Day 471-480/Day 474

Day 474 / The Fourth Day
　The huge temple-like structure was apparently a real temple.
　On the damaged walls and ceilings, there were huge paintings that had been done with great skill.
　The paintings differed from room to room, probably recreating some kind of mythology or a scene from the Bible. The paintings became more grandiose and complex as you moved from the entrance to the depths.
　The interior of the temple was quite rough, probably due to the long passage of time, but it was clean compared to the ruins outside.
　The remaining furnishings always had some kind of religious significance engraved on them, and the deeper you went, the more luxurious the quality became.
　The deeper you go into the temple, the more luxurious it becomes. Unless it was some kind of religion that was raising money by doing nefarious things, it was probably a temple of a very large religion.
　And temples that still retain the vestiges of the bustle that once existed in them have mechanisms and systems to intercept intruders, as a matter of course.
　There were no traps in the temple. It was only natural that there were no traps in the temple, as it would be dangerous for the believers to get trapped.
　But instead, angelic mechanical soldiers and puppet soldiers were still patrolling the area, even though no one was around anymore.
　The angel-type mechanical soldier was a huge humanoid equipped with a heavy silver full-body armor that intimidated the enemy, with metallic wings growing out of his back and a huge mace in his hand.
　He is clearly a vanguard type, relying on the defensive power of his full-body armor to charge through and strike down his enemies.
　With the acceleration from the wings on its back, the intruder would be smashed in the head in a flash if he was not careful.
　Waiting behind the angel-type machine soldiers are angel-type puppet soldiers with faces that resemble the most beautiful men and women in the world and physiques that resemble models.
　Wearing a pure white holy robe, with shining white angel wings on his back, and with a smile on his face that is so elaborate that it could be mistaken for a human being, his figure is sure to charm anyone who sees him.
　However, he holds a beautiful white tin staff in his hand, from which he shoots out spears of light and other attacks, which made me quite nervous when I first met him.
　The light spear was fast and destructive enough that a direct hit would result in a painful blow, and since it kept firing incessantly, it was troublesome to deal with.
　If you don't take advantage of the gap and shoot the 【Blood Draining Spear】 into the body, it would have been even more difficult to get rid of the machine soldiers.
　There were at least three groups of mechanical and puppet soldiers, and more than a dozen at most, so it was dangerous to let your guard down and you could be killed in no time.
　Even so, we proceeded to explore the interior of the temple by setting up surprise attacks and traps.
　Various artifacts were left behind in the temple, and I collected many of them.
　Many of them were in treasure chests and long chests, and I was grateful for these goods that had hardly deteriorated with age.
　Somehow, someway, I managed to reach a place that seemed to be the private chambers of the highest-ranking person, such as the Pope or a cardinal.
　It was as if time had stood still, and unlike any other place in the world, it was still clean, with more books than ever kept there in good condition.
　In addition, there were many other furnishings and artifacts scattered about, all of which I sorted into small bags using 【Object Shrink】, and then stuffed into the leather bag I was carrying.
　For those items that seemed delicate to handle, I used liquid metal used by mechanical soldiers as a cushioning material and then wrapped them in soft leather, carefully packing them as best I could.
　It was only a consolation, and we didn't need the artifacts at the moment, but we went ahead with the preparations, hoping that they would be valuable in the future.
　By the way, the most exciting thing I got this time was the contents of a treasure chest placed on the white altar at the deepest part of the temple.
　I took the rest of my findings back to my base, and after working on them, I ate some food and went to bed.
　Then I had a dream.
　It was the past that I had forgotten.
　I remembered a few things that I had forgotten.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
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PLACE TRANSLATIONS ABOVE THE BAR. THESE ARE THE RAWS, LEAVE THEM HERE. CLICK EXPAND TO VIEW THEM.
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“四日目”　／　“四百七十四日目”
　神殿のような巨大建造物は、本当の神殿だったらしい。
　破損の目立つ壁や天井には、卓越した技術によって描かれた巨大な絵があった。
　絵は部屋ごとに異なり、何かしらの神話か聖書の一場面でも再現しているのだろう。出入口から深部に行くにつれて絵はより壮大に、より複雑に変わっていった。
　また内部は長い月日の経過によるのかかなり荒れていたが、外の遺跡と比べると綺麗なモノだ。
　また残っていた調度品には必ず何かしら宗教的な意味合いのある紋様が刻まれており、深部に行くほど質が豪華になっていく。
　悪辣な事をして資金をかき集めていたような宗教でもない限り、かなり規模の大きい宗教の神殿だったのかもしれない。
　そしてかつてあっただろう賑わいの残滓を色濃く残す神殿には、当然のように侵入者を迎撃する機構や仕組みが備わっているらしい。
　神殿に罠の類はなかった。信者が万が一引っかかれば危険なので当然だろう。
　しかしその代わりなのか、天使型の機械兵及び人形兵が誰も居なくなった今でも巡回を続けていた。
　天使型機械兵は敵を威圧する武骨で重厚な銀色の全身鎧を装備した巨躯のヒト型で、背中から金属的な翼を生やし、その手には巨大なメイスが握られている。
　明らかに前衛系であり、全身鎧の防御力に頼って突貫し、敵を叩き伏せる戦闘スタイルだという事が一目で分かる。
　背中の翼による加速もあり、気を抜くと侵入者は頭部をあっという間に叩き潰されるだろう。
　そんな天使型機械兵の背後に控えるのは、絶世の美男美女を模した顔とモデルのような体格をした天使型人形兵だ。
　純白の聖衣を身に纏い、背中に白く輝くような天使の翼を生やし、人間と見間違うほど精巧な顔には微笑を浮かべた姿は見る者を魅了するだろう。
　しかしその手には白く美しい錫杖が握られ、そこから光の槍などを放って攻撃してくるので最初に会った時はかなり焦った。
　光の槍の速度はもちろん、破壊力も十分にあり、直撃すれば痛打は必須。それを絶え間なく連射してくるのだから始末が面倒だった。
　機械兵を排除せねば攻撃が通り難いので、隙をついて【血抜き槍】を胴体に撃ち込まなければもっと苦労していただろう。
　機械兵と人形兵は最低でも三体一組以上、多いと十数体で行動するので、油断するとあっという間に殺されかねないくらい危険だった。
　それでも奇襲や罠を仕掛けて先に進み、内部の探索を進める。
　神殿内には様々な遺産が残され、その数々を回収していく。
　その中には宝箱や長櫃に入った品も多く、経年劣化がほとんど無いそれら物資は有り難く頂戴した。
　それからどうにかこうにか進んで、教皇か枢機卿といった最高位の者の私室らしき場所にまで到着した。
　そこはまるで時が止まっていたかのように他と違って綺麗なままで、これまでに無く数多くの書物が綺麗な状態で保管されていた。
　その他にも調度品や芸術品が数多く点在したので、その全てを【物体縮小】を使って小袋に仕分けした後、背負っている革袋に詰め込んでいく。
　扱いがデリケートそうな品に関しては、機械兵に使われていた液体金属を緩衝材とした上でさらに柔革で包むなど、現状で出来る限り気を使って丁寧に梱包していく。
　気休めでしかないし、芸術品関係は今は必要としていないが、今後価値が出ると期待して準備だけは進めていった。
　ちなみに今回得た中で最も嬉しかったのは、神殿最深部にあった白い祭壇の上に置かれた宝箱の中身だ。
　その他次に繋がる十分な成果を拠点に持ち帰り、作業してから飯を喰って寝た。
　そして、夢を見た。
　それは忘れてしまっていた過去だっただろう。
　俺は忘れていた事を少し思い出した。
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Category:Novel
Category:Articles that needs cleaning
Category:Re:Monster ~ The Dark Continent ~ Vol. 2