Chapter 22 - The Fallen Shrine
The Fallen Shrine
The Decayed Temple (1)
Story-type Gate.
It was one of the many types of Gates, and the reason it was called a 'Story-type' was simple.
Because people who could communicate appeared inside the Gate. Of course, they weren't real people.
They couldn't come out through the Gate's exit. They didn't even recognize Earth or the Gate.
You could say they were like NPCs in a game. They moved like characters in a story, so they were called Story-type Gates.
Scholars on Earth sometimes interpreted this as 'an event that happened in another world.'
'Because the inside of the Gate was another world.'
There were Story-type Gates where you fought Monsters, so it was hypothesized that it was an event from another world that had experienced a Gate crisis before us.
The fact that I had summoned the past time in this space was proof that it was true.
"It's changed into a Story-type Gate."
But nothing changed. Even if a Gate mutation occurred, the fact that this was a ruin didn't change.
Maybe the item we were trying to find was something that had been left here a long time ago.
Maybe it's still related to the item we're trying to find. Anyway, the flow of Story-type Gates is diverse.
Cooperate with the person you meet, or fight them.
'So, that Priest is the key to this Gate.'
I met Uncle's eyes.
To meet someone in the temple located in the center of the Desolate Ruins, which were full of Gnolls...
I had no idea how this Gate would unfold.
"There must be Gnolls outside, how did you get here?"
Fortunately, the Priest spoke first.
"A Dragon chased them away."
"To be carrying a hatchling, you brothers are truly heroic."
The Priest nodded at Yong-yong. One thing I learned was that there were Gnolls outside even when the Priest was there.
"What happened? It's bewildering to find a person in the temple when there are Gnolls everywhere outside."
The Priest said with a sad face.
"They were originally the people who lived here. They were cursed and turned into Gnolls."
"The Gnolls outside are all humans?"
Hmm. The ruins we came to were quite old, so are these the descendants of the Gnolls that are here now?
Although the spacetime has changed, we must also keep in mind that the Gnolls outside have not changed.
"Yes. Only I, who was in the temple serving the goddess, was able to avoid the curse."
The Priest said, letting out a deep sigh.
"They were human? We almost made a big mistake killing them? Did Yong-yong recognize that?"
"No way."
Yong-yong chasing the Gnolls had no such intention at all. He just seemed displeased with the musty smell.
Anyway, Uncle seemed to believe the Priest's words to some extent.
But I didn't.
"How are you still alive? With so many Gnolls around."
"Thanks to the goddess's blessing, the cursed humans cannot enter the temple."
The Priest said with a mournful face.
"I have also been surviving on the food remaining in the temple. I thought my days were numbered, but..."
Certainly, the Priest was emaciated. His skin seemed to be stuck to his bones, as if he hadn't eaten for days.
That's why he looked a little more sacred with the halo. The Priest smiled faintly.
"Seeing you brothers come here, it seems the goddess has not abandoned me."
"Should we rescue the Priest from these ruins?"
"I am sorry to ask, but would you brothers help lift the curse on the others?"
"Is there a way?"
"There is a sacred object in the temple's basement that can lift the curse. If you bring it to the cursed ones, it will be lifted."
The Priest raised the corners of his mouth. It looked like an innocent smile.
"Sounds simple."
As I nodded, the Priest gestured to the right.
"You must be tired from coming all the way to the temple, would you like to have a drink of water first before going down?"
I met Uncle's eyes and then walked forward. The moment I took a step, I paused for a moment.
Uncle looked at me questioningly, but I went ahead.
And when I was a few meters away from the Priest, I stopped and grabbed Uncle's arm as he tried to take another step.
"There's something I'm curious about."
"What are you curious about?"
I asked informally, but the Priest still had a smile on his face.
"Are you sure you're the only one who hasn't been cursed? It's not like you're the one who cursed the people?"
Uncle looked at me questioningly. It was a suspicious situation, but his eyes said I was being too harsh.
"What are you talking about?"
The Priest asked back nonchalantly. A snort of laughter escaped me. He was quite good at acting. But it wouldn't work on me.
I let out a sneer.
"But why is there a trap leading to the basement in front of us?"
"……!"
"And there's a passage behind the goddess statue."
"H, how did you know...?"
How? Spatial Sense, you bastard.
I was suspicious when I saw the name 'Decayed Temple,' but...
If it weren't for my ability, I wouldn't have been able to confirm that he was the villain.
Of course, he couldn't even guess how I found out.
'He even put up Barrier Magic to make it difficult to detect.'
I could feel objects placed around the trap. It seemed they were installed to avoid detection Magic.
With these objects, it was difficult to identify even with detection Magic.
Of course, my side was different. My Spatial Sense was in the realm of 'sense,' not 'Magic.'
I couldn't help but recognize it instinctively.
"Damn it. I knew it was too easy to solve even though the Gate mutated."
Uncle clicked his tongue and stood behind me.
No further explanation was needed. Uncle, who had been with me, knew my abilities better than anyone.
We pointed our weapons at the Priest.
"He doesn't seem to be a Priest. Is he a Black magician?"
There are Black magicians among the hunters. It's a rare job, but not a preferred one.
It's because of the Skills. The Skills people get are different, but they were inhumane and had many conditions, and their destructive power was lacking.
"You're quick to notice."
The Black magician, who had been exposed, smiled bitterly. He was flustered earlier, but now he looked confident.
"It would have been better to just fall nicely..."
The Black magician couldn't finish his sentence.
Because I swung the Elegant Sword. A sharp wind stretched out. The Black magician hurriedly raised his hand.
Clang-!
Wind Split collided with a translucent black barrier. The Priest frowned.
"It would have been better..."
I swung the Elegant Sword once more. As soon as the wind stretched out, the Priest raised his arm and formed a barrier.
"You son of a bitch! Let me talk..."
Yeah, get lost.
The opponent was a Black magician, so I had no intention of giving him time to talk.
"About 2M ahead is all a trap."
I immediately kicked off the ground and advanced. I could easily jump over 2M.
"I'll give you hell!"
I was slightly nervous at the Black magician's grand cry.
"……."
The guy disappeared from in front of me in an instant.
Magic? Teleportation? The Elegant Sword, which had lost its target, cut through the air.
'He ran away?'
I thought he would attack, but he ran away, which was absurd.
"I'm embarrassed."
"Where did he go?"
"Isn't he below? This is a trap, but there are stairs behind the statue."
The pursuit path seemed quite complicated, but it was okay.
Because I have a map hack.
* * *
"There's no path?"
Uncle, who had gone behind the goddess statue, tilted his head.
What I felt in my Spatial Sense was a staircase leading underground on the floor behind the goddess statue.
However, the entrance was blocked by a stone floor.
"It looks like there's a device like a secret door. How do we find it?"
Uncle began to look around, peering around the stone floor. He tapped the floor and touched the goddess statue.
I just focused on my Spatial Sense and found something.
"Just a moment."
"Did you find anything?"
"I think you can open it from the inside."
Whoosh-
I immediately opened a Subspace towards the stairs leading underground. Uncle couldn't come in, but it didn't matter.
Because I could open it for him.
As expected, there was something like a button that I could faintly feel in my Spatial Sense on the wall of the stairs.
When I pressed it, the stone wall began to move with a rumble.
"Come in."
"Wow, you're really a Spatialist."
Uncle clapped and cheered.
Well, other people would have been looking for the device to open this door inside the temple until they were exhausted, but...
I just had to click Subspace.
"Is this guy down there?"
"I can't sense him yet."
There was an old passage at the bottom of the stairs. Judging from the walls, it seemed to have been built at the same time as the temple.
I wonder why they built something like this in the temple's basement. Is it like an emergency escape route?
As I was walking, I began to smell a musty odor. Suddenly, green smoke rushed in from the inside.
"It's poison!"
At the same time as I put Yong-yong into Subspace, I took out a gas mask and an antidote.
"Uncle, catch!"
These were items that the association had given me during Gate practice and I had stocked up on. For others, even this would be a burden.
But I could put as much as I wanted in Subspace.
"Phew, thanks for saving me."
There was no problem after drinking the antidote and putting on the gas mask. As expected of a Black magician, his methods were dirty.
And that same thought turned into conviction as I headed forward.
Because the traces of experiments were revealed in the space that followed.
...To be exact, it was the traces of those who had been harmed by the experiments.
"This is severe."
Chains and human bones hanging on the walls, unknown drugs and flasks...
It seemed that the Black magician was the one who turned people into Gnolls.
"He's worse than a Monster. Turning people into monsters."
Uncle, who was angry, gritted his teeth. There was another door at the end of the room. I could sense that it was a larger space than this one.
When I opened the door, a huge cavern was revealed. It was about half the size of the ruins on the ground.
'There was this much space in the temple's basement...'
It was a slightly gloomy place, and in the center stood a statue about 5M tall.
It looked like a mixture of a Gnoll and a human.
The Gnoll itself is a humanoid Monster that resembles a human and a hyena, but this one looked a little more like a human?
And the Black magician, who was kneeling in front of the statue, turned around to look at us.
"H, how already?"
I could see that he was flustered. It seemed he was preparing something in front of the statue.
The flow of Mana is unusual.
Even if I don't know, something difficult to handle will happen if that work is completed.
'It's not like he thinks we're pushovers.'
I had no intention of waiting for him to transform.
"We have to stop him!"
At the same time as I thought, I kicked off the ground. The Black magician's face twisted.
"You unbelievers...!"
He stretched out his hand towards us. It's okay. It takes time to cast Magic.
I'm faster.
"Hellfire!"
But, an unexpected situation occurred. He used Magic by quickly omitting the casting, I don't know what kind of skill it was.
The guy smiled with satisfaction as if it was his trump card. Was this what he was preparing here?
'Wait. Hellfire?'
Could it be Hellfire?
I felt a chill down my spine at the skill name I had only seen in games. I was already in the air, so it was impossible to avoid it properly.
Whoosh-.
I hurriedly opened Subspace, but it hadn't grown enough yet. I received half of it, but half of it reached me.
Whoosh-!
His skill exploded on my body.
I quickly tried to recover my body...
"?"
But why is this warm?
I looked at him with a dumbfounded face, but he was gaping in shock.
"H, how can you withstand Hellfire?"
Um, yeah, yeah.
This is Grade A Fire Resistance.
I shook off the black flames that were sticking to my body with my hands, but it didn't go out easily because it was just fire.
"If you don't want to die, turn this off."
I decided to find a solution elsewhere. When I brought the Elegant Sword in front of his neck, he hurriedly turned off the black fire.
My clothes were slightly burned, but there was no problem with my body.
"You son of a bitch. Do you want to die? How is this Hellfire?"
"It's not Hellfire, it's Hellfire..."
"That's the same thing."
"It's differe..."
"A Black magician talking back?"
He surprised me.
I strongly slapped the back of the suspicious guy's head with emotion.