Ishgar, a hidden valley far from human habitation.
In the sky, ripples suddenly formed.
With a "crack," space shattered like a mirror, and two figures fell out from within.
Quite unfortunately, the location where the space opened was dozens of meters above the ground.
At such a height, if an ordinary person were to fall defenselessly, they would end up with severe disabilities even if they didn't die.
Fortunately, those caught in this disaster were not ordinary people.
"Watch out, we're falling!"
Weston shouted, simultaneously waving his hand to use magic to create a simple airflow to support himself, slowing his descent.
The magic usage is smoother!
That familiar feeling!
This is Earthland!
In just half a second, Weston identified the world they had transferred to as his familiar hometown.
Leibniz did not possess Weston's magical finesse, but his strength and reactions were equally swift; he quickly adjusted his posture in mid-air, striking an "Eagle Landing" pose.
Thump!!
His massive body landed heavily on the ground, shaking the mountains and stirring up clouds of dust.
Only after the dust cleared did Weston drift down like a falling leaf, landing slowly on the ground, his body clean and untainted by a single speck of dust.
"The others aren't here?"
"Were we separated during the transfer process..."
Weston murmured, decisively opening the Marauder's Map on the Super Archive to try and find the others.
However, the map that usually opened instantly failed to load any image this time.
"Huh... what's going on??"
Weston's expression shifted, and he began to tinker with various functions of the Super Archive.
Game functions: normal. Calculation functions: normal. 3D modeling functions: normal. Music player functions: normal...
The only thing abnormal was the reconnaissance function.
The Marauder's Map relied on the reconnaissance function; once the latter malfunctioned, the map would automatically become invalid.
"Why would the reconnaissance function fail?"
"Is it because the energy created by that 'Transfer Magic' earlier was too violent, causing the Super Archive's reconnaissance system to crash?"
"But the Super Archive is a magical product, not an actual computer or phone. As long as I have enough magic power, it shouldn't be 'damaged'!"
The essence of reconnaissance magic is to detect various data such as the concentration of magic particles in the atmosphere, fluctuations, and life force, identifying the situation within the range of magical coverage.
The "Map" Weston used, as well as the "Magic Power Detector" created by Warren in the guild in the original work, both exploited this principle.
The only difference lay in their breadth, precision, and dimension.
Under normal circumstances, this kind of reconnaissance magic rarely fails, unless the opponent is the type who needs to hide frequently and has specially studied "Signal Blocking Magic."
Like that "Assassin" from the Spriggan 12.
But even the "Assassin" could only manage to block their own signal or simulate a false signal to deceive the user of the reconnaissance magic; they couldn't directly destroy the user's magic itself.
"So the most likely possibility is..."
"There is something nearby interfering with magical signals!"
Thinking of this, Weston finally looked around.
Judging from the concentration of magic particles in the atmosphere, this was indeed Ishgar, though he couldn't be certain if they were within the borders of the Kingdom of Fiore.
At this moment, they were located in a valley in the wilderness, surrounded by dense trees with continuous mountain ranges in the distance. At first glance, it seemed to be a deserted place.
But after rotating 360 degrees on the spot, Weston discovered a massive castle.
"A castle?"
"In the middle of nowhere, there's actually a castle??"
"Extremely suspicious!"
The Leibniz nearby also saw the building, and his reaction was identical to Weston's: "Could that castle be related to the transfer incident that happened to us?"
"Were the others transferred into the castle?"
Weston shook his head: "Not sure. We'll have to go over there and see to find out."
Thus, the two didn't dally and immediately set off toward the castle.
In any case, besides going there, they temporarily had no other channels to gather information.
Ten minutes later, the two arrived before the castle.
The scale of this castle was not small; the land area alone was three or four times larger than the Fairy Tail guild, and its height far exceeded it.
"What a huge castle!"
"It feels even bigger than the royal palace in Edolas... Hmm, what's that?"
Weston looked in the direction Leibniz was pointing and saw a warning sign standing at the castle entrance, which read—
[Magic Science Research Institute, Unauthorized Personnel Prohibited!]
"Magic Science Research Institute?" Weston's spirits instantly lifted, his eyes sparkling with brilliant curiosity.
This...
Could it be the institute that he had previously found clues about? The one that manufactured the "Demonization Potion" and "Invisibility Potion"? The one where Slive learned "Human Subordination"?
If it really is them, then is the recent transfer incident also related to them?
Seeing Weston lost in thought, Leibniz couldn't help but ask: "What, do you know this place?"
"Possibly..."
"I don't know if they are the same organization I have in mind."
"Anyway, let's go inside and see!"
"Yeah!"
The two directly ignored the contents of the warning sign and pushed open the gate to enter.
Meanwhile.
Somewhere inside the institute, two Yuri's looked at each other.
"Hey, hey, hey..."
"I can't be dreaming, can I?!"
"Where did that transfer magic dump us? Purgatory?"
The location where the two emerged from the spatial tunnel was an arena.
In the arena, the lights were bright.
Scattered on the ground were a large number of broken weapons, shredded clothes, stone fragments and debris kicked up from the floor, and countless people who were seriously injured, lying unconscious.
Evidently, a very tragic battle had occurred here not long ago!
Just then, a weak heartbeat reached their ears.
Yuri's ears twitched; following the sound, he walked quickly to the spot where the heartbeat originated. It was a person who had fallen into a coma due to heavy injuries.
"There's a heartbeat, he's still alive!"
Immediately following that, he paused and said in surprise: "This kind of injury... it looks very much like an injury caused by a lightning strike?"
Yuri's specialty was Lightning Magic, so he was very familiar with injuries caused by it.
Edolas-Yuri also leaned in and asked: "Can he be saved?"
"I don't know, maybe."
"Then we have to hurry and take him for treatment!"
Yuri asked in return: "Take him where? To find whom for treatment?"
The person before them was lucky to have survived a lightning strike;
But he was also unlucky, because there was no one here who could treat his injuries. So even if he survived, he would only be enduring torment and pain.
Edolas-Yuri was instantly rendered speechless.
Just then, a human voice suddenly emerged from the darkness.
"You two, are you newcomers?"