Black haired wise man Chiyuki

　Mount Nabate is a rocky mountain on the border of the land of Gypsir and Apophis.
　The altitude is not very high.
　It is a long rocky mountain that runs from east to west and has many valleys.
　Beyond this mountain is the land of Apophis.
　The target pyramid is located just beyond Mount Nabate.
　In the first place, the pyramid was taken from under construction as a precaution against the actions of the Serpent Queen who rules the land of Apophis.
　I can only call it dumb.
　The idea for the construction was conceived by Harses, and Harses and Isdes were in charge.
　According to them, they had a good defense system in place, but the invasion of the enemy exceeded it.
　That's not even an excuse.
　The empty ship carrying us descends into a huge valley of rocky mountains.
　We are not going to charge directly into the pyramid like this.
　Because the enemy seems to have already sensed that we are coming.
　Surprise attack was no longer possible.
　Then, we decided to take a break for a while and attack carefully.
　We hid our empty boat behind a rock and walked down the valley.

'I don't think we need to go all the way down, do you? There doesn't seem to be anything here.

　I say what I'm wondering.
　That's what Rage and Ishtia are thinking too.
　It's on their faces.
　Chinami Tona has no expression on her face and I don't know what she's thinking. Nell looks disinterested, and Medjed can't see her face in the first place.

''That's not true. Black-haired Sage Chiyuki-dono. It's there, here.'

　It was Isdes who answered.

'What do you claim to have in store?'

'Humph! You'll know that when you go. You'll follow me silently.

　Rage asks and Halseth says grimly.
　Halseth is in a bad mood from earlier.
　He doesn't really like the fact that Rage called out Benne, a high level spirit of light, and he doesn't like it very much.
　Then he walks for a while as it is.

''Whoa!''

　I couldn't help but shout.
　We had been walking for a while in the valley.
　The structure was made by hollowing out a sheer cliff.
　The structure is ornately decorated and very beautiful.

This is the Palace of Cazner. It was one of the bases built by the dwarves for their campaign against Apophis. We will use it as a base to take back the pyramid.

　Isdes explains.
　Heh. I was about to go in.
　A lot of armed skeletons appear from the ground.
　It's a skeleton.
　Because the shade of the rock becomes a shadow, it is possible to operate here as well.

'Skeletons? Why is it here?

　Saying that, Rage holds up his weapon.

'Wait, these skeletons are not enemies. It's Nefes! Thanks for the welcome!

　Isdes shouts, and from the back of the building emerges a group of people wrapped all over with bandages.
　They look human. But they are probably not the living.
　They are probably the undead called Mammy.
　The mammies kneel on the ground with one knee on the ground, cross their arms over their chests and bow their heads in unison.
　It seems that they are under the Isdes, including the skeleton.
　I found out about Mammy when I did some research on the pyramids.
　Mammy is an undead created by Isdes as the administrator of the pyramid.
　Like vampires (vampires), they are intelligent.
　The main difference is that they don't need to be replenished, such as by sucking blood, like vampires.
　Some pyramids are built far from the city, so mammies that don't need to be replenished are the best suited to manage them.
　She is usually asleep, and if something goes wrong, she is awake and active.
　Perhaps it is because a corpse called Mammy is sleeping in the pyramid, but some people mistake the pyramid for a tomb.
　And since there are also magical devices made of gold in the pyramids, it is said that tomb raiders (Tomb Raiders) who aim at them sometimes invade the tombs.
　However, anyone who breaks in will probably be cursed to death by a spell, which is one of Mammy's specialties.
　Even if they are lucky enough to escape the pyramid, they can operate in places where there is daylight, as they are covered with a magical cloth.
　They will be chased everywhere.

'We've been waiting for you! Our God!

　A hooded and most extravagantly dressed man named Nephes comes forward among the Mummy's.
　He is probably Nephes.
　From his appearance, he would be the existence called the Mummy King (Lord) or the Tomb King (Tomb King), a higher species of Mummy.

Hmmm. "Hmm, Nephes. You're ready for this, aren't you?

"Yes, my God. We have gathered all the Mummy soldiers we can from the pyramids nearby that are waiting.

　Nephes the Mummy King (Lord) bows his head reverently.
　I sense a strong connection between Isdes and Nepheses from his appearance.
　Perhaps Nephes was created by Isdes.
　Isdes, the god of war, is the best swordsman in Gypseal.
　And at the same time, he is also an excellent necromancer (necromancer).
　In the Gypseal, a good warrior can become a mummy under Ithodes and gain eternal life.
　For this reason, he is revered as the god of mammy making, and is revered as Ithdes, who is sent to the sacred room.
　This area is the same as the lore of the War Maiden.
　I don't know why there are so many ex-humans in the Mammy.
　Maybe it's simply a matter of numbers, or maybe they are reluctant to let other beast gods' relatives become mammy.

''Come on, great people. Let me show you inside.

　When Nephes said this, the Mummy soldiers stood up and split off to either side.
　When you enter the Kazner Palace, you will exit into a large hall.
　Compared to the size of the entrance, the inside seems to be much larger.

''It's Nefes. How's the pyramid that was taken?

'Ha! I'm home. I'm putting up a video.

　Nephes says and the mammy wizard at his side chants a spell.
　A light extends from the domed ceiling and an image is projected in the air.
　The black pyramid is projected in a dimly lit landscape where the sky is covered with black clouds.
　The sky is dark, but even those who do not have the ability of night vision will be able to see it because countless wil-o-wisps are flying around the black pyramid.
　In addition, there are glowing blue-white skeletal knights on black horses riding around the pyramid in the sky.
　They are high level undead called spectral knights.
　These undead are powerful demons that can summon and use the mid-ranked spirit of darkness, the Nightmare Horse, and are excellent at martial arts and magic.
　Other demons that look like wraiths and ghosts can also be seen.
　There are quite a few of them.
　They might be wary of us.

"d*mn them! You blackened our pyramid!

　Halseth grunted in frustration.
　It must not have been originally painted black.
　The side of that black pyramid has the evil eye emblem of the serpent queen, Diadna, painted in white.
　'This pyramid is supposed to belong to Apophis,' he said.

'What do you mean? You seem to be getting a lot of visual disturbances?

I'm sorry. My God. It seems that the magic doesn't work properly due to the powerful magic surge.

　Nephes apologizes to Isdes.
　Perhaps even my magic will not be able to produce any more images.
　Just by looking at this image, I can feel the mighty magic from the pyramid.

''Hey, isn't it much bigger than a normal pyramid?''

　I'll tell you what I think of the pyramids.
　Many of the pyramids in Gypsir are replicas of the golden pyramids in Arnak, based on the golden pyramids built by the god Heybos.
　The structure is basically the same, and no matter how different it is, it should be only slightly different in size.
　However, the Black Pyramid seemed to be three times larger than the normal pyramid.

''That's right. ''The black-haired Sage Lord. We made some modifications to the design to make it an absolute protection from Apophis. However, this delayed its completion and caused it to be attacked.'

　You can't!
　I almost tsked at Isdes' words.

They have never attacked us before. That is when we were caught off guard. A sudden attack. It was all we could do to get Halseth-sama and the dwarves who were doing the construction work to retreat.

　Nepheses nodded.
　Perhaps Nephes had been there.
　Perhaps it was the attempt to build this pyramid that inspired Apophis.
　If so, it would be too dumb.
　That's why the Black Pyramid's power had drilled a hole in the Gypseal's wards.
　Apparently, Halseth and Isdes were lectured quite harshly by Sekmetra about it.

''You are dumb.''

　Rage says the things I wanted to say but didn't, in no uncertain terms.

'You! What do you mean? If you're going to taunt me, I won't let you!

　As I thought, the insufferable prince is angry.
　I want you to be careful what you say because it's a hassle.
　Halseth points his sword at Rage with his waistband.
　Halseth's sword is a single-edged weapon common in gypsies called a kopish.
　 The blade is curved in the middle and has the slashing power of an axe.

''Prince. I want you to calm down. Right now we should focus on getting the pyramids back.

　Totoona stops Halseth.
　Harseth groans groggily as Totoona steps in between them.
　Perhaps he doesn't want Totoona to hate him.

'You're certainly right, Lord Totoona. You've saved your life.''

　Halseth settles his sword.

'Oh, let's just call it that: ......

　Rage seems to be a pain in the ass.
　It must be ridiculous to deal with him.

'Lord Isdes. I would like to hear what you are going to do about it.

　Totoona asked and Isdes nodded.

'Yes, Lord Totoona. There are many enemies, but they are only undead. I am not good at light magic. And we have Halseth-sama and Lord Rage who can use light magic here. And since Mammy and the others are resistant to light magic, they won't get caught up in the magic of Harses-sama and the others. Therefore, I'm going to go to the front.

　I'm tempted to say that's just a pushover in Isdes' explanation.
　But maybe he just doesn't have any other options.

"What do we do if there are people in captivity?

　Totoona asks, and Isdes nods his head.

'Lord Totoona? What?

Perhaps the disappearances were attributed to Apophis. It's possible that some of those men were taken prisoner. And some of the cats on the scouts.

　We've heard of the disappearance as well.
　Probably the work of the evil gods of Apophis.
　And he could be held hostage.

"Abandoned. Our priority is to retrieve the pyramid or destroy it.

　Halseth nodded at Isdes' words.

'Tona,' he said, 'the captives will not want to be our fetters. The captives will not want to be our fetters. We have no choice in this place.'

　Halseth and Isdes would have a point.
　But Totoona doesn't seem to be convinced.

'I would help if I could.

But we don't know where he is, and we don't even know if he's alive.

　Totoona shook her head to the side at Isdes' words.

'It's all right. I can get the details for you. Get me a map of the pyramids.

Alright, Lady Tona. Nephes, bring me a map of the interior of the pyramid.

Yes. Okay, my God.

　Nephes nodded and sent his subordinate Mamie to come back with more maps.

'Thank you,'

　Tona thanks him and takes a book out of the air.
　It's like some kind of grimoire.

It's a book of special spirits. The Book of Wind and Earth. Open it.

　The grimoire floats out of Tona's hands and into the air.
　As the grimoire flips open in the air, the words inside glow.
　The glowing words come out of the book and fly around Totona.

'A little spirit that runs from the roots of the world to the top. Answer my call. Teach me, teach me, Ratatosk.'

　Many small, horned squirrels appear, glowing green in response to Totona's call.
　The squirrels circle around Totoona and then move away from her at a furious pace.
　Tona calls out to Ratatosk, a small spirit. Also known as the Tell-Tale Protruding Tooth.
　It does not have any particular attributes.
　This little spirit can go to the location of the earth spirit and the location of the wind spirit and get information about them.
　Unless they are very powerful, they can also enter a ward.
　However, there are some restrictions.
　The information that this spirit conveys is not always accurate.
　Therefore, the ability to read it is necessary for a magician.
　Reno has stopped calling this spirit because the information it conveys is too inaccurate.
　However, if you can read it well, it will be quite powerful.

'All right, I've scrutinized the information the 42 Ratatosks are giving me and I think the captives are probably right here in the pyramid.

　Totoona points to a room in the pyramid.

'Ho, that's the Duamtoev Room. That's where the captives are kept.'

　Tona nodded.

'That's what we think from the information Latatosk gave us. However, I wasn't able to get to the exact number.

　This is amazing and almost inspiring.
　I've extracted so much information from that Ratatosk.
　It looks like he probably used some kind of grimoire, but it's still amazing.

'That's just like you, Totona! We're going into that black pyramid now, aren't we? And while we're at it, let's get you out!

　Rage praises Totoona.
　But Totona's expression doesn't move.
　So far, I feel a little sorry for Rage when he doesn't respond.

'Hold on, Mister Rage. I know about the captives, but we still have a problem. According to our information, the Serpent Prince is waiting for us in the pyramid. We must do something about that one.

Oh, you mean that guy. I'll take care of him. I'll take care of him. Let's go.

　Rage says confidently.

'I need you to give me a minute!

　Suddenly, Nell, who had been silent until then, shouts out.

'What's wrong, Nell?'

Totonan. I can smell a rat.

　Nell and her companion cats nodded in unison.

'What are you talking about? Nell? Isn't it normal to have rats in the house?

'Halseth-sama is right. ''Princess. It certainly smells like rats, but I'm sure they'd be able to get in here, if not in Arnak.

　Neither Halseth nor Isdes particularly cared for it.
　As I recall, cat people and fairy cats (ketsies) had a special ability called rat-sensing.
　For that reason, they might be more concerned about rats than other races.

''No? Wait, the mammy? Come out here.

　Rage points to one of the mammies that are waiting for you.
　The mammy called out to me walks over to me.

''Tch! Kizukareta! Minna out!

　The voice comes not from my mouth, but from my stomach.
　Suddenly, Mummy's belly bursts from inside and some small figure emerges.

'No?! Ratman?

　It was a ratman that jumped out at me.
　It wasn't just one of them that made it.
　Ratmen jumped out from inside Mammy's belly as well.

"Ratman! I'm going to find out what's going on!

　The ratmen moved quickly to the cats.

''Everyone intercept!

""Nyaaah!"

　The cats all pull out their fine swords (rapiers) at their waists at once.
　The cats wearing boots that came with Nell are elite fairy cat swordsmen (nyanko fencers).
　I'd love to take one of them home because of their cuteness.
　The fairy cat swordsmen (nyanko fencers) will defeat the ratmen one after another.
　As expected of the princess's guards. There was no need for us to move at all.

''I didn't expect to be invaded by spies. ......

　Nefes gives me a look of disbelief.
　That seems to be the same for Isdes.

'I think he probably had the ability to eliminate any sign or presence to the extreme. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to penetrate this far.''

　Tona explains.
　Isdes was aware of the rat's presence.
　But even if they were there, he didn't care.
　What a disgusting ability.

'No wonder they're supposed to be able to get the information out. Now they're sure to be waiting for you.

　Rage smiles wryly.
　A powerful enemy awaits us in our path.
　But we have to save Shirone. I have to go.
　I was determined to go.