A deathly silence, like a thick shroud, tightly enveloped the entire Unyielding Hall. Only the group’s suppressed breathing and the Copper Deer radiating Magic Halos carved out faint domains of light in the boundless darkness, proving that life had entered this place.
They carefully searched around and did indeed find scattered fragments of Armor beside a few Human Race remains that lay in particularly heroic postures.
Kaelin crouched down, her fingertips brushing past the decaying metal that crumbled at a touch, and she shook her head slightly. "These were Centurions in the legion." She stood back up, then pressed her right fist to her chest, silently saluting her fallen ancestors. She had lost count of how many times she had made this gesture since entering the hall.
The group pressed on and soon discovered several dim Gemstones. Around them lay the remnants of pedestals that had long since turned to dust, likely left behind from the Magic Staves or Magical Artifacts of the legion’s Casters.
Winnie carefully picked one up, silently feeling its cold, hard touch. "The Energy has completely dissipated," she said softly. "It’s like a dried-up riverbed, leaving only the shape of the water it once held."
Despite losing their original value, the group decided to collect these dim Gemstones anyway; they could at least be exchanged for some money for supplies. To their slight relief, aside from the corpses littering the ground, they didn’t find any intruding Demons that they expected might occupy this place—they couldn’t even find a single spiderweb.
"If it’s not here, where else do we look?" Sodden’s red beard swayed slightly under the Magic light, his voice carrying a heavy tone. Spending so much time in this vast sea of remains made even someone known for his resilience feel a hint of oppression.
Hearing this, Kaelin was unsure for a moment. She didn’t have detailed blueprints of the fortress’s interior, and her mother’s research had stopped at simply locating the fortress itself. Coupled with the difficulty of navigating in the dark and the heavy, grim sight before her, even this usually decisive Swordsman felt somewhat lost at this moment.
"There should be a command center." Her tone was a bit uncertain, sounding more like she was organizing her own thoughts. "That’s where the Commander would issue orders. My ancestor’s final moments might have been there."
Raine closed his eyes slightly, sinking his consciousness into the [Exploration Chapter] in his mind. On the map, there was a doorway in each of the four directions surrounding the Unyielding Hall. The Path of the Last Breath lay behind them, while the largest set of doors directly ahead likely led to the main battlefield where the fortress once resisted the Black Tide—the main gate. Judging by this, the command center was most likely located behind the doors on either the left or the right.
With this in mind, Raine decisively pointed to the closest door on the left. "Let’s go check over there first."
The group nodded in agreement and soon arrived before the left door. Unlike the intact stone door behind them, this one was already shattered. Only a faint outline of the frame remained around the edges, as if some giant beast had forced its way through with irresistible Power. Shattered stones were scattered everywhere, and the number of bones around them was noticeably higher, silently testifying to the tragic and fierce battle that had occurred here.
Bypassing the rubble and remains, they filed one by one into the deep, pitch-black passage. The moment Raine stepped into the corridor, another area of the map in his mind lit up.
[You have activated a core landmark of the Crown of Grey Rock: Heart of the Watcher. Core landmarks activated in this area: 3/6.]
Raine thought, "Heart of the Watcher. Judging by the name, this must be a crucial core area of the fortress. It’s highly likely to be the command center."
As he carefully advanced through the passage with the team, he observed the outline of the newly unlocked map in his mind. The passage led to a relatively limited space. Judging by its size, it wasn’t a large residential zone but rather a functional core area, which further confirmed his hypothesis.
Inside the passage, the scene was even more chaotic than in the hall. The remains of the Human Race and Magical Beasts were tangled together in various twisted postures. Some were even caught in the act of biting and gnawing at each other. They practically filled the entire corridor, making it an unbearable sight.
After swiftly passing through, the space ahead suddenly opened up. Before the group could even catch their breath, the first thing to catch their eyes was the massive skeleton of a serpentine Magical Beast. Even though its triangular skull lay crookedly on the ground, it was still over two meters tall. Its hollow eye sockets and crossing fangs, which looked like Short Swords, still exuded a fierce aura.
One could imagine that it was this very terrifying Magical Beast that had smashed through the sturdy door they just passed with overwhelming force, forcibly barging into this place. However, the behemoth’s fate was equally miserable. Its spine had been severed into over a dozen pieces, and its enormous ribs were completely crushed, scattered everywhere. Only its skull and a small section of neck bone barely maintained their original shape.
It was clear that after breaking through the door, it had met with extremely stubborn resistance and was ultimately torn apart right here.
Lying in a circle around it were the remains of over a dozen Human Race soldiers. The skeletons of these soldiers were noticeably thicker and taller than those of the ordinary troops in the hall. Even though their flesh and blood had long since rotted away, one could still sense the extraordinary physiques they possessed in life.
"These must be my ancestor’s Personal Guards!" Kaelin hurried forward, bowing her head in respect before excitedly exclaiming, "Every one of them was a warrior chosen from a hundred, the most loyal protectors of my ancestor! Since they fought to the bitter end here, my ancestor might be nearby!"
This discovery lifted everyone’s spirits, and they immediately began searching the area carefully.
The place was a complete mess. An overturned large stone table lay in the corner, covered in a thick layer of dust, but it could faintly be recognized as a former strategic sandbox. Beside the sandbox was an area that had clearly undergone a violent explosion. The ground was scorched black and scattered with a large amount of glass-like debris that crunched underfoot.
Winnie inspected it carefully and whispered, "This should be the core of some Magic communication device. It’s been completely destroyed."
At the innermost part of the space was a small room containing only a stone bed and an overturned stone table. This was evidently the Commander’s quarters, but there was no sign of Kaelin’s ancestor’s body. Clinging to her last thread of hope, Kaelin combed through almost every inch of the floor and every stone in the room, but still came up empty-handed.
"How can he not be here?" The excitement that had just surfaced on Kaelin’s face quickly faded, her voice laced with unconcealable disappointment. "My ancestor isn’t here? Where else could he be?"
A brief silence fell over the room. The clue they had just found with the Personal Guards had undoubtedly been cut short.
"At least we’ve eliminated one wrong option," Raine’s voice quickly broke the silence. "The fortress’s area is ultimately limited. Since he’s not here, that only leaves two other directions."
Under his guidance, the group quickly returned to the Unyielding Hall and set off toward the unexplored door on the right. Along the way, perhaps due to psychological effects, the group couldn’t help but feel that the atmosphere here was even gloomier than before.
"Well, there’s no one here to get in our way, so we can take our sweet time searching!" Sodden deliberately said in a gruff voice to dispel the uncomfortable heaviness. He even feigned a relaxed attitude and kicked a piece of rubble by his foot.
The rubble tumbled and struck the dust-covered ribcage of a Magical Beast, producing a soft, hollow thud.
However, the moment his words fell, the bony hand of a nearby corpse spasmed open and clamped fiercely around his ankle.