Butaro was standing before a choice - risk getting wounded or even killed while trying to escape or stay in denial and slowly withered away without any source of sustenance in the old dusty chamber…
"M-maybe I'm wrong… Maybe I'm not in the shrine, after all, maybe I'm not even at the mountain at all… And… And even if I am I can take a different path, right?"
He convinced himself and nodded vigorously.
"If I just go outside and check then I'll know for sure…"
He decided and walked to the door taking the peculiarly-shaped sword.
"Putting aside whether its practical or not, this… sword… Is better than nothing, right?"
He smirked to himself feeling reassured by the quality of the weapon's craftsmanship and how the handles perfectly fit in his hands.
The blade shone pinkish as if responding to Butaro's thoughts and was reassuring him.
"Hmph...!"
Butaro calmed his breath and pushed the stone door with his shoulder.
"Hnnng!"
At first, the door didn't budge but slowly with the appliance of more and more force the stone began to give out with a forced rustle.
"Move...! You dumb...! DOOR!"
*GHHHHHHHHRRRHHHHH*
Exerting even more power than when he was stopping the car from escaping the sight of the crash ad with his eyes emanating a faint purple glow – the stubborn stone door creaked obnoxiously announcing his presence to whatever might be laying in wait on the other side…!
"Tsk."
Butaro clicked his tongue and peeked through the door as soon as the crack in them became wide enough for him to fit his head through.
Feeling chills running up his spine Butaro leaned forward and took a look at what was awaiting him…
But he couldn't see much at first.
The young man could barely see anything, actually, because the next chamber was completely dark and the only source of light was the soft glow that was sipping through the cracks in the door at the other side of the chamber.
The glow looked similar to the moonlight so Butaro assumed that that door must lead outside and that it was currently the middle of the night.
"..."
The dark chamber was silent, Butaro could hear his heart beating deafeningly pumping blood and adrenaline through his veins.
Was it just his imagination fueled by the weird pictures that he assumed were warnings about a battle he had to brave through, or was there an actual reason for it?
Butaro has never experienced that sort of feeling before – none of his human opponents in his previous world ever came close – not even if they were armed.
For some reason, something in his mind was just screaming that the next room is extremely dangerous and to watch out!
The silent dark room seemed like a death trap!
"...hmm...? Hmmm?"
Since both sight and hearing were useless Butaro sniffed the air hoping to get some lead.
"Huh…? Water…?"
He mumbled to himself after recognizing the faint smell that was distinctively different from the dust and mold that were a given in that location.
Indeed the air in the chamber carried a faint smell of a body of water.
Butaro bit his lips.
If the room was just a bit flooded it was fine, he wasn't afraid to get wet in order to get out, and even if the water was completely covering the room's floor and was very deep he was an excellent swimmer since his vast body allowed him to easily stayed afloat and the power of his limns would propel him forward like a moderately-sized motorboat.
No, Butaro wasn't worried about the unspecified body of water – he was afraid of what might be lurking INSIDE said body of water.
"..."
He looked back above his shoulder in the direction of a wall with the map-like mural he already memorized just in case.
The jaws by the temple exit… What if those mean piranhas or something far worse and bloodthirsty…?
Butaro bit the inside of his mouth just thinking about it.
The bitch of a goddess that sent him into this place definitely had no good intentions towards him, and there was little to no doubt in the boy's heart that he was meant to become a feast for whatever was lurking in that cursed place.
But he couldn't just stay like that… After all, the alternative was literally going back to the chamber he awoke in and sucking on his thumb waiting for the inevitable.
"Right… Let's just check if…"
He breathed out and pulled himself together – he pushed forward his arm holding the sword and poked around with it at roughly the area where the floor should be if the elevation of the place was the same as the room he was about to leave.
*cling* *cling*
The noise of the metal hitting the solid surface made Butaro breathe out in relief.
He opened the door wider, poked around some more, and after confirming that at least the first few steps were safe he entered the next chamber.
*WHOO*
"...oh...."
He reached forward to feel his way forward but then suddenly the room lighted up, causing him to straighten his back and harden his grip on the demonic sword!
It was just like the chamber he woke up in. As soon as he moved the lamps attached to the ceiling on the rusted chains lighted up and the greenish-blue light chased the darkness away.
Butaro instantly took a defensive stance but he relaxed his tensed muscles as soon as he got over his initial shock.
Because with the light most of his worries became obsolete.
The room wasn't flooded with water!
This chamber was the same size as the previous one but had no stone rubble littered all around, it also had no murals on the walls, instead, near the entrance around one-quarter of the whole floor surface was missing and was instead filled with crystal-clear water that revealed a rocky bottom few feet down.
There was no sight of anything even remotely dangerous there – much less of some bloodthirsty creature with massive jaws waiting to feast on his round body.
"I was worried for nothing…! The enemies must be outside the shrine – or it has been so long that they all died and decomposed."
Butaro was so relieved that he almost fell on his butt because his knees almost gave out as his eyes stopped giving off the faint pink light.