Ch.135Chapter 135 – The Sealed Sacred Ground (2)

After descending the stairs, we soon arrived at what appeared to be a wide open space.

“What is this place…?”

Beatrice muttered in disbelief.

“It’s too bright.”

As she said, the underground was incredibly bright.

Unless sunlight was somehow filtering in from somewhere, it shouldn’t be this bright.

Even then, sunlight alone couldn’t make it this bright.

It felt as though the space itself was emitting light.

“Why is it so bright?”

Sera asked as she turned off her lantern.

Christina, who had been slowly examining the surroundings, spoke up.

“It’s divine power.”

“Divine power?”

“Yes. I’m not sure which deity it belongs to, but that deity’s divine power remains here, illuminating the space…”

Christina explained.

I was just thinking that divine power could even do something like this.

“Wait, you don’t know which deity?”

“Ah, yes.”

For a moment, my head felt light.

Christina’s words shouldn’t have been possible.

“Didn’t you say this was Evgenia’s sacred ground?”

“That’s true, but… the divine power here feels slightly different from what I know of Lady Evgenia’s.”

“Different?”

In response to my question, Christina smiled and said:

“Actually, divine power might look similar at first glance, but there are subtle differences.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.”

“Beatrice, you’re knowledgeable, but since you’re not a clergy member, it’s natural you wouldn’t know.”

Christina replied to Beatrice with a smile.

“Divine power, you see, might be similar at its core, but there are slight differences in the details.”

“Is that so?”

At my response, Christina’s face brightened.

Perhaps because she rarely had the opportunity to teach others something, she seemed quite pleased.

“Yes. And divine power has one particular characteristic.”

“What is it?”

“If you don’t believe in the same deity, you can’t transfer divine power.”

At Christina’s words, Beatrice nodded as if to say, “I see.”

Sera spoke up.

“Transfer?”

“I only know this as common knowledge, but… magical power can be transferred to others, right?”

“From the start, insufficient magical power can be drawn from nature. It’s inefficient, but direct transfer is possible, and it’s also possible to store it somewhere for others to use.”

Christina nodded at Beatrice’s explanation.

Her face brightened even more.

“But divine power is different. For example, a believer of the Hati Order can borrow or receive divine power from Aria, but I can’t lend or transfer my divine power to you.”

“So it’s like they have different specifications.”

“Something like that.”

I nodded at Christina’s explanation.

“Then isn’t that quite inconvenient?”

“Pardon?”

Christina’s face froze slightly.

“Even in emergencies, if you run out of power, you might not be able to draw it from anywhere else, right? That seems really inconvenient to me.”

Christina was momentarily flustered by my words.

“Um…”

“Now that I think about it, that’s true. Although you need to know how to handle magical power, you can draw it from anywhere if necessary.”

“Right. Especially with high-level magic, it’s a given that you supplement your magical power from nature or other sources.”

Sera and Beatrice agreed.

Christina’s eyes began to dart around.

“But… divine arts are amazing…”

“If you’re unlucky and run out of divine power, and there’s no believer of the same deity around, there’s no way to replenish it. So it’s hard to argue against the claim that divine arts are inconvenient.”

When even Eve said this, Christina finally looked dejected.

After glancing around, she raised her hands in prayer.

“Lady Evgenia… I’m sorry… I’m such a lowly and incompetent servant that I couldn’t convey your greatness…”

Christina began to pray, almost in tears.

I quietly spoke to Sera, who was standing beside me.

“Did we tease her too much?”

“I think so.”

“She looked so excited, I just wanted to tease her a little.”

Actually, I had intended to go along with Christina’s explanation and learn something new… but she seemed so happy that I wanted to tease her a bit, which apparently went too far.

“I should buy her something delicious next time.”

“Let’s do that.”

We should apologize properly.

Even if there was no malice, we were in the wrong.

Fortunately, Christina seemed to feel better after praying for a while.

“W-well then. Shall we continue inside?”

“We should.”

After saying that, I glanced around and then addressed Christina.

“While we’re going, tell me more about divine power, Christina.”

“Ah, yes!”

Perhaps because she thought she could teach something again, Christina’s expression brightened once more.

+

We continued descending while listening to Christina’s lecture on divine power.

‘There are only murals everywhere.’

There were no forks in the road or traps, nothing of the sort.

Just murals.

Murals everywhere.

As we descended for quite some time, Beatrice frowned slightly and said:

“How strange that there aren’t any traps at all.”

“Are you sure?”

“What do you take me for? I’m sure.”

Beatrice had been using magic to detect traps since before we entered.

“They sealed it so strictly, yet there’s not a single trap…”

“Conversely, they might have trusted the seal so much that they didn’t bother setting up traps at all.”

Beatrice answered her own statement with “That’s unlikely.”

Then Eve, examining the walls, said:

“…There are just murals everywhere.”

“What are they depicting?”

The images we had seen on our way down were quite abstract, making it difficult to understand their content precisely.

The mural where we were now showed two people with swords, two with staffs, and others with a bow and a hammer…

As we continued descending, Sera pointed to one of the murals.

“…Is that supposed to be a dragon?”

“Hmm.”

It looked like a winged lizard, so it probably was.

‘Why would they depict something like that here?’

A mural of a dragon in a deity’s sacred ground.

Looking at the dragon image, it seemed to be raising its arms as if calling for something.

‘Hmm?’

When I thought about the dragon calling, something came to mind.

“These murals, perhaps…”

“Do you know what they are?”

I nodded at Eve’s question.

“Could these murals be depicting heroes?”

At my words, Sera examined the murals again.

Then she spoke up.

“…Could this be when the dragon summoned heroes?”

“And the people depicted earlier were the heroes and their companions?”

Eve and Sera each answered, and Beatrice examined the murals again.

“The higher up we go, the more recent the records might be.”

That seemed likely.

As we descended further, we saw murals depicting people with bat wings and bird wings.

“It seems to be depicting the Demon War.”

“A battle between celestials and demons.”

The image showed winged people fighting each other with spears and swords.

It seemed accurate.

In the middle, below them, were wingless people huddled together.

“What was this sacred ground trying to express?”

“The history of the gods?”

At my words, Sera fell into thought for a moment.

Then she spoke again.

“…Somehow, I think that’s it. This is called a deity’s sacred ground, and it seems to depict stories from before the hero summonings.”

“We’ll know for sure if we go further down.”

Beatrice pointed ahead.

The stairs still led downward.

“Tsk. What kind of sacred ground keeps going underground?”

“Maybe they’re trying to protect something?”

“If that were the case, there would be traps, but there aren’t any.”

Beatrice grumbled.

To be honest, I was starting to feel a bit uneasy too.

‘There’s nothing but murals and stairs.’

I was worried about returning empty-handed after just going down, but now I was more concerned about the climb back up.

I should pray for some kind of automatic transport back to the entrance.

As we continued descending, we finally saw a door ahead, signaling an end to our journey.

And on the door, there was another mural.

“What is this?”

I looked at what Beatrice was pointing to.

A mural depicting several giant people.

Below them were smaller people looking up at the giants.

Some of the smaller people were huddled together, perhaps in prayer.

“…Could these be gods?”

I said this, but there was no answer.

There was another problem.

“How do we open this?”

The door had neither a handle nor a keyhole.

I thought maybe we had to push it open, so I tried, but it didn’t budge.

“Kay?”

“Kay, can’t you open the door?”

“No.”

Sera approached me.

“Then let me use some strength…”

“Don’t.”

If Sera took action, property damage would occur.

Sera was our last resort.

I put Sera on standby and looked at Christina.

“Christina, do you know how to open this?”

But Christina didn’t answer.

‘That’s strange.’

Come to think of it, she had suddenly gone quiet since we started talking about the murals.

I thought she was contemplating the murals or looking for an opportunity to continue her divine power lecture.

But it wasn’t like her to be this quiet.

Feeling something was off, I looked at Christina.

“Christina?”

“We’ve arrived.”

Christina, with strangely unfocused eyes, said this and held out her stone tablet.

And then…

-Thud!

The door opened simply from her presenting the tablet.

“What, that’s all it took…?”

“Let’s go.”

Before Beatrice could finish speaking, Christina immediately went inside.

We looked at each other.

“Christina is acting strange.”

“She’s not the type to rush ahead like this.”

More than that, her eyes and overall demeanor were off.

Of course, we couldn’t leave her alone, so we quickly followed her.

And then…

“What is this?!”

I heard Beatrice’s surprised voice.

The first thing we saw was a massive chain.

Attached to it was what appeared to be a huge stone.

And…

“Was that the source of the divine power in this space?”

I said this because what looked like divine power was gushing out from the stone.

Everyone was dumbfounded, but then we regained our senses and looked at Christina.

“Christina, what is this…?”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Christina’s eyes returned to normal.

Her eyes darted around before settling on the chained stone.

“Whoa?!!! What is that?! And divine power is pouring out of it?!”

“She’s not going to be of any help now.”

Beatrice said this and sighed.

“For now, let’s investigate…”

Before she could finish her sentence…

[WEEEEELCOOOOOME!!!!!!]

“What the?!!!”

We all backed away in surprise at the sudden voice.

We immediately drew our weapons and took combat stances.

“Who are you?!”

[You’re asking who I am!!]

For some reason, it was an excited shout.

It was loud enough to hurt our ears.

[It’s only polite to answer!!!]

Along with those words, a large ball of light appeared from behind the massive stone fragment.

Judging by how it moved on its own, this light ball was clearly the source of the noise.

[But I’m too lazy!! Skip it!!!]

I want to hit it.

I wasn’t sure if I could hit it, but I was considering rushing over to give it a good smack when Beatrice narrowed her eyes and spoke.

“…As I thought. There’s no way a place like this wouldn’t have a guardian.”

I had thought there might not be a guardian since there weren’t any traps, but apparently I was wrong.

[Is that you? The magician who’s been using magic to detect traps all this time.]

The light ball, which seemed somewhat tired now, perhaps from all its shouting, addressed Beatrice.

Beatrice frowned slightly at the light ball’s words.

“How did you know?”

[It’s obvious.]

The light ball spun around once in place.

Between its earlier shouting and this, I thought it was quite an irritating entity.

[I can sense most things that happen in the sacred ground. Detecting magic is easy for me.]

“I’m guessing the reason there were no traps is because they put all their eggs in one basket with this guardian.”

Beatrice said this while quietly taking a combat stance.

[So, Sister over there, which deity do you believe in?]

For some reason, the light ball addressed Christina in a friendly manner.

However, Christina, with a serious face, extended her hand and formed a seal.

“Holy Light.”

A golden flash of light shot toward the light ball.

The light ball didn’t even flinch as it bathed in the light.

‘I noticed it wasn’t trying to dodge, but…’

As expected, there was no damage.

“…I thought it might be some kind of ghost entity I wasn’t familiar with, so I tried testing it…”

[You’re both right and wrong. I don’t have a physical body, after all.]

The light simply confirmed.

Christina, still wary of the light, addressed it.

“What kind of deity’s divine power are you composed of?”

The light ball paused slightly at Christina’s words.

[Not bad. How did you know I was made of divine power?]

“That much is obvious at a glance.”

The light ball seemed pleased with Christina’s answer and moved gently to the side.

Then its voice was heard again.

[But is my question about which deity you believe in just going to be ignored? Anyway…]

The light ball was silent for a moment after saying that.

For some reason, I felt it was looking at Christina.

[I was surprised. I never thought you would inherit that staff.]

“Do you know about this staff?”

[Well, I… Hmm. Secret!]

Christina’s expression turned slightly fierce.

The light ball giggled and backed away.

[First, this form is a bit uncomfortable.]

As the light ball said this, its form began to change.

Everyone remained tense at the ominous light, each preparing in their own way.

Eventually, the light ball transformed into the appearance of a priestess.

Judging by both the voice and appearance, it was definitely female.

[Human form is more comfortable after all. Even though it consumes more energy.]

“…Who are you?”

The priestess looked at me in response to my question.

Then she placed her hand on her chin.

[Hmm…]

She seemed to be looking at me with interest.

[That’s a secret for now.]

“No.”

[Well, I don’t have any obligation to answer, do I?]

The priestess made of light said with a smile.

[More importantly, you should feel a sense of crisis.]

“What…?”

[I haven’t acknowledged that you’re not intruders yet.]

I quietly aimed my weapon.

I had thought we might be able to resolve this through conversation, but it seemed the other side was intent on fighting.

As we prepared for battle, the priestess clasped her hands together, seemingly satisfied.

[Yes, that’s more like it.]

The priestess took a prayer stance.

And in that position, she began to look us over.

[Let’s see what the kids these days are capable of.]

With those words, wings of light appeared on the priestess’s back.