In the depths of the Dark Range.
The pioneers had been operating in this place for a month. After the initial establishment, Gawain would send out various scouting teams on a daily basis. He would send them to the southern mountains, the western forest, the eastern mines, or the opposite, wilderness side of the White River to search for resources and to survey the terrain. The serfs’ route to enter the mountain was one of the natural mountain paths that were discovered a few days ago. It might have been newly discovered, but the scouting and patrol teams had already used that path several times and never noticed any monster tracks.
These aberrations had definitely appeared recently.
The route to enter the mountain wasn’t easy to walk on. Gawain and Amber might have astounding leg strengths, but the two ordinary serfs weren’t able to walk as quickly. It took almost an hour to finally get near the intersection where the monster attack happened.
As they were getting closer to the location of the attacks, Amber, who was normally carefree and lively, couldn’t help but tense up. She gripped her dagger tightly and lowered her voice. “It has already been such a long time. Those monsters should have wandered off, right…?”
“It is hard to say. You do not understand the aberrations’ habits.” Gawain looked at the strange rocky path and the plants growing on the sides. His vision stayed for a very long while on a precipitous mountain cliff that seemed ready to collapse at any moment before he suppressed his voice and spoke, “They are not normal lifeforms and don’t need to feed in a magic environment. Apart from attacking intelligent living beings and having the instincts to go towards magical sources, they do not have a specific objective. If they sense a human or magical response in the vicinity, they will aggressively rush over. If there isn’t any, they’ll just wander aimlessly or remain still in place. Of course, if their numbers reach a certain extent, their movements will become hard to predict.”
“So what exactly are these aberration things…,” Amber mumbled while her eyes constantly surveyed the trees and shadows. She wasn’t being vigilant of enemies lying in ambush; she was actually constantly searching for escape routes.
Gawain shook his head and repeated, “It is truly hard to say. One of the guesses is that when humans experience an invasion of chaotic magic, they will turn into an aberration. There is also another explanation saying that aberrations come from other worlds when paths are opened up during magical waves. Truthfully, none of the conjectures were ever proven.”
Amber’s mouth twitched while thinking: if Gawain — who had fought with these monsters for two decades in his previous life — wasn’t sure where these monsters came from, it would seem like the kingdom’s so-called scholars would be even less reliable on this matter.
Just as she scanned her eyes across the surroundings, she suddenly noticed a trace on the ground. “Hey, it seems like there is something over there!”
On a stone wall not far away, there were rocks that were cracked, seemingly from a claw. In the crevices of the rocks, there were traces of blood that were already dry.
The two serfs that were responsible for leading the way immediately shivered after seeing those traces.
“It seems like it is near this place.” Gawain gripped his Sword of Pioneers tightly and concentrated his senses to detect any slight changes in the surroundings before saying, “Be on the alert.”
Amber swallowed her saliva before she carefully followed behind Gawain as they turned to the other side of the fork. It felt as though they were about to encounter a great enemy.
Suddenly, Gawain stopped. An instinctive vigilance emitted from his body, and he swiftly hid behind a giant rock solely based on his instincts. He then extended his head and looked at the other side of the mountain path.
There were four giants that looked like they were made of bloody flesh and bones in Gawain’s vision. They were swaying as they moved back and forth on the mountain path. The face, which was flowing with red mud, didn’t have any facial features, while the chest and abdomen were constantly emitting chaotic, fiendish, and indescribable, soft sounds.
They were like soft murmurs.
“One, two, three… four.” There were warm breaths coming from the side of Gawain’s ears. Amber’s whispers could be heard from behind him. “It seems like these are the ones the serfs encountered. Looks like they have yet to notice us. You can go first. I will wait until you cannot see me before I run away.”
Gawain ignored this disgraceful elf’s daily provocative words. His eyes were staring at one of the aberrations’ abdomen as he could see a black object that was already distorted and utterly deteriorated. Others might not be able to distinguish what that object was, but Gawain knew after observing it intently: That was a weapon produced by the Gondor Empire!
He withdrew his vision and concentrated his senses on the surroundings. After confirming there were no more monsters in the vicinity, he responded to Amber, “I will charge from the front later. You will sneak over and assassinate the last one at the back and stall the one at the side. I will neutralize the other two before we join hands and settle the fight.”
Amber blinked her eyes and nodded in a straightforward manner. “Okay, I’ll wait for you to make a move first.”
She might like to joke around at inappropriate times, but it was obvious that when it was time for serious work, she wasn’t going to be negligent.
The two serfs that guided them had already been immobilized by their fear, but they were able to gather their final courage enough to cover their own mouths. They didn’t shout out in panic or break into a run; that was already considered a great performance from them. Gawain nodded to the two serfs as an indication for them to remain calm and wait here. He then raised his Sword of Pioneers.
Magic was poured into the blade while blazing radiance surged out from the sharp edge. Gawain’s armor was then covered in a layer of pale white glimmer. Immediately after, he leaped and crossed over a few dozen meters before he cleaved down from above at the monster that had just reacted.
At the same moment he leaped out, a hazy shadow flashed past in the air. Immediately after, the last of the four monsters shivered greatly. Its attention had been attracted by Gawain, and just as it was about to release a primal roar, it suffered severe damage to the anus and fell over.
Amber appeared from the shadows and started to circle around another monster that had noticed them. When her small dagger struck at the weak spot of the monster… it was totally ineffective. There was only a tiny burst of red mud and some sparks; therefore, she immediately yelled out when the fight had just started, “Boss, help!”
Gawain’s longsword had already slashed down and staggered the first aberration. He didn’t follow up with an attack but turned and lunged at the other monster that had the ancient sword stuck in its abdomen. It was just as he expected: stabbing a sword in the abdomen of these monsters might not be fatal, but it would affect their mobility. Facing Gawain’s aggressive attacks, the monster was only able to withstand two more before getting split in half.
If one had the strength to split an enemy in two, then it didn’t matter if the weak point was struck or not.
The aberration released a primal yell. It seemed like its dying yell was mixed with the power to disrupt a person’s mind. But Gawain’s mind didn’t seem to be affected for even a split second as he used his body’s twisting force to cleave at the first enemy he had injured earlier.
Afterward, while Amber was letting out embarrassing screams, the final enemy was also successfully killed.
As the giant formed with flesh and mud fell, the chaotic elements in the air rapidly dispersed. Amber then sat her butt on the ground. “Aiyaya… I’m going to die from exhaustion… It seems like I need to enhance my fleeing ability…”
Gawain inspected the monsters’ remains while replying without lifting his head, “Wouldn’t the normal train of thought at this moment be to increase one’s own close-combat strength?”
“Let me tell you, my current close-combat strength is already my personal best. I am a person who knows my own limits— Hey, what are you looking at?” When Amber spoke halfway, she realized that Gawain was crouching at one of the aberration’s remains. His head was lowered as though he was inspecting something, so Amber asked curiously.
Gawain beckoned. “Come over and look.”
Amber walked over and saw that most of the flesh and mud from the fallen aberration had already ‘evaporated’. There was only a set of blood-red bones left behind (the bones would completely dissipate after a few days). On these fearsome bones, a distorted and deteriorated piece of metal was stuck inside.
Amber blinked her eyes and asked, “What is this thing?”
“A standard soldier sword from the Gondor Empire,” Gawain spoke with a stern tone. “It was definitely used by the Empire’s northern sentinels back then.”
Amber might have a carefree attitude, but she wasn’t a fool and had instantly reacted. “Wait up! If this thing is on this monster… then it must have come from the Gondor Wasteland?!!”
Gawain nodded silently.
“How—how is this possible!” Amber felt cold sweat instantly extending from the back of her head to her feet. She then said, “The Gondor Wasteland has been encircled by the elves’ Great Barrier. Those sentinel towers aren’t just decorations… How could these monsters escape?!”
Gawain stayed silent for a moment before speaking faintly, “The Great Barrier was erected seven hundred years ago.”
Amber’s face throbbed as she let out a wry laugh. “He—Hehe, don’t you scare me. These monsters might have been outside the walls from the beginning and had been wandering between the Dark Range and the sentinel towers all this time. They then finally wandered here this year.”
“That isn’t possible. Once aberrations are away from a magic-wave environment, it would gradually disintegrate. Unless their numbers are so many that they can form a new primal magic environment.” Gawain then dismissed Amber’s final hopes. “It isn’t possible for these monsters to survive outside the walls for seven hundred years. So… they must have escaped from inside the walls.”
Amber thought for a moment and shivered. “…My god!”
“Don’t disclose this yet.” Gawain looked at Amber’s eyes. “The situation might not be that bad… When the sentinel towers were constructed, I was present, and I know that those things have a self-repair and load-balancing function. Therefore, it is utterly impossible for it to have completely stopped. Most likely, one of the sentinel towers had a temporary decrease in power due to the long years. But the barrier should self-repair within a short period of time…”
Amber swallowed her saliva and said, “Can you use human language and translate what that means?”
Gawain was speechless for a moment. “…It means that the barrier probably had a hole for a short moment, but it will patch itself up.”
“Couldn’t you have just said that earlier.” Amber patted her non-existent chest and added, “What a scare.”
Gawain was still frowning as he said, “Don’t be in a hurry to relax. The problem with the Great Barrier is still there. Even if the hole will be patched up, it still proves that it’s declining in power, and the small hole will turn into a big hole sooner or later.”
“Then what should we do!?”
“There is no choice. I need to go and take a look. As long as I can still see the barrier from afar, it will be fine.” Gawain quickly stood up. “Trying to make blind guesses in this place does not make one’s heart be at ease.”
“Then I…” Amber stood up as well, and her heart wavered violently between terror and recklessness, but she was ultimately influenced by Gawain’s attitude and clenched her teeth before saying, “I’ll go with you!”
In the depths of the Dark Range.
The pioneers had been operating in this place for a month. After the initial establishment, Gawain would send out various scouting teams on a daily basis. He would send them to the southern mountains, the western forest, the eastern mines, or the opposite, wilderness side of the White River to search for resources and to survey the terrain. The serfs’ route to enter the mountain was one of the natural mountain paths that were discovered a few days ago. It might have been newly discovered, but the scouting and patrol teams had already used that path several times and never noticed any monster tracks.
These aberrations had definitely appeared recently.
The route to enter the mountain wasn’t easy to walk on. Gawain and Amber might have astounding leg strengths, but the two ordinary serfs weren’t able to walk as quickly. It took almost an hour to finally get near the intersection where the monster attack happened.
As they were getting closer to the location of the attacks, Amber, who was normally carefree and lively, couldn’t help but tense up. She gripped her dagger tightly and lowered her voice. “It has already been such a long time. Those monsters should have wandered off, right…?”
“It is hard to say. You do not understand the aberrations’ habits.” Gawain looked at the strange rocky path and the plants growing on the sides. His vision stayed for a very long while on a precipitous mountain cliff that seemed ready to collapse at any moment before he suppressed his voice and spoke, “They are not normal lifeforms and don’t need to feed in a magic environment. Apart from attacking intelligent living beings and having the instincts to go towards magical sources, they do not have a specific objective. If they sense a human or magical response in the vicinity, they will aggressively rush over. If there isn’t any, they’ll just wander aimlessly or remain still in place. Of course, if their numbers reach a certain extent, their movements will become hard to predict.”
“So what exactly are these aberration things…,” Amber mumbled while her eyes constantly surveyed the trees and shadows. She wasn’t being vigilant of enemies lying in ambush; she was actually constantly searching for escape routes.
Gawain shook his head and repeated, “It is truly hard to say. One of the guesses is that when humans experience an invasion of chaotic magic, they will turn into an aberration. There is also another explanation saying that aberrations come from other worlds when paths are opened up during magical waves. Truthfully, none of the conjectures were ever proven.”
Amber’s mouth twitched while thinking: if Gawain — who had fought with these monsters for two decades in his previous life — wasn’t sure where these monsters came from, it would seem like the kingdom’s so-called scholars would be even less reliable on this matter.
Just as she scanned her eyes across the surroundings, she suddenly noticed a trace on the ground. “Hey, it seems like there is something over there!”
On a stone wall not far away, there were rocks that were cracked, seemingly from a claw. In the crevices of the rocks, there were traces of blood that were already dry.
The two serfs that were responsible for leading the way immediately shivered after seeing those traces.
“It seems like it is near this place.” Gawain gripped his Sword of Pioneers tightly and concentrated his senses to detect any slight changes in the surroundings before saying, “Be on the alert.”
Amber swallowed her saliva before she carefully followed behind Gawain as they turned to the other side of the fork. It felt as though they were about to encounter a great enemy.
Suddenly, Gawain stopped. An instinctive vigilance emitted from his body, and he swiftly hid behind a giant rock solely based on his instincts. He then extended his head and looked at the other side of the mountain path.
There were four giants that looked like they were made of bloody flesh and bones in Gawain’s vision. They were swaying as they moved back and forth on the mountain path. The face, which was flowing with red mud, didn’t have any facial features, while the chest and abdomen were constantly emitting chaotic, fiendish, and indescribable, soft sounds.
They were like soft murmurs.
“One, two, three… four.” There were warm breaths coming from the side of Gawain’s ears. Amber’s whispers could be heard from behind him. “It seems like these are the ones the serfs encountered. Looks like they have yet to notice us. You can go first. I will wait until you cannot see me before I run away.”
Gawain ignored this disgraceful elf’s daily provocative words. His eyes were staring at one of the aberrations’ abdomen as he could see a black object that was already distorted and utterly deteriorated. Others might not be able to distinguish what that object was, but Gawain knew after observing it intently: That was a weapon produced by the Gondor Empire!
He withdrew his vision and concentrated his senses on the surroundings. After confirming there were no more monsters in the vicinity, he responded to Amber, “I will charge from the front later. You will sneak over and assassinate the last one at the back and stall the one at the side. I will neutralize the other two before we join hands and settle the fight.”
Amber blinked her eyes and nodded in a straightforward manner. “Okay, I’ll wait for you to make a move first.”
She might like to joke around at inappropriate times, but it was obvious that when it was time for serious work, she wasn’t going to be negligent.
The two serfs that guided them had already been immobilized by their fear, but they were able to gather their final courage enough to cover their own mouths. They didn’t shout out in panic or break into a run; that was already considered a great performance from them. Gawain nodded to the two serfs as an indication for them to remain calm and wait here. He then raised his Sword of Pioneers.
Magic was poured into the blade while blazing radiance surged out from the sharp edge. Gawain’s armor was then covered in a layer of pale white glimmer. Immediately after, he leaped and crossed over a few dozen meters before he cleaved down from above at the monster that had just reacted.
At the same moment he leaped out, a hazy shadow flashed past in the air. Immediately after, the last of the four monsters shivered greatly. Its attention had been attracted by Gawain, and just as it was about to release a primal roar, it suffered severe damage to the anus and fell over.
Amber appeared from the shadows and started to circle around another monster that had noticed them. When her small dagger struck at the weak spot of the monster… it was totally ineffective. There was only a tiny burst of red mud and some sparks; therefore, she immediately yelled out when the fight had just started, “Boss, help!”
Gawain’s longsword had already slashed down and staggered the first aberration. He didn’t follow up with an attack but turned and lunged at the other monster that had the ancient sword stuck in its abdomen. It was just as he expected: stabbing a sword in the abdomen of these monsters might not be fatal, but it would affect their mobility. Facing Gawain’s aggressive attacks, the monster was only able to withstand two more before getting split in half.
If one had the strength to split an enemy in two, then it didn’t matter if the weak point was struck or not.
The aberration released a primal yell. It seemed like its dying yell was mixed with the power to disrupt a person’s mind. But Gawain’s mind didn’t seem to be affected for even a split second as he used his body’s twisting force to cleave at the first enemy he had injured earlier.
Afterward, while Amber was letting out embarrassing screams, the final enemy was also successfully killed.
As the giant formed with flesh and mud fell, the chaotic elements in the air rapidly dispersed. Amber then sat her butt on the ground. “Aiyaya… I’m going to die from exhaustion… It seems like I need to enhance my fleeing ability…”
Gawain inspected the monsters’ remains while replying without lifting his head, “Wouldn’t the normal train of thought at this moment be to increase one’s own close-combat strength?”
“Let me tell you, my current close-combat strength is already my personal best. I am a person who knows my own limits— Hey, what are you looking at?” When Amber spoke halfway, she realized that Gawain was crouching at one of the aberration’s remains. His head was lowered as though he was inspecting something, so Amber asked curiously.
Gawain beckoned. “Come over and look.”
Amber walked over and saw that most of the flesh and mud from the fallen aberration had already ‘evaporated’. There was only a set of blood-red bones left behind (the bones would completely dissipate after a few days). On these fearsome bones, a distorted and deteriorated piece of metal was stuck inside.
Amber blinked her eyes and asked, “What is this thing?”
“A standard soldier sword from the Gondor Empire,” Gawain spoke with a stern tone. “It was definitely used by the Empire’s northern sentinels back then.”
Amber might have a carefree attitude, but she wasn’t a fool and had instantly reacted. “Wait up! If this thing is on this monster… then it must have come from the Gondor Wasteland?!!”
Gawain nodded silently.
“How—how is this possible!” Amber felt cold sweat instantly extending from the back of her head to her feet. She then said, “The Gondor Wasteland has been encircled by the elves’ Great Barrier. Those sentinel towers aren’t just decorations… How could these monsters escape?!”
Gawain stayed silent for a moment before speaking faintly, “The Great Barrier was erected seven hundred years ago.”
Amber’s face throbbed as she let out a wry laugh. “He—Hehe, don’t you scare me. These monsters might have been outside the walls from the beginning and had been wandering between the Dark Range and the sentinel towers all this time. They then finally wandered here this year.”
“That isn’t possible. Once aberrations are away from a magic-wave environment, it would gradually disintegrate. Unless their numbers are so many that they can form a new primal magic environment.” Gawain then dismissed Amber’s final hopes. “It isn’t possible for these monsters to survive outside the walls for seven hundred years. So… they must have escaped from inside the walls.”
Amber thought for a moment and shivered. “…My god!”
“Don’t disclose this yet.” Gawain looked at Amber’s eyes. “The situation might not be that bad… When the sentinel towers were constructed, I was present, and I know that those things have a self-repair and load-balancing function. Therefore, it is utterly impossible for it to have completely stopped. Most likely, one of the sentinel towers had a temporary decrease in power due to the long years. But the barrier should self-repair within a short period of time…”
Amber swallowed her saliva and said, “Can you use human language and translate what that means?”
Gawain was speechless for a moment. “…It means that the barrier probably had a hole for a short moment, but it will patch itself up.”
“Couldn’t you have just said that earlier.” Amber patted her non-existent chest and added, “What a scare.”
Gawain was still frowning as he said, “Don’t be in a hurry to relax. The problem with the Great Barrier is still there. Even if the hole will be patched up, it still proves that it’s declining in power, and the small hole will turn into a big hole sooner or later.”
“Then what should we do!?”
“There is no choice. I need to go and take a look. As long as I can still see the barrier from afar, it will be fine.” Gawain quickly stood up. “Trying to make blind guesses in this place does not make one’s heart be at ease.”
“Then I…” Amber stood up as well, and her heart wavered violently between terror and recklessness, but she was ultimately influenced by Gawain’s attitude and clenched her teeth before saying, “I’ll go with you!”
