Chapter 6: Something Underneath the Museum
After tricking Ginzo Nakamori, Hikigaya actually didn't run very far.
Just as he was preparing to pat his butt and leave, he sensed a magical field in the basement levels of the museum. A so-called "magical field" is a high-density environment of magical power generated by a barrier; generally, magical power is contained rather than dissipated, which is why it's called a "field."
Clearly, this magical field had a problem—it was "leaking."
Since he had just closed a business deal and was in high spirits, Hikigaya decided not to leave and instead go down to take a look.
With a burst of heat from his feet, a hole melted through the floor, letting Hikigaya drop to the next level—then another burn, another drop. After burning through several floors like this, he reached the earth.
'Hmm, it's still further down.'
He couldn't be bothered to burn through anymore, so he even deactivated his light-swallowing shadow state and dove directly into the soil.
This "leaking" barrier likely didn't belong to the Suzuki family, as Hikigaya had soon dived much deeper than the museum's foundations. As a master of the underworld, Hikigaya's diving speed was actually quite fast; however, although the aura of the barrier had strengthened, after five minutes of diving, he could feel that he was still a distance away from it.
'Don't tell me it's the legendary "Underground People," ha ha ha!'
After making this joke in his heart, Hikigaya kept his head down and focused on diving. Gradually, he felt something was off. This depth was a bit excessive.
Finally, the aura of the barrier became rich. Hikigaya felt the ground beneath him vanish, and he fell into a vast, empty space. There was no light here, pitch black. There was air, but to be honest, Hikigaya wouldn't recommend ordinary people come here to breathe. The air was flowing violently; on the surface, this intensity of flow would be called a hurricane.
Hikigaya "looked" over.
This space was indeed extremely vast, roughly equivalent to the size of a hollowed-out mountain. An artificial structure that could be called a pyramid sat right here. The aura of the barrier was emanating from it. The violent winds couldn't affect Hikigaya much, even if they were strong enough to destroy a small-to-medium city on the surface. He floated toward the pyramid.
The style of this pyramid was unlike any known civilization on the surface. It occupied a position equivalent to the eye of a storm, because as Hikigaya approached, the wind vanished.
Up close, this pyramid was quite dilapidated. While the main structure was intact, other aspects were truly nothing to boast about. There were no entrances around the bare four walls. It was probably meant to be black originally, but the paint had mostly peeled off. The material was similar to concrete; when Hikigaya placed his hand on it, he could feel it contained rich metallic substances, and there was a massive space inside.
This pyramid was an ancient ruin. The power of Time told Hikigaya it had been built at least several hundred years ago.
Hikigaya was a man who cherished ancient ruins. Since this thing was a relic, he decided not to resort to a violent entry and instead flew upward, as the top of the tower seemed to house a temple-like structure.
When Hikigaya reached the top, he indeed saw pillars similar to those of a Greek temple. The difference was that these pillars supported a small pyramidal roof, upon which a giant human eye pattern was drawn.
'This pyramid's style... why does it look familiar?'
Since he couldn't recall it, Hikigaya just dove inside. There was nothing on the top floor, but in the very center of the floor, there were marks of having endured high temperatures. Unfortunately, there were still no passages leading to the interior.
Hikigaya expressed that it wasn't that he didn't care for ancient ruins, but rather that the designer showed too little respect for archaeologists. Therefore, for the healthy development of the archaeological world, he punched the floor. To show he was an archaeologist of principle, he punched the specific piece of flooring that had already been heat-damaged.
'I mean... damn it, if you don't even open a single door, how are we supposed to have a pleasant 'literary youth' moment? Aren't you forcing me to use the 'Luoyang Spade' punch?'
With one punch, soundlessly, a hole several meters wide formed, as perfectly round as if drawn with a compass. Hikigaya nodded in satisfaction and jumped down.
'Alexander, you animal, you didn't reply to my message, so I'll enjoy this alone.'
Below was a room, but it was empty—cleaner than a kitchen visited by Straw Hat Luffy. Of course, that's an exaggeration; Luffy doesn't eat dust, after all. The room was full of dust, but in the center, several large cubes were scattered about.
Hikigaya walked over and flipped one over; it was cast from metal. With a swipe of his hand, the dust was stripped away, revealing the texture. It looked like some kind of machinery, but it had been sliced open by something. Something in his memory seemed to want to break free, but it just wouldn't come out.
'This is getting more and more interesting' Hikigaya thought.
He shifted his gaze and saw a door on the right side of the room, connected to a staircase.
'Mr. Unknown Designer, well done! Let us cherish the walls together!'
Hikigaya walked down the stairs. He found that each floor was a room, and the size of the rooms increased from top to bottom. As he gradually descended, he even found a floor that had been turned into a garden, though the plants were as dead as they could be, turning to ash at a touch.
There were also the corpses of various creatures. These remains were covered in a film that had completely solidified. Among them were creatures that appeared to be human; unfortunately, they were draped in large robes, covered from head to toe. Because they had solidified along with the film, they couldn't be separated at all. Hikigaya's slightest touch caused them to crumble.
Finally, reaching the bottom floor, Hikigaya found the barrier—the only thing here still functioning.
The space of the bottom room was immense, but also very empty. There was only a small mound of earth, surrounded by stone pillars that might have been part of the barrier's layout. However, one of the pillars was broken; the magical power was leaking from here, spewing out an impressive flow of magical energy like a wind tunnel.
It contained the power to form wind. The great winds outside were likely generated because of this.
After observing the area carefully, Hikigaya concluded that this might be a grave. He found a tablet that had been buried by dust. There was no text, only a pattern of a person holding a sword. Based on the proportions, either this person was too short, or the sword was too large. Hikigaya's judgment leaned toward the former.
His gaze fell back onto the small mound of earth.
'Would digging up a grave cause a 'zombie' to jump out?'
That didn't seem worth worrying about, because Hikigaya would happily take it back to play with. Reviving someone who had been dead for at least several hundred years—regardless of whether they were human or not—was something he hadn't tried yet.
The only thing Hikigaya considered was how to dig it up perfectly. Since it was his first time digging up someone's grave, he didn't want to ruin it out of excitement.
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