Disclaimer: I don't own Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekaisaikyou just like Isekai manga/light novels
Sorry for the long wait for this next chapter but this is the first chapter I wrote for this story without the collaborated effort of another author whom I remember now is Eldritch Namer. It's not that I don't try writing a lot in a day, five hundred words is a minimum to me, it's just every time I try settling on one story to finish some euphoric idea for a fandom comes to my mind and I have to write it down. Anyways, thank you for your support on the first four chapters and I'll try to make the chapter after this one good and worth the wait.
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"Beaut2fu1 pl8ce." The automaton said.
"Yes," Razi agreed. "It's amazing how stone can stand for so long even when sodded. But are journey is for the inside of this derelict cave not the outside."
Razi and Teresa were walking with their faces looking in opposite directions, Razi looking at the ruins while Teresa was gazing out at the trees. It was to be expected the ruins would have surprises and with no foresight as of what traps awaited them they had to have their eyes exhaustively scouring. Ergo, when they reached the height of the stairs they swayed around looking at the walls.
The interior of the ruins was statues of bulky troll-esque creatures with three eyes and sharp teeth. The statues were uni-directional with the shields sculpted to look like they were creatures who wielded sophisticated tools. Razi had to see more of this archaic place.
"Robot, please open your mouth and breath flames on my axe arm."
His tone made it inexorable to hesitate when he ordered her around; if she wasn't a robot she would shiver at his tone. But like she was told she inhaled and exhaled a small flame right over the axe blade. The metal was so sharp it couldn't melt or even blaze by fire, but the wood underneath his axe blade was roaring with a burning fire.
With a roaring cry he launched the blade out where it twirled around the room and caromed back to him after being around the walls and the statues; the room lighting up with three different fireplaces lit up around the room.
Teresa stood in silence while still looking at the statues. Each of their mirrors cases were gold, had a glint of one part through the gap between their hands that held them, and were the size of a house. From left to right the exposed parts were the hairspring, the regulator, wheel jewel and crown wheel.
Razi tried taking one step closer...
"7top." Her eyes were blipping red and yellow while she spoke. "Th8s is3't an ord9nary ro4m...8t's a tr5p."
"And we were doomed to fail since it was so dark in here?" Razi wondered.
"We We6e doo8ed t2 fa1l th8 4oment we we7e in9ide. Some8ne h7s sabot2ged the pu5zle."
Razi glanced back at the statues, saw four chubby statues holding giant watches, then demurred Teresa's idea there was sabotage.
"How can you be sure anything has been—"
"2here was ori8inally fi7e sta2ues the8e." She pointed to a crater in the ground with a rectangular imprint. "Some8ne or Some6hing 1ame in he3e, follow9d the o1her tra4 whe5e you have t2 mov4 throu8h the ro4m with6ut stepp8ng on the wr5ng t1le, a3d knoc2ed do4n the oth8r sta2ue stop1ing you fr1m alig6ing all fi7e to the j9wel in the ceil5ng whi8h in tu4n wou3d op1n up a crimp8d pa3t of the wa8l."
She pointed to a very small but prominent looking crystal sphere above their heads and a shadow of a long slanted triangle that came from the crimped end of the wall.
"Doesn't seem like a deserving puzzle if you can find the exit without completing the puzzle." Razi said what he was thinking outloud.
" It doe4n't mat5er. On7e you run for it all fo3r of tho1e sta2ues will co4e to life a8d—
Teresa's hard exterior fidget when Razi without warning jumped off the ground and slashed his axe-arm into the heel of the statue on the far left. His blade being the sharp instrument of death severed the statue's leg from his heel, but this did not deter the statues from having bright white eyes in their stone eyelids.
They moved, slowly at first but once they were upright they were walking normally.
Razi was darting around the room, using the agility skill he absorbed devouring a wendigo-jackalope. Despite having no connected shoulder joints and being large to say the least they threw their punches at Razi like brawlers his own size, yet not a single one of their onslaught(s) could reach him as he evaded them with one effortless jump.
Teresa decided after Razi started doing nothing but repeat the formulaic escape move over and over to aid him with her own unique skill. Her left arm folded outwardly until it resembled a cannon but with it's bottom replaced by a launcher while the nuzzle resembled a semi-circle. She charged a burning, condensed heat in her arm before firing a volley of fireballs at one of the golems!
The one she hit narrowed its eyes at her, glancing at her for a long amount of seconds—ten then thirteen then sixteen—before it beat its statured fists against its chest with nonexistent nipples It started to charge towards Teresa only to find its head lopping off its stone neck from a flying projectile.
It wasn't Razi's axe, his prominent weapon, that made the golems head fall off. He used saw disks he developed after eating the flesh of a saw tongue homunculus. One of the golem's charged at him with unfettered fury; or maybe the furry of losing an ally but Razi wasn't sure since he was a statue not a living, breathing being who probably shared the same sentiments for other beings like Teresa. He once again opened his mouth, let his mouth brume with purple fog artificially copying the monster he devoured, and launched a sharp ebony disk right into the next of the golem who didn't take any precautions of avoiding the same weapon that killed his brother.
But then—the third golem and last one who still had two feet pushed through the decapitated body of its fellow golem, loomed over Razi with his gargantuan body just inches away from him, and raised his foot to stomp him down like he was just an insect.
To Teresa's surprise, Razi did nothing to stop his body from being crushed under the weight of the golem's foot...or so she thought. Instead of turning him into a human pancake, it was the golem who was ensnared by Razi holding his hands on the foot that almost crushed him. The golem fidgeted, vibrated, its core thinking was misconstrued by the indecisive decision of whether it could push down or attempt to wriggle its flat foot out, but in the end the sinews of devouring an albino caveman-bear gave Razi the herculean strength to lift the golem up and throw him toppling into the wall. Instead of his head lopping off the backside made a loud crackling sound hitting the wall made of something harder than ordinary masonry stone.
Razi and Teresa were done fighting these golems. Razi couldn't even devour them for any innate skills they possessed. All he could do was saunter to the crimped door while the last golem hobbled after him. Razi didn't give the golem any attention. This was shown from how he never looked back to how he opened the door letting Teresa through before following her and raising his foot to kick it shut.
Razi and Teresa were encompassing a narrow hallway now. It was dark with not even a source of artificial light anywhere in the wall. Fortunately, Teresa illuminated the hall with a ray of shining light from her lens-eyes. Razi could partially see the hall now, but what he saw was atrocious:
There were skeletons standing upright against the walls. He counted one, three, five—every second Teresa shone her light through the halls she noticed another skeleton on both side of the hall with each one so close to each other they were touching their bony fingers together.
This didn't even make Razi or Teresa squeamish or shiver in the slightest. A bunch of skeletons couldn't scare a boy with nothing to lose and Teresa being an automaton wasn't akin to fear.
" I hav8 scann8d the age of ea3h skele6on(s) age bas8d on th6ir p1lvis and hum3rus. The old4st bon8s are the 1nes be5ide us, ov2r a hun1red ye3rs and yet pris7ine, but furt6er alo1g th8y get youn5er and youn5er."
Razi stroked his chin. It was possible all these skeletons were trophies of some kind for some unknown danger waiting for another foolish adventurer to be their next victim. He walked down the hall, darted his eyes left and right to each skeleton all alike in how polished and ghostly white their frames were in this opaque hall, and just when he thought this would be nothing but skeletons until the path ended...he saw a corpse with flesh standing next to a skeletons' right humerus.
Razi narrowed his eyes to this particular person. He was half-skeleton half greenish flesh, dirt speckled blonde hair, grizzled beard on the right side with the left side a visible skeleton, light armor tightened enough to help look slim, green trousers, and a rapier tucked in a sash around his body.
"Please tell me he's the only corpse here." Razi bluntly said.
"It is6't in my progra8ming to lie...tak8 a ga2der ahe4d."
Razi at first couldn't see anything in this shadowy hall, but Teresa sidestepped next to him until her metallic fingers were entwined with his fingers hidden under his axe. The light shone far away and through her light he saw dozens of other bodies against the wall.
"Oh, shit," Razi cursed. "Please tell me these aren't all morons who thought they could obtain unknown riches and then died in this hallway."
"I am not able to sp6ak to the dead nor can I inter8ret th7se dea9hs to bra3ery...all I can say is I can he8r the sl3w bea2ing hea4t of one livin8 ind1vidual not too far aw8y."
Teresa extended her pinky robotic finger to two corpses leaned on the right corner and, then, she and Razi tiptoed towards the bodies trying not to cause a stir. Both were wizen corpses with white hair completely covered in dirt and grey skin. The one on the left had a scar where something wedged itself inside, the other had boils on his face. Lefty had on greyish-black robes with a red sash while righty had purple armor that had a V-neck exposed and a halberd against his right calf.
Razi was sure from his axe-arm that strangely glimmered in the opaque hall to his mothers' inherited eyes that he should touch the armored one over how its head lolled, but he stood between their gap using his axe arm as a battering-ram to sever both their arms, and whoever was still bleeding he would grab.
But before he could follow through with his impetuous action, Teresa hit hard between the gap shattering the wall with a long crackling noise echoing down the hall...
The robbed one's eyes shot open by this turn of events and he cried out loud in fear. Before Razi or Teresa could even twitch an arm he closed his eyes trying to conceal his face with the back of his hands.
"Please," he whined in a frightened tone. "I mean you no harm."
"I am not here to reap any rewards that lie at the end of this tunnel...I am simply the one who retrieves the bodies of those who have failed." He walked with slow steps. Even if he did look old, what caused him to move so slowly was his own refusal to eat or drink, he was practically starving himself to death...
"Forgi7e us for start9ing you." Teresa replied. "My mas3er and I are her8 for the sa3e insi4id rea6ons thos8 poo3 advent8rers we2e he8e."
Teresa turned her head ninety-degrees backwards just to gaze into Razi's brooding face. As a robot she was simply unable to speak; as a woman she relied on someone else to explain for her and that person was Razi.
"To find something worth more than any treasure. What is your name?"
He moved towards the nearest rock he could find and sat on it. Even though it was dark in here he had his eyes transfixed to the ceiling.
"There are some who pass through here that simply call me The Keeper. As for my name...I have traded that and everything in my old life to hear the words of the divine prophet. His words of persuasion helped guide me to a path helping keep the dead safe until the world was ready to be reunited with them once more."
Razi could hear the silent coughing in his head from the "voice" telling him to do things also.
While he watched The Keeper's shadowy eyes glisten as he stared upwards a thought came to his head and drifted into his tongue.
"Where do you keep all the—"
"I have been cursed." He wept. "Forsaken. The voice of my almighty have stopped speaking to me."
Razi was speechless. Seeing this old crypt keeper crying was reminiscent of how he crouched down and cried over his parents after seeing blood squelching from their necks.
Doing something uncharacteristic of his own choice he sat down and touched The Keeper's back, even capturing a tear when it streamed to his finger.
"I think your god didn't leave you. What is universal in this world is death. God or not there are those who can even kill a god. First I think your benevolent god trying to ward off foolish adventurer's was killed by a malign god. But I'm here to gain powers that will help me kill a god slayer. I can assure you once I kill him...that god will be next on my list."
Teresa couldn't find the emotion in many things humans said and she found what her master said to be the opposite of reassuring. Nevertheless, what he said did help The Keeper stopped crying—still sniffling—and got off his rumpus to mosey on down the hallway.
"The boss of the second room is through the door with the plaster of tombstones. The only way to kill it is to hit it in a singular strike in its weak spot. Good luck. I hope you are the ones who can finally move past the second room, but if you are also doomed to fail...I will preserve you much closer to my room."
Razi thanked him, but was a little cheated he didn't get to ask if he had any tonics, weapons or equipment from previous adventurer's to go against it with. He also didn't ask if he was the one who sabotaged the first room. Nevertheless he and Teresa walked almost forty steps before they made it to the aforementioned door. The door didn't resemble a tombstone; completely gray with crosses on the rectangular carvings of the door frame.
"Just think...it looks like a clean door but do we know how much blood must be splattered and coagulated on the other side of this door." Razi said in an attempt at dry humor.
"Ev1n if the ro3m is clean4ed I will see. I ju2t h3pe you d2n'5 h4ve to wit6ess some8hing su7h as th3t, mas5er. You h1ve se2n enou3h h4rror."
Razi ignored her sentiment pulling his axe-arm back and batter ramming it into the door. The doors just opened as if they were moistened to be open. Inside this room so many have lost their lives was everything he imagined. It was a room of coagulation and smears with no windows inside and a repugnant smell in the air.
The only thing more terrifying than the room was the creature. It stood on four small two toed toes, its body resembled a giant marble with green skin and orange arrowhead looking bleb's all over, swarming around it...long tentacle appendages with each other having one large eyeball blinking or staring at everything.
"Out of all the crea6ures to mass8cre m1ny poo5 hu8an sou7s t2is one...is the slim5est and m4st gro7esque." Teresa said.
At the center of the large ball all its eye-tentacle appendages were attached to, another big eye roiled out glimpsing at the two. Now that the door behind them was shut and the monster could see the distinct outline of intruders in its nest, it began the fight planting two of its bottom tentacles in the dirt.
Razi instinctually hurled his axe at the monster after disjointing it from his arm. It intentionally missed the giant eye by a gap and, then, he bolted with his wendigo jackalope skill to the left before whatever reason the tentacles went into the ground could get to him.
Teresa's eyes could see living organisms even burrowed beneath the ground. She noticed how they tangled together before veering away from each other in different directions. At last they surfaced at the speed of a spear thrown across the battlefield into the waiting chest of a soldier. They trapped Teresa entangling her in their long tubes coiling around her arms before grasping tightly around her robot arms.
Being a robot Teresa didn't feel things such as concern or regret: concern over whether she could escape in time before they snapped her or regret she just stood around when the tentacles came after her. But despite her arms being trapped she still had her feet, the bottom heel of her right foot sliding out before burning the eye tangled on her left side with a flamethrower hosed out by her engine for organs body.
Razi couldn't use his axe-arm when two, three, and then four tentacles slithered out of the giant eye monster and lashed at him like snakes biting at someone or dogs nipping at their heels. His weapon was too busy caroming back to Teresa, slashing through the other tentacle not torched by her foot.
And then—using one robotic arm to grasp the hilt of his axe and another arm to mercilessly crush the eyeball until she had her fingers thoroughly pocked in its vitreous chamber. After the entire eye splattered over the floor she hurled Razi's axe with precise energy and precision to reach back to him, but more importantly shred through one tentacle that was lashing out at him.
However, instead of catching the axe Razi let it hit the wall behind him where it stuck in a now crackled surface. The remaining three tentacles fluttered up high, looming over him the same way a crow would flutter over a defenseless mouse, and then they spiraled down together hoping to ram into him...
Razi unleashed one ebony saw blade whooshing on the right side of the tentacles before spinning its way through them! A pallor of the severed meat soared high blinding Razi for a fleeting second, one he could afford to stand idly for with the monster completely dis-armed, before it splashed on his right shoulder. The tube secreted mucousy and variegated green substance from its tube.
Without hesitation Razi grabbed the tube, lifting it to his mouth, and sank his teeth into it. The taste was abhorrent, the meat as bad as a bull/cow's raw rear end, the secretion tasted like milk poured into beer and left to rot for three days, and there was an after taste so spicy it would make Razi want to roll around and cry for days over...if he didn't both shed away a part of his humanity and devoured monsters just as terrible as this one.
Although, since he wasn't poison resistant like Hajime Nagumo yet, he uncapped a vial of the strange liquid and poured it all down.
He was, then, feeling something resonating inside him, something wriggling inside his forehead. Just then two folds that shouldn't exist on a human's forehead opened revealing a third eye. The eye darted around seeing everything around the room but was transfixed on the giant marble just lying around doing nothing, primping for something to do.
And then—it went soaring up into the ceiling by some unknown force. Although it was gone the duo's troubles were not over, not by a landslide.
Suddenly, a threat concealed, looming over them in the ceiling fell down feet squishing tentacles sprawled on the ground. This thing was more humanoid this time...and a lot more frightening. It's appearance was of a lion but it's bare-chest visible to his eyes was more human than the underbelly of a normal lion. A female lion from how their was no mane on her head and she wasn't wearing any clothes so no dangly parts protruded between her legs. She wielded both a hammer and a greatsword both grey with black tint; the hammer a big grey rock with a black pommel and the sword a grey sword both in blade and pommel with stripes of black over the blade and pommel. Her sclera's were yellow and her pupils were crimson red. She had only two visible whiskers one on the left side at the top and the other on the bottom with black gums in her mouth.
"Warrior!" She exclaimed, then started sneaking to the left side trying to sneak attack him. "Now that you have shown me your innate abilities I shall test to see if you are worthy enough to leave this room...or go to your godless realm!"
Charging like a bird extending its wings because she refused to drop either of her weapons, she charged at Razi who wasn't even moving his legs a step to her. At last she reached him, raised her weapons up high...
Swung her weapons simultaneously on both his sides—hitting two stretched out robotic arms catching the weapons. The one who caught them was Teresa and she had a serious look on her automaton face.
"Be6ore you can th5nk abou1 fight3ng my mas5er...y3u'll h2ve to go thr5ugh me."