I had planned on releasing this last week, but work was a complete mess; we were so busy. The author actually repeats a lot of sentences and words, so editing this baby takes a long time as well. But, here"s the next chapter, so enjoy~
Chapter 2: Door and Open Sesame “Well, I came back and all, but…..”
I returned to the field with the magic array, leaving the cave entrance behind.
The sinister magic array was enshrined here, carved upon this blood-red stone at my feet.
Of course, I was only calling this ‘sinister" because I felt like it. I didn"t even know what kind of circle this was in the first place anyways…
The mysterious, invisible, barrier-like wall had completely disappeared from the magic array"s circ.u.mference. Even though I stretched my hands out, I didn"t feel any resistance.
My outstretched hands easily sliced through the air.
However, now that I got a better look at things, only the area around the magic array felt out of place.
The surrounding was still and covered in the gentle green from the trees.
It was peaceful.
Although the trees weren"t packed densely together, it still gave off the image of a "forest".
However, I"ve never seen this type of broadleaf trees.
From the first glance, its low height resembled that of a camphor tree, but…
I approached the closest one and picked a leaf off from its branches.
When my gaze dropped to my hand, the leaf"s shape was completely different from a camphor tree.
“Exactly what kind of tree is this?”
It might have been a foreign tree brought over here.
Though that being said, it was not like I was particularly well-versed in foliage, so there really wasn"t much being said here.
However, at the very least, I could say that these trees didn"t feel like they grew here naturally.
They had already begun to decay since they hadn"t been maintained for quite some time, but they did give off the impression that there were human hands involved in the vegetation. On closer inspection, the area resembled more of a wide, green garden than a grove of trees.
In the first place, the circular nature of the open s.p.a.ce for the magic array screamed nothing but ‘man-made," and although the gra.s.s in the meadow had been growing all over the place uncontrollably, I was sure the area would look spectacular if you trimmed it.
I gazed at the gra.s.s at my feet, lost in thought when I noticed something.
——There was a strange line that extended from the side of the magic array.
Since it was pretty much buried underneath the knee-high gra.s.s, I hadn"t noticed it until now.
It was a straight line carved a few centimeters deep into the ground and painted with what looked like the same kind of paint as the magic array.
This burgundy line came in direct contact with the magic array, giving off the impression that the two were created together.
The line cut straight through the meadow and continued into the grove.
That direction was the polar opposite side of the tunnel.
Somehow I got this feeling of certainty.
There was something at the end of this line.
My hunch had hit bulls-eye.
After following the line, there was an enormous stone gate on the cliff"s side.
The burgundy line that had stretched from the magic array cut through the gra.s.s, continued through the grove of trees and straight onwards.
And after exiting the grove, it continued and directly collided with the palisade that surrounded this basin.
In short, the line was longer than I had expected.
Along the way, unfamiliar fruits were growing on the trees, and me being of weak spirit, had thought about abandoning chasing the line to go observe them.
Anyways, let"s get back to this stone gate in question.
It was molded into the cliff"s surface and, it was a ma.s.sive, giant gate with a towering height of about 5-6 meters.
Its doors were tightly shut.
This extreme gate had an extreme magic array-like pattern grandly carved into it.
However, this one didn"t give off the same sinister feeling as the previous one.
I had only taken a quick glance at it, but it felt like one of those genuine ones made of complex patterns filled with geometric shapes.
Yup, it was a beautiful design.
……Wait. I could be feeling this because the visuals of the first one went beyond horrid.
The burgundy line on the ground ran underneath the sealed door and appeared to continue further inside.
This meant that if there was something, it would have to be on the other side of the door.
“But, this is a bit troublesome….. It doesn"t look like it was just simply closed shut…..”
There was no keyhole or k.n.o.b on this door.
I looked around the area a bit, searching for any kind of contraption that would open or close it, but not only was there none, I couldn"t even find any clues on how to open it.
Since it was a gate, it had to be openable.
This stone gate on the palisade was grand and elegant.
It gave off the perfect image of a "Sealed Gate."
I didn"t possess any gorilla strength that went beyond human comprehension. There was no way I could bust through it.
To start off, this door had to be operational through human means.
I didn"t know the stone"s weight, but looking at its size, I would have to say that it was definitely in the level of tons.
Ah, come to think of it, I"ve heard that a set of gravestones could weigh around 1 ton.
In that case, the weight of this absolutely ma.s.sive stone gate would be——
………..
I dropped my shoulders, heartbroken.
Exhausted, I gazed at the magic array"s pattern carved into the stone door.
The thing that popped into my mind was the first magic array I saw.
“I wonder, but could it be that this gate"s door can be operated by some miraculous mystery power like magic…..”
Like the strange power I felt when I tried to leave that encirclement.
There was a reason why I, who possess a rather pragmatic and logical way of thinking, had allowed myself to easily believe in something as eccentric as magic. The invisible barrier from before hadn"t resembled any kind of physical phenomenon known to mankind like static electricity or anything of that sort. This was clearly something that I couldn"t understand.
Well, whatever the case may be.
I currently had no breakthrough plan to deal with this gate. I was truly dejected to announce this.
“This is a completely hopeless situation. Should I go check out another area instead?”
I gazed up at the gate with the mysterious magic array.
And I muttered a few words.
“If this was a magic array that could be opened with a spell, I wouldn"t be having this much trouble. Like I could say, ‘Open Sesame"……just kidding.”
……——creak
The first thing I felt, if I had to put it into words, was ‘discomfort."
The moment I joked around and uttered, “Open Sesame,” it felt like the air…no, the entire surrounding atmosphere faintly, and I mean really faintly, shuttered.
The next thing I felt was a strange feeling of losing something very minuscule.
It was like a very small fraction of a vast something, like power, left me. To put it simply, it was like when you let out a fart.
Wait, I accidentally used a crude example. That wasn"t like me. I apologize.
……——creak creak
The sound of something creaking brought me back from my foolish thoughts.
The source of the sound was located in the center of the door——the area around the magic array.
Oh? Could it be that the power from the spell opened the gate for me?
I looked up again at the door without holding any real expectations for what was happening.
Well, since it was made of stone, I had a.s.sumed that its age was making the sounds.
However, I was startled by the scene that unfolded before me, making my eyes widen.
The magic array carved into the door glowed red….no, it was burning red.
Hot air spewed from the area, creating a heat haze.
The radiation coming from it was even visible to the naked eye.
Or more precisely, just by standing near it, I was already feeling the heat.
That was not all.
The stone that made up the gate began to twist while creaking the whole time.
The intense sounds came from the frightful amount of pressure crushing it; the stone gate continued to twist inwards.
Each time the intense pressure was about to distort the stone structure, the magic array on the door appeared to be resisting it, repeatedly radiating a bright light and the accompanying heat.
Wha, what was happening…..?
The creaking sound reaching my ears was by no means gentle anymore.
It resembled a spine being broken.
And those bones were being chewed and devoured by something――
It was almost like its death throes.
That"s right; the entirety of the stone gate was screaming in its death throes.
A conspicuous crack appeared on the door"s majestic and distinguished magic array. It could no longer fight against the pressure and had finally begun to twist.
The overwhelming, violent pressure had nothing holding it back anymore; it mercilessly twisted and wrenched the door open. It looked like the door had been made from soft clay and was now being smashed.
This scene was certainly an image from h.e.l.l.
Eh? Wait a sec.
What exactly was this phenomenon?
Could it be that this was all happening because I had said, “Open Sesame”….?
Nah, that couldn"t be. That surely couldn"t be the case.
I was a man who could make sensible conclusions.
But given the timing of this…..
Nah. Nope. Nu-uh. Yup, that was certainly not the case!
In the first place, “Open Sesame” was just a fake spell from fairy tale stories. Plus, I had only said the j.a.panese translation of it.[1] Nothing should have happened from that. On the other hand, I had never heard of me having any secret psychotic power that could even cause such a supernatural phenomenon.
Besides, when I had cast the spell, I had thought it would more like…hmm….how can I put it….happy that the door opened up for me; you know, like if I was asked to help out by a homely Märchen[2] girl.
Yeah, I did not wish for even a second for this evil gorilla power to destroy the stone structure of this valuable ruin.
……Yup, it definitely wasn"t me. There was no way this was my fault.
It had to be some kind of coincidence. Confirmed. I just decided that now.
It was right after I declared this judgment.
The once impressive gate was suddenly ‘dyed black" and began to swell.
Then, the center of it where the magic array was located split into 5 pieces and turned outwards as if it was burst open by the inner pressure.
The center of the gate that had begun to look like a crumbling lily that had turned black after being burned, and its five petals peeled outwards, opening up the center to reveal the dim interior of the cave.
Speaking of that, why did it even change color? It was really gross…..
Thus, the stone gate that had been guarding the cave had been opened.
However, the way it opened was practically a grotesque image.
This was too much in bad taste. If a child saw this, they would cry.
[1] The narrator says 「開けゴマ」which is the j.a.panese translation of ‘Open Sesame"
[2] A German word for things related to fairy tales
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