Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

The black sand danced in the dark, cloudy sky. Maybe the reason the sky was so dark was the black sand itself.

There was a crest of the evil eye painted in white on one side of the black pyramid, it felt as if that eye was looking down on us.

The vanguards of the mummy soldiers had already broken through as we entered the pyramid. The team included Reiji, myself, Medjed, Totona, and a few other mummy soldiers.

We were heading straight toward the center of the pyramid, its heart as it was only possible to control the pyramid from there. Moreover, removing the keystone in the heart room would render the pyramid powerless.

Once that happens, it would be possible to destroy the pyramid with magic. That's why whether it was to destroy or take it back, we had to enter the heart room.

「Good luck, Reiji. I'm waiting for good news. Be careful, Chiyuki.」

Ishtar added as she smiled sweetly at Reiji and me.

And by the way, Isdes was able to force Ishtar and Nel to stay back and wait. As expected, he wouldn't allow important people to enter the dangerous pyramid, especially the Goddess, Princess, and Prince of Gypseal.

「Be careful, Medjed, Totonyan.」

「「「Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!」」」

Both Totona and Medjed were being sent off by princess Nel and the cats. The cats were swinging their tails so adorably.

I also wanted to be sent off by the cats.

「Thank you Nel. We’ll make sure to return safe and sound. Let's go, Hero of Light.」

Totona urged Reiji, thus we entered the pyramid. Once inside, we found ourselves in a dark corridor.

「O light!!」

I summoned several light spheres. They floated around us, illuminating our surroundings.

The corridor was built wide, thus we didn't feel trapped at all. Walking in front were three mummies, followed by Reiji, myself, Totona, and then Medjed.

As Medjed walked behind me, I felt the area around my butt becoming itchy. When I looked over from my shoulder, Nekomimi Medjed cocked his head.

Not good.

Let's ignore that for now.

Now wasn't the time to worry about that.

I walked forward while trying my best to ignore Medjed.

Upon entering the passage, we saw a mountain of wrecked skeletons. They were probably skeletons who were defeated by our vanguard mummies.

The deeper I went into the pyramid, the more I felt an unpleasant presence.

「What is this I wonder? It feels as if something is waiting for us?」

「You felt it too, Chiyuki. This presence is the same as the one we encountered in Rox Kingdom.」

Reiji, who was walking in front of me, replied to my muttering.

Now that he mentioned it, it did feel the same as back then.

「Could it possibly be that masked evil God again? Then he's a dangerous foe. That black cloud might be coming from him too.」

I recalled the incident in Rox Kingdom.

That time was really dangerous.

「Yeah, that guy might appear. But, we also have a way to cope with the black cloud.」

I nodded hearing Reiji's remark.

Now we wouldn't have a problem even if we touched the evil God Zarxis' black cloud.

As long as we deployed a barrier or created a wall of mana, we wouldn't lose our powers.

In short, we had to kill him on sight.

「Yeah, us currently won't have any problems fighting against the evil God Zarxis.」

「Indeed, Chiyuki.」

Both Reiji and I laughed together.

「Don't let your guard down, Hero of Light. Zarxis might have lost his powers after getting defeated by the Demon King, but he's still one of the three great Evil Gods. We have no idea what he's trying to do.」

Totona, who heard our conversation, gave us a warning.

「Three great Evil Gods? I've never heard about them.」

「Do you really have no idea about this, black haired sage? They were once the Gods who tried to destroy us along with the Demon King. I heard that many gods died due to Zarxis' power.」

Totona explained with a rather enigmatic look on her face.

Did that mean that we were supposed to know about this matter?

「Is that true, Totona-chan? Since you say three, does that mean there are still two others?」

Totona nodded at Reiji.

「The other two are the Serpent Queen Diadona and the Wicked Beast Ferios. Don't you know about them?」

I shook my head as I walked.

Speaking of Gods, until recently I only knew about the Gods of Elios.

That's why I was really surprised when I heard about the Gods of Gypseal.

「I don't know. I've heard about the Serpent Queen, but this is the first time I’m hearing about the Wicked Beast. And from what you said just now, that Zarxis seems to be in a hostile relationship with the Demon King, right?」

「Indeed. The Demon King Modes broke his relationship with the Great Evil Gods Trio.」

Just as I had expected. I had been researching Zarxis after the incident in Rox Kingdom, but there weren't any details to find.

Why did they have a falling out?

「Internal discord, huh, so they really are comrades of the Demon King. Chiyuki, I don't think there's a need to mull over this matter.」

Said Reiji as he looked at me, who was pondering about the matter.

Surely, Reiji was right.

Just looking at the atrocious appearance of the Demon King was enough to convince me that they were comrades.

Moreover, even the Demon King's comrades hated him. It wasn't strange for internal discord to occur.

「Surely… That Demon King seems like a lewd one. He seems like someone who’d prioritize his lust over his comrades. Right?」

I looked at Totona, asking for her opinion.

「Uhm… I can't deny that…」

And yet, Totona seemed to be troubled despite agreeing with me.

Why though?

Well, let's keep that question for later, we have more urgent matters right now.

We kept walking ahead.

The mummies who walked ahead of us suddenly stood still in their place.

「What's the matter? Did you find a trap ahead?」

Reiji asked suspiciously, seeing the mummies suddenly stopped.

「No, hero-sama. We have been advancing forward while letting our comrades disarm the traps. But, we're about to enter Duamutef. Our comrades won't be able to pass from this point, so please be very careful.」

The mummy soldier who led us said so.

Originally, this pyramid was something that was made by Gypseal. Some of the mummies were familiar with the traps inside. But, the passage from here to Duamutef's room was different from the route to the heart room, our destination.

Since the mummies ahead of us were heading to the heart room, they couldn't pass the road ahead of them.

For that reason, it seems there was some trap left.

The hostage was kept in the Duamutef's room.

If our priority was taking back the pyramid, we had to ignore them.

But, in case we had to destroy the pyramid, we had to save them beforehand.

Thus we went into the Duamutef's room.

We arrived without a hitch since the trap had already been cleared.

「Eh?!! What is this?!!」

I was really surprised upon seeing the inside of Duamutef's room. People of various tribes were locked in jails. Humans, sphinxes, ogres, centaurs, and beastmen of various tribes were locked in the room. There was an eerily glowing magic circle on the floor of the room.

The glowing magic circle was connected to various pulsing chains which seemingly tortured the captives.

The captives' bodies visibly became thinner and thinner.

Some had already melted till there was no original form left from them, not even their tribe could be distinguished.

「It absorbs life…」

Totona's face paled as she spoke.

Even I had no idea what kind of thing would happen to those captive.

But one thing was clear, their life force was being drained by the pyramid.

「Mercy, My Queen… We won't fail next time… Mercyyy…」

Their pleas sounded really miserable. I couldn't hide my shock the moment I saw the owner of the voice. It was the gorgon who was about to capture us.

They might be the people who ambushed us.

The gorgon's body had withered and seemed to have lost its evil eye.

「Impossible!! What are they doing to their own comrades?!!」

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