First Trial - Temple of the fallen Demon Lord (part 4)

"Oh no… This really isn't a dream…"

Butaro covered his mouth with his hand and mumbled under his breath as the rest of the hope he was holding on to in his heart disappeared.

He gulped down his saliva mixed with blood.

Then he reached for the weapon and grabbed it properly, by the hilt near the middle.

Butaro lifted the weapon and inspected it closely.

It weighed less than it looked like it should – or maybe Butarou's expectations were off because of his own strength.

The demonic-looking swords were also big – perfectly sized for the mountain-like boy.

For the weapon's length - just from the hilt that Butaro was holding to the tip of the blade it was longer than a standard arming sword and when the boy grabbed the lower hilt the cutting edge could bring many two-handed swords to shame.

Funny enough, although the two-hilt system would suggest that it was fashioned withholding it simultaneously with two hands, each hilt was long enough to allow holding it with both hands at the same time – even for Butaro.

"I-I should be fine with this… right…? In anime and novels, the hero usually gets… Ah... right..."

He said to himself trying to boost his courage but the words got stuck in his throat and a wave of anger crashed into his brain.

Because HERO usually gets a head start in all those stories. HERO.

And according to what he remembered, he apparently wasn't worthy of becoming one...!

"Dispose of me and summon a proper hero candidate… huh..."

Butaro gritted his teeth and stared at the curvy blade that seemed to gain a somewhat pinkish glow, maybe because of that drop of blood that run down the edge after he cut his finger on it…?

Butaro thought so, not realizing that the pink glow was coming from his very own eyes – but it was justifiable – never before had a pink light emanated from his pupils after all, why would he expect it?

"Oh, we shall see about that…!"

The angered boy put his jaw forward angrily and hardened the grip on the hilts.

For some reason, Butaro felt really hot, as if the temperature in the chamber has risen by a considerable amount of degrees.

Or was it just his imagination?

Or was it connected to the pink glow in his eyes and his body preparing for the unknown dangers?

After all, if he was supposed to get disposed of, it might have been that the voice that probably belonged to some kind of god meant that it will seal him somewhere and leave him to die from thirst and starvation but…

"She did mention that I will be useful for something…"

Butaro looked down at his round body and touched his stomach.

"I can only imagine that bitch meant me being treated as a feed for some sort of monster…"

Butaro sighed and scratched his back.

It was fairly obvious to him that when he will go through the stone door and left the safety of this chamber he will be instantly put in danger.

"What if those freaky purple elves are actually real?"

He gasped and shivered at the memory of that unsettling dream.

But he couldn't just stay in the safe chamber either.

There was no food nor water source there, only rubble and, of course, the weapon.

Butaro braced himself and touched the cold stone door.

"…Just in case…"

But he suddenly turned around looking above his shoulder at the room.

Maybe he has missed something? Some sort of a hidden passage or storage with something useful!

After all, that rubble was once furniture, which means someone has been at least using the chamber!

Butaro put the weapon back in its place and searched the chamber one more time, this time he went as far as move every piece of rock and touch and knock on every wall to check if there is maybe some empty space or a hidden switch…

He even swiped the cobwebs and stared at the faded murals for some sort of clue.

But there were no secret passages or a hidden switch and the only mural that was still somehow legible was one that portrayed a mountain with some sort of building, probably a shrine on top of it, and a path leading down the mountain. Above the shrine, there was a picture of the weapon that must have been the demonic sword he picked up.

"So that's the starting point, huh…?"

Butaro mumbled to himself and led his finger down the path.

If the starting shrine counted as the first point, then there were ten stops along the path altogether. Just like the shrine had the blade above it those nine other points also had a drawing next to or above them.

Well, they had them at some point at least…

Just by the bottom of the shrine, there was a drawing of the jaws, the dot after that pictured… A bow and a spear…?

The next one was a picture of four vertical jagged lines looking like the claw-marks.

The next one after that was a smaller jaw but its fangs were far more prominent and longer than the rest of the teeth.

Those were all recognizable and quite clear, but...

"Why it has to be so worn out…? Is that supposed to be… A lizard…?"

Butaro clicked his tongue.

The worst part was that after that hardly recognizable picture, the rest of the drawings had completely faded succumbing to time and generations of spiders and other bugs nesting atop them, and were illegible no matter how hard Butaro was trying to decipher those moldy blurs.

"What are those supposed to mean?"

He wondered looking at the ones he could make out.

"Two jaws… Do they mark a spot where I will have to fight…? But then the claw marks should be that too, right…? Maybe a different opponent…? The bow and spear look a bit like a weapon storage or a merchant… Hopefully... But then what that lizard one means…? Wait! Does this really work like that? Why is it even here if I'm supposed to just die here!? Is it meant to give me a false sense of hope?!"

Butaro rubbed his head and messed up his hair in confusion.

"There's no way I'm dying here...! But it really looks like a fight as soon as I leave this place, doesn't it…?"

The large boy gritted his teeth and declared but then instantly felt his intestines twist into a knot.