While Illyan waited in the safety of the camp, the soldiers who were sent into the city felt extremely nervous. Even the wagons, now fully built and loaded with ballistae prepared to shoot whatever creature might appear in front of them, didn’t help to calm them down.

They were well aware that they were cannon fodder meant to buffer the numbers of this expedition.

The first line would hold on while the acolytes and members of the gangs delivered the finishing blow, thus taking all the credit.

Of course, they were unwilling, but they didn’t have a choice.

So, they could only grit their teeth as they entered the ancient city.

The somber atmosphere permeated the air as they looked around cautiously.

All of the buildings were built of the same material as the city wall, making the entire city look dark. The buildings were also very simple, with little to no decorations. It was obvious that this place was built with practicality in mind.

However, after all this time with no one occupying the place, nature began to take back its lost land as lush green trees and flora covered the buildings and paved roads.

It was truly eye-opening for the soldiers who came here for the first time.

These newcomers were the majority, as not many would be willing to visit this place for a second time. The mayor acknowledged this fact, so only the first time was obligatory for the soldiers unless there was a lack of rookie soldiers.

But how many would survive this first round was the real question.

“Wow… This is creepy…” Terren, who was among the soldiers sent out, muttered to himself.

“Shhh! Do you want us to die? Be quiet for once.” The soldier beside him showed a terrified expression as his face darkened at Terren’s antics.

Terren awkwardly smiled as he wanted to apologize.

However, before he could do that, the soldier waved his hand across Terren’s mouth.

Screech

Suddenly, a strange screech resounded deep within the city, making everyone freeze.

Terren gulped as he realized his mistake.

The soldier next to him nodded with a fearful expression, and both continued to walk in formation.

That soldier was Terren’s senior by a year. He was one of the few people who had taught Terren all kinds of knowledge and skills that knights should have. In the process, he had to keep Terren’s carefree spirit in check, as the young man was like a moth flying toward the fire when it came to problems.

After spending a long time together, they became close friends. Or rather, Huart, the soldier’s real name, felt that he had become an older brother to a kid who lacked some basic survival instincts.

Huart could only sigh as he felt his soul leaving his body.

The soldiers around also looked scared and angry at them but didn’t dare say anything as they continued their march.

They were right in the middle of the soldiers’ formation, so they were relatively safe from every direction. But still, that could change in seconds, as the monsters here were capable of destroying small armies.

“Split up into squads and make a distance of two meters between each squad.”

One of the higher officers barked out orders without a care for their fears, and the entire formation slowly started to change into a completely new form.

If it were the formation of elite soldiers, this pace would be considered a failure. People were slow, scared, and confused. Some of them didn’t feel the pressure at all, as they were completely laid back.

The officer sighed. His name was Cornelius, and he had worked for twenty years as a constable in the town.

However, after the recent incident, he was promoted to high officer and sent by the mayor himself to help lead the soldiers.

There were other leaders, but few had the same prestige as him.

One of them, called Awur, was the firstborn son of a knight of an older generation. But mainly, he was the oldest brother of Arun. Not that they were too close, as there was an age gap of over fifteen years between them.

All of these leaders were giving orders to their groups in the formation as they sat on their steeds at the back.

The reason they commanded the soldiers to keep a distance between each group was simple. If there was truly a troll in the depths of the city, then one attack could dispatch the entire army.

Thus, being in one big clump was suicide.

They slowly advanced as the scared soldiers looked around in amazement.

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Cornelius could only shake his head at that.

‘If only the Arkravav Empire didn’t stop us from building a proper army… Vanaras wouldn’t be in such a bad state if it could fight back against the four Forbidden Regions…’

The so-called Forbidden Regions were nothing more than parts of the Valas Peninsula surrounding the Vanaras Kingdom.

Snowless Mountain Range in the west, Iron Troll Mountain Range in the east, Alchemy’s Doom Forest in the north, and lastly, the Ancient Swamp of Zerhuins in the south, which divided the kingdom from the Arkravav Empire.

These places weren’t that dangerous from the average perspective of the Oberuan continent’s inhabitants. However, for the kingdom’s citizens, these places were death zones where people would die like flies.

In the north, people were hunted down by unknown aborigines who attacked people on sight. Even flow masters who fell in the forest were never seen again, sacrificed to an unknown god.

In the end, the kingdom stopped sending people there, as there was nothing profitable anyway.

The eastern mountains were obviously infested by Goblins, Gremlins, and mainly Mountain Trolls. On the other hand, the mountains in the west were nests for flocks of Wyverns, which were even more dangerous than trolls.

The only place left was the swamps of Zerhuins. That place was home to the man-eater giants called Ogres and Serpent Slugs, who would dissolve their victims in their embrace. There were many other dangerous creatures, like Feathered Raptors, Water Leapers, Giant Mantises, Chimeras, and whatnot.

Illyan believed that it was this place where Ezekiel collected the materials to build his inhuman body parts.

However, he wondered how he passed through. From what he knew, the swamp was difficult to pass, and almost nobody had passed through over the years. Instead, there was another way into Vanra, the capital city of the Vanaras.

Unfortunately, that was as far as Illyan’s knowledge extended…

Because of all this, the Vanaras Kingdom had pretty bad discipline in its military. Only those who volunteered to enter the Arkravav Empire to fight in the Dark Stone War could be called the elites.

But how many of them would return?

Most of them would die, while the rest would either realize how backward the Vanaras Kingdom truly was and choose to live in the Arkravav Empire, or, if they were lucky enough to reach the Expert Stage, they would not be able to return without giving up all the power they had accumulated.

In the end, Cornelius could only sigh as he focused on the exploration. He looked around, searching for any danger, as it was common for abandoned buildings not to be completely abandoned, as some animals and monsters chose to make their nests there.

The city was once a bustling, vibrant place full of life and industry. Now, it was a hauntingly beautiful ruin, echoing with memories of its past.

Rows of abandoned houses were carved into the rock, with wooden doors hanging off their hinges to their right, as some of the groups entered each house one by one, looking for any lifeform that could threaten the expedition.

However, nothing was found.

At some point, they arrived at the area of the city where the storage rooms were situated.

Obviously, they had been empty for a very long time.

What the soldiers were interested in, though, were the broken rails coming out of these storage rooms, converging into one rail leading somewhere.

On these rails, several broken and rusty carts lay as if left by the citizens in the middle of the work they were doing.

Some of them were derailed or turned on their side.

Everyone gawked at them. It wasn’t that they were surprised to see these carts.

No, they were surprised to see their size.

These carts were as high as five meters and weighed tons.

The members of the Vicious Viper Gang were staring with eyes full of desire at these storage rooms and carts as some of them looked pleadingly at Varel.

Even if the entire city had been ransacked countless times, they still hoped to find some leftovers. If they managed to do so, they would be rich for the rest of their lives.

Varel just laughed loudly without care as he waved his hand, allowing them to go.

These members smiled as they ran off.

Cornelius and the others’ faces turned ugly when they saw Varel do this and his careless laugh.

Sudden creepy noises resounded across the city, and the soldiers turned fearful.

Brynjar, on the other hand, didn’t change his expression. Without saying anything, he charged like a shadow toward the greedy gang members and used his flow to break their necks. Drawing blood here was unwanted and could cause catastrophe.

Fortunately, Brynjar was a skilled fighter.

The two gang members who took the lead didn’t even have time to scream before their consciousness turned into darkness for eternity.

Then he turned his head defiantly at Varel and other members who also wanted to go looking for treasures.

Other members flew into a rage but didn’t dare say anything as Varel just waved his hand.

Then he just smiled at Brynjar.

“Don’t be that uptight. We live only once, no?”

Brynjar just snorted at his words and didn’t say anything.

Cornelius sighed in relief as he wiped his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief.

‘These guys are mad!’

As he cursed under his breath, he looked around, fearing retaliation from any creatures living in the city.

It was soon after, when they saw the small ravine in the ground in front of them, that they met danger for the first time.

The ravine seemed to exist even before the fall of the city, as most of the buildings were built around it, with few rails leading inside it.

Rrrahr!

The reverberating growling resounded from within the ravine.

Swish

With the sound of flapping wings, something the size of a dog flew out of the ravine.

It was a dark blur that lunged at the closest soldier.

“Ah?! What is thi-Argh!”

It didn’t take long before the creature bit into his neck and sucked out all the life essence from the poor man.

“The blood-sucking bats!” One of the members of the Heart Bearer Gang shouted out of terror as he tried to warn these greenhorns.

“Don’t kill-No!”

However, the soldiers had already aimed their spears at it, as their instinct told them to kill it before they died first.

“Die!” With a roar, one of them pierced the creature’s body with his spear.

When one looked closely, they would notice that it was a dark, furry creature with membrane wings and a huge maw of sharp teeth.

The bat made a sorrowful cry as it died under the spear, which made the soldiers sigh in relief.

However, those who were aware had somber expressions.

“Take the shields and prepare for the attack!” In the end, Awur called out quickly as he took his shield to protect himself.

The soldiers were confused for a second but listened.

“Fuck…” Terren muttered to himself.

“What?” Huart turned to Terren. He had never seen him like this.

“I once entered an abandoned cave near my home village. There, on the ceiling of the cave, were thousands of bats that I accidentally disturbed, so they all flew out. I almost peed myself that day…”

After saying that, Huart turned silent.

Most of the uneducated people didn’t know, since bats were quite rare in Vanaras, but these creatures almost never lived alone.

And it was soon proven, as it didn’t take long before more angry howls resounded from the ravine together with the flapping of wings.

“Prepare yourself!” This time, even Cornelius didn’t hide his voice as he called out to the soldiers.

Then, a big dark cloud flew out of the ravine, with only uncountable number of dark red eyes revealing that it was dozens of the creatures huddled together.