201 – Arrived in Batley City

Eric, Lyria, and Livy gazed upon the distant, majestic city wall from atop a small hill a little way from the city.

It was morning, and the outer wall of Batley City was clearly visible. Majestic, tall, and impossibly long, it was constructed of some thick black granite that gleamed like dark metal. It stood perhaps 20 meters high. Without using tools or abilities, none of the three could leap over that height.

Despite a Mana Wielder receiving a huge stat boost at each Rank and stage, that did not mean one could keep increasing their jumping and sprinting capabilities in the same proportion as their stats. There were some improvements, but not as much. This was why Lyria's Whirlwind Sprint was so scary, as it truly increased in the exact same proportion as her Agility stat.

Eric and the others were still a little way from the city, but the view was clear from where they stood.

According to Caius, the approximate population of the city was over five million. Hearing this, Eric could only imagine the sheer size of the city. Since Batley City did not have skyscrapers like Earth to hold multiple families on a single plot of land, the entire coverage of the city must be massive to accommodate that population.

Elianor, at this moment, released a deep breath filled with fatigue. "Finally, we've arrived…"

The rest of them also sighed with exhaustion.

Their last few days had been like living inside a jungle. After the ambush a few nights ago, they had faced six more ambushes, and that was just in the span of three days.

After that first night ambush, Caius had wanted to share the necromancers' wealth with Lyria and Livy just for throwing pebbles during the battle. This had invoked Lyria's greed, and she had pulled Livy into it as well. Ever since then, the moment they spotted any enemy, both girls would begin shooting with their bows and "manifested arrows" before Caius and the others could do a single thing.

The manifested arrows did intrigue Caius and the others, as they had never seen such tricks before. However, after learning that it required Mana Cores, they no longer bothered looking at it and ignored it as if they couldn’t even see such magic.

Eric simply focused on mastering his stonemanship. And so, they earned quite a bit of money. Sadly, all of the necromancers were too dry—nothing like the bunch from Maplemurk Village. Caius had already handed them those necromancers’ space pouches.

All the Mana Stones they had collected from necromancers to date totaled 2,000! And nearly 1,200 were collected just from a single guy—Rottgar, who blew himself up with his own advanced spell.

Overall, the trio was now quite wealthy, but still not wealthy enough; thus, they still had to sell their weapons to afford tickets to Sildargrade.

Although the constant ambushes from necromancers provided them with a steady income, all three of them were also very tired and annoyed. Since they needed to make sure Caius and the others didn't die, they also had to be cautious all the time. Hence, they were greatly relieved to finally arrive at their destination.

At this moment, Brunhild narrowed her eyes and said, while gazing sharply toward the city gate, "Something’s wrong."

"Oh, what’s wrong?" Elianor asked. She didn't see anything out of place.

Eric stroked his chin and answered Brunhild while also staring at the huge city gate, which was currently closed shut. "The outside of the city gate is empty. Normally, such a large city should have huge traffic, at least during the daytime like now."

Caius and the others looked at Eric in surprise.

Caius smiled, "So, little brother Eric has been to a city before?"

Eric laughed; he had, but not in this world. He shook his head, "No, I haven't, but this should be common sense, no? This much observation must be there, or else people will land themselves in some trap."

Elianor looked down, feeling depressed as well as embarrassed. She had shown her uncool side in front of her crush and was even mocked by him—maybe not directly, but it definitely felt like it.

Lyria narrowed her eyes at the closed gate and muttered grimly, "Has Batley City already fallen?"

They had faced so many ambushes from different necromancer groups that she guessed perhaps the necromancers might have already captured the city.

Everyone turned to look at Lyria with a strange expression.

Was she cursing them?

After hearing Lyria's deduction, Eric and Livy suddenly had a revelation.

Perhaps Batley City still hadn’t fallen, but it would soon, all thanks to Lyria's power of cursing.

Lyria blushed, noticing everyone’s weird stares. She quickly tried to fix the misunderstanding. "I was just casually saying!"

"No, the city is still fine, as there is no blood or bodies around the gates. If it had fallen, plenty of citizens' corpses should be lying near the gate, and there should also be some destruction in the surroundings, which is missing." After saying that, Eric felt he was missing a pair of glasses over his nose to adjust while showing off his top-level deduction.

Brunhild agreed, "Yes, the city should still be fine. The city wall, gate, and the surrounding area haven't received any noticeable damage from attacks. But something major must have happened for them to close the city gates so tightly during broad daylight."

Everyone agreed, and their expressions turned solemn.

"Let's go and see for ourselves. There's no point guessing all that from here," Caius concluded, and jumped back onto his horse.

Eric, Lyria, and Livy also joined, and after an hour of galloping, they arrived in front of the city gates.

Eric gazed at the tall wall with absolute amazement. Up close, the tall wall looked like a dark mountain. It was a magnificent sight.

Eric, Lyria, and Livy had now covered their outfits with long dark cloaks that hid everything except their heads. It also had a hood attached, which they obviously hadn’t put on, or else they would look like robbers. The cloaks also had a secret face mask which could cover their face up to the nose—very helpful when committing crimes and murders.

There was a small window on the side of the huge gates. Caius knocked beside that window, and soon an early-stage Rank 1 guard appeared.

The guard peered through the small window with a face of utmost caution. Soon, his eyes widened.

He quickly recognized Caius, as he had seen the Eclipse team in the past and held some admiration toward them. He also had the list of people who had gone out of the Eastern gate in the last two months, and the Eclipse team was one of them.

"Sir Caius, you guys are still alive? Thank God!" the guard exclaimed happily.

Normally he wouldn't be so happy, but currently, after losing so many capable Adventurers and Mercenaries, every able Mana Wielder was like their city's life savior.

There were tens of thousands of Apprentice Ranks within Batley City, but most of them were not fighters or didn't even have a bit of experience in fighting. In fact, they were so weak that they might even lose against a minor rank below them, so currently, Adventurers and Mercenaries were what their city desperately needed to fight against the necromancers.

Caius nodded with poise. "Just what happened for the city to close its gates at this time of the day?" His tone carried a heavy solemnness.

The guard briefed them with glumness, "Almost all the people and guild members who went out recently were ambushed and killed, and there are also rumors that a large number of necromancers are currently gathering somewhere and planning to attack the city. The nearby villages and towns have suffered the most." He sighed heavily and continued, "I don't know the details, but Lord Gideon has ordered us to close all the gates and not welcome any strangers, even if they are mortals."

"I understand. I will gather the rest from Sir Rodger." Caius then commanded, "Please open the gate for us."

The guard froze a little and then stuttered, "Y-yes. B-but Sir, please provide us with proof that it is you. If you can provide your Adventurer Guild card, that will do, including your passcode. J-just change the passcode later. This is also ordered by Lord Gideon."

Caius sighed. He could understand the situation now. This meant that there were necromancers before who had tried to sneak inside the city disguised as someone else.

He handed his guild card to the guard along with his passcode.

After a while, a smaller door beside the massive city gate opened for Caius and everyone to enter.

Another guard appeared and informed Caius that they would personally send the horses to Animal Handlers, as horses couldn’t enter through the small gate.

Caius just sighed and agreed to it. They would just need to collect their mounts later.

Eric, Lyria, and Livy also entered together with the others, looking everywhere with wonder, just one step away from being called countryside bumpkins.

Eric noticed the wall was actually a lot thicker and denser than he previously thought, but they could still destroy it with their abilities. In fact, it was always easier to blow open doors than walls.

They walked through a passage within the wall, turning left and right before coming out to a small area which looked like a soldiers' training field.

It was still within the guarded area with an open sky above and tall walls surrounding it. There were many soldiers around wearing steel plate or leather armor. All of them seemed well-trained, standing straight and poised, ready to face any unexpected trouble.

From a cursory glance, Eric counted that there were thirty soldiers, and all of them were Mana Wielders. Among them, there were at least ten who were at various stages of Rank 2, and there was even one at the early stage of Rank 3.

Eric couldn't help but sigh internally. Ringwood Town was too pathetic! Even Rank 1s were such respected nobles there, but here, even Rank 2s and 3s were just being guards and soldiers, diligently guarding their empty gates.

Even Lyria and Livy felt embarrassed for their Ringwood Town.