"Is this constructed after the Zonai people? The large ears differ somewhat from our appearances," Zelda mused as she took photographs. "But why would the architecture of a sky civilization appear beneath the castle? It seems we...can proceed deeper. Let's go, Link." Knowing he needed to break free from the imminent danger, Leonard knew he had to stick with the Princess of Hyrule. His only option was to submit for the moment.
"The ancient architecture we just saw must be a product of the Zonai civilization. I didn't expect to find these famous structures in a forbidden area," Zelda continued, heading through the archway and down a long corridor. They passed through a room with three statues on each side, and Zelda stopped short, a look of panic on her face. Behind her, shadows began to form on the ground, accompanied by a red miasma that slowly gathered between the two. Leonard immediately stepped forward to protect the princess.
"Are there monsters even here?" Leonard eyed several bat-like creatures, their bodies swaying in the air, making strange squeals. Leonard faced them bravely, slashing them down with just a few swings of the Master Sword. He coolly sheathed his sword. Zelda approached, asking, "Are you okay, Link?" "Hehe, I'm fine. How could I be bothered by such small creatures?" Leonard, after all, was still a boy at heart. How could he pass up the chance to play the hero, saving the princess?
Zelda stepped past Leonard, only to realize they were standing inside a room with massive murals, so different and awe-inspiring from what they had previously seen.
"In the memories of the royal family, there is a record of a war in the ancient times, a war between humans and the Demon King for world domination," Zelda explained as they walked. She excitedly walked up to a mural depicting a man and a woman intertwining hands, as if celebrating something. "The prototype of the statue we just saw was the Zonai people, and the people here are us Hylians. The Zonai seem to have descended from the sky. My ancestors, the forebears of the Hyrule royal family, were said to have intermarried with a family of gods that descended from the sky. If the contents of this mural are true, then the aliens descending from the sky were the Zonai. They mingled with the Hylians on earth, forming a nation, which later became the Kingdom of Hyrule. Evil people appeared and took away the kingdom's power. All this aligns with the records in the ancient documents. Then the Demon King was born, and people launched a war to defeat him. If the figure depicted here is the so-called Demon King..."
Leonard thought to himself, this was rather romantic. The sky and the earth, male and female, good and evil...
They looked at a mural depicting the Demon King driving a group of underlings to attack. The Demon King's body was incredibly large, controlling a large group of minions through some kind of red power. The people on the left only occupied a small corner, obviously weaker than the Demon King's army. "Incredible! This mural undoubtedly depicts the full scene of the war recorded in ancient literature - the Sealing War." Zelda was exceedingly excited, speaking loudly, "Link, this is a major discovery." She immediately pulled out the camera from earlier. Leonard wisely moved closer to take the torch. "This is a tool specially made by Pural for me, very suitable for recording such things. I'm glad I brought it." Zelda then went into another frenzy of picture taking.
Even though the large murals were quite spectacular, Leonard was unfazed. He felt that there was no need for him to play the hard worker following the princess. Why? Because he was a modern person, not of this world. He was just a student about to take his middle school exams. Staying here for too long, he might get corrupted. Right, a boy outside, he must protect himself well.
The two continued deeper, but the murals behind had been damaged. Zelda lost interest in photographing them. "It's impossible to see anything further. What is this place? The answers must be ahead. Let's keep going," the princess suggested, slowly picking up the torch and moving forward. Leonard immediately followed. He wondered if being a handyman for a long time would earn him the princess's favor, then maybe he could rise high and return to his village as a prince consort, how prestigious would that be...
The princess spoke again, "I am so excited right now. I didn't expect that there would be murals here that could corroborate ancient documents. The ancient royal family classified the underground of the castle as taboo, could it be to hide these murals?" Leonard didn't answer. After all, Zelda wasn't asking him, she was just talking to herself.
Leonard explored the surrounding area. Some places were still leaking water. He didn't want to leave the princess too far behind because he didn't have a torch. Although this was a civilization's remains beneath the castle, it was still somewhat scary for a middle school student. The princess walked ahead alone, more and more red miasma and an unknown black power seeping from the ground. He thought there might be some terrible existence deep in this cave. Would he die? If he died, would he be reborn somewhere else?
Seeing that Princess Zelda didn't go far, Leonard let go of the strange thoughts in his mind and continued to advance side by side with the princess. The passage became more damaged the deeper they went. They reached a dead-end, turned left, and there were still dark stairs going down. The princess said again, "But just looking at the content depicted in these murals shouldn't be enough to classify them as taboo. Why is that?" Princess, wait for me. Leonard saw the red power emerging from the ground and felt that the princess was completely immersed in her passion for archaeology at this moment, completely disregarding the possible dangers around. It's up to me to protect her. So, Leonard took the lead and walked ahead. He drew the Demon Slayer Sword, and using its silver light, slowly moved forward.
Unexpectedly, the princess suddenly screamed, startling Leonard. Zelda pointed to the distance and said, "That green light. It gives me a bad premonition." But Leonard didn't see any green light, only red. He moved forward to take a look and indeed, there was a green light in the shape of an inverted cone, constantly twirling upwards.
As they continued to approach, at the tip of the cone-shaped green light, there was a human hand. The hand was entirely blue, pierced into the chest of a corpse.
Holy crap, what's going on? Is there some ancient monster sealed in here? If there is, my life might be in danger.
Wait a minute, Leonard examined the monster in front of him carefully. This "zombie" was skinless, its muscles and tendons exposed, eerily pale in the darkness, extremely disgusting to look at.
Despite their fear, their curiosity was piqued and they walked closer, not feeling scared at all.