Lost Fantasy-Life After Reincarnation (Arc 1)

Chapter 12

The three walked along the streets of the ancient city, careful to not fall off of the stone stairways that led to the lower portions of the city. Down there, there was merely what appeared to be an abyss, so dark that no end appears to be in sight. It was as if besides the ground of the bottom floor was the way to the underworld.

Loganel decided to stop his staring at the disturbing darkness and focus on what was at hand. They were travelling down the stairway in hopes of finding the five Sygl Flowers that they were requested to find. On their way, they had already encountered other patrolling groups of Kobolds. Each time, they carefully hid and decided whether or not they should engage in combat. Usually, they would avoid groups with more than four Kobolds, however, it wasn't that often that the patrolling Kobolds would travel in groups less than five.

"How deep does this place go?" Loganel sighed. He was fatigued from all the walking and combat. After about a few hours in the ruins of the ancient city, his legs were starting to become stiff and not as responsive, his arms sore from all the swinging of his sword, and his mind tired from all the Mana he had expended.

"I don't know," Juliana answered, following behind the leading Loganel and slightly trailing behind Azura. "I heard that they still haven't fully explored the whole place."

"Right," Azura said calmly. However, from her voice, one could tell that she was tired as well. "Plenty of this city is still unexplored, and would only be explored until official exploration parties are formed by the Adventurers Guild."

"It must be difficult to do so in this labyrinth," Juliana said, looking around at the complicated alleyways and numerous turns in the city.

"That's why we're only going to be staying in the top two floors," Azura said. "The further down you go, the more complicated the arrangement of the streets and roads are."

"So basically this is a huge maze," Loganel yawned, starting to feel an urge to stop to rest. Some tears formed in his eyes as he yawned, making sleep appear even more alluring.  However, he slapped his face gently with his left hand in order to stay awake.

"According to the books and records," Azura continued, "there's some treasure at the depths of the city."

"Are you sure it's still there and not picked off by someone already?" Loganel asked.

"Of course," Azura responded confidently, "if it was already discovered, it will for sure be a big news that's impossible to miss.

The trio chatted in a quiet whisper as they attempted to pass time and keep each other awake as they ventured deeper into the Eketelas Ruins. They were focused on their quest, which was to collect five Sygl Flowers.

Slowly but surely, those light blue flowers began to appear on the second floor underground. However, there were also more Kobolds patrolling as well since the three had began closing in on the floors that the Kobolds called their home. 

"We're still to weak, our party is still to unbalanced to take on so many enemies," Azura sighed.

"Yeah," Loganel muttered, carefully peeking over the corner of a building at the group of Kobold that finally vanished from sight as they moved on. 

He then let out a sigh, and emerged from the corner of the building and onto the main street. He stared at the wide, empty street before him that was composed of a brick that was green in nature, creating a dreary feeling.

"This is quite unsettling," Juliana sighed as she saw what Loganel saw. 

The quiet and empty streets with the numerous buildings on the sides of the road really made it hard to observe what had happened to this once magnificent city. Everything was as if life was going on, but it wasn't. In the interior of buildings, food bowls were set out on the tables with decomposed food that reeked with disgusting stench. It was as if it was originally intended for a dinner meal. Why has everyone disappeared? Why is everything still here? What happened? These were all questions whose answers had remained obscure for the past decades and even century. No one has been able to find a reason why this once bustling city had just fallen from reality.