It didn't take long for the two of them to arrive at the mountains where this temple was located. After all, unlike the Phoenix Mountains, these mountains are quite close to the royal capital.
"Let's take a small rest here before we start climbing the mountains, " Gildarts suggested, to which Akira nodded in agreement.
Both of them walked towards a large tree and sat down on the ground.
Akira took out a water bottle from his backpack and began to drink it. As a young child, his body needs the right nutrition and water to grow healthy. So he always brings a water bottle no matter where he goes.
"Hey Gildarts, do you think that temple may be located at the top of the mountain? " Akira asked as he looked at Gildarts.
In his past life, he knew that temples were usually built in the highest place in the villages. This is so that the villagers could go to the temple when there is a disaster like a flood or something.
But with the different worlds, this common sense may be different. And Gildarts's next words proved it.
"No, according to Lady Layla, the temple was made in order to worship the artifact of the village hero who had once protected the whole village in the past. So most likely it should be placed in the center where the villagers could enter freely without venturing into any monster's territories. " Gildarts said. He knew these things from the experience of doing many quests for all these years.
"I see, " Akira said as his eyes were shining with excitement. He was really excited to go on his first treasure-hunting quest. As an archeologist, it runs in his blood to uncover the history and its wonders.
'Ancient Temple, here I come,' Akira thought with excitement.
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.
.
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"Oh, what a letdown, " Akira said with a bit of disappointment as he looked at the ancient temple.
Due to Gildarts earlier remarks, the temple may be located near the edge of the forest; both of them had to search the whole mountain from top to bottom. And this whole search took a full day, as this mountain belongs to one of the large ones.
On the second morning, they found this temple made from a natural cave that is hidden by the trees.
At first, Akira was excited since, at a glance, one would think this place was one of the ancient ruins that existed for hundreds of years. But after Akira used his unique skill to read the history of this place, he was quite disappointed.
This temple was originally built by a village that worshipped Ophiuchus, the celestial spirit who is considered the 13th Zodiac key. From what Akira could tell, in that village there was once a celestial spirit mage who was able to form a contract with Ophiuchus. Using Ophiuchus's power, that man managed to cure a pandemic that was spreading in his village.
The villagers, respecting Ophiuchus, built this temple as gratitude for all the help Ophiuchus did. The celestial spirit mage was also crowned as head priest and was also buried here in this very temple after he passed away in old age.
After his death, the villagers still came to this temple to pray to get Ophiuchus's blessing each year. This went on for years until this place was known to a cultist who worshipped Zeref the Black Wizard.
The cultist devised a plan and managed to kill the present head priest and take his place. And in months he managed to completely control the village using the religion as a front. After that, he began his real plan.
Ophiuchus was known to be able to cure any illness and had a very large thirst for knowledge. The cultists using this as an excuse conducted various inhuman experiments in order to attain immortality.
He brainwashed the villagers who worshipped Ophiuchus to become his test subjects and conducted inhuman experiments in this same temple. And that guy was an expert, as he managed to continue doing this in secret for almost a decade.
Maybe it was karma, but he was later killed by an adventurer who was part of this village two generations ago and had previously left the village for the capital a long time ago. That guy was a very strong person who had come back to his village for his retirement only to find that the village was now under the control of a cultist who reduced the population to less than 10.
That guy killed the cultist and took the remaining villagers back to the capital, ending the village that worshipped Ophiuchus. And this also meant this temple was abandoned ever since that day, as none of the remaining villagers wanted to come back.
"Well, it seems like this place is haunted with undead spirits. " Gildart's voice made Akira come back to reality.
"Yes, fortunately my light magic is effective against them, or we would have been in serious trouble. " Akira nodded as he also noticed the dark and gloomy aura that was emanating from the temple.
It seems the innocent villagers who were tricked by that cultist had so much resentment that they became undead spirits.
Undead spirits are beings who are spirits who refuse to reincarnate due to the resentment they had in their lives. These guys are usually not strong but are very hard to kill. To kill an undead spirit, there are only a few methods. Fortunately, Akira's light magic is one of the easiest methods.
"Well, Gildarts, I will take the vanguard; you protect my back. Please be sure not to wander around alone. I don't want to find out how many walls need to hold this temple in place. " Akira said as he glared at Gildarts, who could only laugh awkwardly.
"Okay then, let's go, " Akira declared as he walked inside the temple, followed by Gildarts. Since this temple was made taking a natural cave as a base, there are obviously no doors.
As the two of them walked forward, the corridor began to get more and darker. So Akira used his light magic to create a coat around him so it would illuminate the surroundings while also protecting him in case of a sneak attack.
With Akira acting like a light source, both of them were able to observe the intricate carvings on the walls. Curious, Akira used his unique skill to find out what was written here since the writing seemed to be from an old language that was lost to the river of time.
"HERE LIES THE TOMB OF OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST WHO SAVED US FROM THE CALAMITY WITH THE HELP OF OUR GREAT SNAKE GOD. AT HIS REQUEST, WE HAVE BURIED HIS REMAINS NEAR THE GREAT SNAKE GOD. MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE.
"Akira said aloud, drawing Gildart's attention.
Since he was unaware of the true history and Akira's ability, Gildarts was instantly surprised to hear Akira's words, "Wait, you can read those letters? " Gildarts asked as he pointed to the drawings that were carved in the walls.
"Hmm. " Akira nodded as he said, "Yeah, I saw some of those symbols when I was reading an old book from the guild library. " He casually lied. Makarov had already told him to keep his unique ability a secret from everyone.
"Oh. " Gildarts nodded to his explanation. Everyone in the guild knew how much of a bookworm Akira was. This kid was the first one who was banned from the library for staying there all the time.
As the two of them walked more and more deeply inside. They suddenly stopped.
"Hey Gildarts, did you feel that? " Akira asked as he readied himself.
"Yeah, it seems we are being welcomed by our hosts, " Gildarts said, as with his enhanced senses, he felt a group of dark beings locking in on them.
"Can you fight while keeping the light on? " Gildarts asked as he looked at Akira.
"No problem, " Akira said as he activated his light magic to conjure up a gun. Although he liked to fight with swords, this is clearly not an option in such a closed place.
Soon both of them could feel the surroundings getting colder and colder, accompanied by the sounds of screaming noises that would scare any normal person.
From the darkness, they came wrapped in a deadly negative aura that was filled with resentment. They had no physical form, as their bodies were long destroyed by rivers of time. They had no faces and legs, but they did have sharp, pointy claws that were shining with the light. They had ominous green flames in their eye sockets.
When the undead ghosts saw Akira and Gildarts, they all roared as they charged straight at them.
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