Chapter 718 - Chapter Sixteen: Testament Exploration Part 3
The warriors' hard work bore fruit, and we successfully defeated the fifth one. Gwyn-sama, who was the first to jump in, was injured, but it was within the range that could be recovered with Heal.
To my surprise, the wall that wouldn't disappear unless illuminated by Light disappeared completely. Now there's no wall even without illumination. I don't know what the logic is, but did some release magic or something activate? But with this, the Teleportation Magic Circle can be used up to here. The return journey seems like it'll be easy. However, beyond where the Golem was defeated, there is a passage. I want this to be the end already.
As a result of the knights scouting ahead as usual, there was a hall at the end of the passage, and there was a familiar altar. I understand the mechanism. It must be the same as the one in the secret book cave. When the mark is shifted and the altar is moved, there is a passage under the altar. It was found that there are stairs going down beyond that.
Descending to some extent is within the expected range. The place where the Great Southern Church is located is lower in elevation than the starting point where the magic circle is. It's not startling, but light shines directly down from the basement of the church. It should be at a much lower position than at least the church.
There is a stone door at the end of the descending stairs. As a result of reconnaissance, there are no monsters beyond the door. However, there is a circular room with a stone statue of the Goddess, and there seems to be only something like a small box made of stone.
Roberts-sama and Edward-sama pushed open the door and entered. Since the room is narrow and everyone can't fit, Roberts-sama in front of the other door, the knights who went ahead beyond the door, Price-sama, Wilson-san stuck with Erikson-sama, Harrison-san, Sianya merged with the Priestess, and the priest group including me merged with Fiona, and Gwyn-sama as a scout entered inside.
The priest group offered prayers to the Goddess and began the investigation.
There were no particular mechanisms in the room itself.
When Gwyn-sama investigated and opened the stone box, one scroll was inside.
Gwyn-sama handed the scroll to Price-sama, and Price-sama opened it.
"Hmm..."
Price-sama, who saw the scroll, is making a voice that clearly indicates it's not good content.
"Did something happen?"
Since Erikson-sama asked, he's handing it to Wilson-san. As a result of looking at it together with Wilson-san, the two of them let out the same kind of groan.
I hope it's not female-only again.
The content of the scroll was written for a user of Light, and touched upon what lies ahead from here. In short, they want to confirm whether one is a person worthy of the release of Testament. It seems only those who have overcome the fourteen trials awaiting ahead can reach it. Most likely, it's something poetic like in a fairy tale, but unfortunately with my ancient language ability, it's all I can do to understand the meaning.
"What are the fourteen trials? It's a mysterious number, isn't it?"
Erikson-sama is tilting his head. But it might be simple.
"Five plus five plus four is fourteen, right?"
"Does Jeanne understand?"
"Yes. If you say a person worthy of the release of Testament, it's a person who can use all ten of both light and dark magic, and a person who is equal to the Four Great Spirits worthy of the birth of the Fifth Spirit. We've already used Light. If so, there are fourteen left, right?"
If I infer from what I've heard so far, it should be so.
"That means it's no good if I'm not here! Alright, I'll do it!"
If she speaks like that with Sianya's face and voice, won't the Primordian King be surprised?
"Priestess, can you use all five dark magic spells that counter the First King series?"
Among the dark magic that counters the First King series, it should only be Dark and Undead. The Priestess can also use Necromancy, but since that's magic located on the opposite side of holy magic, I don't think it's relevant this time.
"Ah, I see. Then I'm not enough alone."
After that, there's Wilson-san, but...
When I peeked at Wilson-san, he signaled with his eyes that it was no good. When I glanced at the black ring, he shook his head. Since he lowered his gaze, I looked down, and he extended three fingers, then made a circle with his thumb and index finger. In other words, even if he releases the Magic-Sealing Ring, he can only use three. I saw him use Undead. Since there's one more, even if it's not Dark, two are missing. The rest are Blind, Attract, and Mold. One of them must be unusable. The female demon race member could use Mold. But, as expected, I can't invite her to the Demon Lord sealing.
"But, is it no good even if we enter if we haven't learned all five?"
The Priestess asked.
"This is reconnaissance, right? Then, why don't we just try entering. We'll manage somehow."
Will we manage somehow?
"Umu. I think it's fine to go as far as we can. It doesn't say you can only enter once, and besides, even if we can't break through, we won't die. There's no way they'd kill a precious user of light magic for nothing."
Erikson-sama also went along with the Priestess's words. People from a thousand years ago are somehow positive.
"That's right. This is reconnaissance. As Erikson-sama said, let's proceed as far as possible. It's okay if we fail."
The former hero is also positive.
"Then, shall we proceed? Gwyn, sorry but could you call Edward. Let's open this door. Let's all push through and manage somehow."
Roberts-sama, aren't you being a bit too positive?
As a result of consulting with Henry-sama and Eleanor-sama, we ended up pushing through. It's quite brave to challenge dark magic with numbers.
"We are prepared for failure from the start. Since it's a trial made by the Ancient Priestess, there's no way we who live in the present can break through in one go. We just have to bring back information every time we fail and challenge it as many times as needed."
Everyone agreed with these words of Eleanor-sama. When told that it's okay to go with failure in mind, I felt somewhat relieved.
"Then Roberts, Edward-dono, please."
According to the ghosts who went ahead, there are long descending stairs beyond the door, and there is another stone door at the end. First would be the first trial. I don't know what will come, but let's brace ourselves and go.
When we opened the next stone door, we came out into a room with a stone statue of the Goddess. In front of the statue, there is a small box made of stone. All the priests offer prayers. There is also a stone door on the diagonal of the room. That door was impossible for ghosts to pass through. When we opened the small box, there was parchment again.
"Defeat those who obstruct you and find the exit. That's what's written."
Price-sama read it for us. In short, it must be monster subjugation.
A battle should be waiting. We make a plan before the battle. The enemy might use light and dark magic in addition to elemental magic. Light is harmful to ghosts. Therefore, most of the knights merged with humans and decided to jump out and fight if push came to shove. After all, those who couldn't use magic or whose rank was low were not familiar with the arts of ghosts either. However, since they will be looking around with two people's eyes, the vigilance will be strict. And since there were three people who were about high-level, those three merged with Price-sama, Harrison-san, and Harold-sama. And, at the request of the knight commander who couldn't use magic, he merged with Gwyn-sama. Gwyn-sama, along with Harold-sama, is positioned at the very front as a scout. It'll be convenient to be able to illuminate the surroundings with bluish-white light from the palm of the hand if held out. The other six returned to the stones. That said, those stones are part of the necklace Sianya is wearing around her neck. So, they can jump out anytime if Sianya or the Priestess calls. It must be a protection method the Primordian King thought of.
The formation is: three scouts, Harold-sama, Gwyn-sama, and Bonnie, at the very front. Three warriors, Roberts-sama, Eowyn-sama, and Edward-sama, as the vanguard. In the center, Harrison-san, Wilson-san stuck with Erikson-sama, and me. In the second row from the back, Eleanor-sama and Sianya. In the last row, Henry-sama and Price-sama.
"Well then, let us go. Roberts-sama, Edward-sama, please."
At Price-sama's words, the two try to open the stone door, but it doesn't budge.
"Ku..."
"It... won't move..."
If the two are no good, Eowyn-sama and Gwyn-sama join in, but there's no sign of it moving at all.
This is a different pattern.
While the four are pushing desperately with 'nuooooo', when I illuminate from the side with Light, it starts to disappear from the bottom.
"My deepest apologies. Jeanne, please."
"Y-yes."
The road ahead is difficult.
When I disappear the door-turned-wall with Light, the inside was pitch black. I continue to illuminate as it is.
"It's empty. I can't see anything."
Bluish-white flames rise from the bodies of Harold-sama and Gwyn-sama. The two entered inside as they were.
"Can you see anything with the ghost's eyes?"
Harold-sama asks the ghost he's merged with.
I have to continue to illuminate the wall... to be precise, the place where the wall appears when I turn off Light... at full power. Since I diffuse it, I can't gain distance for illumination. If I don't do that, if the wall is completed, the two inside will be trapped. Moreover, the ghosts including Fiona who is merged with me have to look inside through my Light. Since Fiona says she can't see well, the light must be obstructing. We have to leave it to the ghosts merged with the two who entered inside.
"There's something in the back."
As expected of ghosts, they can see.
"Can you see?"
"Yes. There's still distance. Those are... cockroaches..."
"What? Cockroaches, you say?"
"Yes. The number is quite large. It's dangerous to approach."
Of all things, cockroaches. Even ants are cuter.
"Are they Revenants?"
Price-sama asked from behind.
"Most likely."
"Then let's defeat them with Purification."
"The number is too many. I know you are all skilled holy mages, but can you defeat thousands... no, tens of thousands of enemies?"
It would be impossible. But I don't even want to imagine a swarm of thousands or tens of thousands of cockroaches.
Even Price-sama was stumped by this.
"Wilson, can you manage somehow with elemental magic?"
This time Eleanor-sama asked.
"It might be impossible. In a place like this, if you use Prominence, for example, humans might die. You can't defeat them with ice or water. We might have to paralyze them with Cumulonimbus, but it's difficult to do it all at once. If they rush in before activation, we'll be broken through."
Soil has the risk of a cave-in. Even with wind, it might be difficult to kill them even if they can be driven away temporarily. Paralyzing them with Cumulonimbus...
No, the opponent is insects. If so...
"How about Maelstrom?"
"They won't die from water pressure."
"No, not like that, let's make a medicine to kill insects with a combined technique with Repellent. We'll build a dike with Glaciate and store water. How about if we fire Repellent into that water?"
Repellent is not very well known, but it's insect repellent magic. Basically, it's used by putting it on humans so mosquitoes don't come, or by making agricultural insecticidal magic water. However, it's too expensive for mosquito repellent, and for spraying on fields, you have to spray a considerable amount frequently, so it's not used unless it's very bad. Like this time, if they can be soaked in a water tank, it should be able to be used efficiently.
Since no counter-proposal better than mine was thought of, it was decided to try it.
Eleanor-sama, Wilson-san, and one ghost built a dike with Glaciate and stored water. Since no door-like thing was found, it became a dike that reached the ceiling. It's already a water tank. Since there's a recessed part, they fire Maelstrom. This too, since another ghost said he could use Maelstrom, the three of them fired it. When it was filled up to the ceiling limit, I fired eight-shot volleys of Repellent... I didn't think I'd use an eight-shot volley for Repellent... while resting, and plugged the recess with ice and it was done. Ice dikes and Repellent water won't damage ghosts. We called out the warriors who were in the stones and had them dive in as lookouts, and the rest decided to rest.
"How long will it take to perish?"
Price-sama asks, but I don't know. Repellent water is magic water. It's not a poison that kills even insects. Since they are Revenants, their magic defense will also be strong. We have no choice but to wait while having the ghosts watch the situation.
Even after perishing, the water has to be let out. Otherwise, I'll be firing Light in the water, so the power will be weakened, and I might not be able to open the door on the other side.
"Why don't we withdraw once while leaving lookouts in shifts? I want to make a magic circle to jump the water, and I want to experiment if this can be used too."
The Henry Party took out a simple magic circle. It should be usable if we go beyond the wall disappeared by Light.
The lookout formation was decided to be a basic four-person team of one scout, one warrior, one mage, and one priest, in half-day shifts. The first lookouts are Harold-sama, Edward-sama, Wilson-san stuck with Erikson-sama, and Price-sama. Since I have to disappear the wall, my rest is interrupted every time there's a change. For that reason, they left me out of the duty.
Fortunately, the simple magic circle was usable once we went outside the wall. We have to move a little, but there's no problem. We came out to the side of the first Teleportation Magic Circle as we were. Since the magic circle is exposed, we rearranged it appropriately and flipped it. We rest by the pond as we are. Since the amount of water is large, I fired quite a lot of Repellent. It hasn't even been half a day since we departed, but Eleanor-sama said we should make the subsequent conquest tomorrow.
I wash my face with the pond water. Since it's late autumn, the water was cold and felt good.
"Good job, Jeanne."
Sianya offers me a wine canteen. This kind of consideration is nice.
"Thank you, Sianya."
I received it and took a sip... or so I thought, but I drank it 'goku-goku'. I might be more tired than I thought.
"It seems like it'll be long."
"Yeah. But we won't be able to conquer it all anyway."
There must be mechanisms that can't be broken through unless it's dark magic. After all, the opponent must be the Ancient Priestess from five thousand years ago. It won't be easy.
"Did the priestess from five thousand years ago make it?"
"I think so. Those stone doors and such are the same as the ruins in Primordia."
Hmm, Sianya ponders.
"Is there something?"
"Yeah. There was a stone statue of the Goddess, right?"
"Yeah."
"There was one in the cave where I entered with Jeanne and met Keira too, right?"
"Yeah. There was."
"I'm not confident without confirming, but the atmosphere of the stone statue I saw this time is somehow different."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
I heard that stone statues of the Goddess differ depending on the era. If Sianya says so, it must be different.
"But, as Jeanne says, there was no iron door."
In the secret book cave thought to have been built three thousand years ago, there was an iron door.
"In other words, it's older than three thousand years and newer than five thousand years, I guess."
If so, four thousand years ago is suspicious. It might be a generation that was influenced by the new swell that started to occur after the leakage accident in the Northeastern Forest.
"If that's the case, it might not be so severe."
Sianya's eyes went wide.
"That's right. That would be better."
She laughed brightly and, for some reason, hugged me.