Stretching out from the small mound beneath their feet was a relatively spacious terrain, where the abandoned town that Etras had mentioned fifteen years ago was located.

Almost the entire flatland was filled with various buildings, giving it a rather crowded appearance. Several adjacent mud swamps were also artificially filled to expand the available land area, indicating the grandeur of this land at the time.

Aside from these, the entire town, whether in terms of planning or architectural scale, was many times better than the camp outside that could barely be called a town. Aya could even see sturdy stone towers and dilapidated city walls at the edge of the town, complete with defensive structures.

The difference between the two adventurer camps, new and old, was obvious. Even the adventurers outside now occasionally reminisce about the old town. It would be impossible for the Adventurer's Guild not to have considered reclaiming it.

Moreover, the feasibility of doing so definitely existed. While the Dark Mist was troublesome, working together with the Church to set up a few large-scale purification arrays and sheltering a small town would not be difficult for a continental organization.

In doing so, not only would it provide a rest stop and safe zone for numerous adventurers in the marsh, but it would also accumulate reputation for the guild. Why wouldn't they do such a good thing?

Either the upper echelons of the guild were a bunch of fools, or... there was some hidden reason.

"A adventurer's town, situated here... Have you been living here all this time?" Etras' eyes sparkled and began to ponder inwardly.

"Can people still live in this place?" Aya smacked her lips, feeling that even camping in the wilderness would be better than living in ruins, right?

"Hey, sister, Aya, who is she?" A certain clueless guy pointed at the cloaked girl with a confused expression.

Hearing Etras' question, Anjelica shook her head vigorously and replied, "No, my home is not here. It's a little further ahead after passing through here."

"Further ahead... we have to go in again?" Aya's eyes twitched involuntarily. Do I have the option to refuse entering this damn city-like ruin?

"Hey, for God's sake, sister, say something! Who is she? Why did she suddenly appear? Why do we have to follow her? And why did I faint earlier? What the hell is going on..." The aforementioned gunner continued to babble because he couldn't get any answers—seriously, are you a certain swordsman?

"Don't mind him, this girl is just a passersby pretending to be a Knight of the Masquerade. That's it. No more questions. Ask again and I'll beat you up. Got it?" Etras, finally unable to stand his brother's nagging, rubbed the head of the cloaked girl and then glanced at Ino.

"Huh? Knight of the Masquerade?" The girl revealed a dumbfounded expression.

Faced with her sister's threat and another look at the girl who had "I don't know what you're talking about" written all over her face, the future S-rank adventurer stiffened her neck, stared wide-eyed, and silently retreated.

...

Upon entering the town, a sinister and mysterious atmosphere enveloped them. Unlike the atmosphere they felt while moving in the swamp before, there was a strange and eerie feeling brought about by the traces of human activity mixed with the abandoned ruins, far surpassing the natural scenery.

The surrounding buildings were mostly a black-gray color, with some walls that seemed pure white originally, but now covered in a layer of deep gray, their monotonous colors enough to make one nauseous.

"Is it really just been abandoned for a little over ten years? Why does it feel like a hundred years have passed?" Aya held her nose and stepped over a pile of rubble tainted with an unknown black liquid, her body trembling. "And there's an uncomfortable feeling in the air here."

For some reason, the decaying and foul smell in this town was even stronger than outside, giving Aya a suffocating feeling as if she had stepped into a cesspool fermenting for a hundred years. Moreover, the entire town was in ruins and devoid of life, not even a single creature could be seen besides the few of them.

"It's been more than a decade, definitely uncomfortable... The smell here is so bad that anyone would feel uncomfortable. As for why it turned out like this... It's probably the corrosiveness of the dark mist, right? But something feels off." Atreus sighed as he glanced at the residue on the blade of his metal prosthetic arm, caused by cutting through the broken walls.

The female gunner had already activated her basic armaments, with azure magical armor covering her body, her magic detection radar fully operational. Like slicing through tofu with a serrated metal blade, she willingly took on the role of clearing the path.

Atreus didn't expect to encounter Angelica. He felt that the duration of this mission would likely be significantly shortened, so there was no need to be so frugal with his magic reserves.

"Indeed, I've heard from those veteran mercenaries that the buildings in the adventurer town used to be sturdy, so there's no reason for them to be easily destroyed like this." Ino seemed to be in a serious mood after shedding his adolescent attitude.

"On the way here, I overheard you guys talking about what happened fifteen years ago. Could you give me more details?" Aya suddenly became curious.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself. I was just a kid back then. I've only heard that the dark Realm at the center of the swamp suddenly expanded, devouring a large area of land. Although the church quickly arrived to establish a sacred territory, it couldn't ultimately save the already covered areas. They only managed to barely contain the expansion of the swamp."

Upon hearing this, Aya also recalled the strange runed pillars she saw at the edge of the swamp.

"What about the residents of the town at that time?"

"I heard that most of them evacuated before the expansion of the dark Realm, but some people didn't have time to leave... They're probably all dead. It's been more than a decade, so it doesn't matter."

"Hey, sis."

Ino suddenly stopped in his tracks, calling out to the three in front of him.

"What did you find?" Atreus turned around with excitement.

"I did find something, but I don't think it's a good sign." Ino's expression seemed peculiar. He stood in front of a relatively sturdy-looking building, gently pushing open the already decayed wooden door with his spear in his right hand.

The door made a teeth-grinding squeak and couldn't even withstand the slightest force. Before the door hinge could even turn halfway, the entire door collapsed onto the ground.

At the same time the door fell, a strong smell of blood permeated the air.

"It seems like something significant was discovered." Atreus rushed over, shattering the already decayed wooden steps in front of the door with his heavy outer armor.

The furnishings inside the room remained the same, only covered in dust, as if time had frozen at the moment before the town fell.

Atreus suddenly understood what was causing the initial sense of disharmony.

This was the deep part of the swamp, a favored environment for various plants. Under normal circumstances, after more than a decade, the area would have been occupied by plants from the swamp. Even in the dark Realm, there should have been some bioluminescent grass or moss that adapted to the dark environment, right?

This place was just too clean, it didn't make sense.

Moreover, there were obvious traces of dragging on the long couch and coffee table in one corner of the room, with a pile of burnt-out bonfire in the center.

"Judging by the amount of dust... it was left not too long ago, sis." Ino had already entered the room, crouching down to carefully examine the marks left by the dragging.

As for the unsettling strong smell of blood and the large puddle of deep red, nearly brown, semi-solidified blood in the center of the room, that was the most disturbing. Even though it had started to coagulate, under normal circumstances, it would have taken only a few hours for freshly spilled blood to reach this state.

"What's this? Is someone barbecuing over here?" Looking at the pile of ashes, Aya tried to make a joke to lighten the tense atmosphere, but it seemed to have no effect. Instead, she herself was startled by Anjelika's sudden appearance.

"Hey, hey! What are you doing?" Seeing the girl squatting next to the pool of blood, Aya quickly ran over and lifted her up. "I told you not to touch these things."

"Is it alright? My sister said these are very good fertilizers." The girl nodded seriously.

"Fertilizers—are you sure?" Aya rolled her eyes. What kind of sister does this child have?

"Yes, yes, there are many beautiful flowers in front of my house, all planted by my sister." The girl nodded again, still earnestly.

"Anjelika, do you know what's going on here? Why is there blood?"

"Um...maybe someone else came here?" The girl pressed her index finger against her lips, making an eerie face with the blood on it. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I didn't notice when I came home before."

"Nonsense, I'm asking who these people are. What's so special about leaving a pool of blood here." Aya weakly covered her face.

"Sis, there's no need to ask, right...most likely it's adventurers." Ino patted the spear in her hand. "Hehe, partner, it seems like it's our turn to show off!"

"Now is not the time for your burning chuunibyou spirit!" Aya almost couldn't resist slapping this guy's face.

"That's right, my foolish Ododo." Just at that moment, Aya also coldly laughed twice, walked out of the door, and each step she took added a piece of external armor with weapons. When she reached the street, a blue cannon tower had already formed.

"Hey, hey, so you've been infected too?" Aya didn't know what to say anymore.

A trace of annoyance still lingered on Aya's face. She removed her facial armor and turned her head to argue unhappily, "It's not chuunibyou!"

"What the hell are you guys doing..." Aya didn't believe it at all.

"...think about it, this is a small town after all. The area may not be big in terms of size, but it certainly isn't small. And it has quite a reputation in the circle. I think if adventurers in the marshes are interested, it shouldn't be difficult to find this place, right? But even after all this time, I haven't heard any latest information about this place from the outside world. All the information is still stuck in the town’s fall fifteen years ago."

With the conversation at this point, even Aya, slow as she was, should have realized.

More than just them, other adventurers could find this place, but there was no other news coming out?

Damn it, does this mean that everyone who comes here dies?!