Chapter 641: Surveying the surroundings

Maya wasted no time retrieving the maps, taking out several folded sheets before looking around for somewhere to spread them.

Elion glanced at the uneven ground, then raised one hand, drawing a broad slab of stone out of the earth beside them.

"Will this do?" he asked, smoothing its surface with another small use of mana.

Maya gave him an approving nod and placed the maps on top, weighing down their corners with a few loose stones while everyone gathered around.

Elion leaned closer, his eyes moving over the rough lines marking rivers, mountains, and stretches of forest.

Some of the maps were considerably more detailed than others, though even those had large, empty sections, with scattered notes written beside the few landmarks that had been recorded.

"Most of these were drawn from the accounts of previous entrants," Maya explained, noticing where he was looking. "Some people had time to explore properly, while others barely saw anything beyond the place where they arrived. We might not be on any of them."

"Well, hopefully we are," Cole replied, moving to stand beside her. "There’s a river beyond the lower slopes, and farther to the right, there’s a ridge with a large gap through it. It almost looks like something took a bite out of the top."

Maya began sorting through the sheets, setting aside two that showed mostly open plains. Elion watched as Cole leaned over the remaining maps, occasionally tracing a line with his finger before shaking his head.

"What about the path you found?" Maya asked, pausing over one of the larger drawings. "Was it made by beasts, or does it look like people used it?"

"Both, probably," Cole said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Most of it is just dirt and loose stone now, but there are steps in a few places. Proper steps, cut into the rock."

That caught Elion’s attention, and he glanced toward Mayumi, who nodded before he could ask.

She rested one hand on the edge of the stone slab, looking down at the maps as she spoke.

"We followed them far enough to make sure they continued down the slope. Some sections have broken away, but there should be enough room to get past them without much trouble."

"So someone used to come up here," Yaana said, looking back in the direction of the lake. "Hopefully before that disgusting thing decided to make itself comfortable."

"Perhaps," Maya replied, though her attention remained on the drawings. She pulled one sheet closer and turned it slightly, studying a cluster of mountains near its edge. "This might be something, but I’d rather not decide based on a river and a gap in a ridge."

Elion nodded, finding himself in agreement.

The marks were rough enough that he could have convinced himself several of them matched Cole’s description, and choosing a direction based on the wrong one would hardly be a good start.

"Give me a moment," he said, straightening and stepping away from the stone slab. "I might be able to get us a better look."

A few curious gazes followed him, but he paid them little attention as he turned toward the trees.

He had already put off using the World’s Eyes twice, and now that they were all together, there was little reason to delay it any longer.

’Just the mountain and the area around its base,’ he reminded himself, taking a slow breath.

He had no intention of getting carried away and draining himself before their first night here had even begun.

The others didn’t know what he intended to do, but they still waited in silence.

The familiar shift in his vision came a moment later, and the trees in front of him gave way to a view from high above the camp.

’I still can’t get used to this feeling, no matter how many times I use these eyes.’

Elion kept his breathing steady as the lake spread out beneath his gaze, its blue surface surrounded by an uneven ring of grass, stone and scattered greenery.

From this angle, he could clearly see the damage left by their battle, along with the dark remains still floating near the bank.

Beyond the camp, the ground sloped toward the edge of the mountaintop before falling away into a much thicker stretch of forest.

He followed the slope downward, finding the winding path Cole had mentioned where it passed between two large outcroppings.

There were indeed steps beneath the dirt in several places, though farther down, the trees grew close enough together to hide much of the route.

’Alright, that’s useful,’ he thought, letting his attention move beyond them.

He noticed a few monsters further down, but they were all weak, so they wouldn’t give them much trouble.

’The couple of corpses must be the beasts Cole and the others ran into... We should probably go and retrieve those as well.’

That way, at least, the food problem would be solved, and they would also have fresh meat instead of the dried jerky the others had probably brought with them.

’Okay, let’s move along...’

The river was easy enough to find, its surface catching the sunlight as it curved around the foot of the mountain, and the broken ridge stood some distance beyond it.

However, it was something much closer that made him pause.

Through a gap in the canopy, he caught sight of a straight line of pale stone, far too even to blend in with the rocks around it.

Elion focused on that spot, and the shape gradually became clearer, revealing part of a wall with trees growing on both sides.

There was another wall behind it, along with what looked like the broken remains of a narrow tower.

Most of the structure was buried beneath greenery, but enough remained visible to make it clear that he wasn’t looking at a natural formation.

He tried to look closer, only to feel the pull on his mana deepen noticeably. His brows drew together, and after one final look at the position of the ruins, he released the skill.

The sight of the camp returned around him, along with the faint rustling of leaves overhead. Elion blinked and let out a breath, finding Maya watching him with an increasingly curious expression.

"Well?" she asked, folding her arms loosely. "You look like you’ve found something."

"Ruins," Elion replied, walking back to the maps. "On this side of the river, near the foot of the mountain. I could see a few walls and part of a tower, but most of it was covered by trees."

"What was he doing?" Yaana asked, clearly confused.

"Well, considering that wave of mana he released around the entire mountain, I’m assuming he must have been using some sort of wide-area reconnaissance ability," Maya explained.

"Right," Elion nodded.

Cole straightened, his gaze shifting toward the slope beyond the camp. "The ruins would explain the steps. Can you tell whether the path leads there?"

"Not all the way, but it heads in roughly the right direction." Elion looked down at the sheet Maya had been studying and pointed near the mountain markings. "And if this is the ridge you saw, then the river bends around it like this."

He traced the shape as best he could, and Cole leaned closer, his eyes narrowing in concentration.

Maya moved her hand to a small mark farther down the page, almost hidden beneath a faded note.

"There’s a structure marked here," she said, glancing between the two of them. "The position seems close to what you’re describing."

Elion studied it for a moment before nodding, though he wasn’t entirely convinced yet. "It looks promising. We’d need to get closer to be sure."

"Then that’s where we’ll start tomorrow," Maya decided, leaving that map on the stone while gathering the others. "We’ll follow the steps and see whether the ruins match. If they do, we should have a much better idea of where to go from there."

Yaana glanced toward the sunlight beginning to fade between the trees, then rested a hand over her stomach. "Good. Now that we’ve decided where we’re going tomorrow, can we decide what we’re eating today?"

Maya looked up from the maps, then followed Yaana’s gaze toward Elion, who was still standing beside the stone slab.

He raised a brow at the sudden attention before remembering that he was the one carrying most of their freshly harvested food.

"Right, the meat," he said, waiting for Maya to gather the remaining maps before taking out one of the smaller chunks.

It landed on the stone with a heavy, wet sound, and Yaana’s eager expression faltered slightly as she looked at the pale flesh.

"Well, it certainly looked less disgusting when I was hungry from a distance," she muttered, leaning closer to inspect it. "Does anyone actually know how to cook this?"

"You were the one asking for food," Mayumi reminded her, folding her arms as she looked at the chunk. Despite her words, she didn’t seem particularly eager to volunteer either.

"I asked what we were eating. I didn’t say I would be cooking it," Yaana replied, giving her a look before turning toward the others. "Come on, someone here must know how to do more than hold it over a fire."

"I can do it," Nora said, stepping forward and examining the meat. "We’ll need to cut it into thinner pieces, though. Something this thick would take too long to cook properly."

Maya nodded and began taking out their cooking supplies, setting a large pan, a pot, and several smaller containers beside the stone slab.

Elion watched with growing relief as a few packets of seasoning appeared among them, glad that they wouldn’t be chewing on bland monster flesh for dinner.