After two days since they found themselves trapped inside ancient ruins, Caius and the others finally managed to get out.
Thus, their primary objective was achieved.
They thought that once they exited, they would breathe fresh air again.
And that everything would become easier and safer.
But now they all stood staring in the direction of the gate they had come through, their eyes wide open.
Yet it wasn’t the gate that put them in this state, nor even the thousands of insects hesitating to come out behind it.
No, it was something else.
Before them rose a wall of black glass stretching in every direction as far as their eyes could reach.
It seemed to reach the sky... a sky that wasn’t blue, but purple.
Caius swallowed audibly as he lowered his head to look at the ground beneath them.
But it wasn’t ground, it was a suspended bridge over an endless abyss of fog, extending forward opposite the gate’s direction and vanishing from their sight.
From afar, it would look like an endless wall of black glass that absorbed light itself, while from before it stretched a black bridge above a sea of gray mist.
Silence.
The only sound was the noise of the insects’ feet still behind the gate.
No one spoke, and no one asked about this place.
Why would they ask when they already knew the answer?
But the words slipped from Ellen’s mouth involuntarily.
"A red zone."
"The Cradle of Shard... and the lands of the Fallen Star Shard."
The Cradle of Shard was the name of this place, a world of black glass beneath a purple sky.
Ellen looked at her hand where the storage ring was and pulled out the communication crystal.
Everyone noticed her action and stared at the crystal in silence, each of them praying in their heart that it would work... and that returning wasn’t something impossible.
But no matter what Ellen did, the crystal did not work... she knew it wouldn’t.
Yet she kept trying and trying without result.
This Artifacts was designed to communicate within the range of the safe lands and even reaching those distant territories, but not this place, not a red zone.
These places were different, they were like entirely other worlds... it wasn’t only distance and borders that separated them from other lands, but the laws themselves.
So no matter how Ellen tried, a fourth-rank Artifacts would not work.
Perhaps it would have succeeded with Caius’s Key of Dimensions... but that was only if it responded to him, and it didn’t.
Ellen clenched the crystal tightly as she thought of a solution to this dilemma.
But what could they do? Cross the red zone and return to the Empire?
Even if they somehow managed to leave the Cradle of Shard, they would find themselves in another red zone.
But that was only if they could leave in the first place... and that was impossible.
Because in these lands, the weakest monsters were Rank 4... those considered at the very bottom of the food chain.
And even if they miraculously survived them, what about the evil monsters? What about the ancient ones that could kill them with a single glance?
"Is it simply our fate to die here?"
Talia’s voice pulled them out of their thoughts.
She looked at the others as tears began to gather in her eyes. "I... I’m sorry... we will all die here because of me."
No one responded, no one found the appropriate words to say.
Ellen tightened her grip on the crystal as she thought, even Caius stopped paying attention to their actions as he sank into his thoughts.
In addition to the monsters present, there was another problem; they had no idea of their current location, especially since half of these lands had not yet been explored.
Suddenly Ellen’s eyes flashed as she remembered something important.
She thought for a moment before speaking. "Maybe there is a way for us to leave this place."
The moment she said those words, everyone’s eyes focused on her, even Caius stopped thinking and paid attention to what she would say.
She closed her eyes, organizing her thoughts and calming herself before releasing a long, tense sigh.
"It’s not easy or guaranteed, and even our chances of success are very low."
"But it’s not zero," Kyle interrupted.
Ellen nodded as she continued. "Not everyone may know this, but recently ruins were found here in the Cradle of Shard... so negotiations arose over who had the right to claim them, and in the end they were taken by my Empire Luminar and Auerlion... and they recently began attempting to enter them."
Ellen turned her head and looked at the gate again, and even without finishing, everyone understood what she meant.
"And I think these are those ruins."
Everyone stared at the gate as Caius spoke again.
"So, there are other people here trying to enter from another location, and they’re strong enough to move around the Cradle of Shard... so all we have to do is meet up with them and we’ll be able to return."
Ellen nodded in agreement.
"Caius, you saw the map of the place, where are the other entrances?" When Ellen said that, Caius closed his eyes, trying to recall the map after losing the cube.
After a few moments, he spoke. "The place is very large and complex... but it only has three entrances, and this is one of them," he said, pointing at the gate.
"As for the other two, the nearest of them is about 200 kilometers away through the tunnels."
Everyone swallowed as they thought about crossing all that distance in that place. Maybe it would have been possible before, but now that the place had noticed their presence, no one knew what kind of things it would throw at them.
But what options did they truly have?
In reality, there were two options.
Caius looked at the swarm of insects behind the gate, then turned his head again and looked elsewhere.
At the stretch of the bridge that sank into the fog.