Chapter 3 – The Slow Slug (3)
“Mayor! There’s an anomaly at the Forbidden Zone…”
“I know. Dispatch an investigation team quickly.”
Mayor Wulrn of the Free City of Su’an nodded at the words of his hurried aide. On an otherwise ordinary afternoon, a massive lightning strike had suddenly struck.
Of course, the sky was overcast, so it wasn’t lightning from a clear blue sky. The issue was the location. The lightning had struck in the middle of a forest located to the west of the city.
While it appeared to be an ordinary forest at first glance, this forest was a crucial location that explained why the neighboring lords didn’t interfere with the Free Zone.
“Include Renia in the investigation team! She is an expert on the Forbidden Zone!”
Wulrn instructed his aide to ensure that someone was included in the investigation team. Soon, a woman summoned by him rushed over with urgency.
Notably, she had a long, flowing curtain of red hair, topped with a pair of perked animal ears.
“You called for me, Mayor?”
“Yes. It seems there has been a disturbance at the Forbidden Zone. There have been numerous reports of black lightning striking there.”
“Black lightning! Everything that has emerged from the Forbidden Zone when that struck has been nothing but horrifying entities that left significant marks on history!”
Her eyes widened at the mayor’s words. Not only her eyes but her ears were perked up, giving her the appearance of someone confronting a great disaster.
“The Forbidden Zone is one of the remnants left behind after the Tower of Calamity that ended the mythical era collapsed…”
“Stop, that’s enough. We don’t need a history lecture. I’m aware of the history. For now, the priority is to investigate the area, especially since it has been quiet since the black lightning struck.”
Upon her natural inclination to discuss scholarly topics, a grimacing Wulrn shook his head. As it was, investigation was the priority, so she remained silent.
“I will grant access and provide armed troops. Please investigate the area and find out what happened.”
“I’ll lead the team immediately.”
Renia nodded vigorously. For a wizard and scholar studying the mythical era, the opportunity to research the Forbidden Zone was a chance she could never let pass.
Although it was dangerous, the fact that she could investigate a place that could provoke the Forbidden Zone was worth the risk.
“Nerun! Get the magic carriage ready!”
“I’ve already started it, Professor.”
Renia, leaving the mayor’s office, had her subordinates hurriedly prepare for departure. Meanwhile, the carriage she boarded was no ordinary one.
It looked similar to the many carriages lying on the roadside, but instead of being pulled by horses, it moved powered by something else.
“Are you Professor Renia? I am Rakum, the captain of the guard sent to escort you on the mayor’s orders.”
“Did they even permit the use of mythical weapons?”
“The location we are investigating is that dangerous,” he replied.
Just then, someone approached Renia. She was taken aback by what the armored captain was holding.
He raised it with a wry smile, and it was clearly a weapon of entirely different make from the sword sheathed at his waist.
“We will soon be entering the Forbidden Zone. Everyone, stay alert.”
Rakum instructed his subordinates.
The investigation team and the city guards raced with their carriage and horses to the entrance of the forest. There, a group of soldiers lay sprawled on the ground, complaining of dizziness and headaches.
“What happened here?”
“I have received prior reports. At the moment the black lightning struck, everyone guarding this area temporarily lost consciousness and collapsed. Fortunately, the soldier who woke up the fastest was able to send an emergency signal.”
Rakum shook his head in response to Renia’s flustered words.
‘Something has definitely happened.’
Swallowing dryly, Renia tightened her grip on her staff. It wouldn’t be surprising if bizarre monsters sprang forth to fight her. This was the Forbidden Zone, after all.
“What on earth is this?”
However, when they entered deeper into the Forbidden Zone, with their tension at its peak, they were left speechless by the open glade and ruins devoid of any presence.
The only thing remaining was a massive mound of earth rising steeply. This cone-shaped structure, clearly manmade, was the sole anomaly.
“Could this be the reason?”
An astonished Rakum asked Renia, but she silently picked up something that had fallen on the ground. Something vaguely inscribed on a crumpled and misshaped metal plate caught her eye.
“This is an artifact inscribed with the language of the mythical era. And it seems someone else has been here before us.”
Carefully handing the metal plate to her aide, Renia swallowed hard as she examined the various footprints left in the ground.
One set was barefoot, and the size was small enough to suggest that it belonged to a child.
*
“Hachi, let’s just go back! Don’t you know where this is?!”
“I know. I know that all the soldiers who were meticulously guarding this place fell at once and that the protective magic has been disabled. Doesn’t that mean it’s an opportunity?”
Right after the black lightning struck, and before the investigation team set out, it was clear that others had approached the area first.
They had been outside the Forbidden Zone when the lightning struck, thus avoiding its effects. By the time they arrived, the protective seals and guards that had already been in place had long since been obliterated.
“There must be something really valuable hidden in here, which is why it’s kept so tightly secured. We might be able to fulfill the month’s supply quota in one go.”
“But, but…”
They were individuals from the slums of the city, and today they were just planning to threaten passers-by, indulging in lowly deeds.
They had not received much education. They couldn’t even write their names, and what they understood about this place and its contents came only from rumors.
And they were also brave enough to dismiss such rumors as mere nonsense.
So, stepping into the Forbidden Zone, they headed towards the mysterious mound of earth that towered above them as a guide.
“Tch, it’s just an ordinary forest after all.”
The man called Hachi complained as the ordinary tree-lined path seemed endless.
However, he failed to notice that amidst the excitement, there were no sounds of birds or insects in that forest.
“…Huh?”
In that state, they spotted someone watching them from a distance. A small, petite figure standing before the massive mound of earth.
Her long, luscious silver hair shimmered in the sunlight filtering through the clouds.
“An elf.”
Hachi murmured in a daze as he approached.
With a shaded face, red eyes, skin as white as snow, and long pointed ears, she possessed a beauty that seemed otherworldly.
The two stopped in their tracks, entranced, gazing at her.
“Let’s catch her.”
“Wh-what!?”
As she appeared startled upon seeing them, Hachi quietly urged. Ignoring the panic of his friend, Hachi grinned wickedly.
“An elf! We can sell her for a fortune!”
Hachi was already blinded by greed. Elf slaves were valuable no matter when or where.
“Are you out of your mind? How are we supposed to catch an elf?!”
It was true that to capture something of such worth came with its own costs.
Only a few could touch elves—who were usually stronger than humans—without facing scorn for their insanity.
“I think she looks like a kid, so it might be possible. Come on!”
“Damn it.”
Yet, Hachi was already racing towards her. Ultimately, the two decided to catch her, lunging forward and trying to grab her rudely.
After just a little more distance, they thought they could grasp her delicate neck and arm.
“Gahhh!”
But they ultimately could not reach her.
At that moment, the ground beneath them began to tremble violently, splitting open like water, and swallowed them whole in an instant.
With only their necks left sticking out from the ground, they struggled in disbelief with the earth pushing down relentlessly on their bodies.
“Ugh…”
As the ground seemed to threaten to crush their bones, they were nearing the brink of suffocation before their organs could burst.
With their faces turning purple and unable to move even a finger, their vision grew hazy, and they began to foam at the mouth.
“Stop. Let them breathe.”
At that moment, she spoke. Her gaze looked down at them filled with disgust. Naturally, it was an expected reaction to being ambushed.
“P-please, spare us. Just let us live…”
“Who the hell are you?”
She asked them as they desperately begged for mercy. The moment she understood their conversation, she realized that all the language transcendence granted to climbers was still in effect. There was no hesitation in her questioning, and without a choice, they were forced to reveal their identities fully.
“We’re Hachi and Wigo, working the menial jobs in Su’an? What are you talking about? Is it really the Tower?”
The problem was that she couldn’t understand any of their words. As a result, they had to plead pitifully for her to believe them.
