Chapter 344 - 308: Central Courtyard Garden (Part 2)

Chapter 344: Chapter 308: Central Courtyard Garden (Part 2)

"Haaah... I’m dead tired."

Gray plopped down on the ground.

Although it was impossible to tell the time by the sun, a good part of the day had likely passed since the team entered the ruins.

The constant travel, combined with a few battles and sorting through their spoils, had been quite draining.

"Let’s rest here for now," Marcus said.

The team hadn’t gone far. They found a relatively flat, dry patch of ground in the lee of a ruined stone pillar and began to set up camp.

After lighting a campfire, the glow of the flames dispersed the mist in the woods.

Gray started preparing dinner.

The main event was, of course, the Minotaur Leg Meat. Zelir had specifically set a piece aside without freezing it, just for this moment.

Gray drew his dagger and cut it into reasonably-sized steaks.

"TSSS!"

The moment the first steak touched the hot stone slab, a pleasant crackling sound erupted.

The finest ingredients often require only the simplest cooking methods.

As the temperature rose, the muscle fibers of the minotaur leg contracted rapidly, and fat seeped out, spreading across the surface of the stone slab.

Zelir’s Storage Pouch also contained sundries like salt, pepper, and other seasonings. A light sprinkle was all it needed.

A few moments later, the perfectly cooked steaks were ready.

Taking a large bite, a rich aroma burst forth along with the juices. The texture was also incredibly tender.

Zelir’s eyes narrowed in bliss.

’This is the taste I remember!’

Even Hill, who had been rather disgusted by the butchering at first, couldn’t help but show a slight change in expression after taking a bite.

She then devoured the steak like a storm sweeping away clouds and demanded another.

After enjoying a delicious dinner, everyone prepared to rest.

Zelir cast a Whispering Barrier around the campsite.

However, to be safe, they still needed to set up a watch schedule.

"Gray, you take the first watch, then me, then Valles."

Marcus said, "Zelir, Hill, you two get some rest."

"Alright." Zelir didn’t argue and nodded.

He really did need a full night’s sleep to recover his energy.

...

When Zelir opened his eyes again, the dense canopy of trees, shrouded in a light mist, came into view.

"Ngh..."

He slowly sat up.

The fatigue from the previous day’s exploration and fighting had completely faded after a night’s sleep.

In his sea of consciousness, his Magic Power was once again full.

He stretched comfortably and glanced to the side.

The rest of the team was already awake.

Gray was simmering a thick soup by the campfire, while Valles was wiping down his bow.

Hill was counting her Flying Sabers before reinserting them into the sheaths on her hip for easy access.

After a quick wash, Zelir walked over to the campfire and greeted the others.

"Morning, everyone..."

Zelir took the black bread and thick soup from Gray, soaking the bread before stuffing it into his mouth.

This was the downside of camping outside—the food was nowhere near as tasty as what you could get at an inn.

"We need to head this way today."

Marcus spread out the route map, his finger tracing a path forward.

"We’ve almost passed through the antechamber area. We should be reaching the Central Courtyard Garden soon."

"Hmm..."

Zelir swallowed his bread, leaned over to glance at the map, and nodded slightly.

Just as they had planned, the first level of the ruins was divided into three areas: the antechamber, the Central Courtyard Garden, and an unknown region beyond.

Their goal was to pass through the Central Courtyard Garden as quickly as possible, reach the unknown region, and find the curtain of light that served as the entrance to the second level.

After packing up, the team set off again.

Under Marcus’s clear guidance, they made swift progress, bypassing all the traps and obstacles along the way.

Zelir kept a careful eye on his surroundings but didn’t spot any Demon camps or anything of the sort.

Through a gap in the trees, a startling patch of grayish-white burst into view.

Unlike the broken walls and rubble they had seen before, this was a genuine, massive complex of ancient buildings!

The entrance was a towering graystone archway, flanked by numerous stone pillars.

However, most of the pillars were incomplete, half-sunk into the earth, and fractured by the forces of time and nature.

At a glance, the expanse of grayish-white stone looked exceptionally desolate amidst the jungle, like the long-weathered skeleton of some giant creature.

They stood silently among the vines and roots, exuding a breathtaking sense of stillness and death.

"So this is the Central Courtyard Garden," Zelir said, looking around.

As they walked through it, they felt a disorienting sense of looking back across a thousand years of time.

Valles ran his palm over a stone pillar, feeling the uneven texture under his fingertips.

Despite being weathered and eroded for a long time, he could still make out the mottled characters carved upon it.

"What language is this...?" Valles sighed under his breath.

The inscriptions were lines of intricate, beautiful text, full of a mysterious rhythm.

They were every bit as exquisite as the elegant script of the Elf Race.

"Who knows..."

Gray murmured, "There are plenty of strange things on the Candia Continent. So many civilizations have been buried in places no one ever visits."

As the team ventured deeper, the density of the buildings increased.

Now Zelir understood why it was called the Central Courtyard Garden.

Passing through the archway, they were met with a large, open area.

It was surrounded by a broken railing, and the soil within was no longer dark brown, but a morbid grayish-white.

As if it were mixed with a large amount of bone ash.

On this gray-white earth, a single type of flower bloomed in dense profusion.

The flower’s stem was flesh-colored, its petals enormous and the same grayish-white as the soil.

However, they were covered in fine, blood-red veins.

The most bizarre part was the pistil; a quick glance revealed what looked like tiny, distorted human faces.

The sea of flowers swayed gently, though there was no wind.

The scene was utterly horrifying.

No one knew what would happen if they strayed into this garden, and no one wanted to find out.

The team walked briskly along the edge. After a while, Hill suddenly frowned.

"Demons?" Zelir asked in a low voice.

"Not just Demons..."

Hill looked ahead and to the right. Her furrowed brow relaxed, and her expression grew curious. "There are people, too."

"People..."

The team members exchanged a look.

’Probably other Adventurers, here to explore like us.’

Back in town, you had to be wary when you ran into other teams during a commission.

It was even more true inside a ruin like this.

"What’s the call? Do we go around?" Valles asked.

"It’d be difficult."

Marcus shook his head.

"The Central Courtyard Garden is only so big... If we try to go around, we’ll end up back in the woods."

"Besides, we don’t know their route. They might spot us later anyway, and then we’d lose the initiative."

"Then let’s go take a look."

Zelir decided instantly. "It’s always better to spot someone else before they spot you."

"Alright..." Marcus nodded.

Gray placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, and Valles drew an Arrow from his quiver, nocking it to his bowstring.

The team continued forward along the broken stone path.

Hill and Zelir exchanged a look of mutual understanding.

She silently broke away from the group, circling around in a wide arc to move stealthily ahead and to the side of the team.

The commotion grew louder.

"CLANG! BOOM!"

The sounds from up ahead included not only fierce clashes but also human shouts and the roars of a Demon.

It was clearly a heated battle between humans and a Demon.

But something else amid the cacophony caught Zelir’s attention even more.

His pupils dilated slightly.

’This feeling... I can’t be mistaken!’

’There’s a Magic Wave!’

That was a phenomenon that only occurred during Casting.

’The team up ahead has a Mage!’

’And the Magic Wave isn’t weak, either.’

He couldn’t help but quicken his pace.

In a wide courtyard, the figures of several Adventurers came into view.

The commotion was coming from there.

A tall Vanguard was holding a large Shield at the forefront.

An earthen-yellow layer of Fighting Qi erupted from the Shield, surging with power!

But what was somewhat unexpected was that this Vanguard was a woman.