With the appearance of Beast, she was able to get a bit of information. Even still, without going too far out of the way. In his own words, “Some information is helpful, too much will not help but hurt you.”

Jessica only knew that the birch line in front of her was the entrance to the first boundary. Inside the entry location would only be a few creatures. Most of them were Grade F. Because of the unique aspect of the dwarf territory, the once thriving and stable ecosystem of the east forbidden zone had taken a massive hit.

Because of the amount of land that was cut down. During the mass migration, the strongest creatures put the weaker creatures into a full panic. It was said that when the dwarves cleared the paths and exiled all the creatures living on those paths. A massive beast tide unlike anything ever seen had occurred.

This might have left many of the surrounding lands unsatisfied with their actions. However, the direct north held dwarves. Owning land both north and south, allowing them to work in conjunction.

This made it so that, outside of a few creatures that could return to the dangerous ocean. Everything else ran west. There were three powers hit hard by this.

Just west of the dwarven northern branch was the Elven Forest. Because of their natural withdrawn personalities. They took a massive hit while soon taking care of the creatures that rushed in. It was unknown if elves were that antisocial, or if the tension created from this was just not publicly known. Ultimately, the corpses were fed to the forest, causing the Elven Forest to expand both west and east.

Mercury City was also hit. It was said to be a bad time for the city. Not as large as they were now, they were a group of monster hunters. They dealt with the conflict the fastest. This was even when they were the most affected. Those involved in this event, died or profited greatly from the corpses of hundred of thousands of beasts.

Human territories were also hit. Not much is known outside the easternmost cities being destroyed. Rather, this was because of untimely response or intentional conflicts within the human race. There are still the saying that the creatures that can be found in between the cities today are because of the drwaves actions back then.

Since there was no obvious effect like the expansion of the Elven Forest. It is unknown what effect this event had on the animal tribes. Because of the separation of the east by the numerous powers, the goblin kingdom was said to have taken no hits from this.

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What effect this had on the forbidden zone itself, was that where there is structure to the west forbidden zone, the east is rather chaotic. In the very outer layer is Grade F. Just pass that, one finds the Grade E creatures. So on, and so forth.

At the very center of the forbidden zone is said to be the most dangerous and special creatures. Unlike the west, the eastern forbidden zone center was said to be even more dangerous than the west. Without the land, the most powerful creatures gave birth to unique existences that might not be of equal grades. What they lack in mana they make up for in strange abilities.

Constant fighting and conflict over land, gave birth to creatures that are said to rival the creatures one could find in the ocean. Of course, that was just the rumor she heard. Jessica did believe it, though.

Without solid evidence, she was happy to be proven wrong. Since the minotaur was said to be a heavily injured Grade D. Traveling with both parents, with little information she found… It was likely that all the creatures that survived here were abnormally powerful to other counterparts, found in the outside world.

Without seeing any creatures, she was force to enter at a random patch of dense trees. Jessica didn’t immediately progress into the forbidden zone. Climbing a tree in the middle of the dense foliage.

For the time being, there was still foliage to find cover in. The air even felt slightly warmer. It was the middle of spring, it was a give or take what would be covered while other branches of trees would have already started to shed their leaves.

Not knowing enough, she was still grateful for this. As she observed with her eyes, skin, and ears. She wasn’t just looking for traces of beasts. In fact, the thing she was the most wary of were not animals but people.

There was a total of six people that had taken this request before her. Half of which were reported to have gone missing. Likely believed to be dead.

Startling as this was, that didn’t mean they were killed by the minotaur. No, the most likely conclusion was they died to the forbidden zone. Possibly each other. Even through it was frowned on, it was even extremely disastrous if caught doing so. There were still ways around this.

One wasn’t required to aid, even if they were told not to obstruct. This could easily be hidden. While investigations only happened randomly. The rules for it weren’t known. Therefore, it could happen at any time. This also meant, everything was after.

Clearly hiding traces would cause more suspicion. Then, what if the person watched the other party get killed? Without requiring to give aid, it didn’t matter if a third party saw you forsaking the other. If you weren’t together, nobody could force you to put yourself in danger for another.

The issue became, without a watching third party, if there was obstruction caused by the watching eye. If, for example, the watching party injured the one engaged with the subjugation target. For a minotaur, it was without a doubt that anything and anyone would be devoured by the beast. This made it so that if the only evidence was on the body, it was very easy to get away with murder.