Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Chapter 84

"H-human..." Lyra ran over, bouncing with excitement.

The little friends behind her were less brave, they hid at her back, peeking out but not daring to step forward.

Ethan didn’t mind, he smiled and handed Lyra a plate of Fairy fried tofu pockets, she picked one up and took a big bite, her eyes lighting up at once.

"Wow!! It’s really so delicious!"

"R-really?"

"Really! Hurry up and taste it!" Lyra ate happily.

Seeing this, the other children couldn’t hold back any longer, one by one, they stretched out trembling hands, took the pockets, and put them in their mouths, their eyes went round, faces full of astonishment and delight.

The adults noticed the commotion and gathered around, Zharok’s relationship with the Fox Beastmen wasn’t good, and Walter was an undead who logically shouldn’t be welcome, but the Fairy fried tofu pockets in their hands broke through the boundaries of race and life and death, connecting everyone together.

The Fox Beastmen didn’t hesitate to take the tofu pockets from their hands and began to feast.

Ash watched this scene, a gratified smile appearing on his face. "It seems this will be an unforgettable banquet, come, try some roasted meat."

"Thank you." Ethan accepted a piece of salted roast and began to chew heartily, simultaneously observing the surroundings, some Fox Beastmen were eating tofu pockets, some were already full and enjoying the roasted meat, while others sat around the campfire, roasting fruits to eat.

Watching the elated Fox Beastmen, Ethan suddenly remembered something, he turned to look at Ash and asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"What ruins did you destroy that caused the monster population in the north to surge so drastically?"

"What ruins..."

Ethan had heard the Fox Beastmen mention it before, ever since a certain ruin had been destroyed, the number of monsters in the north had begun to increase sharply, Ash pondered for a moment, then smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"To be accurate, we weren’t the ones who destroyed it."

"Not you?"

"It was the Giant Centipede."

While gnawing on a red fruit the size of an apple, Ash recounted the events, it had happened not long ago, one day, violent tremors shook the village, something like an earthquake.

The Fox Beastman warriors rushed to the epicenter, they found it near a place where humans had once lived, the tremors were still going. Following them, the warriors found the source.

The Giant Centipede.

It was massive, easily the size of dozens of Fox Beastmen combined, its entire body exuded a spine-chilling, terrifying aura, spewing highly toxic venom, it threw itself against an ancient ruin, attacking the structure as if determined to reduce it to rubble, by the time the warriors arrived, more than half of it had collapsed.

When the centipede noticed the approaching warriors, it changed targets and sprayed a stream of venom at them, but the Fox Beastman warriors were not to be trifled with, facing the formidable enemy, they showed no fear and charged forward, working together, they brought the beast down.

"The ruin collapsed completely during that battle, we didn’t do much of the actual destroying, though, and the interior is still relatively intact."

"Was that a place where humans lived?"

"Yes, a very, very long time ago."

Ethan knew that a long time ago, the northern part of the Great Forest used to be human territory, but he didn’t understand why the Giant Centipede would attack that specific place.

’I heard that a Giant Centipede only appears when a monster that has lived for a very long time swallows a Fragment of Chaos.’

"Meow, that’s right, meow, but why would it attack that place, meow?" Pearl tilted its head, just as puzzled.

Ethan fell into thought as he stroked Pearl’s head, Zharok wandered over, having just finished eating roasted meat with the Fox Beastmen. "Since you’re curious, why not go take a look?"

"Is that okay?"

"What’s wrong with a human visiting human ruins? Of course, I’ll be responsible for protecting your safety." Zharok’s grin was a little too eager.

Ash frowned, that place used to be human territory, but it was now a Fox Beastman hunting ground, for a wolf beastman to want to stroll into their territory, who would be happy about that?

"I’ll keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t mess around." If Ethan hadn’t spoken up, Ash would never have agreed.

’Having Zharok along isn’t a bad idea, though, setting aside the matter of safety, when it comes to understanding history and ruins, very few people can match him.’

"Alright, since you put it that way, I’ll make an exception this once, however, you all need to be careful."

In the end, Ash agreed to Ethan’s request, Zharok beamed with joy and threw an arm around Ethan’s shoulder. "Thanks to you, I can finally go see that legendary place, that’s a Fox Beastman hunting ground, ordinary people can’t get in at all."

"Is that so?"

"You don’t know much about these things, but every race has its own hunting grounds, other races aren’t allowed to enter casually."

Ethan recalled the incident where the Ape Beastmen had entered the Canine Beastmen’s hunting ground, Allen had been furious at the time, if Ethan hadn’t been there, a massive brawl would have broken out, and the Fox Beastmen were even more notoriously vengeful, if anyone dared trespass into their hunting ground, the consequences would be unimaginable, no matter how audacious Zharok was, even he hadn’t dared to set foot there on his own.

"Thank you for letting me go."

"What are you thanking me for? Just make more of those Fairy fried tofu pockets."

"But the beans are almost gone..."

Plenty of Fox Beastmen were already staring longingly at him, incredibly disappointed because they didn’t get to eat a tofu pocket, Ethan looked at them, then turned to Zharok. "He will help us plant more beans."

Zharok did not argue.

...

The next day, after the lively banquet had ended, Ethan led Zharok, Walter, and Pearl out of the Fox Beastman village, heading toward the ruins. "That place is a Fox Beastman hunting ground, so there will definitely be a lot of monsters, everyone needs to be careful."

"Meow, don’t worry, meow! I will protect Ethan, meow~" Pearl sat on his shoulder, brimming with confidence, its tail was raised high like a flag fluttering in the wind.

Zharok couldn’t help but laugh, with Ethan and Pearl around, he didn’t need to worry about safety at all, he could focus entirely on researching the ruins.

"Walter, you’re teaming up with me." Zharok figured that an undead who had lived for so many centuries must have a certain level of understanding regarding ruins.

Walter smiled bitterly and nodded. "Let’s go, where to?"

"Follow me."

Zharok led them straight north, after walking for about half a day, they finally saw the broken walls and debris of the ruins. "Didn’t they say there were a lot of monsters? How come we haven’t seen a single one?"

"Yeah, did they all hide?"

Zharok looked around in confusion, then led them inside, when they reached the depths of the ruins and saw the damage, they froze, those marks weren’t the result of time’s erosion, something had destroyed this place with tremendous force.

"...This is..." Zharok’s expression darkened, he pushed deeper, Walter close behind, both men studied the surroundings carefully.

"Something’s coming, meow!!"

Roar, roar, roar...!!

As if to confirm Pearl’s warning, terrifying roars echoed through the dead-silent ruins, massive monsters surged out from every direction, surrounding the group.

Ethan tightened his grip on the Scythe of Gaia, beside him, Zharok spoke, his tone grave.

"...This place... was once the entrance that sealed the minions of Chaos."