Advent of the Three Calamities - Chapter 859: Karah Togg [2]

Chapter 859: Karah Togg [2]

“How are you feeling, Leon?”

“…Like I’ve been hit by a gigantic monster.”

“Ah.”

Julien moved closer to Leon, his lips pressing together as he bent over to hold Leon’s hand.

“Let me hold your hand when I tell you this, but that’s exac—”

“Fuck off.”

Leon slapped Julien’s hand away.

“You think I don’t know what happened?”

“Honestly, probably not. It all happened so fast.”

“…..”

Leon’s jaw tightened, but he eventually sighed, letting it go.

’There’s no point in arguing with him.’

Every part of his body ached. From his skull, down to his arms and legs. He could feel several of his bones had broken, but he wasn’t particularly concerned about his injuries. In fact, now that he was conscious, they were starting to heal rapidly.

“Well, I’m glad that you’re awake. I’ll fill you in on the situation later, but for now, rest up. We’ll be leaving in ten minutes.”

“…Alright.”

“Oh, and about your sword. Anne couldn’t get it because of the situation. Was the word important? If you want, we can—”

“No, it’s alright. It wasn’t my main sword.”

“Is that so? Then that’s good.”

Julien nodded, turning around to look at the sandworms.

“Don’t beat yourself up too much because of what happened. It was just a bad matchup for you. I would’ve struggled the same. If anything, you did well in grabbing its attention. Things would’ve been quite bad had you not done so.”

“Thanks.”

“Well, I’ll go. As I said, we’ll leave soon, so try your best to recover.”

“Will do.”

Leon smiled as Julien turned around and left.

In all honesty, Leon had already been filled in on the situation by Evelyn and the others.

Julien joined up a little bit later. Thus, he knew about the weird people roaming around them, chopping down on the numerous sandworms.

Leon felt a sudden pat on his right shoulder as Kiera looked at him from above.

“They’re almost done on their side, too, but there’s no need to rush. If you feel any discomfort, just let us know. Either way, Aoife is the one who will carry us.”

“…Hey.”

“What? Am I saying something wrong?”

“No, but…”

“Then what?”

“…Nevermind.”

Aoife didn’t bother arguing with Kiera as she continued patting Leon on the shoulder. She did so a couple of more times before eventually leaving. The only one that remained was Evelyn as she stood in silence, carefully staring at him.

But eventually, all she mumbled was a soft, ’Get well,’ before leaving.

Leon smiled back at her, watching as her back moved towards the others.

He stared at them in silence, maintaining his smile.

Yes, he smiled.

Because that was all he could do.

Even as his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white, Leon continued to smile.

For…

It really was the only thing he could do.

***

“We’ll be on our own once we arrive at the main entrance of the city. Entering the city is not that difficult, but the issue is that we’ll have no status once we enter. Unless we can provide some use to the city, we’ll be kicked out within the first twenty-four hours of our entrance.”

Anne’s voice echoed in the background as I quietly stared at my hand.

I tried my best to pay attention to her words, but there was something else that was taking over my mind. Something a lot more important.

“Status can only be acquired in a few different ways. One, if you’re a merchant. If you can provide some goods that can catch the interest of the people, you’ll be able to earn a few more days in the city. But even that is limited to a few days. You can also become a Gate Warden, meaning that you’ll stand by the Gates to protect the city, but the mortality rate of such a job is extremely high.”

’Runes. The monster’s bloods contain runes.’

I had never noticed it in the past, but now that I had gotten a good grasp of them, I was almost certain that the blood of the monsters contained Runes.

’…In fact, it may even be an Outer Rune.’

But I wasn’t certain of this aspect. The main issue was that the Runes were incomplete. There were only bits and pieces of them hidden within the blood, and although I could absorb them, the rate of absorption was extremely low.

In order for me to speed up that process, I needed to find the complete Rune.

But that was easier said than done.

“There are a few other roles and jobs one can take in order to stay in the city longer. If you sell yourself to a ranker and become a Nomin, then you’ll be able to stay for as long as the Ranker remains in the Ranks. Or… you can become a Ranker yourself.”

The Rune in the blood was incomplete. Like a tiny fragment of a bigger Rune that I had to assemble. Like a small piece of a massive puzzle.

If I wanted to complete the Rune, I’d have to keep killing to collect more fragments in order to fill the Rune.

’Hm, wait.’

A thought occurred to me then.

’Since I’ve been killing monsters for a while and my experience has increased, maybe the system has collected a few of the Runes for me?’

The thought made my eyes light up, but just as I tried to see whether the system had acquired anything, a hand pressed against my shoulder and shook me.

“Hey.”

Anne’s face appeared a few inches away from mine.

“Are you alright? Did you listen to anything that I said? You’re the one who asked me to find this information, so if you’re not paying attention to it, then—”

“No, I was listening.”

More or less.

“Oh? Then what do you think we should do?”

“We might as well use our daily pass first before figuring that out. I don’t plan on staying in Karah Togg for very long. Worst comes, then we can just start trading some stuff. I’ve got an accumulation of items.”

“And if that’s not enough?”

I paused, chewing on my thoughts.

“Well…”

I shrugged.

“I guess we get a rank.”

What else were we supposed to do? Since that was the only option left, I wouldn’t mind doing it. I preferred not to do it because of all the attention that we’d be receiving. After all, this was not friendly territory.

In fact, I wasn’t even sure if Sithrus was here.

If he was—

’No, it’s unlikely. There’s a reason why I decided to come here now instead of later.’

There was no better time to rescue Noel than now.

“Wait.”

Suddenly, Anne’s steps came to a stop.

The others followed her example as I did too, our attention falling on the Nomin ahead. They turned their attention back to us, pointing towards the distance while muttering things I couldn’t understand.

Anne frowned, seemingly struggling to understand before turning to look back at us.

“We’re almost here. They’ll be leaving ahead of us.”

Swooosh! Swooosh!

Not even a moment after her words fell, the Nomin all sank into the ground, fading from our line of sight as they most likely shot towards the direction where they pointed. However, even as I looked, I couldn’t find the city.

“Where exactly is this place? I can’t see anything?”

Kiera mumbled, her eyes narrowing as she tried to look into the distance. After the distance we had walked, the sandstorm had cooled down quite a bit, making it easier to see, but despite that, we still couldn’t find a single thing.

Even as we decided to walk ahead, the city remained completely hidden from our line of sight.

“Strange.”

Anne mumbled, squinting her eyes as well as she looked ahead.

“According to them, the city should’ve been ahead. Did I get lied to?”

“No, you didn’t.”

I replied to her while looking ahead. The others couldn’t see it, but I could.

The numerous orbs that floated in my vision right ahead of me.

“What?”

“I can’t see anything? What are you saying?”

“Just follow me.”

I didn’t answer them and just walked ahead. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to answer them, but I wouldn’t be able to explain to them even if I wanted to.

Instead, it was much better for me to show them.

And sure enough—

Swooosh!

Taking another step forward, something began to appear in the distance as the strong wind continued to blow our way, the sand prickling against our skin with even greater ferocity.

Tall walls made of sandstone slowly came into view, their height stretching several meters high and rising in layered tiers that climbed one above the other. Time and sand had worn their surfaces, yet the structure still stood firm against the raging storm.

At the very front stood a massive gate, its imposing frame towering over the entrance as if guarding whatever lay beyond the walls.

“That’s…!”

“How come I didn’t see it?”

“Do you think it was some sort of illusion?”

“Maybe.”

“I think that’s what it is. A mirage.”

The moment the walls came into view, I felt the back of my neck prickle as multiple gazes fell in our direction.

Thankfully, our faces were covered as we walked towards the Gate.

As my steps sank into the ground, Anne walked ahead. With her being the translator, it was best if she took the lead.

Eventually, she arrived before the Gate and looked around.

Just as her lips parted, something manifested from the ground beneath.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Several burly men appeared, sand crawling down their bodies as they were dressed in attire similar to the Nomin, though theirs was a darker shade of brown. From the moment they appeared, I could instantly tell that they were a lot stronger than the people we had previously met.

However, they were still not enough to make me feel threatened.

But then again…

’For just the front guards to be this strong, just how strong are the people inside?’

My heart skipped a beat for a moment as Anne communicated with them. The conversation went on for several minutes until she eventually turned towards me, her hand reaching out as I understood what she wanted and handed her some food.

The guards looked at one another before taking the food.

At the same time, they handed each one of us a strange scale. It was pitch-black in color and looked incredibly durable.

“Keep the scale with you. For as long as it’s black, we’ll be able to stay in the city. From the moment the scale turns white, we’ll be haunted by everyone within the city.”

I drew a cold breath.

What sort of savages…

“Let’s go.”

Anne stepped forward, reaching for the massive gate and pushing it open with both hands. The enormous frame slowly pulled apart, the hiss of the wind beginning to fade as it was replaced by a low, steady humming sound.

Soon, the inside of the city was revealed to us.

“Welcome.”

Anne said, pushing past the doors.

“…Welcome to Karah Togg. The only city within the Land of Fire.”