Chapter 130: The Murals of an Artist._A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

Chapter 130: The Murals of an Artist.

 Thest time I checked the gate, it was closed shut without a way to open it, the spirit stated. I could not find a key or any other methods of opening it. It is futile.

 I looked up at the giant double-doored gate at the end of the chamber where we fought the onnikai boss. It easily towered over my entire party and it seemed like it was designed to allow something rather massive in. If I were topare its size, it would berge enough to allow my dragon form in without any problems. I was about the size of a mammoth as a dragon, so it made me wonder who the owner of this gate was.

 I would not say that just yet, Kiiro, Saori responded to the yellow spirit sitting inside the floating ice-covered blue orb. Goddess Zephira mentioned we should be careful if we wanted to explore this area of the ruins. She would not have even brought it up if we had no chance of opening it.

 Kiiro was the name we gave the spirit, as calling it onnikai boss or spirit all the time was annoying. Taken from Japanese, its name simply meant yellow. Simple and easy. Even Kiiro itself didntin about the name,as it called the appetion fitting after we exined its meaning. Of course, we didnt tell Silva or Kiiro where we learned the name.

 Speaking of names, Saori hadnt given her doggos - I mean, her garms - names yet. The three that transformed into shadow beasts have been dormant since she epted them as her shadow pack, while the fourth residing inside the orb with Kiiro mentioned it didnt need a name. Saori answered that she would give it a name after all four garm spirits were awake.

 Hmm, but Kiiros observation is correct. I cannot find a keyhole or any other contraption to open it. Kiiro, have you explored the rest of the ruins yet? Maybe there is a switch or something? Silvamented.

 The orb containing Kiiro glowed yellow for a moment as it responded, This has been my home for long enough. Even if I hadnt explored it, the rest of the onnikais had. They have found nothing of that sort.

 [IattestWe have foundnothing,] supporting Kiiros statement, the garm spirit uttered.

 It is a gate, so there must be a way to open it. If you wished to seal off an area, you create a wall, not a possible entryway, Tasianna said, to which I agreed. If there is a gate, then the creator of it clearly wanted it to be opened, otherwise, the entryway could be blocked with a different method. Make a wall, cause rubble to block it, anything was better than a gate.

 Tasianna continued, Have you tried using force yet, Kiiro?

 Of course. The garms have tried but failed. I have given up on it ever since.

 But you didnt mention using your onnikai beast. Maybe you needed to reach a strength threshold?

 Telling everybody I had an idea, I asked everybody to step away from me as a mana mist began expelling from my body. Turning back into a dragon, I put my front legs on the giant gate, standing up on my hind legs only. Putting all my weight forward, I pushed the gate with all my strength but it wouldnt budge.

 A shame.

 [Humanization (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

 Welp, and here I thought you had to fulfill a Strength requirement for it to open. Maybe Goddess Zephira was wrong? I remarked.

 The Wind Mother wouldnt say unnecessary things, Silva rebuked me. Her faith towards Zephria has risen after she performed the Rite of the Fading Winds.

 After thinking about it for a bit longer, and searching every nook and cranny inside the chamber, we finally gave up. Maybe it''s like a revisable area, you know. In video games, not all the secrets of a ce would be revealed on the first visit, as you needed to obtain an item somewhere else.

 These were ruins. It wouldnt be surprising that the alchemy guilds master took the opening mechanic away, or that the key to open this gate was stored in another ruin. It was a shame for Saori, as she was the one most excited about this trip. I mean, the only reason why we took this Quest in the first ce was cause she wanted to explore these ruins.

 Hold on, I think I have a clue, before we began leaving, Saori dered as she red at the gate. Garm, when you four touched the gate, nothing happened correct?

 [Yes, Alpha. I would not lie to the Alpha.]

 However, if I remember correctly, these ruins were named Ruins of the Fenrirs Eclipse by the Divine System, yes? Fenrir. Whoes into your mind if you think of a fenrir?

 Belzac! Silva responded.

 [Ancestor!] the garm spirit added.

 Yeshow annoying, Saori sighed, walked towards the gate, and touched it with one of her hands. That was when a noise came from the gate. The key isnt a physical object. It is my title [Belzacs Sessor].

 As expected from something this ancient-looking, the giant gate made a loud rumbling sound as it slowly opened up to us. As the two doors of the gate moved, they ground on the floor and ceiling, shooting out dust and small rocks into the air. Saori stepped back from the dust cloud.

 Once the door finished moving, I kinda expected torches to magical light up, revealing our way forward like a scene from a video game, but, s, that wasnt the case. The pathway would be pitch-ck if it wasnt for Silvas trusty light elemental, Igniculus.

 [Music Resonation (Minor)] [Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Moderate)] [Sanctified ze ] [Various Spell Buffs] [Insatiable Glutton] [Shadow Armament (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

 For safetys sake, we readied ourselves with buffs before venturing into the pathway. My [Detection Sensor] didnt actually notice any enemies, but who knows, right?

 As we walked, we suddenly found something on the wall. It was a mural, although it looked more like the doodling of a caveman, due to how simple it looked. ck colored stickmen, symbolizing a human I guess, were painted on the wall in a setting simr to a vige. Houses, crops, hunters with game. It was simple, but it was understandable.

 Hmm, this is my first time witnessing an actual mural made withcharcoal, animal fat, and some iron-like ore. I believe that is how you make simple paint coloring, if my memory serves me correctly, Saori expressed, looking as excited as a kid at a carnival. A closed area protected from the elements, well preserved to this day. A musty smell you could only find in abandoned ces like these. This islike a dreame true.

 Not to ruin your fun, but I personally am not a fan of the old basement smell. Sorry, Saori, I thought, keeping the sass to myself.

 Here is a vige so simr to any other vige you may find. Oh! Look over here! This mural depicts the life of the people inside these ruins! With unrivaled enthusiasm, Saori darted off before Igniculus could follow her. Considering her [Night Vision], she didnt need light to see clearly, although it helped with details. Look at this, everybody! The same art style is stered along this wall. Considering the appearance of these stickmen, I assume they must be humans. No long ears, no beards, no animalistic features.

 This mural depicted people fleeing from their vige, trying to avoid conscription for arge war, and, during their flight, they found this abandoned ruin on their travels. Back then, the ruin was just as empty as today, without any treasures or items of interest to be found above. However, the vigers interests werent the same as adventurers, but rather their priority was to find a proper ce to settle down. And they found it.

 They were able to grow crops as the ground was fertile and a source of water was nearby, the monsters around were weak and easy to hunt, and the ruins wererge enough to amodate all the vigers. In fact, the ruins were so massive that the mural showed the vigers didnt explore any further than the second underground floor.

 Ahh, now I understand, as we found another mural, Silva finally spoke out, pointing at what looked like a bearded person with a hammer and tongs sitting on an anvil. This was a dwarven underground hold. No wonder a ruin this deep would be in humannds. While I have no knowledge of how advanced these humans were or from which age they came, no human would build such deep buildings.

 Dwarves? Is this their emblem? I asked.

 No, not exactly. The dwarves are not only capable artisans but also strong warriors and drinkers. They take excessive pride in the fact that no other humanoid race is as specialized in living under mountains as they are. And the pride of a dwarf might actually be stronger than us elves when ites to their crafts. Their royal emblem would include all these characteristics, Silva exined. This is the symbol of the church of the cksmith God, Blei. A dwarven hold is usually diverse when ites to their craftsmanship, but this hold was most likely focused on mining and smithing alone.

 You could say, the dwarves dwarfed the elves in pride! Aha!

 Then why couldnt we find any of these symbols when we ventured down? Tasianna questioned Silva.

 Sister Tasianna, it is just as I said, dwarves are excessively prideful when ites to being an artisan. That is especially the case with Blei, who is known for being one of the most active subordinate gods in the pantheon.

 The God of cksmithing and Searing Volcanoes, Blei, was currently a subordinate god for Crustacia and the patron god of all cksmiths. However, ording to Silva, when he was given the choice to be a god, it wasnt Crustacias pantheon that he chose to enter, but Danternos. This was way back when the Origin Gods first came to this world, so I guess Crustacia didnt have a proper foothold back then.

 Believing that the inferno produced by the Origin God of Fire would help him craft anything in the world, Blei worked under Danterno with this n. Unfortunately, this alliance didntst long,as the two gods began to quarrel, which ended with Danterno casting Blei out of his pantheon. That was when Crustacia picked him up and he became a god under her, and indirectly, a god for the whole dwarven race.

 At least, that is all I could read. All this information was written down by the Church of Blei, Silva mentioned, making me a bit suspicious if all this information was true if it only came from a single source. Anyway, back to the topic. As Blei personally watches over the worlds cksmith guilds, he holds them to a certain degree of capability. It is said that Blei blesses those he favors with increased Strength and fire resistance to help them improve as cksmiths, but it also means he expects something from them. If they disappoint him, Blei could explode like an inferno.

 I presume, the dwarves of this hold angered Blei, which led to the removal of all of Bleis emblem aside from the ones inside this pathway? Saori deducted.

 Yes, I believe so. The dwarves most likely took everything and then abandoned this fort where the humans eventually settled in. However, the question is, why did the dwarves build a colony here?

 Further inspection of the murals, the humans eventually found the courage to explore the rest of the ruins. As there were no enemies or obstacles, unlike our trip, they made it to the depths with rtive ease, where they found the gate blocking this pathway open. They found Bleis emblem and a few parchments concerning cksmithing when they first came.

 As they continued exploring, they eventually reached the end of the pathway, to a door. The door was shown to be cracked and dented, almost as if somebody kept pounding on it from the inside.

 Most of the vigers wanted to leave it alone, but a single viger was too curious. It was only a touch, but the moment his finger pressed on the handle, wounds opened up on his arm. There was a painting showing him cry in pain, wailing around alone in the darkness, realizing his mistake. Blood flowed like a river, but instead of resting on the cold ground, it moved towards the door and seeped through its small openings.

 With a cracking, a ck figure burst out from the door. Its appearance seemed grotesque, considering the artist changed their art style when they drew this ck figure. The figure had ws sorge it could tten the human, a ribcage-like armor that looked like it formed from its wings, and bones growing out from its body.

 Strangely, in the next painting, this figure was gone, and it was reced by a human stickman with horns on its head, two bat-like wings, and a long, slim tail.

 Is that a dragonewt? I blurted out, surprised at what was shown.

 Perhaps, Silva answered. However, most dragonewts would be shown with a dragon head, no? That is, after all, the mostmonly seen type of dragonewts, if you hadnt known that, Princess Hestia. Human-like dragonewts and levianewts are rarer, as the dragon blood flowing through most of them overpower their human blood, causing their appearance to resemble their dragon side more. It is no shame to not know this, as [Humanization] breaks this rule.

 Silva then continued, While your idea is usible, Princess Hestia, I believe that, due to the artists child-like painting aptitude, the artist wanted to depict a demonkinor in the worst case, a demon.

 Demons and demonkin. The former were otherworldly enemies of the Origin Gods and Peolynca, while thetter were the spawns of demons created through procreation with Peolyncian residents. Aurena told me she couldnt do much about the demonkin, as they were considered native Peolyncians, and so were protected against the gods direct influence; therefore, the gods were forced to use indirect options, like appointing champions, to fight against them.

 Aurena mentioned something concerning the demonkin when I visited her home in her divine realm, but didnt specify anything more than that. I can hazard a guess that they were probably doing something against her church, but who knows at this point.

 Demon, Tasianna uttered after gulping. Evils who came from the Origin Gods world. They terrorized Peolynca and brought chaos and destruction before the gods slew them all. How could a demon be alive and be found here of all ces?

 Nobody had an answer, so we continued the trail of murals.

 In the next one, the ck figure was shown escaping the ruins after killing a few vigers for their blood. When it reached the surface, the moon shined down on it, as a group of vigers cowered before it.

 That was when another figure appeared. It howled as it first saw the ck figure, revealing itself as a four-legged monster with an appearance simr to a wolf. On its forehead, it had a third eye.

 Belzacthe S rank [Three-Eyed Fenrir], Silva said with disbelief. I think I have confirmed when these paintings were made. Around the first 500 years after the Origin Gods arrived in our world, Belzac suddenly appeared in the world, reaching the heights of an S rank monster. These humans must have lived around that time.

 Jeez, doesnt that mean its been a millennia and a half since this event happened? Wow.

 The murals then depicted Belzac and the ck figure fighting. There was no text or any other information for why Belzac was away from his home in the Belzac forest, so I was a bit confused how this could have happened. This ce was far away from the Belzac forest, we werent even close to the canyon that separated Artorias from the forest, so why was Belzac fighting the ck figure?

 My question was quickly answered with the next mural - a painting of an area that suddenly copsed and turned into a canyon. The power of Belzac and the ck figure shed against each other and caused damage in the forest where they fought.

 How huge was the Belzac forest? Saori asked Silva without taking her eyes away from the wall.

 Massive. ording to the elders, we elves do not originate from this continent, Altrust, but actuallye from an ind bordering Kargryx. Before my ancestors founded Sariel, the Belzac forest seemed to have epassed some of the Kingdom of Artorias and the forest of Sariel. However, it seemed my ancestors colonized before Belzac was born.

 As the only border between the elven kingdom and the Belzac forest was a gap between two mountain ranges, it made sense why it would be thatrge. If the reason for the creation of that canyon was cause of this battle, then it also made sense why Belzac itself was that huge. I mean, this ce was a forest, too.

 The murals continued. Belzac seemed to have eventually defeated the ck figure and brought it back to the ruins, where I presumed it wasid to rest, although the paintings didnt depict it. Belzac left the vigers and moved back to his home, but it seemed it was injured in its battle against the ck figure.

 What?! This cant be! Silva eximed at the next painting.

 Without batting an eye, Saori analyzed the mural and spoke out loud, A lonesome wolf on one side and multiple humanoid stickmen on the other. Some looked like the vigers but equipped with armor and weapons, but some also had longears. Uhm, Miss Silva.

 It was a battle. The stickmen drew their spears and bows at the wolf, barraging it with arrows and weapons as the wolf defended itself with arge wound drawn on its body. The wolf fought valiantly but the wound it received from the ck figure proved to be fatal, putting it in a disadvantageous situation against the humans and elves.

 Belzac was depicted in the next mural gloriously. It could be seen that the art ability of the artist developed with each sequential painting. Although still using ck painting, I could feel the energy the artist wanted to express with it. Belzac stood proudly as it howled under the moonshine. The artist must have liked the wolf, it seems.

 No wonder it was called Fenrirs Eclipse. This was where the end of his life began.

 Silva shook her head in rejection, before stuttering up sentences, T-This isnt what I read about Belzac. We were taught that only the humans fought against it due to their fear of its growing powers! No, no, wait, this was made by a human so-

 Miss Silva, Saori grabbed her shoulder to calm her down. Do not panic. This is only one source of what happened back then. When ites to examining history, a historian has to find and observe as many sources as possible beforeing to a conclusion. Until enough resources are found, we, as the observers, must look at the information with a grain of salt, in other words, we must be critical. Maybe this is the truth, maybe not. However, you shouldnt reject it just yet.

 Silva stared at Saori for a moment before uttering something with widened eyes, Wisdom. Wisdom, truly, your words are very wise, Miss Saori. I feel embarrassed for being lectured by someone far younger than me, however I must thank you. This is information about Belzac I have never read before, so isnt this joyous? Even if it puts us elves in such a scandalous light.

 Regaining her bearing, we continued through the pathway. At this point, there werent many murals left, as it seemed we wereing to the end. The vigers eventually left the ruins after Belzac perished, holding onto an amulet as they traveled to a newnd. The only one who stayed back was the artist.

 Surprisingly, it was the same person who first released the ck figure. With a removed arm, the artist stayed inside the inner chamber where he used the information inside the scrolls left behind by the dwarves and Blei to tinker with the door at the chamber, the one we just opened. Somehow, he eventually seeded in closing the door, with the only way to open it was by holding the title of [Belzacs Sessor].

 So, the size of the door didnt have anything to do with Belzac? It was massive just to be massive??? Holy shit, what were the dwarves thinking when they made this?

 The remaining murals depicted the artist drawing and living their life inside the pathway. Strangely, their arms eventually grew back but in a deformed shape and appearance, almost like a monsters, but it seemed like they didnt care. After all the murals were down, heid themselves to rest at the end of the pathway, where they ced the ck figure.

 And that is where we found his remains.

 A skeleton. Although I am not 100% sure, I believe he is male. I learned you can analyze the gender through their hips, Saori exined before picking up a broken off skeleton arm. Oops! she eximed as it crumbled to dust.

 It seems like the paintings werent exaggerating when his arm looked weird, cause that looks weird, I pointed at his right arm which had bone spikes growing from it like a porcupine.

 I then noticed a stone te ced on the ground and picked it up, revealing an amulet ced under it. However, only bits of the string and amulet were left behind, as time probably destroyed it.

 Looking at the stone te, there was paint on it. Huh, is this a memento or something? Last words? I falcum tho dijandit ouf Belzac, ok, I give up, I cant read this, I said after attempting to read the letter.

 Once Silva had a look over it, she mentioned it was an ancient form of the current Common tongue. Simr to hownguages on Earth developed through the years, so did Common. Silvas knowledge of thenguage wasnt very good and it was a long time since shest had a scripture with it so her trantion should be taken with a grain of salt.

 I wee the descendant of Belzac, his sessor. I do not know for what reason you came here, but I ask you to turn back. I know you cannot read these words, but I hope my feelings were transmitted to you through my paintings. Please, do not venture any further than this point and turn back. May Marsven, the father of darkness, protect you and your brave lineage. Signed a Sinner.

 So I guess this amulet belonged to Marsven and presumably the ones the vigers held up were his, too. Strange to see humans favoring Marsven this much in this kingdom, but I guess it was a different time, Imented.

 Rest in peace.

 Although concerned by hisst words, our party was too curious to give up now. The door behind the artists remains was broken down just as the murals showed, so we raised our awareness and walked through it.

 Inside, the room was covered in ws andholes, scrawled in every single spot of this tiny room. If Belzac had ced the corpse of the ck figure here, then it should be somewhere in this room, but we couldnt see it. The room was so small without any furniture that it was impossible to miss anything.

 The only thing inside the room was a single ck ball.

 Mana Eyes.

 Zazail Orb of Sealed Shadows A ck orb that can absorb a tremendous amount of mana for future usage. As a catalyst, it would prove to be an inefficient tool as it cannot aid the magician in their spell cast, however, as a source of mana, it is an ideal tool. The true power of this orb was sealed by the God of Darkness, Marsven, preventing anybody from releasing its true power, so it is safe to use

 Mana Capacity: 0/10000

 Woah! Ahaha, how amazing, two catalysts for the price of one Quest! Amazing! I shouted. I mean, it doesnt seem to have any skills forbat but it can store 10k mana! Isnt this like a mana battery? Wow! Wait, couldnt this be useful for my concerts? I dont have to spend so much mana to maintain all the special effects!

 My mind was already thinking of the ways to use this orb, that Ipletely forgot that we found it in this ce. In this ce where that ck figure once was and where its body shouldve been ced.

 Hestia, drawing me back to reality, Saori voiced her concerns. Leave it alone. Have you already forgotten where we found this thing? Literally just now in thisominous ce. Have you asked yourself why there are no remains of that ck figureof that possible demon? Why is this orb here instead and why does it mention Marsven? Why does the artist have a Marsven amulet?

 And it clicked. The puzzle pieces were slowly being ced together until my mind realized the truth. Belzac brought the body back to this ce, where Marsven probably helped seal the ck figure into this ck orb, which probably made the viger and the artist believe Belzac was sent here by Marsven himself, winning him a few new believers. Actually, maybe Belzac was a supporter of Marsven in the first ce and came to fight the ck figure due to his orders!

 There was no 100% confirmation, but the evidence just tied together too well. It was too much of a coincidence, but I already took it as the truth. Fearing what was inside that ball, I stepped back.

 Y-Yeah, lets just leave it here. Goodbye, whoever you are, please just stay here andwell, be forgotten or something! Farewell, bye-bye! as I turned around and was about to leave, Silva grabbed my arm.

 Princess Hestia, although I know this might be hard, I dont believe you can leave this ce without the orb, she stated with a frown.

 What?! Didnt you listen to what Saori said?! Evil, that orb is probably evil! I dont want it! Why should I want it after knowing how dangerous it is!

 Unable to challenge my higher Strength, Silva had to grab me with both hands to keep her bnce while speaking, Oof! Please, listen to me! It is precisely because of the threat of this orb that you, as Goddess Aurenas champion, should take it away! What will you do if somebody else were to take it?

 What do you mean?! Close the door and be done with it!

 And how will you close the door? Did you see any of those scrolls the artist learned this information from? The gate is a dwarven construction! The mechanism behind them is not simple, while it is likely that the parchments have degraded over the years. We have no way to learn how to close the door, or are you so willing to stay here and tinker with the door until you can?

 Urghverdammt.

 As you are a champion of Aurena, she probably knows about this orb by now through your connection with her. She was speaking of Aurenas ability to look through my eyes if I personally allowed her too, which she could right now. You have a duty! Please, take the orb and keep it safe. God Marsven sealed it, so it must be safe for now, so please safeguard it until you can hand it over to Goddess Aurena. It is the right thing to do; otherwise, who knows who would wander into this ce?

 As I was starting to be persuaded, Saori spoke up, I admit, this is our fault. Zephira did warn us to be careful, which probably was her way to tell us to stay away. Didnt Goddess Aurena warn you through your divine Quest? Let us take responsibility and bring the orb with us to Firwood. You can ask Aurena to purify it at the temple.

 I agree, Tasianna also spoke up. If the gate cannot be closed, then we should take the orb with us for now. The alchemy guilds guild master was the reason why we are here and it wouldnt be impossible for him toe back to the ruin to check on the results. Do we really want to risk that madman obtaining this orb?

 Yes! Evil, he is evil! Kiiro chimed in. Do not give that human any more power! That orb can store mana, you say? More reason for him to hunt faefolk to drain their mana. Take it. Take it! We have wasted enough time here. Go! We must hunt Davison!

 After everybody, even Saori, the most cautious person amongst us, urged me to take it, I reluctantly agreed and threw the damn thing inside my [Storage Magic]. If time stopped inside it, hopefully it will also work on this orb.

 Please, dont break. Please, dont break.

 After looking around just in case we missed something, we agreed that it was time to go back to the surface. And that was where we also would say our goodbyes. Silva only came to the ruins due to the onnikai, so her goals were fulfilled, as were ours. Due to what she saw in the ruins, she wanted to go back to the elven kingdom and double-check the facts written in the history books.

 If you three ever visit the elven capitol, please dont be shy about meeting me. It would be nice to catch up and I can give you a tour if you need one, she said before we gave our goodbyes.

 We returned to the castle where the vigers were staying until everybody recovered. The vige chief already had the confirmation letter for our Quest ready, so we thanked him for it and said our goodbyes. As a farewell gift, I decided to use [Prayer] to give everybody some mental hope by acting as a priestess.

 Their thanks and tears really hit home, and I wonder if it had been better if I had stayed at the castle to protect them. I was easily able to take care of the onnikai beast by myself, so shouldnt it have been alright for me to stick with the castle defenders?

 Knowing it would bother Saori and Tasianna if I were to worry this much, I shook that thought away and our party began our way back to Firwood. Once we reached Firwood on the next day, we immediately visited the guild to hand in the finished Quest to get our reward.

 And that was where we finally registered our partys name.

MillionNovel

Chapter 130: The Murals of an Artist.