Something’s wrong.
The removal of the giant creature that was blocking the group’s path did not make the following obstacles in their way any easier.
As they passed through two more chambers filled with more beasts that did not get a clear explanation, followed by a boulder trap and a fire trap that were easily deactivated with minimal issues, Masse’s excited mood slowly faded, and his surly attitude soon returned as he slowly moved to the back of the group again.
However, none of that concerned Dauma.
Neither Masse’s strange attitude earlier, nor Kara, who was unusually quiet now, having not cracked a single witty retort ever since his last conversation with her, mattered to him.
What was more of a pressing concern to him was what he could not feel.
The village incident had made him learn his ability to feel the nearby presence or exposure of any Particles. While it was not as strong as what Anten could feel when she tracked the attackers down, he nonetheless knew the sensation.
He could sense the Soul Particle from Yuu silently gliding beside him. However, other than that, there was nothing else.
Maybe Anten was right.
Perhaps, there really was no new Particle hidden in the temple that could serve as some form of weapon for the Foxes to use.
Then… what could the weapon be?
“Hold.”
Claine suddenly stopped the group once again with a raised hand.
They had entered another chamber, similar to the other two they had passed through earlier.
However, unlike the others, which were plain and barren with a few carvings of unknown figures, an altar, and one other doorway that led to the continuation of the corridor, this one was smaller, yet much different.
In the center of the room lay a strange corpse of what appeared to be a small, black beast in a pool of its congealed, sticky blood, with a foul, pungent stench emanating from it, and a long spear sticking out of its side, despite a lack of any altar.
In contrast, the other chambers, which both did have an altar, had no similar-looking dead beasts at all.
Another point of distinction was that in front of the group, behind the dead beast, were four doorways all leading to different places.
Atop them was an ominous-looking symbol of a bony-shaped, inhuman face, its eyes wide and empty, and its mouth contorted into a scream, with six crisscrossing diagonal lines that looked like claw marks passing through it.
“Matty, what can you see?” Claine continued as he looked at each doorway separately.
“…something,” Matty replied as he stepped forward and pointed at the doorways, but his finger did not land on any of them, instead stopping at the very center.
“Anything else? Maybe which doorway you sense that thing in?”
He shook his head.
“Spirit girl? How about you?”
“…”
She closed her eyes for a short while before she shrugged and shook her head as well.
“Hmm,” Claine rubbed his chin and pondered, “in that case, we might need to split up and take all of them at the same time. We should break out into groups.”
“…I’m taking the devil with me.”
Dauma turned and blinked in confusion as Masse stepped up and readily volunteered.
He did not sound eager in the slightest. On the contrary, he sounded absolutely disgusted at the idea even though he was the one who suggested it in the first place. And yet, despite that, he looked incredibly serious about it, unwilling to voice out any change in his plan.
“As you wish,” Claine sighed before nodding to another Fox, “Riza, go with—”
“No,” he interrupted, “I’m going alone. With him.”
Now, Dauma was even more confused at the idea.
“That—”
“Can’t trust him with anyone else, chief. I think it should be me alone,” he cocked his rifle and explained, but Claine still had a doubtful look in his eyes.
“…”
“…”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The two men stared at each other for a few moments until he finally relented.
“Alright then, you two will take the first one on the left. Wald and Kara will take the second one. Riza, go with spirit girl and take the third one. Azwar and I will take the last one with Matty. Everyone clear?”
“You know,” Kara interjected, “I think it would be better if I stayed with you, Teach.”
“Not necessary. You focus on what you need to do, not me.”
“Mmgh…” she grumbled in annoyance as he looked at the rest of the group.
“Any other objections?”
“…”
Even as he warily eyed Masse, Dauma said nothing.
Maybe this is my chance…
“Good. Now, our objective is to find anything that will lead us to a weapon or something else promising. We’ll meet back here in half an hour. If anyone gets in trouble, make this sound.”
He put his fingers up to his lips and blew two short notes similar to a bird’s cry, before repeating it two more times to ensure that everyone was familiarized with the tune.
“Is everyone clear on that?”
The whole group nodded.
“In that case, good luck.”
**********************
The doorway the Dauma-Masse pair had been assigned to led to a surprisingly short corridor. After just a minute of walking, with Dauma being held at gunpoint the entire time, the corridor had opened up into a small room.
“Umm…”
It was about half the size of Aleby’s meeting room, with no other exits. On top of that, it was completely empty, except for a wall on the left that had some peculiar illustrations.
At first glance, they just looked like random drawings, perhaps drawn by someone who was just doodling and had no idea what they were doing, but upon closer inspection, there was a certain order to it that one could make inferences from.
The whole wall was covered in them, from the left to the right edge, all in muted and dull colors due to weathering and age.
This is…
Unsurprisingly, Dauma could not recognize some of them. However, he could see a few of them that looked eerily familiar to him, or that he could understand given his prior knowledge over the past few days.
“…”
For example, there was the elephant in the room, with that being the illustration of a raging devil-like creature with horns and four arms, although it was carrying tridents in two of its hands and swords in the other two, and its expression looked cruel and malicious, a far cry from the blank expression he currently had.
A distance away from it, with a halo on its head, a determined expression on its distorted face, a sword pointed directly at its target, and three pairs of wings on its back, was what he assumed to be an angel.
It seemed to be facing off against the devil creature, and surrounding the two of them was what appeared to be white structures with multiple pillars on clouds.
Above them was a big cloud with a pair of giant eyes looking down upon the two. Unlike normal eyes, these ones had multiple irises and pupils of different colors, giving them an uncanny look in general.
It did not seem like an artwork depicting the battle of good and evil would be an especially accurate piece for his current situation, and as he looked at it longer, it only felt more boring to him, so he did not really pay attention to the two majestic-looking beings or the strange eyes looking down at them from above.
Instead, his focus quickly shifted away from the two and onto what the angel was holding in its right palm, the sight of which interested him more.
Painted slightly above the palm as though it was hovering in the air on its own accord were eight balls arranged in a ring formation, positioned vertically such that he could see all of them.
The balls all had different colors and symbols in them, and they were all connected by black lines to form a complete necklace-shaped object.
There was no available description or explanation on what these circles both each and as a whole represented, but he could easily deduce what they were most likely meant to symbolize.
I guess that would make sense. They would be highly sought after by different religions, after all.
Apart from the main centerpiece, the rest of the mural was confusing to him. There were drawings of beasts and other beings alongside characters of a strange language, but he did not recognize any of them.
In short, apart from confirming the Particles’ presence in ancient society, there was really nothing else to make the mural stand out or have anything else worth remembering for him.
“Hmph.”
Masse, who had glanced at it for a little while as well, had already lost interest in the whole thing and was now poking his head with the rifle, causing him to flinch and look back.
“There’s nothing here, devil. We’re going back to the meeting point.”
“…”
While there was indeed no reason to stay and further study the mural, Dauma did not move.
“Oi, did you hear me, devil? We are moving. NOW.”
I guess this is it.
Despite the threatening order given to him, he still did not budge. Instead, he opened his mouth to speak.
“I want to ask you something—"
“I don’t care. Move.”
It was an immediate dismissal. Regardless, he still took a shot in the dark and waited for the response.
“You lost them, didn’t you?”
“What?”
“You lost someone you loved, didn’t you?”
“…”
Masse froze, his fingers starting to shake as he was quiet for a moment. That reaction was only momentary however, as he had soon recovered and cocked his rifle with a furious expression on his face.
“You’ve made a big mistake, devil.”
Jackpot.
It was time to hit the nail on the head.
“No,” Dauma responded bluntly as he turned around and looked him dead in the eye, “I don’t think I did. It doesn’t matter if you believe me or trust me, because truthfully, I don’t care either way. I just want to know what you want.”
“Last chance.”
“Then, maybe I should phrase this differently. You currently have the upper hand against me, and I clearly have nothing now. Even if you shoot me, I will still want to know why. That’s all.”
I have got to thank Kara after this.
“…”
Masse’s anger was still fixed on him, but after a few tense seconds of more silence, he begrudgingly lowered his rifle, although its sight never left his body.
“You might be right,” he grimaced, “either way, I’ll still be the one to kill you, you can guarantee that. I’ll answer your question.”
“So—”
“HOWEVER,” he loudly interrupted, “that does not mean I will tell you everything, only the details I want you to know.”
Leaning forward until his face was right next to Dauma’s and continuing to press the rifle against him, he continued his answer in a low, cold whisper.
“Listen up. I will not stop killing beasts like you, devil. I will never forgive your kind for what they did. You may look and behave like a half-assed one, and you might be acting on your ‘goodwill’, but I believe that you’ll show your true side somewhere down the road, and when you do, I’ll stop you before you ever harm anyone else. There, are you satisfied? Now, move.”
“…”
The answer was cheesy and dramatic, but Dauma fully understood it. In fact, it was extremely helpful even if he was being deliberately vague about it.
“…you sound like him.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing...”
There was still the visible threat of the rifle, but he could not help cracking a slightly triumphant grin on the side at his small victory.
“Maybe you’re right,” he concluded as he walked past the rifle’s scope, forcing a rapid adjustment of it, “this room really does have nothing. We should go back to the meeting point, like you said.”
But even as he exited the room, he still had one thing left to say to him, even if he did not completely mean it.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“…”
The general glared at him again but did not reply.