Chapter 176: Presence (3)


    『Mira, try touching the spot you went over earlier.』


    The Spirit King’s voice rang inside Mira’s head.


    『Ohh! I see, around here, right?』


    The Spirit King continued being a reliable partner for Mira. She was not sure what he was trying to aplish, but she did as told and retraced her hands a bit.


    The marks of the Spirit King’s Divine Protection began to glow on the back of her hand as she did that. Mira understood that the Spirit King was analyzing the wall through her hand.


    Around half a minute passed and the marks faded away, the analysis done.


    『Did you find anything?』


    Mira asked him, full of expectation. After a short pause, the Spirit King replied 『Now this is surprising.』


    When asked about it, the Spirit King started by exining that this was the ce where the Ancient Humans first appeared in this world.


    Then he said that the white wall was nigh indestructible, more than likely made of Argolest Alloy. But the one spot Mira had just touched was made of somethingpletely different.


    『This is a different material? I really can’t tell them apart…』


    Mira squinted and looked more closely at that spot, then the nearby ones, but she could not feel any discrepancy whatsoever in appearance or touch.


    『So, what’s it made of then?』


    Mira continued looking at the white wall and asked, her voice full of excitement. The Spirit King seemed to be in a good mood seeing Mira’s enthusiasm, so he answered with a slightly proud tone, 『That’s made of Divine Spiritual Crystals.』


    『What… What did you say? Isn’t that the thing you used to build coffins to seal away the demons? Does that mean that this is also…』


    Divine Spiritual Crystals were a material born from divine power, and it had been utilized to build the coffins keeping the demons away, just like the Graveyard of War Memorials that gave birth to Chimera uzen.


    Mira began to think that maybe there were demons sealed just beyond that wall.


    『Don’t worry about that. I still remember all the locations of the coffins, none are around here. The use of Divine Spiritual Crystals simply means that there’s something involving the Gods hidden behind this wall.』


    The Gods were entities watching over people, and would interfere as little as possible, unless something extreme happened. Divine Spiritual Crystals could only be made with their power, and there Mira had some in front of her now. In other words, something extreme had to have happened there.


    『Do you have a way to open this then, Spirit King?』


    What had they tried to seal there? Or was the spirit across the wall the thing the Gods tried to seal? Something major enough for Gods to be involved had happened there, but Mira did not know what that was. Even so, she still wanted to get across. She had used the Spirit King’s Divine Protection to make sure the spirit on the other side was safe, and she could not allow herself to leave it in such a strange ce.


    『…Yes, I do, but it can take quite some time. Are you sure about this though? We don’t know what lies across.』


    The Spirit King replied after a short pause. His voice showed just how much he cared for Mira’s safety. But she insisted, she could not abandon the spirit.


    (Though well, I knew this was going to happen eventually.)


    Mira was quite confident in her skills, but she was well aware that this world always had stronger opponents somewhere. If such an entity hid across the wall, attempting to fight it would be far too reckless. Though even then Mira would not give up, and eventually woulde back to try defeating it with a different n.


    『Spirit King, if some powerful creature is hidden behind this wall, we’ll need to seal it again. Would it be possible to make an opening that can be closed again?』


    Mira wanted to know if rather than destroying the Divine Spiritual Crystals, they could be taken out with minor damage. That would be the ideal solution Mira thought of.


    『Transforming Divine Spiritual Crystals to mana is the fastest way, but you make a reasonable request. I’ll try that.』


    The Spirit King replied, and told Mira to ce her hand on the wall where the Divine Spiritual Crystals were. She did as told, and the marks of the Spirit King’s Divine Protection started to glow brightly all over her body.


    Her body was filled with the power of the Spirit King, and coursed into the wall. First a small amount imbued the wall to investigate its construction, since unlike the coffins, the Spirit King had not been present when this wall was built.


    Ten minutes passed, then another ten. Not even the Spirit King could undo the work of Gods so easily. Meanwhile Mira could feel the Spirit King’s presence far stronger than usual.


    Eventually half an hour passed and the marks began to glow even brighter than they had ever done before, and a tunnelrge enough for a person to pass through appeared on the wall.


    「Ohhh, this is literally a hidden passage!」


    The white wall was mainly built of Argolest Alloy, except for that tunnel leading further inside which was closed off with Divine Spiritual Crystals. From afar it looked like a small hole bore into the wall.


    Opening it had taken so long because the Spirit King kept trying various things, eventually finding a way to turn it from physical form to spiritual. He sounded quite proud of that feat when he exined how the process could be undone to seal the tunnel again.


    Mira paid little attention to the exnation the Spirit King gave, about how usually it was impossible to turn something physical into something spiritual, but the Divine Spiritual Crystals’ special properties made that possible and so on. She only made sure that the tunnel could be closed again and ventured inside.


    「Hm, just a dead end?」


    『It appears so.』


    The tunnel went straight for around ten meters, but then ended abruptly. There were no branching paths, just a straight path. It was impossible to miss such a path to the side, but Mira had seen nothing, and could not go any further either.


    But the ce was too suspicious, there had to be something more. Mira was determined to go to the bottom of the matter, so she started examining the white wall blocking her path.


    『Spirit King, do you see anything here?』


    Mira prodded around looking for a hidden switch and asked that. Maybe there was a secondyer of Divine Spiritual Crystals there.


    『This is regr Argolest Alloy. There’s nothing too suspicious about-』


    Mira felt the wall around, knocking and rubbing it, which was alsomunicated to the Spirit King. He was still talking when he abruptly stopped and quickly said 『Go back to that part right there.』


    『Back… you mean around here?』


    Mira happily agreed, sensing she would discover something new.


    『Yes, there. I’m sure now.』


    As the Spirit King spoke, the marks of his Divine Protection started glowing all over Mira’s body again. Soon after a small hole opened in the wall stopping their progress.


    It was around twenty centimeters wide, and it opened at around the same height as Mira’s waist. She looked inside and spotted some sort of protuberance.


    (I’m starting to feel like Indiana Jones!)


    Mira was reminded of an old movie she watched once as she reached inside the hole without hesitation. She grabbed the protuberance and pulled on it, and soon after the wall to her right started to slide, opening another path.


    「Just like I expected!」


    『Clever, quite clever.』


    Mira twirled around full of confidence while the Spirit King muttered impressed. They had discovered the mechanism, so now Mira could continue her triumphant walk into the tunnel.