A couple of hours later, and the first signs of civilization came within sight. It should have been a joyous moment if not for the fact that the whole place was razed to the ground. The well-crafted structures that looked like buildings straight from medieval Europe were broken down. It was unknown whether the villagers had escaped or were turned into corpses beneath the rubble. Whoever had done that, surely wouldn't have left them alive.

"This is getting complicated..." Evelyn caught her bottom lip between her teeth, "... could it have been the Wolfkins who did that?"

It was a logical assumption, though not one Jered agreed with, and for obvious reasons too. There was a faint residue of mana lingering about, something possible only when a spell was cast. The more powerful it was, the longer its traces would stay behind. Evelyn didn't notice it due to her lesser attunement to mana, "I believe a group of Magicians did that, though I can't tell whether they're human or not."

She squinted her eyes at him, "How do you know?"

He could smell it, and hear it, "My attunement to mana is higher than yours."

"Oh, of course..."

Probably a stupid question to ask.

Jered made his way through the pathway that would have led him up to the plaza, if it only was still intact. The wreckage of houses around him didn't tell him much about the spell used; if he had to make an educated guess, it was probably a blunt force one, perhaps a more powerful variant of his 'Low Telekinesis'. He also ruled out the possibility of it being an elemental spell. The buildings were neither charred nor wet. The ground was not uneven besides the obvious cracks and holes caused by the collapse. 

He would have assumed a strong wind spell was cast, but the debris would have flown all over the place if that was the case. The houses were torn apart violently, but their shattered remains were arranged into a neat pile, never straying too far from where the house was originally built in. 

"Another loose possibility would be a Swordsman... though I'm not too sure. I have little to no knowledge about them, or their fighting styles. Either way, mana was used, but no elemental spell was cast."

Evelyn hummed thoughtfully, "Whoever did this is dangerous... and they might be a group too, or part of an organization, a clan perhaps... we don't know. Honestly, we shouldn't probably stay here. Let's move on."

He agreed. They had to gather information as soon as they could, and for that, they had to communicate with a non-hostile intelligent species, be it humans or not.

They resumed their journey, though considerably more wary now.

The eerie silence draped above the land seemed to have stemmed from a genocide. At least, that was their initial assumption... which was further solidified when they came across another settlement littered with corpses, "Those are Dark Humans..." Evelyn breathed out, cringing slightly from the one-sided slaughter that took place. 

"Dark Humans?" Jered parroted as he stared at the grey-skinned corpses. Their shape and size were just like humans', though their skin color and the small bumps on their forehead were a clear hint that despite the similarities, they were not. 

"They're a minor, primitive race shunned by humans due to their... dirty... blood. They're offsprings of humans and Devilings. Not exactly a blessed match."

He nodded, scraping to the surface any information he had about Devilings. They were a war-monger race, which made them hated by literally anyone else that didn't share their unyielding spirit for war. In fact, any offspring between Devilings and Humankind, or Elvenkind, or any other possible combination, was cast out into the wilds, far from the heart of Archiland's civilization. 

It was just to ensure that the Devilings' war-doer tendency didn't spread out.

That would have been disastrous. No one needed them to fuel the fire of war that was already tearing through the lands.

"Soo... they were purged in the name of justice?"

"I'm led to believe so... though we still have to identify the previous village's race. Hmm... but due to their proximity, they might have been Dark Humans too. Food for thought."

"We should still be careful. Those Dark Humans might have been cursed from birth, but the way they were ripped apart tells me that whoever did this, did it out of some barbaric delight. If we meet them, there's no guarantee that we won't end up like them."

Evelyn sighed, finding a smidgen of truth in his words. That being said, there was nothing they could do but march forward until they found a way out of Archiland. She didn't fancy waiting in a cave either. 

The rest of their expedition saw them traversing wide expanses of wasteland, going from one ruined village to another. It was crazy how cluttered some of those villages were; of course, anyone caught in the fury of those justice-advocates was dead. It was then that they realized they were following their trails, and if they kept doing so, it would have taken them straight to the source of those raids. 

So they stopped and reconsidered. There was no way they would go back to the cave, "Better not test our luck. Let's pick another direction," Jered said with a drawn-out sigh. He was tired, and so was Evelyn. They had been walking for almost the entire day, stumbling upon several villages in ruins and hundreds of corpses. She sat down on a piece of broken stone rubble, massaging her legs.

"I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with this pace, plus it's getting dark..." she bemoaned, "... maybe we should stay here for the night."

Jered looked around himself, at yet another flattened village. Then he looked down at the maimed corpse next to his feet, and sat on it, "I don't know... well, it's not like we have anywhere else to go. Going back to the cave isn't an option, and I feel like we're pretty close to something."

"I just hope it's something good," she commented grimly, "Everything we came across so far points at something bad."

He chuckled, "Perhaps, but we can't stay stationary in a damp hole until another portal pops up. We need to act."

"My sentiments exactly..." Evelyn stared at him resolutely, "Archiland is a dangerous place, but we're not weak. Whatever happens, we'll pull through."

That was what he admired about her. She might not have been powerful, but she had a strong mindset. Even if she was on the verge of crumbling down, she'd find the strength to get back up. He nodded with a soft smile, "You should rest, I'll be the first one on the lookout."

She wrinkled her nose, looking around at the demolished houses, "Surely, they could have left at least one building intact. I don't fancy sleeping amidst corpses."

"I would be worried if you did."

"Hmmm. Maybe we could find something in the rubble," Evelyn rummaged around with her 'Low Telekinesis', and Jered decided to help her. After ferrying out of the way dozens of corpses, and a few tons worth of rubble, they actually managed to dig out clothes, some cotton, and a couple of stained sheets. It was not the king-sized bed she had at home, but it was better than nothing, "See? Improvement!" she flaunted their findings under his face.

"Don't get too cocky, it was thanks to me that we managed to find those."

She averted her gaze with an uncharacteristic pout, "Whatever."

He rolled his eyes at her antics.

"We'll switch after a few hours, okay?"

"Yes, I can still hold on for quite a while, so take your time."

It was probably due to the boost in his mana pool.

Evelyn rearranged the clothes and sheets into a makeshift bed, "Sleep is important..." she said with a yawn, making herself comfortable, "... so you shouldn't stay awake for too long."

Those were her last words, for not even a few minutes later and she was snoring away.

The smile he had on his face faded into a thin line.

If he had more combat-oriented Elder Tier spells, he would have felt more confident. Thankfully he had his 'Pharaoh's Flame' to fall back upon. And although he couldn't use it for too long, it was still a lifesaver. 

To be honest, Jered didn't know what course of action to take. He only had surface knowledge about Archiland—the rest was all about learning spells and the intricacies of mana. With a swipe of his hand, and a burst of 'Low Telekinesis', he stacked one chunk of rubble upon the other, trying to balance it so it would not fall off when the grip of his sub-spell subsided.

It was just for entertainment, really; he couldn't level 'Low Telekinesis' since it was a sub-spell of 'Everyday Charms', and that was already maxed out. So he played around with 'Mana Sense', though he doubted he could level it up as fast as before. He'd rather be productive than twiddle his thumbs and wait until Evelyn woke up. Just as he lifted another slab of stone upon the pile, he noticed something beneath it.

There was a thick layer of dust on it, but the shape was unmistakable. It was definitely a book.

He summoned it straight into his hand.

[Due to your low rank, you can't absorb the content of this tome.]

Jered frowned. That was not nice. He blew the dust off of its surface, and carefully examined it. Something was slightly off about it. If not even his system couldn't do something about it, then it must have been a unique tome. It was a pity that he couldn't absorb it, but nothing stopped him from reading it. So he opened it and thumbed through the pages. 

"Well, shit..."

The pages were empty. From the first to the last one. Not a single word could be found.

Maybe the author added a privacy spell so only someone of a certain tier would be able to read it. Or maybe, only a Dark Human could have access to it. He didn't know, but as much as he disliked it, it was understandable. He wouldn't want any random motherfucker messing around with his stuff. Well, it didn't matter. One day he would crack the privacy spell—hopefully, the language it was written in would be one he could understand.

Whatever. No use thinking about that now.

A light quake coming off the ground alerted him. He shot up to his feet, staring at the skyline behind them. A foot had literally plowed through the mantle of clouds and stomped on the ground, "This is fucking ridiculous!" Jered snapped with a 'What the fuck' expression. He shook Evelyn awake, "Please, tell me you have an explanation for that!" he pointed at the mountain-sized leg that had lifted up, ready to stomp again. 

She blinked away her drowsiness and gaped at the sight. 

The foot came crashing down again, this time bringing down with it a good chunk of the mountain they found their cave on. 

An avalanche of rocks and dust battered all the way down to the base, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

Even from such a long-distance, they could feel the ground vibrate.

"I... I have no explanation for that..." Evelyn bit her bottom lip, "But we need to get the fuck out of here!"

"Do we?" Jered arched an eyebrow, "Only the shockwaves will reach here. As long as we don't get any closer, we should be safe."

"I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Maybe... but even if we were to flee, it's not like we would get far enough to avoid the foot if it suddenly decided to target us. It's fucking humongous, can't you see it?"

"Yes, but..."

Jered waved her off, "No buts."

Then, out of nowhere, a red light—akin to a falling star—boomed out of the clouds, and drilled through that leg, exploding somewhere amidst the mountain range.

A waterfall of blood crashed down, filling the crevices on the mountains and then pooling up on the ground like a river.

Then a mushroom cloud billowed up, devouring the retreating foot before it could do more damage to the land. The rampaging flames licked the sky red, sending fiery rocks showering everywhere. It took a while before the sound caught up with Jered and Evelyn, and when it did, it reeled them back. And that was not the last of it either, because the rocks that were spat out to the mesosphere, came raining down on them.

"Oh fuck, run!"