Chapter 12 : The Stone of the Black Storm

The two statues were as huge as skyscrapers. Each statue was holding a sword and a spear, thrusting them at each other, and their size was truly admirable.

The statue on the left was scraping the ground with its sword, thrusting upwards, while the statue on the opposite side was striking down with its spear from above.

These two warrior statues had been engaged in a magnificent battle since the time of the ancient civilization. Honestly, it was understandable if the ancients created this as a gimmick to display this scene.

But this wasn’t all. Just like the obelisk, there must be a passage leading to the black storm.

However, there didn’t seem to be any devices on the cave wall behind the statues.

“······It’s definitely somewhere around here.”

The scale of the statues was too large for them to just deceive the eye. Additionally, the direction of the black storm was this way, so I only had to look around the statues.

“Let’s think from a human’s perspective.”

Now, this place is filled with water, and I am a blue dragon who can swim freely. But it was the humans of the ancient civilization who created and used this place. Unless they had the technology to fly, most people would have moved on foot.

In the end, I once again put my face to the ground and began searching. Unlike the canyon, this place had almost no dirt or dust; it was all rock, making it much easier to see.

In the canyon, I had to dig up anything that popped out to find artifacts that might be buried. But here, I just had to lightly sweep it off.

After examining the ground for a few minutes, I concluded that there was nothing particularly strange, except for the pattern on the floor that guided the way to the statue. There was nothing odd about the wall behind the statues either.

Despite the disappointing result, I realized something.

“Around here, I can see the statue.”

I could vaguely see the statue at the end of the pattern. In other words, the pattern served as a guide to the statue, and the passage was related to it.

I immediately slid from the pattern to the statue, as if flying at low altitude.

And when I got close to the statue and looked around, I saw something I hadn’t noticed before.

“Is this······ a ladder?”

A long rope was attached to the end of the spear held by the right statue. At first, I thought it was just decoration, but when I looked closely, it was made so that I could climb up and down.

I slowly climbed up the ladder, careful not to miss anything along the way.

When I reached the middle, I noticed an area next to the ladder where I could rest for a while.

“······There’s one on the left too?”

The crossguard of the sword held by the left statue was neatly erected in a slightly awkward shape. The resting places on both sides were at almost the same height.

I kept this in mind and climbed a little higher.

When I reached the end of the spear, I realized a similar area existed. There was the same structure on the opposite statue.

Upon closer inspection, it was square-shaped, with four areas at each vertex.

Also, unlike the right side, the left side did not have a ladder, which was a unique point.

“What does this mean?”

Then, I suddenly remembered the obelisk above. There were also four obelisks. The stone door could be opened by activating four gimmicks.

Perhaps this was something that needed to be done in these four areas.

“······As expected.”

There were footholds in each area. It seemed that the statue’s mechanism would work when I pressed these.

Click.

When I pressed the lower right foothold, I heard something clicking inside the statue. It spun slightly in the middle, but the foothold soon popped out again.

It seemed that it worked when all four footholds were pressed at the same time.

“Then, originally, four people would have been needed······.”

But I didn’t need that.

I moved my body and wrapped it around the footholds. Fortunately, I could barely reach all of them.

Using my claws, tail, and chin, I pressed all four footholds at the same time.

Click.

Rumble······.

As all four footholds were pressed, I heard something spinning furiously inside the statue. I took a step back, but it didn’t seem like it would pop out again, so I moved away from the statue.

And a little later, a spectacular sight unfolded.

“Crazy······.”

The arms of the two statues slowly began to move, and the spear and sword rushed towards each other. The spear and sword that cut through the water finally collided, creating a loud noise and sparks.

Despite being submerged in water, the sparks burned at the ends of the weapons without being extinguished.

After a while, the two weapons returned to their original positions. But unlike before, sparks emitted light from the tips of the spear and sword.

The sparks flew backward with a dull sound and struck the wall.

When the sparks touched the wall, they began to draw something on the empty surface, as if creating a magic circle. I could only stare blankly at the unfamiliar sight I had never seen before.

As the flame magic circle spread around the sun-like pattern, it emitted light, and the entire cave, which was full of darkness, became as bright as midday.

And thanks to that, I realized that countless pillars and murals were drawn on the rest of the walls, except for the wall with the statues.

I wanted to examine them all, but I had to turn my gaze because the flame magic circle changed.

The intense light subsided, and only a hole remained where the flame magic circle had been. Fortunately, it was big enough for my body to fit in comfortably.

After confirming that the flames on the weapons of the statue had subsided, I entered the hole.

The passage continued straight forward for a while, then gradually ascended, finally leading to an area filled with air.

“Phew······.”

It felt like it had been a long time since I had inhaled fresh air, maybe because I had just experienced something magical. When I looked around, various murals were drawn on the circular black passage.

“······Let’s check it out when I get back.”

Once the black storm is resolved and the red moon passes, there will be plenty of time to explore this place. Now was not the time to prioritize curiosity.

I remained wary of possible traps and quickly started to move along the passage.

“First of all, the base seems to be a natural cave······.”

It seemed that this civilization had not gone so far as to create the cave itself. This was because it resembled a lava cave I had seen in a science book before.

If they had made all of this intentionally, I would consider them just crazy bast*rds.

“Wait, then is this end a volcano?”

Come to think of it, that was a possibility. Since there was a lava cave, there was a high chance that there was no lava here, but it was another thing to be wary of in addition to traps and red demons.

The lava cave was made in a complex shape, as engraved on the obelisk. So, it took quite a long time to reach the location where the black storm was likely.

When I got tired of the murals, which were densely engraved without missing a single spot, I suddenly felt a sensation that made my whole body stand on end.

“······The canyon is above this.”

But unlike when I looked down at the canyon, the dragon’s sense didn’t warn me. I could speed up again, as moving slowly forward didn’t seem to pose any threat.

After moving for about 10 more minutes, I was able to find the end of the cave.

Unlike the entrance, the exit didn’t seem to have any particular device. The sunlight coming from outside the exit was proof of that.

“Wait, sunlight?”

It should still be underwater here?

With a question in mind, I approached the exit and slowly stuck my face out.

The scenery that appeared beyond the exit was a volcano, as expected. But the difference was that it was inside the volcano, not outside. It was a place where magma should be.

Even grass and trees were growing from the bottom of the cave to the other side, and even some animals were visible.

In fact, it was an ecosystem that existed inside the volcano.

I was left speechless by the scene that seemed to defy common sense, and I pulled my whole body out.

First, I looked around and then sped toward the most unusual thing in the area.

In fact, what illuminated this place wasn’t the sunlight seeping through the crater.

In the center of the volcano, on an old tree, an object was floating in the air. It filled every corner of the volcano with light. The two streams crossing the volcano, along with this object, created an environment where plants and animals could thrive.

I confirmed that there was no immediate danger as I approached it and reached out.

Now that I saw it, this was close to a stone. It was definitely a stone, rugged and arbitrarily cut.

But it was different from ordinary stones.

Golden in color? No, it was more like pure white-yellow. Yes, it was best described as a color resembling the midday sun.

The sun-like stone contained a warmth that ordinary stones didn’t have.

Additionally, it had a strange texture—smooth, solid, and soft.

“This is what the ancients tried to serve······.”

And the cause of the black storm.

If I take this and escape, the black storm is likely to disappear. From the beginning, the energy that created the black storm was emanating from this stone.

But before that, there was something I wanted to check.

My head slowly turned upwards, toward the crater.

A little while ago, from the moment I got closer to the stone, ominous sounds had been pouring out from beyond the crater.