To be blunt, when Sū ěr first arrived outside Yamato, he looked down upon the gods and their descendants.
After all, no matter how much power they possessed, the place they lived was so small, and the people they ruled were like weeds on the ground. There wasn't a spark of vitality in the entire kingdom; instead, it felt as stagnant and lifeless as a dying old man.
Though he hadn't lived in Yamato for a single day, Sū ěr found he could strangely empathize with what those short people were thinking—where could they even run?
Tangible, intangible, illusory, real, cruel, starving... countless demons lurked on the land outside the city, on the mountains, and in the rivers, waiting for prey that lost its way.
But now, perhaps Sū ěr had to apologize for his thoughts outside the city.
The city of Yamato was not small. It was even more massive than he had imagined.
It was just... underground.
"Initially, it was just the construction of dungeons beneath the city. But over hundreds of years, the supplementary structures expanded at a staggering rate, until the surface city eventually became the supplement," Yukari explained the history as she led the way.
"Because the surface is too dangerous?" Sū ěr remarked idly, observing the surroundings.
If you pour molten aluminum into a fire ant nest and dig it out once it cools, you would be awestruck by the wonder the ants had carved. At the entrance, there are piles of dirt like massive mountains to the ants, but they are nothing compared to the kingdom they dug below. Just like the city of Yamato and its underground portion, the roles of "main" and "extra" had been reversed.
"Of course not," Yukari laughed, surprised by Sū ěr comment. "I do know of a very interesting theory—that the Tenson focused on digging underground and ignored the surface city specifically to avoid the gaze of Amaterasu-Omikami. After all, the sun's light cannot reach beneath the earth."
"But isn't she his grandmother?"
"Exactly. All the more reason to hide."
Yuuka raised the question, and Yukari provided the answer—saying everything while seemingly saying nothing.
The naturally born god, Ame-no-Nishi-Kuni-no-Nishi-Amatsu-Hikohiko-no-Ninigi-no-Mikoto, was likely feeling guilty... he had accepted the command of his beloved grandmother to descend to the world, only to end up in this state.
But it was only a theory.
"It's just a saying. The coldness of the gods might exceed even a youkai's imagination, but for me, I do lean toward that explanation," Yukari added frankly when she saw her words had sparked thought in the others.
"Is it possible it has to do with Yomi [the Underworld]?" Observing the underground city, which had a completely different style from the cities of the Dwarves, Think suddenly spoke up. "For instance, is the Tenson hoping to find a way to break the curse from Yomi?"
Think hypothesis was linked to the unique geography of this world. It wasn't flat or overlapping, but divided into three clear layers: Takamagahara—Ashihara no Nakatsukuni—Yomi, distributed from top to bottom. Then there was that Milky Way, which even the gods of the high plains didn't know the origin of, piercing through the world from top to bottom.
"It's certainly possible, but wouldn't the problem just loop back around?" Yukari seemed to have been waiting for Think question for a long time. She turned and pointed toward the ceiling, toward the direction of the frozen Milky Way.
The underground city was vast, yet characterized by an eerie emptiness. Normally, such a massive city should have a matching or even denser population, yet Sū ěr hadn't seen many humans along the way.
Yes, humans in fine clothing—these were likely the true residents of Yamato. Their status and lives were clearly superior to the humans on the surface and the ragged ones outside.
Sū ěr had already seen the group that had left earlier with the collected blood. In this underground city, they bent the spines they had held high on the surface, trying their best to look humble.
Standing before the gates leading to an even deeper level, Yukari said solemnly, "...What you are about to see next is likely the greatest secret hidden by Yamato. If we are discovered by those gods, it won't be something that can be settled with polite words..."
"If they are capable of it," Sū ěr replied calmly to Yukari hint, before stepping past her and pushing open the iron gates.
Youkai energy, gathered like clouds, swirled at the highest point of this level. It shifted and twisted, forming various faces, yet it represented no single will. It was youkai energy, but not the kind belonging to Yukari or Yuuka. Even Sū ěr could feel the strangeness—it was like salt mixed into a dish of sugar, identical in appearance but completely different in taste—yet it was undeniably a single entity.
A contradiction that was bizarre even among youkai.
Perhaps for the residents of this level, it was as mundane as the sun rising and the moon setting, but for the first-time visitors, it was the discomfort of stepping into an alien realm. Every inch of skin protested, itching to be shielded.
The thick, alien youkai energy declared a wordless concept—an anomaly mixed with the very concept of "godhood." Was that truly a youkai?
Even Yukari had been shaken and puzzled during her first visit.
"Humans?" Sū ěr asked, watching the residents of this level.
"...Not exactly," Yukari looked troubled. "After all, they are a race that never existed before..."
"Humans? Gods? Shinjin? At the very least, when I was scouting, I heard what they call themselves—Oni." Yukari raised a finger and tapped her forehead. "But don't be mistaken, they aren't the ghosts or spirits that have always existed. I think 'Oni-kind' might be a better way to distinguish them."
Looking across the level, the residents living here all had the same thing on their foreheads, exactly where Yukari was pointing.
Horns.