Time passed.
-
Edge of the Forest—
By the time they reached the depths of the Yin Wood Forest, the sky had already blackened. What had once been just simple 'darkness' had now turned almost completely 'black'. There was no natural light, only the small rings of light produced by each soldier and their lanterns.
The forest opened up, giving way to a vast clearing. Cold wind rolled through the trees behind them, pushing their clothes out over the small cliffside with a gust.
The black rain had slowed down, not because the storm had ended, but because the crown of the Corrupted World Tree was so immense that they had actually stepped beneath it.
The stars were concealed, and the light was taken away.
Looking forward—
There it was, the City of Oriest!
Oriest was a massive city built in the heart of the Yin Wood Forest.
Once called the 'City of Ruin', it was the capital of the Western Region, and a symbol of their perseverance. Now, it was nothing more than a blackened stretch of ruins strangled by the roots of the Corrupted World Tree, shattered and broken, left bare to the calamity, and ravaged by disaster. Without even approaching, it was not difficult to tell that all life within the city had been extinguished.
The city's dark walls and terraced framework were shattered, its towers and walls split and coiled with roots. The streets were enormous, wide enough to fit many carriages side to side, but most were buried beneath debris, shattered, or blocked by roots that had grown through the ground. Here and there, fragments of greenery still survived, small patches of forest, preserved by old High Elven technology which had been obtained when Oriest was first built.
Behind it all rose the Corrupted World Tree, towering over the city like a living god.
Its roots spread through every street and tower, threading the land like a piece of cloth.
This was only an afterthought, not a direct attack.
Oriest was no longer a city, it was a corpse, and the aura of death lingered heavily in the air.
The soldiers stopped on a small cliff before descending into the clearing.
They overlooked the city, taking in its devastation.
Elena stepped forward, her cloak fluttering in the wind.
Her eyes glowed faintly with a golden light as she stared down. No matter how many times she saw it, such devastation always made her feel sad. It was inevitable, yes, but there was still a part of her that wished she could change something.
But—
It didn't matter…
She turned, and beside her, Hexfill's hands were clenched. He was clearly uncomfortable, restraining something deep within.
She could see the guilt lingering in his gaze.
Lightning flashed, painting the horizon in a blinding white light.
For one fleeting moment, they saw the full shape of the destruction, the towers wrapped in roots, the roads in tatters, and far beyond them, the silhouette of the Corrupted World Tree.
Then—
The light faded.
Everything returned to black.
In the silence that followed, every soldier understood… that they had finally reached the heart of the Second Calamity. They advanced towards the city…
Crossing the Clearing—
They approached in groups, crossing the uneven terrain with skillful movements.
The air was cold and dry.
When one looked up, what they found was not the black clouds that filled the sky. Instead, they were greeted with the sight of a sea of stars flickering faintly. But in reality, this luminous phenomenon was caused by the crown of the Corrupted World Tree occasionally allowing small flickers of lightning to pass through in short sparks.
It was the truest form of 'beauty despite destruction'.
Elena took the army down a small cliff, then approached the city through the clearing.
With no rain, the wind cut even deeper against the skin.
The clearing continued into a wide basin, where a dark cobblestone road cut across the landscape. It led straight through a field of black grass and towards the city gates, the Eastern Gate.
The city's silhouette was massive. Its curved walls rose from the fog, strangled by black roots that strongly rippled with a dim light that flowed like a spark of light down their length. Each 'pulse' rippled through the air like a heartbeat, shaking the surrounding debris and carrying a deep vibration that one could feel in their chests.
Continuing forward, the group soon stopped…
Before the city stretched a bridge.
This bridge stretched over a hundred meters, passing over a deep moat that had been filled with black water. The bridge itself was a 'Relic of the Founding', because when the Westerners first set up on the Cross Continent one thousand years ago, this was where they built their first city.
The moat, at least before the Second Calamity, had remained dry. This was because the original purpose was to create a natural wall for the Western settlers to settle within and gain their initial foothold. Since then, over nine hundred years had passed, and during that time, this moat, bridge, and even the distant gate had all become unused and forgotten, becoming unnecessary with the passage of time.
It was only after the black rain began to fall from above that the moat was finally filled again.
It was now a line of black that encircled the entire city.
Beyond the bridge was a gate.
The massive gate that blocked the end of the bridge was also a relic from the time when Oriest had first been built by the first settlers.
Elena stopped before the bridge and examined it carefully.
The stone was cracked and uneven, its runes faintly visible beneath the Earth Blessed Stone's surface. They were weak, like dying embers in the rain, each one flickering as if trying to resist the black water that had accumulated from the long rainfall and was slowly rising, filling the moat.
A low hum resonated through the air.
Elena approached and raised her hand, touching the stone with an inquisitive gaze. The moment her palm touched the surface, the nearest rune shivered, brightened, then dimmed.
Elena frowned.
This place was a lot worse than the last time she had been here.
After some time—
She assessed the danger, then decided to cross…
Although Elena had been here before in her previous life, she was far from all knowing. Small things like the stability of the bridge had to be investigated carefully, especially after the changes to the city in this life. The intensity of the Second Calamity was clearly a lot greater.
The army crossed slowly.
Every few steps, the ground shuddered, the unstable stone clearly struggling to support their weight.
The damage was far greater than any of them had expected.
Gaps broke apart the bridge in several places, forcing soldiers to leap across one by one. The runes flared dimly beneath their feet as each person moved, their soft hum trembling in protest, even snapping from time to time, then falling into the black water below.
By the time they reached the far end of the bridge, everyone could see the Eastern Gate of Oriest. It rose high above before them, standing there like an impenetrable wall.
The gate was enormous, a towering arch of black metal and Heaven Blessed Holy Stone, laced with veins of silver light and ancient bone, outlined with gold. Even shattered, it was magnificent. The runework that covered the gates was a spectacle, even for the High Elves. What was even more impressive was that this wasn't a High Elven creation, it was a human creation.
'Heaven Blessed' referred to a high level material that was blessed by the world and contained an enormous amount of vitality (Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth).
Elena craned her neck, looking up.
There, at the top, the air rippled faintly with waves.
Layers of runes wrapped the surface like living veins, spiraling around strange markings that she didn't understand. Even for a regressor like her, there were countless mysteries she had yet to discover in the world of Pillomal.
Elena was a cultivator, and this door was built by a high level mage. The difference was that, as a mage advanced further down their pathway, they stopped focusing on combat and began to pursue more knowledge of the unknown. It could be said that later in the calamities, high level mages were the rarest of all the professions.
Only those truly gifted with an outstanding mind could reach the highest levels.
The reason Elena was staring at these strange markings was because she was sure that this wasn't the standard rune system that was used by any of the common races in Pillomal. This naturally included the High Elves…
She would occasionally see these dotted around the world, but she had no idea where they came from. She also didn't know what they did…
But—
Elena had a vast understanding of history, so she understood that these markings were 'treasures' left behind by the 'Void Walkers'. It was these very beings that were the greatest mystery of all.
Although they built the core of the gate, the actual gate was created by humans. Even today, she still didn't understand why the mages from the 'Ninety-Nine' would put so much effort into creating this gate. It just didn't add up in her mind, especially because it didn't stop people from entering the city.
Elena shook her head.
It had been built by one of the seven 'Arcanists' that followed the human race over to the Cross Continent during the initial migration. It was said that this gate had been a miracle of human rune crafting at the time.
Unfortunately—
Now it was broken…
A massive root had torn directly through its center, splitting the gate in half. The runes along the fractured segments had twisted and merged with the black vines with an almost parasitic appearance, creating a chaotic pattern of light that stretched like a spider web across the collapsed rubble. The root that still pierced the gate pulsed with red light that flowed through the roots and shot through its bark like transparent skin.
Elena approached slowly.
The air heated up when she was within a few meters.
The space around the gate felt heavy with a very dense and aggressive spiritual energy. Unlike the spiritual energy from outside, which had a dry and withering aura, this gate was surrounded by an almost sticky feeling, like a leech that wanted to burrow into your skin.
The strange sensation gave Elena goosebumps.
Even if she knew it was coming, it was still very uncomfortable…
She had no doubt that if she tried to absorb it, it would retaliate and tear her body apart from the inside out. Her eyes swept over the parts of the gate where the roots seemed to be interfering. The chaotic patterns of light that covered parts of the stone seemed to be some form of combination between the Corrupted World Tree and this artifact gate.
Her ears perked up.
Elena could hear it, the faint crackling of runes struggling against the corruption. Every flicker of light carried a whisper, fragments of the original creator's spiritual will that still lingered. This was something that high level artisans, or dwarves, were capable of doing. It was called a 'Dwarven Echo'.
This was the beauty of spiritual energy.
Because it was an energy containing will, it was possible for it to act on its own.
Elena reached out, cautiously pressing her palm to the gate's fractured surface.
Woosh!
A wave of violent energy shot through her arm, sharp and cold, mixed with the aggression from both the gate and the Corrupted World Tree. The runes shivered in response, as though they recognized her, but they were unable to prevent anything from happening. No, not just that, perhaps they were just warning her to step back.
Elena mumbled something, then retreated.
Elena sighed, lowering her hand.
Sssssh—!
A strange sizzle seeped through the air, and if one were to look closely, they would find lightning like black scars on her palm. She frowned, then took out a pill before swallowing it. Such a small injury would be healed within minutes.
Hexfill walked up beside her.
The reason he was still here was because he had something to do. During their journey to Darkwell, he had split many smaller teams away from the main body and sent them to the remaining settlements with the highest chances of having survivors. After that, instead of regrouping, they were ordered to retreat out of the region.
Hexfill stood there and gave her a questioning glance from the side.
Elena pursed her lips before speaking.
"With the amount of corruption here, we have under a day to finish things." She scanned behind her. "Since the moats of energy are being pulled into the city instead of towards the Corrupted World Tree, then we can assume that there is a path to the World Tree within the city, likely underground."
Hexfill hummed.
Elena looked around, then added, "We haven't seen any particularly massive branches reaching into the city, so it's possible that there is an even larger route directly underneath the city."
There was, she knew it…
Pillia poked out her head from the back.
In her mind, that seemed to be a massive jump in logic.
Did she not care?
As the leader of the Intelligence Network for the Mercenary Alliance, she had a lot of knowledge about Elena, the heroes, and their behavior. It wasn't difficult for Pillia to conclude that Elena had some way of knowing future information. When she said 'suspects', that basically meant that there was.
A deep silence fell over the group…
Hexfill looked up.
The Corrupted World Tree was far beyond the city, but Elena seemed to be drawn to the city instead. Although this was odd, he didn't think about it too much.
"Then we have to enter directly?"
Elena shook her head. "No. This gate is blocked by more than just rubble. We'll have to go around and find a breach in the city wall."
Hexfill's voice was low, "Got it."
"We'll circle the wall," she said. "There should be an opening somewhere…"
She turned and signaled for the army to move.
The wind followed them as they traced the edge of the moat. The faint hum of the ruined gate faded into the distance as they followed the city wall around the inner rim of the moat.
Time passed.