After a long while, a trembling voice finally rose from a snow-covered clearing. "Did the dragon… leave?"
Officer poked his head out of the snow and looked into the distance. All that remained were several massive blackened pits and a city sealed in ice, with heat slowly melting the snow into thick steam that blurred the view.
Those monsters they could never handle, creatures that would revive endlessly even if a Gold Rank expert killed them, were completely gone. Not even ash remained.
"Ah…" Officer opened his mouth slightly, unsure what to say.
One by one, others climbed out of the snow, equally stunned by the scene before them. After recounting their numbers, Officer asked, "Did anyone see which direction that dragon flew?"
After a short pause, someone raised a hand. Officer nodded. "Good. Point the way. We can only follow and take a look."
"Why is it that every time you go out, you come back picking something up?" Lilith said.
She sat on Belial's head, stepping on him while tapping the Great Dragon's head with a Magic Staff. She then looked with a twitching eye at the large lump of gray-white matter they had brought back, while Bella circled it nonstop, scanning.
The more she scanned, the worse her expression became. "The pollution level has risen further. There is also Nanometal inside that does not belong to my core components."
"So my main body really has been polluted, and to this extent…" she said quietly.
"So then, what even worse thing did you find?" Lilith asked, her tone heavy.
"It is terrible. My main Nanometal machinery was broken down and spread directly into the environment. Water, stone, any material is being eroded, even living things. Based on this sample, the corruption is shifting from diffusion to aggregation."
"If time passes, a monster could form that devours everything within its range, completely unstoppable. We have to stop it before it finishes aggregating."
Bella did not dare voice the most frightening possibility. If such a being had extreme immortality, as long as even a part remained, it would return. If that immortality was combined with regeneration and highly invasive nanomachines, how could it ever be killed?
To destroy it would require eliminating every carrier, meaning large-scale destruction down to the molecular level of every nanomachine. That was almost impossible. Even Belial's powerful breath could not be used continuously over such a vast area, at least not in this era.
A being that would revive endlessly, expand itself, and spread an immortal pollution domain was already terrifying enough. If it also gained enough souls, the outcome would be even worse.
For now, Bella kept these thoughts to herself. If they could destroy these aggregation node-like organisms, perhaps they could suppress the process and keep it within a controllable range. That was the best outcome she could imagine.
"Based on my calculations, there should be fewer than twenty similar nodes carrying large amounts of Nanometal. We must destroy them quickly," she said. "Otherwise, even if I output all my energy together with this giant creature's power, we still could not destroy the final aggregated form."
Lilith frowned, imagining the nearly indestructible existence described. "So we need to go out now? If there are many, should we split up?"
"I do not think we can split up," Bella replied. "Given the level of corruption, we cannot ensure safety if we separate. The Evil God could use the pollution to affect us at any time, and as long as there is a medium, it can project an incarnation."
Lilith could only nod silently. She understood very well what it meant to be unable to fight back, remembering how she had been taken out instantly before. It was almost ironic that she had reached the Ascendant Hall level and was considered strong across the continent, yet still had to worry about being ambushed.
"So that means we act together with the dragon," she said. "Even then, it will not be safe."
"No. You and the dragon are enough," Bella said with a sigh. "I want to modify Sky Island and make some preparations."
"So when do I get to go out and kill things?" Belial yawned.
"All units, listen up. The communication signal is just ahead. Hold on, less than five li away," Officer shouted as he led the way.
After traveling dozens of li along the dragon's path, they had not seen any more gray-white horrors or corrupted monsters. This convinced everyone they were going the right way. Officer was also surprised, because the direction matched the source of the signal, and they even picked up several signals from other units along the way.
If nothing unexpected happened, many survivors from the earlier disaster had likely gathered here, at Second Prince's location. A tired scout stopped them and said, "Halt. Who are you… never mind. Since you made it here, you are safe for now."
Seeing him, Officer finally widened his eyes in relief. They had arrived.
"Sir, a total of one thousand three hundred forty one people arrived today. The overall number has reached four thousand two hundred thirty four," Louis reported from inside the tent.
He let out a small breath. "Reorganize them as usual. Also issue orders. No one is allowed to go beyond thirty li from here."
"Yes, sir."
After receiving the crystal communication, even someone with Second Prince's composure and experience felt close to breaking. He looked down and murmured softly, "I hope… we can still go back."
Icelis was squatting by the river, poking a man in the water with a branch. She checked his body temperature as a side task and decided he was probably still alive, or at least a very fresh corpse, and seemed worth saving. Since she had already picked up something new today, the shiny little stones she had found earlier could be thrown away.
With a casual flick of her hand, she tossed the stones aside, then raised both arms over her head and carried the man back. He was still gripping a broken sword, and his body was covered in Crack. She looked small, but she lifted him with ease and walked off without much thought.
"You usually bring back stones, shells, or very straight sticks. I can understand all of that," Fei'er Li said with a tired look as she stared at the man lying on the bed. "But I already told you that kidnapping people is not right."
This was her first time leading a group out, and she had only gone to check the area nearby. When she returned, she saw the Teddy Bear hugging a whole person and running into the tent. Her face had gone so dark that none of the students dared to speak until they heard it was a rescue.
Even as she complained, her hands did not slow down. Holding a pure white book, she dropped several casts of Holy Light Healing Magic in quick succession, and the man's breathing became steadier. She then set up a small Alarm Spell so that if there was any large movement here, especially when he woke up, she would be notified at once.
From her own sense, this man was far from simple and was at least Gold. Even she had only barely broken past her limits after piling points into her growth, and although she had the Teddy Bear as a safety net, caution was still needed. She let out a breath and turned back to business.
"Alright, did you check that lake already?"
After what happened in the Northlands, Fei'er Li had traveled around the Rohn Empire for a while. With a letter of recommendation and a ride from an overworked mage, she somehow ended up attending university again. She endured several years even more intense than her final year of school, and after more study, her mentor finally succeeded in becoming a Grand Ice Mage in a way that felt both unlucky and impressive.
After that, Fei'er Li became an external officer under her mentor, which was just a polite way to say she ran errands. The real reason was simple, as the Lord wanted to see the world, and having this identity made things easier. As for why her mentor started in civil work, then followed a Fire Magic mentor, and finally succeeded as an Ice Magic specialist, neither Fei'er Li nor Icelis had any idea.
"Nothing there," Icelis replied. "I froze all the frogs in the lake and didn't find the Giant Octopus you mentioned."
"So it's different again," Fei'er Li said, then nodded. "Fine, it's probably better if it's not there."
This place was a stretch of wild mountains inside the Rohn Empire, close to the Northlands. Her mentor, who was still working overtime even after reaching Gold, had asked her to help guide some students. Supposedly, she herself had once done geological surveys here when she was younger.
Because the place names matched ones from a novel, Fei'er Li had agreed. In that story, the journey of the Chosen Hero to the Northlands was extremely rough, with constant travel in the wild and endless schemes. It even included a battle here against abyss cultists and a lake monster close to Gold Rank, but after checking, reality clearly differed.
"Not just the octopus," Icelis added. "The whole ecosystem is miserable. There are barely any decent monsters around."
"It's like something tore through this place," she continued. "Nothing lives here."