It took them less than an hour to drive to the other tier 3 gate. It had been an almost the exact opposite side of the city, but Owen was just glad that Lucas had thought far enough ahead to create a map of the tier 3 gate locations, before things had gotten even worse. Now that signal was becoming worse and worse depending on the area you were in, the map came in great handy even if it only had the rough locations of the gate.

Owen and the others only grew more dismayed as they drove through the town, they had been so close to losing their own city in the same manner. All this city had probably needed was a team like Owen's or even Thomas's and the city might have been salvageable. Though they could turn it into a good thing. If he and the others remembered where this city was, then when everything was a little more settled it could probably work as a training ground. He pushed the thoughts from his mind as they entered the gate, prepared for something a little harder than the previous gate.

*You have entered the tier 3 gate, Land of Death.

Clear Condition: Find out why the land has become a barren wasteland of death*

"Fuck me man," Lucas groaned. "Of course just when we wanted it to get a little harder, they give us something like this. How are we even supposed to figure something like this out?" Owen had to agree, they had been placed in a rundown town that looked like the ruins of a grand city. There were art pieces and parks decorating the streets creating the picture of one of the futuristic cities that Owen had seen in some movies, but this city was like a twisted image of what those cities would've looked like had they fallen.

They slowly wandered through the city streets looking for anything that might have any clues. It didn't take them long to find what looked like a palace or a capital building with dead trees lining the walk way into the building's front entrance. Following the path, they made it into the building's interior and the first thing Owen noticed was that it was bigger on the inside. When standing outside of the building, it barely looked larger than a mansion might, but when they had moved inside, it was as if they had entered a stadium. The remnants of artworks, paintings and tapestries had been strewn about the floor.

It looked like it had been looted whenever the world had originally begun its fall towards total apocalypse. Not wanting to spend too much time wandering given the sheer size of the space, Owen turned to the others. "I'm going to have Briar search the far end, hopefully we can find some type of office, throne room or anything that might be something that belonged to someone important. I'm not sure how we are going to find out what happened otherwise." Nodding Myra pointed off towards a doorway on the far left of the stadium. "I'm going to go that way then and see what I can find." She barely had time to let the words leave her mouth before Lucas gave Owen a sly grin.

"I'm going to go to the left as well, Owen, how about you go to the right?" Lucas offered, while moving closer to Myra. Owen wasn't sure what he was trying to do but shrugged. "I doubt she needs the help, but if you really think she needs it I guess I don't care." Owen said as he turned to go through the doorway on the right. He didn't even have to look to know Myra was scowling at Lucas and telling him to go somewhere else. Lucas was still an unknown figure to Owen. They hadn't had enough time to actually become friends yet.

Xerxes had asked for a favor and so far Owen was doing his best to fulfill his side of the bargain, but he was less than enthused with how difficult is was to gain new skills, which in turn made it harder for him to actually have anything he could show Lucas. Lucas had still been somewhat distant from the group and according to several conversation with Peggy, didn't seem to really care about anything other than himself and possibly Owen, though Owen didn't feel any better because of it. He knew if it were the case that it would've only been because of Xerxes and not anything he had done himself.

He still needed a good opportunity to talk with Lucas about what he was hoping for in their group, because so far Peggy wasn't a fan, which meant that Myra probably wasn't a fan either. Pushing the thoughts from him mind for now, he sent Briar to search through the room on the opposite side of the palace hall, before checking through the doorway on the right. While walking through, he didn't find anything of note, more decorations and what seemed like spare bedrooms. Feeling less than impressed, Owen continued to search through what he had decided was probably the servants living quarters

Not finding anything, he made another sweep through looking for anything related to anyone that might've lived there, but there weren't any personal items strewn about which made him think that either they had been looted as well or they hadn't been allowed any to begin with. It made his whole experience in the palace so far feel like he was touring a museum, which while he had enjoyed those tours, the abandoned state spooked him a little more than he would ever admit to. It didn't take him long to reach front entrance again after he had made several sweeps.

Briar hadn't had the chance to check their side of the building yet, so Owen moved towards the left side of the building, hopeful that someone had found something.

----------------------------------------

Myra was getting really frustrated as nothing they had found seemed even remotely similar to anything that would help them find the cause behind everything being abandoned. Lucas wasn't being of any help either, if anything he seemed entirely disinterested in talking about anything but himself. She had chosen to be patient with him for now since he was someone that Owen's had said should be fine, but she still didn't like him one bit.

She had talked with Peggy for a while about him and from what she could gather the whole time he had spent time with Peggy he had essentially bragged that he had been selected as the chosen inheritor of some great position. I didn't honestly matter to her, but it was getting on her nerves. "So then I just had to agree and become the heir to one of the members of the zodiac. Isn't that crazy, they had gone out of their way to find an select me. But don't worry, I'm humble enough to realize that you were one of the people that helped me reach the top, so if you need anything let me know." Lucas said with a smug grin on his face as he walked next to Myra, his hand raised and crossed behind his head in a relaxed position

"You know what I would really appreciate, you leaving me alone and helping actually search this side of the building." Myra growled. Lucas just laughed and pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. He turned to her and bowed. "Of course, your wish is my command." He then stood up and didn't move. Myra scowled but chose to ignore him for now, nothing in any of the rooms seemed important and even when they had finally chanced upon the kitchen, nothing stood out. She did a couple walk throughs, only reminding herself how thankful she was she lived in the modern era.

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While the kitchen looked pretty, with decorations lining the wall and the dishes and cutlery having fine details on them. Most of the kitchen was still old fashioned in the sense that they didn't have running water and needed to use a water pump that was located in the kitchen itself. She took one glance in the pantry and sighed, nothing worth digging through for answers. So far she was hating this gate specifically as they hadn't found anything to fight, and she had no idea how they were supposed to know when they had found a clue. Feeling hopeful that maybe Owen had found something, she started making her way back towards the front entrance with Lucas trailing close behind.

She was going to have to talk to Owen about him, especially since Lucas hadn't stopped talking about how desirable he was, given he was an heir.

"So you see, if you and Peggy stick with me for the long term, I'm sure Owen's and my Master would be more than willing to help you guys keep up. You have a pretty enough face that I wouldn't mind letting you tag..." Lucas's words were cut short as Owen came around one of the corners. Myra curiously watched him completely change his demeanor, almost acting as if Owen was his big brother, or at least someone to look up to.

"Oh, hey Owen, you must've managed to clear your side of the building super fast, it was even faster than Myra and I were able to do one side together." Lucas said looking at Owen who grimaced. "I'm going to be honest, I don't think these sides are comparable to each other at all. I was mostly stuck with bedrooms, that were practically jail cells. This side seems a lot more interesting, but I'm guessing you didn't find anything either." Owen said as he turned his attention to Myra instead.

Lucas went to answer, but Myra interrupted. "No, it took a little longer to check than it should've, but I didn't find anything. Did you already check in to see what Briar found?" Owen shook his head. 'I was going to go over there once I was done double checking to see if you found anything. Myra shook her head and walked past Owen. Turning on his heels, Owen started following her with Lucas close behind. She marched towards the back of the palace, suffering the elaborate staircase that led up to the doorway.

Instead of it being a set of rooms, there was only one that looked like a mix between someone's study and a throne room. Pieces of paper strewn about the floor and books stacked high onto the table. Books were piled up on every surface of the room, including the throne itself. Each of them split off looking through some of the books, trying to figure out what the topics were, Myra began to notice a theme of her stacks. It was a mix of books on mythological healing remedies and proven remedies all focused on dealing with viruses.

She wasn't sure how much time they spent in the room, before she was pretty sure they had found something. Inside one of the stacks of books was a journal that described a series of events that led to them fleeing their own country.

*Everyone is becoming sick and I am needing to try and do more to keep my mother from catching whatever illness this is. It has chased us for hundreds of miles, but I have managed ot keep her safe somehow.*

*I was attacked today by witch hunter's claiming my mother to be the cause of the sickness plaguing our country, but she has never shown signs of the illness I see others with. I needed to leave town anyways as she has gotten a small cough.*

*My mother died, thankfully she didn't suffer through the illness that is stealing the minds of those who catch it, but i have continued running south, it's no longer safe anywhere in the north.*

*I was captured by some foreign king, surprisingly it has been a comfortable experience so far, no one has gotten sick, though I know it is a matter of time.*

*I don't know how long they have kept me trapped in my cell, but people started to get sick and they stowed me away. Hopefully everything is going well on the surface. I am beginning to think I may be the cause of this plague*

*I was able to purposefully make the guard visiting me sick today, I now no I truly am the reason for the plague that swept through my country. It warms my heart that I am not the reason for my mother's death, but I don't think I can live with myself knowing how many others died.*

Myra wasn't sure what to say after reading through the journal, she was certain they were supposed to find this and then go find where the dungeon was and beat the boss monster or something, but to her surprise, she got a notification pop up that surprised her.

*You have successfully cleared a tier 3 gate.

You have been awarded 1500 credits

Boss Monster is still alive.*

Myra rolled her eyes. So the choice was to leave now, or fight the boss monster for extra credits? She knew what she wanted and was more than positive Owen would want the same. "You guys also just get that notification?" She asked, mostly asking Briar and Owen even if she knew Briar wouldn't have gotten one. "I got it," Lucas said enthusiastically while looking at Owen who just nodded. "I didn't see a way to get to any dungeon area, but that is probably our best bet based off of this journal." Myra said tossing it to Owen. Several seconds passed as Owen peered through the journal.

"Yeah that makes sense, but I'm not sure he would be underneath the palace though we can quickly check. I didn't see anything that looked like a path underneath the main floor, but I guess I wasn't looking for it." Myra nodded, but waited for him to finish. "It might not be based off of anything real, but I think there is a good chance that the prison cells might be located somewhere different, since I can't imagine old rich people would want someone like that to possibly get them sick rather than try risking it with the poors." Myra stifled a laugh as it did seem very possible, but she shook her head.

"We should check here first anyways before we go wandering around the city again, hopefully we will get lucky and this will be a boss that you'll be able to basically one shot again." Myra said teasingly and Owen just grinned. "Come on, I can't always do all of the heavy lifting I'm getting tired." Myra shook her head and began walking out towards the main hall that looked like the dance floor in the animated beauty and the beast movie. She saw the entrance to the building on the other side of the hall and slowly made her way towards it scanning the wall and the walk back, looking for any type of hidden passage. Owen checked the other side and based off of his sour expression, he hadn't found anything either as they made it to the entrance again.

Just as they were about to split up again researching through both sides of the building, Briar seemed to shudder as it walked past the center of the floor and Owen with wide eyes raced forwards. In one giant leap, Myra watched as he tackled Briar right as a hand shattered the ground from underneath grasping at where Briar had been moments before. The whole ground began to shake and large sections of the floor began to crack and fall into the room below.

As the dust began to settle, a weary looking man was all that was left in the center of the room, Briar and Owen nowhere in sight as the figure then turned to her and smiled. "It has been a long time since I saw someone be unaffected by my power. Please let us have a chat."

Myra used her identify skill and was more than distraught after the skill went off.

*Aerico the Walking Plague: Level 50*