Capítulo 115: I Don’t Want to Be a Heroic Spirit [115]
Roughly a third of the mountain had collapsed, reduced to a mound of rubble.
Everything inside the cave—the traces left by the Abyss Mages, the Hilichurls, and even Kiichi herself—had been buried beneath the debris.
Of course, Kiichi wasn't the type to perish from something so trivial.
If she were to meet her end, it would be to something worthy, like Goetia's incineration of humanity. But being crushed to death by a landslide? How embarrassing would that be?
"Blowing up a mountain on a whim? Such decisiveness—completely disregarding the effort invested here. Even as an enemy, I can't help but admire that resolve."
A small flame ignited at the tip of her finger, illuminating the space around her. Beneath her feet, she noticed a stone staircase descending deep into the earth, flanked by walls adorned with faded murals.
The staircase stretched so far down that even Kiichi couldn't see its end.
"This mountain has such a deep underground structure?" she mused. "Could it be that this is what the Abyss Mages were searching for?"
It seemed highly likely.
By all accounts, the force of the explosion should have caused the mountain's collapse to completely bury this underground chamber.
However, as a spirit of nature, Kiichi was protected by the natural elements. Rather than crushing her, the debris had formed a protective dome above her, shielding the subterranean space and blocking additional rubble.
For now, it appeared stable.
"Tch... It feels like dust got into the gaps of my feathers... How uncomfortable."
Kiichi brushed off her shoulders, arms, legs, and the white wings at her back.
Despite her efforts, her wings remained speckled with dust. It was a futile task—there were just too many feathers.
Oddly, this was her first time having wings, yet her mind instinctively knew all sorts of maintenance techniques for them.
"Huh… I guess even Kiichi has some unexpectedly cute traits," she muttered to herself.
Roar—!!
Her eyes narrowed as three Rift Hounds appeared before her.
"Why are there Rift Hounds here?"
That was a question for later. Summoning her katana, she spun it in a dazzling display, her relaxed, teasing smile belying her readiness.
With only three Rift Hounds present, Kiichi dispatched them with three precise strikes.
Yet, no sooner had the third fallen than three more appeared, growling as they charged at her.
"…Why does this remind me of FGO's game mechanics?"
In Fate/Grand Order, enemies always spawned in threes. No matter how many there were in total, only three appeared at a time. Even clearing the field with a Noble Phantasm wouldn't change that.
Lost in her nostalgic thoughts, Kiichi didn't notice the Rift Hounds rushing toward her until they were upon her. Not that it mattered—they were effortlessly cut down with a single strike.
She began to suspect that the source of the Rift Hounds' frequent appearances lay further down the staircase. It wasn't until she had slain over fifty of them that the relentless onslaught finally ceased.
"What could possibly be down there?"
Resting her katana on her shoulder, Kiichi stroked her chin, her curiosity piqued.
Following her impulsive nature, she decided to head down the staircase.
Thankfully, this underground space wasn't like the labyrinthine domains found in the game, where you had to solve puzzles to proceed. Here, the path was straightforward—just keep descending.
Of course, the presence of monsters was familiar. The Rift Hounds she encountered along the way were so numerous that she didn't even bother counting them.
For an ordinary person—or even a Vision wielder—this place would have been a death trap.
But for Kiichi, the great youkai, these creatures were little more than a diversion.
At the bottom of the staircase, she finally saw it:
"A stone door?"
It was, in short, a massive stone door.
Sealed shut, the door bore the marks of time's passage.
Standing nearly ten meters tall, the door left Kiichi wondering: Who was this door built for? A race of Nordic giants?
Strange patterns covered its surface, appearing as artwork at first glance but resembling an unknown script upon closer inspection.
Though the door's meaning eluded her, the power it radiated was unmistakable.
As she examined the sealed stone door, a realization dawned on her.
The countless Rift Hounds she had encountered earlier—and even the ones suddenly appearing in the forest—were all connected to this door.
Her sharp eyes detected traces of a seal on the door. Though much of its power had faded over time, it was clear that the Rift Hounds had escaped through cracks in the weakened seal.
With this knowledge, Kiichi wasn't about to leave things as they were.
However, she wasn't planning to reinforce the seal either. Doing so would only delay the inevitable—prolonging the problem for future generations to deal with.
As a renowned onmyoji of the late Heian era, Kiichi could easily strengthen the seal. She even knew far more advanced sealing techniques.
But no matter how powerful a seal, it could always be broken. Sealing was, at its core, a form of avoidance—a way to delay disaster rather than confront it.
"Hm… This does feel like a domain entrance from the game. Don't tell me I need Resin to get in," she mused, eyeing the massive door.
"And if this is a domain, does it drop artifacts? Though I don't recall hearing about a domain like this in the game…"
Kiichi didn't enter right away. It wasn't that she couldn't open the door.
The seal bore similarities to onmyoji techniques she was familiar with. If her memory served her, the game's lore mentioned figures like yokai and onmyoji.
She recalled a name—Harunosuke Iwakura.
A former onmyoji who had studied adeptal arts in Liyue before returning to Inazuma, where he created the system of onmyodo and contributed greatly to his homeland.
Of course, it wasn't certain that this particular seal was Harunosuke's work. While he was the founder of onmyodo in Teyvat, that didn't mean he was the only onmyoji.
Still, none of this mattered much to Kiichi now.
Even a fully intact seal wouldn't pose a challenge to her, let alone this weakened one.
But Kiichi felt it was time for her one and only disciple to accompany her on an adventure—to gain some real-world experience.
---
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