Last night, after hours of examining the mysterious Devourer egg and watching the monster corpses being devoured, Lian had finally managed to sleep for a few hours.
When he woke up in the morning, for a few seconds he forgot where he was.
The sunlight was coming through the small window of his room and falling on the metal walls of the accommodation.
Then he heard the sound of people, the sound of footsteps, the sound of conversations, and the sound of cargo carts.
And he remembered that he was still inside the Base, after the big operation yesterday, the base had become full of life again.
Unfortunately, there were casualties yesterday, dozens of awakened ones had been killed, in fact, the number might have reached over a hundred, but because of all the safety and security measures that had been taken, the number of casualties did not reach thousands.
Although among these killed awakened ones, there were several powerful commanders whose deaths were a great loss.
Their bodies had been taken outside and the overall condition of the base had stabilized.
But because of the death of those commanders, the second phase of the cleansing was not going to start anytime soon.
Hunters were preparing for new missions.
Caravans carrying loot were passing through the gates one after another.
Massive pack monsters were moving through the main streets of the base, moving mountains of Ironfang corpses.
In every corner of the base, people were talking about yesterday’s operation.
Some were talking about the money they were going to receive, some about the Fallen monsters, and some about the fact that new routes beyond the hundred kilometer radius would finally open soon.
After having breakfast, Lian left the room, his goal was simple, he wanted to check Kain’s status again.
But before reaching the academy center, something else caught his attention.
A group of people entered the base from the western gate, he immediately recognized a few of them.
Seraphina.
Cassian.
The head of the student council.
And a few other council members.
All of them were covered in dust, their clothes showed signs of a long journey, but from their appearance, it was clear their mission had been successful.
The first person to notice Lian’s presence was Cassian, and his face immediately brightened, he raised his hand and shouted with excitement.
"Lian!"
The head of the council just gave him a quick look and nodded, a simple greeting.
But Seraphina’s reaction was completely different, her eyes widened slightly.
"You are here?"
"Hello." Lian smiled.
They walked a few steps closer, and after a short greeting, the rest of the group gradually moved away.
Cassian, who apparently still had his inexhaustible energy, said a few more words and then headed toward the rest area with the others.
In the end, only Seraphina and Lian remained, and she said with a smile.
"So, how was your birthday ceremony?"
Lian laughed right at that moment, a laugh that made Seraphina even more curious.
"That is a long story, whenever you go back outside, ask your father about it."
Seraphina stared at his face for a few moments and then laughed quietly, she knew when Lian said it like that, it meant the problems had been solved and he had reached his goals.
"I feel like you had a really good time."
"More or less."
"More or less?"
"Considering what happened, yeah." Lian nodded.
Seraphina did not ask more, but her mysterious smile showed that her curiosity had increased.
The conversation quickly turned to their mission.
When Lian found out they had returned from a seven hundred kilometer radius, he unconsciously raised an eyebrow.
"Seven hundred kilometers? You went too far." Even he had only advanced to 400 kilometers, to advance beyond 400 kilometers, they would have had to cross that river path.
It was not the only way, but it was the fastest way, but clearly their group had taken the second way which was more winding.
"It was worth it." Seraphina shrugged.
"Did you find something?"
"Maybe."
Then she started explaining, broken stone pillars, geometric lines on the rocks, metals that had not rusted after years, and remains of walls that did not look natural.
The more she explained, the more Lian fell into thought, and finally he said.
"Based on these signs, it really looks like an ancient ruin, but it is still not possible to be sure."
Seraphina nodded.
"We think the same, we came back today to rest and recharge, we need to upgrade our equipment and buy a few safety talismans... and tomorrow we will go back there." Then she looked directly at him.
"Do you want to come with us?"
Lian was silent for a few seconds, he really had a skill for finding special and unusual places, after all, at one time he even wanted to become an analyzer.
But the current situation was much more complicated than a possible ruin, Kain was missing, the Devourer egg was in his room.
But it was not a bad idea either, maybe there the Celestial Book could find more treasures.
"I will think about it."
"Let me know by tonight." Seraphina smiled.
Then she told him the location of their group’s accommodation, and before parting, Lian asked an important question.
"Did you see Kain?"
"No, he was not there when we left, he was not there when we returned, and he was not there again when we left."
"God knows where he went."
"Don’t worry, he is not stupid enough to get himself killed." Seraphina laughed.
Lian did not say anything, but a few minutes later, he realized how wrong that sentence was.
After saying goodbye, he went straight to the academy information center, like last time, he entered the student system.
He opened Kain’s file, it took a few seconds, and then the information appeared.
Lian did not notice the change at first, but when he looked again, he felt his heart skip a beat.
[ Status: Semi Active / Decreased ]
Lian’s face became completely serious, this was no longer a joke, this status only appeared when a person was in real danger.
He remembered the explanation given by the officer, this situation practically meant one thing, Kain was trapped in a very bad condition and his vital signs were decreasing.
He was alive, but his condition was very bad, probably wounded, or probably trapped, and probably did not have much time.
"I have to find him as soon as possible!" Lian was still staring at the screen when suddenly everything shook.
Woooooooom!
A screeching sound echoed through the entire building, red emergency lights turned on, and everyone present in the hall froze.
Then chaos started.
Employees ran, hunters rushed out of the building, and red notifications appeared on all the screens.
Woooooooom!
Woooooooom!
The sirens were howling without stopping.
"What is going on?" Lian frowned and immediately left the building.
When he reached the main street, he saw a massive crowd moving toward the base’s defensive walls.
He went with them, a few minutes later he was standing on one of the watch platforms.
And he saw something that even made him silent for a moment, the base’s massive screens were on and the map of the area was displayed on them.
But almost the entire screen was covered with red dots.
Thousands of red dots.
Thunder Spine Serpents.
Ironhorn Marsh Drakes.
Two massive armies of monsters had surrounded the base! But this was only the beginning of the story, the image zoomed out further.
And the creature that was at the center of that army appeared.
At that same moment, Lian recognized it, the same monster he had seen in the depths of the river, the same guardian of the egg.
[ Abyssal River Drake ]
[ Rank: Fallen ]
[ Level: 35 ]
Silence fell over the defensive walls, even the high-level hunters lost their color.
Level thirty-five.
In the Base, such a creature was almost considered a disaster.
Lian stared at the monster, then at Kain’s status, then at his storage space, where the Devourer egg still was.
A strange feeling came over him, as if all the problems in the world had decided to come to him at the same time.
His friend was on the verge of death, an army of monsters had surrounded the base.
This was no longer just a simple normal day... this was the beginning of a disaster.