[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]

  Third Person POVOrario.

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  The sky was strangely dark, with bck clouds, but at the same time, they seemed dry, as if made of pollutiardless of the fact it was the middle of the day. The nd matched the eerie atmosphere, as the ground itch bck, with rge cracked holes, some so immehey led to bottomless abysses, where only darkness could be seen.

  The nds of the Abandoned World were far from a pleasant sight. As Lucius and Riveria tinued walking through the region—vast as the Kaios Desert itself—they took in the desotion.

  "There's nothing here. This pce makes me uneasy," Riveria murmured beside Lucius.

  Both wore dark cloaks, their armor cealed beh, as they had arrived in the regioly and were iigating the nd for the first time.

  "Yes, the rumors cim there's something here. But we 't trust them; after all, they're just travelers' tales..." Lucius said, shrugging as he ventured deeper into the area befng back at Riveria.

  "I think we should keep moving. Let's go by air—there's nothing nearby," Lucius suggested as he picked her up and began flying over the region. The emptiness below was striking; the entire pce seemed lifeless, as if words alone couldn't capture its deadness.

  "There's a city there, but it's practically in ruins," Riveria ented, looking down at a pletely destroyed settlement.

  "And people e here seeking treasure? Doesn't look like there's anythi," Lucius murmured. In the end, they tinued further in for hours, finding nothing.

  "We're nearing the tral point of the region," Lucius said as they approached peared to be a city as rge as Orario. At least, it must have been, as now it was nothing more than ruins, with numerous broken structures. However, it was undeniably vast, with t remnants indig that a great civilization oed here.

  "What do you know about this pce?" Lucius asked as they drew closer, still flying.

  "An a human civilization was built here. They had a very powerful energy source. However, one day it simply stopped providing energy and, instead, began ing the life in this part of the world. At least 2,000 years have passed sihen, or so they say. No one has been able to expin it—not even the gods—but it spread like a pgue and became what we now know as the Abandoned World," Riveria expined as they approached.

  "You said it spread… does it still?" Lucius asked, surprised.

  "Yes, it still spreads. But it took 2,000 years to bee what it is now. The people of that civilization fled north and built the city we know as Athena. Instead of using energy from the ground as they did before, in Athena they began using crystal energy purchased directly from Orario. Athena has since bee the world's rgest buyer of these crystals," Riveria expined before tinuing.

  "However, they've also been w for over 1,000 years to find a solution to this. You might even enter some travelers from Athena around here, though they usually avoid this part—it's too far. Besides, sihere's her food nor water, survival is nearly impossible… except for you, someone who seems to defy the ws of logic," she finished with a slight smile.

  "Is that how you define me?" Lucius raised an eyebrow, amused, but quickly returo a serious expression. "But seriously, knowing this thing is spreading and that no one uands it… that's ly reassuring," he muttered, finding the situation increasingly strange.

  "Well, it doesn't matter for now. Let's keep moving," Lucius said again, starting to desd toward the city while flying. Activating his magical eyes, he spotted a few points of i within the rge city.

  "Looks like we're not alohere's a group of three people here. Judging by their size, they're dwarves…" He quickly detected their vitality as Riveria also remained alert.

  The city must have been stunning in its prime, but now only the broken towers and its overall state gave it a ghostly appearahey nded on one of the deserted streets, with Lucius toug down at the city's ter alongside Riveria. His gaze fixed oallest tower at the core of the city. The tower was cracked half, with part of it colpsed among several other buildings.

  "This was all metal, you know? But now it's just rust and decay," Riveria ented, leaning against the beams of a ruiructure.

  "Well, I don't think we'll find any level 6 monsters here, but we should keep going and take a closer look at this pce," Lucius said. Riveria nodded in agreement as they began heading toward the main tower. He was curious about the individuals they had sensed earlier and hoped to uncover more about the location. While Riveria had historical knowledge, practical exploration was another matter, as she had never been here before.

  "They're underground. Are there ces of finding artifacts in a pce like this?" Lucius asked, how everything around them was rusted.

  "Some of the artifacts created here were designed fical use, so they might have been preserved. But it's very rare to find anything like that," Riveria replied.

  "Well, let's go," Lucius said. He was more dired, instead of looking for arance, simply teleported himself and Riveria into a tunnel with a rge, a staircase.

  There were rge sacks filled with supplies left behind, suggesting someone had abahem before venturing further. Lucius and Riveria began desding the staircase deeper into the earth.

  It took some time, but eventually, voices echoed from below.

  "I told you we shouldn't have e here! They're all dead! We don't know what's down here. It could be some kind of creature. I told you we shouldn't have started this!" one voice growled, frustrated.

  "What do you expect? That thing is worth a lot of money," another voice retorted.

  "It doesn't matter now. We're here, aren't we? Let's keep going."

  "Are you crazy? I'm not going any further! Everyone's dead!" a third voice excimed, terrified.

  "We could just take a look," the third insisted but was interrupted.

  "Wait… someone's ing," one of them excimed, pointing toward the stairs as the sound of footsteps approached.

  "Damn it, what now?" They sounded nervous as Lucius and Riveria appeared, cloaked in bck.

  "Who are you?" one of them murmured immediately. All three were dwarves, wielding hammers.

  "We're here to iigate the pce. Just passing through, so to speak. you tell us what you're discussing? Sounds like an iing versation," Lucius asked calmly.

  The three dwarves frowned, and one replied, "Yeah, like we're gonna tell you anything, stranger."

  "Well, if that's how you want to py it, fine. Just get out of the way," Lucius said. In the moment, all three dwarves were frozen within glowing spheres of temporal magic.

  "You really have no patience, do you?" Riveria muttered beside him, watg the three dwarves trapped by Lucius's spell.

  "No. That's why I acted. I know their kind; they wouldn't have told us anything anyway. Let's move on," Lucius said with a shrug, walking past the three frozen spheres.

  Riveria followed silently, leaving the dwarves behind. There were more stairs to desd as they tinued deeper. Lucius sed their surroundings carefully, but Riveria murmured, "Look over there."

  A disheveled dwarf y sprawled oh ahead. Half of his body was destroyed, and even his blood had dried, leaving only a dark stain.

  "I wouldn't call that a good death," Lucius murmured. "He must've been dead for months. Eveench of decay is gohough most of his body remains in deposition. It's slow in a pce like this—even bacteria seem limited in the Abandoned World," he said.

  Lucius raised his hand, juring a ball of fire to ie the body. "I don't like this," he muttered. Riveria silently nodded in agreement but said nothing as they pressed onward.

  They reached a more ope the end of the stairs, with a rge circle in the ter. There was another yer below, ected by a staircase that spiraled around the eructure, pletely rusted or crumbling to dust.

  There were two more bodies scattered across the hall and one lyihe edge of the stairs. Lucius simply ied them as they tinued desding. He had no idea what they might find there, but both he and Riveria were high-level adventurers. It was unlikely anything could truly defeat them, and if something did, Lucius's powers would eheir escape.

  They desded to the very bottom. What they found was a blue crystal—or what should have been one. Now, it was lifeless, its surface dark and cracked, with cables or lines fallen to the floor, once ected upward to something above.

  "This was the power source for this civilization," Lucius murmured, guessing.

  "Yes," Riveria firmed. "Records indicated there was a tral crystal for this civilization. But they said it was overused to the point that, instead of providing energy, it began draining everything around it."

  "That doesn't expin why the nd is still dying," Lucius tered.

  "No," Riveria agreed, uo offer more of an expnation. Lucius turned his attention to a spot behind the crystal that seemed to have been excavated a few months ago—likely around the same time as the bodies were left, judging by the evidence of a desperate escape attempt.

  "Lucius, you deteything? Whatever killed those people must have been monsters. Are they still here?" Riveria asked.

  "It's strange… I 't sense anything here, Riveria," Lucius replied.

  The brokeran the wall had dwarf tools scattered around the area.

  "Let's go," Lucius urged. Riveria nodded, and they ventured into the cave. They desded further, notig a faint light in the distance. Riveria frowned.

  "That light…" Lucius murmured, narrowing his eyes.

  There were more bodies, but their dition was far worse. After the initial corpses, they found only pieces: a hand, a severed head in one er, an arm in another.

  "They were all killed, and acc to that dwarf from the group of three we overheard, no one survived..." Riveria murmured.

  Finally, they arrived at the source. What they discovered was a glowing root.

  "What is that?" Riveria murmured, staring at the root ected to aremely rocky and luminous tree.

  Lucius didn't respond immediately. He stepped forward, raised his hand, and activated his Mana Zone ability. Particles began to shimmer around him, trating orange root and flowing toward his hand. This process tinued for a while as he absorbed the energy, but the sensation didn't sit well with Lucius.

  "Do you know what it is?" Riveria asked.

  Lucius turo her, his expression grave.

  "This energy… there's no doubt. I've felt it before ihe dungeon when I use Mana Zohis root es from the dungeon in Orario," he murmured.

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