the end.
That’s because, all sorts of wonderful items were practically overflowing in this place. For instance, how many opportunities would I get in the future to procure fangs and hides of ancient dragons like these?
Besides, the bones of these ancient dragons interested me quite a lot, too.
‘Necromancers from ancient times allegedly knew how to control these bones, didn’t they?’
I couldn’t understand several parts of the ancient Aslan Necromancy grimoires, but now, I felt enlightened after looking at the bones.
Those fellas even tamed dragons back then. Not only were they capable of rearing these ancient dragons, they probably also used the corpses of these creatures.
‘For sure, they’re pretty strong.’
Not too long ago, our group got unlucky and ran into ancient dragons that had formed a herd. They utterly crushed my skeleton legion and we had to flee from there as if our asses were on fire.
We even ended up wandering aimlessly while one dangerous event after another kept pummelling us, not even giving us enough time to take a proper breather.
However, as if to match our hardship, we did earn quite a lot in return. Not only did we get our hands on rare and valuable items, we even managed to greatly raise our skill proficiencies.
We spent about a week searching for the correct path and hunting down these ancient dragons.
I was running out of vacation time here.
The skeletons marched forward and chopped down the overgrown vegetation to create a path for us.
The reason why the surrounding environment in this place was called a maze was because of the dense fog, or so I figured.
We progressed forward by searching for ancient ruins in the vicinity, and deciphering the rune letters engraved on them to determine exactly where we were.
Eventually, we discovered an ancient city under Norman’s guide.
This expansive ruin was covered up in vines and branches of various vegetation. We took over one of the ruined structures as our camp site.
“What truly exquisite rune letters these are!”
Hans’s eyes were sparkling all the time as his inner fire continuously burned away at the sights of all these ancient ruins.
We gathered some firewood and got a fire going.
My skeletons, looking like the fairly-spooky undead creatures that they were, surveyed the area surrounding our camp site with sharply-gleaming eyes.
I looked up at the ‘sky’ above. More correctly, at the ceiling made out of a lake.
The ceiling had been emitting bright light up until not too long ago, but it was now getting dyed in darkness.
“Nights do really exist in this place, huh…”
This was one of the things that I found so weird for the past week or so.
I settled down on a spot and Alice sat next to me. Norman the magician sat on our opposite side.
I spied Alice’s ears perking up the moment she heard Hans loudly shouting out ‘rune letters!’, but I got the impression that she was trying her best to suppress her own emotions for some reason.
She then stared at me and cautiously spoke up, “Uhm, excuse me…”
I naturally looked back at her.
Alice was fidgeting nervously with her fingers. She even tried to control her breathing for a little while and sneaked a glance at Norman.
She then whispered so softly that she might as well have been talking to herself. “By any chance, do you know anything about a Saintess?”
“A Saintess?” I tilted my head and asked her back. “That’s you, ain’t it?”
“…That was too straightforward, you know…”
Alice massaged her forehead.
Ah, right. Come to think of it, didn’t things get a bit noisy back in the Theocratic Empire with everyone starting to call me a Saint or whatever? But no such things happened to Alice, so how come?
Actually, I could more or less figure out why that was.
She was hiding the fact that she was a Saintess.
“How did you know that I was a Saintess, your highness?”
“You know, just.”
“Is it your intuition again?”
I nodded in silence. If I told her the truth that I relied on the same method to ferret out Vampires to see through her, then uh, she might get an unpleasant mental shock, so I should refrain myself here.
Alice roughly massaged her temples. “I was agonising on how to break the news, but your highness, you just rammed right through it…”
“Why were you hiding your status as a Saintess, anyway?”
“…Because, I’d have ended up as prey for the Vampires. Only Saints and Saintesses are capable of differentiating Vampires.”
Oh, does that mean Alice can also spot those Vampires hiding within the empire now?
She must’ve read my inner thoughts through my facial expressions, since she quickly provided more explanation. “I’m still not there yet, your highness. But in two, maybe three years’ time, I’ll definitely get there.”
Alice then sneaked another glance at Norman. The aged magician didn’t look like he heard our whisper-quiet conversation.
Alice sighed in relief and continued on from where she left off, “In that case, please permit me to speak directly without reservation. Your highness, are you a Saint as well?”
“Nope.”
Alice looked utterly confused then.
How should I know whether I was a Saint or not?
Was there a way to differentiate that? Honestly speaking, I kinda felt curious about this.
I asked Alice about it, but she simply shook her head.
She then explained further. “There’s no other way beside you realising it yourself. But in the empire, you can receive a test once you reach a certain age. And when you are determined to be either a Saint or a Saintess, you can officially earn that position.”
“But I’ve never received the test, so why is everyone calling me a Saint?”
“Well, you perform miracles that go against the common sense of this world, don’t you? I mean, that’s more than enough proof, your highness.”
She did have a point there. A game-like system was indeed Goddess’s miracle when viewed from the perspective of this world’s denizens.
I could basically create something out of nothing, and although my job was supposed to be a Priest, I was also a Necromancer.
I could even differentiate Vampires on top of that, so some people would definitely see me as a Saint.
…Hang on, maybe I really am a Saint?
“Normally, a case of a Saint and a Saintess appearing at the same time shouldn’t be possible. That’s why I was wondering all along…”
Alice murmured to herself.
Oh, really? In that case, I was probably not a Saint, then.
After all, not only did I not get such a feeling from myself, these so-called miracles were the handiwork of my game-like system.
Even then, there were quite a few things that couldn’t be explained. For instance, my truly absurd growth speed. Such a thing didn’t exist back in the game.
Not only that, I could spam quite a large variety of magic and my firepower had long surpassed the game’s version, too.
Based on all the magic knowledge I’ve come to acquire in this world, even I could tell now that I was a contradictory existence.
While chatting away with Alice, I ended up meeting Norman’s gaze. He stared back at me and gently smiled.
Looking at him made me rather suspicious.
‘Hmm. Is this why he’s the number one magician in the royal court?’
I tried to look through [Mind’s Eye], but his information didn’t want to come out.
There could be only one reason why my usually-reliable Mind’s Eye was restricted to this degree: hiding one’s face.
If it was a simple transformation magic, I should still be able to see through it with no problem, but the story would become a bit more complicated if it was an ‘illusion’ type spell.
If he had hidden his face away using a considerably high-level illusion spell, then it’d be really hard to analyse him.
Norman asked me. “Is there something on my face, your highness?”
“…Well, I was just wondering to myself if illusion-type magic happened to be your speciality or not.”
Norman froze up momentarily from surprise, his eyes opening much wider at the same time. “You knew, sir?”
“What’s your reason for hiding your face?”
“…The burn scars on my face are quite severe, that’s why, sir.”
I continued to stare suspiciously at him, but Norman didn’t explain any further.
He even tried to change the topic and asked me a question, instead. “May I ask, what’s your impression on Titalos so far, sir?”
“That opinion of this place being a different world? Yeah, it was right all along.”
A large variety of lifeforms lived in this place.
From the likes of carnivorous plants that preyed on other animals, to the swarms of massive insects, and even those ancient dragons and their huge bodies, all of those things could be found down here.
However, what interested me the most were the wyverns.
Acquiring some bones of these wyverns, which were reputedly the descendants of dragons, was one hell of a good fortune for me.
And the story about even the Vampires not wanting to come here? That sounded about right as well. Even those undead would find it pretty tough to survive in this place.
I asked him. “How long until we reach our destination?”
We had already spent a week in this place, but we still hadn’t discovered the location as to where this ‘angel’ was hiding away. Nope, the only things we’ve found so far were trivial little ruins.
But then, Norman tilted his head in confusion. “We’ve already arrived, sir.”
“I’m sorry?”
When I asked back in a fluster, he pointed at the large ruin currently being investigated by Hans over yonder. “It’s over there, sir.”
The place he pointed to was in the central section of the city of ancient ruins, where a single altar could be seen.
“That’s where the angel is hiding.” Norman glanced in my direction. “And it’s also an incredibly dangerous location. Do you still wish to take a look inside?”
“Hang on, can we go inside now?”
He nodded. “Yes, we can. I’m quite certain that once your highness witnesses that monstrosity, you will change your mind rather swiftly. As long as we do not step past the doorway and into the burial chamber itself, we should be safe.”
Just what was waiting for us in there for him to say that?
Still, I guess there was no need to agonise over it.
According to Queen Rox’s records, the layout of the tomb was such that even if you entered it, you should still be able to safely escape from it later.
In that case…
“Alright, let’s get going.”
I figured that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to take a gander.
**
Under Norman’s guidance, we found the staircase hidden below the altar and walked further down underground.
The path at the end of the stairs branched off into several passageways.
“That existence is truly a horrifying monster… no, more correctly, I should say it’s a terrifying ‘tool’.”
Norman led our group forward while emitting light from his crystal walking staff.
We came across more ancient rune letters, but Norman, Hans, and Alice worked together to rapidly decipher them all. And thanks to their effort, we were able to choose the correct path.
“That single ‘tool’ was enough for the first Holy Emperor, Ordin Olfolse, to be called the son of the gods.”
Norman pushed away a wall blocking our path.
“It is said that every king of the human nations fell to their knees in despair at the mere sight of his ‘sword’.”
The wall began sliding to the side and yet another passageway revealed itself to us.
“This place, where the royal palace of Aihrance sits above, used to be a territory belonging to the Theocratic Empire in ancient times. In truth, it was actually the empire’s capital back then.”
Our group consisting of Norman, Alice, Hans, and myself stared at the revealed path.
“The guardian protecting the throne of Gaia, the sword and shield of the goddess… While there are many varied titles reserved for it, I…”
What greeted us was a massive doorway at least ten metres tall, featuring intricate and varied carvings depicting mythical tales on the surface.
Norman reached out with his hand and injected Mana into the door. It reacted to the Mana and began opening up automatically.
The doorway ten metres tall issued loud grinding noises as it split left and right.
And then, light began seeping out.
Aura purely made up of divinity began flooding out like waves of a vast ocean.
“…I call it with this name.”
Through the open gap of the doorway, we… We saw the interior of a temple casting off bright light. A throne could be seen.
On it was the ‘individual’ suspected of being Ordin Olfolse, the first Holy Emperor. He was just a skeleton now, hardened like a fossil; golden armbands hung loosely on his bony arms, while a gorgeous ceremonial robe and a magnificent crown adorned his figure perched upon the throne.
And right in front of the throne, an imposing giant was literally floating in the air.
Hans, Alice, and I dazedly looked up. We had to look up to take in the sight of this ‘grand and noble existence’.
Its huge body was at least twenty metres tall and fifteen metres wide. A torso without legs covered in thick armour and a pair of heavy-looking arms attached to it was floating up there.
Its surrounding airspace was filled with various cogwheels that were slowly spinning away.
Countless spears and blades were attached to it, and the first impression I got was… It looked like a small airborne fortress.
Hundreds of crystal spheres embedded in the ‘thing’ emitted bright light and continued sending out waves of divinity.
This divinity formed the basis of twelve wings that had been spread wide open to keep this giant afloat in the air.
Inside its imposing helm, the glowing light of the ‘golem’ shifted in our direction and began shooting a bone-chilling glare.
“The King of the Heavenly World, Metatron. That’s the name I’ve given it.”
As it turned out, the ‘angel’ summoned by the first Holy Emperor was actually a giant-like mobile fortress.
I stared at this giant-like fortress in a trance.
Not a single word I could think of was enough to describe the overwhelming pressure that thing gave off.
However…
“Yup, coming here was the right call.”
It was indeed worth my time to come all the way here in the end.
And I will…
“That’ll be mine.”
…get my hands on that thing.
< 123. The Tomb’s Guardian -1 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
