"Claudia? What’s happening over there?"
Hearing the noise through the Communication Magic, Ronald imdiately asked.
Claudia hadn’t even spoken when Hera, who was in the midst of a tense battle, answered first,
"Ronald, we are being besieged by so kind of strange creatures! These things have a strong physique and sharp claws, and their numbers have reached an overwhelming amount!"
"..."
With that description, Ronald imdiately thought of the hunters they had encountered under the sea before. Could it be that after those monsters were repelled, even more hunters had begun to attack?
"Philis, are these creatures with dark-blue scales, protruding teeth on their heads, and especially large eyes?"
"Yes, Ronald, you too... Get out of the way!"
Hera had only gotten halfway through her sentence in the Communication Magic when her tone beca hasty and angry. From this, Ronald could guess that the other party was dealing with the attacking hunters.
A few seconds passed, and Hera’s voice reappeared indeed.
"Ronald, if you know anything about these things, speak up now! Handling a few of these creatures isn’t a problem for us, but there’s just too many of them!"
Ronald’s knowledge about the hunters was limited.
Facing Hera’s inquiry, he could only offer the most straightforward strategy.
"Philis, don’t treat them as unintelligent creatures."
"This is an intelligent species capable of organizing actions and communicating. Find their leader and kill it; that will probably help you."
"..."
"Every ti at these critical monts, you co up with so surprising information."
With a profoundly aningful sigh, Ronald’s conversation with his companions ca to a temporary end. The battle situation on the surface of the island was intense. Although everyone present was a powerful Caster, they were being suppressed by the hunters’ overwhelming nurical advantage.
So much so that even though soone had found the entrance to the ruins at the center of the island,
they now could not enter as originally planned.
Ronald ended the communication looking grim, and the rmaid lady beside him imdiately spoke up,
"Wuling person, what’s happened on your end?"
"The sa creatures we encountered earlier are currently besieging my companions on the surface."
"..."
Having experienced two battles with Ronald, the attitude of Helbes, the rmaid, had improved a great deal from the beginning. Faced with such a response, she even took the initiative to help analyze the situation,
"Intelligent creatures generally don’t exhibit such behavior. Their actions now, I feel, must be manipulated by soone behind the scenes."
Ronald nodded in agreent with the rmaid lady’s words.
Then he turned around and looked at the rock fragnts that had been cracked open by the bizarre plant’s roots. Despite the chaos, there appeared to be a pathway continuing upward.
"Whoever is orchestrating this, let’s first consider solving the typhoon issue. If we continue upwards, we might discover sothing new."
With those words, Ronald started walking towards the pathway.
Naturally, the rmaid lady followed behind him.
Both had confird that the flower before their eyes was at the center of the island’s Magic Power node, but due to the current situation, they couldn’t destroy it. All they could do now was to continue searching above for a way to deal with it.
As for the bizarre plant still standing in the underground space...
Now that no enemy was attacking, the plant imdiately returned to a state of quiet. If it weren’t for the wounds from the previous battle still visible on it, it might have continued to masquerade as harmless.
Circumnavigating the unresponsive plant, Ronald and Philis moved shattered stones to enter the passageway. This was just an ordinary underground tunnel, whose earthen and stony make-up was nothing special. It was just that due to the impact of the earlier battle, the condition of the path in the tunnel was very poor.
Even as the two worked together.
This not-too-distant stretch took them nearly a quarter of an hour.
But after they had left that difficult path, the scene before them made both human and rmaid fall into deep thought.
Bodies, a mass of human corpses, now lay scattered in a structure akin to an altar. Ronald and Philis’ exit from the underground space was located right in the middle of a fissure in this altar.
Especially at their feet, the corpse of an old man clad in a white robe lay prostrate, his uplifted face bearing the despair of soone who couldn’t believe what he was seeing before his death.
From the remaining evidence, it could be inferred.
These people must have assembled for a ritual and then, following an accident, all died tragically on the spot.
Having witnessed such a scene, Philis, who was not human, imdiately turned her gaze to Ronald with a hint of strangeness in her voice:
"People of Wuling?"
"Is this... the doing of your people?"
Ronald imdiately shook his head in denial:
"I was simply ordered to co and put an end to the source of this typhoon. I don’t recognize any of these people."
Getting the reply that he was unrelated from Ronald’s mouth, the subtle suspicion in Philis’ eyes faded away. The rmaid then, without minding the dense corpses around, stepped out from the altar and walked towards the exit.
Seeing his companion’s reaction, Ronald naturally followed.
"Won’t you take a closer look at the condition of these people?"
"The ritual failed, there’s nothing to investigate," Philis stated her view of the scene as she led Ronald out, "What I’m curious about now is what exactly the result of their failed ritual was. The plant we encountered underground doesn’t look like it could be the culprit behind all their deaths."
While discussing and analyzing each other’s insights, Ronald and Philis walked out of the building that resembled an altar.
And then, Ronald understood why this place was called a ruin.
Beneath the very center of the island, an underground cavity large enough to hold a small town was situated. Within sight, nearly everywhere were remnants of shattered buildings and fragnts of statues.
The altar they were on was also located in the town center.
However, unlike other areas which were in ruins, this was the only thing that had been repaired.
Even more intriguing, though, was the space above.
A layer of hazy white fog sat at the top of the cave, its glow providing ample lighting for the entire space as if a large cloud continuously emitting light hid underground.
And if one were to look closely, they’d uncover yet another mystery.
Within that expanse of white fog seed to be the faint outline of a human face.
If Ronald rembered correctly...
That face was the very spitting image of the old man dead before the altar!
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