King Of Limbo

As Aron and Esmeralda continued heading deeper into the ruins they began to discover more and more carcasses of beasts, all of which were brutally mulled and or devoured in some parts.

The heavy stench of blood and rotting flesh filled the ruin and only got more potent the deeper one went.

"This place is horrendous... just what kind treasure requires so many beasts as guards." Esmeralda commented in a dissatisfied tone while holding her nose shut unable to bear the terrible smell.

"What makes you assume there's treasure here in the first place? No.. this place is something else completely." Aron stated while focusing his gaze on the walls and ceilings as they continued to move.

Unlike Esmeralda who could only smell and barely see, Aron had a clear picture of the entire ruin and it was truly a gruesome sight.

Countless of carcasses were stacked upon each other and seemed never ending. As for the ruin itself, it was like a large open hall with nothing of interest, just lifeless bodies all around. 'It doesn't look like there was any secret mechanism present either. Was this place really just a place beasts were put?' Aron questioned himself as he began to approach the end.

'Hm...' As he got closer, he narrowed his vision towards the wall and found something that caught his interest.

At the end of large carcass filled hall, the wall had numerous strange symbols that were crudely carved into it.

"Is something wrong?" Esmeralda questioned after they had come to a sudden stop. Some time had passed since Aron determined they were no longer in any danger but he still chose to move in darkness so that Esmeralda could not see if he encountered anything of value.

"No, we've reached the end I think but I want to check for any hidden mechanisms. Just be patient." Aron responded casually and began to inspect the wall in silence but Esmeralda continued to speak. "You're different from what I initially thought..." She muttered in a low tone that still carried a hint of arrogance.

"How so?" Aron replied as he continued to inspect the wall keenly, even going as far as to run his fingers across them while using numerous languages for reference.

"Your strength and the way you carry yourself, it's not much different from someone of a high class family. Are you sure you don't have any noble blood within you?" She asked as she still refused to believe Aron is a commoner who reached heights greater than hers without the same wealth or support.

"I can't say I'm sure. My past is... rather unique." Aron replied causing Esmeralda's eyes to shine with interest. She wasn't the only one who had wanted to know more about just what sort of background could create a person like Aron.

"What do you mean?" She asked with interest and even came closer to Aron thinking he would say more but sadly that was all she would get from him. "You don't really think I'd tell you, do you?"

Aron's question brought a frown to Esmeralda's face. She truly did wish to learn more about him to better understand a person she considered an enemy. "I suppose it's wishful of me to think you would actually tell that to an enemy." Esmeralda said with some disappointment but Aron only snickered.

"One needs to actually be a threat to qualify as an enemy. You? You're more of a nuisance, be glad that's the case or you and your friends would have been dead already." Aron said indifferently before pulling his hand away from the wall while heaving a sigh.

He had failed to find anything remotely similar to the markings so he could only memorize not only the shape of the marks but their length and depth of the carvings just in case they carried importance.

"There's nothing hidden or beyond here as far as I can tell. We're better off leaving now, it's best we avoid a confrontation at all costs. I'm no longer fully confident I can handle what was in here..." Aron muttered as he looked at the marks once more with narrowed eyes.

He himself knew just how hard the material the walls were made out of was so to see that there was a creature capable of carving it made him cautious. 'Who knows how long they were trapped here, evolution is very much possible...' Aron thought for a moment before turning away.

"Let's go."

....

Meanwhile outside the ruin, numerous beasts had overrun what was formerly the Newman highlands and were currently making their way outwards.

Some met their end in the now deadly environment whilst the majority easily transversed the harsh terrain and atmosphere.

In Findel, the city had fallen into a panic as they saw and felt the large explosions that occurred many kilometers away. The Volcanic eruption of the Newman highlands highest peak had shaken the entire northern region and even further beyond.

The clouds of smoke it created began to spread all across the continent at a terrifying speed along with with cries and howls of countless beasts.

Many settlements had already been destroyed by the Volcanic eruption causing numerous flaming hot rocks to fall from the sky while those lucky enough to survive soon met an even more gruesome fate as the tide of beasts trampled their land and devoured them.

Findel being the nearest large city to the highlands had many people seek refuge while the imperial family sought to escape via airship.

Alas, they were too late....

Findel's defense was breached extremely easily and the once beautiful exotic city had now been overrun by crazed blood thirsty mana beasts that either ate and mulled any human they saw.

The airship hadn't gotten far either as the winged mana beasts destroyed it in no time...

This scene was observed by the two Galos Academy airships which had already traveled many more kilometers away from Findel. As for the Sovereign... it was nowhere to be seen.

"So many..." Anastasia said in a tone of worry as she stood on the deck of Brutas's assigned airship.

"Reinforcements will be arriving soon to control the situation." Emilia, whose eyes looked reddened from crying came to stand next to Anastasia and commented as she looked at the scene with a complex gaze.

To her, these were the monsters that had most likely taken her sister's life from her so as much as she hurting, she felt obligated to not only wipe them out but to try and find her sister's body.

"Are you okay?" Anastasia asked with visible worry, she too had mixed emotions but stayed hopeful that Esmeralda may still be alive. Luckily everyone else except for Brutas had no truly serious injuries.

"I'll be fine. We should go inside, a discussion is about to begin." Emilia replied in a low tone that carried little confidence before turning away to return to the interior of the airship. Anastasia looked at the scene one last time before soon following Emilia.

.....

At this time, Aron and Esmeralda were making their way out of the ruin entirely. Outside the passage they found numerous fresh bodies of both mana beasts and humans.

Although Esmeralda was no stranger to blood, this scene caused her to show a look of utter disgust. Organs and dismembered limbs were everywhere, some still even twitched and moved which made her feel even more uncomfortable.

Aron's attention however wasn't on this but instead focused on the the creatures advancing much further ahead. "We have to use another route. I can't say I'm truly familiar with those beasts and it would be troublesome if we got noticed." Aron stated before turning back around and looking up at the still trembling peak.

"Then which route do we use? The only way would be to..." Soon Esmeralda followed his gaze and immediately understood what he was thinking. "I may be able to walk but I'm in no condition to scale a peak, I doubt I can even withstand how hot the surface must be." She quickly spoke with her arms crossed.

To her who was no better than a regular human now, scaling a Volcanic peak that was over a thousand meters high seemed impossible.

"It can't be helped. Cling to my back and let's go before something happens." Aron instructed her with a straight face and prepared to begin scaling the peak.

"Are you joking?" Esmeralda who already felt humiliated enough frowned when she heard this but Aron was not about to entertain her. "I gave you an option, wether you accept or not is up to you. I'm not about to risk my life for you so you're comfortable, no matter how much you're willing to pay." Aron replied before starting to climb up.

Esmeralda was quickly brought back to the reality of the situation. Aron would never care for her woes and her complaints would always be ignored as he had no reason whatsoever to listen to her.

"Wait! I'll do it." She hurriedly rushed near him and submitted while still wearing a frown which soon turned into a scowl upon hearing his next words.

"Double. I want double the payment for wasting my time." He looked down at her and said with a straight face.

"....Fine!" Esmeralda wanted to curse at Aron at the top of her lungs but the current situation would in no way allow this. She could only follow along and hope no danger was met.

In reality the whole purpose of bringing her along was to make an oath with her. Saying he wanted money was just the most feasible reason he felt he could come up with to make her agree so easily and he kept this kind of thought by demanding more. By the time Esmeralda would know what the oath really was… it would be too late.